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Virginia Commonwealth University

2009

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Editorial: Un(Precedent)Ed, Robert Sweeny Dec 2009

Editorial: Un(Precedent)Ed, Robert Sweeny

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

The 30th Volume of The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education is unprecedented, in many ways. First the theme is unprecedented, or, rather, Un(predecedent)ED. This typographical wordplay, quite common throughout the history of JSTAE, troubles habitual readings of the term, allowing for interpretations that open up possibilities, however brief, for new forms of research, theorizing and artmaking. These are just a few of the interpretations of the volume theme, which each of the authors addresses in a unique manner. Some approach the theme head on, while others choose a more oblique angle of analysis and exploration. Some deal with …

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Computational Modeling Of Biochemical Systems Using Cellular Automata, Advait Apte Dec 2009

Computational Modeling Of Biochemical Systems Using Cellular Automata, Advait Apte

Theses and Dissertations

Biological systems exhibit complex behaviors through coordinated responses of individual biological components. With the advent of genome-scale techniques, one focus has been to develop methods to model interactions between components to accurately describe intact system function. Mathematical modeling techniques such as constraint-based modeling, agent-based modeling, cellular automata (CA) modeling and differential equation modeling are employed as computational tools to study biological phenomenon. We have shown that cellular automata simulations can be used as a computational tool for 12 predicting the dynamics of biological systems with stochastic behavior. The basic premise for the research was the observations made during a study …

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Antibiotic Use By Members Of The American Association Of Endodontics: A National Survey For 2009- A Follow Up From The Report In 1999, Pye Kyu Dec 2009

Antibiotic Use By Members Of The American Association Of Endodontics: A National Survey For 2009- A Follow Up From The Report In 1999, Pye Kyu

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in prescribing habits of active members of American Association of Endodontics (AAE) with regards to antibiotics in comparison to the findings reported by Yingling et al. in 1999. The invitations to take the online survey were sent via email to 2593 active members. A response rate of 37.75% was obtained. It was determined to be adequate for analysis and for comparison to the results obtained by Yingling et al. Comparisons between the percentages shown in this survey and the previous survey were tested using a z-test. An ANOVA model was …

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The Association Between Lead Exposure And Respiratory Health In Children, Colleen Coleman Dec 2009

The Association Between Lead Exposure And Respiratory Health In Children, Colleen Coleman

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The substantial impact of indoor air quality and environmental hazards in the home on one’s health has long been recognized in the field of public health. This cross-sectional study investigates the risk between home based hazards, specifically lead, and respiratory health in children. The objective of this study is to examine the extent to which children testing positive for blood lead exposure are at an increased risk for having poor respiratory health. Methods: A nationally representative sample of 977 children ages 1- 6 years was obtained from the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Information from the …

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Examining The Association Of Fruit And Vegetable Intake And Breast And Prostate Cancer Screening, Mark Yu Dec 2009

Examining The Association Of Fruit And Vegetable Intake And Breast And Prostate Cancer Screening, Mark Yu

Theses and Dissertations

Breast and prostate cancer incidence and mortality have been steadily decreasing. Reasons for these reductions may be related to increased rates of cancer screening and other factors such as improvements in diet, including consumption of fruits and vegetables. We wanted to determine if individuals who get screened for breast and prostate cancer are more or less likely to consume adequate servings of fruit and vegetables. A cross-sectional study using the BRFSS survey was conducted. Individuals included in this study (n=26,222), were asked about their breast or prostate cancer screening history. They were also asked about their servings per day of …

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Investigation Of The Mechanical Properties Of Poly (Ethylene Glycol) Diacrylate By Nanoindentation Using Atomic Force Microscopy, Zouheir Drira Dec 2009

Investigation Of The Mechanical Properties Of Poly (Ethylene Glycol) Diacrylate By Nanoindentation Using Atomic Force Microscopy, Zouheir Drira

Theses and Dissertations

Poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogel based polymers are among the most widely used synthetic materials for biomedical applications. Because of their biocompatibility, and ease of fabrication, hydrogels are highly suitable for use as constructs to engineer tissues as well as for cell transplantation. A critical parameter of importance for PEG hydrogels is their mechanical properties which are highly dependent on the environmental conditions. Properties of PEG-based hydrogels can be engineered to resemble scaffolds composed of extracellular matrix molecules, which provide structural support, adhesive sites and mechanical as well as biomechanical signals to most cells. The mechanical properties of these synthetic …

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Cardiovascular Reactivity To Forgiveness In Females, Carolyn Mccrocklin Dec 2009

Cardiovascular Reactivity To Forgiveness In Females, Carolyn Mccrocklin

Theses and Dissertations

Empirical evidence exists directly relating forgiveness to physiological markers of cardiovascular health based on the manner in which individuals respond to interpersonal offenses. Extant literature has identified the harmful effects of stress in cardiovascular disease and health in general and unforgiveness has been identified as a stressor with potential implications for cardiac health. Understanding cardiac response to the stress of unforgiveness may have favorable implications for heart disease prevention and treatment in women and may prove to be beneficial in reducing allostatic load.

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Talk To Me, I Am Listening, Larbi Sami Ben Dec 2009

Talk To Me, I Am Listening, Larbi Sami Ben

Theses and Dissertations

An introductory conversation with a new person I just met usually goes like this: So, where is your accent from ? Are you American? Well, yes, .....but no. Not really. I do have American citizenship and I lived in the US for fifteen years but I grew up in France. Ok, so you’re French? Well, yes, but .....not totally. My mother is French but my father is Tunisian. Ok, so you’re Tunisian? Well, yes, but... not wholly. I don’t speak Arabic, so I don’t totally feel Tunisian. So what are you? American? French? Tunisian? With my work, I ask the …

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Oculomotor Control In Patients With Parkinson's Disease, George Gitchel Dec 2009

Oculomotor Control In Patients With Parkinson's Disease, George Gitchel

Theses and Dissertations

There have been few studies investigating the eye movement behavior of Parkinson’s disease patients during fixation. This study objectively measured the eye movements of 36 patients with Parkinson’s disease, and 20 age matched controls. Stimuli consisted of ten standardized text passages first organized by Miller and Coleman. In addition, subjects followed a randomly displaced step jump target motion. Pendular nystagmus was found in all Parkinson’s subjects, with an average frequency of 7.44 Hz. Saccadic peak velocity and duration along the main sequence were not statistically different from controls. A slower rate of reading was also noted in the Parkinson’s group …

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Community Voice: Taking It To The People, Guidelines For Conducting A Process Evaluation, Tiffany Mcghee Dec 2009

Community Voice: Taking It To The People, Guidelines For Conducting A Process Evaluation, Tiffany Mcghee

Theses and Dissertations

Background The Community Voice program is designed for African-Americans and explores key factors that can contribute to African-American infant mortality. This program was implemented in Henrico County based on Virginia Health Statistics that the White infant mortality rate average during the years of 2001-2005 was 5.3 deaths per 1,000 live births and in the same time period the infant mortality rate for African-Americans was 13.7 deaths per 1,000 live births. At the time of implementation of the program, no plans to evaluate the program had been made. Objective This evaluation was designed to develop guidelines regarding the evaluation process of …

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Decoding Cigar Bands, Eric Skrzypek Dec 2009

Decoding Cigar Bands, Eric Skrzypek

Theses and Dissertations

I have always admired the aesthetics found in cigar labels – the intricate details, gentle curves, and bright colors seem to have a special story to tell. However, most of the time this story goes untold as labels are given a quick glance, then thrown away with the ashes. As a cigar smoker myself, my artistic pursuit has been to bring to life the stories of my cigar labels. I aim to reach out to those who readily identify with the subject matter, and provide them with a new perspective from which to view the labels most now simply toss …

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Coming Full Circle, Maripatricia Hyatt Dec 2009

Coming Full Circle, Maripatricia Hyatt

Theses and Dissertations

Artist Statement From my earliest memories pattern and repetition of the details in my surroundings were things that caught my attention. The patterns found in the living room wallpaper, the fabric of my mom’s dress, the texture in the buttons found in the sewing box were all fascinating to me. Figuring out the rules of the pattern and being able to predict what came next satisfied my need for order. More recently, I have found myself breaking the rules of predictability by disrupting pattern and combining unexpected materials. With a focus on textiles, I am inspired by and drawn to …

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Vitamin B6 Metabolism And Regulation Of Pyridoxal Kinase, Amit Gandhi Dec 2009

Vitamin B6 Metabolism And Regulation Of Pyridoxal Kinase, Amit Gandhi

Theses and Dissertations

Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) is the cofactor for over 140 vitamin B6 (PLP)-dependent enzymes that are involved in various metabolic and biosynthetic pathways. Pyridoxal kinase (PL kinase) and pyridoxine 5’-phosphate oxidase (PNP oxidase) are the two key enzymes that metabolize nutritional forms of vitamin B6, including pyridoxal (PL), pyridoxine (PN), and pyridoxamine (PM) to the active cofactor form, PLP. Disruption of the PLP metabolic pathway due to mutations in PNP oxidase or PL kinase result in PLP deficiency, which is implicated in several neurological pathologies. Several ingested compounds are also known to result in PLP deficiency with concomitant neurotoxic effects. How …

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Automated Methods For Fiber Diameter Measurement Of Fibrous Scaffolds, Anna Bulysheva Dec 2009

Automated Methods For Fiber Diameter Measurement Of Fibrous Scaffolds, Anna Bulysheva

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work was to develop an automated method of measuring fiber diameters of electrospun scaffolds from scanning electron microscopy images of these scaffolds. Several automated methods were developed and evaluated by comparison to known values and data obtained via the standard manual method. Simulated images with known diameters were used as test images to evaluate the accuracy of each measurement technique. Eight scanning electron microscopy images were also used for the evaluation of the automated methods compared to the standard manual method. All diameter measurements were made in pixels. Five new automated methods coded in MATLAB were …

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Multidimensional Methods: Applications In Drug-Enzyme Intrinsic Clearance Determination And Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography Peak Volume Determination, Dennis Thekkudan Dec 2009

Multidimensional Methods: Applications In Drug-Enzyme Intrinsic Clearance Determination And Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography Peak Volume Determination, Dennis Thekkudan

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the first project was to evaluate strategies for determining the in vitro intrinsic clearance (CLint) of dextrorphan (DR) as metabolized by the UGT2B7 enzyme to obtain dextrorphan glucuronide (DR-G). A direct injection liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method was used to monitor products using the pseudo-first-order (PFO) model. Standard enzymatic incubations were also quantified using LC-MS. These data were fit utilizing both PFO and Michaelis-Menten (MM) models to determine estimates of kinetic parameters. The CLint was determined to be 0.28 (± 0.08) µL/min/mg protein for a baculovirus insect cell-expressed UGT2B7 enzyme. This is the first confirmation that dextrorphan …

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Efficient Implementation Of Raid-6 Encoding And Decoding On A Field Programmable Gate Array (Fpga), David Jacob Dec 2009

Efficient Implementation Of Raid-6 Encoding And Decoding On A Field Programmable Gate Array (Fpga), David Jacob

Theses and Dissertations

RAID-6 is a data encoding scheme used to provide single drive error detection and dual drive error correction for data redundancy on an array of disks. Here we present a thorough study of efficient implementations of RAID-6 on field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Since RAID-6 relies heavily on Galois Field Algebra (GFA), an efficient implementation of a GFA FPGA library is also presented. Through rigorous performance analysis, this work shows the most efficient ways to tradeoff FPGA resources and execution time when implementing GFA functions as well as RAID-6 encoding and decoding.

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Use Of Oral Chemotherapeutic Medications In Non-Traditional Ambulatory Settings, Sameer Arora Dec 2009

Use Of Oral Chemotherapeutic Medications In Non-Traditional Ambulatory Settings, Sameer Arora

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in economically developed countries. The use and availability of oral treatment for cancer has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. Few studies have described the use of oral chemotherapy in non-traditional ambulatory settings by health care professionals across different specialties. Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe the usage of oral chemotherapeutic medications in ambulatory settings. Methods: Cross sectional study of 2007 NAMCS Survey analysis involving 21,761 subjects aged 18 years and above with cancer who participated in the 2007 National Ambulatory Medical Survey (NAMCS). Main Outcome Measure: …

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Intimate Partner Violence And Pregnancy: Data From The Chicago Women's Health Risk Study, Anne Zehner Dec 2009

Intimate Partner Violence And Pregnancy: Data From The Chicago Women's Health Risk Study, Anne Zehner

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy increases the risks of adverse outcomes for both mothers and their unborn children, including maternal and fetal death. However, more research is needed to determine if IPV increases in frequency or severity during pregnancy and to determine what the risk factors are for IPV during pregnancy. Objectives: To use data from the Chicago Women’s Health Risk Study to determine (1) if abuse is more prevalent during the pregnancy period, 2) if abuse during the pregnancy period increases in frequency or severity, 3) if pregnant women who are abused are at increased risk for …

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An Examination Of Factors That Influence Friendships In Young Adults From Intact And Divorced Families, Stephanie Wolf Dec 2009

An Examination Of Factors That Influence Friendships In Young Adults From Intact And Divorced Families, Stephanie Wolf

Theses and Dissertations

Specific factors affecting young adult friendship development have been identified by the literature with little focus on which are most influential in determining friendship composition.. Hierarchical regression was used to examine such factors. Participants included 400 undergraduate Psychology students at a state university in the mid-Atlantic region. Findings indicated parental relationships were the strongest predictor of friendship quality. Parent-child bonds, conflict between parents, and emotion regulation skills best predicted levels of intimacy. Parent-child bond-especially with mother-best predicted satisfaction with friendship network as did conflict between parents. In addition, parent-child bond with mother and conflict between parents were found more important …

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Association Between Preconception Multivitamin Use And The Risk Of Preeclampsia/High Blood Pressure In Pregnant Women, Krisandra Allen Dec 2009

Association Between Preconception Multivitamin Use And The Risk Of Preeclampsia/High Blood Pressure In Pregnant Women, Krisandra Allen

Theses and Dissertations

Gestational Hypertension and Preeclampsia are significant causes of morbidity and mortality among pregnant women and neonates. This study examined the relationship between multivitamin use and incidence of reported high blood pressure or preeclampsia using data from the 2007 Oregon State Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Overall there were n=1894 women included in the study. Women were asked two to four months after delivery to report their multivitamin or prenatal vitamin usage in the month prior to conception and were categorized as daily users, or less than daily users. The unadjusted prevalence of high blood pressure or preeclampsia was 13.4% …

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Client Perceptions And Working Alliance: Predictors Of Outcome?, Theresa Do Dec 2009

Client Perceptions And Working Alliance: Predictors Of Outcome?, Theresa Do

Theses and Dissertations

BACKGROUND In recent years, there has been a push to measure and monitor the quality of health care and the delivery of effective services. Substance use disorders are debilitating and in order to better understand this facet of substance abuse, it is important for organizations and providers to assess the quality of services, client satisfaction, and the relationships that exist between clients and treatment providers. PURPOSE The purpose of the study was to (1) assess the extent of the relationship between measures of client perceptions of satisfaction and treatment outcomes and (2) to assess the relationship between measures of therapeutic …

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Association Between Obesity And Depression And Anxiety Disorders: Results From The 2008 National Health Interview Survey, Monica Gaidhane Dec 2009

Association Between Obesity And Depression And Anxiety Disorders: Results From The 2008 National Health Interview Survey, Monica Gaidhane

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Obesity is one of the most important medical problems in the U.S. and is considered to be an epidemic with over 30% of the population being obese. Obesity is associated with increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers and a shorter life expectancy. Recent studies have shown that higher BMI levels are also significantly associated with several lifetime mental disorders such as major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders as well as panic attacks and panic disorders. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the extent to which higher BMI increased the likelihood of Depression, Anxiety Disorder …

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Enhanced Environmental Detection Of Uranyl Compounds Based On Luminescence Characterization, Jean Nelson Dec 2009

Enhanced Environmental Detection Of Uranyl Compounds Based On Luminescence Characterization, Jean Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Uranium (U) contamination can be introduced to the environment as a result of mining and manufacturing activities related to nuclear power, detonation of U-containing munitions (DoD), or nuclear weapons production/processing (DOE facilities). In oxidizing environments such as surface soils, U predominantly exists as U(VI), which is highly water soluble and very mobile in soils. U(VI) compounds typically contain the UO22+ group (uranyl compounds). The uniquely structured and long-lived green luminescence (fluorescence) of the uranyl ion (under UV radiation) has been studied and remained a strong topic of interest for two centuries. The presented research is distinct in its objective of …

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Experimental And Numerical Investigation On Pyroelectric Energy Scavenging, Jingsi Xie Dec 2009

Experimental And Numerical Investigation On Pyroelectric Energy Scavenging, Jingsi Xie

Theses and Dissertations

Pyroelectric energy scavenging is the process of converting wasted energy from a system to power another one, based on the pyroelectric effect of piezoelectric materials. Pyroelectrically generated power is a function of the surface of material, the pyroelectric coefficient, and the temporal temperature gradient. In the current project, a simple model is developed to predict the power generation based on the temporal change in temperature of material. In addition, a model is validated with experimental measurements from several piezoelectric materials. It is shown that energy generation can be enhanced by using piezoelectric materials with significantly higher pyroelectric coefficients such as …

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Zooplankton Abundance, Community Composition And Grazing In The James River Estuary (Virginia, Usa), Laura E. Barry Dec 2009

Zooplankton Abundance, Community Composition And Grazing In The James River Estuary (Virginia, Usa), Laura E. Barry

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the extent to which zooplankton in the James River Estuary (Virginia, USA) exploit the available algal-food resources. Zooplankton abundance, community composition and grazing rates were assessed at three locations which included a site with high algal production (near the VCU Rice Center) and two sites where algal production was lower. Grazing rates were measured by determining the rate of phytoplankton decline (as chlorophyll a) during 48-hour incubation experiments in the presence and absence of zooplankton. Significant differences in zooplankton abundance were observed among the three sites, with the greatest average zooplankton density (434 ± 69 ind/L) occurring …

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Mindfulness, Health, Well-Being, And Patient Care Of Oncologists, Amanda Kracen Dec 2009

Mindfulness, Health, Well-Being, And Patient Care Of Oncologists, Amanda Kracen

Theses and Dissertations

Demands on physicians in the workplace are growing, as are the occupational and psychosocial stressors they encounter. However, there is scant research regarding physicians, their patient care, and strategies that enhance their well-being. Mindfulness, the ability to be present in the moment, is increasingly being encouraged among healthcare workers for personal benefits and possible positive effects for patients. Thus, the present study examined (a) the health, well-being, and patient care practices of oncologists, (b) the relationship between oncologists’ mindfulness and health indicators (general health and sleep problems) with three outcomes (satisfaction with life [SWL], job satisfaction, and suboptimal patient care), …

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Developing A Comprehensive Youth Obesity Initiative For The State Of Virginia, Jennifer Thompson Dec 2009

Developing A Comprehensive Youth Obesity Initiative For The State Of Virginia, Jennifer Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

The 2009 Virginia General Assembly Session unanimously voted to change the legislation governing the Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation to create the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth (VFHY) and incorporate childhood overweight and obesity prevention and reduction in its mission. In order to successfully meet the requirements of this legislation, VFHY needed assistance developing a strategic plan for the obesity initiative and a knowledge base to draw from. A comprehensive assessment of the status of Virginia’s childhood obesity problem was conducted, including the prevalence of the illness, the barriers existing to and the benefits to obesity prevention programs, the need for …

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The 2009 H1n1 Influenza A “Swine Flu” Virus Presentation In Virginia 2009, Tammie Smith Dec 2009

The 2009 H1n1 Influenza A “Swine Flu” Virus Presentation In Virginia 2009, Tammie Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: 2009 H1N1 influenza was first detected in the Northern Hemisphere in April 2009. National data have suggested that the novel influenza virus disproportionately causes severe illness in children and young adults, a somewhat different presentation from traditional seasonal flu which normally strikes hardest in the very young and older adults. This may or may not be the case in Virginia, which, if it is different, may suggest a need to alter flu prevention messages and vaccine policy as the outbreak continues through the fall 2009-10 influenza season. This report examined the early presentation of the new influenza virus in …

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Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors And Innate Immunity In Septic Shock, Joseph Bertsche Dec 2009

Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors And Innate Immunity In Septic Shock, Joseph Bertsche

Theses and Dissertations

Innate immunity depends on pattern recognition receptors, which recognize pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPS), such as Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which detects the gram-negative bacterial toxin, lipopolysaccharide. Engagement of TLR4 by LPS sets off a cascade ending in the activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and interferon-β (IFN-β) which alerts the host to the infection. However, these responses can be mal-adaptive, especially in the context of bacterial sepsis, where a "cytokine storm" results in death of the host. Pharmacological modulation of these responses may therefore be a promising treatment modality. Inhibition of classic pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β and TNF-α has been …

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Commonwealth Times 2009-12-03 [Front Page Has 2009-11-30] Dec 2009

Commonwealth Times 2009-12-03 [Front Page Has 2009-11-30]

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

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