The identification of crash hotspots is the first step of the highway safety management process. Errors in hotspot identification may result in the inefficient use of resources for safety improvements and may reduce the global effectiveness of the safety management process. Despite the importance of using effective hotspot identification (HSID) methods, only a few researchers have compared the ...

Abstract Background Two meta-analyses have shown that pregnancy and birth rates are significantly higher after blastocyst transfer than cleaved embryo transfer. Other studies revealed a serum progesterone level > 1.5 ng/ml on the trigger day is responsible for premature luteinization associated with low rate. The objectives of this retrospective study were to determine whether gave at 3 in b...

Former US President Jimmy Carter, speaking at the 15th anniversary of Pfizer’s donation of Zithromax® in New York on 5th November 2013, said: "With the help of Pfizer, we are trying to eliminate blinding trachoma from the face of the earth by 2020. I think we have a very good chance of reaching this goal." During the past 15 years, Pfi zer – through the International Trachoma Initiative (ITI) –...

The present study characterized Argulus spp. infecting the cultured carps using 18S rRNA gene sequences, estimated the genetic similarity among Argulus spp. and established their phylogenetic relationship. Of the 320 fish samples screened, 34 fish (10.6%) had Argulus infection. The parasitic frequency index (PFI) was observed to be high (20%) in Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and Labeo bata. The f...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate whether the projected 24% reduction in acute bed numbers in Lothian hospitals, which formed part of the private finance initiative (PFI) plans for the replacement Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, is being compensated for by improvements in efficiency and greater use of community facilities, and to ascertain whether there is an independent PFI effect by comparing clinical act...

Modern spark ignited (SI) internal combustion engines maintain their air-to-fuel ratio (AFR) at a desired level to maximize the three-way catalyst conversion efficiency and durability. However, maintaining the engine AFR during its transient operation is quite challenging due to rapid changes of driver demand or engine throttle. Conventional transient AFR control is based upon the inverse dynam...

OBJECTIVE Disturbances in lipid metabolism are strongly associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (T2D). We hypothesized that activation of cAMP/PKA and calcium signaling pathways in cultured human myotubes would provide further insight into regulation of lipid storage, lipolysis, lipid oxidation and insulin responsiveness. METHODS Human myoblasts were isolated from vastus latera...