cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Providing situation awareness assistance to users of large-scale, dynamic, complex virtual environments

As virtual environments grow in complexity, size, and scope users will be increasingly challenged in assessing the situation in them. This will occur because of the difficulty in determining where to focus attention and in assimilating and assessing the information as it floods in. One technique for providing this type of assistance is to provide the user with a first-person, immersive, synthetic environment observation post, an observatory, that permits unobtrusive observation of the environment without interfering with the activity in the environment. However, for large, complex synthetic environments this type of support is not sufficient because the mere portrayal of raw, unanalyzed data about the objects in the virtual space can overwhelm the user with information. To address this problem, which exists in both real and virtual environments, we are investigating the forms of situation awareness assistance needed by users of large-scale virtual environments and the ways in which a virtual environment can be used to improve situation awareness of real-world environments. A technique that we have developed is to allow a user to place analysis modules throughout the virtual environment. Each module provides summary information concerning the importance of the activity in its portion of the virtual environment to the user. Our prototype system, called the Sentinel, is embedded within a virtual environment observatory and provides situation awareness assistance for users within a large virtual environment.
Controllable, Sequential, and Stereoselective C-H Allylic Alkylation of Alkenes.

The direct conversion of C–H bonds into new C–C bonds represents a powerful approach to generate complex molecules from simple starting materials. However, a general and controllable method for the...
Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Delivery of Anti-tumor Agents and Brachytherapy in Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma responds poorly to systemic cytotoxic regimens due to this cancer being particularly hypovascular and rich with stroma. Pancreatic cancers are also difficult to surgically resect given their anatomical location and proximity to nearby organs and vessels [1]. As a result, endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle injection (EUS-FNI) of anti-tumor agents and EUS-guided brachytherapy have gained significant interest as innovative methods to treat pancreatic cancer. EUS-FNI delivery of anti-tumor agents, including cytoimplant, gene therapy, gemcitabine and immunotherapy have been used to treat pancreatic cancer. In brachytherapy, EUS is used to selectively deliver radioactive seeds into cancerous tissue, which minimizes injury to nearby non-cancerous tissue. The following chapter reviews advances made in both of these promising areas.
Single Chlamydomonas reinhardi (C. reinhardtii) cell separation from bacterial cells and auto-fluorescence tracking with a nano-sieve device

A planar, transparent, and adaptable nano-sieve device is developed for efficient microalgae/bacteria separation. In our strategy, a sacrificial layer is applied in the dual photolithography patterning to achieve a one-dimensional channel with a very low aspect ratio (1:10,000). Microalgae/bacteria mixture is then introduced into the deformable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nano-channel. The hydrodynamic deformation of the nano-channel is regulated to allow the bacteria cells to pass through while leaving the microalgae cells trapped in the device. At a flow rate of 4 microliter/min, ~100% of the microalgae cells are trapped in the device. Additionally, this device is capable of immobilizing single cells in a transparent channel for auto-fluorescence tracking. These microalgae cells demonstrate minimal photo-bleaching over 250 s laser exposure and can be used to monitor hazardous compounds in the sample with a continuous flow fashion. Our method will be valuable to purify microalgae samples containing contaminations and study single cell heterogeneity.
Population genomic and phenotype diversity of invasive Drosophila suzukii in Hawai‘i

In the context of evolutionary theory, invasion biology provides a fantastic enigma: how does a species with limited standing genetic variation survive and adapt to a novel environment? Reduced genetic diversity is typically associated with low fitness and evolutionary potential, yet some introduced species have proven to be successful invaders despite undergoing a genetic bottleneck during the early stages of colonization. Our goal in this study was to characterize population genomic and phenotype diversity of invasive Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) since colonizing the Hawaiian archipelago as early as the 1980s. Wing phenotype analysis revealed that high altitude populations possessed significantly larger wings than low altitude populations, supporting the hypothesis that insects cope with high altitude environments by developing larger wings. While we discovered low genetic diversity and differentiation in all Hawai‘i populations, three unique genetic clusters were detected with a model-free, multivariate statistical approach. We identified 23 candidate loci under selection using two complementary analyses to detect FST outliers across the genome. For 12 of these loci, predicted proteins are associated with Drosophila spp. chemosensation, amino acid and sodium ion transport, a Ras effector pathway, and cytidine deamination. Despite a genetic bottleneck, adventive D. suzukii populations are beginning to differentiate across the Hawaiian archipelago and selection for key behavioral and cellular processes are likely ongoing.
Trajectories of changes in distress in counseling center clients: a replication study

Objective: Latent growth mixture modeling (LGMM) and latent class growth analysis (LCGA) are methods of identifying subgroups of individuals with similar trajectories during the course of psychotherapy. Due to inconsistent methodology, previous LGMM/LCGA psychotherapy research has led to inconsistent findings. The purpose of this study was to contribute to our understanding of individual differences in change trajectories during psychotherapy using LGMM/LCGA by attempting to replicate a previous study by Owen et al. (2015. Trajectories of change in psychotherapy. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 71(9), 817-827). Method: This study used LGMM/LCGA to model trajectories of change in a sample of 2538 psychotherapy clients at a university student counseling center. This was a secondary analysis of naturalistically-collected outcome data using The Behavioral Health Measure. Results: LGMM models did not converge. A 2-class LCGA model was selected based on fit statistics and parsimony. One class was labeled as Slow and Steady Change Before Plateau, whereas the other was labeled as Early Rapid Change Before Plateau. We also extended these findings by considering variables associated with class membership. Conclusions: These classes followed similar trajectories to two of the classes identified by Owen et al. These results indicate that latent trajectory modeling may lead to replicable findings. Furthermore, these results have implications for managing expectations about change in psychotherapy.
Local adaptation and rapid evolution of aphids in response to genetic interactions with their cottonwood hosts.

Several studies have demonstrated the ecological consequences of genetic variation within a single plant species. For example, these studies show that individual plant genotypes support unique composition of the plants' associated arthropod community. By contrast, fewer studies have explored how plant genetic variation may influence evolutionary dynamics in the plant's associated species. Here, we examine how aphids respond evolutionarily to genetic variation in their host plant. We conducted two experiments to examine local adaptation and rapid evolution of the free-feeding aphid Chaitophorus populicola across genetic variants of its host plant, Populus angustifolia. To test for local adaptation, we collected tree cuttings and aphid colonies from three sites along an elevation/climate gradient and conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment. In general, home aphids (aphids transplanted onto trees from the same site) produced 1.7-3.4 times as many offspring as foreign aphids (aphids transplanted onto trees from different sites). To test for rapid evolution, we used 4 clonally replicated aphid genotypes and transplanted each onto 5 clonally replicated P. angustifolia genotypes. Each tree genotype started with the same aphid genotype composition. After 21 days (~two aphid generations), aphid genotype composition changed (i.e., aphids evolved) and some tree genotypes supported unique evolutionary trajectories of aphids. These results suggest that plant evolution in response to human perturbation, such as climate change and invasive species, will also result in evolutionary responses in strongly interacting species that could cascade to affect whole communities.
ADE Eval: An Evaluation of Text Processing Systems for Adverse Event Extraction from Drug Labels for Pharmacovigilance

The US FDA is interested in a tool that would enable pharmacovigilance safety evaluators to automate the identification of adverse drug events (ADEs) mentioned in FDA prescribing information. The MITRE Corporation (MITRE) and the FDA organized a shared task—Adverse Drug Event Evaluation (ADE Eval)—to determine whether the performance of algorithms currently used for natural language processing (NLP) might be good enough for real-world use. ADE Eval was conducted to evaluate a range of NLP techniques for identifying ADEs mentioned in publicly available FDA-approved drug labels (package inserts). It was designed specifically to reflect pharmacovigilance practices within the FDA and model possible pharmacovigilance use cases. Pharmacovigilance-specific annotation guidelines and annotated corpora were created. Two metrics modeled the experiences of FDA safety evaluators: one measured the ability of an algorithm to identify correct Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA®) terms for the text from the annotated corpora, and the other assessed the quality of evidence extracted from the corpora to support the selected MedDRA® term by measuring the portion of annotated text an algorithm correctly identified. A third metric assessed the cost of correcting system output for subsequent training (averaged, weighted F1-measure for mention finding). In total, 13 teams submitted 23 runs: the top MedDRA® coding F1-measure was 0.79, the top quality score was 0.96, and the top mention-finding F1-measure was 0.89. While NLP techniques do not perform at levels that would allow them to be used without intervention, it is now worthwhile exploring making NLP outputs available in human pharmacovigilance workflows.
A Highly Secure Platform that Supports Smart Locks

Nowadays, the demand of replacing traditional door locks with deadbolts that is controlled by electronic devices such as cell phones via Bluetooth or over WI-FI has increased. Although there are variety of smart locks on market, most of these devices are expensive and vulnerable due to security attackers such as network attackers and malware. In addition, these existing smart locks are limited in their capabilities. Therefore, we are proposing a reliable, secure and economical accessible platform that supports smart locks based on peer to peer communication. The enhanced secured communication will be provided through the designed application. In addition, Host Card Emulation (HCE) was adopted to create a virtual secure element. Three main components are used to test the proposed system that are Beaglebone Blue, NFC module, and designed lock emulation circuit.
Macroeconomics and the value premium

The value premium as measured by the “high minus low” returns from the Fama and French database has been negative or statistically indistinguishable from zero for the past decade. The value premium is highly variable and non-normally distributed, making traditional statistical tests like t tests or regressions difficult to implement or misleading. The authors hypothesize that the Great Moderation—a period of generally lower variability in economic growth and inflation—has not been great for the value premium. To demonstrate this, the authors use a variety of nonparametric techniques and panel analysis to show that the value premium was generally challenged by the Great Moderation. This is consistent with the idea that as a risk premium, if risk is lower, the premium should also be lower.
Integrating the patient voice into pharmacoepidemiology research on the benefits and harms of medication

Patient engagement has traditionally been limited to involving patients in decision-making regarding their healthcare choices. The goal of this paper was to assess patients’ perspectives on how they might be involved as a research partner in the design and implementation of pharmacoepidemiology research studies. Qualitative research methods were used to elicit patient perspectives on their involvement in pharmacoepidemiologic research. A total of 20 patients participated in five focus groups held from April to August 2016. Each focus group represented one of five chronic conditions, namely: human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV)/(AIDS), diabetes, mental health conditions, mild cognitive impairment/Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and cardiovascular disease (CVD)/hypertension. A semi-structured field guide was used to elicit views on drug safety and effectiveness and to identify which aspects of the design and implementation of a research study individuals felt most comfortable contributing to. The discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed following a grounded theory approach to identify the key themes that consequently emerged. For the most part, individuals equated safety with side-effects. There were several dimensions of effectiveness that corresponded with biological, clinical, and psychological aspects of well-being. Most individuals (84%) were comfortable deciding what information should be collected, and 74% felt they could help researchers select target outcomes to study. Fewer (58%) were confident they could advise on selecting comparator drugs. There is a need for training the patient community and for adapting existing patient engagement standards to expand patient involvement in pharmacoepidemiologic research.
HPV-mediated anal squamous cell carcinoma and precancerous lesions in HIV positive patients.

3520Background: Anal cancer affects over 8,000 patients per year in the United States and the incidence is increasing. A significant risk factor for anal cancer and precancerous lesions is human pa...
Examining no-show rates in a community health centre in the United States.

The purpose of this research was to examine patient characteristics that may be associated with appointment no-show rates, and to explore patients' perspectives of missed appointments at a community health centre that primarily serves low-income individuals. This mixed-method, cross-sectional study is based upon data collected from a community health centre in Southeastern Tennessee in the United States that provided preventative medical, behavioural health and dental care. Authors utilised de-identified electronic health record (EHR) information on no-show occurrence and sociodemographic characteristics of all patients served by the clinic (n = 1,243), as well as completed mixed method patient interviews a sub-sample of those receiving service from the clinic (n = 30). EHR data were pulled from clinic visits occurring during July-November 2017, and patient interviews were completed January-March 2018. Measures were developed by the authors and clinic administrators after a thorough review of existing literature. HER data demonstrated an association between higher no-show rate and younger patients was identified and Black or African American patients had higher no-show rate than White patients. However, no differences in no-show rate existed between male and female participants or when examining patients' location. Based on interview data, patients were generally satisfied with their services or providers, but some indicated dissatisfaction. Patients typically missed appointments due to personal issues and societal barriers. Findings support the need for clinics to consider ways to support patients facing competing demands for their time or those facing more resource constraints. Recommendations for research include examining long-term health outcomes of clients who are experiencing no-shows. Changes in practice or procedures were also noted, such as providing transportation, elevating awareness and access to social services, ensuring that that social care workers are reaching out to clients with higher no-shows and educating clients on the importance of preventative care.
Initial description and evaluation of EDS ECHO: An international effort to improve care for people with the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and hypermobility spectrum disorders.

The Ehlers-Danlos Society Extension for Community Health Care Outcomes (EDS ECHO) is a portfolio of teleconferencing programs developed around the principles and practices of Project ECHO®, aimed at increasing awareness of Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) among clinicians, enhancing their confidence in the assessment and management of these complex conditions, and generating networks of clinicians across specialties. We assessed the outcomes of the first EDS ECHO program, launched in April 2019, with two hub locations: Indiana University Health, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, and The Royal Society of Medicine, London, UK. Clinicians were surveyed before and 6 months after their participation. We describe the initial outcomes of the first four EDS ECHO programs, each comprising nine sessions. Participants reported increased levels of knowledge and confidence in providing care (93% and 95%, respectively) and an increase in referral network participation (65%). Additionally, 80% reported that their interest in EDS and HSD increased; 57% reporting a great increase. Also, 59% reported a decrease in feeling overwhelmed by EDS and HSD, and nearly half reported a decrease in their level of frustration because of participating in EDS ECHO. Clinicians participating in EDS ECHO programs know more, have more confidence in their ability to provide care, and feel energized by their participation.
Guidelines for the Design and Implementation of Game Telemetry for Serious Games Analytics

The design of game telemetry requires careful attention to the chain of reasoning that connects low-level behavioral events to inferences about players’ learning and performance. Measuring performance in serious games is often difficult because seldom do direct measures of the desired outcome exist in the game. Game telemetry is conceived as the fundamental element from which measures of player performance are developed. General psychometric issues are raised for game-based measurement, and data issues are raised around format, context, and increasing the meaningfulness of the data itself. Practical guidelines for the design of game telemetry are presented, including targeting in-game behaviors that reflect cognitive demands, recoding data at the finest usable grain size, representing the data in a format usable by the largest number of people, and recording descriptions of behavior and not inferences with as much contextual information as practical. A case study is presented on deriving measures in a serious game intended to teach fraction concepts.
Modeling multiple preventative maintenance actions in a RAMS analysis

This paper describes how multiple preventative maintenance (PM) activities can be modeled in the availability and reliability analyses of complex systems, while using popular off the shelf software packages. This modeling method is a necessary and critical step for an understanding of the downtime implications of certain electromechanical subsystems and systems, but is not explained, nor easy to model with all software packages. Quite often, maintenance and service related actions are an afterthought in reliability and availability calculations. This is because most electronic systems require minimal maintenance of electronic circuit boards, components and sub systems. Electromechanical devices and assemblies are different. There are many situations where several maintenance activities on an ongoing, repeatable schedule are required in order to prevent premature faults and extend the useful life of the device. This is especially true of engines, motors, generators, cooling fans and any device that includes bearings or mechanical movement. This paper discusses an actual example of a radar power plant reliability block diagram (originally consisting of over 10 00 blocks) with redundant gensets that shows how the preventative maintenance dominates the down time and how failure rates play a lesser role in the availability of the power plant.
Intracellular calcium modulates the nuclear translocation of calsenilin.

Calsenilin, which was originally identified as a presenilin interacting protein, has since been shown to be involved in the processing of presenilin(s), the modulation of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) levels and apoptosis. Subsequent to its original identification, calsenilin was shown to act as a downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator (and termed DREAM), as well as to interact with and modulate A-type potassium channels (and termed KChIP3). Calsenilin is primarily a cytoplasmic protein that must translocate to the nucleus to perform its function as a transcriptional repressor. This study was designed to determine the cellular events that modulate the translocation of calsenilin from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. The nuclear translocation of calsenilin was found to be enhanced following serum deprivation. A similar effect was observed when cells were treated with pharmacological agents that directly manipulate the levels of intracellular calcium (caffeine and the calcium ionophore A23187), suggesting that the increased levels of calsenilin in the nucleus are mediated by changes in intracellular calcium. A calsenilin mutant that was incapable of binding calcium retained the ability to translocate to the nucleus. Taken together, these findings indicate that the level of intracellular calcium can modulate the nuclear translocation of calsenilin and that this process does not involve the direct binding of calcium to calsenilin.
Smallpox, polio and now a cancer vaccine?

Fusions of dendritic cells and renal carcinoma cells have been used as a vaccine in the effective and non-toxic treatment of patients with metastatic renal cancer. This approach may be applicable to other tumor types (pages 332–336).
Abstract 14804: Transplantation of Human Umbilical Cord Blood Mononuclear Cells Improves LV function and Remodeling After a reperfused Myocardial Infarction

Introduction: Human umbilical cord blood cells (hUCBC) contain numerous stem/progenitor cells, which may help repair damaged hearts after acute myocardial infarction (MI). Previous studies of hUCBC injection were performed in models of permanent occlusion of coronary artery mostly using immunocompromised animals. These experimental conditions have less relevance for cell therapy in humans. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that hUCBC injection would improve left ventricular (LV) structure and function in rats after a reperfused MI. Methods: The mononuclear fraction was isolated from human cord blood collected after a term delivery. Age-matched normal (without immunosuppression) male Fischer 344 rats underwent a 30-min occlusion of LAD coronary artery followed by reperfusion, and 48 h later received intramyocardial injection of vehicle (PBS) or 1.2x106 hUCBC mononuclear cells. Echocardiography was performed 4 d prior to coronary occlusion/reperfusion (BSL) and at 48 h and 35 d after cell injection. Detailed assessment of cardiac structure and function was performed. Rats were sacrificed at 35 d. Results: At 48 h, LVEF in both groups was significantly reduced compared with baseline (Figure). At 35 d after cell injection, rats injected with hUCBCs exhibited significantly higher EF compared with PBS-injected rats (Figure). hUCBC-injected hearts also showed significantly smaller increase in LV end-diastolic and end-systolic diameters after 35 d, indicating improved remodeling compared with PBS-injected hearts. Conclusions: Transplantation of hUCBCs after a reperfused MI in non-immunosuppressed rats attenuates LV dysfunction and improves LV remodeling. These findings support potential therapeutic use of hUCBC transplantation to improve myocardial function and remodeling in humans after a reperfused MI, a common clinical scenario. ![][1] [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif
Identification of a B subunit gene promoter in the Shiga toxin operon of Shigella dysenteriae 1

Abstract The Shiga toxin operon (stx) is composed of A and B subunit genes which are transcribed as a bicistronic mRNA from a promoter which lies 5' to the stxA gene. Northern (RNA) blot and primer extension analyses revealed the existence of a second stxB gene transcript. Recombinant plasmids which carried the stxB gene without the stx operon promoter and with the influence of a vector promoter abrogated produced STX B polypeptides, suggesting that the stxB gene mRNA was transcribed from an independent promoter and was not produced by endoribonucleotic processing of the bicistronic mRNA. Examination of the DNA sequences 5' to the stxB gene transcription initiation site which were carried by the recombinant plasmids revealed a region with high homology to the consensus for Escherichia coli promoters. Deletion and mutation of this region affected StxB and holotoxin production, establishing its role in the regulation of the stxB gene. Comparison of the promoters by using a transcription analysis vector revealed that the stxB gene promoter differed from the stx operon promoter in that was approximately sixfold less efficient and was not repressed by iron. Identification of a second promoter in the stx operon indicates that independent transcription of the stxB gene may regulate overproduction of the STX B polypeptides and may contribute to the 1A:5B subunit stoichiometry of the holotoxin.
Posttraumatic stress and depressive symptoms in renal cell carcinoma: association with quality of life and utility of single-item distress screening.

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the associations and co-occurrence between PTSS, depressive, and other cancer-related symptoms and the ability of a single-item distress question to identify patients with PTSS. Methods Patients with stage I–IV RCC completed assessments of depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), PTSS (Impact of Event Scale), cancer-related symptoms (MD Anderson Symptom Inventory), fatigue (Brief Fatigue Inventory), and sleep disturbance (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). We used the distress item on the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory as a distress screener and general linear model analyses to test study hypotheses. Results Of the 287 patients (29% stage IV; 42% female; mean age = 58 years), 46% (n = 131) reported psychiatric symptoms with 15% (n = 44) reporting comorbid clinical levels of depressive symptoms and PTSS, 24% (n = 70) PTSS alone, and 6% (n = 17) depressive symptoms alone. Controlling for age, gender, and stage, patients with comorbid depressive symptoms and PTSS reported more cancer-related symptoms (p < 0.0001), fatigue (p < 0.0001), and sleep disturbance (p = 0.0003) than those with PTSS alone and more cancer-related symptoms (p = 0.002) and fatigue (p = 0.09) than those with depressive symptoms alone. Sensitivity analyses revealed that 26.9% of negative cases on the distress item fell within the clinical range of the Impact of Event Scale and 9.3% of negative cases met caseness on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Conclusions Posttraumatic stress symptoms occurred both independently and comorbid with depressive symptoms in patients with RCC. PTSS were correlated with overall cancer symptom burden. Single-item distress screening was less sensitive in detecting PTSS than depressive symptoms. Therefore, additional screening strategies are required in the clinical setting. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Fault diagnosis and fault model aliasing

During fault diagnosis, the existence of equivalent faults, or faults that are not distinguished by the test set applied to the circuit, can create ambiguity as to the location of a defect. This happens if the circuit-under-test produces a response that matches the circuit response in the presence of two faults in different locations of the circuit. Equivalence between faults of different models, or a test set that does not distinguish two such faults, can increase the ambiguity as to the defect location as well as its type. We refer to this phenomenon as fault model aliasing. We study the extent to which fault model aliasing can be expected to occur under various test sets. We also describe a test generation procedure that can reduce it.
Stop the Noise: A Quality Improvement Project to Decrease Electrocardiographic Nuisance Alarms.

BACKGROUND As many as 99% of alarm signals may not need any intervention and can result in patients’ deaths. Alarm management is now a Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal. OBJECTIVES To reduce the number of nuisance electrocardiographic alarm signals in adult patients on the medical cardiovascular care unit. METHODS A quality improvement process was used that included eliminating duplicative alarms, customizing alarms, changing electrocardiography electrodes daily, standardizing skin preparation, and using disposable electrocardiography leads. RESULTS In the cardiovascular care unit, the mean number of electrocardiographic alarm signals per day decreased from 28.5 (baseline) to 3.29, an 88.5% reduction. CONCLUSION Use of a bundled approach to managing alarm signals decreased the mean number of alarm signals in a cardiovascular care unit. (Critical Care Nurse. 2015;35[4]:15-23)
Sodium requirements of lactating ewes.

At parturition, lactating ewes were given ad libitum one of six diets containing either a basal level of sodium (200 ppm Na) or basal plus 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50, or 100% of the National Research Council (NRC) allowance of sodium for lactating ewes (equivalent to 0.5% of the ration as sodium chloride). Deionized water was sup plied to the ewes with a sodium concentration of less than 0.5 ppm. The parotid Na*:K* ratio was taken as an index of sodium adequacy. At 4, 6, and 8 weeks postpartum, there was a positive rectilinear relationship between the Na*:K* ratio of the parotid saliva and level of sodium in the diet up to 37.5% of the NRC allowance. The Na*:K* ratio of parotid saliva from ewes consuming 37.5% or greater of the NRC allowance was not affected by the level of sodium in the diet. It was concluded that the NRC allowance for sodium for lactating ewes was excessive, and an allowance of 870 mg/kg diet was adequate for the maintenance of a normal Na*:K* ratio of the parotid saliva. J. Nutr. 105: 595-598, 1975.
Perfect optics with imperfect components

Many advanced optical functions, including spatial mode converters, linear optics quantum computing gates, and arbitrary linear optical processors for communications and other applications could be implemented using meshes of Mach–Zehnder interferometers in technologies such as silicon photonics, but performance is limited by beam splitters that deviate from the ideal 50∶50 split. We propose a new architecture and a novel self-adjustment approach that automatically compensate for imperfect fabricated split ratios anywhere from 85∶15 to 15∶85. The entire mesh can be both optimized and programmed after initial fabrication, with progressive algorithms, without calculations or calibration, and even using only sources and detectors external to the mesh. Hence, one universal field-programmable linear array optical element could be mass fabricated, with broad process tolerances, and then configured automatically for a wide range of complex and precise linear optical functions.
Quantitation of non-ideal behavior in protein size-exclusion chromatography

Abstract The size-exclusion chromatographic partition coefficient (Ksec) was measured on a Superose 6 column for three sets of well-characterized spherically symmetrical solutes: the compact, densely branched non-ionic polysaccharide, Ficoll; the flexible chain non-ionic polysaccharide, pullulan; and compact, anionic synthetic polymers, carboxylated starburst dendrimers. All three solutes display a congruent dependence of Ksec on solute radius, R. In accord with a simple geometric model for SEC, all of these data conform to the same linear plot of KSEC1/2 vs. R. This plot reveals the behavior of non-interacting spheres on this column. Comparison of results for a number of globular proteins at various pH values to this “ideal” curve allows a quantitative measure of protein attraction or repulsion. It is shown that the usual procedure of obtaining a “best-fit” curve for a set of proteins is likely to generate an erroneous calibration curve.
FrenchPress Gives Students Automated Feedback on Java Program Flaws

We created an Eclipse plug-in called FrenchPress that partially automates the task of giving students feedback on their Java programs. It is designed not for novices but for students taking their second or third Java course: students who know enough Java to write a working program but lack the judgment to recognize bad code when they see it. FrenchPress does not diagnose compile-time or runtime errors, or logical errors that produce incorrect output. It targets silent flaws, flaws the student is unable to identify for himself because nothing in the programming environment alerts him. FrenchPress diagnoses flaws characteristic of programmers who have not yet assimilated the object-oriented idiom. Such shortcomings include misuse of the public modifier, fields that should have been local variables, and instance variables that should have been class constants. Other rules address the all too common misunderstanding of the boolean datatype. FrenchPress delivers explanatory messages in a vocabulary appropriate to the student's current level.This paper reports preliminary results of a formative evaluation of FrenchPress conducted in a Fall 2014 data structures and algorithms course. User satisfaction survey responses indicate that among the students who received substantive diagnostic suggestions from FrenchPress, the percentage who were motivated to modify their program varied from 36% to 64% on four different assignments.
IMMUNE RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN DNA : A CURE FOR BIOTERRORISM?

The assertions herein are the private ones of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Food and Drug Administration at large. This review was supported in part by a grant from the National Vaccine Program and by Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request MM8926.
Subchronic toxicity of aniline hydrochloride in rats

Hematological, biochemical and histopathological responses of subchronic exposure to aniline hydrochloride (AH) have been investigated in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were given 600 ppm of AH in drinking water while the control rats received tap water only. Five rats from each group were sacrificed at 30, 60, and 90 days of treatment. Organ-to-body weight ratio for spleen in the AH-treated rats was 56, 61, and 53% higher than controls at days 30, 60, and 90, respectively. Liver showed a biphasic pattern for this ratio, a decrease at 30 days and then an increase at 60 days. Among other organs, testes showed a significant decrease in this ratio at 60 days. Hematological analysis showed 65% increase in WBC counts at 30 days in the AH-treated rats, whereas, no changes were recorded at later time points. Erythrocyte counts in the AH-treated rats showed very significant decreases at all the time points, whereas, hemoglobin and hematocrit decreased at 30 and 90 days of treatment. Mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin increased in the AH-treated rats at 60 and 90 days of treatment. Methemoglobin content showed significant increases of 89, 59 and 45% at days 30, 60, and 90, respectively. Among serum immunoglobulins, IgA in the AH-treated groups showed 24 and 51 % increases at days 60 and 90, respectively. Analysis of splenic lymphocyte subpopulation showed a decrease in the T-helper (CD4+/CD8−) sub-set at 90 days whereas, other subpopulations were not affected. Aniline hydroxylase activity in the liver microsomes of the AH-treated rats was significantly higher at 60 days of treatment. At all times, spleen demonstrated striking histopathological changes including marked red pulp expansion due to increased sinusoidal cells, fibroblasts, and markedly increased light brown pigment of heme origin. Focal pericapsular fibrosis was found at all times, with no evidence of neoplasia. These histological changes were greatly accentuated with the progression of exposure. Our data, apart from indicating toxicity to the hemopoietic system, show a good interrelationship between damage to erythrocytes and splenic lesions associated with aniline exposure.
Fault-Tolerant Hierarchical Networks for Shared Memory Multiprocessors and their Bandwidth Analysis

Many researchers have paid significant attention to the design of cluster-based systems, due to the fact that such systems need very inexpensive networks compared to those needed for noncluster-based systems. A number of hierarchical interconnection networks (HINs) have also been proposed in the literature which can be used for building large cluster-based systems. Most of the existing HINs are not fault tolerant. It is very desirable that a HIN be fault tolerant, because even a single fault in the network can completely disconnect a large number of processors and/or memory modules from the rest of the processors and memory modules of the system. As a result, the performance of the system will decrease significantly. In this paper, we have proposed two types of hierarchical interconnection networks which are fault tolerant and can be used to build large cluster-based multiprocessor systems. We have also developed analytical models to determine the performance of the proposed fault-tolerant HINs under fault-free and faulty conditions. Simulation models were also developed to verify the accuracy of the analytical models. The results obtained from the analytical models were found to be very close to those obtained from the simulation models. The technique that has been used to develop models in this paper can also be used to develop models for other hierarchical systems.
Effect of pressure on the dielectric properties of a paraelectric material

Abstract Employing a self-consistent renormalization procedure for the treatment of the frequency spectrum of a model paraelectric, the essential features of the pressure dependence of the static dielectric constant of the incipient ferroelectric KTaO 3 are reproduced.
Reaction synthesis of intermetallics

Exothermicity associated with the synthesis of aluminides was utilized to obtain nickel, iron, and cobalt aluminides. Combustion synthesis, extrusion, and hot pressing were utilized to obtain intermetallics and their composites. Extrusion conditions, reduction ratios, and hot-pressing conditions of the intermetallics and their composites are discussed.
Packing interactions in the apomyglobin folding intermediate

The contribution of specific packing to the stability of the sperm whale apomyoglobin intermediate has been studied by urea denaturation monitored by circular dichroism and fluorescence. Mutations disrupting native packing sites within the subdomain formed by the A, G and H helices destabilize the intermediate, in contrast to the conclusion drawn from earlier studies of pH-induced unfolding. Based on these results, the intermediate is proposed to be stabilized by both partially formed native-like tertiary, and non-specific hydrophobic interactions forming a subdomain folding intermediate. The results help to explain how the intermediate acquires its structure and stability.
Leakage of membrane vesicle contents: determination of mechanism using fluorescence requenching.

Agents such as antimicrobial peptides and toxins can permeabilize membrane vesicles to cause leakage of entrapped contents in either a graded or an all-or-none fashion. Determination of which mode of leakage is induced is an important step in understanding the molecular mechanism of membrane permeabilization. Wimley et al. (1994, Protein Sci. 3:1362–1378) have developed a fluorescence method for distinguishing the two modes that makes use of the dye/quencher pair 8-aminonapthalene-1,3,6 trisulfonic acid (ANTS)/p-xylene-bis-pyridinium bromide (DPX) without the usual need for the physical separation of vesicles from released contents. Their "requenching" method establishes the mode of release through the fluorescence changes that occur when DPX is added externally to a solution of vesicles that have released some fraction of their contents. However, the requenching method as originally stated ignored the possibility of preferential release of dye or quencher. Here we extend the theory of the method to take into account preferential release and the effects of graded leakage. The ratio of the rates of release of the cationic quencher DPX and anionic dye 8-aminonapthalene-1,3,6 trisulfonic acid can be estimated by means of the theory. For graded leakage, we show that the release of the markers does not coincide with the fluorescence changes observed in the standard leakage assay. This is true for self-quenching dyes as well and means that 1) the amount of released material will be overestimated and 2) the kinetics will be nonexponential and have artificially high apparent rates.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Rice Cake Production using Long-grain and Medium-grain Brown Rice

Puffing of rice cakes using both long-grain and medium-grain brown rice was studied. The effects of tempering moisture, heating temperature, and heating time on various rice cake quality attributes were investigated. A greater specific cake volume was obtained at a lower tempering moisture, higher heating temperature, and longer heating time for long-grain brown rice. For medium-grain rice, a higher tempering moisture yielded a larger specific cake volume. The lightness of rice cakes correlated well with their expansion; the less expanded cake always had a lighter color. Medium-grain brown rice also produced cakes that were much more fragile than those produced from long-grain brown rice.
Sieving Capture of Liquidborne Particles by microporous membrane filtration media

Test methodology has been developed to measure the particle removal efficiency of microporous membrane filtration media under conditions in which sieving is the dominant particle capture mechanism. The methodology was used to determine the particle capture efficiency of a 0.45 μm membrane filter for removal of submicrometer sized particles from DI water. Particle capture was found to be a strong function of particle diameter, filter media thickness, and filter loading. Particle removal efficiency increased with increasing particle diameter and media thickness. It decreased with increased filter loading when the filters were challenged with the smaller particles used in this study. Removal efficiency initially decreased then subsequently increased during loading with larger particles. Capture was independent of filtration velocity and particle concentration. A sieving model was developed to predict particle capture by the filter media as a function of particle diameter, filter thickness and filter loading. The model was found to accurately predict breakthrough of monodisperse particle suspensions through the media. Particle breakthrough occurred more slowly than predicted when the filters were challenged with a polydisperse particle suspension.
Reducing the radiation dose for computed tomography colonography using model-based iterative reconstruction

Purpose To determine whether radiation doses during computed tomography (CT) colonography (CTC) can be further reduced while maintaining image quality using model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR).
Proteolytic Cleavage of the Fe−S Subunit Hinge Region of Rhodobacter capsulatus bc1 Complex: Effects of Inhibitors and Mutations†

The three-dimensional structure of the mitochondrial bc1 complex reveals that the extrinsic domain of the Fe−S subunit, which carries the redox-active [2Fe2S] cluster, is attached to its transmembr...
Elevated NT-Pro-Brain Natriuretic Peptide Level Is Independently Associated with All-Cause Mortality in HIV-Infected Women in the Early and Recent HAART Eras in the Women's Interagency HIV Study Cohort

Background HIV-infected individuals are at increased risk of right and left heart dysfunction. N-terminal-pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), a marker of cardiac ventricular strain and systolic dysfunction, may be associated with all-cause mortality in HIV-infected women. The aim of this study was to determine if elevated levels of NT-proBNP is associated with increased mortality in HIV-infected women. Design Prospective cohort study. Methods and Results We measured NT-proBNP in 936 HIV-infected and 387 age-matched HIV-uninfected women early (10/11/94 to 7/17/97) and 1082 HIV-infected and 448 HIV-uninfected women late (4/1/08 to 10/7/08) in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) periods in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study. An NT-proBNP >75th percentile was more likely in HIV-infected persons, but only statistically significant in the late period (27% vs. 21%, unadjusted p = 0.03). In HIV-infected participants, NT-proBNP>75th percentile was independently associated with worse 5-year survival in the early HAART period (HR 1.8, 95% CI 1.3–2.4, p<0.001) and remained a predictor of mortality in the late HAART period (HR 2.8, 95% CI 1.4–5.5, p = 0.002) independent of other established risk covariates (age, race/ethnicity, body mass index, smoking, hepatitis C serostatus, hypertension, renal function, and hemoglobin). NT-proBNP level was not associated with mortality in HIV-uninfected women. Conclusion NT-proBNP is a novel independent marker of mortality in HIV-infected women both when HAART was first introduced and currently. As NT-proBNP is often associated with both pulmonary hypertension and left ventricular dysfunction, these findings suggest that these conditions may contribute significantly to adverse outcomes in this population, requiring further definition of causes and treatments of elevated NT-proBNP in HIV-infected women.
The Bakassi Boys: Vigilantism, Violence, and Political Imagination in Nigeria

In Nigeria and elsewhere, vigilantism appears to be a common response to ambivalence and discontent about the authority of the state. The rise of the Bakassi Boys and their tremendous popularity reveal complexities and contradictions that characterize the contours of political organization and imagination in contemporary Nigeria. Vigilantism is shown to be a reaction to the disappointments of Nigeria's neoliberal economic reforms and democratization, drawing on idioms of accountability rooted in the supernatural. Yet, paradoxically, popular justification for vigilantism also draws on ideals of democracy and development. Further, popular perceptions of the Bakassi Boys and a coopting of vigilantism by politicians serve to obscure the responsibility of the state for the maintenance of inequality even as vigilantism is, simultaneously, a forceful reaction to institutionalized injustice.