cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
LCA Case Study on Printed Matter

Previous product life cycle assessments (LCAs) on offset printed matter all point at paper as the overall dominating contributor to the impacts from the life cycle of this product category. The dominating role of paper is primarily founded in the energy-related impact categories: global warming, acidification and eutrophication. These former studies focus on impacts related to energy and the chemical-related impact categories, comprising ecotoxicity and human toxicity, are not included at all or only to a limited degree. In this chapter we present a newer case study that includes these chemical-related impact categories by making use of knowledge about emissions from the printing industry combined with knowledge about the composition of the printing materials used during the production of offset printed matter. The results show that the relative importance of the paper-related energy consumption is significantly reduced when chemical emissions combined with toxicity-related impact categories are included in the impact assessment. By including results from a survey on the presence of hazardous chemicals in the Danish printing industry, some of the potential additives/impurities that may appear in the recycled paper are identified.
Functional-Based Acoustic Group Feature Selection for Automatic Recognition of Eating Condition

This paper presents the novel Functional-based acoustic Group Feature Selection (FGFS) method for automatic eating condition recognition addressed in the ICMI 2018 Eating Analysis and Tracking Challenge's Food-type Sub-Challenge. The Food-type Sub-Challenge employs the audiovisual iHEARu-EAT database and attempts to classify which of six food types, or none, is being consumed by subjects while speaking. The approach proposed by the FGFS method uses the audio mode and considers the acoustic feature space in groups rather than individually. Each group is comprised of acoustic features generated by the application of a statistical functional to a specified set of the low-level descriptors of the audio data. The FGFS method provides information about the degree of relevance of the statistical functionals to the task. In addition, the partitioning of features into groups allows for more rapid processing of the official Sub-Challenge's large acoustic feature set. The FGFS-based system achieves 2.8% relative Unweighted Average Recall performance improvement over the official Food-type Sub-Challenge baseline on iHEARu-EAT test data.
Transection of the arterial ligament for extended mediastinal lymph node dissection by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery: invaluable technique for the right patient.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounting for 85% of cases (1). Five-year survival is heavily dependent upon cancer stage and follows the tumor, node, and metastasis staging model (TNM), with lymph node (LN) metastasis being an important determinant of prognosis (2). Stage I NSCLC includes tumors less than 4 cm in diameter without metastasis to LNs. Published practice guidelines recommend preoperative staging with positron emission tomography (PET) or PET-computed tomography (CT), with subsequent preoperative pathologic tissue diagnosis for mediastinal staging in centrally located tumors, tumors >3 cm, and for enlarged or PET-positive LNs (2,3). Endobronchial ultrasonography (EBUS) with fine needle aspirate is the recommended first choice where available; if unavailable or if aspirate is negative in the setting of high suspicion for involved LNs, recommendations are to proceed with cervical mediastinoscopy.
Gigantism and Acromegaly

Gigantism and acromegaly are rare clinical entities caused by growth hormone (GH) hypersecretion. Their main difference is the status of the epiphyseal growth plates at the time of the GH hypersecretion; gigantism occurs during childhood when growth plates are not yet fused, and acromegaly occurs after epiphyseal fusion. The most common cause of both gigantism and acromegaly is a benign GH-secreting pituitary tumor (somatotroph tumor) that occurs sporadically. However, both disorders can occur in the setting of known genetic syndromes, including familial isolated pituitary adenoma, X-linked acrogigantism, Carney complex, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, McCune-Albright syndrome, paraganglioma, pheochromocytoma and pituitary adenoma association, and neurofibromatosis type 1. Typical clinical features include coarse facial characteristics with frontal bossing and prognathism, excessive sweating, and enlargement of the hands and feet. Clinical manifestations can be broadly categorized into local effects from the pituitary tumor and systemic effects of the GH/IGF1 excess. Measurement of serum IGF-1 is the best screening test for gigantism and acromegaly. Diagnosis is confirmed by failure of suppression of GH to less than 1 μg/L after a standardized oral glucose load. The goal of treatment is to normalize GH secretion and correct clinical symptoms while preserving anterior pituitary function. Surgery is the first line of therapy for patients with a distinct pituitary micro- or macroadenoma. Medical treatment consists of three different classes of medications: somatostatin analogues, dopamine agonists, and growth hormone receptor antagonist. Radiotherapy may be used as an adjuvant therapy when surgery and medical therapy are unsuccessful.
Abstract 174: Periadventitial or Intraluminal Delivery of Simvastatin Attenuates Intimal Hyperplasia After Arterial Injury

Introduction: Oral statin administration reduces intimal hyperplasia (IH) after arterial injury by only ~25%. Alternative drug delivery systems have gained attention as carriers for hydrophobic dru...
Cortical and subcortical alterations associated with precision visuomotor behavior in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

This is the first known study to examine functional brain activation during precision visuomotor behavior in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We replicate previous findings of elevated force variabi...
A Framework for the Analysis of Throughput-Constraints of SNNs on Neuromorphic Hardware

Spiking neural networks (SNN) are efficient computation models to infer spacio-temporal pattern recognition applications on neuromorphic hardware. Neuromorphic hardware are typically designed using interconnected crossbars, with each crossbar containing a structure of fully connected neurons. In order to ensure application performance such as accuracy and system performance such as throughput and resource utilization, SNNs need to be efficiently mapped on neuromorphic hardware. To address this, we propose a design flow to partition and map SNN-based applications on neuromorphic hardware, with an aim to enhance application and system performance. The design flow operates in two steps : (1) a two-step clustering technique to partition trained SNNs into clusters of neurons and synapses, with an aim to minimize inter-cluster spike communication, (2) mapping and scheduling the clusters on to crossbars-based architectures, modeled using Synchronous Data-flow Graphs (SDFGs). The SDFG model incorporates hardware constraints such as I/O bandwidth of crossbars and synaptic memory while analyzing the throughput of the modeled system. Our design-flow integrates CARLsim, a GPU-accelerated application-level SNN simulator with SDF3, a tool to map SDFG on hardware. We evaluate the design-flow using synthetic and realistic SNN-based applications. We show that, for throughput constrained applications, we achieve a 21.74% and 15.03% reduction in memory usage and utilization of the time-multiplexed interconnect, compared to a state of the art approach.
Identification and Management of Psychosocial Issues in the Athlete for Return to Sport

Psychosocial factors are influential in an athlete’s decision and readiness to return to sport after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. These factors encompass cognitive (expectation, motivation, self-efficacy), emotional (mood and anxiety, fear of movement, or reinjury), and behavioral (rehabilitation adherence) domains and can directly impact postoperative recovery. Screening for psychosocial factors with the use of validated measures may assist in the identification of athletes at risk for not returning to their preinjury level of sport participation. When indicated, the inclusion of psychosocial management strategies could enhance recovery toward return to sport.
COVID - 19 and Rural Health Care: Editorial

Fahs reflects on the potential impact of COVID-19 pandemic on rural health resources in the US During times of public health or natural disasters people who have the resources have historically fled cities to more rural locations With this highly contagious COVID -19 virus, rural area health resources may soon be stretched to the limit Meit, Kennedy, and Briggs wrote about the potential rural population surge during a future pandemic scenario and the problems the burdens this could cause in rural health care systems Those passing through rural areas may unknowingly spread a virus if the stop for fuel, food or temporary lodging Survey data estimated that about 25% of an urban population may evacuate the more urban areas during a pandemic, even when the government is asking them to shelter in place The potential for urban evacuation is more likely without any government recommendation
Different Carbonate Isomers Formed by the Addition of CO2 to M3O6- for M = Ti, Zr, and Hf.

The chemisorption addition of CO2 to M3O6 and M3O6- for M = Ti, Zr and Hf was examined using couple cluster CCSD(T) theory using density functional theory B3LYP geometries. For neutral M3O6CO2, a b...
High- Versus Low-Energy Acetabular Fracture Outcomes in the Geriatric Population:

Introduction:High-energy mechanisms of acetabular fracture in the geriatric population are becoming increasingly common as older adults remain active later in life. This study compared outcomes for...
Delay-locking: Unraveling Multiple Unknown Signals in Unknown Multipath

Given a mixture of co-channel user signals subject to frequency-selective multipath, sensed through an array of co-located antennas, how can we recover the user signals? This is a difficult problem, especially when some of the user signals are much weaker than others, and we know little about the transmitted signal properties. The setup is relevant in a number of settings, including non-cooperative communications, signal intelligence, passive radar using illuminators of opportunity, and convolutive speech and audio separation. This paper considers the problem of unsupervised signal recovery in unknown multipath and (possibly strong) multiuser interference. Leveraging the fact that multiple independently faded copies of each signal are received through distinct paths at different times, this paper shows that relative path delays and the user signals can be identified via canonical correlation analysis (CCA). CCA is a powerful statistical learning tool that can efficiently estimate a common subspace even in the presence of noise and strong cochannel interference. The proposed approach provides rigorous recovery guarantees, can tolerate strong co-channel interference and low signal-to-noise ratio, and is computationally tractable for practical implementation. Simulations reveal that the proposed approach achieves much better performance than independent component analysis, which is the only baseline that works under similar assumptions in this setting.
Therapeutic Ultrasound Parameter Optimization for Drug Delivery Applied to a Murine Model of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Abstract Ultrasound and microbubble (USMB)-mediated drug delivery is a valuable tool for increasing the efficiency of the delivery of therapeutic agents to cancer while maintaining low systemic toxicity. Typically, selection of USMB drug delivery parameters used in current research settings are either based on previous studies described in the literature or optimized using tissue-mimicking phantoms. However, phantoms rarely mimic in vivo tumor environments, and the selection of parameters should be based on the application or experiment. In the following study, we optimized the therapeutic parameters of the ultrasound drug delivery system to achieve the most efficient in vivo drug delivery using fluorescent semiconducting polymer nanoparticles as a model nanocarrier. We illustrate that voltage, pulse repetition frequency and treatment time (i.e., number of ultrasound pulses per therapy area) delivered to the tumor can successfully be optimized in vivo to ensure effective delivery of the semiconducting polymer nanoparticles to models of hepatocellular carcinoma. The optimal in vivo parameters for USMB drug delivery in this study were 70 V (peak negative pressure = 3.4 MPa, mechanical index = 1.22), 1-Hz pulse repetition frequency and 100-s therapy time. USMB-mediated drug delivery using in vivo optimized ultrasound parameters caused an up to 2.2-fold (p
A Distributed Algorithm for Nonconvex Quadratically Constrained Programs

Abstract This paper considers nonconvex quadratically constrained programs over undirected connected graphs. We focus on problems whose quadratic constraint forms have sparse hessians, i.e., each constraint only involves a small subset of variables. We present both centralized and distributed treatment of the problem, where the centralized method is used as a benchmark with which we compare the performance of the proposed distributed algorithm. Towards this objective, we derive a lower bound on the optimal value of the problem using a semidefinite relaxation. Then, we develop a decentralized algorithm based on proximal gradient ADMM that exploits the structure of the constraints to distribute the computations among the graph nodes. Indeed, the proposed algorithm does away with a central node. Each node updates its local variables via solving a simple subproblem, then communicate with its immediate neighbors. An application of this work is the AC optimal power flow problem in power networks for which we provide preliminary numerical results to validate our findings.
Circadian immunity, sunrise time and the seasonality of respiratory infections.

The innate and adaptive immune response are regulated by biological clocks, and circulating lymphocytes are lowest at sunrise. Accordingly, severity of disease in mouse models is highly dependent on the time of day of viral infection. Here, we explore whether circadian immunity contributes significantly to seasonality of respiratory viruses, including influenza and SARS-CoV-2. Susceptibility-Infection-Recovery-Susceptibility (SIRS) models of influenza and SIRS-derived models of COVID-19 suggest that local sunrise time is a better predictor of the basic reproductive number ( R0 ) than climate, even when day length is taken into account. Moreover, these models predict a window of susceptibility when local sunrise time corresponds to the morning commute and contact rate is expected to be high. Counterfactual modeling suggests that retaining daylight savings time in the fall would reduce the length of this window, and substantially reduce seasonal waves of respiratory infections.
Lithosphere structure and seismic anisotropy offshore eastern North America: Implications for continental breakup and ultra-slow spreading dynamics

The breakup of supercontinent Pangea occurred 200 Ma forming the Eastern North American Margin (ENAM). Yet, the precise timing and mechanics of breakup and onset of seafloor spreading remain poorly...
Inductive Noise Coupling in Superconductive Passive Transmission Lines

Superconductive niobium-based circuits is a promising energy efficient beyond-CMOS technology that can supplement or replace existing large scale CMOS systems. Modern superconductive circuits utilize more than ten metal layers for gates and interconnect. Many sources of inductive coupling noise exist within this environment. Superconductive circuits are particularly vulnerable to inductive coupling, as the operation of the logic gates and flip flops depends on precise bias conditions, and the signal magnitude is relatively small. These inductive coupling sources are characterized, and the effects of inductive coupling noise in different circuit structures are described. Guidelines to mitigate the deleterious effects of coupling noise are presented.
Massive Star Evolution

Supernovae are of wide interest to the astronomical community because they play a key role in the nucleosynthetic evolution of galaxies, stellar remnant populations, the energetics and phase balance of the interstellar medium (ISM), the interpretations of observations of distant galaxies, models of galaxy formation and evolution, the physics of star formation, and tests of cosmology, among other topics. This book deals largely with the interesting physics and observations associated with the supernova explosion itself and the immediate development of its gaseous and compact remnants. However, in order to contribute to these other fields, the fates of massive stars must be placed in a larger context. It is not sufficient to study the physics of the explosion in isolation; it is also necessary to have a firm grasp on the evolution of supernova progenitors. Quantifying the contribution of massive stars to the ambient radiation field, the dynamics of the ISM, and the chemical evolution of galaxies requires connecting supernovae with the stellar initial mass function (IMF) and understanding all the physics that lies in between.
The origin of mathematics

1. The two traditions. There are two great traditions, easily discernible, in the history of mathematics: the geometric or constructive and the algebraic or computational. If it could be shown that each of these has a single source and there are many rather familiar facts that suggest that this is so and if, moreover, in both cases the sources turn out to be the same, it would be plausible to claim that we have found the unique origin of mathematics. That is what I propose to do. The student who has taken our usual high-school courses in mathematics will recognize the two traditions easily enough. In the second year he studies plane geometry, where he encounters something quite different from his studies in algebra. Previously he computed, whereas now he constructs perpendiculars, angle bisectors, etc. ; and he deals with theorems and proofs. In algebra he learned that "minus times minus is plus," but this wasn't proved or even called a theorem. At best there was a rough explanation, or more probably he was simply told that that's the way it is. From a strictly mathematical point of view there can hardly be any reason why proof should enter geometry and not algebra, and one might speculate that the notion of proof first arose in the geometric tradition (and then passed to the algebraic). Such a guess will hardly come as a surprise to the readers accustomed to look to Classical Greece for the origin of the constructive tradition.
On the cross-polarization characteristics of crooked wire antennas designed by genetic algorithms

Genetic algorithms (GA) have found numerous applications in the design and optimization of antennas. E.E. Altshuler and D.S. Linden have presented a crooked wire antenna made up of a few straight segments above a ground plane and fed by a coaxial line at the base (see Altshuler and Linden, "Electromagnetic Optimization by Genetic Algorithms", John Wiley & Sons, Inc., p.211-48, 1999; Altshuler, IEEE Trans. on Antennas and Propag., vol.48, p.968-72, 2000). The design of such an antenna was facilitated by the use of a GA optimization. However, the cross polarization level was not specified in the cost function and it was not discussed in the analytical or experimental pattern data of the antennas. In many modern communication applications, there is a need for simple circularly polarized antennas for hemispherical coverage with a good axial ratio or low value of cross polarization. We revisited the crooked wire antenna because of its simplicity. It was found that with a few straight segments it was not possible to produce circular polarization with a low value of cross polarization over a wide angular region. If the number of segments is increased to a large value, the antenna shape approaches that of a spiral or curl antenna.
The evolution of relaxor behavior in Ti4+ doped BaZrO3 ceramics

In this paper we have studied the relaxor behavior of BaZrxTi1−xO3 (0.50⩽x⩽0.80) ceramics. The relaxor behavior of BaZrxTi1−xO3 (BZT) solid solution is analyzed with respect to the increasing amount of Ti4+ rich polar regions in the nonpolar matrix of BaZrO3 which has a very low dielectric constant (∼27). The dielectric behavior of BaZrxTi1−xO3 ceramics is studied in the temperature range of 300–30K. The relaxor behavior becomes more prominent with the increase of Ti4+ ion content, i.e., with increasing amount of the polar regions. The frequency dependence of the polar regions follows Vogel-Fulcher relation [Z. Phys. 22, 645 (1921); J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 8, 339 (1925)] with a characteristic cooperative freezing at a specific temperature. The dielectric behavior of BZT ceramics shows more electric field dependence with the increase in Ti4+ rich polar regions.
Bio-inspired optimization techniques for the design of millimeter wave antireflective surfaces

This paper presents the successful application of bio-inspired optimization algorithms to electromagnetics problems. The problem considered is the design of antireflective surfaces using sub-wavelength gratings periodically created inside the substrate. We apply the rigorous coupled wave analysis to model the reflection and transmission properties of the material and utilize bio-inspired optimization methods such as the particle swarm optimization and ant colony optimization to determine the optimal parameters that achieve the desired performance.
Real-time observation of the initiation of RNA polymerase II transcription

Biochemical and structural studies have shown that the initiation of RNA polymerase II transcription proceeds in the following stages: assembly of the polymerase with general transcription factors and promoter DNA in a 'closed' preinitiation complex (PIC); unwinding of about 15 base pairs of the promoter DNA to form an 'open' complex; scanning downstream to a transcription start site; synthesis of a short transcript, thought to be about 10 nucleotides long; and promoter escape. Here we have assembled a 32-protein, 1.5-megadalton PIC derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and observe subsequent initiation processes in real time with optical tweezers. Contrary to expectation, scanning driven by the transcription factor IIH involved the rapid opening of an extended transcription bubble, averaging 85 base pairs, accompanied by the synthesis of a transcript up to the entire length of the extended bubble, followed by promoter escape. PICs that failed to achieve promoter escape nevertheless formed open complexes and extended bubbles, which collapsed back to closed or open complexes, resulting in repeated futile scanning.
Incrementally verifiable computation or proofs of knowledge imply time/space efficiency

A probabilistically checkable proof (PCP) system enables proofs to be verified in time polylogarithmic in the length of a classical proof. Computationally sound (CS) proofs improve upon PCPs by additionally shortening the length of the transmitted proof to be polylogarithmic in the length of the classical proof. In this paper we explore the ultimate limits of non-interactive proof systems with respect to time and space efficiency. We present a proof system where the prover uses space polynomial in the space of a classical prover and time essentially linear in the time of a classical prover, while the verifier uses time and space that are essentially constant. Further, this proof system is composable: there is an algorithm for merging two proofs of length k into a proof of the conjunction of the original two theorems in time polynomial in k, yielding a proof of length exactly k. We deduce the existence of our proposed proof system by way of a natural new assumption about proofs of knowledge. In fact, a main contribution of our result is showing that knowledge can be "traded" for time and space efficiency in noninteractive proof systems. We motivate this result with an explicit construction of noninteractive CS proofs of knowledge in the random oracle model.
Effectiveness of regionalized systems for stroke and myocardial infarction

Background Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are ischemic emergencies. Guidelines recommend care delivery within formally regionalized systems of care at designated centers, with bypass of nearby centers of lesser or no designation. We review the evidence of the effectiveness of regionalized systems in AIS and STEMI. Methods Literature was searched using terms corresponding to designation of AIS and STEMI systems and from 2010 to the present. Inclusion criteria included report of an outcome on any dependent variable mentioned in the rationale for regionalization in the guidelines and an independent variable comparing care to a non- or pre-regionalized system. Designation was defined in the AIS case as certification by the Joint Commission as either a primary (PSC) or comprehensive (CSC) stroke center. In the STEMI case, the search was conducted linking “regionalization” and “myocardial infarction” or citation as a model system by any American Heart Association statement. Results For AIS, 17 publications met these criteria and were selected for review. In the STEMI case, four publications met these criteria; the search was therefore expanded by relaxing the criteria to include any historical or anecdotal comparison to a pre- or nonregionalized state. The final yield was nine papers from six systems. Conclusion Although regionalized care results in enhanced process and reduced unadjusted rates of disparity in access and adverse outcomes, these differences tend to become nonsignificant when adjusted for delayed presentation and hospital arrival by means other than emergency medical services. The benefits of regionalized care occur along with a temporal trend of improvement due to uptake of quality initiatives and guideline recommendations by all systems regardless of designation. Further research is justified with a randomized registry or cluster randomized design to support or refute recommendations that regionalization should be the standard of care.
Controlled microporosity in reverse osmosis membranes by template molecule inclusion

Abstract The effect of including a template molecule, tellurium tetrabromide, on the structure and reverse osmosis properties of cellulose nitrate membranes was studied. The effect of tellurium tetrabromide content in the range from 0 to 41 vol.% on the reverse osmosis transport of water and salt was determined at an applied pressure of about 1800 p.s.i., using 4 wt.% sodium chloride solutions. The effects of pressure and temperature were also studied, with the use of membranes having template inclusions in the range of 20 to 27.8 vol.%. Below 7.5%, the tellurium tetrabromide probably exists as isolated groups of molecules surrounded by compact polymer. From 7.5% to 26.5%, the tellurium tetrabromide apparently creates pores in the film which permit water to diffuse but which restrain dissolved ions, either because the pores are too small or because they are interrupted by thin films. The water is probably transported by diffusing from hydrogen-bonding site to hydrogen-bonding site along the pore. Calculations indicate that only about 5% of the TeBr4 which is present is effective in making useful pores. The remainder is in regions which do not contribute to the water flow. Above 26.5% TeBr4 content, some larger pores are formed which permit the hydrodynamic flow of undiluted brine. These large pores arise from the preparation technique, since above 26.5% TeBr4 gross structural disruptions of the polymer are required in order to accommodate all the TeBr4.
Retromer function in endosome-to-Golgi retrograde transport is regulated by the yeast Vps34 PtdIns 3-kinase

A direct role for phosphoinositides in vesicular trafficking has been demonstrated by the identification of the yeast VPS34 gene encoding the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase responsible for the synthesis of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PtdIns3P). Vps34p binds the protein kinase Vps15p, and it has recently been shown that Vps15p and Vps34p associate with Vps30p and Vps38p to form a multimeric complex, termed complex II. We observed that mutations in the VPS30 and VPS38 genes led to a selective sorting and maturation phenotype of the soluble vacuolar protease CPY. Localization studies revealed that the CPY receptor Vps10p and the Golgi-endoprotease Kex2p were mislocalized to vacuolar membranes in strains deficient for either Vps30p or Vps38p, respectively. Interestingly, we measured decreased PtdIns3P levels in Deltavps30 and Deltavps38 cells and observed redistribution of Vps5p and Vps17p to the cytoplasm in these mutants. Vps5p and Vps17p are subunits of the retromer complex that is required for endosome-to-Golgi retrograde transport. Both proteins contain the Phox homology (PX) domain, a recently identified phosphoinositide-binding motif. We demonstrate that the PX domains of Vps5p and Vps17p specifically bind to PtdIns3P in vitro and in vivo. On the basis of these and other observations, we propose that the PtdIns 3-kinase complex II directs the synthesis of a specific endosomal pool of PtdIns3P, which is required for recruitment/activation of the retromer complex, thereby ensuring efficient endosome-to-Golgi retrograde transport.
Prospective study of alcohol consumption patterns in relation to symptomatic gallstone disease in men.

Although the association between alcohol intake and gallstone disease has been characterized previously, the relation between alcohol consumption patterns, specific types of alcoholic beverages, and risk for cholelithiasis has not been addressed systematically. These issues were examined prospectively in a cohort of men who were free from symptomatic gallstone disease in 1986 and were followed to 1996. During follow-up, 2.4% of the men reported newly symptomatic gallstones that were diagnosed by ultrasonography or x-ray, or a cholecystectomy. After adjusting for other known or suspected risk factors, an increase in the amount of alcohol consumed was associated with a decreased risk of symptomatic gallstone disease. An increase in frequency of alcohol consumption also was related to decreased risk. Combining the reports of quantity and frequency of alcohol intake, a consumption pattern that reflected frequent intake (5-7 days/week) of any given amount of alcohol was associated with a decreased risk, as compared with nondrinkers. In contrast, infrequent alcohol intake (1-2 days/week) showed no significant association with risk. All alcoholic beverage types were inversely associated with risk of symptomatic gallstone disease, independent of patterns of consumption. These results suggest that frequent, moderate intake of alcohol decreases the risk for symptomatic gallstone disease, in contrast to infrequent or episodic alcohol intake. Recommendations regarding the benefit of moderate quantities of alcohol for gallstone disease should be weighed against the potential health hazards of alcohol consumption.
NMR-assisted computational studies of peptidomimetic inhibitors bound in the hydrophobic pocket of HIV-1 glycoprotein 41

Due to the inherently flexible nature of a protein–protein interaction surface, it is difficult both to inhibit the association with a small molecule, and to predict how it might bind to the surface. In this study, we have examined small molecules that mediate the interaction between a WWI motif on the C-helix of HIV-1 glycoprotein-41 (gp41) and a deep hydrophobic pocket contained in the interior N-helical trimer. Association between these two components of gp41 leads to virus–cell and cell–cell fusion, which could be abrogated in the presence of an inhibitor that binds tightly in the pocket. We have studied a comprehensive combinatorial library of α-helical peptidomimetics, and found that compounds with strongly hydrophobic side chains had the highest affinity. Computational docking studies produced multiple possible binding modes due to the flexibility of both the binding site and the peptidomimetic compounds. We applied a transferred paramagnetic relaxation enhancement experiment to two selected members of the library, and showed that addition of a few experimental constraints enabled definitive identification of unique binding poses. Computational docking results were extremely sensitive to side chain conformations, and slight variations could preclude observation of the experimentally validated poses. Different receptor structures were required for docking simulations to sample the correct pose for the two compounds. The study demonstrated the sensitivity of predicted poses to receptor structure and indicated the importance of experimental verification when docking to a malleable protein–protein interaction surface.
Experimental analysis of variance for DNA hybridization: I. Accuracy

We used tissues of the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) to examine the experimental accuracy of DNA hybridization statistics of thermal stability (Tmode, Tm, T50H, and NPH) with respect to systematic biases in counting radioactivity in elution fractions, and column position and loading order of hybrids in the thermal elution device. We failed to detect any change in the mean melting temperatures among five replicate 125I-labeled hybrids counted over 72 h. Furthermore, column position in the automated thermal elution device (TED) did not bias the statistics of aliquots loaded over a few minutes from a single large “mother” hybrid. On the other hand, the normalized percentage hybridization (NPH) increased as much as 3–5% for aliquots loaded during 1 h from a similar “mother” hybrid. A parallel but less consistent increase was noted for T50H, which incorporates a measure of NPH. This ‘NPH effect’ disappeared when hybrids were prepared individually and diluted and loaded in turn—the usual procedure in our laboratory. Replicate distances measured as NPH appear to be sensitive to departures from the normal-distribution assumption of least-squares regression. We recommend that replicate cell values of NPH be transformed to improve their fit to a normal distribution prior to analysis by least-squares phylogenetic algorithms such as those available in Felsenstein's PHYLIP package. Thus, potential sources of inaccuracy in DNA hybridization data can be avoided with simple precautions.
Prefix versus suffix information processing in the comprehension of tense and aspect.

This research evaluated the Polish child's capacity to comprehend aspect and tense distinctions realized by either prefixation or suffixation. Ten 2; 6 and ten 3; 6 children were given a picture–sentence matching task. Aspect picture sets contrasted completed with incompleted situations and sentences contrasted perfective with imperfective verbs differing by a prefix or a suffix. Tense picture sets portrayed either ongoing vs. anticipated action or results of action vs. anticipated action contrasts. Again sentences differed in verb forms either by prefixes or suffixes. The results showed that young children can pay attention to the beginnings of words as easily as to the ends of words and can understand a wide range of aspect and tense distinctions.
Optic Neuritis and Encephalomyelitis in Monkey produced with Human Optic Nerve

OPTIC neuritis is an integral part of the encephalomyelitis which rarely follows anti-rabies vaccination with brain preparations1,6. This condition in man is an accidental allergic encephalomyelitis and appears to be identical to the experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) produced in animals by injection of brain. Optic neuritis also occurs in other forms of encephalomyelitis and in multiple sclerosis2. The lesions in these demyelinating diseases may be due to an immunological process3. If so, an encephalitogenic antigen common to the developmentally related optic nerve, brain and spinal cord may account for the simultaneous appearance of the lesions in these structures. Suggestive evidence of such an antigen has been provided by the demonstration of optic nerve lesions in animals in which EAE was produced by injection of brain3.
Ranking USRDS provider specific SMRs from 1998-2001.

Provider profiling (ranking/percentiling) is prevalent in health services research. Bayesian models coupled with optimizing a loss function provide an effective framework for computing non-standard inferences such as ranks. Inferences depend on the posterior distribution and should be guided by inferential goals. However, even optimal methods might not lead to definitive results and ranks should be accompanied by valid uncertainty assessments. We outline the Bayesian approach and use estimated Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs) in 1998–2001 from the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) as a platform to identify issues and demonstrate approaches. Our analyses extend Liu et al. (2004) by computing estimates developed by Lin et al. (2006) that minimize errors in classifying providers above or below a percentile cut-point, by combining evidence over multiple years via a first-order, autoregressive model on log(SMR), and by use of a nonparametric prior. Results show that ranks/percentiles based on maximum likelihood estimates of the SMRs and those based on testing whether an SMR = 1 substantially under-perform the optimal estimates. Combining evidence over the four years using the autoregressive model reduces uncertainty, improving performance over percentiles based on only one year. Furthermore, percentiles based on posterior probabilities of exceeding a properly chosen SMR threshold are essentially identical to those produced by minimizing classification loss. Uncertainty measures effectively calibrate performance, showing that considerable uncertainty remains even when using optimal methods. Findings highlight the importance of using loss function guided percentiles and the necessity of accompanying estimates with uncertainty assessments.
Farewell and Acknowledgement to Nicolene Hengen – JET's Inaugural Managing Editor

The previous issue (Vol. 3, No. 4) marks the end of our third year of publication – an important milestone now that we are beginning to observe the impact of articles published in JET. The launch o...
The Hertz problem for a rigid spherical indenter and a viscoelastic half-space

Abstract The penetration of a viscoelastic half-space by a rigid spherical indenter is investigated in a quasi static approximation. Solutions to the problem are obtained for monotonic contact radius and also when the radius possesses a single maximum. The analysis is used to estimate the duration of contact and coefficient of restitution for the Hertzian impact of a spherical indenter on a Maxwell solid.
Parameter Optimization for a Temperature Estimation Model

We consider a problem arising in designing Compact Thermal Models (CTMs) for the purpose of simulating the thermal response of a package. CTMs are often preferred over more detailed models due to their minimal representation and the reduced computations required to obtain accurate nodal temperature predictions under hypothetical scenarios. The quality of CTM performance depends on the determination of an appropriate set of parameters that drive the model. The subject of this paper is a heuristic nonlinear optimization approach to computing the set of CTM parameters that best predicts the thermal response of a package. Our algorithm solves a series of one-dimensional nonconvex optimization problems to obtain these parameters, exploiting the special structure of the CTM in order to improve both the execution time of the algorithm and the quality of the CTM performance. We conclude the paper by providing a brief array of computational results as a proof of concept, along with several possible future research extensions.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Free Charge Carrier Effects in Cadmium Fluoride

Charge compensation can proceed from electrons in the conduction band or in -0.06-ev traps. Heatlng in Cd vapor results in dlffusion of interstitial F- ions to the surface and electrons inward from the surface. CdF/sub 2/ is formed. In CdF/sub 2/: Sm/sup 3+/, Na/sup /, in which the substitutional Na+ compensates the charge of the Sm/sup 3+/ ion, no coloration was observed nor could pure CdP/sub 2/ crystals be colored. Freecarrier absorption was also observed in material doped with Tb and Dy. (L.N.N.)
Prethreshold retinopathy in premature infants with intrauterine growth restriction.

Aim To determine, among very preterm newborns, whether those who are growth-restricted are at increased risk of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and to explore whether the mixed findings of prior studies are the consequence of sampling based upon birthweight instead of gestational age. Methods Using data from the ELGAN Study, we created logistic regression models of prethreshold ROP risk to adjust for confounders and calculate odds ratios and 99% confidence intervals. We created scatter plots to display the gestational age/birthweight relationship in infants enrolled in studies with different selection criteria. Results Low gestational age [23–24 weeks, OR 11.6 (2.9, 47); 25–26 weeks, 8.1 (2.1, 32)] and severe growth restriction [birthweight Z-score <−2, OR 9.1 (1.1, 76)] were associated with increased risk of prethreshold ROP. We documented in scatter plots that a sample defined by birthweight has an excess of gestationally older, severely growth-restricted newborns. Conclusion In this sample, low gestational age and severe growth restriction were associated with increased risk of prethreshold ROP.
Transdominant inhibition of herpes simplex virus growth in transgenic mice

A mutant allele (X25) of an essential regulatory protein, ICP4, encoded by herpes simplex virus (HSV) has been shown to have a transdominant, negative effect on the activity of the wild-type protein, resulting in the inhibition of virus growth in vitro. The X25 protein appears to exert its transdominant effect by sequestering functional ICP4 monomers into nonfunctional, heterodimeric complexes (A. Shepard, P. Tolentino, and N. A. DeLuca, 1990, J. Virol. 64, 3916-3926). In order to assess the antiviral potential of X25 in vivo, four transgenic mouse lines were generated bearing 1 to 10 copies of a DNA fragment encoding the mutant allele. Monolayers of embryonic cells prepared from each of the lines expressed the transgenic X25 protein. When challenged via the eye, every line exhibited at least some enhanced resistance to HSV infection. In the best line, transgenic animals exhibited a statistically significant (> 95% confidence) 5- to 13-fold lower eye swab titer relative to their nontransgenic littermates at Day 1 postinfection. A similar reduction in titer was observed in the trigeminal ganglia at Day 3 postinfection. These results indicate that the X25 protein is able to exert a significant antiviral effect in vivo.
The Relationship of Human Saphenous Vein Smooth Muscle Contractile Responses to Donor Age and Gender

The smooth muscle contractile properties of 100 human saphenous veins derived from healthy tissue and organ donors were investigated. No significant changes in the contractile responses of saphenous veins to potassium chloride, serotonin, and norepinephrine were associated with age. In contrast, comparison of contractile responses between males and females demonstrated significantly less response to potassium chloride in female veins (P<0.05). Female contractile responses to serotonin (P=0.74) and norepinephrine (P=0.29) did not differ significantly when compared with male responses. These observations support the conclusion that gender may be an important variable in saphenous vein biology
Goodness—of—fit for the two—parameter weibull distribution with estimated parameters

Goodness—of—fit statistics based on the empirical distribution function (EDF) are not distribution—free when parameters for the hypothesized distribution are estimated. Tables are percentile values of several EDF statistics are available for the two—parameter Weibull distribution when parameters are estimated by maximum likelihood. To determine how these tabled values change when simpler estimators are employed, percentile scores for EDF goodness—of—fit tests were obtained by Monte—Carlo simulation for maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs), good linear unbiased estimators (GLUEs), and modified Cramer—von Mises, Anderson—Darling, and Watson statistics are presented for GLUEs for both complete and censored samples. Critical values for Kolmogorov—Smirnov statistics were less affected by the method of estimation than were closer for MLEs and MGLUEs than for MGLUEs and GLUEs. On the other hand, MGLUE and GLUE results were much more similar to each other than to the MLE results when censoring was light and sampl...
ACCIDENTAL EXPOSURES TO BLOOD AND BODY FLUIDS AMONG HEALTH CARE WORKERS IN DENTAL TEACHING CLINICS: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY

The authors evaluated accidental exposures to blood and body fluids reported to a hotline or to health officials at four dental teaching clinics. The authors used a standard questionnaire to solicit and record data regarding each exposure. During a 63-month period, 428 parenteral exposures to blood or body fluids were documented. Dental students and dental assistants had the highest rates of exposure. Syringe needle injuries were the most common type of exposure, while giving injections, cleaning instruments after procedures and drilling were the activities most frequently associated with exposures.
A Computer Controlled System to Calibrate Microwave Power Sensors and Attenuators

Power at microwave frequencies is expensive.The higher the power, tbe higher the price. For exaaple, the typical price of a one watt amplifier at x-band is in the neighborhood of 5%. But a two watt amplifier can cost as much as 501 times more than its one watt counterpart. Double the frequency and the price can albo easily double. Vendors want to ensure that their products are meeting their power specifications. Their future business depends on that. On the other hand, users of power devices want to ensure that they ace getting uhat they are paying for.