cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in pediatric ovarian tumors: a novel treatment approach

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) have been used in adults with ovarian carcinoma proving overall survival benefit in randomized trials, but measured in months. Diffuse peritoneal disease from pediatric type ovarian tumors is rare. We applied CRS and HIPEC to pediatric girls with diffuse peritoneal disease as part of a clinical trial. In all patients complete cytoreduction was followed by HIPEC using 100 mg/m2 of cisplatin for 90 min in a closed technique. All received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Patients with disease outside of the abdominal cavity were excluded. Of 101 pediatric CRS and HIPEC operations, 8 had ovarian primary tumors and multifocal peritoneal disease. There were three yolk sac tumors (germ cell, mixed teratoma), one Sertoli–Leydig, one PNET of the ovary, one choriocarcinoma, one juvenile granulosa cell tumor and one adenocarcinoma. Age ranged 4–18 years. Three of the 8 (37 %) recurred and died. The remaining 63 % are disease free 2–6 years post HIPEC. Overall survival and relapse-free survival in this cohort was 64 and 62 %, respectively [CI 0.64 (0.34, 1); 0.62 (0.37, 1)]. This is the first report of CRS and HIPEC in pediatric ovarian tumors. HIPEC may be effective in pediatric-type ovarian tumors. More study is needed in a larger cohort.
Two new mono-tetrahydrofuran ring acetogenins, annomuricin E and muricapentocin, from the leaves of Annona muricata

Bioactivity-directed fractionation of the leaf extract of Annona muricata L. (Annonaceae) has resulted in the isolation of two new Annonaceous acetogenins, annomuricine (1) and muricapentocin (2). Compounds 1 and 2 are monotetrahydrofuran ring acetogenins bearing two flanking hydroxyl groups; however, each has three additional hydroxyl groups. Compound 1 has an erythro 1,2-diol, and 2 has a 1,5,9-triol moiety. Both 1 and 2 showed significant cytotoxicities against six types of human tumors, with selectivities to the pancreatic carcinoma (PACA-2) and colon adenocarcinoma (HT-29) cell lines.
The FA/BRCA pathway is involved in melphalan-induced DNA interstrand cross-link repair and accounts for melphalan resistance in multiple myeloma cells.

Melphalan, a DNA cross-linker, is one of the most widely used and effective drugs in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). In this report, we demonstrate that enhanced interstrand cross-link (ICL) repair via the Fanconi anemia (FA)/BRCA pathway contributes to acquired drug resistance in melphalan-resistant myeloma cell lines, and disruption of this pathway reverses drug resistance. Using the alkaline comet assay (single-cell gel electrophoresis), we observed that melphalan-resistant cells have reduced ICL formation and enhanced ICL repair compared with melphalan-sensitive cells. Cell-cycle studies demonstrated that enhanced ICL repair released cells from melphalan-induced cell-cycle delay. Using siRNA to knock down FANCF in 8226/LR5 and U266/LR6 drug-resistant cells demonstrated a direct relationship between ICL repair capacity and drug sensitivity. Overexpression of FANCF in 8226/S and U266/S drug-sensitive cells partially reproduced the drug-resistant phenotype. These data show that enhanced DNA repair via the Fanconi anemia/BRCA pathway is involved in acquired melphalan resistance. Our findings provide for a new target to enhance response to DNA cross-linking agents in cancer treatment. (Blood. 2005;106:698-705)
Imaging of pericardial disease

Pericardial pathology is most often identified by its effect on cardiac function. Echocardiography is usually performed first in evaluation of pericardial disease, but is occasionally limited or indeterminate. MR imaging is often helpful in these cases, offering superior soft tissue contrast and the ability to image the entire pericardium and its relationship to cardiac structure and function. Many of the techniques recently developed for myocardial imaging are equally applicable to the pericardium and frequently assist in the diagnosis of pericardial disease. In this article, the authors review MR imaging techniques for pericardial imaging, discuss the appearance of the normal pericardium, and illustrate pathologic and congenital conditions of the pericardium.
Interstitial chemotherapy for malignant gliomas: the Johns Hopkins experience.

Malignant gliomas are very difficult neoplasms for clinicians to treat. The reason for this is multifaceted. Many treatments that are effective for systemic cancer are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier and/or have unacceptable systemic toxicities. Consequently, in recent years an effort has been placed on trying to develop innovative local treatments that bypass the blood-brain barrier and allow for direct treatment in the central nervous system (CNS)—interstitial treatment. In this paper, we present our extensive experience in using interstitial chemotherapy as a strategy to treat malignant brain tumors at a single institution (The Johns Hopkins Hospital). We provide a comprehensive summary of our preclinical work on interstitial chemotherapy at the Hunterian Neurosurgery Laboratory, reviewing data on rat, rabbit, and monkey studies. Additionally, we present our clinical experience with randomized placebo-controlled studies for the treatment of malignant gliomas. We compare survival statistics for those patients who received placebo versus Gliadel® as initial therapy (11.6 months vs. 13.9 months, respectively) and at the time of tumor recurrence (23 weeks vs. and 31 weeks, respectively). We also discuss the positive impact of local therapy in avoiding the toxicities associated with systemic treatments. Furthermore, we provide an overview of newer chemotherapeutic agents and other strategies used in interstitial treatment. Finally, we offer insight into some of the lessons we have learned from our unique perspective.
Modulation of excitability of human motor cortex (M1) by 1 Hz transcranial magnetic stimulation of the contralateral M1.

Abstract Objective : Previous studies demonstrated that single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of one motor cortex (M1) exerts a brief inhibitory effect on the contralateral M1. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that 30min of 1Hz TMS of M1 will result in a lasting increase in excitability in the contralateral M1. Methods : Healthy volunteers were tested on 2 separate days, before (baseline) and after one of two interventions: (a) stimulation of M1 with 1Hz TMS for 30min at 115% of resting motor threshold, and (b) sham stimulation. Recruitment curves to TMS, pinch force, and simple reaction time were assessed in the hand contralateral to the unstimulated motor cortex. Results : The main finding of this study was that 30min of 1Hz significantly increased recruitment curves in the contralateral motor cortex in the real stimulation condition relative to sham ( P Conclusions : These results raise the potential for inducing lasting modulation of excitability in M1 by 1Hz TMS of the other M1, a phenomenon possibly reflecting modulation of interhemispheric interactions. Significance : It is conceivable that 1Hz TMS applied to M1 may be used to modulate excitability in the opposite motor cortex for therapeutic purposes.
A linear complexity ℌ 2 -matrix based direct volume integral solver for broadband 3-D circuit extraction in inhomogeneous materials

An ℌ 2 -matrix based linear-complexity direct matrix solution for the volume integral equation (VIE) is developed for the broadband full-wave extraction of general 3-D circuits, containing arbitrarily shaped lossy conductors immersed in inhomogeneous dielectrics, with ports located anywhere in the physical layout of the circuit. A well-conditioned VIE formulation, without sacrificing any advantage of the conventional formulations, is developed to facilitate a robust direct solution of controlled accuracy even with a rank-1 representation. The resultant highly irregular system matrix composed of both square and rectangular dense and sparse matrices is solved by a fast linear-complexity direct solution, which is capable of inverting dense matrices involving over 2 millions of unknowns in less than 1 hour on a single CPU running at 3 GHz. Numerical simulations of large-scale 3-D circuits and comparisons with linear-complexity iterative solvers have demonstrated the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed direct solver.
Hybrid ICA-Bayesian network approach reveals distinct effective connectivity differences in schizophrenia

We utilized a discrete dynamic Bayesian network (dDBN) approach (Burge, J., Lane, T., Link, H., Qiu, S., Clark, V.P., 2007. Discrete dynamic Bayesian network analysis of fMRI data. Hum Brain Mapp.) to determine differences in brain regions between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls on a measure of effective connectivity, termed the approximate conditional likelihood score (ACL) (Burge, J., Lane, T., 2005. Learning Class-Discriminative Dynamic Bayesian Networks. Proceedings of the International Conference on Machine Learning, Bonn, Germany, pp. 97-104.). The ACL score represents a class-discriminative measure of effective connectivity by measuring the relative likelihood of the correlation between brain regions in one group versus another. The algorithm is capable of finding non-linear relationships between brain regions because it uses discrete rather than continuous values and attempts to model temporal relationships with a first-order Markov and stationary assumption constraint (Papoulis, A., 1991. Probability, random variables, and stochastic processes. McGraw-Hill, New York.). Since Bayesian networks are overly sensitive to noisy data, we introduced an independent component analysis (ICA) filtering approach that attempted to reduce the noise found in fMRI data by unmixing the raw datasets into a set of independent spatial component maps. Components that represented noise were removed and the remaining components reconstructed into the dimensions of the original fMRI datasets. We applied the dDBN algorithm to a group of 35 patients with schizophrenia and 35 matched healthy controls using an ICA filtered and unfiltered approach. We determined that filtering the data significantly improved the magnitude of the ACL score. Patients showed the greatest ACL scores in several regions, most markedly the cerebellar vermis and hemispheres. Our findings suggest that schizophrenia patients exhibit weaker connectivity than healthy controls in multiple regions, including bilateral temporal, frontal, and cerebellar regions during an auditory paradigm.
Erythroid Bcl-xL: better late than never

Comment on Rhodes et al, page [1857][1] In this issue of Blood , Rhodes and colleagues propose that the major effect of Bcl-xL deficiency is ineffective erythropoiesis during the late stages of differentiation. B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family members comprise a conserved family of proteins that
Unpacking Unintended Consequences in Planned Organizational Change: A Process Model

The author develops a process model of the unintended consequences in planned organizational change that draws on the structuration, organizational change, and organizational tension literatures. The model depicts the communicative actions of both senior management and employees and reveals the dynamic through which unintended consequences unfold. The model extends theoretical understandings of planned organizational change and discusses how future research can build a dialectic and dialogic model of planned change focused on employee participation. The author illustrates the model with a case study of organizational change and its unintended consequences. The article concludes with insights on change management for practitioners and with directions for future research.
A systematic test of time-to-failure analysis

SUMMARY Time-to-failure analysis is a technique for predicting earthquakes in which a failure function is fit to a time-series of accumulated BenioV strain. BenioV strain is computed from regional seismicity in areas that may produce a large earthquake. We have tested the technique by fitting two functions, a power law proposed by Bufe & Varnes (1993) and a log-periodic function proposed by Sornette & Sammis (1995). We compared predictions from the two time-to-failure models to observed activity and to predicted levels of activity based upon the Poisson model. Likelihood ratios show that the most successful model is Poisson, with the simple Poisson model four times as likely to be correct as the best time-to-failure model. The best time-failure model is a blend of 90 per cent Poisson and 10 per cent log-periodic predictions. We tested the accuracy of the error estimates produced by the standard least-squares fitter and found greater accuracy for fits of the simple power law than for fits of the more complicated logperiodic function. The least-squares fitter underestimates the true error in time-tofailure functions because the error estimates are based upon linearized versions of the functions being fitted.
Failure analysis of an aluminum sandwich panel skin from the space shuttle Columbia

A failure analysis was carried out on the skin of a 2000-series aluminum sandwich panel from the space shuttle Columbia. Light optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used in determining the mode of failure. Analysis of the fracture surface indicated that the skin failed intergranularly. Second-phase particles present in the microstructure liquefied upon heating and subsequently wet the aluminum grain boundaries. The skin was shown to have failed by the liquation of the iron- and manganese-rich particles only along the edges of the failed panel, suggesting that local heating—termed “hotspots”—was the cause of failure of the aluminum sandwich panel.
Prisoners' Adjustment, Correctional Officers, and Context: The Foreground and Background of Punishment in Late Modernity

Past research indicates that front-line criminal justice workers are the critical players in determining whether innovations in penal policy are realized. Recent attempts to understand the diversity in the application of the penal harm movement have, however, sidestepped the primary audience of these policies, the population of convicted offenders. This article uses data from two prisons to examine the effects of correctional officers on women prisoners' adjustment to prison life. Using regression models and interview data, we find that correctional officer behavior has a profound impact on women's ability to adjust to prison, and this effect is largely independent of the prisoners' characteristics and the institutions in which they are housed. On a theoretical level, the findings speak to recent calls to examine the background and foreground of penal culture. On a practical level, they highlight the need to understand the environments from which women are emerging, not just the communities into which they are released.
Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid levels in US donor human milk: meeting the needs of premature infants?

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid levels in US donor human milk: meeting the needs of premature infants?
Accuracy of Finite-Difference Methods Applied to the Advection Equation

Abstract Numerical solutions to the equation for advection under conditions that permit an analytic solution are calculated using various finite-difference approximations, and their accuracy is investigated by comparison with the analytic solution. It is shown that upstream differencing introduces a pseudo-diffusive effect that is about as large as the effect of the turbulent diffusion modeled in typical small-scale circulation simulation; hence, the numerical solution is rendered inconsistent with the differential equation. In the solutions obtained with centered-difference schemes, an anomalous oscillation is present when the grid-spacing is too large to follow very closely the variations of the quantity being advected. This oscillation leads to inaccuracy and numerical instability. Of all the schemes investigated, only the Roberts-Weiss approximation advected the initial distribution correctly, but this scheme required about 10–40 times as much computer time as any of the other schemes.
Development of neonatal murine microglia in vitro: changes in response to lipopolysaccharide and ischemia-like injury.

Hypoxic/ischemic brain injury in the neonate can activate an inflammatory cascade, which potentiates cellular injury. The role of microglia in this inflammatory response has not been studied extensively. We used an in vitro model of murine microglia to investigate changes in microglial cytokine release and injury during early development. Isolated microglia were subjected to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activation or injury by glucose deprivation (GD), serum deprivation (SD), or combined oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) for varying durations. The extent and the type of cell death were determined by trypan blue, terminal deoxynucleotidyl end-nick labeling, and annexin staining. Early-culture microglia (2–3 d in purified culture) showed significantly more apoptotic cell death after SD, GD, and OGD compared with microglia maintained in culture for 14–17 d. Measurements of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and IL-1β in culture media demonstrated that OGD induced greater release of both TNF-α and IL-1β than LPS activation, with early-culture microglia producing more TNF-α compared with late-culture microglia. Microglia that are cultured for a short time are more sensitive to ischemia-like injury in vitro than those that are cultured for longer durations and may contribute to worsening brain injury by increased release of inflammatory cytokines. Inhibition of microglial activation and decreasing proinflammatory cytokine release may be targets for reduction of neonatal hypoxic/ischemic brain injury.
The microgenesis of illusory figures: evidence for visual hypothesis testing.

When a pattern that would usually produce an illusory figure was altered so as to include ‘contradictory evidence’ and was presented briefly, the frequency of that illusion first increased but then decreased with increased viewing time.
Exploring Theil's best linear indexes

Theil (1960) estimates price and quantity indexes jointly by orthogonal regression. This letter shows how to bootstrap Theil's indexes and how to detect outliers. Aggregation issues are discussed, and the methodology is applied to a cross section of nursing facilities.
Capsule-oriented programming

"Explicit concurrency should be abolished from all higher-level programming languages (i.e. everything except - perhaps- plain machine code.)." Dijkstra [1] (paraphrased). A promising class of concurrency abstractions replaces explicit concurrency mechanisms with a single linguistic mechanism that combines state and control and uses asynchronous messages for communications, e.g. active objects or actors, but that doesn't remove the hurdle of understanding non-local control transfer. What if the programming model enabled programmers to simply do what they do best, that is, to describe a system in terms of its modular structure and write sequential code to implement the operations of those modules and handles details of concurrency? In a recently sponsored NSF project we are developing such a model that we call capsule-oriented programming and its realization in the Panini project. This model favors modularity over explicit concurrency, encourages concurrency correctness by construction, and exploits modular structure of programs to expose implicit concurrency.
Primary Canine Hypoplasia in Head Start Children

Primary canine hypoplasia is an incomplete or defective development of the enamel matrix. The lesion is located on the labial surface and is seen more frequently on mandibular teeth. The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine the prevalence of this lesion among Head Start children. During a dental needs assessment of Mississippi Head Start children, 371 children from 11 centers were examined for this lesion. Of the centers, four were located in optimally fluoridated communities, and six were located in fluoride-deficient communities. Ages ranged from three to five years. There were 206 males and 165 females, 334 black and 37 white children. At ten centers all children were black, while all children at one center were white. Results indicated no significant differences in the black population between fluoridated (38.2%) and fluoride-deficient (36.3%) communities (P = .729) or between males (36.8%) and females (37.6%) (P = .877). When data were collapsed on sex and fluoridation status, the racial differences were highly significant (P = .001). The prevalence rate of dental caries associated with primary canine hypoplasia was 26.0 percent. These preliminary data indicate that the presence of primary canine hypoplasia may result in an increased potential for the tooth becoming carious.
Associations between psychedelic use, abuse, and dependence and lifetime panic attack history in a representative sample.

The present investigation evaluated the associations between lifetime psychedelic use, abuse, and dependence and panic attacks. The study consisted of a representative epidemiological sample from a state wide survey of the Colorado general adult population (n = 4745; 52% female). Consistent with prediction, after controlling for theoretically relevant variables, psychedelic abuse and dependence, but not use, were significantly related to an increased lifetime risk of panic attacks. The results are discussed in terms of better understanding the role of psychedelic use in relation to the occurrence of panic attacks.
Transverse vibration of a two-segment cross-ply composite shafts with a lumped mass

Abstract The advantages of having higher stiffness to weight ratio and strength to weigh ratio that composite materials have resulted in an increasing interest in them. In automotive engineering, weight savings has positive impacts on other attributes like fuel economy, performance and possibly noise, vibration and harshness (NVH). The driveline of an automotive system can be a target for possible weight reduction. This can be done through the use of composite materials. The design of the driveshaft of an automotive system is primarily driven by its natural frequency. This paper presents an exact solution for the vibration of a cross-ply laminated composite driveshaft with an intermediate joint. The joint is modeled as a frictionless internal hinge. The Euler–Bernoulli beam theory is used. Lumped masses are placed on each side of the joint to represent the joint mass. Equations of motion are developed using the appropriate boundary conditions and then solved exactly.
Thin metal film thermal microsensors

Design, fabrication, and testing of thermal micro-sensors suitable for miniature and microscopic systems, for application on thin films (free standing or on substrates) as temperature sensors are presented in this paper. The sensors utilize the electrical resistivity temperature dependence of a metal. Using micro-lithography methods, several sets of gold resistors were fabricated in the form of flat 30 to 250 nm thick wires, 7 - 10 micrometers wide, and several cm long in a serpentine shape covering approximately 1.0 mm2. These sensors have demonstrated better than 0.001 degree(s) C sensitivity. The electrical resistivity and its thermal coefficient of a thin gold metal film were compared with those of bulk material. Temperature measurements on Si wafers were performed in situations corresponding to x-ray lithography exposure conditions suitable for micromachining. The temperature rise and relaxation time of a silicon wafer during x-ray exposure were measured in vacuum and different He gas pressures.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
An Adaptive Multimedia QoS Scheduler for 802.11e Wireless LANs

The IEEE 802.11e standard defines the Hybrid Coordination Function (HCF) which specifies the QoS algorithms in the MAC layer of the next generation 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN). The HCF is composed of two access functions: A distributed contention-based channel access function (EDCA) providing prioritized QoS and a centralized polling-based channel access function (HCCA) providing parameterized QoS. In this paper, we address the efficient medium access control (MAC) of the mostly variable bit rate (VBR) and bursty multimedia traffic in HCCA and propose a novel application-aware adaptive 802.11e QoS scheduler. The proposed scheduler coordinates the resource allocation of the associated flows using adaptive service intervals, transmit opportunities, and polling order. The service schedule is based not only on the traffic classification done according to the packet size, interval distribution, and the direction but also on the instantaneous buffered traffic conditions. The proposed scheduler is shown to have significant performance gains in terms of multimedia traffic channel utilization, packet loss ratio, delay, and jitter when compared with the other schemes.
Chromosomal mapping of the human histone gene H2AZ to 4q24 by fluorescence in situ hybridization.

The human gene locus H2AZ was assigned to chromosome 4 by challenging a panel of 27 human-hamster hybrid cell lines with oligonucleotide probes specific to two regions of the human gene. The human gene H2AZ locus has three EcoRI sites, yielding 2.9-kb upstream and 4.7-kb downstream fragments after digestion. Commercial Southern blots were obtained with EcoRI-digested DNA preparations from the 27 lines. An oligonucleotide probe, taagagaacgctagagggagctggtgttca, to intron 3 of the gene gave one human-specific band on these blots consistent in size with the expected 4.7-kb downstream EcoRI fragment; this band was mapped to chromosome 4 (2 hybrid lines with chromosome 4, 25 without it; 27 concordances, no discordances). A 5[prime] utr oligonucleotide probe, tgccttgcttgcttgagcttcagcggaatt, to the upstream 2.9-kb fragment yielded two bands on these Southern blots. The smaller band, consistent in size with the expected 2.9-kb EcoRI gene fragment, was also mapped to chromosome 4 (27 concordances, no discordances). The larger, approximately 6-kb band was mapped to chromosome 21 (7 hybrid lines with chromosome 21, 20 without it; 26 concordances, 1 discordance) and may result from a possible pseudogene. From these results, the human gene H2AZ is assigned to chromosome 4; a possible pseudogene is assigned to chromosome 21.more » Thus, the human gene H2AZ is not part of the clusters of human replication-lined histone genes that have been assigned to chromosome 1, 6 and 12.« less
Aspects of carbon monoxide production and oxidation by marine macroalgae

Rates of macroalgal carbon monoxide (CO) production were compared among 5 taxa representing 3 major phylogenetic groups (Phaeophyta, Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta). CO production varied substantially from a minimum of about 20 ng CO gdw -1 h -1 for Fucus vesiculosus to >4000 ng CO gdw -1 h -1 for Laminaria saccharina. None of the macroalgae examined contained significantly elevated CO concentrations within their pneumatocysts (float bladders), so the variability among taxa reflects other intrinsic properties. An in vitro evaluation of Ascophyllum nodosum indicated that CO production varied as a function of temperature, desiccation and illumination. CO production increased strongly for live fronds over an ecologically relevant range (5 to 23°C), but decreased at 45°C. For non-living desiccated wrack, CO production increased consistently from 5 to 47°C. Short-term desiccation of living algae decreased CO production substantially, but long-term changes in water content appeared not to markedly alter CO production relative to fresh material. Illumination strongly increased CO production relative to dark incubations, with similar responses for living and non-living material. CO oxidation (presumably bacterial) was observed for most living algae during incubations with exogenous CO at concentrations of 100 ppm, suggesting that a microbe-alga association might limit in part CO fluxes. Extrapolation of CO production rates indicates that macroalgae likely contribute only a minor fraction (<1 %) of global marine CO emissions to the atmosphere (about 10 Tg yr -1 ).
Reactions of Laser-Ablated Iron Atoms with Oxygen Molecules in Condensing Argon. Infrared Spectra and Density Functional Calculations of Iron Oxide Product Molecules

Reaction of laser-ablated Fe atoms with oxygen molecules in a condensing argon stream produced FeO, FeO2, FeO3, FeO4, Fe2O, Fe2O2, and Fe2O4 molecules, which are identified from oxygen isotopic shifts and multiplets in matrix infrared spectra. The Fe + O2 reaction gives symmetrical bent, symmetrical cyclic, and asymmetrical bent FeO2 isomeric products with triplet, triplet, and quartet isotopic absorptions, respectively, using statistically mixed 16,18O2 as the reagent. The major reaction product symmetrical bent OFeO iron dioxide molecule (150 ± 10°) is characterized by stretching fundamentals at 945.8 and 797.1 cm-1, and the asymmetric bent FeOO form exhibits a 1204.5 cm-1 absorption. The cyclic isomer Fe(O2) produced spontaneously during annealing in solid argon absorbs at 956.0 cm-1. Oxygen and iron isotopic absorptions show that FeOFe is a symmetrical bent (140 ± 10°) molecule. Rhombic Fe2O2 absorbs at 517.4 cm-1. Evidence is presented for isomers of FeO3, FeO4, and Fe2O4. Density functional theory w...
Evidence of Qualitative Learning‐by‐Doing from the Advent of the ‘Talkie’

Empirical work on learning-by-doing has largely been limited to examinations of production costs. In this paper I present anecdotal and statistical evidence of qualitative learning (the idea that product quality improves as producers gain experience with the relevant technology). Using U.S. motion picture industry data from 1925 to 1941, I reject that the transition to sound pictures resulted in a fixed increase in film-quality in favor of my hypothesis that this quality differential increased with the producing studio’s sound-experience. These results are robust to several different specifications.
A likelihood-based comparison of temporal models for physical processes

Many scientific and engineering problems involve physical modeling of complex processes. Sometimes multiple candidate models are available, and their performance can be compared by how well their outputs match observations. Various summary statistics can be used for this purpose, but no matter which statistics are chosen, it is important that comparisons based on them be considered in light of the inherent variability of the data used in their calculation. In this article, we consider the variability of a summary statistic through an empirical likelihood. The approach is nonparametric in the sense that a moving-block bootstrap procedure is used to obtain the empirical likelihood. Relative figures of merit for each candidate model are formed as the ratio of each candidate model's likelihood to the largest likelihood. We use a small simulation study to show that our procedure can correctly distinguish between different time series models, and then we demonstrate how the method can be used to evaluate the output of 20 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) atmospheric models based on their agreement with the observations. © 2011 California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining 2011 © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Morphology of developing heart in cardiac lethal mutant Mexican axolotls, Ambystoma mexicanum.

Abstract In Ambystoma mexicanum, recessive mutant gene c results in an absence of embryonic heart function because of altered influences from surrounding tissues (Humphrey, 1972). The present light and electron microscope study compares heart development in normal and mutant embryos from Harrison stage 34 or 6 days (at which normal heart beat initiates) through stage 41 or 25 days (at which mutant embryos die). The hearts display increasing differences as development progresses, and by stage 41 mutant abnormalities are striking. The normal myocardium shows organized sarcomeres at stage 34 and numerous intercalated discs subsequently appear. By stage 41, the normal myocardium is composed of highly differentiated muscle cells and shows extensive trabeculation. The mutant myocardium throughout development remains only one cell layer thick with no indication of developing trabeculae. Mutant cells at stage 34 have a few 140 A and 60 A filaments along with what appear to be Z bodies. A partial organization of myofibrillar components is occasionally noted at stages 38–41; however, distinct sarcomeres are not apparent and intercalated discs are rarely seen. In general the mutant cells appear less differentiated than usual and in many respects are reminiscent of pre-heart-beat normal cells. Although most mutant cells show images characteristic of pathological conditions (e.g., pleomorphic mitochondria, membranous whorls, and numerous autophagic vacuoles), selective myocardial cell death, a phenomenon associated with normal trabeculation, is not evident. It is clear that gene c, in homozygous condition, results in an altered pattern of heart cell differentiation. The mutation, by way of abnormal inductive processes, appears to affect the synthesis and organization of heart contractile proteins.
Pediatric radical abdominal trachelectomy for solitary fibrous tumor of the uterine cervix.

Abstract Objective Solitary fibrous tumor is a rare mesenchymal tumor initially described arising in the pleura but now reported in many other thoracic and extrathoracic sites. Here we report the first case of a 14-year-old girl who was discovered to have a large solitary fibrous tumor of the uterine cervix, an unusual site for these tumors, to highlight the diagnosis and management of these tumors. Methods Case report and review of the literature on extrapleural solitary fibrous tumors. Results The median age of occurrence is in the late 50's and there is only one previous report in the literature of a solitary fibrous tumor in a patient less than 18 years old. Most patients will be cured by complete surgical resection though late local and distant relapse will occur in a minority of patients, many of whom have indicative histological features. Complete surgical resection of this tumor arising in the uterine cervix, was achieved by performing a radical abdominal trachelectomy. Conclusions Review of the literature confirms the good long–term outcome of the majority of these patients with complete surgical resection but emphasizes the importance of close long-term follow-up.
The Proton Motive Force, Acting on Acidic Residues, Promotes Translocation of Amino-terminal Domains of Membrane Proteins When the Hydrophobicity of the Translocation Signal Is Low

We have shown previously that the first transmembrane segment of leader peptidase can function to translocate the polar amino-terminal Pf3 domain across the membrane into the periplasm independently of the proton motive force (pmf) (Lee, J. I., Kuhn, A., and Dalbey, R. E. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 938-943). We now show that when the first transmembrane segment lacks a strong hydrophobic character, the pmf is required for translocation. In addition, we find that the amino-terminal acidic residue proximal to the transmembrane domain plays a critical role in pmf-dependent amino-terminal translocation. Moreover, the pmf is required to hold the amino-terminal domain in the periplasm to prevent it from slipping such that the amino terminus is no longer exposed to the periplasm. In all cases, translocation occurs under conditions in which the function of the Sec machinery is impaired. These studies show that the low hydrophobicity of the first apolar domain (the translocation signal) can be compensated for by a negative charge in the amino-terminal region, upon which the pmf acts.
Operative management of sacral chordoma.

Background: Sacrococcygeal chordoma presents a difficult diagnostic and therapeutic problem, with a high rate of local recurrence. The purpose of this report is to define the importance of adequate surgical treatment for optimum outcome and survival. Methods: Fifty-two patients underwent surgical treatment for sacrococcygeal chordoma between 1980 and 2001. The series included eighteen female patients and thirty-four male patients, with an average age of fifty-six years (range, thirteen to seventy-six years) at the time of the diagnosis. The surgical approach depended on the level and extent of the lesion, with a posterior approach performed in twenty-two patients and a combined anteroposterior approach used in thirty. A wide surgical margin was achieved in twenty-one patients. Results: At an average of 7.8 years (range, 2.1 to twenty-three years) postoperatively, twenty-three patients were alive with no evidence of disease. Twenty-three patients (44%) had local recurrence. The rate of recurrence-free survival was 59% at five years and 46% at ten years. The overall survival rates were 74%, 52%, and 47% at five years, ten years, and fifteen years, respectively. The most important predictor of survival was a wide margin. All patients with a wide margin survived, and this survival rate was significantly different from that for patients who had had either marginal or intralesional excision (p = 0.0001). Of the twenty-one patients with a wide margin, seventeen (81%) had undergone a combined anteroposterior approach and only four had been treated with a posterior approach. Conclusions: A wide surgical margin is the most important predictor of survival and of local recurrence in patients with sacrococcygeal chordoma. Use of a combined anteroposterior approach increases the likelihood of obtaining a wide margin. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level IV. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Azotobacter vineland II RNA polymerase XI. Effect of transcription on rifampicin binding

Abstract A 1 1 complex of RNA polymerase protomer and 3H-rifampicin is formed with either free enzyme or the enzyme-d(A-T) complex. The ternary complex formed during transcription is unable to bind 3H-rifampicin.
Optimal control of a production system with periodic maintenance

In this paper we consider a production system consisting of one machine for which maintenance is performed on a periodic basis. When the machine is undergoing maintenance, the system is shut down and cannot produce. One part-type is produced and the demand rate is assumed to be constant. In order to make on-time delivery, the objective is to produce following the demand as closely as possible. However, the maintenance disruptions make the production deviate from the demand. We formulate the production flow control problem as an optimal control model and use Pontryagin's minimum principle to solve the special case of one up-down cycle. We then solve the general N-cycle problem based on the one-cycle solution.
Subacute bacterial endocarditis in a young child

Summary A five-year-old child complaining of lassitude, pallor, fever and polyarthritis, was admitted to the hospital. The fever was intermittent in type, and the child developed petechiae, splenomegaly, progressive anemia, leucocytosis and hematuria. The heart was enlarged and there was a mitral insufficiency. The child developed auditory hallucinations and convulsions. Repeated positive blood cultures for streptococcus gamma type were obtained. The autopsy findings were typical of bacterial endocarditis. No evidence of previous rheumatic infection could be established pathologically.
An ecological explanation of factors associated with the demise of independent liberal arts II colleges

Recent demographic trends and growth in the public sector of higher education have created severe strains for many private liberal arts colleges. The population ecology model, which explains the survival or demise of organizations in terms of their ability to negotiate for resources in their environment, provides a framework for assessing predictors of continued success among colleges. A three-way discriminant analysis based on the population ecology framework and other empirical research led to the successful classification of almost 72% of a sample of colleges in terms of their experiences during the 1970s. Number of departments, median state income, library holdings per enrollee, sectarian affiliation, annual tuition, Roman Catholic affiliation, and SAT composite score were found to be major predictors.
Human Impacts on Ancient Marine Environments of Fiji's Lau Group: Current Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Research

Throughout the world's oceans, coral reefs are in decline due to pollution, climate change, overfishing, and disease. As archaeologists focused on historical ecology and island and coastal environm...
Prognostic Significance of Proliferative Indices in Meningiomas

The prognostic value of tumor proliferative indices in meningiomas was assessed by mitotic counts and by immunocytochemistry using a monoclonal antibody against the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) (clone 19A2), a 36-kd nuclear protein involved in DNA synthesis. Sixty-three intracranial meningiomas were classified as benign (26), with atypical features (24) or as malignant (13). The patients included 24 men and 39 women, mean age 54.2 +/- 1.7 (mean +/- SEM) (range 15-78) at initial presentation. Twenty-four of the 63 primary tumors recurred locally, including 23.1% (6/26) of the benign, 37.5% (9/24) of the atypical, and 69.2% (9/13) of the malignant meningiomas. Among tumors that recurred, 1/9 (11%) of the atypical and 5/9 (55.5%) of the malignant tumors had had macroscopical total excision at the initial surgery. The mean interval to recurrence was 52 +/- 11.8 months. The mean progression-free follow-up period for patients without tumor recurrence was 82 +/- 8.5 months. Analysis of variance revealed that significant differences existed between tumor grades for both PCNA indices (1.16 +/- 0.29% for benign; 14.14 +/- 2.07% for atypical and 21.37 +/- 5.47% for malignant) and mitotic indices (total counts per ten high power fields) (0.08 +/- 0.05 for benign, 4.75 +/- 0.91 for atypical and 19.00 +/- 4.07 for malignant). Multivariate regression analysis indicated that mitotic index > 6 was the single most important factor (p < 0.05) for shorter disease-free interval. Age, sex and total surgical excision were not significant factors. PCNA index was a significant factor in the univariate model, but not in the multivariate model.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Hot and Heavy Matters in the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics

Are the generalizations of classical equilibrium thermodynamics true of self-gravitating systems? This question has not been addressed from a foundational perspective, but here I tackle it through a study of the “paradoxes” commonly said to afflict such systems. My goals are twofold: (a) to show that the “paradoxes” raise many questions rarely discussed in the philosophical foundations literature, and (b) to counter the idea that these “paradoxes” spell the end for gravitational equilibrium thermodynamics.
Systemic trafficking of macrophages induced by bone cement particles in nude mice.

Macrophages play an important role in the biological response to wear particles, which can result in periprosthetic osteolysis and implant loosening. In this study, we demonstrate that polymer particles induce systemic trafficking of macrophages by non-invasive in vivo imaging and immunohistochemistry. The distal femora of nude mice were injected with 10% (w/v) Simplex bone cement (BC) suspensions or saline (PBS). Reporter RAW264.7 macrophages which stably expressed the bioluminescent reporter gene fluc, and the fluorescence reporter gene gfp, were injected intravenously. Bioluminescence imaging was performed immediately and periodically at 2-day intervals until day 14. Compared to the non-operated contralateral femora, the bioluminescent signal of femora injected with BC suspension increased 4.7 ± 1.6 and 7.8 ± 2.9-fold at day 6 and 8, respectively. The same values for PBS group were 1.2 ± 0.2 and 1.4 ± 0.5, respectively. The increase of bioluminescence of the BC group was significantly greater than the PBS group at day 8 (p < 0.05) and day 6 (p < 0.1). Histological study confirmed the presence of reporter macrophages within the medullary canal of mice that received cement particles. Modulation of the signaling mechanisms that regulate systemic macrophage trafficking may provide a new strategy for mitigating the chronic inflammatory response and osteolysis associated with wear debris.
Three-dimensional computed tomography of the foot: optimizing the image

The complex anatomy of the foot can be imaged using high resolution computed tomography. High resolution serial nonoverlapping CT scans of foot anatomy have a high degree of soft tissue contrast, and excellent geometrical accuracy (no magnification error). Three-dimensional surface reconstruction from CT scans of the foot were performed using specially developed computer software. These surface reconstructions display the osseous and soft tissue anatomy of the foot in a form similar to anatomic preparations. The removal of overlying skin, disarticulation of the ankle, tarsals and metatarsals was accomplished using computer methods. Major factors necessary to optimize three-dimensional images are presented and illustrated. The technique has been applied in living subjects with arthritis, carpal coalitions, osteochondritis dissecans, and fractures. These images have been useful in communicating the findings on high resolution CT scans to referring clinicians, correlating CT findings in areas of complex anatomy, and eliminating overlying or obscuring structures by mathematically disarticulating the foot and individual tarsal bones.
Disease classification: A probabilistic approach

We describe a probabilistic technique for separating two populations whereby analysis is performed on affine-invariant representations of each patient. The method begins by converting each voxel from a high-dimensional diffusion weighted signal to a low-dimensional diffusion tensor representation. Three orthogonal measures that capture different aspects of the local tissue are derived from the tensor representation to form a feature vector. From these feature vectors, we form a probabilistic representation of each patient. This representation is affine invariant, thus obviating the need for registration of the images. We then use a Parzen window classifier to estimate the likelihood of a new patient belonging to either population. To demonstrate the technique, we apply it to the analysis of 22 first-episode schizophrenic patients and 20 normal control subjects. With leave-many-out cross validation, we find a detection rate of 90.91% (10% false positives).
An AHP model of DSS effectiveness

Empirical studies have reported equivocal, or even dysfunctional, results from the use of decision support systems (DSS). Recent examples are the Davis, Kottemann, and Remus production planning experiments. According to the researchers, these experiments demonstrate that DSS what-if analysis creates an ‘illusion of control’ that causes users to overestimate its effectiveness. Such experimental findings are contrary to case-supported DSS theory. This paper examines the discrepancy. It first overviews the decision-making process, presents a generic DSS, identifies the theoretical role of the DSS in improving decision making, develops a multiple criteria model of DSS effectiveness, and gives a DSS for delivering the model to users. Illustrating with recent empirical investigations and the Davis, Kottemann, and Remus studies, the DSS-delivered model is used to reconcile the incongruity between the experimental findings and the case-supported theory. The paper concludes with a discussion of the article's implications for information systems research and practice.