cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Review and Reconsideration of Nonneoplastic Myometrial Pathology

From 1861 to 1962, clinicopathologic research tried to explain the association of abnormal uterine bleeding with uterine enlargement. The etiology was theorized as metropathy, suggesting that myometrial dysfunction may predispose to abnormal uterine bleeding. Research reached a nadir in 1962, when a major review dismissed myometrial hypertrophy as a plausible explanation after prior rejections of the theories of chronic myometritis, fibrosis uteri, and subinvolution as causes of bleeding. Subsequent to this arose a crusade against unnecessary hysterectomies in the 1970s. Although myometrial hyperplasia was proposed in 1868, it is only in the past 25 years that tangible evidence has supported that idea. It now appears that clinically enlarged uteri are due to globoid outward bulging of the uterus, caused by increased intramural pressure—often unrelated to either uterine weight or myometrial thickness. Abnormal (dysfunctional) uterine bleeding may often be due to spontaneous rupture of thrombosed dilated en...
Essential tremor measurement and analysis

A computer sensor network is developed to monitor hand position of those with essential tremor, a nervous system disorder that causes uncontrollable shaking of the hands and upper body [1]. The sensor network collects three-dimensional positional data using two ZX Distance and Gesture Sensors, an Arduino Uno board, and a Raspberry Pi. The ZX Distance and Gesture Sensors, which use two infrared (IR) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a receiver to collect positional data, are connected to the Arduino. From there, the data are transmitted serially to the Raspberry Pi via an I2C multiplexer. Data from a series of carefully selected hand movements performed by a subject without essential tremor are collected and analyzed using Python to assess network accuracy. Graphs are produced to represent different data features. Theoretical plots are also generated for comparison to experimental results. Average deviation from a theoretical path of motion is calculated for each task performed and found to be no higher than 0.24 inches (0.61 cm). These values quantify the shakiness of the “normal” hand relative to theoretical paths of motion. With data collected from real tremor patients, this computer sensor network could improve the way essential tremor is monitored and classified for the millions of patients who struggle to find treatment.
Renal Trauma Increases Risk of Future Hypertension.

Objective To determine if traumatic renal injuries or computed tomography (CT) findings are predictive of hypertension (HTN) development following injury. Methods A retrospective review of a renal trauma database was performed from 1995 to 2015. Renal injuries were graded by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma system, with high-grade defined as IV or V. Nonrenal genitourinary trauma (ie bladder, penile, urethral, and testicular) patients were selected as controls. Patients with a diagnosis of HTN before their trauma or those lacking follow-up were excluded. Risk factors associated with HTN following trauma were identified using multivariable regression with propensity scoring. Results In total, 163 patients had a renal injury and 60 had nonrenal, genitourinary injuries. The median age was 31 years (interquartile range 23-43) with median follow-up of 4.7 years (interquartile range 1.9-8.5). Twenty-three (14%) patients with renal trauma were newly diagnosed with HTN on follow-up, compared with 2 (3%) in the control groups. (P = .02) After propensity quartile adjustment, patients with high-grade trauma had higher odds of developing HTN compared with low-grade renal trauma patients and controls (adjusted odds ratio 3.5, 95% confidence interval 1.3-9.3, P = .01). Patients with a midpole medial laceration and medial blood on CT had higher odds of developing HTN compared with patients without these characteristics (odds ratio 5.36, 95% confidence interval 1.3-22.6, P = .02). Conclusion Increasing renal trauma grade is a risk factor for future development of HTN. CT findings at trauma presentation may be useful in stratifying patients who are at increased risk.
Growth Cycles in a Classical-Keynesian Model

The analysis of capitalist economic dynamics is not a simple matter. Capitalist economies produce growth, business cycles, and from time to time major crises which threaten their very existence. Any attempt to examine the logic of these dynamics has to be forgiven for making simplifying assumptions and conveniently neglecting part of the story. What is striking about much of contemporary dynamic theory, however, is its great difficulty in providing convincing explanations of the conjunction of growth and cycle. In the basic multiplier-accelerator model, as Pasinetti (1974, pp. 54–82) has clearly shown, growth and cycles are mutually exclusive alternatives. To have both, some exogenous factor must intervene. The same is true for “Keynesian” econometric models, the solutions to which produce cycles only if hit by random shocks. The currently fashionable “equilibrium” business cycle theory of the Lucas (1975) variety is also subject to this embarrassment, since it derives cycles from the accelerator mechanism, but has nothing to say about growth.
Analysis of Nonequilibrium Effects and Flow Instability in Immiscible Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media

Abstract Two-dimensional, high-resolution, numerical solutions for the classical formulation and two widely accepted nonequilibrium models of multiphase flow through porous media are generated and compared with experimental observations from literature. Flow equations for simultaneous flow of two immiscible phases through porous media are written in a vorticity stream-function form. In the resulting system of equations, the vorticity stream-function equation is solved using a spectral method and the transport equation is discretized in space using a central-upwind scheme. The system of equations is solved for a two-dimensional domain using a semi-implicit time-stepper. The solutions reveal behavior that is not apparent in one-dimensional solutions, namely that sharpening of the saturation front caused by the inclusion of a dynamic capillary pressure results in propagation of viscous fingers compared to the classical formulation. The inclusion of nonequilibrium effects in the constitutive relations, in the form of effective saturation, introduces dispersion and smears the otherwise highly resolved viscous fingers in the saturation front. Once developed, the length of the mixing zone in the numerical solutions remains constant with time regardless of the degree of instability. This is contrary to the evolution of the mixing zone observed in unstable flow experiments where, unlike the numerical solutions, the propagation speed of the leading edge of the front appears to increase with time.
Borges, Lorca and Jung as Labyrinth Makers

Notwithstanding the undeniable personal, philosophical and aesthetic distance that separates Borges, Jung and Lorca, this study proposes that all three thinkers and creators make their implicit presence known as one explores the full complexity of the external and internal labyrinth or, according to Jungian terminology, Mandala that each of them constructs as essential to their respective processes toward self-integration. It begins with the premise that Borges, Jung and Lorca share a common ground from at least the singular perspective of Schopenhauer’s illusory principium individuationis; namely, that all three minds traveled a similar labyrinthine process of individuation toward the ultimate objective of self-realization through their respective writings.
P.3.27 Immigration-related stressors and health outcomes among low-wage immigrant hotel workers

Background Immigrants (or foreign born individuals) make up about 17% of US workers and yet over 40% of the low-wage workforce. Immigrant workers are more likely to be employed in service industries, are paid less, and experience higher rate of injuries and illnesses than their native counterparts. They are exposed to a multitude of hazards in their workplace as well as other stressors outside of work. This study explored stressors leading to ill health among a group of low-wage immigrant workers. Method We recruited adult immigrants working as hotel housekeepers- a representative group of low-wage service workers. Participants completed survey questionnaires, the SF12 and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHDQ-2). Descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation, frequency, and percentage were calculated. Independent t-test were carried out using SPSS 22.0 software. Results 22 Mexican immigrants and 8 others participated in the study. Among Mexican immigrants, younger age of migration was significantly correlated with more chronic diseases (r=0.44, p=0.041). Compared to other-foreign-country-born workers, Mexico-born workers were younger when they first came to US (t=2.08, p=0.048) and experienced less discrimination (t=3.73, p=0.001). The two groups did not differ in other stressors including length of stay, demands of immigration, and money sent to others (Ps>0.05). Mexico-born workers had less chronic diseases and better SF-12 physical health than the other immigrant workers (t=2.46, p=0.038; t=2.18, p=0.037). Across both groups, higher demands of immigration were significantly associated with more chronic diseases (r=0.43, p=0.047), poorer SF-12 mental health (r=−0.56, p=0.007), and more severe depressive symptoms (r=0.58, p=0.009). Higher everyday discrimination was significantly associated with poorer mental health (r=−0.47, p=0.023) and more severe depressive symptoms (r=0.66, p=0.001). Implications Immigrant-specific factors affect Hotel housekeepers’ health. Studies are needed to identify the protective factors (e.g. social support, enclaves) that can buffer the stressors affecting the health of these immigrant workers.
Paid Sick Leave in Washington State: Evidence on Employee Outcomes, 2016–2018

Objectives. To estimate if Washington State’s paid sick leave law increased access to paid sick leave, reduced employees’ working while sick, and relieved care burdens.Methods. I drew on new data f...
Inverse Solvent Isotope Effects in Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions

Solvent isotope effects have long been used as a mechanistic tool for determining enzyme mechanisms. Most commonly, macroscopic rate constants such as kcat and kcat/Km are found to decrease when the reaction is performed in D2O for a variety of reasons including the transfer of protons. Under certain circumstances, these constants are found to increase, in what is termed an inverse solvent kinetic isotope effect (SKIE), which can be a diagnostic mechanistic feature. Generally, these phenomena can be attributed to an inverse solvent equilibrium isotope effect on a rapid equilibrium preceding the rate-limiting step(s). This review surveys inverse SKIEs in enzyme-catalyzed reactions by assessing their underlying origins in common mechanistic themes. Case studies for each category are presented, and the mechanistic implications are put into context. It is hoped that readers may find the illustrative examples valuable in planning and interpreting solvent isotope effect experiments.
Early diagnosis, presenting complaints, and management of hyperandrogenism in adolescents

Hyperandrogenism in the adolescent is a common problem that may manifest in several ways, and may be the result of numerous underlying problems. This article reviews hirsutism, acne, adrenal hyperplasia, and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Presenting signs and symptoms, as well as underlying pathophysiology and treatment options, are discussed.
Towards Verifying Robustness of Neural Networks Against A Family of Semantic Perturbations

Verifying robustness of neural networks given a specified threat model is a fundamental yet challenging task. While current verification methods mainly focus on the $\ell_p$-norm threat model of the input instances, robustness verification against semantic adversarial attacks inducing large $\ell_p$-norm perturbations, such as color shifting and lighting adjustment, are beyond their capacity. To bridge this gap, we propose \textit{Semantify-NN}, a model-agnostic and generic robustness verification approach against semantic perturbations for neural networks. By simply inserting our proposed \textit{semantic perturbation layers} (SP-layers) to the input layer of any given model, \textit{Semantify-NN} is model-agnostic, and any $\ell_p$-norm based verification tools can be used to verify the model robustness against semantic perturbations. We illustrate the principles of designing the SP-layers and provide examples including semantic perturbations to image classification in the space of hue, saturation, lightness, brightness, contrast and rotation, respectively. In addition, an efficient refinement technique is proposed to further significantly improve the semantic certificate. Experiments on various network architectures and different datasets demonstrate the superior verification performance of \textit{Semantify-NN} over $\ell_p$-norm-based verification frameworks that naively convert semantic perturbation to $\ell_p$-norm. The results show that \textit{Semantify-NN} can support robustness verification against a wide range of semantic perturbations.
Enhanced Threshold Voltage Stability in ZnO Thin-Film-Transistors by Excess of Oxygen in Atomic Layer Deposited Al 2 O 3

The prolonged bias stress of ZnO TFTs transistors with Al 2 O 3 deposited at 100, 175, and 250°C is presented. Fully patterned bottom gated and top contacted devices serve as the test structures. The reliability study shows increasing threshold voltage shifting of 10.5, 18.6, and 27.2 % with deposition temperature with no significant change in the density of interface states for all the samples. Nevertheless, there is a dependence of the oxide trap states with stress time. The analysis of the transconductance as a function of the threshold voltage shifting indicates that oxide traps states near the interface are the dominant instability mechanism for significant stress times. The Al 2 O 3 deposited at a temperature of 100 °C contains a higher concentration of oxygen compared to the other samples. This present oxygen excess could be filling oxygen vacancies present in the Al 2 O 3 , thereby resulting in a smaller ΔV TH .
Hydraulic fracturing and political conflict: News media coverage of topics and themes across nine states

Abstract This article compares the topics that underlie public debate around hydraulic fracturing covered in newspapers across nine U.S. states over an eleven-year period. In analyzing more than 7000 newspaper articles using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) modeling, thirteen main topics emerge. While these topics fluctuate over time, their relative frequency and, hence, importance in the discourse remains largely constant. The environmental risks associated with the practice is the topic that receives more attention when all data are aggregated. We find that the frequency of the topics varies by state, and the nature of this variation is associated with the political leanings of the state, with media sources in Republican governed states more likely to report on the economic benefits associated with hydraulic fracturing. Finally, we show how all topics are associated with words that indicate the presence of conflict among stakeholders involved in discussions about the costs and benefits of hydraulic fracturing. In doing so, we describe how the association between topics and conflict varies according to which party governs the state, which provides evidence about the fundamental differences on how parties consider the practice of hydraulic fracturing in the states we study. We conclude the article by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of our methodological approach, which can be leveraged to discern trends in discussions about environmental and energy-related problems that exceed the specific case of hydraulic fracturing.
Critical race theory and the teacher education curriculum: challenging understandings of racism, whiteness, and white supremacy

The purpose of this study was to investigate how preservice teachers (PSTs) respond and reflect in a University course that centres Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) i...
Clinical concept extraction using transformers

Objective The goal of this study is to explore transformer-based models (eg, Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers [BERT]) for clinical concept extraction and develop an open-source package with pretrained clinical models to facilitate concept extraction and other downstream natural language processing (NLP) tasks in the medical domain. Methods We systematically explored 4 widely used transformer-based architectures, including BERT, RoBERTa, ALBERT, and ELECTRA, for extracting various types of clinical concepts using 3 public datasets from the 2010 and 2012 i2b2 challenges and the 2018 n2c2 challenge. We examined general transformer models pretrained using general English corpora as well as clinical transformer models pretrained using a clinical corpus and compared them with a long short-term memory conditional random fields (LSTM-CRFs) mode as a baseline. Furthermore, we integrated the 4 clinical transformer-based models into an open-source package. Results and conclusion The RoBERTa-MIMIC model achieved state-of-the-art performance on 3 public clinical concept extraction datasets with F1-scores of 0.8994, 0.8053, and 0.8907, respectively. Compared to the baseline LSTM-CRFs model, RoBERTa-MIMIC remarkably improved the F1-score by approximately 4% and 6% on the 2010 and 2012 i2b2 datasets. This study demonstrated the efficiency of transformer-based models for clinical concept extraction. Our methods and systems can be applied to other clinical tasks. The clinical transformer package with 4 pretrained clinical models is publicly available at https://github.com/uf-hobi-informatics-lab/ClinicalTransformerNER. We believe this package will improve current practice on clinical concept extraction and other tasks in the medical domain.
Dangerous Skills Got Certified: Measuring the Trustworthiness of Skill Certification in Voice Personal Assistant Platforms

With the emergence of the voice personal assistant (VPA) ecosystem, third-party developers are allowed to build new voice-apps are called skills in the Amazon Alexa platform and actions in the Google Assistant platform, respectively. For the sake of brevity, we use the term skills to describe voice-apps including Amazon skills and Google actions, unless we need to distinguish them for different VPA platforms. and publish them to the skills store, which greatly extends the functionalities of VPAs. Before a new skill becomes publicly available, that skill must pass a certification process, which verifies that it meets the necessary content and privacy policies. The trustworthiness of skill certification is of significant importance to platform providers, developers, and end users. Yet, little is known about how difficult it is for a policy-violating skill to get certified and published in VPA platforms. In this work, we study the trustworthiness of the skill certification in Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant platforms to answer three key questions: 1) Whether the skill certification process is trustworthy in terms of catching policy violations in third-party skills. 2) Whether there exist policy-violating skills published in their skills stores. 3) What are VPA users' perspectives on the skill certification and their vulnerable usage behavior when interacting with VPA devices? Over a span of 15 months, we crafted and submitted for certification 234 Amazon Alexa skills and 381 Google Assistant actions that intentionally violate content and privacy policies specified by VPA platforms. Surprisingly, we successfully got 234 (100%) policy-violating Alexa skills certified and 148 (39%) policy-violating Google actions certified. Our analysis demonstrates that policy-violating skills exist in the current skills stores, and thus users (children, in particular) are at risk when using VPA services. We conducted a user study with 203 participants to understand users' misplaced trust on VPA platforms. Unfortunately, user expectations are not being met by the skill certification in leading VPA platforms.
Gene therapy of dominant CRX-Leber congenital amaurosis using patient stem cell-derived retinal organoids

Summary Mutations in the photoreceptor transcription factor gene cone-rod homeobox (CRX) lead to distinct retinopathy phenotypes, including early-onset vision impairment in dominant Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). Using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from a patient with CRX-I138fs48 mutation, we established an in vitro model of CRX-LCA in retinal organoids that showed defective photoreceptor maturation by histology and gene profiling, with diminished expression of visual opsins. Adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated CRX gene augmentation therapy partially restored photoreceptor phenotype and expression of phototransduction-related genes as determined by single-cell RNA-sequencing. Retinal organoids derived from iPSCs of a second dominant CRX-LCA patient carrying K88N mutation revealed the loss of opsin expression as a common phenotype, which was alleviated by AAV-mediated augmentation of CRX. Our studies provide a proof-of-concept for developing gene therapy of dominant CRX-LCA and other CRX retinopathies.
Snicket: Query-Driven Distributed Tracing

Increasing application complexity has caused applications to be refactored into smaller components known as microservices that communicate with each other using RPCs. Distributed tracing has emerged as an important debugging tool for such microservice-based applications. Distributed tracing follows the journey of a user request from its starting point at the application's front-end, through RPC calls made by the front-end to different microservices recursively, all the way until a response is constructed and sent back to the user. To reduce storage costs, distributed tracing systems sample traces before collecting them for subsequent querying, affecting the accuracy of queries on the collected traces. We propose an alternative system, Snicket, that tightly integrates querying and collection of traces. Snicket takes as input a database-style streaming query that expresses the analysis the developer wants to perform on the trace data. This query is compiled into a distributed collection of microservice extensions that run as "bumps-in-the-wire," intercepting RPC requests and responses as they flow into and out of microservices. This collection of extensions implements the query, performing early filtering and computation on the traces to reduce the amount of stored data in a query-specific manner. We show that Snicket is expressive in the queries it can support and can update queries fast enough for interactive use.
Measuring the structural preservation of semantic hierarchy alignments

We present a method to measure the amount of structural distortion carried by an alignment between two taxonomic cores of ontologies represented as semantic hierarchies. We present our formalism based in metric order theory. We then illustrate the results of such an analysis on the Anatomy track of the 2008 Ontology Alignment Evaluation Initiative (OAEI).
In Search of Information Technology Business Value: Do Measurement Levels Make a Difference?

Measuring the business value of organizational decision support systems (ODSS) is challenging because although the DSS effectiveness has generally been measured at the individual level, the literature measuring the impact of IT has recently been recommending deeper analysis into the firm or process level. This research in progress will examine the impact of ODSS at process level among seven hospitals and compare the findings with the impact of information technology investment at the firm level.
Retrospective evaluation of xylitol ingestion in dogs: 192 cases (2007–2012)

Objective To summarize the signalment, clinical signs, prevalence of decreased blood glucose concentration (BG), prevalence of increased liver values, treatment, and outcome in dogs known to have ingested xylitol. Design Retrospective study from December 2007 to February 2012 Setting Three university teaching hospitals. Animals One hundred ninety‐two client‐owned dogs with known or suspected xylitol ingestion. Interventions None. Measurements and Main Results The median ingested xylitol dose was 0.32 g/kg (range 0.03–3.64 g/kg). Clinical signs were present in 39 (20%) dogs on presentation to the veterinary teaching hospitals. The most common clinical sign was vomiting (n = 25), followed by lethargy (12). The median duration of clinical signs prior to presentation was 93 minutes (range 0–5,040 minutes). Dogs that developed clinical signs ingested a significantly higher dose of xylitol than those that were asymptomatic. Thirty dogs became hypoglycemic (BG ≤ 3.3 mmol/L [60 mg/dL]) at some time point during their hospitalization. When evaluating all dogs, there was a significant difference between the initial and lowest BGs. Thirty dogs had increased alanine aminotransferase activity or total serum bilirubin concentration. Dogs with increases in alanine aminotransferase activity or total serum bilirubin concentration had a significantly lower nadir BG. All dogs survived to discharge and 158 were known to be alive at 28 days. The rest were lost to follow up. Conclusions The prognosis for dogs evaluated by a veterinarian that ingest lower doses of xylitol and do not develop liver failure is excellent. Dogs ingesting xylitol should be hospitalized and monitored for variations in BG, because BG drops in most dogs following presentation. Additional studies are needed in dogs ingesting higher doses of xylitol before correlations between dose and the development of clinical signs or liver failure can be established. Treatment and prognosis for these dogs warrants further investigation.
On the robustness achievable with stochastic development processes

Manufacturing processes are a key source of faults in complex hardware systems. Minimizing this impact of manufacturing uncertainties is one way towards achieving fault tolerant systems. By treating manufacturing as a stochastic development process, we characterize some of the constraints limiting the levels of robustness that can be achieved with evolution. The analysis is by introducing a novel abstraction of development as a strategic decision-making process. Using this abstraction to analyze a toy-system that simulates a process of noisy assembly, we compare the maximum robustness achievable with adaptive and non-adaptive developmental strategies. Even in this highly simplified setup, the optimal adaptive and non-adaptive genotypes reveals a significant empirical difference in their robustness characteristics. This suggests that the choice of developmental strategy and the properties of the setup are major constraints on the robustness achievable, even prior to evolution-related considerations.
Performance of Convolutionally Encoded Noncoherent MFSK Modem in Fading Channels

The performance of a convolutionally encoded noncoherent multiple-frequency shift-keyed (MFSK) modem utilizing Viterbi maximum-likelihood decoding and operating on a fading channel is described. Both the lognormal and classical Rician fading channels are considered for both slow and time-varying channel conditions. Primary interest is in the resulting bit error rate as a function of the ratio between the energy per transmitted information bit and noise spectral density, parameterized by both the fading channel and code parameters. Fairly general upper bounds on bit error probability are provided and compared with simulation results in the two extremes of zero and infinite channel memory. The efficacy of simple block interleaving in combatting channel memory effects are thoroughly explored. Both quantized and unquantized receiver outputs are considered.
Parallel Scientific Computing in C++ and MPI: A Seamless Approach to Parallel Algorithms and their Implementation

This book provides a seamless approach to numerical algorithms, modern programming techniques and parallel computing. These concepts and tools are usually taught serially across different courses and different textbooks, thus observing the connection between them. The necessity of integrating these subjects usually comes after such courses are concluded (e.g., during a first job or a thesis project), thus forcing the student to synthesize what is perceived to be three independent subfields into one in order to produce a solution. The book includes both basic and advanced topics and places equal emphasis on the discretization of partial differential equations and on solvers. Advanced topics include wavelets, high-order methods, non-symmetric systems and parallelization of sparse systems. A CD-ROM accompanies the text.
Localization of Indigenous Yeast in the Murine Stomach

Certain strains of yeast were cultured frequently from the feces of adult CFW mice and Long-Evans and Sprague-Dawley rats, but not from infants of those murine strains, or from adults or infants of NCS or NCS-D mice. When the yeasts could be cultured from the feces, they could also be grown from all areas of the digestive tracts of the animals, but especially from the stomachs, where they formed layers on the epithelium of the glandular mucosa. Three of the yeast isolates, one each from the three murine colonies, were provisionally classified in the genus Torulopsis of the asporogenous yeasts. These yeast strains failed to colonize the digestive tubes of suckling infant mice of either the CFW or NCS-D colonies. In contrast, they colonized the guts of adult NCS-D mice and formed layers in their stomachs; tests with the yeast from CFW mice revealed that this strain colonized the guts and formed layers in the stomachs of germ-free CFW mice. When established in NCS-D mice, the yeast strains did not affect qualitatively or quantitatively the growth of the animals or the composition of the bacterial flora in the gastrointestinal tracts. Moreover, they did not elicit an unusual inflammatory response in the digestive tracts; nor were they pathogenic for NCS mice when injected by the intraperitoneal or intravenous routes. The yeasts thus appear to be harmless saprophytes that are able to flourish in the environment of the surface of the secreting epithelium of the murine stomach. The findings conform with the view that some types of microorganisms of the gastrointestinal tract are not just mixed randomly but rather occupy microenvironments in almost pure culture. This concept is important to the understanding of the ecology of the gut microflora.
Structural and functional polymorphism of the hemocyanin O2 transport system of the sand fiddler crab Uca pugilator

Uca pugilator hemocyanin is an exceptionally heterogeneous aggregate of different polypcptide chains. In a sample of < 100 individuals as many as nine different monomers were resolved. As reported by earlier workers, this protein is also exceptionally polymorphic. Only two of the nine chains in the present sample were invariant. Seven chains varied both qualitatively and quantitatively. Five of the variable chains never reached the highest quantities attained by the other four. Phenotypes lacking one of the two variable chains that did reach maximal quantities, and/or one of the chains that reached intermediate quantities, were chosen for measurements of respiratory properties. The results strongly suggest that the more major of these two chains has a large influence on O2 affinity and a small influence on its pH dependence. Therefore, the structural polymorphism is accompanied by functional differences as well.
Reference intervals for biochemical analytes in serum and heparinized plasma and serum protein fractions in adult alpacas (Vicugna pacos).

Background Species-specific reference intervals for laboratory tests are required for diagnosis and management of disease. Few reports of reference intervals for biochemical analytes and protein fractions are available for alpacas. Objectives The aims of this study were to establish reference intervals for biochemical analytes measured in both serum and plasma and in serum protein fractions, and to determine the influence of herd and sex on test results in a population of alpacas. Methods Blood was collected from 74 healthy male and female adult alpacas (Vicugna pacos) from 5 herds into tubes with no anticoagulant or with sodium heparin and analyzed within 4 hours. Biochemical analytes and ionized calcium were measured using a Hitachi P modular automated chemistry analyzer and an ABL-800 Flex blood-gas analyzer, respectively, and protein fractions were measured by agarose gel electrophoresis of serum. Nonparametric statistical methods were used to determine reference intervals, results obtained from serum and plasma were compared, and effects of herd and sex were examined. Results Serum and plasma samples from 71 and 74 alpacas, respectively, were used to establish reference intervals for serum and plasma biochemical analytes. Intervals were similar, although clinically relevant differences between creatine kinase activity and phosphate concentration were found in individual animals. Serum proteins from 60 alpacas were analyzed by electrophoresis. There were significant herd- and sex-associated differences in some biochemical analytes and protein fractions; however, most had minimal impact on reference interval determination, with the exception of herd-associated effects on concentrations of urea nitrogen, ionized calcium, and bile acids and transferrin saturation. Conclusions Serum and plasma reference intervals are interchangeable; however, consistency of sample type is imperative when performing serial testing. Use of laboratory- and instrument-specific reference intervals is optimal; however, intervals reported here may be used as a guide for interpreting laboratory results from alpacas, especially when test methods are the same.
Does substance P mediate slow synaptic excitation within the myenteric plexus

THE widespread distribution of substance P within neurones of the central1–6 and peripheral7–9 nervous systems has led to the suggestion that it may be an important modulator of neuronal function. Although when applied by microiontophoresis10–14 substance P usually excites central neurones, this excitation is rather slow and this may not be appropriate to the role of a rapidly acting neurotransmitter11. In this report we show substance P to have a powerful depolarising action on the membrane of myenteric neurones and that this is brought about primarily by an inactivation of resting potassium conductance. Furthermore, in several neurones we have observed synaptically evoked depolarisations which have a time course and ionic mechanism similar to the depolarisations produced by substance P. This is of particular interest in view of the evidence that the myenteric plexus contains substance P within nerve terminals and varicosities8,9.
Lack of relationship between in vitro cell measurements and response to busulfan in chronic myelocytic leukemia.

Twenty-three patients with chronic-phase CML have been treated with intermittent courses of busulfan to determine if the duration of unmaintained remission becomes progressively shorter with successive courses of therapy and to determine whether there was a relationship between cluster and colony formation, suicide index of CFUc, labeling index, percentage of cells in S-phase (as determined by cytofluorographic DNA histogram analysis), in vitro sensitivity of the CFUc to busulfan, and response to busulfan therapy. Serial studies in individual patients and the group as a whole revealed no relationship between changes in the cellular parameters described above and response to busulfan. The white blood cell (WBC) doubling time with serial courses of busulfan in individual patients did not always progressively decrease as has been previously reported. In vitro studies of CFUc in chronic-phase CML appear to be of no value in predicting response to busulfan. Language: en
The effects of acute and chronic alcohol ingestion on outcome following multiple episodes of mild traumatic brain injury in rats.

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies suggest that in some circumstances, alcohol intoxication at the time of severe head injury may be neuroprotective. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of acute and chronic alcohol ingestion on outcome in rodents sustaining multiple episodes of mild traumatic brain injury while intoxicated. METHOD: For two weeks before experimentation, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats received intoxicating levels of 95% ethanol (3 g/kg) or normal saline (NS) every other day by orogastric instillation. On the day of experimentation, the animals were randomized to receive alcohol or NS. Two hours later, the animals received either mild (1.2 +/- 0.4 ATA) fluid percussion injury (FPI) or no injury. The injured animals received a total of three episodes of FPI (once every four days). Mean reflex recovery time (RRT) was determined (seconds +/- SEM) immediately after each episode. Mean latency time (seconds +/- SEM) for Morris Water Maze (MWM) performance was assessed at post-trauma days 11-19. RESULTS: The chronic alcohol-exposed (CA) and the non-alcohol-exposed (NA) animals intoxicated when injured had prolonged escape, righting, and corneal RRTs after each FPI compared with the nonintoxicated injured animals and the non-injured shams. However, the CA animals had significantly shorter RRTs when compared with the NA rats. All the injured animals had MWM deficits on testing days 1-6 compared with the noninjured controls. On the last two MWM testing days, the injured NA animals had significantly better MWM performance than the injured CA rats. CONCLUSIONS: The injured intoxicated CA animals had a more rapid recovery of reflexes compared with the injured intoxicated NA animals. Despite initial MWM deficits, the injured NA rodents eventually began to learn the MWM. The injured CA rats never learned the maze. Under the conditions of this study, acute alcohol intoxication at the time of multiple episodes of minor head trauma did not provide neuroprotection for NA or CA rodents. Language: en
Interaction of DNA with bifunctional aldehydes.

The bifunctional aldehydes glyoxal and malondialdehyde, known to be toxic products of the radiolysis of sugar and other food constituents, interact with DNA in vitro and in vivo as demonstrated by thermal denaturation profiles, chromatographic behavior, and incomplete degradation of the reaction product by deoxyribonuclease. After irradiation of DNA in diluted radioactive glucose solution followed by incubation at slightly acid pH, the radioactivity is found in the core of the enzymic digest only. Attempts to locate the binding site proved that the radiolytic compound is associated preferentially with the guanine and cytidine moiety of the DNA core.
Effects of the free radical generator paraquat on differentiation, superoxide dismutase, glutathione and inorganic peroxides in microplasmodia of Physarum polycephalum.

. The herbicide paraquat was used to investigate the effects of oxidative stress on the spherulation of Physarum polycephalum microplasmodia. the responses of a white non-differentiating strain of Physarum were compared with those of a common yellow strain that readily spherulates in salts-only starvation medium. the addition of paraquat to the salts medium increased the specific activity of superoxide dismutase in both strains; it also induced an increase in the intracellular inorganic peroxide concentration in both strains. Glutathione concentration was higher in the paraquat-treated yellow strain than in the controls. Paraquat had no effect on glutathione concentration in white microplasmodia. Paraquat accelerated spherulation in yellow microplasmodia. the white microplasmodia responded to the herbicide by cleaving into structures similar to immature spherules; however, these structures were not viable. the results of this study support the hypothesis that free radicals are involved in cell state transitions.
Comparison of two methods of calculating Quality-adjusted Life Years

This paper compares two methods for calculating QALYs using quality of life data from a clinical trial. The methods produced similar results in the population as a whole, but they gave different results in a large subset. Different methods for calculating QALYs may give different results, and care should be taken to select the correct method.
Movement of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vitians in the stems of lettuce and seed contamination

Xanthomonas campestris pv. vitians, the causal agent of bacterial leaf spot of lettuce (BLS), can be seedborne, but the mechanism by which the bacteria contaminates and/or infects lettuce seed is not known. In this study, the capacity of X. campestris pv. vitians to enter and translocate within the vascular system of lettuce plants was examined. The stems of 8- to 11-week-old lettuce plants were stab-inoculated, and movement of X. campestris pv. vitians was monitored at various intervals. At 4, 8, 12 and 16 h post-inoculation (hpi), X. campestris pv. vitians was recovered from 2 to 10 cm above (depending on stem length) and 2 cm below the inoculation site. Xanthomonas campestris pv. vitians was also recovered from surface-disinfested stem sections of spray-inoculated plants. Together, these results are consistent with X. campestris pv. vitians invading and moving systemically within the vascular system of lettuce plants. To investigate the mechanism of seed contamination, lettuce plants at the vegetative stage of growth were spray-inoculated with X. campestris pv. vitians and allowed to develop BLS. Seed collected from these plants had a 2% incidence of X. campestris pv. vitians external colonization, but no bacteria were recovered from within the seed.
Online Algorithms for Classification of Urban Objects in 3D Point Clouds

The current technology in stationary laser range-scanning enables high-resolution acquisition of 3D data in a sequential fashion. Traditionally, range scans are processed offline after acquisition, which significantly slows down the procedure. In this work we alleviate this limitation by developing low-complexity, online detection and classification algorithms. These algorithms are innovative in that they classify points into 5 distinct classes (vegetation, vertical, horizontal, car and curb regions) and robustly determine the level of the ground without requiring any prior training or parameter estimation. To construct these algorithms we extract cleverly chosen summary statistics which significantly reduce the dimensionality of the data. This reduction enables us to contrast the different classes by appropriately chosen Markov models and then use online techniques to detect a transition from one Markov model to the other. The identification of the ground level is further achieved by taking advantage of statistical properties of the distribution of the summary statistics. Our algorithms also use contextual cues to verify the existence of specific classes of objects. All our algorithms take advantage of the sequential nature of data acquisition by running in parallel and labeling points on-the-fly. Thus, these algorithms can be potentially integrated with the scanner's hardware and provide the foundation for the construction of high-resolution 3D data scanners that classify data as acquired. We have run experiments using complex urban range scans and have evaluated the classification accuracy against ground-truth.
Epitaxial growth and characterization of GaP on insulating substrates

Heteroepitaxy of gallium phosphide on insulating substrates has been studied. Undoped epitaxial films with thicknesses up to 25 μm have been successfully grown on (0001) and (1012) sapphire and on (111) spinel by the reaction between trimethyl gallium and phosphine using hydrogen as the carrier gas. Gallium phosphide has also been grown on thin (2000–3000 A) silicon grown on sapphire, forming a multilayer structure. The epitaxial film-substrate composites have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and optical methods. Information on the growth characteristics, epitaxial orientation relationships, and surface structures have been obtained. The crystalline perfection of the epitaxial gallium phosphide has been examined by transmission X-ray topography. It has been found that the epitaxial GaP deposits are composed of crystallites which are misoriented by ±0.1° from the nominal orientation of the layer. Electrical properties of selected films have been assessed by Hall measurements. Electron mobilities up to 70 cm2/V-sec have been measured in unintentionally doped films grown on (0001) sapphire.
Remission of Crohn’s disease after cord blood transplantation for leukocyte adhesion deficiency type 1

Remission of Crohn’s disease after cord blood transplantation for leukocyte adhesion deficiency type 1
A unified theory of matter. II. Derivation of the fundamental physical law

The equation for the fundamental field quantity ϱ is obtained. It is Div $$\rho ^\mu (\Omega _1 ) = \operatorname{h} \int {[\rho _\mu (\Omega _1 ),\rho ^\mu (\Omega _2 )]_ - \operatorname{d} \Omega _2 } $$ ,where h is an arbitrary function oft andr, and [,]− is the commutator. The derivation requires the following hypotheses:(1) All of physical reality is completely described by the field ϱ.(2) Relativistic covariance of the equations governing ϱ.(3) Principle of continguous action.(4) Conservation of total amount of ϱ. The equation appears to be unique. It is suggested that the physical world corresponds to ϱ being a2×2 matrix. A close correspondence between the basic equation and Maxwell's equation is displayed. The electromagnetic vector potential Aμ is identified with e ρμ dΩ. Conservation laws on various measures of ϱ are obtained. The symmetry groups of the basic equation are derived. A preliminary attempt to connect the field ϱ to the metric is made via Einstein's gravitational equation Gμυ =KTμυ.
Measurement and Simulation of Planar Channeling of Protons in CaF2 and BaF2

Depth profiles of nuclear-encounter probabilities of planar channeled protons in CaF 2 and BaF 2 are studied. For the analysis of the experimental results, time evolution of the spatial distribution of ion flux in the planr channel is simulated. In the simulation a continuum planar potential derived from the ion-ion interaction potentials is used and the momentum fluctuation due to scattering with electrons and thermally vibrating atoms is taken into account. From the depth dependence of the flux distribution, the nuclear-encounter probabilities are obtained, which are in good agreement with the experimental results obtained by backscattering and nuclear reaction measurements.
Comparative study of various methods used for determining health effects of inhaled sulfates

Various health effect parameters were compared to determine which tests were the most sensitive indicators of toxic effects of exposure to metallic sulfate aerosols. Inhalation studies were conducted involving either single 3-hr exposure to various concentrations of cupric sulfate (0.43–2.64 mg/m3 SO4), aluminum sulfate (1.65–2.75 mg/m3 SO4), and aluminum ammonium sulfate (1.47–3.81 mg/m3 SO4) or multiple (five and ten) daily 3-hr exposures to cupric sulfate (0.1 mg/m3 SO4). The test parameters studied in male and female CD1 mice were changes in mortality after respiratory infection with Group C Streptococcus zooepidemicus; pulmonary bactericidal activity; pulmonary cell number, type, viability, and ATP content; and pulmonary morphology by scanning electron microscopy. Tracheal ciliary beating frequency and morphology were also studied in both CD1 mice and Syrian golden hamsters. Differences in bacteria-induced mortality rate appeared to be the most sensitive and consistent indicators of pollutant damage. The other parameters produced evidence of damage but generally only at the higher pollutant concentrations. Cupric sulfate was the most toxic of the three sulfates, but the differences between the toxicity of the aluminum sulfate and aluminum ammonium sulfate were less clear.