cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Influence of the metaboreflex on arterial blood pressure in heart failure patients.

Background Feedback from active locomotor muscles contributes to the exercise pressor response in healthy humans, and is thought to be more prominent in heart failure (HF). The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of metaboreflex stimulation on arterial pressure in HF. Methods Eleven HF patients (51 ± 5 years, New York Heart Association Class I/II, left ventricular ejection fraction 32 ± 3%) and 11 controls (42 ± 3 years) were recruited. Participants completed two exercise sessions on separate days: (1) symptom limited graded exercise test; and (2) constant work rate cycling (60% peak oxygen consumption, V ˙ O 2 ) for 4 minutes with 2 minutes passive recovery. Recovery was randomized to normal or locomotor muscle regional circulatory occlusion (RCO). Mean arterial pressure (MAP), systolic pressure (SBP), diastolic pressure, heart rate (HR) and V ˙ O 2 were measured at rest, end-exercise and recovery. O 2 pulse ( V ˙ O 2 /HR) and the rate pressure product (RPP = HR × SBP) were calculated. Results In response to RCO, mean arterial pressure and SBP increased in HF compared with CTLs (6.8 ± 5.8% vs −3.0 ± 7.8%, P P P = .61). HF patients had a smaller reduction in HR and RPP, but also displayed a larger decrease in O 2 pulse consequent to locomotor metaboreflex stimulation ( P Conclusion RCO resulted in a markedly increased pressor response in HF relative to controls, due primarily to an increase of SBP and attenuated cardiac recovery as noted by the persistent elevation in HR.
PHYSIOLOGY OF THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM, SIGNIFICANT SPECIES DIFFERENCES, MEASUREMENTS OF PULMONARY FUNCTION, NORMAL VALUES AND SIGNIFICANCE OF VARIATIONS FROM NORMAL

The respiratory system of animals can be divided for evaluation into pulmonary system and circulatory system. The pulmonary system is involved in external respiration whereas the circulatory system is involved in internal respiration. External respiration is the exchange of oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) between the environment and circulating blood by way of the lungs and internal respiration is the transport of O2 and CO2 between the lungs and the metabolic machinery of the body cells.
Functional Na+/K+ pump in rat dorsal root ganglia neurons.

Abstract Steady-state Na + /K + pump current (I p ) in isolated adult rat dorsal root ganglia neurons was studied to determine if the plasma membrane Na + /K + pump activity is uniform across the population of dorsal root ganglia neurons. Cells were voltage-clamped at −40 mV and holding current (I h ) was recorded using whole-cell patch-clamp techniques under conditions that stimulate the Na + /K + pump (60 mM intracellular Na + and 5.4 mM extracellular K + ). I p was defined as the 1 mM ouabain-sensitive fraction of I h . Data suggest the existence of three subpopulations of dorsal root ganglia neurons having mean steady-state I p densities of 1.6±0.1, 3.8±0.2 and 7.5±0.4 pA/pF. Neurons with small I p had an average soma perimeter of 95±3 μm, while neurons with medium and large I p density had significantly larger soma sizes (131±8 and 141±7 μm, respectively). Neurons with a large I p density had a significantly lower specific membrane resistance (R m ; mean 4.0±0.3 kΩ·cm 2 ) than neurons with medium or small I p density (19±6 and 31±6 kΩ·cm 2 , respectively). Regardless of these differences, in all groups of neurons I p had a low sensitivity to ouabain (I p half inhibition by ouabain was observed at 80–110 μM). These data suggest that the Na + /K + pump site density and/or its activity is not uniform throughout the dorsal root ganglia neuron population; however, this non-uniformity does not appear to relate to the functional expression of the different α isoforms of the Na + /K + pump. The major functional Na + /K + pump in the dorsal root ganglia neuron plasma membrane appeared to be the low ouabain affinity (α 1 ) isoform.
A Review of the Aharonov-Carmi Thought Experiment Concerning the Inertial and Electromagnetic Vector Potentials

We review and elaborate upon a thought experiment of Aharonov and Carmi concerning the inertial and electromagnetic vector potentials. We discuss several conclusions suggested by this experiment which involve extensions of the equivalence principle, and then emphasize the use of the experiment as a predictive tool.
Thermal Conductivity in Vibrationally Excited Gases

Comparisons between experimental and theoretical values of the thermal conductivity for a series of nonpolar polyatomic gases show large discrepancies at higher temperatures where the vibrational contribution becomes increasingly important. Examination of various theoretical approaches indicates that the discrepancies can be attributed to approximating the coefficient characterizing the diffusion of vibrational energy, D sub vib, by the self-diffusion coefficient. The present theories cannot accurately predict D sub vib, and its measurement is extremely difficult. Consequently, the approach adopted by the author is to obtain D sub vib by using experimental values of the thermal conductivity. An attempt is made to correlate these values of D sub vib with vibrational relaxation time, so that values of D sub vib can be obtained for all nonpolar polyatomic gases.
To Have and To Hold: A Descriptive Study of Custody Status Following Prenatal Exposure to Cocaine † 1370

More than a decade of investigations into the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure has resulted in cautions optimism that the outcomes for infants are not as overwhelmingly negative as first described. Less understood are the factors which explain why some of these children flourish and others flounder. Well-designed research which examines both biological and environmental factors can further this understanding. This paper examines one aspect of environment by describing attributes of biologic mothers and by tracing the path of infant placement throughout the first year of life. Data were collected from women in the rural south enrolled in a prospective, longitudinal study of prenatal cocaine use. Controls (n=154) were matched to users (n=154) on race, SES, parity and prenatal risk. Of the 151 (live) births of exposed children, 43 were in out-of home placement following delivery. By year one, this number had grown to 64. Prenatal interviews indicated that cocaine-using mothers who lost custody had been significantly more depressed, had lower self-esteem, had lower scores on a proxy measure of intelligence(PPVT-R),and were more often incarcerated than users who did not lose custody or non-using controls. These same women reported using significantly more cocaine (p<.004) and alcohol (p<.0001) throughout pregnancy than mothers who did not lose custody; this paralleled their higher infant rate of cocaine-positive toxicology results at birth (54% vs. 33%; p<.001). At 6 months adjusted age, all infants were tested using the Bayley Scales by blinded evaluators. Those being raised in out-of-home placement had significantly lower mean PDI scores (mean=100) than either exposed infants living with their biological mothers (mean=109) or controls (mean=110; p<.005), even after controlling for amount of cocaine and alcohol use. It is not surprising that pregnant women with more risk factors would be at greater risk of infant separation. Lower PPVT scores suggest an added burden of poorer coping and self-representational skills for some women. However, it is surprising that placement into homes anticipated to be more secure and nurturing has not resulted in better developmental outcomes.
Product characteristics and Internet shopping intentions

Estimates of online sales by product categories reveal that certain types of products fare better than others. A few conceptual papers have offered frameworks to assess the compatibility of a product to online marketing and sales. These frameworks that are based on product characteristics could help explain the differences in the asymmetrical success of online retailing. This paper reports the results of an empirical study that investigated differences between Internet shopping intentions for products categorized by cost and tangibility. Analyses of data, collected through a mail survey from over 750 respondents, show that intentions to shop using the Internet differ by tangibility of product. Reasons for this discrepancy are provided through an examination of salient and normative beliefs, along with implications for online merchants.
Pictorial Data Processing Methods in Microscopy

In the last half century, pictorial and graphical materials have become increasingly valuable as research tools and diagnostic aids in biology and medicine. Impetus for automation in handling such materials as chromosome spreads, roentgenograms, electrocardiograms, blood smears, Papanicolau smears, and isotope scans has been especially strong. Although each of these sources has special qualities of its own, there are strong similarities in data acquisition and analysis. It is now generally acknowledged that biology and medicine can benefit from the emerging disciplines of image processing and artificial intelligence.© (1966) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Pythagorean distance and the judged similarity of schematic stimuli

Independent groups of Ss rated the similarity of pairs of patterns belonging to the same class, either bef ore or af ter a discrimination task of schematic concept formation (SCF). Mean similarity increased as a function of SCF pretraining. A linear relationship was found between a Pythagorean distance measure on the patterns and subjective similarity of pairs of stimuli (r=.88). No such relationship was obtained from an analysis of judgments from a group that viewed random, nonschematic stimuli. A secondary analysis of the discrimination judgments in the SCF task showed that the Pythagorean distance measure was predictive of judgments on pairs of stimuli from the same schema family, but the relationship did not hold for pairs representing two different schemata. Multidimensional scaling analyses indicated that mildly deviant schematic stimuli were perceived to be instances of a single family. The dimensions describing a schema cluster appeared to be specific to the sample of stimuli. A tendency for the Kruskal procedures to collapse certain types of stimulus clusters was observed and discussed.
E-cadherin Expression in Ovarian Cancer in the Laying Hen, Gallus Domesticus, compared to Human Ovarian Cancer

Objective Epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) is a leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Until recently, a significant lack of an appropriate animal model has hindered the discovery of early detection markers for ovarian cancer. The aging hen serves as an animal model because it spontaneously develops ovarian adenocarcinomas similar in histological appearance to the human disease. E-cadherin is an adherens protein that is down-regulated in many cancers, but has been shown to be up-regulated in primary human ovarian cancer. Our objective was to evaluate E-cadherin expression in the hen ovary and compare its expression to human ovarian cancer.
A MULTI-FIDELITY STOCHASTIC COLLOCATION METHOD FOR PARABOLIC PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS WITH RANDOM INPUT DATA

Over the last few years there have been dramatic advances in the area of uncertainty quantification. In particular, we have seen a surge of interest in developing efficient, scalable, stable, and convergent computational methods for solving differential equations with random inputs. Stochastic collocation (SC) methods, which inherit both the ease of implementation of sampling methods like Monte Carlo and the robustness of nonsampling ones like stochastic Galerkin to a great deal, have proved extremely useful in dealing with differential equations driven by random inputs. In this work we propose a novel enhancement to stochastic collocation methods using deterministic model reduction techniques. Linear parabolic partial differential equations with random forcing terms are analysed. The input data are assumed to be represented by a finite number of random variables. A rigorous convergence analysis, supported by numerical results, shows that the proposed technique is not only reliable and robust but also efficient.
Termination of Prolactin Surges with Development of Placental Lactogen Secretion in the Pregnant Rat

It has been hypothesized that it is rat placental lactogen (rPL) which causes PRL surges to terminate at midpregnancy. Using a hormonally induced model of delayed implantation, the temporal relationship between the secretion of rPL and the nocturnal PRL surges was followed. Implantation was prevented by removing the ovaries, the source of estrogen, on day 3 of pregnancy. Blastocysts were maintained free-floating in the uterine lumen by sc injection of 4 mg progesterone in oil daily for 0, 5, 7, or 9 days. Implantation was induced and the subsequent pregnancy was maintained with 1 μg estrone plus 4 mg progesterone daily. Nocturnal PRL surges (0500 h) were followed for 10 days after the first estrone injection. Control animals last exhibited PRL surges on day 10. Animals with 5, 7, or 9 days of implantation delay had their last PRL surge on days 15, 17, and 18, respectively. Levels of rPL in control animals, as measured by Nb2 lymphoma cell bioassay, were low on day 6, slightly higher on day 10, and signifi...
Cliff erosion and bluff retreat along the California coast

While the cliffs and bluffs making up the California coastline may appear at first glance to provide a resistant barrier against the Pacific Ocean, nothing could be further from the truth. Eighteen thousand years ago the coastline of the state was as much as 45 km offshore to the west. With the melting of the icecaps and glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, and the warming and thermal expansion of the world oceans, /spl sim/43,000,000 km/sup 3/ of seawater was released which raised sea level about 120 meters globally. As a result, the coastline of California migrated east and continues to do so but at a reduced rate as sea level rise has slowed over the past /spl sim/3000 years. The coastline has been advancing and retreating for as long as a landmass recognizable as California has existed and sea level has fluctuated. The shoreline of today is, therefore, only a single point on a constantly changing curve. Seventy-two percent of California's 1760 km coastline consists either of high steep cliffs or lower bluffs eroded into nearly horizontal marine terraces. Four processes and factors interact to produce sea cliff retreat. Two of these are very large in scale and provide the overall regional framework for coastal evolution: sea level change and tectonic activity. The other two, the inherent properties of the cliffs or bluffs (rock strength, structural weaknesses, presence of groundwater, for example) and the external forces (wave energy, tidal range, degree of protection offered by a beach, climate, and frequency and magnitude of severe storm events) are the most influential local factors. While the entire coastline of the state is eroding, the weaker sedimentary rocks typically erode at average rates of 10 to 30 cm/year, whereas the harder igneous and metamorphic rocks, which often make up the resistant headlands and steep mountainous areas, erode at slower rates. The wide, flat, uplifted marine terraces, which are characteristic of much of California's coast and have usually been eroded into sedimentary rock, are easily developed and have been the sites where many of California's coastal communities have evolved. The low cliffs and bluffs fronting these terraces, however, are often easily eroded and coastal land loss in these areas has become a statewide concern. Cliff erosion hot spots are well recognized and public and private property damage during the last twenty-five years dominated by El Nino conditions has been high. Historical approaches to dealing with the ongoing erosion of the state's cliffs and bluffs have focused historically on seawalls and revetments, but concerns with the long-term effectiveness and impacts of these structures have begun to restrict additional armor emplacement.
Phytoplankton distribution along the eastern coast of the USA. Part II. Seasonal assemblages North of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

The phytoplankton in waters off the eastern coast of the United States between Nova Scotia and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, consists mainly of diatoms, coccolithophores, and pyrrhophyceans, which reflect seasonal changes in composition. North of Cape Hatteras are typically temperate and boreal phytoplankton, with the warm-water species more common south of this area. The Gulf Stream, with its movements and eddy formation, provides entry of tropical and subtropical species into waters north of Cape Hatteras. A large concentration of Melosira distans and M. islandica was found at numerous neritic stations.
Premixed flame propagation in combustible particle cloud mixtures

The structures of premixed flames propagating in combustible systems, containing uniformly distributed volatile fuel particles, in an oxidizing gas mixtures is analyzed. The experimental results show that steady flame propagation occurs even if the initial equivalence ratio of the combustible mixture based on the gaseous fuel available in the particles, phi(u) is substantially larger than unity. A model is developed to explain these experimental observations. In the model it is presumed that the fuel particles vaporize first to yield a gaseous fuel of known chemical composition which then reacts with oxygen in a one-step overall process. It is shown that the interplay of vaporization kinetics and oxidation process, can result in steady flame propagation in combustible mixtures where the value of phi(u) is substantially larger than unity. This prediction is in agreement with experimental observations.
Sedimentary response to orogenic exhumation in the northern Rocky Mountain Basin and Range province, Flint Creek basin, west-central Montana

Middle Eocene through Upper Miocene sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Flint Creek basin in western Montana accumulated during a period of significant paleoclimatic change and extension across the northern Rocky Mountain Basin and Range province. Gravity modelling, borehole data, and geologic mapping from the Flint Creek basin indicate that subsidence was focused along an extensionally reactivated Sevier thrust fault, which accommodated up to 800 m of basin fill while relaying stress between the dextral transtensional Lewis and Clark lineament to the north and the Anaconda core complex to the south. Northwesterly paleocurrent indicators, foliated metamorphic lithics, 64 Ma (40Ar/39Ar) muscovite grains, and 76 Ma (U–Pb) zircons in a ca. 27 Ma arkosic sandstone are consistent with Oligocene exhumation and erosion of the Anaconda core complex. The core complex and volcanic and magmatic rocks in its hangingwall created an important drainage divide during the Paleogene shedding detritus to the NNW and ESE. ...
Practice Summaries: An Optimization Model to Support Renewable Energy Investment Decisions

A majority of states in the United States have instituted renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which require electric service providers to meet a portion of their demand using renewable energy resources. These requirements, along with state and federal incentives, are the main drivers for the construction of utility-scale renewable energy plants in the United States. In order to help understand the implications of the state RPS system for future renewable energy investments, we developed an analytical tool that General Electric Company uses to better price its renewable energy deals and forecast market demand for its renewable energy products.
The Cackle of Communities and the Managed Muteness of Market

Researchers at EPIC face something of a trap. Situated in an ethos of twenty first century consumer capitalism, our professional duties overemphasise individual consumers, and the products of our research always diverge towards our respective corporations' interests. As a result we have little basis for collective enterprise as a discipline. However, if we remember that human beings are always part of naturally occurring social systems (communities, work organizations, etc.) we might find we have more to say, both to our corporations and among ourselves. When we shift our perspective this way we find our work is as much about catalyzing human social systems as it is about understanding “the consumer.” This paper uses three examples from my own experience at Intel to explain, and highlights some implications of this shift: we must adopt multiple levels of analysis, attend to the fact that structures emerge from human interaction, and account for divergent interests, needs and abilities as these networks form.
Determination of picogram amounts of ATP using the luciferin-luciferase enzyme system.

Abstract An ultramicro technique for the measurement of ATP based on the firefly luminescent reaction has been presented. The system consists of a photomultiplier tube mounted next to a geometrically designed mirror assembly, which concentrates the luminescence onto the light-sensitive area of the tube. The photomultiplier tube relays the light signal to a photometer, and this in turn to an appropriate chart recorder. An electronically timed injection system has been designed to introduce the luciferin-luciferase extract into the test solution. Incubation of firefly enzyme with an ATPase markedly diminishes residual ATP, which must be eliminated before amounts of ATP below the 1 ng level can be determined. With this procedure it is possible to measure ATP throughout the range of 10 pg to 10 μg with less than ±7% variability in the quantitative luminescent recordings.
Transcript analysis of TR DNA in octopine-type crown gall tumors

The sizes and map positions of five polyadenylated transcripts from the TR region of the octopine-type tobacco crown gall tumor E9 have been determined by Northern blot and S1 nuclease analyses. These RNAs range in size from 780 to 1,600 bases, and their relative abundancies vary according to the growth conditions of the tumor cultures. Different relative abundancies of these transcripts have also been detected in the tobacco tumor line 15955/1 and the sunflower tumor lines 15W, S4-2, and S4-4. The possible functions of several of these TR T-DNA genes are discussed.
Comparison of modeling methods for Loss Given Default

Abstract We compare six modeling methods for Loss Given Default (LGD). We find that non-parametric methods (regression tree and neural network) perform better than parametric methods both in and out of sample when over-fitting is properly controlled. Among the parametric methods, fractional response regression has a slight edge over OLS regression. Performance of the transformation methods (inverse Gaussian and beta transformation) is very sensitive to e , a small adjustment made to LGDs of 0 or 1 prior to transformation. Model fit is poor when e is too small or too large, although the fitted LGDs have strong bi-modal distribution with very small e . Therefore, models that produce strong bi-model pattern do not necessarily have good model fit and accurate LGD predictions. Even with an optimal e , the performance of the transformation methods can only match that of the OLS.
Inverse Raman Spectroscopy of Bilirubin and its Ditauride

The inverse Raman spectrum of bilirubin and bilirubin ditauride were measured under pre-resonant conditions. Spectra in chloroform and dimethyl sulfoxide were assigned by comparison with model compounds and on the basis of the known effects of the solvents on the internal hydrogen bonding in bilirubin. The band assignments were used to interpret the spectra of bilirubin ditauride in aqueous solution. Evidence is presented for strong hydrogen bonding to the pyrrole NH bonds and to the lactam rings. It is proposed that hydrogen bonding to water is facilitated by photoactivation and, in turn, stabilizes photohiliruhin.
Drinking levels, alcohol problems and secondhand effects in substance-free college residences: results of a national study.

Objective: This study examines alcohol use, associated problems and secondhand effects among residents of substance-free and alcohol-free housing on U.S. college campuses. Method: In the spring of 1999, a nationally representative sample of students completed survey questionnaires regarding alcohol use and related behaviors. The responses of 2,555 (61.25% female) students living in different types of residences (substance-free, alcohol-free and unrestricted) at the 52 campuses at which these housing options existed were compared. Results: Substance-free residences were not substance-free; however, residents drank less heavily and experienced fewer alcohol-related problems and secondhand effects than students living in unrestricted housing. They were less likely (three fifths) to engage in heavy episodic drinking. The difference between students in substance-free and unrestricted housing was greatest for students who had not been heavy episodic drinkers in high school and for those on campuses with lower o...
Mesh insensitive formulation for initiation and growth of shear bands using mixed finite elements

An Implicit Nonlinearly Consistent (INC) numerical solution of a partial differential equation (PDE) model for shear bands, which includes a thermo-visco-plastic flow rule and finite thermal conductivity, is presented, and is found to be insensitive to mesh size. Insensitivity is achieved through the use of finite thermal conductivity in the PDE model in conjunction with the INC numerical solver. Finite thermal conductivity gives rise to an inherent physical length scale in the PDE model, governed by competition between shear heating and diffusion. This length scale serves as a localization limiter and will regularize the problem in the strain softening regime. This occurs since diffusion removes heat from the shearband more quickly as localization becomes more severe (i.e. as temperature gradients steepen). The INC solver leaves no splitting error at the end of a time step and is accurate even during phases for which the solution is evolving very rapidly. A key point in this paper is the analytical derivation of the system Jacobian by differentiation of the weak form of the PDE model, thus avoiding the use of numerical approximation formulas. In contrast, solution of the same continuous model using an operator split solution scheme is seen to lead to unreasonably slow convergence. One and two dimensional implementations of the algorithm are presented. For two dimensions, a mixed quadrilateral using discontinuous bilinear functions for plastic strain, and the interpolants associated with the Pian-Sumihara element for the stress is implemented.
Sexually distinct development of vocal pathways in Xenopus laevis

Deterministic rules, rather than experience, are thought to regulate the development of simple behaviors in vertebrates and invertebrates. We revisited this issue through examination of the sexually distinct vocalizations of African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis), a reproductive behavior used by sexually mature males and females. We discovered that, as expected for simple behavior, female vocalizations develop through deterministic rules. The rare calls of juvenile females are indistinguishable from those of adult females. The vocal pathways of juvenile females, as measured by the contractile properties of the laryngeal muscles (the vocal muscles) and the laryngeal motoneuron somata (vocal motoneurons) size, are the developmental default and do not differentiate as they mature. Male Xenopus, in contrast, produce extensive vocalizations with rudimentary acoustic structure before reaching sexual maturity. Moreover, the functional properties of the vocal central pattern generator mature before muscle fibers and motoneuron size are fully masculinized. The results suggest that neuronal activity during development may be important in organizing the contractile properties of the muscle fibers in male, but not in female Xenopus.
Grassroots Garveyism: The Universal Negro Improvement Association in the Rural South, 1920–1927 – By Mary G. Rolinson

The focal point of this book accentuates Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), its supporters in the rural southern United States, and the intensification of Garveyism and...
Optical rotatory dispersion of mononucleosides and 5′‐mononucleotides

Optical rotatory dispersions between 200 and 600 mμ are presented for mononucleosides and 5′-mononucleotides in neutral, acid, and in some cases alkaline solutions. All display a single Cotton effect in the ultraviolet region (above 220–240 mμ); the purine ones are negative in sign and the pyrimidine ones positive, with the crossovers (zero rotations) in most cases close to the wavelengths of their respective absorption maxima. The visible rotatory dispersions obey the one-term Drude equation, except for TMP and UMP, which show anomalous dispersions. The rotational strengths of the dichroic bands were estimated from the Cotton effect profiles; cytosine mononucleotides and mononucleotides show the strongest rotational strengths among the compounds studied.
Self-reported low physical function is associated with diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance in HIV-positive and HIV-negative men

Aim: To investigate the association between self-reported physical function (as a surrogate for physical activity) and diabetes mellitus (DM) and insulin resistance (IR) among HIV-positive and -negative men. Method: A total of 384 HIV-negative and 274 HIV-positive men from the Pitt Men’s Study contributed data. DM was defined by fasting serum glucose levels. IR was calculated using the homeostasis model assessment. The Physical Functioning 10 Scale from the Short Form-36 Health Survey measured physical function. Multivariate logistic regression assessed the independent association between physical function and DM and IR. Results: Physical function, older age and Black race were associated with DM in multivariate analyses. Physical function/HIV interaction, older age, higher body mass index, HIV infection and Black race were associated with IR in multivariate analyses. Conclusion: Self-reported low physical function is associated with DM and IR in HIV-negative and -positive men.
The Miscible Calcium Pool in Metabolic Bone Disease—in Particular, Acromegaly

The miscible calcium pool and the 24-hr plasma specific activity were studied by means of a sustained intravenous infusion of calcium45 in 51 patients, some of whom had various metabolic bone diseases. In normal subjects, the estimated rapidly miscible pool was 34.1 ±1.7 mg/kg body weight, and the 24-hr plasma activity was 19.5 ±3.5% total dose/g calcium. Patients with Paget's disease of the bone and patients with primary hyperparathyroidism had increased miscible calcium pool and decreased 24-hr plasma specific activity values. In patients with hypoparathyroidism and in patients with Cushing's syndrome, the reverse changes were found. Patients with osteomalacia secondary to renal disease had markedly increased miscible calcium pools, while patients with osteoporosis,urolithiasis, sarcoidosis, milk-alkali syndrome or vitamin D intoxication revealed varying values partially overlapping the normal range. The increased miscible calcium pool and decreased 24-hr plasma specific activity found in active acromeg...
Democracy and Higher Education: The Nature of the Relationship.

This study examines the pedagogical conditions that contribute to political learning in American National Government courses, using data from classes taught at universities and colleges in Utah. The purpose of this research is to assess the relative effect of course content, classroom climate, textbook, institutional ranking and class size on political knowledge, efficacy, trust, and interest. A sample of 31 courses was selected for analysis. The methodology consists of classroom visits, content analyses of syllabi, textbooks, examinations and other teaching materials, administration and analysis of a 25 + item pretest/posttest, an examination of a sample of student course evaluations, and aggregate data analysis. Findings support the significance of course content on political knowledge. The weak influence of classroom climate challenges the study's hypothesis regarding the benefits of an “open” class environment. The insignificance of textbooks is explained in part by the fact that instructors use books...
Synthesis and solution rheology of adenine-containing polyelectrolytes for electrospinning

Abstract Conventional free radical copolymerization of 9-vinylbenzyladenine (VBA) and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) with subsequent protonation afforded the synthesis of adenine-containing polyelectrolytes. All adenine-containing polyelectrolytes exhibited classical polyelectrolyte solution rheological behavior with scaling factors near 0.6 and 1.6 in the semidilute unentangled and semidilute entangled regimes, respectively. However, the adenine-containing polyelectrolytes deviated from polyelectrolyte behavior in the concentrated regime with increasing scaling factors as adenine-incorporation increased due to intermolecular association. The electrospinning behavior exhibited a strong dependence on adenine incorporation. Higher adenine-incorporation decreased the normalized concentration for fiber formation from 4.5C e for PDMAEMA•HCl to 2.9C e for 35 mol% VBA. The required zero-shear viscosities for electrospinning were 312 cP for PDMAEMA•HCl and 116 cP for the 35 mol% VBA copolymer. Increasing the adenine concentration also increased the fiber diameters presumably due to adenine–adenine interactions. These adenine-decorated electrospun mats exhibit potential in a variety of applications including filtration, purification, and tissue scaffolding.
Efficient Dielectrophoretic Patterning of Embryonic Stem Cells in Energy Landscapes Defined by Hydrogel Geometries

In this study, we have developed an integrated microfluidic platform for actively patterning mammalian cells, where poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels play two important roles as a non-fouling layer and a dielectric structure. The developed system has an embedded array of PEG microwells fabricated on a planar indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode. Due to its dielectric properties, the PEG microwells define electrical energy landscapes, effectively forming positive dielectrophoresis (DEP) traps in a low-conductivity environment. Distribution of DEP forces on a model cell was first estimated by computationally solving quasi-electrostatic Maxwell’s equations, followed by an experimental demonstration of cell and particle patterning without an external flow. Furthermore, efficient patterning of mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells was successfully achieved in combination with an external flow. With a seeding density of 107 cells/mL and a flow rate of 3 μL/min, trapping of cells in the microwells was completed in tens of seconds after initiation of the DEP operation. Captured cells subsequently formed viable and homogeneous monolayer patterns. This simple approach could provide an efficient strategy for fabricating various cell microarrays for applications such as cell-based biosensors, drug discovery, and cell microenvironment studies.
Operating System Transactions

Applications must be able to synchronize accesses to operating system resources in order to ensure correctness in the face of concurrency and system failures. System transactions allow the programmer to specify updates to heterogeneous system resources with the OS guaranteeing atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability (ACID). System transactions efficiently and cleanly solve persistent concurrency problems that are difficult to address with other techniques. For example, system transactions eliminate security vulnerabilities in the file system that are caused by time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTTOU) race conditions. System transactions enable an unsuccessful software installation to roll back without disturbing concurrent, independent updates to the file system.This paper describes TxOS, a variant of Linux 2.6.22 that implements system transactions. TxOS uses new implementation techniques to provide fast, serializable transactions with strong isolation and fairness between system transactions and non-transactional activity. The prototype demonstrates that a mature OS running on commodity hardware can provide system transactions at a reasonable performance cost. For instance, a transactional installation of OpenSSH incurs only 10% overhead, and a non-transactional compilation of Linux incurs negligible overhead on TxOS. By making transactions a central OS abstraction, TxOS enables new transactional services. For example, one developer prototyped a transactional ext3 file system in less than one month.
The Power of One: Dissent and Organizational Life

Over the last 20 years, organizations have attempted numerous innovations to create more openness and to increase ethical practice. However, adult students in business classes report that managers are generally bureaucratically oriented and averse to constructive criticism or principled dissent. When organizations oppose dissent, they suffer the consequences of mistakes that could be prevented and they create an unethical and toxic environment for individual employees. By distinguishing principled dissent from other forms of criticism and opposition, managers and leaders can perceive the dissenter as an important organizational voice and a valued employee. The dissenter, like the whistleblower, is often highly ethically motivated and desires to contribute to the organization’s wellbeing. Recognizing and protecting principled dissent provides the means of transforming organizations. By restoring dignity to the individual, organizations gain more productive and loyal employees, and they create an environment that promotes critical thinking, learning, and a commitment to ethics.
Presenting Exogenous Antigen to T Cells

Antigen processing and presentation experiments can be done with a wide variety of antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Most experiments will use one of the "professional" APC types: dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages, and B lymphocytes. Other types of cells may be used for antigen presentation in some circumstances. Each type of professional APC has an important antigen-presentation function, but the different APC types contribute to different aspects of the immune response. Therefore, selection of an APC type for study must include consideration of the stage or aspect of immune response that is to be modeled in the experiment. An important technical distinction for some types of experiments is whether the APCs are adherent or nonadherent, since this dictates the procedures that must be used to wash the cells as the medium is changed.
An Examination of the Usefulness of Repeat Testing Practices in a Large Hospital Clinical Chemistry Laboratory

A long-standing practice in clinical laboratories has been to automatically repeat laboratory tests when values trigger automated "repeat rules" in the laboratory information system such as a critical test result. We examined 25,553 repeated laboratory values for 30 common chemistry tests from December 1, 2010, to February 28, 2011, to determine whether this practice is necessary and whether it may be possible to reduce repeat testing to improve efficiency and turnaround time for reporting critical values. An "error" was defined to occur when the difference between the initial and verified values exceeded the College of American Pathologists/Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments allowable error limit. The initial values from 2.6% of all repeated tests (668) were errors. Of these 668 errors, only 102 occurred for values within the analytic measurement range. Median delays in reporting critical values owing to repeated testing ranged from 5 (blood gases) to 17 (glucose) minutes.
The expression of Argonaute2 and related microRNA biogenesis proteins in normal and hypoxic trophoblasts

Endogenous microRNAs (miRNAs) post-transcriptionally regulate mRNA and protein expression during tissue development and function. Whereas adaptation to environmental insults are tightly regulated in human tissues, the role of miRNAs and miRNA biogenesis proteins in this context is inadequately explored. We sought to analyse the expression of the key RNAi enzyme Argonaute2 (Ago2) and other miRNA biogenesis proteins in human trophoblasts during differentiation and in hypoxic environment. Using an in vitro analysis of primary term human trophoblasts, we identified the expression of the core miRNA biogenesis proteins in human villous trophoblasts, with expression levels unaffected by cellular differentiation. We found that the miRNA biosynthetic pathway was functional and produced miRNAs, with miR-93 up-regulated and miR-424 down-regulated in hypoxic environment. In contrast, hypoxia did not alter the expression of key miRNA machinery proteins. The pivotal miRNA processing enzyme Ago2, along with its interacting protein DP103, were expressed in normal placentas as well as in placentas from pregnancies complicated by placental hypoperfusion that resulted in fetal growth restriction. Ago2 and DP103 co-immunoprecipitated, and did not limit trophoblast response to hypoxic stress. We concluded that the core miRNA machinery proteins are expressed and functional in human trophoblasts. The influence of hypoxia on the expression of a subset of placental miRNA species is unlikely to reflect altered expression of key miRNA biogenesis proteins.
The central Alaska earthquake swarm of October 1947

The earthquake swarm of October 1947 is discussed. Investigation of the activity is described. Intensities in the epicentral region are estimated and an epicenter at Lat. 64° .2N, Long. 149°.0W is assigned. The assigned epicenter of the 1937 swarm is investigated and found to be essentially correct. Photographs of earthquake activity are included along with an isoseismal map and a plot of epicenters.
Selected Diagnostically Challenging Pediatric Soft Tissue Tumors

Many benign and malignant soft tissue tumors in children are challenging and their diagnosis requires knowledge of their vast diversity, histopathological complexity, and immunohistochemical, cytogenetic, and molecular characteristics. The importance of clinical and imaging features cannot be overstated. Soft tissue sarcomas account for 15% of all pediatric malignancies after leukemia/lymphoma, central nervous system tumors, neuroblastoma and Wilms tumor. This article discusses selected challenging pediatric soft tissue tumors with an update on recently described entities.
Efficacy of preoperative neck ultrasound in the detection of cervical lymph node metastasis from thyroid cancer.

Objectives/Hypothesis: This study was performed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of surgeon-performed preoperative neck ultrasound (US) in the detection of both central and lateral cervical lymph node metastases from thyroid cancer. Study Design: Prospective cohort study. Methods: Data for all patients with thyroid cancers and follicular thyroid lesions who were evaluated by means of preoperative neck US were reviewed. The cervical lymph nodes were assessed for suspicion of metastasis based on US characteristics. The diagnostic accuracy of US was determined according to whether histologically confirmed cancer was present in surgical cervical lymph node specimens. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of US in predicting papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) metastasis in the central neck were 30.0% and 86.8%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of US in predicting metastasis in the lateral neck were 93.8% and 80.0%, respectively. A subset of patients underwent US followed by revision neck dissection for PTC, and the sensitivity and specificity of US in predicting metastasis in the lateral neck were 100% and 100%, respectively. Conclusions: Preoperative neck US is a valuable tool in assessing patients with thyroid cancers. The highly sensitive and specific nature of US in predicting cervical lymph node metastasis in the lateral neck, especially in the setting of recurrent disease, can provide reliable information to assist in surgical management. Although US for central compartment lymphadenopathy in the presence of the thyroid gland is less sensitive and specific than US for the lateral neck, it still provides useful information that can be obtained at the same time the primary thyroid pathology is assessed.
Hemoglobin Concentration and Cerebral Metabolism in Patients With Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose— The optimal hemoglobin (Hgb) target after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage is not precisely known. We sought to examine the threshold of Hgb concentration associated with an increased risk of cerebral metabolic dysfunction in patients with poor-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage. Methods— Twenty consecutive patients with poor-grade subarachnoid hemorrhage who underwent multimodality neuromonitoring (intracranial pressure, brain tissue oxygen tension, cerebral microdialysis) were studied prospectively. Brain tissue oxygen tension and extracellular lactate/pyruvate ratio were used as markers of cerebral metabolic dysfunction and the relationship between Hgb concentrations and the incidence of brain hypoxia (defined by a brain tissue oxygen tension 40) was analyzed. Results— Compared with higher Hgb concentrations, a Hgb concentration <9 g/dL was associated with lower brain tissue oxygen tension (27.2 [interquar...
A Deep 2MASS Survey of the Lockman Hole

We have carried out a survey of the Lockman Hole covering over 24 deg2 using the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) observing system in a special mode that reaches roughly 1 mag deeper than the nominal 2MASS survey. The resultant point-source catalog reaches to approximately (J, H, Ks) < (17.8, 16.5, 16.0) mag with completeness and reliability in excess of 90%–95% at the faintest levels. These data will be useful in identifying sources in SIRTF surveys of this area. We have cataloged 69,115 objects, almost twice as many as in the nominal 2MASS survey of this region. The sample includes a large number of potential new active galaxies, as well as a T dwarf candidate.
The Other Side of the Trade-Off: The Impact of Risk on Executive Compensation: A Revised Comment

In contrast to a body of research starting with Demsetz and Lehn (1985) that predict and find a strong positive association between firm percent return variance and incentives, Aggarwal and Samwick (1999) predict and find a strong negative association between firm dollar return variance and incentives. A key assumption of Aggarwal and Samwick's analysis is that firm risk is the sole determinant of the pay-performance sensitivity, and that expected dollar return variance (the product of expected percent return variance and firm market value) is the correct proxy for risk. We demonstrate that dollar return variance is a noisy measure of firm market value and argue that A&S re-documents a size effect that is already well-known from prior literature. Because dollar return variance is shown to be a noisy proxy for firm size, the A&S empirical specification does not include an appropriate proxy for firm risk. The data consistently show that it is important to examine market value and percent return variance as separate determinants of the effects of size and risk on CEO incentives, as is done in the managerial ownership literature. In a model of CEO incentives that includes market value and risk as separate explanatory variables, we find that, contrary to the results in A&S, percent return variance is positively associated with incentives. The A&S empirical work cannot be interpreted as evidence of a negative relation between risk and incentives.