cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Text Messaging Interventions on Cancer Screening Rates: A Systematic Review

Background: Despite high-quality evidence demonstrating that screening reduces mortality from breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers, a substantial portion of the population remains inadequately screened. There is a critical need to identify interventions that increase the uptake and adoption of evidence-based screening guidelines for preventable cancers at the community practice level. Text messaging (short message service, SMS) has been effective in promoting behavioral change in various clinical settings, but the overall impact and reach of text messaging interventions on cancer screening are unknown. Objective: The objective of this systematic review was to assess the effect of text messaging interventions on screening for breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers. Methods: We searched multiple databases for studies published between the years 2000 and 2017, including PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library, to identify controlled trials that measured the effect of text messaging on screening for breast, cervical, colorectal, or lung cancers. Study quality was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results: Our search yielded 2238 citations, of which 31 underwent full review and 9 met inclusion criteria. Five studies examined screening for breast cancer, one for cervical cancer, and three for colorectal cancer. No studies were found for lung cancer screening. Absolute screening rates for individuals who received text message interventions were 0.6% to 15.0% higher than for controls. Unadjusted relative screening rates for text message recipients were 4% to 63% higher compared with controls. Conclusions: Text messaging interventions appear to moderately increase screening rates for breast and cervical cancer and may have a small effect on colorectal cancer screening. Benefit was observed in various countries, including resource-poor and non-English-speaking populations. Given the paucity of data, additional research is needed to better quantify the effectiveness of this promising intervention. [J Med Internet Res 2017;19(8):e296]
Data Librarian's Handbook

One of the most exciting trends to emerge within academic librarianship over the last few years has been the advent of the data librarian. In this aptly titled book, the authors present a cogent na...
Floating-gate FPAA calibration for analog system design and built-in self test

We present a calibration flow for a large-scale Floating-Gate (FG) System-on-Chip (SoC) Field Programmable Analog Array (FPAA) to enable analog system design and built-in self test. We focus on calibration of the FG programming infrastructure, Digital-Analog Converters (DAC) and Analog-Digital Converters (ADC), as well as characterization of hot-electron injection parameters. This paper shows the results of a compiled Winner-Take-All (WTA) circuit on three different calibrated chips.
Caveat emptor, computational social science: Large-scale missing data in a widely-published Reddit corpus.

As researchers use computational methods to study complex social behaviors at scale, the validity of this computational social science depends on the integrity of the data. On July 2, 2015, Jason Baumgartner published a dataset advertised to include “every publicly available Reddit comment” which was quickly shared on Bittorrent and the Internet Archive. This data quickly became the basis of many academic papers on topics including machine learning, social behavior, politics, breaking news, and hate speech. We have discovered substantial gaps and limitations in this dataset which may contribute to bias in the findings of that research. In this paper, we document the dataset, substantial missing observations in the dataset, and the risks to research validity from those gaps. In summary, we identify strong risks to research that considers user histories or network analysis, moderate risks to research that compares counts of participation, and lesser risk to machine learning research that avoids making representative claims about behavior and participation on Reddit.
Cyclin B Degradation as a Target of Antiproliferative Drug Action

For a number of years we have been examining the genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of antiproliferative drugs as well as cytotoxic treatments such as u.v. irradiation and hypoxia in cultured mammalian cells. The approach we have taken is to examine cellular response to treatment rather than drug-target interaction, and in particular, we have been interested in determining the relationship of treatment-induced cell cycle perturbation to cytotoxicity and genotoxicity (1–5).
Microscopy and the Study of Wear

As soon as man began to use tools, wear became a problem. The history of metallurgy, or man’s continuing quest for tougher and harder materials, can be seen to have been motivated by the desire to have tools, especially if weapons may be categorized as tools, that will hold a sharp edge. To more peaceful ends, farmers once embedded sharp stones in wooden plow faces to increase their useful life. It has only been in the past 50 years, however, that man has recognized the economic impact of wear prevention and done more than just take wear for granted.
How does malaria in pregnancy impact malaria risk in infants

Malaria in pregnancy not only exerts profound negative consequences on the health of the mother and developing fetus, but may also alter the risk of malaria during infancy. Although mechanisms driving this altered risk remain unclear, in utero exposure to malaria antigens may impact the development of fetal and infant innate immunity. In an article in BMC Medicine, Natama et al. describe an ambitious analysis of basal and TLR-stimulated cord blood responses among a birth cohort in Burkina Faso. Basal levels of several cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors were shown to be significantly lower in cord blood with histopathologic evidence of placental malaria. Additionally, following TLR7/8 stimulation, samples obtained from infants of mothers with placental malaria were hyper-responsive compared to those without evidence of prenatal malaria exposure. Furthermore, several responses impacted by placental malaria were associated with differential malaria risk in infancy. Understanding how malaria in pregnancy shapes immune responses in infants will provide critical insight into the rational design of malaria control strategies during pregnancy, including intermittent preventative treatment in pregnancy and vaccines. Please see related article: https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-018-1187-3
From COX-2 Inhibitor Nimesulide to Potent anti-Cancer Agent: Synthesis, in vitro, in vivo and Pharmacokinetic Evaluation.

Based on a previously generated structure-function analysis, a series of new nimesulide analogues is synthesized.
Two new soluble iron–oxo complexes: [Fe2(μ-O)(μ-O2CCF3)2(O2CCF3)2(C10H8N2)2] and [Fe4(μ3-O)2(μ-O2CCF3)6(O2CCF3)2(C10H8N2)2]·CF3CO2H

Two new iron–oxo clusters, viz. di-μ-tri­fluoro­acetato-μ-oxo-bis­[(2,2′-bi­pyridine-κ2N,N′)(tri­fluoro­acetato-κO)­iron(III)], [Fe2O(CF3CO2)4(C10H8N2)2], and bis(2,2′-bi­pyridine)­di-μ3-oxo-hexa-μ-tri­fluoro­acetato-bis­(tri­fluoro­acetato)­tetrairon(III) tri­fluoro­acetic acid solvate, [Fe4O2(CF3CO2)8(C10H8N2)2]·CF3CO2H, contain dinuclear and tetranuclear FeIII cores, respectively. The FeIII atoms are in distorted octahedral environments in both compounds and are linked by oxide and tri­fluoro­acetate ions. The tri­fluoro­acetate ions are either bridging (bidentate) or coordinated to the FeIII atoms via one O atom only. The fluorinated peripheries enhance the solubility of these compounds. Formal charges for all the Fe centers were assigned by summing valences of the chemical bonds to the FeIII atom.
Internet of the Body - Wearable Monitoring and Coaching

Wearables that acquire relevant vital and contextual parameters improve work safety as well as quality of life of elderly citizens or patients with chronic diseases. A scalable architecture connects wearables via a hub to the cloud and combines edge with cloud computing to provide optimal user interaction and allow analytics on multi-stream data. The functionality was expanded to enable demonstrations of physiological and psychological stress classification in firemen and mobile health interventions in patients with lung diseases. Following an initial table-top edge demonstrator a hemi-spherical display improves emotional contact to users. A first use case tested an integrated acquisition and inference system that was trained to differentiate physical and emotional stress. The system measured stress in firemen during training in a cage maze and in hot training locations and provided functions to acquire expert labels. A second use case focused on mobile-health intervention for patients suffering from Chronic-Obstructive-Pulmonary-Disease (COPD), to improve their quality-of-life. Patient-physician conversations are extended through a communication channel and a virtual assistant provides disease related information, reminders, and alerts.
Temporal map of the pig polytrauma plasma proteome with fluid resuscitation and intravenous vitamin C treatment.

BACKGROUND Fluid resuscitation plays a prominent role in stabilizing trauma patients with hemorrhagic shock yet there remains uncertainty with regard to optimal administration time, volume, and fluid composition (e.g., whole blood, component, colloids) leading to complications such as trauma-induced coagulopathies (TIC), acidosis, and poor oxygen transport. Synthetic fluids in combination with antioxidants (e.g., vitamin C) may resolve some of these problems. OBJECTIVES We applied quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics [liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)] to map the effects of fluid resuscitation and intravenous vitamin C (VitC) in a pig model of polytrauma (hemorrhagic shock, tissue injury, liver reperfusion, hypothermia, and comminuted bone fracture). The goal was to determine the effects of VitC on plasma protein expression, with respect to changes associated with coagulation and trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC). METHODS Longitudinal blood samples were drawn from nine male Sinclair pigs at baseline, 2 h post trauma, and 0.25, 2, and 4 h post fluid resuscitation with 500 mL hydroxyethyl starch. Pigs were treated intravenously (N = 3/treatment group) with saline, 50 mg VitC/kg (Lo-VitC), or 200 mg VitC/kg (Hi-VitC) during fluid resuscitation. RESULTS A total of 436 plasma proteins were quantified of which 136 changed following trauma and resuscitation; 34 were associated with coagulation, complement cascade, and glycolysis. Unexpectedly, Lo-VitC and Hi-VitC treatments stabilized ADAMTS13 levels by ~4-fold (P = .056) relative to saline and enhanced ADAMTS13/von Willebrand factor (VWF) cleavage efficiency based on LC-MS/MS evidence for the semitryptic VWF cleavage product (VWF1275-1286 ). CONCLUSIONS This study provides the first comprehensive map of trauma-induced changes to the plasma proteome, especially with respect to proteins driving the development of TIC.
Spatial analysis of bureaucrats’ attempts to resist political capture in a developing democracy: The distribution of solar panels in Ghana

Abstract Can civil servants in a developing democracy successfully resist political capture in the distribution of public goods? Existing research tends to highlight political patronage logics of distribution, and scholarship focuses primarily on politicians’ motivations. But service decisions are often made by bureaucrats, who sometimes explicitly try to avoid capture and allocate on the basis of need. Using qualitative interviews and spatial regressions with geo-coded data from a solar panel program in Ghana, we examine such a situation. We show that, despite considerable efforts to thwart it, national-level civil servants were unable to fully resist political capture. While solar panel distribution partially corresponded to need for electricity, we find that panels also went to areas where voter turnout was historically inconsistent, likely to motivate voter turnout. The direction of these relationships was consistent across subnational space, but the magnitudes varied considerably and were strongest in districts adjacent to Lake Volta. Qualitative data analysis reveals that this subnational variation reflects the logistics of space and the historical politics of place. The article contributes to theories of distributive politics and of voting behavior, and highlights the need for subnational disaggregation across space.
Particle-Phase Diffusion Modulates Partitioning of Semivolatile Organic Compounds to Aged Secondary Organic Aerosol.

The diffusivity of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in the bulk particle phase of a viscous atmospheric secondary organic aerosol (SOA) can have a profound impact on aerosol growth and size d...
E-046 Venous sinus stenting as a treatment approach in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension and encephaloceles

Introduction Brain herniations, or encephaloceles, into arachnoid granulations in dural venous sinuses have rarely been reported in the literature. Prominent arachnoid granulations by themselves may be a cause of idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) by obstructing sinus venous flow as well as causing flow turbulence that may present itself clinically with pulse synchronous tinnitus. This unique type of encephalocele combined with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is an unreported occurrence and the optimal management in this rare subselect group of patients is unknown. Materials and methods A retrospective review of 256 cases of IIH over a three-year span (March 2016 to March 2019) was performed at our institution. Imaging from the cases was reviewed by two trained diagnostic neuroradiologists assessing for the presence and location of dural sinus arachnoid granulations and/or encephaloceles based on MRI. Those patients that were found to have arachnoid granulations and concomitant encephalocele were documented and a clinical chart review was performed. Results Of the 256 reviewed cases, 15 were found to have encephaloceles on MR imaging. 2 of the 15 cases had medically refractory IIH and underwent venous sinus stenting for management of their symptoms. Patient A is a 44 year-old female with symptoms of pulsatile tinnitus, papilledema, and elevated CSF opening pressure. Venography revealed bilateral transverse sinus stenoses (right side greater than the left) and a significant pressure gradient on the right side. Dilation of the right transverse sinus with a single stent resulted in a decreased pressure gradient across the arachnoid granulation. Clinical follow-up at 2 years after treatment revealed complete resolution of her symptoms. Retrospective review of her pre-procedure MRI revealed bilateral encephaloceles into prominent arachnoid granulations. Patient B is a 45 year-old male with progressive vision loss, papilledema, and headaches refractory to medical management whom underwent stenting in a right dominant transverse sinus. Venography at the time of stenting revealed bilateral transverse sinus stenoses (left side greater than the right) with significant pressure gradients on both sides. Clinical follow-up at 4 months after treatment revealed a full recovery. Retrospective review of his pre-procedure MRI demonstrated narrowing of the left transverse sinus due to an encephalocele into an arachnoid granulation. Conclusion Venous sinus stenting is a unique and unreported treatment approach for patients with IIH and concomitant encephaloceles. We present two cases successfully treated with venous stenting. Disclosures G. Drocton: None. A. Copelan: None. M. Amans: None. R. Khangura: None. J. Villanueva-Meyer: None. L. Eisenmenger: None. K. Meisel: None.
Readmissions Rates After Myocardial Infarction for Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A National Perspective.

Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is one most common complications of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We aimed to determine the incidence, in-hospital outcomes, associated healthcare burden and predictors of GI bleeding within 30 days after AMI. Data were extracted from Nationwide Readmission Database 2010–2014. Patients were included if they had a primary diagnosis of ST or non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. Exclusion criteria were admissioned in December, aged less than 18 years and a diagnosis of type-2 MI. The primary outcome was 30-day readmission with upper or lower GI bleeding. Secondary outcomes were in-hospital mortality, etiology of bleeding, in-hospital complications, procedures, length of stay, and total hospitalization charges. Independent predictors of readmission were identified using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Out of the 3,520,241 patients discharged with ACS, 10,018 (0.3%) were readmitted with GI bleeding within 30 days of discharge. 60% had lower GI bleeding. Most common sources suspected were GI cancers in 17% and hemorrhoidal bleeding in 10%. In hospital mortality rate for readmission was 3.6%. Independent predictors of readmission were age, Charlson comorbidity score, history of chronic kidney disease, GI tumor, inflammatory bowel disease and artificial heart valve. Type of treatment for AMI had no impact on readmission. Patients readmitted had higher rates of shock (adjusted odds ratio, 1.48, 95% CI 1.01–3.72). In the first nationwide study, 30-day incidence of GI bleeding after AMI is 0.3%. GI bleeding complicating AMI carries a substantial in-hospital mortality and cost of care.
Linking genotype, cell behavior, and phenotype: multidisciplinary perspectives with a basis in zebrafish patterns

Zebrafish are characterized by dark and light stripes, but mutants display a rich variety of altered patterns. These patterns arise from the interactions of brightly colored pigment cells, making zebrafish a self-organization problem. The diversity of patterns present in zebrafish and other emerging fish models provides an excellent system for elucidating how genes, cell behavior, and visible animal characteristics are related. With the goal of highlighting how experimental and mathematical approaches can be used to link these scales, I overview current descriptions of zebrafish patterning, describe advances in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying cell communication, and discuss new work that moves beyond zebrafish to explore patterning in evolutionary relatives.
Characterization of seizure susceptibility in Pcdh19 mice.

Objective PCDH19-related epilepsy is characterized by a distinctive pattern of X-linked inheritance, where heterozygous females exhibit seizures and hemizygous males are asymptomatic. A cellular interference mechanism resulting from the presence of both wild-type and mutant PCDH19 neurons in heterozygous patients or mosaic carriers of PCDH19 variants has been hypothesized. We aim to investigate seizure susceptibility and progression in the Pchd19 mouse model. Methods We assessed seizure susceptibility and progression in the Pcdh19 mouse model using three acute seizure induction paradigms. We first induced focal, clonic seizures using the 6-Hz psychomotor test. Mice were stimulated with increasing current intensities and graded according to a modified Racine scale. We next induced generalized seizures using flurothyl or pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), both γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor function inhibitors, and recorded latencies to myoclonic and generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Results Pcdh19 knockout and heterozygous females displayed increased seizure susceptibility across all current intensities in the 6-Hz psychomotor test, and increased severity overall. They also exhibited shorter latencies to generalized seizures following flurothyl, but not PTZ, seizure induction. Hemizygous males showed comparable seizure incidence and severity to their wild-type male littermates across all paradigms tested. Significance The heightened susceptibility observed in Pcdh19 knockout females suggests additional mechanisms other than cellular interference are at play in PCDH19-related epilepsy. Further experiments are needed to understand the variability in seizure susceptibility so that this model can be best utilized toward development of future therapeutic strategies for PCDH19-related epilepsy.
Primary production and habitat stability organize marine communities

AIM: The emergence of pattern in the natural world can carry important messages about underlying processes. For example, collections of broadly similar terrestrial ecosystems have historically been categorized as biomes – groupings of systems that sort along energetic and structural process axes. In marine systems however, a similar classification of biomes has not emerged. The aim here is to develop an effective classification scheme for marine biomes and communities. APPROACH: Candidate predictor variables that could explain pattern and process in differentiating marine communities, such as light, nutrients, depth, etc., were collected from the existing literature with a systematic review. The candidate predictors were then evaluated in an inductive process, allowing community level observations to demonstrate patterns across marine biomes. Marine biomes and communities were identified a priori, and emergent patterns were evaluated quantitatively, via principal component ordination based on the vectors of explanatory predictors, and qualitatively via mapping. CONCLUSIONS: Gross primary production and substrate mobility not only effectively sort marine biomes, but also work on finer scales discriminating communities within biomes. As a result, these predictors were more effective in classifying marine communities than other scales, such as available light and nutrients. The richness of this classification is also demonstrated in revealing other patterns, such as the distribution of human impacts. The effectiveness of this mapping provides support for, but is not a test of, the hypothesis that primary production and substrate mobility are important underlying processes that interact to structure marine ecosystems.
Rapid rituximab infusion is safe and well tolerated in malignant and benign disease.

IntroductionAlthough the safety and feasibility of rapid rituximab administration has been demonstrated for B-cell malignancies, there is scant data in the literature to support its use in patients...
Discovery of a first-in-class inhibitor of the PRMT5-substrate adaptor interaction

Abstract PRMT5 and its substrate adaptor proteins (SAPs), pICln and Riok1, are synthetic lethal dependencies in MTAP-deleted cancer cells. SAPs share a conserved PRMT5 binding motif (PBM) which mediates binding to a surface of PRMT5 distal to the catalytic site. This interaction is required for methylation of several PRMT5 substrates, including histone and spliceosome complexes. We screened for small molecule inhibitors of the PRMT5-PBM interaction and validated a compound series which binds to the PRMT5-PBM interface and directly inhibits binding of SAPs. Mode of action and structure determination studies revealed that these compounds form a covalent bond between a halogenated pyridazinone group and cysteine 278 of PRMT5. Optimization of the starting hit produced a lead compound, BRD0639, which engages the target in cells, disrupts the PRMT5-RIOK1 complex, and reduces substrate methylation. BRD0639 is a first-in-class PBM-competitive small molecule that can support studies of PBM-dependent PRMT5 activities and the development of novel PRMT5 inhibitors that selectively target these functions.
Gender representation cues labels of hard and soft sciences

Abstract While women's representation in STEM fields has increased over the past several decades, some fields have seen a greater increase women's participation than others. In the present research, we explore how women's participation in STEM disciplines influences labeling of those disciplines as hard vs. soft sciences. Study 1 found that increasing perceived participation of women in a STEM discipline increased the likelihood that participants would label it a soft science. Study 2 found that among people who did not work in science, this tendency to associate women's participation with soft science was correlated with endorsement of stereotypes about women's STEM competency. And Studies 3A and 3B showed that labeling disciplines as soft sciences led to the fields being devalued, deemed less rigorous, and less worthy of federal funding. These studies show that stereotypes about women's STEM competency can impact perceptions of fields in which women participate, with consequences for how scientific disciplines are perceived.
Differential Effects of Attention

This study questions the extent to which attention differentially affects different parts of language and how this differential effect interacts with increased linguistic knowledge (i.e., proficiency). Thirty-four English speakers enrolled in Italian 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-year foreign language courses in the United States were placed into one of two conditions ([+focused attention] and [-focused attention]) for each of three linguistic areas (syntax, morphosyntax, and lexicon). It was predicted that focused attention would have the greatest effect on the lexicon and the least on syntax. The results showed the opposite. For the non-focused-attention condition, the predicted results were borne out. With regard to proficiency, focused attention had a diminishing effect, with the greatest effect in early periods of learning and the least in later stages.
Amenorrhea following oral contraception.

A prospective study was done on 326 nulliparous women who ceased oral contraception. Follow-up was obtained on 311. The mean age was 20.3 years (S.D. 2.5). Eighty-nine per cent began menstruating within 60 days after stopping therapy, and only 7 took 180 days or longer to menstruate. Late menarche strongly correlated with post-pill amenorrhea (PPA), but continous length of time on oral contraceptives and type of oral contraceptive showed no significant relationship. The incidence of PPA was 2.2 per cent. All women did eventually menstruate spontaneously, the longest period of amenorrhea being 540 days.
Adaptive modeling of the weld pool geometry in gas tungsten arc welding

Skilled welders can observe the weld pool and control the welding process accordingly. This implies that an advanced control system could be developed to control the welding process by emulating the estimation and decision making process of the human welder. In this paper the modeling of the 3D weld pool geometry in GTAW process and this model based predictive control of the pool geometry is investigated. An innovative GTAW 3D vision sensing system capable of measuring the weld pool characteristic parameters in real-time is utilized. Dynamic experiments are conducted to establish the model of the front-side weld pool geometrical characteristic parameters in relation to the welding current and speed. Linear model is first constructed as an average model over certain range of welding parameters. Adaptive model is then adopted to represent the dynamic and time-varying welding process. Further, the adaptive model based predictive control algorithm is developed and an analytical solution of the predictive controller is derived. Simulation results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed controller for tracking various set-points and under varying welding conditions. In the future the welding experiments will be conducted to further verify the proposed controller.
Quantum Localization in Bilayer Heisenberg Antiferromagnets with Site Dilution

The field-induced antiferromagnetic ordering in systems of weakly coupled S = 1/2 dimers at zero temperature can be described as a Bose-Einstein condensation of triplet quasiparticles (singlet quasiholes) in the ground state. For the case of a Heisenberg bilayer, it is here shown how the above picture is altered in the presence of site dilution of the magnetic lattice. Geometric randomness leads to quantum localization of the quasiparticles or quasiholes and to an extended Bose-glass phase in a realistic disordered model. This localization phenomenon drives the system towards a quantum-disordered phase well before the classical geometric percolation threshold is reached.
Ontogenetic studies of the primary evoked response and strychnine spike in motor-sensory cortex of kittens

Abstract The development of the primary evoked potential in the motor-sensory cerebral cortex and the corticofugal reflex discharge in the medullary pyramids were studied in the first 2 weeks of postnatal life in kittens. In α-chloralose-anesthetized, paralyzed kittens at 1 day of age, the primary evoked potential produced by electrical stimulation of the contralateral forepaw was usually a purely negative response of 50-ms latency, poor frequency-following capability, and slow time course. During the first 2 weeks, the response became positive-negative as the latency shortened to 24 ms. During the same period, the frequency-following capability improved and the duration of the potential decreased. The cortical responses to stimulation of the other three paws were smaller, longer-latency negative potentials, but reliably evoked even in the youngest animals. The corticofugal reflex was not seen in any animal less than 14 days of age and was seldom seen in 14-day-old kittens. Topical application of strychnine enhanced the amplitude of the cortical response to stimulation of the contralateral forepaw, but had no effect on responses to stimulation of the other three paws. No effect on response latency was seen. The strychnine effect developed in about 15 s as in adults, but lasted two to four times longer. Both positive and negative components of the primary response were enhanced by strychnine, and, in animals that had no positivity in control responses, one was induced, remaining in the record for at least 11 h. As far as can be determined from these studies, the effect of topical strychnine is the same in neonatal and adult cat cerebral cortex.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Reactions of Hyperthermal Fluorine Atoms with Fluorosilyl Adsorbates on the Si{100}-(2 × 1) Surface

Molecular dynamics simulations of the reactions between gaseous fluorine atoms and (SiFx)n adsorbates on the Si{100}-(2 × 1) surface are performed using the SW potential with the WWC reparameteriza...
Treatment with aztreonam or tobramycin in critical care patients with nosocomial gram-negative pneumonia

During the course of one year, 47 critical care patients with gram-negative bacillary pneumonia at Millard Fillmore Hospital were randomly assigned to aztreonam or tobramycin therapy (two to one). Of these, 40 were fully evaluable for microbiologic and clinical response. All evaluable patients had gram-negative organisms in tracheal aspirate culture specimens and confirmed susceptibility of the organism to both study drugs. There was no difference between the two groups with respect to the percentage of patients who received concurrent antibiotics for gram-positive organisms. More than 60 percent of the patients received mechanical ventilation. Essentially, all had new lung infiltrates as shown by chest radiography, leukocytosis, recent onset of fever, and increased volume of purulent secretions. Half had multilobar pulmonary infiltrates. Their mean age was 73 years, with none under age 50. Most had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, or both. By the prognostic nutritional index criteria, over 70 percent were nutritionally deficient at entry. The majority of infections were caused by Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, and Escherichia coli. Aztreonam eradicated 92 percent of the causative gram-negative organisms, compared with 57 percent for tobramycin (p less than 0.05). Aztreonam produced a favorable clinical response (cure or improvement) in 93 percent of patients, compared with 50 percent for tobramycin (p less than 0.05). There were no differences in the minor adverse effects observed in the two treatment groups. Overall, aztreonam was superior to tobramycin for treatment of pneumonia due to susceptible gram-negative bacteria in these critical care patients.
The nature and rates of excretion of radioactive breakdown products of I131-albumin in the rabbit.

When I131-albumin is given intravenously to rabbits, the radioactive breakdown products that are released into the plasma and urine can be extracted into acetone. Paper chromatography and paper electrophoresis show that about 80 per cent of these are I131-iodide and the remainder are organic I131-iodine compounds. When I131-iodide is given to rabbits taking iodide in their drinking water, the radioactivity is quantitatively excreted, without being accumulated in the tissues and without becoming attached to the plasma proteins. The rate of excretion can be defined by a first order rate process with a rate constant, a, ranging between 1 and 3day-1. The organic I131-iodine compounds liberated during the metabolism of I131-albumin can be closely matched by a mixture of the organic I131-iodine compounds liberated during the metabolism of I131-monoiodotyrosine, I131-diiodotyrosine, and the amino acids released by digestion from I131-albumin. These organic I131-iodine compounds are not accumulated in the body and their radioactivity does not become attached to the plasma proteins. Their radioactivity is excreted as fast or faster than that of I131-iodide, and, to a satisfactory approximation, the same equations describing the excretion of I131-iodide with the same constants may be used for describing the excretion of the organic I131-iodine. These results permit improved estimates of the distribution and catabolism of I131-albumin.
Computational Study of Film-Cooling Effectiveness on a Low-Speed Airfoil Cascade: Part II — Discussion of Physics

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results are presented for a study of film cooling on a linear turbine airfoil cascade. The simulations are for a single-row of streamwise-injected cylindrical holes on both the pressure and suction surfaces, downstream of the leading edge. The cases considered match experimental efforts previously documented in the open literature. Results are obtained for density ratio equal to 2.0, and a blowing ratio range from 0.5 to 2.0. The computational methodology minimizes error due to geometry modeling, grid, and numerical scheme, placing the simulations against the limits of the turbulence modeling. In this part, the results are examined in order to highlight the mean-flow physical mechanisms responsible for film-cooling performance on airfoils.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Detection of ascorbate peroxidase activity in native gels by inhibition of the ascorbate-dependent reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium.

Abstract A method for the detection of ascorbate peroxidase activity in native electrophoretic gels is described. The assay is based on the ability of ascorbate peroxidase prevent the ascorbate-dependent reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium in the presence of H 2 O 2 . The method was found to be both sensitive (detection of less than 0.01 units of ascorbate peroxidase activity) and specific for ascorbate peroxidase activity. The application of the method for the detection of ascorbate peroxidase activity in protein extracts from several plant sources was investigated by comparing staining for activities of ascorbate peroxidase, horseradish peroxidase, and ascorbate oxidase and by immunodetection of ascorbate peroxidase in these extracts.
Equilibria within the mineral assemblage quartz + muscovite + biotite + garnet + plagioclase, and implications for the mixing properties of octahedrally-coordinated cations in muscovite and biotite

Interaction parameters derived using empirical calibration methods indicate strong non-ideality in the mixing of octahedrally-coordinated cations in muscovite and biotite. The data set used for calibration comprises mineral compositions from 49 samples containing quartz, muscovite, biotite, garnet, plagioclase and Al2SiO5 (kyanite or sillimanite). Pressures and temperatures in the data set were determined through the simultaneous application of geothermometry based on the garnet-biotite FeMg1 exchange equilibrium and geobarometry based on the anorthite-breakdown equilibrium. Two equilibria yielded simple expressions from which binary interaction parameters for octahedrally-coordinated cations in biotite could be directly determined. A four-component (Fe2+, Mg, Al, Ti) regular symmetric mixing model was assumed for biotite. One equilibrium yielded a simple expression from which an interaction parameter for the mixing of the MgAl-celadonite component in muscovite could be directly determined. Two sets of calculations were performed utilizing different calibrations of the garnet-biotite geothermometer and the anothite-breakdown geobarometer and different garnet activity models. Both placed samples within or near the stability field of the Al2SiO5 phase present in each sample and both yielded similar values for the interaction parameters within narrow uncertainties, indicating that the values are insensitive to differences in the underlying methods. Using the derived interaction parameters, activity models were formulated for the annite, phlogopite, eastonite, and siderophyllite components of biotite, and for the MgAl-celadonite component of muscovite. These were utilized for the empirical calibration of 45 fluid-independent equilibria involving unique combinations of phase components from the mineral assemblage garnet + plagioclase±biotite±muscovite±quartz. Forty-three of the equilibria may be applied as geobarometers to equilibrium assemblages of quartz + muscovite + biotite + garnet + plagioclase when care is taken to insure that applications are restricted to valid compositional ranges. For these, the calibrations yielded multiple correlation coefficients ranging from 0.953 to 0.998 and standard deviations of the residuals ranging from 597 to 118 bars.
Hemispheric processing of multi-element displays

Abstract A visual detection paradigm was employed in two experiments to explore the relationship between stimulus configuration and hemispheric processing. Stimulus arrays composed of small vertical lines were presented tachistoscopically to the left and right hemispheres. Subjects judged whether all the lines within an array were vertically oriented (same) or whether a horizontal line was present (different). In general, right hemisphere presentations demonstrated a faster detection than the left for arrays consisting of all identical elements, whereas left hemisphere presentations demonstrated a faster detection than the right for arrays containing a different element. Similar results were obtained for both experiments, although the response patterns and error rates varied somewhat with the inter-item spacing and organization of stimulus elements. These effects suggest that differential hemispheric processing for target detection tasks is determined by the nature of the stimulus materials which governs the relative efficacy of the hemispheric and decision outcomes.
Computer studies of respiration—I: Calibration and investigation of the tidal volume-dead space relationship

An approach to respiratory studies is described which utilizes modern data-processing (computing) equipment. The calibration of the rather complex system is described. The abilities of the device are demonstrated in an investigation of the tidal volume-dead space relationship. Advantages of this approach are discussed.
Space Modulation With CSI: Constellation Design and Performance Evaluation

In this paper, we investigate the effect of channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) on the performance of a class of transmission schemes for multi-input–multi-output (MIMO) systems that can be collectively called space modulation (SMod) schemes. Space shift keying (SSK) is a simple example of SMod. In SMod, multiple antennas at the transmitter are employed to spatially modulate the information. The constellation vectors at the receiver are linear combinations of columns of the channel matrix, and therefore, the symbol error rate (SER) performance of the system highly depends on the Euclidean distance between each pair of these vectors. In this paper, we propose two novel methods to design the transmit vectors using CSIT such that the distance between each pair of constellation vectors at the receiver becomes larger, which, in turn, reduces the SER. Whereas in the first method we do not impose any constraint on the structure of the transmit vectors, in the second method, we confine the transmit vectors to have only one nonzero entry, and as such, it can be looked at as a modified SSK (MSSK) transmission scheme. This is to avoid interantenna synchronization (IAS) as only one transmit antenna is active at a time. Compared to SSK, the first method provides a significant performance improvement at the expense of increased complexity at the transmitter due to IAS. The second method provides an appealing SER improvement while keeping the complexity the same as that of SSK. Therefore, one can look at the second method as a modified version of SSK in which instead of transmitting a fixed symbol from one of the transmit antennas, in our proposed method, different transmit powers and phases are assigned to different transmit antennas. As acquiring full CSIT is difficult in some cases, we also consider the case of imperfect CSIT and derive alternative SMod transmission schemes in this case. By simulation, we show that the proposed SMod transmission schemes provide a significant performance improvement in terms of the SER in the presence of full or imperfect CSIT.
The Effect of Choline and Betaine on the Utilization of Carotene from Alfalfa Leaf Meal

ABSTRACT RECENTLY a number of reports have appeared in the literature concerning the effect of other nutrients on the utilization of carotene and vitamin A from various products by chicks. Evidence has been presented by Dam et al. (1952) showing that the presence of vitamin E in the diet increases the deposition of vitamin A in the livers of chicks. Kramke et al. (1952) showed that when chicks received a diet containing a suboptimal level of vitamin A activity in the form of alfalfa meal, growth was stimulated by adding crude soybean lecithin, defatted lecithin or crude soybean oil to the ration. These workers also found that turkeys were able to utilize carotene more effectively in the presence of wheat germ oil. Work has been presented by Potter et al. (1956) showing that diphenyl-p-phenylene-diamine (DPPD) increased the vitamin A and carotenoid content of the blood plasma and the liver of chicks . . .
Interference Filter Microfluorometry of Neuromelanin and Lipofuscin in Human Brain

Following the use of a modified procedure for interference filter microfluorometry, bleached human substantia nigra neuromelanin exhibited a bimodal fluorescence maxima at 435 and 464 nm and human inferior olive lipofuscin, whether oxidized or not, exhibited a peak of fluorescence at 464 nm. Although the fluorescent component of bleached neuromelanin displayed its emission maxima in the spectral region characteristic for lipofuscin, and is regarded as such, its unique bimodality could represent some atypical, but as yet unknown, chemical property. Spectra of three fluorescence standards and a glass blank were also determined.
Microcarrier culture of COS-1 cells producing Japanese encephalitis and dengue virus serotype 4 recombinant virus-like particles.

Two stably transfected COS-1 cell lines that secrete recombinant Japanese encephalitis and dengue virus serotype 4 virus-like particles (VLPs) have been adapted to grow on Cytodex™ 3 microcarriers in an orbital shaker flask platform. The VLPs are used as antigens in diagnostic enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to detect anti-arboviral IgM and IgG antibodies in human serum samples. Converting from a stationary flask batch system to a microcarrier fed-batch system has led to increases in antigen concentration while decreasing costs by reducing the amount of cell culture medium, disposables, and labor. The cell culture longevity was increased by 48 days in this optimized system, which may be due to a continual supply of nutrients resulting in prolonged survival of the cells on the microcarrier surface. An initial trial using a serum-free medium with this cell line was promising and may lead to reductions in cost, while reducing the variability between batches introduced by fetal bovine serum.
Internal Trim Coils for CBA Superconducting Magnets

In order to correct iron saturation effects and shape the beam working line, superconducting trim coils have been constructed, which operate inside the main coils. Detailed studies of mechanical properties, quench behaviour, fields produced and hysteresis have lead to the production of accelerator quality coils generating the required strength harmonics up to cos (7?). These are routinely installed in CBA main magnets and operate at 80% of short sample with negligible training in an ambient field of more than 5.3T.
Progress on macrochimerism and tolerance

Abstract Mixed hematopoietic chimerism can be induced in mice receiving allogeneic BMT with non-myeloablative conditioning with T cell-depleting mAbs, low dose TBI, and thymic irradiation (TI) (7 Gy). Chimeras are tolerant to donor and host antigens. We have reduced the amount of conditioning used to achieve mixed chimerism by using high stem cell doses in place of TBI, and by replacing both recipient T cell depletion and TI with costimulatory blockade. We have now achieved lasting chimerism and tolerance without host pre-conditioning, by giving a high dose of marrow followed by two costimulatory blockers. Donor cells seed the thymus life-long and mediate clonal deletion of donor-reactive T cells. Host APC in the thymus delete host-reactive thymocytes. In the regimens involving costimulatory blockade, peripheral mechanisms, including deletion, tolerize the pre-existing T cell repertoire. The low toxicity of these regimens suggest an approach to using BMT for the induction of donor-specific transplantation tolerance. In these murine studies, GVHD is avoided because the reagents used to deplete or tolerize recipient T cells are still present when donor marrow is given, so donor T cells are also depleted or inactivated. Mixed chimerism can also be used to exploit the graft-vs-leukemia (GVL) effect of GVH-reactive donor T cells while avoiding GVHD. Donor lymphocyte infusions convert established mixed chimeras to full donor chimeras, but GVHD does not occur. Based on this observation, we initiated a clinical trial of mixed chimerism induction followed by DLI at 5 weeks for the treatment of hematologic malignancies. We have seen that sustained mixed chimerism can be achieved, that delayed DLI can convert mixed chimeras to full donor chimeras without causing severe GVHD, and that powerful anti-tumor effects are achievable. Donor-specific allograft tolerance has been achieved in a multiple myeloma patient simultaneously receiving non-myeloablative BMT and a kidney transplant from the same donor.
Fighting Maoist violence with promises: Evidence from India’s Employment Guarantee Scheme

The Indian state faces a substantial internal security threat in the form of a Maoist insurgency, but decades of relying predominantly on military strength have not been a successful strategy for resolving the conflict. Recently, there has been a growing interest in whether anti-poverty programs can increase the effectiveness of the government forces by improving the relationship between citizens and the state and making civilians more willing to share information on insurgents. A prime candidate for such a program is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the world’s largest public-works program. We find that the introduction of NREGS leads to an increase in violence in the short run that is driven by police-initiated attacks, and an increase in the number of captured Maoists. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that civilians assist the police because of NREGS, and suggest that the role of civilians in internal conflicts should not be ignored.