cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pretreatment cortisol levels predict posttreatment outcomes among older adults with depression in cognitive behavioral therapy.

Previous studies suggest that individuals with elevated levels of cortisol (the “stress hormone”) could be particularly resistant to treatment for depression. However, most of these studies have been conducted in the context of antidepressant medications, and no study has examined pretreatment cortisol levels as a predictor of treatment outcomes among older adults with depression in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), despite the relevance of this population for such a research question. The current study includes 54 older adults with depression who provided salivary cortisol samples at baseline and completed measures of depression at pretreatment and posttreatment, following a 12-week course of CBT. Structural equation modeling results suggest that those with higher daily outputs of cortisol and flatter diurnal slopes were less likely to benefit from CBT—a finding which if replicated could have important implications for clinical practice and future research.
Dynamic rotating-shield brachytherapy.

Purpose: To present dynamic rotating shield brachytherapy (D-RSBT), a novel form of high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) with electronic brachytherapy source, where the radiation shield is capable of changing emission angles during the radiation delivery process. Methods: A D-RSBT system uses two layers of independently rotating tungsten alloy shields, each with a 180° azimuthal emission angle. The D-RSBT planning is separated into two stages: anchor plan optimization and optimal sequencing. In the anchor plan optimization, anchor plans are generated by maximizing the D90 for the high-risk clinical-tumor-volume (HR-CTV) assuming a fixed azimuthal emission angle of 11.25°. In the optimal sequencing, treatment plans that most closely approximate the anchor plans under the delivery-time constraint will be efficiently computed. Treatment plans for five cervical cancer patients were generated for D-RSBT, single-shield RSBT (S-RSBT), and 192Ir-based intracavitary brachytherapy with supplementary interstitial brachytherapy (IS + ICBT) assuming five treatment fractions. External beam radiotherapy doses of 45 Gy in 25 fractions of 1.8 Gy each were accounted for. The high-risk clinical target volume (HR-CTV) doses were escalated such that the D2cc of the rectum, sigmoid colon, or bladder reached its tolerance equivalent dose in 2 Gy fractions (EQD2 with α/β = 3 Gy) of 75 Gy, 75 Gy, or 90 Gy, respectively. Results: For the patients considered, IS + ICBT had an average total dwell time of 5.7 minutes/fraction (min/fx) assuming a 10 Ci192Ir source, and the average HR-CTV D90 was 78.9 Gy. In order to match the HR-CTV D90 of IS + ICBT, D-RSBT required an average of 10.1 min/fx more delivery time, and S-RSBT required 6.7 min/fx more. If an additional 20 min/fx of delivery time is allowed beyond that of the IS + ICBT case, D-RSBT and S-RSBT increased the HR-CTV D90 above IS + ICBT by an average of 16.3 Gy and 9.1 Gy, respectively. Conclusions: For cervical cancer patients, D-RSBT can boost HR-CTV D90 over IS + ICBT and S-RSBT without violating the tolerance doses to the bladder, rectum, or sigmoid. The D90 improvements from D-RSBT depend on the patient, the delivery time budget, and the applicator structure.
Isolation of ferritin from human mammary and pancreatic carcinomas by means of antibody immunoadsorbents.

Abstract In the course of a study of tumor antigens we prepared an absorbed antiserum to a breast tumor that reacted strongly with breast tumor but not with normal breast. The antigen was purified by adsorption to an antibody immunoadsorbent prepared from this antiserum, elution with 2 m potassium thiocyanate at neutral pH, and passage through an immunoadsorbent containing antibodies to human serum. The purified antigen was identified as ferritin by electrophoretic, chemical, and immunological criteria. Isoelectric focusing in acrylamide gels revealed that tumor ferritin contained six bands seen in normal liver ferritin plus a variable number of acidic components not detected in normal liver ferritin. The acidic components were concentrated by chromatography on a DEAE-cellulose column. Similar acidic components described previously in ferritins isolated from cultured human tumor cells, hepatomas, and fetal liver have been designated as “carcino-fetal” ferritins.
The kernel relation for a strict extension of certain regular semigroups

Let R be a regular semigroup and denote by ( R ) its congruence lattice. For , the kernel of p is the set ker . The relation K on ( R ) defined by λ K p if ker λ = ker p is the kernel relation on ( R ). In general, K is a complete ∩-congruence but it is not a v-congruence. In view of the importance of the kernel-trace approach to the study of congruences on a regular semigroup (the trace of p is its restriction to idempotents of R ), it is of considerable interest to determine necessary and sufficient conditions on R in order for K to be a congruence. This being in general a difficult task, one restricts attention to special classes of regular semigroups. For a background on this subject, consult [1].
Transmural Myocardial Perfusion

Left ventricular subendocardial ischemia occurs in many forms of heart disease, congenital and acquired, acute and chronic. In experimental studies, the ischemia is always related to decreases in perfusion, even though regional differences in myocardial oxygen demand may add to the ischemia. The current explanation for these changes relates to interaction between systole and diastole. At the onset of systole, there is a greater increase in intramyocardial pressure in subendocardial than in subepicardial muscle, so that intravascular pressures are increased more in the subendocardial muscle where they exceed pressures in the extramural coronary arteries. Although intravascular pressures increase also in the subepicardial vessels, these pressures remain lower than in the extramural arteries. The resulting pressure gradients permit blood to flow retrogradely from the subendocardial to the subepicardial vessels, but to flow anterogradely in the subepicardial vessels. By the end of systole, the subendocardial arteries are much narrower than they were at the end of diastole. Consequently, at the onset of diastole, blood entering the myocardium from the extramural arteries flows first to the most superficial myocardial vessels (which have the lowest resistance), then to those in the midwall, and last to those in the deep muscle which have the highest resistance. Any excessive reduction in diastolic perfusion time or pressure will thus result in decreased flow to the subendocardium and, if the flow reduction is marked, will cause subendocardial ischemia.
Purification and some properties of the enzyme which conjugates sulfobromopthalein to glutathione in rat liver

Abstract The enzyme in rat liver which conjugates sulfobromophthalein (BSP) with glutathione (GSH) has been purified 100-fold by ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration on Sephadex G-100 and ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-cellulose. The purified enzyme follows Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The apparent Km's for BSP and GSH were 2.7 × 10−4 M and 1 × 10−2 M, respectively. The enzyme showed a pH optimum between 8.0 and 8.2 and the enzyme activity was proportional to enzyme concentration over a broad range. Inhibition of activity occurred at concentrations of both BSP and GSH at or above their Km values. Crude enzyme present in acetone powder extracts of liver was stable for 2 months, but all activity was lost in 48 h at 4° by enzyme purified 100-fold. Enzymatic conjugation of GSH to three organic “acceptor” molecules in addition to BSP was observed in acetone powder extracts of rat liver. However, only one acceptor molecule, i.e., ethylmethanesulfonate, in addition to BSP, was conjugated in enzyme preparations purified 100-fold.
An international imperative for gender-sensitive theories in women's health

espite recommendations from the Beijing and Cairoconferences on women’s health (Craft, 1995; Potts& Walsh, 1999; Warren, 1996) and increasingstudies on women’s health, few integrative theories reflectwomen’s health and illness experiences. A particulartheoretical deficit is gender issues embedded in women’s dailylives and incorporating the social, cultural, and historicalcontexts that shape women’s health and illness experiencesand perspectives. This situation contributes to fragmentationin women’s health research and it inhibits the developmentof an integrative body of knowledge to guide nurses in thehealth care of women (Meleis & Im, in press; Ruzek, 1993;Woods, 1994).Biomedical theories have dominated women’s healthresearch, and they continue to be reinforced in the mediaand public policy as the theories of choice for all health care(Ruzek, Olesen, & Clarke, 1997). Modern medicine embodiesan implicit theory, “biological primacy” (Hamilton, 1994;Morse, 1995), which fosters reductionism and the mind-bodydichotomy (Hamilton, 1994). Making biomedicine morecomplete and more inclusive of multiple factors in health isusually believed to cure any diseases of women, and the theoryof biological primacy tends to permeate everyday thinkingand functioning. Although biomedical theories have led totremendous reduction in morbidity and mortality of diseases,they also have brought about a disease orientation thatfrequently ignores gender differences. Furthermore,biomedical theories are frequently not inclusive of social,historical, and cultural aspects of health and illness (Hall &Allen, 1995).
New frontiers in neuroimaging applications to inborn errors of metabolism

Abstract Most inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) are associated with potential for injury to the developing central nervous system resulting in chronic encephalopathy, though the etiopathophysiology of neurological injury have not been fully established in many disorders. Shared mechanisms can be envisioned such as oxidative injury due to over-activation of N-Methyl-d-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors with subsequent glutamatergic damage, but other causes such as energy depletion or inflammation are possible. Neuroimaging has emerged as a powerful clinical and research tool for studying the brain in a noninvasive manner. Several platforms exist to study neural networks underlying cognitive processes, white matter/myelin microstructure, and cerebral metabolism in vivo . The scope and limitations of these methods will be discussed in the context of valuable information they provide in the study and management of selected inborn errors of metabolism. This review is not meant to be an exhaustive coverage of diagnostic findings on MRI in multiple IEMs, but rather to illustrate how neuroimaging modalities beyond T1 and T2 images, can add depth to an understanding of the underlying brain changes evoked by the selected IEMs. Emphasis will be placed on techniques that are available in the clinical setting. Though technically complex, many of these modalities have moved – or soon will – to the clinical arena.
Comparative skeletogenesis of the forearm of the little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) and the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus).

This study describes, quantifies, and compares the growth and development of the volant forelimb morphology of Myotis lucifugus with that of the terretrial forelimb morphology of Rattus norvegicus. In M. lucifugus there is (1) accelerated growth in forearm length after parturition, (2) cessation in growth of the midshaft diameter of the ulna just after the onset of osteogenesis, (3) proximal fusion of the radius and ulna, which results in the radius occupying 97% of the articular surface of the elbow joint in adults, (4) fusion between the cartilaginous distal epiphyses of the radius and ulna which results in formation of a radioulnar bridge that becomes fully ossified in adults, and (5) incomplete ossification of the ulna with a section of the diaphysis becoming ligamentous. None of these events occurs during development in R. norvegicus. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Position Based and Hybrid Routing Protocols for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks: A Survey

Routing protocols for mobile ad-hoc networks can be broadly classified as position-based (geographic) and topology-based. Geographic routing uses location information of nodes to route messages. Geographic routing protocols use greedy forwarding under which a node forwards a packet to a next node which is closer to the destination than itself; when greedy routing fails due to the non-existence of nodes closer to the destination than itself, different protocols use different strategies to forward packets. In this paper, we present a critical survey of the geographic and hybrid routing protocols presented in the literature recently. The main aim of the paper is to provide a timely survey of the recently proposed protocols, complementary to the existing surveys on geographic routing protocols.
TIP47 is not a component of lipid droplets.

TIP47 functions in the delivery of mannose 6-phosphate receptors from endosomes to the trans-Golgi network bothin vitro and in vivo. It binds directly and very specifically to the cytoplasmic domains of both the cation-independent and cation-dependent mannose 6-phosphate receptors. TIP47 is 43% identical to a lipid droplet-associated protein named adipophilin; much of the identity resides near the N termini of these proteins. It was recently reported in this journal, in a study using antiserum from this laboratory, that TIP47 is a constituent of lipid droplets (Wolins, N. E., Rubin, B., and Brasaemle, D. L. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 5101–5108). We show here that the findings of Wolins et al. were likely due to either a cross-reactive, unidentified protein in HeLa cells that is recognized by our antiserum and/or the fact that our serum also cross-reacts with the adipophilin protein itself, shown directly by expression of adipophilin inEscherichia coli. Using antibodies specific for residues 152–434 of TIP47, we show that TIP47 is not a constituent of lipid droplets.
Wavelength dependent cis-trans isomerization in vision.

The primary event in vision is the light-driven cis-trans isomerization of the 11-cis-retinal chromophore in the G-protein coupled receptor rhodopsin. Early measurements showed that this photoisomerization has a reaction quantum yield φ of ∼0.67 [Dartnall (1936) Proc. R. Soc. A 156, 158−170; Dartnall (1968) Vision Res. 8, 339−358] and suggested that the quantum yield was wavelength independent [Schneider (1939) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 170, 102−112]. Here we more accurately determine φ500 = 0.65 ± 0.01 and reveal that φ surprisingly depends on the wavelength of the incident light. Although there is no difference in the quantum yield between 450 and 480 nm, the quantum yield falls significantly as the photon energy is reduced below 20 000 cm-1 (500 nm). At the reddest wavelength measured (570 nm), the quantum yield is reduced by 5 ± 1% relative to the 500 nm value. These experiments correct the long-held presumption that the quantum yield in vision is wavelength independent, and support the hypothesis...
Immunohistochemical characterization of delta crystallin-containing retina/optic nerve "boundary" cells in the chick embryo.

Abstract The term “transdifferentiation” has been used to describe the apparent phenotypic conversion of chick embryo neural retina Muller glial cells into lens-like cells in vitro. This phenotypic conversion is characterized by expression of such lens-specific proteins as delta crystallin and has been viewed as an example of cells transforming from the phenotype of a given tissue to that of another. We have identified a population of neuroglia-like cells in the embryonic chick retina which express high levels of delta crystallin as a function of normal development. The position and morphology of these cells is quite distinctive in that they form a loose meshwork which defines the boundary between the neural retina and the optic nerve head. These “boundary” cells are detectable as early as Day 5 of development through hatching. However, the meshwork structure formed by the cells is only readily observed between Days 8 and 9 of development. Double-immunolabeling procedures comparing delta crystallin staining to that of glial and neuronal markers suggest that these cells are a form of retinal Muller glial cell. The results show that under appropriate microenvironmental conditions, expression of delta crystallin falls into the normal repertoire of retinoblast cells. The results also demonstrate the presence of a cellular boundary defining the junction between the neural retina and the optic nerve, tissues that are ontogenetically and structurally continuous but functionally distinct.
Mechanism for the Photoreflectance Effect

Recently a new differential reflectance technique has been reported in which the band-edge reflectance of a semiconducting crystal is modulated by irradiation of the surface with an intense ultraviolet light beam. It is proposed that the reflectance changes are caused in part by the blocking of interband transitions which occurs when electrons are pumped from the valence to the conduction band. A calculation shows the reflectance change to consist of a sharp oscillation at the band edge. The magnitude of the oscillation is in reasonable agreement with experiments on cadmium sulfide.
Kinetic effects in heteroepitaxial growth

Epitaxial growth is controlled by an interplay between thermodynamic and kinetic driving forces. The role of kinetics is especially obvious in unstable systems such as growth of strained heteroepitaxial layers. In particular, for growth of alloy strained layers, kinetic effects can dramatically influence morphology and alloy composition. Some recent progress in understanding heteroepitaxial growth of strained alloy layers is briefly reviewed.
CaO surface segregation as an emission-loss mechanism

Abstract The formation of high work function patches on a cathode surface can lead to cathode failures in certain applications even though the cathode as a whole may show adequate overall emission properties. This type of failure was found for an oxide cathode used in a Vidicon tube wherein the beam current originated from a small portion of the cathode surface. Surface analytical techniques such as AES, used in conjuction with SLEEP, showed that the high work function areas could be correlated with high surface calcium concentration and low surface barium concentration. Auger sputter profiling also revealed that these calcium-rich regions (high work function patches) are actually thin surface layers with a thickness the order of 100 A while the bulk cathode composition appears to be uniform. A possible explanation for these patches is the formation of a CaO slag on the surface caused by BaO/BaCO3 eutectic melting during the conversion process.
ILP and TLP in shared memory applications: a limit study

With the breakdown of Dennard scaling, future processor designs will be at the mercy of power limits as Chip Multi-Processor (CMP) designs scale out to many-cores. It is critical, therefore, that future CMPs be optimally designed in terms of performance efficiency with respect to power. A characterization analysis of future workloads is imperative to ensure maximum returns of performance per Watt consumed. Hence, a detailed analysis of emerging workloads is necessary to understand their characteristics with respect to hardware in terms of power and performance tradeoffs. In this paper, we conduct a limit study simultaneously analyzing the two dominant forms of parallelism exploited by modern computer architectures: Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP) and Thread Level Parallelism (TLP). This study gives insights into the upper bounds of performance that future architectures can achieve. Furthermore it identifies the bottlenecks of emerging workloads. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first study that combines the two forms of parallelism into one study with modern applications. We evaluate the PARSEC multithreaded benchmark suite using a specialized trace-driven simulator. We make several contributions describing the high-level behavior of next-generation applications. For example, we show these applications contain up to a factor of 929X more ILP than what is currently being extracted from real machines. We then show the effects of breaking the application into increasing numbers of threads (exploiting TLP), instruction window size, realistic branch prediction, realistic memory latency, and thread dependencies on exploitable ILP. Our examination shows that theses benchmarks differed vastly from one another. As a result, we expect no single, homogeneous, micro-architecture will work optimally for all, arguing for reconfigurable, heterogeneous designs.
Exploring the relationship of leadership skills and knowledge to leader performance

Abstract The criterion-related validity of constructed response measures of complex problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and leader knowledge is examined with respect to two criteria of leader effectiveness: leader achievement and quality of solutions to ill-defined leadership problems. Core aspects of the leader capabilities model are tested using these measures in a series of hierarchical regression analyses. Results indicate that constructed response measures of key leader capabilities account for variance in leader effectiveness and provide initial validation evidence for a central part of the theoretical model. The problem-solving, social judgment and knowledge measures account for significant variance in leadership criteria beyond that accounted for by cognitive abilities, motivations, and personality. Initial evidence also suggests that complex problem-solving skills, social judgment and leader knowledge partially mediate the relationship of cognitive abilities, motivation and personality to leader effectiveness. Implications and generalizability of the results are discussed in light of a related civilian leadership study conducted within the U.S. Department of Defense.
Wireless sensor array based on DNA decorated single-walled carbon nanotubes for gas monitoring

There is a growing interest in making sensors, optoelectronic and electronic devices with nanomaterials. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are unique materials due to their excellent electrical, mechanical and thermal properties, and also have good chemical stability. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are formed by one atomic layer and have an extended π-bonding configuration. The conductivity of SWNTs is sensitive to trace amount of molecules or ions attached onto their surfaces. CNTs have exceptionally high sensitivity and fast response and were utilized in numerous chemical and biological sensing applications for environmental monitoring. One of the present problems with SWNT sensors is their nonselective response to many analytes. SWNTs networks were assembled onto the microelectrodes by a low temperature, low cost Dielectrophoretic (DEP) assembly process. SsDNA of different sequences were used to functionalize the nanotubes and improved their response to the gas vapors dramatically. To reduce the undesirable response of SWNTs to interfering analytes, a wireless nanosensor array with six channels each functionalized with different molecules were developed to measure the resistances of six SWNT sensors simultaneously during exposure to gases. The responses of different DNA decorated SWNTs and bare SWNTs to toxic organics were measured simultaneously and displayed by a GUI interface. Development of this wireless sensor array enabled real-time gas monitoring with various DNA functionalized SWNTs from a distance.
StreamShield: a stream-centric approach towards security and privacy in data stream environments

We propose to demonstrate the StreamShield, a system designed to address the problem of security and privacy in the context of Data Stream Management Systems (DSMSs). In StreamShield, continuous access control is enforced by taking a novel "stream-centric" approach towards security. Security policies are not persistently stored on the server, but rather are depicted by security metadata, called "security punctuations", and get embedded into streams together with the data. We distinguish between two types of security punctuations: (1) the "data security punctuations" (dsps) describing the data-side security policies, and (2) the "query security punctuations" (qsps) representing the query-side security policies. The advantages of such stream-centric security model include flexibility, dynamicity and speed of enforcement. Furthermore, DSMSs can adapt to not only data-related but also to security-related selectivities, which helps reduce the waste of resources, when few subjects have access to streaming data.
Extending Recommender Systems for Disjoint User/Item Sets: The Conference Recommendation Problem

In this paper, we describe the problem of recommending conference sessions to attendees and show how novel extensions to traditional model-based recommender systems, as suggested in Adomavicius and Tuzhilin [CHECK END OF SENTENCE], can address this problem. We introduce Recommendation Engine by CONjoint Decomposition of ITems and USers (RECONDITUS)-a technique that is an extension of preference-based recommender systems to recommend items from a new disjoint set to users from a new disjoint set. The assumption being that preferences exhibited by users with known usage behavior (e.g., past conference session attendance), which can be abstracted by projections of user and item matrices, will be similar to ones of new (different) users where the basic environment and item domain are the same (e.g., new conference). RECONDITUS requires no item ratings, but operates on observed user behavior such as past conference session attendance. The RECONDITUS paradigm consists of projections of both user and item data, and the learning of relationships in projected space. Once established, the relationships enable predicting new relationships and provide associated recommendations. The approach can encompass several traditional data mining problems where both clustering and prediction are necessary. RECONDITUS has been evaluated using data from the Oracle OpenWorld conference.
A reinforced coagulation-sedimentation aerosol model

A numerical model was constructed to simulate the aging of the aerosol size distribution in the presence of sources. The model incorporated the mechanisms of thermal coagulation and gravitational sedimentation and continuously replaced the mass lost due to sedimentation with particles distributed similarly to the initial distribution. The model showed that stable size distributions cannot contain excessive numbers of large particles and that particles of radius G0.1 um require a continuous source to remain in high concentrations.
Strategies for the treatment of cystathionine β-synthase deficiency: the experience of the Willink Biochemical Genetics Unit over the past 30 years

Strategies for the treatment of cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) deficiency include (1) increasing residual enzyme activity by giving pyridoxine in those patients with vitamin responsive variants, (2) reducing the load on the affected pathway with a low methionine diet and supplementing the diet with cysteine; and (3) giving betaine in order to utilise alternative pathways to remove homocyst(e)ine. In our experience of over 30 years in the diagnosis and management of patients with CBS deficiency, a normal outcome can only be achieved in patients diagnosed and treated from infancy. Pyridoxine combined with folic acid prevents further deterioration in pyridoxine responsive patients. Dietary treatment of patients with non-pyridoxine reponsive CBS deficiency becomes more difficult outside childhood but since late complications are not uncommon must be continued for life. Betaine can be effective in this group but compliance is often poor.
Support for extensibility and site autonomy in the Legion grid system object model

Grid computing is the use of large collections of heterogeneous, distributed resources (including machines, databases, devices, and users) to support large-scale computations and wide-area data access. The Legion system is an implementation of a software architecture for grid computing. The basic philosophy underlying this architecture is the presentation of all grid resources as components of a single, seamless, virtual machine. Legion's architecture was designed to address the challenges of using and managing wide-area resources. Features of the architecture include: global, shared namespaces; support for heterogeneity; security; wide-area data sharing; wide-area parallel processing; application-adjustable fault tolerance; efficient scheduling and comprehensive resource management. We present the core design of the Legion architecture, with focus on the critical issues of extensibility and site autonomy. Grid systems software must be extensible because no static set of system-level decisions can meet all of the diverse, often conflicting, requirements of present and future user communities, nor take best advantage of unanticipated future hardware advances. Grid systems software must also support complete site autonomy, as resource owners will not turn control of their resources over to a dictatorial system.
Short-circuiting microtubule plus and minus end proteins in spindle positioning

Proteins residing at the plus and minus ends of microtubules have been thought not to communicate with each other, but recent findings on bona fide nucleation factors also regulating microtubule dynamics have challenged this notion. New work by Bouissou et al (2014) in The EMBO Journal now reveals that interplay between the nucleation factor γ-TuRC and the plus-end tracking protein EB1 controls mitotic spindle positioning by affecting the stability and dynamics of astral microtubules.
Transcription of nitrification genes by the methane-oxidizing bacterium, Methylococcus capsulatus strain Bath.

Methylococcus capsulatus strain Bath, a methane-oxidizing bacterium, and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) carry out the first step of nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite, through the intermediate hydroxylamine. AOB use hydroxylamine oxidoreductase (HAO) to produce nitrite. M. capsulatus Bath was thought to oxidize hydroxylamine with cytochrome P460 (cytL), until the recent discovery of an hao gene in its genome. We used quantitative PCR analyses of cDNA from M. capsulatus Bath incubated with CH4 or CH4 plus 5 mM (NH4)2SO4 to determine whether cytL and hao transcript levels change in response to ammonia. While mRNA levels for cytL were not affected by ammonia, hao mRNA levels increased by 14.5- and 31-fold in duplicate samples when a promoter proximal region of the transcript was analyzed, and by sixfold when a region at the distal end of the transcript was analyzed. A conserved open reading frame, orf2, located 3′ of hao in all known AOB genomes and in M. capsulatus Bath, was cotranscribed with hao and showed increased mRNA levels in the presence of ammonia. These data led to designating this gene pair as haoAB, with the role of haoB still undefined. We also determined mRNA levels for additional genes that encode proteins involved in N-oxide detoxification: cytochrome c′-β (CytS) and nitric oxide (NO) reductase (NorCB). Whereas cytS mRNA levels increased in duplicate samples by 28.5- and 40-fold in response to ammonia, the cotranscribed norC-norB mRNA did not increase. Our results strongly suggest that M. capsulatus Bath possesses a functional, ammonia-responsive HAO involved in nitrification.
Determinants of ceftriaxone clearance by continuous venovenous hemofiltration and hemodialysis

STUDY OBJECTIVE To guide individual ceftriaxone dosages in patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapy. DESIGN Prospective, outpatient study. SETTING University-affiliated general clinical research center. PATIENTS Eight patients receiving hemodialysis. INTERVENTION We performed controlled clearance studies with three hemofilters: an acrylonitrile copolymer 0.6 m2 (AN69), polymethylmethacrylate 2.1 m2 (PMMA), and polysulfone 0.65 m2 (PS). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Subjects received ceftriaxone 1000 mg intravenously before the start of a clearance study. The concentration of ceftriaxone in multiple plasma and dialysate-ultrafiltrate samples was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The diffusional clearances (Cl(diffusion)) and sieving coefficients (SC) of ceftriaxone, urea, and creatinine were compared by a mixed-model repeated-measures analysis of variance with filter and blood, dialysate inflow, or ultrafiltration rate as the main effect and patient as a random effect. The fraction of ceftriaxone bound to plasma proteins was 43 +/- 15% (range 13-92%). Concentration dependence was evident in all three groups. The fraction unbound to plasma proteins (f(up)) at the time that SCs were determined was significantly lower in the PS group (0.16 +/- 0.07) than the AN69 group (0.30 +/- 0.17, p<0.01), but similar to that in the PMMA group (0.27 +/- 0.12). Despite the higher f(up), the SC of unbound ceftriaxone with the AN69 filter (0.48 +/- 0.13) was significantly lower than values for the PMMA (0.86 +/- 0.33) and PS (0.82 +/- 0.22) groups (p<0.05). Continuous venovenous hemofiltration clearance of urea and unbound ceftriaxone increased significantly only for the PMMA (p=0.006) and PS (p=0.015) filters when the ultrafiltration rate was increased. Significant linear relationships (p<0.0001) were observed between Cl(diffusion) of unbound ceftriaxone and clearance of urea for all three filters: AN69 slope = 0.57, PMMA slope = 0.90, and PS slope = 1.02. The slope of this relationship for the AN69 filter was significantly lower than for the other two filters. CONCLUSION Ceftriaxone clearance was significantly increased and membrane dependent during continuous venovenous hemofiltration and continuous venovenous hemodialysis. Thus individual ceftriaxone dosages for patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapies should incorporate extracorporeal clearance.
MIC-RO: enabling efficient remote offload on heterogeneous many integrated core (MIC) clusters with InfiniBand

Xeon Phi, the latestMany Integrated Core (MIC) co-processor from Intel, packs up to 1 TFLOP of double precision performance in a single chip while providing x86 compatibility and supporting popular programming models like MPI and OpenMP. One of the easiest way to take advantage of the MIC is to use compiler directives to offoad appropriate compute tasks of an application. However, with the Xeon Phi being an expensive resource, it is believed that production systems will be designed in a heterogeneous manner with only a subset of compute nodes comprising the MIC co-processor. Moreover, not all applications will be able to take advantage of the complete compute power offered by a Xeon Phi. In such scenarios, the existing state-of-the-art frameworks which require applications to be scheduled on compute nodes that have the MIC co- processor, lead to inefficient utilization of the computing power offered by the MIC. In order to address this limitation, it is critical to design an efficient framework to facilitate applications to offload compute tasks on remote MICs. In this paper, we take on this challenge and design MIC-RO - a novel framework to enable efficient remote offload on heterogeneous MIC clusters. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first design that enables application scientists to offload computation to remote MICs. Our experimental results show that, using MIC-RO, applications are able to offload computation to remote MICs with no overhead compared to offloading on local MICs. Moreover, MIC-RO outperforms the default Intel compiler based offload techniques by up to a factor of two for multiple benchmarks and application kernels.
Modified L-C high voltage generator

A modified L-C pulse generator was built and tested. The advantage this generator has over standard L-C generators is its utilization of a single-spark-gap commutator. Standard L-C generators require a spark gap for every two stages, which results in switching problems and subsequent limited usage with the modified L-C circuit, no switching problems were encountered and output waveforms of multiple shot tests were consistent. Voltage amplification factors of two, four, and six were attempted using two, four, and six-stage configurations of the basic circuit. A toroidal transformer core, using either ferrite or Metglas 2714A, was studied. Computer simulations indicated the key parameter to be the flux linkage between the primary and the secondary windings of the pulse transformers. The required number of flux linkage increased with the increasing number of stages. >
A critical evaluation of the morbidity and mortality conference.

Abstract Background: This study was designed to evaluate the impact of changes made to our morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference. Methods: A 23-item survey using corresponding Likert-type scales was created. Faculty and residents were asked to anonymously complete the surveys in June 1999. Based on this information, specific modifications were made to the conference. The same survey was administered to faculty and residents in the Fall of 2000. Analysis was performed using Student t tests. Results: Postsurvey findings showed residents felt eight components improved significantly ( P Conclusions: Changes in content and structure made to enhance our M&M conference's educational value resulted in significant improvements as perceived by the surgical residents. Interestingly, these changes had only minimal impact on faculty perceptions.
Imaging of thoracic lymphatic diseases.

OBJECTIVE. This review will focus on radiographic description of lymphangiomas, lymphangiohemangiomas, pulmonary lymphangiomatosis, lymphangiectasis, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, lymphatic dysplasia, and traumatic lymphatic injury.CONCLUSION. Diseases of the thoracic lymphatic system have a wide variety of unique radiographic manifestations, all of which can be explained by the underlying pathophysiology and relationship to the normal distribution of lymphatics in the chest.
Chemokines in hematopoiesis.

Purpose of reviewUnderstanding the regulation of hematopoiesis is important for enhanced efficacy of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell transplantation. Chemokines influence migration, survival, and other actions of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. This article summarizes recent progress
Quantifying kinetic fractionation in Bunker Cave speleothems using Δ47

Abstract Isotopic signals in speleothems are used for investigating paleoclimate variability on land and are useful to constrain the dating of prominent climate events. A quantitative use, however, is limited by an incomplete understanding of parameters contributing to the carbon and oxygen isotope signals. These include external and environmental parameters such as δ 18 O of cave drip waters as well as internal parameters associated with speleothem formation, such as the presence of non-equilibrium effects and especially the magnitude of their isotopic shifts. We explore the use of clumped isotopes as a new tool for investigating the kinetic isotope effect in speleothems. Holocene and modern speleothems from Bunker Cave (Germany) as well as modern material from the adjacent Dechen Cave are all offset from the equilibrium relationship due to kinetic fractionation. This kinetic offset in clumped isotopes is observed in a stalagmite despite mostly negative Hendy tests, providing a sensitive indicator for kinetic fractionation in cave carbonates. The temperature dependence of the clumped isotope values (0.005‰ per °C) is low compared to the observed magnitude of kinetic offsets (between −0.021 and −0.075‰), so that the mean offsets in apparent temperatures due to kinetic isotope effects are on the order of 10 °C. As a result clumped isotopes are useful in identifying temporal variations in the kinetic fractionation in a stalagmite, when the temperatures during the speleothem growth period are either relatively constant (variations The variations in the kinetic isotope fractionation in Bunker Cave are associated with changing drip water super saturation with periods of stronger prior calcite precipitation associated with lower kinetic offsets in the speleothem calcite. In contrast, stalagmite growth rates show no direct correlation with the degree of kinetic fractionation in the investigated range (13–1500 μm/a).
Malfunction of a demand pacemaker caused by phrenic nerve stimulation.

Normal function of demand pacemakers may be interfered with in the presence of electromagnetic radiation. The pulses emitted by a phrenic nerve stimulator were found to interfere with the demand function of implanted ventricular-inhibited pacemakers in 14 of 27 patients tested; however, in only five was interference observed when the transmitter was more than 5 cm away from the pacemaker. Therefore, normal function of the demand pacemaker can be preserved in patients requiring both a phrenic nerve stimulator and a cardiac pacemaker with proper selection of the site for implantation.
Managing uncertainty: A perspective on risk pertaining to product quality attributes as they bear on immunogenicity of therapeutic proteins†.‡

The critical question addressed in this paper regards how industry and regulatory agencies should manage the risk of adverse events to patients posed by product quality attributes for which a preponderance of evidence from clinical and/or non-clinical studies supports it as a risk, but for which the probability of clinical adverse events arising from the attribute is uncertain. We here provide our perspective on the principles that can be applied to determine the need for and the manner in which to control quality attributes when their impact on safety and/or efficacy is suspected, but uncertain. As an example, we use the risk of immune responses to protein therapeutics posed by sub-visible protein particulates in therapeutic proteins. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 101:3560–3567, 2012
Distributions of natural heritage program communities and their use as surrogates for rare species in New York State Parks.

Abstract Biodiversity distributions can be quantified as alpha (taxonomic richness), and beta (compositional heterogeneity) components. In both cases, accurate and detailed assessments require substantial resources, so surrogate measures have been proposed and tested. Scientists from the New York Natural Heritage Program (NHP), working in over 140 New York State Parks, recorded occurrences of 128 different ecological communities, 98 significant (rare or exemplary) ecological communities, and 312 rare species. I used their data to test whether community distributions were valid surrogates for rare species diversity at alpha and beta levels. I found that (1) alpha patterns among the State Parks were similar for NHP significant communities and rare species; (2) beta patterns were contrasting, such that NHP significant communities were weak surrogates at this level; (3) alpha distributions were poor predictors of Beta distributions among parks; and (4) a large fraction of beta diversity is attributable to var...
Social Support of Inner-city Fathers and Mothers

Objective: To examine mutual support of inner-city parents and how it relates to the father's expected role as a parent. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: An urban teaching hospital in inner-city Baltimore, Md. Patients or Other Participants: Inner-city—dwelling parents whose neonates were born at an urban teaching hospital between March and May 1992. Intervention: Data were collected through structured independent interviews with each parent during the neonate's hospitalization. Main Outcome Measures: General social support was assessed by Sarason's Social Support Questionnaire. Paternal involvement was defined as the father's expected accessibility, engagement in child-rearing tasks, and decision-making responsibility during infancy. Results: Most mothers and fathers cited the other parent as a source of general support. Most believed that the other parent would help and would not hinder them in their role as parent. For mothers, the father's expected accessibility, engagement, and decision-making responsibility was positively correlated with his general support. For the fathers, expected accessibility was positively related to general support from the mother. As parents' mutual support increased, so did concordance in their expectations of the father's role. Conclusions: Many inner-city parents do rely on each other. Pediatricians can promote shared parenting by recognizing and building on this mutual support. (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1995;149:868-872)
Dependence of exogenous SERCA gene expression on coxsackie adenovirus receptor levels in neonatal and adult cardiac myocytes

Abstract We demonstrate that the efficiency of adenovirus-assisted exogenous Ca 2+ ATPase (SERCA) and reporter (EGFP) gene expression is much higher in primary cultures of myocytes from neonatal rat hearts, than in primary cultures of myocytes from adult rat hearts. In this respect, the neonatal myocytes behave similarly to the established COS-1 cell line. This difference is related to the level of coxsackie adenovirus receptor (CAR) that affects cell penetration and expression level of exogenous genes, and explains variations in the observed consequences of exposure to adenovirus vector carrying SERCA cDNA. Awareness of these differences should be highly advantageous in complementary studies of exogenous gene expression in neonatal and adult myocytes. It should also be advantageous in evaluating conditions yielding optimal ratios of functional benefits over possible toxic effects upon exogenous SERCA gene delivery to cardiac muscle.
High performance synchronization algorithms for multiprogrammed multiprocessors

Scalable busy-wait synchronization algorithms are essential for achieving good parallel program performance on large scale multiprocessors. Such algorithms include mutual exclusion locks, reader-writer locks, and barrier synchronization. Unfortunately, scalable synchronization algorithms are particularly sensitive to the effects of multiprogramming: their performance degrades sharply when processors are shared among different applications, or even among processes of the same application. In this paper we describe the design and evaluation of scalable scheduler-conscious mutual exclusion locks, reader-writer locks, and barriers, and show that by sharing information across the kernel/application interface we can improve the performance of scheduler-oblivious implementations by more than an order of magnitude.
High-Energy Discrete Sources

The origin of the gamma-radiation from the galactic plane and the region near the galactic center is still uncertain. However, during this meeting, several groups reported evidence for discrete sources of cosmic gamma-rays. Most of the sources are located near the galactic plane, and some are associated with X-ray sources. The galactic gamma-radiation may be due to these previously unresolved sources. Other sources detected may be associated with variable radio galaxies.
Improving accuracy of transverse velocity measurement with a new limited diffraction beam

Limited diffraction beams have a large depth of field and have many potential applications. Previously, the author has applied one of these beams called the Bessel beam to improve the measurement of velocity vector (both transverse and axial components) of flow over conventional focused beams. Here, a new limited diffraction beam called layered array beam is used to further improve the accuracy of the transverse velocity measurement by producing peaks at the boundaries of Doppler spectrum. Because the new beam can be produced with a linear array, the method can be easily incorporated into a commercial scanner. Theory, simulation, and experiment are studied for the method and the results agree excellently with each other. In addition, applications of the new beam for high frame rate imaging (up to 3750 frames/s at 200 mm depth for biological soft tissues) or for dynamic focusing in both transmit and receive without reducing frame rate are discussed.