cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Advanced technologies for rocket single-stage-to-orbit vehicles

A single-stage-to-orbit vertical takeoff/horizontal landing rocket vehicle was studied to determine the benefits of advanced technology. Advanced technologies that were included in the study were variable mixture ratio oxygen/hydrogen rocket engines and materials, structures, and subsystem technologies currently being developed in the National Aero-Space Plane Program. The application of advanced technology results in an 85 percent reduction in vehicle dry weight. With advanced materials, an external thermal protection system, like the Space Shuttle tiles, was not required. Compared to an all-airbreathing horizontal takeoff/horizontal landing vehicle using the same advanced technologies and mission requirements, the rocket vehicle is lighter in dry weight and has fewer subsystems. To increase reliability and safety, operational features were included in the rocket vehicle-robust subsystems, 5 percent additional margin, no slush hydrogen, fail-operational with an engine out, and a crew escape module. The resulting vehicle grew in dry weight and was still lower in dry weight than the airbreathing vehicle.
The relationship between rhetoric and terrorist violence: Introduction to special issue

This introduction describes the project that generated the nine papers included in this special issue. It discusses the project's overall goal – to examine the relationship between group rhetoric and terrorist violence using linguistic content analysis – and the data that were analyzed. It then concludes with a brief overview of the special issue.
Fluid temperature and velocity effect on fouling

Abstract A wide variety of industrial processes involve the transfer of heat energy between fluids in process equipment. As a result of this energy exchange unwanted deposits accumulate on the process surfaces causing a resistance to energy transfer. These deposits reduce the heat recovery and can restrict fluid flow in the exchanger by narrowing the flow area. Prevention and control of fouling is costly and time consuming. In many situations, fouling can be reduced but not necessarily eliminated. Fouling is a major unresolved problem in heat transfer. In general, the heat exchangers evaluated in this study were exposed to untreated lake water for typical conditions. After the prescribed time period the exchangers were taken off line and evaluated. Conclusions and observations regarding fouling of brazed heat exchangers, exposed to once-through lake water, are presented here. Transient observations and photographs of the exchanger surfaces are given. Results are presented that compare these heat exchangers to test plates, also exposed to lake water. The progressive change of surface appearance with increasing immersion times is presented.
Hydrology: Seasonal rain changes

The effects of climate change on the extremes of rainfall and the associated floods and droughts have been well documented. Analysis now provides evidence that rainfall seasonality is also changing in some parts of the tropics, which has important implications for ecological as well as human systems.
Small Prostate Size and High Grade Disease—Biology or Artifact?

Purpose: Prior radical prostatectomy series have shown an inverse association between prostate size and high grade cancer. It has been suggested that smaller size prostates arise in a low androgen environment, enabling development of more aggressive cancer. We propose that this observation is the result of ascertainment bias driven by prostate specific antigen performance.Materials and Methods: We identified 1,404 patients from the Stanford Radical Prostatectomy Database with clinical stage T1c (723) and T2 (681) disease who underwent surgery between 1988 and 2002, and underwent detailed morphometric mapping by a single pathologist. Multivariate linear regression was performed to assess for the effects of age, prostate weight and prostate specific antigen on total and high grade (Gleason grade 4/5) cancer volume and percentage of high grade disease.Results: In patients who underwent biopsy due to abnormal prostate specific antigen (stage T1c), prostate weight was negatively associated (p = 0.0002) with to...
A two-year follow-up of autistic children treated with fenfluramine.

Abstract. Six children with autism, who were treated with fenfluramine as part of a multi-center double-blind placebo-controlled crossover design study, were continued on an open trial of this medication. Follow-up evaluation of these children after 27 months indicated that numerous problems arose in the management of these children, most often resulting in discontinuation of the medication. Particularly noted were development of tolerance, appetite and weight problems, and requirements for other kinds of interventions including introduction of other psychotropic medications and change in custodial circumstances.
Synthesis and electrochemistry of a series of cyclopentadienyl Ni N-heterocyclic carbene compounds

Abstract A series of CpNi(NHC) halide complexes are synthesized from Cp2Ni and the azolium halide. Their X-ray structures and electrochemistry are reported.
A 78 pW 1 b/s 2.4 GHz radio transmitter for near-zero-power sensing applications

This paper presents an ultra-low-standby-power radio transmitter that was designed for applications with extreme energy storage and/or energy harvesting constraints. By utilizing aggressive power gating techniques within a low-complexity architecture featuring only a single RF stage, the transmitter achieved a standby power consumption of 39.7 pW. The architecture employed a direct-RF power oscillator that featured an on-board loop antenna that functioned as both the resonant and radiative element. Supporting both OOK and FSK modulations, the transmitter consumed 38 pJ/bit at an instantaneous data rate of 5 Mb/s. After duty-cycling down to an average data rate of 1 b/s, the transmitter consumed an average power of 78 pW.
Isolation of a poxvirus from stock type 12 adenovirus.

Sweet and Hilleman1 detected SV40 in seed stocks of adenoviruses, types 1–7, and Gerber et al.2 reported the presence of viable SV40 in formalinized adenovirus vaccines. Yang and Melnick3 described SV40 contamination of both adenovirus stock and vaccine. Such contaminations were attributed to the SV40 flora in many of the ‘normal’ monkey kidney cell cultures used for propagation of adenovirus. The report presented here describes the isolation of a poxvirus contaminant from a seed stock of adenovirus type 12. The poxvirus had been propagated by us in undetected form through many passages of the adenovirus in HEp-2 cells.
Quaternionic multi S4 ≃ HP(1) gravitational and chiral instantons☆

Abstract Compact multi S 4 gravitational instantons (positive definite metric solutions to Einstein's equations with a Λ term) are found in terms of quaternionic harmonic mappings x n : S 4 → S 4 . The manifold is the euclidean de Sitter space S 4 ≃ HP(1) with Euler-Poincare index I E = n and Pontryagin index I P = 0. The metric can be alternatively seen as the induced metric of a Kahler HP(1) chiral field space, these same solutions then correspond to all multi chiral instantons in a general covariant quaternionic HP(1) ≃ SO(5)/SO(4) ≃ Sp(2)/Sp(1) × Sp(1) nonlinear σ-model of de Alfaro et al. They are the quaternionic counterparts of the harmonic instanton maps of the 2-dimensional CP(1) ≃ SO(3)/SO(2) ≃ SU(2)/U(1) σ-model.
Effects of vinblastine and colchicine on neural regulation of the fast and slow skeletal muscles of the rat

Abstract The chronic application of vinblastine or colchicine to the nerves supplying the extensor and soleus muscles of the rat caused the development of various signs of denervation without affecting muscle activity per se. Three days after the application of a silastic cuff containing vinblastine, the frequency of the miniature end-plate potentials of surface fibers was increased almost 2-fold. The miniature end-plate potential frequency of muscles whose nerves were exposed to colchicine for up to 15 days did not differ greatly from the control values. The resting membrane potential of the surface fibers of both muscles was lower than control 5 days after the application of either drug, and after 7 days' exposure of the sciatic nerve to vinblastine, fibers of the extensor and soleus muscles were depolarized by about 13 mv. Partial recovery of the membrane potential of preparations chronically treated with vinblastine was apparent after 21 days. With colchicine, however, the resting membrane potentials of both muscles declined from a control value of −75 mv to about −62 mv after 7 days. After the onset of membrane depolarization, the extrajunctional membrane of both muscles became supersensitive to microiontophoretically applied acetylcholine (ACh) after the application of the silastic cuffs containing either drug. Tetrodotoxin-resistant action potentials appeared simultaneously with the development of extrajunctional ACh sensitivity. Electrical activity along the nerve could, however, be elicited by stimulation above the cuffed region. Indirectly elicited action potentials and the resultant muscle activity, which were similar to control, were present in each fiber during the development of membrane depolarization, extrajunctional ACh sensitivity, and tetrodotoxin-resistant action potentials. During this time there was no alteration of the membrane resistance but the shape of the action potentials and their rates of rise were somewhat affected. Both vinblastine and colchicine caused a disruption of the axoplasm and microtubules with little or no effect on the axolemma. Continued exposure of the nerve to colchicine for 29 days resulted in the appearance of all the premonitory signs of denervation. The temporal sequence of alterations produced by chronic application of vinblastine or colchicine to the nerves supplying these muscles is the following: an increase or negligible change in miniature end-plate potential frequency; partial membrane depolarization; appearance of extrajunctional ACh sensitivity; appearance of tetrodotoxin-resistant action potentials. These alterations occurred in muscle membranes in the absence of any effect on the electrical activity of the nerve and contractile properties of the muscle itself. It is, therefore, suggested that vinblastine and colchicine elicit these denervation-like changes by interfering with axoplasmic flow and subsequently with the release of some neural factor or factors other than the transmitter itself.
Studies of molybdena—alumina catalysts XIV. Effect of Cation-Modified Aluminas

Abstract A series of catalysts, in which molybdenum was added to an alumina support modified by addition of various metal cations (Zn, Ti, Fe, Mn, Mg and Ca), was investigated in order to determine the effect of the modified support on the molybdenum distribution and catalytic activity. The modified supports and molybdenum catalysts were characterized in the oxide state by hydroxyl content, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy, and in the sulfide state by the sulfur content and nitric oxide chemisorption. The sulfide catalysts were also tested for thiophene hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hexene hydrogenation (HYD) activity. The added cations did not react with the hydroxyl groups of the alumina, but rather formed surface spinels (zinc, magnesium) or free oxides (titanium, iron manganese). The molybdenum subsequently added did not noticeably interact with the additive (except for calcium which formed CaMoO4), but did react with the hydroxyl groups of the alumina forming a surface Mo O Al interaction species. In the sulfided catalysts, only iron and manganese showed evidence of sulfiding, besides the molybdenum. A good correlation between nitric oxide adsorbed and HDS activity was obtained, implying that the HDS activities were related to the relative molybdenum disulfide sizes present and not to any promotional or deactivating effect of the added metal cation. The modified supports most likely affected the interaction species, leading to different ultimate molydenum disulfide sizes after sulfiding. However, the HYD activities appear to be promoted by the additives, consistent with the proposition of different active sites for HDS and HYD reactions.
Beta adrenergic-mediated myofibrillar disruption and enzyme efflux in an experimental myopathy related to isometric muscle activity.

Abstract Adrenal demedullation significantly inhibits the enormous increase in plasma creatine phosphokinase (CPK) activity and myofibrillar disruption which follow treatment with phencyclidine (PCP) and restraint in the rat. To determine if the effects of adrenal demedullation were due to the lack of epinephrine, we studied the effects of the β-adrenergic receptor blockers, propranolol and 3-morpholino-4-[3- t -butyl-amino-2-hydroxypropoxy]-1,2,5-thiadiazole hydrogen maleate (MK-950) on these myopathic parameters in intact rats subjected to PCP plus restraint. Both drugs significantly inhibited the myopathy. Pretreatment with either phenoxybenzamine, at effective α-adrenergic receptor blocking doses, or atropine, at effective antimuscarinic anticholinergic doses, had no effect on these parameters. Plasma CPK activity and the percentage of muscle fibers with extensive myofibrillar disruptions following PCP and restraint were significantly correlated for all treatments, except phenoxybenzamine ( r = +0.71, N = 17, P
Lactic Dehydrogenase: Genetic Control in Man

A genetically determined variant of lactic dehydrogenase has been observed in the red cells of four members of two generations of a Brazilian family. The appearance of the variant after starch-gel electrophoresis of the hemolysates supports the concept that the lactic dehydrogenase isozymes are determined by the interaction of two subunits which are under separate genetic control. The products of the mutant and normal allele do not, however, appear to associate randomly to form isozymes. The similarity of the relative retardation of normal and mutant isozymes in gels made with increasing concentrations of starch suggests that they do not differ significantly in size.
Effect of investment on casting high-fusing alloys

A definite interaction in castability was found between the three different phosphate-bonded investments and four different alloys tested in this study. 1. Casting completeness of all alloys, as measured by the length of test specimens, was affected by the investment. The high-gold content alloy, SMG II, yielded the most complete castings of all combinations teted when invested with Ceramigold. Of the nonprecious alloys, Biobond CB combined with Ceramigold II resulted in the longest samples. 2. The surface quality of Jelbon and SMG II castings was good, regardless of the investment used. Wiron S and Biobond CB varied in surface quality with different investments, Ceramigold II giving the smoothest castings. 3. All alloys, especially the nonprecious ones, should be tested for compatability with different investments before asserting their qualities or lack of qualities for clinical use.
The challenges of cost-effectiveness analyses for the clinician.

Most clinicians would agree that available resources for the provision of health care are limited. Even a country as wealthy as the United States cannot indefinitely afford to provide all treatments that are considered effective and safe to all individuals who might benefit from them. The question is then, how can we use the available resources to get “the biggest bang for the buck,” to maximize the health benefits for the population under consideration with available budgets? Whether we like it or not, as clinicians we are in a unique position to contribute to the decision among clinical strategies, which inevitably has consequences not only for the health of the individual patient, but also for many other patients that we do not care for directly but who are a part of the broader health care system. If we ignore the cost of diagnostic and treatment strategies when making medical decisions, we may inadvertently direct scarce health care resources away from affordable, effective, and much needed therapies toward expensive therapies that provide little or no health benefit, especially for individuals who cannot afford paying more for health care. In order to make the best use of limited health care resources, clinicians, individuals, and policy makers must weigh both the costs and benefits of the tests and treatments they employ. Economic evaluations help inform cost-benefit decisions by providing formal quantitative methods to compare costs and benefits of alternative strategies.1
Quality management on Amazon Mechanical Turk

Crowdsourcing services, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, allow for easy distribution of small tasks to a large number of workers. Unfortunately, since manually verifying the quality of the submitted results is hard, malicious workers often take advantage of the verification difficulty and submit answers of low quality. Currently, most requesters rely on redundancy to identify the correct answers. However, redundancy is not a panacea. Massive redundancy is expensive, increasing significantly the cost of crowdsourced solutions. Therefore, we need techniques that will accurately estimate the quality of the workers, allowing for the rejection and blocking of the low-performing workers and spammers.However, existing techniques cannot separate the true (unrecoverable) error rate from the (recoverable) biases that some workers exhibit. This lack of separation leads to incorrect assessments of a worker's quality. We present algorithms that improve the existing state-of-the-art techniques, enabling the separation of bias and error. Our algorithm generates a scalar score representing the inherent quality of each worker. We illustrate how to incorporate cost-sensitive classification errors in the overall framework and how to seamlessly integrate unsupervised and supervised techniques for inferring the quality of the workers. We present experimental results demonstrating the performance of the proposed algorithm under a variety of settings.
Bilateral Pneumonia and Pleural Effusions Subsequent to Electronic Cigarette Use

Electronic nicotine delivery systems also known as electronic cigarettes (or e-cigarettes) are marketed by their manufactures as a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes because of potentially reduced delivery of toxins. However, the scientific evidence and the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are limited. We describe a case of a 43-year-old man who had been smoking electronic cigarettes excessively for three days and presented with acute dyspnea, increased work of breathing and tachycardia. Subsequent chest x-ray revealed bilateral pleural effusions. In addition, the patient had a new oxygen requirement and was thus admitted with a diagnosis of pneumonia and bilateral pleural effusions. The case and the potential harmful effects of electronic cigarettes are discussed herein.
Drilling‐induced remanence in carbonate rocks: occurrence, stability and grain‐size dependence

Summary. A strong grouping of the directions of natural remanent magnetization in a collection of Ordovician limestones and dolomites, prior to correction for the in situ orientation of the samples, led us to suspect the presence of a substantial spurious magnetization acquired during sample collection and preparation. A close correspondence between the directions of the remanence vectors and the direction of the ambient magnetic field during sawing and drilling of the samples suggested that the remanence was dominated by a component acquired during cutting of the samples. Ten specimens of the Camp Nelson Limestone and Shakopee Dolomite were demagnetized to 100 mT, given an anhysteretic remanence along their axes, and then sawed again. A substantial magnetization parallel to the ambient field during cutting was acquired by all of the specimens, and the resultant directions deviated by 7-70" from the direction of the anhysteretic magnetization. Stepwise alternating-field and thermal cleaning to 60 mT and 400°C respectively failed to remove preferentially the cutting-induced magnetic contamination. Since the fraction of magnetite grains cut during drilling and sawing must be a linear function of grain size, modified Lowrie-Fuller tests were carried out and the results are interpreted to indicate the presence of a multidomain magnetite fraction in the Shakopee Dolomite, Camp Nelson Limestone and Oregon Dolomite. Ratios of initial to anhysteretic susceptibility (dxARM) correlate well with the angular deviation of magnetic directions produced by sawing. This indicates that acquisition of drilling-induced remanence is a function of magnetite grain size, compatible with the notion that the drillinginduced component resides in large magnetite grains which have been cut.
Electrochromic devices and thin film transistors from a new family of ethylenedioxythiophene based conjugated polymers

New electrochromic conjugated polymers and their corresponding devices based on EDOT (ethylenedioxythiophene) are described. The best of these polymers display response times on the order of 1s and high switchable contrast in the visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectral regions. Thin films (70 nm) of these new polymers displayed optical band gaps on the order of 1.73 eV (7a) < 2.19 eV (7b) < 2.23 eV (7c) < 2.31 eV (4) < 2.34 eV (2) as calculated from their extrapolation of the absorption edges. Polymers 4 and 7a show field effect hole mobilities of ca. 6.7 × 10−5 cm2 V−1s−1 (on/off ratio 104) and 2.5 × 10−5 cm2 V−1s−1 (on/off ratio103), respectively, related to their highly ordered inter-chain packing as confirmed by XRD analyses of polymer 4. Electrochromic characterizations show that polymers 7a–c exhibit significant absorption changes in the infrared at low voltage. The resulting solid-state devices offer promise for electrochromic shutters and filters in the IR, since their high charge transfer mobility and ion injection efficiency permits relatively rapid switching and good switchable contrast, while their robustness exceeds that of aqueous devices.
Monte Carlo estimates of the log determinant of large sparse matrices

Maximum likelihood estimates of parameters of some spatial models require the computation of the log-determinant of positive-definite matrices of the formI —αD. whereD is a large, sparse matrix with eigenvalues in [−1, 1] and where 0<α<1, with extremely large matrices the usual direct methods of obtaining the log-determinant require too much time and memory. We propose a Monte Carlo estimate of the log-determinant. This estimate is simple to program, very sparing in its use of memory, easily computed in parallel and can estimate log det(I-αD) for many values ofα simultaneously Using this estimator, we estimate the log-determinant for a 1,000,000 × 1,000,000 matrixD, for 100 values ofα, in 23.1 min on 133 MHz pentium with 64 MB of memory using Matlab.
Towards improving renewable resource utilization with plug-in electric vehicles

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) represent both a new challenge for and a huge potential resource to the smart-grid. The secret to effective integration of renewable energy generation into the smart-grid is integration of enough storage to deal with the intermittency of the generation. However, there are several barriers to integrating enough storage to effectively harness renewable energy in the system such as cost, storage density, etc. In this paper, we propose to leverage PEVs as the storage mechanism in the smart grid to enable the effective integration of renewable energy sources into the smart-grid. Using the city of Las Vegas as an example we demonstrate the potential for integrating PEVs to act as a storage component of the smart grid to support the integration and efficient use of renewable energy. Our results show that using PEVs as a storage system we can achieve 10% generation with renewable sources at 80% efficiency by 2015 and 95% efficiency by 2030. For 20% generation, we can achieve a 77% and 90% efficiency, respectively.
Design diagrams for reliable layered materials

against failure due to thermomechanical loading in these systems. Results are presented for the fracture of twolayered systems of elastic materials under uniform thermal loading. In such a system of two or more materials, failure occurs as the result of four competing fracture modes. This competition is assessed, and the conditions are identi® ed for one fracture mode to occur in preference to the others. The results are presented as fracture mechanism diagrams, which give easily interpreted guidance for the design and manufacture of layered materials. The same graphical format can be used to map performance metrics relevant to functional requirements other
Predicting asparaginase-associated pancreatitis.

Background Pancreatitis is a well-known, but little-understood complication of asparaginase. There is no predictor of who will develop asparaginase-associated pancreatitis (AAP). To better define this population, we present a retrospective analysis regarding AAP and provide a review of the relevant literature. Methods We systematically reviewed medical records of 254 asparaginase recipients during a 5-year period. Pancreatitis was defined and graded according to CTCAE v3.0. Results Pancreatitis was diagnosed in 48 (19%) patients. Thirty-three (13%) patients were identified as having AAP. Twelve cases occurred after Escherichia coli asparaginase and 20 followed PEG-asparaginase. Pancreatitis was independent of the individual or cumulative asparaginase dose. The interval to pancreatitis diagnosis was longer for PEG-asparaginase than E. coli asparaginase (P = 0.02). AAP was seen more frequently in patients receiving prednisone (P = 0.02) and daunomycin (P = 0.006) while less frequent with dexamethasone (P = 0.04). Other chemotherapy agents appeared to have no association with AAP. As observed by others, those with pancreatitis were older (P = 0.001), but the significance of this remains uncertain. Conclusions This study emphasizes our inability to predict who will develop pancreatic toxicity from asparaginase and suggests that those at risk might have an unidentified genetic predisposition.
Intracavity gain dynamics of an external cavity multi-wavelength hybrid semiconductor mode-locked laser

The intracavity gain dynamics of an external cavity semiconductor mode-locked laser are measured, showing how pulses corresponding to different wavelengths are temporally skewed, leading to a slow gain depletion avoiding nonlinearities, which enables multiwavelength operation.
Origin of germ cells and formation of new primary follicles in adult human ovaries

Recent reports indicate that functional mouse oocytes and sperm can be derived in vitro from somatic cell lines. We hypothesize that in adult human ovaries, mesenchymal cells in the tunica albuginea (TA) are bipotent progenitors with a commitment for both primitive granulosa and germ cells. We investigated ovaries of twelve adult women (mean age 32.8 ± 4.1 SD, range 27–38 years) by single, double, and triple color immunohistochemistry. We show that cytokeratin (CK)+ mesenchymal cells in ovarian TA differentiate into surface epithelium (SE) cells by a mesenchymal-epithelial transition. Segments of SE directly associated with ovarian cortex are overgrown by TA, forming solid epithelial cords, which fragment into small (20 micron) epithelial nests descending into the lower ovarian cortex, before assembling with zona pellucida (ZP)+ oocytes. Germ cells can originate from SE cells which cover the TA. Small (10 micron) germ-like cells showing PS1 meiotically expressed oocyte carbohydrate protein are derived from SE cells via asymmetric division. They show nuclear MAPK immunoexpression, subsequently divide symmetrically, and enter adjacent cortical vessels. During vascular transport, the putative germ cells increase to oocyte size, and are picked-up by epithelial nests associated with the vessels. During follicle formation, extensions of granulosa cells enter the oocyte cytoplasm, forming a single paranuclear CK+ Balbiani body supplying all the mitochondria of the oocyte. In the ovarian medulla, occasional vessels show an accumulation of ZP+ oocytes (25–30 microns) or their remnants, suggesting that some oocytes degenerate. In contrast to males, adult human female gonads do not preserve germline type stem cells. This study expands our previous observations on the formation of germ cells in adult human ovaries. Differentiation of primitive granulosa and germ cells from the bipotent mesenchymal cell precursors of TA in adult human ovaries represents a most sophisticated adaptive mechanism created during the evolution of female reproduction. Our data indicate that the pool of primary follicles in adult human ovaries does not represent a static but a dynamic population of differentiating and regressing structures. An essential mission of such follicular turnover might be elimination of spontaneous or environmentally induced genetic alterations of oocytes in resting primary follicles.
Cardiovascular Effects of the Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors

Cyclooxyenase (COX)-2 selective inhibitors were developed to create a new class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with properties similar to those of nonselective NSAIDS but without their potential COX-1–mediated gastrointestinal toxicities.1,2 Studies of the various COX-2 selective inhibitors have shown that they are in fact associated with a significantly lower risk of upper and lower gastrointestinal complications than traditional NSAIDs, except in patients who are taking concomitant low-doses of aspirin. Recent evidence also suggests that some doses of the COX-2 selective inhibitors, and perhaps some traditional NSAIDs as well, are associated with an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular (CV) events. Reports of a higher incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) among patients with arthritis taking high doses of the COX-2 selective inhibitor rofecoxib compared with those taking the NSAID naproxen2–4 have had heightened concerns since 2001 regarding selective COX-2 inhibitor safety. In addition, in early 2005, elevated CV event rates were reported in patients with spontaneous adenomatous polyps who were taking high doses of celecoxib compared with placebo5 and in patients who received parenteral parecoxib followed by oral valdecoxib versus placebo immediately after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.6 This article represents a compilation of the data concerning the effects of both nonselective and selective NSAIDs on blood pressure (BP), particularly in patients with hypertension and/or on antihypertensive agents. Subsequently, the impact that the COX inhibitors have on CV events from several recent clinical trials for the treatment of arthritis or for cancer prevention, as well as from selected large observational studies, is discussed. COXs participate in numerous physiological functions and human pathological disorders. The COX-1 isoform is constitutively expressed in most tissues where it regulates the synthesis of prostaglandins. COX-1 is the only form of the enzyme in mature platelets and is also expressed in the vascular …
Effect of different gonadorelin (GnRH) products used for the first or resynchronized timed artificial insemination on pregnancy rates in postpartum dairy cows.

Abstract Different GnRH products are used for timed artificial insemination (AI) in postpartum dairy cows. Previous studies reported greater LH release and increased ovulation percentage for gonadorelin diacetate tetrahydrate compared with gonadorelin hydrochloride but pregnancies per AI (P/AI) were not evaluated. The objective, therefore, was to compare P/AI for cows treated with either gonadorelin hydrochloride or gonadorelin diacetate tetrahydrate before the first timed AI or resynchronized timed AI. Holstein cows (n = 3938) in a confinement dairy in northeast Missouri were assigned to weekly cohorts (n = 22) on the basis of calving date. Cows were treated with “Presynch Ovsynch” (PGF2α, 14 days; PGF2α, 14 days; GnRH, 7 days; PGF2α, 56 hours; GnRH, 16 hours; timed AI) so that the first timed AI was 70 to 76 days postpartum. The PGF2α was Lutalyse (5 mL; 25 mg; Zoetis). The GnRH product was either gonadorelin hydrochloride (2 mL; 100 μg; n = 1945) or gonadorelin diacetate tetrahydrate (2 mL; 100 μg; n = 1993) and alternated weekly for cows assigned to cohorts. There were first timed AI (n = 1790) and resynchronized timed AI (n = 2148) cows within each cohort. The resynchronization began 32 days after timed AI (GnRH, 6 days; ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis, 1 day; and then for nonpregnant cows: PGF2α, 56 hours; GnRH, 16 hours; timed AI). The trial was conducted from January to February 2012 (n = 1203) and July to October 2012 (n = 2735). Cows were fed a total mixed ration, milked thrice daily, and milk tested monthly for volume, somatic cell count (SCC), fat percentage, protein percentage, and milk urea nitrogen. Data were analyzed by fitting the binary response data to a generalized linear mixed model for repeated measures. There was no effect of the GnRH product (treatment) on P/AI (38.4 ± 1.2 vs. 35.7 ± 1.3; gonadorelin diacetate tetrahydrate vs. gonadorelin hydrochloride). Treatment interactions with parity, month of breeding, or insemination number were not significant. The first-service P/AI (38.8 ± 1.4%) was greater (P
Soil Diffusion System Enriches the Growth of Diverse and Previously Uncultivated Bacterial Taxa

Recent studies have demonstrated that culturing microorganisms in association with their native habitat promoted the growth of diverse and previously uncultivable bacteria. We developed a soil diffusion system (SDS) where soil microorganisms were inoculated and allowed to grow on regenerated cellulose filters (RCF) that were tightly coupled with the soil habitat. The objective of the study was to assess the influence of the native habitat and the biotic (microbe–microbe) and abiotic soil effects on the selective growth of microbial communities. Regenerated cellulose filters were used as support for the growing microbial community. A polycarbonate membrane (0.003-μm pore size) was inserted between the RCF and the soil to prevent the movement of bacteria and larger organisms. Three different SDS treatments were used to differentiate biotic and abiotic growth effects along with a control-SDS treatment and a traditional culturing medium. The treatments were: (i) inoculated RCF on unsterilized soil (BioticRCF), (ii) inoculated RCF on autoclave-sterilized soil (Abiotic-HNRCF), (iii) inoculated RCF without soil but amended with sterilized soil extracts (Abiotic-LNRCF), and (iv) sterilized cellulose–Congo red agar medium (CCRA). A fifth uninoculated RCF (UninocRCF) treatment on unsterilized soil was included as control to check for contamination from the soil, and all the treatments were replicated thrice. Following 20 d of incubation, the developing communities from all treatments were characterized using 16S rRNA gene clone libraries. Our results showed that nutrient levels had a small effect on the growing communities, and as hypothesized, the community growing in association with the unsterilized soil (BioticRCF) was the richest and most unique among all treatments. Previously uncultured members of the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and few members of Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, and OP10 were detected on the BioticRCF treatment. Members of the phylum Firmicutes were the dominating bacteria in abiotic treatments, followed by the members of phylum Planctomycetes. The CCRA medium supported the growth of a less diverse community, with ∼91% of the sequences closely related to isolates of the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes. The presence or absence of a living microbial community appears to have a significant impact on the richness and structure of bacterial community growth and development.
A genetic algorithm for solving the binning problem in networked applications detection

Network administrators need a tool that detects the kind of applications running on their networks, in order to allocate resources and enforce security policies. Previous work shows that applications can be detected by analyzing packet size distributions. Detection by packet size distribution is more efficient and accurate if the distribution is binned. An unbinned packet size distribution considers the occurrences of each packet size individually. In contrast, a binned packet size distribution considers the occurrences of packets within packet size ranges. This paper reviews some of the common methods for binning distributions and presents an improved approach to binning using a genetic algorithms to assist the detection of network applications.
Roots: Molecular basis of gene expression: Origins from the Pajama experiment

The Pajama (Pardee, Jacob, Monod) experiment provided a breakthrough in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which gene expression is regulated. Today, twenty-five years later it provides a paradigm for thinking about problems of gene expression, such as growth regulation and differentiation. From this experiment emerged entities such as repressors, regulatory genes, the operon as a group of jointly controlled genes, and messenger RNA.
Leukemia Mortality among Workers at the Savannah River Site

The authors investigated associations between ionizing radiation and leukemia mortality among workers at the Savannah River Site (South Carolina). A total of 18,883 workers hired between 1950 and 1986 were followed through 2002 to ascertain causes of death. Estimates of radiation doses from external sources and internal tritium uptakes were derived from dosimetry records through 1999. Radiation dose-mortality trends were evaluated for leukemia, leukemia excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and myeloid leukemia. A positive association was observed between leukemia mortality and radiation dose under a 3-year lag assumption (excess relative rate/10 mSv = 0.04, 90% confidence interval: -0.00, 0.12). The association was of larger magnitude for leukemia excluding chronic lymphocytic leukemia (excess relative rate/10 mSv = 0.08, 90% confidence interval: 0.01, 0.20) and myeloid leukemia (excess relative rate/10 mSv = 0.12, 90% confidence interval: 0.02, 0.35). Compared with males, females had less complete dosimetry information; when analyses were restricted to males, the estimated association for each cause of death increased slightly in magnitude and goodness of fit. Exposures accrued 3-15 years prior were more strongly related to leukemia than exposures in the more distant past. This study provides evidence of positive associations between radiation dose and leukemia mortality among Savannah River Site workers. The temporal patterns of association appear consistent with those in studies of populations exposed at higher dose rates.
Identification of Iron-Responsive, Differential Gene Expression in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC 6803 with a Customized Amplification Library

We describe the use of a method called differential expression using customized amplification library (DECAL) to study the global changes in gene expression in iron-deficient versus iron-reconstituting cells of Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803. We identified a number of genes, such as isiA, idiA, psbA, cpcG, and slr0374, whose expression either increased or decreased in response to iron availability. Further analysis led to the identification of additional genes related to those identified by DECAL (e.g., psbC, psbO, psaA, apcABC, cpcBAC1C2D, and nblA) that were differentially regulated by iron availability. Expression of cpcG, psbC, psbO, psaA, apcABC, and cpcBAC1C2D increased, whereas that of isiA, idiA, nblA, psbA, and slr0374 decreased, in iron-reconstituting cells. S1 nuclease protection studies showed that increased transcript levels of psbA in iron-deficient cells was due to the increased expression of both psbA2 and psbA3 genes, although the steady-state level of psbA2 remained higher than that of psbA3.
Educating surgeons for the new golden hours : Honing the skills of palliative care

All surgeons should maintain a lifetime commitment to education and learning. Those who already are in practice need to make the effort to obtain or refresh their education in basic competencies in palliative care and to provide a measured balance between philosophy and practical skills. Many resources and teaching tools are available to assist in this continuing process: surgical peers (and peers from other medical specialties),journals, textbooks, CME conferences, surgical governance and educational organizations, and palliative care websites. A tremendous summary article on palliative care education for surgeons was published recently in JACS[24]. Surgeons must be competent in the following palliative care skills:communication, holistic patient evaluation, control of pain and symptoms,understanding legal/ethical issues, withdrawing care, and the continuum of acute to chronic to terminal care. If they cannot attend to all of these areas individually, they need to be aware of the local, regional, and national resources that are available to assist the patient (or their surrogate decision maker) and themselves in the end-of-life arena. Consultations and referrals should be accomplished in such a manner that the patient does not feel abandoned by his/her surgeon at such a critical point in his/her life. Practicing surgeons also must be involved actively in the education of resident and medical students in didactic and clinical situations. Most importantly, they must model the appropriate behaviors for their charges personally, whether it be in the consultation room breaking bad news compassionately or at the bedside easing the path to the next world. In these golden hours, the educated surgeon who wields new and mighty resources can be the greatest champion of the patient who is at the end of life.
Differential effects on response bias of computer vs. conventional administration of a social science questionnaire: An exploratory methodological experiment

An experiment was performed to determine the bias-reducing effect of administering a social science questionnaire by computer. It was assumed-that subjects would regard typing answers directly into a computer as a situation which guaranteed them a greater sense of privacy and anonymity than the conventional situation wherein questionnaires or psychological tests are filled out by hand and then scrutinized, scored, and interpreted directly by other human beings. Based upon this assumption, two specific hypotheses were formulated: first, whenever the content of a question is regarded by a subject as highly personal and possibly disturbing, he will respond with greater honesty and candor under computer administration as opposed to conventional questionnaire administration; second, whenever an impersonal and emotionally neutral question is asked, no such difference in response tendency will occur. Results of the experiment tended to support both hypotheses.
Flexible textile antennas for body-worn communication

This paper presents an embroidered body-worn antenna using conductive fibers (E-fibers). The antenna's conductive surfaces were fabricated using precise and automated embroidering techniques to produce fully flexible and conformal antenna elements attached to regular fabrics and clothing. These E-fiber antennas offer desirable mechanical properties without undermining electrical performance for body-worn, on-clothing applications at radio frequencies (RF). In this study, we used an embroidered asymmetric meandered flare (AMF) dipole antenna to validate the textile antenna's performance. Its excellent RF performance was found comparable to conventional printed antennas. Therefore, these new E-fiber antennas may be integrated into scarves, handbags, shirts, coats or hand bands for convenient carefree health monitoring and wideband communications.
Data management techniques for fast function approximation

Computing and information technology is fundamentally changing the face of modern science. Traditional methods of performing scientific studies are now making way for the next generation of methods that use computing technology. However, the kinds of calculations that scientists wish to perform, and the ways in which they want to collect, archive and analyze information has posed several new challenges in data management and algorithm design. Achieving the goal of using computing technology effectively in scientific applications has become an important area of research in computer science, called eScience or data-driven science. Most data-driven scientific applications are aimed at studying and understanding some real world physical phenomenon. The general methodology followed by a scientist is to first model the physical phenomenon either directly from the mathematical equations governing the phenomenon, or from a large dataset of observations about the phenomenon. Recent advances in data management, data mining and machine learning have addressed numerous challenges that arise in this first stage of model building. However, the state of the art methods are inadequate in addressing challenges that arise in the second stage of a data driven scientific study, where the scientist uses the model she has built to help her understand the physical phenomenon, using tools such as computer simulation and visualization. This thesis identifies and addresses data management challenges that arise when a complex model built for a real world phenomenon is analyzed by a scientist to gain insights about the phenomenon. The first part of the thesis concentrates on high-dimensional function approximation (HFA), a problem relevant to virtually all applications that use computer simulation as the methodology for understanding complex models. We explore various aspects of HFA in depth, identify key data management problems, and propose solutions that significantly speedup long running scientific simulations. Besides computer simulation, visualizing low dimensional summaries of a complex model is another method commonly used by scientists to understand models. Most real world models are complex and involve thousands of attributes. In order to get a very good understanding of a model, a scientist generates a very large number of low dimensional summaries for the model. Generating large sets of summaries for a complex model presents a challenging data management task and the second part of the thesis develops scalable algorithms for solving this data management problem.
Enhancing Engagement in the Classroom for Students with ASD

Engagement is important for development and learning, and an area of need for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Experts recommend that children with ASD should be actively engaged for a...