cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
FAST: Frequency-Aware Indexing for Spatio-Textual Data Streams

Many applications need to process massive streams of spatio-textual data in real-time against continuous spatio-textual queries. For example, in location-aware ad targeting publish/subscribe systems, it is required to disseminate millions of ads and promotions to millions of users based on the locations and textual profiles of users. In this paper, we study indexing of continuous spatio-textual queries. There exist several related spatio-textual indexes that typically integrate a spatial index with a textual index. However, these indexes usually have a high demand for main-memory and assume that the entire vocabulary of keywords is known in advance. Also, these indexes do not successfully capture the variations in the frequencies of keywords across different spatial regions and treat frequent and infrequent keywords in the same way. Moreover, existing indexes do not adapt to the changes in workload over space and time. For example, some keywords may be trending at certain times in certain locations and this may change as time passes. This affects the indexing and searching performance of existing indexes significantly. In this paper, we introduce FAST, a Frequency-Aware Spatio-Textual index for continuous spatio-textual queries. FAST is a main-memory index that requires up to one third of the memory needed by the state-of-the-art index. FAST does not assume prior knowledge of the entire vocabulary of indexed objects. FAST adaptively accounts for the difference in the frequencies of keywords within their corresponding spatial regions to automatically choose the best indexing approach that optimizes the insertion and search times. Extensive experimental evaluation using real and synthetic datasets demonstrates that FAST is up to 3x faster in search time and 5x faster in insertion time than the state-of-the-art indexes.
The Role of Boxa in Transcription of Ribosomal RNA Operons of EscherichaColi: Changes in the Processivity of RNA Polymerase

Termination of transcription by the RNA polymerase of E. coli is generally assumed to be quite limited in the absence of deliberate transcription termination signals. However, the inherent termination rate of RNA polymerase in the absence of deliberate termination signals (what we will refer to as the processivity of RNA polymerase) has not been carefully quantitated. Therefore, it is not known if the inherent processivity of RNA polymerase is an important limitation to transcription, or whether processivity can be increased by post-initiation modifications of RNA polymerase in some operons.
Mental and Addictive Disorders and Medical Comorbidities

Mental and addictive disorders commonly co-occur with medical comorbidities, resulting in poor health and functioning, and premature mortality. This review provides an overview of the intertwined causal pathways and shared risk factors that lead to comorbidity. Additionally, this review examines the strategies to prevent the onset of and to effectively manage chronic medical conditions among people with mental and addictive disorders. Recent research provides further evidence for the shared genetic and biological, behavioral, and environmental risk factors for comorbidity. Additionally, there is evidence of effective approaches for screening, self-management, and treatment of medical conditions among people with mental disorders. There are promising health system models of integrated care, but additional research is needed to fully establish their effectiveness. A combination of public health and clinical approaches are needed to better understand and address comorbidity between mental and addictive disorders and chronic medical conditions.
Lung Transplant Listing of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Patients at Pulmonary Fibrosis Care Centers

Purpose Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive fibrotic interstitial lung disease with lung transplant recommended in medically appropriate patients with advanced disease. Although outcomes for IPF patients on the waitlist are well described, there is limited data on which IPF patients make it to the transplant waitlist, including whether transplant eligible patients are listed timely for lung transplant. The aim of this study is to identify the proportion of IPF patients with advanced disease, defined as GAP stage of 3, who undergo lung transplant listing within 6 months and to compare characteristics between those listed and not listed. A GAP stage of 3 was used to represent advanced disease given its association with a mortality estimate of 39% at 1-year and 62% at 2-years. Methods IPF patients were identified within the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation patient registry, which includes clinical, demographic, and socioeconomic information submitted from over 40 pulmonary fibrosis specialty care centers across the United Sites. IPF patients with 75, BMI≥35, active tobacco smoking, congestive heart failure, non-skin cancer, and/or liver cirrhosis were excluded from analysis. Characteristics were compared between IPF patients listed and not listed for lung transplant within 6 months and stratified by GAP stage. Results There were 595 IPF patients identified who met inclusion criteria including 36 listed for lung transplant and 559 not listed for lung transplant. 55.6% of listed patients were on anti-fibrotic therapy and 50% were attending pulmonary rehab. Patients listed for lung transplant had a lower median FVC, lower DLCO, lower 6-minute walk distance, greater oxygen requirement, and were more likely to have Medicare insurance and live closer to a transplant center than those not listed. There were 410 IPF patients (77.5%) with GAP stage 3 disease of which 386 (94%) were not listed for lung transplant. Of these 386 patients, 10.9% were age Conclusion Within pulmonary fibrosis specialty care centers, there are a large number of IPF patients with GAP stage 3 disease who are not listed for lung transplant, including those older and younger than 70. Further understanding of the potential barriers to timely lung transplant listing is needed.
Teaching NeuroImages: Cervical synovial cyst leading to spinal cord compression

Cervical synovial cysts are an uncommon degenerative finding that can lead to spinal canal stenosis, myelopathy, and radiculopathy.1 Here we present the radiographic findings of a synovial cyst in a patient presenting with progressively worsening bilateral upper and lower extremity weakness. It is seen to cause prominent uplifting of the posterior longitudinal ligament and furthermore significant central canal stenosis (figure). CT-guided needle aspiration may provide symptomatic relief though frequently resulting in reoccurrence due to preservation of an intact synovium. Definitive treatment is surgical and may consist of laminoplasty, laminectomy, and in severe instances, spinal fusion.2
Amino Acid Neurotransmitters

Abstract Amino acids are ubiquitous in the body, so it was not initially intuitive that they would be likely to act as neurotransmitters. Nonetheless, the three neurotransmitters with an amino acid structure—glutamate, GABA, and glycine—underlie the vast majority of fast synaptic transmission, and can also have neuromodulatory effects. Neurons that release glutamate and glycine as neurotransmitters must be identified indirectly (e.g., by specific plasma membrane or vesicular transporters) because these amino acids are present in every cell and also serve roles outside of neurotransmission. Given the prevalence of amino acid neurotransmitters in the central nervous system, it is not surprising that they are implicated in many neurological disorders.
Role of Data Analytics in Human Resource Management for Prediction of Attrition Using Job Satisfaction

The reputed management publications like Harvard Business Review (HBR) have started stressing upon the emergence of data-driven management decisions. The enhancing investments in data and analytics are underlining the aforementioned emergence. According to International Data Corporation, this investment is expected to grow up to $200 billion by 2020. In such a data lead management world collecting, managing, and analysing the human resources-related data becomes a key for any rather every organization. Human resource analytics is changing into necessary as strategic personnel designing is the need of the hour and helps organizations to investigate each side of HR metrics. HR analytics could be a holist approach. According to KPMG—India’s Annual Compensation Trends Survey 2018–19 the average annual voluntary attrition across sectors is 13.1%. This is a considerably high percentage. Hence, antecedents leading to attrition are needed to be explored in order to propose appropriate HR policies, strategies, and practices. In relevance to these facts, this study focused on proposing a data-driven predictive approach that examines the relationship between the attrition (dependent variable) and other demographic and psychographic independent variables (Antecedents). The present study found that there is a strong relationship between job satisfaction and attrition. Further, there is a higher probability that the employees having work experience between 0–5 years may leave the organizations. Such data-based outcomes may offer help to HR managers in addressing the problems like attrition which intern may increase ROI. Thus, this paper underlines the emergence and relevance of analytics with special reference to human resource management domain.
Extracellular acidosis differentiates pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in mouse models using acidoCEST MRI

Abstract Differentiating pancreatitis from pancreatic cancer would improve diagnostic specificity, and prognosticating pancreatitis that progresses to pancreatic cancer would also improve diagnoses of pancreas pathology. The high glycolytic metabolism of pancreatic cancer can cause tumor acidosis, and different levels of pancreatitis may also have different levels of acidosis, so that extracellular acidosis may be a diagnostic biomarker for these pathologies. AcidoCEST MRI can noninvasively measure extracellular pH (pHe) in the pancreas and pancreatic tissue. We used acidoCEST MRI to measure pHe in a KC model treated with caerulein, which causes pancreatitis followed by development of pancreatic cancer. We also evaluated the KC model treated with PBS, and wild-type mice treated with caerulein or PBS as controls. The caerulein-treated KC cohort had lower pHe of 6.85–6.92 before and during the first 48 h after initiating treatment, relative to a pHe of 6.92 to 7.05 pHe units for the other cohorts. The pHe of the caerulein-treated KC cohort decreased to 6.79 units at 5 weeks when pancreatic tumors were detected with anatomical MRI, and sustained a pHe of 6.75 units at the 8-week time point. Histopathology was used to evaluate and validate the presence of tumors and inflammation in each cohort. These results showed that acidoCEST MRI can differentiate pancreatic cancer from pancreatitis in this mouse model, but does not appear to differentiate pancreatitis that progresses to pancreatic cancer vs. pancreatitis that does not progress to cancer.
The duty to warn at-risk relatives-The experience of genetic counselors and medical geneticists.

Studies published over 15 years ago surveyed genetic counselors (GC) and medical geneticists (MG) to examine their clinical experiences with the conflict of "duty to warn" versus patient confidentiality. Federal and state laws pertaining to medical professionals' duty to warn have since been implemented following the publications of these studies. Using a merged version of surveys employed in the prior studies, this study seeks to understand clinicians' current decision-making process when faced with patient refusal to inform at-risk relatives, as well as their familiarity with and opinions of laws and guidelines covering this issue. Consistent with the previous studies, the majority of MG and almost half of GC experience patient refusal. Significantly, fewer MG and GC believe they had a duty to warn their patients' relatives of genetic risk. Only 8% of participants believe current guidelines effectively address the issue of duty to warn. Participant awareness of federal or state laws regulating the disclosure of genetic information remains low. The conflict of duty to warn remains a shared experience among genetics professionals, and resources are needed to facilitate informed decision-making. Participants' opinions of current policies and clinical decisions may guide professional actions regarding duty to warn.
Reply to Young and Scott: Nicotine and nicotinic acetylcholine receptor mutations in electronic-cigarette smoke lung carcinogenicity

We recently presented results on electronic-cigarette smoke (ECS) effects in a mouse model (1, 2). These results show that in a short-term exposure, nicotine in ECS induces DNA damage in lung, heart, and bladder tissues and DNA repair inhibition in lung tissues (1); in a long-term exposure, ECS induces lung adenocarcinoma and bladder urothelial hyperplasia (2). Nicotine induces the same type of DNA damage, DNA repair inhibition, and repair protein reduction in cultured human bronchial epithelial and bladder urothelial cells. Nicotine also enhances the mutational and tumorigenic transformation susceptibility of these human cells. Based on these results we conclude that ECS, via induction of DNA … [↵][1]1Email: moon-shong.tang{at}nyumc.org. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Operations of Internet Platform Intermediaries

This chapter identifies defects in the ways most governments currently respond to allegations of harm to consumers and competition from internet giants such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. Governments can refrain from regulating access and tolerate market concentration as the proper reward for ventures offering desirable content and carriage services. Alternatively, they can impose ex ante safeguards to remedy anticipated harms to competition and consumers such as market concentration, price discrimination, reduced consumer welfare and captured consumer surpluses. Between these poles, governments can rely on courts or an expert regulatory agency to evaluate complaints and offer calibrated ex post remedies. The chapter analyzes a recent Supreme Court case that endorses an analysis of both downstream and upstream market impacts. It recommends that courts and government agencies should address marketplace distortions by recalibrating existing tools to examine the competitive and consumer impacts on both sides of an intermediary’s platform.
Adaptive statistical inferential methods for information processing

Modern sensors produce increasingly high volume of data that requires efficient and reliable statistical methods for information processing. We consider frequent problems of information processing which can be cast into the framework of parameter estimation and multihypothesis testing. We propose a unified approach for statistical inference of information processing by introducing the inclusion principle, confidence process, unimodal likelihood estimator, and time-uniform concentration inequalities. Our methods attempt to make decision based on observing data in an adaptive and sequential way so that the decision can be made as quick as possible, while the probability of committing mistakes is acceptably small.
Psychometric Properties of the Revised DML Evaluation Scale: A New Instrument for Assessing Debriefers

Abstract Background Significant learning occurs during debriefing, yet specific debriefing descriptors that improve learners’ thinking are lacking. The Debriefing for Meaningful Learning (DML) Evaluation Scale was developed and tested to assess DML behaviors, yet a more precise measure resulted in psychometric testing of a new iteration. Methods The revised DML Evaluation Scale was tested with 19 educators at five nursing programs, who facilitated debriefing with nursing students. Debriefings were recorded, viewed and scored by a six member research team. Results The Debriefing for Meaningful Learning Evaluation Scale (DMLES) data demonstrated internal consistency, interrater reliability, content, construct, and criterion-related validity. Conclusions This study's findings demonstrate ongoing evidence of validity and reliability for the scale as a measure of competence and formative assessment.
Investigations of the Stability of Etched or Platinized p-InP(100) Photocathodes for Solar-driven Hydrogen Evolution in Acidic or Alkaline Aqueous Electrolytes

The stability of p-InP photocathodes performing the hydrogen-evolution reaction (HER) has been evaluated in contact with either 1.0 M H2SO4(aq) or 1.0 M KOH(aq), with a focus on identifying corrosion mechanisms. Stability for the solar-driven HER was evaluated using p-InP electrodes that were either etched or coated with an electrodeposited Pt catalyst (p-InP/Pt). Variables such as trace O2 were systematically controlled during the measurements. Changes in surface characteristics after exposure to electrochemical conditions as well as electrode dissolution processes were monitored using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). In either H2SO4 or KOH, etched p-InP photoelectrodes corroded cathodically under illumination, forming metallic In0 at the electrode surface. In contrast, electrodeposition of Pt kinetically stabilized illuminated p-InP photocathodes in both H2SO4 and KOH by inhibiting the cathodic corrosion pathway. Notably, when held at 0 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) in 1.0 M H2SO4(aq), p-InP/Pt exhibited a stable current density (J) of ∼−18 mA cm−2 for >285 h under simulated 1 Sun illumination. The long-term current density vs. potential (J–E) behavior at pH 0 and pH 14 of p-InP/Pt photocathodes correlated with changes in the surface chemistry as well as the dissolution of p-InP. In acidic media, the J–E behavior of p-InP/Pt photocathodes remained nearly constant with time, but the surface of a p-InP/Pt electrodes gradually turned P-rich via a slow and continuous leaching of In ions. In alkaline electrolyte, the surface of p-InP/Pt electrodes was passivated by formation of an InOx layer that exhibited negligible dissolution but led to a substantial degradation in the J–E characteristics. Consequently, changes in the catalytic kinetics and surface stoichiometry are both important considerations for determining the corrosion chemistry and the long-term operational stability of InP photoelectrodes.
RET Dependent Transcriptional Changes of Cell Signaling Proteins in Neuroblastoma Cells

The ret proto-oncogene is a receptor tyrosine kinase involved in the pathogenesis of numerous severe developmental defects, particularly those in neural crest-derived structures leading to regulati...
Activity and Passivity in Theories of Perception: Descartes to Kant

In the early modern period, many authors held that sensation or sensory reception is in some way passive and that perception is in some way active. The notion of a more passive and a more active aspect of perception is already present in Aristotle: the senses receive forms without matter more or less passively, but the “primary sense” also recognizes the salience of present objects. Ibn al-Haytham distinguished “pure sensation” (of light and color) from other aspects sense perception, achieved by “discernment, inference and recognition,” which included perception of properties such as size and distance as well as similarity, difference, and beauty. Descartes regarded light and color as experiences passively caused in the mind by bodily processes, but he also included distance, perceived through accommodation and convergence, as an immediately caused (hence, in that way, passive) sensory idea. On the perception side, most theorists held that size and distance perception frequently occurs through unnoticed psychological operations, whether mediated by judgment (Descartes, Kant) or associative processes (Berkeley, Hume, and Reid). Association is, in a sense, passive, as it occurs through nonreflective habit formation. But such habits mark a contribution of the subject to perception and are in that way active. The decision of whether sensation and perception are active or passive is highly sensitive to what counts as activity and to what is included as sensation or perception. There is no simple formula, but the generalization that sensation is for the most part passive and perception for the most part active may stand as an imprecise summary of early modern thought on the topic.
Misreading of Ribonucleic Acid Code Words Induced by Aminoglycoside Antibiotics THE EFFECT OF DRUG CONCENTRATION

Aminoglycoside antibiotics were found to vary widely in the effect of variation in their concentration on the degree of misreading of synthetic RNA messengers. Thus, neomycin, kanamycin, and gentamicin showed a 3- to 5-fold increase in the level of misreading as the drug concentration was raised from 10−6 to 10−4M. This effect suggests that each of these drugs may act on more than one site. Observed changes in the qualitative nature of the misreading at different concentrations support this inference, which is also consistent with the absence of one-step mutants with high level resistance to these drugs. In contrast, little increase in misreading, over the same concentration range, was seen with streptomycin and paromomycin, for which one-step, high level, resistant mutants are known. It therefore seems that these drugs each act on only a single site.
Growth of the ideal generated by a quadratic boolean function

We give exact formulas for the growth of the ideal Aλ for λ a quadratic element of the algebra of Boolean functions over the Galois field GF(2). That is, we calculate $\dim A_k \lambda$ where Ak is the subspace of elements of degree less than or equal to k. These results clarify some of the assertions made in the article of Yang, Chen and Courtois [22,23] concerning the efficiency of the XL algorithm.
A Review of: “Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling. Science and Applications”

Physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling has found extensive use and accepted recognition in the fields of environmental toxicology and predictive risk assessment, while PBPK modeling ...
An analysis of the garbage collection performance in Sun's HotSpot/sup TM/ Java Virtual Machine

Sun Microsystems introduced the Java HotSpot Virtual Machine as a high performance engine for the Java programming language. The improvements over the classic Java Virtual Machine include dynamic compilation and optimization, better thread synchronization, and a more sophisticated and fully accurate garbage collection system. In this paper, a thorough analysis of the dynamic memory management issues in the HotSpot VM are performed. The analysis includes the memory allocation latency, the workload distribution, overall garbage collection time, and the pause times. The results indicate that the HotSpot VM succeeds in reducing the pause times by approximately 80%. However, it may prolong the overall garbage collection time in some applications.
Depression: its trajectory and correlates in mothers rearing children with intellectual disability

Background Rearing a child with an intellectual disability (ID) is a lifelong activity, and research needs to reflect the extended nature of the task as well as its complexity. The present longitudinal study reports on an 11-year follow-up of adoptive and birth families rearing children with ID. Its focus was on depressive symptoms and how these changed over time in a sample of 187 mothers. In particular, the authors were interested in whether initial differences in depression between adoptive mothers who knowingly and willingly decided to rear their children with disabilities, and birth mothers for whom the diagnosis of disability was unexpected and frequently crisis-inducing, would persist over time. Methods A longitudinal method with three times of measurement provided data which were analysed with analysis of variance and regression techniques. Moreover, several other individual and family adjustment measures were examined with respect to their correlations with depression and an outcome variable that measured subjective well-being with regard to the child. Furthermore, mothers were classified as typical or atypical for their adoptive/birth group based on their depression scores at the first time of measurement. The authors predicted that later depression would be different based on the earlier scores. Results Both adoptive and birth mothers reported low depression, not significantly different from each other, at the 11-year follow-up. The personality variable of neuroticism was the strongest predictor of depression for both adoptive and birth mothers, accounting for 24% and 23% of the variance, respectively, but it did not predict the mother's subjective well-being with regard to the child. Mothers classified as typical or atypical for their groups at initial measurement continued to report significantly different depression scores 11 years later. Conclusions The low depression scores, not significantly different for birth and adoptive mothers, portray the long-term prognosis for adjustment to rearing children with disabilities as primarily positive. Moreover, the predictive value of neuroticism suggests that general mental health is an important component influencing this adjustment. Nevertheless, a different pattern for a different outcome variable suggests that multiple measures are necessary to portray accurately the complexity of reaction over time.
Lipoprotein Profiles in Sheep Plasma and Lung Lymph

93S to control). To evaluate whether such prostaglandins can alter lung connective tissue secretion by lung fibroblasts, the ability of prostaglandins to modulate the secretion of collagen and fibronectin by HFL-1 cells was determined using an enzyme immunoassay for human type I collagen and for human fibronectin. PGE, and PGE2 caused a 29 ± 6% reduction in type I collagen secretion but, in contrast, a 39 ± 7% increase in fibronectin secretion (p 0.2) but caused a 20 ± 3% reduction in fibronectin secretion (p <0.05). Thus, fibroblasts are capable of specific modulation of connective macromolecule secretion in response to prostaglandins. Both through the production of prostaglandins and as a target for these mediators, lung fibroblasts play an important role in the cellular response to lung inflammation.
Cognitive Coping Strategies of Newlyweds Adjusting to Marriage

The current study focused on the cognitive strategies newlyweds used to cope with distress due to adjustments during the transition to marriage. Forty-two recently married husbands and wives (21 couples) were interviewed, and a qualitative thematic analysis was used in the investigation. Several themes emerged regarding the types of cognitive coping strategies that have potential to add nuanced understanding of some formerly identified cognitive processes, which may have helped maintain satisfying relationships in the midst of unexpected adjustments. The implications for explaining the paradoxical nature of the transition to marriage and for further research and application toward premarital education are discussed.
Obsessional Slowness in College Students: Case Studies

Cases of obsessional slowness, a variant of obsessive compulsive disorder, have been documented in case literature regarding relatively low functioning populations. However, obsessional slowness can also present in higher functioning populations, including college and graduate students, as illustrated here by three case examples from a competitive college setting. Some sufferers of the syndrome experience slowness secondary to rituals typical of obsessive compulsive disorder, while others suffer from primary obsessive slowness in the absence of such behaviors, the slowing serving to block a sense of anxiety. For college students, the disorder can cause significant impairment but can be effectively treated. More research is needed to determine the best treatments and whether obsessional slowness may be more common than once thought.
Design of transmission linear partial polarizers using a negative film-substrate system

It is possible to design a transmission linear partial polarizer (LPP) in the negative thin-film system (N 1 < √N 0 N 2 ) as a function of the film thickness and its refractive index, where N 0 , N 1 , and N 2 are the refractive indices of the ambient, film, and substrate, respectively. This LPP can be designed to operate at more than one angle of incidence as well as over a range of angles, allowing it to be tunable. The design procedure is discussed, the relevant design equations are presented, and an example of an LPP design is given and its performance is analyzed.
Successful Spawning of Orangemouth Corvina Following Injection with des-Gly10,[D-Ala6]-Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Hormone (1-9) Ethylamide and Pimozide

Abstract Two attempts to spawn mature orange-mouth corvina (Cynoscion xanthulus) with hormone injections resulted in successful spawns. Spawns with high fertilization rates (86.9 ± 11.8% and 84.4 ± 5.9%) followed injections of des-Gly10,[D-Ala6]-luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (1-9) ethylamide (0.10-0.20 mg/kg fish body weight) and pimozide (5.0-10.0 mg/kg fish body weight). This treatment may be useful for inducing ovulation in other species which have been difficult to breed by traditional methods in captivity.
The role of intensive AML-specific therapy in treatment of children with RAEB and RAEB-t.

To determine the role of intensive chemotherapy and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in treatment of refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) or RAEB-t (in transformation), the outcome of 37 consecutive children, 12 with RAEB and 25 with RAEB-t, diagnosed between 1985 and 1995 was analyzed. Fourteen patients received intensive chemotherapy according to the AML-BFM protocols 83, 87, or 93 (group 1). Seven patients were treated less Intensively with the 6-week consolidation phase as induction (group 2). Allogeneic BMT was performed in 10 children of group 1 and 2 after, and in eight (group 3) without prior chemotherapy. Eight children received minimal or no chemotherapy (group 4). Of 21 children (groups 1 and 2) 17 (81%) achieved complete or partial remission after chemotherapy, 12 of them (10 of group 1) remained in remission, eight after BMT. Five-year survival in 29 children treated Intensively (groups 1-3) was 46%, SE 12%. Two of the other eight children (group 4) remained alive, one after spontaneous remission. Outcome after BMT was related to the blast count in the bone marrow prior to BMT. None of 10 children (including two with minimal or no chemotherapy) with ≤12% blasts before BMT relapsed, in contrast to five of eight patients with a higher blast count (P log rank 0.02). We conclude that a substantial number of children with RAEB or RAEB-t can achieve remission with Intensive AML-specific chemotherapy. In patients responding to intensive chemotherapy an increase in long-term survival after allogeneic BMT can be expected.
Ability of Alternative Indices of Insulin Sensitivity to Predict Cardiovascular Risk

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Although recognition of insulin sensitivity as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease is growing, a deeper understanding of its role is impeded by the cost and complexity of currently available measures. This report evaluates previously described alternative indices of insulin sensitivity with the goal of identifying a reliable, but logistically simpler, alternative. METHODS: Data from 1460 participants in the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS) were used to assess the proportion of the relationship between a recognized measure of insulin sensitivity (Bergman’s S I ) and cardiovascular risk factors that is contained in each of nine alternative measures. RESULTS: A number of the alternative indices contained a substantial proportion of the information available in Bergman’s S I . The Galvin’s index and the homeostasis model were most promising. However, there remained a significant amount of the information in Bergman’s S I that was not contained in any of the alternative indices. DISCUSSION: There are simpler alternative indices of insulin sensitivity for use in epidemiological studies, but each alternative is associated with some loss of information. It may be possible that this loss can be overcome with an increased sample size; however, using the alternative indices may also confound the assessment of insulin sensitivity with other underlying factors (i.e., hyperinsulinemia). The alternative indices are not recommended for the clinical assessment of insulin sensitivity for an individual patient or subject.
BIS and cognitive appraisals in predicting coping strategies

Abstract Previous research has indicated that the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) is associated with coping, appraisals, and a variety of thoughts and behaviors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of personality variables, such as BIS, and cognitive appraisals in the coping process. This study evaluated young adults’ self-reported use of emotion- and avoidance-focused coping strategies when faced with stress, as well as their cognitive appraisals of the stress. It was hypothesized that cognitive appraisals would mediate the relationship between the BIS and emotion- and avoidance-focused coping forms. Undergraduate psychology students ( n = 242) completed a battery of questionnaires assessing BIS, cognitive appraisals, and coping behaviors. Consistent with our hypotheses, bootstrapping mediation analyses indicated that cognitive appraisals of stress mediated the relationship between BIS and emotion- and avoidance-focused coping strategies. These results provide support for the role of BIS in influencing coping behaviors through cognition.
Unsatisfactory experience with 'minimal intervention management' for gastroschisis.

Abstract Purpose: The authors report, for cautionary reasons, their trial with "minimal intervention management" for gastroschisis. After the successful innovative experience with this approach, which Bianchi and Dickson described, they utilized it in 4 consecutive patients. Methods: In the delivery room a plastic bag was placed over the intestines, which rested in a dependent position to reduce edema. The stomach was decompressed and the patients kept warm. Intravenous fluid at a maintenance rate was given. After about 5 hours an attempt at closure was undertaken in the newborn intensive care unit without anesthesia. An assistant lifted the anterior abdominal wall by applying upward traction on the umbilical cord. Over about 25 minutes the intestines were placed in the coelom, which was closed with a single suture. Results: The outcome was uncomplicated in the first of 4 consecutive patients. The second patient had abdominal compartment syndrome requiring a silo and subsequent resection and has chronic malabsorption 16 months later. The third had an enterocutaneous fistula at 5 weeks that required a small bowel resection. Bedside closure was abandoned in the final case because too much resistance was encountered. She underwent primary repair in the operating room and eventually died of sepsis with intestinal dysmotility. Conclusions: The "minimal intervention approach" can be effective in some patients who have gastroschisis. This experience suggests that selection criteria are needed before this method can be recommended. J Pediatr Surg 35:1437-1439. Copyright © 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.
Effectiveness of Ecological Units for Stratification of Bird Habitat in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska

For a comprehensive bird inventory of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska, we stratified the 1 million hectare study area by large, physiographically defined regions known as ecological units. Point-count data from the bird inventory were used to test the ability of the ecological units to differentiate bird assemblages, and compare the effectiveness of ecological units to fine-scale vegetation types. The ecological units were a synthesis of geology, landforms, soils, and vegetation mapped at a scale of 1:250,000; the vegetation types were based on vegetation within 50 m of the sample points. Nonparametric multivariate statistical tests showed that ecological units and vegetation types had similar success in differentiating bird assemblages, despite their different scales and conceptual bases. Analyses of individual bird species showed that both ecological units and vegetation types provide useful and complementary information about bird habitat selection. Ecological units have several advantag...
Modeling the Effect of Surface Roughness on the Adhesion, Contact and Friction in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Interfaces

It has been experimentally shown that surface texturing (roughening) decreases the effect of intermolecular adhesion forces that are significant in MEMS applications. These forces can hinder normal operation of sensors and actuators as well as micro-engines where they might increase friction, which could be catastrophic. In this paper, a model that predicts the effects of roughness, asymmetry, and flatness on the adhesion, contact, and friction forces in MEMS interfaces is presented. The three key parameters used to characterize the roughness the asymmetry and the flatness of a surface topography are the root-mean-square roughness (RMS), skewness and kurtosis, respectively. It is predicted that surfaces with high RMS, high kurtosis and positive skewness exhibit lower adhesion and static friction coefficient, even at extremely low external normal forces.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Role of IGF-I in muscular atrophy of aging

Loss of muscle mass and strength are well-known consequences of aging. The growth hormone/IGF-I pathway is both impaired with aging and essential for growth and maintenance of skeletal muscle. Despite this, growth hormone (GH) replacement has not been effective in increasing muscle mass and strength in the elderly. Possible explanations for this failure include 1. The presence of other age-related impairments in muscle that prevent the actions of GH and IGF-I and 2. Complications arising from a failure to deliver GH and IGF-I in the physiologically correct manner
Averaged evoked potentials and intramodality selective attention.

Abstract An attempt was made to determine the effects of attention on average evoked potentials when no general change in the alertness of the subject and when no peripheral gating of sensory inputs can be assumed to operate. Human subjects viewed a 50 msec flash of light superimposed on a fluctuating background ( e.g. , a circle alternating aperiodically with a square). In one of the two experimental conditions, the subject was instructed to ignore the background alternations and to respond to the flash; in the other condition, the subject was required to ignore the flash and to respond to the fluctuations in the background. It was found that the stimulus to which the subject had to respond elicited an AEP with a considerably enhanced late positive component (latency to peak 250–300 msec).
Human Response to Single and Combined Sinusoidal Vertical Vibration — Revisited:

In a 1977 study, task performance was shown to decline with exposure to combined vertical vibration, as opposed to single sinusoidal vibration. In the current study, electromyography was used to capture muscle activity of the back during single and combined whole-body vertical vibration to explore this phenomenon. Fourteen, right-handed males were exposed to four vertical vibration conditions (no vibration, 2.5 Hz, 5.0 Hz, and vibration combining 2.5 Hz with 5.0 Hz) while sitting upright. Subjects performed a four-limb task during testing. The participants were able to respond cyclically to the 2.5 Hz and 5 Hz vibration conditions when encountered independently, but only responded to the 2.5 Hz component of the combined vibration condition. Responding only at 2.5 Hz to a combined signal would allow the energy at 5.0 Hz to be dissipated elsewhere in the body, possibly explaining the performance decrement noted previously. This study has revealed a significant musculoskeletal control system limitation.
Three-dimensional (3D) parametric maps for visualization of breast lesion vasculature using subharmonic imaging

Ability to visualize breast lesion vascularity and quantify the vascular heterogeneity using contrast-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) harmonic (HI) and subharmonic (SHI) ultrasound imaging was investigated in a clinical population. Patients (n = 134) identified with breast lesions on mammography were scanned using power Doppler imaging (PDI), contrast-enhanced 3D HI and 3D SHI on a modified Logiq 9 scanner (GE Healthcare). Ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) flow was identified in 4D View™ (GE Medical Systems) and used to generate a map of time-intensity curves for each lesion volume. Time-points corresponding to baseline, peak intensity and washout of UCA were identified to develop vascular heterogeneity plots. Vascularity was observed with PDI in 82 lesions (61 benign and 21 malignant). 3D HI showed flow in 8 lesions (5 benign and 3 malignant), while 3D SHI visualized flow in 68 (49 benign and 19 malignant). Analysis of vascular heterogeneity in the 3D SHI volumes found benign lesions having a significant difference in vascularity between central and peripheral sections (1.71 ± 0.96 vs. 1.13 ± 0.79 dB, p < 0.001, respectively) whereas malignant lesions showed no difference (1.66 ± 1.39 vs. 1.24 ± 1.14 dB, p = 0.24), indicative of more vascular coverage. These preliminary results suggest quantitative evaluation of vascular heterogeneity in breast lesions using contrast-enhanced 3D SHI is feasible and able to detect variations in vascularity between central and peripheral sections for benign and malignant lesions. Finally, 3D parametric volumes were produced for perfusion (PER) and area under the curve (AUC).
Proteoglycan Contribution to the Mechanical Behavior of the Porcine Posterior Sclera

Studies describing the mechanical properties of the sclera can be found in the literature 1–10, including studies on healthy, pathophysiological and aging scleral tissue from different species and tested under various loading conditions. However, none was found to specifically address the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) components in the mechanical behavior of the sclera.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Advancing the Translation of Optical Imaging Agents Through Dual Labeling

Nuclear and near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging provide non-invasive monitoring of disease. Merging the respective contrast agents through dual labeling could facilitate NIRF validation using proven nuclear imaging methodology while expanding the utility of diagnostic radiotracers.
Poro-Visco-Elastic Modeling of Mechanical Wave Motion in the Lungs

Noninvasive measurement of mechanical wave motion (sound and vibration) in the lungs may be of diagnostic value, as it can provide information about the mechanical properties of the lungs, which in turn are affected by disease and injury. In this study, two theoretical models of the vibro-acoustic behavior of the lung parenchyma are compared: (1) a Biot theory of poroviscoelasticity and (2) a simplified “bubble swarm” model for compression wave behavior. A “slow” compression wave speed predicted by the Biot theory formulation agrees well with the bubbly swarm theory in both analytical calculations and computational simulation. Biot theory also predicts a fast compression wave and a shear wave. The relative contributions of all three wave types are assessed. The effect of the air volume fraction is also investigated. Preliminary experimental measurements of the slow compression wave speed in the lung parenchyma are carried out and agree with theoretical predictions.© 2012 ASME
Preparation and characterization of poly(l-lactic acid) foams

Abstract A particulate-leaching method was developed to prepare highly porous biodegradable polymer membranes. It involves the casting of polymer/salt composite membranes followed by the dissolution of the salt. Poly( l -lactic acid) porous membranes of controlled porosity, surface/volume ratio, and crystallinity were prepared with sodium chloride, sodium tartrate or sodium citrate sieved particles. For salt weight fractions of 50 and 60 wt%, asymmetric membranes were formed, independent of salt particle size. When 70–90 wt% salt was used, the membranes were homogeneous with interconnected pores. The membrane properties were independent of the salt type and were only related to the salt weight fraction and particle size. The porosity increased with the salt weight fraction, and the median pore diameter increased as the salt particle size increased. The polymer/salt composite membranes could be quenched or annealed to yield amorphous or semicrystalline foams with desired crystallinity. All foams were 99.9 wt% salt free and had porosities as high as 0.93 and median pore diameters up to 150 μm.
Large-Scale Computational Experiments for Complex Enterprise Systems Behaviour Prediction

Abstract This work comes as a contribution to the efforts that are undergoing within engineering systems community to account for the increased complexity of today's manufacturing or service systems. These systems are becoming more and more complicated due to the increase in the number of elements, interconnections within the system, and necessary integration with other systems. Moreover, through the emphasis on self-organization and considering the multi-stakeholders context and objectives, these systems are crossing the line towards complexity. There is a need for developing a framework to be used in modeling, analysis, and integration of systems that operate in uncertain environments, in which characteristics such as adaptation, self-organization and evolution, or in other words behavior prediction, need to be addressed. The proposed complex enterprise systems framework combines knowledge coming from complex systems science and systems engineering domains, and uses computational intelligence and agent-based systems simulation methodologies. The approach requires computational experience in manipulating large amounts of data and building large-scale simulation models. A significant result to be made possible by this research is that systems may no longer have a fixed, life-cycle long, design based on identified requirements; systems will be engineered to evolve and adapt as needed during the operational phase, while respecting their operational environment constraints.
Quantifying cross scatter in biplane fluoroscopy motion analysis systems

Biplane fluoroscopy is currently used for dynamic, in vivo three-dimensional motion analysis of various joints of the body. The benefits of fluoroscopy compared to conventional optical marker tracking methods are the elimination of marker skin motion artifacts, and the ability to directly quantify in vivo skeletal motion that is not optically accessible while wearing orthotic devices and footwear. One potential drawback for biplane fluoroscopy is the cross-scatter contamination between two gantries, as the acquisitions are typically synchronized to facilitate motion tracking. The purpose of this study was to experimentally measure the magnitude and effects of cross-scatter in biplane fluoroscopic images acquired over a range of gantry angles (45-90°) and kV settings (60-110 kV). Four cylindrical water phantoms of 4, 6, 8, and 10-in diameter were imaged, each containing a 1-in diameter Teflon sphere. The cross-scatter fraction and the relative change in contrast-to-noise ratio due to cross scatter were calculated. Results demonstrated that the crossscatter fraction varied from 0.051 for the 4-in cylinder to 1.326 for the 10-in cylinder at 60 kV, and from 0.010 to 0.832 at 110 kV. The reduction in ΔCNR ranged from 0.974 (110 kV, 75°) for the 4-in cylinder to 0.618 (60 kV, 60°) for the 10-in cylinder. The results suggest that cross-scatter contamination during biplane fluoroscopy is relatively low when imaging distal extremities, and would not likely require antiscatter grids or asynchronous timing circuits. Analyzing joints with more soft tissue may introduce cross scatter that could reduce accuracy and may require additional scatter reduction hardware.