cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Patients with psychiatric illness report worse patient-reported outcomes and receive lower rates of autologous breast reconstruction.

Psychiatric well-being impacts on general satisfaction and quality of life. This study explored how the presence of psychiatric diagnoses affects patient-reported outcomes in breast reconstruction and on selection of reconstructive modality. Patients who received breast reconstruction at a tertiary hospital between 2013 and 2018 and completed the BREAST-Q survey were included. BREAST-Q module scores were compared between patients who had a psychiatric diagnosis at presentation and the remaining cohort using t tests. General linear models (GLMs) were used to control for confounding factors. A chi-squared test was used to assess the effect on reconstructive modality, and binary logistic regression was used to control for confounding factors. Of the 471 patients included, 93 (19.7%) had at least one psychiatric diagnosis. Cohorts did not differ significantly by age, BMI, race, ASA classification, or insurance status. Patients with a psychiatric diagnosis experienced a decrease in BREAST-Q scores for the Psychosocial Wellbeing (B = 9.16, P = .001) and Sexual Wellbeing (B = 9.29, P = .025) modules. On binary logistic regression, patients with a psychiatric diagnosis were less likely to receive autologous reconstruction compared with implant reconstruction (OR = 0.489, P = .010). The presence of psychiatric diagnoses is an independent predictor of decreased BREAST-Q. Furthermore, there is a significant disparity in modality of reconstruction given to patients with psychiatric diagnoses. Further study is needed to evaluate interventions to improve satisfaction among at-risk populations and evaluate the reason for low autologous reconstruction in this population.
Intrabladder PAC1 Receptor Antagonist, PACAP(6-38), Reduces Urinary Bladder Frequency and Pelvic Sensitivity in Mice Exposed to Repeated Variate Stress (RVS).

Stress causes symptom exacerbation in functional disorders of the urinary bladder. However, the potential mediators and underlying mechanisms of stress effects on micturition reflex function are unknown. We have characterized PACAP (Adcyap1) and PAC1 receptor (Adcyap1r1) signaling in stress-induced urinary bladder dysfunction in mice. We determined PACAP and PAC1 transcripts and protein expressions in the urinary bladder and lumbosacral dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and spinal cord in repeated variate stress (RVS) or control mouse (handling only) groups. RVS in mice significantly (p ≤ 0.01) increased serum corticosterone and urinary bladder NGF content and decreased weight gain. PACAP and PAC1 mRNA and protein were differentially regulated in lower urinary tract tissues with changes observed in lumbosacral DRG and spinal cord but not in urinary bladder. RVS exposure in mice significantly (p ≤ 0.01) increased (2.5-fold) voiding frequency as determined using conscious cystometry. Intrabladder administration of the PAC1 receptor antagonist, PACAP(6-38) (300 nM), significantly (p ≤ 0.01) increased infused volume (1.5–2.7-fold) to elicit a micturition event and increased the intercontraction interval (i.e., decreased voiding frequency) in mice exposed to RVS and in control mice, but changes were smaller in magnitude in control mice. We also evaluated the effect of PAC1 blockade at the level of the urinary bladder on pelvic sensitivity in RVS or control mouse groups using von Frey filament testing. Intrabladder administration of PACAP(6-38) (300 nM) significantly (p ≤ 0.01) reduced pelvic sensitivity following RVS. PACAP/receptor signaling in the CNS and PNS contributes to increased voiding frequency and pelvic sensitivity following RVS and may represent a potential target for therapeutic intervention.
Kidney Is Essential for Blood Pressure Modulation by Dietary Potassium

Eating more potassium may reduce blood pressure and the occurrence of other cardiovascular diseases by actions on various systems, including the vasculature, the sympathetic nervous system, systemic metabolism, and body fluid volume. Among these, the kidney plays a major role in the potassium-rich diet-mediated blood pressure reduction. PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To provide an overview of recent discoveries about the mechanisms by which a potassium-rich diet leads to natriuresis. RECENT FINDINGS: Although the distal convoluted tubule (DCT) is a short part of the nephron that reabsorbs salt, via the sodium-chloride cotransporter (NCC), it is highly sensitive to changes in plasma potassium concentration. Activation or inhibition of NCC raises or lowers blood pressure. Recent work suggests that extracellular potassium concentration is sensed by the DCT via intracellular chloride concentration which regulates WNK kinases in the DCT. High-potassium diet targets NCC in the DCT, resulting in natriuresis and fluid volume reduction, which are protective from hypertension and other cardiovascular problems.
Association between chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and gastrointestinal malignancies

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is an uncommon and under-recognized immune-mediated disorder of the peripheral nervous system. It is associated with both infectious and non-infectious etiologies and presents in several variant forms. In rare instances, CIDP has been reported in association with gastrointestinal (esophageal, hepatic, colorectal, and pancreatic) malignancies. The diagnosis of malignancy is typically preceded by weeks to months by that of CIDP, though the inverse may also be seen. As with other etiologies of CIDP, cases associated with gastrointestinal malignancies are often treated with corticosteroids, intravenous immunoglobulins, and/or plasma exchange, with improvement or resolution of neurological symptoms in the majority of cases. In this review, we provide a practical overview of CIDP, with an emphasis on recognizing the clinical association between CIDP and gastrointestinal malignancies.
Application of vermiwash on growth and yield of green gram ( Vigna radiate ) in sandy regosol

A field experiment was conducted at the crop farm, Eastern University, Sri Lanka to study the effect of vermiwash application on growth and yield of green gram (Vigna radiata). The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with five treatments having four replicates. The treatments were recommended inorganic fertilizer (T1) and ½ doses of recommended basal and top dressing with different concentration of vermiwash; 25%(T2), 50% (T3), 75% (T4) and 100% (T5). Vermiwash was applied at once in two weeks and data were recorded at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th weeks after planting (WAP). The results revealed that number of branches, days for 50% and 100% flowering, number of pods per plant and number of seeds per pod were significantly (P
Integrated Cyberattack Detection and Handling for Nonlinear Systems with Evolving Process Dynamics under Lyapunov-Based Economic Model Predictive Control

Abstract Safety-critical processes are becoming increasingly automated and connected. While automation can increase efficiency, it brings new challenges associated with guaranteeing safety in the presence of uncertainty especially in the presence of control system cyberattacks. One of the challenges for developing control strategies with guaranteed safety and cybersecurity properties under sufficient conditions is the development of appropriate detection strategies that work with control laws to prevent undetected attacks that have immediate closed-loop stability consequences. Achieving this, in the presence of uncertainty brought about by plant/model mismatch and process dynamics that can change with time, requires a fundamental understanding of the characteristics of attacks that can be detected with reasonable detection mechanisms and characterizing and verifying system safety properties when cyberattacks and changing system behavior cannot be distinguished. Motivated by this, this paper discusses three cyberattack detection strategies for nonlinear processes whose dynamics change with time when these processes are operated under an optimization-based control strategy known as Lyapunov-based economic model predictive control (LEMPC) until the closed-loop state either leaves a characterizable region of state-space or an attack detection threshold related to state estimates or state predictions is exceeded. Following this, the closed-loop state is maintained within a larger region of operation under an updated cyberattack detection strategy for a characterizable time period. A Taylor series-based model is used for making state predictions to allow theoretical guarantees to be explicitly tied to the numerical approximation of the model used within the LEMPC. A process example illustrates the Taylor series-based model concept.
An innovative machine learning based framework for water distribution network leakage detection and localization

Leakages in the underground water distribution networks (WDNs) waste over 1 billion gallon of water annually in the US and cause significant socio-economic loss to our communities. However, detecti...
THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE CHURCH: The Sword and the Trowel and General Baptist Magazine, 1865-1891 Part 2

The nineteenth-century afforded women opportunity to work beyond the home in society and church. This can be seen in The General Baptist Magazine (GBM) and The Sword and the Trowel (S&T), which reflect differences in mainstream Baptist theology - Evangelical Arminianism and Evangelical Calvinism respectively.1 Both show that, while allowed a certain informal ‘functional' role in the church, women were not recognized in formal church order.
Vehicle Choices for Teenage Drivers: A National Survey of U.S. Parents

Abstract Introduction Previous research has shown that many newly licensed teenagers in the United States are driving vehicles with inferior crash protection. The objective of this study was to update and extend previous research on U.S. parents' choices of vehicles for their teenagers. Method Telephone surveys were conducted with parents in May 2014 using a random sample of U.S. households likely to include teenagers. Participation was restricted to parents or guardians of teenagers who lived in the household and held either an intermediate or full driver's license. Parents were interviewed about the vehicle their teenager drives, the reason they chose the vehicle for their teenager, and the cost of purchased vehicles. Results Teenagers most often were driving 2000–06 model year vehicles (41%), with 30% driving a more recent model year and 19% driving an older model year. Teenagers most often were driving midsize or large cars (27%), followed by SUVs (22%), mini or small cars (20%), and pickups (14%). Far fewer were driving minivans (6%) or sports cars (1%). Forty-three percent of the vehicles driven by teenagers were purchased when the teenager started driving or later. A large majority (83%) were used vehicles. The median cost of the vehicles purchased was $5300, and the mean purchase price was $9751. Conclusions Although parents report that the majority of teenagers are driving midsize or larger vehicles, many of these vehicles likely do not have key safety features, such as electronic stability control, which would be especially beneficial for teenage drivers. Many teenagers were driving older model year vehicles or vehicle types or sizes that are not ideal for novice drivers. Practical applications Parents, and their teenage drivers, may benefit from consumer information about optimal vehicle choices for teenagers.
Lessons from The Leather Archives and Museum: On The Promises of BDSM

In this essay, the author explores the experience of taking a class of educators in a Master’s course to visit the Leather Archives and Museum (LA&M). Situated within a course on Social Theory, the author explores the possibility of doing justice to the sexual subject – in particular the queer sexual subjects represented in the museum’s exhibits and archives. Can occupying the space of a museum committed to preserving, archiving, and exhibiting sexual subcultures illuminate new ideas and concepts that might preoccupy queer educational thought in its third decade? Utilizing contemporary queer theory, the author ponders the promises of BDSM that are engaged with the lessons of Leather and BDSM objects. Can such a preoccupation do justice to queer subjects and practices allowing not only for queer survival but queer thrival?
Neutron Detectors for Imaging

This chapter examines neutron detection methods for imaging. The first section reviews neutron capture converters, which form the basis for thermal neutron detection, and the following sections examine various detector systems with an emphasis on imaging applications and the choices available for imaging at time-of-flight facilities.
Theoretical Approach to Mode Identification

Mode identification in pulsating stars is challenging because the modes that are predicted to be excited and visible are not all observed, and because sometimes modes that are not expected are observed. In principle, finding rotationally split multiplets can assist mode identification, but often not all of the components are observed, and rapid and differential rotation complicates the interpretation. Other challenges include distinguishing pulsations from star spots, identifying frequencies that are linear combinations of other (perhaps invisible) intrinsic modes, mode coupling, and variable mode amplitudes and frequencies. For brighter stars and modes with high signal-to-noise, spectroscopic and photometric techniques have had some success in separating l = 0, 1 and 2 modes and in identifying the azimuthal orders. The nearly equal frequency (period) spacings for high order p- (g-) mode pulsators expected from asymptotic theory can guide mode identifications. We review theoretical expectations for pulsation mode driving and damping, focusing on main-sequence variables, and compare with observational examples. Insights into mode selection and amplitudes may be possible by examining the energy partition between various processes in these stars and their contributions to driving and damping of the oscillation modes. Future progress will require two- and three-dimensional stellar models and nonadiabatic, nonlinear, and nonradial pulsation modeling.
Sovereignty and Conquest in the Hebrew Bible

This article examines the Hebrew Bible’s theory of sovereignty with special reference to the book of Joshua. The author conceives of sovereignty as the exclusive and absolute control over territory. The sovereign is “all Israel” – the biblical analogue to “we the people.” The territory is the land promised to the Patriarchs and partially conquered by Joshua in the war of conquest. Israel’s title to this territory is established vis-a-vis foreign nations by boundary agreement (Aram), partition (Ammon and Moab), abandonment (Edom), and renunciation (Egypt); its right to dispossess the prior inhabitants is based on theories of conquest, capacity, appropriation, grant, promise, purchase and contract. Israel’s control over territory is explored in narratives describing the allocation of the Promised Land. The author’s approach is pragmatic rather than programmatic, stressing the value of fair procedures and recognizing arguments for distributive justice based on merit, equality, productivity, expectations and need. The author argues that a property distribution, even if fair ex ante, must also be accepted as reasonable ex post.
The Genetic and Molecular Basis of Flower Development in Arabidopsis

My laboratory studies pattern development in flowers, concentrating on two basic patterns that develop in parallel. The first is the pattern of organ number and position. The flowers of the plant we study, the mustard Arabidopsis thaliana, have a total of 16 organs: four organs in the first organ whorl, with a 90-degree angle between adjacent organs, four organs inside and alternate to the first whorl organs, six third-whorl organs with their own characteristic spacing and divergence angles, and two fourth-whorl organs (Muller, 1961; Smyth et al., 1990). This number and position of floral organs is specific to members of the mustard family and close relatives; other families have quite different patterns of organ number and position. The second pattern, which develops to a large degree independently of the first, is the pattern of organ identity. From the outside to the inside of the flower, one finds the four organ types sepal, petal, stamen, then carpel occurring in this order in successive organ whorls. This radial order of organ identities is not at all family-specific, being almost completely uniform in flowering plants. We would like to understand how the activities of specific genes produce both patterns in developing floral primordia, to understand how these patterns have arisen in the evolution of flowering plants, and to know what differences in the genes that control these patterns give the diversity of flower forms that exists in nature.
Clothing Preferences of Male Athletes: Actual and Perceived

Clothing preferences of 74 black and 42 white male university athletes in relation to their self-concept, athletic ability, race, socioeconomic status, and white student perception were investigated. Instruments used were the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, an athletic ability rating scale, a background information sheet, and a clothing preference and perception measure. Data were analyzed with multiple regression and analysis of variance. Race was a significant variable for clothing preferences of male athletes. White students perceived black athletes as wearing clothing that was more attention-getting than that worn by white athletes. Actual clothing preference differed from perceived clothing preference for black, but not for white athletes.
Social-Psychological Influences on Opinion Expression in Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communication:

This study used an experiment embedded within a Web-based survey to examine the influence of contextual (i.e., face-to-face vs. online chat room discussion) and social-psychological factors on individuals' willingness to express opinions. In this experiment, respondents were asked whether they would be willing to express an opinion if they were placed in a face-to-face discussion group in one condition and in an online chat room discussion group in the other condition. Results indicate that print news use, fear of isolation, communication apprehension, future opinion congruency, and communication setting significantly predict willingness to speak out. In addition, not only did fear of isolation have a negative main effect on opinion expression, but this effect was significantly attenuated by computer-mediated discussion. Findings suggest that computer-mediated communication may avoid some of the dysfunctional social-psychological influences found in face-to-face interactions and create a forum conducive f...
Comparing the effect of interactive tabletops and desktops on students' cognition

In this pilot study we investigated the effect of technological platform on the quality of students' cognition when analyzing a computer simulation. As an indicator of performance, we measured the percentage of ideal cycles of cognition; an ideal cycle of cognition is defined as having three distinct steps: planning an action, executing it and evaluating its effects. The results of this study suggest that individuals were not affected by the orientation of display; dyads, however, had twice as many ideal cycles of cognition when interacting with a tabletop than with a desktop. We discuss the implications and limitations of those preliminary results for classroom instruction.
High-resolution transmission electron microscopy of the nanostructure of melamine-formaldehyde aerogels

Abstract The transparency of melamine-formaldehyde (MF) aerogels strongly depends on the solution pH during polymerization. Two MF aerogels were studied. MF #1 was transparent and was formed at pH ⋍ 2 with a bulk density of 160 kg/m3 and a Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area of 970 m2/gm. MF #2 was an opaque aerogel formed at pH ⋍ 0.5 with a bulk density of 130 kg/m3 and a surface area of 850 m2/gm. Both MF aerogels have a polymeric nanostructure. Melamine and formaldehyde formed single polymeric chains of ⋍ 0.95 nm in diameter. The MF #1 aerogel connectors were frequently composed of two or three polymeric chains with the connector diameter averaging ⋍ 2.0 and ⋍ 2.8 nm which usually showed branching every 12.6 ± 4.5 nm thereby defining the connector length. The side chains along the connectors in MF #1 formed a reticular MF matrix. The MF #1 matrix pores averaged 10.4 ± 5.5 nm and pores between sections of the MF matrix averaged 28.8 ± 19 nm. In MF #2, the connectors also formed side chains but these side chains did not form a reticular matrix. As a consequence, the connector diameter, 8.8 ± 5.8 nm, includes the side chains projecting from a core chain of 1.9 ± 0.7 nm. In addition to the average pore size of 47.7 ± 30 nm, MF #2 contained cavities or voids within the aerogel with length dimensions averaging 328 ± 130 nm, responsible for its opacity. The high BET surface areas of both MF aerogels correlate with their polymeric structure.
An anti-windup scheme with embedded internal model control anti-windup for improved performance

This paper considers the synthesis of an anti-windup(AW) compensator which comprises an internal model control(IMC) antiwindup compensator and a linear anti-windup compensator, for stable linear plants subject to input saturation. Built on the conventional internal model control antiwindup scheme which preserves the stability and stability robustness of the unconstrained linear closed-loop system, the proposed antiwindup scheme aims to improve the performance of the constrained closed-loop system by including another anti-windup compensator. The ℒ 2 gain of the constrained system from the exogenous input to the performance output is used as the performance objective for the the synthesis of the extra antiwindup compensator, resulting in nonconvex matrix conditions. For certain orders of the extra antiwindup compensator, the nonconvex matrix conditions are reduced into convex linear matrix inequalities(LMIs). Especially when the order the extra anti-windup compensator is zero, it is proven that there always exists such an anti-windup compensator guaranteeing a finite ℒ 2 gain for the antiwindup compensated constrained closed-loop system. This important result leads to the design of an overall plant order antiwindup compensator which improves system performance compared to the IMC anti-windup, as demonstrated by the simulation results.
Further studies on the mitogenic response of cultured Schwann cells to rat CNS axolemma-enriched fractions

Axolemma-enriched fractions isolated from rat CNS stimulated cultured Schwann cells to divide without changing their morphology. Fluorescent activated cell sorter analysis of the axolemma-stimulated cells demonstrated an approximate 3-fold increase in the number of Schwann cells in the S-phase of the cell cycle. This increase correlated well with increases in the number of [3H]thymidine-labeled nuclei observed by light level radioautography. The membrane-bound mitogen was relatively heat-stable, but trypsin-sensitive, and was inactivated both by lipid extraction and sonication. Liver plasma membranes did not increase the mitotic index over that of untreated cells, indicating the axolemma-induced mitosis was not a general response to exogenous membranes. Increasing serum concentrations in the presence of a constant level of axolemma did not change the mitotic index, suggesting that the axolemma did not cause mitosis by removal of an inhibitory factor in serum. Potential mitogens such as gangliosides, myelin basic protein, heparin, an axolemmal lipid extract, and cGMP had no effect on the cultured Schwann cells. The characteristics of the axolemma-related mitogenic factor are discussed relative to other known mitogens for cultured Schwann cells.
The Bounce Back Retention Program: One-Year Follow-UP Study:

This study provides results regarding the effectiveness of the Bounce Back Retention Program (BBRP), a semester-long voluntary course for students on academic probation (AP). This is the first phas...
Improving the Performance of MARS Reservoir Simulator on Cray-2 Supercomputer

The computational efficiency of a reservoir simulator-MARS-that is heavily used in Saudi Aramco, was significantly enhanced by improving the vectorization, parallelization and a key algorithm of the simulator. In particular, a state-of-the-art parallel linear equation solver was developed and implemented in the simulator. This new solver ran three to five times faster than the existing solvers. With the new solver and the other improvements in the simulator, the optimized code ran 1.3 to 1.8 times faster than the original code on a single processor and more than four times faster on four processors of Cray-2 supercomputer for typical Saudi Aramco reservoir models. This translates into great savings for the company since it, in effect, creates additional computational resources at no additional cost and improves the reservoir engineer`s productivity by shortening the job turnaround time.
Telomere DNA Content in Prostate Biopsies Predicts Early Rise in Prostate-specific Antigen After Radical Prostatectomy for Prostate Cancer

Objective To determine whether measurement of telomere DNA content (TC) in prostate biopsy tissue predicts prostrate-specific antigen (PSA) recurrence in men after undergoing radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. Methods Slot blot titration assay was used to quantitate TC in archived diagnostic prostate needle biopsy specimens for subjects (n = 103) diagnosed with prostate cancer and who subsequently underwent radical prostatectomy between 1993 and 1997. TC was compared to the clinical outcome measure; PSA recurrence, defined as an increase in PSA ≥ 0.2 ng/mL on 2 or more consecutive measurements post-prostatectomy, was observed retrospectively, for a mean follow-up period of 114 months (range, 1-165). Results In the cohort, 46 subjects had a PSA recurrence. In a univariate Cox proportional hazards model, low TC ( Conclusions Low TC measured in prostate biopsy tissue predicts early likelihood of post-prostatectomy PSA recurrence in a retrospective analysis, and in men with biopsy Gleason sum ≤ 6 disease it is also independent of preoperative PSA level.
What are the consequences of combining nuclear and mitochondrial data for phylogenetic analysis? Lessons from Plethodon salamanders and 13 other vertebrate clades

The use of mitochondrial DNA data in phylogenetics is controversial, yet studies that combine mitochondrial and nuclear DNA data (mtDNA and nucDNA) to estimate phylogeny are common, especially in vertebrates. Surprisingly, the consequences of combining these data types are largely unexplored, and many fundamental questions remain unaddressed in the literature. For example, how much do trees from mtDNA and nucDNA differ? How are topological conflicts between these data types typically resolved in the combined-data tree? What determines whether a node will be resolved in favor of mtDNA or nucDNA, and are there any generalities that can be made regarding resolution of mtDNA-nucDNA conflicts in combined-data trees? Here, we address these and related questions using new and published nucDNA and mtDNA data for Plethodon salamanders and published data from 13 other vertebrate clades (including fish, frogs, lizards, birds, turtles, and mammals). We find widespread discordance between trees from mtDNA and nucDNA (30-70% of nodes disagree per clade), but this discordance is typically not strongly supported. Despite often having larger numbers of variable characters, mtDNA data do not typically dominate combined-data analyses, and combined-data trees often share more nodes with trees from nucDNA alone. There is no relationship between the proportion of nodes shared between combined-data and mtDNA trees and relative numbers of variable characters or levels of homoplasy in the mtDNA and nucDNA data sets. Congruence between trees from mtDNA and nucDNA is higher on branches that are longer and deeper in the combined-data tree, but whether a conflicting node will be resolved in favor mtDNA or nucDNA is unrelated to branch length. Conflicts that are resolved in favor of nucDNA tend to occur at deeper nodes in the combined-data tree. In contrast to these overall trends, we find that Plethodon have an unusually large number of strongly supported conflicts between data types, which are generally resolved in favor of mtDNA in the combined-data tree (despite the large number of nuclear loci sampled). Overall, our results from 14 vertebrate clades show that combined-data analyses are not necessarily dominated by the more variable mtDNA data sets. However, given cases like Plethodon, there is also the need for routine checking of incongruence between mtDNA and nucDNA data and its impacts on combined-data analyses.
Management of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease and esophageal or gastric dysmotility

Knowledge of the presence of gastric or esophageal motility disorders is important to the surgeon treating GERD for a variety of reasons. Appropriate treatment of either condition remains controversial but almost certainly affects the patient’s long-term success and risk of side effects or morbidity. The best esophageal surgeons will take all aspects of the patient’s physiology into account when counseling them preoperatively and while performing antireflux procedures.
Assessing the influence of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphism on folate stability during long-term frozen storage, thawing, and repeated freeze/thawing of whole blood.

Abstract Background Limited information is available on folate stability, particularly vitamer stability by 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T genotype, during frozen storage, thawing, and repeated freeze/thawing (F/T) of whole blood (WB). Methods We assessed folate stability after storing undiluted WB for up to 30 mo at − 70 °C and measuring folate vitamers by LC–MS/MS at 6, 14, 20 and 30 mo in samples with C/C and T/T genotype (n = 13 each). We investigated folate stability during 3-h thawing of WB (n = 2 each/genotype) and during repeated F/T of WB (n = 4 each/genotype). Results We found significant decreases in total folate (TFOL) (median decrease: 8.8% for C/C and 16% for T/T), methyl folate (7.9% for C/C and 10% for T/T), and non-methyl folate (19% for C/C and 24% for T/T) concentrations from 6 to 30 mo WB frozen storage. During thawing of WB at room temperature and repeated F/T, samples with T/T genotype were susceptible to greater folate losses than samples with C/C genotype. Conclusions Long-term frozen storage of WB resulted in significant folate losses of ~ 10–25% that are clinically unacceptable. Frozen WB should not be exposed to more than 1 h of thawing time and repeated F/T of WB should be avoided.
Identification of Phenolic Acid Composition of Alkali-extracted Plants and Soils

Phenolic acids (PAs) released from plant residues have been implicated as important components in a variety of soil processes. To evaluate the role of plant PAs in soil processes, a quantitative alkaline extraction, solid-phase purification, and gas chromatographic protocol was developed for identification of the composition and concentration of plant and soil PAs. Water-soluble or EDTA-exchangeable PAs were not detected in soil. Alkaline hydrolysis (1 M NaOH) at ambient temperatures was required to extract ester-linked phenolics and alkaline hydrolysis (4 M NaOH) with heat extracted ether-linked PAs present in plant and soil material. Purification of NaOH-extracted PAs by polymeric solid-phase extraction with gas chromatographic flame ionization and mass spectral analysis of nonderivatized extracts resulted in a highly reproducible and accurate method for the saponifiable PAs. The method quantified plant and soil PAs as ethanone (acetylbenzene), benzaldehyde, and benzoic- and cinnamic-acid derivatives. The majority of soil PAs was identified as modified cinnamic acids originating from vascular plant tissue. Comparison of the described method with a standard acid digestion (12 M H 2 SO 4 ) and gravimetric determination of lignin in plant residues found that interferences formed by strong acid digestion of plant residues such as soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] or clover (Trifolium pratense L.) containing higher carbohydrate and protein contents resulted in an overestimation of plant lignin content when measured by the acid digestion-gravimetric method. Since the majority of soil PAs originate from vascular plants and are not microbial in origin, the composition of ester-linked PAs in soils may be an important indicator of the quantity of plant residue C present in soils under different management systems.
Externalities from grain consumption: a survey

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) publishes their MyPyramid plan as a recommended eating model for all Americans. As part of this model, grain consumption is emphasized. This grain consumption has the potential to generate positive externalities, such as reduced rates of obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases. Such positive externalities can potentially produce tangible economic benefits in terms of public health. In contrast, newer nutritional research shows that grain consumption may have negative effects on health for certain population groups. Celiac disease is four times as common as it was 50 years ago and is often under-diagnosed. Other population groups exhibit gluten sensitivity which can impact the development of asthma, allergies and neurological difficulties. This survey intends to provide a comprehensive description of both the positive and negative externalities associated with grain consumption and the resulting impact on human health.
E. coli sepsis as a presenting sign in neonatal propionic acidemia

An infant, who was later diagnosed with propionic acidemia presented with E. coli sepsis, a previously unreported association. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The solar elongation distribution of low-frequency radio bursts

Over 500 days of low frequency (less than 5 MHz) radio observations from the IMP-6 spacecraft were accumulated to produce a two dimensional map (frequency versus elongation) of solar type III burst occurrences. This map indicates that most solar bursts are emitted at the second harmonic of the plasma frequency rather than the fundamental. The map also shows that the solar wind electron density varies.
Aggregate structure characterisation of asphalt mixtures using two-dimensional image analysis

In current practice of mixture design, volumetric properties such as voids and binder content along with mechanical properties such as modulus or rutting resistance are used as the main quality indicators. Visualisation is an important tool that has not been widely used in asphalt mixtures. As part of the Reunion Internationale des Laboratoires et Experts des Materiaux activities, the aggregate structure has been identified as a possible important mixture characteristic in need of measuring and quantifying. This paper is a report on part of this effort. Software for processing and analysing two-dimensional images of asphalt concrete mixtures to provide information about the aggregate structure within a mix was developed. Images with accompanying volumetrics and gradation information can be processed with the software and a virtual sieve analysis of aggregates within the image is performed to verify a match with known measured gradations. Once images were successfully processed, analysis is performed to de...
Effect of angiotensin receptor blockade on endothelial function: focus on olmesartan medoxomil.

Endothelial dysfunction is the common link between cardiovascular disease risk factors and the earliest event in the cascade of incidents that results in target organ damage. Angiotensin II, the terminal pressor effector arm of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, increases blood pressure (BP) by vasoconstriction and sodium and fl uid retention, and has a pro-oxidative action that induces endothelial dysfunction and contributes to vascular remodeling. Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) reduce BP and morbidity and mortality in patients with hypertension, ventricular hypertrophy, diabetes mellitus, and renal disease. Olmesartan medoxomil is a long-acting, well-tolerated, effective ARB that prevents or reverses endothelial dysfunction in animal models of atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes, nephropathy, and retinopathy. Olmesartan medoxomil, a prodrug of olmesartan approved for the treatment of hypertension, has been shown to ameliorate endothelial dysfunction in patients with hypertension or diabetes. In randomized studies, the drug reduces vascular infl ammation and the volume of large atherosclerotic plaques, increases the number of regenerative endothelial progenitor cells in the peripheral circulation, improves endothelium-dependent relaxation, and restores the normal resistance vessel morphology. Importantly, the impact of olmesartan medoxomil on endothelial dysfunction is thought to be independent of BP lowering.
Myocyte apoptosis occurs early during the development of pressure-overload hypertrophy in infant myocardium.

Objective Abnormal hemodynamic loading often accompanies congenital heart disease both before and after surgical repair. Adaptive and maladaptive myocardial responses to increased load are numerous. This study examined the hypothesis that myocyte loss occurs during compensatory hypertrophic growth in the developing infant myocardium subjected to progressive pressure overload. Methods Pressure-overload left ventricular hypertrophy was induced in 7- to 10-day-old rabbits by banding the thoracic aorta. Left ventricular function and mechanics were quantified by serial echocardiography and noninvasive left ventricular wall stress analysis. Left ventricular tissue sections were examined for fibrosis by using Masson's trichrome stain and for myocyte apoptosis by using a myocyte-specific DNA fragmentation assay and caspase-3 activation (specific fluorescent substrate). Results Significant myocyte apoptosis (198 ± 37/10 6 myocytes, P 6 myocytes), caspase-3 activity further increased, and the estimated total number of left ventricular myocytes was significantly reduced by 18% ± 4%. Conclusion In experimental infant left ventricular hypertrophy, myocyte apoptosis is initiated in the face of normalized wall stress and preserved contractility. The ongoing rate of apoptosis causes a measurable decrease in myocyte number that is coincident with the onset of ventricular dysfunction. It thus appears that pressure overload, even at its earliest stages, is not well tolerated by the developing ventricle.
Analysis of the surface hydrology in a regional climate model

This paper discusses the surface hydrology of a multi-year simulation of present day climate over the United States (US) conducted with a regional climate model (RegCM) nested within a general circulation model (GCM). The RegCM, which is run with a 60 km gridpoint spacing is interactively coupled with a state-of-the-art surface physics package that includes full surface hydrology calculations (the Biosphere-Atmosphere Transfer Scheme or BATS). The hydrologic budgets of ten regional drainage basins in the US are analysed. Model results are compared with available observations and with results from previous modelling experiments to evaluate the feasibility of using nested RegCM/GCM models for hydrology studies. In our experiment, the model captures the basic seasonality of the basin hydrologic budgets, although the simulated precipitation amounts are too high over the western US and too low over the eastern US. As a result, runoff, snow cover and soil water content are underestimated over the eastern US basins, while evaporation and runoff are overestimated in some of the western US basins. Topographically induced characteristics of precipitation, snow cover and runoff are well simulated over the mountainous western regions. Also well captured is the inter-basin variation of hydrologic budgets which occurs in response to different climatic settings. The springtime snowmelt and peak runoff season generally occurs in the model earlier in the year than is observed. Although our work indicates that the coupled regional modelling system can be useful in applications to hydrological studies, results from this experiment indicate that better accuracy in the simulation of regional climatic variables and more detailed representation of some hydrologic processes would be required before the coupled modelling system could be used to provide accurate assessments of hydrologic responses to climate change.
Discrimination of vibrotactile frequencies in a delayed pair comparison task

This study quantified human short-term-memory decay functions for delayed vibrotactile frequency discriminations. Subjects indicated which of two successive intervals contained the higher or lower frequency of a pair separated by delay periods of 0.5-30 sec. Performance decreased as a function of length of delay and was higher when delays were unfilled than when they were filled with a backwards-counting task. This interpolated task may have interfered with rehearsal of a coded representation of the remembered vibrotactile frequency. A change in decay rate after 5-sec delays suggests a switch from reliance on sensory memory to the coded frequency representation. Performance and decay rate depended on presentation order of higher or lower frequency within pairs. Reciprocal performance asymmetries seen in high-versus low-frequency ranges did not result from simple response bias.
Rapid debug of yield and performance bottlenecks within the UltraSPARC-I microprocessor

ABSTRACT We have developed a set of analysis tools to accelerate root-cause understanding of any UltraSPARCTMI processor manufacturing process or design problems encountered on the path to volume manufacturing ramp. Wealso use these tools to understand root-cause of yield or performance limitations. The custom hardware and softwaredeveloped to support UtraSPARC-I debug is presented, followed by a discussion of our debug methodology. Weconclude with an example use of the tools and methods presented to analyze and resolve an actual problem expen-enced during UltraSPARC-I manufacturing start-up.Keywords: Microprocessor, Yield, Performance, Debug, Test, c-beam, Probing. 1 . INTRODUCTION U1traSPARC-I is a v9.0 compliant, highly integrated SPARC microprocessor designed by Sun Microelectron-ics and manufactured by Texas Instruments. The chip is a four-way suparscalar machine running up to 200 MHz. Itis fabricated with four levels ofmetal interconnect1 and packaged in a cavity down ball grid array (BGA) package2.Chips employing cutting edge design/process inevitably encounter problems despite the best efforts of all theteams involved. Simulation environment typically runs at the rate of one cycle/sec and therefore limits how much ofthe design gets tested in the model. This prevents exhaustive testing of the design model. Depending upon the natureof the problem, this could either affect all the chips or may cause sub-optimal yield or product performance. So, acombination of design/process marginality often result in chips failing at only certain wafer processing and operatingconditions.Understanding of design, wafer processing and test is required to quickly get to the root cause of the problem.Our debug goal is to understand why actual behavior of chip differs from the expected behavior. To track down theroot cause, one can either start at correct block inputs and work forward or start at inconect outputs and work back-ward. The objective is to compare acquired versus expected signal values and search for the earliest place where anactual mismatch between the two occurs.Line-of-sight access in the form of c-beam3 or mechanical probing with picoprobe is used to observe actual sig-nal values and timing relationship. The epoxy encapsulation2, which normally covers the chip surface, is removed byajet etching process Also, 20,000 top-layer metal probing pads were included in the UItraSPARC-I design to facili-tate easy access to many signals of interest.
Novel complex filter with recursive algorithm for phasor computation in power-quality monitoring

Accurate on-line tracking of the instantaneous phasor in power-disturbance waveforms is a key element for power-quality monitoring, power-system metering, relaying, control and fault diagnosis in electric power systems. The performance of the measurement techniques in common use or newly developed is briefly reviewed by using three criteria, namely measurement accuracy, dynamic response and real-time capability. Further, a novel complex filter and the associated recursive algorithm for phasor computation are presented, which can achieve both high measurement accuracy in various service conditions and low computational complexity. The proposed method can suppress well signal components other than that selected and is not sensitive to frequency deviation. Its effectiveness and superiority over the Fourier algorithm and the continuous wavelet transform are also ascertained using both simulated and practical power-disturbance waveforms.
The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap

Many of the essays in this volume were written about ten years ago and a fair amount of philosophical water has passed under the bridge since then. Nevertheless the appearance of the book at this delayed date is perhaps a good thing—and not just because it contains some of Carnap's final formulations. Philosophical fashions have shifted away from Carnap's preoccupations and the appearance of the book now may serve to remind the public how very impressive Carnap is, both in the substance of his work and the style with which he pursues the philosophical enterprise.
Density of undrawn, drawn, and annealed nylon filaments

The densities of undrawn and drawn nylon filaments (6-6 Nylon) are found to be 1.1339 and 1.1384, respectively, at 25°C. Annealing either the drawn or undrawn forms to the highest temperature possible short of melting increases the room temperature density to 1.1564, the most rapid increase in density with temperatures annealing coming at 210°C. The temperature coefficient of the density as measured at room temperature is greater for the drawn form of the nylon than the undrawn after annealing has taken place. The density of nylon calculated by Bunn and Garner from x-ray diagram data is 1.24, considerably higher than the highest value obtained by us on annealing, namely 1.156.
THE ROLE OF PHARMACOGENOMICS IN IMPROVING THE MANAGEMENT OF ASTHMA

There is a large amount of interindividual variability in both therapeutic and adverse responses to asthma therapies. Genetic variability can account for 50% to 60% of this variability. Pharmacogenomics holds out the promise of allowing clinicians to prospectively choose therapies that have the greatest likelihood to be effective for individual patients and to avoid those that might have a high likelihood of producing adverse effects. In this article we review the principles of pharmacogenomic investigation. We explore the data developed from the early pharmacogenomic studies with the most common asthma therapies. Furthermore, we explore the potential use of pharmacogenomics, as well as caveats in interpreting such information.
Base composition studies on transfer RNA from normal and regenerating rat liver.

Abstract The base composition of bulk tRNA isolated from regenerating rat liver, 12, 18, 24 and 30 h after partial hepatectomy, was determined by a 3H derivative method. Only a few minor statistically significant changes (2–11%), as compared to sham-operated liver, were found at 18, 24 and 30 h after hepatectomy. These included a reduction in the amounts of adenosine and 3-(3-amino-3-carboxypropyl)-uridine, and an increase in the amounts of 1-methyladenosine, 1-methylguanosine, 3-methylcytidine and pseudouridine. Similarly, when the base composition of tRNA fractions from control and 24-h regenerating rat liver, partially purified by one-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, was determined, no gross differences were observed. These results suggest that the process of liver regeneration is not accompanied by a gross alteration of the modification pattern of tRNA.