cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Has SFAS 142 improved the usefulness of goodwill impairment loss and goodwill balances for investors

Due to the concerns about the annual SFAS 142 impairment test, the FASB has recently added a project to its technical agenda to evaluate potential alternatives for measurement of goodwill. Motivated by the FASB’s consideration of a change in goodwill accounting, I examine the impact of SFAS 142 on the usefulness of goodwill write-offs and goodwill balances. I find that goodwill write-offs and goodwill balances are more strongly associated with stock returns and stock prices respectively after SFAS 142 than before SFAS 142. Furthermore, in the post-SFAS 142 period, I find that the association between stock prices and goodwill is lower for firms that avoid the recognition of the existing goodwill impairments, and that goodwill write-offs are more negatively associated with stock returns for firms where managers have more discretion over the impairment testing process. Overall, the findings suggest that despite the concerns of critics over the reliability of fair value estimates of goodwill, (1) SFAS 142 has improved the usefulness of goodwill numbers from investor perspective, and (2) investors see through the differences in reliability of reported goodwill numbers. These results have implications for standard-setting as the FASB considers new alternatives for goodwill accounting.
Social Media Usage and the Level of Depressive Symptoms in the United States

The use of social media can either decrease the level of depressive symptoms by providing support or increase the level of depressive symptoms by putting social pressure on users. This paper leverages fixed effects and instrumental variable models to find that using social media (Twitter and Facebook) decreases the level of depressive symptoms on average. This result explains why social media usage in the US grows steadily even though most studies find that more usage correlates with higher levels of depressive symptoms. Three explanations reconcile the negative causal effect and positive correlation: confounder, social media improvement, and heterogeneity.
Effect of feeder space on live performance and processing yields of broiler chickens reared to 56 days of age

Summary While the effects of stocking density on broiler welfare and performance have been extensively and regularly studied as genetics and production models have evolved, feeder space recommendations has received less attention. Most feeder space data for broilers dates from the 1950’s and 1960’s, with relatively few assessments since, targeting market weights below 2.5 kg. This study examined live performance and yield in broilers reared to 56 d as influenced by provision of three feeder space allocations: 2.3 (nominal), 4.6, and 6.9 cm/bird. BW was significantly improved during the starter and grower phases as feeder space increased (P
Cardiovascular Disease in Minorities: Unique Considerations: Hypertension in African and Hispanic Americans

With approximately 30% of the United States diagnosed with hypertension, there are significant disparities of hypertension resulting in the leading cause of morbidity and mortality the US adult population. The prevalence of hypertension among African Americans is among the highest in the world. Although the prevalence of hypertension is highest among non-Hispanic Black individuals, the prevalence of antihypertensive medication use is lowest among Hispanic individuals. Overall, evidence demonstrates that poor adherence to prescribed antihypertensive medication is a major contributor to these disparities. Additionally, implementation of therapeutic lifestyle changes lies at the heart of hypertension care, especially in patients with milder forms of hypertension. National health initiatives may also help address the public health burden associated with health disparities through primary and secondary prevention efforts targeting hypertension at the individual, community, health systems, and population levels. Interventions to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, specifically hypertension, not only by race/ethnicity, but also by risk factors and social determinants, must be addressed.
Expression of the mitochondrial genome in HeLa cells: XI. Isolation and characterization of transcription complexes of mitochondrial DNA

Abstract Transcription complexes of HeLa cell mitochondrial DNA have been isolated by sedimentation velocity in a sucrose gradient and buoyant density fractionation in a CsCl/ethidium bromide density-gradient and characterized in the electron microscope and by biochemical tests. Both open and closed circular mitochondrial DNA molecules carrying nascent RNA chains have been observed, with the open forms showing signs of a more intensive transcriptive activity in terms of the number and size of RNA chains attached to them. At least 25 RNA bushes were counted in the same transcription complex. The largest bushes in the transcription complexes have been estimated to correspond to RNA chains as long as the whole mitochondrial DNA molecule. The observation that treatment with a protein denaturant such as sodium dodecyl sulfate failed to cause the release from the transcription complexes of a good part of, if not all, the nascent chains, strongly suggests that base-paring, in addition to RNA polymerase, has a role in holding the RNA and DNA together. Measurement of the rate of labeling of the transcripts of the heavy and light mitochondrial DNA strands in the transcription complexes has indicated that the two mitochondrial DNA strands are transcribed at a similar rate.
Not Just the NFL: Compensation, Litigation, and Public Health in Concussion Cases

This article examines the recent attention given to traumatic head injury in the National Football League from a public health perspective. It notes that injuries are prevalent in many sports (not just football), and argues that the goal should be to design interventions that reduce the incidence and severity of such injuries. The article explores and evaluates some of the measures that have been taken throughout football (from the NFL down through youth leagues) to make the sport safer, and notes how these steps also affect other sports and injuries to other parts of the body. Since football and other dangerous sports are unlikely to be eliminated, harm reduction should be the goal. Taken together, these measures are likely to be successful by that measure.The article concludes with some observations about the use and limitations of tort claims and compensation funds to redress the harms caused by participation in dangerous sports such as football.
Need for a METOC GRID computing environment

Our nation has begun major investments of time and money into an Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) that will span the country's boundaries and integrate well into the international version, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). Further, it has been noted that equally important is the need to integrate data management, model execution and validation, and product distribution into a modern framework or infrastructure. Everyday more effort is invested in numerical ocean model R&D and then for successful R&D models there is the transition to, and implementation within, the operational activities. In a recent report sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation, it states "The field of ocean sciences is currently faced with extraordinary opportunities for progress... Unfortunately, many aspects of these activities are severely limited by the Information Technology Infrastructure (ITI) available to the ocean sciences community..." This paper discusses the need to create an infrastructure, much like the Web, that spans the needs of the ocean community from R&D, through transition and implementation, to daily operations, and that also would support distributed collaboration, education and training. This infrastructure should also provide the integrating framework for data distribution and management, model and application communication, and product dissemination and quality assurance. Common functions would be accessed the same way and have the same look and feel wherever they are encountered within the framework and thus ease the learning curve, as well as the development and collaboration process. While this paper suggests, at a high level, possible technology to accomplish this, the focus is on the need for this common infrastructure and not on details of the technology to implement it. The primary technology considered is the "GRID", the computational power grid that integrates diverse high performance computing resources across a distributed environment. However, the GRID in itself can achieve even greater utility when integrated with Web and distributed object/component technologies.
Bioclimatic evaluation of geographical range in Fragaria (Rosaceae): consequences of variation in breeding system, ploidy and species age

The evaluation of the intrinsic and extrinsic forces that determine geographical range sizes and niche breadth is key to the understanding of species distributions and for informing the conservation of biodiversity. Fragaria (Rosaceae) contains the economically important cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa subsp. ananassa) and numerous wild species. Using georeferenced species records and global bioclimatic data, we describe the bioclimatic niches for 21 Fragaria spp. and investigate the relationship between their niches and geographical range size, breeding system, ploidy and time since divergence. We found no evidence of phylogenetic signal for bioclimatic niches. There was also no relationship between ploidy and geographical or bioclimatic range area, but geographical range area was significantly greater for species that were capable of self-fertilization. In addition, we found a significant decelerating relationship between species age and geographical range area. Overall, our results suggest that Fragaria spp., although similar in morphology and life history, show high levels of divergence in bioclimatic niches and significant over-dispersion along some bioclimatic gradients, suggesting evolutionary lability in physiology and climate tolerance. As a consequence, wild species will remain a valuable resource for cultivated strawberry sustainability, especially under changing future climate. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 176, 99–114.
Atomic calculations for Ca XVII - UV and X-ray lines

Doschek et al. (1977) have pointed out the importance of the Ca XVII UV lines as an electron density diagnostic. Energy levels, transition probabilities, and collision strengths, are presently obtained for the 2s2, 2s 2p, 2p2, 2s 3s, 2s 3p, and 2s 3d configurations of Ca XVII, and the theoretical intensity ratios for the UV and X-ray lines are compared with observed intensities in solar flare spectra. Inconsistencies are indicated in the analysis of UV data, and discrepancies between observed and theoretical intensity ratios indicate that further studies are required. New identifications are suggested in the X-ray wavelength region.
An epistemology for clinical medicine: an argument for reflection on the ends of medical practice and ways of knowing with implications for the selection and training of physician.

Today physicians and scientists have a detailed understanding of human biology and have developed diagnostic and therapeutic tools that were unimaginable a century ago. Yet physicians have provided care and counsel for more than 3000 years. Some, such as Hippocrates and Osler, remain exemplars of the excellent physician. They did not have our scientific knowledge or tools, but they knew something important and performed some task of great value to their patients. What did they know and what did they do? This article explores the questions every ill patient asks, the timeless nature of patient as person, and the forms of non-factual knowing (described as know-how, know-what, know-who, and know-how-it-feels) that are essential to patient care. From this, it is suggested that the combination of understanding, insight, and judgment used for practical action, what Aristotle called “phronesis,” is the core competency of excellent physicians which has remained unchanged across the centuries.
Dissipative design and the nonlinear TORA benchmark example, revisited

The TORA example is used to illustrate issues concerning the selection of design parameters, in passive controllers, including the impact of both lossless and dissipative design parameters. The analysis reveals substantial differences in performance based preferences, in different parts of the state space. An alternative dual structure controller is suggested, which provides for faster convergence with much lower actuation, than a single structure dissipative controller. Dissipative, observer based design is also suggested for the partial state feedback case, featuring much shorter time constants than static feedback compensators.
Antigen-specific B-cell function in human autoimmune thyroiditis

T-B cells from the peripheral circulation of patients with autoimmune thyroiditis were cocultured with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) or soluble human thyroglobulin (Tg), a self-antigen. The B-cell mitogen,Staphylococcus aureus, combined with macrophage-derived B-cell differentiating factor, inducedin vitro lymphoid activation and proliferation in the presence or absence of Tg or SRBC, which was monitored after 6 days by specific anti-Tg and anti-SRBC plaque-forming cell (PFC) responses (expressed as PFC per 106 T-B cells). In the presence of SRBC, significantly more anti-SRBC PFC (322±113, SE) were generated in normals (N=5) compared with autoimmune thyroiditis patients (58±36) (N=8) (P≦0.001), data consistent with an antigen-specific T-cell defect. Anti-Tg PFC, not detectable in normal controls, were observed in patients in the absence (111±41) and presence (171±64) of Tg (10–1000 ng/ml). However, variable responses were noted after such coculture experiments with Tg. Three patients demonstrated amplification of anti-Tg PFC, while three showed antigen-related inhibition of anti-Tg PFC. These data indicated heterogeneity of responses to Tg antigen in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease compounded by significantly depressed antigen-specific induction mechanisms.
Complementarity in Monitoring and Bonding: More Intense Monitoring Leads to Higher Executive Compensation

Executive Overview Agency theory addresses problems created from the separation of principals and agents in modern corporations. Some agency theorists have investigated the exact relationship between control mechanisms (monitoring and bonding) and suggested that they work as substitutes. We posit that, although monitoring and bonding may be concurrent substitutes in a system of governance, monitoring intensity is positively related to bonding (i.e., compensation) so that over time, they are complements rather than substitutes. In particular, we suggest that increased monitoring intensity shifts risk to managers, who then require greater compensation to offset their increased employment and career risk. Accordingly, they reinforce each other in a negative cycle such that monitoring leads to increased pay, which in turn leads to increased monitoring due to complaints of excessive pay. The result is that in today's economic environment society often criticizes executive pay without realizing that, in part, h...
Submuscular implantation of insertable cardiac monitors improves the reliability of detection of atrial fibrillation

Diagnosing atrial fibrillation (AF) is highly relevant, as specific secondary prevention is of high importance. Recently, insertable cardiac monitors (ICMs) have been introduced for continuous monitoring to detect asymptomatic episodes of AF. The detection of AF remains challenging due to a relevant incidence of artifacts. This study aimed to compare the effectivity of ICM when placed in a subcutaneous or in a submuscular localization, respectively. We retrospectively analyzed data from 30 patients undergoing pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) for AF and consecutive ICM implantation. ICMs were implanted in two locations: either subcutaneously and parasternally (SC) or under the left major pectoral muscle (SP). Interrogations were continuously retrieved using remote monitoring and during repeated visits in our outpatient clinic. The transmission protocols were scanned for detected AF, and it was ruled by two blinded investigators, if detection was correct or incorrect. Mean age was 67 ± 10 years, 56 % men, 50 % paroxysmal AF. In 14 of the patients, the ICM was implanted at a SC localization and in 16 patients subpectorally. R-wave amplitude was significantly higher in patents with SP implantation. There were 670 transmitted protocols including 1024 episodes detected as AF. Of these, 54 % were correctly recognized as AF in the SC group. In the SP group, 85 % of the recorded episodes were correctly recognized as AF (p = 0.03). The remaining episodes in both groups showed sinus rhythm with misinterpreted artifacts. To improve effectiveness of detecting AF episodes, it is useful to implant subpectorally.
Magnetization Curve at Zero Temperature for the Antiferromagnetic Heisenberg Linear Chain

The highest and lowest energies as a function of the total spin are computed for the class of "unbound" states in the Bethe formalism for the linear chain of spin-\textonehalf{} atoms with a Heisenberg exchange interaction between nearest neighbors. The lowest energies are used to compute the magnetization curve for the infinite antiferromagnetic chain in the limit of zero temperature. At zero temperature and in zero field, the magnetic susceptibility has the value 0.050661 $\frac{{g}^{2}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{2}}{J}$, where $\ensuremath{\mu}$ is the Bohr magneton, $g$ the electron $g$ factor, and the interaction between neighboring spins is of the form $2J{\mathbf{S}}_{1}\ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{}{\mathbf{S}}_{2}$.
Postoperative ketorolac does not predispose to pseudoarthrosis following posterior spinal fusion and instrumentation for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective review comparing patients who had postoperative ketorolac and those who did not following posterior spinal fusion and instrumentation (PSFI) for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). OBJECTIVE: To analyze the effect of postoperative ketorolac on the incidence of pseudoarthrosis in postoperative AIS patients. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Ketorolac (Toradol, Roche Laboratories, Nutley, NJ) is a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug that is an effective adjunct to manage postoperative pain. It has been previously demonstrated to inhibit spinal fusion in adult patients undergoing a L4 to sacral fusion. To our knowledge, there are no large studies analyzing this effect following PSFI for AIS. METHODS: An IRB-approved retrospective medical record review was performed from 1994 to 2000 of patients undergoing a PSFI for AIS at a single institution. Segmental spinal instrumentation (Texas Scottish Rite Hospital) and iliac crest bone graft were used in both groups. Demographic and operative data were recorded. Patients were divided into those who had postoperative ketorolac (K group) and those who did not (NK group). Patients who had a surgically confirmed pseudoarthrosis were identified and the K group and NK group were statistically compared. RESULTS: There were 161 patients in the NK group and 158 in the K group. There were no differences with respect to age (14.4 vs. 14.2 years), gender (83.9% vs. 84.8% females), levels fused (9.8 vs. 9.7), or preoperative curve magnitude (57.9 degrees vs. 58.9 degrees ). In the K group, the number of doses of ketorolac administered was 6.7 for an average of 26.7 mg for a duration of 46 hours after surgery. Patients in the K group were more likely to have Motrin (average 5.8 doses) compared with the NK group (average 0.7 doses) (P < 0.01). No patient in the K group had a history of cigarette smoking compared with 2 patients in the NK group, both of whom went on to solid arthrodesis. The overall incidence of pseudoarthrosis was 2.5% for all patients. There was no difference in the incidence of pseudoarthrosis comparing the K (1.9%) and the NK group (3.1%)(P = 0.7). When the single rod posterior implants were excluded, there was no difference between the K (0.7%) and NK groups (1.8%) (P = 0.58). CONCLUSION: Ketorolac does not increase the incidence of developing a pseudoarthrosis when used as an adjunct for postoperative analgesia following a PSFI for AIS using segmental spinal instrumentation and iliac crest bone graft. The differences seen here compared with adults may be due to the greater healing potential in these young patients. We recommend utilization of ketorolac after surgery to supplement pain management when necessary.
Fishing for Biomarkers with Antigen Mimics

Current efforts to identify antibodies that are biomarkers of disease rely on knowing the antigens they target. In many diseases, however, the relevant antigens are unknown. Reddy et al. (2010) now present an approach for discovering antibody biomarkers that avoids the need for antigen identification.
AU-rich elements in the 3'-UTR regulate the stability of the 141 amino acid isoform of parathyroid hormone-related protein mRNA.

We demonstrated previously that parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) 1-141 mRNA is the least stable of three isoforms and is the only isoform that is stabilized by TGF-β. In order to understand how PTHrP mRNA is stabilized by TGF-β, we first sought to elucidate the mechanism(s) that are responsible for the instability of PTHrP isoform 1-141 mRNA. The 3′-UTR of isoform 1-141 contains four AU-rich elements (AREs), which are known to mediate mRNA degradation. We utilized a luciferase reporter system to test whether these four AREs are responsible for the short half-life of PTHrP 1-141 mRNA. Our results demonstrated that ARE elements in the 3′-UTR of PTHrP 1-141 mRNA play a significant role in regulation of the stability of the mRNA. It is known that AREs mediate their effects on mRNA stability through a number of ARE-binding proteins that recruit the exosome, a complex of exonucleases that degrades the mRNA. We identified tristetraproline (TTP) as an RNA-binding protein that may be involved in ARE-mediated degradation of PTHrP 1-141 mRNA.
Clinically Benign Fever of Unknown Origin: A Personal Retrospective

The purpose of this discussion has been to bring to the attention of physicians the fact that all instances of etiologically undefined persistent fever are not associated with potentially serious or life-threatening organic disease, regardless of the height of the temperature. As has been pointed out, many patients with FUO clearly have disorders that are clinically benign, and the cause of these disorders is defined much more frequently on the basis of information obtained from a detailed historic inquiry than on the basis of findings made during the most meticulous physical examination and extensive laboratory studies. These individuals are usually seen first in an outpatient setting and seldom, if ever, require hospitalization because the cause of their FUO can, with uncommon exceptions, be identified as a physiologic or emotional dysfunction, a reaction to a drug or a chemical, or a disorder that is genetically determined. Failure to recognize that even a high elevation of the temperature can represent a clinically benign situation may lead to unnecessary hospitalization, during which the many investigations that are usually carried out may serve only to reinforce the patient's concern about a serious disease. It is most important for both patients and physicians to be aware that temperature, like all other physiologic and chemical measurements in humans, is expressed by a range of values and that a temperature of 98.6 degrees F is not normal for all persons. It must also be appreciated that "normal" temperature varies with age. The newborn infant may develop high-grade fever in the absence of disease because of marked instability of the vasomotor system.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Cardiolipin liposomes sequester a reactivatable partially folded rhodanese intermediate.

The interaction was studied between the mitochondrial enzyme thiosulfate sulfurtransferase and liposomes, in the form of large unilamellar vesicles (LUV), prepared from either cardiolipin (CL), PtdCho or PtdSer. At equivalent concentrations of lipid, more partially folded thiosulfate sulfurtransferase bound to CL/LUV than to PtdSer/LUV, and only traces were bound to PtdCho/LUV. Native thiosulfate sulfurtransferase did not bind to any of these LUV. We show that CL/LUV-sequestered thiosulfate sulfurtransferase is inactive but may be reactivated (approximately 56%) with the aid of detergents, thiosulfate, β-mercaptoethanol and phosphate buffer. Reactivations in the presence of PtdSer/LUV or PtdCho/LUV was only 9% or 1%, respectively. Analysis of the complex by protease digestion and fluorescence spectroscopy indicated that thiosulfate sulfurtransferase was held by CL/LUV and PtdSer/LUV as a folding intermediate. Data presented here suggest that detergents may not interat directly with the protein, but, rather, their primary role in reactivation is to disrupt the LUV, allowing flexibility to the anchored thiosulfate sulfurtransferase molecule, thereby promoting folding. These studies complement other reports which imply a possible role for CL in protein translocation across the mitochondria, since we find that CL binds to thiosulfate sulfurtransferase and sequesters it in a translocation-competent prefolded conformation, which may readily lead to a correctly folded enzyme.
The Design And Use Of Polycrystalline Diamond Compact Drag Bits In The Geothermal Environment

The potential for utilizing polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutters to provide high performance bits has been recognized by the drilling industry. New bit designs suitable for geothermal drilling are being developed based on the results of single cutter laboratory tests and analytical analyses. A new bonding technique for attaching the cutters to the bit body has been developed. Bits using this new technique have been built and tested with promising results. The results of single cutter tests, the bit design philosophy, the bonding process for attaching the cutters to the bit body, and the results of laboratory and field tests of these new bit designs are described.
Collective operations in application-level fault-tolerant MPI

Fault-tolerance is becoming a critical issue on high-performance platforms. Checkpointing techniques make programs fault-tolerant by saving their state periodically and restoring this state after failure. System-level checkpointing saves the state of the entire machine on stable storage, but this usually has too much overhead. In practice, programmers do manual checkpointing by writing code to (i) save the values of key program variables at critical points in the program, and (ii) restore the entire computational state from these values during recovery. However, this can be difficult to do in general MPI programs without global barriers.In an earlier paper, we presented a distributed checkpoint coordination protocol which handles MPI's point-to-point constructs, while dealing with the unique challenges of application-level checkpointing. The protocol is implemented by a thin software layer that sits between the application program and the MPI library, so it does not require any modifications to the MPI library. However, it did not handle collective communication, which is a very important part of MPI. In this paper, we extend the protocol to handle MPI's collective communication constructs. We also present experimental results that show that the overhead introduced by the protocol for collective operations is small.
Inference of discontinuity trace length distributions using statistical graphical models

Abstract The characterization of discontinuities within rock masses is often accomplished using stochastic discontinuity network models, in which the stochastic nature of the discontinuity network is represented by means of statistical distributions. We present a flexible methodology for maximum likelihood inference of the distribution of discontinuity trace lengths based on observations at rock outcrops. The inference problem is formulated using statistical graphical models and target distributions with several Gaussian mixture components. We use the Expectation–Maximization algorithm to exploit the relations of conditional independence between variables in the maximum likelihood estimation problem. Initial results using artificially generated discontinuity traces show that the method has good inference capabilities, and inferred trace length distributions closely reproduce those used for generation. In addition, the convergence of the algorithm is shown to be fast.
Secure Content Centric Mobile Network

Rapid advancements of wireless technologies allow users to access real-time data, and stay connected with friends and business while they are on the move. However, most emerging mobile applications assume users have cellular data services, and hence not everyone can enjoy new mobile applications. In addition, some emerging mobile applications e.g. mobile recommender system are data-centric but existing IP oriented communication paradigms are not flexible enough to support such applications. In this paper, we present a new secure content centric mobile network that supports content centric communication paradigm. Users can exchange information using peer to peer mode without having to rely on cellular data services. Content-centric security solution is provided where data owners can share encrypted published data items with others without knowing a priori who the interested users may be. Our preliminary prototype deployed in the ORBIT testbed demonstrates some of the key features we have designed.
Liver transplantation for hepatocellular cancer: The impact of the MELD allocation policy

Recent reports suggest that selected patients undergoing liver transplantation for stage 1–2 hepatocellular cancer (HCC) have an excellent long-term survival and a low incidence of recurrence. In the past, over 45% of HCC patients on the United Network for Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement Transplantation Network waiting list did not receive a donor organ for up to 2 years. This resulted in not only a high mortality rate but a high rate of being removed from the waiting list because of progression of HCC to advanced stages. The introduction of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) allocation policy has had a positive effect on HCC liver transplant candidates with the number of patients transplanted for HCC significantly increasing over the past several years. In addition, waiting time for HCC patients to receive a deceased donor has decreased significantly and the number of patients dropping out from the waiting list because of advanced stage disease has also decreased. An early assessment of the MELD allocation policy suggests that posttransplant survival for HCC patients comparing pre-MELD to post-MELD eras is similar. Using the data we have collected on the MELD allocation policy, we have already made modifications to the MELD allocation policy for HCC patients. It is hoped that through continued data collection and assessment, a consensus can be reached to further optimize the use of deceased donors in HCC recipients.
A retrograde tracer strategy using True Blue to label the preganglionic parasympathetic innervation of the abdominal viscera.

Abstract A simple and reliable method for labeling the preganglionic neurons which innervate the abdominal viscera is described. Infusion of a True Blue (TB) suspension in several different concentrations directly into the peritoneal cavity consistently labeled the medullary vagal nuclei including the dorsal motor nucleus (DMN), nucleus ambiguus (NA), and retrofacial nucleus (RFN). Quantitative analysis of cell labeling after 30 μl infusions of a large range of concentrations of TB (0.001–20.0%) showed that: (1) as little as 0.0075 mg of TB was sufficient to label DMN cells distinctly while only 0.075 mg (or larger) doses of TB were adequate for labeling cells of the NA and the RFN, and (2) doses of 3.0 mg (or greater) labeled the maximum number of cells in the DMN, NA, and RFN. Qualitative analysis suggested that medium range doses (0.075–0.75 mg) were optimal for discerning cell size and type throughout each of these nuclei.
Page Curling Correction for Scanned Books Using Local Distortion Information

The correction of page curling in scanned document images has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Fixing page curling is essential because of the resulting damage in the visual perception of the scanned text and the ensuing reduction in OCR performance on the distorted image. It has been generally concluded that correcting the distortion due to page curling will serve as a solid basis for increased OCR accuracy. We present a novel approach for the efficient correction of page curling in the images of scanned book pages. The approach is based on the fact that approximately 70% of the words in any book are recurring terms. Thus, for many distorted words, a distinct and clear reference word can be found. Our work computes a global, polynomial transformation-based correction for the page distortion. This correction is based on the estimation of various local distortions in the given page, which are characterized by located words. Experiments on the scanned page images of an 18th century book printed in Old Gothic font have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed technique.
Prediction of Grade Point Averages in Nursing Schools Using Second-Order Multiple Regression Models.

The present study was concerned with the prediction of first year grade point averages of associate degree nursing students. The primary objective of this investigation was to determine whether the inclusion of quadratic and/or interaction terms in a regression model would improve the prediction of student nurses’ grade averages. The predictor battery included cognitive, biographical, and personality variables. Results indicated that interaction and quadratic terms improve both the predictability of grade point averages and the replicability of these predictions. The inclusion of higher order terms in prediction research is suggested as a means of improving predictive efficiency.
Advocacy and Parents of Special Needs Children.

This paper focuses on the rights of special needs children in the schooling process. There are a number of laws including the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of t...
Patient and process factors associated with late-stage breast cancer diagnosis in Safety-Net patients: a pilot prospective study.

Background Following reforms to our city’s Safety-Net (SN) breast cancer referral process, we investigated whether factors often associated with late-stage diagnosis would differ by referral source—SN versus non-Safety-Net (NSN)—or, among SN patients, by stage at diagnosis.
Selective histamine H3 receptor antagonists for treatment of cognitive deficiencies and other disorders of the central nervous system

Abstract Evidence exists to implicate the monoamine histamine in the control of arousal and cognitive functions. Antagonists of H3 receptors are postsynaptic and presynaptic modulators of neural transmission in a variety of neuronal circuits relevant to cognition. Accumulating neuroanatomical, neurochemical, pharmacological, and behavioral data support the idea that H3 receptor antagonists may function to improve cognitive performances in disease states (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment states). Thus, H3 receptor antagonists have been shown to increase performance in attention and memory tests in nonhuman experiments and prevent the degradation in performances produced by scopolamine, MK-801, or age. In contrast, agonists of the H3 receptor generally produce cognitive impairing effects in animal models. The role of H3 receptors in these behavioral effects is substantiated by data indicating a central origin for their effects, the selectivity of some of the H3 receptor antagonists studied, and the pharmacological modification of effects of H3 receptor antagonists by selective H3 receptor agonists. Data and issues that challenge the potential role for H3 receptor antagonists in cognitive processes are also critically reviewed. H3 receptor antagonists may also have therapeutic value in the management of obesity, pain, sleep disorders, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Using latent class analysis to analyze children's responses to the question, “What is a day?”

Understanding what children know is paramount to planning effective science instruction; however, in any classroom, the students hold a variety of ideas. Representing these differences in ways that also acknowledge the common trends among students might facilitate the process of differentiation. To exemplify one such possible process of representing students' ideas, we used to the statistical method of latent class analysis to understand 480 students' (Grades 1–8) responses to the question, “What is a day?” The initial coding of students' drawn and written responses allowed us to identify a variety of ideas drawn on by the students. For example, younger children provided very personal responses and older students provided more scientific or mathematical responses. The subsequent quantitative analysis revealed ways that ideas were connected in groups of students, ultimately providing descriptions of progressively sophisticated responses typical at each grade level. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed95: 477–496, 2011
Values of T(mu) and Christoffel Symbols for a Line Element of Considerable Generality.

In the general theory of relativity the mechanical properties of any region of the universe are expressed by the energy-momentum tensor, Tvµ, which is itself calculable from the form of the line element, ds2 = gµvdxµdx4, applicable to that region. The expressions for Tvµ in the most general case, in which all the gµv are arbitrary functions of the four coordinates, x1, x2, x3, x4, are exceedingly complicated, but considerable simplification is introduced if it is assumed that gµv(µ ≠ v) = 0.
Decrease of postprandial endothelial dysfunction by spice mix added to high-fat hamburger meat in men with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Aims Consumption of a high-fat diet has been demonstrated to promote endothelial dysfunction, possibly through an increase in lipid peroxidation and decrease in serum nitric oxide. The present study was designed to investigate whether consumption of a hamburger cooked with a polyphenol-rich spice mixture will reduce postprandial lipid oxidation and endothelial dysfunction in men with Type 2 diabetes. Methods Twenty-two subjects consumed burgers cooked with salt only (control burger) or with salt and spice mix (spice burger) in randomized order. The postprandial concentration of urinary malondialdehyde and nitrate/nitrite as well as the peripheral arterial tonometry score were determined. Results Eighteen subjects completed the study. Postprandial serum glucose, insulin and triglyceride concentrations were similar in all subjects after control burger or spice burger consumption. Urine malondialdehyde excretion in mmol/g creatinine was reduced by 31% (P < 0.001) after consuming the spice burger compared with the control burger. Two hours after consumption of the burgers, the peripheral arterial tonometry score was significantly different between control burger consumption (−9.7 ± 21.5%) and spice burger consumption (+18.0 ± 42.4%) (P = 0.025). Mean urinary nitrate/nitrite concentrations in urine collected during the 6 h after consumption of the control burger was 9.09 ± 5.7 mmol/g creatinine, but 12.37 ± 7.00 mmol/g creatinine after the spice burger (P = 0.053). Conclusion Adding a spice mix to hamburger meat prior to cooking resulted in a reduction in urinary malondialdehyde, an increase in urinary nitrate/nitrite and improvement of postprandial endothelial dysfunction in men with Type 2 diabetes. Therefore, cooking a hamburger with a polyphenol-rich spice mixture may lead to potential cardiovascular benefits in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Sentimental Visions of Empire in Eighteenth-Century Studies

This survey of recent critical work on the role played by the sentimental in eighteenth-century representations of empire is organized around four central issues. The first addresses the double-edged use of sentimental writing as a form of ideological mystification – the palliating representation of scenes of colonial violence and imperial exploitation as moments of benevolence or sentimental exchange – and as a form of critique – as a means of representing the causes and consequences of remote actions as an incitement to proper action. The second takes up the way sentimentality is entwined with questions of commerce as a means of thinking about relations across the vast distances of empire, focusing in particular on the way sentimental tropes enabled thinking about the emergence of the global. The third turns to the utility of sentimental language for forging bonds of sympathetic identification with broader communities of nation and of empire, with particular attention to the way the extension of sympathy to another imperils the sanctity of the feeling self, while the final section addresses the way sentimental tropes police the circulation of sympathetic feeling as the means of monitoring the very boundaries of the human in the context of eighteenth-century empire. Throughout I stress the need for more comparative work on the role played by the sentimental not only within different domains of imperial activity but also across periods, disciplines, and national discourses. The essay includes an extensive bibliography of recent studies of eighteenth-century sentimentality in relation to empire.
A Second-Order Unsplit Godunov Scheme for Two- and Three-Dimensional Euler Equations

A second-order finite difference scheme is presented in this paper for two- and three-dimensional Euler equations. The scheme is based on nondirectionally split and single-step Eulerian formulations of Godunov approach. A new approach is proposed for constructing effective left and right states of Riemann problems arising from interfaces of one-, two-, and three-dimensional numerical grids. The Riemann problems are solved through an approximate solver in order to calculate a set of time-averaged fluxes needed in the scheme. The scheme is tested through numerical examples involving strong shocks. It is shown that the scheme offers the principle advantages of a second order Godunov scheme: robust operation in the presence of strong waves and thin shock fronts.
Role of flavin in acetoin production by two bacterial pyruvate oxidases.

Abstract Escherichia coli pyruvate oxidase (POX EC ) requires FAD both for the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetate and CO 2 and for the formation of acetoin from pyruvate and acetaldehyde. Prior work has shown that the catalytic activity ( k cat / K m ) for POX EC in the oxidative reaction is stimulated approximately 450-fold by amphiphilic activators. This paper shows that the acetoin reaction does not respond to activation. The FAD requirement for acetoin formation can be replaced by 5-deaza-FAD and 6-hydroxy-FAD, FAD analogs which form kinetically stable oxidized and reduced enzyme species, respectively. As would be expected, the 5-deaza-and 6-hydroxy-FAD enzymes are not active in the oxidative reaction. A second flavin pyruvate oxidase from Pediococcus pseudomonas (POX PP ), which catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate to CO 2 and acetyl phosphate, also requires FAD for acetoin formation. POX PP has an oxidative rate comparable to that of POX EC , but in comparison to POX EC , POX PP catalyzes acetoin formation at a much reduced rate. Again, as was found with the POX EC , an FAD analog incapable of undergoing facile oxidation-reduction reactions also could replace the FAD requirement in the POX PP acetoin reaction. The results indicate that the role for FAD in acetoin formation with both enzymes is based on a structural requirement and that FAD does not participate in a redox function in the acetoin reaction.
Biomarkers in acute medicine

Biomarkers represent a major technological innovation in medicine. This article discusses the definition and uses of biomarkers, particularly their role in diagnosis, risk stratification and management of disease. It reviews the current roles of the seven most commonly used biomarkers in the acute setting (troponin, creatine kinase, myoglobin, brain natriuretic peptide, d-dimer, C-reactive protein, procalcitonin). The article looks briefly at the utility of point-of-care testing, which, despite concerns about accuracy, can help to risk-stratify patients more efficiently at the point of presentation. Biomarkers currently in development for diagnosis and prognostication across a spectrum of disease are surveyed.
The synthesis of polymethylquinolines and 1,10‐phenanthrolines

Several polymethyl-1,10-phenanthrolines were synthesized by the use of 3-methyl-3-penten-2-one in Skraup reactions. The behavior of this ketone as well as that of 4-hydroxy-2-pentanone and 4-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-bulanone with various substituted anilines was studied.
Enhancing the detection of BOLD signal in fMRI by reducing the partial volume effect.

Purpose. To investigate the advantages of reducing the partial volume effect (PVE) to enhance the detection of the BOLD signal in fMRI. Methods. A linear phase term was added in k-space to obtain half-voxel shifting of 64 × 64 T2*-weighted echo-planar images. Three sets of image data shifted in the x, y, and diagonal direction, respectively, are combined with the original 64 × 64 data to form the 128 × 128 voxel-shifted interpolated data. Results. A simulation of a synthetic fMRI dataset shows that the voxel-shifted interpolation (VSI) can increase the t-score up to 50% in single-voxel activations. An fMRI study (n = 7) demonstrates that 20.4% of the interpolated voxels have higher t-scores than their nearest neighboring voxels in the original maps. The average increase of the t-score in these interpolated voxels is 13.3%. Conclusion. VSI yields increased sensitivity in detecting voxel-size BOLD activations, improved spatial accuracy of activated regions, and improved detection of the peak BOLD signal of an activated region. VSI can potentially be used as an alternative to the high-resolution fMRI studies in which reduction in SNR and increase in imaging time become prohibitive.
Validating credibility measures of public relations and communications: Interviews with senior‐level managers and executives from other corporate disciplines

This paper reports on personal and telephone interviews with senior‐level corporate managers and executives from fields other than public relations and communications (administration, engineering, finance and accounting, human resources, legal, marketing, sales and production) in three corporations. This qualitative study (n = 61) is a follow‐up to the author's earlier quantitative postal questionnaire survey of a similar group of subjects (n = 423). All interview participants were subjects in the quantitative research. The results add additional evidence to the author's previous findings suggesting that corporate executives from other fields do not understand the corporate communications or public relations functions. As was the case in the quantitative research, subjects interviewed in this qualitative study considered external communications — especially media relations — to be the most important task that their organisation's public relations professionals were responsible for. Technical public relations skills were considered more necessary than communications management abilities for public relations professionals. The findings also suggest that the public relations function needs to do a better job of being accountable by establishing metrics to measure the effectiveness of communications efforts. Public relations also needs to be managed in such a way that it will help organisations better to achieve business goals, especially those of the new global economy.