cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pulmonary hypertension in patients without pulmonary arterial hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in clinical practice is most commonly secondary to chronic cardiac or pulmonary disease. PH secondary to left heart disease, Group 2 PH, can result from heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, valvular heart disease, among others. PH secondary to hypoxic pulmonary disease, classified as Group 3 PH, is most often associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, interstitial lung disease, obesity hypoventilation syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea. In this chapter we will discuss the epidemiology, cellular mechanisms, clinical diagnosis and evaluation, management and outcomes of Group 2 and Group 3 PH. Also highlighted are overlap syndromes, that may have characteristics of Group 1, 2 and 3 PH. These syndromes include Systemic Sclerosis, Lymphangioleiomyomatosis, Pulmonary Langerhans Cells Histiocytosis and Sarcoidosis.
Practical Study on the Certification of Informal Learning and Credit Transfer ——Working skills of the informal learning outcomes

Established to work skills mainly of informal learning results certification,and credits accumulated and conversion of standard,formed can for national"credits Bank"credits accumulated and into system reference of,and has must application value of practice research results,can promotion learning who in levels various education institutions of credits mutual recognize and conversion,for learning who provides open flexible of learning support service,built lifelong learning of"Overpass".
Reliability Analysis of Hazard Source System in Coal Mine Risk Pre- control Management

The changes of coal mines hazard source state will probably lead to risk,identifying and analyzing the state changes of hazard source plays important place to control the state changes and cut the causal chain of the coal mine accidents in coal mine safety management. From the aspect of system,this article models the hazard source system of risk precontrol management of coal mines by analyzing hazard source tense system and state. Taking the hazard source system obeying Phase Type distribution as an example,this article employs the system reliability theory to analyze its reliability indices including the instantaneous state probabilities,the reliability,availability,abnormal failure probability,first failure to abnormal and emergency failure. Some numerical examples are introduced to verify the procedures.
Therapeutic principles of antimicrobial therapy and new antimicrobial agents.

SUMMARY It is important that newly developed antibiotics be used so as to increase our ability to eradicate infection, rather than to complicate the treatment of infection by spawning the creation of organisms resistant to multiple antibiotics. One must peruse the literature with a very critical eye, as most new agents are touted as tremendous advances on past antibiotics. With rising medical costs becoming of ever-greater significance, proper choice of antimicrobial agent assumes more importance as well. The proper bacterial coverage in a given clinical setting, duration of treatment, and drug pharmacokinetics and the concept of the “total cost” of administering an antibiotic (taking into account fixed and variable hospital costs) all must be considered. Although it is virtually impossible to become experienced in using all of the currently available antibiotics, it is not necessary, either. Based on the literature and discussion with infectious disease colleagues, one can choose to use one or two antimicrobials in each broad class and gain the benefits of that class for his or her patients.
Circuit and Fault Modeling

This chapter begins with a brief introduction of the vector sequence (VS) notation which will be used in this book as a tool for describing the behavior of high-level components, as well as for representing the faults and test patterns generated at different levels of abstraction. The general high-level circuit and fault modeling techniques are then presented. The chapter concludes with a detailed study of model construction at different abstraction levels for the special case of k-regular circuits. This illustrates the advantages of our approach over conventional modeling techniques.
Is Skull-Base to Proximal Thigh PET/CT Enough? Do We Need Vertex to Toe PET/CT Imaging for Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma (CTCL) Patients?.

Abstract 5020 INTRODUCTION Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging using [F-18] fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) provides metabolic information valuable to staging and restaging lymphoma patients. The Society of Nuclear Medicine recommends skull-base to proximal thigh imaging to survey the body and recommends vertex to toe PET/CT when the tumor may be in the extremities, e.g. melanoma (Delbeke 2006). As CTCL may develop in any region of the body, we aimed to assess the usefulness of vertex to toe PET/CT images in evaluating CTCL patients. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed 79 PET/CT scans from 33 CTCL patients (15 men, 18 women, age range: 7-83, median: 56) who were imaged between 2004 and 2008. All studies were performed on GE Discovery LS 8 slice MDCT PET/CT scanner or GE Discovery DST 16 slice MDCT PET/CT scanner (Milwaukee, WI) and the images were interpreted on a GE AW or Xeleris workstation by four board certified nuclear medicine physicians. RESULTS The length distribution of the 79 scans is detailed in Figure 1. The 79 scans showed an average maximum SUV of 8.6 +/- 5.2 (range: 2.3 – 21.7). Of the 79 scans, 15 scans showed only cutaneous involvement; 25 scans showed lymph node involvement (as defined by radiologic criteria of lymph node > 1.5 cm, and SUV > 2.5); 10 scans showed likely benign, non-specific uptake in the lymph nodes; 8 scans showed hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy (as defined by SUV> 2.5, lymph node measurement <1.5 cm); 4 scans suggested organ involvement; and 18 scans showed no FDG uptake suggestive of malignancy, usually representing post-treatment patients. 71% of patients with elongated scans (17 of 24 patients) had FDG uptake suggestive of malignancy in areas of the body that would not have been imaged following the standard of skull-base to mid-thigh procedure. For 14 of these 17 patients, the elongated scans demonstrated systemic involvement which did not affect disease management, due to widespread uptake. However, in 3 patients, focal cutaneous uptake noted in the upper or lower extremities played a critical role in staging as there was no FDG uptake suggestive of malignancy in the skull-base to mid-thigh region. These results are demonstrated in Figure 2. CONCLUSION 3 patients (13% of patients with at least one elongated scan) had FDG uptake only in the extremities. If these patients had been imaged from skull-base to proximal thigh, no suspicious FDG uptake would have been noted, and treatment plan may have been altered. Further studies prospective PET studies are necessary to determine its role in the staging and management of CTCL. ![Figure 1.][1] Figure 1. Field of Coverage ![Figure 2.][1] Figure 2. Uptake Analysis Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare. [1]: pending:yes
MITOCHONDRIAL DIFFERENTIATION DURING ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of mitochondrial differentiation during animal development. The process of embryonic differentiation is characterized by the appearance of specific proteins in the cells and tissues of the embryo at specific times in development. Some of these proteins are incorporated into structural components and determine the morphological characteristics of cells, tissues, and organs. All mitochondria possess the same basic fine structure and systems of enzymes concerned with oxidative phosphorylation but examination of the mitochondria in various tissues of adult organisms reveals differences in their morphological features, such as size and internal structure, and in their biochemical characteristics, such as content and concentration of enzymes, and other constituents. There is a very close relationship between the amount of membrane and the biochemical activity of the mitochondria in the tissues of the adult organism.
Love Them Both: Pro-life Is Pro-women

Chapter 3 examines the development and use of the women-centered strategy of the pro-life movement, which since the mid-1990s has been used together with the fetus-centered strategy. The chapter analyzes the way in which both discourse and public policy address issues of informed consent, trauma—including Post-Abortion Syndrome—and health concerns, to show the public that abortion harms women. This strategy is often more scientific in nature, using data and research to promote the argument. The legislation that follows focuses on limiting and regulating abortion, a strategy that is more conservative in nature. This approach furthers the tension between the libertarian and conservative factions within the GOP.
Balancing Detail and Completeness in Collisional-Radiative Models

Collisional-radiative models based on highly detailed atomic structure (e.g. fine-structure levels) tend to demonstrate very good agreement with highly resolved experimental data. Such models typically predict X-ray line positions with high accuracy and can faithfully reproduce the intensities of lines from metastable and dielectronic states. Models based on less detailed structure (e.g. configurations) necessarily have lower fidelity at the spectroscopic level. Their key advantage lies in the completeness of their state structure: highly averaged models can capture the population flux through high-n and multiply excited states critical for accurate predictions of charge state distributions. For complex multi-electron ions, highly detailed models with extensive structure become intractable. This Chapter explores the tension between detail, completeness, and tractability in collisional-radiative modeling.
1 × 3 active GaAs/AlGaAs planar waveguide optical switch

A three-channel optical waveguide switch has been designed using carrier-induced refractive index effects. Switching between individual or a combination of channels was achieved by controlling electrical currents injected through two parallel electrodes. A crosstalk of -19 dB between adjacent channels has been measured over a spectral range spanning 40 nm.
Use of Structural Assessment of Knowledge for Outcomes Assessment in the Neuroscience Classroom.

Outcomes assessment of undergraduate neuroscience curricula should assess the ability to think integratively about basic neuroscience concepts based on two of the core competencies established by the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience. The current study investigated whether the structural assessment of knowledge (SAK) approach, which evaluates the organization of an individual’s knowledge structures, is effective for demonstrating learning of basic neuroscience concepts. Students in an introductory psychology course (n = 29), an introductory neuroscience course (n = 19), or an advanced behavioral neuroscience course (n = 15) completed SAK before and after learning gross brain anatomy and neuronal physiology. All students showed improvements in their SAK after short-term dissemination for gross brain anatomy, but not for neuronal physiology, concepts. Therefore, research is needed to determine whether the effectiveness of SAK in outcomes assessment depends on the content or teaching style. Additional research using SAK should also explore effectiveness for learning over longer time frames and correlations with student performance in the course. However, the results suggest SAK is a promising technique for outcomes assessment of undergraduate neuroscience curricula.
Fibrocytes secrete periostin to promote myofibroblast differentiation in lung fibrosis (IRC10P.407)

Fibrocytes are bone-marrow-derived circulating mesenchymal precursors (CD45+, col 1+) that are recruited to fibrotic areas. Fibrocytes secrete a number of profibrotic mediators including periostin; a matricellular protein that regulates cellular interactions with extracellular matrix components (ECM). In bleomycin-induced fibrosis,loss of periostin by either structural or hematopoietic cells can limit the development of pulmonary fibrosis.To test the hypothesis that hematopoietic-derived fibrocytes might secrete soluble factors to signal structural myofibroblast differentiation, wild-type (WT) fibroblasts were treated with conditioned medium from fibrocytes isolated from bleomycin-treated WT or periostin-/- mice. After 48hrs we observed an increase in α-smooth muscle actin expression in cells treated with the conditioned medium from WT fibrocytes. Adoptive transfer of WT fibrocytes augmented lung fibrosis to a greater extent than transfer of fibrocytes from periostin-/- mice. We performed in vitro analyses of lung mesenchymal cells isolated from WT and periostin-/- mice by sorting fibroblasts and fibrocytes then treating with TGFβ1 or periostin. We demonstrate that these treatments increase the expression of X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein and collagen 1 mRNA. Taken together these data suggest that fibrocytes may augment bleomycin-induced fibrosis via secretion of periostin and TGFβ and which then promote the accumulation of apoptotic resistant myofibroblasts.
Excisional Precision Matters: Understanding the Influence of Excisional Volume Loss on Renal Function After Partial Nephrectomy.

Abstract Renal function after partial nephrectomy (PN) may depend on modifiable factors including ischemia time, excision of healthy parenchyma (excisional volume loss, EVL), and reconstructive methods. We retrospectively reviewed our institutional robotic PN database to identify the predictors of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) preservation (GFR-P) at 3–12 mo postoperatively, during which GFR decline plateaus. Baseline clinical, sociodemographic, and radiologic characteristics were captured. Univariate and multivariate (MV) linear regression analyses were performed and marginal effects were employed to examine the relative effect of EVL on renal function. A total of 647 patients who underwent robotic PN had GFR data at a median follow-up of 6 mo. On MV models, EVL was significantly correlated with GFR-P following log transformation ( p =0.001). Each doubling of EVL caused a 1.5% decrease in GFR-P. Ischemia time and tumor complexity were not significantly associated with GFR-P. In summary, GFR-P after PN appears to be significantly associated with the excised volume of benign parenchyma. Patient summary At a high-volume tertiary care center, we investigated the impact of surgical factors on kidney function after kidney cancer surgery. We found that the surgical precision with which the tumor is excised significantly impacts kidney function at 3–12 mo after surgery.
Diabetes Mellitus and Cardiovascular Disease

Diabetes mellitus is a complex, multifactorial disorder that has an overall prevalence of about 8% in the United States. Whereas approximately 90% of people with diabetes have noninsulin-dependent or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the remainder have insulin-dependent or type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). The prevalence of diabetes varies greatly among different ethnic groups. Among Americans older than 20 years of age, the prevalence of diabetes is 8.7% among non-Hispanic whites, 9.5% among Hispanic and Latino Americans, 13.3% among non-Hispanic blacks, and 15.1% among American Indian and Alaskan natives. These wide variations in prevalence are accounted for mainly by T2DM. Although the cause or causes of T2DM are not known, the environment is clearly important. The molecular basis for T1DM is better defined, but the primary cause remains unclear. Despite the etiologic and pathogenic differences between T2DM and T1DM, the chronic sequelae of both forms of diabetes are the same; cardiovascular disease, particularly coronary heart disease (CHD), is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. In fact, CHD causes greater than 75% of deaths among those with diabetes and shortens life expectancy by 10 years [1].
Understanding College Students' Civic Identity Development: A Grounded Theory.

This article presents the results of a study designed to understand the development of college students’ civic identity—that is, an identity encompassing their knowledge, attitudes, values, and actions regarding civic engagement. Grounded theory was used to examine the experiences and attitudes of 19 college seniors who manifested strong civic identities. The resulting developmental model of civic identity includes five “positions” that represent identifiable progressions of civic identity development and mediating “key influences” that promoted or hindered students’ growth between these positions. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.
Translation of combination nanodrugs into nanomedicines: lessons learned and future outlook

The concept of nanomedicine is not new. For instance, some nanocrystals and colloidal drug molecules are marketed that improve pharmacokinetic characteristics of single-agent therapeutics. For the past two decades, the number of research publications on single-agent nanoformulations has grown exponentially. However, formulations advancing to pre-clinical and clinical evaluations that lead to therapeutic products has been limited. Chronic diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS require drug combinations, not single agents, for durable therapeutic responses. Therefore, development and clinical translation of drug combination nanoformulations could play a significant role in improving human health. Successful translation of promising concepts into pre-clinical and clinical studies requires early considerations of the physical compatibility, pharmacological synergy, as well as pharmaceutical characteristics (e.g. stability, scalability and pharmacokinetics). With this approach and robust manufacturing processes in place, some drug-combination nanoparticles have progressed to non-human primate and human studies. In this article, we discuss the rationale and role of drug-combination nanoparticles, the pre-clinical and clinical research progress made to date and the key challenges for successful clinical translation. Finally, we offer insight to accelerate clinical translation through leveraging robust nanoplatform technologies to enable implementation of personalised and precision medicine.
Versal Deformation and Local Bifurcation Analysis of Time-Periodic Nonlinear Systems

In this study a local semi-analytical method of quantitativebifurcation analysis for time-periodic nonlinear systems is presented.In the neighborhood of a local bifurcation point the system equationsare simplified via Lyapunov–Floquet transformation whichtransforms the linear part of the equation into a dynamically equivalenttime-invariant form. Then the time-periodic center manifoldreduction is used to separate the `critical' states and reduce thedimension of the system to a possible minimum. The center manifoldequations can be simplified further via time-dependent normal formtheory. For most codimension one cases these nonlinear normal forms arecompletely time-invariant. Versal deformation of thesetime-invariant normal forms can be found and the bifurcation phenomenoncan be studied in the neighborhood of the critical point. However, ingeneral, it is not a trivial task to find a quantitatively correctversal deformation for time-periodic systems. In order to do so, onemust find a relationship between the bifurcation parameter of theoriginal time-periodic system and the versal deformation parameter ofthe time-invariant normal form. Essentially one needs to find theeigenvalues of the fundamental solution matrix of the time-periodicproblem in terms of the system parameters, which, in general, cannot bedone due to computational difficulties. In this work two ideas areproposed to achieve this goal. The eigenvalues of the fundamentalsolution matrix can be related to the versal deformation parameter bysensitivity analysis and an approximation of any desired order can beobtained. This idea requires a symbolic computational procedure whichcan be very time consuming in some cases. An alternative method issuggested for faster results in which a second or higher order curvefitting technique is used to find the relationship. Once thisrelationship is established, closed form post-bifurcation steady-statesolutions can be obtained for flip, symmetry breaking, transcritical andsecondary Hopf bifurcations. Unlike averaging and perturbation methods,the proposed technique is applicable at any bifurcation point in theparameter space. As physical examples, a simple and a double pendulumsubjected to periodic parametric excitation are considered. A simple twodegrees of freedom model is also studied and the results are comparedwith those obtained from the traditional averaging method. All resultsare verified by numerical integration. It is observed that the proposedtechnique yields results which are very close to the numericalsolutions, unlike the averaging method.
Sequency Filters for Time and Space Signals

Figure 52 shows a circuit for the generation of periodically repeated Walsh functions cal(i, θ) and sal(i, θ). This circuit is based on the multiplication theorem of the functions wal(j, θ) as given by Eq. (1.1.4-3). Open image in new window Fig1 Generator for time variable Walsh functions using products of Rademacher functions. B, binary counter stage; x, multiplier = exclusive OR-gate; z, input for trigger pulses; n, input for reset pulses. Binary counters B 1 to B 4 produce the functions wal(1, 0) = sal (1, 0), wal(3, 0) = sal(2, 0), wal(7,0) = sal(4, 0) and wal(15, 0) = sal(8, 0). The multipliers shown in Fig. 52 produce from these Rademacher functions the complete system of Walsh functions. wal(0, 0) is a constant positive voltage.
First Report of Grapevine Red Blotch Virus in Hybrid Grapes in Missouri

Grapevine red blotch is a relatively new disease of grapevines that was first described on ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ at the Oakville, CA, Research Field Station in 2008. A geminivirus, grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV, genus Grablovirus, family Geminiviridae), has consistently been isolated from symptomatic grapevines (Al Rwahnih et al. 2013), and Koch’s postulates have recently been fulfilled, proving that GRBV is the causal agent of red blotch disease (Yepes et al. 2018). Since its initial characterization, GRBV has been found throughout the United States (Krenz et al. 2014), as well as in germplasm repositories (Al Rwahnih et al. 2015; Thompson et al. 2018). However, the incidence of GRBV in hybrid grapes grown in the U.S. Midwest is not known. In 2016, potted rooted cuttings of a Vitis sp. hybrid ‘Crimson Cabernet’ (Cabernet Sauvignon crossed with ‘Norton’) near Union, MO, displayed typical symptoms of GRBV. Three potted vines were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for GRBV by Agdia Testing Services (Elkhart, IN), and all three tested positive for GRBV. In July 2017, leaf tissue was collected from eight asymptomatic Crimson Cabernet grapevines from a vineyard located near Hermann, MO. Total nucleic acids were isolated from each of the samples, and a DNA segment of 231 bp corresponding to the predicted coat protein region of GRBV was amplified by PCR from two of the eight samples. The PCR primers were CP-Forward (5′-AGCGGAAGCATGATTGAGACATTGACG-3′, nucleotide positions 1,073 to 1,099) and CP-Reverse (5′-AACGTATGTCCACTTGCAGAAGCCGC-3′, nucleotide positions 1,329 to 1,304). In a follow-up visit to the vineyard in August, we detected GRBV in two out of 10 samples with the set of primers for the CP gene and a second set of primers for the replicase gene, as described in Krenz et al. (2014). In a subsequent visit in late October, we observed red blotch symptoms in many of the vines in this vineyard. An additional 10 samples were collected during the late October visit for PCR analysis: eight samples from symptomatic vines and two from asymptomatic vines of the Crimson Cabernet hybrid cultivar. Seven of the eight symptomatic vines were positive, and one of the asymptomatic vines was also positive for GRBV. The entire GRBV genome sequence was determined for one sample (MO-CC7) and compared with other GRBV sequences by a Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST). The genome of MO-CC7 (GenBank accession no. MH732736) has a size of 3,205 nucleotides and is similar to GRBV isolates ONRB4 (GenBank accession no. KY316022.1) and 93-26 (GenBank accession no. KY426922), with sequence identities of 99%. A comprehensive survey has been planned to examine the incidence of GRBV in the commonly grown hybrid grapes in Missouri.
An Extension of the Kashima and Kashima (1998) Linguistic Dataset

This note describes an extension of the Kashima and Kashima (1998) linguistic dataset. The variables in the dataset reflect grammatical rules for pronoun use in a country’s primary language and are commonly employed as instruments for key dimensions of national culture, such as individualism and egalitarianism. This extension adds linguistic data for thirteen countries and increases the number of countries in three commonly used cultural datasets for which linguistic data is available by seven to fifteen percent.
Analytic Wigner distribution function for tunneling and trajectory models

The Wigner function is assembled from analytic wave functions for a one-dimensional closed system (well with infinite barriers). A sudden change in the boundary potentials allows for the investigation of time-dependent effects in an analytically solvable model. A trajectory model is developed to account for tunneling when the barrier is finite. The behavior of the density (the zeroth moment of the Wigner function) after an abrupt change in potential shows net accumulation and depletion over time for a weighting of energy levels characteristic of the supply function in field emission. However, for a closed system, the methods have application to investigations of tunneling and transmission associated with field and photoemission at short time scales.
The Emotive Object in Medieval China

AbstrakPRU ke-13 yang dinanti-nantikan itu telah berakhir dengan keputusan yang tidak dapat memuaskan BN dan PR. Meskipun kedua-dua pakatan yang bertanding dengan sengit itu tidak mampu mencapai harapan mereka, namun PRU 2013 mencatatkan beberapa perkembangan dan perubahan yang penting dalam mempengaruhi percaturan politik Malaysia. Antaranya pola pengundian orang Cina sekali lagi mengundang pelbagai reaksidaripada pemimpin-pemimpin politik Malaysia. Gelagat pengundi-pengundi Cina yang dikatakan cenderung mengamalkan “pendulum swing” didapati tidak berlaku dalam PRU ke-13. Keputusan menunjukkan gelombang perubahan yang terbentuk dalam masyarakat Cina melalui tsunami politik 2008 terus mengekalkan momentum dalam PRU 2013. Penyelidik ini menggunakan kaedah analisis kandungan untuk meneliti data-data PRU. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan orang Cina memang mendahagakan perubahan agar sistem politik dan pentadbiran negara menjadi lebih sempurna. Hasrat mereka ialah merealisasikan sistem dua barisan. PR memanfaatkan keadaan ini dengan menyuntik dan menyemarakkansentimen “ubah” di kalangan pengundi Cina. Analisis ke atas pola pengundian kaum Cina dalam PRU ke-13 memperlihatkan beberapa ciri unik yang menandakan angin perubahan dalam komuniti Cina. Angin perubahan ini mempengaruhi komuniti Cina di seluruh negara. Para pengundi Cina didapati mengundi ikut pakatan politik dan pilihan mereka ialah PR. Penyertaan dan mobilisasi orang Cina dalam PRU 2013 mencatatkan satu kadaryang amat tinggi. AbstractGE-13 is a much anticipated general election but its result brought disappointment to both BN and PR. Although both coalitions are in intense contestation and they failed to achieve the desired result, but the election in 2013 recorded a number of important developments and ramifications that affect the politics in Malaysia. Among the salient development is the voting patterns of the Chinese once again drew various reactions from the political leaders of Malaysia. The voting behaviour of the Chinese voters who normally adopt a “pendulum swing” in their voting pattern did not occur in the 13th general election. The election result showed that the wave of change in Chinese society which precipitated in the 2008 political tsunami continues to maintain its momentum in GE-13. This researcher employs content analysis method to analyze and compare the data of election. The findings of this research paper show the Chinese voters are willing in changing the country’s political and administrative system in order to make it more perfect. Their intention is to consolidate the two coalition system. PR benefited from this situation by injecting and igniting the sentiment of “change” among the Chinese community. An analysis of the voting patterns of the Chinese in the 13th general election shows some unique characteristics that indicate a tectonic change in the Chinese community. The winds of change are affecting the Chinese community across the country. The Chinese appears to vote for party and their choice is PR. Participation and mobilization of the Chinese in the election in 2013 recorded an unusually high degree.
Computational Mining of Social Media to Curb Terrorism

In the ever-connected social networking era, terrorists exploit social media platforms via sophisticated approaches. To curb these activities, a rich collection of computational methods was developed. This article surveys the use of social media by terrorists, followed by a temporal classification framework that overviews computational countermeasures at four major stages, including inception of an attack, immediately before an attack, onset of an attack, and after an attack. The literature surveyed was organized around the four temporal stages. The resulting survey is summarized in a table with the main technology used in each stage based on the time of the attack.
Vacuolar myelinopathy: waterbird risk on a southeastern impoundment co-infested with Hydrilla verticillata and Aetokthonos hydrillicola

Invasive aquatic plants such as hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) are spreading through North America, impeding navigation and hydropower facilities, reducing macrophyte biodiversity, and affecting wildlife health. Managing invasive plants is challenging, especially when the scope of effects to aquatic ecosystems is not fully understood. Hydrilla supports a novel epiphytic cyanobacterium (Aetokthonos hydrillicola) which is implicated in vacuolar myelinopathy (VM) disease. Ingestion of aquatic plants with A. hydrillicola causes often fatal neurological impairment to waterbirds and is transferred from herbivore to predator. We investigated potential VM risk to wildlife species using hydrilla infested sites at a southeastern reservoir and developed a qualitative risk assessment for waterbird species that inhabited the reservoir during fall and early winter. We found that all avian species we observed on the reservoir used hydrilla beds to forage. Seasonal diets of these species exposed them to A. hydrillicola toxin either directly through herbivory, or indirectly through prey with dietary links to hydrilla and the cyanobacteria. Avian and mammalian scavengers are also exposed to the toxin through waterbird carcasses. We present evidence that the current list of species affected by VM is not complete, and further studies are needed to determine the full scope of species vulnerable to VM in lakes and reservoirs with hydrilla and A. hydrillicola.
Source-sink dynamics can maintain mismatched range and bioclimatic limits even at large spatial scales

Bioclimatic models assume that at broad spatial scales, climate is the primary determinant of species distribution. Meanwhile, processes such as source-sink dynamics can be ignored because they are thought to manifest at length scales comparable to species mean dispersal distance. We present a reaction-diffusion model to show species can use sink patches near the bioclimatic (or niche) limit as stepping-stones to occupy sinks much further than the mean dispersal distance, thereby extending the distribution far beyond the bioclimatic envelope. This mismatch between geographical and bioclimatic limits is mediated by the shape of the bioclimatic limit and may be significant for low growth sensitivity and fast dispersal life strategy. These findings challenge one of the core assumptions of the bioclimatic models. Therefore, we advocate that biogeographers consider the role of dispersal when using bioclimatic models to generate inferences about the ecological and evolutionary processes that determine the distribution of biota.
Phentolamine continuous infusion in a pediatric patient with uncontrolled hypertension.

Purpose A case of uncontrolled hypertension nonresponsive to traditional pharmacologic management in a pediatric patient with a ventricular assist device awaiting a heart transplant is reported. Summary A 4-month-old male in heart failure was experiencing uncontrolled hypertension. Because of a lack of hemodynamic stability, he was unable to be listed as a heart transplant candidate. He received multiple antihypertensive agents (calcium channel blockers, β-blockers, and direct-acting vasodilators) as both intermittent and continuous infusions over the course of several days without achieving normotension. The decision was then made to administer intravenous phentolamine as a continuous infusion to pursue a different mechanism than with traditional antihypertensive agents to achieve hemodynamic stability. Within 8 hours of initiation of the continuous phentolamine infusion, the patient became normotensive and was listed for a heart transplant. The continuous phentolamine infusion was administered over the next 4 days to maintain normotension, and on day 4 the patient underwent successful orthotopic heart transplantation. Conclusion A 4-month-old male in heart failure with a ventricular assist device, experiencing uncontrolled hypertension nonresponsive to traditional pharmacologic management, was successfully treated with a continuous intravenous infusion of phentolamine.
Shame in Teaching-Learning: A Humanbecoming Perspective:

In a discussion on the phenomenon of shame, intriguing questions are raised for consideration by teachers of nursing. Raising concerns about the perceived emergence of societal norms that seem to e...
Impact of Structured and Scheduled Family Meetings on Satisfaction in Patients Admitted to Hospitalist Service.

Effective communication is key to patient satisfaction. Family meetings been shown to be effective in other settings such as critical care and palliative medicine. We evaluated the impact of schedu...
Efficient Discovery of Visible Light-Activated Azoarene Photoswitches with Long Half-Lives Using Active Search.

Photoswitches are molecules that undergo a reversible, structural isomerization after exposure to certain wavelengths of light. The dynamic control offered by molecular photoswitches is favorable for materials chemistry, photopharmacology, and catalysis applications. Ideal photoswitches absorb visible light and have long-lived metastable isomers. We used high-throughput virtual screening to predict the absorption maxima (λmax) of the E-isomer and half-life (t1/2) of the Z-isomer. However, computing the photophysical and kinetic stabilities with density functional theory of each entry of a virtual molecular library containing thousands or millions of molecules is prohibitively time-consuming. We applied active search, a machine-learning technique, to intelligently search a chemical search space of 255 991 photoswitches based on 29 known azoarenes and their derivatives. We iteratively trained the active search algorithm on whether a candidate absorbed visible light (λmax > 450 nm). Active search was found to triple the discovery rate compared to random search. Further, we projected 1962 photoswitches to 2D using the Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection algorithm and found that λmax depends on the core, which is tunable by substituents. We then incorporated a second stage of screening to predict the stabilities of the Z-isomers for the top candidates of each core. We identified four ideal photoswitches that concurrently satisfy the following criteria: λmax > 450 nm and t1/2 > 2 h.These candidates had λmax and t1/2 range from 465 to 531 nm and hours to days, respectively.
Data decomposition and load balancing for networked data-parallel processing

The improving speeds of networks and microprocessors, and the recent interest in heterogeneous parallel computing have given rise to a new parallel architecture, the parallel network. Networked parallelism has much in common with the loosely-coupled multicomputer model of computation, but it poses specific challenges that must be addressed before this paradigm can be of practical value. Three issues are central to this computational environment: high internode communication cost, heterogeneous node-performance capabilities, and fluctuating node performance due to multiuser workloads. This research has examined a number of common partitioning methods to determine those that are suitable for this programming environment. New block decomposition algorithms have been developed to accommodate the heterogeneity of the parallel network, and these are capable of offering better performance than previously proposed partitioning methods. The communication costs associated with typical partitioning techniques have been mathematically characterized in a way that permits evaluation of the relative value of various decomposition schemes for specific applications based on their communication patterns and size. A decomposition advisory system is presented that uses these mathematical characterizations, knowledge about the configuration of the network and its processors, and information about the application problem to provide advice regarding the partitioning method expected to yield the best performance.
Sustained generation and survival of antigen-specific CD62Lhigh CD8+ T-cells through in vitro conditioning with interleukin-12: Implications for anti-tumor adoptive immunotherapy.

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 47, 2006 5578 Recent adoptive immunotherapy studies have shown that the anti-tumor effects of in vitro expanded antigen-specific CD62LhighCD8+ effector T cells, followed by antigen vaccination, are superior to that of CD62LlowCD8+ T cells. Thus, maintaining the expression of CD62L in activated CD8+ T cells is desirable for the induction of effective anti-tumor immunity. Several recent studies have focused on factors that can augment proliferation, increase survival, and sustain CD62L expression on effector memory CD8+ T cells. We and others have previously reported on the adjuvant role of IL-12 in different vaccine settings. However, little is known about the impact of this potent adjuvant cytokine on the generation of CD62Lhigh CD8+ effector T cells. In this study, we aimed to test the capability of IL-12 to generate less apoptotic CD8+ T cells with a CD62Lhigh phenotype. To address this hypothesis, we stimulated TCR transgenic (OT-1) CD8+ T cells, which recognize MHC class-I (SIINFEKL) OVA peptide, with peptide-pulsed syngenic spleen cells for 3 days and then CD8+ T cells were washed, enriched, and recultured in fresh medium for another 4 days. IL-12 (10 ng/ml) was added either immediately or after 3 days of priming. Our results clearly show that addition of IL-12 immediately, as a 3rd signal, or 3 days after priming of enriched CD8+ T cells, as a survival factor, skewed the majority of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells to CD62Lhigh phenotype (>90% with IL-12 versus 20% with no IL-12). Importantly, >95% of these cells were able to survive until day 6 post-priming. These effects were unique for IL-12, as treatment with IL-23, which shares IL-12Rβ1, either alone or in combination with IL-17 which is induced by IL-23, had no effect on the proliferation or survival of CD62Lhigh CD8+ . In conclusion, treatment of antigen-primed CD8+ T cells with IL-12 is a potential approach to generate and improve survival of CD62Lhigh population. This finding has important implications for anti-tumor adoptive immunotherapy and subsequent active vaccination.
Interpretation of blood cultures yielding Staphylococcus aureus.

Forty-eight patients with blood cultures positive for Staphylococcus aureus were classified according to clinical criteria in three groups: “definite”, “possible”, and “doubtful” septicemia. Using traditional blood culture sets with two bottles (thioglycollate and tryptic soy broths), we found that patients with “definite” septicemia always showed more than one positive bottle per day if more than one set was drawn, that the mean detection time was 1.7 days, and that 95% of the first positive bottles and 92% of all positive bottles grew within two days of incubation. Patients with “doubtful” septicemia were more often (88%) positive in one bottle only, the mean detection time for all bottles was 3.7 days, and only 35% of the first positive bottles and 33% of all positive bottles yielded growth within two days. “Possible” cases took a position between these two extremes but tended more towards the “doubtful” cases. The implications of these findings for the interpretation of blood cultures with S. aureus are discussed.
Active Heterodyne Spectrometry with an Airborne CO2 Laser System

This paper describes a remote sensing system which is based on active differential absorption measurements in the IR spectral region. As a first step towards a spaceborne system an airborne model equipped with two tunable cw CO2 lasers has been developed and succesfully tried at flight altitudes from 300 m to 1200 m. By extrapolating the measured data one can conclude that the measuring range may well be extended to Spacelab altitudes. The system can be used not only for analysis of atmospheric trace gases but also for petrographic mapping of the uncovered ground by differential reflection spectroscopy in the reststrahlen bands. Fundamental spectroscopic data have been provided by measuring the pressure-dependent absorption cross-sections of relevant molecular gases for a set of discrete laser wavelengths.
Emission Line Nebulae in Clusters of Galaxies

The properties of emission line nebulae in the centers of clusters of galaxies are reviewed. Though the emission line gas (i.e., the gas at 104K) composes only a very small fraction of the mass and energy content of the ICM as a whole, the properties of this gas provide a sensitive probe of the conditions in the ICM. The traditional view holds that the emission line filaments have formed from thermal instabilities which condense out of the hot ICM. Emissionline nebulae are found to be associated only with central dominant galaxies in clusters for which there is x-ray evidence of a cooling accretion flow, consistent with this interpretation. However, detailed studies of the morphology, kinematic properties, line ratios, dust content, and the mass and energy requirements of the 104K gas in cooling flow clusters raises serious questions about both the origin of the filaments and the energy source required to maintain the ionization of the gas. The physical properties of the nebulae are presented, the difficulties posed by the nebulae for the standard cooling flow scenario are discussed, and possible sources for the origin and ionization of the gas are explored. The evidence points to the necessity for either alternate theories for the origin of the optical emission line gas, or for a revised picture of the ICM, which allows for spatial and kinematic nhomogenities in the 107–8K gas.
[Comment on “At least Noah had some warning”] To the Editor:

I greatly appreciated the article on El Chichon by Wendell Duffield in the July 10 issue of Eos. It made an important point about the potential value of indigenous knowledge in regional geoscientific studies.
Neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

Chemotherapy can be a life-prolonging treatment for many cancer patients, but it is often associated with profound nausea and vomiting that is so distressing that patients may delay or decline treatment to avoid these side effects. The discovery of several NK1 receptor antagonists is a big revolution to dealt this problem. NK1 receptor antagonists prevent both acute and delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). These agents act centrally at NK-1 receptors in vomiting centers within the central nervous system to block their activation by substance P released as an unwanted consequence of chemotherapy. By controlling nausea and vomiting, these agents help improve patients' daily living and their ability to complete multiple cycles of chemotherapy. They are effective for both moderately and highly emetogenic chemotherapy regimens. Their use might be associated with increased infection rates; however, additional appraisal of specific data from RCTs is needed.
A parallel SONET scrambler/descrambler architecture

Scrambling of the bits in a synchronous optical network (SONET) frame is needed to keep the frequency content of the transmitted signals near the actual line rate, while descrambling is required on the receive end of a SONET transceiver in order to retrieve the actual bits that comprised the SONET frame. For any SONET line rate above the OC-1 (51.840 Mb/s), this operation is difficult using the conventional bit serial architecture. It is demonstrated how scrambling and descrambling can be performed on an OC-12 SONET frame (622 Mb/s) using word level parallelism. This architecture enables the SONET scramble/descramble operations to be performed on field programmable gate arrays. >
Matisse: A Large-Scale Multi-Agent System for Simulating Traffic Safety Scenarios

In this study, we discuss the high level architecture of MATISSE, a large-scale multi-agent system for simulating traffic safety and congestion scenarios. MATISSE includes three main components: the Agent–Environment System (AES) creates simulation instances where the environment is modeled as a graph, the Data Management System stores and processes the information collected from the AES, and the Visualization Framework provides 2D and 3D virtual representations of simulated entities.
Multi-model approach to petroleum resource appraisal using analytic methodologies for probabilistic systems

The geologic appraisal model that is selected for a petroleum resource assessment depends upon purpose of the assessment, basic geologic assumptions of the area, type of available data, time available before deadlines, available human and financial resources, available computer facilities, and, most importantly, the available quantitative methodology with corresponding computer software and any new quantitative methodology that would have to be developed. Therefore, different resource assessment projects usually require different geologic models. Also, more than one geologic model might be needed in a single project for assessing different regions of the study or for cross-checking resource estimates of the area. Some geologic analyses used in the past for petroleum resource appraisal involved play analysis. The corresponding quantitative methodologies of these analyses usually consisted of Monte Carlo simulation techniques. A probabilistic system of petroleum resource appraisal for play analysis has been designed to meet the following requirements: (1) includes a variety of geologic models, (2) uses an analytic methodology instead of Monte Carlo simulation, (3) possesses the capacity to aggregate estimates from many areas that have been assessed by different geologic models, and (4) runs quickly on a microcomputer. Geologic models consist of four basic types: reservoir engineering, volumetric yield, field size, and direct assessment. Several case histories and present studies by the U.S. Geological Survey are discussed.