cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clinicopathologic features and outcomes of gastrointestinal stromal tumors arising from the esophagus and gastroesophageal junction.

Background: Our aim was to characterize the clinicopathological features and outcomes of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) arising from the esophagus and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) and describe the survival of patients treated at our institution as well as from a national hospital-based registry. Methods: Twenty-eight cases were identified using the Mayo Clinic Cancer Registry from 1997 to 2016, and 1,010 cases from the National Cancer Database (NCDB) between 2004 and 2014, with analysis of TNM staging, histopathological features, mitotic index, immunohistochemical studies, and KIT mutational analysis. Results: At Mayo Clinic, the tumors ranged in size from 0.3–13 cm (mean 5.40 cm). IHC results were: CD117 ( KIT ) in 100% (23/23 cases) and DOG1 in 100% (6/6), followed by CD34 (85.7%, 12/14), smooth muscle actin (27.8%, 5/18), desmin (18.2%, 2/11), and S-100 protein (13.3%, 2/15). Mutational analysis (performed in 10 cases) showed KIT exon 11 mutations in 8 cases; KIT mutation was not identified in 2 cases (presumed wild-type). Two-thirds of patients underwent surgery, of which 70% had an esophagectomy. Fourteen patients received adjuvant imatinib mesylate. Five patients had liver metastases at the time of diagnosis; none had lymph node metastases. A total of 38.9% of cases had recurrent or metastatic disease. Complete clinical follow-up was available for 10 patients (median follow-up duration 31.5 months; range, 10–145 months): one (male) had a local recurrence at the anastomotic site and one (female) suffered a liver metastasis; the others were either disease-free or had stable disease at the time of last follow-up. There was a significant association seen among metastatic disease and mitotic count >5/50 high-powered field (HPF) (P=0.016), with median mitotic rate 90/50 HPF (range, 7–500) for metastatic tumors versus 6/50 HPF (range, 0–100) for non-metastatic tumors. For metastatic disease, median tumor size was 7.3 cm (range, 1–66 cm) compared to 4.8 cm (range, 0.02–71 cm) for non-metastatic disease, which was also statistically significant (P≤0.0001). Two hundred and fifty-eight NCDB cases were risk stratified using the Joensuu criteria. Among 89 low risk category tumors, only 2 (2.2%) were ultimately metastatic. A total of 10.9% (15/138) of high risk category tumors were metastatic. The median overall survival (OS) from the time of diagnosis for the Mayo Clinic cohort was 129.5 months (95% CI, 55.7–not reached), with 5-year OS 85.7%. Median OS for the NCDB cohort was 135.95 months (95% CI, 104.08–not reached) with 5-year OS 68.2%. Superior OS was seen in females (HR 0.67, 95% CI, 0.49–0.89, P=0.006). Conclusions: Among esophageal and GEJ GISTs, metastatic disease was associated with increased mitotic count and increased tumor size. Men were found to have inferior OS. The Joensuu risk criteria were validated for risk stratification of esophageal and GEJ GISTs.
Die Geschwindigkeit—Entfernungsbeziehung

Spektren von Nebelnl) sind zuerst im Jahre 1864 von Sir Wil liam Huggins (1824–1910) visuell untersucht worden. Die Spektren der weisen Nebel, wie man die extragalaktischen Systeme damals nannte, waren offenbar kontinuierlich, doch waren sie so schwach, das man keine Einzelheiten mit Sicherheit feststellen konnte. Die fortgesetzte Untersuchung des hellsten Nebels, M 31 fuhrte dann zu der Vermutung, das sowohl Absorptionslinien als auch Emissionslinien oder Banden vorhanden seien, und eine sehr schwache photographische Aufnahme aus dem Jahre 1888 schien diesen verlockenden Schlus zu bestatigen. Die obige Aufnahme war noch nicht veroffentlicht, als Scheiner im Jahre 1899 die Frage mit Hilfe besserer Spektren von M 31 klarte2). Diese zeigten ein sonnenahnliches Spektrum ohne Emissionslinien. Er schlos daraus, das der Spiralnebel ein Sternsystem sei, und belebte dadurch das schwindende Interesse an der Frage der Weltinseln. Fath und Wolf dehnten die Untersuchungen auf weitere Nebel aus und kamen zu ahnlichen Ergebnissen, und schlieslich fand das Vorherrschen des Sonnentypus in den Spektren der helleren Spiralnebel allgemeine Anerkennung.
Fat and cholesterol avoidance among Mexican-American and Anglo preschool children and parents

Is a fat-avoidance scale a useful tool for monitoring and tracking dietary fat selections of adults and children? Using a seven-point scale, we addressed this question with 341 preschool children and 421 of their parents participating in a longitudinal study of childhood behaviors in San Diego County, California. Milk type and cooking fat reported in the fat-avoidance scale was compared with data reported in a 24-hour food intake record. An overall 86% agreement for milk type and a 78% agreement for cooking fat were noted. Anglo preschoolers (n = 143) had significantly greater mean scores for fat and cholesterol avoidance than did Mexican-American preschoolers (n = 198). Anglo, but not Mexican-American, women avoided fat and cholesterol more often than did their male counterparts. A significantly higher sum score was noted for Anglo men and women and Mexican-American men as education increased. These findings indicate that the fat-avoidance scale has a relative validity compared with a 1-day food record, that fat avoidance can be measured, that differences can be noted in a biethnic sample of children and adults, and that the scale has potential for monitoring success in achieving a lower fat and cholesterol intake.
COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON HEMOLYMPH PROTEIN TOXINS OF LEPTINOTARSA BEETLES

The hemolymph of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata , possesses a neurotoxin which is highly toxic when injected into insects and vertebrates. The occurrence of this toxin in 7 other Leptinotarsa beetles and 2 related chrysomelids was investigated, Heat-labile protein toxins similar to that of L. decemlineata were found in 6 species ( L. detecta, L. haldemani, L. juncta, L. libatrix, L. rubiginosa, L. texana ), but were absent in L. lineolata and the 2 other chrysomelids ( Labidomera clivicollis, Chrysochus cobaltinus). Their relative lethalities, estimated by the LD 50 values, ranged from 0.01 to 0.1 mg hemolymph protein per g house fly and from 1 to 4 mg per kg mouse body weight. When the data are converted to the same unit of body weight, the white mouse is far more susceptible than the house fly to these toxins. The toxin from L. haldemani was the most potent, and that of L. defecta the least potent. The order of toxicity of the hemolymph toxins of the 7 species to both flies and mice was similar. The hemolymph toxins were purified and characterized. Based on electrophoretic evidence, 2 groups of protein toxins were identified; 4 species had an isoelectric point of 4.8 and an Rf value of 0.6, while 3 species had 5.7 and 0.4, respectively. The 4 species with the more acidic protein toxin also showed higher toxicity. The differences in the protein toxins of these beetles are significant in defining their phylogenetic relationships.
Externally Modulated Hydrodynamic Systems

This report covers a series of experiments on hydrodynamic stability of systems subject to modulation of one parameter. Examples are Taylor-Couette flow with the speed of one cylinder periodically varied and Benard convection with the temperature of one boundary periodically modulated. Correspondence with theory and outstanding difficulties are discussed.
Åqvist’s Corrections-Accumulating Question-Sequences

David Harrah, in a recent review of Aqvist’s monograph on interrogatives, suggests that comparison as to merit between Aqvist’s approach and mine be postponed pending further development of each.1 That makes it sound as if Aqvist and I are offering competing explications of the same ex-plicandum, and doubtless to a certain extent such is true. But I think it is even more true that Aqvist and I have different explicanda, although the fact that we each use the term ‘question’ and its cousins tends to obscure this feature of the situation. One good thing to mean by a ‘question’ is what Aqvist means: an epistemic request to lessen my ignorance along some specified dimension, a request as might be carried by an imperative like, ‘Let it be that either I know that S or I know that not-S.’ Aqvist throws an enormous amount of light on this sort of epistemic request. Another good thing to mean by a ‘question’ is what I mean: put in terms foreign to my usual vocabulary and as close to Aqvist as I can come, a question is a linguistic request to say something to me concerning a specified topic, a request as might be carried by an imperative like ‘Either tell me that S or tell me that not-S.’ One naturally could argue that these are already two explications of a given explicandum, but that seems to be fruitless. A better course is to allow that the word ‘question’ covers both epistemic requests and linguistic requests, and that both of these are explicanda standing in need of clarification.
Why Do People Fail to Maintain Weight Loss

For individuals faced with the task of losing weight, there are essentially two main issues: losing the weight in the first place and then maintaining the loss. In this respect, we have found that weight loss is not very different from many other problems that are refractory to change, such as smoking cessation or exercise adoption (O’Connell & Velicer, 1988; Prochaska et al., in press-b; Rossi, 1992, Rossi et al., in press-b). In confronting the problem of failure to maintain, I am struck by our readiness to place the onus of the task on the individual. Instead, I suggest that we own some of the responsibility for maintenance failure ourselves, as researchers and treatment providers. The challenge that faces us is to develop behavioral models and interventions that can encompass the wide range of attitudes, cognitions, affect, and activities that characterize individuals throughout the process of change, from initial motivation (or lack thereof), through inevitable relapse, and to eventual success.
Costs of cancer along the care continuum: What we can expect based on recent literature

Background Cancer costs should be discussed by patients and providers, but information is not readily available. Results from recently published studies (in the last 5 years) on direct and indirect cancer costs may help guide these discussions. Methods The authors reviewed studies published between 2013 and 2017 that reported direct health care costs and indirect (productivity losses) costs. The annual mean total and net costs of cancer were summarized for all payers and for survivors only by age (ages 18-64 and ≥65 years), by phase of care (initial [ie, 12 months from diagnosis], continuing, and end-of-life [ie, 12 months before death]), or for recently diagnosed (within 1-2 years of diagnosis) and longer term survivors. Results For all payers combined, costs for cancers like breast, prostate, colorectal, and lung cancers were $20,000 to $100,000 in the initial phase, $1000 to $30,000 annually in the continuing phase, and ≥$60,000 in the end-of-life phase. Annual out-of-pocket costs to recently diagnosed survivors were >$1000 for medical care and time costs, approximately $2000 for productivity losses, and from $2500 to >$4000 for employment disability, depending on age. For longer term survivors, the cost of medical care was approximately $1500 for older survivors and $747 for younger survivors, time costs were $831 to $955 for older survivors and $459 to $630 for younger survivors, and productivity losses were approximately $800. Disability among long-term survivors was similar to that among short-term survivors. Limitations of the reviewed studies included older data and under-representation of higher cost cancers. Conclusions Frequently updated cost information for all cancer types is needed to guide discussions of anticipated short-term and long-term cancer-related costs with survivors. Cancer 2018;000:000-000. © 2018 American Cancer Society.
Identifying paleowater in California drinking water wells

Abstract Identification of paleowater in aquifers tapped for the public water supply is important both for sound water management, because paleowater is likely to be withdrawn unsustainably in high demand regions in the absence of large scale artificial recharge operations, and for contamination susceptibility assessment, because paleowater is typically isolated from contamination sources. In this study, paleowater, which herein includes pre-Holocene groundwater and also water that recharged well before the onset of significant human alteration of the hydrologic system in California, is identified using three key isotopic indicators of groundwater residence time: tritium (3H), radiocarbon (14C), and radiogenic helium-4 (4Herad). We compared results of these three tracers from a unique data set of more than 2000 wells that are predominantly long-screened drinking water production wells. Although considerable uncertainty is associated with calculated apparent ages for individual samples, non-parametric statistical tests indicate that the composite set of isotopic indicators support classification of samples into categories that allow identification of wells most likely to produce paleowater. Approximately 7% of the wells included in the study show strong evidence for producing paleowater, with screens extending greater than 146 m below ground surface, in which 3H activity is less than 1 pCi/L, 14C activity is less than 40.9 pmC, and 4Herad concentration exceeds 7.4 × 10−8 cm3STP/gwater. An additional 22% of wells produce mixed-age water with a component of paleowater, with screens extending greater than 95 m below ground surface, in which 3H is less than 5 pCi/L, and 14C activity is less than 95.91 pmC. Wells in desert basins of southeastern California and wells in the southwestern quadrant of the Central Valley are most likely to produce paleowater that is pre-Holocene in age. Very few wells in the northwestern portion of the state, the foothills and Sierra Nevada regions, and coastal basins with intensive artificial recharge activities are categorized as producing paleowater. Climate is the primary control on paleowater occurrence, with arid portions of the state that were wetter during the Pleistocene having the largest number of wells categorized as producing paleowater. Secondarily, paleowater is found at the end of very long flow paths in confined aquifers, e.g., in the center of the Northern Sacramento Valley. In contrast, paleowater may be masked in areas where unconfined or semi-confined conditions allow substantial mixing between modern recharge and paleowater. Modern, artificially recharged water has replaced very old groundwater on a large scale in urban coastal basins.
Gender Matters: Bringing in a Gender Structure Analysis. A Comment on “Paternal and Maternal Gatekeeping? Choreographing Care-giving in Families” by Tina Miller and “Rethinking Family Socialization to Gender through the Lens of Multi-local, Post-separation Families” by Laura Merla

In this comment, Risman suggests that both papers show definitely that gender still matters, but how it matters in families is consistently shifting. Both papers provide glimpses into how new family dynamics both reinforce and challenge gender inequality. Risman presents her theoretical framework of gender as a social structure and applies it to each article to analyze what the research teaches us about these families, and what questions remain unanswered.
On Remote Temperature Sensing Using Commercial UHF RFID Tags

With the fast-growing adoption of the radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, RFID-based sensors have attracted great interest. Due to the limitation of RFID tags, most existing RFID-based temperature sensing works rely on hardware modification, which increases the cost and hampers its deployment. In this article, we propose RFThermometer, a remote temperature sensing system with commercial ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID tags. We first investigate the effect of temperature on RFID phases. To alleviate the precision deterioration caused by missing phase measurements, a tensor completion method is proposed to restore missing phases and a Gaussian process model is leveraged to construct a phase-temperature map in the offline stage. In the online stage, the unknown temperature is estimated by a dynamic time warping (DTW)-based greedy method. Extensive experimental results are presented to validate the performance of RFThermometer with off-the-shelf RFID devices.
Transforming Legacy Systems

This chapter outlines the process of interfacing new mobile-based system with preexisting applications called legacies. Issues of product fulfillment, connectivity of legacy databases and processes, and integration of multiple systems architecture are covered. This chapter combines many of the suggested approaches to user interface and application specifications development that are covered in previous chapters. The objective of the chapter is to also provide a detailed pathway to ultimately converting legacy systems.
Is Tracheostomy Insertion an Indication for Gastrostomy Insertion

The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of surgical patients who undergo tracheostomy and gastrostomy insertion during the same hospitalization. Secondary outcomes included ICU and hospital length of stay (LOS) for patients who underwent concomitant tracheostomy and gastrostomy versus those who did not. This study is a retrospective review of trauma and acute care surgery (ACS) patients between 2006 and 2015 who underwent tracheostomy. Patients who also underwent open gastrostomy or percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy during the same hospitalization were identified. Data collected included patient demographics, hospital LOS, ICU LOS, and timing of tracheostomy and gastrostomy. Three hundred one trauma and ACS patients who underwent tracheostomy were identified. Seventy- three per cent of tracheostomy patients underwent gastrostomy during the same admission. Of patients who had both tubes inserted, 79 per cent (175) underwent gastrostomy with tracheostomy as the concomitant procedure, whereas 21 per cent received gastrostomy as a delayed procedure. Median hospital LOS for patients who underwent concomitant procedures was 25 days versus 22 days for those who had delayed or no gastrostomy (P = 0.24). Eighty-four per cent of patients who had tracheostomy for prolonged or anticipated prolonged mechanical ventilation were receiving tube feeds at discharge, and 78 per cent had not been advanced to an oral diet at discharge. Most trauma/ACS patients who undergo tracheostomy also undergo gastrostomy during their hospitalization. Concomitant gastrostomy is not associated with a decrease in hospital LOS; however, most patients who undergo tracheostomy for prolonged mechanical ventilation are discharged receiving enteral nutrition. These patients may benefit from concomitant ICU gastrostomy as a way to improve efficiency and cost-saving.
Ocean Acidification and Ocean Warming effects on Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) Early Life Stages

Increasing green house gas emissions are expected to raise surface seawater temperatures and lead to locally intensified ocean acidity in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi) are ecologically and economically important forage fish species native to this region. While the impacts of ocean acidification and ocean warming on organism physiology have been extensively studied, less is known on how concurrent climate change stressors will affect marine fish. Therefore, our study focused on the combined effects of ocean acidification and warming on Pacific herring early life history stages. Pacific herring embryos were incubated under a factorial design of two temperature (10°C or 16°C) and two pCO2 (600 µatm or 1200 µatm) treatments from fertilization until hatch (6 to 15 days depending on temperature). Elevated pCO2 was associated with a small increase in embryo mortality. Elevated temperature, as a single stressor, generated greater embryo mortality and embryo heart rates, larger yolk areas upon hatch, lower hatching success, and shorter larval lengths; compared with the same parameters measured under ambient temperature. The interaction of elevated temperature and pCO2 was associated with greater embryo heart rates and yolk areas compared to ambient conditions. This study suggests that while temperature is the primary global change stressor affecting Pacific herring embryology, interaction effects with pCO2 could introduce additional physiological challenges.
A New Stage of the Caregiving Career: Informal Caregiving After Long-term Institutionalization.

Background and objectives The "unexpected career" of caregiving has previously been conceptualized in stages: community care through institutional placement/residence, ending with death of the care recipient. Transition programs such as Money Follows the Person (MFP) created a new stage of the caregiving career, caring for someone post-long-term institutionalization, about which little is known. Using Pearlin's Caregiver Stress Process Model, this study explores effects on caregivers from the return of their loved ones to the community after a long-term institutional stay. Research design and methods Cross-sectional surveys of 656 caregivers of persons transitioned through Connecticut's MFP program 2014-18, completed 6 months post-transition. Results Regardless of the age/disability of the care recipient, and despite experiencing high caregiving intensity, caregivers experienced less burden, anxiety, and depression, and higher benefits of caregiving than demonstrated in literature for the general caregiving population. Most felt less stressed than before and during the participant's institutional stay. Factors associated with worse outcomes included worry about safety, strained finances, missing work, and desiring additional services. Black and Hispanic caregivers experienced lower burden and anxiety and higher benefits of caregiving than White caregivers. Discussion and implications By providing community supports to participants, transition programs can have broad ancillary benefits for caregivers and improve outcomes in the Pearlin model, lessening potentially deleterious effects of an unexpected return to intensive caregiving duties after institutional placement. Positive results for Black and Hispanic caregivers may reflect cultural expectations in caring for family that buffer the adverse effects of caregiving.
Re-conceptualizing Machiavellianism and social-cognitive skills: Machiavellianism blends deficient, proficient, and average social-cognitive skills.

Abstract. Machiavellianism is presumed to encompass advanced social-cognitive skill, but research has generally suggested that Machiavellian individuals are rather deficient in social-cognitive ski...
Social Bots Distort the 2016 US Presidential Election Online Discussion

Social media have been extensively praised for increasing democratic discussion on social issues related to policy and politics. However, what happens when this powerful communication tools are exploited to manipulate online discussion, to change the public perception of political entities, or even to try affecting the outcome of political elections? In this study we investigated how the presence of social media bots, algorithmically driven entities that on the surface appear as legitimate users, affect political discussion around the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. By leveraging state-of-the-art social bot detection algorithms, we uncovered a large fraction of user population that may not be human, accounting for a significant portion of generated content (about one-fifth of the entire conversation). We inferred political partisanships from hashtag adoption, for both humans and bots, and studied spatio-temporal communication, political support dynamics, and influence mechanisms by discovering the level of network embeddedness of the bots. Our findings suggest that the presence of social media bots can indeed negatively affect democratic political discussion rather than improving it, which in turn can potentially alter public opinion and endanger the integrity of the Presidential election.
Measurement of temperature dependent refractive indices of GaN and 4H-SiC

Temperature- and wavelength-dependent values of the ordinary (no) and extra-ordinary refractive index (ne) of GaN and 4H-SiC were measured over wavelength ranges of 1.9 to 7 μm and 1.9 – 5.5 μm, respectively, and over a temperature range of 79 to 400 K. Temperature-dependent Sellmeier equations for both GaN and SiC were obtained and thermooptic coefficients determined.
User Perceptions of an Intelligent Personal Assistant's Personality: The Role of Interaction Context

This paper reports on an experimental study that examined user perceptions of Amazon Alexa's personality, as well as influences of stressful or non-stressful interactions on personality perceptions. The study relied on the Five-Factor Model and the Stereotype Content Model personality frameworks. An online data collection instrument was designed to give Alexa's users (N=50) stressful and non-stressful tasks followed by questions related to Alexa's personality. The assumption was that stressful and non-stressful tasks would frame a user's preference for Alexa's personality. Quantitative data of the participants? ratings of Alexa's responses, and qualitative comments about their ratings, experiences, and thoughts about Alexa were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics, tests of association, and thematic content analysis. The findings indicated that while the majority of users appreciate Alexa's personality as a way of making interactions more personal and enjoyable, some users prefer their conversational agent to be efficient, robotic-like, and devoid of a personality that might cause attachment. The participants described Alexa as competent in terms of information content and usability, and warm in terms of its personality manifestation, but wanted their ideal Alexa to be even more competent and warm. After experiencing stressful and non-stressful experimental conditions, the participants appreciated Alexa's highly competent and highly warm responses, while disparaging low-warmth/high-competence responses. The participants' comments indicated that after stressful tasks, they were more generous in their assessment of Alexa's performance, and valued manifestations of Alexa's warmth higher than after non-stressful tasks. Additionally, after the second group of tasks/towards the end of the study, the participants tended to score low warmth/high competence responses higher, which might indicate a slight preference for competence after longer interactions or a user's fatigued state. The implications of the findings on the design of conversational interfaces and study limitations are discussed.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF ELECTIONS: THREATS TO THE LEGITIMACY OF AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS FROM TRUMP AND THE 2020 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The end of the Trump Era has not come with a “whimper.” Instead, Trump’s “bang” has raised a wide variety of concerns about the strength of America’s democracy. Included in this list of worries is concern about the 2020 presidential election’s effects on the legitimacy of American political institutions, from the presidency to the U.S. Supreme Court. The purpose of this paper is to assess the election’s consequences from the viewpoint of the American people (so-called sociological legitimacy), based on a pair of nationally representative surveys beginning in July 2020 and concluding on January 5, 2021. Has significant damage been done to our political institutions by the events surrounding the presidential election of 2020? The answer of this paper is generally “no.” Indeed, perhaps the most important conclusion of this analysis is that American political institutions are resilient, just as has been predicted by Legitimacy Theory.
Values and Share of Household Income

Research outside of organizational literature has established the importance of an individual’s earnings relative to their partner (i.e., their share of household income) in predicting individual a...
COVID-19 Apps and Privacy Protections from Users' Perspective

Abstract As the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to be a global challenge, there have been numerous efforts and actions from both government and private organizations towards keeping their community members healthy and safe. One of the approaches is to use mobile apps to trace contacts and update the status of the infected individuals efficiently and conveniently so that the spread of COVID-19 can be minimized and contained. While these apps could offer many advantages, it also raises serious privacy concerns for many users and hence possibly refusing to adopt it. In this study, we aim to understand the users' expectations on the privacy protections and the provisions under which they are willing to use COVID-19 apps. We believe our study results can guide policymakers and app developers on the design, deployment, and acceptability of the COVID-19 apps that can be widely adopted.
Screening and Prophylaxis for Varices in Children with Liver Disease

Esophageal varices in children with portal hypertension are quite common. Bleeding from these varices frequently occurs. Prophylactic measures to prevent such bleeding can be undertaken either before ("primary," prompted by a screening endoscopy) or after ("secondary") an initial variceal bleed. There are no clear pediatric guidelines for primary or secondary prophylaxis of esophageal varices. Adult studies clearly support the use of pharmacologic (beta blockers) and endoscopic (endoscopic band ligation, EBL) management for both primary and secondary prophylaxis of esophageal varices in patients with portal hypertension. Pediatric studies are limited. There are inadequate data to recommend use of beta blockers to prevent variceal bleeding or rebleeding in children with portal hypertension. There is very limited support for EBL for primary prophylaxis in children and more compelling support for EBL for secondary prophylaxis. Further randomized controlled studies are needed but are difficult to implement in this vulnerable population.
FUNGuild: An open annotation tool for parsing fungal community datasets by ecological guild

Fungi typically live in highly diverse communities composed of multiple ecological guilds. Although high-throughput sequencing has greatly increased the ability to quantify the diversity of fungi in environmental samples, researchers currently lack a simple and consistent way to sort large sequence pools into ecologically meaningful categories. We address this issue by introducing FUNGuild, a tool that can be used to taxonomically parse fungal OTUs by ecological guild independent of sequencing platform or analysis pipeline. Using a database and an accompanying bioinformatics script, we demonstrate the application of FUNGuild to three high-throughput sequencing datasets from different habitats: forest soils, grassland soils, and decomposing wood. We found that guilds characteristic of each habitat (i.e., saprotrophic and ectomycorrhizal fungi in forest soils, saprotrophic and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in grassland soils, saprotrophic, wood decomposer, and plant pathogenic fungi in decomposing wood) were each well represented. The example datasets demonstrate that while we could quickly and efficiently assign a large portion of the data to guilds, another large portion could not be assigned, reflecting the need to expand and improve the database as well as to gain a better understanding of natural history for many described and undescribed fungal species. As a community resource, FUNGuild is dependent on third-party annotation, so we invite researchers to populate it with new categories and records as well as refine those already in existence.
Anxiolytic-like and anxiogenic-like effects of nicotine are regulated via diverse action at β2*nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

Background and Purpose Nicotine dose-dependently activates or preferentially desensitizes β2 subunit containing nicotinic ACh receptors (β2*nAChRs). Genetic and pharmacological manipulations assessed effects of stimulation versus inhibition of β2*nAChRs on nicotine-associated anxiety-like phenotype. Experimental Approach Using a range of doses of nicotine in β2*nAChR subunit null mutant mice (β2KO; backcrossed to C57BL/6J) and their wild-type (WT) littermates, administration of the selective β2*nAChR agonist, 5I-A85380, and the selective β2*nAChR antagonist dihydro-β-erythroidine (DHβE), we determined the behavioural effects of stimulation and inhibition of β2*nAChRs in the light–dark and elevated plus maze (EPM) assays. Key Results Low-dose i.p. nicotine (0.05 mg·kg−1) supported anxiolysis-like behaviour independent of genotype whereas the highest dose (0.5 mg·kg−1) promoted anxiogenic-like phenotype in WT mice, but was blunted in β2KO mice for the measure of latency. Administration of 5I-A85380 had similar dose-dependent effects in C57BL/6J WT mice; 0.001 mg·kg−1 5I-A85380 reduced anxiety on an EPM, whereas 0.032 mg·kg−1 5I-A85380 promoted anxiogenic-like behaviour in both the light–dark and EPM assays. DHβE pretreatment blocked anxiogenic-like effects of 0.5 mg·kg−1 nicotine. Similarly to DHβE, pretreatment with low-dose 0.05 mg·kg−1 nicotine did not accumulate with 0.5 mg·kg−1 nicotine, but rather blocked anxiogenic-like effects of high-dose nicotine in the light–dark and EPM assays. Conclusions and Implications These studies provide direct evidence that low-dose nicotine inhibits nAChRs and demonstrate that inhibition or stimulation of β2*nAChRs supports the corresponding anxiolytic-like or anxiogenic-like effects of nicotine. Inhibition of β2*nAChRs may relieve anxiety in smokers and non-smokers alike.
Effects of Acetylcholine on Labeling of Phosphatidate and Phosphoinositides by [32P]Orthophosphate in Nerve Ending Fractions of Guinea Pig Cortex

Abstract The effect of acetylcholine on the incorporation of 32Pi into phospholipids was studied in subfractions of guinea pig cerebral cortex obtained by sucrose density fractionation. Incorporation of label into phosphatidic acid and phosphatidylinositol was stimulated approximately 100 and 70%, respectively, by 10-4 m acetylcholine in a nerve ending fraction rich in acetylcholine esterase. The effect was not significant in other subcellular fractions investigated, including a denser nerve ending fraction. This action of acetylcholine was blocked by the addition of atropine but not by tubocurare. Labeling of phosphatidylinositol phosphate and phosphatidylinositol diphosphate was inhibited by about 20% in the presence of 10-4 m acetylcholine. This inhibition was not specific for any of the subfractions and was not affected by the addition of atropine.
Dense point trajectories by GPU-accelerated large displacement optical flow

Dense and accurate motion tracking is an important requirement for many video feature extraction algorithms. In this paper we provide a method for computing point trajectories based on a fast parallel implementation of a recent optical flow algorithm that tolerates fast motion. The parallel implementation of large displacement optical flow runs about 78× faster than the serial C++ version. This makes it practical to use in a variety of applications, among them point tracking. In the course of obtaining the fast implementation, we also proved that the fixed point matrix obtained in the optical flow technique is positive semi-definite. We compare the point tracking to the most commonly used motion tracker - the KLT tracker - on a number of sequences with ground truth motion. Our resulting technique tracks up to three orders of magnitude more points and is 46% more accurate than the KLT tracker. It also provides a tracking density of 48% and has an occlusion error of 3% compared to a density of 0.1% and occlusion error of 8% for the KLT tracker. Compared to the Particle Video tracker, we achieve 66% better accuracy while retaining the ability to handle large displacements while running an order of magnitude faster.
Ninja: A Framework for Network Services

ion for controlling parallelism. DEC SRC Technical Report 42, Palo Alto, California, 1989. [SBL99] Y. Saito, B. Bershad and H. Levy. “Manageability, Availability and Performance in Porcupine: A Highly Scalable, Cluster-based Mail Service.” Proc. of the 17th SOSP. October 1999. [Sco96] S. L. Scott. “Synchronization and Communication in the T3E Multiprocessor.” Proc. of ASPLOS 1996,
Effects of experience bias when seeding with prior results

Seeding the population of an evolutionary algorithm with solutions from previous runs has proved to be useful when learning control strategies for agents operating in a complex, changing environment. It has generally been assumed that initializing a learning algorithm with previously learned solutions will be helpful if the new problem is similar to the old. We will show that this assumption sometimes does not hold for many reasonable similarity metrics. Using a more traditional machine learning perspective, we explain why seeding is sometimes not helpful by looking at the learning-experience bias produced by the previously evolved solutions.
Efficient basis decomposition for scattered reflectance data

Recent progress in acquisition technology has increased the availability and quality of measured appearance data. Although representations based on dimensionality reduction provide the greatest fidelity to measured data, they require assembling a high-resolution and regularly sampled matrix from sparse and non-uniformly scattered input. Constructing and processing this immense matrix becomes a significant computational bottleneck. We describe a technique for performing basis decomposition directly from scattered measurements. Our approach is flexible in how the basis is represented and can accommodate any number of linear constraints on the factorization. Because its time- and space-complexity is proportional to the number of input measurements and the size of the output, we are able to decompose multi-gigabyte datasets faster and at lower error rates than currently available techniques. We evaluate our approach by representing measured spatially-varying reflectance within a reduced linear basis defined over radial basis functions and a database of measured BRDFs.
Imaging in Clinical Trials

We are experiencing a time of great growth in knowledge about human disease. However, translation of the knowledge into clinical practice has not kept pace. Clinical trials are an important part of the drug development process. The cost of conducting clinical trials has become greater because: 1) regulations on how the trial must be conducted have become more complex; 2) proposed therapies must be compared against standard therapies; and 3) if the end point is survival—it may take longer to reach that end-point as therapies and non-specific supportive measures become more effective. Moreover, therapies administered prior to or subsequent to the experimental intervention may confound the interpretation of survival as an endpoint. Finding valid alternative outcome measures that can be observed soon after the therapy is given could reduce the cost of drug trials, and make effective therapies available to the public more quickly. Imaging can assess therapeutic efficacy for cancers and may be a part of the solution to reduce costs and improve timeliness of clinical trials. (Fig 1). Open in a separate window Figure 1 Number of submissions of new molecular entities (NMEs) and biologics license application (BLA) to FDA over the past 10 years. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-Food and Drug Administration 2004)
Investigations of Superfluorescent Cascades

Abstract We report our studies of superfluorescent cascades in atomic calcium which result from two-photon excitation of several levels reasonably close to the ionization limit. We have observed significant conversion efficiencies for some of these transitions which result in subnanosecond pulses particularly in the visible wavelengths. We report the discovery of a novel two-photon scattering mechanism which could prove to be a useful method for determining collisional broadening rates. In addition, a hyper Raman transition near 17 μm is discovered which appears to be a promising candidate for a tunable source.
Anaytical Study of the Oscillating Channel Flow Solution With Application to the Turbulent Case

In turbulent channel flows with imposed pressure-gradient oscillations the extension of the Stokes second problem solution has been used as a laminar benchmark. The present study shows that the Stokes solution is an appropriate approximation to the laminar channel flow solution only in the limit of an infinitely wide channel or very high frequencies of imposed oscillations. In a finite-width channel with finite-frequency oscillations, the exact channel flow solution should be used. The paper provides the thorough examination of the spatio-frequency variations of such solution. Different frequency regimes are described. It is shown that the borders between these regimes vary depending on the distance from a channel wall and a flow characteristic considered. Difference in high-frequency regimes in profiles of the phase and the amplitude is pointed out. Changes in the behavior of the laminar oscillating flow characteristics in the presence of the turbulent mean flow are considered. Oscillating channel and pipe flows are qualitatively compared.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Maternal allergy increases susceptibility to offspring allergy in association with TH2-biased epigenetic alterations in a mouse model of peanut allergy

Background Although maternal atopy is a risk factor for the development of peanut allergy, this phenomenon has not been well characterized experimentally, and the mechanisms underlying offspring risk are unclear. Objective We sought to determine whether offspring of mothers with peanut allergy (O-PAM mice) are more susceptible to peanut allergy than offspring of naive mothers (O-NM mice) in a murine model and, if so, whether the susceptibility is linked to T H 2-biased epigenetic alterations. Methods Five-week-old O-PAM and O-NM mice were intragastrically sensitized to and challenged with peanut. Serum peanut-specific IgE levels, plasma histamine levels, anaphylactic reactions, and splenocyte and MLN cell cytokine production were measured. DNA methylation levels of the Il4 gene promoter from splenocytes and MLN cells from sensitized offspring and splenocytes from unsensitized neonatal offspring were determined by means of pyrosequencing. Results O-PAM mice exhibited 3-fold higher peanut-specific IgE levels after peanut sensitization, as well as 5-fold higher histamine levels and significantly higher anaphylactic symptom scores after challenge than O-NM mice ( P H 2 cytokines than cells from O-NM mice ( P Il4 gene promoter than cells from O-NM mice. DNA methylation levels were inversely correlated with IL-4 and IgE production. O-PAM neonatal splenocyte hypomethylation of the Il4 gene promoter was also present. Conclusion This study is the first to demonstrate that increased susceptibility to peanut allergy in O-PAM mice is associated with epigenetic alteration of the Il4 gene promoter. This finding might provide insight into preventing the development of early-life allergy.
Effect of Long-Time Feeding of Certain Arsonic Acids to Chickens

Abstract IN RECENT years, it has been shown that certain phenylarsonic acid compounds increase growth rate in young chickens and turkeys (Frost 1953; Morehouse 1949). Sometimes the growth response has been in addition to that provided by antibiotics and sometimes it has not (Bird, 1952a). The exact mode of action of these compounds in promoting growth is unknown but indications are that the beneficial effects result from their action upon the intestinal microflora —as is the case with antibiotics. In applying these findings to practical feeds two arsenicals have been incorporated generally in commercial broiler feeds —3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid (“3-nitro”) and p-amino phenylarsonic acid (arsanilic acid). Although these chemicals would do the same for flock-replacement pullets as for broilers, they have not been used much for the growing flock because there is less interest in fast, early growth and improved pigmentation in birds intended for egg production. Very little research has been …
Imaging spectrograph for fast LED optical properties measurement

Due to the booming in LED applications, fast and accurate inspection tools to monitor LED quality is necessary. In this paper, we propose two new methods to measure LED optical properties by using imaging spectrograph. Imaging-type spectrograph with high spatial and spectral resolutions is designed for LED wafer measurement. Fiber-type spectrograph with multi-head structure is designed for LED backlight and LED light-bar measurement. Optical properties of LED include chromaticity and luminous intensity, which are measured by following CIE recommendations. The performance of imaging spectrograph is evaluated to meet industrial requirements for LED measurement.
Impurity-Defect Interactions and Radiation Hardening and Embrittlement in BCC Metals

The interaction of interstitial impurity atoms (IIA’s) with radiation-produced defects in bcc metals and its influence on radiation hardening and embrittlement are reviewed. Special emphasis is placed on the role of oxygen in vanadium and niobium and of nitrogen and carbon in iron and steel. Upon postirradiation annealing at temperatures where the IIA’s are mobile (about 50 °C to 250 °C), resistivity stages and decreases in internal friction (Snoek damping) are observed. Evidence is examined that leads to the conclusion that IIA’s are trapped at radiation-produced defects upon postirradiation annealing,which removes the IIA’s from solid solution. The consequences of this IIA trapping on mechanical properties are summarized, particularly in terms of the phenomena of radiation anneal hardening, static strain aging, and dynamic strain aging (DSA). Static and dynamic strain aging are shown to be retarded or suppressed in irradiated metals. Recent investigations, which demonstrate that the suppression of DSA in steel can lead to an increase in ductility upon irradiation, are described.
The structure of the apical meristem of Isoetes engelmannii, I. riparia and I. macrospora (Isoetales)

The shoot apex in three species of Isoetes (I. engelmannii, I. macrospora and I. riparia) is differentiated into a cap-like initiation layer of somewhat columnar meristematic cells which divide most frequently anticlinally and a subadjacent central core of cells which divide irregularly, but with periclinal divisions predominating. The conflicting views of apical organization in Isoetes are discussed.
Quantum manifestations of bifurcations of closed orbits in the photoabsorption spectra of atoms in electric fields

The methods developed in the preceding paper (paper II) are used to construct a wave function near a bifurcation of classical orbits of an atomic electron in an electric field. A formula for the recurrence strength near the bifurcation is derived and compared with experimental measurements.
Spontaneous Discharge of Single Neurons during Sleep and Waking

Populations of single neurons in visual cortex, middle suprasylvian association cortex, and brain stem of cat show greater variance of spontaneous discharge rates during waking than during sleep; this change in variance occurs in the absence of significant changes in mean discharge rates. Neurons which discharge rapidly during sleep tend to discharge even more rapidly during waking, whereas neurons with relatively low rates of discharge during sleep tend to have reduced spontaneous activity during waking.
Analytical solution of A dynamic transaction flow problem

We analyze a mathematical programming model of a fractional flow process which consists ofn sectors and all possible time-dependent streams of flow between, into and out of the sectors. Assuming specific constraints on flow, least cost policies are determined for control of the system transactions involved over a given finite time horizon and over an infinite horizon. Several applications of the model are presented and discussed.