cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparing apples to oranges: Interpreting ozone concentrations from observational studies in the context of the United States ozone regulatory standard.

Abstract In 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) set the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) at 0.070 parts per million (ppm), for an annual 4th highest daily 8-hour (h) maximum average concentration, averaged over three years, with compliance based on the monitor with the highest concentrations. Numerous epidemiological studies have evaluated associations between ozone and health effects, but how the ozone concentrations derived from those studies can be compared to the ozone NAAQS is not clear, because of the complexity of the standard. The purpose of the present work was to determine how ozone summary metrics used in key epidemiology studies compare to the metrics that comprise the ozone regulatory value. Evaluation of epidemiology studies used for quantitative risk assessment in the 2015 ozone NAAQS review demonstrated that the most commonly used summary metrics that differed from the NAAQS were: 1-h maximum or 24-h average concentrations; multiple-day averages from 2 to 30 days; and averaging of ozone concentrations across all monitors in an area and over different months of the year. Using different ozone summary metrics to calculate the ozone regulatory value in twelve US cities for 2000–2002 or 2013–2015 generated alternative ozone regulatory values that were often substantively different and that may or may not vary commensurate with the regulatory standard. Comparison of epidemiology study metrics to other countries' ozone standards or guideline levels produces similar challenges as described here for the NAAQS. In conclusion, many of the ozone concentration metrics used in epidemiology studies cannot be directly compared to the ozone NAAQS, and using simple conversion ratios adds substantial uncertainty to concentration estimates. These summary metrics must be reconciled to the regulatory value before any judgements are made as to the protectiveness of current and alternative standards based on epidemiology study results.
Curricular Differentiation and Its Impact on Different Status Groups Including Immigrants and Students with Disabilities

Schools organize students’ learning through informal and formal curricular differentiation, which refers to systematic differences in the experiences, processes, and exposure of curricular content. Research has long found that students have unequal access to learning opportunities based on status group factors, and that these inequalities lead to gaps in educational, occupational, and health outcomes. This chapter outlines the history of curricular differentiation in U.S. schools, key findings on disparities in course-taking by race/ethnicity, family background, gender, disability status and immigrant status, and the effects of curricular differentiation on school and non-school outcomes. We additionally note measurement issues within curriculum research and implications for policy, practice, and social inequality.
A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blinded Controlled Trial Comparing Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen Versus Hydrocodone and Acetaminophen for Soft Tissue Hand Procedures.

Purpose To compare the efficacy of opioid versus nonopioid analgesic regimens after elective, soft tissue hand surgery. We hypothesized that there would be no difference in patient-perceived pain relief between these 2 groups. Methods This prospective, randomized, double-blinded controlled trial included patients undergoing elective soft tissue hand procedures (carpal tunnel release, trigger finger release, first dorsal compartment release, or ganglion cyst excision). Patients were randomized before surgery into 2 treatment groups: acetaminophen/hydrocodone 325/5 mg (AH, opioid group) or acetaminophen/ibuprofen 500/400 mg (AIBU, nonopioid group) and followed for 2 weeks after surgery evaluating daily pain intensity scores—visual analog scale (VAS), medication pain relief (Likert pain relief score), need for rescue opioid prescription at 1 week, and days until pain-free. Results Sixty patients were randomized, 30 in the AH group and 30 in the AIBU group. There was no difference in the average VAS score. There was improved pain relief in the AIBU group, but the difference did not reach significance. There was no difference in time until pain-free, with a median of 5 days in the AH group and 3 days in the AIBU group. Two patients in each group required rescue opioid medication. Side effects were significantly more common in the AH group (n = 7; 23%) than the AIBU group (n = 1; 3%), but none were severe. Conclusions We recommend surgeons consider a combination of acetaminophen and ibuprofen as a safe and effective postoperative pain regimen for soft tissue hand surgery procedures. Type of study/level of evidence Therapeutic I.
An ER CREC family protein is a novel regulator of the egress proteolytic cascade in malaria parasites

The role of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) during egress of malaria parasites from erythrocytes is undefined. The parasite ER is thought to enable egress by acting as the main calcium (Ca2+) signaling hub in these divergent eukaryotic parasites. However, no proteins involved in Ca2+-signaling have been identified in the ER of these deadly human parasites. In this study, we explored the role of the Endoplasmic Reticulum-resident Calcium-binding protein (ERC), a member of the CREC family, in the lifecycle of two apicomplexan parasites, Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum. We find that the Toxoplasma ortholog (TgERC) plays a role in the storage of Ca2+ in the ER but is dispensable for the asexual lytic cycle. On the other hand, the Plasmodium ortholog (PfERC) is essential for asexual growth but not required for Ca2+ storage, organelle biogenesis, or protein trafficking. Instead, knockdown of PfERC inhibits parasite egress and invasion. Our results show that PfERC is critical for the rupture of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane, which is the first step in the egress of malaria parasites from erythrocytes. Surprisingly, PfERC knockdown does not affect the Ca2+-dependent autoprocessing of the key egress protease, SUB1, but knockdown inhibits the second proteolytic maturation of SUB1 that occurs during its secretion from exoneme vesicles. We have therefore identified the first ER protein in Plasmodium that regulates egress of malaria parasites.
The Storm in the Garden: Literary Nature in The Floure and the Leafe

The anonymous fifteenth-century poem The Floure and the Leafe intensifies its conventional borrowings into literary nature: literary references that are simultaneously natural description. ...
Towards a Paradigm Shift

Stepped Care 2.0 can facilitate a long-overdue paradigm shift in mental healthcare organization and treatment. The core components of Stepped Care 2.0 are identified and related to Indigenous wisdom that has stood the test of time. The concept of synergy is introduced and contrasted with the scarcity-based risk paradigm that dominates our Eurocentric socio-economic structures. This sets the stage for a more in-depth analysis of the challenges and unanswered questions associated with Stepped Care 2.0. The chapter ends with a glimpse at contributions from a wide variety of experts that will be published in the edited volumes comprising books two and three in this series.
Abstract 3071: VERU-111, a novel orally bioavailable tubulin inhibitor, overcomes taxane resistance in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has aggressive clinical features strongly associated with poorer overall prognosis and higher mortality rates relative to other molecular subtypes. FDA-approved drugs, such as paclitaxel, are effective in treating TNBC. Yet, treatment failure is commonly observed due to the development of acquired chemoresistance, which remains a clinical challenge for TNBC therapy. We have shown that orally administered VERU-111 inhibits MDA-MB-231 xenograft growth with similar efficacy to paclitaxel, but without acute toxicity, and represses metastases originating from the mammary fat pad. To better understand the effect of VERU-111 on taxane-resistant TNBC, we generated a panel of paclitaxel-resistant TNBC sublines (MDA-MB-231/TxR, MDA-MB-468/TxR, SUM159/TxR and Hs578T/TxR) by gradually exposing paclitaxel to parental lines. MTS assays were used to confirm the chemoresistance of each subline to paclitaxel. VERU-111 maintained its potency against all four taxane-resistant sublines. We further investigated the underlying mechanisms of VERU-111 action and found that it inhibited taxane-resistant TNBC cell proliferation by inducing mitotic arrest and apoptosis via disruption of microtubule stability. In vivo, relative to paclitaxel, VERU-111 significantly inhibited tumor growth in an orthotopic MDA-MB-231/TxR model and reduced lung metastases originating from the mammary fat pad. VERU-111 induced tumor necrosis, anti-angiogenesis and apoptosis in both taxane-sensitive and taxane-resistant TNBC models in vivo. In addition to the MDA-MB-231/TxR model, we also tested the efficacy of VERU-111 in a multidrug-resistant PDX model, HCI-10. VERU-111 significantly inhibited HCI-10 primary tumor growth and suppressed the growth of lymph node metastases present prior to therapy and suppressed lung, liver and kidney metastases at the endpoint. In contrast, paclitaxel had no efficacy to repress tumor growth or metastasis in this model, and in fact, stimulated liver metastasis. Taken together, our data demonstrate that VERU-111 is a new generation of oral tubulin inhibitor that potently inhibits the growth of taxane-sensitive and taxane-resistant TNBC. Therefore, VERU-111 therapy is a promising strategy for the treatment of metastatic TNBC patients, including those patients who progress on taxanes. Citation Format: Shanshan Deng, Raisa I. Krutilina, Deanna N. Parke, Hao Chen, Duane D. Miller, Tiffany N. Seagroves, Wei Li. VERU-111, a novel orally bioavailable tubulin inhibitor, overcomes taxane resistance in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 3071.
The impact of patient-reported outcomes on loss to follow-up care after bariatric surgery.

High rates of attrition to post-bariatric surgical care continue to be common, despite recommendations for lifelong follow-up. There is little available work focusing on the etiology of attrition to post-bariatric surgical follow-up. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are metrics of patients’ perceptions of their own health and have been used for their predictive value in other specialties. The relationships between PROs and loss to follow-up have not been explored. PRO data from patients who met the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) definition of loss to follow-up at 1-year postoperatively were reviewed and compared to patients who were compliant with 1-year follow-up. Patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS) measures are routinely collected pre- and postoperatively at our institution using a series of validated computer-adaptive tests that assess depression, satisfaction with social roles, pain interference, and physical function. A series of univariate logistic regressions tested whether baseline PROs or change in PROs from baseline to 6-month postoperatively predicted loss to follow-up at 1 year. Neither baseline PROs nor change in depression, satisfaction with social roles, pain interference, or physical function were significant predictors of loss to follow-up. Similarly, patient state of residence, Charlson Comorbidity Index, BMI, and percent excess weight loss were not significant predictors of follow-up attrition. The PROs in this study were not significant predictors of loss to follow-up at 1-year postoperatively. The rate of bariatric procedures continues to increase nationally, so does the potential for late post-surgical complications. Given the potential impact of loss to follow-up on adverse late post-surgical outcomes, there is a need to facilitate long-term post-surgical follow-up and more investigation is needed to identify and intervene on underlying causes of bariatric patient follow-up attrition.
Neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

Preterm infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), and particularly those who develop the most severe forms of chronic lung disease during the neonatal period, are at high risk for poor developmental outcomes throughout childhood. Infants who require mechanical ventilation at 36 weeks post-menstrual age have significantly increased odds for cerebral palsy, developmental delay at 2 years, and poor academic achievement and low intelligence quotient in adolescence. Over the past several decades, many therapies and care strategies, including steroids, continuous positive airway pressure, surfactant, and other medications have been introduced into clinical practice. These approaches have changed the epidemiology of BPD in very preterm infants. However, BPD remains common and strongly associated with poor development throughout childhood. Only caffeine has been proven to reduce BPD and improve childhood developmental outcomes. In future research, it will be essential to better understand the developmental sequelae of BPD beyond school age and to test interventions to improve developmental trajectories in this population. As new management strategies for BPD are developed, it will be essential to rigorously evaluate both short-term and long-term effects before they are introduced into routine neonatal practice.
The role of fetal echocardiogram after detection of extracardiac anomalies in utero (fetal echocardiogram for extracardiac malformations)

OBJECTIVE We aimed to investigate the utility of comprehensive screening fetal echocardiography (FE) for patients diagnosed with any type of fetal extracardiac malformation (ECM) at a single multidisciplinary fetal center. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed all patients presenting to our referral center for FE due to a prenatal diagnosis of ECM (January 2013-December 2018). RESULTS Among 641 patients with ≥1 ECM referred for FE, 78 (12.2%) had CHD diagnosed at 25.6 ± 0.5 weeks. The frequency of CHD by type of ECM ranged from 35.1% for craniofacial to 9.8% for thoracic. Increasing number of fetal ECMs was strongly associated with CHD: odds ratio 2.01 (95% confidence interval: 1.06-3.69) for two ECMs, 9.57 (2.00-49.05) for three ECMs, and 11.68 (3.84-37.15) for more than three ECMs. Of fetuses with ECM and an abnormal genetic finding, 33.3% had CHD as compared to 10.9% of those without (p < 0.0001). Obstetric anatomy sonogram detected 43.6% of CHD. CONCLUSION CHD was commonly diagnosed among fetuses with any type of ECM at our center but was not always detected on obstetric sonogram. As the presence of CHD may impact decision-making and perinatal care, patients with a diagnosis of any fetal ECM should be considered for FE.
Do You Believe He Can Fly? Royce White and Reasonable Accommodations Under the Americans with Disabilities Act for NBA Players with Anxiety Disorder and Fear of Flying

I. ROYCE WHITE, THE NBA DRAFT, AND LIFE AND FLIGHTS AS AN NBA PLAYER 398 II. ROYCE WHITE’S NBA CAREER: DELAYED, WITH NO TAKEOFF IN SIGHT 405 III. ROYCE WHITE’S ANXIETY DISORDER AND THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT 411 A. The ADA, Anxiety Disorders and Fear of Flying 414 B. Job Description: Essential Functions of an NBA Player ........ 416 1. Uniform Player Contract, Collective Bargaining Agreement, and NBA Scheduling 416 2. Case Law Involving NBA Players and Essential Job Functions: Roy Tarpley and Cuttino Mobley 419 3. Case Law Involving Travel As Essential Function of
Design Optimization of Structural–Acoustic Spanning Concrete Elements in Buildings

Abstract In many buildings, structural concrete systems have a large impact on the building’s overall weight, embodied energy, and embodied carbon. Efficient structural components could result in b...
What Motivates Older Adults to Improve Diet and Exercise Patterns

Dietary intake and physical activity are lifestyle behaviors that are learned, developed, and practiced throughout an individual’s lifetime. These lifestyle behaviors have a profound role on health and quality of life—with late-life changes still resulting in notable improvements. Despite well documented benefits of behavior change, such changes are extremely challenging. The purpose of this study is to better understand from the perspective of older adults themselves, the factors that may influence their likelihood of making lifestyle changes. Participants were recruited two primary care clinics. 104 older adults ranging in age from 65 to 95 were included. Participants were interviewed about their motivations and plans to change diet and physical activity behaviors following a routine primary care visit. All interviews were transcribed and transcripts were analyzed using a line-by-line coding approach. Older adults reported that their likelihood of making a lifestyle change related to perceptions of old age, personal motivation, and perceived confidence in the ability to make effective changes. These findings suggest the importance of creating more positive images of old age and tailoring health promotion efforts to older adults’ motivations and confidence in their ability to make behavior changes.
Seven Exploratory Studies in Hydraulics

Immediately following the Sixth Hydraulics Conference, held at Iowa City in June of 1955, the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research conducted an intensive three-week course in experimental techniques, in which twenty-one graduate engineers from various organizations participated. The purpose of the course was not only to acquaint the class with new types of instrumentation, but also to instill in them an appreciation for the methods of research. In the third part of the course, the members of the class were encouraged to undertake short investigations of an original nature, to the end of determining new and publishable information. This paper contains the results of those seven, separate investigations.
A Marriage of Convenience? Islamic Banking and Finance Meet Neoliberalization

This chapter explores the relationship between Islamic banking and finance (IBF) on one hand, and what can be considered a nuanced and tentative understanding of “neoliberalization” in the context of the United Kingdom and the United States on the other. I show that while the UK government has feverishly promoted London and the UK as a center for IBF in the EU, if not the world, the U.S. has more tacitly accepted IBF as a niche form of finance that must be embraced as just another form of banking for its diverse citizenry, whatever the shadow of 9/11. I maintain that rather than seeing IBF and neoliberalization as opposed, it is necessary to see them as intertwined with what practitioners call “conventional banking” or “conventional finance.” In fact, many scholars argue, including Muslims, that there are too many similarities between the two. For some Muslims and those looking for an alternative to the “global financial architecture,” IBF is not different enough, for others, including devout secularists, it is sufficiently different and religious to garner suspicion. I suggest that shari’a-compliant banking ought to be analyzed closely for the ways in which it is entangled and practiced and not simply for its doctrinal qualities or formal contracts. In doing so, it might avoid anxious dismissals.
The Role of System Trust in Business-to-Consumer Transactions

It has been argued that the buyer's trust of the vendor is a critical precursor to a transactional relationship in an e-commerce environment. This study uses an experimental survey to test a model that includes a number of factors such as trust mechanisms, "system trust," and vendor reputation. The results suggest that one trust mechanism, vendor guarantees, has a direct influence on system trust. Further, within e-commerce situations, system trust plays an important role in the nomological network by directly affecting trust in vendors and indirectly affecting attitudes and intentions to purchase. These results held in the case of both firms with and without an established reputation. The results demonstrate the importance of interventions such as self-reported vendor guarantees that affect system trust in enabling successful e-commerce outcomes.
A guide to biochemical systems modeling of sphingolipids for the biochemist.

Abstract The last several years have brought an avalanche of data from various high throughput, genome‐wide analyses of yeast and other model organisms. Still, scientists struggle to comprehend the complex behavior of biological systems. One method that has been available for decades but now is more necessary than ever is the mathematical modeling of biological systems. Unfortunately, a chasm of terminology and techniques has separated most biologists from mathematical modelers. This chapter hopes to bridge that gap for metabolic models by delineating the general process used to develop a system of differential equations that describes a biochemical pathway. This modeling process can be generally applied to many biological phenomena. In addition, the specific approach of Biochemical Systems Theory (BST) is demonstrated for the nitty‐gritty details of the model equations. These methods are demonstrated using the core section of ceramide metabolism in yeast.
Studies of antepartum behavioral state in the human fetus at term

Abstract This prospective study describes intrauterine behavioral states in the human fetus. The variables used are fetal movement and two expressions of fetal heart rate (FHR): long-term variability and baseline rate. Fetal movement was recorded with the use of two strain gauges. FHR was measured with a transabdominal fetal electrocardiographic processor. Sixteen fetuses of normal pregnant patients were studied near term. One-minute periods called “epochs” were classified as quiet, active, and intermediate, based on the presence or absence of fetal movement (longer in duration than one second), increased or decreased long-term FHR variability, and the baseline of the FHR. Complete agreement in epoch classification was noted in 79.3 per cent of the 2,054 epochs analyzed. Quiet and active one-minute epochs were clustered into longer time periods representing quiet and active fetal behavior states similar to those seen in the neonate. The overall visual evaluation of the tracings based on the above noted criteria demonstrated the presence of quiet, active, and transitional states in the fetus. Mean duration of a complete cycle, including the quiet, active, and transitional states, was 62.3 minutes. The mean duration in the quiet state was 22.8 minutes and the mean duration in the nonquiet states (active and transitional) was 39.5 minutes. The significance of these intrauterine behavioral states is stressed.
Dimensional reduction in gauge theory

We consider a gauge theory with a general non-Abelian structure group and an (n+4)-dimensional base space withn compact dimensions. We show that integrating out the compact dimensions gives an effective four-dimensional theory with mass matrices for both the gauge bosons and for the matter fields. More interesting, we show that we still get the usual conserved Noether current in four dimensions, which is so necessary for renormalizability.
Specific inhibition of herpes simplex virus DNA polymerase by helical peptides corresponding to the subunit interface

Abstract The herpes simplex virus DNA polymerase consists of two subunits--a catalytic subunit and an accessory subunit, UL42, that increases processivity. Mutations affecting the extreme C terminus of the catalytic subunit specifically disrupt subunit interactions and ablate virus replication, suggesting that new antiviral drugs could be rationally designed to interfere with polymerase heterodimerization. To aid design, we performed circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and analytical ultracentrifugation studies, which revealed that a 36-residue peptide corresponding to the C terminus of the catalytic subunit folds into a monomeric structure with partial alpha-helical character. CD studies of shorter peptides were consistent with a model where two separate regions of alpha-helix interact to form a hairpin-like structure. The 36-residue peptide and a shorter peptide corresponding to the C-terminal 18 residues blocked UL42-dependent long-chain DNA synthesis at concentrations that had no effect on synthesis by the catalytic subunit alone or by calf thymus DNA polymerase delta and its processivity factor. These peptides, therefore, represent a class of specific inhibitors of herpes simplex virus DNA polymerase that act by blocking accessory-subunit-dependent synthesis. These peptides or their structures may form the basis for the synthesis of clinically effective drugs.
Presentation software supporting visual design: Displaying spatial relationships with a zooming user interface

Presentation software such as Microsoft's PowerPoint and its competitors are built upon the slide show metaphor, a metaphor that recalls the days when slide projectors were commonplace. A new presentation software tool, Prezi, sets itself apart by employing a new metaphor, the “infinite canvas” and the zooming user interface. Prezi's infinite canvas is a theoretically endless two-dimensional surface upon which text, graphics, video clips, and other visual aids are arranged. Prezi's interface allows for smooth and seamless zooming of the canvas, supporting views as wide or as narrow as the presenter desires. These two very different metaphors lend themselves well to displaying different kinds of visual information. I explore the history of each metaphor and its use in presentation software and discuss the characteristics of each metaphor when enacted in the presentation programs. I then highlight the wireflow document as one specific document type, relevant to the Human-Computer Interaction and User Centered Design communities, that is more effectively displayed in Prezi than in traditional presentation programs.
CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE OF LOCALLY GROWN FOOD: THE CASE OF INDIANA AQUACULTURE PRODUCTS

Many Indiana small- and medium-sized farm and ranch operators are looking at aquaculture to diversify their operations, but the underlying thought for most of these potential aquaculturists is the feasibility of raising fish, and whether consumers will be interested in Indiana aquaculture products. The study used an ordered probit model to examine Indiana consumers' interests in Indiana farm-raised aquaculture products. The model did not predict any non-interest but predicted 18% probability of consumers that are somewhat interested, 58% for consumers that are interested and 24% for consumers that are strongly interested. Factors that positively affected interest in Indiana aquaculture products were previous purchase of farm-raised aquaculture products, frequent at-home seafood consumption—once per week, and being at least 36 years of age. While consumers in the household income $20,000–$59,999 group showed interest, households with higher incomes were less interested. Prices that consumers are willing to...
Video quality assessment for web content mirroring

Due to the increasing user expectation on watching experience, moving web high quality video streaming content from the small screen in mobile devices to the larger TV screen has become popular. It is crucial to develop video quality metrics to measure the quality change for various devices or network conditions. In this paper, we propose an automated scoring system to quantify user satisfaction. We compare the quality of local videos with the videos transmitted to a TV. Four video quality metrics, namely Image Quality, Rendering Quality, Freeze Time Ratio and Rate of Freeze Events are used to measure video quality change during web content mirroring. To measure image quality and rendering quality, we compare the matched frames between the source video and the destination video using barcode tools. Freeze time ratio and rate of freeze events are measured after extracting video timestamps. Several user studies are conducted to evaluate the impact of each objective video quality metric on the subjective user watching experience.
Recommendations for Nomenclature and Tables in Biochemical Thermodynamics

Chemical equations are written in terms of specific ionic and elemental species and balance elements and charge, whereas biochemical equations are written in terms of reactants that often consist of species in equilibrium with each other and do not balance elements that are assumed fixed, such as hydrogen at constant pH. Both kinds of reaction equations are needed in biochemistry. When the pH and the free concentrations of certain metal ions are specified, the apparent equilibrium constant K′ for a biochemical reaction is written in terms of sums of species and can be used to calculate a standard transformed Gibbs energy of reaction ΔrG′o. Transformed thermodynamic properties can be calculated directly from conventional thermodynamic properties of species. Calorimetry or the dependence of K′ on temperature can be used to obtain the standard transformed enthalpy of reaction ΔrH′o. Standard transformed Gibbs energies of formation ΔfG′o(i) and standard transformed enthalpies of formation ΔfH′o(i) for reactants (sums of species) can be calculated at various T, pH, pMg, and ionic strength (I) if sufficient information about the chemical reactions involved is available. These quantities can also be calculated from measurement of K′ for a number of reactions under the desired conditions. Tables can be used to calculate ΔrG′o and ΔrH′o for many more reactions.
Pilot Study: Elevated Circulating Levels of the Proinflammatory Cytokine Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor in Patients With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract Objective To test the hypothesis that the proinflammatory cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is elevated in the circulation of patients with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) relative to uninjured subjects, and secondarily to identify additional immune mediators that are elevated in subjects with chronic SCI. Design Prospective, observational pilot study. Setting Outpatient clinic of a department of physical medicine and rehabilitation and research institute in an academic medical center. Participants Individuals with chronic (>1y from initial injury) SCI (n=22) and age- and sex-matched uninjured subjects (n=19). Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Plasma levels of MIF, as determined by a commercially available multiplex suspension immunoassay. The relationship between MIF levels and clinical/demographic variables was also examined. As a secondary outcome, we evaluated other cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors. Results Plasma MIF levels were significantly higher in subjects with chronic SCI than in control subjects ( P P P P P Conclusions These data confirm the hypothesis that MIF is elevated in subjects with chronic SCI and identify additional novel immune mediators that are also elevated in these subjects. This study suggests the importance of examining the potential functional roles of MIF and other immune factors in subjects with chronic SCI.
I Support Sustainability But Only When Doing So Reflects Fabulously on Me: Can Green Narcissists Be Cultivated?

Sustainability research has coalesced around the notion that many environmental problems can be framed as social dilemmas in which conflicts often arise between consumers’ pursuit of individual, short-term and self-directed goals and their support for collective, long-term and socially-oriented interests. The need to address this challenge is simultaneously becoming more important and challenging for macromarketers and policy makers as the incidence of individualistic consumer traits (e.g., narcissism and self-esteem), already high in general population, continues to grow throughout Western societies. This article examines why and how such individualistic tendencies (here, narcissistic exhibitionism) may impact consumers’ pro-environmental behavior. This research identifies an underlying mechanism (i.e., altruism) for the proposed effect. The potential effects of manageable boundary conditions for this relationship are also proposed and tested across four studies.
Economics, power and culture: Essays in the development of radical institutionalism: by James Ronald Stanfield New York: St. Martins Press, 1995, 236 pages

(1997). Economics, power and culture: Essays in the development of radical institutionalism. The Social Science Journal: Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 91-93.
Determinants of Restaurant Customers' Loyalty Intentions: A Mediating Effect of Relationship Quality

ABSTRACT. This study examines the relationships among perceived quality, perceived value, relationship quality (customer satisfaction and trust), and loyalty intentions in the full‐service restaurant industry. Following Baron and Kenny's guidelines, the current study also tested a mediating effect of relationship quality on loyalty intentions. Data were collected using an on‐line survey. The results of a series of regression analyses using five regression equations supported the hypothesized relationships among study constructs. In addition, relationship quality was found to be a partial mediator in the relationship between perceived value and loyalty intentions. Theoretical/managerial implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Brain activation and pupil response during covert performance of the Stroop Color Word task

Patterns of brain activation associated with covert performance of the Stroop Color-Word task were studied in young, healthy, adult volunteers using blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Comparisons of the incongruous Stroop condition were made with both color naming and word reading baselines. Areas of the left and right anterior cingulate, the right precuneus, and the left pars opercularis displayed larger BOLD signal responses during the incongruous Stroop condition than during baseline conditions. Activation of BOLD signals in these areas was highly repeatable. In a second experiment, pupil diameter was used to assess cognitive load in 7 individuals studied during overt and covert performance of both Stroop and color naming conditions. Cognitive load was similar in overt and covert response conditions. Results from the BOLD study indicate that brain regions participating in selective visual attention and in the selection of motor programs involved in speech were activated more by the Stroop task than by the baseline tasks. The neural substrate involved in the resolution of the perceptual and motor conflicts elicited by the Stroop Color-Word task does not appear to be a single brain region. Rather, a network of brain regions is implicated, with separate regions within this system supporting distinct functions.
Pitman Nearness Comparison of Some Estimators of Population Variance

Abstract Some issues in Pitman nearness comparison of certain estimators of a population variance are clarified. A general Rao-Blackwell-type result is presented. Some best estimators are derived, and their properties are discussed.
Combined effects of ethanol and stimulants on behavior and physiology

Abstract A review of the literature examining behavioral and/or physiological effects of combinations of ethanol and stimulants indicated very few complete, well-designed studies. Stimulants selected were amphetamine, caffeine, and nicotine. For ethanol-amphetamine combinations thirteen animal-behavioral studies, four human-behavioral studies, and eleven studies on lethality and physiology were reviewed. For ethanol-caffeine combinations four animal-behavioral studies, five human-behavioral and three studies on lethality and physiology were reviewed. Only two published ethanol-nicotine combination studies were found. Of studies examined, only eight used multiple doses and dose combinations and, of these, only five examined behavioral parameters. While antagonistic effects were sometimes reported, no antagonism and often potentiation effects also were found, particularly with certain dose combinations. Since current information about ethanol-stimulant interactions is clearly incomplete, attempts to formulate a general model to predict behavioral consequences of ethanol-stimulant combinations must await more complete parametric studies.
Hormonal therapy for prostate cancer.

Since the demonstration in 1941 by Huggins and Hodges that prostatic cancers are androgen dependent, hormonal treatment by androgen ablation has been the principal treatment for patients with advanced adenocarci-noma of the prostate. Although not able to permanently and totally eradicate every cancer cell since prostate cancer cells are quite heterogeneous in their sensitivity to androgens, hormonal therapy can produce dramatic subjective improvement as well as objective remissions. This results in an improved quality of survival and for patients with metastatic adenocarci-noma, endocrine therapy does reduce the death rate from cancer, and if death from other concurrent illness is controlled, there is an absolute increase in survival. At present, a variety of strategies are available for ablation of testicular and adrenal androgens, but results are not clinically significantly better than orchiectomy.
Experimental Abuse Liability Assessment of Benzodiazepines

The topic of this article is the experimental psychology and experimental pharmacology of benzodiazepines as applied to their abuse liability assessment.1 The issues of physiological and psychological dependence on benzodiazepines are considered to be separate topics and will be examined as such.
Erweiterung des Versagensmodells nach Dang Van für Abgasanlagen

Um die Lebensdauer von Automobil-Bauteilen wie Abgasanlagen unter mehrachsigen Spannungszustanden fur hohe Lastspielzahlen abzuschatzen, hat Tenneco ein einfaches Berechnungsverfahren entwickelt. Dazu wird das allgemein gebrauchliche Versagensmodell von Dang Van erweitert, um quantifizierende Lebensdaueraussagen auf Basis von Spannungsaussagen der FEM-Simulation zu treffen. Der Ansatz wurde bei Tenneco entwickelt und wird dort erfolgreich eingesetzt.
Population biology of sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana Dougl.) with reference to historical disturbances in the Lake Tahoe Basin: Implications for restoration

Abstract Historical logging, fire suppression, and an invasive pathogen, Cronartium ribicola , the cause of white pine blister rust (WPBR), are assumed to have dramatically affected sugar pine ( Pinus lambertiana ) populations in the Lake Tahoe Basin. We examined population- and genetic-level consequences of these disturbances within 10 sugar pine populations by assessing current population structure and trends for 1129 individuals, genetic diversity for 250 individuals, and frequency of WPBR-resistance for 102 families. Logging had occurred in 9 of 10 sites and fire suppression was evident in all stands. High density of white fir ( Abies concolor ) is often an indicator of fire suppression and we found a negative relationship between sugar pine survivorship and white fir basal area ( r 2 = 0.31). C. ribicola was present in 90% of stands (incidence range: 0–48%) and we found a significant relationship between mean host survivorship and disease incidence ( r 2 = 0.46). We estimated population growth rates ( λ ) from size-based transition matrices. For six of 10 sugar pine populations λ was ⩾1.0, indicating that these populations appear to be stable; for four populations, λ was c i , which is a measure of genetic differentiation in allele frequencies relative to an ancestral population, ranged from 0.009 to 0.048. Higher values of c i indicate greater genetic drift, possibly due to a bottleneck caused by historical logging, other agents of mortality or much older events affecting population sizes. Effects of drift are known to be greater in small populations and we found a negative relationship between sugar pine density and c i ( r 2 = 0.36). Allele frequency of the Cr1 gene, responsible for WPBR-resistance in sugar pine, averaged 0.068 for all populations sampled; no WPBR infection was found in one population in which the Cr1 frequency was 0.112. Historical disturbances and their interactions have likely influenced the population biology of sugar pine in the Tahoe Basin; for some populations this has meant reduced population size, higher genetic drift, and poor survival of small- and intermediate-sized individuals. Possible management strategies include restoring population numbers, deploying WPBR-resistance, treating stands to promote natural sugar pine regeneration, and enhancing genetic diversity.
The use of CT scanning in resolving "pseudo" lesions of the liver.

Abstract The interposition of bowel, fat, or ascitic fluid between the liver and abdominal wall may suggest the presence of a space occupying lesion on a radionuclide scan. The authors report on the use of computerized tomography as well as ultrasound for resolving the problem created by these “pseudo” lesions.
A multi-level scalable startup for parallel applications

High performance parallel machines with hundreds of thousands of processors and petascale performance are already in use, and even larger Exaflops scale computing systems which may have hundreds of millions of cores are planned. To run parallel applications on machines of such massive scale, one of the biggest challenges is the parallel startup process. This task involves two components: (1) parallel launching of appropriate processes on the given set of processors and (2) setting up communication channels to enable the processes to communicate with each other after process launching has completed. Most current startup mechanisms focus on either using special purpose daemons which waste system resources or using a startup manager which becomes a scalability bottleneck. In this paper, we investigate the design and scalability of a SMP-aware, multi-level startup scheme with batching of remote shell sessions, which provides a complete solution to startup of a parallel application and facilitates its management during execution. It monitors process health and can be used to support recovery from failures and provide scalable interaction with the application. We demonstrate the performance and scalability of this scheme by applying it to startup Charm++ applications. In particular, starting up a Charm++ program on 16,384 cores of Ranger (at TACC) with Ethernet as the underlying communication layer takes only 25 seconds and attains a speedup of over 400% compared to MPICH2 startup (using hydra as process manager) and over 800% compared to Open MPI startup on Ranger.
Natural Hazards in Latin America: Tectonic Forces and Storm Fury

(2004). Natural Hazards in Latin America: Tectonic Forces and Storm Fury. The Social Studies: Vol. 95, No. 3, pp. 93-105.
Elastodynamic analysis of crack emanating from the vertex of a wedge

The method of homogeneous solutions is applied to the problem of elastodynamic crack propagation from the vertex of a wedge. The method is based on the observation that the particle velocity is self-similar. A closed form solution is obtained giving the shear stress and particle velocity in the vicinity of the moving crack tip. The corresponding quasistatic problem is also examined and it is found that the stress intensity factor for the quasi-static case is equal to that for the dynamic case when the velocity of crack propagation is very low compared to the shear wave velocity.
The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) project

The LMT is a 50 m diameter telescope for operation to a wavelength of 1 mm from a high mountain site in central Mexico at a latitude of 19 degrees. The telescope is designed to address fundamental questions about the origin and formation of galaxies, clusters of galaxies as well as stars and planets. It is a joint project of the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Astrofisica, Optica y Electronica (INAOE) in Tonantzintla, Puebla and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The telescope is in the Critical Design phase and completion of the basic assembly at the site is scheduled for the end of 2000. We describe historical and organizational aspects of the Project and present the major technical specifications and plans for realization.
Treatment and Survival Outcomes Based on Histologic Grading in Patients With Head and Neck Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma

BACKGROUND. Histopathologic grade of mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) is an established predictor of prognosis and affects treatment protocol. Tumor behavior is more aggressive in high-grade than in low-grade MEC, leading to a more intensive treatment protocol. Outcomes for patients with intermediate-grade MEC are less clear; therefore, the optimal treatment protocol for this group is not well defined. The treatment protocol and survival outcomes of patients treated for MEC of the head and neck was investigated. METHODS. A retrospective clinical review and prospective review of histopathologic grading were undertaken using the most recently established grading system of 50 patients with MEC of the head and neck from 1983 through 2004. RESULTS. As histologic grade increased from low to intermediate to high, overall survival (P < .0001) and disease-free survival (P < .001) were significantly decreased. Overall and disease-free survival were significantly better for patients with intermediate-grade MEC than those with high-grade disease. Overall and disease-free survival were similar for patients with low-grade and intermediate-grade MEC. There was a low rate of disease recurrence in patients with intermediate-grade MEC, but this did not lead to death from disease. Although no patients with low-grade or intermediate-grade MEC died of disease, 52% of patients with high-grade MEC died of disease. Multivariate analysis revealed that histologic grade, age, and surgical margin status significantly predicted prognosis. CONCLUSIONS. These findings suggest that, under the current histopathologic classification system, the behavior of intermediate-grade MEC is comparable to that of low-grade MEC and different from high-grade MEC, allowing for the establishment of an evidence-based treatment protocol. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society.
Electron collisions with highly polar molecules: Comparison of model, static, and static-exchange calculations for alkali-metal halides

Calculations of cross sections for (vibrationally and electronically) elastic collisions of electrons with several alkali-metal halides were performed for energies in the range of 0.13 to 20.0 eV. The applicability of the adiabatic (fixed-nuclei) approximation for strongly polar systems is investigated by model calculations on CsF, KI, and LiF. We demonstrate that integrated, momentum transfer, and differential cross sections for polar systems can be reliably generated entirely within the body-frame, adiabatic approximation. We also suggest resolutions of several discrepancies between the results of earlier calculations and between these results and measurements. Close-coupling calculations, based on the adiabatic approximation and an alternative form of the frame transformation, were performed for electron-LiF collisions using the full static and static model-exchange surface. Reasonable agreement was found with measured differential cross sections at 5.44 and 20.0 eV. Shape resonances in the ..sigma.. and Pi body-frame symmetries, centered near 1.8 and 1.5 eV, respectively, were observed. Similar features appeared in static-exchange calculation for NaF and NaCl. We also compare the results of the static and static-exchange calculations with the results of calculations using simpler model potentials and other approaches to the collision problem.