cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
ROLE OF MALATE TRANSPORT IN REGULATING METABOLISM IN MITOCHONDRIA ISOLATED FROM RABBIT BRAIN

— The competition between citrate synthase and aspartate amino transferase for oxaloacetate raises the question of what process controls the availability of oxaloacetate. There are two possible limiting steps (in brain mitochondria pretreated with malonate and incubated in the presence of malate), malate translocation or malate dehydrogenase activity. Incubation of mitochondria with Triton X-100 (100 ng/ml) resulted in an increased malate penetration as measured by a filtration method, but resulted in no stimulation of aspartate formation via aspartate aminotransferase. Inclusion of p-trifluorometh-oxycarbonyl-cyanide phenylhydrazone (0.3 μm) along with Triton (100 ng/ml) in the incubation medium resulted in increased aspartate formation, presumably by raising the NAD+/NADH ratio and thereby increasing the activity of malate dehydrogenase. We conclude from the data described in this report that under the conditions employed here limitation in the availability of oxaloacetate determined by malate dehydrogenase activity controls mitochondrial metabolism and that the malate carrier is not rate limiting.
Mechanical Properties of Metallic Thin Films: Tensile Tests vs. Indentation Tests

The existing interpretations of indentation test data (either theoretical or numerical approaches) have been largely based on isotropic plasticity models of polycrystalline materials while most of the metallic thin films widely used in many microelectronic and MEMS applications are strongly textured with a few grains or only a single grain running through the thickness of the films. The multicrystalline nature of the thin films on correlating their indentation and tensile properties is the focus of our investigation. Using multicrystalline aluminum and copper alloy thin sheets as model material systems, both tensile tests and indentation tests were performed and the testing results were compared based on a 3D crystal plasticity finite element analysis. The correlation between the indentation data and the tensile test data (at an effective or equivalent strain) is critically examined for these two multicrystalline materials.
A Delaunay Simplification Algorithm for Vector Fields

We present a Delaunay based algorithm for simplifying vector field datasets. Our aim is to reduce the size of the mesh on which the vector field is defined while preserving topological features of the original vector field. We leverage a simple paradigm, vertex deletion in Delaunay triangulations, to achieve this goal. This technique is effective for two reasons. First, we guide deletions by a local error metric that bounds the change of the vectors at the affected simplices and maintains regions near critical points to prevent topological changes. Second, piecewise-linear interpolation over Delaunay triangulations is known to give good approximations of scalar fields. Since a vector field can be regarded as a collection of component scalar fields, a Delaunay triangulation can preserve each component and thus the structure of the vector field as a whole. We provide experimental evidence showing the effectiveness of our technique and its ability to preserve features of both two and three dimensional vector fields.
CD8+ T Cells Control Ross River Virus Infection in Musculoskeletal Tissues of Infected Mice

Ross River virus (RRV), chikungunya virus, and related alphaviruses cause debilitating polyarthralgia and myalgia. Mouse models of RRV and chikungunya virus have demonstrated a role for the adaptive immune response in the control of these infections. However, questions remain regarding the role for T cells in viral control, including the magnitude, location, and dynamics of CD8 + T cell responses. To address these questions, we generated a recombinant RRV expressing the H-2 b –restricted glycoprotein 33 (gp33) determinant derived from the glycoprotein of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. Using tetramers, we tracked gp33-specific CD8 + T cells during RRV-lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection. We found that acute RRV infection induces activation of CD8 + T cell responses in lymphoid and musculoskeletal tissues that peak from 10–14 d postinoculation, suggesting that CD8 + T cells contribute to control of acute RRV infection. Mice genetically deficient for CD8 + T cells or wild-type mice depleted of CD8 + T cells had elevated RRV loads in skeletal muscle tissue, but not joint-associated tissues, at 14 d postinoculation, suggesting that the ability of CD8 + T cells to control RRV infection is tissue dependent. Finally, adoptively transferred T cells were capable of reducing RRV loads in skeletal muscle tissue of Rag1 −/− mice, indicating that T cells can contribute to the control of RRV infection in the absence of B cells and Ab. Collectively, these data demonstrate a role for T cells in the control of RRV infection and suggest that the antiviral capacity of T cells is controlled in a tissue-specific manner.
Ground‐water in Utah

In common with many of the arid and semiarid States, the prosperity of Utah probably is more dependent upon the amount of water available than upon any other natural resource. Although only about four per cent of the State is irrigated, a shortage of water for irrigation becomes a major calamity. A large part of the water-supply for the State is derived from surface-streams, but a most valuable supplement to this supply is the water available from underground sources. Ground-water is used extensively for domestic, stock-watering, and industrial purposes as well as for irrigation. The primary source of the municipal water-supply for Salt Lake City is from streams entering the Jordan River Valley from the western slope of the Wasatch Mountains. However, since the drought-year of 1931, a supplementary municipal supply has been obtained from ground-water, and, among the 17 wells developed by the City during the extreme drought of 1934, one—yielding about ten cubic feet per second, or 4500 gallons a minute—is probably the largest in the State. Ogden, the second largest city in Utah, with a population of about 40,000, obtains the major part of its municipal water-supply from a group of artesian wells in Ogden Valley about 12 miles east of the City. A considerable part of the water-supply for the City of Brigham is obtained from wells. Springs constitute the source of most of the water-supply for Logan, Provo, and many smaller towns and localities in the State. In nearly every developed area of the State ground-water is used for some purpose, and in some areas the water-supply is obtained almost entirely from wells.
Design of an ultrafast optical processing chip

This paper describes the design of an ultrafast optical processing (UOP) chip that will be used in a pulse shaping and holographic processing optical system. The UOP chip uses a new technology that combines the performance advantage of GaAs devices with the density advantage of conventional CMOS. Testing features of the UOP chip will also be presented.
Update Conscious Bitmap Indices

Bitmap indices have been widely used in several domains such as data warehousing and scientific applications due to their efficiency in answering certain query types over large data sets. However, their utilization has been largely limited to read-only data sets or to static snapshots of data due to the cost associated with the update and append of new data. Typically, several bitmaps are associated with each indexed attribute in a table, i.e. one for each attribute value, bin, or range. Each one of these bitmaps needs to be updated to reflect a new, appended row. Since a given table could be represented by hundreds or even thousands of bitmaps, the insertion of a single record can be prohibitively costly. In order to transfer the fast query response times offered by bitmap indices to dynamic database domains, we propose an update conscious bitmap index that provides a mechanism to quickly update bitmaps to reflect dynamic database changes. For an insert operation only the bitmaps that represent the values being inserted need to be updated. We formalize the insert and delete operations of the proposed technique and provide a cost model for bitmap updates. We compare the update conscious bitmaps to traditional bitmaps in terms of storage space, update performance, and query execution time.
Sequential SPECT and Optical Imaging of Experimental Models of Prostate Cancer with a Dual Modality Inhibitor of the Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen

We describe a platform for dual modality (radionuclide/optical) imaging of prostate cancer (PCa) based on targeting the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). An example provided demonstrates that after a single intravenous (IV) injection of tracer amounts (0.1 nmol) of imaging agent to a tumor-bearing mouse, both single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging were capable of delineating tumor specifically. That such small injected amounts could identify tumor in vivo suggests that optical agents, as has long been known for radiopharmaceuticals, may obey the tracer principle, enabling more rapid clinical translation.
The dual control of TFIIB recruitment by NC2 is gene specific

Negative co-factor 2 (NC2) is a conserved eukaryotic complex composed of two subunits, NC2alpha (Drap1) and NC2beta (Dr1) that associate through a histone-fold motif. In this work, we generated mutants of NC2, characterized target genes for these mutants and studied the assembly of NC2 and general transcription factors on target promoters. We determined that the two NC2 subunits mostly function together to be recruited to DNA and regulate gene expression. We found that NC2 strongly controls promoter association of TFIIB, both negatively and positively. We could attribute the gene-specific repressor effect of NC2 on TFIIB to the C-terminal domain of NC2beta, and define that it requires ORF sequences of the target gene. In contrast, the positive function of NC2 on TFIIB targets is more general and requires adequate levels of the NC2 histone-fold heterodimer on promoters. Finally, we determined that NC2 becomes limiting for TATA-binding protein (TBP) association with a heat inducible promoter under heat stress. This study demonstrates an important positive role of NC2 for formation of the pre-initiation complex on promoters, under normal conditions through control of TFIIB, or upon activation by stress via control of TBP.
Crowdsourcing for search and data mining

The advent of crowdsourcing is revolutionizing data annotation, evaluation, and other traditionally manual-labor intensive processes by dramatically reducing the time, cost, and effort involved. This in turn is driving a disruptive shift in search and data mining methodology in areas such as: Evaluation: the Cranfield paradigm for search evaluation requires manually assessing document relevance to search queries. Recent work on stochastic evaluation has reduced but not removed this need for manual assessment.Supervised Learning: while traditional costs associated with data annotation have driven recent machine learning work (e.g. Learning to Rank) toward greater use of unsupervised and semi-supervised methods, the emergence of crowdsourcing has made labeled data far easier to acquire, thereby driving a potential resurgence in fully-supervised methods.Applications: Crowdsourcing has introduced exciting new opportunities to integrate human labor into automated systems: handling difficult cases where automation fails, exploiting the breadth of backgrounds, geographic dispersion, real-time response, etc.
Case Reports in Pediatric Psychology: Uses and Guidelines for Authors and Reviewers

Described uses of case reports in pediatric psychology and guidelines for authors and reviewers. Case reports have several important functions: to document the efficacy of new treatment applications, describe interesting new clinical phenomena, to develop hypotheses, to illustrate methodological issues, difficult diagnostic issues, or novel treatment approaches, and to identify unmet clinical and research needs. Authors should carefully document the scientific purpose and clarify the new information contributed by their reports, provide evidence for their conclusions, and articulate clinical, theoretical, and/or research implications.
U.S. attorneys and substantial assistance departures: Testing for interprosecutor disparity

An important and highly discretionary component of the federal sentencing guidelines is the downward departure for providing substantial assistance. Critics charge that the substantial assistance departure, which requires a motion by the prosecutor, may produce the type of unwarranted sentencing disparity that the guidelines were intended to eliminate. Research reveals, for example, that jurisdictional variations are evident in the use of substance assistance departures (Johnson, Ulmer, and Kramer, 2008; Nagel and Schulhofer, 1992), and that the likelihood of receiving the departure is affected by legally irrelevant offender characteristics, which include race, ethnicity, and gender (Mustard, 2001). The purpose of this article is to extend this research by exploring the degree to which decisions regarding substantial assistance departures vary across prosecutors. Using data on offenders sentenced in three U.S. district courts and a multilevel modeling strategy, we investigate whether interprosecutor disparity exists in the likelihood of substantial assistance departures and in the criteria that prosecutors use in deciding whether to file a motion for a substantial assistance departure. Findings indicate that significant interprosecutor variation remains after taking into account offender characteristics, case characteristics, and the district in which the case is adjudicated.
PyPop update – a software pipeline for large‐scale multilocus population genomics

Population genetic statistics from multilocus genotype data inform our understanding of the patterns of genetic variation and their implications for evolutionary studies, generally, and human disease studies in particular. In any given population one can estimate haplotype frequencies, identify deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, test for balancing or directional selection, and investigate patterns of linkage disequilibrium. Existing software packages are oriented primarily toward the computation of such statistics on a population-by-population basis, not on comparisons among populations and across different statistics. We developed PyPop (Python for Population Genomics) to facilitate the analyses of population genetic statistics across populations and the relationships among different statistics within and across populations. PyPop is an open-source framework for performing large-scale population genetic analyses on multilocus genotype data. It computes the statistics described above, among others. PyPop deploys a standard Extensible Markup Language (XML) output format and can integrate the results of multiple analyses on various populations that were performed at different times into a common output format that can be read into a spreadsheet. The XML output format allows PyPop to be embedded as part of a larger analysis pipeline. Originally developed to analyze the highly polymorphic genetic data of the human leukocyte antigen region of the human genome, PyPop has applicability to any kind of multilocus genetic data. It is the primary analysis platform for analyzing data collected for the Anthropological component of the 13th and 14th International Histocompatibility Workshops. PyPop has also been successfully used in studies by our group, with collaborators, and in publications by several independent research teams.
A novel model of common Toll-like receptor 4- and injury-induced transcriptional themes in human leukocytes

Introduction An endotoxin challenge, sepsis, and injury/trauma, trigger significant changes in human peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) gene expression. In this study, we have sought to test the hypothesis that the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) induced transcription patterns elicited in humans exposed to in vivo endotoxin would parallel gene expression patterns observed in trauma patients with initial non-infectious injury. In addition, we sought to identify functional modules that are commonly affected by these two insults of differing magnitude and duration.
The nature and meaning of insulin pump use in emerging adults with type 1 diabetes.

Objective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the meaning of living with an insulin pump for the management of type 1 diabetes during the period of emerging adulthood. Through a phenomenological narrative, this study contributes to the reflective understanding of the everyday life experiences of this population. Methods. A hermeneutic phenomenological design was used for this study of nine emerging adults (aged 19–24 years). Data were generated through face-to-face interviews and analyzed using the phenomenological approach of Max van Manen. Results. Four themes represent the essence of the day-to-day experiences of these emerging adults: seeking control, becoming responsible, staying connected, and accepting me. Conclusions. An in-depth understanding of the meaning of daily experiences with insulin pump technology has the potential to promote a developmentally appropriate approach to this age-group. The human understanding gained through this study is essential to the development of evidence-based practice guidelines and resources for this vulnerable population.
Assessment of joint attention in school-age children and adolescents

Abstract Joint attention (JA), the ability to share attention to an object or event with another person, is one of the earliest identified deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and directly influences language and social development. There are several effective assessments of JA for young children (e.g., Mundy et al., 2003 ), but none are appropriate for school-age or adolescence. We developed a measure of response to JA and assessed individuals with ASD ( n = 18) and typical development ( n = 24), ages 7 to 17. Six naturalistic prompts were interleaved throughout a testing session. Discriminative validity was high: there was a broad range for both groups, though scores were lower for children with ASD. Scores in the ASD group were associated with receptive language, symptomatology, and theory of mind. Reliability across examiners was high ( κ = .875). This measure, which requires no special equipment and minimal training, was useful in capturing JA skills in older individuals with and without ASD. Further, scores were associated with theoretically related skills, indicating high external validity. Given the powerful developmental sequelae and numerous interventions for JA, this measure offers a longitudinal assessment opportunity.
The Polysaccharide Portion of Lipopolysaccharide Regulates Antigen-Specific T-Cell Activation via Effects on Macrophage-Mediated Antigen Processing

The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) structure of Salmonella typhimurium has been correlated with the virulence of wild-type strain LT2. Mutants of LT2 with truncated polysaccharide portions of LPS are less virulent than strains with a complete LPS structure. Polyclonal T cells and monoclonal T-cell hybridomas were more reactive to heat-killed rough mutants than to heat-killed smooth strains, as measured by interleukin-2 (IL-2) production. Using a large panel of strains with truncated LPS molecules, we found that T-cell reactivity decreased with certain lengths of polysaccharide. The decreased response was not due to differential phagocytic uptake, IL-12 production, or major histocompatibility complex class II surface expression by macrophages. Also, LT2 did not mediate any global suppression since addition of LT2 did not diminish the response of T cells specific for antigens unrelated to Salmonella. In an experiment in which processing times were varied, we found that antigens from rough strains were processed and presented more quickly than those associated with smooth strains. At longer processing times, epitopes from LT2 were presented well. We hypothesize that the slower antigen processing and presentation of wild-type Salmonella may be caused by masking of surface antigens by the longer polysaccharide portion of smooth LPS. This blocking of effective antigen presentation may contribute to the virulence of Salmonella.
The Influence of Substrate Properties on the Electrical Characteristics of Ion-Implanted GaAs

The type of substrate used for the formation of n-type layers in GaAs by ion implantation has a pronounced effect on the electrical properties of the implanted and annealed layers. Certain Cr-doped semi-insulating substrates exhibit a marked decrease in sheet resistance during the anneal cycle. We find that the carrier concentration of the converted material increases with the background Si concentration in the starting material. The carrier concentration profile and mobility of implanted and annealed GaAs are dependent on the substrate. The most reproducible and the highest quality layers with regard to mobility and carrier profile are obtained in high purity LPE or high purity bulk starting material. Results from 13 high purity ingots, grown during a one-year period at HP, demonstrate the quality and reproducibility of the layers produced by direct implantation into these substrates.
The Will-to-Live Dependence on a Prosthesis for Survival

Interviews with 100 patients dependent on implanted pacemakers for survival provided data on their will-to-live, extent of social participation, and perceptions of health and of locus of control. The sample was mainly male (N = 81), elderly (mean age = 69 years), poor, and of working-class background. Patients expressed a strong will-to-live; perceived their health to be as good as that of their age peers; were neither strongly internal nor external in locus-of-control orientation; and led quite active social lives. Regression analysis indicated that those persons who perceived themselves as healthier, who were married, who believed in internal control, who were currently experiencing fewer symptoms, and who led more active social lives expressed a stronger will-to-live. These five variables accounted for 25% of the variance observed in the will-to-live of these subjects.
A Spectral Element Solution of the Shallow-Water Equations on Multiprocessor Computers

Abstract A shallow-water spectral element ocean model is implemented on multiple instruction multiple data, distributed memory parallel computers. A communications-minimizing partitioning algorithm for unstructured meshes, based on graph theory, is presented and is shown to improve the efficiency in a limited range of granularities. A domain decomposition implementation with an architecture-independent communications scheme, using message passing, is devised and tested on an nCUBE/2, a Cray T3D, and an IBM SP2. The implementation exhibits high efficiencies over a wide range of granularities. An order of magnitude analysis shows that, to leading order, the efficiency stays constant when KN2 grows proportionally to P, where K is the total number of elements, N is the order of the spectral truncation within an element, and P is the number of processors.
Perceptions of Secondhand and Thirdhand Smoke Among Hispanic Residents of Multiunit Housing

Despite the progressive adoption of smoking bans in public spaces, children living in multi-unit housing remain at risk of exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) and thirdhand smoke (THS). Hispanic populations in California are particularly vulnerable to the harmful effects of SHS and THS because a large proportion of Hispanics live in multi-unit housing. Three focus groups were conducted in the fall of 2012 (in Spanish and English, N = 24) to understand Hispanics’ knowledge of and experiences with SHS and THS, including barriers to avoiding smoke exposure and strategies for protecting their homes from smoke. Hispanic residents reported unpleasant experiences with SHS and THS and were generally knowledgeable about the adverse health effects, although they were not familiar with the term “thirdhand smoke.” Some participants also mentioned marijuana smoke as a potential health hazard. Hispanic cultural values made participants reluctant to confront their neighbors but also motivated them to find ways to protect their families from smoke. Potential solutions included working with the smokers to designate a smoking area and gaining support from the building owners. Broad smoking policies should be implemented to help Hispanic residents overcome cultural and social barriers to smoke free air.
Comments on Pooling Issues and Methods in Regression Analysis

Bass and Wittink cite Wallace's “weaker” criteria to justify pooling data that fail to meet the conventional homogeneity test. They did not, however, actually conduct the test. If they had, they wo...
Linear scaling based dynamic programming algorithm for accurate matching in QBH

A linear scaling(LS) based dynamic programming(DP) algorithm was developed for accurate matching of queries by humming.The query contours are split into phrases,with the LS match calculated for each phrase.Finally dynamic programming is used to analyze on all the phrases to choose the optimal matching path.The algorithm more efficiently considers the query contours related to the phrases,thus,overcoming the missing-global-optimal-path disadvantage of dynamic programming for long path matching.Tests on a 5 223 MIDI database show that the algorithm outperforms the traditional LS method by 10.5%,the DP method by 6.0% and recursive alignment by 2.8% for the top-1 rate.Thus,the algorithm is more efficient and more accurate while being less expense.
Techniques for measuring arterial pressure in the postoperative cardiac surgery patient.

Discrepancies inherent in blood pressure monitoring have resulted in frustration for the critical care nurse. Various physiologic and technical variables that influence direct and indirect blood pressure monitoring are reviewed. A focused review of literature pertaining to current techniques and future trends in monitoring arterial pressure in the cardiac surgery patient is presented to enhance the critical care nurse’s understanding of monitoring and managing their patients postoperatively.
CARCINOID TUMOR AND THE NEPHROTIC SYNDROME : A NOVEL ASSOCIATION BETWEEN NEOPLASIA AND GLOMERULAR DISEASE

Various malignancies are associated with the paraneoplastic evolution of the nephrotic syndrome. Renal biopsy in these instances frequently shows membranous glomerulonephritis. We describe a patient who had metastatic bronchial carcinoid tumor with development of microscopic hematuria and subsequent nephrotic syndrome in conjunction with another paraneoplastic process, a malignancy-related neuropathy. A decline in actual glomerular filtration rate led to percutaneous renal biopsy, which revealed fine holes in the glomerular basement membrane and focal capillary corrugation. Electron microscopy showed numerous small subepithelial dense deposits and fusion of foot processes, confirming the diagnosis of stage I membranous nephropathy. We believe this is the first published case of true carcinoid tumor associated with the nephrotic syndrome and a specific paraneoplastic glomerular lesion. Carcinoid tumor should be considered in the spectrum of malignancies associated with paraneoplastic development of the nephrotic syndrome.
Considering uncertain system parameters in multitarget space surveillance tracking

Consider analysis is an estimation technique that emerged in the 1960s to account for errors in system parameters while simultaneously reducing system dimensionality, and accordingly real-time computational cost, and/or guarding against issues of observability surrounding the parameters. The multitarget joint estimation problem is one whose dynamical and observational systems contain such parameter errors, and these errors can drastically impact the performance of a suboptimal recursion, such as the probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter. A consider formulation of the Gaussian mixture PHD filter is proposed to treat such problems while accounting for errors in system parameters without neglecting or directly estimating them. The proposed algorithm is applied to an example that illustrates its value in space object tracking and orbit determination.
Identifying Uncertainty in Laser Powder Bed Fusion Models

A limitation frequently encountered in additive manufacturing (AM) models is a lack of indication about their precision and accuracy. Often overlooked, information on model uncertainty is required for validation of AM models, qualification of AM-produced parts, and uncertainty management. This paper presents a discussion on the origin and propagation of uncertainty in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) models. Four sources of uncertainty are identified: modeling assumptions, unknown simulation parameters, numerical approximations, and measurement error in calibration data. Techniques to quantify uncertainty in each source are presented briefly, along with estimation algorithms to diminish prediction uncertainty with the incorporation of online measurements. The methods are illustrated with a case study based on a transient, stochastic thermal model designed for melt pool width predictions. Model uncertainty is quantified for single track experiments and the effect of online estimation in overhanging structures is studied via simulation. The application of these concepts to estimation and control of the L-PBF process is suggested.© 2016 ASME
Trade shocks, new industry entry and industry relatedness

ABSTRACTTrade shocks, new industry entry and industry relatedness. Regional Studies. This paper examines the relationship between trade shocks and new industry entry at the regional level. Results show that US urban counties experiencing greater Chinese import penetration are more likely to develop new industries. From an evolutionary perspective, these trade shock-induced new industries may bring new growth opportunities to the local economy. It is also found that the positive impacts of trade shocks on industry entry are enhanced by industry relatedness. This suggests trade shock-induced industrial branching is also path dependent and can be influenced by the pre-existing industry structure of a region.
Modified Russell Two-Point GFR Method: Comparison of Filtered versus Unfiltered Plasma on GFR Results

2721 Objectives Currently our department uses the modified Russell two-point GFR method with both filtered and unfiltered plasma to evaluate patient glomerular filtration rate values. Because filtering GFR samples are tedious and time consuming, we evaluated the differences in GFR values when using unfiltered plasma samples compared to filtered plasma samples. Methods GFR values in 24 patients were assessed. For each patient, Tc99m DTPA (4 mCi ± 0.8 mCi) from Drax Image was injected and blood samples drawn at 60 min (± 5 min) and at 180 min (± 5 min). All samples were centrifuged (3700 rpm) for 10 minutes and separated plasma pipetted into Millipore Centrifugal Filter Units (Merck) and again centrifuged (3700 rpm) for 30 min. Aliquots (0.1 ml) of filtered and unfiltered plasma were added to counting tubes and counted using a sodium iodide (NaI) well detector for a minimum of 10,000 counts. GFR values were obtained using the Russell two-point methodology. The results for unfiltered GFR values were multiplied by 1.2 to account for protein bound DTPA. The percent variance in GFR values between filtered and unfiltered was calculated for all patients and also split between patients with GFR values greater than 100 ml/min and less than 100 ml/min. Results The mean variance in GFR values between filtered and unfiltered plasma samples in the 24 patients evaluated was 0.8% ± 2.6% (sd) with a range of -5.7% to 5.6%. In patients with higher GFR values (>100), the mean variance was 0.6% ± 3.1% (sd) and in patients with lower GFR values (<100), the mean variance was 0.9% ± 2.4 (sd). The data demonstrated acceptable differences in GFR values when using corrected unfiltered plasma samples with the Russell two-point GFR method. Conclusions A modified Russell two-point method was used to evaluate GFR values in 24 patients using filtered and unfiltered plasma samples. Results confirmed that unfiltered plasma was acceptable in performing GFR studies. Due to the outcome of the study, we are considering implementing the unfiltered GFR procedure.
Sub-decadal submarine landslides are important drivers of deltaic sediment flux: Insights from the Mississippi River Delta Front

Submarine mass failures triggered by energetic forcing events such as hurricanes and earthquakes are relatively well studied due to the potential for infrastructure damage and tsunami generation; such failures are common on heavily sedimented margins where underconsolidated deposits are preconditioned to fail. However, studies of seafloor sediment movement between large events remain scarce. Using repeat bathymetric surveys of the Mississippi River Delta Front (MRDF), we document substantial seafloor movement in absence of major hurricanes. About 1 m/yr of deepening was observed within preexisting failures, with downslope sediment transport on the order of 10 5 m 3 /yr. Outside failure features, seafloor depths remained stable or showed minor (<20 cm/yr) accretion. MRDF volumetric sediment flux during hurricane-driven mass failures is an order of magnitude greater than the annual flux during a quiescent interval. When normalized by time, however, sediment flux during the quiescent interval (5.5 × 10 5 m 3 /yr) was half that of hurricane-driven mass failures (1.1 × 10 6 m 3 /yr). These observations corroborate our wave modeling results, which infer that even waves of 1 yr recurrence interval can generate differential seafloor pressures sufficient to trigger submarine landslides; this does not exclude the possibility of river floods also being agents of failure. These findings indicate that sub-decadal submarine landslides are important to MRDF dynamics, comparable to the role of major hurricanes, and observation during seemingly quiescent periods is necessary to holistically assess sediment flux. The periodicity and prevalence of moderate-scale mass transport documented here corroborates similar recent studies offshore other deltas globally, indicating that highstand mass and time budgets of shelf to deep-sea sediment flux, in addition to organic carbon and bioreactive particles, may need to be revised.
Friction-Induced Mitochondrial Dysregulation Contributes to Joint Deterioration in Prg4 Knockout Mice

Deficiency of PRG4 (lubricin), the boundary lubricant in mammalian joints, contributes to increased joint friction accompanied by superficial and upper intermediate zone chondrocyte caspase-3 activation, as shown in lubricin-null (Prg4−/−) mice. Caspase-3 activity appears to be reversible upon the restitution of Prg4 either endogenously in vivo, in a gene trap mouse, or as an applied lubricant in vitro. In this study we show that intra-articular injection of human PRG4 in vivo in Prg4−/− mice prevented caspase-3 activation in superficial zone chondrocytes and was associated with a modest decrease in whole joint friction measured ex vivo using a joint pendulum method. Non-lubricated Prg4−/− mouse cartilage shows caspase cascade activation caused by mitochondrial dysregulation, and significantly higher levels of peroxynitrite (ONOO− and −OH) and superoxide (O−2) compared to Prg4+/+ and Prg4+/− cartilage. Enzymatic activity levels of caspase 8 across Prg4 mutant mice were not significantly different, indicating no extrinsic apoptosis pathway activation. Western blots showed caspase-3 and 9 activation in Prg4−/− tissue extracts, and the appearance of nitrosylated Cys163 in the active cleft of caspase-3 which inhibits its enzymatic activity. These findings are relevant to patients at risk for arthrosis, from camptodactyl-arthropathy-coxa vara-pericarditis (CACP) syndrome and transient lubricin insufficiency due to trauma and inflammation.
Strategies on How to Diagnose, Prevent, and Treat Pulmonary Vein Stenosis

Imaging strategies used to facilitate catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) have provided a deeper understanding of the anatomy of the pulmonary veins (PVs). Pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) is a possible complication of AF ablation and can present either asymptomatically or symptomatically. Symptoms such as dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, chest pain, or the generalized appearance of bronchitis or pneumonia can be present in clinically relevant PVS. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography are the best imaging strategies for establishing the presence and severity of PVS. Ventilation/profusion nuclear scanning can provide insight into the physiology of blood flow within the stenosed PV. Intervention for PVS is indicated in patients with significant symptoms or progressive stenosis in more than one vein and in patients with more than 85% to 95% stenosis in the absence of symptoms. Risks of pulmonary vein dilation include infection, bruising, pain, hematoma, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, or peripheral artery damage. When stenosed vessels are appropriately dilated, the lesions typically decrease from the prestenosis level down to 0% to 20%. However, follow-up studies have shown a high rate of instent and insegment restenosis, and because of the unavailability of coated stents 10 mm or larger in diameter, stenting on the first procedure is not currently recommended or practiced in large centers undertaking frequent interventional vein dilation procedures. Patients must be aware that two or three procedures could be required to complete the dilation process with or without stenting. Long-term follow-up studies have shown that extensive collateralization of vessels over time can be a chief factor in reducing symptoms. A careful assessment of the risk of the procedure must be weighed against the potential likelihood of success prior to intervention.
Prevalence and Predictors of Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension in Armenian Americans in Los Angeles.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to describe the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) along with associated risk factors among Armenian Americans living in Los Angeles.Me...
Premorbid ADHD and Concussion in Pediatric Population (P6.297)

Objective: Is a patient with premorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at increased risk for concussion? Is the etiology of the concussion associated with premorbid ADHD? Background: ADHD is a common diagnosis in children and adolescents. It is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by the core symptoms of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention; it is related to impairments in executive functioning. Given this diagnosis, we suspect children with ADHD are at increased risk for behavior which can result in concussions. Design/Methods: The study was a retrospective analysis using our pediatric concussion clinic database spanning just over 2 years of patients ranging from ages 3–17 years. A total of 128 patients were analyzed to assess if a premorbid diagnosis of ADHD existed at the time of concussion and if the etiology of the concussion could be associated with ADHD. 127 patients were included in the statistics; 1 patient with unknown etiology was removed from the calculations. Results: Out of the 127 patients included in the calculations, 35 patients had premorbid ADHD (27.6%). Etiologies included all-terrain vehicle (ATV) accidents, falls, motor vehicle collisions (MVCs), and sports (baseball, basketball, football, bikes, tetherball, hover-board, soccer). 7 out of 16 patients involved in ATV accidents had ADHD (43.8%). 6 out of 21 patients with falls had ADHD (28.6 %). 16 out of 60 patients involved in MVCs had ADHD (26.7 %). 6 out of 30 patients playing sports had ADHD (20%); 3 out of 14 football incidents (21.4 %) and 3 out of 5 biking accidents (60%). Conclusions: In our analysis, it seems roughly 30% of patients with concussions have premorbid ADHD. Biking and ATV accidents leading to concussions, have higher likelihood of premorbid ADHD than the other etiologies recorded. Disclosure: Dr. Edwards has nothing to disclose. Dr. Witt has nothing to disclose. Dr. Dawson has nothing to disclose. Dr. Harkey has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bui has nothing to disclose.
Abstract #5347: The lung tumor suppressor GPRC5A inhibits activation of NF-\#954;B in human non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma cells

G-protein coupled receptor family C, group 5, member A, (GPRC5A) is a seven trans-membrane protein. The expression pattern of the GPRC5A gene is unique, almost exclusively in lung tissue. GPRC5A expression is frequently suppressed in human lung cancers, including lung adenocarcinoma. This suggests that inactivation of this gene may contribute to lung tumorigenesis. Indeed, we have previously found that knockout of both alleles of the mouse Gprc5a gene enhances spontaneous lung carcinogenesis. Lung epithelial cells isolated from lungs of knockout mice had a constitutively activated nuclear factor kappa B (NF-\#954;B) and tumors that developed in this model were associated with inflammatory cells. Because chronic inflammation and aberrant NF-\#954;B activation have been implicated in human lung carcinogenesis as well, in this study we explored the relationship between GPRC5A expression and NF-\#954;B activation. We found that re-expression of GPRC5A in human adenocarcinoma H1792 cells, which express low level of GPRC5A, inhibits tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced NF-\#954;B activation and suppresses the transformed phenotype (anchorage-independent growth). GPRC5A-mediated NF-\#954;B inhibition was also observed in human colon cancer cell line HCT116 and human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells immortalized with sheared fragments of adenovirus (Ad)5 DNA. Inhibition of NF-\#954;B activity by GPRC5A was correlated with loss of anchorage-independent growth and increased anoikis. The mechanism of NF-\#954;B inhibition was associated with GPRC5A-mediated inhibition of I\#954;B\#945; degradation. Over-expression of GPRC5A resulted in increased formation of a complex containing \#946;-arrestin 2, I\#954;B\#945; and the NF-\#954;B subunit p65. Depletion of \#946;-arrestin 2 by siRNA restored NF-\#954;B activation in GPRC5A stable transfectants evidenced by expression of TRAF1 a downstream target of NF-\#954;B. This result suggests that increased interaction of \#946;-arrestin 2 with I\#954;B\#945;/p65 complex is involved in GPRC5A-mediated inhibition of NF-\#954;B. An analysis of 150 cases of human lung adenocarcinoma by immunohistochemical staining revealed that increased nuclear localization of NF-\#954;B indicating activation correlated with suppressed expression of GPRC5A. These results have led to the conclusion that GPRC5A functions as a physiological inhibitor of NF-\#954;B activation in lung tissue and thereby suppress carcinogenesis. Further, we propose that GPRC5A function as a tumor suppressor in human lung tissue because its deletion or repression of its expression leads to aberrant activation of NF-\#954;B pathway and tumorigenesis. Citation Information: In: Proc Am Assoc Cancer Res; 2009 Apr 18-22; Denver, CO. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; 2009. Abstract nr 5347.
A comparative analysis of public administration education in the United States and post-Soviet Central Asia

In democracies, the importance of public service is taught in the public administration curriculum, with an emphasis on democratic governance and how administering public goods contribute to a democratic society. This comparative work contributes to the field of study by applying theories of democratic values of public administration to the process of democratization. The study focuses on a comparative study of graduate-level curriculum delivery in the United States and public administration schools in post-Soviet Central Asia (primarily in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic) governments. This work explores the curricula of public administration institutes under the Presidents of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic. The curriculum, which tends to be controlled by the regime transitioning to democracy, prepares future public servants for state management.
Nonnegatively Constrained Confidence Interval Estimation for Ill-Posed Problems

Let the m x n linear model $$\hat{y}=K\bar{x}+\hat{\epsilon}$$ be obtained by discretizing a system of first-kind integral equations $$\hat{y}_i=\int_{a}^{b}K_i(\xi)x(\xi)d\xi+\hat{\epsilon}_i,i+1,...m,$$ with known functions K i(ξ), unknown function x(ξ) and an m-vector ŷ of measurements corrupted by random errors є drawn from a distribution with zero mean vector and known variance matrix. Consider the problem of estimating linear functions of the form $$\phi=w^T\bar{x}\approx \int_{a}^{b}w(\xi)x(\xi)d\xi,$$ where w(ξ) is an averaging function designed to elicit some desired information about x(ξ). For such problems, the least squares solution is a highly unstable function of the measurements, and the classical confidence intervals are too wide to be useful. The solution can often be stabilized by imposing physically motivated, a priori non-negativity constraints on x. This paper will show how to extend the classical confidence interval estimation technique to accommodate these nonnegativity constraints and how to compute the resulting much-improved confidence intervals.
Ethics And Corporal Punishment Within The Schools Across The Globe

This paper contains cultural anthropological research on various discipline measures used within the classrooms in India, United Kingdom, China, Africa, and the United States. My recent visit to schools in India on study abroad programs prompted my desire to research across the globe different methods of classroom management discipline conducted within the schools. Findings suggest that corporal punishment is being favored among most countries. Hitting or yelling at a child, a common practice in some schools is not ethically acceptable by me, as an educator, nor by my students who witnessed several incidences whilst in India. We were caught in the ethics verses culturally acceptable norm dilemma. The purpose of this paper is not to devise specific discipline measures at this juncture, but rather to investigate the acceptable practices within the classrooms in the above stated countries. Implications for this only further my ethical obligations and challenges that lie ahead.
Effect of a change in third party reimbursement rate on prescription gross margin.

Abstract Objective: To measure the effect of a change in an insurance company's reimbursement formula on prescription department gross margins for all prescriptions and subgroups of prescriptions. Design: Retrospective descriptive analysis. Setting: Wisconsin. Partici pant.: Two units of a chain pharmacy. Intervention: Reimbursement changed from usual and customary price to average wholesale price less 10% plus a $2.00 dispensing fee for single-source products, and maximum allowable cost plus a $2.00 dispensing fee for multisource products. Main Outcome Measure: Gross margins for prescriptions dispensed in the month before and after the reimbursement change. Results: The average estimated gross margin decreased 26.9% after the change in reimbursement, and the effect on the average gross margin for generic prescriptions was nearly twice that of the effect on the average gross margin for brand name prescriptions. The effect of the reimbursement change on different therapeutic classes ranged from an increase of 0.7% in the cardiovascular class to a decrease of 68.2% in the eyes, ears, nose, and throat class. The effect of the reimbursement change was greater for low-cost prescriptions than for high-cost prescriptions. Conclusion: The large effect of the reimbursement change, combined with continued growth in third party prescriptions, raises concerns about whether pharmacies can accept third party contracts with low reimbursement rates and still maintain current profitability and service levels.
Jewish Press: National Jewish Periodicals, Broadcast Media, Local Jewish Periodicals

This chapter provides lists with contact information (name, address, phone number, website) for 144 national Jewish periodicals and 4 broadcast media and 186 local Jewish periodicals.