cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Is the medical treatment for arterial hypertension after primary aortic coarctation repair related to age at surgery? A retrospective cohort study.

Background Hypertension following primary coarctation repair affects up to a third of subjects. A number of studies suggest that future hypertension risk is reduced if primary repair is performed at a younger age. Objectives The objective of this study was to evaluate the risk of future medical treatment for hypertension depending on age of primary coarctation repair. Methods This study was carried out at a tertiary paediatric cardiology referral centre. Retrospective database evaluation of children aged 28 days and ⩽12 months), and children (>12 months). Main outcome measure is the need for long-term anti-hypertensive medication. The risk for re-coarctation was also evaluated. Results A total of 87 patients were analysed: 60 neonates, 17 infants, 10 children. Among them, 6.7% neonates, 29.4% infants, and 40% children required long-term anti-hypertensive medications. Group differences were statistically significant (p=0.004). After adjustment for type of repair, the risk of long-term anti-hypertensive therapy was 4.5 (95% confidence interval 1.2–16.9, p=0.025) and 10.5 times (95% confidence interval 2.6–42.3, p=0.001) higher if primary repair was carried out in infancy and childhood, respectively, compared with neonates. Among all, 13 patients developed re-coarctation: 21.7% in the neonatal group, 5.9% in the infant group, and 20% in the child group. We could not demonstrate a significant difference between these proportions or calculate a reliable risk for developing re-coarctation. Conclusions Risk of medical treatment for hypertension was lowest when primary repair was carried out during the neonatal period, rising 10-fold if first operated on as a child. Knowing the likelihood of hypertension development depending on age of primary repair is useful for long-term surveillance and counselling.
Intracoronary nitroglycerin: recognizing coronary spasm first and foremost to avoid unnecessary coronary stents.

Approximately, 1.2 million percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) for treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) are performed annually in the United States [1]. Although the procedure is safe,...
Estimating anatomical wrist joint motion with a robotic exoskeleton

Robotic exoskeletons can provide the high intensity, long duration targeted therapeutic interventions required for regaining motor function lost as a result of neurological injury. Quantitative measurements by exoskeletons have been proposed as measures of rehabilitative outcomes. Exoskeletons, in contrast to end effector designs, have the potential to provide a direct mapping between human and robot joints. This mapping rests on the assumption that anatomical axes and robot axes are aligned well, and that movement within the exoskeleton is negligible. These assumptions hold well for simple one degree-of-freedom joints, but may not be valid for multi-articular joints with unique musculoskeletal properties such as the wrist. This paper presents an experiment comparing robot joint kinematic measurements from an exoskeleton to anatomical joint angles measured with a motion capture system. Joint-space position measurements and task-space smoothness metrics were compared between the two measurement modalities. The experimental results quantify the error between joint-level position measurements, and show that exoskeleton kinematic measurements preserve smoothness characteristics found in anatomical measures of wrist movements.
Saline as a vehicle control does not alter ventilation in male CD‐1 mice

Saline (0.9% NaCl) is used in clinical and research settings as a vehicle for intravenous drug administration. While saline is a standard control in mouse studies, there are reports of hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis in high doses. It remains unknown if metabolic acidosis occurs in mice and/or if compensatory increases in breathing frequency and tidal volume accompany saline administration. It was hypothesized that saline administration alters blood pH and the pattern of breathing in conscious CD-1 male mice exposed to air or hypoxia (10% O2 , balanced N2 ). Unrestrained barometric plethysmography was used to quantify breathing frequency (breaths/min; bpm), tidal volume (VT; mL/breath/10 g body weight (BW)), and minute ventilation (VE; mL/min/10 g BW) in two designs: (1) 11-week-old mice with no saline exposure (n = 11) compared to mice with 7 days of 0.9% saline administration (intraperitoneal, i.p.; 10 mL/kg body mass; n = 6). and (2) 17-week-old mice tested before (PRE) and after 1 day (POST1, n = 6) or 7 days (POST7, n = 5) of saline (i.p.; 10 mL/kg body mass). There were no differences when comparing frequency, VT, or VE between groups for either design with room air or hypoxia exposures. Hypoxia increased frequency, VT, and VE compared to room air. Moreover, conscious blood sampling showed no differences in pH, paCO2 , paO2 , or HCO3- in mice without or with 7 days of saline. These findings reveal no differences in ventilation following 1 and/or 7 days of saline administration in mice. Therefore, the use of 0.9% saline as a control is supported for studies evaluating the control of breathing in mice.
Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder: “Renal Osteodystrophy”

Chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) is the current umbrella term used to describe a group of mineral and bone metabolism disorders secondary to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Bone abnormalities can be observed as early as CKD stage 2 (estimated GFR [eGFR] 60–89 mL/min/1.73 m2). Most patients with CKD stage 5 (eGFR <15 mL/min/1.73 m2) have ominous evidence of bone involvement. Vascular calcifications are the most common form of extraskeletal calcification encountered in this disorder and may develop early. As the GFR decreases, these calcifications become more prevalent, particularly at the coronary arteries. Treatment options range from dietary restrictions to calcium phosphate binders to parathyroidectomy once it has reached advanced stages.
Are you better off than you were before the disaster: Examining how natural disasters impact growth rates

Research on the impact of natural disasters, while young, is starting to take shape as a field of study in political science. Already, a range of studies and methods have been produced, examining the varying effects of different types of disasters on economic growth. This thesis investigates the relationship between disaster frequency and economic growth rates for 127 countries over a thirty year period (1975-2005). This thesis examines if countries with a higher frequency of natural disasters experience a negative change in growth rates. The panel data fixed effects model used in this paper shows that a higher frequency of natural disasters has a statistically significant positive effect on economic growth rates.
Optimal Management of Multireservoir Systems Using Streamflow Forecasts

Abstract In developing a plan to effectively manage a complex water resource system, some form of water supply forecasting is required. In areas with a large spring snowmelt runoff, a total seasonal forecast of streamflow is often available from snow surveys as input to some type of multiple linear regression model. These seasonal estimates provide a basis for an annual operational plan. Thereafter, the operations manager monitors the daily flows and tries to meet the downstream and/or supplementary supplies. As conflicts in water use intensify, the need arises for disaggregated monthly (or even shorter term) forecasts to obtain an optimal management strategy for a system of reservoirs. This is particularly true for hydropower production planning in conjunction with other uses. A state-space forecasting model has been developed that attempts to reconstruct virgin streamflows based on historical records decomposed into low flow and high flow sequences. The Kalman filter is used to separate model and measurement errors. The resulting forecasts were found to be satisfactory primarily for the low flow months. Subsequent additional use of snow water equivalent data available prior to the start of the high flow period yielded some improvement in forecasting the important high flow period. Streamflow forecasts for up to a six month lead time were used to determine optimal water transfers and exchanges within the Cache la Poudre River, in north-central Colorado. A river basin network optimization model provided a means of processing forecasted streamflow and other system inputs to identify the minimum cost flows to satisfy storage and diversion requirements in accordance with decreed water rights. Management strategies were generated with the objective of minimizing wasted outflows from the basin, in order to increase the likelihood of junior appropriators being served during critical low flow periods. Based on average monthly flows, improvement was significant for a typical dry year, with outflows reduced from over 42,000 acre-ft per year to around 1000 acre-ft through use of the combined forecasting/network optimization models.
CATALYTIC COPROCESSING A WESTERN KENTUCKY TAR SAND BITUMEN IN A 1/8 TPD PILOT PLANT

Publisher Summary This chapter explores the catalytic coprocessing of a Western Kentucky tar sand bitumen in a 1/8 TPD pilot plant. Coprocessing appears to have a potential economic and processing advantage relative to either coal liquefaction or hydroprocessing heavy petroleum residua. Coprocessing can provide a route to introduce coal liquids into commercial refineries and the market place slowly, thus, gaining their acceptance while replacing imported oil with domestic resources. In a study described in the chapter, the major distillate fraction produced in both processing modes was the middle and heavy distillates. In addition, similar yields of resid were produced in both modes of operation. The data indicated that the addition of the Western Kentucky #9 coal to the tar sands bitumen had very little effect on the overall yields. The average coal conversion obtained during the coprocessing period was 86.4 ± 1.3 wt.%. The contribution of the coal to the overall product slate was calculated assuming that the product slate from the conversion of the bitumen was identical in both modes of operation. As expected, the major contribution of the coal was found in resid fraction. The contribution to the naphtha fraction is very similar for both the bitumen and the coal.
Modeling of Transmission Line Effects in Digital Circuits

This chapter is written to assist the applications engineer familiar with transmission line behavior in improving digital simulation by incorporating transmission line behavior into digital models. It describes an approach for simulating the combined digital logic-transmission line behavior and centers on the VHDL behav’oral models used to simulate transmission line effects that enable simuIation of of chip environments such as multichip modules and cards.
Effects of HIV viremia on the gastrointestinal microbiome of young MSM.

Objective:We employed a high-dimensional covariate adjustment method in microbiome analysis to better control for behavioural and clinical confounders, and in doing so examine the effects of HIV on the rectal microbiome.Design:Three hundred and eighty-three MSM were grouped into four HIV viremia cat
Non-Euclidean navigation

A basic set of navigation strategies supports navigational tasks ranging from homing to novel detours and shortcuts. To perform these last two tasks, it is generally thought that humans, mammals and perhaps some insects possess Euclidean cognitive maps, constructed on the basis of input from the path integration system. In this article, I review the rationale and behavioral evidence for this metric cognitive map hypothesis, and find it unpersuasive: in practice, there is little evidence for truly novel shortcuts in animals, and human performance is highly unreliable and biased by environmental features. I develop the alternative hypothesis that spatial knowledge is better characterized as a labeled graph: a network of paths between places augmented with local metric information. What distinguishes such a cognitive graph from a metric cognitive map is that this local information is not embedded in a global coordinate system, so spatial knowledge is often geometrically inconsistent. Human path integration appears to be better suited to piecewise measurements of path lengths and turn angles than to building a consistent map. In a series of experiments in immersive virtual reality, we tested human navigation in non-Euclidean environments and found that shortcuts manifest large violations of the metric postulates. The results are contrary to the Euclidean map hypothesis and support the cognitive graph hypothesis. Apparently Euclidean behavior, such as taking novel detours and approximate shortcuts, can be explained by the adaptive use of non-Euclidean strategies.
Implications of juvenile idiopathic arthritis genetic risk variants for disease pathogenesis and classification.

Purpose of review We assess the implications of recent advances in the genetics of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) for the evolving understanding of inflammatory arthritis in children. Recent findings JIA exhibits prominent genetic associations with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region, extending perhaps surprisingly even to the hyperinflammatory systemic JIA category. Some HLA associations resemble those for adult-onset inflammatory arthritides, providing evidence for pathogenic continuity across the age spectrum. Genome-wide association studies have defined an increasing number of JIA-linked non-HLA loci, many again shared with adult-onset arthritis. As most risk loci contain only noncoding variants, new experimental methods such as SNP-seq and innovative big-data strategies help identify responsible causative mutations, termed functional SNPs (fSNPs). Alternately, gene hunting in multiplex families implicates new genes in monogenic childhood arthritis, including MYD88 and the intriguing innate immune gene LACC1. Summary Genetic data indicate a continuity between JIA and adult arthritis poorly reflected in current nomenclature. Advancing methodologies will help to identify new pathogenic mechanisms that inform the understanding of biologic subdivisions within JIA. Resulting insights will facilitate the application of lessons learned across the age spectrum to the treatment of arthritis in children and adults.
Renewable Energy in Water and Wastewater Treatment Applications; Period of Performance: April 1, 2001--September 1, 2001

This guidebook will help readers understand where and how renewable energy technologies can be used for water and wastewater treatment applications. It is specifically designed for rural and small urban center water supply and wastewater treatment applications. This guidebook also provides basic information for selecting water resources and for various kinds of commercially available water supply and wastewater treatment technologies and power sources currently in the market.
Pharmacologic considerations in the management of acute coronary syndrome in elderly patients.

Despite having a high prevalence of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and higher ACS related mortality rates than younger patients, elderly patients are often underrepresented in ACS clinical trials. ...
MEDICAL TREATMENT OF ULCERATIVE COLITIS.

Medical treatment for ulcerative colitis includes diet, sedatives, antidiarrheal agents, antibiotics, chemotherapy and steroids. Their application in cases of varying severity is outlined. Several complications are discussed briefly. Individualized treatment and teamwork by internist, surgeon and psychiatrist are stressed. Despite the handicap of dealing with a disease of unknown cause, recent advances in both medical and surgical skills permit a degree of optimism.
The methionase chain reaction: an enzyme-based autocatalytic amplification system for the detection of thiols

We present an autocatalytic system for the detection and amplification of thiols termed the Methionase Chain Reaction (MCR). MCR is based on the reversible modification of the thiol producing enzyme Methionine Gamma-Lyase (MGL). MCR was able to amplify the concentration of thiols by a factor of 560 and was able to visually detect thiols at concentrations as low as 50 nM.
Byproduct Temporalities: Nuclear Waste in Don Delillo’s Underworld and Vladimir Sorokin’s Blue Lard

Abstract This paper examines two novels from either side of the bipolar Cold War – Vladimir Sorokin’s Blue Lard (Goluboe salo, 1999) and Don DeLillo’s Underworld (1997) – and their approaches to narrative temporality and nuclear waste. Building upon interdisciplinary theories of nuclear fallout, climate change, the Anthropocene epoch, and narrative time, I argue that both novels struggle to dramatically expand their temporal structures to accommodate larger-than-human timescales, extending into the future as well as the past. The eponymous substance of Sorokin’s novel, often connected and compared to nuclear byproduct, transgresses the boundaries of time, moving from the future to the past and back again. DeLillo’s novel, by contrast, depicts a world that is at once saturated with wastes and deeply invested in concealing them from view. As with Blue Lard, the structure of the novel attempts to resolve this tension between “the two streams of history, weapons and waste”. In my comparison of the two novels, I theorize a “byproduct temporality”, which pulls the texts away from individual lifetimes or historical periods and toward toxic objects that transgress and problematize perceptual human time. Finally, both novels dramatize how societies try and inevitably fail to bury hazardous materials and, within the structures of the novels, unbury the nuclear detritus of our collective past.
Emission of R6G dye in Fabry–Perot cavities in weak and strong coupling regimes

We have studied spectra and angular distribution of emission in Fabry–Perot cavities formed by two silver mirrors separated by a layer of poly (methyl methacrylate) polymer doped with rhodamine 6G (R6G) dye in low (20g/l) and high (200g/l) concentrations. The frequency of emission radiated to a cavity mode was larger at large outcoupling angles—the “rainbow” effect. At the same time, the angle of the strongest emission was also determined by the cavity size: the larger the cavity, the larger the angle. The angular distribution of emission is commonly dominated by two symmetrical lobes (located at the intersection of the three-dimensional emission cone with a horizontal plane) pointing to the left and to the right of the normal to the sample. Despite the strong Stokes shift in R6G dye, the branch of the cavity dispersion curve obtained in the emission experiment is positioned above the one obtained in the reflection (extinction) experiment. Some dye molecules are poorly coupled to cavity modes. Their emission has very broad angular distribution with the maximum at θ=0∘. The signatures of strong cavity–exciton coupling were observed at high dye concentration (200g/l) but not at low concentration (20g/l). The evidence of the effect of strong coupling on emission is exemplified by a strong difference in the angular distribution of emission in two almost identical cavities, one with and another without strong coupling. Most importantly, we have demonstrated the possibility to control the ground state concentration, the coupling strength, and the dye emission spectra with Q-switched laser pulses.
Reductive dissolution of pyrite by methanogenic archaea.

The formation and fate of pyrite (FeS2) modulates global iron, sulfur, carbon, and oxygen biogeochemical cycles and has done so since early in Earth’s geological history. A longstanding paradigm is that FeS2 is stable at low temperature and is unavailable to microorganisms in the absence of oxygen and oxidative weathering. Here, we show that methanogens can catalyze the reductive dissolution of FeS2 at low temperature (≤38 °C) and utilize dissolution products to meet cellular iron and sulfur demands associated with the biosynthesis of simple and complex co-factors. Direct access to FeS2 is required to catalyze its reduction and/or to assimilate iron monosulfide that likely forms through coupled reductive dissolution and precipitation, consistent with close associations observed between cells and FeS2. These findings demonstrate that FeS2 is bioavailable to anaerobic methanogens and can be mobilized in low temperature anoxic environments. Given that methanogens evolved at least 3.46 Gya, these data indicate that the microbial contribution to the iron and sulfur cycles in ancient and contemporary anoxic environments may be more complex and robust than previously recognized, with impacts on the sources and sinks of iron and sulfur and other bio-essential and thiophilic elements such as nickel and cobalt.
Electrochromic Polycationic Organoboronium Macrocycles with Multiple Redox States.

Polycationic macrocycles are attractive as they display unique molecular switching capabilities arising from their redox properties. Although diverse polycationic macrocycles have been developed, those based on cationic boron systems remain very limited. We present herein the development of novel polycationic macrocycles by introducing organoboronium moieties into a conjugated organoboron macrocyclic framework. These macrocycles consist of four bipyridylboronium units that are connected by fluorene and either electron-deficient arylborane or electron-rich arylamine moieties. Electrochemical studies reveal that the macrocycles undergo reversible multi-step redox processes with transfer of up to 10 electrons. Switchable electrochromic behavior is demonstrated via spectroelectrochemical studies and the observed color changes are rationalized by correlation with computed electronic transitions using DFT methods.
Weight-Optimal Local Binary Patterns

In this work, we have proposed a learning paradigm for obtaining weight-optimal local binary patterns (WoLBP). We first re-formulate the LBP problem into matrix multiplication with all the bitmaps flattened and then resort to the Fisher ratio criterion for obtaining the optimal weight matrix for LBP encoding. The solution is closed form and can be easily solved using one eigen-decomposition. The experimental results on the FRGC ver2.0 database have shown that the WoLBP gains significant performance improvement over traditional LBP, and such WoLBP learning procedure can be directly ported to many other LBP variants to further improve their performances.
Characterization of recombinant thioesterase and acyl carrier protein domains of chicken fatty acid synthase expressed in Escherichia coli.

Fatty acid synthase of animal tissue is a multifunctional enzyme comprised of two identical subunits, each containing seven partial activities and a site for the prosthetic group, 4'-phosphopantetheine (acyl carrier protein). We have recently isolated cDNA clones of chicken fatty acid synthase coding for the dehydratase, enoyl reductase, beta-ketoacyl reductase, acyl carrier protein, and thioesterase domains (Chirala, S.S., Kasturi, R., Pazirandeh, M., Stolow, D.T., Huang, W.Y., and Wakil, S.J. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 3750-3757). To gain insight into the structure and function of the various domains, the portion of the cDNA coding for the acyl carrier protein and thioesterase domains was expressed in Escherichia coli by using an expression vector that utilizes the phage lambda PL promoter. The recombinant protein was efficiently expressed and purified to near homogeneity using anion-exchange and hydroxyapatite chromatography. As expected from the coding capacity of the cDNA expressed, the protein has a molecular weight of 43,000 and reacts with antithioesterase antibodies. The recombinant thioesterase was found to be enzymatically active and has the same substrate specificity and kinetic properties as the native enzyme of the multifunctional synthase. Treatment of the recombinant protein with alpha-chymotrypsin results in the cleavage of the acyl carrier protein and thioesterase domain junction sequence at exactly the same site as with native fatty acid synthase. The amino acid composition of the purified recombinant protein revealed the presence of 0.6 mol of beta-alanine/mol of protein, indicating partial pantothenylation of the recombinant acyl carrier protein domain. These results indicate that the expressed protein has a conformation similar to the native enzyme and that its folding into functionally active domains is independent of the remaining domains of the multifunctional synthase subunit. These conclusions are consistent with the proposal that the multifunctional synthase gene has evolved from fusion of component genes.
Estimating the information potential with the fast gauss transform

In this paper, we propose a fast and accurate approximation to the information potential of Information Theoretic Learning (ITL) using the Fast Gauss Transform (FGT). We exemplify here the case of the Minimum Error Entropy criterion to train adaptive systems. The FGT reduces the complexity of the estimation from O(N2) to O(pkN) wherep is the order of the Hermite approximation and k the number of clusters utilized in FGT. Further, we show that FGT converges to the actual entropy value rapidly with increasing order p unlike the Stochastic Information Gradient, the present O(pN) approximation to reduce the computational complexity in ITL. We test the performance of these FGT methods on System Identification with encouraging results.
A Robust Framework for Multi-Response Surface Optimization Methodology

A robust multi-response optimization framework is proposed for simultaneously optimizing multiple conflicting quality characteristics. Unlike prior methods, the proposed approach is insensitive to subjective inputs like target specifications and improves optimization process for correlated responses. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated and compared with existing methods considering two examples from the literature. The proposed method yields similar results consistently for different assigned target values demonstrating repeatability of the model, hence demonstrating insensitivity to assigned subjective target values. Furthermore, the study also considers multiple correlated design characteristics issue to achieve better trade-off during design optimization. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prevalence of Precipitating Antibody to Antigens Derived from Burkitt Lymphoma Cultures Infected with Herpes-Type Virus (EB Virus)

The development of a sensitive immunodiffusion test for precipitating antibodies to antigens derived from herpes-type virus (HTV) infected Burkitt lymphoma cells in tissue culture is described. Seroepidemiologic observations with 517 sera were made. Precipitating antibody was found in a majority of the normal adult population, in contrast to some previous reports. The number of precipitin bands obtained was directly related to the titer of antibody reacting in indirect immunofluorescence. Antibody activity appears markedly increased in the sera of patients with Burkitt’s lymphoma, as shown by percent positive and number of precipitin bands. Studies of the antigens suggest that the precipitins are virus-specific, and may be virion protein antigens.
The Brahmagupta algorithm for square rooting

An algorithm for square root evaluation is introduced. Novel features of the algorithm include suitability for parallel processing and multi-initial guesses of the root. An extension of the algorithm to the nth rooting is provided. A VLSI hardware architecture is developed for implementing the two-initial-guesses version of the algorithm. Comparison with existing techniques proves that the well known Newton's method is a special case of this algorithm. Convergence properties are also established. >
Evaluation of the threshold for lung hemorrhage by diagnostic ultrasound and a proposed new safety index.

In a recent report (O’Brien et al. (2006b), it was suggested that the current expression for the mechanical index (MI) was not well suited to its function of quantifying the likelihood of an adverse biological effect after exposure of the gas-filled lung to diagnostic ultrasound. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relatively large database of experimental thresholds for the induction of lung hemorrhage to: (i) determine which variable(s) best describe the data and (ii) use the resulting equation to obtain a new formulation for the MI for lung exposures. Data from 14 studies of lung hemorrhage in four common laboratory animals (mouse, rat, rabbit and pig) were tabulated with regard to five common acoustic variables: center frequency (fc), pulse repetition frequency (PRF), pulse duration (PD), exposure duration (ED) and the threshold in situ peak rarefactional pressure (pr). The 34 threshold data points were fit by linear regression to: (i) a multiplicative model of the other variables, pr = AfcBPRFCPDDEDE, where A is a constant; (ii) 14 “reduced” models in which one or more variables were not included in the analysis; (iii) four models in which a multiplicative combination of variables has a common name e.g., duty factor; and (iv) the general form of the current expression for the MI. The MI was shown to provide a poor fit to the threshold data (r2 = 0.382), as were three of the four named models. The best fits were found for the complete model and for three reduced models, all of which contain the exposure duration. Because the implementation of a time-dependent safety parameter would present significant practical difficulties, a different model, pr = AfcBPRFCPDD, was chosen as the basis for the new MI. Thus, the expression for the lung-specific mechanical index, MILung, includes several, rather than only one, of the relevant acoustic variables. This is the first potential safety index developed as a direct result of experimental measurements rather than theoretical analysis. (E-mail: cchurch@olemiss.edu)
Vesiculated alpha-tocopheryl succinate enhances the anti-tumor effect of dendritic cell vaccines

Alpha tocopheryl succinate (α-TOS) is a non-toxic vitamin E analog under study for its anti-cancer properties. In an earlier study, we showed that α-TOS, when used in combination with non-matured dendritic cells (nmDC) to treat pre-established tumors, acts as an effective adjuvant. In this study, we have used vesiculated α-TOS (Vα-TOS), a more soluble form of α-TOS that is relevant for clinical use, in combination with dendritic cells to treat pre-established murine tumors. We demonstrate that Vα-TOS kills tumor cells in vitro and inhibits the growth of pre-established murine lung carcinoma (3LLD122) as effectively as α-TOS. The combination of Vα-TOS plus non-matured or TNF-α-matured DC is more effective at inhibiting the growth of established tumors than Vα-TOS alone. We also observed that Vα-TOS induces expression of heat shock proteins in tumor cells and that co-incubation of non-matured DC with lysate derived from Vα-TOS-treated tumor cells leads to DC maturation evidenced by up-regulation of co-stimulatory molecules and secretion of IL-12p70. This study therefore demonstrates the immunomodulatory properties of Vα-TOS that may account for its adjuvant effect when combined with DC vaccines to treat established tumors.
A self-aligned gate III-V heterostructure FET process for ultrahigh-speed digital and mixed analog/digital LSI/VLSI circuits

A planar ion-implanted self-aligned gate process for the fabrication of high-speed digital and mixed analog/digital LSI/VLSI integrated circuits is reported. A 4-b analog-to-digital converter, a 2500-gate 8*8 multiplier/accumulator, and a 4500-gate 16*16 complex multiplier have been demonstrated using enhancement-mode n/sup +/-(Al,Ga)As/MODFETs, superlattice MODFETs, and doped channel heterostructure field-effect transistors (FETs) whose epitaxial layers were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy. With nominal 1- mu m gate-length devices, direct-coupled FET logic ring oscillators with realistic circuit structures have propagation delays of 30 ps/stage at a power dissipation of 1.2 mW/stage. In LSI circuit operation, these gates have delays of 89 ps/gate at a power dissipation of 1.38 mW/gate when loaded with an average fan-out of 2.5 gates and about 1000 mu m of high-density interconnects. High-performance voltage comparator circuits operated at sampling rates greater than 2.5 GHz at Nyquist analog input rates and with static hysteresis of less than 1 mV at room temperature. Fully functional 4-b analog-to-digital circuits operating at frequencies up to 2 GHz were obtained. >
The Multi-State Two-port: An Alternative Transfer Standard

In a companion paper [1] the proposed use of a ?stable solid state programmable impedance generator? as a calibration transfer and verification standard, for vector network analyzers, (VNA) has been suggested. An obvious requirement is that the multi-state device provide a high degree of stability and repeatability. This paper describes a series of preliminary tests, using the NIST six-port systems, to evaluate the parameters of interest. The application of this device in connector evaluation is also reported.
Pressure-Induced Extra Resonances in Four-Wave Mixing

The first observation of pressure-induced extra resonant enhancements of a coherent four-wave\char22{}mixing signal is reported. When the difference between two input frequencies, ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{1}$ and ${\ensuremath{\omega}}_{2}$, corresponds to the separation of two unpopulated upper levels, a resonant enhancement of the generated intensity at $2{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{\ensuremath{\omega}}_{2}$ is caused by collisions.
Effect of Nucleotides on Metabolic Changes Induced by Chronic Epinephrine Administration

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were treated for 7 days with a daily injection of 1 mg/kg epinephrine in oil. They were then fasted for 24 hr. This regimen produced significant cardiac hypertrophy, a moderately lowered blood sugar and marked liver glycogen depletion with a markedly decreased plasma free fatty acid (FFA) concentration as compared to untreated fasted controls. The simultaneous administration of 15 mg/kg guanylic acid or of a nucleotide mixture containing guanylic, uridylic and cytidylic acids prevented the epinephrine-induced cardiac hypertrophy, liver glycogen depletion and blood sugar changes. Plasma FFA were also maintained close to nonfasting levels. Nucleotide pretreatment without concomitant epinephrine administration also acted to maintain higher liver glycogen and blood sugar levels in the fasted animals. Plasma FFA concentrations did not rise to normal fasting levels. It is suggested that stress-induced lymphatic involution under adrenal cortical mediation may release intracellular nucleo...
Authenticity of 2,6‐Dichloro‐1,5‐naphthyridine

The structure of 2,6-dichloro-1,5-naphthyridine (1) was established based on physical and spectral data; thus, correcting the numerous inaccurate literature reports.
Molecular coding of maze learning; demonstration by bioassay.

Des injections d'extraits de cerveau de souris ayant appris a trouver passage dans un certain labyrinthe ont notablement facilite aux souris qui les ont recues l'apprentissage de la circulation dans ce meme labyrinthe mais non pas dans un labyrinthe de configuration differente. les substances responsables de ces effets ont les proprietes chimiques de peptides.
Genetic diversity, social structure, and conservation value of the elephants of the Nakai Plateau, Lao PDR, based on non-invasive sampling

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) may have the largest Asian elephant population in Indochina. However, elephants on Lao PDR’s Nakai Plateau are potentially threatened by the construction of a hydropower dam that will flood important habitat. We conducted a non-invasive genetic study of elephants in this region to provide baseline data on genetic diversity and social structure prior to dam construction. For the 102 elephants we detected, values of observed heterozygosity (0.711) and allelic diversity (8.0 alleles/locus) at microsatellite loci were higher than those found in elephant populations in India and Vietnam, while mitochondrial diversity (haplotype diversity 0.741; nucleotide diversity 0.011) was similar to that reported for the Lao/Vietnam region. Six mitochondrial haplotypes were detected, representing both major clades previously reported in this species. Relatedness estimates between females and young detected near each other are consistent with familial relationships, and relatedness estimates between adult males and females suggest male locational dispersal. Since family group structure appears to be intact in the Nakai region, these elephants will likely move as relatively large family groups in response to habitat disturbance. These results have positive implications for the viability of the elephant population in this region, demonstrate its conservation significance, and will be valuable for predicting and monitoring the effects of the hydropower dam over time.
Poly(ethylene glycol) with observable shedding.

A novel FRET-bearing poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) conjugate fluoresces at 520 nm when it is cleaved off from nanoparticles (NPs). When the NPs were targeted to cancer cell lines, the reducing redox of the endosomal compartment caused disulfide bond cleavage and shedding of the PEG layer. The fluorescence emission can be suppressed by N-ethylmaleimide to inhibit disulfide cleavage and restored by dithiothreitol, a disulfide cleavage reagent, indicating a direct correlation between fluorescence emission and PEG shedding.
Analysis of the reaction B11(d, n)C4.43 MeV12

Distorted wave analysis of the reaction /sup 8/B(d,n)/sup 12/*C leading to the 4.43 Mev level of /sup 12/C was done for a deuteron energy of 5.35 Mev. The stripping amplitudes so obtained were used to obtain the neutron-gamma correlation following the decay of the 4.43 Mev state of /sup 12/C. A comparison is made with the experimental results. (auth)
Mapping cortical change across the human life span

We used magnetic resonance imaging and cortical matching algorithms to map gray matter density (GMD) in 176 normal individuals ranging in age from 7 to 87 years. We found a significant, nonlinear decline in GMD with age, which was most rapid between 7 and about 60 years, over dorsal frontal and parietal association cortices on both the lateral and interhemispheric surfaces. Age effects were inverted in the left posterior temporal region, where GMD gain continued up to age 30 and then rapidly declined. The trajectory of maturational and aging effects varied considerably over the cortex. Visual, auditory and limbic cortices, which are known to myelinate early, showed a more linear pattern of aging than the frontal and parietal neocortices, which continue myelination into adulthood. Our findings also indicate that the posterior temporal cortices, primarily in the left hemisphere, which typically support language functions, have a more protracted course of maturation than any other cortical region.
Visual Distortion with Two-Colored Spectacles

Observations of visual phenomena by an O continuously wearing blue-yellow split-half lens for an 11-day period are reported. Color adaptation began on the first day but hue and brightness distortions associated with specific body position continued to be observed. Situational aftereffects of hue, related to body position, continued during the first day after removal of the spectacles, and of brightness for an additional 24 hr.
Bayesian model selection using the median probability model

In the Bayesian approach to model selection, models and model specific parameters are treated as unknown quantities and uncertainty about them are expressed through prior distributions. Given the observed data, updating of the prior distribution to the posterior distribution occurs via Bayes' theorem. The posterior probability of a given model may be interpreted as the support it gets based on the observed data. The highest probability model (HPM) that receives the maximum support from the data is a possible choice for model selection. For large model spaces, Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms are commonly used to estimate the posterior distribution over models. However, estimates of posterior probabilities of individual models based on MCMC output are not reliable because the number of MCMC samples is typically far smaller than the size of the model space. Thus, the HPM is difficult to estimate and for large model spaces it often has a very small posterior probability. An alternative to the HPM is the median probability model (MPM) of Barbieri and Berger, which has been shown to be the optimal model for prediction using a squared error loss function, under certain conditions. In this article we review some of the conditions for which the MPM is optimal, and provide real data examples to evaluate the performance of the MPM under small and large model spaces. We also discuss the behavior of the MPM under collinearity. WIREs Comput Stat 2015, 7:185–193. doi: 10.1002/wics.1352 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Conflict of interest: The author has declared no conflicts of interest for this article.
Ratio of 85Kr isomers produced in medium energy fission

Abstract The independent isomer yields for 85mKr and 85Kr in the He4 induced fission of 232Th and 235U have been obtained from mass spectrometric measurements of the relative fission yields of the krypton isotopes. It was found that a high fraction (⩾0·8) of the independently formed 85Kr populates the high spin isomer for the range of compound nucleus excitations investigated (23–57 MeV).
Myeloperoxidase-catalyzed metabolism of etoposide to its quinone and glutathione adduct forms in HL60 cells.

Etoposide is a widely used antineoplastic agent that has provided great success in the treatment of childhood leukemias and other malignancies. Unfortunately, its use is associated with the increased risk of development of secondary acute myelogenous leukemias involving translocations at the MLL gene in chromosome band 11q23. Previous studies showed that the phenoxyl radical of etoposide can be generated by myeloperoxidase (MPO), an enzyme prevalent in myeloid progenitor cells that can derive myelogenous leukemias. Disproportionation of this radical leads to formation of the redox active etoposide ortho-quinone metabolite. We hypothesized that etoposide ortho-quinone could therefore form in myeloid progenitor cells and might be a contributor to the development of treatment-related secondary leukemias. Etoposide ortho-quinone is an inherently unstable compound and readily reacts with glutathione in aqueous media without any requirement for catalytic assistance from glutathione S-transferase. We looked for ...
Transient lupus anticoagulants associated with hemorrhage rather than thrombosis: The hemorrhagic lupus anticoagulant syndrome☆☆☆

Lupus anticoagulants (LAs) represent a diverse group of antibodies directed against phospholipids. Patients with LAs may be free of symptoms but can have thrombotic complications including stroke, placental infarction, and fetal loss. Rarely hemorrhagic symptoms have been reported. We describe six previously healthy children who were first seen with clinical bleeding and prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time. Laboratory evaluation revealed positive results on mixing studies and evidence of phospholipid dependence of the anticoagulant, suggesting LAs. Four of six patients had anticardiolipin antibodies, and all four who were tested had reduced factor II activity levels. In all patients, bleeding symptoms resolved spontaneously within 3 months, and laboratory findings returned to normal within 6 months. The hemorrhagic LA syndrome should be considered in previously healthy children with new-onset bleeding and prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time. This clinical entity probably represents pathogenic mechanism distinct from thrombotic LA syndromes.
Driving Under the Influence of Synthetic Cannabinoid Receptor Agonist XLR‐11

The case of a 22-year-old male Caucasian driver is presented. He was involved in a traffic collision. At the roadside, he displayed blank stare and mellow speech with a barely audible voice. A DRE found low body temperature, rigid muscle tone, normal pulse, lack of horizontal and vertical gaze nystagmus, nonconvergence of the eyes, dilated pupil size, and normal Pupillary reaction to light. A standard toxicology DUID protocol was performed on the driver's whole blood including ELISA and GC-MS drug screens with negative results. Additional drug screening was undertaken for bath salts and synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists by LC-MS/MS by a commercial laboratory and identified the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist XLR-11 in the driver's blood. XLR-11 was subsequently quantified at 1.34 ng/mL. This is the first documented case involving a driver operating a motor vehicle under the influence of the synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist XLR-11.
A neural network approach to infrared spectrum interpretation

The simple linear neural network model was investigated as a method for automated interpretation of infrared spectra. The model was trained using a database of infrared spectra of organic compounds of known structure. The model was able to learn, without any prior input of spectrum-structure correlations, to recognize and identify 76 functional groupings with accuracies ranging from fair to excellent. The effect of network input parameters and of training set composition were studied, and several sources of spurious correlations were identified and corrected.
Analysis of capacity fade in a lithium ion battery

Two parameter estimation methods are presented for online determination of parameter values using a simple charge/discharge model of a Sony 18650 lithium ion battery. Loss of capacity and resistance increase are both included in the model. The first method is a hybrid combination of batch data reconciliation and moving-horizon parameter estimation. A discussion on the selection of tuning parameters for this method based on confidence intervals is included. The second method uses batch data reconciliation followed by application of discrete filtering of the resulting parameters. These methods are demonstrated using cycling data from an experimental cell with over 1600 charge–discharge cycles.
A Television Stereophonic System

A stereophonic system for television sound having some unique characteristics is described. The L + R information is transmitted as ordinary low frequency signals while the L - R information is transmitted by frequency division multiplex by a method that may be characterized by the absence of a pilot carrier or residual subcarrier in the transmission of the signal and by there being no requirement to regenerate a subcarrier at the receiver to detect the L - R information. Full advantage may be taken of the interleaving of L + R and L - R information so that + 25 KG FM deviation may be allocated to each, yet the total system FM deviation does not exceed ± 25 KC.
The Use of Dehumidifiers in Desiccant Cooling and Dehumidification Systems

The use of rotary dehumidifiers in gas-fired open-cycle desiccant cooling systems is investigated by analyzing the performance of the rotary heat exchanger-rotary dehumidifier subsystem. For a given cooling load, the required regeneration heat supply can be minimized by choosing appropriate values for the regeneration air mass flow rate and the wheel rotation speed. A map is presented showing optimal values for rotational speed and regeneration flow rate as functions of the regeneration air inlet temperature and the process air inlet humidity ratio. This regeneration temperature is further optimized as a function of the process humidity ratio. In the analysis, the control strategy adjusts the process air mass flow rate to provide the required cooling load. Additional control options are considered and the sensitivity of the regeneration heat required to the wheel speed, regeneration air mass flow rate, and inlet temperature is discussed. Experimental data reported in the literature are compared with the analytical results and indicate good agreement.