cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Comparative Study of the Mating Systems of Australian Eumenid Wasps (Hymenoptera)

Mate-locating tactics vary among Australian eumenid wasps., ♂♂ of some species patrol streams or ponds in the search for water-collecting ♀♀; they do not interact aggressively with competitor ♂♂. In contrast, ♂♂ of a species of Epsilon defend territories that include clusters of brood cells from which several virgin ♀♀ may emerge. Male behavior appears to have evolved in response to selective pressures associated with the pattern of spatial distribution of ♂♂ and the frequency with which ♀♀ mate. Zusammenfassung Unterschiede im Verhalten partnersuchender Mannchen bei funf Arten australischer Lehmwespen werden beschrieben und den Unterschieden 1.) im Paarungsverhalten der Weibchen und 2.) im Grad, zu dem Weibchen raumlich gruppiert sind, zugeordnet. In der Gattung Epsilon gibt es zuweilen grose Ansammlungen von Brutzellen. Manchen Mannchen gelingt es, eine Zellgruppe gegen Konkurrenten zu verteidigen und sich mit den jungfraulichen Weibchen zu paaren, die aus diesen Zellen schlupfen. Diese Weibchen paaren sich wahr-scheinlich nur einmal in ihrem Leben. Dagegen formen Weibchen mehrerer Abispa- und Paralastor-Arten keine Nestansammlungen; es gibt fur die Mannchen kaum Gegenden, die viele Weibchen bergen. Auch scheinen sich Abispa-Weibchen wiederholt zu paaren, was die Suche nach jungfraulichen Weibchen weniger notwendig macht (zumal wahrscheinlich der spater kurz vor der Eiablage aufgenommene Samen bessere Befruchtungs-Chancen hat). Abispa- und Paralastor-Madnnchen durchstreifen unaggressiv bestimmte Gebiete an Bachen und Teichen, wo Weibchen Wasser zum Nestbau holen. Da Wasserstellen in der Halbwusten-Heimat dieser Eu-meniden selten sind, fuhrt dieser okologische Faktor zu Ansammlungen von Weibchen. An diesen Stellen Weibchen zu suchen, erhoht den Fortpflanzungs-erfolg fur Mannchen.
Land Use in the Unzoned City

Only one major city in the United States remains without a traditional zoning code based on geographic regulation of land use: Houston, Texas. Property lawyers and scholars attribute Houston’s non-zoning system to cultural and political factors. But is America’s “Unzoned City” really as unregulated as its reputation might suggest? This short piece reviews the background of Houston’s land use system, and provides the immediate legal answer to the question of why Houston alone lacks a formal zoning code. It then looks briefly at the numerous rules that control land use in the city, and observes that Houston’s land use regulations actually function in many ways quite similar to those of a formal zoning regime. This suggests that even the Unzoned City has — in reality — a system of “de facto zoning”.
Benign familial pemphigus (Hailey-Hailey disease). Treatment with the pulsed carbon dioxide laser.

background Benign familial pemphigus (BFP) is a chronic blistering disease with significant morbidity. Surgical methods are often needed to control flares in difficult cases. objective To describe the response of BFP to vaporization with a pulsed carbon dioxide (CO2) laser. methods A 38-year-old woman with chest and axillary involvement unresponsive to conventional therapy was treated with the UltraPulse 5000 Laser (Coherent Medical Group, Palo Alto, CA). After active sites of BFP showed good response to treatment, we treated uninvolved skin of the left axilla to assess the efficacy of prophylactic therapy. results Treatment of affected areas, except biopsy sites, resulted in clearing of active lesions after 1–2 weeks. We noted striking sparing of the treated areas from developing subsequent disease. The region that was later treated prophylactically has shown minor, asymptomatic recurrence of BFP in less than 5% of the area treated over an 18-month follow-up period. conclusion The pulsed carbon dioxide laser is a useful modality in treatment of BFP. In our patient, prophylactic treatment led to near complete eradication of disease in the treated area. A controlled, larger study is needed to confirm our results, and to determine optimal laser parameters. Long-term effects and duration of remission remain to be determined.
ANSWER: An unsupervised attractor network method for detecting salient words in text corpora

The availability of unstructured text as a source of data has increased by orders of magnitude in the last few years, triggering extensive research in the automated processing and analysis of electronic texts. An especially important and difficult problem is the identification of salient words in a corpus, so that further processing can focus on these words without distraction by uninformative words. Standard lists of stop words are used to remove common words such as articles, pronouns and prepositions, but many other words that should be removed are much harder to identify because word salience is highly context-dependent. In this paper, we describe a neurodynamical approach for the context-dependent identification of salient words in large text corpora. The method, termed the Attractor Network-based Salient Word Extraction Rule (ANSWER) is modeled as a cognitive mechanism that identifies salient words based on their participation in coherent multi-word ideas. These ideas are, in turn, extracted via attractor dynamics in a recurrent neural network modeling the associative semantic graph of the corpus. The corpus used in this paper comprises the abstracts of all papers published in the proceedings of IJCNN 2009, 2011 and 2013. The list of salient words that the system generates is compared with those generated by other standard metrics, and is found to outperform all of them in almost all cases.
Respiratory physiology of house sparrows in relation to high-altitude flight.

1. Some birds perform the strenuous activity of flapping flight at altitudes in excess of 6100 m. (20,000 ft.), an altitude at which resting, unacclimated man is in a state of incipient hypoxic collapse. This study investigates the respiratory problems associated with avian flight at 6100 m. 2. House sparrows and white mice were exposed to a simulated altitude of 6100 m. for an hour. Their metabolic rates were kept above the basal level by regulating environmental temperature at 5°C. At 6100 m. the sparrows consumed oxygen at 2.2 times the basal rate, used more oxygen and had higher heart and respiratory rates than at sea level. Body temperature decreased 2°C., but the birds were normally active. In contrast, the mice at 6100 m. were moribund and had body temperatures 10°C. below normal after 1 hr. Oxygen consumption and respiratory rates were less than at sea level. 3. At 6100 m. sparrows ventilated the respiratory parts of their lungs 77% more than at sea level. At sea level and 6100 m. respectively, the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the lungs dropped from 39.5 to 27.2 mm. Hg, and the partial pressure of oxygen in the lungs dropped from 100 to 28 mm. The sparrows removed a greater proportion of the oxygen from the air ventilating the lungs at 6100 m. than they did at sea level. 4. Oxygen dissociation curves were determined for sparrow blood at various pH values. At 6100 m. the arterial blood of sparrows appears to be less than 24% saturated with oxygen. For the cardiovascular system to transport adequate oxygen to the tissues at this low level of saturation house sparrows must have a cardiac output that is at least triple the maximum known for mammals. 5. House sparrows in a hypobaric chamber could fly 2.5 m. and gain altitude at a simulated altitude of 6100 m. but not at 7620 m. (25,000 ft.). Budgerigars trained to fly in a wind tunnel in the hypobaric chamber could fly more than 20 min. at sea level and a maximum of 3 min. at an altitude of 3660 m. (12,000 ft.). A budgerigar trained to wear an oxygen mask while flying in the wind tunnel could fly at an altitude of 6100 m. 6. Calculations based on our present knowledge of avian physiology suggest how birds could be capable of flying at 6100 m. The possible advantages of flight at high altitudes are discussed.
The “Transition to Modernism”: Recent Research on the Victorian/Modern Divide

This article surveys new scholarship that straddles the Victorian/Modern divide, reading this work within the context of questions about the usefulness of the terms “Victorian” and “modernist.” Recent work that traces lines of continuity between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries reveals the sustained conversations taking place across the century's turn. Consideration of the transnational and global circulation of aesthetic ideals, which broadens the timeline and the definition of aesthetic movements, has contributed to the contestation of conventional categories of periodization. Additionally, as scholars move away from the tendency to equate Victorianism with tradition and conservatism and modernism with radicalism, a newly rich picture of the political complexity of the turn of the century has emerged.
CDMA infrastructure-based location finding for E911

This paper presents an infrastructure-based approach to handset location finding for CDMA. The issues of uplink visibility and the relative benefits of time of arrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), and azimuth angle of arrival (AOA), and power-up function (PUF) are presented. A location simulator is discussed, which includes a cell simulator, a TOA/TDOA/AOA error simulator, and a data fusion algorithm. The cell simulator places mobiles in random locations, determines the uplink C/I at all sites, performs best server selection and uplink power control, and outputs the resulting C/I values and physical parameters to the TOA/TDOA/AOA error simulator. This error simulator adds errors to the true TOAs, AOAs, and TDOAs, as drawn from error distributions derived from time and direction estimation algorithms operating on measured channel sounder field test data. The location simulator weights and performs data fusion on the simulated, erroneous time and direction estimates from each site, to arrive at a best point estimate of handset location. It also computes error statistics. The combined simulations allow extrapolation of single-site channel sounder measurements of time and direction into multi-site location accuracy with and without PUF, and with various combinations and algorithms for TOA, TDOA, and AOA. Results in the form of location accuracy for various infrastructure antenna configurations are reported, that have been derived from measured data.
The Emergence of a National Economy: An Economic History of Indonesia, 1800–2000 . By Howard Dick, Vincent J. H. Houben, J. Thomas Lindblad, and Thee Kian Wie. Crows Nest NSW, Australia: Allen and Unwin, 2002. Pp. xvii, 286. $38.00.

Written by four leading economic historians of Indonesia from three continents, this book is an excellent account of the emergence of the Indonesian economy in the twentieth century from what was a cluster of disparate economic regions at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Using an innovative and, in the context of Indonesia, highly appropriate theme, the authors identify three fundamental forces that shaped the emergence of the Indonesian national economy: successive waves of globalization (and dislocation), state formation, and economic integration. The book is admirably successful in fulfilling its claim, not an easy task given the volume of literature that had to be mastered and put into perspective in order to comprehensively describe this process.
Establishing The Efficacy Of Telemedicine As A Clinical Tool For Physiotherapists: From Systems Design To Randomised Controlled Trial

Trevor G. Russell’s 2010 book, Establishing the Efficacy of Telemedicine as a Clinical Tool for Physiotherapists: From Systems Design to Randomised Controlled Trial, is based on his University of Queensland doctoral thesis that systematically demonstrates the feasibility of telemedicine for physical therapists. The book sets forth a highly effective answer to skeptics on this point, especially in the context of the traditionally “hands-on” subset of physical therapy (PT) represented by supervised postoperative physical rehabilitation. Russell has included much specific detail, such that clinicians, information managers, and logisticians planning the rollout of a telehealth system could streamline that process by referring to this important guide.
A Note on the Application of Dynamic Correction to the Optimization of a Multiperiod Resource Allocation Problem

In this note, Luss's approach to optimization of a multiperiod resource allocation problem is employed to include carry-over effects of the controllable variable on future periods and also to include the carry-over effect from previous periods.
Implementing generalized measurements with superconducting qubits

We describe a method to perform any generalized purity-preserving measurement of a qubit with techniques tailored to superconducting systems. First, we consider two methods for realizing a two-outcome partial projection: using a thresholded continuous measurement in the circuit QED setup and using an indirect ancilla qubit measurement. Second, we decompose an arbitrary purity-preserving two-outcome measurement into single-qubit unitary rotations and a partial projection. Third, we systematically reduce any multiple-outcome measurement to a sequence of such two-outcome measurements and unitary operations. Finally, we consider how to define suitable fidelity measures for multiple-outcome generalized measurements.
Electromodulation spectroscopy of localized excitations in crystals

Abstract Electromodulation spectroscopy has become a powerful tool for the study of electronic transitions of point defects with strong electron-phonon coupling, i.e., broad absorption and emission bands. The potential and physical significance of the method will be illustrated using a few selected examples of well characterized defect structures in ionic crystals. Starting with a simple symmetric F-center it is shown that electromodulation in absorption and emission allows the investigation of excited states with parity-forbidden optical transitions, and is important for the study of the electron-phonon interaction. For more complex defects with lower symmetry, more detailed information (like the presence and magnitude of internal electric fields and relative displacements of the wave-functions of different electronic states) can be obtained using both first and second harmonic modulation techniques. The potential of field-modulation spectroscopy in the study of point-defects with a central instability (“off-center defects”) and of tunneling molecular defects in crystals will be briefly discussed.
Magnitude and timing of peat-to-coal compaction

The peat-to-coal transition is commonly assumed to be accompanied by compaction that decreases the thickness of the organic deposit to values of 10% or less of the original peat thickness. Decompaction modeling using such values for coal seams in contact with penecontemporaneous channel sandstones leads to impossible depositional geometries for the sandstones, which have a final thickness that is 90% of their original thickness. Similarly, decompaction modeling of the fragments of organic material within channel lags using the assumed large peat compaction value results in the destruction of the associated sedimentary structures, such as trough cross-beds. Dinosaur tracks in the roofs of coal mines show a shallow depth of penetration and a preservation of foot morphology that is not possible unless the peat the animals walked upon was very firm. These data confirm the macroscopic observations from coal balls that the compaction associated with the peat-to-coal transformation is minimal. Equally important, the data also show that most of the compaction occurs essentially at the surface and not at the depths where coalification takes place.
Optimal therapeutic methods with random-length response in probabilistic boolean networks

Any antitumor agent should act very rapidly with high level of efficiency so that it may increase the patient's chance of survival along with a reasonable quality of life during the course of treatment. The goal is to kill as many tumor cells as possible or shift them into a state where they can no longer proliferate. However, biological variabilities among cells in a population and the way they interact with each other or respond to a drug introduce randomness and uncertainty at different levels. This uncertainty should be modeled when designing an intervention strategy. In this paper, we implement a tumor growth model in the presence of the antitumor agent and characterize the variability in the drug response. Then, we present a methodology to devise optimal intervention policies for probabilistic Boolean networks when the antitumor drug has a random-length duration of action.
Iranian consumer animosity and U.S. products: A witch's brew or elixir?

Abstract This research investigates the animosity of more than 900 Iranian consumers toward the U.S. and their propensity to purchase U.S.-made products/brands in the context of a prolonged hostility between the two countries. Our results suggest that the antecedent demographic variables of education, age and foreign travel experience are inversely related to consumer animosity whereas women and students tend to hold greater consumer animosity feelings than men and non-students. Additionally we found a strong and significant inverse relationship between Iranian consumer animosity and intention to buy U.S.-made products, but no moderating effects based upon product importance or product necessity were uncovered in our consumer animosity model. The major managerial implications of our study are threefold: (1) MNCs are well advised not to ignore or underestimate the economic value of hostile markets; (2) within hostile markets, MNCs ought to be proactive and pursue alternative oversight strategies when constrained by national institutions; and (3) local and foreign competitors may exploit such animosity to better position their own products against the products of a country that is a target of consumers’ animosity.
Low-voltage CMOS and BiCMOS triode transconductors and integrators with gain-enhanced linearity and output impedance

CMOS and BiCMOS mode transconductors and integrators achieving a simulated THD of 0.03% for differential input signals of 0.5 V peak to peak with a supply voltage of 2.5 V are presented. Small phase errors and high g/sub m/ tunable by a factor of 10 allow the circuits to be used in continuous-time filters working at 100 MHz. >
“In these bleak days”: Parent methamphetamine abuse and child welfare in the rural Midwest

Abstract This report describes the impact of parent methamphetamine abuse on the development and well-being of school-aged children, and considers implications for culturally appropriate child welfare services. Thirty-five adult informants from several, adjacent rural Midwestern counties in the United States were interviewed as part of a larger ethnographic study. These child welfare workers, other community professionals (educators, counselors, law enforcement personnel, and substance abuse treatment providers), and foster caregivers described their experiences with families involved with methamphetamine. Overall, informants described that children are brought by their methamphetamine-abusing parents into a rural drug culture characterized by distinct, antisocial beliefs and practices. Children's experience of this culture includes environmental danger, chaos, neglect, abuse, loss, and isolation. Informants believed that children develop antisocial beliefs and practices such as lying, stealing, drug use, and violence through direct teaching by their parents and, indirectly, through observing parents' own antisocial behavior. Informants described children as displaying psychological, social, and educational disturbances. They also described individual variation in functioning across children that they attributed, in part, to individual (e.g., temperament, intelligence), familial (e.g., extended family), and community (e.g., school) characteristics. Informants noted a need for effective child mental health services in the area, and for ensuring a positive environment for children's future development through education of the children, foster parents and other community members.
Adjuvant treatment of refractory lung transplant rejection with extracorporeal photopheresis.

Abstract Background: Extracorporeal photopheresis is an immunomodulatory technique in which a patient's leukocytes are exposed to ultraviolet-A light after pretreatment with 8-methoxypsoralen (methoxsalen). There have been few reports describing the use of extracorporeal photopheresis in lung transplant recipients. Methods: We reviewed our experience using extracorporeal photopheresis in 8 lung transplant recipients since 1992. All 8 patients had progressively decreasing graft function and 7 were in bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome grade 3 before the initiation of photopheresis. One patient had undergone a second transplant operation for obliterative bronchiolitis. Two patients had a pretransplantation diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 1 α 1 -antitrypsin deficiency, 1 cystic fibrosis, 1 bronchiectasis, 1 idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and 2 primary pulmonary hypertension. Before refractory rejection developed, all patients had been treated with 3-drug immunosuppression and anti-T-cell therapy. The median time from transplantation to the start of extracorporeal photopheresis was 16.5 months and the median number of treatments was 6. Results: The condition of 5 of 8 patients subjectively improved after extracorporeal photopheresis therapy. In these 5 patients photopheresis was associated with stabilization of the forced expiratory volume in 1 second. In 2 patients there was histologic reversal of rejection after photopheresis. With a median follow-up of 36 months, 7 patients are alive and well. Three patients required retransplantation at a median of 21 months after completion of the treatments. Four patients have remained in stable condition after photopheresis. There were no complications related to extracorporeal photopheresis. Conclusion: We believe that this treatment is a safe option for patients with refractory lung allograft rejection when increased immunosuppression is contraindicated or ineffective. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1999;117:1063-9) J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1999;117:1063-9
Quantitative Hemodynamic Comparison of Velocity Values From Computational Fluid Dynamics and Phase-Contrast MRI in an In-Vitro Aneurysm Model

Intracranial aneurysms affect thousands of people every year, therefore the ability to monitor their growth or predict their rupture would be invaluable for planning treatment. One proposed method to address this issue of predicting rupture is to use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based on phase contrast magnetic resonance (PC-MR). CFD and PCMR have been used to understand some of the fundamental conditions of cerebrovascular flow. While there has been general acceptance of the validity of CFD, some research suggests that there can be poor correlation between CFD flow calculations and directly measured flow (1). Previous research has qualitatively compared CFD to PC-MR and demonstrated similar pathlines (2). To the authors’ knowledge a systematic quantitative comparison has not been preformed. Therefore the purpose of this work is to quantitatively compare velocity data from phase-contrast MRI measurements and from a CFD model derived from MRI geometry and flow boundary conditions in an in-vitro aneurysm model.© 2012 ASME
Nutrient exchange across the sediment-water interface in the Potomac River estuary

Abstract The flux of ammonia, phosphate, silica and radon-222 from Potomac tidal river and estuary sediments is controlled by processes occurring at the sediment-water interface and within surficial sediment. Calculated diffusive fluxes range between 0·6 and 6·5 mmol m−2 day−1 for ammonia, 0·020 and 0·30 mmol m−2 day−1 for phosphate, and 1·3 and 3·8 mmol m−2 day−1 for silica. Measured in situ fluxes range between 1 and 21 mmol m−2 day−1 for ammonia, 0·1 and 2·0 mmol m−2 day−1 for phosphate, and 2 and 19 mmol m−2 day−1 for silica. The ratio of in situ fluxes to diffusive fluxes (flux enhancement) varied between 1·6 and 5·2 in the tidal river, between 2·0 and 20 in the transition zone, and from 1·3 to 5·1 in the lower estuary. The large flux enhancements from transition zone sediments are attributed to macrofaunal irrigation. Nutrient flux enhancements are correlated with radon flux enhancements, suggesting that fluxes may originate from a common region and that nutrients are regenerated within the upper 10–20 cm of the sediment column. The low fluxes of phosphate from tidal viver sediments reflect the control benthic sediment exerts on phosphorus through sorption by sedimentary iron oxyhydroxides. In the tidal river, benthic fluxes of ammonia and phosphate equal one-half and one-third of the nutrient input of the Blue Plains sewage treatment plant. In the tidal Potomac River, benthic sediment regeneration supplies a significant fraction of the nutrients utilized by primary producers in the water column during the summer months.
Far-infrared spectra and ring-puckering potential energy functions of two oxygen-containing ring molecules with unusual bonding interactions

Over the past quarter century we have carried out a large number of studies of the ring- puckering vibrations of small ring-molecules. The far-infrared and Raman spectra of these large amplitude motions have been used to determine the molecular conformation and 1-D potential energy functions. The forces which are usually the principal contributors to the potential functions are the ring-angle strain and torsional forces, which often result when CH 2 groups are next to each other. In the present study we have examined the far-infrared and Raman spectra of two oxygen-containing molecules which have turned out to have unusual potential energy functions. 1,3-dioxole and 4H-pyran.
Evidence for the secretion of decidual luteotropin: a prolactin-like hormone produced by rat decidual cells.

Rat decidual tissue contains a PRL-like hormone named decidual luteotropin. We have recently revealed some of its physiological and biochemical characteristics. However, because rat decidual tissue contains specific binding sites for PRL, it was important to demonstrate that the hormone found in the tissue is not locally stored and structurally transformed PRL but a hormone actively synthesized by the rat decidual tissue. Decidual explants or decidual cells obtained from day 9 pseudopregnant rats were incubated for different times under either static conditions or continuously perifused with medium at a rate of 1 ml/h. Levels of decidual luteotropin were measured by a specific radioreceptor assay using luteal membranes as source of receptors and [125I]iodo-ovine(o)PRL as a tracer. In the static incubation, no proof of hormone production was obtained; levels of decidual luteotropin in medium and tissue or cells at the end of the incubation were similar to levels found in either cells or tissue before incub...
SE2: Is fabless MEMS fabulous?

Recent years have witnessed the maturity of MEMS in automotive safety applications and its penetration into cost sensitive consumer markets. With the emergence of consumer applications for sensors and reconfigurable radio, the MEMS industry is at a growth inflection point. Many start-ups are trying to bring low-cost devices to market using a fab-less or a fab-light business model. The pure-play MEMS foundries have grown in number and capability, and cost-effective hermetic encapsulation techniques are now widely available. Despite this, successful commercialization stories are sparse among MEMS start-ups and are mostly generated by the larger and more established companies that have introduced MEMS products after many years of costly internal research and development for high price margin applications. In addition, products have mostly represented single functionality so far while sensor fusion and integration ideas for multi-functionality and reconfigurable chips may become increasingly popular. Here are some questions the MEMS industry is faced with: Are today's MEMS low cost enough to compete and survive in consumer markets? Given the smaller mask count and larger feature sizes of micromechanical devices, can MEMS die-cost-per-area become less than CMOS die-cost-per-area? What challenges are involved in making this a reality? What integration schemes will have a more promising future? Can planar integration of CMOS and MEMS survive the cost and size scaling? Can we think of a generic process flow that can address 80–90% of the MEMS market?
CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM BINDING IN NATIVE AND STRUCTURALLY PERTURBED PURPLE MEMBRANE

The number and identity of the metal cations bound to wild-type bacteriorhodopsin (bR) are determined by using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ICP emission techniques. The results indicate that there at = 2 total Ca{sup 2+} and Mg{sup 2+} per bR molecule with a ratio of = 3:1 Ca{sup 2+} to Mg{sup 2+}. This observed ratio is found to agree with the calculated ratio using previously determined binding constants for the two high affinity sites of Ca{sup 2+} to deionized bR. This suggests that the high-affinity binding sites in deionized bR are similar to those in native bR. Structural perturbation of the native membrane by cleavage of the C-terminus decreases the number of ions per bR to 1.4. The observed ratio of total ions in this sample to total ions in bR is found to agree with that calculated using known binding constants for each. The results on the number of metal cations/bR and their ratio in bacteriorhodopsin agree with the calculated number using previously observed binding constants in deionized bO only if one assumes that the second high-affinity site (not the first) is removed by retinal removal. Removal of 75% of the lipids from the purple membranemore » is found to greatly reduce the number of metal cations from 2 to 0.16. This suggest that if metal cations are in the two high-affinity sites (which are the only type of binding sites evident in our native bR sample), the removal of lipids, known to change the protein tertiary structure, changes also the metal ion binding sites. 37 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.« less
Iron in Chronic Brain Disorders: Imaging and Neurotherapeutic Implications

Iron is important for brain oxygen transport, electron transfer, neurotransmitter synthesis, and myelin production. Though iron deposition has been observed in the brain with normal aging, increased iron has also been shown in many chronic neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. In vitro studies have demonstrated that excessive iron can lead to free radical production, which can promote neurotoxicity. However, the link between observed iron deposition and pathological processes underlying various diseases of the brain is not well understood. It is not known whether excessive in vivo iron directly contributes to tissue damage or is solely an epiphenomenon. In this article, we focus on the imaging of brain iron and the underlying physiology and metabolism relating to iron deposition. We conclude with a discussion of the potential implications of iron-related toxicity to neurotherapeutic development.
Effect of a β-3 agonist on food intake in two strains of rats that differ in susceptibility to obesity

Abstract Context: β-3 Agonists acutely reduce food intake, but the mechanism is not well understood. Objective: To evaluate the effect of a β3 agonist on food intake in two strains of rats that differ in their sensitivity to becoming obese while eating a high-fat (HF) diet. Methods: Male Osborne–Mendel (OM) and S5B/Pl (S5B) rats were treated with a β3-adrenergic agonist (CL 316,243) at 8 weeks of age, after an adaptation to either an HF (56% fat energy) or a low-fat (LF; 10% fat energy) diet that was equicaloric for protein (24% energy). Ad-lib-fed rats were injected intraperitoneally with CL 316,243, at doses of 0.03, 0.1, 0.3, 1.0 or 3.0 mg/kg, or with vehicle at the beginning of the dark cycle. Food intake was measured at 1, 3, 6 and 24 h after injections. Results: The β3 agonist CL 316,243 significantly decreased food intake at all timepoints in both strains of rats eating both diets. However, this inhibition of food intake was significantly greater in the S5B rat. CL 316,243 significantly decreased serum leptin and serum glucose in both the OM and the S5B rats, and again, the inhibition was greater in the S5B rat. Whereas CL 316,243 increased serum insulin levels in the OM rat, it decreased them in the S5B rat on an LF diet. In a second experiment, chow-fed rats were implanted with vascular ports into the jugular vein and allowed to recover. When CL 316,243 was injected into the animals that were fasted overnight, rats of both strains significantly increased their serum insulin at 30 min, but the increase was much more pronounced in the S5B rat. Serum glucose was decreased significantly at both the 30- and 60-min timepoints in the OM rat and at 30 min in the S5B rat. Conclusion: These experiments demonstrate that a β3 agonist (CL 316,243) has a much greater effect in a strain of rats that resist fat-induced obesity.
Chemical Structures of Liquid Poly(ethylene glycol)s with Different End Groups at Buried Polymer Interfaces

The interfacial conformational behaviors or structure of liquid poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs) with different end groups in contact with solid polymers of different hydrophobicities were investigated by sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy. The solids at the interface included deuterated poly(methyl methacrylate) (d-PMMA), deuterated polystyrene (d-PS), deuterated polyethylene (d-PE), and a fluorinated polymer AF-2400; the liquids were poly(ethylene glycol) diol (PEGD), poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether (PEGME), and poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether (PEGDME). For comparison purposes, SFG has also been used to study PEG surfaces in air and in contact with fused silica. Depending on the hydrophobicity of the solid polymer, the hydroxyl O−H and methoxy OCH3 end groups and ethoxy OCH2 backbone groups of the liquid PEGs exhibited different interfacial behavior, which can be correlated to molecular interactions at these interfaces. The favorable interaction between the hydrophobic solids a...
Review of Clostridium difficile— associated diseases

Clostridium difficile has recently become recognized as an important nosocomial pathogen. This review summarizes what is known about the isolation of the organism, the spectrum of clinical disease, virulence factors, treatments, and methods of prevention. Risk factors for C. difficile disease are also discussed. The most important risk factor is the use of certain antibiotics (ampicillin, cephalosporins, and clindamycin). C. difficile is associated with 96% to 100% of cases of pseudomembraneous colitis, 60% to 75% of antibiotic-associated cases of colitis, and 11% to 33% of antibiotic-associated cases of diarrhea. Other risk factors include gastrointestinal manipulations, advanced age, female sex, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer chemotherapy, and renal disorders. Hospital outbreaks of C. difficile disease are examined. Data from nosocomial outbreaks support transmission of C. difficile by contaminated fomites and hand carriage by hospital personnel.
A Digital Neurosynaptic Core Using Event-Driven QDI Circuits

We design and implement a key building block of a scalable neuromorphic architecture capable of running spiking neural networks in compact and low-power hardware. Our innovation is a configurable neurosynaptic core that combines 256 integrate-and-fire neurons, 1024 input axons, and 1024x256 synapses in 4.2mm2 of silicon using a 45nm SOI process. We are able to achieve ultra-low energy consumption 1) at the circuit-level by using an asynchronous design where circuits only switch while performing neural updates, 2) at the core-level by implementing a 256 neural fan out in a single operation using a crossbar memory, and 3) at the architecture-level by restricting core-to-core communication to spike events, which occur relatively sparsely in time. Our implementation is purely digital, resulting in reliable and deterministic operation that achieves for the first time one-to-one correspondence with a software simulator. At 45pJ per spike, our core is readily scalable and provides a platform for implementing a wide array of real-time computations. As an example, we demonstrate a sound localization system using coincidence-detecting neurons.
Experimenter Effects on Pain Reporting in Women Vary across the Menstrual Cycle.

Background. Separate lines of research have shown that menstrual cycling and contextual factors such as the gender of research personnel influence experimental pain reporting. Objectives. This study examines how brief, procedural interactions with female and male experimenters can affect experimentally reported pain (cold pressor task, CPT) across the menstrual cycle. Methods. Based on the menstrual calendars 94 naturally cycling women and 38 women using hormonal contraceptives ( ) were assigned to low and high fertility groups. This assignment was based on estimates of their probability of conception given their current cycle day. Experimenters (12 males, 7 females) engaged in minimal procedural interactions with participants before the CPT was performed in solitude. Results. Naturally cycling women in the high fertility group showed significantly higher pain tolerance (81 sec, ) following interactions with a male but not a female experimenter. Differences were not found for women in the low fertility or contraceptive groups. Discussion. The findings illustrate that menstrual functioning moderates the effect that experimenter gender has on pain reporting in women. Conclusion. These findings have implications for standardizing pain measurement protocols and understanding how basic biopsychosocial mechanisms (e.g., person-perception systems) can modulate pain experiences.
Intraoperative transesophageal Doppler color flow imaging used to guide patient selection and operative treatment of ischemic mitral regurgitation.

BACKGROUNDIntraoperative transesophageal Doppler color flow imaging (TDCF) affords the opportunity to assess mitral valve competency immediately before and after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of TDCF to assist in the selection and operative treatment of ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR).METHODS AND RESULTSTwo hundred forty-six patients undergoing surgery for ischemic heart disease were prospectively studied. All had preoperative cardiac catheterization. Catheterization and pre-CPB TDCF were discordant in their estimation of MR in 112 patients (46%). Compared with patients in whom both techniques agreed in estimation of MR, patients with discordance in MR were more likely to have had unstable clinical syndromes at the time of catheterization (79% versus 40%, p less than 0.05) or to have received thrombolytics (16% versus 8%, p less than 0.05). Pre-CPB TDCF resulted in a change in the operative plan with respect to the mitral valve in 27 patients (11%). B...
The Challenge of Quality Cancer Care for Family Caregivers

Objectives To provide an overview of the factors that challenge family caregivers of patients with cancer and review issues related to the role of family members as caregivers. Data Sources Research based and other articles and reports from the government and professional groups. Conclusion There are many challenges for family caregivers of cancer patients. Nurses must be sensitive to the unmet needs of caregivers and provide the support they need to provide patient care. Health policy is needed to provide support to these caregivers. Implications for Nursing Practice Nurses must take a leadership role to provide standards, guidelines, and best practices for support of the caregiver.
Flow in Porous Media III: Deformable Media

Stokes flow in a deformable medium is considered in terms of an isotropic, linearly elastic solid matrix. The analysis is restricted to steady forms of the momentum equations and small deformation of the solid phase. Darcy's law can be used to determine the motion of the fluid phase; however, the determination of the Darcy's law permeability tensor represents part of the closure problem in which the position of the fluid-solid interface must be determined.
Alternatives to Methyl Bromide: A Florida Perspective

Methyl bromide is a soil fumigant used to control soilborne fungi, nematodes, and weeds in a wide range of agricultural, horticultural, and ornamental cropping systems. The Montreal Protocol of 198...
Factors Affecting the Correlation of Mathematics Problem Solving Performance of Engineering Students in De La Salle Lipa in Advanced Algebra and Plane and Spherical Trigonometry

Mathematics plays a vital role in coping with continuous changes in society that shape the lives of men. As future citizens, college students need to acquire sufficient mathematical proficiency. Branches of mathematics such as Advanced Algebra (Advalge) and Plane and Spherical Trigonometry (Plastri) are being offered to all engineering students for the AY 2011-2012. It was anchored on three groups of correlates that contributed to problem solving capabilities of students; personal, cognitive, and social factors. The correlation analysis between the problem solving capabilities and the personal and cognitive were all found significant, while the Problem Solving skills and comprehension were also all found to be significant in final course grade in Advalge. The problem solving skills, language and peer interaction considered in the study have significant effect on the problem solving capabilities of the students in Advalge. The relationship between the cognitive factors and the problem solving capabilities was also found to be positive, while the relationship between personal and cognitive factor such as language and conceptual skills were all found significant in final course grade in Plastri. The problem solving attitude, study skills and peer interaction have significant effect on the problem solving capabilities of the students in Plastri. Keywords: Mathematics Education, correlation, advance algebra, plane and spherical trigonometry, word problem solving, personal factors, cognitive factors and social factors, descriptive inferential method, Philippines
Nonbelief and the Desire-As-Belief Thesis

I show the incompatibility of two theses: (a) to desire the truth of p amounts to believing a certain proposition about the value of p’s truth; (b) one cannot be said to desire the truth of p if one believes that p is true. Thesis (a), the Desire-As-Belief Thesis, has received much attention since the late 1980s. Thesis (b) is an epistemic variant of Socrates’ remark in the Symposium that one cannot desire what one already has. It turns out that (a) and (b) cannot both be true if it is possible for there to exist an agent who has a desire initially, say the desire for the truth of p, and then expands the corpus of propositions she believes to include p. This result provides a new route to the denial of (a).
Optical interconnects using fiber image guides

We present a novel design for optoelectronic-multi-chip- modules based small segments of rigid imaging fiber bundles. These packages have very small (chip-scale) geometries and support bandwidth and latency comparable to on-chip interconnections.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Texture-based CT Image analysis of asthma

This study was motivated by anecdotal reports from our clinicians that the lung parenchyma appears “different” (more heterogeneous) in asthmatics compared to non-asthmatics. We investigated whether traditional texture features were different between severe asthmatics and non-asthmatics. CT examinations from 76 subjects classified as “severe asthma” ( n = 51) and “normal control” ( n = 25) based on Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP) criteria were used in this study. The CT exams were performed on a 64-detector or 16-detector GE scanner at a radiation exposure of 96.6 (±30.7) mAs with the subjects holding their breath at end-normal-expiration (functional residual capacity). The CT images were reconstructed at 0.625 or 1.25 mm thickness using either GE’s “standard” or “detail” kernels. Air trapping was computed as the percentage of voxels with a value less than -856 HU. Gray level co-occurrence matrices (GLCM) were computed from the CT images, and 15 Haralick texture descriptors were computed from the GLCM. Air trapping was significantly greater in the severe asthma subjects compared to the normal control subjects. Seven of the 15 texture features were significantly different between the severe asthma and normal control subjects. Our findings provide some validity to anecdotal reports of differences between the parenchyma of asthmatic and non-asthmatics. The significant texture features may ultimately be used to classify individuals as asthmatic or non-asthmatic, which should improve the limited performance of air trapping alone.
Upward social comparison and self‐concept: Inspiration and inferiority among art students in an advanced programme

We examined the role of social comparison in changes in the artistic self-concept of adolescents attending an advanced arts programme. Unfavourable comparisons that promoted a sense of inferiority and favourable comparisons that promoted inspiration were measured just prior to, in the first week of, and at the end of the 6 week programme. Consistent with the 'big fish little pond effect', inferiority comparisons made during the programme were associated with negative changes in self-concept. Consistent with the social comparison literature, however, inspiration comparisons made during the programme were associated with positive changes in self-concept. Rather than suggesting that exposure to highly talented peers is necessarily unfavourable, results suggest that the interpretation of the comparisons made in situ determines the favourability of such exposure.
Incidence of Pneumocystis carinii antigenemia in ambulatory cancer patients

Although the existence of subclinical Pneumocystis curinii infection in pediatric patients with solid tumors or hematologic malignancies has been documented, similar data are lacking in adults. In addition, data are needed to define the epidemiology of this agent in adult malignancies to assess the validity of the methodology employed in antigen detection, and to elucidate the value of these methods in the diagnosis, prophylaxis, and prognosis of P curinii infection in adults with cancer. The study was designed to determine the incidence of P curinii antigenemia in ambulatory patients with solid tumors or hematologic malignancies. The authors also sought to determine if antigenemia as detected by a counterimmunoelectrophoresis test correlated with any clinical parameter. Patients included in the study were ambulatory, asymptomatic, afebrile, adult cancer patients seen in the clinic for follow-up or treatment. Coded sera were electrophoresed against high-titered rabbit antiserum to P curinii organisms. Two hundred fortyseven patients were studied, including 172 hematologic malignancies (average age, 57 years), 109 men and 63 women; 75 solid tumors (average age, 55 years), 39 women and 36 men. One hundred three healthy adults served as controls. Only five patients had positive antigen (2%). All of these patients had hematologic malignancies and were women. None of the control sera were antigen-positive. We conclude that the incidence of P curinii antigenemia in asymptomatic adults with neoplastic disease is extremely low. A positive P curinii antigen in the absence of clinical symptoms most likely represents subclinical infection. Positive antigen does not always indicate active disease, but probably reflects mobilization of antigen during generalized inflammatory response or possible pulmonary insult. In making the decision to treat consideration should be given to clinical presentation and history. Cuncer 53:1878-1881, 1984.