cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A perturbation result for prescribing mean curvature

In this article we consider a boundary value problem associated with the conformal deformation of metrics. We are interested in the case in which a noncompact group of conformal transformation acts on the equation so that the KazdanWarner condition gives rise to obstruction as in the Nirenberg problem. The simplest situation is the following: Let Bn+1 be the unit ball in Rn+1 with Euclidean metric g0. Its boundary will be denoted by S n = ∂Bn+1. Let h be a smooth function on S n , we study the problem of finding a conformal metric gu = u4/(n−1)g0 whose scalar curvature vanishes in Bn+1 and on the boundary ∂Bn+1 the mean curvature is given by h . This problem is equivalent to solving the following boundary value problem.
Ultrafast carrier relaxation and nonequilibrium phonons in hot carrier solar cells

Third generation concepts in photovoltaic devices depend critically on the dynamics of ultrafast carrier relaxation and electron-phonon interactions on very short times scales in nanostructures such as quantum wells, wires and dots. Hot carrier solar cells in particular depend on the reduction in the energy relaxation rate in an absorber material, where hot carriers are extracted through energy selective contacts. Here we investigate the short time carrier relaxation in quantum well, hot electron solar cells under varying photoexcitation conditions using ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) simulation coupled with rate equation models, to understand the limiting factors affecting cell performance. In particular, we focus on the potential role of hot phonons in reducing the energy loss rate in order to achieve sufficient carrier temperature for efficient performance.
1152 FAMILIAL ZINC (Zn) DEFICIENCY

Some children with constitutional growth delay (CGD) and children with obesity have been found to have low levels of Zn in their hair. Some of them have the physical features which have been reported in Zn deficiency (leuconychia, abdominal striae, hyperkeratosis, sparse hair, etc.). We have noted similar findings in some of their relatives and have now studied the familial pattern of low Zn levels. Children with either condition who have low hair Zn levels have families with significantly (p < 0.01)low hair Zn levels. It is not clear whether this is hereditary or dietary or both but in 304 families we did not find any correlation in Zn levels between husbands and wives, suggesting that heredity may be important in determining hair, serum and urine Zn.
Cancer fatigue: a neurobiological review for psychiatrists.

Background Fatigue, both during and subsequent to treatment, is a ubiquitous and debilitating phenomenon for patients undergoing treatment for cancer of all types. Objective This review will focus on understanding the complex neurobiological mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and their relevance for various treatment routes. Method The review will describe the prevalence of CRF, differential diagnosis, consideration of neurobiological mechanisms, and routes for intervention. Discussion The review will provide suggestions for future study and research, and a future article will describe behavioral and educational strategies psychiatrists may use in alleviating cancer fatigue.
Analysis of Tunable Laser Heterodyne Radiometry: Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Gases

A theoretical analysis of high spectral resolution (<0.01 cm" *) remote sensing of atmospheric gas profiles with a tunable infrared laser heterodyne radiometer at satellite altitudes is presented. Numerical simulations are given for retrievals of H2O vapor and CH4 profiles assuming a tunable diode laser as the heterodyne local oscillator. Line-by-line calculations of atmospheric thermal emissions are made in selected frequency intervals and used in sample retrievals of profiles of these gases from 0 to 30 km altitude. The potential of this technique for providing maximum vertical resolution with minimum interference effects is demonstrated. Error analyses using expected radiometer signal-to-noise errors, temperature bias errors, and ground temperature errors indicate that retrieval profiles with less than 20% average error can be obtained.
PRODUCTION CROSS SECTIONS IN THE MULTIPERIPHERAL MODEL.

The total cross section for the multiperipheral model is obtained by solving a Bethe-Salpeter equation. We show that the $N$-particle production cross sections are given directly in terms of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of this Bethe-Salpeter equation, and hence are directly related to the Regge-pole parameters. In simple models of Regge poles based on the multiperipheral model the production cross sections are completely determined. Results are given for several simple cases including the Chew and Snider model of the Pomeranchon.
Ammonia toxicity in pure cultures of methanogenic bacteria

Summary The toxicity of ammonia to the growth of several methanogenic bacteria was evaluated in terms of an ammonia/potassium exchange reaction and in terms of inhibition of methanogenesis. Growth of Methanobrevibacter smithii, Methanobrevibacter arboriphilus and Methanobacterium strain G2R was normal in media containing up to 400 mM NH 4 Cl, and neither the exchange reaction nor inhibition of methane synthesis occurred. Exchange and inhibition of CH 4 synthesis by ammonia was found in shortterm studies with cell suspensions of Methanospirillum hungatei, Methanosarcina barkeri and Methanothrix concilii . Certain cations countered the toxic effects which ammonia had on methane synthesis, notably Ca 2+ in M. concilii and Na + in M. barkeri . During growth in media containing increasing amounts of NH 4 Cl, the cytoplasmic K + concentration declined dramatically only in M. hungatei , but this was not the mechanism of toxicity. Evidently the presence of counterions in the growth medium caused an enhanced tolerance of certain strains to ammonia. Methanobacterium bryantii displayed an appreciable decline in cytoplasmic K + content and grew slowly in media containing 300 mM NH 4 Cl. Ammoniatoxicity to the growth of all methanogenic bacteria tested can be correlated to alterations in their K + /NH 3 content and/or to inhibitions of CH 4 synthesis.
Analysis of Ankle Deflection During a Forward Fall in Snowboarding

Toward the general goal of preventing ankle injuries in snowboarding accidents, the objective of this project to develop a dynamic system model of a snowboarder and assess which model parameters, particularly those attributed to the boot, most strongly influenced ankle deflections during a forward fall. To satisfy this objective, a system model was created that included the rider, the boots, the snowboard, and the snow as components. Through dynamic simulations, peak ankle deflections were computed over realistic ranges of input parameter values for each of the model components. Defining sensitivity as the total change in peak ankle deflection over the range of a particular parameter studied, results indicated that the peak ankle deflection was most sensitive to the boot stiffness. Although lower, the sensitivity of the peak ankle deflection to the snow model parameters was still significant, being roughly half of the boot sensitivity. Increases in both snow stiffness and snow damping caused higher ankle deflections. Variations in both snowboard stiffness and anthropometric parameters had little effect. Due to the strong dependence of ankle deflection on boot stiffness, the potential exists for mitigating the ankle injury problem through judicious design of the boot.
Water waves past abrupt channel transitions

Abstract Small amplitude water waves propagating from a narrow rectangular channel into a wider rectangular channel are examined to determine the reflection coefficients and the diffraction patterns associated with the channel transition. An eigenfunction expansion method is used for the full range of channel transitions, while a variational solution is developed for the case when only planar waves are reflected in the upwave channel. Significant reflections occur when the wavelength of the waves in the wider channel corresponds to multiples of the channel width.
Photoreduction of Ag+ in Ag/Ag2S/Au memristor

Abstract Silver halides and chalcogenides are excellent memristor materials that have been extensively used in the past as photosensitive layers in photography. Here we examine the effect of illumination on the operating voltages and switching speed of Ag/Ag 2 S/Au memristors using a green laser (473–523 nm). Our results indicate that illumination decreases the average switching time from high to low resistance states by ∼19% and decreases the turn-off voltages dramatically from −0.8 V to −0.25 V that we attribute to the change in sulfur valency and a photo-induced change in its oxidation/reduction potential. Photo-induced reduction of silver in Ag 2 S may be used in three dimensional optical memories that can be electronically read and reset.
Passing stiffness anisotropy in multilayers and its effects on nanoscale surface self-organization

Abstract A binary monolayer adsorbed on a solid surface can separate into distinct phases that further self-assemble into various two-dimensional patterns. The surface stresses in the two phases are different, causing an elastic field in the substrate. The self-organization minimizes the combined free energy of mixing, phase boundary, and elasticity. One can obtain diverse patterns by using substrates with various crystalline symmetries. Consider the pattern of a set of periodic stripes. The stripe orientation depends on the anisotropy in surface stress, substrate stiffness, and phase boundary energy. A more powerful and flexible way is to use a layered substrate. Surface properties designed for the applications of those patterns can be obtained by choosing appropriate materials and structures for the monolayer and the top layer of the substrate. The subsequent layers of the substrate provide the required stiffness anisotropy, the effect of which is passed to the monolayer patterns through the elastic field. We solve the elastic field in the anisotropic, heterogeneous, three-dimensional half-space by using the Eshelby–Stroh–Lekhnitskii formalism and the Fourier transformation. Depending on the thicknesses and the degrees of the stiffness anisotropy of the substrate layers, the lowest energy stripes can have tunable equilibrium size and orientation. We also discuss other possibilities of manipulating the phase patterns by engineering the elastic field.
Optimal Design of Miniature Wide-Angle Computational Cameras for Retinal Prostheses and Wearable Visual Aids

An imaging system design procedure for miniature wide-angle cameras with software correction of distortion is presented. Analysis of the effect of distortion on the software-corrected, final image during optical design allows for optimized dewarped final images.
Management of Pregnancy in a Jehovah's Witness

In the successful management of a pregnant Jehovah's Witness, many issues must be addressed beyond those normally required for routine prenatal care. The clinician who undertakes such care should be well versed in the potential complications related to blood refusal, the antepartum management of anemia, and the intrapartum management of obstetric hemorrhage. Furthermore, these patients should be delivered in a tertiary care center because this increases their options for obtaining alternative management of hemorrhage. A woman who is well informed about her options can then decide exactly what she wants done in the event of a life-threatening obstetrical hemorrhage.
Combined micro dry-column chromatography and mass spectrometry

Dry column chromatography principles applied in microscale produce technique to minimize time in preparing and analyzing colorless constituents of soluble mixtures. Glass pipette microcolumns filled with finely sieved adsorbents permit capillary attraction and separation in 3 to 15 minutes. Technique is adaptable to gas chromatography.
Complete designs with blocks of maximal multiplicity

Abstract The set of distinct blocks of a block design is known as its support. We construct complete designs with parameters v(⩾7), k=3, λ=v − 2 which contain a block of maximal multiplicity and with support size b ∗ = ( v 3 ) − 4(v − 2) . Any complete design which contains such a block, and has parameters v, k, λ as above, must be supported on at most (v3) − 4(v − 2) blocks. Attention is given to complete designs because of their direct relationship to simple random sampling.
A Simplified Technique for the Propagation of Shoots from Nodes of Switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L.) Genotypes

Nodal propagation of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is an important technique for multiplying a variant plant, with a potentially valuable agronomic trait, for replicated field trials. To develop an improved propagation system, shoot induction from three node positions (low, mid, and high) was tested in ten genotypes of switchgrass cv. Alamo. Nodal segments were incubated in a custom hydroponics system with 1/4 strength Murashige and Skoog liquid medium for 6 weeks. In all genotypes, shoot formation was highest at the low node position, the largest nodes, ranging from 60 to 98 %. From the ten genotypes tested, three genotypes (4, 5, and 6) had a significantly higher shoot formation at mid and high nodes with a shoot formation greater than 80 and 50 %, respectively. Shoot formation for all other genotypes at the same two positions was less than 40 and 10 %, respectively. In a single replication, 30 shoots from the lowest node position of each genotype were rooted for 4 weeks in each of two rooting conditions (RC1, Rootone dip and soilless media and RC2, IBA in a half-strength liquid MS media). Four genotypes showed greater root formation in RC1, while one genotype showed greater root formation in RC2. In this paper, we describe a procedure for generating a population of genetically identical plants from switchgrass, in as little as 6 weeks, that is relatively inexpensive, efficient, and does not require specialized equipment needed for tissue culture.
Systematic discovery of regulatory motifs in human promoters and 3′ UTRs by comparison of several mammals

Comprehensive identification of all functional elements encoded in the human genome is a fundamental need in biomedical research. Here, we present a comparative analysis of the human, mouse, rat and dog genomes to create a systematic catalogue of common regulatory motifs in promoters and 3' untranslated regions (3' UTRs). The promoter analysis yields 174 candidate motifs, including most previously known transcription-factor binding sites and 105 new motifs. The 3'-UTR analysis yields 106 motifs likely to be involved in post-transcriptional regulation. Nearly one-half are associated with microRNAs (miRNAs), leading to the discovery of many new miRNA genes and their likely target genes. Our results suggest that previous estimates of the number of human miRNA genes were low, and that miRNAs regulate at least 20% of human genes. The overall results provide a systematic view of gene regulation in the human, which will be refined as additional mammalian genomes become available.
Photoemission studies on heterostructure bipolar transistors

Abstract We apply in-situ photoemission techniques to characterize the band profile in heterostructure bipolar transistors. The measurements are performed on-wafer on fully fabricated InP based HBTs at room temperature. We demonstrate that this technique is sensitive to detect and analyze barriers between emitter and base as well as between base and collector. Furthermore, the photoresponse provides information on the doping characteristics of the active layers.
CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND METHODOLOGY IN FEMINIST PSYCHOLOGY: Critique, Proposal, Empirical Example

This article calls for a revision in the methodology of feminist psychological research because cultural differences can neither be investigated nor integrated without methodological change. A methodology that combines etic (objective, behavioral) and emic (subjective, phenomenological) approaches was demonstrated in an empirical investigation. White women did not differ from women of color in self-ratings on several gender-role stereotypic terms (etic data). However, the two groups differed significantly in how they had defined and interpreted those terms while rating themselves (emic data), and these subjective, culturally constituted interpretations predicted the self-ratings.
Lymphotoxin-α-Deficient Mice Make Delayed, But Effective, T and B Cell Responses to Influenza

Lymphotoxin-alpha(-/-) (LTalpha(-/-)) mice are thought to be unable to generate effective T and B cell responses. This is attributed to the lack of lymph nodes and the disrupted splenic architecture of these mice. However, despite these defects we found that LTalpha(-/-) mice could survive infection with a virulent influenza A virus. LTalpha(-/-) mice and normal wild-type mice infected with influenza A generated similar numbers of influenza-specific CD8 T cells that were able to produce IFN-gamma and kill target cells presenting influenza peptides. Furthermore influenza-infected LTalpha(-/-) mice produced high titers of influenza-specific IgM, IgG, and IgA. However, both CD8 and B cell immune responses were delayed in LTalpha(-/-) mice by 2-3 days. The delayed cellular and humoral immune response was sufficient to mediate viral clearance in LTalpha(-/-) mice that were infected with relatively low doses of influenza virus. However, when LTalpha(-/-) mice were infected with larger doses of influenza, they succumbed to infection before the immune response was initiated. These results demonstrate that neither LTalpha nor constitutively organized lymphoid tissues, such as lymph nodes and spleen, are absolutely required for the generation of effective immunity against the respiratory virus influenza A. However, the presence of LTalpha and/or lymph nodes does accelerate the initiation of immune responses, which leads to protection from larger doses of virus.
Treatment of HIV infection in the older patient.

The number of HIV patients over the age of 50 years is increasing due to increased longevity in patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), in addition to new primary infections in older patients. Numerous studies have demonstrated worse HIV disease progression and mortality in older HIV patients compared with younger patients. While HAART therapy has been shown to be effective at reducing HIV-1 RNA, the immunologic benefits in older patients may be reduced compared to younger patients. Older patients are more likely to suffer comorbidities requiring concomitant medications than younger patients. Toxicities from HAART, particularly dyslipdemia, insulin resistance, and pancreatitis may also be worse in older HIV patients. Controlled trials on epidemiology, pathogenesis, and therapeutic and clinical outcomes in the elderly are needed. As the HIV-infected population ages, there is a growing need to better determine the efficacy of HAART in older patients, and to investigate factors as...
Initiation of a critical pathway for pancreaticoduodenectomy at an academic institution--the first step in multidisciplinary team building.

Background Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is a complex general surgical procedure originally associated with significant perioperative morbidity and mortality. Multiple studies have now shown that this operation can be performed quite safely at high-volume institutions that develop a particular expertise. Critical pathways are among the key tools used to achieve consistently excellent outcomes at these institutions. It remains to be determined if implementation of a critical pathway at an academic institution with earlier moderate experience with PD will result in performance gains and improved outcomes. This study was designed to track performance improvements brought about by the implementation of a critical pathway for complex alimentary tract surgery. Study Design Between January 1, 2004, and October 15, 2006, 135 patients underwent PD: 44 before implementation of a critical pathway on October 15, 2005, and 91 after. Perioperative and postoperative parameters were analyzed retrospectively to identify those that could be used to track performance improvement and outcomes. Results Compared with the prepathway group, the postpathway group had a significantly shorter postoperative length of stay (13 versus 7 days, p ≤ 0.0001) and operative time. Mean total hospital charges were significantly reduced, from $240,242 ± $32,490 to $126,566 ± $4,883 (p ≤ 0.0001). Conclusions Implementation of a critical pathway for a complex procedure can be demonstrated to improve short-term outcomes at an academic institution. This improvement can be quantified and tracked and has implications for better use of resources (greater operating room and hospital bed availability) and overall cost containment.
Water Budget Computation for a Shallow Lake-Lake Okeechobee, Florida

ABSTRACT: The water budget computation in shallow lakes is complicated because marsh vegetation can transpire large quantities of lake water. Thus, a model including the marsh zone evapotranspiration (WET) was developed to compute the water budget for Lake Okeechobee. Three periods of testing (1969–74), planning (1963–74), and recorded period (1952–77) were used to compare the differences of the sum of storage deviation between the WET and conventional methods (WOET). Results of the WOET method showed that the sum of stage deviations were 87.42 cm (2.868 ft.), 231.80 cm (7.605 ft.), and 284.50 cm (9.333 ft.) in the testing, planning, and recorded periods, respectively. These stage deviations are equivalent in the same order to 29, 76, and 93 percent of the lake volume. In general, the WET method not only was applicable to compute the water budget for the lake but also reduced the sum of storage deviation by about 42, 31, and 49 percent, respectively, in those three periods. The storage deviation in WET method was reduced on an average to about 2 percent each year in all three periods, and the deviations were scattered more randomly than in WOET.
A counter example to the theory of simultaneous localization and map building

The paper analyzes the properties of the full covariance simultaneous localization and map building problem (SLAM). We prove that, even for the special case of a stationary vehicle (with no process noise) which uses a range-bearing sensor and has non-zero angular uncertainty, the full covariance SLAM algorithm always yields an inconsistent map. We also show, through simulations, that these conclusions appear to extend to a moving vehicle with process noise. However, these inconsistencies only become apparent after several hundred beacon updates.
Hippocampal and neocortical activation during repetitive encoding in older persons

Episodic memory function is known to decline in the course of normal aging; however, compensatory techniques can improve performance significantly in older persons. We investigated the effects of the memory enhancing technique of repetition encoding on brain activation using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twelve healthy older adults without cognitive impairment were studied with fMRI during repetitive encoding of face-name pairs. During the first encoding trials of face-name pairs that were subsequently remembered correctly, activation of the hippocampus and multiple neocortical regions, including prefrontal, parietal and fusiform cortices, was observed. The second and third encoding trials resulted in continued activation in neocortical regions, but no task-related response within the hippocampus. Functional imaging of successful memory processes thus permits us to detect regionally specific responses in the aging brain. Our findings suggest that hippocampal function is preserved in normal aging and that repetition-based memory enhancing techniques may engage primarily neocortical attentional networks.
Once More—What Is Literature?

stage or another of their professional careers. Yet it is difficult, not only for the language-teacher,' but for even the most widely read literary scholar or critic, to arrive at a satisfactory definition of literature. Ever since Aristotle's Poetics and the pseudo-Longinus' On the Sublime, there has been extensive but inconclusive discussion of its nature. In recent times, the most widely influential treatments have been those of Wellek and Warren (1948) and of Northrup Frye (1957). The former provide a thorough discussion and, in essence, a confirmation of the general consensus, that to have literary status, a work must show some special excellence in both content and form. Frye revives the mediaeval method of exegesis in terms of levels of meaning (literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical), infusing them with Jungian psychology and interpretation in terms of myth and archetype. Yet even these influential theories have not received anything resembling universal acceptance, as witness especially the recent extensive analysis and strongly negative criticism of Bennison Gray (1969, 1975). It is therefore not out of place to take up once more this vexata quaestio and attempt a new elucidation on the basis of certain further considerations which have hitherto not generally been taken into account.
Adaptive spam filtering using dynamic feature space

Unsolicited bulk e-mail, also known as spam, has been an increasing problem for the e-mail society. This paper presents a new spam filtering strategy that 1) uses a practical entropy coding technique, Huffman coding, to dynamically encode the feature space of e-mail collections over time and, 2) applies an online algorithm to adaptively enhance the learned spam concept as new e-mail data becomes available. The contributions of this work include a highly efficient spam filtering algorithm in which the input space is radically reduced to a single-dimension input vector, and an adaptive learning technique that is robust to vocabulary change, concept drifting and skewed data distribution. We compare our technique to several existing off-line learning techniques including support vector machine, naive Bayes, k-nearest neighbor, C4.5 decision tree, RBFNetwork, boosted decision tree and stacking, and demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique by presenting the experimental results on the e-mail data that is publicly available
Relationship Between Intensity of Quadriceps Muscle Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation and Strength Recovery After Total Knee Arthroplasty

Background Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) can facilitate the recovery of quadriceps muscle strength after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), yet the optimal intensity (dosage) of NMES and its effect on strength after TKA have yet to be determined. Objective The primary objective of this study was to determine whether the intensity of NMES application was related to the recovery of quadriceps muscle strength early after TKA. A secondary objective was to quantify quadriceps muscle fatigue and activation immediately after NMES to guide decisions about the timing of NMES during rehabilitation sessions. Design This study was an observational experimental investigation. Methods Data were collected from 30 people who were 50 to 85 years of age and who received NMES after TKA. These people participated in a randomized controlled trial in which they received either standard rehabilitation or standard rehabilitation plus NMES to the quadriceps muscle to mitigate strength loss. For the NMES intervention group, NMES was applied 2 times per day at the maximal tolerable intensity for 15 contractions beginning 48 hours after surgery over the first 6 weeks after TKA. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation training intensity and quadriceps muscle strength and activation were assessed before surgery and 3.5 and 6.5 weeks after TKA. Results At 3.5 weeks, there was a significant association between NMES training intensity and a change in quadriceps muscle strength ( R 2=.68) and activation ( R 2=.22). At 6.5 weeks, NMES training intensity was related to a change in strength ( R 2=.25) but not to a change in activation ( R 2=.00). Furthermore, quadriceps muscle fatigue occurred during NMES sessions at 3.5 and 6.5 weeks, whereas quadriceps muscle activation did not change. Limitations Some participants reached the maximal stimulator output during at least 1 treatment session and might have tolerated more stimulation. Conclusions Higher NMES training intensities were associated with greater quadriceps muscle strength and activation after TKA.
ℋ 2 performance bounds for voltage regulation on a spatially-invariant DC power grid

Despite the importance of voltage regulation to operational reliability and safety of power grids, little is understood about how the topology of the physical layer, and the architecture of the communication and control layer impact the ability of the system to regulate the voltages. In this paper, we apply spatial-invariance analysis to develop analytical upper and lower bounds for the ℋ 2 gain of a DC power grid with respect to voltage regulation. These bounds establish a relation between network architecture and performance, and reveal fundamental limits to performance that cannot be overcome using feedback control.
Extension of the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney Test to Samples Censored at the Same Fixed Point

Abstract A two-sample non-parametric significance test for censored samples is presented. The null hypothesis considered is that the two samples are from the same population. Tables of lower 5% and 1% points of the test statistic are given for both sample sizes ≦8 and various degrees of censoring. The asymptotic distribution of the test statistic under the null hypothesis is derived and numerical comparisons are given which indicate the asymptotic theory is adequate outside the range of the table providing no more than about 75% of the total observations of the two samples are censored. The test is shown to be consistnet against an alternative which, for example, includes the case of sampling from two normal populations with different means.
High-efficiency HBT MMIC linear power amplifier for L-band personal communications systems

A heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) MMIC linear power amplifier is demonstrated for the 1.9 GHz Japanese Personal Handy Phone utilizing the /spl pi//4 DQPSK modulation technique. At an operating voltage of only 3 V, an output power of 21 dBm and a power added efficiency of 35% are obtained along with a modulation vector error of 4.5% and an adjacent channel interference of /spl minus/60 dBc in +//spl minus/600 kHz offset frequency bands. >
Measurement of genetic instability in breast cancer by confocal microscopy and 3D image analysis

Genetic instability (GI) is frequently associated with solid tumors including cancers of the breast. We hypothesize that the degree of GI, as evidenced by the cell-to-cell variations in the copy number of specific DNA loci, can be used as a marker for cancer prognosis. We present a computer-aided method for GI measurement in thick tissue sections based on confocal microscopy and 3D image analysis and visualization. The results, based on the analysis of breast tissue sections show considerable cell-to-cell variability in the copy number of the centromere of chromosome 1 and the 20q13 locus in invasive cancer but the normal 2 copies per cell in histologically normal tissue.
Vitamin D and Influenza

Vitamin D has become increasingly recognized in the literature for its extra-skeletal roles, including an effect on inflammation and the immune response to infection. Our goal was to describe the role of vitamin D in the immune response and implications for the risk of influenza infection in humans. In this review, we first consider literature that provides molecular and genetic support to the idea that vitamin D is related to the adaptive and innate immune responses to influenza infection in vitro and in animal models. We then discuss observational studies and randomized controlled trials of vitamin D supplementation in humans. Finally, we consider some of the knowledge gaps surrounding vitamin D and immune response that must be filled.
Dynamics of lateral ventricle and cerebrospinal fluid in normal and hydrocephalic brains.

Purpose: To develop quantitative MRI techniques to measure, model, and visualize cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) hydrodynamics in normal subjects and hydrocephalic patients. Materials and Methods: Velocity information was obtained using time-resolved (CINE) phase-contrast imaging of different brain regions. A technique was developed to measure the change of lateral ventricle (LV) size. The temporal relationships between the LV size change, CSF movement, and blood flow could then be established. The data were incorporated into a first-principle CSF hydrodynamic model. The model was then used to generate specific predictions about CSF pressure relationships. To better-visualize the CSF flow, a color-coding technique based on linear transformations was developed that represents the magnitude and direction of the velocity in a single cinematic view. Results: The LV volume change of the eight normal subjects was 0.901 0.406%. Counterintuitively, the LV decreases as the choroid plexus expands, so that they act together to produce the CSF oscillatory flow. The amount of oscillatory flow volume is 21.7 10.6% of the volume change of the LV from its maximum to its minimum.
A management decision model for discrete maintenance

The authors discuss the development of a procedure that allows maintenance managers to evaluate maintenance jobs quantitatively. The plan is especially applicable to those industries in which major maintenance items are dealt with during a finite period as opposed to continuously. Seasonal industries such as amusement parks or water parks are typical examples where major maintenance is scheduled during the period where the park is closed for the winter. Other applications include the transportation, space, and oil-field manufacturing industries. A maintenance job is defined as a repair or modification that needs to be performed on a facility or piece of equipment in order to improve its performance. When several defects must be fixed, a procedure for defining the priority of each job is required. The procedure developed quantifies the judgments of experts on the urgency of the jobs, and uses the resulting data in order to build a priority list of the set. The priority list is further reduced by introducing limits on resources. The procedure selects the maximum number of higher-ranked jobs that can be performed with the resources available. >
Age-related Dendritic and Spine Changes in Corticocortically Projecting Neurons in Macaque Monkeys

Alterations in neuronal morphology occur in primate cerebral cortex during normal aging, vary depending on the neuronal type, region and cortical layer, and have been related to memory and cognitive impairment. We analyzed how such changes affect a specific subpopulation of cortical neurons forming long corticocortical projections from the superior temporal cortex to prefrontal area 46. These neurons were identified by retrograde transport in young and old macaque monkeys. Dendritic arbors of retrogradely labeled neurons were visualized in brain slices by intracellular injection of Lucifer Yellow, and reconstructed three-dimensionally using computer-assisted morphometry. Total dendritic length, numbers of segments, numbers of spines, and spine density were analyzed in layer III pyramidal neurons forming the projection considered. Sholl analysis was used to determine potential age-related changes in dendritic complexity. We observed statistically significant age-related decreases in spine numbers and density on both apical and basal dendritic arbors in these projection neurons. On apical dendrites, changes in spine numbers occurred mainly on the proximal dendrites but spine density decreased uniformly among the different branch orders. On basal dendrites, spine numbers and density decreased preferentially on distal branches. Regressive dendritic changes were observed only in one particular portion of the apical dendrites, with the general dendritic morphology and extent otherwise unaffected by aging. In view of the fact that there is no neuronal loss in neocortex and hippocampus in old macaque monkeys, it is possible that the memory and cognitive decline known to occur in these animals is related to rather subtle changes in the morphological and molecular integrity of neurons subserving identifiable neocortical association circuits that play a critical role in cognition.
Bioavailability of vitamin D from fortified process cheese and effects on vitamin D status in the elderly.

Abstract We conducted 2 studies to determine the effect of vitamin D-fortified cheese on vitamin D status and the bioavailability of vitamin D in cheese. The first study was designed to determine the effect of 2 mo of daily consumption of vitamin D 3 -fortified (600 IU/d) process cheese on serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD), parathyroid hormone (PTH), and osteocalcin (OC) concentrations among 100 older (≥60 yr) men and women. Participants were randomized to receive vitamin D-fortified cheese, nonfortified cheese, or no cheese. Serum levels of 25-OHD, PTH, and OC were measured at the beginning and end of the study. There were no differences in 25-OHD, PTH, or OC after 2 mo of fortified cheese intake. The vitamin D-fortified cheese group had a greater decrease in 25-OHD than other groups, due to higher baseline 25-OHD. A second study was conducted to determine whether the bioavailability of vitamin D 2 in cheese (delivering 5880 IU of vitamin D 2 /56.7-g serving) and water (delivering 32,750 IU/250mL) is similar and whether absorption differs between younger and older adults. The second study was a crossover trial involving 2 groups of 4 participants each (younger and older group) that received single acute feedings of either vitamin D 2 -fortified cheese or water. Serial blood measurements were taken over 24h following the acute feeding. Peak serum vitamin D and area under the curve were similar between younger (23 to 50 yr) and older (72 to 84 yr) adults, and vitamin D 2 was absorbed more efficiently from cheese than from water. These studies demonstrated that vitamin D in fortified process cheese is bioavailable, and that young and older adults have similar absorption. Among older individuals, consuming 600 IU of vitamin D 3 daily from cheese for 2 mo was insufficient to increase serum 25-OHD during limited sunlight exposure.
Long-term results of sacral nerve stimulation (S3) for the treatment of neurogenic refractory urge incontinence related to detrusor hyperreflexia

Purpose: We assess clinical and urodynamic results of sacral nerve stimulation for patients with neurogenic (spinal cord diseases) urge incontinence and detrusor hyperreflexia resistant to parasympatholytic drugs.Materials and Methods: Since 1992, 9 women with a mean age of 42.6 years (range 26 to 53) were treated for refractory neurogenic urge incontinence with sacral nerve stimulation. Neurological spinal diseases included viral and vascular myelitis in 1 patient each, multiple sclerosis in 5 and traumatic spinal cord injury in 2. Mean time since neurological diagnosis was 12 years. All patients had incontinence with chronic pad use related to detrusor hyperreflexia. Intermittent self-catheterization for external detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia was used by 5 patients. Social life was impaired and these patients were candidates for bladder augmentation. A sacral (S3) lead was surgically implanted and connected to a subcutaneous neurostimulator after a positive test stimulation trial.Results: Mean followup...
Pro‐region engineering for improved yeast display and secretion of brain derived neurotrophic factor

Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a promising therapeutic candidate for a variety of neurological diseases. However, it is difficult to produce as a recombinant protein. In its native mammalian context, BDNF is first produced as a pro-protein with subsequent proteolytic removal of the pro-region to yield mature BDNF protein. Therefore, in an attempt to improve yeast as a host for heterologous BDNF production, the BDNF pro-region was first evaluated for its effects on BDNF surface display and secretion. Addition of the wild-type pro-region to yeast BDNF production constructs improved BDNF folding both as a surface-displayed and secreted protein in terms of binding its natural receptors TrkB and p75, but titers remained low. Looking to further enhance the chaperone-like functions provided by the pro-region, two rounds of directed evolution were performed, yielding mutated pro-regions that further improved the display and secretion properties of BDNF. Subsequent optimization of the protease recognition site was used to control whether the produced protein was in pro- or mature BDNF forms. Taken together, we have demonstrated an effective strategy for improving BDNF compatibility with yeast protein engineering and secretion platforms.
Carcinoma of the colon in chronic ulcerative colitis.

Summary 1.A further attempt has been made to demonstrate the fact that the incidence and degree of malignancy that occurs in long standing idiopathic ulcerative colitis is due to some other factor than a carcinomatous change in the inflammatory polypoid type of formation. 2.As soon as intractability has been determined, it would appear that complete colectomy may well reduce the incidence of these very malignant carcinomas.
The Availability and Utility of Services to Address Risk Factors for Recidivism Among Justice-Involved Veterans:

The availability and utility of services to address recidivism risk factors among justice-involved veterans is unknown. We explored these issues through qualitative interviews with 63 Specialists f...
The Many Considerations for Researcher Education on Electronic Medical Records

The electronic medical record (EMR) has proven to be one of the biggest innovations in recent times for the implementation of healthcare services. The adoption of EMR systems by healthcare facilities is strongly supported and incentivized by the U.S. federal government via the Health Information
Hermeneutic Realism: Toward a Truly Meaningful Psychology:

This article presents a brief introduction to a hermeneutic realist approach to psychology, outlining its differences from mainstream psychology in its conceptions of context, change, and possibili...
Karma, Causation and Divine Intervention

According to the law of karma, our actions have consequences which affect not only our dispositions and tendencies (saṃskāras), but also the non-dispositional aspects of our being (for example, our genetic make-up, our physical characteristics, our social status at birth, our length of life) and our environment. The environment is affected in such a way that in some future life it will be instrumental in rewarding or punishing us according to the merit or demerit resulting from our acts. For example, a person might be mauled by a grizzly bear either in retribution for a particular violent act he committed or because of his pool of accumulated karmic residues.
Searching for a Screener: Examination of the Factor Structure of the General Health Questionnaire in Malaysia

Although mental health program development and service delivery have progressed in Malaysia since its independence in 1957, a shortage of mental health professionals remains a main barrier to menta...
X-ray diffraction from nonuniformly stretched helical molecules.

The fibrous proteins in living cells are exposed to mechanical forces interacting with other subcellular structures. X-ray fiber diffraction is often used to assess deformation and movement of these proteins, but the analysis has been limited to the theory for fibrous molecular systems that exhibit helical symmetry. However, this approach cannot adequately interpret X-ray data from fibrous protein assemblies where the local strain varies along the fiber length owing to interactions of its molecular constituents with their binding partners. To resolve this problem a theoretical formulism has been developed for predicting the diffraction from individual helical molecular structures nonuniformly strained along their lengths. This represents a critical first step towards modeling complex dynamical systems consisting of multiple helical structures using spatially explicit, multi-scale Monte Carlo simulations where predictions are compared with experimental data in a `forward' process to iteratively generate ever more realistic models. Here the effects of nonuniform strains and the helix length on the resulting magnitude and phase of diffraction patterns are quantitatively assessed. Examples of the predicted diffraction patterns of nonuniformly deformed double-stranded DNA and actin filaments in contracting muscle are presented to demonstrate the feasibly of this theoretical approach.
Numerical Simulation Analysis for Aseismic Behavior of Concrete Hollow Block

In order to study the aseismic behavior of an 8-story,big-bay isolated building with concrete block in seismic regions of intensity 7,a 3-dimensional finite-element model with ANSYS is proposed.Sandwich rubber bearings were simulated between the foundation and the bottom of the model structure,and the seismic response analysis is undertaken before and after isolation,the results show that the sandwich rubber bearings can minish the seismic response of the upside structure and can decrease intensity,or can decrease the cross-section of the beams and columns and the reinforcement distribution.
Abstract 241: Cardiac TIMP-4 Dictates cardiomyocyte contractility and differentiation of embryonic stem cells into cardiomyocytes: Road to Therapy

The remarkable nature of cardiomyocytes for contractility is attributed to the extracellular matrix which is maintained by the balance between MMPs (Matrix Metalloproteases) and TIMPs (Tissue Inhibitors of Matrix Metalloproteases). Any deviation from this delicate balance of MMP/TIMP is a hallmark of cardiovascular pathologies including myocardial infarction (MI). TIMP4, which is the least studied molecule, is deficient in failing hearts and mice lacking TIMP4 show poor regeneration capacity after MI. Therefore, we hypothesize that TIMP4 helps in cardiac regeneration by alleviating contractility and inducing the differentiation of cardiac progenitor cells into cardiomyocytes. To validate this hypothesis, we transfected cardiomyocytes with TIMP4 and TIMP4-siRNA and observed that there was increase in contractility in the TIMP4 transfected cardiomyocytes as compared to siRNA-TIMP4 transfected cardiomyocytes. To explain this we looked into the calcium channel genes and found increase in the expression of serca2a (sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase2a) in the TIMP4 transformed myocytes. Serca2a is tightly regulated by mir122a and we found decrease in the expression of mir122a in the TIMP4 transfected cells as compared to the TIMP4-siRNA cells. To observe the effect of TIMP4 in differentiation of cardiac progenitor cells we treated mouse embryonic stem cells with cardiac extract and cardiac extract minus TIMP4 (using TIMP4 monoclonal antibody). The cells treated with cardiac extract showed cardiac phenotype in terms of Ckit+, GATA4+ and Nkx2.5 expression. This is a novel report on the influence of TIMP4 on contractility and inducing the differentiation of stem cells to cardiomyocytes. In view of the failure of MMP9 inhibitors for cardiac therapy in clinical trials, TIMP4 provides and alternative approach, being an indigenous molecule, a natural inhibitor of MMP9 and efficient ROS scavenger.