Academic literature on the topic 'Beckner type systems'

Background. The standard of care for patients with operable gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction (GOJ) tumours involves neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This improves survival and reduces risk of tumour recurrence following surgery. The various grading criteria published to assess histological response to neoadjuvant treatments have never been compared in terms of their reproducibility and ability to predict survival. Methods. A study was carried out of 66 patients with gastric and GOJ (types II and III) adenocarcinoma treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy according to the MAGIC protocol. Histology slides were reviewed independently by two histopathologists using three published grading systems (Mandard, Japanese, and Becker). Histological, demographic, and survival data were collected. The kappa statistic was used to assess interobserver reproducibility. Results. Three (5%) patients had a complete pathological response. There was reasonable interobserver agreement for the grading systems: κ-scores = 0.44 (Mandard), 0.28 (Japanese), and 0.51 (Becker). Only Mandard and Becker scores provided prognostic information: 5-year overall survival rates of 100% for complete or near complete responders versus 35% for nonresponders () for both. Positive lymph nodes () and resection margins () were associated with poor survival. Conclusion. Becker’s score is most reproducible for the evaluation of histological response. Furthermore, lymph node and resection margins status provides prognostic information.

Neuromuscular diseases (NMDs) belong to a class of functional impairments that cause dysfunctions of the motor neuron-muscle functional axis components. Inherited monogenic neuromuscular disorders encompass both muscular dystrophies and motor neuron diseases. Understanding of their causative genetic defects and pathological genetic mechanisms has led to the unprecedented clinical translation of genetic therapies. Challenged by a broad range of gene defect types, researchers have developed different approaches to tackle mutations by hijacking the cellular gene expression machinery to minimize the mutational damage and produce the functional target proteins. Such manipulations may be directed to any point of the gene expression axis, such as classical gene augmentation, modulating premature termination codon ribosomal bypass, splicing modification of pre-mRNA, etc. With the soar of the CRISPR-based gene editing systems, researchers now gravitate toward genome surgery in tackling NMDs by directly correcting the mutational defects at the genome level and expanding the scope of targetable NMDs. In this article, we will review the current development of gene therapy and focus on NMDs that are available in published reports, including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), X-linked myotubular myopathy (XLMTM), Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), and Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy Type 2C (LGMD2C).

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Performance of Upper Limb (PUL) and Jebsen–Taylor Test (JTT) to assess and monitor upper limb function progression in patients with muscular dystrophy. Thirty patients diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, Becker muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy Type 1, and fascioscapulohumeral dystrophy were submitted to the shoulder, elbow, and wrist domains of PUL, and to JTT subtests. Spearman tests investigated the relationships between PUL and JTT total scores and domains. Correlations were classified as strong ( r ≥ 0.70), moderate (0.40 ≤ r < 0.70), or weak ( r ≤ 0.40). There were strong correlations between the PUL and JTT total scores ( r = −0.706). Although JTT measures time and PUL provides kinesiologic scores, these measures were related. Therefore, muscle synergies, which control the compensatory movements and motor functions involving mainly shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finger movements, are related to timed performance in patients with muscular dystrophies.

It is very easy to use a Planck distribution to show that a color index is a temperature parameter, but it is more difficult to calibrate such a color index in terms of temperature because only a few Teff values are determined. A pioneering work is that of Kuiper (1938), who derived a temperature scale according to spectral type (from A0 to M2 for dwarfs and from G0 to M8 for giants) and a Becker index. The first study giving a relation between Teff and a photoelectric color index is that of Popper (1959) in which the author derives a relation between Teff and B-V for the A and F stars and for G8 to K5 (dwarf and giant) stars. On this occasion, Popper shows the relation between temperature parameters of two photometric systems, R-I from the six-color system of Stebbins and Whitford, and B-V. This work was followed by a quantity of others from numerous authors in various systems, one of the most important being that of Johnson (1966). The purpose of the present study is not to review all the relations to be found in the literature but to define a set of stars which can be used to determine a calibration of a photometric parameter in terms of Teff.

While historical cultural materials inform users of the past, they may also contain language that perpetuates long-entrenched patterns of discrimination. In organizing and providing access to such materials, cultural heritage institutions must negotiate historical language and context with the comprehension and perspectives of modern audiences. Excerpted from a larger project exploring representation and access around historical terminology and personal identity, the present work offers insight into how knowl­edge organization systems may be used to help modern users confront and make sense of past, discriminatory language in the archive. Using keywords drawn from the titles of 19th and 20th sideshow performer photographs, this work details the construction of a mapping dictionary that brings together corresponding terminology from several vocabulary sources along with annotations designed to explain historical terms to modern audiences. The development of this dictionary revealed several major types of problematic and potentially discriminatory language including historical euphemisms, misnomers, outdated terms, and sensationalist monikers. The finished dictionary offers opportunities to address these through explanatory annotations and to provide a richer, multi-perspective approach to subject analysis for these and other historical materials.

Modern intensive farming led to a significant increase in agricultural production. In all countries, pure (single-species) crops dominate, causing many problems in agriculture. Single-species agro-systems are highly productive, but potentially unstable, since they depend entirely on significant resources from outside. There are several ways of diversifying agroecosystems. One of the most promising areas is the introduction into practice of combined crops. The paper has studied and analyzed various technologies for sowing seeds from several crops simultaneously on the same area in a single row. The paper has studied and analyzed various technologies for sowing seeds from several crops simultaneously on the same area in a single row. The characteristics of pneumatic seed drills of dotted sowing working both on vacuum and overpressure of air flow are given. The first include the designs of seeders of domestic production in the type of SUPN-8, in which significant changes are made, to the second - the seeders of the German company «Becker», in which the above changes completely exclude the possibility of damage to the seeds. A pneumatic sowing device is presented that allows sowing three crops at the same time as placing them at different depths of sowing, as well as a device capable of sowing in three ways: dotted, nested and combined. Developed pneumatic sowing machines for combined and nesting crops allow to simplify the design and increase the operational reliability of the device, improve the ecology, obtain fuel economy, eliminate seed damage. Seeders equipped with automated pneumatic systems are able to increase the yield of silage by 20-30 %, improve the quality of feed for livestock and save crop areas by cultivating several crops on the same field. The design of the device allows you to place seeds of different cultures in one row and at different depths of embedding. The novelty in this work is the simultaneous sowing of two crops simultaneously in one row at different depths of the embankment with different schemes and step-by-sowing, confirmed by patents for the invention.

The structure and spectroscopic properties of polycyclic aromatic ligands of 2,3,6,7,10,11-hexakis (alkylthio) triphenylene (alkyl: methyl, ethyl, and isopropyl; corresponding to the abbreviations of the molecules: HMTT, HETT and HiPTT) were studied using density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) methods with triple-zeta valence polarization (TZVP) basis set. It was shown that the type of functional theory used, Becke-Perdew (BP) and Leeuwen-Baerends (LB94) implemented in Amsterdam Density functional (ADF) program package, does not have essential influence on the geometry of studied compounds in both ground and excited states. However, significant differences were obtained for the band gap values with relativistic effects of the zero order regular approximation scalar corrections (ZORA) and LB94 functional seems to reproduce better the experimental optical band gap of these systems.

Electronic structures of ternary alloys of group III (Al, Ga, In) and rare earth (Sc, Y, Lu) nitrides were investigated from first principles. The general gradient approximation (GGA) was employed in predictions of structural parameters, whereas electronic properties of the alloys were studied with the modified Becke–Johnson GGA approach. The evolution of structural parameters in the materials reveals a strong tendency to flattening of the wurtzite type atomic layers. The introduction of rare earth (RE) ions into Al- and In-based nitrides leads to narrowing and widening of a band gap, respectively. Al-based materials doped with Y and Lu may also exhibit a strong band gap bowing. The increase of a band gap was obtained for Ga1−xScxN alloys. Relatively small modifications of electronic structure related to a RE ion content are expected in Ga1−xYxN and Ga1−xLuxN systems. The findings presented in this work may encourage further experimental investigations of electronic structures of mixed group III and RE nitride materials because, except for Sc-doped GaN and AlN systems, these novel semiconductors were not obtained up to now.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are ubiquitous underground symbiotic associations between most plants and fungi from the phylum Glomeromycota. From this symbiosis plants generally improve their capacity to obtain less mobile soil nutrients (like phosphorus) and increase resistance against biotic and abiotic stresses. Concomitantly the fungus has access to host carbon photosynthates. As obligate symbionts these fungi require always a host to survive, hence dual cultures is an obligatory laboratory requisite to maintain and multiply live Glomeromycota fungi. These cultures are mainly of three sorts: 1) Open pot cultures, 2) in vitro cultures with Ti DNA transformed root systems, 3) and in vitro cultures with L. cruciata, presented here. The internal mycelium of AMF usually assumes one or both of the morph-types named Arum (first described on Arum maculatum) and Paris (observed in Paris quadrifolia). The Paris-type morphology is characterized by hyphae with an intra-cellular growth, from cell-to-cell, forming coils and arbusculate coils. The Arum-type shows mainly intercellular hyphae growth, longitudinally between cells, with the arbuscules mounting upright on short intra-cellular branches.This study presents the first comparative morphologic characterization of 4 species of AMF grown in vitro with Lunularia cruciata (L.) Dumortier ex. Lindberg. Glomus clarum Nicol. & Schenck (CNPAB 005), G. intraradices Schenck & Smith (MUCL 43204), G. proliferum Dalpé & Declerck (MUCL 41827); and Gigaspora margarita Becker & Hall (CNPAB 001) internal hyphae share the same morph-type of L. cruciata colonization: the Paris-type. Stable and viable monoxenic cultures of AMF with L. cruciata were first presented by Fonseca and co-workers in 2006 for G. intraradices and G. proliferum on Petri dish (Fig. 1.1). In this work we bring two more species (G. clarum and Gi. margarita) cultured in vitro with L. cruciata, on bi-layer medium in flask containers (Fig. 1.2). The production of spores occurred mainly, among the rhizoids, between overlapping thallus and over the thallus (Fig. 1.3). Only the Glomus species produced spores within the medium.L. cruciata belongs to a group of complex thalloid liverworts with an internally differentiated anatomy: an upper epidermis forming air chambers where the chlorophyllous cells are located, a conspicuous vacuolated parenchyma, and the lower epidermis with its scales and rhizoids (Fig. 1.4). All four species show highly similar architecture of colonization with most fungi distributed in the thallus’ midrib parenchyma, and with internal mycelium architecture compatible with the Paris-type colonization (Figures 1.5 to 1.8). Although consistent the occurrence of Paris-type colonization among these four species, more species needed to be examined before a generalization can be given. The availability of AMF isolates for research at international fungi collections and laboratories is limited, and from these axenic isolates for in vitro culture are very few, which hinders the prove of the hypotheses that Paris-type colonization is the main pattern of hyphae colonization in L. cruciata mycothallus.

Theories of life span development describe human growth and change over the life cycle (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 2006). Major types of developmental theories include biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, and social learning, cognitive, moral, and spiritual, and those influenced by systems, empowerment, and conflict theory. Life span development theories commonly focus on ontogenesis and sequential mastery of skills, tasks, and abilities. Social work scholars have pointed out that a limitation of life span and other developmental theory is lack of attention to resilience (Greene, 2007; Robbins et al., 1998). The concept of resilience was developed to “describe relative resistance to psychosocial risk experiences” (Rutter, 1999b, p. 119). Longitudinal studies focused on typical and atypical child development informed theory formulation in developmental psychopathology (Garmezy & Rutter, 1983; Luthar, Cichetti,& Becker, 2000) and in an evolving resilience model (Richardson, 2002; Werner & Smith, 1992). Research on resilience has found a positive relationship between a number of individual traits and contextual variables and resistance to a variety of risk factors among children and adolescents. More recently, resilience research has examined the operation of these same factors in the young adult, middle-age, and elder life stages. This article examines the historical and conceptual progression of the two developmental theories—life span and resiliency—and discusses their application to social work practice and education in human behavior in the social environment.