cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prothrombin Complex Concentrate in Liver Transplant Surgery: Correction of Therapeutic Anticoagulation and the Coagulopathy of End-Stage Liver Disease: Case Series

Suggested treatment for active bleeding or invasive procedure prophylaxis has been described in the setting of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) in patients not receiving anticoagulation, and has included fresh frozen plasma (FFP), prothrombin complex concentrates (PCC), platelets, and cryoprecipitate. Today, the therapy for pharmacologically anticoagulated patients with ESLD presenting for liver transplant surgery remains controversial, poorly studied, and physician-dependent. We observed a variety of treatments administered at initiation of liver transplantation to correct acquired coagulopathy at our leading transplant center and present these cases. Three patients receiving preoperative therapeutic anticoagulation with warfarin for acute deep venous thrombosis and/or atrial fibrillation were transfused PCC, FFP, and/or cryoprecipitate for liver or liver-kidney transplant surgery. No thrombotic complications occurred, and one patient required reoperation for hemorrhage. We report data from these cases including estimated blood loss, presence of complications, duration of ICU stay, and length of hospitalization. Perioperative orthotopic liver transplant hematologic management and a review of relevant literature is presented.
Correction to: Landfall After the Perfect Storm: Cohort Differences in the Relationship Between Debt and Risk of Heart Attack.

The original version of the article was updated. Figure 2 was replaced with the correct version as below
"I Struggle with Breast Cancer and I Struggle with God": Insights from African American Breast Cancer Survivors.

Recognizing that spiritual and religious beliefs are personal and vary within communities, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the influence of these beliefs on experiences with breast cancer care and social support among African American Christian breast cancer survivors. Forty-seven African American breast cancer survivors participated in focus groups (n = 7) in three northeastern urban cities. We used thematic analyses to identify major themes. Three themes emerged relating to how spirituality influenced participants’ cancer journeys: (1) struggling with God, (2) reclaiming my power, and (3) needing religious social support. Participants described the rhythmic flow of their spiritual beliefs as they navigated their lived experiences during diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment. Spirituality was intimately intertwined with their illness experience as they grappled with their health and well-being. Participants used spirituality as an avenue to cope and navigate through their diagnosis and treatment. These spiritual relationships created “church families” and provided the survivors’ access to cancer support groups, financial support, and therapeutic support. Our findings support faith-based approaches to health promotion and call for more studies to understand the influence of religion on health.
Teletherapy in Training: A Trying and Transformative Experience

Recent changes in federal and state laws, largely brought on because of the novel coronavirus, have underscored the need for revolutionizing the clinical training experience for Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) programs and their implementation of telehealth services. This article addresses the current telehealth training in MFT programs, featuring the process of teletherapy training at Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) Department of Family, including adaptation to current policies and procedures. This study utilized semistructured interviews with eight graduate- and post-graduate–level MFT students at NSU who received telehealth training prior to participating in a teletherapy-based clinical practicum at NSU's Brief Therapy Institute. The emergent themes from the analysis included crisis management, flexibility, and self-care. Lastly, we discuss the implications and limitations of our study and suggest areas of future research. The information provides knowledge on necessary training topics and expands the literature on teletherapy.
Autonomous Leukemia Detection Scheme Based on Hybrid Convolutional Neural Network Model Using Learning Algorithm

In the human body, one of the fatal diseases of white blood cells is leukemia that affects the bone marrow as well as blood. In this work, the leukemia image is pre-processed with a data augmentation model in which the noise and over-fitting are eliminated and the data augmentation increases the size of the datasets. We used Hybrid Convolutional Neural Network with Interactive Autodidactic School (HCNN-IAS) algorithm, which performs feature extraction, fusing, and classification operations. At first, the local and global features are extracted from the leukemia image. After that, the self-attention in CNN combines both local and global features. Finally, the HCNN-IAS algorithm effectively categorizes different classes of leukemia such as healthy, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia(CLL). The proposed model is implemented in an Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) platform to offer the appropriate treatment to the patients within the comfort of their homes. The images of the dataset were acquired from the ASH image bank. The experimental result demonstrates better and higher classification accuracy in terms of leukemia detection with reasonable accuracy, precision and recall rates of about 99%.
Normal wound healing and tumor angiogenesis as a game of competitive inhibition

The process of normal wound healing and the process of tumor angiogenesis share a number of common characteristics, which has led to tumors being referred to as “wounds that do not heal”. Both processes are mitigated by growth factors, which are sequentially released from platelets at the wound site in an order that depends on their affinity to glycosaminoglycans within the extracellular matrix. Growth factors with lowest affinities (e.g. VEGF) commence formation of new blood vessels, followed by vessel-stabilizing cytokines with medium affinity (e.g. PDGF and bFGF), and followed by release of angiogenesis inhibitors with highest affinities (e.g. PF-4 and TSP-1). We propose that continual release of stimulators and stabilizers that often accompanies tumor growth prevents termination of the wound healing process through competitive inhibition. That is, cytokines with lower affinities out-compete inhibitors for binding sites on cells’ surface (as they will be released first from the platelet), effectively preventing vessel pruning. This hypothesis is evaluated using an experimentally validated agent-based model, and the results provide a mechanistic explanation for the differences between normal wound healing and pathological angiogenesis, as well as the angiogenesis occurring in dormant and actively growing tumors.
Energy in a Resource-based Regional Economy: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Analysis

States and even local governments are increasingly realizing the need for long-term sustainable energy-environment planning as an integral part of their economic development program. These sub-national units are progressively playing a more active role in advancing policies for the reliability, environmental sustainability, and exploring the economic development impact of their energy resources and supplies. T his article outlines a modeling framework for an integrated analysis of the energy-environment-economy system in an energy resource-based region within a developed economy. The theoretical structure and mathematical skeletal of this dynamic optimal depletion computable general equilibrium model as the core of this modeling framework is presented in this paper. This model can be used to analyze complex economic development issues arising from energy-environment-economy interactions in regions enjoying an abundance of exhaustible fossil fuel resources.
Archaeologies of Vision: Foucault and Nietzsche on Seeing and Saying

While many acknowledge that Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault have redefined our notions of time and history, few recognize the crucial role that "the infinite relation" between seeing and saying (as Foucault put it) plays in their work. Gary Shapiro reveals, for the first time, the full extent of Nietzsche and Foucault's concern with the visual. Shapiro explores the whole range of Foucault's writings on visual art, including the theory of visual resistance, the concept of the phantasm or simulacrum, and his interrogation of the relation of painting, language and power in artists from Bosch to Warhol. Shapiro also shows through an excavation of little-known writings that the visual is a major them in Nietzsche's thought. In addition to explaining the significance of Nietzsche's analysis of Raphael, Durer and Claude Lorrain, he examines the philosopher's understanding of the visual dimension of Greek theatre and Wagnerian opera and offers a powerful new reading of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". "Archaeologies of Vision" should be a valuable work for all scholars of visual culture as well as for those engaged with continental philosophy.
Management of children with high-risk Hodgkin lymphoma

Most children and adolescents with newly diagnosed high-risk Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) will achieve remission and cure with conventional chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy. However, these therapies can lead to long-term side effects. Therapy is titrated on the basis of risk group stratification using clinical prognostic factors and, in most cases, then refined through assessment of interim or end of chemotherapy response, primarily using functional imaging with fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. No study has clearly demonstrated the factors that are sufficient in identifying the patients at highest risk for relapse that may benefit from therapy intensification. This review summarizes recent clinical trials in paediatric high-risk HL, along with key findings from studies in adults with high-risk HL that are applicable to the paediatric population. New directions in prognostic classification and targeted therapies are reviewed. Considerations for clinical practice at the current time outside the clinical trial setting are provided.
The effect of fiber bridging on self-similar crack growth: A penny-shaped crack evolvement in a unidirectional, fibrous composite

Abstract As a result of matrix cracking in fiber reinforced composites, fracture planforms assume a wide variation of profiles due to the fact that fiber bridging strongly affects the behavior of local crack fronts. This observation raises the question on the legitimacy of commonly used penny-shaped crack solutions when applied to fiber reinforced composites. Accordingly, investigation of the effects of fracture front profiles on mechanical responses is the thrust of this paper. We start with the solution of a penny-shaped crack in a unidirectional, fiber reinforced composite, which demonstrates necessarity of considering wavy fracture fronts in fiber reinforced composites. A theoretical framework for fiber reinforced composites with irregular fracture fronts due to matrix cracking is then established via a micromechanics model. The difference between small crack-size matrix cracking and large crack-size matrix cracking is investigated in detail. It is shown that the bridging effect is insignificant when matrix crack size is small and solution of effective property are obtained using Mori-Tanaka's method by treating cracks and reinforcing fibers as distinct, but interacting phases. When the crack size becomes large, the bridging effects has to be taken into consideration. With bridging tractions obtained in consistency with the micromechanics solution, and corresponding crack energy backed out, the effective properties are obtained through a modification of standard Mori-Tanaka's treatment of multi-phase com show that the generalization of a crack density of a penny-shaped planform is insufficient in describing the effective responses of fiber-reinforced composites with matrix cracking. Approximate solutions that account for the effects of the irregularity of crack planforms are given in closed forms for several cases, including rectangle, polygon, rhombus, cross and the wavy fracture front.
Vocal-acoustic pathways in a teleost fish

Many teleost fish generate acoustic signals for vocal communication by the synchronized, high-frequency contraction of skeletal, sonic muscles. In midshipman, eight groups of brainstem neurons were distinguished after biocytin application to the sonic nerve that, we propose, represent the entire vocal motor circuit. Biocytin-filled terminals were ubiquitous within all areas containing labeled neurons and, together with ultrastructural evidence, suggested a serial, transneuronal transport at synaptic sites between at least three neuronal groups. The most intensely labeled neurons were positioned in the caudal brainstem and included a previously characterized pacemaker- motoneuron circuit and a newly recognized ventral medullary nucleus that itself gave rise to extensive commissural and lateral brainstem bundles linking the pacemaker circuitry to the rostral brainstem. Five additional groups formed a column rostrally within the medial brainstem adjacent to eighth nerve (octaval)-recipient nuclei largely presumed to be acoustic. This column extended dorsally up to the ventricular cell layer and as far anterior as midbrain isthmal levels. The best-defined group was in the octaval efferent nucleus that directly innervates the sacculus that is considered the auditory division of the inner ear. Saccular afferents and neurons throughout the medial column were also filled after biocytin application to the saccular nerve. This vocal- acoustic network overlaps low-threshold, electrical stimulation sites in the rostral brainstem that elicit vocalizations. The medial column must therefore be the origin of the descending pathway controlling activation of the vocal pacemaker circuitry and likely forms the basis for acoustically elicited vocalizations. We suggest this network, together with input from the pacemaker circuitry, is also the origin of a vocal-related, corollary discharge to acoustic nuclei. Direct links between vocal and acoustic brain regions are thus traits common to aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates.
MHC-mismatched islet allografts are vulnerable to autoimmune recognition in vivo

When transplanted into type 1a diabetic recipients, islet allografts are subject both to conventional allograft immunity and, presumably, to recurrent autoimmune (islet-specific) pathogenesis. Importantly, CD4 T cells play a central role both in islet allograft rejection and in autoimmune disease recurrence leading to the destruction of syngeneic islet transplants in diabetic NOD mice. However, it is unclear how NOD host MHC class II (I-A(g7))-restricted, autoreactive CD4 T cells may also contribute to the recognition of allogeneic islet grafts that express disparate MHC class II molecules. We hypothesized that islet-specific CD4 T cells can target MHC-mismatched islet allografts for destruction via the "indirect" (host APC-dependent) pathway of Ag recognition. To test this hypothesis, we determined whether NOD-derived, islet-specific CD4 T cells (BDC-2.5 TCR transgenic cells) could damage MHC-mismatched islets in vivo independent of conventional allograft immunity. Results demonstrate that BDC-2.5 CD4 T cells can vigorously destroy MHC class II-disparate islet allografts established in NOD.scid recipients. Tissue injury is tissue-specific in that BDC-2.5 T cells destroy donor-type islet, but not thyroid allografts established in the same NOD.scid recipient. Furthermore, BDC-2.5 CD4 T cells acutely destroy MHC class II-deficient islet allografts in vivo, indicating that autoimmune pathogenesis can be completely independent of donor MHC class II expression. Taken together, these findings indicate that MHC-mismatched islet allografts can be vulnerable to autoimmune pathogenesis triggered by autoreactive CD4 T cells, presumably through indirect autoantigen recognition in vivo.
Points on y=x 2 at rational distance

Nathaniel Dean [6] asks the following: is it possible to find four non-concyclic points on the parabola y = x2 such that each of the six distances between pairs of points is rational. We demonstrate that there is a correspondence between all rational points satisfying this condition and orbits under a particular group action of rational points on a fiber product of (3 copies of) an elliptic surface. In doing so, we provide a detailed description of the correspondence, the group action and the group structure of the elliptic curves making up the (good) fibers of the surface. We find for example that each elliptic curve must contain a point of order 4. The main result is that there are infinitely many rational distance sets of four non-concyclic (rational) points on y = x2. We begin by giving a brief history of the problem and by placing the problem in the context of a more general, long-standing open problem. We conclude by giving several examples of solutions to the problem and by offering some suggestions for further work. 1. A Brief History of the Problem. We say that a collection of points in S ⊂ R are at rational distance if the distance between each pair of points is rational. We will call such a collection of points a rational distance set. For example, the rationals themselves form a rational distance subset of the reals. Therefore, if S is any line in R, S contains a dense set of points at rational distance. Furthermore, it was known to Euler that: Proposition 1.1. Every circle contains a dense set of points at rational distance. Remark 1.2. Several proofs of this exist (see [1] for example). We follow the ideas articulated in [7]. Proof. To make the writing of the argument a bit cleaner, we identify R with the complex plane in the usual manner. Now observe that if two points in the complex plane, z and w, are at rational distance and have rational length, then since || z − 1 w || = ||z − w|| ||z|| · ||w|| , 1/z and 1/w are at rational distance as well. Now, consider a vertical line L. One can easily parameterize all points on L whose lengths and imaginary parts 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 14G05, 11G05, 11D25.
Promoting Physical Activity Through a Manual Wheelchair Propulsion Intervention in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract Objective To examine the efficacy and feasibility of a multifactorial intervention to increase lifestyle physical activity in nonambulatory persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) based on wheelchair optimization, propulsion skill/technique training, and behavioral strategies based on social cognitive theory. Design Randomized controlled trial, 3-month postintervention follow-up. Setting Home and general community, and university research laboratory. Participants Nonambulatory individuals with MS (N=14; mean age ± SD, 53.6±8.7y) were randomly assigned to an intervention group (IG) or a control group (CG). Interventions After baseline testing, the IG participants received custom-fit, ultralightweight manual wheelchairs with propulsion/skills training, followed by 3 months of at-home use with the custom ultralightweight wheelchair and weekly phone calls to deliver support through a multifactorial intervention. The CG participants received no training and used their own wheelchairs at home during this time. Main Outcome Measures All subjects were assessed at baseline and 3 months later for fatigue (Fatigue Severity Scale), upper extremity strength (digital handheld dynamometer), and propulsion technique (on a treadmill [0.5m/s] with instrumented wheels). Two 1-week bouts of physical activity were measured in both groups from home with wrist-worn accelerometry at the beginning (IG and CG in own wheelchairs) and end (IG in study wheelchair, CG in own) of the 3-month period of home use. Results The intervention was well tolerated, and no adverse events were reported. The IG demonstrated increased strength ( P =.008) and a trend toward less fatigue ( P =.068), both with large effect sizes ( d >0.8), as well as reduced application of braking torque during propulsion ( P =.003) with a moderate/large effect size ( d =.73), compared with the CG. Conclusions Findings suggest a 3-month physical activity intervention based on manual wheelchair propulsion and training is safe and feasible for some wheelchair users living with MS and may produce secondary benefits in strength, fatigue, and propulsion technique.
Characterization and use of EBT radiochromic film for IMRT dose verification

We present an evaluation of a new and improved radiochromic film, type EBT, for its implementation to IMRT dose verification. Using a characterized flat bed color CCD scanner, the film's dose sensitivity, uniformity, and speed of development post exposure were shown to be superior to previous types of radiochromic films. The film's dose response was found to be very similar to ion chamber scans in water through comparisons of depth dose and lateral dose profiles. The effect of EBT film polarization with delivered dose and film scan orientation was shown to have a significant effect on the scanner's OD readout. In addition, the film's large size, flexibility, and the ability to submerge it in water for relatively short periods of time allowed for its use in both water and solid water phantoms to verify TomoTherapy IMRT dose distributions in flat and curved dose planes. Dose verification in 2D was performed on ten IMRT plans (five head and neck and five prostate) by comparing measured EBT dose distributions to TomoTherapy treatment planning system calculated dose. The quality of agreement was quantified by the gamma index for four sets of dose difference and distance to agreement criteria. Based on this study, we show that EBT film has several favorable features that allow for its use in routine IMRT patient-specific QA.
The long run behavior of the firm under uncertainty

Using amodel of long run equilibrium of a monopolistically competitive firm under conditions of output price uncertainty, the following results have been derived: 1. A group of monopolistically competitive, risk averse firms exhibiting diminishing absolute risk aversion shrinks in number in the long run due to an increase in the price of any normal input. 2. The output of a monopolistically competitive, risk averse firm exhibiting diminishing absolute risk aversion rises in the long run in response to an increase in the price of any normal input. 3. A risk averse, monopolistically competitive firm exhibiting diminishing absolute-and increasing partial relative-risk aversion reduces its output in the long run in response to an increase in uncertainty about output price. In the case of such a firm, an increase in uncertainty about price also leads to a higher expected price in the long run. 4. A group of monopolistically competitive, risk averse firms exhibiting diminishing absolute- and increasing partial relative-risk aversion shrinks in number in the long run in the face of increased uncertainty about out-put price.
METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN ATTITUDE CHANGE

Implementing suggestions from previous work a new procedure of selecting Ss for persuasibility studies was explored. A replication of an earlier attitude change study with procedural modifications confirmed the feasibility of the procedure. Effects of message distance in attitude change studies, with regression effects balanced, supported the Cognitive Dissonance interpretation of attitude change. Extension of this principle was suggested.
Persistent increase in children's sun protection in a randomized controlled community trial.

Background. Reducing sun exposure during childhood may prevent skin cancer later in life. Sun protection increased immediately following implementation of the SunSafe multicomponent, community-based intervention delivered in 1996 through schools, day care centers, primary care offices, and beach recreation areas. Whether sun protection levels would remain higher than preintervention levels the following summer was unknown. Methods. A randomized controlled trial based in 10 New Hampshire towns addressed children's use of protective clothing, shade, and sunscreen at freshwater beach areas. The intervention was provided initially between March and May 1996. A brief project follow-up contact was provided to schools, day care centers, beaches, and primary care offices between March and May 1997 to restock intervention materials and to answer questions. Observations of 1490 children during June through August of 1997 were compared with observations made prior to any intervention between June and August of 1995. Results. In intervention towns, the proportion of children using at least some sun protection increased by 0.15 from 0.58 in 1995 to 0.73 in 1997 while the proportion in control towns increased by 0.03 (P = 0.033). This increase was due to more use of sunscreen, but not more use of protective clothing or shade. In 1997, care-givers of children in intervention towns reported receiving more sun protection information from school and health care sources than control town caregivers (62% versus 33%, P < 0.006). Conclusions. In intervention communities, a higher proportion of children used sun protection in 1997 than at baseline. Increases from 1995 to 1997 were similar in magnitude to short-term increases between 1995 and 1996 that we have been previously reported.
Automating data-model workflows at a level 12 HUC scale

The prototype discussed in this article retrieves Essential Terrestrial Variable (ETV) web services and uses data-model workflows to transform ETV data for hydrological models in a distributed computing environment. The ETV workflow is a service layer to 100's of terabytes of national datasets bundled for fast data access in support of watershed modeling using the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrological Unit Code (HUC) level-12 scale. The ETV data has been proposed as the Essential Terrestrial Data necessary to construct watershed models anywhere in the continental USA (Leonard and Duffy, 2013). Here, we present the hardware and software system designs to support the ETV, data-model, and model workflows using High Performance Computing (HPC) and service-oriented architecture.This infrastructure design is an important contribution to both how and where the workflows operate. We describe details of how these workflow services operate in a distributed manner for modeling CONUS HUC-12 catchments using the Penn State Integrated Hydrological Model (PIHM) as an example. The prototype is evaluated by generating data-model workflows for every CONUS HUC-12 and creating a repository of workflow provenance for every HUC-12 (~100?km2) for use by researchers as a strategy to begin a new hydrological model study. The concept of provenance for data-model workflows developed here assures reproducibility of model simulations (e.g. reanalysis) from ETV datasets without storing model results which we have shown will require many petabytes of storage. Data-model workflows for reproducibility and provenance of distributed hydrological models.Essential Terrestrial Variable (ETV) datasets used to compute hydrological models.HydroTerre data workflows to create rapid data inputs for HUC-12 catchment scales.Infrastructure to support models and big data at high resolution from multiple federal sources.
ATR theory issues

Issues in ATR Theory emerge by considering three levels of the ATR problem. The term "monolithic architecture (MA)-ATR" is used for problems of standard classification theory. The MA-ATR level has seen recent unification of theories that should be aggressively applied. Modern ATR systems include standard classification theoretic subsystems (e.g., feature extraction, matching, and discrimination); however they also add modeling within a search paradigm. These "aggregate architecture (AA)-ATRs" allow more direct inclusion of application-specific prior (non-sample) knowledge. Greater theoretical support is needed for analyzing AA-ATRs at the system level and integrating the strong MA-ATR theories. The third level of the ATR problem returns to the MA-ATR problem and below. The strongest elements of the MA-ATR theories deal with the stochastic aspects of the ATR problem. Structural aspects of ATRs are an important weak link in the MA-ATR theories. Function decomposition provides an "atom" towards a structural theory. Decomposition provides robustness by constructing the MA-ATR's structure from samples, but is intractable. Standard MA-ATR design is tractable, but is brittle because of an ad hoc structure selection. The key issue in either case is to make explicit use of non-sample (typically structural) knowledge in selecting or, better yet, constructing the MA-ATR's structure.© (2004) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Three-boson problem at low energy and implications for dilute Bose-Einstein condensates

It is shown that the effective interaction strength of three bosons at small collision energies can be extracted from their wave function at zero energy. Asymptotic expansions of this wave function at large interparticle distances are derived, from which is defined a quantity $D$ named three-body scattering hypervolume, which is an analog of the two-body scattering length. Given any finite-range interactions, one can thus predict the effective three-body force from a numerical solution of the Schr\"odinger equation. In this way, the constant $D$ for hard-sphere bosons is computed, leading to the first complete result for the ground-state energy per particle of a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of hard spheres to order ${\ensuremath{\rho}}^{2}$, where $\ensuremath{\rho}$ is the number density. Effects of $D$ are also demonstrated in the three-body energy in a finite box of size $L$, which is expanded to the order ${L}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$, and in the three-body scattering amplitude in vacuum. The three-body scattering amplitude calculated in this paper disagrees with an earlier calculation in the literature, because of the omission of the two-body effective range in that earlier work. Another key prediction is the condensate fractions of dilute BECs, which also disagree with an earlier work in the literature based on the effective field theory (EFT), as a result of short-range physics. An EFT prediction of the BEC ground-state energy, however, is corroborated.
Effect of water on the adsorbed structure of formic acid on TiO2 anatase (1 0 1)

Abstract The effect of water on the adsorption of formic acid on the anatase (1 0 1) surface of TiO 2 was investigated with density functional theory. These calculations showed that water co-adsorbed with formic acid promotes O–H bond dissociation to produce formate ions, but that the details of this chemistry depend on the surface coverage of formic acid. For 1/4 monolayer (ML) formic acid coverage, O–H dissociation required only a 1:1 ratio of water to formic acid. At 1 ML formic acid coverage, only 1/4 ML formic acid dissociated unless significant constraints were placed on water adsorption geometries. The density functional theory calculations also indicated that water converts bidentate bridging formate to monodentate formate. Comparisons with experimental data reveal that these transformations can have an important influence on elementary steps in the photocatalytic decomposition of formic acid on TiO 2 and Pt/TiO 2 .
Meeting INR Targets for the Left Ventricular Assist Device Patient

Purpose Substantial time and effort is allocated to anticoagulation management for left ventricular assist device (LVAD) patients. The purpose of this retrospective study was to first determine how often patients from a single center’s FDA approved continuous flow LVAD patient population fall into their target INR range, and secondly to determine if those who experienced clotting and/or bleeding adverse events (Aes) had a significantly higher percentage of INR results outside of their target INR range in comparison to patients without such complications. Methods and Materials Policy requires weekly INR checks for LVAD patients. Three INR ranges have been established for the patient population, based upon individual patient history of bleeding, clotting, or freedom from a bleeding or clotting event. The sample consisted of 26 control patients, 15 patients with bleeding Aes, 8 patients with clotting Aes, and 3 patients with both bleeding and clotting Aes. Percentage of INRs out of range was calculated for all patients. Results Control patients were found to be outside of their target INR range 49% of the time. Patients with bleeding AEs were found to be outside of their target INR range 60% of the time. Patients with clotting AEs or history of both bleeding and clotting AEs were found to be outside of their target INR range 60% and 62% of the time, respectively. Statistical significance was found between the control and bleeding groups (p ≤ 0.05), but not between the other groups with smaller sample size. Conclusions It was disappointing to find that at best, patients were outside of their target INR range 49% of the time despite meticulous anticoagulation management. Significance was found between the control and bleeding groups. This finding brings about additional questions for prospective studies and patient management considerations. For example, are patients with bleeding complications less compliant or more difficult to keep within a target INR range?
Nucleoside diphosphate kinase: a new player in heart failure?

See article by Lutz et al. [33] (pages 48–55) in this issue. Despite considerable efforts, the incidence, prevalence and mortality of heart failure remain high in most industrialized countries [1,2]. This is partially due to the complex nature of the heart failure syndrome. As a final outcome of many types of heart disease, the degree of heart failure varies from case to case depending on the pathological history, genetic basis and environmental background. However, the most common feature of the failing heart is diminished systolic and/or diastolic function, associated with disturbed intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. Under physiological conditions, cardiac contraction is initiated by Ca2+ influx through sarcolemmal L-type Ca2+ channels, which subsequently triggers a large amount of Ca2+ release from the internal sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) stores via ryanodine receptors. The increased intracellular Ca2+ activates the contractile myofilaments, and then is either recycled back into the SR by SR Ca2+ pumps or extruded out of the cell via sarcolemmal Na+–Ca2+ exchanger, resulting in cardiac muscle relaxation. Profound alterations in Ca2+ handling proteins such as phospholamban, SR Ca2+ pump, Na+–Ca2+ exchanger, contractile myofilaments and coupling between L-type Ca2+ channel and ryanodine receptor have been shown in failing hearts [3–5]. Restoration of these Ca2+ handling deficits is expected to have beneficial effects in patients with heart failure. The intracellular second messenger, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), activates cAMP-dependent protein kinase A, which subsequently phosphorylates many of the cardiac excitation–contraction components (including L-type Ca2+ channel, ryanodine receptor, Na+–Ca2+ exchanger, myofilament proteins and phospholamban). Phosphorylation of these Ca2+ handling proteins leads to positive chronotropic, inotropic and lusitropic effects, which provide support for the failing heart. β-Adrenergic stimulation, as the most potent natural cAMP generator … * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-212-263-5993; fax: +1-212-263-5808 michael.artman{at}med.nyu.edu
Robust Transport Properties in Graphene

Two-dimensional Dirac fermions are used to discuss quasiparticles in graphene in the presence of impurity scattering. Transport properties are completely dominated by diffusion. This may explain why recent experiments did not find weak localization in graphene. The diffusion coefficient of the quasiparticles decreases strongly with increasing strength of disorder. Using the Kubo formalism, however, we find a robust minimal conductivity that is independent of disorder. This is a consequence of the fact that the change of the diffusion coefficient is fully compensated by a change of the number of delocalized quasiparticle states.
Numerical study of uncertainty quantification techniques for implicit stiff systems

Galerkin polynomial chaos and collocation methods have been widely adopted for uncertainty quantification purpose. However, when the stiff system is involved, the computational cost can be prohibitive, since stiff numerical integration requires the solution of a nonlinear system of equations at every time step. Applying the Galerkin polynomial chaos to stiff system will cause a computational cost increase from O(n3) to O(S3n3). This paper explores uncertainty quantification techniques for stiff chemical systems using Galerkin polynomial chaos, collocation and collocation least-square approaches. We propose a modification in the implicit time stepping process. The numerical test results show that with the modified approach, the run time of the Galerkin polynomial chaos is reduced. We also explore different methods of choosing collocation points in collocation implementations and propose a collocation least-square approach. We conclude that the collocation least-square for uncertainty quantification is at least as accurate as the Galerkin approach, and is more efficient with a well-chosen set of collocation points.
Prediction of the Conduction Interference in IGBT series structure converter

The transmission path of the Conduction Interference is proposed after analyzing the converter valve's mechanism of the noise emission. Using the Fourier transformation theory to get the spectrum of the converter's Common mode voltage and Differential mode voltage by the two different modulation methods (SPWM and SVPWM), as well as the dead time affects on the Emission. It's conclude that the IGBT's characterized model, the parasitic parameter extraction and the controller model are all make great contributed to the precise of the forecast result. The simulations based on ANSOFT indicate the reliability of the model and the formulas of spatial frequency spectrum.
Supporting self-organization for hybrid grid resource scheduling

Increasing scale, dynamism, and complexity of hybrid grids make traditional grid resource scheduling approaches difficult. In such grids, where resource volatility and dynamism is common, self-organization is a key technique for autonomous grid nodes to follow basic rules to minimize human participation, and administrative bottlenecks. This paper presents experimental results with a framework for distributed grid resource scheduling. In particular, we study information dissemination, which distributes information about dynamic grid resource states to remote schedulers. The framework helps each autonomous grid node self-organize by (1) self-configuring its operational parameters based on dynamic grid characteristics, and (2) self-adjusting its dissemination behavior by taking feedback from the system. The framework also helps distributed grid schedulers to find the tradeoff between two important performance parameters: dissemination overhead, and query satisfaction rates. We show by simulation that autonomous grid nodes that self-organize into small groups, and compare their local state to the states of other peer nodes, can perform comparable to both (1) similar dissemination protocols that are statically configured for each specific case, and (2) a theoretical central metascheduler that operates on complete knowledge of available resource and offered load states.
Retrospective study of orthovoltage radiation therapy for nasal tumors in 42 dogs.

Megavoltage radiation therapy currently is the standard of care for dogs with nasal tumors. Some studies report that surgery and adjunctive orthovoltage radiation therapy result in longer control of these tumors than does megavoltage radiation therapy alone. This study reports less effective control of nasal tumors in dogs treated with surgery and orthovoltage radiation than previously observed, supporting the superiority of megavoltage radiation therapy for these tumors. In addition, this study suggests 2 new prognostic indicators for dogs with nasal tumors and describes toxicity associated with surgery and orthovoltage therapy. Forty-two dogs with nasal tumors were treated with surgical cytoreduction and 48 Gy orthovoltage radiation therapy administered in twelve 4-Gy fractions. Median survival was 7.4 months. One- and 2-year survival rates were 37% and 17%, respectively. Dogs with facial deformity had shorter survival than those without deformity (P = .005). Dogs with resolution of clinical signs after treatment had longer survival than those with chronic nasal signs (P = .0001). Acute radiation toxicity was moderate to severe for skin and eye and negligible for oral mucosa. Toxicity healed within 1 month after radiation therapy. Late toxicity was mild, but 70% of evaluable dogs experienced persistent ocular signs. Only 39% of dogs achieved a disease-free period.
Composition of the metal, schreibersite and perryite of enstatite achondrites and the origin of enstatite chondrites and achondrites

Enstatite chondrites and achondrites electron microprobe analysis for Si, P and Ni in metal grains and associated schreibersite and perryite
NGF‐mediated alteration of NF‐κB binding activity after partial immunolesions to rat cholinergic basal forebrain neurons

Abstract There are age-associated cognitive and cholinergic deficits in the neurotrophin-dependent cholinergic basal forebrain neurons (CBFNs). There are also increases in the activity of the transcription factor NF- κ B in the aged rodent brain that may reflect chronic enhancement of stress response signaling. We used partial immunolesions (PIL) to CBFN to examine the role of endogenous NGF on choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity and NGF-mediated NF- κ B alteration after cholinergic deafferentation. We injected 192 IgG-saporin, an immunotoxin selectively taken up by neurotrophin receptor p75 NTR -bearing neurons, into lateral ventricles, followed by infusions of anti-NGF to assess NF- κ B, ChAT and NGF responses to PIL after anti-NGF infusion. Treatment with anti-NGF decreased ChAT activity by 17–34% in the cortex, hippocampus, and olfactory bulb and PIL decreased ChAT activity by 47–73%. Changes in AChE activity levels paralleled those observed for ChAT after PIL. NGF protein levels in the olfactory bulb, but not the cortex or hippocampus, increased significantly after PIL treatment. Infusion of anti-NGF abolished the PIL-induced eight-fold NGF increase in CNS. NF- κ B binding activity to the IgG- κ B and ChAT specific NF- κ B consensus sequences, increased in the cortex but not hippocampus after PIL followed by anti-NGF infusion. It is likely that immunolesion-induced changes in ambient NGF levels may perturb NF- κ B activity.
Offset Surface Generation and Contouring in Computer-Aided Design

Two computational techniques are presented for Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Machining (CAM) of parametrically defined surfaces. One technique deals with construction of offset surfaces. An algorithm is presented that would allow detection and removal of the closed loop on the offset surface due to its self-intersection. The second computational technique presented deals with contouring of parametric surfaces. The technique presented allows for optimal generation of planar contour lines. The results are applied to Numerical Control (NC) machining of surfaces.
The Conformation of the Activation Peptide of Protein C Is Influenced by Ca2+ and Na+ Binding

Previous studies have suggested that the conformation of the activation peptide of protein C is influenced by the binding of Ca(2+). To provide direct evidence for the linkage between Ca(2+) binding and the conformation of the activation peptide, we have constructed a protein C mutant in the gamma-carboxyglutamic acid-domainless form in which the P1 Arg(169) of the activation peptide is replaced with the fluorescence reporter Trp. Upon binding of Ca(2+), the intrinsic fluorescence of the mutant decreases approximately 30%, as opposed to only 5% for the wild-type, indicating that Trp(169) is directly influenced by the divalent cation. The K(d) of Ca(2+) binding for the mutant protein C was impaired approximately 4-fold compared with wild-type. Interestingly, the conformation of the activation peptide was also found to be sensitive to the binding of Na(+), and the affinity for Na(+) binding increased approximately 5-fold in the presence of Ca(2+). These findings suggest that Ca(2+) changes the conformation of the activation peptide of protein C and that protein C is also capable of binding Na(+), although with a weaker affinity compared with the mature protease. The mutant protein C can no longer be activated by thrombin but remarkably it can be activated efficiently by chymotrypsin and by the thrombin mutant D189S. Activation of the mutant protein C by chymotrypsin proceeds at a rate comparable to the activation of wild-type protein C by the thrombin-thrombomodulin complex.
Numerical evaluation of volumetric weighted mean transmissivity estimates in laterally heterogeneous aquifers

Summary Most previous investigations to evaluate the “effective” or average transmissivity in heterogeneous environments have used calculations based on areas to weight the effects of each heterogeneity. Analysis of spatial volumetric variations within the cone of depression expressed at the potentiometric surface offers a more general solution to evaluate the meaning of transmissivity ( T ) and storativity ( S ) values derived from aquifer tests in these environments. The [Cooper Jr., H.H., Jacob, C.E. 1946. A generalized graphical method for evaluating formation constants and summarizing well-field history. Eos Trans. AGU, 27(4), 526–534] method is used to demonstrate that T variations reflected in slope changes in plots of the pumping well drawdown data correspond to changes in the volumetric weighted mean transmissivity ( VWMT ) over time. Lognormal distributions of transmissivity are represented by block heterogeneities within two simulated aquifers, for both spatially random and spatially correlated data sets. By analyzing the volumetric evolution of the cone of depression observed in the potentiometric surface, the nature of T averaging within the cone of depression as a function of time is illustrated. Volumetric analysis shows that the average aquifer T varies with time as the cone of depression progressively envelops different heterogeneities. The initial trend is controlled primarily by the heterogeneities directly surrounding the pumping center. If steady-shape conditions are not achieved, late-time VWMT values do not approach an asymptotic limit.
Reversal of hypercalcemic acute kidney injury by treatment with intravenous bisphosphonates

We present the details of three children with hypercalcemia-induced acute kidney injury (AKI). After traditional therapy with fluids, loop diuretics, steroids and calcitonin had failed to correct the hypercalcemia, they were given treatment with low doses of intravenous (i.v.) pamidronate, which resulted in normalization of serum calcium and kidney function. In one child Doppler renal ultrasound revealed dampened arterial blood flow, which resolved with normalization of serum calcium. On the basis of cumulative data and our experience, we suggest that i.v. application of bisphosphonates be moved from the second to the first line of treatment of hypercalcemic AKI.
The Occurrence of He 3 in Natural Sources of Helium

An investigation of the ${\mathrm{He}}^{3}$/${\mathrm{He}}^{4}$ abundance ratio in helium extracted from the atmosphere, gas wells and a number of minerals has been made. Wide variations in this ratio are observed indicating that a more comprehensive program would be well worth while. ${\mathrm{He}}^{3}$ is observed in all sources of helium except radioactive minerals. This suggests the possibility of a primordial source as well as more recent sources for this isotope.