cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reunification outcomes among Mexican immigrant families in the child welfare system

Abstract This study examined reunification outcomes among Mexican immigrant families involved in the child welfare system, and compared characteristics of Mexican-origin and non-immigrant children involved in the child welfare system. An exploratory retrospective longitudinal design using administrative data from two counties in Northern California was utilized. The quantitative sample (N = 2152) included children entering the foster care system for 8 or more days between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2007 in the two participating counties. Child welfare administrative data (CWS/CMS) were merged with eligibility data (CalWIN) in order to obtain parent and child place of birth and citizenship status. Quantitative measures drawn from the merged CWS/CMS and CalWIN dataset included the following: demographic characteristics, immigrant characteristics, case characteristics and reunification outcomes. Results indicated that a significantly higher proportion of Mexican immigrant families (70.7%) were reunified than non-immigrant families (43.1%). Significant correlates of reunification among Mexican immigrant families included the following: mothers with authorized citizenship status (vs. unauthorized citizenship status), mothers whose primary language was Spanish (vs. English), and children with two or fewer placements (vs. three or more placements). Differences between Mexican-origin and non-immigrant children were that Mexican-origin children were older on average than non-immigrant children, and they were more likely to experience physical abuse, sexual abuse or emotional abuse; they were also more likely to be placed in foster care or a group home (vs. relative care). Implications for social work practice and policy are discussed.
Fluid-Power Harvesting by Under-Foot Bellows During Human Gait

Pneumatic and hydraulic bellows were investigated for under-foot power harvesting during human walking. Placement under the heel allows the bellow to be compressed during the heel strike of the gait cycle, whereas placement under the metatarsal allows compression during the mid-stance and toe-off phases. In either case, body weight is used as the power source for a self-contained fluid power circuit. Once unweighted, air is drawn into the bellow through a one-way valve allowing the bellow to recharge as it expands during the swing phase of the gait cycle. A collapsible spring was placed inside the bellow to ensure full opened conditions for this phase. To evaluate this concept, experimental studies were conducted on two circular bellows with outside diameters of 4.13 cm and 6.35 cm placed under the heel or the metatarsal of the foot, on a person walking on a treadmill. These pressure profiles were then reproduced on a compression testing machine to investigate the power generated per cycle. During normal walking, the pneumatic bellows generated peak power levels of 20–25 W and maximum pressures of 450 kPa. The average power available over a single cycle was 1.5 and 4.5 W for the small and large bellows, respectively. This novel use of bellows demonstrates the ability to use these devices for regenerative fluid power harvesting capabilities during walking.
No acute effects of grape juice on appetite, implicit memory and mood.

Background: Animal experiments document effects of grape juice on cognitive performance and motor skills, and observational studies in humans suggest an inverse association between flavonoid intake and cognitive decline. These effects may be related to the antioxidant properties of polyphenols. Juice consumption and flavonoid intake may also affect appetite. Objective: To study the acute effects of grape juice consumption on appetite, mood and implicit memory during a time of increased lethargy the post-lunch dip. Design: Thirty-five participants with a mean age of 26 years who smoked a mean of 11 cigarettes/day for 8 years were included in the study. It included a practice session and two treatment sessions. All sessions involved consumption of grape juice or an energy-matched placebo with lunch followed by assessments of mood, implicit memory, appetite and food intake. Results: Mood decreased over time for both treatments, but there were no differences after lunch between grape juice and placebo for any measure. Conclusion: This study did not document any acute effects of grape juice consumption on mood, implicit memory, appetite or food intake in smokers.
A mixture model for occupational exposure mean testing with a limit of detection.

SUl\lhIARY. Information from detectable exposure measurements randomly sampled from a left-truncated log-normal distribution may be used to evaluate the distribution of nondetectable values that fall below all analytic limit of detection_ If the proportion of nondetects is larger than expected under log normality. alternative models to account for these unobserved data should be considered. We discuss one such model that incorporates a mixture of true zero exposures and a log-normal distribution with possible left censoring, previously considered ill a different context by ManItou and Halsey (1995, Biometrics 51, 1570-1578). A particular relationship is demonstrated between maximum likelihood parameter estimates based on this mixture model and those assuming either left-tnlllcated or left-censored data. These results emphasize the Heed for caution when choosing a model to fit data involving nondetectable values. A one-sided likelihood ratio test for COlli paring Illeall exposure under the mixture model to an occupational exposure limit is then developed and evaluated via simulations. All example demonstrates the potential impact of specifying an incorrect model for the Ilondetectable value::;.
Presence of calmodulin-like calcium-binding protein in Bacillus cereus T spores

Bacillus cereus T spores were extensively washed, broken, and heated at 90°C for 2 min. Using calcium-dependent hydrophobic interaction chromatography, a single peak protein fraction was obtained which possessed calcium-binding capacity and some characteristics of calmodulin. This heat-stable protein fraction was retained by hydrophobic matrices (Phenyl-Sepharose) or a calmodulin antagonist (naphthalenesulfonamide) in a calcium-dependent manner. Calcium binding ability was verified by 45Ca autoradiography and a competitive calcium binding assay using Chelex-100. The crude spore extract displaced bovine brain calmodulin from its antibody in a radioimmunoassay and the immunoreactive specific activity of the partially purified fraction was approx. 200-fold greater than the crude spore extract. Thus, B. cereus T spores have a calcium-binding protein with calmodulin-like properties.
Lithologic and Pedogenic Influences on Porosity Distribution and Groundwater Flow in Fractured Sedimentary Saprolite: A New Application of Environmental Sedimentology

ABSTRACT Soil and fractured saprolite formed from weathered Middle Cambrian sedimentary rocks were analyzed from two shallow (< 2.5 m deep) pits located at the Oak Ridge Reservation in eastern Tennessee. The effects of both parent heterogeneity and pedogenic processes on fracture and matrix porosity were examined using thin-section petrography and geochemistry. The A and Bw horizons of the soil profiles comprise thin (20-60 cm), weakly developed, loamy inceptisols characterized by high (40-50%) matrix porosity. Subjacent saprolite with pore-occluding pedogenic clay (Crt horizon) occurs beneath a saprolite without pedogenic clay (Cr horizon) and varies lithologically depending on parent material (limestone, siltstone and shale, or sandstone). The soil and saprolite commonly contain root pores; the saprolite additionally contains bedding-parallel and bedding-perpendicular (orthogonal) fracture sets. The fractures and root holes were initially expected to control "bulk" or mesoscale hydraulic conductivity of the materials. This study indicates, however, that extensive pedogenic clay and Fe/Mn-oxide accumulations in the pores and fractures in the saprolite, at depths of 100-250 cm, cause porosity reduction that is so extensive it serves to create a low-hydraulic-conductivity barrier within the upper vadose zone. This barrier is known from prior work to cause formation of perched water-table conditions and rapid downslope flow during rainfall events, but this is the first study to investigate the origin of the low-conductivity barrier. Geochemical mass balance, using Ti as an immobile index, also demonstrates that three distinct weathering environments defined by element translocation patterns occur in each pit, which correspond to the soil zone (A and Bw horizons), shallow saprolite (Cr horizon), and deep saprolite (Crt horizon). The geochemical zonation is also consistent with the pedogenic and hydraulic interpretation of the system. The potential environmental significance of the zone of pore occlusion is also discussed from the perspective of runoff, recharge, and contaminant migration.
Do solar neutrinos decay

Despite the fact that the solar neutrino flux is now well understood in the context of matter-affected neutrino mixing, we find that it is not yet possible to set a strong and model-independent bound on solar neutrino decays. If neutrinos decay into truly invisible particles, the Earth-Sun baseline defines a lifetime limit of $\ensuremath{\tau}/m\ensuremath{\gtrsim}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4} \mathrm{s}/\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}.$ However, there are many possibilities which must be excluded before such a bound can be established. There is an obvious degeneracy between the neutrino lifetime and the mixing parameters. More generally, one must also allow the possibility of active daughter neutrinos and/or antineutrinos, which may partially conceal the characteristic features of decay. Many of the most exotic possibilities that presently complicate the extraction of a decay bound will be removed if the KamLAND reactor antineutrino experiment confirms the large-mixing angle solution to the solar neutrino problem and measures the mixing parameters precisely. Better experimental and theoretical constraints on the ${}^{8}\mathrm{B}$ neutrino flux will also play a key role, as will tighter bounds on absolute neutrino masses. Though the lifetime limit set by the solar flux is weak, it is still the strongest direct limit on nonradiative neutrino decay. Even so, there is no guarantee (by about eight orders of magnitude) that neutrinos from astrophysical sources such as a Galactic supernova or distant active galactic nuclei will not decay.
Mutation screening of human 5-HT(2B)receptor gene in early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The serotonin receptor 2B gene (HTR2B; MIM 601122) is a pharmacological and positional candidate gene in early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder. Sequences of a putative promoter region and splice regions were first elucidated, then sequenced along with HTR2B coding regions. Probands from seven families included in a previous genome scan in which one of the strongest linkage findings was to a region including HTR2B, along with two genomic DNA pools of 10 unrelated control subjects and 10 unrelated autism probands were screened. One single nucleotide polymorphism was found in intron 1, that may be useful as a marker in genetic linkage and association studies. It does not appear likely to affect splicing. No evidence for functional mutation was found in the sequenced regions of HTR2B.
Regioselective synthesis of trifluoromethyl substituted quinolines from trifluoroacetyl acetylenes

Abstract Trifluoromethyl substituted quinolines have been prepared by 1, 2- or 1, 4- addition of anilines to trifluoroacetyl acetylenes followed by intramolecular acid catalyzed ring closure.
Major Facilitator Superfamily

The major facilitator superfamily (MFS) is one of the two largest families of membrane transporters found on Earth. It is present ubiquitously in bacteria, archaea, and eukarya and includes members that can function by solute uniport, solute/cation symport, solute/cation antiport and/or solute/solute antiport with inwardly and/or outwardly directed polarity. All homologous MFS protein sequences in the public databases as of January 1997 were identified on the basis of sequence similarity and shown to be homologous. Phylogenetic analyses revealed the occurrence of 17 distinct families within the MFS, each of which generally transports a single class of compounds. Compounds transported by MFS permeases include simple sugars, oligosaccharides, inositols, drugs, amino acids, nucleosides, organophosphate esters, Krebs cycle metabolites, and a large variety of organic and inorganic anions and cations. Protein members of some MFS families are found exclusively in bacteria or in eukaryotes, but others are found in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. All permeases of the MFS possess either 12 or 14 putative or established transmembrane α-helical spanners, and evidence is presented substantiating the proposal that an internal tandem gene duplication event gave rise to a primordial MFS protein prior to divergence of the family members. All 17 families are shown to exhibit the common feature of a well-conserved motif present between transmembrane spanners 2 and 3. The analyses reported serve to characterize one of the largest and most diverse families of transport proteins found in living organisms.
Posttraining handling facilitates memory for auditory-cue fear conditioning in rats

A large number of studies have indicated that stress exposure or the administration of stress hormones and other neuroactive drugs immediately after a learning experience modulates the consolidation of long-term memory. However, there has been little investigation into how arousal induced by handling of the animals in order to administer these drugs affects memory. Therefore, the present study examined whether the posttraining injection or handling procedure per se affects memory of auditory-cue classical fear conditioning. Male Sprague-Dawley rats, which had been pre-handled on three days for 1 min each prior to conditioning, received three pairings of a single-frequency auditory stimulus and footshock, followed immediately by either a subcutaneous injection of a vehicle solution or brief handling without injection. A control group was placed back into their home cages without receiving any posttraining treatment. Retention was tested 24 h later in a novel chamber and suppression of ongoing motor behavior during a 10-s presentation of the auditory-cue served as the measure of conditioned fear. Animals that received posttraining injection or handling did not differ from each other but showed significantly less stimulus-induced movement compared to the non-handled control group. These findings thus indicate that the posttraining injection or handling procedure is sufficiently arousing or stressful to facilitate memory consolidation of auditory-cue classical fear conditioning.
HIV Infection and Dementia in Older Adults

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in older patients is becoming increasingly common as seropositive individuals live longer because of long-term antiretroviral treatment. Simultaneously, the development and expression of dementia among HIV-infected patients is evolving in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and immune reconstitution. How long-term HAART interacts with chronic HIV infection and advanced age with regard to cognition is not fully understood. This article provides an overview of HIV cognitive impairment as it relates to aging and presents some emerging issues in the field. Particular emphasis is placed on describing the changing landscape of HIV-related cognitive impairment and discussing possible concerns regarding the long-term effects of antiretroviral treatment. A brief discussion of potential adjunctive therapies to reduce cognitive symptoms associated with HIV infection in older individuals is provided.
Data compression for PC software distribution

This paper presents the design and implementation of a data compression scheme that can be used for PC software distribution. The method utilizes a larzy parsing strategy and a large sliding-window to obtain good compression ratio. A large window is used to read in characters from a file and a suffix tree is constructed to search for the longest matching substring. Larzy parsing is used to improve the compression performance moderately. Modified unary codes and Huffman codes are used to encode the displacements, copy-lengths and copied symbols. Although the encoder is complex, the expansion phase of such a coder is simple and works very fast; experimental results confirm this fact. Such a compression scheme is most appropriate to be used for PC software distribution.
Dual Functioning Thieno‐Pyrrole Fused BODIPY Dyes for NIR Optical Imaging and Photodynamic Therapy: Singlet Oxygen Generation without Heavy Halogen Atom Assistance

We discovered a rare phenomenon wherein a thieno-pyrrole fused BODIPY dye (SBDPiR690) generates singlet oxygen without heavy halogen atom substituents. SBDPiR690 generates both singlet oxygen and fluorescence. To our knowledge, this is the first example of such a finding. To establish a structure–photophysical property relationship, we prepared SBDPiR analogs with electron-withdrawing groups at the para-position of the phenyl groups. The electron-withdrawing groups increased the HOMO–LUMO energy gap and singlet oxygen generation. Among the analogs, SBDPiR688, a CF3 analog, had an excellent dual functionality of brightness (82290 m−1 cm−1) and phototoxic power (99170 m−1 cm−1) comparable to those of Pc 4, due to a high extinction coefficient (211 000 m−1 cm−1) and balanced decay (Φflu=0.39 and ΦΔ=0.47). The dual functionality of the lead compound SBDPiR690 was successfully applied to preclinical optical imaging and for PDT to effectively control a subcutaneous tumor.
The stimulation by ACTH of 17α-hydroxylation in cultures or rabbit adrenal cells

Abstract Adrenal cells from control rabbits (control-cells) and from rabbits that had been injected twice daily for 3 days prior to sacrifice with 25 IU ACTH (ACTH-cells) were cultured both in the absence and presence of 100 mIU ACTH. Culture durations varied from 24 to 120 h in 24 h increments. The culture medium was changed daily and fresh ACTH added to appropriate vessels. At the time of the final media change 0.1 μCi [4- 14 C]pregnenolone was added. Twenty-four hours later the cultures were terminated and the products formed from the pregnenolone were isolated, quantified and identified by solvent extraction, chromatography and crystallization to constant specific activity. After 72 h ACTH-cells cultured in the presence of ACTH converted 18.5% of the pregnenolone substrate to 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (cortisol plus 11-deoxycortisol) while ACTH-cells cultured in the absence of ACTH converted a maximum of 1.6%. A similar but smaller difference, 10.9 vs 2.1%, was recorded with control cells cultured in the presence and absence of ACTH. Corticosterone production from [4- 14 C]pregnenolone in the 72-h cultures was increased to a lesser degree by ACTH exposure. In ACTH-cells the conversion climbed from 5.9 to 10.5% and from 9.6 to 12.0% in control cells. Microscopic examination of parallel cultures showed no significant differences in cell density between cells cultured in the presence or absence of ACTH. 17α-Hydroxylase activity arising from the in vivo stimulation did not survive cell division in culture, but required the continual presence of ACTH. In conclusion, the data show that ACTH is capable of stimulating 17-hydroxycorticoid formation in rabbit adrenal cell cultures.
Architecture and assembly of the Gram-positive cell wall

The bacterial cell wall is a mesh polymer of peptidoglycan – linear glycan strands cross-linked by flexible peptides – that determines cell shape and provides physical protection. While the glycan strands in thin ‘Gram-negative’ peptidoglycan are known to run circumferentially around the cell, the architecture of the thicker ‘Gram-positive’ form remains unclear. Using electron cryotomography, here we show that Bacillus subtilis peptidoglycan is a uniformly dense layer with a textured surface. We further show it rips circumferentially, curls and thickens at free edges, and extends longitudinally when denatured. Molecular dynamics simulations show that only atomic models based on the circumferential topology recapitulate the observed curling and thickening, in support of an ‘inside-to-outside’ assembly process. We conclude that instead of being perpendicular to the cell surface or wrapped in coiled cables (two alternative models), the glycan strands in Gram-positive cell walls run circumferentially around the cell just as they do in Gram-negative cells. Together with providing insights into the architecture of the ultimate determinant of cell shape, this study is important because Gram-positive peptidoglycan is an antibiotic target crucial to the viability of several important rod-shaped pathogens including Bacillus anthracis, Listeria monocytogenes, and Clostridium difficile.
The relationship between placental histopathology findings and perinatal outcome in preterm infants.

Objective: To determine the correlation between placental histopathology findings and perinatal outcome in preterm infants. Methods: Placental histopathology in 774 neonates delivered at 24-32 weeks between 1992 and 2000 was classified as follows: 254 (33%) had histological chorioamnionitis, 263 (34%) had coagulation-related lesions, 228 (30%) had vasculopathy. Perinatal outcome was compared between cases positive and negative for each histopathological classification. Results: Histological chorioamnionitis occurred in 46% of cases with premature rupture of membranes and 45% with preterm labor. Positivity versus negativity for histological chorioamnionitis was associated with earlier presentation (191 vs. 205 days, p = 0.0001) and delivery (199 days vs. 209 days, p = 0.0001), increased risk of intraventricular hemorrhage (71% vs. 23%, p = 0.001, odds ratio (OR) 2.2), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (26% vs. 15%, p = 0.0001, OR 2), retinopathy (36% vs. 24%, p = 0.001, OR 1.8), neonatal sepsis (28% vs. 13%, p = ...
Synchronized MIMD computing

Fast global synchronization provides simple, efficient solutions to many of the system problems of parallel computing. It achieves this by providing composition of both performance and correctness. If you understand the performance and meaning of parallel computations A and B, then you understand the performance and meaning of "A; barrier; B". To demonstrate this thesis, this dissertation first describes the architecture of the Connection Machine CM-5 supercomputer, a synchronized MIMD (multiple instruction stream, multiple data stream) computer for which I was a principal architect. The CM-5 was designed to run programs written in the data-parallel style by providing fast global synchronization. Fast global synchronization also helps solve many of the system problems for the CM-5, including clock distribution, diagnostics, and timesharing. Global barrier synchronization is used frequently in data-parallel programs to guarantee correctness, but the barriers are often viewed as a performance overhead that should be removed if possible. By studying specific mechanisms for using the CM-5 data network efficiently, the second part of this dissertation shows that this view is incorrect. Interspersing barriers during message sending can dramatically improve performance of many important message patterns. Barriers are compared to two other mechanisms, bandwidth matching and managing injection order, for improving the performance of sending messages. The last part of this dissertation explores the benefits of global synchronization for MIMD-style programs, which are less well understood than data-parallel programs. To understand the programming issues, I engineered the StarTech parallel chess program. Computer chess is a resource-intensive irregular MIMD-style computation, providing a challenging scheduling problem. Global synchronization allows us to write a scheduler which runs unstructured computations efficiently and predictably. Given such a scheduler, the run time of a dynamic MIMD-style program on a particular machine becomes simply a function of the critical path length C and the total work W. I empirically found that the StarTech program executes in time $T \approx 1.02W/P + 1.5C + 4.3$ seconds, which, except for the constant-term of 4.3 seconds, is within a factor of 2.52 of optimal. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Using narratives to assess competencies and risks in young children: Experiences with high risk and normal populations.

The young child's mental representations convey a wealth of information about his/her early moral and emotional construction of reality. The MacArthur Story Stem Battery (MSSB) is a unique, child-friendly tool for assessing socioemotional development in young children (3–6 years). The technique provides incomplete stories (stems), which are completed by the child using their own verbalizations and actions with doll figures. A sensitive examiner scaffolds appropriate boundaries for the task. The MSSB has demonstrated adequate psychometric properties and initial studies suggest the MSSB can tap important prosocial competencies as well as features indicative of psychopathology and distress. The MSSB has been translated and used in a number of countries across the world, in part due to the measure's clinical utility to quickly assess children at the level of representation. Current innovations reviewed emphasize the use of the MSSB for assessment in clinical and at-risk populations. A table summarizing key clinically relevant articles on the MSSB is referenced throughout the paper.
Comments on: Support vector machines maximizing geometric margins for multi-class classification

The paper provides an overview of the multi-objective multi-class support vector machine (MMSVM) based on a series of research articles written by the authors and their collaborators. As an extension of the binary SVM, the MMSVM takes an alltogether approach to classification with multiple categories. Along with the description of the original multi-objective optimization problem for the method, the paper lays out computational strategies for its implementation and further approximation of the solutions to the initial problem via alternative single-objective second-order cone programming problems. The progression from the initial problem to various alternative formulations is methodically presented with summary of the relation between the two sets of corresponding solutions.
Fine-Tuning an Algorithm for Semantic Search Using a Similarity Graph

Given a set of documents and an input query that is expressed in a natural language, the problem of document search is retrieving the most relevant documents. Unlike most existing systems that perform document search based on keyword matching, we propose a method that considers the meaning of the words in the queries and documents. As a result, our algorithm can return documents that have no words in common with the input query as long as the documents are relevant. For example, a document that contains the words "Ford", "Chrysler" and "General Motors" multiple times is surely relevant for the query "car" even if the word "car" never appears in the document. Our information retrieval algorithm is based on a similarity graph that contains the degree of semantic closeness between terms, where a term can be a word or a phrase. Since the algorithms that constructs the similarity graph takes as input a myriad of parameters, in this paper we fine-tune the part of the algorithm that constructs the Wikipedia part of the graph. Specifically, we experimentally fine-tune the algorithm on the Miller and Charles study benchmark that contains 30 pairs of terms and their similarity score as determined by human users. We then evaluate the performance of the fine-tuned algorithm on the Cranfield benchmark that contains 1400 documents and 225 natural language queries. The benchmark also contains the relevant documents for every query as determined by human judgment. The results show that the fine-tuned algorithm produces higher mean average precision (MAP) score than traditional keyword-based search algorithms because our algorithm considers not only the words and phrases in the query and documents, but also their meaning.
Generalizing Experimental Findings

Abstract : This note examines one of the most crucial questions in causal inference: How generalizable are randomized clinical trials? The question has received a formal treatment recently, using a non-parametric setting which has led to a simple and general solution. I will describe this solution and several of its ramifications, and compare it to the way researchers have attempted to tackle the problem using the language of ignorability. We will see that ignorability-type assumptions need to be enriched with structural assumptions in order to capture the full spectrum of conditions that permit generalizations, and in order to judge their plausibility in specific applications.
Measurement of Styrene-Oxide Cysteine Adducts in Hemoglobin by Selective Catalytic Reduction

Alkylating agents, either direct-acting or generated in vivo, form an important class of environmental mutagens and carcinogens. These agents are characterized by their ability to bind covalently to nucleophilic sites in proteins and DNA. Due to the long life time of red blood cells and the stability of protein adducts, Ehrenberg and coworkers first (Calleman 1978; Osterman-Golkar 1976) proposed the use of hemoglobin (Hb) as a dosimeter for alkylation in vivo.
Long-term treatment with the antidepressants fluoxetine and desipramine potentiates endocrine responses to the serotonin agonists 6-chloro-2-[1-piperazinyl]-pyrazine (MK-212) and (+-)-1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane HCl (DOI).

Various endocrine responses to 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin, 5-HT) agonists were used to assess serotonergic receptor function after chronic treatment with the antidepressants fluoxetine (10 mg/kg), a 5-HT uptake blocker and the norepinephrine uptake blocker desipramine (DMI, 5 mg/kg). Both were injected (i.p.) once a day for 21 days. DOI (5-HT1C/2 agonist, 0-5 mg/kg i.p.) and 6-chloro-2-[1-piperazinyl]-pyrazine (MK-212) (less selective, but predominantly a 5-HT1C agonist, 0-20 mg/kg i.p.) were administered 18 hr after the final antidepressant injection and 30 min before decapitation. Chronic treatment with both fluoxetine and DMI produced a potentiation in most hormone responses to the 5-HT agonists (+-)-1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-amino-propane HCl (DOI) and MK-212, although there were several differences in individual hormone responses to the two 5-HT agonists. Fluoxetine and DMI potentiated the MK-212- and DOI-induced increase of plasma oxytocin levels and potentiated the effect of DOI on plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (corticotropin) and prolactin levels. In contrast, the effect of the high dose of MK-212 on plasma prolactin concentration was reduced by both antidepressants. Only MK-212 increased vasopressin levels and this effect was potentiated by fluoxetine, but not by DMI. Fluoxetine also significantly increased the resting level of plasma vasopressin. DMI potentiated the effect of MK-212 on plasma renin concentration. Pretreatment with fluoxetine significantly increased (38%) the Bmax for the 5-HT1C/2 agonist sites ([125I]DOI) in the hypothalamus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Novel cost-effective and high-performance modular detectors for emission tomography systems

A major limitation of the currently available small animal PET and SPECT imaging is their relatively low sensitivity to the incident gamma rays. While providing high spatial resolution utilizing finely pitched scintillator arrays has been explored, the cost of array fabrication has been an issue. Moreover, high sensitivity has been traded off for high spatial resolution since fabrication of scintillator arrays with small pixel cross-section and large thickness can be challenging and cost-prohibitive. The currently used mechanical pixelation of scintillators results in relatively large inter-pixel gaps and hence low packing fraction and sensitivity. We control the light spread in scintillators using a novel technique called Laser-Induced Optical Barriers (LIOB). In this work we are reporting on manipulation of scintillation light spread and hence improving pixel separation in LYSO:Ce arrays fabricated by LIOB technique as well as pixelation of CsI:Tl to 0.625×0.625×5 mm3 and 1×1×10 mm3 pixels with 100% process yield.
Design of a Rapid Prototype Wing Warping Test Aircraft

Inflatable-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have the ability to be packed in a fraction of their deployed volume. This makes them ideal for many deployable UAV designs, but inflatable wings can be flexible and don’t have conventional control surfaces. This thesis will investigate the use of wing warping as a means of autonomous control for inflatable wings. Due to complexities associated with manufacturing inflatable structures a new method of rapid prototyping deformable wings is used in place of inflatables to decrease cost and design-cycle time. A UAV testbed was developed and integrated with the warping wings and flown in a series of flight tests. The warping wing flew both under manual control and autopilot stabilization.
The effect of exogenous dopamine on ACTH secretion.

SummaryDopamine in a dose which does not cause a significant rise in arterial blood pressure causes a significant increase in peripheral blood corticosterone. Dexamethasone partially suppresses this dopamine induced rise in corticosterone.
An Exploratory Discussion on Setting up a Medical Devices Vigilance System in China

It is our urgent mission at present to introduce a concept of a vigilance system for medical devices and to establish the medical devices vigilance regulation in China in strengthening the supervision and administration. Our systems and regulations should be instituted at the international level while directly adopting the ripe experiences in world markets. In the light of domestic specific conditions, this paper discusses the reporting scope of adverse events of medical devices and the relations among the main responsible bodies, laying emphasis upon how to find adverse events and how to deal with them. Adverse events should be brought into a localized supervision system and should be also linked with other laws and regulations now available. While establishing a reporting system for medical devices' adverse events, great importance should be attached to the handling of these events. In regard to the tracing back of implantable medical devices, the bar code technology should be adopted as early as possible.
Programmed cell self-liquidation (apoptosis)

Abstract Brief characteristic of self-liquidation phenomenon (apoptosis) encoded (programmed) in living cell genome is presented. Great resemblance in course of apoptosis in plant and animal cells is shown. In both cases, sequence of single components of this complex process may be even interchangeable. For instance, a gene, similar to animal DAD-1 protecting cell from apoptosis, is found in plants. Upon plant aging or seed dehydratation, gene activity and resistance to apoptosis decrease dramatically. During development of apoptosis, first, proteolytic enzymes are activated. Among them, cysteine proteinases, particularly, caspases hydrolyzing great number of structural proteins and protein enzymes acquire special importance. Mitochondria-dependent apoptosis (mitoptosis) is discussed in the review. At this time, changes in mitochondrial membrane permeability occur. Reactive oxygen species (mainly, superoxide anion-radicals), generated in respiratory chain, participate there. Upon increase in concentrations, ATP/ADP antiporter is converted into gigantic channel, by means of which cytochrome c starts entering cytosol. AIF, capable of activating cytosolic proteinases, also leaves mitochondria. After entering cytosol, cytochrome c with cytoplasmic APAF-1, participates in activation of caspase-9. At this time, APAF-1, which contains CARD-domain, together with cytochrome c binds procaspase-9, also containing CARD-domain, and so apoptosome complex is formed. Procaspase-9 undergoes conformational changes, and obtained in such a way caspase-9, by-turn converts procaspase-3 into caspase-3. The latter plays a leading role of effector in apoptosis. In plants, apoptosis is controlled directly by the ratio of cysteine proteinases and corresponding inhibitors, which can modulate apoptosis.
Comparison of Prescribing Practices with Direct Acting Oral Anticoagulant Protocols

The goal of anticoagulation management programs is to prevent thrombosis while minimizing the risks of hemorrhage. Direct acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) selectively inhibit coagulation proteins to inhibit thrombosis. Previous studies suggest patient monitoring and education provided through anticoagulation services enhance adherence and decrease adverse outcomes in patients receiving DOAC therapy. The objectives of this study were to describe DOAC prescribing adherence to anticoagulation service protocols and to observe whether enrollment in an anticoagulation service resulted in greater prescribing adherence to DOAC protocols. A retrospective cohort study evaluated all initial prescriptions of apixaban, dabigatran, and rivaroxaban at Marshfield Clinic from 19 October 2010 to 21 August 2014. Three algorithms analyzed patient and prescription data extracted from the organization’s electronic health record and classified prescriptions as per protocol or not per protocol. The algorithms classified not per protocol prescriptions as off-label indication, renal impairment [estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 74 years (dabigatran), dose too low, or dose too high. The analysis assessed whether enrollment in the Marshfield Clinic Anticoagulation Service DOAC monitoring process was associated with increased adherence to protocols. In aggregate, 72% of apixaban prescriptions, 52% of dabigatran prescriptions, and 70% of rivaroxaban prescriptions were per protocol. Off-label indications and dosage too low were the most common not per protocol reasons for apixaban and rivaroxaban prescriptions. Age ≥75 years and off-label indication were the most common not per protocol reasons for dabigatran prescriptions. Enrollment in the anticoagulation service process was not associated with increased adherence to protocols. A significant proportion of DOAC prescriptions did not adhere to protocol expectations. While enrollment in DOAC management through the Marshfield Clinic Anticoagulation Service was not associated with increased adherence to protocols, opportunities exist to optimize DOAC prescribing. Defining ideal DOAC management requires additional research.
Big data modeling to predict platelet usage and minimize wastage in a tertiary care system

Maintaining a robust blood product supply is an essential requirement to guarantee optimal patient care in modern health care systems. However, daily blood product use is difficult to anticipate. Platelet products are the most variable in daily usage, have short shelf lives, and are also the most expensive to produce, test, and store. Due to the combination of absolute need, uncertain daily demand, and short shelf life, platelet products are frequently wasted due to expiration. Our aim is to build and validate a statistical model to forecast future platelet demand and thereby reduce wastage. We have investigated platelet usage patterns at our institution, and specifically interrogated the relationship between platelet usage and aggregated hospital-wide patient data over a recent consecutive 29-mo period. Using a convex statistical formulation, we have found that platelet usage is highly dependent on weekday/weekend pattern, number of patients with various abnormal complete blood count measurements, and location-specific hospital census data. We incorporated these relationships in a mathematical model to guide collection and ordering strategy. This model minimizes waste due to expiration while avoiding shortages; the number of remaining platelet units at the end of any day stays above 10 in our model during the same period. Compared with historical expiration rates during the same period, our model reduces the expiration rate from 10.5 to 3.2%. Extrapolating our results to the ∼2 million units of platelets transfused annually within the United States, if implemented successfully, our model can potentially save ∼80 million dollars in health care costs.
Revision of Failed Prior Nuss in Adult Patients With Pectus Excavatum.

Background Minimally invasive repair of pectus excavatum (MIRPE) has been extended to repair of defects in adults, with reported higher complication rates and outcome failures. The optimal revision for a prior failed MIRPE in an adult has not been identified. We review our experience for this adult population. Methods A retrospective review was performed of 129 patients (age ≥18 years) who underwent revision after a failed pectus excavatum (PE) repair from December 2010 through December 2016. Results In total, 47 of the 129 (36%) revision patients had a prior failed MIRPE, with 98% presenting for revision because of inadequate correction after their initial repair. The median age was 28 years (range, 18 to 54 years), and 77% were men. Thirty-one (66%) patients had indwelling pectus support bars at the revision procedure. Mean time from initial MIRPE to the revision procedure was 3.34 ± 2.9 years. A modified MIRPE was successful in 39 (83%) patients. Hybrid repair with the addition of osteotomy cuts and/or titanium plating was required in 8 patients for an adequate revision. Multiple (2 bars, 62%; 3 bars, 38%), shorter (median, 13.5 inches versus 15.0 inches) bars were used for the revision versus earlier repair. Substantial lysis of intrathoracic adhesions was required in 40 (85%) patients, with a median operative time for revision MIRPE of 169 ± 66 minutes; median operative time for hybrid procedures, 314 ± 74 minutes. Conclusions A modified MIRPE can be successfully used in most adults to revise a failed prior MIRPE.
LEUCOCYTE DIALYSATES REQUIRE PRECOMMITTED, ANTIGEN-REACTIVE CELLS TO AUGMENT LYMPHOCYTE PROLIFERATION

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses results of experiments conducted to study that leucocyte dialysates require pre-committed, antigen-reactive cells to augment lymphocyte proliferation. The experimentation team adopted micro-culture technique to the assay system and a modification of the hot pulse technique of Dutton and Mishell to delete antigen-reactive lymphocytes. It is reported in the chapter that the cell donors for leucocyte-dialysate preparations as well as those employed for recipient leucocyte cultures were selected by skin testing and by lymphocyte transformation with tuberculin (PPD), diphtheria toxoid (D.Tox.) or streptokinase–streptodornase (SK–SD). In the experimental system, the addition of leucocyte dialysate alone neither stimulated nor depressed normal lymphocyte proliferation. Moreover, dialysate from sensitive donors did not behave as an antigen in cultures of leucocytes obtained from individuals with exquisite cutaneous reactivity to the same antigen. The team also studied whether the augmentation observed with dialysates was due to an amplification of a preprogrammed clone of lymphocytes or due to the generation of a new clone of antigen-reactive cells from a previously uncommitted population.
Nuclear Transmutations in HFIR's Beryllium Reflector and Their Impact on Reactor Operation and Reflector Disposal

The High Flux Isotope Reactor located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory utilizes a large cylindrical beryllium reflector that is subdivided into three concentric regions and encompasses the compact reactor core. Nuclear transmutations caused by neutron activation occur in the beryllium reflector regions, which leads to unwanted neutron absorbing and radiation emitting isotopes. During the past year, two topics related to the HFIR beryllium reflector were reviewed. The first topic included studying the neutron poison (helium-3 and lithium-6) buildup in the reflector regions and its affect on beginning-of-cycle reactivity. A new methodology was developed to predict the reactivity impact and estimated symmetrical critical control element positions as a function of outage time between cycles due to helium-3 buildup and was shown to be in better agreement with actual symmetrical critical control element position data than the current methodology. The second topic included studying the composition of the beryllium reflector regions at discharge as well as during decay to assess the viability of transporting, storing, and ultimately disposing the reflector regions currently stored in the spent fuel pool. The post-irradiation curie inventories were used to determine whether the reflector regions are discharged as transuranic waste or become transuranic waste during themore » decay period for disposal purposes and to determine the nuclear hazard category, which may affect the controls invoked for transportation and temporary storage. Two of the reflector regions were determined to be transuranic waste at discharge and the other region was determined to become transuranic waste in less than 2 years after being discharged due to the initial uranium content (0.0044 weight percent uranium). It was also concluded that all three of the reflector regions could be classified as nuclear hazard category 3 (potential for localized consequences only).« less
Site Selection within the Host: Entry into Specific Organs and Cells

For most parasites, entry into a suitable host is only a first step. They must then find their way to those particular parts of the host within which they can develop. There are many degrees of complexity, some parasites taking a rather direct route, others a roundabout one. Some are highly restricted to a certain location, such as a particular tissue or type of cell, whereas others are more catholic in their preferences. Parasites of the alimentary tract ingested through the mouth as cysts or as eggs or infective larvae, would seem to have the simplest and most direct path. Even here, however, there are preferred sites for localization. Thus, the infective larvae of the nematode parasite of mice, Nematospiroides dubius, enter with food, exsheathe in the stomach, and then lodge in the small intestine. Their specific site is in the region where bile enters and it has been shown experimentally that bile activates motility of the larvae and that they will accumulate to a much greater extent in bile than in water. Furthermore, if bile is surgically redirected in a living mouse to other than the normal region of the intestine, the larvae will establish in that region. Thus, bile can act not only in processes of excystation and hatching, but also at the next stage, in site selection. Most stimuli for site selection within the alimentary tract, however, are not well understood. It is becoming clear that even a tapeworm may exhibit a highly complex behavioral pattern.
Impact of radiotherapy facility volume on the management and survival of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer receiving bladder-preserving therapy.

18Background: Higher facility surgical volume predicts for improved survival in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) who undergo radical cystectomy. Here, we investigated the associa...
Channel Analytics for V2X Communication

Recommending channel characteristics for V2X communication has the distinct advantage of pre-conditioning the waveform at the transmitter to match the expected fading profile. The difficulty lies in extracting an accurate model for the channel, especially if the underlying variables are uncorrelated, unobserved and immeasurable. Our work implements this prescience by assimilating the Channel State Information (CSI), obtained as a feedback from vehicles, over time and space to adjust the modulation vectors such that the channel impairments are significantly diminished at the receiver, improving the Bit Error Rate (BER) by 96% for higher order modulations. To account for the multivariate, non-stationary V2X channel, a tensor decomposition and completion approach is used to mitigate the effects of sparsity and noise in the CSI measurements.