cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
IL-33 promotes eosinophilia in vivo and antagonizes IL-5-dependent eosinophil hematopoiesis ex vivo

IL-33 is an IL-1 family cytokine that elicits IL-5-dependent eosinophilia in vivo. We show here that IL-33 promotes minimal eosinophil hematopoiesis via direct interactions with mouse bone marrow progenitors ex vivo and that it antagonizes eosinophil hematopoiesis promoted by IL-5 on SCF and Flt3L primed bone marrow progenitor cells in culture. SCF and Flt3L primed progenitors respond to IL-33 by acquiring an adherent, macrophage-like phenotype, and by releasing macrophage-associated cytokines into the culture medium. IL-33-mediated antagonism of IL-5 was reproduced in part by the addition of GM-CSF and was inhibited by the actions of neutralizing anti-GM-CSF antibody. These findings suggest that the direct actions of IL-33 on bone marrow progenitors primed with SCF and Flt3L are antagonistic to the actions of IL-5 and are mediated in part by GM-CSF.
Calcium and potassium fertilization of potatoes grown in North Florida I. Effects on potato yield and tissue Ca and K concentrations

Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) were grown during 3 seasons on an Ellzey fine sandy soil to evaluate the effects of Ca and K rate, Ca placement, and cultivar on tuber yield and Ca and K concentration. Mehlich I soil extractable Ca concentration ranged from 436 to 860 mg·kgt-1. Application of Ca at 0, 450 and 900 kg·hat-1 from gypsum increased soil Ca in each season, petiole Ca in 2 of 3 seasons, and tuber medulla and periderm Ca concentrations in one of three seasons. Tuber yields were increased from 29.8 to 31.6 t·hat-1 with an increase from 0 to 450 kg Ca·hat-1 in one of three seasons. Tuber specific gravity was not affected by Ca rate. With an increase in application of K from 225 to 450 kg·hat-1, Ca concentrations were decreased in the petiole and medulla in 2 of 3 seasons and in the periderm in 1 of 3 seasons. Petiole, medulla, and periderm K concentrations were increased in 2 of 3 seasons with an increase in K rate. Yields were not affected by K rate, but specific gravities of tubers were lower in 2 of 3 seasons with an increase in K rate. Broadcast placement of Ca resulted in higher petiole, medulla, and periderm Ca and higher tuber yields in 1 of 2 seasons than with band placement (the placement effect on yield occurred in the season that placement had no effect on tissue Ca). Periderm tissue of Superior was higher in Ca than that of La Chipper, and petiole tissues of Atlantic were higher than that of Superior, but medulla tissue in 1 of 2 seasons was higher in Ca with Superior than Atlantic. Tuber yields and specific gravities were higher with La Chipper and Atlantic than with Superior.
The Obesity Paradox

The term "obesity paradox" refers to the observation that, although obesity is a major risk factor in the development of cardiovascular and peripheral vascular disease, when acute cardiovascular decompensation occurs, for example, in myocardial infarction or congestive heart failure, obese patients may have a survival benefit. In addition, it has been suggested that obese patients tend to fare better after certain surgical procedures, such as coronary artery bypass surgery. Moreover, it appears that obese men with chronic hypertensive heart disease live longer than men of normal weight. Mounting evidence shows that obesity alone may confer a survival benefit independent of age, medical care, or therapy. Perhaps the definition of obesity needs to be revisited, and it is also possible that all fat is not equal.
Education and practice partnerships in California

As the most populous state in the United States, California often serves as a bellwether of events to come. The following describes nursing work force issues in California, examples of how nurse educators are responding to health care system changes, and how practice colleagues are joining educators to prepare nurses for meeting the health needs of the people of California. The discussion begins with historical perspectives from the late 1980s to the present, the founding of the California Strategic Planning Committee for Nursing and its work, the Robert Wood Johnson Colleagues in Caring project for developing a master plan for nursing in California, and examples of existing programs in California that serve as models for preparing the best care providers to meet the health care needs of the population.
How IT governance is changing

Global connectivity is now a common expectation. But as corporations reach out and become available globally 24 hours a day, they're exposed to much greater information technology (IT) security risks. And they also must focus on optimizing the value of their IT resources. So, constant oversight, or IT governance, is critical. But it has to deal with a continually changing landscape. And although companies have made much progress in recent years, many businesses still have a long way to go. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Potentiation of metalloenediyne cytotoxicity by hyperthermia.

Purpose: Enediynes are potent inducers of DNA damage, but their clinical usefulness has been limited. Here we report the thermal enhancement of cytotoxicity of two novel metalloenediyne compounds at concentrations that are either not or minimally cytotoxic at 37°C, and present evidence regarding possible mechanisms for enhanced cytotoxicity.Materials and methods: HeLa cells were exposed to (Z)-N,N′-bis[1-pyridyl-2-yl-meth-(E)-ylidene]octa-4-ene-2,6-diyne-1,8-diamine (PyED) (which becomes metallated in culture medium) or ((Z)-N,N′-bis[quinolin-2-yl-meth-(E)-ylidene]octa-4-ene-2,6-diyne-1,8-diamine)zinc(II) chloride (QuinED · ZnCl2) at 37°C or 42.5°C for 1 h, and clonogenic survival was compared after treatment at each temperature. Analyses of cell cycle progression and mode of death were performed after treatments.Results: Treatment with PyED or QuinED · ZnCl2 resulted in a significant decrease in cell survival when cells were treated with drug at 42.5°C compared to 37°C. Enhanced cytotoxicity was attribut...
A hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of midwives' ways of knowing during childbirth.

Abstract Objective to explore the ways of knowing used by the midwife while attending women during childbirth through textual analysis of poems written by American midwives. Design a hermeneutic phenomenology and human science research method inspired by van Manen was used. Midwifery ways of knowing during childbirth were thematically derived from 10 poems written by midwives about attending childbirth or the experience of being a midwife. Textual analysis included examination of the poems as a whole, via verse and metaphor, and via individual lines of prose. Participants 10 American midwives wrote the poems used in this study. The poems were discovered through online searches of many databases using the key words ‘poetry, poems, midwifery and childbirth' and through a national call for poetry by the researcher over a period of 4 years (1996–2000), undertaken in order to publish an anthology of poetry written by midwives. Findings three authoritative ways of knowing that guided the care given by the midwife to women during childbirth were discovered. They were self-knowledge from the belief system of the individual midwife, grounded knowledge from the midwife's personal lived experience with childbirth, and informed knowledge from objective and scholarly sources. Key conclusions midwives must continue to develop their own body of knowledge in order to move the profession forward. Multiple ways of knowing including the use of experiential/contextual and intuitive knowledge is legitimate and humane, if provision of care is holistic. Care of women during childbirth can be enhanced with the use of multiple knowers and multiple ways of knowing. This study captured a unique and fresh interpretation of the lived experience of midwifery knowledge. Midwifery educational programmes should offer opportunities for students to explore the artistry as well as the science of midwifery practice.
Parents’ developmental concerns and age variance at diagnosis of children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract Although early recognition of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is important, the age of children at diagnosis is variable. Forty-five participants diagnosed with ASD were divided into groups based on age at diagnosis and compared on age when parents first became concerned about various aspects of their development. Results demonstrated no differences between the two groups with regard to most factors except Early Intervention referral. While concerns about atypical behavior and attainment of milestones were similar between the groups, parents in the early diagnosis group noted social development concerns at an earlier age (mean 18.0 vs. 25.3 months), suggesting close surveillance of this particular developmental domain may facilitate earlier ASD referral and diagnosis.
Measurement of the (p,γ) cross sections of 46Ti, 64Zn, 114Sn, and 116Sn at astrophysically relevant energies

Abstract The total cross sections for the Sn 116 ( p , γ ) Sb 117 , Sn 114 ( p , γ ) Sb 115 , Zn 64 ( p , γ ) Ga 65 , and Ti 46 ( p , γ ) V 47 reactions have been measured using an activation technique for protons with center-of-mass energies between about 1 and 4 MeV. Radiative proton captures on 116Sn and 64Zn are compared to previous measurements while extending the measured energy range of the cross sections. From these measurements, astrophysical S-factors have been deduced by integrating NON-SMOKER results which have been scaled to the deduced S-factors in the measured energy range. Comparisons are made to thermonuclear reaction rates from the MOST and NON-SMOKER statistical model calculations. The accuracies of these codes are discussed in light of possible structure differences of the nuclei in question.
Rotational dating of middle-aged stars

By the age of about 100 million years, the rotational velocity of solar mass stars becomes independent of the initial rotation rate on the main sequence, due to the strong dependence of the angular momentum loss rate on the rotation rate; once this common value is reached, the rotation velocity depends only on time and the mass of the star. Thus, the measured rotation rate of a low-mass star provides an estimate of its age when its mass is known. The observed rotation periods of low-mass stars in the Hyades are used to test this conclusion and to check the validity of the theoretical angular momentum loss rates. Adapting the magnetic braking model of Kawaler (1988), the angular momentum loss rate is integrated to derive a relation between rotation period and age, and this relation is converted to a period-age-color relation using simple stellar models. Using this method, a mean rotational age for the Hyades is obtained which is in close agreement with the age determined by isochrone fitting.
Surgical resection and permanent brachytherapy for recurrent atypical and malignant meningioma.

OBJECTIVE Recurrent atypical and malignant meningiomas are difficult to treat successfully. Chemotherapy to date has been unsuccessful, and radiosurgery is limited to smaller tumors. Reoperation alone provides limited tumor control and limited prolonged survival. The addition of brachytherapy at the time of operation is an option. Here, we report the results of our series of patients with recurrent malignant meningioma treated with resection and brachytherapy with permanent low-dose (125)I. METHODS The charts of patients in our database with recurrent atypical and malignant meningiomas treated by surgical resection and permanent (125)I brachytherapy at the University of California, San Francisco, between 1988 and 2002 were selected for this study. Calculations of disease-free survival and overall survival curves were made by the Kaplan-Meier actuarial method. Univariate analysis between Kaplan-Meier curves was based on the log-rank statistic, with a significance level set at a value of P </= 0.05. RESULTS Seventeen patients had recurrent malignant meningioma, and four had recurrent atypical meningioma. The median number of sources implanted after surgical resection was 30 (range, 4-112 sources), with a median total activity of 20 mCi (range, 3.3-85.9 mCi). The median time to progression after brachytherapy was 11.6 months for patients with malignant meningioma and 10.4 months for the combined group. There was a trend toward longer disease-free survival time in patients after gross total resection versus subtotal resection and in patients with tumors located at the convexity and parasagittally versus at the cranial base. These differences did not reach statistical significance. The median overall survival after diagnosis was 9.4 years for patients with atypical meningioma, 6.6 years for those with malignant meningioma, and 8.0 years for all patients combined. Survival from the time of resection and implantation of (125)I was 1.6 years for patients with atypical meningioma, 2.4 years for patients with malignant meningioma, and 2.4 years for the combined group. Thirty-three percent of patients had complications requiring surgical intervention. Radiation necrosis occurred in 27% of patients; 13% underwent surgery for radiation necrosis. In addition, 27% had a wound breakdown and required surgical intervention. CONCLUSION The options for patients with recurrent atypical or malignant meningiomas are limited. Our results suggest that for tumors not suitable for radiosurgery, resection followed by permanent brachytherapy should be considered as a potential salvage treatment. However, this approach results in a relatively high complication rate in these heavily treated patients and requires meticulous surgical technique and medical therapies to assist with wound healing after surgery.
A high temperature, ultra high vacuum facility for heavy ion simulation of neutron radiation damage to potential reactor materials☆

Abstract The University of Wisconsin-Madison facility for simulating neutron damage to potential reactor materials is described. Heavy metal ions from a tandem accelerator bombard metal specimens heated as high as 1000°C at pressures below 10 −8 torr. Special feautures of the facility include a radiation heater assembly which allows integration of the beam current, an ultra high vacuum environment which is characterized by partial pressure analysis, use of 15–20 MeV heavy metal ions to induce the damage in the specimens, and direct measurement of the beam composition. This facility is suitable for studying radiation effects in the refractory metals as well as other potential reactor materials.
Virtual reality-based facial expressions understanding for teenagers with autism

Technology-enabled intervention has the potential to individualize and improve outcomes of traditional intervention. Specifically, virtual reality (VR) technology has been proposed in the virtual training of core social and communication skills that are impaired in individuals with autism. Various studies have demonstrated that children with autism have slow and atypical processing of emotional faces, which could be due to their atypical underlying neural structure. Emotional face recognition is considered among the core building blocks of social communication and early impairment in this skill has consequence on later complex language and communication skills. This work proposed a VR-based facial emotion recognition mechanism in the presence of contextual storytelling. Results from a usability study support the idea that individuals with autism may employ different facial processing strategies. The results are discussed in the context of the applicability of multimodal processing to enable adaptive VR-based systems in delivering individualized intervention.
Caring for depressed and suicidal older patients: a survey of physicians and nurse practitioners.

Objective:This study sought to describe patterns of mental health care for depressed and suicidal geriatric patients by primary care physicians (MDs) and nurse practitioners (NPs).Methods:A probabi...
The Genetics of Human Skin Disease

The skin is composed of a variety of cell types expressing specific molecules and possessing different properties that facilitate the complex interactions and intercellular communication essential for maintaining the structural integrity of the skin. Importantly, a single mutation in one of these molecules can disrupt the entire organization and function of these essential networks, leading to cell separation, blistering, and other striking phenotypes observed in inherited skin diseases. Over the past several decades, the genetic basis of many monogenic skin diseases has been elucidated using classical genetic techniques. Importantly, the findings from these studies has shed light onto the many classes of molecules and essential genetic as well as molecular interactions that lend the skin its rigid, yet flexible properties. With the advent of the human genome project, next-generation sequencing techniques, as well as several other recently developed methods, tremendous progress has been made in dissecting the genetic architecture of complex, non-Mendelian skin diseases.
Effect of Age-at-Release on Long Term Sexual Re-offense Rates in Civilly Committed Sexual Offenders

A cohort of 136 rapists and 115 child molesters civilly committed to a prison in Massachusetts and followed for 25 years (see Prentky, Lee, Knight, & Cerce, 1997) was examined for the effect of age at time of release on sexual recidivism. The present study (1) examined the recidivism rates for each of five age-at-release groups, separately for rapists and child molesters, (2) tested the fit of linear and quadratic models for 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25-year windows using Cox regression analysis, (3) presented the predicted failure rates for rapists (up to five years post-release) and child molesters (out 21 years post-release), and (4) provided a computational formula for estimating the sexual recidivism rate given an individual’s age and number of years post-release. For rapists, a linear model extending 5 years best captured our data (LR=5.62, p<.02). Going out any further than 5 years did not enhance the predictive efficacy of the model. By contrast, a quadratic model extending the full duration of the study (25 years) provided the best fit (LR=6.30, p<.04) for child molesters. Our data supported the general conclusion that risk of sexual recidivism diminishes as a function of increasing age at time of release for rapists. We found marked differences, however, in the re-offense patterns of rapists and child molesters, with the latter group evidencing a distinct quadratic, rather than linear, pattern. Since these findings derive from a population screened for civil commitment by virtue of their presumptive dangerousness, they may not be generalizable to samples of sex offenders drawn from the general prison population.
Low serum cholesterol and suicide

Primary prevention trials which have shown that the lowering of serum cholesterol concentrations in middle-aged subjects by diet, drugs, or both leads to a decrease in coronary heart disease have also reported an increase in deaths due to suicide or violence. There has been no adequate explanation for this association. I have reviewed the relevant published work and describe a physiological mechanism that might account for this curious finding. One of the functions of serotonin in the central nervous system is the suppression of harmful behavioural impulses. When mouse brain synaptosomal membrane cholesterol is increased there is a pronounced increase in the number of serotonin receptors. Low membrane cholesterol decreases the number of serotonin receptors. Since membrane cholesterol exchanges freely with cholesterol in the surrounding medium, a lowered serum cholesterol concentration may contribute to a decrease in brain serotonin, with poorer suppression of aggressive behaviour.
Psychometric Profiles and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Function in Men With Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome

Purpose: Abnormal regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and diurnal cortisol rhythms are associated with several pain and chronic inflammatory conditions. Chronic stress may have a role in the disorder of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome related to initiation or exacerbation of the syndrome. We tested the hypothesis that men with chronic pelvic pain syndrome have associated disturbances in psychosocial profiles and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function.Materials and Methods: A total of 45 men with chronic pelvic pain syndrome and 20 age matched, asymptomatic controls completed psychometric self-report questionnaires including the Type A personality test, Perceived Stress Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory and Brief Symptom Inventory for distress from physical symptoms. Saliva samples were collected on 2 consecutive days at 9 specific times with strict reference to time of morning awakening for evaluation of free cortisol, reflecting secretory activity of the hypothalamic-...
Climatology of nocturnal rainfall for Northeast Kansas, 1950–2012

Nighttime rainfall has long been thought of as an important component to the central Great Plains hydroclimate during the wettest three-month period known as the “late spring - early summer precipitation maximum” from May–July (MJJ), though the climatological characteristics in Kansas are not very well documented in the literature. The nighttime rainfall characteristics are examined based on hourly precipitation data for Topeka, KS and other Kansas stations for a 63-year period from 1950–2012 for May–July. Nighttime rainfall is a major contributor to the overall moisture budget in the Great Plains, contributing over 50% of the overall rainfall total for the three-month period, with an increase in the percentage from May to July. Most nocturnal rainfall events initiate around the local midnight hour, with earlier start times in May compared to June and July. The greatest hourly precipitation tends to occur around the same time, with a gradual step down into the mid-morning hours. Geographically, areas in t...
Scalable Fault Diagnosis in IP Networks using Graphical Models: A Variational Inference Approach

In this paper we investigate the fault diagnosis problem in IP networks. We provide a lower bound on the average number of probes per edge using variational inference technique proposed in the context of graphical models under noisy probe measurements. To obtain the bounds, we construct a graphical model using Bayesian networks. The advantages of the variational inference technique are the explicit choices of a simplifying conjugate function and a computationally tolerable approximation to address the intractable detection problem for large networks. We propose an entropy lower (EL) bound by drawing similarities between the coding problem over binary symmetric channel and the diagnosis problem and compare it against the variational lower bound. In addition, we discuss scalable and non-scalable scenarios in the presence of noise. Simulation results demonstrate that indeed the variational inference technique can provide a linear growth of the average number of probes per edge as a function of the network size.
Can Improving Knowledge of Antibiotic-Associated Adverse Drug Events Reduce Parent and Patient Demand for Antibiotics?

Background:According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 2 million people are infected and 23,000 die each year in the United States as a result of antibiotic-resistant bact...
Auditing Requirements for Implementing the Chinese Wall Model in the Service Cloud

The service cloud model allows for the composition of services into an application that can respond to tenant requests. The composition of services, which may originate with different vendors, results in a service chain that supports end-to-end round trip messaging. Thus, the service cloud model must support provisioning services for the request without incurring a conflict of interest (COI) in their message exchange among vendors. Service vendors must disclose their COI classes for storage and analysis by the cloud because as services are provisioned to an application, additional conflict classes may be added, preventing the service from future compositions to avoid COI. In this paper, we present a strategy to centrally store and monitor COI classes for services in a service chain using principles of the Chinese Wall Model. We introduce a Security Monitoring Database (SMDB) that audits and monitors the COI classes as they exist or are assigned to hosted services, including the tenant services making requests. We describe an algorithm to prevent COI before provisioning services and dynamically detect it during run time due to concurrent service invocations using the SMDB information.
Constraints to green vehicle ownership: A focus group study

Abstract We consider constraints that prevent people with environmental concerns from buying “green” vehicles that are smaller, more fuel-efficient, and less polluting by using a series of focus group discussions. We find that the features of vehicles currently on the market, family and work responsibilities, residential choices, and routines and preferences all act as constraints. Serious misunderstandings about the environmental impacts of owning and using vehicles also were noted, making it difficult for many to accurately assess their alternatives. For some, environmental concerns are unlikely to influence future vehicle purchase decisions, even if constraints were removed altogether; other priorities have taken and will take precedence over the environmental impacts of their choices.
Toxic Effects of Modified Fenton Reactions on Xanthobacter flavus FB71

The toxic effects of modified Fenton reactions on Xanthobacter flavus FB71, measured as microbial survival rates, were determined as part of an investigation of simultaneous abiotic and biotic oxidations of xenobiotic chemicals. A central composite, rotatable experimental design was developed to study the survival rates of X. flavus under various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and iron(II) and at different initial cell populations. A model based on the experimental results, relating microorganism survival to the variables of peroxide, iron, and cellular concentrations was formulated and fit the data reasonably well, with a coefficient of determination of 0.76. The results of this study indicate that the use of simultaneous abiotic and biotic processes for the treatment of xenobiotic compounds may be possible.
Examination of Attributes and Value of Ecologically Friendly Route Choices

Significant progress has been made recently in the development of ecologically friendly routing (ecorouting) navigation systems that suggest a travel route that uses the least amount of fuel or that produces the least amount of emissions. Previous research has shown that these ecoroutes are not always the same as the shortest or the fastest route. However, other questions that need further investigation to understand the attributes and value of these ecoroute choices better remain. For example, how often are the ecoroutes different from other routes (e.g., the routes with the shortest distance or the shortest time)? When the ecoroutes are not the same as the fastest route, what is the trade-off between the amount of fuel and emission savings and the added travel time? The objective of this study was to examine these questions systematically through the use of real-world case studies in the Los Angeles, California, metropolitan area. The attributes (i.e., distance, travel time, and fuel consumption) of two...
Automatic Web Services Generation

This paper discusses the design and implementation of a Service Generator Toolkit (SGT) that allows web services researchers to easily create large numbers of web services. When developing a web services tool, such as a service broker, it is necessary to obtain a large collection of web services for testing and benchmarking purposes. Since it is difficult to manually create or collect a large number of web services, we chose to implement a system that can automatically generate web services from a service graph model, the SGT. The SGT automatically generates web services by creating an abstract graph model of the services and then converting that model into implementation files. By converting the services graph model into deployable and executable web services, the SGT provides support for a greater range of tests than previous efforts that use service models to facilitate testing.
The albibarbis-complex of Efferia Coquillett, 1910 from the Grand Canyon region, southwestern U.S.A., with three new species and new distribution records (Diptera: Asilidae)

Abstract Six species of the albibarbis complex of Efferia Coquillett are reported from the Grand Canyon ecoregion on the southern Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona. The terminalia of E. albibarbis (Macquart), E. bicolor (Bellardi) E. carbonaria sp. nov., E. fisheri sp. nov., E. tapeats sp. nov., and E. zonata (Hine) are figured and compared with congeners. Efferia peralta Wilcox and E. vertebrata (Bromley) are included as comparisons and possible members of the Grand Canyon faunas. The range of E. bicolor has been extended northward from central Arizona to within 51.5 km of the south rim of the Grand Canyon and into Nye County, Nevada. Efferia fisheri is recorded along the southern edge of the plateau at Payson, AZ, 169 km south of the GCNP. Taxonomic and distribution notes are provided. Wilcox's key of this complex is revised to include all species described since his publication. Four of the six species overlap in low-elevation perennial stream riparian zones and in adjacent colluvial brecchia habita...
Non-canonical WNT signalling in the lung

The role of WNT signalling in metazoan organogenesis has been a topic of widespread interest. In the lung, while the role of canonical WNT signalling has been examined in some detail by multiple studies, the non-canonical WNT signalling has received limited attention. Reliable evidence shows that this important signalling mechanism constitutes a major regulatory pathway in lung development. In addition, accumulating evidence has also shown that the non-canonical WNT pathway is critical for maintaining lung homeostasis and that aberrant activation of this pathway may underlie several debilitating lung diseases. Functional analyses have further revealed that the non-canonical WNT pathway regulates multiple cellular activities in the lung that are dependent on the specific cellular context. In most cell types, non-canonical WNT signalling regulates canonical WNT activity, which is also critical for many aspects of lung biology. This review will summarize what is currently known about the role of non-canonical WNT signalling in lung development, homeostasis and pathogenesis of disease.
Participation—The Missing Link

(1963). Participation—The Missing Link. Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation: Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 32-75.
Nesiritide, Heart Failure, and Renal Dysfunction: Irrational Exuberance or Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater

In this issue of Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy, Dontas and colleagues have presented a comprehensive review of nesiritide’s effects on renal function and mortality in heart failure patients [1]. There is much to be learned from the rise and fall of nesiritide—reflecting as much about the impact of positive and negative publicity on practice behavior as it does about science. Yet, after all the controversy is stripped away, there is little mystery regarding nesiritide’s effects; the clinical findings match the expected physiology precisely.
Extracellular Cyclic AMP and Adenosine Appearance in Adipose Tissue of Sus scrofa: Effects of Exercise

Cyclic AMP (cAMP) appears extracellularly in a variety of tissues including brain, liver, and kidney; whether it appears in adipose tissue and responds to physiological perturbation is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine adipose tissue extracellular cAMP appearance and metabolism in situ and in vitro in physiologically challenged animals. Littermate swine were either sedentary or exercise trained on a treadmill for 3 months and subjected to acute exercise on experiment day. In situ, microdialysis probes in subcutaneous back fat were perfused before, during, and after animals performed 20 mins of acute exercise, and dialysate was analyzed for cAMP and adenosine. In vitro, isolated adipocytes were hormonally stimulated to provoke cAMP synthesis and efflux, and plasma membrane phosphodiesterase and 5′-nucleotidase activities were measured. Extracellular cAMP and adenosine levels in adipose tissue of sedentary swine averaged 5.2 ± 1.7 and 863 ± 278 nM, respectively. Exercise training tended to i...
Tranexamic acid decreases blood loss in total shoulder arthroplasty and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty

Background Efficacy of tranexamic acid (TXA) remains unproven in the setting of shoulder arthroplasty. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of TXA on perioperative blood loss and drain output in patients undergoing primary total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty (RTSA). Methods We conducted a retrospective comparison of 77 TSAs and 94 RTSAs performed in 168 patients. TXA was administered intravenously in 35 TSA and 42 RTSA patients. Changes in hemoglobin (Hgb), hematocrit (Hct), drain output, and total blood loss were reviewed with univariate analysis and additional multivariate regression examining the cofactors of age, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists status, and gender of each patient. Results Use of TXA in TSA led to a significant decrease in total blood loss (679 mL vs. 910 mL; P P P P P P P P Conclusions Use of TXA perioperatively among patients undergoing primary shoulder arthroplasty can decrease perioperative blood loss, change in Hgb and Hct, and postoperative drain output.
Research on synthesis and mechanism of new inhibitor BPV-3

Corrosive acid gas has been the most important factor of acid gas field ground safe operation of pipeline.General method is to use high efficient corrosion inhibitor.A new CO2/H2S inhibitor BPV-3 was synthesized by Mannich condensation polymerization reaction.Influence of synthesis temperature,synthesis time and amount of concentrated hydrochloric acid on the efficiency of inhibitor were studied,optimal synthesis condition was determined and a perfect inhibitor against CO2/H2S corrosion was synthesized.The results showed that the optimal synthesis condition was: synthesis temperature 90 ℃,reaction time 5.0 h,concentrated hydrochloric acid dosage 4%(molar ratio).When the amount of corrosion inhibitor was 100 mg/L,the corrosion inhibition efficiency was up to 80%.The new corrosion inhibitor can effectively inhibit CO2/H2S corrosion and is suitable for the application of the metal pipelines in oilfield and gas field.
Girth of the Tanner graph and error correction capability of LDPC codes

We investigate the relation between the girth and the guaranteed error correction capability of gamma-left regular LDPC codes. For column-weight-three codes, we give upper and lower bounds on the number of errors correctable by the Gallager A algorithm. For higher column weight codes, we find the number of variable nodes which are guaranteed to expand by a factor of at least 3gamma/4, hence giving a lower bound on the guaranteed correction capability under the bit flipping (serial and parallel) algorithms. We also establish upper bounds by studying the sizes of smallest possible trapping sets.
High speed particles separation using ultrasound for microTAS and lab-on-a-chip application

Engineers have long envisioned that a handheld portable blood diagnosis device would be able to give an accurate measurement of chemical content based on a very small sample in the shortest time possible. One of the immediate applications of such device is the point of care (POC) diagnosis system, whereby a single drop of human blood would determine his health status. However, a major technical challenge lies in the ability to separate different particles, which in the case of human blood, is to separate red and white blood cells and plasma in a quick, cheap, reliable device with low power consumption. In this paper, we present some preliminary results from our tests of ultrasound standing waves as a potential separation mechanism for blood cells. Also, we report on the study of the behavior of suspended particles of the size equivalent to a human cell under the influence of ultrasonic acoustic field, using micro particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurement technique. This provides the fundamental understanding and foundation of designing an integrated microchannel structure that can provide ultrasonic cell separation in the microscale regime. The study has shown promising results of successfully separating two different particles based on their sizes difference.
Electron beam bunch length characterizations using incoherent and coherent transition radiation on the APS SASE FEL project

Abstract The Advanced Photon Source (APS) injector linac has been reconfigured with a low-emittance RF thermionic gun and a photocathode (PC) RF gun to support self-amplified spontaneous emission (SASE) free-electron laser (FEL) experiments. One of the most critical parameters for optimizing SASE performance (gain length) is the electron beam peak current, which requires a charge measurement and a bunch length measurement capability. We report here initial measurements of the latter using both incoherent optical transition radiation (OTR) and coherent transition radiation (CTR). A visible light Hamamatsu C5680 synchroscan streak camera was used to measure the thermionic RF gun beam's bunch length (σ∼2–3 ps) via OTR generated by the beam at 220 MeV and 200 mA macropulse average current. In addition, a CTR monitor (Michelson Interferometer) based on a Golay cell as the far-infrared (FIR) detector has been installed at the 40-MeV station in the beamline. Initial observations of CTR signal strength variation with gun α-magnet current and interferograms have been obtained. Progress in characterizing the beam at these locations and a comparison to other bunch length determinations will be presented.
Results from a clinical yoga program for veterans: yoga via telehealth provides comparable satisfaction and health improvements to in-person yoga

Yoga is increasingly popular, though little data regarding its implementation in healthcare settings is available. Similarly, telehealth is being utilized more frequently to increase access to healthcare; however we know of no research on the acceptability or effectiveness of yoga delivered through telehealth. Therefore, we evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and patient-reported effectiveness of a clinical yoga program at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center and assessed whether these outcomes differed between those participating in-person and those participating via telehealth. Veterans who attended a yoga class at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System were invited to complete an anonymous program evaluation survey. 64 Veterans completed the survey. Participants reported high satisfaction with the classes and the instructors. More than 80% of participants who endorsed a problem with pain, energy level, depression, or anxiety reported improvement in these symptoms. Those who participated via telehealth did not differ from those who participated in-person in any measure of satisfaction, overall improvement (p = .40), or improvement in any of 16 specific health problems. Delivering yoga to a wide range of patients within a healthcare setting appears to be feasible and acceptable, both when delivered in-person and via telehealth. Patients in this clinical yoga program reported high levels of satisfaction and improvement in multiple problem areas. This preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of a clinical yoga program complements prior evidence for the efficacy of yoga and supports the use of yoga in healthcare settings.
The Trifocus Framework and Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in Severe Disabilities.

Purpose Individuals with severe disabilities are a diverse group of learners with complex communication needs. This article presents a synthesis of the literature addressing the five strategies of ...
Leakage of .onion at the DNS Root: Measurements, Causes, and Countermeasures

The Tor hidden services, one of the features of the Tor anonymity network, are widely used for providing anonymity to services within the Tor network. Tor uses the .onion pseudo-top-level domain for naming convention and to route requests to these hidden services. The .onion namespace is not delegated to the global domain name system (DNS), and Tor is designed in such a way that all .onion queries are routed within the Tor network. However, and despite the careful design of Tor, numerous .onion requests are still today observed in the global DNS infrastructure, thus calling for further investigation. In this paper, we present the state of .onion requests received at the global DNS and as viewed from two large DNS traces: a continuous period of observation at the A and J DNS root nodes over a longitudinal period of time and a synthesis of Day In The Life of the Internet data repository that gathers a synchronized DNS capture of two days per year over multiple years. We found that .onion leakage in the DNS infrastructure to be both prevalent and persistent. Our characterization of the leakage shows various features, including high volumes of leakage that are diverse, geographically distributed, and targeting various types of hidden services. Furthermore, we found that various spikes in the .onion request volumes can be correlated with various global events, including geopolitical events. We attribute the leakage to various causes that are plausible based on various assessments, and provide various remedies with varying benefits.
A Combustion-Heated, Thermally Actuated Vuilleumier Refrigerator

Applications exist for closed-cycle cryogenic refrigerators for Army field portable infrared night-vision systems that require the lightest possible system including the weight of the energy supply. A feasibility model of a combustion-heated, thermally actuated Vuilleumier refrigerator has been built and is described that provides significant weight advantages. This weight saving is achieved by exploiting the high energy density of fossil fuels. The thermocatalytic combustion of 40 g/hr of propane provides the sole energy for this refrigerator that (1) produces 1.6 W of refrigeration at 77 K, (2) produces 16 W of mechanical energy to operate the internal refrigerator mechanism, and (3) provides 2 W of power to operate the external heat sink fan.
If we built it, would they come? Creating instruction videos with promotion in mind

ABSTRACTThis article reports on a video project done in an academic library where faculty were included in the production and marketing of the library instruction videos. The videos allowed the librarian to provide a shorter presentation and spend most of her time working individually with each student. The results showed that 97% of the students watched the videos and were able to benefit from the content. The implementation of the videos was a success due to the collaboration of the professors teaching the three courses and the buy-in of the course coordinator; both factors were essential in the success of the video project.
Redundancy for Long-reach TWDM PON

Two redundancy designs for long-reach TWDM PON without backup OLTs is proposed, protecting the truck fiber and optionally the CO. Network modeling shows availability of redundant long-reach PONs is better than traditional PONs.
Futures Past: South Asian Literature “Post-Boom”

As scholars of South Asian literature, we find ourselves in the midst of two “ends”: the waning of postcolonial studies as the institutional force under which we organize, and the softening or spli...
Modeling of Transient Heating in Smart Power Applications

Economic forces and integrated product designs are forcing the fabrication of some smart power applications on smaller die and on alternative substrates. This results in greater heating for a given application. Thermal models of possible advanced versions of an automotive fuel injector application suggest that while steady state heating is acceptable in these designs, transient heating may become a concern. The peak transient temperature in a 50% shrink of the injector application would be close to the empirical safe design limit, while a reduced device on bonded wafers is predicted to exceed the limit. This requires consideration of innovative energy management strategies and careful reliability assessment.
The American Family: A Tragedy of the Commons?

Garrett Hardin, in his seminal article “The Tragedy of the Commons” (1968), pointed out that if each individual were to maximize personal gain, the result, in many cases, would be the collapse of the social structure. That is, for a society to survive and to function effectively, the corporate good must be given priority in some instances over the individual liberty and freedom.
The Boundary Element Method for Piezoelectric Materials

This paper presents an overview of the recent development of the boundary element method for analyzing piezoelectric materials. The piezoelectric boundary integral equation will be reviewed and the computation of nearly-singular integrals in the case of piezoelectric thin films will be emphasized. Several numerical examples will be provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the boundary element method for analyzing the mechanics problems of piezoelectric materials, especially thin piezoelectric films.
Development of a Quantitative Flaw Characterization Module — A Status Report

Ultrasonic waves returning from an internal bulk flaw to a wideband transducer contain information on several characteristics of this flaw. Measurements made with waves of different mode, dominant frequency, incidence angle, beamwidth, etc. are, therefore, necessary to solve the inverse problem for flaw composition, size, and orientation in an unambiguous manner.
Small-scale cook-off experiments and models of ammonium nitrate

We have completed a series of small-scale cook-off experiments of ammonium nitrate (AN) prills in our Sandia Instrumented Thermal Ignition test at nominal packing densities of about 0.8 g/cm3. We i...
Measuring the perceptual availability of phonological features during language acquisition using unsupervised binary stochastic autoencoders.

In this paper, we deploy binary stochastic neural autoencoder networks as models of infant language learning in two typologically unrelated languages (Xitsonga and English). We show that the drive to model auditory percepts leads to latent clusters that partially align with theory-driven phonemic categories. We further evaluate the degree to which theory-driven phonological features are encoded in the latent bit patterns, finding that some (e.g. [+-approximant]), are well represented by the network in both languages, while others (e.g. [+-spread glottis]) are less so. Together, these findings suggest that many reliable cues to phonemic structure are immediately available to infants from bottom-up perceptual characteristics alone, but that these cues must eventually be supplemented by top-down lexical and phonotactic information to achieve adult-like phone discrimination. Our results also suggest differences in degree of perceptual availability between features, yielding testable predictions as to which features might depend more or less heavily on top-down cues during child language acquisition.