cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A review of echocardiograms in hypertensive patients greater than 60 years in a community based family medicine program.

Background: Heart disease as a result of Hypertension is known to occur. Anatomical and functional changes of the heart can easily be detected by echocardiography, which is a safe and readily available study. Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of common echocardiographic changes in chronic hypertensive patients and to compare these changes in male and female populations. Design/methods: The study was a community-based cross-sectional study, on 227 hypertensive patients, 60 years and older, seen in St. Joseph's Family Medicine at Clifton, with integrated clinical and echocardiographic data. Results: Study population consisted of 227 hypertensive patients, over the age of 60 years who had echocardiography done. Overall 92.5% of the echocardiograms had abnormal findings including but not limited to TR, Diastolic dysfunction, MR, and LVH. There was significant difference between the rate of MR in male and female population. Conclusion: A variety of echocardiographic abnormalities can be found in hypertensive patients. Drug selection in hypertension should be driven by the underlying cardiac pathology. Certain drugs have more effectiveness for diastolic dysfunction, LVH, systolic dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension and are superior choices when these conditions are present. Echocardiogram is a non-invasive and easily available tool in order to help us to select the best treatment strategy to optimize hypertensive control in the challenging group of elderly patients. The results of our study should influence us to liberally use echocardiography in these patients to guide treatment decision and drug selection. Abbreviations: LVH: left ventricular hypertrophy; MR: mitral valve regurgitation; TR: tricuspidvalve regurgitation; LVD: left ventricular dilation; LVEF: left ventricular ejection fraction.
Histopathology case definition of naturally acquired Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin infection in young Holstein cattle in the northeastern United States.

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Dublin ( Salmonella Dublin) is a host-adapted bacterium that causes high morbidity and mortality in dairy cattle worldwide. A retrospective search of archives at the New York Animal Health Diagnostic Center revealed 57 culture-confirmed Salmonella Dublin cases from New York and Pennsylvania in which detailed histology of multiple tissues was available. Tissues routinely submitted by referring veterinarians for histologic evaluation included sections of heart, lungs, liver, spleen, and lymph nodes. Of the 57 S almonella Dublin-positive cases, all were Holstein breed, 53 were female (93%), and 49 (86%) were 90% (45 of 49) of lungs, 90% (28 of 31) of livers, 50% (11 of 22) of spleens, and 62% (18 of 29) of lymph nodes examined had moderate-to-severe inflammation with or without necrosis. Inconstant lesions were seen in 48% (10 of 21) of hearts examined, and consisted of variable inflammatory infiltrates and rare areas of necrosis. We propose a histopathology case definition of Salmonella Dublin in <6-mo-old Holstein cattle that includes a combination of pulmonary alveolar capillary neutrophilia with or without hepatocellular necrosis and paratyphoid granulomas, splenitis, and lymphadenitis. These findings will assist in the development of improved protocols for the diagnosis of infectious diseases of dairy cattle.
New Materials and Design Concepts in Meta-optical Devices

We present methods to design optical elements using optimization. As a demonstration, we fabricate silicon metagratings that can split and bend light with record efficiencies. We envision that optimization will enable high performance metasurfaces.
Sacral-Alar-Iliac Fixation in Children with Neuromuscular Scoliosis: Minimum 5-Year Follow-Up.

Objective To investigate the 5-year outcomes of children with neuromuscular scoliosis treated with sacral-alar-iliac screws. Methods We reviewed clinical and radiographic records of patients aged ≤18 years treated by 1 pediatric orthopedic surgeon for neuromuscular scoliosis with spinal fusion using sacral-alar-iliac pelvic anchors. Thirty-eight patients with a minimum 5-year radiographic follow-up (mean, 6.0 ± 1.2 years) were studied. The mean patient age was 13 ± 2.0 years, and 47% were female. The mean number of levels fused was 18 ± 0.7. Two-thirds (66%) of the patients were diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Results Between the preoperative period and final follow-up, the patients exhibited a mean correction of the major coronal curve of 79% (preoperative, 85° to final, 18°) and a mean 57% correction of the pelvic obliquity (preoperative, 16° to final, 7°). Patients maintained the correction of mean pelvic obliquity from the early postoperative period (6°) to final follow-up (7°). Preoperatively, 76% of the patients had a pelvic obliquity of >10°, compared with 26% of patients postoperatively. There were no cases of neurologic or vascular complications or pseudarthrosis. Radiographs revealed bilateral sacral-alar-iliac screw lucency in 8 patients; 4 of these patients had deep wound infections, and the other 4 were asymptomatic. Unilateral screw fracture was found in 1 patient with an 8-mm-diameter screw (1.3%; 1 of 76 screws); the patient was observed and remained asymptomatic. There were no cases of set screw displacement, screw back-out, or rod dislodgement. Conclusions Sacral-alar-iliac screws are safe and effective pelvic anchors for use in children with neuromuscular scoliosis.
Stability of Rotary Traveling Wave Oscillators under process variations and NBTI

Resonant rotary clocking is a low-power clocking technology for multi-phase clock generation in GHz frequency range. In this paper, Rotary Traveling Wave Oscillators (RTWOs) are analyzed under process variations and negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) at the 90nm technology node. The analysis is focused on 1) variations in the physical geometries of the rotary ring, 2) inter and intra-die transistor variations, 3) power supply fluctuation and 4) NBTI. Monte-Carlo based analysis are performed to study the effects of process variations and transistor aging on the operating frequency and power consumption of the rotary ring at a temperature of 110° C. SPICE based simulations show natural robustness against process variations, and NBTI.
State Estimation of Dynamical Systems with Unknown Inputs: Entropy and Bit Rates

Finding the minimal bit rate needed for state estimation of a dynamical system is a fundamental problem in control theory. In this paper, we present a notion of topological entropy, to lower bound the bit rate needed to estimate the state of a nonlinear dynamical system, with unknown bounded inputs, up to a constant error e. Since the actual value of this entropy is hard to compute in general, we compute an upper bound. We show that as the bound on the input decreases, we recover a previously known bound on estimation entropy - a similar notion of entropy - for nonlinear systems without inputs [10]. For the sake of computing the bound, we present an algorithm that, given sampled and quantized measurements from a trajectory and an input signal up to a time bound T > 0, constructs a function that approximates the trajectory up to an e error up to time T. We show that this algorithm can also be used for state estimation if the input signal can indeed be sensed in addition to the state. Finally, we present an improved bound on entropy for systems with linear inputs.
The Disposal Problem

The ‘disposal problem’ relates to the issue what to do with a paramilitary force that has been raised for one conflict after they are no longer needed. This chapter argues that the disposal problem is threefold as it concerns manpower, weapons, and covert networks, all of which would need to be dismantled or neutralized at the end of a PMO, which rarely happens. Many foreign individuals, who have received U.S. paramilitary training, went on to join other conflicts or to engage in terrorism. Weapons distributed to proxy forces end up permanently destabilizing affected world regions as they are never collected. Covert networks set up to facilitate the smuggling of weapons and equipment into a country turn into permanent drug trafficking routes.
Outcomes associated with the use of a revised risk assessment strategy to predict antibiotic resistance in community-onset pneumonia: a stewardship perspective

Objectives There is growing evidence that patients with community-onset pneumonia and recent healthcare exposure are not at equally high risk of infection with MDR organisms. An individualized approach is necessary with regard to risk assessment and choice of antibiotics. Methods We reviewed the records of 102 patients admitted for community-onset pneumonia, before and after the implementation of a revised risk assessment programme for MDR organisms using the drug resistance in pneumonia (DRIP) score. The primary aim of the study was to identify the effects of this intervention on antibiotic days of therapy (DOT), and secondary outcomes included all-cause readmissions and time to clinical improvement. Statistical analysis was performed using generalized linear regression and Cox hazards models. Results Implementation of the programme resulted in a decrease in anti-MRSA (-1.44 DOT, P = 0.007) and anti-pseudomonal (-2.03 DOT, P < 0.001) antibiotic utilization, but was not associated with a significant difference in the odds of readmissions (OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.16-2.57) or in time to clinical improvement (HR 1.19, 95% CI 0.62-2.21). Conclusions An individualized MDR organism risk assessment strategy using a clinical prediction score for community-onset pneumonia can decrease the utilization of broad-spectrum antibiotics without an increase in adverse outcomes.
Adult Buried Penis Repair with Escutcheonectomy and Split-Thickness Skin Grafting.

Abstract Aim To describe a technique for surgical correction of adult buried penis, including a technique for skin graft harvesting from the escutcheonectomy specimen itself, with an emphasis on remaining open questions in the literature. Methods We present our method for surgical correction of adult buried penis with a review of the literature. Main Outcome Measure Components of successful buried penis repair include return of directed voiding, elimination of local skin inflammation and infection, improvement in hygiene, return of sexual functioning, cosmesis, and patient satisfaction. To date, there are no broadly accepted tools for comprehensive measurement of outcomes after buried penis repair. Results Adult buried penis repair is generally associated with excellent rates of satisfaction and improvement in functioning. Currently available data are extremely limited; however, they do suggest that, when in doubt, more aggressive debridement of diseased tissue combined with split-thickness skin grafting may provide superior outcomes. Split-thickness skin grafts are associated with excellent rates of successful graft take, even in cases of severe preoperative pathology and patient comorbidity. Although these grafts come at the cost of some increased surgical morbidity, they are associated with low rates of major complications. Morbidity can be further significantly decreased by harvesting the graft from the excised escutcheon itself, a technique that we present here. Conclusion Surgical correction of adult buried penis is safe and effective; however, future work is required to further optimize outcomes and reduce surgical morbidity. Strother MC, Skokan AJ, Sterling ME, et al. Adult Buried Penis Repair with Escutcheonectomy and Split-Thickness Skin Grafting. J Sex Med 2018;15:1198–1204.
Movement of Southern Brook Charr in a North Carolina Headwater Stream

Little is known about the genetically distinct southern strain of Salvelinus fontinalis Mitchell (Brook Charr), a species that is likely to be negatively affected by global climate change at the southern extent of its range. We tagged 35 Southern Brook Charr between March and October of 2011 and sampled for movements in May and October 2011 and May 2012. The study site in Ball Creek, NC, was 330 m long, and we sampled 2 ancillary 50-m sites located 300 m above and below the site boundaries. We recaptured a total of 12 fish: 10 fish once, 1 fish twice, and another fish 3 times for a total of 15 recaptures. Individuals recaptured in spring 2011 moved an average of 9 m downstream, whereas fish recaptured in autumn 2011 moved an average of 7 m upstream. Fish recaptured in spring 2012 moved an average of 6 m upstream from their locations in autumn 2011. There was no relationship between fish length or growth and either distance or direction moved. In addition, there were no significant differences in length or mass of fish that were recaptured and those that were not. The maximum distance moved by a single fish was 49 m downstream. Our results suggest that Southern Brook Charr in headwater streams may have relatively small home ranges (<20 m), although our conclusions were limited by small sample sizes and a 34% recapture percentage based on individual fish. Given that most populations of Southern Brook Charr occur in small streams above barriers, limited movements suggest that population persistence will depend on satisfactory foraging, shelter, and reproductive habitat types within a relatively small area. These requirements should be a concern for managers given that global climate change will affect ambient temperatures and these populations have limited opportunity for movement and emigration.
Adaptation strategies and approaches for forested watersheds

Abstract Intentional climate adaptation planning for ecosystems has become a necessary part of the job for natural resource managers and natural resource professionals in this era of non-stationarity. One of the major challenges in adapting ecosystems to climate change is in the translation of broad adaptation concepts to specific, tangible actions. Addressing management goals and values while considering the long-term risks associated with local climate change can make forested watershed management plans more robust to uncertainty and changing conditions. We provide a menu of tiered adaptation strategies, which we developed with a focus on forests of the Midwest and Northeastern U.S., as part of a flexible framework to support the integration of climate change considerations into forested watershed management and conservation activities. This menu encapsulates ideas from the literature into statements that signify climate adaptation intention and provide examples of associated tactics to help ground the concepts in specific actions. Finally, we describe two demonstration projects, shared through the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science’s Climate Change Response Framework, that have used this Forested Watershed Adaptation Menu and Adaptation Workbook in project-level planning.
Autophagy of an Amyloid-like Translational Repressor Regulates Meiotic Exit.

Summary We explored the potential for autophagy to regulate budding yeast meiosis. Following pre-meiotic DNA replication, we blocked autophagy by chemical inhibition of Atg1 kinase or engineered degradation of Atg14 and observed homologous chromosome segregation followed by sister chromatid separation; cells then underwent additional rounds of spindle formation and disassembly without DNA re-replication, leading to aberrant chromosome segregation. Analysis of cell-cycle regulators revealed that autophagy inhibition prevents meiosis II-specific expression of Clb3 and leads to the aberrant persistence of Clb1 and Cdc5, two substrates of a meiotic ubiquitin ligase activated by Ama1. Lastly, we found that during meiosis II, autophagy degrades Rim4, an amyloid-like translational repressor whose timed clearance regulates protein production from its mRNA targets, which include CLB3 and AMA1. Strikingly, engineered Clb3 or Ama1 production restored meiotic termination in the absence of autophagy. Thus, autophagy destroys a master regulator of meiotic gene expression to enable irreversible meiotic exit.
chapter 4 – WSRF

Publisher Summary This chapter takes a closer look at the Web Services Resource Framework (WSRF) specifications, concentrating on the main improvement introduced by WSRF: statefulness. Plain Web services are usually stateless (even though, in theory, there is nothing in the Web Services Architecture that says they can't be stateful). This means that the Web service can't “remember” information, or keep state, from one invocation to another. The fact that Web services don't keep state information is not necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty of applications that have no need whatsoever for statefulness. WS-Addressing specifies a construct called an endpoint reference that allows one to address a Web services endpoint. The actual data items in the resource are called the resource properties, which provide with a view on the current state of the resource. Resource properties are generally used to store the following three types of information: (1) Service data values, (2) Metadata about the value, and (3) Information needed to manage the state. The WSRF is a collection of four different specifications. They all relate (in some way or another) to the management of WS-Resources. They are: WS-ResourceProperties, WS-ResourceLifetime, WS-ServiceGroup, and WS-BaseFaults.
Compost and Menstrual Blood: Women Wastepickers and the Work of Waste Futurity

This article critically analyzes the afterlives of the sloughed uterine lining, the menses or period blood around which an entire ‘feminine products’ industry and waste management discourse has erupted. I engage ecological and green consumerism in the early 21st century as it both replicates and departs from discourses that frame the sloughed uterine lining and the products used to ‘manage’ it as disgusting and hazardous to human health, and as various actors seek to influence product sales or design as an attempt for menses to suit the goals of zero-waste. In centering my attention particularly on SWaCH’s Red Dot Campaign in Pune, India, I suggest that waste picker collectives especially are positioning themselves as important stakeholders, co-designers and necessary professional consultants on the product design of menstrual disposal technology. I ask what new insights might be gleaned by shifting attention away from consumption and waste management technology to center transnational grappling with what I elsewhere refer to as waste futurity, specifically menstrual waste’s futurity? Drawing upon a growing electronic archive produced by waste picker collectives in India, I center the expertise of those in the global disposal sector as they have represented their heterogeneous positions on their websites, mission statements, product sales, in public service media, interviews, and especially as one particular collective negotiates the validity of their gendered labor conditions and professional expertise in municipal zero-waste strategies. I expressly examine how workers harness revaluation in zero-waste strategies and in the futurity embedded in what is considered one of the most culturally abject of ‘wastes’—menstrual blood—to emphasize this notion of future vitality in the presumed dead, over, and impossibly useless.
Modeling the Dependence Structure in Genome Wide Association Studies of Binary Phenotypes in Family Data

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are a popular tool for detecting association between genetic variants or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and complex traits. Family data introduce complexity due to the non-independence of the family members. Methods for non-independent data are well established, but when the GWAS contains distinct family types, explicit modeling of between-family-type differences in the dependence structure comes at the cost of significantly increased computational burden. The situation is exacerbated with binary traits. In this paper, we perform several simulation studies to compare multiple candidate methods to perform single SNP association analysis with binary traits. We consider generalized estimating equations (GEE), generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs), or generalized least square (GLS) approaches. We study the influence of different working correlation structures for GEE on the GWAS findings and also the performance of different analysis method(s) to conduct a GWAS with binary trait data in families. We discuss the merits of each approach with attention to their applicability in a GWAS. We also compare the performances of the methods on the alcoholism data from the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research (MCTFR) study.
Romantic Relationship Satisfaction and Parent-Infant Bonding During the Transition to Parenthood: An Attachment-Based Perspective

An important element of well-being during the transition to parenthood is new parents' relationships with their partners and babies. Attachment theory posits that early caregiving experiences influence close relationships throughout the lifespan. Disruptions to the parent-child relationship, such as parental divorce or separation, may therefore have intergenerational effects as adult children of divorce navigate changes in their later relationships. This study examined whether new parents who have experienced a divorce or separation in their family of origin report greater romantic relationship dissatisfaction or impairment in the parent-infant bond during the early postpartum period, and if these associations are mediated by adult attachment. First-time parents of infants through 6 months of age (N = 94) completed measures of adult attachment, romantic relationship satisfaction, and parent-infant bonding. New parents who had experienced parental divorce or separation did not differ from those from intact families with regard to romantic relationship satisfaction, parent-infant bonding, attachment anxiety, or attachment avoidance. Attachment anxiety and avoidance were both associated with romantic relationship dissatisfaction and greater impairment in the parent-infant bond. These findings suggest that the experience of parental divorce or separation, in and of itself, does not confer increased risk for negative relational outcomes among new parents. Securely attached adults, regardless of their own parents' marital status, report more positive relationships with their partners and infants during the early postpartum period.
Porous organic materials offer vast future opportunities

In light of the surging research on porous organic materials, we herein discuss the key issues of their porous structures, surface properties, and end functions. We also present an outlook on emerging opportunities, new applications, and data science-assisted materials discovery.
Subacute vision loss after microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia

Microvascular decompression is the surgery of choice for typical trigeminal neuralgia (TN) that fails conservative medical management. Visual loss after MVD is a rare complication that has not been reported. In this article, we present a patient who developed delayed visual loss and papilledema from transverse sinus stenosis resulting from bone wax compression after MVD for TN. While waxing the edges of a retrosigmoid craniotomy may seem mundane, meticulous care should be taken to ensure that there is no compression of the venous sinuses, as this could lead to intracranial hypertension.
Effects of passive exoskeleton support on EMG measures of the neck, shoulder and trunk muscles while holding simulated surgical postures and performing a simulated surgical procedure.

Exoskeletons have shown significant impact at reducing the biomechanical demand on muscles during repetitive lifting and overhead tasks in non-healthcare industries. However, the benefits of exoskeletons are yet to be realized in the operating room, particularly as work-related musculoskeletal disorders continue to be a concern for surgeons. This study quantified the effect of using neck, arm, and trunk exoskeletons on muscle activity while assuming typical postures held in the operating room. Fourteen participants were recruited to participate in this study. In this two-part experiment participants were asked to 1) hold a series of neck flexion, arm abduction and trunk flexion postures seen in surgical procedures, and 2) perform a simulated surgical task requiring five different trunk flexion posture levels. Participants were required to complete these tasks with and without passive exoskeleton(s). This study showed that even for postures held short time periods, exoskeletons are beneficial at reducing the demand on muscles; however, the reduction in muscle demand depends on body segment and postural angle, as intended with these passive exoskeletons. Furthermore, for the simulated surgical task with awkward trunk flexion postures (10-65°), the trunk exoskeletons showed a significant reduction in the rate of rise in back muscle sEMG (+1.365%MVC/min vs. +0.769%MVC/min for non-dominant lumbar extensor muscles, p = 0.0108; +1.377%MVC/min vs. +0.770%MVC/min for the dominant lumbar extensor muscles, p = 0.0196) over 25 min, consequently resulting in improved trunk subjective discomfort scores (7.34 vs. 4.30, p < 0.05), with no impact on the neck and shoulder biomechanical demand. The results from this study indicate that exoskeletons may be a potential intervention to reduce biomechanical loading during surgery.
Sexual Abuse and Sexual Function

Awareness of child sexual abuse emerged along with the gaining of civil rights for children [Kempe (Child Abuse Negl 1:511–513, 1977; Child Abuse Negl 2:261–267, 1978)]. In 1975, enough clinicians, mental health providers, and policy makers became aware of the alarmingly high rates of childhood abuse and neglect for an international conference on this topic to convene. Scholars were particularly concerned to learn that many mental health patients experienced sexual abuse, defined as forced and often traumatic sexual experiences, prior to age 16, a developmental time when the individual is still forming a sense of the sexual self [Besharov (Child Abuse Negl 1:173–177, 1977)]. The initial clinical observations of the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and negative psychiatric health have been confirmed by carefully executed epidemiological studies. At the present time, scholars agree that approximately 20 % of women in the USA have experienced a forced or coerced sexual experience prior to age 16 and 10 % of men have experienced a forced sexual experience at some point in their lives [Testa et al. (J Consult Clin Psychol 75:52–60, 2007)].
Right-Wing Authoritatianism and Social Dominance Orientation Indirectly Predict Support for New York City's Stop-&-Frisk Policy Through Prejudice

Until very recently, the New York City Police Department’s Stop, Question, and Frisk policy (i.e., Stop-&-Frisk) allowed NYPD officers to legally stop and detain New Yorkers under the suspicion that they may be involved in criminal activity. Previous research found that New Yorkers’ attitudes toward Stop-&-Frisk were generally mixed, and the current study tested whether authoritarianism, preferences for inequality, and prejudice predicted support for Stop-&-Frisk. One hundred forty-eight New York City college students reported their levels of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), prejudice, and support for the NYPD’s Stop-&-Frisk policy. Both RWA and SDO had indirect effects through prejudice on support for Stop-&-Frisk. Limits and possible future developments of this research are discussed.
Defining and defending risk: conceptual risk formulas in environmental controversies

Environmental risks are contested topics, and definitions of risk often vary across contexts, disciplines, and institutions. Identifying and describing differences between risk definitions is particularly important because they directly impact risk assessment and management practices. This paper describes how stakeholders rhetorically define and technically operationalize the risks of industrial chemicals, focusing on contemporary debates over flame retardant chemicals that in recent years have been the subject of numerous risk assessments, regulatory activities, and activist campaigns. This paper uses a multi-method approach to develop six conceptual risk formulas which delineate the components that go into evaluating risk and the relationships between those components: the classic risk formula, the emerging toxicology risk formula, the exposure-proxy risk formula, the exposure-centric risk formula, the hazard-centric risk formula, and the either-or risk formula. Using chemical alternatives assessment as an example, this analysis demonstrates how conceptual risk definitions influence the operationalization of risk assessment and management activities.
The effects of modification of the COOH-terminal regions of bovine thyrotropin and its subunits.

Abstract Removal of a limited number of amino acid residues at the COOH termini of the peptide chains of the glycoprotein hormone, thyrotropin (TSH) shows that the integrity of these regions is important both in subunit-subunit interactions and in vivo biological response. Treatment of the native hormone with a mixture of carboxypeptidases A and B leads to loss of half of the biological activity with the removal of -Lys-Ser-COOH from the α chain and -Tyr-Met-COOH from the β chain. No other alterations to the molecule were detected. Although modification of the hormone does not lead to detectable dissociation, once separated the subunits isolated from the modified hormone do not recombine. The treated β subunit will, however, recombine with native α subunit as judged by gel electrophoresis but no biological activity is recovered. Treatment of isolated subunits leads to further and well defined hydrolysis at their COOH termini with -Tyr-Tyr-Lys-Ser-COOH removed from the α chain and -Lys-Ser-Tyr-Met-COOH removed from the β. Significant recombinations of these materials with each other or native TSH-α and TSH-β did not occur (as expected from the results with the subunits from treated hormone) but both TSH-α and luteinizing hormone (LH)-α after enzymic hydrolysis yielded recombinants, though inactive, with native LH-β. These data indicate significant differences in the regions of the two hormone specific subunits which are in contact with the α subunit. Immunological cross reactivity of all products of enzymatic treatment appears unchanged. Measurement of circular dichroism showed conformational changes resulting from the alterations at the COOH termini only in the case of the α subunit where a strong positive band at 235 to 240 nm decreased markedly after treatment with the carboxypeptidases. Comparisons of the circular dichroism spectra of intact TSH and its subunits and those of luteinizing hormone (LH) were also made. The spectrum of intact TSH was not the sum of the spectra of its corresponding α and β subunits, in agreement with data reported by others for LH, and was very similar to that of bovine LH with the addition of a large maximum at 230 to 240 nm which results from the high tyrosine content of TSH-β versus LH-β.
Comparison of horizontal and vertical thin film contact

This paper contrasts the very different spreading resistance and current crowding behaviors between horizontal and vertical thin film contact. Both Cartesian and circular contacts are analyzed. Accurate analytical scaling laws have been obtained for arbitrary aspect ratios and resistivity ratios, and validated against known limits, numerical simulations and experiments.
Decision-Making in the Context of Imprecise Probabilistic Beliefs

Coherent imprecise probabilistic beliefs are modelled as incomplete comparative likelihood relations admitting a multiple-prior representation. Under a structural assumption of Equidivisibility, we provide an axiomatization of such relations and show uniqueness of the representation. In the second part of the paper, we formulate a behaviorally general axiom relating preferences and probabilistic beliefs which implies that preferences over unambiguous acts are probabilistically sophisticated and which entails representability of preferences over Savage acts in an Anscombe-Aumann-style framework. The motivation for an explicit and separate axiomatization of beliefs for the study of decision-making under ambiguity is discussed in some detail.
An Overview of the Fortran D Programming System

The success of large-scale parallel architectures is limited by the difficulty of developing machine-independent parallel programs. We have developed Fortran D, a version of Fortran extended with data decomposition specifications, to provide a portable data-parallel programming model. This paper presents the design of two key components of the Fortran D programming system: a prototype compiler and an environment to assist automatic data decomposition. The Fortran D compiler addresses program partitioning, communication generation and optimization, data decomposition analysis, run-time support for unstructured computations, and storage management. The Fortran D programming environment provides a static performance estimator and an automatic data partitioner. We believe that the Fortran D programming system will significantly ease the task of writing machine-independent data-parallel programs.
Dollar bills for gold : A note on hoards

Abstract One reason for the recent unexpected weakness in the price of gold might be a worldwide substitution of USA currency for gold by holders, as is suggested by the abnormal growth in US currency in circulation.
Market Efficiency in Emerging Markets: Does the Legal System Matter?

This paper investigates the question of market efficiency in a sample of thirty-four emerging markets with different legal systems. We use both dollar and local currency returns to examine whether exchange rate effects can improve our understanding of the information flows in these capital markets. Using various tests, we find that market efficiency rate is higher for dollar denominated returns than for local currency returns. Contrary to our predictions, we find weak evidence that one country’s legal system contributes to the level of market efficiency. At the minimum, we can state that for local currency returns, civil law countries seem to have markets that are more efficient compared to those in common law countries. Overall, the findings are consistent with the suggestion that exchange rate reforms as well as exchange rate fluctuations may introduce biases that can affect market efficiency.
Characterization of the interference coupling technique into single mode fibers

Summary from only given. We propose a comparison of the single beam and the interference coupling schemes into single mode fibers. Coupling efficiency calculations, based on the overlapping integrals of the fiber mode field and the distribution of the input fight intensity are presented. This study takes into account the light coupling and propagation in the fiber core and cladding.
Latent Infection of Cells in HIV Disease

In evaluating current combination drug regimens for treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease, it is important to determine the existence of viral reservoirs. After depletion of CD8 cells from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of both patients and normal donors, activation of patient CD4 lymphocytes with immobilized antibodies to CD3 and CD28 enabled the isolation of virus from PBMCs of six patients despite the suppression of their plasma HIV RNA to fewer than 50 copies per milliliter for up to 2 years. Partial sequencing of HIV pol revealed no new drug resistance mutations or discernible evolution, providing evidence for viral latency rather than drug failure.
Causal Effects of Treatments for Informative Missing Data due to Progression/Death

In longitudinal clinical trials, when outcome variables at later time points are only defined for patients who survive to those times, the evaluation of the causal effect of treatment is complicated. In this paper, we describe an approach that can be used to obtain the causal effect of three treatment arms with ordinal outcomes in the presence of death using a principal stratification approach. We introduce a set of flexible assumptions to identify the causal effect and implement a sensitivity analysis for nonidentifiable assumptions which we parameterize parsimoniously. Methods are illustrated on quality of life data from a recent colorectal cancer clinical trial. This article has supplementary material online.
Molecular dynamics of d(CGCGAATTCGCG)2 complexed with netropsin and its minor groove methylating analog, Me-lex, using explicit and implicit water models

Abstract Me-lex, {1-methyl-4-[1-methyl-4-[3-(methoxysulfonyl)-propanamido]pyrrole-2-carboxamido]pyrrole-2-carboxamido}-propane}, a neutral methyl sulfonate analog of netropsin lacking the cationic tails, methylates adenines in the minor groove of DNA at the same A/T rich sequences targeted by netropsin, suggesting that minor groove recognition at A/T sequences can be achieved without the ionic and hydrogen bonding interactions involving the tails of such molecules. Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on the complexes of the Dickerson-Drew dodecamer, d(CGCGAATTCGCG), with Me-lex and netropsin and their binding interactions have been compared. Simulations have been conducted with an explicit solvent model and the Generalized Born (GB) implicit solvent model. The central bispyrrole triamide unit in both molecules establish similar interactions within the groove. The propyl and methyl sulfonate tails of Me-lex exhibit significant conformational flexibility, and the propyl group causes large variations in the minor groove width in its vicinity. Results obtained using the GB model are very similar to those obtained using the explicit water model. Therefore the computationally efficient GB model can be used to investigate interactions in such systems over longer time scales.
Effective neural algorithms for the traveling salesman problem

Abstract Recently, several researchers have tried to solve the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) using the Hopfield model. Unfortunately, the results obtained so far are not good enough compared with the results obtained by conventional heuristic algorithms. This article presents two new neural algorithms. The first one uses Hopfield's neural network, and is a neural implementation of the Karp and Steele algorithm. Based on a generalized neural network, the second neural algorithm improves the first one by adaptively changing the neural network and thus the optimization function. On 40 TSP instances with random distance matrices, the Neural Algorithm 2 is better than Neural Algorithm 1 with confidence level α = 0.05, and much better than the 2-OPT (30 runs) and the Lin and Kernighan algorithm (30 runs). For random planar instances, Neural Algorithm 2 provides excellent initial solutions for iterative improvement algorithms, such as 2-OPT or Lin and Kernighan algorithm. For example, on 40 instances (each having 100 cities), the results of Neural Algorithm 2 improved by 2-OPT are better by at least 1.1% (with confidence level α = 0.0069) than the results produced by 2-OPT with 25 random initial solutions. If the results are postprocessed by the Lin and Kernighan algorithm, the Neural Algorithm 2 also outperforms the Lin and Kernighan algorithm with 20 random initial solutions (for each problem instance). Furthermore, the Neural Algorithm 2 scales up better than Lin and Kernighan algorithm (30 runs).
Smart and Connected Health [Guest editors' introduction]

Computing plays an important role in all aspects of achieving and maintaining health and well-being. Exploiting health information technology for decreasing cost and errors is increasingly supported by government and academia in the US and abroad. This special issue includes four examples of recent innovative projects in the realm of smart and connected health.
ANTIMICROBIAL ACTION OF ALIPHATIC DIOLS AND THEIR ESTERS

The antimicrobial activity of a variety of aliphatic diols and their esters has been investigated. Inhibition of growth of Bacillus subtilis 60015 was found to depend on chain length and position of the hydroxyl groups. 1,2-diols were more effective than 1,3diols. Esterification also affected antimicrobial activity. Studies with membrane vesicles prepared from B. subtilis indicated that inhibition of amino acid transport is a primary antimicrobial effect of diols and their esters.
Identification and quantification of Gordona amarae strains in activated sludge systems using comparative rRNA sequence analysis and phylogenetic hybridization probes

Small subunit (SSU) ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes of four Gordona ( Nocardia ) amarae strains were sequenced and compared to the sequence of the G. amarae type strain obtained from the Ribosomal Database Project (RDP). Comparative sequence analysis showed that the five strains represent two lines of evolutionary descent: Group 1 consists of strains NM23 and ASAC1 and Group 2 contains strains SE-6, SE102, and ASF3. To determine the abundance of G. amarae in activated sludge systems, we designed three oligonucleotide probes: a species-specific probe for G. amarae , a probe specific for Group 1 and a probe targeting Group 2. The probes were characterized by performing dissociation temperature and specificity studies. Using these probes, two other strains, strains SE-149B and RBI, also were found to be part of Group 1. We used these probes along with previously designed probes in membrane hybridizations to determine the abundance of G. amarae , Group 1, Group 2, Bacteria, Mycobacterium complex, and Gordona in samples from foaming episodes. We demonstrated that the Mycobacterium complex, the genus Gordona , and G. amarae strains were present in significantly greater concentrations in activated sludge foam than in mixed liquor.
The cracking and decohesion of thin films on ductile substrates

Abstract The critical stress for the steady-state cracking of adherent thin films on a ductile substrate has been investigated for thin Cr films on Al and stainless steel. The critical stress has been shown to depend on the film thickness, the residual stress, the substrate yield strength, the ratio of elastic moduli and the model I fracture toughness of the film, in accordance with simple non-dimensional parameters determined from energy release rate calculations. Decohesion along the interface has also been found and discussed for stainless steel substrates. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment has been demonstrated.
Settlement and mortality of the Christian site (1050 A.D.–1300 A.D.) of Meinarti (Sudan)

Abstract Demographic analysis of cemetery data can be a useful complement to archaeological studies. Skeletal remains, when they comprise a representative sample, can serve to define certain relationships between the cultural and biological aspects of human adaptation. Furthermore, differential mortuary practices often mirror the status system of a society. Specifically, this paper examines the status system and mortality pattern of the community of Meinarti in the Sudan. Stationary life table analysis shows age, sex, and an additional factor (reflected in survival) as determinants of status. In addition, the analysis of mortality supports Adam's hypothesis of village growth and decline.
On lattice definitions of chiral gauge theories and the problem of anomalies

Abstract We argue that many lattice formulations of chiral gauge theories cannot reproduce the continuum theories that they are supposed to define. The lattice models contain global symmetries that are broken by anomalies in the continuum. To the extent that the lattice theories reproduce the low lying spectrum of the continuum models, the effective action they generate must contain Wess-Zumino terms that cancel these anomalies. In particular, many otherwise appealing lattice formulations of the standard model cannot reproduce the baryon number violating phenomena that have been the focus of much recent interest.
Longitudinal Trajectories of Cholesterol from Midlife through Late Life according to Apolipoprotein E Allele Status

Background: Previous research indicates that total cholesterol levels increase with age during young adulthood and middle age and decline with age later in life. This is attributed to changes in diet, body composition, medication use, physical activity, and hormone levels. In the current study we utilized data from the Framingham Heart Study Original Cohort to determine if variations in apolipoprotein E (APOE), a gene involved in regulating cholesterol homeostasis, influence trajectories of total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and total: HDL cholesterol ratio from midlife through late life. Methods: Cholesterol trajectories from midlife through late life were modeled using generalized additive mixed models and mixed-effects regression models. Results: APOE e2+ subjects had lower total cholesterol levels, higher HDL cholesterol levels, and lower total: HDL cholesterol ratios from midlife to late life compared to APOE e3 and APOE e4+ subjects. Statistically significant differences in life span cholesterol trajectories according to gender and use of cholesterol-lowering medications were also detected. Conclusion: The findings from this research provide evidence that variations in APOE modify trajectories of serum cholesterol from midlife to late life. In order to efficiently modify cholesterol through the life span, it is important to take into account APOE allele status.
Complement facilitates macrophage phagocytosis of inhaled iron particles but has little effect in mediating silica-induced lung inflammatory and clearance responses

Complement-mediated mechanisms are known to play a role in pulmonary inflammation and clearance responses to some types of inhaled particles. The present studies were undertaken to investigate the role of complement in mediating pulmonary inflammation and/or phagocytosis as a function of particle clearance in rats exposed to silica or carbonyl iron (CI) particles. Both particle types were shown to be weak activators of serum complement in vitro. In these studies, normal and complement-depressed (CVF-treated) rats were exposed to aerosols of CI or silica particles for 6 hr at 100 mg/m3. Following exposure, alveolar fluids and cells from sham and dust-exposed animals were recovered by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) at several time periods postexposure and measured for a variety of biochemical and cellular indices. In addition, pulmonary macrophages were cultured and studied for morphology and phagocytosis. Our results showed that CI exposure did not produce cellular or biochemical indices of pulmonary inflammation, either in normal or complement-depleted rats. However, fewer phagocytic macrophages were recovered from the lungs of CVF-treated, CI-exposed rats than from normal exposed animals. In contrast, silica inhalation produced a sustained PMN inflammatory response in the lungs of exposed rats, measured up through 1 month postexposure, along with significant increases in BAL fluid levels of LDH, protein, and alkaline phosphatase (P less than 0.05) and deficits in pulmonary macrophage phagocytic functions. Cobra venom factor (CVF) treatment prior to exposure in rats had no significant effect upon the silica-induced parameters, suggesting that complement may not play an important role in the acute pulmonary response to silica. The results indicate that complement may play a role in mediating CI-related macrophage clearance responses but has little effect upon sustained silica-induced pulmonary inflammatory parameters.