cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Patient comprehension necessary for informed consent for vascular procedures is poor and related to frailty.

Abstract Objective Informed consent is an essential principle of high-quality health care. A core component of surgical informed consent is patient comprehension of basic information such as the diagnosis, risks, benefits, and alternatives of the proposed surgery. We sought to assess informed consent among vascular surgery patients and the association between frailty, education, decisional conflict, and patient comprehension. Methods We tested patient comprehension of basic information required for informed consent with a procedure-specific questionnaire in 102 consecutive patients undergoing selected vascular surgery procedures. Two patients who underwent open aortic aneurysm repair were excluded because of small sample size. All patients underwent assessment using the decisional conflict scale and the Frail/Nondisabled questionnaire. Analyses were performed to determine relationships between being informed and frailty, education level, and decisional conflict score. Patients included in this cohort had a median age of 71 years, and 25%, 14%, 28%, and 33% underwent carotid endarterectomy, endovascular aortic aneurysm repair, dialysis access creation, and percutaneous lower extremity procedures. Results Overall, 14% of patients were classified as “informed” and correctly answered all questions. Procedure type (P = .001), consent obtained by the attending surgeon vs a trainee (P = .04), and frailty score (P = .005) were all associated with whether a patient was informed or not. However, after multivariable adjustment, only frailty score was independently associated with being informed (odds ratio, 0.54; 95% confidence interval, 0.30-0.95; P = .03). The median decisional conflict scale score was 7.8, suggesting that patients feel well informed and supported in spite of poor understanding of procedural indications, risks, benefits, and alternatives. Conclusions As a group, patients have a poor comprehension of basic information related to surgical informed consent. These findings have potential ethical and clinical implications, and additional work is required to best determine causes of poor comprehension and strategies to mitigate the same.
Factor, Concurrent and Predictive Validity of the Readiness to Change Questionnaire [Treatment Version] Among Non-Treatment-Seeking Individuals

Aims This study assessed the factor, concurrent and predictive validity of the revised Readiness to Change Questionnaire [Treatment Version] (RCQ[TV]) among non-treatment-seeking individuals. Methods Non-treatment-seeking patients (Mage = 34.8, SD = 12.4) who screened positive for alcohol misuse were recruited from three urban Level I Trauma Centers and completed the RCQ[TV] (Heather et al. [(1999) Development of a treatment version of the Readiness to Change Questionnaire. Addict Res7, 63-83]). Results A confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor structure of the RCQ[TV]. Observed scores for precontemplation, contemplation and action demonstrated concurrent validity, as they were correlated with drinking and alcohol-related problems prior to baseline assessment. Finally, RCQ[TV] scores at baseline added to the predictability of an alcohol consumption composite score at a 3-month follow-up after controlling for baseline alcohol consumption and randomization to treatment arm. Conclusions The results of the present study suggest that the RCQ[TV] has desirable psychometric properties and supports the use of the RCQ[TV] among non-treatment-seeking patients with alcohol misuse.
The Validity of Urine Color as a Hydration Biomarker within the General Adult Population and Athletes: A Systematic Review.

Frequent monitoring of hydration status may help to avoid the adverse effects of dehydration. Other than urine color assessment, hydration assessment methods are largely impractical for the general...
3.15 – Immunotoxicity Studies*

The immune system is a complex set of cellular, chemical, and soluble mediators that protects the body against foreign substances. Immunotoxicology is the subdiscipline of toxicology that focuses on unintended modulation of the immune system following exposure to environmental chemicals or therapeutics. Adverse effects may include immunosuppression, immunostimulation, hypersensitivity, or autoimmunity, and may result in outcomes such as increased incidences of infectious diseases or neoplastic diseases, allergy/asthma, or autoimmune diseases, respectively. Immunotoxicologists have applied tiered panels of assays to identify immunomodulatory agents in humans and laboratory animals. The configurations of testing panels vary, but typically include some measure of the innate, cell-mediated, and humoral arms of the immune response. Unintended stimulation in these immune assays is usually considered adverse, but is not well understood. To improve our ability to predict adverse health effects resulting from immune system toxicity, it will be necessary to increase our understanding of the underlying immunomodulatory mechanisms that cause adverse effects and the quantitative relationships between the immunological tests conducted in the laboratory and actual disease in human populations.
Using Multisensory Haptic Integration to Improve Monitoring in the Intensive Care Unit

Alarm fatigue and medical alarm mismanagement reduces the quality of patient care and creates stressful work environments for clinicians. Here, the feasibility of a novel “pre-alarm” system that ut...
An optimization for water requirement in natural gas combined cycle power plants equipped with once-through and hybrid cooling systems and carbon capture unit

Abstract A water-energy nexus analysis for a Natural Gas Combined Cycle power plant equipped with Post-Combustion Carbon Capture unit was studied. Once-through and hybrid indirect dry and wet cooling systems were considered. An optimization model was developed to minimize the water requirement in each of the cooling system. The model and numerical method were validated with previously reported experimental measurements. In once-through cooling system, the optimized mass flow rates were slightly less than the original operating condition. For hybrid cooling system, the effects of air to water ratio, humidity content, air wet bulb temperature, and the number of cycles of concentration on the water requirements were studied for a wide range of cooling load split factors. The difference in water requirement becomes insignificant when the cooling load exceeds 60%. It was shown that the increase in the number of cycles of concentrations reduces water losses within 5–6 cycles. It is recommended to consider dynamic control for the cooling system using the developed optimization algorithm to maintain optimum operating conditions. For the once-through cooling system, maintaining the least water withdrawal while protecting aquatic life is suggested. For hybrid cooling systems, keeping the split factor below 0.5 and optimizing water consumption and power penalty are recommended.
Standardized testing framework for quality control of fuel cell bipolar plates

Abstract Since proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are at the early stages of industrialization, effective manufacturing processes need to be implemented to reduce the costs. A major component of manufacturing processes is the product quality control. Developing product specifications and adopting standard practices and test methods are the basic requirements for quality control. The goal of this article is to establish standard specifications and test methods for quality control of bipolar plates, the second most complex and expensive part of a fuel cell stack. This work identifies and classifies the important bipolar plate properties based on their functions in the fuel cell stack. It reviews the published work on current and past test methods for determination of bipolar plate properties, and pinpoints the gaps. The standard guides, practices and test methods potentially able to fill the gaps and provide a common ground for defining and measuring the bipolar plate properties are identified and explored. We found that the current test methods used for determining the electrical contact resistance and its stability may not be repeatable and reproducible. Adopting the standards developed to determine the resistance of static electrical connections along with those to determine environmental degradation of materials can address this critical issue.
Follow the Money: A Closer Look at US Tobacco Industry Marketing Expenditures

IntroductionWhile much of the concern with tobacco industry marketing has focused on direct media advertising, a less explored form of marketing strategy is to discount prices. Price discounting is important because it keeps the purchase price low and can undermine the impact of tax increases. MethodsWe examine annual marketing expenditures from 1975 to 2019 by the largest cigarette and smokeless tobacco companies. We consider three categories: direct advertising, promotional allowances, and price discounting. In addition to considering trends in these expenditures, we examine how price discounting expenditures relate to changes in product prices and excise taxes. ResultsUS direct advertising expenditures for cigarettes fell from 80% of total industry marketing expenditures in 1975 to less than 3% in 2019, while falling from 39% in 1985 to 6% in 2019 for smokeless tobacco. Price-discounting expenditures for cigarettes became prominent after the Master Settlement Agreement and related tax increases in 2002. By 2019, 87% of cigarette marketing expenditures were for price discounts and 7% for promotional allowances. Smokeless marketing expenditures were similar: 72% for price promotions and 13% for promotional allowances. Price discounting increased with prices and taxes until reaching their currently high levels. ConclusionsWhile much attention focuses on direct advertising, other marketing practices, especially price discounting, has received less attention. Local, state and federal policies that use non-tax mechanisms to increase tobacco prices and restrict industry contracts with retailers are needed to offset/disrupt industry marketing expenditures. Further study is needed to better understand industry decisions about marketing expenditures. Key pointsO_LIWhile much of the concern with tobacco industry marketing has focused on direct media advertising, a less explored form of marketing strategy is to discount prices. Price discounting is important because it keeps the purchase price low and can undermine the impact of tax increases, contributing to tobacco initiation and exacerbating socio-economic health disparities. C_LIO_LIWhile cigarette and smokeless tobacco industry direct marketing expenditures have drastically fallen over time, price-discounting expenditures have dramatically increased in line with increases in prices and taxes. C_LIO_LILocal, state and federal policies that restrict non-tax mechanisms to increase tobacco prices and restrict industry contracts with retailers are needed to offset/disrupt industry marketing expenditures. C_LI
3D-imaging inspired improvements to hearing model in parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea

Although most binaural organisms localize sound sources using neurological structures to amplify the sounds they hear, some animals use mechanically coupled hearing organs to do so. One example, the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea, has astoundingly accurate sound localization abilities and can locate objects in the azimuthal plane with a precision of 2{degrees}, equal to that of humans. This is accomplished despite an intertympanal distance of only 1.2 mm, which is about 1/100th of the wavelength of the sound emitted by the crickets that it parasitizes. In 1995, Miles et al. developed a model for hearing mechanics in O. Ochracea, which works well for incoming sound angles of less than {+/-}30{degrees}, but suffers from reduced accuracy at higher angles. Despite this, it has served as the basis for multiple bio-inspired microphone designs for decades. Here, we present critical modifications to the classic O. ochracea hearing model based on information from 3D reconstructions of O. ochraceas tympana. The 3D images reveal that the tympana have curved lateral faces in addition to the flat front-facing prosternal membranes represented in the 1995 model. To mimic these faces, we incorporated spatially-varying spring and damper coefficients that respond asymmetrically to incident sound waves, making a new quasi-two-dimensional (q2D) model. This q2D model has high accuracy (average errors of less than 10%) for the entire range of incoming sound angles. This improved biomechanical hearing model can inform the development of new technologies and may help to play a key role in developing improved hearing aids. Significance StatementIn 1995 Miles et al. developed a mechanical model for hearing in the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea, treating its highly three-dimensional (3D) tympanal membranes as flat plates. While this model has inspired significant research into O. ochracea-inspired directional microphone designs, it becomes increasingly inaccurate at high lateral angles and fails to include multiple realistic features present in O. ochracea physiology. Here, we performed 3D imaging of O. ochracea tympanal organs and used the morphological information to introduce variable coefficients into the 1995 model. These additions extended its accurate range from {+/-} 30{degrees} to all incoming sound angles. Our modified model provides a new avenue for future studies related to O. ochracea and may lead to novel O. ochracea-inspired directional microphone designs.
Reflection of Ultrasonic Waves by Flaws in Thick Composites

A layer of a fiber reinforced composite consists of many plies. For wavelengths of the same order of magnitude as the ply thicknesses, but still much larger than the fiber diameters, the ply interfaces will act as surfaces of reflection and transmission. A thick layer of a fiber-reinforced composite may then be expected to display many of the features of a solid with periodic structuring. For through-the-thickness propagation of time-harmonic mechanical disturbances, these features include passing and stopping bands.
Stem cell based therapies for age-related macular degeneration: The promises and the challenges

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness among the elderly in developed countries. AMD is classified as either neovascular (NV-AMD) or non-neovascular (NNV-AMD). Cumulative damage to the retinal pigment epithelium, Bruch's membrane, and choriocapillaris leads to dysfunction and loss of RPE cells. This causes degeneration of the overlying photoreceptors and consequential vision loss in advanced NNV-AMD (Geographic Atrophy). In NV-AMD, abnormal growth of capillaries under the retina and RPE, which leads to hemorrhage and fluid leakage, is the main cause of photoreceptor damage. Although a number of drugs (e.g., anti-VEGF) are in use for NV-AMD, there is currently no treatment for advanced NNV-AMD. However, replacing dead or dysfunctional RPE with healthy RPE has been shown to rescue dying photoreceptors and improve vision in animal models of retinal degeneration and possibly in AMD patients. Differentiation of RPE from human embryonic stem cells (hESC-RPE) and from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC-RPE) has created a potentially unlimited source for replacing dead or dying RPE. Such cells have been shown to incorporate into the degenerating retina and result in anatomic and functional improvement. However, major ethical, regulatory, safety, and technical challenges have yet to be overcome before stem cell-based therapies can be used in standard treatments. This review outlines the current knowledge surrounding the application of hESC-RPE and iPSC-RPE in AMD. Following an introduction on the pathogenesis and available treatments of AMD, methods to generate stem cell-derived RPE, immune reaction against such cells, and approaches to deliver desired cells into the eye will be explored along with broader issues of efficacy and safety. Lastly, strategies to improve these stem cell-based treatments will be discussed.
Vapor canister heater for evaporative emissions systems

Automotive evaporative emissions systems use a charcoal canister to store evaporative hydrocarobn emissions. These stored vapors are later purged and burned during engine operation. Under certain conditions the engine cannot completely purge the canister of the stored fuel vapors, which results in a decreased vapor storage capacity in the canister. A self-regulating PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) heater has been developed to warm the purge air as it enters the canister, in order to provide thermal energy for increased release of the vapors from charcoal sites. This paper describes the construction and operation of the vapor canister heater as it relates to improved evaporative emission system performance.
Dispersal evolution in fragmented habitats: the interplay between the tendency and the ability to disperse

Questions: How will two dispersal traits, one determining dispersal ability and the other determining dispersal tendency, affect each other’s evolutionary dynamics in a fragmented landscape? Which properties of fragmented habitats lead to evolutionary interactions between these two traits and which allow the traits to evolve independently? Mathematical method: A population genetic model with explicit ecological costs. The mean fitness of the population is maximized on S. Wright’s adaptive topography. Key assumptions: Two haploid (or diploid) loci, each with two alleles. The first locus describes dispersal ‘tendency’, where the strength of environmental fluctuations and the distance separating suitable habitats determines the cost of sedentary behaviour relative to the cost of dispersal. The second locus determines dispersal ‘ability’, where there is a trade-off between survival in the local habitat (favouring low dispersal ability type) and survival during a dispersal event (favouring high dispersal ability type). Conclusions: The evolutionary relationships between these dispersal traits range from simple monotonic trajectories, where the traits evolve independently, to non-linear dynamics, where the evolution of one trait strongly depends on the other’s evolution. One example of nonlinearity: the same ecological conditions may either allow the fixation or the loss of dispersal traits simply depending on the initial allelic frequencies of dispersal traits. This result leads to a novel colonization bias hypothesis. Non-linear dynamics are found when habitats have intermediate levels of environmental fluctuation and/or when the distance between habitats is large and when dispersal tendency has high genetic penetrance (sensu Falconer, 1981). When dispersal tendency and ability traits exhibit non-linear dynamics, our view of their evolution will be seriously distorted if both are not studied simultaneously.
Do Rhinoceros Auklet, Cerorhinca monocerata , Fledglings Fly to the Sea from Their Natal Burrows?

The mode of departure of Rhinoceros Auklet fledglings from their nest burrows has remained uncertain. Both walk-down and fly-down hypotheses have been proposed. Here we use the unique geography of Protection Island, Washington, to evaluate the fly-down hypothesis. Some fledglings raised on Protection Island do appear to walk to the water, but our results suggest that many of the island’s fledgling Rhinoceros Auklets fly to the sea.
Histopathological types of cardiac fibrosis in myocardial disease

Myocardial fibrosis is a frequently observed pathologic finding. It is a common practice to differentiate macroscopic scarring and microscopic scarring, but there has been little attempt to distinguish the various types of interstitial fibrosis, and to determine their prevalence in different cardiac disorders. In this study, we have semiquantitatively assessed microscopic scarring, interfibre and perivascular fibrosis and a distinctive type of plexiform fibrosis. We examined ten hearts with congestive cardiomyopathy, ten with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, ten with severe valvular aortic stenosis and ten normal hearts. Perivascular and interfibre fibrosis were quantitatively closely linked and most marked in the congestive cardiomyopathy and the valvular aortic stenosis groups. Plexiform fibrosis occurred maximally in the hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy group, closely associated with myocardium exhibiting muscle fibre disarray. Our study demonstrates that although different types of interstitial fibrosis have particular associations with certain disease entities, the associations are not specific. The recognition of the prevalence of one or more types of interstitial fibrosis may, however, assist in the histopathologic diagnosis of certain myocardial disorders.
A knowledge-based approach for improving information and decision making in a small business

Abstract This article describes the development of a prototype knowledge-based decision support system for a small manufacturing company. The prototype was designed to aid in the diagnosis and resolution of various production problems, as well as to assist in the collection and recording of information required for improved management decision making, as the first step toward a fully-integrated, real-time expert system for production management. The project illustrates a number of auxiliary issues and lessons arising from the development of the prototype system. These include: (1) the effectiveness of a multiple-expert approach in modeling the knowledge that comprises the system, (2) the need for prototyping during the incremental system development process, and (3) the growing impact of inexpensive software development tools and microcomputers on the ability of small companies to develop and implement highly-specialized knowledge-based systems.
Inertially Aided Visual Odometry for Miniature Air Vehicles in GPS-denied Environments

Unmanned miniature air vehicles (MAVs) have recently become a focus of much research, due to their potential utility in a number of information gathering applications. MAVs currently carry inertial sensor packages that allow them to perform basic flight maneuvers reliably in a completely autonomous manner. However, MAV navigation requires knowledge of location that is currently available only through GPS sensors, which depend on an external infrastructure and are thus prone to reliability issues. Vision-based methods such as Visual Odometry (VO) have been developed that are capable of estimating MAV pose purely from vision, and thus have the potential to provide an autonomous alternative to GPS for MAV navigation. Because VO estimates pose by combining relative pose estimates, constraining relative pose error is the key element of any Visual Odometry system. In this paper, we present a system that fuses measurements from an MAV inertial navigation system (INS) with a novel VO framework based on direct image registration. We use the inertial sensors in the measurement step of the Extended Kalman Filter to determine the direction of gravity, and hence provide error-bounded measurements of certain portions of the aircraft pose. Because of the relative nature of VO measurements, we use VO in the EKF prediction step. To allow VO to be used as a prediction, we develop a novel linear approximation to the direct image registration procedure that allows us to propagate the covariance matrix at each time step. We present offline results obtained from our pose estimation system using actual MAV flight data. We show that fusion of VO and INS measurements greatly improves the accuracy of pose estimation and reduces the drift compared to unaided VO during medium-length (tens of seconds) periods of GPS dropout.
Matroid designs of prime power index

Abstract A class of BIBD's is constructed with parameters generalizing those of the finite projective geometries. These designs are used to construct matroids in which the hyperplanes are equicardinal and the complement of every hyperplane has prime power cardinality. These so-called matroid designs of prime power index “almost” have the property that the flats of any given rank are equicardinal.
A simulation approach to analysis of emergency services and trauma center management

The operation of a hospital trauma center and associated transportation facility is discussed in this paper. A SLAM simulation model of the system is explained and example experiments with it discussed. Results indicate that significant improvement in patient service can be made through alternative staff scheduling patterns. Patient flow is particularly sensitive to the shift scheduling of physicians.
Forced stationary solutions in a barotropic channel: Multiple equilibria and theory of nonlinear resonance

Abstract We have studied a barotropic flow over sinusoidal topography in a beta channel in the presence of forcing and dissipation. Our work can be divided into two main parts: In the first part, we have computed numerically the stationary solutions of the model, using Newton's method, together with a finite difference approximation, and we compare our solutions with the solutions of the linear theory; in the second part, we successfully develop a nonlinear theory that reproduces our numerical solutions very closely. In the first part of the paper we show that multiple equilibria do exist in our problem; i.e., multiple equilibria are not artificially introduced by the mathematical technique of severe truncation previously used, but are a consequence of the resonance present in our physical system. Then we show that even if we are dealing with a small topography (we have considered Fourier components of the real topography that have amplitudes of a few hundred meters, small values compared with the depth o...
A biphasic chamber system for maintaining polarity of differentiation of culture respiratory tract epithelial cells

A simple, disposable, biphasic cultivation chamber has been developed for respiratory tract epithelial cells. This chamber, the Whicutt chamber, contains a movable, transparent, permeable gelatin membrane that can be employed either submerged in the culture medium, thereby feeding the cells by the traditional immersion method, or raised to the surface of the culture medium, to bring the apical surfaces of the cells into contact with air and provide nutrients only from below (basal feeding). The effects of biphasic cultivation on the growth and differentiation of respiratory tract epithelial cells from different sources have been studied in Whitcutt chambers. Primary hamster tracheal epithelial (HTE) cells grown to confluence with basal feeding developed a ciliated columnar morphology, with differentiated features (cilia and mucous granules) located in the apical region of the epithelial layer. These cells secreted mucinlike molecules from the apical surface (i.e. the surface in contact with air). Although the apical localization of differentiation features was greater, mucous cell differentiation achieved by basal feeding was quantitatively not greater than that achieved by continuous immersion feeding. Similarly, basal feeding did not alter the degree of epithelial cell differentiation in cultures derived from rat, rabbit, and monkey tracheas or from human bronchial and nasal tissues. In contrast, the differentiation of guinea pig tracheal epithelial cells in culture was significantly influenced by the feeding method employed. When fed basally, guinea pig tracheal epithelial cell cultures expressed various mucociliary functions with resemblance to mucociliary layers in vivo, whereas constantly immersed cultures seemed stratified and squamous. These results suggest that, at least for guinea pigs, the combination of feeding methods provided by the Whitcutt chamber can be used to achieve differentiated cultures of tracheal epithelial cells with a polarity of differentiation that is similar to that observed in intact airways in vivo.
Europa's Differentiated Internal Structure: Inferences from Four Galileo Encounters

Radio Doppler data from four encounters of the Galileo spacecraft with the jovian moon Europa have been used to refine models of Europa's interior. Europa is most likely differentiated into a metallic core surrounded by a rock mantle and a water ice-liquid outer shell, but the data cannot eliminate the possibility of a uniform mixture of dense silicate and metal beneath the water ice-liquid shell. The size of a metallic core is uncertain because of its unknown composition, but it could be as large as about 50 percent of Europa's radius. The thickness of Europa's outer shell of water ice-liquid must lie in the range of about 80 to 170 kilometers.
Knowledge-based system for rapid prototyping

In recent years it has been noticed that rapid prototyping produces better software products. Research on combining Artificial Intelligence and software engineering has also been conducted for a number of years. A knowledge-based system for rapid prototyping is presented. In the system, the Frame-and-Rule Oriented Requirements Language and a methodology are developed to provide an integrated means of prototyping throughoyt the software life cycle. The particular application domain to be modelled is represented in terms of objects and activities. FRORL, which uses the concept of frames and production systems, describes the problem domain's objects and activities in a natural way. With the support of a knowledge base, a software prototype can be rapidly developed using FRORL. The system has been implemented using Prolog on a VAX-11/780 computer.
French-language documents produced by the Hospitallers, 1231–1310

This study examines the use of French for documents employed by the Hospitallers in the Holy Land from 1231 until 1310. The period of greatest French-language production, from 1231 until 1275, occurred when the Order's central convent was in Acre. During this time, texts were exchanged primarily between the Hospitallers and Westerners in the East, not with French speakers in the West. Early on, French was employed as an oral and written language, and this practice encouraged the continued use of French-language texts among the Hospitallers, whose members were informed of policy changes through public readings of legal texts. French-language document production diminished in the 1270s, when permanent Christian settlements in the East were threatened. Hospitaller French-language documents were then employed primarily for internal purposes, in conjunction with other French-language writings to defend the Order whose purpose came under attack once members were expelled from the Holy Land.
Postpartum ovarian vein thrombosis

Ovarian vein thrombosis is a rare occurrence in the postpartum period. Two cases of postpartum ovarian vein thrombosis are presented. The differential diagnosis is extensive because many diseases can present with similar symptoms. Early diagnosis is essential for appropriate treatment and prevention of the potential sequelae that can occur. Computerized tomography with contrast is the optimal imaging modality for the diagnosis.
Semi-supervised learning for text-line detection

Automatically detecting text-lines from document images has been long studied. However, most researchers today are focusing on boosting the detection rate instead of noise removal. In this paper, we propose a semi-supervised learning framework that targets to segment Manhattan-layout documents with significant levels of noise. The algorithm consists of three steps: first, an initial segmentation process uses the seed filling algorithm; second, an iterative grouping process uses the projection profiles to estimate the vertical border of page contents; third, an inside page-content noise removal uses the online training and classification. We test our algorithm using two databases. The first is the University of Washington (UW)-III database with 1,600 images of different input qualities that has been widely used by the Document Analysis Research (DAR) communities to measure segmentation algorithm performance. The second is the NILE database created by sampling from 320 journals pages of east Asian, east European and middle Eastern languages. The result shows that our framework achieves competitive performance in terms of both page frame level segmentation and text-line level segmentation, and is particularly strong at filtering noise. It also shows that our algorithm is more adaptive to language variations.
Variant antigen gene expression in malaria.

Summary Pathogens of the genus Plasmodium are unicellular parasites that infect a variety of animals, including reptiles, birds and mammals. All Plasmodium species target host erythrocytes and replicate asexually within this niche. In humans, proliferation within erythrocytes causes disease symptoms ranging from asymtomatic infection to severe disease, including mild to severe febrile and respiratory symptoms, profound anaemia and obstruction of blood flow. The most serious form of human malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, a pathogen that is responsible for several million deaths annually throughout the developing world. Malaria parasites succeed in evading the host immune response to establish long-term, persistent infections, thus increasing the efficiency by which they are transmitted to the mosquito vector. The ability to evade the host immune system, in particular the avoidance of antibody-mediated immunity against parasite-encoded surface proteins, is the result of amplification of extensive repertoires of multicopy, hypervariable gene families that encode infected erythrocyte or merozoite surface proteins. Via switching between antigenically diverse genes within these large families, populations of parasites have the capacity for rapid variation in antigenicity and virulence over the course of an infection. Here we review the amplification and generation of antigenic diversity within the Plasmodium variant gene families, as well as discuss the mechanisms underlying their tightly controlled gene expression and antigenic switching.
Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Photocurrents in GaAs MESFETs Operated in Normally off Mode

Optical control of microwave devices, particularly MMIC, is a rapidly growing research area. This paper presents a theoretical analysis, which accurately predicts the photocurrents of MESFETs operated in normally OFF mode. The model accounts for the variation of the intensity and wavelength of the incident light. The analysis includes both photovoltaic and photoconductive effects. The photocurrent in the semi-insulating substrate under the gate depletion region is considered. The leakage current between the drain and source bonding pads via the substrate is also included in the model. Good agreement is realized between measured and calculated results. The model can be used as a tool for the optimal design of MESFET optical detectors.
Thermal-Radiation Properties of Thin Metallic Films on Dielectrics

The spectral radiation properties of thin metallic films are obtained through the numerical solution of the governing integrodifferential equation for the anomalous skin effect with size effects included. The theory predicts that at low temperatures there will be a film thickness for which the emittance is a minimum. This minimum, which is lower than the emittance for a bulk specimen, is apparently due to interference effects arising from the finite film thickness. It is also found that for certain cases transmission through a film is not negligible compared with the emission from the film. The analysis is extended to include metal-coated dielectric films, and the theoretical results are compared with existing experimental data.
L-series satellite spectra in Ti xii and Fe xvi

Transitions in Na-like Ti and Fe ions, which appear as satellites to 2p-3s and 2p-3d transitions in Ne-like ions, were studied. The soft X-ray spectra produced by a focused-laser source and a vacuum-spark device were obtained with the same grazing-incidence spectrograph. Atomic structure calculations agreed with the observed 2p-3s spectral patterns and made possible line identifications in Ti XII and Fe XVI.
DOES MATTER HAVE A HALF-LIFE

IN a recent book Prof. R. O. Kapp1 has suggested that atoms of matter disappear spontaneously in a statistically random manner with a half-life of about 4 × 108 years and that it is this extinction of matter which causes gravitational attraction. It is the purpose of this communication to point out that there is no reason why the confirmation or disproof of this suggestion should not be established by means of existing techniques.
Quantitative Studies of Nuclear Structure Through Isobaric Analog Resonances

Isobaric analog resonances (IAR) observed in the elastic scattering of protons from $^{208}\mathrm{Pb}$, $^{138}\mathrm{Ba}$, $^{124}\mathrm{Sn}$, and $^{120}\mathrm{Sn}$ are analyzed in the framework of the shell-model theory of reactions. Parametrization of the energy-averaged $S$ matrix elements given by the shell-model theory is discussed, and the dependence of the spectroscopic factors upon the various optical-model parameters is exhibited. The resonance mixing phases for most of the IAR analyzed here cannot be distinguished from zero. Damping of the single-particle wave functions arising from the nonlocality of the optical potentials is consistently incorporated. The nonlocality length of 0.85 F employed in this analysis leads to an attenuation of the single-particle wave functions by about 15% inside the nucleus. Neutron spectroscopic factors obtained here compare favorably with corresponding results from the study of ($d,p$) and ($t,d$) reactions.
Clinical correlates of valproate augmentation in refractory bipolar disorder.

AbstractWe examined the clinical correlates of valproate (VPA) therapy in refractory bipolar disorder. Retrospective chart review was used to collect demographic and clinical data including present diagnosis, diagnosis at illness onset, duration of illness, number of hospitalizations, VPA dose, side effects, and maximum serum concentration. Global response was rated once patients serum VPA exceeded 50 mg/dL. The charts of all inpatients admitted over a two-year period and treated with VPA for acute episodes of bipolar disorder in manic, mixed, or depressed phase were reviewed. Seventeen of these patients began VPA augmentation while hospitalized and became the cohort for review. Patients were excluded if VPA was started prior to admission or the patient was discharged less than one week after drug initiation. Patients were not excluded on the basis of EEG, CT, or neurological exam findings. Overall, 12 of 17 (71%) of the patients showed a moderate or marked improvement while 5 of 17 (29%) showed mild or n...
FGF2 stimulation of the pyrophosphate-generating enzyme, PC-1, in pre-osteoblast cells is mediated by RUNX2

Pyrophosphate is an established inhibitor of hydroxyapatite deposition and crystal growth, yet when hydrolyzed into phosphate, it becomes a substrate for hydroxyapatite deposition. Pyrophosphate-generating enzyme (PC-1), Ank, and tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (Tnap) are three factors that regulate extracellular pyrophosphate levels through its generation, transport, and hydrolysis. We previously showed that fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) induces PC-1 and Ank while inhibiting Tnap expression and mineralization in MC3T3E1(C4) calvarial pre-osteoblast cells. In this study, we showed similar FGF2 regulation of these genes in primary pre-osteoblast cultures. In contrast to Ank and Tnap that are regulated by FGF2 in multiple cell types, we found regulation of PC-1 to be selective to pre-osteoblastic cells and to require the osteoblast-related transcription factor, Runx2. Specifically, FGF2 was unable to induce PC-1 expression in Runx2-negative nonbone cells or in calvarial cells from Runx2-deficient mice. Transfection of these cells with a Runx2 expression vector restored FGF2 responsiveness. FGF2 was also shown to stimulate recruitment of Runx2 to the endogenous PC-1 promoter in MC3T3E1(C4) cells, as measured by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Taken together, our results establish that FGF2 is a specific inducer of PC-1 in pre-osteoblast cells and that FGF2 induces PC-1 expression through a mechanism involving Runx2.
Configuring topologies of distributed semantic concept classifiers for continuous multimedia stream processing

Real-time multimedia semantic concept detection requires instant identification of a set of concepts in streaming video or images. However, the potentially high data volumes of multimedia content, and high complexity associated with individual concept detectors, have hindered its practical deployment. In this paper, we present a new online concept detection system deployed on top of a distributed stream mining system. It uses a tree-topology of classifiers that are constructed on a semantic hierarchy of concepts of interest. We introduce a novel methodology for configuring such cascaded classifier topologies under constraints on the available resources. In our approach, we configure individual classifiers with optimized operating points after jointly and explicitly considering the misclassification cost of each end-to-end class of interest in the tree, the system imposed resource constraints, and the confidence level of each object that is classified. We describe the implemented application, system, and optimization algorithms, and verify that significant improvement in terms of accuracy of classification can be achieved through our approach.
Clinical and Pathologic Features of Familial Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis

The occurrence of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in a familial pattern has been rarely reported previously. Over the last 10 years we have treated 31 patients among eight families with familial FSGS. The diagnosis was confirmed by renal biopsy in 18 cases, and each family had at least two members in whom the diagnosis was confirmed histologically. Both males and females were affected, as were both blacks and whites. The mean age at presentation was 28 years, with a range of 8 to 56 years. The mean serum creatinine at presentation was 3.7 mg/dL. Twenty-five of the 31 patients progressed to end-stage renal disease; and treatment with prednisone did not appear to retard the progression to end-stage renal disease. Seven patients received a cadaveric renal transplant and none of them showed evidence of recurrence of disease in the graft. The pattern of inheritance in two families appeared to be autosomal dominant; in the other families the pattern of inheritance was less clear and may have been autosomal recessive, although a familial exposure to an unidentified environmental toxin cannot be excluded. Histologic examination of the renal tissue revealed a variety of changes previously described as occurring in FSGS. We conclude that FSGS may occur in a familial pattern that carries a poor prognosis. Further studies of these families may shed light on the pathogenesis of sporadic FSGS.
Molecular analysis of human leukocyte adhesion deficiency

The normal response of the immune system to infections of the skin or mucosal tissues requires the ability of peripheral blood leukocytes to mobilize to the site of infection. In a classical inflammatory reaction, neutrophils and monocytes migrate in response to chemotactic factors released at the infection site. However, until recently, the molecular mechanisms which enable leukocytes to migrate across blood vessels have been largely unknown. These mechanisms have been elucidated, in part, by the characterization of a recently defined disease called human leukocyte adhesion deficiency (LAD). Patients with this heritable disease suffer from severe recurrent bacterial and fungal infections of soft tissues, primarily skin and mucous membranes. Infected, necrotic lesions in these patients contain few leukocytes despite the observation that these patients have chronic leukocytosis. In the early 1980's, several laboratories demonstrated that this disease is due to a cell surface deficiency of the LFA-1, Mac-1, and p150, 95 family of leukocyte adhesion proteins. More recently we have shown that LAD is due to heterogenous mutations in the β subunit common to the all three of these leukocyte glycoproteins. Although LAD is a rare disease, the analysis of this disease has greatly increased our understanding of the biology of the leukocyte adhesion proteins and the molecular mechanisms involved in the immune response to infections of the skin.
Dermal Absorption of Organic Chemical Vapors in Rats and Humans

Quantitation of chemical vapor penetration through skin is necessary for assessment of health hazards involved in some occupational environments. Information on penetration of vapors through human skin is minimal because human exposures are not sanctioned. We have investigated the whole-body dermal penetration of styrene, xylene, toluene, perchloroethylene, benzene, halothane, hexane, and isoflurane in rats and compared the permeability constants with available human studies on vapor penetration. Rats with closely clipped fur were exposed to organic chemical vapors (3000 to 60,000 ppm) while breathing fresh air through a latex mask. Blood concentrations taken during the 4-hr exposures were determined by sampling through indwelling jugular cannulas. A physiologically based pharmacokinetic model was used to predict permeability constants consistent with the experimental blood concentrations. Permeability constants (cm/hr) were estimated by a least-square optimization and ranged from 1.75 cm/hr for styrene to 0.03 cm/hr for isoflurane. Rat permeability constants were uniformly two to four times greater when compared to the human constants which were calculated from the literature. These results indicate that organic vapor permeability constants in rats are a conservative estimate of organic vapor permeability constants in humans and that the consistent differences in permeability constants between these two species may be due to physiological differences in the skin.
Mass spectrometric analysis of integral membrane proteins: Application to complete mapping of bacteriorhodopsins and rhodopsin

Integral membrane proteins have not been readily amenable to the general methods developed for mass spectrometric (or internal Edman degradation) analysis of soluble proteins. We present here a sample preparation method and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation system which permits online HPLC-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and -tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis of cyanogen bromide cleavage fragments of integral membrane proteins. This method has been applied to wild type (WT) bacteriorhodopsin (bR), cysteine containing mutants of bR, and the prototypical G-protein coupled receptor, rhodopsin (Rh). In the described method, the protein is reduced and the cysteine residues pyridylethylated prior to separating the protein from the membrane. Following delipidation, the pyridylethylated protein is cleaved with cyanogen bromide. The cleavage fragments are separated by reversed phase HPLC using an isopropanol/acetonitrile/aqueous TFA solvent system and the effluent peptides analyzed online with a Finnigan LCQ Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer. With the exception of single amino acid fragments and the glycosylated fragment of Rh, which is observable by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI)-MS, this system permits analysis of the entire protein in a single HPLC run. This methodology will enable pursuit of chemical modification and crosslinking studies designed to probe the three dimensional structures and functional conformational changes in these proteins. The approach should also be generally applicable to analysis of other integral membrane proteins.