cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reconstruction Finance Corporation Assistance to Financial Intermediaries andCommercial & Industrial Enterprise in the US, 1932-1937

Many have attempted to distill lessons on combating economic crises from the experiences of the US Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) during the 1930s. However, the resulting policies have been subject to widespread doubts and criticisms. Many economic historians doubt RFC assistance to financial intermediaries and commercial & industrial firms contributed a great deal to stabilizing the US economy during the Great Depression. RFC assistance probably did not, therefore, form a significant basis for the general economic recovery to follow. The present essay does not dispute that point. However, between 1932 and 1937, the RFC experimented with a wide variety of programs targeted toward resolving systemic distress. It did so by attempting to stimulate credit and capital market activity through acting as a lender of last resort, recapitalizing the banking industry, and providing direct credit to commercial and industrial enterprises.
Simultaneous optical tweezing and laser-induced fluorescence of DAPI stained chromosomes

In this paper, we describe methods to increase the functionality of conventional optical tweezer techniques through the use of a 410 nm laser diode to induce fluorescence in biological samples. For the first time, to our knowledge, we demonstrate the use of a violet diode laser to induce fluorescence in particles, which are simultaneously tweezed by an infrared laser. Using this technique we demonstrate the sorting of fluorescent polymer spheres and DAPI-stained chromosomes.
A novel role for 3, 4-dichloropropionanilide (DCPA) in the inhibition of prostate cancer cell migration, proliferation, and hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha expression

The amide class compound, 3, 4-dichloropropionanilide (DCPA) is known to affect multiple signaling pathways in lymphocyte and macrophage including the inhibition of NF-κB ability. However, little is known about the effect of DCPA in cancer cells. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) regulates the expression of many genes including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), heme oxygenase 1, inducible nitric oxide synthase, aldolase, enolase, and lactate dehydrogenase A. HIF-1 expression is associated with tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. We used Transwell assay to study cell migration, and used immunoblotting to study specific protein expression in the cells. In this report, we demonstrate that DCPA inhibited the migration and proliferation of DU145 and PC-3 prostate cancer cells induced by serum, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). We found that DCPA inhibited HIF-1 expression in a subunit-specific manner in these cancer cell lines induced by serum and growth factors, and decreased HIF-1α expression by affecting its protein stability. DCPA can inhibit prostate cancer cell migration, proliferation, and HIF-1α expression, suggesting that DCPA could be potentially used for therapeutic purpose for prostate cancer in the future.
A Framework for Distributed Reinforcement Learning

The paper proposes a novel learning model, called the distributed reinforcement learning model (DRLM), that allows distributed agents to learn multiple interrelated tasks in a real-time environment. DRLM consists of a hidden task model (HTM) used for dealing with incomplete perception, a composite state model (CSM) for interdependency between tasks, and a Q-learning subsystem (QLS) for updating action merit. In this paper, we also present a distributed Q-learning algorithm and an architecture that allows agents to reward their peers' actions and share their experience. DRLM is successfully implemented in a flexible manufacturing system where sensors (modeled as agents) have to learn to communicate with humans about the material handling activities using graphical actions such as displays and animation.
Fiber Bragg grating multi-channel optical source with temperature compensation

A multi-channel optical source is presented using a fiber Bragg grating as a reflective filter which separates ten channels from a single broadband source. The channels are spaced 0.8 nm apart in the 1540 nm to 1548 nm range, and have 25 dB channel separation. A possible method for temperature compensation is shown utilizing the linear relationship between output wavelength shifts and expansion of the grating length. This relationship was found in simulation to be an output wavelength shift of 1.54 nm per 0.1% grating length expansion.
Effects of recent movement, starting distance and other risk factors on escape behaviour by two phrynosomatid lizards

Cost–benefit models of escape behaviour predict that flight initiation distance (FID, predator-prey distance when the prey starts to flee from an approaching predator) increases as the cost of not fleeing (risk) increases. This prediction has been verified for many risk factors and prey species. The same predictions may apply to other aspects of escape, but testing has been much less extensive. For the lizards Callisaurus draconoides and Sceloporus magister, we tested several such predictions and examined the effect of a previously unstudied risk factor, recent movement by prey. Starting distance (predator-prey distance when approach begins) was unrelated to FID in C. draconoides, as in previously studied ambush foragers. Because movement increases probability of being detected, we predicted that FID would be greater for prey that had moved immediately before being approached than those that had been immobile. FID and distance fled (DF) were longer for lizards that had moved recently. In C. draconoides DF and probability of entering refuge were greater for the second of two approaches, as predicted from greater threat posed by a persistent predator. Callisaurus draconoides had shorter FID and shorter DF, and fewer entered refuge where lizards were habituated than unhabituated to human presence. In S. magister FID increased as distance to refuge increased, FID and DF were longer for fast than slow approaches; probability of fleeing and FID were larger for direct than indirect approach. Effects of these risk factors on FID are consistent across studies, but approach speed has affected DF in only half of studies, perhaps due to constraints by refuge entry and variable distance to refuge. Similarities in effects of risk factors across escape variables, types of predator-prey encounters, and latency to emerge from refuge suggest that similar risk assessment mechanism are used for all variables and settings.
Massive phase transformation in splat-quenched β AgAl alloys

Abstract The transformation of the high temperature β phase to massive phases has been investigated in splat-quenched AgAl alloys by utilizing electron microscopy and diffraction. Very limited optical microscopic observations were also made on bulk samples. It has been found that the β phase transforms to three different massive phases, i.e., αm, μm andζm. The μm phase is observed as domains of spherical to ellipsoid shape and posseses a complex cubic β- Mn type structure. The αm andζm phases are observed as fine lamellae and striated structures respectively having respectively f.c.c. and h.c.p. structures. These two massive phases were also found as a duplex structure where the trace of the (001) plane of the h.c.p. structure was lying parallel to the close packed (111) plane of the f.c.c. αm phase. The massive phase transformation in the AgAl system is very similar to those observed for CuGa alloys. The microscopic details associated with the transformation, i.e., twinning, stacking faults, etc., and the stability range of these phases are discussed.
Total scattering cross sections for Ne(3P2,0) and Ar(3P2,0) on He.

Single-beam attenuation measurements of velocity-dependent total scattering cross sections are reported for metastable neon and argon on ground-state helium.
A multithreaded algorithm for network alignment via approximate matching

Network alignment is an optimization problem to find the best one-to-one map between the vertices of a pair of graphs that overlaps as many edges as possible. It is a relaxation of the graph isomorphism problem and is closely related to the subgraph isomorphism problem. The best current approaches are entirely heuristic and iterative in nature. They generate real-valued heuristic weights that must be rounded to find integer solutions. This rounding requires solving a bipartite maximum weight matching problem at each iteration in order to avoid missing high quality solutions. We investigate substituting a parallel, half-approximation for maximum weight matching instead of an exact computation. Our experiments show that the resulting difference in solution quality is negligible. We demonstrate almost a 20-fold speedup using 40 threads on an 8 processor Intel Xeon E7-8870 system and now solve real-world problems in 36 seconds instead of 10 minutes.
Logarithmic Domain Growth in Ternary Mixture Lipid Multilayer Systems

Cholesterol, one essential constituent of cell membrane, is shown to perform an important function as to maintaining the membrane integrity and fluidity. However, the role of cholesterol in mixed membrane phase behavior is still not completely understood. In our study of model membrane multilayer systems consisting of 1:1 DPPC/DOPC with 0∼30% Cholesterol, we have studied the kinetics of domain growth as a function of time. Both the DOPC rich domains and DPPC rich domains grow vertically via interlayer registry, and also laterally as domains coarsen. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal two different time scales of domain growth: fast growth at small time scale of minutes, and slow growth at large time scale which exhibits a logarithmic growth law for the single domain volume. AFM measurements were also performed to demonstrate the initial fast growth of the domains in real-time hydrated condition. The logarithmic growth occurs at different time scales for different cholesterol concentrations. This logarithmic growth law may indicate that the barriers to domain growth increase linearly with the domain size [1,2]. Our detailed analysis of domain lipid structure from electron density profiles with different cholesterol concentrations, and comparison of the growth law time constants should shed new light on the effects of cholesterol on membrane domains.[1] J.D. Shore, M. Holzer, and J.P. Sethna, Phys. Rev. B 46, 11376 (1992).[2] Z.W. Lai, G.F. Mazenko, and O.T. Valls, Phys. Rev. B 37, 9481 (1988).
Oceanographic Experiment Design by Simulated Annealing

Abstract The oceanographic experiment design problem is discussed in the context of several simple examples drawn from acoustic tomography. The optimization of an objective function—chosen to characterize the array design— is carried out using the technique of simulated annealing. A detailed description of this method and its implementation for the examples above, is provided. Although computationally intensive, when it is carefully implemented, simulated annealing is found to give superior results to more traditional methods of nonlinear optimization.
Colesevelam hydrochloride: A bile acid sequestrant for glycemic control and treatment of dyslipidemia in Type 2 diabetes mellitus

The complications of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) include increased risk of macrovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease, stroke or peripheral vascular disease, and microvascular diseases such as retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy. The risk of macrovascular and microvascular diseases increases with the presence of dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia, respectively. Hence, treatment of T2DM must be aimed at treating hyperglycemia to prevent microvascular disease and dyslipidemia to prevent macrovascular complications. Recent clinical studies indicate that colesevelam hydrochloride, a bile acid sequestrant, appears to be promising as an add-on therapy for T2DM patients in reducing the hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia. The objective of the paper is to review the efficacy and safety of colesevelam hydrochloride in reducing both low-density lipid cholesterol and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c levels in T2DM patients when combined with metformin, sulfonylurea or insulin.
Papillomavirus E6 PDZ Interactions Can Be Replaced by Repression of p53 To Promote Episomal Human Papillomavirus Genome Maintenance

Cancer-associated human papillomaviruses (HPVs) express E6 oncoproteins that target the degradation of p53 and have a carboxy-terminal PDZ ligand that is required for stable episomal maintenance of the HPV genome. We find that the E6 PDZ ligand can be deleted and the HPV genome stably maintained if cellular p53 is inactivated. This indicates that the E6-PDZ interaction promotes HPV genome maintenance at least in part by neutralization of an activity that can arise from residual undegraded p53.
The persistent problem of new-onset postoperative atrial fibrillation: a single-institution experience over two decades.

Objective Postoperative atrial fibrillation is the most common complication after cardiac surgery. A variety of postoperative atrial fibrillation risk factors have been reported, but study results have been inconsistent or contradictory, particularly in patients with preexisting atrial fibrillation. The incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation was evaluated in a group of 10,390 patients undergoing cardiac surgery among a comprehensive range of risk factors to identify reliable predictors of postoperative atrial fibrillation. Methods This 20-year retrospective study examined the relationship between postoperative atrial fibrillation and demographic factors, preoperative health conditions and medications, operative procedures, and postoperative complications. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate potential predictors of postoperative atrial fibrillation. Results Increasing age, mitral valve surgery (odds ratio = 1.91), left ventricular aneurysm repair (odds ratio = 1.57), aortic valve surgery (odds ratio = 1.52), race (Caucasian) (odds ratio = 1.51), use of cardioplegia (odds ratio = 1.36), use of an intraaortic balloon pump (odds ratio = 1.28), previous congestive heart failure (odds ratio = 1.28), and hypertension (odds ratio = 1.15) were significantly associated with postoperative atrial fibrillation. The non-linear relationship between age and postoperative atrial fibrillation revealed the acceleration of postoperative atrial fibrillation risk in patients aged 55 years or more. In patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, increasing age and previous congestive heart failure were the only factors associated with a higher risk of postoperative atrial fibrillation. There was no trend in incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation over time. No protective factors against postoperative atrial fibrillation were detected, including commonly prescribed categories of medications. Conclusions The persistence of the problem of postoperative atrial fibrillation and the modest predictability using common risk factors suggest that limited progress has been made in understanding its cause and treatment.
The efficiency of control variates in multiresponse simulation

When control variates are applied to a simulation with multiple responses some of the potential effeciency improvement is lost if the optimal control coefficients must be estimated. To quantify this phenomenon, we formulate a variance ratio and a loss factor that are substantially simpler than the corresponding efficiency measures developed recently by Rubinstein and Marcus [12].
Abstract 3131: Recurrence of cervical cancer following PR agonist withdrawal in mice

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA The majority of human cervical cancers are associated with the high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs). Their tumorigenic potential stems mainly from viral oncogenes E6 and E7, which are best known to inactivate p53 and pRb tumor suppressor, respectively. Epidemiological studies, however, have suggested that persistent HPV infections are not sufficient and other cofactors are necessary for the progression of the disease. Prior studies using HPV transgenic mice expressing E6 and E7 under the control of K14 promoter (K14E6/K14E7) have demonstrated the requirement of estrogen and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) for the development of HPV-induced cervical cancer. It was also shown that inhibition of ERα is effective in both treating and preventing cervical cancer in the HPV transgenic mouse model. Another female sex hormone, progesterone, functions through the progesterone receptor (PR), which is a direct transcriptional target of ERα. PR and ERα are transcription factors, members of the nuclear receptor superfamily. We recently demonstrated that a PR agonist, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), is efficient in regressing cervical cancer and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in vivo. This result suggests that PR has an anti-tumorigenic activity in the context of ERα-dependent cervical cancer. In the present study, we investigated whether cervical cancer recurs after stopping MPA treatment using the same mouse model. Consistent with our previous publication, all K14E6/K14E7 double transgenic mice treated with estrogen for 6 months had cervical cancer, which regressed when treated with MPA for 2 months. When the mice were re-treated for 2 months with estrogen after MPA treatment, cervical cancer was observed in all mice. Interestingly, the cancer was also present in all mice that were left untreated for 2 months after MPA treatment. These results suggest that cervical cancer recurs if MPA treatment is ceased. The mice bearing recurring cancer were treated with MPA again for 2 months. It was interesting that the cancer remained in 6 of 7 mice, although cancers deemed smaller than those recurred. Further analyses of these cancers are warranted. Taken together, we conclude that cervical cancer recurred once MPA was withdrawn and recurring cancers partially responded to MPA. It implies that MPA treatment regimen used in the study did not eliminate all cancerous cells. Our results suggest that, if translatable to women, continuation of MPA treatment will be warranted to prevent the recurrence of cervical cancer. Citation Format: Fabiola Mehta, Salil Ojha, Sang-Hyuk Chung. Recurrence of cervical cancer following PR agonist withdrawal in mice. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3131. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3131
A Brief Description of I.C.E.: The Integrated Crystallographic Environment

We describe the current status of the program I.C.E., the Integrated Crystallographic Environment. I.C.E. is a windows-based, menu-driven image processing package mainly aimed toward crystallographic image processing, although some of its functions have been used in analyzing single particle data and helical objects. The system can take individual images of crystals through the entire process of data analysis, from windowing the raw image through to the final evaluation of defocus, symmetry and creation of projection reconstructions. Current plans are to incorporate a three-dimensional database of images and electron diffraction patterns, and 3-D merging and visualization.
PHASE VOLUME CHANGES ACCOMPANYING WATER EXTRACTION FROM AQUEOUS ELECTROLYTE SOLUTIONS BY 1-OCTANOL

ABSTRACT The extraction of water by 1-octanol was calculated as a function of aqueous electrolyte concentration and initial O/ volume ratio for a series of representative salts, including LiC1, NaC1, KC1, NaNO3, NaCIO4, MgCl2, and CaCl2 These results were then used to calculate the resultant phase-volume changes and aqueous-electrolyte-concentration changes. Such corrections are necessitated for precise extraction measurements employing 1-octanol as a diluent, especially as the O/A phase ratio exceeds unity.
Quantitative radionuclide angiography in the right anterior oblique view: Comparison with contrast ventriculography

Abstract Because the right anterior oblique view is widely accepted as the best “single” projection for assessing wall motion, the utility of this view during first pass radionuclide angiography was studied in 44 patients who also underwent contrast ventriculography and coronary arteriography. Of the 44 patients, 8 had a normal heart and 14 had coronary artery disease with normal wall motion on contrast ventriculography. All also had normal contraction on radionuclide angiography. On contrast ventriculography, 22 patients had coronary artery disease and asynergy involving 34 left ventricular segments. Of 17 segments localized to the anterior and apical asynergic areas on contrast ventriculography, 16 were accurately localized with radionuclide angiography. Similarly, of 17 inferior asynergic areas, 13 were also shown to be inferior on radionuclide angiography. In addition, quantitative assessment of the severity of asynergy using the hemiaxis method demonstrated a good correlation between asynergic severity as defined with radionuclide angiography and contrast ventriculography. Of 11 anterior areas, 7 defined as hypokinetic with contrast ventriculography demonstrated chordal shortening of 20.1 ± 5.2 percent (mean ± standard error of the mean) ( P P After appropriate background subtraction, determination of ejection fraction using radionuclide angiography showed a correlation of 0.839 between the left anterior oblique and right anterior oblique projections independent of the sequence of injection. In addition, ejection fraction determined with radionuclide angiography in the left ( r = 0.824) and right ( r = 0.801) anterior oblique views correlated well with ejection fraction assessed from contrast ventriculography. Thus, first pass radionuclide angiography performed in the right anterior oblique view is a sensitive noninvasive means of assessing the location and severity of asynergy as well as global left ventricular performance in patients with coronary artery disease.
Aminophosphonate Inhibitors of Dialkylglycine Decarboxylase: Structural Basis for Slow Binding Inhibition

The kinetics of inhibition of dialkylglycine decarboxylase by five aminophosphonate inhibitors are presented. Two of these ((R)-1-amino-1-methylpropanephosphonate and (S)-1-aminoethanephosphonate) are slow binding inhibitors. The inhibitors follow a mechanism in which a weak complex is rapidly formed, followed by slow isomerization to the tight complex. Here, the tight complexes are bound 10-fold more tightly than the weak, initial complexes. The slow onset inhibition occurs with t1/2 values of 1.3 and 0.55 min at saturating inhibitor concentrations for the AMPP and S-AEP inhibitors, respectively, while dissociation of these inhibitor complexes occurs with t1/2 values of 13 and 4.6 min, respectively. The X-ray structures of four of the inhibitors in complex with dialkylglycine decarboxylase have been determined to resolutions ranging from 2.6 to 2.0 A, and refined toR-factors of 14.5-19.5%. These structures show variation in the active site structure with inhibitor side chain size and slow binding character. It is proposed that the slow binding behavior originates in an isomerization from an initial complex in which the PLP pyridine nitrogen-D243 OD2 distance is 2.9 A to one in which it is2.7 A. The angles that the C -P bonds make with the p orbitals of the aldimine ﷿ system are correlated with the reactivities of the analogous amino acid substrates, suggesting a role for stereoelectronic effects in Schiff base reactivity.
Diagnostic pneumoperitoneum accurately predicts the presence of patent processus vaginalis

Ninety-four infants with unilateral indirect inguinal hernia underwent repair and diagnostic pneumoperitoneum (DPP). Contralateral groin exploration was performed in all patients including those with a negative DPP result. Thirty-seven (39%) of the 94 patients had a positive DPP result, and 36 of 37 (97%) had a patent processus vaginalis (PPV) on the side contralateral to the clinical hernia. Fifty-seven (61%) of the 94 patients had a negative DPP result, and 54 (95%) of these had no PPV. Female patients had a 1:1 correlation between DPP and PPV. DPP can predict the presence of PPV in the contralateral groin of patients with unilateral hernia with precision and minimizes the need for diagnostic groin exploration.
Effects of flooding and salinity on photosynthesis and water relations of four Southeastern Coastal Plain forest species

The influence of flooding and salinity on photosynthesis and water relations was examined for four common coastal tree species [green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall), water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica L.). Chinese tallow (Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb.), and baldcypress (Taxodium distichum (L.) Richard)]. Both chronic (as might be associated with sea level rise) and acute (similar to hurricane storm surges) exposures to these stresses were examined. Chronic freshwater flooding of green ash, water tupelo, and Chinese tallow seedlings reduced photosynthesis (A) relative to that of watered seedlings, while baldcypress was unaffected. Chinese tallow A declined with increasing length of flooding. A salinity increase of the floodwater to 2 ppt decreased A of baldcypress and water tupelo, but not A of green ash and Chinese tallow, which was already severely reduced by freshwater flooding. All seedlings of the four species died within 2 to 6 weeks when flooded with 10 ppt saltwater. Photosynthesis of all four species did not differ between 0 and 2 ppt watering. Watering with 10 ppt salinity initially reduced A of all four species, but the seedlings recovered over time. Photosynthesis was severely decreased for all species when flooded with 21 ppt salinity for 48 hours. Reduced A continued following the treatment. Photosynthesis of only green ash and water tupelo was reduced by watering with 21 ppt salinity for 48 hours. Flooding of low-lying areas with increased salinity would lead to shifts in species composition of coastal forests due to these differential tolerances.
Bland and tumor thrombi in abdominal malignancies: magnetic resonance imaging assessment in a large oncologic patient population

The purpose of this study was to examine the distribution of venous thrombi associated with primary or secondary abdominal malignancies on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with respect to thrombus type (bland vs. tumor), tumor sites, tumor types, and veins involved in a large oncologic patient population. In a retrospective review of 10,908 oncologic patients, MR imaging studies identified 142 (1.3%) showing venous thrombi, of which 55 (0.5%) were bland and 87 (0.79%) were tumor thrombus. Bland thrombi were most commonly seen in liver (35%; 19/55) and retroperitoneal malignancies (24%; 13/55) and were most often located in the inferior vena cava (45%; 25/55) and the portal vein (22%; 12/55). Tumor thrombi were most commonly seen in renal (55%; 48/87) and liver (32%; 28/87) malignancies. The prevalence of tumor thrombi was 8.8% (48/545) in primary renal, 4.7% (6/126) in primary retroperitoneal, 2.9% (19/634) in primary liver, and 1.8% (9/479) in secondary liver malignancies. Tumor thrombi were most commonly located in the inferior vena cava (57%; 50/87), the renal vein (48%; 42/87), and the portal vein (29%; 25/87).
Host protection against deliberate bacterial contamination of an extracellular matrix bioscaffold versus Dacron™ mesh in a dog model of orthopedic soft tissue repair

The resistance of two biomaterials, one synthetic and one biologic in origin, to deliberate bacterial infection was compared in a dog model of orthopedic soft tissue reconstruction. Twenty-four adult female dogs were randomly divided into two equal groups and a 2.0-cm-round full-thickness defect was created on the lateral surface of the stifle joint, leaving only the synovium and skin intact. The defect was surgically repaired with either Dacron™ mesh or a porcine derived extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffold material. The repair site was inoculated with 1 × 108Staphylococcus aureus at the time of surgery and the dogs were survived for 28 days. Results showed a chronic pyogranulomatous inflammatory response at the Dacron™ implant sites versus a constructive tissue-remodeling response without residual inflammation at the ECM implant site. Three dogs in the group receiving the Dacron™ mesh were treated with Keflex™ (500 mg bid × 7 days) for signs of septicemia. A quantitative bacterial count of the implant sites at the time of sacrifice showed 6.52 × 105 ± 1.2 × 106 and 6.5 × 102 ± 1.8 × 103 bacteria per gram of tissue for the Dacron™ and ECM scaffold sites, respectively (P < .03). The ECM implant material was more resistant than the synthetic implant material to persistent infection following deliberate bacterial contamination and the ECM scaffold supported constructive tissue remodeling. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 67B: 648–654, 2003
Diagnostically lossless medical image compression via wavelet-based background noise removal

Diagnostically lossless compression techniques are essential in archival and communication of medical images. In this paper, an automated wavelet-based background noise removal method, i.e. diagnostically lossless compression method, is proposed. First, the wavelet transform modulus maxima procedure products the modulus maxima image which contains sharp changes in intensity that are used to locate the edges of the images. Then the Graham Scan algorithm is used to determine the convex hull of the wavelet modulus maxima image and extract the foreground of the image, which contains the entire diagnostic region of the image. Histogram analyses are applied to the non-diagnostic region, which is approximated by the image that is outside the convex hull. After setting all pixels in the non-diagnostic region to zero intensity, a higher compression ratio, without introducing loss of any data used for the diagnosis, is achieved with UNIX utilities compress and pack, and with lossless JPEG. Furthermore, an image of smaller rectangular region containing all the diagnostic region is constructed to further improve the compression ratio achieved.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Opioid and non-opioid mechanisms of stress analgesia: lack of cross-tolerance between stressors

Abstract Qualitatively different analgesic responses can be evoked in rats by exposure to prolonged, intermittentent brief, continuous footshock stress. These two forms of stress analgesia appear to be mediated by opioid and nonopioid pain-inhibitory substrates, respectively. The present study confirms our previous observation that tolerance develops to only the opioid form of stress analgesia and shows that cross-tolerance does not occur between the opioid and nonopioid forms. These data provide further evidence that independent mechanisms underlie opioid and nonopoioid stress analgesia.
STUDIES IN THE GENETICS AND CYTOLOGY OF TWO SPECIES IN THE GENUS ASTER AND THEIR POLYMORPHY IN NATURE

THE FOLLOWING genetical and cytological studies were made in conj unction with investigations in relative growth and morphogenesis (Delisle, 1938) in two species of Aster, A. novae-angliae L., A. multiflorus Ait.2 and their hybrid. Certain aspects of this work appear significant when considered in relation to the polymorphy of these species and possibly have a bearing on the recognized polymorphy in the genus. A. novae-angliae is tall, hairy, stout, and relatively unbranched in the young stages, becoming corymbed only at the summit later. It has numerous large, soft, minutely pubescent, lanceolate, acute, entire leaves which are provided with marked auriculations at the base. The bracts of the involucre are loose, erect, nearly equal, glandular-viscid and linear; the heads are characteristically solitary on individual branchlets; the rays of the type species are violet-purple and those of the forms roseus (Desf.) Britton and geneseensis House are rose and white, respectively. This species flowers from August to October, with the bulk of the plants blooming in September. A. multiflorus is a somewhat shorter, very much more branched (Delisle, 1937) and bushy, shortpubescent plant with crowded heads on the spreading, racemose branches. The leaves are crowded, linear, entire, sessile, non-auriculate, spreading, and rigid, with rough or ciliate margins, passing above into the spatulate, obtuse, ciliate bracts of
GoldRush: resource efficient in situ scientific data analytics using fine-grained interference aware execution

Severe I/O bottlenecks on High End Computing platforms call for running data analytics in situ. Demonstrating that there exist considerable resources in compute nodes un-used by typical high end scientific simulations, we leverage this fact by creating an agile runtime, termed GoldRush, that can harvest those otherwise wasted, idle resources to efficiently run in situ data analytics. GoldRush uses fine-grained scheduling to "steal" idle resources, in ways that minimize interference between the simulation and in situ analytics. This involves recognizing the potential causes of on-node resource contention and then using scheduling methods that prevent them. Experiments with representative science applications at large scales show that resources harvested on compute nodes can be leveraged to perform useful analytics, significantly improving resource efficiency, reducing data movement costs incurred by alternate solutions, and posing negligible impact on scientific simulations.
Surgical Management of Infants with Complex Cardiac Anomalies Associated with Reduced Pulmonary Blood Flow and Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage

Eight infants with complex cardiac anomalies and pulmonary stenosis or atresia were noted to have obstructed total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (TAPVD) either at the initial cardiac catheterization (Group 1; n = 2) or after creation of systemic-pulmonary artery shunts (Group 2; n = 6). The 2 patients in Group 1 underwent early repair of TAPVD (1 at 7 days, the other at 1 1/2 months of age) before any subsequent operation and are now doing well at 18 months of age. The 6 patients in Group 2 underwent repeat cardiac catheterization because of persistent severe cyanosis with faint or absent continuous murmur and were found to have patent shunts and obstructed TAPVD (1 mild, 5 severe). One patient who underwent repair of TAPVD at 2 1/2 months of age survived and is well at 2 years of age, whereas 4 patients who underwent repair at an average age of 6 months (age range, 3-16 months) subsequently died. The sixth patient, who did not undergo repair, remained severely cyanotic with hypoplastic pulmonary arteries in spite of repeated shunts. We feel that increased awareness of the possible association of TAPVD and reduced pulmonary blood flow in infants with complex cardiac defects, in combination with echocardiography, oxygen saturation studies, and angiography with prostaglandin E1 challenge, should lead to early diagnosis, avoidance of unnecessary systemic-pulmonary artery shunts, and increased survival rates in these infants.
Soiling losses for solar photovoltaic systems in California

Soiling Losses for Solar Photovoltaic Systems in California Felipe A Mejia, Jan Kleissl Keywords: Soiling, PV Performance Center for Renewable Resources and Integration, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, USA Abstract Soiling is the accumulation of dust on solar panels that causes a decrease in the solar photovoltaic (PV) system’s efficiency. The changes in conversion efficiency of 186 residential and commercial PV sites were quantified during dry periods over the course of 2010 with respect to rain events observed at nearby weather stations and using satellite solar resource data. Soiling losses averaged 0.051% per day overall and 26% of the sites had losses greater than 0.1% per day. Sites with small tilt angles (<5 o ) had larger soiling losses while differences by location were not statistically significant. 1. Introduction With the rapid increase in the use of photovoltaic (PV) power in California, which has 47% of the installed PV capacity in the US, the optimal management and analysis of expected performance of PV sites becomes increasingly important. Soiling can have a large effect on efficiency during long droughts[1], which mainly occur during the summer season coincident with the largest solar resource. Dust from air pollution particles, sea salt, pollen, agricultural activity, construction and other anthropogenic and natural sources accumulates on the panels until it is removed either by rain or washing. Research on soiling has primarily been conducted in the middle-east [2] due to the large aerosol loading in the air and the greater abundance of or plans for concentrating solar power plants that are much more affected by soiling. For a concentrating solar power desalination plant in Abu Dhabi, UAE soiling was found to be strongest during sandstorms in the summer season [3]. The transmittance of glass panels after 30 days of exposure in India decreased from 90% to 30% for horizontal and from 90% to 88% for vertical panels [4]. Another more recent study examined the effects of soiling for 250 sites monitored by PowerLight (now SunPower) [1]. Since several of these sites are in areas with frequent rain their study focused on sites in the southwestern United States where long droughts are more common. They also excluded sites with an R 2 value between soiling energy losses and time of less than 0.7 which left a total of 46 sites. Between rain events, soiling losses were found to aggregate linearly with time with an average daily soiling loss of 0.2%. While this paper provides a methodological foundation for analyzing soiling losses, the site selection criteria may have led to an overestimate of soiling losses.
PPD-stimulated interferon: in vitro macrophage-lymphocyte interaction in the production of a mediator of cellular immunity.

Abstract The addition of macrophages to cultures of PPD-stimulated lymphocytes from tuberculin-sensitive individuals results in a greater than 3-fold increase in the production of interferon over that observed in cultures of lymphocytes or macrophages alone with PPD. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) cannot substitute for macrophages in the augmentation of interferon production. In the combined lymphocyte-macrophage cultures a dissociation in time occurs between the time of peak transformation (as measured by the incorporation of thymidine-3H) and the time of peak interferon production; peak transformation occurs at 4–6 days and peak interferon production at 7–8 days. The amount of interferon produced is related to the degree of transformation. The significance and relevance to in vivo events of this in vitro macrophage-lymphocyte interaction in the production of interferon, a mediator of cellular immunity, is discussed.
Evaluating targets for control of plasmid-mediated antimicrobial resistance in enteric commensals of beef cattle: a modelling approach

Enteric commensal bacteria of food animals may serve as a reservoir of genes encoding antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The genes are often plasmidic. Different aspects of bacterial ecology can be targeted by interventions to control plasmid-mediated AMR. The field efficacy of interventions remains unclear. We developed a deterministic mathematical model of commensal Escherichia coli in its animate and non-animate habitats within a beef feedlot's pen, with some E. coli having plasmid-mediated resistance to the cephalosporin ceftiofur. We evaluated relative potential efficacy of within- or outside-host biological interventions delivered throughout rearing depending on the targeted parameter of bacterial ecology. Most instrumental in reducing the fraction of resistant enteric E. coli at steer slaughter age were interventions acting on the enteric E. coli and capable of either 'plasmid curing' E. coli, or lowering maximum E. coli numbers or the rate of plasmid transfer in this habitat. Also efficient was to increase the regular replacement of enteric E. coli. Lowering replication rate of resistant E. coli alone was not an efficient intervention target.
Effects of cell density and glucose and glutamine levels on the respiration rates of hybridoma cells

The effects of cell density as well as the concentration levels of glucose and glutamine on the specific respiration rate of a hybridoma cell line were investigated. The experimental oxygen consumption rate was found to be constant over a wide range of dissolved oxygen levels if the suspension medium contained glutamine. In glutamine-free medium, however, the rate of oxygen consumption decreased slowly with time.In a stationary flask batch culture, the specific respiration rate decreased from about 7 to 2.9 mumol/min per 10(9) cells as the cell density increased exponentially from 1 x 10(5) to 1.2 x 10(6)/mL. To isolate the effect of cell density, cells were re suspended in fresh culture medium so that nutrient concentrations were the same for all experiments. The specific respiration rate decreased with increasing cell density in the same manner as in the stationary flask culture, falling from 8 to 4 mumol/min per 10(9) cells as the cell density increased from 10(5) to 10(6) cells/mL, then declining to 2 mumol/min per 10(9) cells when the cell density reached 10(7) cells/mL.Cells suspended in Hanks balanced sale solution (HBSS) were used to elucidate the effect of glucose and glutamine levels on respiration. The addition of glucose in concentrations of 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 g/L had no observable effect on the specific oxygen uptake rate; however, a glucose concentration of 1 g/L reduced the uptake rate by 22%. Glutamine in a concentration of 0.30 g/L increased the specific respiration rate in HBSS containing 0 and 1 g/L glucose by approximately 13%.
Evaluation of conformal and body-axis attitude information for spatial awareness

The traditional head-up display (HUD) used in most modern fighter aircraft presents attitude information that is both conformal to the outside world and aligned with the body-axis of the aircraft. The introduction of helmet-mounted display (HMD) technology into simulated and actual flight environments has introduced an interesting issue regarding the presentation of attitude information. This information can be presented conformally or relative to the aircraft's body-axis, but not both (except in the special case where the pilot's line of sight is directly matched with the aircraft's body-axis). The question addressed with this study was whether attitude information displayed in an HMD should be presented with respect to the real world (conformally) or to the aircraft's body-axis. To answer this, both conformal and body-axis attitude symbology were compared under simulated air combat situations. The results of this study indicated that the body-axis concept was a more effective HMD display. A detailed description of the flight task and results of this study will be presented.
Conformational sampling with implicit solvent models: application to the PHF6 peptide in tau protein.

Implicit solvent models approximate the effects of solvent through a potential of mean force and therefore make solvated simulations computationally efficient. Yet despite their computational efficiency, the inherent approximations made by implicit solvent models can sometimes lead to inaccurate results. To test the accuracy of a number of popular implicit solvent models, we determined whether implicit solvent simulations can reproduce the set of potential energy minima obtained from explicit solvent simulations. For these studies, we focus on a six-residue amino-acid sequence, referred to as the paired helical filament 6 (PHF6), which may play an important role in the formation of intracellular aggregates in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Several implicit solvent models form the basis of this work—two based on the generalized Born formalism, and one based on a Gaussian solvent-exclusion model. All three implicit solvent models generate minima that are in good agreement with minima obtained from simulations with explicit solvent. Moreover, free-energy profiles generated with each implicit solvent model agree with free-energy profiles obtained with explicit solvent. For the Gaussian solvent-exclusion model, we demonstrate that a straightforward ranking of the relative stability of each minimum suggests that the most stable structure is extended, a result in excellent agreement with the free-energy profiles. Overall, our data demonstrate that for some peptides like PHF6, implicit solvent can accurately reproduce the set of local energy minimum arising from quenched dynamics simulations with explicit solvent. More importantly, all solvent models predict that PHF6 forms extended β-structures in solution, a finding consistent with the notion that PHF6 initiates neurofibrillary tangle formation in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Role of Intraarterial Embolization before Cryoablation of Large Renal Tumors: A Pilot Study

A retrospective review of patients who underwent percutaneous cryoablations of renal tumors (≥ 5 cm) with/without previous selective intraarterial embolization from March 2003 to January 2008 was performed to compare periprocedural complications. Of 129 treated tumors, 11 (8.5%) were larger than 5 cm. One patient was lost to follow-up. Of the remaining 10 follow-up patients, four (40%) underwent selective intraarterial tumor embolization before cryoablation. The mean hematoma volume in patients who underwent embolization before cryoablation ( n = 4) was 18.3 mL ± 25.9, whereas that in patients who underwent cryoablation alone ( n = 6) was 357.3 mL ± 460.9 ( P
Test for the consistency of noninferiority from multiple clinical trials

A testing procedure is proposed to assess the consistency of noninferiority from a collection of trials based on simultaneous t lower confidence bounds or Scheffe's lower confidence bounds. Methods for simultaneous inferences on pairwise or many-to-one comparisons among multiple noninferiority trials are also discussed. To avoid bias due to subjective trial exclusion a tuning parameter k is embedded into the testing procedure to provide flexibility to quantify the “consistency of noninferiority” when the total number of trials is large. The size and power of the proposed test are discussed. The method is illustrated using simulations and real data analysis.
Blood pressure and survival of a chromosome 7 congenic strain bred from Dahl rats.

11 β-hydroxylase (Cyp11b1) mutations were previously linked to altered steroid biosynthesis and blood pressure in Dahl salt-resistant (R) and Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rats. In the present work, interval mapping identified a putative blood pressure quantitative trait locus (QTL) near Cyp11b1 in an F1(SxR)xS population (LOD = 2.0). Congenic rats (designated S.R-Cyp11b) were constructed by introgressing the R-rat Cyp11b1 allele into the S strain. S.R-Cyp11b rats had significantly lower blood pressure and heart weight compared with S rats, proving the existence of a blood pressure QTL on Chromosome (Chr) 7 despite the fact that QTL linkage analysis of blood pressure never achieved stringent statistical criteria for significance. To test the effects of the introgressed region on blood pressure and survival, S.R.-Cyp11b and S rats were maintained on a 4% NaC1 diet until they died or became moribund. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated significant strain differences in blood pressure and days survived (P < 0.0001 for both) as well as gender differences in days survived (P = 0.0003). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis also found significant strain (P < 0.0001) and gender (P = 0.007) differences in days survived. However, when the effects of blood pressure were removed, significant strain differences in survival essentially disappeared. This suggests that the increased survival of S.R-Cyp11b rats was largely due to their decreased blood pressure and thus strongly corroborates the existence of a blood pressure QTL on Chr 7 near or at Cyp11b1.