http://www.hindawi.com The latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation © 2013 , Hindawi Publishing Corporation . All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 17:26:34 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/703568/ Alternative splicing is a major diversification mechanism in the human transcriptome and proteome. Several diseases, including cancers, have been associated with dysregulation of alternative splicing. Thus, correcting alternative splicing may restore normal cell physiology in patients with these diseases. This paper summarizes several alternative splicing-related diseases, including cancers and their target genes. Since new cancer drugs often target spliceosomes, several clinical drugs and natural products or their synthesized derivatives were analyzed to determine their effects on alternative splicing. Other agents known to have modulating effects on alternative splicing during therapeutic treatment of cancer are also discussed. Several commonly used bioinformatics resources are also summarized. Jen-Yang Tang, Jin-Ching Lee, Ming-Feng Hou, Chun-Lin Wang, Chien-Chi Chen, Hurng-Wern Huang, and Hsueh-Wei Chang Copyright © 2013 Jen-Yang Tang et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 17:10:30 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/surgery/2013/974269/ Ludwig’s angina was first detailed by the German surgeon Wilhelm Friedrich von Ludwig in 1836. We present a case which needed awake fibreoptic intubation due to severe trismus and a prolonged period intubated in the Intensive Care Unit after incision and drainage of neck spaces and removal of his lower wisdom teeth. He was finally discharged a week after admission and followed up in the outpatient clinic. The case is presented with clinical photographs and a video of the fibreoptic intubation to illustrate the airway. Karim Kassam, Ashraf Messiha, and Manolis Heliotis Copyright © 2013 Karim Kassam et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:41:35 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jdr/2013/787084/ We have previously shown that dental caries may be produced in diabetic rodent models fed with noncariogenic standard diets; however, many studies usually add large amounts of sugar to the diet to induce dental caries. Moreover, the physical properties of cariogenic diets have been reported as an important factor in the formation of caries. The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of the hardness of non-cariogenic diets on the development of dental caries in diabetic rodents. Seven-week-old female F344 rats were divided into 4 groups: intact rats fed with a standard pelletized or powdered diet and alloxan-induced diabetic rats fed with a standard pelletized or powdered diet. All of the rats were sacrificed at 52 weeks of age for morphological examinations on their dental tissue. Dental caries had developed and extended to all the molars in the diabetic rats that were fed with both the pelletized and powdered diets. Moreover, the lesion was significantly enhanced in the powdered diet group compared to that in the pelletized diet group. In conclusion, food hardness is an important factor influencing the development of dental caries in diabetic rats. Yutaka Nakahara, Tomoya Sano, Yasushi Kodama, Kiyokazu Ozaki, and Tetsuro Matsuura Copyright © 2013 Yutaka Nakahara et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:41:01 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/704137/ The previously developed new perturbation-iteration algorithm has been applied to differential equation systems for the first time. The iteration algorithm for systems is developed first. The algorithm is tested for a single equation, coupled two equations, and coupled three equations. Solutions are compared with those of variational iteration method and numerical solutions, and a good agreement is found. The method can be applied to differential equation systems with success. Mehmet Şenol, İhsan Timuçin Dolapçı, Yiğit Aksoy, and Mehmet Pakdemirli Copyright © 2013 Mehmet Şenol et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:38:46 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/gravity/2013/659605/ We develop a simple model for a self-gravitating spherically symmetric relativistic star which begins to collapse from an initially static configuration by dissipating energy in the form of radial heat flow. We utilize the model to show how local anisotropy affects the collapse rate and thermal behavior of gravitationally evolving systems. Ranjan Sharma and Shyam Das Copyright © 2013 Ranjan Sharma and Shyam Das. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:35:12 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/2013/586076/ Neonates, especially those born prematurely, are at high risk of morbidity and mortality from sepsis. Multiple factors, including prematurity, invasive life-saving medical interventions, and immaturity of the innate immune system, put these infants at greater risk of developing infection. Although advanced neonatal care enables us to save even the most preterm neonates, the very interventions sustaining those who are hospitalized concurrently expose them to serious infections due to common nosocomial pathogens, particularly coagulase-negative staphylococci bacteria (CoNS). Moreover, the health burden from infection in these infants remains unacceptably high despite continuing efforts. In this paper, we review the epidemiology, immunological risk factors, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and outcomes of neonatal infection due to the predominant neonatal pathogen CoNS. Elizabeth A. Marchant, Guilaine K. Boyce, Manish Sadarangani, and Pascal M. Lavoie Copyright © 2013 Elizabeth A. Marchant et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:32:09 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jpe/2013/479827/ Water flooding is a commonly used technology for enhancing oil recovery. Its main mechanism is to maintain higher pressure to sweep oil towards production wells. However, the strong water flooding will cause higher compression pressure around the injection wellbore. This high pressure in the reservoir causes stress redistribution and higher stress near the wellbore which induces material damage and permeability change. We developed a fluid-solid coupling finite element model to simulate and quantitatively analyze the pressure evolution in the reservoir as well as damage and permeability change in the formation during long-term water flooding process. The obtained results offer theoretical understanding of the benefits (pore pressure increase in the simulation domain), rock damage, permeability change of long-term water flooding, and the insights of how to detect and prevent wellbore failure and collapse due to water flooding. Liu He, Gao Yang, Li Guoxin, and Li Yiliang Copyright © 2013 Liu He et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:31:36 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/384251/ The coupled nonlinear dynamical equations were developed for a tilted spring packaging system with critical components. The approximate solution and resonance conditions of system were obtained applying a variational iteration method. The resonance conditions, which should be avoided in the packaging design, can be easily obtained by VIM. An-Jun Chen Copyright © 2013 An-Jun Chen. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:30:27 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/ai/2013/380239/ This paper presents a framework to process and analyze data from a pulse oximeter which remotely measures pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation from a set of individuals. Using case-based reasoning (CBR) as the backbone to the framework, records are analyzed and categorized according to their similarity. Record collection has been performed using a personalized health profiling approach in which participants wore a pulse oximeter sensor for a fixed period of time and performed specific activities for pre-determined intervals. Using a variety of feature extraction methods in time, frequency, and time-frequency domains, as well as data processing techniques, the data is fed into a CBR system which retrieves most similar cases and generates an alarm according to the case outcomes. The system has been compared with an expert's classification, and a 90% match is achieved between the expert's and CBR classification. Again, considering the clustered measurements, the CBR approach classifies 93% correctly both for the pulse rate and oxygen saturation. Along with the proposed methodology, this paper provides a basis for which the system can be used in the analysis of continuous health monitoring and can be used as a suitable method in home/remote monitoring systems. Mobyen Uddin Ahmed, Hadi Banaee, and Amy Loutfi Copyright © 2013 Mobyen Uddin Ahmed et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:29:47 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/2013/316401/ The anion rubber modified asphalt (ARMA) mixture was first successfully developed with a unique process. In the development process, rubber and asphalt were mixed in the same proportion. Furthermore, the microstructure and modification mechanism of the material were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, TG, and XRD tests. The mechanical property of the mixture was also tested in accordance with the relevant standards. In the end, the material’s capacity of releasing anion was measured by DLY-6A232 atmospheric ion gauge. The results indicated that the addition of anion additive into the rubber modified asphalt (RMA) was a mere physical mixture, and the anion additives and rubber particles uniformly dispersed in the ARMA. The addition of anion additive could improve the thermal stability of the RMA. Compared with the traditional asphalt pavement material, the ARMA material shows excellent mechanical properties as well as the ability of releasing anion. Moreover, the material has enormous economic and social benefits by taking full advantage of a large amount of waste tires, thus improving the road surrounding environment. Wei Hong, Qingshan Li, Guoquan Guan, Youbo Di, Jing Sun, Tifeng Jiao, and Guangzhong Xing Copyright © 2013 Wei Hong et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:13:07 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/269745/ Cystitis glandularis (CG) is a proliferative disorder in the urinary bladder. The outcome of current treatments in some patients is not satisfactory. Curcumin, a herbal medicine that has been used for centuries, has shown great potential in treating various diseases. Our pilot study aimed to explore the feasibility of an intravesical treatment for CG using curcumin. 14 patients diagnosed with CG that remained symptomatic after primary treatments were enrolled, underwent a 3-month curcumin intravesical treatment (50 mg/50 mL, 1 hour, once per week for first 4 weeks and once per month for next 2 months) and were followed up for 3 months. Efficacy of the treatment was evaluated using core lower urinary tract symptom score (CLSS) questionnaire. 10 patients demonstrated persistent improvement in symptoms up to the end of the 6-month study. Their CLSS decreased significantly after the 3-month treatment (; ) from the baseline () and maintained decreasing till the end of the study (; ). 4 patients were classified as nonresponders. Our study suggests the feasibility of further randomized controlled trials on curcumin intravesical treatment in CG patients who remain symptomatic after primary treatments. Qiong Lu, Fen Jiang, Ran Xu, Xiao-Kun Zhao, Zhao-Hui Zhong, Lei Zhang, Hong-Yi Jiang, Lu Yi, Yi Hou, and Xuan Zhu Copyright © 2013 Qiong Lu et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:02:02 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/anesthesiology/2013/736790/ Introduction. It is a consensus that the postoperative cognitive function is impaired in elderly patients after general anaesthesia, and such category patient takes more time to recover. Xenon is a noble gas with anesthetic properties mediated by antagonism of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. With a minimum alveolar concentration of 0.63, xenon is intended for maintaining hypnosis with 30% oxygen. The fast recovery after xenon anaesthesia was hypothesized to be advantageous in this scenario. Case Presentation. We report the case of 99-year-old woman who underwent sigmoid colon carcinoma resection with colorectal anastomosis. We carried out the induction phase by propofol, oxygen, fentanil, and rocuronium bromide, and then we proceeded to a rapid sequence endotracheal intubation consequently. The patient was monitored by IBP, NIBP, ECG, cardiac frequency, respiratory rate, capnometry, TOF Guard, blood gas analysis, and BIS. For maintenance we administrated oxygen, remifentanil, rocuronium bromide, and xenon gas 60–65%. Shortly after the end of surgery the patients started an autonomous respiratory activity, and a high BIS level was also recorded. Decision was made by our team to proceed into the emergence phase. The residual neuromuscular block was antagonized by sugammadex, modified Aldrete score was implicated, and we got our patient fully awake without any cognitive dysfunction or delirium. Conclusion. The rapid emergence to full orientation in very elderly patient who had been anesthetized by xenon shows concordance to the high BIS values and the clinical signs of the depth of anesthesia. Maria Sanfilippo, Ahmed Abdelgawwad Wefki Abdelgawwad Shousha, and Antonella Paparazzo Copyright © 2013 Maria Sanfilippo et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:53 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/nephrology/2013/521949/ We here present the results of ultrasonographic (US) evaluations on the alteration of renal diameter of chronic HD patients. Of 109 outpatient HD patients who had neither severe acquired cystic disease of the kidney nor hereditary polycystic kidney disease, we performed US two or three times to measure their maximum renal diameter (mean of both kidneys), and the yearly alteration rate was calculated. The average interval of the two measurements was 35.9 months, and the average HD duration from the HD induction to the first measurement was 29.5 months. The average decrease rate of renal diameter was (SE) mm/year. No statistical difference was seen on the decrease rate in relation to gender, age and original disease (among three groups, glomerulonephritis and IgA nephropathy, diabetes, and others including hypertension). However, the decrease rate was large when the first measurement was close to the induction of hemodialysis, suggesting that the alteration rate reduced according to the hemodialysis vintage ( mm/year, first measurement not more than 10 months after induction of HD and  mm/year, first measurement more than 80 months after induction of HD). Renal diameter decreased approximately 4.3 mm each year, and the decrease rate slowed as the length of time on dialysis increased. Teiichiro Aoyagi, Masaaki Tachibana, and Shinji Naganuma Copyright © 2013 Teiichiro Aoyagi et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:59:47 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/968652/ In this study was investigated the structure of pecten oculi in the ostrich, duck, pigeon, turkey, and starling. The pecten oculi of the ostrich was vaned type and made up primary, secondary, and few tertiary lamellae. However, duck, pigeon, turkey and starling had a pleated-type pecten oculi which displayed folded structure. The numbers of pleats of the pectens were 12, 13-14, 21-22, and 17 in duck, pigeon, turkey, and starling, respectively. Light microscopic investigation demonstrated that pecten oculi is basically composed of numerous capillaries, large blood vessels, and pigment cells in all investigating avian species. Capillaries were 20.23, 14.34, 11.78, 12.58, and 12.78 μm in diameter in ostrich, duck, pigeon, turkey, and starling, respectively. The capillaries are surrounded by thick basal membrane, and pigmented cells were observed around the capillaries. Mustafa Orhun Dayan and Tugba Ozaydın Copyright © 2013 Mustafa Orhun Dayan and Tugba Ozaydın. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:57:36 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/otolaryngology/2013/937840/ This case report highlights an unusual case of sudden sensorineural hearing loss related to superficial siderosis (SS). Our patient had a craniotomy for medulloblastoma 23 years earlier, and this may represent a delayed complication related to this procedure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains the key diagnostic investigation to illustrate the imaging features of superficial siderosis and exclude other pathologies. Increased awareness of progressive and sudden hearing complications caused by SS is important in the otolaryngologic community to expedite management and better counsel patients during the consent process. Kirsti S. V. Lee, Niranjan Sritharan, and Allan Forrest Copyright © 2013 Kirsti S. V. Lee et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:55:52 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/686752/ The present study deals with the cytological investigations on the meristematic root cells of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus Linn.) grown in vivo and in vitro. Cellular parameters including the mitotic index (MI), chromosome count, ploidy level (nuclear DNA content), mean cell and nuclear areas, and cell doubling time (Cdt) were determined from the 2 mm root tip segments of this species. The MI value decreased when cells were transferred from in vivo to in vitro conditions, perhaps due to early adaptations of the cells to the in vitro environment. The mean chromosome number was generally stable () throughout the 6-month culture period, indicating no occurrence of early somaclonal variation. Following the transfer to the in vitro environment, a significant increase was recorded for mean cell and nuclear areas, from 26.59 ± 0.09 μm2 to 35.66 ± 0.10 μm2 and 142.90 ± 0.59 μm2 to 165.05 ± 0.58 μm2, respectively. However, the mean cell and nuclear areas of in vitro grown D. caryophyllus were unstable and fluctuated throughout the tissue culture period, possibly due to organogenesis or rhizogenesis. Ploidy level analysis revealed that D. caryophyllus root cells contained high percentage of polyploid cells when grown in vivo and maintained high throughout the 6-month culture period. Jamilah Syafawati Yaacob, Rosna Mat Taha, and Arash Khorasani Esmaeili Copyright © 2013 Jamilah Syafawati Yaacob et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:53:57 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/2013/749167/ Ching-Song Jwo, Sih-Li Chen, Ho Chang, Yu-Shan Su, and Jen-Shiun Chen Copyright © 2013 Ching-Song Jwo et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:53:03 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cmmm/2013/713174/ A novel method is proposed to establish the classifier which can classify the pancreatic images into normal or abnormal. Firstly, the brightness feature is used to construct high-order tensors, then using multilinear principal component analysis (MPCA) extracts the eigentensors, and finally, the classifier is constructed based on support vector machine (SVM) and the classifier parameters are optimized with quantum simulated annealing algorithm (QSA). In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, the normal SVM method has been chosen as comparing algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively extract the eigenfeatures and improve the classification accuracy of pancreatic images. Huiyan Jiang, Di Zhao, Tianjiao Feng, Shiyang Liao, and Yenwei Chen Copyright © 2013 Huiyan Jiang et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:52:40 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/optimization/2013/636529/ This paper concentrates on the designing of a robust Tomlinson-Harashima Precoder (THP) over multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels in wireless communication systems with assumption of imperfect channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter side. With the assumption that the covariance matrix of channel estimation error is available at the transmitter side, we design a THP that presents robustness against channel uncertainties. In the proposed robust THP, the transmit power is further minimized by using the Tilted constellation concept. This power minimization reduces the interchannel Interference (ICI) between subchannels and, furthermore, recovers some part of the THP's power loss. The bit error rate (BER) of the proposed system is further improved by using a power loading technique. Finally, the simulation results compare the performance of our proposed robust THP with a conventional MIMO-THP. Hossein Khaleghi Bizaki, Morteza Khaleghi Hojaghan, and Seyyed Mohammad Razavizadeh Copyright © 2013 Hossein Khaleghi Bizaki et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:51:58 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2013/519173/ Covering is a widely used form of data structures. Covering-based rough set theory provides a systematic approach to this data. In this paper, graphs are connected with covering-based rough sets. Specifically, we convert some important concepts in graph theory including vertex covers, independent sets, edge covers, and matchings to ones in covering-based rough sets. At the same time, corresponding problems in graphs are also transformed into ones in covering-based rough sets. For example, finding a minimal edge cover of a graph is translated into finding a minimal general reduct of a covering. The main contributions of this paper are threefold. First, any graph is converted to a covering. Two graphs induce the same covering if and only if they are isomorphic. Second, some new concepts are defined in covering-based rough sets to correspond with ones in graph theory. The upper approximation number is essential to describe these concepts. Finally, from a new viewpoint of covering-based rough sets, the general reduct is defined, and its equivalent characterization for the edge cover is presented. These results show the potential for the connection between covering-based rough sets and graphs. Shiping Wang, Qingxin Zhu, William Zhu, and Fan Min Copyright © 2013 Shiping Wang et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:47:21 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/768976/ An explicit multistep mixed finite element method is proposed and discussed for regularized long wave (RLW) equation. The spatial direction is approximated by the mixed Galerkin method using mixed linear space finite elements, and the time direction is discretized by the explicit multistep method. The optimal error estimates in and norms for the scalar unknown and its flux based on time explicit multistep method are derived. Some numerical results are given to verify our theoretical analysis and illustrate the efficiency of our method. Yang Liu, Hong Li, Yanwei Du, and Jinfeng Wang Copyright © 2013 Yang Liu et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:44:42 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/267375/ Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. The main types of lung cancer are small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this work, a computational method was proposed for identifying lung-cancer-related genes with a shortest path approach in a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Based on the PPI data from STRING, a weighted PPI network was constructed. 54 NSCLC- and 84 SCLC-related genes were retrieved from associated KEGG pathways. Then the shortest paths between each pair of these 54 NSCLC genes and 84 SCLC genes were obtained with Dijkstra’s algorithm. Finally, all the genes on the shortest paths were extracted, and 25 and 38 shortest genes with a permutation value less than 0.05 for NSCLC and SCLC were selected for further analysis. Some of the shortest path genes have been reported to be related to lung cancer. Intriguingly, the candidate genes we identified from the PPI network contained more cancer genes than those identified from the gene expression profiles. Furthermore, these genes possessed more functional similarity with the known cancer genes than those identified from the gene expression profiles. This study proved the efficiency of the proposed method and showed promising results. Bi-Qing Li, Jin You, Lei Chen, Jian Zhang, Ning Zhang, Hai-Peng Li, Tao Huang, Xiang-Yin Kong, and Yu-Dong Cai Copyright © 2013 Bi-Qing Li et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:27:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/635392/ The nonlinear differential equations modeling flow of a reactive third-grade liquid between two parallel isothermal plates is investigated using a novel hybrid of numerical-analytical scheme known as the successive linearization method (SLM). Numerical and graphical results obtained show excellence in agreement with the earlier results reported in the literature. A comparison with numerical results generated using the inbuilt MATLAB boundary value solver bvp4c demonstrates that the new SLM approach is a very efficient technique for tackling highly nonlinear differential equations of the type discussed in this paper. S. S. Motsa, O. D. Makinde, and S. Shateyi Copyright © 2013 S. S. Motsa et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:21:56 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/medicine/2013/512416/ We report the case of a 12-year-old girl, who consulted us with one-year history of an 8 mm nose lesion that was painless and firm upon palpation. The lesion was resected conservatively. Immunohistochemistry was in favor of a primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET)/Ewing’s sarcoma lesion, excluding epithelial, lymphoid, and other tumors. After a second resection, our patient was referred to chemotherapy and has already undergone 9 cycles out of 14. The patient is to date with no evidence of persistent or recurrent disease. To our knowledge, this is the first description of a PNET arising in the nose. Habib Rizk, Aline Khazzaka, Amer Sebaaly, Maguy Cherfan, Roland Tomb, and Riad Sarkis Copyright © 2013 Habib Rizk et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:17:49 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijdsn/2013/379369/ This paper addresses the localization of a timing signal source based on the time of arrival (TOA) measurements that are collected from nearby sensors that are position known and synchronized to each other. Generally speaking, for such TOA-based source localization, the corresponding observation equations contain nonlinear relationship between measurements and unknown parameters, which normally results in the nonexistence of any efficient unbiased estimator that attains the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB). In this paper, we devise a new approach that utilizes linearization and adopts suitable coordinate system translation to eliminate nonlinearity from the converted observation equations. The performance analysis and simulation study conducted show that our proposed algorithm can achieve the CRLB when the zero-mean Gaussian and independent measurement errors are sufficiently small. Shunyuan Sun, Shouhong Zhu, Zhiguo Ding, and Baoguo Xu Copyright © 2013 Shunyuan Sun et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:16:28 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/248153/ This paper investigates the antiwindup (AW) control problem for plants with input saturation. The AW compensator is not activated as soon as input saturation occurs as usual. A delayed decoupling structure is first proposed. Then, appropriate linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) are developed to determine a plant-order AW compensator. Effectiveness of the presented AW technique is illustrated by a fighter aircraft model. Huawei Zhu, Guozheng Qin, Yingxin Yan, Zhichao Jiang, and Zhisheng Duan Copyright © 2013 Huawei Zhu et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:14:30 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2013/156053/ We studied the influence of PON1 on metabolic alterations induced by oxidized LDL when incubated with endothelial cells. HUVEC cells were incubated with native LDL, oxidized LDL, oxidized LDL plus HDL from wild type mice, and oxidized LDL plus HDL from PON1-deficient mice. Results showed alterations in carbohydrate and phospholipid metabolism and increased apoptosis in cells incubated with oxidized LDL. These changes were partially prevented by wild type mouse HDL, but the effects were less effective with HDL from PON1-deficient mice. Our results suggest that PON1 may play a significant role in endothelial cell survival by protecting cells from alterations in the respiratory chain induced by oxidized LDL. These results extend current knowledge on the protective role of HDL and PON1 against oxidation and apoptosis in endothelial cells. Anabel García-Heredia, Judit Marsillach, Anna Rull, Iris Triguero, Isabel Fort, Bharti Mackness, Michael Mackness, Diana M. Shih, Jorge Joven, and Jordi Camps Copyright © 2013 Anabel García-Heredia et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:08:02 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/136106/ Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer death in many Asian and African countries. Lack of early diagnosis tools is one of the clinical obstacles for effective treatment of HCC. Thus, enhanced understanding of the molecular changes associated with HCC is urgently needed to develop novel strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of this dismal disease. While aberrant expression of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) has been functionally associated with certain cancers, the expression profiles and biological relevance of lncRNAs in HCC remain unclear. Highly upregulated in liver cancer (HULC) lncRNA has been implicated in the regulation of hepatoma cell proliferation. In this study, we demonstrate that HULC expression is significantly higher in HCC tumors compared to normal liver tissues. Among the tumor tissues, higher HULC expression is positively associated with Edmondson histological grades or with hepatitis B (HBV) positive status. Moreover, HULC lncRNA is detected with higher frequency in the plasma of HCC patients compared to healthy controls. Higher HULC detection rates are observed in the plasma of patients with higher Edmondson grades or with HBV+ status. These findings indicate for the first time that the expression of HULC in plasma can be used as a noninvasive promising novel biomarker for the diagnosis and/or prognosis of HCC. Hui Xie, Hongwei Ma, and Danqiu Zhou Copyright © 2013 Hui Xie et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 15:03:05 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/867079/ This study deals with a mixed static and dynamic optimization of four-parameter functionally graded material (FGM) doubly curved shells and panels. The two constituent functionally graded shell consists of ceramic and metal, and the volume fraction profile of each lamina varies through the thickness of the shell according to a generalized power-law distribution. The Generalized Differential Quadrature (GDQ) method is applied to determine the static and dynamic responses for various FGM shell and panel structures. The mechanical model is based on the so-called First-order Shear Deformation Theory (FSDT). Three different optimization schemes and methodologies are implemented. The Particle Swarm Optimization, Monte Carlo and Genetic Algorithm approaches have been applied to define the optimum volume fraction profile for optimizing the first natural frequency and the maximum static deflection of the considered shell structure. The optimization aim is in fact to reach the frequency and the static deflection targets defined by the designer of the structure: the complete four-dimensional search space is considered for the optimization process. The optimized material profile obtained with the three methodologies is presented as a result of the optimization problem solved for each shell or panel structure. Francesco Tornabene and Alessandro Ceruti Copyright © 2013 Francesco Tornabene and Alessandro Ceruti. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:55:38 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/760681/ Three new cyanobacterial strains, that have been previously purified from the hydroid Dynamena pumila (L., 1758), isolated from the White Sea, were studied using scanning and transmission electron microscopy methods and were characterized by using almost complete sequence of the 16S rRNA gene, internal transcribed spacer 16S-23S rRNA, and part of the gene for 23S rRNA. The full nucleotide sequences of the rRNA gene clusters were deposited to GenBank (HM064496.1, GU265558.1, JQ259187.1). Comparison of rRNA gene cluster sequences of Synechococcus cyanobacterium 1Dp66E-1, Oscillatoriales cyanobacterium 2Dp86E, and Nostoc sp. 10Dp66E with all sequences present at the GenBank shows that these cyanobacterial strains do not have 100% identity with any organisms investigated previously. Furthermore, for the first time heterotrophic bacterium, associated with Nostoc sp. 10Dp66E, was identified as a member of the new phylum Gemmatimonadetes, genus of Gemmatimonas (GenBank accession number is JX437625.1). Phylogenetic analysis showed that cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. 1Dp66E-1 forms the unique branch and belongs to a cluster of Synechococcus, including freshwater and sea strains. Oscillatoriales cyanobacterium 2Dp86E belongs to a cluster of Leptolyngbya strains. Isolate Nostoc sp. 10Dp66E forms unique branch and belongs to a cluster of the genus Nostoc, with the closest relative of Nostoc commune isolates. O. A. Koksharova, T. R. Kravzova, I. V. Lazebnaya, O. A. Gorelova, O. I. Baulina, O. E. Lazebny, T. A. Fedorenko, and E. S. Lobakova Copyright © 2013 O. A. Koksharova et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:54:56 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/848120/ Missing-data problems are extremely common in practice. To achieve reliable inferential results, we need to take into account this feature of the data. Suppose that the univariate data set under analysis has missing observations. This paper examines the impact of selecting an auxiliary complete data set—whose underlying stochastic process is to some extent interdependent with the former—to improve the efficiency of the estimators for the relevant parameters of the model. The Vector AutoRegressive (VAR) Model has revealed to be an extremely useful tool in capturing the dynamics of bivariate time series. We propose maximum likelihood estimators for the parameters of the VAR(1) Model based on monotone missing data pattern. Estimators’ precision is also derived. Afterwards, we compare the bivariate modelling scheme with its univariate counterpart. More precisely, the univariate data set with missing observations will be modelled by an AutoRegressive Moving Average (ARMA(2,1)) Model. We will also analyse the behaviour of the AutoRegressive Model of order one, AR(1), due to its practical importance. We focus on the mean value of the main stochastic process. By simulation studies, we conclude that the estimator based on the VAR(1) Model is preferable to those derived from the univariate context. Helena Mouriño and Maria Isabel Barão Copyright © 2013 Helena Mouriño and Maria Isabel Barão. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:50:15 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ert/2013/124934/ Epileptic encephalopathy can be induced by inborn metabolic defects that may be rare individually but in aggregate represent a substantial clinical portion of child neurology. These may present with various epilepsy phenotypes including refractory neonatal seizures, early myoclonic encephalopathy, early infantile epileptic encephalopathy, infantile spasms, and generalized epilepsies which in particular include myoclonic seizures. There are varying degrees of treatability, but the outcome if untreated can often be catastrophic. The importance of early recognition cannot be overemphasized. This paper provides an overview of inborn metabolic errors associated with persistent brain disturbances due to highly active clinical or electrographic ictal activity. Selected diseases are organized by the defective molecule or mechanism and categorized as small molecule disorders (involving amino and organic acids, fatty acids, neurotransmitters, urea cycle, vitamers and cofactors, and mitochondria) and large molecule disorders (including lysosomal storage disorders, peroxisomal disorders, glycosylation disorders, and leukodystrophies). Details including key clinical features, salient electrophysiological and neuroradiological findings, biochemical findings, and treatment options are summarized for prominent disorders in each category. Joe Yuezhou Yu and Phillip L. Pearl Copyright © 2013 Joe Yuezhou Yu and Phillip L. Pearl. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:49:54 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/608943/ An efficient approach based on homotopy perturbation method by using sumudu transform is proposed to solve nonlinear fractional Harry Dym equation. This method is called homotopy perturbation sumudu transform (HPSTM). Furthermore, the same problem is solved by Adomian decomposition method (ADM). The results obtained by the two methods are in agreement, and, hence, this technique may be considered an alternative and efficient method for finding approximate solutions of both linear and nonlinear fractional differential equations. The HPSTM is a combined form of sumudu transform, homotopy perturbation method, and He’s polynomials. The nonlinear terms can be easily handled by the use of He’s polynomials. The numerical solutions obtained by the HPSTM show that the approach is easy to implement and computationally very attractive. Devendra Kumar, Jagdev Singh, and A. Kılıçman Copyright © 2013 Devendra Kumar et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:49:09 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/605409/ When denoising with the method of Weickert’s anisotropic diffusion equation, the textures and details will be compromised. A fidelity term is added to Weickert’s equation, and the coefficient of fidelity term will vary adaptively with the instant image, which makes the diffusion term and the fidelity term come to a better compromise. Otherwise, when deciding the edge directions, because of the strong smoothness of linear Gaussian function, a few other edge directions hiding in the main direction will be lost. To preserve these detailed edge directions, Gaussian kernel is substituted for nonlinear wavelet threshold. In addition, in order to preserve the textures and details as much as possible, a nonlocal diffusion tensor was introduced, and the two eigenvalues are reset by combining the two methods: edge-enhancing diffusion and coherence-enhancing diffusion. Experiments show that the new model has an obvious effect on preserving textures and details. Xiaoli Sun, Chen Xu, and Min Li Copyright © 2013 Xiaoli Sun et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:28:08 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/stroke/2013/974236/ Objective. To determine whether routine laboratory parameters are predictors of early mortality after acute ischemic stroke (AIS). Methods. The cohort consisted of 522 consecutive patients with AIS presenting to the emergency department (ED) at a tertiary referral center during a 27-month period, residing within the surrounding ten counties. Serum laboratory values were obtained for all patients and categorized according to whether the levels were low, normal, or high. These laboratory results were evaluated as potential predictors of 90-day mortality using Cox proportional hazards models. The associations were summarized by calculating risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results. The presence of elevated white blood cell count (RR 2.2, 95% CI 1.5–3.4), low bicarbonate (RR 4.2, 95% CI 2.6–6.7), low calcium (RR 2.9, 95% CI 1.4–5.9), and high glucose (RR 1.3, 95% 1.1–1.6) were each univariately associated with significantly higher mortality within the first 90 days. Based on fitting a multivariate Cox regression model, elevated white blood cell count, low bicarbonate, and high glucose were each identified as being jointly associated with early mortality (). Conclusion. Early leukocytosis, acidosis, and hyperglycemia and hypocalcemia in AIS appear to be associated with early mortality. Whether addressing these factors will impact survival remains to be investigated. Latha Ganti, Rachel M. Gilmore, Amy L. Weaver, and Robert D. Brown Jr. Copyright © 2013 Latha Ganti et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:23:15 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/radiology/2013/602981/ A 29-year-old man presented with comatose after methadone intoxication. Cerebral tomography only showed cortico-subcortical hypodense signal in the right cerebellar hemisphere. Brain MRI showed a rare imaging of FLAIR and DWI hyperintensities in the two cerebellar hemispheres as well as basal ganglia (globi pallidi), compatible with methadone overdose. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of both cerebellar and basal ganglia involvement in methadone overdose. Jérôme Corré, Jérôme Pillot, and Gilles Hilbert Copyright © 2013 Jérôme Corré et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:22:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/urology/2013/472642/ We report a case of a 33-year-old male with a mixed germ-cell testicular tumor. Postoperative follow-up FDG-PET revealed concentration of FDG in the left inguinal area which is not tumor metastasis or local recurrence but suture reactivity granuloma. In this paper, we reviewed suture granulomas associated with false-positive findings on FDG-PET after surgery. If FDG-PET will be used more frequently in the future, it will be necessary to refrain from using silk thread in order to prevent any unnecessary surgery. Kohei Takahara, Hiroaki Kakinoki, Saya Ikoma, Kazuma Udo, Shohei Tobu, Yuji Satoh, Yuji Tokuda, Mitsuru Noguchi, Shigehisa Aoki, and Jiro Uozumi Copyright © 2013 Kohei Takahara et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:21:08 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/vasmed/2013/403507/ We report the case of a 79-year-old patient who presented with a femoral iatrogenic pseudoaneurysm of delayed and unusual onset with immediately life-threatening massive bleeding. Ultrasound is the method of choice for the diagnosis of pseudo aneurysm. If there is not spontaneous closure, ultrasound-guided compression repair, minimally invasive percutaneous treatments, and surgical repair are the three therapeutic options. Julie Renner, Pierre Pasquier, Elisabeth Falzone, Faye Rozwadowski, and Stéphane Mérat Copyright © 2013 Julie Renner et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:20:56 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/acmp/2013/750371/ Using pump-probe experiments of varying time intervals between pump and probe, the method of time-resolved crystallography has given many insights into the fast time variations of crystallized molecules as a result of photoexcitation. We show here that quantities extractable from multiple diffraction patterns of dissolved molecules in random orientations, as measured using powerful ultrashort pulses of X-rays, also contain information about structural changes of a molecule on photoexcitation. H.-C. Poon, M. Schmidt, and D. K. Saldin Copyright © 2013 H.-C. Poon et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:17:19 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/808565/ An integrated modeling system has been developed for analyzing the impact of climate change on snowmelt runoff in Kaidu Watershed, Northwest China. The system couples Hadley Centre Coupled Model version 3 (HadCM3) outputs with Snowmelt Runoff Model (SRM). The SRM was verified against observed discharge for outlet hydrological station of the watershed during the period from April to September in 2001 and generally performed well for Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient (EF) and water balance coefficient (RE). The EF is approximately over 0.8, and the water balance error is lower than ± 10%, indicating reasonable prediction accuracy. The Statistical Downscaling Model (SDSM) was used to downscale coarse outputs of HadCM3, and then the downscaled future climate data were used as inputs of the SRM. Four scenarios were considered for analyzing the climate change impact on snowmelt flow in the Kaidu Watershed. And the results indicated that watershed hydrology would alter under different climate change scenarios. The stream flow in spring is likely to increase with the increased mean temperature; the discharge and peck flow in summer decrease with the decreased precipitation under Scenarios 1 and 2. Moreover, the consideration of the change in cryosphere area would intensify the variability of stream flow under Scenarios 3 and 4. The modeling results provide useful decision support for water resources management. Yonggang Ma, Yue Huang, Xi Chen, Yongping Li, and Anming Bao Copyright © 2013 Yonggang Ma et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:12:57 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/oximed/2013/423965/ Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) is the transcription factor that regulates an array of antioxidant/detoxifying genes for cellular defense. The conformational changes of Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1), a cytosolic repressor protein of NRF2, by various stimuli result in NRF2 liberation and accumulation in the nucleus. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of KEAP1 knockdown on NRF2 target gene expression and its toxicological implication using human colon cancer cells. The stable KEAP1-knockdown HT29 cells exhibit elevated levels of NRF2 and its target gene expressions. In particular, the mRNA levels of aldo-keto reductases (AKR1C1, 1C2, 1C3, 1B1, and 1B10) were substantially increased in KEAP1 silenced HT29 cells. These differential AKRs expressions appear to contribute to protection against oxidative stress. The KEAP1-knockdown cells were relatively more resistant to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4HNE) compared to the control cells. Accordantly, we observed accumulation of 4HNE protein adducts in H2O2- or 4HNE-treated control cells, whereas KEAP1-knockdown cells did not increase adduct formation. The treatment of KEAP1-silenced cells with AKR1C inhibitor flufenamic acid increased 4HNE-induced cellular toxicity and protein adduct formation. Taken together, these results indicate that AKRs, which are NRF2-dependent highly inducible gene clusters, play a role in NRF2-mediated cytoprotection against lipid peroxide toxicity. Kyeong-Ah Jung and Mi-Kyoung Kwak Copyright © 2013 Kyeong-Ah Jung and Mi-Kyoung Kwak. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:11:41 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/dentistry/2013/748405/ Deficiencies in the alveolar ridges cause multiple problems in achieving aesthetic and functional outcome of implant therapy and are commonly restored by using onlay graft from intraoral source. Careful assessment of the recipient as well as the donor site using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is a prerequisite to ideal treatment planning. This paper highlights the critical role of CBCT in planning a successful rehabilitation of traumatised deficient anterior maxillary alveolar ridge using autogenous block graft from mandibular symphysis, followed by implant placement. A 21-year-old male reported with missing right maxillary lateral incisor due to traumatic avulsion 6 months back. A concavity was found on the labial aspect of edentulous area. Serial transplanar images on CBCT revealed gross irregular radiolucency in place of labial cortical plate. Using CBCT, size of the required block was estimated, and mandibular symphyseal area was evaluated for the feasibility of harvesting a graft of suitable dimension. Onlay block graft was harvested from mandibular symphysis and placed at the edentulous site to augment the alveolar ridge. Implants were placed 5 months later and loaded successfully after osseointegration. After 1 year of followup, implant-based prosthesis is working well, without any complications. Shipra Arora, Arundeep Kaur Lamba, Farrukh Faraz, Shruti Tandon, and Abdul Ahad Copyright © 2013 Shipra Arora et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:10:01 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2013/654059/ In control theory of discrete event systems (DESs), one of the challenging topics is the extension of theory of finite-state DESs to that of infinite-state DESs. In this paper, we discuss verification of opacity and diagnosability for infinite-state DESs modeled by pushdown automata (called here pushdown systems). First, we discuss opacity of pushdown systems and prove that opacity of pushdown systems is in general undecidable. In addition, a decidable class is clarified. Next, in diagnosability, we prove that under a certain assumption, which is different from the assumption in the existing result, diagnosability of pushdown systems is decidable. Furthermore, a necessary condition and a sufficient condition using finite-state approximations are derived. Finally, as one of the applications, we consider data integration using XML (Extensible Markup Language). The obtained result is useful for developing control theory of infinite-state DESs. Koichi Kobayashi and Kunihiko Hiraishi Copyright © 2013 Koichi Kobayashi and Kunihiko Hiraishi. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:08:03 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/379690/ Assessment of credit risk is of great importance in financial risk management. In this paper, we propose an improved attribute bagging method, weight-selected attribute bagging (WSAB), to evaluate credit risk. Weights of attributes are first computed using attribute evaluation method such as linear support vector machine (LSVM) and principal component analysis (PCA). Subsets of attributes are then constructed according to weights of attributes. For each of attribute subsets, the larger the weights of the attributes the larger the probabilities by which they are selected into the attribute subset. Next, training samples and test samples are projected onto each attribute subset, respectively. A scoring model is then constructed based on each set of newly produced training samples. Finally, all scoring models are used to vote for test instances. An individual model that only uses selected attributes will be more accurate because of elimination of some of redundant and uninformative attributes. Besides, the way of selecting attributes by probability can also guarantee the diversity of scoring models. Experimental results based on two credit benchmark databases show that the proposed method, WSAB, is outstanding in both prediction accuracy and stability, as compared to analogous methods. Jianwu Li, Haizhou Wei, and Wangli Hao Copyright © 2013 Jianwu Li et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:04:32 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/430791/ Dysfunction of cardiac mitochondria appears to play a substantial role in cardiomyopathy or myocardial dysfunction and is a promising therapeutic target for many cardiovascular diseases. We investigated the effect of the Rho/Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor fasudil on cardiac mitochondria from rats in which diabetes was induced by a combination of streptozotocin (STZ) and a sustained high-fat diet. Eight weeks after diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of 50 mg/kg STZ followed by a sustained high-fat diet, either fasudil (5 mg/kg bid) or equivalent volumes of saline (control) were administered over four weeks. Fasudil significantly protected against the histopathologic changes of cardiac mitochondria in diabetic rats. Fasudil significantly reduced the abundances of the Rho A, ROCK 1, and ROCK 2 proteins, restored the activities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and monoamine oxidase (MAO) in cardiac mitochondria, inhibited the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, and decreased the total antioxidant capacity, as well as levels of malonyldialdehyde, hydroxy radical, reduced glutathione, and superoxide dismutase in heart. Fasudil improved the structures of cardiac mitochondria and increased both SDH and MAO activities in cardiac mitochondria. These beneficial effects may be associated with the attenuation of oxidative stress caused by fasudil treatment. Rong Guo, Baoxin Liu, Shunping Zhou, Buchun Zhang, and Yawei Xu Copyright © 2013 Rong Guo et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 14:02:20 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/138916/ Water-protein interactions help to maintain flexible conformation conditions which are required for multifunctional protein recognition processes. The intimate relationship between the protein surface and hydration water can be analyzed by studying experimental water properties measured in protein systems in solution. In particular, proteins in solution modify the structure and the dynamics of the bulk water at the solute-solvent interface. The ordering effects of proteins on hydration water are extended for several angstroms. In this paper we propose a method for analyzing the dynamical properties of the water molecules present in the hydration shells of proteins. The approach is based on the analysis of the effects of protein-solvent interactions on water protons NMR relaxation parameters. NMR relaxation parameters, especially the nonselective ( ) and selective ( ) spin-lattice relaxation rates of water protons, are useful for investigating the solvent dynamics at the macromolecule-solvent interfaces as well as the perturbation effects caused by the water-macromolecule interactions on the solvent dynamical properties. In this paper we demonstrate that Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy can be used to determine the dynamical contributions of proteins to the water molecules belonging to their hydration shells. Silvia Martini, Claudia Bonechi, Alberto Foletti, and Claudio Rossi Copyright © 2013 Silvia Martini et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:51:56 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/appmath/2013/191604/ This paper derives the Burr Type III and Type XII family of distributions in the contexts of univariate -moments and the -correlations. Included is the development of a procedure for specifying nonnormal distributions with controlled degrees of -skew, -kurtosis, and -correlations. The procedure can be applied in a variety of settings such as statistical modeling (e.g., forestry, fracture roughness, life testing, operational risk, etc.) and Monte Carlo or simulation studies. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate that -moment-based Burr distributions are superior to their conventional moment-based analogs in terms of estimation and distribution fitting. Evaluation of the proposed procedure also demonstrates that the estimates of -skew, -kurtosis, and -correlation are substantially superior to their conventional product moment-based counterparts of skew, kurtosis, and Pearson correlations in terms of relative bias and relative efficiency—most notably when heavy-tailed distributions are of concern. Mohan D. Pant and Todd C. Headrick Copyright © 2013 Mohan D. Pant and Todd C. Headrick. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:42:41 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/dentistry/2013/537120/ Oral habits in form of digit/thumb sucking are common phenomenon and part of childhood behavior. They are normally associated with oral pleasure, hunger, anxiety, and sometimes psychological disturbances. Chronic practice can cause major orthopedic alterations to the skeletal structures of the oral cavity and lower face. Aversive approaches in form of punitive therapy have been moderately effective. Modified bluegrass appliance is nonpunitive therapy to treat sucking habits. It acts as a habit reversal technique and installs positive reinforcement in children. Modified blue grass appliance proved to be very comfortable to patients and encourages neuromuscular stimulations. Amish Diwanji, Preet Jain, Jigar Doshi, Prakash Somani, and Dhaval Mehta Copyright © 2013 Amish Diwanji et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:38:28 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/2013/702157/ Keratin, obtained from chicken feathers, was grafted on the surface of commercially available carbon nanotubes. The original procedure developed allows a covalent interaction between some specific chemical groups characteristic of the keratin, with some functional groups introduced on purpose on the surface of the nanotubes, as revealed by infrared and Raman spectroscopies, which also allowed to determine structural changes introduced during the process, such as crystallinity, which lead to changes in other properties, as well. Yoxkin Estévez-Martínez, Carlos Velasco-Santos, Ana-Laura Martínez-Hernández, Guadalupe Delgado, Erick Cuevas-Yáñez, Daniel Alaníz-Lumbreras, Sergio Duron-Torres, and Víctor M. Castaño Copyright © 2013 Yoxkin Estévez-Martínez et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:30:41 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnc/2013/940701/ This paper examines the crystal structure of radium sulphate and compares its structure to barium sulphate, strontium sulphate, and lead sulphate. The radium sulphate powder was measured by both powder X-ray diffraction and EXAFS. The unit cell was determined to be orthorhombic, belonging to the Pnma (no. 62) space group with the cell parameters  Å,  Å,  Å, and  Å3. These data support the fact that radium sulphate is isostructural with barium, strontium, and lead sulphate. The bond distances were determined using EXAFS. The mean Ra–O and S–O bond distances were found to be 2.96(2) Å and 1.485(8) Å, respectively, and the Ra–O–S bond angle was . Findings of EXAFS data are quite consistent and support the XRD data. These findings show that it is possible for radium to coprecipitate with barium, strontium, and lead in sulphate media to form a substitutional solid solution. Hanna Hedström, Ingmar Persson, Gunnar Skarnemark, and Christian Ekberg Copyright © 2013 Hanna Hedström et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:24:48 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/2013/937846/ The goal of the present work was to identify the candidate genetic markers predictive of alloimmunization in sickle cell disease (SCD). Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is indicated for acute treatment, prevention, and abrogation of some complications of SCD. A well-known consequence of multiple RBC transfusions is alloimmunization. Given that a subset of SCD patients develop multiple RBC allo-/autoantibodies, while others do not in a similar multiple transfusional setting, we investigated a possible genetic basis for alloimmunization. Biomarker(s) which predicts (predict) susceptibility to alloimmunization could identify patients at risk before the onset of a transfusion program and thus may have important implications for clinical management. In addition, such markers could shed light on the mechanism(s) underlying alloimmunization. We genotyped 27 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CD81, CHRNA10, and ARHG genes in two groups of SCD patients. One group (35) of patients developed alloantibodies, and another (40) had no alloantibodies despite having received multiple transfusions. Two SNPs in the CD81 gene, that encodes molecule involved in the signal modulation of B lymphocytes, show a strong association with alloimmunization. If confirmed in prospective studies with larger cohorts, the two SNPs identified in this retrospective study could serve as predictive biomarkers for alloimmunization. Zohreh Tatari-Calderone, Ryad Tamouza, Gama P. Le Bouder, Ramita Dewan, Naomi L. C. Luban, Jacqueline Lasserre, Jacqueline Maury, François Lionnet, Rajagopal Krishnamoorthy, Robert Girot, and Stanislav Vukmanovic Copyright © 2013 Zohreh Tatari-Calderone et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:22:39 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/dentistry/2013/564392/ The aim of this case report is to present two cases where cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) was used for the diagnosis, treatment planning, and followup of large periapical lesions in relation to maxillary anterior teeth treated by endodontic surgery. Periapical disease may be detected sooner using CBCT, and their true size, extent, nature, and position can be assessed. It allows clinician to select the most relevant views of the area of interest resulting in improved detection of periapical lesions. CBCT scan may provide a better, more accurate, and faster method to differentially diagnose a solid (granuloma) from a fluid-filled lesion or cavity (cyst). In the present case report, endodontic treatment was performed for both the cases followed by endodontic surgery. Biopsy was done to establish the confirmatory histopathological diagnosis of the periapical lesions. Long-term assessment of the periapical healing following surgery was done in all the three dimensions using CBCT and was found to be more accurate than IOPA radiography. It was concluded that CBCT was a useful modality in making the diagnosis and treatment plan and assessing the outcome of endodontic surgery for large periapical lesions. Vijay Shekhar and K. Shashikala Copyright © 2013 Vijay Shekhar and K. Shashikala. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:19:47 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijap/2013/516946/ The current focus in defense arena is towards the stealth technology with an emphasis to control the radar cross-section (RCS). The scattering from the antennas mounted over the platform is of prime importance especially for a low-observable aerospace vehicle. This paper presents the analysis of the scattering cross section of a uniformly spaced linear dipole array. Two types of feed networks, that is, series and parallel feed networks, are considered. The total RCS of phased array with either kind of feed network is obtained by following the signal as it enters through the aperture and travels through the feed network. The RCS estimation of array is done including the mutual coupling effect between the dipole elements in three configurations, that is, side-by-side, collinear, and parallel-in-echelon. The results presented can be useful while designing a phased array with optimum performance towards low observability. H. L. Sneha, Hema Singh, and R. M. Jha Copyright © 2013 H. L. Sneha et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:17:05 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/sci/2013/361637/ Stem cells continue to receive widespread attention due to their potential to revolutionise treatments in the fields of both tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Adult stem cells, specifically mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), play a vital role in the natural events surrounding bone healing and osseointegration through being stimulated to differentiate along their osteogenic lineage and in doing so, they form new cortical and trabecular bone tissue. Understanding how to control, manipulate, and enhance the intrinsic healing events modulated through osteogenic differentiation of MSCs by the use of modified surfaces and biomaterials could potentially advance the fields of both orthopaedics and dentistry. This could be by either using surface modification to generate greater implant stability and more rapid healing following implantation or the stimulation of MSCs ex vivo for reimplantation. This review aims to gather publications targeted at promoting, enhancing, and controlling the osteogenic differentiation of MSCs through biomaterials, nanotopographies, and modified surfaces for use in implant procedures. Niall Logan and Peter Brett Copyright © 2013 Niall Logan and Peter Brett. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:15:44 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/pulmonology/2013/326871/ We describe herein a rare case of a primary primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) in the mediastinum of a 75-year-old man. Grossly, the tumor was located in the left upper anterior mediastinum. Transcutaneous fine-needle biopsy (TCNB) revealed small round-cell proliferation. The expression immunohistochemical analysis was confirmed the diagnosis of PNET. He was successfully treated with chemotherapy and is alive with no sign of recurrence for 17 months after the diagnosis. Kubra Erol Kalkan, Ahmet Bilici, Fatih Selcukbiricik, Nurcan Unver, and Mahmut Yuksel Copyright © 2013 Kubra Erol Kalkan et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:12:42 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/vmi/2013/316926/ A cost-effective and efficacious influenza vaccine for use in commercial poultry farms would help protect against avian influenza outbreaks. Current influenza vaccines for poultry are expensive and subtype specific, and therefore there is an urgent need to develop a universal avian influenza vaccine. We have constructed a live bacterial vaccine against avian influenza by expressing a conserved peptide from the ectodomain of M2 antigen (M2e) on the surface of Lactococcus lactis (LL). Chickens were vaccinated intranasally with the lactococcal vaccine (LL-M2e) or subcutaneously with keyhole-limpet-hemocyanin conjugated M2e (KLH-M2e). Vaccinated and nonvaccinated birds were challenged with high pathogenic avian influenza virus A subtype H5N2. Birds vaccinated with LL-M2e or KLH-M2e had median survival times of 5.5 and 6.0 days, respectively, which were significantly longer than non-vaccinated birds (3.5 days). Birds vaccinated subcutaneously with KLH-M2e had a lower mean viral burden than either of the other two groups. However, there was a significant correlation between the time of survival and M2e-specific serum IgG. The results of these trials show that birds in both vaccinated groups had significantly () higher median survival times than non-vaccinated birds and that this protection could be due to M2e-specific serum IgG. Kaleb A. Reese, Christopher Lupfer, Rudd C. Johnson, Georgi M. Mitev, Valerie M. Mullen, Bruce L. Geller, and Manoj Pastey Copyright © 2013 Kaleb A. Reese et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:09:58 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijps/2013/290187/ A molecularly imprinted polymer was prepared by a surface molecular imprinting technique in water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion. In this technique, the solid polymer, which is molecularly imprinted at the internal cavity surface, is prepared by polymerizing W/O emulsions consisting of a water-soluble imprinted molecule, a functional host molecule, an emulsion stabilizer, and a crosslinking agent. Dioleoyl phosphate was used as an emulsion stabilizer, and this compound also acted as a monomer and a host functional group in the imprinted cavity. Divinylbenzene was used as a crosslinker. Tryptophan methyl ester and phenylalanine methyl ester were used as the target template materials. These imprinted polymers exhibited enantiomeric selectivity in absorption experiments, and the maximum separation factor was 1.58. The enantiomeric selectivity with tryptophan methyl ester was higher than that with phenylalanine methyl ester. Min Jae Shin, Young Jae Shin, Seung Won Hwang, and Jae Sup Shin Copyright © 2013 Min Jae Shin et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:03:38 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/921012/ The antidiabetic effect of the Citrus junos Tanaka (also known as yuja or yuzu) was examined. Ethanol extract of yuja peel (YPEE) significantly stimulated 2-[N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-NBDG) uptake in C2C12 myotubes. However, ethanol extract of yuja pulp (YpEE) and water extract of yuja peel (YPWE) or pulp (YpWE) did not stimulate glucose uptake. In addition, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activities were increased by YPEE in a dose-dependent manner. Pretreatment of AMPK inhibitor decreased the glucose uptake stimulated by YPEE in C2C12 myotubes. We confirmed the anti-diabetic effect of YPEE in mice fed a high fat-diet (HFD). Compared with control mice on a normal diet (ND), these mice showed increased body weight, liver fat, insulin resistance, triacylglycerol (TG), and total cholesterol content. Addition of 5% YPEE significantly reduced the weight gain and rise in liver fat content, serum triacylglycerol (TG), total cholesterol, and insulin resistance found in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Moreover, YPEE reduced the secretion of HFD-induced adipocytokines such as leptin and resistin. YPEE also resulted in increased phosphorylation of AMPK in muscle tissues. These results suggest that ethanol extract of yuja peel exerts anti-diabetic effects via AMPK and PPAR- in both cell culture and mouse models. Sung Hee Kim, Haeng Jeon Hur, Hye Jeong Yang, Hyun Jin Kim, Min Jung Kim, Jae Ho Park, Mi Jeong Sung, Myung Sunny Kim, Dae Young Kwon, and Jin-Taek Hwang Copyright © 2013 Sung Hee Kim et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:02:40 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/2013/436946/ The purpose of this study is the improvement of the behaviors of walls constructed with masonry bricks using reinforced plaster mortars. In this study,  mm sized walls were constructed using 1 : 2 scaled  mm sized masonry bricks. The walls were plastered using normal and various proportions of polypropylene and steel fiber reinforced plaster mortars and were subjected to vertical loads at 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° angles. As a result of the experiments, attempts were made to present the strength, stiffness, and ductility of all of the walls. At the end of the study, an evaluation concerning failure envelope curve (-) obtained from test results according to plastered masonry walls types was performed. Hakan Basaran, Ali Demir, and Muhiddin Bagci Copyright © 2013 Hakan Basaran et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 12:57:00 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobes/2013/384167/ Heart rate recovery (HRR) is an indicator of all-cause mortality in children and adults. We aimed to determine the effect of adiposity and Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), a congenital form of obesity, on HRR. Sixteen children of normal weight (NW = body fat % ≤85th percentile, 9.4 ± 1.1 y), 18 children with obesity (OB = body fat % >95th percentile, 9.3 ± 1.1 y), and 11 PWS youth (regardless of body fat %; 11.4 ± 2.5 y) completed peak and submaximal bike tests on separate visits. HRR was recorded one minute following peak and submaximal exercises. All groups displayed similar HRR from peak exercise, while NW (54 ± 16 beats) and OB (50 ± 12 beats) exhibited a significantly faster HRR from submaximal exercise than PWS (37 ± 14 beats). These data suggest that excess adiposity does not influence HRR in children, but other factors such as low cardiovascular fitness and/or autonomic dysfunction might be more influential. Diobel M. Castner, Daniela A. Rubin, Daniel A. Judelson, and Andrea M. Haqq Copyright © 2013 Diobel M. Castner et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 11:16:05 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/energy/2013/926392/ Cost of biodiesel produced from virgin vegetable oil through transesterification is higher than that of fossil fuel, because of high raw material cost. To minimize the biofuel cost, in recent days waste cooking oil was used as feedstock. Catalysts used in this process are usually acids, base, and lipase. Since lipase catalysts are much expensive, the usage of lipase in biodiesel production is limited. In most cases, NaOH is used as alkaline catalyst, because of its low cost and higher reaction rate. In the case of waste cooking oil containing high percentage of free fatty acid, alkaline catalyst reacts with free fatty acid and forms soap by saponification reaction. Also, it reduces the biodiesel conversions. In order to reduce the level of fatty acid content, waste cooking oil is pretreated with acid catalyst to undergo esterification reaction, which also requires high operating conditions. In this review paper, various parameters influencing the process of biofuel production such as reaction rate, catalyst concentration, temperature, stirrer speed, catalyst type, alcohol used, alcohol to oil ratio, free fatty acid content, and water content have been summarized. A. Gnanaprakasam, V. M. Sivakumar, A. Surendhar, M. Thirumarimurugan, and T. Kannadasan Copyright © 2013 A. Gnanaprakasam et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 11:11:09 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jtr/2013/878467/ Appropriate diagnosis and treatment of hyperthyroidism during pregnancy are of outmost importance, because hyperthyroidism has major adverse impact on both mother and fetus. Since data on the management of thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy is rapidly evolving, two guidelines have been developed by the American Thyroid Association and the Endocrine society in the last 2 years. We compare here the recommendations of these two guidelines regarding management of hyperthyroidism during pregnancy. The comparison reveals no disagreement or controversy on the various aspects of diagnosis and treatment of hyperthyroidism during pregnancy between the two guidelines. Propylthiouracil has been considered as the first-line drug for treatment of hyperthyroidism in the first trimester of pregnancy. In the second trimester, consideration should be given to switching to methimazole for the rest of pregnancy. Methimazole is also the drug of choice in lactating hyperthyroid women. Shahram Alamdari, Fereidoun Azizi, Hossein Delshad, Farzaneh Sarvghadi, Atieh Amouzegar, and Ladan Mehran Copyright © 2013 Shahram Alamdari et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 11:10:04 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/grp/2013/730261/ Objectives. Capsule endoscopy is relatively noninvasive method and its use extends from the small bowel to the esophagus and colon. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of capsule endoscopy for neoplastic gastric lesions. Methods. Capsule endoscopy (Pillcam ESO) was performed within 48 hours of esophagogastroduodenoscopy for eight patients who were diagnosed with gastric cancers, the size of which were less than 4 cm and who presented written consent. Patients changed position in a specified designed sequence every 30 seconds after capsule ingestion. Position change was repeated with ingestion of an effervescent agent. The rate of detection of intragastric lesions, observation of normal gastric anatomy and patient satisfaction between capsule endoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy were compared. Results. Capsule endoscopy found four out of eight gastric lesions. The gastroesophageal junction was observed in seven of the eight cases, pyloric ring in five of the eight cases, and gastric angle in four of the eight cases. The patient satisfaction assessment questionnaire rated capsule endoscopy significantly higher than upper endoscopy in all categories. Conclusions. Capsule endoscopy was less effective than esophagogastroduodenoscopy and showed limited value in this feasibility study. Byoung Yeon Jun, Chul-Hyun Lim, Wook Hyun Lee, Jin Su Kim, Jae Myung Park, In Seok Lee, Sang Woo Kim, and Myung-Gyu Choi Copyright © 2013 Byoung Yeon Jun et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 11:08:27 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jmath/2013/721868/ A mathematical model to control the vibrations of a rectangular plate is constructed with an aim to assist engineers in designing and fabrication of various structures used in the field of science and technology, mostly used in satellite and aeronautical engineering. The present study is related to the analysis of free vibrations of nonhomogeneous rectangular plate clamped at all the four edges. Authors studied the bilinear effect of thickness as well as temperature variations in both and directions. Variation in Poisson's ratio is also considered linearly in -direction due to nonhomogeneity. Rayleigh-Ritz method is used to analyze the frequencies for the first two modes of vibrations for different values of thermal gradient, nonhomogeneity constant, taper constants and aspect ratio. All the numerical computations have been performed for an alloy of aluminum, that is, duralumin. All the results are presented in the form of graphs. Anupam Khanna and Ashish Singhal Copyright © 2013 Anupam Khanna and Ashish Singhal. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 11:07:05 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jop/2013/612708/ Primary congenital glaucoma is a worldwide diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. Although medical management is often a temporizing measure, early surgical intervention is the definitive treatment. As the abundance of surgical treatment options continues to expand, the authors will compare and contrast the available options and attempt to provide a consensus on surgical management. Ta C. Chang and Kara M. Cavuoto Copyright © 2013 Ta C. Chang and Kara M. Cavuoto. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 11:04:10 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ad/2013/593493/ Serum adrenal androgens (AAs), including androstenedione (Δ4A) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), have been reported to be lower in female rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with early disease. Few data are available on hormonal status of women before the onset of clinical rheumatoid arthritis (pre-RA). A broad baseline panel of serum adrenal and sex steroids was compared in 36 female pre-RA to 144 matched cohort control (CN) subjects to determine differences in their mean values and in patterns of hormonal correlations. Study subjects having lower versus higher baseline serum cortisol levels than the total group's mean value were also analyzed separately to investigate differences in their hormonal levels and correlational patterns. In total subjects, mean (±SE) Δ4A level (nmol/L) was lower () in 28 pre-RA cases () versus 108 CN (). The significant () difference was restricted to 9 pre-RA versus 53 CN subjects having lower cortisol levels ( versus  nmol/L, resp.). In total subjects, no significant difference was found between study subjects in their bivariate correlations of the hormonal panel variables, unlike results found in the subgroups stratified by lower versus higher cortisol levels. A subgroup of pre-RA females may have relative adrenal cortical insufficiency, as reflected by lower Δ4A, especially observed among those subjects with lower cortisol levels. Alfonse T. Masi, Kevin B. Elmore, Azeem A. Rehman, Robert T. Chatterton, Ned J. Goertzen, and Jean C. Aldag Copyright © 2013 Alfonse T. Masi et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 11:03:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/gt/2013/534875/ Recently, it was shown that Chess-like games may have no uniform (subgame perfect) Nash equilibria in pure positional strategies. Moreover, Nash equilibria may fail to exist already in two-person games in which all infinite plays are equivalent and ranked as the worst outcome by both players. In this paper, we extend this negative result further, providing examples that are uniform Nash equilibria free, even in mixed or independently mixed strategies. Additionally, in case of independently mixed strategies we consider two different definitions for effective payoff: the Markovian and the a priori realization. Endre Boros, Vladimir Gurvich, and Emre Yamangil Copyright © 2013 Endre Boros et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 10:59:54 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cmmm/2013/264246/ Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women worldwide. There are a number of techniques used for diagnosing this disease: mammography, ultrasound, and biopsy, among others. Each of these has well-known advantages and disadvantages. A relatively new method, based on the temperature a tumor may produce, has recently been explored: thermography. In this paper, we will evaluate the diagnostic power of thermography in breast cancer using Bayesian network classifiers. We will show how the information provided by the thermal image can be used in order to characterize patients suspected of having cancer. Our main contribution is the proposal of a score, based on the aforementioned information, that could help distinguish sick patients from healthy ones. Our main results suggest the potential of this technique in such a goal but also show its main limitations that have to be overcome to consider it as an effective diagnosis complementary tool. Cruz-Ramírez Nicandro, Mezura-Montes Efrén, Ameca-Alducin María Yaneli, Martín-Del-Campo-Mena Enrique, Acosta-Mesa Héctor Gabriel, Pérez-Castro Nancy, Guerra-Hernández Alejandro, Hoyos-Rivera Guillermo de Jesús, and Barrientos-Martínez Rocío Erandi Copyright © 2013 Cruz-Ramírez Nicandro et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 10:58:25 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijog/2013/567182/ The rapid decline of sea ice in the Arctic has resulted in a variable sea ice roughness that necessitates improved methods for efficient observation using high-resolution spaceborne radar. The utility of C-band polarimetric backscatter, coherences, and ratios as a discriminator of ice surface roughness is evaluated. An existing one-dimensional backscatter model has been modified to two-dimensions (2D) by considering deviation in the orientation (i.e., the slopes) in azimuth and range direction of surface roughness simultaneously as an improvement in the model. It is shown theoretically that the circular coherence () decreases exponentially with increasing surface roughness. The crosspolarized coherence () is found to be less sensitive to surface roughness, whereas the copolarized coherence () decreases at far-range incidence angles for all ice types. A complete validation of the adapted 2D model using direct measurements of surface roughness is suggested as an avenue for further research. Mukesh Gupta, Randall K. Scharien, and David G. Barber Copyright © 2013 Mukesh Gupta et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 10:51:44 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2013/501430/ Recent investigations have indicated that reactive metabolites and AGE-RAGE-mediated inflammation might play an important role in the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion injury in liver transplantation. In this observational clinical study, 150 patients were enrolled following liver transplantation from deceased donors. The occurrence of short-term complications within 10 days of transplantation was documented. Blood samples were collected prior to transplantation, immediately after transplantation, and at consecutive time points, for a total of seven days after transplantation. Plasma levels of methylglyoxal were determined using HPLC, whereas plasma levels of L-arginine, asymmetric dimethylarginine, advanced glycation endproducts-carboxylmethyllysine, soluble receptor for advanced glycation endproducts, and total antioxidant capacity were measured by ELISA. Patients following liver transplantation were shown to suffer from increased RAGE-associated inflammation with an AGE load mainly dependent upon reactive carbonyl species-derived AGEs. In contrast, carboxylmethyllysine-derived AGEs were of a minor importance. As assessed by the ratio of L-arginine/asymmetric dimethylarginine, the bioavailability of nitric oxide was shown to be reduced in hepatic IRI, especially in those patients suffering from perfusion disorders following liver transplantation. For the early identification of patients at high risk of perfusion disorders, the implementation of asymmetric dimethylarginine measurements in routine diagnostics following liver transplantation from deceased donors should be taken into consideration. Thorsten Brenner, Thomas H. Fleming, David Spranz, Peter Schemmer, Thomas Bruckner, Florian Uhle, Eike O. Martin, Markus A. Weigand, and Stefan Hofer Copyright © 2013 Thorsten Brenner et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 10:23:50 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijap/2013/785675/ In order to better assess the behaviours of the propagation channel in a confined environment such as a railway tunnel for subway application, we present an optimization method for a deterministic channel simulator based on 3D ray tracing associated to the geometrical optics laws and the uniform theory of diffraction. This tool requires a detailed description of the environment. Thus, the complexity of this model is directly bound to the complexity of the environment and specifically to the number of facets that compose it. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to identify facets that have no significant impact on the wave propagation. This allows us to simplify the description of the geometry of the modelled environment by removing them and by this way, to reduce the complexity of our model and therefore its computation time. A comparative study between full and simplified environment is led and shows the impact of this proposed method on the characteristic parameters of the propagation channel. Thus computation time obtained from the simplified environment is 6 times lower than the one of the full model without significant degradation of simulation accuracy. Siham Hairoud, Pierre Combeau, Yannis Pousset, Yann Cocheril, Marion Berbineau, and Rodolphe Vauzelle Copyright © 2013 Siham Hairoud et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 10:08:09 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/613082/ We derive two- and three-dimensional analytical particular solutions of multiquadrics (MQ) associated with the polyharmonic operators, named as the polyharmonic multiquadrics (PMQs). The methods of undetermined coefficients are constructed by observing the first few orders of the PMQs which are obtained by the symbolic software, Mathematica. By expanding the PMQs into the Laurent series, the unknown coefficients of the PMQs can be determined. The homogeneous parts of the PMQs are suitably arranged so that the PMQs are hierarchically unique and infinitely differentiable. Mathematica codes are provided for obtaining the PMQs of arbitrary orders. The derived PMQs are validated by numerical solutions for Poisson’s equation. Numerical results indicate that the solutions obtained by the PMQs are more accurate than those by the MQ. Chia-Cheng Tsai Copyright © 2013 Chia-Cheng Tsai. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 10:02:12 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jo/2013/782327/ Alicja Trebinska, Ryszard Konopinski, and Ewa A. Grzybowska Copyright © 2013 Alicja Trebinska et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:45:01 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/578274/ Introduction. The aim of the presented observational case series was to evaluate the experience in treating patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) within integrative medicine, particularly anthroposophic medicine in a well-experienced and specialized unit. Patients and Methods. Patients with proven CAP were evaluated (CAP-study group) based on a retrospective chart review. To estimate the severity of pneumonia, the pneumonia severity index (PSI) was applied. Treatment efficacy was evaluated regarding body temperature, CRP level, leukocytes blood count, the need to be treated on ICU, and mortality. Results were compared with the inpatient data of the Pneumonia PORT Validation Cohort. Results. 15/18 patients of the CAP-study group belonged to risk class groups I–III (low and moderate risk), 2 patients to risk class IV, and one patient to risk class V (severe pneumonia). 16/18 patients were treated with anthroposophic medicine only and 2/18 got additionally antibiotic therapy (both of risk class IV). A significant reduction of body temperature, CRP level, and leukocytes blood count has been obtained by applying anthroposophic medicine, while neither complications nor pneumonia-related death occurred. Compared with the control group there was no significant difference in mortality rate, whereby no patient had to be treated on the ICU, but the duration of hospital stay was significantly longer in the presented series. Conclusion. Inpatient treatment of CAP with anthroposophic medicine without the use of antibiotics may achieve reasonable results in selected cases. Additional larger sized prospective controlled trials should further clarify the role of AM in the treatment of CAP. Ulrich Geyer, Klas Diederich, Maria Kusserow, Andreas Laubersheimer, and Klaus Kramer Copyright © 2013 Ulrich Geyer et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:43:39 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/2013/574738/ Titanium dioxide thin films were deposited on crystalline silicon substrates by electron beam physical vapor deposition. The deposition was performed under vacuum ranging from 10−5 to 10−6 Torr without process gases, resulting in homogeneous layers with a thickness of around 100 nm. Samples were then annealed at high temperatures ranging from C to C for 4 hours under nitrogen, and their structural and optical properties along with their chemical structure were characterized before and after annealing. The chemical and structural characterization revealed a substoichiometric film with oxygen vacancies, voids, and an interface oxide layer. It was found from X-ray diffraction that the deposited films were amorphous and crystallization to anatase phase occurred for annealed samples and was more pronounced for annealing temperatures above C. The refractive index obtained through spectroscopic ellipsometry ranged between 2.09 and 2.37 in the wavelength range, 900 nm to 400 nm for the as-deposited sample, and jumped to the range between 2.23 and 2.65 for samples annealed at C. The minimum surface reflectance changed from around 0.6% for the as-deposited samples to 2.5% for the samples annealed at C. Yaser M. Abdulraheem, Sahar Ghoraishi, Lidia Arockia-Thai, Suji K. Zachariah, and Moustafa Ghannam Copyright © 2013 Yaser M. Abdulraheem et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:43:37 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ije/2013/821745/ Aim. This study compares the effectiveness of Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI), neurothesiometer, and electromyography (EMG) in detecting diabetic peripheral neuropathy in patients with diabetes type 2. Materials and Methods. 106 patients with diabetes type 2 treated at the outpatient clinic of Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital Department of Endocrinology between September 2008 and May 2009 were included in this study. Patients were evaluated by glycemic regulation tests, MNSI (questionnaire and physical examination), EMG (for detecting sensorial and motor defects in right median, ulnar, posterior tibial, and bilateral sural nerves), and neurothesiometer (for detecting alterations in cold and warm sensations as well as vibratory sensations). Results. According to the MNSI score, there was diabetic peripheral neuropathy in 34 (32.1%) patients (score ≥2.5). However, when the patients were evaluated by EMG and neurothesiometer, neurological impairments were detected in 49 (46.2%) and 79 (74.5%) patients, respectively. Conclusion. According to our findings, questionnaires and physical examination often present lower diabetic peripheral neuropathy prevalence. Hence, we recommend that in the evaluation of diabetic patients neurological tests should be used for more accurate results and thus early treatment options to prevent neuropathic complications. Turkan Mete, Yusuf Aydin, Mustafa Saka, Halise Cinar Yavuz, Sule Bilen, Yavuz Yalcin, Berna Arli, Dilek Berker, and Serdar Guler Copyright © 2013 Turkan Mete et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:42:05 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijdsn/2013/324632/ Wireless sensor nodes with single chips may have insufficient resources for certain applications. We propose a resource management protocol for applications with constrained resources to improve effectiveness by borrowing resources from a resource management server. Wan-Hee Cho, Jiho Kim, and Ohyoung Song Copyright © 2013 Wan-Hee Cho et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:37:01 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/737481/ We make use of the properties of the Sumudu transform to solve nonlinear fractional partial differential equations describing heat-like equation with variable coefficients. The method, namely, homotopy perturbation Sumudu transform method, is the combination of the Sumudu transform and the HPM using He’s polynomials. This method is very powerful, and professional techniques for solving different kinds of linear and nonlinear fractional differential equations arising in different fields of science and engineering. Abdon Atangana and Adem Kılıçman Copyright © 2013 Abdon Atangana and Adem Kılıçman. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:31:38 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/2013/701305/ Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) are common and rare diseases, respectively. They associate myeloid cell recruitment and survival in inflammatory conditions with tissue destruction and bone resorption. Manipulating dendritic cell (DC), and, especially, regulating their half-life and fusion, is a challenge. Indeed, these myeloid cells display pathogenic roles in both diseases and may be an important source of precursors for differentiation of osteoclasts, the bone-resorbing multinucleated giant cells. We have recently documented that the proinflammatory cytokine IL-17A regulates long-term survival of DC by inducing BCL2A1 expression, in addition to the constitutive MCL1 expression. We summarize bibliography of the BCL2 family members and their therapeutic targeting, with a special emphasis on MCL1 and BCL2A1, discussing their potential impact on RA and LCH. Our recent knowledge in the survival pathway, which is activated to perform DC fusion in the presence of IL-17A, suggests that targeting MCL1 and BCL2A1 in infiltrating DC may affect the clinical outcomes in RA and LCH. The development of new therapies, interfering with MCL1 and BCL2A1 expression, to target long-term surviving inflammatory DC should be translated into preclinical studies with the aim to increase the well-being of patients with RA and LCH. Selma Olsson Åkefeldt, Mohamad Bachar Ismail, Hélène Valentin, Maurizio Aricò, Jan-Inge Henter, and Christine Delprat Copyright © 2013 Selma Olsson Åkefeldt et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:30:07 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/rrp/2013/628150/ MR has become a reliable and noninvasive method of hepatic iron quantification. Currently, most of the hepatic iron quantification is performed on 1.5 T MR, and the biopsy measurements have been paired with and values for 1.5 T MR. As the use of 3 T MR scanners is steadily increasing in clinical practice, it has become important to evaluate the practicality of calculating iron burden at 3 T MR. Hepatic iron quantification on 3 T MR requires a better understanding of the process and more stringent technical considerations. The purpose of this work is to focus on the technical challenges in establishing a relationship between values at 1.5 T MR and 3 T MR for hepatic iron concentration (HIC) and to develop an appropriately optimized MR protocol for the evaluation of values in the liver at 3 T magnetic field strength. We studied 22 sickle cell patients using multiecho fast gradient-echo sequence (MFGRE) 3 T MR and compared the results with serum ferritin and liver biopsy results. Our study showed that the quantification of hepatic iron on 3 T MRI in sickle cell disease patients correlates well with clinical blood test results and biopsy results. 3 T MR liver iron quantification based on MFGRE can be used for hepatic iron quantification in transfused patients. Muhammad Anwar, John Wood, Deepa Manwani, Benjamin Taragin, Suzette O. Oyeku, and Qi Peng Copyright © 2013 Muhammad Anwar et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:28:50 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahep/2013/295842/ In our recent paper, we systematized an inverse algorithm to obtain quiver gauge theory living on the -branes probing the singularities of a special kind of Calabi-Yau fourfold which were complex cones over toric Fano , , , . These quiver gauge theories cannot be given a dimer tiling presentation. We use the method of partial resolution to show that the toric data of and Fano can be embedded inside the toric data of Fano theories. This method indirectly justifies that the two-node quiver Chern-Simons theories corresponding to , Fano , and their orbifolds can be obtained by higgsing matter fields of the three-node parent quiver corresponding to Fano , , , threefold. Siddharth Dwivedi and P. Ramadevi Copyright © 2013 Siddharth Dwivedi and P. Ramadevi. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:18:10 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/oximed/2013/791795/ Scope. To elucidate the morphological and biochemical in vitro effects exerted by caffeine, taurine, and guarana, alone or in combination, since they are major components in energy drinks (EDs). Methods and Results. On human neuronal SH-SY5Y cells, caffeine (0.125–2 mg/mL), taurine (1–16 mg/mL), and guarana (3.125–50 mg/mL) showed concentration-dependent nonenzymatic antioxidant potential, decreased the basal levels of free radical generation, and reduced both superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, especially when combined together. However, guarana-treated cells developed signs of neurite degeneration in the form of swellings at various segments in a beaded or pearl chain-like appearance and fragmentation of such neurites at concentrations ranging from 12.5 to 50 mg/mL. Swellings, but not neuritic fragmentation, were detected when cells were treated with 0.5 mg/mL (or higher doses) of caffeine, concentrations that are present in EDs. Cells treated with guarana also showed qualitative signs of apoptosis, including membrane blebbing, cell shrinkage, and cleaved caspase-3 positivity. Flow cytometric analysis confirmed that cells treated with 12.5–50 mg/mL of guarana and its combinations with caffeine and/or taurine underwent apoptosis. Conclusion. Excessive removal of intracellular reactive oxygen species, to nonphysiological levels (or “antioxidative stress”), could be a cause of in vitro toxicity induced by these drugs. Fares Zeidán-Chuliá, Daniel Pens Gelain, Eduardo Antônio Kolling, José Luiz Rybarczyk-Filho, Priscilla Ambrosi, Silvia Resende Terra, André Simões Pires, João Batista Teixeira da Rocha, Guilherme Antônio Behr, and José Cláudio Fonseca Moreira Copyright © 2013 Fares Zeidán-Chuliá et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:16:31 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/937918/ Microscopic patterns of thirty-four urothelial tumors of the urinary bladder of water buffaloes from the Marmara and Black Sea Regions of Turkey are here described. All the animals grazed on lands rich in bracken fern. Histological diagnosis was assessed using morphological parameters recently suggested for the urinary bladder tumors of cattle. Papillary carcinoma was the most common neoplastic lesion (22/34) observed in this study, and low-grade carcinoma was more common (seventeen cases) than high-grade carcinoma (five cases). Papilloma, papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential (PUNLMP), and invasive carcinomas were less frequently seen. Carcinoma in situ (CIS) was often detected associated with some papillary and invasive carcinomas. De novo (primary) CIS was rare representing 3% of tumors of this series. A peculiar feature of the most urothelial tumors was the presence in the tumor stroma of immune cells anatomically organized in tertiary lymphoid organs (TLOs). Bovine papillomavirus type-2 (PV-2) E5 oncoprotein was detected by molecular and immunohistochemistry procedures. Early protein, E2, and late protein, L1, were also detected by immunohistochemical studies. Morphological and molecular findings show that BPV-2 infection contributes to the development of urothelial bladder carcinogenesis also in water buffaloes. Paola Maiolino, Ayhan Özkul, Aylin Sepici-Dincel, Franco Roperto, Gözde Yücel, Valeria Russo, Chiara Urraro, Roberta Lucà, Marita Georgia Riccardi, Manuela Martano, Giuseppe Borzacchiello, Iolanda Esposito, and Sante Roperto Copyright © 2013 Paola Maiolino et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:14:52 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/830147/ We studied on the differential geometry of the Hamilton space including trajectories of the motion of particles exposed to gravitational fields and the cotangent bundle. A. Ceylan Coken and Ismet Ayhan Copyright © 2013 A. Ceylan Coken and Ismet Ayhan. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:09:53 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/312527/ This paper focuses on the development of a bilevel optimization model with random coefficients for a production-inventory system. The expected value operator technique is used to deal with the objective function, and rough approximation is applied to convert the stochastic constraint into a crisp constraint. Then an interactive programming method and genetic algorithm are utilized to solve the crisp model. Finally, an application is given to show the efficiency of the proposed model and approaches in solving the problem. Liming Yao and Jiuping Xu Copyright © 2013 Liming Yao and Jiuping Xu. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:03:58 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jmat/2013/548026/ This paper presents the continuous flow operation of membraneless sodium percarbonate fuel cell (MLSPCFC) using acid/alkaline bipolar electrolyte. In the acid/alkaline bipolar electrolyte, percarbonate works both as an oxidant as well as reductant. Sodium percarbonate affords hydrogen peroxide in aqueous medium. The cell converts the energy released by H2O2 decomposition with H+ and OH− ions into electricity and produces water and oxygen. At room temperature, the laminar flow based microfluidic membraneless fuel cell can reach a maximum power density of 28 mW/cm2 with the molar ratio of [Percarbonate]/[NaOH] = 1 as fuel and [Percarbonate]/[H2SO4] = 2 as oxidant. The paper reports for the first time the use of sodium percarbonate as the oxidant and reductant. The developed fuel cell emits no CO2 and features no proton exchange membrane, inexpensive catalysts, and simple planar structure, which enables high design flexibility and easy integration of the microscale fuel cell into actual microfluidic systems and portable power applications. M. Gowdhamamoorthi, A. Arun, S. Kiruthika, and B. Muthukumaran Copyright © 2013 M. Gowdhamamoorthi et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 09:02:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/obgyn/2013/504173/ Preeclampsia, a relatively common pregnancy disorder, is one of the major causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Despite numerous research, the etiology of this syndrome remains not well understood as the pathogenesis of preeclampsia is complex, involving interaction between genetic, immunologic, and environmental factors. Preeclampsia, originating in placenta abnormalities, is induced by the circulating factors derived from the abnormal placenta. Recent work has identified various molecular mechanisms related to placenta development, including renin-angiotensin system, 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and lipoxin A4. Interestingly, advances suggest that vacuolar ATPase, a key molecule in placentation, is closely associated with them. Therefore, this intriguing molecule may represent an important link between various causes of preeclampsia. Here, we review that vacuolar ATPase works as a key link between multiple causes of preeclampsia and discuss the potential molecular mechanisms. The novel findings outlined in this review may provide promising explanations for the causation of preeclampsia and a rationale for future therapeutic interventions for this condition. Dongxin Zhang, Duyun Ye, and Hongxiang Chen Copyright © 2013 Dongxin Zhang et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 08:20:11 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/education/2013/982942/ Many students do not seem to transfer their learning during formal education into applications in the real world. The objective of this ongoing study was to investigate the opinion of third-year students concerning their program through problem-based learning and to improve the module where necessary. Students attending theory classes had to apply their newly gained knowledge coupled with real-life weather data to solve a problem during practicums. Students attending practicums were given the same questionnaire thrice; thus, the answers were based on different sets of exercises. Responses by attendees for the three questionnaires were 73%, 100%, and 61%, respectively. Students preferred problem-based practicums (78%, 54%, and 72%, resp.) to other non-problem-based practicums. Most students thought that their knowledge had improved and it had prepared them better for the workplace (85%, 77%, and 92%, resp.). Generally students preferred working in groups (74%, 62%, and 56%, resp.), in contrast to those preferring to work individually. Students benefited from problem-based learning in that they thought they had improved their knowledge, skills, and critical thinking abilities and felt that they had learnt things that they could carry into their future lives out in the world at large and the workplace. Linda De Wet and Sue Walker Copyright © 2013 Linda De Wet and Sue Walker. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 08:11:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/2013/598753/ The dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been fabricated using highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays as photoelectrode and natural dyes as photosensitizers. The natural dyes were extracted from the abundant plants in the tropical region, such as Tradescantia zebrina, kapok, and pitaya. The dyes could chemically couple with TiO2 nanotubes and effectively convert visible light into electricity in DSSCs. A power conversion efficiency could be achieved up to 0.3% in the solar cell sensitized by the extracts from kapok with a short-circuit current of 0.86 mA/cm2. Furthermore, the influences of the crystal structure of TiO2 nanotube arrays on the performance of the natural DSSCs were discussed. Na Li, Nengqian Pan, Danhong Li, and Shiwei Lin Copyright © 2013 Na Li et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 08:05:37 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/2013/806025/ Dendritic cells (DCs) are essential for the maintenance of homeostasis in the organism, and they do that by modulating lymphocyte priming, expansion, and response patterns according to signals they receive from the environment. The induction of suppressive lymphocytes by DCs is essential to hinder the development of autoimmune diseases but can be reverted against homeostasis when in the context of neoplasia. In this setting, the induction of suppressive or regulatory T cells contributes to the establishment of a state of tolerance towards the tumor, allowing it to grow unchecked by an otherwise functional immune system. Besides affecting its local environment, tumor also has been described as potent sources of anti-inflammatory/suppressive factors, which may act systemically, generating defects in the differentiation and maturation of immune cells, far beyond the immediate vicinity of the tumor mass. Cytokines, as IL-10 and TGF-beta, as well as cell surface molecules like PD-L1 and ICOS seem to be significantly involved in the redirection of DCs towards tolerance induction, and recent data suggest that tumor cells may, indeed, modulate distinct DCs subpopulations through the involvement of these molecules. It is to be expected that the identification of such molecules should provide molecular targets for more effective immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer. Rodrigo Nalio Ramos, Cristiano Jacob de Moraes, Bruna Zelante, and José Alexandre M. Barbuto Copyright © 2013 Rodrigo Nalio Ramos et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 08:01:34 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/2013/251472/ Cold-work tool steel is considered to be a nonweldable metal due to its high percentage content of carbon and alloy elements. The application of a new process of the semisolid joining of two dissimilar metals is proposed. AISI D2 cold-work tool steel was thixojoined to 304 stainless steel by using a partial remelting method. After thixojoining, microstructural examination including metallographic analysis, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Vickers hardness tests was performed. From the results, metallographic analyses along the joint interface between semisolid AISI D2 and stainless steel showed a smooth transition from one to another and neither oxides nor microcracking was observed. Hardness values obtained from the points in the diffusion zone were much higher than those in the 304 stainless steel but lower than those in the AISI D2 tool steel. The study revealed that a new type of nonequilibrium diffusion interfacial structure was constructed at the interface of the two different types of steel. The current work successfully confirmed that avoidance of a dendritic microstructure in the semisolid joined zone and high bonding quality components can be achieved without the need for force or complex equipment when compared to conventional welding processes. M. N. Mohammed, M. Z. Omar, M. S. Salleh, and K. S. Alhawari Copyright © 2013 M. N. Mohammed et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 08:00:35 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/oximed/2013/279847/ The neutrophil elastase inhibitor sivelestat (ONO-5046) possesses unknown mechanisms of cardioprotection when infused following global ischemia, even in the absence of neutrophils. Since myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury is strongly associated with endothelial dysfunction and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation during reperfusion, we have tested the hypothesis that infusion of sivelestat during postischemic low flow would preserve endothelial and contractile function and reduce infarct size through an ROS-mediated mechanism. Isolated male rat hearts, subjected to global ischemia of 25 minutes, were reperfused with low flow with or without sivelestat followed by a full flow reperfusion. Hearts treated with sivelestat showed a significant improvement of LV contractile function and a reduction in infarct size. Infusion of L-NAME (nonspecific blocker of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS)) along with sivelestat during reperfusion reversed the preservation of contractile function and infarct size. In vitro EPR spin trapping experiments showed that sivelestat treatment decreased superoxide adduct formation in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) subjected to hypoxia-reoxygenation. Similarly, dihydroethidine (DHE) staining showed decreased superoxide production in LV sections from sivelestat-treated hearts. Taken together, these results indicate that sivelestat infusion during postischemic low flow reduces infarct size and preserves vasoreactivity in association with decreased ROS formation and the preservation of nitric oxide. Sverre E. Aune, Steve T. Yeh, Periannan Kuppusamy, M. Lakshmi Kuppusamy, Mahmood Khan, and Mark G. Angelos Copyright © 2013 Sverre E. Aune et al. All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 08:00:02 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/496096/ We investigate fixed points of meromorphic solutions for the Pielou logistic equation and obtain some estimates of exponents of convergence of fixed points of and its shifts , differences , and divided differences . Zong-Xuan Chen and Kwang Ho Shon Copyright © 2013 Zong-Xuan Chen and Kwang Ho Shon. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 19:10:05 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/dentistry/2013/565721/ Ameloblastic fibroma (AF) is an uncommon mixed neoplasm of odontogenic origin frequently seen in the second decade of life. It mainly presents as an intrabony lesion but can even occur peripherally. Histologically, our case showed hypercellular areas, an uncommon feature seen in typical AF. Whether this benign lesion is treated by mode of enucleation and curettage or by extensive surgery is still a topic of debate. An extensive surgical treatment is suggested as the initial approach due to its high recurrence rate (18%) and the greater chances of recurrent AFs transforming into ameloblastic fibrosarcoma (45%), together with a long-term followup. We report a case of recurrent AF with hypercellular ectomesenchyme which developed a year after its conservative removal. We conclude that in recurrent AF sufficient sections of the pathological specimen are to be taken to rule out any malignant changes that might have begun in focal areas. Ravikumar S. Kulkarni, Amitabh Sarkar, and Sandeep Goyal Copyright © 2013 Ravikumar S. Kulkarni et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 19:09:25 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/ai/2013/543607/ Nonlinear processes are very common in process industries, and designing a stabilizing controller is always preferred to maximize the production rate. In this paper, tuning of PID controller for a class of time delayed stable and unstable process models using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is discussed. The dimension of the search space is only three (, , and ); hence, a fixed weight is assigned for the inertia parameter. A comparative study is presented between various inertia weights such as 0.5, 0.75, and 1. From the result, it is evident that the proposed method helps to attain better controller settings with reduced iteration number. The efficacy of the proposed scheme has been validated through a comparative study with classical controller tuning methods and heuristic methods such as Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). Finally, a real-time implementation of the proposed method is carried on a nonlinear spherical tank system. From the simulation and real-time results, it is evident that the PSO algorithm performs well on the stable and unstable process models considered in this work. The PSO tuned controller offers enhanced process characteristics such as better time domain specifications, smooth reference tracking, supply disturbance rejection, and error minimization. K. Latha, V. Rajinikanth, and P. M. Surekha Copyright © 2013 K. Latha et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 19:05:54 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/biochemistry/2013/238428/ The central nervous system, one of the most delicate microenvironments of the body, is protected by the blood-brain barrier (BBB) regulating its homeostasis. BBB is a highly complex structure that tightly regulates the movement of ions of a limited number of small molecules and of an even more restricted number of macromolecules from the blood to the brain, protecting it from injuries and diseases. However, the BBB also significantly precludes the delivery of drugs to the brain, thus, preventing the therapy of a number of neurological disorders. As a consequence, several strategies are currently being sought after to enhance the delivery of drugs across the BBB. Within this review, the recently born strategy of brain drug delivery based on the use of nanoparticles, multifunctional drug delivery systems with size in the order of one-billionth of meters, is described. The review also includes a brief description of the structural and physiological features of the barrier and of the most utilized nanoparticles for medical use. Finally, the potential neurotoxicity of nanoparticles is discussed, and future technological approaches are described. The strong efforts to allow the translation from preclinical to concrete clinical applications are worth the economic investments. Massimo Masserini Copyright © 2013 Massimo Masserini. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 16:10:21 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jdr/2013/193461/ Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disease, and its incidence is growing worldwide. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a central component of cellular functions and is involved in protein folding and trafficking, lipid synthesis, and maintenance of calcium homeostasis. The ER is also a sensor of both intra- and extracellular stress and thus participates in monitoring and maintaining cellular homeostasis. Therefore, the ER is one site of interaction between environmental signals and a cell’s biological function. The ER is tightly linked to autophagy, inflammation, and apoptosis, and recent evidence suggests that these processes are related to the pathogenesis of DM and its complications. Thus, the ER has been considered an intersection integrating multiple stress responses and playing an important role in metabolism-related diseases including DM. Here, we review the relationship between the ER and autophagy, inflammation, and apoptosis in DM to better understand the molecular mechanisms of this disease. Jing Su, Lei Zhou, Xiaoxia Kong, Xiaochun Yang, Xiyan Xiang, Yu Zhang, Xiaoning Li, and Liankun Sun Copyright © 2013 Jing Su et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 15:36:40 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ogi/2013/536765/ Despite the available prevention and early detection strategies, squamous-cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix is still diagnosed as locally advanced disease in a considerable proportion of patients. As a potent sensitizer of cancer cells, cisplatin has been the “traditional partner” of external beam irradiation in this setting for more than two decades. Induction chemotherapy strategies followed by concurrent chemoradiation or surgery and preoperative concurrent chemoradiation have been recently implemented in clinical trials in an effort to optimize local control and to minimize the risk of distant metastases. In this context, cisplatin has been combined with a number of other potential radiosensitizers, including 5-fluorouracil, capecitabine, and gemcitabine. In patients resistant or intolerant to platinum compounds, numerous non-platinum-containing regimens have been developed, implementing various antimetabolites, taxanes, antineoplastic antibiotics, and topoisomerase II inhibitors. More recently, molecular agents targeting critical pathways in cervical malignant transformation are being assessed in early clinical trials in combination with external-beam irradiation. In the current work, we review the evolving role of cisplatin and other platinum compounds, either alone or in combination regimens, in the context of other potent radiosensitizers. The emerging role of molecular targeted agents, as candidate partners of external beam irradiation, is also discussed. Giannis Mountzios, Aspasia Soultati, Dimitrios Pectasides, Meletios A. Dimopoulos, and Christos A. Papadimitriou Copyright © 2013 Giannis Mountzios et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 14:53:52 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jeph/2013/760259/ Objective. To explore how three different assumptions on demographics affect the health impact of Danish emitted air pollution in Denmark from 2005 to 2030, with health impact modeled from 2005 to 2050. Methods. Modeled air pollution from Danish sources was used as exposure in a newly developed health impact assessment model, which models four major diseases and mortality causes in addition to all-cause mortality. The modeling was at the municipal level, which divides the approximately 5.5 M residents in Denmark into 99 municipalities. Three sets of demographic assumptions were used: (1) a static year 2005 population, (2) morbidity and mortality fixed at the year 2005 level, or (3) an expected development. Results. The health impact of air pollution was estimated at 672,000, 290,000, and 280,000 lost life years depending on demographic assumptions and the corresponding social costs at 430.4 M€, 317.5 M€, and 261.6 M€ through the modeled years 2005–2050. Conclusion. The modeled health impact of air pollution differed widely with the demographic assumptions, and thus demographics and assumptions on demographics played a key role in making health impact assessments on air pollution. Esben Meulengracht Flachs, Jan Sørensen, Jakob Bønløkke, and Henrik Brønnum-Hansen Copyright © 2013 Esben Meulengracht Flachs et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 14:50:55 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/ma/2013/989475/ We prove the asymptotic regularity of global solutions for a class of semilinear evolution equations in . Moreover, we study the long-time behavior of the solutions. It is proved that, under the natural assumptions, these equations possess the compact attractor which is bounded in , where the nonlinear term satisfies a critical exponential growth condition. Yongqin Xie, Zhufang He, Chen Xi, and Zheng Jun Copyright © 2013 Yongqin Xie et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 13:18:55 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/972174/ Recently, a closed-form approximated expression was derived by the same author for the achievable residual intersymbol interference (ISI) case that depends on the step-size parameter, equalizer’s tap length, input signal statistics, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and channel power. But this expression was obtained by assuming that the input noise is a white Gaussian process where the Hurst exponent (H) is equal to 0.5. In this paper, we derive a closed-form approximated expression (or an upper limit) for the residual ISI obtained by blind adaptive equalizers valid for fractional Gaussian noise (fGn) input where the Hurst exponent is in the region of . Up to now, the statistical behaviour of the residual ISI was not investigated. Furthermore, the convolutional noise for the latter stages of the deconvolutional process was assumed to be a white Gaussian process (). In this paper, we show that the Hurst exponent of the residual ISI is close to one, almost independent of the SNR or equalizer’s tap length but depends on the step-size parameter. In addition, the convolutional noise obtained in the steady state is a noise process having a Hurst exponent depending on the step-size parameter. Monika Pinchas Copyright © 2013 Monika Pinchas. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 13:16:56 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2013/565841/ This paper focuses on the identification problem of Wiener nonlinear systems. The application of the key-term separation principle provides a simplified form of the estimated parameter model. To solve the identification problem of Wiener nonlinear systems with the unmeasurable variables in the information vector, the least-squares-based iterative algorithm is presented by replacing the unmeasurable variables in the information vector with their corresponding iterative estimates. The simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm is effective. Lincheng Zhou, Xiangli Li, and Feng Pan Copyright © 2013 Lincheng Zhou et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 13:14:56 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mrt/2013/398143/ Background. The common symptoms of malaria reduce the specificity of clinical diagnosis. Presumptive treatment is conventional but can lead to overdiagnosis of malaria, delay of appropriate treatment, overprescription of antimalarials, and drug resistance. Routine use of diagnostic tests can address many of these concerns. Though treatment is often procured from retailers, there is low availability of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria (MRDTs), a simple, inexpensive, and accurate diagnostic solution. We know little about the challenges to expanding access to diagnostics through these outlets. Methods. To understand the perceptions of the benefits and challenges to selling rapid diagnostic tests for malaria, we conducted focus group discussions with antimalarial retailers who serve the residents of the Webuye Health and Demographic Surveillance Site in western Kenya. Results. Medicine retailers perceived MRDTs to be beneficial to their customers and businesses but also included cost, fear of the tests, risks of self-treatment, and regulatory concerns among the challenges to using and selling MRDTs. Conclusion. MRDTs represent a viable approach to increase access to malaria diagnostic testing. Medicine retailers are eager for MRDTs to be made available to them. However, certain challenges remain to implementation in retail outlets and should be addressed in advance. Andria Rusk, Catherine Goodman, Violet Naanyu, Beatrice Koech, Andrew Obala, and Wendy Prudhomme O'Meara Copyright © 2013 Andria Rusk et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 13:11:55 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/dentistry/2013/134210/ Objectives. The aim of this study was to investigate intrasurgical and after surgical, pain and the incidence of after surgical alteration of sensation in the mandible and lower lip when placing implants in the posterior mandible using ridge mapping, panoramic radiography, and infiltration anesthesia. Methods. This was a longitudinal clinical study of healthy patients needing implant placement in the posterior mandible. After thorough examination and treatment plan using ridge mapping and panoramic radiography, all patients received dental implants under local infiltration anesthesia. The patients were then given a questionnaire to assess the pain during anesthesia and implant surgery. Change of sensation in the lower lip was evaluated by standard neurosensory examination tests at 7 days and 1 and 4 months. Prosthetic treatment was carried out 4 months postsurgery and the patients were followed for an average of 28.5 months afterwards. Results. A total of 103 implants were placed in 62 patients. Patients reported very minor pain during injection. No pain was reported during either implant placement or bone grafting procedures. No alteration of sensation in the mandible or lower lip was recorded postsurgery. Conclusion. In most cases, ridge mapping, panoramic radiography, and infiltration anesthesia are sufficient for posterior mandibular implant placement without pain or complications. Ali Saad Thafeed AlGhamdi Copyright © 2013 Ali Saad Thafeed AlGhamdi. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 13:10:20 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/oncmed/2013/431743/ Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an uncommon highly aggressive skin malignancy with an increased tendency to recur locally, invade regional lymph nodes, and metastasize distally to lung, liver, brain, bone, and skin. The sun-exposed skin of head and neck is the most frequent site of involvement (55%). We report the case of a 63-year-old Caucasian male patient who presented with a recurrent left inguinal mass for the third time after surgical resection with safe margins and no postoperative radio- or chemotherapy. The presented mass was excised, and pathological diagnosis revealed recurrent MCC. The patient underwent postoperative radiation therapy, and 6 months later, he developed a right groin mass which was resected and pathological diagnosis confirmed metastatic MCC. Six months later, patient developed an oropharyngeal mass which was unresectable, and pathological biopsy confirmed metastatic MCC. Patient was offered palliative radio- and chemotherapy. In this paper, we also present a brief literature review on MCC. Ahmed Abu-Zaid, Ayman Azzam, Ahmed Al-Wusaibie, Maraei Bin Makhashen, Abdulaziz Jarman, and Tarek Amin Copyright © 2013 Ahmed Abu-Zaid et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 12:05:38 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/rheumatology/2013/543953/ Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by inflammatory lower back pain and morning stiffness and accompanied by spine and sacroiliac joint involvement. Klinefelter's syndrome is a genetic condition that only affects males. Affected males have an extra X chromosome. This paper reports a 30-years-old male on followup with the diagnosis of Klinefelters syndrome. The patient admitted with complaints of inflammatory lower back, and neck pain and morning stiffness and was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug and salazopyrine treatment resulted in significant regression in his complaints. Şenol Kobak, Murat Yalçin, Muamer Karadeniz, and Guray Oncel Copyright © 2013 Şenol Kobak et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 12:03:54 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/ophmed/2013/618367/ Background. Lacrimal infections by Actinomyces are rare and commonly misdiagnosed for long periods of time. They account for 2% of all lacrimal diseases. Case Report. We report a case of a 70-year-old female patient suffering from a para-canalicular abscess in the medial canthus of the left eye, beside the lower punctum lacrimale, resembling a chalazion. Purulence exited from the punctum lacrimale due to inflammation of the inferior canaliculus (canaliculitis). When pressure was applied to the mass, a second exit of purulence was also observed under the palpebral conjunctiva below the lacrimal caruncle. A surgical excision was performed followed by administration of local antibiotic therapy. The histopathological examination of the extracted mass revealed the existence of actinomycosis. Conclusion. Persistent or recurrent infections and lumps of the eyelids should be thoroughly investigated. Actinomyces as a causative agent should be considered. Differential diagnosis is broad and should include canaliculitis, chalazion, and multiple types of neoplasias. For this reason, in nonconclusive cases, a histopathological examination should be performed. Diamantis Almaliotis, Elias Nakos, Thomas Siempis, Triantafyllia Koletsa, Ioannis Kostopoulos, Maria Chatzipantazi, and Vasileios Karampatakis Copyright © 2013 Diamantis Almaliotis et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 12:01:05 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ogi/2013/302952/ Preterm birth is defined as any delivery before 37 complete weeks of gestation. It is a universal challenge in the field of obstetrics owing to its high rate of mortality, long-term morbidity, associated human suffering and economic burden. In the United States, about 12.18% deliveries in 2009 were preterm, producing an exorbitant cost of $5.8 billion. Infection-associated premature rupture of membranes (PROM) accounts for 40% of extremely preterm births (<28 weeks of gestation). Major research efforts are directed towards improving the understanding of the pathophysiology of preterm birth and ways to prevent or at least postpone delivery. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor that plays a significant role in infection-triggered preterm birth. Its involvement in a number of pathological mechanisms and its elevation in preterm delivered amniotic fluid samples implicate it in preterm birth. Sphingosine kinase (SphK) is a ubiquitous enzyme responsible for the production of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). S1P acts as second messenger in a number of cell proliferation and survival pathways. SphK is found to play a key role in ET-1 mediated myometrial contraction. This review highlights SphK as a prospective target with great potential to prevent preterm birth. Vibhuti Vyas, Charles R. Ashby Jr., and Sandra E. Reznik Copyright © 2013 Vibhuti Vyas et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:54:10 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/273052/ Explicit analytical expressions for the temperature profile, fin efficiency, and heat flux in a longitudinal fin are derived. Here, thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient depend on the temperature. The differential transform method (DTM) is employed to construct the analytical (series) solutions. Thermal conductivity is considered to be given by the power law in one case and by the linear function of temperature in the other, whereas heat transfer coefficient is only given by the power law. The analytical solutions constructed by the DTM agree very well with the exact solutions even when both the thermal conductivity and the heat transfer coefficient are given by the power law. The analytical solutions are obtained for the problems which cannot be solved exactly. The effects of some physical parameters such as the thermogeometric fin parameter and thermal conductivity gradient on temperature distribution are illustrated and explained. Partner L. Ndlovu and Raseelo J. Moitsheki Copyright © 2013 Partner L. Ndlovu and Raseelo J. Moitsheki. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:50:22 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/312585/ Today developed and developing countries have to admit the fact that global warming is affecting the earth, but the fundamental problem of how to divide up necessary greenhouse gas reductions between developed and developing countries remains. In this paper, we propose cooperative and noncooperative stochastic differential game models to describe greenhouse gas emissions decision makings of developed and developing countries, calculate their feedback Nash equilibrium and the Pareto optimal solution, characterize parameter spaces that developed and developing countries can cooperate, design cooperative conditions under which participants buy the cooperative payoff, and distribute the cooperative payoff with Nash bargaining solution. Lastly, numerical simulations are employed to illustrate the above results. Wei Yu and Baogui Xin Copyright © 2013 Wei Yu and Baogui Xin. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:48:28 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/2013/125409/ As a direct bandgap semiconductor, Bi2S3 has the potential ability to improve the photocatalytic activity of nano-TiO2 due to its low energy gap ( eV). In this study, large-scale uniform Bi2S3 nanorods were synthesized by a hydrothermal treatment, using Bi[S2P(OC4H9)2]3 as the single-source precursor. Characterization results show that as-prepared samples belong to an orthorhombic phase of Bi2S3, and the products mainly crystallize in the form of nanorods which measure ca. 200 nm in length and ca. 50 nm in diameter. The photo-catalytic experiments for the degradation of methyl orange under visible irradiation revealed that a small amount of as-prepared Bi2S3 in our study would significantly improve the photo-catalytic activity of nano-TiO2, whether Bi2S3 is introduced by a physical way or a chemical way. However, excess Bi2S3 will lead to a decrease in the catalytic efficiency of TiO2 when Bi2S3 was introduced by a chemical way; it never happened when Bi2S3 was introduced by a physical way. Even so, among all as-prepared samples, the TiO2-based photo-catalyst with 3 wt.% Bi2S3 introduced by a chemical way exhibits the best catalytic performance under visible irradiation. Juan Lu, Zuoshan Wang, Ying Zhang, and Xiufeng Zhou Copyright © 2013 Juan Lu et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:25:03 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/642101/ Heavy metals are widely recognized as being hazardous to human health and environmentally aggressive. The literature reports different approaches for lead removal, for example, water hyacinths. Heavy metal sorption isotherm modeling represents an important tool towards the study of equilibrium conditions. Fractional calculus represents a novel approach and a growing research field for process modeling, based on derivatives of arbitrary order. Recently, a novel isotherm based on fractional calculus was proposed for lead sorption using water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). This paper reports a general procedure on error analysis and its influence on parameter estimation. It was applied to mathematical models based on fractional differential equations, focusing on a heavy metal novel isotherm sorption model. Parameter variance was calculated by using two different approaches (with the complete Hessian matrix and with a simplified Hessian matrix), and joint parameter confidence regions were generated, being successfully able to show that the fractional nature of the model is statistically valid. Enrico M. Gomes, Rosana R. L. Araújo, Marcelo K. Lenzi, Fernanda R. G. B. Silva, and Ervin K. Lenzi Copyright © 2013 Enrico M. Gomes et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:18:46 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfs/2013/719593/ An investigation to optimize the extraction yield and the radical scavenging activity from the agricultural by-product olive tree wood (Olea europaea L., cultivar Picual) using six different extraction protocols was carried out. Four olive wood samples from different geographical origin, and harvesting time have been used for comparison purposes. Among the fifty olive wood extracts obtained in this study, the most active ones were those prepared with ethyl acetate, either through direct extraction or by successive liquid-liquid partitioning procedures, the main components being the secoiridoids oleuropein and ligustroside. An acid hydrolysis pretreatment of olive wood samples before extractions did not improve the results. In the course of this study, two compounds were isolated from the ethanolic extracts of olive wood collected during the olives’ harvesting season and identified as (7′′R)-7′′-ethoxyoleuropein (1) and (7′′S)-7′′-ethoxyoleuropein (2). Mercedes Pérez-Bonilla, Sofía Salido, Adolfo Sánchez, Teris A. van Beek, and Joaquín Altarejos Copyright © 2013 Mercedes Pérez-Bonilla et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:17:35 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2013/620238/ The steady flow of an incompressible, third-grade fluid in helical screw rheometer (HSR) is studied by “unwrapping or flattening” the channel, lands, and the outside rotating barrel. The geometry is approximated as a shallow infinite channel, by assuming that the width of the channel is large as compared to the depth. The developed second-order nonlinear coupled differential equations are reduced to single differential equation by using a transformation. Using Adomian decomposition method, analytical expressions are calculated for the the velocity profiles and volume flow rates. The results have been discussed with the help of graphs as well. We observed that the velocity profiles are strongly dependant on non-Newtonian parameter (), and with the increase in , the velocity profiles increase progressively, which conclude that extrusion process increases with the increase in . We also observed that the increase in pressure gradients in x- and z-direction increases the net flow inside the helical screw rheometer, which increases the extrusion process. We noticed that the flow increases as the flight angle increase. M. Zeb, S. Islam, A. M. Siddiqui, and T. Haroon Copyright © 2013 M. Zeb et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:15:11 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/195158/ Tao-Hong-Si-Wu decoction (TSD) is a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and widely used for ischemic disease in China. TSD medicated serum was prepared after oral administration of TSD (1.6 g/kg) twice a day for 3 days in rats. TSD medicated serum induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) proliferation, VEGF secretion, and nitric oxide (NO) production. These promoted effects of TSD were partly inhibited by treatment with PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) or eNOS inhibitor (L-NAME), respectively, and completely inhibited by treatment with LY294002 and L-NAME simultaneously. Western blot analysis findings further indicated that TSD medicated serum upregulated p-Akt and p-eNOS expressions, which were significantly inhibited by LY294002 or L-NAME and completely inhibited by both LY294002 and L-NAME; these results indicated that TSD medicated serum induced HUVECs VEGF expression via PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling. TSD medicated serum contains hydroxysafflor yellow A, ferulic acid, and ligustilide detected by UPLC with standards, so these effect of TSD medicated serum may be associated with these three active compounds absorbed in serum. DengKe Yin, ZhuQing Liu, DaiYin Peng, Ye Yang, XiangDong Gao, Fan Xu, and Lan Han Copyright © 2013 DengKe Yin et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:08:28 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/pathology/2013/419542/ In the last years, MR and CT techniques have been optimized for small bowel imaging and are playing an increasing role in the evaluation of small bowel disorders. In comparison to traditional barium fluoroscopic examinations, spatial and temporal resolution is now much more improved partially thanks to modern bowel distending agents. However, there is a global interest in implementing techniques that either reduce or eliminate radiation exposure. This is especially important in patients with chronic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease who may require multiple studies over a lifetime. Owing to the excellent soft tissue contrast, direct multiplanar imaging capabilities, new ultrafast breath-holding pulse sequences, lack of ionizing radiation, and availability of a variety of oral contrast agents, MR is well suited to play a critical role in the imaging of small bowel disorders. Gabriele Masselli Copyright © 2013 Gabriele Masselli. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 11:01:20 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/472704/ The primo vascular system (PVS) in a lymph system was observed mostly in large caliber ducts around the caudal vena cava of rabbits, rats, and mice. This required a severe surgery with laparectomy and massive removal of fat tissues in the abdomen to expose the lymph vessel. In the current brief report, we presented a new method to evade these shortcomings by observing the PVS in a less large caliber duct in the skin, that is, the lymph vessel from the inguinal to the axillary nodes. The Alcian blue injection into the inguinal node revealed the desired primo vessel in the target lymph vessel. This opened a new perspective for the investigation of the lymphatic PVS without severe damage to subject animals and for monitoring of the PVS in a long period of time. Seung Hwan Lee, Kyoung-Hee Bae, Geum Ock Kim, Min Ho Nam, Young Bok Choi, Hee-Min Kwon, Yeonhee Ryu, and Kwang-Sup Soh Copyright © 2013 Seung Hwan Lee et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:54:00 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/nephrology/2013/268401/ Introduction. Minimal Change Disease (MCD) is the most common cause of nephrotic syndrome in children, while IgA nephropathy is the most common cause of glomerulonephritis worldwide. MCD is responsive to glucocorticoids, while the role of steroids in IgA nephropathy remains unclear. We describe a case of two distinct clinical and pathological findings, raising the question of whether MCD and IgA nephropathy are separate entities or if there is a common pathophysiology. Case Report. A 19-year old man with no medical history presented to the Emergency Department with a 20-day history of anasarca and frothy urine, BUN 68 mg/dL, Cr 2.3 mg/dL, urinalysis 3+ RBCs, 3+ protein, and urine protein : creatinine ratio 6.4. Renal biopsy revealed hypertrophic podocytes on light microscopy, podocyte foot process effacement on electron microscopy, and immunofluorescent mesangial staining for IgA. The patient was started on prednisone and exhibited dramatic improvement. Discussion. MCD typically has an overwhelming improvement with glucocorticoids, while the resolution of IgA nephropathy is rare. Our patient presented with MCD with the uncharacteristic finding of hematuria. Given the improvement with glucocorticoids, we raise the question of whether there is a shared pathophysiologic component of these two distinct clinical diseases that represents a clinical variant. Brandon S. Oberweis, Aditya Mattoo, Ming Wu, and David S. Goldfarb Copyright © 2013 Brandon S. Oberweis et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:48:16 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/ce/2013/609379/ A network of the feedforward-type artificial neural networks (ANNs) was used to predict the compressive strength of concrete made from crude oil contaminated soil samples at 3, 7, 14, 28, 56, 84, and 168 days at different degrees of contamination of 2.5%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. A total of 49 samples were used in the training, testing, and prediction phase of the modeling in the ratio 32 : 11 : 7. The TANH activation function was used and the maximum number of iterations was limited to 20,000 the model used a momentum of 0.6 and a learning rate of 0.031056. Twenty (20) different architectures were considered and the most suitable one was the 2-2-1. Statistical analysis of the output of the network was carried out and the correlation coefficient of the training and testing data is 0.9955712 and 0.980097. The result of the network has shown that the use of neural networks is effective in the prediction of the compressive strength of concrete made from crude oil impacted sand. W. O. Ajagbe, A. A. Ganiyu, M. O. Owoyele, and J. O. Labiran Copyright © 2013 W. O. Ajagbe et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:46:48 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/2013/465837/ Silicon wafer accounts for almost one-half the cost of a photovoltaic (PV) panel. A bifacial silicon solar cell is attractive due to its potential of enhancing power generation from the same silicon wafer in comparison with a conventional monofacial solar cell. The bifacial PV cell is able to capture solar radiation by back surface. This ability requires a suitable reflector appropriately oriented and separated from the cell’s rear surface. In order to optimize the bifacial solar cell performance with respect to an external back surface reflector, diffuse and semimirror reflectors were investigated at various angles and separations from the back surface. A simple bifacial solar panel, consisting of four monocrystalline Si solar cells, was designed and built. Reflection from the rear surface was provided by an extended semimirror and a white-painted diffuse reflector. Maximum power generation was observed at 30° with respect to ground for the semimirror reflector and 10° for diffuse reflector at an optimized reflector-panel separation of 115 mm. Output power enhancement of 20% and 15% from semimirror and diffuse reflectors, respectively, were observed. This loss from diffuse reflector is attributed to scattering of light beyond the rear surface capture cross-section of the bifacial solar panel. P. Ooshaksaraei, K. Sopian, R. Zulkifli, M. A. Alghoul, and Saleem H. Zaidi Copyright © 2013 P. Ooshaksaraei et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:44:45 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/195631/ Background. The lumen of novel threadlike structures (NTSs) is enclosed by a single layer of endothelial cells surrounded by extracellular matrix (ECM). We hypothesized that collagen may be a component of the ECM associated with lymphatic NTSs. Methods. Six female New Zealand white rabbits were anesthetized, and the NTS structures within lymphatic vessels were identified by contrast-enhanced stereomicroscopy or alcian blue staining. Isolated NTS specimens were stained with acridine orange, YOYO-1, and 1,1′-dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI). The structural and molecular composition of the ECM was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry, and proteomic analysis. Results. The lymph vessel wall was stained red by DiI, and rod-shaped nuclei were stained green by YOYO-1. The area surrounding the NTS was also stained red and contained green rod-shaped nuclei. TEM images showed that the NTS consisted of many ECM fibers and the ECM fibers appeared to be ~100 nm in diameter and had narrowly spaced striated bands. Proteomic analysis of the lymphatic NTS-associated ECM identified 4 proteins: keratin 10, cytokeratin 3, cytokeratin 12, and soluble adenylyl cyclase. Conclusion. The TEM study suggested that the lymphatic NTS-associated ECM did not contain collagen. This was confirmed by proteomic analysis, which showed that keratin was the major component of the ECM. Hyub Huh, Byung-Cheon Lee, Sang-Hyun Park, Ji Woong Yoon, Soo Jae Lee, Eun Jung Cho, and Seung Zhoo Yoon Copyright © 2013 Hyub Huh et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:39:00 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jdr/2013/986906/ The development of new therapies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes requires robust, reproducible and well validated in vivo experimental systems. Mice provide the most ideal animal model for studies of potential therapies. Unlike larger animals, mice have a short gestational period, are genetically similar, often give birth to many offspring at once and can be housed as multiple groups in a single cage. The mouse model has been extensively metabolically characterized using different tests. This report summarizes how these tests can be executed and how arising data are analyzed to confidently determine changes in insulin resistance and insulin secretion with high reproducibility. The main tests for metabolic assessment in the mouse reviewed here are the glucose clamp, the intravenous and the oral glucose tolerance tests. For all these experiments, including some commonly adopted variants, we describe: (i) their performance; (ii) their advantages and limitations; (iii) the empirical formulas and mathematical models implemented for the analysis of the data arising from the experimental procedures to obtain reliable measurements of peripheral insulin sensitivity and beta cell function. Finally, a list of previous applications of these methods and analytical techniques is provided to better comprehend their use and the evidences that these studies yielded. G. Pacini, B. Omar, and B. Ahrén Copyright © 2013 G. Pacini et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:38:42 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/urology/2013/167635/ Calculi in the urethra are an uncommon entity. Giant calculi in prostatic urethra are extremely rare. The decision about treatment strategy of calculi depends upon the size, shape, and position of the calculus and the status of the urethra. If the stone is large and immovable, it may be extracted via the perineal or the suprapubic approach. In most of the previous reported cases, giant calculi were extracted via the transvesical approach and external urethrotomy. A 38-year-old male patient presented with complaints of lower urinary tract symptoms. Further investigations showed a giant urethral calculus secondary to stricture of bulbo-membranous part of the urethra. Surgical removal of calculus was done via transvesical approach. Two calculi were found and extracted. One was a huge dumbbell calculus and the other was a smaller round calculus. This case was reported because of the rare size and the dumbbell nature of the stone. Giant urethral calculi are better managed by open surgery. Vinod Kumar Prabhuswamy, Rahul Tiwari, and Ramakrishnan Krishnamoorthy Copyright © 2013 Vinod Kumar Prabhuswamy et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:25:10 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2013/920214/ Identifying rare human metabolic disorders that result from a single-gene defect has not only enabled improved diagnostic and clinical management of such patients, but also has resulted in key biological insights into the pathophysiology of the increasingly prevalent metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are linked to obesity and driven by excess caloric intake and reduced physical activity. However, key events in the causation of the metabolic syndrome are difficult to disentangle from compensatory effects and epiphenomena. This review provides an overview of three types of human monogenic disorders that result in (1) severe, non-syndromic obesity, (2) pancreatic beta cell forms of early-onset diabetes, and (3) severe insulin resistance. In these patients with single-gene defects causing their exaggerated metabolic disorder, the primary defect is known. The lessons they provide for current understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of the common metabolic syndrome are highlighted. Rinki Murphy, Richard W. Carroll, and Jeremy D. Krebs Copyright © 2013 Rinki Murphy et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:04:46 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/814080/ We investigate the Lyapunov control of finite-dimensional quantum systems with impulsive control fields, where the studied quantum systems are governed by the Schrödinger equation. By three different Lyapunov functions and the invariant principle of impulsive systems, we study the convergence of quantum systems with impulsive control fields and propose new results for the mentioned quantum systems in the form of sufficient conditions. Two numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method. Wei Yang and Jitao Sun Copyright © 2013 Wei Yang and Jitao Sun. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:03:11 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jc/2013/749321/ Experiments on cofiring dried sewage sludge, wet sewage sludge with coal and polyethylene (PE) were carried out on a pilot scale 0.15MWt circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) plant, and the influence of furnace temperatures, cofiring rates on N2O and NO emissions was investigated. Temperature is an effective parameter influencing N2O emission, and higher temperature leads to significant N2O reduction and decrease of conversion ratio of fuel-N to N2O. Increasing in cofiring rates leads to higher nitrogen content in the mixed fuel, which could result in higher NO and N2O emissions from combustion. With more sewage sludge addition, higher NO but lower N2O emissions are observed. N2O emission from cofiring wet sewage sludge with coal is higher than that from cofiring dried sewage sludge with coal and PE, and fuel-N conversion ratio to N2O and NO is much higher in cofiring wet sewage sludge with coal than that in cofiring dried sewage sludge with coal and PE. Zhiwei Li and Hongzhou He Copyright © 2013 Zhiwei Li and Hongzhou He. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 10:02:23 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/chem/2013/540240/ A novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) powder designed for the selective removal of interfering chlorophyll pigment from heavily pigmented green plant extracts during pesticide residue analysis or analysis for bioactives in natural product research is reported. The polymer powder imprinted with chlorophyll was synthesized by copolymerizing the functional and cross-linking monomers, methacrylic acid (MAA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), respectively. During batch rebinding experiments, the MIP effectively removed chlorophyll from neat chlorophyll standards, green medicinal plants, and spinach extracts with determined absorbance as high as 2.501 absorbance units (Au) to as low as 0.084 Au after the optimum quantity of the MIP (170 mg mL−1) was added as the adsorbent prior to instrumental analysis. The determined 0.084 Au absorbance was far below the absorbance of 2% chlorophyll (0.401 Au) regarded as the cut-off point for interfering chlorophyll. Thus the newly developed polymer presents itself as a suitable adsorbent for the selective removal of chlorophyll from heavily pigmented, chlorophyll containing extracts. Bareki Shima Batlokwa, Janes Mokgadi, Ronald Majors, Charlotta Turner, and Nelson Torto Copyright © 2013 Bareki Shima Batlokwa et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:53:47 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfs/2013/158482/ Synthetic angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE-I) inhibitors can have undesirable side effects, while natural inhibitors have no side effects and are potential nutraceuticals. A protein-rich fraction from chia (Salvia hispanica L.) seed was hydrolyzed with an Alcalase-Flavourzyme sequential system and the hydrolysate ultrafiltered through four molecular weight cut-off membranes (1 kDa, 3 kDa, 5 kDa, and 10 kDa). ACE-I inhibitory activity was quantified in the hydrolysate and ultrafiltered fractions. The hydrolysate was extensive (DH = 51.64%) and had 58.46% ACE-inhibitory activity. Inhibition ranged from 53.84% to 69.31% in the five ultrafiltered fractions and was highest in the <1 kDa fraction (69.31%). This fraction’s amino acid composition was identified and then it was purified by gel filtration chromatography and ACE-I inhibition measured in the purified fractions. Amino acid composition suggested that hydrophobic residues contributed substantially to chia peptide ACE-I inhibitory strength, probably by blocking angiotensin II production. Inhibitory activity ranged from 48.41% to 62.58% in the purified fractions, but fraction F1 (1.5–2.5 kDa) exhibited the highest inhibition (IC50 = 3.97 μg/mL; 427–455 mL elution volume). The results point out the possibility of obtaining bioactive peptides from chia proteins by means of a controlled protein hydrolysis using Alcalase-Flavourzyme sequentional system. Maira Rubi Segura Campos, Fanny Peralta González, Luis Chel Guerrero, and David Betancur Ancona Copyright © 2013 Maira Rubi Segura Campos et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:40:15 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/obgyn/2013/249357/ Objective. To describe the route of hysterectomy in a county hospital and evaluate the shift towards a minimal invasive approach. Design. Retrospective cohort study. Setting. A county hospital in Norway. Population. All women were scheduled for hysterectomy. Methods. Audit the route of hysterectomy in the period 2004–2012. Analyze the outcome of total laparoscopic hysterectomies. Main Outcome Measures. Complications after total laparoscopic hysterectomy. Results. A shift towards a minimal invasive approach has been achieved during the study period. In 2012 only 17.4% of the hysterectomies were performed abdominally, compared to yearly percentages of above 50% in the period 2004–2009. Laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy was introduced in 2003, but the percentage of abdominal hysterectomy remained above 50% until total laparoscopic hysterectomy was introduced in 2010. Since the introduction of total laparoscopic hysterectomy in April 2010, 58 procedures have been performed. There have been no major complications. Two vaginal vault hematomas and one case of urinary tract infection were reported. Conclusions. It is possible for a county hospital to alter their praxis and perform mini-invasive hysterectomies, but it requires dedicated gynecologists. This change to an advanced procedure like total laparoscopic hysterectomy could be achieved without patients suffering from major complications. Christian Hoyer-Sorensen, Sigurd Hortemo, and Marit Lieng Copyright © 2013 Christian Hoyer-Sorensen et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:40:00 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/517698/ The inhibitory action and the possible mechanism of anticancer compound Sanguinarine (SAN) on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in human mammary adenocarcinoma cells MCF-7 were evaluated in this study. We exposed MCF-7 to SAN for 24 h, then cell viability was assessed by using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction assay. Human VEGF was measured using a paired antibody quantitative ELISA kit, relative expression of VEGF mRNA was calculated using the real-time PCR studies, and the effect of SAN on the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level was detected by the flow cytometer. Treatment with SAN remarkably inhibited growth of MCF-7 cells and induced cell apoptosis. We found that VEGF release was stimulated by subtoxic concentrations of SAN and inhibited by high dose of SAN, SAN-evoked VEGF release was mimicked by low concentration of H2O2, and SAN-regulated VEGF inhibition was accompanied by increasing of ROS; these changes were abolished by antioxidant. High concentration of SAN inhibited VEGF mRNA expression in MCF-7 cultures, suggesting an effect at transcriptional level, and was also abolished by antioxidant. The present findings indicated that the regulation of VEGF expression and release from MCF-7 cells were possibly through reactive oxygen species evoked by SAN. Xian-zhe Dong, Miao Zhang, Kun Wang, Ping Liu, Dai-hong Guo, Xiao-li Zheng, and Xiao-yue Ge Copyright © 2013 Xian-zhe Dong et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:33:35 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/534960/ To elucidate the role of Fuzheng Huayu Capsule, a herbal formula, in the prevention of esophageal variceal bleeding in cirrhotic patients, a multicenter randomized and placebo-controlled trial was carried out. One hundred forty-six cirrhotic patients with esophageal varices were enrolled to compare the probability of upper gastrointestinal bleeding and survival between Fuzheng Huayu Capsule group and controlled group for the duration of 2 years. The results demonstrated that the FZHYC could effectively reduce the risk of variceal bleeding and improve survival rates for cirrhotic patients with varices, especially the combination of the capsule and Propranolol, which presented a better effect; FZHYC could reduce the varices size in patients with small ones. Its effect may be related to the amelioration of hepatic fibrosis. Jie Gu, Qin Zhang, Dongying Xue, Hong Cai, and Lieming Xu Copyright © 2013 Jie Gu et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:32:22 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/insects/2013/504285/ Previously, the biology of the longhorn grasshopper Ruspolia differens Serville (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from northwest Tanzania was mainly inferred based on the morphological and behavioural characters with which its taxonomic status was delineated. The present study complements the previous analysis by examining the phylogenetic relationship of this insect based on the nuclear ribosomal molecular evidence. In the approach, the 18S rDNA of this insect was extracted, amplified, sequenced, and aligned, and the resultant data were used to reconstruct and analyze the phylogeny of this insect based on the catalogued data. Nicodemus D. Matojo and Keneth M. Hosea Copyright © 2013 Nicodemus D. Matojo and Keneth M. Hosea. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:25:47 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/202497/ Addressing safety concerns such as drug-induced kidney injury (DIKI) early in the drug pharmaceutical development process ensures both patient safety and efficient clinical development. We describe a unique adjunct to standard safety assessment wherein the metabolite profile of treated animals is compared with the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database in order to predict the potential for a wide variety of adverse events, including DIKI. To examine this approach, a study of five compounds (phenytoin, cyclosporin A, doxorubicin, captopril, and lisinopril) was initiated by the Technology Evaluation Consortium under the auspices of the Drug Safety Executive Council (DSEC). The metabolite profiles for rats treated with these compounds matched established reference patterns in the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database indicative of each compound’s well-described clinical toxicities. For example, the DIKI associated with cyclosporine A and doxorubicin was correctly predicted by metabolite profiling, while no evidence for DIKI was found for phenytoin, consistent with its clinical picture. In some cases the clinical toxicity (hepatotoxicity), not generally seen in animal studies, was detected with MetaMap Tox. Thus metabolite profiling coupled with the MetaMap Tox metabolomics database offers a unique and powerful approach for augmenting safety assessment and avoiding clinical adverse events such as DIKI. W. B. Mattes, H. G. Kamp, E. Fabian, M. Herold, G. Krennrich, R. Looser, W. Mellert, A. Prokoudine, V. Strauss, B. van Ravenzwaay, T. Walk, H. Naraoka, K. Omura, I. Schuppe-Koistinen, S. Nadanaciva, E. D. Bush, N. Moeller, P. Ruiz-Noppinger, and S. P. Piccoli Copyright © 2013 W. B. Mattes et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:24:49 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/ac/2013/357807/ A simple and high sensitive preconcentration method based on micelle-mediated extraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography (LC-UV) was developed for preconcentration and determination of trace amounts of bisphenol A (BPA) in aqueous samples. The BPA was quantitatively extracted from aqueous samples in the presence of Triton X-114 as a nonionic surfactant and preconcentrated into the small volume (about 30 μL) of the surfactant-rich phase. Taguchi method, an orthogonal array design (OA16 (45)), was utilized to optimize the various factors affecting the micellar extraction of BPA. The maximum extraction efficiency of BPA was obtained at pH 3, 0.2% (w/v) Triton X-114, and 0.25 mol L−1 sodium acetate. For the preconcentration, the solutions were incubated in a thermostatic water bath at 50°C for 7 min. After centrifuge and separation of aqueous phase, the surfactant-rich phase was diluted with 100 μL acetone and injected in the chromatographic system. Under the optimum conditions, preconcentration factor of 34.9 was achieved for extraction from 10 mL of sample solution and the relative standard deviation (RSD%) of the method was lower than 6.6%. The calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.5–150 μg L−1 with reasonable linearity (). The limit of detection (LOD) based on = 3 was 0.13 μg L−1 for 10 mL sample volumes. The limit of quantification (LOQ) based on = 10 was 0.43 μg L−1 for 10 mL sample volumes. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method was evaluated by the extraction and determination of BPA in the real samples, and satisfactory results were obtained. Naghi Saadatjou, Shahab Shariati, and Mostafa Golshekan Copyright © 2013 Naghi Saadatjou et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:13:38 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/175278/ In recent years, neuroimaging studies of acupuncture have explored extensive aspects of brain responses to acupuncture in finding its underlying mechanisms. Most of these studies have been performed on healthy adults. Only a few studies have been performed on patients with diseases. Brain responses to acupuncture in patients with the same disease at different pathological stages have not been explored, although it may be more important and helpful in uncovering its underlying mechanisms. In the present study, we used fMRI to compare brain responses to acupuncture in patients with Bell’s palsy at different pathological stages with normal controls and found that the brain response to acupuncture varied at different pathological stages of Bell’s palsy. The brain response to acupuncture decreased in the early stages, increased in the later stages, and nearly returned to normal in the recovered group. All of the changes in the brain response to acupuncture could be explained as resulting from the changes in the brain functional status. Therefore, we proposed that the brain response to acupuncture is dependent on the brain functional status, while further investigation is needed to provide more evidence in support of this proposition. Chuanfu Li, Jun Yang, Jinbo Sun, Chunsheng Xu, Yuanqiang Zhu, Qi Lu, Aihong Yuan, Yifang Zhu, Luoyi Li, Wei Zhang, Junping Liu, Jianjun Huang, Dongxiao Chen, Linying Wang, Wei Qin, and Jie Tian Copyright © 2013 Chuanfu Li et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 09:07:13 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2013/273758/ Most preferred ordered weighted average (MP-OWA) operator is a new kind of neat (dynamic weight) OWA operator in the aggregation operator families. It considers the preferences of all alternatives across the criteria and provides unique aggregation characteristics in decision making. In this paper, we propose the parametric form of the MP-OWA operator to deal with the uncertainty preference information, which includes MP-OWA operator as its special case, and it also includes the most commonly used maximum, minimum, and average aggregation operators. A special form of parametric MP-OWA operator with power function is proposed. Some properties of the parametric MP-OWA operator are provided and the advantages of them in decision making problems are summarized. The new proposed parametric MP-OWA operator can grasp the subtle preference information of the decision maker according to the application context through multiple aggregation results. They are applied to rank search engines considering the relevance of the retrieved queries. An search engine ranking example illustrates the application of parametric MP-OWA operator in various decision situations. Xiuzhi Sang and Xinwang Liu Copyright © 2013 Xiuzhi Sang and Xinwang Liu. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 08:34:16 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/nri/2013/943914/ Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is characterized by bleeding into the subarachnoid space, often caused by ruptured aneurysm. Aneurysmal rupture occurs in 700,000 individuals per year worldwide, with 40,000 cases taking place in the United States. Beyond the high mortality associated with SAH alone, morbidity and mortality are further increased with the occurrence of cerebral vasospasm, a pathologic constriction of blood vessels that can lead to delayed ischemic neurologic deficits (DIND). Treatment of cerebral vasospasm is a source of contention. One extensively studied therapy is Magnesium (Mg) as both a competitive antagonist of calcium at the N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor, and a noncompetitive antagonist of both IP3 and voltage-gated calcium channels, leading to smooth muscle relaxation. In our literature review, several animal and human studies are summarized in addition to two Phase III trials assessing the use of intravenous Mg in the treatment of SAH (IMASH and MASH-2). Though many studies have shown promise for the use of Mg in SAH, there has been inconsistency in study design and outcomes. Furthermore, the results of the recently completed clinical trials have shown no significant benefit from using intravenous Mg as adjuvant therapy in the treatment of cerebral vasospasm. Mitchell J. Odom, Scott L. Zuckerman, and J Mocco Copyright © 2013 Mitchell J. Odom et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 08:33:11 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijdsn/2013/256852/ Wireless sensor networks consist of a great number of sensor nodes with strictly limited computation capability, storage, communication resources, and battery power. Because they are deployed in remote and hostile environments and hence are vulnerable to physical attacks, sensor networks face many practical challenges. Data confidentiality, data integrity, source authentication, and availability are all major security concerns. In this paper, we focus on the very problem of preserving data integrity and propose an Efficient Integrity-Preserving Data Aggregation Protocol (EIPDAP) to guarantee the integrity of aggregation result through aggregation in sensor networks. In EIPDAP, base station can immediately verify the integrity of aggregation result after receiving the aggregation result and corresponding authentication information. However, to check integrity, most existing protocols need an additional phase which will consume a lot of energy and cause network delay. Compared with other related schemes, EIPDAP reduces the communication overhead per node to , where is the degree of the aggregation tree for the network. To the best of our knowledge, EIPDAP has the most optimal upper bound on solving the integrity-preserving data aggregation problem. Liehuang Zhu, Zhen Yang, Meng Li, and Dan Liu Copyright © 2013 Liehuang Zhu et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 08:27:58 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/em/2013/526469/ Valproic acid (VPA) intoxication incidence is increasing, because of the use of VPA in psychiatric disorders. The most common finding of VPA intoxication is central nervous system depression which leads to coma and respiratory depression. Pancreatitis, hyperammonemia, metabolic, and bone marrow failure (thrombocytopenia and leukopenia) have also been described. Treatment is mainly supportive. We present the case of an 18-year-old female patient, who made an attempt to autolysis with VPA. Our patient's VPA plasma level was very high (924 μg/mL), confirming that it was a severe intoxication. Our treatment including levocarnitine (50 mg/kg per day for 3 days), and high-flux hemodialysis was performed for four hours. The patient's hemodynamic status and mental function improved in conjunction with the acute reduction in VPA concentrations. Her subsequent hospital course was complicated by transient thrombocytopenia and levocarnitine induced hypophosphatemia. By day 6, the patient's laboratory values had completely normalized, and she was transferred to an inpatient psychiatric facility for continuing therapy. V. Temel, Müge Arikan, and G. Temel Copyright © 2013 V. Temel et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 08:25:42 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/nri/2013/329364/ The skin acts as a complex sensory organ. The emerging new data on peripheral pain mechanisms from within the skin is presented. This data has led to new insights into the potential pain mechanisms for various pain conditions including neuropathic pain (from small fiber neuropathies) and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. The somatosensory neurons that innervate our skin constantly update our brains on the objects and environmental factors that surround us. Cutaneous sensory neurons expressing nociceptive receptors such as transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 channels and voltage-gated sodium channels are critical for pain transmission. Epidermal cells (such as keratinocytes, Langerhans cells, and Merkel cells) express sensor proteins and neuropeptides; these regulate the neuroimmunocutaneous system and participate in nociception and neurogenic inflammation. In the past two decades, there has been widespread use of modalities such as punch skin biopsies, quantitative sensory testing, and laser-evoked potentials to evaluate small caliber nerve fibers. This paper explores these laboratory techniques as well as the phenomenon of small fiber neuropathy. Treatment using transdermal drug delivery is discussed. There is potential for these findings to predict treatment outcomes in clinical practice and to develop new therapies for different pain conditions. These findings should enhance the physician's ability to evaluate and treat diverse types of pain. Edward A. Shipton Copyright © 2013 Edward A. Shipton. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 19:30:42 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijo/2013/213684/ High-resolution atomic-beam diode-laser spectroscopy in Sm I has been performed. Zeeman spectra have been measured for the three optical transitions at different external magnetic fields and well resolved at the magnetic fields of stronger than 6.0 mT. Using the known precise Landé -factors of the ground multiplet, the Landé -factors of the upper 4f66s6p   and levels have been determined, and their precision has been improved compared with the reference values. Wei-Guo Jin and Tatsuya Minowa Copyright © 2013 Wei-Guo Jin and Tatsuya Minowa. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 19:04:44 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/medicine/2013/935172/ Although clinical presentation of fibrillary glomerulonephritis is similar to most forms of glomerulonephritis, it is usually difficult to make the diagnosis. Clinical manifestations include proteinuria, microscopic haematuria, nephrotic syndrome, and impairment of renal function. A diagnosis of fibrillary glomerulonephritis is only confirmed by renal biopsy and it must comprise electronmicroscopy-verified ultrastructural findings. We report four cases between 45–50 years old with documented type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and arterial hypertension. All patients were found to have fibrils on kidney biopsy. The differential diagnosis of fibrils in the setting of diabetes mellitus is also discussed. Fayna González-Cabrera, Fernando Henríquez-Palop, Ana Ramírez-Puga, Raquel Santana-Estupiñán, Celia Plaza-Toledano, Gloria Antón-Pérez, Silvia Marrero-Robayna, Davinia Ramírez-Medina, Roberto Gallego-Samper, Nicanor Vega-Díaz, Rafael Camacho-Galan, and José C. Rodríguez-Pérez Copyright © 2013 Fayna González-Cabrera et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:57 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijap/2013/649049/ Ultra wideband (UWB) systems are the most appropriate for high data rate wireless transmission with low power consumption. However, the antenna design for UWB has been a challenging task. Moreover, it is always desirable to have more freedom by designing different shape antennas with identical characteristics so that they can be used in either transmitter or receiver depending on other physical constraints such as area. To tackle these issues, in this paper, we have investigated a joint optimization of three different shape-printed monopole antennas, namely, printed square monopole antenna, printed circular monopole antenna and printed hexagonal monopole antenna, for UWB applications. More specifically, we have obtained the optimized geometrical parameters of these antennas by minimizing the mean-square-error for desired lower band edge frequency, quality factor, and bandwidth. The objective of joint optimization is to have identical frequency characteristics for the aforementioned three types of PMA which will give a freedom to interchangeably use them at either side, transmitting or receiving. Moreover, we employ particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for our problem as it is well known in the literature that PSO performs well in electromagnetic and antenna applications. Simulation results are presented to show the performance of the proposed design. Muhammad Zubair and Muhammad Moinuddin Copyright © 2013 Muhammad Zubair and Muhammad Moinuddin. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 18:48:42 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/367105/ We propose a scene classification method for speeding up the multisensor remote sensing image fusion by using the singular value decomposition of quaternion matrix and the kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) to extract features. At first, images are segmented to patches by a regular grid, and for each patch, we extract color features by using quaternion singular value decomposition (QSVD) method, and the grey features are extracted by Gabor filter and then by using orientation histogram to describe the grey information. After that, we combine the color features and the orientation histogram together with the same weight to obtain the descriptor for each patch. All the patch descriptors are clustered to get visual words for each category. Then we apply KPCA to the visual words to get the subspaces of the category. The descriptors of a test image then are projected to the subspaces of all categories to get the projection length to all categories for the test image. Finally, support vector machine (SVM) with linear kernel function is used to get the scene classification performance. We experiment with three classification situations on OT8 dataset and compare our method with the typical scene classification method, probabilistic latent semantic analysis (pLSA), and the results confirm the feasibility of our method. Ji Li and Zhen Liu Copyright © 2013 Ji Li and Zhen Liu. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 18:39:30 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/713560/ A fault detection approach based on nonlinear robust observer is designed for the networked suspension control system of Maglev train with random induced time delay. First, considering random bounded time-delay and external disturbance, the nonlinear model of the networked suspension control system is established. Then, a nonlinear robust observer is designed using the input of the suspension gap. And the estimate error is proved to be bounded with arbitrary precision by adopting an appropriate parameter. When sensor faults happen, the residual between the real states and the observer outputs indicates which kind of sensor failures occurs. Finally, simulation results using the actual parameters of CMS-04 maglev train indicate that the proposed method is effective for maglev train. Yun Li, Guang He, and Jie Li Copyright © 2013 Yun Li et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 18:38:31 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/424108/ One of the known methods for solving the problems with exponential time complexity such as NP-complete problems is using the brute force algorithms. Recently, a new parallel computational framework called Membrane Computing is introduced which can be applied in brute force algorithms. The usual way to find a solution for the problems with exponential time complexity with Membrane Computing techniques is by P System with active membrane using division rule. It makes an exponential workspace and solves the problems with exponential complexity in a polynomial (even linear) time. On the other hand, searching is currently one of the most used methods for finding solution for problems in real life, that the blind search algorithms are accurate, but their time complexity is exponential such as breadth-first search (BFS) algorithm. In this paper, we proposed a new approach for implementation of BFS by using P system with division rule technique for first time. The theorem shows time complexity of BSF in this framework on randomly binary trees reduced from to . Einallah Salehi, Siti Mariyam Shamsuddin, and Kourosh Nemati Copyright © 2013 Einallah Salehi et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 18:33:03 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/cmp/2013/843702/ Using tight-binding model with nearest neighbour interactions, the optical properties of carbon nanotubes under the influence of an external magnetic field are analyzed. First, dipole matrix elements for two cases of light polarized parallel as well as perpendicular to the nanotube axis are analyzed. A close form analytic expression for dipole matrix is obtained for carbon nanotubes with arbitrary chirality in the case of light polarized parallel to the nanotube axis. Then the diagonal and off-diagonal elements of the frequency-dependent susceptibility in the presence of an axial magnetic field are investigated. The off-diagonal elements are applied to calculate the interband Faraday rotation and the Verdet constant. These effects should be clearly detectable under realistic conditions using weak magnetic fields. Abbas Zarifi Copyright © 2013 Abbas Zarifi. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 17:50:35 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdr/2013/814059/ This study utilized data from over 9,300 youth from 11 national or within-nation ethnic groups to evaluate the relationship between youth religiosity and youth social outcomes (social initiative, antisocial behavior) and psychological outcomes (self-esteem and depression) considering the roles of religious tradition, national-ethnic group, and gender. We created national-ethnic group by religious tradition (NEG × RT) combinations, partitioned religiosity into between-group and within-group components, and performed a series of mixed model regressions for each outcome. The levels of all four outcomes of interest differed significantly across NEG × RT groups, and these differences were attributable to national-ethnic group rather than religious tradition. Youth reports of antisocial behavior and self-esteem were predicted by between-group religiosity. Additionally, within-group religiosity predicted all four outcomes, indicating that the protective role of religiosity functions in a comparative, or relative, manner with youth who are more religious than others in their group reaping the most benefits. Heidi E. Stolz, Joseph A. Olsen, Teri M. Henke, and Brian K. Barber Copyright © 2013 Heidi E. Stolz et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 17:43:20 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/158263/ Objectives. To study cognitive test profiles with a focus on processing speed in a representative group of preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and relate processing speed to adaptive functioning. Methods. Cognitive assessments were performed in 190 3.6–6.6-year-old children (164 boys and 26 girls) with ASD, using either Griffiths' developmental scales () or the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Third Edition (WPPSI-III) (). Cognitive data were related to adaptive functioning as measured by Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS). Results. Cognitive profiles were characterized by low verbal skills. Low processing speed quotients (PSQs) were found in 66 (78%) of the 85 children who were able to participate in the processing speed subtests. Except for Socialization, all VABS domains (Communication, Motor Skills, Daily Living Skills, and Adaptive Behavior Composite scores) correlated significantly with PSQ. Multiple regression analysis showed that PSQ predicted 38%, 35%, 34%, and 37% of the variance for Communication, Daily Living Skills, Motor Skills, and total Adaptive Composite scores, respectively. Conclusion. Preschool children with ASD had uneven cognitive profiles with low verbal skills, and, relatively, even lower PSQs. Except for Socialization, adaptive functioning was predicted to a considerable degree by PSQ. Åsa Hedvall, Elisabeth Fernell, Anette Holm, Jakob Åsberg Johnels, Christopher Gillberg, and Eva Billstedt Copyright © 2013 Åsa Hedvall et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 17:02:22 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/iji/2013/715645/ Patients who suffer from severe burns develop metabolic imbalances and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) which can result in multiple organ failure and death. Research aimed at reducing the inflammatory process has yielded new insight into burn injury therapies. In this review, we discuss strategies used to curb inflammation in burn injuries and note that further studies with high quality evidence are necessary. Jayme A. Farina Jr., Marina Junqueira Rosique, and Rodrigo G. Rosique Copyright © 2013 Jayme A. Farina Jr. et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 17:01:37 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/836058/ Magnetically suspended flywheel (MSFW) with gimballing capability fulfills requirements of precision and maneuvers for space applications. A novel reluctance force-type hybrid magnetic bearing (RFHMB) is presented based on analysis of demerits of Lorentz force-type magnetic bearing and common RFHMB. It features that radial and axial magnetic bearing units are integrated into a compact assembly with four separate biased permanent magnets and two conical stators; four radial poles with shoes and rotor made of iron-based amorphousness can reduce eddy loss. Equivalent magnetic circuits of permanent magnets and their control currents are presented. Simulation results indicate flux density fluctuates from 0.272 T to 0.41 T; rotor tilting does not affect the suspension force when rotor only tilts around -axis or -axis. When rotor drifts in , , or direction and tilts around -axis or -axis simultaneously, force in corresponding directions slightly increases with tilting angle’s enlargement, but the maximum change does not exceed 14%. Additional tilting torque mainly determined by uniformity of flux density in conical air gaps is 0.05 Nm which is far smaller than 11 Nm in common RFHMB; magnetic suspension force is effectively decoupled among , , and directions; results prove that MSFW with gimballing capability theoretically meets maneuvering requirement of spacecraft. Chun'e Wang and Jiqiang Tang Copyright © 2013 Chun'e Wang and Jiqiang Tang. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:57:10 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aurt/2013/705895/ From early infancy onwards, young children appear motivated to engage reciprocally with others and share psychological states during dyadic interactions. Although poor reciprocity is one of the defining features of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), few studies have focused on the direct assessment of real-life reciprocal behavior; consequently, our knowledge of the nature and the development of this core feature of autism is still limited. In this study, we describe the phenomenon of reciprocity in infant-caregiver interaction by analyzing family movies taken during the first year of life of 10 infants with ASD and 9 infants with typical development (TD). We analyzed reciprocal behaviors by means of a coding scheme developed for this purpose (caregiver-infant reciprocity scale (CIRS)). Infants with ASD displayed less motor activity during the first semester and subsequently fewer vocalizations, compared to TD infants. Caregivers of ASD infants showed in the second semester shorter periods of involvement and a reduction of affectionate touch. These results suggest that from the first months of life a nonsynchronic motor-vocal pattern may interfere in different ways with the development of reciprocity in the primary relationship between infants later diagnosed with ASD and their caregivers. Fabio Apicella, Natasha Chericoni, Valeria Costanzo, Sara Baldini, Lucia Billeci, David Cohen, and Filippo Muratori Copyright © 2013 Fabio Apicella et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:56:25 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/nanoparticles/2013/527432/ A nanocomposite coating was formed by incorporating nanoalumina pigment in a waterborne polyurethane dispersion (WPUD) to different loading levels (0.1% and 1.0% by weight). Electrochemical performance of the nanocomposite coating was evaluated by applying these nanomodified coatings on mild steel substrate and exposing them to salt-spray, humidity, and accelerated UV weathering. The surface morphology of the composite coating was evaluated using various analytical techniques. SEM and AFM were used to investigate the dispersion of nanoalumina pigment and surface morphological changes of the nanomodified coating, before and after exposure to the test environment. Mechanical properties like scratch resistance were studied by using nanoscratch technique (Nanoindenter TI-900, Hysitron Inc, USA) and hardness using pencil hardness test method. The results showed an improvement in the corrosion, UV weathering, and mechanical properties of the coatings at lower concentration (0.1% by wt), indicating the positive effect of addition of nanoalumina pigment to the coating. Shailesh K. Dhoke, Narayani Rajgopalan, and A. S. Khanna Copyright © 2013 Shailesh K. Dhoke et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:54:43 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/2013/496974/ New-onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation (NODAT) may complicate 2–50% of kidney transplantation, and it is associated with reduced graft and patient survivals. In this retrospective study, we applied a conversion protocol to sirolimus in a cohort of kidney transplant recipients with NODAT. Among 344 kidney transplant recipients, 29 patients developed a NODAT (6.6%) and continued with a reduced dose of calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) (8 patients, Group A) or were converted to sirolimus (SIR) (21 patients, Group B). NODAT resolved in 37.5% and in 80% patients in Group A and Group B, respectively. In Group A, patient and graft survivals were 100% and 75%, respectively, not significantly different from Group B (83.4% and 68%, resp., ). Graft function improved after conversion to sirolimus therapy: serum creatinine was 1.8 ± 0.7 mg/dL at the time of conversion and 1.6 ± 0.4 mg/dL five years after conversion to sirolimus therapy (), while in the group of patients remaining with a reduced dose of CNI, serum creatinine was 1.7 ± 0.6 mg/dL at the time of conversion and 1.65 ± 0.6 mg/dL at five-year followup (). This study demonstrated that the conversion from CNI to SIR in patients could improve significantly the metabolic parameters of patients with NODAT, without increasing the risk of acute graft rejection. Massimiliano Veroux, Tiziano Tallarita, Daniela Corona, Nunziata Sinagra, Alessia Giaquinta, Domenico Zerbo, Carmela Guerrieri, Antonino D'Assoro, Sebastiano Cimino, and Pierfrancesco Veroux Copyright © 2013 Massimiliano Veroux et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:23:33 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/387230/ Many studies have shown that several Greek ecosystems inhabit very interesting bacteria with biotechnological properties. Therefore Streptomyces isolates from diverse Greek habitats were selected for their antifungal activity against the common phytopathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum. The isolate encoded ACTA1551, member of Streptomyces genus, could strongly suppress the fungal growth when examined in antagonistic bioassays in vitro. The isolate was found phylogenetically relative to Streptomyces rochei after analyzing its 16S rDNA sequence. The influence of different environmental conditions, such as medium composition, temperature, and pH on the expression of the antifungal activity was thoroughly examined. Streptomyces rochei ACTA1551 was able to protect tomato seeds from F. oxysporum infection in vivo while it was shown to promote the growth of tomato plants when the pathogen was absent. In an initial effort towards the elucidation of the biochemical and physiological nature of ACTA1551 antifungal activity, extracts from solid streptomycete cultures under antagonistic or/and not antagonistic conditions were concentrated and fractionated. The metabolites involved in the antagonistic action of the isolate showed to be more than one and produced independently of the presence of the pathogen. The above observations could support the application of Streptomyces rochei ACTA1551 as biocontrol agent against F. oxysporum. Grammatiki S. Kanini, Efstathios A. Katsifas, Alexandros L. Savvides, and Amalia D. Karagouni Copyright © 2013 Grammatiki S. Kanini et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:20:58 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/isrn/vs/2013/593029/ Association of Mycoplasma mycoides subspecies capri (Mmc) with natural goat mastitis has been studied earlier largely by detecting the Mmc DNA using molecular methods. However, report on detection of cultivable Mmc isolates from natural goat-mastitis milk is still very rare. In this study, Mmc was isolated from milk samples () of goats with or without clinical signs of mastitis. Mmc isolates were further characterized by biochemical and species-specific PCR methods. Intra species strain variation was also studied by 16S amplified rDNA restriction analysis (16S ARDRA). The study recovered a total of 6 Mmc isolates (3.5%). Three types of intraspecies variants among the recovered Mmc isolates were found by 16S ARDRA. The study concluded that Mmc may be an etiological agent of mycoplasmal mastitis in Indian goat herds. Vijay Kumar, Rajneesh Rana, Somya Mehra, and Pramod Kumar Rout Copyright © 2013 Vijay Kumar et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:19:41 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jamc/2013/261648/ Water-soluble fluorescent Ag nanoclusters (NCs) were synthesized at room temperature with sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) as a protective agent. The effects of synthetic conditions on the fluorescence properties of Ag NCs were investigated. The results show that the fluorescence intensity of Ag NCs strongly depends on the synthetic conditions, such as the molar ratio of AgNO3 versus SDS and sodium borohydride (NaBH4), the reaction time, and the pH value of the reaction solution. Under the optimum conditions, the as-prepared Ag NCs exist in face-centered-cubic phase with an average size of 2 nm. Fluorescence spectra of Ag NCs show emission peaks at 365 nm for different excitation wavelength. Resonant absorptions are observed at 203 nm and 277 nm in the absorption spectrum, which can be used to establish the electronic levels in the Ag NCs system. Chengzhi Zheng, Huiping Wang, Lingzhi Liu, Manjun Zhang, Jiangong Liang, and Heyou Han Copyright © 2013 Chengzhi Zheng et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:18:51 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/2013/486253/ The development of a lightweight composite (LC) based on Portland cement concrete with waste lightweight aggregate (WLA) additive was carried out to improve the sustainability and environmental impact and to offer potential cost savings without sacrificing strength. Treatment of the surface of the LC exposed to environmental attack by coating with biopolymer based on waste cooking oil doped with titanium dioxide photocatalysis (TOP) with superhydrophilic property was found to affect the mechanical properties of the LC in a systematic way. The results of compressive strength showed that the composite achieved the minimum required strength for lightweight construction materials of 17.2 MPa. Scratch resistance measurements showed that the highest percentages loading of superhydrophilic particles (up to 2.5% of biomonomer weight) for LC's surface coating gave the highest scratch resistance while the uncoated sample showed the least resistances. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) pictures revealed the difference between the surface roughness for LC with and without TOP coating. TOP is also formulated to provide self-cleaning LC surfaces based on two principal ways: (1) the development by coating the LC with a photocatalytic superhydrophilic, (2) if such a superhydrophilic is illuminated by light, the grease, dirt, and organic contaminants will be decomposed and can easily be swept away by rain. Anika Zafiah M. Rus, S. R. Mohid, S. Nurulsaidatulsyida, and N. Marsi Copyright © 2013 Anika Zafiah M. Rus et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:17:51 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/chem/2013/947137/ Traditional approaches to the development of integrated circuits involve the use and/or manufacture of toxic materials that have a potential environmental impact. An extensive research has been done to design environmentally benign synthetic polymers containing nucleic acid bases, which can be used to enhance the photoresistor technologies. Water soluble, environmentally benign photopolymers of 1-(4-vinylbenzyl) thymine (VBT) and vinylphenyl sufonate (VPS) undergo a photodimerization reaction when exposed to low levels of ultraviolet irradiation leading to an immobilization of the copolymer on a variety of substrates. Plackett-Burman design (PBD) and central composite design (CCD) were applied to identify the significant factors influencing the polymer crosslinking and dye adsorption processes, which are relevant in the fabrication of copolymer films for potential photoresist use. The PBD results assigned a maximum absorption signal of 0.67, while optimal conditions obtained in this experiment following the CCD method predictions provided a response of 0.83 ± 0.03, being a solid foundation for further use of this methodology in the production of potential photoresistors. The pH effect was relevant for low concentrations but not significant for higher concentrations. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first report applying statistical experimental designs to optimize the crosslinking of thymine-based polymers. Julieta Ledesma, Santiago A. Bortolato, Carlos E. Boschetti, and Débora M. Martino Copyright © 2013 Julieta Ledesma et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:15:17 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/652083/ With the rapid development of marine economy industry, the activities for exploring and exploiting the marine resources are increasing, and there are more and more marine construction projects, which contribute to the growing trend of eutrophication and frequent occurrence of red tide. Thus, seawater quality has become the topic which the people generally cared about. The seawater quality evaluation could be considered as an analysis process which combined the evaluation indexes with certainty and evaluation factors with uncertainty and its changes. This paper built a model for the assessment of seawater environmental quality based on the multiobjective variable fuzzy set theory (VFEM). The Qingdao marine dumping site in China is taken as an evaluation example. Through the quantitative research of water-quality data from 2004 to 2008, the model is more reliable than other traditional methods, in which uncertainty and ambiguity of the seawater quality evaluation are considered, and trade the stable results as the final results of seawater quality evaluation, which effectively solved the impact of the fuzzy boundary of evaluation standard and monitoring error, is more suitable for evaluation of a multi-index, multilevel, and nonlinear marine environment system and has been proved to be an effective tool for seawater quality evaluation. Lina Ke and Huicheng Zhou Copyright © 2013 Lina Ke and Huicheng Zhou. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 16:07:50 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/173794/ Vulnerability to climate change of the Moldavian part of the Dniester river was assessed as the function of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity of its basin’s natural and socioeconomic systems. As a spatial “scale” of the assessment, Moldova’s administrative-territorial units (ATUs) were selected. The exposure assessment was based on the climatic analysis of baseline (1971–2000) temperature and precipitation and projections of their changes in 2021–2050, separately for cold and warm periods. The sensitivity assessment included physiographical and socioeconomic characteristics, described by a set of specific indicators. The adaptive capacity was expressed by general economic and agricultural indicators, taking into consideration the medical provision and housing conditions. Through a ranking approach, the relative vulnerability of each ATU was calculated by summing its sensitivity and adaptive capacity ranks; the latter were obtained as combinations of their primary indicator ranks, arranged in an increasing and decreasing order, respectively. Due to lack of sound knowledge on these components' importance in overall assessment of vulnerability, their weights were taken as conventionally equal. Mapping of vulnerability revealed that ATUs neighboring to municipalities are the most vulnerable and need special attention in climate change adaptation. The basin’s “hotspots” were discussed with public participation. Roman Corobov, Igor Sîrodoev, Sonja Koeppel, Nickolai Denisov, and Ghennadi Sîrodoev Copyright © 2013 Roman Corobov et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:47:22 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/otolaryngology/2013/967536/ We report the case of a 51-year-old male smoker with diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidaemia and a long history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection treated with various antiretroviral regimes, who was referred to the otolaryngology department with progressive dysphonia. Fibre-optic laryngoscopy showed a solitary, yellowish-white pedunculated polyp on the anterior third of the left cord, with no other abnormality. Pathological analysis revealed a polypoid laryngeal xanthoma that was immunoreactive against CD68, perilipin, and adipophilin. This unusual laryngeal lesion in the clinical context of our patient suggests a possible role of antiretroviral treatment in the pathogenesis of these xanthomas. Francisco Vera-Sempere, Diego Collado-Martín, and Beatriz Vera-Sirera Copyright © 2013 Francisco Vera-Sempere et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:41:54 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/dentistry/2013/517145/ Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) is a sporadic disorder and is frequent among the neurocutaneous syndromes specifically with vascular predominance. This syndrome consists of constellation of clinical features like facial nevus, seizures, hemiparesis, intracranial calcifications, and mental retardation. It is characterized by focal port-wine stain, ocular abnormalities (glaucoma), and choroidal hemangioma and leptomeningeal angioma most often involving occipital and parietal lobes. The present paper reports three cases of SWS with oral manifestations and periodontal management, which included thorough scaling and root planing followed by gingivectomy with scalpel and laser in cases 1 and 3 consecutively to treat the gingival enlargement. However, the treatment in case 2 was deferred as the patient was not a candidate for periodontal surgery. Butchibabu Kalakonda, Koppolu Pradeep, Ashank Mishra, Krishnanjaneya Reddy, Tupili Muralikrishna, Vijaya Lakshmi, and Radhika Challa Copyright © 2013 Butchibabu Kalakonda et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:41:31 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/896056/ Noise can compromise the extraction of some fundamental and important features from biomedical signals and hence prohibit accurate analysis of these signals. Baseline wander in electrocardiogram (ECG) signals is one such example, which can be caused by factors such as respiration, variations in electrode impedance, and excessive body movements. Unless baseline wander is effectively removed, the accuracy of any feature extracted from the ECG, such as timing and duration of the ST-segment, is compromised. This paper approaches this filtering task from a novel standpoint by assuming that the ECG baseline wander comes from an independent and unknown source. The technique utilizes a hierarchical method including a blind source separation (BSS) step, in particular independent component analysis, to eliminate the effect of the baseline wander. We examine the specifics of the components causing the baseline wander and the factors that affect the separation process. Experimental results reveal the superiority of the proposed algorithm in removing the baseline wander. Yurong Luo, Rosalyn H. Hargraves, Ashwin Belle, Ou Bai, Xuguang Qi, Kevin R. Ward, Michael Paul Pfaffenberger, and Kayvan Najarian Copyright © 2013 Yurong Luo et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:39:48 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cmmm/2013/376152/ Phonocardiography has shown a great potential for developing low-cost computer-aided diagnosis systems for cardiovascular monitoring. So far, most of the work reported regarding cardiosignal analysis using multifractals is oriented towards heartbeat dynamics. This paper represents a step towards automatic detection of one of the most common pathological syndromes, so-called mitral valve prolapse (MVP), using phonocardiograms and multifractal analysis. Subtle features characteristic for MVP in phonocardiograms may be difficult to detect. The approach for revealing such features should be locally based rather than globally based. Nevertheless, if their appearances are specific and frequent, they can affect a multifractal spectrum. This has been the case in our experiment with the click syndrome. Totally, 117 pediatric phonocardiographic recordings (PCGs), 8 seconds long each, obtained from 117 patients were used for PMV automatic detection. We propose a two-step algorithm to distinguish PCGs that belong to children with healthy hearts and children with prolapsed mitral valves (PMVs). Obtained results show high accuracy of the method. We achieved 96.91% accuracy on the dataset (97 recordings). Additionally, 90% accuracy is achieved for the evaluation dataset (20 recordings). Content of the datasets is confirmed by the echocardiographic screening. Ana Gavrovska, Goran Zajić, Irini Reljin, and Branimir Reljin Copyright © 2013 Ana Gavrovska et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:39:02 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/obgyn/2013/186230/ We present a case with the rare combination of thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications of oral contraceptives. A healthy 40-year-old woman suffered from cardiac arrest due to massive pulmonary embolism, caused by oral contraceptives and immobilization during a flight. After successful resuscitation, obstructive shock necessitated thrombolysis and thereafter heparin. Anticoagulation was complicated by internal bleeding from contraceptive related hepatic adenoma. She underwent arterial embolisation, and anticoagulation was continued. On day 18, she was discharged in a good condition. Hepatic adenomas are a potential source of internal bleeding in women using oral contraceptives requiring anticoagulation. Signs of internal bleeding in such patients should prompt immediate abdominal ultrasound examination. Saheed Khan, Yvo M. Smulders, Johanna I. P. de Vries, and Angélique M. E. Spoelstra-de Man Copyright © 2013 Saheed Khan et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:38:01 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/cc/2013/138959/ Introduction. Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) drugs are widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. CCB poisoning is associated with significant cardiovascular toxicity and is potentially fatal. Currently, there is no specific antidote and the treatment of CCB poisoning is supportive; however, this supportive therapy is often insufficient. We present a clinical case of severe diltiazem poisoning and the therapeutic approaches that were used. Case Report. A 55-year-old male was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) after voluntary multiple drug intake, including extended release diltiazem (7200 mg). The patient developed symptoms of refractory shock to conventional therapy and required mechanical ventilation, a temporary pacemaker, and renal replacement therapy. Approximately 17 hours after drug intake, hyperinsulinaemia-euglycaemia with lipid emulsion therapy was initiated, followed by progressive haemodynamic recovery within approximately 30 minutes. The toxicological serum analysis 12 h after drug ingestion revealed a diltiazem serum level of 4778 ng/mL (therapeutic level: 40–200 ng/mL). Conclusions. This case report supports the therapeutic efficacy of hyperinsulinaemia-euglycaemia and lipid emulsion in the treatment of severe diltiazem poisoning. Nadine Monteiro, Joana Silvestre, João Gonçalves-Pereira, Camila Tapadinhas, Vitor Mendes, and Pedro Póvoa Copyright © 2013 Nadine Monteiro et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:36:46 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/350519/ Morus alba L. (MA) is a natural source of many compounds with different biological effects. It has been described to possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective activities. The aim of this study was to evaluate cytotoxicity of three flavonoids isolated from MA (kuwanon E, cudraflavone B, and -O-methylkuwanon E) and to determine their effects on proliferation of THP-1 cells, and on cell cycle progression of cancer cells. Anti-inflammatory effects were also determined for all three given flavonoids. Methods used in the study included quantification of cells by hemocytometer and WST-1 assays, flow cytometry, western blotting, ELISA, and zymography. From the three compounds tested, cudraflavone B showed the strongest effects on cell cycle progression and viability of tumor and/or immortalized cells and also on inflammatory response of macrophage-like cells. Kuwanon E and -O-methylkuwanon E exerted more sophisticated rather than direct toxic effect on used cell types. Our data indicate that mechanisms different from stress-related or apoptotic signaling pathways are involved in the action of these compounds. Although further studies are required to precisely define the mechanisms of MA flavonoid action in human cancer and macrophage-like cells, here we demonstrate their effects combining antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory activities, respectively. Peter Kollar, Tomáš Bárta, Jan Hošek, Karel Souček, Veronika Müller Závalová, Shushan Artinian, Rabih Talhouk, Karel Šmejkal, Pavel Suchý Jr., and Aleš Hampl Copyright © 2013 Peter Kollar et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:32:17 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/orthopedics/2013/172352/ The use of intramedullary nails to treat trochanteric fractures of the femur has increased with the increasing size of the elderly population. The third generation Gamma nail is currently one of the most popular devices for the treatment of trochanteric fractures. Nail breakage is a rare complication, possibly resulting from fatigue fracture of the implant. We present the first reported case of breakage of a third generation Gamma nail that was not used to treat a pathological fracture. An 83-year-old woman with an unstable trochanteric fracture of the femur was treated using a third generation Gamma nail. She was referred to our hospital 14 months postoperatively with nail breakage at the opening for the lag screw. The breakage was secondary to nonunion, which was thought to be mainly due to insufficient reduction of the fracture. The broken nail was removed, and the patient underwent cemented bipolar hemiarthroplasty. At followup 18 months later, she was mobile with a walker and asymptomatic with no complications. This case shows that inadequate operation such as insufficient reduction of the trochanteric fracture may result in nonunion and implant breakage, even when using a high-strength, well-designed implant. Takashi Iwakura, Takahiro Niikura, Sang Yang Lee, Yoshitada Sakai, Kotaro Nishida, Ryosuke Kuroda, and Masahiro Kurosaka Copyright © 2013 Takashi Iwakura et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:29:50 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/850193/ In 2008, the positive effects of propranolol on infantile hemangiomas (IH) have been discovered serendipitously by Léauté-Labrèze and her coworkers. Since then, propranolol has been in use in allday clinical practice worldwide for treatment of IH. It even caused some kind of paradigm shift in the overall management of these lesions, though propranolol is still not FDA approved, respectively, in “off-label” use for this indication in the majority of institutions. Thus, the aim of this communication is to evaluate the literature for current evidence regarding guidelines for preassessment and standards of care before initiation of therapy. Andreas Fette Copyright © 2013 Andreas Fette. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:27:57 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/pc/2013/398253/ Purpose. To determine whether Ski-interacting protein (SKIP) regulates TGF-β1-stimulated expression of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and uPA Inhibitor (PAI-1) in the androgen-independent human prostate cancer cell model. Materials and Methods. PC-3 prostate cancer cell line was used. The role of SKIP was evaluated using synthetic small interference RNA (siRNA) compounds. The expression of uPA, MMP-9, and PAI-1 was evaluated by zymography assays, RT-PCR, and promoter transactivation analysis. Results. In PC-3 cells TGF-β1 treatment stimulated uPA, PAI-1, and MMP-9 expressions. The knockdown of SKIP in PC-3 cells enhanced the basal level of uPA, and TGF-β1 treatment inhibited uPA production. Both PAI-1 and MMP-9 production levels were increased in response to TGF-β1. The ectopic expression of SKIP inhibited both TGF-β1-induced uPA and MMP-9 promoter transactivation, while PAI-1 promoter response to the factor was unaffected. Conclusions. SKIP regulates the expression of uPA, PAI-1, and MMP-9 stimulated by TGF-β1 in PC-3 cells. Thus, SKIP is implicated in the regulation of extracellular matrix degradation and can therefore be suggested as a novel therapeutic target in prostate cancer treatment. Victor Villar, Jelena Kocic, and Juan F. Santibanez Copyright © 2013 Victor Villar et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:16:54 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijdsn/2013/407971/ Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are spreading rapidly due to their flexibility to communicate which demands a secure environment. The most important requirements of WSN security are confidentiality, authentication, and integrity. User authentication is necessary for legitimate access control in WSNs. Sensors have limited processing power, bandwidth, memory, and limited communication abilities. Significantly, the system must produce an authentication method to confirme if the user is legal or not. In this paper, we present a solution based on biometric and adapt it for a WSN environment. The proposed protocol involves simple operations and light computations. The main advantage of the proposed protocol is using the user's iris to regenerate the user’s key on-the-fly every time the user wants be authenticated which dramatically enhances security aspects in WSNs. The key used in this protocol is stronger than passwords and shorter than biometric data, which balances between security and performance. Our protocol uses much light computations and simple operations in both homogenous and heterogeneous environments; therefore, it is suitable to the WSNs. Ohood Althobaiti, Mznah Al-Rodhaan, and Abdullah Al-Dhelaan Copyright © 2013 Ohood Althobaiti et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:15:52 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/748683/ Fluids subject to thermal gradients produce complex behaviors that arise from the competition with gravitational effects. Although such sort of systems have been widely studied in the literature for simple (Newtonian) fluids, the behavior of viscoelastic fluids has not been explored thus far. We present a theoretical study of the dynamics of a Maxwell viscoelastic fluid in a closed-loop thermosyphon. This sort of fluid presents elastic-like behavior and memory effects. We study the asymptotic properties of the fluid inside the thermosyphon and the exact equations of motion in the inertial manifold that characterizes the asymptotic behavior. We derive, for the first time, the mathematical derivations of the motion of a viscoelastic fluid in the interior of a closed-loop thermosyphon under the effects of natural convection and a given external temperature gradient. Justine Yasappan, Ángela Jiménez-Casas, and Mario Castro Copyright © 2013 Justine Yasappan et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:13:34 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ddns/2013/104173/ In fractional calculus, there are two approaches to obtain fractional derivatives. The first approach is by iterating the integral and then defining a fractional order by using Cauchy formula to obtain Riemann fractional integrals and derivatives. The second approach is by iterating the derivative and then defining a fractional order by making use of the binomial theorem to obtain Grünwald-Letnikov fractional derivatives. In this paper we formulate the delta and nabla discrete versions for left and right fractional integrals and derivatives representing the second approach. Then, we use the discrete version of the Q-operator and some discrete fractional dual identities to prove that the presented fractional differences and sums coincide with the discrete Riemann ones describing the first approach. Thabet Abdeljawad, Dumitru Baleanu, Fahd Jarad, and Ravi P. Agarwal Copyright © 2013 Thabet Abdeljawad et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:03:09 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/935604/ A number of key agreement schemes based on wireless channel characteristics have been proposed recently. However, previous key agreement schemes require that two nodes which need to agree on a key are within the communication range of each other. Hence, they are not suitable for multihop wireless networks, in which nodes do not always have direct connections with each other. In this paper, we first propose a basic multihop key agreement scheme for wireless ad hoc networks. The proposed basic scheme is resistant to external eavesdroppers. Nevertheless, this basic scheme is not secure when there exist internal eavesdroppers or Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) adversaries. In order to cope with these adversaries, we propose an improved multihop key agreement scheme. We show that the improved scheme is secure against internal eavesdroppers and MITM adversaries in a single path. Both performance analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the improved scheme is efficient. Consequently, the improved key agreement scheme is suitable for multihop wireless ad hoc networks. Zhuo Hao, Sheng Zhong, and Nenghai Yu Copyright © 2013 Zhuo Hao et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:02:07 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnt/2013/939531/ One-dimensional BiFeO3 (BFO) nanofibers fabricated by electrospinning of a solution of Nylon6/BFO followed by calcination were used for photocatalytic degradation of contaminants in water. The BFO fibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The SEM images of the as-spun samples demonstrated the successful production of nanofibers and the SEM images of the samples after calcination confirmed the integrity of the continuous BFO nanofibers. XRD analysis indicated the dominant presence of BFO phase throughout the calcinated nanofibers. Photocatalytic activity of the nanofibers and their application in water purification were investigated against 4-chlorophenol (4CP) as a model water contaminant. The results of the UV-Vis spectroscopy show the degradation of the 4CP by means of the photocatalytic activity of the BFO nanofibers. The kinetics of the photodegradation of 4CP is believed to be governed by a pseudo-first-order kinetics model. Parmiss Mojir Shaibani, K. Prashanthi, Amirreza Sohrabi, and Thomas Thundat Copyright © 2013 Parmiss Mojir Shaibani et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 15:01:47 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ije/2013/976810/ The main aim of this study is to assess the inflammatory markers in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by measuring some cytokines concentrations and lymphocytes subset and correlate them with other laboratory investigations. Fifty-seven patients with type-2 diabetes and 30 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Data for the C-reactive protein (CRP), haemoglobin, HbA1c, and autoantibody levels were obtained from the patients files. The cytokine concentrations were measured in patient’s serum using commercially available ELISA assays. Lymphocytes subsets were measured by flow cytometric methods. The levels of IL-1, IL-6, IL-15, and TNF- were found to be decreased in T2DM patients, whereas the levels of IL-10, IFN-, and caspase-1 were increased, compared to normal controls. T2DM patients with hypertension show significantly decreased levels of IL-1 and caspase-1 compared to patients without hypertension. No significant differences in lymphocytes subset between cases and normal control were observed. Significant correlations were found between HbA1c and IL-6; body mass index (BMI) was significantly correlated with CRP, TNF-, and phosphate; the weight (Wt) was associated with CRP and IFN-. In conclusion, an alteration in the function of the immune system was observed in T2DM patient. Ahmed Al-Shukaili, Saif AL-Ghafri, Safia Al-Marhoobi, Said Al-Abri, Jawad Al-Lawati, and Masoud Al-Maskari Copyright © 2013 Ahmed Al-Shukaili et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:56:44 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/pediatrics/2013/623102/ Pulmonary sequestration is a congenital abnormality consisting of a mass of pulmonary tissue that presents an abnormal connection with the tracheobronchial tree, with a blood supply coming from an anomalous artery derived from the systemic circulation. Extralobar pulmonary sequestration is characterized by having pleural coverings that are independent of the normal lungs, with vascular supply usually coming from the aorta or from one of its branches. This diagnosis can be suspected prenatally if an abdominal mass, generally below the diaphragm, is seen. Here, we present a case of a neonate on the second day of life, with ultrasonography showing extralobar pulmonary sequestration located above the left adrenal gland that prenatally simulated a neuroblastoma. Claudio Rodrigues Pires, Adriano Czapkowski, Edward Araujo Júnior, and Sebastião Marques Zanforlin Filho Copyright © 2013 Claudio Rodrigues Pires et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:53:43 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/oximed/2013/972913/ Glutathione (GSH) plays an important role in a multitude of cellular processes, including cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis, and disturbances in GSH homeostasis are involved in the etiology and progression of many human diseases including cancer. While GSH deficiency, or a decrease in the GSH/glutathione disulphide (GSSG) ratio, leads to an increased susceptibility to oxidative stress implicated in the progression of cancer, elevated GSH levels increase the antioxidant capacity and the resistance to oxidative stress as observed in many cancer cells. The present review highlights the role of GSH and related cytoprotective effects in the susceptibility to carcinogenesis and in the sensitivity of tumors to the cytotoxic effects of anticancer agents. Nicola Traverso, Roberta Ricciarelli, Mariapaola Nitti, Barbara Marengo, Anna Lisa Furfaro, Maria Adelaide Pronzato, Umberto Maria Marinari, and Cinzia Domenicotti Copyright © 2013 Nicola Traverso et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:49:47 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/sci/2013/507301/ Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are currently defined as multipotent stromal cells that undergo sustained in vitro growth and can give rise to cells of multiple mesenchymal lineages, such as adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts. The regenerative and immunosuppressive properties of MSCs have led to numerous clinical trials exploring their utility for the treatment of a variety of diseases (e.g., acute graft-versus-host disease, Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis, and cardiovascular diseases including heart failure and myocardial infarction). On the other hand, conventionally cultured MSCs reflect heterogeneous populations that often contain contaminating cells due to the significant variability in isolation methods and the lack of specific MSC markers. This review article focuses on recent developments in the MSC research field, with a special emphasis on the identification of novel surface markers for the in vivo localization and prospective isolation of murine and human MSCs. Furthermore, we discuss the physiological importance of MSC subtypes in vivo with specific reference to data supporting their contribution to HSC niche homeostasis. The isolation of MSCs using selective markers (combination of PDGFRα and Sca-1) is crucial to address the many unanswered questions pertaining to these cells and has the potential to enhance their therapeutic potential enormously. Yo Mabuchi, Diarmaid D. Houlihan, Chihiro Akazawa, Hideyuki Okano, and Yumi Matsuzaki Copyright © 2013 Yo Mabuchi et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:49:17 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/914981/ We have fabricated poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)/fullerene (C60) ternary blend films. This photoactive layer is sandwiched between an indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT/PSS) photoanode and a bathocuproine (BCP)/aluminium photocathode. The thin films have been characterized by atomic force microscope (AFM) and ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy in order to study the influence of P3HT doping on the morphological and optical properties of the photoactive layer. We have also compared the characteristics of three different organic solar cells: ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CuPc0.5:C600.5/BCP/Al and ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT0.3:CuPc0.3:C600.4/BCP/Al with and without annealing. Both structures show good photovoltaic behaviour. Indeed, the incorporation of P3HT into CuPc:C60 thin film improves all the photovoltaic characteristics. We have also seen that thermal annealing significantly improves the optical absorption ability and stabilizes the organic solar cells making it more robust to chemical degradation. H. Derouiche and A. B. Mohamed Copyright © 2013 H. Derouiche and A. B. Mohamed. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:47:55 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aop/2013/806267/ Objective. Posterior dynamic stabilization is an effective alternative to fusion in the treatment of chronic instability and degenerative disc disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine. This study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of dynamic stabilization in chronic degenerative disc disease with Modic types 1 and 2. Modic types 1 and 2 degeneration can be painful. Classic approach in such cases is spine fusion. We operated 88 DDD patients with Modic types 1 and 2 via posterior dynamic stabilization. Good results were obtained after 2 years of followup. Methods. A total of 88 DDD patients with Modic types 1 and 2 were selected for this study. The patients were included in the study between 2004 and 2010. All of them were examined with lumbar anteroposterior (AP) and lateral X-rays. Lordosis of the lumbar spine, segmental lordosis, and ratio of the height of the intervertebral disc spaces (IVSs) were measured preoperatively and at 3, 12, and 24 months after surgery. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis was carried out, and according to the data obtained, the grade of disc degeneration was classified. The quality of life and pain scores were evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS) score and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) preoperatively and at 3, 12, and 24 months after surgery. Appropriate statistical method was chosen. Results. The mean 3- and 12-month postoperative IVS ratio was significantly greater than that of the preoperative group (). However, the mean 1 and 2 postoperative IVS ratio was not significantly different (). Furthermore, the mean preoperative and 1 and 2 postoperative angles of lumbar lordosis and segmental lordosis were not significantly different (). The mean VAS score and ODI, 3, 12, and 24 months after surgery, decreased significantly, when compared with the preoperative scores in the groups (). Conclusion. Dynamic stabilization in chronic degenerative disc disease with Modic types 1 and 2 was effective. Olcay Eser, Cengiz Gomleksiz, Mehdi Sasani, Tunc Oktenoglu, Ahmet Levent Aydin, Yaprak Ataker, Tuncer Suzer, and Ali Fahir Ozer Copyright © 2013 Olcay Eser et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:47:35 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/621423/ The dominant paradigm of “one gene, one target, one disease” has influenced many aspects of drug discovery strategy. However, in recent years, it has been appreciated that many effective drugs act on multiple targets rather than a single one. As an integrated multidisciplinary concept, network pharmacology, which is based on system biology and polypharmacology, affords a novel network mode of “multiple targets, multiple effects, complex diseases” and replaces the “magic bullets” by “magic shotguns.” Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been recognized as one of the most important strategies in complementary and alternative medicine. Though CHM has been practiced for a very long time, its effectiveness and beneficial contribution to public health has not been fully recognized. Also, the knowledge on the mechanisms of CHM formulas is scarce. In the present review, the concept and significance of network pharmacology is briefly introduced. The application and potential role of network pharmacology in the CHM fields is also discussed, such as data collection, target prediction, network visualization, multicomponent interaction, and network toxicology. Furthermore, the developing tendency of network pharmacology is also summarized, and its role in CHM research is discussed. Gui-biao Zhang, Qing-ya Li, Qi-long Chen, and Shi-bing Su Copyright © 2013 Gui-biao Zhang et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:47:07 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2013/680975/ Nonnegativity of the Moore-Penrose inverse of a perturbation of the form is considered when . Using a generalized version of the Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury formula, conditions for to be nonnegative are derived. Applications of the results are presented briefly. Iterative versions of the results are also studied. Shani Jose and K. C. Sivakumar Copyright © 2013 Shani Jose and K. C. Sivakumar. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:45:09 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/srcm/2013/520858/ A rare sclerosing variant of rhabdomyosarcoma characterized by prominent hyalinization and pseudovascular pattern has recently been described as a subtype biologically distinct from embryonal, alveolar, and pleomorphic forms. We present cytogenetic and molecular findings as well as experimental studies of an unusual case of sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma. The primary lesion arose within the plantar subcutaneous tissue of the left foot of an otherwise healthy 23-year-old male who eventually developed pulmonary nodules despite systemic chemotherapy. Two genetic abnormalities identified in surgical and/or autopsy samples of the tumor were introduced into 10T1/2 murine fibroblasts to determine whether these genetic changes cooperatively facilitated transformation and growth. Cytogenetic analysis revealed a complex abnormal hyperdiploid clone, and MDM2 gene amplification was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Cancer gene mutation screening using a combination of multiplexed PCR and mass spectroscopy revealed a PIK3CA exon 20 H1047R mutation in the primary tumor, lung metastasis, and liver metastasis. However, this mutation was not cooperative with MDM2 overexpression in experimental assays for transformation or growth. Nevertheless, MDM2 and PIK3CA are genes worthy of further investigation in patients with sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma and might be considered in the enrollment of these patients into clinical trials of targeted therapeutics. Ken Kikuchi, George R. Wettach, Christopher W. Ryan, Arthur Hung, Jody E. Hooper, Carol Beadling, Andrea Warrick, Christopher L. Corless, Susan B. Olson, Charles Keller, and Atiya Mansoor Copyright © 2013 Ken Kikuchi et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:44:41 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/530932/ Numerical solutions of the linear differential boundary issues are obtained by using a local polynomial estimator method with kernel smoothing. To achieve this, a combination of a local polynomial-based method and its differential form has been used. The computed results with the use of this technique have been compared with the exact solution and other existing methods to show the required accuracy of it. The effectiveness of this method is verified by three illustrative examples. The presented method is seen to be a very reliable alternative method to some existing techniques for such realistic problems. Numerical results show that the solution of this method is more accurate than that of other methods. Liyun Su, Tianshun Yan, Yanyong Zhao, and Fenglan Li Copyright © 2013 Liyun Su et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:43:38 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/745637/ The Multiple Encounters Problem is described in the literature as the problem of finding trajectories for a spacecraft that leaves from a mother planet, describes a trajectory in the interplanetary space, and then goes back to the mother planet. The present paper extends the literature and the departure and arrival angles of the spacecraft are generalized to be nonsymmetrical. The solutions are shown in terms of the true () and eccentric anomaly (). The velocity variation () required for the transfer is also shown. Then, this study is generalized to consider the possibility that the spacecraft makes a close approach with the mother planet to change its energy in the return trip. The velocity () and energy variation () due to this passage are obtained. The topics studied here can be applied in missions that leave and come back to the Earth, with the goal of studying the interplanetary space, as well as for missions whose objective is to make an alteration in the energy of the space vehicle through a swing-by with the mother body. Denilson Paulo Souza dos Santos, Antônio Fernando Bertachini de Almeida Prado, and Evandro Marconi Rocco Copyright © 2013 Denilson Paulo Souza dos Santos et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:43:03 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/2013/367510/ Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on a TiO2 photoanode have been considered as an alternative source in the field of renewable energy resources. In DSSCs, photoanode plays a key role to achieve excellent photo-to-electric conversion efficiency. The surface morphology, surface area, TiO2 crystal phase, and the dispersion of TiO2 nanoparticles are the most important factors influencing the properties of a photoanode. The smooth TiO2 surface morphology of the photoanode indicates closely packed arrangement of TiO2 particles which enhance the light harvesting efficiency of the cell. In this paper, a smooth TiO2 photoanode has been successfully prepared using a well-dispersed anatase TiO2 nanosol via a simple hydrothermal process. The above TiO2 photoanode was then compared with the photoanode made from commercial TiO2 nanoparticle pastes. The morphological and structural analyses of both the aforementioned photoanodes were comprehensively characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The DSSC fabricated by using a-TiO2 nanosol-based photoelectrode exhibited an overall light conversion efficiency of 7.20% and a short-circuit current density of 13.34 mA cm−2, which was significantly higher than those of the DSSCs with the TiO2 nanoparticles-based electrodes. Sasipriya Kathirvel, Huei-Siou Chen, Chaochin Su, Hsiue-Hsyan Wang, Chung-Yen Li, and Wen-Ren Li Copyright © 2013 Sasipriya Kathirvel et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:41:25 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijrm/2013/512674/ This paper shows a theoretical vibration analysis regarding the controller’s parameters and the gyroscopic effect, based on a simplified rotordynamic model. Combined with 600 Wh energy storage flywheel rotor system mathematical model, the Campbell diagram of the rotor system was obtained by the calculation of the whirl frequency under different parameters of the controller in MATLAB to analyze the effect of the controller parameter on the whirl frequency and to limit the operating speed and acceleration or deceleration of the rotor. The result of the analysis can be used to set the support position of the rotor system, limit the ratio of transverse moment of inertia and the polar moment of inertia, and direct the flywheel prototype future design. The presented simplified rotordynamic model can also be applied to rotating machines. Jing-na Liu, Zheng-yi Ren, Shan-wei Wu, and Yin-long Tang Copyright © 2013 Jing-na Liu et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:40:29 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jam/2013/291816/ This paper addresses the issue of approximate controllability for a class of control system which is represented by nonlinear fractional integrodifferential equations with nonlocal conditions. By using semigroup theory, p-mean continuity and fractional calculations, a set of sufficient conditions, are formulated and proved for the nonlinear fractional control systems. More precisely, the results are established under the assumption that the corresponding linear system is approximately controllable and functions satisfy non-Lipschitz conditions. The results generalize and improve some known results. R. Ganesh, R. Sakthivel, N. I. Mahmudov, and S. M. Anthoni Copyright © 2013 R. Ganesh et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:39:34 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2013/163582/ Background. Conjunctivitis is one of the most frequently occurring hospital-acquired infections among neonates, although it is less studied than potentially life-threatening infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia. Objectives. The aims of our work were to identify epidemiologic characteristics, pathogens, and susceptibility patterns of bacterial hospital-acquired conjunctivitis (HAC) in a level III neonatal unit. Materials and Methods. Data were collected retrospectively from patient charts and laboratory databases. Hospital-acquired conjunctivitis was defined in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control/National Healthcare Safety Network (CDC/NHSN) diagnostic criteria. Results. One or more episodes of HAC were diagnosed in 4,0% () of 1492 neonates admitted during the study period. Most of the episodes involved premature (75,4%) and low birth weight (75,4%) neonates. Infection rates were higher among patients undergoing noninvasive mechanical ventilation (46,7%), parenteral nutrition (13,6%), and phototherapy (6,8%). Predominant pathogens included Serratia marcescens (27,9%), Escherichia coli (23%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18%). Susceptibility patterns revealed bacterial resistances to several antibiotic classes. Gentamicin remains the adequate choice for empirical treatment of HAC in our NICU. Conclusion. It is important to know the local patterns of the disease in order to adjust prevention strategies. Our work contributes to the epidemiological characterization of a sometimes overlooked disease. Catarina Dias, Márcia Gonçalves, and Anabela João Copyright © 2013 Catarina Dias et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:37:19 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ame/2013/130750/ Engineering optimization problems usually contain various constraints and mixed integer-discrete-continuous types of design variables. We propose an efficient particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for such problems. First, we transform the constrained optimization problem into an unconstrained problem without introducing problem-dependent or user-defined parameters such as penalty factors or Lagrange multipliers (such parameters are usually required in general optimization algorithms). Then, we extend the above PSO method to handle integer, discrete, and continuous design variables in a simple manner with a high degree of precision. The proposed PSO scheme is fairly simple and therefore easy to implement. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, several mechanical design optimization problems are solved, and the numerical results are compared with results reported in the literature. Semin Chun, Young-Tark Kim, and Tae-Hyoung Kim Copyright © 2013 Semin Chun et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:35:21 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/129315/ To help the clinicians prescribe acupoints easily and effectively, we developed one simple flow chart to select acupoints. This study aimed to evaluate the usefulness of flow chart to select acupoints in dogs. Total 102 dogs showing intervertebral disc disease (IVDD) (), vomiting (), diarrhea (), abdominal pain (), cough (), or epilepsy () received acupuncture treatment according to the chart, and its outcomes were evaluated as regards clinical symptoms, duration, treatment numbers, and recovery time. Dogs (8/8) with IVDD from grades I to III recovered over periods of 5 days to 6 weeks after 1–12 treatments, while 1/4 dogs with grade IV recovered over 7 weeks after 15 treatments. Vomiting dogs with acute/subacute () and chronic symptoms () required about 1 and 7 treatments to recover fully, respectively. All dogs () with abdominal pain showed fast relief within 24 hours after acupuncture. Two diarrhea cases recovered over 2–9 days after 1-2 treatments. Fifty-four of 66 coughing dogs were recovered by 1-2 treatments. And 5 of 6 epilepsy dogs under a regular acupuncture treatment had no epileptic episode during followup of 12 months. These results suggest that this flow chart can help the clinicians prescribe acupoints effectively. Jong-Ho Jeong, Joo-Young Song, Hyo-Gwon Jo, Ji-Min Kim, Samuel-S. Yoon, Chul Park, Seunghyun Kim, Seong-Soo Roh, Bong Hyo Lee, Chae Ha Yang, and Hee Young Kim Copyright © 2013 Jong-Ho Jeong et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:34:09 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/928129/ Cancer chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) often results in discontinuation of treatment with potentially useful anticancer drugs and may deteriorate the patient’s quality of life. This study investigated the effect of contact needle therapy (CNT) on CIPN caused by responsible chemotherapeutic agents as taxanes and oxaliplatin. Six patients with CIPN were treated with CNT. The severity of CIPN was evaluated using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) version 4 and FACT/GOG-Ntx before and after CNT. After the treatment, all of the patients showed some improvement. Four patients showed apparent improvement in breakthrough pain. One of the cases had difficulty in walking because of CIPN in lower extremities, but after 2 times of CNT, he could walk without pain and could continue the chemotherapy. Although its putative mechanisms remain elusive, CNT has strong potential as an adjunctive therapy in CIPN. Well-designed clinical trials with adequate sample size and power are necessary to confirm the findings of this study. Keiko Ogawa, Masao Ogawa, Koji Nishijima, Masaki Tsuda, and Genichi Nishimura Copyright © 2013 Keiko Ogawa et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:28:03 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijcb/2013/647975/ The prevalence of obesity has given rise to significant global concerns as numerous population-based studies demonstrate an incontrovertible association between obesity and breast cancer. Mechanisms proposed to account for this linkage include exaggerated levels of carbohydrate substrates, elevated levels of circulating mitogenic hormones, and inflammatory cytokines that impinge on epithelial programming in many tissues. Moreover, recently many scientists have rediscovered the observation, first described by Otto Warburg nearly a century ago, that most cancer cells undergo a dramatic metabolic shift in energy utilization and expenditure that fuels and supports the cellular expansion associated with malignant proliferation. This shift in substrate oxidation comes at the cost of sharp changes in the levels of the high energy intermediate, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH). In this review, we discuss a novel example of how shifts in the concentration and flux of substrates metabolized and generated during carbohydrate metabolism represent components of a signaling network that can influence epigenetic regulatory events in the nucleus. We refer to this regulatory process as “metabolic transduction” and describe how the C-terminal binding protein (CtBP) family of NADH-dependent nuclear regulators represents a primary example of how cellular metabolic status can influence epigenetic control of cellular function and fate. Jung S. Byun and Kevin Gardner Copyright © 2013 Jung S. Byun and Kevin Gardner. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:24:09 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/716094/ Objective. To evaluate clinical trial evidence of the effectiveness of qigong exercise on depressive and anxiety symptoms. Methods. Thirteen databases were searched from their respective inception through December 2012. Relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Effects of qigong across trials were pooled. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were calculated for the pooled effects. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 test. Study quality was evaluated using the Wayne Checklist. Results. Twelve RCTs met the inclusion criteria. The results of meta-analyses suggested a beneficial effect of qigong exercise on depressive symptoms when compared to waiting-list controls or usual care only (SMD = −0.75; 95% CI, −1.44 to −0.06), group newspaper reading (SMD = −1.24; 95% CI, −1.64 to −0.84), and walking or conventional exercise (SMD = −0.52; 95% CI, −0.85 to −0.19), which might be comparable to that of cognitive-behavioral therapy (). Available evidence did not suggest a beneficial effect of qigong exercise on anxiety symptoms. Conclusion. Qigong may be potentially beneficial for management of depressive symptoms, but the results should be interpreted with caution due to the limited number of RCTs and associated methodological weaknesses. Further rigorously designed RCTs are warranted. Chong-Wen Wang, Cecilia Lai Wan Chan, Rainbow T. H. Ho, Hector W. H. Tsang, Celia Hoi Yan Chan, and Siu-Man Ng Copyright © 2013 Chong-Wen Wang et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:21:08 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mi/2013/863036/ To test the hypothesis that brain-derived neurotrophic factor-(BDNF-) mediated neuroprotection is reduced by high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) in diabetic retina, paired vitreous and serum samples from 46 proliferative diabetic retinopathy and 34 nondiabetic patients were assayed for BDNF, HMGB1, soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and TBARS. We also examined retinas of diabetic and HMGB1 intravitreally injected rats. The effect of the HMGB1 inhibitor glycyrrhizin on diabetes-induced changes in retinal BDNF expressions was studied. Western blot, ELISA, and TBARS assays were used. BDNF was not detected in vitreous samples. BDNF levels were significantly lower in serum samples from diabetic patients compared with nondiabetics, whereas HMGB1, sRAGE, sICAM-1, and TBARS levels were significantly higher in diabetic serum samples. MCP-1 levels did not differ significantly. There was significant inverse correlation between serum levels of BDNF and HMGB1. Diabetes and intravitreal administration of HMGB1 induced significant upregulation of the expression of HMGB1, TBARS, and cleaved caspase-3, whereas the expression of BDNF and synaptophysin was significantly downregulated in rat retinas. Glycyrrhizin significantly attenuated diabetes-induced downregulation of BDNF. Our results suggest that HMGB1-induced downregulation of BDNF might be involved in pathogenesis of diabetic retinal neurodegeneration. Ahmed M. Abu El-Asrar, Mohd Imtiaz Nawaz, Mohammad Mairaj Siddiquei, Abdullah S. Al-Kharashi, Dustan Kangave, and Ghulam Mohammad Copyright © 2013 Ahmed M. Abu El-Asrar et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:15:07 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aaa/2013/619068/ The existence and uniqueness of local strong solutions for a nonlinear equation are investigated in the Sobolev space provided that the initial value lies in with . Meanwhile, we prove the existence of global weak solutions in for the equation. Meng Wu Copyright © 2013 Meng Wu. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:12:57 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2013/498385/ This paper presents an approach to bearing fault diagnosis based on the Teager energy operator (TEO) and Elman neural network. The TEO can estimate the total mechanical energy required to generate signals, thereby resulting in good time resolution and self-adaptability to transient signals. These attributes reflect the advantage of detecting signal impact characteristics. To detect the impact characteristics of the vibration signals of bearing faults, we used the TEO to extract the cyclical impact caused by bearing failure and applied the wavelet packet to reduce the noise of the Teager energy signal. This approach also enabled the extraction of bearing fault feature frequencies, which were identified using the fast Fourier transform of Teager energy. The feature frequencies of the inner and outer faults, as well as the ratio of resonance frequency band energy to total energy in the Teager spectrum, were extracted as feature vectors. In order to avoid a frequency leak error, the weighted Teager spectrum around the fault frequency was extracted as feature vector. These vectors were then used to train the Elman neural network and improve the robustness of the diagnostic algorithm. Experimental results indicate that the proposed approach effectively detects bearing faults under variable conditions. Hongmei Liu, Jing Wang, and Chen Lu Copyright © 2013 Hongmei Liu et al. All rights reserved. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:10:13 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/crim/pathology/2013/201095/ We present the first description of amiodarone toxicity in the liver without phospholipidosis or steatosis. In doing so, we will review the various effects of amiodarone toxicity in various organs. The patient is a young adult who had cardiac reconstruction as a child for transposition of the great vessels. A needle biopsy was taken due to elevated liver enzymes. Her ALT was 188 U/L (5–50) and AST 162 U/L (5–50). Alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, protein, and albumin were within normal limits. A serologic panel for viral hepatitis was negative. Antinuclear antibodies were positive at 260; however, anti-smooth muscle antibody and anti-mitochondrial antibody were negative. A protein electrophoresis showed a slightly elevated beta globulin 2 level of 0.5. Quantitative immunoglobulin levels were within normal limits except for a slightly elevated IgA 409 mg/dL (60–350). Liver ultrasound was unremarkable. The clinical differential was broad and included hepatic congestion along with autoimmune hepatitis. Sections showed only ballooned hepatocytes with Mallory-Denk bodies and perisinusoidal fibrosis. Arrival to the diagnosis was possible only after careful review of the patient’s medications. After discontinuation of amiodarone, the patient’s liver enzymes returned to normal levels. Adela Cimic and Joseph Sirintrapun Copyright © 2013 Adela Cimic and Joseph Sirintrapun. All rights reserved.