cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does global change increase the success of biological invaders

Biological invasions are gaining attention as a major threat to biodiversity and an important element of global change. Recent research indicates that other components of global change, such as increases in nitrogen deposition and atmospheric CO2 concentration, favor groups of species that share certain physiological or life history traits. New evidence suggests that many invasive species share traits that will allow them to capitalize on the various elements of global change. Increases in the prevalence of some of these biological invaders would alter basic ecosystem properties in ways that feed back to affect many components of global change.
Segmental tonal modeling for phone set design in Mandarin LVCSR

Modeling units play a very important role in state-of-art speech recognition systems. The design and selection of them will directly impact the performance of the final speech recognition engine. As a tonal language, Mandarin's modeling units are more special for the tonal processing. In this paper, after fully investigating several dominant modeling strategies, we propose a new phone set design strategy for Mandarin, called segmental tonal modeling. Instead of modeling tone types directly, we realize them implicitly and jointly by two segments, which both carry tonal information. Both HTK and SAPI based experiments confirmed that such a method is very efficient. In addition to improving the accuracy by 9-23%, it greatly reduces the decoding time by 30-45%. Given the similar decoding speed, the new phone set configuration can reduce the error rate by relatively 35%.
Impact of anabolic androgenic steroids on adolescent males

Anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use increased dramatically among adolescent males. This review focuses on studies using animal models of AAS exposure during adolescence which is a hormonally sensitive developmental period. AAS exposure during this critical period has wide-ranging consequences, including increased dendritic spine density, altered brain serotonin levels and escalated aggression in response to physical provocation. Human data suggest that AAS induces indiscriminate and unprovoked aggression often described as "'roid rage". However, animal studies indicate that the behavioral impact of AAS is modulated by experiential and social contingencies, a perceived provocation, and the chemical composition of the AAS. The AAS, testosterone increases aggression in juvenile and adult male rats when physically provoked. In contrast, stanzolol, inhibits aggression in both juvenile and adult male rats, even when physically provoked. Nandrolone has minimal effects on aggression, unless preceded by attack training. Exposure to AAS during adolescence may have a host of unintended bio-behavioral consequences. Yet, the perception of harmlessness surrounds AAS use. The perception of harmlessness is promoted by the availability of AAS especially through internet pharmacies. The perception of acceptability is reflected in current cultural ethics that no longer condemn cheating to obtain personal achievement or success. A prevailing conviction is that although AAS are illegal they are not really bad. Reduction of the availability of AAS to adolescents requires ardent legislative and legal intervention. The problem of acceptability can be addressed by educating adolescents about the short-term and long-term effects of AAS on brain and behavior, to increase awareness of the potential consequences of AAS use that apply directly to them.
Reimagining Puerto Rican history in Seva Vive

Luis Lopez Nieves' short story Seva published in the newspaper Claridad in 1983 narrates the discovery of a hidden truth of the Spanish-American War of 1898: the inhabitants of the town Seva fought bravely against the invading American forces and were subsequently slaughtered. Taken as fact by some of the newspaper's readers, the story engaged the polemic intersection of popular memory, historical record, and colonial power. Released in 2008, Francisco Serrano's internationally acclaimed film Seva Vive uses digital technology to recast the interpretive practice of history undergirding Seva. This article combines an analysis of the film's use of documentary footage, photographs, digital technology, interviews, and literary text. It relies on current theorizations of adaptation, archive and authenticity to understand how the film's visual aesthetic of play denaturalizes the process by which history appears to us as true. The film visualizes the selective processes that produce historical accounts of coloniz...
Presenilins, the Endoplasmic Reticulum, and Neuronal Apoptosis in Alzheimer's Disease

Many cases of autosomal dominant inherited forms of early-onset Alzheimer's disease are caused by mutations in the genes encoding presenilin-1 (PS-1; chromosome 14) and presenilin-2 (PS-2; chromosome 1). PSs are expressed in neurons throughout the brain wherein they appear to be localized primarily to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of cell bodies and dendrites. PS-1 and PS-2 show high homology and are predicted to have eight transmembrane domains with the C terminus, N terminus, and a loop domain all on the cytosolic side of the membrane; an enzymatic cleavage of PSs occurs at a site near the loop domain. The normal function of PSs is unknown, but data suggest roles in membrane trafficking, amyloid precursor protein processing, and regulation of ER calcium homeostasis. Homology of PSs to the C. elegans gene sel-12, which is involved in Notch signaling, and phenotypic similarities of PS-1 and Notch knockout mice suggest a developmental role for PSs in the nervous system. When expressed in cultured cells and transgenic mice, mutant PSs promote increased production of a long form of amyloid beta-peptide (A beta1-42) that may possess enhanced amyloidogenic and neurotoxic properties. PS mutations sensitize cultured neural cells to apoptosis induced by trophic factor withdrawal, metabolic insults, and amyloid beta-peptide. The mechanism responsible for the proapoptotic action of mutant PSs may involve perturbed calcium release from ER stores and increased levels of oxidative stress. Recent studies of apoptosis in many different cell types suggest that ER calcium signaling can modulate apoptosis. The evolving picture of PS roles in neuronal plasticity and Alzheimer's disease is bringing to the forefront the ER, an organelle increasingly recognized as a key regulator of neuronal plasticity and survival.
Nitrogen fixation in Flax Pond: A Long Island salt marsh1

Nitrogen fixation was measured by the acetylene reduction technique during summer 1973. Rates of fixation in the top 4 cm of all sediments ranged from 12 to about 800 ..mu..g N fixed m/sup -2/ h/sup -1/. Fixation diminished with depth with none at 20 cm or below. Blue-green algal mats fixed at rates that ranged from 260-8,900 ..mu..g N m/sup -2/ h/sup -1/. No fixation was detected in the tidal water column, but rates of 8.6-4,800 ..mu..g N liter/sup -1/ h/sup -1/ occurred in small stagnant pools on the marsh surface. Rates of fixation appeared not to vary between day and night. (auth)
To Teach is to Learn: Overcoming Tokenism with Mentors:

Active mentors, persons who are not simply role models, have been shown to facilitate and enhance career growth, yet the token role of women entering traditionally masculine professions was shown to inhibit sponsorships. An analysis of a sample of exit interviews from the first women cadets to graduate from West Point revealed that the marginal peer acceptance of tokens within a competitive, somewhat constrained atmosphere discouraged the development of these sponsorships. If women plan to play sustained roles in the professions, they must actively sponsor other women. A first step in this process is to be aware of the situational pressures, noted in the present paper, that are directed against sponsorships within a token group.
Thermally Induced Compression Waves and Gravity Waves Generated by Convective Storms

Abstract A three-dimensional, fully compressible cloud model is used to simulate a convective storm in order to investigate the properties of compression waves and gravity waves induced by latent heat release. Time series of the low-level pressure perturbations caused by the propagating waves are examined at various distances from the storm. A compression wave that is close to hydrostatic balance and can be considered to be a Lamb wave, which propagates in the horizontal plane, emerges from the storm. This latter property gives the wave a distinctly two-dimensional character that is clarified by comparison with a linear model of a two-dimensional thermally induced compression wave. This has implications for its shape and results in a decay rate with distance propagated from the source of 1/(distance)1/2. The period of the Lamb wave is determined primarily by the time it takes for the storm to develop and decay. The fast-moving Lamb wave is trailed by slower-moving thermally induced gravity waves. It is fo...
The Impact of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Work-Hour Regulations on the Surgical Experience of Orthopaedic Surgery Residents

Background: The advent of the eighty-hour workweek regulations generated a great deal of controversy over the potential loss of operative experience for general surgery and surgical specialty residents. We believed an investigation to review the operative experience of orthopaedic surgery residents before and after the adoption of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education duty-hour guidelines would provide important information in this debate. Methods: The total number of surgical Current Procedural Terminology codes logged in the case-log database of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education by each second through fifth year orthopaedic resident at a single university-based program was collected from July 1, 2001, to June 30, 2005. Two groups were created from the data obtained. Group I (thirty-nine residents) included surgical codes logged for the two years prior to the implementation of the eighty-hour workweek (July 1, 2003), while Group II (forty residents) included the codes for the following two years. The average number of codes was determined for Group I and Group II. The two groups were then subdivided by postgraduate year of training. The average number of surgical codes per training year was calculated. Then the second and third year (junior) resident and fourth and fifth year (senior) resident groups were combined to create two subgroups. The mean number of surgical codes was determined for each group, and the groups were compared. Results: The surgical case logs of thirty-five orthopaedic residents were reviewed during the study period. One resident left the program during the first year of the study and was excluded because of incomplete data. A total of 36,464 surgical codes were logged. The average yearly number of surgical codes per resident was 461.4. The average total number of coded procedures per resident before and after the start of the eighty-hour workweek were 455.4 and 467.3, respectively. The average yearly number of surgical codes was 432.5 for the junior residents and 491.1 for the senior residents. The average number of codes logged before and after the start of the eighty-hour workweek were 407.3 and 455.3, respectively, for the junior residents compared with 501.2 and 480.6 for the senior residents. No significant differences between the groups in any category were identified. Conclusion: Although many aspects of surgical training may be affected by the new work-hour restrictions, our review of the operative experience of orthopaedic surgery residents at a single institution demonstrated no significant differences before and after the implementation of the eighty-hour workweek.
Antimicrobial peptide resistance mediates resilience of prominent gut commensals during inflammation

Resilience to host inflammation and other perturbations is a fundamental property of gut microbial communities, yet the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We have found that human gut microbes from all dominant phyla are resistant to high levels of inflammation-associated antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and have identified a mechanism for lipopolysaccharide (LPS) modification in the phylum Bacteroidetes that increases AMP resistance by four orders of magnitude. Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron mutants that fail to remove a single phosphate group from their LPS were displaced from the microbiota during inflammation triggered by pathogen infection. These findings establish a mechanism that determines the stability of prominent members of a healthy microbiota during perturbation.
Interaction between SO2 and NO2 and their effects on photosynthetic properties of soybean Glycine max

Abstract Soybean Glycine max plants were fumigated for a 2-h period with either SO 2 or NO 2 alone, or in combination, at concentrations from 0 to 0·6 μl litre −1 . Gas exchange was measured before, during, 1 h after and 24 h after fumigation. Post-fumigation determinations were made for dark respiration, apparent quantum yield, photorespiration and for leaf conductance at both saturating light intensity and saturating CO 2 concentration. Leaf resistance to CO 2 was partitioned into its various components. A stepwise multiple regression analysis of variance was used to identify statistically significant relationships between plant response and the concentration of pollutant during treatment. Summary of results 1. (1) Photosynthesis 1.1. (a) reduced by SO 2 but not by NO 2 alone. 1.2. (b) reduced significantly more by an interaction between SO 2 and NO 2 than by either pollutant alone. 1.3. (c) decreased to lower values 1 h after the end of fumigation than during the fourth half-hour of fumigation with combinations of SO 2 and NO 2 over 0·4 μl litre −1 for plants continuously exposed to bright light. 1.4. (d) showed signs of recovery within 3 h for plants that were put in the dark and re-illuminated. 1.5. (e) recovered to pre-fumigation values 24 h after fumigation. 2. (2) Stomatal conductance was reduced significantly by SO 2 alone, NO 2 alone, and by an interaction between SO 2 and NO 2 . 3. (3) Residual conductance 3.1. (a) reduced by SO 2 alone but not by NO 2 alone. 3.2. (b) reduced more by an interaction between SO 2 and NO 2 than by SO 2 alone. 4. (4) Apparent quantum yield was reduced by SO 2 and NO 2 in an additive fashion. 5. (5) Dark respiration and apparent photorespiration were reduced by NO 2 but not by SO 2 , and there was no interactive effect of SO 2 and NO 2 . 6. (6) Resistance to CO 2 transport across mesophyll cell walls accounted for nearly all of the substomatal resistance to CO 2 , and was sensitive to the combination of SO 2 and NO 2 but not the individually applied pollutants. 7. (7) Carboxylation resistance was not sensitive to SO 2 or NO 2 .
Automatic anatomy recognition in post-tonsillectomy MR images of obese children with OSAS

Automatic Anatomy Recognition (AAR) is a recently developed approach for the automatic whole body wide organ segmentation. We previously tested that methodology on image cases with some pathology where the organs were not distorted significantly. In this paper, we present an advancement of AAR to handle organs which may have been modified or resected by surgical intervention. We focus on MRI of the neck in pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). The proposed method consists of an AAR step followed by support vector machine techniques to detect the presence/absence of organs. The AAR step employs a hierarchical organization of the organs for model building. For each organ, a fuzzy model over a population is built. The model of the body region is then described in terms of the fuzzy models and a host of other descriptors which include parent to offspring relationship estimated over the population. Organs are recognized following the organ hierarchy by using an optimal threshold based search. The SVM step subsequently checks for evidence of the presence of organs. Experimental results show that AAR techniques can be combined with machine learning strategies within the AAR recognition framework for good performance in recognizing missing organs, in our case missing tonsils in post-tonsillectomy images as well as in simulating tonsillectomy images. The previous recognition performance is maintained achieving an organ localization accuracy of within 1 voxel when the organ is actually not removed. To our knowledge, no methods have been reported to date for handling significantly deformed or missing organs, especially in neck MRI.
Entomopathogenic Nematodes (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae): Toxicity of Neem

The effects of Margosan-O, a commercial neem-based insecticide, on the entomopathogenic nematode species Steinemema carpocapsae (Steiner), S. feltiae (Filipjev), and S. glaseri (Steiner) were examined in this study. Both acute and chronic toxicity were estimated, as were effects on nematode infectivity after incubation with the insecticide. Margosan-o was toxic to all 3 species, but only at much higher concentrations than the recommended field rate of 20 mg azadirachtin/liter water. The acute LC50 and 95% FL for S. carpacapsae exposed to Margosan-O was 425 (341-501) mg azadirachtin per liter. Chronic toxicity was not significantly different from acute toxicity until the 15th d of incubation. The acute LC50 and 95% FL for S. feltiae was 380 (340-443) mg azadirachtin per liter. Chronic toxicity values were not significantly different until day 15. The susceptibility of S. feltiae increased greatly between 12 and 15 d of incubation with Margosan-O. The acute LC50 and 95% FL for S. glaseri was 351 (330-370) mg azadirachtin per liter. Unlike the other 2 species, I detected no difference in susceptibility among incubation times for S. glaseri .. When the 3 species were compared, susceptibility to Margosan-O at LC50 at each incubation time interval was not significantly different until day 15. S. feltiae was significantly more susceptible than the other species after exposure to Margosan-O for 15 d. Infectivity [measured as the ability to kill greater wax moth larvae, Galleria mellonella (L.), contained in well plates], was reduced in all 3 species only when they had been incubated with Margosan-O at concentrations >200 mg azadirachtin per liter. When Margosan-O and nematodes were applied together at field rates to soil, infectivity was not reduced.
Integrated architectural/physical planning approach for minimization of current surge in high performance clock-gated microprocessors

We propose an integrated architectural/physical planning approach to reduce the power supply noise due to current surge in high performance, general-purpose, clock-gated microprocessors. The proposed approach combines dynamic selection of functional units on-the-fly, dynamic issue width scaling and physical planning with soft module, to balance the current demand across layout. Experimental results show that the proposed approach could reduce the peak noise by 6.54% and consequently, the decoupling capacitance requirement by 21.8%. The degradation in IPC (instruction Per Cycle) due to the selection logic and issue width scaling is only 1.86e-7 (without increasing clock cycle period) in 0.18 /spl mu/m technology.
BEHAVIORAL INDIRECT INTERACTIONS: MULTIPLE PREDATOR EFFECTS AND PREY SWITCHING IN THE ROCKY SUBTIDAL

The high trophic connectivity of many communities can produce large numbers of indirect interactions. Although many trait-mediated indirect interactions (TMII) are caused by changes in prey behavior, less is known about the effects of changes in predator behavior such as prey switching or multiple predator effects (MPE) on indirect interactions, especially in marine systems. We performed a series of field caging experiments off the Isles of Shoals, Maine (USA) from 2000 to 2002 to test for the presence of behaviorally mediated indirect effects in a shallow subtidal food web. Specifically, crab (Cancer borealis) predation on sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) was quantified in three habitats (Codium fragile algal beds, barrens, and mussel beds) representing differing combinations of food and shelter to examine the effects of prey switching by crabs. A second predator (the lobster, Homarus americanus) was added to the crab treatments to examine MPE effects. Urchin mortality was significantly lower in the mussel habitat than in the Codium and barren habitats. Mussels produced a positive indirect effect on urchins by changing the behavior of crabs; crabs fed on mussels instead of urchins (prey switching). In the barrens, crab predation on urchins indirectly increased the abundance of the introduced ascidian, Diplosoma sp., whereas Codium density did not change among treatments. A significant risk reduction for urchins occurred in Codium and barren habitats, but not in mussel habitats when crabs and lobsters were combined. Lobsters also produced a positive indirect effect on mussels by reducing crab predation. Thus, lobsters modify crab behavior and dampen changes in community structure. Our results illustrate the importance of predator behavior and habitat context in modifying consumer pressure and community structure, and argue for the consideration of these factors in other multi-predator systems where habitats represent food and/or shelter.
Hormones in male sexual development

Classical embryology has provided a clear view of the timing and hormonal cues that govern sexual differentiation. Molecular biology has added important details to this picture. The cloning of SRY, MIS, and INSL3 provide insight into the molecular signals that provide important cues at the cellular level. Continued understanding of these pathways may provide the necessary information to one day reverse defects of sexual differentiation.
Integrative and Sequence Characteristics of a Novel Genetic Element, ICE6013, in Staphylococcus aureus

A survey of chromosomal variation in the ST239 clonal group of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) revealed a novel genetic element, ICE6013. The element is 13,354 bp in length, excluding a 6,551-bp Tn552 insertion. ICE6013 is flanked by 3-bp direct repeats and is demarcated by 8-bp imperfect inverted repeats. The element was present in 6 of 15 genome-sequenced S. aureus strains, and it was detected using genetic markers in 19 of 44 diverse MRSA and methicillin-susceptible strains and in all 111 ST239 strains tested. Low integration site specificity was discerned. Multiple chromosomal copies and the presence of extrachromosomal circular forms of ICE6013 were detected in various strains. The circular forms included 3-bp coupling sequences, located between the 8-bp ends of the element, that corresponded to the 3-bp direct repeats flanking the chromosomal forms. ICE6013 is predicted to encode 15 open reading frames, including an IS30-like DDE transposase in place of a Tyr/Ser recombinase and homologs of gram-positive bacterial conjugation components. Further sequence analyses indicated that ICE6013 is more closely related to ICEBs1 from Bacillus subtilis than to the only other potential integrative conjugative element known from S. aureus, Tn5801. Evidence of recombination between ICE6013 elements is also presented. In summary, ICE6013 is the first member of a new family of active, integrative genetic elements that are widely dispersed within S. aureus strains.
Recipes for digital living [ubiquitous computing in consumer electronics]

As networked devices become increasingly ubiquitous, the potential benefits to users increase exponentially. However, this potential can't be fully realized if it is entirely up to developers and manufacturers to expose the combined functionality buried in the expanding network. Recipes for digital living - created and modified by users themselves - offer an easy-to-understand, logically consistent way to capture and share the various ensembles possible in the expanding world of networked components.
Overcoming Biological Barriers with Ultrasound

Effect of ultrasound on the permeability of blood vessels and cell membranes to macromolecules and nanodroplets was investigated using mouse carotid arteries and tumor cells. Model macromolecular drug, FITC-dextran with molecular weight of 70,000 Da was used in experiments with carotid arteries. The effect of unfocused 1-MHz ultrasound and and perfluoro-15-crown-5-ether nanodroplets stabilized with the poly(ethylene oxide)-co-poly(D, L-lactide) block copolymer shells was studied. In cell culture experiments, ovarian carcinoma cells and Doxorubicin (DOX) loaded poly(ethylene oxide)-co-polycaprolactone nanodroplets were used. The data showed that the application of ultrasound resulted in permeabilization of all biological barriers tested. Under the action of ultrasound, not only FITC-dextran but also nanodroplets effectively penetrated through the arterial wall; the effect of continuous wave ultrasound was stronger than that of pulsed ultrasound. In cell culture experiments, ultrasound triggered DOX penetra...
Altered mental status as a presentation of juvenile polyposis syndrome

Abstract Juvenile polyposis coli (JPC) is a rare hereditary disorder in which patients have multiple polyps in the gastrointestinal tract and present most commonly with hematochezia. We describe a 4-year-old with intermittent rectal prolapse presenting with altered mental status and headaches. JPC was diagnosed by the presence of multiple, pedunculated, colonic polyps on colonoscopy; his altered mental status resulted from cerebral venous sinus thrombosis. Although JPC is known to be associated with a protein losing enteropathy (PLE), this usually manifests as merely hypoalbuminemia and protein losses without major clinical sequelae. We present a rare complication of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis which highlights altered mental status as a rare presentation of JPC. To our knowledge, this is the first case report in the literature linking JPC, decreased protein S activity, a single mutation in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene and cerebral thrombosis.
Autism and epilepsy: Exploring the relationship using experimental models

The common co-occurrence of autism and epilepsy suggests that certain neurobiological mechanisms are shared between these disorders. In particular, the profusion of novel genetic mutations being discovered in autism and epilepsy points to abnormalities in synapse formation and function that alter the balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition. Animal models can be informative in sorting out the medical and behavioral complexities in autism and epilepsy and the relationship between them. As mechanistic information accrues, it is anticipated that mutation- and pathway-specific targeted treatments can be developed.
Plasma volume expansion with solutions of hemoglobin, albumin, and Ringer lactate in sheep

We have measured plasma volume expansion (Evans blue and hematocrit changes) and hemodynamic responses in conscious hemorrhaged and normovolemic splenectomized sheep after a 30-min infusion of either 20 ml/kg of diaspirin cross-linked hemoglobin (DCLHb), 20 ml/kg of human albumin (Alb), or 60 ml/kg of a solution of Ringer lactate (RL). All regimens expanded blood volume and increased blood pressure and cardiac output after hemorrhage. However, only 15 ± 3% of the infused volume of RL was evident as intravascular expansion 10-min postinfusion, compared with 67 ± 16% and 139 ± 139% for Alb and DCLHb, respectively. DCLHb infusions were associated with higher blood pressures and lower cardiac outputs compared with RL and Alb infusions, but the increased oxygen content of blood with DCLHb resulted in systemic delivery of oxygen similar to that of the other infusions. These differences in hemodynamics and vascular volume continued for 6 h, and at 24 h vascular volume and all hemodynamics were similar in all three groups. The better volume expansion with DCLHb may be due to greater mobilization of endogenous interstitial protein or reduced transcapillary loss as total intravascular endogenous plasma protein increased after infusion of DCLHb, whereas there was an apparent loss of endogenous intravascular protein after infusions of Alb and RL. Vasoconstriction by DCLHb is one mechanism that could lower blood-to-tissue transport of fluid and protein. In addition to its oxygen-carrying capacity and vasoactivity, DCLHb is associated with volume expansion properties out of proportion to its colloid osmotic pressure.
Subcellular localization of CFTR to endosomes in a ductal epithelium

Plasma membrane chloride transport by the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) may be regulated by cellular processes that affect the cycling of CFTR with the plasma membrane. Testing this hypothesis requires cytochemical evidence for the presence of a subcellular compartment of CFTR. In this study, the subcellular distribution of CFTR in a normal epithelial cell population was characterized using immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy. Two anti-CFTR antibodies, raised against different epitopes of the CFTR molecule, specifically labeled the apical pole of striated duct epithelial cells in tissue sections of rat submandibular gland. By use of electron microscopy, the CFTR immunoreactivity was associated with the apical plasma membrane and the membranes of many subapical vesicles. In this preparation, some of the CFTR-labeled vesicles were also labeled with antibodies against transferrin receptor and rab4, two markers of early endosomes and receptor-mediated endocytosis. These observations provide direct cytochemical evidence for the existence of peripherally located CFTR-expressing endosomes and support the hypothesis that membrane recycling may contribute to CFTR function.
Response adaptation of medial olivocochlear neurons is minimal.

Response adaptation is a general characteristic of neurons. A number of studies have investigated the adaptation characteristics of auditory-nerve fibers, which send information to the brain about ...
EVALUATION AND MEDICAL MANAGEMENT OF FEMALE URINARY INCONTINENCE

Urinary incontinence should not be accepted as inevitable, and is not solely the province of urologic specialists. A through history and physical examination, performed by the primary care physician, is the cornerstone of evaluation Most cases respond to behavioral and medical therapy.
Airflow equation of a slot hood by the least square method

Objectives In designing a local exhaust ventilation (LEV) system, the exhaust airflow rate which will produce the required control velocity at the capture point must be predicted properly. Conventionally, the airflow requirements for LEV hoods have been calculated using Dalla Valle's equation. Although Dalla Valle's equation is a simple and convenient formula for LEV design, it is known that the airflow rate predicted by the equation does not always coincide with actual exhaust airflow rate. In order to develop a new airflow formula which can substitute for Dalla Valle's equation, the author aimed to develop an empirical airflow formula for a slot type exhaust hood using the least square method. Methods Based on the actual measurements (exhaust airflow rate, suction velocity, hood size and centerline distance) of test slot type hoods in several configurations and conditions, an empirical approximation formula which predicts exhaust airflow rate was developed. In this study, the approximation formula was described as a polynomial linear expression, and the validity of the predicted exhaust airflow rate by the approximation formula was confirmed by comparing with measured airflow rates. Results It was found that the predicted airflow rates of the developed approximation formula were in good agreement with the measured airflow rates and were more accurate than the airflow rates predicted by Dalla Valle's equation. Conclusions Although the applicability of the developed formula is inferior to that of Dalla Valle's equation, certain economic benefits can be derived from the developed formula in some cases.
Analysis on Effect of Vaccination on Measles Incidence during 1970—2008

[Objective]To analyze the features of measles incidence and vaccine inoculation in Lantian County during 1970—2008,and provide scientific evidence for control and prevention decisions.[Methods]Correlation,trend,periodicity and χ2 were adopted to examine and process the data.Survey method of review epidemiology was used to analyze and evaluate the data.[Results]During the last 39 years,the highest measles incidence appeared in 1970s,which was 683.1/10000(=259/100 000),followed by that in 1980s and 1990s.Measles incidence was lowest during 2000— 2008 (=2.23/100 000),showing clear downward trend.However,2 or 3 years cyclical fluctuation still could be observed.Average incidence was negatively correlated with average inoculation rate and annual inoculation times (rs=-1.0000).A highly positive correlation existed between the vaccination times and vaccination rate (rs =1.0000).Measles cases were reported in each month(χ2=294.77,P0.01) and each age group,but it mainly appeared from March to June with 76.8% of annual incidence and the patients under 15 years old occupied 84.77% of all infected cases (χ2=59.52,P0.01) according to the statistical data in 1988,1998,2005 and 2008.[Conclusion]Measles incidence decreases significantly with inoculation quality improvement.Sticking to cold-chain transportation of vaccine and standardized inoculation is the key to control measles incidence.
Risk factors leading to cerebral arterial rupture by intravascular balloon.

PURPOSE To clarify what is safe use of balloons in interventional neuroradiologic procedures. METHODS Critical parameter values of balloon inflation and cerebral artery dilatation and rupture were determined. Dimensions and internal pressure were measured for a variety of latex and silicone balloons during inflation in both unconstrained and constrained environments including glass tubes, cadaveric human cerebral arteries, and canine basilar arteries. RESULTS For unconstrained inflation, pressures within balloons inflated to the recommended maximum volume ranged from 200 to 650 mm Hg. When constrained, pressures became much higher for the same injected fluid volume. Balloon dilatation until artery rupture occurred only for balloons with diameters greater than 2.5 times the unstretched vessel diameter. Balloon pressures at vessel rupture ranged from 1000 to 2000 mm Hg. CONCLUSION Pressures within inflated balloons vary with balloon type, material, degree of inflation, and constraint. Constrained balloons have markedly higher internal pressures, which may lead to vessel rupture if balloons are much larger than the vessel diameter.
Qualitative validation of the CAUTI Guide to Patient Safety assessment tool

Background Hospital-acquired infection, including catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), is common. Although CAUTI is usually preventable, hospital units may struggle to reduce CAUTI rates. The CAUTI guide to patient safety (GPS) was developed to assess a unit's CAUTI prevention activities. Our aim was to qualitatively validate the GPS. Methods We interviewed participants from 2 units in each of 4 hospitals. Each unit's nurse manager completed the GPS and then discussed their answers with a trained research assistant. Semistructured interviews were conducted with unit nurses and physicians. We compared the nurse managers' answers to the unit physicians' and nurses' responses and assessed agreement. Results A total of 49 participants from 4 medical intensive care units and 4 medical-surgical units were interviewed. Nurse managers found the GPS helpful and complete. There was higher agreement between nurse managers and unit nurses than with physicians. Some questions generated more disagreement than others. Our findings suggest that the GPS is comprehensive and may be best used to stimulate discussions between stakeholders to address key issues. Conclusions Using the GPS to assess several stakeholders' views could allow a given unit to move its CAUTI prevention efforts forward in a more informed manner.
Aneurysmal Bone Cyst of the Scaphoid: A Case Report.

Case: We report the case of a 14-year-old girl with an aneurysmal bone cyst of the scaphoid successfully treated with curettage, phenol adjuvant therapy, and bone-grafting. Conclusion: Aneurysmal bone cysts rarely arise in the carpal bones, especially the scaphoid. This lesion may represent a rare yet treatable cause of wrist dysfunction in some patients. Curettage, phenol adjuvant therapy, and bone-grafting resulted in a good clinical outcome for our patient.
Criminal Law Comes Home

Though traditionally criminal law did not reach into the home to punish domestic violence, today such intervention in the home is well accepted and steadily growing. Because we all welcome that remedial development, we have taken little notice of the legal innovations in misdemeanor domestic violence enforcement that are transforming the role of criminal law in the home beyond the criminal punishment of violence. An important legal tool in this transformation is the protection order, which bans a person from the home on pain of arrest and enables treatment of presence at home as a proxy for violence. Through prosecutors' routine deployment of protection orders in the criminal process at arraignment, plea bargaining, and sentencing, the home is becoming a space in which criminal law deliberately reorders and controls private rights and relationships in property and marriage - not as an incident of prosecution but as its goal. The growing criminal law use of protection orders to prohibit the cohabitation and contact of intimate partners (often when substantial jail time is not imposed) is a form of state-imposed de facto divorce that subjects the practical and substantive continuation of intimate relationships to criminal sanction. This displacement of the choice to live like intimate partners exemplifies the changing legal meaning of the home, wherein the archetype of private space becomes a site of intense public investment suitable for criminal law control.
Continuous real time scanning of the upper ocean water column

The Cabled Array portion of the National Science Foundation funded Ocean Observatories Initiative is a large scale, high bandwidth and high power subsea science network developed by the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory. Part of that system is a set of moorings and winched profilers which continuously scan the upper 200m of the ocean at their deployment sites. The profilers have been in operation since July 2014 and have accumulated a significant performance record. The general design approach, performance results and lessons learned are described.
Scalable-manufactured randomized glass-polymer hybrid metamaterial for daytime radiative cooling

Passive radiative cooling draws heat from surfaces and radiates it into space as infrared radiation to which the atmosphere is transparent. However, the energy density mismatch between solar irradiance and the low infrared radiation flux from a near-ambient-temperature surface requires materials that strongly emit thermal energy and barely absorb sunlight. We embedded resonant polar dielectric microspheres randomly in a polymeric matrix, resulting in a metamaterial that is fully transparent to the solar spectrum while having an infrared emissivity greater than 0.93 across the atmospheric window. When backed with a silver coating, the metamaterial shows a noontime radiative cooling power of 93 watts per square meter under direct sunshine. More critically, we demonstrated high-throughput, economical roll-to-roll manufacturing of the metamaterial, which is vital for promoting radiative cooling as a viable energy technology.
Abstract 182: Quantitative Proteomics Reveals Dynamic Changes of Plasma Proteome in APOE-Deficient Mice at Four Phases of Atherosclerosis

Introduction To understand the mechanism for atherosclerotic disease at molecular level, we analyzed the dynamic changes of plasma proteome in mice at four different disease stages vs. control based on hypothesis that a panel of plasma proteins might associate with the progression of atherosclerosis. Methods Male APOE knockout (-/-) mice were fed with high fat diet and euthanized at 8, 12, 18 or 24 weeks of age, representing the early, intermediate, moderate and later stages of disease. Age-matched male wild type mice fed with high fat diet served as controls. At the time of euthanasia, aorta and plasma were collected. A mass spectrometry-based proteomics approach was employed to simultaneously quantify proteins in eight pooled samples. Results Image analysis of lesions in aortas (stained with Sudan IV) from 40 APOE -/- mice (10 mice at each time point) demonstrated the development of four different phases of disease (Fig.). No lesion was observed in the control mice. We have identified 57 dysregulated proteins (e.g., fibrinogen beta and gamma chains, complement C3, C4B, C9, apolipoproteins, etc.) at four disease stages. These protein’s expression levels, biological functions (e.g. immune modulation and inflammation), and pathways (e.g., complement and cogulation cascades) provide a better understanding of the basic molecular processes in atherosclerosis. Conclusions 1) Proteomics analysis of plasma proteome changes at different stages of APOE-deficient mice facilitated the mechanistic studies of atherosclerosis. 2) A panel of plasma proteins was identified as potential “signatures” of atherosclerosis which may help early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.
Evolutionary History of Subtilases in Land Plants and Their Involvement in Symbiotic Interactions

Subtilases, a family of proteases involved in a variety of developmental processes in land plants, are also involved in both mutualistic symbiosis and host-pathogen interactions in different angiosperm lineages. We examined the evolutionary history of subtilase genes across land plants through a phylogenetic analysis integrating amino acid sequence data from full genomes, transcriptomes, and characterized subtilases of 341 species of diverse green algae and land plants along with subtilases from 12 species of other eukaryotes, archaea, and bacteria. Our analysis reconstructs the subtilase gene phylogeny and identifies 11 new gene lineages, six of which have no previously characterized members. Two large, previously unnamed, subtilase gene lineages that diverged before the origin of angiosperms accounted for the majority of subtilases shown to be associated with symbiotic interactions. These lineages expanded through both whole-genome and tandem duplication, with differential neofunctionalization and subfunctionalization creating paralogs associated with different symbioses, including nodulation with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, arbuscular mycorrhizae, and pathogenesis in different plant clades. This study demonstrates for the first time that a key gene family involved in plant-microbe interactions proliferated in size and functional diversity before the explosive radiation of angiosperms.
Can We Detect Crisp Sets Based Only on the Subsethood Ordering of Fuzzy Sets? Fuzzy Sets and/or Crisp Sets Based on Subsethood of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets?

Fuzzy sets are naturally ordered by the subsethood relation \(A\subseteq B\). If we only know which set which fuzzy set is a subset of which – and have no access to the actual values of the corresponding membership functions – can we detect which fuzzy sets are crisp? In this paper, we show that this is indeed possible. We also show that if we start with interval-valued fuzzy sets, then we can similarly detect type-1 fuzzy sets and crisp sets.
Identification of measures for sustainable labor performance of on-site construction labor to improve national sustainable growth

Construction is a project based industry which continues to be a labor intensive, construction labor productivity is of great interest to practitioner and researchers because it is the foremost determinant of profitability and performance of most construction contractors. This paper systematically reviews the literature with the purpose to develop a framework and suggests the measures for evaluating the sustainable labor performance of construction contractors. The paper measures sustainable labor performance as a function of labor economic, social and environmental growth. A total of 55 relevant academic publications were reviewed to short list the measures that influence the sustainable construction labor performance growth. The purpose of the framework is to improve the sustainable labor performance with outcome oriented measures, rather than input measures, which provides the greater liberty for the construction contractors to apply subjective management strategies for construction processes. This research will help the construction contractors and research community to better understand and measure the factors affecting sustainable labor performance of contractors both from the perspective of labor and the contractor. The labor performance measures are aligned with the national socio-economic progress measures which will more effectively direct the future efforts to improve sustainable construction labor performance and national growth.
Association of Parenting with Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors of College Students in India

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between parenting and sexual attitudes and behaviors of college students in India. Both physical sexual behaviors and online sexual behaviors were examined. A sub-sample of Indian college students aged 18–25 years (n = 159; 32% female) recruited online for survey completion were the focus of this study. Two path models were performed to explore how sexual attitudes and behaviors were associated with perceived parental solicitation, trust, and warmth. Maternal and paternal influences were tested in separate models. Mothering was more strongly associated with daughters’ sexual behaviors while fathering was associated with sons. College students with liberal sexual attitudes reported engaging in more physical and online sexual behaviors. As Indian youth experience a more globalizing coming of age than previous generations, they require an extended period of parental support and involvement. Findings in the current study suggest that young adults are receptive to parental influence with warm and trusting parent–child relationships playing a significant role in shaping college students’ sexual behaviors.
Opening a "Wide" Window onto Taste Signal Transmission.

Taste bud cells for sweet, umami, and bitter transmit sensory signals without a synapse. A study by Ma et al. (2018) finds a key ATP-permeable pore-forming subunit required for rapid neurotransmission from the tongue to secondary taste neurons.
Homoclinic and Heteroclinic Motions

In this chapter we will study some of the consequences of homoclinic and hetero-clinic orbits in dynamical systems. Part of the motivation for the study of these special orbits comes from the fact that, in recent years, it has become apparent that homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits are often the mechanism for the chaos and transient chaos numerically observed in physical systems. We will comment on specific examples as we go along.
Lymphadenopathy Secondary to Drug-Induced Hypersensitivity Syndrome

Drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS) is a currently used term for cases previously designated as drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptom (DRESS). DIHS is a life-threatening host reaction to drug therapy that becomes manifest by the onset of skin rash, fever, leukocytosis with eosinophilia or atypical lymphocytosis, lymphadenopathy, and liver or renal dysfunction. Drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome involves activation of T-cells and histiocytes with release of cytokines. Drugs associated with this syndrome are also associated with relatively minor effects, usually skin rash without systemic manifestations, and these effects are not considered as part of the syndrome. Similarly, drugs that cause DIHS also can be associated with lymphadenopathy without systemic manifestations, and some authors consider this presentation as a different process. We believe, however, that further evaluation is needed to determine whether lymphadenopathy without systemic manifestations represents a different process versus a less severe form of DIHS.