This study compared the removal efficiency of 22 widespread trace organic contaminants by a laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) with and without direct addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC) into the activated sludge reactor over a period of 312 days. The removal of hydrophilic and biologically persistent trace organic contaminants was immediately improved to above 95% after the add...

In ovarian cancer patients, chemotherapy resistance is the principal factor restricting long-term treatment. Paclitaxel (Pac) has been previously reported to be a ligand to Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). It was determined that TLR4 signaling is divided into the following two pathways: Myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)-dependent and MyD88-independent. The present study investigated the eff...

Micropapillary patterns of apocrine change in human female breasts are common histological findings. They have been identified as cancer associated and implicated as an indicator of cancer risk in a predictive manner. This study has stratified papillary apocrine change (PAC) into categories of increasing complexity using a combination of cytological and histological pattern rules. Cases (2,876)...

Kenaf fiber-polyester composites incorporated with powdered activated carbon (PAC) were prepared using the vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process. The product demonstrates the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding function. The kenaf fibers were retted in a pressured reactor to remove the lignin and extractives in the fiber. The PAC was loaded into the freshly retted fibe...

The removal efficiency of 22 selected trace organic contaminants by sequential application of granular activated carbon (GAC) and simultaneous application of powdered activated carbon (PAC) with membrane bioreactor (MBR) was compared in this study. Both sequential application of GAC following MBR treatment (MBR-GAC) and simultaneous application of PAC within MBR (PAC-MBR) achieved improved remo...

OBJECTIVE Small clinical studies suggested a role for aldosterone in the development of endothelial dysfunction. We investigated whether the plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) or the aldosterone-to-renin ratio (ARR) were associated with decreased endothelial function as measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery in the general population. METHODS Our study population ...

PURPOSE Allergic conjunctivitis (AC) has been reported to induce the instability of the tear film. The tear protein and the lipid layer play important roles in maintaining the tear film. The aim of this study was to quantify the alteration of the major tear protein components and a lipid related protein secretory type IIa phospholipase A2 (sPLA2-IIa) in tears of seasonal allergic conjunctivitis...

We present a new, efficient PAC optimal exploration algorithm that is able to explore in multiple, continuous or discrete state MDPs simultaneously. Our algorithm does not assume that value function updates can be completed instantaneously, and maintains PAC guarantees in realtime environments. Not only do we extend the applicability of PAC optimal exploration algorithms to new, realistic setti...

We propose a simplified proof process for PAC-Bayesian generalization bounds, that allows to divide the proof in four successive inequalities, easing the “customization” of PAC-Bayesian theorems. We also propose a family of PAC-Bayesian bounds based on the Rényi divergence between the prior and posterior distributions, whereas most PACBayesian bounds are based on the KullbackLeibler divergence....

The clinical assessment of cardiac performance and ventricular preload is notoriously unreliable in critically ill patients. Consequently, a number of technologies have been developed to provide the clinician with indexes of cardiovascular function to assist in therapeutic decision making. Foremost among these is the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC). Indeed, the PAC has largely shaped the practi...