cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Element-free Galerkin method for wave propagation and dynamic fracture

Abstract Element-free Galerkin method (EFG) is extended to dynamic problems. EFG method, which is based on moving least square interpolants (MLS), requires only nodal data; no element connectivity is needed. This makes the method particularly attractive for moving dynamic crack problems, since remeshing can be avoided. In contrast to the earlier formulation for static problems by authors, the weak form of kinematic boundary conditions for dynamic problems is introduced in the implementation to enforce the kinematic boundary conditions. With this formulation, the stiffness matrix is symmetric and positive semi-definite, and hence the consistency, conergence and stability analyses of time integration remain the same as those in finite element method. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the performance of this method. The relationship between the element-free Galerkin method and the smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is also discussed in this paper. Results are presented for some one-dimensional problems and two-dimensional problems with static and moving cracks.
Abnormal body fat distribution detected by computed tomography in diabetic men

Previous studies of body fat using tape measurement of body circumference and hand-held caliper skinfold measurements have suggested abnormal fat distribution in patients with diabetes mellitus. These methods, however, have high interobserver variability and cannot assess intra-abdominal fat independent of subcutaneous fat. We used computed tomography to evaluate body fat distribution in a group of 53 Japanese-American men of similar age and body mass index (weight divided by height squared). As determined by a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test, 29 subjects had type II diabetes and 24 were normal. Computed tomography cuts were obtained at three body levels to measure thorax, abdomen, and thigh subcutaneous fat area as well as intra-abdominal fat area. We found greater intra-abdominal fat in men with diabetes than in those without (123.74 vs. 95.54 cm2, P = 0.034) and a greater ratio of thorax to thigh subcutaneous fat (2.55 vs. 1.88, P = 0.016). These findings support the hypothesis that fat in different areas of the body differs metabolically. Computed tomography can be a useful tool for investigating whether abnormal body fat distribution is associated with the pathogenesis of abnormal glucose tolerance.
Christian base communities and grass-roots development

Eradication of poverty is a central goal of economic development. An underlying assumption of most economic development models is that expanded factors of production and incentives are the keys to its eradication. Development theories and policies have focused on an analysis of how to change, transform, and expand productive inputs: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. In the development decades of the 1950s and 1960s the emphasis was on the expansion of physical capital and maximizing the per capita income growth rate. In the 197Os, with evidence of growing disparities between the rich and the poor (especially in nations that had succeeded in high sustained growth rates, e.g., Brazil and Mexico), new emphases on “growth with equity” strategies and on the development of human capital emerged. Emphasis on improvement in the quality of labor shifted attention to meeting basic human needs such as health, nutrition, and education. An essential input into the development process largely overlooked in the literature is the transformation of the poor’s self-image. This is true even for models of grass-roots, community development that emphasize the need for active participation of the poor. It is our contention that the transformation of self-image of the poor is a necessary condition for economic development that includes the bottom 40% of the population. This article examines the elements of a successful community development model that has as its starting point the transformation of the participant’s image. Specifically, the article examines the role of Christian Base Communities (Communidades ecleriules de ba.se), or CEBs, in Latin America. The CEBs are small religious communities that have applied the message of the scripture to their social environment in a way that leads to social, political, and economic activism.1 The approach taken in this article is to examine case studies of two CEBs in two different countries. Both are in poor neighborhoods: one on the outskirts of Mexico City
The relationship between patterns of alcohol use and mental and physical health disorders in two American Indian populations.

Aims First, define alcohol use categories among two reservation-based American Indian (AI) populations based on the relationship between alcohol consumption and dependence. Secondly, examine associations between the alcohol use categories and other indicators of health status. Design, participants and measurements Epidemiological data on 1287 AIs aged 18–57 years who consumed alcohol during the past year. CHAID tree analysis, a hierarchical partitioning method, was used to analyze alcohol quantity (highest number of drinks consumed during 1 day) and frequency (number of days drank during the past month) data to define quantity–frequency categories distinguished by differing rates of alcohol dependence. Multivariate analyses assessed relationships between the alcohol use categories thus identified and a number of health outcomes. Findings People who reported drinking 12 or more drinks during 1 day and more than 4 days a month had the highest prevalence of alcohol dependence. Among the males who drank > 18 drinks the prevalence was 42.12% and among females who drank 12 or more drinks, 44.58%. The prevalence among males who drank > 18 drinks yet drank less frequently was also high (24.06%). Although findings differed by gender, drinkers in the highest risk category for alcohol dependence were most likely to report drug use disorders, mood/anxiety disorders, alcohol-related physical disorders and lower quality of life. Conclusions The quantity thresholds defined to identify AIs at highest risk for alcohol dependence in this study differed by gender and were higher than typically reported for non-AIs. They are consistent with previous findings regarding the pattern of high-quantity, low-frequency alcohol consumption among AIs residing on reservations.
Repetitive sequence transcripts in development

Interspersed repetitive sequences are represented widely in animal cell nuclear RNAs, in the poly(A) RNA stored in eggs and in some mRNAs. Their expression is developmentally modulated. Although the genomic location of repetitive sequences may change rapidly during evolution, the patterns of their transcription suggest a variety of possible functions.
PEARSON CHI-SQUARE ESTIMATOR AND TEST FOR LOG-LINEAR MODELS WITH EXPECTED FREQUENCIES SUBJECT TO LINEAR CONSTRAINTS

Abstract The minimum Pearson chi-square estimator and test are defined for multinomial log-linear models with expected frequencies subject to linear constraints. The minimum Pearson chi-square estimate defined here yields predicted cell frequency estimates that, unlike the maximum likelihood estimates, minimize the popular Pearson chi-square test statistic.
Surgical treatment of a hemangioma of the mitral valve

Hemangioma of the heart is a rare lesion, representing % to 10% of benign cardiac tumors. Hemangioma of the mitral valve has been reported previously in one autopsy case report. We describe the excision and repair of a hemangioma of the mitral valve in a 33-year-old African-American woman.
MO-E-L100J-05: High Quantum Efficiency Portal Imaging Using a Structured Fiber-Optic Scintillation Glass Array (FOSGA)

Purpose: Preliminary studies of a high quantum efficiency (QE) portal imager based on a fiber‐optic scintillation glass array (FOSGA) within a focused polymer‐tungsten grid and coupled to a‐Si photodiodes are presented. These include characterization of intrinsic imaging performance using Monte Carlo simulations and validation of mechanical fabrication accuracy and automated glass fiber insertion. Method and Materials: The scintillator array comprises of high‐density Tb‐activated scintillation glass (proprietary material composition) fibers drawn into uniform fiber‐optic bundles. The polymer‐tungsten grid is constructed using tomo‐lithographic molding (TLM), a patent‐pending manufacturing technology that can create precisely focused grids using cast‐molding and stack‐lamination. Glass fibers are inserted using an automated loading jig based on electrostatic alignment and vaccum gradients for precise pixel loading. Monte Carlo simulations were used to model the effects of scintillator geometry (thickness and fill factor) on intrinsic detector performance indicated by the modulation transfer function(MTF), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE). Results: Results indicated that DQE(0) increased and MTF decreased with scintillator thickness and fill factor. However, upon calculating DQE(f) ≈ DQE(0)MTF(f)2, it was found that the effect of thickness and fill factor on DQE(0) was more significant than that on the MTF. Intrinsic QE = 0.43 and DQE(0) = 0.25 could be obtained for a 5 cm thick scintillator array with a fill factor ⩾ 70%. Conclusions: FOSGA provides high QE due to good x‐ray absorption, scintillation, and fiber‐optic coupling characteristics of Tb‐glass fibers, while the polymer‐tungsten grid improves spatial resolution by limiting the spread of secondary electrons leading to greater MTF and DQE. Based on high QE, high DQE megavoltage imaging in conjunction with cost‐effective methodologies for accurate (±3%) mass‐production of large‐field uniform detector arrays, FOSGA is well suited for 2D localization and verification imaging as well as megavoltage computed tomography (MVCT) for image guided radiation therapy(IGRT).
Effects of morphine administration on cerebellar guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate.

An increase in mouse cerebellar C-GMP levels, during acute morphine treatment was observed, which was possibly related to the decrease in C-GMP phosphodiesterase levels also observed in acute treatment. Chronic treatment lowered C-GMP levels as did abrupt withdrawal without naloxone.
Understanding Creative Writing By Research Scientists: A Simple Guide to Translating And Interpreting Abstracts

The research scientist is often concerned with concise, explicit descriptions of research that leave nothing to the imagination. Occasionally, however, the results can only be read and understood by the author. This guide will assist the critical, nontechnical reader in acquiring the basic skills of translating and interpreting scientific articles. It may also be useful as a model for potential contributors to this journal.
A new solid oxide molybdenum–air redox battery

A new type of rechargeable molybdenum–air battery based on the technologies of reversible solid oxide fuel cells and chemical looping is reported in this study. The reversible solid oxide fuel cell serves as the electrical unit to realize the charging and discharging cycles while a pair of Mo/MoO2 redox couple integrated with the reversible solid oxide fuel cell stores electrical energy via an H2–H2O oxygen shuttle. The specific charge of the new battery reaches 1117 A h per kg-Mo at 550 °C, which is 45% higher than the non-rechargeable Mo–air battery. The corresponding discharge specific energy is 974 W h per kg-Mo with a round trip efficiency of 61.7%. In addition, the new Mo–air redox battery also exhibits 13.9% and 24.5% higher charge density (A h L−1) and energy density (W h L−1) than the state-of-the-art solid oxide Fe–air redox battery, respectively.
Interactive transparent networking-modeling examples of snoop and WTCP protocols

The layered rigid organization of traditional network service stack currently poses several problems in service evolution and versatility. The 'Programmable' and 'Active' network paradigms offer to solve such problems by allowing arbitrary custom codes to be embedded inside network layers. We propose a less radical approach in which required service state information can be pulled-up to the upper layer where 'actions' are performed by programmable components, and generated 'actions' are pushed down into the network layer. This approach relives lower network layers from housing costly custom components and addresses other practical issues like security and flexibility. We call this mechanism 'Interactive Transparent Networking'. In this paper, we explain the mechanism and its advantages in creating TCP-friendly applications. We also show by example how it can be used as a protocol augmentation tool by modeling two well-known protocols proposed in the literature to improve TCP performance over wireless networks: Snoop [H. Balakrishnan, S. Seshan, and R. Katz, Improving reliable transport and handoff performance in cellular wireless networks, ACM Wireless Networks 1 (1995)] and WTCP [P. Sinha, N. Venkitaraman, R. Sivakumar, V. Bharghavan, WTCP: a reliable transport protocol for wireless wide-area networks, Proceedings of ACM Mobicom'99, Seattle, WA, pp. 231-241].
Collimation of X-rays with cylindrically bent, asymmetrically cut crystals

Abstract Sagittal and meridional collimation of X-rays from a monochromatic point source, using cylindrically bent, asymmetrically cut crystals is studied. The optimum bending radius and the width of the angular acceptance window are derived analytically, while the degree of collimation is computed numerically.
Apoptosis in cancer therapy: Crossing the threshold

David E. Fisher Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Dana Farber Cancer Institute and The Children’s Hospital Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts 02115 How do antineoplastic therapies cure cancer? Long- standing dogma held that such treatments selectively tar- get rapidly dividing cells. We see in the clinics, however, that this explanation is not satisfactory since curable can- cers may be relatively slow growing and many rapidly dividing cancers are resistant to treatment. Emerging evidence suggests that, owing to varying apoptosis thresh- olds, treatments may induce apoptosis in tumor cells, but merely a cell cycle pause in their normal cell counterparts. Correspondingly, a major mode of resistance to antitumor treatments may be insensitivity to apoptosis induction. These conclusions stem from studies of select cell types, oncogenes, and apoptosis triggers. Their applicability to most human cancers, if verified, stands to revolutionize our approach to cancer therapy. Apoptosis is a genetically encoded cell death program defined by characteristic morphologic and biochemical changes (Wyllie, 1985, and references therein). A multi- tude of factors modulate apoptosis induction, including growth factors, intracellular mediators of signal transduc- tion, and nuclear proteins regulating gene expression, DNA replication, and cell cycle. These diverse factors and pathways likely converge on common late steps, resulting in the characteristic apoptosis phenotype. Apoptosis is a pathway that may potentially be disrupted in tumor cells, conferring a survival advantage. Apoptosis also directly regulates tumorigenesis. Dissec- tion of multistep oncogenesis in colorectal cancer revealed frequent aberrations of the p53 gene (for reviews see Vo- gelstein and Kinzler, 1992; Harris and Hollstein, 1993, and references therein), now one of the most commonly de- tected abnormalities in human cancer and recognized as an important modulator of apoptosis. As reported by Sy- monds et al. (1994 [this issue of Ce//)), one of ~53’s roles in regulating tumorigenesis may involve its ability to induce apoptosis in the presence of oncogenic triggers. Induction of aggressive choroid plexus tumors by a fragment of T antigen depended on the absence of ~53. Tumors induced by this weak oncogene developed much more rapidly in ~53 knockout mice than in mice with wild-type ~53; hetero- zygous mice (p53+‘-) developed aggressive tumors that lacked wild-type ~53. Loss of p53dependent apoptosis correlated with tumor aggressiveness. This pattern is remi- niscent of patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, who are constitutively heterozygous for p53 (Malkin et al., 1990) and who develop tumors with high frequency. If resistance to apoptosis were tied to both oncogenesis and therapeutic response, it may be clear why cancer is so difficult to cure.
The anodic dehydrodimerization of dimethyl malonate

Abstract As a part of a study of the anodic dehydrodimerization of diethyl malonate on platinum in emulsions and micelles some experiments were run to obtain an insight on the mechanism of the reaction. It was determined that although some catalytic dehydrodimerization was obtained with pure diethyl malonate at elevated temperatures the yield from this type of reaction at room temperature was negligible. In pure acetonitrile, confirmation was obtained for the previously postulated mechanism which involved reaction at the anode of electrogenerated halogen with diethyl malonate anions which had been generated at the cathode. In aqueous emulsion and micelle systems it was found that yields of the dimer were obtained in the presence of bromide ions and a quaternary ammonium salt but were not obtained using other supporting anions including chloride. The best yields were obtained in emulsions composed of tetrabutylammonium bromide and water. It was concluded that the dimerization proceeded by a reaction between electrochemically generated bromine molecules and the diethyl malonate anion. No large amounts of bromine were found adjacent to the electrode if potassium bromide was the supporting electrolyte but bromine stayed in the neighborhood of the electrode if tetrabutylammonium ions were present.
Rapid Increase of Phenylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase by Environmental Stress in an Inbred Mouse Strain

The activity of-phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase in mice of the C57Bl/Ka strain was determined after a 4 degrees C stress. The enzyme activity increased 1.2-fold at the end of 3 hours and by 1.4-fold by the end of 6 hours of the stress. The results are in contrast to those from other species with intact animals in which the enzyme changes only after several days of chronic stress. Cycloheximide prevents the rise in enzyme activity, suggesting the increase may be due to protein synthesis. The increase may provide a model system for studying regulation of catecholamine biosynthetic enzymes.
Mass spectrometric signature of S-prenylated cysteine peptides

The fast atom bombardment mass spectra of peptides containing S-prenylated cysteine display signature fragmentations characteristic of this modified amino acid. The fragmentation is independent of the nature of the cysteine carbonyl substituent, easily differentiates prenyl from nonprenyl alkylation, and readily identifies the oligomer count of the prenyl. This screening method, which requires little time, effort, or material (compared with previous analysis methods based on chemical degradation), greatly facilitates the identification of these prenylated proteins.
Mainland size variation informs predictive models of exceptional insular body size change in rodents.

The tendency for island populations of mammalian taxa to diverge in body size from their mainland counterparts consistently in particular directions is both impressive for its regularity and, especially among rodents, troublesome for its exceptions. However, previous studies have largely ignored mainland body size variation, treating size differences of any magnitude as equally noteworthy. Here, we use distributions of mainland population body sizes to identify island populations as ‘extremely’ big or small, and we compare traits of extreme populations and their islands with those of island populations more typical in body size. We find that although insular rodents vary in the directions of body size change, ‘extreme’ populations tend towards gigantism. With classification tree methods, we develop a predictive model, which points to resource limitations as major drivers in the few cases of insular dwarfism. Highly successful in classifying our dataset, our model also successfully predicts change in untested cases.
Medieval People in Town and Country: New Perspectives from Demography and Bioarchaeology

Medievalists, especially medievalists in North America, pay far too little attention to the medieval 90 percent, above all the peasants, who vastly outnumbered the kings, popes, poets, mystics, preachers, and artists that we know so well. All of us, scholars, students, and the general public, can greatly enrich our understanding of the Middle Ages if we take more notice of the ordinary men and women who constituted the backbone and chief support of the medieval economy and society. To awaken readers to the charms of the 90 percent, I focus here on a long-standing topos in medieval studies: the contrasts and interplay of rural and urban societies. I aim particularly to highlight the new perspectives that demography and archaeology, particularly the field of bioarchaeology, can offer to this old debate.
On the Betti Numbers of Irreducible Compact Hyperkähler Manifolds of Complex Dimension Four

The study of higher dimensional hyperkahler manifolds has attracted much attention: we have [Wk], [Bg1,2,3,4], [Fj1,2], [Bv1], [Vb1,2], [Sl1,2], [HS], [Huy], [Gu3,4,5] etc. It is evident that there are only a few known examples of these manifolds and the obvious question is: can we classify them as in the case of complex dimension 4? The Riemann-Roch formula plays an important role in the surface case, which yields K-3 surfaces as the only irreducible examples. However, for the higher dimensional case, the Riemann-Roch formula is not enough to give a picture of both the Hodge diamond and the existence of holomorphic sections of line bundles. In [Gu5], we combined the results of the Riemann-Roch formula in [Sl1,2] (see also [LW]) and the representations generated by the Kahler classes (see [Vb2], [LL], [Bg4]) to give a picture of the Hodge diamonds of irreducible compact hyperkahler manifolds of complex dimension 4. Theorem 1 (reproduced here) gives an upper bound b2 ≤ 23 for the second Betti number and was obtained independently by Beauville [Bv2] (unpublished). He kindly let me publish alone. The bound is obtained by applying Verbitsky’s work. In [HS] there is also an upper bound for the Euler characteristic but there seems as yet no lower bound, nor any bound for the Betti numbers. However, the method in [HS] actually gives us a way to calculate what we call generalized Chern numbers (which are only defined on hyperkahler manifolds) by Rozansky-Witten invariants, some of which in turn can be calculated as Chern numbers. Combining this approach with the method in [Bg4] we obtain an inequality in the opposite direction to the one in [HS] and apply it to our situation. Surprisingly, once we already have the bound on b2 this gives a more natural and much stronger inequality than the one we manipulated from the Riemann-Roch formula in [Gu5]. Therefore, we obtain our: Main Theorem. If M is an irreducible compact hyperkahler manifold of complex dimension 4, then 3 ≤ b2 ≤ 23. Moreover,
TRAINING PEERS TO TUTOR: EVALUATION OF A TUTOR TRAINING PACKAGE FOR PRIMARY LEARNING DISABLED STUDENTS

Peer tutoring—academic instruction given by a student to a same-aged classmate—can be a cost-effective way of providing needed instruction in the typical classroom where one teacher must deal with many students of varying ability levels. This study evaluated an instructional package as a training method for increasing the use of selected tutoring behaviors by peer tutors. Nine male students, aged 7 to 9 years, from a learning disabilities resource room served as subjects; four subjects served as tutors, four as students, and one as a generalization student who was assigned to all tutors during generalization testing. Subjects were assigned to tutor-student pairs based on their performances on a pretest of the 220 Dolch Basic Sight Words, with the subjects scoring highest on the pretest serving as tutors. Each tutor worked with his assigned student throughout the study, except for pre- and posttest sessions with the generalization student. During daily sessions, tutors trained their students to recognize sight words using 10 flash cards, each with 1 of the Dolch words printed on it. Training was conducted with all four tutors in a group and was evaluated using a multiple baseline design across three classes of tutoring behaviors: Preparation Behaviors, Prompting Behaviors, and Praising Behaviors. Training consisted of: (a) verbal instructions on how to perform the tutoring behaviors; (b) charts illustrating the appropriate tutoring behaviors with stick figures; (c) role playing with each tutor with the experimenter playing the part of the student and giving feedback and verbal reinforcement to the tutor for performance of the appropriate tutoring behaviors; and (d) verbal testing of each tutor by asking him to state orally the behaviors he was to perform. Training sessions took approximately 30 minutes for each of the 3 classes of tutoring behaviors. Results showed an increased use of tutoring behaviors by tutors as a function of the instructional package. Increases in tutoring behaviors were also observed during postintervention generalization testing of tutors instructing their regular student in new subject matter (math). Data taken from pre-, mid-, and postintervention testing of the 220 Dolch Words showed an increase of identifiable sight words by both students and tutors after completing the peer tutoring program. This study demonstrates that a simple tutor training package can be employed to teach young, special education students to serve as effective tutors for their peers. In addition, the academic gains evidenced by the subjects lend positive support to the effectiveness of peer tutoring programs and specifically to the research of Dineen, Clark, and Risley (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1977, 10, 231–238) which demonstrated the educational benefits of tutoring incurred by the tutor as well as by the student.
MicroRNA133a: a new variable in vascular smooth muscle cell phenotypic switching.

See related article, pages 880–893 The human genome is replete with digital information, only 1.2% of which comprises protein-coding sequence. The nonprotein-coding sequence encompasses >1 million regulatory elements controlling gene expression and codes for such genomic processes as recombination, replication, splicing, transposition, and structural integration of the genome with the surrounding nucleoskeleton. Throughout such punctuated sequence information is a vast amount of transcribed nonprotein-coding RNA whose functions have only begun to be understood. These facts debunk the old notion that our genome is comprised largely of “junk DNA” and point to an ever-expanding role for genomic DNA sequence in various biological processes. For example, a portion of the nonprotein-coding RNA transcriptome encodes some 1000 microRNAs (miRs) whose activity relates primarily to the posttranscriptional regulation of the mRNA pool of a cell through targeted mRNA degradation.1 Accordingly, miRs function to influence essentially all aspects of cellular biology by tailoring the proteome of a cell. Since the initial reporting of miRs in human cells,2 there has been an explosive increase in the number of PubMed articles (Figure 1) related to these “molecular rheostats,” and there are high hopes for applying knowledge gained through this body of work in the treatment of numerous diseases in which aberrant expression of miRs has been reported across body systems.3 Figure 1. Number of articles published on microRNAs over the past 11 years. The white bar represents the predicted number of additional articles to be published in 2011. Various cells of the cardiovascular system express a number of miRs that have been the subject of intense study over the past few years. These include the bicistronic miR1/133a and miR143/145 genes that are highly specific to cardiac myocytes and smooth muscle cells (SMC), respectively.4 The miR1/133a gene is of particular interest because it is duplicated on …
Image reconstruction in optoacoustic tomography for dispersive acoustic media.

Conventional image reconstruction methods for optoacoustic tomography (OAT) assume an idealized, nondispersive acoustic medium. However, the linear attenuation coefficient and the phase velocity of acoustic waves propagating in soft tissue depend on temporal frequency and satisfy a known dispersion law. These frequency-dependent effects are incorporated into an optoacoustic wave equation, and a corresponding reconstruction method for OAT is developed. The improvement in image fidelity that can be achieved over conventional reconstruction methods is demonstrated by use of computer-simulation studies.
Interactions between Important Regulatory Proteins and Human αB Crystallin

Protein pin arrays assessed interactions between alphaB crystallin and 12 regulatory proteins, including EGF, FGF-2, IGF-1, NGF-beta, TGF-beta, VEGF, insulin, beta-catenin, caspase-3, caspase-8, Bcl-2, and Bcl-xL, which are important in cellular differentiation, proliferation, signaling, cytoskeletal assembly, and apoptosis. FGF-2, NGF-beta, VEGF, insulin, and beta-catenin had strong interactions with human alphaB crystallin peptides, and the alphaB crystallin interactive sequences for these proteins were identified. The seven remaining proteins (EGF, IGF-1, TGF-beta, caspase-3, caspase-8, BCl-2, and Bcl-xL) did not interact with alphaB crystallin. The alphaB crystallin sequences that interacted with FGF-2, NGF-beta, VEGF, insulin, and beta-catenin overlapped with sequences that selectively interact with partially unfolded proteins, suggesting a common function for alphaB crystallin in chaperone activity and the regulation of cell growth and differentiation. Chaperone assays conducted with full-length alphaB crystallin and synthetic alphaB crystallin peptides confirmed the ability of alphaB crystallin to protect against the aggregation of FGF-2 and VEGF, suggesting that alphaB crystallin protects these proteins against unfolding and aggregation under conditions of stress. This is the first report in which sequences involved in interactions with regulatory proteins, including FGF-2, NGF-beta, VEGF, insulin, and beta-catenin, were identified in a small heat shock protein.
A five-year retrospective analysis of adherence in cystic fibrosis

SummaryObjective We conducted a retrospective analysis of medication adherence and health outcomes over a 5-year period in children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Methods Adherence was calculated for several commonly prescribed CF medications by comparing the actual number of times a prescription was filled in a 12-month period to the number of times it should have been filled based on the prescribed supply. We used prescription refill histories as documented by three major specialty pharmacies used by our patients. A binomial mixed effects model was used to investigate the longitudinal association between adherence and age group (0–5, 6–12, and 13–21 years) with gender, year in the study, lung function, body mass index (BMI), and annual hospitalization rate included as potential confounders. Results The 0–5 years group had the highest overall adherence (P = 0.009). The 6–12 years group had significantly better adherence to inhaled medications as compared to oral medications (P = 0.020). Within each group, for any given year in the study, having a higher BMI was associated with greater odds of adherence (P 0.05). Conclusions There are significant age differences in adherence. Younger patients have better overall adherence likely secondary to increased parental supervision. Having better nutritional status is associated with improved adherence. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2015; 50:1224–1229. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
INTEGRATING MULTIPLE KNOWLEDGE SOURCES FOR DETECTION AND CORRECTION OF REPAIRS IN HUMAN-COMPUTER DIALOG

We have analyzed 607 sentences of spontaneous human-computer speech data containing repairs, drawn from a total corpus of 10,718 sentences. We present here criteria and techniques for automatically detecting the presence of a repair, its location, and making the appropriate correction. The criteria involve integration of knowledge from several sources: pattern matching, syntactic and semantic analysis, and acoustics.
UTILIZATION OF SCHOOL NURSES DURING THE EVALUATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

This study explored school nurses’ involvement during the identification and treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The extent of school nurses’ collaboration with school psychologists and other educators also was studied. Participants included 100 school nurses, representing 18 states, who completed a survey on ASD. The response rate was 16.45%. The most common involvement (17.87%) reported by school nurses during the evaluation process of children with ASD was the review of medical records. A small percentage of school nurses (13.19%) noted that they collaborated with school psychologists during the evaluation process. In general, it appears that school nurses have more involvement with children with ASD after they have been classified than during the evaluation/identification process.
Fire Increases Variance in Genetic Characteristics of Florida Sand Skink ( Plestiodon reynoldsi, ) Local Populations

Fire is a complex event that maintains many ecological systems. The Florida Sand Skink (Plestiodon reynoldsi) is precinctive to Florida Scrub, a habitat that is maintained by infrequent fire. We characterize the effect of fire on genetic diversity and genetic differentiation at eight microsatellite loci in the Florida Sand Skink (n = 470) collected from 30 replicate sites over three ‘time since last fire’ categories at the Archbold Biological Station. Long unburned sites had greater allelic richness and expected heterozygosity than either recently or intermediately burned sites. More recently, burned sites had greater standard deviations of allelic richness and private allelic richness. Expected heterozygosity positively correlated with ‘time since fire’ (r = 0.36, P = 0.05) and abundance (r = 0.53, P = 0.002). There was a significant spatial component to genetic differentiation, and results indicate individuals rarely disperse >1 km. Genetic differentiation was positively correlated with geographic distance in long unburned units (r = 0.59, P = 0.04), yet this relationship was disrupted by fire in recently (r = 0.00, 1) and intermediately (r = )0.81, 0.05) burned areas. Simulations indicate that demographic changes to a local population could have generated the observed differences among ‘time since fire’ categories. Our findings indicate that infrequent fire may be beneficial to the Florida Sand Skink and that local populations begin to recover from changes attributable to the fire after 10 years. Too frequent fires may reduce genetic diversity because it may take multiple generations for local populations to recover.
Dofetilide: A Class III-Specific Antiarrhythmic Agent

OBJECTIVE:To review published reports on the pharmacology and clinical use of dofetilide in the management of cardiac dysrhythmias.DATA SOURCES:A MEDLINE search (January 1966–June 1999) was performed using dofetilide and UK-68,798 as key words. English-language articles were identified, and the references of these articles were used to further identify pertinent articles.STUDY SELECTION:All acquired studies and reviews discussing the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, chemistry, and clinical efficacy of dofetilide were reviewed.DATA EXTRACTION:Articles were selected based on quality of review of the pharmacology and clinical use of dofetilide. Given the paucity of data on the clinical pharmacology and use of dofetilide, most articles obtained were used, including abstracts when full reports were not available.DATA SYNTHESIS:Dofetilide is a relatively specific class III antiarrhythmic agent. It increases action potential duration and effective refractory period without impacting conduction velocity. These act...
ANALGESIC AND RESPIRATORY EFFECTS OF EXTRADURAL SUFENTANIL IN VOLUNTEERS AND THE INFLUENCE OF ADRENALINE AS AN ADJUVANT

The effects of extradural sufentanil 50 μg were investigated in 10 normal volunteers. Eight of these were studied at a second session when adrenaline 1: 200000 was added to the sufentanil. Well-defined segmental analgesia developed rapidly after plain sufentanil and lasted approximately 3 h. Respiration was depressed for about the same period and was greatest in the first 2 h, as shown by a 15% increase in PECO2′ while the slope and VE50 of the carbon dioxide response curve were depressed by 45% and 55%, respectively. Moderate drowsiness occurred in most subjects, while other side effects of itching, nausea and urinary retention occurred less frequently and were not severe. Addition of adrenaline 1: 200 000 intensified segmental analgesia and prolonged duration to 5 h, while side effects were lessened. It is concluded that extradural sufentanil shows considerable promise for clinical use, and that the risk: benefit ratio is improved by adding adrenaline 1: 200000.
Evolving Knowledge of Sex Differences in Brain Structure, Function and Chemistry

Clinical and epidemiologic evidence demonstrates sex differences in the prevalence and course of various psychiatric disorders. Understanding sex-specific brain differences in healthy individuals is a critical first step toward understanding sex-specific expression of psychiatric disorders. Here, we evaluate evidence on sex differences in brain structure, chemistry, and function using imaging methodologies, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in mentally healthy individuals. MEDLINE searches of English-language literature (1980-November 2006) using the terms sex, gender, PET, SPECT, MRI, fMRI, morphometry, neurochemistry, and neurotransmission were performed to extract relevant sources. The literature suggests that while there are many similarities in brain structure, function, and neurotransmission in healthy men and women, there are important differences that distinguish the male from the female brain. Overall, brain volume is greater in men than women; yet, when controlling for total volume, women have a higher percentage of gray matter and men a higher percentage of white matter. Regional volume differences are less consistent. Global cerebral blood flow is higher in women than in men. Sex-specific differences in dopaminergic, serotonergic, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic markers indicate that male and female brains are neurochemically distinct. Insight into the etiology of sex differences in the normal living human brain provides an important foundation to delineate the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying sex differences in neuropsychiatric disorders and to guide the development of sex-specific treatments for these devastating brain disorders.
A Linear Closed-Form Algorithm for Source Localization From Time-Differences of Arrival

Microphone arrays often operate in the near field, which complicates the problem of determining a source location from time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) measurements typically derived from generalized cross-correlation functions. Each TDOA satisfies the equation of a hyperboloid in space and methods have been developed to either solve for intersecting hyperboloids or make some approximation to them, keeping source-location determination a nonlinear, somewhat complex problem. We introduce a closed-form, analytic solution for the problem (the GS algorithm). It is so simple that we were surprised that, until very recently, there have been no other solutions similar to ours. The method uses a minimum of five microphones in three dimensions, one more than other solutions, but, for nonsingular layouts of the microphones, it is very fast and accurate. First, the new method is compared to other closed-form methods for accuracy and sensitivity to noise using simulated data. Then, several variants of GS are compared to two other real-time algorithms, LEMSalg and SRP-PHAT, using real, human-talker data from a large array in a noisy room.
Novel single-solid-source metalorganic chemical vapor processing of PT and PZT thin films

A novel single-solid-source metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique has been developed for the processing of oxide as well as non-oxide thin films. The new technique uses a powder delivery system to deliver the mixed precursor powders directly into a hot vaporizer from room temperature, therefore, avoiding any problems associated with polymerization or decomposition of the precursors before evaporation. The technique simplifies MOCVD processing significantly and can greatly improve process reliability and reproducibility. Using the new technique, ferroelectric PbTiO3 (PT) and Pb(ZrxTi1 − x)O3 (PZT) thin films have been deposited on (100) MgO and (111) Pt/SiO2/(100)Si substrates. The deposited PT and PZT films have a perovskite structure and are highly oriented with respect to the substrate. Orientation of the PZT films on the Pt substrate is controlled by varying the Pb to (Zr + Ti) ratio in the gas phase. The PT and PZT (x = 0.2) films deposited on the Pt coated substrates have dielectric constants on the order of 200 and 300, respectively, and dielectric loss (tanδ) of about 0.02 to 0.03. These values are comparable to those of solution deposited or sputtered PZT films.
Effect of dietary K intake on apical small-conductance K channel in CCD: role of protein tyrosine kinase

We have used Western blot to examine the expression of cSrc protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) and protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP)-1D in the renal cortex, and the patch-clamp technique to determine t...
Assessing sample representativeness in randomized controlled trials: application to the National Institute of Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network

AIMS To compare the characteristics of individuals participating in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of treatments of substance use disorder (SUD) with individuals receiving treatment in usual care settings, and to provide a summary quantitative measure of differences between characteristics of these two groups of individuals using propensity score methods. Design Analyses using data from RCT samples from the National Institute of Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network (CTN) and target populations of patients drawn from the Treatment Episodes Data Set-Admissions (TEDS-A). Settings Multiple clinical trial sites and nation-wide usual SUD treatment settings in the United States. PARTICIPANTS A total of 3592 individuals from 10 CTN samples and 1 602 226 individuals selected from TEDS-A between 2001 and 2009. Measurements The propensity scores for enrolling in the RCTs were computed based on the following nine observable characteristics: sex, race/ethnicity, age, education, employment status, marital status, admission to treatment through criminal justice, intravenous drug use and the number of prior treatments. Findings The proportion of those with ≥ 12 years of education and the proportion of those who had full-time jobs were significantly higher among RCT samples than among target populations (in seven and nine trials, respectively, at P < 0.001). The pooled difference in the mean propensity scores between the RCTs and the target population was 1.54 standard deviations and was statistically significant at P < 0.001. CONCLUSIONS In the United States, individuals recruited into randomized controlled trials of substance use disorder treatments appear to be very different from individuals receiving treatment in usual care settings. Notably, RCT participants tend to have more years of education and a greater likelihood of full-time work compared with people receiving care in usual care settings.
A human papillomavirus vaccination program for low-income postpartum women

Background Effective interventions are needed to address the low rate of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in the United States, particularly among girls and women 16-26 years old. Counseling and offering the vaccine to postpartum patients could be an effective strategy to increase uptake among young women who did not complete the 3-dose series at an earlier age. Objective The purpose of this evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of a multicomponent program designed for postpartum women that used patient navigators (PNs) and reminders for follow-up visits to improve uptake and completion of the HPV vaccine series. Study Design As part of standard care, patients ≤26 years of age from Galveston County, Texas, who delivered an infant from November 2012 through June 2014 at a public hospital were counseled and offered the HPV vaccine postpartum. PNs assisted with scheduling follow-up injections during postpartum or well-child visits. A program evaluation was conducted after 20 months. Results Of 1038 patients approached, only 161 (15.5%) had previously completed the vaccine series. Of the 877 patients who had not completed the series, 661 (75.4%) received at least 1 dose postpartum, with 575 patients receiving their first dose and 86 receiving their second or third doses. By April 2015, initiation rates had increased as a result of this program from 25.4% before the program was initiated to 80.8% and completion rates from 15.5-65.1%. Missed appointments for injections were less likely among those who received text message reminders and more likely among those with ≥2 prior pregnancies. Those who were Hispanic or had received an influenza vaccination in the last year were more likely to initiate and complete the series through this program. Patients who missed ≥1 follow-up appointments were less likely to complete the vaccine series. Conclusion Offering the HPV vaccine postpartum dramatically increased initiation rates among postpartum patients. PN and text messages ensured that a high percentage completed all 3 doses.
Ultrasonic beamforming system for interrogating multiple implantable sensors

In this paper, we present an ultrasonic beamforming system capable of interrogating individual implantable sensors via backscatter in a distributed, ultrasound-based recording platform known as Neural Dust [1]. A custom ASIC drives a 7 × 2 PZT transducer array with 3 cycles of 32V square wave with a specific programmable time delay to focus the beam at the 800mm neural dust mote placed 50mm away. The measured acoustic-to-electrical conversion efficiency of the receive mote in water is 0.12% and the overall system delivers 26.3% of the power from the 1.8V power supply to the transducer drive output, consumes 0.75µJ in each transmit phase, and has a 0.5% change in the backscatter per volt applied to the input of the backscatter circuit. Further miniaturization of both the transmit array and the receive mote can pave the way for a wearable, chronic sensing and neuromodulation system.
Structuring Repsol's Acquisition of Ypf S.A. (B) (V. 2.5)

In the months following Repsol's acquisition of Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales S.A. (YPF), energy prices continued their supporting volatility, but this time with upward adjustments. In March 2000, oil prices rose to $34 a barrel, their highest level since the Gulf War and well above Repsol's forecast a year earlier. The timing was fortunate: YPF's operations would generate greater profit owing to its strength in exploration and production-those gains would more than offset any possible losses in Repsol's downstream refining and marketing activities. However, the surge in oil prices might trigger an increase in inflation, interest rates, and Repsol's cost of capital.