cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
CT-guided diagnostic superior hypogastric plexus block and alcohol ablation treatment for nonmalignant chronic pelvic pain

Purpose To describe our initial experience with image-guided superior hypogastric plexus (SHGP) block for diagnosis and with alcohol ablation for treatment of patients with chronic nonmalignant pelvic pain. Materials and Methods Eight women (average age = 44 ± 11.5 y, range 32-68 y) make up the study group. Pretreatment pain assessment was routinely performed using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Chronic Pain Index, and short-form McGill (SF-McGill) pain questionnaires and Sf-12v2 QOL questionnaires. After IRB approval a review of the medical record was performed to collect pretreatment survey data. All patients underwent diagnostic CT-guided SHGP blockade with Bupivicaine. A subgroup of patients reported a decrease in symptoms of pelvic pain with the diagnostic SHGP block. These patients were subsequently offered treatment with CT-guided alcohol ablation of the superior hypogastric nerve plexus. Three have undergone the procedure. Results No adverse events or complications were noted. Average time to follow-up after SHGP block was 92 days. Long-term follow-up data will be obtained via review of posttreatment pain assessment instruments. Surgical and gynecologic medical histories as well as clinical follow up will be reviewed. Conclusion SHGP blockade can alleviate chronic pain in patients with deep pelvic pain. Alcohol ablation of the SHGP has been used in patients with malignant pelvic pain and has potential utility in patients with nonmalignant chronic pelvic pain. We will present our experience in treating the initial 3 patients as well as a series of upcoming patients with nonmalignant pelvic pain.
Value of agricultural non-point source pollution measurement technology: assessment from a policy perspective

The development of accurate non-point source pollution assessment technologies allows the implementation of more efficient policies than can be undertaken in their absence. This study estimates the value of accurate measurement technology by estimating the gains from implementing a more efficient policy, one that targets agricultural non-point source emission reductions at the field scale but requires accurate field scale measurement technology, relative to a practice-based policy that can be implemented in the absence of such technology. For the environmental benefit of carbon sequestration, large cost savings are found due to improved targeting of conservation tillage subsidies for the state of Iowa. The ability of the government to cost discriminate is found to have little impact on the value of accurate measurement technology.
Formation of a surface quantum dot near laterally and vertically neighboring dots

The elastic-energy-release rate (EERR) of a surface quantum dot (QD) near laterally and vertically neighboring QDs in a linear anisotropic elastic substrate is calculated. The EERR is used to describe quantitatively the driving force for growth of a newly formed (i.e., small) QD in the presence of a grown (i.e., large) QD and hence quantitatively the driving force for their ordering by assuming that the variation of the total change of free energy (including elastic energy, surface energy and edge energy) with their relative location depends only upon the elastic-energy part. An efficient boundary-element method is employed to solve the three-dimensional boundary-value problem of anisotropic elasticity, which requires discretization only along the surface of the QDs and their interface with the substrate. Numerical results for InAs QDs of cuboidal shape on a GaAs substrate with a free surface along the (001) plane are reported. It is found that the presence of a large surface QD inhibits the growth of a small surface QD. The small QD "prefers" to align with the large one in the (100) and (010) directions. However, this effect is relatively small, of about a 1.5% change of the EERR. In contrast, the effect of a buried large QD on the growth of a small surface QD can be significant, of up to a 25% change of the EERR. The favorable location of a small surface QD may be either vertically above or at an angle to the buried large QD, depending upon the depth of the latter. The driving force for the growth of a small surface QD at the favorable locations is enhanced by the presence of the buried large QD. In addition, the theory predicts an optimum depth of the buried large QD for the driving force for the growth of a small QD at the surface.
Human object interactions recognition based on social network analysis

Recognizing human-object interactions in videos is a very challenging problem in computer vision research. There are two major difficulties lying in this task: (1) The detection of human body parts and objects is usually affected by the quality of the videos, for instance, low resolutions of the videos, camera motions, and blurring frames caused by fast motions, as well as the self-occlusions during human-object interactions. (2) The spatial and temporal dynamics of human-object interaction are hard to model. In order to overcome those natural obstacles, we propose a new method using social network analysis (SNA) based features to describe the distributions and relationships of low level objects for human-object interaction recognition. In this approach, the detected human body parts and objects are treated as nodes in social network graphs, and a set of SNA features including closeness, centrality and centrality with relative velocity are extracted for action recognition. A major advantage of SNA based feature set is its robustness to varying node numbers and erroneous node detections, which are very common in human-object interactions. An SNA feature vector will be extracted for each frame and different human-object interactions are classified based on these features. Two classification methods, including Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Hidden Markov Model (HMM), have been used to evaluate the proposed feature set on four different human-object interactions from HMDB dataset [1]. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed framework can effectively capture the dynamical characteristics of human-object interaction and outperforms the state of art methods in human-object interaction recognition.
Wave effects on deformable bodies

Abstract The linearized frequency-domain analysis of wave radiation and diffraction by a three-dimensional body in a fixed mean position is extended to a variety of deformable body motions. These include continuous structural deflections, and also discontinuous motions which can be used to represent multiple interacting bodies. A general methodology is adopted with the body deflection defined by an expansion in arbitrary modal shape functions, and the response in each mode is obtained as a logical extension of the usual analysis for rigid-body modes. Illustrative computations are presented for the bending of a freely-floating barge, and of a vertical column with cantilever support at the bottom. For these structural deflections the use of orthogonal polynomials is emphasized, as an alternative to the more conventional use of natural modes. Also presented are computations for the motions of two rigid barges connected by a hinge joint, and for a finite array of images used to approximate wall effects on a cylinder in a channel. Results from the latter problem are compared with more analytical solutions, and it is shown that practical results can be obtained for the first-order hydrodynamic force coefficients using only a few images.
Devolution and the diffusion of power: The internal and transnational dimensions of the Belfast Agreement∗

Abstract The 1998 Belfast Agreement incorporated both devolution and transnational linkages in order to achieve a cross‐community consensus in Northern Ireland. The article argues that during the negotiations, moderate nationalists and unionists accepted that these elements were interdependent, and that rather than working at cross‐purposes, devolved and transnational institutions could be made mutually reinforcing. Devolution, in the form of the Northern Ireland Assembly with executive powers, addressed important issues of self‐determination and political accountability, facilitating the two‐way process of establishing formalised links between both parts of Ireland. Though a multi‐layered institutional arrangement, the Agreement creates a unique political space for the people of Northern Ireland in which a region gains greater autonomy and significant cross‐border opportunities for co‐operation. Realising these benefits will take time. In the short run, major obstacles, involving contentious issues like ...
Control of Corpus Luteum Function during the Second Half of Pregnancy in the Rat: A Direct Relationship between Conceptus Number and Both Serum and Ovarian Relaxin Levels

The effects of conceptus or fetus removal on several parameters of luteal activity (serum and ovarian relaxin immunoactivity levels, serum progesterone immunoactivity levels, and corpus luteum weights) were investigated during the second half of pregnancy in the rat. Conceptuses were aspirated from the uteri of pregnant rats on day 8 (d8) of pregnancy so that they carried 0, 1, 2, 5, or 10 or more conceptuses until they were autopsied on dlO, d12, d14, d16, d18, or d20 of pregnancy. A direct relationship existed between the number of conceptuses and the rate and/or degree of increase in all of the parameters of corpus luteum activity. The conceptuses had no local effect on ovarian relaxin levels or on luteal weights when the conceptus side ovary was compared with the nonconceptus side ovary. In pregnant rats in which all but two fetuses were removed (all placentas were left undisturbed), there were no significant differences on dl8 or d20 in any parameter of corpus luteum activity between fetectomized and...
Experimental Cultivation of Giant Kelp in Oceanic Environments

Producing biomass in the ocean was conceived in the late 1960s by Hall and Wilcox as an alternative energy source whose attractions included abundances of available space on the sea surface, plant nutrients in the ocean depths, and environmental energy in the waves and currents. Efforts by these two scientists and by many others has led to the Marine Biomass Project. The Project is a cooperative research program managed by General Electric Co. with participation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (kelp processing studies). Institute of Gas Technology (methane production studies), Global Marine Development, Inc. (marine engineering), and California Institute of Technology (kelp production studies), as well as supporting microbiological and other studies within General Electric. The primary objective is to develop an integrated system for producing, harvesting, and processing marine biomass, followed by conversion to methane. Giant Kelp, Macrocystis, is under current study as the producer of biomass, but other seaweed species may eventually be used. This paper describes primarily the kelp production studies. Objectives of the kelp production studies include: (a) determine elements needed in Macrocystis nutrition, (b) develop an optimal strategy for fertilizing plants in an oceanic setting, (c) determine harvest yields from a group of adult test plants continually fertilized. The most promising common source of plant nutrients in the sea lies in waters at depths of 100 m or greater. These could be pumped up by environmental energy to fertilize kelp held near the surface on artificial structures. Our laboratory work indicates that available micronutrients present in water from 300 m deep are usually depleted in surface waters, but the reverse may sometimes be true for some trace metals such as Fe and Mn. Therefore, appropriate mixtures of surface and deep water may be the optimal fertilizing medium. Research is currently emphasizing a large field study that will measure harvest yields from a group of 100 adult transplants continually fertilized by water pumped from depths of 450 m. Information on yields is critically needed to assess economic feasibility of the concept.Copyright © 1979 by ASME
Cytokines and sepsis: What are the therapeutic implications?

Abstract Although data with regard to cytokine action are rapidly emerging at the molecular and cell level, animal and human data are lagging. Deciphering the mechanisms of action and interrelationships of these proteins will take some time given their complexity. Such work will take animal models to task with respect to their relevance to human disease. Human investigations may be even more difficult due to the number and complexity of the cytokines. On the other band, greatly speeding the process is the ready availability of amino acid sequencing, cloning techniques for production of chemically pure cytokines, and polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to the cytokines and their receptors. Still, a conservative estimate would predict that years will be required to take research from the bench to the bedside. In the final analysis, the potential benefits of cytokine research are immense, not only in sepsis but in the variety of other diseases.
Optimal energy density piezoelectric bending actuators

Abstract The design and analysis of piezoelectric actuators is rarely optimized for low mass applications. However, emerging technologies such as micro air vehicles, and microrobotics in general, demand high force, high displacement, low mass actuators. Utilization of generic piezoceramics and high performance composite materials coupled with intelligent use of geometry and novel driving techniques yields low cost, rapidly prototyped, ultra-high energy density bending actuators for use in such applications. The design is based upon a laminate plate theory model for a stacked multimorph cantilever actuator, encompassing all possible layups, layer anisotropies, internal and external excitations, and intrinsic and extrinsic geometries. Using these principles, we have fabricated 12 mg PZT bimorph actuators with greater than 2 J kg −1 energy density. This gives a performance increase of an order of magnitude or greater compared to existing commercially available piezoelectric bending actuators.
Online Social Relations and Country Reputation

This study examines the effects of online connectedness and information use regarding other countries on individuals’ evaluations of those countries. Theoretical and operational definitions of the variables are developed and then used to investigate how they affect people’s ratings of other countries’ reputations in this age of online social networking. A survey of South Korean Internet users provides empirical data for this study. The results show that online connectedness through social media is a more powerful predictor of individuals’ evaluations of other countries than is their use of the Internet for simple information gathering. Results also demonstrate that personal experience of visiting other countries remains the most significant predictor of a person’s favorability toward those countries.
Improving Performance of Dental Resins by Adding Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles

Abstract Objective The objective of this study is to improve the performance of dental resins by adding a small amount of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs), which have outstanding mechanical properties and unique photoactivities. Methods Acrylic acid modified TiO 2 NPs (AP25) were prepared and added to a mixture of bis-phenol-A-dimethacrylate and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (mass ratio 1:1) at seven mass fractions. Disks made of these resins were subjected to FTIR microspectroscopy, nanoindentation, microindentation, and 3-point bending to determine the degree of vinyl conversion (DC) modulus and hardness. The shear bond strengths (SBS) of dentin adhesives containing various amount of AP25 were also examined. Results The DC increased as a function of mass fraction of AP25 and reached a plateau at 0.1%. The DC of the resin mixture was improved by ≈7% up to 91.7 ± 0.8%. The elastic modulus and hardness of the composites increased initially as more AP25 were added, and decreased after reached the maximum value at approximately 0.06% mass fraction of AP25. The maximum elastic modulus was ≈48% higher than that of the NP-free resin, and the maximum hardness was more than twice higher than that of the NP-free resin. Using these resin composites as dental adhesives, the mean SBS using resins with 0.1% mass fraction of AP25 was ≈30% higher than those using NP-free resin. Significance By adding a small amount of AP25 to the resin, the DC and the mechanical properties of resins were improved dramatically. These findings could lead to better performing dental adhesives.
AIDS clinical trials group: Phase I/II study of combination 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine and zidovudine in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and advanced AIDS-related complex

The dideoxynucleosides 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (zidovudine, AZT) and 2',3'-dideoxycytidine (ddC) are potent inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in vitro and improve surrogate measures of HIV infection in vivo. Long-term administration of AZT has been associated with significant hematologic toxicity and has resulted in virus with reduced in vitro susceptibility. Although ddC does not have significant hematologic toxicity and has not shown cross-resistance with AZT in vitro, ddC has been associated with a severe dose-related peripheral neuropathy. Given the independent activity of each agent, their non-overlapping toxicity profiles, and the absence of cross-resistance, it was hypothesized that concurrent administration of AZT and ddC in low doses might be at least as active as either drug given individually at higher doses in the treatment of HIV infection. It was further hypothesized that combined low doses of both drugs would reduce the incidence of serious side effects and the development of resistance. A phase I/II dose-finding trial of six different regimens of combination AZT and ddC in persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or advanced AIDS-related complex was initiated to test these hypotheses.
Opposing Effects of Retinoic Acid on Cell Growth Result from Alternate Activation of Two Different Nuclear Receptors

Transcriptional activation of the nuclear receptor RAR by retinoic acid (RA) often leads to inhibition of cell growth. However, in some tissues, RA promotes cell survival and hyperplasia, activities that are unlikely to be mediated by RAR. Here, we show that, in addition to functioning through RAR, RA activates the "orphan" nuclear receptor PPARbeta/delta, which, in turn, induces the expression of prosurvival genes. Partitioning of RA between the two receptors is regulated by the intracellular lipid binding proteins CRABP-II and FABP5. These proteins specifically deliver RA from the cytosol to nuclear RAR and PPARbeta/delta, respectively, thereby selectively enhancing the transcriptional activity of their cognate receptors. Consequently, RA functions through RAR and is a proapoptotic agent in cells with high CRABP-II/FABP5 ratio, but it signals through PPARbeta/delta and promotes survival in cells that highly express FABP5. Opposing effects of RA on cell growth thus emanate from alternate activation of two different nuclear receptors.
Light-fragment production in proton-xenon interactions between 1 and 19 GeV

Abstract Energy spectra of fragments (2 ⩽ Z f ⩽ 14) from the interaction of energetic protons and xenon nuclei have been measured over a range of incident proton energies between 1 and 19 GeV using an internal gas jet target in the AGS. Fragment differential cross sections increase by at least an order-of-magnitude between 1 and 10 GeV for all elements. Analysis of the fragment energy spectra indicates the possibility of an additional fragment producing mechanism, consistent with a binary process, at energies below 6 GeV.
Defining Continuous Improvement and Cost Minimization Possibilities Through School Choice Experiments

Studies of existing best practices cannot determine whether the current “best” schooling practices could be even better, less costly, or more effective and/or improve at a faster rate, but we can discover a cost effective menu of schooling options and each item's minimum cost through market accountability experiments. This paper describes experiments that would create opportunities for market entry and a price system to signal cost and quality benchmarks (current minimum costs) to families and educators to produce information for policymakers. The entry-price system combination has a great economy-wide track record because it harnesses highly dispersed knowledge about schooling practices and exploits self-interest through opportunities to compete. States or school districts can employ one of four possible market accountability experiments to assess what families want from among the schooling options educators prove to be willing to offer and at what cost: (a) large tax credits or a large universal voucher...
Did Mom Really Love You Best? Developmental Histories, Status Transitions, and Parental Favoritism in Later Life Families

In this paper, we draw upon insights from the developmental psychological literature on younger families to investigate within-family differences in parent–adult child relations in later life families. Using data from 30 families, we examine whether mothers aged 65–75 report greater closeness to particular adult children, and the extent to which patterns of closeness can be explained by within-family differences in the children's status transitions and developmental histories. Eighty percent of the mothers reported being closer to at least one of their adult children. Further, mothers were more likely to report that the children to whom they were closest had experienced nonnormative status transitions or other problematic events that had been involuntary and had made the children more dependent on their mothers. In contrast, mothers were least likely to name children who experienced voluntary problematic events. Comparison of the data from mothers with that from adult children revealed substantial discrepancies in reporting developmental histories, thus demonstrating the limitations imposed by collecting data from only one generation. Taken together, these findings suggest that examining within-family variations in social structural transitions and developmental histories, in combination with collecting data from multiple generations, may shed light on the quality of intergenerational relations.
Effect of dietary energy level and oil source on broiler performance and response to an inflammatory challenge

Broiler chicks were fed one of five diets from 3 d of age: a low energy diet containing 7% cellulose (ME 2,714 kcal/kg), or high energy diets containing approximately 7% of either tallow, corn oil, safflower oil, or fish oil (each 3,302 kcal/kg). Half of the chicks were injected intra-abdominally with Salmonella typhimurium lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on Day 11, sephadex on Day 13, and Freund's complete adjuvant on Day 15; samples were collected on Day 16. The uninjected chicks served as controls. In a second experiment, 3-d-old chicks were fed one of eight isocaloric diets containing tallow as the sole supplemental fat source, or tallow plus either 2% corn oil, 1, 1.5, or 2% fish oil, or fish meal at an amount to provide 1, 1.5 or 2% supplemental oil. Half of the chicks were injected intra-abdominally with S. typhimurium LPS on Days 10, 12 and 14; the uninjected chicks served as controls. Samples were taken on Day 15. In Experiment 1, the cellulose diet decreased performance to 10 d of age relative to the other diets, whereas immunogen injection decreased weight gain and feed efficiency and increased indices of inflammation among all dietary groups. Fish oil at approximately 7% of the diet did not improve weight gain. Fish oil diets improved weight gain and feed efficiency in Experiment 2 relative to the other diets, in spite of minimal effects on indices of inflammation. Injection of LPS decreased performance and increased inflammation across dietary treatment, although the second LPS injection was less potent in altering performance responses and inflammation compared to the first injection, indicating that repeated injections of LPS amy cause the chicks to become refractory to that stimulus. The fish meal diets resulted in poorer performance than similar levels of lipid provided as fish oil. Lower levels of dietary fish oil were more efficacious in improving broiler performance than higher levels, and fish oil provided from fish meal was not as efficacious as oil per se, possibly due to nonlipid components of the meal.
Human carcinogenic risk assessment based on hormonal effects in a carcinogenicity study in rats with the antifungal agent, fluconazole

Fluconazole is an orally active bis-triazole antifungal agent that acts by selective inhibition of lanosterol 14 alpha-demethylase, a key enzyme for maintenance of the fungal cell wall. It is not genotoxic. In a 2 year carcinogenicity study in Sprague-Dawley rats, fluconazole decreased mammary fibroadenomas in females and adrenal pheochromocytomas in males, and increased hepatic adenomas in males. The pattern of these changes is explicable in terms of a hormonal imbalance, corroborated in other studies with fluconazole in rats by changes in the weights of hormone-sensitive organs and circulating levels of 17 beta-estradiol. The decreases in mammary tumors are probably a consequence of aromatase inhibition by fluconazole at high dose levels. The tumor effects observed in this study are extremely unlikely to be of relevance to humans, since the hormone effects observed in this study do not occur in humans treated with therapeutic dose levels of fluconazole. This study illustrates the importance of seeking a mechanistic interpretation of rodent tumor findings, which may then be assessed for its relevance to the clinical use of a drug.
The Effects of Affiliation with Large Bank Holding Companies on Commercial Bank Lending to Agriculture

This article examines whether the agricultural loan ratios of rural subsidiaries of large bank holding companies differ from the ratios of other banks in the same rural counties. In each of the years 1975, 1980, and 1985, the ratio of agricultural loans to total assets is significantly lower for the subsidiaries of large bank holding companies. These results are interpreted as evidence that the subsidiaries of large bank holding companies have greater opportunities to diversify risk by lending to businesses in a variety of industries.
Finding Intersection: Race, Class, and Gender in the 2003 California Recall Vote

Although the idea of intersectionality has been widely accepted by social, political, and feminist theorists, little work on intersection has made its way into empirical studies within the social sciences. Because of the diversity of the California electorate, the 2003 California recall election provides a unique opportunity to explore differences in vote choice among women and men from different racial groups. In addition, the context of the recall, including the existence of allegations of sexual misconduct against one of the front-runners in the race for a replacement candidate, makes it an excellent case for testing the existence of intersection. We find that despite the unique nature of this election, partisanship was a significant predictor of vote choice. Additionally, we find that voting on the recall was racially polarized, and that gender affected vote choice more among whites than among other racial groups. These findings have important implications for theoretical models within the subfields of gender and politics and race and politics. At a minimum, our findings suggest that models testing for the effects of race, class, and gender in American society need to treat these factors as mutually constitutive categories of marginalization and privilege, rather than as simple, discrete categories.
Management of influenza vaccination in patients with suspected egg allergy.

The H1N1 influenza pandemic presents a challenge for clinicians to thoroughly evaluate options for influenza vaccination in patients, who have been labeled as “egg allergic.” All currently available influenza vaccines, including the seasonal and swine flu (H1N1) vaccines (both the inactivated injectable and live-attenuated intranasal vaccine preparations), are produced by propagation of the influenza virus in chicken egg amniotic fluids, and as a result contain egg protein, which can pose a potential risk to individuals with egg allergy. Fortunately, anaphylactic reactions to vaccines are very rare and are estimated to occur at an incidence of approximately 1 per million doses. When IgE-mediated reactions to influenza vaccines do occur, vaccine components, including egg protein, gelatin or antibiotics are the most likely causes. Consequently, egg allergy is a frequently stated contraindication to influenza vaccination. (Table 1) A resultant concern is that many egg allergic patients are unnecessarily restricted from vaccination, when, in fact, most would likely be able to tolerate influenza vaccination. Therefore, patients with suspected egg allergy may benefit from being carefully evaluated by an allergist/immunologist for optimal management of their influenza vaccination options.
Novel overlay/underlay cognitive radio waveforms using SD-SMSE framework to enhance spectrum efficiency-part II: analysis in fading channels

Interest in Cognitive Radio (CR) remains strong as the communications community strives to solve the spectrum congestion problem. In conventional CR implementations, interference to primary users is minimized using either overlay waveforms that exploit unused (white) spectrum holes or underlay waveforms that spread their power spectrum density over an ultra-wide bandwidth. In Part I, we proposed a novel hybrid overlay/underlay waveform that realizes benefits of both waveforms and demonstrated its performance in an AWGN channel. This was done by extending the original Spectrally Modulated Spectrally Encoded (SMSE) framework to enable soft decision CR implementations that exploit both unused (white) and underused (gray) spectral areas. In Part II, we analyze and evaluate performance of the proposed hybrid overlay/underlay waveform in frequency selective fading channels. A simulated performance analysis of overlay, underlay and hybrid overlay/ underlay waveforms in frequency selective fading channels is presented and benefits discussed.
DNA Detection by Strand Displacement Amplification and Fluorescence Polarization With Signal Enhancement Using a DNA Binding Protein

Strand displacement amplification (9SDA) is an isothermal in vitro method of amplifying a DNA sequence prior to its detection. We have combined SDA with fluorescence polarization detection. A 5'-fluorescein-labelled oligodeoxynucleotide detector probe hybridizes to the amplification product that rises in concentration during SDA and the single- to double strand conversion is monitored through an increase in fluorescence polarization. Detection sensitivity can be enhanced by using a detector probe containing an EcoRI recognition sequence at its 5'-end that is not homologous to the target sequence. During SDA the probe is converted to a fully double-stranded form that specifically binds a genetically modified form of the endonuclease EcoRI which lacks cleavage activity but retains binding specificity. We have applied this SDA detection system to a target sequence specific for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Dental Management of Special Needs Patients Who Have Epilepsy

Patients who have developmental disabilities and epilepsy can be safely treated in a general dental practice. A thorough medical history should be taken and updated at every visit. A good oral examination to uncover any dental problems and possible side effects from antiepileptic drugs is necessary. Stability of the seizure disorder must be taken into account when planning dental treatment. Specific considerations for epileptic patients include the treatment of oral soft tissue side effects of medications and damage to the hard and soft tissue of the orofacial region secondary to seizure trauma. Most patients who have epilepsy can and should receive functionally and esthetically adequate dental care.
Genetic Architecture of Physiological Phenotypes: Empirical Evidence for Coadapted Gene Complexes

Synopsis. Physiological phenotypes are the result of the coordinated function of many genes, some of which may be differentiated between conspecific populations. Within any one population, natural selection will favor evolution of a coadapted set of alleles which optimizes physiological performance and reproductive success. The existence of such coadapted gene complexes may be assessed by assaying phe? notypes of interpopulation hybrids: inferior performance of hybrids suggests that the allelic combinations present in the parental populations are coadapted. This approach has been used to examine the genetic architecture of physiological traits in the copepod Tigriopus californicus, a species characterized by sharp genetic differentiation of populations. Developmental time and response to osmotic stress both show pronounced F2 hybrid breakdown, a result consistent with genetic coadaptation within populations. To better understand the biochemical and molec? ular mechanisms underlying hybrid breakdown, we are investigating a speciific biochemical phenotype, the activity of the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase (COX). COX (encoded by multiple nuclear and mitochondrial genes) catalyzes the oxidation of cytochrome c (encoded by a nuclear gene). Two approaches are being used to address the extent of coadaptation (both among nuclear genes and between nuclear and mitochondrial genes) underlying COX function: (1) studies of the DNA (and inferred amino acid) sequences of component genes among populations in search of coordinate patterns of amino acid substitution across loci, and (2) direct studies of COX function in interpopulation hybrids and backcrosses. These ap? proaches provide evidence for the existence of nuclear/nuclear and/or nuclear/mitochondrial coadaptation within natural populations of T. californicus.
Real-time dynamic Pricing for multiproduct models with time-dependent customer arrival rates

In this article, we study the revenue management problem of multiproduct dynamic pricing in the retail industry. Given a fixed initial inventory and assortment, the retailer monitors the inventory and sets the price to affect the behavior of customer choices over a selling season. We consider the Multinomial Logit (MNL) model of customer choice over substitutes and formulate the problem of optimal dynamic pricing as an optimal stochastic intensity control problem. We derive the optimal dynamic pricing policy for the MNL model with a time-dependent customer arrival rate. Furthermore, we propose a real-time dynamic pricing (RTDP) procedure that provides on-line optimal dynamic pricing policies based on the estimation of total customer arrivals over the entire selling season. This method is realized by a simple integral transformation by which a time-inhomogeneous model is transformed to time-homogeneous with a constant customer arrival rate. A dynamic programming based numerical algorithm is presented to compute the optimal solutions and to demonstrate the robustness of the RTDP procedure.
Optimizing for Reacting Navier-Stokes Equations

The optimizations discussed in this chapter significantly improved concurrency on both Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors and Intel Xeon processors. OpenMP scaling of 240 threads vs. one thread is now 100x, was 38x in first version for coprocessors. Similarly, processor scaling improved to 16x from 10x. The chapter discusses source modifications to transform fine-grain thread parallel approach to be more coarse-grain, memory allocation considerations on Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors, and source transformations to improve vectorization. In addition, this chapter briefly demonstrates how new features in VTune Amplifier XE can be used for OpenMP analysis.
Neural mediators of the intergenerational transmission of family aggression.

Youth exposed to family aggression may become more aggressive themselves, but the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission are understudied. In a longitudinal study, we found that adolescents’ reduced neural activation when rating their parents’ emotions, assessed via magnetic resonance imaging, mediated the association between parents’ past aggression and adolescents’ subsequent aggressive behavior toward parents. A subsample of 21 youth, drawn from the larger study, underwent magnetic resonance imaging scanning proximate to the second of two assessments of the family environment. At Time 1 (when youth were on average 15.51 years old) we measured parents’ aggressive marital and parent–child conflict behaviors, and at Time 2 (≈2 years later), we measured youth aggression directed toward parents. Youth from more aggressive families showed relatively less activation to parent stimuli in brain areas associated with salience and socioemotional processing, including the insula and limbic structures. Activation patterns in these same areas were also associated with youths’ subsequent parent-directed aggression. The association between parents’ aggression and youths’ subsequent parent-directed aggression was statistically mediated by signal change coefficients in the insula, right amygdala, thalamus, and putamen. These signal change coefficients were also positively associated with scores on a mentalizing measure. Hypoarousal of the emotional brain to family stimuli may support the intergenerational transmission of family aggression.
Ring Index: A new strategy to evaluate the integrity of TEX86 paleothermometry

The TEX86 (tetraether index of 86 carbon atoms) sea surface temperature proxy has been increasingly applied in the reconstruction of Mesozoic and Cenozoic ocean temperatures. However, the archaeal lipids that compose TEX86 indices, glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs), can derive from water column production, terrestrial sources, and/or within sediments. TEX86-sea surface temperature estimates can also be influenced by non-temperature factors, such as growth phase and nutrient levels. Here we show that the weighted average of cyclopentane moieties, known as the Ring Index (RI), can be used to determine if TEX86 temperature estimates are influenced by non-thermal factors and/or deviate from modern analogues. We demonstrate that RI and TEX86 indices from the published global core top data set and mesocosm cultures are significantly correlated, as predicted through the influence of temperature on lipid biochemistry. We further show that when RI and TEX86 indices in modern or ancient records deviate from the modern global TEX86-RI relationship, GDGT distributions are not solely controlled by environmental temperature and/or TEX86-based temperature reconstructions are questionable.
Isolation of antimicrobial peptides from avian heterophils

Five bactericidal peptides (chicken heterophil peptides CHP1 and CHP2; turkey heterophil peptides THP1, THP2, and THP3) were purified from avian het- erophil granules. All peptides were cationic and rich in cysteine, arginine, and lysine. The complete amino acid sequence, consisting of 39 amino acids, was determined for CHP1. This peptide had a molecular weight of 4481 as determined by mass spectrometry. Partial NH2- terminal amino acid sequences were obtained for the re- maining peptides. Both chicken peptides and THP1 shared sequence homology at 22 residues and a cysteine motif which was similar to that of bovine beta-defensins. THP2 and THP3 were homologous to each other but were not homologous to the other three and had a unique cysteine motif. Peptides CHP1, CHP2, and THP1 killed Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in vitro, whereas THP2 and THPS killed only S. aureus in vitro. J. Leukoc. Biol. 56: 661-665; 1994.
Achieving Value in Primary Care: The Primary Care Value Model

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model provides a compelling vision for primary care transformation, but studies of its impact have used insufficiently patient-centered metrics with inconsistent results. We propose a framework for defining patient-centered value and a new model for value-based primary care transformation: the primary care value model (PCVM). We advocate for use of patient-centered value when measuring the impact of primary care transformation, recognition, and performance-based payment; for financial support and research and development to better define primary care value-creating activities and their implementation; and for use of the model to support primary care organizations in transformation.
Solidification Processing Routes to High Aspect Ratio Reinforcements in γ-TiAl

Additions of ~5%B1 and ~9%Ta to binary γ-TiAl result in the formation of a monoboride isomorphous with TiB but containing Ta in solid solution. This boride exhibits strongly anisotropic growth from the melt, producing rod-like primary phases which are of potential interest for creep strengthening of the γ matrix. Fibrous borides with aspect ratios larger than ~20 and volume fractions of ~0.12 have been produced in arc-melted Ti-48AI-9Ta-4.3B alloys. Creep testing at 1255 K indicates that these “in-situ” composites have much higher creep strength than γ-TiAl, but the contribution of the reinforcements is relatively small compared with the solute-strengthening of the matrix.
Partial Gloves and Reduced Temperatures

When the ambient temperature is below 55°F (12.8°C) and a person's hands have been exposed to that reduced temperature for at least 20 minutes, a person's dexterity performance is reduced. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the use of partial gloves in reduced temperatures to determine if the dexterity performance decrement could be significantly abated. The partial gloves used in this study were wool and they allowed the distal and middle phalange to be exposed.Three male and three female subjects performed a variety of tasks at ambient temperatures of 40°F, 50°F and 60°F. The dexterity performance tasks were two pencil-point tapping tasks and the Purdue Pegboard. In addition, grip strength, finger pinch strength, and reaction time tasks were performed. The performance testing was performed at each temperature level with and without the partial gloves. Testing required approximately one hour. The order of the testing was randomized. Hand skin and finger skin temperatures data were collecte...
Zygote intrafallopian transfer as a treatment for nontubal infertility: a 2-year study

Zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT) was used as a treatment for long-standing nontubal infertility for a 2-year period. The overall clinical pregnancy rate for 114 tubal transfers was 40.4% with a delivery/ongoing rate of 34.2%. Concurrent use of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) for tubal factor infertility gave significantly lower clinical pregnancy and delivery/ongoing rates (21.1% and 15.8%, respectively). The use of gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) for nontubal infertility yielded a 32% clinical pregnancy rate and a 26% delivery rate for 53 transfers. Zygote intrafallopian transfer resulted in an implantation rate per zygote of 17% overall compared with 8.1% per embryo for IVF-ET and 11.2% per oocyte for GIFT. The transfer of three zygotes per patient gave the same clinical pregnancy rate as the transfer of four while reducing the incidence of multiple gestation from 19% to 7.8% per transfer. No significant decline in the clinical pregnancy or delivery rate was seen with ZIFT in women aged 25 through 39.
Improvement of radio frequency (RF) heating-assisted alkaline pretreatment on four categories of lignocellulosic biomass.

Pretreatment plays an important role in making the cellulose accessible for enzyme hydrolysis and subsequent conversion because it destroys more or less resistance and recalcitrance of biomass. Radio frequency (RF)-assisted dielectric heating was utilized in the alkaline pretreatment on agricultural residues (corn stover), herbaceous crops (switchgrass), hardwood (sweetgum) and softwood (loblolly pine). Pretreatment was performed at 90 °C with either RF or traditional water bath (WB) heating for 1 h after overnight soaking in NaOH solution (0.2 g NaOH/g Biomass). Pretreated materials were characterized by chemical compositional analysis, enzyme hydrolysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The glucan yields of RF-heated four categories of hydrolysates were 89.6, 72.6, 21.7, and 9.9 %. Interestingly, RF heating raised glucan yield on switchgrass and sweetgum but not on corn stover or loblolly pine. The SEM images and FTIR spectra agreed with results of composition analysis and hydrolysis. GC–MS detected some compounds only from RF-heated switchgrass. These compounds were found by other researchers only in high-temperature (150–600 °C) and high-pressure pyrolysis processes.
A framework to optimize protein structure from solution scattering using ADMM and an elastic subdomain network

Small Angle X-Ray Scattering (SAXS) has become a widely used tool to study protein structure. However, determining protein configurations from SAXS measurements is a very ill-posed challenge and constrained optimization frameworks are needed to solve this inverse problem. In this work we propose an elastic subdomain based approach with explicit water dummy residues built in a modular ADMM optimization framework. Results show comparable accuracy to similar methods with a restricted choice of parameters while its modularity holds potential for incorporating additional prior information.