cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Protocolo de la disnea en la miopatía inflamatoria

Resumen Introduccion Las miopatias inflamatorias (MI) son un conjunto de enfermedades de naturaleza autoinmune que afectan fundamentalmente al musculo, al pulmon y a la piel. Caracteristicas La enfermedad pulmonar intersticial (EPI) es la afectacion pulmonar mas caracteristica de estos pacientes y una de las manifestaciones de la enfermedad que mas morbimortalidad ocasiona. Ademas de EPI, estos pacientes pueden presentar sintomas respiratorios secundarios a afectacion pleural (derrame pleural, neumomediastino o neumotorax), hipertension pulmonar, infecciones por diversos microorganismos o neumonitis inducida por los farmacos inmunodepresores que se emplean en el tratamiento de la MI. Evolucion El riesgo de desarrollar EPI y la evolucion de la misma se asocian en gran medida al tipo de autoanticuerpo que presente el paciente, por lo que su deteccion tiene valor no solo diagnostico sino tambien pronostico. Diagnostico Aparte de los autoanticuerpos, en un paciente con MI y disnea las dos pruebas diagnosticas mas utiles son la tomografia computarizada de alta resolucion y las pruebas funcionales respiratorias. Tratamiento El tratamiento de la EPI en estos pacientes se basa en los glucocorticoides, acompanados de otros farmacos inmunodepresores adyuvantes como azatioprina, micofenolato, ciclosporina A, tacrolimus, rituximab o ciclofosfamida.
Where are They from and How Far Must They Go? Examining Location and Travel Distance in U.S. Abortion Fund Patients

ABSTRACTThe current study examines a secondary data analysis of 3,452 administrative cases from a national abortion fund representing patients who received pledges for financial assistance to pay for an abortion from 2010 to 2015 in the United States, where abortion costs are not covered under federal public health programs. Case data were analyzed to assess patients' geographic origin, and whether or not cases were more likely to originate from states with Medicaid and private insurance restrictions. The anticipated travel distance to the provider and whether or not travel distances had been increasing over time were also examined. Results indicate that the majority of pledges are made to residents of the South, Midwest, states without expanded Medicaid access to abortion, and states that have private insurance restrictions on abortion coverage. Results further indicate that those who receive funding pledges anticipated traveling approximately 225 kilometers (140 miles) on average to access the abortion....
Midkine’s Role in Cardiac Pathology

Midkine (MDK) is a heparin-binding growth factor that is normally expressed in mid-gestational development mediating mesenchymal and epithelial interactions. As organisms age, expression of MDK diminishes; however, in adults, MDK expression is associated with acute and chronic pathologic conditions such as myocardial infarction and heart failure (HF). The role of MDK is not clear in cardiovascular disease and currently there is no consensus if it plays a beneficial or detrimental role in HF. The lack of clarity in the literature is exacerbated by differing roles that circulating and myocardial MDK play in signaling pathways in cardiomyocytes (some of which have yet to be elucidated). Of particular interest, serum MDK is elevated in adults with chronic heart failure and higher circulating MDK is associated with worse cardiac function. In addition, pediatric HF patients have higher levels of myocardial MDK. This review focuses on what is known about the effect of exogenous versus myocardial MDK in various cardiac disease models in an effort to better clarify the role of midkine in HF.
Possible paracrine facilitation of ventricular growth in oculo by atrial tissue

Load-independent growth controls were investigated in embryonic atria and ventricles cultured in the anterior eye chamber of adult rats. At embryonic day 12, the mass of atria was half that of ventricles (0.11 vs. 0.24 mg), whereas after 8 wk in oculo, atrial grafts were threefold larger than ventricular grafts (2.26 +/- 0.36 vs. 0.69 +/- 0.16 mg). To examine possible paracrine communication between atria and ventricles, two grafts were cocultured in the same eye chamber. Atrial grafts cocultured with either another atrial graft or a ventricular graft did not differ in projected area or mass from atrial grafts cultured alone. Ventricular grafts cocultured with another ventricular graft did not differ in projected area or mass from ventricular grafts cultured alone. However, ventricular grafts cocultured with an atrial graft grew larger than single ventricular grafts. At 1 wk in oculo, DNA synthesis (bromodeoxyuridine incorporation) was higher in ventricular grafts cocultured with atrial grafts than in single ventricular grafts (6.84 +/- 0.88 vs. 4.40 +/- 0.10%). Thus atria may stimulate growth, including DNA synthesis, in developing ventricles via a paracrine mechanism.
Viability of Escherichia coli O157:H7 during Manufacturing and Storage of a Fermented, Semidry Soudjouk-Style Sausage

Soudjouk-style batter was inoculated with a five-strain mixture of Escherichia coli O157:H7 at about 7.6 log10 CFU/g in each of two trials. The sticks were fermented and dried at 22°C and 50% relative humidity (RH) for 3 days and then at 9°C and 40% RH for 18 h. After being flattened to about 1.25 cm, the sticks were conditioned at 38°C and 70% RH or at 22°C and 50% RH for about 3 days. After the latter conditioning treatment, sticks either were cooked to an internal temperature of 63°C or received no heat treatment. Final mean pH values after conditioning at 22°C and 50% RH for soudjouk manufactured with a starter culture and dextrose (1.0%) and for soudjouk manufactured without a starter culture were about 4.9 and 6.0, respectively. For soudjouk produced with a starter culture, pathogen numbers were reduced by 4.53 and 0.88 log10 CFU/g after conditioning at 38°C and 70% RH and at 22°C and 50% RH, respectively. For soudjouk produced via natural fermentation, pathogen numbers were reduced by 1.39 and 0.09...
The Citizens United Gambit in Corporate Theory: A Reply to Bainbridge on Strine and Walter

In a forthcoming article, Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court Leo Strine and Nicholas Walter contribute to a growing chorus of analysts insisting that the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC (2010) undermines the viability of the shareholder primacy norm in corporate theory. Professor Stephen Bainbridge has published a critique of Strine and Walter’s argument. In this brief essay, I criticize Bainbridge’s critique, and argue that the Citizens United gambit in corporate theory is indeed a compelling challenge to shareholder primacy theory.
On the Adversarial Robustness of Multivariate Robust Estimation.

In this paper, we investigate the adversarial robustness of multivariate $M$-Estimators. In the considered model, after observing the whole dataset, an adversary can modify all data points with the goal of maximizing inference errors. We use adversarial influence function (AIF) to measure the asymptotic rate at which the adversary can change the inference result. We first characterize the adversary's optimal modification strategy and its corresponding AIF. From the defender's perspective, we would like to design an estimator that has a small AIF. For the case of joint location and scale estimation problem, we characterize the optimal $M$-estimator that has the smallest AIF. We further identify a tradeoff between robustness against adversarial modifications and robustness against outliers, and derive the optimal $M$-estimator that achieves the best tradeoff.
USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS FOR OPTIMAL DESIGN OF AXIALLY LOADED NON-PRISMATIC COLUMNS

This paper presents a method for optimizing the design of axially loaded non-prismatic columns using genetic algorithms (GAs). The design problem was formulated as an optimization problem in which the objective function is to minimize the volume of a column under a given load by changing its shape, subject to both buckling and strength constraints. Both floating point representation and binary representation (with and without Gray coding) were used and compared against a mathematical programming method based on the generalized reduced gradient method. Our results show that the floating point representation scheme provides the best solutions, both in terms of precision and in terms of computing time. This problem is of great interest in engineering, since considerable savings can be achieved due to the effective use of material through the optimal shape of a column, mainly for mass production.
Influencing MNC strategies for managing corruption and favouritism in Pacific Asia countries: a multiple-theory configurational perspective

ABSTRACTThe research gap addressed here concerns how to encourage multinational corporations (MNCs) to combat corruption and favouritism. This study’s rationale is that MNCs can have a highly influ...
Transdisciplinary Engagement with Enforced Dependency: A Platform for Higher Education to Address Crises in Employment, Sustainability, and Democracy in Technological Society

With continued development of artificial intelligence, increasing technological displacement of human labor is a concern for, not only low-skilled laborers who complete routine tasks, but professionals whose thinking and reasoning work has been assumed by many to be irreplaceable. Within the broad context of current and emerging crises of employment, sustainability, and democracy, the author considers to what extent and for which purposes artificial intelligence might be deployed in coming decades in the workplace and in community and civic life. These considerations inform the author’s recommendations for essential and enduring higher education content and processes aimed at fostering opportunities for graduates to secure and maintain meaningful livelihoods while also contributing to the long-term health and integrity of their communities and the natural world.
On the Origin of Intraoperative Pressure Injury: An Angiosomal Theory of Pressure Injury Formation

We review a case of a 22-year-old healthy man who underwent a 5-h maxillofacial surgery while continuously supine with foam pads placed prophylactically over elevated heels. Immediately after surge...
Intraoperative renal resistive index threshold as an acute kidney injury biomarker.

Abstract Study objective The lag in creatinine-mediated diagnosis of cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) may be impeding the development of renoprotection therapies. Postoperative renal resistive index (RRI) measured by transabdominal Doppler ultrasound is a promising early AKI biomarker. RRI measured intraoperatively by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is available even earlier but is less evaluated. Therefore, we conducted an assessment of intraoperative RRI as an AKI biomarker using previously reported post-renal insult thresholds. Design Retrospective convenience sample. Setting Intraoperative. Patients 180 adult cardiac surgical patients between July 2013 and July 2014. Intervention None. Measurements Pre- and post-cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) RRI thresholds, measured using intraoperative TEE, exceeding 0.74 or 0.79 were used to evaluate for an association with KDIGO AKI risk using the Chi-square test. Other consensus AKI criteria (AKIN, RIFLE) were similarly evaluated. Additional t-test analyses examined the relationship of pre- and pre-to-post (delta) CPB RRI with AKI. Main results Post-CPB RRI for 99 patients included 36 and 23 with values exceeding 0.74 and 0.79, respectively. Analyses confirmed associations of both RRI thresholds with all consensus AKI definitions (0.74; KDIGO: p = 0.05, AKIN: p = 0.03, RIFLE: p = 0.03, 0.79; KDIGO: p = 0.002, AKIN: p = 0.001, RIFLE: p = 0.004). In contrast, pre-CPB and pre-to post-CPB RRI were not associated with AKI. Conclusions RRI obtained intraoperatively in cardiac surgery patients, assessed using previously reported thresholds, is highly associated with AKI and warrants further evaluation as a promising “earliest” AKI biomarker. These significant findings suggest that RRI assessment should be included in the standard intraoperative TEE exam.
Racial Differences in the Oral Microbiome: Data from Low-Income Populations of African Ancestry and European Ancestry.

ABSTRACT Increasing evidence indicates the significant racial difference in gut, vaginal, and skin microbiomes. However, little is known regarding the racial difference in the oral microbiome. In this study, deep sequencing of 16S rRNA genes was utilized to assess the oral microbiome in mouth rinse samples of 1,058 African-Americans (AAs) and 558 European-Americans (EAs) from the Southern Community Cohort Study. Generally, AAs had a higher species richness than EAs, with P = 5.28 × 10−14 (Wilcoxon rank sum test) for Faith’s phylogenetic diversity index. A significant difference in overall microbiome composition was observed between AAs and EAs, with P = 5.94 × 10−4 (MiRKAT) for the weighted UniFrac distance matrix. We also found 32 bacterial taxa showing a significant differential abundance or prevalence between the two racial groups at a Bonferroni-corrected P IMPORTANCE In this systemic investigation of racial differences in the oral microbiome using a large data set, we disclosed the significant differences in the oral microbial richness/evenness, as well as in the overall microbial composition, between African-Americans and European-Americans. We also found multiple oral bacterial taxa, including several preidentified oral pathogens, showing a significant different abundance or prevalence between African-Americans and European-Americans. Furthermore, these taxa were consistently found to be associated with the percentage of genetic African ancestry. Our findings warrant further research to understand how the racial difference in the oral microbiome influences the health disparity.
Developing Self-Awareness Using Mindfulness Meditation with Preservice Teachers: Reflections on Practice.

Mindfulness offers a pathway for preservice teachers to develop self-awareness, which is an essential part of personal and professional growth. However, supporting teacher self-awareness is rarely ...
Real Estate Dictionaries Across Space and Time

Leveraging high-dimensional variable selection methods, we show the textual information provided in real estate agents’ remarks about a property can be used to address spatial and temporal heterogeneity in housing markets. Including the textual information in the pricing model decreases in-sample prediction errors by as much as 18.7% at the MSA-level and 39.1% at the zip code level. These results are robust to transforming the raw text using a real estate specific word list, the choice of n-grams, word stemming, and heteroscedasticity in the hedonic and repeat-sales models. These findings suggest the raw text in the remarks can be included directly in predictive pricing models.
Why I Teach Advertising: Critical Voices:

In this invited essay, I reflect on my enthusiasm for teaching as an early career professor. I would like to thank the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) Adver...
Revisiting Chinese resistance to communicative English: A counter example

Abstract Previous studies have shown that Chinese students tend to keep quiet in communication-oriented English classes. However, one Chinese university has been conducting a course, Communicative English for Chinese Learners (CECL), for over 30 years. How do they engage students in communication, when other studies have continuously reported resistance? In the current study, we observed 28 CECL class-sessions, conducted by three teachers. We also interviewed these three teachers and 16 students to understand their beliefs and experiences in CECL. Analysis revealed two types of instructional strategies, hierarchical and horizontal, that facilitated Chinese students’ participation in classroom communications. Interestingly, although students enjoyed the classroom communications, they did not feel they learned as much from the communicative approach as they did from lectures.
Social Determinant of Health Screening in a Safety Net Pediatric Primary Care Clinic

Purpose: Social determinants of health (SDOH) are widely accepted risk factors of health disparities. Addressing SDOH may reduce the risk of poor health outcomes. Desiring to provide comprehensive preventative care, we developed and piloted a screening tool for use in our resident primary care, safety net clinic to identify social needs most affecting our pediatric patients. Methods: A multidisciplinary team of clinical social workers and physicians from the emergency department, internal medicine, and pediatrics selected broad categories of SDOH relevant to our patient population: childcare, neighborhood safety, community relationships, transportation …
Modeling transit and reflected light curves for non-spherical exoplanets

Abstract Newton was the first to provide a mathematical framework to describe the oblateness of the Earth, a framework later expended by Maclaurin, Jacobi, and Poincare and applied to other astronomical objects. In the Solar System, the Jacobi triaxial ellipsoid has successfully described the shape of Haumea and Chariklo, while Ceres appears to be an oblate spheroid of the Maclaurin type. Beyond the Solar System, new exoplanets are being discovered almost daily showing vastly different characteristics (e.g. mass, temperature, eccentricity, radius, orbital period). Recently, Kepler-427b was shown to be a moderately oblate spheroid, and it is possible to imagine that certain exoplanets could be triaxial ellipsoids. Considering the wealth of data now available from the current and past missions whose aim is to hunt for new extra-solar systems, it has become vital to broaden the range of parameters to be estimated for a single exoplanet. In this paper, we present a new algorithm to model variations in transit light curves induced by ellipsoidal exoplanets, which will be ultimately released to the community as a MATLAB-based package. Most variations happen during the ingress and egress phase of the transit. Combining several transits can lead to the detection of oblateness by measuring the precession of the obliquity angle of the exoplanet over time. For the first time, we also model reflected light curves for ellipsoidal exoplanets.
Power Dynamics, Common Pitfalls, and Successful Strategies Associated with Co-Teaching

As the professoriate grows increasingly diverse and contingent, the co-teaching relationship must be examined. There are often salient power differentials between and among co-teachers associated w...
Effect of Abamectin on Fungal Growth and Its Efficacy as a Miticide in the Laboratory

Abamectin was tested for use with solid agar media in the laboratory to eliminate or kill the common mold mite Tyrophagus spp. in fungal cultures of Phaeomoniella chlamydospora and Phaeoacremonium ...
Role of Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator in Acute Ischemic Stroke with Large Vessel Occlusion.

Objective The goal of the present study was to determine the safety and efficacy of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IVT) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) with large vessel occlusion (LVO) undergoing mechanical thrombectomy (MT). Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data gathered during a 3-year period for all our patients with AIS and LVO. We analyzed the stroke outcomes and complications between patients who had received a combination of IVT and MT and those who had undergone MT only. Standardized selection criteria, including the uniform use of perfusion imaging, were used for selection for MT, irrespective of IVT administration. Results Of the patients who had received IVT, 10% had had successful reperfusion found at initial angiography and did not require MT. A door-to-puncture time within 1 hour of presentation was achieved in 19% of both groups. IVT+MT was not associated with an increased incidence of intracranial hemorrhage (IVT+MT, 47.1%; MT, 49%). Of the 73 patients in IVT+MT group, 8 had developed access-site hematomas compared with 9 of the 95 patients in the MT group (28.6% vs. 26.5%; P = 0.85). The IVT+MT group had a lower proportion of patients with a modified Rankin scale score of 5–6 at 90 days compared with the MT group (36% vs. 56%; P = 0.024). Both groups showed statistically similar proportions of patients with a Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction scale score of ≥2c (IVT+MT, 50%; MT, 43%; P = 0.58). The IVT+MT group had a greater proportion of patients with Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction scale score of 2c (IVT+MT, 29.6%; MT, 16.8%; P = 0.068). Conclusions Administration of IVT before MT to patients with AIS with LVO resulted in reperfusion before MT in 10% of patients, reduced the incidence of mortality and severe disability at 90 days, did not affect the door-to-puncture time, and was associated with a similar incidence of systemic and intracranial hemorrhage compared with MT only.
Growth chamber and greenhouse screening of promising in vitro fungal biological control candidates for the soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines)

Abstract The soybean cyst nematode (SCN; Heterodera glycines) is the most economically consequential pathogen of soybeans worldwide. Although biological control of SCN was proposed decades ago, only a few products are available on the market. Mining for new fungal biological control organisms and evaluating their potential to enhance integrated management of SCN is crucial. In this study, we evaluated 20 candidate biological control organisms in vivo that were selected out of a culturable mycobiome of over 5000 isolates based on their performance in in vitro assays. Of these isolates, labelled A through T, we identified three isolates, one Ilyonectria sp. (D), and two Purpureocillium sp. isolates (E and T), that significantly reduced SCN reproduction on a susceptible soybean variety (Sturdy) inoculated with both high and low levels of SCN eggs, compared to an untreated control, in a growth chamber cone-tainer assay. In a greenhouse pot assay, Purpureocillium isolates E and T also controlled nematode reproduction better than an untreated control and performed on par with the commercial fungal biological control agent, MeloCon® WG, which was applied at 41-fold higher concentration. In a second greenhouse assay, with higher nematode numbers, only isolate E performed as well as MeloCon® WG. This research identified promising candidate biological control agents of SCN that are as or more effective than existing products at much lower spore inoculation levels.
BeaCloud: A Generic Architecture for Sustainable Smart City using Bluetooth Beacons

In recent years, Bluetooth beacons have been widely used in numerous application domains, including smart cities, assistive technologies, and intelligent transportation management. Researchers or developers associated with these domains frequently require diverse systems to implement or test their prototype related innovations. They need to deploy beacons for the specific environment every time; such customized systems typically cannot often be reused. Hence, the cost of implementation increases, and multiple systems generate redundant data. In this paper, we propose BeaCloud – an architecture which provides a common platform of multiple beacon-based systems. BeaCloud enables inter-system communication and allows easy and secure access to data for the system administrators. The proposed architecture presents a cost-effective model that offers reduced cost and hardware. Also, BeaCloud reduces the data redundancy by up to 40%. To demonstrate the feasibility of BeaCloud, we implemented a testbed of three testing sites and evaluated the system’s performance.
Interstellar Communications

The Interstellar Probe mission presents the ambitious challenge of launching a spacecraft for interstellar exploration by 2030. In this paper, a telecommunications system designed for operations up to 1000 AU and 50 year lifetime is presented. The deep space nature of the mission provides its own set of challenges, then compounded by a long lifetime requirement. Typically, essential parts such as mechanical reaction elements and batteries used for spacecraft pointing and communications are not expected to survive until end-of-life. Fortunately, the timeline of the Interstellar Probe mission coincides with an entrance into a golden age of astronomy. Very large radio antennas and arrays currently built and in construction extend our capability for deep space communication, providing an opportunity for collaboration between NASA and the NRAO. Performances of these apertures towards deep space communications are analyzed and prove to be critical in maximizing current capability for interstellar communications. Additionally, increased commercialization of space has led to an advancement in the efficiency of light-weight antenna reflectors, enabling consideration of larger aperture spacecraft antenna while minimizing mass. Capitalizing on these resources, a pragmatic system for interstellar communications based on current and near term capability is presented.
Evaluation of Double-Line-Frequency Power Flow in Solid-State Transformers

Solid-state transformer (SST) directly steps medium voltage down to low voltage with minimized power conversion stages for higher overall efficiency. The Input Series Output Parallel (ISOP) structure is widely used consisting of Cascaded HBridge (CHB) and DC/DC converters. Such system architecture introduces a double-line-frequency power flow in the DC/DC stage. To deal with this fluctuating power, two main solutions are proposed by different researchers. In this paper, a detailed review is addressed on the comparison between the DC/DC stage with constant power flow, and with fluctuating power flow. For constant power flow method, the current stress in the DC/DC stage is lower, resulting in a higher efficiency with a sacrifice in the bus capacitor volume. For the fluctuating power flow method, the usage of the bus capacitor can be minimized with the efficiency reduction. The loss breakdown for the fluctuating power flow control is analyzed to find possibility to improve the efficiency. Two control methods are compared by an 15kW, 200kHz CLLC prototype with 98.9% peak efficiency.
Relationship between Residential Segregation, Later-Life Cognition, and Incident Dementia across Race/Ethnicity

Systemic racism leads to racial/ethnic residential segregation, which can result in health inequities. We examined if the associations between residential segregation and later-life cognition and dementia differed based on segregation measure and by participant race/ethnicity. Tests of memory (n = 4616), language (n = 4333), visuospatial abilities (n = 4557), and incident dementia (n = 4556) were analyzed in older residents of Northern Manhattan, New York (mean age: 75.7 years). Segregation was measured at the block group-level using three indices: dissimilarity, isolation, and interaction. We fit multilevel linear or Cox proportional hazards models and included a race/ethnicity × segregation term to test for differential associations, adjusting for socioeconomic and health factors. Living in block groups with higher proportions of minoritized people was associated with -0.05 SD lower language scores. Living in block groups with higher potential contact between racial/ethnic groups was associated with 0.06-0.1 SD higher language scores. The findings were less pronounced for other cognitive domains and for incident dementia. Non-Hispanic Black adults were most likely to experience negative effects of neighborhood segregation on cognition (language and memory) and dementia. All indices partly capture downstream effects of structural racism (i.e., unequal distributions of wealth/resources) on cognition. Therefore, desegregation and equitable access to resources have the potential to improve later-life cognitive health.
Prospects for Environmental Psychology in the Third Millennium

Stokols (Chapter 23, this volume) has recognized the approach of the 21st century as a useful occasion to take stock of our field and its condition. I will organize my comments along a temporal dimension as well, with brief observations on forecasting trends in environment-behavior relations, forecasting trends in environmental psychology as a field of inquiry, and experiencing the current status of our field.
Reverse logistics and agricultural production

Reverse logistics in industry developed rapidly in last years. It concerns the material flow of products which cannot be longer exploit according to their original designation (old products, defect products etc.). They are collected, sorted and recycled for their exploitation in the next production cycle. In animal production a similar flow is created by dead animals or parts of dead animals from slaughterhouses or meat processing firms. These materials are also collected, sorted and processed into products as industrial fat or meat bone meal. But here the flow stops because it is prohibited to use these new products as raw materials for new production (as fodder), but according to new laws emphasizing prevention from human illnesses, they must be liquidated. For this reason it is better to use the term animal waste disposal than reverse logistics.
Abstract 132: Risk Factors for Lower-Extremity Claudication in South Asians

South Asians have a higher incidence of CAD and diabetes than people of Western descent. Despite this, the rates of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) have been reported to be lower and the risk factors have not been well characterized. To better understand the determinants of PAD in this population we examined participants in the Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study (PROMIS), a multi-center case control study of myocardial infarction in Pakistan, for clinical evidence of claudication. 724 (4.8%) of the 15,570 individuals enrolled in PROMIS had symptoms consistent with claudication. These subjects had an average (SD) age of 56 (9.7) years and 536 (74%) were male. Multivariate logistic regression identified the following independent risk factors: age (OR 1.03, 95%, CI 1.02-1.04), female gender (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2 - 2.2), ethnicity (OR 1.4 - 4.6 with Punjab as reference), MI (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.8 - 2.8), prior stroke (OR 2.6, 95% CI 0.9 - 6.2), diabetes (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0 - 1.7), family history of hypertension (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0 - 1.7), consumption of fried foods (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.3 - 2.3), sedentary occupation (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.3 - 2.0), overall sedentary lifestyle (OR 2.5, 1.9 -3.4), being married (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0 - 2.8), having a consanguineous spouse (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.0 - 1.6), minimal formal education (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.5 - 2.3), and low income (OR 1.2, CI 1.0 - 1.7). The use of ghee (clarified butter) as compared to oil or lard for cooking was protective (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5 - 0.8). Although smoking (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.2 - 1.6) and hypertension (OR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1 - 1.6) were significant risk factors when controlling for age, gender, and ethnicity, they were not independently associated with claudication after adjusting for the other above risk factors (p=0.29 and p=0.28, respectively). These findings suggest that although there is a difference in the prevalence of PAD between South Asian and Western populations, the populations share many of the same risk factors. The association of claudication with spousal consanguinity, as well as female gender and ethnicity, suggest a significant genetic influence that may differ from Western populations and merits further investigation.
Selective depletion of non-specific T cells as an early event in T cell response to bacterial and viral infections

Early T cell depletion occurs prior to the development of an effective immune response to infections.Both antigen-specific and non-specific T cells are induced to express early activation markers soon after microbial infections.This is followed by massive depletion of non-specific T cells and extensive proliferation of antigen-specific T cells.Proliferating antigen-specific cells exhibit a broad spectrum of late activation markers while non-specific cells exhibit no sign of further activation before succumbing to apoptosis.These results have crucial implications for the understanding of early events in the development of a robust T cell response. Depletion of lymphocytes has been observed in the early stage of bacterial and viral infections [1～3].This early T cell depletion is often associated with a transient,generalized immunosuppression but is followed by an effective antigen-specific T cell response that controls infection.The significance of this depletion as well as early events of the T cell response remains largely unknown.The observation of early T cell depletion has been well characterized during Listeria monocytogenes(LM) infection [3～7].More than 90% of splenic T cells were depleted between 48-72 h after LM infection and this massive depletion of T lymphocytes was not due to altered trafficking [4～7] but due to in situ death by apoptosis [7].Attrition of bystander memory T cells following heterologous viral infections has been well documented [2,8,9].Recent studies have also shown extensive depletion of bystander naive T cells during the early stage of viral infection [1].However,it is still not known whether depletion involves only bystander T cells or includes both antigen-specific and non-specific T cells.The significance of bystander T cell depletion remains unknown and puzzling in the case of memory T cells since it leads to diminished CD8 T cell memory and protective immunity.In a recent study [10],we observed that most T cells,regardless of specificity,were activated to express early activation markers rapidly after LM infection.This was followed by selective depletion of non-specific cells and huge expansion of antigen-specific T cells.Confocal microscopy demonstrated that this depletion was due to in situ death of non-specific T cells.This phenomenon of early T cell activation and subsequent depletion of non-specific T cells was also observed following LCMV infection.The study was summarized as follows: Selective depletion of non-specific T cells during LM infection
High performance Mobile Pentium/spl reg/ III package development and design

Package development and design issues for Mobile Pentium/spl reg/ III processors are described in this paper focusing on the processor using 0.13 /spl mu/m silicon process technology. The development of the flip chip (FC) pin grid array (PGA) version as well as the ball grid array (BGA) version of the packages used for different sub-segments of the mobile market are discussed. First, the form factors of the packages are described highlighting some of the new features of each package. The new body size of 35 mm and pin field set forth a new form factor at Intel and a 1.27 mm square pitch PGA package used for these mobile products is an industry first. The package layout, the signal routing methods, the power delivery scheme, the decoupling capacitor placements and the impact of package geometry on the package performance are described. The signal integrity and the power supply considerations for high frequency applications are discussed. The die side placement of decoupling capacitors in BGA and the pin side placement of decoupling capacitors in PGA packages are described. A multi-terminal capacitor with improved inductance is introduced in the packages. Performance issues are analyzed and compared for the selected capacitor type for each package.
Nucleotide Excision Repair in E. Coli and Man

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the process of nucleotide excision repair (NER), which is a major cellular pathway for removing bulky lesions such as those introduced by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation or chemical carcinogens. Failure to remove DNA damage can result in increased mutagenesis, cancer, and cell death. NER eliminates DNA damage by dual incisions bracketing the lesion. The damage is removed in the form of a 12–13-nucleotide (nt)-long oligomer in prokaryotes and in a 24–32-nt-long oligomer in eukaryotes. Excision repair comprises three basic steps: damage recognition, dual incisions and release of the excised oligomer, and resynthesis to fill in the gap and ligation. Excision repair is required for interstrand cross-link repair in Escherichia coli ( E. coli ), and it participates in one pathway of cross-link repair in yeast and humans. A defect in NER causes extreme UV sensitivity in E. coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae ( S. cerevisiae ). In humans, defects in excision repair cause the inherited disease xeroderma pigmentosum (XP). Transcription stimulates excision repair both in E. coli and in humans in a process dependent on proteins called “transcription-repair coupling factors” (TRCFs). The chapter proposes a model in which random assembly is accompanied by cooperative DNA binding, molecular matchmaking, and kinetic proofreading to achieve the requisite specificities in damage recognition and repair.
Usability in practice: how companies develop user-friendly products

Making usability a Kodak product differentiator behavioural and emotional usability - Thomson Consumer Electronics user-aided design at Apple Computer the human factors group at Compaq Computer Corporation evolution of usability at Digital Equipment Corporation Hewlett-Packard's usability engineering programs usability in 3D - Silicon Graphics Inc. usability at Borland building the best breed of products usability engineering for Lotus 1-2-3 Release 4 the Microsoft Corporation usability group usability engineering at Dun and Bradstreet Software Interchange, an online service for people with special interests Bellcore's user-centred design approach American Airlines the evolution of broadband work in Ameritech's customer interface systems and human factors department GE information services GTE Laboratories Incorporated - the evolution of usability within new service design.
Diagnosis with behavioral modes

Diagnostic tasks involve identifying faulty components from observations of symptomatic device behavior. This paper presents a general diagnostic theory that uses the perspective of diagnosis as ideniifying consisieni modes of behavior, correct or faulty. Our theory draws on the intuitions behind recent diagnostic theories to identify faulty components without necessarily knowing how they fail. To derive additional diagnostic discrimination we use the models for behavioral modes together with probabilistic information about the likelihood of each mode of behavior.
Further Evidence for a Black Hole in β Lyrae

DEVINNEY1 has shown that the observational peculiarities of the binary system β Lyrae can best be understood in terms of the secondary mass being a collapsed star (black hole) surrounded by an opaque or nearly opaque disk. This communication points out that the recently released2 ultraviolet photometry from the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) leads to the same conclusion. Fig. 1 shows the light curves of β Lyrae given in ref. 2, for which the stated accuracy is ± 0.01 magnitude. One might have some reservations about these observations because the shorter wavelength light curves fail to close after one cycle and the presentation (hand-drawn curves instead of the original observation points) is counter to normal practice. It may, however, be a very long time before confirming observations of this extremely interesting binary can be gathered, and they do relate in an important way to the question of whether β Lyrae contains a collapsed star. Kondo et al.2 mentioned briefly the possible presence of a black hole in the system, but not for the reason advanced here.
Plasma testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in ovulatory and anovulatory cycles.

Abstract Daily plasma testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) as well as plasma lueteinizing hormone, plasma estradiol (E 2 ) and plasma progestrone (P) were measured by radioimmunoassay in seven ovulatory cycles and in three anovulatory cycles. In ovulatory cycles, plasma T ranged from 110 to 637 pg. per milliliter, while plasma DHT ranged from 10 to 246 pg. per milliliter. There is an increase in the mean plasma T during the early follicular phase of the cycle with a fall on the day of ovulation. Plasma T levels rise again during the early luteal phase and drop during the late luteal phase of the cycle. Plasma E 2 rises during the follicular phase with a preovulatory surge followed by a drop after ovulation and a subsequent secondary rise. Plasma P was less than 1 ng. per milliliter during the follicular phase and increased to above 5 ng. per milliliter after ovulation, reaching levels of 20 to 25 ng. per milliliter during the luteal phase. In anovulatory cycles, there is random fluctuation with no well-defined patterns. Plasma P remained below 1 ng. per milliliter throughout the cycle. The finding of maximum T levels prior to midcycle may reflect increased T production by the ovaries in response to increasing levels of follicle-stimulating hormone. There is little fluctuation in the levels of T during the menstrual cycle. These findings obviate the need for multiple plasma T estimations in the assessment of women with hirsutism, polycystic ovarian disease, and the testicular feminization syndrome.
On the onset of flow instability in a curved channel of arbitrary height

Die kritische Reynoldszahl und die entsprechende Storungswellenzahl wurden fur reibungsbehaftete Stromung in gekrummten Kanalen mit beliebigem Radienverhaltnis analytisch berechnet. Im allgemeinen zeigt die Untersuchung, dass die ubliche Berechnung nach der fur den engen Kanal gultigen Theorie die kritische Reynoldszahl unterschatzt.
The effect of carrier for vitamin E on liver concentrations of vitamin E and vitamin E excretion in broilers.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of 2 carrier sources of vitamin E on growth performance and excreta and liver vitamin E concentrations of broilers. Chicks were pretested from d 0 to 7 posthatching on a corn-soybean meal diet without vitamin E supplementation, and the experiments lasted from d 7 to 19 posthatching. Each treatment in both experiments was replicated with 6 pens with 5 chicks each. Initial and final BW were 155 and 684 g in experiment 1 and 155 and 691 g in experiment 2. In experiment 1, the dietary treatments were the corn-soybean meal diet with varying concentrations (0, 30, 100, or 300 IU/kg) of supplemental vitamin E either absorbed to verxite (VE) or adsorbed to silica (SE). In experiment 2, the dietary treatments were the 0 and 30 IU/kg of vitamin E as VE or SE. In experiment 1, feed intake decreased and gain:feed increased as concentration of VE increased, but feed intake increased and gain:feed decreased as concentration of SE increased (source x concentration, P 0.10) by the vitamin E carrier source in experiment 2. The mean excreta vitamin E concentration at d 7 posthatching was 17.2 IU/kg (DM basis). The percentages of vitamin E excreted were based on analyzed vitamin E concentrations in the diet. At 100 and 300 IU/kg of supplemental vitamin E, an average of 94 and 44% of vitamin E intake from broilers fed vitamin E from VE and SE, respectively, was excreted (vitamin E source, P 0.10) between the sources of vitamin E in either experiment. Increased concentrations of vitamin E increased liver α-tocopherol concentrations (P < 0.01). On the basis of the results of excreted vitamin E, vitamin E adsorbed to SE was more available than vitamin E absorbed to VE, but on the basis of liver vitamin E concentration, their availabilities were similar.
Action of general linear groups on grassmannians

Let A be a finite dimensional commutative semisimple algebra over a field k and let V be a finitely generated A—module. In previous work the author examined the action of the general linear group GLA(V) on the Grassmannians of k—subspaces of V. The present paper examines the structure of the orbits in greater detail, in particular by working out the structure of the stabilizers in each of the cases when dimk A≤3. From an algebraic point of view the most interesting situation occurs for A a cubic extension field of k
On the equilibrium silicide in beta Ti-V alloys containing Si

The addition of small amounts of silicon (usually less than R ~1 at. pct) to strengthen α(hcp)-β(bcc) and martensitic Ti alloys is well established. The equilibrium suicide formed in these alloys has been identified as hexagonal Ti5Si3 (Refs. 1, 2) (or (Ti,Zr)5Si3 phase in alloys containing Zr), although there is also a report of a tetragonal Ti3Si phase. The use of Si to age harden β Ti alloys, specifically Ti-V-Si alloys, has also been reported. While the precipitation sequence in these alloys involves an identifiable hexagonal
Transport of energetic charged particles in a radial magnetic field. Part 1. Large-angle scattering

A new approach, the propagating-source method, is introduced to solve the time-dependent Boltzmann equation. The method relies on the decomposition of the particle distribution function into scattered and unscattered particles. It is assumed in this paper that the particles are transported in a constant-velocity spherically expanding supersonic flow (such as the solar wind) in the presence of a radial magnetic field. Attention too has been restricted to very fast particles. The present paper addresses only large-angle scattering, which is modelled as a BGK relaxation time operator. A subsequent paper (Part 2) will apply the propagating-source method to a small-angle quasilinear scattering operator. Initially, we consider the simplest form of the BGK Boltzmann equation, which omits both adiabatic deceleration and focusing, to re-derive the well-known telegrapher equation for particle transport. However, the derivation based on the propagating-source method yields an inhomogeneous form of the telegrapher equation; a form for which the well-known problem of coherent pulse solutions is absent. Furthermore, the inhomogeneous telegrapher equation is valid for times t much smaller than the ‘scattering time’ τ, i.e. for times t [Lt ] τ, as well as for t > τ. More complicated forms of the BGK Boltzmann equation that now include focusing and adiabatic deceleration are solved. The basic results to emerge from this new approach to solving the BGK Boltzmann equation are the following. (i) Low-order polynomial expansions can be used to investigate particle propagation and transport at arbitrarily small times in a scattering medium. (ii) The theory of characteristics for linear hyperbolic equations illuminates the role of causality in the expanded integro-differential Fokker–Planck equation. (iii) The propagating-source approach is not restricted to isotropic initial data, but instead arbitrarily anisotropic initial data can be investigated. Examples using different ring-beam distributions are presented. (iv) Finally, the numerical scheme can include both small-angle and large-angle particle scattering operators (Part 2). A detailed discussion of the results for the various Boltzmann-equation models is given. In general, it is found that particle beams that experience scattering by, for example, interplanetary fluctuations are likely to remain highly anisotropic for many scattering times. This makes the use of the diffusion approximation for charged-particle transport particularly dangerous under many reasonable solar-wind conditions, especially in the inner heliosphere.
Alternative forms of teacher hiring in developing countries and its implications: A review of literature

Abstract Faced with teacher shortage, and limited budgets several developing countries have accepted lower certification and education requirements, eliminated teacher tenure, and curtailed teacher salary to fill vacant teaching positions. Teachers hired in this manner are often known as ‘contract teachers’. A survey of the literature reveals that these practices have created a parallel cadre of undertrained, underpaid, often younger, inexperienced teachers hired locally on contract basis. These practices are viewed favorably from access, cost-savings and local-accountability perspectives. Yet scholars raise concerns that this form of teacher hiring may not be sustainable, may negatively impact educational equity from the perspective of teacher distribution, teacher morale and the professional status of teaching.