cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Primary Prevention: Looking for a Middle Ground

When I read the debate by Dr. Albee, Goldston, Lamb, and Zusman regarding the validity of primary prevention in mental health I had a feeling of "deja vu" for another series of famous debates; the Carl Rogers (humanists~ versus B.F. Skinner (behavioristl debates. In those debates and in this one, both sides were forced into a polarized stance and there seemed to be one side that was soft and fuzzy (humanist and pro-prevention} and the other side hardnosed (behavioralist and antiprevention}. Today the boundaries between humanistic and behavioral therapies are quite overlapping and I sincerely hope for the welfare of our country, that this debate over prevention will also be settled by finding a middle ground. What is this middle ground? It appears to be full support for accountable programs to prevent and/or attenuate the development of mental illness. Dr. Lamb, while rightfully noting the primitive state of prevention research, seemed to ignore the fact that at present mental health professionals are also not able to cure mental illness. Even programs that are aimed at secondary and tertiary prevention (rehabilitation) have limited success. So since we can't cure mental illness, we'd be best off putting more research and program effort into prevention. However, the middle ground is not an unqualified endorsement of primary prevention such as Dr. Albee offered. The debate raised many of the issues about the scope of primary prevention, the role of mental health professionals and federal involvement in funding. Less clearly developed were two areas of concern which need to be carefully addressed before realistic prevention efforts can be developed. One concern is the need for a more comprehensive model of mental health and mental health services; the second concern is the need for accountability in prevention research projects.
Performance of MSK spread spectrum systems

An exact expression for the processing gain of a direct sequence spread spectrum communication system using MSK spreading is derived. This extends previous results for systems using QPSK spreading.
Alcohol Consumption, Cigarette Smoking, and Risk of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking were evaluated in relation to development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) among 29,386 members of the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Men who were 40-75 years old in 1986 and free of prior BPH surgery, diagnosed cancer at baseline, and prostate cancer at baseline and during follow-up were followed for incidence of BPH surgery from 1986 to 1994. Cases were men who reported BPH surgery between 1986 and 1994 (n = 1,813) or who scored > or = 15 points of 35 on seven lower urinary tract symptom questions modified from the American Urological Association symptom index in 1992 and 1994 (n = 1,786); noncases were men who scored or = 50.1 g/day vs. 0: OR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.57-0.90). Current cigarette smoking was positively related to total BPH only among those who smoked 35 or more cigarettes/day (compared with never smokers: OR = 1.45, 95% CI 1.07-1.97). These findings suggest that moderate alcohol consumption and avoidance of smoking may benefit BPH.
G-CSF and AMD3100 Mobilize Monocytes into the Blood that Stimulate Angiogenesis In Vivo Through a Paracrine Mechanism

There is compelling evidence that circulating angiogenic cells exist that are able to home to sites of vascular injury and stimulate angiogenesis. However, the number of angiogenic cells in the blood is low, limiting their delivery to sites of ischemia. Treatment with certain cytokines may mobilize angiogenic cells into the blood, potentially circumventing this limitation. Herein, we show that treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) or AMD3100, a novel CXCR4 antagonist, significantly stimulated angiogenesis in a murine model of acute hindlimb ischemia. The kinetics of angiogenic-cell mobilization by these agents appears to be distinct, with more rapid revascularization observed in AMD3100-treated mice. Combination treatment with G-CSF and AMD3100 resulted in the earliest and most complete recovery in blood flow to the ischemic hindlimb. Adoptive transfer of mobilized blood mononuclear cells, while potently stimulating angiogenesis, did not result in the significant incorporation of donor cells into the neoendothelium. Cell-fractionation studies showed that it is the monocyte population in the blood that mediates angiogenesis in this model. Collectively, these data suggest that monocytes mobilized into the blood by G-CSF or AMD3100 stimulate angiogenesis at sites of ischemia through a paracrine mechanism.
Lower bounds for the scalar curvatures of noncompact gradient Ricci solitons

Abstract We show that recent work of Ni and Wilking (in preparation) [11] yields the result that a noncompact nonflat Ricci shrinker has at most quadratic scalar curvature decay. The examples of noncompact Kahler–Ricci shrinkers by Feldman, Ilmanen, and Knopf (2003) [7] exhibit that this result is sharp. We also prove a similar result for certain noncompact steady gradient Ricci solitons.
Alleviation of Salinity Stress in Kentucky Bluegrass by Plant Growth Regulators and Iron

In many areas, nonpotable water is relegated for turfgrass irrigation. This research is conducted to determine if exogenous applications of selected substances to turfgrass could reduce the effects of saline irrigation. Field and greenhouse experiments investigated the effect of seaweed extracts, triazole fungicides, and Fe on Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L. cv. Plush) grown under various levels of salinity. In Exp. 1, Kentucky bluegrass was treated with a proprietory seaweed extract (SE) at 38 L ha -1 , propiconazole [1-{2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-propyl-1,3-dioxolan-2-yl}methyl-1-H-1,2,4-triazole] (PPC) at 1.8 L active ingredient (a.i.) ha -1 , and chelated Fe (Na-diethylene-triaminepentaacetate-chelated Fe) at 4.7 kg a.i. ha -1
The rheumatic poison: a survey of some published investigations of the immunopathogenesis of Henoch-Schönlein purpura

Laboratory studies of the pathophysiology of Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) have become more numerous in recent years with the recognition of the disease's links with the mucosal immune system in general and IgA nephropathy in particular. There are weak genetic associations with C4 null phenotypes and with HLA B35 and DR4. Studies of plasma proteins in HSP patients show an increased IgA concentration, activation of the alternative pathway of complement and consumption of factor XIII. High molecular weight (polymeric) IgA has been detected in affected individuals, which some investigators have called “immune complexes”. Many patients synthesise an IgA rheumatoid factor in the acute phase, but other autoantibodies are largely absent. In vitro studies of lymphocytes from HSP patients have demonstrated an increased number of IgA-bearing and secreting B-cells, with altered T-cell regulation of antibody synthesis. While these observations point to immune dysregulation — primarily of IgA production — as a consistent feature of acute HSP, there is as yet insufficient information available to allow a consistent theory of pathogenesis to be formulated.
Sex and Gender in an American State School (1951–1987): The Willowbrook Class

Historical studies have explored the regulations and restrictions in institutions. It was the belief that males and females were sex-segregated in institutions in order to control and prohibit any sexual relations and to enforce societal gender norms. This study tested this hypothesis with the Willowbrook State School as a case study. We searched the Willowbrook State School News Clippings Collection, the New York Times archives, the archives of the Staten Island Advance, various movies and television shows, and other published material for evidence of the regulation of gender and sexuality at the school. In addition, eight former employees were interviewed for their oral histories of life at Willowbrook. While historians have proposed that institutions like Willowbrook served to regulate and control gender and sexuality, Willowbrook failed at doing both. Although segregation of the sexes in modern institutions decreased heterosexual encounters, in the postmodern Willowbrook institution, homo- and autosexuality were both prevalent. Moreover, sex between patients, between patients and staff or community members, was widely acknowledged. While the institution tried to enforce gender norms, in one case as a cure for developmental delay, the residents at the school were dehumanized beyond any societal rules such as gender.
A Robust Hα Control Method for Analyzing the Bullwhip Effect of the Reverse Logistics Supply Chain

A dynamic model of the reverse logistics supply chain is built, which based on two types of inventories: the actual product inventory in a manufacturer and a retailer and the virtual inventory used by a customer. Applying the variance fluctuation, the bullwhip effect in the reverse logistics is quantified. To reduce bullwhip effect, an Hinfin control strategy is designed in the worse case of the end customer's demand fluctuation. The simulation experiment shows that the existence of the reverse logistics increases the bullwhip effect and the more the remanufacturing rate and the gratuitous return rate are large, the more the bullwhip effect is large; And the bullwhip effect in the system is reduced assuredly by the Hinfin control strategy
Spectrum sharing policies for heterogeneous delay-sensitive users: A novel design framework

We develop a novel design framework for spectrum sharing among distributed users with heterogeneous delay-sensitivity (e.g. users with video streaming that requires low delay, and users with video conferencing that requires very low delay). Most existing spectrum sharing policies are stationary, i.e. users transmit at constant power levels simultaneously. Under stationary policies, the users have low throughput due to the strong interference from each other. Nonstationary spectrum sharing policies, which allow users to transmit at time-varying power levels, can significantly improve the spectrum efficiency. The most well-known and simple nonstationary policy is the round-robin TDMA (time-division multiple access) policy, in which the users access the spectrum in turn. Although the round-robin TDMA policy increases the spectrum efficiency by eliminating multi-user interference, it is suboptimal in terms of quality of experience for delay-sensitive users, especially when they have heterogeneous delay-sensitivity. This is because the round-robin TDMA policy allocates the users' transmission opportunities in a predetermined order such that they have (roughly) the same amount of transmission opportunities in any duration of time. However, some users may have earlier deadlines and need more transmission opportunities early on, while some can wait until later. This heterogeneity in delay-sensitivity is not considered in the round-robin TDMA policy. In this paper, we propose nonstationary policies that allocate the transmission opportunities based on the users' delay-sensitivity and their past deadline-abiding transmissions. As we will see, the optimal policy is not cyclic at all as is the round-robin TDMA policy. We also propose a low-complexity algorithm, which can be run by each user in a distributed manner, to construct the optimal nonstationary policy. Simulation results validate our analytical results and quantify the performance gains enabled by the proposed policies.
Detection of Advanced Neoplasia with FIT Versus Flexible Sigmoidoscopy Versus Colonoscopy: More Is More.

Flexible sigmoidoscopy visualizes the rectum and the sigmoid colon and, at times, the descending colon and even the splenic flexure. Unlike colonoscopy, it does not permit inspection of the entire transverse and the right colon. As a result, the efficacy of flexible sigmoidoscopy in preventing colorectal cancer in the proximal colon is dependent on identifying abnormalities in the distal colon, which will predict neoplasia in the proximal colon. Individuals with a negative flexible sigmoidoscopy do not go on to colonoscopy, so subjects with isolated proximal neoplasia are not detected and flexible sigmoidoscopy cannot prevent colorectal cancer in that circumstance.
Optimal Path Planning with a Kinematic Airplane Model

O PTIMAL path planning is an important problem for robotics and unmanned vehicles. This note describes a method for finding the minimum-time path from an initial position and orientation to a final position and orientation in the two-dimensional plane for an airplane with a bounded turning rate in the presence of a constant wind [1]. This problem was first solved in the no-wind case by Dubins using geometric arguments [2]. Reeds and Shepp extended this result for a vehicle that could reverse its direction [3]. Boissonnat et al. later reproduced the Dubins and Reeds–Shepp results using optimal control methods [4]. These results have also been used for higher-level path planning through multiple points [5,6] and to travel around obstacles [7,8]. The kinematic model assumes a constant velocity airplane traveling in a known constant wind with a magnitude less than the airplane velocity. The control input of the airplane is the turning rate, which is assumed to be bounded. By normalizing the position of the airplane x; y so that the velocity is 1 and defining the orientation with respect to the direction of the wind, the equations of motion can be expressed as
Familial Hyperaldosteronism Type II: Identification of Potential Disease Loci Using Linkage Analysis

Familial Hyperaldosteronism Type II: Identification of Potential Disease Loci Using Linkage Analysis
Onychomatricoma: a case report with literature review.

Onychomatricoma (OM) is a fibroepithelial tumor of nail matrix that occurs in the digits of both the hands and feet. This was first reported by Baran and Kint. They initially described 3 cases, all of which demonstrated a filamentous tumor of matrix tissue that resulted in a thickened funnel-shaped nail. Although apparently benign, it is subject to recurrence, and long-term follow-up is recommended because it is not known whether there is a conversion to malignancy. Even though this neoplasm was first described more than 18 years ago, there remains a dearth of case reports (currently fewer than 50) in the literature. This is a single case report and literature review. Levels of Evidence : Therapeutic, Level IV.
Assessing Interrater Influence in Holocultural Research A Methodological Note

We draw attention here to the potential bias of interrater influence in holocultural research. We suggest a procedure for assessing quantitatively the significance of interrater influence in various types of research-especially holocultural research-where two independent raters code behavioral data.
Structure of Hydrated Poly(d,l-lactic acid) Studied with X-ray Diffraction and Molecular Simulation Methods

The effect of hydration on the molecular structure of amorphous poly(d,l-lactic acid) (PDLLA) with 50:50 L-to-D ratio has been studied by combining experiments with molecular simulations. X-ray diffraction measurements revealed significant changes upon hydration in the structure functions of the copolymer. Large changes in the structure functions at ∼10 days of incubation coincided with the large increase in the water uptake from ∼1 to ∼40% and the formation of voids in the film. Computer modeling based on the recently developed TIGER2/TIGER3 mixed sampling scheme was used to interpret these changes by efficiently equilibrating both dry and hydrated models of PDLLA. Realistic models of bulk amorphous PDLLA structure were generated as demonstrated by close agreement between the calculated and the experimental structure functions. These molecular simulations were used to identify the interactions between water and the polymer at the atomic level including the change of positional order between atoms in the ...
Blastic transformation of mantle cell lymphoma.

![Figure][1] A 59-year-old male was diagnosed with stage IVB mantle cell lymphoma after presenting with night sweats and thrombocytopenia, generalized lymphadenopathy, and splenomegaly. He also had gastrointestinal and bone marrow involvement and multiple sites of osseous disease. The white
The crayfish second antennae. II—motoneuron structure as revealed by cobalt chloride backfilling

Abstract 1. 1. The location of both the crayfish antennal motoneuron somata, and dendrites were determined using a cobalt chloride backfilling technique. The cobalt technique is especially useful in analysing unstructured neuropile. 2. 2. The antennal motoneuron somata (AMS) occur in several distinct regions of the brain. A majority of the somata belong to the angular cell group (Helm, 1928) located posterio-laterally in the tritocerebrum. Another prominent group of AMS form an extension of Helm's superior, lateral cell group. 3. 3. Most of these cells occur over the posterio-medial portion of the accessory neuropile, with a few cells located along the medial edge of the accessory neuropile. One cell body is located between the circumesophageal connectives. 4. 4. All the motoneurons are unipolar, with the somata being located ipsilaterally and dorsally in the brain. Most of the somata are 40 μm long by 30 μm wide. 5. 5. The antennal motoneuron dendrites form a dorsal, diffuse motoneuron neuropile that overlies the medial portion of the antennal neuropile and the lateral part of the tegumentary neuropile. 6. 6. The dendritic structure of individual motoneurons is highly complex. The motoneurons exhibit profuse branching, with primary, secondary and higher order branches being easily distinguished. 7. 7. In addition, there are alternating thick and thin diameter segments along the larger individual dendritic branches. 8. 8. The potential effects of this structural complexity on integration are discussed.
Impaired substrate oxidation in healthy elderly men after eccentric exercise.

The metabolic response to eccentric exercise in healthy older adults is unknown. Therefore, substrate metabolism was examined in the basal state and after sustained hyperglycemia (180 min, 10 mM) i...
Identifications and limited spectroscopy for Luyten common proper motion stars with probable white dwarf components. I - Pair brighter than 17th magnitude

Identifications are provided for 103 bright Luyten common proper motion (CPM) stellar systems with m(pg) less than 17.0 mag containing likely white dwarf (WD) components. New spectral types are presented for 55 components, and spectral types for 51 more are available in the literature. With the CPM systems previously published by Giclas et al. (1978), the Luyten stars provide a uniform sample of nearly 200 pairs or multiples brighter than 17h magnitude. Selection effects biasing the combined samples are discussed; in particular, evidence is presented that fewer than 1 percent of wide WD binaries have been detected.
Calcineurin, myocardial hypertrophy, and electrical remodeling

See article by Dong et al. [7] (pages 320–332) in this issue. The pathogenesis of cardiac ventricular hypertrophy (CVH), both compensated and that associated with cardiac dysfunction, has attracted a lot of attention and this field still continues to expand. This huge clinical and scientific interest is related to the fact that CVH has been identified as a powerful risk factor for total and cardiovascular mortality. Interestingly, the Framingham study also demonstrated that CVH significantly increases the risk of sudden cardiac death, both in men and in women [1]. Subsequent studies provided evidence that cardiac arrhythmias are an important mechanism contributing to the high mortality and sudden death in patients with CVH [2–4]. Not surprisingly, a lot of effort has been expended to characterize the electrophysiological phenotype and to elucidate the mechanisms of arrhythmias in CVH. New research tools have been provided with the advent of modern molecular biology techniques. Thus it is now possible to up- or down-regulate cardiac expression of various elements of intracellular signaling pathways in order to investigate their specific role in the process of myocardial normal growth as well as pathological remodeling. One such signaling pathway (although not the only one) is calcineurin-dependent activation of intracellular transcription factors. Calcineurin is an intracellular protein phosphatase regulated by Ca2+/calmodulin and activated by micromolar calcium concentrations [5]. Calcineurin and its downstream transcriptional effector NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T-cell) mediate cardiac hypertrophic responses initiated by increases in cytoplasmic calcium. Overexpression of calcineurin in mice has been previously shown to lead to extensive CVH, heart failure, and sudden death [6]. In the present issue of the Journal, Dong et al. [7] present new experimental data that shed some new light on the mechanisms of sudden death and cardiac electrophysiological remodeling in mice with … * Present address: Mayo Foundation, St. Mary's Hospital, DO-4-350, 1216 Second St. SW, Rochester, MN 55902, USA. Tel.: +1-507-255-1144; fax: +1-507-255-7070. wolk.robert{at}mayo.edu
TiO2 nanoparticles are phototoxic to marine phytoplankton.

Nanoparticulate titanium dioxide (TiO2) is highly photoactive, and its function as a photocatalyst drives much of the application demand for TiO2. Because TiO2 generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) when exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UVR), nanoparticulate TiO2 has been used in antibacterial coatings and wastewater disinfection, and has been investigated as an anti-cancer agent. Oxidative stress mediated by photoactive TiO2 is the likely mechanism of its toxicity, and experiments demonstrating cytotoxicity of TiO2 have used exposure to strong artificial sources of ultraviolet radiation (UVR). In vivo tests of TiO2 toxicity with aquatic organisms have typically shown low toxicity, and results across studies have been variable. No work has demonstrated that photoactivity causes environmental toxicity of TiO2 under natural levels of UVR. Here we show that relatively low levels of ultraviolet light, consistent with those found in nature, can induce toxicity of TiO2 nanoparticles to marine phytoplankton, the most important primary producers on Earth. No effect of TiO2 on phytoplankton was found in treatments where UV light was blocked. Under low intensity UVR, ROS in seawater increased with increasing nano-TiO2 concentration. These increases may lead to increased overall oxidative stress in seawater contaminated by TiO2, and cause decreased resiliency of marine ecosystems. Phototoxicity must be considered when evaluating environmental impacts of nanomaterials, many of which are photoactive.
Modeling of Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell for Syngas Generation with Detailed Surface Chemistry

Abstract A solid oxide electrolysis cell model for syngas generation is developed using a button cell test system as a physical base. The model coherently bridges the multi transport processes of charge, mass, momentum, and energy with detailed surface chemistry. The model is validated using experimental polarization curves. Upon the validation, extensive simulations are performed to elucidate surface electrolysis processes. Results indicate that the electrolysis processes of CO2 and H2O are pretty much independent with each other in the H2 electrode (electrolysis cathode). The carbon coking effect is mainly determined by the content of CO2 in the H2 electrode. Increasing the applied cell voltage may improve syngas production, it also causes the enhancement of the surface coverage of C(s) and the deposition of carbon on the surface of Ni catalyst. High operating temperature may effectively improve adsorption/desorption rate and enhance surface electrolysis process as well as potentially mitigate carbon deposition on Ni surface.
Empirical performance modeling for parallel weather prediction codes

Abstract Performance modeling for large industrial or scientific codes is of value for program tuning or for selection of new machines when benchmarking is not yet possible. We discuss an empirical method of estimating runtime for certain large parallel programs where computational work is estimated by regression functions based on measurements and time cost of communication is modeled by program analysis and benchmarks for communication primitives. The method is demonstrated with the local weather model (LM) of the German Weather Service (DWD) on SP-2, T3E, and SX-4. The method is an economic way of developing performance models because only a moderate number of measurements is required. The resulting model is sufficiently accurate even for very large test cases.
Impartial welfarism and the concept of a person

This paper examines some work in welfare economics based upon generalized social welfare function (GSWFs). Impartial welfarism consists in a set of apparently quite weak “moral” axioms concerning GSWFs. Using that framework, welfare economists have derived both utilitarian and Rawlsian doctrines. These results would seem to be of great importance to moral philosophy. I argue, however, that applying them presupposes a view of persons as mere place holders for preferences, thereby limiting the theorems' appeal for moral philosophers. I propose a more satisfactory view of impartial welfarism by replacing the term “person” by the more general “welfare recipient”, but this still fails to make the doctrine available to all moral philosophers.
Phorbol ester stimulation of fibronectin-mediated cell adhesion.

Summary Stimulation of Chinese hamstery ovary cells with 12-O-tetradecanoyl 13-acetate increases the rate of adhesion to fibronectin-coated substratum. The EC 50 of the phorbol ester that initiates the change in kinetics of adhesion is approximately 8nM and is specific to those phorbol esters which activate protein kinase C. When compared to control cells, cells stimulated with active phorbol esters require a significantly lower amount of fibronectin to support their adhesion, and exhibit 50% adhesion inhibition by a log-fold higher concentration of PB1, a monoclonal antibody which specifically blocks fibronectin-mediated adhesion. These results indicate that stimulation of cells with phorbol esters results in a modification of the fibronectin receptor leading to an apparent increase in the interaction of the receptor with fibronectin.
The Penn–Balassa–Samuelson effect through the lens of the dependent economy model ☆

Abstract The positive correlation between per capita income and cross-country price levels is called the “Penn–Balassa–Samuelson effect.” The most influential explanation of this effect centers around sectoral output productivities as the determinant of the relative price of nontraded goods. The interaction between the change in relative prices and the change in per capita income, the dynamic PBS effect, is less well known. This paper extends the Turnovsky and Sen (1995) model of a small open economy by adding external economies into the production function. The model's dynamics accord well with several features of the empirical data on the dynamic PBS effect.
Lifting the fog: maps and spatial information emerging as grey literature

Maps as a genre are not typically dealt with in the study of grey literature. The transformation of information from maps to spatial data could likely be omitted from discussions as well. The author argues for an approach that focuses not on product, but on content. Three types of grey map presentations are profiled: a series, the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) Open‐file Report series; a collection, the Long Island Sound Resource Center; and an annual publication, the Environmental Sciences Research Institute’s (ESRI) Map Book. Significant research issues are indicated.
A performance modeling scheme for multistage switch networks with phase-type and bursty traffic

Existing analytical methods to model multistage switch networks cannot be applied to the performance modeling of switch networks with phase-type and bursty traffic because of the problem of state-space explosion and unrealistic assumptions, e.g., uniform traffic and independent destination (UTID). This paper presents an approximate scheme to model and analyze such networks. First, a traffic aggregation technique is proposed to deal with phase-type and bursty traffic, including splitting and merging. For the aggregation of two bursty traffic, a closed-form solution is obtained for buffer state probabilities. For the aggregation of more bursty traffic, a recursive algorithm is derived in terms of the buffer size and number of inputs of a switch. Second, a switch decomposition technique is developed, by which the crossbar of a switch is decomposed from its preceding and succeeding buffers. In this way, a switch network of N inputs and outputs is converted to N tandem queues, for which the performance can be easily evaluated. Our extensive numerical and simulation examples have shown that the proposed scheme achieves satisfied accuracy and computational efficiency.
Silent Atrial Fibrillation: Definition, Clarification, and Unanswered Issues

Silent or subclinical asymptomatic atrial fibrillation has currently gained wide interest in the epidemiologic, neurologic and cardiovascular communities. The association of brief episodes of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation or surrogate atrial arrhythmias which predict future clinical adverse events have been established. Nevertheless there exists a confounding array of definitions to indicate its presence without discrete indication of which populations should be examined. Moreover the term "atrial fibrillation burden" (AFB) has emerged from such studies with a plethora of descriptions to prognosticate both arrhythmic and clinical adverse events. This presentation suggests clarification of diagnostic definitions associated with silent atrial fibrillation, and a more precise description of AFB. It examines the populations across the current disease and cardiovascular invasive therapeutic spectrum that lead to both silent atrial fibrillation and AFB. It describes the diagnostic methods of arrhythmia detection utilizing the surface ECG, subcutaneous ECG or intra-cardiac devices and their relationship in seeking meaningful arrhythmic markers of silent atrial fibrillation. Whereas a wide range of clinical risk factors of silent atrial fibrillation have been validated in the literature, there is an ongoing search for those arrhythmic risk factors that precisely identify and prognosticate outcome events in diverse populations at risk of atrial fibrillation and its complications. This presentation identifies this chaos, and focuses attention on the issues to be addressed to facilitate descriptive and comparative scientific studies in the future. It is a call to action specifically to the medical arrhythmic community and its specialty societies (i.e., ISHNE, HRS, EHRA) to begin a quest to unravel the arrhythmic quagmire associated with "silent atrial fibrillation."
Sports medicine and the adolescent female.

There is a general trend toward increased participation of females in sports and physical activity. Although women were banned from the first modern Olympic games in 1896 they comprised 35.1% of the participants by 1996. There were a few early pioneers including Olympic champions Charlotte Cooper and Mildred “Babe” Didrikson but WWII probably had greater influence on society’s acceptance of the female athlete. With men away at war the women were called upon to accomplish all types of physical tasks on the home front. The WWII depiction of “Rosie the Riveter” as well as the success of the All American Girl’s Baseball League redefined “appropriate” roles for women. The trend of increased female participation in athletics escalated in the last half of the twentieth century when in 1972 Title IX of the Educational Amendment Act allowed for equal access to all federally funded activities including school-sponsored sports. The 1980s saw a 700% increase in participation of women and girls in sports and another 50% increase was seen in the 90s. One in 27 high school girls participated in sports in 1972. This number increased to 1 in 3 by 1998 a 40% increase from 1988. Currently an estimated 30 million children and adolescents participate in organized sport each year in the United States. More and more research is revealing the tremendous benefits of exercise in young women but there are some increased concerns as well. Given the explosion of female athletic participation it is imperative that physicians understand not only the benefits but also the orthopedic and medical challenges that specifically apply to young women in sports. (excerpt)
Androgen Sterilization Produced by Intracerebral Implants of Testosterone in Neonatal Female Rats

To study the effects of intracerebral implantation of androgen in newborn female rats, 12 μg paraffin pellets, each containing 3 or 1 μg dissolved testosterone propionate (TP), were extruded bilaterally into the brains of 4-dayold female rats. Intact animals, rats receiving paraffin-TP pellets sc and rats with "blank" pellets devoid of TP in the brain served as controls. Rats treated with 10 μg TP in oil sc were included as reference groups. Hypothalamic paraffin-TP pellets at both dose levels significantly advanced vaginal opening. Moreover, 16/19 rats receiving 6 μg testosterone and 16/20 receiving 2 μg testosterone in the brain showed persistent vaginal estrus (PVE); 8/16 in the latter group showed PVE within 12 days after vaginal opening, whereas 8 developed PVE from 37 to 60 days after opening. These differences in delay in onset of PVE appeared to be related to site of placement of the pellets in the hypothalamus. Similar pellets placed sc abolished vaginal cyclicity in 7/15 rats (6 μg dose) and 4/1...
The Seismic Structure and Dynamics of the Mantle Wedge

Seismic imaging provides an opportunity to constrain mantle wedge processes associated with subduction, slab dehydration, arc volcanism, and backarc spreading. The mantle wedge is characterized by a low attenuation forearc, an inclined zone of low velocity and high attenuation underlying the volcanic front, and a broad region of low velocity and high attenuation beneath the backarc spreading center when present. Seismic velocities, bathymetry, and basalt chemistry suggest mantle temperature variations of ∼100°C between different backarc regions. Rock physics experiments and geodynamic modeling are essential for interpreting seismic observations. Seismic anisotropy indicates a complex pattern of mantle flow that can be modeled with along-strike flow in a low viscosity channel beneath the arc and backarc. Comparison of geodynamic models with seismic tomographic results using experimentally derived relations between velocity, attenuation, and temperature suggests the existence of small melt fractions in the ...
Understorey diversity in southern boreal forests is regulated by productivity and its indirect impacts on resource availability and heterogeneity

Summary 1. Understanding the relationship between species diversity and productivity is central to linking compositional and functional aspects of terrestrial ecosystems, and little is known about such issues in boreal forests. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) to test several hypotheses about direct and indirect influences of productivity, its correlate basal area, and resources on understorey vascular plant diversity on 2025 plots in 81 southern boreal forests in Minnesota, USA. 2. We first examined the hypothesis that increasing basal area reduces plot-scale species richness due to competitive exclusion from the most limiting resource, light. As expected, light pre-emption increased with total basal area, which directly reduced understorey species richness. However, complex relations between basal area, dominant understorey species, and resource supply to the understorey can also influence understorey communities. Hence, we addressed whether plots with low light availability in the understorey were associated with low abundance of dominant understorey species and alleviation of competitive exclusion of other understorey species. SEM results showed that low light decreased total understorey cover, alleviating resource competition from this stratum and thus increasing understorey species richness. Furthermore, the cover of four dominant understorey species was positively correlated with light availability and negatively correlated with plotscale species richness. 3. Aggregating data for the 25 plots at each stand, SEM showed that stand-scale species richness was positively influenced by light heterogeneity, which in turn increased with annual above-ground productivity. 4. Species richness was positively influenced by litter %N, considered an index of nitrogen availability at the plot and stand scale. 5. Synthesis. These results suggest that understorey species richness in boreal forests is regulated by productivity, but is primarily mediated by the indirect effects of productivity of the dominant producers on resource availability and heterogeneity.
Role of zirconia toughening in the abrasive wear of intermetallic and ceramic composites

Abstract In this study, the hardness, fracture toughness, and abrasive wear behavior of three zirconia-toughened MoSi2 composites and a zirconia-toughened Al2O3 were examined and compared with similar materials containing no zirconia second phases. Each of the composites contained 20 vol.% ZrO2; however, the polymorph of the added zirconia particles was varied to give composites with unstabilized, partially stabilized, and fully stabilized zirconia reinforcement. It was observed that the influence of zirconia toughening on the abrasive wear behavior depended upon the nature of the toughening mechanisms activated by the zirconia addition.
Complications of Intermittent Prone Positioning in Pediatric Patients Receiving Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Respiratory Failure

Study objective: To describe the safety and risks of placing pediatric patients in the prone position during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for the treatment of respiratory failure. Design: Single-center retrospective cohort study. Setting: Tertiary pediatric ICUs. Patients: All patients admitted to the pediatric ICU who required ECMO for respiratory failure from 1995 to 2000. Interventions: None. Measurements and results: Medical records for 93 patients representing 95 ECMO runs for treatment of respiratory failure were reviewed. Of these, 63 patients (66%) received intermittent prone positioning. Demographic data and clinical information were recorded. The median age was 12 months, and the median weight was 9.8 kg. There were 962 position changes. Complications surveyed for included bleeding from appliance insertion sites, appliance dislodgment, unplanned extubation, cutaneous pressure ulceration, corneal abrasion, and extreme hemodynamic instability. These complications were noted as to whether they were present prior to the initiation of prone positioning or whether they developed after prone positioning began. Twenty-four percent of patients had bleeding from cannulation sites prior to prone positioning, and 18% of patients had bleeding begin after prone positioning was initiated. Two patients had chest tubes dislodge after prone positioning began, but neither patient had bleeding occur or required reinsertion of the chest tube. There were no unplanned extubations, appliance displacements, development of cutaneous pressure ulcerations, or corneal abrasions associated with prone-positioning maneuvers. No patient had ECMO support removed secondary to the surveyed complications. Eighty-two percent of children who received prone positioning during ECMO for treatment of respiratory failure survived to hospital discharge. Conclusion: We found that prone positioning may be used in pediatric ECMO patients without increasing the risk of complications. A multi-institutional, prospective, randomized, controlled study would better evaluate the efficacy of this practice and whether it is associated with a shorter length of ECMO or shorter post-ECMO ventilation and outcome. (CHEST 2003; 123:1589 –1594)
Generalized eta and omega squared statistics: measures of effect size for some common research designs.

The editorial policies of several prominent educational and psychological journals require that researchers report some measure of effect size along with tests for statistical significance. In analysis of variance contexts, this requirement might be met by using eta squared or omega squared statistics. Current procedures for computing these measures of effect often do not consider the effect that design features of the study have on the size of these statistics. Because research-design features can have a large effect on the estimated proportion of explained variance, the use of partial eta or omega squared can be misleading. The present article provides formulas for computing generalized eta and omega squared statistics, which provide estimates of effect size that are comparable across a variet yo f research designs. It is often argued that researchers can enhance the presentation of their research findings by including an effect-size measure along with a test of statistical significance. An effect-size measure is a standardized index and estimates a parameter that is independent of sample size and quantifies the magnitude of the difference between populations or the relationship between explanatory and response variables. Two broad
Analysis and design of soft-error hardened latches

Soft errors are functional failures resulting from the latching of single-event transients (transient voltage fluctuations at a logic node or SETs) caused by high-energy particle strikes or electrical noise. Due to technology scaling and reduced supply voltages, they are expected to increase by several orders of magnitude in logic circuits. Both combinational and sequential logic circuits are expected to be affected. Many different latch designs to prevent soft errors due to particle strikes on the latch nodes have been proposed. We review these designs and compare them based on their robustness and their power and performance overheads. We also propose new latch designs, the best of which is vulnerable only to a single-event, multiple-upset without any delay overhead and consumes only 40% power of a standard latch. We expect this work will help designers to select latches for applications where soft error is an important design metric.
The Form and Substance of Secondary Resource Models: Content Area Versus Skill Instruction

The provision of core content coursework instruction by secondary learning disability (LD) teachers has increased dramatically in recent years. This article describes the results of a study that compared the perceptions of 48 LD content teachers and 45 basic skills teachers concerning (a) their relationship with the mainstream, (b) curricular structure, (c) instructional methodology, and (d) the behavioral characteristics of their students. Differences in the teachers' judgments were evaluated by t tests. Results indicated that, despite pronounced differences in caseloads and class sizes, the two groups are very similar in how they evaluate their instructional emphases. The data also indicate that the groups differ not so much in how they teach as in how they perceive their interactions and their students' with the mainstream.
Le développement empirique de la psychothérapie focalisée sur le transfert

L’auteur retrace les etapes d’elaboration de la psychotherapie focalisee sur le transfert : choix d’un modele theorique, observation et analyse menee par des therapeutes d’experience, discussions en equipe des difficultes rencontrees relevant tant de la pathologie elle-meme que de la therapie appliquee, cueillette de donnees empiriques pour expliquer autant le trouble de la personnalite que ses racines neurologiques et physiologiques, etc. L’auteur passe aussi en revue les efforts pour en arriver a la redaction d’un manuel sur la psychotherapie focalisee sur le transfert, un manuel repondant aux criteres d’une methode manualisee. Enfin, l’auteur resume les recherches faites pour mesurer l’efficacite psychotherapique de la methode et les possibilites de generalisation.
Anaesthesia for colobronchial fistula.

Summary The case of a patient with a colobronchial fistula is presented. The anaesthetic management using endobronchial intubation and one-lung anaesthesia is described and the problems presented by this rare condition discussed.
Implementing Europe: A Question of Oversight

This article shows that member state governments' ability rather than their willingness to implement directives drives uneven implementation of European Union labor policy. Analysis of 186 labor po...
Measurement in Carnap's late Philosophy of Science1

Concernant l'interpretation de la conception finale des relations epistemologiques et methodologiques entre la theorie et le monde chez Carnap, l'A. rejette la notion d'observation au profit de l'idee de mesure, qui justifie l'attribution d'une valeur quantitative aux objets du monde.
Lanthanum carbonated-associated injury to the small intestine

Lanthanum carbonate (LC) is a phosphate binder that does not contain aluminium or calcium. It is used in patients with chronic renal insufficiency to treat hyperphosphataemia. Prolonged use of LC may lead to gastrointestinal mucosal injury. We report a case of a 76 year old male with history of end stage chronic renal disease status post transplant on peritoneal dialysis, treated with lanthanum carbonate. The patient had persistent vomiting and diarrhoea and underwent upper GI endoscopy. Gastric and duodenal biopsies obtained in 2010 showed changes that were reported as mucosal calcinosis. Upon re-review following the publication of a series of such patients in 2015, we noted prominent lamina propria histiocytes filled with mineral like material, with dense and granular deposits giving it a calcinosis like appearance in keeping with lanthanum carbonate. The patient had been on a protocol using lanthanum carbonate before it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States. The differential diagnosis of gastrointestinal histiocytosis should include lanthanum carbonate medication-associated injury in renal failure patients, further expanding the list of medications associated with gastrointestinal tract injury in patients with renal disease.