cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modified mariner Transposons for Random Inducible-Expression Insertions and Transcriptional Reporter Fusion Insertions in Bacillus subtilis

Transposons are mobile genetic elements bounded by insertion sequences that are recognized by a specific mobilizing transposase enzyme. The transposase may mobilize not only the insertion sequences but also intervening DNA. mariner is a particularly efficient transposon for the random chromosomal integration of genes and insertional mutagenesis. Here, we modify an existing mariner transposon, TnYLB, such that it can easily be genetically manipulated and introduced into Bacillus subtilis. We generate a series of three new mariner derivatives that mobilize spectinomycin, chloramphenicol, and kanamycin antibiotic resistance cassettes. Furthermore, we generate a series of transposons with a strong, outward-oriented, optionally isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-inducible promoter for the random overexpression of neighboring genes and a series of transposons with a promoterless lacZ gene for the random generation of transcriptional reporter fusions. We note that the modification of the base transposon is not restricted to B. subtilis and should be applicable to any mariner-compatible host organism, provided that in vitro mutagenesis or an in vivo species-specific delivery vector is employed.
Increments and Decrements in Mean Arterial Pressure as a Function of Audience Composition: An Averaging and Summation Analysis

Mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) measures were taken to assess performs' anxiety levels while they performed in front of heterogeneous and homogeneous audiences. The addition of one high school student to an audience of one faculty member lowered MAR whereas the addition of the same student to an audience of one high school student raised MAP In addition, subjects' MAP levels were elevated when their performance was observed by a faculty member and by two high school students relative to a setting in which no audience was present (i.e., an alone condition). The results support predictions made by the averaging-summation model and suggest that individuals are sensitive to both the average and the summative impact of evaluative audience members. 7he importance of considering the composition of audiences for predictions about individuals' anxiety levels is discussed.
Contextualizing Depression and Physical Functioning in Battered Women Adding Vulnerability and Resources to the Analysis

This investigation examined the relationships between physical, psychological, and sexual abuse along with vulnerability appraisals, positive and negative social relations, and socioeconomic resources on battered women's depression symptomatology and physical functioning. Women were recruited following an incident of partner violence that resulted in a police-report or the filing of a protection order. Participants were surveyed using a standardized questionnaire. Bivariate correlations and multiple regressions were used to examine the relationships between predictors as well as the cumulative and unique contributions of each variable set in explaining depression and physical functioning. Findings indicate that vulnerability appraisals, social relations, and socioeconomic resources significantly explain women's depression and physical functioning over and above the unique effect of specific types of partner violence. Given that women's physical and mental health are important aspects of assisting women with safety planning and violence cessation strategies, implications for assessment and interventions for battered women are discussed.
How transient are transient ischemic attacks

Information on 1,343 hospitalized patients in the Cornell Neurology Database with final diagnoses of transient ischemic attacks (TIA), reversible ischemic neurologic deficits (RIND), or ischemic stroke was examined in order to determine the duration of ischemic deficits. Episodes resolved within the first 24 hours (classic definition of TIA) in 382 of the patients (28.4%) and between days 1 and 7 (consistent with RIND) in 34 (2.5%). In 191 of the 382 patients with traditionally-defined TIAs (50.0%), episodes lasted less than 30 minutes, and in another 37 (9.7%), from 30 to 60 minutes. Of 1,115 patients with deficits lasting at least 60 minutes, only 154 (13.8%) resolved within 24 hours and could thus be considered to have had a TIA. Resolution within the next hour occurred in only 39 of 1,152 patients (3.4%) with a deficit at 30 minutes, 21 of 1,115 patients (1.9%) with a deficit at 60 minutes, 19 of 1,113 patients (1.7%) with a deficit at 90 minutes, and 16 of 1,094 patients (1.5%) with a deficit at 120 minutes. The data suggest that as currently managed, patients with a deficit persisting at least 60 minutes have less than a 2% chance of resolving spontaneously during any subsequent 1-hour period. Rapid resolution after instituting a new treatment in relatively few additional patients would suggest a therapeutic effect, even in a nonrandomized trial.
Exercise Oscillatory Ventilation in Systolic Heart Failure An Indicator of Impaired Hemodynamic Response to Exercise

Background—Exercise oscillatory ventilation (EOV) is a noninvasive parameter that potently predicts outcomes in systolic heart failure (HF). However, mechanistic insights into EOV have been limited by the absence of studies relating EOV to invasive hemodynamic measurements and blood gases performed during exercise. Methods and Results—Fifty-six patients with systolic HF (mean±SEM age, 59±2 years; left ventricular ejection fraction, 30±1%) and 19 age-matched control subjects were studied with incremental cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Fick cardiac outputs, filling pressures, and arterial blood gases were measured at 1-minute intervals during exercise. We detected EOV in 45% of HF (HF+EOV) patients and in none of the control subjects. The HF+EOV group did not differ from the HF patients without EOV (HF−EOV) in age, sex, body mass index, left ventricular ejection fraction, or origin of HF. Univariate predictors of the presence of EOV in HF, among measurements performed during exercise, included higher rig...
Detection of tumor necrosis factor‐α in bone marrow plasma and peripheral blood plasma from patients with aplastic anemia

Plasma levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) were determined in healthy individuals and patients with aplastic anemia (ApAn). IFN-gamma was not detected in normal peripheral blood plasma (PBP) or bone marrow plasma (BMP) and was present in PBP from only 2 of 22 patients and in BMP from 1 of 14 patients and the levels were low (< 1.5 U/ml). Elevated levels of TNF-alpha were present in BMP and PBP from patients but not in control (healthy donor) PBP and BMP. Eleven of twenty-four patients had elevated levels of TNF-alpha in their PBP and 6 of 13 patients had detectable levels of TNF-alpha in their BMP. Only one of the 14 healthy control donors had detectable TNF-alpha and the level was very low (7 pg/ml), while 13 of the 27 ApAn patients had detectable TNF-alpha (P = .009, chi-square test). Not surprisingly, the centers of the distributions of TNF-alpha concentrations of the controls and ApAn patients differed significantly (P < .017 for control and patient PBP and P < .056 for control and patient BMP, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Spontaneous production of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha by cultured bone marrow mononuclear cells was observed in four of seven patients but not in the six healthy controls (P = 0.026). Spontaneous production of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha by cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients and controls was however similar. Phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced production of IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha by cultured mononuclear cells did not differ significantly between ApAn patients and normal controls. The significance of overproduction of TNF-alpha in the pathophysiology of ApAn is discussed.
Role of Physical Properties in the Resistance of Brittle Ceramics to Failure by Thermal Buckling

An analysis is presented of the role of the physical properties which affect the thermal buckling behavior of ceramic materials for various geometric and thermal conditions. For a column with slight initial curvature or a curvature as the result of a transverse temperature gradient, expressions are derived for the maximum increase in temperature, ΔTmax or transverse temperature gradient, or heat flux to which the column can be subjected to avoid failure under the influence of the bending stresses. From the solutions obtained several “thermal buckling resistance parameters” are defined for comparing the relative thermal buckling resistance of brittle materials. Numerical examples indicate that thermal buckling of brittle materials of the proper geometry can occur relatively easily.
MPSK coded modulations for the Rayleigh fading channel

The error performance of a modulation code over the Rayleigh fading channel depends primarily on its minimum symbol distance, minimum product distance, and path multiplicity. It depends on the minimum squared Euclidean distance to a lesser degree. The paper is concerned with construction of MPSK modulation codes for the Rayleigh fading channel. Several construction methods are presented. Codes constructed by these methods achieve good error performance with reduced decoding complexity. >
PSMA expression in Schwannoma: A potential clinical mimicker of metastatic prostate carcinoma

Abstract Objectives Radioimmunoscintigraphy using a radiolabeled antibody against prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is frequently used to detect prostate carcinoma (PCa) recurrence and metastasis to lymph nodes, soft tissues, and bone. PSMA expression has been shown in occasional nonprostatic neoplasms (e.g., urothelial adenocarcinoma) and in the vasculatures of other malignancies. PSMA expression has not been described in benign neoplasms. Recently, during evaluation of a prostatic carcinoma patient, we encountered a false positive PSMA radioimmunoscintigraphy scan in a pathologically confirmed Schwannoma (SCH) lesion. The current study further evaluates PSMA expression in Schwannomas. Methods Eleven SCH were retrieved from our surgical pathology archives. Representative sections were immunostained with monoclonal antibody for PSMA. PSMA expression was evaluated in tumor cells and lesional vessels. Extent of staining was calculated as percent of positive cells in highest areas of expression. Positive staining was considered focal, multifocal, or diffuse based on the percent of positive cells: 75%, respectively. Results All 11 SCH showed tumoral and or vascular staining; 7 (7/11) displayed both vascular and tumoral cell staining; the remaining 4 had only vascular staining (2/11) or tumor cell staining (2/11). The extent of tumoral cell and vascular staining varied widely among lesions (tumor cells: focal in 8 and diffuse in 1; vascular: focal in 7, multifocal in 1, and diffuse in 1 lesion). Conclusion This is the first report of PSMA expression in a benign neoplasm. Given our finding of frequent expression of PSMA in Schwannomas, they should be clinically considered in the differential diagnosis of a lesion that is positive on PSMA radioimmunoscintigraphy study performed during a metastatic work-up of PCa patient.
Dynamic memory disambiguation for array references

Memory disambiguation, or alias analysis, is a key component of modern optimizing compilers. Any optimization that reorders or changes code containing memory operations must analyze the memory references to ensure that the original semantics of the program are not changed.The recent proliferation of machines able to exploit parallelism, either at the coarse grain or more commonly at the instruction level, has led to the development of sophisticated memory disambiguation algorithms. In particular, much work has been done on disambiguating array references across different loop iterations.While these algorithms can be very effective for certain classes of programs, there exists array references that cannot be disambiguated at compile time. Even references that theoretically can be disambiguated at compile time may require techniques that are much more sophisticated and expensive than currently used.In this paper, we present a new algorithm for dynamic memory disambiguation for array references that allows us to overcome limitations of static analysis. For array references that cannot be accurately analyzed at compile time, we defer the disambiguation process until run-time.We have implemented our analysis algorithm in a prototype version of the IBM XL compiler and used the generated information for several compiler optimizations: software pipelining with global instruction scheduling, loop-invariant motion and redundant load elimination. We evaluated the algorithm on an IBM POWER2 system using the SPEC92 benchmarks. We show that for numeric C benchmarks, dynamic memory disambiguation can greatly improve run-time performance. Perhaps more importantly, we show that even for the programs that cannot benefit from dynamic analysis, the overhead of our algorithm does not degrade performance.
Effect of Preoperative Thoracic Duct Drainage on Canine Kidney Transplantation

Chronic drainage of the thoracic duct to the esophagus was developed in dogs, and its efficacy in immunomodulation was tested using kidney transplantation. Compared to 9.7 days in the control, the mean animal survival was prolonged to 9.9 days, 17.8 days, and 18.5 days when TDD was applied preoperatively for 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 9 weeks, respectively. Prolongation was significant after 6 weeks. Patency of the fistula was 93.5, 80.4, and 76.1% at respective weeks. Number of peripheral T-lymphocytes determined by a new monoclonal antibody diminished after 3 weeks. All animals were in normal health, requiring no special care for fluid, electrolyte, or protein replacement.
Personalized medicine or public health? Bioethics, human rights, and choice

a b s t r a c t The major medical/scientific research project of the past two decades is the human genome project and its suggested clinical applications. The project can usefully be framed as a quest to cure disease, especially cancer, and even to defy mortality. The hero of this quest is the project leader, who currently is trying, almost desperately, to “translate” the science of the genome into public health practice (screening) and the practice of medicine, often termed tailored, precision or “personalized medicine.” In America’s dysfunctional and patchwork healthcare system, adding another layer of extremely expensive and (to date) marginally effective screening procedures and genetics-based cancer treatments is a hard sell. Nonetheless, framing the human genome project as a quest for added life can make it seem altogether normal, even natural, and can help rally the public to its support. A second, parallel quest is the public health-political quest for a system that guarantees universal access to healthcare for Americans. The ultimate success of this quest will depend not on any scientific or medical breakthrough, even a genetic one, but on political will. Creating and sustaining political support for universal healthcare access will require, I suggest, the deployment of stories of real Americans whose lives have been made much more miserable by the lack of access to decent healthcare. These two quests are converging in ways that may make them incompatible because of the extreme expense of personalized medicine, and, at least so far, its inability to add more than marginal benefit to the lives of most Americans. Nonetheless, until Americans are more comfortable accepting death, we will continue to fight our mortality with activities we frame as quests, making our dysfunctional healthcare
Single poly EEPROM for smart power IC's

Smart power integrated circuits need low density memory for applications such as trimming, IC customization, system addresses, and part traceability with few program/erase cycles. Memory solutions must be low cost and demonstrate high reliability in automotive environments. Programmability in the application is an advantage. We have developed a single poly EEPROM that meets these requirements and in addition gives significant die area savings over traditional low cost memory techniques.
Somatic mutation of human immunoglobulin V genes in the X-linked HyperIgM syndrome.

Abstract Somatic mutation of Ig variable regions occurs prominently in germinal centers, but it has been debated whether the mutation process initiates in germinal centers or is activated before germinal center entry of B cells. We have analyzed for the presence of somatic mutation in Ig gene rearrangements of the nonpolymorphic human VH6 gene in the X-linked HyperIgM syndrome, which is associated with defective CD40 ligand expression and absence of germinal centers and generation of memory B lymphocytes. IgM and rare IgG VH6 productive rearrangements were isolated from PBL of patients with X-linked HyperIgM syndrome. Although the majority of both the IgM and IgG VH6 rearrangements had a germline VH6 sequence, 7 of 102 VH6 IgM and 1 of 6 IgG rearrangements had a mutated VH6 gene. The mutation frequency (mutations/bp) was 1.4% with a range of 2-9 mutations per clone, a mutation frequency lower, however, than that observed in IgM (3.2%) and IgG (5.4%) VH6 rearrangements of normal individuals. These results suggest that somatic mutation may be initiated in a CD40 ligand-independent pathway before entry of B cells into germinal centers, but fails to achieve the high mutation frequency observed in the presence of germinal centers.
Cardiovascular Drug Interactions

Drug interactions may be responsible for certain changes in therapeutic response and toxicity of cardiac drugs. Interactions occur at the sites of drug absorption and elimination as well as at the receptor sites in the pacemaker cells, specialized conducting tissue, and myocardium. Studies of the kinetics of cardiac drugs are being applied clinically in an effort to reduce the danger of adverse drug interactions in heart patients.
Guidelines for international trauma work

The trend to make children targets of atrocities secondary to war is one of the biggest human tragedies which stirs outrage, while simultaneously mobilizing spontaneous humanitarian impulses of wanting to help, perpetuated by the images in the media of children in anguish and pain. The issue of psychological trauma caused by violence has become a global epidemic, and the world's most pressing social and public health dilemma. Such traumatization has been shown to have long-lasting devastating consequences on normal growth and development. This results in much sympathy and concern on the part of adults who are deeply troubled seeing children suffer during war and the increasing epidemics of global violence. However, one quickly learns that such sympathetic impulses need to be harnessed in a productive manner. Knowledge and training in the psychopathology and phenomenology of mental illness is not enough. Alas, the most recent lessons learned in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina were many and the experiences h...
Complications rates of non-oncologic urologic procedures in population-based data: a comparison to published series.

PUSPOSE: Published single institutional case series are often performed by one or more surgeons with considerable expertise in specific procedures. The reported incidence of complications in these series may not accurately reflect community-based practice. We sought to compare complication and mortality rates following urologic procedures derived from population-based data to those of published single-institutional case series. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In-hospital mortality and complications of common urologic procedures (percutaneous nephrostomy, ureteropelvic junction obstruction repair, ureteroneocystostomy, urethral repair, artificial urethral sphincter implantation, urethral suspension, transurethral resection of the prostate, and penile prosthesis implantation) reported in the U.S.’s National Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project were identified. Rates were then compared to those of published single-institution series using statistical analysis. RESULTS: For 7 of the 8 procedures examined, there was no significant difference in rates of complication or mortality between published studies and our population-based data. However, for percutaneous nephrostomy, two published single-center series had significantly lower mortality rates (p < 0.001). The overall rate of complications in the population-based data was higher than published single or select multi-institutional data for percutaneous nephrostomy performed for urinary obstruction (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: If one assumes that administrative data does not suffer from under reporting of complications then for some common urological procedures, complication rates between population-based data and published case series seem comparable. Endorsement of mandatory collection of clinical outcomes is likely the best way to appropriately counsel patients about the risks of these common urologic procedures.
Commentary for General Surgery Residents can be a Reliable Resource in the Evaluation of Residency Applications.

In this issue, Kim et al. report the findings of a study where general surgery residents assessed Electronic Residency Application Service applications using an assessment tool developed by their program director. In over 500 assessments, the investigators found that interrater reliability was high for total and global scores and concluded that residents may be considered for participation in the applicant selection process. Although these findings are undoubtedly important to busy program directors eager to recruit help for this daunting task, there are at least 2 caveats that must be kept in mind. Firstly, the assessment tool used in this study had not been previously validated in a scientifically rigorous manner, and thus we are not certain if it can accurately measure what it purports to measure. Although it is reassuring that the interrater reliability was high for most of the individual domains and overall for the total score and global score, it was poorly predictive of the final rank list! The authors applied their pilot Electronic Residency Application Service assessment tool to 51 interviewing applicants and ranked all 51. However, they do not state how many applicants were not offered an interview. If they offered an interview to every single applicant, then there would be no need for an assessment tool, as the interview was far more influential in the ranking process in this study. On the other hand, if the purpose of developing this tool is to be more selective in the interview process by identifying those applicants likely to be
What Are Combination Products

Combination products are made of agents in different regulatory categories. The number of such products is growing rapidly (about 8 %/year) with a market estimated at between $75 and $100 million yearly. The common categories are: drug eluting stents, infusion pumps, bone graft implants, photodynamic therapy, wound care combination devices, inhalers and transdermal patches.
Supply chain integration and firm financial performance: A meta-analysis of positional advantage mediation and moderating factors

Abstract Supply chain integration (SCI) is recognized as strategic process management that can be instrumental for creating positional advantages associated with improved firm performance. However, despite rigorous execution, recent meta-analyses derive different conclusions about the benefits of SCI. We propose that these inconsistencies may be associated with selection bias, failure to consider the mediating routes by which SCI affects financial performance, and lack of investigation of moderators. To address these issues, we apply positional advantage theory and the resource-based view, and focus on mitigating the potential selection bias by aggregating findings from 170 previous investigations in a comprehensive meta-analysis, to examine how discrete dimensions of SCI enhance firm financial performance through three types of intermediate firm performance. The moderating effects of time, relationship quality, and national culture are also assessed. The findings confirm that each dimension of SCI indeed improves financial performance. However, contrary to expectations, relational and strategic types of intermediate performance associated with superior customer value positional advantage have stronger mediating effects than operational performance associated with lower cost positional advantage. In addition, time, relationship quality, and collectivist national culture strengthen the associations between some dimensions of SCI and firm performance. Our study findings are reconciled with those from recent meta-analytic studies, and implications arising from our conclusions that may inform practice about how to effectively leverage SCI are presented.
Medial Protrusio Technique for Placement of a Porous-Coated, Hemispherical Acetabular Component without Cement in a Total Hip Arthroplasty in Patients Who Have Acetabular Dysplasia*

Twenty-four hip replacements were performed with use of a medial protrusio technique to stabilize the fit of a hemispherical metal shell in the acetabulum in nineteen patients who had dysplasia of the hip. All of the hips were followed for a minimum of five years (average, seven years; range, five to thirteen years). Six of the hips were type I, seven were type II, eight were type III, and three were type IV according to the criteria of Crowe et al. The acetabular cup was implanted with the medial aspect of its dome beyond the Kohler line (drawn from the ischium along the ilioischial line) in all hips. An autogenous graft sculpted from the femoral head was used to cover 15 to 30 percent of the superolateral portion of the cup in one type-I hip, four type-III hips, and one type-IV hip. The need for these six bone grafts could have been avoided by reaming two to three millimeters more medially or by allowing 20 percent of the superolateral portion of the cup to be uncovered. Sixty to 84 percent of each bone graft was resorbed, effectively leaving the superolateral portion of the cup uncovered. The amount of the surface of the cup that was beyond the Kohler line averaged 41 percent for the six type-I hips, 43 percent for the seven type-II hips, 41 percent for six of the type-III hips, and 44 percent for one of the type-IV hips. Crossing of the ilioischial and iliopubic lines was noted on the radiographs of two type-III and two type-IV hips. Radiographs of two type-I hips and one type-II hip showed 7 to 17 percent of the surface of the dome of the cup through the internal pelvic wall (beyond the iliopubic line). None of the twenty-four metal shells were revised. A reoperation was performed on two hips to exchange a worn polyethylene insert, and three femoral components that had been fixed without cement were revised because of mechanical loosening. Wear averaged 0.26 millimeter per year in the fourteen hips that had a titanium femoral head and 0.09 millimeter per year in the nine hips that had a cobalt-chromium femoral head. The remaining hip had a ceramic femoral head, and the wear rate was 0.09 millimeter per year. The medial protrusio technique is a predictable, reproducible method for obtaining fixation of a porous-coated, hemispherical acetabular component in a dysplastic acetabulum. The technique permits the use of a porous-coated (bone-ingrowth) component; avoids the use of support bone graft and thereby reduces the operative time; facilitates rehabilitation by permitting earlier weight-bearing of the hip; and permits the use of a modular bearing surface, which may allow future exchange of only this surface rather than revision of the entire acetabular component because of excessive wear.
NoFold: RNA structure clustering without folding or alignment

Structures that recur across multiple different transcripts, called structure motifs, often perform a similar function—for example, recruiting a specific RNA-binding protein that then regulates translation, splicing, or subcellular localization. Identifying common motifs between coregulated transcripts may therefore yield significant insight into their binding partners and mechanism of regulation. However, as most methods for clustering structures are based on folding individual sequences or doing many pairwise alignments, this results in a tradeoff between speed and accuracy that can be problematic for large-scale data sets. Here we describe a novel method for comparing and characterizing RNA secondary structures that does not require folding or pairwise alignment of the input sequences. Our method uses the idea of constructing a distance function between two objects by their respective distances to a collection of empirical examples or models, which in our case consists of 1973 Rfam family covariance models. Using this as a basis for measuring structural similarity, we developed a clustering pipeline called NoFold to automatically identify and annotate structure motifs within large sequence data sets. We demonstrate that NoFold can simultaneously identify multiple structure motifs with an average sensitivity of 0.80 and precision of 0.98 and generally exceeds the performance of existing methods. We also perform a cross-validation analysis of the entire set of Rfam families, achieving an average sensitivity of 0.57. We apply NoFold to identify motifs enriched in dendritically localized transcripts and report 213 enriched motifs, including both known and novel structures.
Architecture and Key Technology of SDPaaS Cloud Computing Platform

In this paper,we present SDPaaS cloud platform solutions,which combine telecom SDP with PaaS cloud computing.This platform allows third-party developers to rapidly develop and deliver services.It also allows for automatic deployment and hosting run of business service and has a special centralized maintenance function.It is an extension of the delivery program of traditional telecommunications value-added services,and it provides the necessary technical support for the ecological environment of socialized value-added service innovation.
Effects of cardiovascular status among workers occupational exposed to lead in Anhui Province

Objective To investigate the effects of lead exposure on functions of blood pressure and heart conduction.Methods 630 workers(522lead-exposed workers,108 logistics and management personnel as control)were recruited in Anhui Province.The air lead concentration was detected by atomic absorption spectrometry.Differential Potentiometric Stripping Analysis(PbU-DPSA)was used to measure blood lead.The relationship between abnormal blood pressure and electrocardiogram,and lead exposure was analyzed.Results The lead concentration in peripheral blood in the exposed workers(471.3±184.6 mg/m3)were higher than that of the control group(193.3±87mg/m3),the difference was statistically significant(P 0.05).Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the blood lead increased with the increasing exposure dose of lead(P 0.05).There was no difference of abnormal blood pressure among the control and the different lead exposed groups(P0.05).The electrocardiographic abnormality in exposed groups was higher than control,and increased with the increasing of lead exposure(P0.05).Conclusions This study confirms that lead may affect cardiac conduction function,resulting in abnormal electrocardiogram,but further study is still needed to verify the results.
METHOD OF APPLYING ENERGY CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLE TO STEEL FIBER REINFORCED SHOT-CONCRETE LINING DESIGN

Different from normal concrete,steel fiber reinforced concrete(SFRC) shows great capacity of dissipating energy in its cracking stage because of the pull out effect of steel fibers.It is of great importance for the design of SFRC structures to study intensively on this energy dissipating property of the material.So the failure of structures with SFRC components will be accompanied by energy exchanges between external environment and SFRC components.However,the total energy of the system should remain constant.To obtain the basic data of steel fiber reinforced shot-concrete(SFRSC) energy properties,a great number of experiments on SFRC specimens are carried out.An analysis based on statistical theory is done to get the energy criterion for SFRSC associated with credibility levels.The data provided by these tests act the fundamental database for further study.With rational supposition,the energy dissipating mechanism in SFRSC cracks is studied intensively.And the relation between the amount of energy dissipated in cracking and the form of cracks is proposed so that the energy data obtained in the standard tests could be used in structure design of linings.Finally,the energy dissipation capacity of the shot-concrete lining is calculated and compared with the tunneling-induced energy release of the surrounding rock obtained through finite element analysis.
Laundry pod and non-pod detergent related emergency department visits occurring in children in the USA.

Objective Previous studies have reported that children are at risk of severe injuries from exposure to laundry detergent pods. For the first time, this study sought to compare demographic and exposure characteristics and risk among children exposed to pod and non-pod laundry detergents presenting to emergency departments (EDs). Methods Data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) from 2012–2014 were used. All observations with injuries involving laundry detergent (NEISS code 0949) were included in this study. The χ2 test was used for bivariate analysis and logistic regression was used to determine the OR and 95% CI of hospitalisation for pod related versus non-pod laundry detergent exposures. Results From 2012–2014, there were an estimated 26 062 non-pod and 9814 pod laundry detergent related exposures among those aged 18 years and younger. For pod detergent, children aged 0–5 years had the most injuries. Poisoning (71.3%) was the most common diagnosis for pod detergent while contact dermatitis (72.2%) was most common for non-pod detergent. Hospitalisation occurred in 12.5% of pod detergent cases and just 3.0% of non-pod cases. Compared with non-pod detergent, those exposed to pod detergent were 4 times as likely to be hospitalised (OR 4.02; 95% CI 1.96 to 8.24). Conclusions A greater effort should be made to appropriately educate the public about the dangers of laundry detergents, specifically pods, so a safe home environment can be established. While new regulations such as childproof containers, opaque packaging, and less appealing and colourful pods could reduce the number of pod related ED visits for children, caregivers should store detergents, along with other chemicals, in a secure location where children cannot easily access them.
Filamentous Bulking in Massachusetts: Extent of the Problem and Case Studies

A handbook has been written for control of activated sludge bulking for wastewater treatment plant operators in Massachusetts. In order to demonstrate the principles described in the handbook for filamentous organism identification and subsequent selective control, six Massachusetts activated sludge plants experiencing bulking problems were investigated. In addition, a survey was conducted to determine the extent of the filamentous bulking problem in Massachusetts. Dominant filamentous organisms in the aeration tank mixed liquor were identified to determine the probable cause of bulking problems. Plant data and operating conditions were also studied to verify the organism-cause relationship. Based on the sample and data analysis, selective control strategies were suggested to the plant operator to control or eliminate the bulking problem.
Photothermal Deflection Measurements of the Extinction Coefficient k

Publisher Summary It is noted that the optical properties of a material can be studied using photothermal techniques, when the energy absorbed from incident light dissipates mainly as heat. This is the case for most materials; therefore photothermal techniques are used on a variety of materials to characterize thermal, optical, and surface properties. This chapter focuses on photothermal deflection technique. A transparent material absorbs some light from a tightly focused heating-beam, and dissipates this energy as heat. This in turn, creates a hot spot in the material, and a laser probe-beam is deflected by gradients in the refractive index that arise from thermal expansion around the hot spot. The experimenter measures the deflection of the probe-beam, first calibrating the deflection with a standard sample in which the absorption is known, and then moving on to unknown samples. Such a measurement reveals the absorptance A of the material, which is the fraction of the power P that is travelling through the material, which is absorbed and thus directly connected to the extinction coefficient k in the medium.
Genetic signatures of ecological diversity along an urbanization gradient

Despite decades of work in environmental science and ecology, estimating human influences on ecosystems remains challenging. This is partly due to complex chains of causation among ecosystem elements, exacerbated by the difficulty of collecting biological data at sufficient spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales. Here, we demonstrate the utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) for quantifying associations between human land use and changes in an adjacent ecosystem. We analyze metazoan eDNA sequences from water sampled in nearshore marine eelgrass communities and assess the relationship between these ecological communities and the degree of urbanization in the surrounding watershed. Counter to conventional wisdom, we find strongly increasing richness and decreasing beta diversity with greater urbanization, and similar trends in the diversity of life histories with urbanization. We also find evidence that urbanization influences nearshore communities at local (hundreds of meters) rather than regional (tens of km) scales. Given that different survey methods sample different components of an ecosystem, we then discuss the advantages of eDNA-which we use here to detect hundreds of taxa simultaneously-as a complement to traditional ecological sampling, particularly in the context of broad ecological assessments where exhaustive manual sampling is impractical. Genetic data are a powerful means of uncovering human-ecosystem interactions that might otherwise remain hidden; nevertheless, no sampling method reveals the whole of a biological community.
Ictal verbal help-seeking: Occurrence and the underlying etiology.

Abstract Purpose Ictal verbal help-seeking has never been systematically studied before. In this study, we evaluated a series of patients with ictal verbal help-seeking to characterize its frequency and underlying etiology. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all the long-term video-EEG reports from Jefferson Comprehensive Epilepsy Center over a 12-year period (2004–2015) for the occurrence of the term “help” in the text body. All the extracted reports were reviewed and patients with at least one episode of documented ictal verbal help-seeking in epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) were studied. For each patient, the data were reviewed from the electronic medical records, EMU report, and neuroimaging records. Results During the study period, 5133 patients were investigated in our EMU. Twelve patients (0.23%) had at least one episode of documented ictal verbal help-seeking. Nine patients (six women and three men) had epilepsy and three patients (two women and one man) had psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). Seven out of nine patients with epilepsy had temporal lobe epilepsy; six patients had right temporal lobe epilepsy. Conclusion Ictal verbal help-seeking is a rare finding among patients evaluated in epilepsy monitoring units. Ictal verbal help-seeking may suggest that seizures arise in or propagate to the right temporal lobe.
Gene Expression Based CNS Tumor Prototype for Automatic Tumor Detection

Tumors of central nervous system (CNS) represent a unique challenge in diagnosis and treatment because of their heterogeneous phenotypic and genotypic behavior. Unambiguous characterization of these tumors is essential towards accurate prognosis and therapy. Rapid advancements in microarray technologies have made it very promising to achieve this unambiguous characterization. However, because of the noisy nature of measured gene expression levels from microarray chips, careful preprocessing of gene expression data are necessary before statistical analysis can proceed.. In this paper, we propose a procedure for classifying central nervous system (CNS) tumors based on DNA microarray gene expressions of samples from patients with a variety of CNS tumor types. , After obtaining the tumor specific gene expression estimates, significantly expressed (marker) genes are located and clustered using a complete linkage hierarchical algorithm. The algorithm involves clustering together all genes that show high correlation in their expression measures across the samples.. From such gene-cluster, eigengene expressions are obtained by projecting the genes expressions within same cluster onto their first three principal components. In the final step of building prototype for any particular tumor type, the corresponding tissue samples with eigengene expressions are divided into subgroups using self-organizing map (SOM). The centroid of the with eigengenes expression is used as the prototype of the corresponding tumor type for each subgroup. In predicting the tumor type of a new tissue sample, distances are calculated between the new sample and all the centroid of all the tumor prototypes. The new tissue sample is classified to the tumor type of the nearest centroid. Experimental results reported in this paper strongly support the histological categorization of the tumors and the current knowledge of their molecular definitions.
THE EFFECT OF GLYCOLS ADDED TO DISINFECTANT-DETERGENT SOLUTIONS UPON AEROSOLIZED TEST MICROORGANISMS

Microorganisms that are aerosolized by high pressure cleaning methods are not appreciably affected by most disinfectant-detergent solutions when in this state. Since glycols are one of the few chemicals recognized as successful aerial disinfectants, it was suggested that the addition of certain glycols to these solutions would lower the concentration of suspended microorganisms. To test this possibility, triethylene and propylene glycol and lactic acid were added to phenolic disinfectant-detergent solutions. It was determined that there was no substantial reduction in the concentration of two aerosolized test microorganisms when the glycols were added. It is postulated that high relative humidities, 90% and above, are responsible for the failure of the glycols to reduce microorganism concentration during the high pressure spray application of the solution. Our findings indicate that the addition of glycols to disinfectant-detergent solutions for control of aerosolized microorganisms is not warranted.
Examining How Accreditation Standards May Drive Quality Improvement and Accountability in Nonprofit Studies Educational Programs

This paper examines how nonprofit studies educational programs (NSEPs) accreditation may improve educational quality and accountability based on the history of accreditation in business education. This analysis focuses on accreditation as a total quality management process with reference to how it is implemented in business schools and more recently in the Society of Actuaries. Major benefits from accreditation for NSEPs relate to quality improvements, development and implementation of common core standards, sharing of improvement processes among institutions, enhanced employment opportunities for students, and better public awareness and recognition of NSEPs, leading to increased enrollment and donor support. Successful NSEP accreditation efforts include (1) identifying and obtaining the support of respected NSEP leaders, programs, and institutions; (2) developing standards that ensure program quality and accountability while being flexible enough to include differences in teaching and research orientation that permits innovation at NSEP institutions; and (3) securing the resources to sustain NSEP accreditation.
Immunological and Molecular Approaches for the Diagnosis of Parasitic Infections

Definitive diagnosis of parasitic infections is made by identification of parasites in properly collected specimens or in affected tissues. Microscopy for observation and identification of parasites is the laboratory method of choice for the diagnosis of some important parasitic infections, namely, malaria, babesiosis, and enteric parasitic infections. There are, however, important parasitic diseases that cannot be diagnosed by microscopic examination of clinical specimens. In infections such as angiostrongyliasis, schistosomiasis, paragonimiasis, and strongyloidiasis, parasites may be detected in stool or other specimens, but due to the limitations of intermittent shedding or sampling, direct observation of parasites is not sensitive or reliable. So, for these infections and others caused by parasites that are localized and sequestered in tissues, such as baylisascariasis, cysticercosis, echinococcosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, or trichinellosis, detection of specific antibodies is almost always required to confirm clinical suspicion.
Clinical and molecular phenotyping of a child with Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome-7, an uncommon genetic type of HPS

Abstract Purpose Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome (HPS) is a rare inherited disorder with ten reported genetic types; each type has defects in subunits of either Adaptor Protein-3 complex or Biogenesis of Lysosome-related Organelles Complex (BLOC)-1, -2, or -3. Very few patients with BLOC-1 deficiency (HPS-7, -8, and -9 types) have been diagnosed. We report results of comprehensive clinical testing and molecular analyses of primary fibroblasts from a new case of HPS-7. Results A 6-year old Paraguayan male presented with hypopigmentation, ocular albinism, nystagmus, reduced visual acuity, and easy bruising. He also experienced delayed motor and language development as a very young child; head and chest trauma resulted in intracranial hemorrhage with subsequent right hemiparesis and lung scarring. There was no clinical evidence of immunodeficiency or colitis. Whole mount transmission electron microscopy revealed absent platelet delta granules; platelet aggregation testing was abnormal. Exome sequencing revealed a homozygous nonsense mutation in the Dystrobrevin binding protein 1 (DTNBP1) gene [ NM_032122.4 : c.307C > T; p.Gln103*], previously reported in a Portuguese adult. The gene encodes the dysbindin subunit of BLOC-1. Dysbindin protein expression was negligible in our patient's dermal fibroblasts, while his DTNBP1 mRNA level was similar to that of a normal control. Conclusions Comprehensive clinical evaluation of the first pediatric case reported with HPS-7 reveals oculocutaneous albinism and platelet storage pool deficiency; his phenotype is consistent with findings in other patients with BLOC-1 disorders. This patient's markedly reduced Dysbindin protein expression in HPS-7 resulted from a mechanism other than nonsense mediated decay.
Custom cutting guides in total knee arthroplasty

The role of custom cutting guides (CCG), also known as patient-specific instrumentation, in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) remains controversial. Originally, this technique potentially offered many benefits including: more accurate alignment, less surgical time, and reduced costs. It was hoped that this would translate into better outcomes and longer implant survivorship. In assessing the overall literature, some studies describe improved component positioning (fewer outliers) over manual alignment techniques (1-3). However, studies have demonstrated mixed results for all of the above mentioned parameters (4-6). Therefore, the role of patient-specific instrumentation remains unclear.