cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Calculation of the estimated creatinine clearance in avoiding drug dosing errors in the older patient.

ABSTRACT Background The population of hospitalized older patients is increasing. We investigated whether clinicians accurately detected renal insufficiency in older patients and chose correct doses of commonly prescribed antibiotics. Methods We conducted a retrospective chart review of 1044 patients > 80 years admitted to the University of California Davis Medical Center between January and December 1997 with a diagnosis of infection. Inclusion criteria included data necessary to calculate creatinine clearance using the Cockroft-Gault equation and administration of any of the study antibiotics. Patients with unstable renal function, defined as an increase in creatinine of ≥ 1.0 mg/dL/day were excluded. Administered dosages of each study drug were compared with the appropriate adjusted doses. We examined the variables of age, weight, serum creatinine, and sex to determine whether any were individually predictive of dosing errors. Results Dosing errors were identified in all of the antibiotics studied, and the overall dosing error rate was 34%. The factors that were predictive of dosage errors were advanced age and low body weight. Serum creatinine and sex were not statistically significant factors. Conclusions Widespread errors in medication dosing are made in elderly hospitalized patients. The Cockroft-Gault equation reveals significant renal insufficiency requiring dose adjustments in most elderly patients studied, especially those > 85 years of age and with low body weight. Estimation of glomerular filtration rate should be performed routinely on all admitted patients older than 80 and in any patient with low lean body mass.
Newer Therapeutic Approaches: Gout

Newer approaches to the treatment of gout have included modifications and further attention to aspects of current therapies, and development of interesting new therapies. Colchicine prophylaxis appears to be needed longer than previously recognized after introduction of a urate-lowering agent. Diet has received attention, though most dietary effects are small. New agents under investigation include pegylated formulations of uricase and a new potent xanthine oxidase inhibitor, febuxostat. Some cardiovascular drugs have been shown to be uricosuric.
Treacher Collins Syndrome

Treacher Collins syndrome is a genetic disorder resulting in congenital craniofacial malformation. Patients typically present with downslanting palpebral fissures, lower eyelid colobomas, microtia, and malar and mandibular hypoplasia. This autosomal dominant disorder has a variable degree of phenotypic expression, and patients have no associated developmental delay or neurologic disease. Care for these patients requires a multidisciplinary team from birth through adulthood. Proper planning, counseling and surgical techniques are essential for optimizing patient outcomes. Here the authors review the features, genetics, and treatment of Treacher Collins syndrome.
George Washington's American Atlas

The Yale Map Department has the largest collection of maps in Connecticut and one of the largest university collections in the United States. Its collections are geographically comprehensive and consist of over 255,000 map sheets, of which 11,000 are rare maps (pre-1850). The collection also includes 30 globes, 3,000 atlases, and 900 cartographic reference books and journals. There are currently about 1,300 digital images of maps available through Orbis, Yale University Library’s online public access catalog (http:// orbis.library.yale.edu). Users can limit searches to the Map Collection and search “online map” as a keyword to find all records with digital maps.
Ultra-high-resolution NMR. IV. A simple technique for measurements of sample temperature gradients

La methode de mesure des gradients de temperature est basee sur le fait que deux resonances quelconques qui ont differentes dependances du deplacement chimique vis-a-vis de la temperature presentent un elargissement de raie spectrale different du aux gradients de deplacement chimique
Accretion-driven nonthermal phenomena

Arguments are presented which suggest that accretion disks around black holes and neutron stars may self-generate ordered magnetic fields, from currents associated with orbital motion of the disk material. This leads one to expect electromagnetic extraction of the rotational energy of the disk, and it is proposed that such a magnetic field is the ultimate source of various nonthermal phenomena in accreting ultracompact objects.
Iowa: The Most Representative State?

There are perhaps many good arguments for Iowa maintaining its “first in the nation” status, in terms of the presidential nomination process. The strongest, however, would seem to be an argument that it is representative of the nation as a whole. That is, somehow, Iowa is a microcosm of the national political forces, faithfully mirroring the relevant electoral structures and choices of the macro-stage. This belief is certainly held by some. Palo Alto County, in northwestern Iowa, has long been considered a presidential bellwether, faithfully voting with the winning candidate in a series beginning in 1916. But as media worthy as that fact might be, it seems most likely a product of chance, for its heavily rural, northern European-descended population make it far from demographically representative of contemporary America (Lewis-Beck and Rice 1992, 4–6). A similar charge is commonly made today against the state as a whole, by political commentators across the land. But is it true? Is Iowa really unrepresentative? That is the question we seek to answer.
A dynamic programming approach to two-stage mean-variance portfolio selection in cointegrated vector autoregressive systems

In this paper we study the problem of optimal portfolio construction when the trading horizon consists of two consecutive decision intervals and rebalancing is permitted. It is assumed that the log-prices of the underlying assets are non-stationary, and specifically follow a discrete-time cointegrated vector autoregressive model. We extend the classical Markowitz mean-variance optimization approach to a multi-period setting, in which the new objective is to maximize the total expected return, subject to a constraint on the total allowable risk. In contrast to traditional approaches, we adopt a definition for risk which takes into account the non-zero correlations between the inter-stage returns. This portfolio optimization problem amounts to not only determining the relative proportions of the assets to hold during each stage, but also requires one to determine the degree of portfolio leverage to assume. Due to a fixed constraint on the standard deviation of the total return, the leverage decision is equivalent to deciding how to optimally partition the allowed variance, and thus variance can be viewed as a shared resource between the stages. We derive the optimal portfolio weights and variance scheduling scheme for a trading strategy based on a dynamic programming approach, which is utilized in order to make the problem computationally tractable. The performance of this method is compared to other trading strategies using both Monte Carlo simulations and real data, and promising results are obtained.
Multi-vehicle path coordination in support of communication

This paper presents a framework for generating time-optimal velocity profiles for a group of path-constrained vehicle robots that have fixed and known initial and goal locations and are required to maintain communication connectivity. Each robot must follow a fixed and known path, arrive at its goal as quickly as possible (or at least not increase the time for the last robot to arrive at its goal) and stay in communication with other robots in the arena throughout its journey. The main contribution of this paper is the formulation of the problem as a discrete time nonlinear programming problem (NLP) with constraints on robot kinematics, dynamics, collision avoidance, and communication connectivity. We develop Partition Elimination constraints that assist in ensuring that the communication network is fully connected (no network partitions). These constraints are enforced only when network partitions would otherwise occur, an approach which significantly reduces the problem size and the required computational effort. In addition, we introduce path-constrained jammer robots with known paths and velocity profiles into the scenario. These jammer robots have an effective jamming range and disrupt all communications within this range. Except for the jammers, all robots must remain outside this jamming range at all times. We investigate the scalability of the proposed approach by testing scenarios involving up to fifty (50) robots. Solutions demonstrate (i) the trade off between the arrival time and the communication connectivity requirements in scenarios with and without jamming; and (ii) the dependence of computation time on the number of robots.
Corrosion of Aluminum Current Collectors in High-Power Lithium-Ion Batteries for Use in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

The aluminum current collectors of 11 cycle-life tested Advance Technology Development (ATD) batteries were investigated for evidence of corrosion. The batteries were commercially fabricated and were charge/discharge cycled at temperatures of 25 and 45°C. Our findings clearly show that aluminum current collectors covered with porous cathodes of LiNi 0.8 Co 0.15 Al 0.5 O 2 are susceptible to significant crevice corrosion in ethylene carbonate (EC) + ethylmethyl carbonate (EMC) (3:7) with 1.2 M LiPF 6 . Aluminum current collectors of uncycled ATD cells contain mechanical pits formed during the attachment of the cathode, but with cycling at 25°C there is an increase in percentage of pit area, in the number of pits, in the pit-size-distribution, and in pit depth, which is strong evidence of corrosion of aluminum current collectors of ATD cells. The formation of corrosion pits was confirmed by the presence of corrosion products inside pits and by the pits' surface morphology. Because corrosion of the aluminum current collectors produces corrosion pits, corrosion of mechanical pits, cracks in the aluminum foil, significant concentrations of aluminum (∼2,700 ppm) in the ATD electrolytes, and possible mechanical degradation of the cathode, corrosion is expected to significantly effect the battery's power fade and capacity fade.
Treatment approaches and nursing considerations for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Objective To discuss some common non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma subtypes, and current systemic approaches including chemotherapy, monoclonal antibodies, radioimmunotherapy, and vaccines. Data Sources Research and review articles, textbooks, and guidelines Conclusion Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is one of the most common types of malignancies for both men and women. It manifests itself in the lymph nodes, bone marrow, and extranodal sites, with or without B symptoms (fevers, sweats, weight loss) and it continues to be on the rise. Recent advances in treatment options have improved the potential for cure within its various subtypes, although much more work remains to be done. Implications for Nursing Practice Management of side effects remains a major challenge to nurses when caring for patients undergoing treatment.
Numerical Simulation of electromagnetic scattering induced by an overfilled cavity in the ground plane

A finite element method (FEM) is implemented to analyze the scattering of a plane wave incident on a two-dimensional (2-D) overfilled cavity embedded in the infinite ground plane. The algorithm is based on a variational formulation where an artificial boundary condition is introduced on a hemisphere enclosing the cavity that couples the fields from the infinite exterior domain to those inside. Since the problem is solved exactly in the exterior domain, the radar cross section (RCS) can be computed efficiently. Our numerical solutions compare well with existing results. The perfect link over the artificial boundary between the FEM approximation in the interior and analytical solution in the exterior indicates the reliability of the method. A convergence analysis is also performed.
Electrical properties of dislocations in ultra-pure germanium

Defect states due to grown-in dislocations in ultrapure p-type germanium have been observed using Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) and Hall effect. These states are found to be composed of two bands of acceptor type levels whose energy and half width are influenced by both the presence of hydrogen and the crystal growth direction. At a net acceptor concentration of 1010 cm−3 a threshold dislocation density of ∼ 104 cm−2 is required for the observation of dislocation bands.
Folding DNA to create nanoscale shapes and patterns

'Bottom-up fabrication', which exploits the intrinsic properties of atoms and molecules to direct their self-organization, is widely used to make relatively simple nanostructures. A key goal for this approach is to create nanostructures of high complexity, matching that routinely achieved by 'top-down' methods. The self-assembly of DNA molecules provides an attractive route towards this goal. Here I describe a simple method for folding long, single-stranded DNA molecules into arbitrary two-dimensional shapes. The design for a desired shape is made by raster-filling the shape with a 7-kilobase single-stranded scaffold and by choosing over 200 short oligonucleotide 'staple strands' to hold the scaffold in place. Once synthesized and mixed, the staple and scaffold strands self-assemble in a single step. The resulting DNA structures are roughly 100 nm in diameter and approximate desired shapes such as squares, disks and five-pointed stars with a spatial resolution of 6 nm. Because each oligonucleotide can serve as a 6-nm pixel, the structures can be programmed to bear complex patterns such as words and images on their surfaces. Finally, individual DNA structures can be programmed to form larger assemblies, including extended periodic lattices and a hexamer of triangles (which constitutes a 30-megadalton molecular complex).
Portal vein pulsatility in normal and cirrhotic adults without cardiac disease

The literature indicates that Doppler demonstration of pulsatile flow in the portal vein suggests heart disease, and that retrograde transsinusoidal transmission of atrial pulsations is the mechanism. We noninvasively investigated portal vein pulsatility (PVP) in normal subjects and in patients with cardiac and liver disease, and performed invasive studies in cirrhotic humans and normal pigs. We found that accentuated PVP occurred in some normal subjects and in some patients with cirrhosis, and that mechanisms other than transsinusoidal transmission of atrial pulsations contributed to PVP. Determinants of PVP may include pulsatile portal inflow, transmission of pulsations from the vena cava (IVC) and location of the Doppler sample volume relative to the IVC. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Development of a pivot bearing supported sealless centrifugal pump for ventricular assist

Since 1991, in our laboratory, a pivot bearing-supported, sealless, centrifugal pump has been developed as an implantable ventricular assist device (VAD). For this application, the configuration of the total pump system should be relatively small. The C1E3 pump developed for this purpose was anatomically compatible with the small-sized patient population. To evaluate an-tithrombogenicity, ex vivo 2-week screening studies were conducted instead of studies involving an intracorpore-ally implanted VADs using calves. Five paracorporeal LVAD studies were performed using calves for longer than 2 weeks. The activated clotting time (ACT) was maintained at approximately 250 s using heparin. All of the devices demonstrated trouble-free performances over 2 weeks. Among these 5 studies, 3 implantations were subjected to 1-month system validation studies. There were no device-induced thrombus formations inside the pump housing, and plasma-free hemoglobin levels in calves were within the normal range throughout the experiment (35, 34, and 31 days). There were no incidents of system malfunction. Subsequently, the mass production model was fabricated and yielded a normalized index of hemolysis of 0.0014, which was comparable to that of clinically available pumps. The wear life of the impeller bearings was estimated at longer than 8 years. In the next series of in vivo studies, an implantable model of the C1E3 pump will be fabricated for longer term implantation. The pump-actuator will be implanted inside the body; thus the design calls for substituting plastic for metallic parts.
Coupled afterslip and viscoelastic flow following the 2002 Denali Fault, Alaska earthquake

SUMMARY Models of postseismic deformation following the 2002 M 7.9 Denali Fault, Alaska earthquake provide insight into the rheologic structure of the Alaskan lithosphere and the physical processes activated following a large earthquake. We model coseismic GPS displacements and 4 yr of postseismic GPS position time-series with a coupled model of afterslip on the fault in the lithosphere and distributed viscous flow in the asthenosphere. Afterslip is assumed to be governed by a simplified version of a laboratory-derived rate-strengthening friction law that is characterized with a single parameter, σ(a−b), where σ is the effective normal stress on the fault and a−b is a dimensionless empirical parameter. Afterslip is driven by coseismic stress changes on the fault generated by the main shock. The lithosphere is modelled as an elastic plate overlying a linear, Maxwell, viscoelastic asthenosphere. We devise a scheme to simultaneously estimate the distributions of coseismic slip and afterslip, friction parameters, lithosphere thickness and asthenosphere viscosity. The postseismic GPS time-series are best reproduced with a 45–85 km thick elastic lithosphere overlying an asthenosphere of viscosity 0.6–1.5 × 1019 Pa s. The 45–85 km elastic lithosphere thickness is greater than or equal to the average crustal thickness in the region suggesting that distributed postseismic flow occurs largely within the mantle while postseismic deformation in the crust is confined largely to slip on a discrete fault penetrating the entire crust and perhaps into the uppermost mantle. For typical laboratory values of a−b of order 10−2 at temperatures corresponding to the inferred depth of afterslip, the estimated effective normal stress on the fault is ∼50 MPa, which is about an order of magnitude lower than effective normal stresses at hydrostatic pore pressure. Previous studies showed that models with linear Newtonian rheology cannot reproduce the observed GPS time-series but that models incorporating non-linear or biviscous flow of the mantle do fit the data. We show that a model with afterslip governed by a non-linear fault zone rheology coupled to Newtonian mantle flow is sufficient to reproduce the GPS time-series.
Learning by Doing vs. Learning About Match Quality: Can We Tell Them Apart?

Understanding the accumulation of match-specific capital is crucial in shedding light on the reasons for the prevalence of long-term employ- ment relationships and on the welfare consequences of turnover in the labor market. One of the most important source of match-specific capital is human capital acquired through match-specific learning. Such learn- ing can take on two distinct forms. In the first case, workers accumulate match-specific human capital through learning-by-doing. In the second case, a worker and a firm in an employment relationship learn about the quality of the match over time, thereby acquiring valuable information. I construct a structural model that embeds these two learning explana- tions. I show that it is possible to distinguish the two explanations given turnover data on employing firms coupled with data on workers. Such data now exist in the form of matched employer-employee data sets. I use a matched French data set to estimate the structural model using the Efficient Method of Moments, a simulation-based estimation method. I find that, while learning-by-doing could be present in the first few months of an employment relationship, learning about match quality dominates at tenures above half a year. This finding has important consequences for economists' understanding of the sources of match-specific capital and for the desirability of policies that alter the incentives for turnover for workers of different tenure.
Relationship between the p and s Fresnel reflection coefficients of an interface independent of angle of incidence

The Fresnel reflection coefficients rp and rs of p- and s-polarized light at the planar interface between two linear isotropic media are found to be interrelated by (rs − rp)/(1 − rsrp) = cos 2β, independent of the angle of incidence ϕ, where tan2β = ∊ and ∊ is the (generally complex) ratio of dielectric constants of the media of refraction and incidence. This complements another relation (found earlier), (rs2 − rp)/(rs − rsrp) = cos 2ϕ, which is valid at a given ϕ independent of ∊ (i.e., for all possible interfaces). Taken together, these two equations specify rp and rs completely and can be used to replace the original Fresnel equations.
Best practice updates for pediatric/adolescent weight loss surgery.

The objective of this study is to update evidence-based best practice guidelines for pediatric/adolescent weight loss surgery (WLS). We performed a systematic search of English-language literature on WLS and pediatric, adolescent, gastric bypass, laparoscopic gastric banding, and extreme obesity published between April 2004 and May 2007 in PubMed, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library. Keywords were used to narrow the search for a selective review of abstracts, retrieval of full articles, and grading of evidence according to systems used in established evidence-based models. In light of evidence on the natural history of obesity and on outcomes of WLS in adolescents, guidelines for surgical treatment of obesity in this age group need to be updated. We recommend modification of selection criteria to include adolescents with BMI ≥ 35 and specific obesity-related comorbidities for which there is clear evidence of important short-term morbidity (i.e., type 2 diabetes, severe steatohepatitis, pseudotumor cerebri, and moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea). In addition, WLS should be considered for adolescents with extreme obesity (BMI ≥ 40) and other comorbidities associated with long-term risks. We identified >1,085 papers; 186 of the most relevant were reviewed in detail. Regular updates of evidence-based recommendations for best practices in pediatric/adolescent WLS are required to address advances in technology and the growing evidence base in pediatric WLS. Key considerations in patient safety include carefully designed criteria for patient selection, multidisciplinary evaluation, choice of appropriate procedure, thorough screening and management of comorbidities, optimization of long-term compliance, and age-appropriate fully informed consent.
What's in a Name? Patients’ Preferred Terms for Describing Obesity

Objective: To determine the terms that obese individuals find undesirable or desirable for their doctors to use to describe excess weight of 27.3 kg (i.e., 50 lb) or more. Research Methods and Procedures: The study surveyed 167 women and 52 men with a mean BMI of 35.3 and 35.1 kg/m2, respectively, who participated in one of two randomized trials on the treatment of obesity. An additional sample consisted of 105 extremely obese women (i.e., mean BMI of 52.5 kg/m2) who sought bariatric surgery. Patients rated the desirability of 11 terms used to describe excess weight. Ratings were made on five-point scales, ranging from very desirable (+2) to neutral (0) to very undesirable (−2). Results: Obese women (N = 167) rated as undesirable to very undesirable the terms fatness (mean rating = −1.8), excess fat (−1.4), obesity (−1.4), and large size (−1.3). These four terms were rated as significantly more (all p ≤ 0.001) undesirable than the seven remaining descriptors, which included weight, heaviness, BMI, excess weight, unhealthy body weight, weight problem, and unhealthy BMI. The term weight received a mean rating of 1.1, a value significantly more (all p ≤ 0.001) desirable than that for all other descriptors. Highly similar ratings of the terms were provided by obese men (N = 52) and extremely obese women (N = 105). Discussion: Practitioners may wish to avoid the use of potentially derogatory terms such as fatness and obesity when broaching the topic of weight management with patients.
Safety by design and future developments

With the giant leaps that technology has taken in the past few years, some professions are still largely artistic. A good example of this is the profession of design. Designers produce products that are efficient, attractive, practical, but not safe. This is because most Universities around the world fail to include safety and health issues into their curriculum. To overcome that flaw, a rule-based tool was designed to assist designers in pointing out the unsafe conditions in their designs. This tool, that utilizes expert systems technologies, took five years to reach its current version. The tool is called TEXPERT. The latest version of TEXPERT underwent a number of changes and continued growth. This year's efforts resulted in the selection of a focus area and investigations into the selection of two technologies (demolition and decontamination- D&D) by which to validate the program. Validation and expansion of the rule-base continued with an emphasis on those components necessary for D&D. Research in object-oriented prototypes, determination of report-format and approach, and development of an initial visual project builder interface were also accomplished. Latest accomplishments included the development of new components, two-way interactions, and the implementation of a maintainable component database that the user interface can use to build the current library that will be available in the menu system.
User Interface Management Techniques for Collaborative Mobile Augmented Reality

Mobile Augmented Reality Systems (MARS) have the potential to revolutionize the way in which information is provided to users. Virtual information can be directly integrated with the real world surrounding the mobile user, who can interact with it to display related information, to pose and resolve queries, and to collaborate with other users. However, we believe that the benefits of MARS will only be achieved if the user interface (UI) is actively managed so as to maximize the relevance and minimize the confusion of the virtual material relative to the real world. This article addresses some of the steps involved in this process, focusing on the design and layout of the mobile user’s overlaid virtual environment. The augmented view of the user’s surroundings presents an interface to context-dependent operations, many of which are related to the objects in view—the augmented world is the user interface. We present three user interface design techniques that are intended to make this interface as obvious and clear to the user as possible: information filtering, UI component design, and view management. Information filtering helps select the most relevant information to present to the user. UI component designdetermines the format in which this information should be conveyed, based on the available display resources and tracking accuracy. For example, the absence of high accuracy position tracking would favor body- or screenstabilized components over world-stabilized ones that would need to be exactly registered with the physical objects to which they refer. View management attempts to ensure that the virtual objects that are displayed visually are arranged appropriately with regard to their projections on the view plane. For example, the relationships among objects should be as unambiguous as possible, and physical or virtual objects should not obstruct the user’s view of more important physical or virtual objects in the scene. We illustrate these interface design techniques using our prototype collaborative, cross-site MARS environment, which is composed of mobile and non-mobile augmented reality and virtual reality systems.
Comments on "Sinc interpolation of discrete periodic signals

In a recent paper by T. Schanze (see ibid., vol.43, p.1502-3, 1995) the convolution of the sinc kernel with the infinite sequence of a periodic function was expressed as a finite summation. The expression obtained, however, is not numerically stable when evaluated at or near integer values of time. This correspondence presents a numerically stable formulation that is equivalent to the results reported in the above-cited paper and that, when sampled, is also shown to be equivalent to the inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT).
Accumulation of retained nonfunctional arteriovenous grafts correlates with severity of inflammation in asymptomatic ESRD patients

Background. The contribution of multiple retained nonfunctional arteriovenous grafts (AVGs) to the burden of chronic inflammation in chronic hemodialysis patients has not been well studied. Here, we sought to evaluate the association between plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and albumin and the number of retained nonfunctional AVGs. Methods. This cross-sectional study enrolled 91 prevalent patients undergoing in-center hemodialysis without evidence of infection or inflammation. A baseline blood sample was obtained at study enrollment. A general linear model (GLM) was used to compare levels of biomarkers of systemic inflammation across groups defined by the number of retained, nonfunctional AVGs. Results. A total of 43 patients had one or more retained thrombosed AVG and had significantly greater plasma logCRP levels compared with patients without a previous AVG (P = 0.036), regardless of the current AV access type. Using a GLM, we found that for every additional retained thrombosed AVG, plasma log-CRP, log-IL-6 and TNF-alpha concentrations increased significantly by 0.30 mg/L (P = 0.011), 0.18 pg/mL (P = 0.046) and 0.72 pg/mL (P = 0.046), respectively, following adjustment. Conclusions. Hence, the severity of inflammation increases with the number of retained nonfunctional AVG’s, suggesting that AVG accumulation may contribute to the cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with chronic inflammation in asymptomatic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Further study is indicated to determine whether patients with one or more thrombosed, retained AVG may benefit from periodic screening with CRP monitoring to identify those patients who may benefi tf rom AVG resection.
Geostatistical analysis of allele presence patterns among American black bears in eastern North Carolina

Abstract Highways are one of the leading causes of wildlife habitat fragmentation and may particularly affect wide-ranging species, such as American black bears (Ursus americanus). We initiated a research project in 2000 to determine potential effects of a 4-lane highway on black bear ecology in Washington County, North Carolina. The research design included a treatment area (highway construction) and a control area and a pre- and post-construction phase. We used data from the pre-construction phase to determine whether we could detect scale dependency or directionality among allele occurrence patterns using geostatistics. Detection of such patterns could provide a powerful tool to measure the effects of landscape fragmentation on gene flow. We sampled DNA from roots of black bear hair at 70 hair-sampling sites on each study area for 7 weeks during fall of 2000. We used microsatellite analysis based on 10 loci to determine unique multi-locus genotypes. We examined all alleles sampled at ≥25 sites on each ...
Rethinking the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in Early Rasmussen Encephalitis: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

Abstract Objective We present a child with Rasmussen encephalitis and highlight the pitfalls of diagnosis when magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is negative for atrophy. We review the literature regarding this issue, introduce the FreeSurfer software as a potential means of noninvasive diagnosis, and discuss methods for prompt and definitive treatment. Methods In addition to the patient description, we review the English language literature regarding pathologic diagnosis of Rasmussen encephalitis using the key words Rasmussen encephalitis, focal lesions, MRI, atrophy, epilepsia partialis continua and hemiparesis in PubMed. We conducted a retrospective, volumetric analysis of our patient's MRIs using FreeSurfer. Results Unlike the majority of patients in the literature with Rasmussen encephalitis, our patient's initial MRI was normal and later showed only a small area of T2 and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery high signal despite the presence of epilepsia partialis continua and a rapidly deteriorating clinical course. She did not meet the Rasmussen encephalitis diagnostic criteria until biopsy was obtained but is now seizure-free after functional hemispherotomy performed six months after her initial seizure. FreeSurfer analysis did not show cortical atrophy. Conclusion The Bien criteria have poor sensitivity for the diagnosis of Rasmussen encephalitis when the MRI is negative for atrophy. Tissue diagnosis is essential in such instances. We suggest a high clinical index of suspicion and multidisciplinary collaboration between radiology, pathology, and neurosurgery to facilitate a greater emphasis on biopsy followed by hemispherotomy as definitive therapy for individuals with early Rasmussen encephalitis.
Asian American Socioeconomic Achievement: The Strength of the Family Bond

The analysis emphasizes the need to examine structural and cultural factors in the sending and receiving countries over a historical process to understand how immigrants are incorporated in American society. The article argues that Chinese were slower to make the transition from sojourner to immigrant due to structural characteristics of Chinese village society; whereas Japanese immigrants were not tied by strong family bonds to Japan and made a more rapid transition. The differential timing of family formation and family-run businesses in America account for the more rapid assimilation of Japanese Americans. Changing labor markets after World War II provided new opportunity structures favorable to the socioeconomic mobility of native-born Chinese and Japanese Americans.
Quantification of Antifungal Drug Voriconazole in Serum and Plasma by HPLC-UV

A simple, sensitive and rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the determination of voriconazole in human serum or plasma was developed. Voriconazole and internal standard clonazepam were extracted from plasma or serum with methanol and analyzed on a Microsorb-MV C18 column with ultraviolet (UV) detection set at wavelengths of 256 and 310 nm, respectively. The calibration curve was linear through the range of 0.1-10 mg/L using a 0.1 mL sample volume. The within-run and between-run precisions were all less than 6%. Accuracies ranged from 97 to 106%. Absolute recovery was 96.4 ± 1.3% for voriconazole. The method has been applied to monitor voriconazole use in order to ascertain clinical efficacy and minimize toxic effects.
Neuroscience: Fault tolerance in the brain

If stored information is erased from neural circuits in one brain hemisphere in mice, the lost data can be recovered from the other. This finding highlights a safeguarding mechanism at work in the brain. See Article p.459 It is thought that the meanings of words and language are represented in a semantic system distributed across much of the cerebral cortex. However, little is known about the detailed functional and anatomical organization of this network. Alex Huth, Jack Gallant and colleagues set out to map the functional representations of semantic meaning in the human brain using voxel-based modelling of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings made while subjects listened to natural narrative speech. They find that each semantic concept is represented in multiple semantic areas, and each semantic area represents multiple semantic concepts. The recovered semantic maps are largely consistent across subjects, however, providing the basis for a semantic atlas that can be used for future studies of language processing. An interactive version of the atlas can be explored at http://gallantlab.org/huth2016 .
Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana).

Mangosteen is an evergreen tree native to Southeast Asian countries, including India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Its reddish to dark purple fruit, with white juicy edible pulp, is considered one of the best tasting tropical fruits. Mangosteen has a long history of medicinal use to treat skin infections, wounds, and dysentery; in ayurveda, it is used for inflammation, diarrhea, and cholera.
The use of informed assent in withholding cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the ICU.

Informed assent, in which the family or surrogate decision makers for a patient are invited to defer to clinicians' judgment rather than specifically consenting to withholding or withdrawing futile treatments, is consistent with quality care and may protect surrogates from feeling responsible for the patient’s death.
Microtubule Gliding Formation on Curved Surfaces

We seek to understand how to organize microtubules using simple kinesin-1 gliding assays. Much prior work has spent time of designing surface patterns, using electric fields, and other schemes to organize the patterns. We are interested in the effect of surface curvature on organizing the microtubules. Specifically, what feature size and curvature is needed to cause microtubules to align with the surface feature? We are using PDMS surfaces that have been stretched to cause surface wrinkles as a curved surface in the gliding assay. The wrinkle curvature can be tuned by the stretching of the film. We find that high curvature wrinkles, which can be made in thin films of nitrocellulose, cause microtubule alignment, but lower curvature wrinkles in PDMS can allow perpendicular direction motion.
Meta-Analysis Study of Clonidine in ADHD

The literature on the clinical use of clonidine for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), from 1980-1999, was reviewed at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA.
CRT-600.04 Efficacy Of Alirocumab And Evolocumab In Lowering Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol To Less Than 70 mg/dL In 107 High-risk Hypercholesterolemic Patients

Reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC) to <70 mg/dL is optimal in high-risk patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). In 107 high-risk, high LDLC patients (70 intolerant to any statin dose-sequence), only 3 (3%) had entry LDLC <70 mg/dL on a maximal tolerated LDLC lowering regimen
Case of gluteal haematoma in the setting of dual antiplatelet overlapping with tumoural calcinosis of the hip.

A woman aged 40 years with medical history of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on haemodialysis. Eight months earlier to this presentation, she underwent coronary angioplasty with two drug-eluting stents due to myocardial infarction. She had been on aspirin and ticagrelor since that time. She presented to the emergency department with severe sudden-onset left hip pain. She did not recall any trauma or any precipitating factors. She had severe tenderness around her left hip joint with marked decreased range of movement. There was no visible ecchymosis or bruises on examination. The left hip joint X-ray (figure 1) showed calcified mass overlying the posterior and lateral aspects of the left greater trochanter …
Metaphoric Cartography as Dual-Layered Practitioner Inquiry: Arts-Based Educational Research in the Construction of Place.

ABSTRACTAs place is intimately tied to students' lived experiences, investigations into place can illuminate knowledge of students, schools, and communities and serve as inspiration for future place-based curricular endeavors. This study, through a dual-layered, arts-based educational research (ABER) design, offered student teachers the opportunity to conduct firsthand, sensory investigations into place, the spaces of their larger teaching context, and allowed their instructor to examine their learning of place and consider implications for the practice of teacher education. Through psychogeographically wandering and mapping their school zones, student teachers developed understandings of the physical landscape, mental conceptions of place, and fledgling critical geographies. These critical geographies represented mergers of place, student lived experience, and critical pedagogy as student teachers began to reconceptualize their teaching practice in terms of place. Through the act of sculpturally and meta...
Impact of Polypharmacy on Seniors' Self-Perceived Health Status.

OBJECTIVES Polypharmacy is common among older patients and is linked to increased risk of adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to explore the association of polypharmacy and self-perceived health status (SPHS) among geriatric patients. METHODS This cross-sectional analysis of longitudinal observational research used national survey data from 2005-2008. Multivariate logistic regressions examined the likelihood of having a good/poor SPHS and polypharmacy. Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data provided by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality were used in this study. Overall, SPHS was assessed using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey health and well-being variable. Polypharmacy status was defined when patients were taking ≥5 medications. RESULTS The study included a total of 102,309,656 weighted individuals reported from the survey of 4775 actual individuals from 2005-2008. Patients' mean age was 74.7 years (standard error ± 0.138), and 58.1% were women, 87.3% were white, 55.2% were married, and 37.3% were from the southern region of the United States. Approximately 69.4% of patients reported polypharmacy. The most prevalent disease reported was hypertension (62.7%). We evaluated demographic and clinical characteristics based on SPHS and polypharmacy status. Overall, 78.09% of seniors reported their SPHS as good, whereas 21.91% reported their SPHS as poor. Among polypharmacy users, 72.52% reported good SPHS and 27.48% reported poor SPHS. Among older adults who were nonpolypharmacy users, 90.8% reported good and 9.02% reported poor SPHS. Logistic regression adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic factors showed that nonpolypharmacy users are approximately three times more likely to report their SPHS as good (odds ratio 2.75; 95% confidence interval 2.12-3.57, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Nonpolypharmacy users perceived their health status to be better than did polypharmacy users. Interventions to reduce polypharmacy may improve SPHS. One such intervention, medication reconciliation, may have a positive ripple effect on the patient-centered care delivery system.
Diabetic Retinopathy and the Cascade into Vision Loss

Vision loss from diabetic retinopathy should be unnecessary for patients with access to diabetic retinopathy screening, yet it still occurs at high rates and in varied contexts. Precisely because v...
Understanding Performance Differences of FPGAs and GPUs: (Abtract Only)

The notorious power wall has significantly limited the scaling for general-purpose processors. To address this issue, various accelerators, such as GPUs and FPGAs, emerged to achieve better performance and energy-efficiency. Between these two programmable accelerators, a natural question arises: which applications are better suited for FPGAs, which for GPUs, and why? In this paper, our goal is to better understand the performance differences between FPGAs and GPUs and provide more insights to the community. We intentionally start with a widely used GPU-friendly benchmark suite Rodinia, and port 11 of the benchmarks (15 kernels) onto FPGAs using the more portable and programmable high-level synthesis C. We provide a simple five-step strategy for FPGA accelerator designs that can be easily understood and mastered by software programmers, and present a quantitative performance breakdown of each step. Then we propose a set of performance metrics, including normalized operations per cycle (OPC_norm) for each pipeline, and effective parallel factor (effective_para_factor), to compare the performance of GPU and FPGA accelerator designs. We find that for 6 out of the 15 kernels, today's FPGAs can provide comparable performance or even achieve better performance, while only consume about 1/10 of GPUs' power (both on the same technology node). We observe that FPGAs usually have higher OPC_norm in most kernels in light of their customized deep pipeline but lower effective_para_factor due to far lower memory bandwidth than GPUs. Future FPGAs should increase their off-chip bandwidth and clock frequency to catch up with GPUs.
Gender differences in hypertension.

Purpose of reviewThe review is a short discussion of sex/gender differences in blood pressure control with a focus on gender differences in hypertension awareness, prevalence, and treatment, the new American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines, and recent discoveries in anima
Comparison of forest age estimators using k-tree, fixed-radius, and variable-radius plot sampling

Quantifying the age characteristics of a forest can provide valuable information about the forest’s impact on the environment. For instance, the age of a forest can affect the ecosystem’s carbon ex...
The Trade Dress Emperor's New Clothes: Why Trade Dress Does Not Belong on the Principal Register

We take it largely for granted today that the Trademark Act of 1946 permits the registration of trade dress on the principal register, but that has not always been the rule. Until 1958, the Patent and Trademark Office, following Congress's intent expressed in the Act's plain language and legislative history, excluded trade dress from the principal register as a matter of law. In 1958, Assistant Commissioner Daphne Robert Leeds changed the rule and allowed the registration of a product package as a trademark on the principal register. Unable to find any legitimate basis for reading the Trademark Act to permit trade dress on the principal register, Leeds simply asserted her desired result as conclusion, willfully replacing Congress's decision on the issue with her own. Time has largely erased our memories of trade dress's dubious claim to the principal register. And courts, over the last twenty years, have crafted an extensive regime of federal trade dress protection out of Leeds's erroneous interpretation. Yet, even today, a fair-minded review of the Trademark Act of 1946 and its legislative history reveals that there is no lawful basis for allowing trade dress on the principal register. As with the Emperor and his new clothes, the only real question is whether, following its revelation, courts and the Patent and Trademark Office are willing to recognize this naked truth.
Colony growth of human leukemic peripheral blood cells in vitro.

The colony-forming potential of peripheral white blood cells from patients with acute leukemia on normal human peripheral WBC feeder layers has been studied. White blood cells from 12 of 20 patients with acute granulocytic leukemia gave rise to large numbers of colonies, while WBC from eight patients with AGL, four patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia and three patients with acute stem cell leukemia gave rise to no colonies or only small numbers. Colonies formed from WBC of patients with AGL appear to go through a process of morphologic maturation to segmented granulocyte forms. Leukemic WBC will not serve as feeder layers in this system, but are not inhibitory in this respect. The significance of these findings is discussed.
Characteristics of Proof Tasks

In this chapter, we will have a close look at the essential characteristics of the proof obligations which arise from the application and which are supposed to be processed by an automated inference system. These characteristics can be classified into different categories: syntactic- and size-related issues, logic-related issues and validity, and system-related issues.