cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Understanding the Effects Small Scale Heterogeneity on Buoyancy Driven CO2 Migration for Capillary Trapped Storage Capacity Estimation

Abstract During geologic carbon sequestration, the long term movement and migration of CO 2 occurring far from the wells, is majorly controlled by the interplay between buoyancy and capillary forces. Geological heterogeneity, which is well known to affect the fluid flow in the subsurface, becomes an even more pronounced influence in capillary dominated flows. In such cases, core-flooding and numerical experiments have shown that capillary pressure contrasts due to small scale heterogeneities can affect the flow path of the invading CO 2 resulting in back filling and accumulation beneath capillary barriers. In this work, we investigate the impact of small-scale heterogeneity on CO 2 trapping capacity by simulating the migration of CO 2 through nature mimicking high resolution geological domains. Realistic sedimentary 3D models to be used as flow domains are generated for 4 common fluvial clastic facies with accurately represented bedform morphology. The models are populated with petrophysical parameters representative of sandstone lithologies with different grain sizes and sorting. A modified invasion percolation simulator is employed to enable the use of high resolution models and capture the relevant flow physics. Results from these simulations provide insight into how the saturation aka the storage capacity is a non-linear function of the capillary contrast, which suggests some predictive ability is achievable from common sedimentological descriptors.
Metal stents versus plastic stents for the management of pancreatic walled-off necrosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and Aims Endoscopic transluminal drainage of symptomatic walled-off necrosis (WON) is a good management option, although the optimal choice of drainage site stent is unclear. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare metal stents (MSs) and plastic stents (PSs) in terms of WON resolution, likelihood of resolution after 1 procedure, and adverse events. Methods An expert librarian queried several databases to identify studies that assessed WON management, and selection was according to a priori criteria. Publication bias, heterogeneity, and study quality were evaluated with the appropriate tools. We performed single and 2-arm meta-analyses for noncomparative and comparative studies using event rate random-effects model and odds ratio (OR)/difference in means, respectively. Results We included 41 studies involving 2213 patients. In 2-arm study meta-analysis, WON resolution was more likely with MSs compared with PSs (OR, 2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-4.6; P Conclusion Evidence suggests that MSs are superior for WON resolution, with fewer bleeding events, trend toward less occlusion and perforation rate, but increased migration rate compared with PSs.
To be or not 2b? To see or not 2c? Alas, the clock is ticking on TICI

The time has come to throw the flag on the Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (TICI) scale. Conceived in surrogacy from our cardiology brethren and sistren’s Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) score,1 TICI’s birth was anything but smooth. However, even though plagued by internal inconsistencies,2 confusing nomenclature,3 unclear pronunciation (are you a ‘tissy’ or ‘tiki’ person?), and modifications and more modifications, TICI emerged from a small cohort of recanalization scales (does anyone remember AOL?4) to become the coin of the realm in research and clinical practice. But, heck, we don’t even use thromb o lysis anymore, having entered the era of embolectomy years ago. Before turning to how we might fix this situation, we must acknowledge that TICI—and mTICI and oTICI—have served their purpose. TICI started out as a six-point scale that gradually collapsed to a dichotomous scale (2b or better) that was a simple and useful, yet surrogate, outcome for clinical and device-related trials. But our community can—and must—do better. The three of us are not the first to lament the limitations of TICI. In 2012, a working group led by Dr Zaidat concluded, ‘Until further technical and imaging advances can incorporate real-time reliable perfusion studies in the angio-suite to delineate regional perfusion more accurately, the TICI grading system is the best defined and most widely used scheme … A new scale that combines primary site occlusion, lesion location, and perfusion should be explored in the future.’5 That future is now.6 ### More is better Multiple recent studies have shown strong correlation between ≥TICI 2b subcategories and outcome.7 Surprise, TICI 3 is better than …
Re: A Prospective Randomized Trial of the Effects of Early Enteral Feeding after Radical Cystectomy

Objective To investigate the role of early feeding on recovery after radical cystectomy and urinary diversion. Enhanced recovery protocols have helped to standardize postoperative recovery. This is the first study to directly review the impact of early feeding on recovery in a randomized multi-institutional protocol. Methods From 2011 to 2014, patients at 2 large hospitals were randomized after radical cystectomy to receive access to liquids and then a regular diet on postoperative days 1 and 2 or conventional care with introduction of a liquid diet after return of bowel activity, typically days 3-5. Early ambulation, use of metoclopramide, and no nasogastric tube were standard for all patients. The study was powered to detect a 50% decrease in 90-day complication rate with secondary end points of length of stay, time to bowel activity, and time to diet tolerance. The study was terminated early due to slow accrual (102 of 328). Results Overall complications for the early vs standard groups were similar (34 vs 31, P = .86). Immediate inpatient and postdischarge complication rates were also similar ( P = .63 and P = .44). Length of stay was not different (8.74 days vs 9.69 days, P = .43). Rates of ileus (27% vs 41%, P = .21) and return of bowel function (4.67 days vs 4.09 days, P = .62) were the same in arms. Conclusion Although this prospective randomized study did not meet the accrual target, early introduction of diet was well tolerated and did not show a negative or positive difference in any outcomes. Enhanced recovery protocols standardize postoperative care and early feeding is a well-tolerated addition.
Genocide of Native Americans: Historical Facts and Historiographic Debates

One of the most sobering themes that underlie North American history is the demographic collapse that Euro-American contact initiated among many of the continent’s indigenous peoples. As twentieth-century scholars consider the post-contact unfolding of Euro-American and Native American histories and the ways in which they have become inextricably intertwined, their oft-divergent trajectories raise immediate questions of causality. There is no doubt that contact with Euro-Americans served as the catalyst for sea changes in Native America, but the demographic decline apparent in historical retrospect was not an inevitable outcome to be imposed upon historical actors or events. To presume that the tragic fate of many indigenous peoples was unavoidable precludes carrying out any inquiry into the causal relationships between cultures, empires, and individuals.
General Considerations for Neurointerventional Procedures

This chapter is a vade mecum (i.e., an essential guide) for neurointerventionalists, covering fundamental aspects of neurointerventional procedures, including pre-procedural preparation, vascular access, antithrombotic management, intervention phase, provocative testing procedures, intra-arterial chemotherapy, post-procedural care, and complication management and avoidance. The Appendix discusses the neurointerventional suite.
The stereospecificity of alcohol oxidases from Tanacetum vulgare and Candida boidinii.

The stereospecificity of the oxidation of trans-hex-2-en-1-ol and ethanol was determined for alcohol oxidases from Tanacetum vulgare leaves and from the yeast Candida boidinii. It was found that both enzymes remove the pro-1R hydrogen. The enzyme from Candida boidinii also removes the pro-1S hydrogen but to a much lesser degree.
Sex differences in myelin-associated protein levels within and density of projections between the orbital frontal cortex and dorsal striatum of adult rats: implications for inhibitory control

Impulsive actions and decisions often lead to undesirable outcomes. Lesion and neuroimaging studies have revealed that the orbital frontal cortex (OFC) and dorsal striatum (dSTR) play key roles in inhibitory control. It has been proposed that greater OFC input into the dSTR reflects enhanced top-down cognitive control and less impulsive responding. We previously reported a sex difference in inhibitory control, such that female rats make fewer impulsive errors than do male rats. The goal of the present study was to investigate differences in the OFC and dSTR of young adult male and female rats. In Experiment 1, we measured levels of two myelin-associated proteins, myelin basic protein (MBP) and myelin proteolipid protein (PLP), in the OFC and dSTR. Western blot data revealed that females had significantly higher levels of both MBP and PLP in the OFC but similar levels in the dSTR as compared to males. In Experiment 2, we infused the anterograde tracer, biotinylated dextran amine (BDA), into the OFC and measured the density of BDA in the dSTR. BDA was visualized using histochemistry followed by light microscopy imaging and densitometry analysis. Density of BDA in the dSTR was significantly greater in females as compared to males indicating that the projections from the OFC to dSTR may be greater in females as compared to males. Our results suggest a potential neuroanatomical sex difference that may contribute to the reported differences in inhibitory control levels of male and female rats.
Modulating cellular autophagy for controlled antiretroviral drug release.

AIM Pharmacologic agents that affect autophagy were tested for their abilities to enhance macrophage nanoformulated antiretroviral drug (ARV) depots and its slow release. METHODS These agents included URMC-099, rapamycin, metformin, desmethylclomipramine, 2-hydroxy-β-cyclodextrin (HBC) and clonidine. Each was administered with nanoformulated atazanavir (ATV) nanoparticles to human monocyte-derived macrophages. ARV retention, antiretroviral activity and nanocrystal autophagosomal formation were evaluated. RESULTS URMC-099, HBC and clonidine retained ATV. HBC, URMC-099 and rapamycin improved intracellular ATV retention. URMC-099 proved superior among the group in affecting antiretroviral activities. CONCLUSION Autophagy inducing agents, notably URMC-099, facilitate nanoformulated ARV depots and lead to sustained release and improved antiretroviral responses. As such, they may be considered for development as part of long acting antiretroviral treatment regimens.
Quality of INR control and switching to non-Vitamin K oral anticoagulants between women and men with atrial fibrillation treated with Vitamin K Antagonists in Spain. A population-based, real-world study

Background Worldwide, there is growing evidence that quality of international normalized ratio (INR) control in atrial fibrillation patients treated with Vitamin K Antagonists (VKA) is suboptimal. However, sex disparities in population-based real-world settings have been scarcely studied, as well as patterns of switching to second-line Non-VKA oral anticoagulants (NOAC). We aimed to assess the quality of INR control in atrial fibrillation patients treated with VKA in the region of Valencia, Spain, for the whole population and differencing by sex, and to identify factors associated with poor control. We also quantified switching to Non-VKA oral anticoagulants (NOAC) and we identified factors associated to switching. Methods This is a cross-sectional, population-based study. Information was obtained through linking different regional electronic databases. Outcome measures were Time in Therapeutic Range (TTR) and percentage of INR determinations in range (PINRR) in 2015, and percentage of switching to NOAC in 2016, for the whole population and stratified by sex. Results We included 22,629 patients, 50.4% were women. Mean TTR was 62.3% for women and 63.7% for men, and PINNR was 58.3% for women and 60.1% for men (p<0.001). Considering the TTR<65% threshold, 53% of women and 49.3% of men had poor anticoagulation control (p<0.001). Women, long-term users antiplatelet users, and patients with comorbidities, visits to Emergency Department and use of alcohol were more likely to present poor INR control. 5.4% of poorly controlled patients during 2015 switched to a NOAC throughout 2016, with no sex differences. Conclusion The quality of INR control of all AF patients treated with VKA in 2015 in our Southern European region was suboptimal, and women were at a higher risk of poor INR control. This reflects sex disparities in care, and programs for improving the quality of oral anticoagulation should incorporate the gender perspective. Clinical inertia may be lying behind the observed low rates of switching in patient with poor INR control.
Harvard Law School Report on the State of Black Alumni II: 2000-2016

On January 10, 2017, President Barack Obama delivered his formal farewell address to the country in Chicago, the city that had given him his political start. In reflecting on the achievements and challenges of his two terms in office, the president paid special attention to an issue that he knew would, for better and for worse, define his presidency: Race. In the simple, yet elegant, language that even his harshest critics have come to respect, the president said this about the state of race relations after eight years of the Age of Obama: "After my election, there was talk about a post-racial America. Such a vision, no matter how well-intended, was never realistic. For race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society. I’ve lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were 10, 20, 30 years ago — you can see it not just in the statistics, but in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum. But we are not where we need to be. All of us have more work to do." In this Report, we offer a preliminary assessment of how much progress had been made — and how much work remains to be done — in a part of the American economy President Obama knows well: the legal profession. We do so by examining the careers of the black graduates of President Obama’s law school alma matter in the 16 years since the beginning of the new millennium. Harvard Law School provides an important lens through which to study these issues. One hundred and fifty years ago this year, the Law School enrolled George Lewis Ruffin, who would go on to be the first black person to graduate from any law school in the United States. In the intervening years, Harvard has graduated more black lawyers — over 2,700 — than any law school in the country with the exception of the great Howard University School of Law. Among their ranks are some of the most powerful and influential lawyers in the world, including the 44th President of the United States and the country’s former First Lady, Michelle Obama ’88. In 2000, the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession released a Report on the State of Black Alumni: 1869-2000 chronicling the achievements and continuing challenges of this remarkable group of lawyers on the basis of a comprehensive survey of the careers of over 650 of the school’s African American alumni. In this new Report, based on a second survey of the school’s black alumni, including those that graduated in the new millennium and matured during the Age of Obama, we both bring that history up to date and offer new perspectives for this new era. Collectively, we hope that these two reports will provide the “common baseline of facts” that President Obama identified in his farewell address as key to a civil dialogue in a functioning democracy, for a profession that will always have a central role in guaranteeing the freedom and equality that are the cornerstones of our democracy.
Antecedentes históricos de la potestad sancionadora de la Administración en Chile

The purpose of this work is to account for the origin and development of the sanctioning authority of the Administration in Chile. The central hypothesis of this research postulates that its origin is found in the police activity that came to America through the application of Castilian-Indian law, from which it evolved until its current consolidation as another authority of the Administration.
Uterine Cells Improved Ovarian Function in a Murine Model of Ovarian Insufficiency.

Primary ovarian insufficiency (POI) is defined as ovarian dysfunction in women younger than 40 years. It affects 1% of the women in this age-group and can occur iatrogenically after chemotherapy. Stem cells have been used in attempt to restore ovarian function in POI. In particular, endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs) are easily obtainable in humans and have shown great potential for regenerative medicine. Here, we studied the potential for uterine cell (UC) suspensions containing eMSCs to improve ovarian function in a murine model of chemotherapy-induced POI. Green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled UC or phosphate-buffered solution (PBS) was delivered intravenously after chemotherapy. There was a significant increase in oocytes production and serum anti-Mullerian hormone concentrations after 6 weeks, as well as a 19% higher body mass in UC-treated mice. Similarly, we observed an increased number of pups in mice treated with UC than in mice treated with PBS. None of the oocytes or pups incorporated GFP, suggesting that there was no contribution of these stem cells to the oocyte pool. We conclude that treatment with UC indirectly improved ovarian function in mice with chemotherapy-induced POI. Furthermore, our study suggests that endometrial stem cell therapy may be beneficial to young women who undergo ovotoxic chemotherapy.
Floating treatment wetland retrofit in a stormwater wet pond provides limited water quality improvements

Abstract Floating treatment wetlands (FTW) are an emerging management practice for improving water quality in stormwater wet ponds or other detention basins. Although there is substantial evidence of nutrient reductions by FTW in mesocosm-scale studies, findings from field-scale studies on the water quality benefits of FTW are less conclusive. A medium-sized stormwater wet pond (~0.8 ha) was partially divided using an impermeable liner and monitored for 280 d using a control and FTW treatment (~20–23% FTW coverage) to determine impact of FTW on concentrations of several water quality parameters at the field-scale. Discrete samples and high-frequency, multi-point monitoring were used to assess water quality differences. No significant differences between the two treatments were found for total nitrogen, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, or total phosphorus, based on discrete samples, and in situ monitoring showed dissolved oxygen was significantly lower in the FTW treatment by roughly 2.6 mg L−1. The FTW treatment had significantly higher nitrate concentrations in discrete samples, but this finding was not supported by the high-frequency data collected when considering the full monitoring period. The FTW had significantly lower total suspended solids, based on discrete and high-frequency sampling, and resulted in a 10–43% reduction in TSS (~25% mean reduction), relative to the control. Comparison of subsets of the high-frequency data to discrete sampling data demonstrated how limited discrete sampling can lead to partial information and potentially erroneous conclusions when assessing FTW treatment effect in stormwater, especially when differences in water quality chemistry are small.
Age is in the Eye of the Beholder: Distinguishing Molecular Signatures in Early-onset Pancreatic Adenocarcinomas

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is more prevalent in older patients, but early-onset cases (<55 years) may be a distinct genetic subpopulation. Differential expression of CDKN2A and transcription factor FOXC2 were found in early-onset cases. This finding opens the door to investigating additional features that distinguish PDAC tumors in this age group.See related article by Tsang et al., p. 246.
Setting the Record Straight on the Death Penalty: A Critical Review of American Roulette

This is a critical review of the book American Roulette: The Social Logic of Death Penalty Sentencing Trials by Sarah Beth Kaufman. This review covers the topics of race, strategic trial considerations, victim impact testimony, the future dangerousness standard, and death-qualified juries. While the book is not without its merits, this review primarily focuses on its shortcomings—the most significant of which is the lack of interaction with counterarguments.
Paradoxes of Populism

Analyses often place authoritarianism in the same box as rightwing populism. Their features overlap and they may cooperate, yet differences between authoritarianism and rightwing populism are equally important. Another feature of populism discussions is presentism. Because populism looms large in media and news, it draws us into the present. Because it comes with political polarization and culture war, we are drawn to take sides, which again draws us into the present. Discussions of rightwing populism are often west-centric and generalize from a few instances. Zooming out and considering a larger database may offer insights. How do rightwing populism and nativist nationalism relate to connectivity and to long waves of social change? Do nativist nationalism, protectionism and withdrawing from multilateralism signal a trend toward deglobalization or does it indicate a reorganization of globalization?
Predictors of Nursing Home Admission Among a Cohort of Homeless Older Adults Entering Emergency Shelter.

Objective This study examined the extent and timing of nursing home admissions among older adults who had their first visit at an emergency shelter or re-entered after an extended absence. We assessed the relationships between demographic characteristics, health and behavioral health conditions, and health services utilization measures and the risk of nursing home admission. Methods We linked administrative data from the emergency shelter system in Boston, MA to claims data from the Massachusetts Medicaid program. Using the linked data, we identified a cohort of 432 adults aged 55 and above who entered the shelter for the first time (or re-entered after an extended absence) between 2012 and 2015. We estimated Kaplan-Meier survival curves and hazard functions to describe the extent and timing of nursing home admissions in this population following the date of their initial shelter entry and Cox proportional hazards regression models to identify predictors of the risk of nursing home admission. Results Roughly 12% of the study cohort had a nursing home admission within 4 years of their initial shelter entry and risk of shelter admission was highest in the first few months following shelter entry. Older age, diagnoses indicating alcohol use disorder, greater overall disease burden, and a prior history of nursing home admission were all associated with a higher risk of nursing home admission following shelter entry. Conclusions Amidst ongoing growth in the number of older homeless adults, our study findings have important implications for efforts to meet the housing and health needs of this population.
"I'm Worth Saving": Making Sense of Medication Taking in a Care Coordination Organization.

Patients and healthcare providers (HCPs) may communicatively make sense of medication taking in divergent ways. Often, HCPs prioritize medication adherence, the extent to which patients consume med...
Efficacy of long-term indomethacin therapy in prolonging pregnancy after fetoscopic laser surgery for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome: a collaborative cohort study.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of long-term indomethacin therapy (LIT) in prolonging pregnancy and reducing spontaneous preterm birth (PTB) in patients undergoing fetoscopic laser surgery (FLS) for the management of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). DESIGN Retrospective cohort study of prospectively collected data. SETTING Collaborative multicentre study. POPULATION Five hundred and fifty-seven consecutive TTTS cases that underwent FLS. METHODS Long-term indomethacin therapy was defined as indomethacin use for at least 48 hours. Log-binomial regression was used to estimate the relative risk of PTB in the LIT group compared with a non-LIT group. Cox regression was used to evaluate the association between LIT use and FLS-to-delivery survival. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Gestational age (GA) at delivery. RESULTS Among the 411 pregnancies included, a total of 180 patients (43.8%) received LIT after FLS and 231 patients (56.2%) did not. Median GA at fetal intervention did not differ between groups (20.4 weeks). Median GA at delivery was significantly higher in the LIT group (33.6 weeks) compared with the non-LIT group (31.1 weeks; P < 0.001). FLS-to-delivery interval was significantly longer in the LIT group (P < 0.001). The risks of PTB before 34, 32, 28 and 26 weeks of gestation were all significantly lower in the LIT group compared with the non-LIT group (relative risks 0.69, 0.51, 0.37 and 0.18, respectively). The number needed to treat with LIT to prevent one PTB before 32 weeks of gestation was four, and to prevent one PTB before 34 weeks was five. CONCLUSION Long-term indomethacin after FLS for TTTS was found to be associated with prolongation of pregnancy and reduced risk for PTB. TWEETABLE ABSTRACT Long-term indomethacin used after fetoscopic laser surgery for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome is effective in prolonging pregnancy and reducing the risk for preterm birth; especially extreme preterm birth.
A preliminary report on the use of barbiturates with ether by rectum

Abstract 1. 1. We do not feel that our conclusions can be final at the present time, but the results have been satisfactory enough to warrant the continued use of these drugs for a further time. 2. 2. This method of sedation can be given earlier in the course of labor than most methods in vogue up to the present time. 3. 3. Primiparous patients seem to respond more definitely than do multiparous. 4. 4. If one uses this procedure, he should be prepared to deliver the patient with outlet forceps at the termination of the second stage of labor. 5. 5. There is no contraindication to giving inhalation anesthesia to complete the delivery. 6. 6. There has been no harmful effect upon the mother or the child. 7. 7. These patients should be watched carefully at all times following the injection. 8. 8. The injection should be given by a person who is particularly trained in the administration of rectal medication. 9. 9. There was no evidence of the child suffering from either the injection of the drugs or the small amount of inhalation anesthesia given to the mother at the end of the second stage. 10. 10. Relaxation of the pelvic muscles seem to be better than under ordinary circumstances. 11. 11. There is a tendency, we believe, for slightly more bleeding than normal, but this has not been definitely proved. 12. 12. Protection of the buttocks and the perineum, particularly as small amounts of material is expelled, should be carefully done. 13. 13. Patients given this instillation can not be depended upon to cooperate during the second stage of labor because if not entirely unconscious, are mentally confused to the point of being irrational. 14. 14. The contraindications as listed above should be particularly stressed, and especially toxemia where the amount of liver damage is not definitely known, as the therapeutists tell us that the barbituric acid preparations are eliminated principally through this organ. 15. 15. In our limited experience this method of analgesia has proved satisfactory enough and not fraught with any danger, so that we will continue its use until a larger series has been collected.
Dimers on the kagome lattice I: Finite lattices

Abstract We report exact results on the enumeration of close-packed dimers on a finite kagome lattice with general asymmetric dimer weights under periodic and cylindrical boundary conditions. For symmetric dimer weights, the resulting dimer generating functions reduce to very simple expressions, and we show how the simple expressions can be obtained from the consideration of a spin-variable mapping.
Detection and differentiation of live and heat‐treated Salmonella enterica serovars inoculated onto chicken breast using Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy

Aims: To evaluate Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) techniques for detecting, quantifying, and differentiating viable and heat-treated cells of Salmonella enterica serovars from chicken breast. Methods and Results: Salmonella enterica serovars were captured from inoculated chicken breast by filtration and immunomagnetic separation (IMS) prior to spectral collection using an FT-IR spectrometer and IR microscopy. The detection limits, based on amide II peak area (1589 to 1493 cm−1), for the Filtration-FT-IR and IMS-FT-IR methods were 106 and 104 CFU g−1, respectively. The bacteria were detectable after 6 h of culture enrichment during a sensitivity experiment with lower initial inoculum of 101 CFU g−1. Canonical variate analysis differentiated experimental from control spectra at a level of 103 CFU g−1. Partial least squares models were established for the quantification of Salm. enterica from chicken breast using Filtration-FT-IR (R2 ≥ 0·95, RMSEC ≤ 0·62) and IMS-FT-IR (R2 ≥ 0·80, RMSEC ≤ 1·61) methods. Filtration-FT-IR was also used to detect and quantify live Salm. enterica in the presence of heat-treated cells with R2 = 0·996, and this approach was comparable to the results of a commercial stain (BacLight™; R2 = 0·998). Discriminant and canonical variate analyses of the spectra differentiated live and dead cells of different serovars of Salm. enterica. Conclusions: FT-IR analysis coupled with separation methods is useful for the rapid detection and differentiation of Salm. enterica separated from chicken. Significance and Impact of the Study: FT-IR-based methods are faster than traditional microbiological methods and can be used for the detection of live and dead bacteria from complex foods.
Necessary and sufficient conditions for equality of sibling and parent-offspring risk of a disease endophenotype in case families.

Summary A large number of linkage and association studies of complex diseases focus on analysis of a more common or more easily measured disease endophenotype. The motivation for this approach is that there is a pleiotropic locus common to both the disease and the endophenotype and that this locus is a major genetic determinant of the endophenotype. In this paper, we determine the conditions under which the risk of the endophenotype in siblings of affected probands with disease equals the risk of the endophenotype in the offspring (parents) of affected parents (offspring) with disease. In doing so we prove that this equality holds if and only if the penetrance of either the endophenotype or the disease (but not necessarily both) is additive.
Electro-Optical Switches

The sections in this article are 1 Main Characteristics Ofelectro-Optic Modulators 2 Modulators Incorporating Coupled Waveguides 3 1 × 2 (Y-fed) Directional Coupler 4 Interferometric Modulator 5 Total Internal Reflection Switch 6 Switches Employing Mode Conversion 7 Main Trends of Development of Electro-Optical Modulators 8 Conclusion
Tertiary care improves the chance for vaginal delivery in women with preeclampsia.

Abstract Objective The purpose of this study was to determine whether the level of hospital care affects cesarean delivery rates for women with preeclampsia. Study design We conducted a population-based cohort study using Missouri birth certificate data for 1993 through 1999. Logistic regression was used to analyze data from 13,646 nulliparous women with preeclampsia who were delivered of singleton live births. Results After adjustment was made for gestational age and birth weight, the data showed that women with preeclampsia at primary and secondary hospitals were more likely to be delivered by cesarean delivery (odds ratio, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.24,1.51; and odds ratio, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.07,1.26, respectively) than at tertiary hospitals. For women who were delivered at ≥37 weeks of gestation, cesarean delivery rates were 38.0%, 33.7%, and 30.0% for primary, secondary, and tertiary hospitals, respectively. Dysfunctional labor, cephalopelvic disproportion, and fetal distress were more commonly noted at primary and secondary hospitals ( P Conclusion Levels of expertise and staffing at tertiary hospitals may allow greater attempts and success with vaginal delivery among women with preeclampsia compared with primary or secondary hospitals.
Using δ87 Sr values to identify sources of salinity to a freshwater aquifer, Greater Aneth Oil Field, Utah, USA

Salinity increases in water from the freshwater Navajo aquifer in the Aneth area have been documented in recent years. Previous studies during the 1980s in the Aneth area suggested that brines associated with oil production and their subsequent re-injection were the probable source of salinity in the Navajo aquifer. Differences in the delta strontium-87 (δ87Sr) composition of ground-water samples from southeastern Utah were used to determine if oil-field brine or water from the upper Paleozoic aquifer is a plausible source of salinity to the Navajo aquifer. The δ87Sr values of the oil-field brine samples (mean = −0.95%, range = −1.06 to −0.79%, n = 5) are substantially more negative than the values in water samples from wells completed in the Navajo aquifer (mean = 0.73, range = −0.85 to 2.02%, n = 48), indicating that oil-field brine is not a source of salinity. The δ87Sr values in water samples from wells completed in the upper Paleozoic aquifer (mean = 0.801% range = 0.34 to 1.10%, n = 4) are similar to the mean isotopic composition of the more saline water from the Navajo aquifer. The δ87Sr values in water from the Navajo aquifer confirm that two distinct flow areas are present. Mixing models using the δ87Sr values and Sr concentrations of non-saline water from the Navajo aquifer and saline water from the upper Paleozoic aquifer indicate that water from the upper Paleozoic aquifer is a plausible source of saline water to the Navajo aquifer. Most Navajo aquifer wells that contain water with a δ87Sr signature similar to water from the upper Paleozoic aquifer are located within or adjacent to an area where the hydraulic gradient is favorable for upward movement of water from the upper Paleozoic aquifer into the Navajo aquifer.
Emerging Problems of Practice

The organizational contexts of the practice of architecture are undergoing increasingly fast rates of change. The shifts currently underway may be characterized and investigated under six headings: (1) the growing prominence of the firm; (2) a countervailing tension; (3) diversity of organizations; (4) invention of auxiliary strategies; (5) growing social stratification; and (6) career planning.
Maintenance of the Prothoracic Gland by the Juvenile Hormone in Insects

THE corpora allata, two small glands connected to the insect's brain, secrete the juvenile hormone which is responsible for larval syntheses and is thus a deterrent to adult differentiation. Larval–larval moults occur in the presence of a high titre of juvenile hormone, the larval–pupal moult in the presence of a decreased titre of juvenile hormone, and the moult from pupa to adult in the absence of juvenile hormone. Other physiological processes in some insects which appear to be governed by a secretion(s) from the corpora allata which may or may not be identical with the juvenile hormone are egg maturation and the secretory function of accessory sex glands1, maintenance of pupal diapause2, maintenance of larval diapause3,4, mating5, and perhaps the overall metabolism of the insect6. Whether the corpora allata secrete one, two or several hormones is still an open question which will not be definitely answered until chemical purification of all these principles is completed.
Evidence-Based Chiropractic Education: Are We Equipping Graduates for Clinical Practice with Improved Patient Outcomes?

Evidence-based practice has emerged as a driving factor in current curriculum development in chiropractic education. This commentary discusses educational strategies incorporating evidence-based practices in the doctor of chiropractic curriculum and explores whether all five steps of the evidence-based process and patient outcomes from evidence-based practice are being assessed.
Display of Munsell color values, earthquakes, and other three- and four-parameter datasets in stereo 3D

A new version of the program 3D.BAS facilitates display of three- and four-parameter datasets, particularly earthquake distributions and Munsell color measurements, by using stereoscopic 3D scatterplots. With respect to earthquakes, hypocenters can be plotted on whole-earth spherical plots or on rectangular plots for specific regions. The program allows a series of earthquakes to be examined quake by quake, with coding of symbol shapes and/or colors for depths, magnitudes, time intervals, or individual identification. It also allows a variety of panning, zooming, slicing, rotation, projection, and stepping. It can handle datasets of 104 earthquakes, and can filter such a dataset for quakes below, between, or above specific depths or intensities, or within chosen distances on either side of an oblique line. With respect to Munsell colors, the program can plot the three constituent parameters (hue, lightness, and chroma) on a rectangular coordinate system that mimics the arrangement of a stack of pages of color chips, or on cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems (the Munsell "color cylinder" or "color sphere").
Serosal Na/Ca exchange and H+ and Na+ transport by the turtle and toad bladders

A Na/Ca exchange system has been described in the plasma membrane of several tissues and seems to regulate the concentration of calcium in cytosol. Replacement of extracellular Na by sucrose increases calcium uptake into and decreases calcium efflux from the cell, leading to an increase in cytosolic calcium. The effect of an increase in cytosolic calcium mediated by the Na/Ca exchange system on H+ and Na transport in the turtle and toad bladder was investigated by replacing serosal Na isosmotically by sucrose or choline. Replacement of serosal by sucrose was associated with a significant inhibition of H+ secretion or Na transport which was reversible by addition of NaCl. Replacement of mucosal Na by sucrose failed to alter H+ secretion. Removal of serosal Na was associated with a significant increase in45Ca uptake which could be blocked by pretreatment with lanthanum chloride. Pretreatment with lanthanum chloride blunted the inhibitory effect of replacement of serosal Na by sucrose on H+ and Na transport, thus suggesting that the increase in calcium uptake and the inhibition of transport are causally related. Under anaerobic conditions the rate of H+ or Na transport are linked to the rate of lactate production. The inhibition of Na or H+ transport by removal of serosal Na was accompanied by a proportional decrease in lactate production, thus suggesting that an increase in cytosolic calcium does not inhibit transport by uncoupling glycolysis from transport. Replacement of serosal Na by sucrose did not alter the force of the H+ or Na pump but led to an increase in resistance of the active pathway of H+ and Na transport. The inhibition of Na transport by replacement of serosal Na with sucrose could be reversed by addition of amphotericin B, an agent which increases luminal permeability to Na, thus suggesting that decreased Na entry across the apical membrane is the mechanism responsible for the inhibition of Na transport. The results of the present studies strongly suggest that an increase in cytosolic calcium through the serosal Na/Ca exchange system inhibits H+ and Na transport in the turtle and toad bladder probably by increasing the resistance of the luminal membrane.
Managing engineering data for complex products

In this article we propose a design framework that integrates many application programs and manages the enormous quantity and variety of data generated while designing a complex product. Our discipline-independent framework provides data management services, such as version control and configuration management, needed by many engineering disciplines. This discipline-independent framework may be extended to satisfy the particular needs of specific engineering disciplines. The framework supports a message passing system and a flexible formula language, which facilitate the integration of design data from multiple disciplines. Our framework also includes powerful features for designing products with customer selectable options. First, we provide constructs, called option variables and option restrictions, for indicating what options are to be offered. Then, our option language allows designers to specify the product parametrically as a function of the option variables. Finally, we provide features for verifying that the design satisfies specified constraints for all combinations of options to be offered.
Growth and Specific Nodule Activity of Soybean during Application and Recovery of a Leaf Moisture Stress.

Soybean plants growing at day/night temperatures of 30/18, 26/18, and 22/18 C were subjected to a single drying and recovery cycle during an 18- to 19-day period in the early to midpod development stage. Leaf total electrochemical water potential was reduced to about −24 bars during the 4-day drying cycle at all temperatures, but recovered to control levels upon rewatering. The changes in dry matter accumulation in whole plants and plant parts, specific activity of nodules as measured by acetylene reduction, and levels of adenosine phosphates in nodules were measured periodically during stress and recovery. Vegetative and reproductive growth were about equally suppressed by the leaf moisture stress. Both rate of appearance and number of pods were reduced. However, a similar average weight per pod for both stressed and control plants at the conclusion of the recovery period suggests that individual pod development is not irreversibly affected by a single stress cycle and that yield potential is restricted by a decrease in number of pods or seed. Dry matter accumulation in plants and pods was unaffected by temperature. Specific nodule activity and energy charge of nodules declined concurrently with leaf moisture potential. Recovery of specific nodule activity following rewatering lagged behind recovery of leaf moisture potential, but energy charge of nodules recovered as rapidly as leaf moisture potential upon rewatering. Thus, the delayed recovery of specific nodule activity does not appear to be related to recovery of energy charge of the nodules.
Plant Induced Defenses Depend More on Plant Age than Previous History of Damage: Implications for Plant-Herbivore Interactions

Herbivore-induced plant responses can significantly change as a function of plant developmental stage and previous history of damage. Yet, empirical tests that assess the combined role of multiple damage events and age-dependent constraints on the ability of plants to induce defenses within and among tissues are scarce. This question is of particular interest for annual and/or short-lived perennial plant species, whose responses to single or multiple damage events over a growing season are likely to interact with ontogenetic constraints in affecting a plant’s ability to respond to herbivory. Using Plantago lanceolata and one of its specialist herbivores, Junonia coenia, we examined the effect of plant ontogeny (juvenile vs. mature developmental stages) and history of damage (single and multiple damage events early and/or late in the season) on plant responses to leaf damage. Plant responses to herbivory were assessed as induced chemical defenses (iridoid glycosides) and compensatory regrowth, in both above- and below-ground tissues. We found that constitutive concentration of iridoid glycosides markedly increased as plants matured, but plant ability to induce chemical defenses was limited to juvenile, but not mature, plant stages. In addition, induced defenses observed 7 d following herbivory in juvenile plants disappeared 5 wk after the first herbivory event, and mature plants that varied considerably in the frequency and intensity of damage received over 5 wk, did not differ significantly in their levels of chemical defenses. Also, only small changes in compensatory regrowth were detected. Finally, we did not observe changes in below-ground tissues’ defenses or biomass a week following 50% removal of leaf tissues at either age class or history of damage. Together, these results suggest that in P. lanceolata and perhaps other systems, ontogenetic trajectories in plant growth and defenses leading to strong age-dependent induced responses may prevail over herbivore-induced indirect interactions.
Simultaneous Doppler blood velocity measurements from aorta and radial artery in normal human subjects

We used two independent, pulsed, range-gated, ultrasonic, Doppler blood velocity meters to record blood velocities in the aorta and a peripheral artery in 32 normal subjects aged 8 to 62 years. Aortic signals were obtained from an unfocussed transducer in the suprasternal notch using a 2.25 MHz instrument. Simultaneous tracings were obtained from the radial or posterior tibial artery using an 8 MHz instrument. The audio Doppler signals were subjected to spectral analysis and mean velocity was calculated at 5 ms intervals during 11 successive heart beats at each site. The increase in mean velocity at the start of systole in the aorta followed a linear pattern for the first 45 ms of ejection in two thirds of the beats, irrespective of the age or size of the subject. A similar linear velocity increase in early systole was seen in the peripheral arterial signals after a delay due to the time taken for the flow wave to pass to the periphery. Thus the constant acceleration seen in aortic blood velocity tracings is transmitted to peripheral arteries in an attenuated and delayed but undistorted form.
Bayesian learning in assisted brain-computer interface tasks

Successful implementation of a brain-computer interface depends critically on the subject's ability to learn how to modulate the neurons controlling the device. However, the subject's learning process is probably the least understood aspect of the control loop. How should training be adjusted to facilitate dexterous control of a prosthetic device? An effective training schedule should manipulate the difficulty of the task to provide enough information to guide improvement without overwhelming the subject. In this paper, we introduce a Bayesian framework for modeling the closed-loop BCI learning process that treats the subject as a bandwidth-limited communication channel. We then develop an adaptive algorithm to find the optimal difficulty-schedule for performance improvement. Simulation results demonstrate that our algorithm yields faster learning rates than several other heuristic training schedules, and provides insight into the factors that might affect the learning process.
Predictions of comulative damage for concrete and reinforced concrete

Nonlinear damage evolution equation is suggested to predict fatigue life of plain concrete subjected to sequential, constant amplitude loading. This approach seems to eliminate the nonconservative aspect of the linear damage law (the Miner hypothesis) and is based on the observed shape of the damage growth relationship. For serviceability based design of reinforced concrete structures, a simple nonlinear relationship is developed to relate the increases in deflection and crack width with the cycle-ratio. The results compare favorably with experimental data.