cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Role of breast magnetic resonance imaging in determining breast as a source of unknown metastatic lymphadenopathy.

Abstract Background: Occult primary breast cancer (OPBC) represents less than 1% of breast cancer. In only a third of cases, mammography identifies a primary tumor. We hypothesized that rotating delivery of excitation off-resonance breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) would identify or exclude the breast as a primary site in patients with OPBC. Methods: In a retrospective review, 10 patients were identified with OPBC in which MRI was performed. Malignant appearing lesions were correlated with histopathologic findings at biopsy or surgery. Results: MRI identified the primary site in 8 of 10 cases as breast (80%), and excluded it in 2 cases. The extent of disease and location was accurately predicted when compared with histopathologic specimen. Conclusions: As we continue to focus on a cure of early breast cancer, it is imperative that diagnostic images become more sensitive and specific. MRI accurately predicted OPBC in this subset of patients.
Expanding the Model of Competitive Business Strategy for Knowledge-Based Organizations

The established competitive generic business strategy model continues to be the dominant paradigm, despite the rapidly changing internal and external environments that companies face today. This article evaluates other strategy-related elements identified in current business research and determines if an expanded model can be applied to companies that have become more knowledge-based organizations. Ten such companies are selected for case study examination of their generic strategy, purity of usage, innovation, strategic entrepreneurship and clarity. The results provide a potential basis for an expanded model of the dominant competitive business strategy paradigm that includes these additional elements and provides a framework for future research.
Epilepsy Education: A Nursing Perspective

The nurse-clinician offers a unique perspective in the early education of patients with epilepsy. As part of the health-care team, the nurse assumes an important role in providing comprehensive epilepsy education. Epilepsy may occur at any time throughout life, and age-related needs necessitate ongoing assessment and intervention. The initial approach is to formulate an individualized educational plan of care. Financial, emotional, and cultural concerns should be discussed, and available support systems should be analyzed. The goal of epilepsy education is to provide the patient and family members with the informational tools needed to enhance their knowledge about epilepsy. The nurse can present a formal educational plan and schedule appointments to review the various aspects of self-management and reinforce their importance. Ultimately, this knowledge of epilepsy and the recommended treatment plan can lead to a greater sense of power and control necessary for self-management and an improved quality of life. By creating a foundation of trust with the patient, health-care providers can continue to monitor and manage the seizure disorder to attain optimal patient outcomes. This positive interaction with the health-care team will subsequently influence the patient's lifestyle in a beneficial manner.
Rapid and unambiguous identification of melamine in contaminated pet food based on mass spectrometry with four degrees of confirmation

A method for analyzing pet food without sample processing is described for rapid identification of melamine based on mass spectrometry (MS) using soft ionization by direct analysis in real time (DART) to provide accurate measurement of mass and isotope-peak intensities, in-source collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) fragmentation, and determination of active hydrogens. Usually, MS analyses based on other than electron ionization (EI) spectra can be suspect because of the limited amount of information provided by a single mass spectral peak (or very few peaks). In such cases, additional degrees of confirmation are desirable to increase confidence in the experimental results. Chromatographic retention time can provide a degree of confidence; however, this requires time and, in some cases, detailed sample processing. Currently, the United States Food and Drug Administration uses a gas chromatography-EI-MS technique for the determination of melamine in pet food that involves sample extraction and derivatization prior to a lengthy chromatographic separation. In the method described here, identification is also confirmed through a determination of the number of active hydrogen atoms in the analyte molecule achieved by hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange by treatment with deuterium oxide (D2O) at the initial stage of analysis. Cross-correlation of these four experimental data provides an unambiguous identification of melamine in contaminated pet food without the need for any sample preparation or chromatography. Limits of detection and the validity of the H/D exchange method as a confirmatory technique are also presented.
When Should You Claim Social Security

When to claim Social Security is for many retirees among the most important financial decisions they will make. For many families, the lifetime expected value of future Social Security benefits exceeds half a million dollars. Waiting until age 70 to claim Social Security can raise one’s monthly benefit check by up to 76%, yet only about 1 in 20 recipients waits until age 67 or older. Delayed claiming offers two key advantages. First, by raising the level of guaranteed lifetime income, it can help reduce the risk of outliving one’s wealth. Second, for many people, waiting to claim can increase expected lifetime benefits. For individuals of average life expectancy, waiting until age 69 or 70 can boost expected lifetime benefits by 14%, or $60,000 for those with high (90th percentile) income. Waiting to claim can be even more beneficial for high-income couples, potentially increasing their expected lifetime benefits by more than 20%, or $150,000.
Performance of VoIP in a 802.11 Wireless Mesh Network

Performance in multihop wireless networks is known to degrade with the number of hops for both TCP and UDP traffic. For VoIP, the wireless network presents additional challenges as the perceived quality is dependent on both loss and delay. We investigate several methods to improve voice quality and present experimental results from an 802.11b testbed optimized for voice delivery. Use of multiple interfaces, path diversity and aggregation are shown to provide a combined improvement of 13 times in number of calls supported in our 15 node 802.11 mesh system. VoIP, multihop, mesh
Life Cycle of Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticle Production

Summary Life cycle impact of emissions, energy requirements, and exergetic losses are calculated for a novel process for producing titanium dioxide nanoparticles from an ilmenite feedstock. The Altairnano hydrochloride process analyzed is tailored for the production of nanoscale particles, unlike established commercial processes. The life cycle energy requirements for the production of these particles is compared with that of traditional building materials on a per unit mass basis. The environmental impact assessment and energy analysis results both emphasize the use of nonrenewable fossil fuels in the upstream life cycle. Exergy analysis shows fuel losses to be secondary to material losses, particularly in the mining of ilmenite ore. These analyses are based on the same inventory data. The main contributions of this work are to provide life cycle inventory of a nanomanufacturing process and reveal potential insights from exergy analysis that are not available from other methods.
Piece-wise stability analysis of nonlinear robot arm via singular perturbations

The method of singular perturbations is applied to the control and stability analysis of robot arms. A robot arm including the actuator dynamics is a typical example of a singularly perturbed system due to the actuator dynamics occurring in a much faster time scale as compared to the manipulator dynamics. A control law based on the fast and the slow control separately is proposed with the addition of weight factors. The stability of such a system after incorporating the control law is studied. A scheme is presented for the stability analysis which involves breaking the system into closely spaced equilibrium points and then studying their stability. >
Excuse me, I need better AI!: employing collaborative diffusion to make game AI child's play

The idea of end-user game authoring environments is quickly gaining momentum in education. Environments such as AgentSheets have been used by thousands of children to learn about programming and design by creating their own computer games. With only hours of training these children initially create their own versions of classical games such as Frogger, Sokoban, and Space Invaders and later begin to design and implement their own game ideas. After creating numerous simple games including cursor controlled or randomly moving characters children are asking for more sophisticated AI. They would like to be able to build characters that can track each other through complex mazes and even to collaborate with each other. We have developed a simple to use multi-agent collaboration and competition framework called Collaborative Diffusion. At first we used collaborative diffusion for our own computational science applications and later also for educational applications at the university level. We found that by adding proper AI debugging tools we were able to convey the idea of collaborative diffusion even to middle school children. In this article we introduce the collaborative diffusion framework and present applications including a collaborative soccer game simulation.
PCRless library mutagenesis via oligonucleotide recombination in yeast

The directed evolution of biomolecules with new functions is largely performed in vitro, with PCR mutagenesis followed by high-throughput assays for desired activities. As synthetic biology creates impetus for generating biomolecules that function in living cells, new technologies are needed for performing mutagenesis and selection for directed evolution in vivo. Homologous recombination, routinely exploited for targeted gene alteration, is an attractive tool for in vivo library mutagenesis, yet surprisingly is not routinely used for this purpose. Here, we report the design and characterization of a yeast-based system for library mutagenesis of protein loops via oligonucleotide recombination. In this system, a linear vector is co-transformed with single-stranded mutagenic oligonucleotides. Using repair of nonsense codons engineered in three different active-site loops in the selectable marker TRP1 as a model system, we first optimized the recombination efficiency. Single-loop recombination was highly efficient, averaging 5%, or 4.0 × 105 recombinants. Multiple loops could be simultaneously mutagenized, although the efficiencies dropped to 0.2%, or 6.0 × 103 recombinants, for two loops and 0.01% efficiency, or 1.5 × 102 recombinants, for three loops. Finally, the utility of this system for directed evolution was tested explicitly by selecting functional variants from a mock library of 1:106 wild-type:nonsense codons. Sequencing showed that oligonucleotide recombination readily covered this large library, mutating not only the target codon but also encoded silent mutations on either side of the library cassette. Together these results establish oligonucleotide recombination as a simple and powerful library mutagenesis technique and advance efforts to engineer the cell for fully in vivo directed evolution.
Approximate Solutions of Non-linear Boundary-value Problems

On decrit une methode pour obtenir des solutions approchees de problemes aux valeurs limites non lineaires, basee sur une application du principe de maximum. Cas de l'equation de Liouville
Empirical application of a cognitive framework to rigidity, aspects of creativity, anxiety, and adjustment.

Philosophically it is argued psychology should be based on constructs independent of objective environmental meaning. Four such constructs are introduced and related to various measures of personality variables. Subjective anxiety and adjustment, as measured by the Maudsley Personality Inventory and Repression-Sensitization scale, are associated with a type of consistency which is based on the number of choices an individual has for finding relationships with respect to available subjective information. Personality rigidity, as measured by the Dogmatism and Authoritarianism scales, is negatively associated with the amount of subjective information available as well as how the information is grouped; in particular, both overly synthetic and overly analytic groupings were associated with high rigidity. Creativity, as measured by the Remote Associates Test, is positively associated with the amount of subjective information. The defense mechanisms, repression and sensitization, are associated with synthetic a...
The relative frequency effect and S-R compatibility

The influence of relative stimulus frequency on choice reaction time (RT) was studied in a task containing many: 1 S-R mappings and 2 levels of S-R compatibility. Choice RT increased with declining stimulus frequency, and the magnitude of this decline remained invariant across levels of compatibility. Variations in response relative frequency exerted no influence on performance under either level of compatibility. These results are consistent with a perceptual interpretation of the relative frequency effect.
Testing the Accuracy of Morphological Identification of Northern Quahog Larvae

Abstract Bivalve larvae in mixed samples collected from the field have traditionally been identified through morphological differences among species. It is difficult, however, to use this method accurately because of overlapping size ranges and similar shapes of the larvae of many species. We used the molecular technique developed by Hare et al. (2000) to test the accuracy of morphological identification of Mercenaria mercenaria (L.) larvae from plankton samples collected from the Great South Bay and Coecles Harbor on Long Island, New York. We found that morphology is unreliable as the only means of identification for bivalve larvae in a mixed field sample, and a very high false positive rate of identification of M. mercenaria (100% of 71 larvae were misidentified). Morphological characteristics may be used to eliminate larvae from a field plankton sample, as the false negative rate for M. mercenaria was only 1.4% (n = 140). To determine larval bivalve densities accurately, other techniques in addition to...
The role of interfaces in thin-film CdTe solar cells

Thin-film CdTe solar cells are very promising for future cost-effective photovoltaics. The photovoltaic effect in these cells is based on the extraction of photoexcited carriers by the field provided by the CdTe/CdS heterojunction. An additional interface with non-rectifying characteristics is needed to close the external circuit on the other side of the CdTe thin film. Finally, the transport of photoexcited carriers is influenced by the presence of grain boundaries (GBs). In this contribution, we investigate several aspects of these interfaces and their effects on the operation of CdTe solar cells by electron-beam-induced current (EBIC) and cathodoluminescence (CL) measurements.
Rapid and Continuous Hydrodynamically Controlled Fabrication of Biohybrid Microfibers

Cell encapsulation is critical for many biotechnology applications including environmental remediation, bioreactors, and regenerative medicine. Here, the development of biohybrid microfi bers comprised of encapsulated bacteria in hydrogel matrices produced on-chip using microfl uidics is reported. The fi ber production process utilizes hydrodynamic shaping of a cell-laden core fl uid by a miscible sheath fl uid. Production of the fi bers containing viable bacteria was continuous in contrast to the more typical methods in which cells infi ltrated or were attached to prepared fi bers. The biohybrid fi bers were composed of poly (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) matrices and individually both E. coli and B. cereus were explored as model cellular payloads. Post processing growth curves (24 h) of bacteria within fi bers were in excellent agreement with that of controls suggesting minimal impact. Finally, the biohybrid fi bers showed even distribution of encapsulated cells and > 90% cell viability.
Back end architecture based on transformed inverted lists-A surrogate file structure for a very large data/knowledge base

A detailed analysis is presented of transformed inverted lists (TIL) and an inverted surrogate file structure. A parallel back-end architecture, based on TIL, is described for the management of a very large data/knowledge base. The approach relies on an inverted list-indexing scheme that is performed on the surrogate files instead of the usual database inversion applied in conventional information retrieval systems. Equations to estimate the storage overhead and query response time are presented, showing the method to be space- and time-efficient. >
Nickel alloys in the oral environment.

The use of nickel casting alloys for long-term restorations in dentistry has long been controversial. A ‘tug-of-war’ between economic, engineering and biological considerations is central to this controversy; nickel-casting alloys have low costs and favorable physical properties, but are corrosion-prone in the oral environment. Clinicians and researchers have questioned the safety of nickel-containing dental alloys because several nickel compounds are known to cause adverse biological effects in vivo and in vitro in contexts outside of dentistry. The debate revolves around the extent to which corrosion products from oral restorations cause intraoral or systemic biological problems. Current evidence suggests that nickel alloys may be used successfully and safely in dentistry if clinical risks are taken into account. However, these alloys may cause significant clinical problems, primarily allergenic and inflammatory, if the risks are ignored.
Design of a haptic joystick for shared robot control

Autonomous mobile robots are often equipped with sophisticated sensors designed to provide the system with a model of its surrounding environment. This information can then be used for making task-related decisions and conveying information back to the operator. To date, autonomous systems tend to exceed at well defined tasks such as navigation, planning, and obstacle avoidance, usually in fairly structured environments. However, for many current mobile robotic systems, teleoperated control is still largely favored, in part due to a human operator's sophisticated ability to reason about unstructured environments [6]. Introducing varying levels of autonomy into a teleoperated system allows for a human operator to make high level decisions while leaving other tasks to the autonomy [5]. With this technique, problems can arise when the human operator does not understand why a part of the system they do not have direct control over is behaving in a particular manner (see Figure 1), usually due to poor situation awareness [1]. Attempts have been made to correct these issues by displaying additional sensor and system state information in the operator control unit (e.g., [8]).
Sensitivity to Foliar Anthocyanin Content of Vegetation Indices Using Green Reflectance

Anthocyanins are nonphotosynthetic water-soluble pigments associated with the resistance of plants to environmental stresses such as drought, low soil nutrients, high radiation, herbivores, and pathogens. Information on the absolute and relative amounts of anthocyanins allows evaluating the physiological conditions of plants and their responses to stress and has the potential for evaluating plant species diversity across broad geographic regions. As anthocyanins absorb radiation in the green region of the electromagnetic spectrum (with a peak of absorption at around 540-560 nm), broadband vegetation indices that use this spectral region in their formulation will exhibit sensitivity to their presence. In this letter, we evaluate the sensitivity of four broadband vegetation indices using reflectance in the green spectral region to foliar anthocyanin content. Among the indices tested, the visible atmospherically resistant vegetation index was found to be closely and linearly related to the relative amount of foliar anthocyanin across five different species (the root-mean-square error of the prediction is ca. 0.1, and the relative error is below 20%). While this result was obtained at leaf level, it opens new possibilities for analyzing anthocyanin content and composition across multiple scales by means of spacecraft-mounted broadband sensor systems such as Landsat Thematic Mapper, Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer.
Negatively Buoyant Plume Flow in a Baffled Heat Exchanger

A numerical simulation of transient two-dimensional negatively buoyant flow into a straight baffle situated below an isothermal circular cylinder in an initially isothermal enclosure is presented for both an adiabatic and a highly conducting baffle for Rayleigh numbers from 10 6 to 10 7 . Results show the effects of baffle offset, width, and length on the point where viscous flow develops and on velocity profiles within the baffle. Results are interpreted to guide the design of straight baffles to reduce destruction of stratification in thermal stores using an immersed heat exchanger. The preferred geometry is a low-conductivity baffle of width equal to the effective width of the heat exchanger and 15 or more cylinder diameters in length to ensure nearly fully developed flow at the baffle outlet.
A frequency domain analysis and synthesis of the passivity of sampled-data systems

We present a frequency-domain solution to the sampled-data passivity problem. Our analysis is exact in that we take into account the intersample behavior of the sampled-data system. We use frequency-response operators and derive a necessary and sufficient condition on the discrete controller that renders a passive closed-loop system. We then find a finite-dimensional system whose closed-loop passivity is equivalent to that of the original one, thus solving the sampled-data passivity synthesis problem. Computations of the equivalent system are carried out in the frequency domain.
Interactions between catecholamines, methyl xanthines and adenosine in regulation of cyclic AMP accumulation in hamster adipocytes.

Abstract In the presence of either methyl xanthines or adenosine deaminase, isoproterenol elicited large dramatic increases in accumulation of cyclic AMP. In contrast, cyclic AMP accumulation in response to epinephrine or norepinephrine was not potentiated by either methyl xanthines or by adenosine deaminase. Blocking the alpha adrenergic activity of norepinephrine and epinephrine with phentolamine established synergism between these catecholamines and methyl xanthines and adenosine deaminase. The activity of the particulate phosphodiesterase was not influenced by norepinephrine suggesting that the lack of synergism between the catecholamines norepinephrine and epinephrine and methyl xanthines is unrelated to this enzyme. The data are interpreted to suggest that the alpha adrenergic activity of catecholamines prevents the potentiation of cyclic AMP accumulation that occurs when the action of endogenously produced adenosine is interfered with, either by its degradation with adenosine deaminase or by receptor blockade with methyl xanthine. Because a major action of adenosine on fat cells is to inhibit adenylate cyclase it is suggested that alpha adrenergic receptor activation limits the extent to which the enzyme adenylate cyclase can be activated in a fashion similar to that of adenosine.
Injuries related to forklifts and other powered industrial vehicles in automobile manufacturing.

Background The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, estimates that approximately 100 workers are fatally injured each year in forklift and other powered industrial vehicle (PIV) incidents, and an estimated 34,000 work-related injuries involving forklifts are treated in U.S. emergency rooms each year. Methods This paper presents a descriptive analysis of 916 incidents involving forklifts and other PIVs that occurred in 54 plants operated by a major U.S. automobile manufacturer over a 3-year period. The injury data were obtained from a company-wide occupational injury and illness surveillance system which was implemented in 1989. Results The 916 PIV-related incidents resulted in 3 fatalities and 913 nonfatal injuries. The most common incident involved pedestrians (35%) who were struck by a PIV, or the load being carried by a PIV, or a rack or bin that had been struck by a PIV. Of the 913 nonfatal injuries, 41% resulted in an employee missing work and incurred a total of 22,730 lost workdays, an average of 61 days per lost workday incident. Conclusions Recommendations are presented to reduce the risk of injury, for example by separating PIV and pedestrian traffic, restricting the use of forklifts in an area where a large number of pedestrians travel and improving the training of all personnel who drive PIVs. Am. J. Ind. Med. 36:513–521, 1999. Published 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Prevention of pain on injection of propofol: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To systematically determine the most efficacious approach for preventing pain on injection of propofol. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, www.clinicaltrials.gov, and hand searching from the reference lists of identified papers. Study selection Randomised controlled trials comparing drug and non-drug interventions with placebo or another intervention to alleviate pain on injection of propofol in adults. Results Data were analysed from 177 randomised controlled trials totalling 25 260 adults. The overall risk of pain from propofol injection alone was about 60%. Using an antecubital vein instead of a hand vein was the most effective single intervention (relative risk 0.14, 95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.30). Pretreatment using lidocaine (lignocaine) in conjunction with venous occlusion was similarly effective (0.29, 0.22 to 0.38). Other effective interventions were a lidocaine-propofol admixture (0.40, 0.33 to 0.48); pretreatment with lidocaine (0.47, 0.40 to 0.56), opioids (0.49, 0.41 to 0.59), ketamine (0.52, 0.46 to 0.57), or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (0.67, 0.49 to 0.91); and propofol emulsions containing medium and long chain triglycerides (0.75, 0.67 to 0.84). Statistical testing of indirect comparisons showed that use of the antecubital vein and pretreatment using lidocaine along with venous occlusion to be more efficacious than the other interventions. Conclusions The two most efficacious interventions to reduce pain on injection of propofol were use of the antecubital vein, or pretreatment using lidocaine in conjunction with venous occlusion when the hand vein was chosen. Under the assumption of independent efficacy a third practical alternative could be pretreatment of the hand vein with lidocaine or ketamine and use of a propofol emulsion containing medium and long chain triglycerides. Although not the most effective intervention on its own, a small dose of opioids before induction halved the risk of pain from the injection and thus can generally be recommended unless contraindicated.
Joint channel equalization and interference rejection using a modified constant modulus algorithm

The authors propose an equalizer structure that combines the properties of both a standard decision-directed equalizer based on a minimum mean-squared error criterion and the '2-1' version constant modulus algorithm (CMA) equalizer. Analytical bit error rate results are presented for a BPSK direct-sequence spread-spectrum system that uses a finite-impulse-response adaptive equalizer based on such a scheme. Severe Frequency-selective distortion and inband tone interference are used as impairments. Preliminary results show 1-3 dB of improvement at low chip energy-to-noise ratios when using a combined CMA and recursive least-squares (RLS) cost function over the decision-directed RLS alone. >
De novo thrombotic microangiopathy following treatment with sirolimus: report of two cases

The term thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) hasbeenapplied toa diversegroup of conditionsthat sharethe common pathomechanism of endothelial damage.TMA is a recognized complication of solid organtransplantation.ThemajorityofcasesrepresentdenovoTMA, which occurs in 02.8–3.5% of renal transplantrecipients and is associated with a 22% rate of graftloss [1]. The rate of graft loss is strongly inﬂuencedby whether the TMA is systemic or renal limited (38vs 0% graft loss, respectively) [1].Treatment with calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) is awell-established risk factor for the development of denovoTMA.Arecent,largeanalysisoftheUnitedStatesRenal Data System (USRDS) and Medicare claimsidentiﬁed multiple additional risk factors includingyounger recipient age, older donor age, female genderof the recipient, longer duration of dialysis before tran-splantation, previous renal transplant, delayed graftfunction (DGF), allograft rejection, increased peakpanel-reactive antibody, and treatment with sirolimus(SRL) [2]. Anti-cardiolipin antibody seropositivity,often in the setting of chronic hepatitis C virus infec-tion, is an additional risk factor for de novo TMA [3].SRL (rapamycin) is an immunosuppressive agentcommonly administered to renal transplant recipients.SRL may be used in combination with a CNI or as analternative agent. A recent, large trial has shown thatSRL facilitates early CNI withdrawal and that thisregimen is associated with less long-term nephrotox-icity [4]. The most frequently reported side effects ofSRL are thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, hypertriglyc-eridaemia and hypercholesterolaemia [5].SRL has a similar mechanism of action to the CNIs.Cyclosporin (CSA), tacrolimus (TAC) and SRL allproduce their immunosuppressive effect by binding tocytoplasmic proteins called immunophilins that modifyimmune function. CSA binds cyclophilin, and TACbinds FK-binding protein 12 (FKBP12); these com-plexes in turn inhibit calcineurin, a calcium-dependentphosphatase required for interleukin-2 production andprogression of T cells from the G to G
Telomeres and Telomerase in the Radiation Response: Implications for Instability, Reprograming, and Carcinogenesis.

Telomeres are nucleoprotein complexes comprised of tandem arrays of repetitive DNA sequence that serve to protect chromosomal termini from inappropriate degradation, as well as to prevent these natural DNA ends from being recognized as broken DNA (double-strand breaks; DSBs) and triggering of inappropriate DNA damage responses. Preservation of telomere length requires telomerase, the specialized reverse transcriptase capable of maintaining telomere length via template-mediated addition of telomeric repeats onto the ends of newly synthesized chromosomes. Loss of either end-capping function or telomere length maintenance has been associated with genomic instability or senescence in a variety of settings; therefore telomeres and telomerase have well-established connections to cancer and aging. It has long been recognized that oxidative stress promotes shortening of telomeres, and that telomerase activity is a radiation-inducible function. However, the effects of ionizing radiation (IR) exposure on telomeres per se are much less well understood and appreciated. To gain a deeper understanding of the roles telomeres and telomerase play in the response of human cells to ionizing radiations of different qualities, we tracked changes in telomeric end-capping function, telomere length, and telomerase activity in panels of mammary epithelial and hematopoietic cell lines exposed to low linear energy transfer (LET) gamma(γ)-rays or high LET high charge, high energy (HZE) particles, delivered either acutely or at low dose rates (LDR). In addition to demonstrating that dysfunctional telomeres contribute to IR-induced mutation frequencies and genome instability, we reveal non-canonical roles for telomerase, in that telomerase activity was required for IR-induced enrichment of mammary epithelial putative stem/progenitor cell populations, a finding also suggestive of cellular reprogramming. Taken together, the results reported here establish the critical importance of telomeres and telomerase in the radiation response and as such, have compelling implications not only for accelerated tumor repopulation following radiation therapy, but for carcinogenic potential following low dose exposures as well, including those of relevance to spaceflight-associated galactic cosmic radiations.
The Impact of Acculturation Level on Weight Status and Weight Outcomes in Hispanic Children.

Previous studies revealed that higher levels of acculturation are related to obesity in Hispanic adults. Conflicting findings exist regarding this relationship in children, and little is known about the impact of acculturation on children’s success in pediatric weight management programs. The purposes of the study were to (1) examine the relationship between acculturation and overweight/obese weight status and (2) determine the impact of acculturation on the changes in weight status among overweight/obese children 12 and 24 months after having participated in a weight management intervention. This is a secondary analysis of aggregated data from three randomized control trials that occurred between 2005 and 2009. Height, weight, and level of acculturation using the Child Short Scale for Hispanics (C-SASH) were measured in a sample of Hispanic children (n = 559). Logistic regression models were used to study phase 1 (n = 559) and phase 2 (n = 142), controlling for child and family characteristics. Children reporting high levels of acculturation had a 52 % lower odds of being overweight or obese. Among overweight/obese children who participated in the intervention, high levels of acculturation demonstrated greater reductions in standardized body mass index (zBMI) at 24 months. The results of this study indicate a need to tailor weight management programs for Hispanic children who have lower levels of acculturation.
Stuart M. Basefsky: SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship 2005 -- Cover Letter and Summary Presentation

This documents the contributions of Stuart M. Basefsky to the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University (the ILR School) culminating in his being awarded the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship in 2005. SUNY is the acronym for the State University of New York.
Time's Forgotten: Using NTP to understand Internet Latency

The performance of Internet services is intrinsically tied to propagation delays between end points (i.e., network latency). Standard active probe-based or passive host-based methods for measuring end-to-end latency are difficult to deploy at scale and typically offer limited precision and accuracy. In this paper, we investigate a novel but non-obvious source of latency measurement---logs from network time protocol (NTP) servers. Using NTP-derived data for studying latency is compelling due to NTP's pervasive use in the Internet and its inherent focus on accurate end-to-end delay estimation. We consider the efficacy of an NTP-based approach for studying propagation delays by analyzing logs collected from 10 NTP servers distributed across the United States. These logs include over 73M latency measurements to 7.4M worldwide clients (as indicated by unique IP addresses) collected over the period of one day. Our initial analysis of the general characteristics of propagation delays derived from the log data reveals that delay measurements from NTP must be carefully filtered in order to extract accurate results. We develop a filtering process that removes measurements that are likely to be inaccurate. After applying our filter to NTP measurements, we report on the scope and reach for US-based clients and the characteristics of the end-to-end latency for those clients.
SC-16DIVERGENT CELL CYCLE REGULATION IN GBM CELLS PROVIDES A UNIQUE POINT OF INTERVENTION IN POLARIZED CD133+ CELLS.

Recent studies in distinct glioma types have separately identified phenotypically distinct populations of tumor propagating cells (TPCs). Enrichment of TPCs by cell surface marker expression (CD133 [PMID:17051156], NG2 [PMID: 21907924]) has revealed the possibility of multiple TPC populations, within a single tumor, that have distinct properties and therapy sensitivities. Here we identify and compare the coexisting populations of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells expressing the stem marker CD133 and the progenitor marker NG2. We compare the proliferative properties of CD133+ and NG2+ cells, and investigate how polarity and mode of division may determine other functional properties including cell cycle regulation and therapy sensitivity. Established and primary GBM cell cultures were analyzed by immunofluorescence and flow cytometry for expression of CD133 and NG2, alongside markers of polarity and proliferation. We showed that CD133+ and NG2+ GBM cells coexist as predominantly separate subpopulations. CD133+ cells are highly polarized and, compared to NG2+ or marker-negative subpopulations, are slower dividing. Cell cycle and gene expression analyses showed that the increase in cell cycle length in CD133+ cells is due to an extended G2-M period. As expected CD133+ cells have increased expression of DNA-damage response genes, however paradoxically we also detected increased activation of polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1). CD133+ cells were uniquely sensitive to the PLK1 inhibitor BI2536 in vivo, and treatment of intracranial GBM xenografts with the BRAF inhibitor PLX4720 and BI2536 showed greater anti-tumor activity than either alone. Our studies identified two putative TPC subpopulations in GBM with distinct cell cycle dynamics, DNA damage response and cell division mode. Ongoing work will investigate the role of Plk1 activity in linking these divergent phenotypes. Understanding this phenotypic heterogeneity in adjacent TPC types will allow the design of treatment strategies that eradicate multiple putative TPC populations.
Postpolymerization Modification of Block Copolymers

The postpolymerization modification of block copolymers has seen a growing interest in the past decade ranging from fundamental synthesis and structure–property relationships to potential applications. The resulting side-chain-modified block copolymers can retain the properties inherent to the parent block copolymer core, while introducing side-chain functionality that can allow for a tunable handle on material properties and consequently applications. In this Perspective, we discuss different methods of postpolymerization side-chain modification of block copolymers using either covalent or noncovalent strategies. We also describe potential applications, discuss some of the challenges remaining in this area, and suggest strategies for the advancement of the field.
Moduli Problems for Ring Spectra

In algebraic geometry, it is common to study a geometric object X (such as a scheme) by means of the functor R 7! Hom(SpecR,X) represented by X. In this paper, we consider functors which are defined on larger classes of rings (such as the class of ring spectra which arise in algebraic topology), and sketch some applications to deformation theory.
Enhanced Convective Heat Transfer in Enclosures with Internal Heat Sinks

High Prandtl number fluids have great industrial applications such as in thermal storage devices, and in oil storage and transportation. Natural convection in a square enclosure with differentially heated bottom and top surfaces is numerically studied, using engine oil (Prandtl number 130) as the working fluid. To enhance the heat transfer, cold circular cylinders (heat sinks) were placed in the enclosure. It has found that the surface-averaged Nusselt number at the hot bottom can be potentially enhanced by ~50% by inserting several small heat sinks, leading to improvement in both conduction and convection heat transfer regime. Effects of various sidewall boundary conditions of the enclosure were also studied. For the enclosure with adiabatic sidewalls, different flow structures were obtained when locations of cylinders were varied along the horizontal centerline of the enclosure.
Biology of a Problematic Marine Fungus, Dermocystidium Sp. II. Nutrition and Respiration

Dermocystidium sp. grows best at 19 C, at pH 7.3, and with 1–3% NaCl. Although potassium, calcium, and magnesium are needed for growth they do not replace sodium nor does zinc replace the requireme...
Validation of cutaneous lymphoma international prognostic index (CLIPI) for mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome.

We sought to evaluate the performance of the cutaneous lymphoma international prognostic index (CLIPI), a prognostic index for mycosis fungoides (MF), and Sezary syndrome (SS), in our cohort of patients seen at Emory University between 1998 and 2013. Additionally, we examined the prognostic significance of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), B0a/b, and CD30 status. A total of 390 patients were included in analysis: 78.2% early stage (IA-IIA), 7.2% with SS, 53.1% male, mean age 53.5 years. CLIPI stratified patients into low, intermediate, and high-risk groups for overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) for early stage patients (p 60, plaques, folliculotropic disease was significant for OS and age >60, plaques, N1/Nx was significant for PFS. In the overall cohort, CD30+, elevated LDH, and B0b were significant for worse OS and PFS.
Consideration on FTTx Construction in IPv6

Based on the characteristics of IPv6,it expounds the strategy on introducing IPv6 from the points of selecting proper service to deploy IPv6 and keep the access network unchangeable.According to OLT location in IPv4 and equipment location in IPv6,it demonstrates that the location of OLT/MDU is unchangeable.
Analysis of influenza surveillance in Changchun during 2011- 2013

Objective To analyze influenza surveillance in Changchun 2011- 2013,explore the influenza epidemic characteristics and etiological changes,and provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control pandemic of influenza. Methods The throat swab specimens were collected from influenza outpatients and the influenza virus was detected with real-time PCR,and isolated with MDCK cells identified by hemagglutination inhibition test( HI). Results One hudred and nineteen positive samples of nucleic acid were collected from 523 cases of influenza- like cases specimens from October 2012 to March 2013,and 78 strains of influenza viruses were isolated from 119 positive samples of nucleic acid with isolation rate of 65. 55%. Forty eight strains were identified as H3N2( accounting for 40. 34%),30 strains as the new H1( accounting for 25. 21%),and one year in 121 copies of nucleic acid positive to the isolation of 52 strains of influenza virus isolation was positive rate of 42. 98%,in which 13 strains were identified as H3N2( accounting for 10. 74%),22 strains as B- victoria( accounting for 18. 18%),17 strains as B- yam agata( occupied for 14. 05%),mainly type B. Conclusion Epidemic situation of influenza is calm in Changchun during 2012- 2013. The predominant strains are H3N2,the new H1 which are different from the predominant strains( H3N2 and B- victoria,B- yam agata) of the past.
Detection of noroviruses from viral infectious diarrhea patients in Jiading , Shanghai

The purpose of this study was to investigate prevalence of norovirus infection in patients with viral infectious diarrhea,analyze factors associated with norovirus epidemic,and facilitate control and prevention of norovirus infection in Jiading,Shanghai.A total of 572anal swabs from patients with viral infectious diarrhea were collected at the Center Hospital in Jiading,March 2008to February 2010,and detected for norovirus RNA by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Fifty-three(9.27%)specimens were positive for norovirus RNA.It was indicated by intensive analysis that norovirus infection occurred in the winter,and that population group of the elderly(aged 65+ years)was more susceptible.
Access to Advanced Care and Survival in Multiple Myeloma

Background: There has been major improvement in the survival of patients with multiple myeloma (MM), mostly due to the availability of more effective drugs and increased use of autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation (AHPCT). Access to AHPCT has been linked to demographic, geographic and socioeconomic parameters. We hypothesize that the distance between the patient county of residence and a transplant center is an adequate surrogate of access to advanced care (comprising not only AHPCT, but also experimental therapies) and may affect survival of MM patients. Methods: We conducted an analysis of patients diagnosed with MM between 2002 and 2011 reported to the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results program (SEER-18). Cases reported from death certificate or autopsy only, and cases with missing race or county of residence were excluded (1% of total). Patients were classified according to the distance between county of residence and the nearest program accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT): Cohort A ( 200 miles). Results: We included 45,079 patients with median follow up of survivors of 30 months. There were substantial differences between the cohorts, particularly in race-ethnicity, income and education (Table 1). Median survival was 34, 37, 31 and 30 months for cohorts A, B, C and D respectively (Figure 1). Using Cox proportional hazards, we built two different survival models. Model 1 included demographic parameters and distance to transplant center. Compared to cohort A, risk of death was lower in cohort B and higher in cohorts C and D (Table 2). Model 2 included all parameters of model 1 plus median household income and proportion of adults in the county of residence with at least bachelor degree. Income and education were strongly associated with survival and displaced distance to transplant center from the model (Table 2). Other factors associated with worse survival were age, earlier year of diagnosis, male sex, presentation with plasma cell leukemia, and race-ethnicity. Conclusion: Distance to transplant center, a surrogate for access to advanced care, is associated with survival in patients with MM, likely reflecting underlying differences in demographics, income and education. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.