cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Long‐Term Physical Activity and Subsequent Risk for Rheumatoid Arthritis Among Women: A Prospective Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of long-term physical activity on subsequent risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a prospective cohort study. METHODS This study investigated physical activity and RA risk among women from the Nurses' Health Study II (1989-2015). Physical activity exposures and covariates were prospectively obtained using biennial questionnaires. Two rheumatologists independently reviewed the medical records of women who self-reported a new diagnosis of RA on biennial questionnaires and who screened positive for RA based on a supplemental survey. All incident RA cases met the 1987 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) or 2010 ACR/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) classification criteria for RA. The primary analysis investigated the long-term cumulative average number of hours spent in recreational physical activity 2-8 years prior to the RA diagnosis, a time span chosen to reduce the potential for reverse causation bias, since early RA affects physical activity prior to diagnosis. Estimated Cox regression hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to assess the risk of RA serologic phenotypes (all, seropositive, or seronegative) in relation to physical activity categories. The analyses were adjusted for body mass index (BMI) at age 18 years and time-varying potential confounders, and the mediating effect of updated BMI on the interaction between physical activity and RA risk was quantified. RESULTS Among the 113,366 women analyzed, 506 incident RA cases (67.0% with seropositive RA) were identified during 2,428,573 person-years of follow-up. After adjustment for confounders, including smoking, dietary quality, and BMI at age 18 years, increasing cumulative average total hours of recreational physical activity was associated with a reduced risk of RA, as follows: HR 1.00 for <1 hour/week (reference), HR 1.00 (95% CI 0.78-1.29) for 1 to <2 hours/week, HR 0.92 (95% CI 0.72-1.17) for 2 to <4 hours/week, HR 0.84 (95% CI 0.63-1.12) for 4 to <7 hours/week, and HR 0.67 (95% CI 0.47-0.98) for ≥7 hours/week (P for trend = 0.02). The proportion of the effect between physical activity and RA mediated by updated BMI was 14.0% (P = 0.002) for all RA and 20.0% (P = 0.001) for seropositive RA. CONCLUSION Higher levels of physical activity were associated with reduced RA risk. These results add to the literature implicating metabolic factors in the pathogenesis of RA.
Interpregnancy change in body mass index and infant outcomes in Texas: a population-based study.

Maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) is associated with several infant outcomes, but it is unclear whether these associations reflect causal relationships. We conducted a study of interpregnancy change in BMI (IPC-BMI) to improve understanding of the associations between BMI and large for gestational age (LGA), small for gestational age (SGA), and preterm birth (PTB). Birth certificate data from 2481 linked sibling pairs (Texas, 2005–2012) were used to estimate IPC-BMI and evaluate its association with LGA, SGA, and PTB in the younger sibling of the pair. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using data from the full sample and within strata defined by prepregnancy BMI for the older sibling. On average, women gained 1.1 BMI units between pregnancies. In the full sample, interpregnancy BMI decreases were associated with reduced odds of LGA and increased odds of SGA and PTB (IPC-BMI < -1 versus 0 to < 1: LGA aOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.4, 1.1; SGA aOR 1.6, 95% CI 1.0, 2.7; PTB aOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3, 2.8). In stratified analyses, similar associations were observed in some, but not all, strata. Findings for interpregnancy BMI increases were less consistent, with little evidence for associations between these outcomes and the most extreme IPC-BMI increases. There is growing evidence that interpregnancy BMI decreases are associated with LGA, SGA, and PTB. However, taken as a whole, the literature provides insufficient evidence to establish causal links between maternal BMI and these outcomes.
Sr3PbNiO6 : Trigonal prismatic lead in a novel inverse K4CdCl6-type pseudo-one-dimensional oxide

The new one-dimensional oxide Sr3PbNiO6 contains the first reported example of lead in the 2H hexagonal perovskite-related family of oxides with the formula A3A‘BO6. The compound can be prepared by conventional high-temperature synthetic routes, or single crystals can be grown from a sodium chloride flux. Sr3PbNiO6 adopts the K4CdCl6 structure type (R3c; a = 9.7041(1) A, c = 11.3128(1) A, V = 922.59(1) A3, Z = 6), comprised of face-sharing polyhedral [PbO6/2NiO6/2] chains surrounded by six [Sr2+] chains, both running along [001]. Pb4+ occupies a slightly distorted trigonal prismatic coordination environment previously unobserved in oxides; Ni2+ is octahedrally coordinated. The cation distribution in the polyhedral chains (+4 cation in the trigonal prismatic site, +2 in the octahedral site) is the inverse of that normally observed in the A3A‘BO6 oxides. Sr3PbNiO6 is a Curie−Weiss paramagnet with an antiferromagnetic transition at TN = 6 K. Complementary single-crystal and neutron diffraction structure det...
Differentiating Higher Level Homicides: An Empirical Analysis of the Impacts of Legal Definitions in the Real World, Plus an Illumination of the Understudied Crime of Second-degree Murder

First-degree murder, second-degree murder, and voluntary manslaughter constitute the traditional hierarchy of higher level homicide offenses in 27 U.S. jurisdictions. The typical differences in potential sentences among the three crimes are dramatic, ranging from death or life without parole for first-degree murder down to a relatively short prison term for voluntary manslaughter. Accordingly, the level of crime of which a killer is convicted is crucially important to the prosecution, defense, and society. The legal definitions of these three crimes are relatively clear-cut, but the definitions must operate in a messy, real world that is rife with variables. One purpose of this Article is to empirically examine the extent that real-world convictions are described by these legal definitions and to identify possible patterns when departures are observable. This Article focuses on six states and covers 371 homicide case resolutions during the first six months of 2017, assembled using newspaper reports. A coding sheet with numerous variables was developed. One set of variables focused on the facts of each case, and the second set of variables reflected the resulting conviction in each case. After each case was coded, it was entered into a spreadsheet to facilitate data analysis. Finally, the results were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively, using both descriptive statistics and ordered multinomial logistic regression, to ascertain the extent that the legal definitions of the three crimes — first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and voluntary manslaughter — described the case convictions in light of the case facts. A second purpose of this Article is to provide insights into the crime of second-degree murder, which is the understudied workhorse of U.S. homicide law; indeed, the data demonstrates second-degree murder is the most likely conviction by a significant margin. Remarkably, until now, not a single scholarly piece has ever focused on second-degree murder. This Article will provide indicia of the kinds of fact patterns that tend to result in second-degree murder convictions.
Case Report: Ventilator weaning, tracheostomy decannulation and noninvasive ventilation in an adolescent with autism spectrum disorder and new onset spinal cord injury.

Introduction Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a cause of significant psychosocial stress not only to the individual with SCI but also to their family. This is compounded when an individual with a new SCI has premorbid behavioral and medical conditions. For individuals requiring long term positive pressure ventilation, transition to noninvasive ventilation (NIV) can improve the long term outcome and improve quality of life. Case presentation This case report describes a teenage boy with premorbid autism spectrum disorder who incurred an acute SCI and developed chronic respiratory failure. He was admitted to acute inpatient rehabilitation with tracheostomy and ventilator dependence. Using an interdisciplinary team approach with in vivo desensitization behavioral interventions, he was successfully weaned off mechanical ventilation, his tracheostomy tube was removed, and he was transitioned to NIV. Discussion This case describes a medically complex adolescent who was successfully transitioned to NIV through behavioral desensitization using a team approach. This is noteworthy given the magnitude of behaviors demonstrated prior to his desensitization protocol. This case demonstrates how serious behavioral barriers to NIV can be overcome using desensitization and strategic behavioral reinforcement techniques.
Better defining best-aided condition: The role of hearing aids on cochlear implantation qualification rates.

Abstract Objective Describe the effect of hearing aid type used during cochlear implantation evaluation on qualification rates. Methods Consecutive adult patients at an academic cochlear implant program undergoing cochlear implantation evaluation were identified to determine cochlear implantation qualification rate according to history of hearing aid use and type of hearing aid used during evaluation. Results 609 patients met criteria. 90.1% of patients reported prior use of a hearing aid, and 77.4% reported current use of a hearing aid. Patients were most likely to undergo cochlear implantation evaluation utilizing their own personal hearing aids exclusively (61.6%) followed by loaner hearing aids fitted at the time of the evaluation (28.2%). White patients were more likely to be tested using personal hearing aids (OR = 2.60, 95% CI 1.43 to 4.71). Married patients were more likely to be current hearing aid users (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.51) and were more likely to be tested using personal hearing aids (OR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.10 to 2.56). Patients with a history of any hearing aid use (OR = 2.50, 95% CI 1.42 to 4.40) and current hearing aid use (OR = 1.62, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.49) were more likely to qualify for cochlear implantation. Patients tested using personal hearing aids were 1.5 times more likely to qualify for cochlear implantation (95% CI 0.99 to 2.27). Conclusion History of hearing amplification and current amplification predict cochlear implant qualification. Hearing aids fitted at the time of cochlear implantation evaluation may result in lower qualification rates.
Why do religious leaders observe costly prohibitions? Examining taboos on Mentawai shamans

Religious leaders refrain from sex and food across human societies. Researchers argue that this avoidance influences people's perceptions of leaders’ underlying traits, but few, if any, quantitative data exist testing these claims. Here we show that shamans in a small-scale society observe costly prohibitions and that observers infer cooperativeness, religious belief, difference from normal humans and supernatural power from shamans’ adherence to special taboos. We investigated costly prohibitions on shamanic healers, known as sikerei, among the rainforest horticulturalist Mentawai people of Siberut Island. We found that shamans must observe permanent taboos on various animals, as well as prohibitions on sex and food during initiation and ceremonial healing. Using vignettes, we evaluated Mentawai participants’ inferences about taboo adherence, testing three different but not mutually exclusive hypotheses: cooperative costly signalling, credibility-enhancing displays and supernatural otherness. We found support for all three: Mentawai participants infer self-denying shamans to be (a) cooperative, (b) sincere believers in the religious rules and (c) dissimilar from normal humans and with greater supernatural powers. People's inferences about religious self-denial are multidimensional and consistent with several functional accounts.
When Good People Are Bad Leaders: When and Why Leadership Fails

It is easy to lead people with easy interpersonal relationships, but what happens when we do not get along with our followers? Sometimes leadership is hard—it is difficult to relate to people when we differ in various ways, such as politics, family obligations, work ethics, and other personal differences. This chapter offers practical suggestions for communicating and connecting with people we struggle to get along with. These suggestions also draw from quotations from well-respected leaders throughout history. Furthermore, this chapter explores what experts have to say on using language to frame your ideas using strategic communication effectively. This chapter also addresses how conflict style can influence a leader’s relationship with their followers. Research shows that while one conflict style may be effective for certain situations, it may not be the best in others, and when considered in conjunction with leadership styles, it can have a large impact on organizational outcomes (e.g., Richmond et al., 1983). This chapter explores each of the five conflict styles (competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating), provides examples of when each may be used and includes a quiz for determining one’s conflict style.
Identification of blossom-end rot loci using joint QTL-seq and linkage-based QTL mapping in tomato

Blossom-End Rot is Quantitatively Inherited and Maps to Four Loci in Tomato. Blossom-end rot (BER) is a devastating physiological disorder that affects tomato and other vegetables, resulting in significant crop losses. To date, most studies on BER have focused on the environmental factors that affect calcium translocation to the fruit; however, the genetic basis of this disorder remains unknown. To investigate the genetic basis of BER, two F2 and F3:4 populations along with a BC1 population that segregated for BER occurrence were evaluated in the greenhouse. Using the QTL-seq approach, quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with BER Incidence were identified at the bottom of chromosome (ch) 3 and ch11. Additionally, linkage-based QTL mapping detected another QTL, BER3.1, on ch3 and BER4.1 on ch4. To fine map the QTLs identified by QTL-seq, recombinant screening was performed. BER3.2, the major BER QTL on ch3, was narrowed down from 5.68 to 1.58 Mbp with a 1.5-LOD support interval (SI) corresponding to 209 candidate genes. BER3.2 colocalizes with the fruit weight gene FW3.2/SlKLUH, an ortholog of cytochrome P450 KLUH in Arabidopsis. Further, BER11.1, the major BER QTL on ch11, was narrowed down from 3.99 to 1.13 Mbp with a 1.5-LOD SI interval comprising of 141 candidate genes. Taken together, our results identified and fine mapped the first loci for BER resistance in tomato that will facilitate marker-assistant breeding not only in tomato but also in many other vegetables suffering for BER.
Rapid Instance-Level Knowledge Acquisition for Google Maps from Class-Level Common Sense

Successful knowledge graphs (KGs) solved the historical knowledge acquisition bottleneck by supplanting an expert focus with a simple, crowd-friendly one: KG nodes represent popular people, places, organizations, etc., and the graph arcs represent common sense relations like affiliations, locations, etc. Techniques for more general, categorical, KG curation do not seem to have made the same transition: the KG research community is still largely focused on methods that belie the common-sense characteristics of successful KGs. In this paper, we propose a simple approach to acquiring and reasoning with class-level attributes from the crowd that represent broad common sense associations between categories. We pick a very real industrial-scale data set and problem: how to augment an existing knowledge graph of places and products with associations between them indicating the availability of the products at those places, which would enable a KG to provide answers to questions like, "Where can I buy milk nearby?" This problem has several practical challenges, not least of which is that only 30% of physical stores (i.e. brick & mortar stores) have a website, and fewer list their product inventory, leaving a large acquisition gap to be filled by methods other than information extraction (IE). Based on a KG-inspired intuition that a lot of the class-level pairs are part of people's general common sense, e.g. everyone knows grocery stores sell milk and don't sell asphalt, we acquired a mixture of instance- and class- level pairs (e.g. , , resp.) from a novel 3-tier crowdsourcing method, and demonstrate the scalability advantages of the class-level approach. Our results show that crowdsourced class-level knowledge can provide rapid scaling of knowledge acquisition in this and similar domains, as well as long-term value in the KG.
Role of Risk Assessment in New Hampshire State Government

Within the New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services there is an Environmental Health Risk Assessment Unit which provides health risk assessments for environmental exposures. By state statute, we have been designated the focal point for risk assessment in the state. We evaluate a variety of environmental exposures ranging from drinking water contamination to indoor air pollution to exposure at hazardous waste sites. To other state agencies, we provide input on the potential public health impacts to assist risk managers in setting priorities or selecting remedial actions. To the general public, we offer a focal point for addressing concern about the risks of exposure to a variety of substances. Our role with the general public is to communicate what we consider the magnitude and extent of the risks to be and to put these apparent risks into perspective. A good example of our role in risk assessment is our program of evaluating risks from contamination of private drinking water supplies. During the past year, we have evaluated approximately 275 analyses of contaminated non-municipal drinking water. Since current state and federal standards are not applicable to private water supplies, we provide a necessary service to both the Department of Environmental Services, which conducts the analysis, and to the resident whose well is affected. Once a water supply is found to be contaminated, the Department of Environmental Sesrvices forwards the results to us, requesting that we evaluate the potential risks of exposure. We then respond to the affected resident, outlining the basis of any concerns we have and providing recommendations regarding water usage. This program removes the burden of responding to questions regarding health effects from the Department of Environmental Services and enables a more thorough explanation of risks to the general public.
Characterization of fast fading vector channels for multi-antenna communication systems

In a wireless communication environment, multipath propagation and mobile user motion result in a dispersive time-varying communication channel. In order to analyze the performance of wireless communication systems, it is necessary to define models which reasonably approximate the time varying impulse response of the radio channel. Many widely accepted scalar channel (single antenna) statistical models have been reported. In order to analyze performance for real time adaptive antenna array techniques, it is necessary to extend existing scalar channel statistical models to the vector channel (multiple antenna) case. The paper develops a statistical, time varying, dispersive, wireless vector channel model which is based on the physical propagation environment. The model is shown to be consistent with the known characteristics of the wireless communication channel. Antenna pattern interference rejection as a function of update rate is presented as an application example for the vector channel model. >
The Impact of the African Renaissance on Christian Education in South Africa

This study has focused on the problem that institutions of Christian higher education are reactive or passive towards political, social, and spiritual trends affecting education and leadership in South Africa. A group of 32 participants consisting of Christian higher education leaders, clergy, Christian scholars, and politicians was selected from various regions of South Africa. An instrument focusing on historical precedents and current ideas of the African Renaissance was designed and utilized. The findings revealed that the respondents predict a move towards indigenous forms of Christian higher education teaching methods, curriculum, objectives, and leadership. The study concluded that the African Renaissance in South Africa would impact institutions of Christian higher education by promoting a proactive approach to current trends.
Practical Considerations in Reconstructing the Surface Vibration Using Inverse Numerical Acoustics

This paper explores the use of inverse numerical acoustics to reconstruct the surface vibration of a noise source. Inverse numerical acoustics is mainly used for source identification. This approach uses the measured sound pressure at a set of field points and the Helmholtz integral equation to reconstruct the normal surface velocity. The number of sound pressure measurements is considerably less than the number of surface vibration nodes. A brief guideline on choosing the number and location of the field points to provide an acceptable reproduction of the surface vibration is presented. The effect of adding a few measured velocities to improve the accuracy will also be discussed. Other practical considerations such as the shape of the field point mesh and effect of experimental errors on reconstruction accuracy will be presented. Examples will include a diesel engine and a transmission housing.
Republication of “acceptability of behavioral lnterventions used in classrooms: The influence of amount of teacher time, severity of behavior problem, and type of intervention”

This article explored factors related to teacher judgments that an intervention is either acceptable or unacceptable for use in typical classroom environments. The acceptability of various interven...
What potential biologic treatments are available for osteolysis

The host response to wear debris particles constitutes a major component of periprosthetic osteolysis and aseptic loosening. Thus, biologic interventions represent a logical approach to prevent this complication of total joint replacement. Several major obstacles must be overcome before a therapeutic intervention can emerge, most notably the development of a safe and effective drug, as well as the development of a quantitative outcome measure that can prove efficacy in a relatively small multicenter trial of patients with established osteolysis. Research is needed in several areas, including whether a threshold phenomenon exists for osteolytic progression, whether anabolic agents administered postoperatively can significantly increase osteointegration of the implant and reduce the potential for aseptic loosening, and whether RANKL antagonists can inhibit the progression of periprosthetic osteolysis. Imaging advancements and an osteolysis registry would significantly enhance the potential for a successful clinical trial.
Safety climate and the distracted driving experiences of truck drivers.

BACKGROUND: For truck drivers, distracted driving is a workplace behavior that increases occupational injury risk. We propose safety climate as an appropriate lens through which researchers can examine occupational distracted driving. METHODS: Using a mixed methods study design, we surveyed truck drivers using the Safety Climate Questionnaire (SCQ) complemented by semi-structured interviews of experts on distracted driving and truck safety. Safety climate was assessed by using the entire SCQ as an overall climate score, followed by factor analysis that identified the following safety climate factors: Communications and Procedures; Management Commitment; and Work Pressure. RESULTS: In multivariate regression, the overall safety climate scale was associated with having ever experienced a crash and/or distraction-involved swerving. Interview participants described how these SCQ constructs could affect occupational distracted driving. CONCLUSION: To reduce distraction-related crashes in their organizations, management can adhere to safe policies and procedures, invest in engineering controls, and develop safer communication procedures. Am. J. Ind. Med. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Keywords: Driver distraction; Language: en
How we make donors feel: the relationship between premium benefit level and donor identity esteem

Previous studies on promotions have tended to focus on the benefit to the organization of using different promotional benefit levels to incentivize purchase. By contrast, we focus on how perceptions of different benefit levels make individuals feel. We focus on the context of NPR membership where a station uses promotional premiums to incentivize giving to its annual fund. Employing a field survey of 25 895 donors, we find that premium benefit level is positively correlated with the importance of donor identity and negatively correlated with the private donor esteem associated with the organization. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Double Sucrose-Gap Method Applied to Single Muscle Fiber of Xenopus laevis

Passive electrical properties (internal conductance, membrane conductance, low frequency capacity, and high frequency capacity obtained from the foot of the action potential) of normal and glycerol-treated muscle of Xenopus were determined with the intracellular microelectrode technique. The results show that the electrical properties of Xenopus muscle are essentially the same as those of frog muscle. Characteristics of the action potential of Xenopus muscle were also similar to those of frog muscle. Twitch tension of glycerol-treated muscle fibers of Xenopus recovered partially when left in normal Ringer for a long time (more than 6 h). Along with the twitch recovery, the membrane capacity increased. Single isolated muscle fibers of Xenopus were subjected to the double sucrose-gap technique. Action potentials under the sucrose gap were not very different from those obtained with the intracellular electrode, except for the sucrose-gap hyperpolarization and a slight tendency toward prolongation of the shape of action potential. Twitch contraction of the artificial node was recorded as a change of force from one end of the fiber under the sucrose gap. From the time-course of the recorded force and the sinusoidal stress-strain relationship at varying frequencies of the resting muscle fiber, the time-course of isotonic shortening of the node was recovered by using Fourier analysis. It was revealed that the recorded twitch force can approximately be regarded as isotonic shortening of the node.
A comparison of three methods for estimating appropriate tracheal tube depth in children.

Summary Background: Estimating appropriate tracheal tube (TT) depth following tracheal intubation in infants and children presents a challenge to anesthesia practitioners. We evaluated three methods commonly used by anesthesiologists to determine which one most reliably results in appropriate positioning. Methods: After IRB approval, 60 infants and children scheduled for fluoroscopic procedures requiring general anesthesia were enrolled. Patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) deliberate mainstem intubation with subsequent withdrawal of the TT 2 cm above the carina (‘mainstem’ method); (2) alignment of the double black line marker near the TT tip at the vocal cords (‘marker’ method); or (3) placement of the TT at a depth determined by the formula: TT depth (cm) = 3 × TT size (mmID) (‘formula’ method). TT tip position was determined to be ‘appropriate’ if located between the sternoclavicular junction (SCJ) and 0.5 cm above the carina as determined by fluoroscopy. Risk ratios were calculated, and data were analysed by the chi-square test accepting statistical significance at P < 0.05. Results: The mainstem method was associated with the highest rate of appropriate TT placement (73%) compared with both the marker method (53%, P = 0.03, RR = 1.56) and the formula method (42%, P = 0.006, RR = 2.016). There was no difference between the marker and formula methods overall (P = 0.2, RR = 1.27). Analysis of age-stratified data demonstrated higher success with the marker method compared with the formula method for patients 3–12 months (P = 0.0056, RR = 4.0). Conclusions: Deliberate mainstem intubation most reliably results in appropriate TT depth in infants and children.
Stress exponent and primary creep parameters using single specimen and strain relaxation and recovery test

Strain relaxation and recovery test (SRRT), requiring one specimen and viscous (permanent) strain, ɛv (≤0.001 per test) on full unloading during primary creep, is presented with results on gas-turbine engine materials: Ti-6246 at 600 °C, Discaloy at 500 °C, IN-738LC at 850 °C and Waspaloy at 732 °C. It is shown that a ‘steady-state’ in irreversible viscous flow develops during primary creep; the shape of the creep curve is controlled by time-dependent reversible delayed elastic (anelastic) response. The average viscous strain rate during primary-creep, e˙v(av)(=ev/tSR) for load duration, tSR and corresponding ɛv can be used for the determination of the stress exponent, nv for viscous flow. It is shown that the value of nv for primary-creep is comparable to the stress exponent, nmin for minimum creep rate. Using a single specimen, SRRTs also allow determinations of Young's modulus, stress exponent, s for delayed-elasticity (anelasticity), about one-third to fourth of nv, and other parameters for the constitutive equation for primary creep—strictly before creep enhancement due to the onset of microcracking activities. Short-term and long-term SRRT data on Waspaloy indicated that the creep strain at minimum creep rate consists of a significant amount of recoverable strain (32% at 450 MPa and 38% at 650 MPa).
Surface fatigue crack growth under combined tension and bending loading

Abstract Growth patterns of surface cracks in plates subjected to combined cyclic tension and bending are examined. Different methods of prediction of the aspect ratio variability of these surface cracks are compared with experimental data. The objective is to identify the most accurate method. The comparison is based on a quantitative criterion as well as on statistical examination of the level of agreement with the data. The solutions evaluated include both theoretical and empirical formulas. The comparison shows that it is possible to predict the aspect ratio variability with a standard deviation of less than 0.06.
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and 65 Zn binding by intestinal digesta, intestinal mucosa and blood plasma.

SummaryThe mechanisms of zinc absorption and the effect of EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) on zinc absorption were studied at the intestinal digesta, intestinal mucosa, and blood plasma levels. Dialytic and gel nitration studies showed complexing of 65Zn with free amino acids or EDTA-14C in the intestinal digesta. The EDTA-14C:65Zn complex was bound to a zinc binding protein in the intestinal mucosa (mol wt 14,000-18,000) and to a plasma protein (mol wt 65,000-70,000), that had a greater affinity for zinc than the mucosal protein. The ratios obtained for the cpm EDTA-14C:cpm 65Zn in the main peaks eluted from gel filtration columns (1.10 in intestinal digesta preparation, 1.26 in mucosa soluble fractions, and 1.26 in blood plasma) indicated strong binding of the EDTA-zinc complex. When EDTA was not present in the diet, 65Zn complexed with amino acids in the intestinal digesta and with the same mucosal and blood proteins.
Nutrition and endothelial cell function: implications in atherosclerosis

Abstract Nutrient-mediated functional changes of the endothelium and the underlying tissues may be significantly involved in disease processes, such as atherosclerosis. Endothelial cells interact with blood components and the abluminal tissues, thus playing an active role in many aspects of vascular function. There is evidence that individual nutrients or nutrient derivatives may either provoke or prevent metabolic and physiologic perturbations of the vascular endothelium. Diets high in fat and/or calories are considered a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis because of excessive free fatty acid release as a result of hydrolysis of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. It has been hypothesized that high levels of diet-derived fatty acids can cause endothelial cell activation or dysfunction. Our research has shown that certain unsaturated fatty acids and their derivatives can disrupt normal endothelial integrity, thus reducing the ability of the endothelium to act as a selectively permeable barrier to blood components. Mechanisms underlying fatty acid-mediated endothelial cell dysfunction may be related to changes in fatty acid composition as well as to an increase in cellular oxidative stress. Selective lipid accumulation and fatty acid changes in endothelial cells can modulate signal transduction mechanisms and inflammatory mediators. An imbalance in cellular oxidative stress/antioxidant status mediated by dietary fats rich in certain unsaturated fatty acids can activate oxidative stress-responsive transcription factors, which in turn may promote cytokine production, expression of adhesion molecules on the surface of endothelial cells, and thus intensify an inflammatory response in atherosclerosis. Our data also suggest that certain nutrients, which have antioxidant and/or membrane stabilizing properties, can protect endothelial cells by interfering with lipid/cytokine-mediated endothelial cell dysfunction. These findings contribute to the understanding of the interactive role of dietary fats with inflammatory components, as well as with nutrients that exhibit antiatherogenic properties, in the development of atherosclerosis.
Clarithromycin-induced delirium in a general hospital.

Received June 17, 1997; revised December 17, 1997; accepted January 8, 1998. From the Consultation Liaison Service, North Shore University Hospital, New York University School of Medicine, Manhasett, New York. Address reprint requests to Dr. Mermelstein, 73 Old Pond Road, Great Neck, NY 11023. Copyright 1998 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. Clarithromycin, a new macrolide antibiotic, is effective in the management of a wide range of clinical problems, including outpatient treatment of community-acquired pneumonia, shortening the course of peptic ulcer disease associated with Helicobacter pylori infection and curing previously resistant respiratory infections in immunocompromised patients. Clarithromycin is generally well tolerated, producing fewer gastrointestinal complaints than its parent compound, erythromycin. For these reasons, it is frequently prescribed in adult and pediatric settings. Neurotoxic side effects, including seizures and delirium, have been reported with penicillin and other antibiotics but were not found in the preclinical and clinical trials of clarithromycin or erythromycin. Since then, there have been three brief case reports of alteration in mental status when clarithromycin was added to other medication regimens. Here I report four cases of clarithromycin-induced delirium in a general medical population.
Cautions on the Use of the SERVQUAL Measure to Assess the Quality of Information Systems Services

The SERVQUAL questionnaire (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988) is one of the preeminent instruments for measuring the quality of services as perceived by the customer. In a recent Decision Sciences article, Kettinger and Lee (1995) suggested the use of a modified SERVQUAL instrument to assess the quality of the services supplied by an information services provider. However, a number of problems with the SERVQUAL instrument are discussed in the literature. This article provides an illustrative example utilizing data collected from 138 executive and information systems professional customers of a multibillion dollar information services provider in order to examine the validity and reliability of Kettinger and Lee's (1995) modified SERVQUAL instrument. Results of analyses do not confirm the findings of Kettinger and Lee. Moreover, it appears that the use of difference scores in calculating SERVQUAL contributes to problems with the reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity, and predictive validity of the measure. These findings suggest that caution should be exercised in the use of SERVQUAL scores and that further work is needed in the development of measures for assessing the quality of information services.
The association between antibody titres against Campylobacter fetus and milk production efficiency in dairy cattle

The association between serological evidence of exposure toCampylobacter fectus and milk production performance was studied in 178 lactating cows from three California Dairy Herd Improvement Association herds using a cross-sectional study design in December 1986. ELISAs were used to determine the antibody titres againstCampylobacter fetus, Haemophilus somnus andLeptospira hardjo, which were classified as either negative or positive. The status of a cow as negative or positive againstC. fetus andH. somnus represents the serological evidence of natural exposure to the corresponding bacteria. However, the status againstL. hardjo was assumed to be the level of vaccinal titre against this organism since all the cows studied had been vaccinated against this agent. The data on demographic and productivity variables relating to the current lactation of the cows were obtained from Dairy Herd Improvement Association individual cow records for December 1986. Four measures of milk production efficiency for the current lactation were used. The status againstL. hardjo and other covariates suggested by previous studies were included in modelling the relationships of interest. Stepwise multiple linear regression was used to study the adjusted relationship ofC. fetus with each measure of milk production efficiency. Multivariate analyses revealed that the adjusted relationships ofC. fetus with the test-day's milk production, the extended 305-day milk production and the relative value of milk production were not significant (p>0.1). However, after adjusting for possible covariates,C. fetus-positive cows had an average of 7.43% lower mature equivalent milk production thanC. fetus-negative cows (p=0.02). Among the covariates, the serological status againstL. hardjo had a strong and independent relationship with the percentage mature equivalent milk production, the unstandardized partial regression coefficient being 4.53. We conclude from this cross-sectional study that the association ofC. fetus seropositivity with one index of milk production is the first indication that latentC. fetus infection may be associated with subclinical mastitis, perhaps through a hypersensitivity reaction. However, this needs further investigation.
Verbal-discrimination learning as a function of encoding variability

The encoding variability of the right (R) and wrong (W) terms was manipulated in a verbal-discrimination task. When the number of different associates defined variability, pairs with low-encoding variability for both R and W terms were learned fastest, followed by pairs with high-encoding variability in both R and W terms. When the number of dictionary meanings defined variability, pairs with high-encoding variability R terms and W terms were learned slower than all other combinations. The outcomes do not correspond to expectations involving only the number of encodings in each component of a pair; it is suggested that the number of nonoverlapping encodings is more important.
37. Relationship of sexual trauma with the health of women veterans

Background: Women in the military are at risk for exposure to war-related trauma as well as sexual assault and harassment. There is also a significant population for whom these traumatic experiences are layered on pre-military histories of childhood violence and sexual abuse and/or assault. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among sexual trauma and mental and physical health in female veterans. Methods: Participants were recruited at a day of recognition for women veterans. Fifty-three women volunteered to participate in the study. Variables included measures of PTSD, sexual harassment and assault, depression, sleep quality, perceived stress, anger and anxiety. Allostatic markers included lipids, glucose, blood pressure, BMI, and inflammatory markers. Results: Preliminary findings showed that 72% experienced sexual harassment in the military while 25% reported sexual assault. Sexual harassment and assault were significantly related to total cholesterol, perceived stress, depression, pain, anger, anxiety, sleep quality and PTSD. There was a significant relationship between stress and IL-6 while sleep quality was related to IL-10 and IL-6. Implications: The association of history of sexual assault and abuse with mental and physical health indicators suggest that these women are at great risk for illness. Interventions at all levels, from personal to societal, are required to deal with these issues.
Regulating Orchestration in SOA-Based Systems

Under service-oriented architecture (SOA), servers (service providers) provide services to clients as well as other orchestrators, i.e. they are parts of several orchestrations. Due to different types of interaction, servers may have to operate concurrently under several policies. Moreover, when interacting with clients or peer servers, a server may be subject to global constraints determined by system authorities, e.g. system administrator. In this paper, we present a framework to enforce multiple policies on server behavior with emphasis on server activities in orchestration. Our framework employs LGI-based middleware, and does not require any change of the conventional SOAP-based protocol, the UDDI server, the programs of servers and clients, or the BPEL engine employed by service orchestrators.
Microwave blanching and drying characteristics of Centella asiatica (L.) urban leaves using tray and heat pump-assisted dehumidified drying

The appropriate stage of maturity of Centella asiatica (L.) Urban leaves was investigated. Mature leaves with large diameter contained high total phenolics and % inhibition. Microwave blanching for 30 s retained the highest total phenolics and the microwave blanching for 30 s and 45 s retained the highest % inhibition. Modified Henderson and Modified Chung-Pfost models showed the best fit to both fresh and blanched leaves for equilibrium moisture content, Xe = f(RHe, T) and equilibrium relative humidity, RHe = f(Xe, T), respectively. The Modified Page model was the most effective model in describing the leaf drying. All drying was in the falling rate period. The drying constant was related to drying air temperature using the Arrhenius model. Effective moisture diffusivities increased with increasing temperature and blanching treatments as well as dehumidification by heat pump-assisted dehumidified dryer. The heat pump-assited dehumidified drying incorporated by the microwave blanching could reduce the drying time at 40 °C by 31.2 % and increase % inhibition by 6.1 %. Quality evaluation by total phenolics, % inhibition and rehydration ratio showed the best quality for C. asiatica leaves pretreated by microwave blanching and dried at 40 °C in heat pump-assisted dehumidified dryer.
The Catalytic Role of the Active Site Aspartic Acid in Serine Proteases

The role of the aspartic acid residue in the serine protease catalytic triad Asp, His, and Ser has been tested by replacing Asp102 of trypsin with Asn by site-directed mutagenesis. The naturally occurring and mutant enzymes were produced in a heterologous expression system, purified to homogeneity, and characterized. At neutral pH the mutant enzyme activity with an ester substrate and with the Ser195-specific reagent diisopropylfluorophosphate is approximately 10(4) times less than that of the unmodified enzyme. In contrast to the dramatic loss in reactivity of Ser195, the mutant trypsin reacts with the His57-specific reagent, tosyl-L-lysine chloromethylketone, only five times less efficiently than the unmodified enzyme. Thus, the ability of His57 to react with this affinity label is not severely compromised. The catalytic activity of the mutant enzyme increases with increasing pH so that at pH 10.2 the kcat is 6 percent that of trypsin. Kinetic analysis of this novel activity suggests this is due in part to participation of either a titratable base or of hydroxide ion in the catalytic mechanism. By demonstrating the importance of the aspartate residue in catalysis, especially at physiological pH, these experiments provide a rationalization for the evolutionary conservation of the catalytic triad.
GLT1, glial glutamate transporter, is transiently expressed in neurons and develops astrocyte specificity only after midgestation in the ovine fetal brain.

Glutamate transport is a primary mechanism for regulating extracellular levels of glutamate in the central nervous system. GLT1, the most abundant of the known high-affinity glutamate transporters, is found exclusively in astrocytes in adult brain of several species, but we and others have recently identified neurons that transiently express GLT1 protein in the developing brain. We now demonstrate the development of cell type specificity for GLT1 expression at 60, 71, and 136 days' gestation in the developing sheep brain (term = 145 days). At 60 and 71 days of gestation, GLT1 colocalizes with calbindin in Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, and this expression pattern has a novel distribution that is reminiscent of the parasagittal zebrin-like bands. GLT1 immunoreactivity simultaneously occurs in periventricular white matter, anterior commissure, and striatal white matter, dissipating by 136 days. GLT1 protein expression within astrocytes is developmentally regulated, appearing first in vimentin positive radial glia at 60 and 71 days and then switching to GFAP positive parenchymal and perivascular astrocytes at 136 days. Expression of GLT1 in subsets of vimentin-positive astrocytes persists in white matter but not in cortex. These results identify a novel compartmentation within cerebellar cortex and neuronal and axonal pathway localization of GLT1, suggesting the participation of this glutamate transporter in the development of the topographic organization of cerebellar cortex and a transient neuronal function for GLT1 in developing brain. In addition, GLT1 expression is highly plastic, being neither exclusively astroglial nor uniformly expressed in different populations of astrocytes during brain development. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Neurobiol 39: 515–526, 1999
Endocrine influences on the actions of morphine: IV. effects of sex and strain

Abstract The antinociceptive and temperature responses to morphine were compared in male and female rats from two different strains. Males of both the Sprague-Dawley and Wistar-Furth strains were slightly more responsive to the acute actions of morphine than were females of the same strain. However, Wistar-Furth animals required approximately twice the dose of morphine to display equivalent antinociceptive responses and four times the dose to display equivalent hypothermic responses when compared with Sprague-Dawley animals. During chronic morphine treatment, the development of tolerance was slightly more rapid in males than in females and in Sprague-Dawley animals than in Wistar-Furth animals. Gonadal hormones also influenced morphine responses. Ovariectomized rats were significantly more responsive acutely to morphine and developed tolerance less rapidly than estradiol-treated females. However, alterations of gonadal hormones in males did not affect morphine responses. These results indicate that morphine responses vary considerably between strains of animals and are influenced by gonadal hormones of females, but not of males.