cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Utility of Primary Tumor Resection in Asymptomatic, Unresectable Metastatic Colon and Rectal Cancer

One in five patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) present with synchronous metastatic disease, and of these, only 13 % survive to 5 years [1]. Curative resection of the primary tumor and metastases can improve 5-year overall survival (OS) to 30–50 % [2]. Unfortunately, about three-quarters of patients with metastatic CRC present with unresectable disease to the liver [3]. In this setting, the principal treatment is chemotherapy, with an overall median survival in randomized-controlled trials of >20 months [4, 5]; in fact, a recent phase III study suggested that patients who were able to receive all currently available systemic treatment options had a median OS of nearly 30 months [6].
Assessing Counselor Supervisee Contribution.

ABSTRACTThis article describes the revision of Vespia, Heckman-Stone, and Delworth's (2002) Supervision Utilization Rating Form (SURF) and validation of the resulting Adapted SURF. The Adapted SURF is designed to provide supervisors with a cleaner measure of supervisee behaviors that contribute to effective supervision.
Composition of two-week change in body weight under unrestricted free-living conditions

Abstract The composition of weight change has a large impact on energy balance calculations. Composition of long‐term weight change interventions is well‐documented, but information on short‐term weight change under unrestricted free‐living conditions is limited. The composition and energy density of the changes in body weight during 2‐week free‐living conditions were analyzed in adults from two cohorts: cohort 1 ( n = 24) included participants from the reproducibility subset of the Observing Protein and Energy Nutrition study; cohort 2 ( n = 22) included participants who were studied under free‐living conditions in an ongoing study in the Chicago area. Change in body weight, total body water (TBW) by stable isotope dilution (cohort 1), and fat mass (FM) and fat‐free mass (FFM) by serial DXA (cohort 2) were measured. To determine the fractional composition of the change in body weight we analyzed the linear associations between changes in body weight and changes in body composition. In the combined dataset, the average change in body weight (0.26 ± 1.2 kg) was consistent with being in energy balance. Average change in body weight was associated with the change in TBW ( P P = 0.0002) in cohort 2. A unit change in body weight was composed of 84% change in FFM in the combined dataset indicating that 2‐week fluctuation in body weight is largely composed of FFM. The energy density of 1–3 kg short‐term changes in body weight averaged 2380 kcal/kg.
Computationally Efficient Control of Nonlinear Systems Using Orthonormal Activation Function Based Neural Networks

Abstract The application of Orthonormal Activation Function Neural Networks (OAFNN) for control of unknown, nonlinear dynamic systems is investigated. The 'inverse model control' scheme as well as 'direct adaptive control' scheme are implemented and discussed. The efficient learning capability of OAFNNs is demonstrated and compared with other popular sigmoid and functional link networks using a Training Error Convergence Cost (TECC) function. The controllers exploit the 'stable learning1, 'no local minimum' and 'fast convergence' properties of OAFNN. The properties of OAFNNs are presented. The weights in direct adaptive controller are tuned on-line. The tracking error is shown to be bounded using Lyapunov theory. The OAFNN weights arc shown to be bounded using properties of orthogonal functions. The simplicity of the structure of OAFNN based controllers besides their fast parameter convergence capability, allows computationally efficient controllers, as compared to the existing Neural Network (NN) controllers.
Using impedance to track fracture healing rates in mice in vivo: A pilot study

Fracture injuries are highly prevalent worldwide, with treatment of problematic fractures causing a significant burden on the U.S. healthcare system. Physicians typically monitor fracture healing by conducting physical examinations and taking radiographic images. However, nonunions currently take over 6 months to be diagnosed because these techniques are not sensitive enough to adequately assess fracture union. In this study, we display the utility of impedance spectroscopy to track different healing rates in a pilot study of an in vivo mouse tibia fracture model. We have developed small (56 µm) sensors and implanted them in an externally-stabilized fracture for twice-weekly measurement. We found that impedance magnitude increases steadily over time in healing mice but stalls in non-healing mice, and phase angle displays frequency-dependent behavior that also reflects the extent of healing at the fracture site. Our results demonstrate that impedance can track differences in healing rates early on, highlighting the potential of this technique as a method for early detection of fracture nonunion.
When can shared attention increase affiliation? On the bonding effects of co-experienced belief affirmation

Abstract There is significant evidence suggesting that shared attention, or the perception of synchronous co-attention, can impact intrapersonal outcomes such as memory, affect, motivation, judgment, and behavior (Shteynberg, 2015). The interpersonal effects of shared attention, however, are not well-known. That is, we do not know if, and when, sharing attention changes feelings of closeness to the co-attendee. In an experiment with 447 participants, we examined whether sharing attention increased affiliation irrespective of the co-attended stimulus (the stimulus-independent hypothesis), or based on the co-attended stimulus (the stimulus-dependent hypothesis). The results substantiated the stimulus-dependent hypothesis, confirming that the effect of shared attention on affiliation depends on the stimulus under shared attention. More specifically, whereas belief-affirming messages under shared attention increased felt closeness to the co-attendee, belief-disaffirming and mixed messages under shared attention did not increase felt closeness to the co-attendee. In all, the findings suggest that sharing attention to belief affirming messages creates a unique situational context that enhances relational closeness.
Symmetric Memory Partitions in OpenSHMEM: A Case Study with Intel KNL

To extract best performance from emerging tiered memory systems, it is essential for applications to use the different kinds of memory available on the system. OpenSHMEM memory model consists of data objects that are private to each Processing Element (PE) and data objects that are remotely accessible by all PEs. The remotely accessible data objects are called Symmetric Data Objects and are allocated on a memory region called as Symmetric Heap. Symmetric Heap is created during program execution on a memory region determined by the OpenSHMEM implementation. This paper proposes a new feature called Symmetric Memory Partitions to enable users to determine the size along with other memory traits for creating the symmetric heap. Moreover, this paper uses Intel KNL processors as an example use case for emerging tiered memory systems. This paper also describes the implementation of symmetric memory partitions in Cray SHMEM and use ParRes OpenSHMEM microbenchmark kernels to show the benefits of selecting the memory region for the symmetric heap.
Double Series of Bessel Functions and the Circle and Divisor Problems

This chapter is devoted to proofs of two remarkable identities involving infinite series of Bessel functions. One identity is associated with the classical circle problem, while the other is connected with the equally difficult divisor problem. Each of the identities is open to three different interpretations, with entirely different proofs needed for each interpretation. New methods of estimating trigonometric sums are introduced in our proofs.
Role of Astrocytes in Matching Blood Flow to Neuronal Activity

The brain is critically dependent on oxygen and glucose supply for normal function. Various neurovascular control mechanisms assure that the blood supply of the brain is adequate to meet the energy needs of its components. Emerging evidence shows that neuronal activity can control microcirculation using astrocytes as a mediator. Astrocytes can sense neuronal activity and are involved in signal transmission. Synaptic activity triggers an increase in the intracellular calcium concentration [Ca(2+)]i of adjacent astrocytes, stimulating the release of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and glutamate. The released ATP mediates the propagation of Ca(2+) waves between neighboring astrocytes, thereby recruiting them to mediate adequate cerebrovascular response to neuronal activation. Simultaneously, sodium-dependent glutamate uptake in astrocytes generates Na(+) waves and subsequently increases glucose uptake and metabolism that leads to the formation of lactate, which is then delivered to neurons as an energy substrate. Further, astrocytic Ca(2+) elevations can lead to secretion of vasodilatory substances from perivascular endfeet, such as epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EETs), adenosine, nitric oxide (NO), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) metabolites, resulting in increased local blood flow. Thus, astrocytes by releasing vasoactive molecules mediate the neuron-astrocyte-endothelial signaling pathway and play a profound role in coupling blood flow to neuronal activity.
Protein phi and psi dihedral restraints determined from multidimensional hypersurface correlations of backbone chemical shifts and their use in the determination of protein tertiary structures.

The chemical shifts of the backbone atoms of proteins can be used to obtainrestraints that can be incorporated into structure determination methods. Eachchemical shift can be used to define a restraint and these restraints can besimultaneously used to define the local, secondary structure features. Theglobal fold can be determined by a combined use of the chemical shift basedrestraints along with the long-range information present in the NOEs ofpartially deuterated proteins or the amide–amide NOEs but not from suchlimited NOE data sets alone. This approach has been demonstrated to be capableof determining the overall folding pattern of four proteins. This suggeststhat solution-state NMR methods can be extended to the structure determinationof larger proteins by using the information present in the chemical shifts ofthe backbone atoms along with the data that can be obtained on a small numberof labeled forms.
The Relationship Between Optic Disc Volume, Area, and Frisén Score in Patients With Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension

Purpose To compare measurements of papilledema using fundus photography, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and Frisen score in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). Design Retrospective, noncomparative analysis of randomized controlled trial data. Methods The Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension Treatment Trial (IIHTT) evaluated weight management and treatment with acetazolamide compared with placebo in patients with IIH and mild visual loss. Among the 126 subjects in the IIHTT OCT substudy, fundus photographs and OCT scans of the optic disc were taken at baseline and at 6 and 12 months after enrollment. Trained readers scored each eye using a modified Frisen scale and measured the area of disc elevation. OCT scans assessed optic nerve head (ONH) volume. Correlations between volume and area were computed for both study and nonstudy eyes. Results Disc area and ONH volume were positively correlated at baseline (R2 = 0.77 in study eyes, P Conclusion Frisen score fails to reflect the photographic area and OCT volume of papilledema after treatment with acetazolamide. Clinicians should use caution when using the Frisen scale to monitor the effect of treatment on papilledema over time.
Neural Network Detectors for Molecular Communication Systems

We consider molecular communication systems and show it is possible to train detectors without any knowledge of the underlying channel models. In particular, we demonstrate that a technique we previously developed, which is called sliding bidirectional recurrent neural network (SBRNN), performs well for a wide range of channel states when it is trained using a dataset that contains many sample transmissions under various channel conditions. We also demonstrate that the bit error rate (BER) performance of the proposed SBRNN detector is better than that of a Viterbi detector (VD) with imperfect channel state information (CSI) and it is computationally efficient.
Seismic imaging of mid-crustal structure beneath central and eastern North America: Possibly the elusive Grenville deformation?

IRIS PASSCAL Instrument Center at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico, USA; U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)National Science Foundation (NSF) [EAR-1261681]; U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security AdministrationNational Nuclear Security AdministrationUnited States Department of Energy (DOE); NSFNational Science Foundation (NSF) [EAR-1251515, EAR-1251329, EAR-1250988]
Results of an abbreviated Phase Ib study of the HDAC6 inhibitor ricolinostat and paclitaxel in recurrent ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer

Peripheral neuropathy is a common side effect of chemotherapeutic agents that frequently necessitates dose-reduction, truncation of, or change in therapy. HDAC6 inhibition has demonstrated preclinical efficacy in preventing and/or reversing chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy and furthermore has demonstrated synergistic antitumor activity with various chemotherapies. Here, we report the abbreviated results of a Phase Ib trial of ricolinostat, an HDAC6-specific inhibitor, in combination with paclitaxel, in the treatment of recurrent ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer.
From Pavement to Population Genomics: Characterizing a Long-Established Non-native Ant in North America Through Citizen Science and ddRADseq

Clarifying the population structure and introduction history of non-native species is essential to preventing and mitigating effects of invasion, yet the invasion history of many long-established non-native species remain poorly understood. This study characterized the population structure of one of the most commonly encountered urban ants in North America using public participant-collected specimens and double-digest restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq). Based on this genomic approach we confirm the identity of populations ranging across the continent as Tetramorium immigrans Santschi, and report low genetic diversity across its range, suggesting that this entire population resulted from the establishment of one single, or few closely related ant colonies, approximately two hundred years ago. The absence of strong population structure suggests that this ant’s spread across North America has been repeatedly aided by human-assisted dispersal. We find no evidence of inbreeding in T. immigrans; contrasts with the inbreeding and unicoloniality of many other invasive ants. These results demonstrate how collections-based public participatory science and emerging high-throughput sequencing techniques each have the potential to vastly improve the amount of data available to researchers; together, these techniques can be deployed to address ecological and evolutionary questions in non-model organisms, including invasion biology. We suggest that this model is particularly well suited for research on common taxa that are ecologically important but poorly understood.
The Power of the Square: Public Spaces and Popular Mobilization after the Wenchuan Earthquake

The wave of volunteerism and popular participation in disaster relief activities after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in authoritarian China has attracted much academic attention. Existing literature leverages the erosion of state capacity, the moral symbolism and emotions of disaster relief, and civil society’s ability to provide crucial public goods and services to explain this popular mobilization ([12]; [15]; [22]). However, these arguments do not satisfactorily explain why sustained, self-organized non-state activities were concentrated in few sites across the region most affected by the earthquake. This paper investigates the lingering puzzle of uneven grassroots activities through the lens of spatial theory. I argue that conditions favorable to popular mobilization were mediated by the creation of large and accessible public spaces in the form of emergency shelters, breaking the ordinary cellular spatial order which enhances state control through partitioning, surveillance, and securitization. Public spaces open to all increased contact among citizens, enabled coordination and collective activities, and created new common symbols and histories, thus facilitating sustained and self-organized popular activities. To test this theory, I conduct a most similar cases comparison between two prefectural-level cities, Deyang and Mianyang, in Sichuan province. I demonstrate that despite the similar lack of civil society organizations before the earthquake and similar needs after the earthquake, Mianyang saw more sustained grassroots activities due to the presence of large, dense, highly visible and accessible emergency shelters, while Deyang’s distributed emergency resettlement strategies better maintained the cellular spatial order that left few sites for sustained popular activities. This paper seeks to understand the spatial nature of popular mobilization and aims to address a so far understudied element of civil society formation in China.
Environment-Sensing Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Inhibits the Chondrogenic Fate of Modulated Smooth Muscle Cells in Atherosclerotic Lesions

Background: Smooth muscle cells (SMC) play a critical role in atherosclerosis. The Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is an environment-sensing transcription factor that contributes to vascular develo...
Analysis of High-Efficiency Operating Modes for Piezoelectric Resonator-Based DC-DC Converters

Demand for power electronics to have smaller volume, lighter weight, and lower cost will eventually require new converter energy storage technologies with fundamentally higher power density and efficiency limits. One promising alternative energy storage mechanism is the piezoelectric resonator (PR), which offers very high power density and efficiency capabilities with emerging materials and significantly improved scaling properties compared to magnetics. PRs have been proposed for power conversion previously, but typically alongside additional magnetics and/or with limited performance. In this paper, we analyze PR-based converter operating modes that best utilize the PR for high efficiency, assuming the PR is the converter’s only energy storage component. In addition, we provide easily-accessible tools for estimating the PR’s charge transfer, energy transfer, and efficiency characteristics, which we verify experimentally in a 200-100 V, 25 W rated prototype. This prototype exhibits peak efficiency >99% as well as high efficiency (≥96%) across a wide range of operating points, illustrating the promise of PR-based converters for high voltage, low power applications.
Reducing Primary Care Provider Burnout With Pharmacist-Delivered Comprehensive Medication Management

Primary care physicians have among the highest rates of burnout of any medical specialty in the United States. Team-based care is an organizational approach to meet the increasing demands on the primary care system, including the well-being of its providers. Physicians report that pharmacist-delivered comprehensive medication management improves patient care efficiency, decreases workload and provides additional work-based social support, among other benefits. Physician perspectives as well as resources for implementing physician-pharmacist collaborations are discussed.
Surface Modification Strategies in Enhancing Systemic Delivery Performance

In Chap. 13, electrospinning has been introduced as a strategy to manipulate the physical properties of a therapeutics-loaded system and to enhance the versatility of drug delivery. In the remaining chapters in Section V, the use of chemical means to manipulate the surface properties of a carrier for more effective systemic drug delivery will be discussed. As a matter of fact, a therapeutic agent must stay in the body as long as it is needed to reach the intended site of action in order to elicit a therapeutic response. To extend the blood retention time of an agent, one commonly used strategy is surface modification. In this chapter, we will first discuss the principles of clearance of particulate drug delivery systems from the body by the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS), followed by a discussion of the possible use of polymers as modifiers of the surface properties of the particulate systems for enhanced performance in systemic drug delivery. Finally, the applications of surface-modified particulates in non-MPS targeting, including cancer chemotherapy and delivery across the blood–brain barrier, will also be discussed.
Remembering Johannes Manjrekar (5 June 1957–09 February 2020)

Abstract Johannes Manjrekar (1957–2020) was a well-known molecular biologist and a faculty member at the Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. He was an extremely popular professor among his students and offered help to anyone who needed it. He was also an avid reader, a writer, polyglot, and a nature enthusiast. He keenly pursued insect collecting, bird-watching and photography. Here, we honor him by presenting a glimpse of his life, and his academic and scholarly interests.
Certified Robustness to Word Substitution Attack with Differential Privacy

The robustness and security of natural language processing (NLP) models are significantly important in real-world applications. In the context of text classification tasks, adversarial examples can be designed by substituting words with synonyms under certain semantic and syntactic constraints, such that a well-trained model will give a wrong prediction. Therefore, it is crucial to develop techniques to provide a rigorous and provable robustness guarantee against such attacks. In this paper, we propose WordDP to achieve certified robustness against word substitution at- tacks in text classification via differential privacy (DP). We establish the connection between DP and adversarial robustness for the first time in the text domain and propose a conceptual exponential mechanism-based algorithm to formally achieve the robustness. We further present a practical simulated exponential mechanism that has efficient inference with certified robustness. We not only provide a rigorous analytic derivation of the certified condition but also experimentally compare the utility of WordDP with existing defense algorithms. The results show that WordDP achieves higher accuracy and more than 30X efficiency improvement over the state-of-the-art certified robustness mechanism in typical text classification tasks.
Laser Ionized Plasma Sources for Plasma Wakefield Accelerators

Plasma wakefield accelerators (PWF A) have demonstrated GeV/m scale accelerating gradients; however, current PWFAs tend to increase the particle beam's emittance (volume of the beam in transverse phase-space) as the beam propagates through the plasma. The beam's emittance can be preserved by tailoring the longitudinal density profile of the plasma to properly focus the beam into the plasma. We present optical techniques to create controlled plasma densities via laser ionization. The longitudinal plasma density profile is determined by the evolution of the intensity of a high power laser pulse as it propagates through a gas. Control of the pulse intensity is achieved using a superposition of Bessel beams created by a tandem lens setup. The width of the plasma is limited by the refraction of the laser pulse off of the ionizing gas, but we have developed several optical techniques to create wider plasmas. Our simulations show that suitable plasma filaments with lengths up to a meter and widths up to a millimeter can be generated in an argon gas using a~ 1 0 TW peak-power Ti:sa laser pulse.
A Note on Conway's Parallel Sorting Algorithm

This paper presents an improved lower bound on Conway's parallel sorting algorithm. It is shown that Conway's parallel sorting algorithm sorts N keys in (N+[N/2]-2) cycles, where [X] denotes the smallest integer which is larger than or equal to X. The original result proposed by Warshauer is (2N-3) cycles. With this improvement it can be saved (N-[N/2]-1) cycles for N keys. Consequently it is shown that 50(1-2/N) percent of cycles can be saved on the sorting process. Also with this improvement the modified algorithm for average behavior proposed by the authors in an earlier paper will become more efficient.
Embedded uClinux, the Altera DE2, and the SHIM Compiler

SHIM is a concurrent deterministic language focused on embedded system. Although SHIM has undergone substantial evolution, it currently does not have a code generator for a true embedded environment. In this project, we built an embedded environment that we intend to use as a target for the SHIM compiler. We add the uClinux operating system between hardware devices and software programs. Our long-term goal is to have the SHIM compiler generate both user-space and kernel/module programs for this environment. This project is a first step: we manually explored what sort of code we ultimately want the SHIM compiler to produce. In this report, we provide instructions on how to build and install uClinux into an Altera DE2 board and example programs, including a user-space program, a kernel module, and a simple device driver for the buttons on the DE2 board that includes an interrupt handler.
A generic reconfigurable neural network architecture as a network on chip

Neural networks are widely used in pattern recognition, security applications and data manipulation. We propose a hardware architecture for a generic neural network, using network on chip (NoC) interconnect. The proposed architecture allows for expandability, mapping of more than one logical unit onto a single physical unit, and dynamic reconfiguration based on application-specific demands. Simulation results show that this architecture has significant performance benefits over existing architectures.
Fluctuations and their correlations in econophysics

We address a current question in econophysics: Are fluctuations in economic indices correlated? To this end, we analyze 1-minute data on a stock index, the Standard and Poor index of the 500 largest stocks. We extend the 6-year data base studied by Mantegna and Stanley by including the 13 years 1984–1996 inclusive, with a recording frequency of 15 seconds. The total number of data points in this 13 years period exceed 4.5 million, which allows for a very detailed statistical analysis. We find that the fluctuations in the volatility are correlated, and that the correlations are well described by a power law.
The evolving story of human leukocyte antigen and the immunogenetics of peanut allergy.

Abstract Objective Peanut allergy (PA) clearly has a heritable component. Specific genetic contributions are unknown, but human leukocyte antigen (HLA) loci are obvious candidates. This review focuses on emerging studies of HLA associations with PA. Data Sources PubMed was searched with no time limitations using key terms human leukocyte antigen , HLA , MHC , peanut , peanut hypersensitivity , and peanut allergy . Study Selections Qualifying studies were English-language reports of genetic analyses examining PA and HLA associations. Results Seven relevant citations were identified, which were published from 1996 to 2015. Early studies using candidate gene approaches found associations between PA and HLA-DR and -DQ alleles (HLA-DRB1*08 and DQB1*06:03P) when comparing subjects with peanut allergy with nonallergic unrelated control groups. No significant associations were found between siblings with and without peanut allergy. However, a recent large genomewide association study of patients with peanut allergy and their family members found 2 PA-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs9275596 and rs7192) mapping to regions involving the HLA-DR and HLA-DQ genes. Associations with differential DNA methylation partly mediated the associations between PA and single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Conclusion Early studies using candidate gene approaches identified HLA associations with PA compared with the general population, suggesting a link with atopy but failing to identify a PA-specific association. These studies had various limitations that included small samples. The most compelling evidence for a PA-specific HLA association comes from a genomewide association study, which examined the entire genome in large, well-defined, related cohorts. More research is needed to validate and replicate these findings, to perform fine genetic mapping of specific HLA loci, and to demonstrate underlying mechanisms of HLA contributions to PA.
Discoverer II Program summary

The Discoverer II Joint Program is a joint USA Air Force, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and Army technology demonstration program. When successful, the Discoverer II Program's demonstration of two satellites integrated with an Army Tactical Exploitation System (TES) will support the technical feasibility, cost affordability and mission utility of a subsequent program to launch a full constellation of satellites known as the Space-Based Radar (SBR) Objective System. Such a space-based objective system will offer high-range-resolution ground moving target indication (HRR-GMTI), synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging, and terrain mapping using collection capabilities for high-resolution digital terrain elevation data (DTED). Theater or joint task force commanders will task these advanced capabilities directly from the area of operations. Conversely, the satellites will downlink collected data directly to theater ground stations for timely exploitation. The Discoverer II program will design, fabricate and launch two research and development (R&D) prototype HRR-GMTI/SAR satellites, and conduct a one-year, in-orbit demonstration of the satellites integrated with a TES. The program is jointly managed and is administered as an Air Force acquisition program by the Discoverer II Joint Program Office.
Characterizing the nature of home care work and occupational hazards: A Developmental intervention study

Background Home care (HC) aide is the fastest growing occupation, yet job hazards are under-studied. This study documents the context of HC aide work, characterizes occupational safety and health (OSH) hazards, and identifies preventive interventions using qualitative methods. Methods We conducted 12 focus groups among aides and 26 in-depth interviews comprising 15 HC agency, union, and insurance company representatives as well as 11 HC recipients in Massachusetts. All focus groups and interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded with NVIVO software. Results Major OSH concerns were musculoskeletal disorders from client care tasks and verbal abuse. Performing tasks beyond specified job duties may be an OSH risk factor. HC aides' safety and clients' safety are closely linked. Client handling devices, client evaluation, care plan development, and training are key interventions for both aides' and clients' safety. Conclusions Promoting OSH in HC is essential for maintaining a viable workforce. Am. J. Ind. Med. 57:445–457, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Free fatty acid response to insulin and glucose stimulation in schizophrenic, autistic, and emotionally disturbed children.

Three related studies of plasma free fatty acid metabolism involving 15 autistic and schizophrenic, 14 emotionally disturbed, and 49 normal children are reported and discussed. In the first, baseline FFA levels from 1 to 4 days showed significantly greater FFA variability in psychotic than in other children. In the second, contrary to paradoxical response in some adult schizophrenics, FFA lowered significantly and normally after intravenous insulin injection in 4 autistic children. In the third, involving glucose ingestion by 11 psychotic, 14 emotionally disturbed, and 13 normal children on high carbohydrate diets, subsequent FFA and glucose determinations at 45 minutes and 2 hours revealed no differences. Mean FFA levels were higher in the psychotic group. It is suggested that a possible reason for FFA variability in psychotic children may be a deficiency in the regulatory feedback mechanism at a neurogenic or cellular level.
Obesity does not affect survival outcomes in extremity soft tissue sarcoma.

Background Obesity is a growing epidemic and has been associated with an increased frequency of complications after various surgical procedures. Studies also have shown adipose tissue to promote a microenvironment favorable for tumor growth. Additionally, the relationship between obesity and prognosis of soft tissue sarcomas has yet to be evaluated.
Assisted circulation. II. The effect of heart rate on synchronized arterial counterpulsation.

Abstract Two simplified techniques of cannulation for arterial counterpulsation have been described. The preferred technique involves a short femoral or direct aortic cannula connected to a “Y” tube, the limbs of which are connected to a ventricle with uniflow valves. This circuit reduces the damping of fluid inertia in counterpulsation. With this technique, several conclusions can be drawn as to the efficacy of assisted circulation. 1. 1. Synchronized arterial counterpulsation can reduce mean aortic systolic pressure and maintain or elevate the mean diastolic pressure. This meets some of the physiologic criteria for myocardial assistance. 2. 2. Experimental application of this technique at heart rates varying from 80 to 190 per minute demonstrated effective reduction of mean systolic pressure, shortening of systolic ejection time, and elevation of diastolic pressure. 3. 3. The degrees of change vary with the heart rate and, to some extent, with the control pressure. The per cent reduction in control systolic pressure by counterpulsation varied from 36 per cent at a rate of 80 beats per minute to 9.7 per cent at a rate of 190 beats per minute. 4. 4. Reduction in systolic ejection time is produced mechanically when the pump raises the blood pressure during diastole. This probably does not necessarily represent actual shortening of systolic contraction time. 5. 5. Changes in diastolic pressure vary with the magnitude of changes in the mean aortic systolic pressure. The pressure and duration of diastole are usually higher than the control and indicate increased coronary perfusion associated with reduced pressure work.
Energy levels for defibrillation: what is of real clinical importance?

Today, transthoracic and intracardiac defibrillation offer a well-accepted and widely used form of therapy for patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Despite the wide clinical use of defibrillators, the mechanisms by which an electrical shock halts fibrillation are still not completely understood. During a shock, different amounts of current flow through the different parts of the heart and the current distribution is highly uneven. This current distribution is affected by changes in the shock potential gradient through the heart, changes in fiber orientation, and changes in myocardial conductivity caused by connective tissue barriers. It would be ideal if the potential gradient distribution throughout the ventricles could be measured directly for each individual patient during defibrillator implantation and follow-up and the shock strength could be programmed based on this measurement, but so far this is not possible. A more feasible approach is to determine, by trial and error, the magnitude of the shock strength delivered through the defibrillation electrodes for successful defibrillation. There is no distinct threshold value above which all shocks succeed and below which all shocks fail to defibrillate. Rather, increasing shock strength increases the likelihood the shock will succeed. Therefore, instead of a distinct defibrillation threshold, a probability of success curve exists. However, increasing the shock strength above an optimal range can actually decrease the success rate for defibrillation. One possible explanation is that the high voltage gradients caused by such large shocks damage cells and result in postshock arrhythmias that may reinitiate fibrillation. Another problem that can affect the probability of defibrillation success for a particular programmed energy setting is that the shock strength required for defibrillation may increase over time due to (1) the growth of fibrotic tissue around the defibrillation electrode; (2) migration of the lead; (3) acute ischemia; or (4) other changes in the underlying cardiac disease (e.g., worsening of heart failure). Such possible increases in the defibrillation shock strength requirement should be compensated for before they occur by adding a margin of safety to the shock strength needed for effective defibrillation. When programming an implantable defibrillator, it is important to keep in mind that the defibrillation shock should be (1) strong enough to defibrillate at least 98% of the time with the first shock; (2) weak enough not to cause severe post-shock arrhythmias or reinitiation of fibrillation; but (3) strong enough to compensate for changes of defibrillation energy requirements over time. This usually can be accomplished by setting the defibrillator 7-10 J higher than the defibrillation threshold determined by a standard step-down protocol.
A Thoraco-Abdominal Model for Visceral Response to Experimentally Measured Deformations

Dynamic external deformation of the human torso region has been shown to induce traumatic injury to underlying anatomical structures. Previous experiments utilizing post-mortem human specimens (PMHS) have correlated biomechanical response, e.g., compression and V*C, to risk of injury as observed during post-test autopsy [1]. Biomechanical measurements are often obtained from the chestband device, a flexible steel belt instrumented circumferentially with strain gages. From bending strain signals, chestband contours are derived which represent external torso deformation patterns in the transverse plane [2]. Although injury outcomes are correlated to biomechanical metrics as measured by the chestband [1], it is desirable to establish a relationship between deformation behaviors and tissue-level response throughout the impact event. Consequently, a computational model was developed and validated for examinations of viscoelastic tissue response to external deformation as measured by the chestband.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Speckle Noise Reduction Using Local Binary Pattern

Abstract A novel local binary pattern (LBP) based adaptive diffusion for speckle noise reduction is presented. The LBP operator unifies traditionally divergent statistical and structural models of region analysis. We use LBP textons to classify an image around a pixel into noisy, homogenous, corner and edge regions. According to different types of regions, a variable weight is assigned in to the diffusion equation, so that our algorithm can adaptively encourage strong diffusion in homogenous/noisy regions and less on the edge/corner regions. The diffusion preserves edges, local details while diffusing more on homogenous region. The experiments results are evaluated both in terms of objective metric and the visual quality.
Ultrastructure of schizonts and merozoites of Sarcocystis neurona

The ultrastructure of Sarcocystis neurona schizonts and merozoites was studied in specimens derived from cell culture and from the brains of infected mice. Schizonts and merozoites were located in the host cell cytoplasm without a parasitophorous vacuole at any stage of development. Merozoites divided by endopolygeny. Fully formed merozoites had a pellicle, numerous polysomes and ribosomes, smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum, 22 subpellicular microtubules, 9-16 dense granules, 25-75 micronemes, a plastid, a Golgi complex, 1-3 mitochondria, a conoid, 2 apical rings, 2 polar rings, 0-6 lipid bodies, a nucleus and nucleolus, but no rhoptries. Most micronemes were located anterior to the nucleus including 1-6 micronemes in the conoid. Merozoites were either slender (7.3 microm x 1.7 microm) or stumpy (7.7 microm x 3.1 microm). Dense granules appeared to arise from the maturation face of the Golgi complex. The ultrastructure of in vitro derived schizonts and merozoites were similar to in vivo derived organisms.
Mouse horizontal cells do not express connexin26 or connexin36

Gap junctions between neurons function as electrical synapses, and are present in all layers of mammalian and teleost retina. These synapses are largest and most prominent between horizontal cells where they function to increase the receptive field of a single neuron beyond the width of its dendrites. Receptive field size and the extent of gap junctional coupling between horizontal cells is regulated by ambient light levels and may mediate light/dark adaptation. Furthermore, teleost horizontal cell gap junction hemichannels may facilitate a mechanism of feedback inhibition between horizontal cells and cone photoreceptors. As a prelude to using mouse genetic models to study horizontal cell gap junctions and hemichannels, we sought to determine the connexin complement of mouse horizontal cells. Cx36, Cx37, Cx43, Cx45 and Cx57 mRNA could be detected in mouse retina by RT-PCR. Microscopy was used to further examine the distribution of Cx26 and Cx36. Cx26 immunofluorescence and a β-gal reporter under regulatory control of the Cx36 promoter did not colocalize with a horizontal cell marker, indicating that these genes are not expressed by horizontal cells. The identity of the connexin(s) forming electrical synapses between mouse horizontal cells and the connexin that may form hemichannels in the horizontal cell telodendria remains unknown.
Separation of Fine Particles from Nonaqueous Media: Free Energy Analysis and Oil Loss Estimation

Abstract In industrial processes for the separation of fine particles from oil to produce clean liquid fuels, a significant portion of oil is entrained by the solids and is lost, A semi-empirical model is proposed to explain the mechanism of oil loss and floe carryunder. The favorability of the transfer of fine particles from oil to water was determined by conducting a free energy analysis of the process. The ratio of the water drop to particle radius (size ratio) and the contact angle were found to be important parameters affecting the free energy change. The oil loss was found to increase with an increase in size ratio. To verify the model, experiments to determine oil loss in a practical system were conducted for two different surfactants. The model was found to fit experimental data for oil loss very well. The results show that by choosing a suitable surfactant and demulsifier, it is possible to decrease the oil loss considerably. Hence, the proposed model is useful for evaluating the efficiency of th...
Logarithmic fringe-adjusted joint transform correlation

An improved fringe-adjusted joint transform correlation (FJTC) technique is proposed, which employs a new real-valued filter, called the logarithmic fringe-adjusted filter. The Fourier-plane image subtraction technique is applied to the joint power spectrum before applying the inverse Fourier transform to generate better correlation output. The proposed technique yields better correlation output compared to alternate optical pattern recognition techniques when the target is embedded in noise-corrupted input scenes. Test results are presented to verify the performance of the proposed technique.
The preference of rats for free or response-produced food

Three experiments were performed to investigate the preference of rats for either free or response-produced food. Rats were trained to free feed in an operant chamber and then to leverpress for food. Subsequently, they were given a choice between continuing to leverpress for food on CRF, FR 2, and FR 10 schedules or free feeding. In three experiments the independent variable was the method of free-food presentation: A fixed free-food dish was used in the first experiment, a movable dish in the second, and a large flat dish in the third experiment. The results of the three experiments were very similar, with most of the rats showing a preference for the free food. This preference increased further when more than one response was required to produce a food pellet. These results contradict any conclusion that rats have a generalized tendency to prefer response-produced to free food but provide no answer to the question of why rats do on occasion respond for food in the presence of free food.
Temperature dependence of flux pinning in YBa2Cu3Ox

Abstract Magnetization versus applied field data have been taken up to 5 T over a wide temperature range from 10 K to 77 K for polycrystalline YBa 2 Cu 3 O x with x =6.98 and x =6.62. The intragrain critical current density has been calculated based on the magnetization measurements. The observed temperature dependence of the flux pinning behavior in the x =6.98 sample indicates a new pinning mechanism in the intermediate temperature region, whose strength increases linearly with the applied field above certain field values. The experimental results also suggest that the twin boundary pinning is active only in the low temperature region.
Evidence for the biotransformation of procainamide to a reactive metabolite

Abstract The antiarrhythmic drug procainamide formed reactive metabolites in the Salmonella typhimurium tester system. Further, procainamide covalently bound to mouse liver macromolecules. This binding was increased by phenobarbital pretreatment and decreased by SKF 525A pretreatment. In the presence of a mouse microsomal activating system, the reversion rate of tester strain TA100 was significantly increased by procainamide. This increase was dependent on the amount of microsomal protein and NADPH. Substitution on the aromatic amine antagonized the bioactivation of procainamide. N -Acetylprocainamide was 50% less active than procainamide. Removal of the aromatic amine of procainamide decreased reactivity. Procainamide is biotransformed by mouse liver microsomes to a reactive metabolite capable of interacting with nuclear macromolecules. Optimum bioactivation is dependent on a nonsubstituted arylamine.
Ultrastructure of the sacculus and lagena in a moray eel gymnothorax sp

The ultrastructure of the sacculus and lagena of a moray eel, Gymnothorax sp., was investigated using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Particular emphasis was placed on the orientation of the sensory hair cells and on the ultrastructure of the sensory cells. The ciliary bundles on the sensory hair cells are of several types, each having a different size relationship between the kinocilium and stereocilia. The cell bodies of the sensory cells are similar to the mammalian type II sensory cell. There were no apparent differences in the cell bodies between sensory cells with different ciliary bundles. Hair cell orientation patterns on the saccular and lagenar maculae differ from patterns found in other fishes. The posterior side of the saccular macula in Gymnothorax has cells oriented dorsally and ventrally, as is typical in other non-ostariophysan species. The anterior end of the saccular macula has alternating groups of anteriorly and posteriorly oriented cells, a situation that differs from the more typical pattern in which anteriorly oriented cells are found on the ventral side of the macula while posteriorly oriented cells cover the dorsal side of the macula. The orientation of cells on the lagena includes ventral cells that are located above a group of dorsally oriented cells. In many other non-ostariophysans, ventrally oriented cells are generally posterior to the dorsally oriented cells.