cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neutron radiotherapy for the treatment of locally advanced major salivary gland tumors

Background Malignant salivary gland tumors are rare tumors of the head and neck region. The treatment of these tumors has generally consisted of surgical extirpation, with postoperative radiotherapy improving locoregional control and survival in patients with high risk tumors. Neutron radiotherapy has been found to be more efficacious than conventional radiotherapy in the setting of inoperable or subtotally resected salivary gland tumors. Methods One hundred forty-eight patients with malignant salivary tumors of major salivary gland origin were treated at the University of Washington Medical Center with fast neutron radiotherapy between the years 1984 and 1995. One hundred twenty-eight patients were treated with curative intent, and of these, 120 patients had evidence of gross residual disease at the time of treatment. These patients constitute the main analysis of this paper. Of these patients, 19% had recurrent disease, 39% were initially seen with positive lymph nodes, and 11% had previously received full dose conventional radiotherapy. At the time of analysis, the median period at risk of survivors was 26 months. Results The 5-year actuarial locoregional control rate for all patients with gross tumor treated with curative intent was 59%. A tumor size ≤4 cm was associated with an excellent locoregional control rate (80%), and cause-specific survival (73%) at 5 years compared with patients with larger tumors (35% and 22%, respectively, p < .001 in both cases). On univariate analysis, there appeared to be an advantage in locoregional control for patients with smaller sized tumors (≤4 cm) who underwent an attempted surgical extirpation. Locoregional control was excellent (100%) in patients having a complete surgical resection of their tumors and undergoing postoperative neutron radiotherapy because of the presence of other high risk factors. Lymph node status at the time of treatment, base of skull involvement, and male sex were associated with the development of distant metastasis, with 52% of node positive patients developing distant metastases by 5 years, compared with 32% of node negative patients (p = .04). Conclusions Neutron radiotherapy is an effective form of treatment for patients with high risk, locally advanced tumors of major salivary gland origin. An initial surgical resection appears beneficial in patients for whom such an approach is feasible. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Head Neck 21: 255–263, 1999.
Tunneling in a metal-semiconductor-semiconductor thin-film diode☆

Abstract By incorporation of a thin layer of near intrinsic semiconductor, one can change a metal-semiconductor ohmic contact into a retifying junction. This concept is demonstrated by inserting an amorphous silicon film of less than 40 A between aluminum and silicon. The resulting diode's forward current is found to be controlled by majority carrier tunneling, and its reverse current is governed by minority carrier diffusion. From experimental data of I - V and C - V measurements, we find a flat-band condition at zero bias and deduce a tunneling barrier height of 0.67 eV at room temperature. The energy band diagram is presented to illustrate the operation principle of the tunnel diode.
CrowdLogging: distributed, private, and anonymous search logging

We describe CrowdLogging, an approach for distributed search log collection, storage, and mining, with the dual goals of preserving privacy and making the mined information broadly available. Most search log mining approaches and most privacy enhancing schemes have focused on centralized search logs and methods for disseminating them to third parties. In our approach, a user's search log is encrypted and shared in such a way that (a) the source of a search behavior artifact, such as a query, is unknown and (b) extremely rare artifacts---that is, artifacts more likely to contain private information---are not revealed. The approach works with any search behavior artifact that can be extracted from a search log, including queries, query reformulations, and query-click pairs. In this work, we: (1) present a distributed search log collection, storage, and mining framework; (2) compare several privacy policies, including differential privacy, showing the trade-offs between strong guarantees and the utility of the released data; (3) demonstrate the impact of our approach using two existing research query logs; and (4) describe a pilot study for which we implemented a version of the framework.
Outcomes After the Arthroscopic Treatment of Femoroacetabular Impingement in a Mixed Group of High-Level Athletes

BackgroundFemoroacetabular impingement has become more widely recognized in the athletic patient population. The purpose of the present study was to review the clinical outcome after arthroscopic treatment of femoroacetabular impingement in a mixed population of high-level athletes.HypothesisArthroscopic treatment of femoroacetabular impingement results in significant improvement in clinical outcome and a high rate of return to play.Study DesignCase series; Level of evidence, 4.MethodsHigh-level athletes who underwent arthroscopic treatment of femoroacetabular impingement (rim trimming, labral refixation or debridement, femoral osteochondroplasty) with a minimum of 1-year follow-up were retrospectively identified. All patients completed hip-specific outcome scores (Modified Harris Hip Score [MHHS] and Hip Outcome Score [HOS]) at baseline and most recent follow-up.ResultsForty-seven patients with an average age of 22.8 ± 6.2 years met the study criteria with a mean follow-up of 27.0 ± 5.5 months. Thirty-th...
Underutilization of beta-blockers in older patients with prior myocardial infarction or coronary artery disease in an academic, hospital-based geriatrics practice

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of beta-blocker use in older persons with prior myocardial infarction (MI) or coronary artery disease (CAD) without contraindications to beta-blockers in an academic hospital-based geriatrics practice. DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of charts from all older patients seen during January 1996 through March 1997 at an academic, hospital-based geriatrics practice was performed to investigate the prevalence of beta-blocker use in older patients with prior MI or CAD without contraindications to beta blockers. SETTING: An academic, hospital-based, primary care geriatrics practice staffed by fellows in a geriatrics training program and full-time faculty geriatricians. PATIENTS: One hundred thirty-nine women and 84 men, mean age 82 ± 8 years (range 67 to 96), were included in the study. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 233 patients with CAD, 53 patients (23%) were receiving beta-blockers. Of 180 patients with CAD not receiving beta-blockers, 34 patients (19%) had contraindications to beta-blockers. Of 199 patients with CAD without contraindications to beta-blockers, 53 patients (27%) were receiving beta blockers. Of 162 patients with prior MI, 38 patients (23%) were receiving beta-blockers. Of 124 patients with prior MI not receiving beta-blockers, 19 patients (15%) had contraindications to beta-blockers. Of 143 patients with prior MI without contraindications to beta-blockers, 38 patients (27%) were receiving beta-blockers. CONCLUSIONS: There is marked underutilization of beta-blockers in treating older patients with prior MI or CAD in an academic, hospital-based geriatrics practice. J Am Geriatr Soc 45:1360–1361, 1997.
Novel Perspectives on the Beating Rate of the Heart

To the Editor: Recent studies1–3⇓⇓ have demonstrated that local Ca2+ release during the later part of diastolic depolarization (DD) via ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in the sinoatrial nodal cells (SANCs) activates the electrogenic Na+-Ca2+ exchanger (NCX). The resultant inward current enhances the rate of DD, leading to an earlier occurrence of the subsequent action potential, ie, to an increase in the beating rate.3 Thus, a beating rate is a result of synchronization of two “ionic generators”: (1) a set of sarcolemmal ionic channels and (2) an array of RyRs, which, when activated, can generate rhythmic oscillations of intracellular [Ca2+]. Other recent studies indicate that the effect β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) stimulation to enhance the rate of DD and to increase the beating rate requires intact RyR function.4,5⇓ Specifically, β-AR stimulation by isoproterenol recruits additional RyRs to release Ca2+ during DD; this activates …
Studies on the environmental fate of carbaryl as a function of pH.

The effects of pH upon the environmental fate of carbaryl were determined in acute toxicity tests, microcosm analyses, and abiotic water stability studies. The toxicity of carbaryl varied significantly with pH in 24-hr toxicity tests withChironomus riparius. Toxicity was greatest at pH 4; the chemical was equitoxic at pH's 6 and 8. Greater amounts of carbaryl were detected in water at pH 4, both in the microcosm and abiotic studies, than at pH's 6 and 8. In spite of the marked persistence of carbaryl in water at pH 4, only minor differences were seen in the amount of parent compound in the microcosm organisms as a function of pH because of the facility with which carbaryl was degraded. The hazard associated with aquatic contamination by carbaryl is affected by pH, but is most significant when contamination of the water exceeds the capacity of aquatic biota to metabolize the chemical. These data underscore the need to consider physical factors which affect environmental fate, particularly in environments in which biotic degradation is minimal.
Induction of the GABA cell phenotype: an in vitro model for studying neurodevelopmental disorders.

Recent studies of the hippocampus have suggested that a network of genes is associated with the regulation of the GAD67 (GAD1) expression and may play a role in γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) dysfunction in schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). To obtain a more detailed understanding of how GAD67 regulation may result in GABAergic dysfunction, we have developed an in vitro model in which GABA cells are differentiated from the hippocampal precursor cell line, HiB5. Growth factors, such as PDGF, and BDNF, regulate the GABA phenotype by inducing the expression of GAD67 and stimulating the growth of cellular processes, many with growth cones that form appositions with the cell bodies and processes of other GAD67-positive cells. These changes are associated with increased expression of acetylated tubulin, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) and the post-synaptic density protein 95 (PSD95). The addition of BDNF, together with PDGF, increases the levels of mRNA and protein for GAD67, as well as the high affinity GABA uptake protein, GAT1. These changes are associated with increased concentrations of GABA in the cytoplasm of “differentiated” HiB5 neurons. In the presence of Ca2+ and K+, newly synthesized GABA is released extracellularly. When the HiB5 cells appear to be fully differentiated, they also express GAD65, parvalbumin and calbindin, and GluR subtypes as well as HDAC1, DAXX, PAX5, Runx2, associated with GAD67 regulation. Overall, these results suggest that the HiB5 cells can differentiate into functionally mature GABA neurons in the presence of gene products that are associated with GAD67 regulation in the adult hippocampus.
Generalized Encoding CRDSA: Maximizing Throughput in Enhanced Random Access Schemes for Satellite

This work starts from the analysis of the literature about the Random Access protocols with contention resolution as Contention Resolution Diversity Slotted Aloha (CRDSA) and introduces a possible enhancement, named Generalized Contention Resolution Diversity Slotted Aloha (GE-CRDSA). The GE-CRDSA aims to improve the aggregated throughput when the system load is less than 50%, playing on the opportunity of transmitting an optimal combination of information and parity packets frame by frame.
Blood donation fears inventory: development and validation of a measure of fear specific to the blood donation setting

Abstract Background and Objectives Although individual differences in fear of stimuli related to blood donation is a key determinant of donor recruitment and retention, a donation-specific fear measure has yet to be developed. Materials and Methods A donation-related fear measure was developed and tested on an initial sample of donors and non-donors, and then re-evaluated on a second sample to confirm the observed factor structure. Results Analyses supported a four-factor structure, with subscales related to fear of: (1) syncopal symptoms, (2) blood and needles, (3) social evaluation, and (4) health screen results. Conclusion The Blood Donation Fears Inventory is a novel measure to assess fears held by current and potential blood donors.
Radiation-induced cytotoxicity, DNA damage and DNA repair: implications for cell survival theory.

The radiosensitivities and the kinetics for removal of radiation-induced DNA damage were compared for proliferative (P) and quiescent (Q) cells of the lines 66 and 67 derived from a mouse mammary adenocarcinoma. As determined from cell survival assays, the 66 and 67 Q cells were more radiosensitive than their 66 and 67 P counterparts. The rank order of their radiosensitivity was: 67 Q > 66 Q ≥ 67 P > 66 P. Induction of radiation damage in the DNA of these cells, as measured by the alkaline elution technique, was identical for 66 and 67 P and Q cells. The repair of this DNA damage was biphasic for 66 and 67 P and Q cells. The half-times for the fast and slow repair phases in 66 Q cells were identical to those previously measured in 67 Q cells. The half-times of the fast and slow repair phases in 66 P cells were also identical to those previously measured in 67 P cells. However, the half-times for the fast and slow repair phases in 66 and 67 Q cells were longer than those measured in their 66 and 67 P counterparts. The 66 cell data are consistent with our previously published hypothesis that Q cells are more radiosensitive than their corresponding P cells because they repair their radiation-induced DNA damage slower. However, our results are not consistent with hypotheses that attempt to explain the radiosensitivity differences between lines 66 and 67 solely on the basis of measurable induction and repair of DNA damage.
Mental health: systems and non-systems.

It is a primary aim of industrial cybernetics to harness this ability of a system to teach itself optimum behaviour. To do it, however, we must know how to design the system in the first place as a machine-for-teaching-itself. There must be exactly the right flow of information in the right places; rich interconnectivity; facilities for the growth of feedbacks and many-one transformation circuits; and so on. The exceedingly complex system must be designed as a black box.
Complement mRNA in the mammalian brain: responses to Alzheimer's disease and experimental brain lesioning.

Abstract This study describes evidence in the adult human and rat brain for mRNA's that encode two complement (C) proteins, C1qB and C4. C proteins are important effectors of humoral immunity and inflammation in peripheral tissues but have not been considered as normally present in brain. Previous immunocytochemical studies showed that C proteins are associated with plaques, tangles, and dystrophic neurites in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but their source is unknown. Combined immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization techniques show C4 mRNA in pyramidal neurons and C1qB mRNA in microglia. Primary rat neuron cultures also show C1qB mRNA. In the cortex from AD brains, there were two- to threefold increases of C1qB mRNA and C4 mRNA, and increased C1qB mRNA prevalence was in part associated with microglia. As a model for AD, we examined entorhinal cortex perforant path transection in the rat brain, which caused rapid increases of C1qB mRNA in the ipsilateral, but not contralateral, hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. The role of brain-derived acute and chronic C induction during AD and experimental lesions can now be considered in relation to functions of C proteins that pertain to cell degeneration and/or cell preservation and synaptic plasticity.
Role of pressure gradients in sheet flow of coarse sediments under sawtooth waves

[1] Discrete particle model (DPM) simulations have been performed to directly examine the role of horizontal pressure gradients acting on the wave bottom boundary layer (WBBL) during the process of sheet flow transport in the surf zone. The DPM is a two-phase WBBL model that directly couples a one-dimensional eddy-viscosity fluid flow to a three-dimensional particle model. Newton's Third Law is enforced at every simulation time step through fluid-particle interaction forces of buoyancy, drag, and added-mass. Simulations are able to reproduce bedload transport rates from a laboratory data set for coarse sediment distributions. Consequently, simulations of a monochromatic sawtooth wave were performed with three coarse grain size distributions to investigate the relative importance of bed shear stresses, horizontal pressure forces, and fluid-particle drag forces on bedload transport processes. The simulation results demonstrate that the magnitude of the horizontal pressure force acting directly on sediment embedded in the WBBL is small compared to the magnitude of the particle drag force or particle stress; however, the phasing of the onshore peak in the horizontal pressure force with respect to the particle drag force is important to sediment mobilization and enhances the observed onshore bias in bed load flux. Removing the horizontal pressure force on the sediment particles resulted on average in a 30% reduction in net bed load flux. In the surf zone, free stream fluid accelerations are typically equated to the horizontal pressure gradient. Thus, the simulations may explain why the fluid acceleration can be a successful parameter for aiding in sediment transport predictions in the surf zone.
Abdominal myomectomy in the treatment of infertility.

Abstract Objective: To determine the effect of abdominal myomectomy as a treatment for infertility in women with uterine leiomyoma. Methods: Records were reviewed for 37 women at Johns Hopkins Hospital who underwent myomectomy as a primary procedure for infertility between 1975 and 1990. Results: Kaplan-Meier life-table analysis demonstrated a cumulative pregnancy rate of 57% and live birth rate of 48%. The size or number of myomas did not affect either the pregnancy rate or the myoma recurrence rate. The presence of pelvic adhesions at the time of myomectomy significantly reduced the chance of conception (P
On Preemption, Congressional Intent, and Conflict of Laws

Conflict of laws theory explores how courts should decide which law governs a dispute or transaction when more than one legal authority has a legitimate connection with the dispute, and thus a legitimate claim to having its law applied to it.1 Conflict of laws theory, thus, explains the delicate balancing act in which courts engage to allocate power among sovereigns with overlapping authority. It seeks to promote and accommodate a variety of goals in achieving this end: respect for sovereignty, respect for legitimate governmental policies and the interests they serve, predictability, certainty, and uniformity in the application of law, among others.
Chronic pain, addiction severity, and misuse of opioids in Cumberland County, Maine.

Abstract Background Few studies have examined the relationship between chronic pain and opioid abuse in non-clinical populations. We sought to investigate this in a street-recruited sample of active opioid abusers in Cumberland County, Maine, USA, a locale that had experienced substantial increases in opioid abuse. Methods A community-based sample was recruited using respondent-driven sampling. Participants were screened to identify those who had consumed illicit opioids in the prior month and administered a structured survey that included the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and Brief Pain Inventory® (BPI). Results More than 40% of the 237 individuals reported recurring pain that interfered with daily living. For more than three-quarters of those reporting chronic pain, opioid misuse preceded the onset of chronic pain. The order of onset was not associated with differences in sociodemographic, current levels of drug misuse, or ASI and BPI scores. BPI scores were associated with medical and psychological ASI domains. Compared to those not reporting chronic pain, those doing so were more likely to have a regular physician but were more likely to report difficulty gaining admission to substance abuse treatment programs. Conclusion Chronic pain was a common co-occurring condition among individuals misusing opioids. Better efforts are needed to integrate pain management and substance abuse treatment for this population.
Monolayer Cultures of Insect Cell Lines and their Inoculation with a Plant Virus

TWENTY-SEVEN years after Trager1 reported short term survival and growth of silkworm cells from dissected female gonads, Grace successfully established continuous insect cell lines in vitro from ovarian tissues excised from diapausing pupae of Antheraea eucalypti2. The various attempts, during the interim, to improve in vitro growth of insect cells have been critically reviewed3–5.
Dinkum Sands—A Recently Foundered Arctic Island

Dinkum Sands was mapped in 1949 as a small island, one link in a 95-km-long chain of barrier islands near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Questions about its status as an Arctic island and the submerged land ownership led to a Federal/State joint monitoring program using topographic surveys, tide gauges, and other approaches. On the basis of the results the Supreme Court concluded that Dinkum Sands is a shoal rather than an island. The shoal attracts the yearly formation of pressure ridges at least as high as 15 m and undergoes drastic changes in location, shape, and elevation. Pressure ridges form from 10-cm-thick new ice when shifting and compression result in crumbling and the introduction of ice slabs into the sandy gravel shoal. This leads to a seasonal increase in shoal volume and height. With summer warming and sea-ice melting, part of the ice in the crest of the shoal (∼50%) melts and its height accordingly drops to below sea level. This lowering requires neither wave action nor lateral sediment transport. The original disappearance of the island in the 1950s, however, probably was not caused by diminished sediment supply from rivers or from coastal erosion, but by diminished local sediment supply through ice pile-ups or by increased erosion from wave attack. Similar changes in sediment volume as those observed in Dinkum Sands probably also occur on fully submerged shoals ranging to water depths of 20 or more meters, which are also marked by seasonal pressure ridge formation.
Angiotensin II involvement in adaptive enteric oxalate excretion in rats with chronic renal failure induced by hyperoxaluria.

Enteric secretion of oxalate is induced in rats that have chronic renal failure produced by 5/6 nephrectomy [2]. The purpose of the present study was to examine renal and intestinal handling of oxalate in rats with chronic renal failure (CRF) induced by chronic hyperoxaluria. A rat model for chronic renal failure, induced by chronic hyperoxaluria (CH-CRF), was produced by unilateral nephrectomy combined with dietary ethylene glycol for 4 weeks. Both intact and unilateral nephrectomized rats (UN) without the oxalate load served as controls. Renal handling of oxalate was assessed by measurement of renal clearance of oxalate and creatinine while colonic handling of oxalate and chloride was determined by in vitro transepithelial flux measurements. Angiotensin II mediation was assessed by sensitivity of the transport processes to the AT1 receptor antagonist losartan. Renal and colonic handling of oxalate in UN rats were similar to intact controls. The CH-CRF rats were hyperoxalemic, hyperoxaluric, and exhibited a twofold increase in oxalate clearance despite a 50% drop in creatinine clearance. Distal (but not proximal) colonic handling of oxalate in CH-CRF rats was reversed from net oxalate absorption seen in UN and intact controls to net secretion that was sensitive to losartan in vitro. Conclusion: Although enteric oxalate secretion can be correlated with elevations in plasma oxalate in the absence of overt renal insufficiency by an ANG II-independent mechanism, the present results suggest that some degree of renal insufficiency is necessary to induce ANG II-mediated colonic oxalate secretion.
Isosucrose. Definitive structural assignment by spectral correlation to α,β- and α,α-sucrose octaacetates

Abstract Three nonreducing disaccharides containing D -glucosyl and D -fructosyl groups, namely, “isosucrose” octaacetate ( 3 ), sucrose octaacetate ( 4 ), and “α,α-sucrose” octaacetate ( 5 ), give qualitatively identical mass spectra and are, therefore, related as diastereoisomers. Spin-coupling values in the 300-MHz n.m.r. spectra of 3 , 4 , and 5 establish that the D -glucopyranosyl group is present in the 4 C 1 ( D ) conformation, and that the anomeric configuration of this group is α in 4 and 5 , and β in 3 . In the n.m.r. spectra, the H-4 atom of the D -fructofuranosyl group of 3 and 5 resonates 0.5 p.p.m. upfield of the corresponding signal of 4 , from which it was deduced that both 3 and 5 are α- D -fructofuranosides.
Comparing Changes in Attitude in Three Different Introductory Computing Courses.

This study investigated changes in student attitudes toward computing in three different computing courses. The courses were “typical” semester-long university introductory computing courses. The courses have no prior computing prerequisites. The first course provided an introduction to computers, computer science, and society. The second course was a hands-on course focusing on the mastery of the Microsoft suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access). The third course introduced students to programming using Visual Basic. To investigate whether attitudes changed in any of the courses, an attitude survey was administered the first and last week of the courses. Dependent samples t-test showed a positive attitude change in the second course, and no change in the first and third course. To better understand why attitudes changed in one course, but not the others, several students with the most dramatic attitude changes were interviewed, and focus groups were held with both students and the faculty teaching th...
Linear dependent types for differential privacy

Differential privacy offers a way to answer queries about sensitive information while providing strong, provable privacy guarantees, ensuring that the presence or absence of a single individual in the database has a negligible statistical effect on the query's result. Proving that a given query has this property involves establishing a bound on the query's sensitivity---how much its result can change when a single record is added or removed.A variety of tools have been developed for certifying that a given query differentially private. In one approach, Reed and Pierce [34] proposed a functional programming language, Fuzz, for writing differentially private queries. Fuzz uses linear types to track sensitivity and a probability monad to express randomized computation; it guarantees that any program with a certain type is differentially private. Fuzz can successfully verify many useful queries. However, it fails when the sensitivity analysis depends on values that are not known statically.We present DFuzz, an extension of Fuzz with a combination of linear indexed types and lightweight dependent types. This combination allows a richer sensitivity analysis that is able to certify a larger class of queries as differentially private, including ones whose sensitivity depends on runtime information. As in Fuzz, the differential privacy guarantee follows directly from the soundness theorem of the type system. We demonstrate the enhanced expressivity of DFuzz by certifying differential privacy for a broad class of iterative algorithms that could not be typed previously.
Silicone elastomer cerebrospinal fluid shunt systems

A 1995 resolution of the American Medical Association House of Delegates, introduced by the American Academy of Neurology, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, asked the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs to add the use of hardened silicone shunts to its study of the effects of silicone gel used in breast implants. On consideration of the important differences between the two materials, silicone elastomer ("hardened silicone") and silicone gel, the Council on Scientific Affairs elected to address the subject of silicone elastomer shunt systems separately. This report describes the different types of medical-grade silicone used in medical devices, the incidence of hydrocephalus and its causes and treatment, and the use of cerebrospinal fluid shunt systems made of silicone elastomer. Published case reports of possible immunological disease in patients who have had silicone elastomer cerebrospinal fluid shunt systems implanted are reviewed. The Council on Scientific Affairs concluded that the evidence presented does not support the occurrence of immune-mediated systemic reactions to implanted silicone elastomer cerebrospinal fluid shunt systems. The local granulomatous or inflammatory responses observed in some patients with silicone shunt systems have not been shown to be immunologically mediated; similar reactions have been described with other implanted foreign bodies.
Susceptibility of pure and hybrid stands of Pinus to attack by Matsucoccus matsumurae in Japan (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Margarodidae).

Studies were conducted in Japan during 1984 in pure and hybrid stands of Pinus species of the subsection Sylvestres to determine their relative susceptibility to Matsucoccus matsumurae (Kuwana). Survivorship of scale nymphs and fecundity of adults were significantly lower on the native Japanese pines P. densiflora and P. thunbergiana and on their interspecific hybrid than on several pure and hybrid pines of related exotic species. Maternal parents of Japanese species did not confer resistance upon the F1 progeny that resulted from hybrid crosses with susceptible exotic species. Overall trends in scale survivorship in 10 pure and hybrid stands suggested a chemical basis for host suitability. However, interspecific variation in bark texture and significant differences in survivorship of nymphs in exposed and protected sites on bark indicated a physical basis for host resistance as well.
Unsymmetrical selenides from selenocyanates and methyl Grignard

Abstract The addition of methyl Grignard to diethyl acetamido(cyanoselenobenzyl)malonates 3 and 4 at −78° followed by hydrolysis yields the 3-(4-and 3-methylselenophenyl)alanines 1 and 2.
Repeated Administration of γ‐VinylGABA Reduces Rat Brain Glutamine Synthetase Activity

The glutamine cycle has been proposed as a pathway in which glutamine synthesized in glia provides substrate for synthesis of the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA as they are lost from neurons. To test whether GABA may regulate this pathway, the effect of elevated GABA on the glial enzyme glutamine synthetase was examined in rat brain. Repeated subcutaneous injections of the antiepileptic GABA transaminase inhibitor gamma-vinylGABA at a dose of 150 mg/kg per day for 21 days reduced glutamine synthetase activity by 36% in the cortex and 22% in the cerebellum. At 30 mg/kg per day, glutamine synthetase activity was reduced by 9.5% in the cortex but unchanged in the cerebellum. The reductions were brain specific because the skeletal muscle and liver enzymes were unaffected by gamma-vinylGABA administration. Amino acid analysis of the cortex from gamma-vinylGABA-treated rats demonstrated a 270% increase in GABA levels after 150 mg/kg but no change after 30 mg/kg. GABA levels and glutamine synthetase activity were inversely correlated. The 150 mg/kg dose significantly lowered cortical glutamine and glutamate levels. The decline in brain glutamine synthetase activity with chronic gamma-vinylGABA administration developed gradually over time and may be due to the slow turnover of this enzyme in vivo.
HIGH-ENERGY FISSION OF HEAVY ELEMENTS. NUCLEAR CHARGE DEPENDENCE

Radiochemical studies of the fission of heavy elements ($_{67}\mathrm{Ho}^{165}$ to $_{90}\mathrm{Th}^{232}$) with 450-Mev protons have been performed. Radioactive nuclides varying in mass number from 59 to 115 were isolated from the various targets and, from their measured cross sections, the cross section vs mass number dependence was determined on the assumption of a yield vs charge distribution curve constant with mass number of the fission product and atomic number of the target nucleus. The integrated fission cross sections, in barns, were calculated to be 0.67, 0.21, 0.061, 0.019, 0.0050, and \ensuremath{\sim}0.002 for thorium, bismuth, gold, rhenium, tantalum, and holmium, respectively. Anomalies in the cross sections and most probable charge values for the heavier nuclides isolated from holmium suggest the existence of another competing process, labelled "fragmentation," along with spallation and fission. The importance of this process in heavy element bombardment is discussed.
Filling gaps: Decision principles and structure in sentence comprehension☆

Abstract The correct grammatical characterization of sentences containing filler-gap dependencies is a topic of considerable theoretical interest in linguistics. In some grammatical frameworks, these dependencies are representef in terms of conditions on the permissible indexing of structures (or alternative structure evaluation conditions) which a representation must adhere to in order to be well-formed. In other frameworks, constraints on permissible filler-gap dependencies are simply inherent in the set of phrase structure rules contained in the grammar of a language. The processing of sentences with multiple (potential) filler-gap dependencies was investigated in two experiments. The first experiment provided evidence for three claims. First, the human sentence processor abides by a strategy of assigning the most recent potential filler to a gap. Hence, ‘recent filler’ sentences where this assignment proves to be correct takes less time to comprehend than ‘distant filler’ sentences where this decision turns out to be incorrect. Second, the recent filler strategy is itself just a special case of a more general strategy of assigning the most salient potential filler to a gap. Third, unambiguous sentences in which a filler-gap assignment is disambiguated by ‘control’ information specified by individual verbs gives rise to the same recent filler errors as ambiguous sentences. This suggests that tentative filler-gap assignments are made by the processor before all of the relevant constraints on permissible filler-gap dependencies are consulted by the processor. The second experiment tested an alternative hypothesis that the more complex ‘distant filler’ sentences took longer to comprehend in the first experiment only because these sentences often contained verbs which license two adjacent gaps. The experiment showed that there was a significant recent filler effect in sentences that did not contain adjacent gaps and that this effect did not interact with verb class. The finding that the processor delays use of verb-control information is extremely surprising. It may be explained by the fact that this information is only relevant to one type of gap (‘equi-gaps’) and what type of gap the processor is dealing with often can not be determined unambiguously at the time when it initially encounters a gap in its left-to-right processing of a sentence. If our interpretation of these findings is correct, they argue for a considerable amount of structure in the sentence comprehension system. Further, they favor a view of sentence processing in which processing operations involving constraints on the permissible indexing (or evaluation) of structures lag behind the processor's structure building operations. Hence, the results favor those grammatical theories which preserve this distinction over grammatical theories which provide a uniform characterization of all syntactic well-formedness conditions.
Improving IPC in simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) processors by capping IQ utilization according to dispatched memory instructions

Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) provides a method to improve resource uti-lization and performance of superscalar CPUs by sharing key data-path components among multiple independent threads. As threads have unstable behavior, Effective use of critical resources among threads is a challenge to SMT. One of most critical shared resources in the pipeline is Issue Queue (IQ) so putting a limit on its occupation by each thread leads improving in the overall throughput; however, to accommodate the transient behavior of each thread, setting a limit (cap) should be done properly in real time in order to preclude under-utilization (thus, under-achieving) due to over-capping, or starvation for some threads due to under- capping. In this paper, a simple dynamic algorithm is proposed to adjust the cap value for each thread in real time according to the number of memory instructions of each thread. The simulation results show a considerable improvement in IPC over the regular no-capping technique and even a performance superior to the fixed capping approach by using the proposed method.
State space sampling of feasible motions for high-performance mobile robot navigation in complex environments

Sampling in the space of controls or actions is a well-established method for ensuring feasible local motion plans. However, as mobile robots advance in performance and competence in complex environments, this classical motion-planning technique ceases to be effective. When environmental constraints severely limit the space of acceptable motions or when global motion planning expresses strong preferences, a state space sampling strategy is more effective. Although this has been evident for some time, the practical question is how to achieve it while also satisfying the severe constraints of vehicle dynamic feasibility. The paper presents an effective algorithm for state space sampling utilizing a model-based trajectory generation approach. This method enables high-speed navigation in highly constrained and-or partially known environments such as trails, roadways, and dense off-road obstacle fields. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Removal rates of dissolved munitions compounds in seawater

The historical exposure of coastal marine systems to munitions compounds is of significant concern due to the global distribution of impacted sites and known toxicological effects of nitroaromatics. In order to identify specific coastal regions where persistence of these chemicals should be of concern, it is necessary to experimentally observe their behavior under a variety of realistic oceanographic conditions. Here, we conduct a mesocosm scale pulse addition experiment to document the behavior of two commonly used explosives, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) in simulated marine systems containing water and sediments collected from Long Island Sound, CT. The addition of sediments and sediment grain-size had a major influence on the loss rates of all compounds detected. RDX and reduced TNT products were removed from seawater only in the presence of sediment, and TNT degraded significantly faster in the presence of sediment. Both compounds were removed from the system faster with decreasing grain-size. Based on these findings and a thorough review of the literature, we hypothesize that in addition to bacterial abundance and nutrient availability, TNT removal rates in coastal marine waters may be controlled by sorption and rapid surface-mediated bacterial transformation, while RDX removal rates are controlled by diffusion into sedimentary anoxic regions and subsequent anaerobic bacterial breakdown. A comparison of published removal rates of RDX and TNT highlights the extreme variability in measured degradation rates and identifies physicochemical variables that covary with the breakdown of these munitions compounds.
Aberrant redox regulation in human metastatic melanoma cells compared to normal melanocytes.

Melanocytes and melanoma cells contain melanin, a complex polymer that modulates redox changes in these cells. Relative intracellular hydrogen peroxide levels measured by dichlorodihydrofluorescein are similar in the two cell types, but the levels of superoxide anion measured by dihydroethidium were markedly increased in melanoma cells. Chelator-induced oxidative stress is efficiently suppressed by melanocytes without substantial recruitment of the transcription factors NF-kappaB and AP-1 as measured by electrophoretic mobility shift assay and quantitated by densitometry or by a change in frequency of apoptosis as determined by annexin V binding. In contrast, NF-kappaB in melanoma cells is strongly recruited by changes in redox status and exhibits a correlative relationship to intracellular hydrogen peroxide (but not superoxide anion). However, the response of the NF-kappaB pathway to intracellular hydrogen peroxide is anomalous, including downregulation of p65 and IkappaBalpha RNA expression (Northern blot). Additionally, recruitment of AP-1 binding in melanoma cells was directly correlated with intracellular levels of superoxide anion (but not hydrogen peroxide). Neither the degree of NF-kappaB nor AP-1 binding in melanoma cells was related to the frequency of apoptosis. The responsiveness of NF-kappaB and AP-1 recruitment to intracellular levels of hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion without concomitant control of apoptosis provides a general mechanism by which these cells can escape noxious injury (e.g., chemotherapy). The marked enhancement of apoptosis in melanoma cells by chelators indicates, however, that this alteration can be circumvented and offers a unique therapeutic window to explore.
A method for determining optical properties of opaque liquids.

A method is presented that can be used to measure the optical properties of opaque liquids. The absolute values of the reflectivities of the material under investigation are measured at near normal incidence and at an angle of 45°.
Posthospital follow-up visits and 30-day readmission rates in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

PURPOSE To examine the effect of a follow-up visit with a primary care physician and/or pulmonologist within the first 30 days of hospital discharge on readmissions, emergency department (ED) visits, and mortality. PATIENTS AND METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study of 7,102 unique patients discharged from a Mayo Clinic hospital in Rochester, MN, and residing in Olmsted County, MN, with any mention of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) from January 1, 2004 through November 30, 2011. The study included 839 patients who met study-entry criteria. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to determine the risk of hospital readmission, ED visits, and death of patients, with or without a follow-up visit during the first 30 days postdischarge. RESULTS Our results showed 839 unique patients experienced 1,422 discharges with a primary diagnosis of COPD. Of the 1,422 discharges, 973 (68.4%) had a follow-up visit within 30 days. In a multivariate Cox proportional hazard-ratio (HR) model analysis, occurrence of a follow-up visit did not have a significant effect on the risk of the combined outcome of 30-day readmission and ED visit (HR 0.947, confidence interval 0.763-1.177; P=0.63). However, a postdischarge follow-up visit had a significant effect on 30-day mortality (HR 0.279, confidence interval 0.149-0.523; P<0.001). CONCLUSION Postdischarge follow-up visits after hospitalization for COPD did not significantly reduce the risk of 30-day readmission or ED visit. However, patients who received postdischarge follow-up visits had significantly reduced 30-day mortality.
Morphological studies of neurotransmitter release and membrane recycling in sympathetic nerve terminals in culture.

The morphological correlates of transmitter release from synapses and varicosities were examined in mature cultures of sympathetic neurons dissociated from neonatal rat superior cervical ganglia. The number of synaptic vesicles decreased in synapses and varicosities depolarized with 53 mM K+. The decrease in vesicle number was accompanied by striking changes in the appearance of the synaptic terminals and an increase in their mean circumference. Coated pits and membrane-bound cisternae were observed more frequently in synapses and varicosities of depolarized neurons than in terminals of resting neurons. These morphological changes were not seen when the neurons were depolarized in the presence of Co2+, consistent with the Ca2+-dependence of transmitter release from these neurons. In freeze-fracture replicas of depolarized neurons, numerous dimples were observed in the cytoplasmic leaflet of synapses and varicosities, adjacent to large 12–14 nm particles. After a period of recovery in 5mm K+ medium, the number of synaptic vesicles and the shape of synaptic terminals returned to normal. When horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was included in the medium as an extracellular tracer during depolarization and recovery, a significant proportion of small, synaptic vesicles contained reaction product. Label was also present in coated vesicles and cisternae. Neurons which were depolarized in medium containing Co2+ or were exposed to HRP without depolarization contained few labelled synaptic vesicles. The proportion of labelled vesicles was not significantly different in synapses and varicosities, nor did it vary consistently with the transmitter identity of the neurons. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that transmitter release occurs from varicosities as well as from synapses of postganglionic sympathetic neurons by exocytosis of the small synaptic vesicles, and that at least some new vesicles are formed from the nerve terminal membrane.
Ten polymorphic microsatellite primers in the tropical tree caimito, Chrysophyllum cainito (Sapotaceae).

Premise of the study: We developed microsatellite primers for the tropical tree Chrysophyllum cainito (Sapotaceae) to determine the native range of the species, investigate the origin of cultivated populations, and examine the partitioning of genetic diversity in wild and cultivated populations. Methods and Results: We developed 10 polymorphic primers from C. cainito genomic DNA libraries enriched for di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide repeat motifs. The loci amplified were polymorphic in samples collected from Jamaica and Panama. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to 10 and three to 12, while observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.074 to 0.704 and 0.407 to 0.852 in Jamaica and Panama, respectively. Conclusions: The microsatellite primers will be useful in future population genetic studies as well as those aimed at understanding the geographic origin(s) of wild and cultivated populations.