cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preparticipation Athletic Screening Including an Electrocardiogram: An Unproven Strategy for Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death in the Athlete

One of the fundamental principles of evidence-based medicine is that clinical practice should be based on evidence derived from sufficiently robust data to ensure that the benefits, risks, and costs of an intervention are known. Although intuitively appealing, athletic screening programs with routine electrocardiograms (ECGs) followed by restriction of at-risk individuals have not been demonstrated to be effective in decreasing the inherent risk of athletic sudden death. The incremental use of a screening ECG to a history and physical examination remains debatable because of insufficient evidence to conclusively resolve the issue. Long-term outcomes with a large group of athletes undergoing screening and restriction are limited to a small number of observational trials. One supports and many do not support ECG screening with athletic restriction of at-risk athletes. Although programs and policies to decrease sudden death are laudable, they need further evaluation before being implemented on a large-scale basis. Currently, athletes are best protected by a strategy of secondary prevention with improvements in resuscitation and emergency action plans.
Association of Integrin α2 Gene Variants with Ischemic Stroke

Genetic variants in the gene encoding integrin alpha2 (ITGA2) have been reported to be associated with an increased risk for ischemic stroke. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between haplotype-tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) in ITGA2 and risk of ischemic stroke in a collection of North American stroke cases and controls. The study included 484 cases and 263 controls. Thirteen tSNPs were genotyped. Association tests at and across each tSNP were performed, including haplotype association analysis. Secondary analyses considered stroke subtypes on the basis of Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) criteria. We observed significant association between tSNP rs3756541 (additive model, odds ratio (OR), 1.49; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11 to 2.04; P=0.009) and disease and a trend toward association at rs2303124 (recessive model, OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.05 to 2.33; P=0.03). These associations remained significant in the haplotype analyses. The associated tSNPs did not distinguish stroke etiology after application of TOAST criteria. Our results suggest that genetic variability within ITGA2 may confer risk for ischemic stroke independent of conventional risk factors. These results provide additional support for a role for platelet receptor genes in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke of diverse subtypes.
Penicillamine‐associated myasthenia gravis

Electroneuromyographic studies have been reported as abnormal in only 9 of 23 cases of penicillamine-associated myasthenia gravis (MG). We report a patient with rheumatoid arthritis who developed clinical and electrodiagnostic evidence of myasthenia 7 months after beginning penicillamine therapy. Six months after discontinuing penicillamine, it was possible to discontinue anticholinesterase medications. With clinical improvement, electrodiagnostic studies (including single-fiber electrmyography) improved, serum antibody titers to human muscle acetylcholine receptor fell, and lymphocytes became more responsive to the nonspecific mitogen phytohemagglutinin. Evidence suggests that penicillamine-associated myasthenia is a distinct syndrome rather than the chance occurrence of two diseases. This syndrome is clinically and electrophysiologically distinguishable from idiopathic myasthenia only by the high remission rate after penicillamine is discontinued.
Should age limit admission to the intensive care unit

People who are older than 65 years of age are the fastest growing segment of the United States population. With the projected exponential increase in the number of elderly patients and the increasing burden of chronic disease, the number of elderly patients who will require treatment in an intensive care unit is expected to increase. Owing to the elderly patient's reduced life expectancy and higher intensive care unit and hospital mortality, it could be argued that elderly patients should not be admitted to the intensive care unit. However, an analysis of available data suggests that functional elderly patients have a favorable "long-term" outcome after intensive care unit admission. This suggests that age alone should not be used in making intensive care unit triage decisions.
Cooperative behavior of Zn cations in Bi-based perovskites: A comparison of (Bi,Sr) 2 ZnNbO 6 and (Bi,Sr) 2 MgNbO 6

We investigated the polar behavior of the double perovskite (Bi,Sr)${}_{2}$MgNbO${}_{6}$ using first-principles density-functional theory calculations. We find that the magnitude (75 $\ensuremath{\mu}$C/cm${}^{2}$) and direction (along [111]) of the polarization are comparable to our previous results for the $A$-site size difference (Bi,Sr)${}_{2}$ZnNbO${}_{6}$ and (Bi,Pb)${}_{2}$ZnNbO${}_{6}$ systems. However, comparisons with the (Bi,Sr)${}_{2}$ZnNbO${}_{6}$ compound indicate that the presence of Zn modestly enhances the off-centering of the Sr and Nb cations as well as the Born effective charges of both Bi and Nb. Analogous to the corresponding Pb-based perovskites, Pb(Mg${}_{1/3}$Nb${}_{2/3}$)O${}_{3}$ and Pb(Zn${}_{1/3}$Nb${}_{2/3}$)O${}_{3}$, we demonstrate that the differences in the experimentally observed critical temperatures are related to the differences in polarization between the two materials. A local dipole analysis indicates that the most significant contribution arises from the enhanced cooperative couplings with the larger Zn displacements.
Hematology for primary care physicians

Many hematologic disorders present minimal physical signs and symptoms in the early state. For example, chronic myelogenous leukemia may not manifest splenomegaly or any obvious physical signs, yet the laboratory report may demonstrate leukocytosis, eosinophilia, basophilia, and thrombocytosis. Although the anemic condition of a patient with a hemoglobin level of 7 gm/dl may be readily apparent to the clinician, a hemoglobin level of 10.5 gm/dl may be difficult to discern during a brief visit that is focused on another organ system. The same laboratory report, however, may contain valuable clues about unsuspected anemia related to mean corpuscular volume or morphology. Information from supporting chemistry studies often may be helpful in interpretation of the diagnosis. An elevated uric acid level, for example, may indicate hyperkinetic cytogenesis related to myeloproliferative or lymphoproliferative neoplastic disorders. This monograph is designed to be useful to busy physicians who want to use basic hematologic studies in a cost-effective manner. Hematology is viewed in a problem-oriented way; the laboratory report is used as the problem generator.
In vitro cell density-dependent clonal growth of EGF-responsive murine neural progenitor cells under serum-free conditions.

Abstract Neural progenitor cell populations responsive to epidermal growth factor (EGF) have been shown to have proliferative potential and give rise to neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. We have characterized EGF-responsive neural progenitor cells that give rise to bilineage neuronal/glial colonies (colony-forming unit neuron–glia; CFU-NeGl) and unilineage neuronal colonies (CFU-Ne). Clonality was confirmed utilizing mixtures of brain cells from Balb/c and ROSA26 (transgenic for β-galactosidase) mice. With a few exceptions, colonies showed either all blue cells or all clear cells after staining with X-Gal. Clonal growth was analyzed after 10–11 days in relation to cell density by determining colony size and plating efficiency. Growth was density dependent (no growth below 10,000 cell/ml) and thus single cell cloning was not accomplished. An average plating efficiency of 4% was found for EGF-responsive neural cells derived from day 15–18 murine embryos when cultured at 12,500 to 200,000 cells/ml. Similar results were obtained with 1-day-old postnatal neural cells. When colonies were categorized by size, the relative number of colonies over 50 cells appeared to be maximum at 50,000 plated cells/ml. After 11 days in culture, 94, 96, and 78% of the colonies contained cells that expressed nestin, neurofilament, and GFAP, respectively. Double-label experiments revealed that >62% of the colonies contained both GFAP and neurofilament expressing cells. These studies establish the existence of at least two populations of clonal neural progenitors: CFU-Ne and CFU-NeGl in fetal and postnatal murine brain.
Thermal removal of gallium from gallia-doped ceria

Abstract The potential for removing gallium from Ga-doped CeO2−x by thermal means was studied for the purpose of assessing gallium removal from PuO2−x. The latter is of interest to those considering the storage or use of weapon-grade Pu, for example as a mixed oxide fuel component. Experiments were done by varying temperature, gas composition, exposure time, sample size, particle size, and gas flow rate. The kinetics of gallium removal were assessed through measurements of weight change, scanning electron microscopy, and chemical analyses. Results suggest that the gallium level can be reduced significantly by thermal treatments in Ar–6% H2. Gallium species segregate to grain boundaries because of the low solubility of Ga2O3 in CeO2. The kinetics and microstructural observations suggest that both gaseous and solid-state diffusion of gallium species are important for the removal of gallium.
Rural tourism development in the USA

Rural tourism has been a subject of study since the early days of tourism scholarship. Most of tourism's deleterious impacts were identified from studies conducted in rural settings. It is only recently, however, that rural tourism has become a special focus of study, dissimilar enough from urban tourism, to be a study subject unto itself. This paper reviews some of the history of rural tourism development in North America with most of the attention paid to the USA's experience, with some examples from Canada. The reason for this is the huge economic difference between the two countries with respect to tourism flows and impacts. In reviewing the history of rural development in the USA, the argument is made that most developments are unplanned and result from market and economic forces that have greatly transformed the American rural landscape. A review of these transformational forces is provided. It is also shown that rural destinations are used, primarily, by local tourists and do not, with few exceptions, cater to an international clientele. After the historical perspective is presented an argument is made that current rural tourism development practices rely on an old paradigm, which is to use local attributes as the primary basis for development and marketing strategies. This has led, in recent years, to a great deal of development attention being paid to the cultural/heritage attributes of a place. Using research conducted in the state of Minnesota on highway travellers and tourists to rural destinations, a new way to look at actual and potential visitors is offered. Instead of an attribute-specific development approach, a benefits-based model is suggested as a different way to position rural tourism destinations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mapping quantitative trait loci for behavioral traits in the mouse.

After many years of studying various behavioral characters in the mouse, it is clear that most are heritable and are specified by complexes of genes or quantitative trait loci (QTLs). In order to attain a more complete understanding of the genetic causes of individual differences in behavior, the mechanism of action of these QTLs must be elucidated. The most straightforward approach to determining the mechanism of action of a particular QTL is to identify and molecularly clone the gene; this can be done by positional cloning, which depends on precise knowledge of the genetic map position. As the genetic data base for the mouse genome continues to develop, such strategies will become increasingly easy to perform. Here we suggest a multistage strategy for QTL mapping using recombinant-inbred strains of mice: (1) characterize genomic DNA from parental strains originally used to generate the RI strains; (2) characterize the RI strains for a quantitative character and for DNA markers that differ in the parental strains; and (3) assess the quantitative character in F2 mice derived from crosses between the parental strains, then determine the genotypes of extreme F2 mice for markers that account for at least 5% of the additive genetic variance. Data from these F2 crosses can be used to test hypotheses from the analysis of RI strains, i.e., that a QTL maps to a particular region. Using data from the mouse genome data base, this strategy should allow the molecular identification of the gene based on a candidate-gene approach. We illustrate the approach with examples from our work in mapping QTLs specifying neural sensitivity to the anesthetic effects of ethanol.
Miscibility of poly(vinyl chloride) with styrene/acrylonitrile copolymers

Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is shown to be miscible with styrene/acrylonitrile copolymers (SAN) having AN compositions from 11.5 to 26%. Blend samples were prepared using several methods, including solution casting, melt mixing, and precipitation of solutions by a nonsolvent. It is shown that the blend phase behavior is affected by preparation method due to the solvent effect, or Δχ effect, and lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior. The intramolecular repulsion between styrene and acrylonitrile units in SAN is shown to be the cause of miscibility using heats of mixing obtained from low-molecular-weight analog compounds. An FTIR analysis supplements the above results.
Aphid amino acid transporter regulates glutamine supply to intracellular bacterial symbionts

Endosymbiotic associations have played a major role in evolution. However, the molecular basis for the biochemical interdependence of these associations remains poorly understood. The aphid-Buchnera endosymbiosis provides a powerful system to elucidate how these symbioses are regulated. In aphids, the supply of essential amino acids depends on an ancient nutritional symbiotic association with the gamma-proteobacterium Buchnera aphidicola. Buchnera cells are densely packed in specialized aphid bacteriocyte cells. Here we confirm that five putative amino acid transporters are highly expressed and/or highly enriched in Acyrthosiphon pisum bacteriocyte tissues. When expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, two bacteriocyte amino acid transporters displayed significant levels of glutamine uptake, with transporter ACYPI001018, LOC100159667 (named here as Acyrthosiphon pisum glutamine transporter 1, ApGLNT1) functioning as the most active glutamine transporter. Transporter ApGLNT1 has narrow substrate selectivity, with high glutamine and low arginine transport capacity. Notably, ApGLNT1 has high binding affinity for arginine, and arginine acts as a competitive inhibitor for glutamine transport. Using immunocytochemistry, we show that ApGLNT1 is localized predominantly to the bacteriocyte plasma membrane, a location consistent with the transport of glutamine from A. pisum hemolymph to the bacteriocyte cytoplasm. On the basis of functional transport data and localization, we propose a substrate feedback inhibition model in which the accumulation of the essential amino acid arginine in A. pisum hemolymph reduces the transport of the precursor glutamine into bacteriocytes, thereby regulating amino acid biosynthesis in the bacteriocyte. Structural similarities in the arrangement of hosts and symbionts across endosymbiotic systems suggest that substrate feedback inhibition may be mechanistically important in other endosymbioses.
Nanoparticle seeded pulse electrodeposition for preparing high performance Pt/C electrocatalysts

Abstract Pulse electroplating technology has been applied in the preparation of Pt/C electrocatalysts for hydrogen fuel cell electrodes for decades. The major challenge remaining unsolved is the aggregation of Pt nanoparticles on the carbon support. This research reports a nanoparticle seeded pulse electroplating method for preparing Pt/C electrocatalysts used for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Pt or Pt alloy nanoparticles were pre-deposited onto a carbon support as nuclei, followed by Pt pulse electrodeposition. This new approach is able to overcome Pt particle aggregation issues and improve catalyst performance. The technology can also be used for the preparation of core/shell Pt/C electrodes when non-Pt or Pt alloy nanoparticles are used as seeding materials. Experimental results show that a Pt/C electrode with less than 0.1 mg/cm2 Pt loading density, synthesized based on 3.0 nm Pt nanoparticle seeds, can achieve a higher ORR activity than a commercial electrode with 0.5 mg/cm2 Pt loading. When Pt-Pd-Ru alloy nanoparticles of 2.0 nm average diameter were used as seeding nuclei the prepared Pt/C electrode showed higher ORR performance than the commercial electrode, further reduced Pt loading density. Atomic level STEM analyses showed that numerous free Pt atoms were surrounding Pt nanoparticles, serving as nuclei. The seeding atoms, along with nanoparticles, promote the even growth of Pt particles on carbon support during electroplating. This result is verified by SEM images which indicate that electroplated Pt particles on the carbon surface are uniformly distributed and each particle is loosely packed with Pt nanosized flakes. The flower-like structure, with higher surface areas, enhances mass transfer rates and leads to higher ORR efficiencies. Although a commercial Pt/C electrode was used as a baseline catalyst for comparing prepared electrodes, this exploratory research was based on a rotational disk electrode. Fuel cell testing is needed to confirm the finding.
HLA mismatching increases the risk of BK virus nephropathy in renal transplant recipients.

BK virus (BKV)nephropathy is a serious complication in kidney transplant recipients that may lead to irreversible graft failure. We have analyzed the degree of donor/recipient HLA compatibility and HLA antigen association in 40 kidney transplant patients with BKV nephropathy in comparison with a control group of 404 unaffected transplant recipients who were on tacrolimus-based immunosuppression with no induction. HLA compatibility was assessed by determining the number of HLA-A, -B, -DR-mismatched antigens. BK virus nephropathy was diagnosed histologically and confirmed by immunochemistry. Univariate and multiple logistic regression statistical analyses have shown a significant association between BKV nephropathy and HLA mismatching. This analysis showed also that BKV nephritis is associated with a greater number of rejection episodes and a higher incidence of steroid-resistant rejection requiring antilymphocyte treatment. There was no association between BKV nephropathy and any specific HLA allele. We propose that HLA mismatching promotes the development of BKV nephropathy through rejection-related inflammatory processes and heavy immunosuppression which cause virus reactivation and injury of the tubular epithelium.
Intersections of race, ethnicity, and the law

This special issue focuses on social science research on race, ethnicity, and the law. Articles in the special issue consider the influence of race and ethnicity on substantive law, legal processes, and crime and deviance, and illustrate the tensions and contradictions that pervade the law's treatment of racial and ethnic minorities. The editiors conclude that taking race and ethnicity into account may force scholars to reconceptualize theories about law's impact and that a greater number of racial and ethnic minority scholars would enrich the field of sociolegal studies.
Choices in Representation and Reduction Strategies for Lambda Terms in Intensional Contexts

Higher-order representations of objects such as programs, proofs, formulas, and types have become important to many symbolic computation tasks. Systems that support such representations usually depend on the implementation of an intensional view of the terms of some variant of the typed lambda calculus. New notations have been proposed for the lambda calculus that provide an excellent basis for realizing such implementations. There are, however, several choices in the actual deployment of these notations the practical consequences of which are not currently well understood. We attempt to develop such an understanding here by examining the impact on performance of different combinations of the features afforded by such notations. Among the facets examined are the treatment of bound variables, eagerness and laziness in substitution and reduction, the ability to merge different structure traversals into one, and the virtues of annotations on terms that indicate their dependence on variables bound by external abstractions. We complement qualitative assessments with experiments conducted by executing programs in a language that supports an intensional view of lambda terms while varying relevant aspects of the implementation of the language. Our study provides insights into the preferred approaches to representing and reducing lambda terms and also exposes characteristics of computations that have a somewhat unanticipated effect on performance.
Integrated X-band power amplifier utilizing Gunn and IMPATT diodes

A two-stage injection-locked power amplifier has been developed for the 10.7-13.2-GHz range, having integral input-output isolators and an out-of-lock monitor. Gain is 30 dB at 1-W output power and 300-MHz locking bandwidth.
Mate Preference Necessities in Long- and Short-Term Mating: People Prioritize in Themselves What Their Mates Prioritize in Them

People were given highly constrained low budgets of mate dollars to allocate across various characteristics pertaining to their ideal partners and to their ideal selves for longand short-term mating. First, results replicated findings from Li et al. (2002) and Li & Kenrick (2006). For ideal long-term mates, men prioritized physical attractiveness and women prioritized social status. For ideal short-term mates, both sexes prioritized physical attractiveness. Second, people’s design of their ideal selves mirrored what the opposite sex ideally desired in their mates. For a long-term mating context, men prioritized social status in themselves and women prioritized physical attractiveness in themselves. For ideal short-term selves, both sexes prioritized physical attractiveness. Findings were consistent with a domain-specific view of psychological mechanisms, in that processes for valuing potential mates and processes for valuing one’s own mate value may be specialized mechanisms.
Dual-mode antenna for satellite/terrestrial communications

The increasing interest in the deployment of satellite constellations for personal communications has motivated the study of handset-mounted dual-mode antennas capable of operating in terrestrial- and satellite-based systems. These antennas must remain compact for handset operation, resonate at the proper frequencies, and provide the proper polarization (circular for satellite and linear for terrestrial operation). Additionally, in order to fully understand the antenna performance, it is necessary to predict the effect of the operator's human tissue on the antenna radiation characteristics. This paper presents a dual-mode antenna consisting of a circularly polarized (CP) microstrip patch element and a linearly polarized (LP) planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA). The CP microstrip patch operates at the satellite up-link (1610 to 1626.5 MHz) and down-link (2483.5 to 2500 MHz) bands and the LP PIFA operates at the terrestrial band (902 to 928 MHz). The finite-difference time-domain technique (FDTD) is used to simulate the antenna with and without the presence of biological tissue. The influence of deploying the antenna away from the tissue is also discussed and simulation results show the improvement in performance obtainable using this strategy.
Potential role for peripheral circadian clock dyssynchrony in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular dysfunction.

Circadian clocks are intracellular molecular mechanisms designed to allow the cell, organ, and organism to prepare for an anticipated stimulus prior to its onset. In order for circadian clocks to maintain their selective advantage, they must be entrained to the environment. Light, sound, temperature, physical activity (including sleep/wake transitions), and food intake are among the strongest environmental factors influencing mammalian circadian clocks. Normal circadian rhythmicities in these environmental factors have become severely disrupted in our modern day society, concomitant with increased incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. Here, we review our current knowledge regarding the roles of peripheral circadian clocks, concentrating on those found within tissues directly involved in metabolic homeostasis and cardiovascular function. We propose that both inter- and intra- organ dyssynchronization, through alteration/impairment of peripheral circadian clocks, accelerates the development of cardiovascular disease risk factors associated with cardiometabolic syndrome.
A lipid-modified phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (TcPI-PLC) is involved in differentiation of trypomastigotes to amastigotes of trypanosoma cruzi

The phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) is an important component of the inositol phosphate/diacylglycerol signaling pathway. A newly discovered Trypanosoma cruzi PI-PLC (TcPI-PLC) is lipid modified in its N terminus, targeted to its plasma membrane, and believed to play a role in differentiation of the parasite because its expression increases during the differentiation of trypomastigote to amastigote stages. To determine whether TcPI-PLC is involved in this differentiation step, antisense inhibition using phosphorothioate-modified oligonucleotides, and overexpression of the gene were performed. Antisense oligonucleotide-treated parasites showed a reduced rate of differentiation in comparison to controls, as well as accumulation of intermediate forms. Overexpression of TcPI-PLC led to a faster differentiation rate. In contrast, overexpression of a mutant TcPI-PLC that lacked the lipid modification at its N terminus did not affect the differentiation rate. Therefore, TcPI-PLC is involved, when expressed in the plasma membrane, in the differentiation of trypomastigotes to amastigotes, an essential step for the intracellular replication of these parasites.
Gentamicin for Septicemia in Patients with Burns

The use of gentamicin as the primary antibiotic in thermally injured children has been investigated at the Shriners Burns Institute for the past five years. During this period, 95 children with major bums (aged 0-16 years) have been treated. These patients were treated when microorganisms were cultured from the blood, or when there were clinical signs and symptoms of septicemia, or physical evidence of burn-wound infection. Topical treatment of the wound consisted of daily hydrotherapy baths, with the application of silver sulfadiazine or Sulfamylon creams. This investigation reveals that gentamicin has been an effective antibiotic in the treatment of septicemia in the burned patient; the overall survival rate in the group studied was 63.496.
Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: The truth about false belief.

Research on theory of mind increasingly encompasses apparently contradictory findings. In particular, in initial studies, older preschoolers consistently passed false-belief tasks—a so-called “definitive” test of mentalstate understanding—whereas younger children systematically erred. More recent studies, however, have found evidence of false-belief understanding in 3-year-olds or have demonstrated conditions that improve children’s performance. A meta-analysis was conducted ( N � 178 separate studies) to address the empirical inconsistencies and theoretical controversies. When organized into a systematic set of factors that vary across studies, false-belief results cluster systematically with the exception of only a few outliers. A combined model that included age, country of origin, and four task factors (e.g., whether the task objects were transformed in order to deceive the protagonist or not) yielded a multiple R of .74 and an R 2 of .55; thus, the model accounts for 55% of the variance in false-belief performance. Moreover, false-belief performance showed a consistent developmental pattern, even across various countries and various task manipulations: preschoolers went from below-chance performance to above-chance performance. The findings are inconsistent with early competence proposals that claim that developmental changes are due to tasks artifacts, and thus disappear in simpler, revised false-belief tasks; and are, instead, consistent with theoretical accounts that propose that understanding of belief, and, relatedly, understanding of mind, exhibit genuine conceptual change in the preschool years.
Assessment of Routine Chest Roentgenograms and the Physical Examination to Confirm Endotracheal Tube Position

We consecutively and prospectively studied 219 critically ill patients to evaluate the accuracy of the physical examination in assessing ETT position and the appropriateness of taking routine chest x-ray films after intubation in the ICU. As a result of x-ray findings, 14 percent of the patients required ETT repositioning, and 5 percent had main-stem intubations. Endobronchial intubation was more common in females than in males, and frequently occurred after emergency intubations. Sixty percent of the main-stem intubations occurred despite the presence of equal breath sounds on examination. Techniques to minimize the risk of tube malposition, such as cuff ballottement in the suprasternal notch and referencing the ETT centimeter markings, were not completely reliable. This study confirms the unreliability of the physical examination to assess ETT position. Chest x-ray films after intubation are indicated to verify tube position, particularly after emergency intubations. Other techniques such as use of a lighted stylet require evaluation to determine whether they are more cost-effective in verifying ETT placement in patients who have no other indication for postintubation x-ray films.
Comment on ‘‘Negative temperature of vortex motion’’

In a recent article, Berdichevsky, Kunin, and Hussain [Phys. Rev. A 43, 2050 (1991)] claim to have ``resolved'' the ``paradox of negative temperatures of point vortices'' by means of a redefinition of entropy, following an early speculation of Gibbs. It is suggested here that there is no paradox to resolve, and doubt is expressed that the redefinition of temperature sheds light on the high-energy behavior of ideal line-vortex systems.
Parenting in battered women: The effects of domestic violence on women and their children.

This study integrates an ecological perspective and trauma theory in proposing a model of the effects of domestic violence on women's parenting and children's adjustment. One hundred and twenty women and their children between the ages of 7 and 12 participated. Results supported an ecological model of the impact of domestic violence on women and children. The model predicted 40% of the variance in children's adjustment, 8% of parenting style, 43% of maternal psychological functioning, and 23% of marital satisfaction, using environmental factors such as social support, negative life events, and maternal history of child abuse. Overall, results support the ecological framework and trauma theory in understanding the effects of domestic violence on women and children. Rather than focusing on internal pathology, behavior is seen to exist on a continuum influenced heavily by the context in which the person is developing.
The net flux of carbon from deforestation and degradation in south and southeast Asia

Changes in the area of forests in South and Southeast Asia between 1850 and 1990 were studied, and the resulting release of carbon to the atmosphere was estimated to be between 19.2 and 32.6 Pg. The range results from uncertainty in the average biomass of forests in the region. Some current estimates of average biomass are higher than others. If these high and low estimates are taken to represent undisturbed and degraded forests, respectively, then these estimates of biomass can be used with estimates of the area of forests in 1980, their average biomass, and data from Flint and Richards on temporal trends in the ratio of degradation to deforestation to help constrain the biomass of the forests actually deforested during the 140 years studied. With these constraints, the total net flux of carbon was calculated and found to be 29.5 PgC, 54% higher than that calculated with low estimates of biomass and 10% lower than that calculated with high estimates of biomass. Thus, although the lower estimates of biomass may be good estimates of current biomass in Asia, they are inadequate for calculation of carbon emissions from deforestation unless the calculations explicitly include degradation as well as deforestation. Of the total net release, 19.8 PgC (67%) was found to be from deforestation, and 9.7 PgC (33%) from degradation.
Test of the g‐matrix condition on the two‐matrix satisfying the pauli restriction

The density matrix f(2) which results from minimizing (N/2) tr H(2)f(2) subject to the eigenvalue condition on the one-matrix is put into the G-matrix condition. The resulting large negative eigenvalues of the latter indicates significant improvement upon enforcement of this condition. A method of calculation and conditions beyond the G-matrix condition are discussed.
Distributed renewable PV generation in urban distribution networks

Distributed renewable PV generation, whose cost is slowly decreasing towards grid parity, may provide operational benefits in urban feeders: it could level the load curve, improve the voltage profile and reliability and reduce losses across the feeder, improve the transmission capacity margin, as well as provide environmental benefits. The small distributed renewable PV systems are normally not owned, nor operated by the utility; their output and the locations of individual systems, as well as their sizes and operational status, are not precisely known at the planning stage. The high level of uncertainty makes the planning more complex than in conventional distribution networks. Distributed generation and storage units may reduce the impact of faults on customers within their protection zones by creating islands of supply, thus increasing the reliability of service. However, such generation may be power and/or energy limited, and may not be able to exclusively serve their local loads at all times. The paper discusses the issues related to designing the feeders with distributed renewable generation and methodology for analysis of their operation.
Amplifying collision resistance: a complexity-theoretic treatment

We initiate a complexity-theoretic treatment of hardness amplification for collision-resistant hash functions, namely the transformation of weakly collision-resistant hash functions into strongly collision-resistant ones in the standard model of computation. We measure the level of collision resistance by the maximum probability, over the choice of the key, for which an efficient adversary can find a collision. The goal is to obtain constructions with short output, short keys, small loss in adversarial complexity tolerated, and a good trade-off between compression ratio and computational complexity. We provide an analysis of several simple constructions, and show that many of the parameters achieved by our constructions are almost optimal in some sense.
Characteristics of the scrape-off layer in DIII-D high-performance negative central magnetic shear discharges

In this paper the authors present measurements of the global power and particle balance in the high-performance phase of negative central magnetic shear (NCS) discharges and compare with reference VH-mode discharges. The principal differences observed are that NCS has a much lower fraction of the total input power flowing into the boundary, less core radiation, and larger rate of stored energy increase as a fraction of total power. Scrape-off layer (SOL) temperature and divertor heat flux profiles, and radiation profiles at the midplane, are similar to VH-mode. Due to the good core particle confinement and efficient fueling by neutral beam injection (NBI), with little gas puffing, the gas load on the walls and the recycling are very low during the NCS discharges. This results in a rate of density rise relative to beam fueling at the L to H transition time which is 1/3 of the value for VH transitions, which is in turn 1/2 that for L-to-ELMing-H-mode transitions.
The expression of interleukin-6 in the pregnant rat corpus luteum and its regulation by progesterone and glucocorticoid.

Interleukin (IL)-6, a multifunctional cytokine originally described as a T cell-derived factor, is also produced by different cell types, and it influences a wide variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes. Recent studies further suggest that IL-6 has a role in down-regulating hormone production by endocrine organs and can negatively affect the steroidogenic capacity of both ovaries and testes. Thus, the aims of this investigation were to examine whether IL-6 plays a role in luteolysis and, more specifically, to determine whether luteal cells express the IL-6 gene, whether this expression is developmentally and hormonally regulated in pregnancy, and whether the corpus luteum could be a target for IL-6 action. Using semiquantitative RT-PCR, messenger RNA (mRNA) encoding both components of the IL-6 receptor [the ligand-binding subunit (IL-6 R) and the IL-6 R-associated signal transducer (gp130)] were found to be highly expressed in corpora lutea throughout pregnancy. In contrast, IL-6 mRNA ex...
Fast spin state initialization of a single quantum dot electron

We report the demonstration of fast spin state initialization with near unity efficiency in a singly-charged quantum dot by optically cooling an electron spin.
Corrective recombination of mouse immunoglobulin kappa alleles in Abelson murine leukemia virus-transformed pre-B cells.

Abstract Previous characterization of mouse immunoglobulin kappa gene rearrangement products cloned from murine plasmacytomas has indicated that two recombination events can take place on a single kappa allele (R. M. Feddersen and B. G. Van Ness, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 82:4792-4797, 1985; M. A. Shapiro and M. Weigert, J. Immunol. 139:3834-3839, 1987). To determine whether multiple recombinations on a single kappa allele can contribute to the formation of productive V-J genes through corrective recombinations, we have examined several Abelson murine leukemia virus-transformed pre-B-cell clones which rearrange the kappa locus during cell culture. Clonal cell lines which had rearranged one kappa allele nonproductively while maintaining the other allele in the germ line configuration were grown, and secondary subclones, which subsequently expressed kappa protein, were isolated and examined for further kappa rearrangement. A full spectrum of rearrangement patterns was observed in this sequential cloning, including productive and nonproductive recombinations of the germ line allele and secondary recombinations of the nonproductive allele. The results show that corrective V-J recombinations, with displacement of the nonproductive kappa gene, occur with a significant frequency (6 of 17 kappa-producing subclones). Both deletion and maintenance of the primary (nonfunctional) V-J join, as a reciprocal product, were observed.
Response to ammonium and nitrate by a mycorrhizal annual invasive grass and native shrub in southern California

The goal of this study was to determine the interaction of mycorrhizae and two N sources, ammonium (NH(4)(+)) and nitrate (NO(3)(-)), on the growth of a coastal sage scrub (CSS) species, Artemisia californica, and an exotic annual grass, Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens. Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition may be influencing the decline of CSS and replacement by exotic grasses, but the extent to which mycorrhizae are involved in shrubland decline is unknown. NO(3)(-) is the dominant form of deposition in southern California, although the native, uneutrophied soils have a greater concentration of NH(4)(+). Seeds of each species were germinated in pots of sterile soil, inoculated with native soil containing mycorrhizal spores and infective root fragments, and fertilized with 50 μg/g of either NO(3)(-) or NH(4)(+). NH(4)(+) enhanced the growth of both mycorrhizal species, while NO(3)(-) did not. Control plants of B. madritensis under low N had a significant response to mycorrhizae, but A. californica did not. Nitrate increased the growth of nonmycorrhizal A. californica as much as the mycorrhizal NH(4)(+)-treated plants. There is no evidence in this study to suggest that the decline of A. californica or increase in B. madritensis is due to a mycorrhizal response to NO(3)(-). Other life history traits of the two species must be used to explain the invasive behavior of the annual grass. Mycorrhizae may be more important in controlling plant growth in native uneutrophied soils dominated by NH(4)(+) rather than NO(3)(-).
Development of Three-Phase Unbalanced Power Flow Using PV and PQ Models for Distributed Generation and Study of the Impact of DG Models

With the increased installations of distributed generators (DGs) within power systems, load flow analysis of distribution systems needs special models and algorithms to handle multiple sources. In this paper, the development of an unbalanced three-phase load flow algorithm that can handle multiple sources is described. This software is capable of switching the DG mode of operation from constant voltage to constant power factor. The algorithm to achieve this in the presence of multiple DGs is proposed. Shipboard power systems (SPS) have other special characteristics apart from multiple sources, which make the load flow difficult to converge. The developed software is verified for a distribution system without DG using the Radial Distribution Analysis Package (RDAP). The developed software analyzes an IEEE test case and an icebreaker ship system. System studies for the IEEE 37-node feeder without the regulator show the effect of different models and varying DG penetration related to the increase in loading. System losses and voltage deviations are compared.
Simulation of laser pulse amplification in a plasma by a counterpropagating wave

Raman amplification of a short laser pulse by a counter-propagating pump in a plasma is simulated with a one-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell code. With a large growth rate due to three wave interaction, the pump pulse is almost totally depleted and the seed pulse is amplified significantly by the transferred energy. A moving window is adopted to enhance simulation efficiency for long interaction length.
Lysine 269 is essential for cyclin D1 ubiquitylation by the SCFFbx4/αB-crystallin ligase and subsequent proteasome-dependent degradation

Lysine 269 is essential for cyclin D1 ubiquitylation by the SCF Fbx4/αB-crystallin ligase and subsequent proteasome-dependent degradation
Voronoi Diagram Based Dimensional Anchor Assessment for Radial Visualizations

Selecting the most expressed dimensions from high dimensional data sets has motivated the design and application of a variety of statistical and machine learning techniques. Here, in our current work, we introduce a metric for assessing the effectiveness of these methods. Our formulation is based on the broad concepts of: (a) devising a formal method of partitioning a visualization's image space; (b) identifying regions that indicate the relative strength of the dimension selection based on how well they are populated by data images; and (c) similarily identifying those regions indicating a poor selection of dimensions. In particular, we explore assessing the quality of radial visualizations. Dimension selection in this class of visualizations strongly effects visualization quality and the sensitivity of cluster formation. We demonstrate the usefulness of Voronoi partitioning the RadViz image space; quantifying radial visualization quality is a direct measure of dimension selection. This work continues to develop and refine the formal theory behind the general class of Normalized Radial Visualizations, including RadViz.
Isogeometric analysis based on T-splines

This chapter provides an introduction to the use of T-splines in isogeometric analysis. A simple definition of two-dimensional T-splines is given and Bezier extraction is introduced. The basic details for implementation of T-splines as finite element shape functions are given. Two examples of integrated analysis and design based on commercial tools are given to illustrate the utility of T-spline-based IGA in a design-through-analysis workflow.
La police parisienne et les Algériens (1944–1962)

Emmanuel Blanchard's La Police parisienne et les Algeriens (1944–1962), much anticipated when it was published in 2011, fills an important gap in the historical record and the historiography. Much ...
Bone marrow and stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma is an incurable B-cell malignancy afflicting mainly elderly people with a median age of 65 to 70 years [1]. It is characterized by the proliferation of clonal plasma cells that are resistant to standard doses of commonly employed agents at the time of diagnosis, resulting in complete remission (CR) rates of only 5%–10% and median survival of approximately three years. This inherent resistance is probably due to an array of molecular abnormalities of one or more oncogenes and suppressor genes inhibiting drug induced apoptosis, including ras, myc, p53, Rb, and bc1–2, that have evolved during a prolonged subclinical course of 10–20 years [2]. The recent report of a Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus (KSHV) in the dendritic cells of myeloma patients, whose genome contains the homologue to human IL-6, suggests that the KSHV may also play an important role in the etiology of multiple myeloma [3]. A combination of melphalan and prednisone has been the standard treatment for over 30 years [4]. Permutations of the melphalan/ prednisone regimen by the addition of alkylating agents and anthracyclines have not extended the median survival [5].
Redefining Sex Work in the Republic of Georgia

The government of Georgia, while complying with current international standards to eradicate human trafficking, has inadvertently neglected the needs of female sex workers. By redefining sex work as a profession and an employment option for women in Georgia, international policy and programming can reduce harm while confronting women’s economic realities.