cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Gender Inequality in National Laws Predicts Estimated Prevalence of Modern Slavery Victims across Countries

Human exploitation is an egregious human rights violation that disproportionately affects women and girls worldwide. Gender inequality, a major risk factor to female exploitation, is sometimes codi...
Abstract TP279: Evaluation of Exclusions for Endovascular Intervention to Identify Clinical Practice Patterns

Background: Our five-hospital Comprehensive Stroke Program utilizes a standardized large vessel occlusion (LVO) triage that includes NIHSS >10 and last known well <6 hours. When these criteria are ...
Information Extraction/Entailment of Common Law and Civil Code

With the recent advancements in machine learning models, we have seen improvements in Natural Language Inference (NLI) tasks, but legal entailment has been challenging, particularly for supervised approaches. In this paper, we evaluate different approaches on handling entailment tasks for small domain-specific data sets provided in the Competition on Legal Information Extraction/Entailment (COLIEE). This year COLIEE had four tasks, which focused on legal information processing and finding textual entailment on legal data. We participated in all the four tasks this year, and evaluated different kinds of approaches, including classification, ranking, and transfer learning approaches against the entailment tasks. In some of the tasks, we achieved competitive results when compared to simpler rule-based approaches, which so far have dominated the competition for the last six years.
A Call to Action on Elder Law Education: An Assessment and Recommendations Based on a National Survey

The explosive growth of the field of elder law raises questions about how best to prepare lawyers for elder law practice, and how to ensure that those currently in the area have the training they need to serve their clients. We therefore surveyed approximately three hundred elder law practitioners and professors with the aim of better describing the field of elder law and identifying needs related to elder law education and training. Our findings paint a positive view of the field’s prospects. They indicate that elder law is not only a growing specialty with significant opportunities for future growth, but that elder law practice is highly satisfying, especially for attorneys who appreciate a high level of interpersonal interaction. Our findings further indicate that there is a distinct body of elder law, that elder law attorneys need particular skills, and that education and training about this body of law and focused on these skills are of value both during and after law school. Based on these findings, we make a series of concrete recommendations for the legal academy and others interested in improving elder law education. Finally, we explore how these recommendations are consistent with broader calls for reform in legal education.
Development of a Monitoring System for a Long‐span Cantilever Truss Bridge

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a paradigm that enables an integrated systems approach for a reliable measurement-based understanding of the loading environment of major bridges, and how their structural systems carry their loads as they operate and fulfill their functions. For long-span bridges, some of the most pressing challenges are solving performance problems that are related to objectionable movements and geometry changes, displacements, vibrations, and visible signs of aging. In this study, an overview of a comprehensive monitoring project of the longest cantilever truss bridge in the United States is presented. A critical objective of this study is the development and demonstration of a complete SHM framework with Internet-based real-time monitoring modules, various sensors, data-acquisition systems, data management and communication protocols, and data analysis methods. The monitoring of this long-span bridge incorporated various intermittent and long-term monitoring studies on the bridge to explore several operational, maintenance, and safety issues. This study also presents the need for an integrated systems approach to technology development and for the leveraging of technology in order to make a difference in how we manage major bridges. Integrated systems approach requires that we correctly identify, measure, understand, and then incorporate, in any management decision, the interactions between natural, sociotechnical, and constructed systems that govern the performance of all infrastructure components and systems. Keywords: bridge; monitoring; FEM; ambient vibration; damper; load test; temperature; stress; Internet
Defects of Androgen Action

Since 1935 it has been recognized that the principal androgen secreted by the testes is testosterone. The seminal observations of Bruchovsky and Wilson and of Anderson and Liao, however, led to the recognition that although testosterone is the most abundant circulating androgen, 5α-dihydrotestosterone is the predominant hormone found complexed to the androgen receptor (AR) in the nuclei of target cells, such as the prostate. This finding opened a new perspective on androgen physiology and focused attention on the enzyme that mediated this conversion, 5α-reductase, as a potential modulator of androgen action in selected tissues. As described below, this inference has been confirmed by the later recognition that in selected patients abnormalities in male development are caused by defects in the conversion of testosterone to 5α-dihydrotesto sterone.
Artificial Intelligence: Genetic Algorithms and Evolutionary Computing

Encodings, Operators and Evaluation Beyond Simple Genetic Algorithms Keywords: artificial intelligence: genetic algorithms; evolutionary computing
3D radio frequency ultrasound cardiac segmentation using a linear predictor

We present an approach for segmenting the left ventricular endocardial boundaries from radio-frequency (RF) ultrasound. The method employs a computationally efficient two-frame linear predictor which exploits the spatio-temporal coherence of the data. By performing segmentation using the RF data we are able to overcome problems due to image inhomogeneities that are often amplified in B-mode segmentation, as well as provide geometric constraints for RF phase-based speckle tracking. We illustrate the advantages of our approach by comparing it to manual tracings of B-mode data and automated B-mode boundary detection using standard (Chan and Vese-based) level sets on echocardiographic images from 28 3D sequences acquired from 6 canine studies, imaged both at baseline and 1 hour post infarction.
Working with Suicidal Clients Using the Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS)

The Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS) was developed to modify clinician behaviors in how they initially identify, engage, assess, conceptualize, treatment plan, and manage suicidal outpatients. This approach integrates a range of theoretical orientations into a structured clinical format emphasizing the importance of the counselor and client working together to elucidate and understand the “functional” role of suicidal thoughts and behaviors from the client’s perspective. Based on clinical research in various outpatient settings, CAMS provides mental health counselors with a novel clinical approach that is tailored to a suicidal client’s idiosyncratic needs thereby insuring the effective clinical assessment, treatment, and tracking of high risk suicidal clients.
Thinking in Education: Obstacles and Misconceptions in Teaching for Thinking

CONCEPTUAL OBSTACLES TO THE STRENGTHENING OF THINKING I take up first the conceptual obstacles to the improvement of thinking in schools and colleges. Later I will deal with some of the more practical aspects of the problem. Disagreements over the nature of thinking We are not sure what thinking is, just as we are not sure what life is, or experience, or being human. When problems like the abortion issue come to the surface, the general public discovers that matters like these have to be confronted and deliberated upon by everyone. But we must first make provision in the schools for installing thinking as a fundamental aspect of education; and to do this, we need clues as to just what arguments we are dealing with. Following are some of the disagreements that emerge when we begin to consider what we must do to focus on education for thinking. 1. The conception of thinking primarily entails problem solving versus The conception of thinking primarily entails problem seeking Comment . By and large, this difference exemplifies the radical difference between education in the sciences and education in the humanities. Science textbooks tend to treat scientific knowledge as settled . Students learn standard methods of problem solving and then are assigned problems that vary somewhat from the paradigm to see if they can extrapolate from the established approach. In the humanities, in contrast, the subject matter is treated as intrinsically problematic , and students are encouraged to look for new problems of interpretation or conceptualization.
Necrotizing enterocolitis is associated with earlier achievement of enteral autonomy in children with short bowel syndrome.

Purpose Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) remains one of the most common underlying diagnoses of short bowel syndrome (SBS) in children. The relationship between the etiology of SBS and ultimate enteral autonomy has not been well studied. This investigation sought to evaluate the rate of achievement of enteral autonomy in SBS patients with and without NEC.
Fracture resistance of human cortical bone across multiple length-scales at physiological strain rates

Abstract While most fracture-mechanics investigations on bone have been performed at low strain rates, physiological fractures invariably occur at higher loading rates. Here, at strain rates from 10 −5 to 10 −1 s −1 , we investigate deformation and fracture in bone at small length-scales using in situ small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) to study deformation in the mineralized collagen fibrils and at the microstructural level via fracture-mechanics experiments to study toughening mechanisms generating toughness through crack-tip shielding. Our results show diminished bone toughness at increasing strain rates as cracks penetrate through the osteons at higher strain rates instead of deflecting at the cement lines, which is a prime toughening mechanism in bone at low strain rates. The absence of crack deflection mechanisms at higher strain rates is consistent with lower intrinsic bone matrix toughness. In the SAXS experiments, higher fibrillar strains at higher strain rates suggest less inelastic deformation and thus support a lower intrinsic toughness. The increased incidence of fracture induced by high strain rates can be associated with a loss in toughness in the matrix caused by a strain rate induced stiffening of the fibril ductility, i.e ., a “locking-up” of the viscous sliding and sacrificial bonding mechanisms, which are the origin of inelastic deformation (and toughness) in bone at small length-scales.
Tandem photovoltaic cells based on low-concentration donor doped C60

Abstract We demonstrate that enhanced efficiency can be achieved in organic tandem photovoltaic cells using identical bulk heterojunction subcells based on 1,1-bis-(4-bis(4-methyl-phenyl)-amino-phenyl)-cyclohexane doped C60 in series. Power conversion efficiencies greater than 4% have been achieved in 2- and 3-stack tandem cells, an improvement of at least 30% over the single-stack cell.
Adagio: making DVS practical for complex HPC applications

Power and energy are first-order design constraints in high performance computing. Current research using dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) relies on trading increased execution time for energy savings, which is unacceptable for most high performance computing applications. We present Adagio, a novel runtime system that makes DVS practical for complex, real-world scientific applications by incurring only negligible delay while achieving significant energy savings. Adagio improves and extends previous state-of-the-art algorithms by combining the lessons learned from static energy-reducing CPU scheduling with a novel runtime mechanism for slack prediction. We present results using Adagio for two real-world programs, UMT2K and ParaDiS, along with the NAS Parallel Benchmark suite. While requiring no modification to the application source code, Adagio provides total system energy savings of 8% and 20% for UMT2K and ParaDiS, respectively, with less than 1% increase in execution time.
Ductility and the abrasive wear resistance of hot work die steels

Abstract Two-body abrasive resistance has been determined as a function of tempering temperature for a conventional hot work die steel and two experimental hot work die steels. After tempering in the secondary hardening range both experimental steels exhibit abrasive wear resistance comparable with or superior to that of the conventional die steel. In addition, the abrasive wear behavior of the three steels has been assessed using an approach suggested by one of the authors which emphasizes the role of ductility in determining abrasive wear resistance. As suggested by that approach, the product of the wear ratio and the bulk hardness tends to decrease with increasing tensile strain to fracture.
ELECTRON PHOTODETACHMENT SPECTROSCOPY OF SOLVATED ANIONS : RO.HF- OR ROH.F- ?

Electron photodetachment spectra of three alkoxide ions, 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentoxide, 3,3-dimethyl-2-butoxide, trifluoroethoxide, and two complex ions, 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol/fluoride, 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanol/fluoride, have been measured using an ion cyclotron spectrometer to generate, trap, and detect the ions. The electron affinities of trifluoroethoxide, 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentoxide, and 3,3-dimethyl-2-butoxide were measured as 58.9 ± 0.1, 47.8 ± 0.3, and 45.7 ± 0.1 kcal mol-1, respectively. Using known proton affinities of the three alcohols allows us to determine the O−H bond dissociation energies. The threshold detachment energies for 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanol/fluoride and 3,3-dimethyl-2-butanol/fluoride complex ions are 70.3 ± 0.5, and 70.1 ± 0.5 kcal mol-1, respectively. The fluoride binding energies are thus on the order of 30 kcal mol-1. We show that the observation or non-observation of photodetachment for alcohol/fluoride ions depends only on the alcohol acidity. In complex ions of the form ROHF-, if R...
Rotator Cuff Repair Should Be Done Arthroscopically: Body of Evidence-Affirms

Controversy on the technique to repair rotator cuff tears have continued since the inception of arthroscopy as an alternative method of repair. Classic open, Mini-open and arthroscopic techniques have all been touted as the method of choice for surgical repair by several authors. The arthroscopic approach provides several advantages to repair, including decreased morbidity, the ability to better visualize and repair the tear, and the ability to address concomitant shoulder pathology. This article presents an interpretation of the current literature as an argument for the arthroscopic approach for repair of the torn rotator cuff.
Chronic Kidney Disease, Pediatric Nephrologists, and Tobacco Counseling: Perceptions and Practice Patterns. A Study from the Midwest Pediatric Nephrology Consortium

We sought to identify practice patterns of pediatric nephrologists for tobacco counseling, because of a high incidence of secondhand smoke exposure and tobacco use in adolescents with chronic kidney disease. Counseling was minimal for several reasons, thus increasing the risk for heart disease inherent in children with chronic kidney disease.
The old book switcheroo: or anatomy of a delusion.

In this paper, an aging baby boomer “tells all” about his personal experience with some of the “pitfalls of organized religion,” as observed from his somewhat unusual perspective as a Jew by birth and a Roman Catholic by choice, and a lifelong Asperger’s sufferer, the butt of practical jokes in a variety of juvenile and adult settings. His conclusion, echoing H.L. Mencken’s famous statement that “the cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy,” is that the best antidote to these “pitfalls” may be found simply in the responsible practice of religion, including both Judaism and Christianity. The author also believes his own survival in life despite some “ogres and tricksters” along the way validates the Jungian philosophy of synchronicity. He believes that the storms of life are best weathered by accepting them as parts of a Merciful Providence’s “vast eternal plans” for all His children on Earth.
Relationship between the transition zone index of the prostate gland and urinary morbidity after brachytherapy

Abstract Objectives. To evaluate whether urinary symptomatology after prostate brachytherapy is related to the preimplant transition zone index (TZI = transition zone volume/prostate gland volume). Methods. A total of 170 consecutive patients without a prior history of transurethral resection of the prostate gland (TURP) underwent transperineal ultrasound-guided prostate brachytherapy for clinical T1c-T3a carcinoma of the prostate gland. Prostate gland and transition zone dimensions and volumes were measured by prolate ellipsoid calculation from the static ultrasound images. The relationship between TZI and various measures of urinary dysfunction including normalization of International Prostate Symptom Scores (IPSS), catheter dependency, the need for a subsequent TURP, and the duration of alpha-blocker dependency were evaluated. Additional clinical parameters evaluated included the relationship between TZI and patient age, clinical T stage, prostate ultrasound volume, neoadjuvant hormonal manipulation, and preimplant IPSS. For all indices of urinary dysfunction other than serial IPSS, the median patient follow-up was 89.3 weeks. The median follow-up for serial IPSS evaluations was 37.3 weeks with a mean of 11.2 questionnaires per patient. Results. The mean TZI for the 170 patients was 0.23 ± 0.06 (prostate gland volume 30.3 ± 8.7 cm3, transition zone volume 7.3 ± 3.6 cm3). The TZI correlated with the time for IPSS normalization, the maximum IPSS after brachytherapy, and the maximum increase in IPSS. Conversely, the TZI did not correlate with either catheter dependency or alpha-blocker dependency. Two of 170 patients (1.2%) required a postimplant TURP. The TZI in these 2 patients (0.34) was statistically different (P = 0.016) from the mean. Conclusions. In prostate brachytherapy patients, the preimplant TZI predicted the need for a subsequent transurethral resection. The TZI also correlated with multiple variants of IPSS. Conversely, TZI did not correlate with either catheter dependency or alpha-blocker dependency.
LATITUDINAL AND SEASONAL VARIATION IN CALCULATED ULTRAVIOLET‐B IRRADIANCE FOR RICE‐GROWING REGIONS OF ASIA*

Ultraviolet-B (UV-B,280–320 nm) irradiance was calculated for more than 1200 sites in Asia to characterize the spatial and temporal variation in the present UV-B climate for rice-growing regions. The analytical model of Green et al. (Photochem. Photobiol.31,59–65, 1980) was used to compute UV-B irradiance for clear skies using satellite-observed ozone column thickness and local elevation data. Ground-based observations of cloud cover were then used to approximate the average effect of cloud cover on UV-B irradiance using the approach of Johnson et al. (Photochem. Photobiol.23,179–188, 1976). Over the geographic range of rice cultivation, the maximum daily effective UV-B irradiance (UV-BBE), when weighted according to a general plant action spectrum, was found to vary approx. 2.5-fold under both clear and cloudy sky conditions. Under clear skies, the timing of maximum solar UV-BBE changed with latitude and varied from February-March near the equator to July-August at temperate locations. Cloud cover was found to alter the season of maximum UV-BBE in many tropical regions, due to the pronounced monsoonal climate, but had little effect on UV-B seasonality at higher latitudes. Under a climate resulting from a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide, estimated UV-B using predicted cloud cover was found to change by up to 17% from present conditions in Thailand. Both latitudinal and seasonal variation in solar UV-B radiation may be important aspects of the UV-B climate for rice as cultivars differ in sensitivity to UV-B and are grown under diverse conditions and locations.
Intrauterine growth curves: intra- and international comparisons with different ethnic groups in California.

Abstract The position of the United States in international comparisons of infant mortality rates has deteriorated in recent years. It is suggested here that this result may in part be due to relatively poorer levels of maternal nutrition and to less favorable socioeconomic environments. Historical studies of the effects of wartime-induced famine as well as pathological investigations have shown that maternal undernutrition results in lower weights for newborn infants. Low birth weight in turn has a profound effect on subsequent perinatal loss. Maternal nutrition can be thought of as a constraint on fetal growth and comparisons of intrauterine growth curves may indicate the effects of nonoptimal nutritional standards. Because the effect of ethnic group membership on the growth of the fetus is not well-understood, it is important to hold that variable constant if environmental effects are to be isolated. A technique is presented, using a massive set of vital records, for making such intrauterine growth comparisons. The results suggest that low birth weight, resulting from relatively inferior socioeconomic and environmental conditions, may explain a large proportion of the relatively high infant mortality rate observed in the United States, and that preventive measures may be effective means for lowering pregnancy wastage.
Annihilation of positrons trapped at the alkali-metal-covered transition-metal surface.

Recent studies of the Cu(100) surface covered with submonolayers of Cs [A. R. Koymen et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 2378 (1992)] revealed that the normalized intensity of the positron-annihilation-induced Cu ${\mathit{M}}_{2,3}$VV Auger signal remains nearly constant at the clean Cu(100) surface value until the Cs coverage reaches approximately 0.7 physical monolayer, at which coverage the signal intensity drops precipitously. We present a microscopic analysis of this unusual behavior of the Cu ${\mathit{M}}_{2,3}$VV Auger signal based on a treatment of a positron as a single charged particle trapped in a ``correlation well'' in the proximity of the surface atoms. The image-potential-induced positron surface states are calculated using the corrugated-mirror model in a full three-dimensional geometry. These states are studied for the clean Cu(100) surface and for various ordered structures of the Cs adsorbate on the Cu(100) surface below and above the critical alkali-metal coverage of approximately 0.7 physical monolayer. Calculations show that whereas the positron surface state is localized in the region of the Cs/Cu(100) interface for Cs coverages below the critical alkali-metal coverage, at a Cs coverage corresponding to one physical monolayer the positron surface state is localized on the vacuum side of the Cs overlayer. The probabilities for a positron trapped in a surface state to annihilate with relevant Cu and Cs core-level electrons as well as the positron surface-state lifetimes are computed for various alkali-metal structures on the Cu(100) surface and compared with experimental positron-annihilation-induced Auger-electron-spectroscopy data. It is shown that a shift in localization of the positron surface state from the Cs/Cu(100) interface to the vacuum side of the alkali-metal overlayer results in a sharp decrease in the positron-annihilation probabilities with Cu 3s and 3p core-level electrons, in agreement with experiment.
Improving the accessibility of aurally rendered HTML tables

Current techniques employed to aurally render HTML tables often result in output that is very difficult for sight-impaired users to understand. This paper proposes TTPML, an XML-compliant markup language, which facilitates the generation of prose descriptions of tabular information. The markup language enables content creators to specify contextual reinforcement of, and linear navigation through, tabular information. The markup language may be applied to pre-existing Web content and is reusable across multiple tables. TTPML may be interpreted by origin servers, proxy servers, or browsers. We believe that our approach benefits sight-impaired users by improving accessibility to tabular information.
Volt/Var Control on Distribution Systems with Lateral Branches Using Switched Capacitors and Voltage Regulators Part III: The Numerical Results

In this paper (Part I) and two companion papers (Part II and Part III) the problem of volt/var control on general radial distribution systems is formulated, simplified and solved. The objective is to minimize the peak power and energy losses while keeping the voltage within specified limits under varying load conditions. The decision variables to be optimally determined are (i) the locations, sizes and the real-time control of the specified number of ON/OFF switched and fixed capacitors and (ii) the locations and real-time control of the minimum number of voltage regulators. It is shown in this paper (Part I) that the regulator (volt) and the capacitor (var) problem may be treated as two decoupled problems. Part II of this set of three papers, conjoined with part I, provides the analytical tools by which optimal solutions for both problems may be determined. Application of the theory to representative radial systems is shown in Part III which also illustrates the ecomonic benefits and numerical results achievable through both regulation and compensation schemes.
Use of Services by Community-Dwelling Patients With Dementia: A Systematic Review

Dementia is a complicated disease requiring medical, psychological, and social services. Services to address these needs include medical care (outpatient physician/specialist, inpatient, emergency) and community care (home health, day care, meal preparation, transportation, counseling, support groups, respite care, physical therapy). This systematic review of articles published in English from 1991 to the present examines studies of ambulatory, community-dwelling dementia patients with established dementia diagnoses. Searches of the Medline database using 13 combinations of search terms, plus searches of Embase and PsycINFO databases using 3 combinations of terms and examination of reference lists of related articles, resulted in identification of 15 studies dealing with healthcare utilization among community-dwelling dementia patients in both medical and community care settings. Patients with dementia frequently use the full spectrum of medical services. Community resources are used less frequently. Community healthcare services may be a valuable resource in alleviating some burden of dementia care for physicians.
Construction of double sampling s‐control charts for agile manufacturing

Double sampling (DS) -control charts are designed to allow quick detection of a small shift of process mean and provides a quick response in an agile manufacturing environment. However, the DS -control charts assume that the process standard deviation remains unchanged throughout the entire course of the statistical process control. Therefore, a complementary DS chart that can be used to monitor the process variation caused by changes in process standard deviation should be developed. In this paper, the development of the DS s-charts for quickly detecting small shift in process standard deviation for agile manufacturing is presented. The construction of the DS s-charts is based on the same concepts in constructing the DS -charts and is formulated as an optimization problem and solved with a genetic algorithm. The efficiency of the DS s-control chart is compared with that of the traditional s-control chart. The results show that the DS s-control charts can be a more economically preferable alternative in detecting small shifts than traditional s-control charts. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mathematical modeling of photoconductor transient response

We present a Photoconductor device model that is based on time-dependent convective/diffusive continuity and transport equations. Electron and hole trapping on deep-level impurities is accounted for by trapping-kinetics rate equations. The coupling between carrier drift and electric field is completed through Poisson's equation. The system of model equations is solved numerically with boundary conditions that represent ideal ohmic contacts. Computed results are presented for different photoconductor lengths and bias voltages with spatially uniform, rectangular light-pulse excitation. Material parameters appropriate for iron-doped indium phosphide are used.
Global rates of devolatilization for various coal types

Abstract This modeling study reports global rate expressions for transient weight loss and yields of tar and gas for coals across the rank spectrum. A novel kinetic analysis demonstrates that the Distributed Activation Energy Model (DAEM) reliability correlates transient weight loss at various heating rates, and makes reasonably accurate extrapolations for pulverized coal (p.c.) firing conditions. This performance motivates solutions of the DAEM for arbitrary thermal histories, including approximate closed-form solutions for transient weight loss along linear temperature ramps and exponential temperature histories. Our analysis also rigorously defines the rate constants in single first order reactions that give the same devolatilization rate as the DAEM at every instant in any thermal history. For devolatilization during heatup at constant rates, frequency factors increase by a factor of 6 for every order-of-magnitude increase in heating rate, while activation energies remain constant. Throughout convective heating, however, both rate parameters decrease continuously, so that straight lines on Arrhenius diagrams do not represent rate constants for coal devolatilization. Rate variations for different coal ranks are modest by comparison. For ranks from lignite to high-volatile bituminous, rates decrease by up to a factor of 3. Low volatility coals are much more resistant to thermal decomposition; they devolatilize at rates up to 5 times slower than all other lower ranks. Correlations for different coal types from FLASH2, a more detailed devolatilization model, describe separate gas and tar evolution rates, and replace hypothetical ultimate yield parameters by accurate predictions for ultimate tar and gas yields.
TH-E-L100J-03: Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Mammography: Computerized Classification of Malignant and Benign Masses

Purpose: To develop a computer‐aided diagnosis system to assist radiologists in classification of malignant and benign masses on digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) mammograms.Method and Materials: We used a data set of 60 cases (30 malignant and 30 benign) acquired with a GE Gen1 prototype DBT system located at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The DBT system acquired 11 projections in 5‐degree increments over a total arc of 50 degrees. The DBTs were reconstructed at a slice spacing of 1 mm using a simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique. In this preliminary study, the volume of interest (VOI) containing the mass and its central slice were manually identified. The mass on each slice was segmented by an active contour model initialized with adaptive k‐means clustering. A band of pixels around the segmented mass boundary underwent the rubber band straightening transform (RBST) and the RBST image was enhanced by Sobel filtering. Morphological, spiculation, and texture features were extracted from the segmented mass and the enhanced RBST image. Two approaches for analysis of the masses were compared, one used the features from the central slice alone and the other used the average of the corresponding features over five slices centered at the central slice. Using leave‐one‐case‐out resampling, a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classifier with stepwise feature selection was trained and tested in each feature space to classify the masses. Results: The LDA classifier achieved an area under the test receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.93±0.03 using the 5‐slice approach, compared to 0.82±0.05 using the single‐slice approach. The difference was statistically significant with p<0.001. Conclusion: The preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of computerized classification of masses in DBT. Further studies are underway to compare various approaches for using DBT volumetric information to characterize masses. Conflict of Interest: MGH group received support from GE Medical Systems.
Primäre pigmentierte noduläre adrenokortikale Dysplasie (PPNAD) im Rahmen des Carney-Komplexes als Ursache eines Cushing-Syndroms

Hintergrund: Die primare pigmentierte, adrenokortikale Dysplasie (PPNAD) ist eine seltene Erkrankung der Nebennieren, die gehaft bei Patienten mit dem Carney-Komplex auftritt. Der Carney-Komplex ist ein autosomal-dominantes Neoplasiesyndrom, das vor allem durch Lentigines, Myxome und Nebennierentumoren charakterisiert ist. Fallbericht: Eine 37jahrige Frau entwickelte nach mehreren Phasen von Gewichtszunahme/Depression und Gewichtsabnahme/Manie als Anzeichen fur einen zyklischen Hyperkortisolismus ein manifestes Cushing-Syndrom, das mit bilateraler Adrenalektomie behandelt wurde. Die Patientin hatte eine PPNAD im Rahmen eines Carney-Komplexes. Schlusfolgerung: Eine PPNAD kann als 1. praklinisches Cushing-Syndrom mit aufgehobenem Cortisoltagesrhythmus, 2. als Ursache eines zyklischen Hyperkortisolismus und 3. als manifestes Cushing-Syndrom auftreten. Ein praklinischer und zyklischer Hyperkortisolismus bei PPNAD kann mit dem sechstagigen Liddle-Test, der typischerweise eine paradoxe Cortisolstimulation nach Dexamethasongabe zeigt, diagnostiziert werden. Die Behandlung der Wahl stellt die bilaterale Adrenalektomie dar, um die Langzeitfolgen des Hyperkortisolismus zu bermeiden.
CFD Analyses and Jet-Noise Predictions of Chevron Nozzles with Vortex Stabilization

The wind computational fluid dynamics code was used to perform a series of analyses on a single-flow plug nozzle with chevrons. Air was injected from tubes tangent to the nozzle outer surface at three different points along the chevron at the nozzle exit: near the chevron notch, at the chevron mid-point, and near the chevron tip. Three injection pressures were used for each injection tube location--10, 30, and 50 psig-giving injection mass flow rates of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 percent of the nozzle mass flow. The results showed subtle changes in the jet plume s turbulence and vorticity structure in the region immediately downstream of the nozzle exit. Distinctive patterns in the plume structure emerged from each injection location, and these became more pronounced as the injection pressure was increased. However, no significant changes in centerline velocity decay or turbulent kinetic energy were observed in the jet plume as a result of flow injection. Furthermore, computational acoustics calculations performed with the JeNo code showed no real reduction in jet noise relative to the baseline chevron nozzle.
Yield and size of Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus sajor-caju as effected by delayed-release nutrient

Pleurotus ostreatus (444) and P. sajorcaju (537) were grown on a pasteurized mixture of chopped wheat straw (70%) and milled corncobs (30%) nonsupplemented and supplemented with two levels of delayed-release nutrient. Yields for both lines increased 2.3 and 3.2 fold on substrate containing 16% and 32% (dry weight basis) delayed-release nutrient additions, respectively. For mushroom size, a differential response was observed for genotype and delayed-release nutrient. Line 444, a wild isolate from Missouri, produced larger mushrooms on substrate containing higher levels of delayed-release nutrient. Line 537, a commercial isolate used in Italy, produced smaller mushrooms with higher levels of nutrient. Mushrooms of line 537 were harvested 3 to 4 days earlier and line 444 was harvested 12 to 14 days earlier from supplemented substrate.
Urbanization and Atmospheric Deposition: Use of Bioindicators in Determining Patterns of Land-Use Change in West Georgia

Changes in land use disrupt ecosystem patterns and processes and serve as precursors to other biotic and abiotic stressors. Forest ecosystems in the urban core typically differ structurally and functionally from those in rural areas. The overall objective of the study was to determine concentrations of selected air-borne contaminants (N, S, and heavy metals) over space and time and relate these to land-use changes. Elemental concentrations in lichens, soils, and tree cores were examined from 36 plots distributed along an urban-to-rural gradient surrounding Columbus, GA, USA. In situ lichen tissue exhibited the most significant differences among land-use types, with Cu, N, Pb, S, and Zn concentrations all significantly greater at urban sites. Lichen transplants revealed differences in concentrations between species, but not between land-use types. No discernable trends were observed regarding concentrations in soil and tree core data. Lichens appear to be a sensitive indicator of land-use change in this particular case study.
Development of an AP-FRET based analysis for characterizing RNA-protein interactions in myotonic dystrophy (DM1).

Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) microscopy is a powerful tool used to identify molecular interactions in live or fixed cells using a non-radiative transfer of energy from a donor fluorophore in the excited state to an acceptor fluorophore in close proximity. FRET can be a very sensitive tool to study protein-protein and/or protein-nucleic acids interactions. RNA toxicity is implicated in a number of disorders; especially those associated with expanded repeat sequences, such as myotonic dystrophy. Myotonic dystrophy (DM1) is caused by a (CTG)n repeat expansion in the 3′ UTR of the DMPK gene which results in nuclear retention of mutant DMPK transcripts in RNA foci. This results in toxic gain-of-function effects mediated through altered functions of RNA-binding proteins (e.g. MBNL1, hnRNPH, CUGBP1). In this study we demonstrate the potential of a new acceptor photobleaching assay to measure FRET (AP-FRET) between RNA and protein. We chose to focus on the interaction between MBNL1 and mutant DMPK mRNA in cells from DM1 patients due to the strong microscopic evidence of their co-localization. Using this technique we have direct evidence of intracellular interaction between MBNL1 and the DMPK RNA. Furthermore using the AP-FRET assay and MBNL1 mutants, we show that all four zinc-finger motifs in MBNL1 are crucial for MBNL1-RNA foci interactions. The data derived using this new assay provides compelling evidence for the interaction between RNA binding proteins and RNA foci, and mechanistic insights into MBNL1-RNA foci interaction demonstrating the power of AP-FRET in examining RNA-Protein interactions in DM1.
The finite deformation of nonlinear composite materials. II: Evolution of the microstructure

Abstract This work deals with the development of constitutive models for two-phase nonlinearly viscous and rigid-perfectly plastic composites with evolving microstructures. Part I of the work was concerned with the estimation of instantaneous constitutive relations for the class of particulate microstructures with aligned ellipsoidal inclusions. This second part deals with the identification of appropriate variables characterizing the state of the microstructure, and with the development of evolution equations for these variables. Under the assumption of triaxial loading conditions, it is argued that aligned ellipsoidal inclusions deform—in some average sense—into ellipsoidal inclusions with different size and shape. The appropriate state variables are thus the current values of the volume fractions of the phases and the aspect ratios of the inclusions. The pertinent evolution laws then follow from well-known kinematical relations, together with appropriate estimates for the average strain rate in the inclusion and matrix phase. The resulting constitutive models take the form of standard homogenized stress-strain rate relations, supplemented by evolution equations for the above-mentioned state variables. Although the ultimate goal of this study is to be able to model complex forming processes, illustrative results are given here only for axisymmetric and plane strain deformations of composites with rigid-perfectly plastic phases. The main conclusion is that effective behavior of these composites will not be perfectly plastic, but may exhibit hardening, or even softening, depending on the specific nature of the applied loading conditions.
Enhancement of phagocytosis and bacterial killing by heterophils from neonatal chicks after administration of Salmonella enteritidis-immune lymphokines

During the first week post-hatch, chickens demonstrate an increased susceptibility to infection by bacteria such as Salmonella. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of immune lymphokines on phagocytosis and killing activities of heterophils in chicks during the first 1–7 days of life. Lymphokines isolated from chicken splenic T-cells harvested from Salmonella enteriditis (SE)-hyperimmunized hens (SE-ILK), have in past experiments, demonstrated augmentation of heterophil activity in day-of-hatch chicks resulting in protection from SE organ invasion. The present experiments reveal significant increases (p < 0.05) in heterophil phagocytosis and killing when comparing chicks treated with SE-ILK to control groups in vitro. In SE-ILK-treated groups, a two-fold or greater increase is noted in heterophil phagocytosis within 1 h of incubation as compared to controls. Heterophils isolated from 1-day-old and 4-day-old chicks treated with SE-ILK killed significantly greater numbers (p < 0.05) of SE than heterophils isolated from control groups. By Day 7 post-hatch, significance is not noted in the killing activity of heterophils from treated groups when compared to control groups. However, heterophils from SE-ILK groups continue to kill greater numbers of SE than control groups. These data support SE-ILK augmentation results in an enhanced heterophil function in chicks during the greatest period of susceptibility to Salmonella invasion.
DYNAMIC CRACK PROPAGATION IN ELASTIC SOLID

The dynamic crack propagation in finite elastic solid is analyzed by using the combination of finite element method and modal analysis. It is proved analytically and numerically that the global energy release rate equals the local energy release rate. Energy release rate is employed as a fracture criterion so that the crack speed is determined as function of time for a given dynamic loading.
In vivo tomographic imaging of deep seated cancer using fluorescence lifetime contrast

Preclinical cancer research would benefit from noninvasive imaging methods that allow tracking and visualization of early-stage metastasis in vivo. Although fluorescent proteins revolutionized intravital microscopy, two major challenges that still remain are tissue autofluorescence and hemoglobin absorption, which act to limit intravital optical techniques to large or subcutaneous tumors. Here, we use time-domain (TD) technology for the effective separation of tissue autofluorescence from extrinsic fluorophores, based on their distinct fluorescence lifetimes. In addition, we use cancer cells labeled with near infrared fluorescent proteins (iRFP) to allow deep-tissue imaging. Our results demonstrate that TD imaging allows the detection of metastasis in deep-seated organs of living mice with a more than 20-fold increase in sensitivity compared with conventional continuous wave techniques. Furthermore, the distinct fluorescence lifetimes of iRFPs enable lifetime multiplexing of three different tumors, each expressing unique iRFP labels in the same animal. Fluorescence tomographic reconstructions reveal three-dimensional distributions of iRFP720-expressing cancer cells in lungs and brain of live mice, allowing ready longitudinal monitoring of cancer cell fate with greater sensitivity than otherwise currently possible.
Toxoplasma gondii: Characterization of Temperature-Sensitive Tachyzoite Cell Cycle Mutants

We mutagenized RH delta hxgprt strain tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii using N-nitroso-N-ethylurea and analyzed 40 clonal isolates (of 3680 ENU mutants) that were unable to grow in cell culture at 40 degrees C. These isolates grew normally at 34 degrees C, but showed variable growth at temperatures between 34 and 39 degrees C. The inability to grow at 40 degrees C was also correlated with a loss of virulence in mice for those mutants examined. We further characterized the temperature-sensitive (ts) isolates using flow cytometry and propidium iodide staining and identified three types of cell cycle-related mutations. Regardless of temperature, in the isolates ts1C12, ts7B4, and ts7B10, the distribution of parasites with a haploid DNA content was substantially higher (congruent with 85%) than that observed for RH delta hxgprt (congruent with 60%). Four other isolates, ts4F6, ts6C11, ts8G10, and ts11F5, contained G1-related mutations, and in each case, the DNA distribution among parasites at the permissive temperature was similar to that of the parental strain, but at 40 degrees C only a single population containing a 1N nuclear DNA complement was evident. Furthermore, there was no evidence of nuclear division or cytokinesis at 40 degrees C, and these parasites demonstrated a distended cytoplasm typical of G1 arrest in other cell types. Finally, parasites of the ts11C9 mutant arrested in two near-equal populations with either 1N or 2N complements of nuclear DNA. All arrested ts11C9 parasites contained a single nucleus, and a major subfraction of the 2N population contained abnormal and incompletely formed daughters-indicating that the initiation of daughter formation can occur in the absence of nuclear division.
Combined immunodeficiency in horses: characterization of the lymphocyte defect.

Abstract Combined immunodeficiency (CID) in young horses is similar to severe CID in children (both have lymphopenia, a- or hypogammaglobulinemia, and absence of tissue lymphocytes). Results from this study demonstrate that lymph node cells and blood mononuclear cells from CID foals do not respond normally to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (Con A), and pokeweed mitogen (PWM). Skin injection of PHA caused a skin reaction of induration and swelling with lymphocyte infiltration at 24 hr in normal foals, but failed to induce a reaction in CID foals. B lymphocyte numbers are very low or absent in lymphoid organs and blood from CID foals. Two CID foals failed to produce antibody to sheep red blood cell injections, and three CID foals lacked “natural” hemolytic antibody to rabbit red blood cells, while normal foals had easily measurable amounts of “natural” antibody. Complement activities measured by ability to cause IgM-coated red blood cells to adhere to macrophages, ability to enhance neutralization of antibody-sensitized equine arteritis virus, and ability to lyse antibody-coated red blood cells were normal in three CID foal sera. These data demonstrate that CID foals have a defect in the production of committed B and T lymphocytes.