cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
SU‐GG‐J‐22: Accuracy of Implicit Registration Between CT and 3D US in the Radiotherapy Simulation Process

Purpose: The Clarity™ system (Resonant Medical) consists of 3D ultrasound(US) devices in both the CT‐Sim and treatment rooms. The former provides fused CT/US datasets for treatment planning as well as a reference for daily US positioning. CT and US datasets are implicitly registered, i.e. they share a common coordinate system through calibration. The purpose of this retrospective study is to quantify the accuracy of the implicit registration on both phantom and patients. Method and Materials: Accuracy is first validated by acquiring images of a phantom with structures visible on both modalities. Implicitly registered CT/US images of 19 sequential prostate patients were then analyzed. To validate the registrations, the bladder was used as the most reliable landmark because of its high contrast on both imaging modalities. The planning CT bladder contours were superimposed on the corresponding USimages and shifted to best‐fit the bladder neck. The prostate was used as a secondary landmark, where percentage overlap of independently contoured CT and US based contours was calculated. Probe pressure at the patient's skin was also calculated for each patient. Results: The US and CTimages of the phantom registered within 1 mm. The mean (standard deviation) shifts of the bladder neck between CT and US were −1.5 (1.3) mm, −0.3 (1.7) mm and 0.5 (1.0) mm in the A/P, L/R and S/I directions respectively. The percent prostate contour overlap was 89.9% (7.6%). Probe pressure depressed the skin on average by 37.6 (9.5) mm. Conclusion: Implicit registration of CT and US is accurate on both phantom and patients despite a mean probe pressure of over 37 mm. The complementary nature of CT and US can thus be reliably used for treatment planning, and the 3D USimages can be used as an accurate reference for US‐to‐US positioning in the treatment room.
Symptomatic and asymptomatic atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing radiofrequency catheter ablation.

Introduction: The goals of this study were to (i) evaluate the feasibility and results of monitoring patients prior to and following catheter ablation of AF with the mobile cardiac outpatient telemetry (MCOT) system and to (ii) correlate symptoms and the presence or absence of atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods and Results: A total of 19 consecutive patients (12 men [63%]; age 60 ± 6 years) with highly symptomatic drug refractory AF underwent catheter ablation. Each was provided with a MCOT monitor (CardioNet, USA) and asked to wear it 5 days immediately before the ablation, and 5 days per month starting with the ablation for 6 consecutive months. When patients experienced any symptoms, they were asked to activate the system and to record associated symptoms. A total of 494 days (11,856 hours) were monitored. Out of the total 390 events triggered by patient's symptoms, 40% were confirmed as AF events (156) and 60% were confirmed as non-AF events (234). Only shortness of breath and chest discomfort were highly associated with AF (P < 0.05). At the end of 6 months of follow-up, out of 10 patients that completed the study, 7 (70%) patients were free of symptomatic AF recurrences whereas only 5 (50%) patients achieved success when asymptomatic AF recurrences were included in the outcome. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate the potential utility of wireless monitoring systems in the follow-up of AF ablation patients, while also identifying poor patient compliance with an intensive monitoring protocol as an important limitation.
Characterization of isomers of the nucleus 154 Pm

Consideration of the expected two-quasiparticle structures and their estimated band head energies, and the selection rules for beta transition rates for the154Nd →154Pm →154Sm decays are used to deduce the configurations for the isomers and the low-spin structures in the neutron rich doubly odd nucleus 61 154 Pm93. The 2.68 m high spin isomer and the 1.73 m low spin isomer are respectively assigned the spin-parity 4+ and 1+ with the configuration {p:5/2− [532↑] +n:3/2− [521↑]} with the 2.68 m isomer lying lower in energy, and thus forming the154Pm ground state. Two-quasiparticle character of the beta-connected states in154Nd decay and154Pm decay is discussed.
The role of micro-noise trauma in the etiology of aging-related changes in the inner ear

Eleven chinchillas between 1 and 2.4 years of age had the malleus/incus complex removed from one middle ear and then lived in the Washington University animal facilities for 4 years post-surgery. Each animal had one ear (termed ambient-noise) in which the conductive apparatus was intact; the other ear (termed noise-protected) had a 50-60 dB conductive hearing loss. The background sound level in the animal facility was 59 dBA with periodic brief sounds up to 102 dBA. After the 4-year experimental period, both ears were fixed, embedded in plastic and dissected for microscopic examination as flat preparations. The quantitative and qualitative findings in the noise-protected ears were compared to those in the ambient-noise ears. Both groups of ears sustained losses of sensory and supporting cells throughout the organ of Corti. A variable amount of age pigment was found to have accumulated in the outer hair cells and all supporting cells. In the noise-protected ears, inner hair cell loss ranged from 1.0 to 3.1% and averaged 1.7 +/- 0.8%; outer hair cell loss ranged from 1.8 to 6.4% and averaged 3.6 +/- 1.2%. In the ambient-noise ears, inner hair cell loss ranged from 0.7 to 2.8% and averaged 1.6 +/- 0.7%; outer hair cell loss ranged from 1.3 to 5.4% and averaged 3.6 +/- 1.2%. Within-animal comparison of cell losses in the noise-protected and ambient-noise ears revealed no significant difference between the two groups. It is concluded that long-term exposure to micro-noise does not accelerate the spontaneous loss of sensory cells which occurs with aging. Although not quantified, there was no obvious difference in the amount or cellular distribution of age pigment in the two groups. Thus, it appears that the formation of age pigment in the ear is the result of the cells' basic metabolic processes rather than the wear and tear from sensory transduction.
Zapisnaia kniga (Donation Records) of Volokolamsk Monastery, for 1550-1607

Early modern Russian monasteries kept detailed records of donations by laity and by the monks themselves from before and after their tonsure. Gifts large enough to endow annual celebrations were generally recorded in the vkladnaia kniga (endowment donation book) and the kormovaia kniga (book of feasts), while smaller donations were recorded in the Zapisnaia kniga (note book). The Zapisnaia kniga translated here includes donations made over more than half a century to the Iosifo-Volokolamsk monastery, one of the largest in Russia in the sixteenth century. The donors form a broad cross-section of Russian society -- peasants and princes, men and women, parish priests and archbishops. The records provide detailed evidence of the material culture of their time, since donations were mostly in-kind. And the information they provide calls into question preconceived notions about how closely social class and wealth were tied together in Russia in this period.
Throwing balls in a basket as a test of motor coordination: Normative data on 1350 school children

Abstract Throwing balls in a basket is an excellent way of testing a child's gross motor coordination (and to a lesser degree, fine motor coordination). Many of the tests devised for evaluating this function rely heavily on the examiner's accuracy and introduce thereby a potential contaminant to objective testing. In a test standardized for this purpose, normative data was collected on 1350 children (670 boys and 680 girls) ages 5–16. The children were divided into half‐year levels, with an average of 30–31 children of each sex at each half‐year level. For each half‐year age bracket, ranges, means, standard deviations, and percentile ranks are provided‐enabling the examiner to objectively quantify the child's functioning on this task.
“Treason in the textbooks”: reinterpreting the Harold Rugg textbook controversy in the context of wartime schooling

For most educational historians, the Harold Rugg textbook controversy serves as an example of the mid‐twentieth‐century “assault” on progressive education. By restricting their analyses of the textbook controversy to the “rise and fall” of the progressivism paradigm, however, scholars have generally missed Americans’ more measured approach to the public school curriculum during World War II. That conservative opponents succeeded in having Rugg’s texts banned in some districts during a period of national crisis is hardly surprising; the United States has a rich history of politicized debate over public school textbooks. What is surprising, however, is the extent to which Rugg’s opponents failed to mount a broader textbook censorship movement during the war years. Although accurately representing the virulence with which right‐wing conservatives criticized Rugg, historians have understated the extent to which reactionaries’ charges against the author and his books were dismissed in towns and cities througho...
Two-person games on graphs

Abstract Every vertex of an abstract-directed graph is characterized in terms of a two-person game. A vertex is winning if by choosing it a player can assure himself of a win, it is losing if by choosing it he cannot prevent his opponent from winning, and it is drawing if it is neither winning nor losing. The sets of winning, losing, and drawing vertices are identified in terms of a set-valued function on the graph.
Extensive and strategic forms: Games and models for games

Abstract This paper aims to make precise, in the context of epistemic models for games, some relations between the normal or strategic form representation of a game and the extensive or dynamic form representation. It is argued, first, that epistemic models defined for strategic form representations provide all the materials necessary for defining models for corresponding extensive form representations of the game, models that provide information about the way the game is played that is sufficient to evaluate the rationality of the choices that the players make, and are disposed to make, in the course of playing the dynamic game. Second, two definitions of rationality are compared — one for strategy choices in the normal form representation, and one for the individual choices that the player is disposed to make in the course of playing the dynamic game. It is shown that they are essentially equivalent in games with perfect recall. The main focus is on the intuitive foundational assumptions about rationality and dynamic choice that are needed to motivate the definitions. It is argued that to evaluate the rationality of a player's choices in a dynamic context, it is essential to distinguish passive knowledge (knowledge about nature and about the prior beliefs and strategy choices of other players that is based on observation and inference) fromactive knowledge (knowledge about one's own choices and future choices that is grounded in one's decisions).
Différantial Atopologies, Mathematical and Ethico-Political: Light, Space, and Alterity in Derrida

Taking as its point of departure the question of light vis-a-vis the question of being in Derrida's work, this article discusses Derrida's radical conceptions of khoral (a)spatiality and alterity, by linking his first book on Edmund Husserl's “The Origin of Geometry” and his early critique of Emmanuel Levinas to his exploration of the ethico-political problematics, in part, again, via Levinas, in his latest works. The article also considers Derrida's reading of Kafka in “Before the Law,” decisive for his analysis of the problematics in question and for our understanding of the relationships between “geometry and democracy.” These relationships, the article argues, are an essential concern of much of Derrida's work and of our culture, from the pre-Socratics on.
Peptide map comparisons of epidermal and spleen H-2 molecules

Peptide map comparisons of molecules encoded in the mouseH-2 complex isolated from epidermal cell preparations have been carried out. We previously showed that the Ia molecules from both theI-A andI-E subregions are synthesized by nonlymphoid bone-marrow-derived cells, probably Langerhans cells. The K and D or transplantation molecules are synthesized by both “true” epidermal cells and nonlymphoid bone-marrow-derived cells. The tryptic maps generated by separating tryptic peptides by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) of epidermal H-2 molecules are identical to their spleen-cell counterparts. The biological significance of this finding is discussed.
Services for a customizable authority linking environment

The SCALE -- Services for a Customizable Authority Linking Environment-- project is developing tools to help integrate collections within the National Science Foundation's National Science Digital Library(NSDL) through terminological linking. These tools will transparentlyprovide reading support to NSDL collections by automatically linkingphrases in the content of one collection to relevant material in another collection. This will enhance the user experience in the NSDL and encourage greater integration of collections by increasing thevalue of each collection to other collections.
Brain concentrations of tricyclic antidepressants: Single-dose kinetics and relationship to plasma concentrations in chronically dosed rats

A previously reported method of measuring tricyclic antidepressant concentrations in brain tissue and plasma was used to measure amitriptyline (AMI) in rats following drug administration using different routes, doses, and time intervals. In rats given AMI intraperitoneally (IP), brain concentrations increased during the first 30 min after drug adminstration and then declined. Brain concentrations increased linearly with changes in IP dosage and increased logarithmically with changes in intravenous dosage. No simple relationship existed between brain and plasma concentrations in acutely dosed rats. However, a linear relationship existed between plasma and brain concentrations in chronically treated animals (r=0.96, P<0.001). The brain: plasma drug ratios observed in chronically treated rats corresponded to ratios reported in man. Thus, conclusions drawn from these studies can probably be extrapolated to the clinical situation. Based on our data, the molar concentration of drug achieved on therapeutic doses is 10-5–10-6 M. This information may aid in understanding the clinical relevance of in vitro drug: receptor binding studies which are typically reported in molar concentrations.
Readability of patient-reported outcome questionnaires for use with persons with dysphonia.

Summary Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the readability of several published patient-reported outcome (PRO) questionnaires for persons with dysphonia, and to compare the readability results with existing data about average reading levels for English-speaking adults living in the United States. Design A search was conducted to identify published PRO questionnaires related to dysphonia that are traditionally completed by patients in a self-administered format. Method Reading grade levels were analyzed separately for 12 different voice-related PRO questionnaires using the Flesch Reading Ease, FOG, and FORCAST formulas as computed by a readability calculations software package. Descriptive statistics were also computed across the questionnaires. Results The results of this study demonstrate that most PRO questionnaires exceeded the fifth- to sixth-grade reading levels recommended by health literacy experts regardless of the formula applied. Conclusions In the demand for standardization of voice-related quality of life assessment tools, developers should consider readability as another testable construct because poor readability may affect validity, reliability and sensitivity. The voice clinician should consider the average reading level needed to understand a particular PRO questionnaire when administering it to a patient or their proxy. Developers of PRO questionnaires should consider reading level of respondents and include information about this when reporting psychometric data.
Micro-Doppler processing for ultra-wideband radar data

In this paper, we describe an operational pulse Doppler radar imaging system for indoor target localization and classification, and show how a target's micro-Doppler signature (μDS) can be processed when ultra-wideband (UWB) waveforms are employed. Unlike narrowband radars where time-frequency signal representations can be applied to reveal the target time-Doppler frequency signatures, the UWB system permits joint range-time-frequency representation (JRTFR). JRTFR outputs the data in a 3D domain representing range, frequency, and time, allowing both the μDS and high range resolution (HRR) signatures to be observed. We delineate the relationship between the μDS and the HRR signature, showing how they would form a complimentary joint feature for classification. We use real-data to demonstrate the effectiveness of the UWB pulse-Doppler radar, combined with nonstationary signal analyses, in gaining valuable insights into human positioning and motions.
On the quaternionic form of linear equations for the gravitational field

In this letter we show that the linear equations for the gravitational field with Heavisidian monopoles could be expressed in quaternion form using a quaternion conjugate operator as well as quaternion differential operator.
Changes in the anteroposterior dimensions of the human male skull during the third and fourth decade of life.

A cephalometric radiographic appraisal of the anteroposterior skull growth which occurs during a one-year interval was made on 71 caucasoid males at the Baylor University College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas. The subjects were from 22–34 years of age. The dimensions assessed were the anterior cranial depth, the posterior cranial depth, upper facial depth, middle facial depth and lower facial depth. A significant increase was shown to occur in all the dimensions over a period of one year except that of the lower facial depth. It was concluded that skull growth does occur in male adults after the age generally accepted as that of maturity.
Conformational Analysis of Nucleosides Constructed on a Bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane Template. Structure-Antiviral Activity Analysis for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the Pseudorotational Cycle

Abstract A conformational analysis of carbocyclic nucleosides built on a rigid bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane template (1–4, Northern and 5–8 Southern) showed that the Northern conformation prefers an anti glycosyl torsion angle whereas the Southern conformation favors the syn range. Antiviral activity was mostly associated with the Northern conformers.
Motions of a spherical submarine in waves

Abstract The free motions in waves of submerged vehicles with a spherical hull from but different metacentric heights are sought. The problem is analysed by considering the submerged vehicle as a neutrally buoyant sphere. The solutions to two independent problems, namely the radiation problem and the diffraction problem, are required. Nondimensional parameters known as the added mass, damping and diffraction coefficients for neutrally buoyant spheres are derived and computed values of these coefficients are presented in tabulated form. The responses of surge, heave and pitch are explicitly expressed by these coefficients and the metacentric height of the submarine. A spherical submarine is practically motionless relative to the particle movement of waves except at the vicinity of reasonant frequency, which is governed by the value of metacentric height.
Charge-transfer processes in semiconductor colloids

A picosecond transient absorption spectroscopy technique has been employed to probe the charge transfer processes in Ti02 semiconductor colloids. The trapping of electrons at the TiO surface (Ti4+ sitesY was characterized from the appearance of a broad absorption in the region of 550-750 nm following the 355-nm laser pulse excitation of Ti02 colloids. The lifetime of these trapped charge carriers increased upon incorporation of a hole scavenger in the colloidal semiconductor system. The mechanistic and kinetic details of the charge injection from excited CdS into a large bandgap semiconductor such as AgI and Ti02 have also been inves-' t i ga ted.
Maternal behavior: differences between mother and virgin mice as a function of the testing procedure.

Retrieval by lactating and virgin mice was compared in a straight alley and a T-maze. In both test situations the retrieval performance of the lactating mouse was superior to that of the virgin animal. No discrimination was seen between a live pup and a dead pup; a rubber toy, however, was retrieved least by both the lactating and virgin mice. Contrary to previous results, these experiments demonstrate a significant difference in maternal behavior between lactating and virgin mice.
UNIQUE SOLUTION FOR OPTIMAL AIRFOIL DESIGN

Optimization of airfoil shapes has attracted considerable interest in recent years. These investigations reveal the presence of innumerable local optimum solutions, which are obtained when the iterations are begun from different starting airfoil shapes. Some researchers using the genetic algorithm, with reduced scope of the aerodynamic model and a redefined search strategy have obtained global optimal solutions. In this paper an engineering alternative of finding a unique optimal solution is investigated. This solution is optimal in a significantly larger neighborhood and is formulated as an inverse airfoil design problem with constraints. A general piecewise linear pressure distribution is chosen to drive the optimization of the shape. Five existing airfoils representing a range of camber and thickness were chosen to start the iterative search. The optimization problem was formulated to minimize the error in the pressure distribution while satisfying constraints on C L, C0, and area. The flow was incompressible at a moderate Reynolds number. The XFOIL program provided the aerodynamic analysis. The study illustrates it is possible to identify a unique solution to the airfoil optimization problem as three of the five shapes moved close to a common solution without compromising their aerodynamic performance.
A Charter School’s Journey Toward Serving All Learners: A Case Study

Public charter schools across the country are struggling to better serve a range of students with disabilities. Using the approach of a participatory evaluation, a K-8 college preparatory school community of teachers, administrators, parents, and students were better able to define those practices that impeded or supported a high-quality proactive integrated comprehensive service delivery model for all learners. In so doing, they were empowered to take their research findings and move to action through adapting their mission statement aligned with policy and procedures that would better enable the creation and implementation of a collaborative comprehensive integrated service delivery model.
The Neisseria meningitidis ZnuD Zinc Receptor Contributes to Interactions with Epithelial Cells and Supports Heme Utilization when Expressed in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Neisseria meningitidis employs redundant heme acquisition mechanisms, including TonB receptor-dependent and receptor-independent uptakes. The TonB-dependent zinc receptor ZnuD shares significant sequence similarity to HumA, a heme receptor of Moraxella catarrhalis, and contains conserved motifs found in many heme utilization proteins. We present data showing that, when expressed in Escherichia coli, ZnuD allowed heme capture on the cell surface and supported the heme-dependent growth of an E. coli hemA strain. Heme agarose captured ZnuD in enriched outer membrane fractions, and this binding was inhibited by excess free heme, supporting ZnuD9s specific interaction with heme. However, no heme utilization defect was detected in the meningococcal znuD mutant, likely due to unknown redundant TonB-independent heme uptake mechanisms. Meningococcal replication within epithelial cells requires a functional TonB, and we found that both the znuD and tonB mutants were defective not only in survival within epithelial cells but also in adherence to and invasion of epithelial cells. Ectopic complementation rescued these phenotypes. Interestingly, while znuD expression was repressed by Zur with zinc as a cofactor, it also was induced by iron in a Zur-independent manner. A specific interaction of meningococcal Fur protein with the znuD promoter was demonstrated by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Thus, the meningococcal ZnuD receptor likely participates in both zinc and heme acquisition, is regulated by both Zur and Fur, and is important for meningococcal interaction with epithelial cells.
Programmed Cell Death 1-Directed Immunotherapy for Enhancing T-Cell Function

T-cell exhaustion is a unique state that appears during many chronic infections and cancer and is characterized by loss of proliferative capacity and effector function. Complex mechanisms are involved in this T-cell dysfunction but an inhibitory receptor, PD-1, has been identified as a major regulator of T-cell exhaustion. Blockade of the PD-1 pathway can reinvigorate exhausted T cells, resulting in better control of chronic infections and cancer. Notably, recent clinical studies have revealed that PD-1-directed immunotherapy is highly effective in cancer patients, demonstrating that PD-1 is a promising therapeutic target in humans. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the epigenetic regulation of PD-1 expression in T cells and discuss potential combination therapy with PD-1 blockade toward developing more effective treatment for chronic infections and cancer.
Technical limitations of dual-energy CT in neuroradiology: 30-month institutional experience and review of literature

Background Dual-energy CT (DECT) has been shown to be a useful modality in neuroradiology. Objective To assess failure modes and limitations of DECT in different neuroimaging applications. Patients and methods Dual-source DECT scans were performed in 72 patients over 30 months to differentiate contrast agent staining or extravasation from intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) (n=40); to differentiate calcium from ICH (n=2); for metal-artifact reduction (n=5); and for angiographic assessment (n=25). A three-material decomposition algorithm was used to obtain virtual non-contrast (VNC) and iodine (or calcium) overlay images. Images were analyzed in consensus by two board-certified radiologists to determine the success of the algorithm and to assess confounding factors. Furthermore, a dilution experiment using cylinders containing defined heparinized swine blood, normal saline, and selected iodine concentrations was conducted to assess other possible confounding factors. Results Dual-energy analysis was successful in 65 (90.2%) patients. However, the algorithm failed when images were affected by beam hardening (n=3, 4.2%), the presence of a fourth material (parenchymal calcification) (n=3, 4.2%), or motion (n=1, 1.4%). In the dilution experiment, a saturation effect was seen at high iodine concentrations (≥37 mg/ml). VNC and iodine overlay images were not reliable above this concentration, and beam-hardening artifacts were noted. Conclusions DECT material decomposition is usually successful in neuroradiology. However, it can only distinguish up to three preselected materials. A fourth material such as parenchymal calcium may confound the analysis. Artifacts such as beam hardening, metallic streak, or saturation effect can also impair material decomposition.
A low-complexity multiplierless half-band recursive digital filter design

A low-complexity multiplierless design of a half-band recursive digital filter is presented. The filter structure is realized as a bireciprocal lattice wave digital filter. The filter coefficients are represented in a canonic signed-digit code with only two nonzero digits, and thus each filter coefficient can be implemented with only a single adder or subtracter. A fifth-order elliptic filter section is presented which requires only nine adders and five delays. Thus, a cascade of three or four of these fifth-order building blocks could be implemented on a single VLSI chip to obtain a high-performance half-band filter. >
Femtosecond photoionization of ion beam desorbed aliphatic and aromatic amino acids: Fragmentation via α-cleavage reactions

We report the photoionization of ion beam desorbed amino acids using femtosecond laser pulses at 195 and 260 nm. Ionization of ion-desorbed glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, and phenylalanine using 195 nm laser pulses is found to produce almost exclusively a decarboxylated ion fragment, while tyrosine and tryptophan produce a functional group cation. The adiabatic ionization potentials for the former amino acids correspond to the removal of an electron from the amine nitrogen atom, while for tyrosine and tryptophan it corresponds to the removal of an electron from the aromatic functional group. We find that fragmentation is initiated by the formation of a radical site which leads to an α-cleavage reaction and, depending upon which electron is removed, results in the formation of a decarboxylated ion or a functional group ion. These results indicate that a significant fraction of the amino acids are desorbed intact, but are fragmented when ionized. Except for leucine, isoleucine, and phenylala...
Thimerosal Neurotoxicity is Associated with Glutathione Depletion: Protection with Glutathione Precursors

Thimerosol is an antiseptic containing 49.5% ethyl mercury that has been used for years as a preservative in many infant vaccines and in flu vaccines. Environmental methyl mercury has been shown to be highly neurotoxic, especially to the developing brain. Because mercury has a high affinity for thiol (sulfhydryl (–SH)) groups, the thiol-containing antioxidant, glutathione (GSH), provides the major intracellular defense against mercury-induced neurotoxicity. Cultured neuroblastoma cells were found to have lower levels of GSH and increased sensitivity to thimerosol toxicity compared to glioblastoma cells that have higher basal levels of intracellular GSH. Thimerosal-induced cytotoxicity was associated with depletion of intracellular GSH in both cell lines. Pretreatment with 100 mM glutathione ethyl ester or Nacetylcysteine (NAC), but not methionine, resulted in a significant increase in intracellular GSH in both cell types. Further, pretreatment of the cells with glutathione ethyl ester or NAC prevented cytotoxicity with exposure to 15 mM Thimerosal. Although Thimerosal has been recently removed from most children’s vaccines, it is still present in flu vaccines given to pregnant women, the elderly, and to children in developing countries. The potential protective effect of GSH or NAC against mercury toxicity warrants further research as possible adjunct therapy to individuals still receiving Thimerosal-containing vaccinations.
Decreased phospho-Akt signaling in a mouse model of total parenteral nutrition: a potential mechanism for the development of intestinal mucosal atrophy

Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) leads to a decline in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/phospho-Akt (p-Akt) activity, affecting downstream signaling, reducing epithelial cell (EC) proliferation, and contributing to intestinal mucosal atrophy. We hypothesized that promoting Akt activity would prevent these changes. We used a novel Akt-activating peptide, TCL1 (a head-to-tail dimer of the Akt-binding domain of T-cell lymphoma-1), or an inactive mutant sequence TCL1G conjugated to a transactivator of transcription peptide sequence to promote intracellular uptake. Four groups of mice were studied, enteral nutrition group (control), control mice given a functioning TCL1 (control + TCL1), TPN mice given TCL1G (control peptide, TPN + TCL1G); and TPN mice given TCL1. TPN mice given TCL1G showed a significant decrease in jejunal EC p-Akt (Ser473 and Thr308) abundance, whereas TPN + TCL1 mice showed increased p-Akt (Ser473) abundance. Phosphorylation of β-catenin and glycogen synthase kinase-3β (downstream targets of Akt signaling) were also decreased in the TPN + TCL1G group and completely prevented in the TPN + TCL1 group. Use of TCL1 nearly completely prevented the decline in EC proliferation seen in the TPN + TCL1G group, as well as partly returned EC apoptosis levels close to controls. The mammalian target of rapamycin pathway demonstrated a similar reduction in activity in the TPN + TCL1G group that was significantly prevented in the TPN + TCL1 group. These results support a significant loss of PI3K/p-Akt signaling upon replacing enteral nutrition with TPN, and prevention of this loss demonstrates the key importance of PI3K/p-Akt signaling in maintaining gut integrity including EC proliferation and reduction in apoptosis.
Schooling and Symbolic Violence: The Effect of Power Differences and Curriculum Factors on Hispanic Students' Attitudes Toward Their Own Ethnicity:

This paper examines the relationship between two mechanisms of symbolic violence-power difference and curriculum factors and Hispanic students' attitudes toward their own ethnicity. Symbolic violence is studied in its effect on Hisp-anic students' attitudes toward their own ethnicity. These relationships are explored with a sample of sixth-grade Hispanic male and female students (n = 118) from an analytical sample of 10 elementary schools in California. The specific power-difference factors investigated are: student-power differences (percent Anglo and socioeconomic status of the school), parent-power differences, and staff-power differences. Curriculum factors are operationalized in terms of the level of multicultural curriculum in the school. Pearson product moment correlations are calculated between these school-level factors and individual Hispanic students' levels of ethnic salience in self identification and attitudes toward their own ethnic group. In general the findings indicate that these power-d...
Exploring the Impact of Systems Architecture and Systems Requirements on Systems Integration Complexity

The need to perform faster systems integration of complex systems require the architect and design team to understand how the selected architecture and design components will impact the systems integration processes complexity (or difficulty). Systems integration process complexity is an outcome of the interaction between degree of feasibility and level of effort required to understand, describe, implement, manage, and document the systems integration process for a given system development and operational environment. This paper analyzes the cause-and-effect relationships between the system requirements, architecture and the systems integration processes complexity. In order to address systems integration issues upfront in the design phase it is necessary to determine if the architecture and design of components, subsystems, processes, and interfaces impacts (and to what extent) systems integration process complexity. This paper also defines and analyzes the impact of the different system architecture and requirements factors on systems integration process complexity. A research framework is developed to understand the cause-and-effect relationships between system requirements, architecture, and integration process. Finally, the paper proposes recommendations based on the causality results. These conclusions are based on research undertaken by the authors on eight development projects in the government sector.
Self-Congruity Versus Functional Congruity: Predictors of Consumer Behavior

Four studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that (1) consumer behavior is more strongly predicted by functional congruity than by self-congruity, and (2) functional congruity is influenced by self-congruity. The pattern of the results provides support for hypotheses.
Wikis: 'From Each According to His Knowledge'

Wikis offer tremendous potential to capture knowledge from large groups of people, making tacit, hidden content explicit and widely available. They also efficiently connect those with information to those seeking it.
Archean crustal growth by lateral accretion of juvenile supracrustal belts in the south-central Wyoming Province

Neoarchean supracrustal sequences in the south-central Wyoming Province are exposed as relatively small belts in Laramide uplifts. Some sequences are composed of materials derived mainly from pre-e...
From Patriotic Troops to Branded Boyhood: Hegemonic Boyhood Masculinity as Depicted in Boy’s Life Magazine, 1911–2012

Hegemonic masculinity is a fluid concept that varies according to historical period and social and cultural location. While much has been written about hegemonic masculinity as experienced by adult men, research is lacking on hegemonic masculinity in boyhood from an historical perspective. Using a quantitative content analysis of images on the covers of Boy’s Life magazine, this study finds three distinct historically specific images of hegemonic American boyhood masculinity: boys who serve their country as patriotic scouts in uniform; boys who admire celebrities, particularly professional athletes; and a branded boyhood in which boys wear brand name products while engaging in sports activities.
The Home Buyer Tax Credit of 2009 and the Transition to Homeownership

One of the ways the government in the United States responded to the collapse of the housing bubble in 2007 was to provide a tax credit to first-time home buyers. Anyone purchasing their first home between April 2008 and April 2010 was eligible for a tax credit of up to $8,000. This study uses data from the 2009 National Association of Realtors® (NAR) Home Buyer and Seller Survey to examine the impact of the Home Buyer Tax Credit of 2009 on purchasing behavior. The findings reveal that the credit offering did serve as incentive to two main groups of buyers: minority groups with historically low homeownership rates and younger buyers with lower incomes who moved up their purchasing timeline to take advantage of the tax credit.
The queen of los Congos: slavery, gender, and confraternity life in late-colonial Lima, Peru

In 1812, in Lima, an enslaved woman named Maria Santos Puente was ousted from her post as queen of an African-descent confraternity and replaced by a free woman. Refusing to step down quietly, Santos Puente took her grievance to court. In examining the details of the case, this article draws attention to the ways in which confraternity membership provided access to community, kinship, and sources of mutual aid. It also shows how, in denying her the role of queen, the confraternity cut off one of the few avenues through which enslaved women in Lima could attain privileged and esteemed status. Language: en
Medicare Advantage Members’ Expected Out-Of-Pocket Spending For Inpatient And Skilled Nursing Facility Services

Inpatient and skilled nursing facility (SNF) cost sharing in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans may reduce unnecessary use of these services. However, large out-of-pocket expenses potentially limit access to care and encourage beneficiaries at high risk of needing inpatient and postacute care to avoid or leave MA plans. In 2011 new federal regulations restricted inpatient and skilled nursing facility cost sharing and mandated limits on out-of-pocket spending in MA plans. After these regulations, MA members in plans with low premiums averaged $1,758 in expected out-of-pocket spending for an episode of seven hospital days and twenty skilled nursing facility days. Among members with the same low-premium plan in 2010 and 2011, 36 percent of members belonged to plans that added an out-of-pocket spending limit in 2011. However, these members also had a $293 increase in average cost sharing for an inpatient and skilled nursing facility episode, possibly to offset plans’ expenses in financing out-of-pocket limits. Som...
New Feminine Myths as Builders of New Transcultural Horizons

In contemporary women’s writing, mythical models of self-empowerment and personal growth permeate a number of novels from various cultural backgrounds and geographic areas. I will focus on the transformation of a major legend, that of Orpheus, which had influenced all Western literature since Greek and Roman times. Orpheus, the poet, who mourns the untimely death of his wife symbolizes the divide between the male and the female in the West, with Eurydice relinquished to the underworld. In contemporary women’s literature, we witness a radical shift from this paradigm, with a new Eurydice emerging from the unseen, in order to expound her vision of the world she wants to live in. This new figure is linked to various other feminine mythical figures of empowerment, including a new Ariadne and even new forms of Mahadevi. From a transnational perspective, women writers contribute to a reinvented transcultural dialogue that better represents the new conditions of our lives, as do Ananda Devi (Mauritius, France and Switzerland), together with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (a North-American author of Indian descent), both important builders of connections between East and West, especially in their rewriting of the figure of Draupadi and other major mythical paradigms.
Biological activity of soluble antigen-antibody complexes. I. Skin reactive properties.

SummaryImmediate skin reactions were obtained in normal guinea pigs by intradermal injections of soluble antigen-antibody complexes. Immediate skin reactions were also obtained by injections of an electrophoretically separated component of serum from immunized or normal rabbits.
Findings and Considerations from the NASA Explanation of Change Study

The Explanation of Change This study investigated thirty historical NASA science missions to explain the cost change experienced. The study included investigation of historical milestone and monthly status report documentation followed by interviews with project personnel. Key events from the project’s development were identified and the associated cost change assessed. Based on the information collected, the reasons for cost change were binned, at the highest level, into four separate categories: NASA External, Project External, Internal Planning, and Internal Execution. The results identified that roughly a third of the change is outside of the project’s control, a third is due to assumptions made in project planning, and a third is due to the inherent difficulty of building highly complex, one-of-a-kind, cutting edge, Earth and space science missions. Additionally, this paper discusses the implementation of considerations. Based on the results of the binning process and the synthesis of project meetings and interviews, nine considerations were developed with the objective to decrease the potential for cost change in future missions. Although no one “magic bullet” consideration was discovered, the considerations taken as a whole should help reduce cost and schedule change in future NASA missions.
Resistance of Culex pipiens pallens to five insecticides in Xianyang city and the corresponding control strategies

Objective To identify the resistance of Culex pipiens pallens to five commonly used insecticides in Xianyang city so as to provide evidence for control strategy development.Methods The mortality of larvae exposed to five insecticides was determined by the distinguishing dosage method.Results The resistance level of Cx.pipiens pallens was high under the diagnosis dose to DDT,DDVP,permethrin,and deltamethrin,and the mortality in 24 hours was 23.45%,14.02%,28.77%,25.00%,respectively.The resistance to cypermethrin was moderate and the mortality was 58.63%.Conclusion The resistance of Cx.pipiens pallens to five commonly used insecticides in Xianyang has reached middle to high levels.Different kinds of insecticides should be used for control of mosquitoes.
Interbody versus posterolateral fusion.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have become increasingly popular methods of summarizing similar clinical trials to obtain a better understanding of management options. Systematic reviews identify and critique relevant research studies, discuss factors that may affect heterogeneity, and synthesize the information in textual format. Meta-analyses allow one to identify relevant research studies according to a defined protocol, statistically test study heterogeneity and investigate explanatory variables, and statistically summarize results to estimate an overall treatment effect. The advantages of meta-analysis include the use of a protocol to choose studies that avoid selection bias, the inclusion of a statistical test to determine if variability between studies could be due to random variation (heterogeneity), and the calculation of an overall effect estimate. These factors provide increased statistical power and precision of confidence intervals, and results are often more generalizable than those from single studies. In the article by Zhou and colleagues, 14 the authors examine nine randomized controlled trials and comparative observational studies in an attempt to discern outcome differences between an instrumented posterolateral fusion (iPLF) and an instrumented posterior lumbar interbody fusion (iPLIF). They provide a credible summary and subanalysis and conclude that interbody grafting is associated with a higher fusion rate and improved restoration of alignment. They found no significant difference between the 2 techniques in terms of clinical outcome, complication rate, operating room time, or blood loss. In general, Zhou and colleagues’ study is methodologically credible. The authors include a random-effects model for the assessment of heterogeneity, although Cheong and van Gelder 3 have questioned whether this is the most suitable technique when the causes of heterogeneity remain unclear, particularly for neurosurgical data. Additionally, one may argue that the outcomes of interest in this study represent imperfect reference standards due to the lack of uniform consensus on what constitutes relevant outcomes. In such circumstances it has been proposed that meta-analysis may not be a suitable tool for summarizing findings and that a simple descrip tion of study results may be preferable until suitable statistical methods to adjust for imperfect reference stan
Biologic Basis for Radiation Oncology

Improved understanding of the underlying biologic mechanisms that pertain to radiation oncology is providing an explanation for the cellular and tissue responses to ionizing radiation and is leading to the potential for novel
Repair of the Microdehiscence to correct postkeratoplasty astigmatism

A common peripheral abnormality, which I call "microdehiscence," can in some cases cause the progressive central astigmatism that commonly follows penetrating keratoplasty. The results of a small clinical study show that placing additional suture(s) in this situation can permanently correct such astigmatism.