cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to Measure Effects of Delta 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol on Prefrontal Activity and Working Memory in Cannabis Users

Intoxication from cannabis impairs cognitive performance, in part due to the effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis) on prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. However, a relationship between impairment in cognitive functioning with THC administration and THC-induced change in hemodynamic response has not been demonstrated. We explored the feasibility of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the functional changes of the human PFC associated with cannabis intoxication and cognitive impairment. Eighteen adult regular cannabis users (final sample, n = 13) performed a working memory task (n-back) during fNIRS recordings, before and after receiving a single dose of oral synthetic THC (dronabinol; 20-50 mg). Functional data were collected using a continuous-wave NIRS device, in which 8 Sources and 7 detectors were placed on the forehead, resulting in 20 channels covering PFC regions. Physiological changes and subjective intoxication measures were collected. We found a significant increase in the oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO) concentration after THC administration in several channels on the PFC during both the high working memory load (2-back) and the low working memory load (0-back) condition. The increased HbO response was accompanied by a trend toward an increased number of omission errors after THC administration. The current study suggests that cannabis intoxication is associated with increases in hemodynamic blood flow to the PFC, and that this increase can be detected with fNIRS.
Behaviour vs. perception: An investigation into the components of emotional invalidation

BACKGROUND The negative effects of emotionally invalidating environments are theorized by the biosocial theory of borderline personality disorder to be vast and severe. However, findings from studies on the impact of emotional invalidation (EI) vary, perhaps due to different operational definitions of EI. The current investigation seeks to explore the relationship between the objective behavioural observations of EI and recipient's subjective perceptions of experiencing these behaviours. METHOD First, 58 participants watched scripted interactions between a confederate and a mock participant and identified the presence of invalidating and/or neutral behaviours. Next, 92 participants engaged in one-on-one interactions with a confederate utilizing the same scripted interactions observed by the first set of participants. RESULTS While the first set of participants identified invalidating behaviours accurately and consistently, the participants who experienced the behaviours demonstrated more variability in their perceptions of the behaviours as emotionally invalidating. CONCLUSION These preliminary findings demonstrate that the objective existence of emotionally invalidating behaviours are likely not the same as the experienced perception of EI across individuals, highlighting the need to examine how EI is operationally defined and measured. Future research should examine what individual characteristics may play a role in perceiving behaviours as emotionally invalidating. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Neural measures associated with configural threat acquisition.

Abstract Contextual threat learning reflects two often competing processes: configural and elemental learning. Configural threat learning is a hippocampal-dependent process of forming a conjunctive representation of a context through binding of several multi-modal elements. In contrast, elemental threat-learning is governed by the amygdala and involves forming associative relationships between individual features within the context. Contextual learning tasks in humans however, rarely probe if a learned fear response is truly due to configural learning vs. simple elemental associations. The aim of the current study was to probe both constructs separately to enable a more refined interpretation of configural vs. elemental threat learning performance and mediating circuits. Subjects (n = 25) performed both a novel feature-identical contextual threat conditioning task and a discrete cue threat acquisition task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results demonstrated increased hippocampus activity for the threat configuration compared to the safe configuration. This pattern was not observed in the amygdala. In contrast, elemental threat learning was associated with increased amygdala, but not hippocampus activity. Whole-brain analyses revealed that both configural and elemental threat acquisition share neural circuitry related to fear expression. These results provide support for the importance of the hippocampus specifically in configural threat acquisition and fear expression.
Messerschmidt and Convergence in Action: A Reply to Comments on Trawling for Herring

This short essay examines the Supreme Court's recent decision Fourth Amendment qualified immunity decision in Messerschmidt v. Millender through the framework of doctrinal borrowing and convergence set forth in my prior piece Trawling for Herring, and responds to incisive responses to that prior essay from Professors John Greabe, Colin Starger, Nelson Tebbe, and Robert Tsai. In short, Messerschmidt strongly exemplifies a continuing trend of convergence between exclusionary rule and constitutional tort doctrine, and does so in a manner that exhibits some of the most negative pathologies of doctrinal borrowing and convergence that Trawling identified.
Test Tracings: Final Exam

Clinical history: A 50-year-old female presents complaining of urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia. Physical exam shows normal genitalia without evidence of pelvic organ prolapse or hypermobility. During urodynamic testing the patient reports early first sensation at a volume of 56 cc and reaches maximum cystometric capacity at 277 cc (Fig. 20.1).
Instrumentation for Vibrational Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy: Method Comparison and Newer Developments

Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) is a widely used standard method for determination of absolute stereochemistry, and somewhat less so for biomolecule characterization and following dynamic processes. Over the last few decades, different VCD instrument designs have developed for various purposes, and reliable commercial instrumentation is now available. This review will briefly survey historical and currently used instrument designs and describe some aspects of more recently reported developments. An important factor in applying VCD to conformational studies is theoretical modeling of spectra for various structures, techniques for which are briefly surveyed.
Age-dependent outcomes in asymptomatic umbilical hernia repair.

Umbilical hernias are common in young children. Many resolve spontaneously by age four with very low risk of symptoms or incarceration. Complications associated with surgical repair of asymptomatic umbilical hernias have not been well elucidated. We analyzed data from one hospital to test the hypothesis that repair at younger ages is associated with increased complication rates. A retrospective chart review of all umbilical hernia repairs performed during 2007–2015 was conducted at a tertiary care children’s hospital. Patients undergoing repairs as a single procedure for asymptomatic hernia were evaluated for post-operative complications by age, demographics, and co-morbidities. Of 308 umbilical hernia repairs performed, 204 were isolated and asymptomatic. Postoperative complications were more frequent in children 4 years (3.1%, p = 0.034). All respiratory complications (N = 4) and readmissions (N = 1) were in children < 4 years. Age of umbilical hernia repair in children varied widely even within a single institution, demonstrating that timing of repair may be a surgeon-dependent decision. Patients < 4 years were more likely to experience post-operative complications. Umbilical hernias often resolve over time and can safely be monitored with watchful waiting. Formal guidelines are needed to support delayed repair and prevent unnecessary, potentially harmful operations.
A device to fracture soft solids at high speeds

Abstract We describe the development of a device for high-rate, pneumatic fracture. The Small-scale Ballistic Cavitation (SBC) device uses a high pressure reservoir to generate cavities within ultrasoft solids (moduli 100 kPa) in bursts as short as 5 ms. Flow accelerates through a needle embedded within a soft solid, reaching the speed of sound at the tip before delivery to the sample. The energy density of the air pulse matches that of handgun projectiles, enabling ballistic-like temporary cavities, but on a benchtop scale. We validate the device using mass transfer measurements and find good agreement without the use of fit parameters between experiments and theory at the required operational pressures ranging from ∼ 30 to 160 atm. Independent control of pressure, needle diameter, and valve cycle time provides flexibility in experimental control variables (e.g., energy density, rate) that is not present in other ultrasoft solid cavitation techniques. We demonstrate the device’s experimental flexibility via the application of constant energy density with variable loading rate conditions that illustrate the importance of rate on fracture morphology in soft solids.
Study on Distribution Network Line Level Evaluation Model Based on Dynamic Classification Combination

Aiming at the shortcomings of the current classification models of distribution lines, such as low classification accuracy and poor robustness, a rating classification model of distribution network based on dynamic classification is proposed. Based on K-PAM, the model dynamically combines the decision tree classification method C4.5 to efficiently use the prediction information of base classifier to achieve higher classification accuracy. Finally, the real data of the three distribution networks were used to conduct the experimental analysis, and the classification efficiency, classification accuracy and robustness of the three methods were compared.
Trevolver: simulating non-reversible DNA sequence evolution in trinucleotide context on a bifurcating tree

Abstract Summary Recent de novo mutation data allow the estimation of non-reversible mutation rates for trinucleotide sequence contexts. However, existing tools for simulating DNA sequence evolution are limited to time-reversible models or do not consider trinucleotide context-dependent rates. As this ability is critical to testing evolutionary scenarios under neutrality, we created Trevolver. Sequence evolution is simulated on a bifurcating tree using a 64 × 4 trinucleotide mutation model. Runtime is fast and results match theoretical expectation for CpG sites. Simulations with Trevolver will enable neutral hypotheses to be tested at within-species (polymorphism), between-species (divergence), within-host (e.g., viral evolution), and somatic (e.g., cancer) levels of evolutionary change. Availability and Implementation Trevolver is implemented in Perl and available on GitHub under GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 at https://github.com/chasewnelson/trevolver. Contact cnelson@amnh.org Supplementary information Further details and example data are available on GitHub.
The People’s Entertainments

This chapter zooms in on the fiction periodical published in Cairo by Khalil Sadiq. Selim introduces Sadiq’s broader enterprise—his business model and cultural project—as described in his frequent editorials. She surveys the periodical’s publication history over the seven years of its life (format, length, pricing, distribution and readership, etc.) and the types of fiction it featured, and explores the social profiles of the authors and translators she focuses on in the second part of the book. The rest of the chapter discusses the terminological and conceptual framing of translation in the periodical’s paratext—frontispieces and prefaces—in order to show how contemporary adaptation practices were invested in residual, popular and authorless modes of storytelling.
Breast-Cancer Prevention with Antiestrogens

In 1936 Lacassagne suggested that if breast cancer was caused by a special genetic susceptibility of the breast to estrogen, then perhaps a therapeutic antagonist could be found to prevent the disease (1).It is now 40 years since the first description of the target, the estrogen receptor (ER), by Elwood Jensen (2)and the report of the first nonsteroidal antiestrogen MER25 by Leonard Lerner (3).Regrettably, MER25 was not useful clinically, but a related compound, tamoxifen, first reported by Harper and Walpole as an antifertility agent in animals (4,5),subsequently has become the endocrine therapy of choice for all stages of breast cancer (6,7).
Online PLCA for real-time semi-supervised source separation

Non-negative spectrogram factorization algorithms such as probabilistic latent component analysis (PLCA) have been shown to be quite powerful for source separation. When training data for all of the sources are available, it is trivial to learn their dictionaries beforehand and perform supervised source separation in an online fashion. However, in many real-world scenarios (e.g. speech denoising), training data for one of the sources can be hard to obtain beforehand (e.g. speech). In these cases, we need to perform semi-supervised source separation and learn a dictionary for that source during the separation process. Existing semi-supervised separation approaches are generally offline, i.e. they need to access the entire mixture when updating the dictionary. In this paper, we propose an online approach to adaptively learn this dictionary and separate the mixture over time. This enables us to perform online semi-supervised separation for real-time applications. We demonstrate this approach on real-time speech denoising.
Utica Shale Play Oil and Gas Brines: Geochemistry and Factors Influencing Wastewater Management

The Utica and Marcellus Shale Plays in the Appalachian Basin are the fourth and first largest natural gas producing plays in the United States, respectively. Hydrocarbon production generates large volumes of brine ("produced water") that must be disposed of, treated, or reused. Though Marcellus brines have been studied extensively, there are few studies from the Utica Shale Play. This study presents new brine chemical analyses from 16 Utica Shale Play wells in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Results from Na-Cl-Br systematics and stable and radiogenic isotopes suggest that the Utica Shale Play brines are likely residual pore water concentrated beyond halite saturation during the formation of the Ordovician Beekmantown evaporative sequence. The narrow range of chemistry for the Utica Shale Play produced waters (e.g., total dissolved solids = 214-283 g/L) over both time and space implies a consistent composition for disposal and reuse planning. The amount of salt produced annually from the Utica Shale Play is equivalent to 3.4% of the annual U.S. halite production. Utica Shale Play brines have radium activities 580 times the EPA maximum contaminant level and are supersaturated with respect to barite, indicating the potential for surface and aqueous radium hazards if not properly disposed of.
Deep Learning and Its Role in COVID-19 Medical Imaging.

COVID-19 is one of the greatest global public health challenges in history. COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and is estimated to have an cumulative global case-fatality rate as high as 7.2%[1]. As the SARS-CoV-2 spread across the globe it catalyzed new urgency in building systems to allow rapid sharing and dissemination of data between international healthcare infrastructures and governments in a worldwide effort focused on case tracking/tracing, identifying effective therapeutic protocols, securing healthcare resources, and in drug and vaccine research. In addition to the worldwide efforts to share clinical and routine population health data, there are many large-scale efforts to collect and disseminate medical imaging data, owing to the critical role that imaging has played in diagnosis and management around the world. Given reported false negative rates of the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of up to 61%[2, 3], imaging can be used as an important adjunct or alternative. Furthermore, there has been a shortage of test-kits worldwide and laboratories in many testing sites have struggled to process the available tests within a reasonable time frame. Given these issues surrounding COVID-19, many groups began to explore the benefits of 'big data' processing and algorithms to assist with the diagnosis and therapeutic development of COVID-19.
Selection against archaic hominin DNA in human regulatory regions

Traces of archaic hominin DNA persist in the human gene pool, but are systematically depleted around genes and other functionally important genomic regions. This suggests that many Neandertal and Denisovan alleles had harmful effects on hybrid fitness. We hypothesized that if some harmful effects were mediated by gene dysregulation in specific tissues, alleles previously flagged as archaic using a conditional random field (CRF) should be depleted from those tissues9 regulatory enhancers compared to ``control" alleles matched for allele frequency and the strength of background selection. By this metric, both Neandertal and Denisovan variation appear depleted from enhancers, particularly enhancers that show pleiotropic activity across tissues. This depletion is driven by young archaic SNPs that the CRF confidently identifies as private to Neandertals or Denisovans; older variants that were likely present in both archaic species are not depleted from enhancers. We found that enhancer pleiotropy is not only a predictor of archaic SNP depletion, but also a predictor of intolerance to new mutations as measured by both phastCons scores and the frequency spectrum of African variation. In other respects, however, the landscape of selection against young archaic alleles appears qualitatively different from the landscape of ordinary purifying selection, suggesting that archaic alleles had a different distribution of fitness effects from ordinary new mutations. Most strikingly, fetal brain and muscle are the tissues most depleted of young archaic variation in their regulatory regions, but only brain enhancers appear commensurately intolerant to new mutations. In contrast, fetal muscle enhancers show no evidence of elevated purifying selection relative to other enhancers. This suggests that epistatic incompatibility between human and archaic alleles is needed to explain the degree of archaic variant depletion from fetal muscle enhancers, perhaps due to divergent selection for higher muscle mass in archaic hominins compared to humans.
Product Customization and Price Competition on the Internet

The Internet provides an unprecedented capability for sellers to learn about their customers and offer custom products at specialprices. In addition, customization is more feasible today because of advances in manufacturing technologies that have improved sellers’ manufacturing flexibility. We first develop a model of product customization and flexible pricing to incorporate the salient roles of the Internet and flexible manufacturing technologies in reducing the costs of designing and producing tailored consumer goods. We show how a monopoly seller may earn the highest profits by producing both standard and custom products and can raise prices for both types of products as customization and information collection technologies improve. Simultaneous adoption of customization in a duopoly reduces the differentiation between their standard products but does not intensify price competition. Compared with a twofacility monopolist, the duopoly may underinvest in customization. Consumer surplus improves after sellers adopt customization but does not monotonically increase as customization technologies advance. When firms face a fixed entry cost and adopt customization sequentially, the first entrant always achieves an advantage and may be able to deter subsequent entry by choosing its customization scope strategically. (Mass Customization; Price Discrimination; Product Differentiation; Internet Economics)
Holographic Foam Cosmology: From the Late to the Early Universe

Quantum fluctuations endow spacetime with a foamy texture. The degree of foaminess is dictated by blackhole physics to be of the holographic type. Applied to cosmology, the holographic foam model predicts the existence of dark energy with critical energy density in the current (late) universe, the quanta of which obey infinite statistics. Furthermore we use the deep similarities between turbulence and the spacetime foam phase of strong quantum gravity to argue that the early universe was in a turbulent regime when it underwent a brief cosmic inflation with a "graceful" transition to a laminar regime. In this scenario, both the late and the early cosmic accelerations have their origins in spacetime foam.
Frailty Index associated with postoperative complications and mortality after lower extremity amputation in a national veteran cohort

Abstract Objective Surgical frailty and its assessment have become essential considerations in perioperative management for the modern aging surgical population. The risk analysis index is a validated frailty score that has been proven to predict short-term outcomes and long-term mortality in several surgical subspecialties and high-risk procedures. We examined the association of risk analysis index scores with postoperative outcomes in a retrospective nationwide database of patients who underwent lower extremity amputation in the Veterans Health Administration Health Care System. Methods The Veteran Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program data was queried across the Veteran Affairs Health Care System with institutional review board approval for lower extremity amputations. Records of above and below knee amputation, Current Procedural Terminology codes 27590, 27591, 27592, 27594, 27596 and 27880, 27881, 27882, 27884, and 27886, respectively, from 1999 to 2018 were obtained. Incomplete and traumatic entries were removed. Risk Analysis Index score was calculated from preoperative variables and patients were separated into five score cohorts (≤15, 16-25, 26-35, 36-45, ≥46). The χ2 test and analysis of variance were used to compare the cohorts. Forward binary logistic regression modeling was used to determine covariate-adjusted odds ratios for outcomes in each cohort (SPSS software; version 25, IBM Corp). Results A total of 47,197 patients (98.9% male) with an average age of 66.4 ± 10.6 years underwent nontraumatic lower extremity amputation, including 27,098 below knee and 20,099 above knee amputations, during the study period. Frailty was associated with increased rates of deep vein thrombosis, sepsis, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, pneumonia, intubation for more than 48 hours, pulmonary embolism, reintubation, acute kidney injury, renal failure, increased length of stay, overall complications, and death. Increases in the frailty score were associated with up to three times the likelihood for the occurrence of a postoperative complication and up to 32 times likelihood to perish within 30 days than those with low frailty scores. Conclusions Risk analysis index assessment of frailty was found to be associated with several postoperative outcomes in a dose-dependent manner in patients undergoing lower extremity amputation in the Veterans Health Care System, with higher scores associated with higher rates of death and major cardiac (myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest), pulmonary (pneumonia, failure to wean vent, reintubation), and renal (renal insufficiency, renal failure) complications. We recommend the use of risk analysis index score as a frailty screening tool for patients undergoing lower extremity amputation to enable providers to adequately inform and counsel patients regarding potential significant risks.
Correlations between air drag and movement of water droplets in fibrous media

Abstract The movement of dispersed liquid drops in fibrous media occurs in many industrial applications, such as in filtration of liquid aerosols. The process can be complex and challenging to model for predictive purposes in filter design. Often the industry relies upon experimental comparisons between filter media to determine suitable media for specific applications. Correlations for predicting drop behaviors, such as drop movement and coalescence, in filter media can reduce experimental efforts by providing a tool to estimate media performances that narrows the range of media for experimental comparison. This work in this paper focused on movement of drops due to the drag force of the flowing gas phase. A simple force balance and introduction of drag coefficient led to a correlation for estimating the drag coefficient for the average movement of drops in fiber media. Experiments were conducted to detect the movements of water drops and parameters fitted to the correlation. Experimental observations showed that the drops did not move until the drag force exceeded a minimum. A correlation was developed to relate the Reynolds number of the gas flow through the porous medium that caused the drop to move. The minimum Reynolds number correlation provides a prediction of the size of drops that can be expected to move in a fiber medium for a given flow rate of gas. The drag coefficient correlation provides for a calculation of the average velocity of the moving drops through the fiber medium. The correlations are limited to motions of single drops and do not account for other drop behaviors such as coalescence or channel flow. This work extends prior works that developed similar correlations for drops on single fibers and on surfaces of fiber mats.
Role of oxygen on the precipitation and deformation behavior of an aged β Ti-15Mo alloy

Abstract The mechanical behavior of aged metastable β titanium alloys is directly influenced by the formation and stability of metastable ω and stable α phases during thermomechanical processing. Interstitial oxygen, which is known to cause embrittlement in Ti alloys, affects phase stability in these alloys and also impacts their structural properties. The present study investigated the role of interstitial oxygen on ω and α precipitation in an aged metastable β Ti-15Mo alloy and the subsequent effect of these microstructural changes on the alloy’s compressive mechanical properties. High oxygen levels reduced the ω growth rate and induced a shape change for ω precipitates with oxygen partitioning to ω precipitates during ageing. Oxygen-containing specimens displayed higher compressive yield strengths than in oxygen-free specimens during micropillar compression testing. However, in both cases, ω precipitates were ultimately sheared leading to slip band formation and plastic flow localization. Elevated oxygen also refined the α precipitate distribution whether α nucleation happened homogeneously or heterogeneously. The finer α precipitates with oxygen led to increased compressive yield strength during micropillar compression compared to specimens without oxygen. Oxygen plays a key role in the evolution of ω and α precipitate distributions and associated mechanical properties, which is another example of how oxygen may be a useful alloying element in β titanium alloys.
Toward an Understanding of Mature Marketing Relationship Phenomena

Much of the focus of models and studies of marketing relationships has been on relationship formation with scant attention being paid to the mature relationship. A mature marketing relationship, one which is ongoing between buyer(s) and seller(s), exists when the parties to a relationship have gone beyond formation. The initial boundaries of parties to the relationship have been established and some level of commitment exists. A key turning point in the shift from formation to maturity occurs when there has been an investment of some form (time, Personnel money) in the relationship. Yet, how these investments are managed, how parties to a relationship behave once a relationship has been initiated has not been specifically addressed in the marketing relationship literature.
Pancreatic islet cell therapy for type I diabetes: understanding the effects of glucose stimulation on islets in order to produce better islets for transplantation

While insulin replacement remains the cornerstone treatment for type I diabetes mellitus (T1DM), the transplantation of pancreatic islets of Langerhans has the potential to become an important alternative. And yet, islet transplant therapy is limited by several factors, including far too few donor pancreases. Attempts to expand mature islets or to produce islets from stem cells are far from clinical application. The production and expansion of the insulin-producing cells within the islet (so called β cells), or even creating cells that secrete insulin under appropriate physiological control, has proven difficult. The difficulty is explained, in part, because insulin synthesis and release is complex, unique, and not entirely characterized. Understanding β-cell function at the molecular level will likely facilitate the development of techniques to manufacture β-cells from stem cells. We will review islet transplantation, as well as the mechanisms underlying insulin transcription, translation and glucose stimulated insulin release.
Fundamental Systems Concepts: "The Right Stuff" for 21st Century Technology

The next century will be characterized by ambitious attempts to design, construct, or manage ultralarge systems such as high bandwidth global communication networks, flexible manufacturing systems with high autonomy, and ecosystems distributed over large geographical regions. Systems concepts and principles are needed to deal with such overwhelming complexity. Fads continue to flash on the scene and fade just as fast. The enduring advances have a fundamental robustness consistent with systems-based methodology.
It's time to rehabilitate the P-value.

Any biostatistician worth her salt has had extensive training in hypothesis testing. Those of us who then find ourselves working in epidemiology have been frustrated when we try to use our tools. The P-value has become politically incorrect, at least among a circle of vocal and influential epidemiologists. This journal has taken a leading role in discouraging the use of P-values and hypothesis tests, in favor of confidence intervals and estimation.1 This view has produced a near-complete prohibition, and the few of us intrepid diehards who have secured the former editor's permission to publish an actual P-value in these pages wear that achievement as a badge of courage. The P-value quantifies the discrepancy between a given data set and the null hypothesis, as the probability of results being as discrepant or more so, given the null hypothesis. It thus assesses the degree of inconsistency between the stated null and the observed data. A fuller description of this simple idea can be found in many introductory textbooks.2 How has the P-value come to be so despised? There are many reasons. Certainly, less abstract ways to summarize study results are appealing. I like to see papers that stay close to the data by showing graphs and point estimates where possible. Moreover, the point estimate for a risk ratio can speak more directly to the possible public health implications than can a P-value, which inherently confounds sample size and magnitude of effect.
Homologation of acetals of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds with diazo esters. Synthesis of acetals of β,γ-unsaturated carbonyl compounds

Etude de la reaction entre des dimethylacetals et ethyleneacetals d'acroleine, benzaldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, phenyl-3 propynal et acetophenone et le diazoacetate d'ethyle en presence de BF 3 -ethylne ether dans le dichloromethane
A Computer Program to Determine Reliability Using Analysis of Variance.

A computer program, written in FORTRAN IV, is described which assesses reliability by using analysis of variance. The program produces a complete analysis of variance table in addition to reliability coefficients for unadjusted and adjusted data as well as the intraclass correlation for m subjects and n items.
Experiments with supercooled liquid hydrogen

We report on experiments performed with droplets of supercooled liquid ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$, maintained in a state of neutral buoyancy in pressurized $^{4}\mathrm{He}$ fluid. We have measured the nucleation rate for solidification as a function of temperature, and have observed and analyzed several interesting hydrodynamic effects relating to the motion of the drops and interactions between them. We discuss the possibility of supercooling liquid ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}$ to sufficiently low temperatures to observe the superfluid phase.
Self-Assembly Based Plasmonic Arrays Tuned by Atomic Layer Deposition for Extreme Visible Light Absorption

Achieving complete absorption of visible light with a minimal amount of material is highly desirable for many applications, including solar energy conversion to fuel and electricity, where benefits in conversion efficiency and economy can be obtained. On a fundamental level, it is of great interest to explore whether the ultimate limits in light absorption per unit volume can be achieved by capitalizing on the advances in metamaterial science and nanosynthesis. Here, we combine block copolymer lithography and atomic layer deposition to tune the effective optical properties of a plasmonic array at the atomic scale. Critical coupling to the resulting nanocomposite layer is accomplished through guidance by a simple analytical model and measurements by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Thereby, a maximized absorption of light exceeding 99% is accomplished, of which up to about 93% occurs in a volume-equivalent thickness of gold of only 1.6 nm. This corresponds to a record effective absorption coefficient of 1.7 × 1...
Blockade of the Delayed Rectifier Potassium Current in Drosophila by Quinidine and Related Compounds

Quinidine is a potent blocker of the delayed rectifier K+ channels (IK). Although it has been used for understanding the physiology of K+ channels in many organisms and for treating cardiac arrhythmia in humans, mechanisms of its interaction with the channel molecule are not well understood. As a first step in understanding these mechanisms, we used the Shaker mutant of Drosophila in which the delayed rectifier can be resolved in complete isolation from other currents and determined the importance of the major groups of quinidine (methoxy, quinoline, quinuclide and the bridge groups) in the blockade of IK. It appears that the quinoline moiety, while possessing little channel-blocking activity by itself, may provide a template for positioning the groups that may be important for affinity and blockade. These groups, in the order of importance in imparting inhibitory activity to quinoline, seemed to be quinuclide > methylene bridge > 6-methoxy group. In particular, the quinoline ring and the quinuclide group...
Biorthogonal Wavelet Based Identification of Fast Linear Time-Varying Systems—Part II: Algorithms and Performance Analysis12

The present work proposes a new class of algorithms for identification of fast linear time-varying systems on short time intervals, based on the biorthogonal function decomposition. When certain features of the system dynamics are known a priori, the algorithms admit their embedding into the identification procedure through the choice of the matching bases, yielding the rapidly convergent identification laws. The speed-up is attained via utilizing both time and frequency localized bases, permitting identification of fewer coefficients without noticeable loss of accuracy. Simulation shows that the resulting high speed identification algorithms can reject small persistent random disturbances as well as capture the fast changes in system dynamics. The algorithm development is based on the results of Part I where it is shown that the sets of all bounded-input-bounded-output (BIBO) stable or l 2 -stable linear discrete-time-varying (LTV) systems are Banach spaces, and modeling and identification of these systems are reducible to linear approximation problems in a Banach space setting.
The Emerging Roles of County Governments in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas: Findings From a National Survey

During the past few decades, local governments have extended the scope of their activities in response to changing economic and political conditions. By and large, research on local governments neglects counties, now the fastest growing general-purpose governments. This article examines counties’roles in economic development and public service activities and reports on findings from a national survey of county governments with broad generalizability and a relatively high response rate across metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Counties provide important services that promote local economic development, enhance human capital, and serve social safety net functions. In accordance with literature on decentralization, the scope of these activities is reported to have grown with the passage of time. Relative to other counties, however, nonmetro counties provide fewer economic development and other public services and are less likely to have increased their role in these activities over time. The article exa...
Dendritic Cell Development and Survival Require Distinct NF-κB Subunits

Abstract Despite the established role of dendritic cells (DCs) in regulating T lymphocyte activation, intracellular mechanisms responsible for controlling DC function are largely undefined. Here, we have studied DCs from mice deficient in the p50, RelA, and cRel subunits of the immunomodulatory NF-κB transcription factor. Although DC development and function was normal in mice lacking individual NF-κB subunits, development of doubly deficient p50 −/− RelA −/− DCs was significantly impaired. In contrast, DCs from p50 −/− cRel −/− mice developed normally, but CD40L- and TRANCE-induced survival and IL-12 production was abolished. Surprisingly, no significant impairment in MHC and costimulatory molecule expression was seen, despite significantly reduced κB site binding activity. These results therefore indicate essential, subunit-specific functions for NF-κB proteins in regulating DC development, survival, and cytokine production.
Rapid anxiety assessment in medical patients: Evidence for the validity of verbal anxiety ratings

Rapid assessment of patient anxiety is necessary to insure quality care. A number of self-report measures provide valid and reliable measures of anxiety. These measures can be timeconsuming to complete, however, and may be burdensome to medical patients who are in pain or acute anxiety states. Many medical procedures are performed in conditions in which written measures are cumbersome (e.g. patient in supine position), and scoring and interpretation of written measures in a busy clinical setting may be difficult for medical personnel. The present study provides validity data for a verbally administered (0–10) anxiety rating. One hundred and ninety-eight adult interventional radiology patients completed standard measures assessing state anxiety, trait Negative and Positive Affect, and the dimensions of the five-factor model of personality. Verbal anxiety rating was highly correlated with Spielberger’s State Anxiety Inventory, showed moderate correlations to the related constructs of neuroticism and trait Negative Affect, and was largely unrelated to theoretically distinct constructs. Verbal anxiety ratings made prior to the invasive procedure also predicted pain and anxiety during the procedure. The verbal anxiety rating also demonstrated sensitivity to changes in anxiety that occurred as a result of changes in situation. Findings support the convergent and discriminant validity of verbal anxiety ratings.
General dressed Hamiltonian for a composite particle in a medium

Abstract The general dressed hamiltonian for a composite particle in a medium is obtained by using joined Fock-Tani representation for composite particles, causal Green's function method and Balescu's kinetic theory formulation. An explicit calculation of this dressed hamiltonian is presented within the frame of the medium-composite weak coupling approximation and tested on the hydrogen Ly α -line broadening.
Disgust in response to some arthropods aligns with disgust provoked by pathogens

Insects are widely disliked by the public, despite the fact that they provide valuable ecosystem services and are vital components of ecosystems. Public support toward wildlife conservation is influenced by attitudes toward different taxa, thus, the widespread negativity toward insects shown by the general public almost certainly detracts from conservation efforts for them. Negative attitudes toward insects and other invertebrates take many forms, one of which is the feeling of disgust. Disgust has been widely researched and is typically divided into distinct domains (e.g., moral disgust). In order to determine whether insect-specific disgust is unique from other domains of disgust, we conducted a survey of 704 incoming freshmen at a major Midwestern university with questions pertaining to Moral, Pathogen, and Insect-specific Disgust. Factor analyses indicate that Insect Disgust and Pathogen Disgust are part of the same construct, unique from Moral Disgust. Our results suggest that survey respondents perceived insects in the same way as they would pathogens, at least in regard to disgust. This research provides insight into how the public views insects, and will facilitate educational interventions aimed at challenging negative attitudes toward insects. The Insect Disgust Scale will be a useful measure of insect-related disgust in future studies.
Diagnosis of hypothyroidism.

THE recognition of hypothyroidism is made difficult for the physician in his office by several misconceptions. The first of these is that the term hypothyroidism refers to the pathologic condition of the thyroid gland, whereas in fact, it refers to the condition in the body created by an insufficiency of the thyroid hormone in the tissues; this may occur without pathology in the thyroid itself. Second, the physician has in mind a clinical syndrome corresponding to myxedema, which is a rather rare and extreme form of thyroid deficiency. Far more common—and requiring diagnosis—is a clinical state of hypothyroidism, without the history or physical findings associated with myxedema. Third, the average physician, unfortunately, still feels that determination of the basal metabolic rate is a diagnostic test for hypothyroidism. The diagnosis of hypothyroidism is indicated in a very wide variety of clinical conditions, such as (a) states of fatigue, somnolence, psychasthenia, malnutrition, obesity, anemia, hypert...
Premature ejaculation: diagnosis and pharmacotherapy

Premature ejaculation (PE) is extremely common, affecting around one-quarter of all men. Men readily recognize their PE but rarely report this to their doctors. When they do the mainstay of treatment has been behavioural therapy, which usually requires the cooperation of sexual partners. This can be effective but relapses are common. No pharmacological agents are approved for use in PE, although some, including anti-depressants, are used off-label.
Use of the neutron diffraction--H/D exchange technique to determine the conformational dynamics of trypsin.

A number of structural and chemical investigations (1–6) have shown that, even though protein molecules possess a high degree of secondary structure, they have numerous component segments which exhibit substantial fluctuations from their native conformations. A majority of these fluctuations represent a localized denaturation of small portions of the structure and result from the natural equilibrium between protein-protein and protein-solvent interactions. Although most of these fluctuations probably have little direct effect on the regions responsible for functional activity of the protein, a growing body of evidence indicates that conformational change is an important ingredient in a significant number of biological processes (7–10).
Dose and timing of interleukin (IL)-12 and timing and type of total-body irradiation: effects on graft-vs.-host disease inhibition and toxicity of exogenous IL-12 in murine bone marrow transplant recipients.

Abstract Paradoxically, a single injection of recombinant murine interleukin (IL)-12 on the day of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) inhibits graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) while preserving graft-vs.-leukemia (GVL) effects in lethally irradiated mice receiving fully MHC-mismatched bone marrow and spleen cells. These protective effects are mediated by interferon (IFN)-gamma, whose early secretion is induced by IL-12 treatment. We investigated the relationship of IL-12 dose and timing of administration, as well as timing and type of total-body irradiation (TBI), with the ability of IL-12 to inhibit GVHD or mediate toxicity. The results show that a relatively low dose of IL-12 (as little as 50 U in a single injection) can mediate significant GVHD protection. The timing of IL-12 administration, however, is a critical factor. IL-12 administered 1 hour before BMT was most protective, but protection was still observed when it was administered 1-12 hours after BMT. Delaying IL-12 administration to 36 hours post-BMT completely obviated its protective effect. Administration of a second IL-12 injection 6 days after BMT negated the protective effect of an initial injection at the time of BMT. While IL-12 protection was evident when TBI was administered by 137Cs-irradiator in one or two fractions on day -1 or day 0, the use of an X-irradiator to deliver TBI on day -1 was associated with marked IL-12 toxicity. Whereas the protective effect of IL-12 against GVHD depended on donor-derived IFN-gamma, toxicity depended on the ability of host cells to produce IFN-gamma. Careful studies are warranted to test the effects of IL-12 in the context of BMT with various conditioning regimens in large animal preclinical models before this novel approach to GVHD protection can be applied clinically. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 1999;5(5):277-84.
Zirconium phosphate nanoplatelets: a biocompatible nanomaterial for drug delivery to cancer

The objective of this study was to evaluate the biocompatibility of zirconium phosphate (ZrP) nanoplatelets (NPs), and their use in drug delivery. ZrP and doxorubicin-intercalated ZrP (DOX:ZrP) NPs were characterized by using X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Transmission Electron Micrography (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Biocompatibility of ZrP NPs was evaluated in human embryonic kidney (HEK-293), breast cancer (MCF-7), metastatic breast cancer (MDA-MB-231), ovarian cancer (OVCAR-3), resistant cancer (NCI-RES/ADR) cells and mouse macrophage (RAW 264.7) cell lines. Hemocompatibility of ZrP NPs was evaluated with human red blood cells. Simulated body fluid (SBF) of pH 7.4 was used to determine the in vitro release of doxorubicin from DOX:ZrP NPs. Cellular uptake and in vitro cytotoxicity studies of DOX:ZrP NPs were determined in MDA-MB-231. The ZrP nanomaterial can be prepared in the 100–200 nm size range with a platelet-like shape. The ZrP NPs themselves are biocompatible, hemocompatible and showed no toxicity to the macrophage cells. ZrP NPs can intercalate high loads (35% w/w) of doxorubicin between their layers. The release of DOX was sustained for about 2 weeks. DOX:ZrP NPs showed higher cellular uptake and increased cytotoxicity than free DOX in MDA-MB-231 cells. ZrP NPs are highly biocompatible, can intercalate large amounts of drugs and sustain the release of drugs. ZrP NPs improved the cellular uptake and cytotoxicity of DOX to MDA-MB-231 cells. ZrP NPs are promising nanocarriers for drug delivery in cancer therapy.