cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Public perceptions of domestic cats and preferences for feral cat management in the southeastern United States.

ABSTRACTPopulations of feral domestic cats and free-roaming, owned cats have increased throughout the United States, affecting wildlife and public health and warranting attention from a variety of management agencies. The contentious issue of feral cat management requires a greater understanding of public attitudes towards cats and preferences. We used an anonymous internet survey of randomly selected Athens-Clarke County, Georgia households to identify general public perceptions of domestic cats and preferences for cat management. We examined factors that may influence attitudes towards cats, and management including: knowledge about cats, experiences with cats and demographic variables. Results indicate that more residents have positive experiences with feral cats than negative, cat owners have greater knowledge of cats than non-cat owners, and animal welfare or conservation organization membership has a significant effect on attitudes towards cats. A majority of survey respondents agreed that more effe...
TH-E-224A-04: IMRT Film QA in a Heterogeneous Anthropomorphic Phantom

Purpose: To study the agreement of heterogeneous IMRTtreatment planning dose calculations with radiochromic film (RCF) and radiographic film (RGF) measured in anthropomorphic heterogeneous phantoms. We intend to use heterogeneous‐phantom film dosimetry to improve IMRTquality assurance (QA). Method and Materials: A commercial heterogeneous anthropomorphic head‐and‐neck phantom, with equivalent tissue bone, soft tissue and air regions was employed for dosimetry verification (CIRS, inc.). High sensitivity EBT radiochromic film (ISP, Inc.) and EDR2 radiographic film (Kodak) were employed simultaneously for film dosimetry. The phantom had 12 axial sections, each 25mm thick, with alignment pins and a compression plate. We selected a plane containing bone, soft tissue and an air gap for IMRT verification. The RCF and RGF were cut to match the selected plane, inserted between the sections and light sealed. A 6MV IMRT head & neck treatment plan with 7 beams was delivered using a commercial linac (Varian Clinac 2100/CD). The RCF was scanned avoiding artifact described in a companion work using a CCD film scanner (Epson 1680 scanner). The dose distributions were compared with the treatment plan. Results: Both RCF and RGF disagree with the treatment plan dose near the air cavities by 15%. Away the air cavities 5% agreement was obtained with RCF. Pronounced artifacts were observed in the RGF that were not observed in the RCF. Conclusion:IMRTdosimetry and quality assurance can be improved by using anthropomorphic phantoms that incorporate realistic heterogeneities such as bone, soft tissue and air gaps, and corrections to dose calculations can be applied. We hypothesize that RGF suffers from Cerenkov in air cavities and in less opaque phantom materials, and this will be investigated in further studies. This work was supported in part by NCI grants R01‐CA‐100636 and N43‐CM‐52214.
An analysis of the development of carbide tool crater wear

Abstract A total of 127 contour maps of crater wear representing thirty-five different cutting conditions is presented. The effects of three cutting variables on selected crater wear parameters were investigated by regression analysis and substantiated by qualitative description. The selected crater wear parameters are 1. (1) Maximum depth of crater at failure, 2. (2) Basic crater configuration, and 3. (3) The movement and final location of the crater center.
Structure‐Digestibility Relationship of Legume 7S Proteins

Structure-digestibility relationship was investigated in in vitro model systems for phaseolin and vicilin, the major 7S storage proteins of dry bean and green peas, respectively. Native phaseolin was more resistant to trypsinolysis than vicilin, while heating caused a reversal of proteolysis rates. Conformational studies using far-uv and near-uv CD spcctroscopy suggested the native conformatin of vicilin to be far more flexible to thermal treatment and SDS-induced environmental changes; however, neither the thermal treatment nor the anionic detergent caused a complete randomization of structure in either proteins studied. Ironically, the flexible native conformation of vicilin seemed to induce greater undesirable changes upon heating so as to confer resistance to proteolysis. The possible role of secondary and quarternary structures of these two proteins is descussed in relation to their digestibility.
The many metaphors of war: a critique of Rank's essay

Otto Rank's analysis of literature shows how some people have compared the conquest of a city to the rape of a virgin. But what does this prove? The fact that Rank's essay was written in 1914, when he was still deep into Freudian orthodoxy, suggests he saw these metaphors as an indication that aggression is somehow related to the repression in advanced civili zations of libidinal instincts. Freud, in his later Civilization and its Discontents, made that argument explicit, suggesting that aggressive impulses mount as people are restricted from following the pleasure principle. Rather than acting to meet their sexual needs as they arise, their actions are highly circumscribed by the cultures in which they live. Blocked from expressing their basic instincts, there is a buildup in forces behind these drives, a dynamism that provides for explosive buildups within the human beings so circumscribed (Freud, 1939). If we look at the historical data, however, we find a variety of images and metaphors for war, whether it be conquest or defense. In Hitler's Mein Kampf, the explicit motivation for initiating war was based on the rights of the superior and "idealistic" Aryan race to rule over others. As the superior father figure, the Fuhrer would lead the German people in the accomplishment of their mission. As the strongest one in their midst, he deserved their sole support. The adversary was the Jew?the viper who steals from the people, seeks to maintain the purity of his own bloodstream while poisoning that of theirs. Not only that, beastly impulses are attributed to the dark and swarthy Jew:
Cytomegalovirus infection of the adult nervous system.

In 2 patients, 1 with brachial plexus neuropathy and another with relapsing chronic encephalitis, the acute neurological syndrome was accompanied by fever, tachycardia, abnormal liver function, and atypical lymphocytosis. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection was documented in both patients by viral isolation and a fourfold rise in complement-fixation titer. CMV may produce peripheral neuropathy, brachial plexus neuropathy, or an acute or chronic meningoencephalitis in previously healthy adults without immune deficiency.
Fast, Automated Implementation of Temporally Precise Blind Deconvolution of Multiphasic Excitatory Postsynaptic Currents

Records of excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) are often complex, with overlapping signals that display a large range of amplitudes. Statistical analysis of the kinetics and amplitudes of such complex EPSCs is nonetheless essential to the understanding of transmitter release. We therefore developed a maximum-likelihood blind deconvolution algorithm to detect exocytotic events in complex EPSC records. The algorithm is capable of characterizing the kinetics of the prototypical EPSC as well as delineating individual release events at higher temporal resolution than other extant methods. The approach also accommodates data with low signal-to-noise ratios and those with substantial overlaps between events. We demonstrated the algorithm’s efficacy on paired whole-cell electrode recordings and synthetic data of high complexity. Using the algorithm to align EPSCs, we characterized their kinetics in a parameter-free way. Combining this approach with maximum-entropy deconvolution, we were able to identify independent release events in complex records at a temporal resolution of less than 250 µs. We determined that the increase in total postsynaptic current associated with depolarization of the presynaptic cell stems primarily from an increase in the rate of EPSCs rather than an increase in their amplitude. Finally, we found that fluctuations owing to postsynaptic receptor kinetics and experimental noise, as well as the model dependence of the deconvolution process, explain our inability to observe quantized peaks in histograms of EPSC amplitudes from physiological recordings.
Functional Genomic Insights into Acute Lung Injury Role of Ventilators and Mechanical Stress

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a complex and devastating illness, often occurring in the setting of sepsis and trauma. Despite recent advances in the understanding and treatment of ALI, pathogenic mechanisms and genetic modifiers in ALI remain incompletely understood. Furthermore, there has been increasing interest in the identification of genetic variations that contribute to ALI susceptibility and severity in order to gain unique insights into ALI pathogenesis and to design novel treatment strategies. However, the sporadic nature of ALI and the lack of family-based cohort studies preclude conventional genomic approaches such as linkage mapping (or "positional cloning"). We have used a "candidate gene approach" with extensive gene expression profiling studies in animal (rat, murine, canine) and human models of ALI to identify potential ALI candidate genes associated with sepsis and ventilator-associated lung injury. These studies, when combined with innovative in silico bioinformatics approaches, revealed both novel (pre--B-cell colony enhancing factor, myosin light chain kinase) and previously identified (interleukin 6, macrophage migration inhibitory factor) gene candidates. Subsequent single nucleotide polymorphism discovery and genotyping studies revealed polymorphisms that demonstrate an influence on ALI susceptibility in patients. These studies indicate that the candidate gene approach is a robust strategy to provide novel insights into the genetic basis of ALI, and the identification of potentially novel therapeutic targets.
The automated solution of second quantization equations with applications to the coupled cluster approach

Theoretical methods in chemistry frequently involve the tedious solution of complex algebraic equations. Then the solutions, sometimes still quite complex, are usually hand-coded by a programmer into an efficient computer language. During this procedure it is all too easy to make an error which will go undetected. A better approach would be to introduce the computer at an even earlier stage in the development of the theory by programming it to first solve the set of equations and then compile the solution into an efficient computer language. In this research a program has been written in the C programming language which can efficiently compute the quasivacuum expectation value of a product of creation and annihilation operators and scalar arrays. The terms in the resulting expressions are then transformed into a canonical form so that all equivalent terms can be combined. Finally, the equations are compiled into a simple representation which can be rapidly interpreted by a Fortran program. This symbol manipulator has been applied to open-shell coupled cluster theory. Two coupled cluster methods using high-spin open-shell references are presented. In one of these methods, the cluster operator contains the unitary group generators, and products thereof, which generate all single and double excitations with respect to the reference. The other uses a simplified cluster operator which generates equations that must be spin-projected. These methods are compared to other descriptions of electron correlation for the CH2 singlet-triplet splitting and the NH2 potential energy surface.
Ethnic/racial homogeneity in college students’ Facebook friendship networks and subjective well-being

Abstract We examined the relationship between subjective well-being and the ethnic/racial homogeneity of the Facebook friendship networks of first-year college students. We coded each participant’s “Facebook friends” into European Americans or not. Participants reported their life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, and felt understanding and misunderstanding. Among European American participants, having a more homogeneous friendship network was associated with higher life satisfaction and positive affect, as well as lower felt misunderstanding. Political conservatism was also marginally associated with having more homogeneous friendship networks, as well as marginally higher levels of life satisfaction but did not mediate the relationship between them. Among non-European American participants, we did not find any relationship between the homogeneity of friendship networks and subjective well-being.
Thrombolytic Therapy: The Treatment of Choice for Iliac Vein Thrombosis in the Presence of Kidney Transplant

A 49-year-old kidney transplant recipient was admitted with the diagnosis of acute iliofemoral deep venous thrombosis (DVT) extending into the external iliac vein in close proximity to the renal vein anastomosis. Thrombolytic therapy with urokinase was used and complete lysis of the thrombus was achieved within 36 hr. We feel that this method of therapy, rather than standard anticoagulation, represents the treatment of choice for acute DVT in the presence of a renal graft. Using this method we were able to salvage the kidney and avoid the complications of postphlebitic syndrome and pulmonary embolus.
Distribution of chronic prostatitis in radical prostatectomy specimens with up-regulation of bcl-2 in areas of inflammation.

Purpose: We examined the anatomical relationship of chronic prostatitis with prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) based on the hypothesis that there may be an association of prostatitis with these other entities that may involve up-regulation of bcl-2.Materials and Methods: We examined 40 whole mount radical prostatectomy specimens for the presence and distribution of chronic inflammatory infiltrate. Immunostaining for bcl-2 was done in 10 cases.Results: Chronic prostatitis was identified in all 40 cases with peripheral zone inflammation in 95% and transition zone inflammation in 87.5%. In all cases of transition zone inflammation the infiltrate was noted within and/or around BPH. Inflammatory infiltrate was microscopically associated with prostate cancer in 23 of the 40 cases (57.5%). In these 23 cases, there was no association of inflammation with Gleason score, preoperative prostate specific antigen, positive margins, or seminal vesicle invasion. Patients with BPH unassociated with pr...
Positive selecting cell type determines the phenotype of MHC class Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells.

Several studies have demonstrated an apparent link between positive selection on hematopoietic cells (HCs) and an “innate” T-cell phenotype. Whereas conventional CD8+ T cells are primarily selected on thymic epithelial cells (TECs) and certain innate T cells are exclusively selected on HCs, MHC class Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells appear to be selected on both TECs and HCs. However, whether TEC- and HC-selected T cells represent distinct lineages or whether the same T-cell precursors have the capacity to be selected on either cell type is unknown. Using an M3-restricted T-cell receptor transgenic mouse model, we demonstrate that not only are MHC class Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells capable of being selected on either cell type but that selecting cell type directly affects the phenotype of the resulting CD8+ T cells. M3-restricted CD8+ T cells selected on HCs acquire a more activated phenotype and possess more potent effector functions than those selected on TECs. Additionally, these two developmental pathways are active in the generation of the natural pool of M3-restricted CD8+ T cells. Our results suggest that these two distinct populations may allow MHC class Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells to occupy different immunological niches playing unique roles in immune responses to infection.
Joint Retirement in the Dual Worker Family

The large increase in labor force participation rates of older women has raised questions regarding the joint timing of retirement among older working couples. We define three patterns of family retirement: joint retirement in which both spouses retire at the same time; substitute retirement, a pattern in which the wife works after the husband; and secondary retirement, a pattern in which the husband works longer than the wife. Using data from the Social Security Longitudinal Retirement History Study for 1969-75, we examine determinants of these family patterns. We find that both spouses' characteristics affect retirement timing. Husband's and wife's age, hourly wage, and pension coverage have parallel, symmetric effects on the retirement pattern chosen. Though a great deal of attention has been paid to family influences on the retirement patterns of men (Barfield; Barfield and Morgan), almost no attention has been given to family structure and the joint timing of retirement among working couples (Scanzoni and Szinovacz; Streib and Beck). Timing of retirement in dual worker families is of increasing importance because of the large number of older women now in the labor force. In 1979, 48.7 percent of women aged 55-59 were in the labor force (Masnick and Bane) and current trends suggest that this proportion will be larger for future cohorts. As more couples approach retirement as dual worker families, the later stages of the family life course will be significantly affected by the pattern of retirement chosen. Whereas in the past the retirement of the husband has signaled a major change in the family, it is increasingly the case that the relative timing of retirement of both spouses defines variant family patterns. Division of household work, leisure time patterns, as well *Support for the research reported here was provided, in part, by a grant from the Social Security Administration (10-P-97004-4-02) and a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIH AG02136). We thank Felix M. Berardo for his comments on an earlier version of this paper. Address correspondence to John Henretta, Department of Sociology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. ' 1983 The University of North Carolina Press
Transcatheter closure of Fontan fenestrations using the Amplatzer septal occluder: Initial experience and follow-up

We have recently used the Amplatzer septal occluder to close Fontan fenestrations. Between June 1998 and December 1999, 13 patients underwent transcatheter occlusion of their Fontan fenestrations. Systemic blood flow decreased significantly without a concomitant decrease in pulmonary blood flow. All residual shunts detectable by oximetry were at sites separate from those into which occlusion devices were implanted. One patient developed severe tricuspid regurgitation following the procedure requiring surgical removal of the device. At the last follow-up, all patients were doing well clinically. There were no shunts detectable through or around the devices by echocardiography. Our experience indicates that the location of the fenestration within the Fontan baffle is critical to avoiding device interference with other intracardiac structures. The Amplatzer septal occluder offers an effective means of transcatheter closure of Fontan baffle fenestrations. Although more experience is needed, our current follow-up data suggest that long-term outcomes will be favorable. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 51:301–304, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Extended hyperbolic congruential frequency hop code: generation and bounds for cross- and auto-ambiguity function

We propose a new frequency hop code, called the extended hyperbolic congruential (EHC) code. The properties of the code, determined via hit array analysis, indicate almost ideal cross- and auto-ambiguity characteristics. Furthermore, the code can be defined recursively, enabling a simple hardware implementation. This makes the code attractive for code division multiple access (CDMA) communication systems.
Survivable Optical Grids

Novel schemes that jointly address failure resilience in optical networks and task scheduling in optical grids supporting distributed computing applications are studied.
Adhesive Frictionless Contact Between an Elastic Isotropic Half-Space and a Rigid Axi-Symmetric Punch

In this paper we consider the problem of adhesive frictionless contact of an elastic half-space by an axi-symmetric punch. We obtain integral equations that define the tractions and displacements normal to the surface of the half-space, as well as the size of the contact regions, for the cases of circular and annular contact regions. The novelty of our approach resides in the use of Betti’s reciprocity theorem to impose equilibrium, and of Abel transforms to either solve or substantially simplify the resulting integral equations. Additionally, the radii that define the annular or circular contact region are defined as local minimizers of the function obtained by evaluating the potential energy at the equilibrium solutions for each pair of radii. With this approach, we rather easily recover Sneddon’s formulas (Sneddon, Int. J. Eng. Sci., 3(1):47–57, 1965) for circular contact regions. For the annular contact region, we obtain a new integral equation that defines the inverse Abel transform of the surface normal displacement. We solve this equation numerically for two particular punches: a flat annular punch, and a concave punch.
Modeling Turbulent Scalar Mixing with Mapping Closure Methods

The Mapping closure concept was first introduced by Chen, Chen, and Kraichnan (1989) to model turbulent scalar mixing. Since then it has been modified and extended to multiscalar mixing. In this paper, the time-evolving reference-field version of the mapping closure method (Girimaji 1992a, 1993) is presented. In this approach, the physical scalar field ϕ(y,t) (y — space coordinate, t — time) is mapped using a mapping function, X(t), on to a reference field θ(y,t) which could be time evolving. The mapping function evolves in time such that the implied evolution of the ϕ field is a model of the true evolution. Two-species mixing and multispecies mixing are considered. Model calculations are compared with data from the direct numerical simulations of stochastic diffusion.
Quasi-optical microstrip amplifiers based on multilayer coupled structures

Single stage and double stage quasi-optical amplifiers are presented. The amplifiers are constructed on double layer back to back microstrip circuits with a shared ground plane. The ground plane provides an effective isolation between the receiving and the transmitting antenna arrays. Furthermore it serves as a heat sink in high power amplifier designs. The single stage quasi-optical amplifier had a gain of 7.54 dB at 10.04 GHz and the two stage quasi-optical amplifier had a gain of 18.0 dB at 9.95 GHz.
A negative-index annular lens device for feeding 360°-steerable ring arrays

This paper describes the design of a negative-index annular lens device intended for use as the core element of the beam-forming network in circular ring electronically-steerable arrays (ESA). Circular ring ESA's offer the benefit of full 360θ scan coverage, and hence are ideal for application in mobile and portable communication devices [1]. The proposed lens device can be used as an interface between the front-end electronic and the antenna elements, as depicted in Fig. 1. The lens has an annular geometry. The antenna ports are defined along the outer rim and electronic (or beam) ports lie on the inner rim of the device. The lens is made of inhomogeneous material, where the refractive index varies with radius. Antenna ports can be extended using equal lengths of transmission line to feed an array with a radius greater than that of the lens. This allows the lens itself to be designed as a miniature device, appropriate for integration with the rest of the front-end electronics. A single steerable beam is obtained by switching the feed point between different beam ports. Multiple beams are possible if the signal is routed to more than one beam port.
Carotid Arterial Wall Characteristics Are Associated With Incident Ischemic Stroke But Not Coronary Heart Disease in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study

Background and Purpose—Ultrasound measurements of arterial stiffness are associated with atherosclerosis risk factors, but limited data exist on their association with incident cardiovascular events. We evaluated the association of carotid ultrasound-derived arterial stiffness measures with incident coronary heart disease (CHD) and ischemic stroke in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Methods—Carotid arterial strain and compliance, distensibility and stiffness indices, pressure–strain, and Young elastic moduli were measured in 10 407 individuals using ultrasound. Hazard ratios for incident CHD (myocardial infarction, fatal CHD, coronary revascularization) and stroke in minimally adjusted (age, sex, center, race) and fully adjusted models (minimally adjusted model+diabetes, height, weight, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, tobacco use, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication use, and carotid intima-media thickness) were calculated. Results—The mean age...
On a flexible class of continuous functions with uniform local structure

This paper considers a class of continuous functions constructed as a series of iterates of the “tent map” multiplied by variable signs. This class includes Takagi’s nowhere-differentiable function, and contains the functions studied by Hata and Yamaguti [Japan J. Appl. Math., 1 (1984), 183-199] and Kono [Acta Math. Hungar. 49 (1987), 315324] as a proper subclass. A complete description is given of the differentiability properties of the functions in this class, and several statements are proved concerning their uniform and local moduli of continuity. The results are applied to generation of random functions. AMS 2000 subject classification: 26A27 (primary); 26A15, 26A30, 60G50 (secondary)
Combining Connectionist and Symbolic Learning to Refine Certainty Factor Rule Bases

This paper describes RAPTURE—a system for revising probabilistic knowledge bases that combines connectionist and symbolic learning methods. RAPTURE uses a modified version of backpropagation to ref...
Optimization test problems with uniformly distributed coefficients

When an empirical evaluation of a solution method for an optimization problem is conducted, a standard approach is to generate test problems in which all of the coefficients are assumed to be independently and uniformly distributed. However, the performance of algorithms and heuristics can degrade as the correlation among the coefficients in integer programming test problems is strengthened. The author shows how to characterize the joint distribution of two discrete uniform random variables with any feasible correlation and any feasible value for the smallest joint probability when the number of possible values of one random variable is a multiple of the number of possible values of the other. This characterization is used in an experiment with randomly generated 0-1 knapsack problems, and the results of the experiment are summarized. >
Evaluation of the Amplatzer vascular plug for proximal splenic artery embolization.

Purpose Proximal splenic artery embolization is performed for splenic salvage in the setting of trauma or before splenectomy in patients with splenomegaly. Typically, this has been done with the use of metallic coils, but precise placement of the first deposited coil may be limited. The Amplatzer vascular plug (AVP) may be used to accomplish precise proximal splenic artery embolization. Materials and Methods Fourteen patients had proximal splenic artery embolization performed with the AVP. Thirteen were performed to allow splenic salvage after blunt trauma and one was performed before splenectomy for massive splenomegaly. Devices ranging in diameter from 8 to 12 mm were placed through 5-F or 6-F guiding catheters. Desired AVP location was distal to the dorsal pancreatic artery and proximal to the most peripheral pancreatica magna branch. Test injections of contrast agent were performed after approximately 5 minutes and then at 3–5-minute intervals until occlusion was seen. If this was not noted by 15 minutes, an adjunctive closure method was chosen. Computed tomography (CT) follow-up was performed in all patients. Results Device placement in the desired location was successful in all cases, with device repositioning required in two. Occlusion took an average of approximately 10 minutes. Additional coils placed in three patients could all be packed into a tight configuration. A second AVP was placed in one patient. There were no complications of the procedures. Follow-up CT images showed no evidence of migration or recanalization of any of the devices. Minimal artifact was noted from the AVP on CT. Conclusion In this preliminary series, use of the AVP allowed for precise proximal splenic artery embolization.
Narrating Personality Change

The present research investigated the longitudinal relations between personality traits and narratives. Specifically, the authors examined how individual differences in 170 college students' narratives of personality change (a) were predicted by personality traits at the beginning of college, (b) related to actual changes and perceived changes in personality traits during college, and (c) related to changes in emotional health during college. Individual differences in narratives of personality trait change told in the 4th year of college fell into 2 dimensions: affective processing, characterized by positive emotions, and exploratory processing, characterized by meaning making and causal processing. Conscientious, open, and extraverted freshmen told exploratory stories of change as seniors. Emotionally healthy freshmen told stories of change that were high in positive affect. Both positive affective and exploratory stories corresponded to change in emotional stability and conscientiousness during college above and beyond the effects of perceived changes in these traits. In addition, both positive affective and exploratory narratives corresponded to increases in emotional health during college independent of the effects of changes in personality traits. These findings improve our understanding of how individuals conceptualize their changing identity over time.
Mathematical Intuition (Poincaré, Polya, Dewey)

Practical calculation of the limit of a sequence often violates the defini- tion of convergence to a limit as taught in calculus. Together with examples from Euler, Polya and Poincare, this fact shows that in mathematics, as in science and in everyday life, we are often obligated to use knowledge that is derived, not rigor- ously or deductively, but simply by making the best use of available information- plausible reasoning. The "philosophy of mathematical practice" fits into the general framework of "warranted assertibility", the pragmatist view of the logic of inquiry developed by John Dewey.
Familiäre Dysfibrinogenämie — „Fibrinogen Detroit“

Eine kongenitale Fibrinogenanomalie als Ursache einer hamorrhagischen Diathese scheint ein seltenes Krankheitsbild zu sein und bislang wurden nur sechs derartige Falle in der Literatur beschrieben (Imperato u. Dettori; Menache; Beck et al.; von Felten et al.; Hasselback et al.; Forman et al.). Wir hatten vor einiger Zeit die Gelegenheit, ein 18jahriges Madchen zu untersuchen, das unter schweren Menorrhagien litt (Mammen et al.). Die Vollblut- und Plasmagerinnungszeiten (Rekalzifizierungszeiten, partielle Thromboplastinzeiten, Prothrombinzeiten und Thrombinzeiten) waren erheblich verlangert und kein Fibrinogen konnte im Plasma gefunden werden, wenn Methoden angewandt wurden, in denen das Fibrinogen zunachst in Fibrin umgewandelt werden muste. Dagegen waren immunologisch, elektrophoretisch und mittels Fallungsmethoden normale Fibrinogenkonzentrationen im Plasma nachweisbar. Die ubrigen Gerinnungsfaktoren waren normal, zirkulierende Anticoagulantien wurden ausgeschlossen und keine gesteigerte fibrinolytische Aktivitat wurde beobachtet. Nach Thrombinzugabe zum Patientenplasma kam es erst nach Stunden zu einer Gerinnselbildung. Die Gerinnsel waren in 5 M Harnstofflosung unloslich.
Effects of bird-feeding activities on the health of wild birds

Among the most popular reasons that people feed wild birds is that they want to help birds. The extent to which supplemental food helps birds, however, is not well established. From spring 2011 to spring 2014, we examined how feeding of wild birds influences the health of individual birds at forested sites in central Illinois, USA. Specifically, we compared three forested sites where we provided supplemental food with three forested sites for which no supplemental food was available and monitored changes in the individual health of birds. In addition, we determined whether any changes in bird health had occurred after feeders had been removed from sites 10 months before. Generally, the individual health of birds improved with supplemental feeding, including increased antioxidant levels, reduced stress (heterophil-to-lymphocyte ratio) and more rapid feather growth. In some species, we also found improved body condition index scores and innate immune defense. The difference among sites was not present 10 months after feeders were removed, suggesting that the impact on health was indeed related to supplemental feeding. Potential negative effects of supplemental feeding were also found, including an increase in infectious disease prevalence among individual birds at forested sites where supplemental food was offered. Birds with clear signs of pathology showed deficits in most of the physiological metrics in which birds at feeder sites typically showed improved health condition. At the peak of prevalence of infectious disease, 8.3% of all birds at feeders exhibited symptoms of conjunctivitis, pox, dermal disease or cloacal disease. We found both positive and negative impacts of wild bird feeding, and that, in general, birds that had access to supplemental food were in better physiological condition. Moreover, the negative effects we found may be mitigated by hobbyists engaging in safer bird-feeding practices.
Spatial Patterns of Carbon Emissions in the U.S.: A Geographically Weighted Regression Approach

This paper uses U.S. county-level data to examine the extent of geographical variability in the process liking total emissions of carbon dioxide to measures of population, affluence, and technology. Results from geographically-weighted regression models show that there is strong evidence of geographical heterogeneity and that the magnitude, and in some cases, the direction, of the effects vary within and across the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. These results suggest that we ought to be cautious of policy recommendations based on global models that ignore or account imperfectly for spatial dependence.
Main problems of stability and change in tradition

With the effects of acculturation to be seen in all parts of the world, we may have to be reminded how recently its importance has been recognized. The twentieth century has brought us face to face with change, but the fact about culture which was most obvious in the last century was its stability. Some cultures had existed with little change over many centuries, and others had been spread through colonization to new parts of the world where they persisted despite considerable geographical differences. There was a tendency to take cultural stability for granted, though it was recognized that changes could result from migrations and conquests. The Tylorian theory of cultural evolution, developed only toward the end of the century, held that societies progressed from one stage to another as the result of internal change, but the manner in which these changes came about was almost mystical and inevitable. Other scholars seriously maintained that primitive peoples lived in “cultural straight jackets” which prevented change and, indeed, even individual variation in behaviour. It was widely believed that human behaviour was biologically determined, and that certain people were musical or amusical, or rhythmical and incapable of harmony, by virtue of their race. Learning as a means of cultural change had little place in these theories, and in the light of what we know today the important mechanism of cultural borrowing was completely underrated. It is sometimes hard to realize that the fact that folktales can and do diffuse from one place to another, without the agency of migration, had to be proved within the last hundred years.
Peptide toxins from arthropod venoms disrupt feeding and utilization of diet in the cotton bollworm

The broad spectrum insecticides in current use cause indiscriminate mortality among pest and beneficial species alike. Resistance to synthetic insecticides continues to be a major problem. At least twenty-three insect species have developed resistance to the newest class of insecticides, the pyrethroids (Georghiou, 1986). As an alternative to these synthetic insecticides, we propose the development of highly selective insect-specific control systems based on peptides with new target sites and/or novel modes of action. Peptide toxins with activity specific to insects are of great interest in this respect. Candidate peptides would conceivably disrupt feeding or utilization of food in addition to any acute toxic effect they have. The goal of this study was to identify model peptides which reduce overall gastroenteric activity or efficiency in the corn earworm, Heliothis zea.
The solvent extraction of Cu(II), Ni(II), and Co(II) with diacetyl-mono-(2-quinolylhydrazone)

Diacetyl-mono-(2-quinolylhydrazone), DmQH, has been studied as a solvent extracting agent for Cu(II), Ni(II), and Co(II) into the solvent MIBK. Cu(II) extracts as the Cu(CO)+ ion in a 1∶1 complex with DmQH to form the neutral species [Cu(OH)(L)]. Since there is no variance of the distribution coefficient with the perchlorate ion present, no ion pairing exists. At pH values greater than 6, copper may be extracted with an efficiency of 95% into MIBK while there is no extraction of this complex into benzene. The extractions of Ni(II) and Co(II) show some dependence with pH; however, their efficiencies are less than 50%. At pH values greater than 6.5, gelatinous precipitates form which coagulate at the interface between the two solvents.
Improvement of Control Method for the Electro-hydraulic Loading System

The electro-hydraulic loading is widely used to simulate the pneumatic force acting on the aircrafts in the aero industry.Active movement of aircraft's accessory?forces strong upset to the loading system.The classical way to solve this problem is to design a controller based on structure invariance theory.But the result is not good enough because of the bad quality of signals and the high rank of the controller.It is difficult to be actualized.A control method to reduce the extra force via internal-feedback is presented,which can compensate flux variety of servo valve by measuring the internal-feedback signal,and result in eliminating the hysteresis of loading systems.Different feedback output signals are selected to design the new controller,whose rank is effectively reduced.The improved feedback function is simple,and it is easily to be applied in project.A mathematical model for electro-hydraulic loading systems is established,with which,the computer simulation of improvement is done.According to the result of simulation,the loading system tracks position system without delay.It can eliminate the extra force..The effect is satisfactory.
The present situation of MRSA infection and drug resistance analysis

Objective:To understand the clinical distribution and drug resistance of MRSA and offer basis to prevent and treat MRSA.Methods:The detected MRSA from Jan.2008 to Dec.2010 using specified methods were analyzed.Results:Main infection was RTI;Main risk factors were foundation disease,virulence procedure,antibiotics≥2 varietas,accounting for 80%,broad spectrum antibiotic≥7 days accounting for 72%.Drug sensitivity result showed that resistance rates of MRSA to Bata-lactam,quinolones,macrolides,aminoglycosides were more than 85%.Conclusion:Prevention and control measures should be strengthened to reduce MRSA infection in hospital.
Evaluation on interfacial fracture mode of resistance spot weld dual-phase steels

The interfacial fracture mode of dual phase steel(DP) weld greatly affects its mechanical performance and decreases its weld quality because much martensite in the nugget makes the welds brittle,but the traditional nugget diameter criteria is not suitable to estimate the quality of DP weld,and so this paper builds a mathematical mode based on macro-appearance and micro-mechanism to evaluate the different fracture modes of DP weld.Experimental results show that the model is effective on 1.4 mm and 1.8 mm DP600 welds and is also better than other evaluation criteria for their limited factors considered.
Pathway Compartmentalization in Peroxisome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to Produce Versatile Medium Chain Fatty Alcohols

Fatty alcohols are value-added chemicals and important components of a variety of industries, which have a >3 billion-dollar global market annually. Long chain fatty alcohols (>C12) are mainly used in surfactants, lubricants, detergents, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics while medium chain fatty alcohols (C6–C12) could be used as diesel-like biofuels. Microbial production of fatty alcohols from renewable feedstock stands as a promising strategy to enable sustainable supply of fatty alcohols. In this study, we report, for the first time, that medium chain fatty alcohols could be produced in yeast via targeted expression of a fatty acyl-CoA reductase (TaFAR) in the peroxisome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. By tagging TaFAR enzyme with peroxisomal targeting signal peptides, the TaFAR could be compartmentalized into the matrix of the peroxisome to hijack the medium chain fatty acyl-CoA generated from the beta-oxidation pathway and convert them to versatile medium chain fatty alcohols (C10 & C12). The overexpression of genes encoding PEX7 and acetyl-CoA carboxylase further improved fatty alcohol production by 1.4-fold. After medium optimization in fed-batch fermentation using glucose as the sole carbon source, fatty alcohols were produced at 1.3 g/L, including 6.9% 1-decanol, 27.5% 1-dodecanol, 2.9% 1-tetradecanol and 62.7% 1-hexadecanol. This work revealed that peroxisome could be engineered as a compartmentalized organelle for producing fatty acid-derived chemicals in S. cerevisiae.
Polycythemia and hyperviscosity syndromes in infants and children.

Variations in hemoglobin and hematocrit values with age make it essential to define polycythemia with respect to the age of the patient; the condition is regularly present in neonatal life but is rare in childhood. Normal and pathologic polycythemia in the newborn infant are differentiated.
Democratic Transition and Consolidation

The increasingly global phenomenon of democratic transition and consolidation have been analysed by scholars who have borrowed from Joseph Schumpeter and Robert Dahl in defining the type of democracy that societies emerging from very different authoritarian experiences are seeking to achieve.2 Although most authors tend to agree on a procedural definition of democracy, they have differed in their analysis of the critical features of democratic transition and consolidation. To varying degrees all of these views are relevant for an understanding of the prospects and problems of democratic consolidation in Ecuador.
Cell Surface Membrane Structure and the Function of Endothelial Cells

The principal function of the circulatory system is to transport molecules, both nutritive and informational, to the various tissues of the body. In trying to understand this process, early physiologic experiments (Pappenheimer et al., 1951; Landis and Pappenheimer, 1963; Renkin, 1964) established that the exchange process was mediated by a semipermeable “membrane.” That is, molecular exchange between the blood and tissue spaces takes place across a selective barrier that on the one hand allows the free exchange of molecules less than 45 A in diameter (Landis and Pappenheimer, 1963) and on the other hand restricts the movement of larger diameter molecules (Garlick and Renkin, 1970; Landis and Pappenheimer, 1963). The discontinuous nature of molecular transport across this “membrane” has been explained by assuming that exchange occurs through pores of two general classes: small pores (diam. ∼90 A; freq. 15–20/µm2) and large pores (diam. ∼500–700 A; freq. 1/15–20 µm2) (Landis and Pappenheimer, 1963; Simionescu et al., 1976a; Lassen and Trap-Jensen, 1970). This theory has been developed in recent years to explain the differing permeabilities of the various vascular compartments; more permeable compartments such as those found in the liver and adrenal cortex have more pores of both classes, whereas relatively impermeable compartments such as those found in the brain (Crone and Lassen, 1969; Simionescu et al., 1976a) have fewer pores.
Solutions of Ginzburg-Landau equations and critical points of the renormalized energy

Abstract Here we establish some connection between solutions of Ginzburg-Landau equations and critical points of the renormalized energy Wg introduced in the recent works of Bethuel-Brezis and Helein. In particular, local nondegenerate minimums of Wg have their associated solutions of GL-equations.
Minerals of Georgia: Their Properties and Occurrences by Robert B. Cook and Julian C. Gray, edited by Jose Santamaria. University of Georgia Press, Athens, Georgia. 326 pages; 2015; $32.95 (flexibound).

The first edition of Minerals of Georgia was written by Robert B. Cook and published in 1978 by the Georgia Geological Survey as Bulletin 92. This second edition, more than a decade in the making, ...
Crustal strain measurements in Nevada

abstract Strain measurements at two sites in central Nevada, Round Mountain and Mina, indicate that, in this area of the Basin and Range, strain rates are less than 2 × 10 −6 per year. These observations are in agreement with estimated spreading rates and geodetic measurements in the Great Basin. The general agreement between strain-meter observations at Round Mountain and nearby focal mechanism solutions suggests that we are observing strain accumulation in this area. The long-term strain at Mina is more variable, but generally agrees with earthquake focal mechanism solutions. The strain rate, in conjunction with the high seismicity of the Mina area, suggests that strain has already accumulated and is presently being released through inelastic processes.
Predicting Risk of Ischemic or Bleeding Events After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

associated with reduced ischemic events (2.7% vs 5.7%; risk difference [RD], −3.0% [95% CI, −4.1% to −2.0%], P < .001) compared with the low score group (score <2, n = 5731; 1.7% vs 2.3%; RD, −0.7% [95% CI, −1.4% to 0.09%], P =. 07; interaction P < .001). Conversely, continued thienopyridine was associated with smaller increases in bleeding among the high score group (1.8% vs 1.4%; RD, 0.4% [95% CI, −0.3% to 1.0%], P = .26) compared with the low score group (3.0% vs 1.4%; RD, 1.5% [95% CI, 0.8% to 2.3%], P < .001; interaction P = .02). Among PROTECT patients (validation cohort; mean age, 62 years; women, 23.7%), ischemia occurred in 79 patients (1.0%) and bleeding in 37 (0.5%), with a c statistic of 0.64 for ischemia and 0.64 for bleeding. In this cohort, the high-score patients (n = 2848) had increased ischemic events compared with the low-score patients and no significant difference in bleeding.