cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Patient-reported outcomes for keloids: a systematic review.

Introduction Keloids are exuberant responses to cutaneous wound healing. Many research studies utilize keloid recurrence, scar thickness, and objective physician-reported data as outcome measures. Patients may have different perceptions and evaluations of treatment success from physicians, however. This review discusses available patient-reported outcome measures for keloids, as well as patient-reported outcomes across current treatment modalities. Evidence acquisition A literature search of PubMed, Ovid/Medline, and EMBASE was conducted from inception to April 2018. Studies involving the evaluation of keloids with at least one patient-reported outcome measure were included. Evidence synthesis 30 relevant studies were identified. Topics included patient-reported outcome measures, health-related quality of life, and treatment options such as: topical treatments, intralesional treatments, cryotherapy, postsurgical intralesional treatments, postsurgical pressure therapy, postsurgical radiotherapy, and postsurgical brachytherapy. The Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) was used by 21 (70%) of the included studies. Patient component scores did not correlate well with observer component scores in 7 studies using the POSAS, with 4 studies having significantly worse patient scores. Quality of life in keloid patients was significantly worse compared to controls in 3 studies. Multimodal treatment options generally received more positive patient-reported outcomes. Conclusions Patient-reported outcomes provide valuable insights into the perceptions, treatment goals, and quality of life of keloid patients. Development of more patient-reported outcome measures specific to keloids, especially those that incorporate both scar and quality of life assessments, may help refine our current understanding of keloid management.
Interactions With an Empathetic Agent: Regulating Emotions and Improving Engagement in Autism

Based on years of research establishing the utility of socially assistive robots (SARs) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) intervention, such robots have now become popular tools, widely used in special education schools, autism care centers, and clinical settings. Most previous studies have explored the roles of SARs as instructors, learning aides, and social-skills trainers, focusing on the learning, language, and social impairments associated with ASD. This article addresses aspects of empathy and emotion regulation (ER) impairments, which are important underlying factors for many atypicalities manifested in ASD. We discuss the design of our robot's emotional capabilities, its emotion-based action library, and the algorithm it uses to regulate a user?s emotions. In addition, we describe a user study that evaluates the ER capabilities of an emotionally expressive empathetic agent as well as its capability to prime higher social engagement in a user.
Streptococcus constellatus Peritonitis and Subsequent Septic Shock following Intrauterine Device Removal

Background. Previous reports have described cases of abscess formation by Streptococcus constellatus involving the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract, and septic thrombophlebitis of the right ovarian vein with subsequent bacteremia and septic shock. Ascending infection from the genital tract to the fallopian tubes resulting in peritonitis from Streptococcus constellatus is a rare clinical circumstance where there is minimal information in the literature to guide its diagnosis, management, and expected prognosis. Case. A 36-year-old G3P0111 developed a tubo-ovarian abscess two weeks after intrauterine device (IUD) removal and then rapidly decompensated with septic shock from peritonitis due to Streptococcus constellatus infection. The patient was also newly diagnosed with diabetes and in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) on presentation. She received broad-spectrum antibiotic coverage and required two exploratory surgical procedures to obtain source control. Two Interventional Radiology- (IR-) guided drainage procedures were subsequently performed to drain remaining fluid collections. Her recovery involved a prolonged ICU stay. On hospital day seventy-three, after receiving approximately 8 weeks of antibiotics and the above noted procedures the patient was discharged to a subacute rehabilitation facility. Conclusion. Streptococcus constellatus is a highly pathogenic organism once a systemic septic infection has become established that can cause an ascending genital tract infection resulting in tubo-ovarian abscess formation, peritonitis, and septic shock.
Phytol and its metabolites phytanic and pristanic acids for risk of cancer: current evidence and future directions

This review summarizes the current evidence on the potential role of phytol, a microbial metabolite of chlorophyl A, and its metabolites, phytanic and pristanic acids, in carcinogenesis. Primary food sources in Western diets are the nut skin for phytol and lipids in dairy, beef and fish for its metabolites. Phytol and its metabolites gained interest as dietary compounds for cancer prevention because, as natural ligands of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α and -γ and retinoid X receptor, phytol and its metabolites have provided some evidence in cell culture studies and limited evidence in animal models of anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-metabolic-syndrome properties at physiological concentrations. However, there may be a narrow range of efficacy, because phytol and its metabolites at supra-physiological concentrations can cause in vitro cytotoxicity in non-cancer cells and can cause morbidity and mortality in animal models. In human studies, evidence for a role of phytol and its metabolites in cancer prevention is currently limited and inconclusive. In short, phytol and its metabolites are potential dietary compounds for cancer prevention, assuming the challenges in preventing cytotoxicity in non-cancer cells and animal models and understanding phytol metabolism can be mitigated.
Analysis of substance use and its outcomes by machine learning I. Childhood evaluation of liability to substance use disorder.

Abstract Background Substance use disorder (SUD) exacts enormous societal costs in the United States, and it is important to detect high-risk youths for prevention. Machine learning (ML) is the method to find patterns and make prediction from data. We hypothesized that ML identifies the health, psychological, psychiatric, and contextual features to predict SUD, and the identified features predict high-risk individuals to develop SUD. Method Male (N = 494) and female (N = 206) participants and their informant parents were administered a battery of questionnaires across five waves of assessment conducted at 10–12, 12–14, 16, 19, and 22 years of age. Characteristics most strongly associated with SUD were identified using the random forest (RF)algorithm from approximately 1000 variables measured at each assessment. Next, the complement of features was validated, and the best models were selected for predicting SUD using seven ML algorithms. Lastly, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) evaluated accuracy of detecting individuals who develop SUD+/- up to thirty years of age. Results Approximately thirty variables strongly predict SUD. The predictors shift from psychological dysregulation and poor health behavior in late childhood to non-normative socialization in mid to late adolescence. In 10–12-year-old youths, the features predict SUD+/- with 74% accuracy, increasing to 86% at 22 years of age. The RF algorithm optimally detects individuals between 10–22 years of age who develop SUD compared to other ML algorithms. Conclusion These findings inform the items required for inclusion in instruments to accurately identify high risk youths and young adults requiring SUD prevention.
Aster 20 th Anniversary: Achievements and Geologic Contributions to Mineral and Lithologic Mapping

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) is a 15-channel imaging instrument operating since1999 on NASA’s Earth Observing morning orbital platform Terra ( Yamaguchi et al., 1998 ). The ASTER instrument was built and provided by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI). U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) provided the platform and launch vehicle. ASTER is jointly scheduled and operated by NASA and METI. ASTER has three separate optical subsystems: the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) radiometer, acquiring images in 3 bands with a 15 m instantaneous field of view (IFOV), and an additional backward-looking band for stereo; the shortwave infrared (SWIR) radiometer, acquiring images in 6 bands with a 30 m IFOV; and the thermal infrared (TIR) radiometer, acquiring images in 5 bands with a 90 m IFOV. ASTER acquires images in all bands with a swath width of 60 km. It orbits the earth in a sun-synchronous near-polar orbit with an equator crossing time of 10:30 am, and the daytime repeat visit interval is 16 days at the equator. On average, 550 scenes are acquired every day; over 3.5 million scenes are currently in the archive.
Rice dwarf and low tillering 10 (OsDLT10) regulates tiller number by monitoring auxin homeostasis

Tiller number is a crucial agronomic trait that directly affects the number of effective panicles and yield formation in rice. Here, we report a semi-dwarf and low tillering mutant Osdlt10 (dwarf and low tillering 10) that exhibited reduced tiller number, semi-dwarfism, increased grain width, low seed-setting rate, curled leaf tip and a series of abnormalities of agronomic traits. Phenotypic observations showed that Osdlt10 mutants had defects in tiller bud formation and grew slowly at the tillering stage. Map-based cloning revealed that LOC_Os10g41310 was the responsible gene for OsDLT10, which was subsequently demonstrated using the CRISPR/Cas9 system and a complementary experiment. Expression pattern analysis indicated that OsDLT10 was primarily expressed in the stem node, the basic part of axillary bud and leaf sheath, pulvinus. The hormone treatment investigation indicated that extremely high of exogenous auxin concentrations can inhibit the expression of OsDLT10. Endogenous auxin content decreased significantly at the base of stem node and axillary bud in Osdlt10 mutants. The results showed that OsDLT10 was related to auxin. qPCR analysis results further showed that the expression levels of auxin transport genes (PINs) and early response genes (IAAs) were significantly increased. The expression levels of WUS-like and FON1 were substantially decreased in the Osdlt10 mutants. These results revealed that OsDLT10 played a critical role in influencing tiller number, likely in association with hormone signals and the WUS-CLV pathway, to regulate axillary bud development in rice.
Computational Methods to Accelerate Development of Corrosion Resistant Coatings for Industrial Gas Turbines

Oxidation resistant overlay coatings protect the underlying superalloy component in industrial gas turbines from oxidation attack. Rate of depletion of the Al-rich β-phase in the bond coat governs the lifetime of these coatings. The applicability of a computational method in accelerating the development of corrosion resistant coatings and significantly reducing the extensive experimental effort to predict coating lifetimes and microstructural changes in three-coated Ni-based superalloys for real operational durations (20–40 kh) was undertaken in the present study. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and electron microprobe analysis (EPMA) were employed to characterize MCrAlY-coated superalloy substrates (1483, 247 and X4) after exposure at 900 °C in air + 10% H2O for up to 20,000 h. The model predicted the longest coating lifetime for the coating on X4 substrate. Precipitation of γ′ in the coatings was correctly predicted for all three coating systems. Additionally, the model was able to predict the formation of topologically close packed (TCP)-phases in the investigated coating systems.
Approximate Entropy and Empirical Mode Decomposition for Improved Speaker Recognition

When processing real-world recordings of speech, it is highly probable noise will be present at some instance in the signal. Compounding this problem is the situation when the noise occurs in short...
Voltage, Current, and Resistance

This chapter uses altitude and water flow analogy to introduce the concepts of voltage, current, and resistance. We will also go over passive sign convention as well as some basic circuit elements.
Shear-dependent microvortices in liquid–liquid flow-focusing geometry: A theoretical, numerical, and experimental study

In this work, we describe the mechanism of particle trapping and release at the flow-focusing microfluidic droplet generation junction, utilizing the hydrodynamic microvortices generated in the dispersed phase. This technique is based solely on our unique flow-focusing geometry and the flow control of the two immiscible phases and, thus, does not require any on-chip active components. The effectiveness of this technique to be used for particle trapping and the subsequent size selective release into the droplets depends on the fundamental understanding of the nature of the vortex streamlines. Here, we utilized theoretical, computational, and experimental fluid dynamics to study in detail these microvortices and parameters affecting their formation, trajectory, and magnitude.
Fast Afterglows of Fast Radio Bursts

The main FRB event may leave behind a clump of relativistic plasma with high ``free energy'' density. As the plasma undergoes collisionless relaxation, it emits coherent electromagnetic waves. These electromagnetic waves may be observable as a fast radio afterglow, with decreasing frequency and intensity. We demonstrate the fast coherent afterglow in a numerical experiment. We tentatively predict the peak afterglow frequency decreasing with time as $\nu \propto t^{-3/2}$.
Thresholdless Classification of chaotic dynamics and combustion instability via probabilistic finite state automata

Abstract The objective of the work reported in this paper is to make decisions on the current state of a dynamical system for pattern classification and anomaly/fault detection, which is often achieved by time series analyses of pertinent measured signals. In this context, one of the most commonly used methods is hidden Markov model (HMM), while yet another popular method is neural networks (NN) in their various configurations; however, both of these methods may require large training data and computational time. An alternative feasible method is probabilistic finite state automata (PFSA), which is much faster for training and also for testing. In its current state-of-the-art, the standard PFSA, called s-PFSA, has certain shortcomings that this paper attempts to remedy. Therefore, s-PFSA is modified into the proposed projection-based PFSA, abbreviated as p-PFSA, to yield better classification accuracy and robustness. Efficacy of p-PFSA is first demonstrated on four different models of chaotic dynamical systems by comparison with s-PFSA, HMM and NN, which are used to serve as baseline methods for validation of classification performance; the NN models consist of two vanilla NNs and another NN with long short term memory (LSTM). Then, these results of comparison are extended to assess the relative performance of p-PFSA for a real-life application in terms of accuracy, robustness, and computational complexity on a laboratory-scale apparatus that emulates the essential characteristics of industrial-scale combustion systems.
Dual method for the solution of a one-stage stochastic programming problem with random RHS obeying a discrete probability distribution

In this paper we present a method for the solution of a one stage stochastic programming problem, where the underlying problem is an LP and some of the right hand side values are random variables. The stochastic programming problem that we formulate contains probabilistic constraint and penalty, incorporated into the objective function, used to penalize violation of the stochastic constraints. We solve this problem by a dual type algorithm. The special case where only penalty is used while the probabilistic constraint is disregarded, the simple recourse problem, was solved earlier by Wets, using a primal simplex algorithm with individual upper bounds. Our method appears to be simpler. The method has applications to nonstochastic programming problems too, e.g., it solves the constrained minimum absolute deviation problem.
Epigramma Erasmi in Merspvrgvm

The following epigram, hitherto unpublished, I have taken from a manuscript copy, apparently in the hand of Beatus Rhenanus, on the last cover of one of his books in the municipal library of Selestat. The book is a copy of Cicero’s Epistolae ad Familiares, Venice, Aldus, 1512, on the fly-leaf of which is the inscription, „Sum Beati Rhenani, nec muto dominum. Basileae. M.D. XIII.“ The verses on Meersburg are headed simply, „Erasmi Roterodami,“ and are dated at the foot of the page, M.D. XXIII.
Expecting Common Decency

Every year, I teach a basic course on moral theory that compares varieties of utilitarian and Kantian theories. One of the things I stress to students is that different moral theories interpret the scope of our moral obligations differently. Some imagine that virtually everything it would be good to do is obligatory. Others try to carve out a more limited space for the strictly obligatory and imagine that much of what it would be good to do is not obligatory but simply a praiseworthy moral option. Almost inevitably, students reach a point in the semester where they begin to chafe at the binary options that I (and most moral theories) give them: either morally good acts are obligatory and owed like a debt, or they are completely optional but very nice things we might elect. The chafing tends to begin as soon as we start talking about socially conventional forms of kindness, thoughtfulness, mercy, forgiveness, and the like, such as sending a parent a birthday card or congratulating a friend on an achievement or holding a stranger’s place in line. It seems odd to say that these kindnesses are obligatory. But it seems equally odd to say that they are just very nice things that we might elect to do or not. What my students see is that there is a whole range of things that we think we ought to do, not out of moral obligation, but simply because it would be the decent thing to do. Much of what we expect from ourselves and others is just common decency.
Physical Attractiveness and the “Nice Guy Paradox”: Do Nice Guys Really Finish Last?

The nice guy stereotype asserts that, although women often say that they wish to date kind, sensitive men, when actually given a choice, women will reject nice men in favor of men with other salient characteristics, such as physical attractiveness. To explore this stereotype, two studies were conducted. In Study 1, 48 college women were randomly assigned into experimental conditions in which they read a script that depicted 2 men competing for a date with a woman. The niceness of 1 target man's responses was manipulated across conditions. In Study 2, 194 college women were randomly assigned to conditions in which both the target man's responses and his physical attractiveness were manipulated. Overall results indicated that both niceness and physical attractiveness were positive factors in women's choices and desirability ratings of the target men. Niceness appeared to be the most salient factor when it came to desirability for more serious relationships, whereas physical attractiveness appeared more important in terms of desirability for more casual, sexual relationships.
“La Iglesia” in Politics? Religion and Latino Public Opinion*

Objective This article explores how religion shapes Latino opinion regarding religion and public life. Methods This article uses a 2006 national survey of Latinos (N = 4,016) conducted by the Pew Research Center. The data are investigated through logistic regression and ordered logit. Results Religion does have a substantial influence on how Latinos view the role of the church in politics. Specifically, Latinos with higher levels of religious behavior and more orthodox beliefs were significantly more supportive of religion being involved in politics. Religious affiliation also mattered. Conclusion Religion is a powerful influence on how Latinos feel about the role of religion in politics. This influence mirrors findings from studies of the general population (Jelen and Wilcox, 1995; Guth et al., 2006; Smidt, 2007), giving support to the notion that there is little difference between Latinos and the general population when it comes to the influence of religion.
Religious coping, coping resources, and depressive symptoms: Test of a mediation model.

This study examined the relationships between religious coping, coping resources, and depressive symptoms. The authors tested whether coping resources explained the link between religious coping and depressive symptoms in a sample of 349 college students. Results indicated that coping resources partially mediated the relationship between negative religious coping and depressive symptoms, primarily through decreased social ease. The results offered no evidence that coping resources mediated the relationship between positive religious coping and depressive symptoms.
The costs and benefits of using complex 2-D Gabor filters in a filter-based fingerprint-matching system

In this paper, we investigate the utility of complex, 2-D Gabor filter for a fingerprint matching system. Previous approaches have used an even symmetric 2-D Gabor filter to perform fingerprint feature extraction processing. Several processing methods using a complex filter are explored and compared to the even-symmetric case. Conclusions are drawn based upon both the results of using a complex filter and the added computational costs of doing so.
Summing Planar Bosonic Open Strings

In earlier work, planar graphs of massless {phi}{sup 3} theory were summed with the help of the light cone world sheet picture and the mean field approximation. In the present article, the same methods are applied to the problem of summing planar bosonic open strings. They find that in the ground state of the system, string boundaries form a condensate on the world sheet, and a new string emerges from this summation. Its slope is always greater than the initial slope, and it remains non-zero even when the initial slope is set equal to zero. If they assume the initial string tends to a field a theory in the zero slope limit, this result provides evidence for string formation in field theory.
The Supreme Court's Role in the Growing School Choice Movement

The expansion of school choice in elementary and secondary education, particularly in urban areas, is one of largest current educational reform movements sweeping the nation. This is true despite the fact that it is still too early for a consensus to develop about the educational benefits of increased choice.1 Society always precedes schooling. Thus, major educational reforms pass in and out of favor depending on social conditions and how prevailing patterns of understanding interpret those conditions.2 Among the most significant social developments influencing educational reforms are legal decisions. Since the Supreme Court is the final authority on constitutional law, its decisions influencing education are particularly significant in determining the direction of educational reform. This Article will discuss the role of the Supreme Court’s decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause in the expansion of school choice. This Article seeks to focus attention upon the impact of the well-known fundamental shift that has occurred over the past thirty-five years in the way that the Supreme Court interprets the equal protection rights of black and other disadvantaged minority school children in the context of public education. These decisions by the Supreme Court have set up barriers and boundaries to educational reform that have made the expansion of school choice inevitable.
Novel Mechanism for Monitoring Cerebral Hemodynamics in Pediatric ECMO (P6.016)

OBJECTIVE: Measure cerebral autoregulation during Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation Therapy. BACKGROUND: Extra corporal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provides a crucial bridge to pediatric patients with eminently life-threatening pulmonary or cardiac disorders. During ECMO, the lungs and/or heart are bypassed through large-vessel cannulation to permit mechanical blood oxygenation and perfusion. Cerebral perfusion is critical for survival and long-term quality of life but is not currently monitored. Systemic perfusion is largely dependent on the mechanical pump rate. However, clinicians currently have no direct measurement of cerebral perfusion with which to optimize this mechanical circulation. Neonates and children make up the majority of ECMO cases and can expect decades of life after successful therapy, yet frequently exhibit subtle long term neurological deficiencies. Currently, no recommendations for minimizing the incidence of neurologic injury after transitioning a child to ECMO exist, as the few available techniques can not predict injury. These techniques are limited due to sedation (e.g., neurologic exam) and hemorrhage risk (e.g, invasive probes). However, systemic inflammation due to exposure of blood to synthetic surfaces is suspected alter cerebral autoregulation. DESIGN/METHODS: Diffuse correlation and optical spectroscopies were employed to non-invasively and independently quantify changes in cerebral blood flow and oxygenation, in pediatric patients on ECMO. Children were recruited for serial measurements over the first 3 days of therapy, during which ECMO flow rates were modulated +/-20%. RESULTS: Initial data suggests that non-invasive optical monitoring of cerebral hemodynamics may be useful to ascertain the mechanical pump rate necessary to maintain sufficient oxygen delivery to the brain. By comparing changes in cerebral blood flow with changes in mean arterial pressure, we can continuously assess cerebral auto-regulation and adequacy of cerebral oxygen delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Non-invasive monitoring of cerebral hemodynamics would allow clinicians to continuously assess blood flow and preserve adequate perfusion. Study Supported by: Thrasher Research Fund Disclosure: Dr. Busch has nothing to disclose. Dr. McCarthey has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lynch has nothing to disclose. Dr. Buckley has nothing to disclose. Dr. Connelly has nothing to disclose. Dr. Naim has nothing to disclose. Dr. Licht has nothing to disclose.
Electron attachment and positive ion chemistry of monohydrogenated fluorocarbon radicals

Rate coefficients and product branching fractions for electron attachment and for reaction with Ar(+) are measured over the temperature range 300-585 K for three monohydrogenated fluorocarbon (HFC) radicals (CF3CHF, CHF2CF2, and CF3CHFCF2), as well as their five closed-shell precursors (1-HC2F4I, 2-HC2F4I, 2-HC2F4Br, 1-HC3F6I, 2-HC3F6Br). Attachment to the HFC radicals is always fairly inefficient (between 0.1% and 10% of the Vogt-Wannier capture rate), but generally faster than attachment to analogous perfluorinated carbon radicals. The primary products in all cases are HF-loss to yield C(n)F(m-1)(-) anions, with only a minor branching to F(-) product. In all cases the temperature dependences are weak. Attachment to the precursor halocarbons is near the capture rate with a slight negative temperature dependence in all cases except for 2-HC2F4Br, which is ∼10% efficient at 300 K and becomes more efficient, approaching the capture rate at higher temperatures. All attachment kinetics are successfully reproduced using a kinetic modeling approach. Reaction of the HFC radicals with Ar(+) proceeds at or near the calculated collisional rate coefficient in all cases, yielding a wide variety of product ions.
Height and the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Women

Height has been inversely associated with coronary heart disease in several prospective studies in men, but data in women are sparse. The relation between height and cardiovascular disease was examined in 14 years of follow-up data from the Nurses' Health Study, a prospective cohort of 121,700 US female nurses aged 30-55 years in 1976. The relative risks associating height with coronary heart disease (nonfatal myocardial infarction (n = 1,000), fatal myocardial infarction (n = 304), confirmed angina (n = 1,343), or coronary revascularization (n = 901)) were estimated after adjustment for a large number of cardiovascular risk factors, including age and body mass index. Compared with the shortest women ( or = 1.70 m) tall (p for trend < 0.0001). The inverse association was more pronounced for angina/coronary revascularization (p for trend < 0.0001; relative risk for 67 or more inches = 0.67 (95% CI 0.58-0.78)) than for myocardial infarction (p for trend = 0.03; relative risk for 67 or more inches = 0.78 (95% CI 0.64-0.95)). No trend was evident for height in relation to risk of stroke. These data support the hypothesis that height is inversely related to risk of coronary heart disease in women.
A tunable library of substituted thiourea precursors to metal sulfide nanocrystals

Controlling the size of colloidal nanocrystals is essential to optimizing their performance in optoelectronic devices, catalysis, and imaging applications. Traditional synthetic methods control size by terminating the growth, an approach that limits the reaction yield and causes batch-to-batch variability. Herein we report a library of thioureas whose substitution pattern tunes their conversion reactivity over more than five orders of magnitude and demonstrate that faster thiourea conversion kinetics increases the extent of crystal nucleation. Tunable kinetics thereby allows the nanocrystal concentration to be adjusted and a desired crystal size to be prepared at full conversion. Controlled precursor reactivity and quantitative conversion improve the batch-to-batch consistency of the final nanocrystal size at industrially relevant reaction scales.
Monopoles and confinement

Abstract We have calculated the static quark potential using the magnetic monopoles of U(1) lattice gauge theory ( LGT ). Our calculations use monopoles which are identified in gauge field configurations generated using the Wilson action. We find that the monopoles' contribution to the potential is entirely responsible for the confining properties in three dimensions and in the confinement phase in four dimensions. In the Coulomb phase in four dimensions we find that the monopoles are responsible for the renormalization of the bare electric charge.
Multiresidue Pesticide Analysis of Dried Botanical Dietary Supplements Using an Automated Dispersive SPE Cleanup for QuEChERS and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

An automated dispersive solid phase extraction (dSPE) cleanup procedure as part of the Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS) method, coupled with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry using electrospray ionization in positive mode, was used for the simultaneous analysis of 236 pesticides in three dried powdered botanical dietary supplements (ginseng, saw palmetto, and gingko biloba). The procedure involved extraction of the dried powdered botanical samples with salt-out acetonitrile/water extraction using anhydrous magnesium sulfate and sodium chloride, followed by an automated dSPE cleanup using a mixture of octadodecyl- (C18) and primary–secondary amine (PSA)-linked silica sorbents and anhydrous MgSO4 and online LC-MS/MS analysis. Dynamic multiple-reaction monitoring (DMRM) based on the collection of two precursor-to-product ion transitions with their retention time windows was used for all of the targeted pesticides and the internal standard. Matrix-matched calibration sta...
Peak bone mineral density at the hip is linked to chromosomes 14q and 15q

A major determinant of osteoporotic hip fracture is peak hip BMD which is a highly heritable trait. Caucasian American women have lower BMD and higher hip fracture rates than African American women. This study examines linkage of hip BMD in 570 Caucasian sister pairs and 204 African American sister pairs. It compares the results with our published study in a smaller overlapping sample of Caucasian sisters. Hip BMD was measured at neck, trochanter, Ward's, shaft, and total hip. Principal component analysis provided a novel BMD phenotype comprising neck and trochanter, common sites of fracture, and Ward's, site of lowest BMD. A 9 cM genome scan was performed for these phenotypes. Significant linkage was found at chromosomes 14q and 15q. At 14q, the 774 African American and Caucasian sister pairs together yielded the highest LOD score for trochanter (3.5) and at 15q the highest LOD score for femoral neck (4.3). This linkage study in Caucasian and African American healthy premenopausal sisters demonstrates that chromosomes 14q and 15q harbor genes that affect peak bone mass at the hip in women. Principal component had comparable LOD scores with those of the component phenotypes suggesting pleiotropic effects of these genes on hip phenotypes.
Some parameters of haem synthesis in dialysed and non-dialysed uraemic patients.

Some parameters of haem synthesis were estimated in 60 uraemic patients (30 non-dialysed, 30 dialysed) and in 30 matched controls. Serum delta-aminolaevulinic acid and erythrocyte coproporphyrin and protoprophyrin were found significantly higher in the non-dialysed uraemics than in the controls. Erythrocyte delta-aminolaevulinic acid dehydrase (ALA-D) activity was 498 +/- 174 mumol/h.l in the non-dialysed patients, 321 +/- 146 in the dialysed (just before haemodialysis) and 833 +/- 281 in the healthy controls, the differences between these groups all being statistically significant (p less than 0.001). After haemodialysis the enzymic activity in the dialysed group increased significantly (380 +/- 167, p less than 0.001), but remained lower than normal (p less than 0.001). A similar pattern - although with less statistical significance of the differences between groups - was observed concerning erythrocyte uroporphyrinogen I synthase activity. Incubation of normal erythrocytes with uraemic plasma resulted in a considerable decrease of their ALA-D activity (from 830 +/- 263 to 616 +/- 126) while incubation of uraemic erythrocytes with normal plasma increased their ALA-D (from 384 +/- 139 to 494 +/- 77). Addition of zinc in the haemolysate caused a similar induction of ALA-D in both controls and uraemics. The zinc-induced uraemic ALA-D practically reached normal levels. The mechanism of enzymic depression and the possible role of elevated delta-aminolaevulinic acid concentrations (to which depressed ALA-D activity considerably contributes) in the pathogenesis of the neurologic manifestations of uraemia, are discussed.
Microbial nitrification rates in the primary nitrite maximum off southern California

Abstract Autotrophic ammonium oxidation rates are highest (about 4 × 10 −8 mol 1 −1 d −1 or 7.5 × 10 −13 mol cell −1 d −1 ) below the photic zone in the nitrite maximum layer in California coastal waters, with rates approaching zero at the surface. Cell numbers of ammonium-oxidizing bacteria, however, are approximately constant with depth (about 5 × 10 4 cells 1 −1 ), indicating greatly enhanced oxidation rates per cell below the photic zone. Light intensity in the water column may control the depth and formation of the primary nitrite maximum in this coastal regime.
Niche for a technology or technology for a niche

There is little doubt that robotic surgery is here to stay. The real question is if the technologyhas transitioned fromnovelty and marketing tool to standard of care. The medical literature is rife with midterm results of robotic procedures as varied as mitral valve repair and thyroidectomy or prostatectomy and pancreatic resection. To add to this accumulating knowledge base, Marulli and colleagues now submit their multicenter data on robotically assisted resection of thymoma. Minimally invasive approaches to the mediastinum have been in vogue for well over a decade as technologic advances in imaging and instrumentation have simplified video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). Long considered the last bastion of ‘‘bright lights and cold steel,’’ the thorax has succumbed to the same driving force that has shaped much of the rest of surgery, namely, the push to perform equally effective operations through smaller, and less morbid, incisions. To this end, anterior mediastinal operations (ie, thymectomy) classically performed through sternal splitting approaches, now often fall under the purview of VATS. Initially, there was considerable pushback from the traditionalists, who feared that equivalent operations could not be performed without sternotomy, whether to palliate myasthenia gravis (MG) or completely resect thymoma. Now those discussions appear somewhat safely positioned in the rearview mirror. Several excellent studies demonstrate largely equivalent efficacy with much less morbidity and support VATS approaches for thymic surgery. Marulli and colleagues have taken the push for minimal access 1 step farther. Their contribution reviews the outcomes of a 79-patient cohort of robotically assisted thymoma resections. Although some will argue that the reduction in morbidity transitioning from VATS to robotic operations is negligible, intrathoracic instrument articulation and 3-dimensional high-resolution optics clearly permit more elegant and precise operations to be performed robotically. Robotically assisted thymectomy for MG has already been proven safe
Lysophosphatidic acid: receptors, signaling and survival.

Though the mitogenic activity of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) has been wellestablished through classical studies, its mechanism of action was long obscure. Recent identification and cloning of LPA-specific receptors has led to the elucidation of the G-proteins and signaling pathways through which this molecule functions. In addition to its mitogenic properties, recent reports have suggested that LPA may also promote cell survival. This review will summarize the current literature regarding LPA signaling and its role as an antiapoptotic factor.
Interactive Phenomena in Supersonic Jet Mixing Problems, Part 11: Numerical Studies

Applications of the numerical techniques discussed in Part I of this article are presented. Fundamental wave/shear-layer interaction calculations are performed exhibiting the waves produced by high-speed turbulent mixing processes and the interactions of an expansion fan and shock wave with a developing shear layer. Calculations for an underexpanded supersonic jet into a supersonic external stream at different velocity ratios are presented which delineate betweeen weakly interactive and strongly interactive processes in the jet near field. Calculations for the multiple-cell shock structure of an underexpanded jet into still air exhibit the damping of wave intensities by the turbulence and compare quite favorably with available data.
Use and predictors of heart failure disease management referral in patients hospitalized with heart failure: insights from the Get With the Guidelines Program.

Abstract Background Heart failure disease management (HFDM) may be beneficial in heart failure (HF) patients at risk for readmission or post-discharge mortality. However, characteristics of hospitalized HF patients referred to HFDM are not known. Methods and Results Get With the Guidelines (GWTG) program data was used to analyze 57,969 patients hospitalized with HF from January 2005 through January 2010 from 235 sites. Factors associated with referral to HFDM and rates of HF quality measures by referral status were studied. Mean age of patients was 69.7 ± 14.5 years, 52% were men, and 65% were white. HFDM referral occurred in 11,150 (19.2%) patients. The median rate of HFDM referral among all hospitals was 3.5% (25th–75th percentiles 0%–16.7%) and 8.7% (2.8%–27.7%) among hospitals with at least one previous HFDM referral. Quality and performance measures were higher in patients referred to HFDM. HFDM referral was associated with atrial fibrillation, implanted cardiac device, depression, and treatment at larger hospitals. Patients at higher 90-day mortality risk were paradoxically less likely to receive HFDM referral. Conclusions HFDM referral occurred in less than one-fifth of hospitalized HF patients and was more frequently recommended to lower-risk patients. Increasing use and optimizing selection of patients for HFDM referral is a potential target for quality improvement.
Saccade to stepping delays in elders at high risk for falling

Background and aims: Visually guided stepping is an essential function in many normal activities of daily living requiring the coordination of eye movements with precise foot placement. The objective of this investigation was to compare the saccade-footlift latency in community dwelling elderly identified as high-risk for falling with elderly who are at a low-risk of falling during a walking task that requires precise foot placement. Methods: A non-randomized between-group repeated measures design was employed using independently living elderly volunteers from the Minneapolis, MN community. Thirty older adults volunteered to participate in the study; fifteen who had a history of a fall in the previous 12 months or a prolonged score on a fall risk screening instrument (Timed Up and Go test), and fifteen elders who had not fallen and had a negative score on the screening instrument. Subjects were required to walk along a pathway of 4 irregularly spaced stepping targets. The time between horizontal saccadic eye movement to the initiation of footlift (saccade-footlift latency) was the primary dependent measure. Results: The mean saccade-footlift latency between high-risk (H-R) elderly and low-risk (L-R) elderly was statistically different (mean H-R 940 ms, L-R 825 ms; F1,3=7.45, p=0.006). The H-R elderly also performed more slowly on the cognitive test — Trail Making Test Part B (mean H-R 195 s, L-R 129 s; F1,2=7.21, p=0.01). The results suggest that there is an association between horizontal saccades, stepping and cognition for elderly at risk for falling. Conclusions: The timing of saccades and precise foot placement in older persons living in the community are associated with fall risk status and cognitive status. The prolonged time for saccade-footlift in H-R elderly may be attributed to greater central nervous system processing time necessary to plan precise foot placements or volitional processing delays in postural control due to fall risk status. In addition, age related changes in cognitive functions appear to be associated with saccade stepping interaction when performing a visually guided stepping pattern and may influence the ability to coordinate precise lower extremity movements.
Theory of isotope diffusion in a material with multiple species and its implications for hydrogen-enhanced electrical conductivity in olivine

The relationship between isotope diffusion coefficient and electrical conductivity is examined for a material where a dominant charge-carrying atomic species (e.g., hydrogen) is present as various forms with different diffusion coefficients (e.g., two protons trapped at M-site vacancy, one proton trapped at M-site vacancy etc.). It is shown that the isotopic diffusion occurs keeping the concentration ratio of each species fixed as determined by the thermo-chemical environment. Consequently, the isotope diffusion coefficient is the harmonic average of diffusion coefficients of individual species and is dominated by the slowest diffusing species. In contrast, when electric current is carried by charged species, the concentrations of individual species do not change. Therefore, electrical conductivity is related to the arithmetic average of individual diffusion coefficients dominated by the fastest diffusing species. The difference between these two cases can be large when different species have largely different diffusion coefficients. This model provides an explanation for the observed differences between experimental observations on isotopic diffusion (of H-D) and hydrogen-enhanced electrical conductivity and supports a hybrid model of hydrogen-enhanced electrical conduction where electrical conductivity is dominated by the fast moving hydrogen-related species. The species with the largest mobility may change with temperature leading to a change in anisotropy of conductivity. The degree of enhancement of electrical conductivity by hydrogen is high enough to explain most of the geophysically observed electrical conductivity of Earth’s upper mantle.
A high-speed microcurrent amplifier

By the use of feedback amplifier techniques considerable improvement has been made in the speed and/or stability of the familiar electrometer tube micromicroammeter. Simplicity and compactness have been retained. With 100 feet of input cable, the amplifier has a 150-millisecond time constant at 10?11 amperes full scale with 0.05% per day stability.
Advantages of reaction cell ICP-MS on doubly charged interferences for arsenic and selenium analysis in foods

Recent reports of As concentrations in certain food and drinks have garnered public concern and led to a lowering of the US guideline maximum concentration for inorganic As in apple juice and proposed limits for As in rice products. In contrast Se is an essential micro-nutrient that can be limiting when Se-poor soils yield Se-poor food crops. Rare earth element (REE) doubly charged interferences on As and Se can be significant even when initial ICP-MS tuning minimizes doubly charged formation. We analyzed NIST 1547 (peach leaves) and 1515 (apple leaves), which contain high levels of REEs, by quadrupole ICP-MS with (He) collision mode, H2 reaction mode or triple quadrupole ICP-MS (ICP-QQQ) in mass-shift mode (O2 and O2/H2). Analysis by collision cell ICP-MS significantly over-estimated As and Se concentration due to REE doubly charged formation; mathematical correction increased the accuracy of analysis but is prone to error when analyte concentration and sensitivity is low and interferent is high. For Se, H2 reaction mode was effective in suppressing Gd2+ leading to accurate determination of Se in both SRMs without the need for mathematical correction. ICP-QQQ using mass-shift mode for As+ from m/z 75 to AsO+ at m/z 91 and Se+ from m/z 78 to SeO+ at m/z 94 alleviated doubly charged effects and resulted in accurate determination of As and Se in both SRMs without the need for correction equations. Zr and Mo isobars at 91 and 94 were shown to be effectively rejected by the MS/MS capability of the ICP-QQQ.
A digital prescription for X-ray overload

The potential of picture-archiving and communication systems (PACs), a technology for the transmission and storage of diagnostic images, is examined. PACs, which accept pictures or images, with associated test, in digital form and then distributes them over a network, offer a means of dealing with the explosive growth of information generated by radiology and other imaging modalities. The technological problems that must be solved before PACS can achieve widespread use are explored. These occur in the areas of storing, transmitting, and displaying the images. Standard issues and radiologists' resistance to the digital hospital, which may be the greatest obstacle to implementing PACS, are discussed. >