cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Blood and dietary magnesium levels are not linked with lower prostate cancer risk in black or white men.

Abstract Recent studies suggest a diet low in dietary magnesium intake or lower blood magnesium levels is linked with increased prostate cancer risk. This study investigates the race-specific link between blood magnesium and calcium levels, or dietary magnesium intake, and the diagnosis of low-grade and high-grade prostate cancer. The study included 637 prostate cancer cases and 715 biopsy-negative controls (50% black) recruited from Nashville, TN or Durham, NC. Blood was collected at the time of recruitment, and dietary intake was assessed by food frequency questionnaire. Percent genetic African ancestry was determined as a compliment to self-reported race. Blood magnesium levels and dietary magnesium intake were significantly lower in black compared to white men. However, magnesium levels or intake were not associated with risk of total prostate cancer or aggressive prostate cancer. Indeed, a higher calcium-to-magnesium diet intake was significantly protective for high-grade prostate cancer in black (OR = 0.66 (0.45, 0.96), p = 0.03) but not white (OR = 1.00 (0.79, 1.26), p = 0.99) men. In summary, there was a statistically significant difference in magnesium intake between black and white men, but the biological impact was unclear, and we did not confirm a lower prostate cancer risk associated with magnesium levels.
Characterization of an oligopeptide chemoattractant receptor on human blood monocytes using a new radioligand.

The study of chemoattractant receptors on human monocytes had been limited by the lack of a radioligand suitable for use with the small numbers of cells routinely available from human donors. A new synthetic oligopeptide radioligand f[35S]met-leu-phe, with a higher specific radioactivity than was available with the tritiated compound, was used to characterize a chemoattractant receptor on freshly isolated human blood monocytes. These cells bind f[35S]met-leu-phe with a dissociation constant (KD) of 30.2 +/- 5.6 nM and contain 84,000 +/- 11,300 receptors per cell. f[35S]met-leu-phe does not bind specifically to blood lymphocytes. The specificity of the oligopeptide receptor on monocytes is indistinguishable from the oligopeptide chemoattractant receptor on human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Using f[35S]met-leu- phe, it will now be feasible to study the chemotactic peptide receptor on small numbers of partially purified peripheral blood monocytes from patients with defects of immune function.
Techniques to Assess Insulin Action in Youth

Insulin resistance is a central component to several important metabolic disorders and pathological conditions. Various methods are used to assess insulin sensitivity on both an individual level and epidemiological level. Several factors, such as validity, cost, and reproducibility, are important to the clinician and researcher in determining the most appropriate method. The insulin-clamp technique is considered the “gold standard” and provides the purest assessment of in vivo insulin sensitivity. The addition of mathematical modeling to simpler, oral-based assessments, such as the oral glucose tolerance test, is showing promise. In large-scale epidemiological studies, simple fasting surrogate estimates have been shown to be useful. This chapter will describe several methods used to assess insulin sensitivity in pediatrics and their advantages and disadvantages.
E-shopping changes and the state of E-grocery shopping in the US - Evidence from national travel and time use surveys

Abstract In spite of the popularity of e-shopping, only 16% of US adults have ordered groceries online, and 7 out of 10 of those who currently buy groceries online do so at most twice a month. Understanding the determinants of e-grocery shopping is important for grocers, supply chain managers, and urban planners. In this context, we first explore how deliveries from online shopping have been changing over time. From our analysis of the 2009 and 2017 National Household Travel Surveys, we found that online shopping has been embraced by increasingly diverse households, although income, education, and some racial/ethnic differences persist. Our analysis of the 2017 American Time Use Survey shows that Americans are 24 times more likely to shop for groceries in stores than online. Moreover, in-store grocery shoppers are more likely to be female and unemployed, but less likely to belong to younger generations, to have less than a college degree, or to be African American. The gender imbalance in grocery shopping is larger online than in stores, but e-grocery shoppers do not otherwise differ from the general population. Future travel and e-shopping surveys (especially for e-grocery) should combine time use and travel questions with retrospective questions about online purchases.
Litter to glitter: promoting herbaceous groundcover and diversity in mid-southern USA oak forests using canopy disturbance and fire

In oak-dominated communities throughout eastern North America, fire exclusion and subsequent woody encroachment has replaced the “glitter” of once robust and diverse wildflower and grass layers with leaf-litter dominance. Restoring the important herbaceous components of Eastern oak ecosystems could involve pairing heavy canopy disturbance with growing-season fire, but potential negative effects warrant research. Beginning with 20 ha replicates of closed-canopy forest at three sites across Tennessee and North Carolina, USA, we monitored groundcover response to combinations of thinning (none; light: 14 m2 ha−1 residual basal area; and heavy: 7 m2 ha−1) and seasonal fire (none; March: pre leaf expansion; and October: pre leaf abscission) from 2008 to 2016. Before treatments, woody plants and leaf-litter-dominated groundcover and herbaceous plants were rare (<6% groundcover, 118 species). By 2016, herbaceous groundcover averaged 59% after heavy thinning and three biennial burns, and 359 herbaceous species were documented. Only 6% (23) of these species appeared negatively affected by applied disturbances. Across sites, thin-and-burn treatments increased graminoid groundcover 14-fold, forb groundcover 50-fold, herbaceous richness 9-fold, and herbaceous diversity 10-fold, relative to unmanaged stands. These increases were often greater where fire was repeatedly applied, and only after repeated fire was herbaceous response greater in heavily thinned stands relative to lightly thinned stands. Burn-only treatments rarely affected herbaceous metrics, and thin-and-burn treatments more than doubled woody groundcover. This suggests that canopy reduction, leaf-litter consumption, and pulses of bare ground were more related to positive herbaceous responses than to the control of woody competition in the understory. Fire season effects were not observed, but herbaceous response after less intense October fires was comparable to that following more intense March fires. Our results conflict with warnings concerning the potential negative effects of disturbance on herbaceous diversity east of the prairie–woodland transition zone. Canopy disturbance and repeated fire, regardless of season, widely restored herbaceous groundcover and diversity in Eastern oak ecosystems. Herbaceous components were resilient to extended periods of fire exclusion, but current conservation programs often prioritize existing, high-quality sites. Our results suggest that such policies may overlook the tremendous restoration potential present in otherwise inconspicuous understories of closed-canopy oak forests throughout eastern North America.
A Two-stage Stochastic Programming Model to Determine the Optimal Screening Strategy for Colorectal Cancer

Abstract Screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) is an effective way to drastically reduce the impact of the disease or prevent it altogether. This paper presents a stochastic mathematical programming model to determine the optimal screening strategy for CRC of a given population. The objective of the model is to maximize the expected quality adjusted life years an individual would gain by following the optimum screening strategy. The model incorporates the uncertainty of CRC progression through the use of the time taken to progress to the various stages of the disease. The data to model the uncertainty of the progression of CRC within an individual was obtained from a continuous time simulation. The solution of the stochastic programming model for the average-risk male population yielded an expected gain of 0.2384 quality-adjusted life years with three colonoscopies.
Copyrighting Shakespeare: Jacob Tonson, Eighteenth Century English Copyright, and the Birth of Shakespeare Scholarship

In 1709, Jacob Tonson, the premier publisher of his age, purchased the “copyright” to Shakespeare. Tonson and his family over the next fifty years went on to publish some of the most significant editions of the collected works of Shakespeare, edited by the likes of Nicholas Rowe, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson. In many ways, the Tonsons were responsible for the growth of Shakespeare’s popularity and the critical study of his work. This article discusses the significance of copyright to the Tonsons’ publication decisions. It suggests that the Tonson copyright did not significantly “encourage” their contributions to Shakespeare scholarship. First, Jacob Tonson could not have relied on statutory copyright for protection of his seminal 1709 Rowe edition. Tonson, quite simply, did hold the copyrights at that point, and the Statute of Anne had not yet been introduced, let alone passed, by Parliament. Second, the Tonsons’ publication of later editions would not, as some have asserted, have perpetuated any common law or statutory copyright claim Tonson might have to the works of Shakespeare. Third, although the textual notes and comments contributed by his editors may have been copyrighted, most of the significant editorial contributions to Shakespeare scholarship would not themselves have been subject to copyright protection. Selection of plays in the legitimate Shakespeare canon, for example, and selection of the appropriate text from earlier quarto and Folio editions would not have been subject to copyright protection. Fourth, the expansion of public access to cheaper, more widely available editions of the Shakespeare plays arose in spite of, rather than because of, copyright protections. It was a challenge by a book “pirate” that caused the Tonsons, not to seek legal protection through their claimed copyright, but to flood the market with their own cheap editions of the plays. Finally, the article suggests a reason why the Tonsons, whose name appears as plaintiff in many of the early copyright cases, never sought to litigate their claim to a copyright in Shakespeare. Simply put, litigating a claim to copyright in Shakespeare would have been a poor “test case” to secure what the Bookseller’s sought at that time – a perpetual common law copyright based on the natural rights of authors. This article suggests that copyright issues, although certainly important, were ancillary to the Tonsons’ publication decisions. Market forces, the protections from competition afforded by a Bookseller cartel, and a respect for Shakespeare’s works, more than copyright protections, appeared to drive the Tonsons’ actions and therefore the growth of Shakespeare scholarship.
Gendered patterns of industrialization in MENA

This paper analyzes different trajectories followed by Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries with regard to feminization of the labor force. It uses accounting decomposition analysis for th...
The Politics of Barbie’s Curvy New Body: Marketing Mattel’s Fashionistas Line

In 2016, Mattel released a Fashionistas Barbie line with diverse skin tones, hair styles, body shapes, and fashion-forward attire. The line’s inclusion of a “curvy” body type made international headlines, including a Time magazine cover featuring a backlit curvy Barbie and the words: “‘Now can we stop talking about my body?’ What Barbie’s new shape says about American beauty.” This chapter examines factors precipitating the Fashionistas’ release, including decades of scholarship concerning Barbie and girls’ body images; years of declining Barbie sales; and successful indie-brands dolls (like Lottie and Lammily) with more realistic body shapes. Informed by feminist scholarship, this chapter interrogates and problematizes Mattel’s marketing and reception surrounding the Fashionistas’ launch, including Mattel’s emphasis on body type and de-emphasis on the line’s racial and ethnic diversity; Mattel’s reliance upon public relations tactics to appeal to reluctant parents; and the press’ mix of praise for Mattel’s promotion of body positivity, criticisms that Mattel overstated the change represented by curvy Barbie’s still-slender, U.S.-size-four body type, and condemnation of Mattel for allegedly pandering to liberals and feminists to create a doll that conservative critics perceived as fat.
Impact of CYP3A5 Phenotype on Tacrolimus Time in Therapeutic Range and Clinical Outcomes in Pediatric Renal and Heart Transplant Recipients.

STUDY OBJECTIVE This study investigated the effect of CYP3A5 phenotype on time in therapeutic range (TTR) of tacrolimus post-transplant in pediatric patients. DESIGN AND DATA SOURCE This retrospective study assessed medical records of pediatric kidney and heart recipients with available CYP3A5 genotype for tacrolimus dosing, troughs, and the clinical events (biopsy-proven acute rejection [BPAR] and de novo donor-specific antibodies [dnDSA]). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS The primary outcome, mean TTR in the first 90 days post-transplant, was 9.0% (95% CI: -16.1, -1.9) lower in CYP3A5 expressers (p = 0.014) when adjusting for time to therapeutic concentration and organ type. There was no difference between CYP3A5 phenotypes in time to the first clinical event using TTR during the first 90 days. When applying TTR over the first year, there was a significant difference in event-free survival (EFS) which was 50.0% for CYP3A5 expressers/TTR < 35%, 45.5% for expressers/TTR ≥ 35%, 38.1% for nonexpressers/TTR < 35%, and 72.9% for nonexpressers/TTR ≥ 35% (log-rank p = 0.03). A post hoc analysis of EFS identified CYP3A5 expressers had lower EFS compared to nonexpressers in patients with TTR ≥ 35% (p = 0.04) but no difference among patients with TTR < 35% (p = 0.6). CONCLUSIONS The relationship between TTR and CYP3A5 phenotype suggests that achieving a TTR ≥ 35% during the first year may be a modifiable factor to attenuate the risk of BPAR and dnDSA.
A Framework for Classifying Replication Studies in Educational Technologies Research

Replicating research studies is considered one way of establishing validity and confidence of findings in a field of study. In this paper, we introduce a replication framework for classifying studies conducted in the area of educational technology as a possible guide to conducting and reporting replication studies in the field. The paper includes the benefits as well as challenges of replicating research, and proposes a categorical continuum that might be used to determine the strength of the replication of a study. Examples of replication studies and how they fit the framework are included. Implications for using this framework for conducting studies that are worthy of replication in the field of educational technology are addressed in this paper.
Welfare and quality of life assessments for shelter dogs: A scoping review

Abstract The aim of this scoping review was to consolidate information pertaining to welfare and quality of life assessments of shelter dogs. Specific objectives were to identify and characterize types of welfare assessment instruments, discuss circumstances where welfare and quality of life assessments are used, and identify research gaps. A comprehensive search strategy was implemented in five databases. Literature published globally between the years 2000 and 2020 was identified using specific search terms. Abstracts and full papers were screened, relevant articles obtained, and welfare assessment methods characterized. Of 670 unique citations identified, 43 met the inclusion criteria of including a welfare or quality of life assessment for shelter dogs. There were 16 different assessment tools used to evaluate welfare and quality of life in shelter dogs. Ethogram-based assessment tools, five of which were validated, were used in 37 publications. Physiological based assessment methods were used to assess welfare in 26 publications. Overall, assessment tools were used to either evaluate a dog’s acclimation to the shelter environment or evaluate welfare interventions. Several validated tools were identified that could be useful to shelters depending on need. The Multi-Operator Qualitative Behavioral Assessment and the Quality of Life Assessment are tools allowing for quick welfare assessments by shelter staff, while the Shelter Quality Protocol and the Shelter Quality Protocol 2 are more comprehensive welfare assessments, which require some experience or training in shelter management. The review identified few papers that evaluated the effects of chronic stress on dogs housed in a shelter environment long-term. Therefore, welfare of these dogs should be a priority for future studies. The range of assessment methods underscores the complexity of evaluating welfare and quality of life in different types of sheltering environments.
The impact of BMI on morbidity and mortality after femoral fractures

Femur fractures are the result of high energy injury and are associated with life-threatening complications. Therefore, we studied how body mass index (BMI) contributes to complications after femoral fractures. Using the 2016 American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program (ACS TQIP) database, we stratified 41,362 patients into groups based on their BMI: Normal Weight (NW), Overweight (OW), Obese (OB), Severely Obese (SO), and Morbidly Obese (MO). We compared each BMI group to the NW cohort for differences in demographic factors, comorbidities, complications, and mechanism of injury. OB, SO, and MO patients sustained higher rates of traumatic injury from high energy mechanisms, such as motor vehicle trauma, in comparison to NW patients, who sustained more injuries from falls (p < 0.05). Correspondingly, obese patients were more likely than NW patients to sustain shaft and distal end fractures (p < 0.05). At hospital admission, obese patients presented with more comorbidities, such as bleeding disorders, congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension (p < 0.05). Despite these individual findings, patients with OB, SO, and MO BMI, as opposed to NW BMI, were independently associated with a higher probability of developing at least one post-trauma complication. More specifically, MO patients were associated with a 45% higher odds of developing a complication (p < 0.05). Irrespective of presenting with more comorbidities and sustaining high energy injuries, OB, SO, and MO patients were independently associated with having a higher risk of developing complications following a femoral fracture. Overall, better clinical outcomes are observed among patients with no underlying conditions and normal BMI.
The Use of Social Media as an Instructional Tool to Increase Marketing

The technological revolution of the past two decades has changed communication in contemporary higher education settings. Consequently, there is now a wide gulf between the unlimited use of technology and higher education, particularly with respect to digital communications and the rapid increase in the use of social media in instructional applications. Technology offers college students an array of options to socialize, network, stay informed and connected, but technology proficiency may not be the same for instructors. As social media use by students becomes more established, educators in higher education are pursuing methods to parlay expertise in instruction to advertise and market higher education institutions. Can social media be used in higher education to improve learning through student and faculty collaboration, and just as importantly can the use of social media be used as a recruiting tool for higher education institutions?
Asymmetric Homogeneous Hydrogenation

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews asymmetric homogeneoug hydrogenation reactions—that is, reactions that create asymmetric carbon atoms by the addition of hydrogen across multiple bonds under the influence of soluble chiral catalysts. The heart of an asymmetric synthesis is a reaction in which an achiral unit in an ensemble of substrate molecules is converted into a chiral unit in such a manner that the stereoisomeric products are obtained in unequal amounts. There are two common ways to accomplish an asymmetric reaction. Either a second chiral center is created in a molecule under the influence of an existing chiral center in that molecule or a chiral reagent acts on a prochiral substrate to create a new chiral center. There are a many catalytically active achiral systems that can be modified by the incorporation of chiral ligands to produce catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation and other chiral reactions.
Systematically Dissecting the Global Mechanism of miRNA Functions in Stem Cells

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) critically modulate stem cell pluripotency, but the fundamental mechanism remains largely unknown. This study systematically reveals the global mechanism of miRNA functions in mouse stem cells by analyzing genome-wide physical interactions between miRNAs and their targets. Generally, miRNAs primarily repress developmental processes, but surprisingly the top up-regulated miRNAs do not directly target the pluripotent core factors as thought; they only target the signal pathways associated with pluripotency. This suggests that the most important miRNAs in stem cells may only indirectly regulate the pluripotency. Interestingly, miRNAs predominately target and repress DNA methyltransferases, the core enzymes for DNA methylation, and decreasing methylation in turn activates the top miRNAs. This system-wide circuit between up-regulated miRNAs and the repressed DNA methylation system eventually activates the pluripotent core factors for pluripotency. Therefore, miRNAs systematically repress development and inhibit the epigenetic system to dynamically modulate stem cell pluripotency.
Volunteer computing on clusters

Clusters typically represent a homogeneous, well maintained pool of high-end computation resources. This makes them particularly attractive for volunteer computing, where unused compute cycles are utilized for scientific guest applications. Cluster nodes are not idle as often as public PCs, but they are frequently underutilized while actively executing parallel applications. Hence, fully exploiting clusters for volunteer computing requires the ability to efficiently and invisibly steal the unused cycles at a fine grain from the currently running host applications, without slowing them down. In this paper we present measurements on a production compute cluster that show long periods of CPU and memory underutilization patterns that could be used to execute guest applications. In our experiments with NAS benchmarks on a small Linux cluster, cycle stealing led to a 3.6% average slowdown of host applications in the best case. This was accompanied by an overall improvement in the system throughput of 38%, when progress of the guest applications was included. We introduce simple guidelines on using clusters for volunteer computing. We also argue for the support of "zero priority" processes in OS schedulers which could virtually eliminate the impact of volunteer computing on host applications.
Design and analysis of neuromemristive echo state networks with limited-precision synapses

Echo state networks (ESNs) are gaining popularity as a method for recognizing patterns in time series data. ESNs are random, recurrent neural network topologies that are able to integrate temporal data over short time windows by operating on the edge of chaos. In this paper, we explore the design of a hardware ESN with bi-stable memristor-based synapses. Hybrid CMOS/memristor hardware implementations of ESNs are able to exploit non-linear device physics, improving power consumption, and boosting performance over software approaches. However, the digital nature of most experimental memristors places a limit on the precision of weight states in the ESN's readout layer. In spite of this, we show that ESNs with only 5 different readout layer weight states can acheive 67% accuracy in spoken digit recognition tasks.
Daoism and Feminism: Identity through Life Stories of Chinese Immigrant Women

This paper was originally presented at American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2008 Conference held at New York. Observing the conservative trend in feminist identity in teacher education classrooms in U.S.A. as well as internationally, I inquire about a few Chinese immigrant women life experiences in modern China and during their early years of immigration to Canada. Situating these individual’s life stories in particular cultural and historical moments, I explore gender expectations of them and roles they played. The details of these women’s lives, revealed a Daoist interplay between the traditional male and female identities. Following the Daoist thinking, I propose a Daoist gender identity that interplays between dimorphism and polymorphism.
A prospective study of hearing preservation in untreated vestibular schwannomas.

Object The authors previously published a systematic review of the English language literature regarding the natural history of untreated vestibular schwannomas (VSs). This analysis found that the best predictor of future hearing loss was tumor growth > 2.5 mm/year on serial imaging, a factor that doubled the rate of hearing loss. In this paper the authors present an analysis of prospectively collected outcomes in patients with untreated VS from their institution that confirms their previous findings. Methods Clinical, radiographic, and audiometric data for all patients evaluated for VS at the authors' institution over a 22-year period were prospectively collected in a database. All patients in this database who had serviceable hearing (American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Grade A or B) on initial presentation were selected, and underwent serial observation. Magnetic resonance imaging and audiometric data were analyzed, and the time from presentation until hearing loss was analyzed usi...
The Influence of Hypoxia and pH on Bioluminescence Imaging of Luciferase-Transfected Tumor Cells and Xenografts

Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) is a relatively new noninvasive technology used for quantitative assessment of tumor growth and therapeutic effect in living animal models. BLI involves the generation of light by luciferase-expressing cells following administration of the substrate luciferin in the presence of oxygen and ATP. In the present study, the effects of hypoxia, hypoperfusion, and pH on BLI signal (BLS) intensity were evaluated in vitro using cultured cells and in vivo using a xenograft model in nude mice. The intensity of the BLS was significantly reduced in the presence of acute and chronic hypoxia. Changes in cell density, viability, and pH also affected BLS. Although BLI is a convenient non-invasive tool for tumor assessment, these factors should be considered when interpreting BLS intensity, especially in solid tumors that could be hypoxic due to rapid growth, inadequate blood supply, and/or treatment.
Mild head injury: facts and artifacts

While most would agree that mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with early neuropsychological problems, disagreement exists regarding their persistence and whether they are the cause of the disabilities experienced by some people. The aim of this study was to examine how the criteria used to define mild TBI and how the pre-injury characteristics of people affect their neuropsychological outcome. A total of 157 unselected hospitalized cases with Glasgow Coma Scale scores of 13-15 and 109 trauma controls were prospectively recruited and administered a number of cognitive measures at 1 month and 12 months after injury. The results indicated early impairments that decreased with time and the stringency of the definition of 'mild' TBI. The contribution of demographics was usually significant and often stronger than the mild TBI effect. Subtle variation of the demographics of the brain injured or the comparison subjects can be sufficient to mimic or mask mild brain injury effects.
Production of helium fragments in 197 Au-emulsion collisions at 10.6 A GeV

We present a systematic analysis on the helium projectile fragments produced from 10.6 A GeV197Auemulsion interactions in an experiment conducted at the Brookhaven AGS. Total charge changing and partial production cross-sections are measured experimentally on the basis of helium multiplicity. The multiplicity distribution of helium fragments which are produced collectively obey a KNO scaling. The transverse momentum distribution of these particles indicates that they are produced from two different independent sources.
Cyclin D1 is a bona fide target gene of NFATc1 and is sufficient in the mediation of injury-induced vascular wall remodeling.

Platelet-derived growth factor BB induced cyclin D1 expression in a time- and nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT)-dependent manner in human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs), and blockade of NFATs prevented HASMC DNA synthesis and their cell cycle progression from G1 to S phase. Selective inhibition of NFATc1 by its small interfering RNA also blocked HASMC proliferation and migration. Characterization of the cyclin D1 promoter revealed the presence of several NFAT binding sites, and the site at nucleotide −1333 was found to be sufficient in mediating platelet-derived growth factor BB-induced cyclin D1 promoter-luciferase reporter gene activity. In addition to its role in cell cycle progression, cyclin D1 mediated HASMC migration in an NFATc1-dependent manner. Balloon injury-induced cyclin D1-CDK4 activity requires NFAT activation, and adenovirus-mediated transduction of cyclin D1 was found to be sufficient to overcome the blockade effect of NFATs by VIVIT on balloon injury-induced vascular wall remodeling events, including smooth muscle cell migration from the medial to luminal region, their proliferation in the intimal region, and neointima formation. Together, these results provide more mechanistic evidence for the role of NFATs, particularly NFATc1, in the regulation of HASMC proliferation and migration as well as vascular wall remodeling. NFATc1 could be a potential therapeutic target against the renarrowing of artery after angioplasty.
Development of diamond-based X-ray detection for high-flux beamline diagnostics

High-quality single-crystal and polycrystalline chemical-vapor-deposition diamond detectors with platinum contacts have been tested at the white-beam X28C beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source under high-flux conditions. The voltage dependence of these devices has been measured under both DC and pulsed-bias conditions, establishing the presence or absence of photoconductive gain in each device. Linear response consistent with the theoretically determined ionization energy has been achieved over eleven orders of magnitude when combined with previous low-flux studies. Temporal measurements with single-crystal diamond detectors have resolved the nanosecond-scale pulse structures of both the NSLS and the APS. Prototype single-crystal quadrant detectors have provided the ability to simultaneously resolve the X-ray beam position and obtain a quantitative measurement of the flux.
Update on IBEX and the outer boundary of the space radiation environment

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission has been remotely observing the global interaction of our heliosphere with the local interstellar medium for over three years. Initially, IBEX generated the first all-sky maps of Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) emanating in from the boundaries of our heliosphere over the energy range from ∼0.1-6 keV. Using these observations, the IBEX team discovered a smoothly varying, globally distributed ENA flux overlaid by a narrow "ribbon" of significantly enhanced ENA emissions. Since the initial publication of these results in a special issue of Science magazine (November 2009), IBEX has completed five more energy-resolved sets of sky maps and discovered small but important time variations in the interaction, separated the ribbon from globally distributed ENA fluxes, measured the energy spectral shape and inferred ion source temperatures, and carried out many other observational and theoretical studies of the outer heliosphere. In a second major area of observations...
Inferior vena cava dissection following blunt abdominal trauma

Dissection of the inferior vena cava (IVC) is rare, with only a few published reports in the literature. It is usually associated with blunt abdominal injury or iatrogenic injury from a catheter manipulation. Venous dissections are rare due to lack of well-developed layers in the walls (intima, media and adventitia), low pressure in the venous system, and the absence of atherosclerotic changes. However, IVC dissection is associated with a high mortality rate due to the difficulty in diagnosis, technically difficult surgical repair, and associated solid organ injuries. We report a case of IVC dissection from a low-speed motor vehicle collision and discuss its imaging features.
Formulating Optimal Test Scheduling Problem with Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling

Various techniques for modern high performance designs, such as clock gating and dynamic voltage frequency scaling (DVFS), have been adapted to address power issues. This is a consequence of technology scaling and it is important and desirable to address reliability needs as well as economic issues. From a testing point of view, introduction of power constraints during testing is needed for the desired product quality and to avoid yield loss. Unlike designers who have often benefited from the design for test hardware introduced for testing, test engineers have rarely taken advantage of the extra hardware introduced to meet design needs. In this paper, we make use of the DVFS technology and its associated hardware to improve test economics. We formulate the power constrained testing problem as an optimization problem that makes use of DVFS technology. We show that we can obtain superior test schedules for both session-based and session less testing methods relative to existing and traditional methods of obtaining test schedules.
Impact of senior design project for the development of leadership and management skills in construction management

Senior design courses are a core part of curricula across engineering and technology disciplines. Such courses offer Construction Management (CMG) students the opportunity to bring together, assimilate and apply the knowledge they have acquired over their entire undergraduate academic programme to an applied technical project. Senior or Capstone design course engages students in a real-world project, enhance leadership development, and prepare to manage and lead project teams. The CMG programme's multidisciplinary approach at Alabama A&M University, combines essential components of construction techniques with concepts of business management to develop technically qualified individuals for responsible management roles in the design, construction and operation of major construction projects. This paper analyses the performance of the students and improvement due to the interaction with the faculty advisors and industrial panel during the two semester Capstone project. The results of this Capstone sequence ...
SR compartment calcium and cell apoptosis in SERCA overexpression.

Abstract The relationship between SR Ca2+ATPase (SERCA) activities, cell calcium level, SR calcium store and cell cycle events is not clearly understood. We studied SERCA overexpression in Cos cells using an adenovirus vector. Twofold increases in SERCA mRNA and in protein were correlated with a 2.3-fold and a 1.6-fold paralleled increase in SR calcium pump activity (R = 0.97 and R = 0.99 respectively). Dose-related apoptotic cell death was associated with SERCA overexpression (R = 0.92). When serum was reduced to 4%, cell apoptosis further increased from 20.7 ± 4.8% to 47.5 ± 12.9% (M±SD;P
Longitudinal assessment of parental satisfaction with children's psychiatric hospitalization.

Objective To examine trends over time in parents’ satisfaction with their children’s prior psychiatric hospitalization and whether such trends are related to postdischarge outcomes.
Coherent bremsstrahlung and channeling radiation from electrons of one to three MeV in silicon and gold

The observation of sharp peaks in the x-ray spectrum from 1 to 3 MeV electrons striking thin single crystals of silicon and gold is reported. These peaks were observed in the range 1 to 25 keV. The peaks are of two different origins, both direct results of the periodic nature of the target crystals. The first kind of radiation is caused by the interference of incoming and scattered electron wave functions. Because of the periodicity of the target material there is a coherence effect for certain bremsstrahlung wave vectors. This coherent bremsstrahlung, though well known at very high electron energies, has never been adequately studied at electron energies below several hundred MeV. Detailed agreement between theoretical prediction and observation in silicon is shown. The second kind of radiation is caused by electrons channeled along major crystal axes. The electrons enter certain quantized orbits as they channel and may emit photons as a consequence of transitions between the various orbits. Observations of channeling radiation for various crystal axes in silicon are presented. Both phenomena were observed in gold, the first such observation for any metallic target.
Polystyrene Microspheres: Inactive Supporting Material for Recycling and Recovering Colloidal Nanocatalysts in Solution

Alumina and silica have been the most commonly used solid supports in the recovery of colloidal nanocatalysts in solution. In order to avoid possible involvement of the support in the catalytic mec...
Substrate specificity of Rhbg: ammonium and methyl ammonium transport

Rhbg is a nonerythroid membrane glycoprotein belonging to the Rh antigen family. In the kidney, Rhbg is expressed at the basolateral membrane of intercalated cells of the distal nephron and is involved in NH4+ transport. We investigated the substrate specificity of Rhbg by comparing transport of NH3/NH4+ with that of methyl amine (hydrochloride) (MA/MA+), often used to replace NH3/NH4+, in oocytes expressing Rhbg. Methyl amine (HCl) in solution exists as neutral methyl amine (MA) in equilibrium with the protonated methyl ammonium (MA+). To assess transport, we used ion-selective microelectrodes and voltage-clamp experiments to measure NH3/NH4+- and MA/MA+-induced intracellular pH (pHi) changes and whole cell currents. Our data showed that in Rhbg oocytes, NH3/NH4+ caused an inward current and decrease in pHi consistent with electrogenic NH4+ transport. These changes were significantly larger than in H2O-injected oocytes. The NH3/NH4+-induced current was not inhibited in the presence of barium or in the absence of Na+. In Rhbg oocytes, MA/MA+ caused an inward current but an increase (rather than a decrease) in pHi. MA/MA+ did not cause any changes in H2O-injected oocytes. The MA/MA+-induced current and pHi increase were saturated at higher concentrations of MA/MA+. Amiloride inhibited MA/MA+-induced current and the increase in pHi in oocytes expressing Rhbg but had no effect on control oocytes. These results indicate that MA/MA+ is transported by Rhbg but differently than NH3/NH4+. The protonated MA+ is likely a direct substrate whose transport resembles that of NH4+. Transport of electroneutral MA is also enhanced by expression of Rhbg.
The Politics of the U.S. Economic Sanctions Against Iran

This article analyzes the circumstances under which the United States has enacted major sanctions against Iran since 1979. As such, it examines the 1979 U.S. freeze of the Iranian government's assets, the role of the sanctions in the “dual containment policy” of the United States in the 1980s, the role of Israel in formulating and implementing the sanctions policy of the United States in the 1990s, the concerted lobbying efforts of U.S. corporations to combat the sanctions, and the incoherent and inconsistent U.S. sanctions policy toward Iran that emerged in the late 1990s.
Abstract A61: Dissecting the molecular basis of Ewing's sarcoma metastasis

Ewing9s sarcoma family of tumors is a group of poorly differentiated malignant pediatric cancers of bone and soft tissue. About 25% of patients present with clinically detectable metastases. Despite aggressive therapy, little improvement has been seen in patients with metastatic disease due to the lack of understanding of the molecular pathways that regulate its spread. There has been immunohistologic and gene expression profiling analyses indicating a striking similarity between Ewing9s sarcoma and fetal and neuronal tissues. We hypothesize that a group of genes that regulate a specialized group of embryonic stem cells (neural crest cells) are reactivated to allow Ewing9s sarcoma cells to metastasize. We examined primary human Ewing9s sarcoma samples to detect the expression of one of those genes, the Twist1 transcription factor. Twenty Ewing9s sarcoma samples were strongly positive for Ewing9s sarcoma marker CD99, confirming the correct tumor type. Interestingly 88% (8/11) of metastatic Ewing9s sarcoma patients had strong nuclear staining of Twist1 by immunohistochemistry (IHC). In contrast, only 17% (1/6) of non-metastatic tumor samples showed positive Twist1 signals, thus indicating that expression of Twist1 is tightly associated with metastasis in Ewing9s sarcoma (P In summary, these results suggest that reactivation of the neural crest migration program through Twist1 plays a critical role in promoting metastasis in Ewing9s sarcoma. Functional studies on the role of Twist1 and PDGFRα in Ewing9s sarcoma metastasis are ongoing and may lead to targeted therapies against this unique developmental pathway to combat Ewing9s sarcoma metastasis. Citation Format: Sun Choo, Jing Yang. Dissecting the molecular basis of Ewing9s sarcoma metastasis. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pediatric Cancer at the Crossroads: Translating Discovery into Improved Outcomes; Nov 3-6, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;74(20 Suppl):Abstract nr A61.
Effects of an inhaled β2-agonist on cardiovascular function and sympathetic activity in healthy subjects.

Study Objective. To determine the effect of a short-acting, inhaled β2-adrenergic receptor agonist, albuterol sulfate, administered by nebulization, on cardiovascular function and sympathetic activity in healthy individuals. Design. Prospective, placebo-controlled, single-blind, crossover study. Setting. University research center. Subjects. Seventeen healthy subjects. Intervention. After a screening visit to rule out cardiovascular abnormalities and anemia, each subject participated in two more separate visits. At the second visit, they were administered a single dose of either nebulized albuterol sulfate 2.5 mg diluted in 3 ml of normal saline or placebo (3 ml of normal saline). One week later, subjects returned for their third visit and received the other treatment. Measurements and Main Results. At the two study visits, before and 30, 60, and 90 minutes after administration of albuterol or placebo, we measured plasma catecholamine levels (epinephrine and norepinephrine), cardiac output, heart rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and we calculated stroke volume, mean arterial pressure, and systemic vascular resistance (SVR). Inhaled placebo resulted in no significant change overall in any of the measured or calculated cardiovascular parameters. Compared with baseline values, albuterol administration after 30, 60, and 90 minutes, increased cardiac output (mean ± SD 4.2 ± 1.1, 4.4 ± 1.3, and 4.3 ± 1.1 L/min, respectively, vs 3.6 ± 1.0 L/min) and stroke volume (51 ± 15, 56 ± 14, and 56 ± 13 ml, respectively, vs 46 ± 12 ml), did not significantly change blood pressure, and decreased SVR (1401 ± 432, 1393 ± 424, and 1384 ± 391 dynes ·sec/cm5, respectively, vs 1661 ± 453 dynes ·sec/cm5) (p<0.05 for all comparisons). Heart rate was significantly changed with both albuterol and placebo, but only at 30 minutes after treatment. Albuterol, but not placebo, also increased plasma norepinephrine levels. Conclusion. In these healthy subjects, administration of a nebulized β2-agonist resulted in enhanced ventricular function and a decrease in SVR, suggesting peripheral vasodilation. In addition, the increase in norepinephrine level with albuterol, but not placebo, may have important implications in patients with known cardiovascular disease.
Olfactory discrimination of urinary odortypes from congenic strains (DBA/1Bg and DBA1.C57BL10-YBg) of mice differing in their Y chromosomes

Differential effects of one or more genes in the nonpseudoautosomal region of the DBA1 and C57BL10 Y chromosomes on offensive attack may be mediated, at least in part, by differential effects of this Y chromosomal gene(s) on the sending and receiving of discriminable urinary odortypes. This hypothesis is based, in part, on the report that urine from a pair of Y chromosomal congenic strains (C57BL6.AKR-Y and C57BL6) of mice can be discriminated in a Y maze test. The AKR and C57BL6 Y chromosomes come from two distinct species of mouse (Mus domesticus andMus musculus, respectively). Thus, this Y chromosomal variant exists between mouse species. The DBA1 and C57BL10 Y chromosomes come from a single species,Mus musculus. Here we show that in the Y maze system previously used, urine from mice with the DBA1 and with the C57BL10 Y chromosomes can also be discriminated. Thus, there are discriminable urinary odortypes for this pair of Y chromosomes from the same species,Mus musculus.
Propagation in two-dimensional random media: log-amplitude covariance and the simulation of atmospheric propagation using two-dimensional calculations

The theory of saturation of scintillation for log-amplitude covariance is derived for a two-dimensional (2D) random medium in order to facilitate theoretical comparison of the extended Huygens–Fresnel formulation with 2D numerical solutions of the fourth-moment equation. It is shown that 2D propagation calculations can simulate three-dimensional (3D) propagation if the 2D spectrum of refractive-index fluctuations is chosen to be proportional to its 3D counterpart multiplied by the spatial wave number. The distinction between propagation that results with Gaussian-type versus atmospheric-power-law-type refractive-index spectra is emphasized.
The development of clinical reasoning and interprofessional behaviors: service-learning at a student-run free clinic.

AbstractThis article examines the benefits of a student run free clinic (SRFC) as a service learning experience for students in medicine, pharmacy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and physician assistant programs. We hypothesized that students who participate in an interprofessional service learning course and volunteer at a SRFC would demonstrate significant increases in perceptions and attitudes for working in interprofessional health care teams and clinical reasoning skills compared to students who did not participate. Three assessments were administered to an experimental and control group of pre-clinical students from medical, occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy and physician assistant programs before and after participation in an interprofessional service-learning course and volunteering at the SRFC. The tools were the Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS), Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and the Self-Assessment of Clinical Reflection and Reas...