cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sperm morphology and in vitro fertilization outcome: a direct comparison of World Health Organization and strict criteria methodologies *

Objective To perform a direct comparison of two sperm morphology methodologies with regard to IVF outcome. Design Blinded comparison of two methods of morphology assessment using the same morphology slides. Patients Data were obtained from 132 couples in a consecutive series of patients undergoing IVF. Main Outcome Measures Two practical end points were selected for analysis for each couple: the presence of any fertilization and the number of fertilized eggs. Normal traditional morphology was defined as ≥ 40% normal forms in a sample and normal strict criteria was defined as ≥ 4%. Results Traditional morphology demonstrated a higher sensitivity and negative predictive value than strict criteria (87% versus 61%, and 68% versus 36%, respectively). Positive predictive value and specificity were also numerically greater but did not reach statistical significance. Abnormal traditional morphology, but not strict criteria, was associated with reduced fertilization even among samples with normal sperm concentration and motility. Samples with normal morphology were associated with a greater number of fertilized eggs per couple than those with abnormal morphology: this difference was 3.2 fertilized eggs for traditional morphology and 1.6 for strict criteria. Overall, for samples with Conclusions Comparison of traditional morphology and strict criteria with regard to IVF outcome favored traditional morphology in several areas. In particular, low scores were more predictive of poor IVF outcome.
G-Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinases and Arrestins

Many transmembrane signaling systems consist of specific G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that transduce the binding of a diverse array of extracellular stimuli into intracellular signaling events. GPCRs function to regulate many biological processes including neurotransmission, sensory perception, cardiovascular function, chemotaxis, embryogenesis, development, and cell growth, differentiation and apoptosis. To ensure that extracellular signals are translated into intracellular signals of appropriate magnitude and specificity, most signaling cascades are tightly regulated. GPCRs are subject to three principle modes of regulation: (1) desensitization, in which a receptor becomes refractory to continued stimuli; (2) endocytosis, whereby receptors are removed from the cell surface; and (3) downregulation, where total cellular receptor levels are decreased. GPCR desensitization is primarily mediated by second messenger-dependent kinases, such as protein kinase A and protein kinase C, and by G-protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs). GRKs specifically phosphorylate activated GPCRs and initiate the recruitment of arrestins, which mediate receptor desensitization, endocytosis, and downregulation. Recent studies have revealed that GRKs and arrestins have much broader roles than initially envisioned and can regulate many classes of receptors and function in diverse biological processes including development; cardiovascular, neurological, and immune function; cell signaling, migration and survival; protein trafficking; and transcription.
Learning tasks: Some similarities and differences

This chapter explores some of the similarities of learning tasks to evaluate them in relation to the apparent differences among the same tasks. It also presents three representative varieties of learning are presented. They include instrumental conditioning, classical conditioning, and paired associate (PA) learning. The chapter also explores the differences between classical and instrumental conditioning. In classical eyelid conditioning, the CR may reduce the impact of the noxious UCS. By blinking, the subject partially avoids the air puff. To the extent that the CR does avoid the air puff, it becomes instrumental in the animal's life. It affects its future well-being.
Regulation of p27Kip1 during gentamicin mediated hair cell death.

The INK4 and Kip/Cip families of Cyclin Dependent Kinase inhibitors (CKIs) are regulators of the cell cycle. In addition, CKIS including p27Kip1can protect cells from apoptosis in vitro. However, little is known about protective effect of p27Kip1in vivo. We used systemic treatment with aminoglycosides to induce hair-cell death in the basilar papilla (BP), the auditory organ of the avian inner ear, and characterised the expression of p27Kip1with confocal and immunofluorescence microscopy. In contrast to the adult mammalian cochlea where p27Kip1is expressed only in supporting cells, p27Kip1is found in the nuclei of both hair cells and supporting cells in the BP of the normal, mature bird. Forty-eight hours after gentamicin treatment, hair cells with TUNEL positive nuclei and hair cells with pyknotic nuclei were both detected, suggesting many hair cells die by apoptosis. When the BP was double labelled for p27Kip1and myosin VIIa, a hair-cell specific protein, all dying hair cells that had been ejected from the epithelium were found to be myosin VIIa positive but negative for p27Kip1even though nuclear remnants were still visible. In the transition zone where partial hair-cell loss occurs, freshly ejected hair cells lying immediately above the surface of the BP no longer expressed p27Kip1. Damaged hair cells within the epithelium in the transition zone contained p27Kip1in their cytoplasm but not in their nuclei. These data support recent in vitro findings suggesting that p27Kip1protects cells from apoptosis and that its downregulation may be a general feature of programmed cell death.
Friday, September 28, 2018 3:00 PM–4:00 PM abstracts: optimizing lumbar disc surgery: 213. The impact of lumbar discectomy on patient-reported outcomes: a matched cohort study

BACKGROUND CONTEXT Spinal surgeons often consider their patients to be different from patients with other musculoskeletal complaints in that they are more depressed, have less function and more pain. Subsequently, spine patients are thought to recover at a slower rate. PURPOSE To evaluate the impact of lumbar discectomy (DSC) on postoperative patient-reported mood, function, and pain scores by comparing them to a matched cohort of patients undergoing arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). STUDY DESIGN/SETTING Retrospective review of prospectively collected data. PATIENT SAMPLE A total of 260 patients at a single academic medical center who either underwent lumbar discectomy (n=74) or ACL reconstruction surgery (n=186) from February 2015 to July 2017. OUTCOME MEASURES Patient Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores for physical function (PF), pain interference (PI), and mood (PM). METHODS Patients who had undergone lumbar DSC or ACLR were retrospectively reviewed. Data from PROMIS PF, PI, and PM domains, patient demographics, and clinical characteristics, and other relevant encounter details were extracted. We used propensity score matching to identify age-, sex-, race-, and comorbidity-matched groups from the two cohorts. We used t-tests or chi-square tests to compare the distribution of outcomes and characteristics between the two cohorts. We constructed multivariate linear regression models with interactions between the matched cohort and pre- or postoperative phase to study the change in the outcomes scores between the two cohorts with their surgeries. All multivariate models controlled for relevant confounders and clustering of observations. The level of significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS Age, gender, race, and Elixhauser co-morbidity index were similar between the matched cohorts (p>.05). As compared to the ACLR cohort, the DSC cohort had lower adjusted postoperative PF scores (42.04 vs. 48.26) and higher adjusted postoperative PM (47.86 vs. 40.58) and PI scores (58.44 vs. 51.12) indicating inferior outcomes. However, with respect to preoperative scores, DSC patients experienced significantly greater improvement in PI scores as compared to ACLR patients (Adjusted estimate of interaction term: 3.57, 95% CI: −7.07 to −0.07, p=.045). Moreover, DSC patients also experienced greater decline in PM (Adjusted estimate: −0.49, 95%CI: −4.37 to 3.89, p=.81) and greater increase in PF scores (Adjusted estimate: 1.68, 95% CI: −1.67 to 5.03, p=.33) with surgery, however, these changes were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that, although ACLR patients achieve preferable postoperative scores, DSC patients receive a far larger benefit from surgery than ACLR patients. In contradiction to widely held surgeon bias, DSC patient-reported outcomes demonstrate greater improvement after surgical intervention than ACLR patients.
Forecasting Energy Demand for Microgrids Over Multiple Horizons

Access to electricity is one of the key enablers of socioeconomic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Microgrid solutions are currently playing an increasing role in providing access to electricity, especially to rural populations whose electricity is not supplied by the national grid. Microgrid developers need to manage their existing sites and expand to new regions. In order for them to manage this expansion effectively and sustainably, they need to make data-driven decisions. Having access to accurate forecasts of electricity demand at the site level is a key input in designing, managing and up-scaling microgrid solutions. Several forecasting mechanisms are proposed for such microgrid developers. Using daily energy consumption data from seven sites operating in Kenya during 2014–2017, it was established that exponential smoothing offers the best out-of-sample forecasting performance with forecast skill exhibited for horizons up to four months ahead.
Nasal allergen-neutralizing IgG4 antibodies block IgE-mediated responses: Novel biomarker of subcutaneous grass pollen immunotherapy.

Background Grass pollen subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) is associated with induction of serum IgG4-associated inhibitory antibodies that prevent IgE-facilitated allergen binding to B cells. Objective We sought to determine whether SCIT induces nasal allergen-specific IgG4 antibodies with inhibitory activity that correlates closely with clinical response. Methods In a cross-sectional controlled study, nasal fluid and sera were collected during the grass pollen season from 10 SCIT-treated patients, 13 untreated allergic patients (with seasonal allergic rhinitis [SAR]), and 12 nonatopic control subjects. Nasal and serum IgE and IgG4 levels to Phleum pratense components were measured by using the Immuno Solid Allergen Chip microarray. Inhibitory activity was measured by IgE-facilitated allergen binding assay. IL-10+ regulatory B cells were quantified in peripheral blood by using flow cytometry. Results Nasal and serum Phl p 1– and Phl p 5–specific IgE levels were increased in patients with SAR compared to nonatopic control subjects (all, P Conclusion For the first time, we show that nasal IgG4-associated inhibitory activity correlates closely with the clinical response to allergen immunotherapy in patients with allergic rhinitis with or without asthma.
Spectral analysis of continuous redox data reveals geochemical dynamics near the stream–aquifer interface

Changes in streamflow and water table elevation influence oxidation–reduction (redox) conditions near river–aquifer interfaces, with potentially important consequences for solute fluxes and biogeochemical reaction rates. Although continuous measurements of groundwater chemistry can be arduous, in situ sensors reveal chemistry dynamics across a wide range of timescales. We monitored redox potential in an aquifer adjacent to a tidal river and used spectral and wavelet analyses to link redox responses to hydrologic perturbations within the bed and banks. Storms perturb redox potential within both the bed and banks over timescales of days to weeks. Tides drive semidiurnal oscillations in redox potential within the streambed that are absent in the banks. Wavelet analysis shows that tidal redox oscillations in the bed are greatest during late summer (wavelet magnitude of 5.62 mV) when river stage fluctuations are on the order of 70 cm and microbial activity is relatively high. Tidal redox oscillations diminish during the winter (wavelet magnitude of 2.73 mV) when river stage fluctuations are smaller (on the order of 50 cm) and microbial activity is presumably low. Although traditional geochemical observations are often limited to summer baseflow conditions, in situ redox sensing provides continuous, high‐resolution chemical characterization of the subsurface, revealing transport and reaction processes across spatial and temporal scales in aquifers.
Predictive Biomarkers and Targeted Therapies in the Skin

A targeted therapy may be directed toward a specific cancer based on features of that cancer or a genomic subtype of that cancer based on the presence of druggable targets. A predictive biomarker is a biomarker that helps to predict how well a patient will respond to a particular treatment (in contrast, a prognostic biomarker helps to determine whether a cancer is likely to progress or is indolent in the absence of treatment). The last decade has seen significant progress in the use of targeted therapies in melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans and also the identification of relevant predictive biomarkers. Future promising directions include Merkel cell carcinoma. There is a need for those involved in the diagnosis and treatment of cutaneous cancers (including pathologists and dermatopathologists) to be aware of these exciting developments.
The Geniza and Family History

The Geniza preserves some of the densest and most detailed evidence for family life that we possess from the medieval Middle East. This essay examines how scholars have used this evidence to date and how they have not yet done so, in three parts. It first assesses Goitein’s foundational work on women and the family—its strengths, its limitations, and its relationship to the study of the family in other historical fields. It then surveys the work that has been done since Goitein, which for many years focused primarily on the legal construction of marriage but has recently returned to asking more broadly based questions about kinship, households, and men’s and women’s lived experiences within marriage. The essay concludes by discussing some of the inherent constraints that the field faces moving forward and identifying some especially promising areas of future inquiry.
Chapter 20 – Collection and Processing of Recycled Copper

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the major sources and types of scrap. It also discusses scrap recycling and physical beneficiation techniques for isolating copper from its coatings and other contaminants. Scrap is generated at all stages in the life span of a copper product. The primary producers that cannot be further processed or sell is home-scrap. The scrap generated during manufacturing is the new scrap and the useless category is an old scrap. The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) currently recognizes 45 grades of copper-base scrap. The purest copper scrap is simply remelted and recast for manufacture and use. Less pure copper scrap is re-smelted and re-refined. Alloy scrap is usually recycled directly to make a new alloy. Considerable scrap must be physically treated to isolate its copper from its other components, as done in the recovery of copper from wire and cable by liberation and isolation. Old scrap is often discarded in landfills. Density, eddy current and electrostatic separation are the techniques that are used to recover copper from the shredded scrap.
Advances in Spatial Frequency Modulation Imaging Techniques for Applications from Advanced Manufacturing to the Neurosciences

Spatial frequency modulation imaging has a broad range of attributes: enhanced resolution in linear and nonlinear imaging modalities, phase sensitivity, and random access capability. Advanced manufacturing to the neurosciences can benefit from this unique optical metrology.
Pituitary metastasis of small cell lung cancer: Two case reports

Abstract Pituitary metastasis is a rare manifestation of systemic malignancy accounting for approximately 1% of all pituitary tumors. Breast and lung tumors are the most common primary sources of metastases, yet other sites such as the gastrointestinal tract, prostate, kidney, thyroid, and pancreas have also been reported. The vast majority of pituitary metastasis are clinically silent; however, the most common presenting symptoms are usually related to pituitary dysfunction, with posterior pituitary predominance, as well as visual field defects secondary to mass effect. We present two cases of pituitary metastases, both middle-aged adult females with an extensive history of tobacco use presenting with new onset headaches and visual disturbances. The first case with pituitary metastasis as the first manifestation of underlying small cell lung carcinoma, and the second case with known metastatic small cell lung carcinoma receiving combination therapy with chemotherapy and immunotherapy who was found to have pituitary involvement. Both cases exhibited signs and symptoms of pituitary dysfunction requiring hormonal replacement therapy. Pituitary metastasis is a rare condition and often remains undiagnosed. Most metastatic tumors to the pituitary are clinically silent and diagnosed incidentally, and in many cases carries a poor prognosis. Distinguishing pituitary metastasis from other pituitary lesions based on clinical presentation and radiologic features is often challenging due to clinical and radiologic findings often being nonspecific, therefore a high index of clinical suspicion and physician awareness is of paramount importance. Management of pituitary metastasis may include surgery and radiotherapy, as well as, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and hormonal therapy, but evidence on the outcomes of these approaches is limited.
Insurgent Working Class Self-Organization Outside the Wage Labour Relation: Land and Livestock in the City

The chapter focuses on working-class self-organization outside the capital wage relation, drawing on fieldwork conducted between 2009 and 2017 at a land occupation site for livestock raising in Cape Town. I argue that the land occupation is an instance of land reform from below, characterized by a radically democratic and egalitarian organizational form, with immanent progressive potential for anti-capitalist change. This is visible from the way in which they allocate plots of land (including setting equal plot sizes), their fledgling system of solidarity and cooperation, and how they interact with the local informal market, aspiring to supply food to the working class. The combined experience of historical land dispossession resistance and contemporary anti-neoliberal struggles produce an “urban agrarian politics” in the twenty-first century. Insurgent self-organization by an urban semi-proletarian is a critical component of the both the labour and agrarian question today.
Reimagining the Role of School-Based Health Centers During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

For the past decade, school‐based health centers (SBHCs) have become one important solution for increasing access to care for children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the United States 1, 2 This is especially critical given that children in underserved communities have higher rates of asthma, obesity, mental health disorders, and are less likely to receive routine care from community providers 1 With the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic and the resultant nationwide K‐12 school closures, SBHCs have had to adopt alternate strategies to continue providing care to school children in need, with some not having the capacity to remain open at all 3
Rab 25: Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressive of Cancer

Rab 25 is a small GTPase belonging to the RAS (rat sarcoma) superfamily. It is expressed in epithelial cells only and serves as a regulator of various intracellular signaling pathways. As a key player in in cell regulation, Rab 25 has been shown by research to function mainly as an oncogene in various cancers including breast cancer and ovarian cancer. However, Rab 25 has also been reported to be a tumor suppressor in cancer types such as colorectal cancer. A lot of research has been done about Rab 25 in recent years. This review is an overview of Rab 25, focusing on their role in human diseases such as cancer.
Examination of Cancer and Aging Through Activities of Daily Living: A National Health and Aging Trends Study Analysis.

Objectives: This study longitudinally examined how older adult cancer survivors perceive disability in activities of daily living over time compared to older adults who have not had cancer. Methods...
Visualization of SARS-CoV-2 infection dynamic

Replication-competent recombinant viruses expressing reporter genes provide valuable tools to investigate viral infection. Low levels of reporter gene expressed from previous reporter-expressing rSARS-CoV-2 have jeopardized their use to monitor the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro or in vivo. Here, we report an alternative strategy where reporter genes were placed upstream of the viral nucleocapsid gene followed by a 2A cleavage peptide. The higher levels of reporter expression using this strategy resulted in efficient visualization of rSARS-CoV-2 in infected cultured cells and K18 hACE2 transgenic mice. Importantly, real-time viral infection was readily tracked using a non-invasive in vivo imaging system and allowed us to rapidly identify antibodies which are able to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 infection in vivo. Notably, these reporter-expressing rSARS-CoV-2 retained wild-type virus like pathogenicity in vivo, supporting their use to investigate viral infection, dissemination, pathogenesis and therapeutic interventions for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 in vivo.
Oxidation of Boron at Temperatures between 400 and 1300°C in Air

The oxidation behavior of powder compacts of both amorphous and crystalline boron was studied in air at temperatures between 400 and 1300°C. Crystalline and amorphous boron during the initial stage of oxidation followed a parabolic rate law. Crystalline boron formed a protective coating of boron oxide between 600 and 1100°C, and after 24 hours in this temperature range 16–19% of the boron was oxidized to B2O3. Amorphous boron oxidized at a greater rate than crystalline boron between 600 and 1000°C, and after 24 hours 22–26% of the boron was oxidized to B2O3. Above 1000°C vaporization of B2O3 took place, in addition to the formation of a brown suboxide of boron. The composition of this suboxide has been determined as B7O. Boron nitride was also formed during the oxidation of amorphous boron between 1100 and 1300°C.
Extensions of naive bayes and their applications to bioinformatics

In this paper we will study the naive Bayes, one of the popular machine learning algorithms, and improve its accuracy without seriously affecting its computational efficiency. Naive Bayes assumes positional independence, which makes the computation of the joint probability value easier at the expense of the accuracy or the underlying reality. In addition, the prior probabilities of positive and negative instances are computed from the training instances, which often do not accurately reflect the real prior probabilities. In this paper we address these two issues. We have developed algorithms that automatically perturb the computed prior probabilities and search around the neighborhood to maximize a given objective function. To improve the prediction accuracy we introduce limited dependency on the underlying pattern. We have demonstrated the importance of these extensions by applying them to solve the problem in discriminating a TATA box from putative TATA boxes found in promoter regions of plant genome. The best prediction accuracy of a naive Bayes with 10 fold cross validation was 69% while the second extension gave the prediction accuracy of 79% which is better than the best solution from an artificial neural network prediction.
A Robust Analog VLSI Reichardt Motion Sensor

Silicon imagers with integrated motion-detection circuitry have been developed and tested for the past 15 years. Many previous circuits estimate motion by identifying and tracking spatial or temporal features. These approaches are prone to failure at low SNR conditions, where feature detection becomes unreliable. An alternate approach to motion detection is an intensity-based spatiotemporal correlation algorithm, such as the one proposed by Hassenstein and Reichardt in 1956 to explain aspects of insect vision. We implemented a Reichardt motion sensor with integrated photodetectors in a standard CMOS process. Our circuit operates at sub-microwatt power levels, the lowest reported for any motion sensor. We measure the effects of device mismatch on these parallel, analog circuits to show they are suitable for constructing 2-D VLSI arrays. Traditional correlation-based sensors suffer from strong contrast dependence. We introduce a circuit architecture that lessens this dependence. We also demonstrate robust performance of our sensor to complex stimuli in the presence of spatial and temporal noise.
Evil as Indexical: The Implicit Objective Status of Guns and Illegal Drugs

We use C.H. Mead's perspective on the meaning of social objects and his theory of the past and Harold Garfinkel's application of indexicality to describe how people respond to social objects as evil. Mead's notion of an implied objective past illuminates how social actors not only connect objects to past evils but also invoke an objective past to index evil in the future. Focusing on guns and illegal drugs, we maintain that responses to each draw on conceptions of the past in ways that attempt to make their connection to evil in the past and future justifiable. Such responses create meaningful categories that actors then use to anticipate future responses to objects. We note that while people appear to be comfortable using pasts and indexical expressions to define Schedule I drugs as evil in themselves, the attempt to make guns into evil objects has met with strong resistance and requires elaborate contextualization.
Review article: Microscopic colitis--lymphocytic, collagenous and 'mast cell' colitis.

Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2011; 34: 21–32 Summary Background Microscopic colitis is a relatively common cause of chronic diarrhoea in predominantly older adults, traditionally termed lymphocytic colitis and collagenous colitis. Increased mast cells found in the colonic biopsies of some patients with chronic diarrhoea may represent a distinct type of microscopic colitis. Aim To provide an updated review of the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of microscopic colitis, and to discuss the role of mast cells in the gastrointestinal tract and their potential role in cases of functional diarrhoea. Method A MEDLINE literature search was performed to identify pertinent articles. Relevant clinical abstracts were also reviewed. Results Incidence rates of microscopic colitis (lymphocytic and collagenous colitis) have increased over time, to levels comparable with other forms of inflammatory bowel disease. The possibility of drug-induced microscopic colitis and concomitant coeliac sprue are important considerations when evaluating these patients. There are few controlled treatment trials in microscopic colitis, with much of the data on treatment coming from retrospective studies. Mast cells have been implicated in functional bowel disorders, with increased mast cells possibly contributing to cases of otherwise unexplained chronic diarrhoea, although this concept requires further investigation. Conclusions In patients with microscopic colitis, a systematic approach to therapy often leads to satisfactory control of symptoms. The role of mast cells in chronic diarrhoea represents an evolving field, with the potential to offer alternative treatment pathways in patients with otherwise unexplained functional diarrhoea.
Studies of blood glucose and plasma insulin in "normal" women using mechanical contraception for 6 months.

Abstract A prospective study of carbohydrate metabolism was done with 56 “normal” women who were 4 to 11 weeks post partum. Each had a 3 hour oral glucose tolerance test performed before and after 6 months of using an intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD). The results showed only slight changes in blood glucose and plasma insulin levels between the two tests. There were elevations of the fasting and 0.5 hour glucose values and the 2 hour plasma insulin value at the 6 month test. These data provide a further understanding of the changing metabolic parameters associated with pregnancy and they also give the “control” baseline information for comparison with other postpartum studies on the metabolic effects of contraceptive steroids.
Trends in Emergency Department Visit Rates for Hypoglycemia and Hyperglycemic Crisis among Adults with Diabetes, United States, 2006-2011.

Background Despite concerns about hypoglycemia events from overly aggressive glycemic reduction, population trends in hypoglycemia and hyperglycemic crisis incidence are unclear. To address this gap, we examined changes in emergency department (ED) visit rates for hypoglycemia and hyperglycemic crisis 2006–2011.
Gradient nonlinearity correction to improve apparent diffusion coefficient accuracy and standardization in the american college of radiology imaging network 6698 breast cancer trial

Purpose To evaluate a gradient nonlinearity correction (GNC) program for quantitative apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements on phantom and human subject diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in a multicenter breast cancer treatment response study Materials and Methods A GNC program using fifth-order spherical harmonics for gradient modeling was applied retrospectively to qualification phantom and human subject scans. Ice-water phantoms of known diffusion coefficient were scanned at five different study centers with different scanners and receiver coils. Human in vivo data consisted of baseline and early-treatment exams on 54 patients from four sites. ADC maps were generated with and without GNC. Regions of interest were defined to quantify absolute errors and changes with GNC over breast imaging positions. Results Phantom ADC errors varied with region of interest (ROI) position and scanner configuration; the mean error by configuration ranged from 1.4% to 19.9%. GNC significantly reduced the overall mean error for all sites from 9.9% to 0.6% (P = 0.016). Spatial dependence of GNC was highest in the right-left (RL) and anterior-posterior (AP) directions. Human subject mean tumor ADC was reduced 0.2 to 12% by GNC at different sites. By regression, every 1-cm change in tumor ROI position between baseline and follow-up visits resulted in an estimated change of 2.4% in the ADC early-treatment response measurement. Conclusion GNC is effective for removing large, system-dependent errors in quantitative breast DWI. GNC may be important in ensuring reproducibility in multicenter studies and in reducing errors in longitudinal treatment response measures arising from spatial variations in tumor position between visits. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;42:908–919.
Sex differences in exercise-induced muscle pain and muscle damage.

Abstract There is uncertainty about sex differences in exercise-induced muscle pain and muscle damage due to several methodological weaknesses in the literature. This investigation tested the hypothesis that higher levels of exercise-induced muscle pain and muscle damage indicators would be found in women than men when several methodological improvements were executed in the same study. Participants (N = 33; 42% women) with an average age of 23 years (SD = 2.82) consented to participate. After a familiarization session, participants visited the laboratory before and across 4 days after eccentric exercise was completed to induce arm muscle pain and muscle damage. Our primary outcomes were arm pain ratings and pressure pain thresholds. However, we also measured the following indicators of muscle damage: arm girth; resting elbow extension; isometric elbow flexor strength; myoglobin (Mb); tumor necrosis factor (TNFa); interleukin 1beta (IL1b); and total nitric oxide (NO). Temporary induction of muscle damage was indicated by changes in all outcome measures except TNFa and IL1b. In contrast to our hypotheses, women reported moderately lower and less frequent muscle pain than men. Also, women's arm girth and Mb levels increased moderately less than men's, but the differences were not significant. Few large sex differences were detected. Perspective Lower muscle pain among women than men was detected with corresponding, but nonsignificant sex differences in other muscle damage indicators. Methodological advances may have improved alignment of these results with the nonhuman animal findings. This line of research continues to show exceptions to the generalization that women experience greater pain than men.
Computer simulation studies of the fidelity of DNA polymerases

Computer simulations can provide in principle quantitative correlation between the structures of DNA polymerases and the replication fidelity. This paper describes our progress in this direction. Using several theoretical approaches, including the free energy perturbation (FEP), linear response approximation (LRA), and the empirical valence bond (EVB) methods, we examined the stability of several mismatched base pairs in DNA duplex in aqueous solution, the contribution of binding energy to the fidelity of DNA polymerases β and T7, and the mechanism and energetics of the polymerization reaction catalyzed by T7 DNA polymerase. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 68: 286–299, 2003
Time-Explicit Representation of Relative Motion Between Elliptical Orbits

Theclassictreatmentofrendezvousmechanicsandotherproblemsinvolvingtherelativemotionoftwospacecraft assumesa circularreferenceorbit, allowing a simpleclosed-form description ofthemotion. Asolution isdeveloped using an elliptical reference orbit, expanding the state transition matrix in powers of eccentricity, while retaining the explicit time dependence of the three-dimensional motion. The solution includes separate matrix elements for e rst-and second-order terms in eccentricity and for both Cartesian and cylindrical coordinates. Assessment of the maximum errors in position and velocity components over one complete revolution of the reference satellite shows that the solution is accurate for practical purposes with eccentricities in the range 0 ‐0.3. An example application is given for the proposed laser interferometer space antenna gravity wave experiment.
Support materials for stationary fixed film reactors for high-rate methanogenic fermentations

Needle punched polyester material and red drain tile clay were most effective in developing an active biomass film. Maximum methane production rates (0.045–0.055 m3/m2/day, or 4.5–5.5 m3/m3/day for a reactor with 100 m2 film support area per m3) were achieved in 40–50 days.
Condition Based Maintenance optimization of wind turbine system using degradation prediction

This paper proposes an optimal Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) policy for a multi-component system. Especially, multicomponent wind turbine has been analyzed to investigate cost relationship between maintenance and energy production schedule. Wind turbine consists of numerous mechanical and electrical components, and each of which shows independent stochastic deterioration process. The fundamental of proposed strategy is derived based on the statistically modeled aging and deterioration of each critical component in the wind turbine system to optimally schedule CBM task. Scheduling the CBM task is variably and iteratively performed through optimizing joint failure probability threshold and inspection/maintenance interval to minimize the total designed cost function. The proposed designed cost function is especially defined to dynamically reflect the various operation, maintenance, and production conditions of wind turbine systems. In addition, this paper proposes life time enhancement factor to investigate the performance of CBM task in terms of achieved designed cost. The proposed CBM policy is theoretically analyzed and justified through a case study using wind farm operation and maintenance cost data.
Temperature and electron density measurements in a helium/hydrogen capacitively coupled microwave plasma

Abstract Various temperature and electron density measurements have been carried out in a capacitively coupled microwave plasma (CMP) with a mixture of hydrogen and helium as the plasma gas using a photodiode array spectrometer for detection. FeI lines were used for excitation temperature, OH lines for rotational temperature and the Hgb line for electron number density measurements. Rotational temperatures were found to be between 1800 K and 3000 K, excitation temperatures varied between 2000 K and 5000 K and electron number densities varied between 4 × 1014 cm−3 and 9 × 1014 cm−3, depending on operating conditions. The influence of power, observation position, solution uptake rate and carrier gas flow have been investigated.
Quality of life and breast cancer: relationship to psychosocial variables.

The aim of this article is to shed more light on the relationship between quality of life and aspects of the psychosocial experience for women with breast cancer. The literature is briefly reviewed, including highlights of the psychosocial consequences of cancer, an exploration of the relationship of psychosocial variables to cancer, and a brief review of psychosocial interventions for cancer. Further, preliminary findings of an on-going NCI study are introduced. Finally, clinical implications are discussed. The purpose of this article is to provide a context and foundation on which future researchers and clinicians can build. Ultimately, we suggest that the biomedical model of disease, though crucial, does not take into account all of the complex factors involved in cancer. The current literature lends support to the argument that a broader, more integrative framework, which includes psychosocial factors, is needed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 57: 501–519, 2001
Region and sex differences in constituent dopamine neurons and immunoreactivity for intracellular estrogen and androgen receptors in mesocortical projections in rats.

Many cortical and prefrontal functions show sex differences in their development, adult capacity, and dysfunction in disorders like schizophrenia. Correlations between circulating gonadal hormones and certain prefrontal functions have also been identified in humans and experimental animal models. Although multiple mechanisms may be involved, such hormone sensitivities/sex differences could be related to gonadal steroid actions on another regulator of cortical/prefrontal cortical function, the mesocortical dopamine system. Thus, although it is well known that perturbations in prefrontal dopamine signaling induce behavioral deficits, it is also known that several endpoints of these afferents are sensitive to gonadal steroids and/or are sexually dimorphic. This study explored possible substrates for this in two ways: by comparing the distributions of immunoreactivity for intracellular estrogen (α and β) and androgen receptors among retrogradely labeled dopaminergic and nondopaminergic mesocortical neurons projecting to prefrontal, premotor, and primary motor cortices, areas in which male rat dopamine axons are differentially hormone-sensitive; and by comparing anatomical data in males and females. These analyses revealed region-, cell-, and sex-specific specializations in receptor localization that paralleled established patterns of mesocortical hormone sensitivity, including the androgen sensitivity of dopamine axons and dopamine-dependent functions in prefrontal cortex. It was also found that the proportions of dopamine neurons making up mesocortical projections were ∼30% in males, whereas in females, significantly more constituent cells were dopaminergic. Together, these features may be part of the neurobiology giving mesocortical afferents their hormone sensitivities and/or sex differences in physiology, function, and dysfunction in disease.
Doctoral Students' Perceptions of Advising Style and Development and the Relationship between Them.

Four advising styles, authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved, were identified according to doctoral students' perceptions of demandingness and responsiveness of their advisors. Do...
The herpes simplex problem

Most of the world's population is eventually infected with herpes simplex virus type 1, type 2, or both. Most infected persons harbor latent virus in nerve ganglia for the rest of their lives. True primary infections, nonprimary first-episode infections, and recurrent infections can be asymptomatic or clinical, but all of these are contagious. Past estimates of recurrent herpes affecting 20% to 40% of the population are probably low because of inadequate studies of asymptomatic shedding and genital recurrences. Herpes infections are spread primarily by close personal contact but some are contracted by fomites and medical-dental procedures. Latent virus harbored by almost everyone with frequent reactivation to produce symptomatic or asymptomatic, infectious recurrent disease poses a huge problem for control or eradication of herpes simplex infections. Public health measures will probably fail because they require too much alteration of the public's life-styles. So far, antiviral drugs do not eliminate latent virus from infected ganglia. That naturally infected persons can be reinfected, superinfected, or autoinoculated raises serious questions whether vaccines will eradicate the disease, although they might control some serious manifestations and limit some spreading. The problem of eradicating herpes is different from that of eradicating smallpox, where latent infections with infectious recurrences did not exist.
Towards an exact correlated orbital theory for electrons

Abstract The formal and computational attraction of effective one-particle theories like Hartree–Fock and density functional theory raise the question of how far such approaches can be taken to offer exact results for selected properties of electrons in atoms, molecules, and solids. Some properties can be exactly described within an effective one-particle theory, like principal ionization potentials and electron affinities. This fact can be used to develop equations for a correlated orbital theory (COT) that guarantees a correct one-particle energy spectrum. They are built upon a coupled-cluster based frequency independent self-energy operator presented here, which distinguishes the approach from Dyson theory. The COT also offers an alternative to Kohn–Sham density functional theory (DFT), whose objective is to represent the electronic density exactly as a single determinant, while paying less attention to the energy spectrum. For any estimate of two-electron terms COT offers a litmus test of its accuracy for principal Ip’s and Ea’s. This feature for approximating the COT equations is illustrated numerically.
Effects of fiber-optic probe design and probe-to-target distance on diffuse reflectance measurements of turbid media: an experimental and computational study at 337 nm

Fiber-optic probes are widely used in optical spectroscopy of biological tissues and other turbid media. Only limited information exists, however, on the ways in which the illumination-collection geometry and the overall probe design influence the interrogation of media. We have investigated both experimentally and computationally the effect of probe-to-target distance (PTD) on the diffuse reflectance collected from an isotropically (Lambertian) scattering target and an agar-based tissue phantom. Studies were conducted with three probes characterized by either common (single-fiber) or separate (two bifurcated multifiber probes) illumination and collection channels. This study demonstrates that PTD, probe design, and tissue scattering anisotropy influence the extent of the transport of light into the medium, the light-collection efficiency, and the sampling volume of collected light. The findings can be applied toward optimization of fiber-optic probe designs for quantitative optical spectroscopy of turbid media including biological tissues.
Potentially mineralizable nitrogen in West African lowland rice soils

Abstract Nitrogen (N) deficiency is a major constraint to rice production in West Africa. Little information is available on the N supplying capacity of soils used for wetland rice production in West Africa. Potentially mineralizable N, as a measure of N supplying capacity, was determined employing an anaerobic incubation test in 15 diverse soils from 5 major rice producing countries in the sub region. Mineralized N contents of the soils varied widely (21 to 166 mg kg −1 of soil) and the ammonium N released constituted 2 to 7% of the total N. Mineralized N was significantly correlated with pH, organic C, total N, clay and CEC but not with extractable iron and C/N ratio of the soils. Multiple regression analysis of mineralized N with soil characteristics showed that inclusion of C/N ratio and extractable iron improved the prediction of mineralized N. The results underscore the importance of organic matter (organic C and total N) in controlling potentially mineralizable N in wetland rice soils. The main soil factors affecting N mineralization, identified by principal components analysis, accounted for over 97% variation in potentially mineralizable N in the soils.
Gravitational radiation from relativistic phase transitions

A semi-Newtonian treatment of the generation and detection of gravitational waves is presented. This is used to estimate the gravitational radiation from relativistic increases in pressure. The results are applied to various astrophysical processes, and the corresponding ed. It is concluded that observable events at the galactic center must have yields in excess of 1 M sub solar . (auth)
An Eight-Year Clinic Experience with Clozapine Use in a Parkinson’s Disease Clinic Setting

Background To examine our eight year clinic-based experience in a Parkinson’s disease expert clinical care center using clozapine as a treatment for refractory psychosis in Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods The study was a retrospective chart review which covered eight years of clozapine registry use. Statistical T-tests, chi-square, correlations and regression analysis were used to analyze treatment response for potential associations of age, disease duration, and Hoehn & Yahr (H&Y) score, and degree of response to clozapine therapy. Results There were 36 participants included in the analysis (32 PD, 4 parkinsonism-plus). The characteristics included 30.6% female, age 45–87 years (mean 68.3±10.15), disease duration of 17–240 months (mean 108.14±51.13) and H&Y score of 2 to 4 (mean 2.51±0.51). The overall retention rate on clozapine was 41% and the most common reasons for discontinuation were frequent blood testing (28%), nursing home (NH) placement (11%) and leucopenia (8%). Responses to clozapine across the cohort were: complete (33%), partial (33%), absent (16%), and unknown (16%). Age (r = −0.36, p 0.05). Conclusions This single-center experience highlights the challenges associated with clozapine therapy in PD psychosis. Frequent blood testing remains a significant barrier for clozapine, even in patients with therapeutic benefit. Surprisingly, all patients admitted to a NH discontinued clozapine due to logistical issues of administration and monitoring within that setting. Consideration of the barriers to clozapine therapy will be important to its use and to its continued success in an outpatient setting.