cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Endoscopic Endonasal Resection of Rathke Cleft Cyst with Xanthogranulomatous Change: Two-Dimensional Operative Video

Objective Sellar xanthogranulomas (XGAs) are a rare pathological subtype of hypophysitis reflecting a degenerative process of Rathke's cleft cyst with predilection in young adults. While the histological features have been described, there is limited discussion on the technical expectations in surgical management. We present the clinical, radiographic, and surgical features of the third literature-reported XGA in the pediatric population. Setting The patient was a 17-year-old boy who first identified by ophthalmologically confirmed peripheral vision loss. Subsequent endocrine workup identified delayed-onset puberty and hypopituitarism. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a nonenhancing 2.6-cm T1 and T2 sellar-based hyperintense mass with suprasellar extension and mass effect on the optic chiasm. A small T1 hypointense encased nodule was also seen ( Fig. 1 ). Consent for resection was obtained. Results Intraoperatively the tumor was firm and adherent, requiring piecemeal removal. Radiofrequency ablation enabled ergonomic debulking and minimize thermal injury ( Fig. 2 ). 1 We used initial settings of 25 W, equivalent to 55 W. A cystic component with motor oil–like fluid was encountered and decompressed. The tumor was notably very adherent to the optic nerve and infiltrated the stalk, requiring its truncation. Closure was achieved by fat graft dead space plugging, fascia lata underlay, Medpor gasket seal, and nasoseptal flap. Conclusion Pathology confirmed dense fibrous tissue with features of chronic inflammation, cholesterol clefts, hemosiderin pigment, multinucleate giant cells, and foamy macrophages. Additional cyst wall sampling identified squamous and ciliated epithelial lining, collectively consistent with Rathke's cleft cyst and xanthogranulomatous reaction. These lesions can undergo surgical cure with resection, most commonly by transsphenoidal approach. The link to the video can be found at: https://youtu.be/S2n5iQ3aFgc .
Squamous cell carcinoma of the ovary: a rare gynecologic tumor with a poor prognosis

Objectives: Investigate the management and outcomes of patients diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the ovary (SCC-O). Methods: Patients with no history of another tumor diagnosed between 2004-2015 with SCC-O, known tumor stage and at least one month of follow-up were drawn from the National Cancer Database. Clinico-pathological and demographic characteristics were analyzed and overall survival (OS) was evaluated following generation of Kaplan-Meier curves. A Cox model was constructed to evaluate for independent predictors of survival. Results: A total of 440 patients with a median age of 53 years (range 15-90) were identified; 34.3% had stage I disease, while 19.5%, 26.8% and 19.3% had stage II, III and IV disease respectively. Most patients were White (72%) without co-morbidities (82%). Median tumor size was 9.5 cm while tumor grade was available for 370 cases; 52.4% had grade 3 tumors while 39.2% and 8.4% had grade 2 and 1 tumors respectively. Based on 87 patients with apparent early stage disease who underwent lymphadenectomy, lymph node involvement was rare (2%). Five-year OS rate for patients with stage I disease was 75.8% compared to 28.5%, 29.3% and 11.6% for those with stage II, III, IV disease, p Conclusions: SCC-O is a rare tumor with a poor prognosis especially for patients with advanced stage disease. Novel treatment options are greatly warranted.
Fostering COVID-19 Safe Behaviors Using Cognitive Dissonance

There is an urgent need to persuade the public to follow behavioral guidelines in order to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Using cognitive dissonance as a guide, the current study’s aim was to increase ...
A Bioimpedance-Based Device to Assess the Volume Conduction Properties of the Tongue in Neurological Disorders Affecting Bulbar function

Goal: Current instruments for bulbar assessment exhibit technical limitations that hinder the execution of clinical studies. The volume conduction properties (VCP) of the tongue reflect ionic content and myofiber integrity and they can serve as a new biomarker for evaluating neurological disorders with bulbar dysfunction. Methods: We designed a standalone bioimpedance measurement system that enables accurate, multi-frequency measurement of tongue anisotropic VCP including conductivity and relative permittivity. The system includes a tongue depressor with 16 non-invasive surface sensors for electrical contact with the tongue at directions 0 $^{\circ }$ , 45 $^{\circ }$ , 90 $^{\circ }$ and 150 $^{\circ }$ . The depressor is interfaced with the tongue electronic system with Bluetooth connectivity, and a smartphone application. De-identified patient data is sent by email. Results: We first determined the accuracy of the hardware performing phantom measurements mimicking a broad range of tongue values and determined the error to be $ 1%. We then validated our new technology measuring a cohort of 7 healthy human subjects under Institutional Review Board approval. Conclusions: None of the subjects who participated suffered discomfort or gag reflexes. The novel technique presented for intra-oral assessment of tongue VCP provides standard, objective and quantitative data potentially sensitive to alterations in tongue internal structure and composition.
Huntingtin N-Terminal Monomeric and Multimeric Structures Destabilized by Covalent Modification of Heteroatomic Residues.

Early stage oligomer formation of the huntingtin protein may be driven by self-association of the 17-residue amphipathic α-helix at the protein’s N-terminus (Nt17). Oligomeric structures have been implicated in neuronal toxicity and may represent important neurotoxic species in Huntington’s disease. Therefore, a residue-specific structural characterization of Nt17 is crucial to understanding and potentially inhibiting oligomer formation. Native electrospray ion mobility spectrometry–mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) techniques and molecular dynamics simulations (MDS) have been applied to study coexisting monomer and multimer conformations of Nt17, independent of the remainder of huntingtin exon 1. MDS suggests gas-phase monomer ion structures comprise a helix-turn-coil configuration and a helix-extended-coil region. Elongated dimer species comprise partially helical monomers arranged in an antiparallel geometry. This stacked helical bundle may represent the earliest stages of Nt17-driven oligomer formation. Nt17...
Modification of poly(vinyl alcohol) through reaction with tin reactants

The modification of poly(vinyl alcohol) was effected via condensation with tin compounds, utilizing the interfacial technique. Products obtained with R2SnCl2 are crosslinked. Thermal properties are reported. Die Modifizierung von Polyvinylalkohol wurde durch Kondensation mit ZinnVerbindungen unter Anwendung der Grenzflachentechnik erzielt. Mit R2SnCl2 entstehen vernetzte Produkte. Die thermischen Eigenschaften dieser Produkte werden angegeben.
Ranibizumab: Phase III Clinical Trial Results

Ranibizumab therapy is the first treatment for neovascular AMD to improve vision for most patients. The benefits apply to all angiographic subtypes of neovascular AMD and across all lesion sizes. Although the pivotal phase III trials (MARINA and ANCHOR) used monthly injections of ranibizumab for 2 years, the ongoing PIER, PrONTO, and SAILOR trials are investigating less frequent dosing regimens, and preliminary results from the PrONTO study suggest that fewer injections will most likely result in visual acuity improvements similar to the results from the phase III trials. When comparing the ANCHOR results with the FOCUS results, it also becomes apparent that the combination of ranibizumab with PDT does not necessarily result in better visual acuity outcomes, and the use of PDT may even reduce the visual acuity benefits achieved with ranibizumab alone (see Figs. 1-3). It seems unlikely that combination therapy provides any significant advantage over ranibizumab alone unless the combination of PDT and ranibizumab can decrease the need for frequent retreatment. The results from the PrONTO Study already suggest that less frequent treatment with ranibizumab is possible by using a variable dosing regimen with OCT. Ranibizumab also seems to be safe, with the 2-year MARINA data showing no increase in the incidence of systemic adverse events that could be associated with anti-VEGF therapy, such as myocardial infarction and stroke. There was a hint of a safety concern, however, in the pooled 1-year safety results from the MARINA and ANCHOR trials. Although the combined rate of myocardial infarction and stroke during the first year of the ANCHOR and MARINA trials was similar in the control and the 0.3-mg ranibizumab arms (1.3% and 1.6% respectively), these adverse events were slightly higher in the 0.5-mg ranibizumab arm (2.9%). These differences are not statistically significant, however, and probably do not represent a dose-dependent increase in risk because the 2-year results from the MARINA trial with the same monthly injection regimen showed no increased risk of thromboembolic events. In December 2005, Genentech submitted a Biologics License Application to the FDA for the use of ranibizumab in the treatment of neovascular wet AMD based on 1-year clinical efficacy and safety data from the two pivotal phase III trials, ANCHOR and MARINA, and the phase I-II FOCUS trial. Genentech has been granted a 6-month Priority Review from the FDA with a decision anticipated 6 months from the December submission date or by the end of June 2006 [29]. By the summer of 2006, this revolutionary therapy should be available for the treatment of neovascular AMD. At that time, the major dilemma facing most retina specialists will be whether to use intravitreal ranibizumab or intravitreal bevacizumab, the low cost alternative, for the treatment of neovascular AMD.
The program for cellular differentiation in Volvox carteri as revealed by molecular analysis of development in a gonidialess/somatic regenerator mutant

Development of a 'gonidialess'/'somatic regenerator' double mutant of Volvox carteri was analyzed with a number of cell-type-specific cDNA probes that had been identified in a previous study. Whereas in wild-type strains somatic cells and gonidia (asexual reproductive cells) constitute two distinct cell lineages, in this mutant all cells first differentiate as somatic cells and then redifferentiate as gonidia. During the initial period of somatic differentiation, we found that both gonidial and 'early' somatic transcripts were accumulated in the mutant, consistent with the idea that it is the regA gene product (which is defective in this mutant) that normally acts to suppress gonidial gene expression in somatic cells. Later in development, levels of early somatic transcripts fell abruptly, levels of the late somatic transcripts remained extremely low, and levels of gonidial transcripts rose as the cells redifferentiated. Thus it appears that in the mutant cells the gonidial program of development takes over and somatic differentiation is aborted before the stage at which late somatic genes are normally activated. These results provide molecular genetic support for a model which postulates that three types of genes (including the two that are defective in the strain studied here) are crucial for converting the sequential program of differentiation seen in more primitive volvocalean algae to the dichotomous program of germ-soma differentiation that occurs in wild-type V. carteri.
Survival after Surgery for Tracheal Collapse and the Effect of Intrathoracic Collapse on Survival

Objectives To determine (1) long-term survival of dogs with tracheal collapse (TC) receiving cervical extraluminal prosthetic rings (ELR) and (2) whether intrathoracic collapse effects long-term survival of dogs receiving ELR. Study Design Retrospective case series. Animals Dogs (n = 33) with TC that had ELR. Methods Medical records (July 2002–July 2008) were searched for TC dogs treated with ELR. Age, breed, gender, location of TC, and age at follow-up (death or censor) were recorded. Kaplan–Meier survival curves were generated. Results Of 114 TC dogs, 33 had ELR. Breeds and gender were consistent with previous reports; mean (±SD) age at presentation was 6.3±2.6 years. TC was categorized as cervical or cervical and intrathoracic. All dogs had cervical TC and 15 had concurrent intrathoracic collapse; 8 of these had collapse of mainstem bronchi. Median survival time was >2500 days (median not reached) for cervical TC alone and 1500 days for cervical and intrathoracic TC with no difference in median survival time between groups (P = .26). Conclusion Dogs with TC have a median survival time of 1680 days (4.6 years) after ELR and no differences were seen when dogs had intrathoracic collapse. Intrathoracic collapse does not exclude a dog from receiving ELR.
Results of growth trophic therapy in children with short bowel syndrome

Abstract Purpose In addition to the structural, ultrastructural, and functional changes that occur after extensive enterectomy or in utero bowel loss that results in short bowel syndrome (SBS), a complex array of humoral responses take place that may also affect adaptation of the remaining small intestine as well as nutritional status or growth. These include alterations in the levels of circulating hormones and trophic substances such as growth hormone (GH) and insulinlike growth factors (IGF-1 and IGFBP-3). The purpose of this investigation is to report on the management/treatment of 3 children with SBS (>4 years in duration) and growth failure. Methods Serum measures of growth factors and the response to GH stimulation after an arginine insulin tolerance test (AITT) were determined. Weight and height z-scores as well as linear growth velocity were calculated annually pre- and postinitiation of medication therapy. Results Patient 1 (boy, 8.5 years old, midgut volvulus, 18-cm bowel) was found to be GH deficient, whereas patients 2 (girl, 12.5 years old, gastroschisis, 70-cm bowel) and 3 (boy, 9 years old, jejunal atresia, 21 cm bowel) were found to have limited GH responsiveness. Subsequently, treatment with GH (1) and growth releasing factor (GRF; 2 & 3) was prescribed. Z-scores for both weight and height improved over time. Positive linear growth velocity was observed from initiation of therapy ( 4.5, >8.5, and >4.9 cm/yr, respectively]). All patients received a regular diet with oral supplements, whereas 2 received parenteral nutrition support for about 1 year. Conclusions In children with medically refractory SBS, it is not only important to offer trophic factors but also essential that sufficient nutrient substrate be provided to achieve adequate growth.
Of two minds: The interactive effect of construal level and identity on political polarization

Abstract Construal level theory posits that that when people are thinking abstractly (vs. concretely) they rely more on their core and consistent attitudes and values. However, past research has been mixed on whether abstract thinking causes liberals and conservatives to become more or less polarized. In the current research, we examine how identity salience moderates the effect of construal level on political polarization. Results from two studies suggest that identity salience (political vs. national) plays a key role in predicting how construal level affects attitude polarization. When people's political identity was made salient, liberals and conservatives were more polarized about political issues when thinking abstractly (vs. concretely). Conversely, when national identity was salient, liberals and conservatives were less polarized when in an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset. Broadly, this research highlights the importance identity salience has in understanding the role abstract (vs. concrete) thinking has on people's attitudes and values.
Carbohydrate level and growth of tomato plants: I. The effect of carbon dioxide enrichment and diurnally fluctuating temperatures.

To what extent can the influence of environment on greenhouse tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) be explained by a linear response of the growth rate to carbohydrate level? To answer this question, young tomato plants were transplanted in January and March and grown for one-month periods under natural light either with or without CO(2) enrichment to 1000 microliters per liter and either under a constant minimum temperature of 15 degrees C or a minimum temperature that fluctuated between 20 degrees C for 12 hours including the photoperiod and 10 degrees C for the remaining 12 hours. The carbohydrate levels were measured for plants under all growth conditions at several times in the diurnal cycle.At the average irradiance in January, 2.3 megajoules per square meter per day, plants under CO(2) enrichment grew 15% faster and had, on average, total nonstructural carbohydrate levels 27 milligrams per gram greater and soluble carbohydrates 3 milligrams per gram greater at all hours of the day than did plants grown under ambient CO(2). Plants grown under fluctuating diurnal temperature grew slightly faster and had total nonstructural carbohydrate levels on average 8 milligrams per gram greater than plants grown under a more constant temperature. At the average irradiance in March-April, 4.3 megajoules per square meter per day, growth and carbohydrate level increased with CO(2) enrichment under the control temperature regime but not under fluctuating temperatures. Plants in all growth regimens grew faster than in January.Over all plantings and growth regimens, relative growth rates were more highly correlated to total nonstructural carbohydrate levels than they were to irradiance, CO(2), or temperature.
Trade-offs in signalling components differ with signalling effort

Many animals use acoustic signals to attract potential mates but are simultaneously exposed to acoustically orienting predators or parasitoids. Given the conflicting selection pressures on signal components, males that signal often might be forced to make trade-offs among these signalling components to reduce their risk of becoming prey, or because of energetic, biomechanical, or physiological limitations. We explored the conditions under which males make trade-offs among components of signalling effort in the Texas field cricket, Gryllus texensis. Male Texas field crickets show extensive variation in the effort they allocate to mate attraction. We predicted that males with high and low signalling effort should show different covariances among the number of bouts produced per hour, average bout duration and average trilling amplitude. We found that high-effort males showed strong trade-offs between bout duration and hourly bout number and between trill amplitude and hourly bout number, whereas low-effort males showed no trade-offs between any of their trilling components. Our results suggest that males using different signalling efforts may experience different selective regimes on their trilling behaviour.
Instability of the wet cube cone soap film

Abstract A “dry” conical soap film on a cubical frame is not stable. Recent experimental evidence seems to indicate that adding liquid to form Plateau borders stabilizes the conical film, perhaps to arbitrarily low liquid fractions. This paper presents numerical simulation evidence that the wet cone is unstable for low enough liquid fraction, with the critical liquid fraction being about 0.000278.
Race, social support, and coping strategies among HIV‐positive gay and bisexual men

Few studies have examined the relation between race, social support, and coping, particularly among HIV-infected individuals. We examined the relation of race and social support to coping with HIV infection in a sample of 121 gay and bisexual men (64 African American, 57 White). Compared to White participants, African Americans reported higher use of multiple coping strategies. High levels of perceived social support were related to greater use of positive coping and seeking support; lower levels of social support were related to greater use of self-destructive coping. There were no race-related differences in social support, and no race by social support interactions. Possible explanations for observed cultural differences and coping challenges of African American gay and bisexual men with HIV are discussed.
Void Formation in Radial Solidification of Cylinders

This paper reports on experiments that were carried out to observe the solidification sequence and void distribution for two different experimental liquids (cyclohexane and butanediol) enclosed in Pyrex tubes. Both liquids exhibited about ten percent volumetric shrinkage during the phase transition from liquid to solid. To evaluate the possibility of regulation void formation by soluble gases, tests were conducted both in the presence and absence of dissolved air. A physical model has been developed with predicts the essential features of the solidification pattern under earth's gravity field of 1-g for cylindrical geometries and allows extrapolation of the results to outer space conditions of O-g. Finally, an attempt was made to determine analytically the final void shape which would result from each nucleated bubble in O-g. Understanding these aspects of the solidification process is vital to development of better thermal energy storage systems for space power applications.
Optimization of light-valve mirrors

A mirror structure for reflective Si-based light valves was fabricated using chemical-mechanical polishing and a thin 150-nm Al(Cu)/Ti mirror to minimize hillock formation. The use of chemical-mechanical polishing planarization resulted in only a 1% loss in reflectivity from topography under the mirrors. The reflectivity for pixel sizes from 7.5 to 40 μm and 0.7- or 0.5-μm gaps were measured, and the performance of TN LC pixels with different sizes and inversion methods are reported.
War in the Wild East: The German Army and Soviet Partisans . By Ben Shepherd. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2004. Pp. 300. $29.95. ISBN 0-674-01296-8.

This concise study of the German army's anti-partisan campaigns on the Eastern Front in World War II provides added detail and nuance to historical understanding of the “war of devastation” launched by the Nazi leadership. While titanic armies clashed on the battlefields, German campaigns in the occupied territories behind the front also took a devastating toll, with “the destruction of more than 5,000 villages and the killing of up to 300,000 mainly civilian Soviet citizens” (p. 27). This brutal treatment was meted out not only by the indoctrinated killers of the SS units, but also by units of the German army (contrary to the idealized depictions of a “fundamentally decent” regular army circulated after 1945). Shepherd aims to reveal the mix of “personal influences and particular conditions” (p. 33) and their interplay in causing the brutalization of the German army, the Wehrmacht. Shepherd states, “the Wehrmacht was the single institution that, more than any other, shaped the lives and actions of ordinary Germans between 1933 and 1945” (p. 28), with eleven million men serving in its ranks in this period.
Effects of transport inhibitors on the generation and transport of a soluble viral glycoprotein.

Abstract The generation and transport of the soluble glycoprotein (Gs) of wild-type vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) were studied using cell fractionation and transport inhibitors. Gs was found in the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) and the Golgi-enriched membrane fractions of infected Chinese hamster ovary cells. The identity of intracellular Gs was confirmed by its precipitation with a monoclonal antibody to the ectodomain but not with a anti-peptide antibody directed against the first 15 amino acids at the carboxy terminus of the VSV transmembrane glycoprotein G. Their extracellular appearance was affected in a concentration-dependent manner by monensin and carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) and was completely inhibited by incubation at 20°. Inhibitors failed to dissociate the transport of Gs from G. These experiments indicate that in fibroblast cells Gs can be generated intracellularly, probably in the RER, and that Gs, like G, is transported from there to the Golgi complex and then presumably to the extracellular environment.
Child-to-Child Unintentional Injury and Death from Firearms in the United States: What can be Done?

Children are unintentionally killing and injuring other children at an alarming rate in the United States owing to the accessibility of firearms. Firearms are found in 33–40% of American households with children. Many of those firearms are stored in an unsafe manner, loaded and unlocked, leaving children vulnerable to injury. Health care professionals dedicated to the well-being of the pediatric population must take an active role in protecting our nation's children from unnecessary injury and death owing to the unsafe storage of firearms.
A stacked sequential learning method for investigator name recognition from web-based medical articles

"Investigator Names" is a newly required field in MEDLINE citations. It consists of personal names listed as members of corporate organizations in an article. Extracting investigator names automatically is necessary because of the increasing volume of articles reporting collaborative biomedical research in which a large number of investigators participate. In this paper, we present an SVM-based stacked sequential learning method in a novel application - recognizing named entities such as the first and last names of investigators from online medical journal articles. Stacked sequential learning is a meta-learning algorithm which can boost any base learner. It exploits contextual information by adding the predicted labels of the surrounding tokens as features. We apply this method to tag words in text paragraphs containing investigator names, and demonstrate that stacked sequential learning improves the performance of a nonsequential base learner such as an SVM classifier.
The localization of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase in kidney tissue by means of fluorescent antibody

Abstract 1. 1. Rabbit muscle glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, highly purified by recrystallization, has been used as an antigen in guinea pigs. Antisera have been obtained which readily precipitate the enzyme and inhibit its activity. 2. 2. An immunochemical evaluation of the precipitability of this preparation with antisera revealed that after simple diffusion in agar gel, pH 7.2, and during electrophoresis in barbital buffer, pH 8.6, the enzyme dissociates into two components each having a different motility. Separation and immunochemical evaluation of these components have shown that both are enzymatically active and are inhibited by the same antisera. It appears, therefore, that the appearance of multiple precipitins in gel and in saline dilutions of the antigen is not due to heterologous contaminants. 3. 3. The localization of the enzyme in the rat kidney by means of fluorescent antibody technique has been described.
Quantitative Spectroscopic Imaging for Early Cancer Diagnosis

We have developed a quantitative spectroscopic imaging (QSI) system for detecting early cancer. Its effectiveness is demonstrated with ex vivo human colonic mucosa. In addition, clinical data is acquired from the ventral tongue.
Coupled deformation-diffusion effects in the mechanics of faulting and failure of geomaterials

This review article discusses the applications of poroelasticity to the mechanics of faulting and failure in geomaterials. Values of material parameters inferred from laboratory and field studies are summarized. Attention is focused on solutions for shear dislocations and shear cracks. A common feature is that undrained response, invoked by rapid slip or deformation, is stiffer than drained response, which occurs for slower slip or deformation. The time and spatial variation of the stress and pore pressure is different for slip on permeable and impermeable planes. These solutions are applied to interpretation of water well level changes due to slip, earthquake precursory processes, and stabilization of spreading slip zones. Inclusion models for reservoirs, aquifers, and other inhomogeneities are formulated and the results are applied to stress and strain changes caused by fluid mass injection or withdrawal. This article has 120 references. @DOI: 10.1115/1.1410935# The shallow parts of the earth’s crust are mostly infiltrated by fluids and the coupling of fluid flow with deformation of the crust alters the response. In particular, this coupling introduces a dependence on time into the response, in addition to any time-dependence of the solid matrix itself. Deep drill holes have encountered significant quantities of fluid at surprisingly large depths, nearly 10 km @1,2#, and geochemical analysis of fluids associated with the faults in California @3# suggest that the fluids originated from the mantle. Consequently, this coupling may be a significant effect not only at shallow depths but throughout the crust.
Perspective: Virtually Exposed: Privacy And E-Health

The united states is embroiled in a longstanding, contentious debate over how and to what extent individual privacy should be protected in the health care arena. Against this backdrop e-health enters the fray, bringing with it a universe of undefined, unregulated ventures. This paper addresses consumer-focused Internet services—that is, services that target consumers who are accessing information and services. Some of these activities are traditional health care activities that are migrating to the Internet, such as recruitment for clinical trials, fulfillment of prescription drugs, applications for health insurance, and even consultations with medical care providers. Other activities appear to be unique to the Internet and strain our current understanding of health care. In the past two years the number of American adults accessing health information online has doubled, to ninety-eight million. Many health care consumers are attracted to the Internet because it appears to offer anonymity and a safe place to seek and share information. It is ironic that this is most likely an illusion: Many e-health business models depend on identifying and tracking users for a variety of purposes, often without the person’s knowledge or consent. One privacy advocate notes:
Activation of BMP-Smad1/5/8 signaling promotes survival of retinal ganglion cells after damage in vivo.

While the essential role of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling in nervous system development is well established, its function in the adult CNS is poorly understood. We investigated the role of BMP signaling in the adult mouse retina following damage in vivo. Intravitreal injection of N-Methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) induced extensive retinal ganglion cell death by 2 days. During this period, BMP2, -4 and -7 were upregulated, leading to phosphorylation of the downstream effector, Smad1/5/8 in the inner retina, including in retinal ganglion cells. Expression of Inhibitor of differentiation 1 (Id1; a known BMP-Smad1/5/8 target) was also upregulated in the retina. This activation of BMP-Smad1/5/8 signaling was also observed following light damage, suggesting that it is a general response to retinal injuries. Co-injection of BMP inhibitors with NMDA effectively blocked the damage-induced BMP-Smad1/5/8 activation and led to further cell death of retinal ganglion cells, when compared with NMDA injection alone. Moreover, treatment of the retina with exogenous BMP4 along with NMDA damage led to a significant rescue of retinal ganglion cells. These data demonstrate that BMP-Smad1/5/8 signaling is neuroprotective for retinal ganglion cells after damage, and suggest that stimulation of this pathway can serve as a potential target for neuroprotective therapies in retinal ganglion cell diseases, such as glaucoma.
Translation, genetics and cell biology

time of macronuclear development, which is measured in hours in many ciliates. As noted above, in Oxytriclm the deletion-rejoining must be pre-[ cise. However, variation in the sites of rejoining of certain lESs has been seen in Tetrahymena (reviewed in Ref. 6) and Paramecium (J. Forney and E. Blackburn, submitted). Klobutcher et al. note that lESs are not members .Jr repetitive sequence families and thus are unlikely to be defective transposons, although transposons have been seen in the micronuclear genomes of Oxytricha and Tetrahymena 7"s. What are the functions, if any, of LESs in ciliates? They could have as yet unknown micronucleus-speciiic functions. At least in the case of IV~Ss interrupting open reading flames, their removal is necessary to create a functional macronuclear sequence. Are they 'selfish DNA', tolerated because a mechanism exists for their removal? Again, no available evidence can be said to favor strongly or to eliminate any of these hypotheses. The existence of IESs and their developmentally controlled removal may l force us into new and unexpected ways of thinldng about the roles and origins of some genome components. T I C , September 1987, VoL 3, no. 9
Effect of Yakson and Gentle Human Touch versus usual care on urine stress hormones and behaviors in preterm infants: a quasi-experimental study.

Abstract Background Touching, one of the most developed senses, is proven to relax preterm infants. Yakson is a Korean touching method for healing and relaxation similar to Gentle Human Touch (GHT), which is used in the United States. Objective The goal of this study was to test the effect of Yakson and GHT on preterm infants' stress and behaviors compared to usual nursing care. Design A quasi-experimental study design was used. Participants Fifty-nine preterm infants (26–34 weeks gestational age) in the neonatal intensive care unit were chronologically assigned into three groups; Yakson ( n =20), GHT ( n =20), and control group ( n =19). Methods The Yakson and GHT groups each received an intervention for 15min twice a day for 15 days while the control group received usual nursing care. Yakson consists of three five-minute phases: resting the hand on the infant, gentle caressing, and resting the hand again. GHT consists of hand resting for 15min. Twenty-four-hour urine cortisol and norepinephrine samples were collected both before and after the 15-day intervention period. The infants' sleep and awake states were observed before, during, and after each intervention. Results Following the intervention period, preterm infants in the Yakson and GHT groups had significantly lower stress hormone levels compared to the control group preterm infants. No significant difference was found in stress hormone levels between Yakson and GHT group preterm infants. After Yakson or GHT, the infants exhibited an increased percentage of sleep states and a decreased percentage of awake and fussy states. Conclusions The findings suggest that Yakson is another touching method that is not aversive or stressful to preterm infants, and which may provide several positive effects on preterm infants.
Culturally Informed and Flexible Family‐Based Treatment for Adolescents: A Tailored and Integrative Treatment for Hispanic Youth

The increasing utilization of evidence-based treatments has highlighted the need for treatment development efforts that can craft interventions that are effective with Hispanic substance abusing youth and their families. The list of evidence-based treatments is extremely limited in its inclusion of interventions that are explicitly responsive to the unique characteristics and treatment needs of young Hispanics and that have been rigorously tested with this population. Some treatments that have been tested with Hispanics do not articulate the manner in which cultural characteristics and therapy processes interact. Other treatments have emphasized the important role of culture but have not been tested rigorously. The value of well designed interventions built upon an appreciation for unique patient characteristics was highlighted by Beutler et al. (1996) when they argued that "psychotherapy is comprised of a set of complex tasks, and practitioners need comprehensive knowledge of how different processes used in psychotherapy interact with patient characteristics in order to make treatment decisions that will maximize and optimize therapeutic power" (p. 30). A focus on how treatment processes interact with patient characteristics is particularly relevant in the Hispanic population because of the considerable heterogeneity beneath the Hispanic umbrella. Our new program of clinical research focuses on articulating how the varied profiles with regard to immigration stressors, acculturation processes, values clashes, sense of belonging to the community, discrimination, and knowledge about issues important to adolescent health can be more effectively addressed by a culturally informed treatment.
Continuous Professional Development: Raising the Bar for Pediatricians

Physicians are increasingly accountable to patients and institutions for proof that they are maintaining medical competence in a rapidly changing health care environment.1 An essential factor in the professional development of physicians is a lifelong commitment to learning. Changes in clinical practice and advances in research have created new educational needs for physicians during the past 2 decades. Coupled with expanded learning methodologies, these needs have prompted unique approaches to traditional continuing medical education (CME). Criticism exists that the current structure of CME may be ineffective in altering physician performance with its distant, disconnected, and teacher-centered approach to education.1–8 In a systematic review of the usefulness of CME strategies, Davis et al6 found that CME in North America is concentrated mostly in formal interventions (eg, conferences) that have limited impact in changing physician performance and/or health care outcomes. They attribute this ineffectiveness in part to the fact that most CME strategies are not individualized to the physician-learner.6 Physicians are expected to learn specific knowledge and skills presented in different formats by experts and then to incorporate this learning into their own practices at a later time. Content in CME activities, especially delivered by lectures, often is not immediately relevant to a participant’s clinical practice. Evidence has shown that if the new knowledge is not directly relevant to the physician, then it is less likely that he or she will be able to integrate it in a way that ultimately enhances patient outcomes.2 There are important aspects to CME that may have value for participants, including confirmation of medical knowledge and reinforcement of good clinical practice. The methods to obtain CME chosen by practitioners are also shifting, as constraints of time and money are becoming increasingly influential in determining CME preferences. As clinical productivity … Reprint requests to (T.C.S.) Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, 725 Welch Rd #5731, Palo Alto, CA 94304. E-mail: theodore.sectish{at}medcenter.stanford.edu
Isolation and characterization of microsatellite loci in Greater Sage‐Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus)

Primers for five polymorphic microsatellite loci were developed for Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) using an enrichment/detection protocol. The high level of polymorphism (nine to 33 alleles) suggests that these loci will be applicable for investigating mating systems and paternity analysis as well as population genetics. Cross-species amplification was successful for each locus in at least two other galliform species.
Photoinduced changes in the complex index of refraction resulting from photoinduced charge transfer in conjugated polymer/fullerene blends

We report steady-state photoinduced absorption (PIA) and photoinduced reflectance (PIR) in films of MEH-PPV and BCHA- PPV blended with fullerene-based acceptors. Absorption from the metastable charge-transferred state is probed by PIA; the modulated absorption spectrum causes changes in the real part of the index of refraction, (Delta) n, which can be measured directly by PIR. The charge transfer gives rise to pronounced features in (Delta) n, including vibrational structure in the mid- and near-IR. Our measurements over a wide spectral range allow quantitative comparison of (Delta) n obtained from PIR with that obtained from Kramers- Kronig transformation of the PIA data. We find good agreement throughout the IR, indicating that our method for measuring (Delta) n is useful as an analytical tool for optical characterization and for prediction of optical spectral ranges for nonlinear optical response.
Diurnal variation in oxygen consumption by molting and nonmolting sparrows

Abstract To evaluate the effects of time of measurement on estimates of daily energetic costs of avian molt, oxygen (O 2 ) consumption was measured for molting and wintering sparrows ( Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii ) at 6-hr intervals through the 24-hr cycle and continuously overnight for wintering sparrows exposed to long nights (9L:15D, 23°C). A significant diurnal cycle in O 2 consumption was evident in all birds. In molting birds (16L:8D, 23°C), O 2 consumption during midday was significantly higher than at all other times, and O 2 consumption towards the end of the night was higher than at its beginning. O 2 consumption by wintering birds was significantly higher towards the end of the night than during midnight and was typically higher towards the end of the night than during midday, though not always significantly so. Overnight, O 2 consumption by wintering birds (9L:15D) initially decreased, then remained stable, and finally increased towards the end of the night. Daily O 2 consumption was higher for molting birds than for wintering birds, but the increase in metabolism of molting birds compared with that of wintering birds varied through the diurnal cycle. Based on daily measures of O 2 consumption, peak energetic costs of molt in sparrows were estimated as 10.0 to 19.1 kJ/d.
SOR as a preconditioner

Preconditioning is usually necessary for CG-type iterative algorithms for the solution of large sparse nonsymmetric linear systems. However, many good preconditioners have only marginal intrinsic parallelism--ILU and SSOR in the natural ordering are essentially sequential algorithms. Reordering can yield very good parallelism, but can cause (severe) degradation in the rate of convergence. We consider multi-step SOR in the red-black ordering as a preconditioner. It can have very good parallel properties, but it does not cause degradation in the overall rate of convergence, as does ILU or SSOR. We present one-processor results using multi-step SOR to precondition GMRES which substantiate this claim. There has been some confusion in the literature as to whether this approach should be effective. We deal with the objections, and discuss the relationship between the spectral properties of the preconditioned system and the convergence of GMRES. We also present results from the Intel Paragon and the IBM SP2 showing that as a preconditioner, multistep red-black SOR can give good scaled speedup.
Effects of cardiac transplantation on endothelium-dependent dilation of the peripheral vasculature in congestive heart failure

Patients with congestive heart failure demonstrate attenuated endothelium-dependent vasodilation of the peripheral vasculature, but there are no data regarding the effect of therapies on this abnormality or whether this abnormality is reversible. This study was performed to address the hypothesis that abnormalities in endothelium-dependent vasodilation in heart failure are improved by heart transplantation. Forearm blood flow responses to the intraarterial administration of a dose range of methacholine, an endothelium-dependent vasodilator, and nitroprusside, an endothelium-independent vasodilator, were examined in 2 separate protocols. In protocol 1, forearm blood flow responses to methacholine in 14 heart transplant recipients were 5.02 +/- 3.11, 11.55 +/- 7.20 and 11.61 +/- 10.24 ml/min/100 ml forearm volume. These responses were significantly greater than those in 10 patients with heart failure (2.23 +/- 1.22, 4.60 +/- 3.43 and 6.70 +/- 4.91 ml/min/100 ml forearm volume; p < 0.05). In contrast, the responses to nitroprusside were nearly identical in the 2 groups. In protocol 2, six patients were studied before and 4 months (range 1 to 11) after transplantation. Methacholine responses before transplantation were 2.5 +/- 1.3, 5.2 +/- 1.5 and 7.3 +/- 1.5 ml/min/100 ml forearm volume and were significantly improved after transplantation to 5.7 +/- 1.2, 12.1 +/- 3.0 and 14.2 +/- 2.2 ml/min/100 ml forearm volume (p < 0.05). Peak reactive hyperemia responses increased significantly from 19.0 +/- 3.7 to 44.8 +/- 6.4 ml/min/100 ml forearm volume (p < 0.01) after transplantation. These data demonstrate that heart transplantation was associated with a significant improvement in the forearm blood flow responses to methacholine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Outwardly rectifying currents in guinea pig outer hair cells

Studies of K+ conductances in hair cells report that big-conductance Ca(2+)-dependent K+ (BK) channels carry parts of the outwardly rectifying currents. Lin et al. (1995) suggested that in guinea pig outer hair cells (OHCs) a portion of these currents is carried via a voltage-dependent and Ca(2+)-independent K+ channel. The present study tests the hypothesis that there are two separable current components of the outwardly rectifying currents by using patch clamp methods in OHCs to characterize the voltage dependence and sensitivity of the outwardly rectifying currents to channel blockers. Lowering of external Ca2+ caused no change in the currents while charybdotoxin (ChTx; 100 nM), a BK K+ channel blocker, and Cd2+ (200 microM), and L-type calcium channel blocker, abolished about 50% of the currents. Both ChTx and Cd2+ caused a depolarizing shift in the half-activation voltage paralleled by a decrease in the voltage sensitivity. 4-Aminopyridine (4-AP, 0.01 mM), an A-type and delayed rectifier type channel blocker, abolished about 50% of the currents and caused a hyperpolarizing shift in the half-activation voltage together with an increase in the voltage sensitivity. The outwardly rectifying currents were more sensitive to block by 4-AP at membrane voltages around 40 mV compared to voltages around -20 mV. The differences in the current characteristics may be due to two separate channel types, one of which is similar to the delayed rectifier type channels while the other may be similar to the BK Ca(2+)-dependent K+ channels. In addition, the largest outwardly rectifying currents were present in long OHCs with the smallest present in short OHCs.
Preliminary evaluation of a synchronous co-located educational simulation framework

We designed the MUSHI (Multi-User Simulation with Handheld Integration) framework to address two educational needs: (1) to help students learn about complex, multi-scalar systems, and (2) to help students collaborate with one another in small groups. The MUSHI system provides each student with a handheld computer that is wirelessly synchronized with a simulation running on a tablet PC computer. A group of students can interact with small-scale elements of the simulation via their personal handhelds, and can observe large-scale elements on the shared computer. Because this is a novel combination of devices, we conducted use trials with middle school students to explore issues surrounding multi-device representations, small-group collaboration, and equitable computing.