cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prognostic significance of tumor size in patients with stage III non-small-cell lung cancer: a surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) survey from 1998 to 2003.

Background Increased tumor size is a known risk for poor outcomes in patients with stage I and II non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), who are treated with surgery or radiotherapy. However, there is limited information regarding the impact of tumor size on the outcomes of patients with mediastinal lymph node involvement. We conducted a Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database analysis to evaluate the prognostic significance of tumor size in patients with unresected stage III NSCLC. Methods The SEER registry was queried for patients with unresected NSCLC stage III and no malignant pleural effusion, aged 21 years or older, and diagnosed between 1998 and 2003. Tumor size was defined as S1 (0.1–3cm), S2 (3.1–5cm), S3 (5.1–7cm), and S4 (7.1–20cm). Demographic variables included age, sex, race and histology. Overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method, and the Cox proportional hazard model was used to evaluate whether tumor size remained an independent risk factor in multivariable analysis. Results A total of 12,315 patients met the eligibility criteria. Median age at diagnosis was 70 years and most patients were men (58.7%) and white (81.3%). Tumor size was an independent predictor for both OS ( p p Conclusion Tumor size is an independent predictor for OS and DSS in patients with unresected stage III NSCLC, and should be considered in the stratification of patients treated in this setting after validation of this finding in additional studies.
The effect of D‐L ethionine on the pancreas of normal and pregnant hamsters

A series of 49 normal male and female adult hamsters, nearly equally divided as to sex and 37 pregnant animals received ethionine subcutaneously or intraperitoneally. Normal animals were given 1.0, 0.7 or 0.4 mg per gram of weight per day over a period of 4 to 14 days. Pregnant animals received either 1.0 or 0.7 mg, beginning at different intervals during gestation: from the third to sixth; on the eighth, of from the tenth to twelfth days, the course ranging from two and one-half to 15 days. Normal females were more sensitive than males. Among the latter, the 1.0 mg dose produced degeneration of exocrine tissue in ten days with no deaths, while in normal females, 0.7 mg gave similar results with little mortality or liver pathology. In pregnant females, the drug had adverse effects, vaginal bleeding and high mortality resulting when administered on the eighth day or later. From 11 survivors, only two litters were obtained, no damage being found in either maternal or neonatal pancreases. Pregnant animals started on the third to sixth day with the 0.7 mg dose tolerated it well. However, all but one of 17 expected litters died long before birth. The pancreases from the new-born were normal with only slight damage found in the maternal pancreas. The route of administration was of no consequence.
Topological and categorical properties of binary trees

Binary trees are very useful tools in computer science for estimating the running time of so-called comparison based algorithms, algorithms in which every action is ultimately based on a prior comparison between two elements. For two given algorithms A and B where the decision tree of A is more balanced than that of B, it is known that the average and worst case times of A will be better than those of B, i.e., ₸ A (n) ≤₸ B (n) and T W A (n)≤T W B (n). Thus the most balanced and the most imbalanced binary trees play a main role. Here we consider them as semilattices and characterize the most balanced and the most imbalanced binary trees by topological and categorical properties. Also we define the composition of binary trees as a commutative binary operation, *, such that for binary trees A and B, A * B is the binary tree obtained by attaching a copy of B to any leaf of A. We show that (T,*) is a commutative po-monoid and investigate its properties.
Extended-wear lenses. An update

Abstract Extended-wear lenses present problems to be overcome by both the lens fitter and the patient. Guidelines are given for selecting patients and lenses, fitting the lenses, educating the patient, and handling complications. It is emphasized that patients who are happy with their day-wear lenses should not be urged to change to extended-wear lenses, and that if extended-wear lenses are worn, conscientious followup is crucial.
Tellurium-loaded zeolites: IV. Effect of hydrogen partial pressure on dehydrocyclization activity

Abstract The effect of hydrogen partial pressure on the n-hexane dehydrocyclization activity of Te/NaX catalyst has been determined and compared with that observed for Cr2O3/Al2O3. The relative benzene formation rates measured for both catalyst types show an essentially identical dependence on hydrogen pressure. Kinetic analysis of the results is consistent with a stepwise reaction mechanism.
The use of opioid drugs in management of chronic orofacial pain

Abstract The use of opioid analgesics for the management of patients with chronic pain is controversial. However, randomized and double-blind clinical trials have shown that in select groups of patients with chronic pain, the daily administration of oral opioids decreases pain levels and improves quality of life. This article provides a review of the most recent basic and clinical research supporting the rationale for the use of opioids in a select group of patients with chronic orofacial pain. Critical to the employment of this technique are proper patient evaluation and use of comprehensive management strategies. This management scheme should be reserved for patients with chronic pain that is refractory to most nonopioid therapy. The primary reason for the clinician's reluctance to initiate long-term opioid therapy for their patients with chronic pain is the potential risk of developing opioid tolerance, dependence, or addiction. In contrast to these beliefs, studies have shown a nonexistent to low risk of opioid dependence or addiction behavior with administration of scheduled oral opioids in chronic pain patients. It is essential that potential patients for this type of therapy have been carefully screened and have not had a history of drug addiction. The criteria to be evaluated when considering opioid therapy for chronic orofacial pain control include 1) inadequate pain diminution from prior nonopioid therapy, 2) negative history of substance abuse, 3) definitive determination that the pain being treated is of physiologic rather than psychologic origin, 4) a willingness to adhere to an “opioid contract” between the doctor and patient, 5) compliance with a scheduled, rather than “as needed” or “breakthrough,” administration of an oral opioid, and 6) close clinical follow-up to evaluate pain relief, return to daily activities, and titration of drug levels. If these criteria are followed, administration of oral opioids may be a successful means of decreasing the patient's debilitating chronic pain to tolerable levels, enabling an improvement in the quality of life and return to function.
Identification of quantitative trait loci that affect endoreduplication in maize endosperm

Endoreduplication in maize endosperm precedes the onset of starch and storage protein synthesis, and it is generally thought to influence grain filling. We created four backcross populations by reciprocally crossing the F1 progeny of a cross between Sg18 and Mo17 to the parental inbreds, which differ in endoreduplication by two parameters—mean ploidy and percentage of endoreduplicated nuclei. This four-backcross design allowed us to estimate and test the additive and dominant genetic effects of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting endoreduplication. An analysis of endosperm from the four backcross populations at 16 days after pollination using a modified triploid mapping approach identified three endosperm QTLs influencing mean ploidy and two endosperm QTLs affecting the percentage of endoreduplicated nuclei. Some of these QTLs may manifest their effects on endoreduplication via expression in the embryo. The QTLs detected display strong dominance or over-dominance and interacted epistatically with an embryo-expressed QTL. This helps to explain the genetic basis for transgressive segregation in the backcross progeny. Although the favorable alleles that increase mean ploidy and percentage of endoreduplicated nuclei can be contributed by both parents, the Mo17-derived alleles for endoreduplication were often dominant or over-dominant to the Sg18-derived allele. One QTL on chromosome 7 that may be expressed in both the embryo and endosperm exerted a pleiotropic effect on two different parameters of endoreduplication. The results from this study shed light on the regulation of endoreduplication in maize endosperm and provide a marker-assisted selection strategy for potentially improving grain yield.
A critical assessment of the Mineral County Challenge: The role and implications of scale in collaborative development

In the rural American West, a region rich in natural resources and scenic amenities yet increasingly experiencing rapid demographic and economic shifts, place-based collaboration is endorsed as a means to find mutual resolutions to issues such as land use disputes, natural resource management, and socioeconomic development. However, assessing place-based collaborative models in view of their results is challenging due to differing criteria, expectations, and motivations supporting the collaborative partnership framework. This research uses the case study of Montana's Mineral County Challenge, a rural place-based collaborative development project, to make critical inquiries into the long-term efficacy of such approaches. Given that place-based collaborative projects are grounded in geographical traditions, the focus of this assessment is on the role and implications of scale in determining the trajectory of the collaborative process. This is accomplished by evaluating the Mineral County Challenge to (1) recognize the material and non-material outcomes of collaborative development models and, (2) examine the implications and role of scale in catalyzing or hindering the deliberation and realization of these collaborative endeavors. In doing so, the authors emphasize the spatial and temporal constraints including lack of accountability, administrative formalities, and other institutional intricacies which evolved at the federal level to reduce the overall capacity for local and state-level stakeholders to execute long-term project deliverables. In overcoming these barriers, scale must be reconfigured to account for the conflicting conceptual and operational discrepancies that manifest at different levels of stakeholder exchange to derail and disempower place-based collaboration.
Effect of the brachymorphic trait in mice on xenobiotic sulfate ester formation

Abstract Mice carrying the recessive mutation brachymorphic have been shown previously to have a reduced capacity to synthesize 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS), the required coenzyme in sulfation reactions [K. Sugahara and N. Schwartz, Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A . 76 , 6615 (1979)]. The capacity of the liver cytosol fractions from brachymorphic (bm/bm) mice or their phenotypically normal littermates (+/+ or +/bm) to catalyze the formation of sulfate esters of 3 H]estrone and [ 14 C] p -nitrophenol in vitro was determined. When PAPS was added to the reaction, the rates of sulfate ester formation catalyzed by the two cytosol fractions were similar. In contrast, when PAPS was generated in situ from ATP and SO 4 2− , the rates of sulfate ester formation catalyzed by the brachymorphic cytosol were only 4–22% of the rates catalyzed by the cytosol fraction from normal mice. The hepatic cytosol fraction from brachymorphic mice incorporated less 35 SC 4 2− into PAPS than that catalyzed by cytosol of normal mice. [ 14 C] p -Nitrophenol (1.5 μmoles/kg) was eliminated from brachymorphic and normal mice as urinary conjugates; in normal mice, 73% of the urinary radioactivity was p -nitrophenyl sulfate, while in the brachymorphic mice only 33% of the urinary excretion was the sulfate ester. Brachymorphic mice have a reduced capacity for synthesizing sulfate esters of xenobiotics in vitro and in vivo , which is attributable to their reduced synthesis of PAPS.
Matrices which belong to an idempotent in a sandwich semigroup of circulant Boolean matrices

Abstract Let Cn be the semigroup of all the n × n circulant Boolean matrices (n ⩾ 2), and let R be a nonzero element in Cn. The sandwich semigroup of Cn(R) is the set Cn together with the multiplication rule A ∗ B = ARB . For a given idempotent IR in Cn(R), we characterize the matrices A ∈ Cn(R) that belong to IR in the sense that A∗ k = I R for some nonnegative integer k. When R is the identity matrix, the result specializes to a theorem of Schwarz.
Long term maintenance of language and social skills

This paper discusses long-term maintenance issues as they relate to the language and social skills of individuals with developmental disabilities and autism. Long-term follow-ups of echolalic and appropriate speech (upwards to 57 months) and social skills (8 years) will be presented as examples of what can be learned about maintenance from long-term follow-ups. A maintenance strategy will be presented that employs characteristics of early parent–typical toddler interactions as a means for prompting language impaired individuals to use physical/natural cues. The paper concludes with some recommendations regarding the study of maintenance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The effects of coping primes on responses to messages about disease detection behaviors

Abstract This study examined the influence of coping primes on responses to subsequent messages that encouraged the performance of health behaviors. It was hypothesized that the addition of a coping prime prior to a message encouraging a disease detection behavior would increase the likelihood that the message would be attended to and that persuasion would occur. To test this hypothesis participants were required to read a coping or neutral prime. Coping primes were statements that indicated that the upcoming message would present information about a behavior, and that this behavior would help them deal with a serious health threat. After reading the prime participants were presented with a message encouraging the performance of a health promotion or a disease detection behavior. The primary measures recorded were the participants' cognitive responses to the message, and their attitudes about the behavior. The results supported the hypothesis.
Hawksbill sea turtles in seagrass pastures: success in a peripheral habitat

Hawksbill sea turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata, are closely associated with coral reef and other hard-bottom habitats. Seagrass pastures are peripheral habitats for Caribbean hawksbills. With the decline in quality and quantity of coral reefs, seagrass habitats may become more important for hawksbills. We use data from a 30-year mark-recapture study of hawksbills and green turtles, Chelonia mydas, in the southern Bahamas to assess the quality of a seagrass habitat for hawksbills. Size distribution, residence times, and body condition index for the seagrass hawksbill aggregation are similar to those of hawksbill aggregations over Caribbean reefs. Somatic growth rates of seagrass hawksbills are in the upper range of those reported for reef hawksbills. Based on these parameters, peripheral seagrass habitats can support healthy, productive hawksbill aggregations. During the 30-year study, a sixfold variation in green turtle density in the study area did not affect the productivity or body condition of hawksbills.
Factors associated with delays in seeking treatment for stroke care in veterans.

Background Our objective was to examine the association between delay in seeking treatment (DST) for stroke care and demographic and clinical characteristics variables in a sample of veterans. Methods We used survey data from 100 veterans with a diagnosis of stroke who were receiving poststroke care at a Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in the southeastern United States to evaluate the relationship between DST and key sample demographic and clinical characteristics. We used backward stepwise logistic regression models to assess the independent association between DST and demographic and clinical variables. Results We found that stroke survivors reporting DST were more likely to be black (56.4% versus 32.8%; P = .02) and younger at the time of stroke onset (58.1 years versus 63.7 years; P = .02). In backward stepwise logistic regression models, being black was an independent predictor of DST (odds ratio [OR] 2.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-7.30; P = .04) in this veteran population. Conclusions Race appears to be a key factor associated with an increased likelihood of delays in seeking urgent stroke care in veterans. Future studies need to further examine the complex sociodemographic profile of patients who are most likely to delay seeking care for stroke and to develop interventions to reduce the impact of DST.
NUC, Quo Vadis? Have Mid-Size Academic Libraries Retained the National Union Catalog Pre-1956 Imprints?

Mid-size academic libraries face the dilemma of limited funding and space but are expected to provide the tools their graduate students and faculty need to compete in research. A question faced by these institutions is whether to weed potentially useful paper finding aids of the pre-online era. One example is the 754 volume National Union Catalog Pre-1956 Imprints (NUC). Has the content and current use of the NUC justified its retention by libraries in mid-size universities? The authors provide historical background of the NUC and the results of a survey of librarians from mid-size academic institutions that explores their perspectives on the tool’s continued utility and their institutions’ ultimate decisions on its fate.
Cautious Optimism A New Proactive Role for Local Television News Departments in Local Election Coverage

A population study of television news directors was conducted in spring 1992 to assess their plans for coverage of the 1992 election. The findings revealed an interest in providing greater election analysis, with strong emphasis on the coverage of political advertising. In addition, the news directors reported that they planned to use the new satellite-based technologies to enhance their coverage efforts. These changes might signal a significant new proactive role for local television news in election coverage.
Stabilization of Nonlinear Strict-Feedback Systems With Time-Varying Delayed Integrators

We consider nonlinear systems in the strict-feedback form with simultaneous time-varying input and state delays, for which we design a predictor-based feedback controller. Our design is based on time-varying, infinite-dimensional backstepping transformations that we introduce, to convert the system to a globally asymptotically stable system. The solutions of the closed-loop system in the transformed variables can be found explicitly, which allows us to establish its global asymptotic stability. Based on the invertibility of the backstepping transformation, we prove global asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system in the original variables. Our design is illustrated by a numerical example.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Constraints on covariant theories for closed string fields

Assuming essential light-cone features persist in covariant closed string field theory a set of constraints is discussed. The contracted three-point vertex must generate all inequivalent tori. This leads to a well-defined mathematical problem. If the full theory is to be just cubic a Jacobi identity should be satisfied by the vertex. It is shown in generality that SL(2, C)-type vertices cannot satisfy either requirement, even though they can generate regions reminiscent to the fundamental domain of the modular group.
Analytic solution of an LPCVD reactor interwafer region

A new approach to solving the non-linear system of partial differential equations governing the interwafer region of an LPCVD reactor is presented. This technique yields an analytic solution of the concentration profile. Use of this concentration profile in conjunction with elementary material balance procedures, reproduces published experimental deposition data.
Post-fire forest dynamics and climate variability affect spatial and temporal properties of spruce beetle outbreaks on a Sky Island mountain range

Abstract The spruce beetle ( Dendroctonus rufipennis ) is known for extensive outbreaks resulting in high spruce mortality, but several recent outbreaks in the western United States have been among the largest and most severe in the documentary record. In the Pinaleno Mountains of southeast Arizona, U.S.A., an outbreak in the mid-1990s resulted in 85% mortality of Engelmann spruce >7 cm diameter. To put this outbreak into historical perspective, we used dendrochronology to examine the effects of host species’ distribution and growth rates on spruce beetle outbreak initiation, frequency and size over three centuries. We used multiproxy records of understory spruce growth release, snag death dates, failed attack scars, and historical records to identify 12 distinct outbreak events over a 319-year period of reconstruction. Outbreaks were defined by spatial criteria, affecting 25% or more of sites, instead of mortality-based criteria that could not be assessed in older outbreak events. We also tested outbreak associations with summer temperature and spring drought as they relate to thresholds associated with larval development and host stress, respectively. In the decades following fire exclusion in adjacent mixed-conifer forest, the area occupied by Engelmann spruce and corkbark fir doubled in size, coinciding with the first wide-spread outbreaks in the reconstructed period and a doubling of outbreak duration. Outbreaks lagged spruce establishment by 40–90 years depending on forest type and time since fire, and were correlated significantly with several years of antecedent warm summer temperatures followed by up to a decade of persistent spring drought. Mean annual growth increment, a factor associated with host susceptibility, was significantly higher in recently colonized mixed-conifer forest than in historically spruce- and fir-dominated sites. Increasing size and severity of outbreaks appears to have been influenced by host range expansion due to fire exclusion, coupled with increasing incidence of warm summer temperatures associated with persistent spring water stress. The combined effects of expansion of spruce into mixed-conifer forest and climatic trend toward warmer, drier conditions have the potential to promote extensive spruce beetle outbreaks across the host range of the western United States.
Synthesis, structure, and oxidation-induced dimerization of a cheating bis(phosphite) Ruthenium carbonyl

Abstract The novel bis(phosphite) compound Ru(bbmb)(CO) 3 ( 1 ) {bbmb: 2,2′-bis[(1,1′- b ipheny]-2,2′-diyl)phosphite]-3,3′-di-t- b utyl-5,5′-di- m ethoxy-1,1′- b iphenyl} was synthesized by the high pressure reaction of Ru 3 (CO) 12 with bbmb, and fully characterized by combustion, spectroscopic, spectrometric and structural analysis. The structure of 1 , as determined by X-ray diffraction, is a nearly perfect trigonal bipyramid with the bbmb ligand coiled about Ru in an overall C 2 fashion. Reaction of 1 with [Cp 2 Fe][PF 6 ] gave [Ru 2 (μ-bbmb) 2 (CO) 6 ][PF 6 ] 2 ( 2 ) whose formulation is based on combustion and spectroscopic analysis. It is shown that 2 contains a pair of bridging bbmb ligands. The significance of 1 in relation to structure- activity in the regioselectivity of the hydroformylation reaction is discussed. Formation of 2 from 1 is addressed in the context of the reactivity of pentacoordinate radical cation complexes.
Heat capacities and thermodynamic functions of LaNi5, LaNi5H0.36 and LaNi5H6.39 from 5 to 300 K☆

Abstract The heat capacities of LaNi5 and the hydrides α-LaNi5H0.36 and β-LaNi5H6.39 were measured using adiabatic calorimetry in the temperature range 5–300 K. The special techniques required to prepare the hydrides in small copper sample capsules for loading into the calorimeter are described. The calculations for the heat capacities include a correction for the change in the equilibrium hydrogen pressure in the gas space above the hydride samples when the samples were heated during the calorimetric measurements. The heat capacities of LaNi5, α-LaNi5H0.36 and β-LaNi5H6.39 in the temperature range 5–300 K show no anomalous behavior except possibly for a slight enhancement of the heat capacity of β-LaNi5H6.39 between 120 and 160 K. The entropies of formation of α-LaNi5H0.36 and β-LaNi5H6.39 from hydrogen and LaNi5 were found to be −107.2 ± 6 and −111.2 ± 0.5 J K−1 (mol H2)−1 respectively at 298.15 K. The enthalpy of formation ΔHβ of β-LaNi5H6.39 was calculated from our calorimetric results and from a hydrogen absorption isotherm and was found to vary with temperature; thus ΔHβ = −29.20, −30.24 and −30.40 kJ (mol H2)−1 at 195, 273.15 and 298.15 K respectively. The entropy and enthalpy results derived from this investigation are discussed and are compared with other results in the literature.
Supercritical Fluid Extraction and Accelerated Solvent Extraction of Dioxins from High- and Low-Carbon Fly Ash

This study investigates the replacement of Soxhlet extraction by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) or accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) for the removal of dioxins from municipal waste incinerator fly ash. SFE is very matrix dependent; higher percent recoveries versus Soxhlet extraction can be obtained for low-carbon-level fly ash, but only a few percent of dioxins can be extracted from high-carbon-level fly ash. The addition of large quantities of toluene in the extraction cell prior to extraction of high-carbon fly ash improves the recovery of the lowest chlorinated dioxins (∼90%), but a maximum of 20% of the octachlorodibenzo-p-dioxins can be extracted. Since large quantities of toluene are needed to improve the recoveries, ASE with toluene was tested. Recoveries similar to Soxhlet extraction can be obtained in 2 h at 80 °C. Increasing the temperature to 150 °C increases the extraction rate and yields recoveries of ∼110−160% compared to 48-h Soxhlet extraction for all congeners for both low- and h...
Riemannian Shape Analysis Based on Meridian Curves

Comparing different shapes is a fundamental problem in Computational Anatomy (CA), where a rigorous and intrinsic distance metric is key for a shape analysis system to work effectively and consistently. In this paper, we propose a shape comparison and classification framework that consists of two major components. A meridian-based shape representation, stemmed from spectral graph theory, possesses the merit of being able to capture the salient structure property along the direction of maximal shape variations. The meridian extraction algorithm, relying on a discrete approximation of the gradient of the induced Fiedler function, can also be utilized for other purposes, e.g., mesh generation for three-dimensional objects. After projecting the 3D meridians onto a multi-dimensional sphere, similarity/dissimilarity between shapes can be computed based on a Riemannian spherical distance metric. Group statistics, as well as object classification/clustering, can be readily carried out. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework with subcortical structures extracted from human brain MR images.
COMPLETE-MFA: Complementary parallel labeling experiments technique for metabolic flux analysis

Abstract We have developed a novel approach for measuring highly accurate and precise metabolic fluxes in living cells, termed COMPLETE-MFA, short for complementary parallel labeling experiments technique for metabolic flux analysis. The COMPLETE-MFA method is based on combined analysis of multiple isotopic labeling experiments, where the synergy of using complementary tracers greatly improves the precision of estimated fluxes. In this work, we demonstrate the COMPLETE-MFA approach using all singly labeled glucose tracers, [1- 13 C], [2- 13 C], [3- 13 C], [4- 13 C], [5- 13 C], and [6- 13 C]glucose to determine precise metabolic fluxes for wild-type Escherichia coli . Cells were grown in six parallel cultures on defined medium with glucose as the only carbon source. Mass isotopomers of biomass amino acids were measured by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The data from all six experiments were then fitted simultaneously to a single flux model to determine accurate intracellular fluxes. We obtained a statistically acceptable fit with more than 300 redundant measurements. The estimated flux map is the most precise flux result obtained thus far for E. coli cells. To our knowledge, this is the first time that six isotopic labeling experiments have been successfully integrated for high-resolution 13 C-flux analysis.
Defining quality metrics and improving safety and outcome in allergy care

Background The delivery of allergy immunotherapy in the otolaryngology office is variable and lacks standardization. Quality metrics encompasses the measurement of factors associated with good patient-centered care. These factors have yet to be defined in the delivery of allergy immunotherapy. We developed and applied quality metrics to 6 allergy practices affiliated with an academic otolaryngic allergy center. Methods This work was conducted at a tertiary academic center providing care to over 1500 patients. We evaluated methods and variability between 6 sites. Tracking of errors and anaphylaxis was initiated across all sites. A nationwide survey of academic and private allergists was used to collect data on current practice and use of quality metrics. Results The most common types of errors recorded were patient identification errors (n = 4), followed by vial mixing errors (n = 3), and dosing errors (n = 2). There were 7 episodes of anaphylaxis of which 2 were secondary to dosing errors for a rate of 0.01% or 1 in every 10,000 injection visits/year. Site visits showed that 86% of key safety measures were followed. Analysis of nationwide survey responses revealed that quality metrics are still not well defined by either medical or otolaryngic allergy practices. Academic practices were statistically more likely to use quality metrics (p = 0.021) and perform systems reviews and audits in comparison to private practices (p = 0.005). Conclusion Quality metrics in allergy delivery can help improve safety and quality care. These metrics need to be further defined by otolaryngic allergists in the changing health care environment.
China's New Leaders: Perspectives on Geographic Trends and Realities

A senior American specialist on the geography of China examines several aspects of China's society, economy, regional organization, and geopolitical position in light of the change in the country's leadership at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2012. After a brief comparison of the incoming and retiring leadership groups in terms of backgrounds and past policy pronouncements (as well as discussing the challenge posed by corruption), the author proceeds to discuss a series of key social and regional development policies that may be subject to some degree of change under the new leadership, including hukou and the one-child policy. He then focuses on the 12th Five-Year Plan, which provides a broad outline of the new leadership's goals, and particularly its emphasis on balanced regional development (a commitment to further develop the interior of the country as well as to revitalize the old heavy industrial region, the Northeast). The author then turns to China's growing ...
Spurious hypophosphatemia in a patient with multiple myeloma

We report a patient with multiple myeloma and a prolonged history of hypophosphatemia who had remained asymptomatic. Extensive evaluation for a cause, including the search for a renal tubular disorder, oncogenous osteomalacia, or a parathyroid hormone (PTH)-related protein was unproductive. Renal biopsy showed no evidence of myeloma kidney. Subsequent mixing of the immunoglobulin G (IgG) fraction from the patient's serum with normal human serum, confirmed that the observed hypophosphatemia was spurious, resulting from interference of large amounts of an abnormal IgG with a standard automated laboratory assay for phosphate.
‘From stone to cloud’: Mary Kelly’s Love Songs and feminist intergenerationality

This article analyses Mary Kelly’s Love Songs, 2005—07, which was exhibited in 2007 at Documenta 12. The series of artworks addresses the political and ideological legacies of early Anglo-US feminism through the perspectives of two generations of women. Drawing on oral and photographic archives, as well as historical re-enactments, Kelly indicates how her work does not simply record a feminist legacy but, rather, keenly intervenes in the process. I propose that this intervention is an ethical one. Drawing on Luce Irigaray’s writings on the maternal gift, I demonstrate how Kelly’s project may be understood to enact an ethical relationality that I find is fundamental for thinking about the vexing issue of feminist intergenerationality. I conclude that while Love Songs maps no specific course of action, nor indicates exactly why or how a current generation of feminists should proceed, it nonetheless generates a space in which to imagine the radical futurity of the maternal gift.
Inner-City Teachers and School-Community Relations.

Several indicators show that in the inner city the contact of teachers with parents and community is slight and occasional.
Web-based Atmospheric Nucleation Data Management and Visualization

Nucleation phenomena play a crucial role in plenty of atmospheric and technological processes. Being short of efficient visual data exploration tools has given rise to trouble understanding atmospheric nucleation processes. In this paper, we utilize the knowledge of hyper tree visualization to enhance our previously developed web-based visualization and analysis tool that allows remote users to effectively mine the wealth of particle-based nucleation simulation data. Our goal is to speed up knowledge discovery and improve users' productivity through effective visual data mining techniques and more friendly user interface design. Meanwhile, we developed a feasible parallel computing solution to overcome the slow response due to expensive large data pre-processing.
A complementarity mechanism for enhanced pattern processing

The parallel ON-and OFF-center signals flowing from retina to brain suggest the operation of a complementarity mechanism. This paper shows what such a mechanism can do in higher-level visual processing. In the proposed mechanism, inhibition and excitation, both feedforward, coequally compete within each hierarchical level to discriminate patterns. A computer model tests complementarity in the context of an adaptive, self-regulating system. Three other mechanisms (gain control, cooperativity, and adaptive error control) are included in the model but are described only briefly. Results from simulations show that complementarity markedly improves both speed and accuracy in pattern learning and recognition. This mechanism may serve not only vision but other types of processing in the brain as well.
Risks and benefits of bariatric surgery: Current evidence

Patients typically lose more than 50% of their excess weight after bariatric surgery. Obesity-related diseases markedly improve, reducing cardiovascular risk and improving life expectancy. Obese patients lose more weight with bariatric surgery than with medical weight-loss treatment.
Is Retirement Good or Bad for Subjective Well-Being?:

Retirement has been viewed either as a transition that is accompanied by psychological distress or as a time of continued, or even enhanced, subjective well-being. Existing evidence is mixed, with some studies reporting retirement as positively related to well-being and others reporting a negative relationship or none at all. Our research indicates that developmental and social contexts shape an individual's retirement decisions and experiences, so that retirement should be studied in its ecological and life-course context. Research on marital quality and subjective well-being in retirement has demonstrated both similarities and differences between men and women, as well as the need to consider couples conjointly (rather than viewing individuals in isolation). Future research focusing on the retirement process as it unfolds over time and in ecological context can serve to illuminate the circumstances under which retirement promotes or detracts from the quality of life.
Electrocardiographic prediction of arrhythmias

Information in electrocardiographic (ECG) signals is widely believed to have value in the short-term prediction of arrhythmias. This study evaluates the use of morphologic variability (MV), a recently proposed metric measuring subtle variability in the shape of ECG signals over long periods, to risk stratify patients for arrhythmia following non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS). We assessed the relationship between MV and the composite occurrence of ventricular tachycardia and cardiac pause (150 events) in 2302 patients admitted post-NSTEACS. On univariate analysis, high MV was strongly associated with the short-term occurrence of arrhythmias (HR 2.02; 95% CI 1.42–2.87; p≪0.001). The relationship between MV and arrhythmias was consistent even after adjusting for other risk variables (adjusted HR 2.04; 95% CI 1.37 – 3.03; p≪0.001). Our results suggest that MV may be a clinically useful tool for identifying patients at an increased short-term risk of serious arrhythmias in the setting of NSTEACS.
Exploring global patterns of net primary production carbon supply and demand using satellite observations and statistical data

[1] A unique combination of satellite and socioeconomic data were used to explore the relationship between human consumption and the carbon cycle. The amount of Earth's net primary production (NPP) required to support human activities is a powerful measure of the aggregate impact on the biosphere and indicator of societal vulnerability to climate change. Biophysical models were applied to consumption data to estimate the annual amount of Earth's terrestrial net primary production humans require for food, fiber (including fabrication) and fuel using the same modeling architecture as satellite-supported NPP measurements. The amount of NPP required was calculated on a per capita basis and projected onto a global map of population to create a spatially explicit map of NPP-carbon “demand” in units of elemental carbon. NPP demand was compared to a map of Earth's average annual net primary production or “supply” created using 17 years (1982–1998) of AVHRR vegetation index to produce a geographically accurate balance sheet of NPP-carbon “supply” and “demand” for the globe. Globally, humans consume 20% of Earth's total net primary production on land. Regionally, the NPP-carbon balance percentage varies from 6% to over 70% and locally from near 0% to over 30,000% in major urban areas. Scenarios modeling the impact of per capita consumption, population growth, and technology suggest that NPP demand is likely to increase substantially in the next 40 years despite better harvesting and processing efficiencies.
A latent autoregressive model for longitudinal binary data subject to informative missingness

Longitudinal clinical trials often collect long sequences of binary data. Our application is a recent clinical trial in opiate addicts that examined the effect of a new treatment on repeated binary urine tests to assess opiate use over an extended follow-up. The dataset had two sources of missingness: dropout and intermittent missing observations. The primary endpoint of the study was comparing the marginal probability of a positive urine test over follow-up across treatment arms. We present a latent autoregressive model for longitudinal binary data subject to informative missingness. In this model, a Gaussian autoregressive process is shared between the binary response and missing-data processes, thereby inducing informative missingness. Our approach extends the work of others who have developed models that link the various processes through a shared random effect but do not allow for autocorrelation. We discuss parameter estimation using Monte Carlo EM and demonstrate through simulations that incorporating within-subject autocorrelation through a latent autoregressive process can be very important when longitudinal binary data is subject to informative missingness. We illustrate our new methodology using the opiate clinical trial data.
Time‐lapse monitoring of velocity changes in Utah

The Eastern part of the Basin and Range, extending to the Wasatch fault region, is an actively deforming region characterized by varieties of extensive features and prominent seismicity along the intermountain seismic belt. The present-day deformation of the intermountain seismic belt and the eastern Basin and Range province motivates an interest in continuous monitoring of the region. In this study we monitor time-lapse velocity changes within Utah and eastern Nevada using coda waves generated by repeatable explosions. This monitoring characterizes velocity changes within the region from June to September of 2007. We observe, both temporally and spatially, variable velocity changes within the monitored region, with a maximum path average velocity change of 0.2%. This suggests a significant change in the velocity within the region given the short monitoring duration. Correlation of the temporal variation of the average velocity change with strains derived from GPS-detrended displacements suggests that the velocity change might be driven by the broad deformation within the monitored region.
Pheochromocytoma Presenting as Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and Lactic Acidosis

Pheochromocytomas can secrete catecholamines, hormones, and cytokines, and the patterns of secretion strongly influence the complexity of the clinical presentation. We now report a patient who presented with abdominal pain, fever, leukocytosis, and tachycardia. In addition, he had lactic acidosis without shock. Our review of the literature indicates that this patient had systemic inflammatory response syndrome most likely secondary to high levels of IL-6 and that he had type B lactic acidosis secondary to high circulating levels of epinephrine. The combined presentation is unique and resolved with successful surgery. Pheochromocytoma should be included in the differential diagnosis of SIRS and of lactic acidosis.
FIRST RECORD OF COOPERATIVE BREEDING IN A THRYOTHORUS WREN

Although offspring delay dispersal past the age of independence in many Thryothorus species, cooperative breeding has not been recorded in this genus. Here, I present the first observation of cooperative breeding in a Thryothorus wren (Buff-breasted Wren, T. leucotis). Of 41 offspring that delayed dispersal past the age of independence, 4 individuals stayed on their natal territory until their parent's next breeding attempt, indicating a low potential for cooperative breeding. Of these four individuals, one male provisioned 11- to 15-day-old nestlings and one female approached her parents' nest but was repeatedly driven away from it by her father. The retained female was apparently tolerated when in the vicinity of fledglings, but feeding was never positively confirmed.
Control by insulin and insulin-related growth factor 1 of protein synthesis in a cell-free translational system from chick-embryo fibroblasts

Insulin and insulin-related growth factor 1 (IGF-1) increase by 1.5-1.6-fold the rate of [3H]leucine incorporation into protein in primary monolayer cultures of chick-embryo fibroblasts (CEF); half-maximal hormone concentrations are 10 and 0.25 nM respectively. To investigate the mechanism of this effect, a rapid method is used to prepare a lysate from CEF which is active in protein synthesis. Lysate derived from cells treated for 30-150 min with insulin synthesized protein at 1.8-3.0-fold greater rate than did controls; the increased rate persisted for 20 min in vitro. Pactamycin (0.5 microM), an inhibitor of peptide-chain initiation, inhibited protein synthesis by 50% in lysates derived from insulin-treated and control cells. Thus insulin and IGF-1 cause an increase in the protein-synthesis rate in vivo, which persists in cell-free protein-synthesizing lysates of CEF.
An Integrated Model of Macrocognitive Work and Trust in Automation

Conceptual models of trust in automation range from lists of factors that are believed or known to have a causal influence trust, to conceptual diagrams that express a hypothetical causal relation between trust and the operator's prediction of the automation's behavior. The unified theory presented here is more complete. Trusting is modeled as a phenomenon that emerges from multiple interacting and parallel processes. The integrated model is a reasonable starting point for computational modeling that would capture the richness of expert cognition and replanning, and simultaneously allow for the modeling of reliance and trust in the automation that mediates the cognitive work.
Symmetry-Dependent Optical Properties of Stellated Nanocrystals

Stellated metal nanostructures are a class of plasmonic colloids in which large electric field enhancements can occur at their sharp tips, making them excellent candidates for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and surface-enhanced infrared spectroscopy (SE-IRS) platforms. Shape-dependent rules for convex polyhedra such as cubes, nanorods, or octahedra exist, which describe far-field scattering and near-field enhancements. However, such rules are lacking for their concave counterparts, which include stellated structures. Here, the optical response of stellated Au nanocrystals with Oh, D4h, D3h, C2v, and Td symmetry were modeled to systematically investigate the role of symmetry, branching, and particle orientation with respect to excitation source using finite difference time domain (FDTD) calculations. Furthermore, these results are compared to experimentally obtained localized surface plasmon bands determined by UV–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy for ensembles of similarly shaped metallic nanostru...
The Interplay of Client Management and the Audit Committee on Auditor Performance

SUMMARY: This article summarizes “The Interplay of Management Incentives and Audit Committee Communication on Auditor Judgment” (Brown and Popova 2016), which investigates the influence that client management and the audit committee have on auditor judgments and behavior. We find that additional, informal audit committee communication with the auditor, as directed under the recently issued Auditing Standard No. 16, Communications with Audit Committees, has a significant and positive impact on auditors' evidence evaluation and related judgments under certain conditions. Specifically, when client management has greater incentives to try to unduly influence the auditor, this additional communication has a significant, positive impact on auditors' evidence evaluation and related judgments. However, when client management is perceived as having lower incentives, management becomes more persuasive than the audit committee and is able to influence the auditors into accepting an aggressive, management-preferred a...