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Websites were retrospectively analysed to study the effects that technological advances in web design have had on accessibility for persons with disabilities. A random sample of general websites and a convenience sample of US government websites were studied and compared for the years 1997-2002. Web accessibility barrier (WAB) and complexity scores were calculated. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's HSD were used to determine differences among years for general sites. Repeated measures of ANOVA were used to analyse trends in US government sites, and Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was computed to evaluate the relationship between accessibility and complexity. Random websites become progressively inaccessible as complexity increases. US government websites remain accessible while increasing in complexity. Increasing complexity, often caused by adding complex components to a Webpage, doesn't have to contribute to increasing barriers to accessibility: US government websites remain accessible despite increasing complexity by limiting the number of scripts used in Webpage design. (Contains 1 table and 6 figures.)

Ultraintense short-period infrared laser pulses play an important role in frontier scientific research, but their power is quite low when generated using current technology. This paper demonstrates a scheme for generating an ultraintense few-cycle infrared pulse by directly compressing a long infrared pulse. In this scheme, an infrared picosecond-to-nanosecond laser pulse counterpropagates with a rapidly extending plasma grating that is created by ionizing an undulated gas by a short laser pulse, and the infrared laser pulse is reflected by the rapidly extending plasma grating. Because of the high expansion velocity of the latter, the infrared laser pulse is compressed in the reflection process. One- and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that by this method, a pulse with a duration of tens of picoseconds in the mid- to far-infrared range can be compressed to a few cycles with an efficiency exceeding 60%, thereby making ultraintense few-cycle infrared pulses possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the cytochrome P450 family 27 subfamily A member 1 (CYP27A1) gene mutations in Chinese women with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) and the correlation between CYP27A gene mutations and BA (bile acid) level changes.Methods: In this study, the entire coding region of the CYP27A1 gene was sequenced in 151 Han Chinese women with ICP and 1029 matched samples, and the pathogenicity of identified CYP27A1 gene mutations was judged through evolutionary conservation analysis, computational analysis and protein structure modeling. Finally, we verified the relationship between gene mutations and total serum bile acid (TBA) and cholesterol (CHOL) levels through experiments in cell culture.Results: We identified five heterozygous CYP27A1 missense mutations in five ICP samples. Three online tools, Polyphen-2, MutationTaster and SIFT, predicted that the five CYP27A1 mutations were pathogenic. Furthermore, all five mutations caused marked protein structural changes. Experiments in cells showed that the intracellular and medium levels of TBA in the mutant groups were lower than those in the wild-type group, while the CHOL levels were higher in all mutants except for the R158H mutant.Conclusions: CYP27A1 mutations are associated with the levels of TBA and CHOL, suggesting that CYP27A1 mutations contribute to abnormal total cholesterol and BA levels, which leads to ICP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess rural‐urban differences in participation rates of diabetes self‐management education and associated factors among Medicare beneficiaries with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods: Data were from the 2016 to 2018 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). Participation in diabetes self‐management education was self‐reported. The study sample included 3,799 beneficiaries aged 65 years and older with self‐reported T2DM. Logistic regression was used to assess the association of participation in diabetes self‐management education and residential location. Sampling weights embedded in the MCBS were incorporated into all analyses. Findings: Overall, the participation rate of diabetes self‐management education was 46.8% (95% CI: 44.4%‐49.2%). The rate was 40.3% for beneficiaries in rural areas, 48.0% for suburban areas, and 47.3% for urban areas. About 31% of beneficiaries newly diagnosed with diabetes did not participate within the past year. Controlling for other covariates, beneficiaries in rural areas were less likely to have participated in diabetes self‐management education (AOR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.55‐0.95) than those living in urban areas. Asian Americans were less likely to have participated (AOR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.28‐0.84) than Whites. Those who were older, with lower education, and lower income levels were less likely to have participated (P <.05). Conclusions: Recent MCBS data indicate that more than half of Medicare beneficiaries with T2DM did not participate in diabetes self‐management education, and the participation rate in rural areas was 7 percentage points lower than that ​in urban areas. The study findings highlight challenges to maximize the benefits of participating in diabetes self‐management education, particularly in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Preeclampsia (PE) and fetal growth restriction (FGR) have abnormal placental implantation and endothelial dysfunction in common. However, their etiologies are not well understood. Both heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and nitric oxide (NO) are suggested to play a major role in the regulation of maternal and fetoplacental hemodynamics. In this study, the association of PE with FGR and Hsp70 or NO was analyzed.Methods: A total of 30 cases of PE, 25 cases of PE complicated with FGR and 50 cases of normal pregnant women were chose, and PE and normal animal models were constructed. Subsequently, the levels of Hsp70 and NO in serum and placental tissues of humans and animals were measured and compared. Further, rats were injected with pLV-NC-shRNA, pLV-Hsp70-shRNA, pLV-EFIa-NC, and pLV-EFIa-Hsp70, respectively, the weight of each conceptus, number of pups, fetal crown to tail length, total weight of the placenta/fetus unit, and the content of NO were analyzed.Results: The expression of Hsp70 in serum and placental tissues of PE complicated with or without FGR group was increased, whereas the content of NO was decreased compared to the normal group. The fetal weight (FW) of the Hsp70 targeted suppression group was higher than the other two groups, whereas the placental weight (PW) was reversed. Also, NO synthase (NOS) expression was decreased in the Hsp70 over-expression group.Conclusions: We speculated that the enhancement of Hsp70 might be related to the development of PE combined with FGR through inhibiting the synthesis of NOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Described here is the chromium-catalyzed cleavage of C(aryl)–SMe bonds leading to coupling with organomagnesium to give functionalized benzaldehydes under mild conditions. This reaction was promoted specifically by a low-cost and simple CrCl2 salt used as a precatalyst, enabling synchronous activations of ortho-C(aryl)–SMe and ortho′-C(aryl)–H bonds to achieve difunctionalization of benzaldimines. This work provided a strategy for accessing arylated, alkylated, and diarylated benzaldehyde derivatives as a result of the couplings of C(aryl)–SMe and C(aryl)–SMe/C(aryl)–H bonds promoted with cost-effective Cr catalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies, either serving a general population of persons with disabilities or specifically for persons who are blind, communicate with potential consumers and the public through websites. To examine the accessibility of VR websites for persons with disabilities, we used the automated tool Bobby to evaluate 80 home pages. We found that all 80 agencies had a working website, though 34 (43%) provided no information about the site&apos;s accessibility. Seven (9%) of the websites did not pass the Bobby evaluation. We also examined the types of violations and the relationship between the two agencies&apos; web sites. Recommendations include posting web accessibility logos to inform consumers, and future research to evaluate several pages within the website and evaluate website usability., State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies, either serving a general population of persons with disabilities or specifically for persons who are blind, need to communicate with potential consumers and the public [...]