Sixty target words were selected from two sets of graded readers. One set contained three readers with the same title, The Railway Children, and the other set, three books about Sherlock Holmes. Students chose one of the two sets to read and were given a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a five-week delayed posttest on their acquisition of spelling, aural meaning, written meaning, and use. Five fixed factors (time, frequency of word occurrence, glossing, word frequency levels, and four dimensions of vocabulary knowledge) in vocabulary learning and a random variable (the participants) were analyzed with generalized linear mixed models. The results show that the odds of improvements in the knowledge of written and aural meanings were significantly better than those for the knowledge of spelling and use. Significant interaction effects were found between time and other fixed factors, except for glossing. Pedagogical implications of the results are discussed.

The Iron Age of Mainland Southeast Asia began in the fifth century bc and lasted for about a millennium. In coastal regions, the development of trade along the Maritime Silk Road led to the growth of port cities. In the interior, a fall in monsoon rains particularly affected the Mun River valley. This coincided with the construction of moats/reservoirs round Iron Age settlements from which water was channelled into wet rice fields, the production of iron ploughshares and sickles, population growth, burgeoning exchange and increased conflict. We explore the social impact of this agricultural revolution through applying statistical analyses to mortuary samples dating before and after the development of wet rice farming. These suggest that there was a swift formation of social elites represented by the wealth of mortuary offerings, followed by a decline. Two associated changes are identified. The first involved burying the dead in residential houses; the second considers the impact of an increasingly aquatic environment on health by examining demographic trends involving a doubling of infant mortality that concentrated on neonates. A comparison between this sequence and that seen in coastal ports suggests two interconnected instances of rapid pathways to social change responding to different social and environmental stressors.

Denote by Fα,β the multiplicative group generated by the two matrices where α and β are complex numbers. Sanov (3) proved that F α,β is free, and Brenner (1) showed that F m,m is free if m ⩾ 2.

We present a pilot case using an innovative fusion of echocardiogram and MRI achieved with a MATLAB-based imaging programme to explore the feasibility of this imaging strategy in the functional and anatomic assessment of a patient with repaired tetralogy of Fallot requiring pulmonary valve intervention. Echocardiogram and MRI neutralises the disadvantages and limitations of each individual imaging modality and yields important anatomic and haemodynamic information crucial to the treatment decision-making process. Future image fusion strategies can apply to three-dimensional images and image-directed therapy for CHD.

β-Casomorphin is an opioid-like bioactive peptide derived from β-casein of milk that plays a crucial role in modulating animal’s feed intake, growth, nutrient utilization and immunity. However, the effect of β-casomorphin on lipid metabolism in chickens and its mechanism remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of β-casomorphin on fat deposition in broiler chickens and explore its mechanism of action. A total of 120 21-day-old Arbor Acres male broilers (747.94±8.85 g) was chosen and randomly divided into four groups with six replicates of five birds per replicate. Three groups of broilers were injected with 0.1, 0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg BW of β-casomorphin in 1 ml saline for 7 days, whereas the control group received 1 ml saline only. The results showed that subcutaneous administration of β-casomorphin to broiler chickens increased average daily gain, average daily feed intake and fat deposition, and decreased feed : gain ratio (P<0.05). The activity of malate dehydrogenase in the pectoral muscle, liver and abdominal adipose tissue was also increased along with the concentrations of insulin, very-low-density lipoprotein and triglyceride in the plasma (P<0.05). The activity of hormone-sensitive lipase in the liver and abdominal adipose tissue and the concentration of glucagon in the plasma were decreased by injection with β-casomorphin (P<0.05). Affymetrix gene chip analysis revealed that administering 1.0 mg/kg BW β-casomorphin caused differential expression of 168 genes in the liver with a minimum of fourfold difference. Of those, 37 genes are directly involved in lipid metabolism with 18 up-regulated genes such as very low density lipoprotein receptor gene and fatty acid synthase gene, and 19 down-regulated genes such as lipoprotein lipase gene and low density lipoprotein receptor gene. In conclusion, β-casomorphin increased growth performance and fat deposition of broilers. Regulation of fat deposition by β-casomorphin appears to take place through changes in hormone secretion and enzyme activities by controlling the gene expression of lipid metabolism and feed intake, increasing fat synthesis and deposition.

Using multilevel models, we examined mother-, father-, and child-reported (N = 1,336 families) externalizing behavior problem trajectories from age 7 to 14 in nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). The intercept and slope of children's externalizing behavior trajectories varied both across individuals within culture and across cultures, and the variance was larger at the individual level than at the culture level. Mothers’ and children's endorsement of aggression as well as mothers’ authoritarian attitudes predicted higher age 8 intercepts of child externalizing behaviors. Furthermore, prediction from individual-level endorsement of aggression and authoritarian attitudes to more child externalizing behaviors was augmented by prediction from cultural-level endorsement of aggression and authoritarian attitudes, respectively. Cultures in which father-reported endorsement of aggression was higher and both mother- and father-reported authoritarian attitudes were higher also reported more child externalizing behavior problems at age 8. Among fathers, greater attributions regarding uncontrollable success in caregiving situations were associated with steeper declines in externalizing over time. Understanding cultural-level as well as individual-level correlates of children's externalizing behavior offers potential insights into prevention and intervention efforts that can be more effectively targeted at individual children and parents as well as targeted at changing cultural norms that increase the risk of children's and adolescents’ externalizing behavior.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Gliomas are the most lethal and common primary tumor type in the central nervous system across all age groups; affected adults have a life expectancy of just 14 months. As glioma cells invade the surrounding normal parenchyma they remodel the composition and ultrastructure of the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM), suggesting that the native (i.e., “normal”) microenvironment is not ideal for their survival and proliferation. Recent reports describe suppressive and/or lethal effects of mammalian ECM hydrogels derived from normal (nonneoplastic) sources upon various cancer types. ECM-based bioscaffolds placed at sites of neoplastic tissue resection in humans have never been reported to facilitate cancer recurrence. The objective of the present research is to evaluate mammalian ECM as a novel approach to glioma therapy. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: ECM hydrogels from porcine dermis, small intestine, and urinary bladder were produced as described previously. Primary glioma cells were graciously supplied by Drs. Nduka Amankulor and Johnathan Engh, and U-87 MG were ordered through ATCC. Cells were plated onto tissue culture plastic at ~60% confluence and allowed to attach for 24 hours before treatment. The saline-soluble fraction (SSF) of ECM was obtained by mixing lyophilized, comminuted ECM with 0.9% saline for 24 hours then filtering the resulting mixture through a 10 kDa molecular weight cutoff column. All assays and kits were followed according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Cell viability was measured via MTT assay (Vybrant® MTT Cell Proliferation Assay, Invitrogen) and by live/dead staining (LIVE/DEAD® Cell Imaging Kit, Invitrogen). Time lapse videos were created by taking images every 20 minutes for 18 hours (phase-contrast) or every 10 minutes for 12 hours (darkfield). NucView reagent was ordered from Biotium. Temozolomide was ordered through Abmole. All in vivo work was conducted according to protocols approved by the University of Pittsburgh’s IACUC office. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: ECM hydrogels derived from porcine dermis, small intestine, or urinary bladder all decreased the viability of primary glioma cells in vitro, with urinary bladder extracellular matrix (UBM) having the most dramatic effects. The SSF of UBM (UBM-SSF), devoid of the fibrillar, macromolecular components of ECM, was sufficient to recapitulate this detrimental effect upon neoplastic cells in vitro and was used for the remainder of the experiments described herein. In a cell viability assay normalized to the media treatment, non-neoplastic CHME5 and N1E-115 cells scored 103% and 114% after 48 hours when treated with UBM-SSF and 2 primary high-grade glioma cell types scored 17% and 30.5% with UBM-SSF (n=2). Phase-contrast time-lapse video showed CHME5 and HFF thriving in the presence of UBM-SSF for 18 hours while most primary glioma cells shriveled and died within this time. Darkfield time-lapse video of wells containing Nucview dye, fluorescent upon cleavage by active caspase-3, confirmed that within 12 hours most primary glioma cells underwent apoptosis while CHME5 and HFF did not. In culture with primary astrocytes, high grade primary glioma cells, and U-87 MG glioma cells for 24 hours, UBM-SSF was found to significantly increase the population of primary astrocytes compared with media (p<0.05) while decreasing the 2 glioma cell types to approximately one-third as many cells as the media control (p<0.0001). A dose-response of temozolomide from 0 to 10,000 μM showed that when treating 2 non-neoplastic cell types (CHME5 and HFF) and 2 types of primary glioma cell there was no difference in survivability at any concentration. Contrasted to this, a dose-response of UBM-SSF from 350 to 7000 μg/mL showed that the non-neoplastic cells survived significantly better than the glioma cells at concentrations of 875 μg/mL and upward (p<0.05). In preliminary animal experiments, large primary glioma tumors in the flanks of athymic nude mice were resected and replaced with either UBM SSF or Matrigel (an ECM product of neoplastic cell origin). After 7 days the resection sites with UBM-SSF had little tumor regrowth if any compared with the dramatic recurrence seen in the Matrigel injection sites (n=2). In a separate survival study comparing PBS to UBM-SSF injections in the flank-resection model, all animals given PBS had to be sacrificed at 9, 11, and 11 days (n=3) whereas animals given UBM-SSF were sacrificed at 15, 24, and 39 days (n=3), indicating a moderate increase in survival due to the UBM-SSF. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Since the introduction of the pan-cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent TMZ in 2005, the standard of care for patients with glioblastoma multiforme has not improved. These findings indicate that non-neoplastic ECM contains potent bioactive regulators capable of abrogating malignancy. Our in vitro data suggest these molecules appear to have no deleterious effect on non-neoplastic cells while specifically inducing apoptosis in glioma cells. Our in vivo data suggest that these molecules may be useful in delaying glioma recurrence, thus resulting in extended lifespan. Delivering soluble fractions of ECM to a tumor site may represent a novel approach to glioma therapy, sidestepping traditional cytotoxic therapies in favor of utilizing putative endogenous anti-tumor pathways.

We present the first data release of the SkyMapper Southern Survey, a hemispheric survey carried out with the SkyMapper Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Here, we present the survey strategy, data processing, catalogue construction, and database schema. The first data release dataset includes over 66 000 images from the Shallow Survey component, covering an area of 17 200 deg2 in all six SkyMapper passbands uvgriz, while the full area covered by any passband exceeds 20 000 deg2. The catalogues contain over 285 million unique astrophysical objects, complete to roughly 18 mag in all bands. We compare our griz point-source photometry with Pan-STARRS1 first data release and note an RMS scatter of 2%. The internal reproducibility of SkyMapper photometry is on the order of 1%. Astrometric precision is better than 0.2 arcsec based on comparison with Gaia first data release. We describe the end-user database, through which data are presented to the world community, and provide some illustrative science queries.