The ability to rapidly assess the preferred conformation of key fragments in a structure "by visual inspection" is a very useful starting point in the process of drug design. With the ability to do so, one could address questions like: "How could we avoid planarity in a molecule?", "Will a molecule change its conformational preference if we make it more or less basic?" or "How does this electro...

In cross-national data on individual and country-level characteristics, the variance of log annual income is shown to correlate positively with indicators of redistribution. The database comes from the Panel Comparability (PACO) project, affiliated with the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), a first effort to provide comparable panel data across a broad range of countries. Countries in the sample i...

BACKGROUND Although music therapy is now applied widely as an intervention for elderly dementia patients, the effectiveness of this therapy is not yet well understood. PURPOSE This study conducts a systematic review of clinical studies that address the effectiveness of music therapy in elderly dementia patients. METHODS Databases including MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, EBMR, CINAHL, ...

The presence of apoptotic cells and loss of extracellular matrix (ECM) are common characteristics of degenerated cartilage endplates (CEPs). In addition, therapeutic efficacy is hampered by an incomplete understanding regarding the mechanisms underlying CEP homeostasis and degeneration. The CCN proteins have recently emerged as important regulators of cell‑ECM interactions, and have been identi...

Designing and implementing security-critical systems correctly is very difficult. In practice, most vulnerabilities arise from bugs in implementations. We present work towards systematic specification-based testing of securitycritical systems using the CASE tool AutoFocus. Cryptographic systems are formally specified with state transition diagrams, a notation for state machines in the AutoFocus...

We apply an extension of the Rothbarth approach to estimate the share of household resources accruing to children (i.e., the cost of children) in Ireland. The method also allows us to identify the economies of scale in the household and indifference scales in Lewbel (2003)’s sense. A practical aspect of the present approach is that it does not require price variation. The identification of the ...

I n 2007, the late Judah Folkman noted “a major obstacle” to the development of drugs targeted at angiogenesis, or new blood vessel growth, in tumors: the lack of noninvasive biomarkers for identifying patients most likely to respond to the drugs. Now, with three approved angiogenesis inhibitors (AIs) on the market — bevacizumab, sunitinib, and sorafenib — and hundreds of trials for others unde...

Designing and implementing security-critical systems correctly is very difficult. In practice, most vulnerabilities arise from bugs in implementations. We present work towards systematic specification-based testing of securitycritical systems using the CASE tool AutoFocus. Cryptographic systems are formally specified with state transition diagrams, a notation for state machines in the AutoFocus...

BACKGROUND Population aging has caused significant rises in the prevalence of chronic diseases and the utilization of healthcare services in Taiwan. The current healthcare delivery system is fragmented. Integrating medical services may increase the quality of healthcare, enhance patient and patient family satisfaction with healthcare services, and better contain healthcare costs. PURPOSE This...

The US decision not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and the recent outcomes of the Bonn and Marrakech Conferences of the Parties drastically reduces the effectiveness of the Kyoto Protocol in controlling GHG emissions. The reason is not only the reduced emission abatement in the US, but also the spillover effects on technology and countries’ relative bargaining power induced by the US decision. Th...