cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Insights from a Recent Meeting: Current Status and Future Directions in Magnesium Corrosion Research

The United States Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office held a Technical Review Meeting entitled “Current Status and Future Directions in Magnesium Corrosion Research” at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in April 2016. Current funded Mg corrosion projects presented their latest results, along with invited presentations from academic and industrial researchers in the area of Mg corrosion. This paper overviews select topics from the meeting, with an emphasis on relaying meeting discussion points regarding future needs in understanding and mitigating Mg corrosion, particularly for automotive applications. Topics highlighted include the need for pretreatments and coatings suitable for mass vehicle production of Mg components, particularly for dissimilar metal joints involving Mg, Al, or steel, and corrosion evaluation methods more relevant to automotive components and operating conditions. From a scientific perspective, the need for better fundamental understanding of Mg dissolution, hydrogen evolutio...
Update in General Internal Medicine: Evidence Published in 2016.

This update in general internal medicine covers important articles published in 2016 that addressed preventive health, treatment of common disorders, and new risk associations of pharmacologic trea...
Adult out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in philadelphia from 2008-2012: An epidemiological study.

Abstract Background Wide variation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival has been reported, with low survival in urban settings. We sought to describe the epidemiology of OHCA in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fifth largest U.S. city, and identify potential areas for targeted interventions to improve survival. Methods and results Retrospective chart review of adult, non-traumatic, OHCA occurring in Philadelphia between 2008 and 2012. We determined incidence and epidemiological factors including: demographics, initial cardiac rhythm, bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation, automated external defibrillator use, return of spontaneous circulation and 30-day survival. 5198 cases of adult, non-traumatic OHCA were identified. The incidence was 81.5/100,000. The majority of cases occurred in a residence (76.2%); 30.4% were witnessed events; the initial cardiac rhythm was pulseless ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation in 6.2% of cases, pulseless electrical activity in 21.0%, asystole in 38.3% and was unknown or undocumented in the remaining 34.5%. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated increased 30-day survival with younger age, shockable cardiac rhythms, and daytime arrest. 30-day survival was 8.1% for EMS-assessed patients and 8.6% for EMS-transported patients. Conclusions Philadelphia's reported incidence is consistent with urban settings although the survival rate is higher than other urban centers.
An updated radiosynthesis of [18F]AV1451 for tau PET imaging.

[18F]AV1451 is a commonly used radiotracer for imaging tau deposits in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related non-AD tauopathies. Existing radiosyntheses of [18F]AV1451 require complex purifications to provide doses suitable for use in clinical imaging studies. To address this issue, we have modified the synthesis of [18F]AV1451 to use only 0.5 mg precursor, optimized the Boc-deprotection step and developed a simplified method for HPLC purification of the radiotracer. An optimized [18F]AV1451 synthesis using a TRACERLab FXFN module led to high radiochemical yield (202 ± 57 mCi per synthesis) and doses with excellent radiochemical purity (98 ± 1%) and good specific activity (2521 ± 623 Ci/mmol). An updated and operationally simple synthesis of [18F]AV1451 has been developed that is fully automated and prepares radiotracer doses suitable for use in clinical tau PET studies.
Outcome Dependent Sampling and Maximum Rank Estimation

The case-control sampling for discrete outcomes has been generalized to continuous outcomes. The so-called outcome dependent sampling is a sampling scheme that depends on the outcome. In an outcome dependent sampling, the tails of a distribution are over-sampled to compensate for the low probability of making observation in the tails under a random sampling.
Simultaneous radar detection and communications performance with clutter mitigation

We analyze the performance of a joint radar-communications receiver performing target detection while simultaneously decoding a message from an in-band communications user. We assume that there is clutter in the environment and that the joint receiver performs basic clutter mitigation. Inner bounds on the performance of the joint radar-communications receiver are then formulated. Bounds on performance of the joint system are measured in terms of data information rate for communications and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for radar.
Attempting to Distinguish Impairment from Disability in the Bioarchaeological Record: An Example from DeArmond Mound (40RE12) in East Tennessee

In bioarchaeological contexts involving interpretations of impairment and disability, scholars can benefit by engaging with the literature from other fields, particularly Disability Studies (DS), to better understand the complexities and nuances of these terms. In this chapter, definitions of impairment and disability are introduced from a number of perspectives, including academic scholarship, as well the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). While impairment has typically been identified by bioarchaeologists as paleopathological in nature, some frameworks from DS expand this definition to include social components. The nuances of these terms are applied to an archaeological case study from a Mississippian site in East Tennessee and describe the remains of a woman who presented a lifelong musculoskeletal impairment of her upper and lower limbs. This impairment would have restricted her ability to move around the landscape in the same way as her peers. Despite these physical differences, her mortuary treatment was not markedly different from other members in her community and does not appear to fit a recent definition of deviant burial practices proposed by Tsaliki (2008). While mortuary data are vital to better understand impairment and disability in the past, bioarchaeologists must be careful to not over interpret the subtle, and simultaneously, marked differences between these two concepts.
Abstract P245: Relationship of Vitamin D Status to Cardiac Valvular Disease in Veterans

Vitamin D deficiency has reached pandemic proportions and has been closely linked to coronary and peripheral vascular disease. Moreover, vitamin D replacement may play a role in improving ejection ...
Project 'Queens' (and from Queens to Brooklyn): Happy Anniversary

Over the years, certain institutional structures have changed in terms of their focus, importance and contribution to the economy. These, partly having been the result of changes to educational structures and systems – as well as social changes and economic developments – as witnessed across certain countries and jurisdictions. Who could ever forget a certain matron (fondly known as Maty Bassey) and her “jawbreakers” (locally known as “chin-chin”)? Or one of the most popular midnights of the year at boarding school – where even though frowned upon by many parents, was the night when valentines were revealed to their secret admirers – after weeks of secrecy and the receipt of mysterious presents? These and other exciting and cherished moments (for many students) – experienced principally, uniquely and only through boarding school systems – as well as other practices aimed at fostering and instilling a degree of vital disciplinary principles, highlight why it is still so important to preserve, as well as improve educational funding and scholarships for boarding facilities and boarding schools. This volume also illustrates why disciplinary practices may fail in their intended aims – where insufficient funding persists – thus creating difficult conditions for those for whom the system is intended to benefit. More importantly, the volume highlights the importance of continued and strategic funding for those great pinnacles, establishments of learning and institutional treasures, who through the years have experienced continued and constant declining focus – with the resulting impact of not just tremendous loss of resources – in terms of intellectual knowledge, valuable human resources and potential, but also the failure to develop such potential.
Toward an Understanding of Consumer Attitudes on Online Review Usage

ABSTRACTWith the rapid e-commerce growth and changes in consumers’ behaviors, many businesses are forced to adapt their business model to match their target customers’ needs. To provide consumers with more product details and increase their confidence in making online purchases, online businesses offer an online review as an alternative to physically interacting with a product. Although consumers have become familiar with the use of online product reviews, many aspects of user behavior toward the usage of online reviews are still not well understood. This study explores the factors underlying the acceptance of consumers’ online review usage when considering purchasing an item. The study results provide insight into the factors that affect customers’ use of online reviews prior to a purchase. This study furthers the body of knowledge that deals with online reviews and system usage, providing results that allow e-commerce businesses to adapt their business model to better fit consumers’ expectations.
In Search of Model Ecological Systems for Understanding Specialized Metabolism

Microbes occupy diverse habitats, forming interconnected, dynamic communities. Elucidating the principles of microbial community function is a grand challenge for microbiology, and it will entail experiments that engage microbiomes across multiple levels of complexity. For example, community-level hypotheses often require testing at the mechanistic and/or genetic levels, while mechanistic relationships require community-level evaluation to understand their importance in context. In this Perspective, we articulate the need for model microbiome systems that enable experimentation in both community and reductionist frameworks, with an emphasis on understanding the role of specialized metabolites in microbial communities. We consider essential criteria for developing such model microbiome systems and discuss potential future models that address the ecology of specialized metabolism.
Echo questions, echo negation, and split CP

This work examines English echo questions (EQs) against the background of Rizzi’s (1997) analysis of split CP. It argues that EQs do not behave as the split CP analysis predicts that they should, and that their behavior can instead be straightforwardly explained within the classic CP analysis. Further, what are termed here ‘echo negations’ of negative inversion constructions are shown not to parallel EQs, a surprising result if negative inversion architecture parallels question architecture, as claimed by split CP proponents. In general, classic CP architecture is more appropriate for analysing this range of phenomena. Rizzi (1997) presents what has been termed a split analysis of Complementizer Phrase (CP). This is sketched in (1) below. The proposal is very broad, and it is claimed to explain a variety of facts about the English complementizer system. In this paper, I will not take on many of the large aspects of the proposal. Here, I wish to deal with two phenomena each of which raises some degree of doubt about the extent to which a split CP analysis is explanatory of the CP architecture of English. This in turn raises questions about the universality and perhaps the efficacy of split CP. The central facts to be discussed here concern echo questions (EQs) and their correspondence to CP structure under various assumptions about what CP structure is like. As I will try to show, a description of the patterning of possible and impossible EQs in English appears to be fairly straightforward under what I will call the ‘classic’ CP analysis. In contrast, the description of EQs becomes more complicated under the split CP analysis. Following this is a brief consideration of negative inversion (NI) constructions and a phenomenon that I will term ‘echo negation’. If NI constructions parallel questions in their involvement with CP structure, as has been claimed, then one might expect their ‘echo negation’ forms to have properties similar to EQs; however, as we will see, they do not. Thus, these findings constitute a small bit of evidence that the classic analysis of CP, one consisting of Spec, CP and C, may be more appropriate for English.
Zolpidem ameliorates motor impairments in the unilaterally 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rat.

Nuclei within the basal ganglia-such as the globus pallidus external segment, subthalamic nucleus, and substantia nigra pars reticulata-have been shown to exhibit synchronous bursting activity entrained to excessive cortical beta oscillations following dopamine depletion. Zolpidem binds to GABAA receptors with selectivity for those expressing the α1 subunit, potentiating inhibitory postsynaptic currents and increasing the time decay of channel opening. Interestingly, zolpidem-sensitive nuclei within the basal ganglia circuitry are also those that have been shown to exhibit hyperexcitation in a dopamine-depleted state. We hypothesized that a drug with selectivity for these nuclei may improve motor impairments associated with Parkinson's disease. In order to determine the threshold dose at which zolpidem might encumber motor behavior, a dose-response experiment was performed in intact rats using rotarod. Next, we tested whether subthreshold doses (0.1, 0.25, 0.5 mg/kg; i.p.) of zolpidem improved volitional motor behavior/coordination using the rotarod balance beam and cylinder/paw preference tests in unilaterally 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned rats. It was found that 0.1 mg/kg zolpidem significantly improved rotarod performance and significantly reduced forelimb use asymmetry compared to undrugged post-lesion conditions. Here, we present the first translational evidence for a role of zolpidem-sensitive GABAA receptors in the treatment of PD motor symptoms. Our data show that zolpidem improves both motor coordination and volitional forelimb use in the unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesion model of PD, and thus suggest that zolpidem-sensitive GABAA receptors may represent a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease.
Abandoned its Students

A chaplain at Duke University, assigned the task of looking into the relationship between students’ academic and social lives, says yes, we have abandoned students. In an effort to give students th...
Surgery Provides Long-Term Survival in Patients with Metastatic Neuroendocrine Tumors Undergoing Resection for Non-Hormonal Symptoms

Patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumor (NET) often have an indolent disease course yet the outcomes for patients with metastatic NET undergoing surgery for non-hormonal (NH) symptoms of GI obstruction, bleeding, or pain is not known. We identified patients with metastatic gastroenteropancreatic NET who underwent resection from 2000 to 2016 at 8 academic institutions who participated in the US Neuroendocrine Tumor Study Group. Of 581 patients with metastatic NET to liver (61.3%), lymph nodes (24.1%), lung (2.1%), and bone (2.5%), 332 (57.1%) presented with NH symptoms of pain (n = 223, 67.4%), GI bleeding (n = 54, 16.3%), GI obstruction (n = 49, 14.8%), and biliary obstruction (n = 22, 6.7%). Most patients were undergoing their first operation (85.4%) within 4 weeks of diagnosis. The median overall survival was 110.4 months, and operative intent predicted survival (p < 0.001) with 66.3% undergoing curative resection. Removal of all metastatic disease was associated with the longest median survival (112.5 months) compared to debulking (89.2 months), or palliative resection (50.0 months; p < 0.001). The 1-, 3-, and 12-month mortality was 3.0%, 4.5%, and 9.0%, respectively. Factors associated with 1-year mortality included palliative operations (OR 6.54, p = 0.006), foregut NET (5.62, p = 0.042), major complication (4.91, p = 0.001), and high tumor grade (11.2, p < 0.001). The conditional survival for patients who lived past 1 year was 119 months. Patients with metastatic NET and NH symptoms that necessitate surgery have long-term survival, and goals of care should focus on both oncologic and quality of life impact. Surgical intervention remains a critical component of multidisciplinary care of symptomatic patients.
Machine Learning in Neuro-Oncology: Can Data Analysis from 5,346 Patients Change Decision Making Paradigms?

Background Machine learning (ML) is an application of artificial intelligence (AI) that gives computer systems the ability to learn data, without being explicitly programmed. Currently, ML has been successfully used for optical character recognition, spam filtering, and face recognition. The aim of the present study was to review the current applications of ML in the field of neuro-oncology. Methods We conducted a systematic literature review using the PubMed and Cochrane databases using a keyword search for January 30, 2000 to March 31, 2018. The data were clustered for neuro-oncology scope of ML into 3 categories: patient outcome predictors, imaging analysis, and gene expression. Results Data from 5346 patients in 29 studies were used to develop ML-based algorithms (MLBAs) in neuro-oncology. MLBAs were used to predict the outcomes for 2483 patients, with a sensitivity range of 78%–98% and specificity range of 76%–95%. In all studies, the MLBAs had greater accuracy than the conventional ones. MLBAs for image analysis showed accuracy in diagnosing low-grade versus high-grade gliomas, ranging from 80% to 93% and 90% for diagnosing high-grade glioma versus lymphoma. Seven studies used MLBAs to analyze gene expression in neuro-oncology. Conclusions MLBAs in neuro-oncology have been shown to predict patients' outcomes more accurately than conventional parameters in a retrospective analysis. If their high diagnostic accuracy in imaging analysis and detection of somatic mutations are corroborated in prospective studies, the use of tissue diagnosis or liquid biopsy might be curtailed. Finally, MLBAs are promising to help guide targeted therapy, can lead to personalized medicine, and open areas of study in the cancer cellular signaling system, not otherwise known.
Outcomes of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Patients with Carotid Artery Disease

ABSTRACTBackground: Stroke is a morbid complication following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and the role of underlying carotid disease (CD) in predicting this complication is unknown. This study was undertaken to evaluate outcomes after TAVR in patients with and without CD.Methods: The study population was extracted from the 2014 Nationwide Readmissions Data (NRD) using International Classification of Disease Ninth-Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes for TAVR, CD and post-procedural complications to extract the exposure group of TAVR patients with a history of CD. Propensity score matching was used to extract a matched control group (TAVR-C). Study endpoints included all-cause in-hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS), post-procedural stroke, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), acute renal failure (ARF), bleeding, mechanical complications of prosthetic valve, vascular complications (VC), need for a new permanent pacemaker (PPM), and 30-day readmission rates.Results: A total of 636 dis...
All-Endoscopic Distal Biceps Repair: Endoscopic Techniques Using Suture Anchors, Buttons, and Interference Screw Fixation

Biceps endoscopy is a minimally invasive procedure for diagnosis and definitive treatment of a wide variety of distal biceps tendon (DBT) pathology. The “all-endoscopic” approach devised by the author is a new and safe technique for repair and reconstruction of distal biceps tears. The “parabiceps portal” visualizes the entire repair process that is performed via the “distal anterior portal.” Chronic retracted tears can be endoscopically mobilized from the arm using a “mid-biceps portal,” and the tendon can be passed across the cubital fossa into the forearm. Cadaveric studies have established the safety of the portals and technique. The all-endoscopic DBT repair technique can be safely performed using suture anchors, buttons, and interference screws.
Literary Value and Social Identity in the Canterbury Tales

Literary authors, especially those with other occupations, must come to grips with the question of why they should write at all, when the world urges them to devote their time and energy to other pursuits. They must reach, at the very least, a provisional conclusion regarding the relation between the uncertain value of their literary efforts and the more immediate values of their non-authorial social identities. Geoffrey Chaucer, with his several middle-strata identities, grappled with this question in a remarkably searching, complex manner. In this book, Robert J. Meyer-Lee examines the multiform, dynamic meditation on the relation between literary value and social identity that Chaucer stitched into the heart of The Canterbury Tales. He traces the unfolding of this meditation through what he shows to be the tightly linked performances of Clerk, Merchant, Franklin and Squire, offering the first full-scale reading of this sequence.
Autocorrelation coefficients equality test for several populations in multivariate data with autocorrelated errors

A likelihood ratio test for the equality of several autocorrelation coefficients based on several independent multinormal samples has been derived. We obtain the critical value and the power analys...
Neoadjuvant and Definitive Radiochemotherapeutic Approaches in Esophageal Cancer: A Retrospective Evaluation of 122 Cases in Daily Clinical Routine.

INTRODUCTION Esophageal cancer (EC) is a common malignant tumor entity with increasing occurrence. The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (AC), particularly, is constantly rising in the Western world. The mainstays of therapy with curative intent for EC in advanced stages are neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy (neoRCT) with surgery and definitive radiochemotherapy (defRCT). METHODS We examined our internal files to identify patients suffering from EC. Palliative cases were excluded. Statistical testing was performed by χ2 test, Student's t test, Kaplan-Meier analyses, and the Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS One hundred and twenty-two cases were included. Histology revealed squamous cell carcinoma in 92 cases and AC in 23 cases. Ninety-five patients underwent defRCT, 27 underwent neoRCT, and 114 (in both therapy regimes) received simultaneous chemotherapy. There was no difference in the overall survival (OS) (p = 0.654; HR 1.145; 95% CI 0.629-2.086) or and progression-free survival (PFS) (p = 0.912) of patients who underwent neoRCT or defRCT. Median OS was 13.5 (2-197) months for defRCT patients and 19.5 (2-134) months for neoRCT patients (p = 0.751). Karnofsky index (KI) with a cut-off of 70% was strongest, but not a significant parameter for OS (p = 0.608) or PFS (p = 0.137). CONCLUSION defRCT is a valid and an equal alternative to neoRCT for patients suffering from EC. Selection of patients for therapy is of crucial relevance. Further studies and improvements in follow-up are needed when neoRCT has been completed before surgery, in order to spare the patient undergoing operative treatment if there is complete remission. The identification of valid markers urgently needed to limit treatment side effects.
Arterial and venous strokes in the setting of COVID-19.

Abstract Background and purpose Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic that causes flu-like symptoms. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that both the central and peripheral nervous systems can be affected by SARS-CoV-2, including stroke. We present three cases of arterial ischemic strokes and one venous infarction from a cerebral venous sinus thrombosis in the setting of COVID-19 infection who otherwise had low risk factors for stroke. Methods We retrospectively reviewed patients presenting to a large tertiary care academic US hospital with stroke and who tested positive for COVID-19. Medical records were reviewed for demographics, imaging results and lab findings. Results There were 3 cases of arterial ischemic strokes and 1 case of venous stroke: 3 males and 1 female. The mean age was 55 (48–70) years. All arterial strokes presented with large vessel occlusions and had mechanical thrombectomy performed. Two cases presented with stroke despite being on full anticoagulation. Conclusions It is important to recognize the neurological manifestations of COVID-19, especially ischemic stroke, either arterial or venous in nature. Hypercoagulability and the cytokine surge are perhaps the cause of ischemic stroke in these patients. Further studies are needed to understand the role of anticoagulation in these patients.
Gaining environments through shape change.

Many organisms, including various species of spiders and caterpillars, change their shape to switch gaits and adapt to different environments. Recent technological advances, ranging from stretchable circuits to highly deformable soft robots, have begun to make shape changing robots a possibility. However, it is currently unclear how and when shape change should occur, and what capabilities could be gained, leading to a wide range of unsolved design and control problems. To begin addressing these questions, here we simulate, design, and build a soft robot that utilizes shape change to achieve locomotion over both a flat and inclined surface. Modeling this robot in simulation, we explore its capabilities in two environments and demonstrate the automated discovery of environment-specific shapes and gaits that successfully transfer to the physical hardware. We found that the shape-changing robot traverses these environments better than an equivalent but non-morphing robot, in simulation and reality.
Helicopter Transport of Trauma Patients Improves Survival Irrespective of Transport Time.

ObjectivesHelicopter transport of trauma patients remains controversial. We examined the survival rates of patients undergoing helicopter versus ground transport to a Level 1 trauma center.MethodsR...
Selective Event Processing for Energy Efficient Mobile Gaming with SNIP

Gaming is an important class of workloads for mobile devices. They are not only one of the biggest markets for game developers and app stores, but also amongst the most stressful applications for the SoC. In these workloads, much of the computation is user-driven, i.e. events captured from sensors drive the computation to be performed. Consequently, event processing constitutes the bulk of energy drain for these applications. To address this problem, we conduct a detailed characterization of event processing activities in several popular games and show that (i) some of the events are exactly repetitive in their inputs, not requiring any processing at all; or (ii) a significant number of events are redundant in that even if the inputs for these events are different, the output matches events already processed. Memoization is one of the obvious choices to optimize such behavior, however the problem is a lot more challenging in this context because the computation can span even functional/OS boundaries, and the input space required for tables can takes gigabytes of storage. Instead, our Selecting Necessary InPuts (SNIP) software solution uses machine learning to isolate the input features that we really need to track in order to considerably shrink memoization tables. We show that SNIP can save up to 32% of the energy in these games without requiring any hardware modifications.
Worth the Wait: Evidence for Self-Control in Nonhuman Primates

Self-control is defined as the ability or capacity to obtain a subjectively more valuable outcome rather than a subjectively less valuable outcome through choosing and then tolerating a longer delay or a greater effort requirement for obtaining that more valuable outcome. In this chapter, approaches to studying self-control (and impulsivity) in nonhuman primates are reviewed. These include tests that present intertemporal choices of smaller-sooner versus larger later-rewards, tests that assess delay of gratification, and other tasks that have been developed to measure self-control across primate species. The general performances of different primate species are described from tasks designed and used by Professor Kazuo Fujita and others for determining what affects whether nonhuman primates wait for better rewards or take more immediate rewards. The relation of these effects to what we know about human self-control also is explored.
Justice for Parents with Disabilities and Their Children

The child welfare system disproportionately harms families headed by parents with disabilities. The only way to achieve justice for these families is to abolish the child welfare system and reimagine methods of providing non-punitive supports and resources. Such efforts must recognize and respond to the needs of parents with disabilities and their children, such as by ensuring economic well-being, investing in accessible supports, ending surveillance of families, and providing high-quality legal representation for those entangled in the system. Most importantly, all legal and policy responses must be led by those most impacted by the current child welfare system, including parents with disabilities. The goal must be to create a world in which the child welfare system is no longer deemed necessary.
Unified View of Schottky Barrier Formation

Simple physical considerations of local charge neutrality suggest that near a metal-semiconductor interface, the Fermi level in the semiconductor is pinned near an effective gap center, which is simply related to the bulk semiconductor band structure. In this way “canonical” Schottky barrier heights are calculated for several semiconductors. These are in excellent agreement with experiment for interfaces with typical metals.
Comparison of patient and partner quality of life and health outcomes in the first year after an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)

Recovery following an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) impacts both the patient and partner, often in divergent ways. Patients may have had a cardiac arrest or cardiac arrhythmias, whereas partners may have to perform CPR and manage the ongoing challenges of heart disease therapy. Currently, support for post-ICD care focuses primarily on restoring patient functioning with few interventions available to partners who serve as primary support. This descriptive study examined and compared patterns of change for both patients and partners during the first year post-ICD implantation. For this longitudinal study, the sample included 42 of 55 (76.4 %) patient-partner dyads who participated in the 'usual care' group of a larger intervention RCT with patients following ICD implant for secondary prevention of cardiac arrest. Measures taken at across five time points (at hospital discharge and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months follow up) tracked physical function (SF-12 PCS, symptoms); psychological adjustment (SF-12 MCS; State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; CES-D); relationship impact (Family Functioning, DOII; Mutuality and Interpersonal Sensitivity, MIS); and healthcare utilization (ED visits, outpatient visits, hospitalizations). Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to characterize and compare outcome trends for patients and partners across the first 12 months of recovery. Patients were 66.5 ± 11.3 (mean + SD) years old, predominately Caucasian male (91 %), with Charlson co-morbidities of 4.4 ± 2.4. Partners were 62.5 ± 11.1 years old, predominantly female (91 %) with Charlson co-morbidities of 2.9 ± 3.0. Patient versus partner differences were observed in the pattern of physical health (F = 10.8, p < 0.0001); patient physical health improved while partner health showed few changes. For partners compared to patients, anxiety, depression, and illness demands on family functioning tended to be higher. Patient mutuality was stable, while partner mutuality increased steadily (F = 2.5, p = 0.05). Patient sensitivity was highest at discharge and declined; partner sensitivity increased (F = 10.2, p < 0.0001) across the 12-month recovery. Outpatient visits for patients versus partners differed (F = 5.0, p = 0.008) due most likely to the number of required patient ICD visits. Total hospitalizations and ED visits were higher for patients versus partners, but not significantly. The findings highlight the potential reciprocal influences of patient and partner responses to the ICD experience on health outcomes. Warranted are new, sound and feasible strategies to counterbalance partner needs while simultaneously optimizing patient recovery outcomes.
Performance, Partner Relationship, and Ownership Change in International Joint Ventures: The Case of Korean Firms in Asia

This article examines how interorganizational factors in two-party international joint ventures (IJVs) affect subsequent IJV ownership changes. It specifically examines the primary impact of IJV performance and the moderating impacts of initial ownership structures, and duration. Utilizing a data set of Korean foreign direct investment, the authors find that the ownership structures of IJVs with lower performance are more likely to change. The authors also find that unbalanced ownership promotes subsequent ownership changes, whereas longer IJV duration retards ownership changes in even lower-performing IJVs. The findings imply that relational changes reflected in IJV ownership depend on shared bargaining power and relational solidarity.
Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in ovarian cancer

Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin is a formulation of doxorubicin in which the molecule itself is packaged in a liposome made of various lipids with an outer coating of polyethylene glycol. Liposomal technology is being used in increasing amounts in the therapy of a variety of cancers, including ovarian cancers. This article reviews the mechanistic actions of this formulation, the Phase II and Phase III data that helped define the role of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in recurrent ovarian cancer, as well as a discussion of some of the side-effects and their management.
Determination of Guanidines in Rubber Stocks and Consumption of Guanidines during Cure

Abstract QUANTITATIVE determinations of various accelerators that may be present in vulcanized rubber stocks are necessary, not only for fundamental investigations into the mechanism of acceleration, but also for routine control analyses and the examination of unknown stocks. The determination of any organic material in vulcanized rubber stocks is beset with numerous difficulties, however, and reliable methods are scarce. For accelerators, the only ones described in the literature are the now generally employed copper oleate method for mercaptobenzothiazole and an extension of Callan and Strafford's (1) picric acid method for guanidines, both described by Wistinghausen (2). Using these two procedures, Wistinghausen made an extended investigation of the consumption of mercaptobenzothiazole and of diphenylguanidine (D. P. G.) during cure. Considerable difficulty was encountered in this laboratory in the use of Wistinghausen's method. Especially with di-o-tolylguanidine (D. O. T. G.) stocks, the results were...
Photoionization and energy-dependent photochemistry of hydrocarbons in ZSM5.

Photostimulated processes involving unsaturated hydrocarbon molecules adsorbed in ZSM5 were investigated under oxygen-free conditions. The primary products of photoionization (radical cations) and neutral photochemistry (radicals) were observed by EPR spectroscopy. Photoionization is a multiphoton process over the wavelength range studied (248-600 nm). Radical products indicate single-photon C-C bond dissociation and multiphoton C-H bond dissociation reactions of neutral excited states. The implications for applications of zeolites in photocatalysis are discussed.
Anesthesia for Pediatric Obesity

This article discusses the unique anesthetic implications of obesity, with an emphasis on children and adolescents. It also touches on the issues surrounding bariatric surgery in the morbidly obese adolescent population. Adolescent bariatric surgery is moving to the forefront as a treatment modality because weight-loss programs alone are not keeping pace with the growth of the problem. Bariatric surgery offers the potential to achieve the weight reductions necessary to reverse the debilitating and costly comorbidities of obesity.
Diet-induced obesity significantly increases the severity of posttraumatic arthritis in mice.

Objective Obesity and joint injury are primary risk factors for osteoarthritis (OA) that involve potential alterations in the biomechanical and inflammatory environments of the joint. Posttraumatic arthritis is a frequent long-term complication of intraarticular fractures. Obesity has been linked to primary OA and may potentially contribute to the development of posttraumatic arthritis by a variety of mechanisms. The objectives of this study were to determine whether diet-induced obesity influences the severity of posttraumatic arthritis in mice and to examine the interrelationships between joint degeneration and serum levels of the inflammatory cytokines and adipokines that are involved in this response. Methods C57BL/6 mice were fed either normal chow (13% fat) or a high-fat diet (60% fat) starting at 4 weeks of age. At 16 weeks of age, half of the mice in each group were subjected to a closed intraarticular fracture of the left knee. At 8 weeks postfracture, knee OA was assessed by cartilage and synovium histology in addition to bone morphology. Serum cytokine concentrations were determined with multiplex assays. Results Fractured knee joints of mice receiving a high-fat diet showed significantly increased OA degeneration compared with nonfractured contralateral control knees, while fractured knee joints of mice receiving a low-fat diet did not demonstrate significant differences from nonfractured contralateral control knees. A high-fat diet increased serum concentrations of interleukin-12p70 (IL-12p70), IL-6, and keratinocyte-derived chemokine while decreasing adiponectin concentrations. Joint injury also increased IL-12p70 concentrations in mice receiving a high-fat diet. Systemic levels of adiponectin were inversely correlated with synovial inflammation in control limbs. Conclusion Diet-induced obesity significantly increased the severity of OA following intraarticular fracture. Obesity and joint injury together can alter systemic levels of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-12p70.
The effect of leniency on leader behavior descriptions

Abstract This article reports the results from five studies designed to estimate the magnitude and effects of leniency on subordinate-provided descriptions of leader Consideration and Initiating Structure. Using a newly developed scale to measure leniency response bias (the tendency to describe others in favorable but probably untrue terms), the results of the studies indicate that subordinate reports of leader Initiating Structure are not particularly susceptible to the effects of leniency. The results for Consideration, however, showed that: (1) consideration items were not socially neutral and were susceptible to leniency; (2) consideration reflected an underlying leniency factor when applied in a field setting; (3) leniency explained a substantial proportion of the variation involved in Consideration-dependent variable correlations; and (4) this did not appear to result from conceptual overlap between Consideration and leniency, but rather from spurious correlation through the susceptibility of the measures to the effects of leniency. The importance of these findings for leadership research are discussed, and several alternatives for the control of leniency in leader behavior description are discussed.
Ultrasound exposure during gross anatomy.

Abstract Background As medical schools seek to standardize ultrasound training and incorporate clinical correlations into the basic science years, we proposed that ultrasonography should have a greater role in the anatomy curriculum. Objectives To describe the introduction of ultrasound into the curriculum of a first-year medical student anatomy course and evaluate the utility of this introduction. Methods First-year medical students attended two ultrasound lectures and three small-group hands-on sessions that focused on selected aspects of musculoskeletal, thoracic, abdominal, and neck anatomy. Pre and post surveys were administered to assess student perception of their ability to obtain and interpret ultrasound images and the utility of ultrasound in the anatomy course. Understanding of basic ultrasound techniques and imaging was tested in the practical examinations. Results Of the 269 first-year medical students who completed the course, 144 students completed both surveys entirely, with a response rate of 53%. Students' interest and self-perceived experience, comfort, and confidence in ultrasound skills significantly increased (p Conclusions Ultrasound can be effectively incorporated into an anatomy course for first-year medical students by utilizing didactics and hands-on exposure. Medical students found the addition of ultrasound training to be valuable, not only in enhancing their understanding of anatomy, but also in increasing their interest and experience in ultrasound imaging.
Communication Protocols for N-way All-Cast Relay Networks

We consider communication protocols for N-way all-cast relay networks, which comprise N source terminals such that each source terminal demands messages from all other source terminals with the help of a relay. The derived protocols are characterized by the fact that physical layer network coding is employed at the relay, where each source has side information about the signals it has sent. Amplify-and-forward (AF) and decode-and-forward (DF) protocols are applied to the N-way relay network setting, where the achievable rate regions for those protocols are derived and compared with outer capacity bounds. We propose several practical space-time coding schemes for AF and DF, and introduce two new protocols denoted as denoise-and-forward (DNF) and estimate-and-forward (EF). Further, for AF and DF the fundamental diversity-multiplexing trade-off is characterized.
Granular Kernel Trees with parallel Genetic Algorithms for drug activity comparisons

With the growing interests of biological data prediction and chemical data prediction, more powerful and flexible kernels need to be designed so that the prior knowledge and relationships within data can be expressed effectively in kernel functions. In this paper, Granular Kernel Trees (GKTs) are proposed and parallel Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are used to optimise the parameters of GKTs. In applications, SVMs with new kernel trees are employed for drug activity comparisons. The experimental results show that GKTs and evolutionary GKTs can achieve better performances than traditional RBF kernels in terms of prediction accuracy.
Spontaneous tubular (cuboidal) metaplasia of the parietal layer of Bowman's capsule in Cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis)

Abstract Tubular (cuboidal) metaplasia of the parietal epithelium of Bowman's capsule was observed in 19 (10 males, 9 females) of 56 adult control Cynomolgus monkeys. Cuboidal epithelium replaced the normally present flattened epithelium to various degrees in animals affected. Cuboidal cells revealed an eosinophilic cytoplasm and vesicular nuclei, thus resembling proximal convoluted epithelial cells in all respects. Continuity of the cuboidal glomerular epithelium with that of the proximal tubule was occasionally observed.
Process Dependence of Orientation of Ribbon-Like Aromatic Molecules in Glassy Carbon

Flat glassy polymeric carbon samples were prepared from phenolic resin by three techniques: spray coating, spin coating and molding. Cured at 110°C-180°C and pyrolyzed in argon at 600°C or at 1000°C, samples then were studied by RBS for trace impurities, by ESCA for surface oxidation and contamination and by Raman microprobe of the top surface and perpendicular to that for preferred orientation of aromatic ribbons. An increase of 13% to 24% in the relative area under the corresponding Raman peaks indicates increased orientation of the ribbon-like aromatic molecules in the sprayed and spin coated samples as compared with the molded sample.
Chemically attached gold nanoparticle–carbon nanotube hybrids for highly sensitive SERS substrate

Abstract Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been shown as one of the most powerful analytical tool with high sensitivity. In this manuscript, we report the chemical design of SERS substrate, based on gold nanoparticles of different shapes-decorated with carbon nanotube with an enhancement factor of 7.5 × 10 10 . Shape dependent result shows that popcorn shape gold nanoparticle decorated SWCNT is the best choice for SERS substrate due to the existence of ‘lightning rod effect’ through several sharp edges or corners. Our results provide a good approach to develop highly sensitive SERS substrates and can help to improve the fundamental understanding of SERS phenomena.
Secretin receptors in a new preparation of plasma membranes from intrahepatic biliary epithelium

Abstract Secretin is thought to cause choleresis by acting on a receptor expressed by bile duct epithelial cells. In this study, the receptor was characterized using a new preparation of intrahepatic bile duct plasma membranes. Hyperplastic biliary trees were obtained from 3-week bile duct-ligated rats. The biliary trees were homogenized, filtered, and subjected to an aqueous two-phase partition technique to yield highly purified plasma membranes (confirmed by a 14-fold enrichment in γ-glutamyl transpeptidase activity and a 10-fold enrichment in 125 I-secretin binding). 125 I-secretin bound saturably with high affinity and in a dose-dependent fashion ( K d = 1.3 ± 0.1 n M , B max = 273 ± 23 fmole/mg) to purified plasma membranes. The binding characteristics of secretin were most consistent with a single site receptor model. Competitive binding studies indicated that the secretin-related peptides glucagon, peptide histidine isoleucine, gastric inhibitory peptide, and growth hormone releasing factor did not inhibit binding. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (1 μ M ) reduced maximal binding by 19 ± 1%. The GTP analogs guanylyl-imidodiphosphate and guanosine 5′- O -[3-thiotriphosphate] (1 μM) inhibited binding by 16 ± 2 and 13 ± 1%, respectively. In conclusion, secretin binds to a specific, high-affinity receptor in intrahepatic bile duct epithelium that is coupled to a G-protein-linked signal transduction system.
Review of "The Cybernetic Imagination in Science Fiction by Patricia S. Warrick"; Cambridge, MA: The Mit Press, 1980

This book is an exhaustive analysis of the depiction of artificial intelligence in science fiction during the period 1930--1977. It is a book of literary criticism that has importance for those involved in AI research as well as students of the SF genre and of literature in general. It is important for technologists because it is through the medium of science fiction, both in its printed and audio-visual forms, that the public receives its information and forms its impressions of AI and the potential contributions or complications that it can make. Therefore, what Ms. Warrick has to say about those impressions is worth consideration in view of creating a positive image for AI. A second area in which her book makes a contribution is in the discussion of the concept of consciousness as it applies to machine intelligence. Is the quality of consciousness necessary before an AI device can be considered truly "intelligent," or is the need to imbue the machine with consciousness simply an SF convention to make stories more real to readers who have little contact with computers? Unfortunately, no conclusions are reached regarding this question.