cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Toward a “Post-National” Community in Pakistan and the Failures of the Modernist Bildungsroman

This essay reads Kamila Shamsie's Kartography and Uzma Aslam Khan's The Geometry of God as resisting “Pakistani” as a function of hegemonic historiographies through the modernist bildungsroman and ...
Twitter Sentiment Analysis

With the increasing popularity of social media, people have begun to express their opinions on a variety of topics on Twitter and other similar services.Sentiment Analysis on tweets has gained much attention for gathering public opinions on a wide variety of topics. In this paper, we aim to tackle the one of the fundamental problems of sentiment analysis, sentiment polarity categorization. We present a hybrid approach for identifying sentiments from a given piece of text.
Physicochemical and thermal effects of pendant groups, spatial linkages and bridging groups on the formation and processing of polyimides

Aromatic polyimides are known for their remarkable thermal and chemical properties which are greatly influenced by their precursors. In this study, we report synthesis and characterization of four ...
Initiation and Generalization of Self-Instructed Video Activity Schedules for Elementary Students with Intellectual Disability.

This study evaluated the effects of progressive time delay (PTD) to teach four elementary students with intellectual disability on how to self-instruct using a video activity schedule. A single-cas...
Preliminary Scale of Reference Values for Evaluating Reactive Strength Index-Modified in Male and Female NCAA Division I Athletes

The purpose of this analysis was to construct a preliminary scale of reference values for reactive strength index-modified (RSImod). Countermovement jump data from 151 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletes (male n = 76; female n = 75) were analyzed. Using percentiles, scales for both male and female samples were constructed. For further analysis, athletes were separated into four performance groups based on RSImod and comparisons of jump height (JH), and time to takeoff (TTT) were performed. RSImod values ranged from 0.208 to 0.704 and 0.135 to 0.553 in males and females, respectively. Males had greater RSImod (p < 0.001, d = 1.15) and JH (p < 0.001, d = 1.41) as compared to females. No statistically significant difference was observed for TTT between males and females (p = 0.909, d = 0.02). Only JH was found to be statistically different between all performance groups. For TTT no statistical differences were observed when comparing the top two and middle two groups for males and top two, bottom two, and middle two groups for females. Similarities in TTT between sexes and across performance groups suggests JH is a primary factor contributing to differences in RSImod. The results of this analysis provide practitioners with additional insight as well as a scale of reference values for evaluating RSImod scores in collegiate athletes.
Non-High Frequency Heart Rate Chaos: A Noninvasive Marker of REM Sleep and Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome in Children

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a highly prevalent condition associated with considerable metabolic, cardiovascular, and neurocognitive morbidity. Childhood OSAS is underdiagnosed due to a limited number of sleep laboratories and the lack of a screening test, and the subtlety of daytime symptoms in children compared to adults. A potential marker of OSAS is apnea-induced sympathoexcitation, which is likely to be exacerbated during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. However, traditional methods of assessing sympathetic activity are either too invasive or insensitive/nonspecific for clinical use, particularly as a screening test. Study population comprised pediatric patients with OSAS (16 moderate/severe, 18 mild) and 18 normal non-snoring controls. We show that the chaotic dynamics of heart rate variability (HRV) as assessed by a sensitive noise titration assay is significantly increased during REM compared to non-REM sleep in children, particularly those with OSAS. The increase in heart rate chaos prevails in the face of decreased parasympathetic-mediated high-frequency component of the HRV power spectrum, indicating that the chaos was correlated to sympathetic instead of parasympathetic activity. Receiver operating characteristic analysis shows that such non-high frequency chaos reveals changing sympathetic-parasympathetic activities that are not discernible by conventional HRV metrics such as low- to high-frequency power ratio or sample entropy, with sensitivity and specificity sufficient to detect even mild OSAS in children. Results suggest a possible role for non-high frequency heart rate chaos as a selective noninvasive marker of sympathoexcitation in REM sleep, OSAS and potentially other cardiovascular abnormalities such as congestive heart failure.
HOSPITAL RANKINGS FOR MORTALITY AFTER ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION COMPARED WITH RANKINGS FOR MORTALITY AFTER PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION IN NEW YORK STATE

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the treatment of choice for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In New York state (NY), there has been public reporting and ranking of hospital PCI mortality for decades, but only more recently, has there been public reporting and ranking of hospital
Science of Learning: Evidence‐Based Teaching in the Clinical Supervision Classroom

Although clinical supervision is widely viewed as an educational process, counseling doctoral students may lack relevant background in pedagogy. In response to calls to incorporate learning theories and principles into supervision instruction, 7 evidence-based science of learning principles as well as examples from 1 doctoral supervision course are described.
De les "Elegies de Bierville" a l'independentisme: poder constituent o guerra global?

L’elegia IX de les Elegies de Bierville de Carles Riba, escrita a la Franca ocupada el 1941, conte una contradiccio aparent sobre el rol de la guerra en la construccio de la democracia. D’una banda, Riba escriu que, a l’hora de fundar la democracia, a Grecia no li calia guanyar la guerra amb Persia, sino nomes donar cabuda al desig de llibertat d’uns homes atenencs. D’altra banda, pero, el poema acaba suggerint que la guerra tambe forma part de la democracia, ja que aquells que no son lliures, “els batuts”, es retroben a si mateixos com a soldats que lluiten per aconseguir la llibertat. El meu treball fa una lectura historica de l’elegia politica de Riba i relaciona la contradiccio que conte amb el sorgiment de l’independentisme a la Catalunya contemporania. La meva pregunta es si cal entendre l’independentisme com un desig de democracia o com una guerra per obtenir poder estatal. Per formular la pregunta, contraposo el terme de Michael Hardt i Antonio Negri “poder constituent” sobre els moviments actuals de transformacio politica i el terme de Carlo Galli “guerra global” sobre les guerres de poder sobre l’espai en la globalitzacio. La meva hipotesi es que a la Catalunya global, com en el poema de Riba, democracia i guerra continuen generant una contradiccio insoluble i necessaria. The elegy IX of Carles Riba’s Elegies de Bierville , written in occupied France in 1941, contains an apparent contradiction about the role of war in the construction of democracy. On the one hand, Riba writes that, in order to found of democracy, Greece did not have to win the war against Persia; all they needed was to recognize and accommodate the longing for freedom of a particular group of Athenians. On the other hand, however, the poem suggests in the end that war is also part of democracy, as those who are not free, the “vanquished,” can only regain their souls by acting as soldiers who fight for freedom. My paper undertakes a historical reading of Riba’s political elegy and relates its contradiction to the emergence of separatism in contemporary Catalonia. My question is whether we must understand separatism as a longing for democracy or as a war to obtain state power. To formulate this question, I juxtapose Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s notion of “constituent power,” which theorizes today’s movements of political transformation, to Carlo Galli’s term “global war,” which describes the power wars in the spaces of globalization. My hypothesis is that in global Catalonia, like in Riba’s poem, democracy and war continue to generate an inherent and unsurpassable contradiction.
Evaluation of Remote Sensing Reflectance Derived From the Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument Observations Using POLYMER Atmospheric Correction

With a five-day revisit frequency over coastal regions and a spatial resolution of 10–60 m, the Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument (MSI) has shown its capacity to provide a reasonably accurate remote sensing reflectance ( $R_{\mathrm {rs}}$ ) data product over water when the standard “black pixel” (BP) atmospheric correction algorithm was applied to the top-of-atmospheric (TOA) reflectance data. Alternative atmospheric correction approaches, such as the POLYnomial-based algorithm applied to Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) (POLYMER), may show advantages under nonoptimal observation conditions (e.g., in the presence of strong sun glint). Here, POLYMER is implemented to process the data collected by both MSI and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) with the resulting $R_{\mathrm {rs}}$ evaluated with concurrent and colocated in situ $R_{\mathrm {rs}}$ data collected from the AERONET-OC platforms. The results indicate less uncertainties in the MSI $R_{\mathrm {rs}}$ than those in the MODIS $R_{\mathrm {rs}}$ , and also less uncertainties in the MSI $R_{\mathrm {rs}}$ than those reported earlier. This is possibly attributed to the spatial heterogeneity of coastal waters where MODIS coarse-resolution data may suffer, and to the high-quality AERONET-OC data. In addition, for the evaluation data set, MSI $R_{\mathrm {rs}}$ does not appear to suffer from adjacency effects from the AERONET-OC platform and clouds, leading to more coverage than MODIS in nearshore waters. However, MSI $R_{\mathrm {rs}}$ is noisy in relatively clear waters, possibly due to the noisy TOA reflectance in the atmospheric correction bands over clear waters.
Surveillance of iodine nutritional status of 4 target populations in Zibo City after the content of salt iodine decreased

Objective To analyze the survey results of iodine nutritional level among women of childbearing age, pregnant, lactating women and infants before and after the adjustment of iodine concentration in salt of Zibo City, in order to provide a scientific basis for reasonable iodine supplement. Methods The iodine content in the residents' edible salt samples was determined in 2011 and 2015. Four groups of target populations including women of childbearing age, pregnant, lactating women and infants from 7 districts and towns of Zibo were investigated to test their urinary iodine level in 2011 and 2015. The monitoring results of the two years were compared and analyzed. Results A total of 2 100 and 2 160 residents edible salt were monitored in 2011 and 2015, and the median of salt iodine were 30.2 and 22.7 mg/kg, there was statistically significant difference in the constitute of salt iodine level between the two years (χ2= 141.90, P < 0.01). A total of 354, 402, 403, 362 urine samples of women of childbearing age, pregnant, lactating women and infants' were detected and the median urinary iodine were 161.80, 127.20, 138.80, 147.10 μg/L in 2011, and 350, 706, 350 and 352 of the corresponding target population's urine samples were detected and the median urinary iodine were 127.80, 129.95, 70.20 and 152.35 μg/L in 2015. Conclusions The salt iodine median has reduced and the urinary iodine in childbearing age women and infant is in the appropriate level, while it is insufficient in the pregnant women and lactating women after the adjustment of iodized salt concentration in Zibo. It is necessary to promote health education and instruct pregnant women and lactating women to supplement iodine, additionally, surveillance of the iodine nutrition status of the targeted populations should be strengthened. Key words: Iodine; Nutrition; Surveillance; Salts
Comparing Bone-Tendon Autograft With Bone-Tendon-Bone Autograft for ACL Reconstruction: A Matched-Cohort Analysis:

Background:Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR) using bone-tendon-bone (BTB) autograft is associated with increased postoperative anterior knee pain and pain with kneeling and has...
Delayed presentation of pericardial tamponade following blunt chest trauma

We present a case of delayed-onset pericardial tamponade nine weeks after a blunt chest trauma. The patient is a 77-year-old man who presented with shortness of breath nine weeks after fracturing his sternum in a head-on motor vehicle collision. CT and echocardiography revealed a massive pericardial effusion prompting pericardiocentesis. Eight hundred millilitres (mL) of fluid were drained, which rapidly improved his symptoms. This is the longest reported interval between the development of tamponade and a blunt chest trauma. Our case illustrates the importance of maintaining a clinical suspicion for effusion and tamponade even weeks after non-penetrating chest wall injuries.
Encystation of Entamoeba histolytica in Axenic Culture

Entamoeba histolytica is a parasitic protozoan that causes amoebic dysentery, which affects approximately 90 million people each year worldwide. E. histolytica is transmitted through ingestion of food and water contaminated with the cyst form, which undergoes excystation in the small intestine to the trophozoite form that colonizes the large intestine. The reptile pathogen Entamoeba invadens has served as a model for studying stage conversion between the trophozoite and cyst form due to lack of reproducible encystation of E. histolytica in the laboratory. Although much has been learned about encystation and excystation using E. invadens, the findings do not fully translate to E. histolytica due to the extensive genetic and host differences between these species. Here, we present the first reproducible encystation of E. histolytica in vitro. The cysts produced were viable and displayed the four characteristic hallmarks: round shape, chitinous cell wall, tetranucleation, and detergent resistance. Using flow cytometry analysis, glucose limitation and high cell density were key for encystation, as for E. invadens. Entry into encystation was enhanced by the short-chain fatty acids acetate and propionate, unlike for E. invadens. This new model will now allow the further study of E. histolytica stage conversion, transmission, and treatment.
Student perceptions after touching vs. holding educational animals

Educators often use reptiles as ambassadors of environmental messages during presentations because of their ease of transport and handling. Although learners may be provided opportunities to touch or hold these animals, this presents a variety of safety and liability issues for the learner and animal. Little is known about whether touching or holding an animal influences perceptions of the animal and related environmental issues. This qualitative study investigated the perceptions of 16 fifth grade students who experienced a live, tactile encounter with a corn snake and Eastern box turtle while participating in an educational class using four focus groups. Regardless of whether students touched the snake or turtle, or fully held the animal, participants noted the uniqueness of the experience and their empathy for the animal and its habitat. Students who fully held the animal thought that they learned more during the experience while students who touched the animal mentioned getting to know the animal better, regardless of whether the animal was a snake or turtle. When learners are unable to completely hold a snake or turtle, educators should consider the equally positive outcomes that can result from touching these animals with two fingers and provide opportunities for such experiences.
Adar1 deletion causes degeneration of exocrine pancreas via Mavs-dependent interferon signaling

Adenosine deaminase acting on RNA 1 (ADAR1) is an RNA-binding protein that deaminates adenosine(A) to inosine(I). A-to-I editing alters post-transcriptional RNA processing making ADAR1 a critical regulator of gene expression. Consequently, Adar1 has been implicated in organogenesis. To determine the role of Adar1 in pancreatic development and homeostasis, we specifically deleted Adar1 from the murine pancreas (Ptf1aCre/+; Adar1Fl/Fl). The resulting mice had stunted growth likely due to malabsorption associated with exocrine pancreas insufficiency. Analyses of pancreases revealed ductal expansion, heightened interferon-stimulated gene expression and an increased influx of immune cells. In addition, we observed an increased prevalence of CD4+ T and natural killer cells in their splenic tissue. These results indicate an association between loss of pancreatic Adar1 with dysregulation of systemic immunity. Concurrent deletion of Adar1 and Mavs, a signaling protein implicated in the innate immune pathway rescued the degenerative phenotype and resulted in normal pancreatic development. Taken together, our work suggests that the primary function of Adar1 in the pancreas is to prevent aberrant activation of the Mavs-mediated innate immune pathway, thereby maintaining pancreatic homeostasis.
The incidence of puerperal infection in patients delivered in the hospital as compared to patients delivered at home

F OR many years there has been considerable discussion concerning the incidence of puerperal infect,ion following delivery in the home as contrasted with the lying-in hospital. There have been frequent statements made in the literature to the effect that the average obstetric patient is safer at home than in the hospital, and the following study has been undertaken in an effort to compare the incidence of puerperal infection in institutional and domiciliary practice. At the outset it was felt that there were two factors which had to be considered in order to present comparable figures : first, t,he large number of late admissions of abnormal a.nd neglected patients to a hospital service with its resulting high incidence of operative deliveries and its attendant increase in morbidity; and second, the relative lack of postpartum supervision of patients delivered in the home as compared to those in the hospital. In consideration of the first factor WC have included as a control group the cases of multiparas who were delivered spontaneously of viable children without operative induction by bag or bougie on the Hospital Service of the Johns Hopkins Hospital between May 1, 1932, and April 30, 1934, inclusive, and have compared them to multiparas delivered in like manner by the Outside Service during the same period of time. Concerning the second factor, it has long been noted that mild cases of puerperal infection are demonstrable by fever only in the afternoon and evening, and it has been thought that many of them have been missed on the Outside Service owing to the fact that the nurse in making her postpartum visits was able to record only one temperature reading per day, and this usually between the hours of eight and eleven in thtb morning. Therefore, in order to obtain closer supervision of the cases delivered at home during the years 1933 and 1934, temperatures have been taken every four hours from eight in the morning to eight at. night in t,he following manner: Four thermometers were left at each house in separate envelopes marked with the appropriate hour, The patient was instructed to place each in hrr mouth for five minutes at Ihe proper time and then to replace each in its envelope for the nurse to read on her morning rounds. Patients mere cautioned not to drink hot liquids before taking the temperature and to keep the thermometers
The Need for Afghan Social Workers

This article presents the author’s comments at a meeting at the United Nations on February 8, 2008, where she stressed the need for the education of Afghan social workers. She shares the international definition of the social work profession, as set out by the International Federation of Social Workers, and suggests several examples of how social work can play a crucial role in the healing of the country and the strengthening of rights for Afghan women.
Chemical composition of Wolf-Rayet stars - Abundant evidence for anomalies

We have observed 45 WN stars in our Galaxy and the LMC with the IUE satellite at a resolution of 6 A. Examination of the spectra reveals surprising differences in line strength, in many cases at a given spectral subtype. This is similar to the description of the visual spectra given by Leep (1982). One generalization that can be made is that the equivalent width of He II λ1640 is correlated with the H/He ratio measured by Perry and Conti (1982), but not with spectral type.
Forgetful or bad memory

Although individuals and organizations forget, the ideal organizational memory is not forgetful. This paper explores the role of organizational and individual forgetting. It posits that forgetting allows coping in an information-rich world and may be the most important process to design into organizational memory systems to provide adequate support to managers and the organization.
Prognostic significance of peritoneal cytology in patients with endometrial cancer and preliminary data concerning therapy with intraperitoneal radiopharmaceuticals

One hundred sixty-seven patients with clinical State I carcinoma of the endometrium were treated primarily by operation consisting of total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, selective pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy, and cytologic testing of peritoneal washings. Twenty-six (15.5%) of the 167 patients had malignant cells identified on cytologic examinations of peritoneal washings. Recurrence developed in 10 of these 26 (34.0%) compared to 14/141 (9.9%) patients with negative cytologic testing. Of the 26 patients, 13 (50%) had disease outside of the uterus at operation and seven have died of disease (54%). Thirteen patients had malignant cells in the peritoneal washings but no disease outside of the uterus and six (46%) of these have died of disseminated intra-abdominal carcinomatosis. On the basis of the poor outcome of those patients who had malignant cells in the peritoneal washings in the 167 patients studied, a plan of treating such patients with intraperitoneal radioactive chromic phosphate suspension (P-32) was instituted. Twenty-three subsequent patients with clinical Stage I carcinoma of the endometrium were found to have malignant cells in the peritoneal fluid. All 23 received intra-abdominal P-32 suspension instillation after operation. There have been three recurrences with two patients dying of disease. All of the three recurrences appeared at sites distant from the abdominal cavity. Peritoneal cytologic examination appears to be an important factor in the prognosis of endometrial cancer and, when the washings are positive for malignant cells, intraperitoneal chronic phosphate therapy appears to be efficacious.
Gastrointestinal Manifestations of Cystic Fibrosis: A Review

Cystic fibrosis is the most common, lethal, genetic defect of white populations (1). Once limited largely to infants and children, the immediate prognosis has changed drastically over the last three decades so that now the majority of patients survive into adolescence, and nearly 80% live beyond their twentieth birthdays (2-4). The diagnosis is established in 2% of cases after 18 yr of age. Internal medicine and pediatrics, therefore, now share the complications and consequences of cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic syndrome of apparent exocrine dysfunction, characterized by obstructive lesions throughout multi pie-organ systems and disturbances of mucus and electrolyte secretion (5,6). Although reported in various racial groups, cystic fibrosis is more commonly found among whites. It is inherited in an autosomal recessive fashion, and it is estimated to occur in 1:2000 live births (5). The specific genetic defect remains obscure. Elevated concentrations of sweat sodium and chloride are integral and diagnostic features (7). A diversity of symptoms is produced. Cystic fibrosis is a major cause of malabsorption in infants and children in the United States, and it is responsible for a large pro-
Comparison of the properties of trypsin immobilized on 2 Celite derivatives.

Abstract Trypsin was immobilized on 2 Celite™ derivatives and the kinetic properties of trypsin immobilized on these derivatives were determined and compared. Celite™ was derivatized with organosilane to give aminopropyl-Celite (APC) and a portion of this derivative was then succinylated to give succinamidopropyl-Celite (SAPC). Trypsin was covalently immobilized on APC using glutaraldehyde to activate amino groups and on SAPC using water-soluble carbodiimide to activate surface carboxyl groups. Enzyme loadings were 13.9 and 17.8 mg ml −1 of beads on APC and SAPC, respectively. Using p -tosyl- l -arginine methyl ester as substrate, the catalyst specific activity, K M app and k cat / K M app were 17.8 U ml −1 of beads, 3.60 and 21.0 mM −1 min −1 , respectively, for trypsin-APC as compared with 24.5 U ml −1 of beads, 3.77 and 20.3 mM −1 min −1 , respectively, for trypsin-SAPC. With β -lactoglobulin as substrate, K M app and k cat / K M app were 0.36 and 1.62 mM −1 min −1 for trypsin-APC and 0.54 and 1.39 mM −1 min −1 for trypsin-SAPC, respectively. The pH range for optimal activity was much larger for both immobilized forms as compared with the soluble enzyme. The optimal temperature ranges were 40–50°C for trypsin-APC and 50–60°C for trypsin-SAPC. The two methods of immobilization on Celite™ gave biocataysts with similar kinetic properties but immobilization on SAPC yielded slightly higher loadings and higher specific activities.
Authorship Attribution Through Function Word Adjacency Networks

A method for authorship attribution based on function word adjacency networks (WANs) is introduced. Function words are parts of speech that express grammatical relationships between other words but do not carry lexical meaning on their own. In the WANs in this paper, nodes are function words and directed edges from a source function word to a target function word stand in for the likelihood of finding the latter in the ordered vicinity of the former. WANs of different authors can be interpreted as transition probabilities of a Markov chain and are therefore compared in terms of their relative entropies. Optimal selection of WAN parameters is studied and attribution accuracy is benchmarked across a diverse pool of authors and varying text lengths. This analysis shows that, since function words are independent of content, their use tends to be specific to an author and that the relational data captured by function WANs is a good summary of stylometric fingerprints. Attribution accuracy is observed to exceed the one achieved by methods that rely on word frequencies alone. Further combining WANs with methods that rely on word frequencies, results in larger attribution accuracy, indicating that both sources of information encode different aspects of authorial styles.
Justice, Fairness, and Membership in a Class: Conceptual Confusions and Moral Puzzles in the Regulation of Human Subjects Research

This essay examines conceptual difficulties with one of the ways in which justice has been understood and applied the ethical and regulatory review of human research. Justice requires the fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of research. Class membership is seen as justifying inclusion in higher hazard-no benefit research from which members of potentially vulnerable classes, such as children, typically would be excluded. I argue that class membership does not do the justificatory work it is thought to do and that the use of class membership to justify inclusion in higher hazard-no benefit research leads to unjustified discrimination of sick children and offers special protections to healthy children.
Recruitment of Black Elderly for Clinical Research Studies of Dementia: The CERAD Experience

Nine Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) sites were surveyed to identify barriers to recruiting black subjects. Major cited obstacles were expenses, transportation difficulties, and especially lack of rapport with clinic staff. Major factors in overcoming these barriers are a good referral network involving the black community, community education about Alzheimer's disease (AD), and professional staff who are particularly sensitive to the needs of the black population. CERAD efforts to increase community awareness of Alzheimer's disease and staff sensitivity to minority needs have nearly doubled the proportion of black subjects enrolled.
Trainee inexperience is associated with longer procedure times but no increase in complications for cardiac device implantation.

Background The "July phenomenon" describes poor patient outcomes in teaching hospitals at the beginning of a new academic year when trainees begin. Whether this phenomenon truly exists is unclear. Objective The purpose of this study was to identify whether trainee and attending inexperience is associated with cardiac electrophysiologic procedural outcomes including total procedure time, fluoroscopy time, and complications. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the available electronic records of 488 consecutive patients undergoing initial dual-chamber pacemaker (PM) or cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device implantation performed at University of California, San Francisco from February 2004 through November 2011. We calculated physician's year of experience using the procedure date and the physician's job start date. Patients were stratified into two subgroups based on their device type. Procedural outcomes including procedure length, fluoroscopy time, and complications were retrieved from electronic databases. Results After multivariate analysis, fellow experience was associated with decreased procedure time (19% less procedure time/year of experience, 95% confidence interval [CI] 13%–25%, P P P = .009). Neither fellow nor attending experience was associated with complications. Conclusion Each year of fellow experience is associated with a decrease in cardiac device implantation procedure time and a decrease in fluoroscopy time during CRT implantation. No associations between fellow experience and in-hospital complications were observed.
Risk factors and clinical features of recurrent ectopic pregnancy: a case control study

Abstract Objective To compare signs and symptoms between patients with recurrent and single ectopic pregnancies. Design Case-control study. Setting University medical center. Patient(s) Three hundred six women with single ectopic pregnancies and 61 women with recurrent ectopic pregnancies. Intervention(s) None. Main outcome measure(s) Risk factors, historical factors, and findings at presentation that may predispose to recurrent ectopic pregnancy. Result(s) The risk of recurrent ectopic pregnancy was increased with a history of surgery, history of live birth, and history of spontaneous miscarriage and not with a history of gonorrhea, chlamydia, pelvic inflammatory disease, Caesarean section, or pregnancy termination. Patients with a recurrent ectopic pregnancy had a nonsignificant trend toward higher initial hCG values. The majority of ultrasounds in both groups were nondiagnostic on presentation. The patients with recurrent ectopic pregnancy were less likely to have bleeding on initial presentation, though both groups had similar complaints of pain. Conclusion(s) Secondary prevention of ectopic pregnancy is problematic because of the paucity of risk factors that can be modified to diminish the odds of recurrence. Clinicians' ability to both diagnose and counsel patients at risk for recurrent ectopic pregnancy can be optimized by awareness of the clinical features of this condition.
Effects of alcohol on simultaneous incentive contrast

The effects of alcohol on female albino rats’ runway performance were studied in a simultaneous incentive contrast effects experiment involving shifts in magnitude of food reward. Fluid-deprived animals drank an alcoholic fluid (a 10% sucrose solution containing 4.8% ethanol) or a nonalcoholic fluid (a 10% sucrose solution) immediately prior to the conditioning trials. Differential responding for large and small reward was less pronounced among the animals consuming the alcoholic fluid than among those consuming the nonalcoholic fluid. However, incentive contrast effects were not clearly demonstrated under either fluid condition. Thus, contrary to expectations, alcohol did not appear to affect emotional reactions to shifts in reward.
An introduction to the good, the bad, & the ugly face recognition challenge problem

The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly Face Challenge Problem was created to encourage the development of algorithms that are robust to recognition across changes that occur in still frontal faces. The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly consists of three partitions. The Good partition contains pairs of images that are considered easy to recognize. On the Good partition, the base verification rate (VR) is 0.98 at a false accept rate (FAR) of 0.001. The Bad partition contains pairs of images of average difficulty to recognize. For the Bad partition, the VR is 0.80 at a FAR of 0.001. The Ugly partition contains pairs of images considered difficult to recognize, with a VR of 0.15 at a FAR of 0.001. The base performance is from fusing the output of three of the top performers in the FRVT 2006. The design of the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly controls for pose variation, subject aging, and subject “recognizability.” Subject recognizability is controlled by having the same number of images of each subject in every partition. This implies that the differences in performance among the partitions are result of how a face is presented in each image.
Environmental Education in Wisconsin: A Teacher Survey

Abstract This study assessed Wisconsin teachers' perceived competencies in, attitudes toward, and class time devoted to teaching about the environment. A valid and reliable survey instrument was developed and mailed to 1,545 randomly selected elementary and secondary education teachers. Results imply that lack of training in environmental education (EE) is a major reason teachers do not infuse these concepts. Analysis revealed that teachers perceived they were most competent in educating students about the environment in the cognitive domain, and less so in affective education and in environmental action strategies. Although teachers' attitudes toward EE were positive, they reported that they spend less than ½ hour per week per subject teaching about the environment.
Flock House Virus RNA Replicates on Outer Mitochondrial Membranes in Drosophila Cells

The identification and characterization of host cell membranes essential for positive-strand RNA virus replication should provide insight into the mechanisms of viral replication and potentially identify novel targets for broadly effective antiviral agents. The alphanodavirus flock house virus (FHV) is a positive-strand RNA virus with one of the smallest known genomes among animal RNA viruses, and it can replicate in insect, plant, mammalian, and yeast cells. To investigate the localization of FHV RNA replication, we generated polyclonal antisera against protein A, the FHV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which is the sole viral protein required for FHV RNA replication. We detected protein A within 4 h after infection of Drosophila DL-1 cells and, by differential and isopycnic gradient centrifugation, found that protein A was tightly membrane associated, similar to integral membrane replicase proteins from other positive-strand RNA viruses. Confocal immunofluorescence microscopy and virus-specific, actinomycin D-resistant bromo-UTP incorporation identified mitochondria as the intracellular site of protein A localization and viral RNA synthesis. Selective membrane permeabilization and immunoelectron microscopy further localized protein A to outer mitochondrial membranes. Electron microscopy revealed 40- to 60-nm membrane-bound spherical structures in the mitochondrial intermembrane space of FHV-infected cells, similar in ultrastructural appearance to tombusvirus- and togavirus-induced membrane structures. We concluded that FHV RNA replication occurs on outer mitochondrial membranes and shares fundamental biochemical and ultrastructural features with RNA replication of positive-strand RNA viruses from other families.
Small cell carcinoma of the prostate part I a clinicopathologic study of 20 cases

Clinical information and histological slides of 20 cases of small cell carcinoma of the prostate seen at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute at Houston over a 23-year period were reviewed. Patient's ages ranged from 30 to 89 years (median, 67 years). In nine cases, pure adenocarcinoma of the prostate preceded recognition of the small cell component by 7 months to 8 years (median, 18 months); five of these were initially at Stage A. There was a small cell component at presentation in 11 cases (10, Stage D). Small cell carcinoma was merging with the adenocarcinoma in 11 cases and represented 30% to 90% of total tumor volume. Eleven of 20 patients died of their disease. Those presenting initially with a pure adenocarcinoma survived between 7 months and 9 years (median, 24 months). After the recognition of the small cell carcinoma component, regardless of a prior history of adenocarcinoma, death followed within 1.5 years (median, 5 months). This study suggests a biologic difference in behavior in prostatic carcinoma containing a small cell carcinoma component. The small cell component may manifest early or late in the disease.
Tritium measurements with a new liquid scintillation counter

Abstract A new concept in liquid scintillation counting has been employed in developing an instrument for the purpose of quantitatively measuring low specific activity tritium samples. The instrument design differs from present commercial instrumentation in that it utilizes electronics that measure fast-pulse time intervals rather than performing pulse height analysis. The liquid counter was built to accomodate samples as large as 100 ml of solution. The solutions can be counted as a combination of water and scintillator or as pure benzene synthesized from water. As much as 20 g of water can be counted directly as a solubilized cocktail or an equivalent of 66 g of water converted to benzene. Direct counting of aqueous cocktails can be accomplished to sensitivity levels below 10 T.U. Tritiated benzene samples of 25 ml volume have been counted at 53% counting efficiency with background count rates contributing less than 1.75 c/m. This new instrument utilizes massive graded shielding and an electronic guard to minimize external radiation for low background counting.
Extending Cognition to External Agents

Sparrow and Chatman ask if extending social cognition in the Internet age is “the same as it ever was” or whether, due to Google and other search engines on the Internet, something fundamentally di...
The number of cladistic characters

Abstract A cladistic character can be viewed as a type of set-labeled tree. This representation is used to derive a recurrence equation giving the number t ( n,r ) of cladistic characters on n species having r states. Values for t ( n,r ) are given for r up to 5 and n up to 30.
Remotely-sensed spectral indicators of sorghum development and their use in growth modeling

Abstract Earth Resources Technology Satellite (LANDSAT) multispectral scanner (MSS) data for five overpass dates (3/5, 21/5, 8/6, 28/6 and 1/8) during the 1976 grain sorghum growing season (Bell County, Texas) and weather data were used to estimate the plant growth measurements leaf area index (LAI), biomass, plant height, plant cover, and grain yield. Vegetaton indices derived from LANDSAT data were correlated to crop development and growing conditions as measured with LAI and biomass samples. Largest LAI and perpendicular vegetation index (PVI) calculated from LANDSAT spectral data occurred at the half-bloom (HB) stage of development. The PVI was significantly correlated with sorghum PGM on the earliest sampling date (3/5/76) when vegetative ground cover was only 20%. Regression analysis indicated that the PVI explained 79% of the variaton in estimating LAI over the first four sampling dates. On the other hand, the regression of PVI, solar-thermal units, and a soil water index accounted for 90% of the variation in LAI measurements. This result indicated that plant-growth models that mimic plant response to soil and climatic environments will improve yield estimates over those arrived at from spectral data alone. Since LAI is used in growth models to partition energy between plants and soil in the evapotranspiration subroutine and to estimate light interception in the photosynthesis subroutine, LAI estimates from LANDSAT would provide this information for use either as (1) input data, or (2) feedback data to check on growth model predictions and retrack the model, if necessary.
Behavioral and neural correlates of visuomotor adaptation observed through a brain-computer interface in primary motor cortex

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) provide a defined link between neural activity and devices, allowing a detailed study of the neural adaptive responses generating behavioral output. We trained monk...
Suppression of PMN apoptosis by hypoxia is dependent on Mcl-1 and MAPK activity.

Abstract Background: Hypoxia has been shown to delay the onset of neutrophil (polymorphonuclear leukocytes [PMNs]) apoptosis. With the use of antisense oligonucleotides, we have previously demonstrated that Mcl-1 is necessary for this effect. We wanted to further characterize the expression of Mcl-1 and examine signaling pathways required for the delay in apoptosis that is mediated by hypoxia. Methods: For kinase signaling inhibition, PMNs were incubated for 12 hours with the following inhibitors: PD98059 Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase Kinase (MEK), SB202190 (p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase [MAPK]), and LY294002 (phosphatidyl inositol-3-kinase [PI3K]). PMNs that were treated with inhibitors were assessed for apoptosis by morphologic features or were lysed for Western blot analysis. Results: Western blot analyses, immunofluorescent staining, and quantification showed an upregulation of Mcl-1 expression after 12 hours of incubation in response to hypoxia. When inhibitors of either MEK or p38 MAPK were incubated with PMNs during hypoxia, apoptosis increased to similar levels as normoxia. We further wanted to determine whether signaling through p38 MAPK or MEK led to increased Mcl-1 expression. Western blot analysis confirmed that the inhibition of p38 MAPK led to a significant decrease in Mcl-1 expression. Conclusions: We have documented a novel mechanism by which hypoxia can modify PMN apoptosis in the wound site by the activation of p38 MAPK signaling, thereby inducing the anti–apoptotic protein Mcl-1. (Surgery 2000;128:171-7.)
Semiconductors in the disordered state : from bulk to nanoscale.

Incorporation of semiconductors into zeolites has been carried out to determine the effect of confinement on structure, dynamics and electrical properties. The semiconductors stabilized in the zeolite supercages, Se, RbSe and CsSe, are known to preserve their semiconducting behavior upon melting. Examination of the polycrystalline materials by TEM, Raman and anomalous X-ray diffraction show interesting behavior which is compared with that of the bulk materials of the guest species.
Use of plan quality degradation to evaluate tradeoffs in delivery efficiency and clinical plan metrics arising from IMRT optimizer and sequencer compromises.

Purpose: Plan degradation resulting from compromises made to enhance delivery efficiency is an important consideration for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment plans. IMRT optimization and/or multileaf collimator (MLC) sequencing schemes can be modified to generate more efficient treatment delivery, but the effect those modifications have on plan quality is often difficult to quantify. In this work, the authors present a method for quantitative assessment of overall plan quality degradation due to tradeoffs between delivery efficiency and treatment plan quality, illustrated using comparisons between plans developed allowing different numbers of intensity levels in IMRT optimization and/or MLC sequencing for static segmental MLC IMRT plans. Methods: A plan quality degradation method to evaluate delivery efficiency and plan quality tradeoffs was developed and used to assess planning for 14 prostate and 12 head and neck patients treated with static IMRT. Plan quality was evaluated using a physician's predetermined “quality degradation” factors for relevant clinical plan metrics associated with the plan optimization strategy. Delivery efficiency and plan quality were assessed for a range of optimization and sequencing limitations. The “optimal” (baseline) plan for each case was derived using a clinical cost function with an unlimited number of intensity levels. These plans were sequenced with a clinical MLC leaf sequencer which uses >100 segments, assuring delivered intensities to be within 1% of the optimized intensity pattern. Each patient's optimal plan was also sequenced limiting the number of intensity levels (20, 10, and 5), and then separately optimized with these same numbers of intensity levels. Delivery time was measured for all plans, and direct evaluation of the tradeoffs between delivery time and plan degradation was performed. Results: When considering tradeoffs, the optimal number of intensity levels depends on the treatment site and on the stage in the process at which the levels are limited. The cost of improved delivery efficiency, in terms of plan quality degradation, increased as the number of intensity levels in the sequencer or optimizer decreased. The degradation was more substantial for the head and neck cases relative to the prostate cases, particularly when fewer than 20 intensity levels were used. Plan quality degradation was less severe when the number of intensity levels was limited in the optimizer rather than the sequencer. Conclusions: Analysis of plan quality degradation allows for a quantitative assessment of the compromises in clinical plan quality as delivery efficiency is improved, in order to determine the optimal delivery settings. The technique is based on physician-determined quality degradation factors and can be extended to other clinical situations where investigation of various tradeoffs is warranted.
Judgments of facial attractiveness in the absence of eye movements

Forty portraits were selected from a larger number of portraits previously rated by five judges on a 6-step scale of attractiveness. In a subsequent study, subjects also rated the 40 faces on the same scale, but viewing time was restricted to either 150 or 1,000 msec per portrait. Even at exposures of 150 msec, correlation of subjects’ ratings with judges’ ratings was highly reliable.
Global Environmental Change in the News 1987-90 vs 1992-6

Important hazards to the global environment, including climate change, ozone depletion, rainforest destruction and species extinction, were prominently covered by the American mass media during the period 1987-90. As a result, these hazards became important problems on the American agenda of risks, and were soon taken up by other nations, at least until news coverage fell after 1990. This article shows why these particular hazards, which had all been recognized by experts for years, suddenly became important news stories after long periods of inattention. It also speculates why these hazards failed to regain much media attention during the period 1992-6, a time when global warming and other problems intensified, and the White House was occupied by an administration ostensibly sympathetic to environmental concerns.
SUICIDE IN EMINENT PERSONS

A review of several listings of famous historical figures indicated that percentages of deaths due to suicide ranged from 0.3% to 13.3%, with a median of 2.9%.