cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Role of differentiation of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in progression and regression of hepatic fibrosis in rats

Background & Aims Capillarization, characterized by loss of differentiation of liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs), precedes the onset of hepatic fibrosis. We investigated whether restoration of LSEC differentiation would normalize crosstalk with activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC) and thereby promote quiescence of HSC and regression of fibrosis. Methods Rat LSECs were cultured with inhibitors and/or agonists and examined by scanning electron microscopy for fenestrae in sieve plates. Cirrhosis was induced in rats using thioacetamide, followed by administration of BAY 60-2770, an activator of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC). Fibrosis was assessed by Sirius red staining; expression of α-smooth muscle actin was measured by immunoblot analysis. Results Maintenance of LSEC differentiation requires vascular endothelial growth factor-A stimulation of nitric oxide–dependent signaling (via sGC and cyclic guanosine monophosphate) and nitric oxide–independent signaling. In rats with thioacetamide-induced cirrhosis, BAY 60-2770 accelerated the complete reversal of capillarization (restored differentiation of LSECs) without directly affecting activation of HSCs or fibrosis. Restoration of differentiation to LSECs led to quiescence of HSCs and regression of fibrosis in the absence of further exposure to BAY 60-2770. Activation of sGC with BAY 60-2770 prevented progression of cirrhosis, despite continued administration of thioacetamide. Conclusions The state of LSEC differentiation plays a pivotal role in HSC activation and the fibrotic process.
Perceptions of Time Remaining and Distance from Death.

Life changes, demographic characteristics, attitudes toward death, and plans for the future are examined in relation to quantification of time remaining and perceived distance from death among 568 nonhospitalized, older men and women. A substantial proportion (49%) did not quantify the remaining portion of life and age did not prompt specification of time remaining. Life changes were poor predictors of both quantification time remaining and perceived distance from death. Demographic characteristics provided the best model to explain perceived distance from death although there were some differences by sex.
Prevalence and acquisition of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in a medical intensive care unit

Patients admitted to a medical intensive care unit during 21 days had rectal and urine samples cultured for vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). The prevalence rate was 55.3%. Only enteral feedings were associated with acquisition of VRE. One-quarter of VRE transmission resulted from acquisition in the study unit, 35% arrived from other units, and 15% from other hospitals.
Gradients of coastal fish farm effluents and their effect on coral reef microbes

Coastal milkfish (Chanos chanos) farming may be a source of organic matter enrichment for coral reefs in Bolinao, Republic of the Philippines. Interactions among microbial communities associated with the water column, corals and milkfish feces can provide insight into the ecosystem's response to enrichment. Samples were collected at sites along a transect that extended from suspended milkfish pens into the coral reef. Water was characterized by steep gradients in the concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (70-160 microM), total dissolved nitrogen (7-40 microM), chlorophyll a (0.25-10 microg l(-1)), particulate matter (106-832 microg l(-1)), bacteria (5 x 10(5)-1 x 10(6) cells ml(-1)) and viruses (1-7 x 10(7) ml(-1)) that correlated with distance from the fish cages. Particle-attached bacteria, which were observed by scanning laser confocal microscopy, increased across the gradient from < 0.1% to 5.6% of total bacteria at the fish pens. Analyses of 16S rRNA genes by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and environmental clone libraries revealed distinct microbial communities for each sample type. Coral libraries had the greatest number of phyla represented (range: 6-8) while fish feces contained the lowest number (3). Coral libraries also had the greatest number of 'novel' sequences (defined as < 93% similar to any sequence in the NCBI nt database; 29% compared with 3% and 5% in the feces and seawater libraries respectively). Despite the differences in microbial community composition, some 16S rRNA sequences co-occurred across sample types including Acinetobacter sp. and Ralstonia sp. Such patterns raise the question of whether bacteria might be transported from the fish pens to corals or if microenvironments at the fish pens and on the corals select for the same phylotypes. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of effluent-coral interactions will help predict the ability of coral reef ecosystems to resist and rebound from organic matter enrichment.
40Ar/39Ar dating and magnetostratigraphic correlation of the terrestrial Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary and Puercan Mammal Age, Hell Creek – Tullock formations, eastern Montana

The recovery and subsequent prolific radiation of mammals in the northern Western Interior of North America following the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–P) boundary is well documented in rocks attributed ...
Binary image reconstruction from four projections

Addresses the problem of reconstructing an image from two pairs of its orthogonal projections. The range and support information of the image function is utilised in conjunction with the available projections to develop an iterative reconstruction method; the iterative algorithm is an error energy reduction scheme. Reconstruction results for two classes of image functions are presented. >
Single Fiber Acoustic Emission and Tensile Properties from Cotton Bundle Fracture Tests

An instrument is developed to detect and analyze the acoustic emission generated during tensile fracture of each of the single fibers in a beard containing 100-150 fibers. The acoustic pulse height...
The corticospinal tract in Sturge-Weber syndrome : A diffusion tensor tractography study

Abstract Objective To utilize diffusion tensor tractography and evaluate the integrity of the corticospinal tract in children with unilateral Sturge–Weber syndrome (SWS). Methods: Sixteen children (age: 1.5–12.3 years) with SWS involving one hemisphere and varying degrees of motor deficit, underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as part of a prospective clinical research study. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was obtained and fiber tracking of the corticospinal tract was performed yielding average FA and ADC values along the pathway. These values were compared between the two hemispheres (affected vs. unaffected) and also correlated with the degree of motor deficits, after correction for age. Results: Corticospinal tract FA values on the side of the affected hemisphere were lower (p = 0.008) and ADC values were higher (p = 0.011) compared to the normal side. Furthermore, FA and ADC values on the side of the angioma did not show the normal age-related variations, which the contralateral corticospinal pathway values did demonstrate. Although none of the patients had severe hemiparesis, those with moderate motor deficit had increased ADC values, as compared to those with mild (p = 0.009) or no motor deficit (p = 0.045). Conclusion: MRI with DTI shows abnormalities of the corticospinal tract in children with SWS even before severe motor impairment develops. Thus, DTI can be a clinically useful method to evaluate the integrity of the corticospinal tract in young children who are at risk for progressive motor dysfunction.
Electronic Structure and Transition Energies in Polymer−Fullerene Bulk Heterojunctions

Photocurrent spectroscopy is used to measure both the charge transfer and exciton optical absorption spectra of various bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. The energy difference between the polymer HOMO energy and the fullerene LUMO energy is obtained from the spectra, along with the disorder energy. Combining information from cells with several different polymers and fullerenes allows measurements of the energy differences between HOMO or LUMO energies for about 10 different polymers and fullerenes, with an estimated uncertainty of 50 meV. Heterojunction band offsets are obtained for the various cells, distinguishing between the excitonic and the single-carrier band offsets. The cell open-circuit voltage is shown to be closely correlated with the interface band gap. The exciton disorder energy is directly correlated to the band-tail disorder and we also consider the effects of exciton thermalization on the charge generation mechanism. The data indicate that an energy offset between the polymer excit...
Optical control of neuronal excitation and inhibition using a single opsin protein, ChR2

The effect of electrical stimulation on neuronal membrane potential is frequency dependent. Low frequency electrical stimulation can evoke action potentials, whereas high frequency stimulation can inhibit action potential transmission. Optical stimulation of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) expressed in neuronal membranes can also excite action potentials. However, it is unknown whether optical stimulation of ChR2-expressing neurons produces a transition from excitation to inhibition with increasing light pulse frequencies. Here we report optical inhibition of motor neuron and muscle activity in vivo in the cooled sciatic nerves of Thy1-ChR2-EYFP mice. We also demonstrate all-optical single-wavelength control of neuronal excitation and inhibition without co-expression of inhibitory and excitatory opsins. This all-optical system is free from stimulation-induced electrical artifacts and thus provides a new approach to investigate mechanisms of high frequency inhibition in neuronal circuits in vivo and in vitro.
Analysis of floating ice covers with partial flooding

Abstract A floating ice cover may become partially flooded when part of its upper surface displaces below the free water level. The problem is formulated taking into consideration that, in the unloaded state, the free water level is below the upper surface of the ice cover. Although the differential equations for the flooded and unflooded ice plates are linear, the resulting formulation is non-linear, because the location of the boundary along which these equations are matched is not known a priori . Its location is determined as part of the presented analysis. The infinite ice cover subjected to a constant line load is analyzed. The results are then compared with the corresponding solution when liquid stays below the lower surface of the ice cover. The obtained results show a strong increase of the bending moments in the ice cover, caused by partial flooding. A closely related problem, the determination of the vertical forces that an ice cover exerts on a long, straight retaining structure, because of the change of the water level, is then discussed. It was found that partial flooding may substantially reduce the vertical forces which the ice cover exerts on the structure.
Pathobiology of lymphoid and myeloid blast crisis and management issues.

Despite recent improvements in the treatment of early-stage disease, the blastic phase of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) remains a therapeutic challenge. For imatinib-naive patients, imatinib provided encouraging hematologic and cytogenetic benefits; however, the vast majority of CML blast crisis cases today arise in patients already on imatinib-based therapy. Clonal evolution and duplication of the Philadelphia chromosome continue to be associated with blastic phase transformation, but recent studies have identified BCR/ABL kinase domain mutations in 30%-40% of blast crisis patients. This implies that BCR-ABL-targeted therapy might have influenced the molecular road map to blastic transformation. In this review, we will examine the effect of imatinib on primitive CML progenitors and how this might influence the pathophysiology of blast crisis. A rational framework for deciding how best to integrate stem cell transplantation, traditional chemotherapy, imatinib, and other BCR-ABL kinase inhibitors in the care of blast crisis patients will also be discussed.
The Effects of Dietary Protein Level on the Reproductive Performance of Coturnix Breeder Hens

Abstract Four experiments were conducted to study the protein requirements of laying Coturnix hens. The results indicate that on a corn-soybean type diet, 20 percent protein was adequate for maximum reproductive performance and on higher energy diets containing 10 percent lard, 22 percent protein would support maximum egg production, egg weight, egg yield and efficiency of diet utilization. Results of these experiments show that a minimum daily intake of 4.71 gm. of protein is necessary for optimum response of Coturnix breeders.
Introduction: utilization of surrogate markers of atherosclerosis for the clinical development of pharmaceutical agents.

L lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is currently the primary established therapeutic target for cardiovascular disease (Table 1).1 However, research indicates that other lipoproteins (high-density lipoprotein [HDL], apolipoprotein-B, and lipoprotein[a]) may also be useful for stratifying patients at risk for cardiovascular disease for drug therapy. Over the past 5 years, advances in the understanding of lipoprotein metabolism and the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis have led to a significant increase in the potential for therapeutic targets. This has further led to a large number of new drugs and genetic targets in the development pipeline (Figure 1, Table 2). To advance these drugs through the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process for clinical use will most likely require surrogate markers. During a satellite meeting at the International Symposium on Atherosclerosis in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 27, 2000, leading researchers discussed the use of surrogate markers of atherosclerosis for clinical development of pharmaceutical agents. The session, which I organized and introduced entitled “The Utilization of Surrogate Markers of Atherosclerosis for the Clinical Development of Pharmaceutical Agents.” What is a surrogate marker? Surrogate markers have to predict risk of coronary disease, and improvement in the marker must correlate with improvement in the atherosclerotic process. However, we have to ask, ideally, whether it is required that the marker correlate with a reduction in cardiovascular events. What is the rationale for using surrogate markers? Primarily it is a result of increasing ethical concerns about long-term morbidity/mortality trials that include a placebo group. Surrogate markers can reduce the time and cost of evaluating certain therapies that may benefit populations at risk. Surrogate markers are also useful in evaluating the impact of other lipoproteins on the atherosclerotic process (e.g., triglycerides, HDL, lipoprotein[a]) or novel mechanisms to lower LDL low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (e.g., microsomal triglyceride transfer protein [MTP] inhibitors, squalene synthase, or cyclase inhibitors). They are also useful for identifying antiatherosclerotic drugs that do not significantly affect lipoproteins (e.g., cholesterol acyltransferase inhibitors, matrix metalloprotease inhibitors). Table 3 outlines under what circumstances surrogate endpoints are required for FDA approval of various drugs. The FDA presently requires a minimum 15% decrease in LDL, non-HDL, or apolipoprotein B for systemic drugs. Use of surrogate risk predictors of improvement in atherosclerosis will enhance the ability to do clinical trials by enabling researchers to accumulate a higherrisk population and conduct trials in a shorter time frame with fewer patients. One of the best models for predicting risk is the adapted Framingham Global
The Relationship Among Motivation, Interaction, and the Development of Second Language Oral Proficiency in a Study-Abroad Context

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the role of integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, and interaction with a second language (L2) culture in shaping students' speaking performance before and after participation in a 1-semester study-abroad program in Spain. A 2-part questionnaire (Student Background Information and Motivation Index), a language contact profile, and a pretest and posttest simulated oral proficiency interview were administered to 20 study-abroad participants. The results highlight 3 major points. First, students can indeed improve their L2 speaking proficiency during a 1-semester study-abroad program. Second, there is a positive relationship between students' integrative motivation and their interaction with the L2 culture. Third, student contact with the Spanish language has a significant effect on their speaking improvement. The data confirm the importance of focusing on learning activities that enhance students' integrative motivation and interaction with the L2 culture in both the formal classroom ("at home") and in the study-abroad program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Combined Avulsion Fracture of the Tibial Tuberosity and Lateral Tibial Plateau in an Adolescent: Case Report

Avulsion of the tibial tuberosity is uncommon. It is usually an athletic injury, accounting for less than 3% of all epiphyseal injuries. We report the case of an avulsion fracture of the tibial tuberosity with unusual articular involvement of the lateral tibial plateau treated with open reduction and internal fixation using cancellous screws. The result was excellent, with complete union of the fracture site, full range of movement at three months and return to normal athletic activity within six months with no complications. Key Words tibial tuberosity; avulsion fracture; tibial plateau; adolescent
Honing the proper edge: CERP and the two-sided potential of military-led development in Afghanistan

Using a newer and expanded dataset as well as a survey of practitioner perceptions, this article adds to a recent body of literature on reconstruction and violence in Afghanistan. Data are taken from military-led development projects by way of the United States military’s Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP) and, to measure violence, from U.S. military Significant Activity reports. The results suggest that, at great cost, large-budget CERP efforts (those in excess of USD50,000 per project) are associated with an increase in violence and thus counter-productive to military stability goals. In contrast, small projects (below USD50,000), which comprise a smaller proportion of total CERP allocations, are associated in statistically significant ways with reductions in violence. To explore why CERP projects may have these effects, the article also examines administrative modalities for CERP spending. The results suggest that timely, flexible expenditure of CERP funds are most effective at reducing violence. [JEL codes: D74, O53]
Primary Intracranial Epidermoid Carcinoma with Diffuse Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis: Report of Two Cases

Background Malignant degeneration of epidermoid cyst (EC) with accompanying leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LC) at presentation is extremely rare. We add two cases to the literature, including the first case of primary brainstem involvement with simultaneous diffuse LC, and discuss clinical and radiological cues to differentiate benign and malignant epidermoid tumors for early diagnosis. Case Description The first patient in this report was a 54-year-old woman with recurrent aseptic meningitis and hydrocephalus. Imaging revealed a prepontine and parapontine extra-axial EC with an intra-axial brainstem ring-enhancing cystic lesion, diffuse leptomeningeal enhancement, and intradural extramedullary nodular deposits throughout the spine. Surgical decompression of the cysts confirmed the diagnosis of invasive primary squamous cell carcinoma of the brainstem and benign epidermoid tumor of the cerebellopontine cistern. The second patient was a 37-year-old woman with extensive left-sided cranial neuropathies. Imaging revealed prepontine and parapontine enhancing and nonenhancing deposits along multiple cranial nerves and diffuse leptomeningeal nodular enhancement in the thoracolumbar spine. A biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of infiltrative, poorly differentiated carcinoma adjacent to a benign EC. Both patients underwent systemic screening to rule out metastatic disease. Conclusions These cases illustrate that a high index of clinical suspicion is necessary for early diagnosis of disseminated disease in cases of recurrent episodes of aseptic meningitis. In cases of primary benign EC, aggressive resection should be attempted to reduce the risk of malignant degeneration. A separate biopsy specimen from the enhancing portion of the tumor is used to rule out an underlying coexisting malignancy. Multimodal management carries the best prognosis for primary intracranial squamous cell carcinoma with LC.
Platelet Dysfunction in Type 1 Diabetes: Stressing the Thromboxanes

Overall death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) has declined over the past 20 years; yet, the population with diabetes has seen minimal benefit (1,2). When broken out by diabetes type, individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) have approximately a 10-fold age-adjusted increased risk of CVD, even higher than that observed in those with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), with women being more affected then men (3,4). This is in the face of drastically improved insulin therapy regimens over the past decades, suggesting that hyperglycemia itself may not explain this increased CVD. Paradoxically, though, high-quality clinical studies regarding the risks of CVD in T1DM and the potential mechanisms underlying this pathophysiology remain woefully underrepresented as compared with similar studies related to individuals with T2DM, who are known to have persistently elevated platelet reactivity and a depressed inhibitory response to aspirin (5,6). Furthermore, the published studies that do exist are performed variably on pediatric and adult T1DM patients and show highly conflicting results (7–14). Taken together, the current state of the field is a hindrance to the proper care and treatment of individuals with T1DM. A number of risk factors have been proposed to elevate CVD risk in T1DM patients, including hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, inflammation, oxidative stress, and genetics, among others (3). A significant contributing factor to the diabetic prothrombotic state is the aberrant regulation of antiplatelet-activating mechanisms that normally maintain high levels of inhibitory cAMP to prevent aggregation (1). Molecules directly affecting platelet cAMP production are the arachidonic acid metabolites thromboxane A2 (TXA2) and prostacyclin (PGI2). TXA2 …
Evaluation of Federal Hydroelectric Power Projects

Original yardstick basis; 1954 agreement and tax-equivalent principle; economic analysis of Beaver, Savannah River and Laurel River projects; Tennessee Valley Authority practice; other federal deviations from 1954 criteria; benefit-cost ratio; interest-rate considerations; risk and interest rates; taxes foregone and economic theory; economic life of projects.
Prehistoric Southwestern Ceramic Manufacture: The Limitations of Current Evidence

Identification of the artifacts and features used in ceramic manufacture has become a crucial aspect of Southwestern archaeology as the organization of pottery production has assumed a pivotal role in current models of Southwestern prehistory. Regrettably, pottery-making and pottery-firing areas seldom are reported, and reliable criteria for inferring their presence at archaeological sites have not been developed. A review of pertinent ethnoarchaeological and experimental literature provides some correlates for identifying artifacts and features that may have been involved in ceramic production. Presently, it appears that only two Southwestern sites, Snaketown on the Gila River and AZ I:1:17(ASM) south of Grand Canyon National Park, have disclosed convincing evidence of on-site pottery-making and pottery-firing areas. Some recommendations are developed for increasing the likelihood of recovering strong evidence of ceramic production at Southwestern sites.
Extrasyllabic consonants in CV phonology: an experimental test

Abstract: Extrasyllabic consonants, which are not associated with any syllable, play a prominent role in CV phonology. Clements & Keyser (1983) posit both temporarily and permanently extrasyllabic consonants for English. Temporarily extrasyllabic consonants are posited in the inflectional system. Permanently extrasyllabic consonants are hypothesized to be pronounceable. We test these hypotheses by examining errors in inflectional processing. It is shown that, if a rule of shwa insertion or shwa deletion is posited in the grammar, the errors can only be accounted for by assuming that temporarily extrasyllabic consonants exist and that permanently extrasyllabic consonants are not pronounceable.
How not to Write History of Philosophy: A Case Study

Did Saul Kripke in his 1970 lecture series on naming and necessity merely repeat, with elaborations but without acknowledgments, a theory that had been propounded to him by Ruth Barcan Marcus in a 1962 colloquium talk on modalities and intensional languages? That is what seems to be insinuated in footnotes in recent publications by Marcus, and what was explicitly alleged by Quentin Smith in a notorious abstract on the program for the December, 1994, convention of the American Philosophical Association (APA). This damaging accusation or innuendo has been elaborated in two papers, Smith (1995, 1995a). Partial responses have also been given, but only partial responses. The APA permitted Scott Soames to make a response Soames (1995) to Smith’s first paper, but imposed limits of length and permitted no similar response to Smith’s second paper. Burgess (1996) replies to Marcus’ recent publications, but does not deal with Smith. All four of the papers just cited are reprinted in the present collection, and Smith continues to produce new material on the topic. The editors of the present collection invited Soames to submit a further response to Smith. But given schedule constraints it seemed best to him to divide the task of preparing such a reply with me. The present note is my installment. My indebtedness to Soames, acknowledged already in my first paper on the topic, is even greater in the case of this one, but nonetheless the conclusions I draw here are my responsibility and not his.
Dynamic Dependence Summaries

Software engineers construct modern-day software applications by building on existing software libraries and components that they necessarily do not author themselves. Thus, contemporary software applications rely heavily on existing standard and third-party libraries for their execution and behavior. As such, effective runtime analysis of such a software application’s behavior is met with new challenges. To perform dynamic analysis of a software application, all transitively dependent external libraries must also be monitored and analyzed at each layer of the software application’s call stack. However, monitoring and analyzing large and often numerous external libraries may prove to be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, an overabundance of library-level analyses may obfuscate the details of the actual software application’s dynamic behavior. In other words, the extensive use of existing libraries by a software application renders the results of its dynamic analysis both expensive to compute and difficult to understand. We model software component behavior as dynamically observed data- and control dependencies between inputs and outputs of a software component. Such data- and control dependencies are monitored at a fine-grain instruction-level and are collected as dynamic execution traces for software runs. As an approach to address the complexities and expenses associated with analyzing dynamically observable behavior of software components, we summarize and reuse the data- and control dependencies between the inputs and outputs of software components. Dynamically monitored data- and control dependencies, between the inputs and outputs of software components, upon summarization are called dynamic dependence summaries. Software components, equipped with dynamic dependence summaries, afford the omission of their exhaustive runtime analysis. Nonetheless, the reuse of dependence summaries would necessitate the abstraction of any concrete runtime information enclosed within the summary, thus potentially causing a loss in the information modeled by the dependence summary. Therefore, benefits to the efficiency of dynamic analyses that use such summarization may be afforded with losses of accuracy. As such, we evaluate the potential accuracy loss and the potential performance gain with the use of dynamic dependence summaries. Our results show, on average, a 13× speedup with the use of dynamic dependence summaries, with an accuracy of 90% in a real-world software engineering task.
Role of placenta in fetal lipid metabolism. II. Phospholipid transfer in early rabbit gestation.

Abstract Pregnant rabbits at different periods of gestation (11 to 12, 15 to 16, and 21 to 22 days) were injected with P 32 , C 14 -glycerol double-labeled phospholipid-serum complex. Specific activities and isotopic ratio of phospholipids in maternal tissues, placentas, and fetuses were determined. Fetuses and placentas from earliest gestation displayed the highest relative specific activity. Same fetuses also showed less alteration in isotope ratio from injected phospholipids. The results suggest occurrence in earliest gestation of a small direct phospholipid transfer and a relatively higher placental absorptive and hydrolytic activity.
Human Ecology: Overview

Human ecology involves the interrelationships among people, other organisms, and their environments. Human ecology emphasizes complexity and change. Geographic information systems, remote-sensing technologies, and the Internet enable a greater understanding about human–environment connections. Urban morphology and landscape ecology offer two approaches to study the structure, function, and processes of human settlements. People organize themselves spatially at various scales from the individual room within a house, office, school, or factory to the neighborhood and community on to the region, province or state, and nation. Human ecology provides a useful framework for environmental impact assessment as well as community and regional planning.
Atypical Presentation of Pregnancy-Related Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome

The cause of acute kidney injury during pregnancy and in the postpartum period can be particularly challenging to diagnose, especially when it is necessary to differentiate among preeclampsia; eclampsia; hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets (HELLP) syndrome; and thrombotic microangiopathies (TMAs). All these disease entities can present with kidney failure, microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, and thrombocytopenia. We present a teaching case of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome in the postpartum period in a young woman who was found to have mutations of uncertain clinical significance in the complement cascade, including in C3, CFH, and CFI. We use this as an opportunity to review the clinical presentation and pathophysiology of preeclampsia, eclampsia, and the TMAs. We focus on diagnostic challenges, especially because many patients with TMA do not present with thrombocytopenia, which can delay diagnosis. We additionally review the clinical settings in which administration of eculizumab, a C5 membrane attack complex inhibitor, is appropriate.
Transit planning, access, and justice: Evolving visions of bus rapid transit and the Chicago street

Abstract Because transport planning distributes accessibility and mobility, it is increasingly understood to involve questions of fairness and justice. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is a technique for expanding transit access through redesign of existing roadways with dedicated bus lanes and spaced stations for rapid operation, with associated pedestrian improvements. Such innovations prompt intriguing questions. How does BRT planning reimagine accessibility to transport networks and urban streets, and with what implications for socio-spatial relations and justice? We analyze plans, public debates, and interviews with key stakeholders in a proposed BRT corridor along Chicago's diverse and busy Ashland Avenue. Results show how BRT planning “rethinks” transit networks through purposeful reallocation of street spaces, interpreted relative to efficiency and equity. But if BRT planners promote transit improvements and “complete” streets as questions of fairness, they confront engineering and business interests in vehicular mobility and parking, highlighting enduring obstacles to multimodal accessibility and mobility justice.
Perceptions and Politics in Language and Sex Research

ABSTRACT Many of the feminists researching the relationship of language and sex feel that their experiences have led them to research assumptions and approaches seldom represented in the assumptions, approaches, and accounts in most academic publications. The argument in this essay is not that everyone should hold the same views about language and social structure, but that the perceptions and interpretations offered by women should be acknowledged as legitimate.
Evidence for a central role of protein kinase C in modulation of the hypoxic ventilatory response in the rat.

Protein kinase C (PKC) has been implicated as a common mechanism in the transduction of various extracellular signals into the cell (29). PKC is ubiquitous in the central nervous system and is activated by Ca2+, phospholipids and diacylglycerol (DAG) or phorbol-esters to control many physiological processes (16). The PKC family consists of three major sub-groups of isoenzymes based on their molecular structure and co-factor requirements. One sub-group comprises the classical PKC α, β1, β2, and γ isoforms, all of which share a C2 region corresponding to the Ca2+binding site (23). In the other major subgroup containing the novel PKC δ, e, θ, η, and μ isoforms, the C2 region is absent, and activation may occur in the absence of Ca2+(14, 23, 33). Atypical isoforms such as PKC ξ, ι, and λ, also lack C2 as well as one of the repeated cysteine-rich zinc finger binding motifs within the Cl domain (24).
Wood Anatomy of Trimeniaceae

Four collections of three species ofTrimenia and one collection ofPiptocalyx were studied; early-formed and later-formed wood was analyzed for oneTrimenia. Liquid-preserved material permitted analysis of mucilage and starch storage in wood ofT. neocaledonica andP. moorei. BecausePiptocalyx is scandent whereasTrimenia is arborescent, wood differences relative to evolution of a climbing habit could be examined.Piptocalyx contrasts withTrimenia in having wider vessels, more numerous per mm2, resulting in a conductive area five times greater per unit area than that of theTrimenia woods averaged.Piptocalyx has appreciably fewer bars per perforation plate and thus much greater conductive area per perforation plate than have the species ofTrimenia. Rays inPiptocalyx are much taller and wider than those ofTrimenia. Wood ofTrimeniaceae is highly primitive in its scalariform perforation plates, scalariform lateral wall pitting on vessels, relatively long vessels elements, and heterocellular rays. Imperforate tracheary elements are septate nucleate fibertracheids (or even libriform fibers) rather than tracheids, but loss of borders on pits (and thus lowered conductive function of the imperforate tracheary elements) can be explained by the development of these elements into starchstoring cells. Some fiber-tracheids inT. neocaledonica are enlarged mucilagecontaining cells. Details of vessel structure inTrimeniaceae are similar to those ofMonimiaceae (s. s.), but similarity to some other lauralean (annonalean) families may be found: in mucilage presence,Trimeniaceae resembleLauraceae rather thanMonimiaceae. Wood ofTrimeniaceae may be regarded as highly mesomorphic, corresponding to the moist habitats in which all of the species occur.
RECOGNIZING TERRIGENOUS DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS WITH THE AID OF THE COMPUTER

ABSTRACT A FORTRAN program designed to simplify and duplicate the mental processes which lead to an interpretation of a depositional setting is presented. In order to simplify the geologic interpretation of clastic depositional environments, seven general characteristics can be recognized: sedimentary structures; stratification types; lithologies and textures; rock-body geometry; fossil information; environmental associations, and depositional sequences. Each of these characteristics may contain many specific components termed features. For example, sedimentary structures include specific features such as ripple marks, flute marks, or raindrop imprints. By defining which features are exclusive of a specific depositional setting, a simplified basis for environmental interpretation can be established. Given a list of such features, a series of depositional environment eliminations can be performed, yielding a listing of the remaining possible environments. Once a correlation is established between geologic interpretations from previous studies and the computer-generated interpretation, the program may be used for future environmental stratigraphic models. Ultimately this program may provide a method of checking the consistency in past geologic interpretations.
Coal comminution and sizing

Abstract: As-mined coal must be crushed and sized to manageable particle sizes for either utilization, or for feed to a preparation plant. This chapter reviews the methods for breaking particles, and for sorting the broken coal into sizes appropriate for further processing. These include rotary breakers, roll crushers, vibrating sieves, and related equipment.
Foreign Direct Investment : Rules Versus Discretion

What can we learn about making international rules governing foreign direct investment (FDI) from existing practices? The only truly global rules on investment at present are incorporated in the Articles setting up the World Trade Organization (WTO).2 These seek to reduce distortions and impediments to international trade, and to increase investment security when setting up establishments to gain market access by establishing a framework of transparent and enforceable rules within the ambit of a rules-based institution. However, outside trade circles, these WTO rules are not widely known, appreciated or understood; they tend to be complex and selective, yet their potential relationship to the proposed OECD rules on investment is important for the future development of international investment. An informed debate on foreign direct investment should not take place without an appreciation of these issues and the difficulties and options they present. Some lessons may be drawn.
Reduction of resource utilization in children with blunt solid organ injury

Abstract Background/purpose Nonoperative management of blunt solid organ injuries continues to progress and improve cost-effective utilization of resources while maximizing patient safety. The purpose of this study is to compare resource utilization and patient outcomes after changing admission criteria from a grade-based protocol to one based on hemodynamic stability. Methods A retrospective review of isolated liver and spleen injuries was done using prospectively collected trauma registry data from 2013 to 2017. The 2 years preceding the change were compared to the 2 years after protocol change. All analyses were performed using SAS 9.4. Results There were 121 patients in the preprotocol cohort and 125 patients in the postprotocol cohort. Baseline demographics were similar along with injury mechanisms and severity. The ICU admission rate decreased from 40% to 22% (p = 0.002). There were no adverse events on the floor and no patient needed to be transferred to the ICU. Conclusions A protocol for ICU admission based on physiologic derangement versus solely on radiologic grade significantly reduced admission rates to the ICU in children with solid organ injury. The protocol was safe and effectively reduced resource utilization. Level of evidence Level II, prospective comparison study.
Fear During Natural Disaster: Its Impact on Perceptions of Shopping Convenience and Shopping Behavior

Every year, natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, and floods occur around the world. However, scarce research has been conducted to understand customer reactions to these commo...
Electrospinning of highly aligned fibers for drug delivery applications

Electrospinning is a straightforward, cost-effective, and versatile technique for fabrication of polymeric micro/nanofibers with tunable structural properties. Controlling the size, shape, and spatial orientation of the electrospun fibers is crucial for utilization in drug delivery and tissue engineering applications. In this study, for the first time, we systematically investigate the effect of processing parameters, including voltage, syringe needle gauge, angular velocity of rotating wheel, syringe-collector distance, and flow rate on the size and alignment of electrospun PLGA fibers. Optimizing these parameters enabled us to produce highly aligned and monodisperse PLGA fibers (spatial orientation> 99% and coefficient of variation< 0.5). To assess the effect of fiber alignment on the release of encapsulated drugs from these fibers, we incorporated dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory drug, within highly-aligned and randomly-oriented fibers with comparable diameters (~0.87 μm) and compared their release profiles. In-vitro release studies revealed that the aligned fibers had less burst release (~10.8% in 24 hr) and more sustained release (~8.8% average rate of change for 24 days) compared to the random fibers. Finally, the degradation modes of the aligned and random fibers after 25 days incubation were characterized and compared. The findings of this study can be applied for the development of 3D degradable aligned fibers for controlled drug release and tissue engineering applications.
ERCP in Chronic Pancreatitis

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) constitutes a syndrome, defined by morphologic and functional changes, in which chronic inflammation and fibrosis lead to irreversible pancreatic damage, chronic abdominal pain, exocrine and endocrine dysfunction, and increased risk for pancreatic cancer development.
Celebratory consumerism on China’s Singles’ Day: From grass-roots holiday to commercial festival:

Singles’ Day, or 11 November, was initially conceived as a way to celebrate singlehood among Chinese youth. Since 2009, the e-commerce giant Alibaba has transformed Singles’ Day into the world’s la...
Pedometer-measured physical activity among emergency physicians during shifts.

Abstract Objective Tools to measure physical activity, such as pedometers, have become more prevalent and attracted popular interest in recent years. Despite this trend, research has not yet quantified pedometer-measured physical activity among Emergency Physicians. This study aims to provide the first characterization of physical activity among on-duty Emergency Physicians in terms of step count. Methods Emergency Physicians wore Empatica E4 research-grade accelerometers while performing routine clinical care in the Emergency Department. A publicly available algorithm was used to estimate the number of steps taken. Results Fifty-one Emergency Physicians, including thirty-four residents and seventeen attending physicians, contributed over 1500 h of accelerometer data. On average, this cohort took 577 steps per hour (SD: 72.6), totaling 4950 steps per recorded shift (SD: 737.8), which is approximately 2.6 miles (SD: 0.31). Residents walked more than attending physicians (595.9 steps per hour (SD: 99.7) vs 563.0 steps per hour (SD: 89.0), respectively; p = 0.02). Conclusion The average emergency physician in this cohort walked roughly half the daily recommended number of steps during their recorded shift. Residents walk significantly more than attending physicians.
Application of an Automatic Plagiarism Detection System in a Large-scale Assessment of English Speaking Proficiency.

This study aims to build an automatic system for the detection of plagiarized spoken responses in the context of an assessment of English speaking proficiency for non-native speakers. Classification models were trained to distinguish between plagiarized and non-plagiarized responses with two different types of features: text-to-text content similarity measures, which are commonly used in the task of plagiarism detection for written documents, and speaking proficiency measures, which were specifically designed for spontaneous speech and extracted using an automated speech scoring system. The experiments were first conducted on a large data set drawn from an operational English proficiency assessment across multiple years, and the best classifier on this heavily imbalanced data set resulted in an F1-score of 0.761 on the plagiarized class. This system was then validated on operational responses collected from a single administration of the assessment and achieved a recall of 0.897. The results indicate that the proposed system can potentially be used to improve the validity of both human and automated assessment of non-native spoken English.
Device Closure of Iatrogenic Left Ventricular Perforation Through the Chest Wall.

A 5-year-old girl with dilated cardiomyopathy was placed on venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for hypotension. She had a large left pleural effusion, and an 8.3-F pigtail chest tube (CT) was placed in the left pleural space using the Seldinger technique with return of sanguineous
Safe nonlinear control design for input constrained polynomial systems using sum-of-squares programming

We study the feedback stabilisation problem for input-affine polynomial systems subject to polytopic input constraints. First, we characterise a subset of the state-space, which we refer to as the ...
Displaceable Templates with Sub-10 nm Periodicity Activate and Direct Epitaxial Assembly of Complex Aromatic Molecules

Templating molecular assembly at interfaces is a ubiquitous challenge in designing new nanostructured materials. Templates for heterostructured functional interfaces would ideally control assembly ...
COVID-19 Outbreak in Malaysia

In 2020 a significant threat to public health emerged. The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic outbreak emerged in December 2019 from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China and spread to the rest of the world. This disease was named COVID-19 by World Health Organization. To date (17th April 2020) a total of 2,230,439 cases of COVID-19; 150,810 cases of deaths and 564,210 recovered cases have been reported worldwide. In this review the SARS-CoV-2 morphology, pathogenic mechanism, similarities and differences between SARS-CoV and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome, transmission mode, diagnosis, treatment, and preventive measures were investigated. The outbreak of COVID-19 from a Malaysian perspective was explored and mental health care during the COVID-19 outbreak was explored. To date, there is no vaccine or no specific treatment for COVID-19. Therefore, preventive measures are very important to prevent and control the rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Preparedness should be a priority for future pandemic outbreaks.
New Techniques of Positive Pressure Ventilation

Summary A considerable disparity presently exists between the marketing of new modalities of positive pressure ventilation and the scientific evaluation of their utility in patient care. A ventilator that would include only features proven effective clinically would likely be considerably lighter in weight, smaller in size, and cheaper in price than most currently marketed ventilators. None of the ventilatory techniques presented here (EMMV, PSV, and APRV) is supported by clinical and experimental data sufficient that recommendations could be made for their routine application in patient care. EMMV likely will be most useful in weaning patients with normal lung mechanics from ventilatory support. In this patient group, however, most weaning techniques would be successful. PSV, breath-to-breath adjustable assisted ventilation, may be useful in some clinical situations but requires further investigation. APRV is an entirely new concept of ventilatory assistance that currently is undergoing clinical evaluation with promising preliminary results.