cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Black Women’s Awareness of Breast Cancer Disparity and Perceptions of the Causes of Disparity

Black women face the greatest breast cancer mortality burden of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. Breast cancer disparity is particularly pronounced in Chicago, where Black women were 62 percent more likely to die of breast cancer than their White counterparts in 2007. No work to date has examined views of disparity among a population living in the context of a large, well-documented, and grave health disparity. We examined (1) awareness of breast cancer disparities among Black women in Chicago; and (2) Black women’s perceptions of the causes of breast cancer disparity. Four focus groups with Black women were held in Chicago. Participants completed a brief survey about their views of breast cancer prior to the group discussion. In response to the survey question, “In your opinion, who is more likely to die from breast cancer?” 51 % of participants believed all women have the same chance of dying from breast cancer. In focus group discussions, participants placed responsibility for disparity on individual behaviors and community culture. Participants believed that disparity resulted from Black women’s lack of awareness of cancer screening and their failure to be screened or treated for breast cancer. The majority of participants were unaware of breast cancer mortality disparities. Moreover, while health researchers and professionals believe disparity in Chicago results from healthcare system inequalities, Black women largely viewed breast cancer disparity as a consequence of individual behaviors, knowledge and attitudes.
Managing Risks in Financial Market Development: The Role of Sequencing

This paper proposes an integrated and risk-based approach to the sequencing and coordination of reforms to develop domestic financial markets. The paper argues that there is a hierarchy of financial markets that reflects the complexity of risks in each market and the interlinkages among markets. On the basis of this hierarchy, a sequencing of market development and risk-mitigation measures is proposed to minimize both macroeconomic and financial risks. Capital account opening can complement (but not substitute for) domestic institutional and market reforms to support the growth of local financial markets. The paper also argues that domestic institutional investors are critical to market development and risk mitigation.
Selection and coordination of articulatory gestures in temporally constrained production

Abstract A variety of factors such as articulatory context, prosodic structure, and rate of articulation are known to induce compression or expansion of articulatory movements and their relative timing. Another potentially important factor is the amount of time available for planning and executing a movement. The current study employs a novel cued insertion task which controls the amount of time available for planning a single articulatory movement produced in the context of others. The study tests the hypothesis that movements associated with onset consonants and coda consonants will respond differently to temporal constraints on planning, due to differences in how they are controlled. It is observed that compression of movement timing is greater in onset consonantal gestures than in coda consonantal gestures. These findings are argued to support a split-control model, in which onset consonants are co-selected and coordinated with vowels, while coda consonants are competitively selected but not coordinated with vowels.
Evidence for guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate as a putative mediator of insulin secretion from isolated rat islets.

Cyclic nucleotides are proposed mediators of insulin secretion from islets, although their role has not been defined. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and ascorbic acid are agents which increase tissue cGMP levels by dissimilar mechanisms. In these studies, both drugs enhanced rat islet cGMP, but not cAMP, levels. Islet cGMP levels not only increased with time in response to the drugs and reflected drug concentration, but increased cGMP release also accompanied elevated islet levels of the nucleotide. Glucose (17 HIM) stimulated both cAMP and cGMP formation in islets. Glucose-stimulated islet cGMP levels were lower than those generated in response to SNP (0.01-10 mM) but approximated the levels in islets treated with 5 mM ascorbate. At a submaximal concentration of SNP (0.1 mM), glucose stimulation produced additive increases in islet cGMP levels. Islets in static incubations responded to SNP and ascorbic acid stimulations with an enhanced release of insulin which was dose related; glucose also enhanced insulin...
Models of geochemical systems from mixture theory: Diffusion

Abstract The problem of diffusion of a geochemical component in a natural environment is investigated from the standpoint of mixture theory. The approach here differs from previous diffusion studies in that both the conservation of mass and momentum for the component is considered. This approach avoids parameterizing the diffusive flux in the mass equation by Fick's law. It is shown that when the momentum equation is included with the mass equation, the linear approximation for the space-time distribution of a solute in a binary system is the telegraph equation, well known from electrodynamics. This contrasts with the diffusion equation, which relies on introducing the Fick's law assumption into the conservation of mass equation for the solute. Solutions for both the diffusion and telegraph equation models are obtained and compared for the case of migration of a minor component into the seabed when the sediment-water interface concentration is a prescribed function of time. Although the stationary, steady state solutions of the telegraph and diffusion equations are identical, the former has a transient solution in which fluctuations propagate at finite speed. The Fickian assumption, in contrast, requires an infinite speed of propagation.
Differential effects of agonists and antagonists on autoregulation of glucocorticoid receptors in a rat colonic adenocarcinoma cell line

The relative abilities of a potent glucocorticoid receptor (GR) agonist (RU 28362), a weak GR agonist (aldosterone) and a potent GR antagonist (RU 38486) to promote in vivo activation/transformation and subsequent down-regulation of GR mRNA and protein levels were compared using the PROb rat colonic adenocarcinoma cell line. In vivo activation, which is followed immediately by nuclear translocation, by these ligands (1 microM) was evaluated in terms of their abilities to deplete cytoplasmic GR protein levels after a 30 min incubation period. Western blotting experiments with the anti-GR monoclonal antibody BuGR2 demonstrated that a brief incubation with RU 28362 resulted in nearly complete depletion of cytoplasmic GR, whereas incubation with aldosterone resulted in a 50% depletion of the cytoplasmic GR protein. Incubation with RU 38486 was even more effective than aldosterone in promoting this key step in the GR pathway. Prolonged treatment (18 h) with RU 28362 resulted in significant down-regulation of GR mRNA and total cellular GR protein levels. Similar incubation with aldosterone resulted in a transient decrease in the GR mRNA level and also down-regulated the total GR protein level. Although prolonged incubation with RU 38486 did not result in detectable down-regulation of the GR mRNA level, this antagonist very effectively down-regulated total cellular GR protein levels. Taken collectively, these data demonstrate that agonists capable of promoting in vivo activation (and subsequent nuclear translocation) of GR are also effective at down-regulating GR at both the mRNA and protein levels. Although the antagonist RU 38486 is also capable of down-regulating GR protein levels by shortening the half-life of the receptor, it appears to be incapable of altering the rate of transcription of the GR gene. Glucocorticoid target tissue sensitivity may thus be decreased via two independent mechanisms: agonist-induced repression of GR gene transcription; and/or ligand-induced degradation of total cellular GR protein levels.
Benign Paragangliomas: Clinical Presentation and Treatment Outcomes in 236 Patients

Paragangliomas are rare tumors that arise from extraadrenal chromaffin cells. We examined the clinical characteristics, location, treatment, and outcome of 236 patients (141 females, 60%) with 297 benign paragangliomas evaluated at the Mayo Clinic during 1978-1998. The mean age (+/-SD) at diagnosis was 47 +/- 16 yr. Of the 297 paragangliomas, 205 were in the head and neck region, and 92 were below the neck. Paragangliomas were discovered and diagnosed incidentally on imaging studies in 9% of patients. Biochemical screening was performed in 128 patients; 40 patients (17% of the total and 31% of those screened) had hyperfunctional tumors. Of the 40 patients with tumoral catecholamine excess, 38 had documented hypertension. In patients identified with catecholamine-secreting paragangliomas, the sensitivities achieved by measurements in the 24-h urine collection were 74% for total metanephrines, 84% for norepinephrine, 18% for dopamine, and 14% for epinephrine. Multiple imaging modalities were used for tumor localization. The false negative rates were 0% for magnetic resonance imaging, 5.8% for computed tomography, 3.4% for angiography, 10.7% for ultrasonography, and 39% for radioactive iodine-labeled metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy. Of 192 patients (81.4%) with follow-up data (mean, 43.9 months; range, 0.5-240), operative cure was achieved in 133 (69%). Of the 59 patients without cure, 23 had persistent disease, 5 had recurrent disease, 16 had multiple persistent synchronous tumors, and 15 subsequently developed metachronous tumors. In conclusion, most paragangliomas are nonhypersecretory and located in the head and neck region. Magnetic resonance imaging was associated with the lowest false negative rate, and metaiodobenzylguanidine was the least sensitive imaging study. A significant proportion of patients (31%) has persistent or recurrent disease, and long-term follow-up is important.
Room Temperature Reaction of Ozone and Dimethyl Methylphosphonate (DMMP) on Alumina-Supported Iron Oxide

The reaction of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) with ozone on a reactive adsorbent, alumina-supported iron oxide, has been examined at room temperature. The surface oxidation reaction was found to follow the Langmuir−Hinshelwood mechanism, involving a surface adsorbed and activated DMMP molecule or fragment at a Lewis acid site and an active oxygen species on the surface formed from ozone. Carbon dioxide is the primary reaction product observed, and the amount formed was found to plateau as a function of ozone concentration after a concentration of approximately 300−400 ppm. The surface reaction with ozone on the 10 wt % Fe2O3/Al2O3 adsorbent generates approximately 2.7 times as much gas-phase carbon, in the form of CO2 and CO, as does the same surface in the absence of ozone, in the form of methanol. The ozone appears to increase the number of active sites for DMMP decomposition by liberating some of the reaction products from the surface and recycling the surface sites. The supported iron oxide materi...
A Novel Class of Peptides That Induce Apoptosis and Abrogate Tumorigenesisin Vivo

In testing the ability of certain synthetic peptides of biological origin to bind to cell surfaces, we unexpectedly found that they could induce apoptosis and inhibit tumorigenesis in rodent and human tumor cell lines. In vitro pre-incubation with the peptides at concentrations as low as 10(-12) M inhibited tumorigenesis in nude mice, in a dose-dependent fashion. The inhibition of tumorigenesis was reflected in the rapid induction of apoptosis of tumor cells, pre-incubated with the peptides, and tested under conditions of anchorage-independence. Induction of apoptosis was detectable even at concentrations of 10(-12)-10(-13) M (0.1-1.0 pM). Aspecific toxicity of the synthetic peptides was ruled out by the demonstration that single amino acid substitutions (in at least 4 peptides) completely abrogated the pro-apoptotic effect, even at a concentration of 10(-5) M (10 microM).
Polarons and conduction in DNA

Using a simple model for the interaction of an extra electron or hole with the vibrations of the DNA stack, we calculate energies and wavefunctions of trapped holes, the properties of large polarons, including the effect of the water and counterions surrounding DNA, and the role of polarons in diffusion and conduction in DNA.
Characterization of volatile, hydrophobic cyclodextrin derivatives as thin films for sensor applications

Abstract Successful development of chemical sensors and multi-sensor arrays critically depends on the availability of appropriate coatings. In the present studies, we synthesized hydrophobic and thermally stable cyclodextrin (CD) derivatives and, using a physical vapor deposition method, successfully deposited them on surfaces as thin films. 13 C NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy verified that while heptakis(6-O-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-2,3-di-O-methyl)cyclomaltoheptaose (DMe-CD) remained chemically intact after the deposition, heptakis(6-O-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-2,3-di-O-acetyl)cyclomaltoheptaose (DAc-CD) showed some variations. The hydrophobicity and refractive indices of the prepared thin films were determined using, respectively, contact angle measurements and ellipsometry. Selectivity patterns of the prepared CD films with respect to a series of analytes were defined using surface plasmon resonance. Because the chemical structure of the DAc-CD derivatives is compromised during the PVD process and any structural change may affect the selectivity of these thin films, additional attention should be given to the PVD process. In addition, thin films of the DMe-CD derivative were tested as protective coatings on silver island films for sensors based on surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The observed kinetics of SERS signals indicates that medium molecular weight analytes are able to rapidly diffuse through the CD films and reach the underlying silver islands.
HIV-1 Infection and its Impact on the HPA Axis, Cytokines, and Cognition

Immediately after infection, Human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV-1) enters the central nervous system (CNS) and is localized in highest concentration in the hippocampus and basal ganglia. Since these areas are associated with HPA axis and autonomic activities as well as cognition, it has been hypothesized that these functions will be impacted adversely in HIV-1 infection. In the treatment of HIV infection, although the highly potent antiretroviral (HAART) drugs have been effective in reducing peripheral viral load and prolonging life expectancy, these drugs do not cross the blood-brain barrier in therapeutic concentrations. Therefore, it has been proposed that the beneficial effects of HAART on the CNS will be limited. Our investigations on seropositive individuals, showing hypo-reactivity of the autonomic system and HPA axis activity suggest that HIV-1 infection is a model of chronic stress. Furthermore, an elevated baseline TNF-alpha level as well as its increased reactivity to an alpha-adrenergic challenge among HIV-1+ individuals, may lead to additional neurodegeneration. It is proposed that the effects of HIV-1 infection on the brain will have implications for neurocognitive and mental health functioning in seropositive individuals even in patients undergoing HAART therapy. These outcomes may result in the need to develop facilities for long term "care-giving".
Double dragons (Kumpe) technique for gastrostomy to gastrojejunostomy conversion: a novel approach

Purpose The purpose of this presentation is two-fold. First, the authors review an alternative technique for gastrostomy to gastrojejunostomy conversion that in our experience results in lower procedure and fluoroscopy times. Schematic diagrams and intra-procedural images will be utilized to demonstrate the double Kumpe technique. Second, although percutaneous gastrostomy and gastrojejunostomy procedures are widely performed, there is a paucity of published data on standard averages for fluoroscopy times and radiation doses. Thus, average fluoroscopy times for gastrostomy, gastrojejunostomy, and gastrojejunostomy conversion procedures from our institution will also be presented, along with a review of the literature on fluoroscopy times for these procedures. Materials and Methods The double Kumpe technique, which utilizes two Kumpe catheters in tandem to facilitate navigation through the pylorus, will first be described. In addition to technique illustration, an institutional database search was performed for gastrostomy, gastrojejunostomy, and conversion gastrojejunostomy procedures from the last 12 months (n=319). Fluoroscopy times, procedural times, and radiation doses (mGy) were recorded and averaged according to each procedure. Comparison will be made with values cited in the current limited literature. Results Average fluoroscopy time and radiation dose for gastrostomy to gastrojejunostomy conversion were 18.4 minutes and 430.6 mGy, respectively. Utilizing the double Kumpe technique resulted in a 2/3 reduction in fluoroscopy time and radiation dose on average. Average institutional fluoroscopy times and radiation doses for primary gastrostomies and gastrojejunostomies were 6.6 minutes and 374.3 mGy (gastrostomy), and 17 minutes and 627.4 mGy (gastrojejunostomy). Conclusion The double Kumpe technique for gastrostomy to gastrojejunostomy conversion can assist in lowering fluoroscopy times by utilizing traditional techniques. The provided fluoroscopy time and dosages provided are representative of clinical practice at our institution and can be added to the current limited literature on these commonly performed procedures.
Chronic Bystander Infections and Immunity to Unrelated Antigens

Chronic infections with persistent pathogens such as helminths, mycobacteria, Plasmodium, and hepatitis viruses affect more than a third of the human population and are associated with increased susceptibility to other pathogens as well as reduced vaccine efficacy. Although these observations suggest an impact of chronic infections in modulating immunity to unrelated antigens, little is known regarding the underlying mechanisms. Here, we summarize evidence of the most prevalent infections affecting immunity to unrelated pathogens and vaccines, and discuss potential mechanisms of how different bystander chronic infections might impact immune responses. We suggest that bystander chronic infections affect different stages of host responses and may impact transmission and recognition of other pathogens, innate immune responses, priming and differentiation of adaptive effector responses, as well as the development and maintenance of immunological memory. Further understanding of the immunological effects of coinfection should provide opportunities to enhance vaccine efficacy and control of infectious diseases.
Brief Report: Association of Sex Chromosome Anomalies With Childhood-Onset Psychotic Disorders

ABSTRACT Objective An apparent excess of sex chromosome aneuploidies (XXY, XXX, and possibly XYY) has been reported in patients with adult-onset schizophrenia and with unspecified psychoses. This study describes the results of cytogenetic screening carried out for pediatric patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) and a subgroup of patients with childhood-onset psychotic disorder not otherwise specified, provisionally labeled by the authors as multidimensionally impaired (MDI). Method From August 1990 to July 1997, karyotypes were determined for 66 neuroleptic-nonresponsive pediatric patients (28 MDI, 38 COS), referred to the National Institute of Mental Health for an inpatient treatment trial of clozapine. Results Four (6.1%) of 66 patients (3 MDI, 1 COS) were found to have sex chromosome anomalies (mosaic 47,XXY; 47,XXY; 47,XYY; mosaic 45,XO, respectively), which is higher than the expected rate of 1 per 426 children or 2.34 per 1,000 in the general population (4/66 versus 1/426, X 2 = 19.2, df = 1, p = .00001). All cases had been previously undiagnosed. Conclusions These findings lend support to a hypothesis that a loss of balance of gene products on the sex chromosomes may predispose affected individuals to susceptibility to additional genetic and environmental insults that result in childhood-onset psychotic disorders. Karyotyping of children with psychotic disorders should be routine. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 1998, 37(3):292–296.
Allergic fungal sinusitis: Diagnosis and management

Clinicians first recognized allergic fungal sinusitis (AFS) as a benign noninvasive condition nearly 2 decades ago because of its similarities to allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA). AFS has proven to be a distinct clinical entity characterized by atopy, nasal polyposis, distinctive CT scan features, and eosinophilic allergic mucin mixed with fungal elements. Considerable debate still surrounds the immunopathogenesis and the role of the fungus in the disease process. Functional endoscopic sinus surgery with complete extirpation of the allergic mucin and aeration of the obstructed sinuses is the mainstay of treatment. Extensive polyposis and bony erosion from expanding allergic mucin characterize AFS and contribute to the difficulty of obtaining a safe yet thorough resection. Recurrences happen in all patients with underlying, uncorrected immune disease. Desensitization immunotherapy and topical antifungal nasal sprays are two promising new therapeutic approaches.
Activity and synapse elimination at the neuromuscular junction

1. The neuromuscular junction undergoes a loss of synaptic connections during early development. This loss converts the innervation of each muscle fiber from polyneuronal to single. During this change the number of motor neurons remains constant but the number of muscle fibers innervated by each motor neuron is reduced. Evidence indicates that a local competition among the inputs on each muscle fiber determines which inputs are eliminated. 2. The role of synapse elimination in the development of neuromuscular circuits, other than ensuring a single innervation of each fiber, is unclear. Most evidence suggests that the elimination plays little or no role in correcting for errant connections. Rather, it seems that connections are initially highly specific, in terms of both which motor neurons connect to which muscles and which neurons connect to which particular fibers within these muscles. 3. A number of attempts have been made to determine the importance of neuromuscular activity during early development for this rearrangement of synaptic connections. Experiments reducing neuromuscular activity by muscle tenotomy, deafferentation and spinal cord section, block of nerve impulse conduction with tetrodotoxin, and the use of postsynaptic and presynaptic blocking agents have all shown that normal activity is required for normal synapse elimination. Most experiments in which complete muscle paralysis has been achieved show that activity may be essential for the occurrence of synapse elimination. Furthermore, experiments in which neuromuscular activity has been augmented by external stimulation show that synapse elimination is accelerated. 4. A plausible hypothesis to explain the activity dependence of neuromuscular synapse elimination is that a neuromuscular trophic agent is produced by the muscle fibers and that this production is controlled by muscle-fiber activity. The terminals on each fiber compete for the substance produced by that fiber. Inactive fibers produce large quantities of this substance; on the other hand, muscle activity suppresses the level of synthesis of this agent to the point where only a single synaptic terminal can be maintained. Inactive muscle fibers would be expected to be able to maintain more nerve terminals. The attractiveness of this scheme is that it provides a simple feedback mechanism to ensure that each fiber retains a single effective input.
Moment-tensor solutions estimated using optimal filter theory: global seismicity, 2002

Abstract Moment-tensor solutions, estimated using optimal filter theory, are listed for 306 moderate-to-large size earthquakes that occurred during 2002.
Development of mischmetal-nickel and titanium-cobalt hydrides for hydrogen storage

Abstract Fundamental studies were carried out to develop hydrides of mischmetal-nickel (Mm-Ni) and Ti-Co alloys with suitable properties for use as stationary hydrogen storage materials. In order to improve the properties of MmNi5 and TiCo hydrides we studied the hydrogen absorption-desorption characteristics of ternary alloys such as Mm1−x AxNi5 (A  Ca, Ti; x = 0.1−0.75), MmNi5−yBy (B  Al, Co, Cr, Mn; y = 0.1 − 4), Ti1−xAxCo and TiCO1−x Ax (A  Cr, Cu, Fe, La, Mn, Ni, V; x = 0.05− 0.5). The hydrides of MmNi4.5Al0.5, MmNi2.5Co2.5, MmNi4.5Cr0.5, MmNi4.5Mn0.5, TiCo0.5Mn0.5 and TiCo0.5Fe0.5, judged according to an appropriate set of criteria, rank higher than or equal to those of LaNi5, MmNi5, TiFe and TiCo and have properties suitable for a stationary hydrogen storage material.
A measure of individual differences in sex stereotyping and sex discrimination: The Macho scale.

A personality measure of individual differences in sex-role stereotyping and sex discrimination was developed. The “Macho” scale fulfills satisfactory psychometric criteria of internal consistency ...
Transesophageal echocardiography detection of an esophageal sarcoma mimicking aortic dissection.

Abstract This report shows that transesophageal echocardiography can detect thoracic pathology, in this case esophageal sarcoma, as well as cardiac and aortic abnormalities. Transesophageal echocardiography can help differentiate cardiac from aortic or other intrathoracic pathology when the patient's history and physical examination do not provide enough information. (J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2000;13:619-21.)
Compounds with antiestrogenic activity in vitro.

THE human placenta contains a DPN-linked isocitric dehydrogenase which is stimulated by the addition of estradiol in vitro (1–4). The enzyme was localized in the non-particulate fraction of homogenized placenta by differential ultracentrifugation in 0.25 M sucrose (2). Evidence that the estrogen-sensitive enzyme is isocitric dehydrogenase came from experiments with each of the tricarboxylic acids as substrates and with trcms-aconitate and fluorocitrate as specific enzyme inhibitors (3). Further experiments showed that estrone, equilin and equilenin have the same enzyme-stimulating property possessed by estradiol-17β. However, a great many other compounds tested, including estradiol-17α, estriol, progesterone, 17α-ethinylestradiol, testosterone, 19-nortestosterone, stilbestrol, cortisone, cortisol, and cholesterol, had little or no effect, no more than one one-thousandth as much as estradiol-17β (5). The results of kinetic experiments with this system are consistent with the hypothesis that estradiol unite...
The Distributed Open Network Emulator: Using Relativistic Time for Distributed Scalable Simulation

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of The Distributed Open Network Emulator (dONE), a scalable hybrid network emulation/simulation environment. It has several novel contributions. First, a new model of time called relativistic time that combines the controllability of virtual time with the naturally flowing characteristics of wall-clock time. This enables a hybrid environment in which direct code execution can be mixed with simulation models. Second, dONE uses a new transparent object based framework called Weaves, which enables the composition of unmodified network applications and protocol stacks to create large-scale simulations. Finally, it implements a novel parallelization strategy that minimizes the number of independent timelines and offers an efficient mechanism to progress the event timeline. Our prototype implementation incorporates the complete TCP/IP stack from the Linux 2.4 kernel family and executes any application code written for the BSD sockets interface. The prototype runs on 16 processors and produces super-linear speedup in a simulation of hundred infinite-source to infinite-sink pairs.
Examining the Validity of Behavioral Self-Regulation Tools in Predicting Preschoolers' Academic Achievement.

Research Findings: The current study investigated the predictive utility of teacher-rated, observed, and directly assessed behavioral self-regulation skills to academic achievement in preschoolers. Specifically, this study compared how a teacher report (the Child Behavior Rating Scale), an observer report (the Observed Child Engagement Scale), and a direct assessment (the Head–Toes–Knees–Shoulders task) relate to early math and literacy skills. The sample consisted of 247 children from 31 preschool classrooms. Trained research assistants observed a subsample of 104 children. Results indicated significant positive relationships for teacher-rated and directly assessed behavioral self-regulation for early math and literacy skills. Teacher ratings were the strongest predictors of literacy, and the direct assessment emerged as the strongest predictor of math. Observed behavioral self-regulation was not significantly related to either academic domain. Practice or Policy: Discussion focuses on the domain specifi...
Suicidal Children Grow Up: Rates and Psychosocial Risk Factors for Suicide Attempts during Follow-up

Abstract Objective Rates and psychosocial risk factors for suicide attempts during a 6 to 8-year follow-up period were compared for 25 predominantly prepubertal inpatient suicide attempters, 28 inpatient suicidal ideators, 16 nonsuicidal inpatients, and 64 nonpatients. Method Standard research instruments were used to interview subjects and parents. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were used to identify risk factors for a suicide attempt in the follow-up. Results No deaths occurred during follow-up. Suicide attempters were six times and suicidal ideators were three times more likely than were nonpatients to attempt suicide during follow-up. Poor social adjustment and mood disorder close to a recurrent suicide attempt were the strongest risk factors. Conclusions Risk assessment should focus on identifying symptoms of mood disorders and impaired social adjustment in children with histories of suicide attempts and psychiatric hospitalization.
Comparison of DPSK and MSK bit error rates for K and Rayleigh-lognormal fading distributions

The composite Rayleigh-lognormal distribution is mathematically intractable for the analytical evaluation of such a communication system performance metric as bit error rate. The composite K distribution closely approximates the Rayleigh-lognormal and is potentially useful for analytical manipulations. In this contribution we derive the bit error rates of differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) and minimum shift keying (MSK), in manageable closed forms, for the K distribution model of multipath fading and shadow fading, and show, numerically, the close agreement between these results and those based on the Rayleigh-lognormal distribution.
Perception of rhythmic and sequential pitch patterns by normally hearing adults and adult cochlear implant users.

Objective:This study compares the musical perception of 17 adult recipients of the Nucleus cochlear implant using two different format extraction processing strategies (F0F1F2 and MPEAK).Design:Over a 12 mo period, participants were alternately switched between two strategies every 3 mo. Performance
‘Too bright for comfort’: a Kaleckian view of profit realisation in the USA, 1964–2009

This paper uses modern gross national product accounting conventions to chart the various expenditures responsible for profit realisation from 1964 to 2009 in the USA. Revealed are significant changes in the main drivers of profit realisation after 1982. Specifically, the shifting distribution of income away from median workers and the use of debt are increasingly responsible for profit realisation after 1982. This represents a significant aspect of the economy that set the environment for the recent crisis and has implications for a post-crisis economy as well.
Automatic delineation of malignancy in histopathological head and neck slides

Background Histopathology, which is one of the most important routines of all laboratory procedures used in pathology, is decisive for the diagnosis of cancer. Experienced histopathologists review the histological slides acquired from biopsy specimen in order to outline malignant areas. Recently, improvements in imaging technologies in terms of histological image analysis led to the discovery of virtual histological slides. In this technique, a computerized microscope scans a glass slide and generates virtual slides at a resolution of 0.25 μm/pixel. As the recognition of intrinsic cancer areas is time consuming and error prone, in this study we develop a novel method to tackle automatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck detection problem in high-resolution, wholly-scanned histopathological slides.
Write amplification reduction in NAND Flash through multi-write coding

The block erase requirement in NAND Flash devices leads to the need for garbage collection. Garbage collection results in write amplification, that is, to an increase in the number of physical page programming operations. Write amplification adversely impacts the limited lifetime of a NAND Flash device, and can add significant system overhead unless a large spare factor is maintained. This paper proposes a NAND Flash system which uses multi-write coding to reduce write amplification. Multi-write coding allows a NAND Flash page to be written more than once without requiring an intervening block erase. We present a novel two-write coding technique based on enumerative coding, which achieves linear coding rates with low computational complexity. The proposed technique also seeks to minimize memory wear by reducing the number of programmed cells per page write. We describe a system which uses lossless data compression in conjunction with multi-write coding, and show through simulations that the proposed system has significantly reduced write amplification and memory wear.
Cherokee Nation Youth Fitness Camp Health Promotion and Disease Prevention for Native American Youth

Abstract The camp teaches that health and wellness is a holistic concept involving physical fitness, cultural awareness, social and mental health, environmental knowledge, and spiritual and inner strength.
Lean NOx catalysis for diesel passenger cars: Investigating effects of sulfur dioxide and space velocity

Abstract European Stage III emissions requirements will be difficult to meet for diesel passenger cars if lean NOx catalysts are not available. Current prototype lean NOx technology for diesels consists of Pt based and Cu zeolite catalysts. Both types have been examined for this study. The former is most active at low temperatures, approximately 190–250°C. The latter has optimum activity at higher temperatures, usually above 350°C. Maximum flow reactor activity of 40–55% NOx conversion (25 000–50 000/h space velocity) has been measured for Pt catalysts using a synthetic feedgas. During the MVEuro2 driving cycle, 35–40% of mass NOx has been emitted at inlet catalyst temperatures from 120 to 200°C. These temperatures fall below optimum temperatures for current Pt based lean NOx catalysts. For temperatures above 350°C, where Cu zeolite catalysts are active, one vehicle has emitted ca. 30% of mass NOx during MVEuro2. These high temperatures are achieved during high speed, hard acceleration driving; although attained briefly during the MVEuro2 cycle, these high temperature emissions could be a critical contribution under customer driving conditions. Effects of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and space velocity (SV) have been investigated as part of a strategy to optimize NOx removal with lean NOx catalysts. Elimination of feedgas SO2 can lower NOx light off temperature for both Pt and Cu zeolite. Some Pt catalysts do not show this behavior. Additional evaluation of a Cu zeolite catalyst demonstrates that poisoning by feedgas SO2 is reversible during evaluation or aging. This result suggests that if sulfur could be removed from diesel fuel, aged Cu zeolite catalysts could be practical. Decreasing space velocity will help NOx removal over Pt by (i) lowering NOx light off temperature, (ii) lowering the temperature at which peak NOx conversion occurs, (iii) increasing the level of peak NOx conversion, and (iv) widening the temperature window for NOx reduction. For Cu zeolite, decreasing space velocity can help mainly by lowering NOx light off temperature and temperature where maximum NOx conversion starts. Both increased catalyst volume and sulfur removal provide Pt catalysts with a NOx temperature window that coincides better with low temperatures where most NOx mass is emitted. SV effects on lean NOx reduction are explained by discussion of possible mechanistic features.
Industry Based “Hands-On” Undergraduate Vibration Course for Engineering and Engineering Technology Students

Modern technology and manufacturing methods often require engineers who understand the fundamental principles of vibration theory and who are also skilled in vibration applications. Simply processing, remembering and applying the material learned from lectures and laboratory experiments with artificial criteria are inadequate.Hands-on teaching techniques with real-world problems are needed to complete the engineering students’ education. This paper demonstrates how hands-on experiments performed in industry support and increase the students’ understanding of fundamental principles and skill in their applications. Graduates with both knowledge and skill are more competitive in today’s job market.A one-quarter industry-based vibration course was developed and taught with a hands-on segment at the Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering and Technology (MMET) program at Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) - Portland Campus. This novel instructional approach provided students with the opportunity to immediately apply material, learned in class and laboratory, in real-world industry situations with real-world problems.This instructional approach is applicable in many engineering fields and the author found the mechanical vibrations class particularly well suited for this instructional design style. The hands-on approach, grounded in the vibration course curriculum, provided a direct link to the fundamentals of vibration in industry.Student comments are included to demonstrate the value perceived by the students. Although this curriculum experiment involved mechanical engineering technology students, it would benefit mechanical engineering students equally well.In addition, the paper provides a brief description of the industries that participated in this project. Industries were selected because they use vibration based manufacturing, perform extreme testing or design their products to avoid failure due to vibrations.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Premotor biomarkers for Parkinson's disease - a promising direction of research.

The second most serious neurodegenerative disease is Parkinson’s disease (PD). Over the past several decades, a strong body of evidence suggests that PD can begin years before the hallmark clinical motor symptoms appear. Biomarkers for PD are urgently needed to differentiate between neurodegenerative disorders, screen novel therapeutics, and predict eventual clinical PD before the onset of symptoms. Some clinical evaluations and neuroimaging techniques have been developed in the last several years with some success in this area. Moreover, other strategies have been utilized to identify biochemical and genetic markers associated with PD leading to the examination of PD progression and pathogenesis in cerebrospinal fluid, blood, or saliva. Finally, interesting results are surfacing from preliminary studies using known PD-associated genetic mutations to assess potential premotor PD biomarkers. The current review highlights recent advances and underscores areas of potential advancement.
Perceptual navigation strategy for mobile robots intercepting ground balls

This paper presents a new human-based navigation model to guide a mobile robot to intercept ground balls. The new model consists of two strategies: the optical acceleration cancellation (OAC) model, and the lateral alignment strategy. The OAC model uses a linearly decreasing cotangent function of the gaze angle to reduce the distance between the robot and the target on the ground. It determines a set of possible robot positions on the horizontal plane at every time instant. The robot laterally aligns with the target when it moves to the side. The lateral alignment strategy determines a unique robot position at each time instant. The new navigation strategy provides a simple and fast algorithm to navigate mobile robots in an open field to intercept ground balls. Visual servo controllers were designed and simulated. A high-speed mobile robot was developed to conduct interception experiments
Sphere Packing Optimization and EXIT Chart Analysis for Multi-Dimensional QAM Signaling

We investigate on multi-dimensional QAM constellations optimized by sphere packing with the known densest lattices. We propose a greedy design method assisted by the sphere detection. It is demonstrated that the optimized constellations can significantly increase the squared minimum distance in comparison to the conventional QAM constellations. In addition, we analyze the optimized QAMs through the use of an extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart for iterative decoding.
Cost-driven mask strategies considering parametric yield, defectivity, and production volume

We provide new yield-aware mask strategies to mitigate emerging variability and defectivity challenges. To address variability, we analyze critical dimension variability with respect to reticle size and its impact on parametric yield. With a cost model that incorporates mask, wafer, and processing cost, considering throughput, yield, and manufacturing volume, we assess various reticle strategies (e.g., single-layer reticle, multiple-layer reticle, and small and large size) considering field-size-dependent parametric yield. To address defectivity, we compare parametric yield due to extreme ultraviolet mask blank defects for various reticle strategies in conjunction with reticle floorplan optimizations such as shifting of the mask pattern within a mask blank to avoid defects being superposed by performance-critical patterns of a design.
Multilevel Parallelism in Computational Chemistry using Common Component Architecture and Global Arrays

The development of complex scientific applications for high-end systems is a challenging task. Addressing complexity of the involved software and algorithms is becoming increasingly difficult and requires appropriate software engineering approaches to address interoperability, maintenance, and software composition challenges. At the same time, the requirements for performance and scalability to thousand processor configurations magnifies the level of difficulties facing the scientific programmer due to the variable levels of parallelism available in different algorithms or functional modules of the application. This paper demonstrates how the Common Component Architecture (CCA) and Global Arrays (GA) can be used in context of computational chemistry to express and manage multi-level parallelism through the use of processor groups. For example, the numerical Hessian calculation using three levels of parallelism in NWChem computational chemistry package outperformed the original version of the NWChem code based on single level parallelism by a factor of 90% when running on 256 processors.
Contact Resistance with Dissimilar Materials: Bulk Contacts and Thin Film Contacts

Contact resistance is important to integrated circuits and thin film devices, carbon nanotube based cathodes and interconnects, field emitters, wire-array z-pinches, metal-insulator-vacuum junctions, and high power microwave sources, etc. In other applications, the electrical contacts are formed by thin film structures of a few microns thickness, such as in micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) relays and microconnector systems. This paper summarizes the recent modeling efforts at the University of Michigan, addressing the effect of dissimilar materials and of finite dimensions on the contact resistance of both bulk contacts and thin film contacts. The Cartesian and cylindrical geometries are analyzed. Accurate analytical scaling laws are constructed for the contact resistance of both bulk contacts and thin film contacts over a large range of aspect ratios and resistivity ratios. These were validated against known limiting cases and spot-checks with numerical simulations.
The impact of antimicrobial resistance and aging in VAP outcomes: experience from a large tertiary care center.

Background Ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) is a serious infection among patients in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Breeding Site and Mate Fidelity in Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis Phoebe) in Indiana

Abstract Multibrooded species that undertake more than one nesting attempt per breeding season and individuals that breed over multiple years (breeding seasons) must decide whether to return to (or remain at) their former breeding site and social mate (fidelity) or to relocate (dispersal). During three breeding seasons (1998–2000), we examined breeding-site (territory and nest) fidelity and social-mate fidelity of Eastern Phoebes (Sayornis phoebe) (n = 435 adults captured and color-banded, n = 198 males, n = 237 females) both within years and between years. We also examined the influence of sex and previous reproductive success on breeding-site and social-mate fidelity decisions. Field research was conducted at Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, Martin County, Indiana. Breeding-site (territory and nest) and social-mate fidelity were extremely high both within and between years. Only 23 instances of breeding dispersal to new territories were documented. Within years, Eastern Phoebe adults rarely dispersed...
Energy Crunch: Facilitating Students' Understanding of Eco-Efficiency.

Recreation administrators have had to evolve their approach to managing areas and facilities as both financial and environmental resources have become more limited. One way that administrators have...
Bacteriophage phi-X174 and related viruses.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on bacteriophage φ X174 and related viruses. As a consequence of an extended program of research in several laboratories, many of the reactions involved in the replication of the bacteriophage φ X174 are known. The replication, even of this simple virus, is clearly an intricate and integrated process, precisely adapted to the circumstances in the host cell. The replication of the viral nucleic acid is intimately related to the repair and replication processes of the host DNA; the analysis of the replication of the viral DNA (and its regulation) may serve as a model system to provide new insights into the analogous processes for the host DNA. It is important to know that many of the stages of viral DNA replication and viral assembly will be performed in vitro in the near future. However, the analysis of some of the evident integrated aspects of viral replication, which may well depend upon a complex structural basis for specific interactions, may, therefore, require extensive in vivo studies for some time to come.
Embedded STT-MRAM opportunities in new system hierarchies

Emerging nonvolatile memory technology such as STT-MRAM (Spin Transfer Toque Magnetic RAM) is likely to become a promising technology to partly replace SRAM as embedded cache and to reduce the performance gap between the processor and cache. To take all advantages of STT-MRAM and SRAM, the use of STT-MRAM only and hybrid cache (SRAM & STT-MRAM) is investigated to construct new system hierarchies using new emerging technologies. This paper starts with the industry trend for memory subsystem that uses the emerging technologies to improve the performance of system architectures and to reduce power consumption, and focuses on the impact of integrating STT-MRAM as nonvolatile memory into current systems so as to create new system hierarchies.