cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
CLAD Phenotypes Determined by Change in Spirometric Index Associate with Quantitative Image Analyses

Purpose Accurate phenotypes of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) are critical to study disease mechanisms and ensure homogenous populations for clinical trials, but the optimal classification method is unknown. A restrictive CLAD phenotype involves parenchymal disease similar to pulmonary fibrosis. The Center for Computer Vision and Imaging Biomarkers at UCLA has established CT based computer aided diagnosis (CAD) scores for pulmonary fibrosis. We applied CT CAD scores to CLAD and compared 2 previously described methods for CLAD classification. Methods The cohort includes 73 lung recipients; 44 no CLAD and 29 with a CT done within 90 days of CLAD onset. The FVC loss method defines restrictive-CLAD (RCLAD) as a ≥20% decline in FVC from baseline at CLAD onset. The spirometric change method uses relative change in FVC divided by relative change in FEV1 from baseline to CLAD onset, and a value >0.5 is classified as restrictive allograft syndrome (RAS). For both methods, when RCLAD or RAS is not established, the default is bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS). We compared the quantitative CT CAD scores for QLF (fibrosis), QGG (ground glass), and QILD (QLF + QGG), expressed as a percentage of total lung involvement at TLC, between CLAD phenotypes using Dunn's multiple comparisons tests. Results Of the 29 CLAD cases, 15 were classified as RCLAD and 19 as RAS. The classification methods agreed in 21 cases: 13 RCLAD/RAS and 8 BOS/BOS. The methods disagreed in 8 cases: 2 RCLAD/BOS and 6 BOS/RAS. RCLAD was not associated with differences in QLF, QGG, or QILD. However, RAS was associated with significantly increased QLF, QGG, and QILD scores as compared to BOS and to no CLAD (Figure). Conclusion The spirometric change method for CLAD phenotype classification is associated with radiographic parenchymal lung disease, suggesting it is a better method to distinguish CLAD phenotypes. Our study is limited by small sample size and we have not yet incorporated features of air trapping from RV series.
Thiazolidinedione and Metformin Use and the Risk of Benign Prostate Hyperplasia in Veterans with Diabetes Mellitus.

Abstract Background: Chronic inflammation is important in the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and certain oral antidiabetic medications have anti-inflammatory properties. The purpose of this study was to determine if use of thiazolidinediones or metformin was associated with a reduced risk of requiring medical or surgical treatment for BPH compared with the use of sulfonylureas among diabetic men. Methods: We constructed a retrospective cohort of 192,457 male veterans newly prescribed either rosiglitazone, pioglitazone, metformin, or a sulfonylurea. We used Cox proportional hazard regression to assess the association between use of a thiazolidinedione or metformin and the risk of requiring medical or surgical treatment for BPH compared with sulfonylurea use. New BPH treatment was defined by either a new prescription for an α-1 blocker or 5α-reductase inhibitors or a surgical procedure indicated for severe BPH. Results: In 259,995 person-years of follow-up we identified 14,690 new treatm...
The Story of the Genain Sisters

No account of the era of twin studies would be complete without a discussion of the Genain sisters, a set of identical quadruplets all of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia in their 20s. Like the story of the Kallikak Family, the sad sordid story of the Genain sisters was intended to illustrate the primacy of heredity, but instead demonstrated the adroitness of psychiatrists and psychologists in ignoring the evidence that was, literally, right before their eyes: that schizophrenia and other mental illnesses have their roots in childhood trauma and abuse.
Evaluating Employment Arbitration: A Call for Better Empirical Research

Since at least 1991, issues surrounding mandatory arbitration of employment and other disputes have intrigued, perplexed, angered, gratified, and confounded academics, politicians, lawyers, and others.As with many legal issues, the first wave of scholarly work centered on the law. As the law has pretty much settled, academics have turned to empirical work, focusing on how employment arbitration works, and how it compares to employment litigation. In part due to pressure from California legislation, the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), the nation’s leading provider of arbitration services, opened access to its data base. Owing to inevitable data limitations, most analyses have focused on outcomes—comparisons between litigation verdicts/judgments and arbitration awards. This work suffers from a serious selection bias, for there is no reason to believe that cases that result in arbitration awards are otherwise comparable to cases that have survived the several serious gauntlets that lie in the path of a case before it goes to trial. Because mediation is often an initial step in most employment arbitration system and arbitrators are not likely to consider dispositive motions, weaker cases are likely to get to a hearing in arbitration than in court. We wholeheartedly endorse good empirical work as an important means of understanding and addressing controversial policy issues, especially in the arbitration arena, and tried our hand at such work a decade ago. We have written this paper to encourage research that goes beyond evaluating awards within the AAA data set and to engage in a longitudinal study of the history of claims—from when they are initially filed with administrative agencies or arbitration organizations to when they are settled or adjudicated.
The Dynamics of Labor Militancy in the Extractive Sector: Kazakhstan’s Oilfields and South Africa’s Platinum Mines in Comparative Perspective:

This article investigates why, in two very different regimes, similarly high levels of labor militancy are evident in Kazakhstan’s oilfields and South Africa’s platinum belt. It also explores the c...
Linguistic features in fundamental frequency patterns

Abstract: Patterns of fundamental frequency (F0) extracted from natural speech of male speakers reading isolated sentences were examined. The F0 contours as functions of time exhibited systematic behavior with regard to sentence type, syntactic construction, emphasis, word type, and phonetics. Examples are given illustrating typical effects in F0, and possible F0 “features” are suggested. The “stress” F0 feature consists of a rise or sharp fall in F0; the “boundary” feature utilizes a fall-rise F0 pattern, as well as a “continuation rise” shape. Vocatives can be distinguished from appositives via F0. If confirmed by perceptual analyses, these F0 features could be used in automatic speech synthesis or recognition algorithms.
Biceps Tissue Electrical Resistance and Circumference Changes Following an Eccentric Exercise Protocol

Bioimpedance measurements from localized tissues are being actively investigated as a method to monitor and quantify changes within these tissues. In this work, biceps tissue bioimpedance of 6 participants was collected from the left and right biceps at 6 timepoints before/after an eccentric exercise fatiguing protocol (1 immediately prior and 5 post). Comparing the pre/post measurements of the fatiguing arm, the mean participant changes displayed a decrease in 10 kHz resistance, an increase in bicep circumference, and an increase in self-reports of pain that reached their maximum changes 72-96 hours post-exercise. At the same measurement timepoints, the mean changes of the non-fatigued arms for the participants showed a much smaller magnitude of changes, supporting that the observed changes in resistance and swelling were a result of the exercise protocol and not natural variations due to daily living.
Immunometabolism, Micronutrients, and Bariatric Surgery: The Use of Transcriptomics and Microbiota-Targeted Therapies.

Background Obesity is associated with the gut microbiota and decreased micronutrient status. Bariatric surgery is a recommended therapy for obesity. It can positively affect the composition of the gut bacteria but also disrupt absorption of nutrients. Low levels of micronutrients can affect metabolic processes, like glycolysis, TCA cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation, that are associated with the immune system also known as immunometabolism. Methods MEDLINE, PUBMED, and Google Scholar were searched. Articles involving gut microbiome, micronutrient deficiency, gut-targeted therapies, transcriptome analysis, micronutrient supplementation, and bariatric surgery were included. Results Studies show that micronutrients play a pivotal role in the intestinal immune system and regulating immunometabolism. Research demonstrates that gut-targeting therapies may improve the microbiome health for bariatric surgery populations. There is limited research that examines the role of micronutrients in modulating the gut microbiota among the bariatric surgery population. Conclusions Investigations are needed to understand the influence that micronutrient deficiencies have on the gut, particularly immunometabolism. Nutritional transcriptomics shows great potential in providing this type of analysis to develop gut-modulating therapies as well as more personalized nutrition recommendations for bariatric surgery patients.
Privacy Preserving Domain Adaptation for Semantic Segmentation of Medical Images.

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have led to significant improvements in tasks involving semantic segmentation of images. CNNs are vulnerable in the area of biomedical image segmentation because of distributional gap between two source and target domains with different data modalities which leads to domain shift. Domain shift makes data annotations in new modalities necessary because models must be retrained from scratch. Unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) is proposed to adapt a model to new modalities using solely unlabeled target domain data. Common UDA algorithms require access to data points in the source domain which may not be feasible in medical imaging due to privacy concerns. In this work, we develop an algorithm for UDA in a privacy-constrained setting, where the source domain data is inaccessible. Our idea is based on encoding the information from the source samples into a prototypical distribution that is used as an intermediate distribution for aligning the target domain distribution with the source domain distribution. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm by comparing it to state-of-the-art medical image semantic segmentation approaches on two medical image semantic segmentation datasets.
Market Liquidity Programs: GFC and Before

The virulence of the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–09 (GFC) was explained in large part by the increased reliance of the global financial system on market-based funding and the lack of preexisting tools to address a disruption in that type of system. This paper surveys market liquidity programs (MLPs), which we define as government interventions in which the key motivation is to stabilize liquidity in a specific wholesale funding market that is under stress. Most of the MLPs surveyed in this paper were launched during and after the GFC, but two pre-GFC MLPs are included. A subsequent survey on MLPs in response to the COVID-19 crisis is forthcoming. MLPs focus on markets that a central bank believes are critical to financial stability. Stress in these markets could be interfering with monetary policy transmission or disrupting the smooth flow of credit to the real economy. MLPs depart from traditional central bank responses to a systemwide liquidity crisis. MLPs have used a variety of techniques that central bankers would typically consider nonstandard for the purpose of promoting liquidity in wholesale funding markets. These include (1) targeted lender-of-last resort activities, (2) lending securities for securities, (3) lending cash for securities, (4) largescale asset purchases, (5) targeted asset purchases, and (6) indirect asset purchases.
Natural Killer Cells are Essential for Allograft Vasculopathy in a Model of CD4+ T Cell-Mediated Chronic Rejection

Purpose In transplantation, recipient CD4+ T cells have two potential means of MHC class II-restricted donor antigen detection: (1) the direct recognition of allogeneic MHC class II expressed by donor antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and (2) the indirect recognition of donor antigens processed and presented by recipient APCs. As donor-derived APCs are gradually depleted over time, the indirect pathway emerges as the dominant mode of allorecognition in the long-term. A clear role of direct CD4+ T cells as effector cells has been shown in acute rejection, however, the role of indirect CD4+ T cells in chronic rejection is less clear. The function of NK cells in solid organ transplantation is multifaceted, but they have been implicated in several different animal models of chronic rejection. Our study sought to test the hypothesis that NK cells are the key effectors in sustaining an anti-donor response in a model of indirect CD4+ T cell mediated chronic allograft vasculopathy (CAV). Methods We utilized a mouse model of cardiac transplantation with MHC class II-deficient B6.C2D (H-2b) hearts engrafted into immune-deficient BALB/c.rag-/- (H-2d) recipients. Recipients had no functional adaptive immunity but an intact innate immune system. After transplantation, the recipients received purified polyclonal BALB/c CD4+ T cells with or without concurrent administration of an NK cell depleting antibody (anti-Asialo GM1). Allografts and recipient spleens were subsequently assessed after 30 days. Results All allografts demonstrated cardiac contraction, as detected by abdominal palpation, for 30 days both with and without CD4+ T cell reconstitution. Only 1/9 (11%) of allografts from un-reconstituted recipients demonstrated evidence of CAV, while 5/7 (72%) of allografts from recipients that received adoptively transferred CD4+ T cells showed disease (p Conclusion In the context of immunodeficient hosts, CD4+ T cells are sufficient to mediate chronic allograft vasculopathy, independent of recipient CD8+ T cell and B cell responses. Recipient NK cells are necessary for the development of this form of chronic rejection.
Study of the urban expansion of the city of Oran using LANDSAT satellite images and local data

The city of Oran or more officially the Urban Agglomeration of Oran (UAO) is the second largest city of Algeria on the Mediterranean Sea that has experienced an extensive urban growth in the last three decades. Combining the spatial information extracted from LANDSAT satellites images and the data collected from the urban planning local institutions, the evolution of various main aspects of this urban expansion have been studied. This study has shown that from 1987 to 2015, the built space has increased by more than twice on the detriment of bare space and the vegetation space. 4% of vegetation space and 39.5% of bare space of their respective initial superficies were transformed. The housing unit density HUD has more than doubled to be 830 unit/km2 and the average household size AHS has decreased from 6.4 to 4.2 persons per household. After 2000, there have been more constructions of tall towers for housing than before and, the construction of new individual homes on the state land stock was stopped, and more collective housing units constructed instead. The urban green space has not experienced the same development fate as built space and has not exceeded 140 ha.
Julia and Singularity for High Performance Computing

High-performance computing (HPC) is pivotal in the advancement of modern science. Scientists, researchers, and engineers are finding an increasing need to process massive amounts of data and calculations faster and more accurately than ever before. This is especially true in our work of developing a general quantum library for researchers to use in their simulations. Much of this effort revolves around getting the maximum performance enhancements offered by GPUs as possible. We have found that the relatively newer programming language Julia has offered us a productive means of development with minimal overhead. Combined with the container engine Singularity, we can ensure maximum distributability and reproducibility.
Network Security Basics

This chapter discusses the network security basics. A good network security system will help to remove the temptations easily, and will be as transparent to the users as possible. File servers on which sensitive data is stored and infrastructure servers that provide mission critical services such as logon authentication and access control should be placed in a highly secure location. At the minimum, servers should be in a locked room where only those who need to work directly with the servers have access. Denial of Service (DOS) attacks are one of the most popular choices of Internet hackers who want to disrupt a network's operations. The objective of the DOS attacker is to bring down the network, denying service to its legitimate users. DOS attacks are easy to initiate; software is readily available from hacker Web sites and warez newsgroups that will allow anyone to launch a DOS attack with little or no technical expertise. The Domain Name System (DNS) DOS attack exploits the difference in size between a DNS query and a DNS response, in which all of the network's bandwidth is tied up by bogus DNS queries. The security plan should also address the procedures for reporting security breaches, both internally, and if the police or other outside agencies are to be brought in. It is suggested that password change policies should prevent users from making only slight changes.
General Principles of Cystourethroscopy

Many children require cystourethroscopy to diagnose, characterize, or treat their genitourinary disorder. Several diseases or anomalies are best treated by cystoscopic minimally invasive means, including posterior urethral valves, ureteroceles, vesicoureteral reflux, urethral stricture/fistula/diverticulum, hematuria, urinary stones, tumors, or other rare birth defects. In this chapter, preoperative, operative, and postoperative techniques and tips of cystourethroscopy are discussed, highlighting its versatility.
Crying Wolf: The Unlawful De-Listing of Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolves from Endangered Species Act Protections

Although settlers hunted gray wolves to near extinction more than a century ago, the animal remains one of the most enduring symbols of the West. In 1994, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service authorized reintroduction of gray wolves into Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming under recovery provisions of the Endangered Species Act. Fourteen years later, the Service delisted wolves in these states, contending that the reintroduced population met the numeric and distributional criteria established for recovery in 1994. Months after a district judge enjoined the Service’s 2008 delisting rule, the Service again delisted gray wolves. This Note asserts that both the 2008 and 2009 delisting rules violate provisions of the Endangered Species Act guaranteeing adequacy of state regulatory mechanisms prior to delisting, and fidelity to the best available scientific data. The Note also contends that the Service unlawfully deployed conservation tools as delisting instruments contrary to congressional intent. Lastly, the Note illuminates administrative defects in the delisting rules, namely the Service’s decision to disregard its own requirement of genetic linkage among the entire gray wolf population without providing a reasoned explanation.
Implementation of adaptive arrays in the Block Oriented Systems Simulator

The authors investigated the feasibility of implementing adaptive array algorithms in a simulation program called the Block Oriented Systems Simulator (BOSS). Two algorithms in particular were used: the least mean square (LMS) algorithm in real and complex form originally developed by Widrow, et al., (1975) and the Applebaum algorithm. Two arrays were simulated with simple isotropic radiators used as the array elements. The first array used two elements spaced one half wavelength apart. The second array used four elements with variable geometry. The approach taken was to first implement the algorithms and arrays in the simulation language. Testing the algorithms with simple inputs and checking the algorithms ability to track these inputs was the second step. The last step was to test the algorithms with the arrays. >
Antibody targeting of the CC chemokine ligand 5 results in diminished leukocyte infiltration into the central nervous system and reduced neurologic disease in a viral model of multiple sclerosis.

Intracerebral infection of mice with mouse hepatitis virus, a member of the Coronaviridae family, reproducibly results in an acute encephalomyelitis that progresses to a chronic demyelinating disease. The ensuing neuropathology during the chronic stage of disease is primarily immune mediated and similar to that of the human demyelinating disease multiple sclerosis. Secretion of chemokines within the CNS signals the infiltration of leukocytes, which results in destruction of white matter and neurological impairment. The CC chemokine ligand (CCL)5 is localized in white matter tracts undergoing demyelination, suggesting that this chemokine participates in the pathogenesis of disease by attracting inflammatory cells into the CNS. In this study, we administer a mAb directed against CCL5 to mice with established mouse hepatitis virus-induced demyelination and impaired motor skills. Anti-CCL5 treatment decreased T cell accumulation within the CNS based, in part, on viral Ag specificity, indicating the ability to differentially target select populations of T cells. In addition, administration of anti-CCL5 improved neurological function and significantly (p ≤ 0.005) reduced the severity of demyelination and macrophage accumulation within the CNS. These results demonstrate that the severity of CNS disease can be reduced through the use of a neutralizing mAb directed against CCL5 in a viral model of demyelination.
A ferment of fermentations: reflections on the production of commodity chemicals using microorganisms.

Publisher Summary The discovery of penicillin was a landmark event in medicine and microbiology. With its aid, many dangerous infectious diseases became controllable. The use of penicillin by the medical services of the US and UK forces facilitated the recovery of many injured combatants during World War II. Penicillin, once a rare drug, difficult to isolate and produce, can now be considered a typical “commodity chemical”—that is, a commercially important pure chemical compound, which is bought and sold in large amounts in a competitive market. The capacity to produce large amounts of penicillin was a turning point in the history of the fermentation industry. The commercial production of penicillin was made possible by extensive new developments in the very large-scale growth of microorganisms. The drama of the penicillin story tends to overshadow the preceding decades of development in industrial microbiology. This chapter highlights the commodity chemical production by microorganisms before the 1940s.
Populist Mobilization: A New Theoretical Approach to Populism

Sociology has long shied away from the problem of populism. This may be due to suspicion about the concept or uncertainty about how to fit populist cases into broader comparative matrices. Such caution is warranted: the existing interdisciplinary literature has been plagued by conceptual confusion and disagreement. But given the recent resurgence of populist politics in Latin America and elsewhere, sociology can no longer afford to sidestep such analytical challenges. This article moves toward a political sociology of populism by identifying past theoretical deficiencies and proposing a new, practice-based approach that is not beholden to pejorative common sense understandings. This approach conceptualizes populism as a mode of political practice—as populist mobilization. Its utility is demonstrated through an application to mid-twentieth-century Latin American politics. The article concludes by sketching an agenda for future research on populist mobilization in Latin America and beyond.
A fibrinogen deficiency accelerates the initiation of LDL cholesterol-driven atherosclerosis via thrombin generation and platelet activation in genetically predisposed mice.

Mice with combined deficiencies of the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR–/–) and the catalytic component of an apolipoprotein B–edisome complex (APOBEC1–/–) that converts apoB-100 to apoB-48 have been characterized, and this model of LDL cholesterol–driven atherosclerosis was applied to an investigation of the role of fibrinogen (Fg) in the genesis and progression of the plaque. LDLR–/–/APOBEC1–/–/FG–/– (L–/–/A–/–/FG–/–) triple-deficient mice presented more advanced plaque in their aortic trees and aortic sinuses at 24, 36, and 48 weeks of age compared to L–/–/A–/– mice, a feature that may result from enhanced platelet activation in these former mice. This is supported by the presence of hypercoagulability, increased CD61 and CD62P on resting platelets, and higher plasma soluble P-selectin in L–/–/A–/–/FG–/– mice as compared to L–/–/A–/– , FG–/– , or wild-type mice. The elevated higher molecular weight forms of von Willebrand factor (VWF) in L–/–/A–/–/FG–/– mice, revealed by increased VWF collagen binding activity, perhaps resulting from down-regulation of its cleaving metalloproteinase, ADAMTS13, further indicates enhanced platelet activation. Thus, the earlier arterial plaque deposition in L–/–/A–/–/FG–/– mice appears to contain a contribution from enhanced levels of thrombin and activated platelets, a synergistic consequence of an Fg deficiency combined with a high LDL cholesterol concentration.
Cholinergic agonists induce vectorial release of serotonin from duodenal enterochromaffin cells

Serotonin-containing enterochromaffin cells in the rabbit duodenal mucosa span the tissue contacting both the luminal and serosal sides. When the serosal surface is stimulated with carbachol in vitro, serotonin is secreted on the serosal side but not the mucosal side. Carbachol added to the luminal side is ineffective. Atropine but not hexamethonium blocks the effect of carbachol. Acetylcholine on the serosal surface also stimulates serotonin release on the serosal side. These findings indicate that enterochromaffin cells possess on their serosal surfaces muscarinic receptors that mediate vectorial release of serotonin when activated by cholinergic agonists.
Convective Inertia and Gas Ingestion Effects on Flow Regimes of the Viscoseal Theory and Experiment

Viscoseal operation in superlaminar flow regime noting pressure patterns, end effect, gas ingestion and sealing capacity
Estimating Truck Queuing Time at Marine Terminal Gates

Truck queuing at marine terminal gates has long been recognized as a source of emissions problems because of the many trucks that are idling. For this reason, stakeholders have a great interest in lessening the severity of the problem. To assist these stakeholders in addressing the congestion problem, baseline data and predictive models are needed. Unfortunately, data on truck queuing and research on the methodologies that can be used to estimate truck queuing time are limited. With an increasing number of marine terminals offering live webcam views of their gates to manage demand for the terminals, these webcams could be used to gather much-needed truck queuing information and other truck-related data. Data collected from the webcams were used to develop models to predict truck queuing times on an hourly or daily basis. Given the inherent fuzziness of the truck arrival data, this study evaluated the suitability of four predictive models capable of dealing with fuzzy data: multiple linear regression, fuzz...
Frequency of the methane-stabilized He-Ne laser at 3.39 μm measured relative to the 10.17 μm R(32) transition of the CO2 laser

Abstract The frequency difference between the methane-stabilized 3.39 μm He-Ne laser and the third harmonic of the 10.17 μm R(32) transition of the CO 2 laser was measured by harmonic generation and mixing in a tungsten-nickel diode. The difference is 55 200 952 ± 16 kHz. This result corroborates the findings of other workers and is special interest in current discussions to redefine the international metre.
Genotypes and haplotypes of the VEGF gene are associated with higher mortality and lower VEGF plasma levels in patients with ARDS.

Background: Endothelial injury is an important prognostic factor in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a critical role in endothelial destruction and angiogenesis. Genetic variations of the VEGF gene have been associated with VEGF production. A study was undertaken to investigate the impact of VEGF gene polymorphisms on the clinical outcomes of ARDS. Methods: Three VEGF polymorphisms (−460C/T , +405C/G and +936C/T) were determined in 1253 patients in an intensive care unit with risk factors for ARDS, 394 of whom developed ARDS. Patients were followed for assessment of 60 day survival. Plasma VEGF levels were measured in 71 patients with ARDS. Results: The +936TT (OR 4.29, 95% CI 1.12 to 16.40, p = 0.03) and +936CT+TT (OR 1.98, 95% CI 1.14 to 3.42, p = 0.01) genotypes were significantly associated with increased mortality from ARDS. Plasma VEGF levels in patients with ARDS with the +936CT+TT genotype were significantly lower than in subjects with the +936CC genotype (median 49 (IQR 16–98) pg/ml vs 112 (IQR 47–162) pg/ml, p = 0.02). At the haplotype level, haplotype TCT (−460T+405C+936T ) was significantly associated with a higher rate of mortality (OR 2.89, 95% CI 1.30 to 6.43, p = 0.009) and haplotype CGT (−460C+405G+936T ) was associated less strongly with increased mortality (OR 1.90, 95% CI 0.94 to 3.83, p = 0.07) in patients with ARDS. Lower plasma VEGF levels were correlated with the probability of haplotype CGT (coefficient = −0.26, p TCT . Conclusions: VEGF polymorphisms may contribute to the prognosis and inter-individual variations in circulating VEGF levels in patients with ARDS.
An investigation of beliefs about smoking among diabetes patients: Information for improving cessation efforts

Abstract The purpose of this study was to identify differences between current smokers and exsmokers in beliefs about the health effects of smoking. This information will enable educators to design better smoking cessation interventions for diabetes patients. A smoking behavior questionnaire was developed to collect information about demographics, personal lifestyle, and beliefs about smoking and diabetes. Participants were 40 current smokers and 30 ex-smokers located from a patient registry at the University of Virginia Diabetes Research and Training Center. Less than half of the diabetic smokers in the study reported receiving advice to quit from their physician and none of them reported having attended a formal smoking cessation program. Results indicate that demographic and lifestyle variables predict 21% of the variance between smokers and non-smokers in this sample. The group of health belief variables collectively raised the amount of variance that could be accounted for from 21% to 42%. It is recommended that health professionals who provide services to diabetes patients determine present smoking behavior of each diabetes patient, provide firm advice to stop smoking, assess the special circumstances of the smokers, and offer specific smoking cessation programs to meet the unique needs of diabetes patients.
Stalinist Identity from the Viewpoint of Gender: Rearing a Generation of Professionally Violent Women‐Fighters in 1930s Stalinist Russia

Over the course of the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945, over 800,000 Soviet women volunteered to the front and served in the field army. Among them were thousands of snipers, riflewomen, machine-gunners and mortar women. Thousands of women were trained to serve as commanders and commissars of rifle, machine-gun and mortar subdivisions. Women also mastered fighter planes, dive bombers and night bombers as well as light and heavy tanks. I pursue three questions in the article: how did this women's entitlement to fighting become thinkable in the first place, acceptable in the second, and thirdly, realisable in Soviet society? I argue that the conceivability of women's compatibility with combat, war and violence was a product of the radical undoing of traditional gender differences that Stalinist society underwent in the 1930s. By the late 1930s, combat duty in wartime became an acknowledged option for women in Stalinist political culture. The construction of alternative gender personalities enjoyed both public articulation in press and military expert approval. The alternative femininity encompassed and redefined the traditionally incompatible qualities: maternal love and military violence, feminine charm.
Elliptic functions and efficient control of Ising spin chains with unequal couplings

In this article, we study optimal control of dynamics of a linear chain of three spin $1∕2$, weakly coupled with unequal Ising couplings. We address the problem of time-optimal synthesis of multiple spin quantum coherences. We derive time-optimal pulse sequences for creating desired spin order by computing geodesics on a sphere under a special metric. The solution to the geodesic equation is related to the nonlinear oscillator equation and the minimum time to create multiple spin order can be expressed in terms of an elliptic integral. These techniques are used for efficient creation of multiple spin coherences in Ising spin chains with unequal couplings.
Signal and image processing research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a large, multidisciplinary institution that conducts fundamental and applied research in the physical sciences. Research programs at the Laboratory run the gamut from theoretical investigations, to modeling and simulation, to validation through experiment. Over the years, the Laboratory has developed a substantial research component in the areas of signal and image processing to support these activities. This paper surveys some of the current research in signal and image processing at the Laboratory. Of necessity, the paper does not delve deeply into any one research area, but an extensive citation list is provided for further study of the topics presented.
The structure of sortase B, a cysteine transpeptidase that tethers surface protein to the Staphylococcus aureus cell wall

Many surface proteins of Gram-positive bacteria, which play important roles during the pathogenesis of human infections, are anchored to the cell wall envelope by a mechanism requiring sortases. Sortase B, a cysteine transpeptidase from Staphylococcus aureus, cleaves the C-terminal sorting signal of IsdC at the NPQTN motif and tethers the polypeptide to the pentaglycine cell wall cross-bridge. During catalysis, the active site cysteine of sortase and the cleaved substrate form an acyl intermediate, which is then resolved by the amino group of pentaglycine cross-bridges. We report here the crystal structures of SrtBDeltaN30 in complex with two active site inhibitors, MTSET and E64, and with the cell wall substrate analog tripleglycine. These structures reveal, for the first time, the active site disposition and the unique Cys-Arg catalytic machinery of the cysteine transpeptidase, and they also provide useful information for the future design of anti-infective agents against sortases.
A comparison of injection and non-injection methamphetamine-using HIV positive men who have sex with men

There is a paucity of research on the psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of individuals who inject methamphetamine (meth). The present study compared injection and non-injection users of meth in terms of background characteristics, drug use patterns, health and social problems, sexual risk behavior, and psychosocial factors. The sample consisted of 194 HIV+ Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) who were enrolled in a sexual risk reduction intervention for meth users. Men who injected meth were significantly more likely to be Caucasian, bisexual, homeless, divorced/separated, with lower educational attainment as compared to non-injectors. Injectors also reported more years of meth use, greater frequency and amount of meth use, more social and health problems, including higher prevalence of STDs and Hepatitis C, and more sexual risk behaviors. In terms of psychosocial factors, injection users of meth scored significantly higher on measures of impulsivity and experiences of rejection, and lower on a measure of emotional support. A multivariate logistic regression revealed that educational attainment and experiences of rejection were the factors that best discriminated between injection and non-injection users of meth. The unique characteristics of injection meth users are discussed in relation to the development of effective HIV prevention programs for the target population.
Controlled Evaluation of Silver Nanoparticle Dissolution Using Atomic Force Microscopy

Incorporation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) into an increasing number of consumer products has led to concern over the potential ecological impacts of their unintended release to the environment. Dissolution is an important environmental transformation that affects the form and concentration of AgNPs in natural waters; however, studies on AgNP dissolution kinetics are complicated by nanoparticle aggregation. Herein, nanosphere lithography (NSL) was used to fabricate uniform arrays of AgNPs immobilized on glass substrates. Nanoparticle immobilization enabled controlled evaluation of AgNP dissolution in an air-saturated phosphate buffer (pH 7.0, 25 °C) under variable NaCl concentrations in the absence of aggregation. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to monitor changes in particle morphology and dissolution. Over the first day of exposure to ≥10 mM NaCl, the in-plane AgNP shape changed from triangular to circular, the sidewalls steepened, the in-plane radius decreased by 5–11 nm, and the height incre...
Berlin's Two Concepts of Liberty: A Reassessment and Revision

In distinguishing between negative and positive freedom, Isaiah Berlin expressed a preference for negative freedom. Given the track record of those who in the past have advocated positive freedom, this is not surprising. But advocates of positive freedom do not accept that tyranny necessarily results from embracing their conception of freedom, and they are convinced that a commitment to negative freedom is never enough to defend “freedom” against tyrants. They do, however, share one thing in common with those who favor negative freedom: both equate their conception of freedom with “true freedom,” and treat the other as either false or incomplete. This might suggest that Berlin's distinction is more a partisan's tool than a tool of analysis. I disagree. But rather than reducing it to a distinction between “freedom from” and “freedom to,” we need to expand it. Not only will this enable us to move beyond an important criticism of Berlin's conception of freedom, it will also provide a better explanation for why negative freedom is as likely as positive freedom to diminish “true freedom” and why positive freedom is as likely as negative freedom to increase it.
A Rose-Coloured Rainbow

ON page 263 of Lord Tennyson's “Memoirs” there is mention of a “red rainbow” seen at sunset in 1882. As it was considered noteworthy by Sir Norman Lockyer, and was the first he had heard of, it may be of interest respecting sunset phenomena that near Hayward's Heath, on June 29 of this year, at sunset there was a rainbow entirely of a clear rose-pink against heavy storm clouds over half the sky, and facing a deep golden sunset in a clear sky. It was a perfect arch, and lasted for some minutes. Just for a moment I saw a streak of pale sea-green in the midst of the rose colour.
Subjective vs objective description of judgment policy

Subjective descriptions of judgment policy were compared with the descriptions afforded by an objective regression model. It was found that (1) Ss reported using more cues than were indicated by the model, (2) the subjective weights reproduced Ss’ judgments with substantially less accuracy than did the objective regression weights, and (3) Ss communicated the function (linear vs nonlinear) characterizing their policies with better-than-chance accuracy.
Studies on polynucleotides. LXXXIII Synthesis in vitro of the tripeptide valyl-seryl-lysine directed by poly r(G-U-A-A)

Abstract The repeating tetranucleotide poly r(G-U-A-A) stimulates the formation of the tripeptide valyl-seryl-lysine in the cell-free amino acid incorporating system derived from Escherichia coli . The free tripeptide is released from the ribosome-messenger complex. This indicates that UAA functions as terminator codon in vitro .
Dark matter in a deep-sea vent and in human mouth.

Summer used to be a slow time for genomics news. This year, even the summer heat failed to stem the influx of new completely sequenced microbial genomes. The latest list (Table 1) includes genomes from a number of environmental bacteria (Chen et al., 2007; Nakagawa et al., 2007), four methanogenic archaea, as well as the finished genome of the red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae, the first 100% complete eukaryotic genome (Nozaki et al., 2007). However, this time the most striking news comes from an unfinished genome, the genome sequence of the first representative of the enigmatic TM7 phylum (Hugenholtz et al., 2001). So far, no member of this widespread phylum has been isolated in pure culture and the genome sequence, even an incomplete one, provides the first glimpse into the physiology of this biological ‘dark matter’ (Marcy et al., 2007).
Developmental and reproductive health issues in adolescent solid organ transplant recipients

The improved survival of pediatric recipients of solid organ transplants has prompted increased attention to quality of life issues. In adolescents these include attainment of normal growth and development, and involvement in romantic and sexual relationships. This review focuses on the reproductive health care needs of adolescent solid organ transplant recipients, including issues related to puberty, menstruation, and fertility. Contraceptive options, and the implications of their use by transplant recipients, are described. With close clinical follow up, most currently available hormonal contraceptive methods can be considered, and the impact of drug interactions with immunosuppressants can be minimized by eliminating hormone-free intervals. Monitoring for sexually transmitted infections, including oncogenic Human Papilloma Virus and its sequelae, is especially important for transplant recipients. Comprehensive reproductive health care visits are recommended for all sexually active adolescent solid organ transplant recipients.
Facilitating analysis of trace impurities in hydrogen: Enrichment based on the principles of pressure swing adsorption

Abstract A laboratory-scale gas sampling and impurity enrichment device (GSIED) based on the principles of pressure swing adsorption (PSA) has been designed, fabricated, and tested to show that such a device provides an effective method to enrich trace impurity species in hydrogen by a factor of 10 or more. With the availability of a high pressure sample gas at the hydrogen refueling stations, the device uses only a pressure sequence to enrich the impurities without need of a temperature cycle. Enrichment of the impurities allows the use of simpler and less expensive analytical instruments for hydrogen quality monitoring and certification purposes. A series of experiments was conducted using activated carbon as the PSA sorbent for impurity enrichment in a hydrogen gas containing N 2 , CO, CH 4 , and CO 2 . The enrichment factor varied for the different species according to their affinity of adsorption. The measured impurity enrichment factors agreed well with theoretical analyses, and are functions of the pressure ratio (adsorption/desorption pressures) and adsorption affinity relative to hydrogen (selectivity). Depending on the species of interest and the volume of the enriched sample needed for analysis, the device can be designed to enrich the impurities in hydrogen in 40 min or less.
An evaluation of Tamm–Horsfall protein glycans in kidney stone formers using novel techniques

Tamm–Horsfall protein (THP) is theorized to play a critical role in preventing kidney stone formation. There is conflicting literature on THP analysis in kidney stone patients; therefore, this study was conducted using sensitive and specific bio-analytical techniques to better understand differences in THP, which play a potential role in nephrolithiasis pathogenesis. THP was isolated from urine samples of 34 male and 19 female kidney stone patients and 30 male and 24 female control subjects using diatomaceous earth. Protein was quantified by Superdex-200 size-exclusion chromatography. Sialic acid was determined by 1,2-diamino-4,5-methylenedioxybenzene high-performance liquid chromatography. Neutral and amino sugars were determined by high pH anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC) with pulsed amperometric detection. THP N-glycans were derivatized with 2-aminobenzamide (2-AB) and profiled by HPAEC with fluorescence detection. N-glycan structures were confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI–TOF MS). Results indicate that kidney stone patients had 32 % lower protein content compared to controls, while sialic acid content was lower by 29 and 24 % in male and female kidney stone patients, respectively, compared to controls. The neutral and amino sugars were also lower by 18 and 20 % for male and female kidney stone patients, respectively, compared to controls. All results were statistically significant (p < 0.001). These results are supported by 2-AB profiling of THP N-glycans and by MALDI–TOF MS of highly sialylated N-glycans in the range of m/z 3000–6000. This study demonstrates quantitative and qualitative differences in THP, which can be crucial contributing factors for nephrolithiasis.
Investigation of transverse stress measurements by using embedded fiber Bragg grating sensors subjected to Host Poisson's effect

In many situations, it is desirable to measure the load acting in a specific direction by measuring the strain induced by Poisson effects in a direction perpendicular to the load direction. For this to be possible, a fixed relationship between the strains in both directions must be known. This can be useful, for example, when the geometry is such that there is not sufficient room to locate a strain gauge parallel to the load direction but a gauge can be placed in a transverse plane. In this paper, we investigate the use of a fiber Bragg grating in such an arrangement with the fiber embedded within the host material. The investigation is done by theoretical, numerical and experimental approaches and we concentrate on two aspects: (1) the non-uniform strain transfer, particular in axial strains, due to shear-lag effects, and (2) the effect of induced birefringence in the optical fiber due to a load cross to its axis. The results of these approaches indicate that the strains of an embedded fiber sensor subjected to transverse loads are dependent on the location of the embedded sensor and the material properties of the host material. The results also show that when the Young's modulus of the host material is much less than the modulus of the embedded sensor, the Bragg spectrum broadening due to induced birefringence is not significant. However, a lower host Young's modulus also results in longer sections on non-uniform axial strain near the ingress and egress sections of the optical fiber. These two factors must be balanced if we desire to use conventional methods of Bragg grating interrogation that measure only the central wavelength of the Bragg grating's spectrum. In the case investigated (Host Young's modulus of 4.83 GPa) full strain build-up requires approximately 4 mm of fiber length at each end. Likewise, the transverse stress coupling into the fiber modifies its wavelength-shift-to-axial-strain- coefficient by about 6%.