cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Genetics of the Partial Epilepsies

In the proposed international classification of epilepsies [8], epilepsy syndromes are divided into those which are generalized and those which are localization related. Within each of these categories a further distinction is made between those epilepsy syndromes which are idiopathic and those which are symptomatic. In this classification scheme the implication of the term idiopathic is that the disorder is a primary one, that is, intrinsic to the individual and not secondary to some acquired insult. Thus, in this approach to classification the term idiopathic is synonymous with the term genetic or hereditary. There is, in fact, abundant evidence for a genetic etiology in the idiopathic epilepsy syndromes, a number of which are discussed in this volume.
Ferguson, Karen Top Down: The Ford Foundation, Black Power, and the Reinvention of Racial Liberalism Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 336 pp., $45.00, ISBN 978-0-8122-4526-4 Publication Date: May 2013

In Top Down, Karen Ferguson sets out to explain racial liberalism's diminishing expectations in the decades following the Second World War in the United States. Arguing that the Ford Foundation was...
Sea Level Variation Along the Western Coast of the Arabian Gulf

Observed hourly tidal heights from six stations during the period 1980-1987 were used in the analyses. Daily readings of the pressure at mean sea level from three meteorological stations were also used. The variations of the observed daily mean sea level were studied at the six stations, giving low values in the winter season, and high ones in summer and spring seasons. The monthly mean sea level showed higher values during July and August and lower ones in the winter season. As the Arabian Gulf is generally considered a shallow sea, the meteorological conditions are the main cause of the sea level variation. This was shown by the variation of the daily mean sea level residual at the six stations. From the analyses of the coherence of several parameters, the pressure difference over the Gulf area did not give a noticeable effect with either the daily observed sea level or the daily sea level residual. Generally speaking, the important factor affecting the sea level variation in the Arabian Gulf is the pressure system covering the area either during the summer or the winter seasons.
Impact of Maryland’s 2011 alcohol sales tax increase on alcoholic beverage sales

ABSTRACTBackground: Increasing alcohol taxes has proven effective in reducing alcohol consumption, but the effects of alcohol sales taxes on sales of specific alcoholic beverages have received little research attention. Data on sales are generally less subject to reporting biases than self-reported patterns of alcohol consumption. Objectives: We aimed to assess the effects of Maryland’s July 1, 2011 three percentage point increase in the alcohol sales tax (6–9%) on beverage-specific and total alcohol sales. Methods: Using county-level data on Maryland’s monthly alcohol sales in gallons for 2010–2012, by beverage type, multilevel mixed effects multiple linear regression models estimated the effects of the tax increase on alcohol sales. We controlled for seasonality, county characteristics, and national unemployment rates in the main analyses. Results: In the 18 months after the tax increase, average per capita sales of spirits were 5.1% lower (p < 0.001), beer sales were 3.2% lower (p < 0.001), and wine sa...
Reading twentieth century urban black cultural movements through popular periodicals: a case study of the Harlem Renaissance and South Africa’s Sophiatown

AbstractThere exists a long history of debate among scholars in the humanities and social sciences regarding the potential of literature and popular culture to be socially transformative and to generate collective identities that empower a community. This transformative power of literature and popular culture, particularly in terms of the value granted to oppressed peoples seeking expression or catharsis, represents perhaps the truest value of cultural production. Its long-term contributions to the resilience of racially oppressed communities both in the USA and worldwide cannot be overstated. In Sophiatown and during the Harlem Renaissance, two periodicals, Drum and The Crisis, allowed black writers and readers alike to share in the formation of new modes of identity that spoke back in a firm voice to the long-standard stereotypes of blackness that permeated white-dominated popular culture. In both South Africa and Harlem, these publications gave voice to a distinctly black and urban culture, resisting n...
Graded changes in the response of individual human basophils to stimulation: distributional behavior of early activation events

These studies examine the distribution of single-cell responses in basophil preparations in the context of four events that may be associated with early activation by anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody and the bacterial peptide fMet-Leu-Phe (fMLP). In general, we measured the single-cell response distributions after challenge with a concentration of stimulus that resulted in an optimal response and compared this with the distribution that occurred after challenge with suboptimal concentrations of the same stimulus. The elevation in cytosolic calcium, as detected in Fura-2-labeled basophils, after challenge with anti-IgE or fMLP showed graded characteristics in that the distributions were unimodal under conditions of optimal or suboptimal challenge with little skewing from a normal distribution. Similarly, the up-regulation of the cell surface adhesion molecule CD11b, as determined by flow cytometry, showed graded unimodal increases after challenge with anti-IgE antibody at optimal and suboptimal concentrations. In addition, stimulation of basophils led to increased F-actin polymerization. After challenge with an optimal concentration of anti-IgE antibody, the F-actin content of basophils increased to a maximum between 10 and 15 min and returned to near prechallenge levels by 60 min. There was a close correlation between the maximum increase in F-actin content and histamine release regardless of the stimulus; anti-IgE antibody, fMLP, and phorbol ester (PMA) responses lay on the same regression line. The single-cell F-actin polymerization distributions were also unimodal and graded according to the magnitude of the histamine release response. During measurements of the calcium response under the microscope we noted that basophils underwent significant changes in morphology after challenge with any stimulus. These changes were related to both degranulation and nondegranulation events and could be quantitated by a series of image-processing algorithms, which are presented. The kinetics of the morphological change, measured as a change in cell perimeter, paralleled degranulation. Single-cell distributions of the morphologic changes were also unimodal under conditions of both optimal and suboptimal stimulation. Therefore, no evidence of all-or-nothing responses could be observed in the context of these four early activation events. In general, the response distributions resembled normal distributions at both optimal and suboptimal levels of stimulation, which indicated that single basophils responded in a graded manner.
MgO:LiNbO3 optical parametric oscillator pumped by a single-mode 532-nm source

In the past, singly resonant optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) have been pumped with highpeak-power short-pulse lasers, which have made stable, single-mode, and narrow linewidth OPO operation difficult. The recent development of single-frequency cw diode laser-pumped Nd:YAG lasers and long-pulse amplifiers for those lasers has made possible a new generation of singly resonant OPOs.
SU-F-T-469: A Clinically Observed Discrepancy Between Image-Based and Log- Based MLC Position

Purpose: To present a clinical case which challenges the base assumption of log-file based QA, by showing that the actual position of a MLC leaf can suddenly deviate from its programmed and logged position by >1 mm as observed with real-time imaging. Methods: An EPID-based exit-fluence dosimetry system designed to prevent gross delivery errors was used in cine mode to capture portal images during treatment. Visual monitoring identified an anomalous MLC leaf pair gap not otherwise detected by the automatic position verification. The position of the erred leaf was measured on EPID images and log files were analyzed for the treatment in question, the prior day's treatment, and for daily MLC test patterns acquired on those treatment days. Additional standard test patterns were used to quantify the leaf position. Results: Whereas the log file reported no difference between planned and recorded positions, image-based measurements showed the leaf to be 1.3±0.1 mm medial from the planned position. This offset was confirmed with the test pattern irradiations. Conclusion: It has been clinically observed that log-file derived leaf positions can differ from their actual positions by >1 mm, and therefore cannot be considered to be the actual leaf positions. This cautions the use of log-based methods for MLC or patient quality assurance without independent confirmation of log integrity. Frequent verification of MLC positions through independent means is a necessary precondition to trusting log file records. Intra-treatment EPID imaging provides a method to capture departures from MLC planned positions. Work was supported in part by Varian Medical Systems.
Radiothermoluminescence as a Method of Analysis of Transitions in Polymers

The general mechanism of radiothermoluminescence in both inorganic and organic materials consists of ionization within the material by the incident radiation, with trapping of some of the resulting ions if the temperature is low enough. Subsequent warming promotes recombination of the ions and thus formation of neutral excited molecules, which, in some cases, return to the ground state by radiative emission. However, the mechanism of electron release from the traps appears to be very different in ionic crystals from what it is in molecular solids. In ionic crystals, in fact, it is believed that the activation energy is imparted to the electron, permitting it to escape from a trap which continues to exist. By contrast, the activation energy in organic solids probably serves to destroy the trap and thus to liberate the negative charge.
Observations of Children with Disabilities in Four Elementary Music Classrooms.

Much of what we know about music classes comes from observing students without disabilities; there is little empirical research that informs music education practices for students with disabilities...
Neoplasms and the Kidney

Renal manifestations in neoplasm vary and depend on whether the neoplasm is primary or secondary. Manifestations generally are florid with secondary involvement of the kidneys, especially in acute leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. Clinically, there is microscopic or gross hematuria, mild to heavy proteinuria, renal tubular acidosis, and acute or chronic renal failure. These overt characteristics may be the result of renal interstitium infiltration by abnormal white blood cells (WBC); deposition of uric acid, calcium, or myeloma protein(s) in the tubules or interstitium; and/or chemotherapeutic agent toxicity. Some of the renal complications in malignancy are transient and cause slight concern, whereas others are persistent and of major importance. Among the renal complications, the most frequent nephrological consultation is done for progressive renal failure in patients with multiple myeloma. Twenty-five or thirty years ago, tumor lysis syndrome and acute uric acid nephropathy were common. Since the advent and use of allopurinol, acute urate nephropathy is rare, but acute renal failure (ARF) from sepsis or the effect of newer chemotherapeutic agents [cisplatinum, gallium, m-AMSA or amsacrine (acridinyl anisidide)] still occurs. The use of amsacrine tends to be a common reason for nephrological consultation.
13. Williams’ the World Contracted to a Recognizable Image

(1973). 13. Williams’ the World Contracted to a Recognizable Image. The Explicator: Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 24-27.
Quality Control and Assurance

This chapter provides approaches for measuring the quality of processes and products. Defining quality, however, is difficult due to its multidimensionality. A simple definition of quality, from a producer’s point of view, is conformance to specifications while such specifications are measurable; for example, the length of an object can be clearly measured. However, this definition of quality may not be of much interest to the consumer. From a consumer’s point of view, quality may be defined based on its usefulness relative to the price paid to acquire such a product. Table 17.1 illustrates our classification of a multiperspective multicriteria view of quality control (QC) of processes and products. From a system’s point of view, an optimal trade-off between the quality of processes and the quality of products is considered. In addition, broader impacts of quality control, such as environmental consequences, are also considered.
Dietary grape seed proanthocyanidins inactivate regulatory T cells by promoting NER-dependent DNA repair in dendritic cells in UVB-exposed skin

// Mudit Vaid 2, * , Ram Prasad 1, 2, * , Tripti Singh 2 and Santosh K. Katiyar 1, 2 1 Birmingham Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL, USA 2 Department of Dermatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Santosh K. Katiyar, email: skatiyar@uab.edu Keywords: grape proanthocyanidins, ultraviolet radiation, photocarcinogenesis, contact hypersensitivity, regulatory T cells Received: March 16, 2017 Accepted: April 29, 2017 Published: May 15, 2017 ABSTRACT Ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation induces regulatory T cells (Treg cells) and depletion of these Treg cells alleviates immunosuppression and inhibits photocarcinogenesis in mice. Here, we determined the effects of dietary grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs) on the development and activity of UVB-induced Treg cells. C3H/HeN mice fed a GSPs (0.5%, w/w)-supplemented or control diet were exposed to UVB (150 mJ/cm 2 ) radiation, sensitized to 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) and sacrificed 5 days later. FACS analysis indicated that dietary GSPs decrease the numbers of UVB-induced Treg cells. ELISA analysis of cultured sorted Treg cells indicated that secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines (interleukin-10, TGF-β) was significantly lower in Treg cells from GSPs-fed mice. Dietary GSPs also enhanced the ability of Treg cells from wild-type mice to stimulate production of IFNγ by T cells. These effects of dietary GSPs on Treg cell function were not found in XPA -deficient mice, which are incapable of repairing UVB-induced DNA damage. Adoptive transfer experiments revealed that naive recipients that received Treg cells from GSPs-fed UVB-irradiated wild-type donors that had been sensitized to DNFB exhibited a significantly higher contact hypersensitivity (CHS) response to DNFB than mice that received Treg cells from UVB-exposed mice fed the control diet. There was no significant difference in the CHS response between mice that received Treg cells from UVB-irradiated XPA -deficient donors fed GSPs or the control diet. Furthermore, dietary GSPs significantly inhibited UVB-induced skin tumor development in wild-type mice but not in XPA -deficient mice. These results suggest that GSPs inactivate Treg cells by promoting DNA repair in dendritic cells in UVB-exposed skin.
Hospital cost analysis of children with preseptal cellulitis

Abstract Objective Hospitalization of the children with preseptal cellulitis creates a burden on healthcare costs. This study aimed to analyze the hospital costs for preseptal cellulitis and determine the factors contributing. Methods Children, between 1 and 18 years old, who were admitted to hospital for preseptal cellulitis from May 2013 to December 2016 were included in the study. Patients were divided into groups by age (under or equal to five years and older than five years) and by the presence of sinusitis. Demographics, length of stay and total and categorical hospital costs were evaluated retrospectively. Results The study included 54 patients with a mean age of 5 years. Thirty one of the patients were under five years of age. The most common symptoms were swelling (94.4%) and redness (83.3%) around eye. Among the predisposing factors, sinusitis was the most common one (37%). The average length of stay was 4.5 days. Total hospital cost of all patients was $11,841. Antibiotic costs (37%) and inpatient floor costs (36%) were the greatest expenditures. Between age groups, length of stay was longer, and inpatient floor and antibiotic costs were significantly higher in the group of >5 years (p = 0.007, p = 0.004 and p = 0.001, respectively). In the group with sinusitis, length of stay was longer, and all hospital costs were significantly higher compared to the group without sinusitis (p r = 0.854, n = 53, p Conclusion Sinusitis was found to be an important factor contributing to longer length of stay and higher hospital costs for preseptal cellulitis. Oral or ambulatory intravenous antimicrobial treatment strategies might decrease the hospital expenditure in these patients; however care should be taken in the presence of sinusitis.
In search of appropriate measures of periodontal status: The Periodontal Profile Phenotype (P3 ) system.

Background This paper focuses on Periodontal Profile Class (PPC), a component of the Periodontal Profile Phenotype (P3 ) System that may be more representative of the periodontitis phenotype than current case definitions of periodontitis. Data illustrate the unique aspects of the PPC compared with other commonly used periodontal classification indices. Methods Latent Class Analysis (LCA) identified discrete classes of individuals grouped by tooth-level clinical parameters. The analysis defined seven distinct periodontal profile classes (PPC A through G) and seven distinct tooth profile classes (TPC A through G). This LCA classification was an entirely data-derived agnostic process without any preconceived presumptions of what constituted disease. Results Comparing the PPC with the Centers for Disease Control/American Academy of Periodontology (CDC/AAP) and European indices, the PPC is unique in that it contains four disease classes not traditionally used. Less than half of individuals classified as Healthy by both the CDC/AAP and European indices were Healthy using the PPC. About 25% of those classified as Severe by CDC/AAP and European indices were PPC-Severe. The remainder spread out over the High Gingival Index, Posterior Disease, Tooth Loss, and Severe Tooth Loss phenotypes. Conclusions The PPC classification provides a significant departure from the traditional clinical case status indices that have been used, but has resulted in clinical phenotypes that are quite familiar to most clinicians who take notice of the distribution of missing teeth, areas of recession, diminished periodontal support, and other aspects of the dentition while conducting a periodontal examination. The mutually exclusive categories provided by the PPC system provide periodontal clinical summaries that can be an important component of precision dentistry.
Oncological safety and quality of life in men undergoing simultaneous transurethral resection of bladder tumor and prostate: results from a randomized controlled trial

To assess oncological safety and quality of life (QL) of men undergoing simultaneous transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT) and transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Ninety-five men with a new diagnosis of bladder cancer (BC) and symptomatic BPH were randomized to receive TURBT + tamsulosin (Group 1) or TURBT + TURP (Group 2). Inclusion criteria were age ≤ 75 years, first diagnosis of BC up to 4 cm, and prostate volume ≤ 80 ml. All patients were evaluated preoperatively with digital rectal examination, PSA, maximal urine flow rate (Qmax), and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). IPSS and Qmax were repeated at 1-year follow-up. QL was evaluated at 1 year using a modified version of the self-report bladder cancer subscale of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy. Eighty-five men completed the study (43 in Group 1 and 42 in Group 2). Adjuvant instillation therapy was given to 26 patients in Group 1 and to 27 in Group 2. Average time to the first recurrence was 16.64 months in Group 1 and 17.7 in Group 2. Total recurrences were 27 in Group 1 and 22 in Group 2. Bladder neck/prostatic urethra recurrences were 9 in Group 1 vs. 8 in Group 2. QL, IPSS, and Qmax 12 months after surgery were better in Group 2. Concomitant TURBT and TURP appear to be oncologically safe procedures in terms of total and prostatic urethra recurrence, and improve QL in men with BC who require surgery for symptomatic BPH.
Information diffusion within the electorate: the asymmetric transmission of political-economic information

Abstract This paper examines the connection between information and expectations. Drawing upon Lazarsfeld et al.'s (Lazarsfeld, P.F., Berelson, B., Gaudet, H., 1944. The People's Choice. Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, New York) classic work on communication flows, we devise an asymmetric transmission model of expectation formation. This model assumes that the expectations of the less informed segments within the electorate are influenced by the expectations of more informed groups but that the opposite does not hold. We use educational differences as a proxy for information heterogeneity. A vector autoregression (VAR) analysis on monthly surveys of inflation expectations supports the asymmetric transmission hypothesis.
CHAPTER 19 – Role of Growth Hormone/Insulin-like Growth Factor Axis

Of the various systemic hormones, it is well known that growth hormone (GH) plays an important role in the regulation of postnatal skeletal growth. The GH/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis has also been proposed to play an important role in the maintenance of adult bone mass. It is also known that the actions of GH on target tissues, including bone, are mediated largely via the IGF system, which is an important growth factor system in bone. This chapter discusses the role of the GH/IGF axis in the regulation of bone formation, the pathophysiological changes in the GH/IGF axis during aging, and how these changes could potentially impair bone formation during aging. Multiple deficits occur in the serum and bone levels of various IGF system components with advances in age. Although multiple elements, including changes in sex steroid hormone concentrations, body composition, sleep pattern, nutrition, and exercise appear to be involved in the pathophysiology of diminished GH secretion in aging humans, further studies are needed to determine the potential contribution of each of these variables to the diminished GH secretion. A number of in vitro and in vivo findings support a role for age-associated changes in the endocrine and local actions of IGFs in the pathogenesis of senile type II osteoporosis.
O Romanceiro Brasileiro: Pequeno Catálogo

The present catalogue, which was extracted from my still unpublished Portuguese and Brazilian Balladry, classifies the 89 ballads found in the Brazilian oral tradition. Although my main purpose is to document che existence of each ballad in Brazil, I have also included a short bibliography that lists Portuguese, Galician, Castilian, Catalan, Sephardic, and Spanish- American parallels.
How Well Does the Standardized Video Interview Score Correlate with Traditional Interview Performance

Author(s): Chung, Arlene S.; Shah, Kaushal H.; Bond, Michael; Ardolic, Brahim; Husain, Abbas; Li, Ida; Cygan, Lukasz; Caputo, William; Shoenberger, Jan; van Dermark, Jeff; Bronner, Jonathan; Weizberg, Moshe | Abstract: Introduction: In 2017, all medical students applying for residency in emergency medicine (EM) were required to participate in the Standardized Video Interview (SVI). The SVI is a video-recorded, uni-directional interview consisting of six questions designed to assess interpersonal and communication skills and professionalism. It is unclear whether this simulated interview is an accurate representation of an applicant’s competencies that are often evaluated during the in-person interview. Objective: The goal of this study was to determine whether the SVI score correlates with a traditional in-person interview score.Methods: Six geographically and demographically diverse EM residency programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education participated in this prospective observational study. Common demographic data for each applicant were obtained through an Electronic Residency Application Service export function prior to the start of any scheduled traditional interviews (TI). On each TI day, one interviewer blinded to all applicant data, including SVI score, rated the applicant on a five-point scale. A convenience sample of applicants was enrolled based on random assignment to the blinded interviewer. We studied the correlation between SVI score and TI score.Results: We included 321 unique applicants in the final analysis. Linear regression analysis of the SVI score against the TI score demonstrated a small positive linear correlation with an r coefficient of +0.13 (p=0.02). This correlation remained across all SVI score subgroups (p = 0.03).Conclusion: Our study suggests that there is a small positive linear correlation between the SVI score and performance during the TI.
A rodent cage change insomnia model disrupts memory consolidation.

Insomnia involves disruption of sleep initiation, maintenance and/or overall quality, and may interfere with cognition. Here, we evaluated memory impairment produced by rodent mild (acute) insomnia models. Insomnia models consisted of either single or repeated exposure to cages previously occupied (dirtied) by an unfamiliar rat for 5-7 days. Rats were trained in the Morris water maze to remember the platform location (acquisition), and were then exposed to: (a) 6 hr of undisturbed baseline; (b) dirty cage change-induced insomnia (animal placed into a cage dirtied by another rat for 6 hr); or (c) double-dirty cage change-induced insomnia (animal placed into a cage dirtied by another rat for 3 hr, and then another dirty cage 3 hr later). The animal's memory for the platform location was then evaluated in a probe trial. Double-dirty cage change-induced insomnia significantly disrupted sleep, although the effects of dirty cage change-induced insomnia were overall not significant. In the fourth hour of double-dirty cage change-induced insomnia (following the second cage change), sleep episode number and duration alterations indicated sleep fragmentation. Furthermore, power spectral analysis revealed diminished wake and, to a lesser extent, rapid eye movement theta power (indicated by trend difference) in the last 3 hr of exposure. Significant deficits were noted for measures of water maze performance following double-dirty cage change-induced insomnia, indicating impaired memory. In summary, one variant of the rodent insomnia model, double-dirty cage change-induced insomnia, disrupted sleep and attenuated memory consolidation, indicating this paradigm may be useful to evaluate the effects of hypnotics on memory consolidation.
Determining Which Prosthetic to Use During Aortic Valve Replacement in Patients Aged Younger than 70 Years: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Background: The choice of bioprosthesis versus mechanical prosthesis in patients aged less than 70 years undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR) remains controversial, with guidelines disparate in their recommendations. The objective of this study was to explore outcomes after AVR for various age ranges based on type of prosthesis. Methods: A systematic review was undertaken according to the Preferred Reporting Instructions for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines by using Medline (PubMed), Cochrane, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus databases. Rates of long-term survival (primary outcome), reoperation, major bleeding, thromboembolism, stroke, structural valve deterioration, and endocarditis were compared between subjects receiving biologic and mechanical prostheses. Findings were grouped into patients aged <60 years, aged ≤65 years, and finally aged <70 years. Results: A total of 19 studies met inclusion criteria. Seven evaluated patients aged <60 years, 4 of which found mechanical prosthesis patients to have higher long-term survival, whereas the remaining studies found no difference. Eight additional studies included patients aged 65 years or younger, and 9 studies included patients aged <70 years. The former found no difference in survival between prosthesis groups, whereas the latter favored mechanical prostheses in 3 studies. Bleeding, thromboembolism, and stroke were more prevalent in patients with a mechanical prosthesis, whereas reoperation was more common in those receiving a bioprosthesis. Conclusions: Published literature does not preclude the use of bioprostheses for AVR in younger patients. As new valves are developed, the use of bioprosthetic aortic valves in younger patients will likely continue to expand. Clinical trials are needed to provide surgeons with more accurate guidelines.
Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Training Programs: Building Staff Capability and Organizational Capacity.

Background:Patient harm from medical errors is frequently the result of poorly designed systems. Quality improvement (QI) training programs should build staff capability and organizational capacity for improving systems.Problem:Lack of internal expertise in QI and financial impact of hiring consulta
Deep annotation of untargeted LC-MS metabolomics data with Binner.

Motivation When metabolites are analyzed by electrospray ionization (ESI)-mass spectrometry, they are usually detected as multiple ion species due to the presence of isotopes, adducts and in-source fragments. The signals generated by these degenerate features (along with contaminants and other chemical noise) obscure meaningful patterns in MS data, complicating both compound identification and downstream statistical analysis. To address this problem, we developed Binner, a new tool for the discovery and elimination of many degenerate feature signals typically present in untargeted ESI-LC-MS metabolomics data. Results Binner generates feature annotations and provides tools to help users visualize informative feature relationships that can further elucidate the underlying structure of the data. To demonstrate the utility of Binner and to evaluate its performance, we analyzed data from reversed phase LC-MS and hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) platforms and demonstrated the accuracy of selected annotations using MS/MS. When we compared Binner annotations of 75 compounds previously identified in human plasma samples with annotations generated by three similar tools, we found that Binner achieves superior performance in the number and accuracy of annotations while simultaneously minimizing the number of incorrectly annotated principal ions. Data reduction and pattern exploration with Binner have allowed us to catalog a number of previously unrecognized complex adducts and neutral losses generated during the ionization of molecules in LC-MS. In summary, Binner allows users to explore patterns in their data and to efficiently and accurately eliminate a significant number of the degenerate features typically found in various LC-MS modalities. Availability and implementation Binner is written in Java and is freely available from http://binner.med.umich.edu. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Aplicación de un modelo de gestión de calidad en una agencia aduanera de la comuna de Valparaíso, en base a la norma ISO 9001/2008

Nowadays, an organization which is willing to adapt to changes, will be faced to constant processes of improvement due to a more demanding and changeable market and in which the company seeks to differentiate from the rest and take advantage of it. Nearly a third of the customs agencies of Valparaiso do not have this certification, therefore, it is a disadvantage at the moment of competing in the market. Considering this problem, the purpose of this investigation is to propose a quality management model for these customs agencies of Valparaiso based on the standard ISO 9001/ 2008. In this way, make a contribution so that the companies can be sure that they have not only, a solid quality system, but also one of international level.
14 – Morphological Stability

The theory of morphological stability provides a dynamical analysis of the stability of the interface that separates phases during a phase transformation. We focus on crystallization from either a pure or alloy melt. One solves the governing equations for heat flow, including diffusion for alloys, and uses perturbation theory to analyze the stability of a base state, such as a planar or spherical interface. A linear stability analysis for small perturbations shows for a pure melt that thermal effects are destabilizing if more of the latent heat flows into supercooled liquid than into the solid, but capillary effects of interfacial free energy are stabilizing. Stability depends on competition of heat flow and capillarity effects. For alloys growing into a positive liquid temperature gradient, the effect of solute is destabilizing and competes with thermal and capillary effects to determine stability. This is the dynamical replacement for the principle of constitutional supercooling. Instability first occurs for perturbations of a given wavelength, but neighboring wavelengths become unstable for more severe conditions of instability. A nonlinear analysis shows that nonplanar periodic steady-state interfaces can sometimes be stable for a range of wavelengths. This can lead to cellular interfaces that can be computed numerically for even larger amplitudes. A number of other extensions of the Mullins-Sekerka analysis are discussed briefly.
Video-based quantification of human movement frequency using pose estimation

Assessment of repetitive movements (e.g., finger tapping) is a hallmark of motor examinations in several neurologic populations. These assessments are traditionally performed by a human rater via visual inspection; however, advances in computer vision offer potential for remote, quantitative assessment using simple video recordings. Here, we evaluated a pose estimation approach for measurement of human movement frequency from smartphone videos. Ten healthy young participants provided videos of themselves performing five repetitive movement tasks (finger tapping, hand open/close, hand pronation/supination, toe tapping, leg agility) at four target frequencies (1-4 Hz). We assessed the ability of a workflow that incorporated OpenPose (a freely available whole-body pose estimation algorithm) to estimate movement frequencies by comparing against manual frame-by-frame (i.e., ground-truth) measurements for all tasks and target frequencies using repeated measures ANOVA, Pearson correlations, and intraclass correlations. Our workflow produced largely accurate estimates of movement frequencies; only the hand open/close task showed a significant difference in the frequencies estimated by pose estimation and manual measurement (while statistically significant, these differences were small in magnitude). All other tasks and frequencies showed no significant differences between pose estimation and manual measurement. Pose estimation-based detections of individual events (e.g., finger taps, hand closures) showed strong correlations with manual detections for all tasks and frequencies. In summary, our pose estimation-based workflow accurately tracked repetitive movements in healthy adults across a range of tasks and movement frequencies. Future work will test this approach as a fast, low-cost, accessible approach to quantitative assessment of repetitive movements in clinical populations.
The Multifaceted Role of Autophagy in Endometrium Homeostasis and Disease

Autophagy is a conserved fundamental cellular process with a primary function of catabolizing harmful or surplus cellular contents such as protein aggregates, dysfunctional/long-lived organelles, intracellular pathogens, and storage nutrients. An increasing body of evidence reveals that basal autophagy is essential for maintaining endometrial homeostasis and mediating endometrial-specific functions, including menstrual cycle, embryo implantation, and decidualization. However, perturbed levels of autophagy can lead to severe endometrial pathologies, including endometriosis, endometrial hyperplasia, endometrial cancer, adenomyosis, and leiomyoma. This review highlights the most recent findings on the activity, regulation, and function of autophagy in endometrium physiology and pathology. Understanding the mechanistic roles of autophagy in endometrium homeostasis and disease is key to developing novel therapeutic strategies for endometrium-related infertility and malignancies.
Strategies to Minimize Surgical Scarring: Translation of Lessons Learnt from Bedside to Bench and Back.

Significance An understanding of the physiology of wound healing and scarring is necessary in order to minimize surgical scar formation. By reducing tension across the healing wound, eliminating ex...
Time-restricted feeding and circadian autophagy for long life.

Time-restricted feeding (TRF) has shown many health benefits in different organisms, but its effect on lifespan is unknown. A new study showed that a novel intermittent TRF (iTRF) dietary regimen can extend the healthy lifespan of Drosophila. A clock-dependent nightly rise in autophagy drives the lifespan benefits of iTRF.
Medical Management of Serum Lipids and Coronary Heart Disease

Hypercholesterolemia is a well-known risk factor for atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis and its consequences have a global impact on health and the economy. Recognizing patients at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the initial and critical step in the management of dyslipidemia. Many prospective randomized clinical trials have shown that lowering of cholesterol levels, specifically low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, offers a clear benefit for preventing future CVD events. Statins, fibric acid derivatives, nicotinic acid, cholesterol absorption inhibitors, bile acid sequestrants, and omega-3 fatty acids are the major classes of medications used in the management of dyslipidemia. Statins are the cornerstone of therapy for the primary and secondary prevention of CVD. Other therapies have also been shown to have beneficial effects on lipoproteins. The United States Food and Drug Administration recently approved two new agents, mipomersen and lomitapide, for use in individuals with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.
Gas Transport Resistance in Polymer Electrolyte Thin Films on Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts

Significant reductions in expensive platinum catalyst loading for the oxygen reduction reaction are needed for commercially viable fuel cell electric vehicles as well as other important applications. In reducing loading, a resistance at the Pt surface in the presence of thin perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) electrolyte film, on the order of 10 nm thick, becomes a significant barrier to adequate performance. However, the resistance mechanism is unresolved and could be due to gas dissolution kinetics, increased diffusion resistance in thin films, or electrolyte anion interactions. A common hypothesis for the origin of the resistance is a highly reduced oxygen permeability in the thin polymer electrolyte films that coat the catalyst relative to bulk permeability that is caused by nanoscale confinement effects. Unfortunately, the prior work has not separated the thin-film gas transport resistance from that associated with PFSA interactions with a polarized catalyst surface. Here, we present the first characteriz...
A Multimethod Investigation of the Multidimensionality of Children\'s Well-Being Reports: Discriminant Validity of Life Satisfaction and Self-Esteem

A total of 290 middle school students were administered the Self- Description Questionnaire-II (SDQ-II) and the Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (SLSS). Three different approaches were employed to explore the discriminant validity of global self-esteem and global life satisfaction in children. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that children differentiate the well-being constructs. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis provided further support for the incremental validity of the life satrisfaction construct. Furthermore, global life satisfaction and global self-esteem scores demonstrated different correlates. Children's perception of their academic competence were more strongly related to their global self- esteem than their global life satisfaction whereas children's perceptions of the quality of their family relationships was the strongest correlate of their global life satisfaction. The findings were then replicated with a sample of 183 elementary school students (grades 3–5). Taken together, the findings provided strong support for the meaningfulness of the global life satisfaction construct with children as well as the multidimensionality of children's subjective well-being reports.
Have Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito Moved the Supreme Court to the Right? Ideological Movement on the Supreme Court from 1953 to 2008

In 2005 and 2006, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito joined the United States Supreme Court. At that time, many observers of the Court speculated that these appointments would cause the Supreme Court to behave in a more conservative manner. This remains the archetypal understanding of these justices’s impact upon the Court. However, a quantitative evaluation of the Court’s behavior both before and after Roberts and Alito joined the court demonstrates that, in fact, the Court is no more conservative with Roberts and Alito on the bench than it was with their predecessors, Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice O’Connor.
Hydrological responses of land use change from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to cellulosic bioenergy crops in the Southern High Plains of Texas, USA

The Southern High Plains (SHP) region of Texas in the United States, where cotton is grown in a vast acreage, has the potential to grow cellulosic bioenergy crops such as perennial grasses and biomass sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). Evaluation of hydrological responses and biofuel production potential of hypothetical land use change from cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to cellulosic bioenergy crops enables better understanding of the associated key agroecosystem processes and provides for the feasibility assessment of the targeted land use change in the SHP. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to assess the impacts of replacing cotton with perennial Alamo switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), Miscanthus giganteus (Miscanthus sinensis Anderss. [Poaceae]), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) and annual biomass sorghum on water balances, water use efficiency and biofuel production potential in the Double Mountain Fork Brazos watershed. Under perennial grass scenarios, the average (1994-2009) annual surface runoff from the entire watershed decreased by 6% to 8% relative to the baseline cotton scenario. In contrast, surface runoff increased by about 5% under the biomass sorghum scenario. Perennial grass land use change scenarios suggested an increase in average annual percolation within a range of 3% to 22% and maintenance of a higher soil water content during August to April compared to the baseline cotton scenario. About 19.1, 11.1, 3.2 and 8.8 Mg ha−1 of biomass could potentially be produced if cotton area in the watershed would hypothetically be replaced by Miscanthus, switchgrass, big bluestem and biomass sorghum, respectively. Finally, Miscanthus and switchgrass were found to be ideal bioenergy crops for the dryland and irrigated systems, respectively, in the study watershed due to their higher water use efficiency, better water conservation effects, greater biomass and biofuel production potential, and minimum crop management requirements. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Toward a Unified Representation of Mechanical Assemblies

Current solid modeling systems are suitable for modeling individual mechanical parts but they do not capture therelationships and/ordependencies among the geometric features of parts in an assembly. Research in the area of “part and assembly modeling” focuses on capturing this missing information. This paper surveys feature-based models for mechanical assemblies and methods for deriving the actual part positions from the part relationships. We have attempted to extract from the literature the essential requirements for a unified feature-based assembly model. Three levels of representation are envisaged—representation of part positions in terms of their spatial coordinates, representation of geometric (feature) relations between individual parts, and representation of the assembly hierarchy. The actual relative positions can be derived from the hierarchical assembly model. Possible areas of application are tolerance analysis and synthesis, automatic generation of assembly sequences, and kinematic analysis and synthesis.
COMPARISON OF BATTER‐BREADED BEEF NUGGETS DEEP‐FRIED IN COTTONSEED AND SOYBEAN OILS AND LIQUID SHORTENINGS

Restructured beef nuggets were batter-breaded and deep-fried in commercial cottonseed oil (CO), cottonseed liquid shortening (CLS), soybean oil (SO) and soybean liquid shortening (SLS) and stored at 4C for 0 or 4 days. Weight losses during frying and reheating were not significantly influenced by the frying medium used. No major sensory differences were noted among the different products except that, on day-0, nuggets fried in SLS had a “slight” warmed-over flavor due to the reversion flavor of the frying medium itself. On day-0, nuggets fried in CO or CLS had lower TBA values than those fried in SO or SLS. However, on day-4, nuggets fried in CLS or SLS had lower TBA values than nuggets fried in CO or SO. CLS may be the frying medium of choice among the four because of its ability to resist lipid oxidation in both fresh fried and stored nuggets.
Recent development in the theory of fast positron-atom collisions

Abstract We will review some recent high energy theories of positronium formation in positron-hydrogen collisions, and compare these theories to the recent experimental measurements. We will also present high energy theories of positron-impact ionization of hydrogen. A comparison of these theories with the two sets of experimental measurements clearly shows that positron-impact ionization of hydrogen is not completely understood. In particular, the role of positronium formation to the continuum in positron-hydrogen ionization is presently not known. Structures arising from the interference between two double-binary collision processes in the triply differential cross section of positron-impact ionization of hydrogen will be discussed.
Tests That are Robust against Variance Heterogeneity in k × 2 Designs with Unequal Cell Frequencies

Heterogeneity of variance produces serious bias in conventional analysis of variance tests of significance when cell frequencies are unequal. Welch in 1938 and 1947 proposed an adjusted t test for the difference between two means when cell frequencies and population variances are both unequal. This article describes two ways to use the Welch t to evaluate the significance of the main effect for two treatments across k levels of a concomitant factor in a two-way design. Monte Carlo results document the bias in conventional analysis of variance tests and the stable and appropriately conservative results from applications of the Welch t to evaluation of treatment effects in the two-way design.