cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comments on analyses of reflection gratings

The descriptions of diffraction by pure reflection gratings (fringes parallel to surfaces) and by reflection gratings with slanted fringes are clarified. The rigorous coupled-wave analysis, the chain-matrix analysis, and the new method presented by Zylberberg and Marom [ J. Opt. Soc. Am.73, 392 ( 1983)] are compared and their regions of applicability determined. Zylberberg and Marom refer to their method as a coupled-wave analysis, a description that is inconsistent with previous use of this terminology.
Extensions of Leovy's linear mesospheric circulation model

Linear mesospheric circulation models can quite realistically simulate mid-latitude mesospheric circulation and structure. In doing so they provide estimates for dissipation (Rayleigh friction ∼2×10−6s−1) and vertical mixing (≤30 m2s−1) appropriate near the mesopause.
Women's employment exit and reentry: differences among whites, blacks, and Hispanics

Abstract We investigate the determinants of employment transitions with samples from white, black, and Hispanic women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We argue that one needs to take into consideration both family- and job-related factors to explain women's work patterns and that the ways employment and home context combine to influence transitions may vary by race and ethnicity. We find African–American women, followed by Latinas, leave the work force more quickly than white women. These differences are due more to levels of job-related variables than to distributions of family characteristics across race/ethnic groups. On the other hand, only when we control for job-related variables do we see that African Americans, followed by Hispanic women, return to paid work faster than whites, suggesting that these women reenter employment faster than would be expected given their lower levels of previous job rewards and resources. Separate models of exits and returns by race and ethnicity show somewhat different patterns of family effects across groups, while varying effects of wages and occupational variables indicate different degrees and types of labor market disadvantage for blacks and Latinas.
Environmental effects on parasitic disease transmission exemplified by schistosomiasis in western China

Environmental effects on the transmission of many parasitic diseases are well recognized, but the role of specific factors like climate and agricultural practices in modulating transmission is seldom characterized quantitatively. Based on studies of Schistosoma japonicum transmission in irrigated agricultural environments in western China, a mathematical model was used to quantify environmental impacts on transmission intensity. The model was calibrated by using field data from intervention studies in three villages and simulated to predict the effects of alternative control options. Both the results of these interventions and earlier epidemiological findings confirm the central role of environmental factors, particularly those relating to snail habitat and agricultural and sanitation practices. Moreover, the findings indicate the inadequacy of current niclosamide-praziquantel strategies alone to achieve sustainable interruption of transmission in some endemic areas. More generally, the analysis suggests a village-specific index of transmission potential and how this potential is modulated by time-varying factors, including climatological variables, seasonal water-contact patterns, and irrigation practices. These time-variable factors, a village's internal potential, and its connectedness to its neighbors provide a framework for evaluating the likelihood of sustained schistosomiasis transmission and suggest an approach to quantifying the role of environmental factors for other parasitic diseases.
A new space station power system

A new concept for a Space Station power system is proposed which reduces the drag effect of the solar panels and eliminates eclipsing by the Earth. The solar generator is physically separated from the Space Station, and power transmitted to the station by a microwave beam. The power station can thus be placed high enough that drag is not a significant factor. For a resonant orbit where the ratio of periods s:p is a ratio of odd integers, and the orbital planes nearly perpendicular, an orbit can be chosen such that the line of sight is never blocked if the lower orbit has an altitude greater than calculatable mininum. For the 1:3 resonance, this minimum altitude is 0.5 r(e). Finally, by placing the power station into a sun-synchronous orbit, it can be made to avoid shadowing by the Earth, thus providing continuous power.
Mesoscale analysis of dynamic fragmentation of ceramics under tension

The fragmentation of a small ceramic specimen subjected to rapid uniform expansion is analyzed numerically at the mesoscale level using the cohesive/volumetric finite element (CVFE) scheme. The analysis is performed in plane strain and assumes intergranular crack motion. A combination of cohesive and optimization-based contact enforcement algorithms is used to model the complex contact events between the fragments generated in the process. The damage process is quantified using two parameters: one to capture the evolution of distributed damage in the ceramic specimen, and the other to represent the dynamic creation of discrete fragments. The basic features of the fragmentation process such as the initiation time and the evolution of the fragment size distribution are investigated. It is observed that the linear exponential distribution proposed by Grady and Kipp [Geometric statistics and dynamic fragmentation. J. Appl. Phys 1985;58(3)1210–22] adequately represents the cumulative fragment distribution throughout the fragmentation process. We also quantify the effect of the failure strength on the initiation and extent of damage. The granular microstructure of the specimen does not affect the initiation time of the fragmentation, but the average grain size influences the final damage of the material and has an effect on the average fragment size at higher loading rates. The average fragment size obtained numerically for a range of loading rates shows good agreement with existing theoretical models.
Direct Complexometric Titration of Calcium Phosphates

Abstract Calcium was determined in calcium phosphate samples by dissolving the sample in hydrochloric acid, adding hydroxynaphthol blue indicator and triethanolamine, adjusting the pH to 12.3–12.5 with potassium hydroxide solution, and titrating with standard disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate solution. Time can be saved and the formation of a precipitate (which dissolves readily during the titration) can be avoided by adding at least 85% of the amount of complexing agent required for titration before adjusting the pH.
Variation Within the Xiphinema Americanum Group (Nematoda: Longidoridae)

The influence of geographic location, latitude, mean annual precipitation, and temperature, on 75 populations of Xiphinema americanum sensu lato was studied. Twenty-one populations were from Florida, 17 from 9 other states and Canada, 20 from 8 European countries, 8 from Central and South America, 8 from Africa, and 1 from Asia. Criteria for comparison were as follows: female body length, vulva position (expressed as percentage of body length), de Manian "a" and "c" ratios (body length divided by body width or tail length), stylet length, tail shape, and the ratio between tail length and body width at the anus (T/BWA Ratio). European populations mainly from Mediterranean countries were distinct from other populations primarily in "a" ratio, vulva position, and tail shape, criteria which could be considered adequate for regarding these populations as a discrete species. The data further suggest that shorter nematodes with smaller "a" ratios, a wider range of "c" ratios and stylet lengths, and lower vulva percentages are correlated with localities closer to the equator that have high amounts of precipitation and high mean temperatures.
Modeling supplier selection and the use of option contracts for global supply chain design

As supply chains become more and more dependent on the efficient movement of materials among facilities that are geographically dispersed there is more opportunity for disruption. One of the common disruptions is the loss of production capability at supplier sites. We formulate a two-stage stochastic program and a solution procedure to optimize supplier selection to hedge against these disruptions. This model allows for the effective quantitative exploration of the trade-off between cost and risks to support improved decision-making in global supply chain design. A realistic case study is explored.
LOCATING TEXT IN IMAGES BASED ON THE SMOOTH GRAY-LEVEL DETECTION

The morphological technique is widely used for text extraction from images. It is highly effective in extracting geometrical structures and representing shapes in images. However, the morphological technique does not consider the variance of gray levels between neighboring pixels in images. Generally in images, changes in gray levels between neighboring nontext pixels are smoother than those between neighboring text pixels. This paper, therefore, proposes a new method for locating text based on the smooth gray-level detection. Experimental results reveal that the proposed method locates text in images better than other methods.
Interaction of DNA and liposomes as a model for membrane-mediated DNA damage.

WE have described the antioxidant activity of calf thymus DNA on the oxidation of liposomal suspensions1; we now report the damaging consequences to the biological activity of bacterial transforming DNA in such a system. Because DNA is associated with eukaryotic2 and bacterial cell membranes3, the DNA–membrane interaction described here may be relevant to several pathological processes, including carcinogenesis4–7, ageing8–11 and oxygen-dependent, radiation-induced cell lethality10,11. In the presence of oxygen, the unsaturated fatty chains of membrane phospholipid undergo autoxidation12. These autocatalytic free radical reactions, due to their chain nature, both amplify and propagate an initiating event occurring within the membrane, during which time many highly reactive and potentially damaging chemical species are formed13.
The telencephalon, diencephalon, and mesencephalon of the canary, Serinus canaria, in stereotaxic coordinates

A stereotaxic atlas of the telencephalon, diencephalon and mesencephalon of the canary, Serinus canaria, was prepared for use in anatomical and behavioral experiments. Canaries have a complex vocal and behavioral repertoire many of whose components are under hormonal control in the male, and are therefore useful for many physiological and anatomical experiments. They are available commercially, breed easily in captivity, are quite hardy and respond well to anesthetic and surgical procedures. The atlas consists of 30 frontal plates from the frontal pole to the level of the motor nucleus of the trigeminus. One sagittal plate is included for reference purposes. Six birds (three males and three females) with marking lesions were used to make the atlas. Their brains were embedded in albumin-gelatin media, cut at 50 and 25μ and stained with cresyl violet for cell bodies, Weil stain for myelinated fibers and the Fink-Schneider method for unmyelinated fibers. Plates were drawn from the cresyl violet series and labeled using all three stains. The completed atlas was tested for accuracy by making 12 small lesions in a number of predetermined discrete loci in several birds and evaluating their placement. Eleven of these lesions were found to be within the targeted structure. The results of this test, combined with the results of experiments in over 50 birds, have shown the atlas to be accurate in 80% of all cases.
Satisfying inquisitive adults: some simple methods of answering yes/no questions

The development of two children's responses to yes/no questions is studied longitudinally. It will be proposed that the children realize that they must verbalize, but do not understand the semantics of the question form or the affirmative and negative particles. Their answers are not appropriate by the conventions of adult speech. In this situation, each child develops his own system, a phenomenon to be called PRAGMATIC VARIATION. Head nodding and shaking show a pattern of development comparable to that of the verbal responses. The options available to children acquiring English are discussed.
Error floor analysis in LDGM codes

Based on discrete density evolution (DDE), we develop closed form expressions to predict the error floor of LDGM codes. The first, rougher, approximation is obtained by assuming perfect message passing between systematic and parity bit nodes in DDE. The second, finer, expression leads to a more involved formulation. While the rougher approximation matches well to simulation results and DDE analysis for high signal to noise ratio (additive white Gaussian noise, AWGN, channel) or low crossover probability (binary symmetric channel, BSC), the finer approximation shows a good match for a wider range in the channel quality.
GAGA mediates the enhancer blocking activity of the eve promoter in the Drosophila embryo

Insulator DNAs and promoter competition regulate enhancer–promoter interactions within complex genetic loci. A transgenic embryo assay was used to obtain evidence that the Drosophila eve promoter possesses an insulator activity that can be uncoupled from the core elements that mediate competition. The eve promoter contains an optimal TATA element and a GAGA sequence. The analysis of various chimeric promoters provides evidence that TATA is essential for promoter competition, whereas GAGA mediates enhancer blocking. The Trithorax-like (Trl) protein interacts with GAGA, and mutations in trl attenuate eve promoter insulator activity. We suggest that Trl–GAGA increases the stability of enhancer–promoter interactions by creating an open chromatin configuration at the core promoter.
Low-pressure cardiac tamponade masquerading as severe sepsis diagnosed with a bedside ultrasound and as the initial presentation of malignancy

Objective : We report a patient with low-pressure cardiac tamponade masquerading as sepsis and as the initial presentation of malignancy. A quick diagnosis was done by the intensivist performing a bedside ultrasound. Background : The diagnosis of low-pressure cardiac tamponade is a challenge because the classic physical signs of cardiac tamponade can be absent. It is made even more challenging when the vital sign changes and physical examination findings mimic severe sepsis. One of the benefits of a bedside ultrasound in the assessment of a patient with an initial diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock is the rapid diagnosis of cardiac tamponade if it is present. Data Source and Synthesis : A 55-year-old male presented to the emergency department with weakness, cough, and syncope. His examination was notable only for dusky mottling of his cheeks, chest, and neck. Specifically, there was no jugular venous distension or pulsus paradoxus. A chest radiograph showed a right upper lobe infiltrate, whereas his electrocardiogram showed only sinus tachycardia. His white blood cell count and lactic acid were elevated. The sepsis protocol was started and a bedside ultrasound revealed signs of cardiac tamponade. The patient immediately improved after a pericardiocentesis. Analysis of the pericardial biopsy revealed adenocarcinoma, later determined to be from a pulmonary primary source. Conclusions : Because low-pressure cardiac tamponade is life-threatening and difficult to diagnose, evaluation of the pericardium with a bedside ultrasound should be considered in patients with syncope, severe sepsis, or shock. Keywords : cardiac tamponade; bedside ultrasound; sepsis; pericardium effusion (Published: 31 July 2014) Citation : Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives 2014, 4 : 24595 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/jchimp.v4.24595
Ethanol formation in unadulterated postmortem tissues.

Abstract During the investigation of aviation accidents, postmortem samples obtained from fatal accident victims are submitted to the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) for toxicological analysis. During toxicological evaluations, ethanol analysis is performed on all cases. Many species of bacteria, yeast, and fungi have the ability to produce ethanol and other volatile organic compounds in postmortem specimens. The potential for postmortem ethanol formation complicates the interpretation of ethanol-positive results from accident victims. Therefore, the prevention of ethanol formation at all steps following specimen collection is a priority. Sodium fluoride is the most commonly used preservative for postmortem specimens. Several studies have been published detailing the effectiveness of sodium fluoride for the prevention of ethanol formation in blood and urine specimens; however, our laboratory receives blood or urine in approximately 70% of cases. Thus, we frequently rely on tissue specimens for ethanol analysis. The postmortem tissue specimens received by our laboratory have generally been subjected to severe trauma and may have been exposed to numerous microbial species capable of ethanol production. With this in mind, we designed an experiment utilizing unadulterated tissue specimens obtained from aviation accident victims to determine the effectiveness of sodium fluoride at various storage temperatures for the prevention of microbial ethanol formation. We found that without preservative, specimens stored at 4 °C for 96 h showed an increase in ethanol concentration ranging from 22 to 75 mg/hg (average 42±15 mg/hg). At 25 °C, these same specimens showed an increase ranging from 19 to 84 mg/hg (average 45±22 mg/hg). With the addition of 1.00% sodium fluoride, there was no significant increase in ethanol concentration at either temperature.
CT mucosal window settings: a novel approach to evaluating early T-stage head and neck carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the CT densities of small head and neck mucosal cancers as a means of deriving a CT mucosal window display of narrower window width and higher window level to better detect and delineate head and neck carcinomas.MATERIALS AND METHODS. We retrospectively studied 19 subjects with T1–2 head and neck carcinomas. The density of tumor and adjacent normal mucosa on CT were measured. CT scans for the 19 patients with tumors and 35 subjects without mucosal tumors were anonymized and interpreted by two readers using standard soft-tissue windows and were reviewed again 1 week later with the addition of mucosal windows.RESULTS. The mean (± SD) attenuation of 17 visible tumors was 85.5 ± 18.3 Hounsfield units (HU) and that of the surrounding normal mucosa was 55.3 ± 15.2 HU (p < 0.0001). From our data, we derived guideline mucosal window settings—a window width of 120 HU and a window level of 60 HU. On blinded review, reader A detected 12 tumors with the addition of ...
Effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on pain, walking function, respiratory muscle strength and vital capacity in kidney donors: a protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Background Pain is a negative factor in the recovery process of postoperative patients, causing pulmonary alterations and complications and affecting functional capacity. Thus, it is plausible to introduce transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for pain relief to subsequently reduce complications caused by this pain in the postoperative period. The objective of this paper is to assess the effects of TENS on pain, walking function, respiratory muscle strength and vital capacity in kidney donors.
VAMANA - A Scalable Cost-Driven XPath Engine

Abstracti Several systems have recently been proposed for the evaluation of XPath expressions. However, none of these systems have demonstrated both scalability with large document sizes and robust support for the XPath language. Many of the scalability problems can be attributed to inadequate use of indexing during query evaluation. While poor support for the XPath language is often a consequence of an architecture overly optimized for certain queries. Finally, the proposed systems fail to adequately address costing with respect to query optimizations. We present VAMANA as a solution for a cost driven and scalable evaluation of ad-hoc XPath expressions. VAMANA's index-oriented query plans allow queries to be evaluated while reading only a fraction of the data. VAMANA's pipelined query framework minimizes the cost of intermediate query processing while providing cost-based transformations to further improve performance. Our experimental study con¦rms that VAMANA's cost-driven optimization approach for optimizing queries achieves a substantial performance improvement with negligible optimization overhead compared to non-optimized queries. Our study comparing VAMANA against several leading XML query engines demonstrates that VAMANA's query engine is signi¦cantly faster than these existing solutions in all considered cases.
Family-based study shows heterogeneity of a susceptibility locus on chromosome 8q24 for nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate

BACKGROUND Nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate is a common birth defect. While a number of susceptibility loci have been reported, replication has often been lacking. This is likely due, in part, to heterogeneity of datasets and methodologies employed. Two independent genome-wide association studies of individuals of largely western European extraction have identified a possible susceptibility locus on 8q24.21.
Modeling and Design of Ferroelectric MOSFETs

A drain-current model has been developed for ferroelectric metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors by coupling Pao-Sah double integral with the nonlinear Landau description of the field and polarization of ferroelectric insulators. The resultant solution for surface potential ψs versus gate voltage Vg consists of double hysteresis loops sensitive to the ferroelectric-insulator thickness. With a proper choice of the ferroelectric-film thickness, the hysteresis shape can be tailored for operating voltages below 0.5 V, e.g., at VDD = 0.25 V, with a drain-current slope steeper than the reciprocal of 60 mV/dec beyond the threshold voltage.
Comparison Between Self-Excited and Forced Flame Response of an Industrial Lean Premixed Gas Turbine Injector

An experimental study was conducted to compare the relationship between self-excited and forced flame response in a variable-length lean premixed gas turbine (LPGT) research combustor with a single industrial injector. The variable-length combustor was used to determine the range of preferred instability frequencies for a given operating condition. Flame stability was classified based on combustor dynamic pressure measurements. Particle velocity perturbations in the injector barrel were calculated from additional dynamic pressure measurements using the two-microphone technique. Global CH* chemiluminescence emission was used as a marker for heat release. The flame’s response (i.e. normalized heat release fluctuation divided by normalized velocity fluctuation) was characterized during self-excited instabilities. The variable-length combustor was then used to tune the system to produce a stable flame at the same operating condition and velocity perturbations of varying magnitudes were generated using an upstream air-fuel mixture siren. Heat release perturbations were measured and the flame transfer function was calculated as a function of inlet velocity perturbation magnitude. For cases in this study, the gain and phase between velocity and heat release perturbations agreed for both self-excited and forced measurements in the linear and nonlinear flame response regimes, validating the use of forcing measurements to measure flame response to velocity perturbations. Analysis of the self-excited flame response indicates the saturation mechanism responsible for finite limit amplitude perturbations may result from nonlinear driving or damping processes in the combustor.© 2011 ASME
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory correlates of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery in a psychiatric population.

To investigate the relationships between several neuropsychological deficits and personality function, 73 schizophrenic subjects with medically verified brain damage were administered the Luria-Neb...
Patristic Counter-Evidence to the Claim that ‘The Gospels Were Written for All Christians’

Ματθαιος μeν eγραψeν Eβραιοις θαυματα Χριστου,Μαρκος δ Ιταλιη,Λουκας Αχαιαδι,Πασι δ Ιωαννης,κηρυξ μeγας, ουρανοϕοιτης.(Gregory of Nazianzus, Carmina dogmatica 1.12.6–9)Richard Bauckham has called on scholars to abandon the reading strategy of redaction criticism that had risen to prominence especially in the 1960s, and return to the way the gospels had always been understood before that – as having been written ‘for all Christians’. The present essay resituates this debate as actually yet another instance of a very old and enduring hermeneutical problem in the exegesis of Christian literature: the relationship between the particularity and universality of the gospels. Study of patristic gospel exegesis reveals no author who says the gospels were written ‘for all Christians’, and, even more importantly, shows that early Christian readers – through evangelist biographies, localizing narratives, audience request traditions, and heresiological accounts of the composition of individual gospels, as well as in their theological reflections on the fourfold gospel – engaged in a sustained and deliberate dialectic between the local and universal audiences of the gospels which defies any simple dichotomy between ‘specific’ and ‘indefinite’ readers.
Elevated cardiovascular risk among adults with obstructive and restrictive airway functioning in the United States: a cross-sectional study of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007–2010

Background: Reasons for the excess risk for cardiovascular disease among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease remain unclear. Our objective was to examine the cardiovascular risk profile for adults with obstructive and restrictive impairments of lung functioning in a representative sample of adults from the United States. Methods: We used data from adults aged 20–79 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2007 to 2010 and had a pulmonary function test. The severity of obstructive impairment was defined by adapting the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease criteria. Results: Among 7249 participants, 80.9% had a normal pulmonary function test, 5.7% had a restrictive impairment, 7.9% had mild obstructive impairment, and 5.5% had moderate or severe/very severe obstructive impairment. Participants with obstructive impairment had high rates of smoking and increased serum concentrations of cotinine. Compared to participants with normal pulmonary functioning, participants with at least moderate obstructive impairment had elevated concentrations of C-reactive protein but lower concentrations of total cholesterol and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Among participants aged 50–74 years, participants with at least a moderate obstructive impairment or a restrictive impairment had an elevated predicted 10-year risk for cardiovascular disease. Conclusions: The high rates of smoking among adults with impaired pulmonary functioning, particularly those with obstructive impairment, point to a need for aggressive efforts to promote smoking cessation in these adults. In addition, adults with restrictive impairment may require increased attention to and fine-tuning of their cardiovascular risk profile.
Errors in after-hours phone consultations: a simulation study.

Background After-hours out-of-hospital phone consultations require physicians to make decisions based on information provided by a nurse over the phone. Methods We conducted a simulation study to evaluate physicians’ actions following communication of key information. 22 nurses were asked to call physicians with six cases based on the six most common reasons for after-hours phone calls. We evaluated physicians’ actions following the communication of key clinical information: A situation cue described a patient's problem (eg, confusion). A background cue described a specific clinical finding regarding the cause of the problem (eg, patient's sodium is low). For each cue we defined a list of indicators, based on the medical literature, to ascertain whether physicians acted upon the provided information (which was defined as addressing at least one of the indicators). Results A total of 108 phone consultations (containing 88 situation and 93 background cues) were analysed. Situation cues were communicated in 90% (79/88) of the calls and background cues in 33% (31/93). Physician acted upon the provided information in 57% (45/79) and 48% (15/31) of the communicated situation and background cues, respectively. When the background cues were not communicated, physicians asked questions expected to elicit the cue in 12% of the cases. Responding to the situation cue was associated with longer conversations and active inquiry by the physician. Conclusions After-hours phone calls are error prone. Both nurse communication and physician decision-making are problematic. Efforts to improve patient safety in this setting must address both communication and decision-making.
The Navy Ocean-Temperature Temporal-Variability model

The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) has completed its initial development of the worldwide Ocean-Temperature Temporal-Variability Model as part of its general ocean climatology program and as an adjunct to its centralized compilation of oceanographic data. The development of a temporal variability model to match the resolution of the Navy's standard climatologies (nominally a 30' grid, but sometimes as fine a resolution as a 10' grid) was beset by many problems, the most serious being the scarcity of data, data quality, and removal of spatial variability. Since individual editing of the more than 4 million vertical profiles in NAVOCEANO's data bank is unrealistic, semi-automated techniques were employed. Spatial variability was estimated using the Navy's standard temperature climatology, the Generalized Digital Environmental Model. These estimates were used to allow the sampling space to increase in regions of low spatial variability and to decrease in areas of high spatial variability, resulting in realistic estimates of variability. As new data are added to the master data bank, the variability model will be used to tag anomalous data for further editing and ultimately used to make periodic updates to the variability model itself.
Protein Consumption and Bone Fractures in Women

Dietary protein increases urinary calcium losses and has been associated with higher rates of hip fracture in cross-cultural studies. However, the relation between protein and risk of osteoporotic bone fractures among individuals has not been examined in detail. In this prospective study, usual dietary intake was measured in 1980 in a cohort of 85,900 women, aged 35-59 years, who were participants in the Nurses' Health Study. A mailed food frequency questionnaire was used and incident hip (n = 234) and distal forearm (n = 1,628) fractures were identified by self-report during the following 12 years. Information on other factors related to osteoporosis, including obesity, use of postmenopausal estrogen, smoking, and physical activity, was collected on biennial questionnaires. Dietary measures were updated in 1984 and 1986. Protein was associated with an increased risk of forearm fracture (relative risk (RR) = 1.22, 95% confidence interval (Cl) 1.04-1.43, p for trend = 0.01) for women who consumed more than 95 g per day compared with those who consumed less than 68 g per day. A similar increase in risk was observed for animal protein, but no association was found for consumption of vegetable protein. Women who consumed five or more servings of red meat per week also had a significantly increased risk of forearm fracture (RR = 1.23, 95% Cl 1.01-1.50) compared with women who ate red meat less than once per week. Recall of teenage diet did not reveal any increased risk of forearm fracture for women with higher consumption of animal protein or red meat during this earlier period of life. No association was observed between adult protein intake and the incidence of hip fractures, though power to assess this association was low.
Radiopharmaceuticals for thrombus detection: selection, preparation, and critical evaluation.

Nearly a decade has passed since the introduction of 125 I-fibrinogen as a tracer to aid in the clinical diagnosis of thrombosis. During this time many new radiopharmaceuticals have been developed for the detection of thrombi. Most of these have been designed to overcome the primary disadvantages of 125 I-fibrinogen for uptake tests, namely, that it is limited to evaluation of the extremities, and it does not provide a scintigraphic image. Iodine-125-fibrinogen is now commercially available in the United States. We, therefore, concentrated our review on agents labeled with short-lived gamma-emitting nuclides useful for scintigraphy: 123 I, 111 In, 77 Br, and 99m Tc. In addition to being tagged with a variety of short-lived isotopes, fibrinogen has been chemically modified by overiodination and by clot formation/dissolution in attempts to accelerate its biologic clearance. These modifications have resulted in higher thrombus: blood ratios measured at earlier times when the photon flux is still high. Labeled leukocytes and platelets also have been tested as thrombus-localizing agents, and several components of the fibrinolytic system, including plasminogen, streptokinase, and urokinase, have been purified and labeled with iodine and/or technetium. The later agents could prove particularly useful for localizing older thrombi in which net fibrin deposition has slowed. Among the radiopharmaceuticals described for thrombus scintigraphy, chemically modified and fast clearing 123 I-fibrinogen, 111 In-platelets, and 123 I-plasminogen show the greatest potential and should find extensive clinical application in the immediate future.
In vitro diencephalic neuronal thermosensitivity in normotensive and hypertensive rats

Because morphological differences exist in hypothalamic neurons from spontaneously hypertensive (SH) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, the present study recorded neuronal spontaneous activity and thermosensitivity from diencephalic tissue slices of these two strains. With the use of extracellular recordings from horizontal tissue slices, neurons were characterized according to location, firing rate at 37 degrees C, and firing rate response to changes in local tissue temperature. Compared with WKY neurons, SH neurons had higher firing rates in the preoptic-anterior hypothalamus and lower firing rates in the dorsomedial hypothalamus. In addition, SH warm-sensitive neurons were less thermosensitive over the hyperthermic range (37-40 degrees C), and SH temperature-insensitive neurons had higher spontaneous firing rates. These differences in spontaneous activity and thermosensitivity provide a neuronal basis to explain the elevation of core temperature observed in SH rats.
Echocardiography in Pulmonary Embolism and Secondary Pulmonary Hypertension

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common problem with high morbidity and a 30-d mortality rate of 15–20%. Because of the scope and severity of the problem, the accurate diagnosis and management of acute PE is crucial. Echocardiography has increasing applications in the diagnosis, the risk assessment, and the management of PE. As a first-line tool, echocardiography allows for the preliminary differentiation of major lifethreatening cardiovascular complications. Additionally, bedside echocardiography affords the opportunity to establish a prompt diagnosis and to identify patients with high-risk features, thus identifying a subset of patients that may benefit from more aggressive therapy, such as thrombolytic therapy. The use of echocardiography in the evaluation and management of PE is increasingly common as demonstrated in two recent registries, in which approx 50–75% of patients with PE underwent echocardiography.
Cold-pressor responses in families of rabbits with spontaneous hypertension.

Summary(1) Blood pressure responses to cold-pressor test were studied in progeny of spontaneously hypertensive rabbits. These animals were both hypertensive and normotensive. Controls were offspring of rabbits chosen from normotensive laboratory stock. (2) Average maximum blood pressure response to cold stimulation of progeny of spontaneously hypertensive rabbits was quantitatively greater than in the control group. This difference in responsiveness was not attributable to difference in basal (starting) pressure. (3) It is concluded that increased pressure response to cold is a characteristic of progeny of spontaneously hypertensive rabbits.
Anacardic Acid, Salicylic Acid, and Oleic Acid Differentially Alter Cellular Bioenergetic Function in Breast Cancer Cells

Anacardic acid is a dietary and medicinal phytochemical that inhibits breast cancer cell proliferation and uncouples oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in isolated rat liver mitochondria. Since mitochondrial-targeted anticancer therapy (mitocans) may be useful in breast cancer, we examined the effect of anacardic acid on cellular bioenergetics and OXPHOS pathway proteins in breast cancer cells modeling progression to endocrine-independence: MCF-7 estrogen receptor α (ERα)+ endocrine-sensitive; LCC9 and LY2 ERα+, endocrine-resistant, and MDA-MB-231 triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. At concentrations similar to cell proliferation IC50 s, anacardic acid reduced ATP-linked oxygen consumption rate (OCR), mitochondrial reserve capacity, and coupling efficiency while increasing proton leak, reflecting mitochondrial toxicity which was greater in MCF-7 compared to endocrine-resistant and TNBC cells. These results suggest tolerance in endocrine-resistant and TNBC cells to mitochondrial stress induced by anacardic acid. Since anacardic acid is an alkylated 2-hydroxybenzoic acid, the effects of salicylic acid (SA, 2-hydroxybenzoic acid moiety) and oleic acid (OA, monounsaturated alkyl moiety) were tested. SA inhibited whereas OA stimulated cell viability. In contrast to stimulation of basal OCR by anacardic acid (uncoupling effect), neither SA nor OA altered basal OCR- except OA inhibited basal and ATP-linked OCR, and increased ECAR, in MDA-MB-231 cells. Changes in OXPHOS proteins correlated with changes in OCR. Overall, neither the 2-hydroxybenzoic acid moiety nor the monounsaturated alky moiety of anacardic acid is solely responsible for the observed mitochondria-targeted anticancer activity in breast cancer cells and hence both moieties are required in the same molecule for the observed effects. J. Cell. Biochem. 117: 2521-2532, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Timing of CSF-1/CSF-1R signaling blockade is critical to improving responses to CTLA-4 based immunotherapy.

ABSTRACTColony stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) is produced by a variety of cancers and recruits myeloid cells that suppress antitumor immunity, including myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs.) Here, we show that both CSF-1 and its receptor (CSF-1R) are frequently expressed in tumors from cancer patients, and that this expression correlates with tumor-infiltration of MDSCs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these tumor-infiltrating MDSCs are highly immunosuppressive but can be reprogrammed toward an antitumor phenotype in vitro upon CSF-1/CSF-1R signaling blockade. Supporting these findings, we show that inhibition of CSF-1/CSF-1R signaling using an anti-CSF-1R antibody can regulate both the number and the function of MDSCs in murine tumors in vivo. We further find that treatment with anti-CSF-1R antibody induces antitumor T-cell responses and tumor regression in multiple tumor models when combined with CTLA-4 blockade therapy. However, this occurs only when administered after or concurrent with CTLA-4 bloc...
A General, Adaptive, Roadmap-Based Algorithm for Protein Motion Computation

Precious information on protein function can be extracted from a detailed characterization of protein equilibrium dynamics. This remains elusive in wet and dry laboratories, as function-modulating transitions of a protein between functionally-relevant, thermodynamically-stable and meta-stable structural states often span disparate time scales. In this paper we propose a novel, robotics-inspired algorithm that circumvents time-scale challenges by drawing analogies between protein motion and robot motion. The algorithm adapts the popular roadmap-based framework in robot motion computation to handle the more complex protein conformation space and its underlying rugged energy surface. Given known structures representing stable and meta-stable states of a protein, the algorithm yields a time- and energy-prioritized list of transition paths between the structures, with each path represented as a series of conformations. The algorithm balances computational resources between a global search aimed at obtaining a global view of the network of protein conformations and their connectivity and a detailed local search focused on realizing such connections with physically-realistic models. Promising results are presented on a variety of proteins that demonstrate the general utility of the algorithm and its capability to improve the state of the art without employing system-specific insight.
Point-of-care echocardiography in simulation-based education and assessment

BACKGROUND Emergency medicine milestones released by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education require residents to demonstrate competency in bedside ultrasound (US). The acquisition of these skills necessitates a combination of exposure to clinical pathology, hands-on US training, and feedback. OBJECTIVES We describe a novel simulation-based educational and assessment tool designed to evaluate emergency medicine residents' competency in point-of-care echocardiography for evaluation of a hypotensive patient with chest pain using bedside US. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study conducted at an academic medical center. A simulation-based module was developed to teach and assess the use of point-of-care echocardiography in the evaluation of the hypotensive patient. The focus of this module was sonographic imaging of cardiac pathology, and this focus was incorporated in all components of the session: asynchronous learning, didactic lecture, case-based learning, and hands-on stations. RESULTS A total of 52 residents with varying US experience participated in this study. Questions focused on knowledge assessment demonstrated improvement across the postgraduate year (PGY) of training. Objective standardized clinical examination evaluation demonstrated improvement between PGY I and PGY III; however, it was noted that there was a small dip in hands-on scanning skills during the PGY II. Clinical diagnosis and management skills also demonstrated incremental improvement across the PGY of training. CONCLUSION The 1-day, simulation-based US workshop was an effective educational and assessment tool at our institution.
Mentoring ethnic minority counseling and clinical psychology students: A multicultural, ecological, and relational model.

The aim of the current study was to understand the role of race and culture in successful mentoring relationships in graduate school. We examined the practices of 9 faculty mentors working with 15 ethnic minority doctoral students in counseling and clinical psychology. Grounded theory was used to discern unifying patterns and to formulate a theory of multicultural mentoring. Five overall themes significant to multicultural mentoring emerged: (a) career support and guidance tailored for ethnic minorities, (b) relationality between mentors and proteges, (c) significance of contexts, (d) interconnections across contexts, and (e) multidirectionality of interactions between contexts. The 5 themes combined to form a multicultural, ecological, and relational model of mentoring. Our findings suggest that mentoring ethnic minority students can be successful, productive, and satisfying for both mentors and proteges when mentors possess the necessary skills, time, commitment, and multicultural competencies. Implications for doctoral programs in counseling and clinical psychology are discussed, along with recommendations for future research directions.
SU-G-BRB-03: Assessing the Sensitivity and False Positive Rate of the Integrated Quality Monitor (IQM) Large Area Ion Chamber to MLC Positioning Errors

Purpose: To examine both the IQM’s sensitivity and false positive rate to varying MLC errors. By balancing these two characteristics, an optimal tolerance value can be derived. Methods: An un-modified SBRT Liver IMRT plan containing 7 fields was randomly selected as a representative clinical case. The active MLC positions for all fields were perturbed randomly from a square distribution of varying width (±1mm to ±5mm). These unmodified and modified plans were measured multiple times each by the IQM (a large area ion chamber mounted to a TrueBeam linac head). Measurements were analyzed relative to the initial, unmodified measurement. IQM readings are analyzed as a function of control points. In order to examine sensitivity to errors along a field’s delivery, each measured field was divided into 5 groups of control points, and the maximum error in each group was recorded. Since the plans have known errors, we compared how well the IQM is able to differentiate between unmodified and error plans. ROC curves and logistic regression were used to analyze this, independent of thresholds. Results: A likelihood-ratio Chi-square test showed that the IQM could significantly predict whether a plan had MLC errors, with the exception of the beginning and ending control points. Upon further examination, we determined there was ramp-up occurring at the beginning of delivery. Once the linac AFC was tuned, the subsequent measurements (relative to a new baseline) showed significant (p <0.005) abilities to predict MLC errors. Using the area under the curve, we show the IQM’s ability to detect errors increases with increasing MLC error (Spearman’s Rho=0.8056, p<0.0001). The optimal IQM count thresholds from the ROC curves are ±3%, ±2%, and ±7% for the beginning, middle 3, and end segments, respectively. Conclusion: The IQM has proven to be able to detect not only MLC errors, but also differences in beam tuning (ramp-up). Partially supported by the Susan Scott Foundation
Marginalia. Statistical odds and ends.

I would like to share with my readers a number of ex amples illustrating various aspects of statistical thought which though subtle are not taxing in the degree of technical knowledge they presuppose. The first made a lasting impression on me when I was thirteen years old and had never heard of statistics. I had at the time a wonderful teacher of biology (1 ) who devoted a few classroom hours to an outline of Darwin's
Pincer complexes of N-heterocyclic carbenes. Potential uses as pharmaceuticals

N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) are used to bind nearly every transition metal and have been shown to complex a variety of main groups and lanthanide metals. This chapter presents a number of synthetic routes for the formation of metal complexes of pincer NHCs and investigates their potential use as pharmaceuticals. The fact that NHCs form strong metal complexes gives them a major advantage over current organic ligands. They have properties that make them useful as effective antimicrobials. These complexes have better minimum inhibitory concentration results and bacterial growth inhibitions than silver nitrates give against a variety of infectious bacteria and fungi. The focus is on NHC-pincer complexes of silver and rhodium. Silver complexes are explored for their antimicrobial efficacy and rhodium complexes as models for 105Rh-based anticancer agents. Silver NHC-pincer complexes can be easily generated in biologically friendly solvents, such as water and alcohols.