cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Stenting as a treatment for cranio-cervical artery dissection: Improved major adverse cardiovascular event-free survival.

Introduction Cranio-cervical artery dissection (CeAD) is a common cause of cerebrovascular events in young subjects with no clear treatment strategy established. We evaluated the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in CeAD patients treated with and without stent placement. Methods COMParative effectiveness of treatment options in cervical Artery diSSection (COMPASS) is a single high-volume center observational, retrospective longitudinal registry that enrolled consecutive CeAD patients over a 2-year period. Patients were ≥ 18 years of age with confirmed extra- or intracranial CeAD on imaging. Enrolled participants were followed for 1 year evaluating MACE as the primary endpoint. Results One-hundred ten patients were enrolled (age 53 ± 15.9, 56% Caucasian, and 50% male, BMI 28.9 ± 9.2). Grade I, II, III, and IV blunt vascular injury was noted in 16%, 33%, 19%, and 32%, respectively. Predisposing factors were noted in the majority (78%), including sneezing, carrying heavy load, chiropractic manipulation. Stent was placed in 10 (10%) subjects (extracranial carotid n = 9; intracranial carotid n = 1; extracranial vertebral n = 1) at the physician's discretion along with medical management. Reasons for stent placement were early development of high-grade stenosis or expanding pseudoaneurysm. Stented patients experienced no procedural or in-hospital complications and no MACE between discharge and 1 year follow up. CeAD patients treated with medical management only had 14% MACE at 1 year. Conclusion In this single high-volume center cohort of CeAD patients, stenting was found to be beneficial, particularly with development of high-grade stenosis or expanding pseudoaneurysm. These results warrant confirmation by a randomized clinical trial.
Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic: Impact on office worker productivity and work experience.

Background With the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations embraced Work From Home (WFH). An important component of transitioning to WFH is the effect on workers, particularly related to their productivity and work experience. Objectives The objective of this study is to examine how worker-, workspace-, and work-related factors affected productivity and time spent at a workstation on a typical WFH day during the pandemic. Methods An online questionnaire was designed and administered to collect the necessary information. Data from 988 respondents were included in the analyses. Results Overall perception of productivity level among workers did not change relative to their in-office productivity before the pandemic. Female, older, and high-income workers were likely to report increased productivity. Productivity was positively influenced by better mental and physical health statuses, having a teenager, increased communication with coworkers and having a dedicated room for work. Number of hours spent at a workstation increased by approximately 1.5 hours during a typical WFH day. Longer hours were reported by individuals who had school age children, owned an office desk or an adjustable chair, and had adjusted their work hours. Conclusion The findings highlight key factors for employers and employees to consider for improving the WFH experience.
Intragenic proviral elements support transcription of defective HIV-1 proviruses

HIV-establishes a persistent proviral reservoir by integrating into the genome of infected host cells. Current antiretroviral treatments do not target this persistent population of proviruses which include latently infected cells that upon treatment interruption can be reactivated to contribute to HIV-1 rebound. Deep sequencing of persistent HIV proviruses has revealed that greater than 90% of integrated HIV genomes are defective and unable to produce infectious virions. We hypothesized that intragenic elements in the HIV genome support transcription of aberrant HIV-1 RNAs from defective proviruses that lack long terminal repeats (LTRs). Using an intact provirus detection assay, we observed that resting CD4+ T cells and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) are biased towards generating defective HIV-1 proviruses. Multiplex reverse transcription digital drop PCR identified Env and Nef transcripts which lacked 5 untranslated regions (UTR) in acutely infected CD4+ T cells and MDMs indicating transcripts are generated that do not utilize the promoter within the LTR. 5UTR-deficient Env transcripts were also identified in a cohort of people living with HIV (PLWH) on ART, suggesting that these aberrant RNAs are produced in vivo. Using 5 rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE), we mapped the start site of these transcripts within the Env gene. This region bound several cellular transcription factors and functioned as a transcriptional regulatory element that could support transcription and translation of downstream HIV-1 RNAs. These studies provide mechanistic insights into how defective HIV-1 proviruses are persistently expressed to potentially drive inflammation in PLWH. Author SummaryPeople living with HIV establish a persistent reservoir which includes latently infected cells that fuel viral rebound upon treatment interruption. However, the majority of HIV-1 genomes in these persistently infected cells are defective. Whether these defective HIV genomes are expressed and whether they contribute to HIV associated diseases including accelerated aging, neurodegenerative symptoms, and cardiovascular diseases are still outstanding questions. In this paper, we demonstrate that acute infection of macrophages and resting T cells is biased towards generating defective viruses which are expressed by DNA regulatory elements in the HIV genome. These studies describe an alternative mechanism for chronic expression of HIV genomes.
The Coming Out Experience of Latino Gay Men

Coming out to family, especially parents, can be very daunting. How parents react to their child’s disclosure can have a significant impact on the individual’s self-esteem, mental health, and abili...
An investigation of activity and mobility waveform descriptors for use in real-time spike separation systems

A spike separation system utilizing the waveform descriptors, activity (power) and mobility (slope spread), originally described by B. Hjorth (1970) is presented. Comparisons are made with the reduced feature matching technique of peak-to-peak amplitude and duration in order to illustrate the versatility of the activity and mobility measures. The effects of varying sample sizes used to capture individual spikes from a multiunit record are discussed. The results demonstrate that activity and mobility are useful measures and appropriate for online, real-time separation of spikelike bioelectric events. >
Analysis of two single phase DC-AC multi-level converters with multiple DC sources

The main objective of this paper is to analyze two different types of nine level inverters. This paper depends on the multilevel converters with multiple numbers of DC sources and presents cascaded H-bridge nine level inverter and multi string nine level inverter topologies with four input DC sources. The purpose of this paper is to show the differences between these two converters in terms of modulation scheme, switching losses. These comparisons were never made between cascaded H-bridge multi-level converter (CHBMC) and multi string multi-level inverter (MMC). The modulation schemes and the determination of unipolar PWM modulation signals of these two converters are discussed. The switching losses between these two converters are also discussed. Simulation and experimental results of the two converters validate the proposed analysis.
Influences on the adoption of global marketing decision support systems

Develops a model of the influences on adopting global marketing decision support systems (MDSS) by global marketing organizations. The focus is on the expectations, beliefs, concerns, experiences, and implicit theories about global MDSS adoption of 144 senior marketing managers at 43 global firms. From a quantitative analysis of personal interviews, argues for an adoption model which includes controllable, uncontrollable and personal influences. Finds personnel, marketing mix, consumer trends, competitive pressures, economic conditions, technological change, corporate culture, and personal expectations are associated with adoption, while financial issues are associated with non‐adoption. Governmental policies and personal experience are associated with both adoption and non‐adoption.
Al‐Li‐Cu‐Mg‐(Ag) Products for Lower Wing Skin Applications

Al-Li-Cu-Mg alloy products, with and without Ag additions provide substantial performance advantages over conventional 2xxx products. For lower wing applications, the combination of specific ultimate tensile strength and damage tolerance is of particular importance and this is an area in which the Al-Li alloys can excel. Since Al-Li products have historically suffered with issues surrounding high property gradients through the plate thickness and high degrees of tensile in-plane anisotropy, a great deal of attention has been paid to the thermo-mechanical processing routes used in the fabrication of the current generation of alloy products. In addition, corrosion resistance is an area that has received greater attention recently since it can impact inspection intervals. In this presentation, the microstructures and properties of two new alloy products aimed for lower wing applications, 2199-T86 and 2060-T8E86, will be reviewed and compared with non-Li 2xxx products. It is concluded that the performance improvements of Al-Li alloys/products in addition to their lower density will enable significant weight savings in modern aircraft.
Temporal specification of Ada tasks

The authors report work on a language called Ada/TL for the specification of the temporal behavior of interacting Ada tasks in both concurrent and distributed systems. Ada/TL is an extension of the task-specification declarations required by Ada. The extensions include temporal assertions about rendezvous and other events of external interactions and nontemporal in and out assertions about parameters and other data items that flow between tasks. Linear-time operators are used to specify the sequential behavior of individual tasks and branching-time operators to specify global properties about the interaction of tasks. It is intended that task specifications follow the style of Ada declarations and be constructive inasmuch as they lead directly to the design of task-rendezvous behavior. The authors describe the representation of an externally viewable state of an Ada task and define operators to specify a task behavior as a sequence of state conditions. Specifications are illustrated for examples of tasks using shared resources and interaction using both synchronous and asynchronous communication. Specification of timing constraints and analysis of gloval correctness of specifications are discussed. >
Emission Factors for High-Emitting Vehicles Based on On-Road Measurements of Individual Vehicle Exhaust with a Mobile Measurement Platform

Fuel-based emission factors for 143 light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) and 93 heavy-duty diesel trucks (HDDTs) were measured in Wilmington, CA using a zero-emission mobile measurement platform (MMP). The frequency distributions of emission factors of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO(x)), and particle mass with aerodynamic diameter below 2.5 microm (PM2.5) varied widely, whereas the average of the individual vehicle emission factors were comparable to those reported in previous tunnel and remote sensing studies as well as the predictions by Emission Factors (EMFAC) 2007 mobile source emission model for Los Angeles County. Variation in emissions due to different driving modes (idle, low- and high-speed acceleration, low- and high-speed cruise) was found to be relatively small in comparison to intervehicle variability and did not appear to interfere with the identification of high emitters, defined as the vehicles whose emissions were more than 5 times the fleet-average values. Using this definition, approximately 5% of the LDGVs and HDDTs measured were high emitters. Among the 143 LDGVs, the average emission factors of NO(x), black carbon (BC), PM2.5, and ultrafine particle (UFP) would be reduced by 34%, 39%, 44%, and 31%, respectively, by removing the highest 5% of emitting vehicles, whereas CO emission factor would be reduced by 50%. The emission distributions of the 93 HDDTs measured were even more skewed: approximately half of the NO(x) and CO fleet-average emission factors and more than 60% of PM2.5, UFP, and BC fleet-average emission factors would be reduced by eliminating the highest-emitting 5% HDDTs. Furthermore, high emissions of BC, PM2.5, and NO(x) tended to cluster among the same vehicles.
Marriage Almanacs in the Mexican Divinatory Codices

Cuando fray Motolinia recuerda los cinco tipos de libros aztecas pintados, dice que el quinto pertenece a “los ritos, ceremonias, y presagios […] relacionados con el matrimonio.” Aunque ningun codice pictorico que este completamente dedicado a las fiestas y ceremonias del matrimonio ha sobrevivido, algunos codices existentes si contienen almanaques individuales que presentan ceremonias matrimoniales y que dan pronosticos del matrimonio. Ellos dicen a la pareja potencial si su union sera feliz y exitosa, desafiante, dificil o desastrosa, y en que modos: frecuentemente tambien predice como y de que manera los hijos llegaran a la union. Las versiones cognadas que aparecen en los codices del “Grupo Borgia” de la Mixteca y Puebla/Tlaxcala reflejan ideas sobre el destino matrimonial que son documentadas para los aztecas, asi como para los mixtecos. Esta unidad de entendimiento demuestra que mucha de la ideologia adivinatoria fue ampliamente compartida en el Posclasico tardio en Mexico central.
Microelectronic Encapsulation and Related Technologies: an Overview

Publisher Summary This chapter presents an overview of microelectronic encapsulation and related technologies. Molded plastic encapsulation has been the dominant form of device protection, starting with the dual inline package from the early days of microelectronics. Because of its dominance in packaging the huge volume of memory chips, plastic packaging has had a solid technology base from which the requirements of more specialized applications have been met by incremental improvements. Implicit in the choice of globtops for device protection is the fact that if the top of the chip is protected with a globtop, the bottom or opposite face of the chip is in contact with some other material. The choice of globtop is then coupled with the choice of some other material, usually a thermally conductive die-attach adhesive, to bond the other face of the chip to the substrate, and the reliability of the package is a function of the properties of both of these materials and any interaction between the two. Stand-alone plastic packages are a convenient, inexpensive form of packaging, especially with respect to chip test and burn-in and rework of microelectronic assemblies. The ideal chip package for the smaller, thinner, and lighter microelectronics of the future would combine the stand-alone convenience of a plastic package; the capabilities for dense arrays of I/OS and efficient heat dissipation of flipchip with underfill; and the low-cost, simple assembly of anisotropic conductive adhesives.
IODIDE GOITER IN THE NEWBORN

A hyperthyroid mother, treated with potassium iodide, gave birth to a baby with an enormous goiter. The infant, although hypothyroid, had massive cardiomegaly and high output failure due to a shunt across the vessels of the goiter. Administration of thyroid caused shrinkage of the gland and concomitantly the heart became smaller. The infant then developed hyperthyroidism which persisted for several months. The late stage of onset of hyperthyroidism in the infant, the inability to demonstrate LATS in mother or child, and the resemblance to other reported cases of iodide goiter in infancy together indicate that the hyperthyroidism may have been a consequence of the iodide goiter rather than a result of the transmission of LATS from the hyperthyroid mother.
The medical student as patient navigator as an approach to teaching empathy.

Abstract Background: When empathy was presented in a lecture, medical students did not appreciate the topic or have opportunities to practice empathic techniques. The Patient Navigator Project was designed to foster understanding of a patient’s experiences and encourage empathic communication. Methods: The project uses experiential learning in an outpatient setting in the first year of training. Each student was to “shadow” a patient during a visit to a surgical oncologist and could observe the patient throughout treatment. Patient consent was obtained. Assignments were made before the appointments. Afterward, students met in small groups to reflect on their experiences. Results: Patients were willing to let medical students observe their care. Most students reported a positive learning experience and that they learned to see patients as people, not as numbers or diseases. Conclusions: Requiring individualized patient-centered activities in the preclinical curriculum is challenging owing to the large number of students and the unpredictable nature of patients.
Status report on the Advanced Light Source control system, 1993

Abstract The Advanced Light Source (ALS), under construction for the past seven years, has become operational. The accelerator has been successfully commissioned using a control system based on hundreds of controllers of our own design and high performance personal computers which form the operator interface. The first beamlines are being commissioned using a control system based on VME hardware and the Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System (EPICS) software. The two systems are being integrated and this paper reports on the current work.
Alcohol and HIV risk taking among intravenous drug users.

Abstract Purpose: To determine if drug risk days are also alcohol use days for active injection drug users (IDUs). Methods: Cross-sectional interview of 187 AUDIT-positive (≥8) active IDUs recruited between 2/98 and 10/99 from a needle exchange program (NEP) in Providence, RI. A drug risk day is defined as “using needles, cotton, or cookers after someone else had used it,” measured using a 30-day Timeline Follow-Back procedure. Results: The sample was 64% male, 87% white, with 85% meeting DSM-IV criteria for alcohol abuse/dependence. Of the total days analyzed ( n =5610), 25% were drug risk days; on 40% of these days, drinking also occurred. Using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) model to cluster by subject, alcohol use was associated with drug risk days (OR 1.53; 95% CI 1.2–1.9; P Conclusions: Using a data analytic strategy that allows examination of self-reports of behaviors on a day-to-day basis, we found that alcohol use is associated with drug risk taking behavior among IDUs. Whether alcohol use precedes or is subsequent to risky HIV behaviors remains to be determined.
On Institutional Obsolescence and Innovation

"The social system you save may be your own." -Kenneth E. Boulding C OMPETENT, extensive, readable, provocative, and relevant deC\ scribe James Duncan Shaffer's public policy essay published in the May issue of the Journal for purposes of professional dialogue and debate [16]. The paper is remarkable because it demonstrates the enormously widened aperture of the contemporary agricultural economist in matters of policy. One need only to review the previous works of Benedict [1], Halerow [7], Shepherd [17], Paarlberg [12], and even Hathaway [9], for example, to confirm this notion. As a cursory overview, Professor Shaffer's paper deals with six broad aspects of public policy affecting or affected by our institutions: the social system and the effects of technology upon the system, external effects, protective and bureaucratic institutions, industrial organization and competition, community and economic development, and finally, the role of the professional agricultural economist in public policy research. Shaffer concludes that both public and private institutions are becoming obsolete in terms of protecting society's general welfare. The rate of institutional obsolescence is positively influenced by the rate of technological change. Protective institutions are created by vested interests to protect monetary gains of the scientific-industrial process and to vitiate negative effects. The external effects, mostly external diseconomies, are pervasive symptoms of the social order. What are needed are innovative institutions to redress the organization of markets and communities to lessen the problems of the disadvantaged and to provide a more equitable distribution of the wealth created by the economic system. A plea is extended to the agricultural economist to contribute to the reformulation of viable institutions, particularly in rural areas. Specific comments and interpretations of Shaffer's paper are presented below.
The localization of stored phenols in plant hairs

Abstract Many vascular plants bear stem hairs that show a highly specialized morphology. Some plants, such as tomato, have several types of morphologically distinct hairs. These hairs also occur as chemically distinct types in that they store a variety of substances in high concentrations. Of the 43 plant species examined in this study, 39 were found to have stem hairs. Thirty-two of these species had specialized hairs that contained large quantities of materials that produced strongly coloured products when treated with nitrous acid and alkali. One type of tomato hair was examined in considerable detail. It was found to contain a substance that stained cherry red with nitrous acid, canary yellow with ammonia vapours, olive green with alcoholic FeCl3 and orange-red with diazo red RC. When epidermal strips bearing large numbers of hairs were extracted and chromatographed, a large spot developed at Rf 0·59. This spot appeared dark blue under ultaviolet light and was the only spot to show the same colour reactions as the materials sotred in the hairs. The spot also became blue with a yellow center when treated with 2,6-dichloroquinone-4-chloroimine. These tomato hairs store the nitrous acid reactive material in globular masses within four lobe cells that form the cap of the hairs. It was concluded that the stored substance is probably a phenol. These plant hairs will likely provide an excellent tool for the study of phenol synthesis and storage. It is suggested that the phenol-containing hairs themselves may be specialized organs that sense injury and elicit protective responses.
Thermal degradation of sintered diamond compacts

A method was devised to subject sintered diamond compact drill blanks to rapid thermal excursions, and the properties of the compact were studied after heating. It was found that thermal degradation as detected by rock-cutting tests and polished metallographic cross-sections could be correlated with acoustic emissions of the compact during heating. The drill blanks exhibited a delayed failure phenomenon which followed an Arrhenius relation with an activation energy of 327 kJ mol−1, and this behaviour was attributed to the initiation of graphitization of the sintered diamond compact.
Postnatal development of D1 dopamine receptors in the medial prefrontal cortex, striatum and nucleus accumbens of normal and neonatal 6-hydroxydopamine treated rats: a quantitative autoradiographic analysis.

The postnatal development of dopamine (DA) D 1 receptors in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), striatum (STR) and nucleus accumbens (NAC) of control and perinatally 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesioned rats was examined using quantitative autoradiography of 3H-SCH 23390 binding. D 1 receptors are present at one week and increase only slightly to a stable level by 2 weeks in the STR and NAC. Their ontogeny is not altered by intracisternal injection of 6-OHDA 5 days after birth. A biphasic pattern of appearance of D 1 receptors was found in the mPFC. D 1 receptors are present in the mPFC at 1 week, increase 3-fold by 2–3 weeks, and then decline at 4 and 6 weeks. 6-OHDA lesions do not significantly alter this pattern. At all postnatal ages, D 1 receptor binding in the mPFC exhibits a laminar distribution with increased receptor density in deep cortical layers (V, VI) compared to more superficial cortical layers (I, II). Both superficial and deep layers of D1 receptors in the mPFC show similar biphasic postnatal developmental patterns. DA turnover rates are consistently about 10-fold higher in frontal pole compared to remainder of forebrain at all postnatal ages. Early 6-OHDA lesions increase DA turnover in forebrain, but lead to a persistent reduction in DA turnover in frontal pole by 2 weeks of age.
Overproduced Salmonella typhimurium flagellar motor switch complexes.

Three Salmonella typhimurium flagellar motor proteins, FliG, FliM and FliN, are required for the switching of rotation sense. The proteins have been localized to the cytoplasmic module of the flagellar base. Structures, which were morphologically indistinguishable from the native transmembrane MS-ring and cytoplasmic C-ring basal body modules, formed in Escherichia coli upon plasmid-encoded synthesis of these proteins together with FliF. The structures localized to the cell membrane and contained all three motor proteins, as determined by immuno-electron microscopy. This result supports the deduction, based on earlier biochemical analysis, that the C-ring is composed entirely of these proteins and, therefore, functions as a dedicated motor component. In addition, it demonstrates that the morphologically correct assembly of the C-ring onto the MS-ring proceeds independently of other structural components of these modules.
Evidence that the penetrance of mutations at the RP11 locus causing dominant retinitis pigmentosa is influenced by a gene linked to the homologous RP11 allele

A subset of families with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (RP) display reduced penetrance with some asymptomatic gene carriers showing no retinal abnormalities by ophthalmic examination or by electroretinography. Here we describe a study of three families with reduced-penetrance RP. In all three families the disease gene appears to be linked to chromosome 19q13.4, the region containing the RP11 locus, as defined by previously reported linkage studies based on five other reduced-penetrance families. Meiotic recombinants in one of the newly identified RP11 families and in two of the previously reported families serve to restrict the disease locus to a 6-cM region bounded by markers D19S572 and D19S926. We also compared the disease status of RP11 carriers with the segregation of microsatellite alleles within 19q13.4 from the noncarrier parents in the newly reported and the previously reported families. The results support the hypothesis that wild-type alleles at the RP11 locus or at a closely linked locus inherited from the noncarrier parents are a major factor influencing the penetrance of pathogenic alleles at this locus.
Refinery continuous-time crude scheduling with consideration of long-distance pipeline transportation

Abstract In reality, crudes from unloading storage tanks at a docking berth may experience long-distance pipeline transportation to refinery charging tanks before their processing by crude distillation units. Such pipeline transportations cause significant transport delay and crude holdup that will substantially affect plant production performance. Unfortunately, current short-term crude scheduling studies have never systematically considered these issues. In this work, a new continuous-time crude scheduling model has been developed, which addresses the long-distance pipeline transportation and other realistic considerations such as brine settling and multiple jetties for crude unloading. The feeding of crudes into pipeline, and crude movements inside pipeline, as well as crude discharging to the receiving charging tanks are combined with the continuous time formulation of crude scheduling. The efficacy of the developed scheduling model has been demonstrated by three case studies including one industrial size example. An outer-approximation (OA) based iterative algorithm ( Karuppiah et al., 2008 ) is implemented to successfully solve the case studies.
Amplitude-locked loop analysis for calibration applications

A linear analysis of an ALL, as it would be used in an amplitude calibration, is presented. The impact of different loop filter choices is considered, for steady-state error and loop dynamics as well as for disturbances in the input amplitude and peak detector ripple. It is shown that in most applications a loop filter with an integrator is desirable.
Sendai virosomal infusion of an adeno-associated virus-derived construct containing neuropeptide Y into primary rat brain cultures

Abstract A novel neuronal gene-delivery system was investigated in primary neuron-enriched cultures with respect to driving the expression of neuropeptide Y (NPY). This delivery system consists of an adeno-associated virus-derived (AAV) plasmid, pJDT95npy, encapsulated in reconstituted Sendai virosomes. pJDT95npy contains full length rat NPY cDNA inserted downstream from the P40 promoter in a cap-gene deleted AAV derived construct. The rep-sequences under control of the P5 and P19 promoters are intact. Virosomally encapsulated pJDT95npy drove the expression of NPY mRNAs, predominantly by P40. Total cellular NPY immunoreactivity and release in the presence of depolarization increased following pJDT95npy-transfection. Neither empty virosomes nor virosomes containing pJDT95 affected NPY mRNA expression or immunoreactivity. This study demonstrates that an AAVderived plasmid can drive exogenous gene expression in intact neurons after infusion by Sendai virosomes.
Continental rifting: Progress and outlook

It is noted that in spite of the flood of new data on continental rifts in the last 15 years, there is little consensus about the basic mechanisms and causes of rifting. The remarkable similarities in rift cross sections (shown in a figure), are considered to suggest that the anomalous lithospheric structure of rifts is more dependent on lithosphere properties than the mode of rifting. It is thought that there is a spectrum of rifting processes for which two fundamental mechanisms can be postulated: an active mechanism, whereby thermal energy is transmitted into the lithosphere from the underlying asthenosphere, and a passive mechanism by which mechanical energy is transmitted laterally through the lithosphere as a consequence of plate interactions at a distance. In order to permit the concept of the two fundamentally different mechanisms to be tested, a tentative classification is proposed that divides rifts into two basic categories: active rifting and passive rifting. Here, the magnitude of active rifting will depend on the rate at which lithosphere moves over the thermal source, with rifts being restricted to stationary or slow-moving plates.
Asymptotic analysis of an end-loaded, transversely isotropic, elastic, semi-infinite strip weak in shear

Abstract We use linear elasticity to study a transversely isotropic (or specially orthotropic), semiinfinite slab in plane strain, free of traction on its faces and at infinity and subject to edge loads or displacements that produce stresses and displacements that decay in the axial direction. The governing equations (which are identical to those for a strip in plane stress, free of traction on its long sides and at infinity, and subject to tractions or displacements on its short side) are reduced, in the standard way. to a fourth-order partial differential equation with boundary conditions for a dimensionless Airy stress function ƒ. We study the asymptotic solutions to this equation for four sets of end conditions—traction, mixed (two), displacement—as g3, the ratio of the shear modulus to the geometric mean of the axial and transverse extensional moduli, approaches zero. In all cases, the solutions for ƒ consist of a “wide” boundary layer that decays slowly in the axial direction (over a distance that is long compared to the width of the strip) plus a “narrow” boundary layer that decays rapidly in the axial direction (over a distance that is short compared to the width of the strip). Moreover, we find that the narrow boundary layer has a “sinuous” part that varies rapidly in the transverse direction, but which, to lowest order, does not enter the boundary conditions nor affect the transverse normal stress or the displacements. Because the exact biorthogonality condition for the cigenfunctions associated with ƒ can be replaced by simpler orthogonality conditions in the limit as e→b 0, we are able to obtain, to lowest order, explicit formulae for the coeflicients in the eigenfunction expansions of ƒ for the four different end conditions.
Extrusion of PEG tube from the stomach with fistula formation: An unusual complication of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy

Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) has become an accepted technique for providing long-term enteral feeding. We report two cases of extrusion of the PEG tube into a short fistulous tract that communicates with the stomach. Although this unusual complication led to difficulty with tube feedings, both patients were asymptomatic, and, in one case, it was possible to reposition another catheter in the stomach via the fistula.
Zoledronic acid: a new parenteral bisphosphonate.

Abstract Background: Inhibition of bone resorption using bisphosphonates is an important step in palliation of complications of advanced cancer, such as hypercalcemia and metastatic bone disease. Objective: The goal of this article was to describe the pharmacologic properties of zoledronic acid (zoledronate) and discuss findings from preclinical and clinical studies of its use in skeletal disorders. Methods: Relevant English-language literature was identified using the terms zoledronic acid, zoledronate, Zometa , and 118072-93-8 through searches of MEDLINE (1966–June 2003) and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970–June 2003), and abstract proceedings from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (1997–2002). Results: Zoledronic acid is a nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate that inhibits bone resorption. It is indicated for the treatment of hypercalcemia of malignancy and for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma or documented metastasis from solid tumors, in conjunction with standard antineoplastic therapy. The recommended dosage is 4 mg via IV over ≥ 15 minutes every 3 or 4 weeks. Compared with pamidronate 90 mg, zoledronic acid 4 and 8 mg provided a higher complete response rate for hypercalcemia of malignancy by day 10 (88.4% and 86.7% vs 69.7%; P = 0.002 and P = 0.015) and longer duration of action (median time to relapse, 30 and 40 days vs 17 days; P = 0.001 and P = 0.007). In patients with breast cancer or multiple myeloma, zoledronic acid was as effective as pamidronate in delaying time to a first skeletal-related event (373 days vs 363 days). In patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer and bone metastases, zoledronic acid 4 mg reduced the proportion of patients who experienced a skeletal-related event (33% vs 44% with placebo; P = 0.021) or a skeletal fracture (13% vs 22% with placebo; P = 0.015). In patients with bone metastases from solid tumors, zoledronic acid delayed the median time to a first skeletal-related event (230 days vs 163 days with placebo; P = 0.023). Common adverse events include fever, nausea, constipation, fatigue, and bone pain. Conclusion: Zoledronic acid is an effective and generally well-tolerated treatment for hypercalcemia of malignancy and skeletal complications of metastatic bone disease.
An electrophysiological investigation of discourse coherence in healthy adults

AbstractThis study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate discourse-coherence processing. Because there are scant data on ERP indices of discourse coherence in typical adults, it is important to study a non-clinical population before examining clinical populations. Twelve adults listened to a story with sentences in a coherent versus incoherent order. Sequences of nonsense syllables served as a control. ERPs in the 200–400 ms time window, reflecting phonological and lexical processing, and in the 600–900 ms time window, reflecting later discourse processing for integration, were investigated. Results revealed a right anterior and posterior positivity that was greater for coherent than for incoherent discourse during the 600–900 ms time window. These findings point to an index of discourse coherence and further suggest that ERPs can be used as a clinical tool to study discourse-processing disorders in populations with brain damage, such as aphasia and traumatic brain injury.
Tubulocystic Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Rare Renal Tumor

Tubulocystic renal cell carcinoma of the kidney is a rare entity with less than one hundred cases reported so far. It was previously considered to have some similarities to various other renal cancers although this tumor has distinct macroscopic, microscopic and immuno-histochemical features. It is now a well-established entity in renal neoplastic pathology and has been recognized as a distinct entity in the 2012 Vancouver classification of renal tumors. This review aims to give an overview of tubulocystic renal cell carcinoma after extensive literature search using PubMed and CrossRef.
Modeling of Hysteresis Properties of Lead Zirconate Titanate Thin Films

It is proposed that the polarization reversal mechanism in ferroelectric ceramics such as titanates is controlled by nucleation, growth, merging and shrinkage of ferroelectric domains. These domain phenomena are in turn determined by the nature of Barkhausen jumps, internal electric field, and dielectric relaxation times of the dipoles. Based on the proposed polarization reversal mechanism, a quantitative model was developed for simulating the hysteresis properties of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films. The simulated hysteresis loops are in good agreement with the experimental results. It was observed that dielectric viscosity, which is very useful in understanding fatigue and aging behavior of PZT thin films, is one of the key parameters that controls the hysteresis properties.
Conformations of Depurinating Adducts from Dibenzo[a,l]pyrene Diolepoxide

Abstract The extremely potent carcinogen dibenzo[a,l]pyrene (DB[a,l]P) is known to form a multitude of stable and unstable (depurinating) adducts, the latter via both the one-electron oxidation and the monooxygenation pathway. Laser induced fluorescence spectra of the depurinating adducts from DB[a,l]P diolepoxide show either a blueshift or a redshift, and in some solvent systems a double origin band is observed. These effects are believed to be due to subtle conformational equilibria and were further investigated for syn-DB[a,l]PDE-N7Gua, syn-DB[a,l]PDE-N7Ade, and syn-DB[a,l]PDE-N3Ade. Using molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics, and semi-empirical quantum mechanical calculations we found that these adducts may indeed exist in two conformations: one in which the saturated ring adopts a half-chair conformation (allowing for π-π stacking), and one in which a boat conformation is preferred. In the case of syn-DB[a,l]PDE-N7Ade the calculations predict, in agreement with experimental results, a strong prefe...
Laser-induced fluorescence for ion tomography in a Penning trap

Laser-induced ion fluorescence of laser-desorbed Ba+ ions provides a measure of the relative number of ions near the center of the Penning trap of a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. Here, we report the detection of Penning-trapped ions by ion fluorescence, subject to radially outward ion cloud expansion (because of ion-neutral collisions), radially inward ion cloud compression (because of quadrupolar axialization), and the effects of buffer gas pressure and electrostatic trapping potential on those processes. At high pressure and high trapping voltage, radial ejection is far more rapid than axial ejection; quadrupolar axialization increases the number of ions near the center of the trap as well as the length of time that ions may be trapped; higher pressure results in faster magnetron radial expansion; and the choice of azimuthal quadrupolar excitation waveform significantly affects the efficacy of axialization. Based on these results, we suggest that directly detected laser-induced ion fluorescence provides a general new tool for mapping the ion distribution and its time evolution in response to various excitatory and damping effects.
An interaction integral method for analysis of cracks in orthotropic functionally graded materials

This paper presents two new interaction integrals for calculating stress-intensity factors (SIFs) for a stationary crack in two-dimensional orthotropic functionally graded materials of arbitrary geometry. The method involves the finite element discretization, where the material properties are smooth functions of spatial co-ordinates and two newly developed interaction integrals for mixed-mode fracture analysis. These integrals can also be implemented in conjunction with other numerical methods, such as meshless method, boundary element method, and others. Three numerical examples including both mode-I and mixed-mode problems are presented to evaluate the accuracy of SIFs calculated by the proposed interaction integrals. Comparisons have been made between the SIFs predicted by the proposed interaction integrals and available reference solutions in the literature, generated either analytically or by finite element method using various other fracture integrals or analyses. An excellent agreement is obtained between the results of the proposed interaction integrals and the reference solutions.
Effect of Changes in Intercompartment Rate Constants on Drug Removal during Hemoperfusion

A computer simulation of the effect of changing intercompartment clearance rates on drug removal during hemoperfusion was undertaken. As intercompartment clearance slowed, the fall in plasma levels increased and postperfusion rebound increased, but the total drug removed decreased.
Moral Virtue and Practical Wisdom: Theme Comprehension in Children, Youth, and Adults

The authors tested 3 hypotheses about the relation of moral comprehension to prudential comprehension by contrasting comprehension of themes in moral stories with comprehension of themes in prudential stories among third-grade, fifth-grade, and college students (n = 168) in Study 1, and among college students, young and middle-aged adults, and older adults (n = 96) in Study 2. In both studies, all groups were statistically significantly better at moral theme comprehension than prudential theme comprehension, suggesting that moral comprehension may develop prior to prudential comprehension. In Study 2, all groups performed equally on moral theme generation whereas both adult groups were significantly better than college students on prudential theme generation. Overall, the findings of these studies provide modest evidence that moral and prudential comprehension each develop separately, and that the latter may develop more slowly.
Efficient structure-preserving model reduction for nonlinear mechanical systems with application to structural dynamics.

This work proposes a model-reduction methodology that both preserves Lagrangian structure and leads to computationally inexpensive models, even in the presence of high-order nonlinearities. We focus on parameterized simple mechanical systems under Rayleigh damping and external forces, as structural-dynamics models often t this description. The proposed model-reduction methodology directly approximates the quantities that dene the problem’s Lagrangian structure: the Riemannian metric, the potential-energy function, the dissipation function, and the external force. These approximations preserve salient properties (e.g., positive deniteness), behave similarly to the functions they approximate, and ensure computational eciency. Results applied to a simple parameterized trussstructure problem demonstrate the importance of preserving Lagrangian structure and illustrate the method’s ability to generate speedups while maintaining observed stability, in contrast with other model-reduction techniques that do not preserve structure.
An Analysis of Forced and Internal Variability in a Warmer Climate in CCSM3

AbstractChanges in the mean state and the modes of internal variability due to increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) and aerosol concentrations were investigated by comparing a suite of long-term integrations of A1B runs and the corresponding control runs with a constant level of GHG and aerosol concentrations in the Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3). The evolution of signal- [defined as the standard deviation (STDV) of ensemble mean anomalies] to-noise (defined as STDV of departures of individual members from their corresponding ensemble means) ratio (SNR) is examined. It is shown that SNR is sensitive to the amplitude of external forcing, and the sensitivity is variable and geographical location dependent. The time evolution of the SNR is largely due to the changes in the mean while little influence on the internal variability is found. Surface air temperature (TS) and geopotential height at 200 hPa (H200) responses are largely linear with an increase in GHG and aerosol concentrations and ca...
Location of fat migration during cooking of beef loin steaks with external fat still attached

Eight boneless top loin steaks (3.8 cm thick), four from each side of each carcass, were removed from 10 pairs of U.S. Choice beef loins (n = 80 steaks). From each loin pair, four of the eight steaks were cooked and four remained uncooked. Of the four steaks for each preparation method (raw and cooked), two were analyzed with all external fat removed and two with 0.64 cm of remaining fat. After completing the specified treatments, individual steaks were divided in half (dorsal and ventral halves) and again divided into layers (top, middle, bottom) resulting in six sections. The top layer was the portion of the steak that was placed away from the grill at the time cooking was initiated, and the bottom layer was the portion that was placed directly onto the grill surface at the time cooking was initiated. Fat and moisture content and retention values were determined on each individual muscle section. Significant differences (P < 0.05) in fat and moisture content were found among the sections of the steaks, but not between external fat trim levels. Differences in percentage fat and moisture retention were found among sections of steaks cooked with external fat (0.64 cm) and without external fat (0.0 cm). A layer difference among sections also was observed. The top layer had the highest fat retention, while the bottom layer had the lowest fat retention.