cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ultrasonic reflex transmission imaging

Reflex Transmission Imaging (RTI) is a new imaging method by which orthographic transmission images can be made using augmented B-mode equipment. Conventional transmission imaging requires acoustic coupling to large areas on both sides of the body, whereas RTI can be performed from one side with a single, small transducer probe. In this mode, transmission images in a plane normal to the beam are made by integrating the reverberations from beyond the focal zone of the transducer. These reverberations provide, in essence, a source of incoherent insonification from behind the focal plane. Preliminary in-vitro images have been made using a computer-interfaced rectilinear scanner with a 1-inch diameter f/2.8 transducer. The images have good resolution and signal-to-noise ratio, and a short depth-of-field. Backscatterer inhomogeneity is well smoothed. Transmission images provide information that is complementary to B-scans. RTI will allow both to be made with the same instrument and presented on the same display. A time-gated reflection C-scan could be generated simultaneously. Other RTI modes, including an attenuation B-mode, also are discussed.
Oncogenicity by Methyl Methanesulfonate in Male RF Mice

The incidences of lung tumors and thymic lymphomas were increased in young adult male RF mice receiving 30 milligrams of methyl meth anesulfonate per kilogram of body weight daily in the drinking water throughout life. Differences in oncogenicity between treatment with methyl methanesulfonate and with dimethylnitrosamine or diethylnitrosamine suggest a qualitative difference between the site (or sites) of alkylation by methyl methanesulfonate and by dimethylnitrosamine or diethylnitrosamine within the nucleic acids.
The history of articulators: the wonderful world of "grinders." part I.

This is the third article in a three-part series on the history of denture occlusal grinders. The first article reviewed the earliest attempts to "grind in" denture occlusion by hand manipulating simple articulators with special features to those more complex devices powered by hand cranks. The second article explored devices that were motor driven, either those with cast holders to grind the occlusion of processed dentures or those designed to utilize an articulator's condylar or incisal controls for that purpose. This article examines those articulators that have a rotary occlusal grinder as an essential feature. Additionally, this article reviews those grinding devices produced as attachments for popular contemporary articulators.
CTG repeats associated with human genetic disease are inherently flexible

The lengthening of tracts of CTG, CGG and GAA triplet repeats during progression of a pedigree has been associated with more than 12 human genetic diseases, including fragile X syndrome, myotonic dystrophy and Friedreich's ataxia. These repetitive sequence elements have the potential to form alternative DNA secondary structures that may contribute to their instability. The alternative DNA secondary structures may mediate errors during DNA replication, repair or recombination of the triplet repeat, leading to expansion. Here we show that DNA composed of pure CTG or CGG repeats exhibits anomalously fast mobility on polyacrylamide gels, confirming a previous observation for DNA containing CTG and CGG triplet repeats flanked by mixed sequence DNA. Moreover, we show that even short tracts of duplex CTG repeats have an unusual helix structure. CTG repeats reduce overall curvature associated with phased A-tract or GGCC curves, but alone they do not introduce curvature into DNA. The reduction in curvature of phased A-tracts by CTG repeats is similar to that afforded by an interspersed flexible region associated with a (TT).(TT) mispair. CTG-containing DNAs exhibit a rapid rate of cyclization, consistent with a flexible helix. These results suggest that tracts of (CTG).(CAG) repeats are inherently flexible. In addition, our results suggest that the unusual rapid electrophoretic mobility of CTG or CGG-containing DNA may be a consequence of an extended flexible DNA chain.
The Mediating Effect of Pet Attachment Support Between Loneliness and General Health in Older Females Living in the Community

The relationship between loneliness and general health was investigated in 159 older females living in the community. Pet attachment support, a variable tested as a mediator of this relationship, was examined also. Participants completed the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale, a Pet Attachment scale, and the Psychological General Well-Being Schedule: general health subscale. A negative relationship between loneliness and general health decreased when controlling for pet attachment support as a coping mechanism. The findings from this study support that pet attachment support has a mediating effect on the relationship between loneliness and general health in this sample of older females. Implications for community health nurses and public policy are discussed.
The role of large environmental noise in masting: General model and example from pistachio trees

Masting is synchronous, highly variable reproduction in a plant population, or synchronized boom–bust cycles of reproduction. These pulses of resources have cascading effects through ecosystems, and thus it is important to understand where they come from. How does masting happen and synchronize? In this paper, we suggest a mechanism for this. The mechanism is inspired by data from a pistachio orchard, which suggest that large environmental noise may play a crucial role in inducing masting in plant populations such as pistachio. We test this idea through development and analysis of a mathematical model of plant reproduction. We start with a very simple model, and generalize it based on the current models of plant reproduction and masting. Our results suggest that large environmental noise may indeed be a crucial part of the mechanism of masting in certain types of plant populations, including pistachio. This is a specific example of an important functional consequence of the interactions between stochasticity and nonlinearity.
Depolarization and principal Mueller matrix measured by null ellipsometry

Methods for accurately measuring depolarization and principal Mueller matrix by null ellipsometry are devised. The measurement errors obtained with these methods are analyzed, and methods to correct for the errors are devised. The depolarization spectrum measured directly by null ellipsometry for a sapphire slab agrees excellently with the depolarization spectrum reduced indirectly from the retardance spectrum measured by rotating analyzer ellipsometry and the depolarization spectrum simulated for the retardance spread caused by a finite bandwidth of monochromator [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A17, 2067 (2001)]. The measured cross-polarized depolarization for the sapphire slab is much smaller than the total depolarization.
Bluetooth Discovery Time with Multiple Inquirers

Although the discovery time between a pair of Bluetooth devices has been well characterized, the impact of multiple inquiring devices on the discovery time has not. Discovery time must be considered when forming or maintaining Bluetooth networks with multiple inquiring devices. The presence of a second inquiring device can significantly delay, and even preclude, the discovery of a scanning device by an inquiring node. When a scan window opens, each inquiring device does not have an equal likelihood of discovering the scanning node since one inquirer may consistently transmit on the scan frequency before the other. The discovery time probability density function with multiple inquiring devices is presented.
The Generality Problem, Statistical Relevance and the Tri‐Level Hypothesis

A cognitive process will be reliable just when it yields a sufficiently high ratio of true to false beliefs. If a belief is produced by a process with a high degree of reliability, then that belief will have a high degree of justification. If, however, a belief is produced by a cognitive process with a low degree of reliability, then that belief will have a low degree of justification. After two decades of debate, a few objections have emerged as the standard objections to reliabilism. The Generality Problem is one such objection, the most visible proponent of which has been Richard Feldman (1985; Conee & Feldman 1998). It is now cited as a serious problem for reliabilism in almost every introductory text on epistemology. In this article I offer a solution to the Generality Problem. The Generality Problem arises because reliabilists claim that it is process types rather than process tokens that are the bearers of reliability. A process token is an unrepeatable, causal sequence occurring at a particular time and place. Consequently, you cannot ask whether a process token is reliable (i.e., whether it would produce mostly true beliefs over a wide range of cases). Accordingly, reliabilists have claimed that only process types can be reliable or unreliable. We can revise (R1) to take this point into account.
Transverse tibial stress fractures A special problem

Five transverse tibial stress fractures have been reviewed. Two of three cases in the anterior midtibia and one in the proximal posteromedial tibia had radionuclide scans. These cases demonstrated minimal scan activity at the stress fracture site. This minimal scan activity in patients with a clinical history of pain and a tender mass suggests poor bone reparation and nonunion. One anterior midtibial stress fracture developed a complete fracture. A proximal anterior tibial ridge stress fracture revealed radiological and clinical evidence of healing.
Individual, age and sex-specific information is contained in yellow-bellied marmot alarm calls

Individuals produce distinctive vocalizations that may contain considerable potential information about a signaller. Simply finding significant covariation between call structure and some individual attribute does not itself mean that there has been selection on callers to produce individually distinctive calls, nor on receivers to discriminate between them. Moreover, acoustic variation may degrade while being transmitted through the environment, making it potentially difficult for receivers to extract potential information. We focused on the individually distinctive calls of yellow-bellied marmots, Marmota flaviventris, to describe attributes of individuals encoded in calls. Using discriminant function analysis, we found significant potential information about identity, age and sex encoded in calls. When calls were broadcast and rerecorded over 10 m and 40 m, identity, age and sex remained statistically discriminatable. Key variables that enabled discrimination were repeatable (they had high intraclass correlation coefficients), whereas those that did not enable discrimination were less repeatable. Finally, statistics developed to describe, in a standardized and comparative way, the information about individual signallers contained in vocalizations, revealed that marmot alarm calls contained at least 3.37 bits of information about identity. When compared to other species for which the information content of signals has been calculated, marmots may have not undergone strong selection for individually distinctive vocalizations. The fact that receivers discriminate between individuals suggests that receivers benefit by doing so.
Bioeffects Reference Tool May Not Improve Sonographers’ Monitoring of Mechanical and Thermal Indices in Obstetric Sonography Examinations

This research examines whether using a reference tool alters the monitoring of the mechanical index (MI) and thermal index (TI) during obstetric (OB) sonograms. A presurvey regarding users’ behavior patterns of monitoring MI/TI indices was emailed to sonographers who were registered in a clinical database affiliated with an accredited sonography program. The presurvey included a reference tool which respondents were asked to print and use when performing OB sonograms. A postsurvey was sent to the same respondents to determine if behavior patterns regarding MI/TI monitoring improved after using the reference tool. There were no significant changes in how often sonographers monitored MI/TI from the pre- to the postsurvey.
The effect of propofol on intraoperative electrocorticography and cortical stimulation during awake craniotomies in children

Propofol has been proposed as a sedative agent during awake craniotomies. However, there are reports of propofol suppressing spontaneous epileptiform electrocorticography (ECoG) activity during seizure surgery, while others describe propofol-induced epileptiform activity. The purpose of this study was to determine if propofol interferes with ECoG and direct cortical stimulation during awake craniotomies in children. Children scheduled for awake craniotomies for resection of epileptic foci or tumours were studied. An intravenous bolus of 1-2 mg.kg-1 followed by infusion of 100-200 microgram.kg-1.min-1 of propofol was administered to induce unconsciousness. Fentanyl (0.5 microgram.kg-1) was administered incrementally to provide analgesia. After the cortex was exposed, the propofol infusion was stopped and the patient permitted to awaken. Cortical electrodes were applied. ECoG was recorded continuously on a Grass polygraph. Motor, sensory, language, and memory testing were done throughout the procedure. The cortex was stimulated with a hand-held electrode using sequential increases in voltage to map the relevant speech and motor areas. We studied 12 children (aged 11-15 years) with intractable seizures. The raw ECoG did not reveal any prolonged beta-waves associated with propofol effect. Electroencephalogram spikes due to spontaneous activity or cortical stimulation were easily detected. Cognitive, memory and speech testing was also successful. We conclude that propofol did not interfere with intraoperative ECoG during awake craniotomies. Using this technique, we were able to fully assess motor, sensory, cognitive, speech and memory function and simultaneously avoid routine airway manipulation.
Studies Made by Simulating Systole at Necropsy II. Experiments on the Relation of Cardiac and Peripheral Factors to the Genesis of the Pulse Wave and the Ballistocardiogram

This paper describes results obtained during the last three years with special emphasis on those secured since the development of the technic which permits us to employ compatible blood as perfusion fluid. Using the method of paired experiments, data have been obtained on the effects on the pulse wave and the ballistocardiogram which follow changes in the total energy of the simulated systole, changes in the way that energy is applied during the systole, changes in resistance as measured by diastolic pressure, and differences in the amount of arteriosclerosis present in various subjects.
Measuring Computer Literacy of Teacher Trainers

The creation of sufficient numbers of trainers prepared to train teachers in the use of computers has been a difficult task. Work by the Training Modules for Trainers Project has been addressing this problem using a trainer of trainers model. A core group of fifty trainers has been created by the project, in addition to a series of fourteen resource modules to be used by the trainer cadre. Cognitive, behavioral, and affective dimensions of these trainers' perceptions of their expertise were measured before and after an intensive training session by having the trainers respond to a self-measure. Changes in the perceptions of expertise were detected, indicating that participation in training seminars appears to be associated with an increase in participants' self-perceptions of their expertise.
Dopamine transporter expression confers cytotoxicity to low doses of the parkinsonism-inducing neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium.

The uptake of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+), the active metabolite of the parkinsonism-inducing neurotoxin 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6- tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), was studied in various mammalian cell lines transfected, respectively, with the cloned human and rat dopamine transporters, and compared with rat striatal synaptosome preparations. Only in neuronally derived cell lines such as NG108–15, NS20Y, and SK-N- MC cells did MPP+ have a KM for the cloned transporters comparable to that of dopamine as seen in rat striatal synaptosomes. In non- neuronally derived cells such as COS-7, CHO, and Ltk- cells transiently or permanently expressing the transporters, the KM of MPP+ was at least 10-fold higher. The permanent expression of either the cloned human or rat dopamine transporters conferred to SK-N-MC cells susceptibility to the cytotoxic effects of low concentrations of MPP+. The extent of this effect was dependent on the expression level of the dopamine transporters and could be specifically antagonized by the catecholamine uptake inhibitor mazindol. There were no significant differences in the susceptibility to MPP+ of cells expressing similar levels of either the human or rat dopamine transporter. The demonstration for the first time of a quantitative relationship between the cellular expression of the plasma membrane transporter and the extent of the cytotoxic effects of MPP+ suggests that known differences in vulnerability of various brain regions to MPP+ cytotoxicity might be related to their actual content of dopamine uptake sites.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Relations among Lateness, Absence, and Turnover: Is There a Progression of Withdrawal?

The progression of withdrawal hypothesis predicts a hierarchy among withdrawal behaviors, with lateness being followed by absence, which in turn results in quitting. This paper presents longitudinal attendance data from a sample of 63 hospital employees. Analyses of conditional probabilities revealed progressions from lateness to absence, from multiple (but not single) absences to quitting, and tentative evidence of a lateness-quitting progression. Initial lateness was also found to result in increased subsequent lateness, and likewise for absence.
From Jesus to Shylock: Christian Supersessionism and “The Merchant of Venice”

In 1943 the SS Gauleiter, “district administrator,” of Vienna, Baldur von Schirach, commissioned a performance of The Merchant of Venice at the famed Burgtheater to celebrate the deportation of allthe Jews;Vienna had become Judenrein “cleansed of Jews.” When Werner Krauss, the Nazis'leading actor, first appeared on stage as Shylock, he made the audience shudder. According to the newspaper account:With a crash and a weird train of shadows, something revoltingly alien and startlingly repulsive crawled across the stage…. The pale pink face, surrounded by bright red hair and beard, with its unsteady, cunning little eyes;the greasy caftan with the yellow prayershawl slung round; the splay-footed, shuffling walk; the foot stamping with rage; the claw-like gestures with the hands; the voice, now bawling, now muttering—all add up to a pathological image of the East European Jewish type, expressing all its inner and outer uncleanliness, emphasizing danger through humor.
Pan‐American Symposium on the Upper Mantle

The Pan-American Symposium on the Upper Mantle, held in Mexico City from March 18 to 21, 1968, was attended by 27 participants from countries south of Mexico, by 22 from countries north of Mexico, and by 3 from Europe. A significant number of registrants and other guests attended from the host country. Forty scientific papers were presented in a program formally subdivided into collections of offerings pertinent to the geophysics of North America, Mexico and Central America, South America, and problems of general geophysical interest. Because of the large number of papers presented, it is impossible to review all of them thoroughly. Only the highlights will be reviewed here. Much of the excitement at the Symposium was generated by information contributed to the geophysics of the Americas by recent results concerning global tectonics. These results are derived from direct observations of sea-floor spreading and the relative motion (or drift) of large blocks of matter of the surface of the Earth relative to one another. This point of view was elaborated by McKenzie in describing the ‘paving block’ theory of the motion of parts of the surface of the Earth relative to one another. The theory of McKenzie and Parker indicates that a surface area is being created at oceanic ridges, is disappearing into the oceanic trenches, and is neither created nor destroyed along transform faults; earthquake motions along the ridges are tensile, under the trenches are mainly compressional, and along the transform faults are of the strike-slip type. A global map of earthquake epicenters thus illuminates large plates or ‘paving block,’ each bounded by all three types of fault. The paving blocks move more or less as rigid bodies over the surface of the Earth. Where only two blocks are in contact, the relative displacements are in the same direction over their entire common boundary. The surface of the Earth can be described by at least six major blocks, all shifting about relative to one another.
An Architectural Framework for Automated Streaming Kernel Selection

Hardware accelerators are increasingly used to extend the computational capabilities of baseline scalar processors to meet the growing performance and power requirements of embedded applications. The challenge to the designer is the extensive human effort required to identify the appropriate kernels to be mapped to gates and to implement a network of accelerators to execute the kernels. In this paper, we present a methodology to automate the selection of streaming kernels in a reconfigurable platform based on the characteristics of the application. The methodology is based on a flow graph that describes the streaming computations and communications. The flow graph is used to efficiently identify the most profitable subset of streaming kernels that optimize performance without exceeding the available area of the reconfigurable fabric.
Mining comparable bilingual text corpora for cross-language information integration

Integrating information in multiple natural languages is a challenging task that often requires manually created linguistic resources such as a bilingual dictionary or examples of direct translations of text. In this paper, we propose a general cross-lingual text mining method that does not rely on any of these resources, but can exploit comparable bilingual text corpora to discover mappings between words and documents in different languages. Comparable text corpora are collections of text documents in different languages that are about similar topics; such text corpora are often naturally available (e.g., news articles in different languages published in the same time period). The main idea of our method is to exploit frequency correlations of words in different languages in the comparable corpora and discover mappings between words in different languages. Such mappings can then be used to further discover mappings between documents in different languages, achieving cross-lingual information integration. Evaluation of the proposed method on a 120MB Chinese-English comparable news collection shows that the proposed method is effective for mapping words and documents in English and Chinese. Since our method only relies on naturally available comparable corpora, it is generally applicable to any language pairs as long as we have comparable corpora.
A Digital Juggling Act: New Media's Impact on the Responsibilities of Local Television Reporters

Budding journalists entering the field, or those trying to stay relevant in their jobs, will have to be able to assume a range of job responsibilities in the evolving media landscape. This case stu...
Inhibition of calcification of bioprosthetic heart valves by local controlled-release diphosphonate

Bioprostheses fabricated from porcine aortic valves are widely used to replace diseased heart valves. Calcification is the principal cause of the clinical failure of these devices. In the present study, inhibition of the calcification of bioprosthetic heart valve cusps implanted subcutaneously in rats was achieved through the adjacent implantation of controlled-release matrices containing the anticalcification agent ethanehydroxydiphosphonate dispersed in a copolymer of ethylene-vinyl acetate. Prevention of calcification was virtually complete, without the adverse effects of retarded bone and somatic growth that accompany systemic administration of ethanehydroxydiphosphonate.
Recursive LS filtering using block Householder transformations

A systolic block Householder transformation is proposed to implement the HT (Householder transformation) on a systolic array as well as to apply it to the RLS algorithm. Since the data are fetched in a block manner, vector operations are in general required for the vectorized array. The approach makes the HT suitable for VLSI implementation as well as applicable to real-time high-throughput applications of modern signal processing. >
Leading in Cynical Times

Times of uncertainty often breed cynicism. Disillusionment with people in high places who misuse the public’s trust erodes confidence in leaders. Given that leadership is a relationship—with credib...
The Paths of Bondage and Liberation

As was noted in Chapter 3, what we study and how we study the problem is influenced to a substantial degree by our cultural values. It was shown in Chapter 2 that cultural values and beliefs direct the geniuses in a culture to the behavioral domain that is valued and that the Indian culture values spirituality. It is no surprise that the classical Indian texts are replete with concepts that can help us model the process of spiritual growth.
Parents' reactions to testing for herpes simplex virus type 2 as a biomarker of sexual activity in Botswana junior secondary school students.

Background Use of sexual activity biomarkers in HIV prevention trials has been widely supported to validate self-reported data. When such trials involve minors, researchers may face challenges in obtaining parental buy-in, especially if return of results procedures uphold the confidentiality and privacy rights of minors and preclude parental access to test results. In preparation for a randomised controlled trial (RCT) with junior secondary school (JSS) students in Botswana, a formative assessment was conducted to assess parents’ opinions and concerns about testing for herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) (biomarker of sexual activity) as part of the RCT. Methods: Six focus groups were held with parents (n = 32) of JSS students from urban, peri-urban and rural communities. Parents were asked their opinions of students being tested for HSV-2 and procedures for blood sample collection and return of results. Results: Overall, parents were supportive of HSV-2 testing, which they thought was a beneficial sexual health resource for adolescents and parents, and a motivation for parent–child communication about HSV-2, sexual activity and sexual abuse. Some parents supported the proposed plan to disclose HSV-2 test results to adolescents only, citing the importance of adolescent privacy and the possibility of HSV-2 positive adolescents being stigmatised by family members. Conversely, opposing parents requested parental access to results. These parents were concerned that adolescents may experience distress following a positive result and withhold this information thereby reducing parents’ abilities to provide support. Parents were also concerned about support for victims of sexual abuse. Conclusion: Although the present study demonstrates that parents can be accepting of sexual activity biomarker testing of adolescents, more research is needed to identify best approaches for returning test results.
Abstract 3685: A strategy to identify therapeutic candidates for chronic lymphocytic leukemia from a library of FDA approved drugs

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is an adult lymphoid malignancy with a variable clinical course. There is considerable interest in the identification of new treatments, as most current approaches are not curative. While most patients respond to initial chemotherapy, relapsed disease is often resistant to the drugs commonly used in CLL and are left without limited therapeutic options. In this study, we used a luminescent cell viability assay based on ATP levels (CellTiter-Glo, Promega) to find compounds that were potent and efficacious in killing CLL cells. We employed an in-house process of quantitative high throughput screening (qHTS) to assess 8-9 concentrations of each member of a 2,816 compound library (including FDA-approved drugs and those known to be bio-active from commercial suppliers). Using qHTS we generated potency values on each compound in lymphocytes donated from each of six individuals with CLL and five unaffected individuals. We found 102 compounds efficacious against cells from all six individuals with CLL (“consensus” drugs) with seven of these showing no efficacy on lymphocytes from a majority of unaffected donors, suggesting some degree of specificity for the leukemic cells. Furthermore, to determine if we could save time and cost we screened the same library using CLL cells pooled from these individuals. We found that over 90% of the 102 drugs identified as efficacious on cells from individuals were also efficacious in the pooled experiment. Importantly, a near perfect correlation was observed in potency values between the single and pooled studies. The results of this “pooling” approach suggests it is rationale to apply pooling and qHTS when screening CLL cells against much larger collections (>300,000 unapproved compounds) where novel compounds could be identified as starting points for drug discovery and development. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3685.
Laboratory Studies of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Coffee

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), was reared at four larval densities in mature green, color break, and ripe coffee from Manoa and Makaha Valleys, Hawaii. Most eggs hatched within 48–72 h in coffee fruit and were unaffected by ripeness or location. Larval survival was generally related to larval density and coffee maturity. However, there were significant ( P < 0.05) interactions in larval survival, larval and pupal development times between site, and berry maturity. The weight of coffee berries varied with maturity and location. Flies reared on Makaha berries were significantly ( P < 0.05) more fecund than flies reared on Manoa berries. Net reproductive rates showed doubling times of 43 and 13 d, respectively, for Manoa and Makaha flies.
The Kuratowski Closure-Complement Problem

(1991). The Kuratowski Closure-Complement Problem. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 64, No. 3, pp. 180-182.
Do cosmetic reporting variations affect market behavior? A laboratory study of the accounting emphasis on unavoidable costs

Eight laboratory market sessions are conducted in which sellers have both opportunity costs (default redemption values from not trading) and unavoidable costs (fixed outlays that must be paid irrespective of trading). The treatment variation is whether sellers’ intermediate accounting reports compare sales revenues to unavoidable costs (four sessions) or default redemption values (four sessions). Findings indicate systematically higher seller asks and buyer bids in the condition where accounting emphasizes unavoidable costs. However, the price and efficiency implications of these higher asks and bids are offset by simultaneous shifts in the relative frequencies of seller-initiated and buyer-initiated trades.
Increasing Mitral Valve Repair Rates With Nonresectional Techniques

In every common mitral pathology studied to date, repairing the patient's own diseased valve to adequate function has yielded superior long-term results as compared with prosthetic valve replacement with either tissue or mechanical devices. Thus, increasing rates of mitral repair across all valve pathologies would seem to be a logical clinical goal. Techniques for mitral valve repair have undergone continual evolution over the past 50 years. Recently, emphasis has been placed on preserving leaflet surface area and avoiding tissue resection, by combining the methods of Gore-Tex artificial chordal replacement, autologous pericardial leaflet augmentation, and full ring annuloplasty. Using combinations of these three techniques appropriate to the given valve pathology, acute mitral repair rates now are approximating 98% for all common mitral disease etiologies. Simultaneously, operative mortalities for mitral repair have fallen significantly and now are negligible, whereas long-term outcomes using these methods have been increasingly more stable. As a result of innovations from multiple sources, mitral valve surgery has been converted from a higher risk procedure to one of the safest operations in most centers. This review will detail the technical application of "nonresectional" mitral repair approaches to a broad range of mitral disease pathologies.
A cohort study of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men in Mianyang city,Sichuan province of China

Objective To understand the epidemiologic factors of new infections of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV)new infections among men who have sex with men(MSM)in Mianyang city of China.MethodsRespondent Driven Sampling(RDS)method was used to recruit 400 MSM in Mianyang city from June to September 2009 to establish an open prospective cohort.Follow-up study on the MSM dynamic cohort was conducted using snowball sampling method to recruit additional samples for each group.Cox regression was used to analyze infection factors.Results A total of 701 people were recruited in the cohort with a total of 695.9person-years.During the study period,39 converted to HIV positive with the new-onset infection of 5.6/100person-years(95% CI:3.9-7.3/100person-years).The multivariate analysis of new HIV infections affecting factors were as follows:21to 25 years old(RR=0.317,95% CI:0.105-0.951),≥26years old(RR=0.174,95% CI:0.046-0.658),park/bathroom type for sex partners(RR=3.610,95% CI:1.032-12.469),previous one year with no peer education(RR=2.957,95% CI:1.189-7.351),partner age≥30years in the previous 6months(RR=3.400,95%CI:1.113-10.387),number of sexual partners≥4(RR=3.343,95%CI:1.237-9.035),existed syphilis infection(RR=2.957,95%CI:1.306-7.913).Conclusions New HIV infection is relatively stable in local MSM population but still higher and influenced by age,sex,syphilis infection,prevention services and other factors.
Knowledge,attitude,belief and practice of Lyme disease in suburban residents of Beijing

Objective To understand awareness of knowledge,attitude,belief and practice(KABP)of prevention and control of Lyme disease in suburban residents of Beijing,as well as the consciousness and ability of self-protection for it in high risk population there,to provide evidence for health education of those exposed to it.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted for the residents in four suburban districts of Beijing by questionnaire to collect data,including general information,knowledge,attitudes,beliefs and practices of prevention and control of Lyme disease.Results Only 3.9 percent of the residents investigated could answer all questions about some common sense of Lyme Disease correctly,39.5 percent of them would not go to hospital until characteristic erythema appeared on their skin.And,89.1 percent of them would like to know more about Lyme Disease.Conclusions Residents exposed to tick-sting knew little about Lyme Disease and personal protection and were eager to understand more about prevention and control of Lyme Disease.Therefore,health education for local residents is necessary.
Chronotherapy: resetting the circadian clocks of patients with delayed sleep phase insomnia.

We report here the development of a brief drug-free rescheduling treatment ("chronotherapy") for Delayed Sleep Phase (DSP) insomnia, a syndrome characterized by sleep-onset insomnia with difficulty in morning awakening. We postulated that patients with DSP insomnia had an inadequate capacity to achieve phase advance shifts of the circadian pacemaker which times the sleep-wake cycle. Chronotherapy was therefore designed to reset these patients' biological clocks by the phase delay route. This single 5-6 day treatment was tested in 5 patients with a 4-15 year history of DSP insomnia. All 5 patients reported a lasting resolution of their symptoms substantiated by systematic long-term self-reports and objective polygraphic recording before and after treatment (average follow-up of 260 days; range, 42-910 days). The average sleep onset advanced from 4:50 a.m. before treatment to 12:20 a.m. afterwards, and wake times advanced from 1:00 p.m. to 755 a.m. (for both, p less than 0.001), with no reduction in sleep efficiency. As a result, all 5 patients were able to end their chronic dependence on hypnotic medications.
Long-term Recovery in Stroke Accompanied by Aphasia: A Reconsideration.

ABSTRACTBackground: This work focuses on the 26 individuals who provided data to AphasiaBank on at least two occasions, with initial testing between 6 months and 5.8 years post onset of aphasia. The data are archival in nature and were collected from the extensive database of aphasic discourse in AphasiaBank.Aims: The aim is to furnish data on the nature of long-term changes in both the impairment of aphasia as measured by the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R) and its expression in spoken discourse.Methods & Procedures: AphasiaBank’s demographic database was searched to discover all individuals who were tested twice at an interval of at least a year with either (a) the AphasiaBank protocol or (b) the AphasiaBank protocol at first testing, and the Famous People Protocol (FPP) at second testing. The FPP is a measure developed to assess the communication strategies of individuals whose spoken language limitations preclude full participation in the AphasiaBank protocol. The 26 people with aphasia (PWA) ...
Demilitarization and Democratization, 1945–7

If a revolution is a complex of sweeping, systematic political, economic, and social changes, then the policies implemented during America’s seven year Occupation of Japan (1945–52) were profoundly revolutionary. American policies transformed Japan politically from fascism into liberal democracy, and laid the foundation for Japan’s eventual development from a poverty-stricken industrially backward country into an economic superpower and middle class society.
“British” Marshall Scholars

In 2008, Rachel Savage (’97) began working at the Bank of England as an analyst in the Notes Division. At that time, the number of £5 notes distributed nationally through automated teller machine (ATMs) was just a fraction of a percent, and the notes that were available were often tattered, torn, or “grubby.” In response to this, the then Governor of the Bank, Sir Mervyn King, made it an explicit priority to bolster their popularity and quality. Some also postulated that increasing the number of £5 notes would help to prevent inflation. “The idea was that if more people had £5 notes, they would spend less money because they had smaller denominations,” Savage recounts. The Bank tasked the Notes Division—Savage included—to convince and incentivize banks and independent ATM companies to order and carry more new £5 notes. The program flourished.
Qurʾān and Sunna or the Madhhabs?: A Salafi Polemic Against Islamic Legal Tradition

The Albanian scholar Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī (d. 1999) established a unique type of Salafism, a movement whose adherents follow a puritanical model of Muslim creed, exegesis, and conduct that is critical of madhhab Traditionalism. In this article I present an annotated translation of an audio lecture in which Albānī attempted to defend Salafism against its anti-madhhab image. I shed light on the religious and social climate that played a critical role in triggering Albānī’s disdain for Traditionalism and led him to discredit madhhab Traditionalist fiqh and replace it with his own interpretation of the jurisprudential requirements of Islamic scripture. Among the arguments I make is that Albānī’s claim to follow only the Qurʾān and Sunna is a rhetorical strategy designed to present Salafism as the absolute truth and distinguish it from being categorized as another madhhab or religious movement.
Severe Adenoviral Pneumonia in an Immunocompetent Host with Persistent Fevers Treated with Multiple Empiric Antibiotics for Presumed Bacterial Co-Infection: An Antibiotic Stewardship Perspective on De-Escalation Derailed

We present a case of severe adenoviral pneumonia in a 20-year-old immunocompetent host with persistently high fevers. The patient was needlessly given multiple empiric antibiotics for non-existent bacterial co-infection. This case has important antibiotic stewardship lessons for practitioners in approaching fevers in the ICU.
Abstract 486: Soluble Biglycan Induces the Osteogenic Response in Human Aortic Valve Interstitial Cells via TLR2 and Mediates the Pro-osteogenic Effect of OxLDL

Calcific aortic stenosis affects a large number of people 65 or older. Our previous studies found that stimulation of TLR2 or TLR4 in human aortic valve interstitial cells (AVICs) up-regulates the expression of osteogenic mediators. Identification of endogenous agents that activate TLR2 and TLR4 in AVICs could lead to pharmacological intervention of calcific aortic stenosis. While biglycan and oxLDL accumulate in diseased areas of aortic valves, their role in the development and progression of this valve disease is poorly understood. Soluble biglycan is recognized as an endogenous ligand for TLR2 and TLR4 in macrophages. We recently found that oxLDL induces bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) expression in human coronary artery endothelial cells. This study tested the hypothesis that soluble biglycan induces the osteogenic response in human AVICs via TLR2/4 and mediates the pro-osteogenic effect of oxLDL. Methods and results: The expression and release of biglycan were greater in AVICs of stenotic valves. Stimulation of cells with biglycan (0.05-0.20 μg/ml) increased the expression of BMP-2 and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Further, prolonged stimulation with biglycan caused accumulation of calcium deposits in AVIC culture. Silencing of TLR2, not TLR4, markedly reduced protein levels of BMP-2 and ALP following stimulation with biglycan. Co-immunoprecipitation revealed the interaction of biglycan with TLR2. Biglycan induced the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK, and inhibition of either ERK1/2 or p38 MAPK reduced biglycan-induced expression of BMP-2 and ALP. Stimulation of AVICs with oxLDL (20 and 40 μg/ml) up-regulated biglycan expression and release. Neutralization or silencing of biglycan reduced the effect of oxLDL on the expression of BMP-2 and ALP. Conclusions: Extracellular soluble biglycan induces the osteogenic response in AVICs via TLR2. The ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK pathways are involved in mediating the pro-osteogenic effect of soluble biglycan. OxLDL stimulates the synthesis and release of biglycan by AVICs, and biglycan contributes to the mechanism underlying the pro-osteogenic effect of oxLDL on AVICs. These findings provide evidence supporting a pathobiological role of soluble biglycan and oxLDL in calcific aortic stenosis.
Sepsis-Associated Encephalopathy: The Blood-Brain Barrier and the Sphingolipid Rheostat.

Sepsis is not only a significant cause of mortality worldwide, but has particularly devastating effects on the Central Nervous System of survivors. It is therefore crucial to understand the molecular structure, physiology, and events involved in the pathogenesis of Sepsis Associated Encephalopathy (SAE), so that potential therapeutic advances can be achieved. A key determinant to the development of this type of encephalopathy is morphological and functional modification of the blood brain barrier, whose function is to protect the CNS from pathogens and toxic threats. Key mediators of pathologic sequelae of sepsis in the brain include cytokines, including TNF-ɑ, and sphingolipids which are biologically active components of cellular membranes which possess diverse functions. Emerging data demonstrated an essential role for sphingolipids in the pulmonary vascular endothelium. This raises the question of whether endothelial stability in other organs systems such as the CNS may also be mediated by sphingolipids and their receptors. In the present review, we will model the structure and vulnerability of the blood brain barrier, and hypothesize mechanisms for therapeutic stabilization and repair following a confrontation with sepsis-induced inflammation.
Epigenetics of Childhood Obesity

We sought to describe how epigenetics, the study of potentially heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes in the underlying DNA sequence, has promise in the development of effective preventive interventions for childhood obesity. Three main mechanisms cause epigenetic changes: DNA methylation, histone and chromatin modification, and post-translational regulation, including that by microRNAs (miRNAs). These mechanisms may be altered by a variety of exposures, and evidence suggests they act at multiple time points prior to conception, during pregnancy, and during infancy and childhood. Epigenetic changes, particularly DNA methylation, have been associated with birth weight, early childhood, and teenage obesity. Each epigenetic mechanism raises the possibility of therapeutics. DNA methylation may be affected by maternal and paternal diet, exercise, and supplements. Histone and chromatin modification can be altered by histone deacetylase inhibitors and other small molecules. miRNAs are already being studied in cancer and type 2 diabetes. Although epigenetics is in its infancy, it could provide an important link between maternal exposures and childhood metabolic outcomes.
Ligand-Accelerated Gold-Catalyzed Addition of in Situ Generated Hydrazoic Acid to Alkynes under Neat Conditions

The direct addition of in situ generated hydrazoic acid to alkynes is realized without solvent by using a gold catalyst derived from a recently designed remotely functionalized biaryl-2-ylphosphine ligand (i.e., WangPhos). With terminal alkynes, the additions are mostly realized with 0.1 mol% catalyst loadings and at 40 °C. With more challenging internal alkynes devoid of direct EWG substitution, the one-step transformation is realized for the first time with generally high efficiency at ambient temperature.
Viscoelastic and Dynamic Properties of Well-Mixed and Phase-Separated Binary Polymer Blends: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

The viscoelasticity and dynamic properties of a model dynamically asymmetric binary polymer blend are studied via molecular dynamics simulations. The model blend system is made up of two chain types having a large glass transition temperature (Tg) difference and presents two blend morphologies: a well-mixed, homogeneous blend and a phase-separated blend. These two morphologies represent dynamically coupled and dynamically confined states. The well-mixed, homogeneous blend exhibited greater storage modulus and slower low-Tg matrix chain dynamics compared to the phase-separated blend. The influence of various system parameters, such as high-Tg chain length and (volume) concentration, and shear frequency on various static, dynamic, and viscoelastic properties is investigated to identify the source of the observed stiffening in the well-mixed, homogeneous blends.