cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Structural requirements for altering the L-tryptophan metabolism in mice by organophosphorous and methylcarbamate insecticides

Abstract This study defined structural requirements for organophosphorous and methylcarbamate insecticides for altering the L-kynurenine pathway of L-tryptophan metabolism in mice. Kynurenine formamidase inhibition by organophosphorous acid triesters and methylcarbamates is the proposed primary event resulting in increase in xanthurenic acid urinary excretion and plasma L-kynurenine. Alteration of the L-kynurenine pathway occurred with compounds that inhibited liver kynurenine formamidase by more than 80%. Pyrimidinyl phosphorothioates followed by crotonamide phosphates were the most potent compounds that changed L-tryptophan metabolism, i.e., pirimiphos-ethyl (20 mg/kg) inhibited liver kynurenine formamidase by 99%, and increased xanthurenic acid urinary excretion and plasma L-kynurenine by 576 ± 195 and 330 ± 44%, respectively. Replacement of sulphur by oxygen in the phosphorothioate diazinon reduced in vivo liver kynurenine formamidase inhibition. Consequently, xanthurenic acid urinary excretion and plasma L-kynurenine were not elevated. Atropine, cycloheximide, 2-PAM and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride did not alleviate diazinon-altered L-tryptophan metabolism. Because of the potential of the majority of organophosphorous acid triesters and methylcarbamates to inhibit kynurenine formamidase, this novel noncholinergic mechanism warrants consideration in assessment of organophosphorous and methylcarbamate toxicity in occupational and accidental exposures.
Revealing the structure of a terrane in southern Alaska

In southern Alaska, multiple terranes—slabs that have broken off from larger tectonic plates and shuffed around—create a complex patchwork that makes it challenging for scientists to untangle the tectonic history and structure of the region. One of these, the Yakutat terrane, which lies just offshore southern Alaska in the Gulf of Alaska, is converging with the North American plate and driving the growth of the Chugach–St. Elias mountains. The structure of this terrane has not been well studied until now. Worthington et al. conducted seismic studies to create a two- dimensional seismic velocity model of the Yakutat terrane. The model allows them to constrain the crustal thickness and composition of the terrane.
Knee Osteoarthritis Worsening Across the Disease Spectrum and Future Knee Pain, Symptoms, and Functioning: A Multisite Prospective Cohort Study

Objective Prognostic estimates for knee osteoarthritis worsening over the full disease spectrum have not been reported. Osteoarthritis Initiative data were used to determine the association between knee radiographic osteoarthritis worsening and future knee pain and function. Methods Yearly data over a 5-year period were analyzed. Outcome measures were the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index and the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score pain and symptoms scales. Knees were grouped based on whether yearly Kellgren/Lawrence (K/L) grades worsened. Associations of yearly K/L worsening with knee pain, symptoms, or function scores at the end of the year and with lagged outcomes observed at least 1 year after worsening were assessed using linear models with generalized estimating equations. Results A total of 25,932 knee-years of observations were examined in the primary analysis. For knees with yearly K/L worsening, all outcome scores were significantly worse (P values from 0.02 to <0.001) at the end of the index year, as compared to unchanged knees. All outcomes for knees with worsened versus unchanged K/L scores exceeded the minimal clinically important difference (MCID). For lagged effects, outcomes at 1 year following the index K/L year exceeded the MCID and were statistically significant (P ≤ 0.001) for knees with baseline K/L grades of 2 or 3. Conclusion K/L worsening over a 1-year period is prognostically important over the short term for all baseline K/L grades, and for knees with baseline K/L grades of 2 or 3 worsening continues over the following year.
Stability and the Economy: Cooperative Game Theoretic Implications for Economic Policy in a Dual-Sector Economy

How does the structure of the economy affect the possibility for societal stability? This paper employs a cooperative game theory lens to explore possibilities for cooperation and chaos under various growth scenarios and assumptions of distributional equality in a hypothetical 2-sector economy (industrialists and agriculturalists). It suggests that maintaining distributional equality amongst agriculturalists is only undesirable under the assumption that the manufacturing sector exhibits positive and decreasing returns to scale; if increasing or negative manufacturing returns are the case, agricultural equality becomes an important policy goal in maintaining stability. In the particular case of a shrinking economy, peace can be preserved given (a) fairly equitable land distribution, and (b) a healthy industrial sector serving agriculture. In terms of aid policy, I suggest that, under decreasing industrial returns, more resources available to an economy can promote cooperative frameworks, but that such boosts will entail a switch to economies structured around the industrial sector. I conclude with a suggestion for testing the model.
The UCSC Table Browser data retrieval tool

The University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Table Browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/ hgText) provides text-based access to a large collection of genome assemblies and annotation data stored in the Genome Browser Database. A flexible alternative to the graphical-based Genome Browser, this tool offers an enhanced level of query support that includes restrictions based on field values, free-form SQL queries and combined queries on multiple tables. Output can be filtered to restrict the fields and lines returned, and may be organized into one of several formats, including a simple tabdelimited file that can be loaded into a spreadsheet or database as well as advanced formats that may be uploaded into the Genome Browser as custom annotation tracks. The Table Browser User’s Guide located on the UCSC website provides instructions and detailed examples for constructing queries and configuring output.
ASSESSMENT OF COSTS OF REPRODUCTION IN A PELAGIC SEABIRD USING MULTISTATE MARK–RECAPTURE MODELS

We used a long-term population band-resight survey database, a parallel reproduction database, and multistate mark-recapture analysis to assess the costs of reproduction, a keystone concept of life-history evolution, in Nazca boobies (Sula granti) from Punta Cevallos, Isla Espanola, Galapagos, Ecuador. We used eight years of resight and breeding data to compare models that included sex- and state-specific survival probabilities and probabilities of transition between reproductive states using multistate mark-recapture models. Models that included state-specific effects were compared with models lacking such effects to evaluate costs of reproduction. The top model, optimizing the trade-off of model simplicity and fit to the data using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), showed evidence of a temporally varying survival cost of reproduction: nonbreeders showed higher annual survival than breeders did in some years. Because increasing investment among breeders showed no negative association with survival and subsequent breeding success, this evidence indicates a cost to both males and females of initiating, but not of continuing, a reproductive attempt. In some cases, breeders reaching the highest reproductive state (fledging an offspring) showed higher survival or subsequent breeding success than did failed breeders, consistent with differences in overall quality that promote both survival and reproduction. Although a male-biased adult sex ratio was observed in this population of Nazca boobies, models of state- and sex-specific survival and transition probabilities were not supported, indicating that males and females do not incur different costs of reproduction, and that the observed sex ratio bias is not due to sex-specific adult mortality.
Voices from the Kibbutz: Four Mothers, New Profile, and Women in Black

If there is any social organization that has provided a powerful illustration of the permeable boundaries between social politics—defined by Stephen M. Buechler as “forms of collective action that challenge power relations without an explicit focus on the state”—and social movements, and the role of collective identity in transforming either, as defined for women by Betty Friedan—it would be the Israeli kibbutz movement. The research presented here on grassroots Israeli women activists, a significant proportion of whom had grown up or had lived in a kibbutz, suggests that the social politics of everyday life on a kibbutz facilitated women's participation in larger social movements for peace, but also placed constraints on their activism. Many of these women had left or were in the process of leaving the kibbutz between 1989 and 1999, when this research was conducted. Those who had already left, and anchor women who organized urban demonstrations, saw the kibbutz as a conservative anti-woman force. Nonethe...
Learning Lexicon Models from Search Logs for Query Expansion

This paper explores log-based query expansion (QE) models for Web search. Three lexicon models are proposed to bridge the lexical gap between Web documents and user queries. These models are trained on pairs of user queries and titles of clicked documents. Evaluations on a real world data set show that the lexicon models, integrated into a ranker-based QE system, not only significantly improve the document retrieval performance but also outperform two state-of-the-art log-based QE methods.
M1 chlorophyll chimeras induced by different mutagens and their M2 chlorophyll mutation yields in rice

Studies with gamma rays, fast neutrons, and EMS treatments in rice showed higher frequency of M1 chlorophyll chimeras in the EMS treatments, a correlation between the frequencies of M1 chlorophyll chimeras and M2 chlorophyll mutants, and a higher M2 mutation frequency in the progeny of chimerical M1 plants compared to those of normal-looking plants.
Molecular Pathogenesis of Focal Cortical Dysplasia and Hemimegalencephaly

My laboratory recently demonstrated that there is selective expression of phosphoribosomal S6 protein in balloon cells in focal cortical dysplasia and hemimegalencephaly but no expression of the upstream kinase, phospho-p70S6 kinase. Two proteins activated by phospho-p70S6 kinase, phospho-STAT3 and phospho-4EBP1, were not detected in balloon cells. Using complementary DNA arrays in hemimegalencephaly specimens, we found increased expression of cyclin D1 and c-myc messenger ribonucleic acids (RNAs). Expression of cyclin D1 and c-myc genes is transcriptionally activated by beta-catenin. Western analysis demonstrated increased levels of nonphosphorylated beta-catenin in hemimegalencephalic cortex. Reduced levels of Ser33, Ser37, and Thr41 phospho-beta-catenin, sites known to be phosphorylated by glycogen synthase kinase 3 and to be essential for beta-catenin inactivation, were detected in hemimegalencephaly. Enhanced transcription of cyclin D1 and c-myc messenger RNAs, increased transcriptionally active beta-catenin, and decreased Ser33/Ser37/Thr41 phospho-beta-catenin suggest activation of the Wnt-1/beta-catenin cascade in hemimegalencephaly, which can lead to aberrant cell proliferation and hemispheric enlargement during brain development. Enhanced activation of phospho-S6 and beta-catenin suggests two converging cell pathways that can be pivotal in the pathogenesis of focal cortical dysplasia and hemimegalencephaly.
The Tejon Pass Earthquake of 22 October 1916: An M 5.6 Event on the Lockwood Valley and San Andreas Faults, Southern California

On 22 October 1916, a moderate earthquake occurred in the vicinity of Tejon Pass and was felt over much of southern California. An intriguing aspect of this event involves reports of ground cracks that formed during the earthquake. We evaluate the reports of ground cracking and attempt to precisely locate the cracks with respect to active faults; we infer that the earthquake produced minor fault rupture along a newly discovered trace of the easternmost Lockwood Valley fault (formerly mapped as the easternmost Big Pine fault) and/or along the San Andreas fault. We also re-evaluate and present new intensity data, and we use a grid-search algorithm (derived from empirical analysis of modern earthquakes) to find the magnitude most consistent with the reported intensities. Although previous authors have attempted to use intensity data to constrain the magnitude of this event, the algorithm we use provides an alternative and statistically more robust determination of the magnitude. Our results suggest M 5.6 (-0.3/0.2) (at 95% confidence) for the 1916 event, which is consistent with earlier work. The 1916 earthquake appears to have been a rare and remarkable event in terms of its size and location and the production of minor surface rupture.
BIODEGRADABLE POLY (E-CAPROLACTONE) NANOPARTICLES FOR TUMOR-TARGETED DELIVERY OF TAMOXIFEN

To increase the local concentration of tamoxifen in estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer, we have developed and characterized nanoparticle formulation using poly(epsilon -caprolactone) (PCL). The nanoparticles were prepared by solvent displacement method using acetone-water system. Particle size analysis, scanning electron microscopy, zeta potential measurements, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used for nanoparticle characterization. Biodegradation studies were performed in the presence and absence of Pseudomonas lipase in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) at 37 degrees C. Tamoxifen loading over different concentrations was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the optimum loading concentration was determined. In vitro release studies were performed in 0.5% (w/v) sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) containing PBS at 37 degrees C. Cellular uptake and distribution of fluorescent-labeled nanoparticles was examined in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. SEM micrographs and Coulter analysis showed nanoparticles with spherical shape and uniform size distribution (250-300 nm), respectively. Zeta potential analysis revealed a positive surface charge of +25 mV on the tamoxifen-loaded formulation. Being hydrophobic crystalline polyester, PCL did not degrade in PBS alone, but the degradation was enhanced by the presence of lipase. The maximum tamoxifen loading efficiency was 64%. Initial burst release of tamoxifen was observed, probably due to significant surface presence of the drug on the nanoparticles. A large fraction of the administered nanoparticle dose was taken up by MCF-7 cells through non-specific endocytosis. The nanoparticles were found in the perinuclear region after 1 h. Results of the study suggest that nanoparticle formulations of selective ER modulators, like tamoxifen, would provide increased therapeutic benefit by delivering the drug in the vicinity of the ER.
Spatial selective attention in schizophrenic, affective disorder, and normal subjects

Schizophrenic, affective disorder, and normal subjects performed tasks involving exogenous (automatic) and endogenous (voluntary) attention. In the exogenous attention task, schizophrenic subjects demonstrated a greater benefit in response time than did normal subjects. In the endogenous attention task, however, schizophrenic subjects showed a smaller benefit in response time than did normal subjects. These results are consistent with a model of schizophrenia that predicts a deficit in voluntary (endogenous) control, and a disinhibition and therefore enhancement of the automatic (exogenous) processes of spatial selective attention. Affective disorder subjects did not demonstrate a greater benefit in response time than normal subjects in the exogenous attention task, but did show a smaller benefit in response time than normal subjects in the endogenous attention task. The somewhat similar pattern of behavior of schizophrenic and affective disorder subjects suggests that abnormal spatial selective attentional processes may not be specific to schizophrenia.
Pulmonary mantle cell lymphoma: a rare manifestation of an uncommon condition

Herein we describe the case of a 64-year old man with a history of mantle cell lymphoma found to have evidence of pulmonary parenchymal involvement by recurrence of his lymphoma. While lung involvement is not necessarily uncommon with Non-Hodgkin's lymphomas as a group, it is very rare for mantle cell lymphoma to involve the lung parenchyma. In addition, the radiographic manifestation of his pulmonary lymphoma as a discrete FDG-avid ground-glass lesion on chest imaging was also distinctly uncommon for pulmonary lymphoma which classically appears in one of three patterns: scattered ill-defined nodules, a bronchovascular/lymphangitic process, or pneumonic/alveolar consolidation effectively indistinguishable from bacterial pneumonia. Due to significant underlying lung disease our patient was not a candidate for high-dose conditioning and autologous stem cell transplantation. He was ultimately treated with rituximab and cladribine therapy and had early signs of clinical response at last correspondence.
Multiple layered solutions of the nonlocal bistable equation

Abstract The nonlocal bistable equation is a model proposed recently to study materials whose constitutive relations among the variables that describe their states are nonlocal. It resembles the local bistable equation (the Allen–Cahn equation) in some way, but contains a much richer set of solutions. In this paper we consider two types of solutions. The first are the periodic solutions on a finite interval. These solutions are observed in materials like elastic crystals undergoing martensitic phase transitions and diblock copolymers at low temperatures. They are constructed by a variational method known as the Γ -limit technique. The second are solutions on the entire real line with transition layers, which are found by the formal matched asymptotics argument. We construct them to compare with the single layer heteroclinic and traveling wave solutions of the local bistable equation. The existence of multiple layered solutions depends on a unique nonlocal feature: the presence of two properly balanced competing effects of the constitutive relation, the oscillation inhibiting effect and the oscillation forcing effect, which coexist at two different length scales.
A nine HEMT spatial amplifier

A spatial power combining amplifier using HEMTs is designed and fabricated. The amplifier has a maximum gain of 5.5 dB at a frequency of 10.9 GHz with a 3 dB bandwidth of 1 GHz. The circuit is implemented on a double layer microstrip structure for effective input and output isolation. >
Effect of aluminum on bidirectional calcium flux in rat everted intestinal sacs

The effect of aluminum on intestinal calcium absorption was determined in male Sprague-Dawley rats using an everted intestinal sac technique. Bidirectional calcium flux in the duodena and ilea of normal rats was assessed by means of dual calcium isotopes. Two micromolar aluminum significantly inhibited net calcium absorption (J net) in the duodenum through suppression of mucosato-serosa flux (J m----s). Jm----s was reduced from 2.21 +/- 0.50 mumol Ca.h-1.g wet wt-1 in controls to 0.93 +/- 0.35 mumol Ca.h-1.g-1 in aluminum exposed sacs, and Jnet was reduced from 1.88 +/- 0.14 mumol Ca.h-1.g-1 to 0.55 +/- 0.41 mumol Ca.h-1.g-1 (P less than 0.001). Serosa-to-mucosa calcium flux (Js----m) was not similarly influenced by aluminum. Inhibition of Jm----s occurred whether aluminum was initially present on the mucosal or serosal side of the duodenal sac and inhibition of Jnet calcium by 2 muM A1 occurred at all ambient concentrations of calcium studied. In the ileum, aluminum had no effect on any component of calcium flux. Aluminum did not induce any suppression of glucose transport in either the duodenum or ileum, suggesting that the effect on calcium transport is relatively specific. These results suggest that aluminum inhibits calcium absorption in the duodenum through an effect on active mucosa-to-serosa transport, but has no effect on ileal calcium absorption, which in the rat is not mediated by an active process.
Conditional Discounts and the Law of Exclusive Dealing

The appropriate antitrust analysis of conditional discounts remains a subject of considerable debate. The debate surrounding how the law ought to treat conditional “discounts” stems largely from the fact that certain discounting practices resemble both conduct that the antitrust laws have analyzed under the “predation” rubric and conduct that the antitrust laws have analyzed under the “exclusion” rubric. The critical question, then, is whether the law should analyze conditional discounts as price predation, exclusive dealing, or some hybrid combination of the two. This Article argues that exclusive dealing provides a superior framework for analyzing conditional discounts. The basis for this claim is relatively simple. There are two economic paradigms to analyze anticompetitive conduct that is not the product of collusion among competitors: predation and exclusion. Most, if not all, modern cases involving conditional discounts are based upon theories of economic harm grounded in the RRC-exclusion framework. Because the relevant economics for understanding these claims involves the economics of exclusion, the legal framework best suited to analyze conditional discounts is the one most closely aligned to the economics of exclusion. As this Article will demonstrate, price-cost tests applied to predatory pricing are not a good match for the economics of exclusion. A price below cost is neither necessary nor sufficient for exclusion. Further, importing a price-cost test to analyze claims sounding in exclusion rather than predation inserts intellectual distance between antitrust economics and the correct legal standard - rather than more closely aligning industrial-organization economics and antitrust law, as has been the overwhelming and beneficial trend over the past fifty years. The false allure of the increased administrability of price-cost tests has led many scholars to argue that loyalty discounting is the exceptional case in which the antitrust laws are improved by imposing a legal framework that does not comport closely with the economic forces describing most conditional-discount-based antitrust claims. They are wrong, both because price-cost tests in the conditional-discount context require subjective, costly, and uncertain determinations of contestability and because prices below cost are not a necessary condition of the relevant anticompetitive mechanism allegedly at work in exclusion cases. Accordingly, courts should reject price-cost tests in conditional-discount cases alleging exclusion in favor of the rule of reason framework applied in exclusive-dealing cases.
Pruned search: A machine learning based meta-heuristic approach for constrained continuous optimization

Searching for solutions that optimize a continuous function can be difficult due to the infinite search space, and can be further complicated by the high dimensionality in the number of variables and complexity in the structure of constraints. Both deterministic and stochastic methods have been presented in the literature with a purpose of exploiting the search space and avoiding local optima as much as possible. In this research, we develop a machine learning framework aiming to ‘prune’ the search effort of both types of optimization techniques by developing meta-heuristics, attempting to knowledgeably reordering the search space and reducing the search region. Numerical examples demonstrate that this approach can effectively find the global optimal solutions and significantly reduce the computational time for seven benchmark problems with variable dimensions of 100, 500 and 1000, compared to Genetic Algorithms.
Pressure for Environmentally-Friendly Behavior: A Model of Corporate Response

The need for organizations to be responsive to their environments cannot be overemphasized. Most changes in the external environment are unpredictable and some, if not responded to promptly and effectively, can quickly become crises. Recent business history is replete with examples of companies which have been slow to foresee environmental turbulence and then have been caught unprepared when having to deal with it. The U.S. automobile and motorcycle industries' failure to adequately forecast the Japanese threat, some department stores' feeble response to competition from discounters and specialty stores, cable television's success in gaining market share from the networks, the gains made by personal computers and workstations at the expense of mainframes are just a few examples of how environmental changes, if inadequately addressed, can become crises.
Directionality derived from pinna-cue spectral notches in cat dorsal cochlear nucleus.

We tested two hypotheses to determine whether dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) neurons are specialized to derive directionality from spectral notches: DCN neurons exhibit greater spectral-dependent di...
Erratum to: Analysis of the Pathology Section of the OITE Will Aid in Trainee Preparation

The online version of the original article can be found under doi:10.1007/s11999-008-0235-2.
Recurrent Network Models Of Sequence Generation And Memory

Sequential activation of neurons is a common feature of network activity during a variety of behaviors, including working memory and decision making. Previous network models for sequences and memory emphasized specialized architectures in which a principled mechanism is pre-wired into their connectivity. Here we demonstrate that, starting from random connectivity and modifying a small fraction of connections, a largely disordered recurrent network can produce sequences and implement working memory efficiently. We use this process, called Partial In-Network Training (PINning), to model and match cellular resolution imaging data from the posterior parietal cortex during a virtual memory-guided two-alternative forced-choice task. Analysis of the connectivity reveals that sequences propagate by the cooperation between recurrent synaptic interactions and external inputs, rather than through feedforward or asymmetric connections. Together our results suggest that neural sequences may emerge through learning from largely unstructured network architectures.
Horse Before the Cart: Opportunity Value and the Order of Resource Accumulation

The process by which entrepreneurs build their companies has important implications for growth and venture performance. While the literature highlights resources that may be important for venture performance, the order by which entrepreneurs acquire such resources has received scant attention. In this paper, we develop theory for the order of resource accumulation using a simple agent based model. We validate our theory by using a cohort of new ventures that acquired two types of resources - equity resources that improve search and hiring resources that improve speed of exploitation. Early in the process of resource acquisition, acquiring search resources before speed resources leads to better performance. We also find that order of resource accumulation is especially salient for high opportunity potential.
Comparing countdown- and IRT-based approaches to computerized adaptive personality testing

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is an emerging technology in the personality assessment literature given the greater efficiency it affords compared with traditional methods. However, few studies have directly compared the efficiency and validity of 2 competing methods for personality CAT: (a) methods based on item response theory (IRT-CAT) versus (b) methods based on the countdown method (CM-CAT). To that end, we conducted real-data simulations with previously collected responses (N = 8,690) to the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP). Three CAT algorithms (IRT-CAT, IRT-CAT with 5-item minimum, CM-CAT) were evaluated for item savings, classification accuracy, and convergent/discriminant validity. All CATs yielded lower classification accuracy and validity than traditional testing but required 18%-86% fewer items. Ultimately, the IRT-CAT, with minimum 5-item requirement, struck the most ideal balance of highest item savings, and generally fewer costs to validity and accuracy. These results confirm findings regarding item savings trends from previous CAT studies. In addition, this study provides a model for how the validity and precision of CATs may be compared across personality assessments.
Design and Control of an Elevated-Pressure Air Separations Unit for IGCC Power Plants in a Process Simulator Environment

A rigorous pressure-driven dynamic model for a heat-integrated double-column air separation unit (ASU) has been developed in a process simulator environment to investigate feasibility and applicability of high ramp-rate demands posed by gasification island within the integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant, while maintaining the oxygen purity constraints. Some of the operability and controllability issues, including the “snowball effect” observed due to ASU’s condenser–reboiler and feed-product heat integration, which may be extended to many heat-integrated processes, have been identified and addressed. Initial model based PID control structures were proposed and implemented in pure feedback, pure feedforward/ratio, and feedforward–feedback modes and corresponding responses were assayed and compared. In addition, the importance of oxygen storage and degradation of controllability when fast-refrigeration is actively enabled during large ramp-changes has been discussed in detail, in view o...
A Qualitative Analysis of Middle and High School Teacher Perceptions of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports

Full stakeholder support for any innovation can be difficult to achieve, particularly in complex systems such as middle and high schools. Increasingly, obtaining middle and high school teacher supp...
Asymmetry and Inequity in the Inheritance of a Bacterial Adhesive

We thank Professor Matthew Parsek (University of Washington, Seattle) for his generous gift of bacterial PAO1 strains.Wealso thank Professor Marvin Whiteley (University of Texas at Austin) forWTandΔpsl polysaccharide preparations. SIM imaging (for figure 1) was performed in the Microscopy Core Facility within the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology atUTAustin, with the assistance of Julie Hayes. This work was funded by startup funds fromUTAustin and a gift from ExxonMobil to VDG, and by a grant from the Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP RGY0081/2012-GORDON).
Smoking Trends Among Adults With Behavioral Health Conditions in Integrated Health Care: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Objective:Individuals with behavioral health conditions (BHCs) smoke at high rates and have limited success with quitting, despite impressive gains in recent decades in reducing the overall prevalence of smoking in the United States. This study examined smoking disparities among individuals with BHCs within an integrated health care delivery system with convenient access to tobacco treatments.Methods:The sample consisted of patients in an integrated health care delivery system in 2010—a group (N=155,733) with one or more of the five most prevalent BHCs (depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, bipolar and related disorders, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and a group (N=155,733) without BHCs who were matched on age, sex, and medical home facility. The odds of smoking among patients with BHCs versus without BHCs were examined over four years using logistic regression generalized estimating equation models. Tobacco cessation medication utilization among a subset of smo...
Time Series Analysis for Forecasting Hospital Census: Application to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Background: Accurate prediction of future patient census in hospital units is essential for patient safety, health outcomes, and resource planning. Forecasting census in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is particularly challenging due to limited ability to control the census and clinical trajectories. The fixed average census approach, using average census from previous year, is a forecasting alternative used in clinical practice, but has limitations due to census variations. Objective: Our objectives are to: (i) analyze the daily NICU census at a single health care facility and develop census forecasting models, (ii) explore models with and without patient data characteristics obtained at the time of admission, and (iii) evaluate accuracy of the models compared with the fixed average census approach. Methods: We used five years of retrospective daily NICU census data for model development (January 2008 – December 2012, N=1827 observations) and one year of data for validation (January – December 2013, N=365 observations). Best-fitting models of ARIMA and linear regression were applied to various 7-day prediction periods and compared using error statistics. Results: The census showed a slightly increasing linear trend. Best fitting models included a non-seasonal model, ARIMA(1,0,0), seasonal ARIMA models, ARIMA(1,0,0)x(1,1,2)7 and ARIMA(2,1,4)x(1,1,2)14, as well as a seasonal linear regression model. Proposed forecasting models resulted on average in 36.49% improvement in forecasting accuracy compared with the fixed average census approach. Conclusions: Time series models provide higher prediction accuracy under different census conditions compared with the fixed average census approach. Presented methodology is easily applicable in clinical practice, can be generalized to other care settings, support short- and long-term census forecasting, and inform staff resource planning.
Economy Evaluation of Power Quality in the Presence of Emergent Events

The development of the high-tech industry with microelectronics technology as core makes the damages to power customers caused by emergent events(such as voltage sag,voltage swell,momentary outage) greater and greater.The paper describes the economy evaluation method of power quality in the presence of emergent events and introduces some foreign reference information for practical calculation,which is helpful to the specialists' research on this field and provides scientific basis for supplying power to critical customers and improving power quality level in our country.
Assessment and management of dementia in the nursing home.

Dementia is a common clinical problem in the nursing home. All patients meeting criteria for the syndrome need careful diagnostic and functional assessments. Comprehensive care includes prevention of complications, understanding of disturbed behaviors, work with families and staff, and judicious pharmacotherapy.
Phenolsulphotransferase: enzyme activity and endogenous inhibitors in the human erythrocyte.

PST (E.C. 2.8.2.1) plays an important role in the metabolism of many drugs, catecholamine metabolites, and catecholamines. PST activity was detected in each of 178 human RBC lysates. When MHPG was used as a substrate, the activity ranged from 28 to 1385 U/ml of RBC, with an average value of 217.7 +/- 13.1 (mean +/- S.E.M.). However, there was not a direct relationship between quantity of RBC lysate and enzyme activity, an observation that raised the possibility of endogenous enzyme inhibitors. Therefore human RBC PST was partially purified (415-fold) to use in the study of tissue enzyme inhibitors. The pH optimum of the partially purified enzyme was 7.5, with an apparent Km value for [35S]PAPS of 0.46 microM and an apparent Km value for MHPG of 260 microM. When the partially purified enzyme was added to each of 20 human RBC lysates, its activity was inhibited an average of 91% +/- 0.6 (mean +/- S.E.M.). Endogenous inhibitors were also present in homogenates of human renal cortex and in homogenates of a variety of rat tissues. RBC lysates contained at least two PST inhibitors: a low-molecular-weight inhibitor (less than 2000) that was heat-, acid-, and base-stable, dialyzable, and resistant to digestion by chymotrypsin; and a high-molecular-weight inhibitor (greater than 65,000) that was heat-labile and nondialyzable. Whether the RBC enzyme activity may serve as an indicator of PST activity in less accessible tissues remains to be determined. However, the first step toward testing this hypothesis will require the accurate measurement of PST activity in tissue preparations by a procedure that removes or inactivates enzyme inhibitors.
Noninvasive evaluation of right ventricular function.

SUMMARY Numerous technologic advances have greatly facilitated the noninvasive analysis of right ventricular function. Nevertheless, important clues continue to be available to the astute clinician by physical examination. The chest x-ray is of rather limited utility. The electrocardiogram can show evidence of right atrial enlargement or right ventricular hypertrophy. Unfortunately, both sensitivity and specificity are deficient. Echocardiography is a widely available and potentially very accurate source of information concerning right ventricular dysfunction. Careful temporal analysis of the M-mode echocardiogram can give information beyond chamber size and wall thickness. Two-dimensional echocardiography allows more accurate determination of chamber size and wall thickness and also permits analysis of segmental wall motion and chamber contour. Doppler echocardiography allows measurement of pressure differences and flow kinetics. Preliminary data indicate that one can accurately assess pulmonary artery pressure and possibly right ventricular diastolic function. Color-flow mapping allows for accurate determination of valvular regurgitation and enhances the accuracy of standard Doppler echocardiographic techniques. Radionuclide analysis of the right ventricle by blood-pool imaging allows accurate determination of ejection fraction and wall motion. In addition, it may be possible to estimate pulmonary artery pressure. Use of short-acting radionuclides allows for serial imaging of the right ventricle after pharmacologic intervention or exercise. Perfusion scanning can show evidence of exercise-induced ischemia, although applicability to the right ventricle is somewhat limited. Avid scanning allows localizing of myocardial injury to the right ventricle. CT scanning of the heart is of limited clinical utility, because cardiac motion occurs too rapidly for accurate imaging. The advent of the cine-CT may overcome this problem and allow evaluation of right ventricular volumes and wall motion. Digital subtraction imaging allows for accurate video densitometric calculation of ejection fractions, but offers no advantage over other currently available techniques. Magnetic resonance imaging may prove to be the methodology of choice for analysis of right ventricular function, because it can give accurate measurement of right ventricular wall motion, ejection fraction, and (similar to Doppler flow studies) some indication of flow within the right-sided chambers. It will soon be possible to generate information concerning the biochemical content of the right ventricular myocardium, perhaps providing early evidence of hypertrophy or myopathy. The utility of MRI will be limited only by the expense of the equipment.
Right gonadal vein transposition for the treatment of anterior nutcracker syndrome in a patient with left-sided inferior vena cava

In this report we describe a patient with anterior renal nutcracker syndrome caused by extrinsic compression of the left-sided inferior vena cava between the aorta and the superior mesenteric artery, as it crossed the midline, with resultant left renal vein hypertension. The patient was successfully treated by transposition of the right ovarian vein, which created a bypass of the compressed inferior vena cava and resulted in complete resolution of symptoms.
Growth and Aflatoxin Production by Aspergillus parasiticus NRRL 2999 in the Presence of Acetic or Propionic Acid and at Different Initial pH Values.

Experiments were done to determine effects of different concentrations of acetic or propionic acid in a glucose-yeast extract-salts medium with an initial pH value of 4,5 or 5.5 on growth and aflatoxin production by Aspergillus parasiticus NRRL 2999. Amounts of aflatoxin were measured with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The maximum concentration of acetic or propionic acid that permitted growth at an initial pH of 5.5 was 1% after 7 d of incubation and 0.25% after 3 d of incubation, respectively. When the initial pH of the medium was 4.5, the maximum concentration of acetic or propionic acid that permitted growth was 0.25 or 0.1%, respectively. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in amount of mycelial (dry weight) produced by cultures in the presence of 0.0, 0.25, 0.50 or 0.75% acetic acid. Amounts of aflatoxin B1 and G1 produced decreased with an increasing concentration of acetic acid. Increasing concentrations of propionic acid caused a decrease in the amount of mycelial dry weight and aflatoxin produced by cultures growing in the medium with an initial pH of 5.5. At an initial pH of 4.5 mycelial growth was slow and at 3 d of incubation amounts of aflatoxin B1 and G1 produced were reduced as concentrations of acetic acid increased. This also was true for propionic acid in the medium with an initial pH of 4.5. Cultures with an extended lag phase in the presence of acetic or propionic acid overcame this and then produced large amounts of aflatoxin B1 and G1 at 7 and 10 d of incubation.
The Logic Behind Logistics

This “QA Q&A Corner” answers questions on a variety of logistical concerns that may come up during the planning or conduct of clinical trials.
Associations Between Relative Value Units and Patient-Reported Back Pain and Disability:

Objective: To describe associations between health care utilization measures and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Method: Primary data were collected from patients ≥65 years with low back pain visits from 2011 to 2013. Six PROs of pain and functionality were collected 12 and 24 months after the index visits and total and spine-specific relative value units (RVUs) from electronic health records were tabulated over 1 year. We calculated correlation coefficients between RVUs and 12- and 24-month PROs and conducted linear regressions with each 12- and 24-month PRO as the outcome variables and RVUs as predictors of interest. Results: We observed very weak correlations between worse PROs at 12 and 24 months and greater 12-month utilization. In regression analyses, we observed slight associations between greater utilization and worse 12- and 24-month PROs. Discussion: We found that 12-month health care utilization is not strongly associated with PROs at 12 or 24 months.
LIBRARY LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT: PERSPECTIVES FROM THE FIELD

Our study examines the results of 114 interviews with academic, public, school media, and special library administrators collected over a one-year period in North Carolina. Preliminary results suggest that there is a core set of traits shared by administrators across libraries although some variation occurs depending on library environment. Implications center on the ability to inform degree preparation programs and practice by identifying primary qualities of library administration in general and specific to academic, public, school library, and special libraries.
Cancellation in skew polynomial rings

A well known cancellation result in commutative algebra states that if B[x]≅K[x1,x2] then B≅K[x1], where B is an algebra over a field K of characteristic 0. We prove an analogous result in the nonc...
Design of a Tablet Game to Assess the Hand Movement in Children with Autism

The high rate of atypical handedness and motor deficits among the children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been repeatedly reported. Recently, tablet-assisted systems are increasingly applied to ASD interventions due to their potential benefits in terms of accessibility, cost and the ability to engage many children with ASD. In this paper, we propose the design of a tablet game system to assess the hand usage in movement manipulations of children with ASD. To play the games designed in this system, it requires good eye-hand coordination, precise and quick hand movements and cooperation with partners. The games can be played by one player using two hands or by two players each of whom using one hand. We present the system design and a small preliminary usability study that verified the system functionality in recording objective performance data for offline analysis of the hand usage of the players. Results showed that the proposed system was engaging to children with ASD and their TD (i.e. typically developing) peers, and could induce collaborative activities between them. The system was also shown to efficiently evaluate the usages of the dominant hand and the non-dominant hand of the users. We found that children with ASD showed different patterns of hand usage behaviors from the TD participants when using this system.
Aldicarb-induced Paralysis Assay to Determine Defects in Synaptic Transmission in Caenorhabditis elegans

Aldicarb treatment causes an accumulation of acetylcholine in the synaptic cleft of the neuromuscular junction, resulting in sustained muscle activation and eventually paralysis. Aldicarb-induced paralysis assay is an easy and fast method to determine whether synaptic transmission of a C. elegans mutant of interest is altered. This assay is based on the correlation of the rate of neurotransmitter release with the rate of paralysis. In this protocol, we describe a method for simultaneously assessing the aldicarb sensitivity of animals with different genotypes.
Superior oblique myokymia.

Abstract Superior oblique myokymia (SOM) is a rare condition of unclear etiology. We discuss the history, etiology, clinical features, differential diagnoses, management, and prognosis of SOM. We conducted a meta-analysis of all 116 cases published since SOM was first described in 1906. The age at examination was 17–72 years (mean: 42 years.) There was a right-sided preponderance in 61% of cases (P
NHC and nucleophile chelation effects on reactive iron(ii) species in alkyl-alkyl cross-coupling.

While iron–NHC catalysed cross-couplings have been shown to be effective for a wide variety of reactions (e.g. aryl–aryl, aryl–alkyl, alkyl–alkyl), the nature of the in situ formed and reactive iron species in effective catalytic systems remains largely undefined. In the current study, freeze-trapped Mossbauer spectroscopy, and EPR studies combined with inorganic synthesis and reaction studies are utilised to define the key in situ formed and reactive iron–NHC species in the Kumada alkyl–alkyl cross-coupling of (2-(1,3-dioxan-2-yl)ethyl)magnesium bromide and 1-iodo-3-phenylpropane. The key reactive iron species formed in situ is identified as (IMes)Fe((1,3-dioxan-2-yl)ethyl)2, whereas the S = 1/2 iron species previously identified in this chemistry is found to be only a very minor off-cycle species ( 24 min−1) to generate cross-coupled product with overall selectivity analogous to catalysis. The high resistance of this catalytic system to β-hydride elimination of the alkyl nucleophile is attributed to its chelation to iron through ligation of carbon and one oxygen of the acetal moiety of the nucleophile. In fact, alternative NHC ligands such as SIPr are less effective in catalysis due to their increased steric bulk inhibiting the ability of the alkyl ligands to chelate. Overall, this study identifies a novel alkyl chelation method to achieve effective alkyl–alkyl cross-coupling with iron(II)–NHCs, provides direct structural insight into NHC effects on catalytic performance and extends the importance of iron(II) reactive species in iron-catalysed cross-coupling.
Form follows function: moving medical education into the community.

A physician argues in favor of moving family residency programs into local ambulatory clinics as a way to strengthen community-based physicians and link practical patient care to academic medical centers. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.