cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Teacher vs. Peer Oral Corrective Feedback in the German Language Classroom

This classroom study investigated the effects of oral teacher and peer corrective feedback on the acquisition of the German present perfect tense, including auxiliary verb selection (a rule-based structure) and past participle formation (an item-based structure). Intermediate learners of German were assigned to a teacher feedback condition, a peer feedback condition, or a control group. Learners in the teacher feedback group were corrected by their course instructor, while learners in the peer feedback group were trained to provide guidance to each other at the beginning of a two-day instructional treatment. Results from both an immediate and delayed posttest showed that while both experimental groups significantly improved in grammatical accuracy with both auxiliary selection and the past participle, the largest improvement was seen among the learners in the peer feedback group. These findings suggest that peer corrective feedback heightens learners' awareness of linguistic forms and that learners who provide such feedback may benefit not only from receiving but also from providing it. The results further demonstrate that peer feedback can be effective with less-proficient learners and with different types of grammatical structures.
Evaluating case management services for injured workers. Use of a quality assessment model.

An increasing number of employers and third party administrators are choosing case management as a strategy to coordinate services for workers who sustain an occupational injury or illness. The successful delivery of case management services requires the service provider possess special skills and knowledge. Occupational health nurses are uniquely qualified to provide case management services to injured and ill workers. The effectiveness of case management services is generally described in terms of costs and quality of services; thus, determining the effectiveness of a case management program requires an evaluation of costs and service quality. Language: en
Leiomyosarcoma of the colon--a revised prognosis: report of a case.

Extrarectal leiomyosarcoma of the colon is a pathologic rarity. An unduly optimistic prognosis has been reported. Our experience with a rapidly lethal case prompted this review. Follow-up information was requested from previous reviewers. Only two cases of five-year survival without disease have been documented. Because of these statistics and the early deaths of ten patients, we believe that the optimism previously mentioned is unwarranted.
Nonsingular Terminal Neural Sliding Mode Control for Trajectory Tracking of Robot Manipulators

A nonsingular terminal neural sliding mode control scheme is proposed for trajectory tracking of robot manipulators system with uncertainties.This controller employs improved nonsingular terminal sliding mode manifold.And a radial basis function neural network is employed to adaptively adjust the switching term of the output of the controller,consequently,not only the constraint that the bound of uncertainties of the system should be known in the design of the controller is overcome,but also the control signal is smoothed.Moreover,based on Lyapunov stability theory,the asymptotic stability of the system and the asymptotic convegence performance of the tracking error are proved.The simulation results verify that the proposed method can guarantee the speediness and robustness of the trajectory tracking control of robot manipulators system as well as effectively reduce the chattering.So it is clear that this scheme is valid and effective.
Cryo-electron microscopy and the amazing race to atomic resolution

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), the structural analysis of samples embedded in vitreous ice, is a powerful approach for determining three-dimensional (3D) structures of biological specimens. Over the past two decades, this technique has been used to successfully calculate subnanometer (<10 A) resolution and, in some cases, near-atomic resolution structures of highly symmetrical and stable complexes such as icosahedral viruses and ribosomes, as well as samples that form ordered two-dimensional or helical arrays. However, determining high-resolution 3D structures of smaller, less symmetrical, and dynamic samples remains a significant challenge. The recent development of electron microscopes with automated data collection capabilities and robust direct electron detection cameras, as well as new powerful image processing algorithms, has dramatically expanded the number of biological macromolecules amenable for study using cryo-EM. In addition, these new technological and computational developments have be...
Functional Comparisons of the Lysophosphatidic Acid Receptors, LPA1/VZG-1/EDG-2, LPA2/EDG-4, and LPA3/EDG-7 in Neuronal Cell Lines Using a Retrovirus Expression System

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a potent lipid mediator with diverse physiological actions on a wide variety of cells and tissues. Three cognate G-protein-coupled receptors have been identified as mammalian LPA receptors: LPA1/VZG-1/EDG-2, LPA2/EDG-4, and LPA3/EDG-7. The mouse forms of these genes were analyzed in rodent cell lines derived from nervous system cells that can express these receptors functionally. An efficient retrovirus expression system was used, and each receptor was heterologously expressed in B103 rat neuroblastoma cells that neither express these receptors nor respond to LPA in all assays tested. Comparative analyses of signaling pathways that are activated within minutes of ligand delivery were carried out. LPA induced cell rounding in LPA1- and LPA2-expressing cells. By contrast, LPA3 expression resulted in neurite elongation in B103 cells and inhibited LPA-dependent cell rounding in TR mouse neuroblast cells that endogenously express LPA1 and LPA2but not LPA3. Each of the receptors could couple to multiple G-proteins and induced LPA-dependent inositol phosphate production, mitogen-activated protein kinase activation, and arachidonic acid release while inhibiting forskolin-induced cAMP accumulation, although the efficacy and potency of LPA varied from receptor to receptor. These results indicate both shared and distinct functions among the three mammalian LPA receptors. The retroviruses developed in this study should provide tools for addressing these functions in vivo.
Diagnosis using hierarchical design models

This paper presents a new algorithm for the diagnosis of computer hardware faults. The algorithm uses a general inference procedure to compute suspect components and generate discriminatory tests from information about the design of the device being diagnosed. In the current implementation this procedure is linear-input resolution, guided by explicit meta-level control rules. The algorithm exploits the hierarchy inherent in most computer system designs to diagnose systems a level at a time. In this way the number of parts under consideration at any one time is kept small, and the cost of test generation remains manageable.
Persistence or Recurrence of Symptoms after Transurethral Resection of the Prostate: A Urodynamic Assessment

Approximately 15 to 20% of patients who undergo transurethral resection of the prostate for benign prostatic hyperplasia have persistent or recurrent voiding symptoms requiring further therapy. To elucidate the etiology of these voiding abnormalities, the urodynamic findings of 129 consecutive men (mean age 72 years) with post-transurethral resection voiding symptoms were retrospectively analyzed with respect to symptoms, uroflowmetry and synchronous video pressure-flow cystometry. Our findings revealed obstruction in 38% of the patients, impaired contractility in 25% and intrinsic sphincter deficiency in 8%. Among 80 patients without neurological disorders involuntary bladder contractions were detected in 50%. However, in 49 patients with neurological disorders involuntary bladder contractions were detected in 76%. This difference was statistically significant. There were 15 patients who failed 2 or more transurethral resections of the prostate, and involuntary bladder contractions were detected in 80%, obstruction in 27%, impaired contractility in 27% and sphincteric incontinence in 20%. Our study reveals residual or recurrent obstruction to be a contributing factor in less than half of all patients who fail transurethral resection of the prostate. Furthermore, patients with a concomitant neurological disorder and those who have undergone more than 1 transurethral resection of the prostate have a significantly higher incidence of involuntary bladder contractions. These results underscore the importance of obtaining complete urodynamic assessment in patients with persistent or recurrent voiding symptoms following transurethral resection of the prostate to guide appropriate therapy.
The Relative Importance of Various Factors in the Selection of Privately Funded Long Term Health Care Facilities

This paper focuses on the major decision variables and appertaining decision makers in the selection of long term health care facilites. The literatures identifies principal decision makers as physicians and females between the ages of 45 and 65, and that the decision making process is usually rushed, haphazard, and guilt-ridden. The results of the study cite five decision factors perceived as most important by physicians and females age 45 to 65. The study concludes by comparing these results and recommending a more aggressive marketing communeiations effort by long term health care facilities.
Two-stage distributionally robust optimal power flow with flexible loads

In this paper, we formulate a two-stage distributionally robust (DR) model for the optimal power flow (OPF) problem in the presence of uncertainties from wind power generation and load-based reserves. Assuming ambiguous distributions of the random variables, we minimize the costs of generation, reserves, and the worst-case expected value of the penalty cost of violating constraints. We consider a lifted support and a distributional ambiguity set parameterized by empirical means and absolute deviations of the random variables. We adopt an enhanced linear decision rule (ELDR) to derive a quadratic programming reformulation of the DR-OPF model, and compare its performance to that of a DR chance-constrained OPF model. We study the optimal solution patterns of the two approaches, compare their performance in out-of-sample simulations, and also numerically justify the use of the ELDR.
Controlling Molecular Doping in Organic Semiconductors

The field of organic electronics thrives on the hope of enabling low-cost, solution-processed electronic devices with mechanical, optoelectronic, and chemical properties not available from inorganic semiconductors. A key to the success of these aspirations is the ability to controllably dope organic semiconductors with high spatial resolution. Here, recent progress in molecular doping of organic semiconductors is summarized, with an emphasis on solution-processed p-type doped polymeric semiconductors. Highlighted topics include how solution-processing techniques can control the distribution, diffusion, and density of dopants within the organic semiconductor, and, in turn, affect the electronic properties of the material. Research in these areas has recently intensified, thanks to advances in chemical synthesis, improved understanding of charged states in organic materials, and a focus on relating fabrication techniques to morphology. Significant disorder in these systems, along with complex interactions between doping and film morphology, is often responsible for charge trapping and low doping efficiency. However, the strong coupling between doping, solubility, and morphology can be harnessed to control crystallinity, create doping gradients, and pattern polymers. These breakthroughs suggest a role for molecular doping not only in device function but also in fabrication-applications beyond those directly analogous to inorganic doping.
Insights into the lithospheric architecture of Iberia and Morocco from teleseismic body-wave attenuation

Abstract The long and often complicated tectonic history of continental lithosphere results in lateral strength heterogeneities which in turn affect the style and localization of deformation. In this study, we produce a model for the attenuation structure of Iberia and northern Morocco using a waveform-matching approach on P-wave data from teleseismic deep-focus earthquakes. We find that attenuation is correlated with zones of intraplate deformation and seismicity, but do not find a consistent relationship between attenuation and recent volcanism. The main features of our model are low to moderate Δ t ⁎ in the undeformed Tertiary basins of Spain and high Δ t ⁎ in areas deformed by the Alpine orogeny. Additionally, low Δ t ⁎ is found in areas where the Alboran slab is thought to be attached to the Iberian and African lithosphere, and high Δ t ⁎ where it has detached. These features are robust with respect to inversion parameters, and are consistent with independent data. Very mild backazimuthal dependence of the measurements and comparison with previous results suggest that the source of the attenuation is sub-crustal. In line with other recent studies, the range of Δ t ⁎ we observe is much larger than can be expected from lithospheric thickness or temperature variations.
Radioactive Waste Management: Storage, Transport, Disposal

Radioactive materials are widely used in our society, and when they are, radioactive wastes can be produced. In addition to being used to generate about 20% of the electricity used in the USA and 17% of the electricity used worldwide, radioactive materials are important in medicine, industry, and research. For example, radioactive materials are used to help diagnose and treat disease, as thickness gages in manufacturing, as components of some smoke detectors, to kill bacteria in food, to trace the movement of nutrients through plants, and to power spacecraft leaving the solar system. Just as there are many uses of radioactive materials, there are many types of radioactive waste, each of which must be stored for a time, treated (prepared either for disposal or recycling), transported, and ultimately disposed of in a licensed facility. Some radioactive materials are utilized in weapons production, an activity which also results in generation of radioactive wastes, although this chapter shall focus on civilian uses of radioactive materials. Proper management of radioactive wastes is essential to ensure that society continues to realize the benefits of radioactive materials without undue risk to human health or the environment, and all aspects of radioactive waste management are highly regulated.
Plasma Neutrophil Gelatinase–Associated Lipocalin Is Independently Associated With Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: The Rancho Bernardo Study

Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine the association between neutrophil gelatinase–associated lipocalin (NGAL) levels and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in community-dwelling older adults. Background NGAL is a novel marker best known for its role in rapidly identifying acute kidney injury. Although expressed in atherosclerosis, its association with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the community has not been reported. Methods We measured plasma NGAL levels in 1,393 Rancho Bernardo Study participants without CVD, mean age 70 years. Participants were followed for a mean time period of 11 years. Results During follow-up, 436 participants died (169 from CVD). In models adjusted for traditional CVD risk factors and creatinine clearance, NGAL was a significant predictor of CVD mortality (hazard ratio [HR] per SD log increase: 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12 to 1.57), all-cause mortality (HR: 1.19, 95% CI: 1.07 to 1.32), and a combined cardiovascular endpoint (HR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.10 to 1.45). After further adjusting for N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and C-reactive protein (CRP), NGAL remained an independent predictor of each outcome. NGAL improved the C-statistic (0.835 to 0.842) for prediction of CVD death (p = 0.001). Net reclassification improvement (>0) with the addition of NGAL was 18% (p = 0.02); the integrated discrimination index was also significant (p = 0.01). Participants with NGAL and NT-proBNP above the median had increased risk of CVD death versus those with only NT-proBNP elevated (HR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.12 to 1.82). Conclusions Plasma NGAL is a significant predictor of mortality and CVD in community-dwelling older adults, independent of traditional risk factors and kidney function, and adds incremental value to NT-proBNP and CRP. The potential impact of these results includes providing insight into new mechanisms of CVD and the possibility of improving screening, intervention, and prevention.
Degrees of freedom of wireless interference network

Wireless communication systems are different from the wired systems mainly in three aspects: fading, broadcast, and superposition. Wireless communication networks, and multi-user communication networks in general, have not been well understood from the information-theoretic perspective: the capacity limits of many multi-user networks are not known. For example, the capacity region of a two-user single-antenna interference channel is still not known, though recent result can bound the region up to a constant value. Characterizing the capacity limits of multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference network is usually even more difficult than the single antenna setup. To alleviate the difficulty in studying such networks, the concept of degrees of freedom (DoF) has been adopted, which captures the first order behavior of the capacities or capacity regions. One important technique developed recently for quantifying the DoF of multi-user networks is the so-called interference alignment. The purpose of interference alignment is to design the transmit signals structurally so that the interference signals from multiple interferers are aligned to reduce the signal dimensions occupied by interference. In this thesis, we mainly study two problems related to DoF and interference alignment: (1) DoF region of MIMO full interference channel (FIC) and Z interference channel (ZIC) with reconfigurable antennas, and (2) the DoF region of an interference network with general message demands. For the first problem, we derive the outer bound on the DoF region and show that it is achievable via time-sharing or beamforming except for one special case. As to this particular special case, we develop a systematic way of constructing the DoF-achieving nulling and beamforming matrices. Our results reveal the potential benefit of using the reconfigurable antenna in MIMO FIC and ZIC. In addition, the achievability scheme has an interesting space-frequency interpretation. For the second problem, we derive the DoF region of a single antenna interference network with general message demands, which includes the multiple unicasts and multiple multicasts as special cases. We perform interference alignment using multiple base vectors and align the interference at each receiver to its largest interferer. Furthermore, we show that the DoF region is determined by a subset of receivers, and the DoF region can be achieved by considering a smaller number of interference alignment constraints so as to reduce the number of time expansion. Finally, as a related research topic, we also include a result on the average throughput of a MIMO interference channel with single-user detector at receivers and without channel state information at transmitters. We present a piecewise linear approximation of the channel throughput under weak, moderate and strong interference regimes. Based on that we determine the optimal number of streams that a transmitter should use for different interference levels.
Perinephric Abscess: The Missed Diagnosis

Perinephric abscess is a life-threatening but treatable process. Most infections of the perinephric space occur as a result of extension of an ascending urinary tract infection, commonly in association with nephrolithiasis or urinary tract obstruction. A large portion of the mortality is the result of failure to diagnose this entity in a timely fashion. This failure may be because of the frequently obscure or nonspecific nature of the clinical presentation. Blood cultures as well as urine cultures may fail to identify correctly the bacterial pathogens responsible for the abscess. Perinephric abscess should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any patient presenting with a urinary tract infection that fails to respond promptly to antibiotic therapy, particularly in those known to have anatomical abnormalities of the urinary tract or diabetes mellitus. Consideration of this diagnosis should enter into the differential diagnosis of fever with abdominal pain or flank pain. Early recognition of perinephric abscess and prompt drainage, either percutaneously or surgically, in combination with appropriate antibiotic coverage, should reduce dramatically the morbidity and mortality from this infection.
The Physiology Of Transforming Growth Factor-α

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the role of transforming growth factor- α (TGF- α) in the proliferation of the normal cells and its potential importance in tumor development. Research during the past few years had made it evident that TGF- α plays a role in the physiology of the normal cells and tissues. All types of normal epithelial cells synthesize TGF- α. These cells have TGF- α receptors, thus making them responsive to the action of TGF- α in an autocrine fashion. Even though there no direct proof in vivo, it is likely that a normal role of the endogenous TGF- α synthesis in these epithelia is to drive their proliferation. The effect of TGF- α on substrate-dependent colony formation of human keratinocytes has been studied in detail. TGF- α is a normal physiological ligand of the TGF- α receptor that plays a role in cellular proliferation not only in the adult, but presumably even more importantly in organ and tissue development. Its role in normal tissues certainly does not exclude a role in the establishment and maintenance of the malignant character of the tumor cells. TGF- α plays a role in and contribute to phenotypic transformation and stimulates the proliferation of the tumor cells and of the tumor in vivo. TGF- α expression influences the invasive behavior of the tumor cells and contributes to the induction of neovascularization of the tumors and to the malignancy-induced hypercalcemia.
Ethical and Sociocultural Considerations of Biofortified Crops: Ensuring Value and Sustainability for Public Health

Abstract This chapter highlights ethical considerations related to biofortified crops and provides insights on how planned and implemented biofortification interventions can take into account sociocultural aspects to improve public health. A literature review of ethical and sociocultural issues was performed, as well as an analysis of biofortification using a public health ethics framework. The research suggests that biofortification has clear public health goals and has promise toward meeting those goals. Where there is a need for more research is to better understand the impacts of biofortification programs on issues of self-determination, liberties, and food justice, the burdens and nonmaleficence to society can be minimized. This can be done through early involvement of the community in research and programmatic strategies. Distributive justice issues, such as ensuring fair access to seeds and foods for farmers and consumers, ought to be considered.
Measuring Potential Output

So many ways to measure potential output, so little consensus…But different measurements don’t necessarily alter central bank policy decisions.
Creativity, Optimism, Planning, and Expert Advise (COPE): A Problem-Solving Intervention for Supporting Cancer Patients and Their Family Caregivers

Creativity, Optimism, Planning, and Expert Advise (COPE) is a psycho-educational intervention designed to teach cancer patients and family caregivers problem-solving skills to help manage symptoms and other concerns. It focuses on using creativity (viewing problems as challenges that can be overcome), optimism (focusing on the positive, yet being realistic), planning (developing a sound plan to address problems), and expert information (finding and learning from trustworthy sources) to overcome problems. Research on COPE has found the intervention effective in improving caregiver quality of life, caregiver burden, and patient symptom distress. Teaching family caregivers and patients the information contained in the COPE intervention may help improve patient symptoms and caregiver quality of life. Future research should explore new methods to deliver COPE to a wider audience, and ways to individualize the content to meet specific needs of the individual, in real-time. This chapter will present a fictional case family and apply the COPE intervention to address their concerns.
Amifampridine for the treatment of Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome.

Introduction: The present status of amifampridine (AFP) for the treatment of Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) is reviewed.Areas covered: All relevant literature identified through a PubMed ...
Psychometric Properties of the Emotion Dysregulation Inventory in a Nationally Representative Sample of Youth

Objective: The Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI) is an informant questionnaire developed based on the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) Scientific Standards and refined through factor analyses and item response theory (IRT) analyses. Although it was developed to improve measurement of emotion dysregulation in youth with autism spectrum disorder, emotion dysregulation has transdiagnostic significance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the EDI's psychometric properties and to establish IRT-based scores for a general population of youth.Methods: Data were collected from a sample of 1000 caregivers of 6- to 17-year-old youth matched to the US census on age, gender, race/ethnicity, years of education, and region. Confirmatory factor analyses and IRT analyses using the two-parameter graded response model were performed to evaluate the EDI's structure and psychometric properties.Results: Analyses supported the original two-factor structure of the EDI, reflecting factors for Reactivity and Dysphoria. Simulations of computerized adaptive testing supported use of the same items for a Reactivity short form as those that emerged as most informative in the original autism psychometric analyses. IRT co-calibration with commonly used measures of emotion regulation and irritability in child clinical or community samples indicated the EDI scales provide more information across a wider range of emotion dysregulation. Validity was supported by moderate correlations with measures of related constructs and expected known-group differences.Conclusions: The EDI is an efficient and precise measure of emotion dysregulation for use in general community and clinical samples as well as samples of youth with ASD.
Traumatic brain injury preceding clinically diagnosed α-synucleinopathies: A case-control study

Objective To determine the association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and any clinically diagnosed α-synucleinopathy including Parkinson disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), PD dementia (PDD), and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Methods Using the medical records-linkage system of the Rochester Epidemiology Project, we identified incident cases of α-synucleinopathies in Olmsted County, Minnesota, from 1991 to 2010, matching by age (±1 year) at symptom onset and sex to controls. We reviewed records of cases and controls to detect TBI prior to clinical-motor onset of any α-synucleinopathies. We based severity (possible, probable, and definite) upon the Mayo Classification System for TBI Severity. Using conditional-logistic regression, we calculated the odds ratio (OR) of all α-synucleinopathies and type, adjusting for coffee intake and smoking. Results TBI frequency was lower among cases (7.0%) than controls (8.2%). No association was found between TBI and all α-synucleinopathies in multivariable analyses (OR 0.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.54–1.52). No association presented when examining the number of TBIs, TBI severity, time between TBI exposure and index date, age at index date, or sex. When stratifying by each individual α-synucleinopathy, we did not identify any associations between TBI and PD, DLB, or PDD. Among the MSA group, 1 (6.4%) and 0 controls experienced a TBI (OR could not be estimated). Conclusions In this nested case-control population-based analysis, TBI was not associated with subsequent α-synucleinopathies in general or any individual α-synucleinopathy. This did not change based on the temporality or the severity of the TBI. Our findings may be limited by the study power.
Short-term heritable variation cancels hundreds of generations of mutational variance for metabolic traits in Caenorhabditis elegans

Metabolic disorders commonly have a large heritable component, and have increased markedly over the past few generations. Genome-wide association studies of metabolic traits typically find a substantial unexplained fraction of the total heritability, suggesting an important role for the effects of spontaneous mutation. An alternative explanation, considered less likely, is that epigenetic effects contribute significantly to the heritable variation. Here we report a study designed to quantify the cumulative effects of spontaneous mutation on adenosine metabolism in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, including both the activity and concentration of two metabolic enzymes (ADA and ADK) and the standing pools of their associated metabolites. A previous study with the same set of C. elegans mutation accumulation (MA) lines found a large cumulative effect of mutation on adenosine concentration. The only prior study on the effects of mutation on metabolic enzyme activity, in Drosophila melanogaster, found that total enzyme activity presents a mutational target similar to that of morphological and life-history traits. However, those experiments were not designed to account for short-term heritable effects. We find that the means of some traits (6/17) change significantly over the course of ~250 generations under MA conditions, consistent with previous findings, but that the short-term heritable variance for all but one trait (total soluble protein concentration) is of the same order of magnitude as the mutational variance. This result has important implications for the design and interpretation of MA studies, and suggests that the potential effects of epigenetic variation in human metabolic disease warrant additional scrutiny.
Robots Teaching Recycling: Towards Improving Environmental Literacy of Children

The present pollution problem can be partially attributed to the lack of empathy for learning any ecological and environmental literacy skills. Although robotics in education is increasing, there has been a lack of interest towards developing devices designed to teach children how to be environmentally conscious, and in particular, how to recycle. This gap is the basis for our robot, which we call the Smart Trash Junior, a mechatronic trashcan that uses vision recognition to identify recyclable objects and enters into a dialogue that educates children, within elementary schools, how to recycle.
The Younger Abstention: Primary State Jurisdiction Over Law Enforcement

The abstention doctrines have received much attention by the United States Supreme Court over the last decade. These doctrines are represented by judicial rules that require federal trial courts, in appropriate circumstances, to abstain from exercising subject matter jurisdiction although they clearly have the power to do so. As a result, the particular case is shunted back into a state judicial system for determination. The most confusing of these doctrines is the one arising in major part from Younger v. Harris. In short, this case stands for the rule that, once a state criminal prosecution has been initiated, a federal court may not interfere with that proceeding except under extraordinary circumstances. One result of this is that a defendant in a state criminal prosecution may not obtain equitable relief in federal court even by showing the likelihood that the state law underlying that proceeding is in violation of the United States Constitution. Further, the Supreme Court has stretched and pulled the Younger rule until the various facets of that rule no longer seem logically consistent. Because it is no longer restricted to state criminal proceedings or even to state proceedings initiated prior to the commencement of the federal action, achieving a comprehensive perspective of the doctrine represented by the Younger case is difficult. For these reasons, thorough analysis of the Younger rule and the doctrine it represents is necessary to reveal the thread of logical consistency which ties together its seemingly disparate facets.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Tc-99m Radiopharmaceuticals

Radiopharmaceuticals when prepared properly can provide key information in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. It is essential that the correct testing be performed to ensure not only safety but efficacy of the study. This chapter provides an overview of the criteria that must be evaluated when confirming a radiopharmaceutical meets the appropriate standards. While this chapter is not an all-inclusive for quality control analysis, it provides the reader an insight to the rationale and process for quality control and quality assurance testing.
Licht ins Dunkel

Mein Bemuhen, das Leben in unseren Hausern zu verstehen, nahm seinen Anfang im Regenwald. Als junger Student arbeitete ich einige Zeit in der Forschungsstation La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica, wo Sam Messier, eine Absolventin der University of Colorado, Boulder, die Termitenart Nasutitermes corniger erforschte. Arbeitertermiten ernahren sich von Totholz und Blattern im Wald, und beides enthalt viel Kohlenstoff, aber nur wenig Stickstoff.
Neutronic design of pulsed neutron facility (PNF) for PGNAA studies of biological samples

Abstract This paper introduces a novel concept of the pulsed neutron facility (PNF) for maximizing the production of the thermal neutrons and its application to medical use based on prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) using Monte Carlo simulations. The PNF consists of a compact D-T neutron generator, a graphite pile, and a detection system using Cadmium telluride (CdTe) detector arrays. The configuration of fuel pins in the graphite monolith and the design and materials for the moderating layer were studied to optimize the thermal neutron yields. Biological samples – normal and cancerous breast tissues – including chlorine, a trace element, were used to investigate the sensitivity of the characteristic γ-rays by neutron-trace material interactions and the detector responses of multiple particles. Around 90 % of neutrons emitted from a deuterium-tritium (D-T) neutron generator thermalized as they passed through the graphite stockpile. The thermal neutrons captured the chlorines in the samples, then the characteristic γ-rays with specific energy levels of 6.12, 7.80 and 8.58 MeV were emitted. Since the concentration of chlorine in the cancerous tissue is twice that in the normal tissue, the count ratio of the characteristic γ-rays of the cancerous tissue over the normal tissue is approximately 2.
Interdisciplinary Skills for STEAM Entrepreneurship Education

This research seeks to understand which skills entrepreneurs in the different STEAM disciplines are using in their careers and if these skills differ from those being used by workers who major in S...
Tungsten enzymes play a role in detoxifying food and antimicrobial aldehydes in the human gut microbiome

Tungsten (W) is a metal that is generally thought to be seldom used in biology. We show here that a W-containing oxidoreductase (WOR) family is diverse and widespread in the microbial world. Surprisingly, WORs, along with the tungstate-specific transporter Tup, are abundant in the human gut microbiome, which contains 24 phylogenetically distinct WOR types. Two model gut microbes containing six types of WOR and Tup were shown to assimilate W. Two of the WORs were natively purified and found to contain W. The enzymes catalyzed the conversion of toxic aldehydes to the corresponding acid, with one WOR carrying out an electron bifurcation reaction coupling aldehyde oxidation to the simultaneous reduction of NAD+ and of the redox protein ferredoxin. Such aldehydes are present in cooked foods and are produced as antimicrobials by gut microbiome metabolism. This aldehyde detoxification strategy is dependent on the availability of W to the microbe. The functions of other WORs in the gut microbiome that do not oxidize aldehydes remain unknown. W is generally beyond detection (<6 parts per billion) in common foods and at picomolar concentrations in drinking water, suggesting that W availability could limit some gut microbial functions and might be an overlooked micronutrient.
Psychosocial Stress During First Pregnancy Predicts Infant Health Outcomes in the First Postnatal Year

To evaluate the impact of psychosocial stress during pregnancy on infant health outcomes in the first postnatal year. A sample of 3000 women completed a stress inventory (the Psychosocial Hassles Scale) during their third trimester before first childbirth. Infant health outcomes were measured via maternal report at 1, 6 and 12 months postpartum. Poisson regression was used to model the effect of maternal stress during pregnancy on infant health outcomes in the first year, controlling for age, race/ethnicity, education, insurance coverage, marital status, and cigarette smoking during pregnancy. Women who were younger, minority, unmarried, publicly insured and without a college degree were more likely to report high levels of prenatal stress. High prenatal stress was a significant predictor of maternal reporting of gastrointestinal illness (p < 0.0001), respiratory illness (p = 0.025), and total illness in the first year (p < 0.0001). High prenatal stress was also a significant predictor of urgent care visits (p < 0.0001) and emergency department visits (p = 0.001). It was not a significant predictor of hospitalizations (p = 0.36). Maternal prenatal stress is associated with increased maternal reporting of infant illness, as well as increased frequency of both urgent care visits and emergency department visits.
Clinical Gastrointestinal Physiology: A Systems Approach

The learning objectives in this opening chapter include for the reader to develop the concept that gastrointestinal physiology must be studied within the context of the gastrointestinal system. The contents of the chapter will help you to outline the elements of the gastrointestinal system. The learning tools that the reader will utilize throughout this book are delineated and the reader should learn the best methods for their use.
Extraction of Manufacturing Features from an I-DEAS Universal File

I-DEAS, a Computer Aided Design (CAD) software package, generates a Universal file containing geometry and topology information of objects. The Universal file also has the history of boolean operations resulting in an object. This paper presents a scheme for extracting manufacturing features from the Universal file. The feature extraction technique is based on rules such as a boolean difference of a cylinder and a block, at the proper position, results in a hole. The paper presents an example of generating manufacturing features for machining applications.
Baculovirus interaction with nontarget organisms: a virus-borne reporter gene is not expressed in two mammalian cell lines

The safety of baculoviruses with respect to mammalian species was studied by using a genetically engineered recombinant of Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus. This recombinant contains the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene under the control of a mammalian-active promoter and expresses substantial levels of CAT activity on infection of permissive and nonpermissive insect cells (L.F. Carbonell, M.J. Klowden, and L.K. Miller, J. Virol. 56:153-160, 1985). Extremely low levels of CAT activity were detected in mouse and human cell lines that were continuously exposed to the A. californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus recombinant. The appearance of CAT was not inhibited by cycloheximide. Isopycnic centrifugation of purified inoculum showed that a low level of CAT activity was associated with the insect-derived viral particles. Thus, the observed CAT activity is carried into the cells with the virus inoculum, and active expression of the baculovirus-borne CAT gene is not observed in either cell line. The inability of the CAT gene to be expressed in these cell lines with this model system provides additional assurance of the safety of insect baculoviruses with respect to mammalian species.
CHAPTER 9 – Ether-linked lipids and their bioactive species

Publisher Summary Ether-linked lipids occur throughout the animal kingdom and are even found as minor components in several higher plants. This chapter describes the historical highlights of ether-linked lipids, their natural occurrence, their physical properties, biologically active ether lipids, enzymes involved in ether lipid synthesis, catabolic enzymes, their metabolic regulation, and their functions. Ether linkages in the phospholipids of mammalian cells exist almost exclusively in the choline and ethanolamine glycerolipid classes, except for intermediary metabolites and certain bioactive lipids. Ether-linked lipids have been shown to decrease ion permeability, surface potential, and lower the phase temperature of membrane bilayers, when compared to their diacyl counterparts. The chapter also describes enzymes involved in ether lipid synthesis, such as acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) reductase, and dihydroxyacetone-P acyltransferase. Invasive cells, such as neutrophils and eosinophils have high levels of ether lipids, and the organisms living in harsh environments of high temperatures or high salt and low pH contain only ether lipids suggesting that they serve as the Teflon of lipids. However, there are many unanswered questions about the dual role that ether lipids serve as membrane components and as cellular signaling molecules, such as the biosynthesis of choline plasmalogens, is still not fully understood.
Granzyme B-mediated Degradation of T-Cell Receptor ζ Chain

We recently reported that the T-cell receptor (TCR)-ζ chain is cleaved bycaspase-3 and -7 in apoptotic T lymphocytes or in a cell-free system. Wereport here that the ζ chain is also a direct substrate for granzyme B (GrB) proteolytic activity. Loss in expression of TCR-ζ was observed in Jurkat T leukemic cells treated by a combination of GrB and a replication-deficient adenovirus. Although the apoptosis initiated in these cells by GrB was significantly reduced by the pancaspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK, TCR-ζ degradation was not prevented. These findings suggest that the GrB-mediated degradation of TCR-ζ chain can proceed despite the efficient inhibition of caspase activity. An in vitro translated TCR-ζ product was efficiently cleaved by GrB, which suggests that the TCR-ζ protein is a direct substrate for GrB. As assessed by site-directed mutagenesis, the activity of GrB was directed toward aspartic acid residues that were different from those of recombinant caspase-3. Whereas caspase-3 cleavage products appear to accumulate, the GrB-generated products seem to undergo further degradation, which suggests the presence of multiple GrB-specific cleavage sites within the TCR-ζ protein. These findings suggest that the TCR-ζ protein in target T lymphocytes serves as a substrate for the proteolytic activities that are featured by the two major mechanisms of cytotoxicity: death receptor pathways mediated by caspases and granule exocytosis mediated by direct GrB activity or GrB-activated caspases. TCR-ζ protein degradation may be of significance in cytotoxic mechanisms directed against T cells infected with viruses, such as HIV-1, in which the TCR-ζ protein is used for viral pathogenesis.
Ambulation in the adolescent with spina bifida. II. Oxygen cost of mobility.

This study was designed to determine the energy cost (measured as oxygen use) of walking and wheelchair propulsion in children aged 10 to 15 with myelomeningocele of thoracic to sacral levels, and to determine whether energy cost of mobility could be estimated from clinical measures. Oxygen consumption (measured with open circuit spirometry) and heart rate were measured during treadmill walking by 21 children, wheelchair use by eight children, and, for five children, in both modes. Speeds ranged from 27 to 134 m/min, with slopes up to 15%. Energy consumption for walking was linearly related to speed, slope, heart rate, and body weight (r = .90, p less than .001); for wheelchair propulsion, energy consumption was a linear function of speed, slope, and body weight (r = .90, p less than .001). The same linear function applied for all disabled children; maximum walk/run speed over a 30 m distance correlated highly with both maximal oxygen consumption (r = .87) and speed using 70% of VO2max (r = .82). For both wheelchair use and walking, the relative energy consumption (percentage of VO2max) was highly correlated with heart rate alone (r = .93), and the absolute level of energy consumption was highly correlated with heart rate and maximum walk/run speed (r = .89). Simple clinical measures of maximum ambulatory velocity and heart rate allow accurate prediction (r = .89) of energy consumption in all children with myelomeningocele, regardless of neurologic and functional level.
Growing Bigger in Kindergarten

Although the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States, as well as in other Western countries, has plateaued during the past decade, the rates of obesity between the ages 6 and 11 years are still nearly 4 times as high as they were in 1965. Surprisingly, there is limited information on the incidence of childhood obesity, even though it is a major health problem. A recent study by Cunningham and coauthors evaluated the incidence of obesity among 7738 children who were in kindergarten in 1998 in the United States. The kids were followed until the age of 14 years with repeated measurements of body weight and height. As children entered kindergarten, as many as 12.4% were already obese, with another 14.9% being overweight. The highest annual incidence of obesity, with additional 5.4% of children progressing to obesity, was recorded during kindergarten. The incidence rates decreased significantly between fifth and eighth grade to less than 2% per year. Of interest, most kids who were diagnosed with obesity between the ages of 5 and 14 years were already overweight or had high-normal body weight during kindergarten. The study also identifies additional risk factors for increased incidence of childhood obesity, with significantly higher rates observed among children who had high birth weight (≥4000 g, or ≥8.8 pounds). Higher incidence rates were also recorded among non-Hispanic blacks and among children in the middle quintile for socioeconomic status. Children from the highest socioeconomic status and non-Hispanic whites had the lowest rates of overweight and obesity. Although the study does not report the incidence of obesity before the age of 5 and after the age of 14 years, it provides insights into the nature of the obesity epidemic among children. It appears that the critically vulnerable age for the development of overweight and obesity is around the age of 5 years or even earlier. These findings highlight the importance of further research to understand the factors associated with the early and rapid development of overweight during the first years of life. The authors speculate that obesity-prevention efforts should be focused on overweight kindergarteners, who are most susceptible to becoming obese during later childhood and adolescence. S. A. Cunningham et al ., Incidence of childhood obesity in the United States. N. Engl. J. Med. 370 , 403–411 (2014). [[PubMed]][1] [1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24476431