cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Utilization of addiction treatment among U.S. adults with history of incarceration and substance use disorders

The high prevalence of substance use disorders (SUDs) among incarcerated adults in the U.S. is well-known, but there has been less examination of SUD treatment and rates of incarceration among the population of adults with SUDs as the denominator. The current study uses a population-based sample to address three questions: (1) What is the rate of lifetime incarceration among the population of U.S. adults with SUDs?; (2) Among adults with SUDs, what proportion of those with incarceration histories use SUD treatment compared to those without incarceration histories?; and (3) What individual characteristics are associated with utilization of SUD treatment among adults with incarceration histories? Data were based on the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III which surveyed a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults through structured interviews. This study focused on the 10,853 respondents who had any lifetime SUD, including 2670 (weighted 22.4%) who reported a lifetime history of incarceration. In the total weighted sample of respondents with SUDs, 22% had been incarcerated before but only 37% had used any alcohol use disorder treatment and 18% had used drug use disorder treatment. Controlling for confounding variables, respondents with SUDs and incarceration histories had 3.1 times the odds of using alcohol use disorder treatment and 1.6 times the odds of using drug use disorder treatment compared to their counterparts with SUDs and no incarceration histories. Having an opioid use disorder, especially heroin use disorder, and a stimulant use disorder, such as cocaine use disorder, had strong associations with any SUD treatment use. Many U.S. adults with SUDs have histories of incarceration but only a minority use any SUD treatment. Public health approaches that increase access and incentives to engage in and complete SUD treatment may help resolve problems of both incarceration and SUDs in the population.
Purification and properties of the malic enzyme and the malate dehydrogenases from the gill tissue of the ribbed mussel (Modiolus demissus)

The malate dehydrogenases (MDHs) from the cytosol (cMDH) and the mitochondria (mMDH) of the gill of the ribbed mussel were highly purified. Both are dimers. The native molecular weight of the cMDH is 62,000-65,000, while the molecular weight of the mMDH is 60,000. The cMDH but not the mMDH from ribbed mussel gill cross reacts with antibodies raised to porcine cMDH.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Programs for the Visually Impaired: One State's Approach.

The method and results of a state approach to determining the effectiveness of programs for the visually impaired are presented. The plan was designed to generate data on students’ academic achieve...
Derivation in Strong Topology and Global Well-Posedness of Solutions to the Gross-Pitaevskii Hierarchy

We derive the cubic defocusing GP hierarchy in ℝ3 from a bosonic N-particle Schrodinger equation as N → ∞, in the strong topology corresponding to the space of sequences of marginal density matrices. In particular, we thereby eliminate the requirement of regularity for the initial data used in previous work. Moreover, the marginal density matrices obtained in this strong limit are allowed to be of infinite rank. This contrasts previous results where weak-* limits were derived, and subsequently enhanced to strong limits based on the condition that the limiting density matrices have finite rank. Furthermore, we prove that positive semidefiniteness of marginal density matrices is preserved over time, which we combine with previous results Chen and Pavlovic, to obtain the global well-posedness of solutions.
Books as Sacred Beings

Research on the ritualization of sacred texts highlights the common cross-cultural analogy between books and people or other beings. In this essay, I argue that this analogy stems from a reader’s experience of using books and the effects that books seem to exert on readers. Three different effects can arise from ordinary book use: an out-of-body experience, an experience of transcendence through the resurrection of ideas, and a transformative encounter that encourages religious description as a theophany. These three effects correspond to the ritualization of books in the semantic, expressive, and iconic dimensions. This correspondence raises questions about the influence of literacy on religious experience. It also opens the possibility that ordinary book use may provide a new avenue for analyzing religious experience.
Male nurse: A concept analysis

Use of the term male nurse is common in nursing wherever the practice setting may be, but no formal analysis has been done to illuminate the meaning of the concept. The term male nurse is often problematic to those referred to, as the label carries stereotypes that further marginalize this extreme minority in the nursing profession. The Nurse Registration Act of 1919 (UK) banned men from nursing de jure, whilst Nightingale's reform of nursing education established the same de facto years before. This potent mix of tradition and law served as the basis for sex-segregation and feminization of nursing. Fast forward to today-in the centennial of the Nurse Registration Act-women still dominate nursing, and attempts to recruit and retain men into the profession remains to be a very challenging task. Walker and Avant's methodology was utilized in this concept analysis. Seven defining attributes of the male nurse were identified: perceived as a male, credentialed as a nurse, increased visibility, nonconformist as to career choice, cautious caregivers, stereotyped/stigmatized, and increased role strain. Antecedents, consequences, and illustrative cases were also discussed. Gender-based labels such as male nurse are injurious to nursing, as it preserves sex-segregation as well as stereotypes that affect both men and women in the profession. This concept analysis corroborates the need to degender nursing and caring, which is a recurrent theme in nursing literature. Ultimately, degendering nursing should translate to measures to increase the proportion of men in the nursing workforce. A gender-balanced workforce, coupled with degendered notions of caring will strengthen the nursing profession and optimize our ability to serve our clientele.
High-Level Synthesis Design Space Exploration: Past, Present, and Future

This article presents a survey of the different modern high-level synthesis (HLS) design space exploration (DSE) techniques that have been proposed so far to automatically generate hardware accelerators of different tradeoffs. HLS has multiple advantages compared to traditional RT-level-based hardware design. One key advantage is that a variety of different microarchitectures of unique tradeoffs can be obtained from the same untimed behavioral description by setting different synthesis options. Out of all the possible microarchitectures, the one that the designers are most interested in are the Pareto-optimal ones. The main problem is that the search space grows superlinearly with the number of synthesis options, and hence, heuristics have been proposed to search the space efficiently. This article summarizes the main techniques proposed and addresses the critical issues still not resolved as well identifies new opportunities in this field. It also serves as a guide for anyone wanting to create their own HLS DSE.
A Weak Supervision Approach to Detecting Visual Anomalies for Automated Testing of Graphics Units.

We present a deep learning system for testing graphics units by detecting novel visual corruptions in videos. Unlike previous work in which manual tagging was required to collect labeled training data, our weak supervision method is fully automatic and needs no human labelling. This is achieved by reproducing driver bugs that increase the probability of generating corruptions, and by making use of ideas and methods from the Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) setting. In our experiments, we significantly outperform unsupervised methods such as GAN-based models and discover novel corruptions undetected by baselines, while adhering to strict requirements on accuracy and efficiency of our real-time system.
A Three-Dimensional Print Model of the Pterygopalatine Fossa Significantly Enhances the Learning Experience

The pterygopalatine fossa (PPF) is a bilateral space deep within the skull that serves as a major neurovascular junction. However, its small volume and poor accessibility make it a difficult space to comprehend using two-dimensional illustrations and cadaveric dissections. A three-dimensional (3D) printed model of the PPF was developed as a visual and kinesthetic learning tool for completely visualizing the fossa, its boundaries, its communicating channels, and its neurovascular structures. The model was evaluated by analyzing student performance on pre- and post-quizzes and a student satisfaction survey based on the five-point Likert scale. The first cohort comprised of 88 students who had never before studied the PPF. The second cohort consisted of 30 students who were previously taught the PPF. Each cohort was randomly divided into a control group who were provided with a half skull and an intervention group that were provided with the 3D printed model. The intervention group performed significantly better on the post-quiz as compared to the control group in cohort I (P = 0.001); while not significant, it also improved learning in cohort II students (P = 0.124). Satisfaction surveys indicated that the intervention group found the 3D printed model to be significantly more useful (P < 0.05) as compared to the half skull used by the control group. Importantly, the effect sizes for cohorts I and II (0.504 and 0.581, respectively) validated the statistical results. Together, this study highlights the importance of 3D printed models as teaching tools in anatomy education.
The Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: How Russia’s Internet Research Agency Tweets Appeared in U.S. News as Vox Populi:

The Russian-sponsored Internet Research Agency’s (IRA) use of social media to influence U.S. political discourse is undoubtedly troubling. However, scholarly attention has focused on social media, ...
Comparison of Hg and Pb fluxes to hummocks and hollows of ombrotrophic big heath bog and to nearby Sargent Mt. Pond, Maine, USA

Two hummock cores (separated by I m), two hollow cores (separated by 1 m and both within 5 m of the hummock) from ombrotrophic Big Heath,and a single core from Sargent Mountain Pond (12 km north-northeast of the bog), Mt. Desert Island, Acadia National Park Maine, USA were collected in 1983 and dated using 210 Pb and analyzed for a suite of major and trace metals. The hummock cores correspond closely in terms of dating profiles, concentrations of Hg and Pb, and thus trends and values for accumulation rates. The hollow cores agree generally with each other but give more subdued peaks in concentration and lower integrated anthropogenic burdens of Hg and Pb and 50% lower unsupported 210 Pb than the hummock cores. Σ 210 Pb uns. (Bq/cm 2 ), ΣHg anth. (ng/cm 2 ), and ΣPb anth. (μg/cm 2 ) for the two hummock cores were 0.744 and 0.773, ≃ 130 and 130 (ng/cm 2 ), and ≃ 159 and 138 (μg/cm 2 ), respectively. The values for Sargent Mountain Pond were 0.411, 269, and 72, respectively. Hummock cores agree closely with the lake sediment core with respect to timing of maximum accumulation rates which occurred in the 1970s; Background atmospheric deposition rates of Hg and Pb to coastal Maine appear to have been about 2.5 to 3 ng/cm 2 /yr and <0.2 μg/cm 2 /yr, respectively. Atmospheric deposition of Hg and Pb increased to as much as 20 ng/cm 2 /yr and 2 μg/cm 2 /yr, respectively, by the 1970s and has decreased since then. Probably more than 50% of the Hg and Pb are deposited in dry and occult deposition.
Psychosocial health in survivors of adult versus childhood cancer.

9609 Background: The growing population of cancer survivors is characterized by two subgroups, those diagnosed as children and those diagnosed as adults. While psychosocial challenges are recognize...
Biomechanical Contributions to Macrophage Activation in the Tumor Microenvironment

Alterations in extracellular matrix composition and organization are known to promote tumor growth and metastatic progression in breast cancer through interactions with tumor cells as well as stromal cell populations. Macrophages display a spectrum of behaviors from tumor-suppressive to tumor-promoting, and their function is spatially and temporally dependent upon integrated signals from the tumor microenvironment including, but not limited to, cytokines, metabolites, and hypoxia. Through years of investigation, the specific biochemical cues that recruit and activate tumor-promoting macrophage functions within the tumor microenvironment are becoming clear. In contrast, the impact of biomechanical stimuli on macrophage activation has been largely underappreciated, however there is a growing body of evidence that physical cues from the extracellular matrix can influence macrophage migration and behavior. While the complex, heterogeneous nature of the extracellular matrix and the transient nature of macrophage activation make studying macrophages in their native tumor microenvironment challenging, this review highlights the importance of investigating how the extracellular matrix directly and indirectly impacts tumor-associated macrophage activation. Additionally, recent advances in investigating macrophages in the tumor microenvironment and future directions regarding mechano-immunomodulation in cancer will also be discussed.
Corticosteroids Should Be Used to Treat Slowly Progressive IgA Nephropathy: COMMENTARY

This is an Early Access article. Please select the PDF button, above, to view it. Be sure to also read the PRO: 10.34067/KID.0007192020 and the CON: 10.34067/KID.0007672020
Optimization-based dispatching policies for open-pit mining

We propose, implement, and test two approaches for dispatching trucks in an open-pit mining operation. The first approach relies on a nonlinear optimization model that incorporates queueing effects to set target average flow rates between mine locations. The second approach is based on a time-discretized mixed integer programming (MIP) model. The MIP model is difficult to solve exactly in real-time operations, so we present a heuristic that quickly produces high-quality feasible solutions. We test the dispatching policies by building a discrete-event simulation model of an open-pit mine. We present a full computational study of the two policies in which we perform output analysis on key metrics of the open-pit mine simulation. Results indicate that the MIP-based dispatching policy consistently outperforms the more commonly-used average flow rate dispatching policy on open-pit mines in a wide variety of operations settings.
Making space for activism studies in public relations curricula

Abstract This article aims to stimulate debate about public relations education and its curricula. It questions why, when prominent public relations theorists are establishing a developing relationship between activism and public relations, is this research not reflected in public relations curricula? The functionalist approach (where public relations is taught as a neutral organisational function) is endorsed by public relations’ powerful credentialising bodies, and strongly influences the content of public relations’ educational objectives. Rather than allow this functionalism to dominate curricula objectives, public relations teachers, as professionals, have a responsibility to deconstruct public relations practice and critique the role it plays in society. This article proposes that incorporating activism studies into public relations curricula provides an opportunity for public relations teachers to navigate this complexity. In addition, incorporation of activism studies in public relations curricula has the potential to provide a platform for public relations to consolidate its position as a progressive field of knowledge and practice in a dynamic and complex environment.
[Determination of vitamin A, vitamin E isomers and cholesterol in foods by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography].

Objective To establish a method for simultaneous analysis of vitamin A, three vitamin E isomers and cholesterol in meat products by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. This method is used to determine the contents of the corresponding nutrients in several meat products. Methods The sample was pretreated with saponification and liquid-liquid extraction, then separated on Waters Symmetry C_(18) column(4.6 mm×250 mm, 5 μm). The mobile phase consisted of methanol(98%) and water(2%). The analytes were detected by photo-diode array(PDA)detector. 325 nm, 294 nm, and 210 nm were selected as the characteristic absorption wavelengths of vitamin A, vitamin E, and cholesterol, respectively by scanning in the range of 190-350 nm in 3 D mode. Benzo[e]pyrene was internal standard for vitamin A and E. Cholesterol was quantified by external standard curve method. Results The concentration of vitamin A, three vitamin E isomers and cholesterol showed good linearity in the range of 0.18-9.00 μg/mL、0.76-5.2 μg/mL and 0.11-5.50 mg/mL, respectively, with the correlation coefficients greater than 0.995.The limits of detections(LODs) were 5、20 and 330 μg/100 g and the limits of quantification(LOQs) for vitamin A, three vitamin E isomers and cholesterol were 15、60 and 990 μg/100 g, respectively. The recoveries at three levels in the matrix were 86.3%-105.6%, and the relative standard deviations(RSDs) were all less than 7.0%(n=6). Conclusion The method is sensitive, accurate and suitable for analysis of vitamin A, three vitamin E isomers and cholesterol in meat products.
Stage IV gynecologic cancers patients who subsequently died from disease: lessons learned from their health care journey

Objectives: Since most gynecologic cancers are diagnosed without routine screening, many women present with advanced stage disease. We propose to study the experiences in diagnosis, treatment, and end of life care of those with advanced cancers who died shortly after diagnosis. Methods: Data were obtained from electronic health records of patients diagnosed from 2012 to 2018 in a multispecialty practice in Northern California. All progress notes from ambulatory, hospital, clinic, and telephone encounters were reviewed. A codebook was created using deductive and inductive approaches. Atlas.ti qualitative data analysis software was used for analyses. Results: 4,969 encounter notes were reviewed from 32 patients (median age: 61 years, range: 39-89) with stage IV gynecologic cancers who died shortly after diagnosis. Whites, Hispanic, Asian, Others/unknown comprised 47%, 22%, 19%, and 12% of the sample, respectively. Nine had ovarian, 17 uterine, 3 cervical, and 3 vulvovaginal/other stage IV cancers. The median time from diagnosis to death was 9.2 months (range: 2.9-47.5), from diagnosis to palliative care referral was 6 months (range: 0-25.5), and from palliative care referral to death was 2.36 months (range: 0.5-46.5). 50% were seen by an outpatient palliative care team and 56% received hospice care prior to death. The mean number of notes per patient was 155 (range: 14-330). 443 were associated with oncology office visits (mean: 13.8 per patient; range: 1-44). Qualitative analyses of encounter notes revealed that most patients had nonspecific symptoms with a long interval from symptom onset to cancer diagnosis, requiring numerous visits to primary care, specialty providers, emergency admissions, and finally oncologists. From the progress notes, it was often unclear if the prognosis was discussed with patients and their families, or if it was only communicated to other providers reviewing the charts. Based on analyses of patients attitudes, we found that a combination of patient age, beliefs, family support system, emotional wellbeing, and ability to communicate influenced readiness to discuss goals of care and to begin hospice care. Among these 32 women, 7 died in hospital, 18 at home, and 7 were unknown. Those who died in the hospital were younger (mean age: 57.7 vs 63.1) and more likely to be Hispanic vs White, Asian, or others (43% vs 13% vs 17%, or 25% respectively). Conclusions: Metastatic gynecologic cancer is challenging to diagnose and often results in a complex and prolonged workup. Only half of our studied patients used palliative care and it often came late in their illness. Age and ethnicity may be related to location of death and hospice use. The implementation of earlier palliative care and discussions of goals of care for these terminally ill patients should be emphasized.
Friends and Family Money: P2P Transfers and Financially Fragile Consumers

We assess the impact that real time money transfer technology has on consumer outcomes, particularly during periods of financial fragility. We do this by developing a new data set that documents use of Zelle - the most widely used P2P money transfer technology in the U.S. today - constructed from transaction level data from a large data aggregator for millions of U.S. consumers. We combine these data with a hand-collected data set on Zelle partnerships for 1,113 financial institutions. Finally, we introduce a novel instrument by identifying the location of consumers' close social circle using transactions data. We make use of the fact that money transfer technology is a network good and hence your own use is a function of the use by others, and particularly that of your close friends and family. We then use variation in Zelle bank partnerships at the location of consumers' residence and consumers' close social circle to instrument for Zelle use. We compare users residing in the same city with similar incomes, but with different exposure to Zelle, and observe consumer outcomes during periods of financial fragility. We find that Zelle use results in fewer overdrafts and higher consumption by financially fragile consumers. Consumers substitute away from traditional methods of transferring cash towards Zelle, an effect that is more pronounced for smaller transfer sizes and low-income consumers who are more price-sensitive.
Constitutions and Religious Freedom

Many of us take for granted the idea that the right to religious freedom should be protected in a free, democratic polity. This book challenges whether the protection and privilege of religious belief and identity should be prioritized over any other right. By studying the effects of constitutional promises of religious freedom and establishment clauses, Frank B. Cross sets the stage for a set of empirical questions that examine the consequences of such protections. Although the case for broader protection is often made as a theoretical matter, constitutions generally protect freedom of religion. Allowing people full choice in religious beliefs or freedom of conscience is central to their autonomy. Freedom of religion is thus potentially a very valuable aspect of society, at least so long as it respects the freedom of individuals to be irreligious. This book tests these associations and finds that constitutions provide national religious protection, especially when the legal system is more sophisticated.
Glucose attenuation of scopolamine- and age-induced deficits in spontaneous alternation behavior and regional brain [3H]2-deoxyglucose uptake in mice

Glucose injections attenuate deficits in memory under several conditions in both rodents and humans. The present study examined effects of glucose on memory in two such amnesic populations, scopolamine-treated and old mice, and then assessed effects of glucose on brain [3H]2-deoxyglucose (2DG) uptake. In Experiment 1A, scopolamine (3 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly impaired performance of mice tested in a spontaneous alternation task. Glucose (100 mg/kg, i.p.) administration did not itself affect alternation performance, but when administered with scopolamine, it attenuated the deficit in alternation performance. Scopolamine (3 mg/kg) also resulted in significant reductions in brain 2DG uptake in hippocampus and in thalamus (Experiment 1B). Glucose (100 mg/kg) injections did not themselves affect 2DG uptake, but when administered with scopolamine, they attenuated the scopolamine-induced reductions in 2DG uptake, with the largest reversal occurring in hippocampus. Glucose similarly enhanced spontaneous alternation behavior (Experiment 2A) and hippocampal 2DG uptake (Experiment 2B) in 2-year-old mice. These findings provide additional evidence that the brain becomes more sensitive to circulating glucose in several amnestic conditions and, more generally, extend the view that circulating levels of glucose influence a wide range of brain activities.
Negotiating Decolonization in the United Nations: Politics of Space, Identity, and International Community

Introduction 1. Kinship Politics and Space, Identity and International Community Prior to Legal Decolonization: The Problem and the Query 2. (Re)negotiating the Colonial Problematic: The UN Charter, the Emergence of Asia-Africa, and the Anti-Colonial Challenge to Kinship 3. The Limits of the Anti-Colonial Critique: Anti-Colonialists' Visions and Divisions 4. Contending Perspectives?: The Overlap between Colonialist and Anti-Colonialist Narratives on Dependency and Sovereignty 5. Masculinity, Time and Brotherhood: Resolving the Colonial Problematic 6. Conclusion: Twentieth Century Transformations of Space, Identity and International Community. Appendix: Tables and Figures
Multiobjective Optimization for Risk-Based Maintenance and Life-Cycle Cost of Civil Infrastructure Systems

Reliability and durability of civil infrastructure systems such as highway bridges play a very important role in sustainable economic growth and social development of any country. The bridge infrastructure has been undergoing severe safety and condition deterioration due to gradual aging, aggressive environmental stressors, and increasing traffic loads. Maintenance needs for deteriorating highway bridges, however, have far outpaced available scarce funds highway agencies can provide. Bridge management systems (BMSs) are thus critical to cost-effectively allocate limited maintenance resources to bridges for achieving satisfactory lifetime safety and performance. In existing BMSs, however, visual inspections are the most widely adopted practice to quantify and assess bridge conditions, which are unable to faithfully reflect structural capacity deterioration. Failure to detect structural deficiency due to, for example, corrosion and fatigue, and inability to accurately assess real bridge health states may lead to unreliable bridge management decisions and even enormous safety and economic consequences. In this paper, recent advances in risk-based life-cycle maintenance management of deteriorating civil infrastructure systems with emphasis on high-way bridges are reviewed. Methods of predicting lifetime safety and performance of highway bridges with and without maintenance are discussed. Treatment of various uncertainties associated with the complex deterioration processes due to time-dependent loading, environmental stressors, structural resistances, and maintenance actions are emphasized. The bridge maintenance management is formulated as a nonlinear, discrete, combinatorial optimization problem with simultaneous consideration of multiple and conflicting objectives, which address bridge safety and performance as well as long-term economic consequences. The effectiveness of genetic algorithms as a numerical multiobjective optimizer for producing Pareto-optimal tradeoff solutions is demonstrated. The proposed probabilistic multiobjective optimization BMS is applied at project-level for similar bridges and at network-level for a group of different bridges that form a highway network.
Distributed Artificial Intelligence: A Case Study of Implementations of a Parallel Algorithm Computing All Homomorphisms of Finite Automata

This paper is composed of two main parts: a description of a parallel algorithm computing the set of all state homomorphisms between two finite deterministic complete automata; experimental results of algorithm’s performance evaluation in several programming environments including transputer-based reconfigurable multicomputer architectures and distributed shared memory environment of Linda. We deal with two parallelization paradigms: data parallelism and process parallelism. The parallel algorithm computing all state homomorphisms of deterministic complete finite automata is composed of the following steps: selection of autonomous factors, computation of connected components, computation of graph-theoretic characteristics of connected components (set of generators, cycles, lengths of cycles, tails, and distances between vertices), and computation of the shapes of connected components (cycles, trees, and quasi-trees). Computations of connected components, graph-theoretic characteristics of connected components, and shapes of connected components are performed in parallel for both automata. Several necessary conditions are checked to reduce the exponential explosion in the number of candidate mappings. These conditions are: the cycle length divisibility condition, the vertex level condition, the vertex distance condition, and the function condition.
Unsupervised global optimization: applications on classification of handwritten digits and visual evoked potentials

The authors discuss the optical recognition of handwritten unconnected numerals and visual evoked potential (VEP) classification using two neural network learning paradigms. The first is an unsupervised approach, trained by the combinatorial optimization routine ALOPEX, while the second method uses the backpropagation algorithm. The unsupervised ALOPEX trained system classifies 1000 training digits to an accuracy of 86.3%, and 500 generalizing characters 86.0% accurately. This compares to 99.8% and 93% for a network trained with the supervised backpropagation algorithm. The system was used to cluster the VEPs of normal and multiple sclerosis (MS) subjects. The method demonstrates two distinct groups of subjects, which when histogrammed illustrate that they largely correspond to the MS and control subject groups. A suitable threshold can be chosen so that the recognizer chooses no false negatives. >
Climate precursors of multidecadal drought variability in the western United States

[1] Low-frequency (periodicities lower than 20 years) hydrologic variability in the western United States over the past 500 years is studied using available tree-ring reconstructions of Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), streamflow, and climate indices. Leading rotated principal component (RPC) scores of a gridded tree-ring reconstruction of the PDSI from 1525 to 1975 are significantly correlated with indices representing large-scale climate variations from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. RPC1 (31%) is related to the influence of North Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) variations, indexed by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). RPC2 (24%) is apparently related to North Atlantic SST variations, indexed by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). RPC3 (19%) is moderately correlated with a smoothed version of the Southern Oscillation Index. Consistent with recent studies of instrumental data, RPC1 (PDO) and RPC2 (AMO) explain a large part of the multidecadal hydrologic variability of the interior western United States. Western U.S. PDSI variability exhibits significant pentadecadal (and longer) oscillations in the epochs from circa 1525 to 1650 and 1850 to 1975, while bidecadal oscillations are prevalent in the middle epoch from circa 1650 to 1850. The changes in spectral characteristics of western U.S. PDSI were related to similar changes in the PDO (and therefore in RPC1). In contrast, RPC2 had a regular periodicity of 51 years for the past ∼500 years. This regularity is intriguing, and although RPC2 was primarily related to the AMO in this study, the influence from Pacific climate cannot be discarded.
The effects of the Rho‐kinase inhibitor Y‐27632 on arachidonic acid‐, GTPγS‐, and phorbol ester‐induced Ca2+‐sensitization of smooth muscle

The effects of the Rho-kinase inhibitor, Y-27632 [1] on Ca2+-sensitization of force induced by arachidonic acid (AA), phorbol 12,13-dibutyrate (PDBu), GTPgammaS, and by the stable thromboxane analog, 9,11-dideoxy-9alpha,11alpha-methanoepoxy-PGF2alpha (U-46619), were determined in alpha-toxin-permeabilized smooth muscles. Y-27632 relaxed (up to 99%) Ca2+-sensitization by GTPgammaS (10 microM) and U46619 (1 microM), but not by PDBu (20 microM), and reduced GTPgammaS-induced myosin light chain (MLC20) phosphorylation from 28% to 17% (P=0.002). GTPgammaS-induced force sensitization was inhibited by Y-27632 more potently when the inhibitor was added during the plateau of force than prior to stimulation. In alpha-toxin-permeabilized smooth muscle, Y-27632 inhibited AA (50 microM)-induced Ca2+-sensitization of force (by 66 +/- 1.3%) and reduced MLC20 phosphorylation. In contrast, Y-27632 did not relax force Ca2+-sensitized by AA in smooth muscle permeabilized with Triton X-100. We conclude that (i) AA induces Ca2+-sensitization through dual mechanisms, one mediated by Rho-kinase (or a related kinase), and (ii) Rho-kinase is not required for phorbol ester-induced Ca2+-sensitization.
Status of clinical gene sequencing data reporting and associated risks for information loss

Clinical gene sequencing is growing in importance and cost-effectiveness. In the past two years, the number of genes associated with disease has grown by roughly 25%. Knowledge of genetic variations will soon guide drug selection and dosages, predict risks from toxin exposures, and inform nutritional needs. Despite the significance of sequencing, methods for reporting results are problematic. Frequent use of paper and infrequent use of naming standards impede data exchange and make incorporation into the electronic medical record difficult. Reports often describe only variations found, rather than all data (all patient bases sequenced). Also, reports frequently do not describe reference data used to define variations. These practices create risks for loss of both data and information. Standardized electronic reporting of all data (all bases sequenced and all reference data) and electronic record systems capable of storing these results would both prevent data loss and simplify the preservation of information those data provide.
Dangerous properties of petroleum‐refining products: Carcinogenicity of motor fuels (Gasoline)

Gasoline contains large numbers of dangerous and cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene, butadiene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, trimethyl pentane, methyltert-butylether (MTBE) and many others. For the U.S. alone approximately 140 billion gallons of gasoline were consumed in 1989. An increase in only ten cents per gallon in price of gasoline generates 14 billion dollars in extra profit per year for oil industry cartel. Laboratory animals exposed to gasoline developed cancers in different tissues and organs. A number of epidemiological studies in humans provide evidence of increased cancer risk of leukemia, kidney, liver, brain, lymphosarcoma, lymphatic tissue pancreas and other tissues and organs.
Measurements of local transfer coefficients for developing laminar flow in flat rectangular ducts

Abstract Local mass-transfer coefficients in the laminar entrance region of a flat rectangular duct were determined by application of the naphthalene sublimation technique. In accordance with the analogy between heat and mass transfer, the experimental conditions corresponded to a heat-transfer situation characterized by simultaneously developing velocity and temperature fields in an isothermal-walled parallel plate channel. Results were obtained for Reynolds numbers in the range between 350 and 1500. By use of a dimensionless streamwise coordinate involving the Reynolds number as a scaling factor, it was found that the data for the various Reynolds numbers could be brought together. The experimental results were compared with analytical predictions and good agreement prevailed. Overall mass balances performed using independent measurement procedures were satisfied to within a few per cent.
Assessing Time Complexity of Applications for TinyOS-Mica Wireless Sensor Networks in TOSSIM Emulator

Abstract We propose an approach to assess and profile the time complexity of an wireless sensor network application executing in the TOSSIM environment since TOSSIM lacks the built-in facilities to determine the run time for an application that is intended for execution in parallel and distributed mode on real sensor network hardware. This procedure, which is conceived to estimate the time complexity in approximate terms, requires counting the number of timer periods needed to execute certain functionality of an application. Consequently, the length of a time interval associated with the sleep-wakeup periods for motes is used to approximate the time complexity of the application. We present the application of the proposed methodology for simulation of a wireless sensor network application in the TOSSIM environment.
Transdermal nicotine attenuates depression symptoms in nonsmokers: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Despite established links between nicotine dependence and depression, little research has examined the effects of nicotine on depression symptoms. This study evaluated the acute and chronic effects of transdermal nicotine in nonsmokers with baseline depression symptoms during a 4-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Nonsmokers with scores ≥10 on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D) were recruited from the community. Mood and cognitive performance were measured at baseline (day 0) and at 1, 8, 21, and 28 days. Participants were randomly assigned to wear a placebo or nicotine patch for 4 weeks (3.5 mg/day during weeks 1 and 4; 7 mg/day during weeks 2 and 3). The final sample consisted of 11 nonsmokers with a mean baseline CES-D score of 27.36 (SD=10.53). Salivary nicotine levels indicated the majority of participants were compliant with treatment. Acute nicotine did not alter mood. After adjusting for baseline values, chronic nicotine resulted in a significant decline in CES-D scores at day 8 (3.5 mg/day), but returned to placebo levels by the last visit. This return to baseline levels was coincident with a decrease in nicotine administration from 7 to 3.5 mg/day. A similar trend for improved response inhibition as measured by the Conners Continuous Performance Task was also observed. Reported side effects were infrequent and minimal. These findings suggest a role for nicotinic receptor systems in the pathophysiology of depression and that nicotinic compounds should be evaluated for treating depression symptoms.
Neogene mass extinction of Western Atlantic molluscs

There have been many hypotheses for the global mass extinctions that occurred during the Phanerozoic history of the Earth, and although we cannot study the course of such a mass extinction in progress, it is possible to evaluate major pulses of extinction that have taken place recently in geological time. Explanations of the unusually high rates of extinction within late Cenozoic marine faunas of the tropical Western Atlantic have focused on possible blocking of nutrient-laden waters by the origin of the Isthmus of Panama1,2 and on Pleistocene cooling2,3,5,6 or regression2,4,5 of seas. Here we report that major episodes of molluscan extinction occurred at least as far north as Virginia, and we conclude that these episodes were caused primarily by refrigeration associated with the late Pliocene and Pleistocene growth of continental glaciers.
Biliary excretion appears rate limiting for hepatic elimination of benzo[a]pyrene by temperature-acclimated rainbow trout

Abstract Previous work demonstrated that mixed function oxidase activities of hepatic microsomes from cold- and warm-acclimated rainbow trout were similar when assayed at temperatures to which fish were acclimated. This “ideal temperature compensation” was partially explained by constitutive differences in microsomes. In the work reported here, rainbow trout were acclimated at 10 or 18°C for 4 weeks and then ip injected with 10 μmol [ 3 H ] or [ 14 C]benzo [a] pyrene (BP)/kg in one of two temperature regimens. First, fish were acclimated and exposed at the same temperature and killed after 4, 24, or 48 hr. Concentrations of [ 3 H]BP equivalents in liver, bile, and fat but not in plasma, muscle, intestine, gill, or kidney increased with time. There were no differences in hexane or ethyl acetate extractable [ 3 H ] or [ 14 C]BP tissue concentrations in 10 and 18°C-acclimated fish exposed at their acclimation temperatures. At 24 hr after injection, biliary excretion of [ 3 H]BP equivalents was about twofold higher at 18°C than 10°C. Therefore, warmer temperature stimulated biliary excretion without a marked effect on in vivo BP metabolism. In the second regimen, 10 and 18°C-acclimated fish were shifted to 14°C, injected with [ 3 H ] or [ 14 C]BP 1 hr later, and killed after an additional 24 hr. There were no differences in tissue concentrations of total [ 3 H]BP equivalents between acclimation groups at 14°C. However, the biliary concentration of [ 14 C]BP not extracted by ethyl acetate was significantly higher in bile from 10°C-acclimated fish than from 18°C-acclimated fish when both groups were exposed at 14°C. In this case, in vivo BP metabolism was altered without coincident effects on biliary excretion. Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase assayed at 14°C was about threefold higher in hepatic microsomes from 10°C-acclimated fish than from 18°C-acclimated fish. Exposure temperature selectively modulated BP metabolism and biliary excretion in temperature-acclimated rainbow trout.
Effect of pure erythropoietin on DNA-synthesis by human marrow day 15 erythroid burst forming units in short-term liquid culture.

Summary. The effect of pure erythropoietin (EP) on human marrow day 15 burst-forming units-erythroid (BFU-E) was studied using a short-term liquid culture system containing 30% human serum. Non-adherent marrow cells were cultured in liquid medium for 0–48 h and then the number of BFU-E was assayed by the use of the plasma clot method. The addition of 1 U/ml of EP into the liquid culture medium resulted in maintenance of the number of BFU-E assayed after 24–48 h of incubation. The number of BFU-E recovered after 24–48 h culture was directly proportional to the concentration of EP present in the liquid medium. In addition, the proliferative status of BFU-E before and after exposure to EP was studied by 3H-thymidine and hydroxyurea suicide. It was found that EP doubles the percentage of BFU-E in DNA synthesis after 24–48 h of incubation in the liquid medium. This effect of EP on DNA synthesis by bone marrow day 15 BFU-E is detectable as early as 6 h after the onset of incubation and at EP concentrations as low as 0.2 U/ml of medium, a concentration present in the serum of moderately anaemic patients. The human marrow day 15 BFU-E is an EP-responsive cell and pure EP can induce it into DNA synthesis.
Conflict in the Hypaxial Musculo-Skeletal System: Documenting an Evolutionary Constraint

The identification and demonstration of an evolutionary constraint is suggested to be a four step process: 1) recognition of a possible mechanism of constraint, 2) formation of an historical scenario of the consequences of the constraint, 3) elucidation of the causal mechanism in the modern analog or model, and 4) phylogenetic correlation of the constraint with theproposed effect in extant lineages. Steps 1 and 2 represent the formation of two interdependenthypotheses, and steps 3 and 4 are tests of those hypotheses. This approach is illustrated with an example from the musculo-skeletal system of tetrapod vertebrates. Consideration of the anatomy and mode of locomotion of lizards led to the hypothesisthat they may not be able to run and breathe at the same time. Analysis of the pattern of ventilatory airflow of lizards supports this hypothesis. Tidal and minute volume increase above resting levels during slow walking ( i.e. , speeds below 10% of maximum running speed), but decline rapidly at higher speeds. Furthermore, electromyographic monitoring of the hypaxial muscles indicates a clear conflict between locomotor and ventilatory functions. Key anatomical characters, suggested to be responsible for the conflict, can be traced back to the earliest tetrapods. The organization of the two extant lineages that do breathe while running ( i.e. , birds andmammals) suggests that the evolution of an ability to breathe during locomotion required modifications of the ancestral configuration that separate locomotor and ventilatory function.
The measurement of anterior cruciate ligament strain in vivo.

This article describes the use of the Hall Effect strain transducer (HEST) in a new arthroscopic technique to study the normal anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in-vivo. Study participants were patient volunteers with normal ACLs undergoing diagnostic arthroscopic or meniscal surgery under local anaesthesia. The HEST was implanted into the Anterior Medial Band (AMB) of the ACL. Anterior shear loading of the tibia in relation to the fixed femur at 30° of knee flexion (Lachman test), produced significantly greater strain values in comparison to anterior shear loading at 90° (Anterior Drawer test). During isometric quadriceps contraction a significant increase in AMB strain was measured with the knee flexed to 30°, while no significant change was measured at 90°. For quadriceps contraction there were significantly higher values of AMB strain measured at 30° of knee flexion in comparison to that observed at 90°. For active range of motion (AROM) the AMB was strained between 10° and 48°, and unstrained between 48° and 110°. During passive range of motion (PROM) the AMB remained unstrained until the joint was brought into extension. There were significant differences in strain values found between AROM and PROM at the flexion angles 10°, 20°, 30° and 40°, while between 50° and 110° there were no significant differences. These results confirm previous studies that the Lachman test is a superior technique in comparison to the classic anterior drawer test for evaluating the AMB. They suggest that isometric quadriceps activity at 90° of knee flexion can be prescribed for rehabilitation immediately after ACL reconstruction. These data indicate that AROM (between the limits of 50° and 110°) and PROM may also be performed with minimal risk of strain to a reconstructive replacement. The PROM data may also serve as an important standard for the reconstruction of the ACL.
Some Historical Issues and Paradoxes Regarding the Concept of Infinity: An APOS-Based Analysis--Part 1.

This paper applies APOS Theory to suggest a new explanation of how people might think about the concept of infinity. We propose cognitive explanations, and in some cases resolutions, of various dichotomies, paradoxes, and mathematical problems involving the concept of infinity. These explanations are expressed in terms of the mental mechanisms of interiorization and encapsulation. Our purpose for providing a cognitive perspective is that issues involving the infinite have been and continue to be a source of interest, of controversy, and of student difficulty. We provide a cognitive analysis of these issues as a contribution to the discussion. In this paper, Part 1, we focus on dichotomies and paradoxes and, in Part 2, we will discuss the notion of an infinite process and certain mathematical issues related to the concept of infinity.