cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
SMOFlipid vs Intralipid 20%: Effect of Mixed-Oil vs Soybean-Oil Emulsion on Parenteral Nutrition-Associated Cholestasis in the Neonatal Population

Background Parenteral nutrition (PN) is critical for the growth and development of premature neonates who are unable to reach nutrition goals enterally. Using soybean-oil emulsions in PN is a risk factor for cholestasis, leading to alternative dosing strategies including a reduction in total lipid prescribed. Recently, SMOFlipid has been utilized with the goal of avoiding cholestasis while maintaining energy intake. The aim of our study was to compare the incidence of PN-associated cholestasis (PNAC) in patients admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) who received either Intralipid 20% or SMOFlipid. Methods This single-center, retrospective study evaluated all NICU patients who received PN for ≥14 days. Patients who received SMOFlipid were compared with those who received Intralipid. The primary end point was incidence of PNAC. Secondary end points included (1) prevalence of elevated liver function tests; (2) effect on select laboratory parameters; (3) development of PNAC by age; and (4) incidence of retinopathy of prematurity. Results A total of 136 neonates were included. Nine of 55 patients (16.4%) in the Intralipid group and 2 of 81 patients (2.5%) in the SMOFlipid group developed cholestasis, defined as direct bilirubin > 2 mg/dL or direct bilirubin > 20% of total bilirubin, when total bilirubin is >5 mg/dL, on or before 30 days post initiation of PN (P = .007). Conclusion Use of SMOFlipid as the lipid emulsion component of PN may be beneficial in prevention of PNAC in NICU patients that are receiving PN for ≥2 weeks.
The Design of Clustered Observational Studies in Education.

Clustered observational studies (COSs) are a critical analytic tool for educational effectiveness research. We present a design framework for the development and critique of COSs. The framework is ...
Platelet electrical resistance for measuring platelet activation and adhesion in human health and disease.

Abstract Background The ability to measure changes in platelet reactivity is important to identify novel aspects of platelet biology and develop targeted therapeutics to prevent bleeding or thrombosis. Current platelet function testing allows for single agonist analysis at a time. The ability to phenotype platelets in a single assay with multiple agonists and adhesion substrates could yield more insights into altered pathways than are feasible with current approaches. We hypothesized platelet electrical resistance (PER) could be used for more comprehensive phenotyping of platelets. Methods Platelets were isolated from male and female healthy donors (age 39.6 ± 6.9) and septic patients (age 44.0 ± 13.5). PER 96-well plates were coated with various substrates, including fibrinogen and collagen. Platelets were added to the coated plates in the presence or absence of thrombin or convulxin. Platelet activation and spreading was monitored by measuring changes in electrical impedance. Results Platelets adhesion to fibrinogen and collagen increased impedance. In addition, impedance increased in response to thrombin or convulxin. No changes in impedance were observed in the absence of platelets or when wells were uncoated, indicating changes in impedance were directly due to platelet adhesion and activation. Inhibiting integrin αIIbβ3 decreased impedance when fibrinogen was used as a substrate, consistent with platelet-dependent effects. Platelets from septic patients caused increased impedance compared to healthy donors, demonstrating this assay can be used to assess platelet hyperreactivity. Conclusion PER can be applied as a high throughput tool to measure platelet reactivity in health and disease, where platelet activation is increased.
A case of acute myeloid leukemia with unusual germline CEBPA mutation: lessons learned about mutation detection, location, and penetrance.

The single-exon gene CEBPA encodes for CCAAT/enhancer binding protein-α, a transcription factor essential for granulocyte differentiation. In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), CEBPA mutations occur at ...
Stream Reaeration by Velz Method

Whereas a K2 equivalent can be determined for the Velz calculation, the result does not yield an intuitively-justified solution. Rather, the K2 appears to be prone to a problem of independent varia...
Utility of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment of Infiltrative Cardiomyopathies

Diagnosis of infiltrative cardiomyopathies can be challenging despite differences in clinical manifestations due to overlapping cardiac manifestations. We review the salient findings by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging that aids in diagnosis, as well the potential implications for prognosis and treatment. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging has added substantially to our understanding of various infiltrative cardiomyopathies, and the addition of late gadolinium enhancement imaging and parametric mapping has yielded additional insights regarding potential diagnoses, prognosis, and therapy. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging should be employed in the setting of suspected hypertrophic or infiltrative cardiomyopathies to aid in diagnosis. In the setting of cardiac amyloidosis and Fabry disease, there is data to suggest that cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is useful for risk stratification as well as for monitoring response to therapy.
An Improved Stochastic-based Approach for Optimizing Energy-Time Tradeoff in Multicore Systems

Stochastic techniques are used in Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS). These techniques determine cores V/F levels based on the probability distributions of system parameters, which usually represent the computational characteristics of applications. The Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is a stochastic model, which learns the hidden states of systems based on observable events. Our previous work built an HMM for each core of a multicore system using a fixed number of states and V/F levels. The HMM parameters were used by the Viterbi algorithm to perform per-core DVFS by predicting the most likely state sequences. This paper aims at improving those state sequence predictions by examining different numbers of states. This examination impacts the size of HMM parameters that guide Viterbi for predicting the state sequences. In addition, for any number of states, the proposed model exhaustively assigns V/F levels to states to optimize Energy-Delay Product (EDP). Results show that the proposed model improves EDP, on average, by 30% compared to our previous work across multiple applications. Compared to two other predictive techniques, the proposed model obtains up to 30% more EDP improvement for applications with highly varying computations.
Byte embeddings for file fragment classification

Abstract In digital forensics, file carving is the process of recovering files on a storage media in part or in whole without any file system information. An important problem in file carving is the identification of fragment types. Many fragment classification studies in the literature employ inflexible and indiscernible feature selection methods such as different statistics of byte frequency distributions. Moreover, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of some approaches is difficult as they are specific to certain file types such as graphics. In this paper, we propose a novel feature generation model using byte embeddings ( Byte2Vec ) which map fragments to dense vector representations. The proposed model extends the word2vec and doc2vec document embedding models to bytes and fragments, respectively. We use Byte2Vec for feature extraction and k -Nearest Neighbors ( k NN) for classification. We present effectiveness of Byte2Vec+kNN in file fragment classification using a publicly available digital forensics dataset and a random web search dataset. Our experimental results show that Byte2Vec+kNN reaches an accuracy rate of 72% along with 74% precision and 72% recall. Compared to the other feature extraction techniques such as n-gram, byte distributions, byte statistics, byte distances, and sparse dictionaries for byte n-gram along with different classifiers, Byte2Vec+kNN achieves an absolute improvement of 3% and 12% in accuracy and precision, respectively.
The Role of Support and Confidence in Collaborative Query Answering

In this paper we show how support and confidence of agent requests for definitions of attribute values (rules) can be used by a distributed society of collaborating agents to improve query answering. Query answering system linked with each agent is different from solving queries by a conventional distributed database or cooperative database in the sense that it discovers rules, if needed, and uses them to resolve foreign attributes in a query. Each agent is seen either as a knowledge system coupled with a query-answering engine (see [8,9,101) or an extended relational DB (usually incomplete) coupled with a query answering engine. The quality of a query answering system of an agent is dependent on definitions (knowledge) he receives from other agents. If definitions of foreign attributes to an agent are more precise, then the new query replacing the original query may give more precise answer. Both support and confidence of agents requests for definitions (rules) can be computed and used to decide which agents should be contacted first to answer queries or if needed asked for additional help.
A Segunda Escravidão e a Primeira República Americana

Este artigo reescreve a historia dos Estados Unidos antes da Guerra Civil, tomando por base quatro fases de sua historia financeira. Essas fases mapeiam os ciclos cambiantes de boom and bust , movidos pelos anseios dos empresarios em expandir a escravidao por meio de um sistema financeiro inovador e desregulado. A habilidade dos escravizadores em usar o Estado para formar os mercados, extrair rendas, subscrever os fluxos de credito da comunidade mundial de investidores e socializar as perdas, ao mesmo tempo em que aumentavam constantemente a produtividade da escravidao nos campos de algodao, foi a forca motora que ditou a expansao mais ampla economia norte-americana e suas crises periodicas.
Status and challenges in deep UV semiconductor lasers

Despite the rapid progress in III-nitride-based laser diodes, sub-300 nm UV semiconductors lasers have not been realized yet. UV optoelectronic devices have a variety of applications such as sterilization, water purification, spectroscopy, high density optical data storage, and biological sensing. More specifically, UV laser diodes can be used as an alternative to expensive, bulky, and potentially toxic tube lasers. Technical and scientific barriers arise from the lack of proper crystalline substrates and a poor understanding of defect control in the wide bandgap semiconductors. AlGaN-based technology developed on single crystalline AlN substrates and impurity control in the active region offers a pathway to address all these challenges.
On the protective mechanism of the thiol-specific antioxidant enzyme against the oxidative damage of biomacromolecules.

A thiol-specific antioxidant enzyme (TSA), which provides protection against the inactivation of other enzymes by the thiol/Fe(III)/oxygen system, was previously isolated and cloned. We investigated the mechanism by which TSA protects biomolecules from oxidative damage caused by the thiol-containing oxidation system using the spin trapping method with 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO). Thiyl radicals from dithiothreitol (.DTT) were produced by horseradish peroxidase/H2O2 under aerobic and anaerobic conditions and by the Fe(III)/oxygen system. The formation of DMPO-.DTT radical adducts were inhibited by TSA regardless of the thiyl radical-generating conditions used. The active mutant C170S also quenched the signals of the radical adduct, whereas the inactive mutant C47S did not exert any effect. It was also found that C170S has a higher rate at the initial stage of the reaction than that of the native enzyme, although C170S failed to remove DMPO-.DTT radical adducts completely. These results indicate that only active TSA can catalyze the removal of thiyl radicals, and cysteine 47 is required for this activity. In addition, thiyl radicals react with oxygen to generate unidentified thiylperoxy species. Fe.EDTA reacts with this species to generate a reactive radical that can abstract hydrogen atom from ethanol to produce a hydroxyethyl radical. This reactive thiyl-oxygen radical is believed to be responsible for causing deleterious effects on biomolecules. Together, our data indicate that TSA protects biomolecules from oxidative damage by catalyzing the removal of thiyl radicals before they generate more reactive radicals. However, presently we cannot rule out the possibility that TSA can also use other thiol-containing species as substrates.
Tiling a Strip with Triangles

In this paper, we examine the tilings of a $2\times n$ "triangular strip" with triangles. These tilings have connections with Fibonacci numbers, Pell numbers, and other known sequences. We derive several different recurrences, establish some properties of these numbers, and give a refined count for these tilings (i.e., by the number and type of triangles used) and establish several properties of these refined counts.
Effects of corticosterone treatment on puberty in female rats.

SummaryTo study the role of excess corticosterone on regulating puberty onset without the added component of a stressful route of administration, corticosterone was made available ad libitum in the drinking water beginning at weaning age (22 days of age). The lowest dose (16 μg of corticoster-one/ml of 4% ethanol in tap water) did not delay puberty but did suppress the normal peak of corticosterone at 1600 hr. The next dose (24 μg) also suppressed the evening corticosterone peak. In these rats, vaginal opening was normal but ovulation was delayed in comparison to controls given 4% ethanol in tap water or tap water alone. Growth rates in the rats given 16 or 24 μg were normal. The two high concentrations (160 and 240 μg of corticosterone/ml 4% ethanol of in tap water) delayed both vaginal opening and ovulation, produced high levels of corticosterone in the blood at 0800 and 2300 hr and a depression of corticoster-one at 1600 hr, and were associated with significant growth retardation. It is concluded that ...
Synthesis and characterization of poly(propylene glycol) polytrioxamide and poly(urea oxamide) segmented copolymers

This report describes the synthesis and characterization of unprecedented poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) polytrioxamide and poly(urea oxamide) (UOx) segmented copolymers containing monodisperse hard segments. Synthesis of the segmented copolymers relied on an efficient two-step end-capping sequence, which resulted in novel difunctional oxamic hydrazide-terminated polyether oligomers. Polymerization with oxalyl chloride or 4,4′-methylenebis(cyclohexyl isocyanate) provided the desired segmented copolymers displaying thermoplastic elastomeric behavior. Variable-temperature Fourier transform infrared and 1H NMR spectroscopies confirmed the presence of hard segment structures and revealed ordered hydrogen bonding interactions with thermal dissociation profiles similar to those of polyurea and polyoxamide copolymer analogs. Dynamic mechanical analysis of PPG-UOx exhibited a longer, rubbery plateau with increased moduli compared to PPG polyurea, and tensile analysis revealed a dramatic increase in copolymer toughness due to enhanced hydrogen bonding. A new step-growth polymerization strategy is described that is capable of producing tunable hydrogen bonding segmented copolymer architectures. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry
Local rings over which all modules have rational Poincaré series

Abstract If the homotopy Lie algebra π∗(R) of a local ring R contains a free Lie subalgebra of finite codimension, then for each finitely generated R-module M the Poincare series PRM(t) = ∑∞n = 0dimkTorRn(M,k)·tn represents a rational function in t, and there is a least common de nominator for all these functions. When this denominator is a power of (1−t), the ring R is a complete intersection, which has at most one non-quadratic defining equation.
The effects of neutron radiation on structural materials

Neutron radiation effects on tensile, creep, fatigue, impact, and hardness properties of reactor materials
Understanding the Hazards of Grouped Electrical Cables

CHRISTIFIRE (Cable Heat Release, Ignition, and Spread in Tray Installations during FIRE) is a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Research program to quantify the mass and energy released from burning electrical cables. This type of quantitative information will be used to develop more realistic models of cable fires for use in fire probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) analyses. The experimental program has two main thrusts—bench-scale measurements of small samples of burning cables and full-scale measurements of the heat release and fire-spread rates of cables burning within typical ladder-type trays. The bench-scale measurements include micro-calorimetry of cable components, effluent characterization using absorption spectroscopy, and measurements of the heat release rate using a cone calorimeter. The full-scale measurements include the burning of a variety of cables within a typical tray under radiant panel heating, and full-scale, multiple tray fires. The outcome of the experiments is to be used by a variety of fire models, ranging from simple correlations to computational fluid dynamics.
Preparation for Practice: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Graduates’ Assessment of Training Experiences

ABSTRACT Objective To assess the perceived effectiveness of child and adolescent psychiatry residency training in preparing recent graduates for practice in diverse work settings. Method Analysis of survey data of 392/797 (49.2%) of all U.S. child and adolescent psychiatrists graduating from training in 1996–1998 and on the mailing list of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Results Overall, respondents reported high-quality training. They felt least prepared by training for their present practice in the areas of administration and leadership skills, medical economics and business skills, complex psychopharmacology, treatment of children with complicated developmental disabilities, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. They felt overtrained in consultation-liaison to pediatrics and inpatient work. Clinical experiences, supervisors/mentors and a well-rounded program were cited as most crucial to training. Suggestions for improvement included more “real-world” administration and leadership exposure, enhanced supervision, and improved didactics. Most felt training prepared them for their specialty board examinations. Conclusions Recruitment and training of highly skilled child and adolescent psychiatrists is a national priority. The present database assessment of efficacy in preparing graduates for diverse career practices may inform training programs and policy. An enhanced training curriculum in leadership and administrative skills and medical economics is recommended.
Priorities in general surgical training

Purpose We wished to determine which area of surgical resident training receives the highest priority—surgical technique, surgical judgment, or “book knowledge.” We were also interested in how the programs addressed each area, particularly the teaching of surgical technique. Methods A questionnaire was distributed to the program directors and chief residents of all 289 general surgery residency programs in the United States. Results Answers were received from 144 chief residents (50%) and 152 program directors (53%). Programs to teach surgical judgment and technique were offered by 55 (36%) and 68 (45%) of general surgical residencies. Most program directors (83%) and chief residents (72%) considered surgical judgment the most important aspect of surgical training. Sixty-four percent of chief residents felt they were receiving adequate training in the technical aspects of surgery. Approximately half of the program directors felt that residents needed better training in the technical aspects of surgery. One hundred thirty programs (86%) had specific curricula for teaching “book knowledge.” Conclusions With the advent of minimal access surgery and the constant introduction of new instruments and procedures, new demands are constantly being placed on practicing surgeons. In order to prevent the further fragmentation of general surgery, a more structured approach to the early teaching of surgical skills should be considered.
Evidence of modifications of micellar interface in sol-gel glass

A new sol-gel procedure using micellar solutions has been developed to immobilize local anesthetic drugs in optically transparent glass. Dibucaine was selected as a direct emission probe at 77 K for determining the forms of the anesthetic drug (free base, monoprotonated, and/or diprotonated) and its location (hydrophobic core, interfacial layer or hydrophilic region) in micelles. The photophysical properties of local anesthetics obtained in gels are compared to those in solutions. During the gelation stage, the predominant drug species was identified as free base dibucaine embedded in the hydrophobic core of neutral as well as charged micelles. This observation suggests that the micellar interface was modified by the large hydrophilic gel surface during the gelation stage. The modified micellar interface allows an increase in the partition of free base dibucaine into the hydrophobic region. At the xerogel stage, however, the collapse of micellar structure provides a direct interaction of dibucaine with the acidic gel surface, leading to a formation of diprotonated dibucaine. The results are discussed in terms of molecular basis of pharmacological implications such as drug delivery, release, and transport under microencapsulation conditions.
Linezolid-Induced Reversible Posterior Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome Fatal Pulmonary Toxicity after One Dose of Cyclophosphamide Psychosis Following Initiation of Zonisamide Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuresis Review of Rashes Associated With Antiepileptic Drugs Review of Drug-Induced Sweet Syndrome

LINEZOLID-INDUCED REVERSIBLE POSTERIOR LEUKOENCEPHALOPATHY SYNDROME In the June 2007 column, we discussed a case of reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy syndrome (RPLS) in a patient receiving carboplatin. The following is a report of a case involving RPLS caused by the antibacterial agent linezolid. (Editor’s note: The authors of this current report use the term “posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy syndrome” and the abbreviation “PRES.”) A 71-year-old woman had an infected hip prosthesis; after its removal, the cultures demonstrated multiresistant Staphylococcus epidermidis. The patient was begun on intravenous linezolid (Zyvox) and rifampin therapy. Five days later, the woman developed a severe headache, blurred vision, and a focal motor seizure of her right arm. Her blood pressure was elevated to 155/95 mm Hg, and she was slightly tachycardic at 102 beats per minute. The patient had a history of medication-controlled hypertension (HTN) and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AFib). Lab Hospital Pharmacy Volume 42, Number 7, pp 600-604 2007 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.
The effect of skewed distributions of vital statistics on growth of age-structured populations

Abstract Given that the variance of vital statistics can influence population projections, it seems reasonable that positive skew as observed for the distribution of larval survivorship of spruce budworms might also have a significant effect on stochastic projections of population growth. Simulations of population growth, using variable survivorship for a single age class, demonstrate that shape of the distribution of survivorship influences the outcome of stochastic population growth, and therefore is important for evolutionary and ecological theory. Unfortunately, empirical distributions of survivorships or fecundities for single life history stages are rare in the current literature.
Dietary fat and protein intake are not associated with incident biliary sludge and stones during pregnancy.

Background: Dietary composition can cause insulin resistance, elevated serum lipid levels, and obesity, all of which predispose to gallstone formation. The effects of dietary fat (including individual fatty acids) and protein on gallstone formation are controversial. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of dietary fat and protein intake on incident gallstone disease during pregnancy, a high-risk time for stone formation. Methods: We prospectively studied 3070 pregnant women who underwent serial gallbladder ultrasound examinations during pregnancy and at 4–6 weeks postpartum. All women had at least 2 study ultrasounds for comparison. A semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was completed by subjects in the early third trimester. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to assess the risk of incident gallbladder disease across quartiles of intake of total fat, individual fatty acids (polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, saturated, and total trans-fatty acids, as well as cholesterol), ...
The role of iron-induced hippocampal peroxidation in acute epileptogenesis

Abstract Intracortical injection of iron salts causes lipid peroxidation, focal edema, necrosis, gliosis, and the development of bahavioral and electrographic seizures. Tocopherol pretreatment prevents the histopathologic pertubations associated with iron injection, and appears to accelerate the resolution of focal accumulation of peroxidation products. In this experiment, rats were pretreated with 500 mg/kg DL -α-tocopherol acetate prior to the injection of 3 μl of 100 mM FeCl 2 into the dorsal hippocampus, or induction of convulsive seizures by s.c. injection of 0.8 mg/100 g bicucullin. Tocopherol pretreatment prevented the occurrence of convulsive seizures in a significant number of iron-salts injected animals. Lipid peroxidation measured in the dissected hippocampus was significantly increased in untreated rats developing iron-induced seizures and in rats treated with tocopherol, but developing convulsive seizures. Tocopherol failed to prevent bicucullin-induced seizures. Further, convulsive seizures induced by bicucullin failed to alter hippocampal fluorescence levels. Hence, we concluded that the epileptogenic effects of hippocampal injection of iron salts appear to be related to the induction of peroxidation of neural lipids within the injection site.
Computer simulation of moderately dense hard-sphere fluids and mixtures in microcapillaries

Grand canonical ensemble Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations of partitioning and diffusion of rigid sphere fluids and mixtures in cylindrical pores have been carried out for a wide range of pore sizes. The formal linear diffusion theory employed in an earlier paper is extended to binary mixtures and is used to analyse the simulation data. The results obtained show that continuum-mechanical theory may be used to quantitatively predict the diffusion fluxes of small, nonadsorbing solutes as well as macromolecular solutes in micropores as long as the sum of the solute and solvent particle sizes is less than the size of the pore. In addition, the existence of viscous slip for dense fluids observed earlier is confirmed, and it is shown that selective partitioning of solutes in simple fluid mixtures can lead to solvent diffusion barriers in very small pores.
Design, Calibration, and use of convective air flow dynamic calorimeter

Abstract A new type of calorimeter has been developed that continously monitors the rate of heat emission from a heat source by following the rate of convective air flow induced by the emitted heat. For this purpose a thermistor version of a hot-wire anemometer connected to a strip chart recorder is positioned to measured the flow of incoming air. Details are given for the construction, calibration, and operation of a form of the calorimeter designed for studying the upward burning of unrestrained fabric samples under conditions closely approximating natural burning.
ANGIOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF DURAL ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATIONS THAT PRESENT WITH INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGE

Dural arteriovenous malformations (dAVMs) are uncommon lesions that constitute about 12% of all the arteriovenous malformations. Depending on the location and the hemodynamics of the lesion, bruit, focal neurological deficit, and visual symptoms represent the more common presentation modalities. Although uncommon, intracranial hemorrhage can occur. In the present study, we report six patients with dural arteriovenous malformation that presented with intracranial hemorrhage. In five cases the hemorrhage was intraparenchymal (localized to the parietooccipital area in three), while it was confined to the subarachnoid space in the remaining one. The dAVM involved the transverse sinus in three cases, was based along the tentorial incisura in two, and was at the level of the torcular Herophili in one. Leptomeningeal drainage was present in all the cases. Aneurysmal dilatation of the draining vein(s) was identified in three. Sinus stenosis/occlusion was identified in two of the four patients with a dAVM draining into a major dural sinus. Four patients underwent preoperative embolization, and all patients had surgical resection of their lesions. Anatomical cure, as defined by absence of any residual dAVM on postoperative angiogram, was achieved in all six patients. We conclude that several findings such as leptomeningeal drainage, location outside a major venous sinus, variceal dilatation, sinus stenosis/occlusion increase the risk of bleeding and are frequently observed in those dAVMs that present with intracranial hemorrhage. Recognition of these angiographic features is critical in planning a therapeutic approach tailored to the characteristics of the individual case. When these angiographic findings are present, prompt and definitive treatment is mandatory. Death from the initial hemorrhage and, in absence of definitive treatment, rebleeding are not uncommon.
Fluorouracil and recombinant interferon alfa-2a in advanced gastrointestinal neoplasms.

Based on preclinical studies which demonstrated synergy between recombinant interferon alfa-2a (rIFN alpha-2a) and 5-fluorouracil (5FU), clinical studies have been initiated to investigate this combination. The initial study conducted by investigators from the Albert Einstein Cancer Center reported a response rate of 76% with 13/17 patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma responding. To further evaluate this regimen, two clinical trials have been conducted in previously untreated advanced colorectal carcinoma patients with measurable disease. The regimen consisted of 5FU administered as a continuous infusion, 750 mg/m2/d for 5 consecutive days. Intravenous bolus administration of 5FU 750 mg/m2 was given weekly for 7 weeks starting 1 week after completion of the continuous infusion. rIFN alpha-2a, 9 MU, was administered subcutaneously three times weekly. In The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center trial, 15/45 evaluable patients experienced partial response, and one patient achieved a complete response for an overall response rate of 35%. Another trial of this regimen conducted by Memorial Sloan-Kettering has reported a 26% response rate with 9/34 evaluable patients experiencing a partial response. Current randomized trials comparing this schedule of 5FU with rIFN alpha-2a to 5FU plus folinic acid or single-agent 5FU may clarify its role in the treatment of advanced colorectal carcinomas.
Sensitivity of serum methylmalonic acid and total homocysteine determinations for diagnosing cobalamin and folate deficiencies

Abstract purpose: Patients with cobalamin (vitamin B12) deficiency usually lack many of the classic features of severe megaloblastic anemia; because of the low diagnostic specificity of decreased serum cobalamin levels, demonstrating the deficiency unequivocally is often difficult. We examined the sensitivity of measuring serum concentrations of methylmalonic acid and total homocysteine for diagnosing patients with clear-cut cobalamin deficiency and compared the results with those of patients with clear-cut folate deficiency. patients and methods: Serum metabolites were measured for all patients seen from 1982 to 1989 at two university hospitals who met the criteria for cobalamin and folate deficiency states and for such patients seen from 1968 to 1981 from whom stored sera were available. In all, 406 patients had 434 episodes of cobalamin deficiency and 119 patients had 123 episodes of folate deficiency. Criteria for deficiency states included serum vitamin levels, hematologic and neurologic findings, and responses to therapy. Responses were documented in 97% of cobalamin-deficient patients and 76% of folate-deficient patients. Metabolite levels were measured by modified techniques using capillary-gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. results: Most of the cobalamin-deficient patients had underlying pernicious anemia; two thirds were blacks or Latinos. Hematocrits were normal in 28% and mean cell volumes in 17%. Of the 434 episodes of cobalamin deficiency, 98.4% of serum methylmalonic acid levels and 95.9% of serum homocysteine levels were elevated (greater than 3 standard deviations above the mean in normal subjects). Only one patient had normal levels of both metabolites. Serum homocysteine levels were increased in 91% of the 123 episodes of folate deficiency. Methylmalonic acid was elevated in 12.2% of the folate-deficient patients; in all but one, the elevation was attributable to renal insufficiency or hypovolemia. conclusions: For the cobalamin-deficient patients, measuring serum metabolite concentrations proved to be a highly sensitive test of deficiency. We conclude that normal levels of both methylmalonic acid and total homocysteine rule out clinically significant cobalamin deficiency with virtual certainty.
Study of ventricular repolarization changes after carnitine deprivation in rats by contactless magnetocardiography

Abstract Carnitine deficiency can be associated with cardiomyopathy and life-threatening arrhythmias. The aim of this study was to assess changes of ventricular repolarization (VR) intervals by contactless magnetocardiographic mapping (MCG), in a rat model of carnitine deficiency. 21 anesthetized Wistar rats (WR), 11 males and 10 females, were investigated, with an unshielded 36-channel MCG instrumentation. After a basal recording 10 animals were randomized to carnitine-deprivation induced by a 3-weeks diet containing N -trimethyl-hydrazine-3-propionate (THP). All WR were restudied 1 week after the end of THP treatment. RR, QRS, QT peak , QT end , JT peak , JT end and T peak-end intervals were measured from MCG waveforms. A prolongation of all HR-corrected VR intervals was observed in THP-treated animals (range 7.6–12.8%), as compared to their basal values. However, only the lengthening of QT end and T peak-end was statistically significant ( p end and T peak-end in THP-treated animals. The lack of significance versus age-matched controls could be either due to too early re-evaluation after deprivation, or to the effect of aging. In fact, age-related prolongation of VR intervals has been reported in WR at the age of 14 months.
Mitochondrial network energetics in the heart

At the core of eukaryotic aerobic life, mitochondrial function like 'hubs' in the web of energetic and redox processes in cells. In the heart, these networks-extending beyond the complex connectivity of biochemical circuit diagrams and apparent morphology-exhibit collective dynamics spanning several spatiotemporal levels of organization, from the cell, to the tissue, and the organ. The network function of mitochondria, i.e., mitochondrial network energetics, represents an advantageous behavior. Its coordinated action, under normal physiology, provides robustness despite failure in a few nodes, and improves energy supply toward a swiftly changing demand. Extensive diffuse loops, encompassing mitochondrial-cytoplasmic reaction/transport networks, control and regulate energy supply and demand in the heart. Under severe energy crises, the network behavior of mitochondria and associated glycolytic and other metabolic networks collapse, thereby triggering fatal arrhythmias.
Polarization and Correlation of Electron Spin in Low-Energy Elastic Electron-Hydrogen Collisions

The polarization and correlation of electron spin in low-energy electron-hydrogen scattering are investigated. The physical basis of such phenomena is discussed and quantities in terms of which they may be measured are defined. Expressions relating these quantities before and after collision are given in terms of the singlet and triplet amplitudes for electron-hydrogen scattering. These expressions are plotted as functions of scattering angle for incident electron energies below threshold for excitation of the second quantum level in hydrogen, using the results of an approximate close-coupling solution of the associated scattering problem.
Growing Native Seeds for Restoration: Seed Dormancy and Germination of Sidalcea malviflora ssp. virgata (Malvaceae)

ABSTRACT: Sidalcea malviflora ssp. virgata (rose checkermallow) is a native forb in the Pacific Northwest, USA; it is a common species in upland prairies of the Willamette Valley, Oregon, and is a state listed endangered species in Washington State. This species provides a high value nectar supply for butterflies in this region, including the endangered Icaricia icarioides fenderi (Fender's blue butterfly), and is therefore targeted for inclusion in habitat restoration projects throughout the region. In past propagation efforts, S. malviflora ssp. virgata has demonstrated poor germination, indicating that there may be some dormancy in seeds of this species. We characterized dormancy and developed germination protocols to support greenhouse propagation of plants for habitat restoration projects. Sidalcea malviflora ssp. virgata has physical dormancy and may have some physiological dormancy as well. Highest germination (55%) was achieved by scarification followed by four weeks or more of cold moist stratifi...
Fermi surface and the periodic modulation of the stacking order in close packed structures of metals

Abstract The crystal structure of Au-Mn alloys near Au3Mn was identified, with the aid of a technique utilizing an electron microscope, as being a series of structures having periodically modulated stacking order with a M = 1 long period superlattice (DO22) as the base structure. The origin of the formation of these peculiar structures was then found to be an effort of the alloys to create Brillouin zone boundaries at proper places of the Fermi surface.
Diffusion, dispersion, and settling of hard spheres.

Using a multiple light scattering technique and a stabilizing counterflow (i.e., a fluidized bed), we measured the average sedimentation velocity, its variance, and the short-time self-diffusion coefficient in a concentrated hard-sphere suspension. Many-body hydrodynamic interactions slow both the Brownian diffusion and mean sedimentation and provide a novel mechanism for long time dispersion.
Expression of UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) 2B7 and 1A6 in the human brain and identification of 5-hydroxytryptamine as a substrate.

Abstract The extrahepatic expression of UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) is important in the detoxification of a number of endogenous and exogenous compounds, including 5-hydroxytryptamine and morphine. Studies were designed to investigate the extrahepatic expression of human UGTs using RT-PCR techniques and to determine the UGTs involved in the glucuronidation of 5-hydroxytryptamine. Human UGT2B7 expression was found in the human liver, kidney, pancreas, and brain, while UGT1A6 expression is found in the liver, kidney, and brain. This is the first observation of UGTs present in the human central nervous system. Using glucuronidation assays, a significant amount of 5-hydroxytryptamine glucuronide was found to be catalyzed by UGT1A6. These studies suggest that UGT2B7 may play an important role in the overall contribution of morphine analgesia by serving to generate the potent morphine-6-O-glucuronidein situ.UGT1A6 could play an important role in the glucuronidation of 5-hydroxytryptaminein vivo,therefore terminating the actions of the neurotransmitter.
Dynamics of Aphanizomenon and Microcystis (cyanobacteria) during experimental manipulation of an urban impoundment

Abstract Ford Lake in southeastern Michigan has a history of midsummer cyanobacterial blooms marked by a regular succession from heterocystous Aphanizomenon flos-aquae to nonheterocystous Microcystis aeruginosa. Nitrogen (N)-fixing Aphanizomenon has an advantage following seasonal thermal stratification because nitrate is consumed by assimilative uptake in the epilimnion and by anaerobic respiration in the anoxic hypolimnion. If nitrate levels increase, however, Microcystis succeeds Aphanizomenon. Bioassays corroborated the importance of nitrate to Microcystis success in late summer. Experimental releases of hypolimnetic water from the hydroelectric outlet dam before anoxia developed in 2006 destabilized the water column without altering lake volume and promoted a diatom bloom rather than cyanobacteria. To establish that the experimental manipulation was reproducible, we followed 2006 with a control year and then a second experimental year. In 2007, experimental manipulation was not performed, water was w...
Nonexistence of a Positron—Hydrogen-Atom Bound State

One needs a necessary condition (rather than a sufficient condition, such as that of Rayleigh-Ritz) to even attempt to prove that a given bound state cannot exist. We use an adiabaticlike method to show that a positron (${e}^{+}$) and a hydrogen atom (H) cannot form a bound state. The separation $r$ (but not $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\mathrm{r}}$) of the proton ($p$) and ${e}^{+}$ is fixed; working in a subspace of zero total angular momentum, we calculate the lowest energy ${E}_{\mathrm{e}1}(r)$ of the electron in the field of ${e}^{+}$ and $p$. An effective one-body $p+{e}^{+}$ potential is then defined by ${V}^{(1)}(r)={E}_{\mathrm{e}1}(r)+\frac{{e}^{2}}{r}+\frac{{e}^{2}}{2{a}_{0}}$. The necessary condition for the existence of a bound state of the true $\mathrm{H}+{e}^{+}$ system is the existence of a bound state of an artificial $p+{e}^{+}$ system with an interaction ${V}^{(1)}(r)$. This one-body problem is readily solved, and we find that it (and therefore the true problem) has no bound state. The proof is not rigorous since ${E}_{\mathrm{e}1}(r)$ is not determined exactly, but the accuracy attained is such as to make the existence of an $\mathrm{H}+{e}^{+}$ bound state extremely unlikely. A by-product of the calculation is the determination of an improved lower bound on the ground-state energy of ${\mathrm{H}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$.
Reply to ‘‘Comment on ‘Analytical wave functions for atomic quantum-defect theory’ ’’

The preceding paper, by Martin and Barrientos (Phys. Rev. A 43, 4061 (1991)), comments on our supersymmetry-inspired model of atomic physics. We relate this to other Comments (Rau, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 95 (1986) and Goodfriend, Phys. Rev. A 41, 1730 (1990)) and point out that, although the mathematics and physics of the 1974 Simons model (J. Chem. Phys. 60, 645 (1974)) is similar to ours, it is not identical. This is elucidated by explicitly comparing our symmetry-based approach to the more phenomenological approach of Martin and Barrientos.
A distributed origin–destination demand estimation approach for real-time traffic network management

Abstract This paper describes a distributed recursive heuristic approach for the origin–destination demand estimation problem for real-time traffic network management applications. The distributed nature of the heuristic enables its parallelization and hence reduces significantly its processing time. Furthermore, the heuristic reduces dependency on historical data that are typically used to map the observed link flows to their corresponding origin–destination pairs. In addition, the heuristic allows the incorporation of any available partial information on the demand distribution in the study area to improve the overall estimation accuracy. The heuristic is implemented following a hierarchal multi-threading mechanism. Dividing the study area into a set of subareas, the demand of every two adjacent subareas is merged in a separate thread. The merging operations continue until the demand for the entire study area is estimated. Experiments are conducted to examine the performance of the heuristic using hypot...
Towards an elementary theory of drainage basin evolution: I. the theoretical basis

Abstract In this and an accompanying paper, we show that a relatively simple family of continuous models provides a satisfactory, albeit elementary, theory of the evolution of fluvial landscapes in terms of (1) the emergence of channelized flows; (2) the development of stable surfaces with ridges and valleys; (3) the decline of the surfaces; (4) relationships between surface forms and surface flows; and (5) environmentally caused landform variability. In this paper, we provide a theoretical basis for modeling the evolution of drainage basins in terms of a set of PDE's that generalize the model of Smith and Bretherton, in part with conditions specifying a freewater surface. We show that under boundary conditions involving a fixed base level, there exist solutions to the model that converge towards the satisfaction of an optimality principle by which “mature” surface forms evolve to minimize a function of the sediment flux over the surface, subject to two constraints. We show that self-organizing drainage surfaces determined by this principle are “separable” in terms of their spatial and temporal components and possess a characteristic set of observable geomorphic properties. These properties include self-similar decline and a related “law of height-proportional erosion” by which the erosion in any surface patch is proportional to the average elevation of the patch above the base level. The equations governing this optimality principle are equivalent to those of Smith and Bretherton but, in contrast to the severe instability that solutions to these equations exhibit when used to model the evolution of channelized flows from initially planar surfaces, we show that certain classes of non-planar surfaces provide stable solutions to the equations. In particular, solutions are stable if the direction of the surface gradient at the boundary of a drainage basin is not too closely aligned with the direction of the boundary. This condition implies that stable solutions possess “valleys”. We also present the results of a linearized stability analysis of solutions to a sub-family of our equations in order to prepare the basis for an evaluation of such approaches in modeling the emergence of channelized flows. In the second paper, we examine numerical solutions to our equations, showing that they provide realistic characterizations of drainage basin evolution in accordance with our theory, and show the inadequacy of linearized analyses as models of initial channel growth.