cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Health Anxiety: Latent Structure and Associations with Anxiety-related Psychological Processes in a Student Sample

Although currently classified as a somatoform disorder, cognitive-behavioral models conceptualize hypochondriasis (HC) as a severe form of health anxiety. The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) is a measure derived from this conceptualization that measures health anxiety symptoms across the range of severity. Previous studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding this measure’s factor structure, but these studies employed factor analytic tools that did not account for the categorical nature of SHAI items. The present psychometric study was designed to address these inconsistencies using categorical factor analysis. Using data from a large student sample we found that the SHAI had two factors: Illness Likelihood and Illness Severity. We also examined the relationship between these domains and cognitive variables associated with other anxiety disorders. Results suggested that the psychological processes present in obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder are also associated with health anxiety. Implications for the conceptualization and classification of severe health anxiety are discussed.
Isosbestic points and consecutive reactions schemes; the reaction of tetra-amminepalladium(II) ion with chloride in acid solution

Abstract In studies of the spectrophotometric course of a reaction isosbestic points are often observed, and these may be present during the whole course of the reaction or during only part of it. In the latter case a particular ambiguity in interpretation arises for consecutive reactions of the type A→B→C. This ambiguity is discussed in some detail and is illustrated for the particular case of the reactions of the tetraamminepalladium(II) ion with hydrochloric acid.
Density functional theory study of oxygen reduction activity on ultrathin platinum nanotubes

The structure, stability, and catalytic activity of a number of single- and double-wall platinum (n,m) nanotubes ranging in diameter from 0.3 to 2.0 nm were studied using plane-wave based density functional theory in the gas phase and water environment. The change in the catalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with the size and chirality of the nanotube was studied by calculating equilibrium adsorption potentials for ORR intermediates and by constructing free energy diagrams in the ORR dissociative mechanism network. In addition, the stability of the platinum nanotubes is investigated in terms of electrochemical dissolution potentials and by determining the most stable state of the material as a function of pH and potential, as represented in Pourbaix diagrams. Our results show that the catalytic activity and the stability toward electrochemical dissolution depend greatly on the diameter and chirality of the nanotube. On the basis of the estimated overpotentials for ORR, we conclude ...
Population one-compartment pharmacokinetic analysis with missing dosage data.

Objective Our objective was to develop a population 1-compartment pharmacokinetic (PK) method of analysis to deal with suspect or missing prior dosage history. Methods Population PK data from a 1-compartment model with first-order elimination and absorption, described by PK parameters clearance, volume of distribution, and absorption rate constant, are simulated. A PK sample is drawn just before a test dose (Dt), followed by a (varying) number of additional samples over 1 interdose interval (τ). For 60% of the subjects, the true history of the scheduled dose (Ds) preceding Dt differs from that prescribed, whereas doses taken before Ds do not. Two settings are evaluated: considerable accumulation of drug in the body (typical drug half-life t½ approximately equal to τ) and very little such accumulation (t½ approximately equal to τ/5). Precision and bias of several PK analysis methods—Missing Dose Method (MDM), Missing Dose Mixture Method (MDMM) and Extrapolation-Subtraction Method (ESM), all of which essentially do not use prior dose history—are compared with those of the Prescribed Dose Method (PDM), which assumes nominal dosage, and an Ideal Method (IDM), which uses true (but unknown) pre-test dose history. Results At t½ approximately equal to τ, MDM and MDMM are the most precise methods. The accuracy of ESM and PDM is poor. At t½ approximately equal to τ/5, no significant differences, in terms of precision or bias, are observed between methods. Misspecification of the structural or statistical model seems not to influence these results. The results of analysis of a real (caffeine) data set are compatible with the findings from the simulations. Conclusion When a test dose is given and a predose baseline observation is taken as part of an “intensive” PK study during outpatient therapy of a 1-compartment drug, an analysis that assumes that the nominal dose history is correct is not robust to past dosage history misspecification, whereas methods that do not do this are robust and reliable. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2004) 76, 441–451; doi: 10.1016/j.clpt.2004.07.010
Methylthioadenosine metabolism in malignant murine cells

Abstract An ether-extractable product formed from 5′-methylthioadenosine by extracts of malignant murine lymphocytic cells is shown to be 2-keto-4-methylthiobutyric acid. When 5′-methylthio [U-14C]adenosine was used as substrate, the product was labelled, confirming earlier reports that carbons of the keto acid are derived from carbons of the ribose. When hydroxylamine was added to the reaction mixture, the ketomethylthiobutyric acid was trapped as the oxime. When glutamine was added, the main product was methionine.
Bacterial infection in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus: course of infection and histopathology

Abstract During the summer, groups of blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, collected in commercial crab traps in Chincoteague Bay, Virginia, often undergo heavy mortalities during the first week to 10 days in the laboratory. Gram-negative bacteria are seen in hemolymph and tissues of many of the sick and dying crabs. The bacterial infections appear to be acquired during capture and transport, suggesting that potentially pathogenic bacteria in water or on the exoskeleton may be introduced into tissues by wounding or other means during the stressful conditions suffered at that time. The pathology caused by bacterial infection includes diminution in numbers of hemocytes, reduced clotting ability of the hemolymph, and progressive formation of hemocyte aggregations with necrotic centers in the heart, arteries, and hemal sinuses and spaces. By the third day, aggregations, often with many bacteria visible in the centers, occur especially in the gills, antennal gland, and Y organ. There are large premortem plasma clots in some animals. The focal and massive necroses that occur may be due to hypoxia resulting from obstruction of hemolymph flow by cellular aggregations and plasma clots and to toxic products of necrotic cells and/or bacteria.
Determinants of integral group matrices for some nonabelian 2-generator groups

The problem considered is to characterize those integers d such that d = det(A)Aan integral group matrix for a dihedral or metacyclic group G. For G=D m, the dihedral group of degree m, the integers d are characterized when m is an odd prime and the primes d are characterized when m≡ 2 mod 4. For a ZS-metacyclic group G of order n, it is shown that if a prime p divides (d,n) such that n and d= det(A) has solutions, then P t+1∥d. For both types of groups G we show that the order of G can never occur as the determinant of an integral group matrix for G.
“Mixed” kinetics control of fluid-rock interaction in reservoir production scenarios

Abstract We examine scenarios under which mineral-water reaction kinetics exhibit mixed-kinetic control, that is, when both surface reaction rates and hydrodynamic conditions influence rates of dissolution and precipitation from aqueous solutions at mineral-water interfaces. This dependence arises in many engineering situations and imparts a fluid flow velocity dependence on overall rates. Recognition of transport control is critical for extraction of rate data under laboratory conditions; failure to do so can lead to drastically overestimated, or in some cases, underestimated rates of scale formation in production scenarios. Data on gypsum (at 25°C) and calcite (at 100°C) dissolution and precipitation kinetics are examined for relative control of rates by mixed transport/reaction control, and a rate expression is derived that reproduces the different data sets. This rate law takes the form: R = k ( 1 − Ω bulk 1 / 2 + ζ [ 1 − { 1 + 2 ( 1 − Ω bulk 1 / 2 ) / ζ } 1 / 2 ] ) where ζ = ( D m eq ) / 2 δ k where R is rate; k is the rate constant for purely transport control; Ω is the saturation expressed as a ratio of calcium ion concentration in bulk solution to the equilibrium concentration, and the other terms are defined in the text; and ζ is a factor which measures the relative strength of transport or reaction steps as influence concentrations of species at the mineral-water interface. Combined with reaction transport equations, this expression is capable of predicting gypsum and calcite mineral-water reaction rates over a wide variety of saturation and hydrodynamic conditions. Although comprehensive data sets are lacking, we suggest that this equation is applicable to precipitation of other sulfate minerals that are problematic scale formers, such as barite, celestite, and anhydrite.
The Discrepancy between Consensual-Level Culture and Individual-Level Culture:

Realo (2003) raises the interesting point that the opinions about a culture by culture `experts' may or may not correspond to the beliefs about that same culture held by people of that culture. In ...
Selection for kanamycin resistance in transformed petunia cells leads to the co-amplification of a linked gene.

A cell suspension culture was established from a transgenic petunia (Petunia hybrida L.) plant which carried genes encoding neomycin phosphotransferase II (nptII) and β-glucuronidase (uidA, GUS). Two selection experiments were performed to obtain cell lines with increased resistance to kanamycin. In the first, two independently selected cell lines grown in the presence of 350 μg/ml kanamycin were eight to ten-fold more resistant to kanamycin than unselected cells. Increased resistance was correlated with amplification of the nptII gene and an increase in nptII mRNA levels. Selection for kanamycin resistance also produced amplification of the linked GUS gene, resulting in increased GUS mRNA levels and enzyme activity. Selected cells grown in the absence of kanamycin for twelve growth cycles maintained increased copy numbers of both genes, and GUS enzyme activity was also stably overexpressed. In a second selection experiment, a cell line grown continuously in medium containing 100 μg/ml kanamycin exhibited higher nptII and GUS gene copy numbers and an increase in GUS enzyme activity after eleven growth cycles. In this cell line, amplification of the two genes was accompanied by DNA rearrangement.
The Cosmic-Ray Intensity above the Atmosphere

In a series of flights of Aerobee and V-2 rockets at geomagnetic latitude $\ensuremath{\lambda}=41$\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}N, single Geiger counters and Geiger counter telescopes have been employed to measure the total intensity of cosmic rays above the appreciable atmosphere. The directional intensity $j$, averaged over the upper hemisphere, is found to be 0.120\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.009/sec./${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/steradian, constant from 55-km altitude to the highest altitude reached of 161 km. This result is an experimental upper limit to the primary intensity of charged particles at this latitude.
A low-power, fixed-point, front-end feature extraction for a distributed speech recognition system

This work describes the optimization of a signal processing front-end for a distributed speech recognition system with the goal of reducing power consumption. Two categories of source code optimizations were used, architectural and algorithmic. Architectural optimizations reduce the power consumption for a particular system, in this case, the HP Labs Smartbadge IV prototype portable system. Algorithmic optimizations are more general and involve changes in the algorithmic implementation of the source code to run faster and consume less power. A cycle accurate energy simulation shows a reduction in power usage by 83.5% with these optimizations. The optimized source code runs 34 times faster than the original code, therefore it can run at lower processor clock speeds and voltages for further reductions in power consumption. This technique, known as dynamic voltage scaling, was implemented on the Smartbadge IV hardware for an overall reduction in power usage of 89.2%.
Argument placement recommendation and relevancy assessment in an intelligent argumentation system

Argumentation is a critical process for many social activities that need collaborative intelligence. Existing intelligent argumentation systems allow multiple stakeholders from distributed geographical locations to share their opinions and contribute to a decision making process. In the current system, a stakeholder needs to read all the existing arguments posted by other stakeholders before contributing his/her own ideas/arguments. However, when information accumulates and an argumentation network becomes considerably large, it will cost tremendous time and effort for the stakeholder to read and comprehend all existing arguments. In this paper, we propose methods to implement a recommendation component built into an intelligent argumentation system. The recommendation component can automatically assist a stakeholder to better understand the current state of an argumentation by summarizing and identifying a subset of existing arguments that are relevant to the stakeholder. Thus, our proposed work will allow a stakeholder to efficiently and effectively express his/her thoughts in an intelligent argumentation system in relevant argumentation thread. We also empirically evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed recommendation component, and the empirical results indicate it is effective according to a real dataset.
Interdisciplinary Treatment of Maladaptive Behaviors Associated with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS): A Case Report

The prevalence of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) in adolescents and young adults has been increasing during the past decade. Despite this increase, documentation regarding treatment of these patients is just beginning to emerge. In addition, despite a call for a multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary approach, no studies have examined the efficacy of such an approach to treatment. This paper describes a case study of a 19-year-old male with debilitating POTS seen at a tertiary clinic for evaluation and subsequent intensive interdisciplinary treatment. The treatment approach is described and outcomes are presented.
The Fertilizing Capacity of Diluted Chicken Semen

Abstract ONE of the advantages of artificial insemination over natural mating is the efficient use of males. Thus, very large sire families, desirable from the standpoint of certain experimental designs, become feasible. The application of semen extenders further enhances this potentiality. Diluents which have been investigated as potential semen extenders in poultry include physiological saline, glycine, whole chicken semen (as extender for turkey semen), chicken seminal plasma, blood serum, preheated whole milk, egg white, and various buffers. Dilution rates which have been studied (parts of semen to parts of diluent) ranged from low (1:1 to 1:4), to moderate (1:5 to 1:10), to high (higher than 1:10). At low dilution rates, fertility of semen diluted with the following diluents gave results comparable to those of undiluted control: Ringer’s and Locke’s solution, milk (Schindler et al., 1955), glycine (Rowell and Cooper, 1957), a phosphate buffer (Wilcox, 1958), and chicken seminal plasma (Rowell and …
Symbol graph based discriminative training and rescoring for improved math symbol recognition

In the symbol recognition stage of online handwritten math expression recognition, the one-pass dynamic programming algorithm can produce high-quality symbol graphs in addition of the best recognized hypotheses. In this paper, we exploit the rich hypotheses embedded in a symbol graph to discriminatively train the exponential weights of different model likelihoods and the insertion penalty. The training is investigated in two different criteria: maximum mutual information (MMI) and minimum symbol error (MSE). After discriminative training, trigram-based graph rescoring is performed in a post-processing stage. Experimental results finally show a 97% symbol accuracy on a test set of 2,574 written expressions with 43,300 symbols, a significant improvement of symbol accuracy obtained.
Strategies for Integrating Computer-based Activities into Your Educational Environment: A Practical Guide

Strategies for implementing instructional technology are based on recent experiences at the University of Michigan Medical Center. The issues covered include 1) addressing facilities, hardware, and staffing needs, 2) determining learners' skill requirements and appropriate training activities, and 3) selecting and customizing educational software. Many examples are provided, and nine key points for success are emphasized.
Minimum Wages, Employer-Provided Health Insurance, and the Non-discrimination Law: Minimum Wages, Health Insurance, and the Non-discrimination Law

This article exploits cross-state variation in minimum wages to investigate the impact of minimum wage changes on employer-provided health insurance. In contrast to the existing empirical literature, this article considers an environment where some firms are constrained by non-discrimination laws that govern the provision of health insurance. For these firms, minimum wage changes do not reduce the probability that workers will receive employer-provided health insurance. For firms not covered by the non-discrimination law, and free to tailor their fringe benefits, low-skilled workers experience a disproportionate reduction in the availability and generosity of health insurance after a minimum wage increase.
Alternative Splicing and the Steady-State Ratios of mRNA Isoforms Generated by It Are under Strong Stabilizing Selection in Caenorhabditis elegans

Evolutionary studies indicate that a high proportion of alternative splicing (AS) events are species-specific; just 28% of minor-form alternatively spliced exons are conserved between mice and humans. We employed a splicing-sensitive microarray to study the evolution of allele-specific AS in nematodes. We compared splicing levels among five distinct Caenorhabditis elegans lines. Our results indicate that AS is less variable between natural isolates (NIs) from England, Hawaii, and Australia than when compared with mutation accumulation lines (6% vs. 21%, respectively, vary compared with N2). This suggests that strong stabilizing selection shapes the evolution of the ratios of isoforms generated by AS in C. elegans. When we analyzed some of the splicing changes between the NIs, we found examples of changes in both cis and trans that lead to alterations in gene-specific AS. This indicates that both these mechanisms for changing AS are employed along the path toward speciation in nematodes.
Characterization of macrolide resistance genes in Haemophilus influenzae isolated from children with cystic fibrosis

OBJECTIVES to determine the mechanism(s) of macrolide resistance in Haemophilus influenzae isolated from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients participating in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of azithromycin. METHODS macrolide susceptibility, mutations and carriage of the macrolide resistance genes erm(A), erm(B), erm(C), erm(F) and mef(A) were determined using PCR assays and sequencing or hybridization of the PCR products. H. influenzae isolates were used as donors in conjugation studies with H. influenzae and Enterococcus faecalis recipients. Transconjugant susceptibility and the macrolide resistance genes carried were determined. RESULTS of the 106 H. influenzae isolates, 27 were resistant and 78 intermediate resistant to azithromycin and/or erythromycin. All isolates carried one or more macrolide resistance gene(s), with the mef(A), erm(B) and erm(F) genes found in 74%, 31% and 29% of the isolates, respectively. None of the selected isolates had L4 or L22 mutations. Twenty-five donors, with various macrolide MICs, transferred macrolide resistance genes to H. influenzae Rd (3.5 × 10(-7)-1 × 10(-10)) and/or E. faecalis (1 × 10(-7)-1 × 10(-8)) recipients. The H. influenzae transconjugants were phenotypically resistant or intermediate to both macrolides while E. faecalis transconjugants were erythromycin resistant. CONCLUSIONS this is the first identification of erm(A), erm(C) and erm(F) genes in H. influenzae or bacteria from CF patients and the first characterization of macrolide gene transfer from H. influenzae donors. The high level of H. influenzae macrolide gene carriage suggests that the use of azithromycin in the CF population may ultimately reduce the effectiveness of continued or repeated macrolide therapy.
Mobile agents: ten reasons for failure

Mobile agents have often been advocated as the solution to the problem of designing and implementing distributed applications in a dynamic environment. Mobile agents provide a very appealing, intuitive, and apparently simple abstraction. Unfortunately there are many difficult problems that have to be addressed in order to make mobile agent-based applications work reliably. This paper discusses some of the problems associated with mobile agents and argues that other forms of code mobility can provide similar advantages while raising much fewer issues.
Mouse Model for Efficacy Testing of Antituberculosis Agents via Intrapulmonary Delivery

Here we describe an experimental murine model that allows for aerosolized antituberculosis drug efficacy testing. Intrapulmonary aerosol delivery of isoniazid, capreomycin, and amikacin to mice with pulmonary infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis demonstrated efficacy in reducing pulmonary bacterial loads similar to that seen by standard drug delivery methods, even when lower concentrations of drugs and fewer doses were used in the aerosolized drug regimens. Interestingly, intrapulmonary delivery of isoniazid also reduced the bacterial load in the spleen.
Suitability of single tissue dielectric constant measurements to assess local tissue water in normal and lymphedematous skin.

Summary Previous reports described the use of average tissue dielectric constant (TDC) measurements to assess local tissue water and its change. Our goal was to determine if a single TDC measurement could be used in place of the average of multiple measurements. The comparison criteria used to test this was the extent to which single and averaged measurements yielded similar TDC values in both normal and lymphedematous tissue. Measurements were made in two groups of women; a control group (n = 20) and a group with unilateral arm lymphedema (n = 10). In the control group, TDC was measured to multiple depths (0AE5–5AE0 mm) on both ventral forearms and to a depth of 2AE5 mm on the lateral thorax on both body sides. In the lymphedematous group, TDC was measured on both ventral forearms to a depth of 2AE5 mm. Results showed that the 95% confidence interval for differences between single and averaged TDC values was less than ±1 TDC unit and that the limits of agreement between methods was less than ±2AE5 TDC units (±6AE5%) for each condition, site and depth measured. This finding suggests that where this level of agreement is acceptable suitable clinical assessments can be made using a single TDC measurement.
Radiation effects in light-emitting and laser diodes

This paper discusses radiation effects in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes in the visible and near infrared region. Although initial evaluations of radiation damage in these types of optical emitters were done more than 30 years ago, modern LEDs and laser diodes respond somewhat differently to radiation because of the many advances in fabrication and materials technology that have occurred during the last 30 years. Results from newer technologies are discussed, along with revised interpretations of older results in the literature. The dependence of damage on particle type and energy, which has been revised by more recent experimental work, is also discussed in the paper.
Fuel choices for fuel-cell vehicles: well-to-wheels energy and emission impacts

Abstract Because of their high energy efficiencies and low emissions, fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs) are undergoing extensive research and development. While hydrogen will likely be the ultimate fuel to power fuel-cell vehicles, because of current infrastructure constraints, hydrogen-carrying fuels are being investigated as transitional fuel-cell fuels. A complete well-to-wheels (WTW) evaluation of fuel-cell vehicle energy and emission effects that examines (1) energy feedstock recovery and transportation; (2) fuel production, transportation, and distribution; and (3) vehicle operation must be conducted to assist decision makers in selecting the fuel-cell fuels that achieve the greatest energy and emission benefits. A fuel-cycle model developed at Argonne National Laboratory—called the Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) model—was used to evaluate well-to-wheels energy and emission impacts of various fuel-cell fuels. The results show that different fuel-cell fuels can have significantly different energy and greenhouse gas emission effects. Therefore, if fuel-cell vehicles are to achieve the envisioned energy and emission reduction benefits, pathways for producing the fuels that power them must be carefully examined.
Resiliency Among People Who are Homeless During the Washington-Area Sniper Attacks of October 2002

The natural and man-made disasters in the first decade of the 21st century have raised issues of race, poverty, and inequality in federal, state, and local emergency response and recovery systems. In various studies, reports, and media accounts of these events, little is mentioned about people who were homeless at the time of the disaster, showing a further marginalization of some populations of people who are poor during such times. For this study, researchers interviewed 151 people who were homeless during the Washington, DC, sniper shootings of 2002 to ascertain how they behaved and coped during the shootings, and how long it took them to return to how they were before the shootings. Implications of the findings are drawn for social work research, education, and practice.
Functional tRNAs with altered 3′ ends

The CCA trinucleotide is a universally conserved feature of the 3' end of tRNAs, where it serves as the site of amino acid attachment. Despite this extreme conservation, we have isolated functional mutants of tRNA(His) and tRNA(Val1) with altered CCA ends. A mutant that leads to de-repression of the histidine biosynthetic operon in Salmonella typhimurium has been characterized and found to have the CCA end of the sole tRNA(His) species mutated to UCA. However, constructed mutants of tRNA(His) with ACA or GCA ends appeared to be nonfunctional in vivo. Mutants of Escherichia coli tRNA(Val1) with GCA or ACA ends were isolated on the basis of their ability to promote frameshifting at a specific sequence. These same tRNA(Val1) mutants also caused read-through of stop codons that were one, or in some instances two, codons downstream of the valine codon decoded by the mutant tRNA. A startling implication of these data is that disruption of interactions between the CCA end of the tRNA and the large ribosomal subunit promotes these aberrant codon-anticodon interactions on the small ribosomal subunit.
An Agent-Based Model of Private Woodland Owner Management Behavior Using Social Interactions, Information Flow, and Peer-To-Peer Networks

Privately owned woodlands are an important source of timber and ecosystem services in North America and worldwide. Impacts of management on these ecosystems and timber supply from these woodlands are difficult to estimate because complex behavioral theory informs the owner’s management decisions. The decision-making environment consists of exogenous market factors, internal cognitive processes, and social interactions with fellow landowners, foresters, and other rural community members. This study seeks to understand how social interactions, information flow, and peer-to-peer networks influence timber harvesting behavior using an agent-based model. This theoretical model includes forested polygons in various states of ‘harvest readiness’ and three types of agents: forest landowners, foresters, and peer leaders (individuals trained in conservation who use peer-to-peer networking). Agent rules, interactions, and characteristics were parameterized with values from existing literature and an empirical survey of forest landowner attitudes, intentions, and demographics. The model demonstrates that as trust in foresters and peer leaders increases, the percentage of the forest that is harvested sustainably increases. Furthermore, peer leaders can serve to increase landowner trust in foresters. Model output and equations will inform forest policy and extension/outreach efforts. The model also serves as an important testing ground for new theories of landowner decision making and behavior.
Beyond Hypothesis Testing

The extraordinary success of physicists to find simple laws that explain many phenomena is beguiling. With the exception of quantum mechanics, it suggests a deterministic world in which theories are right or wrong, and the world is simple. However, attempts to apply such thinking to other phenomena have not been so successful. Individually and collectively we face many situations dominated by uncertainty, about weather and climate, about how wisely to raise children, and how the economy should be managed. The controversy about hypothesis testing is dominated by the tension between simple explanations and the complexity of the world we live in.
Should Immunomodulation Therapy Alter the Surgical Management in Patients With Rectovaginal Fistula and Crohn's Disease?

Background Rectovaginal fistula in Crohn's disease is challenging for both healthcare providers and patients. The impact of immunomodulation therapy on healing after surgery is unclear. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine whether immunomodulation therapy impacts healing after surgery for rectovaginal fistula in Crohn's disease. Design This was a retrospective analysis with a follow-up telephone survey. Settings The study was conducted at two major tertiary referral centers. Patients All of the patients who underwent rectovaginal fistula repair from 1997 to 2013 at our centers were included. Main outcome measures A χ test and logistical regression analysis were used to study treatment outcomes according to type of procedure, recent use of immunosuppressives, and number of previous attempted repairs. Age, BMI, smoking, comorbidities, previous vaginal delivery/obstetric injury, use of probiotics, diverting stoma, and use of seton were also analyzed. Results A total of 120 (62%) patients were contacted, and 99 (51%) of them agreed to participate in the study. Mean follow-up after surgical repair was 39 months. Procedures included advancement flap (n = 59), transvaginal repair (n = 14), muscle interposition (n = 14), episioproctotomy (n = 6), sphincteroplasty (n = 3), and other (n = 3); overall, 63% of patients experienced healing. Sixty-eight patients underwent recent immunomodulation therapy but did not exhibit statistical significance in outcome after surgical repair. In the subset of patients with fistula related to obstetric injury, a 74% (n = 26) healing rate after surgical repair was observed. Age, BMI, diabetes mellitus, use of steroids, probiotics, seton before repair, fecal diversion, and number of repairs did not affect healing. Limitations This was a retrospective analysis; the high volume tertiary referral inflammatory bowel disease centers studied may not be reflective of rectovaginal fistula presentation, treatment, or results in all patients, and the 3-year follow-up may not be sufficiently long. Conclusions Despite a relatively low success rate (63%) in healing after surgical repair of a rectovaginal fistula, the recent use of immunomodulation therapy did not negatively impact healing. However, tissue interposition techniques had the highest success rates.
Staggered Scheduling of Sensor Estimation and Fusion for Tracking Over Long-Haul Links

Networked sensing can be found in a multitude of real-world applications. We focus on the communication-and computation-constrained long-haul sensor networks, where sensors are remotely deployed over a vast geographical area to perform certain tasks. Of special interest is a class of such networks where sensors take measurements of one or more dynamic targets and send their state estimates to a remote fusion center via long-haul satellite links. The severe loss and delay over such links can easily reduce the amount of sensor data received by the fusion center, thereby limiting the potential information fusion gain and resulting in suboptimal tracking performance. In this paper, starting with the temporal-domain staggered estimation for an individual sensor, we explore the impact of the so-called intra-state prediction and retrodiction on estimation errors. We then investigate the effect of such estimation scheduling across different sensors on the spatial-domain fusion performance, where the sensing time epochs across sensors are scheduled in an asynchronous and staggered manner. In particular, the impact of communication delay and loss as well as sensor bias on such scheduling is explored by means of numerical and simulation studies that demonstrate the validity of our analysis.
MBE deep-UV LEDs on bulk AlN substrates

Using MBE to grow extreme quantum confined heterostructures of 1-2 monolayers GaN/AlN as the active region on bulk AlN substrates, a DUV LED with room temperature electroluminescence at 250 nm MBE grown deep UV LED is demonstrated. LEDs on high quality bulk AlN substrates show significantly lower leakage current compared to those grown on AlN-on-Sapphire templates. Tunneling through the thin AlN barriers and polarization doping for the p-graded AlGaN is used to enhance the efficiency of the devices. Significant decrease in leakage is observed on bulk AlN, with a sharp 13 nm linewidth at 250 nm emisson.
Short Sleep Duration and Screen-Based Activities: A Longitudinal Multilevel Analysis.

Objective. The aim of this study was to identify lifestyle habits that contribute to night sleep reduction in the Kuwaiti population. Methods. Children were 10 to 12 years old and were approximately equally distributed among 138 elementary schools representing the 6 governorates of Kuwait. In the first phase of the study, data were collected from 8317 children. The same data were collected 2 years later from 6316 of the children from the first phase of the study. Calibrated examiners conducted sleep evaluation, lifestyle habits interviews, and body weight measurements. A multilevel random intercept and slope model was conducted to determine the effect of screen-based activities on the daily night sleep hours at 3 levels: within schools, among children, and over time. The primary dependent variable was the number of daily sleep hours. Independent variables assessed were lifestyle habits including screen-based activity variables including TV and video game use. Results. Screen-based activities were signific...
Daily Activities and Experiences of Custodial Grandparents: An Exploratory Study

Aim: It is well established that custodial grandparents experience higher rates of health problems compared with their age-related peers who are not raising grandchildren. However, less is known ab...
A novel IoT-based wireless system to monitor heart rate: student research abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) with smartphone technologies have vast applications in solving the problems of heart diseases in patients needing care. With wireless sensors and smart devices, the real-time physical status of heart patients can be identified by remote monitoring no matter where they are or what they are doing. The Electro-Cardio-Gram (ECG, and also called EKG), plays an important role in the monitoring, diagnosis and rescue of heart disease patients. The patient monitoring system can reduce the risk of infection and other complications. Furthermore, implementation of patient monitoring in hospitals might reduce various medical costs needed for monitoring in both personal and equipment, as well as in terms of installation maintenance [1]. Current research has been focused on heart rate monitoring systems, which do not adequately provide information or safety for elderly individuals prone to a stroke. The area of heart disease prediction using IoT is still understudied.
Debate on the New Global Capitalism: Transnational Capitalist Class, Transnational State Apparatuses, and Global Crisis

ABSTRACTThe state-centrism and nation-state/inter-state framework that reifies and fetishizes the nation-state and informs much theorization and analysis of world politics, political economy, and class structure is ever more incongruent with twenty-first century world developments. An epochal shift is underway to a new phase in the on-going and open-ended evolution of world capitalism, global capitalism, characterized by the rise of truly transnational capital and the integration of every country into a new globalized system of production and finance, a transnational capitalist class as would be global ruling class, and transnational state apparatuses. The anomalies in traditional approaches demonstrate the need for a Kuhnian paradigm shift. Competition among capitals and international conflicts are endemic to the system yet competition takes on new forms in the age of globalization not necessarily expressed as national rivalry. Global capitalism is in crisis. The more enlightened strata of the transnatio...
The chemotaxis regulator pilG of Xylella fastidiosa is required for virulence in Vitis vinifera grapevines

Type IV pili of X. fastidiosa are regulated by pilG, a response regulator protein putatively involved in chemotaxis-like operon sensing stimuli through signal transduction pathways. To elucidate the roles of pilG in pathogenicity of X. fastidiosa, the pilG-deletion mutant XfΔpilG and complemented strain XfΔpilG-C were generated. While all strains had similar growth curves in vitro, XfΔpliG showed significant reduction in cell-matrix adherence and biofilm production compared with wild-type X. fastidiosa and XfΔpilG-C. The genes pilE, pilU, pilT, and pilS were down-regulated in XfΔpliG when compared with its complemented strain and wild-type X. fastidiosa. Finally, no Pierce’s disease symptoms were observed in grapevines inoculated with XfΔpilG, whereas grapevines inoculated with the wild-type X. fastidiosa and complemented strain of XfΔpilG-C developed typical Pierce’s Disease (PD) symptoms. The results indicate that pilG has a role in X. fastidiosa virulence in grapevines.
Simultaneous identification of dynamic model and occupant-induced disturbance for commercial buildings

Abstract A model of a building's thermal dynamics is needed for prediction-based control. The task of identifying a thermal dynamic model is made challenging by the presence of large unmeasured disturbances, especially the heat gain due to the occupants. In fact, identification of this “occupant-induced load” is also valuable for predictive control—especially in commercial buildings. We propose a method to identify both a model (of resistance-capacitance network type) and the unmeasured disturbances from measured input-output data. The method is based on the insight that the main contributor to the unmeasured disturbance, the occupant-induced load, is piecewise constant, especially in commercial buildings. This can be used to construct an augmented dynamic model so that disturbance estimation is converted to a state estimation problem. An outer-loop optimization identifies the best-fit parameter values. The effectiveness of the method is evaluated using data from a simulation model (under both open and closed-loop operations) and a real building.
Life-Cycle Analysis of Biofuels and Electricity for Transportation Use

As the global population and economy continue to grow, demand for energy will continue to grow. The transportation sector has been relying solely on petroleum, consuming more than 50 % of the global world oil production. The United States is the top oil-importer country. Two major issues facing the transportation sector in the U.S. and other major countries are energy security and environmental sustainability. Improvements in the energy efficiency of vehicles and the substitution of petroleum fuels with alternative fuels can help slow the growth in the demand for petroleum oil and mitigate the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Biofuels and electricity are being promoted for their potential reduction of petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions. This chapter examines the potential reduction of life-cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of biofuels in internal combustion engine vehicles and electricity in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and battery-powered electric vehicles.
Proof in Mathematics Education.

The development of reasoning ability is one of the major goals of education, and mathematics as reasoning is one of the objectives of the standards created by the National Council of Teachers of Ma...
Squeezing cells through the epigenetic machinery.

In interstitial tissues, cells are present in physically confined spaces created by the extracellular matrix (ECM). A deeper understanding of how cells disperse and migrate in confinement has important clinical implications in designing cellular therapeutics for optimal delivery to target tissues and developing treatment strategies against cancer metastasis. The mesh size of the ECM is often smaller than the cell size and hence acts as a physical barrier for cell migration. While cells produce metalloproteinases (MMPs) to degrade the ECM as they migrate (1), some cells can also migrate by undergoing physical deformation and squeezing through the ECM. The ability of cells to deform is inherently linked to their mechanical properties. For example, a classic micropipetting study shows that immature myeloid progenitors residing in bone marrow are more rigid than circulating mature blood cells (2). At the cell surface (cortex), the actomyosin cytoskeleton generates contractile forces to generate tension, which in turn regulates cell deformation (3). While the role of actomyosin contractility in migration has been widely investigated (4), the nucleus is the largest organelle in cells, and changes in nuclear morphology during cell migration were already observed more than a century ago (5). Recent studies show that lamins, the intermediate filament proteins delineating the inner nuclear membrane, regulate mechanical properties of the nucleus (6) and limit migration through small pores (7⇓–9). Lamins physically interact with chromatin and regulate histone methylation (10). Thus, we are only beginning to understand how different components of the nucleus, such as the epigenetic machinery, impact cell migration in confined spaces. In PNAS, Wang et al. (11) report a significant step in this direction by showing that 3D environments activate actomyosin contractility to induce trimethylation of the histone 3 protein at the residue K4 (H3K4me3) via the WD … [↵][1]1Email: shinjw{at}uic.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Supercritical extraction of binder containing poly(vinyl butyral) and dioctyl phthalate from barium titanate–platinum multilayer ceramic capacitors

Supercritical extraction using carbon dioxide was examined for the removal of binder from multilayer ceramic capacitors. The binder contained poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) and dioctyl phthalate (DOP), and the dielectric and metal electrode materials were barium titanate and platinum, respectively. At 40 MPa of carbon dioxide at 95 °C, approximately 55 wt % of the binder could be removed, and this was mainly the dioctyl phthalate component. The use of entrainers such as 2-propanol, methyl isobutyl ketone, and n-hexane was seen to have negligible effect on the degree of binder removal. The dielectric constant, loss tangent, and breakdown voltage of devices processed by supercritical extraction were similar as compared to devices processed by thermal oxidation alone. Although it was not possible to extract all of the binder with supercritical carbon dioxide, removal of the DOP fraction increases the pore space in the body by a factor of two. Transport model calculations indicate this partial removal of binder mitigates the buildup of pressure in the subsequent thermal processing step and can reduce the processing time for thermal removal of the remaining binder by a factor of 25.
In vivo investigation of hyperpolarized [1,3- 13 C 2 ]acetoacetate as a metabolic probe in normal brain and in glioma

Dysregulation in NAD+/NADH levels is associated with increased cell division and elevated levels of reactive oxygen species in rapidly proliferating cancer cells. Conversion of the ketone body acetoacetate (AcAc) to β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB) by the mitochondrial enzyme β-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (BDH) depends upon NADH availability. The β-HB-to-AcAc ratio is therefore expected to reflect mitochondrial redox. Previous studies reported the potential of hyperpolarized 13C-AcAc to monitor mitochondrial redox in cells, perfused organs and in vivo. However, the ability of hyperpolarized 13C-AcAc to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) and its potential to monitor brain metabolism remained unknown. Our goal was to assess the value of hyperpolarized [1,3-13C2]AcAc in healthy and tumor-bearing mice in vivo. Following hyperpolarized [1,3-13C2]AcAc injection, production of [1,3-13C2]β-HB was detected in normal and tumor-bearing mice. Significantly higher levels of [1-13C]AcAc and lower [1-13C]β-HB-to-[1-13C]AcAc ratios were observed in tumor-bearing mice. These results were consistent with decreased BDH activity in tumors and associated with increased total cellular NAD+/NADH. Our study confirmed that AcAc crosses the BBB and can be used for monitoring metabolism in the brain. It highlights the potential of AcAc for future clinical translation and its potential utility for monitoring metabolic changes associated with glioma, and other neurological disorders.
Impacts of calcination on surface-clean supported nanoparticle catalysts

Abstract Traditional methods of preparing size-controlled supported nanoparticle catalysts typically require the use of stabilizing ligands that passivate the nanoparticle surface to prevent overgrowth and aggregation. The presence of these ligands on catalytic surfaces can be detrimental to activity and are typically removed via a high-temperature annealing step, which ultimately results in changes to nanoparticle morphology and thus, reduced activity. We previously demonstrated that silylamine switchable surfactants can be used to synthesize and deposit highly active nanoparticles on to a support surface while preserving monodispersity. Here, we demonstrate using XPS that supported nanoparticles prepared in this manner are surface-clean after deposition, eliminating the need for traditional activation steps. Further, it is shown that even low-temperature calcinations have detrimental effects on the catalyst properties including changes in nanoparticle morphology that result in a significant decrease in activity, a change in surface hydrophilicity, a change in activation energy, and results in the formation of an induction time when utilized in the hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol. While calcination remains a widely used method of catalyst activation, the detrimental effects of high temperatures on catalyst properties are often overlooked.