cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Predialysis nephrology care and dialysis-related health outcomes among older adults initiating dialysis

Predialysis nephrology care is associated with lower mortality and rates of hospitalization following chronic dialysis initiation. Whether more frequent predialysis nephrology care is associated with other favorable outcomes for older adults is not known. Retrospective cohort study of patients ≥66 years who initiated chronic dialysis in 2000–2001 and were eligible for VA and/or Medicare-covered services. Nephrology visits in VA and/or Medicare during the 12-month predialysis period were identified and classified by low intensity ( 6 visits). Outcome measures included very low estimated glomerular filtration rate, severe anemia, use of peritoneal dialysis, and receipt of permanent vascular access at dialysis initiation and death and kidney transplantation within two years of initiation. Generalized linear models with propensity score weighting were used to examine the association between nephrology care and outcomes. Among 58,014 patients, 46 % had none, 22 % had low, 13 % had moderate, and 19 % had high intensity predialysis nephrology care. Patients with a greater intensity of predialysis nephrology care had more favorable outcomes (all p < 0.001). In adjusted models, patients with high intensity predialysis nephrology care were less likely to have severe anemia (RR = 0.70, 99 % CI: 0.65–0.74) and more likely to have permanent vascular access (RR = 3.60, 99 % CI: 3.42–3.79) at dialysis initiation, and less likely to die within two years of dialysis initiation (RR = 0.80, 99 % CI: 0.77–0.82). In a large cohort of older adults treated with chronic dialysis, greater intensity of predialysis nephrology care was associated with more favorable outcomes.
Charles Dotter and Me

I will call Charles T. Dotter (1920–1985) simply Charles as he asked me after my arrival in the US. He told me that he wants his friends to call him by his first name, the same way as his mother did. Charles was a great pioneer of cardiovascular radiology. He received his medical degree in 1944 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. After serving with the US Marines, he pursued radiologic residency at Cornell University Medical School where he also served in a staff position from 1950 to 1952. His development into a cardiovascular radiologist and researcher began early during his residency. He worked in depth on intravenous angiocardiography with Israel Steinberg, a cardiologist, and from this collaboration their classic book “Angiocardiography” was published. At the age of 32, Charles moved to Portland and the University of Oregon Medical School as Professor and Chairman of Radiology, a position he held for 33 years until his death.
Sol y Agua project: Promoting information science in middle school classrooms for a socially and environmentally responsible world

The Sol y Agua project will augment the learning environment of middle school students with the creation of a computer game based on regional issues explored through information overload, virtual simulations, and real world data [1]. The game has a theme of water sustainability and stewardship with an emphasis on information analysis, negotiation, and decision-making. The game will also immerse students in themes concerning biodiversity, sustainability, and the human impact on the environment. The various activities will allow student to make informed decisions regarding water sources, maintenance, environmental factors, and sustainability, among others. The students will learn the impact of humans on the environment through data analysis and run experiments in a virtual laboratory with real data. Data visualization will allow students to interpret data in new, fun, and meaningful ways. The game has an emphasis in promoting the demographic of the Southwest United States and minorities towards developing careers in STEM, where they are largely underrepresented. The game activities have been developed using the Texas Essentials of Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) Standards [2].
Broadband Radiometric LED Measurements.

At present, broadband radiometric LED measurements with uniform and low-uncertainty results are not available. Currently, either complicated and expensive spectral radiometric measurements or broadband photometric LED measurements are used. The broadband photometric measurements are based on the CIE standardized V(λ) function, which cannot be used in the UV range and leads to large errors when blue or red LEDs are measured in its wings, where the realization is always poor. Reference irradiance meters with spectrally constant response and high-intensity LED irradiance sources were developed here to implement the previously suggested broadband radiometric LED measurement procedure [1, 2]. Using a detector with spectrally constant response, the broadband radiometric quantities of any LEDs or LED groups can be simply measured with low uncertainty without using any source standard. The spectral flatness of filtered-Si detectors and low-noise pyroelectric radiometers are compared. Examples are given for integrated irradiance measurement of UV and blue LED sources using the here introduced reference (standard) pyroelectric irradiance meters. For validation, the broadband measured integrated irradiance of several LED-365 sources were compared with the spectrally determined integrated irradiance derived from an FEL spectral irradiance lamp-standard. Integrated responsivity transfer from the reference irradiance meter to transfer standard and field UV irradiance meters is discussed.
Chapter 14 – Environmental manipulation for microbial control of insects

Publisher Summary The chapter discusses the ecological/epizootiological basis for environmental manipulations, reviews research on this approach and the criteria to choose insect/entomopathogen systems for research and implementation. Research on environmental manipulation is focused on four areas. The first is improved transport from the pathogen reservoir, usually the soil, to a site such as a leaf surface where the insect host can come into contact with the entomopathogen. The second area is improvement in persistence of the entomopathogen at the site where it contacts the insect host. The third area is overall growth of the entomopathogen population, which depends on transmission and persistence as well as other factors. The fourth area is activation of latent infections. Many resource (crop)/pest systems include one or more entomopathogens that occur naturally and occasionally cause epizootics. Environmental manipulation has certain advantages over the approaches to microbial control that require environmental release of pathogen units because certain requirements for those approaches have caused major problems in implementation. The requirements for other approaches that are of little or no concern in environmental manipulation include market size (host specificity), cost of pathogen production, patentability, registration, persistence in storage, formulation, screening for efficacious species or strains, and habitat stability.
EyeOn: An Activity Recognition System using MYO Armband

The EyeOn system focuses on the elderly who may suffer from undiagnosed cognitive conditions that can lead to potentially hazardous movement and behavioral patterns such as that of wandering behavior. The proposed work is intended to develop a method of diagnosing wandering behavior through use of human activity recognition. Attention was placed on activities related to wandering behavior which were recognized using Data Mining techniques on inertial sensory data retrieved from a MYO armband.
Neutralizing antibodies against adeno-associated viruses in Sjögren’s patients: implications for gene therapy

One potential setback to the use of gene therapy for the treatment of Sjogren's syndrome is the presence of neutralizing antibodies (nAb) against adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotypes. In order to evaluate the efficacy of this treatment option, nAb titers were measured in both healthy individuals and Sjogren's patients. Several serotypes with known transduction activity in mouse salivary glands were tested and only AAV5 showed a statistically significant change in the prevalence of nAbs between Sjogren's and healthy participants. Both groups showed a higher rate of nAbs for AAV2 compared with most of the other serotypes tested, except for bovine AAV (BAAV). Although a similar rate of seropositivity was seen against BAAV and AAV2, the percentage of samples with high titer was significantly lower with BAAV. Furthermore, the majority of positive samples exhibited low nAb titers in the primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) group for all serotypes except for AAV2. AAV5 was the only serotype that showed a statistically significant shift in the percentage of medium or high neutralizing titer. Based on these results, many serotypes are viable vectors in a gene therapy approach and pSS patients do not have a statistically significant higher rate of seropositivity or titer compared with healthy donors.
Evidence for oxygen vacancy manipulation in La1/3Sr2/3FeO3−&#x1d739; thin films via voltage controlled solid-state ionic gating

Reversible changes of the structural and electronic transport properties of La1/3Sr2/3FeO3-δ/Gd-doped CeO2 heterostructures arising from the manipulation of δ are presented. Thermally induced oxygen loss leads to a c-axis lattice expansion and an increase in resistivity in a La1/3Sr2/3FeO3-δ film capped with Gd-doped CeO2. In a three-terminal device where a gate bias is applied across the Gd-doped CeO2 layer to alter the La1/3Sr2/3FeO3-δ oxygen stoichiometry, the ferrite channel is shown to undergo a change in resistance of an order of magnitude using gate voltages of less than 1 V applied at 500 K. The changes in resistance remain upon cooling to room temperature, in the absence of a gate bias, suggesting solid state ionic gating of perovskite oxides as a promising platform for applications in non-volatile, multistate devices.
Fault-tolerant controller architecture for cascaded multi-level converters

Voltage source multi-level converters (MC) are one of the options for rectifying and inverting in high power applications. Each converter consists of several modules connected together to form a single converter. Power rating of the converter is usually more than the desired rating and it is possible to continue operation by bypassing the failed modules. This capability increases the reliability of this category of converters compared to other type of converters. In this paper, a distributed controller has been proposed that implements hot standby techniques to increase reliability and availability of the converter. Each slave controller is directly connected to the power electronic module with data link to neighbor controllers and all of the controllers are being synchronized through a master controller. At the end, reliability assessment of the proposed controller based on Markov modeling has been represented and experimental result approves the feasibility of the control method.
Reproduction, Events and Management Pregnancy: Periparturient Disorders

This article is reproduced from the previous edition, volume 4, pp. 2309–2314, © 2002, Elsevier Ltd.
Kohlbergian Contributions to Educational Programs for the Moral Development of Professionals

This paper discusses the contributions of Lawrence Kohlberg to the teaching of professional ethics. While rejecting Kohlberg's view that the most advanced stages of moral development must embrace utilitarian or Kantian principles, it agrees with Rest and others that postconventional reasoning is essential for professional ethics. However, it raises questions about how differentiations between conventional and postconventional reasoning can reliably be made. Finally, it suggests areas of psychological research other than moral reasoning that would contribute to the teaching of professional ethics.
Inconsistency in classifying vascular anomalies: What's in a name?

Background Vascular anomalies are a heterogeneous group of disorders seen in children and adults. A standard nomenclature for classification has been offered by the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies. Its application is important for communication among the multiple specialties involved in the care of patients and for planning treatment, as well as for research and billing. We hypothesized that terminology still is not uniformly applied, and that this could have an impact on treatment. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with nonbrain lesions from our institutional vascular anomalies database seen during 2010–2016 for whom at least one clinic visit, radiologic imaging report, and pathology report were available to compare diagnoses among and within disciplines, and treatment recommendations. Diagnoses and referral patterns by community healthcare providers were also reviewed. Results Of 400 patients seen during the targeted time interval, 35 had clinical, imaging, and pathology reports. Agreement in terminology from initial clinic notes with imaging and pathology reports was noted in only three cases (9%). “Hemangioma” was often misused; “lymphangioma” and “cystic hygroma” persist as diagnostic labels. Community healthcare providers referred vascular malformations with a diagnosis of “mass” or “hemangioma” in 17 of 18 cases where that information was available. Incomplete or mislabeling of vascular anomalies sometimes delayed referrals to appropriate clinics, though it did not have a major impact on treatment. Conclusions An understanding of vascular anomalies as tumors or malformations is not uniform. Ongoing education will be needed to promote consensus terminology and facilitate referrals.
Ultra-Low Loss Fiber Technologies

Ultra-low loss fibers, enabled by reduced Rayleigh scattering, benefit the submarine transmission by reducing the number of repeaters and improving the spectral efficiency. They are also applicable to capacity expansion by spatial division multiplexing.
City Worms (Onychophora): why do fragile invertebrates from an ancient lineage live in heavily urbanized areas?

Velvet worms, fragile invertebrates from an ancient lineage, are prone to extinction because of their small populations, low vagility and limited geographic ranges. However, I found that 19 species, nearly all of them Latin American and Caribbean peripatids, have been reported from heavily urbanized areas. Onychophoran worms lack most of the characteristics of successful urban animals, but I hypothesize that they survive in cities because diet and undetectability favor them. Citizen scientists could help with the urgent need of learning more about urban onychophorans.
Defects and Chirality in the Nanoparticle-Directed Assembly of Spherocylindrical Shells of Virus Coat Proteins

Virus coat proteins of small isometric plant viruses readily assemble into symmetric, icosahedral cages encapsulating noncognate cargo, provided the cargo meets a minimal set of chemical and physical requirements. While this capability has been intensely explored for certain virus-enabled nanotechnologies, additional applications require lower symmetry than that of an icosahedron. Here, we show that the coat proteins of an icosahedral virus can efficiently assemble around metal nanorods into spherocylindrical closed shells with hexagonally close-packed bodies and icosahedral caps. Comparison of chiral angles and packing defects observed by in situ atomic force microscopy with those obtained from molecular dynamics models offers insight into the mechanism of growth, and the influence of stresses associated with intrinsic curvature and assembly pathways.
Integrity and continuity of sensor-based collision warning systems using vehicle-to-vehicle communication

This paper describes the design and implementation of a new safety risk evaluation method for a sensor-based automotive collision warning system using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. The paper provides an overview of the V2V basic safety message (BSM) format and of surrogate measures of safety (SMS) used to parameterize a vehicle encounter. BSM and SMS are then employed to quantify risk of collision and risk of false alerts. Preliminary simulations illustrate the methodology in an example multi-sensor intersection movement assist system.
Review of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and its Implications for Death Investigation

Obstructive sleep apnea is a prevalent disease which if left untreated can negatively impact many physiologic systems, most notably the cardiovascular system, resulting in chronic dysfunction, and ...
Vitamin D and the Innate Immunity

This chapter will examine the role of vitamin D in the innate immune system as a mediator of human host defense mechanisms against microbial disease, focusing on tuberculosis. The first section will examine tuberculosis and the innate immune response to the intracellular pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), the causative agent of tuberculosis. This is followed by a discussion of the known associations, genetic and mechanistic, between the vitamin D pathway and tuberculosis susceptibility. Finally, the chapter will conclude with a discussion on the potential for adjuvant treatment of tuberculosis with vitamin D.
Toward predicting architectural significance of implementation issues

In a software system's development lifecycle, engineers make numerous design decisions that subsequently cause architectural change in the system. Previous studies have shown that, more often than not, these architectural changes are unintentional by-products of continual software maintenance tasks. The result of inadvertent architectural changes is accumulation of technical debt and deterioration of software quality. Despite their important implications, there is a relative shortage of techniques, tools, and empirical studies pertaining to architectural design decisions. In this paper, we take a step toward addressing that scarcity by using the information in the issue and code repositories of open-source software systems to investigate the cause and frequency of such architectural design decisions. Furthermore, building on these results, we develop a predictive model that is able to identify the architectural significance of newly submitted issues, thereby helping engineers to prevent the adverse effects of architectural decay. The results of this study are based on the analysis of 21,062 issues affecting 301 versions of 5 large open-source systems for which the code changes and issues were publicly accessible.
General form of the renormalized, perturbed energy density via interacting quantum fields in cosmological spacetimes

A covariant description of quantum matter fields in the early universe underpins models for the origin of species, e.g. baryogenesis and dark matter production. In nearly all cases the relevant cosmological observables are computed in a general approximation, via the standard irreducible representations found in the operator formalism of particle physics, where intricacies related to a renormalized stress-energy tensor in a non-stationary spacetime are ignored. Models of the early universe also include a dense environment of quantum fields where far-from-equilibrium interactions manifest expressions for observables with substantive corrections to the leading terms. An alternate treatment of these cosmological observables may be carried out within the framework of algebraic quantum field theory in curved spacetime, where the field theoretic model of quantum matter is compatible with the classical effects of general relativity. Here, we take the first step towards computing such an observable. We employ the algebraic formalism while considering far-from-equilibrium interactions in a dense environment under the influence of a classical, yet non-stationary, spacetime to derive an expression for the perturbed energy density as a component of the renormalized stress-energy tensor associated with common proposals for quantum matter production in the early universe.
Early Emergency General Surgery Is Associated with a Higher Incidence of Clostridium difficile Infection.

Abstract Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is an important surgical complication. Emergency general surgery (EGS) is a developing area of the acute care surgical practice. Few studi...
Gender and Age of Migration Differences in Mortality Among Older Mexican Americans.

Objectives Using a gendered life course perspective, we examine whether the relationship between age of migration and mortality is moderated by gender among a cohort of older Mexican Americans. Methods Data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly and recently matched mortality data are used to estimate Cox proportional hazard models. Results Our findings indicate that the relationship between age of migration and mortality is moderated by gender, suggesting a more nuanced perspective of the immigrant mortality paradox. Among men, midlife migrants exhibit an 18% lower risk of mortality compared to their U.S.-born co-ethnics, possibly due to immigrant selectivity at the time of migration. Conversely, late-life migrant women exhibit a 17% lower risk of mortality relative to U.S.-born women, attributed in part to socio-cultural characteristics that influence lifestyle risk factors across the life course. Discussion Selection mechanisms and acculturation processes associated with the immigrant experience are contingent on both age and gender, suggesting the utility of an integrated life course approach to contextualize the mortality profiles of older immigrants. These findings demonstrate the heterogeneity among immigrants and highlight the need to understand gender differences in the migration process when assessing the immigrant mortality paradox.
You must be joking: an introduction to the special issue on the use of humour in advertising

This paper provides an overview of the complexity of humour. It also provides an introduction to the Special Issue on the use of humour in advertising.
MA4.3 Mid-Infrared Trace Gas Sensing Using Photonic Crystal Waveguides (Invited)

Photonic crystals offer an ideal platform for on-chip absorption spectroscopy through engineering and enhancing light matter interaction. Using photonic crystal waveguides, we experimentally demonstrate parts per million and parts per billion level detection of different gas species.
Successful endovascular embolization of large symptomatic congenital renal arteriovenous fistula in an octogenarian

Abstract Congenital renal arteriovenous fistula (rAVF) is a rare and often underdiagnosed clinical condition. Here, we present a case of a large congenital rAVF in an 81-year-old woman with a right flank bruit and high-output heart failure. The rAVF was successfully treated with percutaneous endovascular coil embolization. Complications included a small right renal hematoma, mild contrast-induced nephropathy, and small right renal infarct in the lower pole. Postoperatively, the patient had complete resolution of symptoms with salvage of the kidney. She has been observed annually for 5 years with computed tomography scan and ultrasound examination.
SDN-based edge computing security: detecting and mitigating flow rule attacks

Edge Computing and Software Defined Networking (SDN) are two emerging technologies that have increasingly become popular for implementing modern infrastructures. The former enables data computation to be performed at the edge of the network (of users) giving benefits over cloud computing when large amount of data is produced near the edge. The latter offers advantages of programmable and flexible network management over the traditional practice. Recent research has focused on how to utilize SDN paradigm to enhance Edge Computing. As more and more SDN-based Edge Computing systems are being developed, it is necessary to consider security issues especially those that are inherent from SDN. This paper addresses an important SDN specific security breach, namely a flow rule attack, where a network switch is compromised and its flow rule for data transmission routing is modified. This attack can potentially lead to many devastating consequences including disruption of network traffic and denial of services. The paper presents an approach to flow rule attack detection and lightweight mitigation techniques that can be performed by the SDN's controller. To evaluate our detection and mitigation mechanisms, the paper describes experiments on simulation that shows promising results.
Cost-effectiveness of apixaban for prevention of venous thromboembolic events in patients after gynecologic cancer surgery.

Abstract Objective The cost-effectiveness of apixaban was compared with enoxaparin for prevention of postoperative venothromboembolic events (VTE) in gynecologic oncology patients. Current guidelines recommend thromboprophylaxis with low molecular weight heparin for 28 days following gynecologic cancer surgery, but recent trials suggest that oral apixaban may be a safe, patient-preferred alternative. Apixaban was superior to enoxaparin in a Canadian cost-effectiveness analysis using orthopedics trial data. Methods Medication costs, adherence rates, event rates, event costs, and utility decrements were estimated using prior clinical trial data and literature review for input into a short-term decision model to simulate outcomes in a hypothetical cohort of 1000 patients. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were calculated as net cost difference per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. Input values at which net costs and QALYs were equivalent and ICERs at upper and lower bounds were evaluated. Results Using aggregated costs, apixaban was less expensive and more effective than enoxaparin, and remained so or had high value in all scenarios on sensitivity analysis. Examining disaggregated ICERs, apixaban was cost-effective for deep venous thrombosis (DVT); of high value for clinically-relevant non-major bleeding (CRNMB) ($411); low value for major bleeding ($183,465), VTE-related death ($2,711,229), and all-cause mortality ($297,522); and not cost-effective for pulmonary embolism prevention. Conclusions Apixaban is more cost-effective than enoxaparin for the prevention of postoperative VTE in patients with gynecologic cancer. This appears to be driven largely by DVT and CRNMB prevention.
Clustering Based Identification of SARS-CoV-2 Subtypes.

With the availability of more than half a million SARS-CoV-2 sequences and counting, many approaches have recently appeared which aim to leverage this information towards understanding the genomic diversity and dynamics of this virus. Early approaches involved building transmission networks or phylogenetic trees, the latter for which scalability becomes more of an issue with each day, due to its high computational complexity.
Thermal and electrical conduction of AL/CNT composite:

Authors have investigated the thermal and electrical conduction behavior of Al/MWCNT composite fabricated by powder metallurgy method in which CNTs were pre-encapsulated with Ni. The thermal and el...
Energy Consumption Analysis and Multi-objective Operation optimization of Intelligent Building System Based on TRNSYS-MATLAB

As an efficient and reliable way of energy supply, the CCHP(Combined Cooling Heating and Power)microgrid can effectively realize the coordinated supply of a variety of energy sources. Based on the CCHP microgrid as the research object, using TRNSYS analysis building cooling and heating load characteristic, further analysis of distributed model of CCHP system, typical equipment system, establish a comprehensive cost saving rate, CO2 emission rate and a multi-objective optimization model of energy efficiency, using the NSGA - II algorithm system core equipment operation strategy and scheduling scheme. Taking a typical building load in northern China as an example, an example analysis of a building microgrid system with combined cooling, heating and power supply is carried out to verify the effectiveness of the optimization model and solving algorithm proposed in this paper. Results show that the CCHP microgrid based on multi-objective optimization algorithm can effectively implement the economic saving, reducing CO 2 emissions and enhance the utilization ratio of primary energy, further cost savings and protect the environment.
0.4% incidence of return to OR due to screw malposition in a large prospective adolescent idiopathic scoliosis database.

In contrast to infection and curve progression, return to OR for implant malposition is potentially within the surgeon’s control. With increasing surgeon familiarity with freehand/fluoroscopic pedicle screw placement, rates of return to OR due to malposition may have decreased over time. We sought to document the incidence and risk factors for return to OR due to screw malposition in a large cohort of patients with idiopathic scoliosis. AIS patients enrolled in a multicenter prospective registry with minimum 2-year follow-up undergoing PSF between 2003 and 2017 were included. Surgeries with the use of intraoperative CT-guided navigation were excluded. Return to OR due to screw malposition over time was tabulated. Lenke class, age at surgery, year of surgery, height, weight, surgeon and site were evaluated. 2435 patients underwent PSF with non-navigated open pedicle screw instrumentation. Mean age was 14.6 years, mean thoracic curve magnitude was 53°, and mean lumbar was 40°. Patients did not routinely undergo intraoperative or postoperative CT evaluation. There were 10 returns to OR for screw malposition at a mean of 0.83 years postoperatively (range 0.1–3.4 years), for an overall incidence of 0.4%. Of the 14 screws, 10 were thoracic, 7 were left-sided. No association was found between screw malposition and curve size, enrolling site, surgeon, BMI, Lenke class, or age. Five patients had radiculopathy which improved after screw revision. Return to OR for screw malposition changed from 2003 to 2017 (1–0.2%) but this did not reach statistical significance. Although the incidence of asymptomatic malpositioned screws is unknown, the rate of return to the OR for implant malposition overall in this registry was 1 in 250 patients. Recent data suggest the rate has decreased to 1 in 500 patients. Further work may determine whether enabling technologies can reduce the rate, ideally to a “never event”.
Modeling COVID-19 care capacity in a major health system (preprint)

Hospital resources, especially critical care beds and ventilators, have been strained by additional demand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Rationing of scarce critical care resources may occur when available resource limits are exceeded. However, the dynamic nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and variability in projections of the future burden of COVID-19 infection pose challenges for optimizing resource allocation to critical care units in hospitals. Connecticut experienced a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases between March and June 2020. Uncertainty about future incidence made it difficult to predict the magnitude and duration of the increased COVID-19 burden on the healthcare system. In this paper, we describe a model of COVID-19 hospital capacity and occupancy that generates estimates of the resources necessary to accommodate COVID-19 patients under infection scenarios of varying severity. We present the model structure and dynamics, procedure for parameter estimation, and publicly available web application where we implemented the tool. We then describe calibration using data from over 3,000 COVID-19 patients seen at the Yale-New Haven Health System between March and July 2020. We conclude with recommendations for modeling tools to inform decision-making using incomplete information during future crises.
Financial Crises, Financial Dependence, and Industry Growth

The authors investigate the link between financial crises and industry growth. They analyze data from 19 industrial and developing countries that have experienced financial crises during the past 30 years to investigate how financial crises affect sectors dependent on external sources of finance. Specifically, the authors examine whether the impact of a financial crisis on externally dependent sectors varies with the depth of the financial system. They find that sectors highly dependent on external finance tend to experience a greater contraction of value added during a crisis in deeper financial systems than in countries with shallower financial systems. They hypothesize that the deepening of the financial system allows sectors dependent on external finance to obtain relatively more external funding in normal periods, so a crisis in such countries would have a disproportionately negative effect on externally dependent sectors. In contrast, since externally dependent firms tend to obtain relatively less external financing in shallower financial systems (and hence have relatively lower growth rates in such countries during normal times), a crisis in such countries has less of a disproportionately negative effect on the growth of externally dependent sectors.
Examining the Scope and Concept of Schema: Should We Look Beyond Cognitive Structures?

Traditionally, cognitive therapy and the cognitive-behavior therapies have focused on three levels of cognitive phenomenon: automatic thoughts, cognitive distortion, and underlying assumptions. Underlying assumptions constitute the general notion of what is referred to as "schema." Schemas have traditionally served as sort of a template for the way in which an individual views him/herself, the world, and others. In addition, a proposed model has also appeared in the professional literature that includes memory structures and multimodal representations of stored information that serve to explain the concept of schema in general. Recently, some controversial research has raised the question as to whether separate memory cell networks in the body may play an additional role beyond cognitive structures. This article reviews some of the research on the role of neuropeptides in the process of memory and emotions and raises the question of whether or not an expansion of the concept of schema should be considered. The article also discusses what scientific support exists at this time and whether we can draw any clinical implications from such a theory. The article also discusses the impact of this theory on the view of schema resistance and the role of cognitive therapy, particularly as it relates to conditions involving trauma.
Wild bee pollinators provide the majority of crop visitation across land‐use gradients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, USA

Summary 1 Concern about a global decline in wild pollinators has increased interest in how pollinators are affected by human land use, and how this, in turn, affects crop pollination. 2 We measured wild bee visitation to four summer vegetable crops, and investigated associations between flower visitation rates and land-use intensity at local and landscape scales. We studied 29 farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, USA. Over 2 years we recorded >7400 bee visits to crop flowers and identified 54 species of wild bees visiting crops. 3 Wild bees were the dominant flower visitors at three of the four crops studied; domesticated honeybees, Apis mellifera L., provided the remainder of visits. 4 Ordination of the two best studied crops showed that the wild bee species visiting tomato, Solanum lycopersicum L., were distinct from those visiting watermelon, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai. 5 Crop visitation by wild bees was not associated with organic farming, nor with natural habitat cover at either local or landscape scale. 6 Synthesis and applications. The extent of crop visitation by wild bees observed in this study is among the highest recorded. In contrast to previous studies of crop visitation by wild bees, we did not find negative effects of conventional farming or natural habitat loss. In our study system, organic and conventional farms differ little in field size, crop diversity and weedy flower diversity, unlike some systems where organic farms have smaller fields with greater crop and weed diversity. Such variables may be more important than organic vs. conventional farming practices. Second, small patches of natural habitat are dispersed throughout our entire study system, and this habitat heterogeneity may support high bee abundance even in landscapes with a low proportion of natural habitat overall. Our findings suggest that agri-environment schemes and similar programmes that work through local habitat restoration should target farms in intensively agricultural (homogeneous) landscapes to gain maximum conservation benefits.
Quantitation of A2 Hemoglobin by Electrophoresis on Cellulose Acetate

Hemoglobins were fractionated on cellulose acetate membranes using a discontinuous buffer system and then quantitated by spectrophotometric measurement of eluted Ponceau S stain.
Establishment and characterization of OS 99-1, a cell line derived from a highly aggressive primary human osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma is the most common form of primary bone cancer. In this study, we established a human osteosarcoma cell line (OS 99-1) from a highly aggressive primary tumor. G-banding karyotype analysis demonstrated a large number of clonal abnormalities, as well as extensive intercellular heterogeneity. Through the use of immunologic, molecular, and biochemical analyses, we characterized protein and gene expression profiles confirming the osteogenic nature of the cells. Further evaluation indicated that OS 99-1 cells maintain the capacity to differentiate in an in vitro mineralization assay as well as form tumors in the in vivo chicken embryo model. This cell line provides a useful tool to investigate the molecular mechanisms contributing to osteosarcoma and may have the potential to serve as a culture system for studies involving bone physiology.
Increased Tyrosine Protein Kinase Activity in Hairy Cell and Monocytic Leukemias

Tyrosine protein kinases (TPK) help regulate cellular growth and differentiation. Several proto-oncogenes encode for protein products with associated tyrosine kinase activity. An assay for TPK activity was performed in cell extracts using a synthetic peptide substrate and [32P] adenosine triphosphate (ATP). TPK activity was elevated in K-562 cells, which possess an amplified c-abl oncogene, compared to normal blood mononuclear cells (K-562 = 9.37 ± 1.72 [mean ± standard deviation] pmol ATP/106 cells/min; normal = 1.14 ± 0.46, p < 0.01). TPK activity was measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with hairy cell leukemia (HCL), myelomonocytic leukemia (MOL), acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML), and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In patients with clinically active disease, elevated TPK activity was measured in mononuclear cells from five HCL patients (range 3.76–24.15) and from seven MOL patients. These elevated levels appeared to parallel disease activity, as low levels of TPK activity were measured in patients with inactive (treated) disease. Low levels of TPK were measured in mononuclear cells from active AML and CLL patients. Elevated TPK levels in patients with HCL and MOL may reflect the overexpression of a proto-oncogene or increased growth factor activity in immature or rapidly dividing leukemic cells. Serial TPK levels in HCL and MOL patients correlated with change in disease activity.
Coronary artery, aortic wall, and valvular calcification in nondialyzed individuals with type 2 diabetes and renal disease

Coronary artery, aortic wall, and valvular calcification in non-dialyzed individuals with type 2 diabetes and renal disease. Background Individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) have highly prevalent and severe vascular and valvular calcification. We undertook this study to test the hypothesis that vascular and valvular calcification begins and is often severe long before diabetic renal disease progresses to ESRD. Methods A total of 32 nondialyzed individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus and diabetic renal disease (albumin excretion rate>30 μg/min) [mean glomerular filtration rate (GFR), 49.8 ± 6.1mL/min/1.73m 2 ] were identified and compared with a group of 18 normoalbuminuric diabetics. We used 3:1 matching to identify 95 nondiabetic controls without renal disease, matched for age, gender, ethnicity, and the presence/absence of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and known coronary artery disease (CAD). Results Using electron beam computed tomography (CT), the prevalence of coronary artery calcification was significantly greater among diabetic renal disease individuals (prevalence, 94% vs. 59%, P P P = 0.03; mitral, 25% vs. 2%, P Conclusion In this first, systematic analysis among nondialyzed individuals with diabetic renal disease, these data demonstrate that vascular and valvular calcification is present and often severe long before the disease progresses to ESRD. The data also suggest that the coronary artery and aortic wall calcification may represent atherosclerosis.
IDENTIFICATION OF KINETIC ALFVEN WAVE TURBULENCE IN THE SOLAR WIND

The nature of small-scale turbulent fluctuations in the solar wind is investigated using a comparison of Cluster magnetic and electric field measurements to predictions arising from models consisting of either kinetic Alfven waves or whistler waves. The electric and magnetic field properties of these waves from linear theory are used to construct spacecraft-frame frequency spectra of (|δE|/|δB|) s/c and (|δB ∥|/|δB|) s/c , allowing for a direct comparison to spacecraft data. The measured properties of the small-scale turbulent fluctuations, found to be inconsistent with the whistler wave model, agree well with the prediction of a spectrum of kinetic Alfven waves with nearly perpendicular wavevectors.
Inducible nitric oxide synthase aggresome formation is mediated by nitric oxide

Abstract Nitric oxide (NO) generated by inducible NO synthase (iNOS) contributes critically to inflammatory injury and host defense. While previously thought as a soluble protein, iNOS was recently reported to form aggresomes inside cells. But what causes iNOS aggresome formation is unknown. Here we provide evidence demonstrating that iNOS aggresome formation is mediated by its own product NO. Exposure to inflammatory stimuli (lipopolysaccharide and interferon-γ) induced robust iNOS expression in mouse macrophages. While initially existing as a soluble protein, iNOS progressively formed protein aggregates as a function of time. Aggregated iNOS was inactive. Treating the cells with the NOS inhibitor N-nitro- l -arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) blocked NO production from iNOS without affecting iNOS expression. However, iNOS aggregation in cells was prevented by L-NAME. The preventing effect of NO blockade on iNOS aggresome formation was directly observed in GFP-iNOS-transfected cells by fluorescence imaging. Moreover, iNOS aggresome formation could be recaptured by adding exogenous NO to L-NAME-treated cells. These studies demonstrate that iNOS aggresome formation is caused by NO. The finding that NO induces iNOS aggregation and inactivation suggests aggresome formation as a feedback inhibition mechanism in iNOS regulation.
Nitric oxide synthase inhibitors enhance mechanosensitive Ca2+ influx in cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons

Nitric oxide (NO) can have opposite effects on peripheral sensory neuron sensitivity depending on the concentration and source of NO, and the experimental setting. The aim of this study was to determine the role of endogenous NO production in the regulation of mechanosensitive Ca(2+) influx of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Adult mouse DRG neurons were grown in primary culture for 2-5 days, loaded with Fura-2, and tested for mechanically mediated changes in [Ca(2+)](i) by fluorescent ratio imaging. In the presence of the NOS inhibitors L-NAME, TRIM, or 7-NI, but not the inactive analogue D-NAME, peak [Ca(2+)](i) transients to mechanical stimulation were increased more than 2-fold. Neither La(3+) (25 microM), an inhibitor of voltage activated Ca(2+) channels, or tetrodotoxin (TTX, 1 microM), a selective inhibitor of voltage-gated Na(+) channels, had an effect on mechanically activated [Ca(2+)](i) transients under control conditions. However, in the presence of L-NAME, both La(3+) and TTX partially blocked the [Ca(2+)](i) response. Addition of Gd(3+), a blocker of mechanosensitive cation channels and L-type Ca(2+) channels, at a concentration (100 microM) that markedly inhibited the mechanical response under control conditions, only partially inhibited the response in the presence of L-NAME. The combination of either La(3+) or TTX with Gd(3+) caused near complete inhibition of mechanically stimulated [Ca(2+)](i) transients in the presence of L-NAME. We conclude that focal mechanical stimulation of DRG neurons causes Ca(2+) influx occurs primarily through mechanosensitive cation channels under control conditions. In the presence of NOS inhibitors, additional Ca(2+) influx occurs through voltage-sensitive Ca(2+) channels. These results suggest that endogenously produced NO in cultured DRG neurons decreases mechanosensitivity by inhibiting voltage-gated Na(+) and Ca(2+) channels.
Reduction of the grid effects in simulation plasmas

The electromagnetic field grids in fine-resolution two-dimensional or medium-resolution three-dimensional plasma simulation are very large. We propose a method whereby only a fraction of the grid need be in fast core at any given time. The basic idea is to do several consecutive field solutions with coarse grids displaced relative to one another. The separate solutions may pertain to different time steps (“jiggling”) or the same time step (“interlacing”). The combination of these separate solutions can provide some aspects of the accuracy improvement obtainable with the fine grid which is the superposition of the separate grids. These techniques may be useful when one is strongly limited by the size of random-access memory but can afford to place greater demands on serial-access memory and processor speed. Their effect is to reduce “aliasing” errors, in which plasma perturbations are unphysically coupled when their wave numbers differ by wave vectors characteristic of the grid. Resolution may then be improved by methods described elsewhere. In order to evaluate these methods quantitatively, dispersion relations for plasma oscillations are examined. Aliasing effects, such as grid-induced instability, can be greatly reduced. However, depending on the smoothness of the velocity distribution, “jiggling” can introduce new troublesome modes with frequencies ∼Δt−1; “interlacing” has no known ill side effects. Simulation results are in agreement with theory. In two and three dimensions, there is also a decrease in computation time compared to using a finer gride with similar reduction in grid effects.
Geo-accurate model extraction from three-dimensional image-derived point clouds

A methodology is proposed for automatically extracting primitive models of buildings in a scene from a three-dimensional point cloud derived from multi-view depth extraction techniques. By exploring the information provided by the two-dimensional images and the three-dimensional point cloud and the relationship between the two, automated methods for extraction are presented. Using the inertial measurement unit (IMU) and global positioning system (GPS) data that accompanies the aerial imagery, the geometry is derived in a world-coordinate system so the model can be used with GIS software. This work uses imagery collected by the Rochester Institute of Technology's Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory's WASP sensor platform. The data used was collected over downtown Rochester, New York. Multiple target buildings have their primitive three-dimensional model geometry extracted using modern point-cloud processing techniques.