cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Seismic behavior of post-tensioned column base for steel self-centering moment resisting frame

Abstract This paper presents experimental and analytical investigation of cyclic response of a post-tensioned column (PT) base connection. The PT column base connection is designed to eliminate structural damage at column bases in self-centering moment resisting frames (SC-MRFs) under seismic loading; the softening behavior at the connection is provided by gap opening and elongation of PT bars rather than yielding in the column. Additional shear resistance is provided by bolted keeper plates; additional energy dissipation is provided by buckling restrained steel (BRS) plates. To investigate the cyclic behavior of the PT column base connection, a series of PT column base connection subassemblies were subjected to axial load and cyclic lateral displacements. Test parameters included initial post-tension force, initial axial force in column (constant or varying), column size and loading history. Limit states investigated for the PT column base connections included PT bar yielding and fracture of BRS plates. The test results demonstrated that properly designed PT column base connections were able to undergo lateral displacement up to 4% interstory drift while the columns and grade beams remained elastic. Also, the BRS plates showed good energy dissipation capacity by yielding in tension and compression without fracture. Structural damage at column bases was limited to the replaceable fuse BRS plates. In addition, analytical models were developed to predict the moment–rotation relationship of the PT column base connection and showed good correlation with the experimental data.
A report on a subconvulsive reaction to electric shock and its sequelae in a normal subject

An electric shock, with subconvulsive reaction, was given to a 25-year-old normal white man. His behavior and experience during the period of recovery, in which especially the Rorschach test was employed, are reported. Absence of somatic and mental complaints, and presence of amnesia and of disorientation are described as the outstanding features and are briefly discussed. Department of Neuropsychiatry.
The Attenuated Form of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia as an Allelic Form of 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency*

A 17-yr-old female presented with marked menstrual irregularities since menarche at age 13 yr and severe hirsutism, particularly facial, since puberty. Her disorder was shown to be related to a mild 21-hydroxylase deficiency and she was diagnosed to have an attenuated (so-called acquired) form of congenital virilizing adrenal hyperplasia. HLA typing and ACTH testing of her parents and siblings provided evidence of a linkage between HLA and 21-hydroxylase deficiency loci. Similar observations have been made previously for the salt-losing and simple virilizing forms of congenital virilizing adrenal hyperplasia, suggesting that these two as well as the attenuated forms are allelic in regard to the 21-hydroxylase deficiency gene.
Postsynaptic serotonergic blockade following chronic antidepressive treatment with trazodone in an animal model of depression

Acute pretreatment with clinically equivalent doses of antidepressive drugs has been observed to block D,L-5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) induced behavioral depression in rats working on a food-reinforced operant schedule. Data from studies designed to distinguish presynaptic from postsynaptic events, indicated that the antidepressants were acting in part as blockers of postsynaptic serotonergic receptors. Using the same 5-HTP model of depression, we studied both the chronic and acute effects of a recently introduced antidepressant, triazolopyridine compound. Rats working for milk reinforcement and exhibiting behavioral depression following administration of 50 mg/kg 5-HTP were pretreated (one hr before 5-HTP) with 1, 2, or 4 mg/kg trazodone with resulting blockade of 5-HTP induced depression of 35, 62 and 70% respectively. Chronic administration of trazodone (2 mg/kg trazodone/day) also resulted in a significant blockade of the 5-HTP effect (75%). Neither 2 mg/kg or 4 mg/kg trazodone was found to potentiate the shorter period of depression following 25 mg/kg 5-HTP. Chronic treatment with the antidepressant drugs, amitriptyline or mianserin also blocked 5-HTP depression. Thus, as in our earlier studies, these data suggest an important postsynaptic mechanism associated with chronic administration of trazodone, amitriptyline and mianserin which could be implicated in the therapeutic effectiveness of these drugs. The potency of trazodone in relation to other antidepressant drugs in our behavioral model of depression paralleled their potency in displacing radioligand binding to 5-HT receptors, and gives additional support for the new hypersensitive postsynaptic serotonin receptor theory of depression.
Determination of in-vivo articular cartilage contact areas of human talocrural joint under weightbearing conditions

Summary Objective The knowledge of in-vivo cartilage contact biomechanics is important to the understanding of the pathogenesis of joint diseases such as osteoarthritis. This study investigated the in-vivo contact areas of human talocrural joint under weightbearing conditions that simulated the stance phase of walking using a combined magnetic resonance (MR) and dual-orthogonal fluoroscopic imaging technique. Design Nine healthy ankles of living subjects were recruited for this study. The in-vivo talocrural joint positions were recorded using the dual-orthogonal fluoroscopic images at three ankle positions that simulated those occurring during the stance phase of walking: heel strike, mid-stance, and toe off. Three-dimensional (3D) models of the talocrural joints were created from MR images and used to reproduce the in-vivo ankle positions recorded on the fluoroscopic images. The talocrural cartilage contact area was defined as the overlap area of the distal tibial and the proximal talar cartilage surfaces. The method was validated using an in-vitro experimental setup to evaluate its accuracy in determination of cartilage contact area. Results The validation study demonstrated that the articular cartilage contact area of the talocrural joint determined using the imaging technique was approximately 4% lower than that of the experimental measurement. In the nine living ankles, the average cartilage coverage area was 964.9±156.1mm 2 on the distal tibia and 1304.8±208.4mm 2 on the proximal talus. The average talocrural cartilage contact areas were 272.7±61.1mm 2 at heel strike, 416.8±51.7mm 2 at mid-stance, and 335.7±64.5mm 2 at toe off. The contact area at mid-stance was significantly larger than those at heel strike and toe off, while the contact area at toe off was significantly larger than that at heel strike. Conclusion The combined dual fluoroscopic and MR imaging technique was shown to be capable of determining in-vivo talocrural cartilage contact areas. During the simulated stance phase of walking, the contact areas were less than 44% and 31% of the cartilage coverage areas of the distal tibia and the proximal talus, respectively. These data may be useful for understanding in-vivo biomechanical function of the cartilage as well as the etiology of osteoarthritis.
Barriers facing women in the IT work force

The percentage of women working in Information Technology (IT) is falling as revealed by the 2003 Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) Blue Ribbon Panel on Information Technology (IT) Diversity report; the percentage of women in the IT workforce fell to 34.9% in 2002 down from 41% in 1996. Several studies have indicated this issue is reaching a crisis level and needs to be explored. Women working in IT at a Fortune 500 company were asked what workplace barriers they faced that had influenced their voluntary turnover decisions or the decisions of their female counterparts. Revealed causal mapping was used to evoke representations of the cognitions surrounding the barriers women face in the IT field. A causal map was developed that indicated women's actual turnover was linked to their views of their family responsibilities, the stresses they face within the workplace, various qualities of their jobs, and the flexibility they were given to determine their work schedule. Their statements regarding the barriers they faced in terms of promotion opportunities (both perceived and actual) were linked to the same four concepts. Interestingly, there was no link between promotion opportunities and voluntary turnover. Reciprocal relationships were identified between managing family responsibility and stress, work schedule flexibility and stress, managing family responsibility and job qualities, and job qualities and stress. Discrimination and lack of consistency in how management treated employees, while important, were not central to how the women in this sample thought about issues related to promotion and voluntary turnover.
Large Sample Tests and Confidence Intervals for Mortality Rates

Abstract In computing mortality rates from insurance data, the unit of measurement used is frequently based on number of policies or amount of insurance rather than on lives. Then the death of one person may result in several units of “death” with respect to the investigation; moreover, the number of units per individual may vary noticeably. Thus the usual large sample methods of obtaining significance tests and confidence intervals for the true value of the mortality rate are not applicable to these situations. If the number of units associated with each person in the investigation were known, accurate large sample results could be obtained; however, determination of the number of units associated with each individual would require an extremely large amount of work. This article presents some valid large sample tests and confidence intervals for the mortality rate which do not require much work and are reasonably efficient. More general situations are also considered.
Reactive transport modeling of column experiments on the evolution of saline-alkaline waste solutions.

Abstract Leakage of saline–alkaline tank waste solutions often creates a serious environmental contamination problem. To better understand the mechanisms controlling the fate of such waste solutions in the Hanford vadose zone, we simulated reactive transport in columns designed to represent local site conditions. The Pitzer ion interaction module was used, with principal geochemical processes considered in the simulation including quartz dissolution, precipitation of brucite, calcite, and portlandite, multi-component cation exchange, and aqueous complexation reactions. Good matches were observed between the simulated and measured column data at ambient temperature (∼ 21 °C). Relatively good agreement was also obtained at high temperature (∼ 70 °C). The decrease of pH at the plume front is examined through formation of secondary mineral phases and/or quartz dissolution. Substantial formation of secondary mineral phases resulting from multi-component cation exchange suggests that these phases are responsible for a decrease in pH within the plume front. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was conducted with respect to cation exchange capacity, selectivity coefficient, mineral assemblage, temperature, and ionic strength. This study could serve as a useful guide to subsequent experimental work, to thermodynamic models developed for the concentrated solutions at high ionic strength and to other types of waste plume studies.
Speaker identification and verification using Gaussian mixture speaker models

Abstract This paper presents high performance speaker identification and verification systems based on Gaussian mixture speaker models: robust, statistically based representations of speaker identity. The identification system is a maximum likelihood classifier and the verification system is a likelihood ratio hypothesis tester using background speaker normalization. The systems are evaluated on four publically available speech databases: TIMIT, NTIMIT, Switchboard and YOHO. The different levels of degradations and variabilities found in these databases allow the examination of system performance for different task domains. Constraints on the speech range from vocabulary-dependent to extemporaneous and speech quality varies from near-ideal, clean speech to noisy, telephone speech. Closed set identification accuracies on the 630 speaker TIMIT and NTIMIT databases were 99.5% and 60.7%, respectively. On a 113 speaker population from the Switchboard database the identification accuracy was 82.8%. Global threshold equal error rates of 0.24%, 7.19%, 5.15% and 0.51% were obtained in verification experiments on the TIMIT, NTIMIT, Switchboard and YOHO databases, respectively.
The large-scale separation of peroxisomes, mitochondria, and lysosomes from the livers of rats injected with triton WR-1339. Improved isolation procedures, automated analysis, biochemical and morphological properties of fractions.

Improved, largely automated methods are described for the purification and analysis o peroxisomes, lysosomes, and mitochondria from the livers of rats injected with Triton WR-1339. With these new methods, it has become possible to obtain, in less than 6 hr and with reliable reproducibility, mitochondria practically free of contaminants, as well as the rarer cytoplasmic particles in amounts (about 100 mg of protein) and in a state of purity (95%) that make them suitable for detailed biochemical studies. The results obtained so far on these preparations have made more conclusive and precise previous estimates of the biochemical and morphological properties of the three groups of cytoplasmic particles. In addition, peroxisomes were found to contain essentially all the L-α-hydroxy acid oxidase of the liver, as well as a small, but significant fraction of its NADP-linked isocitrate dehydrogenase activity. Another small fraction of the latter enzyme is present in the mitochondria, the remainder being associated with the cell sap. The mitochondrial localization of the metabolically active cytoplasmic DNA could be verified. The relative content of the fractions in mitochondria, whole peroxisomes, peroxisome cores, lysosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum was estimated independently by direct measurements on electron micrographs, and by linear programming (based on the assumption that the particles are biochemically homogeneous) of the results of enzyme assays. The two types of estimates agreed very well, except for one fraction in which low cytochrome oxidase activity was associated with mitochondrial damage.
Recurrent non-surgical pneumoperitoneum due to jejunal diverticulosis.

Abstract Background: The presence of free intraperitoneal gas usually warrants emergent surgery. In rare instances, however, non-surgical conditions such as jejunal diverticulosis can cause pneumoperitoneum and do not require intervention. Objectives: The objective of this article is to provide the computed tomography (CT) scan findings of jejunal diverticulosis causing pneumoperitoneum. The article will also discuss other non-surgical causes of spontaneous pneumoperitoneum to increase awareness and avoid unnecessary surgery. Case Report: We describe a case of recurrent pneumoperitoneum due to jejunal diverticulosis in which the patient remained asymptomatic and free of complications with repeated evaluations in the emergency department over the course of 18 months. Conclusion: Although spontaneous pneumoperitoneum due to jejunal diverticulosis is a rare finding, when it does occur, this condition must be distinguished from other forms of pneumoperitoneum to avoid unnecessary surgery. CT scan findings of multiple rounded, variably sized jejunal outpouchings filled with oral contrast are helpful in diagnosing jejunal diverticulosis and confirming the decision for conservative management of the patient.
Immediate range of motion after distal biceps tendon repair.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of immediate postoperative motion on strength and elbow motion after repair of a distal biceps tendon rupture. We conducted a retrospective review of 13 patients who had repairs of a unilateral distal biceps tendon rupture with a minimum follow-up of 2 years. The repairs were performed via a 2-incision technique. The elbows were placed into hinged braces immediately postoperatively, and range of motion was limited to 60° of flexion to full limitation on flexion on the first postoperative day. Elbow extension block was decreased to 40° at 2 weeks, 20° at 4 weeks, and full extension at 6 weeks postoperatively. Elbow range of motion, biceps strength, and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand scores were recorded at follow-up. There was a mean loss of 5.8° of full extension when compared with the uninjured side, with no loss of flexion. There was a mean loss of 3.5° of pronation and 8.1° of supination. Flexion strength was 91.4% and supination strength was 89.4% of that of the uninjured side. The mean Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand score was 42.8. We conclude that immediate postoperative range of motion after repair of the distal biceps tendon leads to early gain of extension and has no deleterious effect on healing or strength.
A metainformatical view of collections

Collections are implemented in many ways, depending on the purpose they serve and their implementation environment. We approach collections as entity containers and, from principles discovered through our structural computing work, we propose a metainformatical view of generalized collections, and a theoretical framework for discussing collection variations. Included in the framework is the idea of accessing generalized collection content through views, with support for multiple views per collection. The importance of associating semantics with both collections and the views of their content is noted, as are techniques for preserving those semantics. Set, bag, array, and relational table implementations are shown to fit into this framework. The paper closes with a summary of the advantages of our approach, along with a discussion of future and related work.
Maximizing the effectiveness of building teams in response to intervention implementation

In the school setting, teams are abundant, often serving multiple purposes, having various titles, and consisting of diverse members. Teams are considered an essential component of Response to Intervention (RtI) and are the vehicle through which data-based decision making occurs at the school, grade, small-group, and individual student level. Thus, high-quality teaming practices are critical for the realization of the potential outcomes associated with RtI and intervention efforts. Existing research has identified various barriers to the implementation of high-quality team practices. This article summarizes the history of teaming in schools, discusses potential barriers, and offers strategies for enhancing team practices and maximizing the outcomes of teaming. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modeling the effects of neutron irradiation on LEDs

Abstract The objective of this work was to study and model the output power degradation of infrared light emitting diodes (IREDs) with fast neutron irradiation. Three different commercial GaAs and AlGaAs IREDs were used in the study. Devices were characterized using current-voltage and light output measurements prior to and following a sequence of neutron irradiations. An analytical model is derived for LEDs which can be used to predict lifetime damage constant product τ0K from light output measurements as a function of neutron fluence. The model is derived for both abrupt and linear-graded p-n junctions when the light output measurements are made at a fixed current. The amount of light output degradation after neutron bombardment is found to be a function of operating current level, pre-irradiation value of lifetime, dominating current mechanism (i.e. diffusion current vs space-charge recombination current) and the physics of the junction (i.e. abrupt junction vs linear-graded junction).
Violence, Crisis, and the Everyday

An important issue in considering violence at both the conceptual and empirical levels is the question of what counts as "violence" and how it is acknowledged. In many polities of the Middle East, including Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan, there is no clear boundary between war and peace. Conflicts have lasted over a long period and even the project of securing a future in which the struggle for decolonization and political autonomy can be kept alive faces enormous hurdles as everyday life is corroded by betrayals, accusations, and the sheer exhaustion of keeping political energies from waning. Most acute observers of prolonged conflicts recognize the corrosive effects of these conflicts on everyday life. In this brief thought piece, I want to reflect on one aspect of the problem: that of the relation between sexual violence as an aspect of dramatic and spectacular violence--in wars (including modern ones), pogroms against ethnic or religious minorities, or episodes of lethal riots between sectarian groups--and everyday forms of sexual violence that could be both part of the public domain and constitutive of domestic intimacy. Said otherwise, I am interested in how experience of violence travels from one threshold of life to another
Administrative Man Faces the Quality Transformation: Comparing the Ideas of Herbert A. Simon and W. Edwards Deming

Is Deming's quality management just another management fad? Examination of its philosophical underpinnings shows that it is based in a new theoretical framework that places it at a cross-roads for organization theory and design that is as momentous as Simon's development and application of decision theory and positivistic science. Failure to understand Deming's "system of profound knowledge" has meant an undervaluing of his major contribution to the theory of organizations.
Analysis and synthesis of human swing leg motion during gait and its clinical applications.

Abstract A mathematical representation of the human leg during the swing phase of gait was developed. The modelling procedure employed variables which were known to be clinically significant physical, anatomical and physiological features influencing the gait pattern. These included: limitations in joint range of motion, alterations in the initial conditions of swing, changes in joint trajectories and changes in the inertial properties of the limb segments. The model implemented was such that these parameters could be independently varied to assess their relative importance in either normal gait, or in pathological gait and its correction. Using this approach, quantitative clinical data was incorporated into the mathematical description so that a better understanding of normal and pathological gait could be achieved.
Chimeric Cyanovirin-MPER Recombinantly Engineered Proteins Cause Cell-Free Virolysis of HIV-1

ABSTRACT Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the primary etiologic agent responsible for the AIDS pandemic. In this work, we used a chimeric recombinant protein strategy to test the possibility of irreversibly destroying the HIV-1 virion using an agent that simultaneously binds the Env protein and viral membrane. We constructed a fusion of the lectin cyanovirin-N (CVN) and the gp41 membrane-proximal external region (MPER) peptide with a variable-length (Gly 4 Ser) x linker (where x is 4 or 8) between the C terminus of the former and N terminus of the latter. The His-tagged recombinant proteins, expressed in BL21(DE3)pLysS cells and purified by immobilized metal affinity chromatography followed by gel filtration, were found to display a nanomolar efficacy in blocking BaL-pseudotyped HIV-1 infection of HOS.T4.R5 cells. This antiviral activity was HIV-1 specific, since it did not inhibit cell infection by vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) or amphotropic-murine leukemia virus. Importantly, the chimeric proteins were found to release intraviral p24 protein from both BaL-pseudotyped HIV-1 and fully infectious BaL HIV-1 in a dose-dependent manner in the absence of host cells. The addition of either MPER or CVN was found to outcompete this virolytic effect, indicating that both components of the chimera are required for virolysis. The finding that engaging the Env protein spike and membrane using a chimeric ligand can destabilize the virus and lead to inactivation opens up a means to investigate virus particle metastability and to evaluate this approach for inactivation at the earliest stages of exposure to virus and before host cell encounter.
Relationship between fatty acids and the endocrine system

Significant interactions exist between fatty acids and the endocrine system. Hormones affect the metabolism of fatty acids and the fatty acid composition of tissue lipids. The principal hormones involved in lipid metabolism are insulin, glucagon, catecholamines, cortisol and growth hormone. The concentrations of these hormones are altered in chronic degenerative conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which in turn lead to alterations in tissue lipids. Lipogenesis and lipolysis, which modulate fatty acid concentrations in plasma and tissues, are under hormonal control. Neuropeptides are involved in lipid metabolism in brain and other tissues. Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are also precursors for eicosanoids including prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and thromboxanes, which have hormone-like activities. Fatty acids in turn alter both hormone and neuropeptide concentrations and their receptors. Saturated and trans fatty acids (TFA) decrease insulin concentration leading to insulin resistance. In contrast, PUFA increase plasma insulin concentration and decrease insulin resistance. In humans, omega-3 PUFA alter the levels of opioid peptides in plasma.
Optimizing medium access control for rapid handoffs in pseudocellular networks

The steadily decreasing cost of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology motivates the concept of pseudocellular networks that support real-time traffic and seamless mobility with WLAN-type infrastructure, in addition to the standard low-mobility data applications of WLAN. A key challenge in such networks is the support of highly mobile users with real-time traffic, because of the high handoff rate resulting from small cell sizes. In this paper, we show that timely mobile-centric handoffs can be achieved using optimized ALOHA-like reservation schemes which, for a given call drop probability, require significantly fewer reservation resources than conventional methods. For Poisson handoff traffic, we employ dynamic programming to derive an optimal stationary policy. We then use these results as a building block for obtaining adaptive reservation schemes (dynamically varying the number of minislots per frame) for bursty handoff traffic.
Biomechanics of osteoporotic fractures

The objective of this review article is to present biomechanics concepts and data relevant to osteoporotic fractures. Fractures are mechanical events that occur when the applied load exceeds the fracture load (bone strength); both loading and strength must be considered to understand fracture risk. Hip fractures are almost always due to a fall, but only 5% of falls result in fracture. Hip fracture risk is greatest for a sideways fall that impacts on the greater trochanter. The loading events that cause vertebral fractures are poorly understood but include falls and heavy lifting. Activities that involve forward flexion and lifting generate the largest forces on the spine. Factors that affect bone strength include bone size (geometry) and bone density (vBMD). Men have larger bones at all ages compared to women and this is the main factor in the gender difference in whole-bone strength. Both men and women lose trabecular bone density and thus bone strength with aging, which is the main reason for the age-related loss of bone strength at the hip and spine, although dramatic decreases in the toughness of cortical bone may also contribute to osteoporotic fragility. The factor of risk (applied force/fracture force) is a useful concept for considering both the injury and the disease component of osteoporotic fractures. Within this article, I will review data on age-related changes in factors that affect fracture risk. Advanced engineering concepts will not be presented, but a familiarity with basic mechanical principles is assumed.
Blind Multichannel System Identification with Applications in Speech Signal Processing

We are presenting a new approach for blind multichannel system identification. The approach relies on the existence of so called exclusive activity periods (EAPs) in the source signals. EAPs are time intervals during which only one source is active and all other sources are inactive (i.e. zero). The existence of EAPs is not guaranteed for arbitrary signal classes. EAPs occur very frequently, however, in recordings of conversational speech. The methods proposed in this paper show how EAPs can be exploited to improve the performance of blind multichannel system identification systems in speech processing applications. We have shown that for modestly complex tasks the proposed method achieves an improvement of over 10 dB in signal-to-interference ratio over conventional techniques
The Use of StageFrac New Technology to Complete and Stimulate Horizontal Wells: Field Case

This article summarizes the results from the deployment of a multistage completion and acid fracturing treatment in the first field trial conducted in a Saudi Arabian gas producer. The main objective of the field trial was to ascertain the effec tiveness of this state-of-the-art technology in properly stimulating long horizontal gas producers, and therefore use it to help severely damaged or underperforming wells achieve their maximum potential. The secondary objective was to evaluate the ability to connect the main Khuff-C producing zones through hydraulic fracturing, and therefore ascertain the viability of this technology as a potential alternative for duallateral completions in certain parts of the field. Drilling problems necessitated the reduction of the total horizontal well from the originally planned 5,000 ft to a final length of 3,835 ft. Moreover, mechanical problems en countered while setting the multistage completion reduced the total horizontal length open to flow to 1,440 ft only, leaving 2,394 ft isolated and unable to flow. As a result, the number of fracture stages originally planned at six had to be reduced to only three, but stimulation operations were implemented trouble-free with a good number of lessons learned that will be applied in future applications of the technology. Nevertheless, the initial performance of the well compares favorably with that of two other non-stimulated horizontal gas producers with better reservoir quality and more reservoir contact, a clear indication of the successful stimulation effect achieved with the job. This technology offers significant potential to improve the productivity of underperforming horizontal producers and help them achieve their maximum potential.
Visualization of helium dielectric barrier discharge treatment of green peach aphids on tobacco leaves

Nonthermal nonchemical dielectric barrier discharge treatment of green peach aphids has shown to be an effective method of insect control when the insects are on a synthetic mesh substrate. The efficacy of the treatment, represented as percent mortality, is reduced when the aphids reside on tobacco leaves. The reduction in treatment appears to be the result of streamer formation on the leaves. Although the streamer formation has reduced the treatment for aphids on tobacco leaves under our experimental conditions, control of insects such as lice and fleas that reside on alternative substrates can benefit from dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) treatment. Alternative conditions for the generation of DBD may be possible for insect control on plants.
Molecular manipulation of autoantibody testing in type 1 diabetes: two for one.

Diabetes mellitus is an epidemic that, according to estimates, will have a prevalence of 5.4% of the global population by the year 2025 (1). The number of adults with diabetes in the world is expected to rise from 135 million in 1995 to 300 million by 2025. Although the majority of the escalation will be attributable to type 2 diabetes, the prevalence of type 1 diabetes is also increasing. Data pooled from 27 countries reveal that the incidence of type 1 diabetes is rising by 3% per year (2), predominantly in children and young adults. In addition, several studies report that ∼10% of type 2 diabetes patients have islet autoantibody markers of type 1 diabetes, which predict insulin dependency (3)(4). Because the number of patients classified with type 2 diabetes is 10- to 20-fold greater than those deemed to have type 1 diabetes, this group of possible slow-onset type 1 diabetes is likely to have a significant impact on the severity of the diabetes epidemic. Despite advances in diabetes treatment and monitoring that permit improved glycemic control, insulin therapy is inadequate to prevent patients from developing eye, kidney, nerve, and cardiovascular disease. Moreover, tight control, which cannot be achieved by all patients, is associated with a substantially increased risk of hypoglycemia (5). A desirable goal in the management of diabetes is to prevent the disease before clinical onset. Although several strategies aimed at prevention are under evaluation (6)(7), this will be attained only if type 1 diabetes can be diagnosed before the appearance of clinical manifestations of the disease. …
Tumoral calcinosis with hyperphosphatemia. A report of a family with incidence in four siblings.

Four siblings with tumoral calcinosis and hyperphosphatemia have been studied for several years. In one the disease was recognized prior to its clinical appearance because of hyperphosphatemia. The hyperphosphatemia is not a result of renal insufficiency or of an abnormal parathyroid response. The hyperphosphatemia and tumors did not occur independently in our patients, and serum phosphorus determinations may be useful for screening. Recurrence after total excision of a mass is common and should be treated by early re-excision. The initial results of this treatment have been fairly good.
Localization of coherent sources using a modified spatial smoothing technique

Through both theoretical developement and simulation the method we have put forward has been shown to yield improved performance over the conventional spatial smoothing algorithm. Our discussion has demonstrated that for a given array length the proposed method can be used to increase the number of coherent signals that can be resolved and thus effectively increase array aperture. Our simulation results underscore this fact. As we will see this increase in aperture is obtained, to some extent, at the expense of robustness.
Targeted Molecular Imaging to Detect Vascular Disease

Major challenges with vascular imaging are related to the deep-seated nature of blood vessels, small dimensions of the lumen, and poor access into the arterial wall. Current imaging techniques are limited to detecting structural abnormalities. To detect minute abnormalities in the vascular lumen or arterial wall, imaging techniques need to be modified to improve their spatial resolution and sensitivity as well as to develop unique homing mechanisms to target biomarkers expressed in the lumen or the wall of the blood vessels. Molecular imaging has the potential to detect pathologic biomarkers that would otherwise be difficult to be detected by current imaging techniques. This review provides an overview of the uses of molecular imaging to detect two major vascular conditions, thrombosis and atherosclerosis. Molecular imaging has the potential to screen for early stages of disease, follow the course of the disease, and detect the presence of vulnerable plaque or occult thromboses that require aggressive intervention.
Time and Intensity Factors in Identification of Components of Odor Mixtures

Identification of odors of compounds introduced into changeable olfactory environments is the essence of olfactory coding, which focuses perception on the latest stimulus with the greatest salience. Effects of stimulus intensity and adapting time on mixture component identification after adapting with one component were each studied in 10 human subjects. Odors of 1 and 5 mM vanillin (vanilla) and phenethyl alcohol (rose) were identified, with adapting time varied by sniffing naturally once or twice, or sniffing 5 times, once every 2 s. Odors of water-adapted single compounds were identified nearly perfectly (94%), self-adapted to 51% but did not cross-adapt (94%), showing the 2 compounds had quickly adapting independent odors. Identifications of the vanilla and rose odors in water-adapted mixtures were reduced to 59% and 79%, respectively. Following single-component adaptation, the average 33% identification of odors of adapted (ambient) mixture components contrasted with the greater average 86% identification of new unadapted (extra) mixture components. Identifications were lower for 1 than 5 mM components when concentrations were not matched, and ambient component identifications were lower after 10-s adaptation than after 1 or 2 sniffs. Rapid selective adaptation and mixture component suppression manipulate effective intensity to promote emergence of characteristic odor qualities in dynamic natural settings.
Management reference points to account for direct and indirect impacts of fishing on marine mammals

Reference points can help implement an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF), by establishing precautionary removal limits for nontarget species and target species of ecological importance. PBR (Potential Biological Removal), developed under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), is a limit for direct mortality for marine mammals, but it does not account for indirect effects of fishing due to prey depletion. I propose a generalization of PBR (called PBR*) to account for plausible changes in marine mammal carrying capacity (ΔK) from prey biomass decline relative to two example benchmarks: SSBMSY (maximum sustainable yield biomass for all known prey species) or SSBK (unfished prey biomass). PBR* can help identify when indirect fishing effects (alone, or combination with direct mortality estimates) may stymie MMPA objectives, and could inform catch limit estimates for target species that are also important as marine mammal prey. As a case study, I applied PBR* estimates to evaluate the possible combined direct + indirect effects of fishing on cetaceans in northeastern U.S. waters. Estimated distributions for ΔK were based on fish stock assessments and meta-analysis of predator-prey relationships from the mammalian literature. Based on this analysis, increased risk of marine mammal depletion due to indirect fishing effects was not evident, although this result must be interpreted cautiously given our limited understanding of cetacean diets and marine trophic dynamics. This study is intended to illustrate a possible practical approach for incorporating indirect fisheries impacts on marine mammals into a comprehensive management framework, and it raises several scientific and policy issues that merit further investigation.
Inhibiting Proteasomes in Human HepG2 and LNCaP Cells Increases Endogenous Androgen Receptor Levels

Treating HepG2 cells with MG132 for 4 h to inhibit proteasomal activity increased androgen receptor immunoreactivity in two major bands with molecular weights of 102 and 110 kDa by 77% each (P < 0. 05). MG132 treatment also increased the overall level of polyubiquitinated proteins between 66 and 220 kDa by 140% (P < 0.05). Antiubiquitin immunoreactivity comigrating with the androgen receptor bands was also increased by MG132 treatment. Two other proteasome inhibitors, lactacystin and epoxomycin, caused similar increases in the androgen receptor in HepG2 cells. Proteosome-inhibition studies conducted in LNCaP cells also showed that the two major androgen receptor bands with molecular weights of 102 and 110 kDa were increased by 85 and 115%, respectively (P < 0. 05 for both) by MG132 treatment. Overall levels of polyubiquitinated proteins with molecular weights between 66 and 220 kDa increased 365%. Ubiquitin immunoreactivity comigrating with the androgen receptor bands was also significantly increased. Thus inhibiting proteasomes in two human androgen-responsive cell lines increases endogenous androgen receptor levels as well as androgen receptor-associated ubiquitin-modified immunoreactivity. The regulation of steady-state levels of endogenous androgen receptor by proteasomal degradation could be involved in its rapid turnover in the absence of ligand and would provide a mechanism for limiting androgen responses. A PEST sequence similar to one in the vitamin D receptor is present in the hinge region of all known mammalian androgen receptors, suggesting that it may function in proteasome-mediated androgen receptor turnover.
Lessons learned from benchmark orthopaedic trials

Abstract: Benchmark trials in orthopaedics are designed to address a question of substantial interest to clinicians and patients. They are also designed to have prospective data collection, an adequate sample size, an appropriate duration of follow-up based on the injury or treatment under study, blinded adjudication of the outcome variables, appropriate statistical analyses, and widespread and effective dissemination of the information learned in the trial. There are multiple lessons to be gleaned from these trials: (1) Identifying an engaging and relevant clinical question will make it easier to identify centers that are willing to participate. (2) Individual site leadership, both of the overall project and at the individual site, is critical to the success of any trial. (3) Not every trial needs to have a randomized design; observational trials can provide data that will impact clinical care. (4) Patients should understand the long-term goals of the project when they are enrolled so that they have a sense of the importance of their role in the study. (5) Follow-up rates that are >90% are possible for orthopaedic trials, but effort and money are required to achieve this. (6) Patients who do not agree to be randomized should be enrolled as subjects in a parallel observational design if it is available. (7) Blinded adjudication of the outcome variables is recommended whenever feasible. (8) Partnership with the academic community is mandatory for the success of industry-funded, phase-3 United States Food and Drug Administration trials. (9) Intention-to-treat analysis and as-treated analysis should be reported. Benchmark orthopaedic trials can and will change clinical practice, but detailed planning must occur to ensure that the results are believable and relevant to the orthopaedic community. These trials are time-consuming and expensive, but with the use of careful initial planning and continued oversight during the trial, Level-I evidence will be obtained and will be useful in clinical care.
Identification of Roads for Urban Runoff Pollution Management

Urban roads are identified as major sources of many pollutants and the runoff from these areas discharges high pollution mass loads to receiving waters. Identifying roads is important for effective urban runoff and non point source pollution management. However, public land use information usually does not provide detailed road information. In this research, we identified roads and streets in an urban area to estimate their runoff pollution. We used high resolution multi-spectral imagery i.e. IKONOS. The classified image was used to estimate urban runoff pollutant mass loads and compared them to the estimates using public land use information. The results show that the pollutant load estimation was improved by using high resolution imagery because of the extracted road information. The overall results of this work suggest that using high resolution multi-spectral data is a promising way to estimate overall stormwater pollutant loads. This method could be used as an alternative method of estimating limits for the US EPA's total maximum daily loads control strategies.
Skeletal Muscle PGF2αand PGE2 in Response to Eccentric Resistance Exercise: Influence of Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen

PGs have been shown to modulate skeletal muscle protein metabolism as well as inflammation and pain. In nonskeletal muscle tissues, the over the counter analgesic drugs ibuprofen and acetaminophen function through suppression of PG synthesis. We previously reported that ibuprofen and acetaminophen inhibit the normal increase in skeletal muscle protein synthesis after high intensity eccentric resistance exercise. The current study examined skeletal muscle PG levels in the same subjects to further investigate the mechanisms of action of these drugs in exercised skeletal muscle. Twenty-four males (25 ± 3 yr) were assigned to 3 groups that received the maximal over the counter dose of ibuprofen (1200 mg/d), acetaminophen (4000 mg/d), or a placebo after 10–14 sets of 10 eccentric repetitions at 120% of concentric 1 repetition maximum using the knee extensors. Preexercise and 24 h postexercise biopsies of the vastus lateralis revealed that the exercise-induced change in PGF2α in the placebo group (77%) was sign...
Evaluation of Antioxidant Effectiveness of a Few Herbal Plants

We have screened a number of plants from the Indian soil for potential antioxidant properties out of which fifteen extracts were found to be positive. Leaves/bulk from the plants were crushed and extracted with organic solvents by three different ways. The first group of plants were extracted with CHCL3:CH3OH (2:1), evaporated, partitioned between petroleum ether and methanol (9:1), aqueous methanolic part re-partitioned between methanol: H2O (4:1) and dichloromethane. Methanol was evaporated from the aqueous methanolic part and extracted with n-butanol. The second group of plants were extracted with methanol followed by partitioning between petroleum ether and CH3OH. The rest of the extraction procedure was the same as above. A third extraction procedure was used for Ocimum sanctum which after extraction with CHCL3:CH3OH (2:l), partitioned between CCL4 and CH3OH:H2O (9:1). Aqueous methanolic part was repartitioned between CH3OH:H2O (4:1) and CHCI3 and CHCI3 soluble part was used for the study. Free radic...
Recent advances of the Ti:sapphire-pumped high-repetition-rate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

The details concerning the resonator configuration, crystal parameters, and operating characteristics of high-repetition-rate and high-average-power broadly tunable femtosecond optical parametric oscillators are reviewed and discussed in some detail. We also report new results on an intracavity-doubled optical parametric oscillator with tunability from 580 to 657 nm in the visible and the first, to our knowledge, high-repetition-rate femtosecond optical parametric oscillator with the new nonlinear-optical crystal In:KTiOAsO4, which can potentially tune to 5.3 μm.