cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Quality-of-Life Instruments in Adults with Strabismus

Purpose To compare two health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) questionnaires in adults with strabismus: the new 20-item Adult Strabismus (AS-20) questionnaire (developed specifically for Adult Strabismus) and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-25). Design Cross-sectional study. Methods Eighty-four adult patients with strabismus (median age, 53 years; range, 18 to 81 years) completed the AS-20 and VFQ-25 HRQOL questionnaires. Patients were categorized as diplopic (n = 65) or nondiplopic (n = 19). Subnormal HRQOL was defined as less than the fifth percentile for adults with no visual impairment. The proportion of patients below normal was compared overall and by diplopia status. Results Overall, more patients scored below normal with the AS-20 than with the VFQ-25 (90% vs 29%; P P = .002), whereas diplopic patients were more often below normal on the function subscale (85% vs 68%; P = .01). On the psychosocial subscale, more nondiplopic than diplopic patients scored below normal (95% vs 68%; P = .01); on the function subscale, more diplopic than nondiplopic patients scored below normal (85% vs 42%; P = .0005). The VFQ-25 seemed to be insensitive to nondiplopic strabismus: no patients scored below normal on composite score and no more than 11% scored below normal on VFQ-25 subscales. Of diplopic patients, 37% scored below normal on VFQ-25 composite score. No more than 38% scored below normal on VFQ-25 subscales. Conclusions The new AS-20 seems to be more sensitive than the VFQ-25 for detecting reduced HRQOL in Adult Strabismus, and therefore may be a more useful tool for clinical assessment and clinical trials.
Variation in breast cancer care quality in New York and California based on race/ethnicity and Medicaid enrollment

BACKGROUND Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities persist in part because our current understanding of the care provided to minority and disadvantaged populations is limited. The authors evaluated the quality of breast cancer care in 2 large states to understand the disparities experienced by African Americans, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders (APIs), and Medicaid enrollees and to prioritize remediation strategies. METHODS Statewide cancer registry data for 80,436 women in New York and 121,233 women in California who were diagnosed during 2004 to 2009 with stage 0 through III breast cancer were used to assess underuse and overuse of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy based on 34 quality measures. Concordance values were compared across racial/ethnic and Medicaid-enrollment groups. Multivariable models were used to quantify disparities across groups for each treatment in each state. RESULTS Overall concordance was 76% for underuse measures and 87% for overuse measures. The proportions of patients who received care concordant with all relevant measures were 35% in New York and 33% in California. Compared with whites, African Americans were less likely to receive recommended surgery, radiation, and hormone therapy; Hispanics and APIs were usually more likely to receive recommended chemotherapy. Across states, the same racial/ethnic groups did not always experience the same disparities. Medicaid enrollment was associated with decreased likelihood of receiving all recommended treatments, except chemotherapy, in both states. Overuse was evident for hormone therapy and axillary surgery but was not associated with race/ethnicity or Medicaid enrollment. CONCLUSIONS Patient-level measures of quality identify substantial problems with care quality and meaningful disparities. Remediating these problems will require prioritizing low-performing measures and targeting high-risk populations, possibly in different ways for different regions. Cancer 2015. © 2015 American Cancer Society.
Investigation Parallels at University Hospitals: 1950-1975 The Departments of Urology and Obstetrics and Gynecology

The 1950’s was a period of notable intellectual growth and collaboration. During that period new isotopic elements evolved to new treatments for cancer patients, both women and men. The University of Iowa proved to be a fertile intellectual community where Gold 198 colloid successfully advanced survival for both ovarian and prostate cancer. Other collaboration expanded the fields of male and female infertility. Both departments benefit from this early pioneering work to the present day.
Impact of Additional Cytogenetic Abnormalities in Adults with Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation.

Abstract The occurrence of additional cytogenetic abnormalities (ACAs) is common in Philadelphia chromosome–positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) but is of unknown significance in the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) era. We retrospectively analyzed data from a consecutive case series of adults with Ph+ ALL who had undergone allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) at City of Hope between 2003 and 2014. Among 130 adults with Ph+ ALL who had TKI therapy before alloHCT, 78 patients had available data on conventional cytogenetics at diagnosis and were eligible for outcomes analysis. ACAs were observed in 41 patients (53%). There were no statistically significant differences in median age, median initial WBC count, post-HCT TKI maintenance, or disease status at the time of transplant between the Ph-only and ACA cohorts; however, the Ph-only cohort had a higher rate of minimal residual disease positivity at the time of HCT. Three-year leukemia-free survival (79.8% versus 39.5%, P = .01) and 3-year overall survival (83% versus 45.6%, P = .02) were superior in the Ph-only cohort compared with the ACA cohort, respectively. Monosomy 7 was the most common additional aberration observed in our ACA cohort (n = 12). Thus, when TKI therapy and alloHCT are used as part of adult Ph+ ALL therapy, the presence of ACAs appears to have a significant deleterious effect on outcomes post-HCT.
On the asymptotic distribution of the eigenvalues of random matrices

Abstract : A generalization of E. P. Wigner's semi-circle law concerning the distribution of the eigenvalues of large symmetric matrices A = (a sub ij) whose entries a sub ij are for i > or = j independent and identically distributed random variables. (Author)
An Empirical Analysis on Forecasting Stock Price: By Maximum Lyapunov Exponent and Fractal Dimension

In this empirical analysis of Shanghai Composite Index, we focus on the relationship between maximum Lyapunov exponent, fractal dimension and stock price. The former one is to measure the chaos degree of the market. And under relatively weak chaos condition, fractal dimension, which is defined by Hurst exponent, is found to be an ideal prediction of stock price. Both of maximum Lyapunov exponent and fractal dimension show their potential in risk management and detecting financial bubbles.
Regulation of the Golgi complex by phospholipid remodeling enzymes.

The mammalian Golgi complex is a highly dynamic organelle consisting of stacks of flattened cisternae with associated coated vesicles and membrane tubules that contribute to cargo import and export, intra-cisternal trafficking, and overall Golgi architecture. At the morphological level, all of these structures are continuously remodeled to carry out these trafficking functions. Recent advances have shown that continual phospholipid remodeling by phospholipase A (PLA) and lysophospholipid acyltransferase (LPAT) enzymes, which deacylate and reacylate Golgi phospholipids, respectively, contributes to this morphological remodeling. Here we review the identification and characterization of four cytoplasmic PLA enzymes and one integral membrane LPAT that participate in the dynamic functional organization of the Golgi complex, and how some of these enzymes are integrated to determine the relative abundance of COPI vesicle and membrane tubule formation.
Quantification, risk factors, and health impact of natural congenital infection with bovine viral diarrhea virus in dairy calves.

Objectives-To estimate risk and identify risk factors for congenital infection with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) not resulting in persistent infection and examine effect of congenital infection on health of dairy calves. Animals-466 calves. Procedures-Calves from 2 intensively managed dry-lot dairies with different vaccination programs and endemic BVDV infection were sampled before ingesting colostrum and tested with their dams for BVDV and BVDV serum-neutralizing antibodies. Records of treatments and death up to 10 months of age were obtained from calf ranch or dairy personnel. Risk factors for congenital infection, including dam parity and BVDV titer, were examined by use of logistic regression analysis. Effect of congenital infection on morbidity and mortality rates was examined by use of survival analysis methods. Results-Fetal infection was identified in 10.1% of calves, of which 0.5% had persistent infection and 9.6% had congenital infection. Although dependent on herd, congenital infection was associated with high BVDV type 2 titers in dams at calving and with multiparous dams. Calves with congenital infection had 2-fold higher risk of a severe illness, compared with calves without congenital infection. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-The unexpectedly high proportion of apparently healthy calves found to be congenitally infected provided an estimate of the amount of fetal infection via exposure of dams and thus virus transmission in the herds. Findings indicate that congenital infection with BVDV may have a negative impact on calf health, with subsequent impact on herd health.
Hydroxyproline Analogs of Bradykinin: Biological Activities and Solution Structures

Our previous studies by circular dichroism (CD) indicate that bradykinin, Lys-bradykinin, Met-Lys-bradykinin, and Polistes kinin exist in solution as disordered chains (1,2), and examination of the CD spectra in the 250-300 nm range yields no evidence of intraor inter-molecular association of the phenylalanine residues. In brief, spectra of all of the biologically active analogs and homo-logs of bradykinin, show maxima at 220 nm and minima at 235 nm which are independent of changes in solvent pd temperature. None of the analogs, e.g. D-Pro2-BK or D-Phe5,8-bradykinin, having different spectra possessed biological activity. This suggests that it is unlikely that highly ordered analogs of amino acid composition and sequence similar to bradykinin would possess biological activity. The conclusion that bradykinin exists as a disordered chain has recently received support from an independent molecular orbital computation of the molecular conformation of minimum energy (3).
Vancomycin treatment failures in Staphylococcus aureus lower respiratory tract infections.

We reviewed all patients with Staphylococcus aureus lower respiratory tract infections treated with vancomycin at our institution in 1998, to see how this antimicrobial is performing. We found that approximately 40% of evaluable patients were considered treatment failures, even though the S. aureus was still reported as being susceptible to vancomycin. We report in detail two example patients that failed to respond clinically to vancomycin and summarize the clinical characteristics of the 23 additional patients that failed. The first case was treated four times in the intensive care unit with vancomycin. Each course, after approximately 14 days therapy, the vancomycin was discontinued and his infection relapsed soon thereafter. The second was treated with vancomycin for 10 days initially. She relapsed, was restarted on vancomycin once more, but her condition deteriorated, and she died of refractory sepsis 20 days after admission. The cost of care for each patient ranged from $50 000 to over $100 000. With trends such as these, alternative therapies are needed to control resistant Gram-positive infections.
Analysis of Bottom-Track and Compass Error in a Self-Contained Acoustic Doppler Diver Navigation Console

Abstract The Cobra-Tac (Teledyne RD Instruments) is a self-contained diver navigation system based on acoustic Doppler velocity log (DVL) technology that uses dead reckoning to compute displacements from a known starting point. The navigational accuracy of the system was evaluated using a series of field tests with known solutions. Initial test data had an obvious directional bias in the navigation measurements, with positional errors as large as 5% of the track length. An analysis of this error showed that the DVL speed measurements were extremely accurate and that most of the position error could be explained by heading-dependent compass error. Compass error versus heading curves were different depending on whether a given route was mapped in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction, and further testing indicated that this was due to a combination of local magnetic field anomalies at the test site and instrument tilt. A postprocessing correction procedure, based on a one-cycle compass error model, was ...
Tsunami Preparedness on the Oregon and Washington Coast: Recommendations for Research

This study sought to identify the research that is needed to improve tsunami emergency preparedness in the Pacific Northwest. A search of the archival literature yielded very few journal articles and technical reports on community preparedness for tsunami hazard in the United States. Consequently, we conducted interviews with 12 key informants within six coastal communities in four counties of Washington and Oregon. These two sources of information revealed a number of important deficiencies related to emergency response preparedness and risk communication. Based on this assessment, we propose a series of specific recommendations for research on agency notification and mobilization, protective action selection and timing, warning and evacuation, and risk communication and perception. Addressing research needs in these areas would improve coastal communities' ability to respond effectively to tsunami threat.
The Ordinary Quality of Resistance: From Milgram's Laboratory to the Village of Le Chambon

According to Hannah Arendt's banality of evil thesis, endorsed by Milgram, it is possible for ordinary people to perform horrendous deeds when these are rendered routine and morally neutral through a framework of legitimate authority. But such a view of human capacities does nothing to explain the actions of equally ordinary people who defied authorities to rescue potential victims during the Holocaust. This article formulates a contrasting but noncontradictory conception—the ordinariness of goodness—and illustrates it by examining closely how the people of the French village of Le Chambon managed, during World War II, to resist the efforts of Vichy authorities to induce them to participate in the persecution of minority peoples, thereby enabling them to save thousands of refugees. Notable features of their resistance are then compared to the ordinary behavior of some of Milgram's disobedient subjects.
Targeting of gonadotropin-releasing hormone axons from preoptic area grafts to the median eminence.

Implantation of normal GnRH neurons can reverse many of the reproductive deficiencies that characterize hypogonadal (hpg) mice. Since the GnRH axons follow a stereotyped trajectory to their target we investigated the possibility that host brain regions adjacent to the graft might provide signals that induced this directional growth. The role of the adenohypophysis in GnRH axonal outgrowth was studied in mice with co-grafts of fetal preoptic area (POA) and pituitary and in hypophysectomized hosts. When fetal pituitaries were grafted together with the POA, immunoreactive GnRH fibers did enter the glandular tissue but they also grew into the host median eminence. Surgical removal of the pituitary of hpg hosts prior to POA graft placement was also compatible with GnRH innervation of the host median eminence although in some individuals that innervation pattern was confined to the more caudal aspects. The results of these two experiments suggest that the anterior pituitary gland may be an attractive target for GnRH axons but that this tissue is not essential for directed GnRH axonal outgrowth to its target. To determine if the median eminence itself could direct the growth of GnRH axons, co-grafts of POA and a fetal medial basal hypothalamic (MBH) block, which was predominantly median eminence, were made. Immunocytochemistry showed that an intragraft mini-median eminence was formed with a highly organized and robust GnRH innervation. Ultrastructural analysis indicated that these axons terminated near fenestrated capillaries. However, even under these conditions some GnRH axons exited into the host median eminence. It now seems likely that a cellular component of the median eminence can provide a signal to attract GnRH axons. Whether this signal is produced by the specialized ependymal cells, by the endothelia, or by meningeal (pial) components must now be tested. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Phase Diagram, Stability, and Overcharging of Lamellar Cationic Lipid–DNA Self-Assembled Complexes

Cationic lipid-DNA (CL-DNA) complexes comprise a promising new class of synthetic nonviral gene delivery systems. When positively charged, they attach to the anionic cell surface and transfer DNA into the cell cytoplasm. We report a comprehensive x-ray diffraction study of the lamellar CL-DNA self-assemblies as a function of lipid composition and lipid/DNA ratio, aimed at elucidating the interactions determining their structure, charge, and thermodynamic stability. The driving force for the formation of charge-neutral complexes is the release of DNA and lipid counterions. Negatively charged complexes have a higher DNA packing density than isoelectric complexes, whereas positively charged ones have a lower packing density. This indicates that the overcharging of the complex away from its isoelectric point is caused by changes of the bulk structure with absorption of excess DNA or cationic lipid. The degree of overcharging is dependent on the membrane charge density, which is controlled by the ratio of neutral to cationic lipid in the bilayers. Importantly, overcharged complexes are observed to move toward their isoelectric charge-neutral point at higher concentration of salt co-ions, with positively overcharged complexes expelling cationic lipid and negatively overcharged complexes expelling DNA. Our observations should apply universally to the formation and structure of self-assemblies between oppositely charged macromolecules.
An empirical approach to VP ellipsis

This paper reports on an empirically based system that automatically resolves VP ellipsis in the 644 examples identified in the parsed Penn Treebank. The results reported here represent the first systematic corpus-based study of VP ellipsis resolution, and the performance of the system is comparable to the best existing systems for pronoun resolution. The methodology and utilities described can be applied to other discourse-processing problems, such as other forms of ellipsis and anaphora resolution.The system determines potential antecedents for ellipsis by applying syntactic constraints, and these antecedents are ranked by combining structural and discourse preference factors such as recency, clausal relations, and parallelism. The system is evaluated by comparing its output to the choices of human coders. The system achieves a success rate of 94.8%, where success is defined as sharing of a head between the system choice and the coder choice, while a baseline recency-based scheme achieves a success rate of 75.0% by this measure. Other criteria for success are also examined. When success is defined as an exact, word-for-word match with the coder choice, the system performs with 76.0% accuracy, and the baseline approach achieves only 14.6% accuracy. Analysis of the individual components of the system shows that each of the structural and discourse constraints used are strong predictors of the antecedent of VP ellipsis.
Dummy feature placement for chemical-mechanical polishing uniformity in a shallow trench isolation process

Manufacturability of a design that is processed with shallow trench isolation (STI) depends on the uniformity of the chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) step in STI. The CMP step in STI is a dual-material polish, for which all previous studies on dummy feature placement for single-material polish [3, 11, 1] are not applicable. Based on recent semi-physical models of polish pad bending [5], local polish pad compression [2, 10], and different polish rates for materials present in a dual-material polish [2, 13], this paper derives a time-dependent relation between post-CMP topography and layout pattern density for CMP in STI. Using the dependencies derived, the first formulation of dummy feature placement for CMP in STI is given as a nonlinear programming problem. An iterative approach is proposed to solve the dummy feature placement problem. Computational experience on four layouts from Motorola is given.
The hard-knock life? Whites claim hardships in response to racial inequity.

Racial inequity continues to plague America, yet many Whites still doubt the existence of racial advantages, limiting progress and cooperation. What happens when people are faced with evidence that their group benefits from privilege? We suggest such evidence will be threatening and that people will claim hardships to manage this threat. These claims of hardship allow individuals to deny that they personally benefit from privilege, while still accepting that group-level inequity exists. Experiments 1a and 1b show that Whites exposed to evidence of racial privilege claim to have suffered more personal life hardships than those not exposed to evidence of privilege. Experiment 2 shows that self-affirmation reverses the effect of exposure to evidence of privilege on hardship claims, implicating the motivated nature of hardship claims. Further, affirmed participants acknowledge more personal privilege, which is associated with increased support for inequity-reducing policies.
Does Economic History Need GPTs

In the last decade one of the most successful memes in economic history has been the concept of a general purpose technology. The rapid multiplication of technologies accorded this designation has raised questions about whether the concept has gotten out of hand. My intent in this essay is to ask whether the concept has indeed gotten out of hand, and, more fundamentally, whether, when the concept of a GPT and the ways it has been used are critically examined, we may conclude that the discipline of economic history could do as well without it. I note that the GPT criteria are not always consistently applied, the technologies under discussion are often not clearly identified, and that the criteria ultimately do a haphazard job of separating the consequential from the inconsequential.
The Wrap Contract Morass

It is an honor to have the opportunity to address the thoughtful essays of the contributors on the subject of my book, Wrap Contracts: Foundations and Ramifications. I use the term “wrap contracts” to refer to non-traditional adhesive contracting forms that are not signed by the adherent. Courts have referred to “clickwraps,” “browsewraps,” and “shrinkwraps,” but contracting forms have broken out of these neat categories, muddying judicial analysis. The term “wrap contracts” sweeps them under one broad category which both eliminates the distinctions between these forms and maintains their distinctiveness from signed paper contracts. Categorizing these contracts as “wrap contracts” underscores the central theme of my book, which is that contracting form matters.
Associations between heart failure and physical function in US adults

Background: There is a paucity of nationally representative data in the area of heart failure (HF) and physical function (PF). Aim: Examine the relationship(s) between HF and PF in a nationally representative sample of United States (US) adults. Design: Cross-section analysis of US adults. Methods: Sample ( n = 6623) included adult (≥40 years of age) participants from the 1999–2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Participants reporting HF answered questions related to their abilities to accomplish specific upper extremity and lower extremity tasks, and household chores. Results: Prevalence estimates of reporting much difficulty or the inability to stand from an armless chair was 9.9% and 4.3% ( P = 0.002) in those with and without HF, respectively. Similar estimates were revealed for much difficulty or inability to lift or carry 10 pounds (16.8% and 8.6%, P = 0.0004) and much difficulty or inability to do household chores (13.3% and 6.1%, P = 0.0008). Following adjustments participants reporting HF had significantly greater odds of reporting much difficulty or the inability to stand from an armless chair [odds ratio (OR) 1.93; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.25, 2.96], much difficulty or the inability to lift or carry 10 lbs (OR 1.90; 95% CI 1.36, 2.65) and much difficulty or inability to do household chores (OR 2.06; 95% CI 1.41, 3.02) compared with participants not reporting HF. Conclusions: Findings suggest US adults reporting HF are more likely to report poorer PF.
Using Game Elements to Increase Student Engagement in Course Assignments.

ABSTRACTGamification incorporates game-elements in non-gaming situations to enhance student engagement and desired behavior. This study examined participant's willingness to take part in gamified activities where reward systems were not directly tied to course grades. Participants enrolled in a technology integration course for preservice teachers, were grouped on subject-specific interests, and designed 30-minute presentations on technology integration. Over two semesters, an optional gaming activity was included in five course sections acting as the treatment group, and four sections acted as non-blind control groups. Data was collected from pre-, mid-, and post-surveys that investigated previous gaming experience, game motivations, group project perceptions, and perceived willingness to participate in the game. The treatment group indicated their perceptions of game play during mid- and post-surveys. Participants in all sections completed meeting history worksheets to describe weekly group and individu...
Abstract 3452: The role of CX3CR1 in resistance of ovarian carcinoma cells to radiation therapy

Ovarian carcinoma is a leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancies. The current standard of care, a combination of chemotherapy and radiation, fails to keep patients in remission. Thus, modifications of the therapy and the combinations with the new molecular biological technologies are crucial for the development of the modernized approaches to combat this disease. Previous attempts to use radiotherapy as an additional treatment was not successful mainly due to the dose-related side effects, as well as radioresistance. Therefore, mechanistical understanding of the biology of ovarian carcinoma could offer ways to overcome current problems. Fractalkine receptor (CX3CR1) belongs to a chemokine family of G protein-coupled receptors, the most frequently and successfully drug-targeted group of proteins. Interaction of chemokines with their receptors plays a pivotal role in homing distant metastasis, as well as promoting migration, adhesion, and proliferation in many types of cancer. This project is aimed at understanding the role of CX3CR1 in sensitization of epithelial ovarian cancer cells to radiotherapy. Our data indicate that downregulation of CX3CR1 in ovarian carcinoma cells leads to approximately 50% sensitization to x-ray radiation, as determined by the clonogenic ability assay. Our Western blotting and immunofluorescence analysis data also show that downregulation of CX3CR1 results in accumulation of DNA damage at lower doses. Thus, our data indicate that disruption of the CX3CR1 signaling could sensitize ovarian carcinoma to radiation therapy. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3452. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3452
A Method for Determination of Total Pigment in Bile Which Is Applicable to "Biliverdin Biles."

Methods for quantitation of bile pigments, with the exception of the methods of Hooper and Whipple,1 Beccari,2 Kerppola and Leikola,3 and Peterman and Cooley3 have been confined to modifications of...
Health status of female workers in railway enterprises of Jinan City

[Objective]To understand the health status of female workers in the railway enterprises,and provide the basis for adopting early preventive measures.[Methods]The survey method was used,in the form of administrative documents issued questionnaires,to investigate the health surveillance data of female workers in railway enterprises.A comprehensive analysis of the epidemiological distribution was performed.[Results] The blood tests showed abnormal rates of hyperglycemia,hyperlipidemia,blood routine examination,renal function,liver rates were 3.01% and 23.98%,17.69%,16.64% and 15.99%.The abnormal rates of hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia increased with the extending length of service(P0.05).Ultrasound examination showed abnormal rate of fatty liver,hepatic cysts,liver hemangioma,liver calcification,gallbladder polyps,gallbladder(bile duct) stones,cholecystitis,kidney stones,renal cysts and chest radiograph were 10.75%,4.72%,1.83%,1.83%,1.57%,2.62%,1.18%,1.31%,2.62% and 1.18%.The abnormal rates of fatty liver and hepatic cyst increased with the extending length of service(P0.05).Cardiovascular examination showed abnormal rate of hypertension,ST-T changes,heart rhythms,conduction block,atrioventricular anomalies and premature beats were 5.90%,13.63%,13.63%,0.26%,1.18%,1.31% and 1.31%.The abnormal rates of hypertension,ST-T changes,conduction block and atrioventricular anomalies increased with the extending length of service(P0.05).Gynecological examination showed abnormal rate of myoma of the uterus and accessories,gynecological inflammation,cervical polyps,and cyst of uterine and accessories were 22.43%,22.77%,2.02% and 10.12%.The abnormal rates of myoma and cyst of the uterus and accessories increased with the extending length of service(P0.05).Breast examination showed abnormal rates of breast hyperplasia and breast fibroids were 13.89% and 0.79%,The first one decreased and the second one increased with the extending length of service(P0.05).[Conclusion]The physical examination of female workers in railway enterprises shows that health status of this population is not optimistic.The modern life influences the health of workers,such as the incidence of fatty liver,hypertension and ECG abnormalities increase with age.Apart from health protection of workers,active lifestyle and healthy living are suggested to prevent the diseases due to modern life style.
Investigation and analysis on a tap water pollution

Objective:To investigate the causes of tawny precipitate and earthy odour in drinking water,and adopt corresponding measures for improvement.Methods: Epidemiological investigation was carried out to investigate the pollution condition,source waters,produced waters and terminal waters were tested and evaluated in accordance with the environmental quality standards for surface water and the standard for drinking water quality by lab.Results: Source water 1 met national correlative health standards,while the terms such as Fe,Mn and total coliforms of source water 2,Mn,total coliforms,total bacterial count of produced waters,Fe,total coliforms,total bacterial count of terminal waters didn′t met national correlative health standards.Mn was 15 times over the standard,the total coliforms also exceeded test limit.Conclusion: The bottom water of the reservoir was used as source water in water works,and with the accumulation of bottom pollutants,inversion layer was produced by climate change in late autumn season,so the water was polluted.In addition,the nonstandard management and incomplete supervision mechanism also result in the occurrence of the pollution.However,pollution of this kind no longer happen after some control measures.
Organizing for performance: What does the empirical literature reveal about the influence of organizational factors on hospital financial performance?

This chapter reviews and integrates the empirical literature on the influence of organizational factors on hospital financial performance. Five categories of organizational characteristics that research has addressed are identified and examined as part of the review: ownership, governance, integration, management strategy, and quality. With some exceptions, our review reveals a general lack of consistency and conclusiveness across studies in each area. Exceptions were found in the areas of governance (e.g., physician participation and board processes) and integration (e.g., horizontal system centralization). Despite the lack of conclusive findings across studies, our review suggests substantial opportunities for future work, including opportunities for qualitative and exploratory work. Additional implications for theory and management are discussed.
Advanced Surgical Approaches for the Management of Esophageal Carcinoma

Surgery has been used to manage various disease processes for hundreds of years. Advanced body cavity operations, however, did not become possible until the beginning of the twentieth century, when the discovery of ether anesthesia enabled surgeons to perform prolonged operations, organ extirpations, and reconstructive surgeries. Some of the major accomplishments of the early twentieth century included Billroth’s pioneering of surgical techniques and strategies for the management of gastric cancer and Halsted’s use of radical mastectomy with extensive lymph node dissection for breast cancer [1].
Resilient wireless sensor networks for cyber-physical systems

Owing to their low deployment costs, wireless sensor networks (WSN) may act as a key enabling technology for a variety of spatially distributed cyber-physical system (CPS) applications, ranging from intelligent traffic control to smart grids. However, besides providing tremendous benefits in terms of deployment costs, they also open up new possibilities for malicious attackers, who aim to cause financial losses or physical damage. Since perfectly securing these spatially distributed systems is either impossible or financially unattainable, we need to design them to be resilient to attacks: even if some parts of the system are compromised or unavailable due to the actions of an attacker, the system as a whole must continue to operate with minimal losses. In a CPS, control decisions affecting the physical process depend on the observed data from the sensor network. Any malicious activity in the sensor network can therefore severely impact the physical process, and consequently the overall CPS operations. These factors necessitate a deeper probe into the domain of resilient WSN for CPS. In this chapter, we provide an overview of various dimensions in this field, including objectives of WSN in CPS, attack scenarios and vulnerabilities, the notion of attack resilience in WSN for CPS, and solution approaches toward attaining resilience. We also highlight major challenges, recent developments, and future directions in this area.
Estrogen Metabolism in Disorders of Nutrition and Dietary Composition

The progression of the female menstrual cycle is dependent upon sequential fluctuations of plasma estradiol, which exert specific yet biphasic influences on various target organs, notably the brain. These dynamic changes in plasma estradiol are, in turn, a result of changes in both the synthesis and degradation of the estradiol molecule. The biochemical pathways involved in estrogen metabolism are subject to perturbation from a variety of sources; in particular, alterations in nutrition and dietary composition have been shown to play a key role. It is the purpose of this review to identify those aspects of nutrition and diet which impact on menstrual cyclicity, discuss their effects on estrogen metabolism, and speculate on the possible mechanisms by which such effects occur.
Evaluation of the detection limit at low activity levels for three preclinical PET systems

Tomographic systems dedicated to noninvasive imaging of preclinical animal models have become widely available in recent years. Several imaging tasks involve very low levels of injected activity. One of the key advantages of molecular imaging with PET is its capability to detect and measure non-invasively nano-molar to picomolar concentrations of probes in vivo. It is useful therefore to establish the Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA), which is directly related to detectability of PET systems for very low activity distributions. In this work, the detection limits are evaluated for three commercially available imaging systems through ROI analysis in acquired images from well plate experiments. The detection limits at different reconstructed image frames for certain wells were fitted by an exponential. The MDA was calculated by interpolation between the frames above and below the detection limit. To validate the feasibility of using the ROI method to evaluate the detection limit, the theoretical values of Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR) between two of the systems were compared to the ratio of the MDA values from the image based ROI method. Close agreement between the two methods strengthens the rationale for the methodologies used in this work.
Valvular Regurgitation After Implantation of Prostheses Secured With Cor-Knot Automated Fasteners

Valvular regurgitation is a recognized complication of aortic and mitral valve procedures, with paravalvular leak the primary mechanism and transvalvular leak less common. The Cor-Knot automated fastener (LSI Solutions, Victor, NY) has been shown to be a safe, viable alternative to knot pushers or manual tying for use in these procedures. Here we present two patients in whom the orientation of the Cor-Knot fastener appeared to result in transvalvular regurgitation necessitating a redo operation. With adjunctive use of Cor-Knot devices, fastener orientation relative to valve geometry must be assessed for optimal results.
Unified Retiming Operations on Multidimensional Multi-Rate Digital Signal Processing Systems

The intense requirements of high-speed implementations of MultiDimensional (MD) Digital Signal Processing (DSP) systems justify the Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) designs and/or multiprocessor implementations. MD retiming has been recently proposed to improve the circuitry performance in high-level synthesis of single-rate MD DSP systems. This paper has conducted new theoretical analysis of MD multirate DSP systems modeled in data-flow graphs, and proposes intercalation of MD multirate systems so that unified MD retiming operations can be applied on multidimensional multirate DSP systems. By retiming and intercalation, full intra-iteration parallelism is achieved and functional elements can be executed simultaneously on circuits for the generic class of MD multirate DSP systems.
Online palliative care and oncology patient education resources through Google: Do they meet national health literacy recommendations?

Abstract Purpose The Google search engine is a resource commonly used by patients to access health-related patient education information. The American Medical Association and National Institutes of Health recommend that patient education resources be written at a level between the third and seventh grade reading levels. We assessed the readability levels of online palliative care patient education resources using 10 readability algorithms widely accepted in the medical literature. Methods and materials In October 2016, searches were conducted for 10 individual terms pertaining to palliative care and oncology using the Google search engine; the first 10 articles written for the public for each term were downloaded for a total of 100 articles. The terms included palliative care, hospice, advance directive, cancer pain management, treatment of metastatic disease, treatment of brain metastasis, treatment of bone metastasis, palliative radiation therapy, palliative chemotherapy, and end-of-life care. We determined the average reading level of the articles by readability scale and Web site domain. Results Nine readability assessments with scores equivalent to academic grade level found that the 100 palliative care education articles were collectively written at a 12.1 reading level (standard deviation, 2.1; range, 7.6-17.3). Zero articles were written below a seventh grade level. Forty-nine (49%) articles were written above a high school graduate reading level. The Flesch Reading Ease scale classified the articles as "difficult" to read with a score of 45.6 of 100. The articles were collected from 62 Web site domains. Seven domains were accessed 3 or more times; among these, www.mskcc.org had the highest average reading level at a 14.5 grade level (standard deviation, 1.4; range, 13.4-16.1). Conclusions Most palliative care education articles readily available on Google are written above national health literacy recommendations. There is need to revise these resources to allow patients and their families to derive the most benefit from these materials.
Extra-Contractual Liability in the Restatement of the Law, Liability Insurance: Breach of the Duty to Settle or Bad Faith?

This paper focuses on the Restatement’s treatment of an insurer’s duty to settle and the duty of an insurer to act in good faith in handling liability claims. The duty to settle is framed as an objective “duty to the insured to make reasonable settlement decisions.” At the same time, however, a separate claim is retained for an insurer’s “bad faith” breach of its duties (including the duty to settle). Further, a subjective element is adopted for the bad faith standard. To be liable for “bad faith,” an insurer must act “without a reasonable basis for its conduct” and must also act with “knowledge of its obligation to perform or in reckless disregard of whether it had an obligation to perform.” This use of the objective and subjective standards creates a new paradigm, one that distinguishes between the duty to settle and “bad faith” conduct and applies different standards for liability. This paper begins with a general description of the standards and the case law in support of them. It then turns to some implications of the new paradigm, both in terms of the damages available to insureds and the application of the standards to insurer conduct at the margins of reasonableness.
Severe Hyperthyroidism Complicated by Agranulocytosis Treated with Therapeutic Plasma Exchange: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Aim. To present a case of Graves’ disease complicated by methimazole induced agranulocytosis treated with therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) and review of the literature. Case Presentation. A 21-year-old patient with a history of Graves’ disease presented to the endocrine clinic. His history was significant for heat intolerance, weight loss, and tremors. Upon examination he had tachycardia, smooth goiter, thyroid bruit, and hyperactive reflexes. He was started on methimazole and metoprolol and thyroidectomy was to be done once his thyroid function tests normalized. On follow-up, the patient symptoms persisted. Complete blood count done showed a white blood cell count of 2100 (4000–11,000 cells/cu mm) with a neutrophil count of 400 cells/cu mm, consistent with neutropenia. He was admitted to the hospital and underwent 3 cycles of TPE and was also given filgrastim. He improved clinically and his thyroxine (T4) levels also came down. Thyroidectomy was done. He was discharged on levothyroxine for postsurgical hypothyroidism. Conclusion. Plasmapheresis may be useful in the treatment of hyperthyroidism. It works by removing protein bound hormones and also possibly inflammatory cytokines. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of various modalities of TPE in the treatment of hyperthyroidism.
Formation of regulated and unregulated disinfection byproducts during chlorination of algal organic matter extracted from freshwater and marine algae.

Seasonal algal blooms in freshwater and marine water can increase the input of algal organic matter (AOM) to the pool of dissolved organic matter. The impact of bromide (Br-) and iodide (I-) on the formation of regulated and unregulated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) was studied from chlorination of AOM solutions extracted from three species of cultured isolates of freshwater and marine algae (Microcystis aeruginosa (MA), Synechococcus (SYN), and Alexandrium tamarense (AT)). Comparable concentrations of DBPs were formed from three types of AOM. In the absence of Br-, trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), and haloacetaldehydes (HALs) were the main groups of DBP formed, and haloacetonitriles (HANs) were formed at lower concentrations. In contrast, the formation of iodinated THMs was <8 nM (1.7 μg/L) since most of initial I- was oxidized to iodate. Increasing initial Br- concentrations increased the formation of THMs and HANs, while concentrations of total organic halogen and HAA remained stable. On the contrary, total HAL concentrations decreased due to the instability of bromated HALs. Decreasing the specific UV absorbance (SUVA) value of AOM favours bromine substitution since bromine more preferentially reacts with low reactivity organic matter than chlorine. Increasing the pH enhanced the formation of THMs but decreased the formation of HANs. Concentrations of HANs and HALs decreased at high pH (e.g., 9.0), high initial chlorine concentration and long reaction time due to the decomposition. Based on the cytotoxicity calculations, unregulated HANs and HALs were the main contributors for the total toxicity of DBPs measured, even though based on the weight regulated THMs and HAAs predominated.
NUTRIENT-GENE INTERACTIONS | Molecular Aspects

The complete sequencing of the human genome has expanded our understanding of how gene expression influences our responses to nutrients. Numerous studies have elucidated important genetic signatures for nutrient-sensitive pathways and work is ongoing that will tell us how these pathways are genetically controlled. The purpose of this chapter is to describe how nutrients can affect the expression of a variety of genes. This area of nutrition research is especially active.
MECCA: a robust low-overhead PUF using embedded memory array

The generation of unique keys by Integrated Circuits (IC) has important applications in areas such as Intellectual Property (IP) counter-plagiarism and embedded security integration. To this end, Physical Unclonable Functions (PUF) have been proposed to build tamperresistant hardware by exploiting random process variations. Existing PUFs suffer from increased overhead to the original design due to their specific functions for generating unique keys and/or routing constraints. In this paper, we propose a novel memory-cell based PUF (MECCA PUF), which performs authentication by exploiting the intrinsic process variations in read/write reliability of cells in static memories. The reliability of cells is characterized after manufacturing by inducing temporal failures, such as write and access failures in the cells using a programmable word line duty cycle controller. Since most modern designs already have considerable amount of embedded memory, the proposed approach incurs very little overhead (<1%) compared to existing PUF designs. Simulation results for 1000 chips with 10% inter-die variations show that the PUF provides large choice of challenge-response pairs with high uniqueness (49.9% average inter-die Hamming distance) and excellent reproducibility (0.85% average intra-die Hamming distance).