cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON SILICON LIMITED GROWTH OF THE LAKE MICHIGAN DIATOM STEPHANODISCUS MINUTUS (BACILLARIOPHYCEAE) 1

The effect of temperature on the silicon limited growth and nutrient kinetics of Stephanodiscus minutus Grun. was examined using batch and semicontinuous culture methods. Short-term batch culture methods gave maximum growth rates which were essentially constant over the temperature range of 10° to 20°C (μ3= 0.71–0.80 d−1). The half-saturation constant for growth (Ks) was significantly lowest at 10°C (Ks= 0.31 μM Si; 0.22–0.41), and higher at both 15°C (Ks= 1.03 μM Si; 0.68–1.47) and 20°C (Ks= 0.88 μM Si; 0.60–1.22). Two methods were used to evaluate the semicontinuous experiments. The Droop relationship showed that the minimum cell quota was about 1.50 × 10−7 nmol Si cell−1, but there was much overlap in the results at all three temperatures. The Monod growth relationship for the semicontinuous experiments gave estimates of Ks which were lowest at 15°C (Ks= 0.12 μM Si), and higher at 10°C (Ks= 0.68 μM Si) and 20°C (Ks= 1.24 μM Si), although 95% confidence intervals overlapped. The maximum growth rate estimates for the semicontinuous experiments were similar at 10° and 15°, and higher at 20°C, but the number of points used in making the calculations makes the results less reliable than those from batch cultures. Generally, there were no consistent significant differences in the silicon limited growth of S. minutus over the temperature range studied. Our values of Ks for S. minutus are the lowest recorded for a freshwater diatom, and are consistent with the distribution of this species in nature. Generally, this species becomes abundant in areas with high phosphorus loading and very low silicon levels (low Si:P loading rates). Stephanodiscus species are also fossil indicators of eutrophication in north temperate lakes.
Academic Competence in Preschool: Exploring the Role of Close Relationships and Anxiety.

This study tested a conceptual model of a psychosocial pathway to academic competence in preschool. Developmental theory and research with older children suggest that social and psychological factors could have a significant impact on young children's learning and school readiness. Children in 3 preschool classrooms (N = 31) participated. Mothers' perceptions of their children as more or less trusting and secure at age 3 years were rated on the Attachment Behavior Q-Set (Waters, 1987). Sociometric ratings were collected from classmates 1 year later through individual picture interviews. Preschool teachers rated children's academic competence and trait anxiety. Attachment Behavior Q-Set scores at age 3 were associated with teacher ratings of academic competence the following year (ages 4–5 years). However, this effect was mediated by 2 intervening psychosocial variables: anxiety and peer acceptance. Early secure attachment to parents may (a) potentiate less anxiety, removing emotional barriers to learning;...
The use of contact and airborne precautions in the perianesthesia setting.

Antibiotic-resistant hospital-acquired infections are associated with a higher mortality rate and hospital costs than infections with strains of the same species that are antimicrobial susceptible. Transference of the gene for vancomycin resistance from VRE to other species such as S aureus has been reported and is of great concern. A vancomycin-resistant S aureus is an even worse pathogen than MRSA or VRE. Not controlling for MRSA and VRE will allow for the evolution of such resistant organisms.
Assessing Pain in Older Adults

In recent years, pain control has become a topic of increased interest in the United States. Although the interest originated in professional societies (the American Pain Society has called for pain to be treated as a “fifth vital sign”), regulatory agencies have now picked up on the issue. For example, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), probably the most important of the regulatory agencies, has established standards for pain assessment to be implemented by the upcoming year (JCAHO, 2000).
Social influences and cognitive control as predictors of self-efficacy and eating behavior

Social influences and cognitive control are hypothesized to predict self-efficacy, which in turn is expected to influence life-style behavior choices. Panel data from two California cities (N =600) were analyzed. Regression analyses supported the hypothesized relationships given statistical controls, and indicated that self-efficacy mediates effects of social influences and cognitive control on eating behavior. Self-efficacy also accounts for variance in eating behavior not explained by knowledge or demographic variables. Interventions and health promotion campaigns should seek to directly address perceptions of social influences and related social cognitive factors.
Involuntary sterilization of persons with mental retardation: An ethical analysis

Legitimate concerns on the part of parents and guardians may lead to requests for sterilization of a mentally retarded person in their care. At the same time, mentally retarded persons must be protected from actions that do not serve their best interests. This paper will review the history of involuntary sterilization in the United States and evaluate the ethical arguments that are relevant to decisions about involuntary sterilization. While other, less permanent forms of contraception might be acceptable, involuntary sterilization ought not be performed on mentally retarded persons who retain the capacity for reproductive decision-making, the ability to raise a child, or the capacity to provide valid consent to marriage. Mentally retarded persons who lack capacity in those three areas should be considered for involuntary sterilization only when the procedure is necessary, sterilization would serve the best interests of the mentally retarded person, less intrusive and temporary methods of contraception or control of menstruation are not acceptable alternatives, and procedural safeguards have been implemented to assure a fair decision-making process.
Post‐traumatic cholesteatoma

Cholesteatoma can develop as a late complication of fracture of the temporal bone. The otologist must be wary of it since the growth of the cholesteatoma resulting from a temporal bone fracture can be undetected for years allowing for invasive and extensive growth. Three illustrative cases are presented.
What's legal? What's moral? What's the difference? A guide for teaching residents

In “Ethics and Professionalism: What Does a Resident Need to Learn?,” authors Goold and Stern (2006) identify gaps between formal and informal education in ethics and professionalization. Though on...
Dioecious Solanum species of hermaphroditic origin is an example of a broad convergence

Unlike the taxa in some genera which show a range of variability in floral morphology, species of Solanum deviate very little from the typical hermaphroditic flower. The known deviant taxa fall into two classes: most are andromonoecious (male and hermaphroditic flowers on the same plant), and the remaining few are androdioedous (male flowers on one plant, hermaphroditic flowers on another)1.I report here evidence for the first instance of a truly dioecious species of Solanum, a significant discovery in the light of the floral uniformity of this large (second only to Senecio) and economically important genus. The most closely related species and species groups comprise only hermaphroditic forms; this dioecious species is among the few non-hermaphroditic forms native to the New World, the area of greatest species diversity of the genus. Furthermore, as shown below, the species is characterised by a functionally, though not morphologically, dioecious condition. Finally, this demonstration that the two floral forms represent different sexes of the same species, rather than (as originally described) different species, impels closer analysis of other species pairs.
Evaluating the role of preexisting weaknesses and topographic distributions in the Indo-Asian collision by use of a thin-shell numerical model

Thin-viscous-sheet models have proved to be very useful in exploring the interaction between plate boundary and gravitational forces during continental collision. However, simplifications of these models (e.g., absence of faults, planar geometry of the collision zone) limit their use in making specific predictions regarding tectonic evolution, such as the role of eastward extrusion along major strike-slip faults during the Indo-Asian collision. This deficiency is overcome by a thin-shell finite-element model with faults that can assess the effects of preexisting fault configurations and topographic distributions on velocity fields. Numerical simulations of a palinspastically restored Asia at ca. 50 Ma suggest that preexisting lithospheric weaknesses favor north-south shortening during initial collision, whereas preexisting high topography in southern Asia promotes eastward extrusion. These results underscore the first-order importance of initial topography and the distribution of preexisting faults in the outcome of geodynamic modeling.
A comparison of preoperative ultrasound images of surgically proven endometriomas scanned by both transabdominal and transvaginal techniques.

ABSTRACT The echo patterns of endometriomas have been described by both transabdominal and transvaginal scanning. This retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate the degree of internal echogenicity in endometriomas preoperatively scanned by both techniques. Transvaginal ultrasound scanning should be added to the diagnostic armamentarium. (J Gynecol Surg 11:27, 1995)
High temperature thermoelectric properties of boron carbide

Boron carbides are refractory solids with potential for application as very high temperature p-type thermoelectrics in power conversion applications. The thermoelectric properties of boron carbides are unconventional. In particular, the electrical conductivity is consistent with the thermally activated hopping of a high density (≈ 1021/cm3) of bipolarons; the Seebeck coefficient is anomalously large and increases with increasing temperature; and the thermal conductivity is surprisingly low. In this paper, these unusual properties and their relationship to the unusual structure and bonding present in boron carbides are reviewed. Finally, the potential for utilization of boron carbides at very high temperatures (up to 2200°C) and for preparing n-type materials is discussed.
Recoil after Severing Reveals Stress Fiber Contraction Mechanisms

Stress fibers are cellular contractile actomyosin machines central to wound healing, shear stress response, and other processes. Contraction mechanisms have been difficult to establish because stress fibers in cultured cells typically exert isometric tension and present little kinetic activity. In a recent study, living cell stress fibers were severed with laser nanoscissors and recoiled several μm over ∼5 s. We developed a quantitative model of stress fibers based on known components and available structural information suggesting periodic sarcomeric organization similar to striated muscle. The model was applied to the severing assay and compared to the observed recoil. We conclude that the sarcomere force-length relation is similar to that of muscle with two distinct regions on the ascending limb and that substantial external drag forces act on the recoiling fiber corresponding to effective cytosolic viscosity ∼104 times that of water. This may originate from both nonspecific and specific interactions. The model predicts highly nonuniform contraction with caps of collapsed sarcomeres growing at the severed ends. A directly measurable signature of external drag is that cap length and recoil distance increase at intermediate times as t1/2. The severing data is consistent with this prediction.
A comparison of IQ and memory cluster solutions in moderate and severe pediatric traumatic brain injury.

Recent studies have examined heterogeneous neuropsychological outcomes in childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) using cluster analysis. These studies have identified homogeneous subgroups based on tests of IQ, memory, and other cognitive abilities that show some degree of association with specific cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes, and have demonstrated that the clusters derived for children with TBI are different from those observed in normal populations. However, the extent to which these subgroups are stable across abilities has not been examined, and this has significant implications for the generalizability and clinical utility of TBI clusters. The current study addressed this by comparing IQ and memory profiles of 137 children who sustained moderate-to-severe TBI. Cluster analysis of IQ and memory scores indicated that a four-cluster solution was optimal for the IQ scores and a five-cluster solution was optimal for the memory scores. Three clusters on each battery differed primarily by ...
The decrease of UV absorbance as an indicator of TOX formation

Abstract The decrease in UV absorbance (ΔUV) caused by chlorination of NOM correlates linearly with the amount of TOX formed, for a remarkably wide range of water quality conditions and reaction times. THM formation also correlates with ΔUV, but the relationship is more sensitive to solution pH and is probably not linear over the entire range of conditions/times relevant for water treatment. It appears that all Cl-DOC reactions that destroy UV absorbance generate TOX, but substantial amounts of THMs are formed only after a significant amount of reaction has occurred.
A methodology for engineering collaborative applications over mobile Web objects using SyD middleware

Future Web applications will be more collaborative and will use the standard and ubiquitous Internet protocols. We have previously developed system on mobile devices (SyD) middleware to rapidly develop and deploy collaborative applications over heterogeneous and possibly mobile devices hosting web objects. In this paper, we present the software engineering methodology for developing SyD-enabled Web applications and illustrate it through a case study on a system of calendar application, with implementation on iPAQs and its performance metrics study. SyD-enabled Web objects allow us to create a collaborative application rapidly with limited coding. In this case study, the modular software architecture allowed us to hide the inherent heterogeneity among devices, data stores, and networks by presenting a uniform and persistent object view of mobile calendar objects interacting through XML/SOAP requests and responses. The performance results we obtained show that the application scales well as we increase the group size and adapts well within the constraints of mobile devices.
The Magi as Wise Men: Re-examining a Basic Supposition

The tradition that identifies Matthew's magi as ‘wise men’ is considered in light of narrative criticism, social history, and Wirkungsgeschichte . An examination of literature relevant to the narrative's setting reveals that Matthew's readers are expected to regard magian learning not as wisdom but as foolishness. Matthew's narrative is prejudiced against scholarship, such that the magi's status as fools is what qualifies them as candidates for divine revelation. The tradition that regards the magi as wise men can be traced to the Renaissance and attributed to an ideological bias that favours a blessing of scholarship.
Small proline-rich proteins 2 are noncoordinately upregulated by IL-6/STAT3 signaling after bile duct ligation

Small proline-rich proteins 2 (SPRR2) are coordinately expressed with other epidermal differential complex (EDC) genes in the skin. They function as crosslinking proteins that form bridges between other proteins that comprise the cornified cell envelope, which is the major barrier against the environment. IL-6 is invariably produced at sites of biliary tract injury and IL-6-deficient (IL-6(-/-)) mice show impaired barrier function after bile duct ligation (BDL). Screening microarray analysis identified noncoordinate expression of SPRR2 as a candidate gene that is: (a) expressed in biliary epithelial cells (BEC); (b) IL-6 responsive; and (c) potentially related to biliary barrier function. Therefore, we studied in detail the regulation of BEC SPRR2A expression, in vitro; and tested the hypothesis that if BEC SPRR2 expression contributes to biliary barrier function, it should be increased after BDL in IL-6-wild type (IL-6(+/+)) mice and not in IL-6(-/-) mice. In vitro studies confirmed that IL-6/gp130-signaling, mediated primarily by signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), stimulated noncoordinate BEC SPRR2 expression. In vivo, noncoordinate upregulation of BEC SPRR2 expression after BDL was seen in the IL-6(+/+) mice and was unrelated to squamous metaplasia. IL-6(-/-) mice showed deficient BEC SPRR2 expression after BDL associated with impaired barrier function, as evidenced by smaller diameters of obstructed ducts, decreased bile volume, and an inability to form 'white bile' compared to IL-6(+/+) mice at 12 weeks after BDL. IL-6 replacement therapy reversed the barrier defect in IL-6(-/-) mice after BDL, coincident with recovery of SPRR2A expression. SPRR2 in diseased mouse and human liver localized subjacent to the apical plasma membrane of BEC lining bile ducts, but was more diffusely expressed throughout the cytoplasm of cholangioles. In conclusion, BEC IL-6/gp130/STAT3 signaling noncoordinately upregulates BEC SPRR2 that appears to contribute to modification of the biliary barrier under conditions of stress.
An Enhancer That Directs Lineage-Specific Expression of CD8 in Positively Selected Thymocytes and Mature T Cells

Positive selection of CD4+CD8+ T cells to the CD4+CD8- helper and CD4- CD8+ cytotoxic lineages is a multistep process that involves complex regulation of coreceptor gene expression. By analyzing expression of a reporter gene in transgenic mice, we have identified a DNA segment, located between the murine CD8beta and CD8alpha genes, that has enhancer activity restricted to CD8 lineage cells. Remarkably, this enhancer functions in thymocytes undergoing positive selection to the CD4-CD8+ phenotype but not in immature double-positive thymocytes. The enhancer also functions in gut intraepithelial lymphocytes that express CD8alpha but not CD8beta, suggesting that it is specific for CD8alpha expression. The tight correlation between activation of this enhancer and the final step in positive selection has important implications for understanding the mechanism of lineage commitment in thymocytes.
Self-Knowledge and the Bounds of Authenticity

This paper criticizes the widespread view whereby a second-order judgment of the form ‘I believe that p’ qualifies as self-knowledge only if the embedded content, p, is of the same type as the content of the intentional state reflected upon and the self-ascribed attitude, belief, is of the same type as the attitude the subject takes towards p. Rather than requiring identity of contents across levels of cognition self-knowledge requires only that the embedded content of the second-order thought be an entailment of the content of the intentional state reflected upon. And rather than demanding identity of attitudes across levels of cognition self-knowledge demands only that the attitude of the intentional state reflected upon and the attitude the subject self-attributes share certain features such as direction of fit and polarity.
Recovery of a US endangered fish.

Background More fish have been afforded US Endangered Species Act protection than any other vertebrate taxonomic group, and none has been designated as recovered. Shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) occupy large rivers and estuaries along the Atlantic coast of North America, and the species has been protected by the US Endangered Species Act since its enactment.
The Revised Caregiver Burden Scale: A Preliminary Evaluation

Objective: The purpose of the study is to empirically determine the factor structure of the original Stommel, Given, and Given (1990) 31-item Perceived Caregiver Burden Scale (PCB). Method: By telephone, 150 caregivers of the elderly were interviewed, and the data were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. Results: Results did not support all the 31 items in the five-factor theoretical structure but did suggest a 13-item three-factor model. In addition, this three-factor version evidenced high internal consistency among the subscales. The short revised version of the PCB-13 scale is an easy-to-administer screening tool for estimating burden. Conclusion: Although this scale should be validated further by replication, the scale has implications for social work practitioners. Practitioners are cautioned to use PCB-13 as an assessment tool, but they can supplement the short scale with other qualitative measures to screen Indian/Pakistani caregivers until further validation studies can be conducted.
Ameliorating Local Impacts with Architectural Research: Subprime Mortgages & Housing Quality

Shock waves from the current housing crisis that still echo through Wall Street’s largest financial firms, not only have threatened to topple financial markets and drive the country into a depression, but have also undermined the all-time high home ownership rate in the United States. The most attention-grabbing dimensions and headlines of the current crisis seem to be the staggering losses incurred by the likes of Bear Sterns and Citigroup, and the demise of some of the large corporations such as Washington Mutual. However, the real crisis is not on Wall Street or in the banking sector, but in low- and moderate-income and minority homes and neighborhoods throughout the country. At least ten years before the present subprime foreclosure crisis became mainstream news, these marginalized communities were feeling the negative effects of mortgage fraud and predatory lending practices occurring with regularity in the subprime market. This paper discusses an ongoing study of Subprime Lending, Mortgage Fraud and Housing Quality in process since 2002. This four-part study has employed foreclosure data with statistical and mapping analysis, detailed interviews with victims of predatory lending, systematic documentation of the resulting housing environments, and documentation of property improvements in light of victims’ legal settlements. While subprime lending has supported the expansion of homeownership in the United States, this on-going study suggests that this expansion has sometimes been at the expense of safe, code-compliant living environments forlow-income, minority and elderly homeowners. Some of the victims of predatory lending and mortgage fraud have sought legal redress through the courts but many have suffered personal financial, health, emotional, and family crises as well. The current broad-scale discussion of the topic has given attention to the lack of regulation facilitating these unethical practices, but it is unclear that current discussions will lead to meaningful and lasting reform.
Defining the substrate specificity of cdk4 kinase–cyclin D1 complex

cdk4 kinase‐cyclin D1 complex (cdk4/D1) does not phosphorylate all of the sites within retinoblastoma protein (Rb) equally. Comparison of five phosphorylation sites within the 15 kDa C domain of Rb indicates that Ser795 is the preferred site of phosphorylation by cdk4/D1. A series of experiments has been performed to determine the properties of this site that direct preferential phosphorylation. For cdk4/D1, the preferred amino acid at the third position C-terminal to the phosphorylated serine/ threonine is arginine. Substitution of other amino acids, including a conservative change to lysine, has dramatic effects on the rates of phosphorylation. This information has been used to mutate less favorable sites in Rb, converting them to sites that are now preferentially phosphorylated by cdk4/D1. A conserved site at Ser842 in the related pocket protein p107 is also preferentially phosphorylated by cdk4/D1. Although Rb and p107 differ significantly in sequence, the Rb Ser795 site can replace the p107 Ser842 site without affecting the rate of phosphorylation. These results suggest that although a determinant of specificity resides in the sequences surrounding the phosphorylated site, the structural context of the site is also a critical parameter of specificity.
Preventing Wrong Site, Procedure, and Patient Events Using a Common Cause Analysis:

The medical center experienced 8 wrong site/procedure/patient events between April 2008 and January 2010. A common cause analysis (CCA) was conducted on all 8 events to determine the causal factors of these events. After a sentinel event is identified, the medical center conducts a root cause analysis (RCA) within 45 days of the event. A CCA helps recognize trends and establish themes identified from each RCA. The CCA revealed that there were 22 occurrences of failure modes noted in the category of Rules, Policies, and Procedures and 17 failure modes present in the category of Human Factors: Scheduling and Fatigue. A multidisciplinary team was assembled to confirm the failure modes identified in the CCA and to develop processes to address these failure modes. No further wrong site, procedure, or person events have occurred over the last year.
Treating refractory chronic graft-versus-host disease with extracorporeal photochemotherapy

Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP; photopheresis), an immunomodulatory therapy, has previously demonstrated promising results in treating chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD). We treated six patients (ages 33–54 years) with long-standing refractory extensive-stage cGvHD. ECP was performed thrice weekly initially in all patients. Concomitant therapies included prednisone (n=6), tacrolimus (n=5), cyclosporin A (n=2), hydroxychloroquine (n=2), mycophenolate mofetil (n=1), and psoralen plus ultraviolet A radiation (n=1). After an average of 7.2 months (range, 2–13 months) of ECP, all patients experienced either improvement or stabilization in sclerodermatous skin changes, as well as partial improvements in liver enzyme levels. Skin softening occurred in four patients and was noted as early as 3–8 weeks into treatment. Two patients were able to taper steroid therapy, and two patients were able to taper ECP to twice weekly. ECP was well tolerated. Our results support those of previous studies, suggesting that ECP may be beneficial in patients with refractory cGvHD.
Microphysical imprint of entrainment in warm cumulus

We analyse the cloud microphysical response to entrainment mixing in warm cumulus clouds observed from the CIRPAS Twin Otter during the GoMACCS field campaign near Houston, Texas, in summer 2006. Cloud drop size distributions and cloud liquid water contents from the Artium Flight phase-Doppler interferometer in conjunction with meteorological observations are used to investigate the degree to which inhomogeneous versus homogeneous mixing is preferred as a function of height above cloud base, distance from cloud edge and aerosol concentration. Using four complete days of data with 101 cloud penetrations (minimum 300 m in length), we find that inhomogeneous mixing primarily explains liquid water variability in these clouds. Furthermore, we show that there is a tendency for mixing to be more homogeneous towards the cloud top, which we attribute to the combination of increased turbulent kinetic energy and cloud drop size with altitude which together cause the Damkohler number to increase by a factor of between 10 and 30 from cloud base to cloud top. We also find that cloud edges appear to be air from cloud centres that have been diluted solely through inhomogeneous mixing. Theory predicts the potential for aerosol to affect mixing type via changes in drop size over the range of aerosol concentrations experienced (moderately polluted rural sites to highly polluted urban sites). However, the observations, while consistent with this hypothesis, do not show a statistically significant effect of aerosol on mixing type. Keywords: inhomogeneous mixing, homogeneous mixing, GoMACCS, phase-Doppler interferometer, cloud microphysics (Published: 25 July 2013) Citation: Tellus B 2013, 65 , 19922, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v65i0.19922
Memory deficits during electrical stimulation of the speech cortex in conscious man

Abstract Cerebral zones supporting language and recent memory were mapped by electrical stimulation during neurosurgical treatment of epileptic patients. Stimulation of sites within the left posterior temporo-parietal cortex produced transient dysphasia. Continued stimulation of this cortical region also produced a retrograde type of verbal memory disorder, indicating a failure in the mechanism responsible for retrieval of stored information. In contrast, stimulation of the anterior temporal neocortex did not produce anomia and, instead, resulted in an anterograde memory loss, apparently caused by a defect in the verbal storage mechanism. Comparable stimulation of homologous areas on the right hemisphere did not interfere with object naming or immediate verbal recall.
ASSOCIATION OF TUMOR NECROSIS FACTOR-α–238G>A AND APOLIPOPROTEIN E2 POLYMORPHISMS WITH INTRACRANIAL HEMORRHAGE AFTER BRAIN ARTERIOVENOUS MALFORMATION TREATMENT

Patients with brain arteriovenous malformations (BAVM) are at life-threatening risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) (25). Obliteration or resection of the lesion to prevent future ICH is the primary motivation behind invasive therapy. Effective clinical management requires accurate estimates of natural history risks balanced against the hazards of invasive therapy. Clinical presentation of BAVM with ICH is the most widely demonstrated predictor of future ICH in the natural course of untreated BAVM (11, 12); predictors of future ICH risk in patients with nonhemorrhagic presentations are lacking (34). The absence of hemorrhagic presentation has recently been reported as an underappreciated risk factor predicting morbidity after microsurgical arteriovenous malformation resection (21), despite the fact that it is not part of major surgical risk prediction tools such as the Spetzler-Martin grading scale (32). Nonhemorrhagic presentation carries a similar risk magnitude for adverse outcome after microsurgical resection as the components of the Spetzler-Martin grade (21), underscoring weaknesses in current risk grading assessments and the need for additional predictors of future morbidity after treatment, particularly in patients with BAVMs with unruptured lesions. Identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with increased risk of new ICH could facilitate risk stratification and therapeutic decision-making (28). We previously demonstrated that genetic variation might influence the natural course of BAVM. We reported an association between the −238G>A promoter polymorphism of the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) (1) and the epsilon2 (e2) allele of the Apolipoprotein (ApoE) gene (27), and risk of new ICH in the untreated course of the disease. In the present study, we sought to determine whether or not these genotypes would independently predict posttreatment ICH risks in the clinical course after the initiation of BAVM treatment. Whereas previous reports focused on new ICH in longitudinal follow-up after initial presentation but before any intervening treatment, the present study focused on an entirely different period of observation, i.e., any new ICH in longitudinal follow-up after the initiation of treatment, using similar multivariate analysis with additional adjustment for any risks carried over from natural course events.
Elasticity Solution of Polymeric Piezoelectric C-Block Composite Actuator

An elasticity solution is developed to investigate the mechanical behavior of polymeric piezoelectric C-block composite actuators, which were recently proposed to overcome the limitations of conventional bimorph and stack configurations. The stress functions are used to derive the general equations governing the behavior of induced strain actuation under various load conditions. Closed-form expressions are presented for the displacements and stresses. Comparisons of the present approach are made with classical elasticity solutions for curved beams and existing approximate solutions for curved actuators for a simplified case. The results from the current solution also provide physical insight into the mechanism of C-block actuators.
Pulmonary reflexes and breathing pattern during sleep in the opossum.

Abstract Paradoxical sleep (PS) in the opossum ( Didelphis virginiana ) and other mammals is typically accompanied by irregular breathing, while even breathing is usually found during slow wave sleep (SWS). During PS certain brainstem reflexes are depressed, and it is possible that similar depression of pulmonary reflexes could contribute to the observed ventilatory uneveness. To test this possibility, we. assessed pulmonary reflexes in the opossum during SWS and during PS when breathing was irregular. Prolongation of expiratory duration with airway occlusion at end inspiration and prolongation of inspiratory duration with airway occlusion at end expiration are both associated with pulmonary reflexes activated by lung inflation. These responses were obtained during PS, and the results suggested that the reflex effects, could be as prominent during PS as during SWS. Pulmonary deflation, produced by raising pressure around the thorax, increased breathing rate during both PS and SWS and generally increased the regularity of respiration during PS. Results of this study do not support the idea that irregular breathing during PS is associated with maintained depression of pulmonary reflexes.
Core-Level Binding-Energy Shifts in Metals

We describe a theory of core-level binding-energy shifts in metals (relative to the free atom). Precise definitions of the intuitive concepts of chemical, relaxation, and configuration shifts are given which permit their straightforward and unambiguous evaluation. Parameter-free calculations for the $3d$ transition series agree well with experiment. The simplicity of the theory should make it widely applicable.
The use of anabolic androgenic steroids and polypharmacy: A review of the literature

Background: A review of the literature was conducted to examine the relationship between the use of anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use and the use of other drugs. Methods: Studies published between the years of 1995 and 2010 were included in the review. Results: The use of AAS is positively associated with use of alcohol, illicit drugs and legal performance enhancing substances. In contrast, the relationship between AAS and the use of tobacco and cannabis is mixed. Conclusion: Results of the review indicate that the relationship between AAS use and other substance use depends on the type of substance studied. Implications for treatment and prevention are discussed. Suggestions for future research are provided.
Review of the work of COPUOS in 2009

Abstract This report summarizes recent activities of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space as carried out by its two subcommittees on scientific and technical, and legal, matters, respectively. Deliberation covers the whole range of civil space activity, with an emphasis on implementing the recommendations of Unispace III and promoting the use of space-based services in developing countries. Discussions expected in the second half of 2009 are also reviewed.
Chandra and Spitzer observations of young clusters

The combination of spatial and spectral resolution allow us to use Chandra in the study regions of massive star formation which had been inaccessible even from the ground until the last decade. IRAC and MIPS data from Spitzer can be combined with the X–ray data to provide insight into the presence of a disk and the activity of the star. The total package allows us to better understand the evolution of the clusters. We have an ongoing program to study several young star forming clusters including distant clusters between 1-3 kpc which support O stars, RCW 38, NGC 281 and RCW 108 and well as clusters within a kpc including IRAS 20050+2720 and NGC 1579, which is a small cluster centered on the Be star LkHα101 and is of uncertain distance although the X-ray data help us refine the current distance estimates. Given the space constraints we only discuss RCW 108 below.
Local control in advanced head and neck cancer by combined modalities of treatment

From July 1979 to January 1983, 20 patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer were treated with a combination of chemotherapy and irradiation with or without surgery. A majority of the patients were in the age range of 45 to 54 years. Eighty-five percent of the patients were male. Seventy-five percent of the patients had oral cavity lesions, the tongue being the most common site. Eighty percent of the patients had T4 lesion and 35% had N3 disease in the neck. A majority of the patients had combination chemotherapy, including bleomycin, methotrexate, and cis-platinum (BMP). All patients received irradiation with megavoltage equipment and 55% of patients received a dose of 5,000 to 6,000 rads in 5–6 weeks time. The tumor was converted to be resectable in ten patients. Nine patients (45%) had the neck and primary tumor completely controlled, while six patients (30%) had partial control. Six of the ten patients who had resection had the tumor controlled at the primary site and neck. The median duration of follow-up is 12 months (range, 4–32 months). The median survival of the whole group of patients is 12.5 months. A brief review of the current literature is also done in this paper.
Effects of 3He Impurity on the Non-classical Rotational Inertia of Solid 4He Studied by Double Resonance Torsional Oscillator

We have carried out systematic measurements of the 3He-impurity effect using a compound torsional pendulum, which allows probing “non-classical rotational inertia” (NCRI) of the identical solid 4He sample at two different frequencies at 495 Hz and 1172 Hz. The measurements have shown significant differences in the temperature dependence of the NCRI signal as well as the energy dissipation peak positions between the two frequencies. The NCRI fraction derived from the higher frequency mode is greater than that derived from the lower frequency mode at all temperatures. The normalized NCRI fraction shows that T50 (≡temperature at which NCRI fraction decreases to 50% of the maximum) is greater in the higher frequency mode by ∼9, 18, 30 and 35 mK when the nominal 3He impurity added is 0.3, 6, 12 and 25 ppm, respectively. The systematic changes in the inverse quality factor (Q−1) were also measured at the same 3He-impurity concentrations.
More on selection for and against recombination.

In a recent article, Maynard Smith (1988a) developed a model of six diploid diallelic loci with a seventh that determines the extent of recombination among the first six which are under natural selection. He chose a form of selection in which the alleles have additive effects and there is Gaussian selection on the resulting phenotypes with the optimum of the selection higher than the mean phenotype. This is directional selection. The seven-gene system was iterated numerically with particular attention paid to the dynamics of the high and low alleles, CH and CL, respectively, at the recombination locus. CH/CH individuals had a probability 0.5 per chromosome for a single crossover, while in CH/CL and CL/CL this probability was 0.01. Maynard Smith concluded that directional selection on the six major genes “leads to an increase in the frequency of highrecombination alleles”. Further, “recombination alleles will spread under long-continued directional selection . ..This qualitative conclusion does not depend on the intensity of selection...“. A similar finding was reported earlier by Maynard Smith (1980) for a related model in which the optimum for selection began below the phenotypic mean but increased constantly in successive generations. When this increase was large enough, CH appeared to be favored. Maynard
Disruption of estrogen receptor α-p53 interaction in breast tumors: a novel mechanism underlying the anti-tumor effect of radiation therapy

Inactivation of tumor suppressor p53 is one of the most frequent events in cancer. Unlike many other cancers, however, p53 gene mutations are infrequent in breast cancers, as about 80% of breast tumors contain wild type p53. The mechanisms underlying functional inactivation of wild type p53 in breast cancer have remained elusive. Besides, how p53 gets activated in breast tumors subjected to radiation therapy remains unknown. We recently reported that in MCF-7 breast cancer cells, estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) directly binds to p53 and represses its function. Furthermore, the ERα-p53 interaction was disrupted by ionizing radiation. These observations have important translational implications especially as there are no reliable cellular or molecular criteria for rational radiotherapy for breast cancer. Here we report our studies towards addressing this important issue, using an MCF-7 breast cancer xenograft model in mice. Radiation effectively inhibits growth of these tumors and stabilizes p53, but has no observable effect on ERα protein level. Importantly, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays demonstrated that ERα interacts with p53 bound to endogenous target gene promoters in tumors in vivo, and this interaction is considerably reduced in response to radiotherapy although p53 level is increased. Concomitant with its effect on ERα-p53 interaction, radiation increases p53-mediated transcriptional activation of several target genes and increases p53-mediated transcriptional repression of survivin. Our studies show that disruption of ERα-p53 interaction in vivo resulting in restoration of functional p53 is a cellular response to radiation. Radiation could be affecting ERα and/or p53 directly or it could be influencing other proteins associated with the ERα-p53 complex. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on analysis of DNA–protein–protein interaction occurring on endogenous gene promoters in vivo in breast tumor tissues. These findings suggest that alleviating the inhibitory effect of ERα on p53 could be one of the molecular mechanisms underlying activation of p53 by radiation in breast tumors, and therefore, could be exploited to develop more effective ways of combining radiation therapy with systemic therapies such as hormonal therapy and chemotherapy.
Bone Scaffold Fabrication System Study

Musculoskeletal conditions are a major health concern in United States because of a large aging population and increased occurrence of sport-related injuries. The need for bone substitutes is especially important. Traditional treatments of bone-defect have many limitations. Bone tissue engineering may offer a less painful alternative to traditional bone grafts with lower risk of infection. This research integrates biomimetic modeling, solid freedom fabrication (SFF), systems and control, and tissue engineering in one intelligent system for structured, highly porous biomaterials, which will be applied to bone scaffolds. Recently a new SFF-based fabrication system has been developed, which uses a pressurized extrusion to print highly biocompatible and water soluble sucrose bone scaffold porogens. The fabrication process for PCL scaffold implemented and tested using the newly developed porogen system. The resultant scaffold demonstrates the defined porous structure designed into the sucrose porogens. The viscosity of sucrose mixture has been tested and analyzed. The flow rate measurements of sucrose machine have been carried out. The input factor, which induced uncertainty in the flow rate of the microprinting system has been analyzed. The result showed that the reservoir pressure was dominant to determine the flow rate. This is very important for improving the quality control of our fabrication system.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Applying transparent lossless data compression to improve the feasibility of using advanced error correction codes in solid-state drives

As advanced error correction codes (ECC) which support soft decoding is suggested to use in the future NAND flash memories, the requirement of sensing and transferring multi-bit soft information from the flash cells to controller will incur a large read access latency. This paper proposes to exploit the lossless compressibility of files in LDPC coded NAND flash memories to reduce such latency overhead, other than saving storage space as in conventional practice. The key idea is to apply run-time lossless data compression to enable an opportunistic use of a stronger LDPC code with more coding redundancy, and trade such opportunistic extra error correction capability to allow more coarser-grained memory sensing and hence lead to less read response speed overhead without sacrificing the overall performance. Since the basic operation of NAND flash is typically realized in the unit of page (e.g., 4KB user data per page in the current NAND flash), we only apply this strategy to each individual page independently in order to be completely transparent to the firmware, operating systems and users. This paper quantitatively studies the effectiveness of this design strategy in 2bits/cell NAND flash memories. Results in the case study show that with this design strategy, up to 95.24% on-chip memory sensing latency reduction and 66.67% flash-to-controller data transfer latency can be achieved respectively.
Gender Similarities and Differences

Whether men and women are fundamentally different or similar has been debated for more than a century. This review summarizes major theories designed to explain gender differences: evolutionary theories, cognitive social learning theory, sociocultural theory, and expectancy-value theory. The gender similarities hypothesis raises the possibility of theorizing gender similarities. Statistical methods for the analysis of gender differences and similarities are reviewed, including effect sizes, meta-analysis, taxometric analysis, and equivalence testing. Then, relying mainly on evidence from meta-analyses, gender differences are reviewed in cognitive performance (e.g., math performance), personality and social behaviors (e.g., temperament, emotions, aggression, and leadership), and psychological well-being. The evidence on gender differences in variance is summarized. The final sections explore applications of intersectionality and directions for future research.
Late Diagnosis of HIV Infection in Metropolitan Areas of the United States and Puerto Rico.

The majority of persons infected with HIV live in large metropolitan areas and many such areas have implemented intensified HIV testing programs. A national indicator of HIV testing outcomes is late diagnosis of HIV infection (stage 3, AIDS). Based on National HIV Surveillance System data, 23.3 % of persons with HIV diagnosed in 2012 had a late diagnosis in large MSAs, 26.3 % in smaller MSAs, and 29.6 % in non-metropolitan areas. In the 105 large MSAs, the percentage diagnosed late ranged from 13.2 to 47.4 %. During 2003–2012, the percentage diagnosed late decreased in large MSAs (32.2–23.3 %), with significant decreases in 41 of 105 MSAs overall and among men who have sex with men. Sustained testing efforts may help to continue the decreasing trend in late-stage HIV diagnosis and provide opportunities for early care and treatment and potential reduction in HIV transmission.
Splicing in disease: disruption of the splicing code and the decoding machinery

Human genes contain a dense array of diverse cis-acting elements that make up a code required for the expression of correctly spliced mRNAs. Alternative splicing generates a highly dynamic human proteome through networks of coordinated splicing events. Cis- and trans-acting mutations that disrupt the splicing code or the machinery required for splicing and its regulation have roles in various diseases, and recent studies have provided new insights into the mechanisms by which these effects occur. An unexpectedly large fraction of exonic mutations exhibit a primary pathogenic effect on splicing. Furthermore, normal genetic variation significantly contributes to disease severity and susceptibility by affecting splicing efficiency.