cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Studies concerning the effects of low level prenatal X-irradiation on postnatal growth and adult behaviour in the Wistar rat.

SummaryFifty-nine pregnant Wistar strain rats were sham irradiated or subjected to a 0·1 or 0·2 Gy exposure of X-radiation on the 9th or 17th day of gestation. Twenty-seven of the females were killed at term for teratologic analysis. The remaining mothers raised their young. At 60 days of age the 252 offsprings were randomly assigned three of six tests: open field, swimming, hanging, activity wheel, water T-maze, or conditioned avoidance response. Male offspring exposed at the 0·2 Gy level exhibited retarded growth only during the first few weeks of postnatal life. Female offspring exposed on the 17th day to 0·2 Gy X-radiation were growth retarded throughout the test period. Postnatal growth rates, however, were not significantly different between the irradiated and control groups. There were no significant alterations in adult behaviour due to prenatal X-irradiation. There were sex differences in activity wheel and forelimb hanging performance, unrelated to radiation exposure. These results indicate that...
The role of hydrogen in the ductile fracture of plain carbon steels

In this report we consider the problem of hydrogen induced ductility losses in a plain carbon spheroidized steel. Specifically, the effect of internal hydrogen on the formation of voids from second phase (cementite) particles and their subsequent growth and coalescence was studied by careful microscopic inspection of uniaxially strained bars, both initially cylindrical and circumferentially notched, with and without hydrogen. Void initiation occurred with lower strains and stresses with hydrogen, although an equally important contribution to the ductility loss was from hydrogen accelerated void growth and coalescence. This latter process takes place by the propagation of voids along the grain, and possibly subgrain, boundaries which interlink the cementite spheroids. The results indicate that hydrogen facilitates interface separation, possibly by accumulating at the boundaries during hydrogenation of the specimen and lowering the cohesive strength, thereby making void initiation and growth along them easier.
Reactions of supercritical water with benzaldehyde, benzylidenebenzylamine, benzyl alcohol, and benzoic acid

Abstract This paper describes the results of reactions of benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol, benzoic acid, and benzylidenebenzylamine (C 6 H 5 CH 2 NCHC 6 H 5 ) with supercritical water (SW) since these compounds were determined or assumed to be major intermediates in the reaction of benzylamine with SW. Supplementary information was obtained from the benzyl benzoate-SW reaction. The kinetics of the benzaldehyde-SW reaction were found to be complex, second-order in benzaldehyde, and inhibited by product(s). The Arrhenius parameters for the second-order rate constant are an activation energy of 179 kJ mol -1 and preexponential factor of 1.6 x 10 10 M-1 s -1 . In addition, the influences of ammonia and dihydroanthracene on some of the product distributions and extents of reaction were determined. Of particular interest is the reaction pathway leading to the formation of benzene and related products which requires an oxidation/hydrolysis sequence, terminated by decarboxylation to form hydrocarbons. The mechanistic significance of the benzene/toluene product-yield ratios is discussed.
Further observations of "linking" of atrial excitation during clinical atrial fibrillation.

The objective of this article was to look for evidence of nonrandom behavior during atrial fibrillation hy examining long (> 15 minutes) recordings. We have previously reported transient “linking“ of atrial activation during atrial fibrillation, and showed that activation was not entirely randotn. Over the few episodes of linking seen during 1 minute, activation directions apparently repeated, indicating a possible anatomical or physiological constraint. In the present study, we examined atrial fibrillation over longer time periods to see if this constancy of direction was stable. Endocardial recordings were made from 12 patients with atrial fibrillation using a catheter with three orthogonal bipoies, aHowing measurements of local activation directions in three dimensions. The direction was calculated using Pipberger's half-area method, and episodes of transient linking were identified. An average direction for each episode of linking was calculated and plotted in two dimensions using spherical coordinates (altitude and azimuth). In addition, the nature of initiation and termination of linking was examined. Of the twelve patients, 611 episodes of linking (range 1 to 169 per patient, mean 51) were identified. The episodes for most patients clustered closely in direction. In contrast, directions measured for all activations (i.e., linked and not linked) filled up the entire available range. Linking in most cases subjectively appeared to initiate and terminate suddenly. The results indicate that the local anatomy, pathology, or physiology of the atrium has a strong constraining effect on the electrical activations occurring during atrial fibrillation, and revises our perception of activation during atrial fibrillation as “random.“ The demonstration that local properties greatly influence conduction during fibrillation has important implications for ablation or pacing therapy.
Visual discrimination of abstract mirror-reflected three-dimensional objects at many orientations

This study examined people’s discrimination of identical and mirror-reflected pairs of abstract three-dimensional objects like those used by Shepard and Metzler (1971). In contrast to previous research, the axis of the orientation difference (OD) between a pair of objects was quite unconstrained by experimental design. Each stimulus pair differed in orientation by an angle of rotation up to 180° about one of 13 disparate axes. The axis of OD was randomly ordered across trials. Subjects reported attempting to imagine one object at the orientation of the other and then comparing their shapes. Reaction time (RT) depended on the extent of OD, confirming earlier results. However, RT also depended on the axis or plane of OD between a stimulus pair. Slopes for RT-OD functions for trials with identical objects varied by a factor of 3 for different axes. The rank order of functions from steepest to slightest slope was: (1) axes not in any principal plane of the observer’s visual reference frame, (2) frontal diagonal axes, (3) horizontal diagonal axes, (4) the line-of-sight axis, (5) midsagittal diagonal axes, (6) the vertical axis, and (7) the horizontal axis perpendicular to the line of sight. There was no difference in performance between subjects achieving high scores on pretests of spatial ability and those achieving moderate scores. The variation in slopes is likely due to variation in rate, path length, and/or initiation time of imagined reorientations. Various geometrical procedures could underlie the imagined spatial transformations used in the task. RT patterns are much more consistent with the class of procedures producing paths of relatively efficient length than the class of inefficient procedures, such as that using rotations through Euler angles.
Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts: experience in the oncology setting.

BACKGROUND Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) placement has emerged as an effective and minimally invasive method of treating portal hypertension and its associated complications. To the authors' knowledge there is limited documentation of its use for percutaneous shunting in patients with hepatic and extrahepatic malignancies. The current study reports the authors' experience with TIPS in the oncology setting. METHODS Thirty-eight patients with cancer underwent TIPS procedures. Nineteen patients had a history of hepatic malignancy. All medical records and imaging studies were reviewed retrospectively. The indication for TIPS, the presence of malignancy, procedural details, complications, survival, and treatment success were assessed. RESULTS Primary technical success was accomplished in 37 of 38 patients (97%) without technical procedure-related complications. Hepatic encephalopathy occurred in 15 of 34 patients (44%), with 3 patients requiring shunt reduction. Premature shunt occlusion (< 30 days) occurred in 3 patients (8%). Recurrent hemorrhage occurred in 1 of 19 patients (5%), and ascites and hepatic hydrothorax resolved or improved subjectively in 9 of 12 patients (75%). Shunts traversed malignancy in 9 patients, and varying degrees of portal compromise were encountered in 12 patients (32%). The overall 30-day and 90-day survival rates were 84% and 60%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in 90-day survival rates for patients who had ascites and hepatic hydrothorax indications (27%) compared with patients who had variceal and portal gastropathy indications (84%; P = 0.0075). In addition, the 90-day survival rate was significantly lower in patients who had primary hepatic malignancies (36%) compared with the remainder of the study population (74%; P = 0.0077), and it was significantly lower in patients who had model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores ≥ 12 (P = 0.0020). CONCLUSIONS TIPS was performed safely for patients with cancer without increasing rates of procedure-related complications. However, some patients subgroups, such at those with malignancy and ascites, primary hepatic malignancy, or MELD scores ≥ 12, had the lowest 90-day survival rates. Cancer 2004. © 2004 American Cancer Society.
A 1950s classic of thermal adaptation to cold.

> George Somero discusses Scholander et al.'s classic paper ‘Adaptation to cold in Arctic and tropical mammals and birds in relation to body temperature, insulation and basal metabolic rate’, published in The Biological Bulletin in 1950. It is unusual to re-visit a paper a half-century after
Alterations in serotonin1B (5HT1B) receptor subtypes in the brain of ethanol-treated rats.

Abstract The effects of acute or chronic ethanol treatment and of withdrawal (24 h) after chronic ethanol treatment on 5HT 1B receptor subtypes in different regions of the rat brain were investigated. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed the ethanol (9% v/v)-containing Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet or the control liquid diet for 1 day in the acute study and for 15 days in the chronic study. The ethanol-withdrawn group received the Lieber-DeCarli control liquid diet instead of the ethanol diet on the 15th night. Ethanol-withdrawn rats after 15 days of ethanol treatment were rated for withdrawal symptoms (e.g. hyperactivity, piloerection, squealing, and enhanced startle reflex) and were found to exhibit such symptoms after 24 h of ethanol withdrawal. The rats were decapitated, and cortices, cerebelli, striata, and hippocampi were separated for measurement of 5HT 1B receptors by receptor binding techniques using 125 I-cyanopindolol (CYP) as the ligand. It was observed that acute ethanol treatment had no significant effect on the maximum number of binding sites ( B max ) or the apparent dissociation constant ( K D ) of 5HT 1B receptor binding sites in the various brain regions. On the other hand, chronic ethanol treatment produced a significant increase in B max of 125 I-CYP binding to 5HT 1B receptors in the rat cortex and hippocampus, which remained increased after 24 h of ethanol withdrawal. In contrast, in the striatum and the cerebellum of chronic ethanol-treated and withdrawn rats, the 5HT 1B binding parameters ( B max and K D ) were unchanged. These results suggest the possible involvement of cortical and hippocampal 5HT 1B receptors in ethanol dependence.
CFD for incompressible flows at NASA Ames

Over the past 30 years, numerical methods and simulation tools for incompressible flows have been advanced as a subset of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) discipline. Although incompressible flows are encountered in many areas of engineering, the simulation of compressible flows has driven most of the development of computational algorithms and tools at NASA Ames Research Center. This is due to the stringent requirements for predicting aerodynamic performances of flight vehicles. Conversely, low-speed incompressible flow through or past flow devices did not require the same numerical accuracy. This practice of tolerating relatively low-fidelity solutions in engineering applications has changed, as the design of low-speed flow devices have become more sophisticated, along with more strict efficiency requirements. Accurate and robust CFD tools have become increasingly important in fluid engineering for incompressible and low-speed flow. This paper reviews advances in computational technologies for incompressible flow simulation developed at Ames, and some engineering successes brought about by these advances made during the same period. Additionally, some of the current challenges faced in computing incompressible flows are presented.
An examination of perceived norms and exchanging sex for money or drugs among women injectors in Baltimore, MD, USA:

Injection drug users who exchange sex for money or drugs may serve as a bridge group for transmitting HIV between injectors and non-injectors. While many individual characteristics have been linked to exchanging sex, little attention has been given to the influence of social network members. The present study assessed the relationship between exchanging sex and perceptions of peers’ sex exchange behaviour and attitude toward sex exchange. The sample was composed of 267 women heroin and cocaine injectors in Baltimore, MD, USA. The results indicate that women who believed that their friends exchanged sex were more twice as likely to exchange sex in the past 90 days (95% CI: 1.49–2.70). Also, participants who thought their peers disapproved of sex exchange were 20% less likely to exchange sex (95% CI: 0.67–0.95). These findings suggest the need for peer education interventions that promote norms about safer behaviours.
Environmental Impact Statements in Planning Water and Related Land Resources

: The history of water and related land resources planning has yielded objectives in the areas of development and the environment. Although the two appear independent, attempts to evaluate “intangibles” in the benefit-cost analysis and to include economics in environmental evaluations cloud the issue, and it is preferable to keep the objectives separate. The benefit-cost analysis is represented by a simple ratio that is easy to comprehend, immediate as the pocketbook, and as tempting as a pocketful of cash. The attempt to balance it by an all-too-often verbose statement of complex ecological description and environmental interactions is just as bad. The environmental impact statement can be the instrument to achieve the Water Resources Council's environmental objective. It should not be an encyclopedia of the local ecology, but should accurately represent the environment which the action will impact, and thoroughly analyze only the potential impacts of the proposed action and its alternatives on that environment. The first step is to develop a “tiered“ approach to policy, programs, projects, and practices involving resources development, so that unnecessary duplication of analysis and reporting is eliminated, and so that each statement deals only with the action, environment, and impact at hand.
M/M/1 Multiple Vacation Queueing Systems With Differentiated Vacations and Vacation Interruptions

We consider an M/M/1 multiple vacation queueing system with two types of server vacations. Type 1 vacation is taken after the server has exhaustively served all the customers in the system, where the number of customers served is at least one. Type 2 vacation is taken when the server returns from a vacation and finds no customer waiting. Each type of vacation can be interrupted when the number of customers in the system reaches two predefined thresholds, where each vacation type has a different threshold. It is assumed that service times and vacation durations are exponentially distributed with different means. We present a steady-state solution of the system under two vacation interruption policies.
Histologic Examinations of Arthroplasty Specimens are not Cost-effective: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background Many hospitals require all operative specimens be sent to pathologists for routine examination. Although previous studies indicate this practice increases medical cost, it remains unclear whether it alters patient management and whether it is cost-effective.
Alfentanil decreases the excitatory phenomena of sodium methohexital

Abstract Study Objective: To evaluate the effects of alfentanil or lidocaine on the excitatory phenomena (myoclonus, cough, hiccough) caused by methohexital anesthesia and on the hemodynamic changes induced by retrobulbar block. Design: Prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Setting: University-affiliated, tertiary-care hospital. Patients: 60 ASA physical status II and III patients who were admitted for elective cataract extractions and intraocular lens implantations. Interventions: Patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups. After adequate preoxygenation in the holding area, Group 1 received alfentanil 5 μg/kg intravenously (IV), Group 2 received lidocaine 1 mg/kg IV, and Group 3 received the placebo (saline) IV. Immediately after the bolus injection of the study solution, sodium methohexital 1.5 mg/kg was injected IV over 30 seconds. As soon as the eyelid reflex was lost, the retrobulbar block was placed over 5 seconds. Measurements and Main Results: Occurrences of excitatory phenomena were recorded by an independent observer who was blinded as to treatment allocation. Other side effects such as oculocardiac reflex, nausea, vomiting, itching, or chest wall rigidity were recorded. Vital signs were recorded at baseline and 1, 3, and 5 minutes after placement of the block. In the alfentanil group, the incidence of myoclonus or cough was significantly less than in the lidocaine or placebo groups. Alfentanil also decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure significantly at 1, 3, and 5 minutes after retrobulbar block. Changes in heart rate were not significantly different from baseline. Conclusion: A small dose of alfentanil (5 μg/kg IV) decreases myoclonus and cough induced by sodium methohexital anesthesia IV, resulting in improved quality of induction of anesthesia. Alfentanil also attenuates the cardiovascular responses caused by placement of a retrobulbar block.
Polilactofate Microspheres for Paclitaxel Delivery to Central Nervous System Malignancies

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that surgically implanted, controlled-release, biodegradable polilactofate microspheres (Paclimer) can be used safely to bypass the blood-brain barrier and deliver paclitaxel to malignant brain tumors. Experimental Design: The rate of paclitaxel release from Paclimer microspheres submerged in PBS was measured in vitro by high-performance liquid chromatography. In vivo studies of Paclimer were performed as intracranial implants in Fischer 344 rats in the presence or absence of 9L gliosarcoma. Mantel-Cox statistics were used to assess the efficacy of Paclimer at extending survival of tumor-bearing animals compared with control implants. Paclimer implants tagged with [3H]paclitaxel were used to measure biodistribution of paclitaxel from the Paclimer implant. Results: Paclimer released paclitaxel at a constant rate for up to 3 months in vitro. In vivo, Paclimer implants placed intracranially in rats released active drug for up to 30 days after implantation and doubled the median survival of rats bearing established 9L gliosarcomas (median survival of paclitaxel-treated animals = 35 days; median survival of control-treated animal = 16 days; P Conclusions: Paclimer extends survival in a rodent model of glioma with minimal morbidity and optimal pharmacokinetics.
Immunonutrition: Problematic or problem solving?

The addition of immune-modulating nutrients to enteral formulas has been examined in clinical trials and meta-analyses. Enhancing immunity through diet is generally done by adding n-3 fatty acids, arginine, and nucleotides to an otherwise nutritionally complete formula. Despite flaws in many studies, a consistent trend to reduced infectious complications has been seen with immunonutrition, especially in patients undergoing surgery for upper gastrointestinal cancer or trauma. In critical care populations, however, the results have been mixed. In this review, we analyze these studies and focus on select clinical points that may explain the variation. One common flaw has been a failure to deliver an adequate nutrition volume. Few patients, especially in the earliest studies, received even close to goal feeding. A minimum quantity of immunonutrition may be required for effective reduction in infections. When feeding volumes are low, immunonutrition is usually not better than an isonitrogenous control. In more recent studies, practitioners have been increasingly aggressive with enteral feeding, and this has been reflected in improved outcomes from immunonutrition. Early delivery of immunonutrition (preoperatively in surgical patients with cancer) might be particularly beneficial. Another consideration is illness severity: we discuss evidence that the use of immunonutrition in moderate illness is more likely to be helpful, whereas severe sepsis is probably beyond the reach of any nutritional intervention, and mild illness is more likely to improve irrespective of feeding. If future trials can consider these vital points, level 1 recommendations in favor of immunonutrition might be justified, although presently such evidence is lacking for most clinical indications.
Learning from artifacts: metadata utilization analysis

Describes the MARC Content Designation Utilization Project, which is examining a very large set of metadata records as artifacts of the library cataloging enterprise. This is the first large-scale examination of descriptive metadata utilization. Presents an overview of study activities and suggests the study's significance to the broader use of metadata in digital libraries.
Wilson disease in septuagenarian siblings: Raising the bar for diagnosis

Wilson Disease (WD) usually presents in the first decades of life, although rare patients have a later presentation. We report the clinical features, diagnostic evaluation, and outcome with treatment of two septuagenarian siblings evaluated as part of a research trial for treatment of neurological WD. The index case was a 72-year-old woman who suffered progressive neurological disability, then developed sub-fulminant liver failure. Her sibling was a 70-year-old man with minimal neurological symptoms and a mild depressive disorder. His liver biopsy revealed only steatosis and minimal fibrosis and an elevated hepatic copper content (671 mug/g dry weight liver). Molecular studies demonstrated compound heterozygosity for disease specific ATP7B mutations E1064A and H1069Q in both patients. Both individuals were treated with trientine and Zn followed by Zn maintenance therapy. Over the last 5 years, the clinical course stabilized and improved, although the index case recently died from bronchopneumonia. In conclusion, advanced age and different clinical presentations of these two subjects with identical ATP7B mutations raises the question of the degree of penetrance for these and other ATP7B mutations. Environmental and extragenic factors are pivotal determinants of disease phenotype. We suggest that WD must be considered at all ages in patients with hepatic disease, neurological disease, or psychiatric symptoms.
Cyclops Tensor Framework: Reducing Communication and Eliminating Load Imbalance in Massively Parallel Contractions

Cyclops (cyclic-operations) Tensor Framework (CTF) 1 is a distributed library for tensor contractions. CTF aims to scale high-dimensional tensor contractions such as those required in the Coupled Cluster (CC) electronic structure method to massively-parallel supercomputers. The framework preserves tensor structure by subdividing tensors cyclically, producing a regular parallel decomposition. An internal virtualization layer provides completely general mapping support while maintaining ideal load balance. The mapping framework decides on the best mapping for each tensor contraction at run-time via explicit calculations of memory usage and communication volume. CTF employs a general redistribution kernel, which transposes tensors of any dimension between arbitrary distributed layouts, yet touches each piece of data only once. Sequential symmetric contractions are reduced to matrix multiplication calls via tensor index transpositions and partial unpacking. The user-level interface elegantly expresses arbitrary-dimensional generalized tensor contractions in the form of a domain specific language. We demonstrate performance of CC with single and double excitations on 8192 nodes of Blue Gene/Q and show that CTF outperforms NWChem on Cray XE6 supercomputers for benchmarked systems.
Relative Adhesion Measurement for Thin Film Microelectronics Structures

Abstract There is a difference between technologically-important adhesion or practical adhesion, and fundamental or basic adhesion. What is important in the understanding of fundamental adhesion may be of insignificant interest to technology. A manufacturer is interested in how to improve the reliability of the structure being built should an interface problem exist, rather than knowing the precise value of the fundamental adhesion. It is not possible to measure fundamental adhesion for technologically-important structures due to the inability to account for all energy dissipating processes during the test. Adhesion measurements are plagued with the mode of interface loading issue: the resemblance of test interface loading to that of the actual manufactured part. What technology needs is a simple adhesion test method that is practical for product development, giving reliable information about the interface integrity. The present paper compares the value of two adhesion tests for microelectronics applicati...
Decoder architecture for array-code-based LDPC codes

We describe a decoder architecture intended for decoding array-code-based low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes using the sum-product algorithm (SPA). The advantages of the proposed architecture, as compared to the fully parallel implementation of the SPA, are: reduced memory size, avoidance of complex signal interconnect patterns, and ease of programmability to accommodate various code parameters. These advantages are derived from exploiting the well-defined structure of the parity-check matrix of array-code based LDPC codes. Sum-product decoding with modified message-passing schedules are proposed to simplify the decoder implementation further.
Binomial Mixture Model-based Association Tests under Genetic Heterogeneity

Most of the existing association tests for population-based case-control studies are based on comparing the mean genotype scores between the case and control groups, which may not be efficient under genetic heterogeneity. Given that most common diseases are genetically heterogeneous, caused by mutations in multiple loci, it may be beneficial to fully account for genetic heterogeneity in an association test. Here we first propose a binomial mixture model for such a purpose and develop a corresponding mixture likelihood ratio test (MLRT) for a single locus. We also consider two methods to combine single-locus-based MLRTs across multiple loci in linkage disequilibrium to boost power when causal SNPs are not genotyped. We show with a wide spectrum of numerical examples that under genetic heterogeneity the proposed tests are more powerful than some commonly used association tests.
Criteria of effectiveness in multiple cross-sectoral interorganizational relationships.

As the popularity of interorganizational relationships (IORs) grows, the challenge of evaluating the effectiveness of achieving desired outcomes has emerged as a concern for both practitioners and academics [Atkinson, M., & Maxwell, V. (2007). Driving performance in a multi-agency partnership using outcome measures: A case study. Measuring Business Excellence, 11(2), 12–22; Callahan, K., & Kloby, K. (2007). Collaboration meets the performance measurement challenge. The Public Manager, 36(2), 9–24; Coulson, A. (2005). A plague on all your partnerships: Theory and practice in regeneration. International Journal of Public Sector Management 18(2), 151–163.]. The purpose of this paper is to empirically compare the effectiveness criteria used by a nonprofit Canadian sport organization and its partners embedded in multiple cross-sectoral relationships. To that end, three levels of effectiveness criteria were investigated: the community, network, and organization levels. A qualitative case study was conducted on the nonprofit sport organization and its multiple cross-sectoral partners. The results suggest that some criteria for measuring IOR effectiveness among partners were highly interrelated, some reflected competing values, some were shared across all partners, and some were ambiguous in the measures of effectiveness of IOR outcomes. Implications for future research and for practice are discussed.
Cuentos y cuentistas chicanos: perspectiva temática del género, 1947-1992

La creacion de la comunidad chicana es un fenomeno historico que esta ligado a la expansion del imperio norteamericano iniciada a mediados del siglo XIX. La critica especializada esta de acuerdo en considerar a la decada de los sesenta como un periodo de especial auge para la literatura chicana, y de manera particular a la produccion cuentistica, como: Jorge Ulica; Mario Suarez; Julio Martinez; Francisco A. Lomeli; Sabine Ulibarri; Miguel Mendez; Nick C. Vaca; Tomas Rivera; Rolando Hinojosa; Estela Portillo; Jim Sagel; Denise Chavez; Sandra Cisneros y Nash Candelaria.
Metabolic effects in children of a 37 amino acid fragment of bovine growth hormone.

ABSTRACT The metabolic effects of a 37 amino acid fragment (A-II) from a tryptic digest of bovine growth hormone (bGH) were determined in 4 hypopituitary children and 1 low-birth weight dwarf, and were compared to the effects of human growth hormone (hGH). Responses to the A-II fragment included a decrease in BUN (4 of 5 patients), an increase in calciuria (4 of 5 patients), and a decrease in urinary creatine excretion (2 of 5 patients). A marked increase in insulin resistance occurred in 2 subjects and, to a lesser degree, in 2 other subjects. An increase in fibrinogen and in uric acid occurred in the single patients in whom they were determined. Comparable responses occurred with hGH administration: decrease in BUN (4 of 5 subjects), increase in calciuria (3 of 5 subjects), decrease in urinary creatine excretion (5 of 5 subjects), increased insulin resistance in the 2 patients in whom it was evaluated and a rise in plasma fibrinogen in the 1 patient in whom it was evaluated. Two patients demonstrated de...
Total Exposure and Exposure Rate Effects for Alcohol and Smoking and Risk of Head and Neck Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of Case-Control Studies

Although cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption increase risk for head and neck cancers, there have been few attempts to model risks quantitatively and to formally evaluate cancer site-specific risks. The authors pooled data from 15 case-control studies and modeled the excess odds ratio (EOR) to assess risk by total exposure (pack-years and drink-years) and its modification by exposure rate (cigarettes/day and drinks/day). The smoking analysis included 1,761 laryngeal, 2,453 pharyngeal, and 1,990 oral cavity cancers, and the alcohol analysis included 2,551 laryngeal, 3,693 pharyngeal, and 3,116 oval cavity cancers, with over 8,000 controls. Above 15 cigarettes/day, the EOR/pack-year decreased with increasing cigarettes/day, suggesting that greater cigarettes/day for a shorter duration was less deleterious than fewer cigarettes/day for a longer duration. Estimates of EOR/pack-year were homogeneous across sites, while the effects of cigarettes/day varied, indicating that the greater laryngeal cancer risk derived from differential cigarettes/day effects and not pack-years. EOR/drink-year estimates increased through 10 drinks/day, suggesting that greater drinks/day for a shorter duration was more deleterious than fewer drinks/day for a longer duration. Above 10 drinks/day, data were limited. EOR/drink-year estimates varied by site, while drinks/day effects were homogeneous, indicating that the greater pharyngeal/oral cavity cancer risk with alcohol consumption derived from the differential effects of drink-years and not drinks/day.
Distorted cardiac anatomy: the congenital (R)evolution.

Cardiology is changing. Adult cardiology, long focused on the diagnosis and treatment of acquired heart disease, is encountering a new face: the adult with congenital heart disease. “Adults with congenital heart disease” is a unifying term that belies the extraordinary diversity that this population represents. There are varied anatomic, physiologic, and surgical approaches for adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) that can be staggering in complexity and intimidating to those accustomed to a 4-chambered heart, with normal connections between the atria, ventricles, and great arteries and usual blood flow patterns. The article by Hoffman et al in this issue of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography is an excellent example of the complexity and variability encountered in this patient population, along with the difficulty in accurate diagnosis and treatment. However, this article raises much broader issues than the identification of a crisscross heart. It highlights the challenges in caring for a growing population of patients with ACHD. On the surface, a small series of patients with crisscross hearts may seem a rarity of mostly academic curiosity. For the typical adult cardiology practitioner today, the possibility of seeing an adult with a crisscross heart in the clinic seems exceptionally unlikely. Yet here we are with a series of patients from Poland, far removed from the major centers in North America and Europe where one would expect to see such patients. In the early 1990s, adult cardiology practitioners estimated that “congenital heart patients” constituted approximately 4% of a usual practice. There are currently estimated to be 800,000 patients with ACHD in the United States and approximately 20,000 to 30,000 adolescents with congenital heart disease reaching adulthood each year. These demographics leave little doubt that in the future, significantly increasing numbers of patients with ACHD will be arriving on the doorstep of many general cardiology offices. This change in the demographics of the ACHD population is rooted in the triumphs of pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery. Successful diagnosis and treatment have brought to adulthood a population of patients with unique anatomy and physiology, along with an ever evolving array of palliative and reparative procedures. The incidence of congenital heart disease in the United States has not changed; what has changed is the fate of these patients. The advent of cardiac diagnostic techniques and cardiac surgery in the 1940s and 1950s began an era of improved survival, particularly for those with moderately and severely complex disease. Survival to 18 years of age for those born with complex congenital heart
Removing exponential backoff from TCP

The well-accepted wisdom is that TCP's exponential backoff mechanism, introduced by Jacobson 20 years ago, is essential for preserving the stability of the Internet. In this paper, we show that removing exponential backoff from TCP altogether can be done without inducing any stability side-effects. We introduce the implicit packet conservation principle and show that as long as the endpoints uphold this principle, they can only improve their end-to-end performance relative to the exponential backoff case. By conducting large-scale simulations, modeling, and network experiments in Emulab and the Internet using a kernel-level FreeBSD TCP implementation, realistic traffic distributions, and complex network topologies, we demonstrate that TCP's binary exponential backoff mechanism can be safely removed. Moreover, we show that insuitability of TCP's exponential backoff is fundamental, i.e., independent from the currently-dominant Internet traffic properties or bottleneck capacities. Surprisingly, our results indicate that a path to incrementally deploying the change does exist.
Inheritance of methyl-parathion resistance in Nebraska western corn rootworm populations (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

Field populations of western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, were collected from three different sites (York Co., Phelps Co., and Saunders Co.) in Nebraska during 1996. Adult bioassays of these three populations were conducted with different concentrations of methyl-parathion and at a diagnostic concentration (1.0 μg/ml) to determine resistance levels among these populations. Self and reciprocal crosses were made between the two resistant and one susceptible laboratory-reared populations. Dose-responses and dominance ratios calculated for the four reciprocal crosses indicated that resistance was incompletely dominant in both strains, although in one of the strains there was an indication of sex linkage. However, evaluation of native polyacrylamide gels stained for nonspecific esterases and nonspecific esterase activity of parents and F1 progeny of the crosses suggested that esterase inheritance was completely dominant and autosomal. The results of this study were inconclusive with regard to the precise nature of inheritance, because the bioassays and esterase assays could not discriminate between heterozygotes and homozygotes. However, they do provide insight into the potential for developing simple diagnostic assays to assess resistance frequencies. Based on the inheritance studies described in this investigation, we can begin to generate information on specific genetic factors that dictate the evolutionary divergence of discrete resistant populations and facilitate modeling efforts designed to approximate the movement of genes for resistance among populations.
Atmospheric Components of the Arctic Ocean Freshwater Balance and Their Interannual Variability

The atmospheric components of the hydrological cycle comprise the following: total precipitation (rainfall, snowfall and other hydrometeors deposited on the Earth’s surface), evapo-sublimation, the horizontal advection of water vapour and of water in the liquid or solid phase. The information available on each of these variables is reviewed and assessed. For the Arctic Ocean, the conventional approach to moisture-balance assessment, using data on precipitation and evaporation, is severely constrained by the paucity of direct observations and their severe biases. There are even fewer direct evaposublimation measurements, and most rely on bulk aerodynamic formulations. The preferable alternative for the Arctic basin as a whole is to use indirect aerological computations of the net moisture balance. This approach can be supplemented by observations and model-derived data in order to obtain the spatial patterns of moisture balance variations. The data required to calculate atmospheric moisture flux divergence are acquired from atmospheric balloon soundings (rawinsonde ascents) of upper air winds and moisture content and from analyzed atmospheric fields. Calculations of the poleward flux of moisture from rawinsonde data indicate an annual flux convergence of 161 mm across 70°N with a 23-year range from 212 to 106 mm. The net (P-E) over the Arctic Ocean is about half of the calculated runoff into the Arctic and 20 percent of the total input. The potential variability in the atmospheric component, including its spatial characteristics, is assessed relative to that associated with the other components of the freshwater balance.
Retrofitting Vegas: Implementing Energy Efficiency in Two Las Vegas Test Homes

In 2009, the state of Nevada received nearly forty million dollars in Neighborhood Stabilization Funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The purpose of this funding was to stabilize communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment. In an effort to provide guidance to local officials and maximize how effectively this NSP funding is utilized in retrofitting homes, CARB provided design specifications, energy modeling, and technical support for the Building America Retrofit Alliance (BARA) team and its local partners - Better Building Performance, Nevada Energy Star Partners Green Alliance, and Home Free Nevada - for two retrofit test homes. One home was to demonstrate a modest retrofit and the other a deep energy retrofit. Through this project, CARB has provided two robust solution packages for retrofitting homes built in this region between the 1980s and early 1990s without substantially inconveniencing the occupants. The two test homes, the Carmen and Sierra Hills, demonstrate how cost-effectively energy efficient upgrades can be implemented in the hot, dry climate of the Southwest. In addition, the homes were used as an educational experience for home performance professionals, building trades, remodelers, and the general public. In-field trainings on air-sealing, HVAC upgrades, and insulating weremore » provided to local contractors during the retrofit and BARA documented these retrofits through a series of video presentations, beginning with a site survey and concluding with the finished remodel and test out.« less
Accelerating CSRN based face recognition on an NVIDIA GPGPU

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being equipped with high definition cameras to survey a wide range of low-contrast and diverse environments. From data captured by UAVs, image analysts can determine adversarial threats proficiently. However, there is simply too much data and not enough analysts to do this processing efficiently. Enabling computing systems to mimic the processes in the human brain to process sych data would be of significant benefit. CSRNs (cellular simultaneous recurrent networks) are capable of solving several spatial processing tasks that are carried out by human. In particular, they have been shown to be capable of pose invariant face recognition. Given the highly recurrent nature of CSRNs (a property also seen in the human cortex), the computational demands of these algorithms grow with input size. Therefore the acceleration of CSRNs would be highly beneficial. In this paper we examine the acceleration of CSRNs applied to face recognition. We develop optimized implementations of the algorithm on an Intel Xeon 2.67 GHz processor and an NVIDIA Tesla C2050 GPGPU (general purpose graphical processing unit). Our results show that the GPGPU is 22.9 times faster than the CPU implementation.
Conidial Stage of the Lichen Fungus Buellia Stillingiana and Its Relation to Sporidesmium Folliculatum

in the hymenium among paraphyses or even in asci (Johnson and Brown, 1941). The function of these microconidia is unknown, although in some instances they can germinate and form a mycelium (Moiler, 1887). In a few species of tropical epiphyllous lichens these pycnidia contain unicellular pycniospores and/or large septate colorless "stylospores," or macroconidia (Miiller, 1885; Santesson, 1952), similar to those of the imperfect fungus Septoria. Bornet's (1873) report of unicellular brown conidia in the symbiont stage of Lempholemma minutulum has not been confirmed. Although the fungal components of approximately 70 species of lichens have been isolated, there are few convincing reports of conidial formation in pure culture. Moiler (1887) in a pioneering study found conidia (oidia?) in Calicium, a genus closely related to the non-lichenized fungus Roesleria. Other early records of conidia appear to be based on contaminating imperfect fungi and have not been verified. Werner (1927) described unicellular conidia arising from aerial hyphae in cul? tures of Cladonia squamosa, but they are perhaps more properly classi? fied as oidia. These conidia were not observed in later cultures of the species by Thomas (1939).
Studies on the Problems of Formulation and Optimization of Talents Training Scheme

This article has analyzed emphatically the inadaptability of the traditional talents training scheme. It has made clear that the institution of higher education should take it as the staring point to strengthen the basis and to train talents of quality and ability,formulate new talents training scheme. At the same time, it has expounded several problems to which importance should be attached.
Research on depth analysis to the evaluation results of work safety standardization in industry and trade enterprise

To compensate for the shortcomings of measuring the safety situation single by total evaluation score in work safety standardization of industry and trade enterprise,the connection degree,set pair potential and difference degree of enterprises' evaluation results were analyzed through building connection degree function model,which was based on set pair analysis. Then it was proposed to divide evaluation result into 3 modules: documentation,equipment and facilities,and safety management,which were devided to 15 elements further,to help the enterprise realize its own advantages and disadvantages. The results showed that: the enterprise can realize its own safety level future through the analysis result of connection degree function model,then find out the key security points visually and determine the emphasis of safety work in next step through the depth analysis to evaluation result.
Induction of therapeutic abortion with intra-amniotically administered prostaglandin F2α

To determine which intra-amniotically administered prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) dose schedule was maximally effective, with minimum complications, 71 midtrimester patients had therapeutic abortion induced by one of three dose schedules. The administration of 25 mg. initially, and repeating an identical dose at 6, 24, and 30 hours to those subjects who had not yet aborted, was the most effective with the lowest rates of complications and incomplete abortion. An initial dose of 50 mg., followed by 50 mg. in 24 hours to those who had not aborted, was less effective with higher rates of complications and incomplete abortion. When the 25 mg. initial dose was followed by an identical dose at 6, 12, 24, and 30 hours to those who had not yet aborted, rates of incomplete abortion and complications were higher. Thus, as investigators attempt to demonstrate the most effective dose schedule, doses under 50 mg. and repeated less than three times in 24 hours appear warranted. Rates for expulsion of the placenta and hemorrhage after abortion of the fetus were calculated and their use for a logical time for surgical intervention is discussed.
Ureteral Stone Disease: Options for Management

SUMMARY The choice of technique for the management of a ureteral stone will ultimately depend on the skill of the operator and the availability of technology. Individuals in major medical centers would do well to realize that there are more than 5 billion people on the planet and that less than 1 billion will have the means of access to ESWL in the foreseeable future. How few have access to a skilled ureteroscopist is unknown. It is therefore probable that in the world today, despite the advances in technology, ureterolithotomy continues to be the commonest procedure performed for upper, middle, and lower ureteral calculi.