cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mortality among patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension enrolled in the IH Registry.

Objective To determine (1) if mortality among patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) enrolled in the Intracranial Hypertension Registry (IHR) is different from that of the general population of the United States and (2) what the leading underlying causes of death are among this cohort. Methods Mortality and underlying causes of death were ascertained from the National Death Index. Indirect standardization using age- and sex-specific nationwide all-cause and cause-specific mortality data extracted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder Online Database allowed for calculation of standardized mortality ratios (SMR). Results There were 47 deaths (96% female) among 1437 IHR participants that met inclusion criteria. The average age at death was 46 years (range, 20–95 years). Participants of the IHR experienced higher all-cause mortality than the general population (SMR, 1.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.2–2.1). Suicide, accidents, and deaths from medical/surgical complications were the most common underlying causes, accounting for 43% of all deaths. When compared to the general population, the risk of suicide was over 6 times greater (SMR, 6.1; 95% CI, 2.9–12.7) and the risk of death from accidental overdose was over 3 times greater (SMR, 3.5; 95% CI, 1.6–7.7). The risk of suicide by overdose was over 15 times greater among the IHR cohort than in the general population (SMR, 15.3; 95% CI, 6.4–36.7). Conclusions Patients with IIH in the IHR possess significantly increased risks of death from suicide and accidental overdose compared to the general population. Complications of medical/surgical treatments were also major contributors to mortality. Depression and disability were common among decedents. These findings should be interpreted with caution as the IHR database is likely subject to selection bias.
Recurrence of DNAJB9-Positive Fibrillary Glomerulonephritis After Kidney Transplantation: A Case Series

Rationale & Objective Fibrillary glomerulonephritis (FGN) is a rare glomerular disease that often progresses to kidney failure requiring kidney replacement therapy. We have recently identified a novel biomarker of FGN, DnaJ homolog subfamily B member 9 (DNAJB9). In this study, we used sequential protocol allograft biopsies and DNAJB9 staining to help characterize a series of patients with native kidney FGN who underwent kidney transplantation. Study Design Case series. Setting & Participants Between 1996 and 2016, kidney transplantation was performed on 19 patients with a reported diagnosis of FGN in their native/transplant kidneys. Using standard diagnostic criteria and DNAJB9 staining, we excluded 5 patients (4 atypical cases diagnosed as possible FGN and 1 donor-derived FGN). Protocol allograft biopsies had been performed at 4, 12, 24, 60, and 120 months posttransplantation. DNAJB9 immunohistochemistry was performed using an anti-DNAJB9 rabbit polyclonal antibody. Pre- and posttransplantation demographic and clinical characteristics were collected. Summary statistical analysis was performed, including nonparametric statistical tests. Observations The 14 patients with FGN had a median posttransplantation follow-up of 5.7 (IQR, 2.9-13.8) years. 3 (21%) patients had recurrence of FGN, detected on the 5- (n = 1) and 10-year (n = 2) allograft biopsies. Median time to recurrence was 10.2 (IQR, 5-10.5) years. Median levels of proteinuria and iothalamate clearance at the time of recurrence were 243 mg/d and 56 mL/min. The remaining 11 patients had no evidence of histologic recurrence on the last posttransplantation biopsy, although the median time of follow-up was significantly less at 4.4 (IQR, 2.9-14.4) years. 3 (21%) patients had a monoclonal protein detectable in serum obtained pretransplantation; none of these patients had recurrent FGN. Limitations Small study sample and shorter follow-up time in the nonrecurrent versus recurrent group. Conclusions In this series, FGN had an indolent course in the kidney allograft in that detectable histologic recurrence did not appear for at least 5 years posttransplantation.
Surgical Causes of Back Pain

There are many causes of back pain, most of which do not require operative intervention. Operative intervention for just back pain or even chronic back pain is usually not successful. However, in cases where there is an underlying cause of the back pain such as a disc herniation, infection, cancer, or fracture, surgical intervention can be warranted and successful at resolving the back pain. This chapter focuses on what causes the back pain and when surgical intervention could be considered.
Nanoscale Vacuum Channel Electron Sources

We present three different architectures of Si field emitter devices with self-aligned gates (single-gated, double-gated and graphene encapsulated double-gated) for high field factors, $\beta$ , and low turn-on voltages, $\nabla_{\mathrm{ON}}$ . The lowest $V_{\mathrm{O}\mathrm{N}}$ achieved was 8 V using the graphene encapsulated double-gated device. All the device architectures demonstrated linear correlation between $V_{\mathrm{ON}}$ and the magnitude of the slope of the Fowler-Nordheim plot, $b_{\mathrm{F}\mathrm{N}}$ . We modeled the effects of tip radius, aperture diameters and tip position relative to the gate on $\beta$ , in order to reduce $V_{\mathrm{ON}}$ .
Towards Understanding Ensemble, Knowledge Distillation and Self-Distillation in Deep Learning.

We formally study how ensemble of deep learning models can improve test accuracy, and how the superior performance of ensemble can be distilled into a single model using knowledge distillation. We consider the challenging case where the ensemble is simply an average of the outputs of a few independently trained neural networks with the SAME architecture, trained using the SAME algorithm on the SAME data set, and they only differ by the random seeds used in the initialization. We empirically show that ensemble/knowledge distillation in deep learning works very differently from traditional learning theory, especially differently from ensemble of random feature mappings or the neural-tangent-kernel feature mappings, and is potentially out of the scope of existing theorems. Thus, to properly understand ensemble and knowledge distillation in deep learning, we develop a theory showing that when data has a structure we refer to as "multi-view", then ensemble of independently trained neural networks can provably improve test accuracy, and such superior test accuracy can also be provably distilled into a single model by training a single model to match the output of the ensemble instead of the true label. Our result sheds light on how ensemble works in deep learning in a way that is completely different from traditional theorems, and how the "dark knowledge" is hidden in the outputs of the ensemble -- that can be used in knowledge distillation -- comparing to the true data labels. In the end, we prove that self-distillation can also be viewed as implicitly combining ensemble and knowledge distillation to improve test accuracy.
Large-size free-standing single-crystal β-Ga2O3 membranes fabricated by hydrogen implantation and lift-off

In this paper, we demonstrated large-size free-standing single-crystal β-Ga2O3 NMs fabricated by the hydrogen implantation and lift-off process directly from MOCVD grown β-Ga2O3 epifilms on native substrates. The optimum implantation conditions were simulated with a Monte-Carlo simulation method to obtain a high hydrogen concentration with a narrow ion distribution at the desired depth. Two as grown β-Ga2O3 samples with different orientations ([100] and [001]) were used to successfully create 1.2 μm thick β-Ga2O3 NMs without any physical damage. These β-Ga2O3 NMs were then transfer-printed onto rigid and flexible substrates such as SiC and polyimide substrates. Various material characterization studies were performed to investigate their crystal quality, surface morphologies, optical properties, mechanical properties, and bandgaps before and after the lift-off and revealed that the good material quality was maintained. This result offers several benefits in that the thickness, doping, and size of β-Ga2O3 NMs can be fully controlled. Moreover, more advanced β-Ga2O3-based NM structures such as (AlxGa1−x)2O3/Ga2O3 heterostructure NMs can be directly created from their bulk epitaxy substrates; thus this study provides a viable route for the realization of high performance β-Ga2O3 NM-based electronics and optoelectronics that can be built on various substrates and platforms.
RHM, Interdisciplinarity, and an International Public Health Conference:

Building connections with professionals in subject matter disciplines—practitioners and/or academics—is a growing area of interest for many scholars working in the rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM). However, strategies for creating and building meaningful, productive interdisciplinary relationships has not been a central theme in RHM-focused scholarship. This entry endeavors to address this gap by using RHM’s emerging version of the “dialogue” genre to describe the author’s experience co-chairing the communications track for an international public health conference. The author weaves in commentary from contributors who participated in the conference and discusses and reflects upon two key challenges that emerged: 1) differences in language choice/terminology, and 2) epistemic conflict. Through this reflective discussion, this dialogue proposes several strategies that RHM scholars might draw from in building their own interdisciplinary relationships moving forward: 1) negotiate shared meanings and goals, 2) find commonalities, and 3) normalize rhetorical inquiry. Featured Contributors: Nicholas Bustamante, MFA; Alina Deshpande, PhD; Amy Ising, MS; Jamie Newman, PhD; Kirk St.Amant, PhD
Do Investors Trade Industry Sector-Based Credit Risk Differently Than Systematic Credit Risk?

The authors examine price discovery and informational flow between the industry sector-based subindices of the Markit CDX.NA.IG index and matched portfolios of stocks to ascertain whether they differ from the composite index and one another, possibly due to differing business risk and exposure to systematic factors or investor preferences. They find that although neither market leads the other in pricing in new information in the systematic markets, sector-based matched equity portfolios persistently lead CDS subindices in capturing this information. The only exception is the technology, media, and telecommunications sector, where they observe a two-way interactive effect. They attribute the effect to the comparatively greater growth prospects in this sector and related investor attention. These findings suggest that investors may trade sector-based CDS indices very differently than systematic indices. TOPICS:Security analysis and valuation, mutual funds/passive investing/indexing, credit risk management, credit default swaps Key Findings ▪ Price discovery and informational flow between the industry sector-based subindices of the Markit CDX.NA.IG index and matched portfolios of stocks differs from the composite index as well as within the sectors themselves. Investors trade sector-based CDS indices very differently than systematic indices, a finding with implications for stakeholders who use CDS indices for their informational content. ▪ Although neither market leads the other in pricing in new information in the systematic markets, four of the five sector-based matched equity portfolios lead their respective CDS subindices in capturing this information. ▪ There is a two-way interactive information flow within the technology, media, and telecommunications sector, suggesting more investor interest relative to the other sectors.
BlockMaestro: enabling programmer-transparent task-based execution in GPU systems

As modern GPU workloads grow in size and complexity, there is an ever-increasing demand for GPU computational power. Emerging workloads contain hundreds or thousands of GPU kernel launches, which incur high overheads, and exhibit data-dependent behavior between kernels, which requires synchronization, leading to GPU under-utilization. Task-based execution models have been proposed to solve these issues, but they require significant programmer effort to port applications to proprietary task-based programming models in order to specify tasks and task dependencies. To address this need, we propose BlockMaestro, a software-hardware solution that combines command queue reordering, kernel-launch-time static analysis, and runtime hardware support to dynamically identify and resolve thread-block level data dependencies between kernels. Through static analysis of memory access patterns at kernel-launch-time, BlockMaestro can extract inter-kernel thread block-level data dependencies. BlockMaestro also introduces kernel pre-launching to reduce the kernel launch overheads experienced by multiple dependent kernels. Correctness is enforced by dynamically resolving thread block-level data dependency at runtime through hardware support. BlockMaestro achieves an average speedup of 51.76% (up to 2.92x) on data-dependent benchmarks, and requires minimal hardware overhead.
Quasi-FM Waveform Using Chaotic Oscillator for Joint Radar and Communication Systems

Abstract The authors propose a novel signal design for generating wideband quasi-Frequency Modulated (FM) waveforms using chaotic systems. The receiver is based on a self synchronizing chaotic system, making for fast synchronization that is robust to timing errors or Doppler shifts. The chaotic oscillator has fast and slow time scales, and the slow oscillating part of the chaotic system is used to sweep the fast oscillating part thereby generating a modulated waveform that changes its frequency as a function of time. The potentials of these waveforms are demonstrated for joint radar-communication (RadComm) systems. Using the same nonlinear system a chaos frequency shift keying (CFSK) approach is utilized to encode the digital information. To decode the information, a drive-response synchronization scheme is utilized. Results indicate that our proposed signal design closely matches the bit-error rate (BER) of theoretical noncoherent frequency shift keying (FSK) while having good radar imaging capabilities.
Marketing Channel Strategy

Marketing channel strategy – one of the “Four P's” of the marketing mix (“place,” along with product, price, and promotion) – comprises the set of decisions made, and structures created, that help move a manufacturer's product or service from its place of manufacturer to the ultimate end-user. Channel design and management involves long-term attention to end-users' demands not only for the firm's products, but also for the services the channel can offer; the necessity to manage the significant costs that distribution inflicts on the company, through judicious allocation of responsibility for channel flow performance to the chosen members of the channel; and the ability to maintain channel partners' positive incentives and motivations to execute on the specified channel design. Unlike the other three “P's,” it inherently involves collaboration and interaction among multiple corporate entities, all in the pursuit of a single goal: profitable end-user sales. This article lays out the key elements of effective channel design and channel management. Keywords: marketing channels; distribution; routes to market; service output demands; channel flows; channel conflict; channel power
Does it Work?: Ways of Assessing Community-Based Learning in Political Science

This paper examines the learning goals that community-based learning courses are supposed to accomplish and assesses the extent to which a CBL course that I taught in the Spring 2009 meant these stated objectives. The course “Poverty and Political Voice” was explicitly designed to avoid the simple “soup kitchen model” of service; rather than grafting the service on top of an existing syllabus, I chose the sites first and then wrapped the course content and assignments around the service. Though the number of students in the course was too small to make broad generalizations from, in the end, I was able to demonstrate that experiences in the community and at service sites made the course material much more engaging and relevant to students. However, showing gains in attitudes that foster political activism was much more difficult to accomplish. This paper closes with a discussion of the kinds of goals instructors of CBL courses in political science can reasonably hope to accomplish using this instructional method and reflections on ways in which colleges and universities can better integrate CBL courses into the student experience so as to foster greater civic and political activism.
Interference between inactivated and active influenza viruses in the chick embryo. I. A re-evaluation of factors of dosage and timing using infectivity titrations for assay.

Abstract Interference by ultraviolet-inactivated influenza virus with propagation of the active homo- or heterotypic agents in the endoderm of the chick embryo allantois has been re-evaluated with respect to dosage and timing of the two injections, using infectivity titrations for assay. By varying (a) the interfering dose in terms of hemagglutinin units; (b) the intervals between its injection and challenge with serial decimal dilutions of active virus; and (c) the period of incubation after challenge, the following results were obtained. The time required to establish solid interference decreases with the size of the interfering dose; i.e., when increasingly more inactivated virus particles are provided per cell. With 850 HA units no evidence of viral multiplication was obtained upon challenge at 9 hours, whereas with 20–100 HA units interference was extensive, yet not complete in 24 hours. If the interfering and challenge inocula were given simultaneously or at a 2-hour interval the first and part of the second infectious cycles were found to proceed before further spread of the infectious process was arrested, unless the dose of inactive virus was large. In that case the homotypic preparations affected the yields of the initial infectious cycles to significant extents. In all instances, where interference was not as yet fully established, using 20 or more HA units of the interfering agent, the yields of infectious virus were directly proportional to the challenge dose. With a smaller dose of inactivated virus (
The secretory nature of the excretory gland cells of Strephanurus dentatus. 3. Proteinase inhibitors.

Abstract A proteinase inhibitor(s) was found in extracts of the excretory gland cells, intestines, esophagi, reproductive organs, and body walls from Stephanurus dentatus adults. The specific activity of the inhibitor(s) in the excretory gland cell extract was 45–175 times greater than in the other tissues. It is heat stable at pH 5.0 and inhibits the esterolytic activity of trypsin and chymotrypsin using p-toluenesulfonyl- l -arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (TAME) and benzoyl- l -tyrosine ethyl ester (BTEE) as the substrates, respectively, and also the proteolytic activity of both chymotrypsin and trypsin using casein as the substrate. S. dentatus adults maintained in NCTC 109 medium, secreted a trypsin inhibitor.
Why not use naloxone

Since narcotic antagonists have long been used in the second stage of labor1 and naloxone has been shown to have no detrimental effects on the normal fetus,2 I wonder why the Committee on Drugs3 recommends that naloxone not be used to reverse the fetal and neonatal effects of maternally administered narcotic analgesics?
Choosing to be Childfree: Research on the Decision Not to Parent

Decisions about whether to have or rear children, as well as perceptions of people who choose not to parent are linked to a variety of social processes and identities. We review literature from a variety of disciplines that focuses on voluntarily childless adults. Early research in this area, emerging in the 1970s, focused almost exclusively on heterosexual women and utilized a childless rather than a childfree framework. Later work saw a shift to a “childless-by-choice” or “childfree” framework, emphasizing that for some, not being parents is an active choice rather than an accident. While more recent research includes lesbian women and gay and heterosexual men, greater diversity within studies of adults without children is one suggested focus for future work in this area.
Application of mixed-mode ultra high performance liquid chromatography to forensic drug analysis

Methodology is presented for the analysis of drugs of forensic interest employing a single column and the same solutions from two solvent reservoirs at different ratios for orthogonal reversed phase chromatographic and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatographic separations. For the determination of the basic drugs in the SAMHSA-5 panel in urine, a 2.1 × 150 mm × 2.7 μm superficially porous dimethylpentafluorophenylpropyl (PFP) column was employed using two acetonitrile–water–ammonium formate solutions as A and B solvents for a binary pump with time of flight mass spectrometric (TOF-MS) detection. Applicable to the analysis of seized drugs, the same column and detector was used with acetonitrile–water–ammonium acetate solutions as A and B solvents for the separation of 15 controlled “bath salts”. For both applications, employing mixed mode chromatography minimized ion suppression and allowed the unique identification of each analyte. Solid phase extraction (SPE) performed on a mixed mode MM1 column successfully recovered the solutes of interest with good recovery and minimum ion suppression or ion enhancement was observed for the ultra high performance liquid chromatography-TOF-MS analysis of the extracts. For the SPE sample preparation no evaporation and reconstitution step was required, with the elution solvent directly compatible with both the HILIC and RPC analysis on the same stationary phase.
Treating Brain Tumor with Microbeam Radiation Generated by a Compact Carbon-Nanotube-Based Irradiator: Initial Radiation Efficacy Study

Microbeam radiation treatment (MRT) using synchrotron radiation has shown great promise in the treatment of brain tumors, with a demonstrated ability to eradicate the tumor while sparing normal tissue in small animal models. With the goal of expediting the advancement of MRT research beyond the limited number of synchrotron facilities in the world, we recently developed a compact laboratory-scale microbeam irradiator using carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission-based X-ray source array technology. The focus of this study is to evaluate the effects of the microbeam radiation generated by this compact irradiator in terms of tumor control and normal tissue damage in a mouse brain tumor model. Mice with U87MG human glioblastoma were treated with sham irradiation, low-dose MRT, high-dose MRT or 10 Gy broad-beam radiation treatment (BRT). The microbeams were 280 μm wide and spaced at 900 μm center-to-center with peak dose at either 48 Gy (low-dose MRT) or 72 Gy (high-dose MRT). Survival studies showed that the mice treated with both MRT protocols had a significantly extended life span compared to the untreated control group (31.4 and 48.5% of life extension for low- and high-dose MRT, respectively) and had similar survival to the BRT group. Immunostaining on MRT mice demonstrated much higher DNA damage and apoptosis level in tumor tissue compared to the normal brain tissue. Apoptosis in normal tissue was significantly lower in the low-dose MRT group compared to that in the BRT group at 48 h postirradiation. Interestingly, there was a significantly higher level of cell proliferation in the MRT-treated normal tissue compared to that in the BRT-treated mice, indicating rapid normal tissue repairing process after MRT. Microbeam radiation exposure on normal brain tissue causes little apoptosis and no macrophage infiltration at 30 days after exposure. This study is the first biological assessment on MRT effects using the compact CNT-based irradiator. It provides an alternative technology that can enable widespread MRT research on mechanistic studies using a preclinical model, as well as further translational research towards clinical applications.
Patterns of longitudinal change in hepatitis C virus neutralization titers correlate with the outcome of peginterferon and ribavirin combination therapy.

In chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, combination therapy of peginterferon and ribavirin does not guarantee viral eradication. Among factors relevant to therapeutic efficacy, the role of humoral immunity has not been examined thoroughly. In the current study, HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp) were first generated with 80 patient-derived full-length HCV envelope clones, followed by detailed characterization with regard to virus productivity, infectivity and neutralizing activity. Selective HCVpp were used to measure HCV neutralization titers in two independent patient cohorts consisting of 102 patients undergoing antiviral therapy. The HCV neutralization titers at the baseline fitted with a power-law distribution among patients. Pretreatment neutralization titers in both patient cohorts were not correlated with treatment outcomes. In the patient cohort 2 (n = 28) that had samples available at multiple time points, however, HCV neutralization titers displayed clearly distinct patterns over therapeutic course and follow-up. No virological responders (n = 10) had neutralization titers stabilized at low level while it was increased significantly in both sustained virological responders (n = 10) and relapsers (n = 8). High HCV neutralization titers were maintained only in sustained virological responders but not in relapsers after treatment cessation. Therefore, patterns of longitudinal change of HCV neutralization titers, but not pretreatment titers, correlate with the treatment outcome in patients undergoing peginterferon and ribavirin combination therapy. J. Med. Virol. 87:821–828, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Tools for placing cuts and transitions in interview video

We present a set of tools designed to help editors place cuts and create transitions in interview video. To help place cuts, our interface links a text transcript of the video to the corresponding locations in the raw footage. It also visualizes the suitability of cut locations by analyzing the audio/visual features of the raw footage to find frames where the speaker is relatively quiet and still. With these tools editors can directly highlight segments of text, check if the endpoints are suitable cut locations and if so, simply delete the text to make the edit. For each cut our system generates visible (e.g. jump-cut, fade, etc.) and seamless, hidden transitions. We present a hierarchical, graph-based algorithm for efficiently generating hidden transitions that considers visual features specific to interview footage. We also describe a new data-driven technique for setting the timing of the hidden transition. Finally, our tools offer a one click method for seamlessly removing 'ums' and repeated words as well as inserting natural-looking pauses to emphasize semantic content. We apply our tools to edit a variety of interviews and also show how they can be used to quickly compose multiple takes of an actor narrating a story.
The Fontan Procedure: Evolution in Technique; Attendant Imperfections and Transplantation for “Failure”

Application of the Fontan procedure has allowed the survival of many patients with univentricular cardiac lesions into mid adulthood. Despite its ingenious design, implementation, and thoughtful modifications, its attendant hemodynamic perturbations persist; central venous hypertension and reduced cardiac output. These aberrations in physiology have led to pernicious changes in organ function. A more thorough understanding of these derangements and attempts at Fontan revision have temporized, yet the morbidity and patient attrition persists. Mechanical assistance to normalize the circulation is being investigated and holds some promise. At present, cardiac transplantation remains the last stage of palliation for many.
Rock-derived Micronutrient Transport in the Tropics: Molybdenum Cycling in Deeply-weathered Panama Soils

The rock-derived micronutrient Molybdenum (Mo) is important in both terrestrial and ocean ecosystems as an essential cofactor in nitrogenase, the enzyme used by microorganisms to fix atmospheric nitrogen. As global nitrogen fixation rates respond to increasing atmospheric pCO2, the weathering, transport, and availability of this micronutrient becomes essential, because Mo limitation on nitrogen fixation has been documented in diverse ecosystems, including tropical soils in Panama. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the carbon and nitrogen cycles may depend more on the availability of trace metals such as Mo than previously realized, but the weathering and cycling of these elements as they pass across ecosystem boundaries remains poorly understood. This work explores the sources and sinks of Mo in small (36-176 ha) single land cover catchments in tropical Panama. Water samples were collected from precipitation, canopy throughfall, soil water, groundwater, soil seeps, and first- order through higher-order streams. Though Mo is considered a “rock-derived” micronutrient, concentrations were higher in precipitation and shallow soil water than in the groundwater and stream waters in contact with underlying rocks and weathered saprolite. Event-based mass balance suggests that Mo is being retained within the catchment ecosystem. The source of Mo in tropical forests may have important implications as the amount of nitrogen fixation changes during tropical forest recovery from a previous land use.
Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Advertising of Prescription Medications on the World Wide Web: Assessing the Communication of Risks

Recently, drug manufacturers have been increasingly marketing their prescription medications using Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertisements. The current study examines the effects of integrating and separating the risks and benefits within a prescription medication DTC web site advertisement. The study also examined the effects of presenting the risk and benefits at different levels of a web site. Two different drug web sites and two different task types (general browsing and item search) were used. Risk recall, recognition, time-on-task, click rate, and task success were measured. Results from the current study indicated that risk information was found faster, with less clicks, and remembered more often when placed on a second level page linked from the home page. However, the risk information was more difficult to find when it was placed on a fourth level page without a link on the home page. The pattern of effects with the two tasks was similar. No significant differences were found between the two drug...
Changes in H1 content, nucleosome repeat lengths and DNA elongation under conditions of hydroxyurea treatment that reportedly facilitate gene amplification.

Abstract Depletion of histone H1, changes in nucleosome repeat lengths, and extents of DNA elongation were investigated in synchronized Chinese hamster (line CHO) cells using the general conditions of hydroxyurea treatment that appear to increase the frequency of gene amplification, i.e., synchronized cultures of G 1 cells were allowed to begin to enter S phase before treatment with hydroxyurea was effected to retard DNA synthesis (Mariani, B.D. and Schimke, R.T. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 1901–1910). During the time that synchronized G 1 cells begin to enter S phase, there occur considerable synchrony decay and accumulation of new DNA that increase with time before treatment with hydroxyurea is initiated. During exposure to hydroxyurea, there occur depletion of histone H1 and shortened repeat lengths for the DNA synthesized in the presence of hydroxyurea. In contrast, DNA synthesized in S phase before exposure to hydroxyurea has essentially the same repeat lengths as bulk chromatin at both the time that hydroxyurea treatment is effected and after 6 h in its presence. Sedimentation measurements indicate that the early replicating DNA undergoes considerable elongation both before and during 6 h of exposure to 0.3 mM hydroxyurea. Thus, nearly all of the early replicating DNA is elongated to greater than average replicon size under those conditions of hydroxyurea treatment that appear to favor gene amplification. Because the extents of DNA synthesis and cell cycle progression vary as functions of drug concentration, treatment times, and unknown factors (from experiment to experiment), it would appear that the parameters must be carefully monitored in each experiment if biochemical results are to be related to the position of cells in the growth cycle.
GENETIC MARKER FOR INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES MELLITUS

A rare genetic type (Bf F1) of properdin factor B is found in 22.6% of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus but in only 1.9% of the general population, yielding a relative risk of 15.0. This indicates that a genetic locus for insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is very close on chromosome 6 to Bf, and that Bf F1 is a marker for nearly 1 out of 4 insulin-dependent diabetic patients.
Umbilical Cord Artery Mechanical Properties in Pre-Term Neonates at Various Ages

Premature and very low birthweight (VLBW) infants are susceptible to numerous injuries during, and after parturition. If these injuries are neurological in nature, they can result in long-term cognitive and motor skill deficiencies. Cerebral hemorrhaging is a disease that has disastrous consequences on preterm and VLBW infants, and the mechanism for this type of hemorrhaging is currently not known. Bleeding in the ventricle region of the brain is termed intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and occurs in 32% of infants with birth weights less than 1500 grams and born prior to 32 weeks gestation[1]; 75% of these will experience long-term neurological disabilities[2]. A lack of tissue structure of the cerebral vasculature in early stages of development is a possible underlying cause for such high occurrences of IVH[3,4,5]. Mechanical characterization of neonatal vasculature could show structural underdevelopment as the underlying cause of IVH and provide valuable insight into neonatal vascular development. We previously characterized the mechanical properties of whole umbilical cord arteries and found a correlation between vessel stiffness and gestational age[6]. Considerations of the helical structure of late term umbilical cord vessels prompted a revisit of the characterization of the vessels with altered testing methods. To negate the effects of the vessels’ tortuous structure on stiffness values, we tested axial and circumferential small strips of human umbilical cord artery at various gestational time.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Real Time Occupancy Notification: A Comparison Between Passive Infrared and iBeacon Implementations (Abstract Only)

iBeacon technology has the potential to evolve occupancy detection over the traditional passive infrared motion sensor approach due to portability, relatively low cost, and capabilities beyond motion detection alone. This project implements study room occupancy detection in the TCNJ Library using a Raspberry Pi with a PIR sensor and an Estimote Beacon. The scalability of each approach is directly compared by cost, ease of setup and maintenance, and accuracy. Prototype occupancy detection systems that are set up in study room environments provide end-users with a listing of available rooms in real-time through new functionality in the TCNJ Library iOS app. Using iBeacon sensors can bring extra functionality to existing systems and new environments where portability is essential.
Venereal diseases and aggression management among native americans

Summary.-An analysis of secondary data yielded no significant ecological correlations for venereal disease rates and aggression management indices based on suicide and homicide rates for the 11 US Indian Health Services areas. This outcome does not cross-culturally replicate research on Field's aggression management hypothesis. Field (1963) has supgesced that subtracting the suicide rate from the homicide rate provides a measure of "angcr.out " Adding the two rates provides a measure of "general aggressiveness." Using these two measures, Field reported ecological correlations for various organic diseases and his aggression management indices, but he did not explain their meaning. Lester (1973) replicated these findings using 1960 data for the United States. Young (1991), however, was unable to provide a cross-cultural replication using 1975-1977 data from the US Indian Health Service (IHS). Neither aggression measure correlated s~gn~f~cantly with mortality rates for heart diseases, malignant neoplasms, liver cirrhosis, influenza and pneumonia, cerebrovascular diseases, or diabetes mellitus. The present study sought to expand this replication by examining IHS rates for venereal diseases. The 1975 rates for gonococcal infections and syphilis (all forms) per 100,000 population were obtained from the US Indian Health Service (1979) for all eleven IHS areas: Tucson, Aberdeen, Bernidji, Albuquerque, Alaska, Billings, Oklahoma City, USET, Phoenix, Portland, and Navajo. The 1975-1977 suicide and homicide rates were also obtained from the US Indian Health Service (1978). Following Field's method, suicide and homicide rates were used as measures of "anger-out" and "general aggressiveness" for each IHS area. Means per 100,000 population, gonococcal infections 1402.8 (SD = 882.5), syphilis 136.7 (SD = 1.6), general aggression 50.7 (SD = 13.3), and anger-out -3.8 (SD = 9.5), indicate that IHS areas had higher rates of venereal disease than the general US population. The IHS rate for gonococcal infections was almost three times the rate for all races in the USA (472.9 per 100,000), while the IHS race for syphilis (all forms) was approximately 3.6 times the over-all rate for the USA (38.0 per 100,000). However, the rates for gonococcal infections and syphilis did not correlate significantly (p> .05) with the general aggression measure (rs = .09 and -.25, respectively) or with the anger-out measure (rs = -.l3 and - 21, respectively). Since Field's findings have not been cross-culturally replicated and since he did not explain the meaning of ecological correlations, additional research is needed before the reliability and validity of his findings can be assumed.
Design of standardized, modular, chemical processes

Abstract Process system manufacturers face a dilemma in designing new products. There are economic trade-offs between the two extremes of providing a customized design for each application, and providing only a few standardized designs. To solve this problem, we must have knowledge of process design and the customers. We are integrating superstructure optimization through MINLPs for the optimal design with knowledge of the distribution of the customers in a “requirement” space. A master mathematical program is being developed to link together this information to solve the overall question of how to most economically provide standardized designs for the customers. An example is presented with our formulation, along with the results of an enumerative solution.
Theoretical Spectra of Luminescent Solids

From the potential energy curves for the ground and excited states of the thallium activator in potassium chloride, the absorption spectrum of this phosphor is calculated by direct evaluation of the matrix elements for electronic transitions between the individual vibrational levels of the initial and final states. Harmonic oscillator wave functions in the initial state and wave functions for a linear potential in the final state are used. The results verify the classical and semiclassical spectra previously reported, and provide a new insight into the application of the Franck-Condon principle to solid-state luminescence.
Electromagnetic production of strangeness

Abstract The formation of Λ hypernuclear systems through kaon photo and electroproduction is theoretically investigated. Utilizing the single virtual photon exchange approximation and density matrix formalism, general relations between the production cross section and hadronic current are developed. The current is expressed in terms of elementary virtual photoproduction ( γ V p→K + Λ ) amplitudes that are explicitly evaluated from diagrams representing the exchange of s and u channel baryons (p, Λ, Σ 0 ) and t channel mesons (K, K ∗ ). Using coupling constants from a phenomenological photoproduction analysis and kaon form factors governed by the φ meson (vector dominance model), a reasonable description of the limited p(e, e K)Λ data is obtained. Relativistic, covariant calculations for deuteron electrodisintegration, d(e, e K)Λn, are also reported which document the cross section sensitivity to the kaon form factor and dnp vertex function (deuteron wavefunction). The sensitivity to the Λn final state interaction is also examined and the utility of this reaction for investigating controversial strange dibaryon resonances is discussed. The excitation spectrum for hypernuclear formation from 4 He and 12 C targets is calculated and optimum kinematics for extracting the longitudinal hypernuclear structure function are determined. Finally, count rates supporting the feasibility of selected experiments are provided for existing low duty cycle and proposed high duty cycle facilities.
Allelic Expression of Deleterious Protein-Coding Variants across Human Tissues

Personal exome and genome sequencing provides access to loss-of-function and rare deleterious alleles whose interpretation is expected to provide insight into individual disease burden. However, for each allele, accurate interpretation of its effect will depend on both its penetrance and the trait's expressivity. In this regard, an important factor that can modify the effect of a pathogenic coding allele is its level of expression; a factor which itself characteristically changes across tissues. To better inform the degree to which pathogenic alleles can be modified by expression level across multiple tissues, we have conducted exome, RNA and deep, targeted allele-specific expression (ASE) sequencing in ten tissues obtained from a single individual. By combining such data, we report the impact of rare and common loss-of-function variants on allelic expression exposing stronger allelic bias for rare stop-gain variants and informing the extent to which rare deleterious coding alleles are consistently expressed across tissues. This study demonstrates the potential importance of transcriptome data to the interpretation of pathogenic protein-coding variants.
Methadone inhibition of calcium uptake by muscle and brain fractions

Abstract Methadone at 10 −3 M preferentially inhibits Ca uptake by a heavy (2000 – 8000 x G) fraction of rabbit skeletal muscle and has little effect on the standard light sarcoplasmic reticulum fraction. This drug also inhibits Ca uptake by rat brain mitochondria, synaptosomes and microsomes.
Antropologia di un intellettuale, Giuseppe Cassieri

Giuseppe Cassieri’s last novel depicts the profound crisis a man of culture lives through his own time: it is society’s lack of consideration, loss of humanistic and traditional values, all mirrored in the illness of the protagonist who represents the condition of the intellectual of all times always aware of the need of changes. Cassieri’s novel can also be considered an essay where the author analyzes men in relation to theirs own environment and ideas as they are portrayed in their physical and mental conditions.
Sensory and sympathetic contributions to nerve injury-induced sensory abnormalities in the rat

Peripheral neuropathy can be associated with a variety of symptoms, including spontaneous unpleasant sensations and pain, as well as increased sensitivity to sensory stimuli. A peripheral neuropathy model involving an L5 spinal nerve lesion in male rats has been used to gain insight into the mechanisms that underlie symptoms that develop after nerve injury. This model was used to study the involvement of sensory fibres, the sympathetic postganglionic neuron and the role of nerve growth factor in the induction and maintenance of altered sensory function in the nerve territory of the intact L4 spinal nerve. Sensory testing was done with calibrated bon Frey filaments and a radiant heat apparatus [Hargreaves K. et al. (1988) Pain32, 77–88] and the occurrence of abnormal spontaneous behaviour was recorded. L5 spinal nerve resection produced increased mechanical and heat sensitivity as well as abnormal spontaneous behaviours. Surgical sympathectomy at the L5 but not at the L4 spinal nerve level alleviated all sensory abnormalities. However, a lesion of preganglionic fibres to the L5 level had no significant effect on sensory abnormalities. Thus, sympathetic postganglionic neurons at the level of spinal nerve injury can contribute to neuropathy symptoms independent of input from preganglionic neurons. Postganglionic sympathetic nerve crush alone led to increased mechanical sensitivity but not to increased heat sensitivity nor to abnormal spontaneous behaviour, further emphasizing the role of sympathetic postganglionic neuron changes for the development of increased mechanical sensitivity. An L5 spinal nerve resection in rats treated neonatally with capsaicin induced increased mechanical sensitivity which was slower in onset and lower in magnitude than that in untreated littermates and was abolished by postganglionic sympathectomy. Nerve growth factor perfused onto the cut L5 spinal nerve also markedly delayed the onset of increased mechanical sensitivity. Two pathophysiological mechanisms leading to central changes may be necesary to produce altered sensations in this model: (i) ongoing activity in C-fibres, independent of sympathetic postganglionic neuron activity and (ii) activity in sensory fibres modulated by a sensory-sympathetic interaction in the injured spinal nerve or dorsal root ganglion. The sympathetic postganglionic neuron contribution is independent of preganglionic sympathetic outflow from the central nervous system, suggesting a novel mechanism by which sympathetic efferent terminals can regulate sensory fibre activity. A contribution of a loss of neurotrophic factors to the sympathetic postganglionic neuron following nerve lesion is also suggested to contribute to the symptoms induced by the spinal nerve lesion.
Preparation and properties of side-chain cleavage cytochrome P-450 from bovine adrenal cortex by affinity chromatography with pregnenolone as ligand

Abstract A method is described for preparing cytochrome P -450 (side-chain cleavage) from bovine adrenocortical mitochondria, by affinity chromatography on pregnenolone-Sepharose beads. The cytochrome P -450 appears in two fractions, a large form of heterogeneous molecular weight (large P -450) and a form of molecular weight 850 000 composed of 16 apparently identical subunits (molecular weight 52 000–53 000); this form is referred to as protein 16. Electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel yields one main band and two minor bands; the appearance of the gels is identical whether the starting material is large P -450 or protein 16 or protein 16 prepared by an entirely different method. Yields of protein 16 can be increased by rechromatography on pregnenolone-Sepharose of large P -450 made 0.1 mM in NADPH. Large P -450 shows > 10 heme groups per 16 subunits and is less active enzymatically than protein 16. Chromatography on Sepharose and analytical ultracentrifugation show that large P -450 is heterogeneous with respect to molecular weight. Protein 16 shows a heme content of 8 nmol/mg protein and for both large P -450 and protein 16 heme content by CO-difference spectroscopy is in agreement with values by pyridine hemochromogen. This method of preparing P -450 is convenient and both large P -450 and protein 16 are highly purified.