cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Simultaneous Determination of Selenium and Mercury in Urine by HG-AFS

[Objective]To study the method of simultaneous determination the selenium and mercury in urine.[Methods] The amount of Selenium and Mercury in urine was determined by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometer (HG-AFS) and microwave assisted digestion.[Results]The minimum detection limit of the Se and Hg are 0.045 0μg/L and 0.009 8μg/L. The relative standard deviation are 3.45% and 3.08% respectively for Se and Hg.[Conclusion]The method is suitable for determining selenium and mercury in urine.
What Is Best Practice for Providing Pain Relief During Retinopathy of Prematurity Eye Examinations

Background Retinopathy of prematurity screenings is considered a painful procedure. Yet, preterm infants 30 weeks of gestation or less or weighing 1500 g or less or between 1500 and 2000 g or greater than 30 weeks of gestation with an unstable course are required to have these examinations until their eyes reach maturity. Purpose A systematic search of the literature was conducted to answer the question "For premature infants undergoing retinal eye examinations, what interventions are the most effective for pain reduction?" Methods/search strategy CINAHL Plus and MEDLINE were searched using the key words: retinopathy of prematurity and pain. The search was limited to the last 10 years and experimental or quasi-experimental studies attempting to reduce pain during eye examinations. Findings/results The search criteria yielded 14 studies that addressed interventions to decrease pain during examinations. Three strategies were noted for pain relief including nonpharmacological interventions (n = 9), topical anesthetics (n = 3), and examination techniques (n = 2). The findings indicate that these 3 strategies provided varying results for pain relief but could be beneficial if provided in a consistent protocol. Implications for practice Consequently, policies for pain management during retinopathy of prematurity examinations need to be used consistently. It is important for clinicians to consider using a combination of strategies that maximize comfort and provide pain relief. Implications for research There remains a need to continue to examine pain-relieving techniques for retinopathy of prematurity examinations. Further investigation is needed to evaluate effective strategies that mitigate pain and the pathways causing pain. In addition, investigating the clinical feasibility of examinations without speculum use may be worthwhile.
Abstract A30: In vitro transformation of human primary epithelial cells by Myc

The Myc/Max/Mad network plays a critical role in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Our previous data have shown that c-Myc is overexpressed in cervical cancer cell lines and that the HPV E6 oncoprotein in these cancer cells interacts with Myc both in vitro and in vivo. The consequence of these E6/Myc interactions results in the activation of telomerase and cell immortalization. Since the HPV E6/E7 genes cooperate to immortalize genital keratinocytes (both foreskin and cervical cells), we questioned whether Myc activation might be sufficient to replace E6 in cell immortalization. Our studies indicate that indeed Myc and E7 are sufficient to immortalize human genital keratinocytes. Surprisingly, the solitary transduction of Myc into cervical cells induced rapid cell death. These dying cells exhibited increased p53 expression and morphologic and biochemical characteristics of apoptosis. These results were also observed in human foreskin keratinocytes (when grown in commercially available, serum free medium) and suggest that the E7 protein counteracts the strong apoptotic activity of Myc. Myc-induced apoptosis in the genital keratinoctyes was observable as dramatic membrane blebbing. Since the Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, Y-27632, has previously been shown to inhibit apoptosis in dissociated, detached stem cells, we tested whether it would inhibit membrane blebbing in Myc-expressing keratinoctyes and whether this might permit the establishment of Myc-driven keratinocyte cell lines. Within minutes, Y-27632 inhibited blebbing of Myc-expressing keratinocytes and reduced cell detachment. This activity is independent of expression of p53, pRB, and hTERT. More important, the use of Y-27632 allowed us to generate keratainocyte cell lines that were driven by overexpression of Myc. Our data suggest that immortalization and cell proliferation by Myc and Y-27632 are largely due to inhibition of apoptosis. An outgrowth of these studies is that we have screened for inhibitors of Myc-driven immortalization and found that two different HDAC inhibitors were able to induce cell death, including in established cervical carcinoma cell lines, and that cell death is paralleled by the down-regulation of Myc. Citation Format: Aleksandra Dakic, Shuang Fang, Sujata Choudhury, Nancy Palechor-Ceron, Songtao Yu, Richard Schlegel, Xuefeng Liu. In vitro transformation of human primary epithelial cells by Myc. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Myc: From Biology to Therapy; Jan 7-10, 2015; La Jolla, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2015;13(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A30.
Fetal heart rate classification by non-parametric Bayesian methods

In this paper, we propose an application of non-parametric Bayesian (NPB) models to classification of fetal heart rate recordings. More specifically, the models are used to discriminate between fetal heart rate recordings that belong to fetuses that may have adverse asphyxia outcomes and those that are considered normal. In our work we rely on models based on hierarchical Dirichlet processes. Two mixture models were inferred from recordings that represent healthy and unhealthy fetuses, respectively. The models were then used to classify new recordings. We compared the classification performance of the NPB models with that of support vector machines on real data and concluded that the NPB models achieved better performance.
Design of a rare earth free external rotor permanent magnet assisted synchornous reluctance motor

This paper presents the design of a low-cost rare-earth free external rotor permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motor (EFa-SynRM) for traction motor applications. In recent design innovations, rare-earth free permanent magnet (PM) motors have been proposed as an alternative to the rare-earth based PM motors. However, rare-earth free PM motors exhibit lower power density, lower torque, lower efficiency, and higher prone to demagnetization issues. With proper design of flux barrier and PM shapes, the Fe PM based electric motor design can be optimized to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks. In this study, an optimal five-phase ferrite PM based EFa-SynRM is developed to achieve high power density and no demagnetization effect. Extensive finite element simulations are carried out to depict the higher average torque developed, lower torque pulsations, and higher efficiency. The proposed EFa-SynRM design has shown no demagnetization effect at three times of rated input current. A 3.7kW design prototype is fabricated and experimentally tested under no load conditions. Results are compared with a same size five-phase internal rotor 3kW Fa-SynRM.
Emergency Department Patient Experience: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Introduction:Patient experience with emergency department (ED) care is an expanding area of focus, and recent literature has demonstrated strong correlation between patient experience and meeting s...
Beyond knowledge: Examining digital literacy's role in the acquisition of understanding in science

Abstract Today's students must learn to be critical consumers of the digital learning technologies that are rapidly populating their world. Digital literacy is not an innate skill, and comprises more than facility using the Internet, word processing programs, or social media. Likewise, literacy itself has been redefined as the acquisition of not just knowledge, but also understanding including reasons and evidence for knowing. We wished to build upon Greene et al.'s (2014) research on the role of digital literacy when acquiring knowledge by conducting a similar study with a learning task focused on acquiring understanding. Using a similar single-group pretest-posttest correlational design with a larger sample of 53 college students but a different learning task focused on understanding, we found evidence of significant differences in digital literacy processing. In this study, participants engaged in more planning, monitoring, and epistemic cognition processing than participants in the previous study. Our findings have important implications for studying and promoting digital literacy, while also illustrating the importance of investing in resource-intensive work on differences in digital literacy processing across a variety of domains, contexts, and educational goals.
Gut microbiota varies by opioid use, circulating leptin and oxytocin in African American men with diabetes and high burden of chronic disease.

Objective The gut microbiota is known to be related to type 2 diabetes (T2D), psychiatric conditions, and opioid use. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that variability in gut microbiota in T2D is associated with psycho-metabolic health. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among African American men (AAM) (n = 99) that were outpatients at a Chicago VA Medical Center. The main outcome measures included fecal microbiota ecology (by 16S rRNA gene sequencing), psychiatric disorders including opioid use, and circulating leptin and oxytocin as representative hormone biomarkers for obesity and psychological pro-social behavior. Results The study subjects had prevalent overweight/obesity (78%), T2D (50%) and co-morbid psychiatric (65%) and opioid use (45%) disorders. In the analysis of microbiota, the data showed interactions of opioids, T2D and metformin with Bifidobacterium and Prevotella genera. The differential analysis of Bifidobacterium stratified by opioids, T2D and metformin, showed significant interactions among these factors indicating that the effect of one factor was changed by the other (FDR-adjusted p [q] < 0.01). In addition, the pair-wise comparison showed that participants with T2D not taking metformin had a significant 6.74 log2 fold increase in Bifidobacterium in opioid users as compared to non-users (q = 2.2 x 10−8). Since metformin was not included in this pair-wise comparison, the significant ‘q’ suggested association of opioid use with Bifidobacterium abundance. The differences in Bifidobacterium abundance could possibly be explained by opioids acting as organic cation transporter 1 (OCT1) inhibitors. Analysis stratified by lower and higher leptin and oxytocin (divided by the 50th percentile) in the subgroup without T2D showed lower Dialister in High-Leptin vs. Low-Leptin (p = 0.03). Contrary, the opposite was shown for oxytocin, higher Dialister in High-Oxytocin vs. Low-Oxytocin (p = 0.04). Conclusions The study demonstrated for the first time that Bifidobacterium and Prevotella abundance was affected by interactions of T2D, metformin and opioid use. Also, in subjects without T2D Dialister abundance varied according to circulating leptin and oxytocin.
Sediment accumulation and mixing in the Penobscot River and estuary, Maine

Mercury (Hg) was discharged in the late 1960s into the Penobscot River by the Holtra-Chem chlor-alkali production facility, which was in operation from 1967 to 2000. To assess the transport and distribution of total Hg, and recovery of the river and estuary system from Hg pollution, physical and radiochemical data were assembled from sediment cores collected from 58 of 72 coring stations sampled in 2009. These stations were located throughout the lower Penobscot River, and included four principal study regions, the Penobscot River (PBR), Mendall Marsh (MM), the Orland River (OR), and the Penobscot estuary (ES). To provide the geochronology required to evaluate sedimentary total Hg profiles, 58 of 72 sediment cores were dated using the atmospheric radionuclide tracers 137Cs, 210Pb, and 239,240Pu. Sediment cores were assessed for depths of mixing, and for the determination of sediment accumulation rates using both geochemical (total Hg) and radiochemical data. At most stations, evidence for significant vertical mixing, derived from profiles of 7Be (where possible) and porosity, was restricted to the upper ~1-3cm. Thus, historic profiles of both total Hg and radionuclides were only minimally distorted, allowing a reconstruction of their depositional history. The pulse input tracers 137Cs and 239,240Pu used to assess sediment accumulation rates agreed well, while the steady state tracer 210Pb exhibited weaker agreement, likely due to irregular lateral sediment inputs.
Prediction of Transition on Airfoils with Separation Bubbles, Swept Wings, and Bodies of Revolution at Incidence

A popular and useful method for predicting transition in incompressible and compressible flows is the so-called e n -method [299, 447] based on the solution of the Orr-Sommerfeld equation, which in dimensionless form is $$ {{\Phi }^{{iv}}} - 2({{\alpha }^{2}} + {{\beta }^{2}})\Phi '' + {{({{\alpha }^{2}} + {{\beta }^{2}})}^{2}}\Phi - iR(\alpha \bar{u} + \beta \bar{w} - \omega )[\Phi '' - ({{\alpha }^{2}} + {{\beta }^{2}})\Phi ] + iR(\alpha \bar{u}'' + \beta \bar{w}'')\Phi = 0 $$ (1) where all velocities and lengths are normalized by a reference velocity u 0 and length l and with the Reynolds number R defined by R = u 0 l/v.
N-Acetylaspartate and N-Acetylaspartylglutamate in Central Nervous System Health and Disease

N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) are related neurometabolites used in the diagnosis of a variety of CNS pathologies and neurological disorders. NAA is one of the most concentrated metabolites and NAAG is one of the most concentrated neuroactive peptides in the brain. NAA is best known as a neuronal integrity marker in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) studies where NAA represents the largest peak on spectrograms of healthy human brain. NAAG can also be detected by MRS. NAA and NAAG are present predominantly in neurons and therefore MRS can be used to noninvasively monitor neuronal health and viability by quantifying the levels of these metabolites. NAA and NAAG levels are changed in a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, and a growing body of evidence suggests that both of these related metabolites may have roles in mediating or modulating higher brain functions.
Androgen control of autoimmune expression in lacrimal glands of MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mice.

The purpose of the present study was to determine, by utilizing an animal model of Sjogren's syndrome, whether androgen therapy might ameliorate autoimmune sequelae in the lacrimal gland. Age-matched female MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mice were administered subcutaneous implants of placebo- or testosterone-containing pellets after the onset of disease. Lacrimal glands and, for comparison, submandibular glands were collected from sacrificed mice immediately prior to androgen administration and following 17 and 34 days of maintained hormone exposure. Tissues were processed for light microscopy and examined with a computer-assisted image analysis system. Results demonstrated that testosterone exposure dramatically reduced lymphocyte infiltration in lacrimal tissue: following 34 days of treatment, the percentage infiltrate had undergone a 12-fold decrease. This hormone action, which was time dependent, involved significant abrogations in both infiltrate size and number. Testosterone administration also induced a significant 2- to 3-fold rise in lacrimal gland weight and acinar area and a 2-fold reduction in acinar density/field, compared to values in placebo-treated controls. In addition, androgen administration significantly decreased the magnitude of lymphocyte infiltration in submandibular glands. Overall, our findings demonstrate that androgen therapy may reverse autoimmune sequelae in lacrimal, as well as submandibular, glands in a mouse model of Sjogren's syndrome.
Getting past the gender gap in political ambition

Abstract Women's under-representation in politics is an empirical fact. The U.S. ranks 102nd in the world in the percentage of women serving in the national legislature. A leading explanation is the persistence of a substantial gender gap in political ambition. Research explaining the gender gap in political ambition has focused primarily on factors such as self-assessed qualifications, risk aversion, and competitiveness. We make two advances on the existing literature: first, we examine the extent of the gender gap in political ambition using a discrete elicitation measure that provides a more precise measurement of the degree to which women and men exhibit electoral aversion. Second, we test three recruitment appeals - a leadership message, community service message, and qualifications message - to determine which type of appeal could reduce or eliminate the gender gap in political ambition. Our results, based on a laboratory experiment, confirm that women are less interested than men in standing for elective office. However, we also find that while women are less willing to enter an election, women are not unwilling to run for election. We conclude that women's lack of interest is not as definitive as prior research may have suggested. In terms of recruitment, all three messages significantly boost women's willingness to run in the election. Notably, though, the message describing running for office as a collective endeavor to help serve the community actually reduces men's willingness to enter the election, closing the gap in ambition.
Homicidal Ecologies: Illicit Economies and Complicit States in Latin America

Why has violence spiked in Latin America's contemporary democracies? What explains its temporal and spatial variation? Analyzing the region's uneven homicide levels, this book maps out a theoretical agenda focusing on three intersecting factors: the changing geography of transnational illicit political economies; the varied capacity and complicity of state institutions tasked with providing law and order; and organizational competition to control illicit territorial enclaves. These three factors inform the emergence of 'homicidal ecologies' (subnational regions most susceptible to violence) in Latin America. After focusing on the contemporary causes of homicidal violence, the book analyzes the comparative historical origins of weak and complicit public security forces and the rare moments in which successful institutional reform takes place. Regional trends in Latin America are evaluated, followed by original case studies of Central America, which claims among the highest homicide rates in the world.
Incubation of discriminative stimulus-controlled cocaine craving: An animal model relevant to relapse prevention

Abstract In abstinent drug addicts, cues formerly associated with drug-taking experiences gain relapse-inducing potency (“incubate”) over time. Animal models of incubation may help develop treatments to prevent relapse, but these models have ubiquitously focused on the role of conditioned stimuli (CSs) signaling drug delivery. From a translational perspective this is problematic because people encounter these stimuli only during or after relapse. For this reason, incubation in response to discriminative stimuli (DSs) that signal drug availability before relapse, not yet examined in preclinical studies, could be more relevant to relapse prevention. We trained rats to self-administer cocaine (or palatable food) under DS control, then investigated DS-controlled incubation of craving, in the absence of drug-paired CSs. DS-controlled cocaine (but not palatable food) seeking incubated over 60 days of abstinence and persisted up to 300 days. Understanding the neural mechanisms of this DS-controlled incubation holds significant promise for drug relapse treatments.
Response of Models to Water-Shock Loading

The dynamic response of submerged models to a point-source type of impulsive water-shock loading was investigated. A study of this response yields insight into shock wave propagation in solids and the mechanism of failure caused by the transient water-shock load. The effect of the transmitted compression shock waves on plaster and concrete materials was studied theoretically and experimentally. Underwater-shock waves were created by using a submerged exploding wire in a contained environment. The pressure-time relationships of water-shock waves, the transmitted stress-time relationships in solid materials, and the displacement data were measured. Test results confirmed a theoretical analysis of stress propagation in solid materials and fracture behavior.
Diversification of the Ig variable region gene repertoire of synovial B lymphocytes by nucleotide insertion and deletion.

Although the changes that occur in Ig V region genes during a B lymphocyte’s response to antigen usually result from point mutations, nucleotide insertion and deletion also alter gene sequence. We identified nucleotide insertions and deletions (3 to 12 bp) at a frequency of 1.34%, in Ig V gene cDNA from B lymphocytes residing in the synovial tissues of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Because the added or lost nucleotides occurred in multiples of 3, they maintained the original reading frame and coded a potentially intact receptor. These V gene modifications were generated somatically, because they were identified in the original cDNA by HCDR3-specific polymerase chain reaction and were not found in other B cells using the same VH genes. Insertions and deletions were detected only in IgG+ and IgA+ transcripts, which exhibited 3 times more point mutations than IgM+ transcripts. In addition, they were usually found in the complementarity determining region, typical targets of somatic mutation. The occurrence of insertion/deletion in isotype-switched cDNA with higher numbers of V gene mutations that localized to hot spots for V gene mutation suggests that these diversification events were related to the somatic hypermutation process. In support of this, an AGY hot spot motif and a short stretch of DNA similar in sequence to the inserted or deleted segments could be found next to the insertions/deletions, suggesting that these modifications arose from DNA duplication following DNA stand breaks. Thus, nucleotide insertion/deletion can lead to B-cell receptor diversification in B lymphocytes that clonally expand in synovial tissues of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Transmission of Dental Fear from Parent to Adolescent in an Appalachian Sample in the USA

BACKGROUND Dental fear/anxiety is associated with numerous negative outcomes. State dental fear is known to be transmitted from parents to their children in the dental setting, but it is not known how trait fear/anxiety might be shared between parents and offspring long term, and especially for adolescents. AIM This study aimed to: (a) compare dental fear levels of adolescents and their parents; (b) predict adolescent dental fear based on demographic variables, fear of pain, and parental dental fear; and, (c) determine relative contributions of mothers' and fathers' dental fear to adolescent fear. DESIGN In this cross-sectional study, the Dental Fear Survey and Fear of Pain Questionnaire-9 were administered to 350 adolescents (age range 11-17) and 515 of their parents, with t test and ANOVA used to calculate between-group differences; multiple linear regression was used to predict adolescent fear from parent fear. RESULTS Adolescents' dental fear was predicted by their own fear of pain and their parents' dental fear, but not their parents' fear of pain nor their own age or gender. When considered together, fathers' but not mothers' dental fear predicted adolescents' dental fear. CONCLUSIONS Parents' fears/anxieties about dentistry are associated with adolescents' dental fear in a manner suggestive of intergenerational transmission.
Neural networks with block diagonal inner product layers: a look at neural network architecture through the lens of random matrices

Two difficulties continue to burden deep learning researchers and users: (1) neural networks are cumbersome tools, and (2) the activity of the fully connected (FC) layers remains mysterious. We make contributions to these two issues by considering a modified version of the FC layer we call a block diagonal inner product (BDIP) layer. These modified layers have weight matrices that are block diagonal, turning a single FC layer into a set of densely connected neuron groups; they can be achieved by either initializing a purely block diagonal weight matrix or by iteratively pruning off-diagonal block entries. This idea is a natural extension of group, or depthwise separable, convolutional layers. This method condenses network storage and speeds up the run time without significant adverse effect on the testing accuracy, addressing the first problem. Looking at the distribution of the weights through training when varying the number of blocks in a layer gives insight into the second problem. We observe that, even after thousands of training iterations, inner product layers have singular value distributions that resemble that of truly random matrices with iid entries and that each block in a BDIP layer behaves like a smaller copy. For network architectures differing only by the number of blocks in one inner product layer, the ratio of the variance of the weights remains approximately constant for thousands of iterations, that is, the relationship in structure is preserved in the parameter distribution.
Phenological synchrony shapes pathology in host-parasite systems.

A key challenge surrounding ongoing climate shifts is to identify how they alter species interactions, including those between hosts and parasites. Because transmission often occurs during critical...
Removing contaminants from transferred CVD graphene

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is among the most utilized techniques to fabricate single-layer graphene on a large substrate. However, the substrate is limited to very few transition metals like copper. On the other hand, many applications involving graphene require technologically relevant substrates like semiconductors and metal oxide, and therefore, a subsequent process is often needed to transfer CVD to the new substrate. As graphene is fragile, a supporting material such as a polymer film, is introduced during the transfer process. This brings unexpected challenges, the biggest of which is the complete removal of this support material without contaminating graphene. Numerous methods have been developed, each having advantages and drawbacks. This review will first introduce the classic transfer method using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as the support material. The operating procedure and issues of PMMA residuals will be discussed. Methods to minimize/eliminate contamination will be presented, together with alternative approaches that do not require the use of PMMA.
Associations Between Spirituality, Mindfulness, and Psychological Symptoms Among Advanced Lung Cancer Patients and Their Spousal Caregivers.

Abstract Context Patients with metastatic lung cancer and their spousal caregivers are at high risk of psychological symptoms. Mindfulness may improve psychological symptoms via spiritual well-being (SW); yet, this mediation model has not been examined in a dyadic context. Objectives We examined the mediating role of two dimensions of SW (meaning/peace and faith) in the mindfulness-symptoms link in Stage IV lung cancer patients and their spousal caregivers. Methods We examined the actor-partner interdependence model of mediation using multivariate multilevel modeling with 78 couples. Four actor-partner interdependence model of mediation analyses were conducted to examine one predictor (mindfulness) × two mediators (meaning/peace and faith) × two psychological symptoms (depressive symptoms and cancer distress). We also tested four alternative models in which mindfulness mediates the associations between SW and psychological symptoms. Results The alternative model (SW → mindfulness → psychological symptoms) was preferred than the original model (mindfulness → SW → psychological symptoms). For patients, meaning/peace was directly associated with their own psychological symptoms, whereas faith was only indirectly associated with their own psychological symptoms via mindfulness. For spouses, meaning/peace was both directly and indirectly associated with their own psychological symptoms, whereas faith was only directly associated with their own depressive symptoms (but not cancer distress). Moreover, spouses' faith was indirectly associated with patients' psychological symptoms through patients' mindfulness. Conclusion SW is associated with patients' and spouses' psychological symptoms both directly and indirectly through mindfulness. Thus, interventions that target SW, particularly meaning and peace, along with mindfulness may be beneficial to the psychological management of patients facing a terminal disease and their spousal caregivers.
Kawasaki Disease and Kawasaki Disease Shock Syndrome Hospitalization Rates in the United States, 2006-2018.

BACKGROUND Kawasaki disease (KD) is a febrile illness of unknown etiology. Patients with Kawasaki disease shock syndrome (KDSS) may present with clinical signs of poor perfusion and systolic hypotension in addition to typical KD features. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzes and interprets large hospitalization databases as a mechanism for conducting national KD surveillance. METHODS The Kids' Inpatient Database (KID), the National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample (NIS), and the IBM MarketScan Commercial (MSC) and MarketScan Medicaid (MSM) databases were analyzed to determine KD-associated hospitalization rates and trends from 2006 to the most recent year of available data. KD and potential KDSS hospitalizations were defined using International Classification of Disease-Clinical Modification codes. RESULTS For the most recent year, the KD-associated hospitalization rates for children <5 years of age were 19.8 (95% CI: 17.2-22.3, KID: 2016), 19.6 (95% CI: 16.8-22.4, NIS: 2017), 19.3 (MSC: 2018), and 18.4 (MSM: 2018) per 100,000. There was no indication of an increase in KD rates over the time period. Rates of potential KDSS among children <18 years of age, ranging from 0.0 to 0.7 per 100,000, increased; coding indicated potential KDSS for approximately 2.8%-5.3% of KD hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS Analyses of these large, national databases produced consistent KD-associated hospitalization rates, with no increase over time detected; however, the percentage of KD hospitalizations with potential KDSS increased. Given reports of increasing incidence elsewhere and the recent identification of a novel virus-associated syndrome with possible Kawasaki-like features, continued national surveillance is important to detect changes in disease epidemiology.
Acute Bilateral Apraxia of Eyelid Closure (AEC) Following Bilateral Subcortical Frontal Infarctions-Case Report (P3.250)

Objective: N/A Background: Apraxia of eyelid closure (AEC) is impaired voluntary eye closure with normal language comprehension and level of alertness, and absent ocular pathology. It has been previously reported in progressive supranuclear palsy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease, and following non-dominant hemisphere strokes. Design/Methods: N/A Results: A 90-year-old right handed man was admitted for failure to thrive. He had a past medical history significant for aortic stenosis status post transcatheter aortic valve replacement 9 months prior to presentation. Hospital course was complicated by enterococcus faecalis bacteremia from an unknown source. Several days after starting intravenous antibiotics, he became difficult to arouse. MRI brain was remarkable for multiple subcortical punctate acute infarctions in the right frontal and temporal-occipital lobes, as well as the left frontal lobe, concerning for a cardioembolic source. The neurological exam was remarkable for a left facial droop and left sided hemiplegia. Patient was able to follow axial and appendicular commands but he was unable to voluntarily close his eyes despite effort and intact comprehension. He could, however, maintain eye closure once manually closed and his eyes were closed during sleep. He was also able to close his eyes in response to perceived threats and with spontaneous blinking, and to open his eyes on command. The remainder of the cranial nerve exam was normal. There was no apraxia with other tasks. Transthoracic echocardiogram was positive for aortic valve vegetations making septic emboli the most likely etiology of his multifocal storke Conclusions: AEC can result from disconnection between the primary and secondary motor cortices secondary to a lesion in the corona radiata. Our case is unique in that it was an acute manifestation of bilateral AEC in the setting of bilateral subcortical frontal infarcts. AEC may be an under-recognized sign in hospitalized patients with subcortical frontal infarcts Study Supported by: N/A Disclosure: Dr. Almallouhi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Dale has nothing to disclose.
Taijiquan as a way of life: The philosophy of Cheng Man-ch’ing

Cheng Man-ch’ing (1901–1975) is as responsible as anyone for the wide popularity of taijiquan in the West. While his stature as a master and teacher of taijiquan is legendary, he is less well-known...
Characterization of T7-specific ribonucleic acid polymerase. 1. General properties of the enzymatic reaction and the template specificity of the enzyme.

The biochemical properties and template specificity of the T7 phage-specific DNA-dependent RNA polymerase have been studied. The enzyme shows the same absolute requirements for DNA, nucleoside triphosphates, and a divalent metal ion as are found for bacterial RNA polymerases, however, the conditions for optimal RNA synthesis are somewhat different. The T7 RNA polymerase initiates T7 RNA chains rapidly with GTP; each enzyme molecule can initiate several T7 RNA chains in the course of the reaction. Hence, an efficient termination mechanism is present in the in vitro system. Of the helical DNAs tested, only T7 DNA, T3 DNA, and salmon sperm DNA have appreciable template activity with T7 RNA polymerase. A variety of single-stranded and denatured DNAs support RNA synthesis but at a reduced rate. Of the helical synthetic polynucleotides tested only d(I)n·d(C)n and d(G)n·d(C)n were active; both support the synthesis of poly[r(G)]. In contrast, both single-stranded poly[d(C)] and poly[d(T)] served as templates. It is suggested that T7 RNA polymerase requires a specific promoter site on DNA for effective transcription; this site is different from that used by bacterial RNA polymerase and may be rich in cytosine and thymidine residues.
EFFECT OF HEIGHT OF THE HEEL UPON THE FOOT

Abstract The effect of high heels upon the longitudinal arch was studied in 25 women. At the end of the day the height of the arch increased by .4 cm. After wearing low heels the heights of the arch decreased .3 cm. Both changes were statistically significant beyond the .01 level of confidence.
Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases

Cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity plays an important role in cellular function. A variety of cellular activities are regulated through mechanisms controlling the level of cyclic AMP or cyclic GMP. These mechanisms include synthesis, degradation, efflux, and sequestration of cyclic nucleotides within the cell. Hydrolysis by phosphodiesterase is the unique mechanism for the degradation of the cyclic nucleotides. Despite their ubiquitous occurrence in biological systems, the cyclic nucleotides are not known to be substrates for any other enzymatic reaction.
Identifying the pregnancy at risk for intrauterine growth retardation: Possible usefulness of the intravenous glucose tolerance test

Antenatal detection of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) remains problematic. Previous animal and human studies have documented a relationship between increased substrate delivery to the fetus, e.g., in diabetes mellitus, and the birth of large-for-gestational age infants. The purpose of the study of 55 pregnancies, in which intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTTs) were performed during the third trimester, was to examine the hypothesis that evidence of decreased availability of substrates for fetal growth precedes the birth of small-for-gestational age (SGA) infants; hence, the IVGTT might be useful for the detection of pregnancies complicated by IUGR. Increased glucose utilization rates (kt) and 10-minute plasma glucose concentrations and decreased plasma glucose concentrations at fasting and 60 minutes were found to be significantly associated with decreased infant birth weight, adjusted for gestational age. The Kt and 10- and 60-minute glucose values together could account for 40% of the variance in age-adjusted birth weight (r = 0.63, p less than 0.01). The IVGTTs in the pregnancies resulting in the birth of SGA infants were characterized by kt greater than 2 and plasma glucose levels at fasting of less than 64 mg/dl, at 10 minutes of greater than 193 mg/dl, and at 60 minutes of less than 82 mg/dl. When the kt was greater than 2, six (30%) of 20 infants were SGA; when the kt was less than or equal to 2, none (0%) of the 35 infants was SGA. These results suggest that, regardless of the underlying reason for the association, parameters of maternal glucose metabolism may be useful in detecting the pregnancy at risk for IUGR.
The objects interaction matrix for modeling cardinal directions in spatial databases

Besides topological relations and approximate relations, cardinal directions have turned out to be an important class of qualitative spatial relations. In spatial databases and GIS they are frequently used as selection criteria in spatial queries. But the available models of cardinal relations suffer from a number of problems like the unequal treatment of the two spatial objects as arguments of a cardinal direction relation, the use of too coarse approximations of the two spatial operand objects in terms of single representative points or minimum bounding rectangles, the lacking property of converseness of the cardinal directions computed, the partial restriction and limited applicability to simple spatial objects only, and the computation of incorrect results in some cases. This paper proposes a novel two-phase method that solves these problems and consists of a tiling phase and an interpretation phase. In the first phase, a tiling strategy first determines the zones belonging to the nine cardinal directions of each spatial object and then intersects them. The result leads to a bounded grid called objects interaction grid. For each grid cell the information about the spatial objects that intersect it is stored in an objects interaction matrix. In the second phase, an interpretation method is applied to such a matrix and determines the cardinal direction. These results are integrated into spatial queries using directional predicates.
Proton dose approximation in arbitrary convex geometry

An expansion is derived for the solution to the transport equation in two dimensions subject to boundary conditions given for an arbitrary convex region. Questions of high-energy transport are considered along with the properties of the dose response function. The expansion of the solution of the transport equation is presented in terms of a parameter which measures the lateral dispersion of an unidirectional beam. This parameter is usually small and the expansion is expected to converge rapidly. The dominant term in the expansion is related to fluence-to-dose conversion factors in a semiinfinite slab for normal incidence. A convenient parameterization of the conversion factors is provided along with numerical examples.
Millimeter and Optical Observations of Translucent Molecular Clouds

Translucent molecular clouds with total visual extinctions A V tot ≈2−5 mag are of interest because they occupy the middle ground of parameter space between the classical diffuse molecular clouds, such as the ζ Oph cloud (A V tot ≈1 mag), and the dark clouds, such as TMC-1 (A V tot ≥10 mag). They have the advantage that they can be studied both by millimeter emission line techniques, as well as by optical absorption line observations, provided that there is a bright star located behind the cloud. The high-latitude molecular clouds fall into the same category.
The Budapest Memorandum and Russia's intervention in Ukraine

Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States extended security assurances to Ukraine in December 1994 in an agreement that became known as the Budapest Memorandum. This agreement was part of a package of arrangements whereby Ukraine transferred the Soviet-made nuclear weapons on its territory to Russia and acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as a non-nuclear weapon state (NNWS). Russia's violations of the Budapest Memorandum, notably its annexation of Crimea, could have far-reaching implications for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament because of the questions that Russia's behaviour has raised about the reliability of major-power security assurances for NNWS parties to the NPT. Doubts about the reliability of such assurances could create incentives to initiate, retain or accelerate national nuclear weapons programs. Moreover, because the Budapest Memorandum included restatements of UN Charter provisions and principles articulated in the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, Russia's disregard for the Budapest Memorandum has raised fundamental questions about the future of international order. The Russians have demonstrated that, despite economic sanctions and international condemnation, they are prepared to disregard longstanding legal and political norms, including those expressed in the Budapest Memorandum, in pursuit of strategic and economic advantages and the fulfilment of national identity goals. Unless Russia reverses its dangerous course, the fate of the Budapest Memorandum may in retrospect stand out as a landmark in the breakdown of international order.
Measurement of dynamic material behavior under nearly uniaxial strain conditions

Abstract The conventional Kolsky apparatus (split Hopkinson pressure bar), normally used to obtain dynamic material behavior in uniaxial stress, has been modified to provide conditions approaching uniaxial strain. The modification consists of a massive steel collar which surrounds the disk-shaped specimen and suppresses its radial motion. The collar is composed of two concentric steel cylinders, each 160 mm long; an outer thick-waited jacket of low-carbon steel with an OD of 200 mm and a wall thickness of 75 mm; and an inner liner of AT-300 maraging steel which is press-fitted into the jacket. The ID of the liner is nominally 38 mm, and is slightly flared to allow easy insertion of the specimen. Very close tolerances are maintained between the liner minimum diameter and the specimen diameter; differences in liner and specimen diameters normally do not exceed 2.5 μm. For testing purposes, the specimen is first inserted in the collar and then the specimen/collar assembly is placed between the input and output ban of the Kolsky apparatus. A bell-shaped stress pulse of approximately 40 μs duration and 1.28 GPa amplitude is propagated along the input bar, and a portion of this pulse is transmitted through the specimen into the output bar. Records of strain histories are taken on the input and output bars as well as on the outside of the collar. Data reduction utilizes the conventional Kolsky formulas for the determination of axial stress and strain histories in the specimen, and a supplementary equation has been developed to calculate the radial stress history for ductile metallic specimens. Tests were conducted on both metallic and nonmetallic materials. In the former category, three different aluminum alloys—3003 (as machined or annealed), 2024-T351 and 6061-T651 and oxygen-free copper were tested. Comparisons were made with static test results for these same materials. It was found that the collar provides considerable restraint against radial motion, with an effective modulus of approximately 280 GPa. Significant differences were found between the static and dynamic curves in spite of the fact that loading configurations were identical for both sets of tests. The differences are attributed to strain rate effects, low-temperature creep and differences in the dynamic and static stress histories. Similar trends were observed for dynamic and static measurements made with the collar removed (nearly uniaxial stress condition). In the non-metallic material category, Scotchply, syntactic foam and polypropylene panels were tested. In each case, dramatic differences between stalk and dynamic behavior of die unconstrained specimens were observed, while the constrained specimens exhibited little or even apparent reverse strain-rate effects.
Cytochrome b5 involvement in cytochrome P450 monooxygenase activities in house fly microsomes

The involvement of cytochrome b5 in different cytochrome P450 monooxygenase and palmitoyl CoA desaturase activities in microsomes from insecticide-resistant (LPR) house flies was determined using a specific polyclonal antiserum developed against house fly cytochrome b5. Anti-b5 antiserum inhibited the reduction of cytochrome b5 by NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase. The antiserum also inhibited palmitoyl CoA desaturase, methoxycoumarin-O-demethylase (MCOD), ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase (ECOD), and benzo[a]pyrene hydroxylase (aromatic hydrocarbon hydroxylase, AHH) activities. However, methoxyresorufin-O-demethylase (MROD) and ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activities were not affected by this antiserum. These results demonstrate that cytochrome b5 is involved in fatty acyl CoA desaturase activities and in certain cytochrome P450 monooxygenase activities (i.e., MCOD, ECOD, and AHH) in LPR house fly microsomes. Other cytochrome P450 monooxygenase activities (i.e., MROD and EROD) may not require cytochrome b5. The results suggest that cytochrome b5 involvement with cytochrome P450 monooxygenase activities is dependent upon the cytochrome P450 isoform involved.
Coal company valuation, production and reserves

The primary determinants of the value of a coal company are its cash flows and earnings, which is dependent upon the quantity and quality of the coal it produces and coal selling prices; future production potential, which is described by its reserves; and its inventory of capital assets, mining equipment, infrastructure, and acreage. The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between the factors that determine company value for a cross-section of publicly traded North American coal companies for the year ending 2010. We review the consolidation trends of North American companies and the factors that impact company value. Companies vary in the size of their reserves and production, earnings, number and type of mines, use of technology and automation, areas of operation, sales markets, degree of diversification, and financial structure. We construct regression models for US and Canadian coal companies according to production, reserves, financial structure, and coal selling price. We show that reserves and assets are strong indicators of market capitalisation and enterprise value. Large producers exhibit a robust correlation between production and reserves, and small companies trade at a premium relative to large producers. We infer effective enterprise value and market cap for a sample of private companies.