cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fibrogenic and Redox-Related but not Proinflammatory Genes are Upregulated in Lewis Rat Model of Chronic Silicosis

Silicosis, a fibrotic granulomatous lung disease, may occur through accidental high-dose or occupational inhalation of silica, leading to acute/accelerated and chronic silicosis, respectively. While chronic silicosis has a long asymptomatic latency, lung inflammation and apoptosis are hallmarks of acute silicosis. In animal models, histiocytic granulomas develop within days after high-dose intratracheal (IT) silica instillation. However, following chronic inhalation of occupationally relevant doses of silica, discrete granulomas resembling human silicosis arise months after the final exposure without significant lung inflammation/apoptosis. To identify molecular events associated with chronic silicosis, lung RNA samples from controls or subchronic silica-exposed rats were analyzed by Affymetrix at 28 wk after silica exposures. Results suggested a significant upregulation of 144 genes and downregulation of 7 genes. The upregulated genes included complement cascade, chemokines/chemokine receptors, G-protein signaling components, metalloproteases, and genes associated with oxidative stress. To examine the kinetics of gene expression relevant to silicosis, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Luminex-bead assays, Western blotting, and/or zymography were performed on lung tissues from 4 d, 28 wk, and intermediate times after subchronic silica exposure and compared with 14-d acute silicosis samples. Results indicated that genes regulating fibrosis (secreted phosphoprotein-1, Ccl2, and Ccl7), redox enzymes (superoxide dismutase-2 and arginase-1), and the enzymatic activities of matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 were upregulated in acute and chronic silicosis models. However, proinflammatory cytokines were strongly upregulated only in acute silicosis. Thus, inflammatory cytokines are associated with acute but not chronic silicosis. Data suggest that genes regulating fibrosis, oxidative stress, and metalloproteases may contribute to both acute and chronic silicosis.
Predominant release of lysosomal enzymes by newborn rat microglia after LPS treatment revealed by proteomic studies.

Growing evidence suggest that microglia may play an important role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and so forth. The activation of microglia may cause neuronal damage through the release of reactive oxygen species and proinflammatory cytokines. However, the early response of microglial cells remains unclear before cells can secrete the proinflammatory cytokines. Here, a time course analysis showed the earliest expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 at 3 and 24 h following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment. To further define initial response proteins of microglia after LPS treatment, we utilized a novel mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteomic technique termed SILAC (for stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture) to compare the protein profiles of the cell culture-conditioned media of 1 h LPS-treated microglia as compared with controls. The proteomic analysis identified 77 secreted proteins ...
The Joy of Cooking

Sociologists Sarah Bowen, Sinikka Elliott, and Joslyn Brenton offer a critique of the increasingly prevalent message that reforming the food system necessarily entails a return to the kitchen. They argue that time pressures, tradeoffs to save money, and the burden of pleasing others make it difficult for mothers to enact the idealized vision of home-cooked meals advocated by foodies and public health officials.
Nanoindentation-Induced Phase Transformations in Ge Studied by Electron Microscopy and Raman Spectroscopy

The sequences of hydrostatic pressure-induced phase transformations in Si and Ge have been established in diamond anvil studies. At sufficient pressure the normal diamond-cubic structure Si-I/Ge-I transforms to the metallic {beta}-tin structure; upon unloading, several metastable phases can form depending on the maximum load and/or unloading rate. In the case of Ge, the metastable phases are Ge-III(ST12) or Ge-IV(BC8). Since microstructural investigations of Si indents have revealed metastable crystalline phases, it was expected that Ge indents could demonstrate similar phenomena. However, there is no prior evidence of phase transformations from indentation load-displacement (P-h) curves or electron microscopy. In this study, nanoindentations were made on undoped (100) Ge at room temperature with triangular pyramidal indenters with centerline-to-face angles of 35{sup o} (cube-corner) and 65{sup o} (Berkovich) at loads of 10, 50 and 80 mN and a loading/unloading rate of 5mN/s. The indents were examined by SEM, micro-Raman analyses and TEM of cross-sections prepared by dual-beam FIB milling.
The effect of estrogens on erythroid stem cells in polycythemic mice

Plethoric mice treated with pharmacological doses of estradiol have decreased concentration of erythropoietin-responsive cells (ERC) in the marrow. We used the methylcellulose-culture system for growth of erythroid stem cells (CFU-E and BFU-E) to define more accurately these estrogen-induced changes. As an animal model we utilized plethoric mice given repeated injections of estradiol cypionate and found that at 14 days after the onset of treatment there was no significant change in the concentration of femoral CFU-E whereas there was a significant decrease of the BFU-E content. Both CFU-E and BFU-E increased progressively in the spleen over a 42-day period. Addition of estradiol directly to the cell-culture system showed no effect on CFU-E growth but induced a significant depression of BFU-E growth. This depression seemed to require the presence of adherent cells. It is our hypothesis that estrogens suppress only the early stages of erythroid proliferation and/or differentiation by a mechanism involving possibly the stromal (adherent) cells of the marrow microenvironment.
An access protocol for high-speed optical LANs

In this paper a multiple access protocol is proposed for a system consisting of many high-speed bursty traffic stations via an optical passive star coupler. Each user has access over a range of wavelengths, thus resulting in a wavelength division multiplexed communication. A station has to reserve a wavelength first then transmits the data on that wavelength. The performance has been modeled and analyzed with the Equilibrium Point Analysis (EPA) technique. Numerical results show that the low delay and high throughput (larger than the electronic speed of a single user) can be achieved. The analysis also shows that the best performance is obtained when the capacities of the reservation channels and the data channels are balanced.
Elemental and isotopic abundances of molybdenum in some meteorites

Abstract The isotopic composition of molybdenum in eight iron meteorites and one stone meteorite, as well as the isotopic composition of zirconium in one stone and one iron meteorite, are reported. Molybdenum and zirconium in some meteorites are similar in their isotopic abundances to terrestrial samples. The anomalies previously reported in the other meteorites are considered doubtful because of some observed mass fractionation during analysis, and because of the fact that the anomalous Mo in Aroos meteorite was not found in another sample of Aroos taken about 6 cm from the first sample. The elemental abundance of molybdenum in seven iron meteorites was determined by isotope dilution method. The concentration of molybdenum is found to range from 6.2 to 7.4 ppm in all types of iron meteorites investigated.
A Comparison of Rigid vs Soft Dressings in the Healing of Below Knee Amputations (BKA)

Introduction and objectives: There is no standard protocol for the selection of surgical dressings after a below knee amputation (BKA). The purpose of this study was to compare rigid dressings with soft dressings on the healing times of BKA. We hypothesized that rigid dressings would facilitate faster wound healing and residual limb maturation by minimizing postsurgical edema and pain, preventing knee flexion contracture, and protecting the residual limb from trauma. Methods: Our retrospective analysis compared 151 patients who underwent BKA from 2000 to 2012 at Yale New Haven Hospital, after which 60 patients received soft dressings and knee immobilizers (soft) after the amputation, and 92 were placed in a rigid plastic or plaster prosthesis (rigid). Demographics and outcomes, including time between amputation and initial casting of prosthesis, were compared. Results: Age and diabetic status was not statistically different between the soft (61.0 years, 82.8% with diabetes) and rigid groups (58.6 years, 78.0% with diabetes). After BKA, the rigid dressing group demonstrated significantly decreased time spans from amputation to initial casting, as shown by the Fig (P .02 by log-rank and Wilcoxon test) and the Table. After 60 days, 58.24% of the rigid group was cast, compared with 38.33% of soft group (P .03 by t test). Conclusions: Use of a rigid dressing after a BKA significantly shortened the time to healing, as assessed by the time to casting. Use of a rigid prosthesis allows for consistent dressing changes of the healing BKA stump while facilitating inspection of the limb. Table. Days to casting
Future need for geophysicists and geophysical research in the oil business? Conclusions of a ‘listening tour’

The primary product of the University of Houston is its students. The Allied Geophysics Laboratories (AGL) at the University of Houston embarked on a listening tour to find out where the jobs are for new geophysicists, which job skills our students needed, and how to fund our research. AGL was initiated by Fred Hilterman in 1977. In 1981 it had 37 consortia members that supported 40 graduate students. Today, 21 of those former sponsors no longer exist—victims of hard times, mergers, and a contracting oil industry; we are down to nine sponsors. Half of our AGL students are part-timers working full time for Houston's oil and gas industry. National oil companies sponsor a quarter of our full-time students. The consortium model of funding university research is broken. Consortia are looked on as an expense to be justified by deliverables. Our sister consortia are under these same stresses, but in the United States we suffer more than those in the EEC, Canada, and Australia, where there is greater government support for graduate students. Almost every oil company lists technology and people in its top five corporate values. However, many oil companies have abandoned internal technology development or now outsource it. The job title of research geoscientist now hardly exists. Most of our visits on the listening tour were at company sites where we spoke mainly with technology champions or gatekeepers plus a few lead recruiters and top executives. We feel that almost everyone communicated their companies mission, vision, and values (whether or not they agreed with them). Our analysis consists mostly of anecdotal comments. With the following five questions and a blank pad of paper, we visited the companies listed in Table 1. View this table: Table 1. Companies involved on the listening …
Testing of the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator Engineering Unit at NASA Glenn Research Center

The Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) is a high-efficiency generator being developed for potential use on a Discovery 12 space mission. Lockheed Martin designed and fabricated the ASRG Engineering Unit (EU) under contract to the Department of Energy. This unit was delivered to NASA Glenn Research Center in 2008 and has been undergoing extended operation testing to generate long-term performance data for an integrated system. It has also been used for tests to characterize generator operation while varying control parameters and system inputs, both when controlled with an alternating current (AC) bus and with a digital controller. The ASRG EU currently has over 27,000 hours of operation. This paper summarizes all of the tests that have been conducted on the ASRG EU over the past 3 years and provides an overview of the test results and what was learned.
Glucocorticoids Stimulate Ribonucleic Acid Degradation in Isolated Rat Thymic Lymphocytes in Vitro

Glucocorticoids are known to stimulate lymphoid cell death, but little information is available regarding the biochemical mechanisms of adrenal steroid-induced lymphocytolysis. Previous work from our laboratory indicates that lymphocytes, which die in response to glucocorticoid, exhibit enhanced rates of cellular protein degradation. These findings encouraged us to study the turnover of other lymphocyte cellular macromolecules, namely RNA, as regulated by adrenal steroids. Thymic lymphocytes were pulse labeled in vitro in Eagle's Minimum Essential Medium supplemented with 10 μCi/ml [3H] uridine. Precursor incorporation into RNA was effectively stopped by a chase/dilution (1:20) of cells into fresh medium supplemented with 10 mM of both unlabeled uridine and cytidine. Cells were incubated in this medium for up to 4 h at 37 C with or without dexamethasone (Dex), and the remaining RNA-associated radioactivity was measured either by acid precipitation or with a multiple automated sample harvester. Control cel...
DCD --- Disk Caching Disk: A New Approach for Boosting I/O Performance

This paper presents a novel disk storage architecture called DCD, Disk Caching Disk, for the purpose of optimizing I/O performance. The main idea of the DCD is to use a small log disk, referred to as cache-disk, as a secondary disk cache to optimize write performance. While the cache-disk and the normal data disk have the same physical properties, the access speed of the former differs dramatically from the latter because of different data units and different ways in which data are accessed. Our objective is to exploit this speed difference by using the log disk as a cache to build a reliable and smooth disk hierarchy. A small RAM buffer is used to collect small write requests to form a log which is transferred onto the cache-disk whenever the cache-disk is idle. Because of the temporal locality that exists in office/engineering work-load environments, the DCD system shows write performance close to the same size RAM (i.e. solid-state disk) for the cost of a disk. Moreover, the cache-disk can also be implemented as a logical disk in which case a small portion of the normal data disk is used as the log disk. Trace-driven simulation experiments are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed disk architecture. Under the office/engineering work-load environment, the DCD shows superb disk performance for writes as compared to existing disk systems. Performance improvements of up to two orders of magnitude are observed in terms of average response time for write operations. Furthermore, DCD is very reliable and works at the device or device driver level. As a result, it can be applied directly to current file systems without the need of changing the operating system.
A decision-support model for investment decisions in new ventures

Abstract The decision to invest in new ventures is characterized by incomplete information, where some measures of firm performance are quantitative, while some others are substituted by qualitative indicators. Qualitative attributes are defined in a relative sense. We develop a decision support model for identifying successful new ventures. The model integrates quantitative and qualitative variables through the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The decision model gains in predictive accuracy through the use of qualitative attributes, and AHP imparts robustness to the qualitative measures.
Measure-theoretic properties of arbitrary point sets.

Abstract Consider an arbitary point set S on the real number line or in Euclidean n-space (the limitation to Euclidean space is unessential). The set S has an interior Lebesgue measure mi(S) and an exterior Lebesgue measure me(S). There are the following well known inequalities for two disjoint sets S1 and S2: mi(S1US2) [unk] mi(S1) + mi(S2), me(S1US2) ≤ me(S1) + me(S2). These state the superadditivity of interior measure for disjoint sets, and the subadditivity of exterior measure. The question is posed as to what conditions, besides these, are there on the six quantities mi() and me() for the disjoint sets S1,S2 and for their union S1US2. The present paper obtains a complete set of conditions on these six quantities. These are in the form of inequalities. The variability can be expressed in terms of six independent nonnegative quantities, and the six quantities mi() and me() for the disjoint sets S1, S2 and for S1US2 can be expressed as suitable sums of these. There appears the interesting property that the „average measure” ma(S), defined by ma(S) = (mi(S) + me(S))/2, is subadditive. Also, any linear combination αmi(S) + βme(S) is discussed.
The Medial Saphenous Fasciocutaneous Free Flap in Dogs

The purpose of this study was to identify the angiosome of the medial saphenous artery and vein and to evaluate the use of this cutaneous angiosome as a free skin flap in the dog. In phase 1 of this study, selective angiography of the medial saphenous artery performed in six canine cadavers showed that the skin covering the entire medial femorotibial area, the distal half of the caudal head of the sartorius muscle, and the gracilis muscle were perfused by the medial saphenous artery. In phase 2, a medial saphenous fasciocutaneous island flap was raised and sutured back to the skin edges of the donor wound in three dogs. One hundred percent survival of all of the flaps occurred. In phase 3, a medial saphenous fasciocutaneous microvascular free flap was transferred to a wound that was created over the dorsal metacarpal (n = 3) or metatarsal region (n = 3). The mean length +/- SD of the medial saphenous vascular pedicle was 80 +/- 13 mm (n = 5); the mean diameter +/- SD of the medial saphenous artery was 2.8 +/- 0.2 mm (n = 5) and the mean diameter +/- SD of the medial saphenous vein was 4.2 +/- 0.2 mm (n = 5). One hundred percent of all flaps survived (n = 6). Selective angiography or the distal cranial tibial artery (metatarsal wounds, n = 3) and the median artery (metacarpal wound, n = 3) was performed 3 weeks after surgery. All of the vascular anastomoses were patent and neovascularization of the wound beds was present. This free flap was found to be acceptable for cosmetic reconstruction of wounds located on the distal extremity.
A simple and sensitive method for quantitative measurement of cellular RNA synthesis

Abstract A quantitative technique is described for measuring the rate of cellular RNA synthesis by analysis of the incorporation of 3 H-8-adenosine into ATP precursor pools and into RNA. This technique is unique in that quantitative measurements of RNA synthesis require only very small amounts of biological material and can be performed with a minimum of technical manipulation. Comparison of measurements of the rate of synthesis of ribosomal RNA in chick fibroblasts growing in tissue culture obtained using this technique with chemical measurements of accumulation of ribosomal RNA demonstrated that this technique could give an accurate measure of RNA synthesis in animal cells.
Disasterization: A Simple Way to Fix the Asset Pricing Properties of Macroeconomic Models

A central difficulty in economics is to create a model with both good business cycle properties and asset pricing properties. I show how to solve this difficulty by a simple portable modeling device: the "disasterization" of models. Take an economy with good business cycle properties and create a new, "disasterized" economy, which is essentially identical to the original one except that disasters can destroy part of the capital stock and productivity. In such a disasterized economy, asset prices exhibit high and volatile risk premia, but macro variables remain unchanged. Perturbations of this benchmark allow for feedback from finance to macro.
The Sec7 Arf-GEF Is Recruited to the trans-Golgi Network by Positive Feedback

Summary Arf GTPases are key regulators of both retrograde and anterograde traffic at the Golgi complex. The Golgi-localized Arf activators, Arf-GEFs (guanine exchange factor) of the BIG/GBF family, are poorly understood in terms of both their regulatory and localization mechanisms. We have performed a detailed kinetic characterization of a functional Golgi Arf-GEF, the trans -Golgi network (TGN)-localized Sec7 protein from yeast. We demonstrate that Sec7 is regulated by both autoinhibition and positive feedback. We show that positive feedback arises through the stable recruitment of Sec7 to membranes via its HDS1 domain by interaction with its product, activated Arf1. This interaction mediates localization of Sec7 to the TGN, because deletion of the HDS1 domain or mutation of the HDS1 domain in combination with deletion of Arf1 significantly increases cytoplasmic localization of Sec7. Our results lead us to propose a model in which Arf-GEF recruitment is linked to Golgi maturation via Arf1 activation.
Invariant eigendistributions on SUp,q

Abstract The theory of global characters of semisimple Lie groups as invariant eigendistributions, proposed by Harish-Chandra, is used to determine explicitly the global characters of SU p , q . It is shown that they are invariant, tempered eigendistributions on SU p , q . The adjoint invariant distributions on SU p , q are studied in detail. For the special case of SU 1,1 , these global characters reduce to the results already obtained for SU 1,1 . The paper contains several new results pertaining to the group SU p , q and these results are explicitly used.
Dopant penetration studies through Hf silicate

We present a study of the penetration of B, P, and As through Hf silicate (HfSixOy) and the effect of N incorporation in Hf silicate (HfSixOyNz) on dopant penetration from doped polycrystalline silicon capping layers. The extent of penetration through Hf silicate was found to be dependent upon the thermal annealing budget for each dopant investigated as follows: B(T⩾950°C∕60s), P(T⩾1000°C∕20s), and As (T⩾1050°C∕60s). We propose that the enhanced diffusion observed for these dopants in HfSixOy, compared with that of SiO2 films, is related to grain boundary formation resulting from HfSixOy film crystallization. We also find that, as in the case of SiO2, N incorporation inhibits dopant (B, P, and As) diffusion through the Hf silicate and thus penetration into the underlying Si substrate. Only B penetration is clearly observed through HfSiON films for anneals at 1050 °C for durations of 10 s or longer. The calculated B diffusivity through the HfSixOyNz layer is D0=5.2×10−15cm2∕s.
The CMK-1 CaMKI and the TAX-4 Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Channel Regulate Thermosensory Neuron Gene Expression and Function in C. elegans

The cultivation temperature (T(c)) modulates the thermosensory responses exhibited by C. elegans on thermal gradients. The AFD sensory neurons are essential for thermosensory behaviors, but the molecular mechanisms by which temperature is sensed and the memory of the T(c) is encoded are unknown. Here, we show that the CMK-1 Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase I (CaMKI) and the TAX-4 cyclic nucleotide-gated channel regulate gene expression, morphology, and functions of the AFD thermosensory neurons. Mutations in cmk-1 and tax-4 result in temperature-dependent defects in AFD-specific gene expression, and TAX-4 functions are required during larval stages to maintain gene expression in the adult. CMK-1 and TAX-4 act cell autonomously to regulate AFD-mediated thermosensory behaviors. The molecular requirements for CMK-1 activity in the AFD neurons appear to be distinct from those previously described. We propose that the activation of distinct programs of AFD-specific gene expression at different temperatures by CMK-1 and TAX-4 enables C. elegans to sense and/or encode a memory for the T(c).
7-Oxobicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-1-carboxylic acid and (\pm)-7-oxobicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-ene-2-endo-carboxylic acid: hydrogen bonding in two norbornyl keto acids

Molecules of the title β-keto acid, 7-oxobi­cyclo­[2.2.1]­heptane-1-carboxylic acid, C8H10O3, exhibit chirality due to the bridgehead carboxyl group, which is partially ordered and has a slightly asymmetric conformation. The mol­ecules form centrosymmetric hydrogen-bonded carboxyl dimers [O⋯O 2.639 (2) A]. The title alkenoic γ-keto acid, (\pm)-7-oxobi­cyclo­[2.2.1]­hept-5-ene-2-endo-carboxylic acid, C8H8O3, also forms typical centrosymmetric hydrogen-bonded carboxyl dimers [O⋯O 2.660 (3) A]. There is partial disorder of the carboxyl group in each compound.
Vacuum encapsulated resonators for humidity measurement

Abstract This study uses surface resistance of silicon dioxide and a charge-biased, microshell encapsulated, single-anchored double-ended tuning fork resonator (DETF) to measure relative humidity (RH). As relative humidity increases, the surface resistance of silicon dioxide decreases due to increasing amounts of water adsorbed on the surface. This decrease in surface resistance leads to a faster charge decay from a capacitor. The DETF resonator converts the amount of charge on the capacitor to a frequency shift, via the electrostatic spring softening term. This frequency shift can be characterized by either exponential fitting or slope fitting. The hysteresis was shown to be less than 0.15% RH. The relative humidity is determined from the slope or the decay time constant, with the precision of 1.3 × 10−3% RH for slope fitting and 1.3 × 10−4% RH for exponential fitting.
Monosaccharide uptake by erythrocytes of the embryonic and adult chicken.

1. 1. Rates of monosaccharide uptake by adult and 10–18-day old embryonic chicken erythrocytes were quantitated., 2. 2. The rate of carrier-mediated, stereospecific transport decreased 28% from day 10 to day 14 of incubation and was unchanged thereafter. At no time, however, did the rate of carrier-mediated transport by embryonic erythrocytes differ significantly from that of the adult cells. 3. 3. The rate of transfer by simple diffusion was 3–5 fold faster in embryonic than in adult erythrocytes. Uptake by simple diffusion decreased slightly as the embryo developed. 4. 4. Chronic hyperoxic incubation (70% 02) had little influence on total monosaccharide uptake by embryonic erythrocytes.
In vivo and in vitro interactions of human haemoglobins A, S and C with a variant haemoglobin E.

THE predominant haemoglobin in the blood of most human adults is type A, a tetrameric haemo-protein composed of two pairs of identical polypeptide chains—alpha and beta chains—inherited as nonallelic autosomal dominant traits1. I have found a family of African Negro origin which possesses four different major haemoglobins (Fig. 1): Hb A, S, C and E. These were identified preliminarily by their characteristic electrophoretic mobilities in starch gel at pH 8.6 (Fig. 1)2; the appearance of Hb C or E on starch was verified by agar gel electrophoresis at pH. 6.2 (Fig. 1)3, and appearance of Hb S was verified by deoxygenation of samples of whole blood with sodium metabisulphite : this causes Hb S to polymerize, distorting the erythrocytes into rigid, elongate forms known as sickle cells4,5.
Introduction: The Case of Citation: On Literary and Pragmatic Reference

Conceived as witness, robber, villain, missionary, or even pioneer, citation1We will use citation instead of quotation as it appears to be the richer term that also encompasses the meanings of quot...
College Student High-Risk Drinking as a Maladaptive Serious Leisure Hobby

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to examine the experiences of college students who defined themselves as high-risk drinkers in order to understand the meaning and purpose that engagement in such a leisure occupation held for them. Individual open-ended interviews were conducted with four male and four female participants (aged 21 to 27). The findings revealed an emergent grounded theory indicating high-risk drinking adheres to the Serious Leisure Perspective of a hobby developed by Stebbins (2007). Six themes found within the data substantiate this conceptualization. The participants had a long-term time investment with drinking, developed special skills through sustained effort, solidified a unique identity as a hobbyist, found deep meaning and purpose through the hobby, and performed the hobby within a unique and special world in concert with other hobbyists. Their high-risk drinking provided structure and a sense of belongingness within the larger university context.
SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging with prone-only acquisitions: correlation with coronary angiography

Background Recent evidence suggests that combining supine and prone acquisitions during stress-gated SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPS) improves detection of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD), though the additional imaging time required may not be feasible in routine clinical practice. MPS with prone-only acquisitions is occasionally performed in many laboratories, though little is known about the ability of modern MPS with prone-only acquisitions to detect obstructive CAD. Our goal was to assess the ability of MPS with prone-only acquisitions to detect obstructive CAD as determined by coronary angiography.
Automated Detection of Infectious Disease Outbreaks in Hospitals: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Detection of outbreaks of hospital-acquired infections is often based on simple rules, such as the occurrence of three new cases of a single pathogen in two weeks on the same ward. These rules typically focus on only a few pathogens, and they do not account for the pathogens' underlying prevalence, the normal random variation in rates, and clusters that may occur beyond a single ward, such as those associated with specialty services. Ideally, outbreak detection programs should evaluate many pathogens, using a wide array of data sources. Methods and Findings: We applied a space-time permutation scan statistic to microbiology data from patients admitted to a 750-bed academic medical center in 2002-2006, using WHONET-SaTScan laboratory information software from the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance. We evaluated patients' first isolates for each potential pathogenic species. In order to evaluate hospital-associated infections, only pathogens first isolated >2d after admission were included. Clusters were sought daily across the entire hospital, as well as in hospital wards, specialty services, and using similar antimicrobial susceptibility profiles. We assessed clusters that had a likelihood of occurring by chance less than once per year. For methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), WHONET-SaTScan-generated clusters were compared to those previously identified by the Infection Control program, which were based on a rule-based criterion of three occurrences in two weeks in the same ward. Two hospital epidemiologists independently classified each cluster's importance. From 2002 to 2006, WHONET-SaTScan found 59 clusters involving 2-27 patients (median 4). Clusters were identified by antimicrobial resistance profile (41%), wards (29%), service (13%), and hospital-wide assessments (17%). WHONET-SaTScan rapidly detected the two previously known gram-negative pathogen clusters. Compared to rule-based thresholds, WHONET-SaTScan considered only one of 73 previously designated MRSA clusters and 0 of 87 VRE clusters as episodes statistically unlikely to have occurred by chance. WHONET-SaTScan identified six MRSA and four VRE clusters that were previously unknown. Epidemiologists considered more than 95% of the 59 detected clusters to merit consideration, with 27% warranting active investigation or intervention. Conclusions: Automated statistical software identified hospital clusters that had escaped routine detection. It also classified many previously identified clusters as events likely to occur because of normal random fluctuations. This automated method has the potential to provide valuable real-time guidance both by identifying otherwise unrecognized outbreaks and by preventing the unnecessary implementation of resource-intensive infection control measures that interfere with regular patient care.
Classroom Feedback Behavior of Teachers

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the nature of teacher-verbal feedback during the teaching- learning act. The general usage of feedback behaviors as well as the relationship of feed...
Premature silent workflow termination in publicly posted composite documents

Publicly Posted Composite Documents (PPCDs) address the problem of composite documents with different formats and varied sensitivity participating in cross-organizational workflows distributed over potentially non-secure channels. An early version of the PPCD, however, is susceptible to silent workflow termination, wherein a document shipped by one workflow participant is never received by the subsequent participant, causing the workflow to terminate without notification. In the current paper, we extend the PPCD solution to provide an early detection mechanism for a potential workflow termination, to provide workflow recovery procedures, and to provide for the often mandatory document logging and audit information.
4MALITY: coaching students with different problem-solving strategies using an online tutoring system

4-coach Mathematics Active Learning Intelligent Tutoring sYstem (4MALITY) is a web-based intelligent tutoring system for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students who are learning math content from the state of Massachusetts (USA) required curriculum framework. The goal of 4MALITY is to personalize help for students by offering them problem-solving strategies authored from multiple points of view. Four virtual coaches (Estella Explainer, Chef Math Bear, How-to Hound, and Visual Vicuna) are designed to capture the character and content of these different problem-solving approaches with language, computation, strategy, and visual hints. A preliminary study was run with 102 students in fourth and fifth grade math classrooms over a period of two months. The results showed that the effect of using 4MALITY produced a statistically significant increase in post-test scores. We explored student performance, help-seeking behavior and meta-cognitive strategies by gender and math ability and report these results.
Acute Asthma: Admission Chest Radiography in Hospitalized Adult Patients

The utility of admission chest radiography has been controversial in the management of adult patients admitted to the hospital with acute asthma. We reviewed the impact of admission chest radiography on in-hospital management of 54 adult patients with acute asthma. Each patient was admitted after a failed 12-h course of bronchodilator therapy in the emergency ward. Major radiographic abnormalities were found in 20 (34 percent) of 58 occasions. These abnormalities included focal parenchymal opacities, IIM, enlarged cardiac silhouette, pulmonary vascular congestion, new solitary pulmonary nodule and pneumothorax. Subsequent antibiotic use correlated with radiographic focal opacities or IIM, even in afebrile patients, but did not correlate with elevated blood leukocyte count. Based on the evidence of in-hospital alteration of management independent of elevated blood leukocyte count and body temperature, we recommend that chest radiographs be obtained for all adult patients admitted because of acute asthma.
Comparison Between an Independent Midwifery Program and a District Hospital in Rural Tanzania: Observations Regarding the Treatment of Female Patients

Tanzania faces a significant shortage of physicians. In light of this, nurse–midwives have been critical in reducing maternal mortality in Tanzania in recent years. Despite the importance of both entities in providing health care to women in Tanzania, there have been few studies addressing the cultural competency of each entity. We shadowed and assisted both an independent nurse–midwife as well as physicians and nurse–midwives at a large district hospital in rural Tanzania. In this article we describe our observations regarding the treatment of female patients within the culture of an independent midwifery practice and at a large district hospital.
Neural network near-optimal motion planning for a mobile robot on binary and varied terrains

Presents an efficient approach to plan a near-optimal collision-free path for a mobile robot on binary or varied terrains. Motion planning is formulated as a classification problem in which class labels are uniquely mapped onto the set of maneuverable robot motions. The neural network motion planner is an implementation of the popular adaptive error backpropagation model. The motion planner learns to plan 'good', if not optimal, collision-free path from supervision in the form of training samples. A multi-scale representational scheme, as a consequence of a vision-based terrain sampling strategy, maps physical problem domains onto an arbitrarily chosen fixed size input layer of an error back propagation network. The mapping does not only reduce the size of the computation domain, but also ensures applicability of a trained network over a wide range of problem sizes. >
Direct current-excited cw CO 2 metal waveguide laser

A novel design for a dc-excited cw CO2 metal waveguide laser has been developed in which a slotted hollow cathode also doubles as a metal waveguide for the cavity modes. This design has been implemented in a compact structure that produces over 1 W of cw 10.6-μm radiation. The discharge characteristics, laser gain, and laser output have been studied as functions of various discharge parameters. The advantages of the transverse discharge of the slotted hollow cathode geometry include low voltage, positive impedance, rugged structure, and high optical gain. Overall efficiency is comparable with that of conventional longitudinal CO2 lasers. The output laser modes are clean low-order Hermite-Gaussian or Airy function modes.
Estimating Population Size and Density Using Line Transect Sampling

ANDERSON and POSPAHALA (1970) investigated the estimation of wildlife population size using the belt or line transect sampling method and devised a correction for bias, thus leading to a class of estimators with desirable characteristics. This work was given a basic and rigorous mathematica framework by BURNHAM and ANDERSON (1976). In the present article we use this mathematical framework to develop an estimator of population size and density using weighted least squares. The approach is a two-stage Method.
Large-Scale Propagation of Ultrasound in a 3-D Breast Model Based on High-Resolution MRI Data

A 40 × 35 × 25-mm3 specimen of human breast consisting mostly of fat and connective tissue was imaged using a 3-T magnetic resonance scanner. The resolutions in the image plane and in the orthogonal direction were 130 μm and 150 μm, respectively. Initial processing to prepare the data for segmentation consisted of contrast inversion, interpolation, and noise reduction. Noise reduction used a multilevel bidirectional median filter to preserve edges. The volume of data was segmented into regions of fat and connective tissue by using a combination of local and global thresholding. Local thresholding was performed to preserve fine detail, while global thresholding was performed to minimize the interclass variance between voxels classified as background and voxels classified as object. After smoothing the data to avoid aliasing artifacts, the segmented data volume was visualized using isosurfaces. The isosurfaces were enhanced using transparency, lighting, shading, reflectance, and animation. Computations of pulse propagation through the model illustrate its utility for the study of ultrasound aberration. The results show the feasibility of using the described combination of methods to demonstrate tissue morphology in a form that provides insight about the way ultrasound beams are aberrated in three dimensions by tissue.
Vitamin D3 Confers Protection from Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Only in Female Mice

The prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) increases significantly with decreasing UV B light exposure, possibly reflecting a protective effect of vitamin D(3). Consistent with this theory, previous research has shown a strong protective effect 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an MS model. However, it is not known whether the hormone precursor, vitamin D(3), has protective effects in EAE. To address this question, B10.PL mice were fed a diet with or without vitamin D(3), immunized with myelin basic protein, and studied for signs of EAE and for metabolites and transcripts of the vitamin D(3) endocrine system. The intact, vitamin D(3)-fed female mice had significantly less clinical, histopathological, and immunological signs of EAE than ovariectomized females or intact or castrated males. Correlating with reduced EAE, the intact, vitamin D(3)-fed female mice had significantly more 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) and fewer CYP24A1 transcripts, encoding the 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3)-inactivating enzyme, in the spinal cord than the other groups of mice. Thus, there was an unexpected synergy between vitamin D(3) and ovarian tissue with regard to EAE inhibition. We hypothesize that an ovarian hormone inhibited CYP24A1 gene expression in the spinal cord, so the locally-produced 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) accumulated and resolved the inflammation before severe EAE developed. If humans have a similar gender difference in vitamin D(3) metabolism in the CNS, then sunlight deprivation would increase the MS risk more significantly in women than in men, which may contribute to the unexplained higher MS incidence in women than in men.
Six etudes in generating functions

Schutzenberger's philosophy of getting algebraic generating functions out of context-free languages is practiced to obtain short proofs of results of Kreweras, Kreweras-Poupard and Kreweras-Moszkowski, concerning the refined enumeration of legal bracketings according to various parameters. We also mention some ramifications to the enumeration of ordered trees. As an “encore”, we give a short proof of a formula, conjectured by Kirkman and first proved by Cayley, that counts the number of ways of placing m non-intersecting diagonals in a convex polygon of k sides. 1980 Mathematics Subject Classification: 68R05, 68Q45, 05A15.
Intraoperative near-infrared imaging can identify pulmonary nodules.

Background Over 80,000 people undergo pulmonary resection for a lung nodule in the United States each year. Small nodules are frequently missed or difficult to find despite preoperative imaging. We hypothesized that near-infrared (NIR) imaging technology could be used to identify and locate lung nodules during surgery. Methods We enrolled 18 patients who were diagnosed with a pulmonary nodule that required resection. All patients had a fine-cut 1-mm computed tomography scan preoperatively. The patients were given systemic 5 mg/kg indocyanine green and then underwent an open thoracotomy 24 hours later. The NIR imaging was used to identify the primary nodule and search for additional nodules that were not found by visual inspection or manual palpation of the ipsilateral lung. Results Manual palpation and visual inspection identified all 18 primary pulmonary nodules and no additional lesions. Intraoperative NIR imaging detected 16 out of the 18 primary nodules. The NIR imaging also identified 5 additional subcentimeter nodules; 3 metastatic adenocarcinomas and 2 metastatic sarcomas. This technology could identify nodules as small as 0.2 cm and as deep as 1.3 cm from the pleural surface. This approach discovered 3 nodules that were in different lobes than the primary tumor. Nodule fluorescence was independent of size, metabolic activity, histology, tumor grade and vascularity. Conclusions This is the first-in-human demonstration of identifying pulmonary nodules during thoracic surgery with NIR imaging without a priori knowledge of their location or existence. The NIR imaging can detect pulmonary nodules during lung resections that are poorly visualized on computed tomography and difficult to discriminate on finger palpation.
Blood and Bone Marrow: Myeloid Leukaemias and Related Neoplasms

Summary of 2001 World Health classiﬁcation of myeloidleukaemia and related neoplasms. Acute myeloid leukaemia Acute myeloid leukaemia with recurrent cytogenetic abnormalitiesAcute myeloid leukaemia with multilineage dysplasiaAcute myeloid leukaemia and myelodysplastic syndrome,therapy relatedAcute myeloid leukaemia, not otherwise categorized Chronic myeloproliferative disorders Chronic myelogenous leukaemiaChronic neutrophilic leukaemiaChronic eosinophilic leukaemia/hypereosinophilic syndromePolycythemia veraChronic idiopathic myeloﬁbrosisEssential thrombocythemiaChronic myeloproliferative disorder, unclassiﬁable Myelodysplastic syndromes Refractory anaemiaRefractory anaemia with ringed sideroblastsRefractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasiaRefractory anaemia with excess blastsMyelodysplastic syndrome, unclassiﬁableIsolated del(5q) chromosome abnormality Myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative diseases Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemiaAtypical chronic myeloid leukaemiaJuvenile myelomonocytic leukaemiaMyelodysplastic/myeloproliferative disease, unclassiﬁable
Gaseous diffusion in the transition pressure range

Measurements of the effective self-diffusion coefficients for carbon dioxide and methane were performed in the transition pressure range. The experiments utilized carbon-14 tagged gases and semiconductor radiation detectors in a transient type of experiment. A detailed analysis of the errors associated with the experiments indicated that the accuracy of the measurements was near 5%. The results verify that the additive resistance law is valid for the representation in the transition range. The unknown effects of surface diffusion make the values to be employed in this law subject to review. As an example one surface diffusion model is considered.
Database of osmoregulated proteins in mammalian cells

Biological information, even in highly specialized fields, is increasing at a volume that no single investigator can assimilate. The existence of this vast knowledge base creates the need for specialized computer databases to store and selectively sort the information. We have developed a manually curated database of the effects of hypertonicity on target proteins. Effects include changes in mRNA abundance and protein abundance, activity, phosphorylation state, binding, and cellular compartment. The biological information used in this database was derived from three research approaches: transcriptomic, proteomic, and reductionist (hypothesis‐driven). The data are presented in the form of grammatical triplets consisting of subject, verb phrase, and object. The purpose of this format is to allow the data to be read from left to right as an English sentence. It is readable either by humans or by computers using natural language processing algorithms. An example of a data entry reads “Hypertonicity increases activity of ABL1 in HEK293.” This database was created to provide access to a wealth of information on the effects of hypertonicity in a format that can be selectively sorted.