cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Very poor outcome schizophrenia: Clinical and neuroimaging aspects

In spite of significant advances in treatment of patients with schizophrenia and continued efforts towards their deinstitutionalization, a considerable group of patients remain chronically hospitalized or otherwise dependent on others for basic necessities of life. It has been proposed that these patients belong to a distinct etiopathological subgroup, termed Kraepelinian, whose course of illness may be progressive and resistant to treatment. Indeed, longitudinal studies appear to show that elderly Kraepelinian patients follow a course of rapid cognitive and functional deterioration, commensurate with a dementing process, and that their poor functional status is closely correlated with the cognitive deterioration. Recent neuroimaging studies described a pattern of posteriorization of grey and white matter deficits with poor outcome in schizophrenia, and produced a constellation of findings implicating primary processing of visual and auditory information as central to the impaired functional status in this patient group. These studies are summarized in detail in this review and future directions for neuroimaging assessment of very poor outcome patients with schizophrenia are suggested.
Downstream Influence Scaling of Turbulent Flow past Expansion Corners

Previous studies of the high-speed viscous inviscid interaction between a turbulent boundary layer and an expansion at a convex corner have noted that surface pressure decreases toward the downstream inviscid value yielded by a Prandtl-Meyer expansion. A downstream influence on the corner is presently identified which is based on the mean surface pressure distribution; a scaling law is proposed for this distance.
Physician variability in the management of acute postoperative and cancer pain: a quantitative analysis of the Michigan experience.

BACKGROUND. Little is known about physician attitudes, goals, or satisfaction regarding acute postoperative and cancer pain management. OBJECTIVES. To provide quantitative data regarding the status of acute postoperative and cancer pain management by Michigan physicians. To measure physician confidence, preference, and satisfaction as well as identify their pain care goals for acute postoperative and cancer pain management. To evaluate variability in acute postoperative and cancer pain decision making based upon physician demographic characteristics, knowledge, and attitudes. RESEARCH DESIGN. A cross-sectional survey, which included two cancer and three acute postoperative pain vignettes. SUBJECTS. A randomly-selected sample of three hundred sixty-eight licensed Michigan physicians who provide clinical care for acute postoperative and cancer pain patients. RESULTS. The majority of respondents (>50%) reported providing acute postoperative pain care frequently, while a minority ( 75%) reported goals of at least adequate pain relief without distress for both acute postoperative and cancer pain. Physicians more frequently chose the optimal pain management response for men following prostatectomy (56.2%) than for women following myomectomy (42%). They also chose the optimal response for metastatic prostate cancer more frequently (16.3%) than for metastatic breast cancer pain management (10.7%). CONCLUSION. These data highlight physician variability in acute postoperative and cancer pain management decision making. Further study of the physician variable is necessary to improve the management of acute postoperative and cancer pain.
Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in aged human choroid and eyes with age-related macular degeneration

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the localization and relative levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF; an angiogenic factor) and pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF; an antiangiogenic factor) in aged human choroid and to determine if the localization or their relative levels changed in age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Ocular tissues were obtained from eight aged control donors (age range, 75–86 years; mean age, 79.8 years) with no evidence or history of chorioretinal disease and from 12 donors diagnosed with AMD (age range, 61–105 years; mean age, 83.9 years). Tissues were cryopreserved and streptavidin alkaline phosphatase immunohistochemistry was performed with rabbit polyclonal anti-human VEGF and rabbit polyclonal anti-human PEDF antibodies. Binding of the antibodies was blocked by preincubation of the antibody with an excess of recombinant human PEDF or VEGF peptide. Choroidal blood vessels were identified with mouse anti-human CD-34 antibody in adjacent tissue sections. Three independent observers graded the immunohistochemical reaction product. The most prominent sites of VEGF and PEDF localization in aged control choroid were RPE–Bruch's membrane–choriocapillaris complex including RPE basal lamina, intercapillary septa, and choroidal stroma. There was no significant difference in immunostaining intensity and localization of VEGF and PEDF in aged control choroids. The most intense VEGF immunoreactivity was observed in leukocytes within blood vessels. AMD choroid had a similar pattern and intensity of VEGF immunostaining to that observed in aged controls. However, PEDF immunoreactivity was significantly lower in RPE cells (p=0.0073), RPE basal lamina (p=0.0141), Bruch's membrane (p In aged control subjects, VEGF and PEDF immunostaining was the most intense in RPE-Bruch's membrane-choriocapillaris complex. In AMD, PEDF was significantly lower in RPE cells, RPE basal lamina, Bruch's membrane and choroidal stroma. These data suggest that a critical balance exists between PEDF and VEGF, and PEDF may counteract the angiogenic potential of VEGF. The decrease in PEDF may disrupt the balance and be permissive for the formation of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in AMD.
Where is the consensus? A proposed foundation for moving ecosystem service concepts into practice

Abstract Inconsistent terms, definitions, and classifications hinder advancement of the study and application of ecosystem services. A unified approach among disciplines involved in researching and implementing ecosystem services is imperative to moving concepts into practice. An operational definition needs to be adopted by the ecosystem service community as the basis of a classification system so that ecosystem goods and services may be measured by ecologists, valued by economists, and utilized by decision-makers. We propose a transdisciplinary approach centered upon shared principles, an ecosystem services definition, and a classification system. This shared foundation provides a common set of ecosystem goods and services that serves as the focus for and connection among multiple disciplines. This foundation is specific enough to be operational while remaining relevant to a multitude of ecosystem service objectives for which frameworks and implementation plans may be developed. Although numerous ecosystem service frameworks exist in the literature, many of them are non-operational or are focused toward a single discipline. An evaluation of these frameworks identifies knowledge gaps and suggests how we may advance ecosystem services into practice. Our evaluation demonstrates that foundational concepts (especially a definition and classification system, and community involvement) are often poorly addressed in ecosystem service frameworks.
Oscillatory exchange bias due to an antiferromagnet with incommensurate spin-density waves.

Oscillatory exchange bias in both magnitude and in sign has been observed in epitaxial $(100)\mathrm{C}\mathrm{r}/{\mathrm{N}\mathrm{i}}_{81}{\mathrm{F}\mathrm{e}}_{19}$ bilayers due to the incommensurate spin-density waves in antiferromagnetic (100)Cr layers. Salient effects due to the spin-flip transition between longitudinal and transverse spin-density waves as well as that of expanding wavelength have been observed.
Change blindness in information visualization: a case study

Change blindness occurs when people do not notice changes in visible elements of a scene. If people use an information visualization system to compare document collection subsets partitioned by their time-stamps, change blindness makes it impossible for them to recognize even very major changes, let alone minor ones. We describe theories from cognitive science that account for the change blindness phenomenon, as well as solutions developed for two visual analysis tools, a dot plot (SPIRE Galaxies) and landscape (ThemeView(tm)) visualizations.
Response Estimation of Non-Ductile Reinforced Concrete Columns Subjected to Lateral Loads

Reinforced concrete columns with insufficient transverse reinforcement and nonseismic details are vulnerable to shear failure and loss of axial load carrying capacity in the event of an earthquake. In this study, the application of two macro models is examined using previously tested shear critical reinforced concrete columns subjected to lateral loads. One of the approaches simulates lateral load-deformation response by estimating deformation components due to flexure, reinforcement slip and shear individually and then combing them according to a set of rules specified for each category. The columns classified into categories based on comparison of their predicted shear and flexural strengths. The other approach, Axial-Shear-Flexural Interaction method, considers the interaction of axial deformations and concrete compression softening to couple shear and flexural mechanisms while satisfying compatibility and equilibrium conditions in average stress-average strain field. Capabilities of both models are evaluated in terms of predicting mode of failure, ultimate lateral loads and drifts, and post-peak responses. Based on the comparison of experimental and analytical results, conclusions are drawn to improve response estimation by either of the models. Implementation of suggested analytical procedure results in satisfactory response envelope curves which can be used for development of cyclic response models.
Tsewa's Gift: Magic and Meaning In an Amazonian Society

Tsewa's Gift: Magic and Meaning In an Amazonian Society. Michel F. Brown. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986. 220 pp., illustrations, plates, tables, afterword, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $19.95 (cloth). ISBN0-8747-4294-3.
SIMULATION OF PROCESSES WITH MULTIPLE REGENERATION SEQUENCES

The classical regenerative method of simulation output analysis exploits the regenerative structure of a stochastic process to break up a path into independent and identically distributed cycles based on a single sequence of regeneration times. If a process is regenerative with respect to more than one sequence of regeneration times, the classical regenerative method does not exploit the additional structure, and the variance of the resulting estimator for certain performance measures (e.g., the time-average variance constant) can vary greatly, depending on the particular regeneration sequence chosen. In a previous article, we introduced an efficiency-improvement technique for regenerative simulation of processes having two sequences of regeneration times based on permuting regenerative cycles associated with the second sequence of regeneration points. In this article, we show how to exploit more than two regeneration sequences. In particular, for birth–death Markov chains, the regenerations associated with hitting times to each state can all be exploited. We present empirical results that show significant variance reductions in some cases, and the results seem to indicate that the permuted estimator for the time-average variance constant can have a variance that is independent of the primary regeneration sequence used to run the simulation.
Stochasticity of gene products from transcriptional pulsing

Transcriptional pulsing has been observed in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes and plays a crucial role in cell-to-cell variability of protein and mRNA numbers. An important issue is how the time constants associated with episodes of transcriptional bursting and mRNA and protein degradation rates lead to different cellular mRNA and protein distributions, starting from the transient regime leading to the steady state. We address this by deriving and then investigating the exact time-dependent solution of the master equation for a transcriptional pulsing model of mRNA distributions. We find a plethora of results. We show that, among others, bimodal and long-tailed (power-law) distributions occur in the steady state as the rate constants are varied over biologically significant time scales. Since steady state may not be reached experimentally we present results for the time evolution of the distributions. Because cellular behavior is determined by proteins, we also investigate the effect of the different mRNA distributions on the corresponding protein distributions using numerical simulations.
A haptic interface to a robot to study grasp stability with a virtual task

Haptic interface devices are typically used for force-feedback teleoperation of robots in remote locations or for the manipulation and exploration of virtual objects in a computer-generated graphical environment. While the information on contact forces and finger kinematics is available, it is generally considered to be of secondary interest behind the progress of the execution of the haptic task itself. In the current project, we have implemented a simple pick and place task involving thumb-forefinger pinch., but have made it possible to change the task and virtual object parameters during the task, and to log the interaction between the two fingers and the virtual object. This project has developed preliminary results for a future clinical study on grasp stability with persons who have neurological or orthopedic impairments in their upper limb and hand.
Constrained Time-Varying System Modelling

Tools are presented to reliably identify a time-varying autoregressive (AR) model for a realization of a stochastic process with an arbitrary non-stationarity. Only limited a priori knowledge about the nature of the non-stationarity, namely the expected maximum rate of change of the model parameters, is necessary to estimate these parameters on-line. The criterion considered is a constrained least squares cost functional which incorporates with equal weight all instantaneous errors up to the time of observation. The constraint is specified from the maximum rate of change using a (non-unique) backward state-space description for the parameter variation. A doubly recursive algorithm based on smoothing theory is derived to find a quasi-optimal solution to the recursive parameter estimation problem. Associated trade-offs are discussed for various non-stationary environments.
Public–public partnerships in Urban water provision: The case of Dar es Salaam

Across the global South, urban residents have come to play a much greater role in the provision of basic public services through a variety of government–community partnerships. Often referred to as public–public partnerships (PuPs), such arrangements are thought to be essential to ensure that services are efficient, equitable, sustainable and responsive to the needs and interests of heterogeneous communities. This paper draws on original research and secondary data to analyse the strengths and limitations of PuPs with respect to water provision in contemporary Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It explores two ways that community-based organisations (CBOs) have become partners in the delivery of water and draws attention to the external support received by the most successful community partners. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Race, Gender, and the Perception of Recently Experiencing Unfair Treatment by the Police: Exploratory Results From an All-Black Sample

Using a national poll with a representative sample of Blacks (N = 854), this article examined the experiences of those Blacks who believe that they had recently been treated unfairly by the police. More specifically, the research examined the role of gender in the perception of unfair treatment by the police. The results of the analysis from the full sample found that age (being older), region (being from the South), and being female decreased the likelihood of reporting having been recently treated unfairly by the police. To examine the differences between Black men and women, the authors conducted a split-sample binary logistic regression analysis. The analysis revealed that Black women who resided in the South were less likely to report experiencing unfair treatment by the police. For Black men, being older and having a higher income resulted in the reduced likelihood of the perception of having been treated unfairly. The implications of the research also are considered.
Protecting Appearance and Atmospherics: Trade Dress as a Component of Retail Strategy

Although many retailers recognize the value of managing store appearance and atmosphere to improve sales and consumer loyalty, few are aware that trade dress, a subset of trademark, may be used to protect retail environments from some forms of imitation. This article discusses the importance of trade dress protection for retailers and expands on the elements of trade dress, the parameters of trade dress protection, and the interaction of trade dress law with retail strategy. The authors also assess whether trade dress protection serves the policy goals of reducing deception and promoting fair competition for the benefit of the public as configured and interpreted under current U.S. law.
Air pollution and type 2 diabetes: mechanistic insights

According to the International Diabetes Federation in the year 2011, diabetes mellitus (DM) affects at least 366 million people worldwide, and that number is expected to reach 566 million by the year 2030. Over 99% of all diabetes cases represent type 2 DM with most of these projected to occur in low- to middle-income countries. Technology innovations, globalization with its free movement of food and services, seismic shifts in agrarian practices, and nutritional transition to freely available high-caloric diets have irrevocably altered energy expenditures during work and leisure. These and other factors are helping to foster the continued epidemiological transition occurring across the globe. Scientific effort over the last few decades has focused primarily on components of urbanization such as inactivity and dietary factors. More recent observations have provided additional links between exposure to environmental factors in air/water and propensity to chronic diseases (1). This issue is of importance given the extraordinary confluence of high levels of airborne and water pollutants in urbanized environments. Multiple studies in China, India, and other rapidly urbanizing economies demonstrate a steep gradient in urban–rural prevalence. This review will summarize recent evidence on how outdoor air pollution may represent an underappreciated yet critical linkage between urbanization and the emergence of cardiometabolic diseases, with a focus on type 2 DM. We define cardiometabolic disease as the confluence of cardiovascular disease and type 2 DM in recognition of the fact that the milieu of diabetes fundamentally alters the pathophysiology of coronary, cerebrovascular, and peripheral arterial disease. Thus, alteration in susceptibility to DM automatically increases the likelihood of cardiovascular disease. Indoor air pollution is not discussed owing to the paucity of data. It should be noted that our current understanding of air pollution–mediated cardiometabolic disease is derived from outdoor air pollution studies, with there being no good reasons …
The characteristics and neuronal substrate of saccadic eye movement plasticity

Saccadic eye movements are shifts in the direction of gaze that rapidly and accurately aim the fovea at targets of interest. Saccades are so brief that visual feedback cannot guide them to their targets. Therefore, the saccadic motor command must be accurately specified in advance of the movement and continually modified to compensate for growth, injury, and aging, which otherwise would produce dysmetric saccades. When a persistent dysmetria occurs in subjects with muscle weakness or neural damage or is induced in normal primates by the surreptitious jumping of a target forward or backward as a saccade is made to acquire the target, saccadic amplitude changes to reduce the dysmetria. Adaptation of saccadic amplitude or direction occurs gradually and is retained in the dark, thus representing true motor plasticity. Saccadic adaptation is more rapid in humans than in monkeys, usually is incomplete in both species, and is slower and less robust for amplitude increases than decreases. Adaptation appears to be motor rather than sensory. In humans, adaptation of saccades that would seem to require more sensory-motor processing does not transfer to saccades that seem to require less, suggesting the existence of distributed adaptation loci. In monkeys, however, transfer from more simple to more complex saccades is robust, suggesting a common adaptation site. Neurophysiological data from both species indicate that the oculomotor cerebellum is crucial for saccadic adaptation. This review shows that the precise, voluntary behaviors known as saccadic eye movements provide an alternative to simple reflexes for the study of the neuronal basis of motor learning.
An electrophoretic molecular karyotype of a clinical isolate of Aspergillus fumigatus and localization of the MDR-like genes AfuMDR1 and AfuMDR2

The molecular karyotype of a clinical isolate of Aspergillus fumigatus (10AF/86/10) was determined by contour-clamped homogeneous electric field gel electrophoresis. Five chromosomal bands were resolved by this method. The resolved chromosomes ranged in size from 1.7 to 4.8 Mb, and together constituted a total genomic size of at least 15.8 Mb. Southern analysis of the separated chromosomes located the position of two MDR-like genes, AfuMDR1 and AfuMDR2, on chromosomes III and IV, respectively. The methods described herein may enable the application of molecular karyotyping of A. fumigatus in epidemiologic surveillance studies.
Improved charge collection of the buried p-i-n a-Si:H radiation detectors

Charge collection in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) radiation detectors is improved for high LET particle detection by adding thin intrinsic layers to the usual p-i-n structure. This buried p-i-n structure makes it possible to apply higher bias, and the electric field is enhanced. When irradiated by 5.8-MeV alpha particles, the 5.7- mu m-thick buried p-i-n detector with a bias of 300 V gives a signal size of 60000 electrons, compared to about 20000 electrons with the simple p-i-n detectors. It is noted that the capability for tailoring the field by inserting doped layers or a-Si alloys with different bandgaps opens a way to come interesting devices. For example, controlled avalanche multiplication may become possible in the central intrinsic layer when it is sandwiched by heavily doped layers and separated away from the metal surfaces to avoid the microplasma breakdown. >
Two-dimensional adaptive block Kalman filtering of SAR imagery

A method for removing speckle from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery by using 2-D adaptive block Kalman filtering is introduced. The image process is represented by an autoregressive model with a nonsymmetric half-plane (NSHP) region of support. New 2-D Kalman filtering equations are derived which taken into account not only the effect of speckles as multiplicative noise but also the effects of the additive receiver thermal noise and the blur. This method assumes local stationarity within a processing window, whereas the image can be assumed to be globally nonstationary. A recursive identification process using the stochastic Newton approach is also proposed which can be used on-line to estimate the filter parameters based upon the information within each new block of the image. Simulation results on several images are provided to indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method when used to remove the effects of speckle noise as well as those of the additive noise. >
Woody invasion of grasslands: evidence that CO 2 enrichment indirectly promotes establishment of Prosopis glandulosa

Grasslands worldwide have been invaded by woody species during the last 200 years. Atmospheric CO2 enrichment may indirectly have facilitated invasion by reducing soil water depletion by grasses. We used a two-step correlative approach to test this hypothesis with the invasive and native shrub honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa Torr. var. glandulosa). 1) Water content to 0.15 m depth was measured in grassland exposed to a CO2 gradient from 200 to 550 mol/mol to evaluate the prediction that CO2 enrichment lessens soil water depletion by grasses. 2) Soil water content and emergence and survival of mesquite seedlings were measured in adjacent grassland plots from which grass roots were excluded to 0.15 m depth to reduce water depletion or that were irrigated to increase soil water levels. With these measurements, we tested the hypothesis that mesquite establishment is limited by water. Excluding grass roots doubled emergence of mesquite and almost tripled the fraction of emergent seedlings that survived for 12 weeks following the first of two plantings. Seedlings were taller, heavier, and had greater leaf area when grown without grass roots. Root exclusion did not measurably affect soil water during the 3-week period of seedling emergence, but soil water content over the 12 weeks that seedling survival was studied was higher in plots from which grass roots were excluded and following an April than May planting. Survivorship of mesquite seedlings correlated positively with soil water content. Percentage survival of seedlings increased from 1.5% to 15% and 28% at the soil water content measured in grassland exposed to CO 2 concentrations of 270 (preindustrial), 360 (current), and 550 mol/mol (future), respectively. We infer that recent and projected increases in atmospheric CO 2 concentration may be large enough to increase establishment of invading mesquite seedlings in grasslands that are severely water-limited.
Pseudoaneurysm of the Superficial Palmar Arch. A Case Report

Pseudoaneurysms involving the upper extremity are uncommon but, when they do occur, they invariably follow a penetrating injury. Although the palm is a common site of laceration, I am aware of only one case in the literature of a pseudoaneurysm involving the superficial palmar arch following a penetrating injury9. The present report describes the case of an additional patient who had a pseudoaneurysm of the superficial palmar arch. The lesion presented with an episode of massive hemorrhage. A thirty-seven-year-old man, who was unemployed, sustained a puncture wound to the ulnar aspect of the palm of the right, non-dominant hand while cleaning a glass-faced clock. Active arterial bleeding persisted despite direct pressure on the wound, a compressive dressing, and local exploration by the emergency-room physician performed under tourniquet control. The patient was therefore taken to the operating room. The preoperative hematocrit was 0.39. After the induction of general endotracheal anesthesia, the bleeding abated. This was believed to be the result of hypotension secondary to the anesthesia. Local exploration by the on-call surgeon, without operative extension of the wound, did not disrupt the clot sufficiently to stimulate bleeding. Formal exploration and repair was not performed. The wound was irrigated and closed primarily. The patient was seen in the emergency room three weeks later because of a tender mass in the palm. Removal of the sutures resulted in pulsatile arterial bleeding from the wound. The bleeding continued despite direct manual compression on the wound, a compression dressing with elevation of the limb, and a ten-minute cycle of tourniquet control. Manual compression of the ulnar and radial arteries individually at the wrist crease also did not stop the …
A Shift Too Far: The Failure to Recognize Shiftwork Maladaptation Syndrome as an Injury Under Workers' Compensation Law

Shiftwork is a dangerous and unhealthy practice. Shiftworkers are more likely to suffer from a variety of medical ailments such as gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular disorders, weight gain, depression, low birth weight, and spontaneous abortion. Shiftworkers also suffer from greater workplace accidents than their daytime counterparts. Yet, little legal protection exists for employees who work these arduous schedules not because of personal choice but because their employers demand it. This brief article examines the state of the law towards shiftwork maladaptation syndrome in the United States and Canada and its treatment under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Part I of this article explains shiftwork and the current state of shiftwork law today. Part II discusses shiftwork maladaptive syndrome and the syndrome's treatment under American law and Canadian law. Part III presents normative suggestions for further recognition of this widespread disorder.
The Emerging Broadband Television Market in the United States

AbstractThis paper compared the strategic differences between telcos and cable television firms in the United States based on a proposed strategic architecture that depicts the roles of various channel members and the interrelationships between them in the emerging broadband television industry. We found that mergers and acquisitions (M&As) were practiced more frequently than other types of alliances and cable was a more attractive target as well as an active acquirer in M&A alliances. Also, i°relatednessi± appeared to be a more important M&A strategy for the cable firms as the telcos focused on a resource alignment strategy, allying with firms in the information services and software sectors.
Human Neural Stem Cell Transplantation-Mediated Alteration of Microglial/Macrophage Phenotypes after Traumatic Brain Injury:

Neural stem cells (NSCs) promote recovery from brain trauma, but neuronal replacement is unlikely the sole underlying mechanism. We hypothesize that grafted NSCs enhance neural repair at least partially through modulating the host immune response after traumatic brain injury (TBI). C57BL/6 mice were intracerebrally injected with primed human NSCs (hNSCs) or vehicle 24 h after a severe controlled cortical impact injury. Six days after transplantation, brain tissues were collected for Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses. Observations included indicators of microglia/macrophage activation, M1 and M2 phenotypes, axonal injury detected by amyloid precursor protein (APP), lesion size, and the fate of grafted hNSCs. Animals receiving hNSC transplantation did not show significant decreases of brain lesion volumes compared to transplantation procedures with vehicle alone, but did show significantly reduced injury-dependent accumulation of APP. Furthermore, intracerebral transplantation of hNSCs reduced microglial activation as shown by a diminished intensity of Iba1 immunostaining and a transition of microglia/macrophages toward the M2 anti-inflammatory phenotype. The latter was represented by an increase in the brain M2/M1 ratio and increases of M2 microglial proteins. These phenotypic switches were accompanied by the increased expression of anti-inflammatory interleukin-4 receptor α and decreased proinflammatory interferon-γ receptor β. Finally, grafted hNSCs mainly differentiated into neurons and were phagocytized by either M1 or M2 microglia/macrophages. Thus, intracerebral transplantation of primed hNSCs efficiently leads host microglia/macrophages toward an anti-inflammatory phenotype that presumably contributes to stem cell-mediated neuroprotective effects after severe TBI in mice.
A cross-sectional study of carnitine deficiency and fatigue in pediatric cancer patients

Carnitine deficiency has been found in cancer patients and has been associated with fatigue. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of carnitine deficiency in pediatric cancer patients and its relationship with fatigue and other potential contributing factors. Children with cancer or Langerhans cell histiocytosis who were receiving treatment or had completed therapy were eligible. Patients completed the Pediatric Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness-Fatigue, the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Multidimensional Fatigue Scale, a numeric fatigue rating, and had carnitine levels obtained. Carnitine deficiency was defined as a total and/or free carnitine level less than normal for age or an acylcarnitine value higher than normal for age. Data from 142 children aged 8–17 were analyzed. Twenty-eight of 142 (19.7 %) had decreased total and 42.8 % (12/28) had decreased free carnitine levels. No patients had elevated acylcarnitine levels or elevated ratios. Patients with versus without carnitine deficiency differed by age (p = 0.043), treatment (p = 0.037), duration since last chemotherapy (p = 0.020), and body mass index (p = 0.010), but not fatigue, when all data were analyzed together. Yet, a negative relationship between fatigue and carnitine levels was found on a subgroup (off-therapy; fatigue worse than the norm). No significant association between fatigue and carnitine level was demonstrated when data from all patients were analyzed together; however, a significant yet unexpected relationship was found for patients who completed therapy and reported elevated fatigue. Given the small sample size, these results should be interpreted with caution. Future studies to explore impact upon excessive carnitine levels are warranted.
Population and Power: Some Comments on Demographic Changes in Europe

T HE most striking changes in the power relations of contemporary Europe are associated with the continuing increase of population, ample resources, and the industrialization of the Soviet Union in contrast to the aging and relatively stationary population and industrial maturity of western Europe. Against this background this paper examines some of the implications of the effect of the recent war upon the relations of eastern and western European nation states.
Disciplinary convergence and interdisciplinary curricula for students in an information society

AbstractIn this essay, disciplinary ‘convergence’ is offered as a construct that references the blurring of disciplinary walls, academic borders and institutional divisions, a construct that can frame conversations about the role of disciplines in addressing today’s student needs in higher education. Convergence as a construct allows for a consideration of converging academic structures as well as the obligation of scholars and practitioners in higher education to address the needs of contemporary students aiming for life and work in a converging and increasingly mediated world. Ultimately, this work suggests that contemporary problems in an information society can be best addressed with broadly trained experts who can think, imagine and solve problem across traditional academic boundaries.
Studies of malformation syndromes of man XXXXIA: anatomical studies in the Hanhart syndrome--a pathogenetic hypothesis.

Two infants with the Hanhart syndrome, i.e. micrognathia, microglossia, terminal deficiency of all limbs and imperforate anus in one, were dissected and studied in detail. The interrelationships of the muscular and skeletal defects suggested that they were the result of incomplete rather than abnormal morphogenesis. We speculate that the oral and limb abnormalities resulted from deficient mesodermal proliferation caused by disturbances in the ectodermal-mesodermal interactions beginning about the 4th week of development. The imperforate anus may also relate to the proposed defect.
Ecological Studies of Trichogramma retorridum and Emergence of Two Trichogramma Species from the Same Host Egg

Trichogramma retorridum (Girault), an egg parasite of numerous species of Lepidoptera, was collected in abundance from egg samples taken in the Mojave Desert, the Owens Valley, and throughout the Central Valley of California. It was never found in the Imperial, Palo Verde, or Coachella Valleys of southern California, in southwesttern Arizona, or in western Mexico, although hundreds of parasitized eggs of Vanessa cardui (L.), V. carye (Hubner), and Colias eurytheme Boisduval were sampled; T. semifumatum (Perkins) always emerged from the parasitized eggs in these areas. Tests were conducted on the rate of development of T. retorridum at various constant temperatures. Both T. retorridum and T. semifumatum occasionally emerge from the same field-collected V. cardui or V. carye egg. Laboratory tests show that when T. retorridum first parasitizes the host, followed by T. semifumatum, both species can develop in the same egg if the time interval between the first and second parasitization is within about 24 hours. Both species emerged from more eggs when T. semifumatum stung the host within about one-half hour after initial parasitization by T. retorridum. As more time elapsed between first and second parasitization the number of eggs from which both parasites emerged gradually decreased. When host eggs are first parasitized by T. semifumatum, they must also be parasitized by T. retorridum within about 4 hr for both species to develop and emerge from the same host egg. Tests were conducted on the reproduction, sex ratio, and number of T. retorridum emerging from eggs of Heliothis zea (Boddie).
Regulating and paying for hospice and palliative care: Reflections on the medicare hospice benefit

Hospice began as a social movement outside of mainstream medicine with the goal of helping those dying alone and in unbearable pain in health care institutions. The National Hospice Study, undertaken to test whether hospice improved dying cancer patients' quality of life while saving Medicare money, found hospice care achieved comparable outcomes to traditional cancer care and was less costly as long as hospice lengths of stay were not too long. In 1982, before study results were final, Congress created a Medicare hospice benefit under a capitated per diem payment system restricting further treatment. In 1986 the benefit was extended to beneficiaries living in nursing homes. This change resulted in longer average lengths of stay, explosive growth in the number of hospices, particularly of the for-profit variety, and increases in total Medicare expenditures on hospice care. An increasingly high proportion of beneficiaries receive hospice care. However, over 30 percent are served fewer than seven days before they die, while very long stays are also increasingly common. These and other factors raise quality concerns about hospice being disconnected from the rest of the health care system. We offer suggestions regarding how hospice could be better integrated into the broader health care delivery system.
Balancing Authority Area Model and its Application to the Design of Adaptive AGC Systems

In this paper, we develop a reduced-order model for synchronous generator dynamics via selective modal analysis. Then, we use this reduced-order model to formulate a balancing authority (BA) area dynamic model. Next, we use the BA area model to design an adaptive automatic generation control (AGC) scheme, with self-tuning gain, that decreases the amount of regulation needed and potentially reduces the associated costs. In particular, we use the BA area model to derive a relationship between the actual frequency response characteristic (AFRC) of the BA area, the area control error, the system frequency, and the total generation. We make use of this relationship to estimate the AFRC online, and set the frequency bias factor equal to the online estimation. As a result, the AGC system is driven by the exact number of MW needed to restore the system frequency and the real power interchange to the desired values. We demonstrate the proposed ideas with a single machine infinite bus, the 9-bus 3-machine Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), and a 140-bus 48-machine systems.
Wacht am Rhein: the Ossianic fracture of Rhineland space

Discursive coups de force “re-presented” European space by ascribing “reality” (in the common sense of the term) to something “imaginary” (in the common sense of the term). The epics of Ossian inaugurated a new ontopology by locating “the nation” archeologically, by signifying a “people,” rooted from the dawn of history in a place, speaking the “language of the place,” and marking the place culturally. The French departement “brought to light” the new ontopology by locating it spatially, by effacing rival customary names, by “clearing a space” for the peuple as nation . Modern scholarship generally supports the claim that the nation is an eighteenth-century invention. Forgeries, fashion, and militant historiography helped to establish nationhood in the social imaginary. States were enticed or obliged to engage nationhood's (de)legitimating power. They recast themselves as defenders of the nation, and helped assure the authority of the new discourse not only through oratory, but through cultural investment (museums, monuments), compulsory schooling, and military service. Ernest Gellner emphasizes the importance of state-instituted education. The “monopoly of legitimate education,” he argues, was more crucial to nationhood's success than the monopoly of legitimate violence. Benedict Anderson stresses the importance of literary production, as a capitalist industry. “Print capitalism” halted and rolled back linguistic entropy – the tendency of spoken, unwritten languages to divide and diverge infinitely – and thus provided the linguistic conditions for “a new form of imagined community, which in its basic morphology set the stage for the modern nation.”
Activity diagrams - a requirements distribution process for test equipment development

Requirements definition and allocation, i.e., the process of accurately capturing customer needs and distributing them to a development team, presents difficult hurdles for any program to traverse. This is especially true in test equipment design, because new product performance specifications are often fluid. A subtle change in a product's operating characteristics can have a large impact on test equipment design, so it is essential to capture requirements that accurately reflect the product's performance. In addition, this information must be transmitted to the test equipment hardware and software design team members clearly and quickly. Failure in this regard leads to costs overruns from rework, shortcomings in product test, and, very often, late delivery. With this article we show how engineers at Honeywell's Defense & Space Electronic Systems - Clearwater Defense addressed this issue. Using UML tools and six sigma concepts, a process were created that would enable us to accurately and quickly capture product testing requirements and distribute them to team members. The article also demonstrate how our process allowed us to provide: i) A consistent view of the product's testing by all departments. ii) Complete and concise testing requirements capture - including customer buy-in. iii) uniform requirement comprehension by all team members, avoiding multiple interpretations of the same specification. iv) Generation of derived requirements that affected both test equipment hardware and software. v) Allocation of customer supplied, and derived, requirements to the correct functional groups and how deviations affect schedule. vi) Avoidance of information duplication. vii) Baseline control and management.
Optimal Nutrition for the Older Adults

The aim of dietary guidance specifically targeted for older adults is to maintain optimal health and forestall the onset of chronic disease. The actual dietary recommendations, for the most part, are consistent throughout the adult lifecycle. Diet quality can have an important effect on the ability to perform activities of daily life and survival rates. Due to lower levels of physical activity, decreased metabolic rates secondary to increased proportions of fat to lean muscle mass, energy requirements decline with advancing years yet nutrient requirements remain unchanged, or in some cases increase. This situation requires a greater emphasis on choosing nutrient-dense foods within each food category. With advancing years, special attention needs to be given to adapting living environments to retain the ability to acquire and prepare food. Changes in social situations that could impact on food intake should be monitored on a regular basis. Evidence suggests that diet and lifestyle interventions can forestall the onset of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, hypertension, decline in immune function, and possibly some cancers. There are no data to suggest a person is too old to benefit from improvements in diet quality. The definitions of “old age” are changing, and expectations for the period of time individuals can remain active, productive, and live independently are expanding. Efforts towards improving diet quality and levels of physical activity as individuals get older should keep up with this trend.
The Effect of Five Biomass Cropping Systems on Soil-Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Across a Topographic Gradient

Understanding the environmental impact of bioenergy crops is needed to inform bioenergy policy development. We determined the effects of five biomass cropping systems—continuous maize (Zea mays), soybean (Glycine max)-triticale (Triticosecale ×)/soybean-maize, maize-switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), triticale/sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), and triticale-aspen (Populus alba × P. grandidentata)—on soil-saturated hydraulic conductivity (K S ) across a toposequence in central Iowa, USA. We compared data from the time of cropping system establishment in 2009 to 4 years post-establishment. Both our 2009 and 2013 data confirmed that cropping system impacts on K S vary by landscape position. We found that differences in cropping system impacts were more likely to occur at lower landscape positions, specifically, within footslope and floodplain positions. Previous research on cropping system impacts suggested that grass and woody systems were associated with a general increase in K S over time, with greater changes likely occurring at landscape positions with a higher erosive potential or lower SOC content. Our results confirmed that the triticale-aspen woody system was associated with a significant increase in K S across all landscape positions. In contrast, we did not observe an increase in K S under maize-switchgrass, which we attributed to the high density of switchgrass roots by the fourth year of study, but expect an increase in K S under switchgrass under longer measurement periods. We also found a significant increase in K S in the annual systems, likely due to the conversion to no-till soil management with cropping system establishment. We expect such differences to become more apparent over longer time scales as cropping systems continue to impact soil hydraulic properties.
Stock Market Reactions to Incumbent Strategies in the Face of Industry Change

An emerging strand within strategic management explores how incumbents’ responses in the face of discontinuous industry change are evaluated by stock markets, underscoring how these institutional p...