cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Management as an Effective Strategy: Interdisciplinary Perceptions for Natural Resources Management

Adaptive management is a well-established approach to managing natural resources, but there is little evidence demonstrating effectiveness of adaptive management over traditional management techniques. Peer-reviewed literature attempts to draw conclusions about adaptive management effectiveness using social perceptions, but those studies are largely restricted to employees of US federal organizations. To gain a more comprehensive insight into perceived adaptive management effectiveness, this study aimed to broaden the suite of disciplines, professional affiliations, and geographic backgrounds represented by both practitioners and scholars. A questionnaire contained a series of questions concerning factors that lead to or inhibit effective management, followed by another set of questions focused on adaptive management. Using a continuum representing strategies of both adaptive management and traditional management, respondents selected those strategies that they perceived as being effective. Overall, characteristics (i.e., strategies, stakeholders, and barriers) identified by respondents as contributing to effective management closely aligned with adaptive management. Responses were correlated to the type of adaptive management experience rather than an individual’s discipline, occupational, or regional affiliation. In particular, perceptions of characteristics contributing to adaptive management effectiveness varied between respondents who identified as adaptive management scholars (i.e., no implementation experience) and adaptive management practitioners. Together, these results supported two concepts that make adaptive management effective: practitioners emphasized adaptive management’s value as a long-term approach and scholars noted the importance of stakeholder involvement. Even so, more communication between practitioners and scholars regarding adaptive management effectiveness could promote interdisciplinary learning and problem solving for improved resources management.
The Role of Online Processing in Young Children’s Learning from Interactive and Noninteractive Digital Media

In the current chapter, we consider the role of information processing in young children’s learning from screens. We describe methods for assessing online processing while children watch video, including physiological measures such as eye movements and heart rate, and argue for the importance of considering both selective and sustained attention in order to fully understand how children process digital media content. We also explore techniques that have proven successful in facilitating transfer from screens to real-life objects. In particular, we discuss the benefits of clarifying the symbolic nature of screen media, reducing cognitive load, and creating interactive experiences with screens. We conclude with a synthesis of these disparate literatures and suggestions for future research.
Neurodevelopment and Early Childhood Education for Low-Income Students: An Analytical Literature Review

A child's experiences shape his development and never is that more true than in his earliest years. The early childhood years are a time when student's brain is rapidly maturing. Educators must make every effort to ensure that at school, the experiences to which children are exposed and the resources to which they have access are positive. Considering both the importance of brain development in children’s early years and the disadvantages faced by our at-risk populations of children, it is imperative that educators consider what the study of neuroscience can contribute to the field of early childhood education. This review examines the overlap of neurology and early childhood experiences especially as it pertains to students of lower socioeconomic status. Three significant external factors that influence children’s neurodevelopment are discussed. These three influential factors are adult engagement, the home environment, and the school environment. Additionally, suggestions for future research will be proposed.
Mitigation for energy development fails to mimic natural disturbance for birds and mammals

Abstract Using habitat mitigation to minimize or offset negative impacts of land use change on biodiversity is increasingly common and widespread. For example, where natural disturbance is undesirable (e.g., wildfire in oil and gas fields), mechanical approaches are frequently used to replace natural disturbance and improve habitat for particular species. However, the consequences of such actions for diverse animal assemblages have gone largely unexamined. To assess whether mitigation targeting single species can emulate natural processes and improve habitat for multiple species, we investigated the short-term response of birds and mammals to mechanical tree reduction and natural wildfire in a landscape altered by energy development. We found that no mammal species responded positively to mitigation for energy development in our study region. In contrast, four mammal species were positively associated with fire, and only a single species responded negatively. Similarly, only a single species of bird responded positively to mitigation. Fire had a positive effect on the density of three bird species and a negative effect on six bird species. We show that habitat mitigation intended to emulate natural disturbances and mitigate the negative effects of energy development has mixed but largely negative short-term consequences for birds and mammals. To sustain biodiversity in places undergoing rapid land use change, mitigation should explicitly measure both intended and unintended effects on diverse taxa.
Comparison of time to obtain intraosseous versus jugular venous catheterization on canine cadavers.

Objective To compare the time required and the success rate of personnel with 4 different levels of experience to place a humeral intraosseous (IO) catheter versus a jugular venous catheter (IV) in cadaver dogs. Design Prospective study. Setting Veterinary university teaching hospital. Interventions Canine cadavers from recently euthanized dogs were obtained from the cadaver donation program between May and December 2014. Catheter placers (CPs) with varying clinical experience, including a first year emergency and critical care resident, a senior emergency veterinary technician (VTS certified), a final year veterinary student, and an ACVECC diplomate, participated in the study. Each CP catheterized a total of 6 dogs so that there was a total of 6 IO and 6 IV catheters placed, by automatic rotary insertion device (with an EZ-IO gun) and vascular cut-down technique, respectively, for each CP. Time for IO catheterization and IV catheterization was recorded and compared. The success of IO catheterization and IV catheterization was verified by visualization of an injection of iodinated contrast material under fluoroscopy within the medullary cavity or vessel. Animals Twenty-four canine cadavers. Measurements and Main Results Outcomes were analyzed using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and the Kruskal–Wallis one-way analysis of variance. The median time for all IO catheterization operators was faster at 55.4 seconds (range 15.0–153.0 s) compared to the median time for all IV catherization operators at 217.3 seconds (range 55.6–614 s). The success rate for IO and IV was equal at 87.5%. Conclusion IO catheterization using an automatic rotary insertion device was performed more rapidly and successfully than jugular venous catheterization using a cut-down technique in canine cadaver. These findings suggest IO catheterization may be more efficient for gaining vascular access in the appropriate emergency clinical situations when preexisting IV access does not exist.
Safe navigation and target recognition for a mobile robot using neural networks

Recently, there is a large demand on using mobile robots in different life applications. Thus, it is of importance to ensure mobile robot safe navigation towards its destination. In this research Robotino® from Festo company is used to confirm safe navigation issue along with red color target recognition using its IR and camera sensors respectively. Real-time and simulation experiemental results have been obtained in labrotories of faculty of engineering / Philadelphia university / Jordan. Results were taken to train two multi-layers perceptron neural networks. One of them is used to force Robotino® moving towards its target by controlling its linear velocity, while the other one is used to move Robotino® avoiding any possible static or dynamic obstacle in its route. Matlab workspace is used for system analysis and design.
Response by Mittal et al to Letter Regarding Article, "Neutrophil Activation of Endothelial Cell-Expressed TRPM2 Mediates Transendothelial Neutrophil Migration and Vascular Injury".

If the intent of the letter by Gagat and Grzamka is to point out that actin cytoskeleton remodeling induces vascular barrier disruption is an important phenomenon, we fully agree.1 Its clear tight junctions have a role in regulating endothelial barrier in the brain endothelial cells, although their role is less important in the continuous endothelium such as in the heart and lungs.1 Recent knock out mouse model studies2,3 (including ours4) have provided compelling evidence that adherens junctions or VE-cadherin junctions are important in regulating leukocyte transmigration and …
Crantz, Martens and the "Slimy Things" in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

In Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," the poem's protagonist mentions the presence in the "slimy sea" when he is becalmed in the equatorial Pacific doldrums of a "thousand thousand" "slimy things... with legs." John Livingston Lowes argued in The Road to Xanadu that these creatures were principally derived by STC from descriptions of slimy and/or many-legged sea animals in Frederick Martens's The Voyage into Spitzbergen and Greenland. However, a rather more evident source for Coleridge's "slimy things" is the accounts of the cuttlefish and of other slimy and/or multi-legged marine creatures in David Crantz's The History of Greenland. Details from these latter descriptions would have been retained by Coleridge in his remarkably "tenacious" memory. Here, they would have been multiply tied together by linkages both of similarity and of textual propinquity. The resulting associational complex would also have included particulars from those descriptions of marine fauna in Martens which are mentioned by Lowes as sources for the "slimy things" (as well as details from other accounts of sea animals that are described in Spitzbergen). While Coleridge was composing "Mariner," the just-mentioned materials from Martens and from Crantz would have been compressively synthesized through an "esemplastic" "work of condensation" to produce the image of the "slimy things... with legs." This may accordingly have signified for Coleridge himself a motley assortment of sea fauna from very many and multifarious species. The conception of the "slimy things... with legs" could well have been accompanied for STC by the same sort of vivid visual fantasy which was involved in the creation of "Kubla Khan." The results of my further investigation into the origins of the "slimy things" suggest that the conclusions of Lowes regarding the genesis of Coleridge's poetic imagery are in many cases not at all definitive. Rather, the origins of these images were often much more complex than anyone has supposed, endowing them with a very considerable richness of implicit significance.
Uncommon Tumors and Tumorlike Lesions of the Lower Respiratory Tract and Tracheal Lesions

Although four major types of carcinomas comprise the vast majority of lung tumors, an impressive list of several uncommon and unusual types of both benign and malignant tumors exists seldom encountered in the routine practice of surgical pathology and still more rarely in cytopathology. Nevertheless, they do make their appearance every now and then. In addition to these infrequently occurring neoplasms, some nonneoplastic disease processes in the lungs mimic neoplasia clinically, radiologically, grossly, and cytohistologically. These are referred to as tumorlike lesions. This chapter will describe several of the uncommon neoplasms of the lower respiratory tract and tumorlike lesions that have documented cytopathologic findings.
Coronary Embolism and Myocardial Infarction: A Scoping Study.

Coronary embolism is a cause of acute myocardial infarction (AMI)in which obstructive foci enter the coronary circulation, block normal blood flow and precipitate ischemia. Precise studies focusing on patient population affected, pathophysiological mechanisms, and treatment strategies are scanty, in spite of a reported prevalence estimated at 2.9%. As the understanding of myocardial infarction without evidence of coronary artery disease continues to grow, an in-depth review of this previously seldomly reported subtype of coronary ischemia was in order. Patients suffering coronary embolism are 15 to 20 years younger than traditional AMI patients with a slight predominance towards male sex, which resembles the gender data of the populations affected by non-traditional myocardial infarction in published reports. While the expected prevalence rate of cardiovascular disease risk factors such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia are present, this population also has a relatively high prevalence of atrial fibrillation and valve pathology, especially endocarditis. Initial presentation is indistinguishable from other causes of myocardial infarction however fever is commonly present, when endocarditis with valvular involvement is the primary cause of the coronary embolism. Mechanical thrombectomy is the mainstay of treatment, followed by percutaneous coronary intervention. Mortality is the highest in patients who do not receive targeted treatment for the coronary embolism, particularly if only antimicrobial agents or anticoagulation without thrombolytic agents are employed. The unique features of coronary embolism highlighted in this historical study justify further examination in contemporary patient populations.
Multidisciplinary and Holistic Models of Care for Patients With Dermatologic Disease and Psychosocial Comorbidity: A Systematic Review.

Importance Psychocutaneous disease affects an underrecognized patient population facing misdiagnosis and a reduced quality of life due to knowledge gaps and insufficient awareness. Clinicians worldwide serve as pioneers in offering specialized care for affected patients through the development of combined clinics. Results yield a framework needed to expand availability and ultimately improve patient outcomes. Objectives To report key findings generated from an in-depth analysis of available literature, highlight the importance and benefits of providing multidisciplinary care, and provide structural evidence of existing liaison clinics for more widespread future application. Evidence Review To identify data from inception to November 12, 2019, a search was conducted in PubMed and Google Scholar using the following search strategy:psychodermatology clinicORpsychodermatology liaisonORpsychodermatology combinedORpsychocutaneous clinicORpsychocutaneous liaisonORpsychocutaneous combinedORpsychiatry dermatology combinedORpsychiatry dermatology clinic. Studies were excluded if they were single-patient case reports; if information regarding the number of patients, clinic setup, and presenting conditions was not provided; and if the reports were published in a language other than English. Findings A total of 932 studies were screened, and 23 were retained after removal of duplicates and application of inclusion criteria. The combined clinics, varying in structure, design, and setting, provided collective data from 1677 patients in 12 countries worldwide. Results indicate that patients experience barriers in gaining access to care and clinicians lack appropriate knowledge and resources for proper diagnosis and treatment. The implementation of combined clinics provides a cost-reducing avenue in the management of dermatologic disease and psychosocial comorbidity by limiting inaccurate diagnoses, ineffective treatments, unnecessary referrals, and “doctor shopping.” Increased patient satisfaction or improved patient outcomes after the use of holistic treatment with pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic therapies was reported by 20 included studies (87%). Conclusions and Relevance Examined data from the included clinics illuminate the increased need and demand for specialized care. The ability to provide high-quality integrative patient care, potential utility in medical education, and findings of reduced health care expenditures reflect the need for health care leaders to expand specialized care as key for moving forward. Practical clinic models consist of a well-informed dermatologist for identification of psychocutaneous disease, referral if needed, and treatment based on the physician’s individual comfort level. Involvement of multiple specialists, including psychiatrists, psychologists, and residents and preferably within teaching institutions, in consultations and management-related discussions is recommended.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Package Delivery and Network Coverage

Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) have become important in many application fields including last-mile deliveries, surveillance and monitoring, and wireless networks. This paper aims to design UAVs that simultaneously perform multiple tasks. We aim to design UAV trajectories that minimize package delivery time, and at the same time provide uniform coverage over a neighborhood area which is needed for applications such as network coverage or surveillance. First, we study multi task UAVs for a simplified scenario where the neighborhood area is a circular region with the post office located at its center and the houses are assumed to be uniformly distributed on the circle boundary. We propose a trajectory process such that if according to which the drones move, a uniform coverage can be achieved while the delivery efficiency (delivery time with respect to unconstrained case) tends to 1. Second, we consider a more practical scenario in which the delivery destinations are arbitrarily distributed in an arbitrarily-shaped region. We also do not assume any restrictions on the package arrivals. We show that simultaneous uniform coverage and efficient package delivery is possible for such realistic scenarios.
Institutional distance and Turkey’s outward foreign direct investment

Abstract This study empirically examines the relation between institutional distance (ID) and Turkey’s outward foreign direct investment (TODI). The empirical results use panel data from 2002 to 2016 to show that TODI is attracted to countries with better institutional quality. We also find that host country political stability, government effectiveness, control of corruption, and rule of law attract TODI. We also document that TODI is positively related to cultural distance (CD) and ID is not moderated by CD.
Schrödinger Operators Defined by Interval Exchange Transformations

We discuss discrete one-dimensional Schrodinger operators whose potentials are generated by an invertible ergodic transformation of a compact metric space and a continuous real-valued sampling function. We pay particular attention to the case where the transformation is a minimal interval-exchange transformation. Results about the spectral type of these operators are established. In particular, we provide the first examples of transformations for which the associated Schrodinger operators have purely singular spectrum for every nonconstant continuous sampling function.
Building next-generation healthcare systems using distributed machine learning

Medicine stands apart from other areas where AI can be applied. While we have seen advances in other fields with lots of data, it is not the volume of data that makes medicine so hard, it is the challenges arising from extracting actionable information from the complexity of the data. It is these challenges that make medicine the most exciting area for anyone who is really interested in the frontiers of machine learning – giving us real-world problems where the solutions are ones that are societally important and which potentially impact on us all. Think Covid 19! In this talk I will show how AI and machine learning are transforming medicine and more generally healthcare and how medicine is driving new advances in machine learning, including new methodologies in automated machine learning, interpretable and explainable machine learning, dynamic forecasting, causal inference and distributed machine learning. I will also discuss our experiences in implementing such AI solutions nationally, in the UK, in order to fight the current Covid 19 pandemic as well as how they can be adapted for international use.
Enzyme Discovery and Engineering for Sustainable Plastic Recycling.

The drastically increasing amount of plastic waste is causing an environmental crisis that requires innovative technologies for recycling post-consumer plastics to achieve waste valorization while meeting environmental quality goals. Biocatalytic depolymerization mediated by enzymes has emerged as an efficient and sustainable alternative for plastic treatment and recycling. A variety of plastic-degrading enzymes have been discovered from microbial sources. Meanwhile, protein engineering has been exploited to modify and optimize plastic-degrading enzymes. This review highlights the recent trends and up-to-date advances in mining novel plastic-degrading enzymes through state-of-the-art omics-based techniques and improving the enzyme catalytic efficiency and stability via various protein engineering strategies. Future research prospects and challenges are also discussed.
Eculizumab for Treatment of Biopsy Negative Rejection in Heart Transplantation

Introduction Antibody mediated rejection (AMR) may be suspected in Heart Transplant (HT) patients with biopsy negative rejection (BNR). Donor specific antibodies (DSA) can support this diagnosis. Molecular phenotyping of endomyocardial biopsies (EMB) has identified rejection associated transcripts which correlate with decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) but not with AMR on EMB. BNR may respond to augmented immunosuppression. Thus, there is evidence that BNR may represent rejection. The pathophysiology of AMR involves complement activation. Eculizumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting C5a treats AMR in renal transplant patients. We present two cases of eculizumab use for BNR with presumed AMR in HT patients. Case Report A 22 year old male underwent HT in 2007 for non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM). His post-operative course was complicated by grade 2 AMR and mild cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV1) with normal graft function. In 2018 he presented with EF 20%. Coronary angiography (CA) showed CAV1. EMB and DSA were negative. Following treatment for presumed AMR with steroids, IVIG, therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) and extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP), EF improved to 54%. Three months later he developed symptomatic graft dysfunction (EF 35%). EMB, DSA were negative. CA was stable. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed mid myocardial late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). He underwent empiric AMR treatment, with addition of eculizumab. EF normalized with sustained improvement at 18 months. He is maintained on monthly ECP and eculizumab. Our second patient is a 27 year old male with HT in 2009 for NICM. He had recurrent cellular and AMR with re-transplantation in 2013 for recalcitrant CAV. In 2017 he presented in cardiogenic shock, EF 35%. CA showed CAV1. EMB showed grade 1 CMR, negative for AMR. Class I DSA was positive, low level MFI (1053). He was treated with steroids, TPE, IVIG and thymoglobulin. EF further declined to 25%. MRI showed subendocardial inferior LGE. Eculizumab was commenced. Side effects included mild headaches. EF normalized at 6 months. He continues with biweekly ECP and eculizumab. Summary In our patients with BNR and presumed refractory AMR, eculizumab resulted in improved graft function. Research is needed into the efficacy, dosing and duration of therapy. Eculizumab is a therapeutic prospect for HT patients with presumed AMR and BNR.
Toward Personalizing Students' Education with Crowdsourced Tutoring

As more educators integrate their curricula with online learning, it is easier to crowdsource content from them. Crowdsourced tutoring has been proven to reliably increase students' next problem correctness. In this work, we confirmed the findings of a previous study in this area, with stronger confidence margins than previously, and revealed that only a portion of crowdsourced content creators had a reliable benefit to students. Furthermore, this work provides a method to rank content creators relative to each other, which was used to determine which content creators were most effective overall, and which content creators were most effective for specific groups of students. When exploring data from TeacherASSIST, a feature within the ASSISTments learning platform that crowdsources tutoring from teachers, we found that while overall this program provides a benefit to students, some teachers created more effective content than others. Despite this finding, we did not find evidence that the effectiveness of content reliably varied by student knowledge-level, suggesting that the content is unlikely suitable for personalizing instruction based on student knowledge alone. These findings are promising for the future of crowdsourced tutoring as they help provide a foundation for assessing the quality of crowdsourced content and investigating content for opportunities to personalize students' education.
Effects of plane of nutrition and as-fed milk replacer temperature on abomasal dynamics in Holstein calves

Fluctuations in as-fed milk replacer have been implicated as a potential cause of abomasal diseases, including abomasitis and bloat. As feeding preweaned calves a higher plane of fluid milk nutrition becomes increasingly common, understanding how specific feeding management factors affect the abomasal compartment will aid in optimizing milk ration development and implementation. The objectives were to determine the effects of plane of nutrition (PON) and as-fed milk replacer temperature (AFMRT) on the functionality and environment of the abomasum in healthy Holstein calves.
An examination of the relationships between adverse childhood experiences, personality traits, and job-related burnout in early childhood educators

Abstract Early childhood professionals experience more adverse childhood trauma than other populations. How this trauma impacts job-related burnout, and is mediated by personality, is not known. This study explored the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, personality, and job-related burnout, and whether personality mediates between adverse childhood experiences and job-related burnout. Participants included 207 early childhood educators from the U.S. Results revealed a significant, positive correlation between adverse childhood experiences, and neuroticism and openness. Neuroticism and openness were found to mediate between adverse childhood experiences and burnout. Understanding this relationship has implications for the design of supportive infrastructures and professional development initiatives.
The tail wags the tubulin.

Summary The C-terminal tail of tubulin influences microtubule assembly and stability. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Chen et al. combine in vitro experiments using recombinant tubulin with molecular dynamics simulations to provide molecular-level insights into the importance of α-tubulin tail and its post-translational modifications in microtubule assembly and stability.
A novel approach for studying crack propagation in polycrystalline graphene using machine learning algorithms

Abstract A machine learning model is proposed to predict the brittle fracture of polycrystalline graphene under tensile loading. The model employs a convolutional neural network, bidirectional recurrent neural network, and fully connected layer to process the spatial and sequential features. The spatial features are grain orientations and location of grain boundaries whereas sequential features are associated with the crack growth. Molecular dynamics modeling is used to obtain the fracture process in pre-cracked polycrystalline graphene sheet subjected to tensile loading. The data from molecular dynamic simulations along with novel image-processing techniques are used to prepare the data set required to train and test the proposed model. Crack growth obtained from the machine learning model shows a close agreement with the molecular dynamic simulations. The proposed machine learning model predicts crack growth instantaneously avoiding the computational costs associated with molecular dynamics simulations.
Multilocus DNA Fingerprinting in the Analysis of Cell Stocks: Stability Studies and Application to a Wide Range of Species

DNA fingerprinting is a new technique which provides a highly useful supplement to the standard authentication techniques of isoenzyme analysis and cytogenetics. While fingerprinting does not identify the species of origin it does give specific identification of a cell line. As an alternative, single locus probes can be useful in distinguishing very closely related cell lines. However, they lack the capacity of multilocus DNA fingerprinting whereby a single test can both identify the cell line with good specificty and exclude cross-contamination by cell lines from an extremely wide range of species. We demonstrate the stability of fingerprints of cell lines during repeated sub culture, mycoplasma infection (with two species) and high level antibiotic treatment. This data contributes to the validation of DNA fingerprinting in cell technology and promotes its use for routine quality control of cell stocks of diverse species of origin.
NOSH-sulindac (AVT-18A) is a novel nitric oxide- and hydrogen sulfide-releasing hybrid that is gastrointestinal safe and has potent anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, anti-platelet, and anti-cancer properties

Sulindac is chemopreventive and has utility in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis; however, side effects preclude its long-term use. NOSH-sulindac (AVT-18A) releases nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide, was designed to be a safer alternative. Here we compare the gastrointestinal safety, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-pyretic, anti-platelet, and anti-cancer properties of sulindac and NOSH-sulindac administered orally to rats at equimolar doses. Gastrointestinal safety: 6h post-administration, number/size of hemorrhagic lesions in stomachs were counted. Tissue samples were frozen for PGE2, SOD, and MDA determination. Anti-inflammatory: 1h after drug administration, the volume of carrageenan-induced rat paw edemas was measured for 5h. Anti-pyretic: fever was induced by LPS (ip) an hour before administration of the test drugs, core body temperature was measured hourly for 5h. Analgesic: time-dependent analgesic effects were evaluated by carrageenan-induced hyperalgesia. Antiplatelet: anti-aggregatory effects were studied on collagen-induced platelet aggregation of human platelet-rich plasma. Anti-cancer: We examined the effects of NOSH-sulindac on the growth properties of 12 human cancer cell lines of six different tissue origins. Both agents reduced PGE2 levels in stomach tissue; however, NOSH-sulindac did not cause any stomach ulcers, whereas sulindac caused significant bleeding. Lipid peroxidation induced by sulindac was higher than that from NOSH-sulindac. SOD activity was significantly lowered by sulindac but increased by NOSH-sulindac. Both agents showed similar anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-pyretic, and anti-platelet activities. Sulindac increased plasma TNFα whereas this rise was lower in the NOSH-sulindac-treated animals. NOSH-sulindac inhibited the growth of all cancer cell lines studied, with potencies of 1000- to 9000-fold greater than that of sulindac. NOSH-sulindac inhibited cell proliferation, induced apoptosis, and caused G2/M cell cycle block. These results demonstrate that NOSH-sulindac is gastrointestinal safe, and maintains the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, and antiplatelet properties of its parent compound sulinsac, with anti-growth activity against a wide variety of human cancer cells.
Frameless Stereotaxy of the Brain

Today’s neurosurgical journals are replete with advertisements for systems designed to provide image guidance during surgery. These so-called “frameless” stereotactic systems provide the surgeon with navigational information, relating the location of instruments in the operative field to preoperative imaging data. Such information minimizes invasiveness by more accurately selecting the best trajectory to the lesion, ensures more precise identification of normal structures, and guides complete removal of a lesion. To achieve these goals, all of these systems utilize the stereotactic principle of coregistration of the patient with an imaging study. This review will trace the development of image-guided surgery from its origins in frame-based stereotaxy to its current use as a surgical navigation methodology. A review of the more prevalent techniques and available systems will be presented, along with examples of specific applications of surgical navigation. Finally, some of the future directions of frameless stereotaxy will be discussed.
Acoustic Quantification of Left Ventricular Volumes and Function in Children With Congenital and Acquired Heart Disease

Automated acoustic quantification (AQ) technique for left ventricular (LV) volume and function has been validated in vitro and in adults. Its reliability and applicability in children has not been validated. Therefore, 30 children with different forms of congenital and acquired heart disease underwent cineangiography followed by AQ for LV volumes and ejection fraction measurements. Their median age was 3.6 years and median weight was 14 kg. In all patients, AQ was obtained without difficulty; the quality was adequate in all but the largest patient. The mean LV end-diastolic volume by cineangiography was 66 mL compared with 47 mL by AQ; there was good correlation between the two techniques with an r = 0.92, P < 0.001. The mean LV end-systolic volume was 24 mL by cineangiography compared to 19 mL by AQ, with good correlation, r = 0.94, P < 0.001. The median ejection fraction by cineangiography was 63% compared to 63.5% by AQ. However, the correlation was not strong, r = 0.52, most likely due to lack of wide range of ejection fractions. In conclusion, AQ yielded quantitative measurements of size and function in normal and abnormal shaped ventricles as reliable as cineangiography and could be used to follow LV quantitatively in patients in whom accurate assessment is essential.
A Systematic Evaluation of NOx Formation Pathways and Subgrid Scale Models in Turbulent Nonpremixed CO/H2/N2 Jet Flame Predictions

Numerical prediction of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) from combustion processes has been a challenging task to the combustion community, yet necessary to reduce environmental impact. Turbulent nonpremixed combustion is characterized by wide ranges of overlapping length and time scales associated with the mixing and chemical reaction processes. In practice, averaged governing equations are solved with subgrid scale models to account for the unresolved scales and interactions among them. A validation study of subgrid scale models is made for a turbulent nonpremixed CO/H2 /N2 jet flame. Numerical predictions of Nitric Oxide (NO) quantities are compared with experimental data to evaluate the accuracy of subgrid scale models. Factors significantly affect NO formation are identified and studied thoroughly. In addition to thermal NO pathway, N2 O-intermediate pathway is also dominant for this fuel composition. Even though this flame has a very low radiant fraction, the heat loss has a significant effect on NO formation because of the highly temperature dependent NO formation rates. Superequilibrium O-atom & OH radical levels showed high sensitivity to the thermal NO formation in high-temperature zones. An order of magnitude differences are observed in thermal NO by neglecting subgrid scale fluctuations on NO formation with some what less sensitivity to NO formation by the N2 O pathway. For reliable and accurate NO numerical predictions, the following should be accounted for; NO formation pathways, radiation effects, nonequilibrium O-atom & OH-radicals and subgrid scale turbulence effects. Overall, the Zeldovich mechanism predicted thermal NO very closely and overpredictions resulted from the N2 O-intermediate pathway.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Diachronic Coherence and Radical Probabilism

The question of diachronic coherence, coherence of degrees of belief across time, is investigated within the context of Richard Jeffrey’s radical probabilism. Diachronic coherence is taken as fundamental, and coherence results for degrees of belief at a single time, such as additivity, are recovered only with additional assumptions. Additivity of probabilities of probabilities is seen to be less problematic than additivity of first‐order probabilities. Without any assumed model of belief change, diachronic coherence applied to higher‐order degrees of belief yields the martingale property.
On Geomatric and Algebraic Aspects of 3D Affine and Projective Structures from Perspective 2D Views

This paper investigates the differences — conceptually and algorithmically — between affine and projective frameworks for the tasks of visual recognition and reconstruction from perspective views. The study is made by first proposing an affine framework for perspective views, captured by a single remarkably simple equation, which is based on a viewer-centered invariant we call relative affine structure. Via corollaries of the main result we make connections to previous work and show that Euclidean, affine and projective structure representations can be obtained by simple specializations and generalizations of our main results.
Phenomenology of asymptotically free theories in deep inelastic scattering: (I). Electron and muon scattering☆

Abstract We calculate the predictions of asymptotically free theories for deep inelasric scattering using a straightforward Mellin transform technique which uses a minimum of theoretical assumptions. Parameterizing the quark and anti-quark distributions functions, we fit all the available μ and e scattering data. We investigate the sensitivity of the theory of the (almost) unknown gluon distributions and the choice of scaling variable. The best fit uses the formalism of Georgi and Politzer for the 1/ Q 2 terms with a quark gluon coupling constant g 2 /4 π ∼ 1 at Q 2 = 1 (GeV/ c ) 2 . (Equivalently the scale parameter Λ is 500 MeV/ c .) Good fits are also found in simpler models using x , x ′ or ξ as scaling variables. The best value of Λ depends strongly on the choice of scaling variable.
Supervised facial recognition based on eigenanalysis of multiresolution and independent features

In this paper, a supervised facial recognition system is presented. In the feature extraction step, a Two Dimensional Discrete Multiwavelet Transform (2D DMWT) is used to extract useful information from the face images. The 2D DMWT is followed by a Two-Dimensional Fast Independent Component Analysis (2D FastICA) and eigendecomposition to obtain discriminating and independent features. The resulting compressed features are fed into a Neural Network (NNT) based classifier for training and testing. All techniques are tested using ORL, YALE, and FERET databases. The proposed approach shows a significant improvement in the recognition rate, storage requirements, as well as computational complexity.
Research highlights: nanopore protein detection and analysis

In this article we highlight recent work using nanopores to detect and study proteins. Nanopores are excellent single molecule sensors, capable of rapidly characterizing small molecules with relatively modest instrumentation requirements. Although the vast majority of recent effort and attention surrounding nanopores has centered on detection and sequencing of nucleic acids, proteins represent a more difficult and diverse analyte population, with a wide range of sizes, structures, charges, among other characteristics. Nanopores can be used to detect the presence of proteins of interest as well as to study their enzymatic activity, binding to ligands, and secondary structure. We highlight new work describing detection of specific protein species in solution by coupling them to a strand of carrier DNA that is used to electrophoretically transport the proteins through conical glass nanopores. Additionally, we spotlight another approach for nanopore detection of protein and other analytes through detection of their binding to aptamers—measurements which were quantitative to pM concentrations. Finally, we highlight studies in which protein secondary structure and folding energetics were studied through the use of an unfoldase enzyme coupled to a protein nanopore, a technique capable of detecting the effects of single amino acid mutations on the stability of the folded protein.
Flow injection analysis with inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy: critical comparison of conventional pneumatic, ultrasonic and direct injection nebulization

Abstract The analytical figures of merit observed under flow injection analysis (FIA) conditions of a direct injection nebulizer (DIN) interfaced to an inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) facility were found to be comparable to or better than conventional pneumatic nebulization in terms of limits of detection, reproducibility and interelement effects. The DIN offered clog-free operation and part per billion limits of detection for 30μl sample injection volumes and carrier stream consumption rates in the range of 100–200μl min −1 . The relative detection limits observed were generally comparable to those obtained for: (a) FIA introduction of 200μl or continuous sample introduction into a conventional cross flow nebulizer; and (b) FIA introduction of 500μl or continuous sample introduction into an ultrasonic nebulizer. Absolute and relative detection limits were comparable to or within the range of values reported for electrothermal vaporization-ICP-AES and comparable or superior to those reported for the graphite cup, direct insertion-ICP-AES. The reported absolute detection limits for the graphite-rod direct insertion approach ranged from comparable values to superior by a factor of 30. At the normal compromise observation height (20 mm), the interelement effects, to the extent they were observable, were comparable in magnitude for both the DIN and conventional cross-flow pneumatic nebulizer.
Fluorescence microscopy and 3D image reconstruction of cytokine initiated disruption of the Parkinson disease associated proteins α-synuclein, tau and ubiquitin in cultured glial cells

Human derived glioblastoma cells were cultured and treated with cytokines interleukin-6 (IL6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) and interferon-gamma (IFN) and imaged by fluorescence deconvolution microscopy to localize alpha-synuclein, tau and ubiquitin. Exposures were for short (2 h) and prolonged times (up to 96 h), with doses at both low (10 ng/ml), and high (100 ng/ml) concentrations. Further experiments used additive doses up to 200 ng/ml (2 x 100 ng), mimicking a super-infection state. Single, low doses of the cytokines initiated changes in levels of intracellular proteins, but these changes, be they increases or decreases, were not sustained, so we added higher doses of cytokine to the culture medium or fresh aliquots of cytokines over time. Finally, we treated cells with high, single doses of cytokine (200 ng/ml), to try to sustain perturbations of the proteins with cytokines. IFN caused a disruption and reduction of peripheral synuclein, TNF treatment resulted in increased levels of ubiquitin and IL6 disrupted and appeared to fragment tau. Of note, each of the proteins was found in a specific locale, tau being perinuclear, ubiquitin residing in the cytoplasm, and alpha-synuclein occupying the tips of cellular processes, exhibiting the characteristics of an adhesion protein/molecule [Word count=198].
Alteration of local cerebral glucose utilization following intravenous administration of heroin in Fischer 344 rats.

Abstract The 2-deoxyglucose method was used to study the effects of acute administration of small intravenous doses of heroin on rates of glucose utilization in rat brain to identify small brain regions that may be involved in the acute behavioral effects of heroin. In contrast to previous studies which have used relatively large doses, the doses of heroin used in this study have been shown to be self-administered [Martin, T.J., Dworkin, S.I. and Smith, J.E., Alkylation of μ-opioid receptors by β-funaltrexamine in vivo: comparison of the effects on in situ binding and heroin self-administration in rats., J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 272 (1995) 1135–1140.]. Administration of 18 μg/kg of heroin resulted in higher rates of glucose utilization in the medial olfactory tubercle, anterior nucleus accumbens and dorsolateral caudate while having no other effects on limbic structures compared to saline-treated animals. Conversely, the rate of glucose utilization was lower than control in the habenula, dorsal raphe, and central gray following adminstration of 18 μg/kg of heroin. Administration of two higher doses (60 and 100 μg/kg) resulted in lower rates of glucose utilization in the thalamus, habenula, inferior colliculus, dorsal raphe and central gray compared to saline. The higher rates of glucose utilization in the limbic areas were specific for the lowest dose of heroin, whereas the effect of lowering the rate of glucose utilization compared to control in the thalamus and inferior colliculus were an increasing function of dose. In the habenula and dorsal raphe, however, the dose-effect function was inverted. These data indicate that the alterations of glucose utilization in rat brain by heroin are site-specific and the systems involved as well as the nature of the alteration differs for individual doses of heroin.
Disease Risk Assessment in African Great Apes Using Geographic Information Systems

This unique study illustrates the potential application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to generate hypotheses regarding which African great ape populations, including bonobos (Pan paniscus), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla and Gorilla beringei), are at increased risk from human diseases. Human demographic data and core human health indicator data for the African great ape range countries were obtained. Human population density and percent annual human population growth rate were used as combined indicators of environmental stress/vulnerability (as a proxy measure of human–great ape contact), and infant mortality rate (IMR) and healthy life expectancy (HALE) were used as separate indicators of disease burden among the human populations living in the great ape range countries. Cut-off values were determined and, using GIS, these indicators were analyzed to create maps of critical areas (countries) with both environmental stress and high burden of human diseases. When using IMR as the indicator of disease burden, the great ape range countries identified as critical areas included Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Cameroon and Uganda were also identified as critical areas when using HALE as the indicator of disease burden; however, Benin was excluded. Validation of these results would allow for targeted interventions thereby maximizing the use of limited resources. Improvements in public health infrastructure in these critical areas would benefit the human populations that have unmet health needs as well as these endangered species.