cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cost-Effectiveness of Surgery, Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, and Systemic Therapy for Pulmonary Oligometastases.

Introduction Pulmonary oligometastases have conventionally been managed with surgery and/or systemic therapy. However, given concerns about the high cost of systemic therapy and improvements in local treatment of metastatic cancer, the optimal cost-effective management of these patients is unclear. Therefore, we sought to assess the cost-effectiveness of initial management strategies for pulmonary oligometastases. Methods and Materials A cost-effectiveness analysis using a Markov modeling approach was used to compare average cumulative costs, quality adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) among 3 initial disease management strategies: video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) wedge resection, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and systemic therapy among 5 different cohorts of patient disease: ( 1 ) melanoma; ( 2 ) non-small cell lung cancer adenocarcinoma without an EGFR mutation (NSCLC AC); ( 3 ) NSCLC with an EGFR mutation (NSCLC EGFRm AC); ( 4 ) NSCLC squamous cell carcinoma (NSCLC SCC); and ( 5 ) colon cancer. One-way sensitivity analyses and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to analyze uncertainty with regard to model parameters. Results In the base case, SBRT was cost effective for melanoma, with costs/net QALYs of $467,787/0.85. In patients with NSCLC, the most cost-effective strategies were SBRT for AC ($156,725/0.80), paclitaxel/carboplatin for SCC ($123,799/0.48), and erlotinib for EGFRm AC ($147,091/1.90). Stereotactic body radiation therapy was marginally cost-effective for EGFRm AC compared to erlotinib with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $126,303/QALY. For colon cancer, VATS wedge resection ($147,730/2.14) was the most cost-effective strategy. Variables with the greatest influence in the model were erlotinib-associated progression-free survival (EGFRm AC), toxicity (EGFRm AC), cost of SBRT (NSCLC SCC), and patient utilities (all histologies). Conclusions Video-assisted thoracic surgery wedge resection or SBRT can be cost-effective in select patients with pulmonary oligometastases, depending on histology, efficacy, and tolerability of treatment and patient preferences.
A clinical study of serum glutamic oxalacetic transaminase isoenzymes in liver diseases.

SummaryA reproducible and simple chromatographic method with DEAE-Sephadex was used for fractionation of GOT isoenzymes. In the sera of health individuals three distinct isoenzymes were found. In patients with liver diseases, the SGOT isoenzyme distribution was distorted. Two isoenzymes, (A1 and B), were substantially increased, whereas the third one (A2) remained the same. More striking changes were noticed in acute viral hepatitis. Isoenzyme A2 was not detectable, and the isoenzyme pattern was similar to that in liver homogenates. A possible explanation of this altered isoenzyme distribution was discussed. The change of isoenzymes in the sera reflect more precisely the extent of the hepatocellular damage, rather than the total GOT activity.
Noise Mechanisms Investigation in Shock Containing Screeching Jets Using Optical Deflectometry

Density gradient fluctuations throughout shock containing jets are investigated using an Optical Deflectometry system. Experiments are conducted exclusively on cold jets and mainly focus on a Md = 1.0, Mj = 1.5 shock containing jet. Acoustic measurements on screech suppression techniques help assess the importance of suppressing the screech in order to obtain accurate OD measurements of the turbulence within shock containing jets. Convection velocities and decay rates of the turbulent structures are calculated from axial cross-correlation measurements in the shear layer in an attempt to provide reliable parameters for modeling of the broadband shock associated noise, BBSAN. Density gradient fluctuations along the shear layer are measured and confirm the belief that this noise generation is located at the intersection of the shock cells with the mixing layer. Finally, cross-correlation measurements across the shear layer demonstrate the skewed nature of the convecting turbulent structures in shock containing as well as shock free jets.
Motion Artifact Cancellation of Seismocardiographic Recording From Moving Subjects

This paper presents a novel method of extracting seismocardiographic (SCG) data from moving adult subjects recorded via micro-electromechanical (MEMS) accelerometers. A digital signal processing system based on the normalized least mean square (NLMS) adaptive filter design is developed in MATLAB to process the signals collected from the MEMS sensor node. Standardized experiments were performed on 40 moving adult subjects. False-positives were ruled out for a more precise detection rate. The research on sliding ensemble average was also conducted to find the minimum required window size. The results indicate a detection rate of 96% and a sliding window size of 32 intervals for robust continuous monitoring, showing that adaptive filtering could be a promising technique for the cancellation of motion noise artifacts from SCG recordings in moving subjects.
Conditional Random Fields, Planted Satisfaction, and Entropy Concentration

This paper studies a class of probabilistic models on graphs, where edge variables depend on incident node variables through a fixed probability kernel. The class includes planted constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs), as well as more general structures motivated by coding and community clustering problems. It is shown that under mild assumptions on the kernel, the conditional entropy of the node variables given the edge variables concentrates around a deterministic threshold. This implies in particular the concentration of the number of solutions in a broad class of planted CSPs, the existence of a threshold function for the disassortative stochastic block model, and the proof of a conjecture posed by [RKPSS10] on parity check codes. It also establishes new connections among coding, clustering and satisfiability. ∗ Department of Electrical Engineering and Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics, Princeton University, Email: eabbe@princeton.edu † Departments of Electrical Engineering and Statistics, Stanford University, Email: montanari@stanford.edu
Penicillium endocarditis of aortic valve prosthesis

This report concerns the first case of Penicillium endocarditis developing on an aortic valve prosthesis. The patient died 74 days after implantation of the Starr-Edwards prosthesis. Penicillium is a saprophytic fungus and only occasionally is pathogenic. Endocarditis due to various fungal organisms is uncommon but is increasing in frequency. This report summarizes suggested combined medical and surgical treatment.
A Distance Dependence to Lateral Self-Exchange across Nanocrystalline TiO2. A Comparative Study of Three Homologous RuIII/II Polypyridyl Compounds

Self-exchange intermolecular RuIII/II electron transfer, a process commonly referred to as “hole-hopping”, is of great interest as it provides a means of charge transport across the surface of nanocrystalline (anatase) TiO2 mesoporous thin films without the loss of free energy. This process was characterized by cyclic voltammetry and chronoabsorptometry for three homologous Ru diimine compounds of the general form [Ru(LL)2(dcbH2)](PF6)2, where LL is 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy), 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (dmb), or 4,4′-di-tert-butyl-2,2′-bipyridine (dtb) and dcbH2 is 2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid. Apparent electron diffusion coefficients, D, abstracted from this data increased with dtb < bpy < dmb. Both techniques were consistent with this trend, despite differences in the magnitude of D between the two methods. Temperature dependent measurements revealed an activation barrier for electron self-exchange of 250 ± 50 meV that was within this error the same for all three diimine compounds, suggesting th...
Control effectiveness of FACTS devices in power systems

This paper analyzes the fault tolerant control of a power grid with FACTS devices. Control effectiveness measures the small signal combined controllability and observability of a power system with tolerance to prescribed contingencies. This paper also focuses on the roles of FACTS devices in affecting the grids redundancy architecture. Under the small-signal modeling framework of the paper and the previously defined notion of control effectiveness, it is shown that introduction of FACTS devices always improves system control effectiveness. The device placement results on a 9-bus system are studied for their control effectiveness.
The Effect of Peer Review on the Quality of Data Graphs in Annals of Emergency Medicine

Study objective We determine how peer review affects the quality of published data graphs and how the appointment of a graphics editor affects the quality of graphs in an academic medical journal. Methods We conducted an observational time-series analysis to quantify the qualities of data graphs in original manuscripts and published research articles in Annals of Emergency Medicine from 2006 to 2012. We retrospectively analyzed 3 distinct periods: before the use of a graphics editor, graph review after a manuscript's acceptance, and graph review just before the first request for revision. Raters blinded to study year scored the quality of original and published graphs using an 85-item instrument. Editorial comments about graphs were classified into 4 major and 16 minor categories. Results We studied 60 published articles and their corresponding original submissions during each period (2006, 2009, and 2012). The number of graphs increased 31%, their median data density increased 50%, and quality (completeness [+42%], visual clarity [+64%], and special features [+66%]) increased from submission to publication in all 3 periods. Although geometric mean (0.69, 0.86, and 1.2 pieces of information/cm 2 ) and median data density (0.44, 0.70, and 1.2 pieces of information/cm 2 ) were higher in the graphics editor phases, mean data density, completeness, visual clarity, and other markers of quality did not improve or decreased with dedicated graphics editing. The majority of published graphs were bar or pie graphs (49%, 53%, and 60% in 2006, 2009, and 2012, respectively) with low data density in all 3 years. Conclusion Peer review unquestionably improved graph quality. However, data densities of most graphs barely exceeded that of printed text, and many graphs failed to present the majority of available data and did not convey those data clearly; there remains much room for improvement. The timing of graphics editor involvement appears to affect the effect of the graph review process.
Dual Structured Light 3D Using a 1D Sensor

Structured light-based 3D reconstruction methods often illuminate a scene using patterns with 1D translational symmetry such as stripes, Gray codes or sinusoidal phase shifting patterns. These patterns are decoded using images captured by a traditional 2D sensor. In this work, we present a novel structured light approach that uses a 1D sensor with simple optics and no moving parts to reconstruct scenes with the same acquisition speed as a traditional 2D sensor. While traditional methods compute correspondences between columns of the projector and 2D camera pixels, our ‘dual’ approach computes correspondences between columns of the 1D camera and 2D projector pixels. The use of a 1D sensor provides significant advantages in many applications that operate in short-wave infrared range (0.9–2.5 microns) or require dynamic vision sensors (DVS), where a 2D sensor is prohibitively expensive and difficult to manufacture. We analyze the proposed design, explore hardware alternatives and discuss the performance in the presence of ambient light and global illumination.
Tuberculosis and Physical Activity

(1934). Tuberculosis and Physical Activity. The Journal of Health and Physical Education: Vol. 5, No. 8, pp. 7-46.
Inception of cavitation clouds by scattered shockwaves

Previous observations of cavitation clouds forming during a single, multi-cycle ( 80 um in diameter results in negative pressure above the 30 MPa threshold, while scattering from a spherical bubble 80%. 3) The region over which high negative pressure occurred in simulation coincided with the region cavitation is typically observed with high speed imaging. These results further support our hypothesis and suggest that a sufficiently large deformed bubble, short shock rise time, and high frequency harmonics are necessary to initiate a cloud cavitation within a pulse.
The Relationships of Expectancies With E-cigarette Use Among Hospitalized Smokers: A Prospective Longitudinal Study.

Background Expectancies demonstrate cross-sectional associations with e-cigarette use, but the prospective relationships between expectancies and e-cigarette use are unknown. This study examined the longitudinal associations of expectancies with e-cigarette use among hospitalized tobacco cigarette smokers. Methods E-cigarette expectancies (e-cigarette-specific Brief Smoking Consequences Questionnaire-Adult [BSCQ-A]), tobacco cigarette expectancies (tobacco-specific BSCQ-A), and number of days used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days were assessed at baseline hospitalization, 6-months post-hospitalization, and 12-months post-hospitalization among 978 hospitalized tobacco cigarette smokers. Expectancy difference scores (e-cigarette-specific expectancies minus tobacco-specific expectancies) were computed for each of the 10 BSCQ-A scales. Cross-lagged panel models tested the relationships between expectancy difference scores and number of days used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days for each of the 10 BSCQ-A scales. Results Though some models revealed partial associations between expectancies and e-cigarette use, only one yielded results consistent with hypotheses. Greater e-cigarette use at baseline predicted greater expectancies that e-cigarettes taste pleasant as compared to tobacco cigarettes at 6 months, which then predicted greater e-cigarette use at 12 months. To a lesser degree greater expectancies that e-cigarettes taste pleasant as compared to tobacco cigarettes at baseline predicted greater e-cigarette use at 6 months, which then predicted greater expectancies that e-cigarettes taste pleasant as compared to tobacco cigarettes at 12 months. Conclusions Expectancies that e-cigarettes provide similar or more pleasant taste sensations as compared to tobacco cigarettes may be both a cause and consequence of e-cigarette use. Focusing on the taste experience may prove most effective in modifying e-cigarette use behavior. Implications The current study offers the first longitudinal examination of expectancies and e-cigarette use. Results suggest expectancies that e-cigarettes provide similar or more pleasant taste sensations relative to tobacco cigarettes are both a cause and consequence of e-cigarette use. Efforts that focus on the e-cigarette taste experience may prove most effective in modifying e-cigarette use behavior.
A Qualitative Application of the Belsky Model to Explore Early Care and Education Teachers' Mealtime History, Beliefs, and Interactions

Abstract Objective Studies on factors associated with nutrition practices in early care and education settings often focus on sociodemographic and programmatic characteristics. This qualitative study adapted and applied Belsky's determinants of parenting model to inform a broader exploration of Early Care and Education Teachers (ECETs) practices. Design Qualitative cross-sectional study with ECETs. Setting The researchers interviewed ECETs in their communities across a Southern state. Participants Purposive sampling was employed to recruit ECETs (n = 28) from Head Start or state-funded centers serving low-income families. Phenomenon of Interest Developmental histories of ECETs regarding food and nutrition, beliefs about child nutrition, and teaching interactions related to food. Analysis Qualitative interviews were coded using a deductive content analysis approach. Results Three distinct interrelationships were observed across the themes. First, rules and routines regarding food and mealtime in the educators' childhood often aligned with educator beliefs and behaviors at meals in their classroom. Second, some ECETs described motivations to leave a healthy food legacy for children in their class. Finally, an experience of food insecurity appeared in narratives that also emphasized making sure children got enough through various strategies. Conclusions and Implications The influence of ECET developmental histories and their related beliefs can be addressed through professional development and ongoing support. Future study should quantify model constructs in a larger sample and study their relationships over time.
Achieving Health Equity and Social Justice Through Music: Music as a Global Resource

This chapter focuses on the history and mission of Music as a Global Resource (MAGR), a global initiative to facilitate using music to address critical social, economic and health issues. To date, successfully operating programmes show music to be a powerful, cost-effective strategy in five areas: sustainable community development, mental and physical health problems, working with trauma survivors, lifelong learning and peace building. Two UN landmark initiatives are also discussed in this chapter: the recently completed 15-year Millennium Development Goals initiative and the recently adopted 15-year Sustainable initiative. Initiatives such as these, together with the recommendations discussed in this chapter, should greatly expand the use of music to help achieve health equity, social justice and enhance the quality of life for all.
Continuum of Care Program

The Continuum of Care Program promotes innovation of new processes and systems to ensure high compliance of evidence based care. It emphasizes teamwork, staff empowerment, collaboration across care settings and the development of new pathways outside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and hospital. The program eliminates the notion of discharge, and promotes high quality programs in each care setting as patients are most vulnerable in the transition from one setting to the next. New innovative programs will be developed to ensure patients have the opportunity to reach their highest level of independence in the most appropriate care setting. The home setting will be emphasized, recognizing this is the most desirable care setting and preferable to institutional care. The Continuum of Care Program will provide the most cost-effective, safe, patient-centered health care.
String Quartet Theory

Why are we including this topic in a book on performance theory? Couldn’t one include any other topic relating to a specific musical genre as well? Solo piano music, operas, what not? The reason for the special role of the string quartet is that this genre has a theory, a re ection about why these four instruments—the two violins, the viola and the violoncello—merge to such a perfect harmony or collaborative music, a theory that is not only relevant sociologically, but also with respect to the intrinsic messaging of musical contents.
Energy Harvesting Networks: Energy Versus Data Cooperation

Data cooperation and energy cooperation have been recently considered for energy-harvesting wireless networks to enhance their performance. In this letter, we investigate the performance tradeoff of data cooperation versus energy cooperation for a three-node relay network, comprised of a source, relay, and destination, and the results can be generalized. In the data cooperation scenario, we use an existing optimal scheme to optimize the system performance. In the energy cooperation scenario, we derive the system performance and optimize it over the amount of energy transferred from the relay to the source. We show that the best cooperation technique depends on the energy harvesting and energy depletion rates of the relay and the energy transfer efficiency.
Stereotactic ablative radiation therapy for the treatment of oligometastatic prostate cancer.

5020Background: The importance of local treatment in oligometastatic prostate cancer (OPC) is unknown. Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) is highly focused, high-dose radiation that is well ...
Analysis across multiple tumor types provides no evidence that mutant p53 exerts dominant negative activity

Missense mutations in the TP53-binding domain predominate, and >30% of these occur in just eight codons. Dominant negative properties of mutant p53, taken together with the mutation susceptibility of the nucleotides in the codon, are believed to explain the prevalence of specific mutations, including hot spots. We analyzed multiple tumor types and found no difference in clinical characteristics or survival between patients with dominant negative p53 mutant tumors and those with TP53 mutations that are predicted to be non-dominant negative. The rate tumors underwent loss of heterozygosity in these respective mutation classes was nearly identical, suggesting that presence of stable, mutant protein with predicted dominant negative activity does not reduce selective pressure to inactivate the wild-type allele. Our data suggest all inactivating mutations of TP53 are equal, and the frequency of dominant negative, hot spot mutations is likely driven more by the relative mutability of the DNA at specific codons.
Tc-99m-MAA lung shunt fraction before Y-90 radioembolization is low among patients with non-hepatocellular carcinoma malignancies.

Objective Lung shunt fraction studies using technetium-99 m macro aggregated albumin are routinely performed before yttrium-90 radioembolization regardless of underlying liver malignancy type. This study evaluates the role of lung shunt fraction studies in hepatocellular carcinoma compared to non-hepatocellular carcinoma liver tumors. Methods A single-institution retrospective analysis of all pre-yttrium-90 technetium-99 m macro aggregated albumin lung shunt fraction studies between November 2012 to March 2018 was performed. Patient variables including age, underlying malignancy, laboratory values, lung shunt fraction, and severity of liver disease were compared between hepatocellular carcinoma and non-hepatocellular carcinoma cases. Results A total of 734 technetium-99 m macro aggregated albumin studies were identified in 653 patients. Among these cases, the liver tumor was hepatocellular carcinoma in 368 (50.1%), colorectal cancer in 112 (15.3%), neuroendocrine tumor in 89 (12.1%), cholangiocarcinoma in 59 (8.0%), breast cancer in 27 (3.7%), and other metastatic malignancies in 79 (10.7%). The mean lung shunt fraction for non-hepatocellular carcinoma cases was 7.4%, which was significantly lower than the mean lung shunt fraction, 11.7%, for hepatocellular carcinoma cases (P = 0.0001). In only one non-hepatocellular carcinoma case was yttrium-90 radioembolization not pursued due to high lung shunt fraction (69.3%), wherein large scale shunting was grossly apparent on angiography in a patient with metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumor. In comparison, the lung shunt fraction was too high to pursue radioembolization in 37 hepatocellular carcinoma cases (mean lung shunt fraction 35.1%). Conclusion Lung shunt fraction appears low among patients with non-hepatocellular carcinoma liver malignancies. Further analysis examining the necessity of pre-Y90 technetium-99 m macro aggregated albumin lung shunt fraction studies in patients with non-hepatocellular carcinoma malignancies is warranted, since a consolidated yttrium-90 radioembolization without prior lung shunt fraction evaluation could reduce resource consumption, improve workflows, and patient access.
Design of membrane actuator based on ferromagnetic shape memory alloy composite for synthetic jet applications

The active flow control (AFC) technology has been studied and shown that it can help aircraft improve aerodynamic performance and jet noise reduction. AFC can be achieved by a synthetic jet actuator injecting high momentum air into the airflow at the appropriate locations on aircraft wings. To produce strong synthetic jet flow at high frequency, a new membrane actuator based on ferromagnetic shape memory alloy (FSMA) composite and hybrid mechanism was designed and constructed. The hybrid mechanism is the stress-induced martensitic phase transformation caused by large force due to large magnetic field gradient, thus enhancing the displacement, as the stiffness of shape memory alloy reduces due to the martensitic transformation. This sequential event can take place within milliseconds. The high momentum airflow will be produced by the oscillation of the circular FSMA composite diaphragm close to its resonance frequency driven by electromagnets. Due to large force and martensitic transformation on the FSMA composite diaphragm, the membrane actuator that we designed can produce 190 m/s synthetic jets at 220 Hz.
Production and Isolation of Magnetic Protein Crystals in HEK293T Cells

Advances in protein engineering have enabled the production of self-assembled protein crystals within living cells. Our recent publication demonstrates the production of ftn-PAK4, which is a ferritin-containing crystal that can mineralize iron and become magnetic when isolated. We have developed an optimized protocol for the production and isolation of PAK4-based crystals. The crystals are first grown in low-passage HEK293T cells, released using a lysis buffer containing NP-40 and DNase, and collected under careful centrifugation conditions. Our protocol maximizes the purity and yield of crystals and is quick and straightforward.
Feasibility of Patient-Created Orff Chant as a Music-Based Intervention in Supportive Cancer Care

A cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment can produce distress symptoms, including pain, anxiety, fatigue, and altered mood. These symptoms can have a negative psychological and physiological impact on patients. Patients may need to engage in supportive care with opportunities for emotional responses associated with the disease and chemotherapy treatment to ameliorate distress symptoms. The purpose of the current study was to assess the feasibility of 2 music-based interventions, 1 traditional and 1 novel, and explore the preliminary efficacy of these interventions as supportive care of cancer patients in outpatient treatment rooms. Supportive care options were: standard care (control), patient-selected singing with accompaniment (traditional), and patient-created chant using the Orff process (novel). Distress outcomes measured were: pain and fatigue using a 0-10 numerical rating scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (state form), and the Profile of Mood States 2 Short Form (for mood and fatigue). After obtaining consent, participants engaged in a single-session of 1 of 3 conditions lasting approximately 30 min. Feasibility measures indicated that the traditional and novel interventions were appropriate for the setting. Results indicated that although not always statistically significant, there were positive changes in pain, fatigue, anxiety, and mood for the 2 music-based conditions over standard care. Conclusions indicate the patient-selected condition was more impactful for pain, anxiety, and mood, while the patient-created chant using the Orff process was more impactful for fatigue. These conclusions might be clinically relevant for therapists pending cancer-related symptoms present during the assessment.
Interference Analysis and Mitigation for Aerial IoT Considering 3D Antenna Patterns

Due to dense deployments of Internet of things (IoT) networks, interference management becomes a critical challenge. With the proliferation of aerial IoT devices, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), interference characteristics in 3D environments will be different than those in the existing terrestrial IoT networks. In this paper, we consider 3D topology IoT networks with a mixture of aerial and terrestrial links, with low-cost cross-dipole antennas at ground nodes and both omni-directional and cross-dipole antennas at aerial nodes. Considering a massive-access communication scenario, we first derive the statistics of the channel gain at IoT receivers in closed form while taking into account the radiation patterns of both ground and aerial nodes. These are then used to calculate the ergodic achievable rate as a function of the height of the aerial receiver and the cumulative interference. We propose a low-complexity interference mitigation scheme that utilizes 3D antenna radiation pattern with different dipole antenna settings. Our results show that using the proposed scheme, the ergodic achievable rate improves as the height of the aerial receivers increases. In addition, we also show that the ratio between the ground and aerial receivers that maximizes the peak rate increases with the height of the aerial IoT receiver.
Influences of Smartphone Operation on Gait and Posture During Outdoor Walking Task

The ubiquity of smartphones has increased the engagement of phone use during street walking. Unfortunately, the risks of accidents and injuries caused by phone distracted walking are often overlook...
Risk of iatrogenic abortion by rectal palpation in the cow

Because current methods of early pregnancy diagnosis will continue to be employed, and clinician must be aware of the vulnerability of the embryo to vigorous palpation. Utmost care must be utilized when combining fluid fluctuation, palpation of the amnionic vesicle, and slipping of the chorioallantoic membrane as criteria for diagnosing pregnancies. Cognizance of possible complications resulting from early pregnancy diagnosis methods by rectal palpation may cause clinicians to redesign their pregnancy diagnosis regimen.
Thyroid Ultrasound Physics

The thyroid is well suited to ultrasound examination due to its size, superficial location, and characteristic echotextures in health and disease. Ultrasound imaging uses the reflection of high frequency sound waves to create a visual image. Unlike electromagnetic energy, sound transmission is dependent on, and greatly influenced by, the conducting medium. Sound is reflected at interfaces of mismatch of acoustic impedance. The resolution of an ultrasound image is dependent on the frequency, the focused beam width, and the quality of the electronic processing. Resolution improves, but the depth of imaging decreases, with higher frequencies. Image artifacts such as shadowing and posterior acoustic enhancement provide useful information, rather than just interfering with creation of a clear image. The current image quality, affordable cost, and ease of performance make real-time ultrasound an integral part of the clinical evaluation of the thyroid patient.
A Self-Consistent Numerical Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Model of Helmet Streamer and Flux-Rope Interactions: Initiation and Propagation of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs)

We present results for an investigation of the interaction of a helmet streamer arcade and a helical flux-rope emerging from the sub-photosphere. These results are obtained by using a three-dimensional axisymmetric, time-dependent ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. Because of the physical nature of the flux-rope, we investigate two types of flux-ropes; (1) high density flux-rope (i.e. flux-rope without cavity), and (2) low density flux rope (i.e. flux-rope with cavity). When the streamer is disrupted by the flux-rope, it will evolve into a configuration resembling the typical observed loop-like Coronal Mass Ejection (CMES) for both cases. The streamer-flux rope system with cavity is easier to be disrupted and the propagation speed of the CME is faster than the streamer-flux rope system without cavity. Our results demonstrate that magnetic buoyancy force plays an important role in disrupting the streamer.
Liquid and Glassy Water: Two Materials of Interdisciplinary Interest

We can superheat water above its boiling temperature and supercool it below its freezing temperature, down to approximately — 40°C, below which water inevitably crystallizes. In this deeply supercooled region, strange things happen: response functions and transport functions appear as if they might diverge to infinity at a temperature of about-45 °C. These experiments were pioneered by Angell and co-workers over the past 30 years [1, 2, 3, 4]. Down in the glassy region of water, additional strange things happen, e.g., there is not just one glassy phase [1]. Rather, just as there is more than one polymorph of crystalline water, so also there appears to be more than one polyamorph of glassy water. The first clear indication of this was a discovery of Mishima in 1985: at low pressure there is one form, called low-density amorphous (LDA) ice [5], while at high pressure Mishima discovered a new form, called highdensity amorphous (HDA) ice [6]. The volume discontinuity separating these two phases is comparable to the volume discontinuity separating low-density and high-density polymorphs of crystalline ice, 25–35 percent [7, 8].
Social Support Can Buffer Against Stress and Shape Brain Activity

Social support from close relationship partners is an important resource for coping with stress, particularly during childhood. We discuss ethical challenges associated with studying stress and its social buffering in the laboratory, as well as emerging evidence regarding two potential neural substrates for the social buffering of stress: hypothalamic oxytocin activity and activation of areas in the prefrontal cortex associated with effective self-regulation. We also address the role of early-life social experiences in shaping brain development, as well as recommendations for practice and policy that would advance the ethical treatment of children and reduce social inequalities in early-life experiences and opportunities-e.g., investing in programs that prevent child maltreatment and facilitating access to high-quality child care for economically disadvantaged families. We also debate the ethical implications of using oxytocin nasal sprays to simulate the stress-reducing properties of social support and advise waiting for more evidence before recommending their use.
Examining the role between the residential neighborhood food environment and diet among low-income households in Detroit, Michigan

Neighborhood food environments have long been thought to play an important role in explaining differentials in dietary intake levels among disadvantaged populations. Yet, many studies have neglected whether or not respondents actually utilize their local food environment. This study utilizes household survey data, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and a negative binomial regression framework to examine the relationship between neighborhood food environments, diet, and shopping behavior among socially and economically marginalized residents living in the lower eastside neighborhoods of Detroit, Michigan. The results provide support for a more nuanced understanding of the role that neighborhood food environments play in shaping consumption. While the number of fast food establishments negatively impacts dietary intake levels regardless of scale and travel patterns, spatial proximity to supermarkets impact wanes as distances increase and shopping behaviors are incorporated. Sociodemographics continue to play a vital role in explaining consumption patterns. Such findings are a direct result of the additional burdens placed on marginalized households to navigate the built-environment in search of affordable, nutritious food staples.
Parallel Video Processing Techniques for Surveillance Applications

In this paper we present several solutions to Security Surveillance and their applications while utilizing parallel processing for improved performance. The algorithms presented in this paper are explained in detail and their implementations are provided for free for educational purposes. These algorithms with their implementations are being taught in our Parallel Processing course utilizing NVidia's Cuda language and framework. We chose the topic of Security Surveillance in our Parallel Processing course because the results are visual and applicable in many situations such as Surveillance of parking lots (monitoring our car for example), dormitory rooms, offices, etc. Image processing techniques and algorithms are discussed in this paper, and extended to real-time high definition video processing focusing on surveillance.
Importance of RDW value in differential diagnosis of hypochrome anemias.

Red cell distribution width (RDW) was studied in adults carrying delta-beta thalassemia traits (deltabeta-TT) who were 20-40 years of age (n = 29), beta thalassemia traits (beta-TT) with an age range of 18-60 years (n = 49), iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in individuals aged 1-18 years (n = 27), and in controls with an age range of 20-40 years (n = 20). Although red blood cell count, MCV, and MCH values showed no statistically significant differences between deltabeta-TT and beta-TT, the mean RDW value was significantly higher in deltabeta-TT (20.14 +/- 1.21) compared to beta-TT (14.88 +/- 1.77) (P 0.05). A significant rise in RDW in IDA 5-7 days after initiation of iron therapy (P = 0.00) which was continued to rise up to the 4(th) week of therapy was suggested as an important tool in differentiation of IDA from deltabeta-TT. These observations could be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of deltabeta-TT from beta-TT and IDA by determining the red blood cell count, red cell indices, and RDW only.
The clinical use of continuous nebulization in bronchopulmonary disease.

1.The mechanisms of respiratory tract obstruction and the serious sequelae are reviewed. The physiological basis and therapeutic rationale of continuous nebulization therapy is presented as a method to correct the factors responsible for obstruction. 2.Clinical applications of equipment for continuous nebulization applied to adult and pediatric medical and surgical chest disease are presented to illustrate the practical value of this therapy. 3.Components of solutions for nebulization therapy are discussed in relation to their function in the control of respiratory obstruction. 4.Recent developments in therapeutic combinations of positive pressure breathing and nebulization are described. 5.The techniques presented may serve to provide immediate support for pulmonary emergencies during a period of national disaster.
The Lambda Sign A New Radiographic Indicator of Latent Syndesmosis Instability

Background:Latent syndesmotic instability is a common cause of chronic ankle pain. The diagnosis is not readily apparent on static imaging as the fibula remains reduced. The hypothesis of this study was that a previously undescribed novel finding on coronal MRI (lambda sign) is an independent indicator of latent syndesmosis instability. We also report on the utility of classic radiographic and physical exam findings.Methods:A total of 23 patients with latent syndesmotic instability diagnosed via arthroscopy (group I) were compared to a cohort of 40 patients who were found to have a stable syndesmosis during arthroscopy for unrelated conditions (group II). A retrospective chart review was performed evaluating their clinical history, preoperative physical examination, and radiologic findings. The lambda sign is a high intensity signal seen on coronal MR imaging that resembles the Greek letter lambda.Results:All of the physical exam findings tested were statistically significant. Pain at the syndesmosis had ...
An exact numerical time integration of scalar equations for undamped structural systems

An exact numerical time integration of scalar equations for undamped structural systems is presented. Typical numerical examples are included to illustrate the use of the proposed procedure.
Invited talk: Automata processor and its applications in bioinformatics

This talk will introduce the Micron Automata Processor, a novel computing architecture that permits massively parallel execution of multiple non-deterministic finite automata. The Automata Processor inspires a new programming paradigm of solving problems using complex pattern matching engines executed over streaming data. The first part of this talk will focus on the processor characteristics, programming and execution environment, and some general algorithm design principles we discovered that are of value in designing applications on the Automata Processor. In the second part, I will describe ongoing work in my research group on solving bioinformatics applications using the Automata Processor. In particular, I will describe a solution to the NP-hard problem of finding motifs in biological sequences. Our solution uses a single Automata Processor board to tackle problem instances much larger than what is reported in the literature so far.
Theory of coherent Raman superradiance imaging of condensed Bose gases

We describe theoretically the dynamics of the off-resonant superradiant Raman scattering of light in a prolate atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, from the initial stages governed by quantum fluctuations to the subsequent semiclassical regime, and within a multimode theory that fully accounts for propagation effects. Our results are in good agreement with recent experimental results that exploit Raman superradiance as an imaging technique to probe the long-range coherence of condensates, including the observed time-dependent spatial features, and account properly for the macroscopic shot-to-shot fluctuations resulting from the quantum noise that initiates the superradiance process.
Insensitivity of the coyote testis to orally administered cadmium.

Abstract A study was conducted to evaluate cadmium as an oral antifertility agent in the coyote. Adult wild male coyotes were treated with cadmium chloride (CdCl 2 ) when testicular tissues were in both seasonally regressed and active states. One group of seven animals received individual oral doses of CdCl 2 at 12 mg/kg of body weight during the stage of complete testicular regression; another group similarly received 24 mg/kg. An additional group of six animals was used as untreated controls. Unilateral testicular ablations were carried out at 60, 120 and 240 days post-treatment. No histopathological changes were noted at either treatment level or at any testing period. Testicular tissue taken at the 240 day period revealed normal spermatogenesis. Testicular tissue was removed at 1, 8, 13, 21, and 30 days after the coyotes had received 24 mg/kg of CdCl 2 orally during the stage of active spermatogenesis. Histological examination of this tissue revealed no pathological changes.
Steady-state heat conduction in quiescent fluids: Incompleteness of the Navier–Stokes–Fourier equations

Abstract Linear irreversible thermodynamic principles are used to demonstrate, by counterexample, the existence of a fundamental incompleteness in the basic pre-constitutive mass, momentum, and energy equations governing fluid mechanics and transport phenomena in continua. The demonstration is effected by addressing the elementary case of steady-state heat conduction (and transport processes in general) occurring in quiescent fluids. The counterexample questions the universal assumption of equality of the four physically different velocities entering into the basic pre-constitutive mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations. Explicitly, it is argued that such equality is an implicit constitutive assumption rather than an established empirical fact of unquestioned authority. Such equality, if indeed true, would require formal proof of its validity, currently absent from the literature. In fact, our counterexample shows the assumption of equality to be false. As the current set of pre-constitutive conservation equations appearing in textbooks are regarded as applicable both to continua and noncontinua (e.g., rarefied gases), our elementary counterexample negating belief in the equality of all four velocities impacts on all aspects of fluid mechanics and transport processes, continua and noncontinua alike.
Copper electrodeposition onto the dendrimer-modified native oxide of silicon substrates

Abstract Adherent copper films were electrochemically grown onto the native oxide surfaces of Si wafers modified by the adsorption of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers. Metallic nuclei of copper grow at isolated nucleation sites, associated with adsorbed dendrimers, and film coalescence can be observed above a metal thickness of about 10,000 monolayers (∼2.5 μm). Film microstructure depends on the deposition mode; higher coverage and better adhesion were obtained by galvanostatic control of the deposition process. It is hypothesized that reduction of Cu2+ ions complexed with functional groups of the chemisorbed dendrimer leads to the formation of metallic copper nuclei, and that metal films grow from these nuclei. Further improvement of this process may open the way to the direct integration of metal electrodeposition with silicon microfabrication processes and selective deposition by dendrimer patterning.
Seasonal influenza vaccination of healthcare employees: results of a 4-year campaign.

Objective. To document successful substantial increases in healthcare worker influenza vaccination rates and to identify reasons for success and failure.Design. (1) Four-year longitudinal characterization of facility vaccination rates, (2) Web-based facility-level questionnaire for influenza coordinators to identify success factors in year 3, and (3) semistructured telephone interviews of influenza coordinators at facilities with substantial increases or declines in year 4.Setting. National single-payer hospital (healthcare) system with 153 hospitals in 5 levels of complexity.Patients. Facility leadership staff.Methods. (1) Vaccination data collected from management sources (doses from pharmacies, denominator data from payrolls); (2) a Web-based survey aligned with a previously administered instrument (Wisconsin Health Department), piloted in-house, modified to reflect national strategies and improvements; and (3) semistructured telephone interviews with influenza coordinators at facilities that improved ...
microRNAs become macro players in somatic cell reprogramming

Embryonic stem cell specific microRNAs (miRNAs) have previously been shown to enhance the efficiency of transcription-factor-based reprogramming. However, whether reprogramming could be achieved entirely by miRNAs remained unclear. A recent report shows that the expression of the miR-302/367 cluster of miRNAs can directly reprogram somatic cells without the use of any transcription factors. This new method raises interesting questions about the mechanisms of reprogramming and is likely to facilitate the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells for potential future clinical use.
Accelerating exact k-means algorithms with geometric reasoning

Abstract : We present new algorithms for the k-means clustering problem. They use the kd-tree data structure to reduce the large number of nearest-neighbor queries issued by the traditional algorithm. Sufficient statistics are stored in the nodes of the kd-tree. Then an analysis of the geometry of the current cluster centers results in great reduction of the work needed to update the centers. Our algorithms behave exactly as the traditional k-means algorithm. Proofs of correctness are included. The kd-tree can also be used to initialize the k-means starting centers efficiently. Our algorithms can be easily extended to provide fast ways of computing the error of a given cluster assignment regardless of the method in which those clusters were obtained. We also show how to use them in a setting which allows approximate clustering results, with the benefit of running faster. We have implemented and tested our algorithms on both real and simulated data. Results show a speedup factor of up to 170 on real astrophysical data, and superiority over the naive algorithm on simulated data in up to 5 dimensions. Our algorithms scale well with respect to the number of points and number of centers allowing for clustering with tens of thousands of centers.