bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Phoneme recognition in modulated maskers by normal-hearing and aided hearing-impaired listeners
Authors: Phatak Sandeep A. , Grant Ken W.
Published: September 2012

This study measured the influence of masker fluctuations on phoneme recognition. The first part of the study compared the benefit of masker modulations for consonant and vowel recognition in normal-hearing (NH) listeners. Recognition scores were measured in steady-state and sinusoidally amplitude-modulated noise maskers (100% modulation depth) at several modulation rates and signal-to-noise ratios. Masker modulation rates were 4, 8, 16, and 32 Hz for the consonant recognition task and 2, 4, 12, and 32 Hz for the vowel recognition task. Vowel recognition scores showed more modulation benefit and a more pronounced effect of masker modulation rate than consonant scores. The modulation benefit for word recognition from other studies was found to be more similar to the benefit for vowel recognition than that for consonant recognition. The second part of the study measured the effect of modulation rate on the benefit of masker modulations for vowel recognition in aided hearing-impaired (HI) listeners. HI listeners achieved as much modulation benefit as NH listeners for slower masker modulation rates (2, 4, and 12 Hz), but showed a reduced benefit for the fast masker modulation rate of 32 Hz.
Parabolic equation modeling of high frequency acoustic transmission with an evolving sea surface
Authors: Senne J. , Song A. , Badiey M. , Smith K. B.
Published: September 2012

The present paper examines the temporal evolution of acoustic fields by modeling forward propagation subject to sea surface dynamics with time scales of less than a second to tens of seconds. A time-evolving rough sea surface model is combined with a rough surface formulation of a parabolic equation model for predicting time-varying acoustic fields. Surface waves are generated from surface wave spectra, and stepped in time using a Runge–Kutta integration technique applied to linear evolution equations. This evolving, range-dependent surface information is combined with other environmental parameters and input to the acoustic model, giving an approximation of the time-varying acoustic field. The wide-angle parabolic equation model manages the rough sea surfaces by molding them into the boundary conditions for calculations of the near-surface acoustic field. This merged acoustic model is validated using concurrently-collected acoustic and environmental information, including surface wave spectra. Data to model comparisons demonstrate that the model is able to approximate the ensemble-averaged acoustic intensity at ranges of about a kilometer for acoustic signals of around 15 kHz. Furthermore, the model is shown to capture variations due to surface fluctuations occurring over time scales of less than a second to tens of seconds.
ACOUSTICAL STANDARDS NEWS
Authors: Blaeser Susan B. , Schomer Paul D.
Published: September 2012

American National Standards (ANSI Standards) developed by Accredited Standards Committees S1, S2, S3, and S12 in the areas of acoustics, mechanical vibration and shock, bioacoustics, and noise, respectively, are published by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). In addition to these standards, ASA publishes catalogs of Acoustical Standards, both National and International. To receive copies of the latest Standards Catalogs, please contact Susan B. Blaeser.

Comments are welcomed on all material in Acoustical Standards News.

This Acoustical Standards News section in JASA, as well as the National and International Catalogs of Acoustical Standards, and other information on the Standards Program of the Acoustical Society of America, are available via the ASA home page: http://acousticalsociety.org.
Science Signaling
Podcast: 11 September 2012
Authors: Weaver Alissa M. , VanHook Annalisa M.
Published: September 2012

The activity of a lipid kinase influences the production of invadopodia by cancer cells.
Stem Cells, Dot-Com
Authors: Liang Bryan A. , Mackey Tim K.
Published: September 2012

Unregulated and medically unsupported stem cell–based treatments are being advertised online directly to consumers, requiring policy reform to protect patient safety.
A Model Challenge
Authors: LaMarco Kelly
Published: September 2012

There is still time to participate in an open computational challenge to identify predictors of breast cancer progression.
Tension pneumothorax at anaesthetic induction in an ex-premature infant with bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Authors: Freed Chayim , Guha Ranjan
Published: September 2012

ME, a 12-week-old premature infant with a history of complicated ventilatory support at birth, was referred to as a large tertiary centre for urgent retinal laser photocoagulation for retinopathy of prematurity. Following routine induction by a consultant paediatric anaesthetist, immediate ventilation difficulties were encountered, associated with a distended abdomen. Rapid assessment and escalation of the situation occurred, including assistance from several consultants. ME was diagnosed as having a pneumothorax. Rapid intervention, including needle decompression and insertion of a chest drain stabilised the patient. The procedure was cancelled, and the patient returned to intensive care. Over the next few days the patient gradually improved, and was gradually stepped down. The patient continued to improve, successfully overcoming the pneumothorax, pneumonia and insertion of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, and eventually was discharged back to the referring hospital.
Bochdalek hernia in pregnancy: Figure 1
Authors: Ngai Ivan , Sheen Jean-Ju , Govindappagari Shravya , Garry David J
Published: September 2012

Asymptomatic diaphragmatic hernias in reproductive-aged women are rare but pose significant morbidity for pregnancy. This is a case of a woman at 29 weeks’ gestation with abdominal pain and shortness of breath. Five years prior she had been incidentally diagnosed with a small congenital diaphragmatic hernia of Bochdalek. Following preconception care, she opted against repair of the hernia prior to pregnancy due to lack of symptoms and no clear recommendation for repair from the surgeon. Imaging studies on emergency room presentation demonstrated a large herniation of viscera into her chest occupying her entire left chest with slight cardiac displacement. Through a multidisciplinary approach, she was stabilised and eventually delivered at 31 weeks due to worsening pulmonary function. The hernia was repaired postpartum. We recommend repair of any diaphragmatic hernia prior to conception to prevent significant maternal and fetal morbidity or mortality. A multidisciplinary approach allows for planning.
Under pressure: an ocular complication of oral corticosteroid therapy: Table 1
Authors: Fitzgerald Lucy Anne , Dudley Jan , Inward Carol , Tizard Jane
Published: September 2012

We describe the case of a patient with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome who is admitted with headaches, eye pain and reduced visual acuity. Despite thorough investigation no cause for the pain is identified. On a subsequent admission for recurrence of her symptoms her intraocular pressures are measured, which are markedly raised. Immediate medical treatment, as well as prompt weaning of her steroid therapy avoided the need for trabeculectomy surgery. We review this case and the literature surrounding this condition in children.
Honouring patient's resuscitation wishes: a multiphased effort to improve identification and documentation
Authors: Schiebel Nicola , Henrickson Parker Sarah , Bessette Richard R , Cleveland Eric J , Neeley J Paul , Warfield Karen T , Barth Mellissa M , Gaines Kim A , Naessens James M
Published: September 2012

Background

Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders are intended to safeguard patients' autonomy and prevent unwanted resuscitative care. However, DNR orders may be miscommunicated between health care providers, leading to errors honoring patient wishes during cardiac arrest events. This project focused on improving accuracy of DNR ordering processes for an academic, tertiary care hospital.

Intervention

We describe a performance improvement process and outcomes for implementation of an inpatient electronic ordering system that included an automated, decentralized printing process for resuscitation status armbands. Specific phases of this project involved: (a) identification of common factors contributing to errors honoring patients‘ resuscitation wishes, (b) design of an electronic ordering process, (c) design and integration of a new DNR armband and (d) evaluation of the impact of changes on communication accuracy. The primary outcome was percentage of patients with incorrect designation of resuscitation status on armbands compared to the active resuscitation order in the electronic medical record.

Results

After implementation of an electronic ordering process we identified that 37/196 (19%) patients had an armband that did not reflect their documented wishes versus 2/103 (2%) after integration of automated armband printing into the process (p<0.001). No armband discrepancies were found after the first two weeks of post-implementation audits.

Conclusions

Design and implementation of an electronic ordering and armband labeling process reduced discrepancies between patient wishes and the armband labeling of the patient's desired DNR status. It is anticipated that these improvements will reduce the risk of adverse outcomes, and better align clinical processes with patient wishes.
π/2-ANGLE YAO GRAPHS ARE SPANNERS
Authors: BOSE PROSENJIT , DAMIAN MIRELA , DOUÏEB KARIM , O'ROURKE JOSEPH , SEAMONE BEN , SMID MICHIEL , WUHRER STEFANIE
Published: September 2012

We show that the Yao graph Y4 in the L2 metric is a spanner with stretch factor [Formula: see text]. Enroute to this, we also show that the Yao graph [Formula: see text] in the L∞ metric is a plane spanner with stretch factor 8.
ON A HAMILTONIAN VERSION OF CONTROLS DYNAMIC FOR A DRIFT-FREE LEFT INVARIANT CONTROL SYSTEM ON G4
Authors: LĂZUREANU CRISTIAN , BÎNZAR TUDOR
Published: September 2012

Some dynamical and geometrical properties of controls dynamic for a drift-free left invariant control system from the Poisson geometry point of view are described. The integrability of such system are also studied.
Interfaces on the go
Authors: Tan Desney , Morris Dan , Saponas T. Scott
Published: September 2012

Enabling mobile micro-interactions with physiological computing.
PetaBricks
Authors: Ansel Jason , Chan Cy
Published: September 2012

Building adaptable and more efficient programs for the multi-core era is now within reach.
Crowdsourcing, collaboration and creativity
Authors: Kittur Aniket
Published: September 2012

While many organizations turn to human computation labor markets for jobs with black-or-white solutions, there is vast potential in asking these workers for original thought and innovation.
The problem of money as a measuring stick
Authors: Hovanov Nikolai V. , Kolari James W. , Sokolov Mikhail V.
Published: September 2012

A more accurate measuring instrument may be found in stable money baskets built by computers and mathematics.
Challenges in sustainable human-home interaction
Authors: Rodgers Johnny , Bartram Lyn , Woodbury Rob
Published: September 2012

Building eco-friendly homes with occupant intelligence as the foundation.
The connectome project
Authors: Vázquez-Reina Amelio , Jeong Won-Ki , Lichtman Jeff , Pfister Hanspeter
Published: September 2012

Using neuroimaging, researchers are succesfully mapping neural connectivity and in the process creating vivid "brainbows."
Subliminal computing
Authors: Kelly Ryan
Published: September 2012

Can information presented below the threshold of consciousness be used to provide support to the users of interactive computer systems?
Why now is the right time to study quantum computing
Authors: Harrow Aram
Published: September 2012

Quantum computing is not merely a recipe for new computing devices, but a new way of looking at the world.
How to be an "entrepredemic"
Authors: Friedman Jonathan
Published: September 2012

The life of an academic entrepreneur can help you avoid a false choice.
An interview with Mendel Rosenblum
Authors: Cidon Asaf , London Tomer
Published: September 2012

The co-founder of VMware and Associate Professor of Computer Science at Stanford explains how an academic research project evolved into a commercial idea.
An interview with Peter Levine
Authors: Cidon Asaf , London Tomer
Published: September 2012

Peter Levine, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and lecturer at Stanford, shares his insights on how startups should assemble their initial team and create their first product.
Taming big probability distributions
Authors: Rubinfeld Ronitt
Published: September 2012

New algorithms for estimating parameters of distributions over big domains need significantly fewer samples.
An interview with Surajit Chaudhuri
Authors: Parameswaran Aditya
Published: September 2012

Surajit Chaudhuri, Distinguished Scientist and head of the Extreme Computing Group (XCG) at Microsoft Research, Redmond provides valuable insights for revisiting data analytics in the context of big data.
Propagation and immunization in large networks
Authors: Prakash B. Aditya
Published: September 2012

Many interesting research questions can be explored by studying processes running over networks.
Scalable framework for mapping streaming applications onto multi-GPU systems
Authors: Huynh Huynh Phung , Hagiescu Andrei , Wong Weng-Fai , Goh Rick Siow Mong
Published: September 2012

Graphics processing units leverage on a large array of parallel processing cores to boost the performance of a specific streaming computation pattern frequently found in graphics applications. Unfortunately, while many other general purpose applications do exhibit the required streaming behavior, they also possess unfavorable data layout and poor computation-to-communication ratios that penalize any straight-forward execution on the GPU. In this paper we describe an efficient and scalable code generation framework that can map general purpose streaming applications onto a multi-GPU system. This framework spans the entire core and memory hierarchy exposed by the multi-GPU system. Several key features in our framework ensure the scalability required by complex streaming applications. First, we propose an efficient stream graph partitioning algorithm that partitions the complex application to achieve the best performance under a given shared memory constraint. Next, the resulting partitions are mapped to multiple GPUs using an efficient architecture-driven strategy. The mapping balances the workload while considering the communication overhead. Finally, a highly effective pipeline execution is employed for the execution of the partitions on the multi-GPU system. The framework has been implemented as a back-end of the StreamIt programming language compiler. Our comprehensive experiments show its scalability and significant performance speedup compared with a previous state-of-the-art solution.
Efficient SIMD code generation for irregular kernels
Authors: Kim Seonggun , Han Hwansoo
Published: September 2012

Array indirection causes several challenges for compilers to utilize single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) instructions. Disjoint memory references, arbitrarily misaligned memory references, and dependence cycles in loops are main challenges to handle for SIMD compilers. Due to those challenges, existing SIMD compilers have excluded loops with array indirection from their candidate loops for SIMD vectorization. However, addressing those challenges is inevitable, since many important compute-intensive applications extensively use array indirection to reduce memory and computation requirements. In this work, we propose a method to generate efficient SIMD code for loops containing indirected memory references. We extract both inter- and intra-iteration parallelism, taking data reorganization overhead into consideration. We also optimally place data reorganization code in order to amortize the reorganization overhead through the performance gain of SIMD vectorization. Experiments on four array indirection kernels, which are extracted from real-world scientific applications, show that our proposed method effectively generates SIMD code for irregular kernels with array indirection. Compared to the existing SIMD vectorization methods, our proposed method significantly improves the performance of irregular kernels by 91%, on average.
Concurrent tries with efficient non-blocking snapshots
Authors: Prokopec Aleksandar , Bronson Nathan Grasso , Bagwell Phil , Odersky Martin
Published: September 2012

We describe a non-blocking concurrent hash trie based on shared-memory single-word compare-and-swap instructions. The hash trie supports standard mutable lock-free operations such as insertion, removal, lookup and their conditional variants. To ensure space-efficiency, removal operations compress the trie when necessary.

We show how to implement an efficient lock-free snapshot operation for concurrent hash tries. The snapshot operation uses a single-word compare-and-swap and avoids copying the data structure eagerly. Snapshots are used to implement consistent iterators and a linearizable size retrieval. We compare concurrent hash trie performance with other concurrent data structures and evaluate the performance of the snapshot operation.
Internally deterministic parallel algorithms can be fast
Authors: Blelloch Guy E. , Fineman Jeremy T. , Gibbons Phillip B. , Shun Julian
Published: September 2012

The virtues of deterministic parallelism have been argued for decades and many forms of deterministic parallelism have been described and analyzed. Here we are concerned with one of the strongest forms, requiring that for any input there is a
unique
dependence graph representing a trace of the computation annotated with every operation and value. This has been referred to as
internal determinism
, and implies a sequential semantics---
i.e.
, considering any sequential traversal of the dependence graph is sufficient for analyzing the correctness of the code. In addition to returning deterministic results, internal determinism has many advantages including ease of reasoning about the code, ease of verifying correctness, ease of debugging, ease of defining invariants, ease of defining good coverage for testing, and ease of formally, informally and experimentally reasoning about performance. On the other hand one needs to consider the possible downsides of determinism, which might include making algorithms (i) more complicated, unnatural or special purpose and/or (ii) slower or less scalable.

In this paper we study the effectiveness of this strong form of determinism through a broad set of benchmark problems. Our main contribution is to demonstrate that for this wide body of problems, there exist efficient internally deterministic algorithms, and moreover that these algorithms are natural to reason about and not complicated to code. We leverage an approach to determinism suggested by Steele (1990), which is to use nested parallelism with commutative operations. Our algorithms apply several diverse programming paradigms that fit within the model including (i) a strict functional style (no shared state among concurrent operations), (ii) an approach we refer to as
deterministic reservations
, and (iii) the use of commutative, linearizable operations on data structures. We describe algorithms for the benchmark problems that use these deterministic approaches and present performance results on a 32-core machine. Perhaps surprisingly, for all problems, our internally deterministic algorithms achieve good speedup and good performance even relative to prior nondeterministic solutions.
A work-stealing scheduler for X10's task parallelism with suspension
Authors: Tardieu Olivier , Wang Haichuan , Lin Haibo
Published: September 2012

The X10 programming language is intended to ease the programming of scalable concurrent and distributed applications. X10 augments a familiar imperative object-oriented programming model with constructs to support light-weight asynchronous tasks as well as execution across multiple address spaces. A crucial aspect of X10's runtime system is the scheduling of concurrent tasks. Work-stealing schedulers have been shown to efficiently load balance fine-grain divide-and-conquer task-parallel program on SMPs and multicores. But X10 is not limited to shared-memory fork-join parallelism. X10 permits tasks to suspend and synchronize by means of conditional atomic blocks and remote task invocations.

In this paper, we demonstrate that work-stealing scheduling principles are applicable to a rich programming language such as X10, achieving performance at scale without compromising expressivity, ease of use, or portability. We design and implement a portable work-stealing execution engine for X10. While this engine is biased toward the efficient execution of fork-join parallelism in shared memory, it handles the full X10 language, especially conditional atomic blocks and distribution.

We show that this engine improves the run time of a series of benchmark programs by several orders of magnitude when used in combination with the C++ backend compiler and runtime for X10. It achieves scaling comparable to state-of-the art work-stealing scheduler implementations---the Cilk++ compiler and the Java fork/join framework---despite the dramatic increase in generality.
Verification of software barriers
Authors: Malkis Alexander , Banerjee Anindya
Published: September 2012

This paper describes frontiers in verification of the software barrier synchronization primitive. So far most software barrier algorithms have not been mechanically verified. We show preliminary results in automatically proving the correctness of the major software barriers.
Synchronization views for event-loop actors
Authors: De Koster Joeri , Marr Stefan , D'Hondt Theo
Published: September 2012

The actor model has already proven itself as an interesting concurrency model that avoids issues such as deadlocks and race conditions by construction, and thus facilitates concurrent programming. The tradeoff is that it sacrifices expressiveness and efficiency especially with respect to data parallelism. However, many standard solutions to computationally expensive problems employ data parallel algorithms for better performance on parallel systems.

We identified three problems that inhibit the use of data-parallel algorithms within the actor model. Firstly, one of the main properties of the actor model, the fact that no data is shared, is one of the most severe performance bottlenecks. Especially the fact that shared state can not be read truly in parallel. Secondly, the actor model on its own does not provide a mechanism to specify extra synchronization conditions on batches of messages which leads to event-level data-races. And lastly, programmers are forced to write code in a continuation-passing style (CPS) to handle typical request-response situations. However, CPS breaks the sequential flow of the code and is often hard to understand, which increases complexity and lowers maintainability.

We proposes synchronization views to solve these three issues without compromising the semantic properties of the actor model. Thus, the resulting concurrency model maintains deadlock-freedom, avoids low-level race conditions, and keeps the semantics of macro-step execution.
An infrastructure for dynamic optimization of parallel programs
Authors: Noll Albert , Gross Thomas R.
Published: September 2012

Object-oriented programming languages like Java provide only low-level constructs (e.g., starting a thread) to describe concurrency. High-level abstractions (e.g., thread pools) are merely provided as a library. As a result, a compiler is not aware of the high-level semantics of a parallel library and therefore misses important optimization opportunities. This paper presents a simple source language extension based on which a compiler is provided with the opportunity to perform new optimizations that are particularly effective for parallel code.
Viral Infection: An Evolving Insight into the Signal Transduction Pathways Responsible for the Innate Immune Response
Authors: Kotwal Girish J. , Hatch Steven , Marshall William L.
Published: September 2012

The innate immune response is initiated by the interaction of stereotypical pathogen components with genetically conserved receptors for extracytosolic pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) or intracytosolic nucleic acids. In multicellular organisms, this interaction typically clusters signal transduction molecules and leads to their activations, thereby initiating signals that activate innate immune effector mechanisms to protect the host. In some cases programmed cell death—a fundamental form of innate immunity—is initiated in response to genotoxic or biochemical stress that is associated with viral infection. In this paper we will summarize innate immune mechanisms that are relevant to viral pathogenesis and outline the continuing evolution of viral mechanisms that suppress the innate immunity in mammalian hosts. These mechanisms of viral innate immune evasion provide significant insight into the pathways of the antiviral innate immune response of many organisms. Examples of relevant mammalian innate immune defenses host defenses include signaling to interferon and cytokine response pathways as well as signaling to the inflammasome. Understanding which viral innate immune evasion mechanisms are linked to pathogenesis may translate into therapies and vaccines that are truly effective in eliminating the morbidity and mortality associated with viral infections in individuals.
Multiobjective Differential Evolution Algorithm with Multiple Trial Vectors
Authors: Gao Yuelin , Liu Junmei
Published: September 2012

This paper presents a multiobjective differential evolution algorithm with multiple trial vectors. For each individual in the population, three trial individuals are produced by the mutation operator. The offspring is produced by using the crossover operator on the three trial individuals. Good individuals are selected from the parent and the offspring and then are put in the intermediate population. Finally, the intermediate population is sorted according to the Pareto dominance relations and the crowding distance, and then the outstanding individuals are selected as the next evolutionary population. Comparing with the classical multiobjective optimization algorithm NSGA‐II, the proposed algorithm has better convergence, and the obtained Pareto optimal solutions have better diversity.
The Impact of Osteopontin Gene Variations on Multiple Sclerosis Development and Progression
Authors: Comi Cristoforo , Cappellano Giuseppe , Chiocchetti Annalisa , Orilieri Elisabetta , Buttini Sara , Ghezzi Laura , Galimberti Daniela , Guerini Franca , Barizzone Nadia , Perla Franco , Leone Maurizio , D’Alfonso Sandra , Caputo Domenico , Scarpini Elio , Cantello Roberto , Dianzani Umberto
Published: September 2012

Osteopontin is a proinflammatory molecule, modulating TH1 and TH17 responses. Several reports suggest its involvement in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis. We previously reported that OPN gene variations at the 3′ end are a predisposing factor for MS development and evolution. In this paper, we extended our analysis to a gene variation at the 5′ end on the-156G>GGsingle nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and replicated our previous findings at the 3′ end on the+1239A>CSNP. We found that only+1239A>CSNP displayed a statistically significant association with MS development, but both+1239A>Cand-156G>GGhad an influence on MS progression, since patients homozygous for both +1239A and −156GG alleles displayed slower progression of disability and slower switch to secondary progression than those carrying +1239C and/or −156G and those homozygous for +1239A only. Moreover, patients homozygous for +1239A also displayed a significantly lower relapse rate than those carrying +1239C, which is in line with the established role of OPN in MS relapses.
The Onset of Enhanced Intestinal Permeability and Food Sensitivity Triggered by Medication Used in Dental Procedures: A Case Report
Authors: Vojdani Aristo , Lambert Jama
Published: September 2012

Enhanced intestinal permeability and food sensitivity are two of the many proven causes of gastrointestinal disorders. This present report describes a woman with no previous gastrointestinal (GI) complaints, who underwent dental root canal, bone graft, and implant procedures. Postsurgery she experienced an allergic reaction to the combined medications. In the weeks that followed, she presented with multiple food intolerances. Four weeks after the final dental procedure, she was assessed serologically for mucosal immune function, salivary, and blood-gluten reactivity, intestinal permeability, and other food sensitivities. Compared to her test reports from two months prior to her first dental procedure, the patient’s results showed high total secretory IgA (SIgA) and elevated salivary antibodies to alpha-gliadin, indicating abnormal mucosal immunity and loss of tolerance to gluten. Her serologic assessments revealed immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgA antibodies to a range of wheat/gluten proteins and peptides, gut bacterial endotoxins and tight junction proteins. These test results indicate gut dysbiosis, enhanced intestinal permeability, systemic gluten-reactivity, and immune response to other dietary macromolecules. The present case suggests that patients who experience severe allergic or pseudoallergic reactions to medication should be assessed and monitored for gut dysfunction. If left untreated this could lead to autoimmune reactions to self tissues.
PPARα-Independent Arterial Smooth Muscle Relaxant Effects of PPARαAgonists
Authors: Silswal Neerupma , Parelkar Nikhil K. , Wacker Michael J. , Badr Mostafa , Andresen Jon
Published: September 2012

We sought to determine direct vascular effects of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) agonists using isolated mouse aortas and middle cerebral arteries (MCAs). The PPARαagonists GW7647, WY14643, and gemfibrozil acutely relaxed aortas held under isometric tension and dilated pressurized MCAs with the following order of potency: GW7647≫WY14643>gemfibrozil. Responses were endothelium-independent, and the use of PPARαdeficient mice demonstrated that responses were also PPARα-independent. Pretreating arteries with high extracellular K+attenuated PPARαagonist-mediated relaxations in the aorta, but not in the MCA. In the aorta, the ATP sensitive potassium (KATP) channel blocker glibenclamide also impaired relaxations whereas the other K+channel inhibitors, 4-aminopyridine and Iberiotoxin, had no effect. In aortas, GW7647 and WY14643 elevated cGMP levels by stimulating soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC), and inhibition of sGC with ODQ blunted relaxations to PPARαagonists. In the MCA, dilations were inhibited by the protein kinase C (PKC) activator, phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate, and also by ODQ. Our results demonstrated acute, nonreceptor-mediated relaxant effects of PPARαagonists on smooth muscle of mouse arteries. Responses to PPARαagonists in the aorta involvedKATPchannels and sGC, whereas in the MCA the PKC and sGC pathways also appeared to contribute to the response.
Two-Point Left Ventricle Pacing and Cardiac Computed Tomography
Authors: Mlynarski Rafal , Mlynarska Agnieszka , Pilat Eugeniusz , Gardas Rafal , Wilczek Jacek , Sosnowski Maciej
Published: September 2012

Endocardial leads can potentially cause problems during coronary vessels visualization in multislice computed tomography (MSCT) due to a large number of artifacts. Based on presented case, we conclude that it is possible to perform MSCT of coronary arteries and leads visualization despite coexistence of four endocardial leads.
Numerical Solutions of Odd Order Linear and Nonlinear Initial Value Problems Using a Shifted Jacobi Spectral Approximations
Authors: Bhrawy A. H. , Alghamdi M. A.
Published: September 2012

A shifted Jacobi Galerkin method is introduced to get a direct solution technique for solving the third‐ and fifth‐order differential equations with constant coefficients subject to initial conditions. The key to the efficiency of these algorithms is to construct appropriate base functions, which lead to systems with specially structured matrices that can be efficiently inverted. A quadrature Galerkin method is introduced for the numerical solution of these problems with variable coefficients. A new shifted Jacobi collocation method based on basis functions satisfying the initial conditions is presented for solving nonlinear initial value problems. Through several numerical examples, we evaluate the accuracy and performance of the proposed algorithms. The algorithms are easy to implement and yield very accurate results.
Crosstalk between Platelets and the Immune System: Old Systems with New Discoveries
Authors: Li Conglei , Li June , Li Yan , Lang Sean , Yougbare Issaka , Zhu Guangheng , Chen Pingguo , Ni Heyu
Published: September 2012

Platelets are small anucleate cells circulating in the blood. It has been recognized for more than 100 years that platelet adhesion and aggregation at the site of vascular injury are critical events in hemostasis and thrombosis; however, recent studies demonstrated that, in addition to these classic roles, platelets also have important functions in inflammation and the immune response. Platelets contain many proinflammatory molecules and cytokines (e.g., P-selectin, CD40L, IL-1β, etc.), which support leukocyte trafficking, modulate immunoglobulin class switch, and germinal center formation. Platelets express several functional Toll-like receptors (TLRs), such as TLR-2, TLR-4, and TLR-9, which may potentially link innate immunity with thrombosis. Interestingly, platelets also contain multiple anti-inflammatory molecules and cytokines (e.g., transforming growth factor-βand thrombospondin-1). Emerging evidence also suggests that platelets are involved in lymphatic vessel development by directly interacting with lymphatic endothelial cells through C-type lectin-like receptor 2. Besides the active contributions of platelets to the immune system, platelets are passively targeted in several immune-mediated diseases, such as autoimmune thrombocytopenia, infection-associated thrombocytopenia, and fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia. These data suggest that platelets are important immune cells and may contribute to innate and adaptive immunity under both physiological and pathological conditions.
A Nonlinear Differential Equation Related to the Jacobi Elliptic Functions
Authors: Johannessen Kim
Published: September 2012

A nonlinear differential equation for the polar angle of a point of an ellipse is derived. The solution of this differential equation can be expressed in terms of the Jacobi elliptic function dn(u,k). If the polar angle is extended to the complex plane, the Jacobi imaginary transformation properties and the dependence on the real and complex quarter periods can be described. From the differential equation of the polar angle, exact solutions of the Poisson Boltzmann and the sinh-Poisson equations are found in terms of the Jacobi elliptic functions.
Neuroendocrine‐Based Cooperative Intelligent Control System for Multiobjective Integrated Control of a Parallel Manipulator
Authors: Guo Chongbin , Hao Kuangrong , Ding Yongsheng
Published: September 2012

This paper presents a novel multiloop and Multi‐objective cooperative intelligent control system (MMCICS) used to improve the performance of position, velocity and acceleration integrated control on a complex multichannel plant. Based on regulation mechanism of the neuroendocrine system (NES), a bioinspired motion control approach has been used in the MMCICS which includes four cooperative units. The planning unit outputs the desired signals. The selection unit chooses the real‐time dominant control mode. The coordination unit uses the velocity Jacobian matrix to regulate the cooperative control signals. The execution unit achieves the ultimate task based on sub‐channel controllers with the proposed hormone regulation self‐adaptive Modules (HRSMs). Parameter tuning is given to facilitate the MMCICS implementation. The MMCICS is applied to an actual 2‐DOF redundant parallel manipulator where the feasibility of the new control system is demonstrated. The MMCICS keeps its subchannels interacting harmoniously and systematically. Therefore, the plant has fast response, smooth velocity, accurate position, strong self‐adaptability, and high stability. The HRSM improves the control performance of the local controllers and the global system as well, especially for manipulators running at high velocities and accelerations.
Therapeutic Effects ofCortex acanthopanacisAqueous Extract on Bone Metabolism of Ovariectomized Rats
Authors: Zhang Zhiguo , Dong Jiazi , Liu Meijie , Li Yan , Pan Jinghua , Liu Hong , Wang Wenlai , Bai Dong , Xiang Lihua , Xiao Gary G. , Ju Dahong
Published: September 2012

The aim of this study was to evaluate effects of aqueous extract fromCortex acanthopanacis(CAE) on osteoporosis rats induced by ovariectomy (OVX) using aqueous extract fromFolium Epimedii(FEE) as positive control agent. Three-month-old female rats that underwent OVX were treated with CAE. After 12 weeks, bone mineral density (BMD) and indices of bone histomorphometry of tibia were measured. Levels of protein and mRNA expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL) in tibia were evaluated. In addition, the serum concentrations of osteocalcin (OC), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), calcitonin (CT), and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were determined. Administration of CAE significantly prevented OVX-induced rats from gain of the body weight. Treatment with CAE increased bone mass remarkably and showed a significant inhibitory effect on bone resorption by downregulating significantly the expression of RANKL in tibia of OVX rats. Meanwhile, treatment of CAE significantly reduced serum level of IL-1βand increased level of CT in OVX rats. This suggests that CAE has the potential to be used as an alternative therapeutic agent for postmenopausal osteoporosis.
High‐Order Energy Balance Method to Nonlinear Oscillators
Authors: Durmaz Seher , Kaya Metin Orhan
Published: September 2012

Energy balance method (EBM) is extended for high‐order nonlinear oscillators. To illustrate the effectiveness of the method, a cubic‐quintic Duffing oscillator was chosen. The maximum relative errors of the frequencies of the oscillator read 1.25% and 0.6% for the first‐ and second‐order approximation, respectively. The third‐order approximation has an accuracy as high as 0.008%. Excellent agreement of the approximated frequencies and periodic solutions with the exact ones is demonstrated for several values of parameters of the oscillator.
Formation and Regulation of Adaptive Response in NematodeCaenorhabditis elegans
Authors: Zhao Y.-L. , Wang D.-Y.
Published: September 2012

All organisms respond to environmental stresses (e.g., heavy metal, heat, UV irradiation, hyperoxia, food limitation, etc.) with coordinated adjustments in order to deal with the consequences and/or injuries caused by the severe stress. The nematodeCaenorhabditis elegansoften exerts adaptive responses if preconditioned with low concentrations of agents or stressor. InC. elegans, three types of adaptive responses can be formed: hormesis, cross-adaptation, and dietary restriction. Several factors influence the formation of adaptive responses in nematodes, and some mechanisms can explain their response formation. In particular, antioxidation system, heat-shock proteins, metallothioneins, glutathione, signaling transduction, and metabolic signals may play important roles in regulating the formation of adaptive responses. In this paper, we summarize the published evidence demonstrating that several types of adaptive responses have converged inC. elegansand discussed some possible alternative theories explaining the adaptive response control.
Low Back Pain Prevalence and Associated Factors in Iranian Population: Findings from the National Health Survey
Authors: Biglarian Akbar , Seifi Behjat , Bakhshi Enayatollah , Mohammad Kazem , Rahgozar Mehdi , Karimlou Masoud , Serahati Sara
Published: September 2012

Background. There are very few studies that had a sample size sufficient to explore the association between factors related to low back pain in a representative sample of the Iranian population. Objective. To examine the relationship between sociodemographic factors, smoking, obesity, and low back pain in Iranian people. Methods. We used Iranian adults respondents (n=25307) from the National Health Survey. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated by using logistic regression. Results. The prevalence of low back pain was found in 29.3% of the studied sample. High age, female sex, being married, obesity, low-economic index, being smoker, in a rural residence, and low educational attainment, all increased the odds of low back pain. Conclusions. Our findings add to the evidence on the importance of obesity in relation to low back pain. These results can be used as a basis to reinforce health programs to prevent obesity.
Probability‐Dependent Static Output Feedback Control for Discrete‐Time Nonlinear Stochastic Systems with Missing Measurements
Authors: Li Wangyan , Wei Guoliang , Wang Licheng
Published: September 2012

This paper is devoted to the problems of gain‐scheduled control for a class of discrete‐time stochastic systems with infinite‐distributed delays and missing measurements by utilizing probability‐dependent Lyapunov functional. The missing‐measurement phenomenon is assumed to occur in a random way, and the missing probability is time varying with securable upper and lower bounds that can be measured in real time. The purpose is to design a static output feedback controller with scheduled gains such that, for the admissible random missing measurements, time delays, and noises, the closed‐loop system is exponentially mean‐square stable. At last, a simulation example is exploited to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design procedures.
Recent Understanding on Diagnosis and Management of Central Nervous System Vasculitis in Children
Authors: Iannetti Ludovico , Zito Roberta , Bruschi Simone , Papetti Laura , Ulgiati Fiorenza , Nicita Francesco , Del Balzo Francesca , Spalice Alberto
Published: September 2012

Central nervous system vasculitides in children may develop as a primary condition or secondary to an underlying systemic disease. Many vasculitides affect both adults and children, while some others occur almost exclusively in childhood. Patients usually present with systemic symptoms with single or multiorgan dysfunction. The involvement of central nervous system in childhood is not frequent and it occurs more often as a feature of subtypes like childhood polyarteritis nodosa, Kawasaki disease, Henoch Schönlein purpura, and Bechet disease. Primary angiitis of the central nervous system of childhood is a reversible cause of severe neurological impairment, including acute ischemic stroke, intractable seizures, and cognitive decline. The first line therapy of CNS vasculitides is mainly based on corticosteroids and immunosuppressor drugs. Other strategies include plasmapheresis, immunoglobulins, and biologic drugs. This paper discusses on current understanding of most frequent primary and secondary central nervous system vasculitides in children including a tailored-diagnostic approach and new evidence regarding treatment.
Primary Renal Lymphoma: Long-Term Results of Two Patients Treated with a Chemotherapy + Rituximab Protocol
Authors: Vázquez-Alonso F. , Puche-Sanz I. , Sánchez-Ramos C. , Flores-Martín J. , Vicente-Prados J. , Cózar-Olmo J. M.
Published: September 2012

Primary renal lymphoma (PRL) is a rare disease of which the etiology and pathogenesis remain controversial, and there is currently no standard treatment for it. We present the results of a long-term followup of two patients who were diagnosed with PRL and treated with cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, prednisolone and rituximab (CHOP + R) regimen. Both patients reached a complete response, and there is no evidence of recurrence after 4.5- and 5-year followup periods. Based on our experience and other recently published studies, we recommend the combination of CHOP + rituximab as the elective treatment for this disease. To our knowledge, this is the longest followup period with a complete response that has been reported with this modality of treatment.
Diversity of Mosquito Vectors (Diptera: Culicidae) in Caxiuanã, Pará, Brazil
Authors: Confalonieri Ulisses E. C. , Costa Neto Cristina
Published: September 2012

This paper presents a study based on ecological parameters represented by diversity and richness indices applied in a community of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), at the National Forest of Caxiuanã, Melgaço municipality, state of Pará, in the Brazilian Amazon. A total of 25,433 specimens of culicids were collected in the study, from five field collection periods, over 10 months, between 2005 and 2006. Specimens were collected in four heights of the forest (ground level, 8 m, 16 m, and 30 m-canopy). Diversity indices of Shannon and Berger-Parker were obtained, and indicators of dominance of species were calculated. The speciesCulex portesiwas dominant in this site, representing about 84% of specimens. Measures of richness and similarity (Jaccard) were obtained for the five strata of time and four height levels. According to the richness estimator abundance-based covered estimator (ACE) the greatest value occurred in April (2006), considering the levels of height to 16 m and on the ground. The estimates obtained have shown quantitative parameters of mosquito populations in the region of the Forest of Caxiuanã.
Spongiosa Primary Development: A Biochemical Hypothesis by Turing Patterns Formations
Authors: López-Vaca Oscar Rodrigo , Garzón-Alvarado Diego Alexander
Published: September 2012

We propose a biochemical model describing the formation of primary spongiosa architecture through a bioregulatory model by metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). It is assumed that MMP13 regulates cartilage degradation and the VEGF allows vascularization and advances in the ossification front through the presence of osteoblasts. The coupling of this set of molecules is represented by reaction-diffusion equations with parameters in the Turing space, creating a stable spatiotemporal pattern that leads to the formation of the trabeculae present in the spongy tissue. Experimental evidence has shown that the MMP13 regulates VEGF formation, and it is assumed that VEGF negatively regulates MMP13 formation. Thus, the patterns obtained by ossification may represent the primary spongiosa formation during endochondral ossification. Moreover, for the numerical solution, we used the finite element method with the Newton-Raphson method to approximate partial differential nonlinear equations. Ossification patterns obtained may represent the primary spongiosa formation during endochondral ossification.
A Weighted Variant of Riemann‐Liouville Fractional Integrals on ℝn
Authors: Fu Zun Wei , Lu Shan Zhen , Yuan Wen
Published: September 2012

We introduce certain type of weighted variant of Riemann‐Liouville
fractional integral on ℝn and obtain its sharp bounds on the central Morrey and λ‐central BMO spaces. Moreover, we establish a sufficient and necessary condition of the weight functions
so that commutators of weighted Hardy operators (with symbols in λ‐central BMO space) are bounded on the central Morrey spaces. These results are further used to prove sharp estimates
of some inequalities due to Weyl and Cesàro.