cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Therapeutic plasma exchange: A study of indications and efficacy

Background and Objectives: Therapeutic plasma exchange has been in use to treat a variety of diseases and for the purpose of rational decision-making, the American Society for Apheresis has proposed guidelines for the same. The present study was undertaken to study various aspects of the plasma exchange facility in a tertiary care center at Uttarakhand, India. Methods: The relevant demographical details (age, sex, BMI), clinical history of patient (any previous illness, any chromic disease, medications etc.), relevant investigations performed (basic haematology and immunology tests), plasma exchange procedure notes (total time taken, any adverse reactions noted), and replacement fluids used (type and amount used) were recorded and analyzed. Results: A total of 157 plasma exchange procedures were performed on 47 patients. Of these, maximum procedures were done for patients with Guillain–Barre syndrome (GBS), myasthenic crisis, and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). The other indications were multiple myeloma, plasma cell dyscrasia, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, and DIC after scrub typhus and dengue. The most common adverse reaction noted was urticaria (8/19), followed by perioral tingling (3/19) and hypotension (7/19). Interpretation and Conclusions: Fifteen out of 17 patients suffering from GBS and all patients of myasthenic crisis showed recovery, however, one patient of myasthenia gravis did not show immediate improvement, but recovered after some delay. Among the patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura with neurological manifestations, 3 out of 5 patients showed significant improvement. Patients who presented with other indications of plasma exchange also showed clinical benefits and the procedure resulted in quick recovery.
Customized shaped Luneburg Lens Antenna Design by Additive Fabrication

—In this paper we present the design and fabrication of modified Luneburg lens antennas. The lens was designed using a quasi-conformal transformation optics approach and fabricated using additive manufacturing. We experimentally validated our methods by designing and fabricating a modified Luneburg lens operating at 24–40 GHz with a beamforming capability of -50° to 50°.
Getting things done in academia: the challenges with institutional bureaucracy and the need for project management

This paper presents a case study at a large Midwestern university where agile project management influenced the outcome of change initiatives in an Engineering School (ES). Agile project management encompasses several skills including leadership, communication, organization, conflict management, and the ability to navigate ambiguity. While this skill set is common in many industries, it is very uncommon in higher education. By infusing this diverse way of thinking into transformational efforts aimed at enhancing the student experience, we have disrupted the traditional academic hierarchy, seen greater momentum and greater initial success, and created a new model for “getting things done” in academic organizations.As part of the REvolutionizing engineering and computer science Departments (RED) grant, we aim to improve the culture in the ES. To accomplish this, we have formed grassroots teams consisting of faculty, staff, and students that launch experiments aimed at improving students’ professional skills development & departmental culture. This effort has consisted of ~50 participants across 12 teams for three semesters. We did not initially foresee the level of oversight & management needed to run such an effort or the bureaucratic barriers to operationalizing the grassroots teams and experiments. In response to this environment, agile project management was introduced half-way through the first set of experiments. Through observations, surveys, interviews, and outcomes of the experiments themselves, we have characterized the impact of adding agile project management to this program.Our early results indicate that progress can be expedited by an agile project management skill set, and more specifically, the number of experiments launched through grassroots efforts has increased by a factor of 7 semester-over-semester after adding agile project management. Additionally, 92% of participants reported being satisfied with the experience with an average rating of 4 out of 5. Lastly, the value that project managers add was a key theme cited in end-of-semester surveys and interviews. Our early success metrics suggest that this critical industry skill set, generally lacking in academic settings, can make a significant difference in the success of departmental initiatives. We believe that propagating agile project management more broadly in academia can positively influence productivity and expedite the rate of change by re-thinking traditional academic methods of “getting things done”.
Total synthesis of the natural furanones

v GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 Dissertation Organization 1 CHAPTER 1. FURAN SYNTHESIS VIA A 4 + 1 RING BUILDING STRATEGYAN APPROACH TO 2,4-DL\CYLFURANS 2 Introduction 2 Results and Discussion 6 Conclusion 10 Experiments 10 References 14 CHAPTER 2. TOTAL SYNTHESIS OF HIBISCONE C 17 Introduction 17 Results and Discussion 19 Conclusion 26 Experiments 26 References 31 CHAPTER 3. SYNTHETIC APPROACH TO NATURAL ANALOGUES OF HALENAQUINONE 32 Introduction 32 Results and Discussion 41 Conclusion 51 Experiments 52 References 57 CHAPTER 4. A SYNTHETIC APPROACH TO AQUAYAMYCIN 60 Introduction 60 Results and Discussion 68 Conclusion 74 Experiments 74 References 79 CHAPTERS. GENERAL CONCLUSION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 82 83
Evaluating the Provision of Health Services and Barriers to Treatment for Chronic Diseases among Syrian Refugees in Turkey: A Review of Literature and Stakeholder Interviews

Background: While Turkey hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees, the provision of health services for chronic disease among Syrian refugees in Turkey has been inadequate and understudied. This paper explores Turkish healthcare policies surrounding Syrian refugees’ access to health services for chronic diseases. Methods: We conducted a literature review and supplementary stakeholder interviews to evaluate the provision of chronic health services and the most common barriers to healthcare access among Syrian refugees in Turkey. Results: Though access to treatment for displaced Syrians has improved throughout the past five years, five primary barriers persist: registration procedure regulations, navigation of a new health system, language barriers, fear of adverse treatment, and cost. Conclusions: To drive improvements in healthcare for chronic diseases among Syrian refugees in Turkey, we recommend making registration procedures more accessible, developing more healthcare options in patients’ native language, increasing human resources, and advocating for more research surrounding chronic health conditions among refugees.
Ferrocene Adsorbed on Silica and Activated Carbon Surfaces: A Solid-State NMR Study of Molecular Dynamics and Surface Interactions

Ferrocene has been adsorbed on the surface of silica and activated carbon within the pores by dry grinding in the absence of a solvent at room temperature. While the dry adsorption and translationa...
Evaluating Economic Impacts of Prescribed Fire in the Central Hardwood Region

Surface fires are often prescribed to favor oak (Quercus) regeneration in eastern forests, but there is potential for fire to damage residual overstory timber. This study evaluated the potential economic effects of prescribed fire on sawtimber volume and value across 139 stands, each with a known history of one to six prescribed fires, on the Hoosier, Mark Twain, Wayne, and Daniel Boone National Forests. Sawtimber volume and value losses were highly variable, ranging from 0 to 2,269 bd ft ac–1 and from US$0 to US$272.95 ac–1, respectively, for stands that had received at least one prescribed fire. Volume and value losses increased linearly by +0.9 percent and +1.5 percent per burn, respectively, that a stand received over the past 25 years. Stands with southfacing aspects had greater relative volume and value losses (+1.4 to +1.5 percent, respectively), but this influence was statistically less important than the number of burns in predictive models. The eastern national forests had much lower average relative volume and value losses, <3.0 percent, than the more western Mark Twain National Forest (10-15 percent loss). Species composition affected value loss associated with prescribed fire; red oaks experienced significantly higher value loss than all other species groups.
Challenges for the Newborn Immune Response to Respiratory Virus Infection and Vaccination.

The initial months of life reflect an extremely challenging time for newborns as a naive immune system is bombarded with a large array of pathogens, commensals, and other foreign entities. In many instances, the immune response of young infants is dampened or altered, resulting in increased susceptibility and disease following infection. This is the result of both qualitative and quantitative changes in the response of multiple cell types across the immune system. Here we provide a review of the challenges associated with the newborn response to respiratory viral pathogens as well as the hurdles and advances for vaccine-mediated protection.
State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses Project: Uncertainty Analyses for Station Blackout Scenarios

This paper provides an overview of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) project to develop a technical report summarizing the most important insights from its three State-of-the-Art Rea...
Synthesis of Novel Catalysts for Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Products of Value

This chapter is a description of methodologies for the conversion of carbon dioxide to products of value using catalytic processes. Accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a major problem and an optimal solution is to capture and convert it to useful products. In this chapter, first, the climate challenges due to increasing carbon dioxide emissions, the earth’s carbon cycle, sources of carbon dioxide emissions and carbon dioxide capture are discussed. Second, carbon dioxide utilization processes such as enhanced oil recovery, and conversion methodologies including photo-conversion, bio-conversion and catalytic conversion processes are discussed. Third, the importance of scale for carbon dioxide utilization is discussed, and the catalytic conversion pathway is identified as a potential route for utilization in large scales. Wet and gas phase aerosol synthesis methods for catalysts are discussed followed by characterization methods. And finally, a futuristic application on the potential for utilization of carbon dioxide via reforming processes on Mars is presented.
Failure Rates During Reuse of Disposable N95 Masks in Clinical Practice in the Emergency Department.

Author(s): Check, Ronald; Kelly, Brian; McMahon, Kathleen; Balakrishnan, Vamsi; Rivard, Leah; Pester, Jonathan; Jeanmonod, Donald; Jeanmonod, Rebecca K. | Abstract: Introduction: The coronavirus 2019 pandemic caused a shortage of disposable N95 respirators, prompting healthcare entities to extend the use of these masks beyond their intended single-use manufacturer recommendation with a paucity of supporting research.Methods: We performed a prospective cohort study of ED healthcare workers (HCW) (“subjects”) required to use respirators at an academic, Level I trauma center. Subjects had been previously fit tested and assigned an appropriately sized N95 mask per hospital protocol. Per study protocol, subjects were fit tested periodically throughout their shifts and on multiple shifts over the eight-week study period. Data points collected included the age of the mask, subjective assessment of mask seal quality, and fit test results. We analyzed the data using Fisher’s exact test, and calculated odds ratios (OR) to determine the failure rate of disposable N95 masks following reuse.Results: A total of 130 HCWs underwent fit testing and 127 were included for analysis. Mask failure rate climbed after day 2 of use, with 33.3% of masks failing at day 3, 42.9% at day 4, and 50% at ≥ day 5. Categorizing the masks into those being used for two or fewer days vs those in use for three or more, failure was more common on day 3 of use or older compared to those in the first two days of use (41.8% vs 8.3%, P l 0.0001) with an OR of failure with an older mask of 7.9 (confidence interval [CI], 2.8-22.3). The healthcare workers’ assessment of poor seal was 33.3% sensitive (CI, 18.6-51.9) and 95.7% specific (CI, 88.8-98.6) for fit test failure.Conclusion: Disposable N95 masks have significant failure rates following reuse in clinical practice. Healthcare personnel also performed poorly in assessing the integrity of the seal of their disposable respirators.
Longitudinal hair cortisol in low-income young children: A useful biomarker of behavioral symptom change?

Abstract Early childhood is a developmental period characterized by significant plasticity, heterogeneity in behaviors and biological functioning. Yet, cumulative cortisol secretion, as measured by hair cortisol, has not been examined longitudinally in relation to change in behavioral problems in young children. The current study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between hair cortisol and changes in behavior problems in a combined sample (N = 88) of two groups of young children from low-income families: 1) A trauma-exposed sample that participated in Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) (n = 43; Mean Age = 4.31, SD = 1.16; 53% Female; 77% Hispanic), and 2) A community sample of children from families experiencing high stress (n = 45; Mean Age = 3.20, SD = 0.29; 67% Female; 58% Hispanic). Cortisol was assayed from hair collected from children at baseline and, on average, one year later. Mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist at the same time hair samples were collected. Baseline hair cortisol in children was not associated with maternally-reported child behavioral problems at baseline and did not predict change in behavior problems over time. In contrast, increases in cortisol were associated with greater improvement in child behavior problems (b = −2.98, p
The Correlates of Cyber Warfare: A database for the modern era

The author proposes a new theoretical database for tracking cyber attacks on the internet called the “Correlates of Cyber Warfare”. Inspired by Professor J. David Singer’s Correlates of War project, the author provides an overview of the requirements for such a database to be feasibly implemented and the benefits such a database would provide for future research. The author begins by covering the various databases which exist to track and monitor online disturbances, previous research involving collaborative intrusion detection systems, and the lack of data available regarding the sheer volume of cyber attacks traversing the internet. The paper continues to outline what data could be collected by a strategic deployment of IDS’s, methods for optimal IDS deployment (with emphasis on transnational router collection), and potential privacy pitfalls that are summarily addressed. The paper ends by describing the many research and online safety benefits that would be seen by the implementation of such a system and methods to work around incomplete implementation.
Continuum Descriptions of Crystal Surface Evolution

It is well known that liquid surfaces evolve in shape due to the effect of surface tension, which drives configurations towards lower energy. The break-up of an initially cylindrical fluid thread into spherical droplets, first quantified experimentally by Plateau and analyzed by Rayleigh, is a popular and illustrative example. Solid surfaces, in particular surfaces of crystals, also evolve according to the analogous principle of minimizing their surface energy. The evolution in this case, however, is more complicated to describe physically and mathematically than the analogous phenomena for fluid interfaces, because there is a richer variety of competing mechanisms that are available for the solid to change its shape. In addition, a solid supports strain, which leads to the surface energy depending on the slope of the crystal surface. In this article we summarize the basic physical ideas that underlie crystal surface evolution, introduce continuum descriptions in terms of continuum thermodynamics and partial differential equations (PDEs), and provide solutions to some analytically tractable prototypical problems.
The management of context-sensitive features: A review of strategies

In this paper, we review five heuristic strategies for handling context- sensitive features in supervised machine learning from examples. We discuss two methods for recovering lost (implicit) contextual information. We mention some evidence that hybrid strategies can have a synergetic effect. We then show how the work of several machine learning researchers fits into this framework. While we do not claim that these strategies exhaust the possibilities, it appears that the framework includes all of the techniques that can be found in the published literature on context-sensitive learning.
A look at some of the principles of mobile communication from a Maxwellian viewpoint

In recent times, there has been a plethora of papers in the literature dealing with wireless communication. Many of these techniques when viewed under the Maxwellian framework raise more questions than it answers. The objective of this presentation is to discuss some of these concerns and initiate a dialog about the scientific merits of these new concepts. One of the points to be made is that an incorrect use of probability theory can often lead to erroneous results directly contradicting physics. A few examples are presented to initiate the dialog.
Synergistic induction of human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide gene expression by vitamin D and stilbenoids

Scope: The cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) gene is induced by 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 (1α,25(OH) 2 D 3 ), lithocholic acid, curcumin, nicotinamide, and butyrate. Discovering additional small molecules that regulate its expression will identify new molecular mechanisms involved in CAMP regulation and increase understanding of how diet and nutrition can improve immune function. Methods and results: We discovered that two stilbenoids, resveratrol and pterostilbene, induced CAMP promoter-luciferase expression. Synergistic activation was observed when either stilbenoid was combined with 1α,25(OH) 2 D 3 . Both stilbenoids increased CAMP mRNA and protein levels in the monocyte cell line U937 and synergy was observed in both U937 and the keratinocyte cell line, HaCaT. Inhibition of resveratrol targets sirtuin-1, cyclic AMP production and the c-Jun N-terminal, phosphoinositide 3 and AMP-activated kinases did not block induction of CAMP by resveratrol or synergy with 1α,25(OH) 2 D 3 . Nevertheless, inhibition of the extracellular signal regulated 1/2 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases, increased CAMP gene expression in combination with 1α,25(OH) 2 D 3 suggesting that inhibition of these kinases by resveratrol may explain, in part, its synergy with vitamin D. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate for the first time that stilbenoid compounds may have the potential to boost the innate immune response by increasing CAMP gene expression, particularly in combination with 1α,25(OH) 2 D 3 .
Dietary Self-Selection of Laying Hens Inadequate to Overcome the Effects of High Environmental Temperature

Abstract Two environmental temperatures, 21 and 30 C, were used during a 28-day experimental period. There were two groups of hens in each temperature treatment. The control groups (C) were given a conventional balanced diet and each dietary self-selection group (S-S) was provided, on an individual hen basis, three diets each one being high in energy, protein, or calcium. The S-S groups had significantly reduced egg production, which probably resulted from the significantly reduced protein intake. Egg weight and energy intake were reduced in the S-S group at 21 C while calcium intake and egg shell strength at 30 C were higher as compared to the corresponding C group. Dietary self-selection did not enable hens to regulate nutrient intake for comparable performance to hens provided one balanced diet. Also, the detrimental effects of high environmental temperature were not overcome by dietary self-selection.
Electoral support for populism in the mountain states: Some evidence from Arizona

Abstract This article is generally concerned with the nature of electoral support for candidates of the Populist Party in the mountain areas of the West. An examination of Arizona data suggests that Populist support and, more broadly, the choice of parties was affected by economic and ethnocultural factors. A key to understanding support for the Populist Party was the occupational category of the miner. It is argued that the importance of this variable has less to do with economic distress or the free silver issue than with the stressful changes in the miners' occupational status. These changes created a new class of industrial worker who, given the party situation in the 1890s, had not alternative but the Populist Party.
Galactic neutrino communication and SETI

Abstract In this talk I summarize some work done over the last few years about how advanced civilizations across the galaxy may be using neutrinos to communicate in a variety of ways and sending signals as well as using high energy neutrino beams to modulate the periods of Cepheid variable stars.
Wiener filter restoration of high-energy flash x-ray radiograph

Wiener filter restoration is a good method in the linear space, but it requests the signal to noise ratio be over a certain threshold. In the flash x-ray radiographs the signal to noise ratio is often low. In this paper, we hope to study how to apply the Wiener filter restoration method in the low signal to noise ratio case, and then discuss how to choose the parameter k.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Fracture behavior of graphite coated with titanium compounds by chemical vapor deposition

TiC, TiN, TiB2, and TiCN coatings were deposited on graphite by high-temperature chemical vapor deposition. Pin-pull tests were used to investigate the adhesion of the coatings to the graphite. Interfacial adhesion was excellent and failure occurred in the graphite itself. The distribution of failure stresses was analyzed by Weibull statistical analysis, which showed a good fit to the Weibull expression; failure stresses for the coated graphite were approximately one-half that of the uncoated graphite, although the Weibull moduli were comparable.
Designs For High Power, Single Mode Operation In Broad Stripe Semiconductor Lasers

TWo methods are describrd in this paper to obtain high power in a single lateral mode operation in a broad stripe semiconductor laser. (1) Antiguiding index profile-solution to the wave equation for a one-dimensional, quadratic variation in the complex refractive index profile are used to calculate the optical gain and the intensity profile of the lateral modes of broad-stripe semiconductor lasers. A large gain difference between the fundamental mode and higher order modes is obtained in profiles with strong real-index antiguiding and weak gain-guiding. A criterion for comparing the tendency for single mode operation is introduced and applied to quadratic, step, and array profiles. (2) Variable facet reflectance-the reflectance at the facets of a wide stripe laser is made to vary spatially across the width of the stripe. It is found that the gain differences between the fundamental mode and higher order modes can be greatly increased. Several reflectance profiles are examined and the results are campared using the same criterion as in method (1).
Combining different classification approaches to improve off-line Arabic handwritten word recognition

Machine perception and recognition of handwritten text in any language is a difficult problem. Even for Latin script most solutions are restricted to specific domains like bank checks courtesy amount recognition. Arabic script presents additional challenges for handwriting recognition systems due to its highly connected nature, numerous forms of each letter, and other factors. In this paper we address the problem of offline Arabic handwriting recognition of pre-segmented words. Rather than focusing on a single classification approach and trying to perfect it, we propose to combine heterogeneous classification methodologies. We evaluate our system on the IFN/ENIT corpus of Tunisian village and town names and demonstrate that the combined approach yields results that are better than those of the individual classifiers.
Two-year results of treatment with depot leuprolide acetate for central precocious puberty

We report results from 2 years of therapy with the long-acting form of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analog leuprolide acetate, which was previously reported in short-term trials to be efficacious in the treatment of central precocious puberty. Thirteen giris and two boys, aged 1.9 to 9.7 years, who satisfied clinical criteria including GnRH-stimulated luteinizing hormone (LH) >10 IU/L (mean radioimmunoassay LH, 29.1±5.54 IU/L), received depot leuprolide, 6 to 15 mg intramuscularly every 4 weeks. Estradiol (or testosterone), insulin-like growth factor I, and GnRH-stimulated gonadotropins were obtained at baseline, at 2 months, and at 6-month intervals with bone age determinations. Pubertal progression ceased in all patients, and menses did not occur. Mean increase in height during therapy was 5.77±2.0 cm/yr. Predicted adult height increased over baseline by 5.52±1.16 cm at 18 months. Mean estradiol values in the girls declined from 3.3±0.6 to 0.60±0.03 ng/dl, with no overlap of baseline and treatment values. The mean basal LH value was unchanged by therapy; mean basal and peak LH values for all follow-up GnRH stimulation tests were 4.05±0.57 and 4.95±0.70 IU/L, respectively. Basal and peak follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) values were suppressed from 4.10±0.62 and 10.06±1.34 IU/L, respectively, to generally undetectable levels (
Chemohormonal therapy of metastatic prostate cancer. A pilot study

Combined chemohormonal therapy of metastatic prostate cancer has not been previously evaluated in patients failing primary hormones (estrogens and/or orchiectomy). The combination of Adriamycin and high-dose diethylstilbestrol diphosphate (Stilphostrol) was studied in 19 heavily pretreated patients, to document toxicity and patient acceptability. Major toxicity was myelosuppression, cardiac failure and venous thrombosis. Clinical improvement was noted in 10/16 (63%) of evaluable patients. Patients with pre-existing cardiac disease or venous thrombosis are not suitable for this therapy.
The New Government in Germany.

The revolution in Germany strikes the observer as different in essential respects from revolutions which have taken place in other countries. One looks, in such events, for a few short days of blood and battle; for power wrested by force from the grip of those who have held it; for popular turmoil, the citizenry waging conflict behind street barricades against the disciplined but gradually disintegrating and increasingly disaffected troops of the established government-in short, for a journee in which the overturn is speedily accomplished and the new regime quickly set up. But the German revolution affords no such spectacle. There has been, to be sure, street-fighting and bloodshed, but they have been incident to the attempt of the extremists to overthrow the revolutionary government or to compel it to undertake a more radical program. The revolution itself was bloodless, and the establishment of the provisional government under Ebert was only the last step in a crumbling process which had been evident during the latter part of the
I-Xe studies of individual Allende chondrules

Nine Allende chondrules and a sample of oxidized Allende matrix material are subjected to iodine-xenon studies, and the model compositions derived are compared with those of the Bjurbole chondrules. Chondrule 6 yields a well-defined isochron, with an apparent age that is later than Bjurbole whole rock. Elemental abundances suggest that all the chondrules except 6 may be pyroxene- or mesostasis-rich. The oxidized matrix sample gives a well defined isochron with an initial I-129/I-127 ratio higher than any plateaus seen in the chondrules, suggesting that the matrix predates the chondrules.
The Research on Maintain Efficiency of Industrial Maintenance System Based on Markov Analysis Model

In order to measure ability of maintenance system to accomplish maintenance tasks, this paper studied maintain performance analysis method pointing to the industrial maintenance system. Based on defining the maintenance efficiency, this paper put forward three maintenance efficiency indexes: rate of maintenance tasks completion, rate of fault clearing and rate of maintenance system losing. This paper established a system maintenance performance analysis model using Markov stochastic process theory. With anglicizing the example, this paper draws three principles: moderate maintenance, availability, and credibility, then lays a foundation of exploring the way to improve maintenance system effectiveness.
Beyond Mead: Symbolic Interaction between Humans and Felines

Recent research on the cognitive abilities and emotional capacities of animals has fueled the animal rights movement and renewed debate over the differences between human and non-human animals. This debate has not been central to sociology, although George Herbert Mead drew a very hard line between humans and animals by asserting that the latter were not capable of symbolic interaction. Sociologists are now beginning to question this assumption, and this article falls within this new line of research. We begin by presenting alternative interpretations of symbolic interaction that allow for the possibility of such activity in non-human animals. We review recent research on symbolic interaction between humans and dogs, and we present our own research findings on human-feline interaction. We conclude that there is growing evidence that symbolic interaction is widely distributed throughout the animal kingdom, and that it enables animals to survive more effectively in a wide variety of environments.
Paleo-Compatibilism and Buddhist Reductionism

Paleo-compatibilism is the view that the freedom required for moral responsibility is not incompatible with determinism about the factors relevant to moral assessment, since the claim that we are free and the claim that the psychophysical elements are causally determined are true in distinct and incommensurable ways. This is to be accounted for by appealing to the distinction between conventional truth and ultimate truth developed by Buddhist Reductionists. Paleo-compatibilists hold that the illusion of incompatibilism only arises when we illegitimately mix two distinct vocabularies, one concerned with persons, the other concerned with the parts to which persons are reducible. I explore the view, its roots in Buddhist Reductionism, and its prospects.
Dynamically reconfigurable architecture for high-throughput processing of data centric applications

This paper presents a reconfigurable platform for executing data centric applications. The proposed platform realizes applications where buffers are dominated in the design. Such characteristics of application domain is mostly exhibited by loop based processing systems. To increase the throughput, the platform is centered around buffers interacting through reconfigurable interconnect. Each buffer is associated with an autonomous reconfigurable controller where reconfiguration parameters are obtained statically from the dataflow graph. The execution concurrency is maintained by two level pipelining mechanism. We illustrate that the proposed platform is highly regular and decreases dynamic reconfiguration time significantly.
The stimulation of progesterone synthesis in bovine corpora lutea by adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate (1)

Abstract The addition of cyclic adenosine 3', 5'-monophosphate, (3', 5'-AMP) at a concentration of 0.02 M to incubating slices of bovine corpus luteum significantly stimulates steroid synthesis. Substances which are chemically related to 3', 5'-AMP do not stimulate steroidogenesis in this tissue, thereby establishing a certain degree of specificity for the action of this cyclic nucleotide. The addition of luteinizing hormone (LH) to incubations maximally stimulated by 3', 5'-AMP does not lead to a further increase in steroidogenesis. In regard to the utilization of acetate-1-14C and cholesterol-7-3H for progesterone synthesis, the 3', 5'-AMP closely resembles that of the pituitary gonadotropin. These results are in accord with the proposal that 3', 5'-AMP is a mediator of the action of LH on steroido-genesis in the bovine corpus luteum.
Bidomain simulations of defibrillation: 20 years of progress

Twenty years ago, Natalia Trayanova, her student Lisa Malden, and I published our “spherical heart model.” We showed that an applied electric field produces a large transmembrane potential (nowadays called a “virtual electrode polarization”) at the heart surface, but also polarizes tissue throughout the heart wall caused by fiber curvature. This was the first application of the bidomain model—a mathematical model that describes the anisotropic electrical properties of cardiac tissue—to defibrillation. Since then, Trayanova and her colleagues have developed and refined these bidomain simulations, dramatically improving their realism and sophistication. In this issue of HeartRhythm, Rantner et al take these calculations to a new level of detail. They present bidomain simulations of the rabbit right ventricle having unprecedented resolution, featuring microstructures such as trabeculae and coronary vessels. They solve the bidomain equations using the finite element method with 29 million nodes (in our original calculation, we used 257 nodes), and an average element edge length in the tissue of only 59 μm. The heart is submerged in a perfusing bath, and an electric field is applied through distant electrodes. Rantner et al conclude that “virtual electrode polarizations ... were strongest at the trabecular grooves.” This result implies that much of the interesting behavior occurs on the endocardial surface. Optical mapping studies that image the epicardium might miss the crucial events triggered by the shock. In addition, mathematical models (such as our simple spherical heart) that lack the trabeculae will not predict the same behavior as will a model rich in structural detail. The conclusion that the trabecular length scale is important harkens back to a hypothesis proposed by Krassowska and Kumar, who suggested that excitation may not happen at the cellular scale (the “sawtooth” effect) or the whole heart scale, but at an intermediate scale of fiber bundles a few millimeters in size. The article by Rantner et al does not examine traditional defibrillation with a single strong shock. Instead, the authors apply a series of weak shocks timed just right to first convert the fibrillation to tachycardia and then to terminate the tachycardia. The idea of applying multiple weak stimuli
Regulation of rat hepatocyte epidermal growth factor receptor by the liver tumor promoter ethinyl estradiol

We have previously demonstrated that the liver tumor promoter ethinyl estradiol (EE) greatly enhanced the DNA synthetic response of rat hepatocytes in primary culture to epidermal growth factor (EGF). This effect was associated with a 2-fold increase in surface EGF receptor number. In this report, we demonstrate that the increase in cell surface [125I]EGF binding caused by EE is time dependent, beginning at 8 h and reaching a plateau at 18 h. This increased EGF binding was accompanied by a comparable increase in the amount of total EGF receptor protein. In vivo, EE treatment also increased the number of EGF binding sites. EE treatment did not increase the rate of [35S]methionine incorporation into immunoprecipitated EGF receptor protein, nor did it appear to affect the steady-state levels of EGF receptor mRNA compared to that found in controls. However, EE treatment did cause an increase in the half-life of EGF receptor protein from 4.5 +/- 0.5 h in control hepatocytes to 10.4 +/- 1.8 h. Taken together, these results indicate that the EE-induced 2-fold increase in EGF receptor levels, which is associated with the potentiation of responsiveness to EGF, was brought about by stabilization of receptor protein.
Sonography of the Kidney

Sonographic scanning techniques of the kidney are presented. Normal nephrosonographic anatomy is given as a basis for comparison with the sonographic appearance of various renal lesions. The sonographic appearance of renal calculi, hydronephrosis, renal parenchymal and cystic disease, and renal neoplasia is described.
Undertaking high impact strategies: The role of national efficiency measures in long-term energy and emission reduction in steel making

In this paper, we applied bottom-up linear optimization modeling to analyze long-term national impacts of implementing energy efficiency measures on energy savings, CO2-emission reduction, production, and costs of steel making in China, India, and the U.S. We first established two base scenarios representing business-as-usual steel production for each country from 2010 to 2050; Base scenario (in which no efficiency measure is available) and Base-E scenario (in which efficiency measures are available), and model scenarios representing various emission-reduction targets that affects production, annual energy use and costs with the goal of cost minimization. A higher emission-reduction target generally induces larger structural changes and increased investments in nation-wide efficiency measures, in addition to autonomous improvement expected in the Base scenario. Given the same emission-reduction target compared to the base scenario, intensity of annual energy use and emissions exhibits declining trends in each country from year 2010 to 2050. While a higher emission-reduction target result in more energy reduction from the base scenario, such reduction can become more expensive to achieve. The results advance our understanding of long-term effects of national energy efficiency applications under different sets of emission-reduction targets for steel sectors in the three major economies, and provide useful implications for high impact strategies to manage production structures, production costs, energy use, and emission reduction in steel making.
Socioeconomic status and the prevalence of clinical gallbladder disease.

The prevalence of clinical gallbladder disease was determined in a cross-sectional survey of Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. The study population was randomly selected from three urban neighborhoods representing different socioeconomic strata. Gallbladder disease was defined as a history of cholecystectomy, or of stones on cholecystography. Mexican American women had an age-standardized prevalence of 16.9%, vs 8.7% for non-Hispanic whites (p < 0.0001). Prevalences in men were 4.2 and 3.4%, respectively. The ethnic differences in women persisted after stratification by age, parity, and body mass index. Gallbladder disease prevalence was inversely related to four measures of socioeconomic status. After controlling for age, obesity, parity, and ethnicity, the prevalence in women was inversely related to levels of education, income, occupational status, and neighborhood. These socioeconomic differences, if not the result of detection bias, suggest that environmental factors may play a role in gallstone pathogenesis. Identification of such factors may lead to the development of preventive strategies.
Integration of Radioactive Material with Microcalorimeter Detectors

Microcalorimeter detectors with embedded radioactive material offer many possibilities for new types of measurements and applications. We will discuss the designs and methods that we are developing for precise deposition of radioactive material and its encapsulation in the absorber of transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter detectors for two specific applications. The first application is total nuclear reaction energy (Q) spectroscopy for nuclear forensics measurements of trace actinide samples, where the goal is determination of ratios of isotopes with Q values in the range of 5–7 MeV. Simplified, rapid sample preparation and detector assembly is necessary for practical measurements, while maintaining good energy resolution. The second application is electron capture spectroscopy of isotopes with low Q values, such as $$^{163}$$ Ho, for measurement of neutrino mass. Detectors for electron capture spectroscopy are designed for measuring energies up to approximately 6 keV. Their smaller heat capacity and physical size present unique challenges. Both applications require precise deposition of radioactive material and encapsulation in an absorber with optimized thermal properties and coupling to the TES. We have made detectors for both applications with a variety of designs and assembly methods, and will present their development.
Quantitative GPCR Assay Using Time-Resolved Fret

Quantitative study of membrane proteins presents considerable technical challenges. Here, we report a time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) assay to quantify functional Chemokine (C-C motif) Receptor 5 (CCR5). CCR5 is a seven-transmembrane helical G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) expressed primarily on immune cells. It is of significant interest due to its role as the co-receptor of R5-tropic HIV-1. The TR-FRET assay exploits energy transfer between a long-lived europium cryptate donor fluorophore and an appropriate acceptor. We have developed a homogeneous sandwich-type immunoassay with labeled antibodies against a conformationally-sensitive epitope on the extracellular domain of CCR5 and an engineered C-terminal 1D4-mAb epitope. The assay yields a quantitative FRET signal corresponding to the total amount receptor. To quantitate “functional” receptor, a labeled anti-HA (hemagglutinin) antibody against an engineered N-terminal HA epitope is used in conjunction with labeled MIP-1a, a chemokine ligand for CCR5. We are also interested in quantifying the degree of chemical labeling of unnatural amino acids incorporated into expressed GPCRs by amber codon suppression technology. The Staudinger-Bertozzi ligation links a commercially-available FLAG-phosphine reagent to p-L-azidophenylalanine. A europium-labeled anti-FLAG antibody can then be used in another version of the sandwich assay. The resulting FRET signals are directly proportional to amount of total, functional, and labeled receptor, but must be calibrated precisely to extract an absolute concentration. Calibration is accomplished by measuring binding of a fluorescent derivative of a small-molecule CCR5 antagonist. The assay is highly specific due to the long lifetime of the europium donor, and nanomolar concentrations of receptor are detectable. This GPCR assay technology can be used to optimize CCR5 reconstitution conditions and can be readily extended to other members of the chemokine receptor family.
Circular permutation of a synthetic eukaryotic chromosome with the telomerator

Chromosome engineering is a major focus in the fields of systems biology, genetics, synthetic biology, and the functional analysis of genomes. Here, we describe the “telomerator,” a new synthetic biology device for use in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The telomerator is designed to inducibly convert circular DNA molecules into mitotically stable, linear chromosomes replete with functional telomeres in vivo. The telomerator cassette encodes convergent yeast telomere seed sequences flanking the I-SceI homing endonuclease recognition site in the center of an intron artificially transplanted into the URA3 selectable/counterselectable auxotrophic marker. We show that inducible expression of the homing endonuclease efficiently generates linear molecules, identified by using a simple plate-based screening method. To showcase its functionality and utility, we use the telomerator to circularly permute a synthetic yeast chromosome originally constructed as a circular molecule, synIXR, to generate 51 linear variants. Many of the derived linear chromosomes confer unexpected phenotypic properties. This finding indicates that the telomerator offers a new way to study the effects of gene placement on chromosomes (i.e., telomere proximity). However, that the majority of synIXR linear derivatives support viability highlights inherent tolerance of S. cerevisiae to changes in gene order and overall chromosome structure. The telomerator serves as an important tool to construct artificial linear chromosomes in yeast; the concept can be extended to other eukaryotes.
Head and body imaging by hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance

A hydrogen (1H) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging study of the normal head, thorax, and limbs is reported. The images are 10 to 15 mm thick transverse slices obtained in 2 to 4 min using a two-dimensional Fourier transform technique. Spatial resolution in the imaging plane is about 2 mm, enabling the optic nerve and many small blood vessels to be observed. Thorax scans show details of the cardiac chambers, aorta wall, and lungs without artefacts arising from physiological motion.
Influence of Carbonyl Cyanide Phenylhydrazone Derivatives on the Respiration Rate of Banana Pulp Tissue

IN 1962, Heytler et al.1 reported that carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) and carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone (FCCP) were 100 and 1,000 times more effective respectively than 2,4-dinitro-phenol (DNP) in uncoupling oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondrial systems.
DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS OF PERINATAL HEROIN AND METHADONE ADDICTION

To summarize the results of studies investigating the effects of perinatal methadone and heroin exposure on subsequent infant development is difficult. The research is confounded by the lack of controlled studies, variations in methodology, and problems inherent in using subjects with variable exposure to a wide range of drugs. Despite these limitations, consistencies across studies are found. These are developmental delays, particularly in habituation to visual stimuli and in complex motor skills, and behavior disturbances. Follow-up research is recommended to determine the persistence of these delays, and early intervention is recommended in the areas of improving prenatal health care and facilitating the parent-infant bond, thereby enhancing meaningful social and sensory stimulation for the infant prenatally exposed to methadone or heroin.
Velocity and turbulence measurements past mitrial valve prostheses in a model left ventricle

Thrombogenesis and hemolysis have both been linked to the flow dynamics past heart valve prostheses. To learn more about the particular flow dynamics past mitral valve prostheses in the left ventricle under controlled experimental conditions, an in vitro study was performed. The experimental methods included velocity and turbulent shear stress measurements past caged-ball, tilting disc, bileaflet, and polyurethane trileaflet mitral valves in an acrylic rigid model of the left ventricle using laser Doppler anemometry. The results indicate that all four prosthetic heart valves studied create at least mildly disturbed flow fields. The effect of the left ventricular geometry on the flow development is to produce a stabilizing vortex which engulfs the entire left ventricular cavity, depending on the orientation of the valve. The measured turbulent shear stress magnitudes for all four valves did not exceed the reported value for hemolytic damage. However, the measured turbulent shear stresses were near or exceeded the critical shear stress reported in the literature for platelet lysis, a known precursor to thrombus formation.
Nonturbulent dispersion processes in complex terrain

Abstract Mass divergence influences on plume dispersion modify classic Gaussian calculations by as much as a factor of two in complex terrain. The Gaussian plume was derived in flux form to include this process.