cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hindbrain-hernia-related syringomyelia without syringobulbia, complicated by permanent nocturnal central hypoventilation requiring non-invasive ventilation

In the absence of syringobulbia, hindbrain hernia does not commonly cause permanent respiratory complications. We present two patients who developed permanent central nocturnal hypoventilation following acute deterioration of hindbrain-hernia-related syringomyelia despite successful surgery. Two children (one boy and one girl, aged 7 and 13 years, respectively) presented with acute neurological deterioration. The boy presented with a 6-week history of progressive tiredness and weakness and a short history of respiratory depression. The girl presented with a 2-year history of left hemiparesis and a short history of left hemiplegia and respiratory depression. On magnetic resonance scan, both had hindbrain hernia, hydrocephalus and cervical syringomyelia. Following cranio-vertebral decompression and, later, a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, the syringomyelia remained well controlled in both patients. In contrast, their respiratory depression improved minimally. Repeated multichannel respiratory monitoring revealed a persistently slow sleeping respiratory rate, with nocturnal hypercapnia and hypoxemia, managed successfully by night-time non-invasive ventilation. Neither the boy nor the girl, after 7 and 4 years, respectively, has developed any complications of nocturnal hypoventilation. When awake, both breathe normally. Both children appear to have suffered a permanent impairment of respiratory control, resulting in nocturnal hypoventilation. This is usually seen with brain stem lesions and is unexpected when syringomyelia does not extend above C2, in the absence of syringobulbia. Central nocturnal hypoventilation is postulated to be due to permanent damage of central brain stem pathways controlling the respiratory muscles, due to local pressure at the cranio-cervical junction associated with acute deterioration of the hindbrain herniation. Sudden deterioration of hindbrain hernia and cervical syringomyelia can rarely impair the central mechanisms of respiratory control, with long-term implications on quality of life.
Clinical Behavior and A Contemporary Management Algorithm for Prepubertal Testis Tumors: A Summary of the Prepubertal Testis Tumor Registry

ABSTRACTPurpose: The Prepubertal Testis Tumor Registry was established by the Urologic Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1980 to record data on a large number of prepubertal testis tumors regarding presentation, treatment and outcome to define appropriate management better. We reviewed the registry data in the context of other modern studies to elucidate the appropriate management of these rare tumors.Materials and Methods: Relevant data in the prepubertal testis tumor registry were tabulated and analyzed.Results: There were 395 prepubertal patients who had a primary testis tumor. Generally benign tumors accounted for 38% of cases. A significant proportion of tumors were benign regardless of patient age. α-Fetoprotein levels for patients with benign and malignant tumors overlapped in children younger than 6 months. Of the patients with yolk sac tumor 80% presented with stage 1 disease and overall survival was excellent. There were no metastases or deaths among the patients with teratoma. Of...
Modest lifestyle intervention and glucose tolerance in obese African Americans.

Objective: Previous studies have demonstrated the benefit of short-term diets on glucose tolerance in obese individuals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of modest lifestyle changes in maintaining improvements in glucose tolerance induced by short-term energy restriction in obese African Americans with impaired glucose tolerance or type 2 diabetes mellitus. Research Methods and Procedures: An intervention group (n = 45; 47 ± 1 year [mean ± SE]), 105 ± 4 kg; body mass index: 39 ± 1 kg/m2) received an energy-restricted diet (943 ± 26 kcal/d) for 1 week, followed by a lifestyle program of reduced dietary fat (−125 kcal/d) and increased physical activity (+125 kcal/d) for 1 year. Body weight and plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin, and C-peptide during an oral glucose tolerance test were measured at baseline, 1-week, and 4-month intervals. A control group (n = 24; 48 ± 1 year; 110 ± 5 kg; body mass index: 41 ± 2 kg/m2) underwent these measurements at 4-month intervals. Results: No changes in weight or glucose tolerance were observed in the control group. The intervention group had significant (p < 0.05) improvements in body weight and glucose tolerance in response to the 1-week diet, which persisted for 4 months (p < 0.001 vs. control for change in weight). A total of 19 subjects (42%) continued the intervention program for 1 year, with sustained improvements (weight: −4.6 ± 1.0 kg; p < 0.001 vs. control; oral glucose tolerance test glucose area: −103 ± 44 mM · min; p < 0.05 vs. control). Discussion: A modest lifestyle program facilitates weight loss and enables improvements in glucose tolerance to be maintained in obese individuals with abnormal glucose tolerance. However, attrition was high, despite the mild nature of the program.
Corporate Viewpoints---Interviews with Top Managers: Interview with Theodore O. Yntema

Interview with Theodore O. Yntema. Theodore O. Yntema is a member of the faculty of the School of Economics and Management at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan. He was a professor of statistics as well as of business and economic policy at the University of Chicago when he joined Ford Motor Company in 1949 as a vice-president, and was chairman of the Finance Committee and a director at the time of his retirement from Ford in 1965. Since then he has served as chairman of the National Bureau of Economic Research and as a trustee or director of the University of Chicago and a number of foundations and corporations.
Adatom capture by arrays of two-dimensional Ag islands on Ag(100)

We examine the capture of diffusing Ag adatoms by arrays of two-dimensional Ag islands subsequent to deposition on Ag(100) at room temperature. This is achieved by a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy experiments, kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, and diffusion equation analyses. The dependence of the capture rates on Ag-island size is shown to reflect larger island-free regions surrounding the larger islands, i.e., a strong correlation between island sizes and separations. This feature, and the influence of the local environment of the islands on capture, are elucidated by introducing suitable tessellations of the surface into ``capture zones'' for each island. We show that a Voronoi-type tessellation based on the distance from the island edges accurately reflects adatom capture. However, a tessellation exactly describing adatom capture is only obtained from a solution of the steady-state equation describing adatom deposition, diffusion, and capture by an array of islands distributed as in experiment. The stochastic nature of adatom capture is also quantified by analysis of the dependence on the deposition location of the probability for diffusing adatoms to be captured by a specific island. The experimental island size dependence of adatom capture is found to be entirely consistent with that obtained from a ``canonical'' model for the irreversible nucleation and growth of square islands.
Stability estimates for obstacles in inverse scattering

Abstract In this paper we estimate distances between two soft obstacles in terms of corresponding scattering amplitudes. The estimate is of logarithmic type and it is obtained by using estimates for continuation of solutions of elliptic equations and some methods of potential theory. Scattering amplitudes are given for one frequency comparable with size of scatterer and for all directions of receiver.
A cosmological model in which “singularity” does not require a “matter singularity”

Abstract A type V-homogeneous, relativistic, dust-filled model is presented in which there is a singular region R which is not accompanied by a matter singularity. This example throws light on the physical significance of singularities in general relativity.
Water Staining of Al 3104-H19 Can Body Stock: A Crevice Corrosion Study Utilizing the Double Crevice Assembly Test Method

Abstract An electrochemical technique was developed to detect the initiation and monitor propagation of water staining on Al 3104-H19 (UNS A93104). Water staining is a crevice corrosion phenomenon occurring between adjacent layers of coiled aluminum can stock in the presence of a condensed water phase. One of the main forms of water stain prevention consists of electrostatic application of oil-based post-lubricants to the can stock surface prior to shipment. A double crevice assembly (DCA) method was developed to induce water staining in the laboratory as observed in the field. The relative inhibiting performance of various post-rolling protective lubricants and the susceptibility of various can stock alloying compositions used in the industry then were compared. Susceptibility of a can stock coupon and the ability of a given post-lubricant to inhibit crevice corrosion was related directly related to the water stain initiation time (tstain) detected in the DCA technique by a negative shift in the electroc...
Actin polymerization in murine B lymphocytes is stimulated by cytochalasin D but not by anti-immunoglobulin

One might predict that cytochalasin D, which slows polymerization of actin in solution and which inhibits actin-containing microfilament function in live B lymphocytes, would also prevent actin polymerization in these cells. However, we have used the NBD-Phallacidin flow cytometric assay for F-actin and the DNase I inhibition assay for G-actin to demonstrate that cytochalasin D (at 20 micrograms/ml and higher) stimulates actin polymerization in murine B lymphocytes within the first 30 sec of exposure. A similar response was seen in human neutrophils. Actin polymerization induced in neutrophils by chemotactic peptides has been linked to activation of the polyphosphoinositide-calcium increase-protein kinase C signal transduction pathway. As B lymphocytes also transduce signals using this pathway, we investigated whether cytochalasin D induced actin polymerization by activating this pathway. Cytochalasin D and ionomycin both stimulated a rapid increase in internal calcium (by 1 min) in the B cell which was inhibitable by EGTA, implicating calcium influx. Ionomycin also induced actin polymerization, detectable later, by 10 min. EGTA blocked the ionomycin-induced actin polymerization, but not that induced by cytochalasin D. Cytochalasin D-induced actin polymerization was not associated with detectable hydrolysis of polyphosphoinositides, nor was it inhibited by H7 (a protein kinase C inhibitor) or by HA1004 (an inhibitor of cyclic nucleotide-dependent kinases). Furthermore, anti-immunoglobulin antibodies, which stimulate B lymphocytes through the polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis-calcium increase-protein kinase C pathway, failed to induce actin polymerization in these cells. These antibodies did, however, stimulate the cells to perform activities that involve actin-containing microfilaments. Other primary activators of B lymphocytes (dextran sulfate, PMA, and LPS) and a panel of lymphokines previously shown to enhance B lymphocyte activation (IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5) were also screened in the F-actin assay and no evidence for actin polymerization was found. We conclude that the actin polymerization response to cytochalasin D in the B cell does not involve the polyphosphoinositide hydrolysis-calcium increase-protein kinase C pathway, nor does it depend on cyclic nucleotide-dependent kinases. Furthermore, our studies failed to provide any evidence that early actin polymerization occurs in murine B lymphocyte activation.
Structure-Function Analysis of the Bestrophin Family of Anion Channels

The bestrophins are a newly described family of anion channels unrelated in primary sequence to any previously characterized channel proteins. The human genome codes for four bestrophins, each of which confers a distinctive plasma membrane conductance on transfected 293 cells. Extracellular treatment with methanethiosulfonate ethyltrimethylammonium (MTSET) of a series of substitution mutants that eliminate one or more cysteines from human bestrophin1 demonstrates that cysteine 69 is the single endogenous cysteine responsible for MTSET inhibition of whole-cell current. Cysteines introduced between positions 78–99 and 223–226 are also accessible to external MTSET, with MTSET modification at positions 79, 80, 83, and 90 producing a 2–6-fold increase in whole-cell current. The latter set of four cysteine-substitution mutants define a region that appears to mediate allosteric control of channel activity. Mapping of transmembrane topography by insertion of N-linked glycosylation sites and tobacco etch virus protease cleavage sites provides evidence for cytosolic N and C termini and an unexpected transmembrane topography with at least three extracellular loops that include positions 60–63, 212–227, and 261–267. These experiments provide the first structural analysis of the bestrophin channel family.
Ignition and Propagation Characteristics of Hydrogen-Enriched Methane Flames

The effects of H2 enrichment on the ignition and propagation of laminar CH4 -air flames in axisymmetric coflowing jets are numerically investigated. A comprehensive, time-dependent computational model, which employs a detailed description of chemistry and transport, is used to simulate the transient ignition and flame propagation phenomena. Because fuel-air mixtures can potentially be ignited due to the presence of either a high-temperature zone or a radical pool, we explore temperature-induced ignition and radical-pool-induced ignition. It is observed overall that radical-pool-induced ignition is more effective than temperature-induced ignition for igniting any H2 -CH4 -air mixture. With increasing the radical-pool concentration ignition is facilitated and the total ignition time for the mixture to reach the ignition conditions is significantly reduced. In addition, as H2 mole fraction in the fuel jet increases, the mixture is more easily ignited. To study the propagation characteristics of these flames only radical-induced ignition is used since it is more effective. Following ignition, a well-defined triple flame, containing a rich premixed, a nonpremixed, and a lean premixed reaction zone, is formed that propagates upstream with nearly constant flame displacement speed towards the burner. As the flame approaches the burner, it transitions to a double flame, and subsequently to a burner-stabilized nonpremixed flame. Predictions are validated using measurements of the flame displacement speed. Detailed simulations are used to examine the effects of H2 enrichment on the propagation characteristics of CH4 -air triple flames. As H2 concentration in the fuel blend is increased, the flame displacement and propagation speeds increase progressively due to the enhanced chemical reactivity, diffusivity, and preferential diffusion caused by H2 addition. In addition, the flammability limits associated with the triple flames are progressively extended with the increase in H2 concentration. The flame structure and flame dynamics are also markedly modified by H2 enrichment, which substantially increases the flame curvature and mixture fraction gradient. For all the H2 -enriched methane-air flames investigated in this study, there is a negative correlation between flame speed and stretch, with the flame speed decreasing almost linearly with stretch, consistent with previous studies. The effect of H2 addition is to modify the flame sensitivity to stretch, as it decreases the Markstein number (Ma) and increases the flame tendency towards diffusive-thermal instability (i.e. Ma→0). These results are consistent with the previously reported experimental results for outwardly propagating spherical flames burning a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Application of random forests methods to diabetic retinopathy classification analyses.

Background Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States and world-wide. DR is a silent disease that may go unnoticed until it is too late for effective treatment. Therefore, early detection could improve the chances of therapeutic interventions that would alleviate its effects. Methodology Graded fundus photography and systemic data from 3443 ACCORD-Eye Study participants were used to estimate Random Forest (RF) and logistic regression classifiers. We studied the impact of sample size on classifier performance and the possibility of using RF generated class conditional probabilities as metrics describing DR risk. RF measures of variable importance are used to detect factors that affect classification performance. Principal Findings Both types of data were informative when discriminating participants with or without DR. RF based models produced much higher classification accuracy than those based on logistic regression. Combining both types of data did not increase accuracy but did increase statistical discrimination of healthy participants who subsequently did or did not have DR events during four years of follow-up. RF variable importance criteria revealed that microaneurysms counts in both eyes seemed to play the most important role in discrimination among the graded fundus variables, while the number of medicines and diabetes duration were the most relevant among the systemic variables. Conclusions and Significance We have introduced RF methods to DR classification analyses based on fundus photography data. In addition, we propose an approach to DR risk assessment based on metrics derived from graded fundus photography and systemic data. Our results suggest that RF methods could be a valuable tool to diagnose DR diagnosis and evaluate its progression.
Where is the energy spent inside my app?: fine grained energy accounting on smartphones with Eprof

Where is the energy spent inside my app? Despite the immense popularity of smartphones and the fact that energy is the most crucial aspect in smartphone programming, the answer to the above question remains elusive. This paper first presents eprof, the first fine-grained energy profiler for smartphone apps. Compared to profiling the runtime of applications running on conventional computers, profiling energy consumption of applications running on smartphones faces a unique challenge, asynchronous power behavior, where the effect on a component's power state due to a program entity lasts beyond the end of that program entity. We present the design, implementation and evaluation of eprof on two mobile OSes, Android and Windows Mobile.We then present an in-depth case study, the first of its kind, of six popular smartphones apps (including Angry-Birds, Facebook and Browser). Eprof sheds lights on internal energy dissipation of these apps and exposes surprising findings like 65%-75% of energy in free apps is spent in third-party advertisement modules. Eprof also reveals several "wakelock bugs", a family of "energy bugs" in smartphone apps, and effectively pinpoints their location in the source code. The case study highlights the fact that most of the energy in smartphone apps is spent in I/O, and I/O events are clustered, often due to a few routines. Thismotivates us to propose bundles, a new accounting presentation of app I/O energy, which helps the developer to quickly understand and optimize the energy drain of her app. Using the bundle presentation, we reduced the energy consumption of four apps by 20% to 65%.
Intermolecular energy exchange as a mechanism for vibrational dephasing in polyatomic molecules

Abstract Vibrational dephasing by intermolecular vibrational energy exchange is shown to be important for the case of polyatomic molecules in condensed phases. In this model, dephasing results from random modulation of the vibrational frequency due to exchange of energy by a low frequency mode. Analysis of the temperature dependence of Raman lineshapes in the intermediate exchange regime allows the determination of the parameters which characterize this dephasing process. These include the energy exchange rates, the amplitude of the modulation which is determined by intramolecular anharmonic coupling, and the effective activation energy for exchange. We outline the formalism and apply the theory to the CH stretching vibrations of 1,2,4,5-tetramethylbenzene (durene) and find that these activation energies correspond to individual low frequency intramolecular vibrations. It is shown that different CH stretching modes are dephased by different but specific low frequency modes in solid durene.
Education and public policy

In these days of uncertainty and indecision, when free peoples are struggling to maintain their freedoms, a nation's educational system can be its greatest resource. The Chancellor of New York University here discusses the future of American education and its relationship to some of the national and international problems we now face.
Flexural Rigidity of a Liquid Surface

The energy of a mass of liquid is evaluated asymptotically in powers of the range of the intermolecular potential divided by a typical dimension of the liquid. The leading term is the internal energy, proportional to the liquid volume. The second term is the energy of surface tension, proportional to the area of the liquid surface. The third term is proportional to an integral over this surface of the square of the mean curvature of the surface minus one-third of its Gaussian curvature. This new term has exactly the form of the bending energy of a thin elastic plate. Comparing it with the bending energy yields expressions for the flexural rigidity and the Poisson ratio of the liquid surface. This flexural rigidity of the surface leads to new terms in the equation of equilibrium of the liquid surface, in addition to the usual surface tension terms.
A Putatively New Antigen (CSAp) Associated With Gastrointestinal and Ovarian Neoplasia

CSAp is an antigen originally identified in the GW-39 human colonic carcinoma xenograft, and also found in gastric and colonic cancers, fetal colon, normal and inflammatory adult colon, and in some ovarian tumors. However, it appears to be increased primarily in inflammatory, benign , malignant, and fetal human intestine, gastric cancer, and ovarian tumors, as determined by an hemagglutination-inhibition assay. Gel immunodiffusion patterns show that CSAp is immunologically distinct from CEA, NCA, AFP, BOFA, and human liver ferritin. CSAp thus appears to be a putatively new fetal substance with a high degree of specificity for gastric, colonic, and ovarian tissues.
The use of the topiary gene in adapting Solanum germplasm for potato improvement

The topiary gene, a single recessive conditioning very short stolons and early tuber initiation, may provide a tool for selecting wild species for tuberization. Topiary segregants may be recognized at the seedling stage, and there is good expression in interspecific hybrids. A genetically diverse diploid population, composed of accessions of 22 species selected for disease resistance and 2n gametes and crossed with sources of the topiary gene, is being developed. Recurrent phenotypic selection for yield and carliness of tuberization will be facilitated by the topiary trait, insect pollination and the self-incompatibility system. Standard varietal evaluation techniques including yield trials, sequential harvests, and tuber quality assessments can be applied to the population to alter gene frequencies or identify suitable parents for crossing to Tuberosum. Selected clones may be maintained in the field without clonal mixture. The population should retain most of the simply inherited disease resistance characteristics present in the original introductions. Adapted germplasm produced by this method should be especially valuable where the number of backcrosses to Tuberosum is to be minimized, as in the improvement of potatoes for quantitative traits such as yield, polygenic disease resistance, and environmental tolerance. Well-adapted clones may contribute a maximum input of genetic diversity through hybridization with Tuberosum haploids and subsequent polyploidization via 2n gametes.
High-k III–V MOSFETs enabled by atomic layer deposition

The principal obstacle to III–V compound semiconductors rivaling or exceeding the properties of Si electronics has been the lack of high-quality, thermodynamically stable insulators on III–V materials. For more than four decades, the research community has searched for suitable III–V compound semiconductor gate dielectrics or passivation layers. The literature testifies to the extent of this effort,with representative, currently active approaches including sulfur passivation, silicon interface control layers (Si ICLs), in situ molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of Ga 2 O 3 (Gd 2 O 3 ), ex situ atomic layer deposition (ALD) growth of Al 2 O 3 and HfO 2 , jet vapor deposition (JVD) of Si 3 N 4 , ALD, PVD or MBE of HfO 2 + Si or Ge ICL, Al 2 O 3 plasma nitridation or AlN passivation. The research on ALD approach is of particular interest, since the Si industry is getting familiar with ALD Hf-based dielectrics and this approach has the potential to become a manufacturable technology.
New and unconventional approaches for advancing resolution in biological transmission electron microscopy by improving macromolecular specimen preparation and preservation

Resolution in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) now is limited by the properties of specimens, rather than by those of instrumentation. The long-standing difficulties in obtaining truly high-resolution structure from biological macromolecules with TEM demand the development, testing, and application of new ideas and unconventional approaches. This review concisely describes some new concepts and innovative methodologies for TEM that deal with unsolved problems in the preparation and preservation of macromolecular specimens. The selected topics include use of better support films, a more protective multi-component matrix surrounding specimens for cryo-TEM and negative staining, and, several quite different changes in microscopy and micrography that should decrease the effects of electron radiation damage; all these practical approaches are non-traditional, but have promise to advance resolution for specimens of biological macromolecules beyond its present level of 3-10 A (0.3-1.0 nm). The result of achieving truly high resolution will be a fulfillment of the still unrealized potential of transmission electron microscopy for directly revealing the structure of biological macromolecules down to the atomic level.
Electrochemistry at Microscopic Liquid–Liquid Interfaces

A significant progress in studies of electrochemical processes occurring at the interface between two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) over the last decade is due to the development of a number of new spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques. This review is focused on microelectrochemical approaches to probing charge transfer processes and coupled homogeneous chemical reactions at the ITIES. Both theoretical and experimental aspects of electrochemical experiments with the two most important types of the micro-ITIES, i.e., micropipettes and microholes, will be considered along with the more recently introduced θ-pipettes and nanopipette electrodes. The surveyed applications include kinetic studies of ion and electron transfers, sensors, and electrochemical imaging.
Typhula blight development in Poa annua and Poa pratensis as influenced by persistence of the fungicides chlorothalonil and fludioxonil under snow cover

AbstractTyphula blight is a major problem on golf courses where snow cover persists for long periods. The disease is primarily managed by applying a mixture of fungicides in the autumn prior to winter snow cover. The fungicides chlorothalonil and fludioxonil are often included in these mixtures even though they do not completely suppress Typhula blight when applied alone. We studied whether minimal control was due to a lack of persistence of these fungicides under snow, or whether certain isolates of Typhula ishikariensis and T. incarnata exhibited tolerance to these fungicides. The persistence of chlorothalonil and fludioxonil residues in the turf was determined during the winters of 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08. Concentrations of chlorothalonil and fludioxonil in the verdure decreased or remained nearly the same at most sampling dates, indicating these fungicides did not dissipate rapidly under snow. Despite this, only marginal control of Typhula blight was observed in the fungicide-treated plots. The i...
Constructing burrows-wheeler transforms of large string collections via merging

The throughput of biological sequencing technologies has led to the necessity for compressed and accessible sequencing formats. Recently, the Multi-String Burrows-Wheeler Transform (MSBWT) has risen in prevalence as a method for transforming sequence data to improve compression while providing access to the reads through an auxiliary FM-index. While there are many algorithms for building the MSBWT for a collection of strings, they do not scale well as the length of those strings increases.We propose a new method for constructing the MSBWT for a collection of strings based on previous work for merging two or more MSBWTs. It requires O(N * LCPavg * log(m)) time and O(N) bits of memory for a collection of m strings composed of N symbols where the average longest common prefix of all suffixes is LCPavg. We evaluate the speed of the algorithm on multiple datasets that vary in both quantity of strings and string length.Availability: https://code.google.com/p/msbwt/source/browse/MUSCython/MultimergeCython.pyx
HIV status does not affect the outcome of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)

Randomized trials comparing autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) to conventional chemotherapy have demonstrated superior survival among HIV-negative ASCT patients with relapsed non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Recent trials explored the feasibility of ASCT in the HIV setting. Although these studies have shown that ASCT in HIV-positive NHL patients (HIVpos-NHL) is well tolerated, the impact of HIV infection on long-term transplant outcome is not well characterized. Ongoing comparison of long-term survival following ASCT in HIVpos-NHL patients and HIVneg-NHL patients will allow investigators to explore whether there should be inclusion of HIVpos-NHL patients in ASCT trials. To study long-term outcome we conducted a single-institution matched case-controlled study in HIVpos-NHL patients (cases) and HIVneg-NHL patients (controls). Twenty-nine patients with HIVpos-NHL were matched with HIVneg-NHL controls on sex, time to ASCT, year of transplant, histology, age, disease status, number prior regimens, and conditioning regimen. Nonrelapse mortality (NRM) was similar: 11% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4%-28%) in HIVpos-NHL patients and 4% (95% CI: 1%-25%) in HIVneg-NHL controls (P = .18). Two-year disease-free survival (DFS) for the HIVpos-NHL patients was 76% (95% CI: 62%-85%) and 56% (95% CI: 45%-66%) for the HIVneg-NHL controls (P = .33). Overall survival was also similar; the 2-year point estimates were 75% (95% CI: 61%-85%) and 75% (95% CI: 60%-85%), respectively (P = .93), despite inclusion of more poor risk HIVpos-NHL patients. These results provide further evidence that HIV status does not affect the long-term outcome of ASCT for NHL, and therefore HIV status alone should no longer exclude these patients from transplant clinical trials.
Increased platelet reactivity and circulating monocyte-platelet aggregates in patients with stable coronary artery disease

Objectives. We sought to examine whether patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) have increased platelet reactivity and an enhanced propensity to form monocyte-platelet aggregates. Background. Platelet-dependent thrombosis and leukocyte infiltration into the vessel wall are characteristic cellular events seen in atherosclerosis. Methods. Anticoagulated peripheral venous blood from 19 patients with stable CAD and 19 normal control subjects was incubated with or without various platelet agonists and analyzed by whole blood flow cytometry. Results. Circulating degranulated platelets were increased in patients with CAD compared with control subjects (mean [±SEM] percent P-selectin–positive platelets: 2.1 ± 0.2 vs. 1.5 ± 0.2, p < 0.01) and were more reactive to stimulation with 1 μmol/liter of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) (28.7 ± 3.9 vs. 16.1 ± 2.2, p < 0.01), 1 μmol/liter of ADP/epinephrine (51.4 ± 4.6 vs. 37.5 ± 3.8, p < 0.05) or 5 μmol/liter of thrombin receptor agonist peptide (TRAP) (65.7 ± 6.8 vs. 20.2 ± 5.1, p < 0.01). Patients with stable CAD also had increased circulating monocyte-platelet aggregates compared with control subjects (percent platelet-positive monocytes: 15.3 ± 3.0 vs. 6.3 ± 0.9, p < 0.01). Furthermore, patients with stable CAD formed more monocyte-platelet aggregates than did control subjects when their whole blood was stimulated with 1 μmol/liter of ADP (50.4 ± 4.5 vs. 28.1 ± 5.3, p < 0.01), 1 μmol/liter of ADP/epinephrine (60.7 ± 4.3 vs. 48.0 ± 4.8, p < 0.05) or 5 μmol/liter of TRAP (67.6 ± 5.7 vs. 34.3 ± 7.0, p < 0.01). Conclusions. Patients with stable CAD have circulating activated platelets, circulating monocyte-platelet aggregates, increased platelet reactivity and an increased propensity to form monocyte-platelet aggregates.
Cross-country analysis of secular cash trends

Abstract This study documents a pronounced secular upward trend in cash holdings which is almost systemic across seven industrialized countries over 1991–2008, with France exhibiting a modest rise and Japan a substantial decline. However, the driving forces underlying the cash pattern are not uniform across countries. While the evolution in firm characteristics necessitated elevated cash balances, the time-varying firm attributes explain the cash trend only in Canada, France, UK and the US. The agency motive plays a role in the rise in cash balances in Germany. Our analysis highlights that the functioning of the financial system is crucial to corporate cash policy as Australia’s cash pattern is driven by shallow private credit markets that curbed cash reserves earlier on and the decelerating cash trend in Japan is ascribed to financial reforms. While there is a degree of commonality in the determinants of cash policies, we find some divergence in cash practices.
Dialogic Shared Storybook Reading: An Instructional Technique for Use with Young Students in Inclusive Settings

Research shows that a child's vocabulary is crucial to academic success (Baker, Simmons, & Kame'enui, 1995). Indeed, early language development relates to later reading performance (Catts, Fey, Zha...
Hierarchical filter sets for distortion-invariant OPR

Our research group at Carnegie Mellon University has devised a large number of new distortion-invariant optical correlation filters. We briefly review our hierarchical inference approach to scene analysis, our minimum noise and correlation energy (MINACE) filters, the use of morphological hit-miss (rank-order) and MINACE filters for detection, and the use of MINACE filters with different control parameters c for all three levels of scene analysis (detection, recognition, identification). We then detail new generalized rotation-invariant filters with initial test results.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Frits Went’s Atomic Age Greenhouse: The Changing Labscape on the Lab-Field Border

In Landscapes and Labscapes Robert Kohler emphasized the separation between laboratory and field cultures and the creation of new "hybrid" or mixed practices as field sciences matured in the early twentieth century. This article explores related changes in laboratory practices, especially novel designs for the analysis of organism-environment relations in the mid-twentieth century. American ecologist Victor Shelford argued in 1929 that technological improvements and indoor climate control should be applied to ecological laboratories, but his recommendations were too ambitious for the time. In the postwar period Frits W. Went, plant physiologist at the California Institute of Technology, created a new high-tech laboratory, dubbed a "phytotron", in the hope that it would transform plant sciences by allowing for unprecedented control of environmental variables. Went's aspirations, the research conducted in his laboratory, and its impact in initiating an international movement, are considered. Went's laboratory can be seen as a "hybrid culture" evolving in the laboratory, complementing and intersecting with some of the field practices that Kohler describes. It was also a countercultural movement against the reductionist trends of molecular biology in the 1950s and 1960s. By considering the history of the laboratory in relation to field sciences, we can explore how new funding sources and cross-disciplinary relations affected the development of field sciences, especially in the postwar period.
Isolates of Microbotryum violaceum from North American host species are phylogenetically distinct from their European host-derived counterparts.

Microbotryum violaceum is a basidiomycete that infects the anthers of its Caryophyllaceae host species. Individual fungal isolates are host limited, though they are not morphologically distinct. This study used variable regions of the highly conserved gamma-tubulin, beta-tubulin, and ribosomal RNA-encoding genes to determine the relationships among M. violaceum fungal isolates from different host species and different geographical locations. Phylogenetic trees from intron nucleotide sequences in two protein-coding genes were compared to trees produced from internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of rDNA. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that there are two clades, one from North America and one from Europe. Isolates from both clades grouped according to host species, although in some analyses isolates from closely related host species were placed together. These results are consistent with the view that M. violaceum has experienced cospeciation with its hosts.
Renormalized operator form of quantum action principle

The derivatives of the renormalized field operator with respect to the parameters (coupling constants, masses) are discussed. Two ways of obtaining the finite result in terms of renormalized perturbation expansion are shown. Throughout the paper the operator language is used; in particular the operator formula for renormalized powers of the field operators (normal products) is employed. The lambdaphi/sup 4/ theory is considered as an illustrative example.
Cardiac Arrest in the Neonate During Laparoscopic Surgery

We describe a case of intraoperative neonatal cardiac arrest during attempted laparoscopic surgery. Circulatory collapse occurred before peritoneal insufflation, initially obscuring the diagnosis. Emergent transthoracic echocardiography during resuscitation demonstrated intracardiac gas bubbles consistent with venous gas embolism. The site of entrainment was probably a bleeding umbilical vein transected by the umbilical trocar. Greater awareness of this complication in neonates will facilitate early diagnosis and encourage preventive measures, such as the avoidance of umbilical vessels, use of an open instead of closed access technique, and ligation of bleeding vessels after peritoneal access.
Control system synthesis with response insensitivity

This paper considers the problem of finding a state feedback control law which arbitrarily assigns distinct eigenvalues and achieves output response insensitivity to small plant parameter variations. It is assumed that plant structural parameter dependence is known. Conditions for these objectives are expressed in terms of eigenvectors and equivalent controllability subspaces. A maximum number of possible insensitive terms in the output spectral representation with simultaneous arbitrary eigenvalue assignment is determined, and the problem is shown to be related to the dynamic cover problem. A design procedure employing dynamic compensation is presented. It is shown that dynamic compensation does not influence the number of possible observable, insensitive terms in the output spectral representation, but it can be used to satisfy the required insensitivity conditions. Incorporation of an observer to implement the control law introduces additional sensitivity constraints which can also be satisfied using the design technique.
Investigation of current voltage characteristics of n-GaN/i-AlxGa1-xN/n-GaN structures

Although standard GaN device structures used for FETs, light emitters, and detectors have been investigated reasonably extensively, the device structures relying on the particulars of current transport over barriers in this material system have not received as much attention, to a large extend due to the insufficient quality of the layers. Unless special measures are taken, the defects present in the barrier material induce current conduction paths that preclude any possibility of observing the fundamental current conduction mechanisms. To overcome this impediment, high quality GaN layers, followed by the vertical single barrier heterostructures, have been grown on sapphire substrates using epitaxial lateral epitaxy in a metal organic chemical vapor deposition system with the aid of an in-situ deposited SiN x nanonet. Structural and optical properties of the films indicate their superior nature. With these templates in hand, n- GaN /i- Al x Ga 1-x N /n- GaN structures with varying barrier width and height have been prepared and tested for their IV characteristics. The rectification observed is consistent with the barrier design. Because the band bending is affected by polarization charge, which is dependent on pressure, current vs. voltage measurements under pressure have also been recorded. In this presentation, the details of the measurements and analyses, as well as the pertinent aspects of growth related issues will be discussed.
One More Time: Do Female and Male Managers Differ?

Executive Overview There has been a dramatic change in the “face” of management over the last two decades. That face is now female more than one-third of the time. What are the implications for the practice of management? Most of us are aware of traditional stereotypes about male-female differences, but how well do these stereotypes apply to the managerial ranks? Do male and female managers differ in their basic responses to work situations and their overall effectiveness (and if so, in what ways), or are they really quite similar? This article reviews the research evidence gathered on these questions since women managers were first noticed by researchers in the mid-1970s. The implications of this review are discussed, and contrasted with recommendations offered in recent articles by Jan Grant in Organizational Dynamics and Felice Schwartz in Harvard Business Review. The title of the article is styled after the title of Frederick Herzberg's classic 1968 Harvard Business Review article, “One More Time: How...
Effect of positive ion scavengers on recombination times: An attempt to use secondary electron transfer reactions as a probe for the existence of a high mobility hole in cyclohexane☆

Abstract In order to probe for the existence of a high mobility hole in cyclohexane, secondary electron transfer reactions between CH 3 Cl − and other electron scavenging solutes have been studied in the absence and presence of positive ion scavengers. There is no evidence in these experiments for a change in the time scale for neutralization of the negative ions which can be attributed to trapping of the positive ions.
GAMETE DONORS AND MISTAKEN IDENTITIES: THE IMPORTANCE OF GENETIC AWARENESS AND PROPOSALS FAVORING DONOR IDENTITY DISCLOSURE FOR CHILDREN BORN FROM GAMETE DONATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

The technological advent of artificial reproduction has resulted in a substantial increase of children born from gamete donation. Studies conducted overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, have explored the controversy as to whether or not such children have the right to know the identity of their donor parents. This article discusses the consequences of donor disclosure and donor privacy for both the parents and children. Currently, there is a lack of U.S. state legislation on the issue. While studies remain inconclusive, research indicates that counseling for the parties involved and the promulgation of state statutes may be beneficial.
Detection of Multiple PRL- and GH-Like Proteins in Human Pituitary by Western Blot Analysis

ABSTRACT Surgically removed normal and tumorous pituitary tissues from a prolactinoma patient were analyzed by Western blot techniques for PRL and GH variants. Criteria for identification were the R f of the bands within the gel, immunologic crossreactivity to specific antisera, and structural verification by tyrosine peptide-mapping of individual bands from the gel. The authors found the tumor-tissue to be characterized by the presence of a PRL band greater in concentration than in the normal tissue and the virtual absence of a GH band. Immunoblotting of the electrophoretically resolved proteins form both types of tissues revealed several new bands crossreactive with human PRL and GH antibodies. Some of the new bands were of M r greater than the monomeric PRL and GH and others were of lower M r . Relative of two of the low mobility M r PRL- immunoreactive bands designated as 16K and 8K corresponded to the R f of the two fragments of cleaved PRL, which suggested that cleaved PRL occurred naturally in the human pituitary gland. The most conspicuous of the new PRL-immunoreactive bands, a 25,000 M r protein migrating slightly behind PRL, displayed strong crossreactivity to hPRL antibodies and was present in greater concentration in the prolactinoma tissue than in the normal tissue. These properties suggested that it was related to hPRL and perhaps represented its glycosylated variant. However, its tyrosine peptide map did not resemble that of hPRL. Thus, it is not clear whether it represented G-hPRL or a new pituitary protein that crossreacts with hPRL antibodies. In addition, two other bands of low M r , designated as unknown 1 and unknown 2, reacted with hPRL antibodies. Immunostaining with hGH antibodies revealed the 20K-hGH variant, the F x fragment of cleaved hGH, and a pair of new bands immediately behind GH that could represent glycosylated hGH—possibly a product of Seeburg’s variant hGH gene. Both PRL and GH antibodies elicited numerous bands of high M r by the technique employed, far more than ever observed by Sephadex chromatography. The nature of the high M r bands remains unknown. Further characterization of these new PRL- and GH-immunoreactive proteins might help in the understanding of the multiple physiologic functions of PRL and GH in man.