cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hemorrhagic and thromboembolic complications in critically ill patients with COVID 19 and acute kidney injury: A single center experience

Rationale: Patients with COVID-19 critical illness are at high risk for multiorgan dysfunction, most commonly acute kidney injury (AKI). We sought to characterize the rates of thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications in patients with COVID-19 ARDS as a function of coexisting AKI. Methods: We performed a single-center retrospective analysis of all patients with severe COVID-19 infection, admitted to ICU level of care between 3/1/2020 and 6/1/2020, and we obtained patient data through the Research Patient Data Registry. We excluded patients who did not develop AKI, those who were admitted with a primary medical problem unrelated to coexisting COVID-19 infection, and those with end stage renal disease. We stratified patients into two cohorts: Those with AKI not requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) and AKI requiring RRT. All data collection was approved by the IRB at Mass General Brigham (IRB #2020P001674). All data was analyzed using Excel and R version 4.0.1 (2020-06-06) when comparing groups-medians and interquartile ranges are reported. Pearson's Chi-squared test was used during statistical analysis. Results: 272 patients were identified, of which 136 patients were excluded from further study due to reasons as above. Of the remaining 136 patients analyzed, all developed AKI as per AKIN criteria, and we identified those who did not require RRT (100), and those who were initiated on RRT (36). Median age was 66 ± 9.75, and 57 ± 7.12, respectively. 38% (38/100) and 27.7% (10/36) were female, respectively. Complications investigated included non-cerebrovascular hemorrhage (17% vs. 38.88%, p 0.014), cerebrovascular hemorrhage (4% vs. 16.66%, p 0.033), thromboembolic phenomena (24% vs 38.8%, p 0.136) and overall ICU Mortality (48% vs 38.8%, p 0.45). Conclusions: Patients with COVID-19 ARDS and associated AKI had a high number of hemorrhagic and thromboembolic complications. There is a higher incidence of hemorrhagic and thromboembolic complications in the AKI-RRT group, with CVA-and non-CVAhemorrhagic complications being statistically significant. Overall ICU mortality was apparently lower in the AKIRRT group, without reaching statistical significance. Our data highlight a clinically most relevant topic, defining COVID-19 patients with AKI as a high-risk population for thromboembolic and hemorrhagic complications, and underlining the importance of careful decisions regarding prophylactic anticoagulant strategies.
Role of Aqueous-Phase Calcination in Synthesis of Ultra-Stable Dye-Embedded Fluorescent Nanoparticles for Cellular Probing:

Fluorescence imaging is a major driver of discovery in biology, and an invaluable asset in clinical diagnostics. To overcome quenching limitations of conventional fluorescent dyes and further impro...
Solvents effect on dansyl cysteamine depletion and reactivity classification of skin sensitizers: Tackling the challenges using binary solvent systems.

Abstract The high throughput method using dansyl cysteamine (HTS-DCYA™) is a sensitive and rapid in chemico approach to characterize skin sensitizers' thio-reactivity. The direct quantification of fluorescent hapten-DCYA adducts facilitates the rapid testing of pure chemicals as well as mixtures. Poor solubility in acetonitrile was occasionally observed and can represent a limitation. To enable the range of solvent options compatible with the testing, the effect of binary solvent systems on thio-reactivity and the HTS-DCYA classification was explored. The method's robustness was validated using five different solvent modifiers: water, DMSO, methanol, ethanol, and tetrahydrofuran. Some modifiers, viz., water and methanol, resulted in unexpected DCYA depletion, negatively affecting the thio-reactivity and classification of potential sensitizers. This undesirable, non-specific depletion was circumvented by optimizing the original HTS-DCYA™ method's workflow, resulting in a more robust and reliable thio-reactivity and hence classification with a binary solvent system. The results were validated for both pure compounds and plant extracts as examples of complex test samples. Based on the obtained results, the modified HTS-DCYA optimal conditions in the various solvent systems were established. Concentrations of modifiers up to 10% DMSO, 40% water, 40% EtOH, 60% MeOH, or 60% THF in acetonitrile were found acceptable for the modified protocol, with results comparable to the original method. The improved workflow with binary solvent systems provides significant advantages by expanding the applicability of the HTS-DCYA to a wider array of chemicals poorly soluble in acetonitrile.
Facilitation alters climate change risk on rocky shores

A huge fraction of global biodiversity resides within biogenic habitats that ameliorate physical stresses. In most cases, details of how physical conditions within facilitative habitats respond to external climate forcing remain unknown, hampering climate change predictions for many of the world's species. Using intertidal mussel beds as a model system, we characterize relationships among external climate conditions and within-microhabitat heat and desiccation conditions. We use these data, along with physiological tolerances of two common inhabitant taxa (the isopod Cirolana harfordi and the porcelain crab Petrolisthes cinctipes), to examine the magnitude of climate risk inside and outside biogenic habitat, applying an empirically derived model of evaporation to simulate mortality risk under a high-emissions climate-warming scenario. We found that biogenic microhabitat conditions responded so weakly to external climate parameters that mortality risk was largely unaffected by climate warming. In contrast, outside the biogenic habitat, desiccation drove substantial mortality in both species, even at temperatures 4.4 to 8.6 oC below their hydrated thermal tolerances. These findings emphasize the importance of warming-exacerbated desiccation to climate-change risk and the role of biogenic habitats in buffering this less-appreciated stressor. Our results suggest that, when biogenic habitats remain intact, climate warming may have weak direct effects on organisms within them. Instead, risk to such taxa is likely to be indirect and tightly coupled with the fate of habitat-forming populations. Conserving and restoring biogenic habitats that offer climate refugia could therefore be crucial to supporting biodiversity in the face of climate warming.
In welchem ich erkläre, warum das Bewusstsein eine Herausforderung für die wissenschaftliche Weltsicht ist, wie man es empirisch erforschen und dabei mit beiden Füßen fest auf dem Boden bleiben kann, warum Tiere genau so ein Bewusstsein haben wie Menschen und warum Selbst-Bewusstsein nicht so wichtig ist, wie manche denken

Wenn kein Bewusstsein ist, ist nichts. Unseren Korper und die Welt mit ihren Bergen und Menschen, Baumen und Hunden, Sternen und Melodien nehmen wir nur durch unser subjektives Erleben, unsere Gedanken und Erinnerungen wahr. Wir handeln und bewegen uns, sehen und horen, lieben und hassen, erinnern uns an Vergangenes und stellen uns Zukunftiges vor. Letztlich aber begegnen wir der Welt in all ihren Manifestationen nur uber unser Bewusstsein. Und wenn das Bewusstsein endet, endet fur uns auch die Welt.
Immunological approaches to the study of myogenesis and lens fiber junction formation.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on immunological approaches to the study of muscle development and to the study of intercellular communication. Immunological studies on the developing embryonic chick muscle cell surface were initiated several years ago to identify those molecules or macromolecular arrays that may be muscle tissue or developmental stage-specific. While cell–cell recognition may be mediated primarily via surface displays of certain membrane macromolecules, it has been suggested that the critical event in establishing permanent cell–cell contact may result from an exchange of small molecules among transiently connected cells. It has been proposed that such “metabolic cooperation” occurs via channels between two cells in the form of gap junctions. While seemingly disparate, lens fiber cell differentiation and myogenesis represent two examples of developing systems amenable to the analysis of questions with broad developmental significance. In each system, there is a proliferating pool of progenitor cells that undergo dramatic morphological alterations, along with the elaboration of specific gene products that account for a significant percentage of total cell protein.
Kingdom Fungi: Fungal Phylogeny and Systematics

1 Origin of the Fungi 2 Concepts and Terms 3 Phenotypes and Molecular Markers to Identify Fungi 4 Phylogenetic Methods 5 Genomics 6 Classification 7 Phylum Chytridiomycota 8 Phylum Zygomycota 9 Phylum Ascomycota 10 Phylum Basidiomycota 11 Clinical Applications 12 Acknowledgments Keywords: Kingdom fungi, fungal phylogeny and systematics; phenotypes and molecular markers in identifying fungi; general phenotypic approaches-identifying and characterizing fungi; higher taxa of mycotic fungi and selected pseudofungi; phylum Chytridiomycota-characterized by motile asexual zoospores; Phylum Zygomycota-Zygomycetes and Trichomycetes; Order Eurotiales-sexual reproduction resulting in perithecia or cleistothecia; Phylum Basidiomycota–Urediniomycetes, Ustilaginomycetes and Hymenomycetes
Power Differentials in Relationships

Abstract The issue of sharing power affects many relationships. Many couple theorists and therapists believe that most marital distress is the result of power imbalances between the partners yet the influence of perceived power differentials in relationships is largely ignored in the therapy journals. The focus of this paper is on power differentials in couples. Different types of power are explored and assessment issues are examined. Therapeutic considerations are then presented and illustrated by case material. These issues are explored against a backdrop of gender sensitivity.
Binding of 125I-concanavalin A and agglutination of embryonic neural retina cells. Age-dependent and experimental changes.

Abstract Embryonic chick neural retina cells dissociated from retina tissue by treatment with EGTA (a calcium chelator) show an age-dependent decline in ability to agglutinate with concanavalin A (ConA). This developmental change in cell surface properties is not due to loss of ConA-binding sites, since mature retina cells can be rendered agglutinable by mild trypsinization. It is also not due to masking of ConA receptors, or to a decrease in their amount, since retina cells from late embryos (19 days) bind four times as much 125 I-ConA as cells from early embryos (8 days). Our findings lead us to suggest that, as the retina differentiates the lateral mobility of ConA receptors in the cell membrane decreases resulting in a reduction of cell agglutinability; trypsinization of late embryo retina cells increases the mobility of the receptors and thereby facilitates their clustering by the lectin into a configuration conducive to cell agglutination. The ability of late embryo (19 day) retina cells dispersed with EGTA to agglutinate with ConA could be increased by still other treatments: by pre-incubation of the cell suspension in Tyrode's balanced salt solution (1 h, 37 °C); and by brief pre-exposure to glutaraldehyde. These two treatments did not enhance cell agglutination with wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). Glutaraldehyde treatment of trypsinized cells made them agglutinable with ConA also at 4 °C; cells treated otherwise agglutinated only at higher temperature. Surface-saturation of monodispersed retina cells with ConA at 37 °C—but not at 4 °C—prevented their agglutination with this lectin, but not with WGA; this inhibition was reversible by methyl a-D-glucopyranoside (αMG).
Molecular analysis of the 18q- syndrome--and correlation with phenotype

Seven individuals with deletions of the distal long arm of chromosome 18 were evaluated at the clinical, cytogenetic, and molecular levels. The patients had varying degrees of typical clinical findings associated with the 18q- syndrome. Cytogenetic analysis revealed deletions from 18q21.3 or 18q22.2 to qter. Somatic cell hybrids derived from the patients were molecularly characterized using ordered groups of probes isolated from a chromosome 18-specific library. In general, the size of the deletion could be correlated with the severity of the phenotype. Based on the clinical pictures of these seven patients, a preliminary phenotypic map for the clinical features associated with deletions of the distal portion of the long arm has been generated. Furthermore, genes previously localized to 18q21 were mapped relative to the chromosome breakpoints present in these patients.
Studies on digitalis: XI. Effects of digitoxin on the development of cardiac hypertrophy in the rat subjected to aortic constriction

Abstract Two hundred male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups of 50 animals each. Group A served as controls; group B received 0.1 mg. of digitoxin/100 gm. body weight daily for six days of each week; group C underwent subdiaphragmatic suprarenal aortic constriction but did not receive digitoxin; and group D received doses of digitoxin similar to those given to group B, beginning five to seven days prior to aortic constriction. After suitable corrections for differences in body weight among the different groups, it became clear that digitoxin alone had no effect on the ventricular weight of the rats in group B. Although the rats in both groups C and D had ventricular weights significantly greater than control, the administration of digitoxin resulted in the development of significantly lesser degrees of myocardial hypertrophy and decreased the incidence of fatal congestive heart failure. While the development of hypertrophy represents a fundamental adaptive mechanism to a chronic pressure load placed on the ventricle, the usefulness of this adaptive mechanism may well be limited. By reducing the development of myocardial hypertrophy, digitoxin permits the ventricle to sustain an excessive hemodynamic burden with less encroachment on this fundamental reserve mechanism, thus favorably influencing cardiac function.
Replicative DNA polymerases and mechanisms at a replication fork.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses mechanisms of DNA synthesis at a replication fork, with emphasis on the replicative DNA polymerases. This chapter also compares the properties of some of these enzymes, particularly in relation to processes of strand unwinding, translocation along templates, and accurate incorporation of nucleotides, as well as the effects of other protein factors involved in these processes. Our objective is to arouse more interest in systematic studies on these DNA polymerases with respect to their function at a replication fork. Enzymes involved in DNA repair, other than those involved in correction of replicative errors, are not considered. By proper focusing of problems and application of ingenjous techniques, it is only a matter of time until the mechanisms involved in DNA replication will be understood even in higher eukaryotic systems.
Figure-Ground Separation: A Case Study in Energy Minimization via Evolutionary Computing

It is known that the problem of figure-ground separation can be modeled as one of energy minimization using the Ising system model from quantum physics. The Ising system model for the figure-ground separation problem makes explicit the definition of shape in terms of attributes such as cocircularity, smoothness, proximity and contrast and is based on the formulation of an energy function that incorporates pairwise interactions between local image features in the form of edgels. This paper explores a class of stochastic optimization techniques based on evolutionary algorithms for the problem of figure-ground separation using the Ising system model. Experimental results on synthetic edgel maps and edgel maps derived from gray scale images are presented. The advantages and shortcomings of evolutionary algorithms in the context of figure-ground separation are discussed.
Constructing School Success: The Consequences of Untracking Low‐Achieving Students.

Constructing School Success: The Consequences of Untracking Low- Achieving Students. Hugh Mehan, Irene Villanueva, Lea Hubbard, and Angela Lintz. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 247 pp.
Theroa zethus Caterpillars Use Acid Secretion of Anti-Predator Gland to Deactivate Plant Defense

In North America, notodontid caterpillars feed almost exclusively on hardwood trees. One notable exception, Theroa zethus feeds instead on herbaceous plants in the Euphorbiaceae protected by laticifers. These elongate canals follow leaf veins and contain latex under pressure; rupture causes the immediate release of sticky poisonous exudate. T. zethus larvae deactivate the latex defense of poinsettia and other euphorbs by applying acid from their ventral eversible gland, thereby creating furrows in the veins. The acid secretion softens the veins allowing larvae to compress even large veins with their mandibles and to disrupt laticifers internally often without contacting latex. Acid secretion collected from caterpillars and applied to the vein surface sufficed to create a furrow and to reduce latex exudation distal to the furrow where T. zethus larvae invariably feed. Larvae with their ventral eversible gland blocked were unable to create furrows and suffered reduced growth on poinsettia. The ventral eversible gland in T. zethus and other notodontids ordinarily serves to deter predators; when threatened, larvae spray acid from the gland orifice located between the mouthparts and first pair of legs. To my knowledge, T. zethus is the first caterpillar found to use an antipredator gland for disabling plant defenses. The novel combination of acid application and vein constriction allows T. zethus to exploit its unusual latex-bearing hosts.
Bandwidth-Sensitivity-Aware Arbitration for FPGAs

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) commonly implement massively parallel circuits that require significant memory bandwidth. Due to I/O and memory limitations, parallel tasks often share bandwidth via arbitration, whose efficiency is critical to ensure parallelism is not wasted. In this letter, we introduce a bandwidth-sensitivity-aware heuristic for arbitration that analyzes the effect of memory bandwidth on performance for each application task, and then accordingly allocates bandwidth to minimize execution time. When compared to round robin (RR) arbitration, application speedups as high as 6.5tare achieved.
Effects of Combinations of Polyamine Biosynthetic Inhibitors on Cellular Polyamines in Carrot Cell Cultures

Summary The effects of cyclohexylammonium phosphate (CHAP) in combination with other inhibitors of polyamine biosynthesis were studied on cellular polyamine levels in carrot ( Daucus carota L.) cell suspension cultures. A combined treatment with CHAP and difluoromethylornithine increased cellular putrescine and spermine levels but had little effect on spermidine levels. Difluoromethylarginine (DFMA)+CHAP decreased cellular putrescine and spermidine levels but increased spermine levels. A combination of CHAP and methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) caused a significant increase (up to four-fold) in putrescine and a decrease in cellular spermidine and spermine levels.
Antisocial Personality in Alcohol- and Drug-Dependent Individuals: A Study of Gender Effects

This study contrasts the effects of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on the phenomenology of alcohol and drug abuse for women compared with men. Eighty-five women and 116 men in inpatient programs for alcohol and drug treatment were interviewed. Both ASPD men and women displayed an early onset of alcohol problems and amphetamine, marijuana, and cocaine abuse and dependence. However, ASPD in women did not correlate with low socioeconomic status, intravenous drug use, or family history of ASPD. ASPD appears to have some shared and some specific effects on the phenomenology of alcohol and drug abuse in women.
Mixing of randomly moving particles in liquid—solid fluidized beds

Abstract The deterministic diffusion equation of the Fickian type has been widely employed in modeling solids mixing in fluidized beds. In this work, a stochastic or statistical model has been proposed for the solids mixing in a liquid—solid fluidized bed of relatively large particles. Specifically, the particle diffusivity under the steady fluidized state has been derived by combining the well-known ‘Ornstein-Uhlenbeck’ equation of stochastic processes and the so-called partition function of particle velocities. The values of particle diffusivity calculated from the model have been shown to agree well with the available experimental data. Furthermore, it has been shown that the solids-mixing process in the bed can be related to the time-dependent nature of particle motion.
Oil and gas financing by the World Bank

The World Bank has developed a flexible oil and gas programme that is structured to meet the changing needs of the sector as they arise. The Bank became prominent in the oil and gas sector after the oil crises of the 1970s, when it began assisting client countries in developing their indigenous energy resources. At the beginning, Bank lending concentrated on exploration and development of hydrocarbon resources where the level of lending expanded to US$1 billion in 1983. This rapid expansion caused some concern that Bank activities might preempt those of the private sector. In response, the Bank imposed in 1984 strict limitations on petroleum exploration and oil production lending. In combination with the perception that future oil demand would be weak, this caused the lending programme to fall off sharply (to US$300 million by 1986). By 1990, the Bank was again moving actively into hydrocarbon sector lending, but then the emphasis was on promoting private sector development and supporting the development of natural gas as a substitute for coal and oil. Bank lending to the sector has been on the increase since 1990; a lending level of about US$1 billion yearly is expected for the second half of the 1990s. In addition to its direct lending, the World Bank facilitates contributions by other financiers through its cofinancing and risk mitigation arrangements.
STOCK SPLITS AND PRICE CHANGE

MANY WHO ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE in the stock market feel that splitting the shares of a stock produces, for various reasons, a greater total market value for the shares outstanding. Based on intuition and supported by some widely quoted research by Barker, many others assert that any positive price movement in the period surrounding a stock split is related to an increase in the cash dividend which frequently occurs at that time.' Still regarded by many as unresolved, this problem has been the subject of continuing examination in recent years with a variety of models and statistical tools being employed.2'8 This paper reports the results of an attempt to develop a model that will provide a test of whether there is a significant price change associated with stock splits after controlling for fundamental factors (earnings and dividends) and for stock market trend. In Parts I and II, the background and the development of the model are discussed. Definitions of the variables and the method of collecting the data are given in Parts III and IV, followed by the results and the conclusions in Parts V and VI. The data used in this study are limited to common stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that split at least 2 for 1 during 1959, the record year for splits among these listed stocks. Assuming that the data meet the statistical conditions necessary for analysis in a linear regression model, it is concluded that there is a statistically significant (< 0.05) price change associated with stock splits that occurred during 1959 on the NYSE.
Roles, design, and the nature of CSCL

In this article, I argue that roles are a key construct for CSCL that demonstrate the interdisciplinary strengths of CSCL as a field. CSCL is a problem-driven field with a history of incorporating different paradigms, and has the advantage of using a design stance to understand phenomena like collaboration and learning that are difficult to study. Roles are understood differently by different disciplines, but the concept of roles serves as a boundary object between the different disciplines within CSCL and highlights potential areas for research.
Teaching to Make a Difference

This article addresses college classes as forums for activism. One course brought college students together with system-involved girls for a mentoring program to provide often-unavailable, relation...
IS HUMOR AN APPRECIATED TEACHING TOOL? PERCEPTIONS OF PROFESSORS' TEACHING STYLES AND USE OF HUMOR

In this study, we investigated the use of humor in college classrooms. We examined how students perceived professors' uses of various types of humor during class and the types of humor that students and faculty recommend for use in class. We also correlated the way professors incorporated humor into their class lectures with their perceived competence and effectiveness, and we investigated whether students felt their learning experience improved when their teachers used humor. We also discussed topics such as ''scarcasm,'' professor gender, student and faculty support of humor, and humor in classrooms, tests, and the rest of life. Humor appropriately used has the potential to humanize, illustrate, defuse, encourage, reduce anxiety, and keep people thinking.
Inhibition of hepatic adenylate cyclase by NADH

Abstract Adenylate cyclase activity in isolated rat liver plasma membranes was inhibited by NADH in a concentration-dependent manner. Half-maximal inhibition of adenylate cyclase was observed at 120 μM concentration of NADH. The effect of NADH was specific since adenylate cyclase activity was not altered by NAD + , NADP + , NADPH, and nicotinic acid. The ability of NADH to inhibit adenylate cyclase was not altered when the enzyme was stimulated by activating the G s regulatory element with either glucagon or cholera toxin. Similarly, inhibition of G i function by pertussis toxin treatment of membrane did not attenuate the ability of NADH to inhibit adenylate cyclase activity. Inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity to the same extent in the presence and absence of the Gpp(NH)p suggested that NADH directly affects the catalytic subunit. This notion was confirmed by the finding that NADH also inhibited solubilized adenylate cyclase in the absence of Gpp(NH)p. Kinetic analysis of the NADH-mediated inhibition suggested that NADH competes with ATP to inhibit adenylate cyclase; in the presence of NADH (1 mM) the K m ATP was increased from 0.24 ± 0.02 mM to 0.44 ± 0.08 mM high NADH concentrations to completely inhibit the enzyme suggest that NADH interacts at a site(s) on the enzyme to increase the K m for ATP by 2-fold and this inhibitory effect is overcome at high ATP concentrations.
A new approach to simultaneous buffer insertion and wire sizing

In this paper, we present a completely new approach to the problem of delay minimization by simultaneous buffer insertion and wire sizing for a wire. We show that the problem can be formulated as a convex quadratic program, which is known to be solvable in polynomial time. Nevertheless, we explore some special properties of our problem and derive an optimal and very efficient algorithm to solve the resulting program. Given m buffers and a set of n discrete choices of wire width, the running time of our algorithm is O(mn^2) and is independent of the wire length in practice. For example, an instance of 100 buffers and 100 choices of wire width can be solved in 3 seconds. Besides, our formulation is so versatile that it is easy to consider other objectives like wire area or power dissipation, or to add constraints to the solution. Also, wire capacitance lookup tables, or very general wire capacitance models which can capture area capacitance, fringing capacitance, coupling capacitance, etc. can be used.
New instrumental effects in fast neutron polarization measurements

Abstract It is pointed out that measurements of the analyzing power A y ( θ ) for scattering of polarized fast neutrons are subject to certain instrumental effects which have so far been neglected. As an illustration, np scattering at 10 MeV is discussed. It is shown that neutron scattering by carbon in the neutron detector causes an anomaly in A y ( θ ) for angles θ when the energy of the scattered neutrons is near a n + 12 C resonance.
Metabolic Fuel Availability Influences Thermoregulation in Deer Mice (Peromyscus maniculatus)

Abstract Stamper, J. L. and J. Dark. Metabolic fuel availability influences thermoregulation in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). Physiol Behav 61(4) 521–524, 1997.—Body temperature (T b ) was monitored telemetrically in adult deer mice kept in an environmental chamber at low ambient temperature (T a = 15°C). Mice were challenged with various doses of 2-deoxy- d -glucose (2DG, a glycolysis inhibitor) or mercaptoacetate (MA, a fatty acid oxidation inhibitor) or a combination of the two drugs. A preliminary study suggested that higher doses of 2DG and MA, either individually or together, tended to produce a transient decrease in T b . In the main experiment, either 2DG or MA or the two drugs together was sufficient to induce a significant, temporary hypothermia. In neither experiment, however, did any treatment affect 24-h food intake or induce daily torpor. The latter outcome contrasts with Siberian hamsters, in which torpor is readily triggered by similar 2DG treatments. Apparently, glucoprivation and lipoprivation resulting from 2DG and MA treatments, respectively, sufficient to produce significant hypothermia, are inadequate to instigate torpor in Peromyscus.
Mapping the human brain: past, present, and future

The ability to map functional activity in the living human brain has rekindled interest in the organization of human neural circuitry specifically and in animal neural circuitry generally. Faced with incredible complexity, researchers are turning to the power of computer graphics for two- and three-dimensional interactive mapping, to the mathematical modeling of dynamics in proposed circuits, and to databases with powerful discovery engines.
A simple test for exogeneity in probit, logit, and poisson regression models

Abstract Several tests for exogeneity currently exist for single equation probit models, most based on variants of limited information maximum likelihood estimators. This paper develops an alternative test by recasting the estimation problem in a non-linear least squares framework. The test is applicable to logit models as well as probit models, and is also extended to provide an exogeneity test for the Poisson regression model.
Anomalies in the behavior of the non-stoichiometric systems ZrMn2T0.8 (T = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu)

Abstract Unit cell dimensions and hydriding characteristics of the non-stoichiometric systems ZrMn2T0.8, with T = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu have been determined. Hydrides of these systems show plateau pressures at 25 C which vary in a systematic way with the atomic number of T, ranging from 0.3 (for T = Fe) to 4 atm (for T = Co). All of these plateau pressures are much greater than that of the hydride of stoichiometric ZrMn2. There is a “Cobalt Effect” in that the plateau pressure of ZrMn2Co0.8 hydride is extraordinarily high and, moreover, the lattice dimensions of ZrMn2Co0.8 are small compared to ZrMn2 and the other ternaries. The origin of the Co effect is as yet unclear. It may originate with the particulars of the site occupancies or special metallic bonding effects.
Oxidative stability and AromaScan analyses of corn oils with altered fatty acid content

This project was designed to evaluate the oxidative stability of corn oils with increased total saturated fatty acid composition and to test the feasibility of using the AromaScan, an “electronic nose,” to detect the odors/aromas produced by oxidation. Corn oils with traditional (13.1%) and elevated (14.7 to 17.1%) total saturated fatty acid percentages were evaluated for their oxidative quality. Oils from five corn genotypes were extracted, refined, bleached, and deodorized (RBD) in the laboratory. Two replications, separated at the point of extraction, were evaluated for each genotype. The RBD corn oils (18.0 g) were stored in 50-mL beakers at 60°C in the dark, and peroxide values were measured every other day for 8 d. Corn oils with elevated saturated fatty acid compositions were more stable (P<0.05) than the traditional corn oil. Aroma intensity of the oils was measured with an AromaScan at days 0, 4, and 8. The AromaScan provided a useful tool to detect odors/aromas produced by oxidation during an oxidative stability study; this tool might be used to partly replace human sensory panel evaluation of oxidized samples.
A method to document data entry forms

All of us receive data entry forms manually and electronically. These forms have to be filled and returned. They vary in size, content and clarity. Frequently parts of them are duplicates, but the duplication is concealed by the use of different terminology. The amount of duplicate input will increase sharply in the future, as more and more forms are communicated electronically.This paper describes a method to document data entry forms. This method converts a paper form to computerized form, divides the form into data elements, identifies synonyms and replaces them with one preferred term, standardizes mathematical relationships, and arrives at a smaller subset of elements for which actual values have to be input. Once values are input for this limited subset, the method can compute the values for the other derived elements and produce the final filled-in form. All the data elements in the forms are thus documented precisely.Six different software products have to be developed and linked together to make this method operational. The work on these is also described.
Topological characterization of spatial-temporal chaos

We introduce a technique based on algebraic topology for quantifying spatio-temporally chaotic dynamics. The technique is illustrated using the Gray-Scott and the FitzHugh-Nagumo models.
Aspects of Transplanckian Scattering

We attempt to address the well known problem of quantum gravity - the information paradox, through the study of transplanckian collisions, that may proceed with the production of intermediate black hole states. We apply the S-matrix approach to study 2 → 2 scattering of particles with the center of mass energy much greater than the Planck mass, and investigate the dependence of the scattering amplitude on the impact parameter. It is expected that the main properties of the S-matrix (unitarity, analyticity and crossing) may provide sufficiently strong constrain for the scattering amplitude to unravel non-trivial information about the underlying properties of quantum gravity. However, we argue that our present understanding is far from complete and additional novel ideas are required to resolve this puzzle.
Electrical characterization of high-k gate dielectrics on semiconductors

This paper reviews the following electrical characterization techniques for measuring the microscopic bonding structures, impurities, and electrically active defects in advanced CMOS gate stacks: (1) inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS), (2) lateral profiling of threshold voltages, interface-trap density, and oxide charge density distributions along the channel of a MOSFET, and (3) pulse agitated substrate hot electron injection (PASHEI) technique for measuring trapping effects in the gate dielectric at low and modest gate voltages.
An adaptive empirical bayes estimator of the multivariate normal mean under quadratic loss

Abstract For shrinkage estimators to achieve significant risk improvement over their traditional competitors, one must identify the region or subspace where the unknown location vector lies or is thought likely to lie a priori . When vague or conflicting priors suggest that a broad class of estimators may be effective under a squared-error-loss measure, new minimax or near-minimax empirical Bayes estimators are proposed that make use of Stein's unbiased estimator of the risk to identify the optimum risk-effective shrinkage estimator.
Formation of annealing twins in f.c.c. crystals

A microscopic model for the formation of annealing twins in f.c.c. crystals is proposed. It is argued that Shockley partial loops nucleate on consecutive {111} planes by growth accidents occurring on migrating {111} steps associated with a moving grain boundary. The higher the velocity of the boundary, the higher the twin density. The absence of twins in high stacking fault energy materials and the influence of temperature on twin density can be rationalized in terms of the model. Additional supporting, circumstantial evidence has been developed by examining the influence of deformation damage on the incidence of twinning in copper and the effect of boron in reducing twin density in annealed nickel.
Selective suppression of cerebral evoked potentials to patterned light in amblyopia ex anopsia

Abstract Experimental evidence is presented to show that there is an abnormal depression of the computer derived visual evoked response to patterned images when they are presented to the amblyopic eye in a significant number of children with amblyopia ex anopsia. In contrast, no differences of significance were seen in the VERs obtained by stimulating the normal and amblyopic eyes individually with plain light. A specific inhibition of pattern vision is postulated. When this evidence is evaluated in the light of the known fact that cells uniquely sensitive to shape are found only in the cortex, then the cortex (rather than the retina or geniculate body) appears to be the most likely site of the defect in human amblyopia ex anopsia.
Invasive and Noninvasive Methods to Predict the Long‐Term Efficacy of Amiodarone: A Compilation of Clinical Observations Using Meta‐Analysis

Background The method of choice to predict the long-term efficacy of amiodarone in the treatment of complex ventricular arrhythmias is unknown. Whether electrophysiological testing or Holter monitoring better predicts long-term outcome is controversial. Methods and results We performed a meta-analysis of trials using electrophysiological testing or electrocardiographic monitoring to predict the efficacy of amiodarone in patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia. Arrhythmia recurrence data were combined after homogeneity testing across trials. Bayesian estimates and 95% credibility intervals were constructed to compare the arrhythmia-free probability among groups. Nine studies using electrophysiological testing (351 patients) and three using Holter monitoring (167 patients) met criteria for inclusion determined a priori. The combined arrhythmia-free probability estimate and credibility intervals were 0.86 (0.78-0.92) for patients rendered noninducible and 0.81 (0.73-0.87) for patients with abolition of ventricular tachycardia during Holter monitoring on amiodarone. With this primary analysis, there was no significant difference between the predictive value of noninducibility during electrophysiological testing and abolition of ventricular tachycardia with Holter. However, if only those electrophysiological studies using at least triple extrastimuli were included, arrhythmia-free probability for patients rendered noninducible increased to 0.96 (0.88-0.99), significantly better than noninvasive testing. Conclusions Noninducible ventricular tachycardia during electrophysiological testing and abolition of ventricular tachycardia during electrocardiographic monitoring on amiodarone appear equally predictive of long-term amiodarone success, but this conclusion seems dependent on the stimulation protocol used. Although the yield is lower (compared to Holter monitoring), ventricular tachycardia rendered noninducible with a stimulation protocol using triple extrastimuli is the most highly predictive test of long-term amiodarone efficacy.
Crítica a la sabiduría convencional. El informe de la OMS «WHO Health Systems: improving performance» y su relevancia en España

Este articulo hace una revision critica del informe de la OMS «WHO health systems: improving performance» analizando el contexto politico en el que tal informe se presento; los supuestos ideologicos subyacentes en la evaluacion que el informe hace de la eficiencia y la eficacia de los sistemas sanitarios, asi como de su grado de sensibilidad al usuario y de la progresividad en su financiacion, concluyendo con notas sobre su posible relevancia en Espana.
Size, shape, and arrangement of native cellulose fibrils in maize cell walls

Higher plant cell walls are the major source of the cellulose used in a variety of industries. Cellulose in plant forms nanoscale fibrils that are embedded in non-cellulosic matrix polymers in the cell walls. The morphological features of plant cellulose fibrils such as the size, shape, and arrangement, are still poorly understood due to its inhomogeneous nature and the limited resolution of the characterization techniques used. Here, we sketch out a proposed model of plant cellulose fibril and its arrangement that is based primarily on review of direct visualizations of different types of cell walls in maize using atomic force microscopy at sub-nanometer scale, and is also inspired by recent advances in understanding of cellulose biosynthesis and biodegradation. We propose that the principal unit of plant cellulose fibril is a 36-chain cellulose elementary fibril (CEF), which is hexagonally shaped and 3.2 × 5.3 nm in cross-section. Macrofibrils are ribbon-like bundles containing variable numbers of CEFs associated through their hydrophilic faces. As the cell expands and/or elongates, large macrofibril may split to become smaller bundles or individual CEFs, which are simultaneously coated with hemicelluloses to form microfibrils of variable sizes during biosynthesis. The microfibrils that contain one CEF are arranged nearly parallel, and the hydrophobic faces of the CEF are perpendicular to the cell wall surface. Structural disordering of the CEF may occur during plant development while cells expand, elongate, dehydrate, and die, as well as during the processing to prepare cellulose materials.
Allocation of trips to trucks operating from a single terminal

Abstract The problem of allocating a set of trips to a mixed fleet of trucks operating from a single terminal is analyzed. Such a problem is often faced in regional distribution of large volume products where a truck may be assigned several closed trips from the same origin during a work shift. The cost of delivery is minimized using a mixed binary formulation for smaller size problems, and two heuristics for larger size problems. The heuristics provide resuts which are usually within 1% of the lower bound on the costs (derived from a relaxed LP), with minimal computing resources.
The salinity of the North Atlantic Ocean and the next glaciation

Abstract A reduction in the surface salinity of the North Atlantic, by causing an extension of sea ice, could initiate the next Glacial period. Such a salinity reduction could be the result of a slight persistent change in surface pressure in the Caribbean area, that reduces the transfer of water vapor from the Atlantic to the Pacific across the Isthmus of Panama.
Encapsulated inorganic resist technology

Resolution in traditional single layer organic resists has been limited by the inability to image at aspect ratios (resist height to image width) of much greater than 3:1. Unless plasma etch selectivity increases several fold (an unlikely event with organic based resists) single layer resist chemistry will cease to be practical at sub-100-nm resolution. Multilayer resist schemes offer the capability of increased aspect ratio, but they add to the process complexity and cost. Encapsulated inorganic materials as resist components will be ultimately capable of sub-100-nm resolution with sufficient plasma etch selectivity. The encapsulated inorganic resist technology (EIRT) resist will act as a single layer hard mask compatible with existing resist processing steps. Material evaluation showed that encapsulated inorganic materials have properties compatible with current resist technology. Lithographic evaluations have been performed with electron beam, and with 248 nm and 157 nm projection systems. It was shown that 150-nm imaging is possible with resists having high inorganic material content. In all cases the EIRT resists have shown lithographic performance equivalent to control resists containing no SiO 2 . Reactive ion etch (RIE) etch rates in oxygen and chlorine plasmas are significantly reduced for resists containing SiO 2 nanoparticles as compared to a commercial resist providing a proof of concept that EIRT resists can dramatically improved plasma etch rates.
Nutrition of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum: Requirements for trace metals, sulphur, and cholesterol ☆

Trace metals, inorganic sulphur, and cholesterol benzoate were investigated in diets for the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. The aphids were reared on sterile holidic diets for more than 46 generations (123years), without decline in weight or fecundity. Aphid performance was severely limited by deficiencies of Fe3+ within 1 generation and within 2 generations for Cu2+. Higher levels of trace metals were required for optimal reproduction than for growth. The optimal levels of trace metals as cations per 100 ml of diet were found to be: Fe3+, 920 μg; Zn2+, 400 μg; Cu2+, 120 μg; and Mn2+, 220 μg. Twenty-eight generations of aphids were supported on a sterol-free diet. However, aphid performance was better on diets that contained both sterol and inorganic sulphur at the highest levels tested (2·5 and 32mg100ml of diet, respectively) than on sterol-free diets with or without a supplement of inorganic sulphur. Pea aphids reared on the best diet tested had a mean adult weight of 2·06 mg, which was 88 per cent of that of aphids reared on the broad bean plant, Vicia faba L. The average number of progeny per diet-reared aphid per day was 2·2 compared to a mean of 5·5 per day among plant-reared aphids.
A plea to expunge the word "eczema" from the lexicon of dermatology and dermatopathology.

Despite its common use for centuries, the term “eczema” has never been defined in a repeatable way. Although there have been innumerable attempts to do that, the word eczema still lacks specific meaning. Dermatology and dermatopathology will come of age when the word eczema is no longer used.
Small-signal A.C. response theory for systems exhibiting impurity oxygen transport

Abstract A theoretical expression is obtained for the small-signal a.c. response of a solid electrolyte in contact with two identical metal electrodes when impurity oxygen is present as an adsorbed species at the electrode/electrolyte interface, is mobile in both the electrode and the electrolyte, and exchanges at the interface with one of the intrinsic charge carriers in the electrolyte. The system response function (impedance or admittance) can be represented by an equivalent electrical circuit consisting of resistive and capacitative elements combined with two finite-length Warburg elements which represent oxygen transport through the electrolyte and the electrode.
Transmission Characteristics of Specularly Reflecting Light Pipes Uniformly Irradiated by Obliquely Inclined Rays

The light-pipe efficiency or fraction of the incident energy transmitted from one end to the other is expressed as a function of the wall reflectivity ρ and geometrical parameters. Light pipes with both circular and rectangular cross sections are considered. The analysis includes skew rays and is mathematically exact within the limits of geometrical optics and a constant specular wall reflectivity. The distribution along the light pipe of the average intensity incident upon the walls is also derived.