cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pericardial Mitochondrial DNA Levels Are Associated With Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery.

Background Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is the most common complication after cardiac surgery, and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Inflammation has been implicated as an etiology of POAF. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been shown to initiate inflammation. This study analyzed inflammatory mechanisms of POAF by evaluating mtDNA, neutrophils, and cytokines/chemokines in the pericardial fluid and blood after cardiac surgery. Methods Blood and pericardial fluid from patients who underwent coronary artery bypass or heart valve surgery, or both, were collected intraoperatively and at 4, 12, 24, and 48 hours postoperatively. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify mtDNA in the pericardial fluid and blood. A Luminex (Luminex Corp, Austin, TX) assay was used to study cytokine and chemokine levels. Flow cytometry was used to analyze neutrophil infiltration and activation in the pericardial fluid. Results Samples from 100 patients were available for analysis. Postoperatively, mtDNA and multiple cytokine levels were higher in the pericardial fluid versus blood. Patients who had POAF had significantly higher levels of mtDNA in the pericardial fluid compared with patients who did not (P Conclusions The pericardial space has a high concentration of inflammatory mediators postoperatively. Mitochondrial DNA in the pericardial fluid was strongly associated with the development of POAF. This finding provides insight into a possible mechanism of inflammation that may contribute to POAF, and may offer novel therapeutic targets.
Adding Insult to Injury: Levator Ani Avulsion in Women With Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injuries.

Objective In women with obstetric anal sphincter injuries, we compared the rate of major levator ani avulsion after forceps-assisted delivery versus spontaneous vaginal delivery. Methods Prospective cohort of primiparous women with obstetric anal sphincter injuries. The primary outcome was the rate of major levator ani avulsion as measured by 3-dimensional transvaginal ultrasonography performed between 1 and 2 weeks postpartum. Secondary outcomes included ultrasonographic anteroposterior hiatal diameter, levator hiatal area, and levator-urethra gap, and differences in validated pelvic disorder questionnaires scores at 1 to 2 and 13 weeks postpartum. Results Sixty-two women (30 spontaneous deliveries, 32 forceps deliveries) were included in the final analysis. After controlling for delivery variables, women who underwent forceps-assisted delivery were more likely to experience a major avulsion as compared with those who underwent spontaneous delivery (21/32, [65.6%] vs 8/30 [26.7%]; odds ratio, 5.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-24.5; P = 0.014). They were also more likely to have larger levator-urethra gaps bilaterally (P = 0.012, 0.016). After controlling for potential confounders, levator ani avulsion was independently associated with persistent anal incontinence symptoms at 13 weeks postpartum (P = 0.02). Conclusions In women with obstetric anal sphincter injuries, the risk of levator ani avulsion is almost 6 times higher after forceps-assisted vaginal delivery as compared with spontaneous vaginal delivery. In those with avulsion, recovery of anal continence is compromised, suggesting that adding insult (avulsion) to injury (obstetric anal sphincter injury) may have negative functional consequences.
RNA-sequencing reveals transcriptional signature of pathological remodeling in the diaphragm of rats after myocardial infarction.

Abstract The diaphragm is the main inspiratory muscle, and the chronic phase post-myocardial infarction (MI) is characterized by diaphragm morphological, contractile, and metabolic abnormalities. However, the mechanisms of diaphragm weakness are not fully understood. In the current study, we aimed to identify the transcriptome changes associated with diaphragm abnormalities in the chronic stage MI. We ligated the left coronary artery to cause MI in rats and performed RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) in diaphragm samples 16 weeks post-surgery. The sham group underwent thoracotomy and pericardiotomy but no artery ligation. We identified 112 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) out of a total of 9664 genes. Myocardial infarction upregulated and downregulated 42 and 70 genes, respectively. Analysis of DEGs in the framework of skeletal muscle-specific biological networks suggest remodeling in the neuromuscular junction, extracellular matrix, sarcomere, cytoskeleton, and changes in metabolism and iron homeostasis. Overall, the data are consistent with pathological remodeling of the diaphragm and reveal potential biological targets to prevent diaphragm weakness in the chronic stage MI.
Viscous Microemulsions of Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) and Jet Fuel A Inhibit Infiltration and Subsurface Transport

Concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) remain orders of magnitude greater than health advisory levels in groundwater in “source” zones where military firefighters repeatedly ap...
Preparing Doctoral Students to Teach in an Increasingly Virtual World: A Response to COVID-19 and Beyond

The recent global pandemic revealed just how unprepared faculty and doctoral students at many U.S. colleges and universities were to teach online. In this study, we investigate the extent to which current and recently graduated doctoral students are prepared to teach online, how they are rewarded for those online teaching skills, and how they could be more effectively prepared. To answer these questions, we surveyed the beliefs of doctoral students and recently graduated faculty members from a Midwestern private university and a Southeastern state university regarding online teaching preparedness compared with those of faculty, department chairs, and deans. We also used data from a summer teaching pilot program to explore best practices for improving doctoral students’ preparation to teach online. Findings suggest that educating doctoral students to teach in a virtual world can increase students’ confidence and ability to teach in this mode and can be cost effective if offered across disciplines. However, while doctoral students believe that online competency is important in hiring and tenure decisions, deans and department chairs do not necessarily agree, and few schools provide meaningful preparation for online teaching to their doctoral students.
Blood flow modeling reveals improved collateral artery performance during mammalian heart regeneration

Collateral arteries are a vessel subtype that bridges two artery branches, forming a natural bypass that can deliver blood flow downstream of an occlusion. These bridges in the human heart are associated with better outcomes during coronary artery disease. We recently found that their rapid development in neonates supports heart regeneration, while the non-regenerative adult heart displays slow and minimal collateralization. Thus, inducing robust collateral artery networks could serve as viable treatment for cardiac ischemia, but reaching this goal requires more knowledge on their developmental mechanisms and functional capabilities. Here, we use whole-organ imaging and 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to identify the spatial architecture of and predict blood flow through collaterals in neonate and adult hearts. We found that neonate collaterals are more numerous, larger in diameter, and, even when similar in size/number, are predicted to more effectively re-perfuse an occluded coronary network when compared to adults. CFD analysis revealed that collaterals perform better in neonates because of decreased differential pressures along their coronary artery tree. Furthermore, testing of various collateral configurations indicated that larger, more proximal collaterals are more beneficial than many smaller ones, identifying a target architecture for therapeutic interventions. Morphometric analysis revealed how the coronary artery network expands during postnatal growth. Vessel diameters do not scale with cardiac muscle growth. Instead, the coronary tree expands solely by adding additional branches of a set length, a burst of which occurs during murine puberty. Finally, we compared mouse structural and functional data to human hearts. Surprisingly, fetal human hearts possessed a very large number of small, but mature, smooth muscle cell covered collaterals while angiogram data indicated adult patients with chronic coronary occlusions contained at least two. Comparing size ratios with modeled mouse data suggested low re-perfusion capabilities of the embryonic collaterals but higher functional benefits of those in diseased adults. Our unique interdisciplinary approach allowed us to quantify the functional significance of collateral arteries during heart regeneration and repair, a critical step towards realizing their therapeutic potential.
An Evolutionary Perspective on Updating Risk and Ambiguity Preferences

Using an approach based on evolution and adaptation, we provide foundations for a model of choice under uncertainty based on adaptive preferences, and we show that updating of those preferences in response to new information will respect dynamic consistency even at the cost of violating consequentialism. We argue that our approach can be applied in most contexts with ambiguity, and we establish that adaptive preferences nest variants of many models in the literature on risk and ambiguity as special cases. Since models of either ambiguity aversion or non-expected utility for risk cannot satisfy both dynamic consistency and consequentialism without strong assumptions on beliefs and information structures, our results add a novel perspective to the discourse about which of these properties should be maintained in applications. In addition, a central feature of adaptive preferences and the models they nest is a tight connection between ambiguity attitudes and violations of expected utility in the context of risk.
A Remote Development Process and Platform for Power Electronic Systems

Like many areas in research and development, power electronic and distributed energy resource research and development slowed during the COVID pandemic. While the presence of the virus has reduced and workers are returning to shared offices, uncertainty of potential future challenges are still present. This work proposes a development and testing network that provides researchers the ability to operate remotely and coordinate control and debug activities for power electronic systems. This development and testing network has been demonstrated in both controller hardware-in-the-loop (C-HIL) and hardware testing.
CONSTRUCTING A SELF BETWEEN IMAGE AND TEXT: READING BECHDEL’S FUN HOME

Graphic memoirs offer a visual representation of the relationship between a moment and the construction of memory. McCloud describes the work of the comic author and the reader as a dance between “the seen and the unseen”. This is what makes the medium of graphic memoirs unique, as it “gives so much to its audience while asking so much from them as well” (1993, p. 92). My aim in this paper is to ascertain the impact using graphic conventions has on the effective and affective construction of meaning and identity in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006) and howr The Gutter becomes even more significant in graphic memoirs, because the use of panels can fracture the flow of the narrative into the sequenced segments which alternate with the blank spaces of the gutters. These blank spaces represent an effort to redefine the “connections between memory and history, private experience and public life” via a written account and the “act of witness” represented by a combination of the visual and the verbal (Cvetkovich, 2008, 111-20). Using this mix of image and text, Bechdel creates an almost palimpsestic effect as a majority of panels show items layered over other images, indicating a blending between the narrative of Bechdel’s real life experience and the representation of that life experience in the text. For the reader, this can imply a way to address the gaps in knowledge not only for them but also for Bechdel herself.
Relaxation and Prethermalization in One-Dimensional Bose Gases

The study of relaxation processes remains a challenge despite considerable theoretical and experimental efforts. In this chapter, we study such processes using a 1D Bose gas. The system is quenched by coherently splitting it into two parts. Matter-wave interferometry between the two parts is used to extract information about the dynamics. Measuring the full probability distributions of interference contrast reveals the prethermalization of the system to a non-thermal steady state, which can be characterized by an effective temperature.
Bases for the Formation of Product Gender Images

A study was undertaken to identify the bases on which a product’s gender image is contingent. The study concluded that the gender of the perceived user, purchaser, and promoter of a product were critical factors in that process. Results also suggest that a three category classification scheme is optimal in identifying a product’s gender. The implication is that a bi-polar scale, rather than two independent scales, would suffice when measuring a product’s gender image.
Higher-order Hankel forms and cohomology groups

Higher-order Hankel forms on the standard weighted Bergman spaces are studied. A bounded projection of nth-order forms, H(n), onto the jthorder (0 ≤ j ≤ n) special forms of Janson-Peetre type is exhibited and used to give a decomposition of nth-order forms in terms of these special forms of lower or equal order. This decomposition is optimal in several ways. One, it produces these special forms in a very natural way, namely, by averaging over the elementary forms of some fixed order, and this process is independent of the group representation theory. It also yields a decomposition of derivations which provides estimates on certain quotient norms. This gives detailed information on the first order Hochschild groups of the disk algebra with coefficients in the nth-order Hankel forms. We also use the decomposition to show that the map on the first order groups induced by the quotient map \( {{\mathcal{H}}^{{(n)}}} \to {{\mathcal{H}}^{{(n)}}}/{{\mathcal{H}}^{{(n - 1)}}} \) is onto and the map induced by the inclusion of \({\mathcal{H}^{(n - 1)}} \subseteq {\mathcal{H}^{(n)}} \) into bounded bilinear forms is the zero map.
Partisanship and confidence in the vote count: Evidence from U.S. national elections since 2000

To what degree are evaluations of political processes affected by political outcomes? In this paper, we explore this question by combining 30 national U.S. surveys from 2000 to 2012, improving on previous analyses in three ways. First, our measure asks directly about the counting of votes, rather than broader democratic processes. Second, we control for endogeneity by comparing the same respondents pre- and post-election, and by comparing respondents whose preferred candidate barely won to those whose candidate barely lost. Third, we reveal previously unknown within-country variation in this effect. We find losers are significantly more likely to believe votes were improperly counted, an effect that has grown over time and that is stronger for more remote levels of government.
Focusing on Demand: Using eBay Data to Analyze the Demand for Telescopes

This paper analyzes the value of using data from on-line auctions to determine product market definitions and competitive effects of mergers. Traditionally this type of demand analysis has been based on retail transaction data, particularly "scanner" data. However, such data is not always readily available and may be difficult to interpret. Auction data, particularly data from on-line auctions like eBay may be easy to access and may be much easier to interpret. The authors analyze data from a series of auctions for 3 different types of telescopes, held over a 8 week period. The results suggest that the demand for telescopes is very elastic and that the two types of telescope designs (the Schmidt-Cassegrain and the Maksutov-Cassegrain designs) are in different product markets, supporting a position taken by the Commission in a recent case.
Conceptual Hierarchies in Comparative Research: The Case of Democracy

Both kind hierarchies and part-whole hierarchies play an important role in the conceptual structure of comparative research, and understanding these hierarchies yields great insight into concept-formation. This article demonstrates the role of these two kinds of hierarchies in comparative studies of political democracies. Five patterns of conceptual innovation are identified: (1) moving down the kind hierarchy to classical subtypes of democracy and (2) moving up that hierarchy to classical subtypes of regime; (3) creating diminished subtypes within the framework of a part-whole hierarchy; (4a) shifting the overarching concept as a means of lowering the standard and, relatedly, (4b) shifting the overarching concept to raise the standard for democracy; and (5) precising the definition of democracy by adding defining attributes.
Evolution of the Loop Current System During the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Event as Observed With Drifters and Satellites

The ocean circulation patterns of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Loop Current (LC) system and their effects on the advection of the oil discharged during the Deepwater Horizon incident are described using in situ surface drifter trajectories and satellite observations from May to August 2010. These observations include altimetry-derived surface geostrophic velocities, sea surface temperature, ocean color, and surface oil locations. The elongated, northwestward penetrating LC retreated back from its northernmost position in late April 2010 and stayed farther away from the surface oil in the north during May 2010. Although the main body of the surface oil slick remained around the well site and on the Northern Gulf shelf, a small amount of the surface oil was entrained into the northern part of the LC system in mid-May 2010. An anticyclonic eddy in its formative stage then detached from the northern part of the LC in the latter part of May 2010, tending to break the direct connection between the northern Gulf with points farther south. Through interactions with smaller cyclonic eddies on either side, multiple short-lived detachment/re-attachment episodes continued for some time during the spill event, but without ever fully reestablishing a direct LC pathway from the region of the oil spill to the Florida Straits. The mean geostrophic current pattern during this time period showed a separated LC eddy in the eastern GOM. Such ocean circulation patterns helped retain the surface oil in the northeastern Gulf and kept an oil-free environment for most of Florida’s coastal waters.
The “cool factor” of public access to ICT: Users' perceptions of trust in libraries, telecentres and cybercafés in developing countries

Purpose – This paper aims to determine how trust and perceptions shape uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in public access venues (libraries, telecentres, and cybercafes) in 25 developing countries around the world.Design/methodology/approach – As part of a global study conducted by the Technology & Social Change Group at the University of Washington, local research teams conducted surveys, site visits, and interviews of over 25,000 respondents in different types of public access venues in the selected countries, using a shared research design and analytical framework.Findings – The use of public access venues is shaped by the following trust factors: safety concerns, relevance of the information, reputation of the institution, and users' perceptions of how “cool” these venues are. While libraries tend to be trusted as most reputable, telecentres tend to be trusted as most relevant to meet local needs, and cybercafes tend to be perceived as most “cool”.Research limitations/implicati...
Chimeric antigen receptors for T cell immunotherapy: current understanding and future directions

Background The genetic engineering of T cells through the introduction of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) allows for generation of tumor-targeted T cells. Once expressed by T cells, CARs combine antigen-specificity with T cell activation in a single fusion molecule. Most CARs are comprised of an antigen-binding domain, an extracellular spacer/hinge region, a trans-membrane domain and an intracellular signaling domain resulting in T cell activation after antigen binding. Methods We performed a search of the literature regarding tumor immunotherapy using CAR-modified T cells to provide a concise review of this topic. Results This review aims to focus on the elements of CAR design required for successful application of this technology in cancer immunotherapy. Most notably, proper target antigen selection, co-stimulatory signaling, and the ability of CAR-modified T cells to traffic, persist and retain function after adoptive transfer are required for optimal tumor eradication. Furthermore, recent clinical trials have demonstrated tumor burden and chemotherapy conditioning before adoptive transfer as being critically important for this therapy. Future research into counteracting the suppressive tumor microenvironment and the ability to activate an endogenous anti-tumor response by CAR-modified T cells may enhance the therapeutic potential of this treatment. Conclusions In conclusion, CAR-modified T cell therapy is a highly promising treatment for cancer, having already demonstrated both promising preclinical and clinical results. However, further modification and additional clinical trials will need to be conducted to ultimately optimize the anti-tumor efficacy of this approach. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A review of reporting systems and terminology for urine cytology

Urine cytology continues to play an important role in the diagnosis and management of urothelial carcinoma, a common cancer of adults with significant morbidity and mortality. Because of its high sensitivity for high-grade urothelial tumors, including lesions that may be cystoscopically occult, urine cytology nicely compliments cystoscopic examination, a method that detects most low-grade tumors. Over the decades, several reporting schemes for urine cytology have been published in the literature, each of which has relative strengths and weaknesses. Unlike cervical cytology, there has not been widespread acceptance and use of any particular reporting scheme for urine cytology studies. Thus, terminology and criteria for urine cytology reporting are not uniform among pathologists, which can frustrate clinicians and hinders interlaboratory comparisons.
Level I to III craniofacial approaches based on Barrow classification for treatment of skull base meningiomas: surgical technique, microsurgical anatomy, and case illustrations.

Object Although craniofacial approaches to the midline skull base have been defined and surgical results have been published, clear descriptions of these complex approaches in a step-wise manner are lacking. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the surgical technique of craniofacial approaches based on Barrow classification (Levels I–III) and to study the microsurgical anatomy pertinent to these complex craniofacial approaches. Methods Ten adult cadaveric heads perfused with colored silicone and 24 dry human skulls were used to study the microsurgical anatomy and to demonstrate craniofacial approaches in a step-wise manner. In addition to cadaveric studies, case illustrations of anterior skull base meningiomas were presented to demonstrate the clinical application of the first 3 (Levels I–III) approaches. Results Cadaveric head dissection was performed in 10 heads using craniofacial approaches. Ethmoid and sphenoid sinuses, cribriform plate, orbit, planum sphenoidale, clivus, sellar, and parasell...
σ- and π-Aryl nitrenium ions

It is suggested that N-acyl-N-acetoxyarylamines solvolyse readily via a π-nitrenium ion, whereas N-alkyl-N-acetoxyarylamines, which would have to react viaa σ-nitrenium ion, are stable to solvolysis.
Free Web-Based Statistical Analysis: A Viable Option for Human-Service Agencies

This brief report describes the usability of web-based procedures (graphing, descriptive statistics, and inferential statistics) for human-service agencies. Observations indicate that benefits to using these web-based statistical procedures include the plethora of available procedures, the available help files, the outputs mimic those of desktop statistical programs, and outputs can be copied and pasted into agency documents. Drawbacks included the inability to save data and the need for a priori knowledge about statistical procedures. In conclusion, web-based procedures are a reasonable alternative for agencies who cannot afford expensive statistical software.
The Biology of Haemophilus influenzae Type b Vaccination Failure

Vaccination with unconjugated polysaccharide vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) disease at a median age of 25 months was not effective in a group of children who developed Hib disease at a median age of 35 months. This group had normal serum immunoglobulin concentrations but impaired anticapsular antibody responses to Hib infection and to reimmunization with unconjugated polysaccharide. Another group vaccinated with conjugated polysaccharide vaccine at a median age of 18 months developed Hib disease at a median age of 24 months. Of this group, 40% had subnormal immunoglobulin concentrations, particularly IgG2, and showed impaired antibody responses to Hib infection, whereas those with normal immunoglobulin concentrations showed high antibody responses to Hib infection. In both vaccination failure groups, low antibody responders to infection responded to revaccination with Hib conjugate, and most children expressed the idiotype HibId-1 in convalescent or postrevaccination sera. The presence of this idiotype implies that vaccination failure did not result from an inability to use the V kappa II A2 variable region gene, which is used in the anticapsular antibody response of most healthy children.
Multimode subsurface sensing and imaging for land mine detection

The problem of detecting the many types of non-metallic land mines in the presence of widely varying soil background and irrelevant underground clutter is an example of one of the most difficult subsurface sensing problems. The application of a variety of different sensing techniques and modalities, and particularly the processing and fusing of the information from these sensors with signal-processing techniques that take account of the physical operating characteristics of each sensor, appears to be the way to make progress in such challenging applications. The progress of the Northeastern University multi-sensor demining effort funded through the Army Research Office's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative is surveyed as an example of how this strategy can work.
Structure of thecis-syn photodimer of 6-methyluracil crystallized with a molecule of water

This is the first reported structure analysis of a cyclobutyl type photodimer obtained from the irradiation of thymine, uracil or its derivatives which contains water in the crystal lattice. Thecis-syn 6-methyluracil photodimer. H2O gives anomalous nmr and ir spectral data which may correlate with the crystal structure. The material crystallizes in space groupP21/a with unit cell parametersa = 15·58 A,b = 11·33 A,c = 7·28 A and β = 107·2 °. Channels are formed in the crystal lattice which contain the H2O molecules. Each H2O molecule participates in hydrogen bonding to three different dimer molecules. The puckered cyclobutyl ring is significantly flatter than in the anhydrouscis-syn uracil photodimer and differences in the configurations of the uracil residues occur. The structure was solved by means of the symbolic addition procedure.
Perturbed nonlinear differential equations

The existence of a solution defined for all t and possessing a type of boundedness property is established for the perturbed nonlinear system y = f(t,y) + F(t,y). The unperturbed system x = f(t,x) has a dichotomy in which some solutions exist and are well behaved as t increases to infinity, and some solution exists and are well behaved as t decreases to minus infinity. A similar study is made for a perturbed nonlinear differential equation defined on a half line, R+, and the existence of a family of solutions with special boundedness properties is established. The ideas are applied to integral manifolds.
Waves in Fractal Media

The term fractal was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot to denote an object that is broken or fractured in space or time. Fractals provide appropriate models for many media for some finite range of length scales with lower and upper cutoffs. Fractal geometric structures with cutoffs are called pre-fractals. By fractal media, we mean media with pre-fractal geometric structures. The basis of this study is the recently formulated extension of continuum thermomechanics to such media. The continuum theory is based on dimensional regularization, in which we employ fractional integrals to state global balance laws. The global forms of governing equations are cast in forms involving conventional (integer-order) integrals, while the local forms are expressed through partial differential equations with derivatives of integer order. Using Hamilton’s principle, we derive the equations of motion of a fractal elastic solid under finite strains. Next, we consider one-dimensional models and obtain equations governing nonlinear waves in such a solid. Finally, we study shock fronts in linear viscoelastic solids under small strains. In all the cases, the derived equations for fractal media depend explicitly on fractal dimensions and reduce to conventional forms for continuous media with Euclidean geometries upon setting the dimensions to integers.
Increasing returns, multinationals and geography of preferential trade agreements

Abstract This paper uses a model of horizontal multinational enterprises to explore the relationship between transportation costs and trade policy cooperation. Tariffs have the effect of attracting foreign direct investment to the benefit of consumers in the host country. As transport costs fall, the incentive to impose tariffs falls and the benefits to cooperation rise. Thus, in a repeated game in which cooperation is limited by a self-enforcement constraint, a reduction in transport costs facilitates free trade. This logic is applied to a three-country model to examine preferential trade agreements. It is found that if any country is too distant from the others, then global free trade is not attainable. Rather, if two of the countries are within a critical distance of each other and distant from the third country, then the unique outcome is an exclusive free trade agreement between the two adjacent countries. Thus, the model predicts a strong regional bias in preferential trade agreements.
Rearfoot strikers have smaller resultant tibial accelerations at foot contact than non-rearfoot strikers

Purpose Overuse injuries are common in recreational runners. Recent reports have implicated the characteristics of the footstrike in the etiology of stress responses in the tibia. This has motivated efforts to modify the loading at footstrike by altering the orientation of the foot at first contact. The present study aimed to: 1) report typical magnitudes of resultant tibial acceleration (TA) in women distance runners; 2) contrast TA in rearfoot and non-rearfoot striking runners; and 3) examine TA during non-natural footstrike patterns in runners. Method We used a leg-mounted tri-axial acceleration monitoring unit to measure TA and angular velocities. Twenty injury-free women distance runners (age 27.8±3.7 years, height 168.1±6.2 cm, body mass 59.2±7.3 kg, weekly mileage >20) participated in the study. The sensor was positioned 5cm above the medial malleolus along the medial tibial border and tensioned to 22N with a Velcro strap. Multiple 60-second running trials at 3.13 m/s on a force-measuring treadmill (Kistler 9287 plate) were collected.
Complex spectrally arbitrary zero–nonzero patterns

In this article, we highlight interesting properties of complex spectrally arbitrary zero–nonzero patterns. In particular, we investigate irreducible complex spectrally arbitrary zero–nonzero patterns for which all Jacobians are zero at every nilpotent realization. We also study complex spectrally arbitrary patterns whose corresponding directed graph does not contain a two-cycle. Lastly, we provide a complete list of all 3 × 3 and 4 × 4 complex spectrally arbitrary zero–nonzero patterns.
Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters in General Medicine

Objective To report the success rate and complications associated with peripherally inserted central venous catheters (PICCs) and to compare costs between PICCs and centrally inserted central catheters. Material and Methods We undertook a cohort study of the first 1,000 patients referred to the PICC service of a large tertiary-care, university-affiliated, community hospital. The data were analyzed for insertion success rate, insertion mode, complication rate, successful completion, insertion costs, and applicability of PICCs in "high-risk" groups (transplant, human immunodeficiency virus-infected, intensivecare unit, and pediatric populations). Results Of 1,000 consecutive PICC attempts, 963 (96.3%) were successful. Cutdown procedures were necessary in 141 insertions (14.6%). Complications of PICC placement occurred in 170 cases (17.7%). Among the major complications were a need for multiple attempts at insertion in 92 cases, malpositioning in 56, mechanical phlebitis in 37, clotting in 37, and bleeding in 5. The rate for completion of therapy was 68.9%. Frequent reasons for early termination were dislodgment (in 85 cases) and infection (in 72—37 confirmed and 35 potential cases). The rate of confirmed infection was 11 per 10,000 catheter days. The costs of PICC insertion were less than those associated with centrally inserted central catheters. Conclusion PICCs can satisfy long-term vascular needs and are safe in many patient populations. The infection rate did not depend on insertion mode, lumen number, or patient's immune status. Use of total parenteral nutrition was the most important risk factor in all patient subsets. Cost and safety considerations strongly favor PICCs as alternatives to other vascular access devices.
Informed edge linking using a directional potential function

Low level edge detection operators usually do not generate contiguous edges, leaving objects in images with discontinuous borders. This, coupled with inherent signal noises, makes it difficult to identify objects in images. Here we describe a new algorithm that connects disjoint edge pixels to form continual object boundaries. We model the edge images as potential fields deployed with energies at the edge pixel positions all over the images. Pixels at the edge disjoint positions are charged by the combining forces of these edge pixels in proportion to the relative distances and directions of these pixels. An intrinsic part of the process is the identification of terminal edge pixels (TEP), accompanying with a classification of edge pixels in terms of the pixel connection patterns, to provide critical information for possible connectivity of edge segments. The algorithm applies a potential evaluation function to measure the likelihood of edge linking in certain directions for given TEPs. To reduce the computational overhead and improve the efficiency of the algorithm, an informed search method is used to locate significant edge pixels that present the most strong linking forces to a given TEP. The potential value for the TEP is calculated with respect to the edge directions dominated by the linking forces. When the potential value exceeds a given threshold in a direction, an extension is made at the TEP position in that direction. The process iterates until desired results are attained, using a global edge pattern evaluation scheme.
ANTAGONISM BY ENDOTHELIN OF CENTRALLY MEDIATED CARDIOVASCULAR EFFECTS OF POTASSIUM IN ANAESTHETIZED RATS

SUMMARY 1. We have previously demonstrated that cerebroventricular administration of potassium chloride (KCI) solutions produces dose-dependent reductions in blood pressure and heart rate in anaesthetized rats and that these effects are significantly attenuated by ouabain, a selective inhibitor of the Na+-pump. These observations suggest an important relationship between Na+, K+-ATPase activity in the central nervous system (CNS) and neural mechanisms involved in the regulation of cardiovascular function. 2. Since endothelin-1 (ET-1) has been shown to affect various ion transport mechanisms, including the Na+-pump, the present studies were conducted to evaluate whether this peptide would antagonize central effects of KCI. 3. The present studies demonstrate that cumulative doses of ET-1 (0.8–3.2 pmol, intracerebrolateral ventricular administration, i.c.v.) produced significant attenuation of hypotension and bradycardia produced by i.c.v. injections of KCI (0.75 μmol/5 μL, i.c.v.); in a separate series, a single high dose of ET-1 (4.0 pmol, i.c.v.) significantly reduced cardiovascular responses to various doses of KCI (0.375, 0.75, 1.25 μmol/5μL, i.c.v.). 4. These studies suggest that endothelin may be involved in the regulation of arterial pressure since it is present in CNS and possesses a ouabain-like effect. However, it is not conclusive that ET-1 inhibits neuronal Na+-pump, since alternative mechanisms can also account for the efficacy of the peptide to antagonize central effects of potassium chloride.
Active specific immunotherapy with hapten-modified autologous melanoma cell vaccine.

We have developed a novel approach to cancer immunotherapy – an autologous whole-cell vaccine modified with the hapten dinitrophenyl (DNP). This approach elicits significant inflammatory responses in metastatic sites and some objective tumor responses. Post-surgical adjuvant immunotherapy with DNP-modified melanoma vaccine in a setting of micrometastatic disease produces significant survival prolongation in stage III melanoma patients. Histologically, the inflammatory responses of the tumor consist of infiltration by lymphocytes, the majority of which are CD8+, HLA-DR+ T cells. T cells from these lesions tend to have mRNA for interferon γ. T cell receptor analysis suggests that the tumor-infiltrating T cells are clonally expanded. DNP-modified vaccine also induces T cells in the peripheral blood, which respond to DNP-modified autologous cells in a hapten-specific, MHC-restricted manner. Moreover, a T cell line generated from these lymphocytes responded to only a single HPLC fraction of MHC-associated, DNP-modified tumor peptides. Since inflammatory responses in metastases were not consistently associated with dramatic tumor regression, we considered the possibility of immunosuppression at the tumor site. We found that mRNA for the anti-inflammatory cytokine, interleukin-10 (IL-10) is expressed in most metastatic melanoma tissues and subsequently demonstrated that IL-10 protein is produced by melanoma cells. Thus the efficacy of DNP vaccine could be further enhanced by inhibition of IL-10 production or binding. Finally, we expect these results obtained with melanoma to be applicable to other human cancers.
Effect (or Lack Thereof) of Ancillary Groups on the Preparation and Spectroscopic Properties of Ruthenium Silyl Complexes Containing the Cp(PR3)2Ru Moiety

The preparation and characterization of Cp(PR3)2RuSiX3 [PR3 = PPhMe2, SiX3 = SiCl3 (1), SiHCl2 (2), SiH2Cl (3), SiHMeCl (4), SiH3 (7), SiMeH2 (8), SiMe3 (9); PR3 = PPh2Me, SiX3 = SiCl3 (10), SiHCl2 (5), SiH2Cl (6), SiMeCl2 (11)] are described. Ruthenium silyl complexes 1−6 are prepared by the reaction of the ruthenium hydrides, Cp(PR3)2RuH, with the corresponding chlorosilane, ClSiX3; the ruthenium dihydrides [Cp(PR3)2RuH2]Cl were obtained as coproducts. Increasing the steric demand of the phosphine decreased the reactivity of the corresponding ruthenium hydride toward chlorosilanes. Silyl complexes 1−4 undergo chloride/hydride exchange with LiAlH4 to give the corresponding ruthenium hydrosilyl complexes Cp(PPhMe2)2RuSiHX2 [SiHX2 = SiH3 (7), SiMeH2 (8)]. Methylation of 1 with AlMe3 produces Cp(PPhMe2)2RuSiMe3 (9). Complexes 10 and 11 were prepared by the reaction of Cp(PPh2Me)2RuMe with neat hydrosilanes HSiX3 (SiX3 = SiCl3, SiMeCl2) at 100 °C. The effects of the silicon substituents on the spectroscopic ...
Assessing and managing the risks of accidental releases of hazardous gas: A case study of natural gas wells contaminated with hydrogen sulfide

Abstract Natural gas wells contaminated with the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide (i.e., sour-gas wells) pose potential health risks to workers and to nearby residents. The health risks are a function of the dose-response relationship of hydrogen sulfide, the likelihood of accidental releases, gaseous emission rates, the nature of releases at the well head, dispersion of the emitted gas, and the characteristics of the population at risk. We discuss each of these factors and present a risk analysis of a hypothetical sour-gas well in the vicinity of Evanston, WY. We found that the greatest risks for life-threatening effects would occur in the northwest downwind sector after a horizontal release of gas at the well. Subacute effects (e.g., respiratory irritation) after a vertical release of gas would occur primarily to the northeast. Management of health risks involves the use of techniques for preventing inadvertent releases and methods for limiting population exposures.
CPOE workarounds, boundary objects, and assemblages

We conducted an ethnographically based study at a large teaching hospital to examine clinician workarounds engendered by the adoption of a Computerized Prescribe Order Entry (CPOE) system. Specifically, we investigated how adoption of computerized systems may alter medical practice, order management in particular, as manifested through the working-around behavior developed by doctors and nurses to accommodate the changes in their day-to-day work environment. In this paper, we focus on clinicians' workarounds, including those workarounds that gradually disappeared and those that have become routinized. Further, we extend the CSCW concept of boundary object (to "assemblage") in order to understand the workarounds created with CPOE system use and the changing nature of clinical practices that are increasingly computerized.
HIV Disease: Current Concepts

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes a chronic, progressive, immune deficiency disease, the most severe phase of which is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV is a newly characterized human retrovirus transmitted only by direct exposure to blood or blood derivatives, certain acts of sexual intercourse, or transfer from infected mother to fetus or infant. In this article the author reviews the most important current epidemiologic, clinical, and virologic information about HIV and HIV disease and provides a factual framework for understanding the issues created by the epidemic.
The Art of Being Indispensable Noncharismatic Personalism in Contemporary Political Parties

Max Weber's theory of leadership authority has deeply influenced theories of political parties, but Weber's concept of charisma is often used indiscriminately to refer to all kinds of personalist l...
On the homology of Lie groups made discrete.

Here the homology of BG ~ is just the usual Eilenberg-MacLane homology of the uncountably infinite discrete group G 8. These homology groups are of interest in algebraic K-theory (see for example Quillen), in the study of bundles with flat connection (Milnor, 1958), in the theory of foliations (Haefliger, 1973), and also in the study of scissors congruence of polyhedra (Dupont and Sah). They are difficult to compute, and tend to be rather wild. For example if G is non-trivial and connected, then Sah and Wagoner show that HE(BG~;Z) maps onto an uncountable rational vector space. (See also Harris.) The homology and cohomology groups of BG, on the other hand, are much better behaved and better understood. (Borel, 1953.) In w we will see that this Isomorphism Conjecture is true whenever the component of the identity in G is solvable. If it is true for simply-connected simple groups, then it is true for all Lie groups. It is always true for 1-dimensional homology, and is true in a number of interesting special cases for 2-dimensional homology. (See w For higher dimensional computations which tend to support the conjecture, see Karoubi, p. 256, Parry and Sah, as well as Thomason. Another partial result is the following (w If G has only finitely many components, then for any finite coefficient group A the homomorphism H.(BGS; A) --~ H,(BG; A) is split surjective. Thus we obtain a direct sum decomposition
Renal vasodilatory effect of endothelial stimulation in patients with chronic congestive heart failure

Abstract Objectives. This study sought to examine the vasodilatory response of the renal circulation to endothelial stimulation in patients with chronic heart failure. Background. Renal blood flow is often reduced in patients with chronic congestive heart failure and may lead to deterioration of renal function. Stimulation of renal endothelium has been shown to cause renal vasodilation in animals and in isolated human renal artery. The vasoregulatory role of the renal endothelium in patients with heart failure has not been evaluated. Methods. Renal vasodilatory effect of endothelial stimulation with acetylcholine was assessed and compared with that of endothelial-independent vasodilation with nitroglycerin. Both drugs were infused into the main renal artery. Renal artery cross-sectional area was measured with intravascular ultrasound and renal blood flow velocity with the aid of an intravascular Doppler technique. Results. Both drugs caused a significant and comparable increase in renal artery cross-sectional area (maximal increase [mean ± SE] 14 ± 5% with acetylcholine, 15 ± 5% with nitroglycerin; both changes Conclusions. Stimulation of endothelium-derived nitric oxide with acetylcholine results in a significant vasodilatory effect on both conductance and resistance renal blood vessels and leads to a marked reduction in renal vascular resistance and enhancement of renal blood flow. Nitroglycerin, an exogenous nitric oxide donor, caused a selective vasodilatory effect on renal conductance but not on resistance blood vessels and failed to increase renal blood flow. These data suggest the possibility that stimulation of endogenous nitric oxide production in the kidney could be used as a therapeutic target for enhancement of renal flow in patients with heart failure.
(100) surface segregation in Cu-Ni alloys

Atomistic simulations of segregation to the (100) free surface in Ni-Cu alloys have been performed for a wide range of temperatures and compositions within the solid-solution region of the alloy phase diagram. In addition to the surface-segregation profile, surface structures, free energies, enthalpies, and entropies were determined. These simulations were performed within the framework of the free-energy simulation method, in which an approximate free-energy functional is minimized with respect to atomic coordinates and atomic-site occupation. For all alloy bulk compositions (0.05\ensuremath{\le}C\ensuremath{\le}0.95) and temperatures (400\ensuremath{\le}T\ensuremath{\le}1000 K) examined, Cu segregates strongly to the surface and Ni segregates to the planes just below the surface. The width of the segregation profile is limited to approximately three atomic planes. The resultant segregation profiles are shown to be in good agreement with an empirical segregation theory. A simpler method for determining the equilibrium segregation in terms of the properties of unrelaxed pure Ni and pure Cu surface data is proposed and shown to be more accurate than the existing empirical segregation analyses. The surface thermodynamic properties depend sensitively on the magnitude of the surface segregation. The enthalpy, entropy of segregation, and the change in the interlayer spacing adjacent to the surface are shown to vary linearly with the magnitude of the surface segregation.