cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of inhibitors of arachidonic acid metabolism on endotoxin-induced ocular inflammation.

Rabbits were treated with the cyclooxygenase inhibitors indomethacin (2.5 and 10 mg/kg; IP) or flunixin meglumine (2.2 and 8.8 mg/kg; IM), or the dual cyclooxygenase/lipoxygenase inhibitor BW755C (10 and 30 mg/kg; IP) (administered 4 times over 25 hours). One hour following drug administration, 10 ng of E. coli endotoxin was injected into the vitreal chamber and the subsequent inflammatory response was measured 24 h later. Indomethacin was the most effective inhibitor of prostaglandin (PG) E2 and PGF2a accumulation in the aqueous humor and their ex vivo production by the lens. It was the only agent that decreased iridal hyperemia and protein concentration in the aqueous humor. Flunixin decreased PG production, although generally to a lesser degree than indomethacin. BW755C produced modest inhibition of PG production in the aqueous humor, but did not affect PG production by the lens. The high dose of BW755C also reduced 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) levels in the aqueous humor, but did not alter ...
Declining hepatitis A mortality in the United States during the era of hepatitis A vaccination.

BACKGROUND Since the mid-1990s, hepatitis A vaccine has been recommended for US children living in historically high-incidence states and for persons with other risk factors or chronic liver disease (CLD). The incidence of hepatitis A has declined dramatically during the era of vaccination, but trends in mortality are largely unknown. METHODS US death certificates from 1990 to 2004 for which hepatitis A was listed as the underlying cause of death were analyzed. Average annual age-adjusted mortality rates during the prevaccine (1990-1995) and post-vaccination recommendation (2000-2004) periods were compared using a Mantel-Haenszel test of association. The number of deaths for which CLD was listed as a contributing cause was determined. RESULTS Overall, 1436 deaths due to hepatitis A occurred, averaging 96 annually (range, 142 in 1995 to 54 in 2003). CLD contributed to nearly half of these deaths. Mortality rates paralleled incidence rates, beginning to decline in the mid-1990s and achieving low points in 2003 and 2004. Average rates were 32% lower in the post-vaccination recommendation period than in the prevaccine period (P < .01). The decline was more dramatic for states with (45%; P < .001) than without (23%; P = .002) recommendations. CONCLUSIONS Hepatitis A mortality rates have declined over the past decade. CLD remains an important and preventable contributing cause of death due to hepatitis A.
Model Predictive Control for Memory Profiling

We make two contributions in the area of memory profiling. The first is a real-time, memory-profiling toolkit we call Memcov that provides both allocation/deallocation and access profiles of a running program. Memcov requires no recompilation or relinking and significantly reduces the barrier to entry for new applications of memory profiling by providing a clean, non-invasive way to perform two major functions: processing of the stream of memory-allocation events in real time and monitoring of regions in order to receive notification the next time they are hit. Our second contribution is an adaptive memory profiler and leak detector called MemcovMPC. Built on top of Memcov, MemcovMPC uses model predictive control to derive an optimal control strategy for leak detection that maximizes the number of areas monitored for leaks, while minimizing the associated runtime overhead. When it observes that an area has not been accessed for a user-definable period of time, it reports it as a potential leak. Our approach requires neither mark-and-sweep leak detection nor static analysis, and reports a superset of the memory leaks actually occurring as the program runs. The set of leaks reported by MemcovMPC can be made to approximate the actual set more closely by lengthening the threshold period.
A spacecraft-based navigation instrument for outer planet missions

Spacecraft-based navigation instruments for outer planet missions using celestial directions to outer planet natural satellites
A Revised Tornado Definition and Changes in Tornado Taxonomy

AbstractThe tornado taxonomy presented by Agee and Jones is revised to account for the new definition of a tornado provided by the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in October 2013, resulting in the elimination of shear-driven vortices from the taxonomy, such as gustnadoes and vortices in the eyewall of hurricanes. Other relevant research findings since the initial issuance of the taxonomy are also considered and incorporated, where appropriate, to help improve the classification system. Multiple misoscale shear-driven vortices in a single tornado event, when resulting from an inertial instability, are also viewed to not meet the definition of a tornado.
Periodontal disease and metabolic syndrome: a qualitative critical review of their association.

Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a conglomerate of several physical conditions/diseases that, as a group, increases the risk of mortality resulting from development of T2DM and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). These conditions/diseases include glucose intolerance/insulin resistance, hypertension, obesity, and dyslipidemia. The results from epidemiological studies suggest that there is an association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and periodontitis, it is therefore important to understand the current status of the association and a possible contribution of periodontitis to MetS.
Integrin αVβ5-mediated Removal of Apoptotic Cell Debris by the Eye Lens and Its Inhibition by UV Light Exposure

Accumulation of apoptotic material is toxic and associated with cataract and other disease states. Identification of mechanisms that prevent accumulation of apoptotic debris is important for establishing the etiology of these diseases. The ocular lens is routinely assaulted by UV light that causes lens cell apoptosis and is associated with cataract formation. To date, no molecular mechanism for removal of toxic apoptotic debris has been identified in the lens. Vesicular debris within lens cells exposed to UV light has been observed raising speculation that lens cells themselves could act as phagocytes to remove toxic apoptotic debris. However, phagocytosis has not been confirmed as a function of the intact eye lens, and no mechanism for lens phagocytosis has been established. Here, we demonstrate that the eye lens is capable of phagocytizing extracellular lens cell debris. Using high throughput RNA sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, we establish that lens epithelial cells express members of the integrin αVβ5-mediated phagocytosis pathway and that internalized cell debris co-localizes with αVβ5 and with RAB7 and Rab-interacting lysosomal protein that are required for phagosome maturation and fusion with lysosomes. We demonstrate that the αVβ5 receptor is required for lens epithelial cell phagocytosis and that UV light treatment of lens epithelial cells results in damage to the αVβ5 receptor with concomitant loss of phagocytosis. These data suggest that loss of αVβ5-mediated phagocytosis by the eye lens could result in accumulation of toxic cell debris that could contribute to UV light-induced cataract formation.
In situ gravimetric studies of the regenerative mechanism for water-gas shift over magnetite: Equilibrium and kinetic measurements in CO2/CO and H2O/H2 gas mixtures

In situ gravimetric measurements were used to study oxygen removal from (or incorporation into) chromia-promoted magnetite in CO2/CO and H2O/H2 gas mixtures at 637 K. The equilibrium and kinetic data could be described by two reversible, oxidation-reduction reactions: surface-oxygen removal by CO and surface oxygen replenishment by H2O, with the corresponding reverse reaction involving CO2 and H2. These reactions form a regenerative mechanism that is able to predict qualitatively both the measured rate and rate expression for water-gas shift. It is concluded that this regenerative mechanism is a primary pathway for water-gas shift over magnetite.
Synthesis of trans-4-alkenyl oxazoles

Abstract Oxazoles with trans-4-alkenyl substituents were synthesized using a Wittig condensation of the corresponding tri-n-butylphosphonium ylids with aldehydes. The resulting 4-alkenyloxazoles were obtained with greater than 95% trans selectivity.
Investigation of an Acetaldehyde‐Hemoglobin Adduct in Alcoholics

It has been proposed that an ethanol-related adduct is formed with hemoglobin in chronic alcoholics. This proposal is based on the observation that alcoholics were found to have an elevation of minor hemoglobins but normal amounts of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). Since acetaldehyde is believed to be the primary candidate involved in adduct formation, investigation was focused on this particular compound. This study describes the attempt to isolate and purify an acetaldehyde-hemoglobin adduct in alcoholics by cation-exchange chromatography and m-aminophenylboronic acid affinity chromatography for the purpose of characterization. Using acetaldehyde concentrations of 5 and 10 mM, an acetaldehyde adduct with hemoglobin was formed in vitro, isolated, and characterized. However, a similar adduct could not be isolated in vitro using a pharmacological concentration of 100 microM acetaldehyde nor could this adduct be isolated in human alcoholic subjects.
Cancellation of the temperature dependence in SOI photonic wire ring resonator sensors

We demonstrate a method of canceling the temperature dependence of ring resonator sensors using a double ring configuration. Temperature calibration curves are provided for SOI photonic wire ring sensors with air and SU8 polymer cladding.
X‐RAY INVESTIGATION OF THE OPACIFYING COMPOUNDS PRESENT IN SHEET‐IRON COVER ENAMELS*

By the use of X-ray methods, sheet-iron cover-enamel frits and fired enamels were investigated. The results obtained show that tin oxide exists as tin dioxide in the enamel, antimony as antimony pentoxide, fluorspar as calcium fluoride, and cryolite as sodium fluoride. Zirconium oxide does not exist as the crystalline zirconium oxide even when present as a mill addition. Variations in the compositions of the ordinary sheet-iron cover enamels do not affect the identity of the crystals.
Progress on water data integration and distribution: a summary of select U.S. Geological Survey data systems

Critical water-resources issues ranging from flood response to water scarcity make access to integrated water information, services, tools, and models essential. Since 1995 when the first water data web pages went online, the U.S. Geological Survey has been at the forefront of water data distribution and integration. Today, real-time and historical streamflow observations are available via web pages and a variety of web service interfaces. The Survey has built partnerships with Federal and State agencies to integrate hydrologic data providing continuous observations of surface and groundwater, temporally discrete water quality data, groundwater well logs, aquatic biology data, water availability and use information, and tools to help characterize the landscape for modeling. In this paper, we summarize the status and design patterns implemented for selected data systems. We describe how these systems contribute to a U.S. Federal Open Water Data Initiative and present some gaps and lessons learned that apply to global hydroinformatics data infrastructure.
Look versus leap: computing value of information with high-dimensional streaming evidence

A key decision facing autonomous systems with access to streams of sensory data is whether to act based on current evidence or to wait for additional information that might enhance the utility of taking an action. Computing the value of information is particularly difficult with streaming high-dimensional sensory evidence. We describe a belief projection approach to reasoning about information value in these settings, using models for inferring future beliefs over states given streaming evidence. These belief projection models can be learned from data or constructed via direct assessment of parameters and they fit naturally in modular, hierarchical state inference architectures. We describe principles of using belief projection and present results drawn from an implementation of the methodology within a conversational system.
Vit. B12 Levels in Serum and Urine Following Parenteral Administration of Crystalline Vit. B12 or Liver Extract.

SummaryLiver extract and crystalline vit. B12 were administered in equivalent amounts to 2 groups of normal subjects, and total serum vit. B12 levels, bound vit. B12 levels, and urinary excretion of vit. B12 compared in the 2 groups. Concentration of free vit. B12 was higher in the group receiving crystalline vitamin. Over the 24-hour period, percentage of bound vitamin serum was greater in the group receiving liver extract. Urinary excretion of vit. B12 was significantly lower in the group receiving liver extract.
Fluorescent Compounds That Nonspecifically Stain Fungi

Calcofluor white M2R is useful as a nonspecific fluorescent stain for the identification of fungi. In tissues, calcofluor white M2R is used commercially as an additive to detergents that make clothes appear “whiter.” Many other compounds are also used in this fashion. These other whitening compounds were examined for their ability to stain fungi in frozen and paraffin-embedded tissue. All compounds were effective to some degree, but Tinopal CBSX was especially effective. The fluorescence of fungi stained with Tinopal was subjectively and objectively more intense than that using calcofluor white M2R.
A Customer Interaction Approach to Strategy and Production Complexity Alignment in Service Firms

This study shows that the strategies of service firms affect the uncertainty they encounter in their dealings with customers. This strategically induced uncertainty then becomes the mechanism by which service firms organize their production processes. In a study of 234 service firms representing 96 different industries, we found strong support for relationships between these organizations' strategies and the level of complexity in their production processes. In addition, service firms that possessed the hypothesized fit between strategy and service production complexity tended to experience higher performance.
Significance of Intraoperative Venographic Patterns on the Postoperative Recurrence and Surgical Incision Placement of Pediatric Varicoceles

Intraoperative post-ligation spermatic venography has proved to be a reliable adjunct in pediatric varicocele surgery. In a previous study we described the technique and initial results. In this series of 60 consecutive patients with pediatric varicoceles having intraoperative venography, we specifically studied the collateral venous circulation and crossover veins to characterize the venographic patterns associated with varicocelectomy failure. The relationship of incision site and number of venograms necessary to ensure complete interruption of the internal spermatic system was evaluated to determine if an optimum incision placement exists, minimizing the number of venograms necessary. Our data indicate that the most common etiology of recurrent varicocele in children seems to be residual proximal (central) collateral veins, pelvic collateral veins (that is cremasteric, deferential and crossover veins) rarely seem to contribute to varicocelectomy failure and there is an inherent but low risk of varicocelectomy failure despite radiological evidence of complete internal spermatic vein interruption.
Program understanding with the lambda calculus

A prerequisite of any attempt to build intelligent tools to assist in the programming process is a representation language for encoding programming knowledge. Languages that have been used for this purpose include the predicate calculus [5] and various program-schema languages [1,4]. This paper advocates a new candidate which is as expressive as the predicate calculus but more intimately connected w i th programming: the lambda calculus. Its advantages lie in its close resemblance to conventional programming languages, and in a straighforward model of inference by rewriting, which can be applied to automatic programming and program understanding. The use of the lambda calculus in an automatic program understander is described.
Improved detection of soma location and morphology in fluorescence microscopy images of neurons

Abstract Background Automated detection and segmentation of somas in fluorescent images of neurons is a major goal in quantitative studies of neuronal networks, including applications of high-content-screenings where it is required to quantify multiple morphological properties of neurons. Despite recent advances in image processing targeted to neurobiological applications, existing algorithms of soma detection are often unreliable, especially when processing fluorescence image stacks of neuronal cultures. New method In this paper, we introduce an innovative algorithm for the detection and extraction of somas in fluorescent images of networks of cultured neurons where somas and other structures exist in the same fluorescent channel. Our method relies on a new geometrical descriptor called Directional Ratio and a collection of multiscale orientable filters to quantify the level of local isotropy in an image. To optimize the application of this approach, we introduce a new construction of multiscale anisotropic filters that is implemented by separable convolution. Results Extensive numerical experiments using 2D and 3D confocal images show that our automated algorithm reliably detects somas, accurately segments them, and separates contiguous ones. Comparison with existing methods We include a detailed comparison with state-of-the-art existing methods to demonstrate that our algorithm is extremely competitive in terms of accuracy, reliability and computational efficiency. Conclusions Our algorithm will facilitate the development of automated platforms for high content neuron image processing. A Matlab code is released open-source and freely available to the scientific community.
3D propagation in urban environments using Fresnel-Kirchhoff integrals

The Fresnel-Kirchhoff integral is used to compute path loss from buildings in 3D urban and suburban environments (except downtown area). Both diffraction and reflection are considered. One example of path loss prediction behind a simple building is given and the agreement with published measurement data is very good.
Submitting a Case Report Manuscript

Publishing a case report requires careful preparation of the manuscript and thoughtful selection of an appropriate journal. In preparation for submission, authors should identify the target audience. An important factor to consider is which type of clinician is most likely to see the patient in their daily practice. This determination helps the author focus on either a generalist or subspecialty journal. Authors should identify journals that have a track record of publishing case reports, then send a presubmission inquiry to the editor to gauge interest in the proposed case report. Formatting the manuscript to meet the target journal’s specifications is critical; a poorly formatted submission may result in immediate rejection. This chapter presents guidance to help authors successfully navigate the submission process.
Defining the Rate of Negative Ureteroscopy in the General Population Treated for Upper Tract Urinary Stone Disease

Abstract Introduction: Ureteroscopy is increasingly used to treat upper tract urinary stone disease. A negative ureteroscopy is a ureteroscopy performed with the intent of removing a kidney or ureteral stone, but in which ultimately no stone is removed. Negative ureteroscopy may occur when the stone is found to have already passed, or the presumed stone is found to be outside of the collecting system. We sought to determine the rate of negative ureteroscopy in a large population-based sample as well as factors associated with its use. Patients and Methods: We examined nonpublic data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) Database for all patients in California undergoing outpatient surgery from 2010 to 2012. We identified all patients with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) diagnosis code for upper tract urinary stone disease, who underwent a ureteroscopic procedure. After excluding patients undergoing second look procedures or who had diagnos...
Creating an automated trigger for sepsis clinical decision support at emergency department triage using machine learning

Objective To demonstrate the incremental benefit of using free text data in addition to vital sign and demographic data to identify patients with suspected infection in the emergency department. Methods This was a retrospective, observational cohort study performed at a tertiary academic teaching hospital. All consecutive ED patient visits between 12/17/08 and 2/17/13 were included. No patients were excluded. The primary outcome measure was infection diagnosed in the emergency department defined as a patient having an infection related ED ICD-9-CM discharge diagnosis. Patients were randomly allocated to train (64%), validate (20%), and test (16%) data sets. After preprocessing the free text using bigram and negation detection, we built four models to predict infection, incrementally adding vital signs, chief complaint, and free text nursing assessment. We used two different methods to represent free text: a bag of words model and a topic model. We then used a support vector machine to build the prediction model. We calculated the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve to compare the discriminatory power of each model. Results A total of 230,936 patient visits were included in the study. Approximately 14% of patients had the primary outcome of diagnosed infection. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for the vitals model, which used only vital signs and demographic data, was 0.67 for the training data set, 0.67 for the validation data set, and 0.67 (95% CI 0.65–0.69) for the test data set. The AUC for the chief complaint model which also included demographic and vital sign data was 0.84 for the training data set, 0.83 for the validation data set, and 0.83 (95% CI 0.81–0.84) for the test data set. The best performing methods made use of all of the free text. In particular, the AUC for the bag-of-words model was 0.89 for training data set, 0.86 for the validation data set, and 0.86 (95% CI 0.85–0.87) for the test data set. The AUC for the topic model was 0.86 for the training data set, 0.86 for the validation data set, and 0.85 (95% CI 0.84–0.86) for the test data set. Conclusion Compared to previous work that only used structured data such as vital signs and demographic information, utilizing free text drastically improves the discriminatory ability (increase in AUC from 0.67 to 0.86) of identifying infection.
A Review of "Leading Libraries: How to Create a Service Culture"

In Leading Libraries: How to Create a Service Culture, authors Wyoma VanDuinkerken and Wendi Arant Kaspar set out to provide a framework for implementing service leadership in libraries, wherein on...
The Botanical Drug Substance Crofelemer as a Model System for Comparative Characterization of Complex Mixture Drugs

Crofelemer is a botanical polymeric proanthocyanidin that inhibits chloride channel activity and is used clinically for treating HIV-associated secretory diarrhea. Crofelemer lots may exhibit significant physicochemical variation due to the natural source of the raw material. A variety of physical, chemical, and biological assays were used to identify potential critical quality attributes (CQAs) of crofelemer, which may be useful in characterizing differently sourced and processed drug products. Crofelemer drug substance was extracted from tablets of one commercial drug product lot, fractionated, and subjected to accelerated thermal degradation studies to produce derivative lots with variations in chemical and physical composition potentially representative of manufacturing and raw material variation. Liquid chromatography, UV absorbance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis revealed substantial changes in the composition of derivative lots. A chloride channel inhibition cell-based bioassay suggested that substantial changes in crofelemer composition did not necessarily result in major changes to bioactivity. In 2 companion papers, machine learning and data mining approaches were applied to the analytical and biological data sets presented herein, along with chemical stability data sets derived from forced degradation studies, to develop an integrated mathematical model that can identify CQAs which are most relevant in distinguishing between different populations of crofelemer.
Software Practitioner Perspectives on Merge Conflicts and Resolutions

Merge conflicts occur when software practitioners need to work in parallel and are inevitable in software development. Tool builders and researchers have focused on the prevention and resolution of merge conflicts, but there is little empirical knowledge about how practitioners actually approach and perform merge conflict resolution. Without such knowledge, tool builders might be building on wrong assumptions and researchers might miss opportunities for improving the state of the art.We conducted semi-structured interviews of 10 software practitioners across 7 organizations, including both open-source and commercial projects. We identify the key concepts and perceptions from practitioners, which we then validated via a survey of 162 additional practitioners.We find that practitioners are directly impacted by their perception of the complexity of the conflicting code, and may alter the timeline in which to resolve these conflicts, as well as the methods employed for conflict resolution based upon that initial perception. Practitioners' perceptions alter the impact of tools and processes that have been designed to preemptively and efficiently resolve merge conflicts. Understanding whether practitioners will react according to standard use cases is important when creating human-oriented tools to support development processes.
Sustained Thromboresistant Bioactivity with Reduced Intimal Hyperplasia of Heparin-Bonded Polytetrafluoroethylene Propaten Graft in a Chronic Canine Femoral Artery Bypass Model.

Background Bypass graft thrombosis remains a significant mode of failure in prosthetic graft revascularization. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the long-term thromboresistant effect of heparin-bonded expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) graft using Carmeda BioActive Surface technology in a canine model. Methods Bilateral femorofemoral artery bypass grafts with ePTFE grafts were performed in 25 adult grayhound dogs. In each animal, a heparin-bonded ePTFE graft (Propaten, WL Gore) was placed on one side, whereas a control nonheparin graft was placed on the contralateral side. The graft patency was assessed at 1, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months (n = 5 per group) following the bypass. Heparin bioactivity of the graft material was analyzed. The effect of intimal hyperplasia was also assessed. Results All bypass grafts were patent at 1 month. Significantly greater patency rates were noted in the Propaten group compared to the control group at 12, 18, and 24 months, which were 84%, 80%, and 80% vs. 55%, 35%, and 20%, respectively (P 0.05). Conclusions Heparin-bonded ePTFE graft provides a thromboresistant surface and reduced anastomotic intimal hyperplasia at 2 years. The stable heparin bioactivity of the Propaten graft confers an advantage in long-term graft patency.
The Academic Environment and Faculty Well-Being: The Role of Psychological Needs:

Recent research has examined the well-being of higher education faculty, but it has typically lacked a theoretical model. The present study used self-determination theory to model the well-being of...
ASSOCIATION OF INTERLEUKIN-4 CYTOKINE AND IL-4RÎ± GENE POLYMORPHISM IN Î²-LACTAM ALLERGIC PATIENTS

Â Objective: The present study was carried out to estimate the possible role of Interleukin-4 (IL-4)RI±Q576R genes polymorphism in the development of immune reaction against penicillin, as well as to study the effect of IL-4 cytokine in regulating allergic reactions.Materials and Methods: Measurement of serum IL-4 concentration was done using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique; IL-4RI±Q576R gene polymorphisms were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment lengths polymorphisms. Comparisons for statistical significance were performed using Mannâ€“Whitney U-test.Results: Comparing with control subjects, there was a significantly increased level of IL-4 (348.53 pg/ml) in penicillin allergic patients versus (284.72 pg/ml) in sera of control subjects. The IL-4RI±Q576R alleles were significantly higher in the penicillin allergic individual compared with apparently healthy control subjects.Conclusions: Data study suggested that IL-4 cytokine have some important roles in penicillin hypersensitivity reaction, additionally the IL- 4RI±Q576Rgene polymorphisms might involve in modulating of penicillin hypersensitivity.Â
A physics-based approach to modeling real-fuel combustion chemistry - I. Evidence from experiments, and thermodynamic, chemical kinetic and statistical considerations

Abstract Real distillate fuels usually contain thousands of hydrocarbon components. Over a wide range of combustion conditions, large hydrocarbon molecules undergo thermal decomposition to form a small set of low molecular weight fragments. In the case of conventional petroleum-derived fuels, the composition variation of the decomposition products is washed out due to the principle of large component number in real, multicomponent fuels. From a joint consideration of elemental conservation, thermodynamics and chemical kinetics, it is shown that the composition of the thermal decomposition products is a weak function of the thermodynamic condition, the fuel-oxidizer ratio and the fuel composition within the range of temperatures of relevance to flames and high temperature ignition. Based on these findings, we explore a hybrid chemistry (HyChem) approach to modeling the high-temperature oxidation of real, distillate fuels. In this approach, the kinetics of thermal and oxidative pyrolysis of the fuel is modeled using lumped kinetic parameters derived from experiments, while the oxidation of the pyrolysis fragments is described by a detailed reaction model. Sample model results are provided to support the HyChem approach.
Miniature Negative Pressure Dressings on Forearm Donor Sites after Radial Forearm Flap Harvest

Management of radial forearm donor sites following free flap reconstruction of head and neck tumor defects typically requires split-thickness skin grafting. Tendon exposure and delayed healing are occasional problems associated with skin grafting over the distal forearm musculature. Others have reported the use of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) devices to bolster split-thickness grafts and improve graft take. Although this approach works well, these devices are not always approved by third-party payers for outpatient use, requiring patients to remain in the hospital or have these devices removed before discharge. The authors report outcomes using a miniaturized NPWT device to bolster the skin graft on radial forearm free flap donor sites in 10 consecutive patients compared with 10 consecutive control patients managed with traditional bolster dressings. The 2 groups of patients were similar in terms of demographics, indication for reconstruction, and size of donor site. There was less skin graft loss and a lower rate of tendon exposure and infection in the miniaturized NPWT device group, though these results did not reach statistical significance. Recently developed miniaturized, single-use NPWT devices can be reliably used as bolsters for skin grafts with some notable advantages over reusable NPWT devices.
Coupling the Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model CE-QUAL-W2 With a Multi-Trophic Fish Bio-Energetics Model for Lake Roosevelt, Washington

An abstract of the dissertation of Michael Lee McKillip for the Doctor of Philosophy in Civil and Environmental Engineering, presented September 10, 2007. Title: Coupling the hydrodynamic and water quality model CE-QUAL-W2 with a multi-trophic fish bio-energetics model for Lake Roosevelt, Washington. Grand Coulee Dam created Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake as part of the Columbia Basin Project. Located in northeastern Washington State, the Project provides economically important hydropower (19 billion kilowatt hours per year), irrigation (225,000 ha), flood control, and sport fishing ($5 to 20 million annually). A good system understanding aids in balancing these beneficial uses for the 230 km long reservoir. The reservoir's atypical 45-day mean residence time is much shorter than a typical lake, and much longer than for a riverine dam. The spring freshet requires drawdowns of 15 to 20 m for flood control—the driving characteristic of reservoir operations. A physically based two-dimensional hydrodynamic and water quality model, CEQUAL-W2 Version 3.5 (Cole and Wells, 2006), is coupled with a fish bioenergetics model based on the Stockwell and Johnson model (1997, 1999) to examine the effects of hydrodynamics on the reservoir algae-zooplankton-kokanee food web. This model was applied and calibrated to Lake Roosevelt with model improvements of multiple zooplankton compartments and zooplankton omnivory. Calibration parameters included temperature, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, algae, and zooplankton. The fish bioenergetics model is applied over the entire reservoir model space to generate a spatial and temporal fish growth potential distribution. The fish model refinements include sub-daily time-steps and an optimized vertical foraging strategy. The linked model suggests that kokanee fish growth potential is seasonally limited by both warm water and prey densities. While the lake ecology is significantly affected by the reservoir operations in general, the pelagic fish growth potential did not appear sensitive to minor changes in reservoir operations. However, the model suggests that the advantageous foraging locations shift seasonally and that optimal foraging strategies are dependent on fish size.
Nature and Antecedents of Self-Protective-Self-Enhancing Responses

The final category of self-referent responses to be considered is that of self-protective-self-enhancing responses. The essential nature and forms of the responses are both considered, as well as the variability of responses in each formal category with regard to their deviation from or conformity to normative expectations. Following this, the influences on self-enhancing-self-protective mechanisms are discussed. These patterns, in their variable form and degree of approximation to normative standards, are interpreted as the outcome of three major influences. First, self-protective-self-enhancing responses are viewed as stimulated by self-feelings. The precise form of the response is profoundly influenced by the position of the self-feelings on their different dimensions. In addition, the nature of self-protective-self-enhancing responses is influenced by the person’s self-referent cognitions, including beliefs about the person’s relationships to the environment, and the person’s need-value system that provides criteria for self-evaluation, including standards relating to the use of certain self-protective-self-enhancing mechanisms.
Intestinal hormones as inhibitors of gastric secretion

In the past decade, the field of gastro­ intestinal hormones, formerly the prov­ ince of the physiologist, was profoundly altered by several major biochemical in­ cursions. Three hormones have been iso­ lated and chemically identified-gastrin by Gregory and Tracy, and secretin and cholecystokinin (CCK) by Jorpes and Mutt. The availability of pure gastroin­ testinal hormones has clarified much of the physiological data and in addition has spawned a plethora of physiological stud­ ies which have in turn revealed numerous exciting and unsuspected facts. The purpose of this article is to review the studies of the past few years which have led to a greater understanding of one particular aspect of gastrointestinal secre­ tory control, namely, inhibition of gastric secretion by hormones of intestinal origin. To place the subject in historical perspec­ tive, we start with a brief review of some of the more important physiological stud­ ies which preceded the biochemical isola­ tion of the hormones. There follow sec­ tions on the actions of exogenous secretin and CCK on gastric secretion stimulated by various means in different species, the effect of endogenously released intestinal hormones on gastric secretion, the signifi­ cance of intestinal hormonal control of gastric secretion, and finally a look at pos
Acute Adrenal Insufficiency

This chapter defines the criteria for the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency, its diagnosis, and the various modalities of treatment. Pitfalls in the diagnosis process are discussed, and the standards of practice are outlined.
Surgical Wound Classification and Surgical Site Infections in the Orthopaedic Patient

Introduction:The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created a surgical wound classification system (SWC: I, clean; II, clean/contaminated; III, contaminated; and IV, dirty) to preemptively identify patients at risk of surgical site infection (SSI). The validity of this system is yet to be de
Modeling and Design of Passive Shield to Limit EMF Emission and to Minimize Shield Loss in Unipolar Wireless Charging System for EV

In this paper, a detailed lumped model of the shield is developed, and an optimization method is proposed to minimize the shield loss while suppressing the emission within the standard limit. The electromagnetic emission in a wireless charging system (WCS) is a serious concern for health and safety, especially for medium- and high-power applications, where strong magnetic field propagates through a large air gap. Usually, a flat aluminum plate is used as a shield to suppress the emission outside the charging area. This field emission increases proportionally with the coil ampere turn; therefore, a much higher shield current is required to suppress the additional emission under the limit set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection. In this paper, a novel hybrid shield structure is proposed to limit the electromagnetic field (EMF) emission, as well as to minimize the shield loss. The proposed shielding is evaluated on a laboratory prototype of 7-kW WCS designed for electric vehicle application. The experimental result shows that, while suppressing the EMF under the limit, the shield loss has been reduced by 21% compared to the commonly used aluminum shield.
Evaluation of Beef Top Sirloin Steaks of Four Quality Grades Cooked to Three Degrees of Doneness

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of USDA quality grade on beef eating quality of top sirloin steaks when cooked to multiple degrees of doneness (DOD). Beef top sirloin butts (N = 60; 15/quality grade) were collected to equally represent 4 quality grades [Prime, Top Choice (modest00 to moderate100), Low Choice, and Select]. Steaks were assigned to 1 of 3 DOD: rare (60°C), medium (71°C), and well-done (77°C). Steaks were allocated to either consumer sensory analysis, trained sensory analysis, fat and moisture analysis, or Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF). There were no interactions (P > 0.05) for all consumer ratings of palatability traits, indicating increases in DOD had the same impact across all quality grades. Prime steaks had greater (P medium > well-done). There was a quality grade × DOD interaction (P medium > well-done). Lastly, there was no quality grade by DOD interaction (P > 0.05) for Warner-Bratzler shear force. These results indicate that regardless of the DOD top sirloin steaks are cooked to, quality grade had minimal impact on palatability. Therefore, it is unnecessary for consumers, retailers, and foodservice to pay premium prices for higher quality top sirloin steaks, as the same eating experience will be provided.
Visualizing Chemomechanical Degradation of a Solid-State Battery Electrolyte

Transformations at interfaces between solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) and lithium metal electrodes can lead to high impedance and capacity decay during cycling of solid-state batteries, but the lin...
Female Drug Offenders Reflect on their Experiences with a County Drug Court Program

This paper examines the experiences of a group of female drug offenders who successfully completed a county drug court program in northeast Pennsylvania. Using the constant comparative method, we analyzed interviews with these women for thematic patterns in order to provide an evaluation of this program based on participants’ subjective perceptions of its strengths and weaknesses. While other drug court evaluations identify rewards for good behavior and compassionate program staff as important contributing factors to participants’ success, women in this study credited their recovery and successful completion of the program primarily to fear of punishment and program structure. Our analysis also revealed patterns of improved self-images, improved physical and mental health, improved coping mechanisms, and improved interpersonal relationships. We end the paper with a discussion of implications for
Anisotropic Conductivity at the Single‐Molecule Scale

In most junctions built by wiring a single molecule between two electrodes, the electrons flow along only one axis: between the two anchoring groups. However, molecules can be anisotropic, and an orientation-dependent conductance is expected. Here, we fabricated single-molecule junctions by using the electrode potential to control the molecular orientation and access individual elements of the conductivity tensor. We measured the conductance in two directions, along the molecular plane as the benzene ring bridges two electrodes using anchoring groups (upright) and orthogonal to the molecular plane with the molecule lying flat on the substrate (planar). The perpendicular (planar) conductance is about 400 times higher than that along the molecular plane (upright). This offers a new method for designing a reversible room-temperature single-molecule electromechanical switch that controllably employs the electrode potential to orient the molecule in the junction in either "ON" or "OFF" conductance states.
Distributed Online Convex Programming for Collision Avoidance in Multi-agent Autonomous Vehicle Systems

We frame the collision avoidance problem of multi-agent autonomous vehicle systems into an online convex optimization problem of minimizing certain aggregate cost over the time horizon. We then propose a distributed real-time collision avoidance algorithm based on the online gradient algorithm for solving the resulting online convex optimization problem. We characterize the performance of the algorithm with respect to a static offline optimization, and show that, by choosing proper stepsizes, the upper bound on the performance gap scales sublinearly in time. The numerical experiment shows that the proposed algorithm can achieve better collision avoidance performance than the existing Optimal Reciprocal Collision Avoidance (ORCA) algorithm, due to less aggressive velocity updates that can better prevent the collision in the long run.
Small molecule H89 renders the phosphorylation of S6K1 and AKT resistant to mTOR inhibitors

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is an evolutionarily conserved Ser/Thr kinase that comprises two complexes, termed mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2). mTORC1 phosphorylates S6K1 at Thr 389, whereas mTORC2 phosphorylates AKT at Ser 473 to promote cell growth. As the mTOR name implies it is the target of natural product called rapamycin, a clinically approved drug used to treat human disease. Short-term rapamycin treatment inhibits the kinase activity of mTORC1 but not mTORC2. However, the ATP-competitive catalytic mTOR inhibitor Torin1 was identified to inhibit the kinase activity of both mTORC1 and mTORC2. Here, we report that H89 (N-(2-(4-bromocinnamylamino) ethyl)-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide), a well-characterized ATP-mimetic kinase inhibitor, renders the phosphorylation of S6K1 and AKT resistant to mTOR inhibitors across multiple cell lines. Moreover, H89 prevented the dephosphorylation of AKT and S6K1 under nutrient depleted conditions. PKA and other known H89-targeted kinases do not alter the phosphorylation status of S6K1 and AKT. Pharmacological inhibition of some phosphatases also enhanced S6K1 and AKT phosphorylation. These findings suggest a new target for H89 by which it sustains the phosphorylation status of S6K1 and AKT, resulting in mTOR signaling.
CHAPTER II – DERIVATIVE

Publisher Summary The process of finding the derivative is called differentiation. This chapter explores differentiation of algebraic functions by formula, terminal formulas, reduction formulas, chain rule, inverse functions, and various differentiation rules. The chapter presents certain rules that help in finding the derivatives of a large class of functions. The derivative with respect to x of the nth power of x is equal to n times the (n – l)st power of x. The derivative with respect to x of the function x is equal to unity. The derivative with respect to x of a constant is zero. The derivative with respect to x of constant times a function of x is equal to the constant times the derivative with respect to x of the function.
Single Tertiary Care Center Outcomes After Lower Extremity Cadaveric Vein Bypass for Limb Salvage.

Objective:Cadaveric saphenous vein (CV) conduits are used in rare instances for limb salvage in patients without autogenous veins although long-term outcome data are scarce. This study was designed...
Efficient photo crowdsourcing with evolving POIs under delay-tolerant network environment

Abstract In a disaster or battlefield zone, rescue workers, soldiers, and other survivors (referred to as nodes) may need to survey damages and send images to the command and control center (the server) in a hop-by-hop fashion in the absence of any communication infrastructure. The server considers some area/landmark as the point of interest (POI) and distributes a request to the nodes to collect more information about them. Nodes take photos of POIs and share them with each other using the store and forward paradigm, also called Delay-tolerant Networks (DTNs), to send the photos to the server. Due to the highly intermittent contact characteristics of nodes in a DTN network and bandwidth and storage limitations, redundant photos need to be removed in this forwarding technique, whereas photos that cover different angles and views of the POIs need to be shared. Another challenge is that, over time, some server-listed POIs may not be of importance anymore, whereas some new POIs might be of more interest. In this work, we propose a scheme that is able to dynamically update the list of POIs based on the current photo metadata, with reduced consumption of the bandwidth, energy, and storage at DTN nodes by sending only important photos of POIs. In the performance evaluation, we show the scalability of our approach, and also show that it provides the same level of photo coverage but consumes much less energy and bandwidth than other related schemes.