Concerns about decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209) have arisen recently due to its increasing concentrations in the environment. We investigated the tissue concentration, distribution, and the debromination of BDE-209 after oral exposure, using rats as a model. Three groups of male rats were administrated by oral gavage with corn oil containing 0, 10, or 50 mg/kg bw/day of BDE-209 over 90 d...

Coronary bifurcation lesions are challenging to treat, with higher risk of procedural complications and adverse events than non-bifurcation lesions. In this study, we evaluated the 3-year clinical outcomes in patients treated Resolute Onyx zotarolimus-eluting stent (ZES). Patients a single target lesion undergoing planned treatment using provisional stenting technique were enrolled at 25 center...

Perceived trustworthiness is a critical antecedent of interpersonal trust, yet researchers have a limited understanding of how such perceptions are generated. The authors used 2 competing perspectives within the relational demography literature— similarity–attraction and relational norms—to empirically examine the effect of demographic differences. Whereas the similarity–attraction account sugg...

Abstract Background Caesarean scar defect (CSD) seriously affects female reproductive health. In this study, we aim to evaluate uterine healing by transvaginal ultrasound (TVS) in nonpregnant women with cesarean section (CS) history and build a predictive model for defects is very necessary. Methods A total of 607 previous CS who have measurements the thickness lower segment. The related clinic...

There is large usage of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) especially for decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209, Deca-BDE) in controlling the risks of fire. The toxicological effects of PBDEs are worth being concerned about. Female SD rats were daily gavaged with BDE-209 ether at the dose of 100 mg/kg for 20 days. Histological observation was performed for the screening of the target organs for ...

We used personal air samplers to measure indoor air exposure to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) for 20 residents of the Greater Boston Area (Massachusetts). Area air measures were simultaneously collected from two rooms in each participant's home. Total personal air concentrations (particulate + vapor) were 469 pg/m3 for non-209 BDEs and 174 pg/m3 for BDE 209, significantly higher than b...

Water shortage is a serious threat to agriculture production in the North China Plain. Sustainable management practices can improve water use efficiency of winter wheat, but currently no academic consensus has been reached. Therefore, we performed meta-analysis that included 2194 observations from 209 articles assess wheat this area. The groundwater provides for 34%–37% evapotranspiration, whic...

Spectral properties of sign symmetric matrices are studied. A criterion for sign symmetry of shifted basic circulant permutation matrices is proven, and is then used to answer the question which complex numbers can serve as eigenvalues of sign symmetric 3 × 3 matrices. The results are applied in the discussion of the eigenvalues of QM -matrices. In particular, it is shown that for every positiv...

We consider classes of models related to those introduced by Lehmann in 1953 and Sklar in 1959. Recently developed algorithms for finding profile NP likelihood procedures are discussed, extended and implemented for such models by combining them with the MM algorithm. In particular we consider statistical procedures for a regression model with proportional expected hazard rates, and for transfor...

Gravity models are widely used to explain patterns of trade. However, two stylized features of trade data, sample selection and heteroskedasticity, challenge the estimation of gravity models. We propose a Two-Step Method of Moments (TS-MM) estimator that deals with both issues. The Monte-Carlo experiments show that the TS-MM estimates are resistant to various combinations of sample selection an...