Retrospective analysis of operative ankle fractures

A seroprevalence survey to recently proposed adenovirus (AV) serotypes AV 48 and AV 49, isolated primarily from AIDS patients, was conducted among the San Francisco Men's Health Study cohort. This cohort of homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual HIV-seronegative and -seropositive men from selected San Francisco census tracts has been studied since 1984. The presence or absence of type-specific antibody in 628 serum specimens from 1989 was determined by microneutralization. Thirty of these subjects (26 positive and four negative) were studied longitudinally. Serum specimens taken at 6-month intervals from 1984 to 1993 were tested to characterize antibody response and to document the advent of these new serotypes. Eight subjects were tested against five other AV serotypes for comparison. AV 48 and AV 49 seroprevalence rates were significantly higher in HIV-seropositives, but infection was not limited to the immunocompromised. Sexual preference was not a significant determinant for AV seroprevalence in HIV-seronegatives. However, the extent and duration of the neutralizing antibody response was strikingly different between homosexuals and heterosexuals: an endemic pattern of continuous reexposure over the 9-year period was seen in 90% of 19 homosexuals, while five of six heterosexuals (83%) had an episodic pattern of exposure with antibody decline to undetectable levels. These data suggest that these viruses may be endemic in some part of the homosexual population and that sexual transmission may be the primary source of continuous reexposure.     

Tree-based partitioning of date for association rule mining

The most computationally demanding aspect of Association Rule Mining is the identification and counting of support of the frequent sets of items that occur together sufficiently often to be the basis of potentially interesting rules. The task increases in difficulty with the scale of the data and also with its density. The greatest challenge is posed by data that is too large to be contained in primary memory, especially when high data density and/or low support thresholds give rise to very large numbers of candidates that must be counted. In this paper, we consider strategies for partitioning the data to deal effectively with such cases. We describe a partitioning approach which organises the data into tree structures that can be processed independently. We present experimental results that show the method scales well for increasing dimensions of data and performs significantly better than alternatives, especially when dealing with dense data and low support thresholds. Shakil Ahmed received a first class BSc (Hons) degree from Dhaka University, Bangladesh, in 1990; and an MSc (first class), also Dhaka University, in 1992. He received his PhD from The University of Liverpool, UK, in 2005. From 2000 onwards he is a member of the Data Mining Group at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Liverpool, UK. His research interests include data mining, Association Rule Mining and pattern recognition. Frans Coenen has been working in the field of Data Mining for many years and has written widely on the subject. He received his PhD from Liverpool Polytechnic in 1989, after which he took up a post as a RA within the Department of Computer Science at the University of Liverpool. In 1997, he took up a lecturing post within the same department. His current Data Mining research interests include Association rule Mining, Classification algorithms and text mining. He is on the programme committee for ICDM'05 and was the chair for the UK KDD symposium (UKKDD'05). Paul Leng is professor of e-Learning at the University of Liverpool and director of the e-Learning Unit, which is responsible for overseeing the University's online degree programmes, leading to degrees of MSc in IT and MBA. Along with e-Learning, his main research interests are in Data Mining, especially in methods of discovering Association Rules. In collaboration with Frans Coenen, he has developed efficient new algorithms for finding frequent sets and is exploring applications in text mining and classification.     

Antisense Oligonucleotide-Based Rescue of Aberrant Splicing Defects Caused by 15 Pathogenic Variants in ABCA4

The discovery of novel intronic variants in the ABCA4 locus has contributed significantly to solving the missing heritability in Stargardt disease (STGD1). The increasing number of variants affecting pre-mRNA splicing makes ABCA4 a suitable candidate for antisense oligonucleotide (AON)-based splicing modulation therapies. In this study, AON-based splicing modulation was assessed for 15 recently described intronic variants (three near-exon and 12 deep-intronic variants). In total, 26 AONs were designed and tested in vitro using a midigene-based splice system. Overall, partial or complete splicing correction was observed for two variants causing exon elongation and all variants causing pseudoexon inclusion. Together, our results confirm the high potential of AONs for the development of future RNA therapies to correct splicing defects causing STGD1.     

Evaluation and characterization of ammoniumpolyphosphate–pentaerythritol‐based systems for intumescent coatings

Intumescent coatings are increasingly used as a method of passive fire protection on steel constructions. By forming a carbon network and releasing a blowing agent, the thin intumescent film swells 100‐fold at elevated temperatures. The highly insulating foam effectively prevents the load bearing steel from reaching its critical temperature at which it looses its mechanical properties and collapses. The role of the carbon donor in intumescent coatings has been studied. Comparison in temperature development, foaming ratios, and rheological behavior has been performed between formulations containing pentaerythritol (penta), di–penta, and tri–penta. A simulated fire test, in which the temperature development during intumescence was studied, showed that the formulations containing penta were considerably more efficient in keeping a low temperature throughout the process. A more rapid temperature development was displayed when using di–penta and tri–penta as the carbon donor. Rheometer tests indicate that penta formulations enter the intumescent process at a lower temperature and stays in it for a longer time than di–penta and tri–penta formulations. Furthermore, the crossover temperature and maximum phase angle are shifted towards higher temperatures by replacing penta with di–penta and with tri–penta in the formulations, respectively. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 748–753, 2007     

Photocatalytic mineralisation of organic compounds: a comparison of flame-made TiO2 catalysts

A comparative photocatalytic analysis was carried out on TiO₂ made in a Flame Spray Pyrolysis (FSP) process and flame-made Degussa P25. Both have similar crystallinity, phase composition, phase segregation and a non-porous surface. Hence comparison was made based on their difference in specific surface area, organic adsorption and the amount of OH• generated upon illumination. The photocatalytic activity tests were carried out using the following series of organic compounds: sucrose, glucose, fructose, maleic acid, glyoxylic acid, oxalic acid, isobutyric acid, phenol and methanol. FSP-made TiO₂ outperformed P25 for saccharides mineralisation, while for phenol and methanol mineralisation P25 was better than FSP-made TiO₂. Similar mineralisation rates were observed for both FSP-made and P25 TiO₂ for the mineralisation of carboxylic acids. This shows that the relative performance of the photocatalysts depends on the type of organic compounds to be degraded. The high surface area and possibly a more efficient interfacial charge transfer of FSP-made TiO₂ provided an efficient pathway for saccharides mineralisation. As for phenol and methanol, the mineralisation rates were higher when using P25 due to the greater amount of OH• radicals generated by this photocatalyst. The fast mineralisation rates of carboxylic acids made degradation of these organic compounds to be less affected by the TiO₂ photocatalyst properties and conditions tested in this work.     

Efficacy of iron fortification compared to iron supplementation among Vietnamese schoolchildren

Background  

Parents of six children are facing a trial on charges of aggravated manslaughter in the care a 5 1/2 month old infant who died suddenly and neglect of their four older children for causing them to be malnourished by feeding them all an exclusively raw foods vegan diet. Both parents declined plea bargains and plan to defend themselves in court.     

Boundary scan test,test methodology,and fault modeling

The test technique called boundary scan test (BST) offers new opportunities in testing but confronts users with new problems too. The implementation of BST in a chip has become an IEEE standard and users on board level are the next group to begin thinking about using the new possibilities. This article addresses some of the questions about changes in board-level testing and fault diagnosis. The fault model itself is also affected by using BST. Trivial items are extended with more sophisticated details in order to complete the fault model. Finally, BST appears to be a test technique that offers a high degree of detectability on board level, but for diagnosis, some additional effort has to be made.