cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sustaining intravitreal residence with L-arginine peptide-conjugated nanocarriers

Purpose Intravitreal injection of antiangiogenic agents is becoming a standard treatment for neovascular retinal diseases. Sustained release of therapeutics by injecting colloidal carriers is a promising approach to reduce the injection frequency, which reduces treatment burdens and the risk of complications on patients. Such sustained release often requires carriers to have micrometer-scale dimension that, however, can potentially promote glaucoma and inflammation. Small, polycationic particles can be immobilized in vitreous through multiple cooperative ionic interactions with hyaluronic acid of the vitreous interior, but such particles are generally toxic. Here, we synthesized and examined a biocompatible dextran-based nanocarrier (<50 nm in diameter) conjugated with cationic peptides containing L-arginine with minimal toxicity, aiming to provide sustained release of therapeutic drugs in vitreous. Methods We synthesized the nanocarriers with condensed cholesteryl dextran (CDEX) as core material. Cationic peptides containing 1 to 4 arginine groups, along with fluorescence tags, were conjugated to the CDEX surface. We monitored the carrier diffusion rate ex vivo and half-lives in vivo in rodent vitreous using fluorescence imaging. We evaluated the toxicity by histological examinations at the second, third, eighth, and thirty-sixth week. Results The diffusion rate of nanocarriers was inversely related to zeta potential values in freshly isolated vitreous humor. We observed increased half-lives in vivo with increasing zeta potential (up to 240 days). Histological examinations confirmed no adverse effects on ocular morphology and organization. Conclusions We demonstrated the potential of L-arginine peptide-conjugated nanocarriers toward safe and sustained therapeutic release system for posterior eye diseases.
Fracture Risk Assessment in Long-term Care (FRAiL): Development and Validation of a Prediction Model.

Background Strategies used to predict fracture in community-dwellers may not be useful in the nursing home (NH). Our objective was to develop and validate a model (Fracture Risk Assessment in Long-term Care [FRAiL]) to predict the 2-year risk of hip fracture in NH residents using readily available clinical characteristics. Methods The derivation cohort consisted of 419,668 residents between May 1, 2007 and April 30, 2008 in fee-for service Medicare. Hip fractures were identified using Part A diagnostic codes. Resident characteristics were obtained using the Minimum Data Set and Part D claims. Multivariable competing risk regression was used to model 2-year risk of hip fracture. We validated the model in a remaining 1/3 sample (n = 209,834) and in a separate cohort in 2011 (n = 858,636). Results Mean age was 84 years (range 65-113 years) and 74.5% were female. During 1.8 years mean follow-up, 14,553 residents (3.5%) experienced a hip fracture. Fifteen characteristics in the final model were associated with an increased risk of hip fracture including dementia severity, ability to transfer and walk independently, prior falls, wandering, and diabetes. In the derivation sample, the concordance index was 0.69 in men and 0.71 in women. Calibration was excellent. Results were similar in the internal and external validation samples. Conclusions The FRAiL model was developed specifically to identify NH residents at greatest risk for hip fracture, and it identifies a different pattern of risk factors compared with community models. This practical model could be used to screen NH residents for fracture risk and to target intervention strategies.
Revels and Celebrations

This chapter examines the queens’ presence at secular revels and celebrations, entry ceremonies, tournaments, and feast day banquets. When queens hosted official events in the king’s absence, they played important diplomatic roles in welcoming guests and representing the hospitality and stability of the court. In many events, especially tournaments, the queens’ role was decorative and symbolic rather than directly participatory, but even so, their presence was seen as critical to satisfying social expectations of a stable and prosperous court. This chapter presents queens carefully negotiating public performances that could be both pleasurable and demanding.
Blood component transfusions in mass casualty events.

Background and Objectives Planning transfusion needs in mass casualty events (MCE) is critical for disaster preparedness. Published data on blood component usage were analysed to seek correlative factors and usage rates. Materials and Methods English-language medical publications since 1980 were searched for MCEs with numbers of patient admissions and transfused RBCs. Reports were excluded from natural disasters or with total RBC use <50 units. Statistical analysis employed Mann–Whitney U-tests and Spearman's rank correlations. Results In 24 reports, the average units per admission were 3·06 RBCs, 2·13 plasmas and 0·37 platelet doses. Five RBCs per admission would have sufficed for 87% of events. Transfusion needs involving bombings correlated with admissions (P ≤ 0·03). In the formula (massive-transfusion patients in MCE) times X = (total units for all MCE patients), the average X was 35 for RBCs (correlation P = 0·01), 17 for plasma (P = 0·10) and five for platelet doses (P = 0·06). From 67% to 84% of all components used were given in the first 24 h (event medians). Conclusions Blood component use in MCEs correlated with numbers of patients admitted or receiving massive transfusion. More current data are needed to better reflect emerging trauma care practices and refine predictive models of transfusion needs.
Hormonal Contraceptives Improve Women's Health and Should Continue to Be Covered by Health Insurance Plans

Several prominent voices in federal leadership positions have recently disseminated misinformation on contraception that runs counter to widely accepted, evidence-based research and may cause harm ...
Pre-service teachers learn to teach geography: a suggested course model

How to improve geography education via teacher preparation programs has been a concern for nearly three decades, but few examples of a single, comprehensive university-level course exist. The purpo...
Dual-Agent Antibiotic Prophylaxis Using a Single Preoperative Vancomycin Dose Effectively Reduces Prosthetic Joint Infection Rates With Minimal Renal Toxicity Risk.

Abstract Background We performed this study to compare prosthetic joint infection (PJI) and renal toxicity rates following hip and knee total joint arthroplasty (TJA) when a first-generation cephalosporin was administered either alone or in combination with a single preoperative vancomycin dose, whether vancomycin administration timing potentially influenced dual-antibiotic PJI prophylaxis approach effectiveness, and whether single-dose vancomycin use increased risk of renal impairment. Methods This was a retrospective study of 1997 consecutive primary TJAs (1871 patients) treated with cefazolin alone (1044 TJAs) or cefazolin with single-dose vancomycin (953 TJAs). The vancomycin group included 476 TJAs (450 patients) with infusion started at least 45 minutes before the skin incision and 477 TJAs (464 patients) with infusion started less than 45 minutes before the skin incision. Results The addition of a single dose of vancomycin did not significantly reduce PJI rates when compared with cefazolin alone (1.6% vs 2.1%, P = .32). However, the PJI rate was significantly lower following primary TJA when vancomycin administration was initiated at least 45 minutes before incision (0.2%) when compared with other TJA procedures performed using cefazolin and vancomycin (2.9%, P Conclusion In our institution, the addition of vancomycin to cefazolin at least 45 minutes before incision reduced PJI infection rates in primary hip and knee TJA with a low risk of renal impairment.
Control of Feeding Behavior by Cerebral Ventricular Volume Transmission of Melanin-Concentrating Hormone

Classical mechanisms through which brain-derived molecules influence behavior include neuronal synaptic communication and neuroendocrine signaling. Here we provide evidence for an alternative neural communication mechanism that is relevant for food intake control involving cerebroventricular volume transmission of the neuropeptide melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH). Results reveal that the cerebral ventricles receive input from approximately one-third of MCH-producing neurons. Moreover, MCH cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels increase prior to nocturnal feeding and following chemogenetic activation of MCH-producing neurons. Utilizing a dual viral vector approach, additional results reveal that selective activation of putative CSF-projecting MCH neurons increases food intake. In contrast, food intake was reduced following immunosequestration of MCH endogenously present in CSF, indicating that neuropeptide transmission through the cerebral ventricles is a physiologically relevant signaling pathway for energy balance control. Collectively these results suggest that neural-CSF volume transmission signaling may be a common neurobiological mechanism for the control of fundamental behaviors.
Identifying Cardiorespiratory Insufficiency Outside the ICU

The pressure to increase intensive care unit (ICU) bed availability continues to grow as the need to streamline patient throughput in acute care facilities intensifies across the world. Thus, patients with higher illness acuity levels are transferred from ICUs and into step-down units for continued monitoring via non-invasive monitoring tools. These non-invasive tools include electrocardiography, automated sphygmomanometer and pulse oximetry to give estimates of heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR), blood pressure (BP) and peripheral arterial oxygen saturation (Sp02), respectively.
Surface Flashover of Fiberglass Reinforced Epoxy Composite Insulation in Vacuum at Liquid Nitrogen and Room Temperatures using Power Frequency AC and Lightning Impulse Waveforms

The dielectric strength of vacuum insulation is reduced considerably when high voltage electrodes are bridged by solid insulation. Further reduction of strength can occur when the solid material outgases as in the case of fiber reinforced plastics (FRP). Even when the overall vacuum is acceptable, the higher gas pressures near the insulator surface can result in unacceptably low hold- off strengths. For superconductor applications in high voltage power equipment the problem of outgassing may be reduced or eliminated by the low temperatures employed. We will report on ac and impulse surface flashover studies of two types of fiberglass reinforced epoxy composite insulators, G-10 and G-11, at ambient temperature and at low temperature, using liquid nitrogen cooled electrodes, at vacuum pressures below l.0x10−6 Torr (1.3x10−4Pa). Also, AC and impulse breakdown voltages for a pure vacuum gap are compared to the gap breakdown voltages obtained for the electrode-insulator-electrode arrangement. In addition, preliminary results on the effect of orientation of the layers in G-10 and G-11 on breakdown, surface flashover, and puncture are also presented.
A Primer in Cell Culture for Patchologists

Although numerous cell culture systems representative of a variety of in vivo cell types have long been available and have been used extensively for biochemical and cell biological studies, few of them have been exploited for the study of electrophysiological problems. Thus, most of the insight into the behavior of excitable membranes has been gained from studies of a few nonmammalian preparations that are highly suitable for conventional voltage clamp experiments. Many of the cultured systems have simply been ignored, whereas others have been unsuitable for rigorous studies using conventional electrophysiological techniques.
Multipartism and A Kinder MajorityAn Experimental Approach to Distributive Justice

This paper develops a theory that shows how the defection costs among the winning coalition affect the minority interests in distributive bargaining. For empirical tests, the paper adopts a novel experimental method using an online voting platform in which participants do not have to face each other when making bargains to reach a majority decision in a zero-sum context.
An Apparatus for Studying Liquid Matrix Assisted Organic Secondary Ion Processes

FAB is a form of organic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) in which the primary beam is neutral and the sample is dissolved in a liquid matrix during bombardment. The success of FAB is now generally attributed to the use of the liquid sample matrix and not, as earlier claimed, the neutral charge state of the primary beam. Continued development of FAB mass spectrometry or, more generally, liquid matrix assisted SIMS requires investigation of the processes of secondary ion emission from liquid sample matrices.
The breeding of hop.

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of hop breeding. Hop breeding is in the infancy stage in sophistication and application of classical and molecular techniques when compared to other cultivated crops. Much of this state is attributed to the minor crop status of this crop coupled with the specialized nature of use for flavoring and the need to maintain end-product consistency from year to year. Nevertheless, given the small number of hop breeding programs around the world, much can be said regarding the successful adaptation of new breeding techniques, particularly new molecular breeding techniques that are being applied to hop. Most of the early breeding efforts in hop used mass selection followed later by the use of simple pedigree breeding focused upon the use of a few select cultivars as parents. Hop production and breeding requires large plot sizes for individual genotypes and this fact alone has precluded breeders from observing large numbers of individuals or offspring for selection purposes. It has only been within the past 15 years that hop breeders have expanded beyond the simple pedigree breeding technique to include recurrent selection or use of multiple designed crosses incorporating several traits into single genetic backgrounds.
The adsorption of CO, O2, and H2 on Pt: I. Thermal desorption spectroscopy studies☆

Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) has been used to study the chemisorption of CO, O2, and h2 on Pt. It has been found that TDS is quite sensitive to local surface structure. Three single crystal and two polycrystalline Pt surfaces were studied. One single crystal was cut to expose the smooth, hexagonally close-packed plane of the fee Pt crystal (the (111) surface). The other two single crystals were cut to expose stepped surfaces consisting of smooth, hexagonally close-packed terraces six atoms wide separated by one atom high steps (the 6(111) × (100) and 6(111) × (111) surfaces). Only one predominant desorption state was observed for CO and H adsorbed on the smooth (111) single crystal surface, while two predominant desorption states were observed for these gases adsorbed on the stepped single crystal surfaces. The low temperature desorption states on the stepped surfaces are attributed to desorption from the terraces, while the high temperature desorption states are attributed to desorption from the steps. TDS of CO from the polycrystalline foils exhibited some desorption states which were similar to those observed on the stepped single crystal surfaces, indicating the presence of adsorption sites on the polycrystalline foils that were similar to the terrace and step sites on the stepped single crystals. In general, these results suggest a high density of defect sites on the polycrystalline foils which can not be attributed simply to adsorption at grain boundaries. Oxygen was found to adsorb well on the stepped single crystals and on the polycrystalline foils, but not on the smooth (111) single crystal, under the conditions of these experiments. This is attributed to a higher sticking probability for dissociative O2 adsorption at steps or defects than on terraces.
Cerebellar contributions to sequence prediction in verbal working memory

Verbal working memory is one of the most studied non-motor functions with robust cerebellar involvement. While the superior cerebellum (lobule VI) has been associated with articulatory control, the inferior cerebellum (lobule VIIIa) has been linked to phonological storage. The present study was aimed to elucidate the differential roles of these regions by investigating whether the cerebellum might contribute to verbal working memory via predictions based on sequence learning/detection. 19 healthy adult subjects completed an fMRI-based Sternberg task which included repeating and novel letter sequences that were phonologically similar or dissimilar. It was hypothesized that learning a repeating sequence of study letters would reduce phonological storage demand and associated right inferior cerebellar activations and that this effect would be modulated by phonological similarity of the study letters. Specifically, while increased phonological storage demand due to high phonological similarity was expected to be reflected in increased right inferior cerebellar activations for similar relative to dissimilar study letters, the reduction in activation for repeating relative to novel sequences was expected to be more profound for phonologically similar than for dissimilar study letters, especially at higher memory load. Results confirmed the typical effects of cognitive load (5 vs. 2 study letters) and phonological similarity in several cerebellar and neocortical brain regions as well as in behavioral data (accuracy and response time). Importantly, activations in superior and inferior cerebellar regions were differentially modulated as a function of similarity and sequence novelty, indicating that particularly lobule VIIIa may contribute to verbal working memory by generating predictions of letter sequences that reduce the likelihood of phonological loop failure before stored items need to be retrieved. The present study is consistent with other investigations that support prediction, which can be based on sequence learning or detection, as an overarching cerebellar function.
Optimizing the allocation of funds of an NFL team under the salary cap

Abstract Every NFL team faces the complex decision of having to choose how to allocate salaries to each position while being limited by the salary cap. This paper uses regression strategies to identify which positions are worthy of greater investment, under the assumption that players are paid in an efficient market. Using a combination of univariate regression models, we identify that it is worth investing in elite players at the quarterback, guard, defensive line, and linebacker positions. In addition, through a separate set of regression models we also consider the possibility that markets are not actually efficient. We determine that the optimal way to take advantage of inefficiency is through the draft, in order to find players who can provide significant win contributions early in their careers while they are being paid on relatively low rookie contracts.
Complex spike synchrony dependent modulation of rat deep cerebellar nuclear activity.

The rules governing cerebellar output are not fully understood, but must involve Purkinje cell (PC) activity, as PCs are the major input to deep cerebellar nuclear (DCN) cells (which form the majority of cerebellar output). Here, the influence of PC complex spikes (CSs) was investigated by simultaneously recording DCN activity with CSs from PC arrays in anesthetized rats. Crosscorrelograms were used to identify PCs that were presynaptic to recorded DCN cells (presynaptic PCs). Such PCs were located within rostrocaudal cortical strips and displayed synchronous CS activity. CS-associated modulation of DCN activity included a short-latency post-CS inhibition and long-latency excitations before and after the CS. The amplitudes of the post-CS responses correlated with the level of synchronization among presynaptic PCs. A temporal precision of ≤10 ms was generally required for CSs to be maximally effective. The results suggest that CS synchrony is a key control parameter of cerebellar output. Editorial note This article has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review. The Reviewing Editor's assessment is that all the issues have been addressed (see decision letter).
Medical Supervision of High School Athletics in Chicago: A Follow-up Study:

Background:High school sports participation in the United States has increased dramatically over the past 25 years. A corresponding increase in the number of injuries has been noted, particularly i...
Analyzing mandatory college internships: academic effects and implications for curricular design

Universities and students increasingly view internships as valuable learning experiences that complement and augment academic classroom learning. Students benefit from the opportunity to apply rece...
Microfluidic Behavior of Alumina Nanotube-Based Pathways within Hydrophobic CNT Barriers

The use of porous micro-and nanostructured materials within microfluidic devices results in unique fluid transport characteristics. In this paper, we investigate the microfluidic behavior of hybrid alumina nanotube-based pathways within the hydrophobic carbon nanotube (CNT) barriers. These hybrid systems provide unique benefits for potential liquid transport control in porous structures with real-time sensing of fluids. In particular, we examine how the alignment of the alumina nanostructures with high internal porosity enables increased capillary action and sensitivity of detection. Based on the Lucas and Washburn model (LW) and the modified LW models, the microfluidic behavior of these systems is detailed. The time exponent prediction from the models for capillary transport in porous media is determined to be ≤0.5. The experimental results demonstrate that the average capillary rise in the nanostructured media driven by a capillary force follows t0.7. The hydrophilic/electrically insulating and hydrophobic/electrically conductive patterned structures of the device are used for electronic measurements within the microfluidic channels. The device structure enables the detection of fluid samples of very low analyte concentrations (1 μM) that can be achieved due to the very high surface area of the hybrid structure combined with the electrical conductivity of the CNT support structure.
Materials requirements for improving the electron transport layer/perovskite interface of perovskite solar cells determined via numerical modeling

Perovskite solar cells continue to garner significant attention in the field of photovoltaics. As the optoelectronic properties of the absorbers become better understood, attention has turned to more deeply understanding the contribution of charge transport layers for efficient extraction of carriers. Titanium oxide is known to be an effective electron transport layer (ETL) in planar perovskite solar cells, but it is unlikely to result in the best device performance possible. To investigate the importance of band energy alignment between the electron transport layer and perovskite, we employ numerical modeling as a function of conduction band offset between these layers, interface recombination velocity, and ETL doping levels. Our simulations offer insight into the advantages of energy band alignment and allow us to determine a range of surface recombination velocities and ETL doping densities that will allow us to identify novel high performance ETL materials.
Enfortumab Vedotin-ejfv: A First-in-Class Anti-Nectin-4 Antibody-Drug Conjugate for the Management of Urothelial Carcinoma.

Objective:To evaluate the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, clinical efficacy, safety, dosing, cost, and clinical implications of enfortumab vedotin-ejfv (EV) in the treatment of locally advanced or ...
It’s Not Easy Being Green: Behavior, Morphology, and Population Structure in Urban and Natural Populations of Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) Lizards

Selection on behaviour, signalling, and morphology can be strongly affected by variation in habitat type. Consequently, populations inhabiting different environments can exhibit divergent phenotypes as a result of either habitat-specific selection or plasticity. Urban habitats in particular represent different challenges for organisms adapted for rural environments, including disparate complements of predators and competitors, resource availability, and habitat complexity. In this paper, I review work aimed at understanding the different selective challenges experienced by rural and urban populations of green anole lizards, primarily those in southeastern Louisiana. I also describe a long-term mark-recapture experiment on an urban population of green anoles in New Orleans, and consider how sex ratios and population density changes over time. Collectively, this work shows that urban and rural populations of green anoles diverge markedly in behaviour and morphology driven both by differences in habitat and the presence of competitors in the urban environment; however, it also shows that the effects of urbanization on the ecology and evolution of green anoles are understudied.
A note on noise suppression in cell-size control

Abstract Diverse cell types employ mechanisms to maintain size homeostasis and minimize aberrant fluctuations in cell size. It is well known that exponential cellular growth can drive unbounded intercellular variations in cell size, if the timing of cell division is size independent. Hence coupling of division timing to size is an essential feature of size control. We formulate a stochastic model, where exponential cellular growth is coupled with random cell division events, and the rate at which division events occur increases as a power function of cell size. Interestingly, in spite of nonlinearities in the stochastic dynamical model, statistical moments of the newborn cell size can be determined in closed form, providing fundamental limits to suppression of size fluctuations. In particular, formulas reveal that the magnitude of fluctuations in the newborn size is determined by the inverse of the size exponent in the division rate, and this relationship is independent of other model parameters, such as the growth rate. We further expand these results to consider randomness in the partitioning of mother cell size among daughters at the time of division. The sensitivity of newborn size fluctuations to partitioning noise is found to monotonically decrease, and approach a non-zero value, with increasing size exponent in the division rate. Finally, we discuss how our analytical results provide limits on noise control in commonly used models for cell size regulation.
Rural adults’ perceived role of family members in prescription opioid misuse prevention: Implications for family‐based approaches

PURPOSE This study explored and documented rural adults' perceptions of family roles in prescription opioid misuse prevention and the predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors that influence family members from taking those roles. METHODS Nine focus groups with rural adults (n = 55) were conducted to evoke discussion about family roles in prescription opioid misuse prevention. Transcripts were coded based on common ideas that arose during the focus groups, previous literature, and the PRECEDE-PROCEED program planning model. FINDINGS Findings suggest that rural adults perceive the opioid epidemic as partially a family problem. Additionally, rural adults perceive themselves as having a critical role in preventing prescription opioid misuse among family members. Participants identified specific predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors that influence whether or not family members take responsibility in preventing prescription opioid misuse within their families. Rural adults also perceive that family-based education is important in preventing prescription opioid misuse. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that there is an interest in family-based approaches that enable or foster the skills and resources necessary to engage in prescription opioid misuse prevention behaviors. Specifically, family-based prevention programming should include efforts to shape knowledge and attitudes about prescription opioid misuse, increase resources to facilitate prevention behaviors, and build skills related to prevention.
Computing the Uncontrollable: Insights from Computational Modelling of Learning and Choice in Depression

The learned helplessness (LH) paradigm, developed in experimental animals, has had great influence on the development of models of mood and anxiety disorders. However, the insights from this paradigm have not always translated straightforwardly into human experimental work. In particular, instrumental contingency learning experiments yielded the contradictory finding of more accurate contingency knowledge in depressed individuals (“depressive realism”: DR). A growing literature involving the application of computational modelling applied to human learning studies suggest that possible sequelae of LH in humans may be manifest in one or more potential candidate reinforcement learning-based mechanisms. This analysis suggests that the DR effect is theoretically and empirically independent of LH, despite both LH and DR being related to depression. Overall, the review highlights recent developments within the complex literature of learning and choice in depression and proposes a variety of testable predictions which may serve to delineate more precisely the presence, and neural basis, of LH-like sequelae across social and non-social learning and choice paradigms in depressed patients.
Week 3–4 Prediction of Wintertime CONUS Temperature Using Machine Learning Techniques

This paper shows that skillful week 3-4 predictions of a large-scale pattern of 2m temperature over the US can be made based on the Nino3.4 index alone, where skillful is defined to be better than climatology. To find more skillful regression models, this paper explores various machine learning strategies (e.g. ridge regression and lasso), including those trained on observations and on climate model output. It is found that regression models trained on climate model output yield more skillful predictions than regression models trained on observations, presumably because of the larger training sample. Nevertheless, the skill of the best machine learning models are only modestly better than ordinary least squares based on the Nino3.4 index. Importantly, this fact is difficult to infer from the parameters of the machine learning model because very different parameter sets can produce virtually identical predictions. For this reason, attempts to interpret the source of predictability from the machine learning model can be very misleading. The skill of machine learning models also are compared to those of a fully coupled dynamical model, CFSv2. The results depend on the skill measure: for mean square error, the dynamical model is slightly worse than the machine learning models; for correlation skill, the dynamical model is only modestly better than machine learning models or the Nino3.4 index. In summary, although the best predictions come from machine learning models trained on long climate simulations, the skill is only modestly better than predictions based on the Nino3.4 index alone.
Ultrastructural changes in the hypothalamus during development and hypothalamic activity: the median eminence.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the ultrastructural changes in the hypothalamus during development and hypothalamic activity. Recent electron microscopic studies have revealed the general pattern of ultrastructural development of the median eminence in the rat and mouse. During the initial 5 or 6 days before birth, the median eminence, initially composed of immature stratified ependymal cells, undergoes a 3 day period of rapid ingrowth by tubero-infundibular axons. Simultaneously ependymal cells mature, acquiring a wide assortment of organelles. In the intensive investigation of the hypothalamus and particularly of its role in neuroendocrine physiology, the efforts of electron microscopists over the past decade have supplied some of the essential pieces of information. The main features of the ultrastructural organization of this strategic area are outlined and to some degree, correlated with physiological and histochemical data, but many fundamental questions remain unanswered. In other respects, ultrastructural maturation proceeds more slowly. Away from the perivascular contact, zone axons contain very few dense-core vesicles and exhibit only small numbers of immature synaptoid contacts with ependymal elements in the fetus and neonate.
Echocardiographic evaluation of responses to left ventricular volume loading by principal components and nomographic analysis

Changes in performance of left ventricles (LV) with volume overloads are difficult to determine by conventional clinical methods. This information, however, is important for the proper timing of therapeutic interventions to preserve LV function. Seven size-adjusted (by regression with end-diastolic diameter, EDD) LV performance parameters from 100 normal echocardiograms (echos) were entered into a principal component analysis (PCA). Two factors (linear combination of the 7 parameters) were obtained from the analysis. Prediction limits (95%) about these two factors used in combination, correctly classified 92% of the normal echos. More detailed analysis of the two PCA factors revealed that the majority of the variability within the factors was explained by size-adjusted parameters resultant from the EDD posterior wall (factor 1) and EDD septal excursion (factor 2) regressions, respectively. Plots of the 95% prediction limits about these two regression lines provided nomograms. These nomograms used in combination, correctly classified 95% of the normal echos. When the performance parameters of 64 volume loaded ventricles were evaluated by PCA, four groups were identified. Ten ventricles (16%) were hypokinetic, 29 (45%) were hyperkinetic, 23 (36%) were nomokinetic, and 2 (3%) could not be classified. These classifications were supported by significant between group differences of shortening fraction, velocity of circumferential shortening, and velocity of circumferential expansion. Nomographic classification of the same volume loaded hearts was in excellent (94%) agreement with PCA classification. Nomographic analysis (derived from the PCA) is offered as a less complex, more clinically applicable echo method for evaluating LV performance of volume loaded hearts.
It's Not That Simple: An Unnecessary Elimination of Strict Liability and Presumed Damage in Libel Law

constitutional determinations Who is a "public figure"? What is "actual malice"? distract juries from the two fundamental questions: Is the allegedly defamatory statement true? Was the plaintiff harmed? (pp. 77-79, 111). Because of 15 Time, Inc. v. Firestone, 424 U.S. 448 (1976) (erroneous report that divorce had been granted on grounds of extreme cruelty and adultery when grounds were extreme cruelty and lack of domestication). 26 McDonald v. Smith, 472 U.S. 479 (1985). 27 Ocala Star-Banner Co. v. Damron, 401 U.S. 295 (1971).
Chromosome translocations measured by fluorescence in-situ hybridization: A promising biomarker

A biomarker for exposure and risk assessment would be most useful if it employs an endpoint that is highly quantitative, is stable with time, and is relevant to human risk. Recent advances in chromosome staining using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) facilitate fast and reliable measurement of reciprocal translocations, a kind of DNA damage linked to both prior exposure and risk. In contrast to other biomarkers available, the frequency of reciprocal translocations in individuals exposed to whole-body radiation is stable with time post exposure, has a rather small inter-individual variability, and can be measured accurately at the low levels. Here, the authors discuss results from their studies demonstrating that chromosome painting can be used to reconstruct radiation dose for workers exposed within the dose limits, for individuals exposed a long time ago, and even for those who have been diagnosed with leukemia but not yet undergone therapy.
Models and trends of log-linear association - Applications to mobility tables for U.S. white males, 1952 to 1984

Log-linear models afford a wide range of tests regarding specific aspects of the association between two ordinal-level variables with identical attributes. This range is considerably broadened when orthogonal contrasts are used to trace changes in these aspects over time. This paper provides descriptions and graphic illustrations of six common log-linear models' applications to mobility data on U.S. white males. The models are then expanded to examine temporal variations in aspects of the mobility regime captured by the respective models. The analysis shows a significant increase over the period of study in the odds that white males from blue collar backgrounds attain higher occupational statuses. Moreover, the findings indicate that blue collar workers are more likely to be drawn from lower status origins during years of economic prosperity, and from higher status origins at times of economic dearth.
Global Optimization of Multiplicative Programs

This paper develops global optimization algorithms for linear multiplicative and generalized linear multiplicative programs based upon the lower bounding procedure of Ryoo and Sahinidis [30] and new greedy branching schemes that are applicable in the context of any rectangular branch-and-bound algorithm. Extensive computational results are presented on a wide range of problems from the literature, including quadratic and bilinear programs, and randomly generated large-scale multiplicative programs. It is shown that our algorithms make possible for the first time the solution of large and complex multiplicative programs to global optimality.
Growth, Characteristics and Properties of Spinel Single Crystal, Fibers

Single crystal MgO-Al2O3 fibers were evaluated as reinforcements for high temperature composites. Fibers were grown by the laser-heated floating zone process. Composition, axis, atmosphere, and rates have been varied systematically to determine their effects on maximum permissible growth rates, defects, and high temperature properties. Fibers have been characterized topographically, microstructurally, crystallographically and mechanically, at room temperature as well as at elevated temperatures. 9 refs.
CONANN: an online biomedical concept annotator

We describe our biomedical concept annotator designed for online environments, CONANN, which takes a biomedical source phrase and finds the best-matching biomedical concept from a domain resource. Domain concepts are defined in resources such as the United States National Library of Medicine's Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus. CONANN uses an incremental filtering approach to narrow down a list of candidate phrases before deciding on a best match. We show that this approach has the advantage of improving annotation speed over an existing state-of-the-art concept annotator, facilitating the use of concept annotation in online environments. Our main contributions are 1) the design of a phrase-unit concept annotator more readily usable in online environments than existing systems, 2) the introduction of a model which uses semantically focused words in a given ontology (e.g., UMLS) to measure coverage, called Inverse Phrase Frequency, and 3) the use of two different filters to measure coverage and coherence between a source phrase and a domain-specific candidate phrase. An intrinsic evaluation comparing CONANN's concept output to a state-of-the-art concept annotator shows our system has an annotation precision ranging from 90% for exact match concept to 95% for relaxed concept matching while average phrase annotation time is eighteen times faster. In addition, an extrinsic evaluation using the generated concepts in a text summarization task shows no significant degradation when using CONANN.
On wireless network infrastructure optimisation for cyber-physical systems in future smart buildings

Today, most cyber-physical systems CPS in smart buildings require a wireless-based network infrastructure for sensing, communication, and actuation. The energy expenditure and hence battery lifetime of such a wireless network infrastructure depend heavily upon the placement of the base stations BS. However, in indoor environments, BS placement is challenging due to the impact of building structures and floor/wall separations. In this paper, we study the problem of jointly optimising BS placement and power control to prolong the battery lifetime of sensors in the CPS network infrastructure. It turns out that this problem can be formulated as a mixed-integer non-convex program MINCP, which is NP-hard and difficult to solve especially for large-sized networks. To address this difficulty, we propose a novel efficient algorithm called expansion-clustering-projection-contraction ECPC. Our theoretical analysis and numerical results show that ECPC achieves competitive solutions compared to the true optimal solutions obtained by the branch-and-bound BB method.
Owning a Voice: Broadcasting Policy, Spanish Language Media, and Latina/o Speech Rights

Using the sale of Univision in 2007 to a consortium of private equity firms as our case study, this article demonstrates how the regulation of Spanish-language broadcasting has codified exclusionary definitions of media diversity and naturalized English-language citizens as the primary members of the televisual public sphere in the United States. We situate the regulation of Spanish-language broadcasting within the troubled history of media diversity initiatives and alongside the ascent of neoliberal policy-making to highlight how regulators have been unwilling to recognize the importance of linguistic diversity to a multicultural and multiracial society. Drawing on participatory democratic theory, we argue that the regulation of Spanish-language broadcasting has infringed on the political rights of Latino citizens.
Odontogenic Cysts and Tumors

Dentigerous cysts are the most common odontongenic cysts and arise from the dental follicle. Keratocysts have a high rate of recurrence and most commonly occur in the mandible. Ameloblastomas are the most common of odontogenic tumors.
Lsr‐mediated transport and processing of AI‐2 in Salmonella typhimurium

The LuxS-dependent autoinducer AI-2 is proposed to function in interspecies cell-cell communication in bacteria. In Salmonella typhimurium, AI-2 is produced and released during exponential growth and is subsequently imported into the bacteria via the Lsr (luxS regulated) ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter. AI-2 induces transcription of the lsrACDBFGE operon, the first four genes of which encode the Lsr transport apparatus. In this report, we identify and characterize LsrK, a new protein that is required for the regulation of the lsr operon and the AI-2 uptake process. LsrK is a kinase that phosphorylates AI-2 upon entry into the cell. Our data indicate that phosphorylation of AI-2 results in its sequestration in the cytoplasm. We suggest that phospho-AI-2 is the inducer responsible for inactivation of LsrR, the repressor of the lsr operon. We also show that two previously uncharacterized members of the lsr operon, LsrF and LsrG, are necessary for the further processing of phospho-AI-2. Transport and processing of AI-2 could be required for removing the quorum-sensing signal, conveying the signal to an internal detector and/or scavenging boron.
DynaChannAl: dynamic channel allocation with minimal end‐to‐end delay for two‐tier wireless sensor networks

AbstractWith recent advances in wireless communication, networking, and low powersensor technology, wireless sensor network (WSN) systems have begun to takesigni cant roles in various applications ranging from environmental sensing tomobile healthcare sensing. While some WSN applications only require a lim-ited amount of bandwidth, new emerging applications operate with a notice-ably large amount of data transfers. One way to deal with such applicationsis to maximize the available capacity by utilizing the use of multiple wirelesschannels. This work proposes DynaChannAl, a distributed dynamic wirelesschannel algorithm with the goal of e ectively distributing nodes on multiplewireless channels in WSN systems. Speci cally, DynaChannAl targets applica-tions where mobile nodes connect to a pre-existing wireless backbone and takesthe expected end-to-end queuing delay as its core metric. We use the link qual-ity indicator (LQI) values provided by IEEE 802.15.4 radios white-list potentiallinks with good link quality and evaluate such links with the aggregated packettransmission latency at each hop. Our approach is useful for applications thatrequire minimal end-to-end delay (i.e., healthcare applications). DynaChannAlis a light weight and highly adoptable scheme that can be easily incorporatedwith various pre-developed components and pre-deployed applications. We eval-uate DynaChannAl in on a 45 node WSN testbed. As the rst study to considerend-to-end latency as the core metric for channel allocation in WSN systems, theexperimental results indicate that DynaChannAl successfully distributes multi-ple (mobile) source nodes on di erent wireless channels and enables the nodesto select wireless channel and links that can minimize the end-to-end latency.Keywords: Wireless Sensor Networks, Dynamic Channel Allocation, LatencyAware Protocols
Dynamic Performance Limitations Due to Yielding in Cable-Driven Robotic Manipulators

This paper presents a method for characterizing the performance limitations imposed by the yielding of the cables in systems with cable-driven transmissions. The method involves developing a rigid-body model of the system, where the cable tensions are considered as reaction forces. The kinematic coupling between links in the mechanism due to the use of cables is also considered. Here, the limitations on dynamic performance caused by cable yielding are added to the limitations caused by the bounds on actuator torque capacity, in order to give a more comprehensive description of the system's capabilities. A two degrees-of-freedom planar mechanism is analyzed in order to illustrate the methodology.
Some Calculations in the Unstable Adams-Novikov Spectral Sequence

The unstable Adams-Novikov spectral sequence for a space X is a sequence of groups {Er(X)}9 r = 2, 3,..., which converge to the homotopy groups of X, and whose £2"term depends on the complex cobordism groups of X. We investigate this spectral sequence when X is the infinite special unitary group SU, or one of the finite groups SU(n), or when X is an odd sphere S2"+1. The reader is referred to [2] for the construction and properties of the unstable Adams-Novikov spectral sequence. For some purposes, it is convenient to localize at a prime p, in which case the complex cobordism homology theory, based on the spectrum MU, is replaced by Brown-Peterson homology, based on the spectrum BP. We then have a useful spectral sequence with many of the properties of the stable Adams-Novikov spectral sequence. Namely, the nitrations are less than or equal to the filtrations in the unstable Adams spectral sequence based on mod-p homology. When X is a space for which H*(X; BP) is free over the coefficient ring n*(BP) and cofree as a coalgebra, then the E2-term is isomorphic to an Ext group in an abelian category (see §2; also [2, § 7]). Furthermore, this Ext group may be computed as the homology of an unstable cobar complex which we describe explicitly in Section 2. In particular, these considerations apply to the cases X = SU, X = SU(ri), or X = S2n+1. We first consider the situation where X is a p-local H-space with torsion-free homotopy and torsion-free homology. The results of Wilson [10] and the