cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The effects of computer interface design on human postural dynamics

The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of human-computer interface design on postural dynamics, i.e., changes in working postures and postural discomfort exhibited by operators of the computer-based remote bar coding (RBC) system. In addition, the effects of different work/rest schedules on postural dynamics were evaluated. Twelve subjects participated in the laboratory experiment, which consisted of twelve scenarios utilizing two cognitive task requirement factors, i.e., (1) information presentation mode, defined through the letter image preview on the computer screen (none or one preview image); and (2) the information processing mode, defined through the specific keying method (key all characters or key 5 digits only). The third experimental factor was the work/rest schedule (50 min work/10 min break, 2 h of work/15 min break, or flexible schedule). The results showed that requirements of human-computer interface design significantly affected the operators' postural dynamics. It was concluded that not only the physical, organizational, or psychosocial work environment characteristics, but also the cognitive task characteristics are important for assessment of postural effects in the VDT work. The relationship between interface design, mental workload and postural dynamics should be carefully considered in future studies aimed at optimizing the human-computer data entry tasks.
COMPARISON OF MEASURES OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS BETWEEN ETHNIC GROUPS

It has been hypothesized that African Americans report lower scores than Caucasians on standardized tests of socioeconomic status. College students were asked to report their family's socioeconomic class. In addition, the Revised Hollings-head four-factor socioeconomic questionnaire was given. Both groups surveyed, African American and Caucasian, underestimated their social class, but there were no differences between the groups.
A Longitudinal Study of Peer Communication During Job Transfers The Impact of Frequency, Quality, and Network Multiplexity on Adjustment

This longitudinal research examines the impact of peer communication on transferees moving from one location to another within organizations. Based on uncertainty reduction theory, it examines the impact of the frequency of peer communication, the quality of peer communication, and network multiplexity on transferees’adjustment to their new positions. Results suggest that the quality of peer communication is associated with positive adjustment after 1 month and at 3 months; frequency of peer communication is associated with positive adjustment at 3 months and at 1 year; and the network multiplexity has relatively limited impact. These results suggest the importance of examining the impact of peer communication for reducing uncertainty for employees involved in job transitions instead of focusing exclusively on superior-subordinate communication.
Sensitive Ground Protection for Transmission Lines and Distribution Feeders

If ground fault coils are used in high tension overhead systems and underground cable networks, earth leakage relays may be employed to indicate the location of single ground faults. The influence of the contact resistance at the point of the ground is explained. Earth leakage relays in compensated networks, their operation in radial and meshed networks, and the means for determining their correct operation by tests, are described. The paper is based on the practical experiences gained from such installations in England and in Continental Europe.
Laser speckle contrast reveals cerebral blood flow dynamics evoked by optogenetically controlled neuronal activity

As a critical basis of functional brain imaging, neurovascular coupling describes the link between neuronal and hemodynamic changes. The majority of in vivo neurovascular coupling studies was performed by inducing sensory stimulation via afferent inputs. Unfortunately such an approach results in recruiting of multiple types of cells, which confounds the explanation of neuronal roles in stimulus evoked hemodynamic changes. Recently optogenetics has emerged to provide immediate control of neurons by exciting or inhibiting genetically engineered neurons expressing light sensitive proteins. However, there is a need for optical methods capable of imaging the concurrent hemodynamic changes. We utilize laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) to obtain high resolution display of cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the vicinity of the targeted neural population. LSCI is a minimally invasive method for imaging CBF in microvessels through thinned skull, and produces images with high spatiotemporal resolution, wide field of view. In the integrated system light sources with different wavelengths and band-passing/blocking filters were used to allow simultaneous optical manipulation of neuronal activities and optical imaging of corresponding CBF. Experimental studies were carried out in a rodent model expressing channalrhodopsin (ChR2) in excitatory neurons in the somatosensory cortex (S1). The results demonstrated significant increases of CBF in response to ChR2 stimulation (exciting neuronal firing) comparable to the CBF response to contralateral forepaw stimulation. The approach promises to be an exciting minimally invasive method to study neurovascular coupling. The complete system provides a novel approach for broad neuroscience applications.
Ultra-high speed OTDM transmission systems and sub-systems

Summary form only given. Ultra-high speed optical time-division-multiplexed (OTDM) transmission systems are becoming increasing important as one of the key technologies capable of satisfying the growing demand for large capacity optical networks. OTDM has several advantages in terms of system operation such as natural accommodation of higher bit rate payloads, and ease of supervising the multiplexed line. OTDM was proposed in 1988 in order to overcome the electrical TDM system speed limit, and since then its bit rate has been significantly increased to 1.28 Tbit/s. This paper focuses on recent developments in OTDM transmission systems and sub-systems.
Amputations in natural disasters and mass casualties: staged approach

Amputation is a commonly performed procedure during natural disasters and mass casualties related to industrial accidents and military conflicts where large civilian populations are subjected to severe musculoskeletal trauma. Crush injuries and crush syndrome, an often-overwhelming number of casualties, delayed presentations, regional cultural and other factors, all can mandate a surgical approach to amputation that is different than that typically used under non-disaster conditions. The following article will review the subject of amputation during natural disasters and mass casualties with emphasis on a staged approach to minimise post-surgical complications, especially infection.
Cytokines from the pig conceptus: roles in conceptus development in pigs

Establishment of pregnancy in pigs involves maintaining progesterone secretion from the corpora lutea in addition to regulating a sensitive interplay between the maternal immune system and attachment of the rapidly expanding trophoblast for nutrient absorption. The peri-implantation period of rapid trophoblastic elongation followed by attachment to the maternal uterine endometrium is critical for establishing a sufficient placental-uterine interface for subsequent nutrient transport for fetal survival to term, but is also marked by the required conceptus release of factors involved with stimulating uterine secretion of histotroph and modulation of the maternal immune system. Many endometrial genes activated by the conceptus secretory factors stimulate a tightly controlled proinflammatory response within the uterus. A number of the cytokines released by the elongating conceptuses stimulate inducible transcription factors such as nuclear factor kappa B (NFKB) potentially regulating the maternal uterine proinflammatory and immune response. This review will establish the current knowledge for the role of conceptus cytokine production and release in early development and establishment of pregnancy in the pig.
Frequency diverse waveforms for compressive radar sensing

High range resolution radar systems use wideband frequency modulated waveforms to estimate the spatial distribution of the scatterers in the scene. Estimation of range profiles from backscatter energy is a linear inverse problem. The emerging field of compressive sensing has provided provable performance guarantees and signal recovery algorithms for random sub-sampling of sparse or compressible signals. In this paper a novel compressive sensing strategy for radar is introduced which relies on using waveforms with frequency diversity on transmit and random aliasing on receive, that shifts the burden of the sampling operator from the receiver to the transmitter. The transmitter and receiver structure for compressive sensing is described and the sensing matrix for the proposed compressive sensing strategy is derived for use in compressive sensing recovery algorithms based on sparsity regularized inversion. A preliminary experimental demonstration of the compressive sensing strategy is given through sampling of staggered multifrequency linear FM signals through a single low rate A/D.
The influence of interleukin-1 receptor antagonist transgene on spiral ganglion neurons.

The cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1) has been shown to induce the secretion of NGF and GDNF in several types of neuronal populations. IL-1 has also been shown to mediate immune response following trauma or presence of foreign antigens. We investigated the influence of an IL-1 antagonist on the survival of spiral ganglion neurons in inner ears in which hair cells have been eliminated. We used a replication-deficient adenoviral vector containing the human IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) cDNA. Guinea pigs were bilaterally deafened with ototoxic drugs. One week later their left cochleae were inoculated with the IL-1ra vector, designated Ad.IL-1ra. The vector was delivered by injection through the cochlear round window. IL-1ra protein levels within the perilymph of Ad.IL-1ra-injected animals were measured with ELISA and found to be significantly elevated compared to our controls. Spiral ganglion cell counts in experimental ears revealed a lower density of neurons after Ad.IL-1ra inoculation. Taken together, the data suggest that the Ad.IL-1ra-infected cochlear cells synthesized the transgenic human IL-1ra protein, which was then secreted by the cells into the perilymph, resulting in an accelerated neuronal degeneration in hair cell-depleted ears.
Review : Disorders of the Red Cell Membrane A review of biochemical and physiologic altera tions of erythrocyte membranes which may lead to morphologic changes and shortened cell survival

Morphologically similar cells can be seen in such varied conditions as liver disease, renal disease, a-betalipoproteinemia, malab sorption states, congenital nonspherocytic anemias, thalassemia, iron deficiency, pykno cytosis, hemolytic-uremic syndrome, erythro cyte enzyme deficiencies, etc.The common denominator in these condi tions may be an increase in membrane rigid ity, resulting from a diversity of causes. These would include altered protein-lipid- carbohydrate composition, abnormally struc tured hemoglobins, the presence of Heinz bodies due to altered glycolysis or unstable hemoglobins. The end result of such altered membrane elasticity, regardless of cause, would be fragmentation and destruction of the red cells during passage through small vascular channels, particularly in the spleen. Changes in erythrocyte stromal composi tion often seem to reflect more generalized systemic metabolic disorders. Whether any of the alterations of membrane composition are causally related to either the morpho logi...
PFC: Transparent Optimization of Existing Prefetching Strategies for Multi-Level Storage Systems

The multi-level storage architecture has been widely adopted in servers and data centers. However, while prefetching has been shown as a crucial technique to exploit the sequentiality in accesses common for such systems and hide the increasing relative cost of disk I/O, existing multi-level storage studies have focused mostly on cache replacement strategies. In this paper, we show that prefetching algorithms designed for single-level systems may have their limitations magnified when applied to multi-level systems. Overly conservative prefetching will not be able to effectively use the lower-level cache space, while overly aggressive prefetching will be compounded across levels and generate large amounts of wasted prefetch. We take an innovative approach to this problem: rather than designing a new, multi-level prefetching algorithm, we developed prefetching-coordinator (PFC), a hierarchy-aware optimization applicable to any existing prefetching algorithms. PFC does not require any application hints, a priori knowledge on the application access pattern or the native prefetching algorithm, or modification to the I/O interface. Instead, it monitors the upper-level access patterns as well as the lower-level cache status, and dynamically adjusts the aggressiveness of the lower-level prefetching activities. We evaluated PFC with extensive simulation study using a verified multi-level storage simulator, an accurate disk simulator, and access traces with different access patterns. Our results indicate that PFC dynamically controls lower-level prefetching in reaction to multiple system and workload parameters, improving the overall system performance in all 96 test cases. Working with four well-known existing prefetching algorithms adopted in real systems, PFC obtains an improvement of up to 35% to the average request response time, with an average improvement of 14.6% over all cases.
The objectivity norm in American journalism

Why did the occupational norm of ‘objectivity’ arise in American journalism? This question has attracted the interest of many journalism historians but it has not previously been examined as an instance of a more general social phenomenon, the emergence of new cultural norms and ideals. Four conditions for the emergence of new norms are identified – two having to do with the self-conscious pursuit of internal group solidarity; and two having to do with the need to articulate the ideals of social practice in a group in order to exercise control over subordinates and to pass on group culture to the next generation. Reviewing the history of the professionalization of American journalism, this essay identifies the late 19th and early 20th century as the period when these conditions crystallized. Alternative technological and economic explanations of the emergence of objectivity are criticized and the difficulty of understanding why objectivity as a norm emerged first and most fully in the United States rather...
Pragmatism and the Deconstruction of Theology

Theological deconstructionism written in a Derridean manner typically consists of twin announcements about the religious character, and significance, of contemporary experience and culture. The first is the announcement of the death of both the transcendent God and His latter-day substitutes, such as the transcendental self, which have provided the religious underpinnings for classical and modern culture, respectively.
Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery in porcine expressed genes

High-throughput genotyping of swine populations is a potentially efficient method for establishing animal lineage and identification of loci important to animal health and efficient pork production. Markers were developed based upon single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are abundant and amenable to automated genotyping platforms. The focus of this research was SNP discovery in expressed porcine genes providing markers to develop the porcine/human comparative map. Locus specific amplification (LSA) and comparative sequencing were used to generate PCR products and allelic information from parents of a swine reference family. Discovery of 1650 SNPs in 403 amplicons and strategies for optimizing LSA-based SNP discovery using alternative methods of PCR primer design, data analysis, and germplasm selection that are applicable to other populations and species are described. These data were the first large-scale assessment of frequency and distribution of porcine SNPs.
Traumatic brain injury in Africa in 2050: a modeling study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Our aim was to provide estimates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in 2050 for the African population by region, sex and age strata. METHODS: A literature search was performed in October 2014 in PubMed for population-based studies of TBI in different geographical locations. Articles were selected from Kenya (model 1), New Zealand (model 2) and the USA (model 3). In model 1, rates of road traffic injury in Kenya were used to estimate TBI rates in the African continent. Models 2 and 3 used existing TBI incidence estimates from other locations to estimate the burden of TBI for Africa in 2050. The 2050 African population, as projected by the United Nations, was used as a base population. RESULTS: Based on rates from model 1, the estimated total TBI count in Africa in 2050 is 5.98 ± 0.03 million, with the highest count in eastern (2.04 ± 0.01 million) and lowest count in southern (0.15 ± 0.00 million) Africa. A higher TBI count is predicted by models 2 (14.25 ± 0.75 million) and 3 (10.40 ± 0.02 million). Estimated TBI count is highest for males aged 15-34 (5.47 ± 0.55 million in model 2 and 3.21 ± 0.13 million in model 3). CONCLUSIONS: Projected estimates of TBI in Africa are high, with a burden of anywhere between approximately 6 and 14 million new cases in 2050. This emphasizes the importance of developing accurate surveillance systems of TBI at a population level and public health measures to mitigate the risk and burden of TBI. Language: en
‘Speaking up’ about patient safety concerns and unprofessional behaviour among residents: validation of two scales

Objective To develop and test the psychometric properties of two new survey scales aiming to measure the extent to which the clinical environment supports speaking up about (a) patient safety concerns and (b) unprofessional behaviour. Method Residents from six large US academic medical centres completed an anonymous, electronic survey containing questions regarding safety culture and speaking up about safety and professionalism concerns. Results Confirmatory factor analysis supported two separate, one-factor speaking up climates (SUCs) among residents; one focused on patient safety concerns (SUC-Safe scale) and the other focused on unprofessional behaviour (SUC-Prof scale). Both scales had good internal consistency (Cronbach9s α>0.70) and were unique from validated safety and teamwork climate measures (r Conclusions We created and provided evidence for the reliability and validity of two measures (SUC-Safe and SUC-Prof scales) associated with self-reported speaking up behaviour among residents. These two scales may fill an existing gap in residency and safety culture assessments by measuring the openness of communication about safety and professionalism concerns, two important aspects of safety culture that are under-represented in existing metrics.
The ontogeny of sperm specific lactate dehydrogenase in mice.

Testes of sexually mature mice (Mus musculus) contain a unique lactate dehydrogenase isozyme associated with the spermatozoan cell. This isozyme differs in subunit composition and reactivity to the substrate DL-α-hydroxyvalerate when compared to the usual five isozymes found in other tissues. It has been termed LDH-X and has the same mobility as LDH-5 when subjected to electrophoresis on standard polyacrylamide gels. This enzyme first appears during development at the time spermatocytes first mature in the testes. From the time of birth until sexual maturity is reached the specific activity of LDH in testes extracts does not change appreciably. When the mice have reached the weight of 6.5 to 7.5 g with a testes weight of 20 mg, which is equivalent to an age of 15 to 17 days postpartum, LDH-X appears. It is at approximately this time that the first differentiative division of the primitive germ cell, the spermatogonium, occurs. For the next period of time, 15–20 days, the testes grow and differentiate at a rapid rate and during this same period the specific activity of the sperm LDH also increses. Histochemical evidence indicated that activity of LDH-1, 2, and 3 is highest in the interstitial cells while LDH-X activity is restricted to the cells that are close to the lumen of the testicular tubule.
External and internal detection of Nosema ceranae on honey bees using real-time PCR.

Abstract Numerous methods exist for molecular-based detection of Nosema ceranae . Here we determine location of parasite loads, the optimal tissue for pathogen detection, and the likely sources of variability among assays. Bee washes and head/thorax samples revealed substantial N. ceranae loads (2.67 × 10 4 ± 1.12 × 10 4 and 1.83 × 10 4 ± 4.14 × 10 3 ). Midgut samples carried the highest parasite loads (3.42 × 10 6 ± 1.84 × 10 6 ), followed by the hindgut (5.50 × 10 5 ± 3.24 × 10 5 ). We recommend using midgut samples for molecular-based detection and quantification of N. ceranae because of the low variability among samples.
The Research Article as an Instrument of Active Learning for Teaching About Violence, Sexual Abuse, and Union Formation Among Low-Income Families

As noted by Goldsmid and Wilson a quarter of a century ago, a “curious gulf” exists between teaching and research in sociology. This article addresses this problem by suggesting ways in which a current research article from the American Sociological Review can be used in courses at three different levels of the undergraduate curriculum. The active learning exercises are linked to explicit student learning outcomes that build upon recommendations from Liberal Learning and the Sociology Major Updated: Meeting the Challenge of Teaching Sociology in the Twenty-First Century.
Selective Learning Under Two Levels of Drive: Contiguity vs Reinforcement Revisited.

Suntmry.-Theoretical analyses, using Spence's (1958) theory, of two idealized discrimination situations show that the contiguity and reinforcement assumptions of habit strength development need not result in differential predicdons for percent-choice performance of two drive-level groups when the numbers of occurrences of responses are equated. For actual situations approximating 100% generalization (all common cues), both assumptions effectively generate the prediction of no difference in performance. Review of the studies cited by Spence, Goodrich, and Ross (1959) as supporting the contiguity view suggests that situations of this type were employed. In their summary of investigations of the effect of variation of drive level on performance in simple selective (spatial and nonspatial) learning, Spence, Goodrich, and Ross (1959) suggested that one important factor in the empirical results and in the theoretical predictions is whether the numbers of responses to the alternatives are equalized. For sirnations in which the numbers of responses are equated, the prediction was that if increments in habit strength (H) are produced by the occurrence of the response per se (Nn, contiguity assumption; Spence, 1958), then percent choice of the reinforced alternative will not be a function of deprivation level. However, if increments in H occur only on reinforced trials (NO, reinforcement assumption), then choice performance will be a function of drive. The reanalysis below which employs the same definitions of and relations between intervening and experimential variables (Spence, 1958) demonstrates that differential predictions are generated only when the two alternatives are markedly dissimilar. In the expressions that follow, the reinforced response will be designated by R1 and approach toward the cues of the nonreinforced alternative by R2. The same subscripts will be employed to denote values of H, K (incentive motivation), 1 ( inhibition), and E (excitatory potential) associated with the alternatives. D (generalized motivation) is nonsubscripced. The idealized situation of two alternatives with no common or similar cues and hence no generalization between alternatives is the first to be considered. K2, which is a function of the magnitude of reward and number of reinforcements following Rp, and lI, which is a function of the number of nonreinforced occurrences of R1, will be zero. l2 which is a function of conditioned frustration 'This paper is based on analyses resented in a master's thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology, the University or Iowa. Judson S. Brown's supervision and assistance is gratefully acknowledged. Financial support was provided by United States Public Health Service Grancs, MH 11734-02, and MH 11734-03, to Judson S. Brown.
A Direct Comparison of Reactivity and Mechanism in the Gas Phase and in Solution

Direct comparisons of the reactivity and mechanistic pathways for anionic systems in the gas phase and in solution are presented. Rate constants and kinetic isotope effects for the reactions of methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, and tert-butyl iodide with cyanide ion in the gas phase, as well as for the reactions of methyl and ethyl iodide with cyanide ion in several solvents, are reported. In addition to measuring the perdeutero kinetic isotope effect (KIE) for each reaction, the secondary alpha- and beta-deuterium KIEs were determined for the ethyl iodide reaction. Comparisons of experimental results with computational transition states, KIEs, and branching fractions are explored to determine how solvent affects these reactions. The KIEs show that the transition state does not change significantly when the solvent is changed from dimethyl sulfoxide/methanol (a protic solvent) to dimethyl sulfoxide (a strongly polar aprotic solvent) to tetrahydrofuran (a slightly polar aprotic solvent) in the ethyl iodide-cyanide ion S(N)2 reaction in solution, as the "Solvation Rule for S(N)2 Reactions" predicts. However, the Solvation Rule fails the ultimate test of predicting gas phase results, where significantly smaller (more inverse) KIEs indicate the existence of a tighter transition state. This result is primarily attributed to the greater electrostatic forces between the partial negative charges on the iodide and cyanide ions and the partial positive charge on the alpha carbon in the gas phase transition state. Nevertheless, in evaluating the competition between S(N)2 and E2 processes, the mechanistic results for the solution and gas phase reactions are strikingly similar. The reaction of cyanide ion with ethyl iodide occurs exclusively by an S(N)2 mechanism in solution and primarily by an S(N)2 mechanism in the gas phase; only approximately 1% of the gas phase reaction is ascribed to an elimination process.
Syndepositional Brecciation in the Potsdam Sandstone of Northern New York State

ABSTRACT Isolated lenses of breccia within portions of the Potsdam Sandstone in northwestern New York State provide evidence for syndepositional silica cementation in a probable subaerial environment. The breccias consist of a chaotic arrangement of angular to subrounded pebble- to cobble-size clasts of highly indurated, silica-cemented quartz arenite lying in a matrix of less well-cemented, clay and iron oxide-rich quartz sandstone. The lenses of breccia are small (0.6-1.2 m lateral extent, 0.3-0.6 m in thickness) and lie on top of, and are in turn overlain by, "normal" horizontally-bedded or crossbedded sandstones. The breccias described indicate the local breaking up of a well-cemented surface layer of quartz sand, and subsequent foundering of the clasts into underlying layers of uncemented, clay- and ferric oxide-rich quartz sand. The surficial silica cementation probably took place in a subaerial environment similar to that described by Smale (1974) and Williamson (1957) for the silcrete soil horizons of semi-arid areas in South Africa and Australia. Recognition of silcrete brecciation within the Potsdam provides evidence for deposition of at least some of these sands in a very shallow water environment, where subaerial exposure was common.
Characterization of Implantable Antennas for Intracranial Pressure Monitoring: Reflection by and Transmission Through a Scalp Phantom

Characterization of implantable planar inverted-F antennas, designed for intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring at 2.45 GHz, is presented. A setup, incorporating a scalp phantom emulating the implant environment and an absorbing chamber, was implemented for characterizing the antennas, in terms of their reflection coefficient (S 11), resonance frequency (fr), and transmission coefficient through the phantom (S 21) , and is reported for the first time. As a result of our observations that even a very slight change of the biocompatible (silicone) thickness can drastically change the characteristics of such antennas, several antenna prototypes with various silicone thicknesses were tested for a better understanding of the change in their performance with thickness. The main contributions of this paper rest in the evaluation of the antenna characteristics with respect to time, temperature, and far-field radiation, in an emulated biological environment. In this regard, the impact of the coating thickness on fr, drift of fr, S 11, and S 21 over time, and the effective radiated power (ERP) from the transmission (S 21) measurements were evaluated through careful measurements. A decrease in S 11 of 1.2-2.3 dB and an increase in S 21 of 2.2-2.4 dB, over a period of two days, were observed at 2.45 GHz. A decrease of 8-18 MHz for fr was also observed over the same period of time. This drift was due to the absorption of saline by the silicone, leading to a change in its effective dielectric property. An fr increase of approximately 14.5 MHz was also observed by raising the temperature from 20 degC to 37 degC, mainly because of the negative temperature coefficient of the phantom permittivity. Transmission measurements performed using both S 21 and the received power measurement (for an ICP device mimic) yielded a maximum ERP of approximately 2 mW per 1 W of power delivered to the antennas at 2.45 GHz.
Can calcium chemoprevention of adenoma recurrence substitute or serve as an adjunct for colonoscopic surveillance

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the potential cost-effectiveness of calcium chemoprevention post-polypectomy as a substitute or adjunct for surveillance.Methods: We constructed a Markov model of post-polypectomy adenoma recurrence and colorectal cancer (CRC) development, calibrated to data from prospective chemoprevention trials of fiber, calcium, antioxidants, and aspirin. We modeled four scenarios for 50-year-old patients immediately after polypectomy: (i) natural history with no further intervention; (ii) elemental calcium 1,200 mg/day from age 50–80; (iii) surveillance colonoscopy from age 50–80 every 5 years, or 3 years for large adenoma; (iv) calcium + surveillance. Patients were followed up until age 100 or death.Results: Calcium was cost-effective compared to natural history ($3,090,000/life-year gained.Conclusion: Post-polypectomy calcium chemoprevention is unlikely to be a reasonable substitute for surveillance. It may be cost-effective in patients unwilling or unable to undergo surveillance.
A new protocol for the propagation of dendritic cells from rat bone marrow using recombinant GM-CSF, and their quantification using the mAb OX-62

Bone marrow (BM)-derived dendritic cells (DC) are the most potent known antigen (Ag) presenting cell in vivo and in vitro. Detailed analysis of their properties and mechanisms of action requires an ability to produce large numbers of DC. Although DC have been isolated from several rat tissues, including BM, the yield is uniformly low. We describe a simple method for the propagation of large numbers of DC from rat BM and document cell yield with the rat DC marker, OX-62. After depletion of plastic-adherent and Fc+ cells by panning on dishes coated with normal serum, residual BM cells were cultured in gelatin coated flasks using murine rGM-CSF supplemented medium. Prior to analysis, non-adherent cells were re-depleted of contaminating Fc+ cells. Propagation of DC was monitored by double staining for FACS analysis (major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II+/OX-62+, OX-19-). Functional assay, morphological analysis and evaluation of homing patterns of cultured cells revealed typical DC characteristics. MHC class II and OX-62 antigen expression increased with time in culture and correlated with allostimulatory ability. DC yield increased until day 7, when 3.3 x 10(6) DC were obtained from an initial 3 x 10(8) unfractionated BM cells. Significant numbers of DC can be generated from rat BM using these simple methods. This should permit analysis and manipulation of rat DC functions in vivo and in vitro.
Low Frequency (0-1-6*0 cpd) Electromagnetic Study of Deep Mantle Electrical Conductivity Beneath the Hawaiian Islands

Summary Low frequency (0.1–6.0 cpd), naturally occurring electromagnetic fields on Oahu, Hawaii are used to compute E over B response functions that are complex functions of frequency containing information about the electrical conductivity structure at depth. Smoothly varying estimates of the response, unbiased by random electric field noise, are constructed with the aid of polynomials in frequency. Remarkably small standard deviations, for the smoothed response, between 1 and 3 per cent, result from using 22 months of hourly electric field data accurate to 1 μV m−1. The island effect is found to be essentially frequency independent with zero phase shifts for frequencies less than 6 cpd. This enables us to estimate the mantle response that is consistent, at these frequencies, with a conductivity model dependent only on depth. A horizontally layered model is constructed by the inversion method of Schmucker and the layered profile is smoothed by the Backus-Gilbert method that yields locally smoothed conductivity values varying from a near surface value of 0.08 mhom−1 to 0.8 mhom−1 at 700 km depth as in the Parker profile. In addition there appears to be a definite zone of high conductivity in the depth range 330–380 km with a locally smoothed conductivity value of 0.8±0.1 mhom−1 for a smoothing kernel of 30 km spread. The layer conductivity model and the island effect quite accurately reproduce all the observed complex response functions.
Plastid Localization of the Key Carotenoid Enzyme Phytoene Synthase Is Altered by Isozyme, Allelic Variation, and Activity

Plant carotenoids have unique physiological roles related to specific plastid suborganellar locations. Carotenoid metabolic engineering could enhance plant adaptation to climate change and improve food security and nutritional value. However, lack of fundamental knowledge on carotenoid pathway localization limits targeted engineering. Phytoene synthase (PSY), a major rate-controlling carotenoid enzyme, is represented by multiple isozymes residing at unknown plastid sites. In maize (Zea mays), the three isozymes were transiently expressed and found either in plastoglobuli or in stroma and thylakoid membranes. PSY1, with one to two residue modifications of naturally occurring functional variants, exhibited altered localization, associated with distorted plastid shape and formation of a fibril phenotype. Mutating the active site of the enzyme reversed this phenotype. Discovery of differential PSY locations, linked with activity and isozyme type, advances the engineering potential for modifying carotenoid biosynthesis.
A path integral formalism for the closure of autonomous statistical systems.

Recently a path integral formalism has been proposed by the author which gives the time evolution of moments of slow variables in a Hamiltonian statistical system. That formalism is extended here to deal with a more general autonomous dynamical system. An immediate practical application to forced dissipative turbulent systems is thus now possible.
Abstract T P15: Final Infarct Volume as Predictor of Clinical Outcomes Following Intra-Arterial Stroke Treatment

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown age and recanalization as principal variables influencing clinical outcome following intra-arterial stroke treatment (IAT). We sought to study the impact of final DWI infarct volume on patient outcomes following IAT. METHODS: We reviewed records of stroke patients who underwent IAT at our center from Jul 2012 – Jul 2014. Patients demographics, risk factors, admission clinical and neuroimaging findings, treatment times and methods, procedure related complications and modified Rankin score (mRS) at 90 days were analyzed. For patients who are not yet at 90 days post-treatment, mRS at hospital discharge was used in the final analysis. A favorable outcome was defined as mRS 2 or less at 90 days. Infarct volume was calculated using the MIM Maestro automated software on post IAT MR DWI sequences. RESULTS: Overall, 144 consecutively treated patients were identified. Eighty-eight subjects underwent post treatment MRI and are included in this analysis. Patients who achieved successful recanalization (TICI 2b &3) had lower mean infarct burden (53.2 mL) than the cohort with persistent occlusion (95.1 mL), p=0.01. Also, patients with favorable outcomes had significantly lower mean infarct volumes (see table). Multivariate logistic regression model identified lower final DWI infarct volume (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-0.99, p<0.01) and low presentation NIHSS (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.73-0.99, p=0.04) as predictors of favorable outcome. CONCLUSION: Our study results indicate that final DWI infarct volume is an independent predictor of outcome in patients undergoing IAT. Infarct volume may be utilized as a surrogate for clinical outcome. Larger prospective studies are warranted to corroborate these findings. ![][1] [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif
Immunological impact of anti-CTLA4 therapy in a neoadjuvant setting

CTLA4 blockade is an active immunotherapeutic strategy that is currently in clinical trials with cancer patients. Anti-CTLA4 therapy has led to measurable decreases in tumor size in patients with metastatic disease, including durable complete responses in some patients. While greater than 1000 cancer patients have been treated with anti-CTLA4 antibody therapy, there has been no hallmark immunological change demonstrated to be associated with drug administration or clinical benefit. Here we present data from a neoadjuvant anti-CTLA4 clinical trial in bladder cancer patients demonstrating immunological changes that are consistent in both the circulating blood and tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, our data demonstrates an increased ratio of effector to regulatory T cells. This is the first report in human patients that anti-CTLA4 therapy favorably shifts the ratio of effector to regulatory T cells, which may be a potential marker for clinical benefit. This abstract was published in Cancer Immunity, a Cancer Research Institute journal that ceased publication in 2013 and is now provided online in association with Cancer Immunology Research.
Analytically solvable chaotic oscillator based on a first-order filter

A chaotic hybrid dynamical system is introduced and its analytic solution is derived. The system is described as an unstable first order filter subject to occasional switching of a set point according to a feedback rule. The system qualitatively differs from other recently studied solvable chaotic hybrid systems in that the timing of the switching is regulated by an external clock. The chaotic analytic solution is an optimal waveform for communications in noise when a resistor-capacitor-integrate-and-dump filter is used as a receiver. As such, these results provide evidence in support of a recent conjecture that the optimal communication waveform for any stable infinite-impulse response filter is chaotic.
Higher rate alternative non-drug reinforcement produces faster suppression of cocaine seeking but more resurgence when removed

Relapse following removal of an alternative source of reinforcement introduced during extinction of a target behavior is called resurgence. This form of relapse may be related to relapse of drug taking following loss of alternative non-drug reinforcement in human populations. Laboratory investigations of factors mediating resurgence with food-maintained behavior suggest higher rates of alternative reinforcement produce faster suppression of target behavior but paradoxically generate more relapse when alternative reinforcement is discontinued. At present, it is unknown if a similar effect occurs when target behavior is maintained by drug reinforcement and the alternative is a non-drug reinforcer. In the present experiment three groups of rats were trained to lever press for infusions of cocaine during baseline. Next, during treatment, cocaine reinforcement was suspended and an alternative response was reinforced with either high-rate, low-rate, or no alternative food reinforcement. Finally, all reinforcement was suspended to test for relapse of cocaine seeking. Higher rate alternative reinforcement produced faster elimination of cocaine seeking than lower rates or extinction alone, but when treatment was suspended resurgence of cocaine seeking occurred following only high-rate alternative reinforcement. Thus, although higher rate alternative reinforcement appears to more effectively suppress drug seeking, should it become unavailable, it can have the unfortunate effect of increasing relapse.
Suppression of the Boll Weevil with ULV Azinphosmethyl, and Malathion, and with LV Methyl Parathion

In small field plots, azinphosmethyl, malathion, and methyl parathion were equally effective in controlling populations of Anthonomus grandis Boheman. In a caged bioassay test, maximum boll weevil suppression was obtained with azinphosmethyl, and residual control was 84% after 4 days.
Measurement Of Stress Relaxation In Thin Aluminum Metallizations By Continuous Indentation And X-Ray Techniques

Thin aluminum films deposited on silicon substrates are representative of materials systems used in integrated circuit technology. Large stresses in such systems usually arise from thermal expansion mismatch between the thin film and the substrate, and constitute an important reliability concern. X-ray and continuous indentation testing were used to measure post-heat treatment stresses in a 0.3 µm thick aluminum film on a silicon substrate. The sample was heat treated at 450°C for one hour in an inert atmosphere, after which the stress relaxation was followed as a function of time. The stress data gathered by the two techniques agree very closely during a time span of about 100 hours.
TRANSGENE STABILITY OF TRANSGENIC HYBRID OF POPULUS[(Populus tomentosa×P.bolleana)×P.tomentosa] AND ITS EFFECT ON SOIL MICROORGANISMS

Transgene stability,the changes in species and quantity of microorganisms in soil after planting,and horizontal gene transfer are important parts for evaluating biosafety in transgenic plants.The transgenic hybrid of Populus((Populus tomentosa ×P.bolleana)×P.tomentosa)carried AhDREB1 gene had been planted for 3 years in Dongying city Shandong province.Transgene stability of the transgenic hybrid Populus was analyzed by PCR technology,AhDREB1 gene was still existed in the transgenic trees.The flat dilution and analysis of variance was used to survey three groups of microorganisms(bacterium,actinomyces and epiphyte) in the soil around the roots,no significant difference was found in terms of the number of microorganisms between non-and transgenic trees.And no alien target DNA was detected from PCR products of total soil DNA and strains DNA amplified with specific primers of AhDREB1.It indicated that transgene was stable in the transgenic hybrid of Populus after 3 years planting,and no significant negative effect on soil microorganisms system had been found yet.
Building standardized Semantic Web RESTful services to support ICD-11 revision

For the beta phase of the 11th revision of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), the World Health Organization (WHO) intends to accept public input through a distributed model of authoring. To enable social computation and collaboration among broader communities, it is imperative but remains challenging to have an open-data access solution for ICD-11 contents. The objective of the present study is to describe our experiences and challenges on building the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) compliant Semantic Web RESTful services that aim to support the authoring application development of ICD-11. We propose a framework of building such services, which is composed of four layers: a semantic normalization layer, a semantic repository layer, a semantic services layer and an application layer. For the prototype implementation, we first generated the normalized ICD-11 linked RDF data through utilizing WHO ICD URI scheme and SKOS RDF data model. We used the Linked Data API and developed simple RESTful services for the standardized ICD-11 contents. We performed a preliminary evaluation on the usefulness of the system in terms of the feasibility of the services and its potential in support of building the Common Terminology Services 2 (CTS2) compliant services. In conclusion, we developed an effective framework of building standardized Semantic Web RESTful services on ICD-11 linked data, which would be useful to support ICD-11 revision.
Repetitive ischaemia of cat brain: pathophysiological observations.

The cumulative effect of repetitive ischaemia on brain injury was studied in halothane-anaesthetized cats submitted to three episodes of global cerebro-circulatory arrest. Ischaemia of 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 min duration was produced at hourly intervals by intrathoracic clamping of the innominate and subclavian arteries, and the resulting pathophysiological changes were evaluated by recordings on the electroencephalogram (EEG), blood flow and specific gravity. During each episode of ischaemia EEG flattened within 15 s. After ischaemia the latency of EEG recovery increased with the duration and with the number of repetitions of each ischaemic episode, indicating cumulation of electrophysiological impairment. The flow studies revealed a minor degree of hyperaemia after each ischaemic episode, followed by severe hypoperfusion in the caudate nucleus but not in the cerebral cortex. Brain oedema - as assessed by specific gravity measurements - developed in the hippocampus after three episodes of 5 min ischaemia, and...
Prognostic variables in patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis and proximal ureter.

AbstractRecent technological advances in urological endoscopic surgery of the renal pelvis and proximal ureter via ureteroscopy or percutaneous nephroscopy have made it possible to consider parenchymalsparing procedures in patients with transitional cell carcinoma. To define the role of these procedures in the management of renal pelvic or proximal ureteral transitional cell carcinoma we analyzed retrospectively 31 patients who underwent nephroureterectomy for transitional cell carcinoma of the renal pelvis and/or proximal ureter. High grade upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma and a history of metachronous or synchronous bladder transitional cell carcinoma were independent adverse prognostic factors. However, patients with low grade upper urinary tract transitional cell carcinoma and no evidence of a urothelial field change had a 100 per cent 5-year survival rate. It would appear that parenchymal-sparing endoscopic techniques should be regarded with caution in patients with either high grade t...