cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Benefit of follow-up CT in emergency department patients with persistent non-traumatic abdominal pain

To determine the benefit of a short-term follow-up abdominopelvic computed tomography (APCT) examination among emergency department (ED) patients with persistent abdominal pain and an initially negative CT. During a 5-year period from January 2004 to December 2008, our institution’s radiology department performed approximately 56,000 APCTs examinations in the ED. Sixty-eight percent of the APCT examinations used intravenous contrast. Nine hundred fifty-seven patients received two APCTs within 1 week for non-traumatic abdominal pain in the ED. Sixty-four patients with initially negative APCTs presented to the ED within 1 week with persistent abdominal pain and received follow-up APCT imaging. The mean follow-up period was 2.6 days. The mean interval period in which the second APCT yielded a positive result was 2.0 days. Seventy-five percent of follow-up examinations were performed with intravenous contrast. Twenty-three percent of patients had positive findings on the follow-up examination. Seventy-three percent of the follow-up positive findings were referable to bowel pathology. The cause of abdominal pain remained elusive at 1 week in 23% of patients. Short-term follow-up APCT examinations in patients with persistent, unexplained abdominal pain may be of benefit if the second APCT is performed with intravenous contrast in patients suspected of having bowel pathology.
Kinetic Effects of Perturbations in the Ligand Binding Domain of NMDA Receptors

NMDA receptors become active only after both glycine and glutamate bind to their cognate ligand binding domain (LBD) on NR1 and NR2 subunits, respectively. It has been proposed that the conformational changes that lead to channel opening are initiated by agonist-induced closure of the LBDs and that the stability of the closed structure correlates with the agonist's efficacy. To probe this hypothesis we characterized kinetic changes in receptor gating arising from complementary perturbations at the NR2-LBD: a) NR2-specific partial agonists, L-homocysteate or SYM2081, each reported to have ∼80% efficacy; and b) NR2-LBD mutations (K487C, N687C) which lock the LBD in a closed-cleft conformation. We recorded steady-state single-channel currents from cell-attached patches containing only one receptor at saturating agonist concentrations. Kinetic analyses of these data indicated that neither perturbation affected the core gating mechanism of the channel which consisted of five closed and two open states, including desensitization. Open durations were only minimally affected with most of the kinetic effects observed resulting from changes in the duration of closures. Two closed time components were significantly changed compared to Control (tau2, 1.7 ± 0.1 ms, tau3 = 4.6 ± 0.2 ms, n = 5). These were increased by partial agonists to 3.5 ± 0.3 ms and 9.1 ± 0.8 ms, respectively (n = 10, p<0.05) and decreased for the locked-LBD mutant to 0.9 ± 0.1 ms and to 3.2 ± 0.2 ms (n = 4, p<0.05). These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the stability of the closed NR2-LBD conformation correlates with channel gating efficacy. Further, the data show that distinct local perturbations at the NR2-LBD affect gating through the same mechanism observed as changes in the duration of two specific closed time components.
The relationship between worker alienation and work-related behavior

Abstract This study examines the relationship between five dimensions of alienation from work—powerlessness, normlessness, meaninglessness, self-evaluative involvement, and instrumental work orientation—and the work-related behavior of effort, performance, absenteeism, and tardiness. A related issue is the distinctness or commonality of the dimensions of alienation. The results show that the five dimensions of alienation are empirically distinct. Significant associations between the dimensions of powerlessness, normlessness, and meaninglessness and the work behavior suggest that feelings of alienation may result in less effort and performance and more tardiness from work. The implication of the results for understanding workers' motivation to participate in and to perform the work of the organization are discussed.
Fiber Morphology of Spider Silk: The Effects of Tensile Deformation

The fiber morphology of the dragline silk of Nephila clavipes has been investigated by the detailed analysis of wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) patterns. WAXD gives the crystal lattice dimensions, the orientation distribution, the crystalline fraction, and an estimate of the crystal size. It is found that the crystals are very small and well oriented. The mean (minimum) crystal dimensions are 2 × 5 × 7 nm, and the angle, φ, between the molecular chains in the crystals and the fiber axis has a full width at half-maximum (fwhm) of 15.7° and an orientation function f = 0.981. The X-ray crystallinity is in the range 10−15%, and the amorphous diffraction is divided 60:40 between an isotropic ring and an oriented halo with fwhm 30°. This means one-third of the material is in the oriented amorphous state, with a chain orientation of fwhm 43° and f = 0.87. When the fiber is extended up to 10%, the orientation of the crystals increases as predicted for affine deformation at constant volume. There is no observa...
Relapse to cocaine abuse after initiating desipramine treatment.

Three cocaine abusers who had been abstinent for one to six months relapsed to cocaine use soon after beginning desipramine hydrochloride therapy. The antidepressant treatment was begun for different reasons in each case. All three patients developed what has been termed the early tricyclic jitteriness syndrome . This reaction may have stimulated conditioned craving for cocaine because of the similarity between this syndrome and cocaine intoxication. Since desipramine is being used to reduce cocaine craving, it is important to recognize this paradoxical increase in craving as a potential adverse effect of desipramine. ( JAMA 1988;260:2545-2546)
ANALYZING PRODUCTIVITY IN THE ERA OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Librarians are becoming more accustomed to using output and performance measures to assess library services. However, in an era of limited funds and increasing accountability, we also need to turn our attention to analyzing library productivity in terms of staff performance and dollars expended. We can benefit from sharing that information with other librarians in order to provide a basis for interpreting our findings. Useful data on productivity can be derived from current, published library statistics.
Treatment of Obesity in Primary Care Practice in the United States: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVES This review examines the results of randomized controlled trials in which behavioral weight loss interventions, used alone or with pharmacotherapy, were provided in primary care settings.
An alternative DNA structure is necessary for pilin antigenic variation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Pathogens can utilize DNA recombination to promote antigenic variation of surface structures to avoid immune detection. We identified a cis-acting DNA sequence near the antigenically variable pilin locus of the human pathogen, Neisseria gonorrhoeae. This 16 base pair G-rich sequence was required for pilin antigenic variation and formed a guanine quartet (G4) structure in vitro. Individual mutations that disrupted the structure also blocked pilin antigenic variation and prevented nicks required for recombination from occurring within the G4 region. A compound that binds and stabilizes G4 structures also inhibited pilin antigenic variation and prevented nicks from occurring on the G-rich strand. This site constitutes a recombination initiation sequence/structure that directs gene conversion to a specific chromosomal locus.
The importance of empiric abdominal computed tomography after urgent laparotomy for trauma: Do they reveal unexpected injuries?

Background Many institutions now use empiric full-body computed tomography (CT) as a standard step in the initial workup of stable trauma patients. Recent data suggest that these scans may reveal unexpected injuries and improve survival in patients with polytrauma. However, patients who are unstable on presentation are often taken to the operating room (OR) without CT. Many of these patients undergo empiric full-body CTs after being stabilized in the OR, yet few data exist regarding how often early postoperative CT reveals unexpected injuries within compartments that have been explored surgically. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine if empiric abdominal/pelvic (ABD) CT after emergent trauma laparotomies are likely to reveal missed injuries requiring urgent management and improve patient management compared with clinical judgment alone. Methods We review retrospectively 496 trauma patients who required urgent exploratory laparotomy at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital from 2007 to 2011. Patients were included if they went to the OR for exploratory laparotomy directly from the emergency department within 2 hours of arrival. Patients were excluded if they received any preoperative ABD CT imaging. Patients who expired in the OR were similarly excluded. Patients were stratified into 2 groups based on whether or not they received an empiric ABD CT in the 24 hours immediately after laparotomy. Medical records were reviewed to look for differences in missed injuries, urgent reexplorations, nontherapeutic interventions, and time to urgent reexploration. Results There were 278 patients who met inclusion at exclusion criteria and constituted the study cohort. Of these patients, 124 underwent early empiric postoperative ABD CT imaging (45%). The remaining 154 patients did not undergo early ABD imaging (no CT group). The overall cohort had a 45% incidence of damage control procedures and a 9% rate of negative laparotomy. The 2 groups were statistically similar in age, presenting vitals, and abdominal Abbreviated Injury Scores. When the ABD CT group was compared with the no CT group, there was no difference in the overall rate of urgent reexplorations (7.3 vs 7.1%; P = .956), nontherapeutic urgent reexplorations (22 vs 18%; P = .822), or time to urgent reexploration (14 ± 10 vs 12 ± 10 hours; P = .686). Out of the 124 ABD CT patients, only 5 (4.0%) were diagnosed with injuries that were not identified at the time of the initial operation or caused by operative technique. When controlling for demographics, mechanism of injury, and injury severity, a logistic regression analysis revealed that early postoperative ABD CT was not associated with any differential risk of the need for further intervention (odds ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.37–1.9; P = .691). Conclusion The use of ABD CT soon after trauma laparotomy did not provide meaningful improvements in patient care in the cohort studied. Further higher level research is needed to clarify what role empiric ABD CT should play in the early postoperative period.
Media Images Abbott and Costello Meet the End of the World: Who is the Enemy in The Da Vinci Code and An Inconvenient Truth?

Popular culture requires readily identifiable villains. Subcultural groups often serve this role, creating controversies. Controversies based on religion are especially bitter. As a rule, religion in the movies is inoffensively sentimental, but The Da Vinci Code is both popular and provocative, treading on the dangerous ground of Jesus's mortality. An Inconvenient Truth, another unexpectedly popular recent movie, is not as amusing, but it concerns issues Jesus cared more about.
Evoked potential correlates of recognition memory

During word recognition tasks, differences in the stimulus related potentials to ‘old’ (previously presented) and ‘new’ (not previously presented) words occurred as early as 160–190 ms after stimulus onset (N1), as well as in the late component of the wave forms (P3). The n1 differences may possibly reflect underlying neural activity directly related to the recognition memory process.
UNIQUENESS OF GROUND STATES FOR QUASILINEAR ELLIPTIC OPERATORS

(1.1) ∆mu+ f(u) = 0, see Proposition 1 below. Here, as usual, ∆m denotes the degenerate m-Laplace operator div(|Du|m−2Du), m > 1, and f(u) is a continuously differentiable function defined for 0 0 in B. Here, with the help of their identity, we consider the complementary problem of uniqueness of radial ground states of (1.1), that is, non-negative, non-trivial radially symmetric solutions on R such that u = u(x)→ 0 as |x| → ∞. This problem, like that considered by Erbe and Tang, has exercised many researchers in the past decade, principally in the case when f(u) is negative for small u and superlinear for large u; see in particular [CL], [Co], [CEF1], [Kw], [M], [MS], and most recently [CEF2], when m = 2, n ≥ 3; and [C2] when 1 1, c.f. the remark following equation (2.1). Our results apply in particular to the important canonical nonlinearity
Flanking direct repeats of hisG alter URA3 marker expression at the HWP1 locus of Candida albicans

HWP1 encodes an adhesin of Candida albicans and has been implicated in filamentation and virulence. URA3, an often-used transformation selection marker, is apparently incorrectly expressed when integrated at the HWP1 locus, which results in an attenuated virulence phenotype. Expression of URA3 is compromised by ectopic integration at other loci as well. In contrast, prior studies from the authors' laboratory had demonstrated that the filamentation deficiency and attenuated virulence of hwp1Δ mutants were fully restored in rescued strains in which URA3 was integrated at the HWP1 locus. This discrepancy prompted a reinvestigation of these mutants. A series of congenic strains were constructed which demonstrated that the filamentation and virulence defects of a homozygous hwp1Δ mutant could be rescued without introduction of a functional HWP1 allele. Despite the absence of detectable differences in URA3 expression, analysis of suppressor mutations suggested that reduced URA3 expression gave rise to the mutant phenotypes. Several independent spontaneous suppressor mutations that restored filamentation to strains of genotype hwp1Δ : : hisG-URA3-hisG/hwp1Δ : : hisG had acquired a tandem duplication of the hisG-URA3-hisG marker cassette. The hwp1 null mutant and rescued strains differed by the presence or absence of flanking hisG sequence. Substitution of the hisG-URA3-hisG insert of the hwp1 null mutant with URA3 alone largely rescued the filamentation and virulence phenotypes. The presence of a single copy of hisG adjacent to URA3 had no effect. It is concluded that flanking direct repeats of hisG, present as part of a recyclable disruption cassette, negatively influenced URA3 expression and are responsible for the previously reported phenotypes of the hwp1 mutants.
STUDIES ON MECHANISMS OF RETENTION OF VOLATILE IN FREEZE‐DRIED FOOD MODELS: THE SYSTEM PVP‐n‐PROPANOL

Retention of C14-labeled n-propanol was studied in a freeze-dried system containing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). Variables affecting retention during freeze drying were: initial concentrations of PVP and n-propanol, rate of freezing and sample thickness. Rehumidification above the BET monolayer value resulted in losses of propanol which increased with increasing water content. Behavior of the model system based on PVP is consistent with the “microregion volatile entrapment theory.” The PVP system (and perhaps polymeric carbohydrates) differ from low molecular weight carbohydrates: water sorption below the BET monolayer is reduced by entrapped volatile, and absolute level of retention is lower
The fabrication and characterization of granular aluminium/palladium bilayer microbolometers

Superconducting granular aluminium/palladium bilayer microbolometers with subnanosecond response can be easily fabricated using an all lift-off process with image-reversal lithography. The palladium capping layer allows for convenient and reproducible Ohmic contacts to be made to the device. We report their fabrication, resistance–current calibration, responsivity and response time. Finally, a deconvolution algorithm is used to improve the time resolution to approximately 1 ns while obtaining the incident photon and phonon fluxes in both direct photoexcitation and phonon heat pulse experiments.
Self-administered cued naming therapy: a single-participant investigation of a computer-based therapy program replicated in four cases.

Purpose This study examined the benefits of a self-administered, clinician-guided, computer-based, cued naming therapy. Results of intense and nonintense treatment schedules were compared. Method A...
The Relationships Among the Stress Appraisal Process, Coping Disposition, and Level of Acceptance of Disability:

The transactional theory of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984b) has served as a useful lens for examining the interaction between a person and his or her varying responses to situational demands. Despite this theory's helpful framework for understanding the coping dispositions that follow primary appraisals in the general population, evidence for people with disabilities requires attention. This study examined the relationships among the stress appraisal process, coping disposition, and level of acceptance of disability. One hundred fifty-one people with disabilities were randomly selected and asked to complete four survey questionnaires. Principal components analysis on data collected from the newly developed Stress Appraisal Inventory for Life Situations instrument resulted in five components that became the basis for the stress appraisal process identified in this study. The findings of this study indicate that certain subjective meanings that people with disabilities attribute to stressful si...
The effect of specimen processing on radiolabeled monoclonal antibody biodistribution

Monoclonal antibodies are assuming increasing importance in experimental and clinical medicine. Generally, tissue biodistribution studies in animals precede human studies. To investigate a concern of ours that varying methods of sample handling in these studies could result in apparent alterations in tissue-binding levels, we compared two methods of tissue processing after the administration of labeled antibodies: one including only blotting away of blood, the other involving several washing steps. The unwashed, blotted specimens were found to have significantly more radioactivity per gram of tissue than the washed, ranging from 22% more in the spleen to 52% more in the lungs and left ventricle. Since in vivo imaging is dependent on the total mount of radioactivity in an organ, we believe the most meaningful determination of tissue radioactivity should be based on unwashed samples. Awareness of this problem is suggested to allow meaningful extrapolations from measured tisue localization data to imaging and therapy.
Identification of a volatile attractant for Diabrotica and Acalymma spp. from blossoms of Cucurbita maxima duchesne

Fractionation of headspace volatiles fromCucurbita maxima blossoms by high-performance liquid chromatography resulted in the isolation of a single component which was highly active in an electroantennogram bioassay onDiabrotica undecimpunctata howardi antennae. This compound was identified as indole by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Field-trapping bioassays were conducted which indicated that indole is a potent attractant of the western corn rootworm,D. virgifera virgifera, and the striped cucumber beetle,Acalymma vittatum. The southern corn rootworm,D. u. howardi, did not respond, despite its strong EAG response. The sex ratio ofD. v. virgifera found in indole-baited traps varied seasonally. Males were trapped in abundance in late July and later September, 1983, while females were more abundant August and early September. The effectiveness of indole as aD. v. virgifera attractant also varied seasonally. A prolonged period of depressed trap catches occurred in early August 1983, during the silking and tasseling period of the corn in the field where trapping was carried out.
Atomic Scale Description of Ionic Behavior in Polymer Nanopores

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a carbon-based polymer commonly used in plastic containers. Due to its high melting point, mechanical strength, and selectivity for chemical modification, PET has become an excellent material for use in nanotechnology applications. In particular, PET membranes have been used to build very small pores with nanometer-scale diameters, so called “nanopores”. Several interesting phenomena have been observed in PET nanopores, such as ionic current rectification, reverse rectification due to divalent cations, and nanoprecipitation. However, understanding the physical basis behind such phenomena is still a challenge. We have used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the ionic transport properties of PET nanopores, including the conduction of KCl under different pH conditions and the effect of divalent ions on the ionic conduction and nanoprecipitation. To carry out these simulations, we have developed a protocol to build PET nanopores: First, we constructed a periodic model of bulk PET; then, we created a PET nanopore by removing atoms from a conical region and patching the exposed ends with benzoic groups, the PET surface reproducing the surface charge observed in experiments; finally, the PET nanopores are solvated and simulated under a variety of voltage biases using different ionic species, such as K(+1), Cl(-1), Ca(2+) and HPO4(2-) ions. We applied the protocol and found that it resulted not only in good agreement with experimental data, but also provided an atomic description of the ion dynamics in PET nanopores. Specifically, we observed the enhancement of ionic current due to the surface charge, the permanent binding of Ca(2+) ions to the PET surface, and the dynamics of HPO4(2-) ions inside PET nanopores.
Reply to Letter: False positive absent somatosensory evoked potentials in cardiac arrest with therapeutic hypothermia

The reviewer commented that the level of noise on the cortical races was so high that the recording should not lead to any conlusions. We appreciate the reviewer’s comments, but suggest that erhaps the reviewer did not examine the figure legend closely and pply the stated calibrations to the traces. The channel derivation onsisting of the midline frontal to parietal cortex contralateral to he side of stimulation are standard for this clinical application and re traces 2 and 6 from the top in Fig. 1; the calibrations for those races are 0.7 V per division which is twice the display magnificaion of the subcortical channels (traces 3 and 7). Thus, one would xpect more baseline “noise” in those traces. We chose to use this egree of display magnification in order to optimally demonstrate hat there were no waveforms present. The actual peak-peak ambint noise levels in those traces is less than 0.1 microvolts, which s an excellent ambient artifact level in clinical SEP practice. The 19 mean amplitude (baseline to peak) in 50 normal subjects was .0 V (minimum value 0.1),1 and the P22 mean amplitude (N19 eak to P22 peak) was 2.2 V (minimum 0.5), the latter exceedng the peak-to-peak ambient noise levels here by a factor of 5, o that it would have been easily visible. In trace 6 there is a possile negative deflection at 19–22 ms, followed by a possible positive eflection at 22–25 ms; the latter amplitude is about 0.1 V, well elow the lowest value of 0.5 V seen in normal subjects. Thus, the bsence of any reliable waveforms identifiable as N19/P22 here is linically significant to a high degree. The reviewer might have felt
Uncertain Knowledge and Democratic Transitions: Revisiting O’Donnell and Schmitter’s Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies

Guillermo O’Donnell and Philippe Schmitter’s Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies is one of the most influential texts on the study of democratic transitions in contemporary political science. Nevertheless, while O’Donnell and Schmitter emphasized the provisional, contingent, and uncertain character of their reflections on regime change, later scholars constructed a discourse of “transitology,” which theorized about regime change more broadly and which, thereby, overlooked a key component of the two authors’ original work—its tentative character as an intervention in a complex and rapidly changing situation. This article highlights the tensions between O’Donnell and Schmitter’s normative and political intervention into a historically uncertain period, and the subsequent research on transitions. Through a review of the volume, the article illuminates the relation of normative political practice to social scientific inquiry in the field of democratization.
Exploring the Dynamics of Workgroup Fracture: Common Ground, Trust-With-Trepidation, and Warranted Distrust

A temporary workgroup of trained British soldiers fractured and nearly lost members’ lives when it encountered unexpected adversity in Low’s Gully, Borneo. Although demography-oriented theories of group faultlines and diversity types offer useful cross-sectional baselines for predicting and explaining workgroup fracture, the authors examine the Low’s Gully expedition to build theory exposing the longitudinal microfoundations of workgroup fracture under adversity. The authors incorporate the long-established concept of common ground among parties—information that is both mutually held and mutually understood to be mutually held—to uncover changes in group members’ communications success, intragroup trust, tacit coordination, and fracture likelihood as the expedition’s situation became increasingly tenuous. Their study of how this diverse workgroup faced extreme adversity shows how group trust can dissolve under adversity in a sequence moving from initial trust, to trust-with-trepidation, and then to distru...
A transferable coarse-grained model for hydrogen-bonding liquids

We present here a recent development of a generalized coarse-grained model for use in molecular simulations. In this model, interactions between coarse-grained particles consist of both van der Waals and explicit electrostatic components. As a result, the coarse-grained model offers the transferability that is lacked by most current effective-potential based approaches. The previous center-of-mass framework (P. A. Golubkov and P. Ren, J. Chem. Phys., 2006, 125, 64103) is generalized here to include arbitrary off-center interaction sites for both Gay-Berne and multipoles. The new model has been applied to molecular dynamic simulations of neat methanol liquid. By placing a single point multipole at the oxygen atom rather than at the center of mass of methanol, there is a significant improvement in the ability to capture hydrogen-bonding. The critical issue of transferability of the coarse-grained model is verified on methanol-water mixtures, using parameters derived from neat liquids without any modification. The mixture density and internal energy from coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations show good agreement with experimental measurements, on a par with what has been obtained from more detailed atomic models. By mapping the dynamics trajectory from the coarse-grained simulation into the all-atom counterpart, we are able to investigate atomic-level structure and interaction. Atomic radial distribution functions of neat methanol, neat water and mixtures compare favorably to experimental measurements. Furthermore, hydrogen-bonded 6- and 7-molecule chains of water and methanol observed in the mixture are in agreement with previous atomic simulations.
The influence of smoking on the risk of Alzheimer’s disease

Objective: To investigate the relationship between cigarette smoking and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a prospective community-based study in northern Manhattan. Background: Results from previous case–control studies suggest that there is a protective effect of smoking on AD. However, the recent prospective Rotterdam Study found that there was an increased risk of AD for smokers, particularly those without an apolipoprotein E ( APOE )-e4 allele. Methods: The authors examined data from a community-based longitudinal study of local elders residing in northern Manhattan to determine whether tobacco use increases or decreases the risk of AD. Information regarding the frequency of tobacco use was obtained in structured interviews at the baseline assessment. Standardized clinical assessments were subsequently completed on each subject at annual visits during which incident cases of AD were identified. Results: The relative risk (RR) of AD among former smokers was 0.7 (95% CI, 0.5 to 1.1). The RR among current smokers was 1.9 (95% CI, 1.2 to 3.0). Smokers without an APOE -e4 allele had the highest risk of AD (RR = 2.1; 95% CI, 2.1 to 3.7) compared with those with an APOE -e4 allele (RR = 1.4; 95% CI, 0.6 to 3.3). Conclusions: Our results are consistent with the observation that smoking increases the risk of AD. However, we found that among previous smokers who quit smoking, there may be a slight reduction in the risk of AD.
A method of estimating item characteristic functions using the maximum likelihood estimate of ability

A method of estimating item characteristic functions is proposed, in which a set of test items, whose operating characteristics are known and which give a constant test information function for a substantially wide range of ability, are used. The method is based on the maximum likelihood estimates of ability for a group of several hundred examinees. Throughout the present study the Monte Carlo method is used.
Recruitment of DNA Replication and Damage Response Proteins to Viral Replication Centers during Infection with NS2 Mutants of Minute Virus of Mice (MVM)

MVM NS2 is essential for viral DNA amplification, but its mechanism of action is unknown. A classification scheme for autonomous parvovirus-associated replication (APAR) center development, based on NS1 distribution, was used to characterize abnormal APAR body maturation in NS2null mutant infections, and their organization examined for defects in host protein recruitment. Since acquisition of known replication factors appeared normal, we looked for differences in invoked DNA damage responses. We observed widespread association of H2AX/MDC1 damage response foci with viral replication centers, and sequestration and complex hyperphosphorylation of RPA32, which occurred in wildtype and mutant infections. Quantifying these responses by western transfer indicated that both wildtype and NS2 mutant MVM elicited ATM activation, while phosphorylation of ATR, already basally activated in asynchronous A9 cells, was downregulated. We conclude that MVM infection invokes multiple damage responses that influence the APAR environment, but that NS2 does not modify the recruitment of cellular proteins.
Unresolved problems in SOx, NOx, soot control in combustion

Combustion and pollution have been somewhat synonymous topics since mankind's discoveryof fire. As a result of a concerted, worldwide concern over the past fifteen or so years, for what is being emitted to the environment via the smokestack and the tailpipe, great strides have been made toward burning fuels cleanly. In line with this concern, the Combustion Institute has been devoting sessions to air pollution since the Twelfth Symposium in 1968. A great deal of progress, both in an understanding of the technical issues and the implementation of this knowledge, has taken place in this period. This paper attempts to keynote where we are today and what are the principal unanswered questions in the three key areas of SO x , NO x , and soot control in combustion. Combustion-pollution technology is probably on its firmest grounds in the area of SO x , onslightly less firm ground in the area of NO x control, and has farthest to go in soot control. Major attention in SO x technology is directed to fuel-rich combustion and the application of SO x kinetics to staged combustion, interaction of SO x with NO x control mechanisms, and a renewed interest in limestone capture of sulfur. Principal concerns of NO x control address issues of fuel nitrogen release, the nature of fuel nitrogen species, interactions of nitrogen-containing species in fuel-rich combustion, radical overshoot in rich flames, and the conversion of NO to NO 2 in gas turbines and gas burners. Problem areas in soot control are brought forth by consideration of six principal areas which make up a general mechanism for soot formation. Also addressed in the soot discussions are the role of additives, the relation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon formation to soot, and the generation of soot in diesel combustion. The problem areas brought forth by our concerns for clean combustion have had a positive,synergistic effect in advancing our understanding of the combustion process.
Direct and near real-time determination of metals in the atmosphere by atomic spectroscopic techniques

Abstract Three techniques based on atomic spectroscopy are described, which have shown promise for direct and near real-time determination of particles in the atmosphere in particular in industrial situations where metal-bearing dusts are released due to industrial operation, e.g., drilling, cutting etc. of metal.
Language and motor mapping during resection of brain arteriovenous malformations: indications, feasibility, and utility.

BACKGROUND: Microsurgical resection of arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) located in the language and motor cortex is associated with the risk of neurological deterioration, yet electrocortical stimulation mapping has not been widely used. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the usefulness of intraoperative mapping with language/ motor AVMs. METHODS: During an 11-year period, mapping was used in 12 of 431 patients (2.8%) undergoing AVM resection (5 patients with language and 7 patients with motor AVMs). Language mapping was performed under awake anesthesia and motor mapping under general anesthesia. RESULTS: Identification of a functional cortex enabled its preservation in 11 patients (92%), guided dissection through overlying sulci down to the nidus in 3 patients (25%), and influenced the extent of resection in 4 patients (33%). Eight patients (67%) had complete resections. Four patients (33%) had incomplete resections, with circumferentially dissected and subtotally disconnected AVMs left in situ, attached to areas of eloquence and with preserved venous drainage. All were subsequently treated with radiosurgery. At follow-up, 6 patients recovered completely, 3 patients were neurologically improved, and 3 patients had new neurological deficits. CONCLUSION: Indications for intraoperative mapping include preoperative functional imaging that identifies the language/motor cortex adjacent to the AVM; larger AVMs with higher Spetzler-Martin grades; and patients presenting with unruptured AVMs without deficits. Mapping identified the functional cortex, promoted careful tissue handling, and preserved function. Mapping may guide dissection to AVMs beneath the cortical surface, and it may impact the decision to resect the AVM completely. More conservative, subtotal circumdissections followed by radiosurgery may be an alternative to observation or radiosurgery alone in patients with larger language/motor cortex AVMs.
Rural Women Knowing All: Globalization and Rural Women's Organizing in China

Abstract Rural women in China are located on the periphery of that country's processes of globalization and modernization. They also, in the 1990s, acquired a voice of their own through the magazine Rural Women Knowing All. This magazine, founded through the intersection of Chinese and transnational feminisms, provided rural women with connections, knowledge and a venue for their own aspirations. Through examining the dichotomies presented by urbanization, the ‘global economy’, ‘culture’ and education, and activism and organizing, this article discusses the ways that Rural Women Knowing All transformed the meanings of globalization for contemporary Chinese rural women, and in the process granted them agency to shape rural identities and existences in alternative ways.
Poles of market growth?: Open questions about China, information and the world economy

Control over communications is a crucial concomitant of political-economic power. China’s emergence as an important force within the global capitalist system is thus giving rise to a substantially greater presence in the system of international communications. A series of initiatives, briefly inventoried here, aims to win a place for Chinese interests across the entire spectrum of media and telecommunications systems, spanning hardware, software and services. How should we interpret these in the context of China’s rise?Chinese initiatives in communications and information are best apprehended neither as a developing country’s attempt to redress glaring imbalances in the global communications system, though of course they contain traces of this, nor as a current threat to the global dominance of the United States, though over the long term this might change, much as the US challenged and ultimately unseated British control over international communications. Rather, they are seen here as contributing to the...
Force relations applicable to dislocation-forest intersections

Force-distance curves are determined for three different dislocation interaction processes involving stages of intersection processes between dislocation loops and straight dislocation lines, both of which in general are kinked. For a given stress, the energy of the configuration is minimized with respect to loop size and kink size. The loops and kinks are approximated by configurations of finite straight segments, but the energy expressions are exact. The results differ from earlier estimates for dislocation intersection processes: the stress vs distance of separation relations had exponents differing by as much as an order of magnitude from the usual hyperbolic law.
Cytokines associated with toxicity in the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma with aflibercept

Plasma profiling of patients treated with antiangiogenic agents may identify markers that correlate with toxicity. Objectives were to correlate changes in cytokine and angiogenic factors as potential markers of toxicity to aflibercept. Circulating cytokine and angiogenic factors were measured in 28 patients with recurrent glioblastoma in a single-arm phase II study of aflibercept. Plasma samples were analyzed at baseline, 24 h, and 28 days using multiplex assays or ELISA. We evaluated log-transformed baseline biomarker expressions with Cox proportional hazard regression models to assess the effect of markers on any grade II–IV (Gr II–IV) toxicity, on-target toxicity (hypertension, proteinuria, thromboembolism), and fatigue. All tests were two sided with a statistical significance level of p = 0.05. Among 28 pts, there were 116 Gr II–IV events. Changes in IL-13 from baseline to 24 h predicted on-target toxicities. Increases in IL-1b, IL-6, and IL-10 at 24 h were significantly associated with fatigue. Progression-free survival was 14.9 months for patients in the all-toxicity group and 9.0 months for patients in the on-target toxicity group compared to 4.3 months for those who did not develop any Gr II–IV toxicity (p = 0.002 and p = 0.045, respectively). Toxicity from antiangiogenic therapy remains an important cause of antiangiogenic treatment discontinuation and patient morbidity. Changes in IL6, IL10, and IL13 were repeatedly correlated with toxicity. Profiling of IL-13 as a surrogate for endothelial dysfunction could individualize patients at risk during antiangiogenic therapy, as could identifying those at higher risk for fatigue using IL-6 and IL-10.
Th17 cells enhance viral persistence and inhibit T cell cytotoxicity in a model of chronic virus infection.

Persistent viral infection and its associated chronic diseases are a global health concern. Interleukin (IL) 17–producing Th17 cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases, and in protection from bacterial or fungal infection. However, the role of Th17 cells in persistent viral infection remains unknown. We report that Th17 cells preferentially develop in vitro and in vivo in an IL-6–dependent manner after Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus infection. Th17 cells promote persistent viral infection and induce the pathogenesis of chronic demyelinating disease. IL-17 up-regulates antiapoptotic molecules and, consequently, increases persistent infection by enhancing the survival of virus-infected cells and blocking target cell destruction by cytotoxic T cells. Neutralization of IL-17 augments virus clearance by eliminating virus-infected cells and boosting lytic function by cytotoxic T cells, leading to the prevention of disease development. Thus, these results indicate a novel pathogenic role of Th17 cells via IL-17 in persistent viral infection and its associated chronic inflammatory diseases.
Picosecond CARS Measurements of Vibrational Distribution Functions in a Nonequilibrium Mach 5 Flow

The design and implementation of a new picosecond Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) spectroscopy instrument for measurement of nitrogen Vibrational Distribution Function (VDF) in a highly nonequilibrium Mach 5 flow is described. First level vibrational temperatures of the order of 2000 K are achieved in the 300 Torr nonself-sustained plasma wind tunnel plenum, generated by a high E/n (300 Td) nanosecond pulsed discharge, which provides ionization, in combination with an orthogonal low E/n (~10-30 Td) DC sustainer discharge, which efficiently loads the nitrogen vibrational mode. It is also shown that operation with the nanosecond pulsed plasma alone results in significant vibrational energy loading, with Tv of the order of 1100 K. Downstream injection of CO2, NO, and H2 results in vibrational relaxation, demonstrating the ability to further tailor the vibrational energy content of the flow.
A window random access algorithm for environments with capture

The authors propose and analyze a stable random access algorithm which is a modification of the two-cell algorithm proposed by M. Paterakis (1984). The authors assume ternary feedback broadcast per slot, and in the presence of capture, identification of the captured packet by all the users in the system. It is also assumed that a successfully received signal transmission cannot be distinguished from a capture in the presence of multiple transmission. The performance of the algorithm is compared to an appropriate modification of J.I Capetanakis' (1979) dynamic algorithm. The proposed algorithm, and in contrast to the latter, it can be easily modified to operate in limited feedback sensing environments. >
New Observational Techniques and Precise Orbit Determination of Artificial Satellites

Modern observational techniques using ground-based and space-based instrumentation have enabled the measurement of the distance between the instrument and satellite to better than one centimeter. Such high precision instrumentation has fostered applications with centimeter-level requirements for satellite position knowledge. The determination of the satellite position to such accuracy requires a comparable modeling of the forces experienced by the satellite, especially when classical orbit determination methods are used. Geodetic satellites, such as Lageos, in conjunction with high precision ground-based laser ranging, have been used to improve for modeling of forces experienced by the satellite. Space-based techniques, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), offer alternatives, including kinematic techniques which require no modeling of the satellite forces, or only rudimentary models. This paper will describe the various techniques and illustrate the accuracies achieved with current satellites, such as TOPEX/POSEIDON, GPS/MET and the expectations for some future satellites.
Digital Baseband Compensation of I/Q Imbalance in Mobile OFDM

I/Q imbalance and high mobility in OFDM systems result in performance-limiting intercarrier interference (ICI). However, the nature of ICI due to each of them is quite different. Unlike previous works which considered these two impairments separately, we develop a unified mathematical framework to characterize and mitigate ICI when both impairments are present. In addition, we exploit the special ICI structure to design efficient OFDM channel estimation and digital baseband compensation schemes for I/Q imbalance under high-mobility conditions.
Realizing Solidarity Sources of Interracial Unionism During the Great Depression

In a time of economic depression and racism more overt than anything we now experience, the unions of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) during the 1930s and 1940s forged a lasting inte...
Efficient scheduling and instruction selection for programmable digital signal processors

We present an efficient method for optimized instruction selection and scheduling for programmable digital signal processors. Our approach uses artificial intelligence techniques to yield code that is comparable to that of hand-written assembly codes by DSP experts. Several examples which demonstrate the feasibility of the approach, targeted to the TMS32020/50 architecture, are presented. >
Autogenous Femoral Head Bone Grafts for Acetabular Deficiency in Total-Hip Arthroplasty for Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip: Long-term Effect on Pelvic Bone Stock

Twenty-eight primary total-hip arthroplasties in 23 patients performed with autogenous femoral head bone graft augmentation for developmental hip dysplasia were retrospectively reviewed at 8 to 15 years. Five sockets were revised for different reasons. At revisions, 3 grafts were healed, the other 2 had substantial resorption. Immediately postoperatively, the mean medial to lateral graft thickness at the level of the superior border of the socket was 33 mm. Radiographs a mean of 4.8 years after operation demonstrated this thickness decreased by a mean of 1 mm (range, 0-10 mm). At 11 years (range, 8-15 years), radiographs in unrevised hips showed no cases of substantial further graft resorption.
The dose-response effects of repeated subacute sarin exposure on guinea pigs.

Abstract The present study assessed the effects of repeated subacute exposure to the organophosphorous nerve agent, sarin. Guinea pigs were injected five times per week (Monday–Friday) for 2 weeks with fractions of the established LD50 dose of sarin (42 μg/kg sc). The animals were assessed for the development of cortical EEG seizures. Changes in body weight, red blood cell (RBC) acetylcholinesterase (AChE) levels and neurobehavioral reactions to a functional observational battery were monitored over the 2 weeks of sarin exposure and for an extended postinjection period. There were dose-related changes in body weight and RBC AChE levels. No guinea pigs receiving 0.3, 0.4 or 0.5×LD50 of sarin showed signs of cortical EEG seizures despite decreases in RBC AChE levels to as low as 10% of baseline. Seizures were evident in animals receiving 0.6×LD50 of sarin as early as the second day, and subsequent injections led to incapacitation and death. Animals receiving 0.5×LD50 sarin showed obvious signs of cholinergic toxicity, which included a significant increase in their angle of gait. Overall, 2/13 animals receiving 0.5×LD50 sarin died before all 10 injections were given. By the 10th day of injections, the animals receiving saline were significantly easier to remove from their cages and handle as compared to the first day of injections. They were also significantly less responsive to an approaching pencil and touch on the rump in comparison to the first day of testing. In contrast, the animals receiving 0.4×LD50 sarin failed to show any significant reductions in their responses to an approaching pencil and a touch on the rump as compared to the first day. The 0.5×LD50 sarin animals failed to show any significant changes to the approach response and touch response and did not adjust to handling or cage removal from the first day of injections to the last day of handling. In summary, the guinea pigs receiving the 0.4×LD50 and 0.5×LD50 doses of sarin failed to habituate to some aspects of the functional observational battery testing.