cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of timing strategies for delivery of monochorionic diamniotic twins

Objective The purpose of this study was to compare strategies for delivery timing of uncomplicated monochorionic diamniotic twin pregnancies. Study Design A decision tree compared 9 strategies that included scheduled delivery between 32 and 38 weeks' gestation, with or without confirmation of fetal lung maturity. Outcomes in the model included fetal death, infant death, respiratory distress syndrome, mental retardation, and cerebral palsy. Results A scheduled delivery at 38 weeks' gestation was the preferred strategy, which resulted in the highest quality adjusted life years under base-case assumptions. Decreased, but comparable, quality adjusted life years estimates resulted from scheduled deliveries at 36 and 37 weeks' gestation, with or without amniocentesis. Sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the optimal gestational age for delivery was always ≥36 weeks' gestation. Conclusion This decision analysis suggests that, for women with uncomplicated monochorionic twins, delivery between 36 and 38 weeks' gestation is the preferred strategy for timing of delivery.
Multimodality high resolution wrist imaging for monitoring response to therapy in rheumatoid arthritis: Instrumentation and techniques

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating inflammatory disease which results in 9 million physician visits and 250,000 hospitalizations per year. New molecularly-targeted pharmaceuticals are available to treat this disease, but clinical examination and conventional imaging do not accurately distinguish long-term responders from non-responders to these expensive therapies. We hypothesize that longitudinal information gained from high resolution MRI, CT and PET imaging of wrists of RA patients receiving therapy will be synergistic and thus, in combination will lead to the development of new imaging metrics that will help clinicians match clinical response with active joint disease. These metrics could potentially be used to separate responders to therapy from non-responders at early time points in the course of the disease. To test this hypothesis, we aim to use a unique high resolution extremity PET/CT scanner built by UC Davis researchers and a knee coil in a 1.5T MRI whole-body scanner. A multimodality wrist restraint system (WRS) has been designed and fabricated, and is used to immobilize the wrist during and between scans. Phantom experiments have been carried out for the scanners in the presence of the WRS. No apparent image degradation due to the WRS was observed. Images from the three modalities have been rigidly registered using a fiducial marker-based approach. A repositioning study was carried out in healthy volunteers using the MRI scanner. Results from this study examining repositioning error in wrist bones look promising. Instrumentation development has been completed and proof-of-principle scans have been carried out. A clinical trial in 10 patients for monitoring response in RA has been approved by IRB and recruiting has begun in early November.
Diel Infection of a Cyanobacterium by a Contractile Bacteriophage

Light was found to strongly influence the infection of a freshwater cyanobacterium (Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942) by a contractile DNA phage named AS-1. Phage progeny production was correlated with the amount of light in the laboratory and occurred in a diel pattern under natural light. At least one effect of light on AS-1 infection is at the level of adsorption.
Optimal transform coding of Gaussian mixtures for joint classification/reconstruction

In a variety of applications, classification systems operate on compressed signals. The design of optimal transform coders optimizing a joint classification/reconstruction criterion was explored, where classification accuracy is measured using the Chernoff bound on probability of misclassification and reconstruction quality is measured using mean-squared error (MSE) distortion. Under a high-rate assumption, local optimality properties of the Karhunen-Loeve transform (KLT) for a certain class of Gaussian mixtures under a joint classification/MSE measure was shown. Analytical expressions for optimal bit-allocation were derived. This generalizes classical optimality properties of the KLT for Gaussian sources under the MSE criterion.
Short-term reproducibility of total homocysteine determinations in stable renal transplant recipients.

BETWEEN 1972 and 1996, at least 17 independent investigative groups documented the presence of significantly increased plasma or serum levels of the putatively arteriosclerotic sulfur amino acid homocysteine in endstage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Despite the chronic, modest reduction in fasting total homocysteine (tHcy) levels afforded by successful renal transplantation relative to ongoing maintenance dialysis in ESRD patients, we recently demonstrated that an excess prevalence of both fasting and postmethionine loading hyperhomocysteinemia persists in stable renal transplant recipients versus matched, population-based controls free of renal disease. Hyperhomocysteinemia may contribute to the disproportionately high rate of arteriosclerotic outcomes experienced by renal transplant recipients, which remains unexplained by the traditional vascular disease risk factors. The reproducibility of any putative risk factor measurement (eg, tHcy), determines, to an important extent, the ability to ascertain its potential association with a disease (eg, arteriosclerotic vascular disease) in a given population. Although data are available on the reliability of fasting or postmethionine loading tHcy determinations in general populations, no comparable analyses have been performed in clinically stable renal transplant recipients. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the short-term reproducibility of fasting and postmethionine loading tHcy level measurements in this specific patient population. For comparison, we simultaneously evaluated the short-term reproducibility of fasting total cholesterol, an established arteriosclerotic risk factor in general populations, and a likely arteriosclerotic risk factor in renal transplant recipients.
Understand direct NDP with linear quadratic regulation

This work falls into the general area of approximate dynamic programming. Direct NDP designs are further analyzed using classic control-theoretic sensitivity arguments. The relationship between direct NDP and LQR designs are discussed due to their resemblances in system performance functions. The cart-pole benchmark problem is used to demonstrate the possibility that direct NDP sometimes produces LQR-like designs. It is also shown that given a well-designed direct NDP control system, one can find a corresponding LQR design which exhibits comparable closed-loop performance. The convergence properties are studied by taking direct NDP under the linear LQR control environment.
Examining Economic Efficiency of U.S. Government Grading System: The Case of Louisiana Rough Rice

This study estimates a hedonic price model for Louisiana rough rice to evaluate the USDA grading system. The parameter estimates suggest that chalky kernel and red rice are significant quality factors that affect prices in the bid/acceptance regional rough rice market. Results also show that head and broken rice are as important characteristic as the USDA grade quality factors. Generalized least-squares estimation indicates that the USDA grades do not fully explain the observed price variations in Louisiana rough rice. The study constructs a modified grading system for rice. Comparisons show that the modified grading system outperforms the current government grading.
Intermediate-term potency, continence, and survival outcomes of radical prostatectomy for clinically high-risk or locally advanced prostate cancer.

Objectives Controversy exists about the preferred treatment of patients with high-risk or locally advanced prostate cancer. We examined the intermediate-term cancer control and quality-of-life outcomes after radical retropubic prostatectomy (RRP) in selected patients. Methods From 1984 to 2003, 288 men with Stage cT2b (Gleason score 8 to 10 or a prostate-specific antigen level greater than 15 ng/mL) or T3 disease underwent RRP by a single surgeon. The 7 and 10-year actuarial progression-free survival (PFS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), overall survival (OS), potency, and continence rates were recorded. Results The actuarial 7-year PFS, CSS, and OS rate after surgery was 39%, 92%, and 91%, respectively. The corresponding actuarial 10-year rates were 35%, 88%, and 74%. Only OS differed significantly by age group. On multivariate analysis, the pathologic stage was a significant independent predictor of progression. Ultimately, 31 men (11%) required hormonal therapy, 58 (20%) underwent postoperative radiotherapy, and 67 (23%) received both. Potency and continence were preserved in 64% and 92%, respectively. Conclusions Overall, RRP offers excellent intermediate-term cancer control for selected men of all ages who present with high-risk or locally advanced disease. The PFS was significantly greater for men with high-risk Stage cT2b than for those with cT3 disease, but the CSS and OS were similar. Both continence and potency were preserved in most patients, although the potency rates were significantly greater for the younger men. RRP with appropriate postoperative radiotherapy and/or hormonal therapy is a reasonable treatment option for selected men with high-risk or locally advanced disease.
Comparative studies of MgB/sub 2//Mg nano-composites and press-sintered MgB/sub 2/ pellets

We present our studies of superconducting and microstructural properties of bulk MgB/sub 2//Mg nano-composites and press-sintered MgB/sub 2/. TEM investigation revealed that the composites are very dense, consisting of nano-sized MgB/sub 2/ grains connected by the well-defined clean grain boundaries (GB). Both amorphous and structural intact GB's were observed in the press-sintered samples. Magnetization and transport measurements showed that the composite carried over 1 MA/cm/sup 2/ critical current density (J/sub c/) at 5 K and self-field, while the pressed sintered MgB/sub 2/ has J/sub c/ /spl sim/ 0.25 MA/cm/sup 2/ at 5 K and self-field. The origin of substantially higher J/sub c/ found in the composites is mostly due to their nano-sized grains and clean grain boundaries.
Thermally Induced Optical Nonlinearity During Transient Heating of Thin Films

This work studies the temperature field and the optical response of weakly absorbing thin films with thermally induced optical nonlinearity during picosecond to nanosecond pulsed-laser heating. A one-dimensional model is presented that examines the effects of the temperature dependent optical constants and the nonuniform absorption caused by interference. The energy equation is solved numerically, coupled with the matrix method in optical multilayer theory. Both cadmium sulfide (CdS) thin films and a zinc selenide (ZnSe) interference filter are considered. The computational results compare favorably with available experimental data on the ZnSe interference filter. This study shows that the transient temperature distributions in the films are highly nonuniform. Such nonuniformity yields Airy's formulae for calculating the thin-film reflectance and transmittance inapplicable. Applications of the work include optical bistability, localized change of the film structure, and measurement of the thermal diffusivity of thin films. 31 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.
ALTERATION BY DINITROCRESOL OF PATHWAYS FOR GLUCOSE OXIDATION IN EGGS OF ARBACIA PUNCTULATA

1. The C(14)O(2) production by Arbacia eggs and embryos from glucose-1-C(14), glucose-2-C(14), and glucose-6-C(14) has been measured without and with dinitrocresol in the incubation medium. In the absence of the dinitrocresol, the C(14)O(2) production from glucose-1-C(14) is more rapid than from glucose-2-C(14) and much more rapid than from glucose-6-C(14); this, together with previous findings, indicates that glucose is utilized in Arbacia eggs predominantly via the TPN shunt rather than via the aldolase step of the glycolytic pathway. In the presence of the dinitrocresol, C(14)O(2) from glucose-6-C(14) approaches that from glucose-1-C(14), indicating that, in the presence of this reagent, glucose utilization is diverted from the shunt to the glycolytic pathway. 2. Incorporation of C(14) from glucose labelled in the 1-, 2-, or 6- positions into other metabolic products of the eggs and embryos is also inhibited by dinitrocresol, particularly incorporation into the acid-insoluble fraction containing nucleoproteins.
The Relationship between Marital Status and Psychological Resilience in Chronic Pain

We examined the relationship between marital status and a 2-stage model of pain-related effect, consisting of pain unpleasantness and suffering. We studied 1914 chronic pain patients using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to clarify whether marital status was a determinant factor in the emotional or ideational suffering associated with chronic pain after controlling for pain sensation intensity, age, and ethnicity. Marital status was unrelated to immediate unpleasantness (P = 0.08). We found a strong association with emotional suffering (P < 0.0001) but not with negative illness beliefs (P = 0.44). Interestingly, widowed subjects experienced significantly less frustration, fear, and anger than all other groups (married, divorced, separated, or single). A final MANCOVA including sex as a covariate revealed that the emotional response to pain was the same for both widow and widower. Only those individuals whose spouse died experienced less emotional turmoil in the face of a condition threatening their lifestyle. These data suggest that after experiencing the death of a spouse, an individual may derive some "emotional inoculation" against future lifestyle threat.
Chiral ionic liquids for enantioseparation of pharmaceutical products by capillary electrophoresis.

Abstract A chiral ionic liquid (IL), S-[3-(chloro-2-hydroxypropyl)trimethylammonium] [bis((trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl)amide] (S-[CHTA]+[Tf2N]−), which can be easily and readily synthesized in a one-step process from commercially available reagents, can be successfully used both as co-electrolyte and as a chiral selector for CE. A variety of pharmaceutical products including atenolol, propranolol, warfarin, indoprofen, ketoprofen, ibuprofen and flurbiprofen, can be successfully and baseline separated with the use of this IL as electrolyte. Interestingly, while S-[CHTA]+[Tf2N]− can also serve as a chiral selector, enantioseparation cannot be successfully achieved with S-[CHTA]+[Tf2N]− as the only chiral selector. In the case of ibuprofen, a second chiral selector, namely a chiral anion (sodium cholate), is needed for the chiral separation. For furbiprofen, in addition to S-[CHTA]+[Tf2N]− and sodium cholate, a third and neutral chiral selector, 1-S-octyl-β- d -thioglucopyranoside (OTG), is also needed. Due to the fact that the chirality of this chiral IL resides on the cation (i.e., -[CHTA]+), and that needed additional chiral selector(s) are either chiral anion (i.e., cholate) or chiral neutral compound (OTG), the results obtained seem to suggest that additional chiral selector(s) are needed to provide the three-point interactions needed for chiral separations.
Mission Driven and Data Informed Leadership.

The contemporary challenges facing Catholic schools and Catholic school leaders are widely known. Effective and systemic solutions to these mounting challenges are less widely known or discussed. This article highlights the skills, knowledge, and dispositions associated with mission driven and data informed leadership—an orientation to school level leadership that we believe holds great promise for the renewal and revitalization of Catholic schools. The conceptual framework developed in this article takes specific shape through an examination of the problem-based learning strategies embedded in the curriculum of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program in the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame, and three exemplary action research projects completed by program graduates and current leaders in Catholic schools.
Tools for Stakeholder Assessment and Interaction

Stakeholders play an increasing role in environmental policy and are key actors in the supposed sustainability transition (O`Riordan/Stoll-Kleemann 2002). Characterizing their role as well as the transition itself requires a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of social networks and the relationship between individual and collective action. In many models, used in integrated assessment, a top-down rational controller drives the world into a desired direction, optimizing a global welfare function, notwithstanding the fact that the development of the real world is affected by numerous agents which act according to their own interests and capabilities. Sustainable development strategies often fail due to their inability to adequately take social interaction into consideration, such as dialogues, negotiations, conflicts, coalition formation and institution building. Usually collective action is seen as a problem in common pool resources (such as fishery), where unregulated resource access by a group of individuals leads to resource depletion and the violation of common interests, as can be observed in the so-called “Tragedy-of-the-Commons” (Hardin 1968, Ostrom 1990). While such conflicts of individual vs. collective interests can be observed in many social dilemma situations, there was less attention to the possibility that joint action could rather preserve natural resources and support a sustainability transition if individuals cooperate and coordinate their actions. A key question is under which conditions one or the other form of interaction occurs and how it can be realized. The answer depends on the rules of communication and the institutional settings, as well as on the tools available during, before and after the interaction. Such tools, designed as simple or comprehensive models, and established as rules, procedures or programs, could deepen the understanding of the phenomena and manage their complexities and uncertainties. They are an issue in interactive decision-making and communication processes, such as stakeholder dialogues and negotiations, in support of sustainable development. This article describes some of the modelling and computational tools that can play a role in complementing and supporting dialogues, including mathematical models, negotiation analysis, mediation, experimental games, agent-based models and participatory integrated assessment. Properly designed, these tools can be used as instruments during real-world dialogue or decision-making, with stakeholders being active users or objects of study. By making critical information accessible and facilitating communication in dialogue and negotiations, by structuring complex problems and providing practical models in support of decision-making and risk analysis, such tools would support stakeholders in assessing problems and expressing their views more explicitly. As educational and research tools they can improve the understanding of the issues at stake. To illustrate the use of some of the tools in environmental policy, applications in climate, fishery and water management are mentioned.
A future for nuclear energy: pebble bed reactors

Pebble Bed Reactors could allow nuclear plants to support the goal of reducing global climate change in an energy hungry world. They are small, modular, inherently safe, use a demonstrated nuclear technology and can be competitive with fossil fuels. Pebble bed reactors are helium cooled reactors that use small tennis ball size fuel balls consisting of only 9 grams of uranium per pebble to provide a low power density reactor. The low power density and large graphite core provide inherent safety features such that the peak temperature reached even under the complete loss of coolant accident without any active emergency core cooling system is significantly below the temperature that the fuel melts. This feature should enhance public confidence in this nuclear technology. With advanced modularity principles, it is expected that this type of design and assembly could lower the cost of new nuclear plants removing a major impediment to deployment.
The Teleost Intramandibular Joint: A mechanism That Allows Fish to Obtain Prey Unavailable to Suction Feeders.

Synopsis Although the majority of teleost fishes possess a fused lower jaw (or mandible), some lineages have acquired a secondary joint in the lower jaw, termed the intramandibular joint (IMJ). The IMJ is a new module that formed within the already exceptionally complex teleost head, and disarticulation of two bony elements of the mandible potentially creates a ‘‘double-jointed’’ jaw. The apparent independent acquisition of this new functional module in divergent lineages raises a suite of questions. (1) How many teleostean lineages contain IMJ-bearing species? (2) Does the IMJ serve the same purpose in all teleosts? (3) Is the IMJ associated with altered feeding kinematics? (4) Do IMJ-bearing fishes experience trade-offs in other aspects of feeding performance? (5) Is the IMJ used to procure prey that are otherwise unavailable? The IMJ is probably under-reported, but has been documented in at least 10 lineages within the Teleostei. Across diverse IMJ-bearing lineages, this secondary joint in the lower jaw serves a variety of functions, including: generating dynamic out-levers that allow fish to apply additional force to a food item during jaw closing; allowing fish to ‘‘pick’’ individual prey items with pincer-like jaws; and facilitating contact with the substrate by altering the size and orientation of the gape. There are no consistent changes in feeding kinematics in IMJ-bearing species relative to their sister taxa; however, some IMJ-bearing taxa produce very slow movements during the capture of food, which may compromise their ability to move prey into the mouth via suction. Despite diversity in behavior, all IMJ-bearing lineages have the ability to remove foods that are physically attached to the substrate or to bite off pieces from sessile organisms. Because such prey cannot be drawn into the mouth by suction, the IMJ provides a new mechanism that enables fish to obtain food that otherwise would be unavailable.
Risk in supply response: an econometric application

Impact of risk aversion in competitive market models has been analyzed in theory to characterize optimal behavior in different cases from zero to positive levels of risk aversion [1,2,12]. For commodity markets this analysis has important implications for stabilization policies; for, if risk aversion has a significant impact on optimal supply behavior, any policy which reduces risk aversion would also affect optimal supply and therefore suppliers’ incomes. The theoretical hypothesis of risk aversion and its impact on demand supply behavior must have empirical plausibility before they can be utilized for policy purposes. With this objective an econometric attempt is made here to provide a quantitative assessment of the incidence of risk on farmers’ production decisions for a number of California field crops over the years 1949–70. Risk is measured by several surrogate variables like variance of prices, dummy variables suitably constructed and expectational factors. Reasons for analyzing agricultural supply response to changing risk are two-fold. First, the competitive framework very nearly holds in the agricultural sector, where previous econometric studies [5,7] have emphasized the importance of price and yield variability on farmers’ production decisions. Even in less developed countries, where the agricultural sector may not be as competitive as in the developed countries, planted acreages of different field crops have been found to significantly depend on the variances of prices and yields [1,15].
CacheKeeper: a system-wide web caching service for smartphones

Efficient web caching in mobile apps eliminates unnecessary network traffic, reduces web accessing latency, and improves smartphone battery life. However, recent research has indicated that current mobile apps suffer from poor implementations of web caching. In this work, we first conducted a comprehensive survey of over 1000 Android apps to identify how different types of mobile apps perform in web caching. Based on our analysis, we designed CacheKeeper, an OS web caching service transparent to mobile apps for smartphones. CacheKeeper can not only effectively reduce overhead caused by poor web caching of mobile apps, but also utilizes cross-app caching opportunities in smartphones. Furthermore, CacheKeeper is backward compatible, meaning that existing apps can take advantage of CacheKeeper without any modifications. We have implemented a prototype of CacheKeeper in Linux kernel. Evaluation on 10 top ranked Android apps shows that our CacheKeeper prototype can save 42% networks traffic with real user browsing behaviors and increase web accessing speed by 2x under real 3G settings. Experiments also show that our prototype incurs negligible overhead in most aspects on cache misses.
Pretreatment with D-myo-inositol trisphosphate reduces infarct size in rabbit hearts: Role of inositol trisphosphate receptors and gap junctions in triggering protection

Pretreatment with D-myo-inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate hexasodium (D-myo-IP(3)), the sodium salt of the second messenger inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP(3)), is cardioprotective and triggers a reduction of infarct size comparable in magnitude to that obtained with ischemic preconditioning. However, this observation is enigmatic; whereas IP(3) signaling is conventionally initiated by receptor binding, IP(3) receptors are typically considered to be intracellular, and D-myo-IP(3) is membrane-impermeable. We propose that this paradox is explained by the presence of poorly characterized external IP(3) receptors and hypothesize that: 1) infarct size reduction with D-myo-IP(3) is receptor-mediated; and 2) communication via gap junctions and/or hemichannels is required to initiate this protection. To investigate the role of receptor binding, isolated buffer-perfused rabbit hearts underwent 30 min of coronary occlusion (CO) and 2 h of reflow. Prior to CO, hearts received no treatment (controls), D-myo-IP(3), L-myo-IP(3) (enantiomer not recognized by the IP(3) receptor), D-myo-IP(3) + the IP(3) receptor inhibitor xestospongin C (XeC), or XeC alone. Infarct size, assessed by tetrazolium staining, was reduced with D-myo-IP(3) treatment, whereas hearts that received L-myo-IP(3) or D-myo-IP(3) + XeC showed no protection. To evaluate the contribution of gap junctions/hemichannels, additional control and D-myo-IP(3)-treated cohorts received a 5-min infusion of heptanol or Gap 27, two structurally distinct gap junction inhibitors, administered at doses confirmed to attenuate intercellular transmission of a gap junction-permeable fluorescent dye. There was no infarct-sparing effect of D-myo-IP(3) in inhibitor-treated hearts. These data support the concepts that infarct size reduction with D-myo-IP(3) is triggered by receptor binding and that communication via gap junctions/hemichannels is involved in initiating this protection.
An unusual enhancement of low-frequency plasmaspheric hiss in the outer plasmasphere associated with substorm-injected electrons

[1] Both plasmaspheric hiss and chorus waves were observed simultaneously by the two Van Allen Probes in association with substorm-injected energetic electrons. Probe A, located inside the plasmasphere in the postdawn sector, observed intense plasmaspheric hiss, whereas Probe B observed chorus waves outside the plasmasphere just before dawn. Dispersed injections of energetic electrons were observed in the dayside outer plasmasphere associated with significant intensification of plasmaspheric hiss at frequencies down to ~20 Hz, much lower than typical hiss wave frequencies of 100–2000 Hz. In the outer plasmasphere, the upper energy of injected electrons agrees well with the minimum cyclotron resonant energy calculated for the lower cutoff frequency of the observed hiss, and computed convective linear growth rates indicate instability at the observed low frequencies. This suggests that the unusual low-frequency plasmaspheric hiss is likely to be amplified in the outer plasmasphere due to the injected energetic electrons.
Why inverse document frequency

Inverse Document Frequency (IDF) is a popular measure of a word's importance. The IDF invariably appears in a host of heuristic measures used in information retrieval. However, so far the IDF has itself been a heuristic. In this paper, we show IDF to be optimal in a principled sense. We show that IDF is the optimal weight of a word with respect to minimization of a Kullback-Leibler distance suitably generalized to nonnegative functions which need not be probability distributions. This optimization problem is closely related to maximum entropy problem. We show that the IDF is the optimal weight associated with a word-feature in an information retrieval setting where we treat each document as the query that retrieves itself. That is, IDF is optimal for document self-retrieval.
Low-volume jet injection for intradermal immunization in rabbits

This study tested a low-volume (20–30 μl/20–30 μg DNA) jet injection method for intradermal delivery of a DNA vaccine. Jet injection offers the advantages of a needle-less system, low-cost, rapid preparation of the injected DNA solution, and a simple delivery system. More than one construct can be injected simultaneously and the method may be combined with adjuvants. Low-volume jet injection targeted delivery of a DNA solution exclusively to the dermis and epidermis of rabbits. A three injection series of plasmid DNA, encoding the Hepatitis B Surface Antigen stimulated a humoral immune response in 2/5 rabbits. One rabbit developed a significant rise in antibody titer after 1 injection and one following 2 injections. There were no significant differences between jet injection and particle bombardment in the maximal antibody titers or number of injections before response. A three injection series of the same plasmid DNA by particle bombardment elicited a significant rise in antibody titer in 3/5 rabbits. One rabbit developed antibody after 1 injection and two after 3 injections. In contrast, 0/5 rabbits receiving DNA by needle and syringe injection responded. In the jet injection and particle bombardment groups, gene expression levels in the skin did not predict response. While immune responses were similar, luciferase gene expression levels in the skin following particle bombardment were 10–100 times higher than jet injection. Low-volume jet injection is a simple, effective methodology for intradermal DNA immunization.
The Air We Breathe.

The article focuses on a poster, "The Air We Breathe," from the American Lung Association which was created as part of its environmental education program in the 1980s. It comments on the two most dominant forms of air pollution in the United States, particulate pollution and ozone, and mentions hazards include sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and lead. It talks about the increased risk of premature death caused by ozone pollution and reflects on the history of American environmental policy.
Economy and Disability: Labor Market Conditions and the Disability of Working-Age Individuals

Previous work on the link between macroeconomic conditions and disability has focused almost exclusively on changes in applications for disability benefit programs, not changes in individuals' self-perceived disability status. This article demonstrates that macroeconomic conditions may influence disability through a direct disabling pathway that is distinct from the reservation wage pathway highlighted in previous analyses of disability assistance. State-level analyses using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1982–2006 reveal a robust inverse relationship between state GDP per capita and disability among the working-age population. Analyses using individual-level data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) find that currently employed persons are more likely to report a disability if they reside in a local area with higher unemployment rates and that this association exists across levels of education; and finally, a lagged regression model analyzing change in local unemployment from 2008 to 2009, the first year of the “Great Recession,” finds that an increase in local area unemployment in one year is associated with an increased self-reported disability rate among currently employed workers in the next year. Findings have implications for understanding how macroeconomic downturns influence perceptions of disability and how structural conditions shape individual identity more broadly.
NELL-1 in the treatment of osteoporotic bone loss

NELL-1 is a secreted, osteoinductive protein whose expression rheostatically controls skeletal ossification. Overexpression of NELL-1 results in craniosynostosis in humans and mice, whereas lack of Nell-1 expression is associated with skeletal undermineralization. Here we show that Nell-1-haploinsufficient mice have normal skeletal development but undergo age-related osteoporosis, characterized by a reduction in osteoblast:osteoclast (OB:OC) ratio and increased bone fragility. Recombinant NELL-1 binds to integrin β1 and consequently induces Wnt/β-catenin signalling, associated with increased OB differentiation and inhibition of OC-directed bone resorption. Systemic delivery of NELL-1 to mice with gonadectomy-induced osteoporosis results in improved bone mineral density. When extended to a large animal model, local delivery of NELL-1 to osteoporotic sheep spine leads to significant increase in bone formation. Altogether, these findings suggest that NELL-1 deficiency plays a role in osteoporosis and demonstrate the potential utility of NELL-1 as a combination anabolic/antiosteoclastic therapeutic for bone loss.
A Greater Multiplier with a Targeted Tax and Spend Strategy

Traditional macroeconomics finds a multiplier of 1.0 when taxes and expenditures are increased the same amount. It results from uniform tax increases and a similar constant marginal propensity to consume. I show that a greater multiplier results when the tax rate increases on those with a lower marginal propensity to consume and the money spent goes to those with a higher marginal propensity to consume. This allows an economy to both grow and maintain a balanced budget. It would be most useful to increase a “sluggish” economy as opposed to a severe recession. I argue that the assumptions used are quite realistic. The overall model and its assumptions present a testable exercise.
Abstract 13767: Thymosin β4 and its Cleavage Product Ac-SDKP Are Down-regulated in Left Ventricular Myocardium of Dogs with Chronic Heart Failure

Background: Thymosin β4 (Tβ4) is a 43 amino acid peptide and has been shown to promote angiogenesis, suppress pro-inflammatory cytokines and protect cardiomyocytes from apoptosis and oxidative stress injury. The Tβ4 cleavage product Ac-SDKP is a tetrapeptide (Acetyl-Ser-Asp-Lys-Pro) that has been shown to inhibit collagen production by fibroblasts and collagen deposition in the LV of rats with hypertension or myocardial infarction. In the setting of chronic heart failure (HF), LV dysfunction and chamber remodeling are associated with interstitial fibrosis, reduced capillary density, cardiomyocyte apoptosis and increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Hypothesis: This study tested the hypothesis that protein levels of both Tβ4 and its cleavage product Ac-SDKP are down-regulated in LV myocardium of dogs with advanced chronic HF. Methods: LV tissue was obtained from the LV free wall of 6 normal dogs and 6 dogs with chronic HF (LV ejection fraction ~30%) produced by multiple sequential intracoronary microembolizations. Protein levels of Tβ4 and β-actin, as internal control, were determined by Western blotting and bands expressed in densitometric units (du). Levels of Ac-SDKP were determined by ELISA and expressed in ng/mg protein. Results: Protein level of β-actin did not change significantly between normal dogs (1.34 ± 0.19 du) and dogs with chronic HF (1.22 ± 0.18 du). Protein level of Tβ4 was significantly lower in LV myocardium of dogs with HF compared to normal dogs (0.36 ± 0.06 vs. 1.64 ± 0.13 du, p Conclusions: Protein levels of Tβ4 and its cleavage tetrapeptide Ac-SDKP are markedly down-regulated in LV myocardium dogs with chronic HF. These findings are in-line with the reported increase of pro-inflammatory cytokines, interstitial fibrosis, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and ROS formation as well as reduced capillary density in the failing LV myocardium of dogs with microembolization-induced HF as well as patients with HF. The findings support the therapeutic targeting of Tβ4 and Ac-SDKP as potential treatment for chronic HF.
The Karen resettlement story: A participatory action research project on refugee educational experiences in the United States

This study discusses Karen refugees and their education experiences in the United States via a participatory action research. A White male American English tutor and three adolescent Karen brothers took a road trip and visited with the Karen diaspora communities throughout the United States. Researchers in collaboration designed the study, collected qualitative data (interviews, participant observations, artifacts), and analyzed the data and identified five challenges facing Karen youth in- and out-of school: English language divide, parental involvement in their children’s schooling, bullying, gangs, and gender. We discuss how involvement in such a participatory action research can promote new awareness and agency for minority youth. Furthermore, we suggest ways for teachers, school administrators, and community members to help refugee youth better adapt to their communities and schools.
The relationship between urbanisation and cross-national homicide rates: robustness across multiple estimation methods

ABSTRACTSUrbanisation has generally been found to be a non-significant predictor of homicide rates in cross-national studies. Despite this, there is strong theoretical support for the presence of a positive association between the two. The present study analyses data for up to 57 nations for the period 1993–2005 and examines the relationship between urbanisation and homicide using pooled ordinary least squares, feasible generalised least squares, panel-corrected standard errors, fixed-effects, and random-effects estimation. The results show that urbanisation is one of the strongest predictors of homicide in the cross-national context. This is consistent with the expected relationship according to modernisation theory and suggests that rapidly urbanising nations should be concerned with the unintended consequences of urbanisation.
Host Age and Parasitism by Trichogramma minutum (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

In the laboratory, Trichogramma minutum Riley killed nearly 100% of the eggs of the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (H¼bner), that were less than 11 hours old at the time of stinging, about 15% when the eggs were 27 hours old, and almost 95% when the eggs were ready for eclosion. At all ages of host eggs, the percent in which parasite eggs were laid was about the same as the percent killed, but some hosts of intermediate age hatched despite the presence of parasite eggs. The percent host eggs turning black before parasite emergence was consistently lower than the percent killed, especially with older hosts, and 24-hour-old eggs had an increased probability of being parasitized when they were attacked more than once. Failure of parasites to oviposit and death of parasite eggs were caused by some physical or chemical properly common to both living hosts and hosts killed by gamma rays. Females found about equal numbers of 1-. 25-, or 49-hour-old eggs but did not find as many 69-hour-old eggs with the black head capsule showing. At all ages of host eggs, the percent eggs accepted forstinging was about the same.
On the use of surrogate models in the analytical decompositions of refractive index gradients obtained through quasiconformal transformation optics

Recent advances in the field of transformation optics (TO) have renewed interest in gradient-index (GRIN) optical systems. By transforming a classically inspired aspherical lens to a flat geometry using TO, one can achieve a design with better field-of-view (FOV) performance than traditional radial GRIN lenses. In order to understand the underlying physics of this performance improvement, TO-derived solutions of various designs are decomposed into a 2D-polynomial basis to analyze their behavior and to determine which terms improve optical performance. A comprehensive study of this sort involves thousands of iterations of numerical TO and ray tracing. By training a surrogate model to approximate the TO calculation, the procedure can be greatly accelerated, dramatically reducing the time of this study from weeks to hours. The accuracy of the surrogate model approximation is verified against the original TO solution, and its usefulness in a system-by-design procedure is tested in a series of single- and multi-objective optimizations.
Viral Textuality in Nineteenth-Century Us Newspaper Exchanges

On February 8, 1862, the Ashtabula Weekly Telegraph (Ashtabula, Ohio) published on its back page a list of fourteen “Health Hints—Follies.”1 These follies, attributed to a “Dr. Hall,” critique ideas about diet and exercise (“1. To thing [sic] that the more a man eats the fatter and stronger he will become”), education (“2. To believe that the more hours children study at school the faster they learn”), home organization (“5. To act on the presumption that the smallest room in the house is large enough to sleep in”), and even ethics (“7. To commit an act which is felt in itself to be prejudicial, hoping that somehow or other it may be done in your case with impunity”). This snippet exemplifies the listicle genre, which is often associated with popular content online in the early twenty-first century, but which was also common in nineteenth-century newspapers.2 The “Follies” piece is, on its face, quite conventional and unassuming, but it was one of the most widely reprinted newspaper snippets of the nineteenth century, appearing at least 136 times in newspapers and magazines between 1862 and 1899.3
Residual Stress Modeling in Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) by Incorporating Massive Random Discharges

Abstract EDM induced residual stress is a great concern for product performance. Current modeling methods of EDM are limited to a single discharge. However, a single discharge simulation is far from the reality to predict the residual stress due to the accumulating effect of massive random discharges. In this study, a new modeling method accounting for massive random discharges has been developed to simulate residual stress formation in die-sinking EDM of the ASP 23 tool steel. Both local residual stress and average residual stress characteristics in the subsurface have been investigated. The effects of discharge voltage on residual stresses are also studied.
Planning open spaces for wildlife: I. Selecting focal species using a Delphi survey approach

Abstract In a world being transformed by human population growth, conservation biology has emerged as one discipline focused on preventing, mitigating, and reversing the loss of species, ecosystems, and landscapes. Because of the need to act quickly with incomplete information, conservation biologists have developed shortcuts that rely on identifying key species to be focused on during planning efforts. We describe a process that can be used to select those species, using a suburbanizing region in the United States as an example. The Triangle region of North Carolina, USA—Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill and surroundings—is undergoing rapid suburbanization, resulting in land-use changes that will alter wildlife communities and might result in the loss of some species. We are developing a wildlife conservation plan for the region based on a combination of landscape and focal species approaches. The objective of the research described in this paper was to identify focal species to be used for conservation planning in the region; our effort focused on amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. In theory, habitat conserved by planning for a few carefully chosen focal species is expected to encompass habitat for many other species with similar requirements. To identify focal species, we used a three-part Delphi survey, administered to a panel of experts. The panel identified six landscape types and nine associated focal species: extensive undisturbed habitat (bobcat, eastern box turtle); riparian and bottomland forest (barred owl, beaver); upland forest (ovenbird, broad-winged hawk); mature forest (pileated woodpecker); pastures and grassy fields (loggerhead shrike); and open and early successional forest (northern bobwhite). The panelists generally agreed that a combined landscape—focal species approach was reasonable, but noted a number of problems to be expected during the planning phase. The most critical of these problems are that the approach has not been well tested, required data are often unavailable, and implementation will be difficult in the face of extreme economic pressures to develop land. Administering the Delphi survey was more labor-intensive, and took longer, than we anticipated; it might have been more effective had it been completed more quickly. Nevertheless, we believe this process can be applied to a broad range of conservation problems, which are often characterized by a high degree of uncertainty and the need to act quickly.
The Existence of Sections of Sheaves

Let (α, H) be A.-H. data for a complex torus V/L. Our objective is Theorem 2.1 The space Γ(V/L, ℒ(α, H)) of holomorphic sections of ℒ(α, H) is non-zero if and only if both a) H is positive semi-definite and b) α is identically one on L ∩ KerH.
Direct list mode reconstruction for motion compensation

As resolution of PET increases, subject movement is becoming a significant factor that limits image quality. It is important to develop image reconstruction methods that can compensate motion. The basic approach that we have taken in this work is to use video cameras to track the subject movement and to use this information in reconstruction algorithms. We have developed a direct list-mode reconstruction algorithm that incorporates the subject motion information in the likelihood function. The method can accurately compensate measured motion and it does not require interpolation of either measured events or reconstructed images. We applied the method to experimental data from a phantom in a microPET scanner.
Counternarratives as Critical Perspectives in Public Administration Curricula

This article argues for the inclusion of critical perspectives in public administration curricula to explore the historical and contemporary processes that contribute to disparity and injustice. The counternarratives examined in the article include social construction, inclusive feminism, critical urban planning, and democratic cultural pluralism. Critical perspectives or counternarratives are presented as challenges to hegemonic scripts that will aid in creating a workforce that is not only equipped to operate within a global society but understands the economic and social context that operationalize “others” in society.
Meeting the Great Challenge: What Growth-Oriented Writing of the 1960s and 1970s Can Teach Us about Uniting the Individualistic and Social Aims of English Education.

This study explores the relationship between two values that sit at the heart of English education: a commitment to democratic citizenship and a commitment to fostering students’ personal growth. S...
Clinical ethics consultation in oncology.

9121 Background: There is limited empirical research exploring the nature of clinical ethical consultations within the oncology population. Our objective is to review, describe and compare clinical...
Understanding the prevalence and correlates of implicit theories of weight in the United States: Insights from a nationally representative sample

Objectives: The primary aim of this research is to understand how mindsets about weight controllability in the United States relate to population health. We examined the distribution of people’s im...