cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Integrative Review of the Reporting and Underreporting of Workplace Aggression in Healthcare Settings

Objectives.Â Despite the prevalence of workplace aggression, workplace aggression is grossly underreported. Â The purpose of this paper is to review the state of the science for the reporting and underreporting of WPA enacted by patients and/or visitors and then make recommendations for increasing the reporting of WPA.Â Design.Â An integrative review process was used to select peer-reviewed articles describing the state of the body of evidence for the reporting and underreporting of workplace aggression.Â Data sources.Â Articles were extracted from the Scopus database, a robust search engine that simultaneously searches over 20,000 peer-reviewed journals from over 5,000 international publishers.Review methods.Â Article inclusion criteria were publication date between January 1, 2000 and October 24, 2014, healthcare workers as the study population, and dependent variable related to workplace aggression reporting or workplace aggression underreporting.Â The initial search yielded 237 citations.Â All abstracts were read for direct or indirect relevance At the conclusion of this initial review, 33 articles met inclusion criteria.Â The article reference lists were reviewed and seven additional articles were assessed for inclusion.Â Twelve articles were retained, read in full, and critiqued.Â Results.Â Twelve articles were retained, read in full, and critiqued.Â The underreporting of workplace aggression was as high as 95%.Â Reasons for not reporting workplace aggression included perceived lack of organizational change after reporting, violence considered part of the job, and aggression not intentional.Â Reasons for reporting workplace aggression included workplace aggression that was perceived as intentional, when administrators took action based on incident reports, when the process for reporting was quick, easy, and efficient, when aggression was physical or resulted in an injury.Â Conclusion.Â The reporting of workplace aggression is paramount to the future success of prevention interventions.Â Any changes made to increase the reporting of workplace aggression will require healthcare worker buy-in as well as organizational and administrator support to be effective.Â
Ocular myasthenia gravis: updates on an elusive target.

Purpose of review Ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) is a complex condition with heterogenous phenotypes and ill-defined diagnostic criteria. Understanding concomitant risk factors and autoimmune serology can help inform prognosis for generalization and guide treatment. Recent findings Although antibodies to acetylcholine receptors or muscle-specific kinase likely increase risk of generalization, they are less frequent in OMG. Patients without either antibody tend to have a milder disease process and often have variable antibodies to other end-plate proteins such as LRP4, agrin, or cortactin. The treatment of OMG begins with pyridostigmine and is supplemented by oral prednisone if treatment-resistant or high risk for generalization. Variable oral prednisone regimens have been used with success and further immunosuppression may be best achieved with mycophenolate mofetil and azathioprine. Checkpoint inhibitor-induced myasthenia gravis is increasingly recognized and likely has high rates of mortality associated with myocarditis. Summary Our understanding of OMG and its variable phenotypes continues to evolve. Autoantibody testing increasingly provides valuable diagnostic and prognostic information. Despite these improvements, a lack of quality treatment trials creates significant challenges for evidence-based management guidelines.
Incidence and Risk Factors of Late-Occurring Infections in a Contemporary Cohort of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Survivors

Introduction There is a paucity of information on late-occurring (≥1y) infectious complications in contemporary survivors of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Addressing these knowledge gaps can help tailor post-HCT infection surveillance and proactive immune reconstitution practices in this growing population. Method Patients were eligible if they underwent a first HCT at City of Hope between 2010 and 2013, and were alive and in remission at 1y post HCT; 696 were eligible and included in this study. Standardized (national guidelines) definitions were used to determine the occurrence of late-occurring (≥1y after HCT) severe/life-threatening/fatal bacterial, viral and fungal infections. Infections that occurred within 4 weeks of a previous one were considered polymicrobial. Follow-up was censored at relapse, subsequent malignancy, death, or December 31, 2017, whichever occurred first. Chronic GVHD (cGVHD) was categorized as none, mild, moderate/severe at 1y post HCT. We determined the cumulative incidence of: first, polymicrobial, vaccine-preventable, and subsequent infection (>4 weeks from initial infection), taking into consideration competing risk. We used multivariable regression (hazard ratio [HR], 95% confidence interval [CI]) to adjust for relevant covariates. Results Median age at HCT was 53.3y (range, 0.7y-78.1y); 58.5% were male; 73.1% were non-Hispanic white; 57.2% underwent allogeneic HCT; 42.8% were at high risk of relapse; 69.1% received myeloablative conditioning. Overall, 194 (27.9%) developed a late infection; 75 (10.8%) had at least one vaccine-preventable infection. Median time to first infection was 1.8y (range, 1.0-6.6y) from HCT. The 5y cumulative incidence of a late infection was 28.6%; 5y incidence of vaccine-preventable infection was 11.7%; 5y incidence of polymicrobial infection was 6.4%; and there was a steep increase in the incidence of each subsequent infection (Fig 1). Survivors of allogeneic HCT had a significantly higher 5y incidence (Fig 2), and the incidence was highest in patients with moderate/severe cGVHD at 1y post-HCT (Fig 3). Overall, there was a four-fold risk among allogeneic compared to autologous patients (HR 4.11; 95%CI 2.83-5.97; p Conclusion Nearly one third of long-term HCT survivors developed a severe/life-threatening/fatal infection, and one in ten developed a vaccine-preventable infection. Allogeneic HCT survivors had a higher risk than autologous survivors, due in part to cGVHD and its management. There was a steep increase in risk of subsequent infections with each infectious episode, emphasizing the need for closer monitoring and prevention strategies in these patients.
Efficacy and Safety of Common Ingredients in Aphrodisiacs Used for Erectile Dysfunction: A Review

Abstract Introduction Erectile dysfunction (ED) is the inability to attain or sustain an erection for sexual intercourse. Affected men endorse difficulties with intimacy and feelings of guilt and shame. Although medical treatments are available, patients are reluctant to discuss ED with physicians and often use dietary supplements to attempt to treat their ED. As such, there is a need to better understand the effects of ingredients used in nutraceuticals for ED treatment. Objectives To summarize the literature on the efficacy and safety of the most common ingredients used in ED supplements. Methods 10 of the most common ingredients in ED supplements were reviewed using PubMed-indexed literature to assess their efficacy and safety in treating ED. Key findings were summarized to include historical use, active ingredients, prior animal studies, human studies, and toxicity. Results Nutraceuticals used in ED treatment include a variety of ingredients. Although L-arginine is a safe supplement with clinical data supporting improved erectile function, limited data exist on the efficacy of other ingredients in the treatment of ED. Conclusion Despite the growing use of supplements for treatment of sexual dysfunction, ED supplements remain poorly studied, with limited data demonstrating efficacy of individual ingredients. Further study is required to definitively determine the efficacy of nutraceuticals in ED treatment. Srivatsav A, Balasubramanian A, Pathak UI, et al. Efficacy and Safety of Common Ingredients in Aphrodisiacs Used for Erectile Dysfunction: A Review. J Sex Med 2020;8:431–442.
Affecting white accountability: what Mr. Rogers can tell us about the (racial) futures of communication

Walking out of the documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, with a friend one Sunday morning, we reflected on a shared national childhood of being raised, in part, by Fred McFeely Rogers. Mr. Rogers...
The Association of Social Support and Leisure Time Physical Activity With Mental Health Among Individuals With Cancer.

Purpose:This study examined the relationship among social support, leisure time physical activity (LTPA), and mental health among people with cancer.Design:Cross-sectional study.Setting and partici...
Evaluation of patient-level retrieval from electronic health record data for a cohort discovery task.

Objective Growing numbers of academic medical centers offer patient cohort discovery tools to their researchers, yet the performance of systems for this use case is not well understood. The objective of this research was to assess patient-level information retrieval methods using electronic health records for different types of cohort definition retrieval. Materials and methods We developed a test collection consisting of about 100 000 patient records and 56 test topics that characterized patient cohort requests for various clinical studies. Automated information retrieval tasks using word-based approaches were performed, varying 4 different parameters for a total of 48 permutations, with performance measured using B-Pref. We subsequently created structured Boolean queries for the 56 topics for performance comparisons. In addition, we performed a more detailed analysis of 10 topics. Results The best-performing word-based automated query parameter settings achieved a mean B-Pref of 0.167 across all 56 topics. The way a topic was structured (topic representation) had the largest impact on performance. Performance not only varied widely across topics, but there was also a large variance in sensitivity to parameter settings across the topics. Structured queries generally performed better than automated queries on measures of recall and precision but were still not able to recall all relevant patients found by the automated queries. Conclusion While word-based automated methods of cohort retrieval offer an attractive solution to the labor-intensive nature of this task currently used at many medical centers, we generally found suboptimal performance in those approaches, with better performance obtained from structured Boolean queries. Future work will focus on using the test collection to develop and evaluate new approaches to query structure, weighting algorithms, and application of semantic methods.
Liberty and American National Character: A Symposium

The essays in this symposium were originally prepared for a conference on “Liberty and American National Character,”1 which was co-sponsored by Liberty Fund, the Bruce D. Benson Center for the Stud...
Analysis of QUIC Transported CoAP

Many IoT deployments rely on an access network that is characterized by densely distributed power constrained devices. Power restrictions, in turns, lead to transmission rate limitations and increased bit errors responsible of network packet loss. Among the many technologies available to deal with these issues, the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) introduces an efficient session layer mechanism that provides, as the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), Representational State Transfer (REST) functionality. However, as opposed to HTTP that relies mostly on the transmission of TCP segments, CoAP has been standardized to support both UDP and TCP transport layers. In IoT scenarios, the CoAP transport protocol selection combined with network conditions can greatly affect overall application Quality of Service (QoS). Under HTTP, the Quick UDP Internet Connection (QUIC) protocol has been introduced as a hybrid alternative to TCP. In this paper, we analyze, model and compare the use of QUIC transport against that of both UDP and TCP in the context of CoAP traffic.
Examining intensity of conservation practice adoption: Evidence from cover crop use on U.S. Midwest farms

Abstract Growing interest in sustainability of food production has put pressure on producers to examine their production practices. In particular, farmers’ use of conservation practices is receiving increasing attention. Previous studies evaluating conservation practice adoption have routinely treated adoption as dichotomous – a farm has either adopted a practice or not. However, for many practices, adoption is more accurately measured in terms of intensity, or extent, of implementation. In this study we examine the factors associated with the intensity of cover crop implementation on U.S. Midwest farms using a two-part hurdle model, which allows for dichotomous adoption and intensity of implementation to be explained by separate processes. Results indicate the factors associated with the initial adoption decision are notably different from those associated with the intensity of implementation. Therefore, to achieve sustainability and conservation goals those influencing conservation decisions must be careful to develop strategies and policies that not just address concerns or remove barriers to initial adoption, but also clearly provide a path towards feasible implementation on a larger portion of farm acres.
Silicon Microreactor as a Fast Charge, Long Cycle Life Anode with High Initial Coulombic Efficiency Synthesized via a Scalable Method

Applications of silicon as a high-performance anode material have been impeded by its low intrinsic conductivity and huge volume expansion (>300%) during lithiation. To address these problems, nano...
Removal of single-site N-linked glycans on factor VIII alters binding of domain-specific monoclonal antibodies.

BACKGROUND A portion of individuals with hemophilia A develop neutralizing antibodies called inhibitors to glycoprotein factor VIII (FVIII). There are multiple risk factors that contribute to the risk of inhibitor formation. However, knowledge of the role of FVIII asparagine (N)-linked glycosylation in FVIII immunity is limited. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of site-specific N-linked glycan removal on FVIII biochemical properties, endocytosis by murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs), and antibody responses. METHODS Four recombinant B domain deleted (BDD) FVIII variants with single-site amino acid substitutions to remove N-linked glycans were produced for experimental assays. RESULTS BDD FVIII-N41G, FVIII-N239A, FVIII-N1810A, and FVIII-N2118A with confirmed removal of N-linked glycans and similar glycosylation profiles to BDD FVIII were produced. There were no differences in thrombin activation or von Willebrand factor binding of FVIII variants compared to BDD FVIII, however, reduced FVIII expression, activity, and specific activity was observed with all variants. BDD FVIII-N41G and FVIII-N1810A had reduced uptake by BMDCs, but there were no differences in antibody development in immunized hemophilia A mice compared to BDD FVIII. Half of a repertoire of 12 domain-specific FVIII MAbs had significantly reduced binding to ≥1 FVIII variant with a 50% decrease in A1 domain MAb 2-116 binding to FVIII-N239A. CONCLUSIONS Modifications of FVIII N-linked glycans reduced FVIII endocytosis by BMDCs and binding of domain-specific FVIII MAbs, but did not alter de novo antibody production in hemophilia A mice suggesting that N-glycans do not significantly contribute to inhibitor formation.
The Bioenergetics of Stress Responses in Cyanobacteria

Our laboratory is trying to chart some new areas that offer attractive vistas for research in the response to stress in photosynthetic microorganisms. We use oxygenic photosynthetic cyanobacteria as a model system to examine stress responses. A useful approach has been to take a freshwater cyanobacterium suddenly exposed to seawater concentrations of sodium, and ask the question, ‘What are the steps involved in the adaptation of the organism to grow in high salt?’ In a similar way, we have investigated other kinds of stress, like temperature stress, toxic metal stress (change of the selenium to sulphur ratio), pH stress and photo-oxidative stress (Belkin et al., 1987). The question that we seek answers to are: do universal mechanisms of response to stress exist, and what are the specific responses that the organisms show when they are exposed to one or another kind of stress? This is obviously a complex problem that involves changes in gene expression, bioenergetic changes and, in the case of salt tolerance, of course, osmoregulatory changes (Blumwald et al., 1983a; Blumwald et al., 1983b).
The Use of Line Poetry as a Therapeutic Technique in Sexual Assault Survivors Support Groups

This brief report focuses on the use of line poetry as a therapeutic technique in a support group for survivors of sexual assault. Line poetry, a group activity in which members contribute lines to a collective poem, was found to be helpful in developing a bond among members, validating feelings, and in offering a powerful outlet for self-expression.
$O(mn)$ Time Algorithm for Optimal Buffer Insertion of Nets With $m$ Sinks

Buffer insertion is an effective technique to reduce interconnect delay. In this paper, we give a simple O(mn) time algorithm for optimal buffer insertion, where m is the number of sinks and n is the number of buffer positions. When m is small, our algorithm is a significant improvement over the recent O(nlog2n) time algorithm by Shi and Li, and the O(n2) time algorithm of van Ginneken. For b buffer types, our algorithms runs in O(b2n+bmn) time, an improvement of the recent O(bn2) algorithm by Li and Shi. The improvement is made possible by an innovative linked list that can perform addition of a wire, addition of a buffer in amortized O(1) time, and smart design of pointers. We then present the extension of our algorithm for the buffer cost minimization problem, which improves the previous best algorithm. On industrial test cases, the new algorithms is faster than previous best algorithms by an order of magnitude.
Gas Production from Solid Waste in Landfills

The rate and composition of gases released during anaerobic degradation of solid waste were measured. From 55 kg to 80.5 kg of solid waste was placed in 208-l containers, sealed, and maintained at different environmental conditions, and the gas production and composition were measured. The major gases observed in the present study were CO\d2, H\d2 and CH\d4. The maximum rate of gas production was 0.18 l/kg.day while the maximum amount of gas produced was 5.7 l/kg.day dry weight during the 300-day testing period. The rate of gas production generally increased with increasing moisture content and temperature and with decreasing solid waste size and density.
A leakage estimation and reduction technique for scaled CMOS logic circuits considering gate-leakage

Leakage power reduction is extremely important in the design of scaled CMOS logic circuits. The dominant leakage mechanism of such circuits is the gate leakage. This paper first describes a fast leakage estimation technique based on biasing states for both gate leakage and sub-threshold leakage. Next, it describes a leakage reduction method based on the selective insertion of control points. Simulations on a set of examples show that this method results in the average leakage being 28.7% of the leakage of the baseline circuit whose inputs have already been subjected to the minimum leakage vector (MLV).
Fast-Neutron Hodoscope at TREAT: Methods for Quantitative Determination of Fuel Dispersal

Fuel-motion surveillance using the fast-neutron hodoscope in TREAT experiments has advanced from an initial role of providing time/location/velocity data to that of offering quantitative mass results. The material and radiation surroundings of tha test section contribute to intrinsic and instrumental effects upon hodoscope detectors that require detailed corrections. Depending upon the experiment, count rate compensation is usually required for deadtime, power level, nonlinear response, efficiency, background, and detector calibration. Depending on their magnitude and amenability to analytical and empirical treatment, systematic corrections may be needed for self-shielding, self-multiplication, self-attenuation, flux depression, and other effects. Current verified hodoscope response (for 1- to 7-pin fuel bundles) may be paramatrically characterized under optimum conditions by 1-ms time resolution; 0.25-mm lateral and 5-mm axial-motion displacement resolution; and 50-mg single-pin mass resolution. The experimental and theoretical foundation for this performance is given, with particular emphasis on the geometrical response function and the statistical limits of fuel-motion resolution. Comparisons are made with alternative diagnostic systems.
The Big Picture: 2010 Presidential Address to the American Society of Criminology

Microanalysis holds sway over macroanalysis in contemporary criminology. All of criminology would be better off if greater attention were devoted to the big picture—the relationship between crime and the interplay of institutions in the social systems of whole societies. Microlevel researchers often assume that the reduction of individual criminal propensities leads ipso facto to reductions in aggregate crime rates, but the implied connection is illusive, has not been demonstrated, and is belied by the macroanalysis of crime. The perspectives, methods, and data of macrocriminology also need to be developed, however, if they are to advance our understanding of crime at the level of social systems. Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, Karl Polanyi, and C. Wright Mills have contributed essential building blocks for the study of the big picture of crime. Improvements in the quality and timeliness of aggregate crime data, finally, are necessary to bolster the policy relevance of macrocriminology.
Weighing the success of a national Alzheimer's disease service demonstration.

Summary As the need for long-term care services within the United States has grown dramatically, Congress has consistently deflected the primary responsibility for such care to state governments, local organizations, and, ultimately, the family. This paper examines the impact of the Alzheimer's Disease Demonstration Grants to States (ADDGS) program, a small federally funded initiative within the context of this trend. Although the demonstration can be deemed a huge success relative to the goals of creating new services for an underserved target population, questions are raised about the merits of the program relative to the exploding need for an effective network of long-term care services.
The jumbo squid, Dosidicus gigas (Ommastrephidae), living in oxygen minimum zones II: Blood–oxygen binding

Abstract Dosidicus gigas is a large, metabolically active squid that migrates across a strong oxygen and temperature gradient in the Eastern Pacific. Here we analyze the oxygen-binding properties of the squid's respiratory protein (hemocyanin, Hc) that facilitate such activity. A high Hc–oxygen affinity, strong temperature dependence, and pronounced pH sensitivity (P50=0.009T2.03, pH 7.4; Bohr coefficient=ΔlogP50/ΔpH=−1.55+0.034T) of oxygen binding facilitate night-time foraging in the upper water column, and support suppressed oxygen demand in hypoxic waters at greater depths. Expanding hypoxia may act to alter the species habitable depth range. This analysis supports the contention that ocean acidification could limit oxygen carrying capacity in squids at warmer temperature leading to reduced activity levels or altered distribution.
Adolescent and young adult women's knowledge of and attitudes toward the intrauterine device

Abstract Background This study aimed to assess adolescent (aged 14–18 years) and young adult (aged 19–24 years) women's knowledge of and attitudes toward intrauterine devices (IUDs) before and after a brief educational intervention. Study design We administered a 43-item survey to 144 women aged 14–24 years, with half in each age category. The survey assessed knowledge of and attitudes toward IUDs, and incorporated a 3-min educational intervention about IUDs. Predictors for knowledge of and attitudes toward the IUD were examined using logistic regression. Results Forty percent of participants had heard of the IUD. Having ever heard of the IUD was associated with age >18 years [adjusted odds ratio (OR)=5.7; 95% confidence interval (95% CI)=2.1–15.7], a higher level of maternal education (adjusted OR=4.5; 95% CI=1.5–13.3) and a history of voluntary sexual intercourse (adjusted OR=4.9; 95% CI=1.0–23.5). Of those who had heard of the IUD previously, 37.5% reported a positive attitude toward the IUD before the intervention. After the educational intervention, 53.5% of all participants reported a positive attitude toward the IUD, with both adolescent and young adult women having similarly positive attitudes (51.4% vs. 55.6%, p=.62). This positive attitude was associated only with a history of voluntary sexual intercourse (adjusted OR=5.2; 95% CI=1.3–21.1). The characteristics of the IUD that the participants strongly liked and disliked were rated similarly by the two age groups. However, more adolescent women considered the privacy of the IUD and the ability to use the copper IUD for 10 years as positive characteristics. Conclusion Most young women were unaware of IUDs but were likely to think positively about IUDs after being educated about them. Demographic and reproductive health history did not predict attitude; thus, all young women should be offered education about IUDs.
Preparation and characterization of Pd-Cu composite membranes for hydrogen separation

Pd–Cu composite membranes were made by successive electroless deposition of Pd and then Cu onto various tubular porous ceramic supports. Ceramic filters used as supports included symmetric -alumina (nominal 200 nm in pore size), asymmetric zirconia on-alumina (nominal 50 nm pore size), and asymmetric -alumina on -alumina (nominal 5 nm pore size). The resulting metal/ceramic composite membranes were heat-treated between 350 and 700 ◦ C for times ranging from 6 to 25 days to induce intermetallic diffusion and obtain homogeneous metal films. Pure gas permeability tests were conducted using hydrogen and nitrogen. For an 11 m thick, 10 wt.% Cu film on a nominal 50 nm pore size asymmetric ultrafilter with zirconia top layer, the flux at 450 ◦ C and 345 kPa H2 feed pressure was 0.8 mol/m 2 s. The ideal hydrogen/nitrogen separation factor was 1150 at the same conditions. The thickness of the metallic film was progressively decreased from 28 md own to 1–2m and the alloy concentration was increased to 30 wt.% Cu. Structural factors related to the ceramic support and the metallic film chemical composition are shown to be responsible for the differences in membrane performance. Among the former are the support pore size, which controls the required metal film thickness to insure a leak-free membrane and the internal structure of the support (symmetric or asymmetric) which changes the mass transfer resistance. The support with the 200 nm pores required more Pd to plug the pores than the asymmetric membranes with smaller pore sizes, as was expected. However, leak-free films could not be deposited on the support with the smallest pore size (5 nm -alumina), presumably due to surface defects and/or a lack of adhesion between the metal film and the membrane surface. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Paleogene history of the Kula plate: Offshore evidence and onshore implications

Paleocene to middle Eocene magnetic anomalies were mapped over oceanic crust that accreted at the Kula-Pacific spreading center and is now obliquely entering the western Aleutian Trench between 179°E and 168°E. The strike of anomalies and the pattern of abyssal hills and fracture zones changed abruptly during 56-55 Ma, when north-south spreading veered to northwest-southeast (310°-130°). Kula-Pacific spreading ceased in 43 Ma. A 75-km-long section of the fossil Kula Rift axis has avoided subduction, although it now intersects the trench axis (almost orthogonally) near 171.5°E. A narrow remnant of the former Kula plate, northwest of this fossil spreading center, is bounded by a fossil Kula-Pacific transform with a high transverse ridge alongside a sediment-filled transform valley. Anomalies on this remnant show that Eocene Kula-Pacific spreading was highly asymmetric (2:1). The 56-55 Ma change in Kula plate rotation inferred from the change in spreading direction coincided with birth of the Aleutian subduction zone, and was probably a consequence of the resulting change in slab-pull stresses on the oceanic lithosphere. The change in direction of Kula-North American motion is a plausible explanation for the detachment of continental terranes from the Pacific Northwest and their migration around the Gulf of Alaska, and for the early Eocene demise of Alaska Range are volcanism. The cessation of Kula-Pacific spreading coincides with a major change in Pacific-plate rotation, and the subsequent direction of convergence of the Pacific plate with the Aleutian arc was similar to the 55-43 Ma direction of Kula-plate convergence.
Screening scales for dementia: Toward reconciliation of conflicting cross-cultural findings

A compendium instrument of five widely used dementia screening scales was applied to 550 subjects 65 years and older. Black, Hispanic and white groups were approximately equal in size. Recruitment was designed to produce an uneven and unknown mix of dementia cases and normals among these groups. A complex challenge to assessment and classification was thus contrived, approximating key aspects of the problem posed to cross-cultural epidemiology. The published scoring systems of these dementia screens gave drastically conflicting results for absolute and culturally relative rates of cognitive impairment. The conflicts between scales appeared to be largely due to the varying sensitivities of the scales and, to a lesser extent, sociocultural bias. The conflicts were partially resolved through adjustments of the scale cut points.
The SNAI1 and SNAI2 proteins occupy their own and each other's promoter during chondrogenesis

Two Snail family genes, Snai1 and Snai2, encode E2 box-binding transcriptional repressors that are important for cartilage development during long bone formation in mice. We demonstrated previously that the Snai1 and Snai2 genes function redundantly, and compensate for each other's loss during mouse chondrogenesis in vivo. A prediction from this genetic data is that the SNAI1 and SNAI2 proteins can bind to each other's promoter to regulate gene expression. Here we demonstrate that expression of Snai1 and Snai2 RNA and protein is induced during chondrogenic differentiation of cultured mouse ATDC5 cells. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we then show that endogenous SNAI1 and SNAI2 proteins bind to a subset of E2 boxes in both their own and each other's promoter in differentiating ATDC5 cells. Together with our previous genetic data, these results support the model that expression of the Snai1 and Snai2 genes is negatively regulated by their protein products occupying each other's promoter during chondrogenesis, and help provide an explanation for the genetic redundancy observed in the mouse loss of function models.
The London force contribution to the van der waals force between a sphere and a cylinder

Abstract A theoretical expression for the London force contribution to the van der Waals force between a sphere and a cylinder is presented. The retardation effect due to the electromagnetic lagging is neglected. Thus the expression is valid for cases where the separating distance between the bodies is of the order of magnitude of the absorption wavelengths of the molecules. The result which is obtained by pairwise summation is equal to the full van der Waals force if the dielectric susceptibilities of the materials are equal. Also if the separating distance between the two bodies is less than 10A, the London force contribution differs from the total value by a negligible amount.
The discourse on stress and the reproduction of conventional knowledge

Abstract Stress researchers produce evidence that certain historically particular beliefs about the social order actually describe a universal reality. The theories and social relations which produce this evidence are also responsible for the way in which the scholarly discourse on stress has developed: its search for context-free knowledge, its failure to critically analyze the role of cognition in pathogenesis, and its capacity for de-socializing the social determinants of sickness and people's perceptions of sickness. To make these points. I adopt a framework emphasizing (1) the importance of utility and context to knowledge producers, particularly the researchers' informants, and (2) the social determinants of scien- tific knowledge.
Derivative usage and firm value: The influence of agency costs and monitoring problems

Abstract Using derivative usage data on over 1746 firms headquartered in the U.S. during the 1991 through 2000 time period, we find that firms with greater agency and monitoring problems (i.e., firms that are less transparent, face greater agency costs, have weaker corporate governance, larger information asymmetry problems, and overall poorer monitoring) exhibit a negative association between Tobin's Q and derivative usage. The negative valuation effect is also economically significant with an impact of -8.4% on Tobin's Q from a one standard deviation change in the firm monitoring index. The results are robust to alternative specifications, time varying estimates, econometric procedures that correct for potential clustering of errors, endogeneity problems, and sample selection biases among other robustness checks discussed in the paper. We conclude that derivative usage has a negative impact on firm value in firms with greater agency and monitoring problems.
Polyglot: modeling and analysis for multiple Statechart formalisms

In large programs such as NASA Exploration, multiple systems that interact via safety-critical protocols are already designed with different Statechart variants. To verify these safety-critical systems, a unified framework is needed based on a formal semantics that captures the variants of Statecharts. We describe Polyglot, a unified framework for the analysis of models described using multiple State-chart formalisms. In this framework, Statechart models are translated into Java and analyzed using pluggable semantics for different variants operating in a polymorphic execution environment. The framework has been built on the basis of a parametric formal semantics that captures the common core of Statecharts with extensions for different variants, and addresses previous limitations. Polyglot has been integrated with the Java Pathfinder verification tool-set, providing analysis and test-case generation capabilities. We describe the application of this unified framework to the analysis of NASA/JPL's MER Arbiter whose interacting components were modeled using multiple Statechart formalisms.
The effect of a proposed change to fiber-counting rules in ASTM International Standard D7200-06.

Asbestos is a form of certain serpentine or amphibole minerals that has crystallized in a particular habit known as asbestiform.( 1 ) Amphibole minerals are often encountered in metamorphic geologi...
Mathematical modeling of bioremediation of trichloroethylene in aquifers

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a very common contaminant of groundwater. It is used as an industrial solvent and is frequently poured into the soil. There exist bacteria that can degrade TCE. In contrast with most cases of bioremediation, the bacteria that degrade TCE do not use it as a carbon source. Instead the bacteria produce an enzyme to metabolize methane. This enzyme can degrade other organics including TCE. In this paper we model in situ bioremediation of TCE in an aquifer by using two species of bacteria: one that forms biobarriers to restrict the movement of TCE and the second one to reduce TCE. The model includes flow of water, transport of TCE and the nutrients, bacterial growth and degradation of TCE. Nonstandard numerical methods are used to discretize the equations. Some results are presented.
Quantifying Temporal and Spatial Localities in Storage Workloads and Transformations by Data Path Components

Temporal and spatial localities are basic concepts in operating systems, and storage systems rely on localities to perform well. Surprisingly, it is difficult to quantify the localities present in workloads and how localities are transformed by storage data path components in metrics that can be compared under diverse settings. In this paper, we introduce stack- and block-affinity metrics to quantify temporal and spatial localities. We demonstrate that our metrics (1) behave well under extreme and normal loads, (2) can be used to validate synthetic loads at each stage of storage optimization, (3) can capture localities in ways that are resilient to generations of hardware, and (4) correlate meaningfully with performance. Our experience also unveiled hidden semantics of localities and identified future research directions.
Treatment of recurrent hepatitis B infection in liver transplant recipients

1. Therapeutic decisions are guided by a patient's clinical status (severity of disease and presence of comorbidities) and previous drug-exposure history. 2. Lamivudine is safe and effective in liver transplant recipients with recurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection caused by wild-type virus or failure of hepatitis B immunoglobulin therapy. Lamivudine resistance, developing in approximately 25% after 12 months of therapy, is its main limitation. 3. Famciclovir is safe in liver transplant recipients; however, virological and clinical responses are less consistent than with lamivudine. Thus, lamivudine is favored over famciclovir as first-line therapy in transplant recipients with no previous exposure to nucleoside analogues. 4. Although limited in availability, adefovir dipivoxil appears safe and effective in treating liver transplant recipients with lamivudine-resistant HBV disease. Close monitoring of renal function is recommended, with dose adjustment in patients with reduced creatinine clearances. 5. Limited data suggest that intravenous ganciclovir, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, and interferon alfa may be useful as rescue therapies for patients with lamivudine- or famciclovir-resistant HBV disease. 6. Antiviral therapy with two or more suitable agents may minimize the chance for viral resistance; therefore, future therapeutic strategies likely will use combination therapy in the long-term management of recurrent HBV disease. (Liver Transpl 2002;8:S74-S81.)
MULTIPLE ROLES FOR DOPAMINE IN DROSOPHILA DEVELOPMENT

Manipulation of dopamine levels by inhibition of tyrosine hydroxylase activity was accomplished in Drosophila melanogaster larval instars by feeding enzyme inhibitors for a 24-hr period. Behavioral assays performed immediately after treatment demonstrated that larval phototaxis, salt aversion, and heptanol preference were unaffected by reduced levels of dopamine. Within a few hours of treatment, the larvae ceased exploratory behavior and were unresponsive to external stimuli; these larvae eventually died. This behavior is strikingly similar to that displayed by dopamine-deficient transgenic mice. Treated larvae placed immediately onto normal food (to replenish dopamine levels) showed significant developmental delays and decreased fertility as adults. The lethality, developmental retardation, and decrease in fertility were reversed by addition of L-DOPA to inhibitor-containing food, suggesting that these effects were due solely to inhibition of tyrosine hydroxylation. Depletion of dopamine in newly eclosed females resulted in abnormally developed ovaries. These results suggest that the enzymatic function of tyrosine hydroxylase is vital and that reduced levels of dopamine result in akinesia and lethality, developmental retardation, and decreased fertility.
Bohr correspondence principle for large quantum numbers

Periodic systems are considered whose increments in quantum energy grow with quantum number. In the limit of large quantum number, systems are found to give correspondence in form between classical and quantum frequency-energy dependences. Solely passing to large quantum numbers, however, does not guarantee the classical spectrum. For the examples cited, successive quantum frequencies remain separated by the incrementhI−1, whereI is independent of quantum number. Frequency correspondence follows in Planck's limit,h → 0. The first example is that of a particle in a cubical box with impenetrable walls. The quantum emission spectrum is found to be uniformly discrete over the whole frequency range. This quality holds in the limitn → ∞. The discrete spectrum due to transitions in the high-quantum-number bound states of a particle in a box with penetrable walls is shown to grow uniformly discrete in the limit that the well becomes infinitely deep. For the infinitely deep spherical well, on the other hand, correspondence is found to be obeyed both in emission and configuration. In all cases studied the classical ensemble gives a continuum of frequencies.
Force inversion in floating plate dynamics

An axisymmetric floating plate of infinite extent is subjected to prescribed dynamics under the action of a point load. The problem of inverting the forcing is studied mathematically with a view to classifying its properties within the framework of integral equations. In the process, the floating plate problem is shown to be moderately ill-posed and the rate of change of the forcing is shown to initially be directly proportional to the acceleration of the plate. This latter result is incorporated into the numerical study that follows. Throughout the paper, a model problem is used as an analytical and numerical benchmark.
IQ and Learning Disabilities: A Perspective From Research on Social Factors

Presentation des problemes poses par la recherche sur les facteurs sociaux dans les difficultes d'apprentissage; ces problemes etant lies aux definitions et aux concepts de l'intelligence
Ability of dipyridamole-thallium-201 imaging one to four days after acute myocardial infarction to predict in-hospital and late recurrent myocardial ischemic events

Abstract The ability of dipyridamole-thallium-201 imaging to predict in-hospital and late cardiac events when performed very early (62 ± 21 hours, range 23 to 102) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was tested in 50 patients. During hospitalization, 1 patient developed recurrent AMI and 8 patients developed recurrent angina after MI associated with ST-segment depression at 60 ± 42 hours after the dipyridamole-thallium-201 imaging; of these, 6 required urgent coronary revascularization. No patient died in-hospital. There were no serious adverse effects during the dipyridamole protocol. Using stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis, the best and only statistically significant predictor of in-hospital ischemic cardiac events was the presence of thallium-201 redistribution within the infarct zone (p = 0.0001). Of 20 patients with infarct zone thallium-201 redistribution, 9 (45%) developed in-hospital ischemic cardiac events compared to 0 of 30 patients without infarct zone thallium-201 redistribution (p
Gender factors and female entrepreneurship: International evidence and policy implications

Nowadays, the transformations taking place in female entrepreneurship at the national and international levels and the importance of such entrepreneurship for economic growth and poverty alleviation underscore the need for more global and diversified analysis of female entrepreneurial activities. The literature however regarding international comparisons of female entrepreneurship practices remains limited and becomes even more limited when exploring such practices beyond the developed countries context. To this end, this paper examined the impact of five gender-related variables on the extent of female entrepreneurial activities in 44 developed and developing countries. Among its five focused variables, the paper found female education, extent of female economic activities, female earnings ratio, and fertility rate to be significant in all estimations with two different dependent variables representing female entrepreneurial activities. The remaining focus variable related to gender empowerment was found to be significant with one of the two dependent variables. Among its contributions, the paper explored gender entrepreneurship from an international perspective and extended the analysis of the topic beyond the main stream Anglo-Saxon context. It also highlighted the variations in results with regards to developed and developing countries environment. Understanding factors that could influence the development of female entrepreneurial activities and exploring their potential variability across stages of economic development could also be useful for policy makers exploring effective incentive structure to promote gender entrepreneurship in their respective countries.
Controlled Synthesis and Characterization of Nanostructured EuF3 with Different Crystalline Phases and Morphologies

A variety of nanostructured EuF3 with different crystalline phases and morphologies have been prepared via a simple solution route employing the reactions between Eu(NO3)3·6H2O and fluoride sources XF (X = K+, H+, NH4+, Na+, Rb+, and Cs+) under ambient conditions. The cations of the fluoride sources were found to determine the crystal structures and morphologies of the as-prepared nanostructured EuF3. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the reaction of Eu(NO3)3·6H2O with KF or HF yielded nanostructured EuF3 with hexagonal structure, while orthorhombic EuF3 crystals were obtained in the reactions with NH4F, NaF, RbF, or CsF. Different nanostructures including incomplete hollow nanoplates, spherical nanoparticle aggregates, branched tree-like ramified nanostructures, nanorods, and nanowires have been prepared. The luminescent properties of the nanostructured EuF3 have also been studied.
Chromosomal alterations in ulcerative colitis-related neoplastic progression

Abstract BACKGROUND & AIMS: It is unclear whether genomic derangement precedes the histological development of dysplasia in ulcerative colitis (UC)- related neoplastic progression. The primary aim of this study was to determine if chromosomal alterations occur early in the progression pathway of UC-related neoplasia. METHODS: Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed on nuclei dissociated from sites of cancer, dysplasia, and UC-involved nondysplastic epithelium in five UC- related cancer colectomy specimens using a panel of pericentromeric probes. Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was used to detect clonal chromosomal losses and gains in DNA extracted from these sites. RESULTS: FISH analysis revealed significant and often dramatic alterations in chromosome copy number compared with controls in all biopsy specimens of cancer, dysplasia, and nondysplastic UC-involved epithelium. Clonal chromosomal losses and gains were detected by CGH in all but one analyzed site of dysplasia and cancer and in two of the five nondysplastic sites. FISH and CGH frequently detected the relative loss of chromosome 18. CONCLUSIONS: Chromosomal alterations may occur early in UC-related neoplastic progression and seem to precede the histological development of dysplasia. Relative loss of 18q may be important in the progression of UC-related neoplasia. The detection of chromosomal alterations as an intermediate end point may prove useful in identifying patients at high risk for the development of colorectal cancer. (Gastroenterology 1997 Sep;113(3):791-801)