cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nicotine suppresses the proliferative response of peripheral blood lymphocytes in rats

Nicotine, the psychoactive ingredient of cigarette smoke, alters lymphocyte function in vitro. However, unlike tobacco smoke, the immunologic effects of nicotine in vivo have not been determined. In the present study a single SC administration of 0.33, 0.66, or 1.32 mg/kg (free base) of nicotine bitartrate to male rats produced a dose-dependent decrease in the in vitro proliferative response of blood lymphocytes to the T-cell mitogen Con A when sampled 1 hr after nicotine administration. These results strongly suggest that acute nicotine exposure can induce immune perturbation in vivo. Nicotine also increased plasma corticosterone (CORT) and there was a substantial negative correlation (r = −.52) between CORT levels and the extent of proliferation (DPM) for the optimal Con A dose. The correlation between nicotine's immunologic and CORT effects is discussed within the context of several other potential mediators of nicotine's effects. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Using Book Clubs to Enhance Social–Emotional and Academic Learning With Urban Adolescent Females of Color

The purpose of this article is to elucidate how book clubs can be used as a forum to enhance students' social–emotional and academic learning. The author conducted a study in a small urban high school with 2 different book clubs: The younger group consisted of 2 African American 9th graders, 2 Latina 9th graders, and 1 African American 10th grader; the 2nd group consisted of 11th-grade girls—2 African Americans and 5 Latinas. Qualitative data came from various sources, including observations, interviews, book club discussions, and surveys. The author conducted pre-interviews with all 12 girls to document literacy, family, and school information; she used post-interviews and surveys to analyze the girls' attitudes toward their experiences. She transcribed and analyzed all interviews and book club discussions (a total of 22 meetings with the younger group and 24 meetings with the older group). The findings show that book clubs promote academic literacy learning and the competencies of social–emotional learning.
Combating trafficking in persons: a call to action for global health professionals

Health care professionals can help identify victims of human trafficking, who commonly come into contact with providers during captivity. Providers can also help restore the physical and mental health of trafficking survivors. Training should focus on recognizing trafficking signs, interviewing techniques, and recommended responses when a victim is identified.
Death by design: apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy

Apoptosis is the principal mechanism by which cells are physiologically eliminated in metazoan organisms. During apoptotic death, cells are neatly carved up by caspases and packaged into apoptotic bodies as a mechanism to avoid immune activation. Recently, necrosis, once thought of as simply a passive, unorganized way to die, has emerged as an alternate form of programmed cell death whose activation might have important biological consequences, including the induction of an inflammatory response. Autophagy has also been suggested as a possible mechanism for non-apoptotic death despite evidence from many species that autophagy represents a survival strategy in times of stress. Recent advances have helped to define the function of and mechanism for programmed necrosis and the role of autophagy in cell survival and suicide.
Wavelet packets applied to mammograms

A multiresolution analysis based on wavelets is particularly effective for signals with marked discontinuities, such as microcalcifications produce in mammograms. The projection methods that generate the resumes and details can yield an entire family of orthonormal bases, or wavelet packets, which can be superior to wavelets for certain classes of signals. Results of applying wavelet packets to snippets from several mammograms are presented as a method of data compression, allowing reduction of the digitized data before applying pattern recognition techniques.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Hedgehog regulated Slit expression determines commissure and glial cell position in the zebrafish forebrain

Three major axon pathways cross the midline of the vertebrate forebrain early in embryonic development: the postoptic commissure (POC), the anterior commissure (AC) and the optic nerve. We show that a small population of Gfap+ astroglia spans the midline of the zebrafish forebrain in the position of, and prior to, commissural and retinal axon crossing. These glial \`bridges' form in regions devoid of the guidance molecules slit2 and slit3 , although a subset of these glial cells express slit1a . We show that Hh signaling is required for commissure formation, glial bridge formation, and the restricted expression of the guidance molecules slit1a , slit2 , slit3 and sema3d , but that Hh does not appear to play a direct role in commissural and retinal axon guidance. Reducing Slit2 and/or Slit3 function expanded the glial bridges and caused defasciculation of the POC, consistent with a \`channeling' role for these repellent molecules. By contrast, reducing Slit1a function led to reduced midline axon crossing, suggesting a distinct role for Slit1a in midline axon guidance. Blocking Slit2 and Slit3, but not Slit1a, function in the Hh pathway mutant yot ( gli2DR ) dramatically rescued POC axon crossing and glial bridge formation at the midline, indicating that expanded Slit2 and Slit3 repellent function is largely responsible for the lack of midline crossing in these mutants. This analysis shows that Hh signaling helps to pattern the expression of Slit guidance molecules that then help to regulate glial cell position and axon guidance across the midline of the forebrain.
In-contact dynamics of atomic force microscopes

Demonstrates and explains the great impact scan parameters and cantilever properties have on the dynamics of atomic force microscopes (AFM), and hence its performance. Results show that when operating in air and in-contact with hard samples, modal damping is a strong function of contact force set-point and amplitude of disturbance, i.e. sample surface topography. Small amplitudes and large set-points result in lower damping. In addition, a large contact force can result in damage to the sample and increase friction force between probe and sample. Further, cantilevers with long probes result in pole-zero flipping possibly due to the compliance of the probe being comparable to that of the cantilever. These large changes in the dynamics of the AFM impose a challenge on its feedback system. It requires a controller that provides robust performance to ensure high-fidelity of data and reduce image artifacts. Consequently, the selection of scan parameters should be tied-in to controller parameters to potentially achieve higher level of performance.
Observations on Some Physical-Chemical Characteristics of River-Ice Breakup

Northern river breakups are a spectacular process capable of modifying hydrological, geomorphological, and biological regimes. To begin an assessment of the physical and chemical characteristics associated with river-ice breakup, some exploratory field studies were initiated on the Liard River, a large northern river. The primary objective was to conduct time series measurements of basic water chemistry parameters, suspended sediment concentrations and size, and associated trace elements during the active breakup period. Results show that, although water quality characteristics such as pH and specific conductivity remained relatively constant, dissolved oxygen increased rapidly as breakup progressed and reached a level of supersaturation. Just before breakup, a plume of fine-grained sediment developed leading to very high peak suspended sediment concentrations that far exceeded those produced under equivalent open-water discharge. Concentrations of select trace metal paralleled the rise in suspended sediment.
Violence against women and the perinatal period: the impact of lifetime violence and abuse on pregnancy, postpartum, and breastfeeding

Violence against women affects millions of women, including women who are pregnant or have recently given birth. During pregnancy, a woman’s history of past abuse increases her risk of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. And these increase the risk of pregnancy and neonatal complications. Women who have experienced past or current abuse are also at high risk for postpartum depression, which can affect their relationships with other adults and their babies. Violence against women can also affect women’s ability to breastfeed, although abuse survivors often express an intention to breastfeed and are more likely to initiate breastfeeding than their nonabused counterparts. Current abuse, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, social isolation, lack of social support, and cessation of breastfeeding all have negative health effects for mothers and babies.
Therapeutic serum phenobarbital concentrations obtained using chronic transdermal administration of phenobarbital in healthy cats

Seizures are a common cause of neurologic disease, and phenobarbital (PB) is the most commonly used antiepileptic drug. Chronic oral dosing can be challenging for cat owners, leading to poor compliance. The purpose of this study was to determine if the transdermal administration of PB could achieve serum PB concentrations of between 15 and 45 μg/ml in healthy cats. Nineteen healthy cats were enrolled in three groups. Transdermal PB in pluronic lecithin organogel (PLO) was applied to the pinnae for 14 days at a dosage of 3 mg/kg q12h in group 1 (n = 6 cats) and 9 mg/kg q12h in group 2 (n = 7 cats). Transdermal PB in Lipoderm Activemax was similarly applied at 9 mg/kg q12h for 14 days in group 3 (n = 6 cats). Steady-state serum PB concentrations were measured at trough, and at 2, 4 and 6 h after the morning dose on day 15. In group 1, median concentrations ranged from 6.0-7.5 μg/ml throughout the day (observed range 0-11 μg/ml). Group 2 median concentrations were 26.0 μg/ml (observed range 18.0-37.0 μg/ml). For group 3, median concentrations ranged from 15.0-17.0 μg/ml throughout the day (range 5-29 μg/ml). Side effects were mild. One cat was withdrawn from group 2 owing to ataxia and sedation. These results show therapeutic serum PB concentrations can be achieved in cats following chronic transdermal administration of PB in PLO at a dosage of 9 mg/kg q12h. More individual variation was noted using Lipoderm Activemax. Transdermal administration may be an alternative for cats that are difficult to medicate orally.
Medial collateral ligament insertion site and contact forces in the ACL-deficient knee

The objectives of this research were to determine the effects of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) deficiency on medial collateral ligament (MCL) insertion site and contact forces during anterior tibial loading and valgus loading using a combined experimental-finite element (FE) approach. Our hypothesis was that ACL deficiency would increase MCL insertion site forces at the attachments to the tibia and femur and increase contact forces between the MCL and these bones. Six male knees were subjected to varus-valgus and anterior-posterior loading at flexion angles of 0 degrees and 30 degrees. Three-dimensional joint kinematics and MCL strains were recorded during kinematic testing. Following testing, the MCL of each knee was removed to establish a stress-free reference configuration. An FE model of the femur-MCL-tibia complex was constructed for each knee to simulate valgus rotation and anterior translation at 0 degrees and 30 degrees, using subject-specific bone and ligament geometry and joint kinematics. A transversely isotropic hyperelastic material model with average material coefficients taken from a previous study was used to represent the MCL. Subject-specific MCL in situ strain distributions were used in each model. Insertion site and contact forces were determined from the FE analyses. FE predictions were validated by comparing MCL fiber strains to experimental measurements. The subject-specific FE predictions of MCL fiber stretch correlated well with the experimentally measured values (R2 = 0.95). ACL deficiency caused a significant increase in MCL insertion site and contact forces in response to anterior tibial loading. In contrast, ACL deficiency did not significantly increase MCL insertion site and contact forces in response to valgus loading, demonstrating that the ACL is not a restraint to valgus rotation in knees that have an intact MCL. When evaluating valgus laxity in the ACL-deficient knee, increased valgus laxity indicates a compromised MCL.
Known and Novel Noun Extensions: Attention at Two Levels of Abstraction

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that names direct attention at two levels of abstraction: Known names direct attention to the properties most relevant to the specific category; novel names direct attention to the shape, the property most generally relevant across known object names. English-speaking and Japanese-speaking 3-year-olds were shown a novel object that was named with (a) known nouns referring to things similar in shape or similar in material and color, and (b) novel nouns. Given known nouns, children attended to shape when the name referred to a category organized by shape, but they did not when the name referred to a category organized by other properties. Children generalized novel names by shape. The results are discussed within the debate between shape-based and taxonomic categories.
Angle-multiplexed waveguide resonance of high sensitivity and its application to nanosecond dynamics of molecular assemblies.

We report here the experimental demonstration of a high-performance optical waveguide resonance (WR) platform based on a judicious design of a dielectric/metal stack and a fabrication process that delivers an extraordinarily low-loss optical waveguide over a noble-metal thin film. By using an atomic layer deposition process to grow a dielectric film (Al2O3) of exceptional optical quality and precise thickness over a metal layer (Ag), we have reached a deep and narrow WR that allowed us to experimentally measure a performance of the WR device that is 20 times superior to the conventional surface plasmon resonance sensor. To the best of our knowledge, these results represent the best performance of a WR device reported so far in the literature. In addition, we have created an experimental setup based on diffraction-limited optical components to launch and collect a broad angular spectrum that is able to resolve the sharp angular waveguide resonance at a fast pace. Such configuration has enabled us to reach nanosecond time scale resolution, and we provide here experimental evidence of the fast coupling of the optical signal from a submonolayer of a ruthenium complex adsorbed to the interrogation surface. The high sensitivity and nanosecond detection capability of the WR optical platform demonstrated here are expected to find useful applications for researchers interested in studies of surface- mediated molecular interactions and interfacial phenomena.
Comparing Burned and Mowed Treatments in Mountain Big Sagebrush Steppe

Fires in mountain big sagebrush [Artemisia tridentata spp. vaseyana (Rydb.) Beetle] plant communities historically shifted dominance from woody to herbaceous vegetation. However, fire return intervals have lengthened with European settlement, and sagebrush dominance has increased at the expense of herbaceous vegetation in some plant communities. Management actions may be needed to decrease sagebrush in dense sagebrush stands to increase herbaceous vegetation. Prescribed fire is often used to remove sagebrush; however, mechanical treatments, such as mowing, are increasingly used because they are more controllable and do not pose an inherent risk of escape compared with fire. However, information on the effects of burned and mowed treatments on herbaceous vegetation and whether fire and mowed applications elicit similar vegetation responses are limited. We evaluated the effects of prescribed burning and mowing for 3 years after treatment in mountain big sagebrush plant communities. The burned and mowed treatments generally increased herbaceous cover, density, and production compared with untreated controls (P 0.05). In contrast, annual forb (predominately natives) cover, density, and biomass increased with mowing and burning (P < 0.05). Vegetation generally responded similarly in burned and mowed treatments; however, the burned treatment had less sagebrush, greater herbaceous vegetation production, and more bare ground than the mowed treatment (P < 0.05). These differences should be considered when selecting treatments to decrease sagebrush.
Obesity reduces left ventricular strains, torsion, and synchrony in mouse models: a cine displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) cardiovascular magnetic resonance study

Obesity affects a third of adults in the US and results in an increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. While the mechanisms underlying this increased risk are not well understood, animal models of obesity have shown direct effects on the heart such as steatosis and fibrosis, which may affect cardiac function. However, the effect of obesity on cardiac function in animal models is not well-defined. We hypothesized that diet-induced obesity in mice reduces strain, torsion, and synchrony in the left ventricle (LV). Ten 12-week-old C57BL/6 J mice were randomized to a high-fat or low-fat diet. After 5 months on the diet, mice were imaged with a 7 T ClinScan using a cine DENSE protocol. Three short-axis and two long-axis slices were acquired for quantification of strains, torsion and synchrony in the left ventricle. Left ventricular mass was increased by 15% (p = 0.032) with no change in volumes or ejection fraction. Subepicardial strain was lower in the obese mice with a 40% reduction in circumferential strain (p = 0.008) a 53% reduction in radial strain (p = 0.032) and a trend towards a 19% reduction in longitudinal strain (p = 0.056). By contrast, subendocardial strain was modestly reduced in the obese mice in the circumferential direction by 12% (p = 0.028), and no different in the radial (p = 0.690) or longitudinal (p = 0.602) directions. Peak torsion was reduced by 34% (p = 0.028). Synchrony of contraction was also reduced (p = 0.032) with a time delay in the septal-to-lateral direction. Diet-induced obesity reduces left ventricular strains and torsion in mice. Reductions in cardiac strain are mostly limited to the subepicardium, with relative preservation of function in the subendocardium. Diet-induced obesity also leads to reduced synchrony of contraction and hypertrophy in mouse models.
Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat Y Chromosome Increases Indexes of Sympathetic Nervous System Activity

Previous studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that the Y chromosome from the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is responsible for a significant portion of the elevated blood pressure and also produces an earlier pubertal rise in plasma testosterone. We performed the following studies to determine whether the SHR Y chromosome raises blood pressure by sympathetic nervous system responses as measured by adrenal chromogranin A and plasma and tissue catecholamines. Male SHR from the University of Akron colony were studied from 5 to 20 weeks of age. Blood pressure was measured by tail-cuff, tail artery cannulation, and aortic telemetry (Data Sciences); acute (air stress) and chronic (territorial colony) social stressors were compared; blood was collected for determination of plasma catecholamines; and adrenal glands were analyzed at 15 weeks for catecholamines. Rats with the SHR Y chromosome had higher blood pressure and plasma norepinephrine than those with the normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) Y chromosome. However, the SHR Y chromosome did not significantly change responsiveness to acute or chronic stressors. Phentolamine and clonidine prevented the stress responses. Adrenal chromogranin A levels were elevated 37% and 40% and adrenal norepinephrine content 29% and 100% at 4 and 10 weeks of age, respectively, in rats with an SHR Y chromosome compared with WKY. Chemical sympathectomy normalized blood pressure in all strains and significantly reduced norepinephrine (36% to 41%) in all strains except in WKY, which already had a normal blood pressure. In conclusion, the SHR Y chromosome appears to increase the chronic sympathetic nervous system. A potential mechanism could be a Y locus that influences chronic sympathetic nervous system activity, which may reinforce neurohumoral factors and structural components of the vessel wall, accelerating the development of hypertension.
The actin filament content of hair cells of the bird cochlea is nearly constant even though the length, width, and number of stereocilia vary depending on the hair cell location.

By direct counts off scanning electron micrographs, we determined the number of stereocilia per hair cell of the chicken cochlea as a function of the position of the hair cell on the cochlea. Micrographs of thin cross sections of stereociliary bundles located at known positions on the cochlea were enlarged and the total number of actin filaments per stereocilium was counted and recorded. By comparing the counts of filament number with measurements of actin filament bundle width of the same stereocilium, we were able to relate actin filament bundle width to filament number with an error margin (r2) of 16%. Combining this data with data already published or in the process of publication from our laboratory on the length and width of stereocilia, we were able to calculate the total length of actin filaments present in stereociliary bundles of hair cells located at a variety of positions on the cochlea. We found that stereociliary bundles of hair cells contain 80,000-98,000 micron of actin filament, i.e., the concentration of actin is constant in all hair cells with a range of values that is less than our error in measurement and/or biological variation, the greatest variation being in relating the diameters of the stereocilia to filament number. We also calculated the membrane surface needed to cover the stereocilia of hair cells located throughout the cochlea. The values (172-192 micron 2) are also constant. The implications of our observation that the total amount of actin is constant even though the length, width, and number of stereocilia per hair cell vary are discussed.
PROBLEMS IN ADDITIVE NUMBER THEORY, IV: NETS IN GROUPS AND SHORTEST LENGTH g-ADIC REPRESENTATIONS

The number theoretic analog of a net in metric geometry suggests new problems and results in combinatorial and additive number theory. For example, for a fixed integer g ≥ 2, the study of h-nets in the additive group of integers with respect to the generating set Ag = {0} ∪ {± gi : i = 0, 1, 2, …} requires a knowledge of the word lengths of integers with respect to Ag. A g-adic representation of an integer is described that algorithmically produces a representation of shortest length. Additive complements and additive asymptotic complements are also discussed, together with their associated minimality problems.
Do Triptan Antimigraine Medications Interact with SSRI/SNRI Antidepressants? What Does Your Decision Support System Say?

Drug risks may be ignored or underappreciated, overemphasized, misinterpreted, or in some cases presented in ways that do not wholly reflect the evidence base and clinical experience. Often the available evidence pertaining to drug interactions is grounded upon theoretical concerns, very small trials, or case reports, and thus it is often very challenging to balance the potential risks and benefits of a particular therapy when drug interactions are present. While prescribers and pharmacists may fail to heed interaction alerts provided by decision support systems, it is also possible that the overstatement of risks can cause providers to avoid utilizing a clinically beneficial therapy. The case of the interaction between triptan antimigraine medications and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor/selective serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SSRI/SNRI) antidepressants provides an example of how the presentation of drug risk may unduly influence the utilization of drug therapy. The Risk of Serotonin Syndrome Associated with Concomitant Use of Triptans and SSRIs/SNRIs The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in its endeavors to govern the balance between drug benefits and safety concerns, faces the tremendous challenge of evaluating emerging evidence and guiding the assimilation of new knowledge into prescribing recommendations. This paper presents one such example, as in 2006, the FDA issued an alert to health care professionals regarding the potential risks associated with the combined use of 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor agonist (i.e., triptan) antimigraine medications and certain antidepressant medications, specifically SSRIs and SNRIs. 1 This advisory, which remains posted at the FDA.gov website as of August 11, 2011, includes a headline that warns health care providers and the general public that the combination of these medications may result in “Potentially Life-threatening Serotonin Syndrome.” The advisory recommends that physicians should evaluate the risk of serotonin syndrome against the expected benefit of using this drug combination and discuss the possibility of serotonin syndrome with their patients utilizing this combination. The FDA also recommends that prescribers follow patients closely for the development of signs of serotonin syndrome, which are noted to include autonomic instability, respiratory failure, and coma. 1
Prediction-based routing through least cost delay constraint

Summary form only given. To control data network for a delay constraint application, it is necessary to understand the behavior of packet delay and the network traffic. In data network, the type of service (TOS) bits are included in the IP header to allow a router to construct various shortest path first (SPF) trees on various quality of service (QoS) needs (e.g., minimum delay). The average queueing delay is a major contributor to the packet delay due to the fact that the queueing delay increases rapidly as the utilization of a router increases. A number of studies of traffic measurements have established the presence of self-similarity that causes performance degradation including amplified queueing delay. A cost function is proposed to determine a metric in a routing table through the prediction of the average queueing delay. From this, the end-to-end packet delays in a simple data network are analyzed by applying prediction-based routing through a cost function using least cost delay constraint. By comparing the average packet delay of TOS 0 (default) routing with that of prediction-based TOS 16 (minimize delay) routing, we can demonstrate the performance improvement on the average packet delay with the presence of self-similar traffic.
Cultural Considerations and Child Maltreatment : In Search of Universal Principles

Cultural diversity poses challenges within the health care setting, particularly regarding the question of how health professionals can resolve the tension between respecting cultural norms or child-rearing practices and the importance of determining what constitutes harm and child maltreatment. Cultural competency and respect for cultural diversity does not imply universal tolerance of all practices. The United Nations provides a standard of universal child rights, protecting them from harmful practices. Pediatric providers must respect cross-cultural differences while maintaining legal and ethical standards of safety and wellbeing for children, promoting evidence-based prevention of maltreatment, and advocating for child wellness across all cultures.
In vitro effects of cortisone on multiplication of influenza B virus.

SummaryThe addition of cortisone to chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane tissue cultures results in significantly greater final concentrations of Influenza B virus than observed in controls.
Transfer Pricing and Global Poverty

A persistent puzzle in international political economy (IPE) is the lack of a robust correlation between foreign direct investment (FDI) and poverty alleviation in emerging markets. This is especially confusing given the compelling theory that predicts poverty reductions following FDI increases (Moran 1999). At least three general channels have been hypothesized linking FDI inflows to reductions in the poverty level (Hanson 2001). FDI is thought to contribute to poverty alleviation through (i) spillovers of labor productivity, technology, and corporate governance practices; (ii) market effects, as foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) contract domestic producers and sell their products in the host country, reducing consumer costs through competition; and (iii) revenue effects, as taxes paid by FIEs increase host country coffers and subsidize transfers to poorer citizens of the country. For all of the hypothesized channels, the empirical support is mixed at best. Figure ⇓ demonstrates the lack of observed correlation using a variety of poverty cutoffs, and the analysis is robust to using changes in FDI stocks as well. Fig 2 The Correlation between Poverty and Foreign Investment Flows By far the weakest support has been found for the revenue channel. There has been very little convincing work demonstrating that FIEs offer substantial increases in revenue above domestic firms, and even less evidence that FDI spurs equalizing welfare transfers. At a distance, this non-finding is the greatest enigma, as budget data are the easiest of the dependent variables to collect and analyze. Explanations are possible to explain the inability of FDI tax revenue to reach the poorest. The first basket of answers is methodological, including measurement error in poverty rates data, biased selection of foreign investors into wealthier states where poverty increases would be less obvious, and differing reporting rules for FDI in host countries leading to noisy estimates. The Beramendi and Wibbels contribution …
Neutron Radiographic Techniques for Nuclear Arms Control Applications

The verification of nuclear arms control agreements is likely to entail provisions for detection, identification, and imaging of objects that are known to have or might contain fissile masses. Determining the number of nuclear warheads in a MIRV or finding out whether a cruise missile has a nuclear or conventional war head are examples. To do so requires tech-niques that make use of either inherent radiation associated with fissile materials used in weapons or their interrogation with external sources. Because of the possibility of evasive measures, some application of more intrusive active interroga-tion techniques might be necessary, in which case the minimum delivery of radiation doses would be preferred or mandated. Fast neutrons are most promising for interrogation because of their penetrability and because of the distinctive character-istic radiation that can be induced in the object being inspected. The information that is collected, which might include a radiograph, must be tailored to the situation, providing neither too much nor too little information. These and other requirements that are public information are examined, particularly as they relate to potential terrestrial and space applications.
Method for measuring the packet processing time of Internet workstations with the detection of interrupt coalescence

The packet processing time (PPT) of an end host (i.e., workstation) is the time elapsed between the arrival of a packet at the data-link layer and the time the packet is processed at the application layer (RFCs 2679). A recent work presented an active scheme to measure PPT over Internet paths using a packet-pair based probing structure considering its importance as a network parameter in the Internet. However, the existing scheme does not consider the effect of interrupt coalescence (IC) in network interface cards (NICs), which are configured with an IC under high transmission speeds. In this paper, we propose an enhancement to the existing scheme for measuring PPT when there is an IC available in the NIC of the workstation under test. The enhanced scheme first detects IC and then measures PPT using the measured gaps of the probing structure. We evaluated the enhanced scheme through testbed experiments using two different workstations and under different transmission speeds, i.e., 10, 100, and 1000 Mb/s. Our results show that the proposed scheme consistently measures PPT with high efficacy.
EEG Abnormalities and Epilepsy in Autistic Spectrum Disorders

EEG abnormalities and epilepsy in 57 children (86% male), mean age 82 +/- 36.2 months, with autistic spectrum disorders and their association with clinical, psychiatric, developmental, and familial risk factors were examined at Marmara and Acibadem Universities, Istanbul, Turkey.
Adopt My Expectations or Fight Me on it

Teacher accommodation and teacher conformism informed the instructional strategies that suited Mr. Glass’s need to teach language arts in an orderly climate. Mr. Glass’s instructional strategies were impacted by his convenient accommodation of the dominant ideology about PBS rules yet his unquestioning conformism to the dominant ideology about teaching content.
A 4 nsec 4 K*1 bit two-port BiCMOS SRAM

The authors introduce a two-port BiCMOS (bipolar complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) static memory cell that combines ECL (emitter-coupled-logic)-level word-line voltage swings and emitter-follower bit line coupling with a static CMOS latch to achieve access times comparable to those of high-speed bipolar SRAMs (static random-access memories), which preserving the high density and low power of CMOS memory arrays. The memory can be accessed for read and write independently and simultaneously, making it especially attractive for the design of video, cache, and other application-specific memories. An experimental 4 K*1 bit two-port memory integrated in a 1.5- mu m-5-GHz BiCMOS technology exhibits a read access time of 4 ns and a power dissipation of 550 mW. >
DEATH-STAR: Silicon and Photovoltaic Fission Fragment Detector Arrays for Light-Ion Induced Fission Correlation Studies

Abstract The Direct Excitation Angular Tracking pHotovoltaic-Silicon Telescope ARray (DEATH-STAR) combines a series of 12 silicon detectors in a Δ E − E configuration for charged particle identification with a large-area array of 56 photovoltaic (solar) cells for detection of fission fragments. The combination of many scattering angles and fission fragment detectors allows for an angular-resolved tool to study reaction cross sections using the surrogate method, anisotropic fission distributions, and angular momentum transfers through stripping, transfer, inelastic scattering, and other direct nuclear reactions. The unique photovoltaic detectors efficiently detect fission fragments while being insensitive to light ions and have a timing resolution of 15.63±0.37 ns. Alpha particles are detected with a resolution of 35.5 keV 1σ at 7.9 MeV. Measured fission fragment angular distributions are also presented.
Breastfeeding Education and Support Services Provided to Family Medicine and Obstetrics–Gynecology Residents

Abstract Background: Breastfeeding education is known to be insufficient in pediatric (PEDS) training and is, in part, responsible for suboptimal rates of breastfeeding. No recent studies about the level of education provided to family medicine (FM) and obstetrics–gynecology (OB) residency trainees are available. Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate breastfeeding education and support services provided to FM and OB residents in the United States. The results were compared with a 2011 study of PEDS residents. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a web-based survey emailed to program directors (PDs) of FM and OB residency programs in the United States. Results: Eighteen percent of PDs (95 of 515) completed the survey. Of these, 88% answered questions regarding education and support services provided. A median of 23 hours of breastfeeding education is provided to OB residents (4-year program) and 8 hours provided to FM residents (3-year program). In comparison, PEDS programs re...
Interview with Sydney Brenner

The following text is an edited version of a recent interview with Sydney Brenner who has been at the forefront of many developments in molecular biology since the 1950s. It provides a participant's view on current issues in the history and epistemology of molecular biology. The main issue raised by Brenner regards the relation of molecular biology to the new field of systems biology. Brenner defends the original programme of molecular biology-the molecular explanation of living processes-that in his view has yet to be completed. The programme of systems biology in contrast he views as either trivial or as not achievable since it purports to deal with inverse problems that are impossible to solve in complex living systems. Other issues covered in the conversation concern the impact of the human genome sequencing project, the commercial turn in molecular biology and the contested disciplinary status of the science.
Computerized neuropsychological assessment in mild cognitive impairment based on natural language processing-oriented feature extraction

Typically, neuropsychological testing helps medical experts situate a given patient in continuum of the Alzheimer's disease (AD) spectrum, especially in the continuum between cognitively normal controls (CN) and the prodromal stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). As a well-known early symptom, some linguistic complexity changes of language have been associated with the progression of AD. Currently, the investigations of linguistic manifestations of MCI do mostly rely on manual analysis, yet linguistic complexity-based neuropsychological assessment cannot be effectively attained by using manual approaches. Taking advantage of the existing natural language processing (NLP) techniques to extract key features in linguistic complexity changes associated with the progression of MCI, this study develops an NLP-oriented computerized neuropsychological assessment to automatically analyze the distinguishing characteristics of data in the MCI group versus those in cognitively normal control (CN) group. By using the transcripts of news conferences from President Ronald Reagan, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower (DE), and President George H. W. Bush (GB), who have no known diagnosis of AD, this study found the significantly different patterns of the linguistic complexity changes between CN and MCI subjects, which can be applied into the diagnosis of MCI.
Interleukin-17 Inhibition for the Treatment of Inflammatory Skin Disease

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition characterized by thick, erythematous, scaly plaques. While the etiology of this skin condition has not been fully elucidated, research has unequivocally shown that psoriasis represents a bona fide T cell-mediated disease. The recent discovery of a set of pathogenic T cells that produce high levels of interleukin-17 in response to interleukin-23 led to a major paradigm shift in the pathogenic model for this condition. The astonishing phase III clinical trial results for three novel monoclonal antibodies against interleukin-17 (secukinumab, ixekizumab, and brodalumab) underscore the central role of this cytokine as the predominant driver of psoriatic disease. The role of interleukin-17 blockade for the treatment of other inflammatory skin conditions is not entirely clear, though early studies suggest that this class of medications represents a promising treatment strategy for several noninfectious lymphocytic and neutrophilic dermatoses, such as Sweet syndrome, Behcet disease, and atopic dermatitis.
Exploring the roles of the unconscious in information search behaviors

Increasing evidence from psychodynamic research suggests the unconscious influences our daily decisions. For information science, it is important to understand how the unconscious plays roles in information seeking. The current study uses subliminal psychodynamic activation to investigate how information searching may be influenced by textual messages that appear below the threshold of conscious awareness. Twenty-four college students participated in a controlled laboratory experiment, each searching freely on the Internet for needed information and saving useful sources for three search tasks. Each participant was systematically assigned to one of four subliminal psychodynamic activation conditions, with no or one of three different subliminal messages, “People walking”, “Mommy and I are one” and “I am enlightened”, each of which was displayed for 0.02 second every four seconds. Results show that users exposed to “People walking” had a higher effectiveness and higher efficiency in saving useful webpages ...
In Seven Countries and Six Time Zones: Working Together across the Globe to Serve Our Students

AbstractAt Webster University, solo librarians manage libraries on six campuses in Africa, Europe, and Asia. On the home campus in St. Louis, ten librarians at a traditional library serve faculty, ...
Comparison of Objective Outcomes in Dynamic Lower Facial Reanimation With Temporalis Tendon and Gracilis Free Muscle Transfer.

Importance Facial paralysis affects patients’ physical, social, and psychological function. Dynamic smile reanimation can mitigate these effects, but there are limited data to guide the surgeon in selecting the best reanimation procedure for each patient. Objective To compare quantitative changes in oral commissure symmetry and smile excursion following temporalis tendon transfer (T3) and gracilis free muscle transfer. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective case series of 28 adults with unilateral facial paralysis seeking dynamic lower facial reanimation at a tertiary academic medical center between July 1, 2010, and July 30, 2014. Data were analyzed from May 1, 2016, to June 30, 2016. Interventions Minimally invasive T3 (n = 14) compared with gracilis free muscle transfer (n = 14). Main Outcomes and Measures Measured symmetry of the oral commissure between the healthy and paralyzed sides in the horizontal, vertical, and angular dimension and excursion of the paralyzed commissure following reanimation compared with the healthy commissure. Results Of the 28 patients, 19 (68%) were women; mean (SD) age was 51.7 (17) years. Commissure symmetry during smile improved significantly for the T3 patients in the vertical and angular dimensions, and the gracilis free muscle transfer patients had significant improvement in the vertical and horizontal dimensions. Commissure excursion significantly improved in both groups following surgery, with a larger improvement seen in the gracilis free muscle transfer group (11.3 mm; 95% CI, 7.0 to 15.5 mm) compared with the T3 group (4.8 mm; 95% CI, 0.2 to 9.3 mm), with a mean difference of 6.5 mm (95% CI, 0.7 to 12.4 mm; Cohend, 0.86). Postoperative smile excursion of the paralyzed side was within 1.0 mm of the healthy side in the gracilis free muscle transfer group (95% CI, −2.1 to 4.0 mm). Conclusions and Relevance Temporalis tendon transfer and gracilis free muscle transfer both improve oral commissure symmetry and excursion in facial paralysis. The improvement in smile excursion appears to be larger in patients treated with gracilis free muscle transfer and, on average, the excursion approximates the contralateral healthy side.
Shredder: Breaking Exploits through API Specialization

Code reuse attacks have been a threat to software security since the introduction of non-executable memory protections. Despite significant advances in various types of additional defenses, such as control flow integrity (CFI) and leakage-resilient code randomization, recent code reuse attacks have demonstrated that these defenses are often not enough to prevent successful exploitation. Sophisticated exploits can reuse code comprising larger code fragments that conform to the enforced CFI policy and which are not affected by randomization. As a step towards improving our defenses against code reuse attacks, in this paper we present Shredder, a defense-in-depth exploit mitigation tool for the protection of closed-source applications. In a preprocessing phase, Shredder statically analyzes a given application to pinpoint the call sites of potentially useful (to attackers) system API functions, and uses backwards data flow analysis to derive their expected argument values and generate whitelisting policies in a best-effort way. At runtime, using library interposition, Shredder exposes to the protected application only specialized versions of these critical API functions, and blocks any invocation that violates the enforced policy. We have experimentally evaluated our prototype implementation for Windows programs using a large set of 251 shellcode and 30 code reuse samples, and show that it improves significantly upon code stripping, a state-of-the-art code surface reduction technique, by blocking a larger number of malicious payloads with negligible runtime overhead.
Anatomy of Trading and Liquidity in the Credit Default Swaps Market

Trading in the multi-trillion dollar credit default swaps (CDS) market has remained a mystery to most due to lack of available data. We propose to demystify this market by employing a unique data set of all trades with anonymized counterparty information at daily level from January 2007 to date of North American single-name CDS. In particular, we seek to explain for the CDS market the extent and nature of trading (by whom – dealer or buy-side players and how concentrated) and its liquidity measured in different ways using number of trades, volume, price dispersion and price impact. Our primary economic inquiry is to document and understand the time-series variation in CDS market liquidity, especially the change from prior to the crisis (pre-August 2007) to during the crisis, with a focus on significant events of stress to the CDS markets such as 9th August 2007 (money market 'freeze'), 14th March 2008 (the collapse of Bear Stearns) and 15th September 2008 (Lehman Brothers’ failure), and employing equity and bond market liquidity changes as controls for trading stress unrelated to the CDS markets.
Efficient chemoenzymatic synthesis of (2S,3R)-3-hydroxy-3-methylproline, a key fragment in polyoxypeptin A and FR225659

We report an efficient synthesis of protected (2S,3R)-3-hydroxy-3-methylproline that proceeds in three steps with complete stereoselectivity. This route represents a significant improvement over previous approaches to this noncanonical amino acid. Key to this success is the development of a one-pot chemoenzymatic procedure for the preparation of (2S,3S)-3- methylproline from L-isoleucine. This work lays the foundation for future chemoenzymatic syntheses of polyoxypeptin A and FR225659.