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The primary objective of this study is to conduct a comprehensive experimental investigation into the impact of yarn reduction on the damage mechanisms and progression of 3D woven composites under bending loads, utilizing a combination of micro-XCT and digital image correlation (DIC) techniques. Typical bending behaviors of 3D woven composites have been discussed through load–displacement curves combining camera photography techniques. The influence of yarn reduction on strain distribution during bending deformation can be obtained by utilizing DIC techniques. Additionally, the final failure mode analysis of three-dimensional woven composite materials was conducted using micro-XCT techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To explore the differences in clinical characteristics, prognosis, and risk factors between type I and type II endometrial cancer (EC). Materials and methods: We retrospectively collected EC patients diagnosed with type I or type II EC from 2009 to 2021 in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. Results: In total, 606 eligible EC patients (396 type I, and 210 type II) were included. Baseline analyses revealed that type II patients were older, had more advanced clinical stage, were more likely to receive chemoradiotherapy, and had higher incidence of myometrial infiltration, cervix involvement, lymph node metastasis and positive ascites cytology. Type II significantly favored poorer overall survival (OS) (HR = 9.10, 95%CI 4.79–17.28, P < 0.001) and progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 6.07, 95%CI 2.75–13.37, P < 0.001) compared to type I. For all included EC, univariate and multivariate COX analyses revealed age, myometrial infiltration and pathological type were independent risk factors for OS and PFS. Subgroup analyses identified age, menopause, clinical stage, and lymph node metastasis as independent risk factors for type I regarding OS. While age, myometrial infiltration and chemoradiotherapy were identified as risk and protective factors for type II regrading OS. Age and cervix involvement were identified as independent risk factors for type I regarding PFS. Myometrial infiltration was identified as independent risk factor for type II regarding PFS. Conclusion: Type II patients shared different clinical characteristics and worse prognosis compared to type I, and their independent risk and protective factors also varied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the effect of antiviral therapy and drug withdrawal on the incidence of hepatitis B after delivery in pregnant women with chronic hepatitis B virus (CHB) infection who received tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) treatment. Methods: Eligible CHB pregnant women were enrolled, and received TDF at 32 weeks gestation. The drug was stopped immediately or at 6 weeks after delivery. The HBV biomarkers and clinical biochemical parameters were monitored during gestation and 24 weeks after delivery. Results: There were 264 women completed the observation, including 96 untreated subjects in control group. Among 168 treated subjects, 131 cases stopped drug immediately after delivery and 37 cases delayed the drug withdrawal at 6 weeks after delivery. The incidence of postpartum hepatitis in control, immediate drug withdrawal, and delayed drug withdrawal were 28.1% (27/96), 23.7% (31/131), and 24.3% (9/37), showing no significant difference (χ2 = 0.607, p = 0.738). No factor was found to be associated with the occurrence of postpartum hepatitis. It's noteworthy that 96.3% of postpartum hepatitis in control group and 92.3% of postpartum hepatitis in immediate drug withdrawal group occurred within 12 weeks after delivery. While in delayed drug withdrawal group, the rate of postpartum hepatitis occurred within 12 weeks after delivery was 77.7%. Conclusion: Withdrawing antiviral drug immediately or at 6 weeks after delivery did not affect the incidence of postpartum hepatitis in CHB women, but delaying drug withdrawal might delay the onset of postpartum hepatitis. Clinical trial registration number: NCT03214302. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Biogas slurry is increasingly used as crop fertilizer. Previous researches focused on the relationships between aboveground and root growth under biogas slurry application, with little attention to root exudates. The aims of this study were to investigate the influences of biogas slurry application on the quantity and composition of root exudates and their correlations with plant growth. Methods: Four application levels of biogas slurry were performed according to total N of 0, 120, 240, and 480 kg ha−1 (N0, N120, N240, and N480). The labile organic carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sugar and organic acids in root exudates were quantified at four growth stages (seedling, bolting, flowering, and ripening) of oilseed rape. Results: Biogas slurry at N480 significantly increased plant height, branch height, branch number, pod number, pod length, and yield, but it had little influence on root morphology. Biogas slurry significantly decreased root C and N exudation at bolting. Organic acid exudation at bolting and flowering stages in N480 decreased by 44% and 81% compared to control, respectively. C, N exudation at bolting, organic acids at bolting and flowering stages were negatively linearly correlated with the application rate of biogas slurry. C, N, and organic acid exudation at bolting and flowering showed negatively correlations with inflorescence length, pod number and length. Conclusion: Biogas slurry reduced root exudation rates and retained more C and N to improve reproductive growth, promoting the increase in yield. The results improve our understanding of the role of root exudates in plant development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrete choice experiments have proven useful in areas such as marketing, government planning, medical studies and psychological research, to help understand consumer preferences. To aid in these experiments, several groups of authors have contributed to the theoretical development of D-optimal and A-optimal discrete choice designs under the multinomial logit (MNL) model. In the setting in which the class of feasible designs is too large for complete search, Sun and Dean (J Stat Plann Inference 170:144–157, 2016) proposed a construction method for A-optimal designs for estimating a set of orthonormal contrasts in the option utilities via a linearization of the MNL model. In this paper, we show that the set of A-optimal designs that result from this linearization may or may not include the optimal design under the MNL model itself. We provide an alternative linearization that leads to an information matrix which coincides with that under the MNL model and, consequently, selects the same set of designs as being A-optimal. We obtain a bound for the average variance of a set of contrasts of interest under the MNL model, and show that the construction method of Sun and Dean (2016) can be used to identify A-optimal and A-efficient designs under the MNL model for both equal and unequal utilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic fluctuations and aridification have combined with the environmental heterogeneity between north and south Xinjiang to shape the spatial genetic structure and demographic history of desert species in Xinjiang, China. Lycium ruthenicum offers a unique opportunity for surveying the spatial genetic structure, evolutionary history, and effect of environmental heterogeneity on local adaption and population divergence. Three cpDNA loci (psbA–trnH, psbK–psbI, and trnV) were sequenced for 238 individuals from 21 populations across the species range in Xinjiang. Median-joining networks, principal coordinate analyses (PCoA), BEAST analysis, species distribution models (SDMs), and least-cost path (LCP) analysis were integrated to investigate the spatial genetic patterns and demographic history of the species. The 21 haplotypes identified formed two clusters, corresponding to northern and southern populations according to the PCoA and median-joining network. BEAST analysis indicated the genetic divergence between the northern and southern populations began in the middle to late Pleistocene. Increased aridity may have triggered population differentiation and fragmentation; the expansions of the Gurbantunggut and Taklamakan Deserts and uplift of the Tianshan Mountains likely further isolated northern from southern populations. High levels of diversity and unique haplotypes were identified in the populations from the north slope of the Tianshan Mountains and the northwestern and southwestern Tarim Basin, which likely served as glacial refugia for the northern and southern groups, respectively. The distribution of genetic variation, SDMs, and LCP analysis indicate L. ruthenicum expanded from refugia along the edge of the Gurbantunggut and Taklamakan Deserts at the end of the last glacial maximum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a common complication of connective tissue diseases (CTD). However, refractory and recurrent cases are frequent, who often need intensive immunotherapy. In the real world to compare the efficacy and safety of two common options, rituximab (RTX) and cyclosporine (CsA), in patients with refractory CTD-ITP, we conducted this retrospective study. Inpatients diagnosed with CTD-ITP who experienced treatment failure with initial prednisone or other immunosuppressants and who subsequently received either RTX or CsA between 2013 and 2018 were identified. All the patients were followed up for at least 6 months. Remission was defined as sustained platelet count ≥ 50 × 10^9/L, where ≥ 100 × 10^9/L was considered complete remission and 50–100 × 10^9/L was considered partial remission. Propensity score weighting analysis was performed to balance the confounders as indication. A total of 83 patients with CTD-ITP were identified, of whom 43 had systemic lupus erythematosus, 24 had undifferentiated CTD, and 16 had primary Sjogren syndrome. The RTX group (n = 53) had a much higher remission rate than the CsA group (n = 30) after 3 months and throughout the following 3 months (3 m, 86.8% vs 63.6%, p = 0.025; 6 m, 81.8% vs 53.5%, p = 0.011). Binary logistic regression analysis confirmed that treatment with RTX predicted better outcome (OR 4.09, 1.42 ~ 11.79), while age > 50 (OR 0.31, 0.11 ~ 0.93) was a risk factor. Furthermore, we reinforced the conclusions by propensity score weighting analysis (RTX OR 4.89, 1.64 ~ 14.58; age > 50 OR 0.31, 0.12 ~ 0.83). In our real-world retrospective study, for patients with refractory CTD-ITP, RTX was superior to CsA in terms of the durable remission rate. Key Points: • Refractory cases are common in patients with immune thrombocytopenia secondary to connective tissue diseases (CTD-ITP), requiring intensive immunotherapy. • Randomized controlled trials comparing rituximab and a traditional immunosuppressive agents (IS), such as cyclosporin, are lacking in these patients. • Our real-word retrospective study indicated that rituximab was superior to cyclosporin in patients with refractory CTD-ITP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) gastrointestinal (GI) complication is characterized by multi-segment and multi-compartment involvement. The aim of this study is to develop a computed tomography (CT) image-based system for disease evaluation. SLE patients with GI involvement from two independent cohorts were retrospectively included. Baseline abdominal CT scan with intravenous and oral contrast was obtained from each individual. A CT scoring system incorporating the extent of GI tract involvement and intestinal wall thickness, along with extra-GI compartment involvement, was developed and validated. The outcome measurement was the time to GI functional recovery, defined as the time to tolerable per os (PO) intake ≥50% of ideal calories (PO50). A total of 54 and 37 patients with SLE GI involvement were enrolled in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. The CT scores for SLE GI involvement were positively correlated with patients' time to PO50 (r = 0.57, p < 0.0001, derivation cohort; r = 0.42, p = 0.0093, validation cohort). Patients with a CT score ≤ 3 had a shorter time to PO50 (median time of 0 day) in pooled cohort, whereas those with a CT score > 3 incurred a significantly prolonged recovery with a median time to PO50 of 13 days (p < 0.0001). The CT-based scoring system may facilitate more accurate assessment and individualized management of SLE patients with GI involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) includes a series of life-threatening disorders. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is one of the most common acquired causes. To identify predictors of prognosis in patients with TMA secondary to SLE, we conducted a single-center historical study. From January 2013 to June 2016, of 2182 SLE hospitalized patients in the Ren Ji Hospital, a total of 21 consecutive patients with TMA secondary to SLE were identified. The 90-day short-term mortality was 33.3%. The kidney involvement (66.7%) was associated with poor prognosis, while the administration of rituximab ( n = 13) was an independent protective factor according to logistic regression analysis. Compared to conventional treatment, i.e., plasma exchange, high-dose glucocorticoids, and intravenous immunoglobulin, the overall survival is significantly higher among patients receiving rituximab add-on (92.2 vs 33.3%, p = 0.0173); however, five out of seven patients with renal involvement in the rituximab group were eventually hemodialysis dependent. Our data indicated that add-on rituximab in the background of conventional therapy may improve the overall but not the renal survival in SLE-TMA patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To compare the performance of different commercial anti-dsDNA autoantibody assays, including multiplex-based immunoassay (Bio-Plex), Farr radioimmunoassay (Farr), ELISA, chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA), and Crithidia Luciliae indirect immunofluorescence test (CLIFT) in Chinese patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). SLE patients ( n = 119) as well as healthy controls ( n = 200) and disease controls ( n = 100) were recruited, and serum anti-dsDNA autoantibodies were detected by Bio-Plex, Farr, two ELISA assays (Medical & Biological Laboratories-ELISA, EUROIMMU-ELISA), CLIA, and a standard CLIFT. The correlation of anti-dsDNA autoantibody levels to SLE disease activity was calculated, and the specificity and sensitivity of these methods were measured by receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. In ROC curve analysis, Bio-Plex showed the largest area under the curve (AUC) over other assays. Cutoff adjustment according to ROC enhanced the performance of all quantitative assays. Overall, Bio-Plex and CLIFT have higher specificity (>90.00%). ELISA and CLIA results are correlated with disease activity, and Bio-Plex results have the strongest correlation with SLEDAI score and active renal involvement. Bio-Plex assay has better overall performance in anti-dsDNA detection over Farr, ELISA, and CLIA methods in Chinese SLE patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating pores in suprastructures of two-dimensional (2D) materials while controlling the orientation of the 2D building blocks is important in achieving large specific surface areas and tuning the anisotropic properties of the obtained functional hierarchical structures. In this contribution, we report that arranging graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets into one-dimensional (1D) architectures with controlled orientation has been achieved by using 1D oriented melem hydrate fibers as the synthetic precursor via a polycondensation process, during which the removal of water molecules and release of ammonia gas led to the creation of pores without destroying the 1D morphology of the oriented structures. The resulting porous g-CN fibers with both meso- and micro-sized pores and largely exposed edges exhibited good sensing sensitivity and selectivity towards NO. The sensing performance was further improved by hybridization of the porous fibers with Au nanoparticles (Au NPs), leading to a detection limit of 60 ppb under ambient conditions. Our results suggest that the highly porous g-CN fibers and the related hybrid structures with largely exposed graphitic layer edges are excellent sensing platforms and may also show promise in other electronic and electrochemical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The woven textile sandwich composite (WTSC) is a promising lightweight composite. In bending, two competing core shearing failure modes reduce the strength; deflection induced by the core shearing deformation reduces the flexural rigidity. To replace a solid composite laminate, the span of WTSC panel must be greater than a critical value, which was deduced on the condition that the load capacity and flexural rigidity of the WTSC panel are equal to those of the composite laminate. Three WTSC panels were tested in bending, so that the failure modes were observed, and the critical spans were determined. Using the alternative design method, the WTSC based wind deflector with reduced weight has been fabricated and mounted on the CRH (China Railway High-speed). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with one important topic in impact engineering - the lateral compression behavior of thin-walled tubes. To study the lateral collapse modes and energy absorption behaviors of equilateral triangular tubes, quasi-static compression experiments were carried out. Crushing modes were revealed by the experiments. Three typical crushing stages characterize the lateral deformation plateaus of equilateral triangular tubes. In simulation, perfect tubes have symmetrical crushing modes. Strengths of the tubes were correctly predicted by the competition between yielding and buckling. Based on the observed crushing modes, plastic models were proposed for each stage to predict the lateral crushing behaviors theoretically. Equilateral triangular tubes have unified energy absorbing mechanisms, including five plastic hinges and one traveling plastic hinge. Plastic models have been constructed to predict the mean crushing forces and evaluate the energy absorption efficiency of the equilateral triangular tubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudouridine (Ψ) is the most abundant post-transcriptional RNA modification, yet little is known about its prevalence, mechanism and function in mRNA. Here, we performed quantitative MS analysis and show that Ψ is much more prevalent (Ψ/U ratio ∼0.2-0.6%) in mammalian mRNA than previously believed. We developed N3-CMC-enriched pseudouridine sequencing (CeU-Seq), a selective chemical labeling and pulldown method, to identify 2,084 Ψ sites within 1,929 human transcripts, of which four (in ribosomal RNA and EEF1A1 mRNA) are biochemically verified. We show that hPUS1, a known Ψ synthase, acts on human mRNA; under stress, CeU-Seq demonstrates inducible and stress-specific mRNA pseudouridylation. Applying CeU-Seq to the mouse transcriptome revealed conserved and tissue-specific pseudouridylation. Collectively, our approaches allow comprehensive analysis of transcriptome-wide pseudouridylation and provide tools for functional studies of Ψ-mediated epigenetic regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural abundance of C and N can integrate information on the dynamics of C and N, respectively. This study tested whether and how δC and δN of the plant and soil samples (including leaf, forest floor litters, fine roots, and 0-15 cm mineral soil) can detect local variations in community biomass, litter production, and litter turnover rate were explored in eight mature subtropical forests in southern China. Community biomass, litter production, and litter turnover rate were significantly positively correlated with each other and revealed similar correlations with other plant and soil parameters. Leaf δC was significantly negatively correlated with litter production, suggesting the stomatal regulation of leaf gas exchange. Similar correlations were also observed for δC of the mineral soil and other plant materials. Leaf and forest floor litters δN were positively correlated with community biomass, litter production, and litter turnover rate. Such correlations were significantly positively mediated by soil availability of P rather than N, as demonstrated by the multiple regression analysis. In contrast, fine roots δN was not related significantly to community biomass, litter production, or litter turnover rate. Significant differences in δC and δN among forests were related to the species composition, topography conditions, and land use history. Our results suggest that δC and δN of most plant and soil samples can indicate local variations in community biomass, litter production, and litter turnover rate in mature subtropical forests. Better understanding of these linkages could significantly improve our knowledge of C and N dynamics in forest ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure chitosan and carbon nanotube (CNT)/chitosan nanocomposite films were fabricated via a sublimation-drying process at −196 °C, during which polymeric repulsion generates unique pores with multi-layered structures. The films were then transformed into multi-layered and vertically aligned multi-layered (VAM) structures by compression. Due to the cross-linking between layers, the films prepared at −196 °C showed significantly better mechanical properties than the films prepared at −78 and −20 °C. Furthermore, a peculiar phenomenon was observed in that pure chitosan which exhibited better mechanical properties than the nanocomposites. To explain these results, we suggest a model in which the VAM structure supports more load than the CNT fillers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Textile grade long natural cellulose fibers with fineness of 27 dtex have been extracted from bark of cotton stalks by a combination of steam explosion, potassium hydroxide and peroxide treatments (explosion-KOH-HO). It was reported that natural cellulose fibers from bark of cotton stalks had significantly better mechanical properties than those from other lignocellulosic agricultural byproducts such as rice and wheat straws. Fibers from bark of cotton stalks were used to reinforce thermoplastic composites but could not be spun into yarns for textile applications due to their high fineness value (around 50 dtex) and/or low aspect ratio (around 660). In this research, barks of cotton stalks were treated using three methods, including steam explosion, a combination of steam explosion and potassium hydroxide treatments (explosion-KOH) and explosion-KOH-HO. The morphology, composition, carding yield, crystalline structures and tensile properties of three different cotton stalk fibers were analyzed. Results showed that cotton stalk fibers extracted by explosion-KOH-HO had the lowest fineness value of 27 dtex and moderate aspect ratio of 1,150 in three kinds of fibers. The fibers also had most clean and smooth surfaces, highest carding yield of 68.6 %, and highest cellulose content of 82.1 wt% due to effective removal of non-cellulose impurities. Moreover, the fibers had tensile properties close to cotton fibers. Overall, the cotton stalk fibers presented a better potential to be used as textile fibers than those reported by previous researches. explosion-KOH-HO could be an efficient method for exploring textile applications of bark of cotton stalks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Understorey Acacia spp. plays an important role in post-fire restoration because these understorey plants are tolerant to stress conditions. We investigated how the ecophysiological status of two species of understorey, Acacia leiocalyx and Acacia disparrima, varied depending on the plant growth stage after prescribed burning. Materials and methods: Plants were grouped in different size classes, namely seedlings, small and medium sizes, and physiological variables such as foliar gas exchange, water use efficiency and light dependency were measured at two experimental sites subjected to prescribed burning. Results and discussion: A. leiocalyx showed higher symbiotic N fixation and photosynthetic capacity compared to A. disparrima regardless of plant-size classes at both experimental sites. This could explain the greater relative growth rate of A. leiocalyx than that of A. disparrima. However, A. disparrima is more tolerant to shady conditions than A. leiocalyx. Conclusions: This finding may be an indication of how well these two species recover after fire, although A. leiocalyx may have faster regrowth, as it is fixing more N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is anticipated that global climate change will increase the frequency of wildfires in native forests of eastern Australia. Understorey legumes such as Acacia species play an important role in maintaining ecosystem nitrogen (N) balance through biological N fixation (BNF). This is particularly important in Australian native forests with soils of low nutrient status and frequent disturbance of the nutrient cycles by fires. This study aimed to examine N enrichment and N natural abundance techniques in terms of their utilisation for evaluation of N fixation of understorey acacias and determine the relationship between species ecophysiological traits and N fixation. Materials and methods: A trial was established at sites 1 and 2 located at Toohey Forest, Queensland, Australia, a eucalypt-dominated native forest, to examine the determination of BNF using N enrichment and N natural abundance methods. Toohey Forest is an urban forest and subjected to frequent fuel reduction burns to protect the adjacent properties. Plant physiological status was measured to determine the relationship between physiological and N fixation activities. Results and discussion: Both N enrichment and N natural abundance techniques may be used to estimate N fixation of acacia tree species. The estimation of BNF using N enrichment was higher than those of the N natural abundance method. A grass reference plant, Themeda triandra, as well as tree reference plants provided an appropriate δN signal. Potential B values for Acacia spp. between −0.3‰ and 1.0‰ provided an acceptable BNF estimation. This suburban forest is located nearby a busy highway leading to N deposition over time with consequent negative δN signal. This N deposition may explain the separation between the δN signal of the acacias and that of the reference plants which led to the successful use of the N natural abundance technique. Acacia leiocalyx demonstrated greater N fixation as well as photosynthesis and instantaneous water use efficiency than Acacia disparimma. However, no strong relationship between plant photosynthesis and N fixation was observed in this study. A high within-treatment variation may have masked the relationships between plant BNF activities and photosynthesis Conclusions: The N natural abundance technique is preferred to be used for future studies as it is simple and inexpensive compared with N enrichment method. The dependence of both species on BNF at site 2, where fuel reduction burning had not taken place for 8 years, suggests that the frequent burning impoverished the soil, and this has wider implications as higher fire frequencies are to be expected in other Australian ecosystems as a result of global climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new flavonoids, myriophylloside I, II and III, were isolated from Oxytropis myriophylla (Leguminosae), together with four known flavonoid glycosides: isorhamnetin-3- O- β- d-glucoside, isorhamnetin-3- O- α- l-arabinosyl(1→6)- β- d-glucoside, quercetin and rutin. The structural elucidations of all the compounds were based on extensive spectroscopic methods, including HRESIMS and 2D-NMR experiments (HSQC, HMBC, H-H COSY and HSQC-TOCSY), UV, IR and chemical evidence, together with comparison with reference values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biobattery, a kind of enzymatic fuel cells, can convert organic compounds (e.g., glucose, starch) to electricity in a closed system without moving parts. Inspired by natural starch metabolism catalyzed by starch phosphorylase, isoamylase is essential to debranch alpha-1,6-glycosidic bonds of starch, yielding linear amylodextrin - the best fuel for sugar-powered biobattery. However, there is no thermostable isoamylase stable enough for simultaneous starch gelatinization and enzymatic hydrolysis, different from the case of thermostable alpha-amylase. A putative isoamylase gene was mined from megagenomic database. The open reading frame ST0928 from a hyperthermophilic archaeron Sulfolobus tokodaii was cloned and expressed in E. coli. The recombinant protein was easily purified by heat precipitation at 80 oC for 30 min. This enzyme was characterized and required Mg2+ as an activator. This enzyme was the most stable isoamylase reported with a half lifetime of 200 min at 90 oC in the presence of 0.5 mM MgCl2, suitable for simultaneous starch gelatinization and isoamylase hydrolysis. The cuvett-based air-breathing biobattery powered by isoamylase-treated starch exhibited nearly doubled power outputs than that powered by the same concentration starch solution, suggesting more glucose 1-phosphate generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]