cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
How Many Hits? - Whippets, Pregnancy, MTHFR, and Dural Sinus Thrombosis

Introduction: Nitrous oxide inhalant, or “whippets”, is known to cause mental status changes, bone marrow suppression and hyperhomocysteinemia. However, whippet abuse may cause or contribute to venous thrombosis in high-risk patients. Case Description: A 21-year old female exchange student from China presented to the emergency department for two weeks of progressive lower extremity weakness, falls, confusion and poor appetite. She was a previously healthy female. She was 11 weeks pregnant at the time of evaluation, with an uneventful first trimester. Her family history was unremarkable. She recently returned …
CONTROL OF BONE GROWTH BY EPIPHYSEAL STAPLING

1. Efficient stapling of the distal femoral and proximal tibial epiphyses stops the elongation of bone at these epiphyses immediately and almost completely. 2. The operation is less extensive and the risk of complication is less than with other operative methods of controlling bone growth. 3. Angular deformity may be corrected during the growth period. Knock-knee, bowleg, back-knee, flexion deformity, or combinations of these deformities are rapidly overcome. 4. The occasional complicating irregularities of growth following stapling should be detected clinically and corrected immediately by rearrangement of the staples. 5. After removal of the staples, growth at the epiphysis is resumed at about the same rate as would be expected on the other side, if both sides were normal. It is sometimes faster and sometimes slower. The variations in rate are usually caused by factors other than staples. 6. The best proof of the normal rate of growth after removal of staples is the persistence of a straight extremity after correction of an idiopathic knock-knee. 7. Several important questions are being studied further: A. What is the ideal size and design of staples? B. For what length of time and for what ages is it safe to leave staples in place? C. What are the factors influencing epiphyseal closure? D. What is the rate of growth after removal of staples which were inserted for various conditions?
Heartbeat: Rapid rule-out pathways for acute myocardial infarction

Clinical decision making in patients presenting to the Emergency Department with chest pain remains a challenge; while only 10% to 20% are ultimately diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), it is important to not miss any patient with an AMI. The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 0/1 algorithm allows rapid triage of chest pain patients based on the change in high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) over the first hour after presentation, dividing patients into rule-out, observation and rule-in categories. However, there appears to be some variation in the accuracy of this approach across different population cohorts and there is little data on outcomes in the rule-out and observation categories. To better understand the accuracy and prognostic value of the ESC 0/1 algorithm globally, Chiang and colleagues1 performed a systematic review and meta-analysis that identified that 10 cohorts with over 11 000 patients -- about 18% were assigned to rule-in, 27% to observation and 55% to rule-out categories, depending on the specific c-Tn assay. The pooled sensitivity of the ESC 0/1 algorithm for AMI diagnosis was over 98% with a mortality rate in the rule-out category of only 0.1% (95% CI=0.0% to 0.4%) at 30 days and 0.8% (95% CI=0.5% to 1.2%) at 1 year. However, the mortality rate for patients in the observation group was 0.7% (95% CI=0.3% to 1.2%) at 30 days and increased to 8.1% (95% CI=6.1% to 10.4%) at 1 year, similar to the mortality rate in the rule-in group. In an editorial, Chapman and Mills2 summarise these data (figure 1) and conclude: “While many emergency departments …
Balancing Unobserved Covariates With Covariate-Adaptive Randomized Experiments

Balancing important covariates is often critical in clinical trials and causal inference. Stratified permuted block (STR-PB) and covariate-adaptive randomization (CAR) procedures are widely used to...
Rational use of episodic and working memory: A normative account of prospective memory

Abstract Humans often simultaneously pursue multiple plans at different time scales, a capacity known as prospective memory (PM). The successful realization of non-immediate plans (e.g., post package after work) requires keeping track of a future plan while accomplishing other intermediate tasks (e.g., write a paper). Prospective memory capacity requires the integration of noisy evidence from perceptual input with evidence from both short-term working memory (WM) and long-term or episodic memory (LTM/EM). Here we formulate a set of empirical studies of prospective memory, all dual-task problems, as problems of computational rationality. We ask how a rational model should integrate noisy perceptual evidence and memory to maximize payoffs in these PM studies. The model combines reinforcement learning (optimal action selection) with evidence accumulation (optimal inference) in order to derive good decision parameters for optimal task performance (i.e., performing an ongoing task while monitoring for a cue that triggers executing a second prospective task). We compare model behavior to human behavioral evidence of key accuracy and reaction time phenomena in PM. Notably, our normative approach to theorizing and modeling these phenomena makes no assumptions about mechanisms of attention or retrieval. This approach can be extended to study the learning and use of meta-parameters governing the boundedly rational use of memory in planned action in health and disease. A computational psychiatry extension of the model can capture compensatory mnemonic strategies in neuropsychiatric disorders that may be rational responses to disturbances of inference, memory, and action selection.
Assessing variability of optimum air temperature for photosynthesis across site-years, sites and biomes and their effects on photosynthesis estimation

Abstract Gross primary productivity (GPP) of vegetation is affected by air temperature. Biogeochemical models use the optimum air temperature (Topt) parameter, which comes from biome-specific look-up tables ( T opt − b − LT ). Many studies have shown that plants have the capacity to adapt to changes in environmental conditions over time, which suggests that the static T opt − b − LT parameters in the biogeochemical models may poorly represent actual T opt and induce uncertainty in GPP estimates. Here, we estimated biome-specific, site-year-specific, and site-specific optimum air temperature using GPP data from eddy covariance (EC) flux tower sites (GPPEC) ( T opt − b − EC , T opt − sy − EC , T opt − s − EC ), the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) from MODIS images ( T opt − b − EVI , T opt − sy − EVI , T opt − s − EVI ), and mean daytime air temperature (TDT). We evaluated the consistency among the four T opt parameters ( T opt − b , T opt − sy , T opt − s and T opt − b − LT ), and assessed how they affect satellite-based GPP estimates. We find that T opt parameters from MODIS EVI agree well with those from GPPEC, which indicates that EVI can be used as a variable to estimate T opt at individual pixels over large spatial domains. T opt − b , T opt − sy , and T opt − s differed significantly from T opt − b − LT . GPP estimates using T opt − b and T opt − sy were more consistent with GPPEC than when using T opt − b − LT for all the land cover types. Our use of T opt − sy substantially improved 8-day and annual GPP estimates across biomess (from 1% to 34%), especially for cropland, grassland, and open shrubland. Our simple calculation shows that global GPP estimates differ by up to 10 Pg C/yr when using our suggested T opt − sy − EVI instead of using the static T opt − b − LT . Our new approach on estimating Topt has the potential to improve estimates of GPP from satellite-based models, which could lead to better understanding of carbon-climate interactions.
Retinoblastoma in Taiwan: survival and clinical characteristics

To figure out the impact of national health insurance program and treatment modalities on the clinical outcomes of patients with retinoblastoma. Retrospective cohort study. Enrolled patients were classified into three groups according to the time period in which their initial diagnosis was performed: patients diagnosed before 1995 (group 1), patients diagnosed in the time period 1995–2010 (group 2), patients diagnosed after 2010 (group 3). Comparison was made of clinical features including presenting signs, tumor spreading, and treatment modes. Survival and globe salvage rates were analyzed within each group. There were 157 patients (202 eyes) enrolled from 1978 to 2015. The overall mortality rate was 24.2%. The overall 5-year survival rate was 63.4%, 73.8%, 89.1% in the three time periods respectively (P = 0.007). The 5-year survival improved continuously in both unilateral and bilateral disease (P = 0.057; P = 0.015). Patients without extraocular spreading or diagnosed before 2 years of age had a better 5- year survival of 97.4% and 81.1% respectively. The globe salvage rate improved from 8.2%, 14.5%, to 35.1% (P < 0.001). The globe salvage rate was 46.9% in patients who received ophthalmic artery chemosurgery (OAC) and 6.4% in patients not received OAC. Improvement of survival and globe salvage rate was observed over time periods. National health insurance program has made medical care easily accessible to the public, leading to earlier diagnosis and treatment. Different treatment modes could achieve a better clinical outcome; among the new treatment modalities, OAC played an important role.
Tandem Homologation-Acylation Chemistry: Single and Double Homologation.

Abstract Treatment of β-dicarbonyls with the Furakawa-variant of the Simmons-Smith reagent results in homologation and production of an intermediate zinc enolate. Treatment of the enolate with various acylating agents generate products with both γ-dicarbonyl functionality and β−dicarbonyl functionality. In situ exposure of the acylated product to additional zinc carbenoid effects a second regiospecific homologation reaction.
Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present

Beyond any doubt, women’s reproductive healthcare rights are in serious jeopardy. The promise of Roe v. Wade, the landmark (7-2) Supreme Court case decriminalizing abortion, now appears more illusory than real for millions of women. In 1973, even while five of the seven justices who voted to decriminalize abortion in Roe were nominated by Republican presidents, today that landscape is dramatically different. For pregnant people in abortion battleground states, abortion rights remain a reality in law, but not necessarily in practice. This Review engages Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade To the Present by Professor Mary Ziegler, the Stearns Weaver Miller Professor at Florida State University College of Law. It explores the antiabortion movements that galvanized in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s that now deliver a well-planned, stealth attack on reproductive rights—generally and abortion specifically. Namely, what began as a violent and directly confrontational antiabortion movement that prioritized a constitutional amendment to ban abortion and affirm fetal life failed. However, its replacement, the contemporary lean in to targeted regulations of abortion providers (TRAP laws), with the aid of the Supreme Court, may be the undoing of Roe v. Wade. Goodwin examines Professor Ziegler's important book and the strategies to undo abortion rights.
The Tip60 histone acetyltransferase is essential for the acetylation and activation of the ATM protein kinase

2307 The ATM protein kinase is essential for the repair of DNA strand breaks. The repair of DNA strand breaks involves the remodeling of the chromatin structure. Structural changes in chromatin during DNA repair have been linked to post-translational modification of histones by phosphorylation, methylation or acetylation. These histone modifications can create binding sites for DNA repair complexes, including 53BP1, NuA4 and INO80. In addition, activation of the ATM protein kinase can be brought about by changes in chromatin structure. However, the signal transduction pathway linking DNA strand breaks to activation of ATM’s kinase activity is not clearly defined. Here, we investigated the role of the Tip60 Histone Acetyltranferase (HAT), a component of the NuA4 complex, in the activation of the ATM protein kinase. ATM is rapidly acetylated in a Tip60-dependent manner following DNA damage. Suppression of Tip60 blocks the activation of ATM’s kinase activity and prevents the ATM-dependent phosphorylation of p53 and chk2. Further, inactivation of Tip60 sensitizes cells to DNA damage. ATM and Tip60 exist as a preformed complex in cells; however, interaction between ATM and Tip60 is not regulated in response to DNA damage. Instead, the HAT activity of the ATM-Tip60 complex is specifically activated by DNA damage. This interaction between ATM and Tip60 requires the conserved FATC domain at the c-terminus of the ATM protein. Finally, the activation of Tip60 requires the chromodomain of Tip60, a domain with the potential to associate with methyl-lysine residues on histones at sites of DNA damage. The results demonstrate that Tip60 is required for the acetylation and activation of the ATM-Tip60 complex following DNA damage. Further, our results define the Tip60 histone acetyltransferase as a DNA damage response protein. This activation of ATM requires the chromodomain of Tip60, suggesting that the ATM-Tip60 complex associates with exposed methyl-lysine residues on histones at sites of DNA damage. This interaction between Tip60 and histones at sites of DNA damage may then activate Tip60’s HAT activity, leading to the acetylation and activation of the ATM protein kinase. These results describe a mechanism to link changes in chromatin structure to the activation of ATM-dependent DNA damage response pathways.
Parallelizing ISODATA Algorithm for Unsupervised Image Classification on GPU

Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique Algorithm (ISODATA) is commonly used for unsupervised image classification in remote sensing applications. Although parallelized approaches were explored, previous works mostly utilized the power of CPU clusters. We deploy the many-cores in the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to accelerate the unsupervised image classification over GPU. The proposed solution is scalable and satisfactory to speed up the computational time, while the quality of classification is almost the same as that from ERDAS, a well known remote sensing software.
When Ariel Found Mercy Street: The Influence of Anne Sexton on Sylvia Plath's Poetry

It has often been stated by critics that the poems Sylvia Plath wrote during the months before her suicide differ vastly from her earlier work. These differences are seen not only in Plath's creative process during the writing of the poems, but also in the voice of the poems. The poems which make up Ariel, her most famous volume of poetry, demonstrate an unbridled rage and stark honesty. Her earlier poems, on the other hand, show restraint and calculation. But what stimulus could have spurred this transition in her poetry has never been pinpointed exactly. But, perhaps, some revelation can be found by revisiting 1959 Boston. During that late winter, while auditing Robert Lowell's poetry class at Boston University, Plath formed a fascinating friendship with another female poet whose name would also become synonymous with confessional poetry: Anne Sexton. Those familiar with either or both of the poets' lives most likely have heard of the "triple-martini" 1 fueled gatherings, along with poet and Houghton Mifflin editor George Starbuck, between the two women (Plath 480). During these meetings after Lowell's class, Sexton and Plath compared suicide attempts, discussed their mutual enchantment with death, critiqued each other's work, and gossiped over drinks and free potato chips at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. While the jury is still out on what exactly the poets drank (some sources claim it was martinis, some say Sexton only drank "stingers" 2 ) and how often they actually met, it has not stopped these meetings between Plath and Sexton from becoming almost a literary urban legend. But legend aside, it seems that Sexton's raw and unapologetic honesty had an undeniable influence on the tightly clenched Plath's formation as a poet who was just beginning to discover her own voice. Plath herself even stated her admiration of Sexton's work in a 1962 interview with The British Council, stating "I think particularly of the poetess Anne Sexton, who writes also of her experiences as a mother: as a mother who's had a nervous breakdown, as an extremely emotional and feeling young woman. And her poems are wonderfully craftsman like poems, and
Carbohydrate Structure of Sindbis Virus Glycoprotein E2 from Virus Grown in Hamster and Chicken Cells

Abstract Sindbis virus was used as a probe to examine glycosylation processes in two different species of cultured cells. Parallel studies were carried out analyzing the carbohydrate added to Sindbis glycoprotein E2 when the virus was grown in chicken embryo cells and BHK cells. The Pronase glycopeptides of Sindbis glycoprotein E2 were purified by a combination of ion-exchange and gel filtration chromatography. Four glycopeptides were resolved, ranging in molecular weight from 1,800 to 2,700. Structures are proposed for each of the four glycopeptides, based on data obtained by quantitative composition analyses, methylation analyses, and degradation of the glycopeptides using purified exo- and endoglycosidases. The largest three glycopeptides (S1, S2, and S3) have similar structures but differ in the extent of sialylation. All three contain N-acetylglucosamine, mannose, galactose, and fucose, in a structure similar to oligosaccharides found on other glycoproteins. Glycopeptide S1 has two residues of sialic acid, whereas glycopeptides S2 and S3 contain 1 and 0 residues of sialic acid, respectively. The smallest glycopeptide, S4, contains only N-acetyglucosamine and mannose, and is also similar to mannose-rich oligosaccharides found on other glycoproteins. Each of the complex glycopeptides (S1, S2, or S3) from virus grown in BHK cells is indistinguishable from the corresponding glycopeptides derived from virus grown in chicken cells. Glycopeptide S4 is also very similar in size, composition, and sugar linkages from virus derived from the two hosts. These results suggest that chicken cells and BHK cells have similar glycosylation mechanisms and glycosylate Sindbis glycoprotein E2 in nearly identical ways.
Abulia following penetrating brain injury during endoscopic sinus surgery with disruption of the anterior cingulate circuit: Case report

It is common knowledge that the frontal lobes mediate complex human behavior and that damage to these regions can cause executive dysfunction, apathy, disinhibition and personality changes. However, it is less well known that subcortical structures such as the caudate and thalamus are part of functionally segregated fronto-subcortical circuits, that can also alter behavior after injury. We present a 57 year old woman who suffered penetrating brain injury during endoscopic sinus surgery causing right basal ganglia injury which resulted in an abulic syndrome. Abulia does not result solely from cortical injury but can occur after disruption anywhere in the anterior cingulate circuit – in the case of our patient, most prominently at the right caudate.
Impeaching Rape Victims in Criminal Court Does Concurrent Civil Action Hurt Justice

The present study investigated the impact of impeaching a rape victim with evidence of a simultaneous civil suit during a criminal trial. In three experiments, male and female undergraduates (Experiment 1) and community members (Experiments 2 and 3) read a rape trial summary in which the victim accused the defendant of raping her in a hotel. In the impeachment condition, the Defense mentioned that the victim simultaneously sued either the hotel (Experiments 1, 2, 3) or the alleged perpetrator (Experiment 3) for US$1 million. In the control condition, the Defense did not mention a civil suit. In all experiments, mock jurors were more likely to render not guilty verdicts and had higher pro-defendant ratings (e.g., defendant credibility) when the Defense impeached the victim than when the Defense did not impeach her. In addition, victim credibility (Experiments 1, 2, 3) and victim greed (Experiment 3) mediated the impact of impeachment on verdict. Results are discussed in terms of the prejudice rape victims may face in criminal court when they also seek justice in civil court.
Mutism in non-catatonic schizophrenia: Psychotic symptom and adaptive behavioral strategy

Abstract Mutism in adults has a wide differential, and can be difficult to evaluate. Defined as an absence or reduction of speech, either voluntary or avolitional, mutism is typically associated with catatonia, usually in schizophrenia, but also depression, bipolar disorder, intoxication, and neurological conditions. Mutism in non-catatonic schizophrenia was common before anti-psychotic use, correlating with untreated illness. Case reports continue to appear in developing nations, but accounts of mutism in patients with advanced treatment are scarce. Here we present an unusual case of mutism in non-catatonic schizophrenia, in which it appears as both psychotic symptom and adaptive behavioral strategy.
A scheduled approach to optical flow switching in the ONRAMP optical access network testbed

Optical flow switching (OFS) in large-scale wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks is an emerging technology enabled by rapid advancement in optical switch and transceiver technology. It is a connection oriented service involving dynamic creation of relatively short (one second or less) duration optical lightpaths between users that desire a high-rate, high quality of service (QoS) connection. A flow switched transaction bypasses electronic routers along its path alleviating the potential load on the routers. This provides a twofold benefit. We have designed and implemented OFS in the NGI ONRAMP testbed. NGI ONRAMP is an acronym for next generation Internet optical network for regional access using multi-wavelength protocols. It is an optical access area network deployed in the metropolitan Boston area. For OFS in such large-scale networks, a critical issue is that of connection setup. In ONRAMP, we have taken the view that it is vital for the network management and control system to have reliable network state information to make decisions about routing and wavelength assignment.
Comprehensible Pragmatics: Where Input and Output Come Together

This chapter relates issues of comprehensible input and comprehensible output to an increasingly prominent field: second-language pragmatics, where the intended meanings often go beyond the literal ones. The chapter will take a close look at what comprehensibility of language at the level of pragmatics actually entails. In looking at both the comprehension and production of pragmatic material, we will consider briefly the negotiation of meaning and conversational repairs—modifications made to the interactional structure of discourse and to words, sounds, and syntax for the purpose of communicating pragmatics. We will first look at what comprehensible input means with regard to pragmatics, whether through language (e.g. lexical items—words and phrases, syntax—e.g. verb tenses, or discourse), through gestures, or through silence. Then we will consider what comprehensible output entails in order that the addressees interpret the intended pragmatics correctly. Finally, we will reflect on the implications for both the learning and teaching of L2 pragmatics in lights of these comprehensibility issues.
Effects of pH, Temperature, and Nutrients on Propionate Degradation by a Methanogenic Enrichment Culture.

Enrichment cultures were used to determine the conditions promoting fastest methanogenic propionate degradation and growth by adapting the cultures to various physical and chemical conditions and measuring the specific growth rate. We found that the fastest growth of propionate oxidizers occurred at pH 6.8 to 8.5 and 32 to 45°C. Acetate-degrading populations showed narrower optima for fastest growth (pH 6.8 to 7.2 and 37 to 43°C). Enrichment cultures grew as well in minimal medium as in complex medium, although individual microbial populations appeared to require growth factors which could be met by cross-feeding.
Genetic control of murine invariant natural killer T-cells maps to multiple type 1 diabetes regions

Reduced frequency of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells has been indicated as a contributing factor to type 1 diabetes (T1D) development in NOD mice. To further understand the genetic basis of the defect, we generated (NOD × ICR)F2 mice to map genes that control iNKT-cell development. We determined frequencies of thymic and splenic iNKT cells, as well as the ratio of CD4-positive and -negative subsets in the spleens of 209 F2 males. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis revealed five loci that exceed the significant threshold for the frequency of thymic and/or splenic iNKT cells on Chromosomes (Chr) 1, 5, 6, 12 and 17. Three significant loci on Chr 1, 4 and 5 were found for the ratio of CD4-positive and -negative splenic iNKT cells. Comparisons with previously known mouse T1D susceptibility (Idd) loci revealed two significant QTL peak locations, respectively, mapped to Idd regions on Chr 4 and 6. The peak marker location of the significant Chr 12 iNKT QTL maps to within 0.5 Mb of a syntenic human T1D locus. Collectively, our results reveal several novel loci controlling iNKT-cell development and provide additional information for future T1D genetic studies.
Social Innovation, Civic Infrastructure, and Rebuilding New Orleans from the Inside Out

between the words common, community, and communication.” Indeed, our nation’s shared experience of the Gulf Coast crisis in late August 2005 shaped a new vernacular. The destruction was so vast, the recovery so daunting, and the initial response so lacking that the principal villain and victim of the crisis—a hurricane called Katrina and a city called New Orleans—were imbued with new metaphoric meaning. A “Katrina” is now a cataclysmic event, the recovery from which has been terribly mismanaged. A “New Orleans” is a place or a thing devastated in some fundamental way beyond restoration to its prior state. The use of these expropriated words is widespread today in our popular culture. At the outset of the BP oil spill this year, pundits wondered whether a stuttering federal response to the environmental disaster would become President Obama’s “Katrina.” Interior secretary Ken Salazar recently (and inaptly) described an invasive infestation of pine beetles in his native Colorado as “the Katrina of the West.” To certain constituencies, however—among them the Rockefeller Foundation—Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans are much more than convenient reference points for calamity, and they represent something far more profound: the integrated, evolving, and critically important challenges we will confront in the 21st century, from the incipient dangers of climate change, to the dramatic urbanization underway in America and around the world, to the need for our institutions to deal more deftly with increasingly complex problems. And while we will never forget the tragedy of Katrina and the ongoing recovery of New Orleans, we must begin to recognize the positive lessons of national and global importance that have emerged as a result of this deeply painful episode. More than anything, the devastation of New Orleans in 2005 crystallized the relative importance of a demographic trend that came into full force in the last decade and will shape America throughout this century. We are, for the first time,
Permian salt dissolution, alkaline lake basins, and nuclear-waste storage, Southern High Plains, Texas and New Mexico

Areas of Permian salt dissolution associated with 15 large alkaline lake basins on and adjacent to the Southern High Plains of west Texas and eastern New Mexico suggest formation of the basins by collapse of strata over the dissolution cavities. However, data from 6 other alkaline basins reveal no evidence of underlying salt dissolution. Thus, whether the basins were initiated by subsidence over the salt dissolution areas or whether the salt dissolution was caused by infiltration of overlying lake water is conjectural. However, the fact that the lacustrine fill in Mound Lake greatly exceeds the amount of salt dissolution and subsidence of overlying beds indicates that at least Mound Lake basin was antecedent to the salt dissolution. The association of topography, structure, and dissolution in areas well removed from zones of shallow burial emphasizes the susceptibility of Permian salt-bed dissolution throughout the west Texas–eastern New Mexico area. Such evidence, combined with previous studies documenting salt-bed dissolution in areas surrounding a proposed high-level nuclear-waste repository site in Deaf Smith County, Texas, leads to serious questions about the rationale of using salt beds for nuclear-waste storage.
Laser power dependence of mass spectral signatures from individual bacterial spores in bioaerosol mass spectrometry.

Bioaerosol mass spectrometry is being developed to analyze and identify biological aerosols in real time. Characteristic mass spectra from individual bacterial endospores of Bacillus subtilis var. niger were obtained in a bipolar aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer using a pulsed 266-nm laser for molecular desorption and ionization. Spectra from single spores collected at an average fluence of ∼0.1 J/cm2 frequently contain prominent peaks attributed to arginine, dipicolinic acid, and glutamic acid, but the shot-to-shot (spore-to-spore) variability in the data may make it difficult to consistently distinguish closely related Bacillus species with an automated routine. Fortunately, a study of the laser power dependence of the mass spectra reveals clear trends and a finite number of “spectral types” that span most of the variability. This, we will show, indicates that a significant fraction of the variability must be attributed to fluence variations in the profile of the laser beam.
Pharmacodynamic modeling of chemotherapeutic effects: application of a transit compartment model to characterize methotrexate effects in vitro.

The time course of chemotherapeutic effect is often delayed relative to the time course of chemotherapeutic exposure. In many cases, this delay is difficult to characterize mathematically through the use of standard pharmacodynamic models. In the present work, we investigated the relationship between methotrexate (MTX) exposure and the time course of MTX effects on tumor cell growth in culture. Two cancer cell lines, Ehrlich ascites cells and sarcoma 180 cells, were exposed for 24 hours to MTX concentrations that varied more than 700-fold (0.19–140 μg/mL). Viable cells were counted on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, and 24 for Ehrlich ascites cells and on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, and 21 for sarcoma 180 cells, through the use of a tetrazolium assay. Although MTX was removed 24 hours after application, cell numbers reached nadir values more than 100 hours after MTX exposure. Data from each cell line were fitted to 3 pharmacodynamic models of chemotherapeutic cell killing: a cell cycle phase-specific model, a phase-nonspecific model, and a transit compartment model (based on the general model recently reported by Mager and Jusko, Clin Pharmacol Ther. 70:210–216, 2001). The transit compartment model captured the data much more accurately than the standard pharmacodynamic models, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.86 to 0.999. This report shows the successful application of a transit compartment model for characterization of the complex time course of chemotherapeutic effects; such models may be very useful in the development of optimization strategies for cancer chemotherapy.
Performance of the English and Spanish S-TOFHLA among publicly insured Medicaid and Medicare patients

The objective of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the English and Spanish S-TOFHLA for three patient populations of interest. Despite being widely used, little is written about psychometric properties of the S-TOFHLA, particularly the Spanish version. Participants were Medicaid and Medicare patients: 936 non-Hispanic and 368 Hispanic patients completed the English S-TOFHLA; 1066 Hispanics completed the Spanish S-TOFHLA. Validity of both versions of the S-TOFHLA was supported by strong positive relationships with education and inverse relationships with age. Significant differences between scores for men and women remained after adjusting for level of education. Score differences occurred across numerous items. More research is needed on the S-TOFHLA and other health literacy instruments to determine why women score differently than men. Variability in literacy skills within subgroups of patients highlights the importance of healthcare providers being sensitive to patients' literacy levels in both spoken and written communications.
The Effect of Dietary Composition on Ventilation in Low Birth Weight Infants• 1579

Introduction: As the caloric value for CO2 is greater for fat (F) than carbohydrate (C), it has been suggested that high F, low C diets would benefit patients with respiratory insufficiency by reducing the amount of CO2 produced per kcal of energy expended.
A specification-based fitness function for evolutionary testing of object-oriented programs

Encapsulation of states in object-oriented programs hinders the search for test data using evolutionary testing. As client code is oblivious to the internal state of a server object, no guidance is available to test the client code using evolutionary testing; i.e., it is difficult to determine the fitness or goodness of test data, as it may depend on the hidden internal state. Nevertheless, evolutionary testing is a promising new approach of which effectiveness has been shown by several researchers. We propose a specification-based fitness function for evolutionary testing of object-oriented programs. Our approach is modular in that fitness value calculation doesn't depend on source code of server classes, thus it works even if the server implementation is changed or no code is available----which is frequently the case for reusable object-oriented class libraries and frameworks.
Theory of Radio Transmission by Tropospheric Scattering Using Very Narrow Beams

Calculations have been made for communication over a 300-km path between antennas, each consisting of a paraboloid of diameter 100 ?. It is assumed that, under normal atmospheric conditions, transmission over this distance is due to scattering by atmospheric irregularities and that the scattering phenomena are described by the formula used by Booker and Gordon. Over this path, the effect of spread in the direction of arrival of scattered power should become noticeable for beamwidths less than about 1.5 degrees. For the 0.73 degree-beams assumed, spread in the angle of arrival should show up quite markedly for synchronized beam swinging-that is, when the beams at both transmitter and receiver are swung imultaneously so that their axes continue to intersect. When the beams are swung 1 degree to one side of the great circle path, the reduction in power received should be about 7 db, as compared with more than 40 db that would occur for propagation purely in the vertical plane containing trsmitter and receiver. Narrowing the antenna beams to very small values is an important key to increasing circuit radio-frequency bandwidth capability, although at the expense of increasing antenna "aperture-medium coupling loss" (so-called "gain loss"). For the assumed circuit average bandwidth should be about 6 mcp, the loss being of the order of 10 db. For beams much larger than 1.5 degrees, the bandwidth should be limited by the medium to about 3 mcp, with negligible loss.
Studies of Sulfate Utilization by Algae. 4. Properties of a Cell-Free Sulfate-Reducing System From Chlorella

A cell-free system from Chlorella pyrenoidosa Chick (Emerson strain 3) which produces acid-volatile radioactivity from (35)SO(4) (2-) is described. A high speed supernatant from cells broken in the French Press at pH 7.0 shows maximal activity when fortified with ATP, an ATP-generating system (creatine phosphate and creatine phosphokinase), TPN, a TPN-reducing system (glucose-6-phosphate and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) and MgCl(2). This system is quite labile and is not stable to dialysis. Addition of low concentrations of 2,3,-dimercaptopropan-1-ol (BAL) to the buffers used for enzyme preparation stabilize the extracts and permit them to be dialyzed for 4 hours without loss of activity. If additional BAL is also added to the incubation mixtures it can replace TPNH as a reductant. DPNH also shows appreciable acticity.The system prepared with BAL-containing buffers shows maximal activity at pH 9.0. At this pH, the system requires only ATP, Mg(2+) and additional BAL and has high activity and stability compared with the other conditions tried. The optimum concentrations of these reactants has been determined and the kinetics of production of acid-volatile radioactivity are described. Nucleoside triphosphates other than ATP are not appreciably active in this system. In all cases, anaerobic conditions are required for maximal activity, the enzyme extracts are labile to heat, and no unequivocal requirement for thioctic acid can be demonstrated.
Passively confined tests of axial dynamic compressive strength of concrete

Passively confined dynamic impact experiments on plain concrete specimens were performed employing steel and aluminum jackets with a 76.2-mm-diameter split-Hopkinson pressure bar system. The specific requirements of the specimens for jacketed tests were achieved with metallicmold casting. The confining pressures were determined from foil strain gages mounted on the outer wall surface of the jackets. Permanent deformation and residual static strength were measured and studied in the characterization of the behavior of plain concrete specimens under dynamic multiaxial loads.
Frozen sectioning below −60 °C with a refrigerated microtome

Abstract Frozen sectioning of tissue with a refrigerated microtome at low temperatures (−60 ° to −105 °C) was investigated. Temperature was found to be the controlling parameter for section thickness. Higher temperatures (−30 °C and above) favor sections thicker than 1 μ; lower temperatures (below −60 °C) favor sections thinner than 1 μ. Below −70 °C, sections thicker than 1 μ could not be made. Cryostat sectioning at these low temperatures reduces ice crystal formation and provides thin frozen sections for high resolution microscopy.
Assessment of the Impact of Somatic Cell Count on Functional Longevity in Holstein and Jersey Cattle Using Survival Analysis Methodology

Survival analysis in a Weibull proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the impact of somatic cell count (SCC) on the involuntary culling rate of US Holstein and Jersey cows with first calvings from 1990 to 2000. The full data set, consisting of records from 978,043 Holstein and 250,835 Jersey cows, was divided into subsets (5 for Holsteins and 3 for Jerseys) based on herd average lactation SCC values. Functional longevity (also known as herd life or length of productive life) was defined as days from first calving until culling or censoring, after correcting for milk production. Our model included the time-dependent effects of herd-year-season, parity by stage of lactation interaction, within-herd-year quintile ranking for mature equivalent production, and lactation average SCC (rounded to the nearest 50,000 cells/mL), as well as the time-independent effect of age at first calving. Parameters of the Weibull distribution, as well as variance components for herd-year-season effects, were estimated within each group of herds. Mean failure and censoring times decreased as herd average SCC increased, and a nonlinear relationship was observed between SCC and longevity in all groups. The risk of culling for Holstein cows with lactation average SCC > 700,000 cells/mL was 3.4, 2.7, or 2.3 times greater, respectively, than that of Holstein cows with SCC of 200,000 to 250,000 cells/mL in herds with low, medium, or high average SCC. Likewise, the risk of culling for Jersey cows with lactation average SCC > 700,000 cells/mL was 4.0, 2.9, or 2.2 times greater, respectively, than that of Jersey cows with SCC of 200,000 to 250,000 cells/mL in low, medium, or high SCC herds. These trends may reflect more stringent culling of high SCC cows in herds with few mastitis problems. In addition, cows with lactation average SCC <100,000 cells/mL had a slightly higher risk of culling than cows with SCC of 100,000 to 200,000 cells/mL in both breeds, particularly in herds with high average SCC, where exposure to mastitis pathogens was likely.
In‐stream biotic control on nutrient biogeochemistry in a forested stream, West Fork of Walker Branch

[1] A growing body of evidence demonstrates the importance of in-stream processing in regulating nutrient export, yet the influence of temporal variability in stream metabolism on net nutrient uptake has not been explicitly addressed. Stream water DIN and SRP concentrations in Walker Branch, a first-order deciduous forest stream in eastern Tennessee, show a repeated pattern of annual maxima in summer and biannual minima in spring and autumn. Temporal variations in catchment hydrologic flow paths result in lower winter and higher summer nutrient concentrations, but do not explain the spring and autumn nutrient minima. Ambient nutrient uptake rates were measured 2–3 times per week over an 18-month period and compared to daily rates of gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) to examine the influence of in-stream biotic activity on nutrient export. GPP and ER rates explained 81% of the variation in net DIN retention with high net NO3− uptake (and lower net NH4+ release) rates occurring during spring and autumn and net DIN release in summer. Diel nutrient concentration patterns were examined several times throughout the year to determine the relative importance of autotrophic and heterotrophic activity on net nutrient uptake. High spring GPP corresponded to daily decreases in NO3− over the illuminated hours resulting in high diel NO3− amplitude which dampened as the canopy closed. GPP explained 91% of the variance in diel NO3− amplitude. In contrast, the autumn nutrient minima was largely explained by heterotrophic respiration since GPP remained low and little diel NO3− variation was observed during the autumn.
Influence of redox potential on the anaerobic biotransformation of nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds in anoxic freshwater sediments

The potential for degradation of four nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds was investigated in fresh-water sediment slurries maintained under denitrifying, sulfate-reducing, and methanogenic conditions. Pyridine (10 mg/l) was rapidly transformed within 4 weeks under denitrifying conditions but persisted for up to 3 months under sulfate-reducing and methanogenic conditions. No intermediate biotransformation products of pyridine metabolism were detected under denitrifying conditions. Quinoline (10 mg/l) was completely transformed without a lag phase under methanogenic and sulfate-reducing conditions after incubation for 23 and 45 days, respectively. 2-Hydroxyquinoline was produced concomitantly with quinoline transformation under methanogenic and sulfate-reducing conditions. Under denitrifying conditions, less than 23% of the initial concentration of quinoline was transformed after anaerobic incubation for 83 days. Indole, however, was completely removed from sediment slurries under denitrifying, sulfate-reducing, and methanogenic conditions after anaerobic incubation for 18, 27, and 17 days, respectively. Only low amounts of oxindole (2–4 mg/l) accumulated during indole metabolism under methanogenic and denitrifying conditions, but under sulfate-reducing conditions, oxindole accumulation was stoichiometric with indole transformation. No evidence for biotransformation of carbazole was noted for all anaerobic conditions tested.
The Journal of Information Systems: A Review of the First 15 Years

The publication of the Spring 2001 issue marks the completion of the first 15 years of the Journal of Information Systems (JIS). This paper analyzes the content of articles published, the research methods used, the sources referenced, and impact of articles published in JIS. The analyses provide insights concerning the development of accounting information systems research that should be of interest not only to readers of and contributors to JIS, but also to current and prospective doctoral students who are interested in the field of accounting information systems. Accounting researchers specializing in other disciplines may also find this paper beneficial in understanding the research interests of their accounting information systems colleagues.
Incorporating quality into the measurement of hospital efficiency: a double DEA approach

This paper uses “double DEA” to assess how accounting for quality influences DEA technical efficiency scores of a sample of 1,074 US hospitals. In the first use of DEA, quality indices are estimated using a variety of process and outcome measures of quality. In the second use of DEA, technical efficiency is assessed while controlling for quality. A variety of DEA quality indices and a DEA variety of efficiency models are compared to determine how the treatment of quality influences findings regarding technical efficiency. Controlling for efficiency does matter, with outcome measures having an apparently greater impact than process measures. Given the call for improved quality and better cost containment, controlling for quality is an important contribution to efficiency analysis.
Molecular Structure and Diversity of PBAN/pyrokinin Family Peptides in Ants

Neuropeptides are the largest group of insect hormones. They are produced in the central and peripheral nervous systems and affect insect development, reproduction, feeding, and behavior. A variety of neuropeptide families have been identified in insects. One of these families is the PBAN/pyrokinin family defined by a common FXPRLamide or similar amino acid fragment at the C-terminal end. These peptides, found in all insects studied thus far, have been conserved throughout evolution. The most well studied physiological function is regulation of moth sex pheromone biosynthesis through the pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide (PBAN), although several developmental functions have also been reported. Over the past years we have extended knowledge of the PBAN/pyrokinin family of peptides to ants, focusing mainly on the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. The fire ant is one of the most studied social insects and over the last 60 years a great deal has been learned about many aspects of this ant, including the behaviors and chemistry of pheromone communication. However, virtually nothing is known about the regulation of these pheromone systems. Recently, we demonstrated the presence of PBAN/pyrokinin immunoreactive neurons in the fire ant, and identified and characterized PBAN and additional neuropeptides. We have mapped the fire ant PBAN gene structure and determined the tissue expression level in the central nervous system of the ant. We review here our research to date on the molecular structure and diversity of ant PBAN/pyrokinin peptides in preparation for determining the function of the neuropeptides in ants and other social insects.
Experimental validation of a computer simulation of paranoid processes

Abstract A computer simulation of paranoid processes in the form of a dialogue algorithm was subjected to a validation study using an experimental resemblance test in which judges rated degrees of paranoia present in initial psychiatric interviews of both paranoid patients and of versions of the paranoid model. The statistical results indicate a satisfactory degree of resemblance between the two groups of interviews. It is concluded that the model provides a succesful simulation of naturally occurring paranoid processes.