cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Innovative Clinical Skills "Boot Camp" for Dental Medicine Residents.

During a 1-year hospital-based residency, dental residents are required to rotate through many departments including surgery, medicine, and emergency medicine. It became apparent that there was a gap between clinical skills knowledge taught in dental school curriculum and skills required for hospital-based patient care. In response, a simulation-based intensive clinical skill “boot camp” was created. The boot camp provided an intensive, interactive 3-day session for the dental residents. During the 3 days, residents were introduced to medical knowledge and skills that were necessary for their inpatient hospital rotations but were lacking in traditional dental school curriculum. Effectiveness of the boot camp was assessed in terms of knowledge base and comfort through presession and postsession surveys. According to resident feedback, this intensive introduction for the dental residents improved their readiness for their inpatient hospital-based residency.
Benzothiazole Sulfinate: A Sulfinic Acid Transfer Reagent under Oxidation-Free Conditions

Sulfinic acids are commonly encountered intermediates found in natural product synthesis and medicinal chemistry. However, because of high reactivity, instability, and harsh reaction conditions, they are difficult to synthesize. Herein we have developed an oxidation-free method to produce sulfinic acids and sulfinate salts using 2-sulfinyl benzothiazole (BTS). We have also demonstrated the synthetic usefulness by developing one-pot syntheses of sulfones and sulfonamides.
Diversity and Abundance of High-Molecular-Weight Azaarenes in PAH-Contaminated Environmental Samples.

Azaarenes are N-heterocyclic polyaromatic pollutants that co-occur with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in contaminated soils. Despite the known toxicity of some high-molecular-weight azaarenes, their diversity, abundance, and fate in contaminated soils remain to be elucidated. We applied high-resolution mass spectrometry and mass-defect filtering to four PAH-contaminated samples from geographically distant sites and detected 232 azaarene congeners distributed in eight homologous series, including alkylated derivatives and two hitherto unknown series. Four- and five-ring azaarenes were detected among these series, and the most abundant nonalkylated congeners groups (C13H9N, C15H9N, C17H11N, C19H11N, and C21H13N) were quantified. The profiles of congener groups varied among different sites. Three-ring azaarenes presented higher concentrations in unweathered sites, while four- and five-ring azaarenes predominated in weathered sites. Known toxic and carcinogenic azaarenes, such as benzo[c]acridine an...
International Law and Search and Rescue

This article provides a broad overview of several international law and policy issues that search and rescue (SAR) authorities worldwide should consider. First, the article will discuss the global SAR system’s international framework and organization implemented by coastal states. While not perfect, the global SAR system provides an important basis on which coastal states can build cooperative relationships to enable them to conduct this important lifesaving mission more effectively. Second, this article will review the SAR responsibilities and international legal requirements placed on shipmasters and coastal states as they work together in coordinating and conducting maritime SAR operations. In addition, this section also will briefly discuss the tragic issue of mixed migration by sea from a SAR perspective. Third, this article will address two additional SAR-specific issues that legal advisers and policy makers need to consider: the responsibilities and requirements of a ship or aircraft when conducting a rescue operation within another coastal state’s territorial sea and the issue of forcibly evacuating a person from a vessel when doing so is, in the judgment of the SAR responders on scene, the only way to save the person’s life. May SAR responders use force to compel a person to abandon his vessel? What type of force should be considered? The discussion of each of these unique operational issues will provide points to consider from both policy and international law perspectives.
Impact of dust aerosols on precipitation associated with atmospheric rivers using WRF-Chem simulations

Abstract The trans-Pacific transport of dust aerosols to the western United States coincided with the landfall of an atmospheric river (AR) from 17 to 18 February 2011 during the California Water Service (CalWater) field campaign in northern California. Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) simulations are conducted to quantitatively understand the impact of long-range transported (LRT) dust aerosols on precipitation processes associated with AR events impacting the western United States. The simulations show that CCN activation of dust aerosols can limit cloud water autoconversion upwind of the Sierra Nevada, which influences additional cloud water over the windward slopes and, therefore, more efficient snow accretion and larger precipitation totals in the higher terrain. Latent heating associated with snow accretion can promote enhanced vertical motions, which can lead to additional snow production and precipitation across the Sierra Nevada.
A rapid and preparative method for the separation of yeast ribosomal proteins by using high-performance liquid chromatography.

Ribosomal proteins from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae were separated, on a preparative scale, by ion-exchange h.p.l.c. Proteins from the small and large ribosomal subunits were resolved, respectively, into 33 and 23 peaks, and most of the proteins present in these peaks were identified by using one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Several of the peaks appeared to contain a single protein uncontaminated by other species. Ribosomal proteins were also separated by using reverse-phase h.p.l.c. Analysis of the peaks resolved indicated that the order of elution for the proteins of both ribosomal subunits is, in certain cases, different for each of the two h.p.l.c. techniques used. Thus a combination of the two chromatographic methods employed here has the potential to facilitate the rapid and preparative separation of each of the proteins present in yeast ribosomes.
Effects of Crack Flank Oxide Debris and Fracture Surface Roughness on Near-Threshold Corrosion Fatigue

Over the years, many models have been proposed for the environmental contribution to cracking associated with sub-critical flaw growth by corrosion fatigue and stress corrosion. In general, these models are based on mechanisms involving hydrogen embrittlement and active path corrosion (i.e. metal dissolution) processes.1 At ultralow growth rates in fatigue (<10−6 mm/cycle), however, approaching the cyclic stress intensity threshold ΔKo for no detectable growth, recent studies in steels have revealed behavior totally inconsistent with such mechanisms.2,3 For example, near-threshold growth rates in ultrahigh strength steels are found to be decelerated in hydrogen gas compared to air,4 whereas in lower strength steels growth rates are accelerated in helium gas and decelerated in water, again compared to air.5 To provide alternative descriptions of environmentally-affected fatigue crack growth at such near-threshold levels, new models have recently been proposed based on the role of oxide deposits, formed within the crack, in promoting crack closure and crack tip blunting in moist, as opposed to dry, environments. 2,3,5 Where thicknesses of the crack flank corrosion deposits are comparable with crack tip opening displacements, e.g. at near-threshold levels, such deposits have been shown to markedly affect crack growth behavior, consistent with observed effects of load ratio, strength level, and environment. 5
Costs of occupational injury and illness in Pennsylvania

A variety of state and federal data sources are used to estimate two critical components of the annual economic costs of occupational injuries and illnesses in Pennsylvania: foregone earnings of affected workers and medical costs. Foregone earnings costs resulting from occupational injuries and illnesses are estimated at between $1.22 billion and $2.02 billion in 1988. A number of potential adjustments to these estimates widen the range considerably. Estimates of medical costs range from $740 million to $797 million. Combining these two estimates gives total estimated costs of $1.96 billion to $2.82 billion. Language: en
Preoperative Evaluation of Disorders of Hemostasis

Assessing the risk of perioperative bleeding is a fundamental component of the preoperative evaluation.
Cation-Induced Superequivalent Adsorption Of Cl - Ions: Temporal and Potential Evolution Of SERS

The cation effect on the SERS intensity of Ago-Cl-, pyridine, and H2O adsorbates has been investigated by adding high concentration cation-Cl salt to a 0.1 M NaCl + 0.05 M pyridine electrolyte after oxidation and reduction of the Ag electrode. During a potential hold, the slow temporal evolution and the potential dependence of the SERS spectra were detected with an optical multichannel analyzer. Two types of cation effects on the SERS characteristics were observed: one for the lower hydration energy cations (Cs+, Rb+, and K+) and another for the higher hydration energy cations (Na+ and Li+). Our data suggest that, even though the Ag electrode is positively charged, the lower hydration energy cations can enter the inner Helmholtz layer and induce changes in the rate of growth and decay of the SERS intensity, which are associated with possible rearrangement of SERS active sites and/or adsorbates on these sites.
Visualization of Annular Gap Junction Vesicle Processing: The Interplay Between Annular Gap Junctions and Mitochondria

It is becoming clear that in addition to gap junctions playing a role in cell–cell communication, gap junction proteins (connexins) located in cytoplasmic compartments may have other important functions. Mitochondrial connexin 43 (Cx43) is increased after ischemic preconditioning and has been suggested to play a protective role in the heart. How Cx43 traffics to the mitochondria and the interactions of mitochondria with other Cx43-containing structures are unclear. In this study, immunocytochemical, super-resolution, and transmission electron microscopy were used to detect cytoplasmic Cx43-containing structures and to demonstrate their interactions with other cytoplasmic organelles. The most prominent cytoplasmic Cx43-containing structures—annular gap junctions—were demonstrated to form intimate associations with lysosomes as well as with mitochondria. Surprisingly, the frequency of associations between mitochondria and annular gap junctions was greater than that between lysosomes and annular gap junctions. The benefits of annular gap junction/mitochondrial associations are not known. However, it is tempting to suggest, among other possibilities, that the contact between annular gap junction vesicles and mitochondria facilitates Cx43 delivery to the mitochondria. Furthermore, it points to the need for investigating annular gap junctions as more than only vesicles destined for degradation.
Probing membrane protein ground and conformationally excited states using dipolar- and J-coupling mediated MAS solid state NMR experiments

The intrinsic conformational plasticity of membrane proteins directly influences the magnitude of the orientational-dependent NMR interactions such as dipolar couplings (DC) and chemical shift anisotropy (CSA). As a result, the conventional cross-polarization (CP)-based techniques mainly capture the more rigid regions of membrane proteins, while the most dynamic regions are essentially invisible. Nonetheless, dynamic regions can be detected using experiments in which polarization transfer takes place via J-coupling interactions. Here, we review our recent efforts to develop single and dual acquisition pulse sequences with either 1H or 13C detection that utilize both DC and J-coupling mediated transfer to detect both rigid and mobile regions of membrane proteins in native-like lipid environments. We show the application of these new methods for studying the conformational equilibrium of a single-pass membrane protein, phospholamban, which regulates the calcium transport across the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) membrane by interacting with the SR Ca2+-ATPase. We anticipate that these methods will be ideal to portray the complex dynamics of membrane proteins in their native environments.
A Computational and Experimental Investigation of the Phonon and Optical Properties of Au2P3

In a combined experimental and theoretical study of gold phosphide (Au2P3), we investigate its vibrational properties, band structure, and dielectric properties, providing new insight into the properties of this underexplored material. Using a simple synthesis route, Au2P3 thin films were produced, enabling the first reported Raman analysis of this material. Coupled with first-principles calculations of these Raman modes, this analysis reveals that low-frequency vibrations are due to Au or mixed Au to P, and at higher frequencies, they are due to P vibrations. Further band structure and dielectric calculations reveal Au2P3 to be a narrow band (0.16 eV) indirect semiconductor. This work helps to fill major gaps in our understanding of key properties in this material that will benefit future research in this field.
How and When Investment Horizons Determine Venture Capital Firms’ Attention Breadth to Portfolio Companies:

This study develops and tests a theory about the antecedents of venture capital firms’ (VCs’) attention breadth to their portfolio companies (PFCs). We find that VCs expand their attention breadth ...
A Principled Approach to the Construction of Risk Assessment Categories: The Council of State Governments Justice Center Five-Level System.

Consistent risk category placement of criminal justice clients across instruments will improve the communication of risk. Efforts coordinated by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Cente...
Update on the management of uveitis in children: an overview for the clinician.

Introduction: Pediatric uveitis comprises a range of ocular inflammatory diseases that may lead to vision impairment. The impact on visual functioning over the lifetime horizon can be substantial, ...
Daily patterns in nonsuicidal self-injury and coping among recently hospitalized youth at risk for suicide.

Abstract Among adolescents at high suicide risk, using a daily diary design, this study examined: (1) the co-occurrence between nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation, (2) the link between NSSI and coping, and (3) endorsement of using NSSI to cope with suicidal ideation (anti-suicide function). Thirty-four adolescents hospitalized due to suicide risk (76% female; ages 13–17) responded to daily surveys for four weeks after discharge (n = 650 observations). NSSI was positively associated with suicidal ideation at the between- (i.e. relative to others) and within-person (relative to adolescents’ own average) levels of analysis. When NSSI and suicidal thoughts co-occurred, adolescents used NSSI to cope with thoughts of suicide on nearly all occasions. While adolescents did not use less adaptive coping when they engaged in NSSI (i.e. within-person), youth who utilized more coping strategies in general (i.e. between-person) had lower probability of NSSI. The probability of NSSI also decreased when adolescents perceived coping to be helpful and for youth who generally tended to perceive coping as helpful. Findings offer fine-grained insights about the intersection of NSSI, suicidal thoughts, and coping among high-risk adolescents, adding to the body of research highlighting the benefit of broadening adolescents’ coping strategies as well as assessing their perceived utility.
Practical algorithms for amyloid β probability in subjective or mild cognitive impairment.

Abstract Introduction Practical algorithms predicting the probability of amyloid pathology among patients with subjective cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment may help clinical decisions regarding confirmatory biomarker testing for Alzheimer's disease. Methods Algorithm feature selection was conducted with Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing data. Probability algorithms were developed in Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative using nested cross-validation accompanied by stratified subsampling to obtain 1000 internally validated decision trees. Semi-independent validation was conducted using Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Flagship Study of Ageing. Independent external validation was conducted in the population-based Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Results Two algorithms were developed using age and normalized immediate recall z-scores, with or without apolipoprotein E e4 carrier status. Both algorithms had robust performance across data sets and when substituting different recall memory tests. Discussion The statistical framework resulted in robust probability estimation. Application of these algorithms may assist in clinical decision-making for further testing to diagnose amyloid pathology.
Proton NMR relaxation from molecular dynamics: intramolecular and intermolecular contributions in water and acetonitrile

NMR relaxation rates for protons in liquid water and neat acetonitrile were computed based on ab initio molecular dynamics (aiMD) with forces from Kohn–Sham (KS) theory as well as force-field (FF) based classical dynamics. Intra- and intermolecular dipole–dipole contributions were separated, and nearly quantitative agreement with experiment was obtained for water. Spin-rotation (SR) contributions to the intramolecular relaxation rate in acetonitrile were computed using nuclear SR coupling tensors obtained from KS theory. Their inclusion improved the total computed intramolecular rate to within a factor of two of experiment. Insufficient sampling of rare short-time collision events between neighboring acetonitrile molecules in the simulations is hypothesized as a major source of error in the intermolecular contributions.
Unilateral Greater Occipital Nerve Compression Causing Scalp Numbness.

CASE PRESENTATION A 50-year-old male developed a painless swelling over the scalp of the right occiput following an ablative cardiac procedure. Upon waking from general anesthesia, he noticed a “bump” on the back of his head and complete loss of sensation over his right scalp, extending rostrally to behind the hairline, caudally to the nuchal line, medially to the midline, and laterally to above the ear. He also had a new soft tissue mass over his right occiput. He denied hearing loss, tinnitus, visual disturbances, or difficulty speaking or swallowing. On physical examination, the right scalp was hypesthetic to light touch, pinprick, temperature, and vibration over the involved region. The left scalp, however, had intact sensation in all modalities. Over the right occiput, there was a mass measuring approximately 4 cm x 2 cm with overlying erythema. It was tense, non-fluctuant, and tender to palpation. The patient was treated with warfarin, and his INR was found to be supratherapeutic to 4.7. A CT scan of head and neck showed swelling and increased subcutaneous stranding over the right occiput, rather than hematoma formation, and a known stable lipoma over the left occiput. No intervention was undertaken to relieve the swelling. After 4 weeks, he reported that the swelling had completely resolved and the symptoms of sensory loss had subsided to approximately 80% of normal.
Are CEOs Overpaid? A Brief Look at CEO Incentive Pay and Compensation in the US

According to statistics, CEO-to-worker compensation ratio for large publicly traded firms in the U.S. has surged almost fifteen times since the 1960’s. There is also a significant difference between CEO compensation and that of the average earner in the top 0.1 percent category (of around 5.5-to-1). However, the growth in CEO pay does not necessarily reflect correspondingly higher output or better firm performance, nor can the difference between CEO pay and that of the top 0.1 percent earners be explained by greater productivity or more talent. Some argue that, this growth is a form of rent-seeking behavior by CEOs who use their power to extract concessions and set their own pay by virtue of their positions and their control over the board of directors. But, why is this rent-seeking behavior permitted by stakeholders, especially the shareholders? Does this suggest weaknesses in the corporate governance structure which fails to discipline growth of CEO pay, or is the legal framework too weak or ineffective to really matter? Assuming that such high levels of inequality in pay are undesirable from a corporate governance and societal perspective, how can this issue be best tackled?
Mobilities of Cinematic Identity in the Western Sahara

Sahrawi cinema has not been afforded much critical attention and can hardly be considered a national cinema by commonly used standards. The concept of such a cinema must be an inclusive one, appropriate to a stateless people, including not only those texts made in and about the territory by both Sahrawis and their supporters—and detractors—but also the use of film and video recording and distribution as part of the virtual battlefield, the media infrastructure available to the Sahrawis, and indeed, the consumption of film by the refugee population and by visitors at the FiSahara film festival. This chapter traces the relationships between the place and use of cinema within the Sahrawi project of identity and of state-building, using the trope of mobility to examine the intersection of political and cultural stakes in the Western Sahara.
Elemental characterization of crystalline silicotitanate following Hanford tank waste processing

To expedite vitrification of low activity waste at the Hanford Site, a Tank-Side Cesium Removal system, using crystalline silicotitanate (CST) as the ion exchange media, is being evaluated. Laborat...
Identifying spoken technical legal vocabulary in a law school classroom

Abstract Technical legal vocabulary creates a significant learning burden for initiates to legal English, the lingua franca of international commerce and the language of law schools within the U.S. This study, focusing on spoken texts, sought to identify and describe technical legal vocabulary used in one first-year, foundational law school course: Contracts. A keyword list based on course transcripts was created using the corpus comparison method. Additionally, Language-related episodes (LREs) were used as a qualitative framework to describe explicit attention to language within classroom discussions. LREs frequently contained definitions of technical legal vocabulary and highlighted the polysemous nature of technical legal vocabulary. The keyword (corpus comparison) method was found to be less time-consuming for identifying technical legal vocabulary and to provide better, albeit somewhat limited, coverage of the course transcripts than the qualitative coding method. However, qualitative coding provided rich descriptions of how definitions and technical vocabulary are discussed and conceptualized in a law school classroom.
A Big Data Analytics Framework for Scientific Data Management

The Ophidia project is a research effort addressing big data analytics requirements, issues, and challenges for eScience. We present here the Ophidia analytics framework, which is responsible for atomically processing, transforming and manipulating array-based data. This framework provides a common way to run on large clusters analytics tasks applied to big datasets. The document highlights the design principles, algorithm, and most relevant implementation aspects of the Ophidia analytics framework. Some experimental results, related to a couple of data analytics operators in a real cluster environment, are also presented.
Depiction of Resuscitation on Medical Dramas: Proposed Effect on Patient Expectations.

The public has unrealistic views regarding the success of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and one potential source of misinformation is medical dramas. Prior research has shown that depictions of resuscitation on television are skewed towards younger patients with acute injuries, while most cardiac arrests occur in older patients as a result of medical comorbidities. Additionally, the success rate of televised resuscitations on older shows has vastly exceeded good outcomes in the real world. We sought to understand resuscitation outcomes on current medical dramas and to review the literature for evidence that media affects patient decision-making. We reviewed medical dramas to evaluate the demographics of cardiac arrest victims and the success rate of resuscitations and compared the results to outcomes for real-world patients. Medical dramas continue to focus on trauma as the main cause of cardiac arrest and portray favorable outcomes more frequently than should be expected. Patients who believe the overly optimistic prognoses portrayed on television may be more likely to desire aggressive medical care in the face of serious illness. Healthcare workers should anticipate the need to counter misinformation when discussing patient goals of care and end-of-life planning.
Poor Readability of COVID-19 Vaccine Information for the General Public: A Lost Opportunity

ABSTRACT Background All adults in the Unites States now have access to COVID-19 vaccines. During the vaccination process, Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) fact sheets are provided. Objective To analyze the ease of reading (i.e., readability) of the EUA-approved fact sheets for the vaccines currently available in the United States, the V-Safe adverse event survey script, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website on COVID-19 vaccines. Design We analyzed the readability of Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen EUA fact sheets, as well as the V-Safe survey script and the vaccine-related information on the CDC website. Measurements Readability factors include the following: average length of paragraphs, sentences, and words; font size and style; use of passive voice; the Gunning-Fog index; the Flesch Reading Ease index; and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level index. Results Only the V-Safe adverse event survey script met readability standards for adequate comprehension. The mean readability scores of the EUA fact sheets and the CDC website were as follows: Flesch Reading Ease score (mean 44.35); Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (mean 10.48); and Gunning-Fog index (mean 11.8). These scores indicate that a 10th-12th grade-level education is necessary to comprehend these documents. Conclusion The average person in the United States would have difficulty understanding the information provided in the EUA fact sheets and CDC COVID-19 vaccine website; however, the V-Safe survey was written at an appropriate reading level. To ensure that the public fully understands information regarding COVID-19 vaccines, simplified information material should be developed.
Abstract WP247: Sex Differences in Ischemic Stroke Outcomes After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Introduction: Prior studies examining sex-related risk of readmission for ischemic stroke after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) did not adjust for preoperative co-morbidities and used small ...
Evaluating dynamic thermal performance of building envelope components using small-scale calibrated hot box tests

Abstract The hot box test method has been applied to evaluate both the steady-state (U-value) and dynamic thermal properties of building envelopes. However, the high construction cost of full-scale hot box apparatus and the testing time required (usually several days) may prevent its wider adoption. To overcome the limitations of full-scale hot box tests, this paper proposes a novel method to evaluate the dynamic thermal performance of building envelope components using a small-scale calibrated hot box and scaled-down specimen. In this paper, the scaling relationships of thermal properties evaluated using a full-size specimen and a scaled-down specimen are established based on the Laplace transform of the heat transfer equations. In addition, dynamic thermal properties obtained from scaled-down experimental tests are compared to the values calculated by the EN ISO13768 (ISO) method. A small-scale hot box with a 355 mm × 355 mm metering area was constructed and calibrated to validate the correlations. Three scaled-down concrete sandwich wall panels were then tested and the scaling relationship was cross-validated using the experimental results, finite difference (FD) simulations, and the ISO method. The results indicate that the dynamic thermal properties obtained from a scaled-down hot box test can be correlated to its full-size counterpart when certain conditions are met. The scaled-down hot box test is demonstrated to be an effective yet economical alternative to a full-scale test with significantly reduced experimentation cost and turn-around time.
Dogs for Life: Beagles, Drugs, and Capital in the Twentieth Century.

This article tracks the transformation of beagle dogs from a common breed in mid-twentieth century American laboratories to the de jure standard in global toxicological research by the turn of the twenty-first. The breed was dispersed widely due to the expanding use of dogs in pharmacology in the 1950s and a worldwide crisis around pharmaceutical safety following the thalidomide scandal of the 1960s. Nevertheless, debates continued for decades over the beagle’s value as a model of carcinogenicity, even as the dogs became legislated stand-ins for human beings in multiple countries. Situating beagles as a biocommodity, the article calls for more sustained attention to the “political economy” of laboratory organism breeding, use, and production. The story of American commercial breeder Marshall Farms offers insight into the role of for-profit companies in contemporary laboratory animal provision, as the article makes a case for the value of a global perspective on transnational corporations as key sites of scientific practice and collaboration.
Further Results on Pinnacle Sets

The study of pinnacle sets has been a recent area of interest in combinatorics. Given a permutation, its pinnacle set is the set of all values larger than the values on either side of it. Largely inspired by conjectures posed by Davis, Nelson, Petersen, and Tenner and also results proven recently by Fang, this paper aims to add to our understanding of pinnacle sets. In particular, we give a simpler and more combinatorial proof of a weighted sum formula previously proven by Fang. Additionally, we give a recursion for counting the admissible orderings of the elements of a potential pinnacle set. Finally, we give another way of viewing pinnacle sets that sheds light on their structure and also yields a recursion for counting the number of permutations with that pinnacle set.
Coupled Simulation of Heart Valves: Applications to Clinical Practice

The last few decades have seen great advances in the understanding of heart valves, and consequently, in the development of novel treatment modalities and surgical procedures for valves afflicted by disease. This is due in part to the profound advancements in computing technology and noninvasive medical imaging techniques that have made it possible to numerically model the complex heart valve systems characterized by distinct features at different length scales and various interacting processes. In this article, we highlight the importance of explicitly coupling these multiple scales and diverse processes to accurately simulate the true behavior of the heart valves, in health and disease. We examine some of the computational modeling studies that have a direct consequence on clinical practice.
Selective and non-selective trophic actions on central cholinergic and dopaminergic neurons in vitro.

Publisher Summary In an attempt to clarify the degree of selectivity of the actions of various neurotrophic substances, this chapter uses previously established cell culture models of fetal rat septum, pons, and ventral mesencephalon. Septal cholinergic cells in culture respond to nerve growth factor (NGF) in various ways, among them by increasing the activity of the enzyme choline acetyltransferase. Pontine cholinergic neurons, located in the pedunculopontine and dorsolateral tegmental nuclei, share some of the morphological characteristics of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons and have medium- to large-sized cell bodies and long centrally ascending axons. However, this cell group has been shown in vitro not to respond to NGF. Cultures of the ventral mesencephalon were used to test for effects of trophic factors on dopaminergic cells of the substantia nigra. Trophic actions on septal and pontine cholinergic neurons and mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons have been examined in the chapter for basic fibroblast growth factor, insulin, insulin-like growth factors-I (IGF-I), IGF-II, epidermal growth factor, and NGF.
Anakinra for rheumatoid arthritis.

Background In the past decade, a novel class of therapies directed against specific cytokines implicated in the disease process of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), called the 'Biologics' have greatly improved and expanded treatment for RA. Anakinra is an interleukin-1 receptor antagonist that is currently FDA-approved for moderate-severe RA that has been unresponsive to initial disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) therapy. Objectives To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of anakinra in adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Search methods We searched the following electronic databases: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library Issue 1, 2008), MEDLINE (1950 to Week 4 2008) , EMBASE (1980 to Week 5 2008), CINAHL (1982 to November 2007) and reference lists of articles. Selection criteria Randomized controlled trials comparing anakinra alone or in combination with DMARDs or biologics to placebo or other DMARDs or biologics in patients >18 years old with rheumatoid arthritis. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. We contacted study authors for additional information. Main results Five trials involving 2876 patients, 781 randomized to placebo and 2065 to anakinra, were included. There was a significant improvement in number of participants achieving ACR20 (38% versus 23%) who were treated with anakinra 50 to 150 mg daily versus placebo after 24 weeks. This 15% increase in patients achieving ACR20 with anakinra versus placebo is felt to be a clinically meaningful, though modest, outcome. Other efficacy data - including ACR50 (18% versus 7%), ACR70 (7% versus 2%), HAQ, visual analog score (VAS), Larsen radiographic scores, and change in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) - all demonstrated significant improvement with anakinra 50 to 150 mg daily versus placebo as well. There were no statistically significant differences noted in most safety outcomes with treatment with anakinra versus placebo - including number of withdrawals, deaths, adverse events (total and serious), and infections (total and serious). Injection site reactions were significantly increased, occurring in 1235/1729 (71%) versus 204/729 (28%) of patients treated with anakinra versus placebo, respectively. The incidence of serious infections was clinically higher, but not statistically different, in the anakinra (25/1366 patients, 1.8%) versus placebo group (3/534 patients, 0.6%). Authors' conclusions Anakinra is a relatively safe and modestly efficacious biologic therapy for rheumatoid arthritis. Although head to head comparison trials have not been carried out, the amount of improvement is notably less when compared to studies using other biologic therapies. More studies are needed to evaluate safety and efficacy, especially in comparison to other therapies, and adverse event data for the long-term use of Anakinra has yet to be assessed.
Studies on the Mechanism of the Enzymatic Conversion of Δ8-Cholesten-3β-ol to Δ7-Cholesten-3β-ol

Abstract [3α-3H]-Δ8-Cholesten-3β-ol has been prepared by chemical synthesis. With this labeled substrate, the conversion of Δ8-cholesten-3β-ol to Δ7-cholesten-3β-ol by rat liver microsomes has been studied in deuterated medium. The results of experiments with combined gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry indicate that the reaction proceeds with the uptake of 1 atom of solvent hydrogen and therefore provide no evidence in support of a mechanism involving an intramolecular shift of hydride from carbon atom 7 to carbon atom 9. A method for the separation of the acetate derivatives of a number of sterols on columns of neutral alumina-Super Cel-silver nitrate has been described. With this method the amount of endogenous Δ7-cholesten-3β-ol in rat liver microsomes has been estimated.
Developmental biology. A twist on embryonic signalling.

Gradients of signalling proteins control the formation of different tissues during animal development. A controversial model for how one such gradient is produced now receives more experimental support.
Measuring Social Return on Investment: Lessons from Organizational Implementation of SROI in the Netherlands and the United States.

Strategic decision making and evaluation in philanthropic giving and social investment requires good-quality information about the social impacts of that investment. One way to meet this need is by calculating a social return on investment (SROI) measure, akin to the return on investment (ROI) approach used in business analysis. Despite much buzz in the field, SROI measurements are rarely used, in part because of the complexity of the calculations but also because of a number of thorny and often expensive organizational challenges associated with implementing an SROI process. This article explores these implementation challenges by comparing four social venture organizations in the health care field—two in the Netherlands and two in the United States—that have utilized some sort of SROI measurement. We summarize the SROI process and identify the specific organizational challenges in each case. Lessons learned from this analysis include the value of process versus product and the importance of fitting the type of measurement to the organizational context. We conclude with a summary of best practices for organizations and social investors who might try to make effective use of SROI measures.
Intertemporal CAPM and the Cross-Section of Stock Returns

This paper examines whether the historically high returns associated with the size effect, the book-to-market effect, and the momentum effect can be explained within an asset pricing framework suggested by Merton's (1973) Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model. Controlling for the market, an asset may earn a risk premium if it performs poorly when the prospects for the future turn sour. I develop a model with time-varying expected market returns and time-varying market volatilities to reflect thechanges in the investment opportunity set of the economy. Campbell's (1993, 1996) technique of substituting out aggregate consumption delivers two key insights.An underlying mechanism is that in the absence of frictions,the aggregate budget constraint restricts variations in market returns to affect aggregate consumption at some horizon. Hence the first insight is that if a factor reflects the changes in the investment opportunity set, its risk premium should be linked to the amount of information that it conveys about the future. The second insight is that the risk premia across factors should be linked to each other through the willingness of investors tobear risk. I test whether the returns associated with the size effect, the book-to-market effect, and the momentum effect are consistent with these restrictions.This model is estimated using a multivariate VAR-GARCH model with non-Gaussian innovations. The estimates suggest that the historical returns on thebook-to-market effect and the momentum effect are too high to be explained as compensation for exposures to adversechanges in the investment opportunity set.
Killing Kony: The Relationship Between Leadership Change and Civil War Termination

Is there a relationship between leadership change and the probability of conflict termination in civil war? This paper uses an original dataset on the leaders of rebel groups combined with existing data on state leaders to determine if leadership change in states or rebel groups affects the probability that a civil war will end. Three results emerge: (1) when the leader of a rebel group is captured or killed, wars are 398% more likely to end; (2) conflicts are less likely to end while rebel groups are being led by their founder; (3) the leader of a state that presided over the beginning of the conflict is significantly more likely to bring the conflict to an end than a replacement leader. The results are robust to the use of matching techniques and other tests of endogeneity.
Synaptic functions in rat sympathetic neurons in microcultures. III. A Purinergic effect on cardiac myocytes

In the first two of this series of papers, a sensitive microculture procedure was used to show that rat sympathetic neurons grown singly on small islands of heart cells release norepinephrine (NE) and/or acetylcholine (ACh). We report here the release of a third transmitter in response to stimulation of these neurons. This agent was recognized by its effect on the cocultured cardiac myocytes: an inhibition of beating or a hyperpolarization that, in contrast to cholinergic inhibition, was unaffected by atropine (up to 5 microM). Evidence described here indicates that this agent was primarily adenosine (or a closely related compound): the atropine-resistant myocyte inhibition was antagonized by adenosine-receptor blockers [8-phenyltheophylline, theophylline, 7-(2-chloroethyl) theophylline] and was attenuated by an enzyme (adenosine deaminase) that hydrolyzes adenosine to pharmacologically inactive inosine. Many of the neurons, whether initially dissociated from ganglia of newborn or adult rats, evoked this purinergic response, almost always in combination with adrenergic and cholinergic responses. In a few cases it was the only detectable response. The relative strength of the adrenergic, cholinergic, and purinergic responses varied widely from neuron to neuron, suggesting that the adrenergic and purinergic or the cholinergic and purinergic agents were not stored at constant stoichiometric ratios.
Associations of Maternal and Infant Testosterone and Cortisol Levels With Maternal Depressive Symptoms and Infant Socioemotional Problems

This study examined the associations of testosterone and cortisol levels with maternal depressive symptoms and infant socioemotional (SE) problems that are influenced by infant gender. A total of 62 mothers and their very-low-birth weight (VLBW) infants were recruited from a neonatal intensive care unit at a tertiary medical center in the southeast United States. Data were collected at three time points (before 40 weeks' postmenstrual age [PMA] and at 3 months and 6 months of age corrected for prematurity). Measures included infant medical record review, maternal interview, biochemical assays of salivary hormone levels in mother-VLBWinfant pairs, and standard questionnaires. Generalized estimating equations with separate analyses for boys and girls showed that maternal testosterone level was negatively associated with depressive symptoms in mothers of boys, whereas infant testosterone level was negatively associated with maternal report of infant SE problems in girls after controlling for characteristics of mothers and infants and number of days post birth of saliva collection. Not surprisingly, the SE problems were positively associated with a number of medical complications. Mothers with more depressive symptoms reported that their infants had more SE problems. Mothers with higher testosterone levels reported that girls, but not boys, had fewer SE problems. In summary, high levels of testosterone could have a protective role for maternal depressive symptoms and infant SE problems. Future research need to be directed toward clinical application of these preliminary results.
Maslow's hierarchy and the sad case of the hospital librarian.

Hospital librarians have been a focus of concern in recent years because of hospital closings and down-sizing and a general lack of support from hospital administrators. We must educate ourselves in techniques for advancing the cause of libraries and librarians within our institutions.
Mechanism for environmental etch of acrylic melamine-based automotive clearcoats: Identification of degradation products

This paper focuses on defining the reaction mechanism involved in the environmental etch of acrylic melamine-based automotive clearcoats via an identification of reaction products. This has been accomplished through a comparative study of products formed on acid treatment of neat crosslinkers, and those formed following laboratory acid treatment and field exposure of acrylic melamine clearcoat systems. Bulk elemental, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and infrared (IR) analyses of sulfuric acid-treated melamine crosslinkers show that acid hydrolysis results primarily in the formation of melamine sulfate. Melamine sulfate formation was also observed following laboratory and field exposure of acrylic melamine clearcoat systems. These results confirm that the primary mode of melamine crosslink decomposition is through hydrolysis of acetal linkages and subsequent formation of melamine sulfates. However, data show that hydrolysis of pendent amino groups on the triazine ring also occurs.
SUMOylation Affects the Interferon Blocking Activity of the Influenza A Nonstructural Protein NS1 without Affecting Its Stability or Cellular Localization

ABSTRACT Our pioneering studies on the interplay between the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) and influenza A virus identified the nonstructural protein NS1 as the first known SUMO target of influenza virus and one of the most abundantly SUMOylated influenza virus proteins. Here, we further characterize the role of SUMOylation for the A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (PR8) NS1 protein, demonstrating that NS1 is SUMOylated not only by SUMO1 but also by SUMO2/3 and mapping the main SUMOylation sites in NS1 to residues K219 and K70. Furthermore, by using SUMOylatable and non-SUMOylatable forms of NS1 and an NS1-specific artificial SUMO ligase (ASL) that increases NS1 SUMOylation ∼4-fold, we demonstrate that SUMOylation does not affect the stability or cellular localization of PR8 NS1. However, NS19s ability to be SUMOylated appears to affect virus multiplication, as indicated by the delayed growth of a virus expressing the non-SUMOylatable form of NS1 in the interferon (IFN)-competent MDCK cell line. Remarkably, while a non-SUMOylatable form of NS1 exhibited a substantially diminished ability to neutralize IFN production, increasing NS1 SUMOylation beyond its normal levels also exerted a negative effect on its IFN-blocking function. This observation indicates the existence of an optimal level of NS1 SUMOylation that allows NS1 to achieve maximal activity and suggests that the limited amount of SUMOylation normally observed for most SUMO targets may correspond to an optimal level that maximizes the contribution of SUMOylation to protein function. Finally, protein cross-linking data suggest that SUMOylation may affect NS1 function by regulating the abundance of NS1 dimers and trimers in the cell.
Passive laser mode locking with an antiresonant nonlinear mirror

A nonlinear mirror that is based on an antiresonant ring incorporating a nonlinear element sensitive to the polarization state of the circulating light has been developed. No phase matching of the mirror to the laser cavity is necessary, so the mirror does not need active length stabilization. Spontaneous mode locking occurs when the mirror is incorporated into a cw Nd:YAG laser. Pulses of 11-psec duration are produced at 1064 nm; two output beams at 532 nm are also generated. An analysis indicates that the primary mechanism responsible for passive mode locking is self-phase modulation in the nonlinear element.