cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) demonstrates neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy (NAC) related changes in molecular subtype and immune infiltration.

443Background: Defining the role of MIBC molecular subtypes and immune expression in determining clinical outcomes is an area of active investigation. However, changes in these transcriptomic profi...
Effect of finishing practices on surface structure and salt-scaling resistance of concrete

Abstract The impact of three different finishing times on the surface layer properties of concrete containing different contents of ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) replacement was evaluated, as well as the relationship between finishing, abrasion resistance of surface layer, and salt-scaling resistance. In addition, a novel method for monitoring the bleeding period of fresh concrete was investigated. Based on the results obtained in this study, choice of finishing time can influence salt scaling resistance by affecting abrasion resistance of concrete mixtures. It was found that lower resistance of slag concrete to salt scaling is not necessarily due to a weaker surface layer. While slag replacement reduced the mixtures’ scaling resistance, up to 40% of slag replacement improved mechanical properties, including surface abrasion resistance.
Supporting and Challenging Student Cognitions in the Classroom.

This article reports results of a mixed methods exploration of the effects of reflective supervision on cognitive growth in undergraduate students. Students were enrolled in two sections of an introductory skills practice course containing an experiential exercise designed to enhance skill development. One group received supervision; the other did not. Pretest and posttest analyses of measures used to assess cognitive development showed no statistically significant gains for either group. However, the group receiving supervision made more gains, and analysis of qualitative data revealed evidence of cognitive growth for this group. The research supports further investigation of educational interventions that may promote cognitive development in undergraduate students in helping professions and allied health fields.
On Leaving Clinical Medicine.

But before I even started my first rotation, I met a new companion: an invisible ticking time bomb.
Study on solid chemical oxygen generator for survival in the plateau

Objective To develop a plateau lifesaving used solid oxygen generator with such performances as 120 L oxygen delivery capacity,1.5 L/min minimum flow supply,30 min working time and-40℃ to 50℃ working temperature.Methods The structure of oxygen generator for plateau lifesaving was developed based on chlorate combustion and decomposition reaction.Four formulas of oxygen candle were designed.Formula 1:91％ oxygen source +30％ metal powder +2％ catalyst +4％ inhibitor of chlorine; formula 2:91％ oxygen source +5％ metal powder +4％ inhibitor of chlorine; formula 3:91％ oxygen source + 5 ％ metal powder + 4 ％ inhibitor of chlorine in foreside,91.5％ oxygen source +4.5％ metal powder +4％ inhibitor of chlorine in tail; formula 4:88％ oxygen source + 5％ metal powder + 4％ inhibitor of chlorine + 3％ stabilizer in foreside,88.5％ oxygen source +4.5％ metal powder +4％ inhibitor of chlorine +-3％ stabilizer in tail.The oxygen supply performances,such as working time,flow rate,etc.of generator were respectively measured under low,normal and high temperature.The oxygen purification produced from the generator was studied.Two healthy volunteers were selected as the subjects.Their oxygen saturation change (SaO2) was observed at different altitude after they used solid oxygen generator.Results The performance of solid oxygen generator with formula 3 and 4 met the demands of specifications and standards.The oxygen supply performances of formula 4 were more stable and sensitive than others.The gas component produced from the solid oxygen generator was all up to the standard.The SaO2 of two volunteers reached 90％ or higher at 4 939 m altitude after breathing from solid oxygen generator.Conclusions The solid chemical oxygen generator could meet the demands of plateau lifesaving and withstand-40℃ to 50℃ working for 30 min.Reducing catalytic agent,increasing the proper contents of metal fuel and adding stabilizer agent could stabilize the oxygen produce velocity of oxygen generator.A 30-min solid oxygen generator could provide oxygen for 2 people at same time and ensure the effect of oxygen inhalation,which indicates the generator has reached the goal of hypoxia protection in plateau. Key words: Altitude; Anoxia; Lifesaving equipment; Oxygen generator
Timing and payoff of patent purchases: the role of firm size and composition

While large pharmaceutical companies continue to dominate drug development and patent acquisition, their timing of drug patent acquisition and subsequent payoffs remain poorly understood. We analys...
Modelling Malaria With Vegetation Health

Malaria is a huge global burden, endemic to nearly 110 world countries with more than 200 million clinical cases and nearly a million deaths each year. Annually, the number of malaria cases fluctuate from low to high, depending on weather conditions. Moist and warm weather stimulates mosquitoes’ activity in spreading malaria, while drought suppresses vector activity, reducing malaria transmission. Many attempts to use weather parameters, mostly precipitation and temperature, for global and regional malaria monitoring have not been successful since the weather station network is very limited and stations are spread far apart from each other. Therefore, the recent two-decade efforts to monitor malaria were focused on high spatial resolution satellite data. Very successful malaria modeling results were obtained with the introduction of satellite-based Vegetation Health (VH) method. The VH assesses vegetation health in response to seasonal weather conditions. Since vegetation is the place of mosquitoes and parasite habitat, VH-based vegetation conditions showed to sbe good indicators of annual mosquitoes’ activity in spreading malaria. This chapter provides modeling results of malaria area and intensity from VH-based estimates of moisture and thermal vegetation conditions.
BiasP: a DVFS based exploit to undermine resource allocation fairness in linux platforms

Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) plays an integral role in reducing the energy consumption of mobile devices, meeting the targeted performance requirements at the same time. We examine the security obliviousness of CPUFreq, the DVFS framework in Linux-kernel based systems. Since Linux-kernel based operating systems are present in a wide array of applications, the high-level CPUFreq policies are designed to be platform-independent. Using these policies, we present BiasP exploit, which restricts the allocation of CPU resources to a set of targeted applications, thereby degrading their performance. The exploit involves detecting the execution of instructions on the CPU core pertinent to the targeted applications, thereafter using CPUFreq policies to limit the available CPU resources available to those instructions. We demonstrate the practicality of the exploit by operating it on a commercial smartphone, running Android OS based on Linux-kernel. We can successfully degrade the User Interface (UI) performance of the targeted applications by increasing the frame processing time and the number of dropped frames by up to 200% and 947% for the animations belonging to the targeted-applications. We see a reduction of up to 66% in the number of retired instructions of the targeted-applications. Furthermore, we propose a robust detector which is capable of detecting exploits aimed at undermining resource allocation fairness through malicious use of the DVFS framework.
Review of Mathematical Modeling of the Inflammatory Response in Lung Infections and Injuries

Lung inflammation may occur due to viral and bacterial infections, structural damage, or inhalation of dangerous particles These injuries may be quickly resolved by the immune system, treated effectively through various interventions, become chronic problems, or lead to death Mathematical modeling has been used to understand immune system dynamics during a number of pulmonary infections and injuries, identify key mechanisms, and provide important insights into new treatments In this review, we present long-accepted modeling techniques and novel strategies for simulating various lung injuries to highlight the usefulness of mathematical modeling in addressing these life-threatening conditions Advances in computational power have allowed for a diverse collection of models ranging from those using only Boolean operatorsto complex hybrid multi-scale models, each specifically designed to address relevant biological questions To illustrate the findings from these mathematical approaches, we present detailed examples, summarize results, and consider future directions from modeling influenza, pneumonia, COVID-19, tuberculosis, anthrax, and other non-infectious injuries © Copyright © 2020 Minucci, Heise and Reynolds
Which Nursing Home Residents With Pneumonia Are Managed On-Site and Which Are Hospitalized? Results from 2 Years' Surveillance in 14 US Homes.

Abstract Objectives Pneumonia is a frequent cause of hospitalization among nursing home (NH) residents, but little information is available as to how clinical presentation and other characteristics relate to hospitalization, and the differential use of antimicrobials based on hospitalization status. This study examined how hospitalized and nonhospitalized NH residents with pneumonia differ. Design Data from a 2-year prospective study of residents who participated in a randomized controlled trial. Setting and Participants All residents from 14 NHs in North Carolina followed for pneumonia over a 2-year period. Methods Clinical features, antimicrobial treatment, hospitalization, and demographic data on residents with a pneumonia diagnosis were abstracted from charts; NH information was obtained from NH administrators. Results A total of 509 pneumonia episodes were reported for 395 unique residents; the incidence was not higher in the winter months, and 28% were hospitalized. The likelihood of hospitalization did not differ by clinical characteristics except that residents with a respiratory rate >25 breaths per minute were more likely to be hospitalized. Being on hospice [odds ratio (OR) 3.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5–7.4] and not having dementia (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1–3.2) also related to increased likelihood of hospitalization. Fluoroquinolone (usually levofloxacin) monotherapy was the most common treatment (54%) in both settings, and ceftriaxone monotherapy varied by hospitalization status (7% of hospitalized vs 16% treated on-site). Approximately 36% of nonhospitalized residents received antimicrobials for more than 7 days. Conclusions/Implications Respiratory rate is associated with hospitalization but was not documented for more than a quarter of residents, suggesting the clinical benefit of more consistently conducting this assessment. Differential hospitalization rates for persons with dementia and on hospice suggest that care is being tailored to individuals' wishes, but this assumption merits study, as does use of fluoroquinolones (due to side effects) and treatment duration (due to potential contribution to antibiotic resistance).
Carbonated apatite lattice parameter variation across incremental growth lines in teeth

Abstract Results of microbeam mapping (x-ray excited x-ray fluorescence and transmission x-ray diffraction) of Beluga whale cementum and of beaver dentin reveal growth bands are defined by variation in mineral content (carbonated hydroxyapatite, cAp), by variation in Zn content and by variation in cAp lattice parameter a. For both tissues, diffraction and fluorescence data show that Zn signal and a are anti-correlated, that is high Zn signal is co-located with low a, and vice versa. In cementum and bone, treatment with acid removes Ca, Zn and cAp. The data are strong evidence that Zn is incorporated into the cAp lattice in these tissues and that the amount of Zn incorporated varies across two very different types of growth bands, annual bands in Beluga cementum and daily incremental bands in beaver dentin. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first observation of spatial variation of lattice parameter within growth bands.
Long-lived Lopsided Modes of Annular Disks Orbiting a Central Mass

We demonstrate the existence of long-lived, large-amplitude eccentric modes in massive, annular particle disks in orbit about a central mass. The lopsided modes we have found precess slowly in the prograde direction at a rate that increases with disk mass and decreases with the amplitude of the distortion. The lopsidedness generally survives for as long as we run the calculations and may last indefinitely; we found no significant decay in over 700 disk-particle orbits in one case. These strongly nonlinear modes are readily created using a number of different perturbing rules, but we find no evidence for linear instabilities in unperturbed disks. Our results suggest that Tremaine's eccentric disk model for the nucleus of M31 may be viable, but none of our models matches all aspects of the observational data.
Benchmarking near-term quantum devices with the variational quantum eigensolver and the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model

The variational quantum eigensolver is a promising algorithm for noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) computation. Verification and validation of NISQ algorithms' performance on NISQ devices is an important task. We consider the exactly diagonalizable Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model as a candidate for benchmarking NISQ computers. We use the Bethe Ansatz to construct eigenstates of the trigonometric LMG model using quantum circuits inspired by the LMG's underlying algebraic structure. We construct circuits with depth $O(N)$ and $O({log}_{2}N)$ that can prepare any trigonometric LMG eigenstate of $N$ particles. The number of gates required for both circuits is $O(N)$. The energies of the eigenstates can then be measured and compared to the exactly known answers.
Evaluation of the status, job satisfaction and occupational stress of Chinese nature reserve staff

Abstract China is one of the most biodiverse regions of the world. To better preserve its biological resources and the fragile ecosystem, China’s government has established more than 2700 nature reserves, covering approximately 18% of its total land area. While there is a growing body of literature analyzing the effectiveness of nature reserves, little is known about the nature reserve staff who are on the frontlines of wildlife conservation to ensure these areas are effectively protected. This study aims to identify the current status, job satisfaction, and occupation stress of nature reserve staff in China, as well as what factors contribute to the level of satisfaction and stress. We surveyed a total of 286 staff covering 153 nature reserves in 31 provinces of mainland China. The survey results indicate that 63.6% of nature reserve staff were satisfied with their jobs and showed low occupational stress. Nonetheless, they were not satisfied with fringe benefits, payment, promotion opportunities, and operating conditions. There was also a geographic difference in the level of satisfaction and stress. Comparing different positions among nature reserve staff, we found that rangers were more male-dominated, less educated, older and had been exposed to more life-threatening situations than non-rangers. In addition, they were more likely to be contractors instead of formal employees, receive lower pay and spend less time with their families compared to non-rangers. Rangers were generally confident in their professional skills and but less confident in first aid and the use of GIS software. The rangers were less satisfied with their jobs compared to non-rangers, although the difference was not significant. Only about 58% of the nature reserve staff felt that they had received enough training. About 1/3 of the nature reserve staff would like to quit their job. The reasons include low payment and rewards, lack of infrastructure support, no law enforcement capability when encountering illegal activities and living too far from families. Finally, the model results show that more time spent with family, higher income, more training, and more affection for nature significantly contributed to the overall job satisfaction. Factors like the increase in age, more time with family, higher income, more training, and higher confidence in professional skills, were negatively correlated with the stress of nature reserve staff. Our results suggest that to improve the conditions of nature reserve staff and the management of protected areas, governments and managers need to provide enough training and increase income and rewards to recognize the contribution of nature reserve staff, as well as change the hiring mechanism to attract and keep new employees.
Self-Transcendence: The Capacity for Self-Transcendence Through the Suspension of Belief/Judgment

The capacity for self-transcendence through the suspension of belief/judgment involves neutralizing, as much as humanly possible, our biased, judgmental Self with which we ordinarily identify in our everyday lives. It further involves identifying with a compassionately witnessing Self, a caringly participant-observer Self. Though never totally, we are then better poised to understand the basic essential, unadulterated meanings of our interpersonal world.
Feature analysis of functional MRI for discrimination between normal and epileptogenic brain

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common epilepsy syndrome in adults. As it is a focal disorder, i.e. limited to a particular area of the brain, it is often curable through surgery when drug therapies fail to control seizures. In order to ensure successful surgical outcome, the abnormal brain regions must be localized as accurately as possible to prevent the removal of healthy tissue. We report on a novel voxel-based procedure for discrimination between normal and epileptogenic brain tissue through feature analysis of continuous arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Five TLE patients and three healthy controls were studied. Features were extracted from the fMRI time series of each subject to determine which individual features and combinations of features could correctly separate epileptogenic and normal brain tissue.
Women as Strategic Decision Makers

Introduces the concept of strategic decision making as a key management role and the lack of women′s involvement in this role as a means for understanding the organizational barriers faced by women in modern times. Studies strongly suggest that the shortage of women managers in strategic decision‐making positions is due to the barriers they face within organizations. Furthermore, that these barriers emerge as a prime factor for limiting their effectiveness. Despite the increasing number of women working in organizations, they still remain a minority or mere “tokens” when it comes to senior or strategic decision‐making positions in most organizations. Describes some of these barriers and suggests the way forward.
New perspectives on colluvial boulder deposits in the southwestern great basin, usa

Colluvial boulder fields are ubiquitous on desert hillslopes in the Basin and Range Province. Five chronometric methods indicate that colluvial boulder fields in this region have been active in the late Pleistocene and Holocene: visual appearance, radiocarbon dating of wood, macrofossil analysis, varnish radiocarbon dating, and varnish cation ratio dating. A new method is presented to constrain the ages of colluvial boulder fields, using the presence of stable rock varnish and 36Cl; this method indicates that colluvial deposits at Buckhorn Mesa, southern Nevada, must be ≤ 310 ka. Rather than interpreting colluvial deposits from the traditional desert geomorphology framework of “relict” or “active,” we suggest that these features be studied from the perspective of ongoing processes using an independently established chronometic sequence.
Cloning and sequencing of a gene encoding a novel extracellular neutral proteinase from Streptomyces sp. strain C5 and expression of the gene in Streptomyces lividans 1326.

Abstract The gene encoding a novel milk protein-hydrolyzing proteinase was cloned on a 6.56-kb SstI fragment from Streptomyces sp. strain C5 genomic DNA into Streptomyces lividans 1326 by using the plasmid vector pIJ702. The gene encoding the small neutral proteinase (snpA) was located within a 2.6-kb BamHI-SstI restriction fragment that was partially sequenced. The molecular mass of the deduced amino acid sequence of the mature protein was determined to be 15,740, which corresponds very closely with the relative molecular mass of the purified protein (15,500) determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the purified neutral proteinase was determined, and the DNA encoding this sequence was found to be located within the sequenced DNA. The deduced amino acid sequence contains a conserved zinc binding site, although secondary ligand binding and active sites typical of thermolysinlike metalloproteinases are absent. The combination of its small size, deduced amino acid sequence, and substrate and inhibition profile indicate that snpA encodes a novel neutral proteinase.
Coordinating Human and Computer Agents

In many application areas individuals are responsible for an agenda of tasks and face choices about the best way to locally handle each task, in what order to do tasks, and when to do them. Such decisions are often hard to make because of coordination problems: individual tasks are related to the tasks of others in complex ways, and there are many sources of uncertainty (no one has a complete view of the task structure at arbitrary levels of detail, the situation may be changing dynamically, and no one is entirely sure of the outcomes of all of their actions). The focus of this paper is the development of support tools for distributed, cooperative work by groups (collaborative teams) of human and computational agents. We will discuss the design of a set of distributed autonomous computer programs (“agents”) that assist people in coordinating their activities by helping them to manage their agendas. We describe several ongoing implementations of these ideas including 1) simulated agents and tasks, 2) a real multi-agent system for financial portfolio management, and 3) a real mixed human and computational agent system for concurrent engineering design.
My Encounters With Chinua Achebe

A tribute or eulogy by one writer to another is always an invitation to the audience or readers to sit back and share in some of their moments or encounters, as the case may be. Chinua Achebe’s transition in March 2013 triggered one such response from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.
TECHNIQUE FOR ULTRASOUND-GUIDED INTRAARTICULAR CERVICAL ARTICULAR PROCESS INJECTION IN THE DOG

Ultrasound-guided intraarticular injection of cervical articular process joints is a well-established procedure in both humans and horses for neck pain resulting from osteoarthritis, but the technique has not been described in dogs. Aims of this study were to describe the ultrasonographic anatomy and landmarks for cervical articular process joint injections in the dog, develop a technique for articular process joint injections using these landmarks, and determine the accuracy of injections and factors that may influence it. Eleven canine cadavers were used and bilateral joint spaces from C2-3 to C7-T1 were injected under ultrasound guidance with a blue radiopaque solution. A computed tomographic scan was acquired following each injection, and an injection score was assigned and compared with other patient-specific factors. Of the 132 injections performed, 110 (83.3%) were intraarticular, 20 (15.1%) were periarticular within 5 mm, and 2 (1.5%) were periarticular beyond 5 mm from the joint. There was no significant difference in mean scores between dogs. Only C2-3 had a significantly lower mean score than any other joint. There was no significant correlation between injection score and any other factors measured. The transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae served as excellent ultrasonographic landmarks for identifying the cervical articular process joints in dogs regardless of the size of the dog or location along the vertebrae. Accuracy of ultrasound-guided intraarticular process joint injection was 83% in dogs and similar to published techniques in horses. Further studies are needed to examine the safety and efficacy of this procedure in live animals.
Recruitment of Single-Stranded Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus Vector Genomes and Intermolecular Recombination Are Responsible for Stable Transduction of Liver In Vivo

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors stably transduce hepatocytes in experimental animals. Following portal-vein administration of rAAV vectors in vivo, single-stranded (ss) rAAV genomes become double stranded (ds), circularized, and/or concatemerized concomitant with a slow rise and, eventually, steady-state levels of transgene expression. Over time, at least some of the stabilized genomes become integrated into mouse chromosomal DNA. The mechanism(s) of formation of stable ds rAAV genomes from input ss DNA molecules has not been delineated, although second-strand synthesis and genome amplification by a rolling-circle model has been proposed. To begin to delineate a mechanism, we produced rAAV vectors in the presence of bacterial PaeR7 or Dam methyltransferase or constructed rAAV vectors labeled with different restriction enzyme recognition sites and introduced them into mouse hepatocytes in vivo. A series of molecular analyses demonstrated that second-strand synthesis and rolling-circle replication did not appear to be the major processes involved in the formation of stable ds rAAV genomes. Rather, recruitment of complementary plus and minus ss genomes and subsequent random head-to-head, head-to-tail, and tail-to-tail intermolecular joining were primarily responsible for the formation of ds vector genomes. These findings contrast with the previously described mechanism(s) of transduction based on in vitro studies. Understanding the mechanistic process responsible for vector transduction may allow the development of new strategies for improving rAAV-mediated gene transfer in vivo.
Semantic-Aware Hot Data Selection Policy for Flash File System in Android-Based Smartphones

As technology feature sizes shrink, aggressive voltage scaling is required to contain power density. However, this also increases the rate of transient upsets -- potentially preventing us from scaling down voltage and possibly even requiring voltage increases to maintain reliability. Duplication with checking and triple-modular redundancy are traditional approaches to combat transient errors, but spending 2-3x the energy for redundant computation can diminish or reverse the benefits of voltage scaling. As an alternative, we explore the opportunity to use checking computations that are cheaper than the base computation they are guarding. We identify and evaluate the effectiveness of lightweight checks in a broad set of common FPGA tasks in scientific computing and signal and image processing. We find that the lightweight checks cost less than 14% of the base computation. Using an exponential model for the relationship between voltage and transient upset rate, we are able to show over 80% net energy reduction by aggressive voltage scaling without compromising reliability compared to operation at the nominal voltage.
On the completely symmetric compartmental system

The completely symmetrical system is defined as having identical transfer coefficients between pairs of compartments and the same loss coefficient for each compartment. The eigenvalues and eigenvector are explicitly found along with the inverses of the system matrix and the matrix of eigenvectors. Many properties, special instances of more general theorems, can be seen at once from the explicit analytic solution of the initial value, washout and washin problems. The system serves as a known case for testing estimation procedures, algorithms for solutions of linear systems, eigenvalue-eigenvector and inversion routines and is of considerable tutorial value.
Lysozyme degradation of partially deacetylated chitin, its films and hydrogels.

Abstract Chitin is a linear, β(1→4) linked polymer of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine that is insoluble in water and most ordinary solvents. Partial deacetylation of chitin increases the hydrophilicity and renders it soluble in dilute acidic solutions. Like chitin, partially deacetylated chitin is a substrate for lysozyme digestion. Kinetic studies of the degradation reaction show that the hydrolysis of partially deacetylated chitin by lysozyme follows typical Michaelis-Menten kinetics with an apparent K m value of 45 μg/ml and a V max value of 0.083 × 10 −3 g/l/min. Dilute acidic solutions of partially deacetylated chitin can be cast to form tough, flexible, water insoluble films or crosslinked with glutaraldehyde to form hydrogels. Both of these materials are degraded by lysozyme.
Multilingual speech databases at LDC

As multilingual products and technology grow in importance, the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) intends to provide the resources needed for research and development activities, especially in telephone-based, small-vocabulary recognition applications; language identification research; and large vocabulary continuous speech recognition research.The POLYPHONE corpora, a multilingual "database of databases," are specifically designed to meet the needs of telephone application development and testing. Data sets from many of the world's commercially important languages will be available within the next few years.Language identification corpora will be large sets of spontaneous telephone speech in several languages with a wide variety of speakers, channels, and handsets. One corpus is now available, and current plans call for corpora of increasing size and complexity over the next few years.Large vocabulary speech recognition requires transcribed speech, pronouncing dictionaries, and language models. To fill this need, LDC will use the unattended computer-controlled collection methods developed for SWITCH-BOARD to create several similar corpora, each about one-tenth the size of SWITCHBOARD, in other languages. Text corpora sufficient to create useful language models will be collected and distributed as well. Finally, pronouncing dictionaries covering the vocabulary of both transcripts and texts will be produced and made available.
Associations of self-report measures with gait, range of motion and proprioception in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis

A B S T R A C T Introduction: Spinal stenosis is defined as neurogenic claudication due to narrowing of the spinal canal lumen diameter. As the disease progresses, ambulation and gait may be impaired. Self-report measures are routinely used in the clinical setting to capture data related to lumbar pain symptoms, function and perceived disability. The associations between self-report measures and objective measures of physical function in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis are not well characterized. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between self-reported assessments of function with objective biomechanical measures of function. Methods: 25 subjects were enrolled in this study. Subjects completed self-report questionnaires and biomechanical assessments of gait analysis, lumbar 3D ROM and lumbar proprioception. Correlations were determined between self-report measures and biomechanical data. Results: The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was strongly correlated with stride length and gait velocity and weakly correlated with base of support. ODI was also weakly correlated with left lateral bending proprioception but not right lateral bending. The SF12 was not significantly correlated with any of the biomechanical measurements. Pain scores were weakly correlated with velocity, and base of support, and had no correlation any of the other biomechanical measures. Discussion: There is a strong correlation between gait parameters and functional disability as measured with the ODI. Quantified gait analysis can be a useful tool to evaluate patients with lumbar spinal stenosis and to assess the outcomes of treatments on this group of patients.
Functional cooperativity by direct interaction between PAK4 and MMP-2 in the regulation of anoikis resistance, migration and invasion in glioma

Gliomas display anoikis resistance, enhanced invasion in to the adjacent brain parenchyma and eventually recur despite using the standard therapies. Our studies on increased anoikis sensitization in matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2)-knockdown 4910 and 5310 human glioma xenograft cells were interestingly correlated with p21-activated kinase 4 (PAK4) inhibition, prompting us to further investigate the role of PAK4 in glioma. Here, we report the PAK4 upregulation in positive correlation with increasing glioma pathological grades. The siRNA-mediated PAK4 knockdown elevated anoikis, and inhibited invasion and migration by downregulating MMP-2, αvβ3-integrin and phospho-epidermal growth factor receptor (phospho-EGFR). The cDNA-PCR arrays revealed a transcriptional suppression of essential proteins involved in cell proliferation and adhesion in PAK4-knockdown cells. Most importantly, glutathione S-transferase pull-down assays demonstrated the MMP-2 as a new PAK4-interacting protein which binds to PAK4 kinase domain. Individual EGFR/ErbB2 inhibitor and αvβ3 antibody treatments in PAK4si-treated cells indicated the regulation of αvβ3/EGFR survival signaling by PAK4. Overexpression of PAK4 significantly reversed the MMP2si-induced cell death in both cell lines. Codepletion of PAK4 and MMP-2 resulted in robust anoikis-mediated cell death, and severely inhibited invasive and migratory properties in these cells. PAK4si inhibited in vivo tumor growth in nude mice by inhibiting MMP-2, β3-integrin and phospho-EGFR levels in tumors. Our findings indicate a physical association between PAK4 and MMP-2, and suggest the future therapeutic potential of PAK4/MMP-2 dual targeting in glioma treatment.
Petrology and geochronology of volcanic rocks from seamounts along and near the Hawaiian Ridge: Implications for propagation rate of the ridge

Lavas from three seamounts along and three seamounts near the Hawaiian Ridge are petrographically and geochernically similar to lavas from the Hawaiian Islands. Rock types recovered include tholeftic and alkalic lavas. The composition of these lavas is virtually identical to that of lavas from the Hawaiian Islands. This indicates that the source composition and petrogenesis of lavas along the Hawaiian chain are very consistent. The three along-ridge seamounts are in areas where there were gaps in the radiometric age data base. New ages further document the linear age progression along the chain and define a new propagation rate of 9.6±0.4 cm/yr (which is identical to the present-day plate motion of the island of Hawaii). The near-ridge seamounts are Cretaceous in age (74–77 Ma) and are part of NNW-trending linear chains that predate and are unrelated to the NW- and N-trending Hawaiian and Emperor chains.
Antibiotics and enzymes produced by the biocontrol agent Streptomyces violaceusniger YCED-9

strain YCED-9 is an antifungal biocontrol agent antagonistic to many different classes of plant pathogenic fungi. We discovered that strain YCED-9 produces three antimicrobial compounds with antifungal activity. These compounds were purified and identified, and included: AFA (Anti-Fusarium Activity), a fungicidal complex of polyene-like compounds similar to guanidylfungin A and active against most fungi except oomycetes; nigericin, a fungistatic polyether; and geldanamycin, a benzoquinoid polyketide highly inhibitory of mycelial growth of Pythium and Phytophthora spp. Antimicrobial assays were developed to estimate the production of each antibiotic independently. Medium composition had differential effects on the production of each metabolite. The hydrolytic enzymes chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase are also produced under induction by colloidal chitin and laminarin, respectively. Fungal cell walls induced the production of both enzymes. A potential for biological control of diseases caused by P. infestans was also suggested by strain YCED-9’s strong in vitro antagonism towards pathogenic isolates of this fungus.
Cellular approaches to tissue repair in cardiovascular disease: the more we know, the more there is to learn.

the rapidly advancing field of cellular plasticity bears exciting implications for both basic understanding of cell biology and potentially important therapeutic approaches to a range of disease states that remain as areas of great patient need. Indeed, the use of stem cells, progenitor cells, or
On some properties of the geometric distribution

The lack of memory property of the geometric distribution and several of its variants are well known. Here, we examine the form that a function g(x,y) must have, if we assume that the lack of memory property of some of its variants hold for g(X,c) given X≥c, where X has the geometric distribution.
The evaluation of flowability and wire sweep by epoxy molding compound for power module packages using Moldflow

Customers demand various functions from their applications and, in order to satisfy these demands, module packages must be multifunctional. This applies to power module packages that include power devices, components and control ICs. The modules must also have substrates in order dissipate heat from operating power chips as well as a PCB to create multifunctional circuits. Occasionally, specific clips are used instead of wire interconnections and the inner structures of the power module packages become complicated by a customer's design requests. When those power module packages accept epoxy molding compound (EMC), it may become difficult to achieve good `flowability,' perfect molded packages, and stable wire sweep index and it may also be hard to avoid wire sagging risk. Finite element analysis (FEA) for semiconductor encapsulation early in the design phase is now essential to finding out target designs and proper quality of flow. FEA also helps to recommend proper runner systems, gate design, and the number of gates, which also helps to save time and money when producing the initial mold die. This paper will compare and discuss the limitations of the flow pattern, wire sweep, air vent effect, and air trap between the result of commercial FEA software, Moldflow™ and the real samples.
Adenylate cyclase of porcine granulosa cells: differential response to gonadotropins during follicle maturation.

The human FSH (hFSH)- and human LH (hLH)/hCG-mediated adenylate cyclase activities of granulosa cells from small (1–2 mm), medium (3–5 mm), and large (6–12 mm) porcine ovarian follicles were studied. The adenylate cyclase of small follicle cells was highly sensitive to hFSH with an 8- to 13-fold increase over the basal activity, whereas hCG had little effect (only a 2-fold increase) on the enzyme activity. The stimulation by hFSH cannot be accounted for by hLH contamination, since hFSH had a larger stimulatory effect and a lower apparent concentration for half-maximal stimulation (apparent Km, 370 ng/ml) than that of hLH (apparent Km, 1700 ng/ml). The adenylate cyclase of granulosa cells became increasingly responsive to hCG and hLH as the follicles developed. hCG at the saturating concentration stimulated the enzyme activity with a 4-fold increase in medium follicle cells and with a 10- to 14-fold increase in large follicle cells without change in the apparent Km. hLH had a stimulatory effect similar to ...
Structural studies of the M blood group determinant

Structural studies of homozygous glycophorin AM were undertaken by monitoring the 13C methyl resonances of 13C reductively methylated glycophorin AM (contains five Nϵ,N-[13C]dimethyl Lys residues, and the N-terminal Nα,N-[13C]dimethyl Ser residues) in various forms of glycosylation. The results indicate that removal of the α-d-NeuAc residues does not affect the structure about the N-terminal Ser residue. However, removal of the fifteen O-linked oligosaccharide units results in a structural effect about the N-terminal Ser residue. Partial methylation experiments performed on native glycophorin AM and deglycosylated glycophorin AM indicate that methylation of the lysine residue(s) may influence the structure about the N-terminal Ser residue, especially in the case of deglycosylated AM.
Determination of the diol content of chromatographic supports by capillary electrophoresis

Abstract A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was developed for determining the diol content of supports used in high-performance affinity or size exclusion chromatography. This method involved oxidizing the diol-bonded support with periodate, followed by the use of CE to separate and quantitate the iodate produced by this reaction. Both the oxidation and separation conditions were considered in optimizing this assay. The final method was performed by reacting a known amount of support with a 20-fold excess of periodate if pH 4.0, 0.5 M acetate buffer, with pyromellitic acid being used as an internal standard. After allowing 5–10 min for oxidation, the mixture was filtered and the filtrate was injected onto a 57 cm×50 μm I.D. fused-silica capillary operated at 25 kV and containing pH 4.0, 0.5 M acetate as the running buffer. The total separation time was 5 min per run and gave a detection limit of 0.1 mM iodate (or 0.1 μmol diol groups) for a 6-nl injection of a 1-ml reaction mixture. By varying the amount the support that was assayed, this method could be used with either porous or non-porous supports. This technique showed good correlation with an iodometric titration but required much less sample and time to perform.
REAL-TIME OD ESTIMATION USING AUTOMATIC VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION AND TRAFFIC COUNT DATA

Origin-destination (OD) matrices are a key input to many advanced traffic management operations. In this study, two constrained OD estimators, based on generalized least squares and Kalman filtering, were developed and tested in order to examine the possibility of estimating OD matrices in real-time. A one-at-a-time processing method was introduced to provide an efficient organized framework for incorporating observations from multiple data sources in real-time. The estimators were tested under different conditions based on the type of prior OD information available, the type of assignment available, and the type of link volume model used. The performance of the Kalman filter estimator was also compared to that of the generalized least squares estimator to provide insight regarding their performance characteristics relative to one another for given scenarios. Automatic vehicle identification (AVI) tag counts were used so that observed and estimated OD parameters could be compared. AVI data was incorporated primarily in three ways: as prior observed OD information; the inclusion of a deterministic link volume component that makes use of OD data extracted from the latest time interval from which all trips have been completed; and through the use of link choice proportions estimated based on link travel time data. Results show that using prior observed OD data along with link counts improves estimator accuracy relative to OD estimation based exclusively on link counts. The findings also show that the incorporation of constraints creates estimators that are less sensitive to limitations such as deterministic modeling errors, unreliable OD data, and assignment error. Under these limitations, the constrained Kalman filter is more robust than constrained generalized least squares when incorporating prior OD information.
Optimization of multi-slice helical respiration-correlated CT: the effects of table speed and rotation time

While respiration-correlated CT is gaining acceptance in clinical radiotherapy, the effect of scanning parameters on the image quality has yet to be addressed. The intent of this study was to characterize the effects of gantry rotation and table speed on various image quality characteristics in multi-slice, helical, retrospectively-gated CT images. Images of stationary and moving phantoms were obtained in helical mode on a 20-slice CT scanner. Motion was generated by a computer-controlled platform capable of moving simultaneously in two dimensions. Motion was monitored using a pressure gauge inserted inside an adjustable belt. Selected scans were retrospectively gated into ten phases based on the monitored motion. Gantry rotation speeds of 0.5 s and 1.0 s were evaluated with pitches ranging from 0.1 to 0.45. Several parameters, including calculated object volumes, trajectory (movement from peak to trough), deformation (actual volume divided by volume created with the maximum diameter of contoured object) and z-axis resolution, were used to characterize image quality. These studies indicate that for objects in the peak phase of a movement pattern that simulates breathing, retrospectively gated scans using fast gantry rotation speeds produce volume, trajectory, deformation and z-axis resolution results comparable with those of a stationary object.
Larval Development of Spotted Sucker (Minytrema melanops)

Abstract Larval stages of spotted sucker, Minytrema melanops, were described using diagnostic characters. Suitable criteria for the identification of larval spotted sucker are fin ray counts, myomere counts, and pigmentation. Eggs reared in the laboratory at 16.1–20.0 C hatched between 108 and 156 h after fertilization. Newly hatched larvae averaged 6.0 mm in total length. The prolarval phase was complete 8 days after hatching at an average size of 10.5 mm. The juvenile phase was reached between 7 and 9 weeks at lengths of 20 to 23 mm. Five- to 6-day-old larvae, averaging 10.0-mm total length, initiated vertical movements in the culture tanks and, within a few hours, became totally free-swimming; these movements were associated with the air bladder beginning to fill. Larvae 7 to 8 days old formed a compact, integrated school when exposed to direct light but dispersed in a darkened vat. Postlarvae 15.0-mm total length and smaller fed at the surface and in the midregion of the culture vats. Postlarvae great...
Changes in the rhythm of the heart during resection of the pericardium in chronic constrictive pericarditis, as recorded electrocardiographically

Abstract 1. 1. Electrocardiograms which were taken before, and at intervals during, resection of the pericardium in six cases of chronic constrictive pericarditis have been described. 2. 2. Two patients who had auricular fibrillation developed both right and left ventricular premature contractions and short runs of ventricular paroxysmal tachycardia. In one case of normal sinus rhythm, auricular premature contractions which had been present beforehand increased in frequency. Moreover, paroxysms of auricular fibrillation, auricular flutter, and auricular paroxysmal tachycardia were recorded. Two patients with normal sinus rhythm and one with auricular fibrillation developed neither premature contractions nor other changes in rhythm. In only one case did the electrocardiograms which were taken before and after operation show appreciable changes in the amplitude and form of the T waves. 3. 3. These observations demonstrate the remarkable amount of manipulation and mechanical stimulation of its surface that the heart can tolerate without the occurrence of prolonged abnormalities of rhythm and without embarrassment of its function. These observations should give assurance to surgeons who undertake the surgical treatment of chronic constrictive pericarditis.