cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Enterobacter meningitis: organism susceptibilities, antimicrobial therapy and related outcomes

Abstract Background Meningitis due to Enterobacter species is an uncommon infection in adults; however, when present, treatment is frequently complicated by resistance of many Enterobacter isolates to third-generation cephalosporins and poor central nervous system penetration of other antibiotics. The aim of this study was to retrospectively review cases of meningitis caused by Enterobacter species at our institution, to better characterize patient factors, pathogen characteristics, and treatment options for this infection. Methods We reviewed all cases of Enterobacter meningitis in a 12-year period at a tertiary care center. Data collected included patient demographics, antibiotic sensitivities of Enterobacter isolates, antimicrobial therapy, and patient outcomes. Results Nineteen cases were identified, primarily in patients with neurotrauma and in neurosurgical patients. Enterobacter cloacae was the most frequent Enterobacter species isolated followed by Enterobacter aerogenes and Enterobacter agglomerans (50%, 34%, and 16% of cultures, respectively). Overall, clinical cure/improvement was achieved in 47% of patients, and the mortality rate was 21%. Antibiotic treatment varied substantially and included third-generation cephalosporins, intravenous and intrathecal aminoglycosides, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX), piperacillin, ciprofloxacin, and other miscellaneous antibiotics. Treatment with TMP-SMX was associated with a high rate of clinical cure/improvement, whereas third-generation cephalosporins were less efficacious. Conclusions Enterobacter meningitis is an infrequent complication of neurological insult. Treatment is often complicated by resistance of Enterobacter species to third-generation cephalosporins. Our results indicate that while third-generation cephalosporins are not the most appropriate choice of agents to treat Enterobacter meningitis, TMP-SMX may yield satisfactory results.
A new GNAT in bacterial signaling

Acyl-amino acids were discovered in the search for novel therapeutic agents produced by uncultured microorganisms. In this issue of Structure , Van Wagoner and Clardy (2006) find that the N -acyl-amino acid synthase FeeM bound to acyl-tyrosine is the latest member of the GCN5-related N -acyltransferase superfamily.
Primary Tumors of the Trachea. Results of radiation therapy

From 1959 to 1986, 24 patients with primary malignant tumors of the trachea received radiotherapy as all or part of treatment. Common presentations included respiratory symptoms in 20 patients and hemoptysis in 15. Thirteen patients had squamous carcinomas with undifferentiated and adenoid cystic cancers in five and four patients, respectively. Overall actuarial survival was 45% at 1 year, 25% at 5 years, and 13% at 10 years. Survival was significantly correlated to histologic type (adenoid cystic versus squamous, P less than 0.03), but not to tumor extent or to patient age or sex. Local control was attained in 10 of 24 patients overall and was more frequent for patients with tumors localized to the trachea and for patients who were treated with combined surgery and radiotherapy. For the 18 patients treated with radiotherapy alone, complete response (CR) was seen to be significantly (P less than 0.001) related to dose: six of seven (86%) patients receiving greater than or equal to 6000 cGy attained CR versus one of 11 (9%) receiving less than 6000 cGy. Three patients developed complications related to radiotherapy. Radiotherapy can provide durable local control of localized tracheal tumors and should be considered for medically inoperable patients with localized tumors and for patients with high risk of recurrence after resection.
Reconstructive lower urinary tract surgery in incontinent adolescents with exstrophy/epispadias complex

Abstract Objectives To outline the management strategies applied to the adolescent patient population with exstrophy/epispadias and incontinence at our institution. These patients present a difficult management problem. At the same time they are dealing with difficult issues, including body image and sexual awareness, the added burden of ongoing incontinence causes major anxieties and lifestyle restrictions. In many, incontinence has persisted despite numerous operations. Methods A total of 25 (19 male and 6 female) patients who remained incontinent into adolescence or early adulthood were reviewed. Of the 25 patients, 19 had exstrophy, 4 had cloacal exstrophy, and 1 male and 1 female had epispadias. Six patients had undergone eight prior attempts at continent reconstruction, one had undergone cutaneous diversion, and one had problems after ureterosigmoidostomy. Results The mean age at continence surgery was 12.9 years. Of the 25 patients, 18 underwent bladder augmentation, with a continent stoma in 17 and an artificial sphincter in 1. An additional 5 patients underwent bladder neck transection, with a new continent stoma in 3. The ureterosigmoidostomy was converted to a Mainz II pouch. One patient underwent continent neobladder formation. Nine patients (36%) developed complications during follow-up. Three required stoma revision for stenosis and one for prolapse. Pouch stones occurred in 4 patients, and vesicocutaneous fistula developed in 1. All achieved full urinary continence. The mean follow-up was 72.4 months. Conclusions Some children with exstrophy/epispadias reach adolescence and remain incontinent. For these patients, modern reconstructive techniques provide hope of continence. With careful preoperative assessment, exact surgical precision, and regular follow-up, a successful outcome can be expected in virtually all cases without the need for external urine collection devices.
Alternative approach to inertial confinement fusion

Abstract A small amount of uncompressed deuterium-tritium, inertially confined by the impact of hypervelocity projectiles with a few 10 km/s and heated by intense charged particle beams, can have a large thermonuclear gain. Because of the comparatively lower fusion fuel density, the deuterium-tritium plasma must be thermally insulated from the wall of the confining hypervelocity projectiles. This can be done by an entrapped strong magnetic field which can be generated by an intense charged particle beam, but also by other means.
Membrane orientation and antigenic peptides of an immunoprotective 74 kDa Plasmodium knowlesi glycoprotein.

Vaccination trails have shown that a purified, 74 kDa glycoprotein, GP74, isolated from the host cell membrane of Plasmodium knowlesi-infected rhesus erythrocytes, can provide protective immunity against P. knowlesi malaria. We have extended this work by a tryptic peptide analysis of the disposition of GP74 in the host cell membrane. Of the 18 peptides characterized by high-performance liquid chromatography only four were accessible to lactoperoxidase-catalyzed radioiodination of non-leaky, schizont-infected host cells from the extracellular space. Metabolic labeling with radioactive glucosamine indicates that two of the surface exposed peptides are glycopeptides, and one of these, peptide 12, appears to carry a dominant antigenic site, according to its reactivity with immunoglobulin from sera of monkeys protected against P. knowlesis malaria.
Empirical characterization of random forest variable importance measures

Microarray studies yield data sets consisting of a large number of candidate predictors (genes) on a small number of observations (samples). When interest lies in predicting phenotypic class using gene expression data, often the goals are both to produce an accurate classifier and to uncover the predictive structure of the problem. Most machine learning methods, such as k-nearest neighbors, support vector machines, and neural networks, are useful for classification. However, these methods provide no insight regarding the covariates that best contribute to the predictive structure. Other methods, such as linear discriminant analysis, require the predictor space be substantially reduced prior to deriving the classifier. A recently developed method, random forests (RF), does not require reduction of the predictor space prior to classification. Additionally, RF yield variable importance measures for each candidate predictor. This study examined the effectiveness of RF variable importance measures in identifying the true predictor among a large number of candidate predictors. An extensive simulation study was conducted using 20 levels of correlation among the predictor variables and 7 levels of association between the true predictor and the dichotomous response. We conclude that the RF methodology is attractive for use in classification problems when the goals of the study are to produce an accurate classifier and to provide insight regarding the discriminative ability of individual predictor variables. Such goals are common among microarray studies, and therefore application of the RF methodology for the purpose of obtaining variable importance measures is demonstrated on a microarray data set.
Effects of epidermal Langerhans cell's conditioned medium on keratinocytes: A role of Langerhans cells in cholesteatoma

Abstract Langerhans cells (LCs) are known to play an important role in the immunosurveillance system. In this study, as in others, numerous LCs were detected in the epithelial layer of acquired cholesteatoma by immunohistochemical staining. This finding suggests that cell-mediated immune responses are initiated by LCs in cholesteatoma; however, documentation concerning the microenvironment of LCs-keratinocytes in cholesteatoma is limited. Therefore, we investigated the effects of LCs on keratinocytes in vitro. To study these effects it was necessary to isolate and purify LCs. Our present study revealed that good enrichment and a high degree of purity (95%) of LCs could be obtained from neonatal rat skin using the immunomagnetic beads (Dynabeads M-450) sorting technique. These isolated LCs have the biologic activity of LCs, and Langerhans cells' conditioned medium (LCCM) stimulates DNA synthesis in thymocytes. The effect of LCCM on keratinocytes was then studied. We found that (1) LCCM stimulated DNA synthesis in keratinocytes, but not protein synthesis, and (2) LCCM stimulated the incorporation of 3H-putrescine into keratinocytes by the activation of transglutaminase. Transglutaminase is a known marker of terminal differentiation in keratinocytes. By Western blot analysis, we identified a 17-kd immunoreactive mouse interleukin-1α in LCCM. Our results imply that LCs found in cholesteatoma tissue may play an important role in stimulating both hyperproliferation and cornification of keratinocytes; two characteristic features of cholesteatoma formation. These stimulatory effects may be due to the release of interleukin-1 or other factors by LCs.
Simulation of Coupled Unsteady Flow and Heat Conduction in Turbine Stage

A three-dimensional, unsteady, compressible, e nite difference Navier ‐Stokes solver has been coupled with a three-dimensional, unsteady, e nite difference conduction heat-transfer solver to study conjugate heat-transfer problems in turbomachinery. The heat-transfer solver was validated by computing unsteady heat transfer in a cylinderandcomparingtheresultswithananalyticalsolution.Thecodewasthenappliedtoahigh-pressureturbine stage, typical of those found in modern high-bypassturbofan engines, with a nonuniform inlettemperatureproe le. The unsteady temperature e eld of a rotor blade, both at the surface and within the blade, has been examined in detail. The surface-temperature results have also been compared with those from a e ow simulation in which the blade surfaces were assumed to be adiabatic, demonstrating the need for the coupled approach.
Detection of nanoscale structural changes in bone using random lasers

We demonstrate that the unique characteristics of random lasing in bone can be used to assess nanoscale structural alterations as a mechanical or structural biosensor, given that bone is a partially disordered biological nanostructure. In this proof-of-concept study, we conduct photoluminescence experiments on cortical bone specimens that are loaded in tension under mechanical testing. The ultra-high sensitivity, the large detection area, and the simple detection scheme of random lasers allow us to detect prefailure damage in bone at very small strains before any microscale damage occurs. Random laser-based biosensors could potentially open a new possibility for highly sensitive detection of nanoscale structural and mechanical alterations prior to overt microscale changes in hard tissue and biomaterials.
Auxiliary frequency and voltage regulation in microgrid via intelligent electric vehicle charging

The recently developed power electronic devices allow the flexibility of power and/or reactive power generation or consumption via electric vehicle charging. It is envisioned that a fleet of electric vehicles may provide auxiliary means for frequency and voltage regulation to improve the power quality and the stability of the power grid. This emerging technology is especially important for microgrid because of the volatility of power generation and consumption in a microgrid due to its diverse and sometimes unpredictable power sources and distributed load. In this work, the intelligent electric vehicle charging control for reduced cost and improved stability of microgrid is formulated as a constrained optimization problem. In order to capture the uncertainties in a microgrid, a discrete-time Markov Decision Process is adopted to model the dynamics of the system. Value iteration and policy iteration are used to solve the problem, and simulation results indicate that the resulted action policy made state transitions towards the stable states, thus scheduled electric vehicle to provide auxiliary regulation services to stabilize the system.
Transcription services in the ED

This study's objectives were to determine the cost-effectiveness of introducing a transcription service into an emergency department (ED) and to determine the capacity of such a service to improve physician satisfaction. A prospective study of full-time emergency physicians was conducted in the ED of a community hospital in which a transcription service was introduced during peak periods of demand. Measurement was defined from a time-and-motion study consisting of direct observation by an industrial engineer who measured documentation time required for written and dictated charts. Surveys examined satisfaction with each record type among the emergency and non-emergency medical staff. It was found that dictation of the medical record was notably faster than writing (155 seconds compared with 220 seconds per record, P = .0002) for all physicians examined. Total productivity of the department improved by 3.8% (from 2.20 patients per physician-hour to 2.28 patients per physician-hour), calculated from patient volumes of 7,355 and 7,075 with the same staff (P < .05). When the records were transcribed, the mean subjective scores for satisfaction with the medical record improved from 2.1 to 3.6 (P = .0025) on a scale of 1 to 4. Surveys of nonemergency staff physicians documented that legibility score improved from 2.6 to 3.1 (P = .0056) and completeness improved from 2.6 to 3.0 (P = .0157), both on a scale of 1 to 4. It was concluded that dictating and transcribing ED medical records decreases the time required for documentation, improves record legibility and quality, allows more patients to be seen per physician-hour, and improves the satisfaction of emergency and nonemergency physicians.
Database management for a gynecologic oncology service.

Abstract With the ready availability of powerful desktop computers, the ability to manage large clinical databases has become practical. A computer can enhance the capability of a gynecologic oncology service to catalog, recall, and analyze data about patients, tumors, and therapies. While commercially available database packages can be used for this purpose, we have developed a custom database for tracking the clinical activity of a busy gynecologic oncology service. The system catalogs data about patients, admissions, tumors, and therapeutic modalities and uses this information to generate several useful reports. The reports are used for daily patient care, fellow and resident case statistics, and clinical research. What is unique about the system is that it is optimized for ease of use. The development of this tumor registry, its user friendliness, and advantages over a manual recordkeeping system are described. Unlike other tumor registries, our system is utilized on a daily basis for patient care. Therefore, the data being entered have an immediate usefulness in addition to being simultaneously added to the tumor register for retrospective clinical research. One may hypothesize that it would be useful if all gynecologic oncology services used a common computerized tumor registry that could allow for the sharing of information on a national or global Scale.
Endovascular treatment of a bilateral dural carotid-cavernous fistula using an unusual unilateral approach through the basilar plexus.

Background Indirect carotid-cavernous fistulae are dural arteriovenous shunts between dural branches of the internal and/or external carotid arteries and the cavernous sinuses. Methods We present an uncommon case of bilateral dural carotid-cavernous fistula with aggressive angioarchitectural features that was successfully treated with bilateral coil embolization using an unusual unilateral transvenous approach through the basilar plexus. Conclusions This route should be considered for similar cases, and also for unilateral fistulae when the ipsilateral petrosal sinus cannot be accessed.
In vitro and in vivo measurements of human RBCs frozen with glycerol and subjected to various storage temperatures before deglycerolization and storage at 4°C for 3 days

Background This study was designed to assess the effects of changes in storage temperature of frozen RBCs such as might occur during a malfunction of the -80 degrees C mechanical freezer or during shipment. Study design and methods Fifteen participants donated blood for autologous transfusion of RBCs; all RBCs were frozen with 40-percent (wt/vol) glycerol. Five subjects received RBCs that were stored at -80 degrees C alone before transfusion. Five subjects received RBCs that were stored initially at -80 degrees C, then at -40 degrees C for 4 weeks, and finally at -80 degrees C before transfusion. Five subjects received RBCs that were stored at -80 degrees C, then at -20 degrees C for 2 weeks, and finally at -80 degrees C before transfusion. After deglycerolization, the RBCs were stored at 4 degrees C in a sodium chloride-glucose solution for 3 days before transfusion. Results No significant differences were observed in freeze-thaw recovery, freeze-thaw-wash recovery, 24-hour posttransfusion survival, index of therapeutic effectiveness, or RBC ATP levels. Greater hemolysis and reduced RBC K+ levels were observed in the units stored at -80 degrees C/-40 degrees C/-80 degrees C and in those stored at -80 degrees C/ -20 degrees C/-80 degrees C compared with the units stored at -80 degrees C alone, but these differences did not affect the 24-hour posttransfusion survival. Conclusions The results of this study indicated that RBCs frozen with 40-percent (wt/vol) glycerol can be stored at -40 degrees C for 4 weeks or at -20 degrees C for 2 weeks between periods of frozen storage at -80 degrees C with satisfactory results.
An imaging overview of primary tumors of the spine: part 2. Malignant tumors

Primary malignant tumors of the spine are unusual, with morphologic characteristics that often lack the specificity required to render a definitive diagnosis. Because metastatic disease and leukemia are far more common, they merit reporting as well. The imaging appearances of malignant tumors of the spine provide key diagnostic information regarding the aggressive or nonaggressive behavior of such neoplasms. The addition of clinical information, including the age of the patient and the anatomic position of the lesion, is also essential. This article reviews and illustrates the imaging features of several malignant spinal tumors that allow formulation of a reasonable diagnosis.
The persistent-access-caching algorithm

Caching is widely recognized as an effective mechanism for improving the performance of the World Wide Web. One of the key components in engineering the Web caching systems is designing document placement-replacement algorithms for updating the collection of cached documents. The main design objectives of such a policy are the high cache hit ratio, ease of implementation, low complexity and adaptability to the fluctuations in access patterns. These objectives are essentially satisfied by the widely used heuristic called the least-recently-used (LRU) cache replacement rule. However, in the context of the independent reference model, the LRU policy can significantly underperform the optimal least-frequently-used (LFU) algorithm that, on the other hand, has higher implementation complexity and lower adaptability to changes in access frequencies. To alleviate this problem, we introduce a new LRU-based rule, termed the persistent-access-caching (PAC), which essentially preserves all of the desirable attributes of the LRU scheme. For this new heuristic, under the independent reference model and generalized Zipf's law request probabilities, we prove that, for large cache sizes, its performance is arbitrarily close to the optimal LFU algorithm. Furthermore, this near-optimality of the PAC algorithm is achieved at the expense of a negligible additional complexity for large cache sizes when compared to the ordinary LRU policy, since the PAC algorithm makes the replacement decisions based on the references collected during the preceding interval of fixed length. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2008 Technical Report EE2004-03-05, Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University, April 2004. First presented at the 10th Seminar on the Analysis of Algorithms, MSRI, 2004.
Cerebral Salt Wasting Syndrome

There is significant evidence to show that many patients with hyponatremia and intracranial disease who were previously diagnosed with SIADH actually have CSW. The critical difference between SIADH and CSW is that CSW involves renal salt loss leading to hyponatremia and volume loss, whereas SIADH is a euvolemic or hypervolemic condition. Attention to volume status in patients with hyponatremia is essential. The primary treatment for CSW is water and salt replacement. The mechanisms underlying CSW are not understood but may involve ANP or other natriuretic factors and direct neural influence on renal function. Future investigation is needed to better define the incidence of CSW in patients with intracranial disease, identify other disorders that can lead to CSW, and elucidate the mechanisms underlying this syndrome.
Right topological groups, distal flows, and a fixed-point theorem

Introduction. It is well known that the study of minimal equicontinuous transformation groups on compact Hausdorff spaces reduces to the study of compact Hausdorff topological groups and their quotients. In [3], Ellis has shown that the study of minimal distal transformation groups on compact Hausdorff spaces, which include the equicontinuous ones, reduces to the study of certain compact "right topological" groups and their quotients. A right topological group is a group provided with a topology such that x ~ x y is continuous for each y. This result of Ellis was exploited by Furstenberg in his striking and profound analysis of distal transformation groups or distal flows [7]. In the present paper, we make right topological groups the primary objects of study. This study is facilitated by the observation that each right topological group can be given a second topology (called the o-topology here) with pleasant properties. This topology is stronger than Furstenberg's "F-topology" when they can be compared, and they have many desirable features in common. Yet the definition of the o-topology is simpler. (At this point the reader may wish to peek at the definition of the g-topology in Section 1.) The treatment of the o-topology in Section 1 is more general than needed in the subsequent sections, but, at any rate, the entire Section 1 is quite elementary. The central issue of Section 2 is whether a compact Hausdorff r igh t topological group admits a quotient which is a non-trivial compact Hausdorff topological group. The positive answer requires some sort of metrizability condition (cf. Theorem 2.2). This is not surprising because each non-trivial compact Hausdorff topological group admits a non-trivial finite-dimensional representation. The proof of the main theorem (Theorem 2.2) uses a category argument which goes directly back to Furstenberg [7]. As an application, it is proved that a compact Hausdorff right topological group such that x ~ z x is continuous for each z belonging to a countable dense subset is a transfinite extension of a point by compact Hausdorff topological groups (Corollary 2.1).
Risk and Resilience in Coping With Chronic Life Stress

This review discusses evidence-based perspectives on risk and resilience in coping with chronic life stress. Future directions for inquiry and practice also are addressed.
Adapting an Implicit Path Delay Grading Method for Parallel Architectures

For large modern circuits, it is desirable to trade hardware cost for time when making path delay fault (PDF) coverage estimates, especially as a subroutine for automatic test pattern generation and timing analysis solutions. A parallel adaptation of an established framework for implicit PDF grading on with a general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPU) implementation is presented. Experimental evaluation on a NVIDIA Tesla C2075 GPU shows on average 50× speedup against the basic version for the framework on an Intel Xeon E5504 host system. Over a 1200× speedup is observed against a single-threaded, more complex version in the framework which grades more faults.
SEQUENTIAL SEARCHING SCHEMES FOR AN OPTIMAL DOSAGE

For a certain chemotherapy an optimal dosage is defined as the highest possible dose which is still not “too toxic.” A linear regression is assumed between toxicity and dosage. Sequential searching processes for an optimal dosage are proposed utilizing Bayesian techniques. Simulations are performed to indicate the effectiveness of the new schemes.
Effect of interfacial viscosities upon displacement in sinusoidal capillaries

This quantitative analysis shows the relative effects of interfacial tension, interfacial viscosities, and wetting during displacement in a capillary whose radius is a sinusoidal function of axial position. The effect of the interfacial viscosities is to increase the resistance to displacement regardless of the wetting condition. The result are consistent with a previous qualitative analysis and with a previous quantitative analysis for displacement in capillaries whose radii are independent of axial position. In screening surfactant systems for potential use in tertiary oil recovery, it is recommended that the interfacial tension be minimized first, since it determines whether oil displacement will occur, and that the interfacial viscosities be minimized second, since they influence the rate of oil displacement.
Mitigation of the delamination of LSM anode in solid oxide electrolysis cells using manganese-modified YSZ

Abstract Manganese-modified yttria-stabilized zirconia (Mn-YSZ) has been used to suppress interfacial degradation and anode delamination during short term (∼200 h) electrochemical testing of solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC). Two fabrication methods have been used for YSZ surface modification: solid state diffusion of manganese into YSZ substrate and sol–gel coating of a Mn-YSZ layer on YSZ substrate. Both the solid state diffusion and sol–gel coating methods stabilized the electrical performance; however, anode delamination was mitigated only by the sol–gel method. Post-test analysis indicates reduction in the formation of lanthanum zirconate on the Mn-modified electrolyte surface. It is proposed that the presence of the porous sol–gel coating prevents high pressure oxygen build up and results in the mitigation of the anode delamination.
CATIONIC GROUP 4 METAL ALKYL COMPOUNDS CONTAINING O-ARYLPHENOXIDE LIGATION

Treatment of the dibenzyl compounds [(ArO)2M(CH2Ph)2] (ArO = 2,6-diphenyl-3,5-dimethylphenoxide, M = Ti, Zr; ArO = 2,6-diphenylphenoxide, M = Ti) with [B(C6F5)3] gave the corresponding zwitterionic species [(ArO)2M+(CH2Ph)(η6-C6H5CH2B-(C6F5)3)]. Addition of [B(C6F5)3] to the titanium dimethyl compounds [(ArO)2TiMe2] gave unstable species which polymerize ethene and propene.
Implementation of DIMSIMs for stiff differential systems

Some issues related to the implementation of diagonally implicit multistage integration methods for stiff differential systems are discussed. They include reliable estimation of the local discretization error, construction of continuous interpolants, solution of nonlinear systems of equations by simplified Newton iterations, choice of initial stepsize and order, and step and order changing strategy. Numerical results are presented which indicate that an experimental Matlab code based on type 2 methods of order one, two and three outperforms ode15s code from Matlab ODE suite on problems whose Jacobian has eigenvalues which are close to the imaginary axis.
Inversion/dimerization of plasmids mediated by inverted repeats

In contrast with earlier studies on the lambda and Escherichia coli genomes, recombination between inverted repeats on plasmids is highly efficient and shown to be recA-independent. In addition, the recombination product is exclusively a head-to-head inverted dimer. Here, we show that this recombination/rearrangement event can occur on different plasmid replicons and is not specific to the particular sequence within the inverted repeats. Transcription readthrough into the inverted repeats has little effect on this event. Genetic analysis has also indicated that most known recombination enzymes are not involved in this process. Specifically, single or double mutants defective in Holliday junction resolution systems (RuvABC and/or RecG/RusA) do not abolish this recombination/rearrangement event. This result does not support the previous models (i.e. the reciprocal-strand-switching and the cruciform-dumbbell models) in which intermediates containing Holliday junctions are proposed. Further analysis has demonstrated that the recombination/rearrangement frequency is dramatically (over 1000-fold) reduced if mismatches (2.8 %) are present within the inverted repeats. Mutations in dam, mutH and mutL genes partially or completely restored the recombination/rearrangement frequency to the level exhibited by the perfect inverted repeats, suggesting the formation of heteroduplexes during recombination/rearrangement. Sequencing analysis of the recombination/rearrangement products have indicated that the majority of the products do not involve crossing-over. We discuss a possible mechanism in which blockage of the lagging strand polymerase by a hairpin triggers recombination/rearrangement mediated by inverted repeats.
Forensic analysis of bioagents by X-ray and TOF-SIMS hyperspectral imaging

Hyperspectral imaging combined with multivariate statistics is an approach to microanalysis that makes the maximum use of the large amount of data potentially collected in forensics analysis. This study examines the efficacy of using hyperspectral imaging-enabled microscopies to identify chemical signatures in simulated bioagent materials. This approach allowed for the ready discrimination between all samples in the test. In particular, the hyperspectral imaging approach allowed for the identification of particles with trace elements that would have been missed with a more traditional approach to forensic microanalysis. The importance of combining signals from multiple length scales and analytical sensitivities is discussed.
Precision quantameter for high energy X-rays

Abstract An ionization chamber has been designed to serve as a standard for measurements of the intensity of beams of high energy photons. The chamber consists of twelve plates of copper, each of one cm thickness, so that nearly all the energy of the photons is absorbed in the chamber. The ionization in the shower is sampled at the twelve gaps between plates, and the gap widths are arranged so that a Simpson's rule integration of the shower curve is automatically made. By making the last gap larger and by making an appropriate gap at the sides of the chamber, a compensation is made for any leakage of energy out of the chamber. The total energy content of a photon beam, U, should be accurately proportional to the ionization charge measured, q, independently of the spectral shape of the beam. An absolute calibration of the chamber has been calculated to an accuracy of a few percent. A density effect correction to the stopping power of copper has been included in the calculation.
Quantitative Mapping of Cocaine-Induced ΔFosB Expression in the Striatum of Male and Female Rats

ΔFosB plays a critical role in drug-induced long-term changes in the brain. In the current study, we evaluated locomotor activity in male and female rats treated with saline or cocaine for 2 weeks and quantitatively mapped ΔFosB expression in the dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens of each animal by using an anti-FosB antibody that recognizes ΔFosB isoforms preferentially. Behavioral analysis showed that while there was little difference between males and females that sensitized to cocaine, nonsensitizing rats showed a large sex difference. Nonsensitizing males showed low behavioral activation in response to cocaine on the first day of treatment, and their activity remained low. In contrast, nonsensitizing females showed high activation on the first day of treatment and their activity remained high. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses indicated that basal levels of ΔFosB were higher in the nucleus accumbens than the dorsal striatum, but that the effect of cocaine on ΔFosB was greater in the dorsal striatum. Immunostaining showed that the effect of cocaine in both the dorsal striatum and nucleus accumbens was primarily to increase the intensity of ΔFosB immunoreactivity in individual neurons, rather than to increase the number of cells that express ΔFosB. Detailed mapping of ΔFosB-labeled nuclei showed that basal ΔFosB levels were highest in the medial portion of the dorsal striatum and dorsomedial accumbens, particularly adjacent to the lateral ventricle, whereas the cocaine-induced increase in ΔFosB was most pronounced in the lateral dorsal striatum, where basal ΔFosB expression was lowest. Sex differences in ΔFosB expression were small and independent of cocaine treatment. We discuss implications of the sex difference in locomotor activation and regionally-specific ΔFosB induction by cocaine.
New polymorphs of ROY and new record for coexisting polymorphs of solved structures.

With six polymorphs coexisting at room temperature, 5-methyl-2-[(2-nitrophenyl)amino]-3-thiophenecarbonitrile (ROY) is the top system in the current Cambridge Structural Database (Feb. 2005) for the number of polymorphs of solved crystal structures. Here we report two new ROY polymorphs, Y04 and YT04, and the crystal structure of YT04. Y04 is a metastable polymorph that tends to crystallize first from a melt at room temperature, and YT04 is a product of solid-state transformation of Y04. Despite its late discovery, YT04 is the densest among the polymorphs at 25 °C and likely the second most stable at 0 K. The conformation of ROY in YT04 is similar to those in the other two yellow polymorphs (Y and YN) but significantly different from those in the orange and red colored polymorphs (ON, OP, ORP, and R). Having escaped years of solution crystallization in several laboratories, Y04 and YT04 exemplify polymorphs that are likely missed by solvent-based screening and discovered through alternative routes.
ADHD classification using bag of words approach on network features

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is receiving lots of attention nowadays mainly because it is one of the common brain disorders among children and not much information is known about the cause of this disorder. In this study, we propose to use a novel approach for automatic classification of ADHD conditioned subjects and control subjects using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data of resting state brains. For this purpose, we compute the correlation between every possible voxel pairs within a subject and over the time frame of the experimental protocol. A network of voxels is constructed by representing a high correlation value between any two voxels as an edge. A Bag-of-Words (BoW) approach is used to represent each subject as a histogram of network features; such as the number of degrees per voxel. The classification is done using a Support Vector Machine (SVM). We also investigate the use of raw intensity values in the time series for each voxel. Here, every subject is represented as a combined histogram of network and raw intensity features. Experimental results verified that the classification accuracy improves when the combined histogram is used. We tested our approach on a highly challenging dataset released by NITRC for ADHD-200 competition and obtained promising results. The dataset not only has a large size but also includes subjects from different demography and edge groups. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to propose BoW approach in any functional brain disorder classification and we believe that this approach will be useful in analysis of many brain related conditions.
Dietary control of food intake in cats.

Abstract Control of food intake was studied in adult cats with calorically diluted diets. Any changes in the physical properties of the diet led to a transient reduction in daily food intake that gradually recovered to the baseline level of intake. The cats did not increase their level of food intake on the diluted diets and lost weight. These results are discussed in relation to the feeding ecology of cats.
Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci for parentage assessment in captive populations of roseate spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja)

Six microsatellite loci were isolated and characterized to assess genetic diversity and determine parentage in three captive roseate spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja) populations. Analysis of 61 individuals from three zoological parks and one wild population at five polymorphic loci revealed an average of six alleles per locus and expected heterozygosities from 59% to 81% (average 70%). Since spoonbills do not exhibit obvious sexual dimorphism, Aaju4, which exhibited ZW-specific alleles, was exceptionally useful for sex identification. These loci will be valuable tools for investigating genetic diversity and documenting patterns of parentage in captive roseate spoonbill populations.
The MITRE Multi-Modal Logger: its use in evaluation of collaborative systems

Collaborative environments have grown quite sophisticated over the years. They have evolved from simple text conferencing tools [2] to full suites of integrated multi-modal tools such as Habanero [9] or MITRE's room-based Collaborative Virtual Workspace [3, 4]. As a result, evaluating multi-modal collaborative systems is an order of magnitude more complex than single-user, single-application HCI evaluation. In the context of the DARPA Intelligent Collaboration &Visualization (IC&V) program, the MITRE HCI group has adapted its logging technology to the task of evaluating collaborative systems. The MITRE Multi-Modal Logger (MML) is a system for recording, retrieving, annotating, and visualizing data. In this paper, we describe the capabilities of the MML and its application to research including the IC&V Evaluation Working Group's work [5, 6, 7, 8, 13].
A study of perceptual development for musical tuning.

Musical tuning perception in infancy and adulthood was explored in three experiments. In Experiment 1, Western adults were tested in detection of randomly located mistunings in a melody based on musical interval patterns from native and nonnative musical scales. Subjects performed better in a Western major scale context than in either a Western augmented or--a Javanese pelog scale context. Because the major scale is used frequently in Western music and, therefore, is more perceptually familiar than either the augmented scale or the pelog scale are, the adults’ pattern of performance is suggestive of musical acculturation. Experiments 2 and3 were designed to explore the onset of culturally specific perceptual reorganization for music in the age period that has been found to be important in linguistically specific perceptual reorganization for speech. In Experiment 2, 1-year-olds had a pattern of performance similar to that of the adults, but 6-month-olds could not detect mistunings reliably better than chance. In Experiment 3, another group of 6-month-olds was tested, and a larger degree of mistuning was used so that floor effects might be avoided. These 6-month-olds performed better in the major and augmented scale contexts than in the pelog context, without a reliable performance difference between the major and augmented contexts. Comparison of the results obtained with 6-month-olds and 1-year-olds suggests that culturally specific perceptual reorganization for musical tuning begins to affect perception between these ages, but the 6-month-olds’ pattern of results considered alone is not as clear. The 6-month-olds’ better performance on the major and augmented interval patterns than on the pelog interval pattern is potentially attributable to either the 6-month.olds’ lesser perceptual acculturation than that of the 1-year-olds or perhaps to an innate predisposition for processing of music based on a single fundamental interval, in this case the semitone.
Comment: The Evolution of Distribution Systems

Offers a commentary on Mueller and Baron′s Case Note, which had sought to understand changes in distribution systems taking place in Central and Eastern Europe, and particularly in Hungary. Savitt criticizes the authors for disregarding the considerable research into change in distribution systems, and restricting their perspective by failing to consider the conditions under which marketing institutions are changing; over‐emphasizing the importance of Western distribution models to the evolving Hungarian system; failing to take account of recent Hungarian research on innovative retailing, particularly in respect of Skala Trade and Centrum; lack of attention to important privatization developments now taking place; and failing to take stock of the effects of economic conditions on consumer behaviour, and mistaking cosmetic alterations to structure for real advances in development.
Torsional Response and Dissipationless Viscosity in Topological Insulators

We consider the viscoelastic response of the electronic degrees of freedom in 2D and 3D topological insulators (TI's). Our primary focus is on the 2D Chern insulator which exhibits a bulk dissipationless viscosity analogous to the quantum Hall viscosity predicted in integer and fractional quantum Hall states. We show that the dissipationless viscosity is the response of a TI to torsional deformations of the underlying lattice geometry. The viscoelastic response also indicates that crystal dislocations in Chern insulators will carry momentum density. We briefly discuss generalizations to 3D which imply that time-reversal invariant TI's will exhibit a quantum Hall viscosity on their surfaces.
Evaluation of a Ruminally Protected Methionine Product for Lactating Dairy Cows

In Experiment 1, three ruminally and duodenally cannulated cows were used to assess the extent of ruminal protection and postruminal release of Met from ruminally protected Met using a polyester bag technique. The ruminally protected Met contained 85.1% DL-Met (wt/wt). Ruminal disappearance of Met averaged 5.8, 8.1, 21.8, 37.5, and 87.5% aRer 3, 6, 12, 24, and 96 h of incubation, respectively. Postrumina1 disappearance of Met from bags inserted in the duodenum after treatment with pepsineHC1 averaged 63.4, 62.6, 51.6, 43.6, and 8.8% for bags incubated in the rumen for 3, 6, 12, 24, and 96 h, respectively. In Experiment 2, 12 cows were fed either 0 or 20 g/d of ruminally protected Met from 7 to 10 d prepartum until 18 wk postcalving. Cows were fed the same total mixed diet. The DMI; yields of milk, CP, and SNF; and percentages of fat, CP, and SNF in milk were not affected by treatment. However, yields of fat and 3.5% FCM increased when ruminally protected Met was fed. Milk N components were not affected by treatment. Concentrations of Met increased in plasma when ruminally protected Met was fed. The mechanism for the increased production of milk fat and 3.5% FCM when ruminally protected Met was fed is
Wigner function of produced particles in string fragmentation

I show that quantum chromodynamics in four dimensions (QCD4) with transverse confinement can be approximately compactified into QCD2 with a transverse quark mass ${m}_{T}$ that is obtained by solving a set of coupled transverse eigenvalue equations. In the limits of a strong coupling and a large number of flavors, QCD2 further admits Schwinger QED2-type bosonized solutions. I therefore examine phenomenologically the space-time dynamics of particles produced in string fragmentation by studying the Wigner function of bosons produced in Schwinger QED2, which mimics many features of string fragmentation in quantum chromodynamics. I find that particles with momenta in different regions of the rapidity plateau are produced at the initial moment of string fragmentation as a quark pulls away from an antiquark at high energies, in contrast to classical depictions of string fragmentation with longitudinal space-momentum-time ordering.
Price Discrimination using in-Store Merchandising:

The authors compare the effectiveness of in-store coupons and straight off-the-shelf price discounts (bonus buys), in generating incremental sales and profits for the retailer. In five field tests,...
The relation between sense of direction and mental geographic updating

Abstract Two studies are reported that test the hypothesis that people who report a poor sense of direction (PSOD) are impaired in the ability to use spatial information in an abstract or symbolic way. This hypothesis predicts that PSOD people should be impaired relative to good-sense-of-direction (GSOD) people on tasks requiring the mental manipulation of spatial information. PSOD people performed comparably to GSOD people on psychometric tests of visual-spatial ability and were only found to be less accurate than GSOD people on tasks that required the person to mentally update self-to-environmental-object relations. It was also found that PSOD people took longer to point in the direction of unseen spatial targets. But this difficulty was unrelated to whether direct or symbolic spatial information was used to make the pointing response. The hypothesis that PSOD people have difficulty using spatial information symbolically was not supported. Instead, their difficulty with symbolic spatial relations appears to be restricted to mental egocentric updating.