cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Isotropic etching of 111 SCS for wafer-scale manufacturing of perfectly hemispherical silicon molds

This paper reports the results of a side-by-side comparison study of HF-HNO 3 isotropic etching of circular pits in &#60;111> and &#60;100> single crystal silicon (SCS). These etched holes will be used as sacrificial molds for micro-scale hemispherical resonator gyroscopes (HRGs) made using hemispherical shell resonators. Geometric uniformity of the mold is critical for HRG applications in order to achieve degenerate resonant modes and high optical and mechanical quality factors (Q). &#60;111> wafers were found to provide excellent isotropic etching in the surface plane under all tested etching conditions with an average of only ∼1.4% radial variation, as compared to ∼3.2% variation for &#60;100> wafers. The molds tested had an average radius of 41 µm, and depth of 35 µm, with a maximum of radius 92 µm with a depth of 95 µm.
Changes in Lumbar Disk Morphology Associated With Prolonged Sitting Assessed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Objective To determine what if any changes occur to the lumbar disks in the spine after prolonged sitting with and without intermittent breaks during a 4-hour period. Design A prospective observational study. Setting An academic outpatient clinic. Methods The measurement of lumbar disk changes was performed with 12 subjects after an analysis of a mid sagittal lumbar magnetic resonance image, which measured lumbar disk height and disk diameter. Scanning and analysis were done over a 2-day period: day 1 at the start of the work day and 4 hours later after continuous sitting; at the start of work day 2 and after four hours after a change in position and stretching protocol every 15 minutes. Results For this study, we first evaluated each level of the lumbar spine for any changes after prolonged sitting for 4 hours over the 2 days. Multiple comparisons bias was eliminated by a Bonferroni correction to limit the overall experiment-wise error rate to .05. The comparison was conducted by using a paired t-test when the normality condition was satisfied and by using a Wilcoxon signed rank test when normality was not satisfied. To test for normality, a Shapiro-Wilk test was used. We found that, for disk height, L4-5 was significantly decreased at the end of the sitting for day 1 but not for day 2. There were no significant height changes for the other lumbar disks. In addition, for disk diameter, there were no significant differences present for any of the disks. Conclusions Analysis of the data shows that the greatest change in disk height is at the L4-5 level after prolonged sitting without intermittent breaks. The other levels did not show a significant change in their height. The findings also showed that the L4-5 height changes were not significant with brief positional changes every 15 minutes. Fewer changes in disk height may correlate with an improvement in low back pain and disability.
Effect of patient Age on surgical outcomes for Graves' disease: a case-control study of 100 consecutive patients at a high volume thyroid surgical center.

Objective To compare outcomes between children (<18 yrs) and adults undergoing total thyroidectomy for Graves’ disease (GD) at a high volume, multidisciplinary thyroid center.
Maternal and Uteroplacental Hemodynamics for the Classification and Prediction of Preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidities worldwide, and its etiology remains unknown. The reported incidence of preeclampsia in healthy nulliparous women is approximately 6%, with 93% of cases developing at ≥34 weeks gestation.1 Knowledge about the pathogenesis of preeclampsia has changed significantly over the past decade by virtue of increased recognition of the heterogenous nature of this syndrome. Patients with preeclampsia can present with a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations in the mother and fetus. The degree of maternal hypertension, the amount of proteinuria, and the presence or absence of laboratory abnormalities are highly variable (ranging from mild to severe), with a variable time of onset.2 The manifestations of preeclampsia can develop at <34 weeks (early onset), at ≥34 weeks (late onset), during labor, or postpartum. Recently, it has been suggested that early and late onset preeclampsia may have different pathophysiology. Early onset preeclampsia is usually associated with fetal growth restriction (FGR) and evidence of ischemic lesions on placental examination, whereas late onset preeclampsia is not usually associated with FGR or ischemic placental lesions.3 Pregnancy is characterized by certain structural and functional changes in the cardiovascular systems that are necessary to accommodate the growing demands of the fetus and placenta. Adequate cardiovascular adaptation during early pregnancy leads to a state of high blood flow and low vascular resistance, which is a prerequisite to successful pregnancy outcome. In …
Differences in the clinical characteristics of primarily and secondarily infertile men with varicocele

Objective To compare the clinical characteristics of primarily and secondarily infertile men with varicocele. Design Cross-sectional analysis. Setting Male infertility clinic, tertiary health care center. Patient(s) Two hundred ninety-five infertile men with palpable varicoceles. Intervention(s) Clinical evaluation including patient reproductive history (including assessment of primary or secondary infertility), physical examination, hormonal assessment and at least two semen analyses. Main Outcome Measure(s) Differences in the characteristics of men with primary vs. secondary infertility. Result(s) Two hundred five subjects were identified with primary infertility and 90 with secondary infertility. Secondarily infertile men were older (39.6 years vs. 35.0 years), with older partners (35.4 years vs. 33.2 years), but had higher sperm densities (51.3 vs. 36.0 million/mL) and a greater percentage of morphologically normal sperm (30.6% vs. 24.1%). A lower proportion of secondarily infertile men had total motile sperm count (TMC) 20 million (odds ratio 1.9). Conclusion(s) Men with secondary infertility are older and have older partners than primarily infertile men, yet they have significantly better sperm concentrations. Infertility in this group may be influenced by maternal reproductive potential.
Phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate and phospholipase D-generated phosphatidic acid specify SNARE-mediated vesicle fusion for prospore membrane formation.

The soluble N-ethylmaleimide sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) family of proteins is required for eukaryotic intracellular membrane fusions. Vesicle fusion for formation of the prospore membrane (PSM), a membrane compartment that forms de novo during yeast sporulation, requires SNARE function, phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2], and the activity of the phospholipase D (PLD) Spo14p, which generates phosphatidic acid (PA). The SNARE syntaxin Sso1p is essential for PSM production while the functionally redundant homolog in vegetative growth, Sso2p, is not. We demonstrate that Sso1p and Sso2p bind similarly in vitro to PA or phosphoinositide-containing liposomes and that the conserved SNARE (H3) domain largely mediates PA-binding. Both green fluorescent protein-Sso fusion proteins localize to the developing PSM in wild-type cells and to the spindle pole body in spo14Δ cells induced to sporulate. However, the autoregulatory region of Sso1p binds PI(4,5)P2-containing liposomes in vitro with a greater ability than the equivalent region of Sso2p. Overexpression of the phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate 5-kinase MSS4 in sso1Δ cells induced to sporulate stimulates PSM production; PLD activity is not increased under these conditions, indicating that PI(4,5)P2 has roles in addition to stimulating PLD in PSM formation. These data suggest that PLD-generated PA and PI(4,5)P2 collaborate at multiple levels to promote SNARE-mediated fusion for PSM formation.
Incident cognitive impairment is elevated in the stroke belt: The REGARDS Study

Objective To determine whether incidence of impaired cognitive screening status is higher in the southern Stroke Belt region of the United States than in the remaining U.S.
Automatic Boosting of Cross-Product Coverage Using Bayesian Networks

Closing the feedback loop from coverage data to the stimuli generator is one of the main challenges in the verification process. Typically, verification engineers with deep domain knowledge manually prepare a set of stimuli generation directives for that purpose. Bayesian networks based CDG (coverage directed generation) systems have been successfully used to assist the process by automatically closing this feedback loop. However, constructing these CDG systems requires manual effort and a certain amount of domain knowledge from a machine learning specialist. We propose a new method that boosts coverage at early stages of the verification process with minimal effort, namely a fully automatic construction of a CDG system that requires no domain knowledge. Experimental results on a real-life cross-product coverage model demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.
Prevalence of Allergies in Children With Complex Medical Problems

The aim is to determine whether there is a pattern of allergic and immune abnormalities in children with complex medical problems. The authors retrospectively studied a convenience sample of 69 children in a case management program. Of 69 children, 42 underwent immunologic investigations during the selected time frame. Forty (95%) had 1 or more allergic disorder. Cow's milk sensitivity was present in 32 (76%). Abnormal immunoglobulin levels, IgG, IgA, and IgE were found at a greater frequency than in the general pediatric population (P <.005). Lymphocyte subset percentages were decreased for B cells (CD19) and natural killer cells (CD57, CD16/56; P <.05). Presence of a gastrostomy tube, gastroesophageal reflux disease, gastric acid suppression, and chronic constipation were common and failure to thrive, developmental delay, sleep disturbance, and recurrent otitis media were present in the majority. The authors report a higher than expected prevalence of allergic and immune abnormalities in children with complex medical problems.
Physical Factors in the Pathogenesis of Cerebral Atherosclerosis

This report consists of an analysis of autopsy material from 5,031 cases. The cerebral vessels, as represented by the circle of Willis, were scored for severity and extent of atherosclerosis. The effect of physical factors on this process was considered. It is concluded from our data that LaPlace's law best explains the mechanical stress leading to injury of the vessel wall. The literature concerning this and other hypotheses is reviewed.
Molecular Homology and the Luminal Transport of Hg2+ in the Renal Proximal Tubule

Abstract . The aim of this study was to define mechanisms involved in the luminal uptake of inorganic mercury in the kidney using isolated perfused straight (S 2 ) segments of the proximal tubule. When mercuric conjugates of glutathione (GSH), cysteinylglycine, or cysteine (containing 203 Hg 2+ ) were perfused through the lumen, the rates of luminal disappearance flux ( J D ) of inorganic mercury were approximately 39, 53, and 102 fmol/min per mm, respectively. Thus, the rates of luminal uptake of mercury are greater when the mercury is in the form of a mercuric conjugate of cysteine than in the form of a mercuric conjugate of cysteinylglycine or GSH. Addition of acivicin to the perfusate, to inhibit activity of the γ-glutamyltransferase, caused significant reductions in the J D for mercury in tubules perfused with mercuric conjugates of GSH. Addition of cilastatin, an inhibitor of dehydropeptidase-1 (cysteinylglycinase) activity, caused significant reductions in the uptake of mercury in tubules perfused with mercuric conjugates of cysteinylglycine. These findings indicate that a significant amount of the luminal uptake of mercury, when mercuric conjugates of GSH are present in the lumen, is dependent on the activity of both γ-glutamyltransferase and cysteinylglycinase. Finally, the J D for mercury in tubules perfused with mercuric conjugates of cysteine was reduced by approximately 50% when 3.0 mM L-lysine or 5.0 mM cycloleucine was added to the perfusate. It is concluded that these findings indicate that at least some of the luminal uptake of mercuric conjugates of cysteine occurs at the site of one or more amino acid transporters via a mechanism involving molecular homology.
Stimulated emission in the blue from dense arrays of InGaN MQWs nanoposts

Emission from dense arrays of sub-100 nm nanoposts embedding InGaN MQW active gain media has been investigated. Strong microscale stimulated emission has been observed near 400 nm wavelength in this "resonatorless", subwavelength size system.
Harry Potter's Marauder's Map: Localizing and Tracking Multiple Persons-of-Interest by Nonnegative Discretization

A device just like Harry Potter's Marauder's Map, which pinpoints the location of each person-of-interest at all times, provides invaluable information for analysis of surveillance videos. To make this device real, a system would be required to perform robust person localization and tracking in real world surveillance scenarios, especially for complex indoor environments with many walls causing occlusion and long corridors with sparse surveillance camera coverage. We propose a tracking-by-detection approach with nonnegative discretization to tackle this problem. Given a set of person detection outputs, our framework takes advantage of all important cues such as color, person detection, face recognition and non-background information to perform tracking. Local learning approaches are used to uncover the manifold structure in the appearance space with spatio-temporal constraints. Nonnegative discretization is used to enforce the mutual exclusion constraint, which guarantees a person detection output to only belong to exactly one individual. Experiments show that our algorithm performs robust localization and tracking of persons-of-interest not only in outdoor scenes, but also in a complex indoor real-world nursing home environment.
Real-time measurement of blood vessel occlusion during microsurgery.

Measurement and feedback of vascular properties during microsurgery is generally not available. We carried out real-time in vivo measurement and analysis of microsurgical occlusion of 1–2-mm diameter arteries and veins in rodents. A pair of forceps mounted with strain gauges was designed for applying and directly measuring the force on tissue. Forces between 0 and 450 mN were applied, with the device having a resolution of 0.5 mN. We performed in vivo experiments on the rat femoral (n = 5) and abdominal (n = 8) blood vessels to measure the elastic restoration force of the tissue in response to radial compression at different levels of force. On average, the minimum occlusion force was 57 mN for the rat artery. During steady application of force, the perturbations in the blood vessel due to heartbeat are visible in the force data. These force oscillations ranged between 1 and 3 mN around the mean steady-state force applied. It was determined that the magnitude of the Fourier spectral peak corresponding to ...
Why do they not comply with the law? Illegality and semi-legality among rural-urban migrant entrepreneurs in Beijing

Based on in-depth interview materials, this article examines why most rural-urban migrant entrepreneurs in Beijing do not fully comply with a discriminatory license requirement, and in particular, why they prefer license-renting from the locals. This article suggests that the law's lack of legitimacy adds weight to instrumental considerations. But more important, this license-renting practice seems to be reinforced and sustained institutionally by local businesses, law enforcement officers, and the local authorities, because their interests are inextricably intertwined with it. The whole situation constitutes a general equilibrium through which various interests are balanced. This case study thus paints a far more complicated picture of the law's impact on people's behavior than usually assumed. Instrumental concerns, or coercive action and sanctions alone, do not adequately explain people's interaction with the law in a “lawless” circumstance; a whole range of instrumental concerns must be considered, and they, together with sanctions, must be understood in the context of a larger institutional environment in which the interactions of various players unfold.
Proximal Migration and Endoleak: Impact of Endograft Design and Deployment Techniques

Repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms by endovascular means is the preferred method in most patients. Despite its popularity, questions remain about the long-term efficacy and durability. Proximal migration and endoleak are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, and are two of the most important factors in achieving a successful outcome. The technology associated with endovascular grafts continues to evolve rapidly, as does our understanding of ideal deployment techniques. Both can impact the incidence of proximal migration as well as endoleak and must be optimized to achieve ideal clinical outcomes.
Monte Carlo Localization and registration to prior data for outdoor navigation

GPS has become the de facto standard for obtaining a global position estimate during outdoor autonomous navigation. However, GPS can become degraded due to occlusion or interference, to the detriment of autonomous performance. In addition, GPS positions must be aligned with prior data, a tedious and continual process. This work presents a solution to these two problems based on learning generic observation models in the presence of GPS to use in its absence. The models are non-parametric and compared to traditional approaches require few assumptions about either the prior data available or a robot's onboard sensors. Along with allowing for localization to prior data under GPS-denied conditions, this learning approach can be coupled with an EM procedure to automatically register GPS and prior data positions. Experimental results are presented based on data from more than 15 km of autonomous navigation through challenging outdoor terrain.
Data Sharing for Computational Neuroscience

Computational neuroscience is a subfield of neuroscience that develops models to integrate complex experimental data in order to understand brain function. To constrain and test computational models, researchers need access to a wide variety of experimental data. Much of those data are not readily accessible because neuroscientists fall into separate communities that study the brain at different levels and have not been motivated to provide data to researchers outside their community. To foster sharing of neuroscience data, a workshop was held in 2007, bringing together experimental and theoretical neuroscientists, computer scientists, legal experts and governmental observers. Computational neuroscience was recommended as an ideal field for focusing data sharing, and specific methods, strategies and policies were suggested for achieving it. A new funding area in the NSF/NIH Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience (CRCNS) program has been established to support data sharing, guided in part by the workshop recommendations. The new funding area is dedicated to the dissemination of high quality data sets with maximum scientific value for computational neuroscience. The first round of the CRCNS data sharing program supports the preparation of data sets which will be publicly available in 2008. These include electrophysiology and behavioral (eye movement) data described towards the end of this article.
Defining Key Signaling Nodes and Therapeutic Biomarkers in NF1-Mutant Cancers

NF1 encodes a RAS GTPase-Activating Protein. Accordingly, aberrant RAS activation underlies the pathogenesis of NF1-mutant cancers. Nevertheless, it is unclear which RAS pathway components represent optimal therapeutic targets. Here we identify mTORC1 as the key PI3K effector in NF1-mutant nervous system malignancies and conversely show that mTORC2 and AKT are dispensable. However, we find that tumor regression requires sustained inhibition of both mTORC1 and MEK. Transcriptional profiling studies were therefore used to establish a signature of effective mTORC1/MEK inhibition in vivo. We unexpectedly found that the glucose transporter, GLUT1, was potently suppressed but only when both pathways were inhibited. Moreover, unlike VHL and LKB1 mutant cancers, reduction of 18F-FDG uptake required the suppression of both mTORC1 and MEK. Together these studies identify optimal and sub-optimal therapeutic targets in NF1-mutant malignancies and define a non-invasive means of measuring combined mTORC1/MEK inhibition in vivo, which can be readily incorporated into clinical trials.
Radiometric calibration of a Fourier transform spectrometer in the vacuum ultraviolet using synchrotron radiation

The interpretation of astrophysical spectra from both space−based and ground−based telescopes relies on accurate measurements of atomic wavelengths, energy levels and oscillator strengths. However below 160 nm laboratory oscillator strengths are sparse, even for the astrophysically−important spectrum of Fe II. One of the most widely−used techniques for measuring oscillator strengths of spectral lines longer than 160 nm is by combining measured branching fractions (i.e. the intensity ratios of all the lines with the same upper energy level) with the lifetime of the upper level of the transition. The poor performance of Fourier transform spectrometers in the vacuum ultraviolet, the lack of suitable radiometric standards below 160 nm, and the challenge of measuring lifetimes of high−lying energy levels have all contributed to the paucity of laboratory oscillator strengths below 160 nm.
Proteomic studies of stem cells

Stem cells of both embryonic and adult origins hold great promise in regenerative medicine owing to their unique properties of unlimited self renewal and differentiation toward specific lineage(s) once they receive the proper signals. Proteomics is a series of technology platforms driven by advancements in mass spectrometry and bioinformatics that encompass protein identification, the relative quantitation of proteins and peptides, their subcellular localization, and studies of post-translational modifications and protein-protein interactions. Stem cell biology has been influenced by these approaches and has evolved in the post-genomics era. Among many challenges in stem cell biology, there is a pressing need for the implementation of proteomic applications. Recent work on stem cells using proteomics has shown that transcriptome analyses fail to provide a full guide to developmental change in stem cells, and protein interactions that can only be discovered systematically using proteomic approaches have yielded important new concepts on processes regulating development and stem cell pluripotency. In this chapter, we will review current proteomic studies on embryonic and adult stem cells with an emphasis on embryonic stem cells.
Convex envelopes of complexity controlling penalties: the case against premature envelopment

Convex envelopes of the cardinality and rank function, l1 and nuclear norm, have gained immense popularity due to their sparsity inducing properties. This has given rise to a natural approach to building objectives with sparse optima whereby such convex penalties are added to another objective. Such a heuristic approach to objective building does not always work. For example, addition of an L1 penalty to the KL-divergence fails to induce any sparsity, as the L1 norm of any vector in a simplex is a constant. However, a convex envelope of KL and a cardinality penalty can be obtained that indeed trades o sparsity and KL-divergence. We consider the cases of two composite penalties, elastic net and fused lasso, which combine multiple desiderata. In both of these cases, we show that a hard objective relaxed to obtain penalties can be more tightly approximated. Further, by construction, it is impossible to get a better convex approximation than the ones we derive. Thus, constructing a joint envelope across dierent parts of the objective provides a means to trade o tightness and computational cost.
Two Behavioral Hypotheses for the Evolution of Male Homosexuality in Humans

All else equal, men who are less interested in having reproductive sex will produce fewer offspring and thus selection will eliminate the genes that contribute to their sexual orientation. However, all else is not equal, as sexual orientation corresponds with a constellation of traits that may inform reproductive success. In this chapter, I present two hypotheses regarding the adaptive logic of reduced interest in the opposite sex. The first hypothesis addresses the tradeoff between offspring quantity and quality, proposing that men who abstain from sex with women make more effective parents. The second hypothesis invokes sperm competition and suggests that sneak copulating men can benefit from reduced arousal towards women. The question of exclusive homosexuality is addressed in the final section. I contend that self-identification as an exclusive homosexual is the product of a culture that promotes exclusive sexualities to isolate and remove nonheterosexuals from the reproductive arena. In other words, coming out of the closet as a homosexual man serves to distinguish oneself as a noncompetitor to local sexual rivals, alleviating the severity of one’s victimization at their hands. Throughout the chapter, I argue that the modern notion of sexual identity has corrupted our understanding of sexuality as a fluid and functional product of evolved cognitive mechanisms. Reliance on categorical sexual archetypes subverts our ability to characterize sexual variance, not only by limiting the depth of our measures, but also by limiting the depth of our theoretical thinking.
Mechanisms That Link Parenting Practices to Adolescents' Risky Sexual Behavior: A Test of Six Competing Theories.

Risky sexual behavior, particularly among adolescents, continues to be a major source of concern. In order to develop effective education and prevention programs, there is a need for research that identifies the antecedents of such behavior. This study investigated the mediators that link parenting experiences during early adolescence to subsequent risky sexual behaviors among a diverse sample of African American youth (N = 629, 55 % female). While there is ample evidence that parenting practices (e.g., supportive parenting, harsh parenting, parental management) are antecedent to risky sexual behavior, few studies have examined whether one approach to parenting is more strongly related to risky sex than others. Using a developmental approach, the current study focused on factors associated with six theories of risky sexual behavior. While past research has provided support for all of the theories, few studies have assessed the relative contribution of each while controlling for the processes proposed by the others. The current study addresses these gaps in the literature and reports results separately by gender. Longitudinal analyses using structural equation modeling revealed that the mediating mechanisms associated with social learning and attachment theories were significantly related to the risky sexual behavior of males and females. Additionally, there was support for social control and self-control theories only for females and for life history theory only for males. We did not find support for problem behavior theory, a perspective that dominates the risky sex literature, after controlling for the factors associated with the other theories. Finally, supportive parenting emerged as the parenting behavior most influential with regard to adolescents' risky sexual behavior. These results provide insight regarding efficacious approaches to education and preventative programs designed to reduce risky sexual behaviors among adolescents.
Fractional Flow Reserve Assessment of a Coronary Artery Fistula

Petit J., Assadi R., and Hilliard A. Fractional Flow Reserve Assessment of a Coronary Artery Fistula. International Cardiovascular Forum Journal. 2015;4:64-65 DOI: 10.17987/icfj.v4i0.123
BAYESIAN ESTIMATION OF A MULTI-UNIDIMENSIONAL GRADED RESPONSE IRT MODEL

Unidimensional graded response models are useful when items are designed to measure a unified latent trait. They are limited in practical instances where the test structure is not readily available or items are not necessarily measuring the same underlying trait. To overcome the problem, this paper proposes a multi-unidimensional normal ogive graded response model under the Bayesian framework. The performance of the proposed model was evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations. It was further compared with conventional polytomous models under simulated and real test situations. The results suggest that the proposed multi-unidimensional model is more general and flexible, and offers a better way to represent test situations not realized in unidimensional models.
On the Convergence of Stochastic Variational Inference in Bayesian Networks

We highlight a pitfall when applying stochastic variational inference to general Bayesian networks. For global random variables approximated by an exponential family distribution, natural gradient steps, commonly starting from a unit length step size, are averaged to convergence. This useful insight into the scaling of initial step sizes is lost when the approximation factorizes across a general Bayesian network, and care must be taken to ensure convergence in practice. We experimentally investigate how much of the baby (well-scaled steps) is thrown out with the bath water (exact gradients).
Stability of the Inner Nozzle Wake with Relevance to the Coannular Jet Aeroacoustics

In coannular jets the nozzle that separates high stream ∞ow from the low stream ∞ow, leaves its wake. By studying the stability characteristics of the synthetic hybrid proflles, prototypical of the mean velocity proflles downstream of the inner nozzle exit, we aim to shed light on the in∞uence of this wake on the development of the co-annular jets. The present analysis is based on the linear spatial stability of compressible inviscid ∞ows. In this work we have studied in∞uence of Mach number of the primary jet and wake amplitude on the behavior of difierent instability modes.
Ambipolar behaviors of hydrogen-incorporated ZnO nanowires

Ambipolar behaviors of zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) are obtained for the first time by controlled annealing in hydrogen ambient. Optimum annealing can create p-type acceptors into ZnO NWs while m...
Sodium-Potassium Dependent Adenosine Triphosphatase of Mammalian Reticulocytes and Mature Red Blood Cells.∗:

SummaryThe level of Na-K-dependent ATPase was found to be considerably higher in reticulocytes than in mature erythrocytes. The fall in enzyme activity in the red cell upon maturation occurring concomitantly with loss of capacity to concentrate aminoacids lends support to the hypothesis that Na-K-dependent ATPase plays an important role in the active transport of aminoacids.
Diffusible calcium in normal, rachitic, and experimental tetany blood

In 1911, Rona and Takahashi1 reported their work on the diffusible Ca of horse, ox, and pig serum, finding an average of 65 per cent. of the total serum Ca to be diffusible. No work was done with human blood. MacCallum, Lambert and Vogel2 in 1914 made the following statement: “If tetany blood be dialyzed under exactly the same conditions as normal blood, it still loses a proportionate amount of its Ca, which would perhaps show that it is not especially the loss of a diffusible Ca as contrasted with a non-diffusible form—which is important in producing tetany.” Brinkman3 in 1919 advanced the hypothesis that the calcium-ion concentration is dependent on the CO2 tension of the blood. In view of the altered blood CO2 combining power found in tetany by some workers, we have endeavored to correlate Brinkman's hypothesis with the low Ca content of the blood in tetany. During the past year, we have worked with human blood and experimental tetany dog blood.The method of dialysis is an important factor in the resul...
Update in Hospital Medicine: Evidence Published in 2015

This Update summarizes studies published in 2015 that the authors consider highly relevant to the practice of hospital medicine.
Research on strategic transformation path of modern agricultural science and technology park

In this paper,the theories of regional economic development,system evolution and industrial cluster were used to identify the development stage of modern agricultural science and technology park. Judging from the above indicator system,the modern agricultural science and technology park in our country was in a strategic transformation period from a skewed development to a well-coordinated development. On the base of above judgment,it revealed the key issues that hindered the successful transformation of park,including the conflict of objectives and functions,the systematic and institutional barriers and the constraint of operation mechanism. By drawing lessons from Headquarters Economy theory and Service Economy theory,it was pointed out that the development of service economy was an effective solution to resolve the problems during the strategic transformation of park. Furthermore,it proposed some concrete countermeasures to promote the development of the service economy and the transformation of park from the perspectives of position shift of the service-oriented park,the establishment of operation-oriented service system and the spatial distribution of industry value chain.
Corrosion Analysis of Overhead ACSR Cable in Coastal Environment

The aluminum conductor steel reinforced( ACSR) cable suffered severe corrosion in a coastal area. Corrosion of aluminum strands in inner layers was more serious than that of outmost layer. Aluminum strands of inner layers became brittle and some stands were broken; Corrosion also occurred on steel core. The aluminum conductor and steel core were studied by means of SEM,EDX and XRD. Open circuit potential was also tested. The results show that chlorine and sulfur exist at the corrosion front of aluminum conductor and steel core. Zinc layer of the steel core is almost disappeared owing to corrosion. Aqueous pollutant penetrated to the surface of steel core and attacked the Zinc Coating. The reveal of the steel substrate created a galvanic corrosion cell in which the aluminum acted as anode and corrosion of aluminum conductor was accelerated. Some suggestions to inhibit this kind of corrosion are put forward.
Social theory’s “constituency”

The argument is made that the relation between theory and research has become tenuous in American sociology during the recent past, and that during the earlier decades of this century the nature of that relationship was different. A suggestion is made for the reacquaintance of empirical research and its theoretical underpinning.
Power Information Infrastructure-Oriented Cyber War and Countermeasures

With the intensity of the international cyber war situation, to prudently avoid cyber war attacks on our country electric power information infrastructure and deploy necessary security protection measures has been an urgent and necessary work. This paper studies the basic characteristics, attack and defense methods and technical equipments of the cyber war. And then, from different aspects of cyber-attacks on power websites and service terminals, cyber-attacks on power production control system and important information flow monitoring, this paper analyzes attack ways of the cyber war and the attack risks faced with our electric power information infrastructure, and proposes countermeasures and suggestions, which provides a reference for electric power enterprises to deploy relevant security protection policies.
Erythropoietin-dependent primary pure erythrocytosis

We investigated the pathogenesis of isolated erythrocytosis of 14 yr duration in a 28-yr-old man. The increase in red cell mass was attributed to increased erythropoietin production. An extensive search for recognized causes of secondary erythrocytosis was unrevealing. Family members were found to be hematologically normal. After reduction of the circulating red cell mass by 20%, erythropoietin activity nearly quadrupled, thus suggesting a normal erythropoietin response to phlebotomy. When bone marrow cells of the patient were cultured in plasma clots in the absence of added erythropoietin, endogenous erythroid colony formation was observed, a pattern previously believed to be specific for polycythemia vera bone marrow cells. Our observations suggest that the erythrocytosis in this individual is best explained by an abnormal “servoregulatory” mechanism of erythropoietin production. In addition, this is the first instance in which the rule that endogenous erythroid colony formation is correlated with the diagnosis of polycythemia vera has not held.
Boundaries and Connections of the Ventral Pallidum in Rat and Monkey, with Reference to Man

The ventral pallidum was first described in the rat by Heimer and Wilson (1975) as an extension of the globus pallidus, stretching ventrally and rostrally beneath the anterior commissure. Its identification as part of the pallidum was originally based on the cytological similarities with the globus pallidus as well as the fact that it receives its major input from the striatum, in particular the nucleus accumbens (Wilson, 1972; Williams et al., 1977; Nauta et al., 1978). In addition, it shares with the globus pallidus a substantial projection from the subthalamic nucleus (Ricardo, 1980), a high iron content (Switzer and Hill 1979; Hill and Switzer 1984), glutamic-acid-decarboxylase-like immunoreactivity (Fallon and Ribak, 1980; Zahm et al., 1985) and enkephalin-like immunoreactivity (Haber and Nauta, 1983).
Indian Housing for Indians

ABSTRACTHousing constructed for American Indians has reflected Anglo architectural design while disregarding the cultural practices of the tribes involved. A current project is aimed at discovering the patterns of housing that will be compatible with the needs of Tonto Apaches in Payson, Arizona. Some of the findings of both past difficulties in Apache housing and present needs of the Payson community are reported here.
The Tradeoff Between Single Aggregate and Multiple Aggregates in Designing GENI Experiments

The Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) provides a virtual laboratory for exploring future internets at scale. It consists of many geographically distributed aggregates for providing computing and networking resources for setting up network experiments. A key design question for GENI experimenters is where they should reserve the resources, and in particular whether they should reserve the resources from a single aggregate or from multiple aggregates. This not only depends on the nature of the experiment, but needs a better understanding of underlying GENI networks as well. This paper studies the performance of GENI networks, with a focus on the tradeoff between single aggregate and multiple aggregates in the design of GENI experiments from the performance perspective. The analysis of data collected will shed light on the decision process for designing GENI experiments.
The Aggregation Free Energy Landscapes of Polyglutamine Repeats.

Aggregates of proteins containing polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats are strongly associated with several neurodegenerative diseases. The length of the repeats correlates with the severity of the disease. Previous studies have shown that pure polyQ peptides aggregate by nucleated growth polymerization and that the size of the critical nucleus (n*) decreases from tetrameric to dimeric and monomeric as length increases from Q18 to Q26. Why the critical nucleus size changes with repeat-length has been unclear. Using the associative memory, water-mediated, structure and energy model, we construct the aggregation free energy landscapes for polyQ peptides of different repeat-lengths. These studies show that the monomer of the shorter repeat-length (Q20) prefers an extended conformation and that its aggregation indeed has a trimeric nucleus (n* ∼ 3), while a longer repeat-length monomer (Q30) prefers a β-hairpin conformation which then aggregates in a downhill fashion at 0.1 mM. For an intermediate length peptide (Q2...
Clinical and molecular rationale to retain the cancer descriptor for Gleason score 6 disease.

Reichard and Klein present clinical and molecular data that stand against removing the cancer descriptor from Gleason score 3 + 3 = 6 prostate cancer. They argue that the evidence of a lack of malignancy is inconclusive and that a change in classification might result in poor patient outcomes. Treatment choices for men with indolent prostate cancer include active surveillance or definitive local therapy. Overtreatment of these patients is an important current problem. Treatment decisions are often made jointly by the clinician and the patient, partly based on the tumour's Gleason score. To reduce the burden of overtreatment, the clinical significance of Gleason score 3 + 3 = 6 prostate cancer has been questioned and some have advocated that Gleason pattern 3 should be stripped of its cancer status. However, removing the cancer descriptor would have far-reaching clinical consequences that might result in poor patient outcomes, as the evidence of a lack of malignancy is inconclusive in several areas. For example, molecular data suggest that the genomic instability underlying tumour progression precedes histologically visible changes and the absolute risk of metastasis or mortality from Gleason score 6 prostate cancer is not zero. Extreme caution is required when weighing a decision to reclassify Gleason pattern 3 disease as a non-cancer.
New onset diabetes mellitus induced by statins: current evidence

The hydroxyl-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme-A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors of statin action are very effective and safe drugs, and they are widely used for the treatment of hyperlipidemia and the prevention of primary and secondary cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, recent meta-analyses of previous studies done with statins have shown that these drugs could induce new onset diabetes mellitus (NODM), especially in subjects prone to diabetes: obese, females, older age, Asian descent, and those with pre-diabetes or the metabolic syndrome. Several meta-analyses of randomized, controlled trials with statins and population-based studies of subjects taking statins have shown different incidence of NODM ranging from 28% in the JUPITER study to 43% in the UK clinical practice cohort. The exact cause of statin-induced NODM is not clearly known and several pathophysiologic mechanisms have been proposed, which include modification of the lipoprotein particle size, inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase, decreased expression of GLUT 4, and decreased adiponectin and ubiquinone levels, including others, which all lead to either increase in insulin resistance or decrease in insulin secretion. Based on the current evidence, the use of statins should not be withheld from subjects at high cardiovascular risk, even if they are prone to NODM, because their benefits outweigh their risks. However, in persons prone to the development of NODM, vigilance is required and periodic measurements of plasma glucose or HbA1c should be performed. If NODM develops, statin treatment should not be stopped, but a switch to administration of a more favorable statin, administration of statin on alternate days, or reduction of the dose should be considered, or antidiabetic therapy added.
GUIDELINES ALLOWING CONTROL OF HYPERTENSION IN NON-DIABETICS GREATER THAN 60 YEARS OLD AT UP TO 150 MMHG AVERAGE SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE INCREASES PATIENT MORTALITY IN VETERANS

Background: The Veterans Affairs (VA) Electronic Health Record (EHR) contains the vital signs of over 8,000,000 patients, allowing comparisons between blood pressure (BP) control and mortality. Methods: We reviewed changes in blood pressure (BP) over 15 years (2000-2014). Hypertension (HTN) was
Alternative RNA products from the Ultrabithorax domain of the bithorax complex.

Abstract The homeotic gene, Ultrabithorax (Ubx) is involved in specifying the identities of several segments in the fly Drosophila melanogaster. The structures of over 60 independent Ubx cDNAs have been examined. There are two major species of transcripts, 3.2 and 4.3 kb in length, which are produced by alternate sites of polyadenylation. Differential splicing gives rise to at least five variant Ubx proteins. The variant forms share common 5' and 3' exons but differ in their small internal 'micro' exons. Additional variation is generated by two separate splice donor sites at the end of the common 5' exon, situated 27 bp apart. Northern hybridization and S1 nuclease protection studies of RNA from various developmental stages and tissue types reveal that the alternate splicing and the choice of polyadenylation site are each differentially regulated in both a temporal and a tissue specific manner. Additional transcripts were found just downstream of the Ubx transcription unit, which may be products of the lethal left of bithorax gene (llb).
Human Natural Killer Cells in Health and Disease

Natural killer (NK) cells, a small subset of peripheral blood lymphocytes, mediate a variety of functions that are important in human health and disease. In addition to their role in control of metastasis and infections, NK cells participate in immunoregulation, haematopoiesis, reproduction and neuroendocrine interactions. Defective or absent NK cell activity is associated with a spectrum of human diseases. Immunotherapy to augment or replace NK cell activity is becoming available. Therapeutic modification of NK cell activity is likely to become more widely used as our knowledge of the relevance of NK cells to health and disease states increases in the future.
In Situ Printing-then-Mixing for Biological Structure Fabrication Using Intersecting Jets

Although traditional three-dimensional bioprinting technology is suitable for many tissue engineering applications, various biomaterials and constructs call for bioprinting innovations. There is a need for the fabrication of complex structures from reactive biomaterials as well as heterogeneous structures with controlled material compositions. In particular, during reactive material printing, reactive solutions/suspensions that undergo changes in rheological properties or cytocompatibility are not printable using traditional bioprinting approaches that require all components of bioinks to be mixed before deposition. The objective of this study is to develop and implement an intersecting jets-based inkjet bioprinting approach, which enables voxel-resolution printing-then-mixing for the fabrication of biological structures using reactive materials as well as structures having a compositional gradient. Inkjetting is implemented herein as a versatile technique to simultaneously deposit droplets of disparate m...