cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Socio-economic and racial/ethnic disparities in the nutritional quality of packaged food purchases in the USA, 2008-2018.

Objective To determine whether disparities exist in the nutritional quality of packaged foods and beverage purchases by household income, education and race/ethnicity and if they changed over time. Design We used Nielsen Homescan, a nationally representative household panel, from 2008 to 2018 (n = 672 821 household-year observations). Multivariate, multilevel regressions were used to model the association between sociodemographic groups and a set of nutritional outcomes of public health interest, including nutrients of concern (sugar, saturated fat and Na) and calories from specific food groups (fruits, non-starchy vegetables, processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages and junk foods). Setting Household panel survey. Participants Approximately 60 000 households each year from the USA. Results Disparities were found by income and education for most outcomes and widened for purchases of fruits, vegetables and the percentage of calories from sugar between 2008 and 2018. The magnitude of disparities was largest by education. Disparities between Black and White households include the consumption of processed meats and the percentage of calories from sugar, while no disparities were found between White and Hispanic households. Disparities have been largely persistent, as any significant changes over time have been substantively small. Conclusions Policies to improve the healthfulness of packaged foods must be expanded beyond SSB taxes, and future research should focus on what mediates the relationship between education and diet so as not to exacerbate disparities.
ResidueFinder: extracting individual residue mentions from protein literature.

The revolution in molecular biology has shown how protein function and structure are based on specific sequences of amino acids. Thus, an important feature in many papers is the mention of the significance of individual amino acids in the context of the entire sequence of the protein. MutationFinder is a widely used program for finding mentions of specific mutations in texts. We report on augmenting the positive attributes of MutationFinder with a more inclusive regular expression list to create ResidueFinder, which finds mentions of native amino acids as well as mutations. We also consider parameter options for both ResidueFinder and MutationFinder to explore trade-offs between precision, recall, and computational efficiency. We test our methods and software in full text as well as abstracts. We find there is much more variety of formats for mentioning residues in the entire text of papers than in abstracts alone. Failure to take these multiple formats into account results in many false negatives in the program. Since MutationFinder, like several other programs, was primarily tested on abstracts, we found it necessary to build an expanded regular expression list to achieve acceptable recall in full text searches. We also discovered a number of artifacts arising from PDF to text conversion, which we wrote elements in the regular expression library to address. Taking into account those factors resulted in high recall on randomly selected primary research articles. We also developed a streamlined regular expression (called “cut”) which enables a several hundredfold speedup in both MutationFinder and ResidueFinder with only a modest compromise of recall. All regular expressions were tested using expanded F-measure statistics, i.e., we compute Fβ for various values of where the larger the value of β the more recall is weighted, the smaller the value of β the more precision is weighted. ResidueFinder is a simple, effective, and efficient program for finding individual residue mentions in primary literature starting with text files, implemented in Python, and available in SourceForge.net. The most computationally efficient versions of ResidueFinder could enable creation and maintenance of a database of residue mentions encompassing all articles in PubMed.
Predicting Coma Trajectories: The Impact of Bias and Noise on Shared Decisions

Coma trajectories are characterized by quick awakening or protracted awakening. Outcome is bookended by restored functionality or permanent cognitively and physically debilitated states. Given the stakes, prognostication cannot be easily questioned as a judgment call, and a scientific underpinning is elemental. Conventional wisdom in determining coma-outcome trajectories posits that (1) predictive models are better than personal experiences, (2) self-fulfilling prophesy is unchecked and driven by nihilism, with little regard for prior probability outcomes, and (3) recovery is impacted by patients' prior wishes and preexisting medical conditions-but also by what families are told about the patient's state and anticipated clinical course. Moreover, a predicted good outcome can be offset by a major subsequent complication, or a predicted poor outcome can be offset by aggressive care. This article examines some of these concepts, including how we decide on aggressiveness of care, how we judge quality of life, and the impact on outcome. Most patients who awaken quickly do well and can resume their pretrauma injury lives. In worse off, slow-to-awaken patients, outcomes are a mixed bag of limited innate resilience, depleted cognitive and physical reserves, and adjusted quality of life. Bias and noise are factors not easily measured in outcome prediction, but their influence on recovery trajectories raises some troubling issues.
Life Sciences Research Facility Automation Requirements and Concepts for the Space Station

An evaluation is made of the methods and preliminary results of a study on prospects for the automation of the NASA Space Station's Life Sciences Research Facility. In order to remain within current Space Station resource allocations, approximately 85 percent of planned life science experiment tasks must be automated; these tasks encompass specimen care and feeding, cage and instrument cleaning, data acquisition and control, sample analysis, waste management, instrument calibration, materials inventory and management, and janitorial work. Task automation will free crews for specimen manipulation, tissue sampling, data interpretation and communication with ground controllers, and experiment management.
Resource-Directed Loop Pipelining

Resource-Directed Loop Pipelining (RDLP) is a new approach to loop pipelining that allows the availability of target resource to in some sense guide the parallelization process. One of the key features of RDLP is the separation of control heuristics from transformations that allows the loop pipelining to be as general as the underlying system of code motion transformations. This paper presents results that show that RDLP is capable of “adapting” to target resources, exposing just enough parallelism (i.e., incurring a minimum of code explosion) to effectively utilize the resources of the specific target.
BizBuilder - An E-Services Framework Targeted for Internet Workflow

One of the fundamental requirements for solutions to succeed in the business-to-business e-commerce domain is the ability to integrate seamlessly or inter-operate with diverse systems. In other words, the services offered by a business should be easily accessible by any consumer or business using the Internet infrastructure and standard protocols. A framework is needed by which new E-services can be created, or existing non-Internet services can be converted to E-services. Also, since these E-services are good candidates to be part of business workflows, a facility is needed to make them support and participate in such workflows. This paper describes BizBuilder, our E-services framework used to create these E-services. BizBuilder addresses the issue of transactions in particular and facilitates managing both synchronous and long-running E-services that can participate in workflows. Additionally, BizBuilder provides suitable support to register E-services to a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) enabled brokering community.
CBF perturbation corrections to the Jastrow ground-state of the electron gas

We have reported in this paper the first calculations for the correlation energy within the combined FHNC variational-CBF scheme. The energy corrections turn out to be rather small and-with the exception of a somewhat uncomfortable feature at very high densities- of the expected size. In particular the exact result for the high density limit gives another indication for the efficiency of our approach.
THE SHORT-RUN SHIFTING OF THE CORPORATION INCOME-TAX IN THE UNITED STATES

THE extent of short-run shifting of the corporation income-tax burden remains an issue of considerable interest to many economists. It is of interest to policy-makers concerned with the consequences of taxing corporate income as well as to macroeconomic theorists concerned with the viability of the traditional theory of profit maximization.2 The recent econometric literature points to two polar conclusions. On the full shifting side, Krzyzaniak-Musgrave [13] estimated the degree of short-run shifting to be 134 per cent. On the zero shifting side, Goode [8] and Slitor [19] showed that the K-M shifting estimate could be substantially lowered below 100 per cent, while Cragg, Harberger, and Mieszkowski [3], and then Gordon [10], reported shifting estimates that were statistically indistinguishable from zero per cent. While the results are disparate, these studies have in common the methodology of specifying single equation models of corporate tax shifting in which the explanatory variables are taken, sometimes unrealistically, to be exogenous or predetermined. Although of great use as a first step, this approach, in precluding explicit econometric consideration of the interdependence of the many economic variables related to the tax shifting phenomenon, has inherent limitations. In this paper an alternative rate of return equation is specified and estimated in the light of being part of a larger system of economic relationships. A multi-equation model which explicitly specifies the jointly dependent nature of the corporate income-tax burden, the return to capital, the level of inventories and sales, the determination of labour input, the payments to labour, and the price level, among other key economic variables, is constructed. The model is seen to provide a set of instruments to be used in the estimation of the rate of return equation, which is estimated by two-stage least squares. In the first stage the set of instruments provided by the model,
Transportation Distance and the Central Limit Theorem

For probability measures on a complete separable metric space, we present sufficient conditions for the existence of a solution to the Kantorovich transportation problem. We also obtain sufficient conditions (which sometimes also become necessary) for the convergence, in transportation, of probability measures when the cost function is continuous, non-decreasing and depends on the distance. As an application, the CLT in the transportation distance is proved for independent and some dependent stationary sequences.
Quantitative analysis of polydisperse systems via solvent‐free matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Quantitative analysis of partially soluble and insoluble polydisperse materials is challenging due to the lack of both appropriate standards and reliable analytical techniques. To this end, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) incorporating a solvent-free sample preparation technique was investigated for the quantitative analysis of partially soluble, polydisperse, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) oligomers. Molecular weight standards consisting of narrow molecular weight dimer and trimer oligomers of the starting M-50 petroleum pitch were produced using both dense-gas/supercritical extraction (DGE/SCE) and preparative-scale, gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The validity of a MALDI-based, quantitative analysis technique using solvent-free sample preparation was first demonstrated by applying the method of standard addition to a pitch of known composition. The standard addition method was then applied to the quantitative analysis of two insoluble petroleum pitch fractions of unknown oligomeric compositions, with both the dimer and trimer compositions of these fractions being accurately determined. To our knowledge, this study represents the first successful MALDI application of solvent-free quantitative analysis to insoluble, polydisperse materials.
Anti-jam performance of small GPS polarimetric arrays

Aircraft in an ECM environment require high-performance antenna arrays that are compact in size and easy to manufacture. Modern microstrip antennas are suitable candidates as elements for GPS arrays. It is shown that the small GPS polarimetric array has superior anti-jam capability compared with the conventional array. An N-element SGPA has 2N-2 degrees of freedom. It doubles the degrees of freedom as compared with the conventional array.
Chloroplast numbers, mitochondrion numbers and carbon assimilation physiology of Nicotiana sylvestris as affected by CO2 concentration

Abstract Rising atmospheric CO2 concentration has been shown to affect photosynthesis and dark respiration of plants. However, it is unclear how CO2 enrichment will simultaneously affect rates of photosynthesis and respiration and the abundance of organelles in which they take place. In a study with Nicotiana sylvestris, we examined the relationships between chloroplast number and photosynthesis and between mitochondrion number and dark respiration of plants grown at 365 or 730 μmol mol−1 CO2 in environmentally controlled chambers. Elevated CO2 significantly increased the width of chloroplasts due to the large size of starch grains present in CO2-enriched leaves. Higher CO2 concentration, however, had no effect on the length of chloroplasts. The dimension of mitochondria and cross-section area of leaf cells were also unaffected by CO2 concentration. Elevated CO2 increased chloroplast number per unit cell area by 71% and net photosynthesis (A) per unit leaf area by a similar magnitude (67%). Mitochondrion number per unit cell area increased by 130%, whereas dark respiration (Rd) per unit leaf area was only 36% higher during daytime and 48% higher during nighttime periods at elevated CO2. Daytime and nighttime Rd decreased over time in both CO2 treatments, but A remained relatively unchanged throughout the growth period. As a result, photosynthetic efficiency increased over time. Our results demonstrate the agreement between chloroplast number and photosynthetic responses to CO2 enrichment and highlight the contrast between the large increase in mitochondrion numbers and the moderate increase in respiration at elevated CO2 in N. sylvestris.
On an Approximation to Sinusoidal Modulation

The distribution of modulation frequencies for radiation chopped by passing rectangular chopper teeth over a circular aperture has been determined. The ratio of aperture radius to tooth width that produces an amplitude of the fundamental equal to the amplitude obtained in the case of sinusoidally modulated radiation is calculated. The calculation reported here also establishes the ratio of aperture radius to tooth width that will result in an rms value of the incident radiation which is equal to that of sinusoidally modulated radiation.
Remarriage and stepfamilies: Strategic sites for family scholarship in the 21st century.

This article reviews areas of advancement over the past decade in our understanding of remarriage and stepfamilies and suggests promising new directions for future work. Profound shifts in the demographic context of family life motivate central themes in recent scholarship on remarriage and stepfamilies, including the diversity and complexity of stepfamily structures and processes, the consequences of multiple partnerships for adults and children, and potential selectivity in the characteristics of individuals entering remarried families and stepfamilies. Despite challenges to further progress, I argue that remarriage and stepfamilies offer strategic opportunities to investigate many core concerns of family scholars.
Runtime Demand Estimation for effective dynamic resource management

Systems management techniques that allocate resources to running entities, such as processes and virtual machines (VMs), often require estimates of the resources required by each of these resource consumers. For example, many proposed virtual machine placement algorithms attempt to allocate VMs to physical hosts in such a way as to minimize the number of physical hosts that are occupied, while ensuring that each VM receives the CPU required to do its task adequately. The common practice is to assume that the CPU requirement is equal to the current CPU utilization, or to use a prediction of it over an appropriate time horizon. In this paper, we demonstrate that, when multiple VMs or processes co-reside on a physical host, the measured CPU utilization may provide a poor estimate of the actual requirement. We derive a simple, much more accurate alternative estimate of CPU demand, implement it, and demonstrate its superiority experimentally. Furthermore, we demonstrate that using our demand estimation framework in conjunction with dynamic resource allocation in a virtualized environment greatly improves the effectiveness of dynamic placement, resulting in one-shot convergence to optimal placement and significant improvements in the overall performance of the individual VMs.
Tradeoff analysis in minimum volume design of multi-stage spur gear reduction units

Abstract The problem of minimum volume preliminary design of simple and multiple-stage spur gear reduction units has been a subject of considerable interest, since many high-performance power transmission applications (e.g., automotive and aerospace) require low weight. One of the principal steps in traditional design procedures relates to the determination of an “optimal” value of diametral pitch at which tooth bending fatigue failure and surface fatigue failure are equally likely. The purpose of this paper is to present a generalized optimal design formulation with multiple objectives which is, in principle, applicable to a gear train of arbitrary complexity. The methodology is applied to the design of two-stage and three-stage spur gear reduction units, subject to identical loading conditions and design criteria. The approach serves to extend traditional design procedures by demonstrating the tradeoff between surface fatigue life and minimum volume using a basic multiobjective optimization procedure. This information allows the designer to judge overall trends and, for example, to assess the penalty in surface fatigue lifetime which would occur for a given weight reduction.
Calculation of thermodynamic and mechanical properties of silicon nanostructures using the local phonon density of states

We investigate thermodynamic and mechanical properties of silicon nanostructures at finite temperature. Thermodynamic properties for finite-temperature solid systems under isothermal conditions are characterized by the Helmholtz free energy density. The static part of the Helmholtz free energy is obtained directly from the interatomic potential, while the vibrational part is calculated by using the theory of local phonon density of states (LPDOS). The LPDOS is calculated efficiently from the on-site phonon Green's function by using a recursion technique based on a continued fraction representation. The Cauchy-Born hypothesis is employed to compute the mechanical properties. By considering ideal Si{001}, $(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)$ reconstructed Si{001}, and monolayer-hydrogen-passivated $(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)$ reconstructed Si{001} surfaces of a silicon nanowire, we calculate the local phonon structure and local thermodynamic and mechanical properties at finite temperature and observe that the surface effects on the local thermal and mechanical properties are localized to within one or two atomic layers of the silicon nanowire.
Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and pattern of WISC scores as variables that affect psychologists' estimates of “effective intelligence”

Psychologists estimated "true IQs" or "effective intelligence" from WISC profiles that varied for ethnicity (black, Mexican-American, or white), social class (lower or middle), profile (three scatter patterns), and direction of Verbal-Performance Scale discrepancy. Psychologists gave higher IQ estimates to black and Mexican-American children's profiles than to the same profiles of white children. Social class was not a significant factor. Profiles with much scatter received higher IQs than profiles with limited scatter. The pattern of subtest scores also affected estimates, while the direction of the Verbal-Performance discrepancy was not significant. Finally, the WISC was judged to be more valid for white than for black and Mexican-American children. Explanations of the findings were discussed.
A sensitive HPLC-MS-MS assay for quantitative determination of midazolam in dog plasma

Abstract The clinical pharmacokinetics of midazolam have been extensively studied, due to its high clearance by CYP3A4 and sensitivity to drug–drug interactions. In order to investigate the potential to model drug–drug interactions with midazolam in the dog, a selective and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (HPLC-MS-MS) method has been developed, with sufficient sensitivity to allow analysis of dog plasma samples generated following administration of a clinically relevant dose. The method involves extraction of midazolam and internal standard (flunitrazepam) from dog plasma, using 96-well Oasis® MCX solid phase extraction plates. The assay has been validated over a concentration range of 0.1–10 ng/ml and its specificity, accuracy and precision demonstrated. The relative bias of the assay was within ±15% for all standards with intra- and inter-assay precision (coefficient of variation—%CV) of less than 15%. The assay was applied to the analysis of plasma samples (0.2 ml), generated following intravenous or oral administration of midazolam to male beagle dogs, at a dose level of 0.05 mg/kg, and pharmacokinetic parameters were derived from the resulting data.
An Empirical Comparison of the Validity of UCR and NCS Crime Rates

A large volume of criminological research uses either the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) or the National Crime Surveys (NCS) as a source for data on crime rates. The validity of both these measures, h...
Fitness supplements as a gateway substance for anabolic-androgenic steroid use

Approximately 3.0% of young Americans have used anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). A traditional model of adolescent substance use, the gateway hypothesis, suggests that drug use follows a chronological, causal sequence, whereby initial use of a specific drug leads to an increased likelihood of future drug use. Therefore, the use of illicit appearance and performance enhancing drugs (APED), such as AASs, also follows an analogous progression, whereby legal APEDs, (e.g., nutritional supplements) precedes illicit APED use. We examined the relationship between nutritional supplement use, beliefs about APEDs, and APED use in 201 male (n = 100) and female (n = 101) undergraduates. Participants completed measures of muscle dysmorphia (MDDI), body checking (BCQ, MBCQ), eating disorder symptoms (EDE-Q), perfectionism (FMPS), positive beliefs about the efficacy-safety of AAS use and APED use patterns. A series of covariance structure models (CSM) showed body image disturbance, compulsive exercise, illicit drug use, and perfectionism, independent of gender, were significant predictors of positive beliefs about AAS. Those who used both fat burning and muscle building supplements reported the strongest beliefs in AAS efficacy-safety, which was associated with higher likelihood of current illicit APED use. There was evidence of significant indirect relationships between supplement use and illicit APED use through contact with other AAS users and beliefs about AAS. The potential role for nutritional supplement use in the initiation of illegal APED use is discussed. Future prevention efforts may benefit from targeting legal APED users in youth.
Blood Volume Perturbations in the Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

The postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is characterized by excessive orthostatic tachycardia with chronic symptoms that are associated with upright posture. These chronic symptoms (of at least 6 months' duration) include tachycardia, exercise intolerance, lightheadedness, extreme fatigue, headache, and mental clouding. Patients with POTS demonstrate an increase in heart rate of at least 30 beats/min within 5 to 30 minutes of assuming an upright posture, in the absence of orthostatic hypotension (a fall in blood pressure >20/10 mm Hg) and in the absence of other medical disorders that might cause tachycardia. POTS can be associated with a high degree of functional disability. The blood volume has been found to be low in many patients with POTS. This article will review some of the data regarding blood volume perturbations in POTS, blood volume regulation in POTS, and potential treatment approaches.
Comparison of periodogram tests

The periodogram ordinate is a common statistic used for the detection of sinusoidal behavior in time series data. Different statistical tests based on the periodogram ordinates have been proposed, and in this paper, Monte Carlo simulations are used to compare the power of three of these periodogram tests in their ability to detect periodic behavior under various conditions like simple or multiple cycles as well as for different frequency bases. Analyses of real world data will illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the tests.
Optical tomographic monitoring of vascular responses to anti-angiogenic drugs in preclinical tumor models

It is well acknowledged that treatment efficacy could be increased and unnecessary toxicities reduced if a rapid assessment strategy were available to allow individual tailoring of cancer therapy. In this work we focus on using optical tomographic imaging to detect tumor response to anti-angiogenic treatment within the first 5 days of therapy. For this study we used two models with well-characterized and divergent responses to inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). SK-NEP and NGP cells were implanted intrarenally into NCR nude mice and the resulting tumors were monitored until a threshold of 1-2 g was reached. Optical tomographic imaging with a dual-wavelength (λ = 765nm and 830nm) continuous wave system, was performed prior to the first treatment with the anti-VEGF bevacizumab (BV), as well as 1, 3, and 5 days later. We found that the SK-NEP tumor model, known to be responsive to BV treatment, shows a decrease in hemoglobin levels over the 5 days. Mice implanted with the NGP tumor model, known to be less responsive to treatment, do not show such decreases. These results were further validated with histopathological findings that showed a decrease in tumor vascularization in treated SK-NEP mice. These results suggest that optical tomography is a promising tool for monitoring early tumor response to drug therapy.
A calcium-independent phospholipase activity insensitive to bromoenol lactone mediates arachidonic acid release by lindane in rat myometrial cells

Abstract Arachidonic acid release is an important regulatory component of uterine contraction and parturition, and previous studies showed that lindane stimulates arachidonic acid release from myometrium. The present study partially characterized the enzyme activity responsible for lindane-induced arachidonic acid release in myometrial cells. Lindane released arachidonic acid from cultured rat myometrial cells in concentration- and time-dependent manners. This release was primarily from phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylinositol, and was independent of intracellular and extracellular calcium. In cells prelabeled with [3H]arachidonic acid, 85% of radiolabel was recovered as free arachidonate and only 5% was recovered as eicosanoids. Pretreatment with the antioxidants Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase, α-tocopherol or Trolox did not significantly modify lindane-induced arachidonic acid release. Pretreatment of cells with the phosphatidylcholine-specific phospholipase C inhibitor D609, phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C inhibitor ET-18-OCH3, or an interrupter of the phospholipase D pathway (ethanol) did not suppress lindane-induced arachidonic acid release. Although these results are consistent with calcium-independent phospholipase A2 activation by lindane, the calcium-independent phospholipase A2 inhibitor bromoenol lactone failed to inhibit lindane-induced arachidonic acid release in myometrial cells, even though bromoenol lactone effectively blocked arachidonic acid release in neutrophils. These results suggest that myometrial cells express a novel, previously unidentified phospholipase that is arachidonate-specific, calcium-independent, insensitive to bromoenol lactone, insensitive to reactive oxygen species activation, shows substrate preference for phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylinositol, and is stimulated by lindane. Moreover, the data show that the overwhelming majority of arachidonic acid released remains as arachidonate, but that lindane does not significantly inhibit metabolism of arachidonate to eicosanoids.
Supramolecular Carbon Nanotube-Fullerene Donor−Acceptor Hybrids for Photoinduced Electron Transfer

Photoinduced electron transfer in a self-assembled single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT)-fullerene(C60) hybrid with SWNT acting as an electron donor and fullerene as an electron acceptor has been successfully demonstrated. Toward this, first, SWNTs were noncovalently functionalized using alkyl ammonium functionalized pyrene (Pyr-NH3+) to form SWNT/Pyr-NH3+ hybrids. The alkyl ammonium entity of SWNT/Pyr-NH3+ hybrids was further utilized to complex with benzo-18-crown-6 functionalized fullerene, crown-C60, via ammonium−crown ether interactions to yield SWNT/Pyr-NH3+/crown-C60 nanohybrids. The nanohybrids were isolated and characterized by TEM, UV−visible−near IR, and electrochemical methods. Free-energy calculations suggested possibility of electron transfer from the carbon nanotube to the singlet excited fullerene in the SWNT/Pyr-NH3+/crown-C60 nanohybrids. Accordingly, steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence studies revealed efficient quenching of the singlet excited-state of C60 in the nanohybrids. Furt...
Health and Access to Health Care of Female Family Caregivers of Adults With Developmental Disabilities

The physical and mental health status of women providing care to adult relatives with developmental disabilities was compared with that of the general female population in the United States. There were no differences on physical health across four age groups. However, the mental health of midlife caregivers (45—54 years of age) and older caregivers (older than 65 years) was worse than national norms. This may be associated with two key periods: transitions to adulthood of individuals with disabilities and transitions when aging caregivers are no longer able to provide care. Greater unmet needs for services contributed to poorer mental health. Poorer access to health care also contributed to poorer mental and physical health. Unmet needs for services and out-of-pocket disability-related expenses appeared to pose difficulties for working age caregivers in affording the financial costs of health care for themselves.
Optical characteristics of blue jets produced by runaway air breakdown, simulation results

The results of numerical calculations of the intensity and spectra of optical emissions from blue jets produced by runaway air breakdown in the atmosphere are presented. It is found that a positive runaway streamer develops in the altitude range 20-34 km following an intracloud discharge that possesses a continuing current of ∼ 1.7 kA. The ionization front of the runaway streamer propagates upward with a velocity ∼ 90 km/s and produces optical emissions with a maximum intensity ∼ 400 kR and a duration ∼ 153 ms. The comparison between theory and observation yields good agreement for such important blue jet characteristics as maximum intensity of optical emissions, color, front velocity, duration, maximum radius and vertical dimensions and supports the viability of runaway air breakdown as a driving mechanism for this particular type of high altitude discharge.
Assessment of retrograde cardioplegia distribution using contrast echocardiography

Abstract Retrograde cardioplegia has gained popularity in coronary and noncoronary cardiac operations. We have used contrast echocardiography in the open-chest canine model to compare the distribution of cardioplegia delivered antegrade in the aortic root versus retrograde through the coronary sinus, and to determine the effect of coronary occlusion on that delivery. With no coronary occlusion, antegrade cardioplegia was distributed to the entire left ventricle and septum whereas retrograde cardioplegia was distributed to the left ventricular free wall but had inconsistent delivery to the septum. Acute occlusion of the left circumflex coronary artery resulted in 57.06% ± 9.52% of the left ventricle not being perfused by antegrade cardioplegia and occlusion of both the left circumflex and anterior descending coronary arteries caused a 65.46% ± 18.5% reduction in perfusion by antegrade cardioplegia. Acute coronary occlusion had no effect on retrograde cardioplegia distribution. We conclude that retrograde cardioplegia is less homogeneous than antegrade cardioplegia in the intact coronary circulation but that retrograde cardioplegia preserves cardioplegia distal to acutely occluded coronary arteries. Furthermore, contrast echocardiography is a useful method of assessing myocardial perfusion and may have useful clinical applications.
The WIC Program: An Economic Analysis of Breastfeeding and Infant Formula

Abstract Background: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) has provided free infant formula while simultaneously attempting to promote breastfeeding. This article analyzes the cost structure of WIC food packages in relation to breastfeeding. Methods: The analysis provides 2010 estimates for the cost and utilization of each of the WIC food packages for pairs of infants and their mothers. New food packages were introduced in all states by 2009 and were intended to promote breastfeeding. The analysis accounts for the composition of the new food packages, although utilization projections predate the implementation of those packages, so current rates of breastfeeding may be understated. Results: The projections suggest that just under 74% of infant participants are estimated to receive food packages associated with exclusive formula use. Relative to food packages for mother–infant pairs who exclusively breastfeed, the exclusive formula packages are around 25% more ex...
Correlation between Complement-fixing Cell Antibody and Immunofluorescent Nuclear Antibody in Hamsters bearing `SV40'-induced Tumours

THE fact that transformation of hamster cells by ‘SV40’ results in the synthesis of new viral-induced antigen(s) was first inferred by in vivo immunity tests1–4. This phenomenon was later detected in vitro by complement-fixation5 and by immunofluorescence6,7. This latter approach has characterized the antigen as being particulate, intranuclear and present in 100 per cent of the transformed cells. Corresponding information regarding the intracellular site of the complement-fixing antigen and the proportion of cells in a culture synthesizing it has not yet been reported, and, indeed, such data are difficult to obtain by a direct approach.
The Effects of America's Three Affirmative Action Programs on Academic Performance

Although affirmative action programs for minority students form just one of several criteria for preferential admissions to American colleges and universities, little research has compared the impact of other large “affirmative actions” programs such as those for athletes and legacies. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF), a sample of nearly 4,000 students in 28 elite American colleges and universities, we develop models that test claims about the effects of affirmative action—namely mismatch hypothesis and stereotype threat—on college performance in three groups: minorities, athletes, and legacies. First, we estimate models predicting two direct and indirect effects suggested by stereotype threat: hours studied per week and the degree of psychological performance burden reported by students. Next we include these direct and indirect measures of stereotype threat and the mismatch hypothesis on grades earned through the end of sophomore year and the likelihood of leaving school by spring of junior year. We do not find strong evidence for the mismatch hypothesis as applied to minorities and athletes, although legacies who enjoyed a greater admissions bonus earned lower grades. Minorities attending institutions that practice greater affirmative action were less likely to drop out but did report lower grades. We also find that legacies and athletes who attend a school that practices institutional affirmative action are indeed more likely to drop out of school.
Rabi spectroscopy and excitation inhomogeneity in a one-dimensional optical lattice clock

We investigate the influence of atomic motion on precision Rabi spectroscopy of ultracold fermionic atoms confined in a deep one-dimensional optical lattice. We analyze the spectral components of longitudinal sideband spectra and present a model to extract information about the transverse motion and sample temperature from their structure. Rabi spectroscopy of the clock transition itself is also influenced by atomic motion in the weakly confined transverse directions of the optical lattice. By deriving Rabi flopping and Rabi line shapes of the carrier transition, we obtain a model to quantify trap-state-dependent excitation inhomogeneities. The inhomogeneously excited ultracold fermions become distinguishable, which allows $s$-wave collisions. We derive a detailed model of this process and explain observed density shift data in terms of a dynamic mean-field shift of the clock transition.
Personal and parental nativity as risk factors for food sensitization

Background Immigrants to developed countries have low rates of aeroallergen sensitization and asthma, but less is known about both food allergy and the role of parental immigration status. Objective We sought to evaluate the relationship between personal and parental nativity and the risk of food sensitization. Methods Three thousand five hundred fifty subjects less than 21 years old from the Nation Health and Examination Survey 2005-2006 were included. Odds ratios (ORs) were generated by using logistic regression, which adjusted for race/ethnicity, sex, age, and household income and accounted for the complex survey design. Nativity was classified as US-born or foreign-born, and the age of immigration was estimated. Head-of-household nativity was used as a proxy for parental nativity. Food sensitization was defined as at least 1 specific IgE level of 0.35 kU/L or greater to milk, egg, or peanut. Aeroallergen-specific sensitizations and the presence of asthma, allergic rhinitis, or eczema were also assessed. Results Compared with those born outside the United States (US), US-born children and adolescents had higher odds of sensitization to any food (OR, 2.05; 95% CI, 1.49-2.83; P P = .02). Within the US-born group, in contrast, children of immigrants were at the highest risk (OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.05-2.24; P = .02). Conclusion Although foreign-born children and adolescents are at lower risk of food sensitization compared with those born in the US, among those born in the US, the children of immigrants are at the highest risk.
MO‐D‐BRB‐09: Evaluation of Dose to Normal/critical Structures from Lung Hypo‐Fractionated Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to quantify the dose received by the normal/critical structures during lung stereotactic body radiation therapy(SBRT) when registered with respect to the tumor. Methods: For this retrospective work, 16 lungSBRT patients were treated with total dose of 50 Gy in 4 fractions. Cone‐beam CT was done for all fractions and registered with planning CT for target localization. Isocenter shifts were determined from the differences between the boney and tumor alignments. Once the isocenter shifts were determined for each fraction, doses were recalculated based on the new isocenter and summed over all four fractions to compare against the planned normal/critical tissuedose. The normal/critical structures evaluated were total and ipsilateral lung, spinal cord, and esophagus. Two data sets were collected from this work. The first data set was the collection of isocenter coordinate shifts in all three Cartesian coordinates. The second data set was the doses to the normal/critical structures from the planned and recalculated doses. Results: The study showed that while the maximum isocenter coordinate shifts in any direction could be as much as 1.60 cm, the normal/critical structure dose variations between the original plans and the simulated plans showed almost no change. The average V20 difference for total lung, ipsilateral lung, and esophagus were 0.01%, −0.03%, and −0.35%, respectively. For spinal cord, the maximum and mean dose differences were −0.08 Gy and −0.02 Gy, respectively. Conclusions: Target localization using daily CBCT with soft tissue registration was appropriate for minimizing the dose to the normal/critical structures without the need to re‐plan due to the changes in the tumor position. For tumors located close to a critical structure, it is advised that a daily CBCT is used to determine appropriate isocenter shifts.
Bacterial fossil record in whale-falls: Petrographic evidence of microbial sulfate reduction

Abstract Whale fossils from a variety of geologic ages and depositional environments were thin-sectioned and analyzed for evidence of microbial activity, comprising a combination of microborings, authigenic pyrite, botryoidal cements, and micropeloids. Borings are dense in some samples with an average diameter of 8.02 µm. Framboidal pyrite crystals with an average diameter of 61.84 µm in diameter occur within the pore spaces of the bone, in borings, and at the bone–sediment interface. The pyrite crystals are densely packed at the edges of the bone and scattered more randomly throughout the pore spaces. Aragonitic botryoidal cements line pore spaces in samples from deep bathyal settings. Potential bacterial peloids occur within pore spaces with an average size of 77.45 µm or diffuse to comprise clotted micrite. Since bacterial body fossils are extremely rare in the fossil record, recognition of past microbial ecosystems must be based on multiple lines of supporting evidence. Of the independent signatures studied, the bacterial peloids and botryoids provide the most convincing evidence of a sulfophilic stage. These fossil biosignatures suggest that a sulfophilic stage is preserved at least as far back as the Eocene.
The big bad bug bites anti-realists about chance

David Lewis’s ‘Humean Supervenience’ (henceforth ‘HS’) combines realism about laws, chances, and dispositions with a sparse ontology according to which everything supervenes on the overall spatiotemporal distribution of non-dispositional properties (Lewis 1986a, Philosophical papers: Volume II, pp. ix–xvii, New York: Oxford Univesity Press, 1994, Mind 103:473–490). HS faces a serious problem—a “big bad bug” (Lewis 1986a, p. xiv): it contradicts the Principal Principle, a seemingly obvious norm of rational credence. Two authors have tried to rescue Lewis’s ontology from the ‘big bad bug’ (henceforth ‘the Bug’) by rejecting realism about laws, chances, and dispositions (Halpin 1994, Aust J Phil 72:317–338, 1998, Phil Sci 65:349–360; Ward 2005, Phil Sci 71:241–261). I will argue that this strategy cannot possibly work: it is the ontology, not the realist thesis, that lies at the root of the problem.
Association of Nrf2 polymorphism haplotypes with acute lung injury phenotypes in inbred strains of mice.

Abstract Aims: Nrf2 is a master transcription factor for antioxidant response element (ARE)-mediated cytoprotective gene induction. A protective role for pulmonary Nrf2 was determined in model oxidative disorders, including hyperoxia-induced acute lung injury (ALI). To obtain additional insights into the function and genetic regulation of Nrf2, we assessed functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of Nrf2 in inbred mouse strains and tested whether sequence variation is associated with hyperoxia susceptibility. Results: Nrf2 SNPs were compiled from publicly available databases and by re-sequencing DNA from inbred strains. Hierarchical clustering of Nrf2 SNPs categorized the strains into three major haplotypes. Hyperoxia susceptibility was greater in haplotypes 2 and 3 strains than in haplotype 1 strains. A promoter SNP −103 T/C adding an Sp1 binding site in haplotype 2 diminished promoter activation basally and under hyperoxia. Haplotype 3 mice bearing nonsynonymous coding SNPs located in (1862 A/T...
Beyond the Veil in Pakistan

Pakistan became highly visible to the West after September 11, 2001, through the many images in the media of women as veiled, submissive, and oppressed by Islam. Most analyses of women in Pakistan have failed to capture the complexity of historical, social, political, and regional factors that bear on gender relations. Through a comprehensive review of the literature and data on human development, the author presents a critical multidimensional analysis of gender issues in Pakistan, with the goal of challenging stereotypes and deepening professional knowledge of global gender issues.
Pullbacks of generalized universal coverings

It is known that there is a wide class of path-connected topological spaces X, which are not semilocally simply-connected but have a generalized universal covering, that is, a surjective map p: X → X which is characterized by the usual unique lifting criterion and the fact that X is path-connected, locally path-connected and simply-connected. For a path-connected topological space Y and a map f: Y→ X, we form the pullback f*p: f*X → Y of such a generalized universal covering p: X → X and consider the following question: given a path-component Y of f*X, when exactly is f*p|Y: Y → Y a generalized universal covering? We show that the classical criterion, of f#: π 1 (Y) → π 1 (X) being injective, is too coarse a notion to be sufficient in this context and present its appropriate (necessary and sufficient) refinement.
Extra-abdominal desmoid tumors: A report of 234 cases

Background/Objectives To report on the clinical presentation and outcome for 234 patients with extra-abdominal desmoids tumors. Methods Since 1977, the authors have treated 234 patients with extra-abdominal desmoid tumors. The patients had an average age of 36.7 and 61% were female. The tumors arose adjacent to muscles or bones and the largest number were in the foot, shoulder thigh and calf. All of the patients were treated by primary surgery. Thirty-seven had additional radiation and eight had chemotherapy. Results Local recurrence occurred in 39 patients and 23% of the patients required additional surgery. Of great concern were 24 patients who developed multiple sites metachronously, which required further surgery and in many cases caused disability. None of the patients died of disease but 5 required amputations. Conclusions The authors concluded that despite the benign nature of the disease, these patients are difficult to treat and the results are sometimes considerably less than optimal. J. Surg. Oncol. 2010;102:380–384. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.