cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
1010-63 Sex Related Differences in the Response and Diagnostic Accuracy of Dipyridamole Myocardial Perfusion Scintigraphy

We sought to identify any sex based differences in the symptomatic, hemodynamic, and electrocardiographic response to, and the diagnostic accuracy of, dipyridamole perfusion scintigraphy (DPS). We compared the hemodynamic response and image findings in 391 consecutive patients, 236 males and 155 females, who had DPS and Selective Coronary Angiography within 3 months for clinical indications. There were no sex related differences in the prevalence of prior myocardial infarction, the frequency, intensity or nature of induced symptoms, blood pressure or electrocardiographic ST changes. On Selective Coronary Angiography, 90% of men and 86% of women had coronary disease (p = NS). Among the 391 patients, there were 162 with triple, 108 with double, and 76 with single vessel disease. There were no sex related differences in coronary disease extent (i.e. 1, 2 or 3 vessel involvement), or stenosis severity (i.e. 70% l x l 90% or ≥ 90%). There were also no sex related differences in the incidence of fixed or reversible scintigraphic defects. In men compared to women, the overall diagnostic sensitivity (93% vs. 92%) and specificity (60% vs. 77%). and per vessel sensitivity (327/474, 69% vs. 214/297, 72%) were not significantly different, nor were sensitivities for single (41/47, 87% vs 25/29, 86%), double (61/66, 92% vs. 38/42, 90%) or triple (96/100, 96% vs. 59/62, 95%) vessel coronary disease. Per vessel specificity was greater for women when compared to men (141/168, 84% vs. 165/234, 71%) P l 0.05, as well as circumflex disease sensitivity (58/91, 64% vs. 65/145, 45%) and specificity (59/84, 92% vs. 73/91, 80%) (p l 0.05). These results suggest that there is no sex related differences in dipyridamole Induced symptoms or the related hemodynamic or electrocardiographic responses. The mechanism and diagnostic accuracy of DPS in women is equal to or greater than that in men across a broad spectrum of coronary artery disease.
Seiche Modes of Elongated Natural Basins

Numerical algorithms are formulated for the prediction of seiche modes (eigen frequencies and mode shapes) in elongated natural basins. Confirmation is provided by an analytical solution for a basin with a linear variation in surface width and a parabolic variation in cross-section. Spatial variations in geometry are shown to have a significant influence on modal frequencies and especially modal shapes. In particular, local modal amplitudes are significantly enhanced by extensive regions of shallower water. Applications are given to the Caspian Sea and the Adriatic Sea.
Obstetric decision-making and the late and moderately preterm infant.

Summary The decision of when to deliver a patient for medical or obstetric complication directly affects the neonatal outcome. When the fetus is in danger due to suspected utero-placental insufficiency, the decision to deliver is thought to benefit the neonate. However, the opposite may be true when a normally developing fetus needs to be delivered for a maternal indication such as a persistently bleeding placenta praevia. These decisions are made daily by obstetric providers. The following is a review of obstetric decision-making for moderate and late preterm pregnancies.
Human Papillomavirus, Condylomata Acuminata, and Anal Neoplasia

Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is an increasingly common sexually transmitted disease. This virus causes condylomata acuminata and is associated with anal neoplasia. Management options are discussed.
Use of sensory descriptors in assessing chronic pain patients

The present study examined the use of sensory descriptors in assessing chronic pain patients in a multidisciplinary treatment center. Three hundred and eighty-eight chronic pain patients were divided into two groups based on the number of pain sensations which they chose to depict their pain. The results indicated that patients who used numerous sensory descriptors experienced more physical interference and emotional distress and were at greater risk for treatment failure than those patients who used only one descriptor. The results support the utility of sensory descriptors in assessing chronic pain patients.
Induction of cachexia in mice by systemically administered myostatin

Mice and cattle with genetic deficiencies in myostatin exhibit dramatic increases in skeletal muscle mass, suggesting that myostatin normally suppresses muscle growth. Whether this increased muscling results from prenatal or postnatal lack of myostatin activity is unknown. Here we show that myostatin circulates in the blood of adult mice in a latent form that can be activated by acid treatment. Systemic overexpression of myostatin in adult mice was found to induce profound muscle and fat loss analogous to that seen in human cachexia syndromes. These data indicate that myostatin acts systemically in adult animals and may be a useful pharmacologic target in clinical settings such as cachexia, where muscle growth is desired.
Abstract 2133: Suppressing effect of a Kava fraction on two lineages of prostate carcinogenesis in the transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate model

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Kava (Piper methysticum Forest) is a crop historically originating from west Pacific Islands. The epidemiologic studies for Pacific Island populations indicated that their cancer incidence rates were inversely related to the local consumptions of kava. Whereas chemopreventive efficacy of Kava ethanol extract has been shown in chemically-induced lung carcinogenesis models, its efficacy against prostate carcinogenesis is not known. In this study, we aim to evaluate the efficacy of Kava Fraction B, which is mostly kavalactones and free of flavokawains and most potent in lung carcinogenesis models, on prostatic carcinogenesis in the well-characterized C57BL/6 transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate (TRAMP) preclinical model. Previous studies by us (The Prostate, 2011) and others have suggested a paradigm of distinct lineages of carcinogenesis in this model: i.e., at least, androgen receptor (AR)-dependent glandular epithelia lesions (usually arise from the dorsal-lateral prostate [DLP] lobes) and AR-independent neuroendorine (NE)-like poorly differentiated (PD) carcinomas (usually derive from the ventral prostate [VP] lobe). Experimentally, male C57BL/6 TRAMP mice were fed AIN93M purified diet without or with 0.4% of Kava fraction B from 8 weeks of age (WOA). Mice were euthanized at either 16 WOA or 28 WOA unless large tumors necessitated earlier sacrifice. The growth of the DLP in Kava-treated TRAMP mice were inhibited by 70% (P<0.05) from control TRAMP mice by 16 WOA. By 28 WOA, the inhibition of TRAMP DLP growth were 76% (P<0.001). Furthermore, Kava-fed TRAMP mice cohort had lower incidence of palpable and dissectable tumors (2 out of 14 mice) than control mice (7 out of 14 mice). Therefore, Kava fraction B appeared to inhibit both epithelial lineage lesions and NE-carcinogenesis. Future work will focus on 1) profiling cellular processes and molecular targets of Kava fraction B and 2) identifying active compounds in Kava Fraction B that inhibit epithelial lineage lesions and NE-carcinogenesis. Supported in part by NCCAM AT007395 R01 and NCI CA142649 R01 grants. Citation Format: Su-Ni Tang, Palika Datta, Peixin Jiang, Pablo Leitzman, Cheng-guo Xing, Cheng Jiang, Junxuan Lu. Suppressing effect of a Kava fraction on two lineages of prostate carcinogenesis in the transgenic adenocarcinoma of mouse prostate model. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2133. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2133
In vitro activity of SCE-2787, a new cephalosporin with potent activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and members of the family Enterobacteriaceae.

The in vitro activity of SCE-2787, 7-[(Z)-2-(5-amino-1,2,4-thiadiazol-3- yl)-2-methoxyiminoacetamido]-3-(1-imidazo[1,2-b]pyridazinium)methy l-3- cephem-4-carboxylate, was compared with those of ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, and imipenem against recent clinical isolates. SCE-2787 inhibited 50% of tested isolates of the family Enterobacteriaceae at or = 16 micrograms/ml, whereas methicillin-susceptible staphylococci were inhibited by 2 micrograms/ml. No difference between the MICs and MBCs was noted, except for P. aeruginosa, for which there was a fourfold difference. SCE-2787 was active over a pH range of 6 to 8. The inoculum size of 10(5) to 10(7) CFU caused only a twofold change in the MIC for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus but a 4- to 16-fold change in Enterobacter cloacae and P. aeruginosa. beta-Lactamases from Bush groups 1, 2a, and 2b did not hydrolyze SCE-2787. There was significant hydrolysis of SCE-2787 by the beta-lactamases designated 2b', i.e., TEM-3, TEM-5, TEM-7, and TEM-9, and by the group 2d beta-lactamases. SCE-2787 had poor affinity for group 1 and group 2b enzymes and constitutively produced chromosomal beta-lactamases such as P-99 of Enterobacter cloacae and plasmid-mediated TEM-1 of E. coli. SCE-2787 has in vitro activity comparable to that of current parenteral cephalosporin and is more active against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus.
Meeting the Needs of the Hidden Minority: Transition Planning Tips for LGBTQ Youth.

Effective transition planning requires school personnel to ascertain the preferences and interests of the student and to focus on services including instruction, related services, employment, and postschool living arrangements necessary to support postschool outcomes. While great strides have been made in meeting the needs of students with disabilities from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students with disabilities are often marginalized and disregarded in this process. This article aims to provide tips for effective transition planning for LGBTQ youth with disabilities.
Numerical Simulation of Near-Critical and Unsteady, Subcritical Inlet Flow

The unsteady, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations were solved for the flow about an experimentally tested external compression axisymmetric inlet operating in the near-critical and unsteady subcritical flow regimes. The near-critical solution reached a stable steady state, while the subcritical solution attained an unstable, bounded oscillatory state characterized by large-amplitude pressure oscillations and traveling shock waves. The self-sustained oscillations, known as inlet buzz, result from a shear layer instability combined with a closed-loop feedback of reflected disturbances. Solutions are compared with experimental results.
Centroid-moment tensor solutions for January to March 1998

Abstract Centroid-moment tensor (CMT) solutions are presented for 204 earthquakes that occurred during the first quarter of 1998. The solutions are obtained using corrections for aspherical earth structure represented by a whole mantle shear velocity model SH8/U4L8 of Dziewonski and Woodward [Dziewonski, A.M., Woodward, R.L., 1992. Acoustic imaging at the planetary scale. In: Emert, H., Harjes, H.-P. (Eds.), Acoustical Imaging, vol. 19. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 785–797]. A model of anelastic attenuation of Durek and Ekstrom [Bull. Seism. Soc. Am. 86 (1996) 144] is used to predict the decay of the waveforms.
Lack of bleeding in patients with severe factor VII deficiency

Factor VII deficiency, although rare, is now recognized as the most common autosomal recessive inherited factor deficiency. It is usually considered to be associated with bleeding only in the severely affected subject and heterozygotes (>10%) are not considered at risk. The general recommendation for surgery is to achieve a FVII level in excess of 15% (0.15 1U/mL). We present three cases of severe factor VII deficiency, each of whom appeared hemostatically competent based on clinical history. Subject 1 is a 33 year-old African-American female with a baseline FVII of <1%, who had a fractured tibia requiring open reduction with internal fixation without any FVII replacement and subsequently underwent successful laparoscopic knee surgery with a factor VII level measured at 6%. Subject 2 is a 58 year-old African-American female with a factor VII level of 9% who underwent an elective left total hip replacement without any factor replacement and had no excessive bleeding, but who sustained a pulmonary embolism postoperatively. Subject 3 is a 19-year-old African-American male with a baseline FVII of 1% with a history of active participation in football without noticeable injury and who underwent an emergent appendectomy without bleeding. These three cases represent individuals with the severe form of FVII deficiency who did not exhibit excessive bleeding when challenged with surgical procedures. The clinical history would appear the most valuable tool in predicting the likelihood of bleeding in these patients, and we suggest that the presumption that all patients with severe FVII deficiency should receive replacement therapy before surgical procedures may not be valid in all cases.
Convergence of V‐ and F‐cycle multigrid methods for the biharmonic problem using the Hsieh‐Clough‐Tocher element

Multigrid V- and F-cycle algorithms for the biharmonic problem using the H-C-T element are studied in the article. We show that the contraction numbers can be uniformly improved by increasing the number of smoothing steps. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2005
Export barriers and internationalisation: evidence from SMEs in an emergent African economy

It has also been widely accepted that exports make significant contributions to economic development and well-being of a nation. For example, the export-led growth hypothesis (ELGH) postulates that export expansion is one of the major determinants of economic development. It holds that the overall economic growth of a nation can be generated not only by increasing the amounts of labour and capital within the economy, but also by expanding exports. Based on this premise, this study aims to examine perceived factors impeding the development of export activities in Nigeria. Data were collected from 120 firms in four major manufacturing cities in Nigeria. Our findings show that the major barriers to export development include lack of finance to support export activities, lack of qualified personnel to support export planning, foreign competition, lack of knowledge on how to export, poor infrastructure, corruption and bureaucratic bottlenecks. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Congenital thoracic cardiovascular anomalies presenting in adulthood: a pictorial review

Advances in surgical and medical therapy for congenital heart disease have led to increased long-term survival in patients whose conditions were diagnosed in childhood. However, a subset of patients with congenital cardiovascular anomalies may first be detected in adulthood. This pictorial review summarizes the CT findings of untreated congenital cardiovascular anomalies that can present in adulthood.
Maximum urine concentration. Early means of identifying patients with reflux who may require surgery.

Abstract Maximum urine concentration was evaluated in 76 children with reflux. We have demonstrated that there is a significant concentrating defect in many patients with reflux, even when pyelographic changes are not present. Because of this we believe that concentrating ability is the best renal function test to use in the conservative management of patients with reflux and that, in certain instances, the persistence of a concentrating defect might be an indication for more aggressive management.
Synthesis, Structure, and Properties of Anti-perovskite Nitrides Ca3MN, M=P,As,Sb,Bi,Ge,Sn, and Pb

A family of anti-perovskite nitrides of the formula Ca3MN, where M is a Group IV or a Group V element is reported. Ca3BiN, synthesized by mixing and pressing powders of Ca3N2 and Bi into a pellet and subsequently heating the pellet at 1000°C in flowing, dry N2 gas, is prototypical of this family of compounds. The bismuth in Ca3BiN has an uncommon oxidation state of 3− as suggested by the properties (semiconducting and diamagnetic) of the compound. The anionic bismuth can be substituted by other trivalent anions Sb3−, As3−, and P3− as expected. The structures of Ca3AsN and Ca3PN are distorted from the simple cubic anti-perovskite cell at room temperature because of the small size of As3− and P3−. More interestingly, Ca3N2 also reacts with Ge, Sn, and Pb at 1300°C to form similar anti-perovskites, resulting in metallic phases and the unusual open shell oxidation state of 3− for the Group IV elements.
An epidemiologic systems analysis model for African trypanosomiasis

Abstract Systems analysis and simulation modelling were applied to describe the quantitative epidemiology of trypanosomiasis. With the aid of a causal loop diagram, and based on mechanistic decomposition of the components of the trypanosomiasis-tsetse complex, a Forrester flow diagram was developed. Interactions between factors in the system and variables required in the model were estimated from existing data. Appropriate differential equations were set up to describe the dynamics of the model based on mass action theory. Simulation involved integrating birth and death rates, infection and population dynamics as they relate to the carrying capacity of the land, and fluctuations in temperature and rainfall. Both deterministic and stochastic aspects were considered. The model was computerized using a continuous systems modelling program and integration time intervals of one day. Simulations were run using various initial conditions as provided by data from southwestern Ethiopia. The performance of the model was satisfactory when compared with an independent set of data. The procedure enhanced our understanding of the dynamics of the trypanosomiasis-tsetse complex; it could thus be used as a guide to evaluating different programs to control trypanosomiasis in Ethiopia and in other African countries.
Runtime Pipeline Scheduling System for Heterogeneous Architectures

Heterogeneous architectures can improve the performance of applications with computationally intensive, data-parallel operations. Even when these architectures may reduce the execution time of applications, there are opportunities for additional performance improvement as the memory hierarchy of the central processor cores and the graphics processor cores are separate. Applications executing on heterogeneous architectures must allocate space in the GPU global memory, copy input data, invoke kernels, and copy results to the CPU memory. This scheme does not overlap inter-memory data transfers and GPU computations, thus increasing application execution time. This research presents a software architecture with a runtime pipeline system for GPU input/output scheduling that acts as a bidirectional interface between the GPU computing application and the physical device. The main aim of this system is to reduce the impact of the processor-memory performance gap by exploiting device I/O and computation overlap. Evaluation using application benchmarks shows processing improvements with speedups above 2x with respect to baseline, non-streamed GPU execution.
High conversion ratio plutonium recycle in pressurized water reactors

About 2000 MTU/year of reprocessing capacity is expected to be available by 1978. Additional capacity probably will not be added until 1982. At this rate of recovery, some 10,000 kg of plutonium might be available each year from 1979 through 1981. At that time, demandfor reprocessingcapacity should increase rapidly. Indeed, even should this rate of reprocessing be achieved, the expected backlog of discharge fuel is some 6000MTU containing about 30,000 kg of plutonium by 1981. Efficient utilization of the large quantities of plutonium to be generated in light water reactors is clearly in the best interest of the nation during the time period required to develop a base for a large commercial fast breeder industry. This development may well take 20 ya at the current rate of progress. In any event, I believe there is a strong incentive to use plutonium light water reactors in such a way as to minimize the depletion of plutonium needed for future use and to reduce to a much greater extent, than heretofore envisioned, the projected demands for uranium ore and enrichment capacity, while at the same time accelerating the growth of nuclear power generation capacity. Fuel utilization in pressurized water reactors can be measurably improved by using a tightly packed lattice of fuel rods. Conversion ratios in the range 0-8 to 0.9 appear to be feasible. These should be compared with conversion ratios of about 0"5 in plutonium recycle designs using the fuel to water volume ratios of current operating PWK's. A conceptual design for the Babcock & Wilcox Company reactors (Duke Power Co., 1969) now in operation is presented for illustrative purposes. In order to obtain the potential benefits of an improved plutonium recycle core as early as possible, mechanical design changes are restricted to the components within the existing core baffles and above the lower grid plate. No changes to the control drive mechanism including the coupling to the control rod assembly and the location of the in-core instrumentation appear to be necessary. Thus, it is quite possible to implement the mechanical changes in the core design of the concept presented in this paper with a minimum disruption of power generation.
Nonequilibrium freezing of one-cell mouse embryos. Membrane integrity and developmental potential

A thermodynamic model was used to evaluate and optimize a rapid three-step nonequilibrium freezing protocol for one-cell mouse embryos in the absence of cryoprotectants (CPAs) that avoided lethal intracellular ice formation (IIF). Biophysical parameters of one-cell mouse embryos were determined at subzero temperatures using cryomicroscopic investigations (i.e., the water permeability of the plasma membrane, its temperature dependence, and the parameters for heterogeneous IIF). The parameters were then incorporated into the thermodynamic model, which predicted the likelihood of IIF. Model predictions showed that IIF could be prevented at a cooling rate of 120 degrees C/min when a 5-min holding period was inserted at -10 degrees C to assure cellular dehydration. This predicted freezing protocol, which avoided IIF in the absence of CPAs, was two orders of magnitude faster than conventional embryo cryopreservation cooling rates of between 0.5 and 1 degree C/min. At slow cooling rates, embryos predominantly follow the equilibrium phase diagram and do not undergo IIF, but mechanisms other than IIF (e.g., high electrolyte concentrations, mechanical effects, and others) cause cellular damage. We tested the predictions of our thermodynamic model using a programmable freezer and confirmed the theoretical predictions. The membrane integrity of one-cell mouse embryos, as assessed by fluorescein diacetate retention, was approximately 80% after freezing down to -45 degrees C by the rapid nonequilibrium protocol derived from our model. The fact that embryos could be rapidly frozen in the absence of CPAs without damage to the plasma membrane as assessed by fluorescein diacetate retention is a new and exciting finding. Further refinements of this protocol is necessary to retain the developmental competence of the embryos.
Pericardial and Myocardial Disease Associated with Serological Evidence of Infection by Agents of the Psittacosis-Lymphogranuloma Venereum Group (Chlamydiaceae)

Nine patients with acute pericarditis or myocarditis, or both, were found to have serological evidence of concurrent infection by a psittacosis agent. Three patients had conclusive epidemiological and clinical evidence of complicating pulmonary psittacosis and demonstrated that psittacosis agent does produce inflammatory heart disease in this geographic area. Six patients had imperfect corroborative evidence of psittacosis and their clinical manifestations were atypical. Indeed, half of these patients were initially believed to have some form of idiopathic myocardial disease. Studies of these patients suggest that psittacotic infection m ay be causal in certain forms of heart disease commonly designated primary myocardial disease.
Using Intel Xeon Phi to accelerate the WRF TEMF planetary boundary layer scheme

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is designed for numerical weather prediction and atmospheric research. The WRF software infrastructure consists of several components such as dynamic solvers and physics schemes. Numerical models are used to resolve the large-scale flow. However, subgrid-scale parameterizations are for an estimation of small-scale properties (e.g., boundary layer turbulence and convection, clouds, radiation). Those have a significant influence on the resolved scale due to the complex nonlinear nature of the atmosphere. For the cloudy planetary boundary layer (PBL), it is fundamental to parameterize vertical turbulent fluxes and subgrid-scale condensation in a realistic manner. A parameterization based on the Total Energy – Mass Flux (TEMF) that unifies turbulence and moist convection components produces a better result that the other PBL schemes. For that reason, the TEMF scheme is chosen as the PBL scheme we optimized for Intel Many Integrated Core (MIC), which ushers in a new era of supercomputing speed, performance, and compatibility. It allows the developers to run code at trillions of calculations per second using the familiar programming model. In this paper, we present our optimization results for TEMF planetary boundary layer scheme. The optimizations that were performed were quite generic in nature. Those optimizations included vectorization of the code to utilize vector units inside each CPU. Furthermore, memory access was improved by scalarizing some of the intermediate arrays. The results show that the optimization improved MIC performance by 14.8x. Furthermore, the optimizations increased CPU performance by 2.6x compared to the original multi-threaded code on quad core Intel Xeon E5-2603 running at 1.8 GHz. Compared to the optimized code running on a single CPU socket the optimized MIC code is 6.2x faster.
A Military History of the American Suburbs, the Discipline of Economics, and All Things Ordinary

The United States’ failing counterinsurgency wars of the 2000s birthed a number of new ideas, as crises often do. One of the most striking, rapidly becoming banal, is that warfare must be fought not only on geographic terrain but also on “human terrain”. From those wars has emerged the idea not only that the social sciences have much to contribute to their successful prosecution, but the notion that the idea itself represents the next stage in the progressive evolution of modern warfare. Counterinsurgency planners tell us that human thinking and affect are the primary terrain which must be mapped and conquered in order to defeat or convert the enemy, or to at least render the surrounding population neutral in that struggle of wills which is called counterinsurgency war. This human terrain can be successfully captured with knowledge about the enculturated human hearts and minds and the specific and often exotic social orders that create and motivate enemy and population. The rich and incisive papers pulled together by Matthew Farish and Patrick Vitale for this issue of Antipode describe the complex topography of the human terrain of the United States, at war in one way or another since the 1940s. None of that terrain emerges anew during World War II and the Cold War, of course; the United States was made through war from its sixteenth century beginnings, shaped by the security concerns that have been colonialism and slavery’s racializing twin. But what is different in the period these papers describe is the massively increased scale of spending on both the weaponry and science of war: that investment begins to spike in the late 1930s and never really wanes. The new political economic climate of that era allowed, for the first time, massive state spending on preparing for war and preparing the war’s investors—the US citizenry—for permanent war. What would need shaping were expectations of threat, and increasingly, as Morrissey notes, risk as well.
Entrance of Intravenously Injected Sucrose into the Cerebrospinal Fluid.

SummaryAfter intravenous injection sucrose occurs in the spinal fluid in very low concentration. Even when hemorrhages into the central nervous system occur, the concentration does not approach that found in blood.
eBay auctions for Third Eye Blind concert tickets

The band Third Eye Blind recently completed a tour, selling tickets exclusively on eBay. Many tickets were bundled with either VIP passes or autographed posters. These data are used to measure variations in price across different markets, as well as the premiums paid for different ticket types. Auctioning the tickets allows the seller to practice Third Degree Price Discrimination and bundling, without having to determine prices in each market and for each different bundle. We find: tickets bundled with VIP passes command a substantial positive premium; tickets bundled with autographed posters command a small negative premium; different prices emerge in different geographic markets; and auction prices are positively related to the fixed price at which tickets could be purchased by way of Buy-it-Now.
HEARING LOSS AND AUDITORY LATERALIZATION.

An experiment was conducted with 75 subjects (61 with hearing loss and 14 without) to determine if hard-of-hearing listeners could benefit from binaural cues to auditory space. Both speech and nois...
Effects of Polyethylene-Oxide Solutions on the Performance of a Small Propeller

Thrust and torque were measured and efficiency calculated for a 14.6-cm diam, two-bladed propeller in aqueous solutions of polyethylene oxide, WSR-301, with concentrations ranging from 0 to 75 wppm. For the propeller operating under heavily loaded conditions (advance coefficients from 0.04 to 02.), the thrust decreased with increasing concentration while the torque passed through a minimum at 10 wppm. The net result was that the propeller efficiency remained essentially constant except for a small increase of a few percent at 10 wppm. Acoustic measurements demonstrated that the polymer greatly reduced the rate of propeller cavitation but did not influence the rotational speed at which cavitation was first noticed. The polymer had no effect on the sound pressure level (SPL) of the fundamental blade line.
Modeling Of Self-Pumped Single Barium Titanate Crystal

We have earlier described a detailed mechanism of self-pumped phase conjugation in a barium titanate crystal [1]. The proposed mechanism was motivated and supported by observations of light paths in the crystal, and differs in some respects from better-known previous explanations of similar phenomena [2]. Our model attaches particular significance to a proposed resonance between two opposite reflecting corners and to the simultaneous existence of a system of cooperating transmission and reflection gratings. We show the operation of the hypothesized system of gratings, as simulated by computer analysis. The results show points of agreement and disagreement with the actual behavior of the self-pumping crystal.
Effects of Nonlinearity in Development of Acoustic Streaming

Development of acoustic streaming generated along the beam axis of ultrasound in unbounded medium is discussed using a numerical analysis. Acoustic nonlinearity changes the distribution of driving force of streaming. If fluid-dynamic nonlinearity is neglected, the streaming velocity essentially increases in proportion to the square of source amplitude. Incorporation of acoustic nonlinearity enhances the streaming velocity near the sound source and suppresses it at a farther distance compared to the acoustically linear case. When fluid-dynamic nonlinearity is taken into account, the fundamental trend in the increase of streaming velocity changes from the second power of the source amplitude toward the first power. Thus the fluid-dynamic nonlinearity delays the development of acoustic streaming.
Natural Protection from Apoptosis by Surfactant Protein A in Type II Pneumocytes

Surfactant-associated protein A (SP-A) is a component of pulmonary surfactant that binds to a specific receptor (SPAR) on the surface of type II alveolar cells of the lung and regulates gene expression and surfactant secretion. Previously we have shown that activation of SPAR by SP-A binding initiates a signal through pathways that involve tyrosine phosphorylation, include IRS-1, and entail activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). In other cell types, cytokines that activate the PI3K signaling pathway promote cell survival. Therefore we investigated whether there was an effect of SP-A on apoptosis as measured by DNA laddering, FACS analysis, TUNEL assay, and annexin V binding. SP-A protected primary cultures of rat type II alveolar cells against the apoptotic effects of etoposide and UV light and also protected the H441 human Clara lung tumor cell line against staurosporine-induced apoptosis. The protective effects of SP-A were abrogated by inhibition of either tyrosine-specific protein kinase activity or PI3K. SP-A/SPAR interaction thus initiates a signaling pathway that regulates apoptosis in type II cells. These findings may be important in understanding the pathogenesis of acute lung injury and pulmonary tumorigenesis and may suggest new therapeutic options.
Influence of Exogenous Avian Pancreatic Polypeptide on Gastrointestinal Motility in Turkeys

To determine the influence of avian pancreatic polypeptide (APP) on avian GI motility, strain-gauge transducers were implanted on the glandular stomach, thick caudodorsal and thin caudoventral muscles of the muscular stomach, and on the duodenum (cranial tract) of five young turkeys. Implants were also made on the ileum, cecum, and colon (caudal tract) of three other turkeys. Isovolumic injections of APP at six (cranial tract preparations) or four (caudal tract preparations) levels were made via a chronic jugular catheter while recording GI contractile activity in fasted birds. Injections of 2 or 5 micrograms/kg caused no statistically significant change in motility of the cranial tract. Significant depression in contraction frequency during the first 10 min post-injection resulted from an injection of 8 micrograms/kg. Injections of 10, 20, and 30 micrograms/kg depressed motility throughout the entire 30 min post-injection period. Motility of the caudal tract usually was not significantly affected by injections of 5 and 10 micrograms/kg doses. Larger doses (20 and 30 micrograms/kg) significantly depressed caudal tract motility during the first 10 min post-injection but not throughout the 30 min post-injection period. In both cranial and caudal portions of the tract, depression of contractile activity by injections of APP persisted longer following larger doses. The highest plasma APP levels in turkeys, found at about 1 hr post-prandially, were still less than plasma levels following IV injection of 5 micrograms/kg. Since the latter injection caused no apparent alteration in Gi motility, APP may have little or no physiological role in regulation of avian GI motility.
A Synergetic Screening Approach with Companion Effector for Combination Therapy: Application to Retinoblastoma

For many cancers, the lack of potency and the toxicity of current drugs limits the dose achievable in patients and the efficacy of treatment. Among them, retinoblastoma is a rare cancer of the eye for which better chemotherapeutic options are needed. Combination therapy is a compelling approach to enhance the efficacy of current treatment, however clinical trials to test rationally designed combinations of approved drugs are slow and expensive, and limited by our lack of in-depth knowledge of drug specificity. Since many patients already turn to nutraceuticals in hopes of improving their condition, we hypothesized that certain approved drugs could potentially synergize with widely consumed supplements. Following this hypothesis, we devised an alternative screening strategy aimed at taking advantage of a bait compound such as a nutraceutical with potential therapeutic benefits but low potency, by screening chemical libraries for approved drugs that synergize with this companion effector. As a proof of concept, we sought to identify approved drugs with synergetic therapeutic effects toward retinoblastoma cells in combination with the antioxidant resveratrol, popular as a supplement. We systematically tested FDA-approved drugs and known bioactives seeking to identify such pairs, which led to uncovering only a few additive combinations; but to our surprise, we identified a class of anticancer drugs widely used in the clinic whose therapeutic effect is antagonized with resveratrol. Our observations could explain in part why some patients do not respond well to treatment. Our results validate this alternative approach, and we expect that our companion effector strategy could significantly impact both drug discovery and the nutraceutical industry.
Laser flash photolysis study of o-tolyl vinyl ketone—methyl vinyl ketone copolymers. Electron donor properties of the intermediate macrobiradicals

Abstract Laser excitation of solutions of o-tolyl vinyl ketone-methyl vinyl ketone copolymers leads to the formation of the short lived triplet state of the aromatic carbonyl chromophore. The decay of the triplet state yields 1,4-biradicals which have a lifetime of 310 ns (polar solvents) and are capable of transferring an electron to paraquat dications with a rate constant of 1.7 × 109 M−1 s−1. In the absence of electron acceptors these macrobiradicals decay to yield photoenols which eventually tautomerize to regenerate the original polymer.
Cell design for the DARHT linear induction accelerators

The dual-axis radiographic hydrotest facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory will employ two linear induction accelerators to produce intense, bremsstrahlung X-ray pulses for flash radiography. The accelerator cell design for a 3-kA, 16-20-MeV, 60-ns flattop, high-brightness electron beam is presented. The cell is optimized for high-voltage stand-off while also minimizing the transverse impedance. Measurements of high-voltage RF characteristics are summarized. >
Ultra high frequency sine and sine higher order neural networks

New nonlinear models of Ultra high frequency Sine and Sine Higher Order Neural Networks (USSHONN) are presented in this paper A new learning algorithm for USSHONN is also developed from this study A time series data analysis system, USSHONN Simulator, is built based on the USSHONN models too Test results show that USSHONN models are 4.4457% to 9.0276% better than Polynomial Higher Order Neural Network (PHONN) and Trigonometric Higher Order Neural Network (THONN) models For time series data simulation, the error rate that USSHONN, with order 6 and 100,000 epochs, can reach is 0.0000%.
Central Bank Independence and Private Investment in the Developing World

We argue that central bank independence (CBI) can raise private investment through signalling commitment to reform and suggest that such an effect might be larger in democracies where CBI can also limit populist access to economic policy-making. Random effects regressions on private investment behavior in a sample of 20 developing countries support these hypotheses.
Paternal Incarceration and Support for Children in Fragile Families

High U.S. incarceration rates have motivated recent research on the negative effects of imprisonment on later employment, earnings, and family relationships. Because most men in jail and prison are fathers, a large number of children may be placed at considerable risk by policies of incarceration. This article examines one dimension of the economic risk faced by children of incarcerated fathers: the reduction in the financial support that they receive. We use a population-based sample of urban children to examine the effects of incarceration on this support. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal regressions indicate that formerly incarcerated men are less likely to contribute to their families, and those who do contribute provide significantly less. The negative effects of incarceration on fathers’ financial support are due not only to the low earnings of formerly incarcerated men but also to their increased likelihood to live apart from their children. Men contribute far less through child support (formal or informal) than they do when they share their earnings within their household, suggesting that the destabilizing effects of incarceration on family relationships place children at significant economic disadvantage.
Bayesian Adaptive Trial Design for a Newly Validated Surrogate Endpoint

The evaluation of surrogate endpoints for primary use in future clinical trials is an increasingly important research area, due to demands for more efficient trials coupled with recent regulatory acceptance of some surrogates as ‘valid.’ However, little consideration has been given to how a trial which utilizes a newly-validated surrogate endpoint as its primary endpoint might be appropriately designed. We propose a novel Bayesian adaptive trial design that allows the new surrogate endpoint to play a dominant role in assessing the effect of an intervention, while remaining realistically cautious about its use. By incorporating multi-trial historical information on the validated relationship between the surrogate and clinical endpoints, then subsequently evaluating accumulating data against this relationship as the new trial progresses, we adaptively guard against an erroneous assessment of treatment based upon a truly invalid surrogate. When the joint outcomes in the new trial seem plausible given similar historical trials, we proceed with the surrogate endpoint as the primary endpoint, and do so adaptively–perhaps stopping the trial for early success or inferiority of the experimental treatment, or for futility. Otherwise, we discard the surrogate and switch adaptive determinations to the original primary endpoint. We use simulation to test the operating characteristics of this new design compared to a standard O’Brien-Fleming approach, as well as the ability of our design to discriminate trustworthy from untrustworthy surrogates in hypothetical future trials. Furthermore, we investigate possible benefits using patient-level data from 18 adjuvant therapy trials in colon cancer, where disease-free survival is considered a newly-validated surrogate endpoint for overall survival.
Depression is associated with early postoperative outcomes following total joint arthroplasty: a nationwide database study

The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of the diagnosis of depression and determine the impact of this diagnosis on early postoperative outcomes following total joint arthroplasty (TJA). Multivariate analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database was used to compare the association of depression with inhospital morbidity, mortality, length of stay, and hospital charges following TJA. The rate of diagnosis of depression in the arthroplasty population was 10.0%. Patients with depression were significantly more likely to be white, female, and have Medicaid as a primary payer (all P<0.05). Depression was associated with a greater risk of post-operative psychosis (OR = 1.74), anemia (OR = 1.14), infection (OR = 1.33), and pulmonary embolism (OR 1.20), and a lower risk of cardiac (OR = 0.93) and gastrointestinal complications (OR = 0.80). Depression was not associated with in-hospital mortality. Depression appears to impact early postoperative morbidity after TJA, a finding which is important for patient counseling and risk adjustment.
Structure Of Ceria Overlayer On Zirconia Crystal Studied by Surface Diffraction

The authors have utilized white x-ray beam and a Ge solid state detector, in energy dispersive mode, to study the diffraction from the surface layers of ceria deposited on (001) surface of Y stabilized cubic zirconia with grazing incident beam. They found that ceria forms islands, oriented epitaxially with respect to the zirconia substrate, with a lateral coherence of the order of 60 {angstrom}.
Reactivities of Actin as a Contractile Protein

The molecular basis for the mechanism of contraction in striated muscle, with primary emphasis on the interaction between the thick and thin filaments and the role of the thin (actin) filaments, is the theme presented. Recent information relating to actin-myosin interaction points up the fact that definitive statements cannot be made regarding the molecular interaction(s) that lead to contraction. Nevertheless, the properties of actin indicate that (a) actin in the monomeric state has properties differing markedly from actin in the polymer (filament) state; (b) these property differences may be significant in the contractile process, for they include changes in the reactivity of the bound nucleotide and actin-myosin complex formation; (c) the bound nucleotide seems to be required in the contraction process. For these, and other, reasons discussed, the tentative hypothesis is advanced that the contraction reaction involves local changes in the actin filament providing local monomer or monomer-like actin units in the reaction with myosin.
MHD Turbulence Studies Using Lattice Boltzmann Algorithms-Physical Simulations Using 9,000 Cores on the Air Force Research Laboratory HAWK Supercomputer

Most non-spectral computational fluid dynamics (CFD) algorithms do not scale to many thousands of cores. Here, we examine a particular mesoscopic representation of free decaying magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) turbulence that is amenable to massive parallelization to the full 9,000 cores available on Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) SGI Altix 4700 (Hawk). Moreover, our mesoscopic lattice Boltzmann (LB) algorithm will automatically enforce the important nabla* B = 0 constraint without any need for magnetic field divergence cleaning. Isosurfaces of vorticity and current for LB simulations on a spatial grid of 18003 show the long time existence of large scale magnetic and velocity structures. This is in stark contrast to the long time behavior of the velocity isosurfaces which all disintegrate into small scale structures.
Multiplicities in Cancer Research: Ubiquitous and Necessary Evils

Scientific inquiry involves observations and measurements, some of which are planned and some of which are not. The most interesting or unusual observations might be regarded as discoveries and therefore particularly worthy of publication. However, the observational process is fraught with inferential land mines, especially if the discoveries are serendipitous. Multiple observations increase the probability of false-positive conclusions and have led to many false and otherwise misleading publications. Statisticians recommend adjustments to final inferences with the goal of reducing the rate of false positives, a strategy that increases the rate of false negatives. Some scientists object to making such adjustments, arguing that it should not be more difficult to determine the validity of a discovery simply because other observations were made. Which tack is right? How does one decide that any particular scientific discovery is real? Unfortunately, there is no panacea, no one-size-fits-all approach. The goal of this commentary is to elucidate the issues and provide recommendations for conducting and reporting results of empirical studies, with emphasis on the problems of multiple comparisons and other types of multiplicities, including what I call “silent multiplicities.” Because of the many observations, outcomes, subsets, treatments, etc, that are typically made or addressed in epidemiology and biomarker research, these recommendations may be particularly relevant for such studies. However, the lessons apply quite generally. I consider both frequentist and Bayesian statistical approaches.