cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Theory of Surface-Plasmon Excitation by Electron Tunneling

A new calculation of surface-plasmon excitation in tunnel junctions is described. The tunnel junction is divided into three regions of complex dielectric function eL(ω), eO(ω), and eR(ω) which correspond to the left electrode, the barrier, and the right electrode respectively. Maxwell’s equations are solved for the classical electromagnetic fields. The source terms are given by the quantum-mechanical transition current and charge, \(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle-}$}}{J} = \frac{{ie\hbar }}{{2m}}\left( {\psi _R^*\nabla {\psi _L} - {\psi _L}\nabla \psi _R^*} \right){\mkern 1mu} {\mkern 1mu} and{\mkern 1mu} \rho = - e\psi _R^*{\psi _L}\), for an electron transition from a state ψL in the left electrode to a state ψR in the right. The transition rate is given by \(\frac{{ - 2}}{{\hbar w}}{\mkern 1mu} {\mkern 1mu} \operatorname{Re} \smallint E*{\mkern 1mu} {\mkern 1mu} \cdot{\mkern 1mu} {\mkern 1mu} \underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle-}$}}{J} \;{d^3}r\;{\mkern 1mu} {\mkern 1mu} where\;{\mkern 1mu} {\mkern 1mu} \hbar w = {E_L} - {E_R}\). This new formulation avoids the need to quantize the electromagnetic fields and allows the use of complex dielectric functions. Numerical estimates of the rate of surface plasmon excitation in Al-Al2O3-Ag junctions are given.
The Problem of Unity and Diversity in International Human Rights

Although the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity declares that the defense of cultural diversity is an “ethical imperative,” it also states that “no one may invoke cultural diversity to infringe upon human rights guaranteed by international law, nor to limit their scope.” The Declaration’s fulsome praise for “good” cultural diversity is therefore hedged by a prior commitment to upholding universal human rights. What is diverse is precious, it seems to be saying, but what is universal is even more precious. This essay attempts to unpack the meaning and significance of the distinction between these points of view for the discourse and practice of international human rights. It aspires to move the discussion of cultural diversity in the sphere of human rights to a level that is deeper than that which is allowed for by the usual (and ultimately sterile) verbal opposition between “universalism” and “cultural relativity.” The goal is to clarify as much as possible the relevant points of agreement and disagreement about the nature of the inherently limited ethical imperative to tolerate and protect cultural diversity. The essay does this by reflecting on the dialectically linked concepts of unity and diversity and by investigating what it really means to say that different groups of people have different “beliefs” about what is morally and legally permissible or mandatory. The international law norms that protect human rights are, like all normative systems, expressed in general (i.e. abstract) terms. The essay contends that if one wants to discover whether differently situated people agree or disagree about the significance of these norms the right place to look is not at the words expressing the norms themselves, but at how those words are actually applied to real, concrete cases.
Effect of Loading Rate and Geometry Variation on the Dynamic Shear Strength of Adhesive Lap Joints

Dynamic and quasi-static experiments were performed using a novel lap joint specimen to evaluate the shear strength of adhesive bonded lap joints at different loading rates, length to width ratios and lap areas. Dynamic shear strength was determined by subjecting the lap joints to stress wave loading in a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus. All joints were bonded by a general-purpose epoxy adhesive (Armstrong A-12®). The shear strength of the joint was determined using maximum transmitted load through the joint, assuming that the load was predominantly transferred through shear.
Prediction of IPF within 1–2 year with the early changes in quantitative imaging patterns using high resolution computed tomography

Abstract Introduction High resolution computed tomography (HRCT) plays an indispensable role in the diagnosis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Due to the short median survival of 2 to 5 years, understanding the chance of progression in the next follow-up of a patient is critical. The aim of this study is to test the predictability of progression in IPF of the near follow-up of a patient using the early quantitative changes in HRCT scans. Methods Volumetric anonymized HRCT scans were obtained. Two data sets were collected: a pilot study with 35 subjects in three sequential scans (baseline, 6 and 12 month scans) and validation study involving 157 subjects with clinical information. Quantitative lung fibrosis (QLF) scores were calculated for HRCT scans using an automated system. A log-rank test and Cox regression were used to test a prediction with early changes in QLF. Results In the pilot study mean changes in QLF increased by 4.33% at 6 months and 14.83% at 12 months, when the visual assessments changed from stable to worse. Mean QLF changes were ~1% for the stable cases during 12 months. Using 4% QLF differences at 6 months in the validation cohort, significant differences in progression were found (p Conclusion Early changes in a quantitative score from HRCT can predict progression in lung function. A quantitative texture-based score can play a pivotal role for informed and timely management decision for patients with IPF.
Risk factors for congenital microcephaly in the pre-Zika era

Background The Zika epidemic has brought increased attention to congenital microcephaly as a birth outcome. However, little is known about risks for microcephaly unrelated to Zika. Methods Using data from the Slone Epidemiology Center Birth Defects Study from 1993 to 2015, we identified 57 cases of microcephaly alone ("isolated") and 109 cases of microcephaly that included other major birth defects ("non-isolated"), and considered a large number of potential risk factors including demographic characteristics, illnesses, and medications used during pregnancy. Where numbers permitted, we used logistic regression models to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Substantial differences in risk factors were observed for isolated versus non-isolated microcephaly. For isolated microcephaly, risk estimates were elevated for mothers of non-Hispanic, non-White race/ethnicity, and underweight pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). The risk for exposure anytime in pregnancy to acetaminophen was null; in contrast, the aOR for NSAIDs was 2.4 (95% CI: 1.3-4.2). This association was weakened (but not eliminated) after excluding those exposed to opioids or illicit drugs, and risk was not present among those reporting less frequent exposures. For non-isolated microcephaly, elevated risk estimates were found for urinary tract infection. Conclusions Risk factors differed for isolated and non-isolated microcephaly. While some findings support previously reported associations, (e.g., smoking, alcohol, underweight BMI), we also identified risk factors not previously described, notably NSAID use for isolated microcephaly and urinary tract infection for non-isolated microcephaly; however, these results should be viewed as hypothesis generating.
Eine nicht alltägliche Ursache für Bauchschmerzen

Eine bis anhin gesunde 31-jahrige Patientin stellte sich wegen uber die letzten Wochen progredienter Oberbauchschmerzen sowie Zunahme des Bauchumfangs in der Notfallpraxis vor.
Building Environments: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture X

Review of: "Building Environments: Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture X," edited by Kenneth A. Breisch and Alison K. Hoagland.
Modernization of a Photochemical Reaction for the Undergraduate Laboratory: Continuous Flow Photopinacol Coupling.

A continuous flow photopinacol coupling of benzophenone has been developed and implemented in the undergraduate laboratory. This photoreduction was accomplished using 2-propanol as an H atom donor and cosolvent in the reaction. The simple and inexpensive UV light source and flow reactor design (less than $350/photochemical flow system) provide an operationally accessible experiment. Students successfully compared the efficiencies (percentage conversion) of both flow and batch methods and explored fundamental continuous flow concepts to explain how and why continuous flow can improve the efficiency of a photochemical reaction. The percentage conversions for the flow reactions (average 82%) were more than 8 times higher than the batch reactions, based on irradiation of equal reaction volumes for 10 min.
Armed resistance to Roman rule in North Africa, from the time of Augustus to the vandal invasion

It is difficult now to determine how much resistance there was to Roman rule in North Africa because of the almost complete absence of evidence for the sentiments of the region’s non-Roman populati...
Pedestrian Fatal Crash Location Analysis in Ohio using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis Techniques

Pedestrian safety is a top priority within the transportation planning community as cities promote sustainable transportation, alternative travel modes, and healthy lifestyles. If people feel unsaf...
Constructing Health: Representations of Health and Housing in Charlottesville’s Urban Renewals

This essay explores the co-construction of urban health and blight through architectural representation during urban renewal, exploring how buildings symbolically stood for social and epidemiologic...
Recent (2018–2020) development in capillary electrophoresis

Development of new capillary electrophoresis (CE) methodology and instrumentation, as well as application of CE to solve new problems, remains an active research area because of the attractive features of CE compared to other separation techniques. In this review, we focus on the representative works about sample preconcentration, separation media or capillary coating development, detector construction, and multidimensional separation in CE, which are judiciously selected from the papers published in 2018-2020.
Using magnetic nanoparticles in iPSCs

Abstract Nanotechnology has revolutionized fields from astrophysics to biology over the past two decades. Increasingly, nanoparticles have been used in biomedical research and medicine as powerful tools for transgene and drug delivery, imaging, diagnostics, and therapeutics. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and human iPSCs (hiPSCs)-derived cells have the potential to revolutionize the regenerative, therapeutic, and precision medicine. Genetic modification of iPSCs represents an essential tool for the study and application of iPSCs. However, there are significant technical challenges for transgene delivery into iPSCs since these cells are known to be difficult for transfection. The existing transgenic methods, such as viral transduction and chemical transfection, may introduce significant alternations during iPSC culture which affect the potency, purity, consistency, and functional capacity of iPSCs. Magnetic nanoparticles have the potential to facilitate the magnetic field–guided transgene delivery to the iPSCs and offer a simple and robust approach for transgene delivery to iPSCs. Magnetic nanoparticle–mediated gene transfer offers significant advantages over other gene transfer methods, such as high efficiency, low cytotoxicity and biodegradability, low cost, directional and distal controllability, efficient in vivo applications, and lack of immune responses. This chapter discusses the principles and applications of magnetic nanoparticles in the transgene delivery to iPSCs.
Abstract 1840: Isolation and evaluation of human nanobodies against hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) and their potential use for the detection and targeting of lung, breast and colon cancer cells

Since the clinical relevance of hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) as both a cancer biomarker and a potential tumor target is increasing, we isolated human nanobodies (Nbs) against HPRT and tested their potential to detect and target cytosolic and membrane associated HPRT in lung, breast and colon cancer cells. HPRT is a purine salvage pathway enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of hypoxanthine to inosine monophosphate and guanine to guanosine monophosphate. Until recently, HPRT was considered as a housekeeping gene and its clinical relevance was mainly limited to congenital central nervous disorders such as Lesch-Nyhan disease. However, recent gene expression analysis across all cancers in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and analysis of HPRT expression within cancer patients9 tissues has revealed that the expression of HPRT is elevated in the majority of malignant tissues in comparison to normal tissues. Moreover, multiple studies have recently shown that HPRT may be associated with the cell membrane in lung, colon cancer and lymphoma cells, and not in normal cells. Thus, HPRT is a potential immunotherapeutic target for cancer. Using phage display technology we isolated 384 nanobody clones from the Christ human single domain antibody (dAb) library against human HPRT. Ten of the most sensitive Nbs were sequenced and evaluated to determine their sensitivity using dose response curves. Four parameter logistic regression analysis of the top 10 HPRT nanobodies showed R squared values ranging from 0.9388-0.9989 and a sigmoidal shape denoting a concentration-dependent antigen-ligand relationship. The anti-HPRT Nbs were able to detect minimum HPRT amounts ranging from 10-20 ng/ml. Validation of the anti-HPRT Nbs was conducted with a siRNA HPRT knockdown in A549 cells. A549 siRNA HPRT knockdown cell lysate showed at least a 5-fold reduction in the overall signal in phage ELISA compared to A549 wild type cell lysate (p Citation Format: Edwin J. Velazquez, Tyler B. Humpherys, Toni O. Mortimer, David M. Bellini, Kathryn R. Smith, Rachel M. Morris, Abigail Goodman, Kim L. O9Neill. Isolation and evaluation of human nanobodies against hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HPRT) and their potential use for the detection and targeting of lung, breast and colon cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1840.
Minimally Invasive L5-S1 Oblique Lumbar Interbody Fusion With Simultaneous Robotic Single Position Posterior Fixation: 2-Dimensional Operative Video.

The unique anatomy at L5-S1 presents different challenges and considerations to be made when compared to other areas in the lumbar spine. In this way, the oblique lumbar interbody fusion (OLIF) is more closely related to a supine anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) except that the former is performed in a lateral position down a smaller minimally invasive retroperitoneal corridor. This lateral positioning at L5-S1, however, provides an opportunity for single-position surgery simultaneously with posterior fixation, which is not afforded by other approaches. We present here a case of a 57-yr-old male with a prior right-sided L5-S1 microdiscectomy who presents with worsening lumbar radiculopathy and foot drop. He subsequently underwent a minimally invasive L5-S1 OLIF with posterior instrumentation placed bilaterally while remaining in a single lateral position (Mazor X Stealth Edition, Medtronic, Dublin, Ireland). Both the anterior OLIF surgeon and posterior instrumentation surgeon were able to work simultaneously. There is currently a need for further high-quality operative videos showing the L5-S1 OLIF technique, and to our knowledge, this is the first video demonstrating a 2-surgeon near-simultaneous workflow approach using a spinal robotics platform at this level. There is no identifying information in this video. A patient consent was obtained for the surgical procedure and for publishing of the material included in the video.
Current Fluctuations in the Surface Waters of Small Lakes

The transfer of momentum from the wind to the surface of a lake creates fluctuations in velocity which are an expression of turbulent eddies, surface and internal waves. To know the scaling from the wind stress to the stress at the surface of a lake is important for budgets of energy transfer and for models of mixed layer dynamics. These processes have not been examined in shallow, naturally eutrophic lakes with small fetches. An omnidirectional warmbead thermistor-flowmeter was used to measure fluctuations in current speeds throughout the upper mixed layer of a shallow lake in equatorial Africa. The flow sensor resolves speeds of less than 0.1 cm sec−1 and frequencies of ca. 5 Hz. The first four statistical moments, probability density functions, and energy spectra have been computed from the current records, and Richardson’s numbers have been calculated. Current speeds within 1.5 cm of the surface fluctuated rapidly from 0.3 to 16 cm sec−1. The mean speeds were ca. 5 cm sec−1 and the turbulent intensities (ratio of rms speed to mean speed) were greater than 0.4. There was a graded shift from high frequency, high amplitude fluctuations at the surface to lower frequency, smaller amplitude fluctuations at 10 cm depth. This shift occurred in the absence of thermal stratification. At 10 cm the turbulent intensity was still high (0.25). These data illustrate the extreme activity and variety of responses to wind mixing in low energy lacustrine environments.
Molecular Biology of Cellular Membranes with Applications to Immunology

Publisher Summary Molecular biology of cellular membranes with applications to immunology is to discuss the molecular structure of membranes and its bearing on membrane functions, as these concepts are currently emerging. This chapter discusses the molecular structure of membranes and its bearing on membrane functions, as these concepts are currently emerging. This chapter presents a detailed analysis of the thermodynamics of membrane systems and of new experimental information that proposes the fluid mosaic model of membrune structure. This chapter applies the fluid mosaic model, and the facts and speculations about membrane redistribution effects to some problems of interest in immunology. Finally, it should also have become evident that there are many fundamental aspects of membrane molecular biology, about which entirely too little is known at present, and that further developments in this very active area should be of great and continued interest to immunologists.
Improving availability in large, distributed component-based systems via redeployment

In distributed and mobile environments, the connections among the hosts on which a software system is running are often unstable. As a result of connectivity losses, the overall availability of the system decreases. The distribution of software components onto hardware nodes (i.e., the system's deployment architecture) may be ill-suited for the given target hardware en-vironment and may need to be altered to improve the software system's avail-ability. The critical difficulty in achieving this task lies in the fact that deter-mining a software system's deployment that will maximize its availability is an exponentially complex problem. In this paper, we present a fast approximative solution for this problem, and assess its performance. In addition to significantly improving availability, our solution, in general, also reduces the overall interaction latency in the system. We evaluate our solution on a large number of automatically generated application scenarios.
Bowel obstruction in the aged patient: A review of 300 cases

Abstract Three hundred cases of bowel obstruction in patients over sixty-five years of age are reviewed. The obstructions were almost evenly divided among conditions arising in the large bowel, the small bowel, and those caused by hernias. The mortality for obstructions arising in the large and small bowel was slightly over 30 per cent whereas the mortality for obstructions from hernia was about 20 per cent. Many complications appeared to be primarily cardiovascular and pulmonary in origin, but sepsis and genitourinary complications were also frequent. Early diagnosis and treatment with special care to prevent complications are necessary if the mortality and morbidity statistics are to be improved.
The personal factor in evaluation use: A case study of a steering committee's use of a conservation tillage survey

Abstract In 1985 a statewide farmer survey about conservation tillage was conducted. It provided baseline data for a major energy conservation project. The data were used for 2 years, at which time a case study was undertaken to identify factors which influenced the tillage survey's use. The influence of the personal factor on evaluation use had been identified prior to planning the tillage survey. Therefore, the process used for conducting the tillage survey capitalized on the personal factor by using a team approach. The case study identified ways intended users actually used the tillage survey results, associated these findings with the team strategy, and generated important factors contributing to evaluation use when the personal factor was accounted for. Factors supporting the personal factor which appear to have influenced use were timeliness, intended users' ownership of the information, interaction among decision makers and the evaluator, methodological appropriateness and quality, and planning for use of the results.
Transarterial hepatic chemoembolization with 70-150 µm drug-eluting beads: assessment of clinical safety and liver toxicity profile.

Abstract Purpose To assess the incidence and severity of adverse events (AEs) in the form of clinical symptoms and liver/biliary injuries (LBI) in patients with hepatic malignancies treated with transarterial chemoembolization using 70–150 μm drug-eluting beads (DEBs). Materials and Methods A single-institution retrospective analysis was performed in 37 patients (25 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 12 patients with metastatic disease) who underwent 43 sessions of segmental/subsegmental 70–150 μm DEB transarterial chemoembolization with doxorubicin (38 sessions) or irinotecan (5 sessions). Patient inclusion criteria included the presence of the following lesion features: small diameter (≤ 3 cm), hypovascular, or with areas of residual disease after other locoregional therapies. Mean tumor diameter was 3.4 cm. Mean imaging and clinical follow-up periods were 171 days and 373 days, respectively. Clinical, laboratory, and imaging data were used to identify and classify clinically symptomatic AEs per session and LBI per patient according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.03. Predictors for the occurrence of LBI were evaluated by logistic regression analysis. Results No grade 4 or 5 AEs were recorded. Clinically symptomatic AEs occurred in 29 (67.4%) sessions (grade 1–2, 28 sessions; grade 3, 1 session), all constituting postembolization syndrome. Asymptomatic LBI occurred in 11 (29.7%) patients (grade 1, 8 patients; grade 2, 3 patients). The mean time between 70–150 μm DEB transarterial chemoembolization session and appearance of LBI was 71 days (range, 21–223 d). No predictive factors for the development of LBI were identified. Conclusions Transarterial chemoembolization with 70–150 μm DEBs was considered safe in the present study population given the acceptably low incidence and severity of AEs.
Power and sample size calculations for the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test in the presence of death‐censored observations

We consider a clinical trial of a potentially lethal disease in which patients are randomly assigned to two treatment groups and are followed for a fixed period of time; a continuous endpoint is measured at the end of follow-up. For some patients; however, death (or severe disease progression) may preclude measurement of the endpoint. A statistical analysis that includes only patients with endpoint measurements may be biased. An alternative analysis includes all randomized patients, with rank scores assigned to the patients who are available for the endpoint measurement on the basis of the magnitude of their responses and with 'worst-rank' scores assigned to those patients whose death precluded the measurement of the continuous endpoint. The worst-rank scores are worse than all observed rank scores. The treatment effect is then evaluated using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. In this paper, we derive closed-form formulae for the power and sample size of the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test when missing measurements of the continuous endpoints because of death are replaced by worst-rank scores. We distinguish two approaches for assigning the worst-rank scores. In the tied worst-rank approach, all deaths are weighted equally, and the worst-rank scores are set to a single value that is worse than all measured responses. In the untied worst-rank approach, the worst-rank scores further rank patients according to their time of death, so that an earlier death is considered worse than a later death, which in turn is worse than all measured responses. In addition, we propose four methods for the implementation of the sample size formulae for a trial with expected early death. We conduct Monte Carlo simulation studies to evaluate the accuracy of our power and sample size formulae and to compare the four sample size estimation methods.
When the Macro Facilitates the Micro: A Study of Regimentation and Emergence in Spoken Interaction

In moments of “dispersion, diaspora, and reterritorialization” ( Amy Shuman 2006 ), the personal, the interactional, and the improvised (the “micro”) cannot be separated analytically from circulating ideologies, institutional norms, or cultural flows (the “macro”). With a focus on the emergence of identities within social interaction, specifically within the qualitative research interview, this article examines the power of the micro to transform regularities in ways that are locally relevant and globally influenced at the same time.[narrative, interaction, identity, performance]
Biotinylated Photocleavable Polyethylenimine: Capture and Triggered Release of Nucleic Acids from Solid Supports

A biotinylated photocleavable polyethylenimine (B-PC-PEI) was designed and synthesized for the capture and controlled release of nucleic acids from solid supports. B-PC-PEI was synthesized via a three-step reaction process and verified by 1H NMR and mass spectrometry. In aqueous solution, the o-nitrobenzyl group within B-PC-PEI was efficiently cleaved by 5 min of 365 nm light exposure from a distance of 20 cm (9 mW/cm2). When coupled to streptavidin-coated beads, the PEI domain of Cy5-labeled B-PC-PEI was released by 365 nm light exposure. In contrast, a Cy5-labeled biotinylated PEI (B-PEI) was used as a control and negligible fluorescence loss was observed. Cy5-labeled siRNA was electrostatically captured to streptavidin-coated beads preabsorbed with B-PC-PEI or B-PEI, and flow cytometry demonstrated significant loss of fluorescence from the bead surface after 5 min of light exposure only for B-PC-PEI, demonstrating controlled release of siRNA from the bead surface. Finally, the release of the Cy5-labele...
Localized Temporal Change of the Earth's Inner Core Boundary

Compressional waves of an earthquake doublet (two events occurring in the South Sandwich Islands on 1 December 1993 and 6 September 2003), recorded at three seismic stations in Russia and Kyrgyzstan and reflected off Earth's inner core boundary, arrived at least from 39 to 70 milliseconds earlier in the 2003 event than in the 1993 event. Such changes indicate that Earth's inner core radius enlarged locally beneath middle Africa by 0.98 to 1.75 kilometers between the times of these two events. Changes of the inner core radius may be explained by either a differential motion of the inner core, assuming that irregularities are present at the inner core boundary and fixed to the inner core, or a rapid growth of the inner core by this amount.
Cell-wall engineering of living bacteria.

The cell walls of living bacteria were chemically modified by adding cell-wall precursors. As the precursors to be incorporated into the cell wall, UDP-MurNAc pentapeptide, lipid I, and lipid II derivatives were synthesized. The aimed compounds were attached to the amine residue of lysine at the pentapeptide moiety. Fluorescein-attached UDP-MurNAc pentapeptide was efficiently incorporated into both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In the case of Gram-negative bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, the permeability of the outer membrane (lipopolysaccharide layer) was enhanced by EDTA treatment before the incorporation. For Gram-positive bacteria, UDP-MurNAc derivatives were incorporated in the cell wall without EDTA treatment due to the lack of the lipopolysaccharide layer. Furthermore, instead of dyes, a ketone group was attached to the UDP-MurNAc pentapeptide. The ketone group was also delivered to the bacterial cell wall of lactic acid bacteria, giving a platform to attach large molecules on the s...
Variability explained by covariates in linear mixed‐effect models for longitudinal data

Variability explained by covariates or explained variance is a well-known concept in assessing the importance of covariates for dependent outcomes. In this paper we study R2 statistics of explained variance pertinent to longitudinal data under linear mixed-effect models, where the R2 statistics are computed at two different levels to measure, respectively, within- and between-subject variabilities explained by the covariates. By deriving the limits of R2 statistics, we find that the interpretation of explained variance for the existing R2 statistics is clear only in the case where the covariance matrix of the outcome vector is compound symmetric. Two new R2 statistics are proposed to address the effect of time-dependent covariate means. In the general case where the outcome covariance matrix is not compound symmetric, we introduce the concept of compound symmetry projection and use it to define level-one and level-two R2 statistics. Numerical results are provided to support the theoretical findings and demonstrate the performance of the R2 statistics. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 38: 352–368; 2010 © 2010 Statistical Society of Canada La variation expliquee par les covariables (ou la variance expliquee) est un concept bien connu pour mesurer l'importance de ces covariables sur la variable dependante. Dans cet article, nous etudions la statistique du R carre pour la variance expliquee pertinente aux donnees longitudinales pour des modeles lineaires a effets mixtes. La statistique du R carre est calculee a deux niveaux differents pour mesurer la variation expliquee par les covariables a l'interieur et entre les sujets. En obtenant des limites aux statistiques du R carre, nous trouvons que l'interpretation de la variance expliquee pour les statistiques du R carre existantes est claire seulement dans le cas ou la matrice de variance-covariance des observations dependantes est symetrique composee. Deux nouvelles statistiques du R carre sont proposees afin de prendre en compte les effets des moyennes des covariables pouvant dependre du temps. Dans le cas general ou la matrice de variance-covariance des observations n'est pas symetrique composee, nous introduisons le concept de projection symetrique composee et nous l'utilisons pour definir les statistiques du R carre de niveaux 1 et 2. Des resultats numeriques appuient nos resultats theoriques et ils montrent la performance des statistiques du R carre. La revue canadienne de statistique 38: 352–368; 2010 © 2010 Societe statistique du Canada
Sex differences in visuospatial working memory: components of cognitive processing.

Numerous studies have shown that sex differences in visuospatial tasks vary in size and direction depending on the nature of the task, with large differences favoring males on tasks that require transformations in visuospatial working memory. The cognitive processes underlying these differences were investigated using laboratory tasks developed by Dror and Kosslyn (1994). Four cognitive components of visuospatial working memory were assessed—image generation, maintenance, scanning, and transformation—in an attempt to identify the components that would show differential effects for females and males. The image generation task required retrieval of shape information from long-term memory, generation of a visual image in working memory, and utilization of the information about the shape in a decision task. The image maintenance task required only the latter two processes. The information processing demands required by scanning and rotation tasks came from the need to transform the visual image so that it could be used in decision making. Males responded more quickly on all four tasks (ds between .63 and .77), with no between-sex differences in accuracy. We concluded that speed of processing is central to understanding sex differences in visuospatial working memory. We discuss implications of these findings for performance on real-world visuospatial tasks.
Disruption of Integrin Function in the Murine Myocardium Leads to Perinatal Lethality, Fibrosis, and Abnormal Cardiac Performance

The molecular mechanisms that regulate the cardiac hypertrophic response and the progression from compensated hypertrophy to decompensated heart failure have not been thoroughly defined. Alteration in cardiac extracellular matrix is a distinguishing characteristic of these pathological processes. Integrins, cell surface receptors that mediate cellular adhesion to the extracellular matrix, are signaling molecules that possess mechanotransduction properties. Therefore, we hypothesized that integrins are likely candidates to play an important role in cardiac function. To test this hypothesis, transgenic mice were constructed in which normal integrin function was disrupted by expression of a chimeric molecule encoding the transmembrane and extracellular domains of the Tac subunit of the IL-2 receptor, fused to the cytoplasmic domain of β 1A integrin (Tacβ 1A ). Using the α myosin heavy chain promoter to target expression of this chimera to the cardiac myocyte, transgenic mice were generated that had varied levels of transgene expression. Multiple transgenic founders that expressed the transgene at high levels, died perinatally and exhibited replacement fibrosis. Lines that survived showed 1) hypertrophic changes concordant with reduction in endogenous β 1 integrin levels, or 2) reduced basal contractility and relaxation as well as alterations in components of integrin signaling pathways. These data support an important role for β 1 integrin in normal cardiac function.
Pendrin mediates uptake of perchlorate in a mammalian in vitro system.

Abstract Perchlorate is a known endocrine disruptor present in groundwater, vegetables and dairy food products in many regions of the United States. It interferes with the uptake of iodide into the thyrocyte by the sodium–iodide symporter at the basolateral surface, thus potentially disrupting the synthesis of thyroid hormone. Because transport of iodide from the thyroid follicular cells to the follicular lumen is mediated by the protein pendrin at the apical surface, we hypothesized that perchlorate may also interact with this protein. Therefore, HeLa cells were transfected with the human SLC26A4 gene, which encodes pendrin, to generate an in vitro mammalian system expressing the recombinant pendrin protein (HeLa-PDS). The HeLa-PDS cells, along with untransfected cells, were then cultured in presence of iodide and/or perchlorate. Intracellular levels of these two chemicals were measured by ion chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Results from this study show that iodide and perchlorate uptake increases significantly in HeLa-PDS cells as compared to untransfected cells. Thus, recombinant HeLa cells expressing pendrin protein accumulate iodide and perchlorate intracellularly, indicating that pendrin is involved in the uptake of perchlorate. Additional results from this study suggest that iodide and perchlorate competitively inhibit each other for uptake by pendrin. The ability of perchlorate to compete with iodide for uptake by both basal and apical transporters may increase the potential of perturbation of thyroid homeostasis and therefore the estimated risk posed to susceptible human populations.
Infrared Microspectroscopy Of Coals

Coals consist of a wide range of plant matter which has undergone metamorphosis, as well as various minerals. The organic matter in the coal contains the remnants of a variety of parts of plants such as trunks, bark, roots, stems, leaves, spores, and so forth. The various coherent remnant organic bodies in the coal, which are generally of microscopic dimensions, are termed "macerals." Most analyses of the chemical functionalities in coals use the coal in a ground-up particulate form which contains a huge variety of different macerals as well as minerals. Such analyses give only averaged information, rather than being characteristic of any individual component of the coal. Now, however, a new microscopic IR (infrared) spectroscopy technique makes possible the chemical analysis of individual macerals of coal. Areas as small as 25 micrometers across can be analyzed. The technique utilizes a computer-controlled IR microspectrophotometer (which is now commercially available) in conjunction with newly-developed procedures for preparing uncontaminated thin sections of coals. The sample preparation technique utilizes a hydrocarbon-soluble adhesive to cement the coal to a glass slide for final grinding. This enables removal of the adhesive with a solvent to produce an uncontaminated specimen. A suitable thickness for the specimens has been found to he roughly 15 micrometers. Using this technique variations from specimen to specimen within a given maceral type, or even heterogeneities within a single maceral, can be determined. Preliminary experiments using this new technique have been made on single macerals of homogeneous vitrinite and liptinite in Illinois No. 6 coal. The spectra clearly contrasted the more aromatic and hydroxyl-containing structure of the vitrinite to the more aliphatic structure of the liptinite. In this paper, details of this new technique are discussed, and recent results, including representative spectra, are presented.© (1983) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The Pharmacological Treatment of Bipolar Disorder: The Question of Modern Advances

Introduction: Lithium has been the mainstay of treatment for patients with bipolar disorder in the United States since 1970. Major treatment guidelines recommend lithium as a first-line treatment for mania and maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder, yet lithium has fallen out of favor while other agents have grown in popularity. The purpose of this review is to examine the evidence for treatments that were available in 1970 and to determine if the field has made any significant advance in the treatment of mania, bipolar depression, and maintenance. Methods: We conducted a MEDLINE search through 2009, and examined only English-language, randomized/controlled, placebo, or comparison studies. Tolerability as a factor was not considered for this review. Results: Lithium, valproate, benzodiazepines, and antipsychotics have been reported effective for mania—which was essentially the state of the field in 1970. Despite an FDA indication for the use of lamotrigine for depression and depression maintenance, the...
Liberalism, Civic Humanism, and the Case of Adam Smith

In this article, I examine critically Donald Winch's interpretation of the politics of Adam Smith. I explain how Winch wrests Smith's political thought out of the larger vision of commercial society that is found in his moral, political, and economic writings, and how Winch misreads Smith's understanding of particularpoliticalproblems such as the dehumanized workforce and the standing army. I also show how Winch's civic humanist reading of Smith's political thought fails to appreciate Smith's liberal conceptualizations of corruption and public-mindedness in a modern commercial society. Finally, I suggest that our failure to understand the politics of Adam Smith does not lie in our liberal interpretation of his work, as Winch claims, but in our understanding of what constitutes liberal political discourse.
Assessing shared understanding of economic exchange among children and adults

Research into children's understanding of economic exchanges has been conducted within two major purviews. Psychologists and sociologists have examined children's understanding via age-related developmental theories, and economists have focused upon measures of economic literacy. Anthropologists and sociologists have included noneconomic factors in examining the economic-exchange practices of adults, but the role of such social or moral influences has not been examined within the context of children as consumers. With the use of this research foundation, the current research is one of the first reported attempts to include children and adults in the same study to determine if there is a shared understanding of economic exchanges. As such, the role of noneconomic factors as a part of the everyday economic-exchange behavior of children was also examined. Study findings suggest that past research has underestimated children's understanding of the economic world, as the current research found that children, ages 7–12 years, exhibited many of the same facets of intuitive economic understanding as adults from their own community group. The findings also suggested that the influence of noneconomic variables becomes greater as children grow into adulthood. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Student Affairs Case Management: Merging Social Work Theory with Student Affairs Practice.

AbstractCase management is a functional area in higher education and student affairs that emerged after the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007. Although new to higher education, case management emerged from established social work practice. This article compares social work theory and case management standards with a new case management model for student affairs practitioners. Finally, the article presents benefits and challenges of case management in student affairs.
Effects of pentylenetetrazol on memory storage in mice.

This paper reports several studies of the effects of pentylenetetrazol on learning in mice. The first three studies indicated that, for several strains and learning tasks, the degree of facilitation produced by posttrial injections of subconvulsive doses of pentylenetetrazol varied with the different strains and experimental conditions used. The fourth experiment showed that facilitation of learning is obtained only when the drug is injected within 15 minutes before or after training. Other findings indicated that the convulsive and lethal doses of pentylenetetrazol depend upon the animals' deprivation state and that when given to rats in subconvulsive doses, the drug produces EEG effects which are seen within minutes after injection and which last for less than one hour. We interpret the results of these learning experiments as indicating that pentylenetetrazol enhances learning by affecting processes involved in memory storage.
Effect of amitriptyline on the messenger RNA of thyroid hormone-responsive genes in rat cerebral tissue.

To determine the molecular mechanisms of the potentiating effect of thyroid hormones (TH) on the therapeutic efficacy of tricyclic antidepressants (TCA), the expression of two known TH-responsive mRNAs was measured in control rats and rats treated with triiodothyronine (T3, 10 µg/100 g for 10 days), amitriptyline (10 mg/kg for 10 days), or combined T3 and amitriptyline. Northern blot analysis was carried out to measure the cerebral tissue content of a novel translational repressor (NAT-1) and another thyroid hormone-responsive (THR) mRNA. Rats treated with the combination of T3 and amitriptyline had significantly higher NAT-1 expression (2691.1±134.1 arbitrary units) than rats treated with T3 only (1688.5±77.8) or with amitriptyline only (1452.5±87.5) or the untreated control rats (731.3±23.0), P<0.01. Amitriptyline treatment did not alter the expression of THR mRNA or THR protein in either control or T3-treated rats. It is concluded that alterations in the expression of selective T3 responsive genes in cerebral tissue could be a mechanism of the known T3 potentiation of the therapeutic efficacy of TCA.
Evaluation of theophylline pharmacokinetics in a pediatric population using mixed effects models

Routine clinical pharmacokinetic data collected prospectively from pediatric patients receiving theophylline were analyzed using the NONMEM (nonlinear mixed effects model) digital computer program. A total of 314 measured serum theophylline concentrations (STCs) were obtained from 84 hospitalized patients ranging in age from 4 months to 15.2 years with the majority of patients between the ages of 1 and 8 years. Fifty-six percent were male. The race/ethnicity distribution was 71.4% Latin, 15.5% black, 11.9% Caucasian, and 1.2% (one subject) Pakistani. Of the total number of observed STCs, 16.2% reflected some degree of outpatient dosing. The pharmacokinetic model used was a one-compartment open model with either zero-order or first-order absorption and first-order elimination. Age was the most important determinant of theophylline clearance (Cl);weight was inferior to age and did not statistically improve the model (p>0.005when combined with age. Total Clincreased by 10%/year over the age range of 1 to 15 years of age. Black race and male gender were associated with higher Clvalues: for a given age, Clwas 34% higher for blacks than the reference population composed of the remaining patients, and Clfor males was 25% higher than that for females. The volume of distribution (Vdfor the population was estimated to be 0.62 L/kg. The interindividual variability in Cland Vdexpressed as coefficients of variation were 19 and 28%, respectively. The residual intraindividual error variance corresponded to a standard deviation of 2.8 μg/ml. The STCs that represented some degree of outpatient dosing were 21 % lower than those reflecting only inpatient dosing. Alternate models that include weight as a determinant of theophylline clearance are also provided. The NONMEM method of determining population pharmacokinetics is well suited to the pediatric population since it does not require a large number of STCs per patient. In this study a mean of only 3.7 STCs per patient were utilized to provide information which should prove useful in the design and adjustment of theophylline dosage regimens in children.
Serum creatine phosphokinase levels in children undergoing cardiac catheterization

The effects of cardiac catheterization on serum levels of creatine phosphokinase (CPK), glutamic oxalacetic transaminase (GOT), and lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH) were measured in children with heart disease. Precatheterization levels of CPK were elevated in some patients. After cardiac catheterization the serum level of CPK was increased in each child; very little increase was noted in values for GOT and LDH. In all but one patient the increase in serum CPK activity was shown to be due to elevation of skeletal muscle isoenzyme rather than to that of myocardial muscle.