cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Growth Promotion in Pea Stem Sections. I. Stimulation of Auxin and Gibberellin Action by Alkyl Lipids

A section of pea stem after removal from the plant elongates markedly less than the same zone when it is left on the intact plant. No growth factor or conlbination of known factors restores more than half of this missing growth. This is particularly evident in studies with the gibberellins. The intact pea plants respond to gibberellin with large growth increments whereas sections cut from replicate plants are only slightly stimulated (6,11,22). Our previous paper (20) showed that several types of fatty acid esters can partly restore the missing growth of the excised sections. The increased growth was found to be due to a stimulation of auxin and gibberellin action by the fatty acid esters, since the latter substances were inactive by themselves. These unexpected findings indicate that lipid substances have a hitherto unappreciated action in plant growth. Their role in normal plant growth regulation may be exerted through a synergistic effect on hormones rather than as hormones in themselves. The present study has been directed at defining the chenmical structure required for this synergism.
Adhesion Improvement of CVD Diamond Coatings on WC-Co Substrates for Machining Applications

In order to improve the performance of WC-Co cutting tools, high quality microcrystalline diamond coatings were produced using microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPECVD) method. The adhesion of the diamond film deposited on the substrate has been considered to play an important role in the performance of the cutting tools in machining applications. A thin layer of Cr was coated on the WC-Co substrate before the diamond deposition; 75 μm diamond powders were sandblasted on the surface at 40 Psi to increase the nucleation density. Diamond film has been successfully deposited on the substrate at temperature around 750°C with 1.5 % CH4 in Hydrogen plasma. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to study the surface morphology and Raman spectroscopy has been performed to characterize the quality of the diamond films and measure the residual stress. The adhesion of the diamond film has been evaluated by Rockwell indentation test. The results indicated that film grown on the Cr interlayer with diamond powder sandblasting has much better adhesion strength.
An electrical resistance study of the precipitation reaction in a gold-platinum-iron alloy.

The aging reaction of a 90 wt-% gold, 10 wt-% platinum alloy with nominal iron concentrations of 0.04, 0.08, and 0.16 wt-% iron has been studied using electrical resistance measurements. The electrical resistance was measured as a function of temperature from 300 to 750°C. A decrease in electrical resistance was observed occurring at 350 to 450°C, when heating the solution treated and water quenched specimens containing iron. Subsequent heating and cooling curves follow the gold-platinum standard. Isothermal electrical resistance measurements were made as a function of time. The data from the specimen containing a nominal iron concentration of 0.16 wt-% iron was analyzed using the Johnson-Mehl equation. The shape parameter n was found to vary as a function of aging temperature from n = 0.6 to n = 1. These results have been rationalized in terms of a model involving precipitation of FePt3 at dislocations (400°C) and FePt3 in the shape of a rod at 500°C.
Geriatric depression scale: consistency of depressive symptoms over time.

The following is a comment on the importance of the 1991 finding by I. L. Abraham of the unchanging nature of depressive symptoms over time: one concludes that such patients will not change unless ...
Characterization of a soluble ferric reductase fromNeisseria gonorrhoeae

An NADH-dependent ferric reductase was identified in extracts ofNeisseria gonorrhoeae. Enzyme activity was measured in an assay using ferrozine as the ferrous iron acceptor. Ferric reductase activity was enhanced by Mg2+ and flavine nucleotides. The enzyme reduced both citrate- and diphosphate-bound ferric iron as well as ferric hydroxide (Imferon). However, no activity was observed with either 30%-iron-saturated transferrin or with the gonococcal iron-binding protein, Fbp. The ferric reductase was found primarily within the cytoplasmic cell fraction. The soluble ferric reductase was purified 110-fold by ammonium sulfate precipitation, gel and anion-exchange chromatography. Results obtained following gel chromatography and SDS/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis suggested that the enzyme had a molecular mass of about 25 kDa.
Amino Acid Content in Selected Breakfast Cereals

Protein and 17 amino acids were determined in 11 commercial breakfast cereals. Total amino acid concentration ranged from 5,408–19,872 mg/100g dry weight. Lysine was the limiting amino acid in all the breakfast cereals except Apple Jacks in which methionine was the limiting amino acid. The chemical score ranged from 11–45 which reflected the low protein quality in the breakfast cereals.
The Poisson Formula Revisited

This note presents a series solution to the Cauchy problem of wave equations which permits the Cauchy problem in space to be introduced in an introductory partial differential equation (PDE) course.
On exit times of multivariate random walk with some applications to finance

Abstract This paper analyzes multivariate delayed random walk processes and multivariate Poisson processes and presents some applications to the stock market. When trading with stock options or having, a stock portfolio (including ones by mutual funds), we are interested in various parameters, such as exit times and stock exit price values when the stock drops or when it exceeds a specified price, or even one trade ahead of the time when an exit would occur. We obtain closed form functionals of the named random parameters. We also present an example of a random walk embedded in a multivariate Poisson process.
Performance standards and evaluations in IR test collections: vector-space and other retrieval models

Low performance standards for each query and for the group of queries in 13 traditional and four TREC test collections have been computed. Predicted by the hypergeometric distribution, the standards represent the highest level of retrieval effectiveness attributable to chance. Operational levels of performance for vector-space, ad-hoc-feature-based, probabilistic, and other retrieval models have been compared to the standards. The effectiveness of these techniques in small, traditional test collections can be explained by retrieving a few more relevant documents for most queries than expected by chance, and the effectiveness of retrieval techniques in the large TREC test collections can only be explained by retrieving many more relevant documents for most queries than expected by chance. The discrepancy between deviations from chance in traditional and TREC text collections is due to a decrease in performance standards for large test collections, not to an increase in operational performance. Retrieving a few more relevant documents than expected by chance leads to mediocre levels of performance; recall and precision are rarely greater than 0.50 for any retrieval strategy in any test collection. However, marginal improvements to expectations based on chance may be sufficient to initiate successful interactions between an end-user and the next generation of retrieval systems, in which relevance judgments will be automatically translated into progressively improving estimates of the capacity of terms and other features to discriminate between relevant and non-relevant documents. Realization of such systems would be enhanced by abandoning uninformative performance summaries and focusing on effectiveness and improvements in effectiveness of individual queries.
Traumatic Brain Injury Increases Cortical Glutamate Network Activity by Compromising GABAergic Control

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major risk factor for developing pharmaco-resistant epilepsy. Although disruptions in brain circuitry are associated with TBI, the precise mechanisms by which brain injury leads to epileptiform network activity is unknown. Using controlled cortical impact (CCI) as a model of TBI, we examined how cortical excitability and glutamatergic signaling was altered following injury. We optically mapped cortical glutamate signaling using FRET-based glutamate biosensors, while simultaneously recording cortical field potentials in acute brain slices 2-4 weeks following CCI. Cortical electrical stimulation evoked polyphasic, epileptiform field potentials and disrupted the input-output relationship in deep layers of CCI-injured cortex. High-speed glutamate biosensor imaging showed that glutamate signaling was significantly increased in the injured cortex. Elevated glutamate responses correlated with epileptiform activity, were highest directly adjacent to the injury, and spread via deep cortical layers. Immunoreactivity for markers of GABAergic interneurons were significantly decreased throughout CCI cortex. Lastly, spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic current frequency decreased and spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic current increased after CCI injury. Our results suggest that specific cortical neuronal microcircuits may initiate and facilitate the spread of epileptiform activity following TBI. Increased glutamatergic signaling due to loss of GABAergic control may provide a mechanism by which TBI can give rise to post-traumatic epilepsy.
Coping with job stress: Which strategies work best?

In a four-wave panel study the coping styles of case managers hired to work with seriously and persistently mentally ill clients were measured at entry to the job. Workers' degree of stress, strain and negative consequences, such as burnout, job dissatisfaction, physical symptoms, intention to quit and life dissatisfaction, were assessed at subsequent time periods (three, 12 and/or 18 months later). Depending on time period and outcome variable studied, the effect of coping was examined in between 39 and 51 workers. The results showed that control-oriented coping strategies clearly acted as work stress buffers, and that those who relied exclusively on avoidance coping strategies reported higher general levels of negative consequences three months later. Implications were discussed for (a) the measurement of coping, (b) conceptions of coping styles and flexibility, and (c) programmes for assisting workers to deal with burnout arising from challenging work environments.
Endovascular repair of a penetrating thoracic aortic ulcer by way of the carotid artery.

Abstract Introduction Endovascular repair of thoracic aortic lesions offers an attractive alternative to traditional open repair. Access to the thoracic aorta can occasionally be challenging because of large device size and vessel tortuosity. Traditional access by way of the femoroiliac vessels might not be possible in the setting of synchronous iliac occlusive disease. Materials and methods A 63-year-old woman presented with a 7.1-cm symptomatic, penetrating ulcer of the descending thoracic aorta. The patient's severe pulmonary disease prohibited an open repair. A Talent endoprosthesis was placed under compassionate use with approval of the institutional review board. The graft was placed by way of the left common carotid artery because of severe iliac occlusive disease. Results The thoracic endograft was successfully placed with exclusion of the pseudoaneurysm. The patient's chest pain resolved immediately. She developed mild left-sided weakness from a postoperative right anterior cerebral artery stroke that quickly resolved. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 5. No aortic endoleak was noted on follow-up computerized tomography scan at 1 month. Conclusions Endovascular repair should be considered in patients with thoracic aortic aneurysms, particularly those with severe medical comorbidities. Placement by way of the common carotid artery is technically feasible in the setting of synchronous aortoiliac disease.
Endothelium-mediated control of coronary vascular tone after chronic exercise training.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of endothelium-derived relaxing factors in the control of coronary vascular resistance in conditioned subjects (i.e., after exercise training for a period of time sufficient to complete adaptation processes). Results from studies with exercise trained (EX) dogs, miniature swine, and rats are summarized. Since the relative importance of vascular control mechanisms differ in various segments of the coronary arterial tree, the effects of EX on conduit arteries and the coronary arterial microcirculation are discussed separately. Results indicate that endothelium-mediated vasodilator responses are normal in conduit coronary arteries of EX dogs, miniature swine, and rats. It is proposed that endothelium-mediated vasodilation of conduit coronary arteries is enhanced early in the exercise-adaptive process but returns to normal as adaptation to EX is complete, when structural adaptations produce a relative decrease in coronary shear during exercise. EX miniature swine manifest enhanced endothelium-mediated vasodilation stimulated by bradykinin and flow in isolated coronary resistance arteries and appear to have increased expression of NO synthase (ecNOS). Brief training also appears to increase the expression of ecNOS. The role of endothelium-mediated vasodilation in regulation of coronary blood flow in EX animals remains uncertain.
Atmospheric Dust Records in Permanent Snowfields: Implications to Marine Sedimentation

The dust accumulations in the permanent snowfields associated with the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets and five temperate glaciers were studied to evaluate the contribution of atmospherically transported solids to recent marine sediments. Semiquantitative mineralogical and size analyses of the paniculate matter distinguished between dust components derived from local sources and dust components derived from distant (global) sources. The accumulation rates of the global dust as measured by Pb210 geochronology range from 0.1 to about 1.0 mm per 10 3 years. Comparison of the accumulation rate, mineralogy, and size distribution of the globally transported dusts with those of adjacent marine sediments of the North and South Pacific and Central Atlantic oceans, suggests that these areas may presently receive as much as 25 to 75 percent of their detrital phases from atmospheric dust fallout.
A review of the metal–GaN contact technology

Abstract In this paper, we review the metal–GaN contact technology to shed light on some of the critical issues such as GaN surface cleaning for metallization, Schottky barrier formation to GaN, thermal stability of contacts, low contact-resistance ohmic contacts to n-GaN and to GaN/AlGaN heterostructures, and ohmic contacts to p-GaN. Some general conclusions are drawn on the electrical behavior of metal contacts on n-GaN for further advances in this exciting field of GaN-based devices and materials.
Psychologic problems in the management of adolescents with malignancy. Experiences with 182 patients.

Having a malignant disease and having to undergo long-term therapy is an additional stress to the normal physiologic and psychosocial stresses inherent in the adolescent's maturation. Such patients present complex problems in management. These problems are not the same as those encountered by the pediatrician when dealing with an infant or child who is too young to understand the meaning of malignancy or who has not yet developed a concept of self as it relates to death. Nor are these the same problems as those the internist meets when he treats adults who may have lived a full life or have developed effective ways of adjusting to the psychologic stress of having cancer. Though sufficiently mature to appreciate the implications of his diagnosis and prognosis, the adolescent has not yet completed the personality integration or fully evolved the adult defense mechanisms which might enable him to adjust successfully to the knowledge of his illness.
A microelectrode/microelectronic hybrid device for brain implantable neuroprosthesis applications

We have designed, fabricated, and characterized a microminiaturized "neuroport" for brain implantable neuroprosthesis applications, using an analog CMOS integrated circuit and a silicon based microelectrode array. An ultra-low power, low-noise CMOS preamplifier array with integral multiplexing was designed to accommodate stringent thermal and electrophysiological requirements for implantation in the brain, and a hybrid integration approach was developed to fabricate a functional microminiaturized neuroprobe device. Measurements showed that our fully scalable 16-channel CMOS amplifier chip had an average gain of 44 dB, bandwidth from 10 Hz to 7.3 kHz, and an equivalent input noise of approximately 9 /spl mu/V/sub rms/ with an average power consumption per preamplifier of 52 /spl mu/W, which is consistent with simulation results. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, we have measured local field potentials from thalamocortical brain slices of rats, showing oscillatory behavior with an amplitude about 0.5 mV and a period ranging 80-120 ms. The results suggest that the hybrid integrated neuroport can form a prime platform for the development of a next level microminiaturized neural interface to the brain in a single implantable unit.
RF Tag Antenna Performance on Various Materials Using Radio Link Budgets

Passive radio frequency (RF) tags in the UHF and microwave bands have drawn considerable attention because of their great potential for use in many radio frequency identification (RFID) applications. However, more basic research is needed to increase the range and reliability of a passive RF tag's radio link, particularly when the RF tag is placed onto any lossy dielectric or metallic surface. This paper presents two new useful forms of the radio link budget that describe the power link of an RF tag system when the tag is attached to an object. These radio link budgets are dependent upon the gain penalty, a term which quantifies the reduction in RF tag antenna gain due to material attachment. A series of measurements, or radio assay, was used to measure the far-field gain pattern and gain penalty of several flexible 915 MHz antennas when attached to cardboard, pine plywood, acrylic, deionized water, ethylene glycol, ground beef, and an aluminum slab. It is shown that the gain penalty due to material attachment can result in more than 20 dB of excess loss in the backscatter communication link.
Fish and robots swimming together: attraction towards the robot demands biomimetic locomotion

The integration of biomimetic robots in a fish school may enable a better understanding of collective behaviour, offering a new experimental method to test group feedback in response to behavioural modulations of its ‘engineered’ member. Here, we analyse a robotic fish and individual golden shiners (Notemigonus crysoleucas) swimming together in a water tunnel at different flow velocities. We determine the positional preference of fish with respect to the robot, and we study the flow structure using a digital particle image velocimetry system. We find that biomimetic locomotion is a determinant of fish preference as fish are more attracted towards the robot when its tail is beating rather than when it is statically immersed in the water as a ‘dummy’. At specific conditions, the fish hold station behind the robot, which may be due to the hydrodynamic advantage obtained by swimming in the robot’s wake. This work makes a compelling case for the need of biomimetic locomotion in promoting robot–animal interactions and it strengthens the hypothesis that biomimetic robots can be used to study and modulate collective animal behaviour.
The Effect of Cement Placement on Augmentation of the Osteoporotic Proximal Femur

Femoroplasty, the augmentation of the proximal femur, has been shown in biomechanical studies to increase the energy required to produce a fracture and therefore may reduce the risk of such injuries. The purpose of our study was to test the hypotheses that: (1) 15 mL of cement was sufficient to mechanically augment the proximal femur, (2) there was no difference in augmentation effect between cement placement in the intertrochanteric region and in the femoral neck, and (3) cement placement in the femoral neck would predispose the proximal femur to an intertrochanteric fracture, whereas trochanteric placement would result in subtrochanteric fractures. In each of 18 pairs of osteoporotic human cadaveric femora, 15 mL of polymethylmethacrylate bone cement was injected into the trochanteric or femoral neck region of 1 femur, and the noninjected femur was used as the control. The augmentation effect of femoroplasty was evaluated under simulated fall conditions using a materials testing machine. Multiple linear regressions incorporating random effects were used to check for associations between covariates (bone mineral density, cement location, and treatment) and the parameters of interest (stiffness, yield energy, yield load, ultimate load, and ultimate energy). Significance was set at P < .05. It was found that femoroplasty with 15 mL of cement did not significantly increase stiffness, yield energy, yield load, ultimate load, or ultimate energy relative to paired controls. There were no significant differences in parameters of interest or fracture patterns in specimens augmented in the femoral neck versus the trochanter. It was concluded that 15 mL of cement was not sufficient to augment the proximal femur and that there was no biomechanical advantage to the placement of cement within the femoral neck versus the trochanter.
Ivermectin for the Treatment of Resistant Scabies

OBJECTIVE:To assess the clinical literature describing the use of ivermectin in cases of treatment-resistant scabies infestations.DATA SOURCES:Clinical literature accessed through a MEDLINE search (1966–July 2001) and the Cochrane Database.DATA SYNTHESIS:A limited number of case reports and case series describes successful intervention with ivermectin use in patients who have failed prior therapy. Ivermectin may serve as a viable alternative therapy as the incidence of resistant scabitic infestations increases.CONCLUSIONS:Ivermectin appears to be a safe and effective alternative for patients with treatment-resistant scabies. Larger, controlled clinical trials are required before this therapy can be recommended in the general population or as primary therapy.
ChemDB: a public database of small molecules and related chemoinformatics resources

Motivation: The development of chemoinformatics has been hampered by the lack of large, publicly available, comprehensive repositories of molecules, in particular of small molecules. Small molecules play a fundamental role in organic chemistry and biology. They can be used as combinatorial building blocks for chemical synthesis, as molecular probes in chemical genomics and systems biology, and for the screening and discovery of new drugs and other useful compounds. Results: We describe ChemDB, a public database of small molecules available on the Web. ChemDB is built using the digital catalogs of over a hundred vendors and other public sources and is annotated with information derived from these sources as well as from computational methods, such as predicted solubility and three-dimensional structure. It supports multiple molecular formats and is periodically updated, automatically whenever possible. The current version of the database contains approximately 4.1 million commercially available compounds and 8.2 million counting isomers. The database includes a user-friendly graphical interface, chemical reactions capabilities, as well as unique search capabilities. Availability: Database and datasets are available on http://cdb.ics.uci.edu Contact: pfbaldi@ics.uci.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary materials are available on http://cdb.ics.uci.edu
Prenatal Nicotine Exposure Alters the Types of Nicotinic Receptors That Facilitate Excitatory Inputs to Cardiac Vagal Neurons

Nicotinic receptors play an important role in modulating the activity of parasympathetic cardiac vagal neurons in the medulla. Previous work has shown nicotine acts via at least three mechanisms to...
Power Doppler sonography in the assessment of musculoskeletal fluid collections.

Power Doppler sonography is a relatively new technique that has been shown to depict hyperemia associated with musculoskeletal inflammatory disease. We performed this study to evaluate the ability of power Doppler sonography to differentiate musculoskeletal fluid collections of varying etiologies.Gray-scale and power Doppler sonography were performed on 39 patients with joint effusions or appendicular fluid collections. Blood flow (hyperemia) in the soft tissues adjacent to the fluid collections was subjectively analyzed and graded on a scale of 1 to 4 (1, normal flow; 2-4, increasing degrees of hyperemia). All fluid collections were aspirated within 24 hr of the sonographic examination. We found 31 joint effusions and 12 periarticular collections with appropriate imaging and pathologic correlation.Adjacent to 36 effusions and fluid collections, we saw moderate or marked hyperemia. Thirty-five of the 36 had an inflammatory or neoplastic cause, including 15 infected collections. One fluid collection had a ...
Experimental Method for a Dynamic Biaxial Flexural Strength Test of Thin Ceramic Substrates

A dynamic piston-on-three-ball experimental technique has been developed for a biaxial flexural strength test of thin ceramic substrates at high loading rates. Analytical modeling of the technique guided the experimental design and was used to judge the validity of experimental results. Thin ceramic substrates made of 1-mol%-Al2O3-doped 8-mol%-yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) were tested using this experimental technique, as well as its standard counterpart—the quasi-static piston-on-three-ball technique. Results show that the mean biaxial flexural strength increased from ∼322 to ∼465 MPa as the average loading rate was increased from quasi-static to dynamic (830 GPa/s) level.
Nonmyofilament-associated troponin T fragments induce apoptosis

Troponin T (TnT) is a striated muscle-specific protein and an abundant component of the myofilaments. Nonmyofilament-associated TnT is rapidly degraded in myocytes, implying an importance in the maintenance of the cellular environment. However, if the level of nonmyofilament-associated TnT or TnT fragments exceeds the degradation capacity, it may cause cytotoxicity. To investigate this hypothesis, we constructed bicistronic vectors to express different portions of TnT polypeptide chain, together with nonfusion green fluorescent protein as a tracer for the transfection. Cytotoxicity of the TnT fragments was studied through forced expression in C2C12 myoblasts and human embryonic kidney-293 nonmuscle cells and examination of the viability of the transfected cells. The results demonstrated that, in the absence of myofilaments, the conserved COOH-terminal and middle fragments of TnT were highly effective on inducing cell death via apoptosis, whereas the NH2-terminal variable region was not. As combined effects, nonmyofilament-associated intact cardiac TnT and a COOH-terminal truncated slow TnT fragment found in Amish nemaline myopathy exhibited intermediate cytotoxicity. A particular significance of this finding is that peak releases of TnT or TnT fragments from decomposition of a large number of myofibrils in acute myocardial infarction may breach the cellular protection of proteolytic degradation and result in apoptosis as a potential cause for the loss of cardiomyocytes.
CLP-1 associates with MyoD and HDAC to restore skeletal muscle cell regeneration

Emerging evidence suggests that eukaryotic gene transcription is regulated primarily at the elongation stage by association and dissociation of the inhibitory protein cardiac lineage protein 1 (CLP-1/HEXIM1) from the positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) complex. It was reported recently that P-TEFb interacts with skeletal muscle-specific regulatory factor, MyoD, suggesting a linkage between CLP-1-mediated control of transcription and skeletal myogenesis. To examine this, we produced CLP-1 knockdown skeletal muscle C2C12 cells by homologous recombination, and demonstrated that the C2C12 CLP-1 +/− cells failed to differentiate when challenged by low serum in the medium. We also showed that CLP-1 interacts with both MyoD and histone deacetylases (HDACs) maximally at the early stage of differentiation of C2C12 cells. This led us to hypothesize that the association might be crucial to inhibition of MyoD-target proliferative genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed that the CLP-1/MyoD/HDAC complex binds to the promoter of the cyclin D1 gene, which is downregulated in differentiated muscle cells. These findings suggest a novel transcriptional paradigm whereby CLP-1, in conjunction with MyoD and HDAC, acts to inhibit growth-related gene expression, a requirement for myoblasts to exit the cell cycle and transit to myotubes.
Pain relief in patients undergoing tonsillectomy.

Dear Editor, It is with great interest that I read the research article by Dr. Mogadam and colleagues: Comparison of Analgesic Effect between Gabapentin and Diclofenac on Post-Operative Pain in Patients Undergoing Tonsillectomy (1). This randomized controlled trial of 90 patients undergoing tonsillectomy attempts to underline the importance of preemptive analgesia. This involves the beginning of an analgesic regimen before the onset of a noxious stimulus to prevent central sensitization and limit the subsequent pain experience (2). Preemptive analgesia is a treatment that initiated before a surgical procedure reduces the physiological consequences of nociceptive transmission provoked by the nociceptive stimuli. Owing to this ‘protective’ effect on the nociceptive pathways, preemptive analgesia has the potential to be more effective than a similar analgesic treatment initiated after surgery. Consequently, immediate postoperative pain may be reduced and the development of chronic pain may be prevented (3). Pain relief was administered 1 hour before surgery in both the diclofenac and gabapentin groups. As predicted pain scores were lower among the pain relief groups compared with the study group, the authors may have considered comparing a third analgesic regimen, for example paracetamol, rather than a control group (without analgesia). This is more appropriate from an ethical point of view. The author’s choice of gabapentin appears to be adequate, since an increasing number of trials have shown its efficacy as a postoperative analgesic (4). Jeon et al. published an interesting study evaluating the effectiveness of premedication using gabapentin on postoperative pain control in patients undergoing tonsillectomy (5). This randomized trial was performed in adults who were randomly assigned to a control, placebo group and a gabapentin group. Pain assessment was performed using a visual analog scale during resting periods (rVAS) and during swallowing (sVAS) for a period of 9 days after the operation. The number of diclofenac sodium injections and the total amount of fentanyl injected decreased significantly in the gabapentin group (P < 0.01). The sVAS of the gabapentin group was also significantly lower than that of the control group at 2 and 4 h after surgery, but there were no significant differences in the sVAS observed between the two groups for the remainder of the postoperative period. In this study, premedication with gabapentin decreased post-tonsillectomy pain. The authors used only VAS scores to evaluate pain. It should be emphasized that VAS scores and other measures of pain may be influenced by side effects and other confounding variables, and may not be reliable as the sole measure in the evaluation of efficacy of pain medication. In addition, the use of VAS is an assessment that is highly subjective, these scales are of most value when looking at change within individuals, and are of less value for comparing across a group of individuals at one time point.
Hybrid repair of thoracic aortic lesions for zone 0 and 1 in high-risk patients.

Purpose Some patients with aortic arch or descending thoracic aorta pathologies are not suited for open repair because of comorbidities that may increase their risk of procedural complications or death. Endovascular approaches may also be difficult when there are inadequate proximal landing zones in the aortic arch. We report our experience using rerouting techniques with bypass, stenting of the branches, or a combination of both to create a landing area in zones 0 and 1 of the aortic arch. Methods Since November 2002, thoracic aortic endoluminal grafts were placed in 38 patients in whom the endograft was deployed in zone 0 (n = 27) or zone 1 (n = 11). A retrospective review is included. Results There were 11 women and 27 men with a mean age of 65.4 years (range 38-88). Aortic pathology included 12 Stanford type A dissections, 10 aortic arch aneurysms, 8 Stanford type B dissections, 3 descending thoracic aortic aneurysms, 2 aortobronchial fistulas, 1 innominate artery aneurysm and 2 aortic arch pseudoaneurysms. In zone 0, 21 had thoracic debranching with an ascending bypass, three patients had a remote-inflow and three patients had a chimney-stent with carotid-carotid bypass. In zone 1, five patients had a carotid-carotid bypass, one patient had an aortic to left common carotid artery (LCCA) bypass and five patients had chimney-stent on the LCCA. Fifty-eight percent of the patients were symptomatic and 26% emergent. Three patients required hemodialysis postoperatively (7.9%), 18 patients (47.4%) required prolonged mechanical ventilation for respiratory insufficiency. Paraplegia occurred in one patient (2.7%), and five patients suffered a cerebrovascular accident (13.1%). There were four early type I and two type II endoleaks. Overall 30-day mortality was 23.7%. Conclusions The hybrid approach for repair of the aortic arch pathologies is feasible in patients unfit for open repair. We present the results of performing different techniques to treat the aortic arch with hybrid repair with antegrade or retrograde inflow, stenting of the branches or a combination of both. Long-term results are unknown, and larger series results and comparative studies are needed to determine safety and efficacy.
Deferred Taxes Revisited

The study examines the deferred tax accounting theory and procedures required by the FASB in the context of the unit problem. The unit problem involves the selection of the appropriate perspective (either individual or aggregate) for applying measurement and recognition conventions to phenomena of interest. From an individual event perspective, the FASB's conclusions regarding liability recognition are inconsistent with the definition of liabilities found in the Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 6. In addition, the use of inconsistent perspectives by S109 creates disagreements with the FASB’s position, where both the individual and aggregate perspectives are used simultaneously as the basis of the FASB's decisions. The study argues that the income tax accounting issue should be viewed from an aggregate perspective and concludes that the flow-through method of accounting for income taxes should be adopted. The impact of eliminating deferred taxes and adjusting the liability and stockholders equity balances on the debt-to-equity (DTE) ratio is computed for the entire COMPUSTAT database (20 years). For the 817 firms that persist throughout the 20-year period, each year, the net deferred tax balance for each company is compared to the balance in the previous year, with increases (53%) outnumbering decreases (32%), and the remainder (15%) showing no change. In addition, the average annual net deferred tax balances of entire sample show increases for the 15 of the 20 years examined and the balances for persisting firms show increases for 17 of the 20 years examined. Finally, the relative size of the net deferred tax balances as a percentage of total assets and total liabilities for both the overall sample and the persisting firms range from 4.1% to 5.8% of total assets and from 7.9% to 11.8% of total liabilities. Statistical results show that the decreases in the DTE ratio are significant for each year, with an overall average decrease of 19%. Thus, the flow-through method results in significant changes in a key ratio that is used in the financial evaluation of most companies. Conversely, the DTE ratios currently used in the financial evaluation of companies are flawed because the net deferred tax balances are included in liabilities, when it is clear that these accounts do not meet the liability criteria specified in accounting theory.
Relationship Aggression Between Partners

Relationship aggression is known by many names; battering, domestic violence, spouse abuse, dating aggression, and marital violence are the most common. Regardless of how it is named, it refers to aggression between partners involved in an intimate relationship. Although it is frequently attributed to the power differential between men and women, there is sufficient evidence that it occurs in same-sex relationships, both male and female. We also know that female to male aggression is as common as male to female aggression (O’Leary et al., 1989; Straus & Celles, 1986) although it has been convincingly argued that the meaning of female to male aggression is different and the consequences less damaging. This chapter is concerned with aggression by males toward females in the context of intimate heterosexual relationships.
Product Quality & Software Quality

The industries have been working hard, for decades, to improve quality in their products, using process that assure a quality level which meets customers needs. An important and strategic component, the IT area, collaborates with the companies to meet the goals satisfactorily, which is not considered with the necessary attention. The IT area of an organization should be managed with the same importance dedicated to product manufacturing process. The object of this paper is to convince the industries that the desired quality in products depends on more and more of IT resources and because of it, is strategically important an adequate monitoring of IT quality, based in corporative governance.
Generation of Functional Insulin-Producing Cells from Pluipotent Stem Cell-Derived Human Intestinal Tissue

Efficacy of Multi-Layered Hepatocyte Sheet Transplantation for Radiation-Induced Liver Damage and Partial Hepatectomy in Rat Model Zhassulan Baimakhanov, MD, Kosho Yamanouchi, MD, PhD, Yusuke Sakai, PhD, Akihiko Soyama, MD, FACS, Masaaki Hidaka, MD, PhD, Mitsuhisa Takatsuki, MD, PhD, FACS, Fumihiko Fujita, MD, PhD, FACS, Kengo Kanetaka, MD, FACS, Tamotsu Kuroki, MD, PhD, FACS, Susumu Eguchi, MD, FACS Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
Book Review of Trademark Law and Theory: A Handbook of Contemporary Research, Edited by Graeme B. Dinwoodie and Mark D. Janis

Book review of "Trademark Law and Theory: A Handbook of Contemporary Research," edited by Graeme B. Dinwoodie and Mark D. Janis.
Diversity of Clinical and Environmental Isolates of Vibrio cholerae in Natural Transformation and Contact-Dependent Bacterial Killing Indicative of Type VI Secretion System Activity

The bacterial pathogen Vibrio cholerae can occupy both the human gut and aquatic reservoirs, where it may colonize chitinous surfaces that induce the expression of factors for three phenotypes: chitin utilization, DNA uptake by natural transformation, and contact-dependent bacterial killing via a type VI secretion system (T6SS). In this study, we surveyed a diverse set of 53 isolates from different geographic locales collected over the past century from human clinical and environmental specimens for each phenotype outlined above. The set included pandemic isolates of serogroup O1, as well as several serogroup O139 and non-O1/non-O139 strains. We found that while chitin utilization was common, only 22.6% of the isolates tested were proficient at chitin-induced natural transformation, suggesting that transformation is expendable. Constitutive contact-dependent killing of Escherichia coli prey, which is indicative of a functional T6SS, was rare among clinical isolates (only 4 of 29) but common among environmental isolates (22 of 24). These results bolster the pathoadaptive model in which tight regulation of T6SS-mediated bacterial killing is beneficial in a human host, whereas constitutive killing by environmental isolates may give a competitive advantage in natural settings. Future sequence analysis of this set of diverse isolates may identify previously unknown regulators and structural components for both natural transformation and T6SS.
Simulations and Performance of the Crossflow Filtration Hydrocyclone (CFFH) for Oil-Water Separation

A critical aspect of operating an oil well consists of separating oil from the water that is jointly produced. This paper describes modeling of a crossflow filtration hydrocyclone (CFFH), a device that combines desirable attributes of a crossflow filter and a vortex separator into one unit to separate oil from produced water. A porous media is incorporated around the crossflow outlet region of the cylindrical CFFH so as to achieve the desired separation efficiency. The main purpose of this work is to predict the fluid dynamic behavior of a particular CFFH design and its separation efficacy based on 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The velocity field in the fluid phase is obtained using a Reynolds Stress Model (RSM) for closing the Reynolds Average Navier. Stokes (RANS) equation. The Lagrangian Discrete Phase Model (DPM) is used to investigate the trajectories of particles mimicking oil droplets and grade efficiency of the CFFH. The effect of the Reynolds and the Stokes numbers on the grade efficiency and particle residence time is studied. The effective length of the porous media and the vortex strength for different operating conditions is also investigated. Results indicate that the separation efficiency is significantly influenced by the porous media. Hydrocyclones with an aspect ratio greater than 4.0 exhibit lower grade efficiency due to a weaker swirl. NOMENCLATURE
Solvent dependent assembly of lanthanide metallacrowns using building blocks with incompatible symmetry preferences.

Solvent dependence in the assembly of coordination driven macrocycles is a poorly understood phenomenon. This work presents the solvent dependent assembly of 8 lanthanide metallacrowns (LnMCs) in solution using picoline hydroxamic acid (picHA), Zn(II), and Ln(III) ions. ESI-MS and single-crystal X-ray crystallography reveal the selective assembly of LnZn4(picHA)43+, LnZn5(picHA)53+, LnZn8(picHA)83+, LnZn12(picHA)123+, LnZn16(picHA)163+, Ln2Zn3(picHA)44+, Ln2Zn7–9(picHA)8–10, and Ln4Zn4–5(picHA)8–9 complexes in five different solvents. The coordination preferences of the hard Ln(III) ion and relatively soft Zn(II) ion dictate the solvent selectivity in this system. The LnMCs assemble with open or closed Zn(II) and/or Ln(III) coordination sites based on the behavior of the solvent as an ancillary ligand. This structural promiscuity is attributed to the symmetry incompatible building blocks, which generate assemblies with substantial geometric strain such that no clear thermodynamic minimum exists between th...
Coupled-cluster theory in atomic physics and quantum chemistry

Summarizing the meeting briefly, many quantitative examples were shown which demonstrate the high accuracy of CC methods for electron correlation, compared to otherab initio approaches. Generally, more accurate energies, frequencies and properties of molecules were obtained with less computational effort. Possible exceptions are the problems requiring extensive non-dynamic correlations whose multi-reference character can make large MR-CI calculations superior. Extremely accurate results have also been obtained, even with linearized CC methods, for the (6s–7s) transition moments of cesium, essential to the parity violation problem (Blundell, Sapirstein, Martensson-Pendrill). Attacking yet more difficult problems, CC methods were shown to reliably describe spin lattices (Bishop) and various kinds of model systems (Paldus, Cižek), including the description of phase transitions (Bishop, Arponen). Current CC methods are thus among the most powerful available for many diverse problems, even transcending electronic structure. Moreover, they are being continually improved, e.g. through multi-reference generalizations, a fact that bodes well for the future.
Purity and Basic Subgroups

In this chapter, we are going to discuss a basic concept: pure subgroup. This concept has been one of the most fertile notions in the theory since its inception in a paper by the pioneer H. Prufer. The relevance of purity in abelian group theory, and later in module theory, has tremendously grown with time. While abelian groups have been major motivation for a number of theorems in category theory, purity has served as a prototype for relative homological algebra, and has played a significant role in model theory as well.
Application and Progress of Biodegradable Material in Food Packaging

This paper summarizes the traditional non degradable materials brought to China's social problems,and summarizes the market status and development trend of foreign biodegradable food packaging plastic products,as well as market situation,existing problems in China.
The Acetazolamide Challenge: A Tool for Surgical Decision Making and Predicting Surgical Outcome in Patients with Arachnoid Cysts

Background and Study Aims Arachnoid cysts (ACs) are benign congenital malformations of the arachnoid that may present with either localizing or nonspecific symptoms. ACs with mass effect are detected frequently in asymptomatic patients. Conversely, symptomatic patients may present without imaging signs of a focal mass effect that emphasizes the difficulty of relying on imaging as the sole criteria in surgical selection. We hypothesize that symptomatic AC may be related to the elevated fluid pressure within the cyst on surrounding structures. Thus reducing the amount of fluid in the cyst or surrounding cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by using acetazolamide (AZM), a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor known to reduce CSF production, might mimic surgical decompression and therefore could serve as a decision-making tool in patients with ACs. Methods and Patients A total of 103 patients with radiographically proven ACs were initially identified. Twenty (19.4%) were symptomatic and underwent a trial of oral AZM. Data were collected meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria for this cohort study and analyzed retrospectively/prospectively. Results Overall, 17 patients were able to tolerate the AZM and had at least some subjective improvement in their symptoms during the AZM challenge and underwent surgical therapy. Surgery was beneficial in 16 patients (94.1%). Following surgery, symptoms resolved in 13 patients (76.5%) and improved in 3 (17.6%). Conclusion The AZM challenge may support the clinical decision to recommend surgery in those patients whose symptoms improve during AZM therapy.
Gotta Love Derm

This case discusses a pharmacokinetic interaction between lamotrigine and divalproex, sodium resulting in Stevens-Johnson syndrome.
Applications of Optical Power Spectrum to Measurements

AbstractThe signal-to-noise optical power spectrum measurement of photographic image and noise serves as a useful measure of image information content. This paper discusses the practical problems in making such a measurement and includes some examples verifying the technique.
Health care planning and education via gaming-simulation: a two-stage experiment.

A twos-stage process of gaming-simulation design was conducted: the first stage of design concerned national planning for hemophilia care; the second stage of design was for gaming-simulation concerning the problems of hemophilia patients and health care providers. The planning design was intended to be adaptable to large-scale planning for a variety of health care problems. The educational game was designed using data developed in designing the planning game. A broad range of policy-makers participated in the planning game.