cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optimal control of biodiesel production in a batch reactor: Part II: Stochastic control

The determination of time-varying profiles through dynamic optimization is an exclusive characteristic of optimal control problems; however, these types of problems become more challenging when variability and uncertainty in any parameter is included. In biodiesel production, there are inherent uncertainties arising due to variation in initial composition, operating parameters, and mechanical equipment design that can have a significant impact on the product quantity, quality and process economics. Thus, one of the most influential uncertainties in this process is the feed composition since the percentage and type of triglycerides in biodiesel composition varies considerable. In this work, the optimal control for biodiesel production in a batch reactor developed in Part 1 is extended to a problem when uncertainty in the feed composition is considerably. Under control of reactor temperature, we applied a numerical method, based on the Steepest Ascent of Hamiltonian to solve the stochastic optimal control problem that involved the application of Ito processes and the stochastic maximum principle. It has been found that the temperature profile obtained using deterministic optimal control is robust in the face of feed composition uncertainties also.
Isolation of Klebsiella ozaenae from a corneal abscess.

In this report, a case of bacterial keratitis caused by Klebsiella ozaenae is presented. The patient was an otherwise healthy 65-year-old woman with a history of chronic ocular inflammation and a corneal transplant two years prior to the appearance of the corneal ulcer. K. ozaenae is uncommon as a cause of keratitis and is recognized as a cause of atrophic rhinitis and as an opportunistic pathogen in patients with various underlying diseases. The organism was not identified with the computer-assisted API 20E® for identification of the Enterobacteriaceae, and conventional methods were required to demonstrate its unique properties. The clinical spectrum of disease, the characteristics of the organism, and its susceptibility to antimicrobial agents are discussed.
Cigarette Use Among Individuals with Alcohol Use Disorders in the United States, 2002 to 2016: Trends Overall and by Race/Ethnicity.

Background Individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) who smoke cigarettes experience greater health risks than those using either substance alone. Further, disparities exist in AUDs and smoking by race/ethnicity. Although smoking has declined in the general population, it is not known whether the smoking prevalence has changed over time for individuals with AUDs. The current study used representative U.S. data to estimate the prevalence of current cigarette use from 2002 to 2016 by AUD status and severity overall and by race/ethnicity. Methods Data were drawn from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual cross-sectional study of U.S. individuals, from 2002 to 2016 (total analytic sample n = 837,326). Cigarette smoking prevalence was calculated annually among those with and without past-year AUD and by AUD severity level (mild, moderate, severe AUD). Time trends in smoking prevalence by AUD status and severity were tested using logistic regression for the overall sample and significant interactions were subsequently stratified by race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic [NH] White, NH Black, Hispanic, NH Other). Results Cigarette use was persistently over twice as common among those with AUDs compared to without AUDs (2016: 37.84% vs. 16.29%). Cigarette use was also more common among those at each level of AUD severity criteria (2016: mild AUD 34.59%; moderate AUD 35.35%; severe AUD 52.23%). Approximately half of NH Black respondents with AUDs, and three-quarters of NH Black respondents with severe AUDs, reported smoking in 2016. The prevalence of smoking decreased significantly over time among respondents with and without AUDs; however, there were differences by race. There was no decline in smoking prevalence among NH Black respondents with AUDs over time in contrast to a significant decrease for every other racial/ethnic group with and without AUDs. Conclusions Individuals with AUDs may need additional resources and interventions to quit smoking, especially NH Black individuals.
A comprehensive CFD-based erosion prediction for sharp bend geometry with examination of grid effect

Abstract A comprehensive CFD-based erosion prediction procedure developed previously is applied to predict erosion in a 90° sharp bend. This paper serves as a further validation of the proposed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based erosion prediction procedure for a different geometry, flow and particle conditions to examine the generalization of this comprehensive CFD-based approach to other geometries. Special emphasis is played on the strong effects of the grids on the resulting erosion profile representation. Detailed meshing information is provided for repeatable and further improved CFD studies in future. In the process, erosion predictions for both large (256 μm ) and small particles (25 μm ) in a sharp bend geometry are performed by applying the comprehensive CFD-based erosion prediction procedure. Results are compared with data from the literature and are found to be in a good agreement with data which demonstrates the success of the applied CFD-based erosion prediction procedure. It is shown that appropriate meshing, selection of turbulence model and near wall modeling approach are crucial for obtaining good erosion prediction results utilizing CFD, especially for small particle erosion prediction under the present flow and geometry conditions.
Can Orthopaedics become the Gold Standard for Reproducibility? A Roadmap to Success

Abstract Background Scientific research is replete with poor accessibility to data, materials, and protocol, which limits the reproducibility of a study. Transparency with regard to materials, protocols, and raw data sets enhances reproducibility by providing the critical information necessary to verify, replicate, and resynthesize research findings. The extent to which transparency and reproducibility exist in the field of orthopaedics is unclear. In our study, we aimed to evaluate transparency and reproducibility-related characteristics of randomly sampled publications in orthopaedic journals. Methods We used the National Library of Medicine catalog to identify English language and MEDLINE-indexed orthopaedic journals. From the 74 journals meeting our inclusion criteria, we randomly sampled 300 publications using a refined PubMed search that were published between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2018. Two investigators were trained for data extraction and analysis. Both investigators were blinded and independently extracted data from the 300 studies. Results Our initial search yielded 68,102 publications, from which we drew a random sample of 300 publications. Of these 300 publications, 286 were screened for empirical data and 14 were inaccessible. For analysis purposes, we excluded publications without empirical data. Of the 182 with empirical data, 13 studies (7.1%) included a data availability statement, 9 (4.9%) reported materials were available, none (0.0%) provided analysis scripts, 2 (1.1%) provided access to the protocol used, 5 (2.7%) were preregistered, and only 2 (1.1%) provided a statement about being a replicated study. Conclusions Components necessary for reproducibility are lacking in orthopaedic surgery journals. The vast majority of publications did not provide data or material availability statements, protocols, or analysis scripts, and had no preregistration statements. Intervention is needed to improve reproducibility in the field of orthopaedics. The current state of reproducibility in orthopaedic surgery could be improved by combined efforts from funding agencies, authors, peer reviewers, and journals alike. Level of Evidence N/A
Islam, Power, and Dependency in the Gambia River Basin: The Politics of Land Control, 1790-1940

Islam, Power, and Dependency in the Gambia River Basin draws on new sources to offer an original approach to the study of land in African history. Documenting the impact of Islamization, the development of peanut production, and the institution of colonial rule on people living along the middle and lower Gambia River, the book shows how these waves of changes sweeping the region after 1850 altered local political and social arrangements, with important implications for the ability of elites to control land. Author Assan Sarr argues for a nuanced understanding of land and its historic value in Africa. Moving beyond a recognition of the material value of land, Sarr's analysis highlights its cultural and social worth, pointing out the spiritual associations the land generated and the ways that certain people gained privileged access to those spiritual powers. By emphasizing that the land around the Gambia River both inspired and gave form to a cosmology of ritual and belief, the book points to what might be considered an indigenous tradition of ecological preservation and protection. Assan Sarr is assistant professor of history at Ohio University.
High signal-to-noise, non-bleaching imaging with plasmonic nanoparticles

Conventional biological imaging typically relies on either spatial or temporal modulation which are limited by fluorophores undergoing photobleaching. As a result, imaging of biological processes for extended periods of time remains a challenge. To overcome this limitation, we introduce polarization modulation combined with nonbleaching plasmonic nanoparticles to boost signal-to-noise ratio and to eliminate strong background scattering. We show plasmonic nanoparticles can be extracted from the noisy background and cellular environment, where the visualization of nanoparticles has been previously hindered by the strongly scattering biological components. We demonstrate that such a reduction of background noise level greatly enhances the overall signal-to-noise ratio of nanoparticles within biological structures.
Array-based differential sensing of cancer cells using DNA-templated silver nanoclusters

While differential sensing has the potential to discriminate millions to trillions of analytes based on hundreds of sensing elements, most of the current differential sensor arrays have limited scalability, with only a handful of recognition elements demonstrated. Here we demonstrate a novel differential sensor array based on a class of organic/inorganic hybrid fluorophores, DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (DNA/Ag NCs), that not only has great scalability but also combine both recognition element and signal transduction element into one unit. Six DNA/Ag NC sensors were designed to classify the lysates of six breast epithelial and cancer cell lines with distinct metastatic potential. While MDA-MB-231 and MCF7 lysates showed significantly different fluorescence signatures upon interaction with the sensor array, other cell lines were also differentiable. Our method is simple, versatile, low-cost, reliable, and scalable.
The Human Lung Glycome Reveals Novel Glycan Ligands for Influenza A Virus

Glycans within human lungs are recognized by many pathogens such as influenza A virus (IAV), yet little is known about their structures. Here we present the first analysis of the N- and O- and glycosphingolipid-glycans from total human lungs, along with histological analyses of IAV binding. The N-glycome of human lung contains extremely large complex-type N-glycans with linear poly-N-acetyllactosamine (PL) [-3Galβ1-4GlcNAcβ1-]n extensions, which are predominantly terminated in α2,3-linked sialic acid. By contrast, smaller N-glycans lack PL and are enriched in α2,6-linked sialic acids. In addition, we observed large glycosphingolipid (GSL)-glycans, which also consists of linear PL, terminating in mainly α2,3-linked sialic acid. Histological staining revealed that IAV binds to sialylated and non-sialylated glycans and binding is not concordant with respect to binding by sialic acid-specific lectins. These results extend our understanding of the types of glycans that may serve as binding sites for human lung pathogens.
Indirect treatment comparison of the efficacy of patisiran and inotersen for hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis with polyneuropathy.

Patisiran and inotersen are two therapies approved for the treatment of hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis with polyneuropathy, a rapidly progressive disease with a substantial c...
Cohomological obstructions to lifting properties for full C $$^*$$ ∗ -algebras of property (T) groups

We develop a new method, based on non-vanishing of second cohomology groups, for proving the failure of lifting properties for full C $$^*$$ -algebras of countable groups with (relative) property (T). We derive that the full C $$^*$$ -algebras of the groups $$\mathbb {Z}^2\times \text {SL}_2({\mathbb {Z}})$$ and $$\text {SL}_n({\mathbb {Z}})$$ , for $$n\ge 3$$ , do not have the local lifting property (LLP). We also prove that the full C $$^*$$ -algebras of a large class of groups $$\Gamma $$ with property (T), including those such that $$\text {H}^2(\Gamma ,{\mathbb {R}})\not =0$$ or $$\text {H}^2(\Gamma ,\mathbb {Z}\Gamma )\not =0$$ , do not have the lifting property (LP). More generally, we show that the same holds if $$\Gamma $$ admits a probability measure preserving action with non-vanishing second $${\mathbb {R}}$$ -valued cohomology. Finally, we prove that the full C $$^*$$ -algebra of any non-finitely presented property (T) group fails the LP.
Whiteness in transit: the racialized geographies of international volunteering

Studying the ways whiteness contorts across geographies is important to understanding the weaknesses of racial paradigms that enable domination and dispossession. This paper analyzes how whiteness ...
Evaluation of the pharmacokinetics of pemigatinib in patients with impaired hepatic or renal function.

Aims Pemigatinib, an inhibitor of the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) family of receptor tyrosine kinases, is approved for previously treated, unresectable locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma. Pemigatinib is predominantly metabolized by CYP3A4 with minimal renal elimination. Methods Separate hepatic and renal impairment studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of these impairments on pemigatinib pharmacokinetics (PK). Each study was of open-label, parallel-group design, conducted in participants with normal organ function and with hepatic or renal impairment. Plasma concentrations of pemigatinib were quantified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and pemigatinib PK parameters were derived by noncompartmental analysis. Geometric mean ratios and two-sided 90% confidence intervals of Cmax , AUC0-t , and AUC0-∞ were compared by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results Compared with healthy matched participants: Cmax and AUC0-∞ ratio (90% confidence interval) in participants with moderate hepatic impairment were 96.7% (59.4%, 157%) and 146% (100%, 212%), respectively; Cmax and AUC0-∞ ratio in participants with severe hepatic impairment were 94.2% (68.9%, 129%) and 174% (116%, 261%), respectively; Cmax and AUC0-∞ ratio in participants with severe renal impairment were 64.6% (44.1%, 94.4%) and 159% (95.4%, 264%), respectively; Cmax and AUC0-∞ ratio in participants with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) before haemodialysis (HD) were 77.5% (51.2%, 118%) and 76.8% (54.0%, 109%), respectively; Cmax and AUC0-∞ ratio in participants with ESRD after HD were 90.0% (59.3%, 137%) and 91.3% (64.1%, 130%), respectively. Conclusion Pemigatinib dose should be reduced for patients with severe hepatic or renal impairment, and no dose adjustment is required for patients with moderate hepatic impairment or in ESRD patients undergoing HD.
Molecular engineering expands the chemical possibilities for organic flow batteries

Flow batteries are prospective devices for cheap, grid-scale storage of electricity generated from renewable power. Writing in Science, Feng et al. demonstrate how functionalization can activate the organic molecule fluorenone as a promising charge-storing reactant in aqueous organic redox-flow batteries.
A Remark on Positive Isotropic Random Vectors

A random vector X = (X 1,..., X n) is positive isotropic if P(X 1 > 0) > 0, its coordinates are nonnegative and identically distributed random variables, and there exists a function c: ℝn + → ℝ+ so that for every a e ℝn + \ {0}, the random variables ∑a i X i and c(a)X 1 are identically distributed. We study the properties of the function c(•), and prove that c(•) cannot be a norm unless the coordinates of X are equal with probability 1.
Effects of Elastic Anisotropy on Phonon Scattering in Non-Metallic Materials

It has long been known that certain elastically anisotropic materials also show anisotropies in thermal conductivity, at both low and high temperatures. In this paper, we report thermal conductivity measurements on oriented single crystals of two such materials: tellurium dioxide (TeO2) and mercurous chloride (Hg2Cl2), in the 1.6–100 K temperature range. In the Umklapp scattering region, we find that elastic anisotropy results in substantial thermal conductivity anisotropy in Hg2Cl2, but not in TeO2. Some of these results have been reported previously [1].
Mathematics and teaching

Induction I was not born to be a mathematician. Like many, I was drawn to mathematics by great teaching. Not that I was encouraged or mentored by supportive and caring teachers—such was not the case. It was instead that I had as teachers some remarkable mathematicians who made the highest expression of mathematical thinking visible and available to be appreciated. This was like listening to fine music with all of its beauty, charm, and sometimes magical surprise. Though not a musician, I felt that this practice of mathematical thinking was something I could pursue with great pleasure and capably so, even if not as a virtuoso. And I had the good fortune to be in a time and place where such pursuits were comfortably encouraged. The watershed event for me was my freshman (honors) calculus course at Princeton. The course was directed by Emil Artin, with his graduate students John Tate and Serge Lang among its teaching assistants. It was essentially a Landau-style course in real analysis (i.e., one taught rigorously from first principles). Several notable mathematics research careers were launched by that course. Amid this cohort of brilliant students, I hardly entertained ideas of an illustrious mathematical future, but I reveled in this ambience of beautiful thinking, and I could think of nothing more satisfying than to remain a part of that world. It was only some fifteen years later that I came to realize that this had not been a more-or-less standard freshman calculus course. Certain mathematical dispositions that were sown in that course remain with me to this day, and influence both my research and my teaching. First is the paramount importance of proofs as the defining source of mathematical truth. A theorem is a distilled product of a proof, but the proof is a mine from which much more may often be profitably extracted. Proof analysis may show that the argument in fact proves much more than the theorem statement captures. Certain hypotheses may not have been, or only weakly, used, and so a stronger conclusion might be drawn from the same argument. Two proofs may be observed to be structurally similar, and so the two theorems can be seen to be special cases of a more unifying claim. The most agreeable proofs explain rather than just establish truth. And the logical narrative clearly distinguishes the illuminating turn from technical routine. Artin himself once reflected on teaching in a review published in 1953.
U.S.-Israel Workshop on Nanotechnology for Water Purification

Publisher Summary In March 2006, the Center of Advanced Materials for Purification of Water with Systems (Water CAMPWS), a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, and the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative (INNI) convened an international workshop to assess nanotechnology opportunities for water purification. This chapter summarizes the state of research presented at the workshop and the participants' assessment of future nanotechnology research needs for water purification, and describes 12 joint international research projects identified by the researchers in the areas of: membrane synthesis and processes, biofouling and disinfection, contaminant removal, and environmental monitoring and sensor development and application.
A Nonoriginalist Perspective on the Lessons of History

Usually when judges, lawyers and legal scholars refer to normative indeterminacy with respect to originalism, they have in mind something like Ronald Dworkin's distinction between a concept and a conception. For example, there may be agreement that the Constitution contains a concept of equality, but there is disagreement as to what conception of equality the broad concept entails. Originalism tries to resolve the disagreement by preferring the conception that was widely shared at the time the relevant constitutional language was adopted. Very few people who call themselves originalists consistently prefer the Framers' conceptions. Thus, for example, when Judge Bork states that the Equal Protection Clause may be interpreted to contain a broader norm of equality than that held by the drafters and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment, he adopts a nonoriginalist approach to specifying the content of a textually indeterminate norm.
Wang counterexamples lead to noncrossed products

Two famous counterexamples in algebra and number theory are Wang’s counterexample to Grunwald’s Theorem and Amitsur’s noncrossed product division algebra. In this paper we use Wang’s counterexample to construct a noncrossed product division algebra. In the 30’s, Grunwald’s Theorem was used in the proof of a major result of class field theory, that all division algebras over number fields are (cyclic) crossed products. It is ironic that now Grunwald-Wang’s Theorem is the decisive factor in a noncrossed product construction.
Growing American Rubber: Strategic Plants and the Politics of National Security

Review of: "Growing American Rubber: Strategic Plants and the Politics of National Security," by Mark R. Finlay.
On testing for homogeneity of several autoregressive processes

An informal Bayesian analysis is taken to test the hypothesis that several autoregressive processes are the same. The common order of the processes is known, but the other parameters are unknown. Assuming white noise for the inputs and a vague prior density for the parameters, the test for homogeneity is based on the region of highest posterior density of the autoregressive coefficients. The test is equivalent to an F-test. The methodology is illustrated with two first-order processes, and a numerical example using generated data demonstrates that the Bayes approach is reasonable.
How the past teaches the future: ACMI distinguished lecture.

More than 30 years of experience in developing a computer-based patient record system, The Medical Record (TMR), in multiple settings, in multiple specialty groups, and at multiple sites has taught us many lessons. Lessons related to computer-based patient records include the importance of a data model in which input, storage, and planned use are independent; separation of patient-specific data from metadata; a modular design to localize the program code that deals with a set of data; redundant storage to optimize tasks and response time; and integration of decision support into work process. Lessons related to medical informatics include the importance of a clinical–technical partnership, control of tools at the leading edge, and rapid prototyping in the real world. Finally, changes in technology move the challenges but do not eliminate them.
Blockholder Trading and Monitoring, Career Concerns, and the Bright and Dark Sides of Investor 'Long-Termism'

We model a blockholder as a fund manager caring about others' assessment of his stock-picking ability. Such a reputation-conscious fund manager acts like a "long-term" investor who buys and holds, in order to positively influence how his ability is perceived. The consequent reduction in trading makes prices less informative. Career concerns also weaken the fund manager's incentive to undertake value-enhancing interventions, despite the fund's endured and large stake in the firm. Under a single blockholder structure, career concerns thus weaken the mechanisms of governance via blockholder exit and voice, thereby worsening corporate investment myopia. With multiple blockholders with heterogeneous degrees of career concerns, a reputation-conscious fund manager's weakened incentive to intervene in management provides a stronger incentive for a reputation-unconscious fund manager to undertake the intervention. Career concerns thus help overcome the free-rider problem in monitoring under a multiple blockholder structure, and may consequently encourage long-term corporate investment.
Impact of advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants) on surgical residents' critical care experience.

Abstract Background Teaching hospitals often employ advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners and physician assistants or APPs) to counteract residents' work-hour restrictions. With increased utilization of APPs in labor-intense areas, such as intensive care units (ICUs), APPs may have an impact on resident education and experience. No studies have investigated the direct role an APP plays on the training experience of a surgical resident in the ICU. Materials and methods An institutional review board-approved survey was emailed to residents in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited general surgery programs. Surveys asked about demographics, residency and/or ICU characteristics, and the effects of APPs on patient care, workflow, and educational experience. Regression analysis determined predictors of resident perception. Results A total of 354 of 1178 residents responded to the survey (30%). Some residents felt that nurses calling APPs preferentially for patient-care issues interfered with education (17%) and residents' ability to follow patients (12%) and was associated with overall detrimental effects to ICU experience on regression (odds ratio, 3.7; confidence interval, 1.5–9.1). Most residents reported positive effects of APPs, such as reduced resident workload (79.8%), teaching protocols and/or guidelines (60.3%), enhanced patient care (60.3%), and enhanced communication (50.5%). When asked how APPs affected their overall ICU experience, 48.4% reported positive effects, 20.6% reported “no effect,” and 31% reported detrimental effects. Conclusions Only a minority of residents perceived that APPs detract from training, particularly those who felt excluded when nurses preferentially contact APPs with patient-care issues. APPs have the potential to enhance training and ICU experience, as reflected in many of the responses. Strategies to maintain direct nurse and resident communication might preserve residents' perception of the educational value of APPs.
Benefits of coding in a noncoherent massive SIMO system

We consider one single antenna transmitter communicating with a receiver with a large number of antennas. Motivated by the optimal noncoherent detector in a Rayleigh fading channel, we propose a noncoherent energy-based communication scheme that does not require knowledge of instantaneous CSI (channel state information) at either the transmitter or the receiver; it uses only the statistics of the channel and noise. We explore the impact of coding to reduce the number of antennas needed for this system to achieve a given performance target. In particular, random coding error exponents for this system are used to determine tradeoff curves between the number of antennas and the blocklengths associated with a guaranteed performance target. However, since random codes have exponentially increasing decoding complexity with increasing blocklength, we also consider a simplified codebook design that has significantly lower encoding and decoding complexity. Simulations suggest that for small blocklengths, the performance of this simplified codebook is competitive with random coding constructions.
A new chelator-free multifunctional [64Cu]CuS nanoparticle platform for simultaneous µPET/CT imaging and radiotherapy

410 Objectives The efficacy of 64Cu as a radioisotope for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging and radiotherapy have been recently established. The purpose of this study was to synthesize and evaluate a novel class of chelator-free [64Cu]CuS nanoparticles (NPs) suitable for both PET imaging and as a radiopharmaceutical agent for radiotherapy. Methods [64Cu]CuS NPs were synthesized and characterized with regard to size, radiolabeling efficiency, stability, and imaging properties. For radiotherapy study, nude mice bearing s.c. BT474 breast cancer were injected intratumorally at a dose of 200 µCi/tumor (~3 x 1014 nanoparticles in 50 µL). Results [64Cu]-CuS NPs possessed excellent stability and were simple to make. Compare to the traditional radiolabeling technique, 64Cu was an integral component of CuS NPs, which obviates the need to introduce radiometal chelators to the surface of NPs. High quality in vivo PET images was obtained after intravenous injection of [64Cu]-CuS NPs that passively target tumor. Tumor-growth inhibition was significantly greater in mice injected with a single dose of [64Cu]-CuS NPs than in mice injected with control agents. Conclusions The combination of small size, extremely high labeling efficiency, and integration of 64Cu as one of the structural components of CuS NPs makes [64Cu]CuS NPs ideally suited for multifunctional molecular imaging and radiotherapy applications
Comparison of patient and practitioner assessments of pain from commonly performed emergency department procedures

Study objective : To compare patient and practitioner assessments of pain associated with commonly performed emergency department procedures and use of anesthetics before these procedures. Methods : This was a prospective, observational, cross-sectional study conducted at a university-based ED with a convenience sample of ED patients. Research assistants recorded the procedure performed and historical and demographic information on standardized data collection instruments. After each procedure, both the patient and practitioner independently recorded assessments of patient pain on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS). Use of preprocedure anesthetics and patient preferences regarding their use were also identified. Categorical variables were analyzed by ϰ 2 tests. Patient and practitioner VAS scores were compared using a paired t test; α was preset at .05. Correlation coefficients were calculated to assess correlation between patient and practitioner pain scores. Results : A total of 1, 171 procedures were evaluated for the 15 most common procedures performed. The mean patient age was 42.8±18.7 years and 46.1% were male. Overall, the mean patient VAS was 20.8 mm±25.1 mm; the mean practitioner VAS was 23.5 mm±20.3 mm. The mean difference between groups was 3.0 mm (95% confidence interval [Cl], 1.3 to 4.1). Correlation between patient and practitioner pain scores for individual procedures was poor to fair ( r =26 to .68). The most painful procedures according to patients in descending order were nasogastric intubation, abscess drainage, fracture reduction, and urethral catheterization. Local anesthetics were administered in 12.8% of procedures yet would be requested before similar future procedures by 17.1% of patients. Patients who would choose local anesthetics in the future gave higher pain scores than those who would not (43.3 mm versus 16.3 mm; mean difference=27.0 mm, 95% Cl, 22.2 to 31.8 mm). Conclusion : The most painful procedures for ED patients were nasogastric intubation, incision and drainage of abscesses, fracture reduction, and urethral catheterization. Although practitioners also identified these procedures as most painful, the correlation between patient and practitioner pain assessments in individual patients was highly variable. Overall use of anesthetics before these procedures was low. Practitioners should be attentive to their patients' individual anesthetic needs before performing painful procedures.
Lack of caffeine stimulation of gastrin release in man.

Summary and conclusionsCaffeine ben-zoate given intravenously to four subjects (two with duodenal ulcer and two normals) in dose-responsive tests at 80 and 320 mg/hr stimulated gastric H+ and pepsin secretion two- and threefold, respectively, but did not change serum gastrin levels. In five patients with duodenal ulcer and six normals, 250 mg of caffeine benzoate intragastrically, but not an equivalent volume of water, raised serum gastrin concentrations by 16 to 22 pg/ ml (P < 0.05). There was no difference in caffeine-stimulated gastrin release between the duodenal ulcer group and normals.
Sources of productivity growth: Evidence from the Mexican manufacturing sector

We study labor and total factor productivity in the Mexican manufacturing sector for the 1994 to 2002 period. Labor productivity increased at an annual rate of 3 percent, while total factor productivity has null or negative growth depending on the methodology used. We conduct several robustness checks by providing alternatives measures of productivity growth. Moreover, we investigate the sources of productivity growth by studying the impact of international trade, investment, quality of the labor force and labor market institutions.
Placodal sensory ganglia coordinate the formation of the cranial visceral motor pathway

The parasympathetic reflex circuit is controlled by three basic neurons. In the vertebrate head, the sensory, and pre- and postganglionic neurons that comprise each circuit have stereotypic positions along the anteroposterior (AP) axis, suggesting that the circuit arises from a common developmental plan. Here, we show that precursors of the VIIth circuit are initially aligned along the AP axis, where the placode-derived sensory neurons provide a critical “guidepost” through which preganglionic axons and their neural crest-derived postganglionic targets navigate before reaching their distant target sites. In the absence of the placodal sensory ganglion, preganglionic axons terminate and the neural crest fated for postganglionic neurons undergo apoptosis at the site normally occupied by the placodal sensory ganglion. The stereotypic organization of the parasympathetic cranial sensory–motor circuit thus emerges from the initial alignment of its precursors along the AP axis, with the placodal sensory ganglion coordinating the formation of the motor pathway. Developmental Dynamics 239:1155–1161, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Organization for the Conduct of Statistical Activities in Colleges and Universities

Abstract Although the importance of statistics in many phases of university activities is well-known, many universities have not given serious thought to the optimum organizational structure for statistics. This article addresses this problem in two parts: 1. Principles and/or goals of optimum administrative structures for statistics, and 2. Discussion of the most popular organizational structures now in existence together with comments on the advantages and disadvantages of each. The article concludes that a central statistics unit (department) appears the most optimal structure, although it is not without certain disadvantages and/or dangers.
Natural and manmade disasters: accepting and managing risks

The prevention and reduction of risks require understanding, development, and application of engineering solutions. Risk is an important factor in many public policy decisions, insurance policies, and regulatory actions. The risk tolerance of people for various circumstances depends on many factors. The risk of death by natural disasters is relatively small in comparison the various life style related activities and home accidents. However, natural disasters result into significant property damage. Some of the recent natural disasters resulted in significant damage from a cost perspective due to extensive environmental and structural damage. Losses due to disasters are usually measured in dollars for comparison purposes. In most cases there are also significant ecological damages which are difficult to estimate from a cost perspective. Property damages due to disasters can be minimized by careful planning and preparation. However, reducing risks comes at increased cost. What is possible and what is feasible are two different measures that need to be evaluated. The cost of recovery could be significantly reduced if specific disaster planning measures are taken to include land development restrictions in high risk natural disaster areas.
Visual Systems for Interactive Exploration and Mining of Large-Scale Neuroimaging Data Archives

While technological advancements in neuroimaging scanner engineering have improved the efficiency of data acquisition, electronic data capture methods will likewise significantly expedite the populating of large-scale neuroimaging databases. As they do and these archives grow in size, a particular challenge lies in examining and interacting with the information that these resources contain through the development of compelling, user-driven approaches for data exploration and mining. In this article, we introduce the informatics visualization for neuroimaging (INVIZIAN) framework for the graphical rendering of, and dynamic interaction with the contents of large-scale neuroimaging data sets. We describe the rationale behind INVIZIAN, detail its development, and demonstrate its usage in examining a collection of over 900 T1-anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image volumes from across a diverse set of clinical neuroimaging studies drawn from a leading neuroimaging database. Using a collection of cortical surface metrics and means for examining brain similarity, INVIZIAN graphically displays brain surfaces as points in a coordinate space and enables classification of clusters of neuroanatomically similar MRI images and data mining. As an initial step toward addressing the need for such user-friendly tools, INVIZIAN provides a highly unique means to interact with large quantities of electronic brain imaging archives in ways suitable for hypothesis generation and data mining.
Late Stage Cancer Patients: Age Differences in Their Psychophysical Status and Response to Counseling.

Much has been written about working with dying patients. To evaluate counseling, 120 terminally ill cancer patients were randomly assigned to counseling or no counseling and studied before random assignment and at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months on quality of life variables (alienation, depression, locus of control, life satisfaction, self-esteem) as well as functional status and survival. Counseled patients changed significantly in comparison to controls and in a favorable direction by 3 months. The purpose here was to see if older and younger cancer patients differed at baseline and if outcomes of counseling differed by age. Patients under age 60 were compared with those 60 and over. There was no multivariate difference at baseline but univariate differences of more disability and less life satisfaction in the older group. Overall, response to therapy was similar in old and young, with both improving.
Universal Elastic Anisotropy Index

Practically all elastic single crystals are anisotropic, which calls for an appropriate universal measure to quantify the extent of anisotropy. A review of the existing anisotropy measures in the literature leads to a conclusion that they lack universality in the sense that they are nonunique and ignore contributions from the bulk part of the elastic stiffness (or compliance) tensor. Proceeding from extremal principles of elasticity, we introduce a new universal anisotropy index that overcomes the above limitations. Furthermore, we establish special relationships between the proposed anisotropy index and the existing anisotropy measures for special cases. A new elastic anisotropy diagram is constructed for over 100 different crystals (from cubic through triclinic), demonstrating that the proposed anisotropy measure is applicable to all types of elastic single crystals, and thus fills an important void in the existing literature.
A new method for gaining entry into the scarred anteriorcul-de-sac during transvaginal hysterectomy

This report describes vaginal hysterectomy in nine patients who had a history of multiple prior cesarean sections. In seven of the nine patients, safe entry into the anterior cul-de-sac was facilitated by the use of a bent uterine sound.
Raman Spectroscopic Study of the Different Crystallographic Faces of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 6+δ Single Crystals in the Tetragonal and Orthorhombic Phases

Raman spectra recorded on different crystallographic faces of the YBa2Cu3O6+δ crystals in both the tetragonal and orthorhombic phases are presented which show that the spectra differ for the (001) face in the two phases.
Quantitative High-Performance Liquid Chromatography−Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Bis-N7-Guanine DNA−DNA Cross-Links in White Blood Cells of Cancer Patients Receiving Cyclophosphamide Therapy

Cyclophosphamide (CPA) is a DNA alkylating agent widely used in cancer chemotherapy. CPA undergoes metabolic activation to phosphoramide mustard and nornitrogen mustard (NOR) which alkylate the N-7 position of guanine in DNA to produce N-[2-(N7-guaninyl) ethyl]-N-[2-hydroxyethyl]-amine (G-NOR-OH) monoadducts and N,N-bis[2-(N7-guaninyl) ethyl] amine cross-links (G-NOR-G). G-NOR-G cross-links are strongly cytotoxic and are thought to be responsible for the biological activity of CPA. In the present work, an isotope dilution high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization (positive ion) tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI(+)-MS/MS) methodology was developed to accurately quantify G-NOR-G adducts in human blood. In our approach, DNA extracted from white blood cells (5-20 microg) is spiked with an internal standard of [(15)N(10)]-G-NOR-G and subjected to thermal hydrolysis to release G-NOR-G adducts from the DNA backbone. Following solid phase extraction, G-NOR-G conjugates are quantified by capillary HPLC-ESI-MS/MS in the selected reaction monitoring mode. The application of the new methodology is demonstrated for DNA extracted from blood of three cancer patients receiving 50-60 mg/kg of intravenous CPA. The highest numbers of G-NOR-G adduct (up to 18 adducts per 10(6) normal nucleotides) were observed 4-8 h following CPA administration, followed by a gradual decrease over time, probably due to adduct hydrolysis, DNA repair, and white blood cell death. This methodology will be useful for future investigations of the interindividual differences for CPA-induced DNA-DNA cross-linking.
Age of first use and present use of alcohol by undergraduates

This study assessed age of first experimentation with alcohol and its present use and consequences of use by 231 college students at a midwestern university. Early alcohol use was significantly ass...
Successful Treatment of Facial Telangiectasias Using a Micropulse 1,064-nm Neodymium-Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet Laser

Objectives To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a microsecond 1,064-nm neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser for the treatment of facial telangiectasias. Methods Subjects ages 35–70 with Fitzpatrick skin types I to III and facial telangiectasias underwent two treatments with a micropulse (0.65 ms) 1,064-nm Nd:YAG laser. Treatments were spaced 30 days apart, with a final evaluation 60 days after the second treatment. Evaluation included digital photography and an assessment of the degree of improvement on a scale from 1 to 5 by the subject and a nontreating investigator. Results Twenty subjects (18 women, two men) with Fitzpatrick skin type II and III completed the study. The nontreating investigator rated the objective clinical response as total clearance (100% clear) in 10% (n = 2) of subjects, significant clearance (≥50% clear) in 75% (n = 15), and some clearance (0–49% clear) in 15% (n = 3). None of the subjects was rated as having no clearance or worsening. In terms of subjective clearance reported by subjects, 80% (n = 16) reported significant clearance, with the remainder reporting some clearance. No adverse events were reported. Conclusion The micropulse 1,064-nm Nd:YAG successfully treated facial telangiectasias with a high degree of patient satisfaction, minimal discomfort, and no adverse events.
Intrahepatic gene expression profiles and alpha‐smooth muscle actin patterns in hepatitis C virus induced fibrosis

To gain insight into pathogenic mechanisms underlying fibrosis in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-mediated liver injury, we compared intrahepatic gene expression profiles in HCV-infected patients at different stages of fibrosis and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) staining patterns. We studied 21 liver biopsy specimens: 5 had no fibrosis (Ludwig-Batts stage 0); 10 had early portal or periportal fibrosis (stages 1 and 2); and 6, advanced fibrosis (stages 3 and 4). None of the patients had hepatocellular carcinoma. Transcriptional profiles were determined by high-density oligonucleotide microarrays. ANOVA identified 157 genes for which transcript abundance was associated with fibrosis stage. These defined three distinct hierarchical clusters of patients. Patients with predominantly stage 0 fibrosis had increased abundance of mRNAs linked to glycolipid metabolism. PDGF, a potent stellate cell mitogen, was also increased. Transcripts with increased abundance in stages 1 and 2 fibrosis were associated with oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation, proliferation, and matrix degradation, whereas transcripts increased in stages 3 and 4 were associated with fibrogenesis and cellular proliferation. Cells staining for α-SMA were detectable at all stages but infrequent in advanced fibrosis without active inflammation. A high frequency of such cells was associated with mRNAs linked to glycolipid metabolism. In conclusion, the presence of α-SMA–positive HSCs and expression of PDGF in stage 0 fibrosis suggests that stellate cells are activated early in HCV-mediated injury, possibly in response to oxidative stress resulting from inflammation and lipid metabolism. Increased abundance of transcripts linked to cellular proliferation in advanced fibrosis is consistent with a predisposition to cancer. Supplementary material for this article can be found on the HEPATOLOGY website (http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0270-9139/suppmat/index/html) (HEPATOLOGY 2005.)
BLOCKAGE OF PROTEIN ENZYMATIC DIGESTION (CARBOXYPEPTIDASE-B) BY HEAT-INDUCED SUGAR-LYSINE REACTIONS

TO investigate heat-induced sugar-lysine reactions in proteins (Mail-lard browning) solutions of glucose and poly-L-lysine (lysine glucose ratio 1:l) were heated at selected temperatures (101—170° C) as a function of time. Spectra of such solutions exhibit absorbance maxima at 287 nm and 330 nm. Heated-solutions were incubated with carboxypeptidase-B at 37°C-24 hr. Lysine released by this digestive enzyme was almost completely stopped after only 12% of the poly-L-lysine-glucose reaction had taken place. Rate constants and activation energies for the poly-L-lysine-glucose reaction and decrease in peptide bond cleavage were calculated. The application of our basic data to in vivo protein digestion is discussed in terms of nutrition and allergic diseases, such as celiac disease.