cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Recurrent collapse of a Gore TAG endograft in treating an aortoesophageal fistula

As the utility of the Gore TAG endograft expands in an off-label fashion to include various aortic pathologies like aortoesophageal fistulas (AEFs), more TAG endograft collapses are being described in the literature. We report a case of a recurrent endograft collapse in a patient with a right-sided aortic arch, who was treated for a hemorrhage from an AEF. One month following the initial endograft placement, angiography detected infolding of the endograft, which was then re-expanded with another endograft. Four months later, the patient developed an acute biventricular dysfunction with an ejection fraction (EF) less than 20%. Cardiac catheterization revealed that the patient had an 80 mmHg pressure gradient across the endograft suggesting another collapse. A balloon-expandable stent was used to re-expand the endografts and restore the EF. On follow-up, the patient's endograft has remained patent without evidence of further collapse.
Time Course and Hemodynamic Effects of Alpha-1-adrenergic Bolus Administration in Anesthetized Patients with Myocardial Disease

Phenylephrine (Phe) is frequently administered as an intravenous (IV) bolus to increase blood pressure, yet the acute time course and hemodynamic effects of bolus Phe in patients with myocardial disease have not been reported. Therefore 50 randomized IV bolus doses of Phe (50, 100, 150, or 200 micrograms) were given to 18 patients during anesthesia for elective coronary artery surgery. Esophageal Doppler techniques were used to continuously monitor cardiac output (CO); mean arterial pressure (MAP), CO, and calculated systemic vascular resistance (SVR) were recorded every 5 seconds for a total of 2 minutes. The hemodynamic changes (mean +/- SEM) for each of the four doses of Phe (50, 100, 150, 200 micrograms) were maximal at about 42 seconds after the drug was given. They consisted of an increase in MAP (11.6 +/- 2.1, 15.6 +/- 2.4, 14.7 +/- 2.4, 18.0 +/- 1.5 mm Hg); increase in SVR (766 +/- 190, 930 +/- 310, 950 +/- 344, 1732 +/- 824 dynes.sec.cm-5); and a decrease in CO (-.58 +/- .11, -.68 +/- .13, -.73 +/- .20, -.77 +/- .18 L.min-1). Hypertension, increased age, low preoperative ejection fraction, high baseline CO, and low baseline SVR significantly (P less than 0.05) decreased hemodynamic responses to Phe (see text). In conclusion, bolus IV Phe in patients with myocardial disease increases MAP and SVR and simultaneously decreases CO; these peak hemodynamic events occur approximately 42 seconds after Phe administration.
Sampling of melanocytic nevi for research purposes: a prospective, pilot study to determine effect on diagnosis.

Background Research on melanocytic nevi predominantly utilizes formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue, largely limiting research to morphologic and immunohistochemical observations. Withholding portions of fresh nevus tissue for molecular studies could result in the loss of important diagnostic material. Objective This study prospectively evaluated melanocytic nevi for histologic homogeneity to determine if using a portion for research would have affected diagnosis. Methods Thirty-three subjects were enrolled in a prospective study in which pigmented lesions were chosen for biopsy on a clinical basis. Lesions were sectioned and each piece submitted in a separate block (mean, 2.7; range 2-5 blocks per lesion). Slides from nevi were examined in two phases. In phase I, sections of nevi were randomized and a diagnosis was rendered for each section of nevus. In phase II, the dermatopathologist reviewed all slides for each nevus as a case, similar to the original interpretation of the lesion provided to the clinician. Diagnoses from phases I and II were compared with the original diagnosis. Results Case material included 51 melanocytic lesions from 31 subjects. The phase I diagnosis matched the original diagnosis for 99 of 121 slides that showed a melanocytic lesion (82%). The phase II diagnosis matched the original diagnosis for 45 of 51 specimens (88%). Limitations The study was limited by: a small number of specimens; the clinician could have chosen clinically homogeneous nevi for biopsy; effect of interobserver and intraobserver variability on diagnosis. Conclusions For the majority of melanocytic nevi in this study, the diagnostic information present in one section of a melanocytic nevus could be extrapolated to the remainder of the specimen without adverse consequences from a diagnostic or therapeutic perspective.
Electrophoretic analysis of the phylogeny of the self-pollinating populations of Clarkia xantiana

Electrophoretic variation in isozymes coded by 40 loci was examined in two self-pollinating populations, one with white and the other with pink flowering plants, and four outcrossing populations ofClarkia xantiana (Onagraceae) native to California. The study was carried out to test theMoore & Lewis (1965) hypothesis that the pink selfer originated from the sympatric outcrossing population and then gave rise to the white selfer. The hypothesis could be rejected if one or the other selfer was more similar genetically to an allopatric population than to the sympatric one. Both selfers were monomorphic at all loci whereas the outcrossing populations were polymorphic at nearly half of them. The two selfers had the same genes at 32 loci but had different ones at eight loci. The pink selfer was not more similar to the allopatric populations than to the sympatric one, consistent with theMoore & Lewis model. The evidence also supported their proposal that the white selfer originated from the pink one and not independently. The electrophoretic evidence was valuable because it permitted qualitative comparisons (presence versus absence of particular alleles) between the selfer and the several outcrossing populations; such analysis was not previously possible because the latter populations are morphologically and cytologically similar.
Mini-review: Lactoferrin: a bioinspired, anti-biofilm therapeutic.

Medically relevant biofilms have gained a significant level of interest, in part because of the epidemic rise in obesity and an aging population in the developed world. The associated comorbidities of chronic wounds such as pressure ulcers, venous leg ulcers, and diabetic foot wounds remain recalcitrant to the therapies available currently. Development of chronicity in the wound is due primarily to an inability to complete the wound healing process owing to the presence of a bioburden, specifically bacterial biofilms. New therapies are clearly needed which specifically target biofilms. Lactoferrin is a multifaceted molecule of the innate immune system found primarily in milk. While further investigation is warranted to elucidate mechanisms of action, in vitro analyses of lactoferrin and its derivatives have demonstrated that these complex molecules are structurally and functionally well suited to address the heterogeneity of bacterial biofilms. In addition, use of lactoferrin and its derivatives has prove...
Observing and Preventing Leakage in MapReduce

The use of public cloud infrastructure for storing and processing large datasets raises new security concerns. Current solutions propose encrypting all data, and accessing it in plaintext only within secure hardware. Nonetheless, the distributed processing of large amounts of data still involves intensive encrypted communications between different processing and network storage units, and those communications patterns may leak sensitive information. We consider secure implementation of MapReduce jobs, and analyze their intermediate traffic between mappers and reducers. Using datasets that include personal and geographical data, we show how an adversary that observes the runs of typical jobs can infer precise information about their input. We give a new definition of data privacy for MapReduce, and describe two provably-secure, practical solutions. We implement our solutions on top of VC3, a secure implementation of Hadoop, and evaluate their performance.
Availability of free and bound phenolic compounds in rice after hydrothermal treatment

This study evaluated the effect of hydrothermal treatment on the phenolic content (by spectrophotometry and HPLC-UV) and its antioxidant activity in polished, parboiled and whole rice (by DPPH radical measurement), aiming to estimate the functional contribution resulting from the consumption of this cereal. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to verify the effect of treatments. After the hydrothermal treatment, only the free phenolic compounds of parboiled rice were not significantly affected while, for the other rice samples, this percentage was reduced with treatment (p < 0.05). The highest free phenolic contents were represented by chlorogenic and p-coumaric acids and the bound phenolic compounds were represented by ferulic acid. A distinction between the free and bound compounds assessed by PCA and a tendency of phenolic acids to remain in the untreated sample was observed. The ability to sequester free radicals was negatively affected by the hydrothermal treatment. It was estimated that the population consumes around 37.4, 77.8 and 57.7 mg/day of phenolic compounds in its polished, parboiled and whole form respectively, indicating that rice may be an important source of these compounds even after preparation for consumption.
“Shear Acoustic Wind” Acting on Particles Embedded in a Liquid Crystal

We present here a theory of a specific force acting on the particles embedded in a liquid crystal (LC) if a “fast” (viscous) shear wave is excited in the LC layer. The origin of this force is very similar to the so-called “ponderomotive forces” acting on the electrons or bubbles in liquids in the presence of spatially non-homogeneous periodic fields (electric in the first case and acoustic in the second). We show that one can use this effect for manipulation, orientation through sedimentation, and separation of particles, including carbon nanotubes. This article is mostly focused on the case of elongated particles in a nematic liquid crystal medium. However, more general consideration is also presented.
Evaluation of a prototype dengue-1 DNA vaccine in a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Candidate dengue DNA vaccine constructs for each dengue serotype were developed by incorporating pre-membrane and envelope genes into a plasmid vector. A Phase 1 clinical trial was performed using the dengue virus serotype-1 (DENV-1) vaccine construct (D1ME(100)). The study was an open-label, dose-escalation, safety and immunogenicity trial involving 22 healthy flavivirus-naive adults assigned to one of two groups. Each group received three intramuscular injections (0, 1, and 5 months) of either a high dose (5.0mg, n=12) or a low dose (1.0mg, n=10) DNA vaccine using the needle-free Biojector(®) 2000. The most commonly reported solicited signs and symptoms were local mild pain or tenderness (10/22, 45%), local mild swelling (6/22, 27%), muscle pain (6/22, 27%) and fatigue (6/22, 27%). Five subjects (41.6%) in the high dose group and none in the low dose group developed detectable anti-dengue neutralizing antibodies. T-cell IFN gamma responses were detected in 50% (4/8) and 83.3% (10/12) of subjects in the low and high dose groups, respectively. The safety profile of the DENV-1 DNA vaccine is acceptable at both doses administered in the study. These results demonstrate a favorable reactogenicity and safety profile of the first in human evaluation of a DENV-1 DNA vaccine.
Designing Molecules by Optimizing Potentials

The astronomical number of accessible discrete chemical structures makes rational molecular design extremely challenging. We formulate the design of molecules with specific tailored properties as performing a continuous optimization in the space of electron-nuclear attraction potentials. The optimization is facilitated by using a linear combination of atomic potentials (LCAP), a general framework that creates a continuous property landscape from an otherwise unlinked set of discrete molecular-property values. A demonstration of this approach is given for the optimization of molecular electronic polarizability and hyperpolarizability. We show that the optimal structures can be determined without enumerating and separately evaluating the characteristics of the combinatorial number of possible structures, a process that would be much slower. The LCAP approach may be used with quantum or classical Hamiltonians, suggesting possible applications to drug design and new materials discovery.
Review: Accuracy of monofilament testing for diagnosing peripheral neuropathy of the feet varies

Source Citation Dros J, Wewerinke A, Bindels PJ, van Weert HC. Accuracy of monofilament testing to diagnose peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review. Ann Fam Med. 2009;7:555-8. 19901316
Continuous flow centrifuge leucapheresis in the management of chronic myelogenous leukaemia.

Summary. Six patients with chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) were treated by repeated continuous flow centrifuge (CFC) leucapheresis. In six of seven courses of leucapheresis there was no improvement in splenomegaly. In no instance was the leucocyte count reduced to the normal range. The immediate changes in peripheral leucocytosis produced by each CFC leucapheresis procedure were quite variable. There was no correlation between the intensity of a series of CFC leucapheresis procedures and the total clinical effectiveness of the therapy. Balancing potential benefits against definite costs to the patient, CFC leucapheresis seems justified in only a minority of CML patients. Untreated CML patients who have cyclic leucocytosis may be the best candidates for this therapy. Currently this form of therapy for CML remains experimental.
Photoemission instabilities: theory and experiment

Synchrotron radiation in electron-positron colliders and synchrotron light sources ejects photoelectrons from the beam chamber walls. The resulting cloud of slow photoelectrons interacts with the beam, and may generate a transverse coupled bunch instability. In some high current storage rings a photoemission effect causes the dominant transverse instability, with a sub-millisecond risetime. Two types of photoemission instabilities have been observed. In CESR, photoelectrons are trapped by the combination of a quadrupole electrostatic field from the distributed ion pumps and the field of the bending magnets. This "trapped photoelectron instability" has a very long range, is nonlinear in beam current, and is predominantly horizontal. In the Photon Factory and BEPC, photoelectrons moving freely across the chamber interact with the positron beam to produce a transverse instability. This "free photoelectron instability" occurs for bunch-to-bunch intervals smaller than the transit time (a few tens of nanoseconds) of photoelectrons across the chamber, occurs in the absence of external fields, is approximately linear in bunch current, and is predominantly vertical.
Field weakening for radial force reduction in brushless permanent-magnet DC motors

In brushless permanent-magnet dc (BLDC) machines, the attraction between the rotor permanent magnets and the stator iron causes radial stator forces that excite the stator structural response and radiate unwanted acoustic noise. In this paper, we develop an analytical model that predicts rotor torque and radial force ripple as functions of the stator currents. The model shows that field weakening of sinusoidally commutated BLDC machines can reduce radial forces but requires higher currents to maintain the desired torque. We confirmed the analytical results numerically on a BLDC motor using ANSYS finite-element analysis and found a 30% reduction in force ripple at no load.
Temperature effects on day old Drosophila pupae.

Day old Drosophila pupae were subjected to a variety of closely controlled temperature shocks. Twenty-five hours after puparium formation (at 23°), temperatures from 39.5–41.5° (Q1 = 2.3) differentially disturb the formation of the posterior crossvein. Three other separate treatments disturb posterior crossvein formation: treatments in the range 36.0–37.0° at 25 hours; 37.3–37.8° at 25 hours; and 39.5–41.5° at 19 hours. Certain qualitative effects are associated with certain temperatures: elliptical holes are seen in wings of flies exposed 25 hours after puparium formation to temperatures from 37.3–37.8°. Anterior crossvein defects ensue if animals are similarly exposed to temperatures from 37.9–38.2°. Within the physiological range, animals raised at higher temperatures are more resistant to the effects of temperatures at 39.5–41.5°. An extremely rapid temperature adaptation by exposures to temperatures in the range 31–38° results in markedly greater resistance to heat shock; here resistance to production of crossvein defects increases faster than to death. The association between qualitative effects and treatment temperatures is modified by changing the temperature at which the animals spend their first day of pupal life. Summation experiments support conclusions drawn from the simpler experiments. Genetic variation and interspecific variation are discussed in the present context, as well as implications of the role of protein denaturation in the biological effects of high temperatures and further, more general experiments.
Mesoscale Disturbance and Ecological Response to Decadal Climatic Variability in the American Southwest

Climatic variables such as radiation, temperature and precipitation determine rates of ecosystem processes from net primary productivity to soil development. They predict a wide array of biogeographic phenomena, including soil carbon pools, vegetation physiognomy, species range, and plant and animal diversity. Climate also influences ecosystems indirectly by modulating the frequency, magnitude, and spatial scales of natural disturbances (Clark 1988; Overpeck et al. 1990; Swetnam 1993).
TwitterHawk: A Feature Bucket Based Approach to Sentiment Analysis

This paper describes TwitterHawk, a system for sentiment analysis of tweets which participated in the SemEval-2015 Task 10, Subtasks A through D. The system performed competitively, most notably placing 1 st in topicbased sentiment classification (Subtask C) and ranking 4 th out of 40 in identifying the sentiment of sarcastic tweets. Our submissions in all four subtasks used a supervised learning approach to perform three-way classification to assign positive, negative, or neutral labels. Our system development efforts focused on text pre-processing and feature engineering, with a particular focus on handling negation, integrating sentiment lexicons, parsing hashtags, and handling expressive word modifications and emoticons. Two separate classifiers were developed for phrase-level and tweetlevel sentiment classification. Our success in aforementioned tasks came in part from leveraging the Subtask B data and building a single tweet-level classifier for Subtasks B, C and D.
Demo of Antelogue: Pronoun Resolution for Dialogues

We present Antelogue, a novel pronoun resolution architecture for dialogues based on efficient filtering of potential antecedents through a simple look-up of information using existing resources (gender, number, NER, etc). Our system does not require large labelled datasets for training or complex handcrafted rules. We will demo the system’s real time performance on dialogues extracted from the screenplays of the popular TV series Lost. Antelogue achieves accuracy (90.4%) for first, second and third person singular pronouns.
“Not To Scale”: Mapping Race in a Virginia Historically Black Community

In 1998 Union, Virginia was officially recognized as a historically black community. In the same year Ernest Greene, a white former resident, drew a map of Union as he remembered it from his youth, qualifying it with the note “not to scale.” While the state sees Union as homogeneously “black,” Mr. Greene's map depicts Union as equally homogeneously “white.” The African American social terrain was omitted entirely, while “white” structures were re-scaled to obscure conspicuous blank spots on the map. Considering the map as a social text, this cartographic act is seen as a reflection of the power and politics of creating written, material “historical facts,” and a statement about legitimacy and belonging.
Are we moving toward an information superhighway or a Tower of Babel? The challenge of large-scale semantic heterogeneity

The popularity and growth of the "information superhighway" have dramatically increased the number of information sources available for use. Unfortunately, there are significant challenges to be overcome. One particular problem is context interchange, whereby each source of information and potential receiver of that information may operate with a different context, leading to large-scale semantic heterogeneity. A context is the collection of implicit assumptions about the context definition (i.e. meaning) and context characteristics (i.e. quality) of the information. This paper describes various forms of context challenges and examples of potential context mediation services, such as data semantics acquisition, data quality attributes and evolving semantics and quality, that can mitigate the problem.
Robust distributed node localization with error management

Location knowledge of nodes in a network is essential for many tasks such as routing, cooperative sensing, or service delivery in ad hoc, mobile, or sensor networks. This paper introduces a novel iterative method ILS for node localization starting with a relatively small number of anchor nodes in a large network. At each iteration, nodes are localized using a least-squares based algorithm. The computation is lightweight, fast, and any-time. To prevent error from propagating and accumulating during the iteration, the error control mechanism of the algorithm uses an error registry to select nodes that participate in the localization, based on their relative contribution to the localization accuracy. Simulation results have shown that the active selection strategy significantly mitigates the effect of error propagation. The algorithm has been tested on a network of Berkeley Mica2 motes with ultrasound TOA ranging devices. We have compared the algorithm with more global methods such as MDS-MAP and SDP-based algorithm both in simulation and on real hardware. The iterative localization achieves comparable location accuracy in both cases, compared to the more global methods, and has the advantage of being fully decentralized.
A current-feedback transconductance amplifier for high-frequency filtering

This paper presents the derivation and analysis for a novel CMOS transconductance amplifier circuit. The structure combines previously developed current-feedback and linearized gm circuits. By properly biasing MOS transistors, improvements in linearity as well as current-to-transconductance efficiency are verified. Analytical and simulation results have shown the newly derived structure is suitable for building high-frequency current-mode (C-Gm) filters.
Dynamic Bayesian Network for Predicting the Likelihood of a Terrorist Attack at Critical Transportation Infrastructure Facilities

This research is motivated by the increased awareness for terrorism related research in the post-9/11 era. Transportation infrastructures such as airports, metro and subway systems, bridges, and tunnels are vital to the U.S. economy. Therefore, in the wake of recent terrorist incidents, innovative and robust methods need to be exploited to predict the likelihood of terrorist strikes at critical transportation infrastructure facilities. Since the greater need for predicting future terrorist activities has only been recognized in recent years, the research in this field is in the nascent stages. There are two key aspects to predicting future terrorist activities: (1) developing a reliable and robust prediction model; and (2) analyzing the precision and reliability of available intelligence and other relevant information needed to develop a prediction model. This paper focuses on the first aspect and develops a terrorist attack prediction model (TAPM) using dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs), which can be used to predict the likelihood of future terrorist activities at critical transportation infrastructure facilities. Theoretical development of the TAPM is presented and the model is employed in two examples to predict a terrorist strike with the possibility of an airplane hijack at a typical U.S. airport. The results suggest that the proposed DBN approach, although more data intensive, may provide a more reliable and better prediction. Since the nature of terrorist strikes is different than natural strikes, a game theoretic approach may be suggested in future works. Moreover, considering uncertainty in data as well as possibility theory in lieu of probability theory are also suggested for future research. This research is the significant first step in terrorist activity prediction at critical infrastructure facilities. Future enhancements to the model for more reliable predictions using real-life attributes are discussed.
Alteration of the Pathogenicity of Pasteurella pneumotropica for the Murine Lung Caused by Changes in Pulmonary Antibacterial Activity

Pasteurella pneumotropica is a potential pulmonary pathogen in mice. In healthy animals, this organism was killed rapidly by the normal function of the intrapulmonary phagocytic defense mechanisms. Impairment of this bactericidal activity by the acute renal failure of nephrectomy resulted in multiplication of the Pasteurella in the lung, both when the animals were nephrectomized first and then infected, and when the animals were infected first and nephrectomized several hours after the infection. The study demonstrates that the pathogenicity of the Pasteurella organisms is governed by the functional state of these pulmonary antibacterial mechanisms.
The effects of spatial diversity and imperfect channel estimation on wideband MC-DS-CDMA and MC-CDMA

In our previous work, we compared the theoretical bit error rates of multi-carrier direct sequence code division multiple access (MC-DS-CDMA) and multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA). To ensure a fair comparison, we constrained both schemes to the same bandwidth, information rate, and energy-per-bit, and these constraints resulted in a possible trade-off between diversity gain and channel estimation errors between the two schemes. While only a single-input single-output (SISO) system was considered in our previous work, in this paper, we extend the comparison to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system which employs Alamouti space-time block coding at each sub-carrier frequency to achieve spatial diversity. We consider only those cases where MC-CDMA has higher frequency diversity than MC-DS-CDMA. Since increases in diversity yield diminishing gains, we conclude that the addition of spatial diversity to this multi-carrier comparison benefits MC-DS-CDMA more than MC-CDMA. To determine whether these gains for MC-DS-CDMA are enough to offset the difference in frequency diversity between the two schemes, we derive closed-form expressions for the bit error probabilities of both schemes, and we compare the MIMO results against those of the SISO system for different information rates, number of users, and number of pilot symbols per channel estimate.
Complex-valued stiffness reconstruction for magnetic resonance elastography by algebraic inversion of the differential equation

Noninvasive quantitation of the mechanical properties of tissue could improve early detection of pathology. Previously a method for detecting displacement from propagating shear waves using a phase-contrast MRI technique was developed. In this work it is demonstrated how a collection of data representing the full vector displacement field could be used to potentially estimate the full complex stiffness tensor. An algebraic inversion approach useful for piece-wise homogeneous materials is described in detail for the general isotropic case, which is then specialized to incompressible materials as a model for tissue. Results of the inversion approach are presented for simulated and experimental phantom data that show the technique can be used to obtain shear wave-speed and attenuation in regions where there is sufficient signal-to-noise ratio in the displacement and its second spatial derivatives. The sensitivity to noise is higher in the attenuation estimates than the shear wave-speed estimates. Magn Reson Med 45:299-310, 2001.
Hypo-pharyngeal distension in an extremely low birth weight preterm infant

A preterm male infant was born at 25 weeks gestation weighing 780 g by emergency caesarean section to a multiparous woman presenting in active labour with breech presentation. The infant needed some initial resuscitation by bag and mask ventilation followed by commencement of nasal bubble continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in the delivery room. Orogastric tube was placed …
Saving the sagebrush sea: An ecosystem conservation plan for big sagebrush plant communities

Vegetation change and anthropogenic development are altering ecosystems and decreasing biodiversity. Successful management of ecosystems threatened by multiple stressors requires development of ecosystem conservation plans rather than single species plans. We selected the big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) ecosystem to demonstrate this approach. The area occupied by the sagebrush ecosystem is declining and becoming increasingly fragmented at an alarming rate because of conifer encroachment, exotic annual grass invasion, and anthropogenic development. This is causing rangewide declines and localized extirpations of sagebrush associated fauna and flora. To develop an ecosystem conservation plan, a synthesis of existing knowledge is needed to prioritize and direct management and research. Based on the synthesis, we concluded that efforts to restore higher elevation conifer-encroached, sagebrush communities were frequently successful, while restoration of exotic annual grass-invaded, lower elevation, sagebrush communities often failed. Overcoming exotic annual grass invasion is challenging and needs additional research to improve the probability of restoration and identify areas where success would be more probable. Management of fire regimes will be paramount to conserving sagebrush communities, as infrequent fires facilitate conifer encroachment and too frequent fires promote exotic annual grasses. Anthropogenic development needs to be mitigated and reduced to protect sagebrush communities and this probably includes more conservation easements and other incentives to landowners to not develop their properties. Threats to the sustainability of sagebrush ecosystem are daunting, but a coordinated ecosystem conservation plan that focuses on applying successful practices and research to overcome limitations to conservation is most likely to yield success.
Genetically Altered Mouse Models: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Targeted gene disruption in mice is a powerful tool for generating murine models for human development and disease. While the human genome program has helped to generate numerous candidate genes, few genes have been characterized for their precise in vivo functions. Gene targeting has had an enormous impact on our ability to delineate the functional roles of these genes. Many gene knockout mouse models faithfully mimic the phenotypes of the human diseases. Because some models display an unexpected or no phenotype, controversy has arisen about the value of gene-targeting strategies. We argue in favor of gene-targeting strategies, provided they are used with caution, particularly in interpreting phenotypes in craniofacial and oral biology, where many genes have pleiotropic roles. The potential pitfalls are outweighed by the unique opportunities for developing and testing different therapeutic strategies before they are introduced into the clinic. In the future, we believe that genetically engineered animal ...
A Comparative Approach to Regional Variation in Surface Fluxes Using Mobile Eddy Correlation Towers

We describe a comparative approach to micrometeorological measurements of surface energy, water vapor, and trace gas fluxes, in which mobile eddy correlation towers are moved among sites every 9-14 days, allowing both direct and indirect comparison of fluxes among ecosystem types. Structurally distinct ecosystems in Alaskan arctic tundra differed in the relationships between net radiation and surface energy fluxes, whereas structurally similar ecosystems showed constant relationships, even when they experienced quite different climate. An intercomparison of two towers simultaneously operated at the same location provided a reference for the systematic error of such comparisons. We suggest general criteria for comparing flux measurements made in different ecosystems.
Social Welfare Policy in the Context of Economic Restructuring: Lessons from the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Programme

Costs of social programmes resulting from obligations incurred during periods of economic expansion persist into periods of decline and restructuring. Underfunding of these programmes during periods of economic expansion may result in the transfer of costs to new industrial enterprises. This may lead, in turn, to increased political attacks on these programmes. This paper describes the experience of one such programme, the West Virginia Workers' Compensation Fund, which provides monetary and health benefits to injured workers. This West Virginia programme is currently under economic and political threat due to the combination of declining industry and past underfunding. The paper concludes that more attention must be given in the future by those concerned with general economic development policy to adequacy of funding of social programmes. Future research regarding the interrelationship betwen funding for social programmes and economic development policy is warranted.
A computational approach to ductile crack growth under large scale yielding conditions

Mode I crack initiation and growth under plane strain conditions in tough metals is computed using an elastic-plastic continuum model which accounts for void growth and coalescence ahead of the crack tip. The material parameters are the Young’s modulus, yield stress and strain hardening exponent of the metal, along with the parameters characterizing the spacing and volume fraction of voids in material elements lying in the plane of the crack. For a given set of these parameters and a specific specimen, or component, subject to a specific loading, relationships among load, load-line displacement and crack advance can be computed with no restrictions on the extent of plastic deformation. Similarly, there is no limit on crack advance, except that it must take place on the symmetry plane ahead of the initial crack. Suitably defined measures of crack tip loading intensity, such as those based on the J-integral, can also be computed, thereby directly generating crack growth resistance curves. In this paper, the model is applied to five specimen geometries which are known to give rise to significantly different crack tip constraints and crack growth resistance behaviors. Computed results are compared with sets of experimental data for two tough steels for four of the specimen types. Details of the load, displacement and crack growth histories are accurately reproduced, even when extensive crack growth takes place under conditions of fully plastic yielding.
Orbit Correction Using Jefferys' Method of Least Squares.

In an on-going project to establish a dynamical reference system from the motions of selected minor planets, the need arises for a method for fitting orbital models to observed data. The method pro-posed by Jefferys is applied to this problem for the first time and in a test case exhibits a significant advantage over traditional methods of least squares.
Long-term Benefits of an Early Online Problem-Solving Intervention for Executive Dysfunction After Traumatic Brain Injury in Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance Executive dysfunction after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children is common and leads to significant short- and long-term problems in functioning across multiple settings. We hypothesized that improvements in short-term executive function would be maintained to 24 months after injury and that improvements would increase over time in a counselor-assisted problem-solving (CAPS) intervention. Objective To evaluate the efficacy of a CAPS intervention administered within 7 months of complicated mild to severe TBI compared with an Internet resource condition in improving long-term executive dysfunction. Design, Setting, and Participants Multisite, assessor-blinded, randomized clinical trial at 3 tertiary pediatric hospitals and 2 tertiary general medical centers. Participants included 132 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years who sustained a moderate to severe TBI 1 to 7 months before study enrollment. Intervention Web-based CAPS intervention. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was the parent-reported Global Executive Composite (GEC) of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Secondary outcomes included the Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI) and Metacognition Index (MI) of the GEC. Results In older (>14 to 17 years) adolescents, the CAPS intervention was associated with lower GEC ratings at 12 (β = −0.46; P = .03) and 18 (β = −0.52; P = .02) months after enrollment. Trends were also observed for older adolescents toward lower GEC ratings at 6 months (β = −0.40; P = .05), lower BRI ratings at 12 (β = −0.40; P = .06) and 18 (β = −0.47; P = .04) months, and lower MI ratings at 6 (β = −0.41; P = .05), 12 (β = −0.46; P = .03), and 18 (β = −0.50; P = .03) months. In younger (12-14 years) adolescents, no group differences were found on the GEC, BRI, or MI ratings. Conclusions and Relevance Delivery of the CAPS intervention early after TBI in older adolescents improves long-term executive function. This trial is, to our knowledge, one of the few large, randomized clinical treatment trials performed in pediatric TBI to demonstrate the efficacy of an intervention for management of executive dysfunction and long-term benefits of an intervention delivered soon after injury. Use of the CAPS intervention clinically should be considered; however, further research should explore ways to optimize delivery. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier:NCT00409448
Robust one-class clustering using hybrid global and local search

Unsupervised learning methods often involve summarizing the data using a small number of parameters. In certain domains, only a small subset of the available data is relevant for the problem. One-Class Classification or One-Class Clustering attempts to find a useful subset by locating a dense region in the data. In particular, a recently proposed algorithm called One-Class Information Ball (OC-IB) shows the advantage of modeling a small set of highly coherent points as opposed to pruning outliers. We present several modifications to OC-IB and integrate it with a global search that results in several improvements such as deterministic results, optimality guarantees, control over cluster size and extension to other cost functions. Empirical studies yield significantly better results on various real and artificial data.
Cloning of self-major histocompatibility complex antigen-specific suppressor cells from adult bone marrow.

We examined if suppressor cell clones may be established from adult bone marrow that contains a population of cells capable of specifically downregulating the immune response directed toward self-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens. Freshly prepared adult C3H (H-2k) marrow cells were cultured in medium containing interleukin 2 (IL-2), IL-3, or a mixture of IL-2 and IL-3. After 7-10 d, cells grown in IL-3-containing medium were screened for their capacity to suppress cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) generation against self-MHC antigens in allogeneic mixed lymphocyte cultures. Cells capable of suppressing anti-C3H CTL generation were cloned by limiting dilution. Several suppressor clones were established that exhibited strong suppression of anti-H-2k, anti-H-2Kk/Ik, and anti-H-2Dk CTL generation, but failed to suppress anti-H-2d and anti-H-2b responses. When tested in a skin allograft model, intravenous injections of these bone marrow-derived anti-self suppressor cells (2.5 x 10(7) cells) together with IL-3 induced prolongation of C3H skin allografts in anti-mouse lymphocyte serum-treated B6AF1 mice. Injection of IL-3 alone had no effect on allograft survival. Moreover, these cells failed to prolong B10.AKM skin allografts on B6AF1 recipients. Northern blot analysis showed that these cells express full-length transcripts of the T cell receptor (TCR) gamma gene, but not those of TCR alpha, beta, or delta genes. However, no rearrangement of gamma gene was observed by Southern blot analysis. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that bone marrow-derived suppressor cells are strongly positive for Thy-1 antigen but negative for CD3, CD4 (L3T4), and CD8 (Lyt-2) surface markers, and express only class I MHC antigens. Suppressor cells derived from adult bone marrow may play an important role in extrathymic induction of self-tolerance.
Applications of a generalized network-based expert system shell-artificial intelligence mini-tutorial. 1

A generalized network-based expert system shell (AGNESS), which has eighteen explanation queries that put more information at the fingertips of the user, the expert and the knowledge engineer, is presented. The system is simple enough to be used in most of today's expert system shells. Other advantages include the use of a computation network to represent expert-defined rules, the ability to handle any well-defined inference method, the increased storage efficiency that comes from sharing constructs whenever possible, and the ability to use both numeric and nonnumeric data. AGNESS' menu-driven interface has several features that make the system friendly and convenient to use. Five expert systems generated by AGNESS are described. >
New approaches to the transfusion management of thalassemia

Recent advances in the treatment of patients with thalassemia major have centered around the removal of iron from individuals already overloaded due to repeated transfusions. In this report we present therapeutic maneuvers designed to decrease the rate of iron accumulation. We demonstrate that the persistent maintenance of hematocrits above 35% (“supertransfusion”) is not associated with an increased transfusion requirement because it produces a decrease in whole blood volume (21% +/- 2%). Supertransfusion is also associated with normalization or even prolongation of plasma iron turnover. In addition, we describe a method for obtaining units of blood from normal donors that contain primarily young red cells (“neocytes”). These cells have prolonged in vivo survival as measured by the interval between transfusions (30 +/- 2.5 days to 43 +/- 4.5 days) and 51Cr red cell survival (43.8 days versus 27.8 days). Supertransfusion with neocytes is effective in decreasing the rate of iron accumulation in thalassemia.
A hierarchical security architecture for cyber-physical systems

Security of control systems is becoming a pivotal concern in critical national infrastructures such as the power grid and nuclear plants. In this paper, we adopt a hierarchical viewpoint to these security issues, addressing security concerns at each level and emphasizing a holistic cross-layer philosophy for developing security solutions. We propose a bottom-up framework that establishes a model from the physical and control levels to the supervisory level, incorporating concerns from network and communication levels. We show that the game-theoretical approach can yield cross-layer security strategy solutions to the cyber-physical systems.
The Root Form Universal Implant

Abstract This article will introduce the “root form universal implant” to avail the dentist and the patient the option of retaining the natural teeth while retaining a functioning removable prosthe...
Quality Metrics in Urology

Abstract Introduction The focus of quality metrics is to ensure that physicians provide and practice within a standard of care, and to maximize patient benefit and safety. Several quality reporting programs in urology such as SCIP (Surgical Care Improvement Project, PQRS (Physician Quality Reporting System) and OPPE (Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation)/FPPE (Focused Professional Practice Evaluation) have been used to review and monitor standards of care and improve medical care quality. Urological databases are emerging with the main focus of reviewing and assessing health care delivery quality and patient outcomes. Such data will likely influence future quality improvement measures and standards. Awareness and understanding of these programs and measurements are vital to continued successful urological practice. Methods AUA (American Urological Association) and CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) documents were used. We reviewed program specific requirements, including minimal required data, timeline requirements, and specific incentives and penalties. Results Quality measures and programs in urology aim to monitor, standardize and improve medical care delivery in the United States. Since the implementation of electronic health records, the ability to review individual and group medical practices has become available and reviewable by outside agencies. Universal practice standards and government monitoring of individual and group achievement of those expectations are the current direction of health care. This is exemplified by the United States DHHS (Department of Health and Human Services) announcement of transitioning Medicare to a value based reimbursement model and the 9 HCTTF (Health Care Transformation Task Force) principles for accountable care organization footprint expansion. Conclusions The quality era has arrived. Its continued impact on health care delivery will be noted as public reporting and payment modifications based on quality indicators and performance metrics.
Weak lensing calibration of mass bias in the REFLEX+BCS X-ray galaxy cluster catalogue

The use of large, X-ray selected galaxy cluster catalogues for cosmological analyses requires a thorough understanding of the X-ray mass estimates.Weak gravitational lensing is an ideal method to shed light on such issues, due to its insensitivity to the cluster dynamical state. We perform a weak lensing calibration of 166 galaxy clusters from the REFLEX and BCS cluster catalogue and compare our results to the X-ray masses based on scaled luminosities from that catalogue. To interpret the weak lensing signal in terms of cluster masses, we compare the lensing signal to simple theoretical Navarro-Frenk-White models and to simulated cluster lensing proles, including complications such as cluster substructure, projected large-scale structure, and Eddington bias. We nd evidence of underestimation in the X-ray masses, as expected, with hMX=MWLi = 0:78 +0:1 0:08 for our best-t model. The biases in cosmological parameters in a typical cluster abundance measurement that ignores this mass bias will typically exceed the statistical errors.