cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Postpartum Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Women With Heart Disease from A Nationwide Study

There is limited data on postpartum maternal postpartum major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) among women with heart disease (HD) in the US. Therefore, we aimed to determine the prevalence and predictors of MACCE in the US. The Nationwide Readmissions Databases (2010 to 2014) were screened for patients with and without HD undergoing delivery. HD subtypes included cardiomyopathy (CDM), congenital heart disease, valvular heart disease, and pulmonary hypertension. Rates and reasons of 42-day readmission were determined using weighted national estimates. Independent predictors of postpartum MACCE were determined using multivariable logistic regression for complex survey data. We found among 15,273,247 patients hospitalized for delivery, 33,827 had HD (CDM 22.78%, congenital heart disease 45.98%, valvular heart disease 24.81%, and pulmonary hypertension 6.41%). Of these, 5.2% of HD patients and 1.4% of No HD were readmitted. MACCE was higher in HD vs No HD (2.68% vs 0.17%, p 10% readmission at 42 days. Among HD patients, cardiovascular, infectious, hypertensive syndromes, and complications of pregnancy were the most common reasons for 42-day readmission. MACCE predictors in women with HD included HD subtype, age, insurance status, obesity, eclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, MACCE during delivery, preterm delivery, and thrombotic complications. In conclusion, among a nationwide analysis, postpartum MACCE was more common among patients with HD especially within 1 week of discharge from delivery. Predictors can be easily screened for by clinicians, including presence of any HD, hypertensive syndromes, age, obesity, and obstetrical events during index hospitalization.
Association of liver-directed local therapy with overall survival in metastatic intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

e15659Background: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is an aggressive hepatobiliary malignancy characterized by local infiltration and lymph node, lung, and bone metastases. The majority of pati...
Exploiting Bistability for High Force Density Reflexive Gripping

Robotic grasping can enable mobile vehicles to physically interact with the environment for delivery, repositioning, or landing. However, the requirements for grippers on mobile vehicles differ substantially from those used for conventional manipulation. Specifically, grippers for dynamic mobile robots should be capable of rapid activation, high force density, low power consumption, and minimal computation. In this work, we present a biologically-inspired robotic gripper designed specifically for mobile platforms. This design exploits a bistable shell to achieve “reflexive” activation based on contact with the environment. The mechanism can close its grasp within 0. 12s without any sensing or control. Electrical input power is not required for grasping or holding load. The reflexive gripper utilizes a novel pneumatic design to open its grasp with low power, and the gripper can carry slung loads up to 28 times its weight. This new mechanism, including the kinematics, static behavior, control structure, and fabrication, is described in detail. A proof of concept prototype is designed, built, and tested. Experimental results are used to characterize performance and demonstrate the potential of these methods.
Typing Exercises as Interactive Worked Examples for Deliberate Practice in CS Courses

Solving complex Computer Science problems require students to utilize both higher level skills like problem translation, decomposition, and implementation, and lower level skills such as implementing solution patterns and debugging. However, novices often struggle with with these lower level skills, preventing them from moving forward. As a consequence, they risk developing a shallow understanding of code concepts and fail to practice crucial higher-level skills. We assert that if students were given the ability to practice these lower level skills outside of traditional programming exercises, they would be more apt to recognize and resolve them. For this we present our analysis of TYPOS, a platform for low-level skill practice using interactive worked examples as typing exercises. In this work we analyzed self-selected students based on their platform usage and the differences in course performance and behavior between groups. We found that students in a college level CS course that regularly completed typing exercises earned higher course grades and higher learning gains than those who worked irregularly or not at all. Students who actively used the system and completed typing exercises made fewer compilation errors on graded projects. Students did not, however, use the tool while working on their projects but engaged in deliberate practice sessions prior to lecture. We argue this model provides students with the benefits (although with marginal significance) that accrue from worked examples as well as deliberate practice on a key area of struggle for novice students.
The role of stress responses on engagement in dietary and physical activity behaviors among Latino adults living with prediabetes

Objectives Latinos are at a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). Prediabetes is a major risk factor for T2D; however, progression to T2D can be slowed with engagement in healthy behaviors. Stress can hinder engagement with health behaviors. Qualitative methods were used to understand how Latinos with prediabetes attempted to modify their diet and physical activity behaviors to slow T2D progression and how stress affected their engagement in these behaviors. Design Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 Latinos with prediabetes in North Carolina. Participants were asked questions about types of stress they experienced and how stress affected their health. We generated codes on stress and stress responses and used content analysis to organize codes between and within participants. Results Behaviors changed after prediabetes diagnosis. Few participants reported changing their physical activity, however, all participants attempted to change their eating patterns by changing food types consumed and reducing portion sizes. The stress participants experienced impacted their ability to self-regulate their diet. They reported overeating or appetite suppression during stressful periods. Stress also affected cognitive responses by compromising healthy decision-making and instigating negative emotional reactions. Overall, stress complicated participants' ability to properly engage in recommended behaviors by negatively impacting participants' behavioral self-regulation and cognitive processes. Conclusions Stress affects behavioral and cognitive progresses that adversely alters primarily dietary behaviors. Tailored plans acknowledging the impact of stress and providing coping and supportive help for dealing with stress may enhance engagement in healthy behaviors for Latinos with prediabetes.
Local delivery of the anti-tumorigenic interleukin-4 (IL-4) cytokine to tumors using an oncolytic adenovirus

1359 Hypoxia is a distinctive attribute of solid tumors that is linked with therapeutic resistance and reduced patient survival in many human cancers. One approach to develop therapeutic strategies targeting hypoxic tumor utilizes the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), a transcription factor that is activated in response to hypoxia and tumor-specific genetic alterations. Genes that are transcriptionally activated by HIF encode proteins involved in tumor cell survival and growth. To exploit HIF activation in tumors for therapeutic purposes, we generated novel bi-directional hypoxia/HIF-responsive promoters (Gene Therapy 2001). One of these promoters was then incorporated in an adenovirus genome to regulate the expression of the E1A replication gene, thus producing a hypoxia/HIF-dependent replicative adenovirus (HYPR-Ad#1) with a cytolytic life cycle. In preclinical studies, HYPR-Ad#1 conditionally replicates under hypoxia, kills hypoxic cells, and displays antitumor activity including the prevention of tumor formation and growth inhibition of established tumors. In addition, combining the oncolytic power of HYPR-Ad#1 with BCNU, a chemotherapy that is effective against normoxic cells, led to further tumor growth reduction compared to the monotherapies (Oncogene 2003, Clin Can Res 2004). As a means to enhance the antitumor abilities of HYPR-Ad#1, we have generated a novel second generation virus in which the Ad E1A and interleukin-4 (IL-4) genes are co-regulated by the bidirectional hypoxia/HIF-responsive promoter present within the virus (HYPR-IL4-Ad). IL-4 is a cytokine that exhibits multimodal antitumor activity including the induction of a host immune response against the tumor and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. The local delivery of IL-4 is important as its systemic expression has serious toxic side effects and this protein has a short half-life. Our preliminary studies in culture demonstrate that HYPR-IL4-Ad expresses IL-4, replicates, and kills tumor cells in a hypoxia/HIF-dependent fashion. We are currently evaluating the antitumor potential of this virus using both human tumor cell lines xenografted in nude mice and immunocompetent rodent tumor models. For the latter, we have characterized two rat glioma cell lines (9L and RG2) and found that they are efficiently infected by wild-type human Ads and undergo cytolysis. These tumor models are valuable tools that will allow us to further study the modulation of the host immune response by this virus. The use of an oncolytic Ad that locally delivers IL-4 to the tumor microenvironment is novel and should exhibit enhanced anti-tumor capabilities compared to the parental HYPR-Ad virus. Most importantly, HYPR-IL4-Ad can be used as a therapy for all solid tumors that develop hypoxia or activated HIF regardless of tissue type or genetic composition.
Responding to COVID: How to Deal With Nearly $100 Billion in Wasted Incentives

This article urges policymakers to cut down on ineffective and costly tax expenditures. Tax expenditures aim to incentivize beneficial economic outcomes; the tax jurisdiction surrenders the right to a portion of its tax base in anticipation of economic benefits. While tax expenditures are not inherently bad or good, many believe that most tax incentive programs would fail a cost-benefit analysis. Ideally, tax incentives target economic activity that would not occur in the absence of the incentive. And to be considered a success, the benefit of the activity must outweigh the cost of the incentive. For example, if the goal of a tax incentive is job creation, the costs, such as loss in revenue, must be weighed against the precise nature of the jobs gained. If those jobs are merely temporary, for example, they are less beneficial. The article draws attention to a critical failing of many tax incentive programs: their application is too broad. When incentives are poorly calibrated, they apply to unintentionally targeted taxpayers whose incentivized activity is not cost-beneficial. Broad incentives also benefit taxpayers that would have performed the beneficial activity regardless of the incentive, resulting in wasted money. Supporters of tax expenditures too often look only at the activity of the targeted group and not at the costs before determining that the policy was a success. The article looks to the film industry, which has historically been benefitted by substantial tax incentives, as an example. Studies show that nonresident workers are often brought in to perform work on the film, and the jobs obtained by resident workers are temporary and low-paying. The article concludes by urging an immediate moratorium on existing tax incentives. Tax incentives ought to survive a rigorous cost-benefit analysis from a commission composed of neutral politicians and impartial evaluators. Each analysis should proceed on a beneficiary-by-beneficiary basis to ensure that the benefits truly outweigh the costs.
Innovation Without Patents - Evidence from the World Fairs

This paper introduces a unique historical data set of more than 8,000 British and American innovations at world fairs between 1851 and 1915 to explore the relationship between patents and innovations. The data indicate that the majority of innovations - 89 percent of British exhibits in 1851 - are not patented. Comparisons across British and U.S. data also show that patenting decisions are unresponsive to differences in patent laws. Cross-section evidence suggests that high-quality and urban exhibits are more likely to be patented. The most significant differences, however, occur across industries; inventors are most likely to use patents in industries where innovations are easy to reverse-engineer and secrecy is ineffective relative to patents. In the late 19th-century, scientific breakthroughs, including the publication of the periodic table, lowered the effectiveness of secrecy in the chemical industry. Difference-in-differences regressions suggest that this change resulted in a significant shift towards patenting.
Minimally invasive treatment of Peyronie's disease: evidence‐based progress

Peyronie's disease (PD) is often physically and psychologically devastating for patients, and the goal of treatment is to improve symptoms and sexual function without adding treatment-related morbidity. The potential for treatment-related morbidity after more invasive interventions, e.g. surgery, creates a need for effective minimally invasive treatments. We critically examined the available literature using levels of evidence to determine the reported support for each treatment. Most available minimally invasive treatments lack critical support for effectiveness due to the absence of randomised, placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) or non-significant results after RCTs. Iontophoresis, oral therapies (vitamin E, potassium para-aminobenzoate, tamoxifen, carnitine, and colchicine), extracorporeal shockwave therapy, and intralesional injection with verapamil or nicardipine have shown mixed or negative results. Treatments that have decreased penile curvature deformity in Level 1 or Level 2 evidence-based, placebo-controlled studies include intralesional injection with interferon α-2b or collagenase clostridium histolyticum.
Decoherent histories and generalized measurements

The theory of decoherent histories allows one to talk of the behavior of quantum systems in the absence of measurement. This paper generalizes the idea of decoherent histories to arbitrary open system operations and proposes experimentally testable criteria for decoherence.
SERINE-578 IS A MAJOR PHOSPHORYLATION LOCUS IN HUMAN PLASMA PLASMINOGEN

It has been reported that human plasminogen (HPg) exists in plasma in a phosphorylated form. We now document that both major glycoforms of plasma HPg contain a phosphoserine residue in their latent protease chains, as revealed by quantitative protein phosphate determinations and 31P-NMR analysis. The sequence location of the phosphoserine residue was established by time-of-flight matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization with delayed extraction mass spectrometric analysis of peptides resulting from complete tryptic and cyanogen bromide digests of the latent protease chain of HPg. Confirmation of the presence of organic phosphate in the identified peptide was obtained by determination of the resulting mass shift after treatment of the peptide with alkaline phosphatase. The data show that Ser578 is a major phosphorylation site in HPg.
Evolution of Sea-surface temperature and surface meteorological fields in the tropical atlantic ocean during FGGE, 1979: I. Description of surface fields and computation of surface energy fluxes

Abstract Observations of surface oceanographic and meteorological fields collected during the First GARP Global Experiment (FGGE) in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean have been combined and averaged by month onto a 2° × 2° grid. Monthly distributions of sea-surface temperature, wind speed and direction, air temperature, specific humidity and cloud cover have been generated for the period from December 1978 through November 1979. Net short wave and long wave radiation, and sensible and latent heat flux distributions have been generated from the surface data using the bulk aerodynamic formulas. In 1979, large-scale patterns of all the climatic and heat budget variables are very similar to distributions determined from long-term climatological averages. Positive anomalies of SST in the region of the equatorial cold water tongue represent one region of systematic differences between the 1979 and climatological distributions. The positive SST anomalies are, in general, coincident with negative anomalies in the net oceanic heat gain. Negative heat gain anomalies are primarily caused by positive wind speed anomalies, through increased latent and sensible heat fluxes.
THE ELECTRON MICROSCOPIC LOCALIZATION OF THE NEUTRAL SOLUBLE PROTEINS OF DEVELOPING BOVINE ENAMEL.

Electron microscopy, coupled with amino acid analyses, has shown that the proline- and histidine-rich protein fractions of embryonic bovine enamel which are solubilized in cold, neutral buffer solutions, are derived primarily from the inter- and intraprismatic filaments. In contrast to the majority of the inter- and intraprismatic filament proteins, the prism sheath proteins were relatively insoluble in neutral buffer solutions. There were a small number of filaments in many of the prisms which were not solubilized after prolonged extraction with neutral buffer solution. Both these filaments and the prism sheaths were soluble in dilute acetic acid. There were significant differences in the compositions of the proteins of the inter- and intraprismatic filaments and those of the prism sheaths, which may reflect their different biological functions.
Fracture criteria of cracked metallic plate

The Griffith energy criterion is equivalent to a critical stress and strain environment criterion for brittle fractures. For quasi-brittle fracture, i. e. the case where small amounts of plastic deformation at the crack tip precedes fracture, the energy criterion is still equivalent to stress and strain environment criterion. Based on the concept of a critical stress and strain environment, it is proposed as an engineering criterion for ductile fracture, that at fracture the size of the highly strained region at crack tip is constant.
Radar and photoclinometric studies of wrinkle ridges on Mars

Earth-based radar altimetry and image derived photoclinometric profiles were analyzed to examine both the long- and short-wavelength topography associated with wrinkle ridges on Mars. Photoclinometrically derived elevation data across wrinkle ridges were evaluated to determine the sensitivity of profiles to two empirical photoclinometric parameters, the horizontal digital number (HDN) and the scattered light value (SLV). The photoclinometric profiles are extremely sensitive to small variations in HDN. The sense of slope of a profile can be completely reversed over a range in HDN of as little as ±1. Comparably small variations in the SLV have relatively minor effects on the photoclinometrically derived elevations. The existence of elevation offsets from one side of the ridge to the other, reported in previous photoclinometric studies of martian wrinkles, were not confirmed through photoclinometry. In addition, no evidence of elevation offsets were found in Earth-based radar altimetry profiles across wrinkle ridges. In order to more accurately model wrinkle ridge topography, we controlled photoclinometrically derived elevations with long-wavelength topography obtained from the radar altimetry. The results of this study do not support kinematic models for the origin of planetary wrinkle ridges that involve deeply rooted thrust faults which separate crustal blocks at different elevations. A kinematic model involving buckling of shallow crustal layers into concentric folds that close, leading to the development of thrust faults, is consistent with wrinkle ridge morphology and terrestrial analogs. Recent geophysical studies of terrestrial analogs and the influence of shallow subsurface structures, particularly buried craters, on the localization of many wrinkle ridges on Mars suggest that thrust faults associated with the ridges are confined to the ridged plains material and do not extend into the lithosphere.
Optimal Management of Bleeding Complications After Cardiac Surgery

Patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmo nary bypass (CPB) are at increased risk for excessive perioperative blood loss requiring transfusion of blood products. Point-of-care evaluation of platelets, coagu lation factors, and fibrinogen can enable physicians to assess bleeding abnormalities rapidly. They also can facilitate the optimal administration of pharmacologic and transfusion-based therapy and allow physicians to identify patients with surgical bleeding. The ability to reduce the unnecessary use of blood products in this setting has important implications for emerging issues in blood inventory and blood costs. The ability to de crease operative time along with re-exploration rates has important consequences for health care costs in an increasingly managed health care environment. Copyright© 2001 by W.B. Saunders Company.
The effect of downstream synthesis gas feeding on Fischer–Tropsch product distributions

Abstract The current study examines the effect of downstream synthesis gas feeding on Fischer–Tropsch product distributions in two series plug flow reactors over a precipitated iron catalyst. Synthesis gas at a constant H2:CO ratio of 2.5 was fed into the entrance of a first reactor, and the resulting products were fed into a second reactor along with fresh synthesis gas of varying H2:CO ratios (3, 2, 1, and 0.5). The selectivity of C5+ hydrocarbons in the downstream feeding cases was over two times lower than the corresponding “top feeding” cases, in which an equivalent amount of synthesis gas was fed through both series reactors without the addition of downstream synthesis gas. These observations were attributed to the effects of bed residence time and H2:CO ratios as influenced by the simultaneous water–gas shift reaction.
NAFTA and Canadian ports

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed by Canada, the U.S.A. and Mexico and which came into effect on 1 January 1994, is a significant move towards further integration of the North American economies. This paper examines the likely impact of NAFTA on Canadian ports. Three channels of impact are identified. First, there are direct impacts on trade flows between Canada and its North American trading partners. In this regard we find that ports do not typically handle the types of products that are likely to be affected by NAFTA, and so the direct impacts may be minimal. Second, and more significantly, port catchment areas are likely to undergo substantial changes as they respond to a more competitive environment within the free trade area. Third, the transportation sector has itself been included in NAFTA, and Canadian ports will face increased competition from land based transportation modes. We conclude that ports in Canada must learn to work more consciously as agents of regional economic ...
Temperature dependence of noise processes in metals.

Here we consider the analysis of the temperature and frequency dependences of the power spectral density ${S}_{V}$(f,T) of excess low-frequency noise. Two limiting cases that arise naturally from a superposition of thermally activated relaxation processes are investigated. The Lorentzian spectra associated with various relaxation times \ensuremath{\tau}=${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{0}$${e}^{E/\mathrm{kT}}$ are supposed to arise from either (i) a distribution D(E) of activation energies E (invoked in the Dutta-Horn model), or (ii) a distribution H(${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{0}$) of prefactors ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{0}$ (as required for activated diffusion processes). Much can be learned from the analysis of noise spectra with distinctive spectral features or known temperature-dependent variance 〈\ensuremath{\delta}${V}^{2}$(T)〉, as the analysis of noise from ${\mathrm{H}}^{+}$ diffusion in Nb films has illustrated. In the absence of such distinguishing features or independent data, particularly with 1/f noise, we find that there is generally insufficient information to distinguish even these limiting models, much less to determine their parameters. We have analyzed the resistance fluctuations of small-metallic-film conductors. We find that existing 1/f noise data from noble metals can be fit by either model with a wide range of assumptions about the variance 〈\ensuremath{\delta}${V}^{2}$(T)〉. In contrast new 1/f noise data from Cr films are inconsistent with either model unless strong ad hoc temperature-dependent variance is postulated.
Stress, Anxiety, Depression, and Physical Illness in College Students

The interrelationships among measures of stress, anxiety, depression, and physical illness in a proportional sample of college undergraduates (N = 184) were examined. Significant correlations were found in the stress-illness, anxiety-illness, depression-illness, and anxiety-depression relationships. Partial correlations demonstrated that the stress-illness relationship remained significant, though lowered, when first anxiety and then depression were held constant. In the second phase of the research the indices of stress, anxiety, depression, and illness were predicted to vary by both year in school and gender within this sample. Significant differences in reported stress and anxiety by year in school and in reported illness incidence by gender were found. Possible ties between these results and research on coping, social support, and gender roles are discussed.
Population Structure and Energetics of the Bopyrid Isopod Parasite Orthione Griffenis in Mud Shrimp Upogebia Pugettensis

Abstract The population structure and energetic burden of bopyrid isopod parasite Orthione griffenis on the eastern Pacific mud shrimp Upogebia pugettensis are estimated from size and weight relationships between parasite and host. U. pugettensis weight loss increases with O. griffenis weight but the high variance in the relation indicates that direct weight comparisons are insufficient to reveal most of the host-parasite energetic interactions. Environment, reproductive development, age, molt stage and the feeding histories of the hosts and parasites, not apparent from weight ratio comparisons, are likely to be important factors in their interaction. The high prevalence of O. griffenis among U. pugettensis and positive correlation between host weight loss and parasite weight nevertheless, indicate large impacts of these parasites on mud shrimp populations are occurring with corresponding effects on estuarine dynamics in Pacific Northwest estuaries.
Does presentation format at the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting predict subsequent publication?

Objective. The validity of research presented at scientific meetings continues to be a concern. Presentations are chosen on the basis of submitted abstracts, which may not contain sufficient information to assess the validity of the research. The objective of this study was to determine 1) the proportion of abstracts presented at the annual Pediatric Academic Society (PAS) meeting that were ultimately published in peer reviewed journals; 2) whether the presentation format of abstracts at the meeting predicts subsequent full publication; and whether the presentation format was related to 3) the time to full publication or 4) the impact factor of the journal in which research is subsequently published. Methods. We assembled a list of all abstracts submitted to the PAS meetings in general pediatrics categories in 1998 and 1999, using both CD-ROM and journal publications. In each year, we chose up to 80 abstracts from each presentation format (“publish only,” “poster,” “poster symposium,” “platform presentation”). We chose either 1) all abstracts in each format or 2) when there were >80 abstracts, a random selection of 80 of them. We assessed each selected abstract for subsequent full publication by searching Medline in March 2003; if published, then we recorded the journal, month, and year of publication. We used logistic and linear regression to determine whether publication, time to publication, and the journal’s impact factor were associated with the abstract’s presentation format. Results. Overall, 44.6% of abstracts presented at the PAS meeting achieved subsequent full publication within 4 to 5 years. There were significant differences between the rates of subsequent full publication of abstracts submitted but not chosen for presentation at the meeting (22.2%) and those that were chosen for presentation in poster sessions (40.0%), poster symposia (44.1%), and platform presentations (53.8%). There were no meaningful differences between the presentation formats in their mean time to publication and their mean journal impact factor. Conclusions. PAS meeting attendees and the press should be cautious when interpreting the presentation format of an abstract as a predictor of either its subsequent publication in a peer-reviewed journal or the impact factor of the journal in which it will appear.
Capturing and Representing Multimodal Trips in Travel Surveys: Review of the Practice

Multimodal trips, or trips that use more than one means of transportation, have historically been underrepresented in travel surveying efforts. This lack of consideration has implications for widely accepted statistics for nonmotorized travel behavior (walking, bicycling, etc.) and affects researchers and professionals in travel modeling, urban planning, public health, and urban design. However, interest in the "last mile" connections to transit, aggregate health impacts of short walking trips, and emphasis on local connectivity require more detailed information on these typically short but important stages of travel. This study reviews approaches to multimodal travel behavior in travel surveys, analyzes their implications, and makes recommendations to improve data collection for the purpose of improved representation of multimodal travel. Particular attention is given to transit access and egress trip segments, nonmotorized travel, use of technology in travel surveys, reporting data, and dissemination of...
Conformal grasping using feedback controlled bubble actuator array

This paper presents an implementation of a bubble actuator array (BAA) based active robotic skin, a modular system, onto existing low cost robotic end-effectors or prosthetic hands for conformal grasping of objects. The active skin is comprised of pneumatically controlled polyurethane rubber bubbles with overlaid sensors for feedback control. Sensor feedback allows the BAA based robotic skin to conformally grasp an object with an explicit uniform force distribution. The bubble actuator array reported here is capable of applying up to 4N of force at each point of contact and tested for conformally grasping objects with a radius of curvature up to 57.15mm. Once integrated onto a two-finger gripper with one degree of freedom (DOF), the active skin was shown to reduce point of contact forces of up to 50% for grasped objects.
Vasopressin, oxytocin, dynorphin, enkephalin and corticotrophin‐releasing factor mRNA stimulation in the rat.

1. Cryostat sections were cut through the hypothalamus of rats which had been given a 2% (w/v) NaCl solution to drink for up to 12 days. 2. In situ hybridization histochemistry was performed on these sections using synthetic oligonucleotide probes against part of the precursor sequence for vasopressin, oxytocin, dynorphin, enkephalin and corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF). 3. Drinking 2% NaCl solution resulted in a progressive increase of vasopressin, oxytocin and dynorphin mRNAs hybridized in the magnocellular neurones of the supraoptic (s.o.) and paraventricular (p.v.) nuclei. No enkephalin mRNA was detected in the magnocellular areas of the control animals although small quantities of probe did hybridize after 12 days of salt loading and after the stress of I.P. hypertonic saline. 4. Ten-day-lactating female rats were also studied. They had a very marked increase in oxytocin mRNA with smaller increases of vasopressin and dynorphin mRNAs. No detectable enkephalin mRNA was hybridized in the magnocellular s.o. or p.v. nuclei and CRF mRNA was unchanged in both the s.o. nucleus and the p.v. nucleus.
Deadlines, routines, and change

Routines, the habitual and predictable behavior patterns of an organization, play central roles in both maintaining organizational performance and in adapting such performance to changing conditions. Deadlines interact with routines in important ways in influencing the course of organizational adaptation. This paper examines the role of routines and deadlines in influencing change in a regulatory program. It describes the adaptation of routines in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) water pollution and pesticide programs in response to pressures and deadlines imposed by Congress, the courts, and the White House. The programs analyzed offer contrasting glimpses of the effects of routines on organizational change. Routines may be collective and shared by the members of an organization or unique to the specific groups or subgroups within it. When the organization primarily has widely-shared routines, few options will be perceived; consequently, collective routines tend to blunt the impact of pressures for change. On the other hand, routines that become fragmented, diverse, and individual in the face of repeated external pressures may facilitate change.
Evolution of earth crust in course of tectogenesis

Recent and detailed seismic studies in the U.S.S.R. have provided much information on the structure and revolution of the earth's crust. A review of this information indicates the following postulates: a) the thickness and constitution oft he crystalline layers (”basalt“ and ”granite“) change comparatively rapidly in Alpine provinces of pronounced tectonic movements (geosynclinal provinces and mobile zones), with but a slight lag behind these movements. b) Under platform areas, the crystalline complexes rebuild slowly with a lag of a few geologic periods behind the emergence of the structural elements. c) In both geosynclinal and platform areas the downwarping of the major segments is accompanied by an upward movement of the Mohorovicic surface. d) Block uplifts in geosynclinal provinces of mobile zones have absolute values, while in platform areas the uplifts usually represent blocks lagging behind their neighbors. e) Changes in thickness and composition of deeper layers within the crust usually lag behi...
Macroprolactinemia presenting like a pituitary tumor

Abstract A serum prolactin level greater than 200 ng/ml is almost pathognomonic of a pituitary tumor in a nonpregnant woman. A patient with a three-year history of documented serum prolactin levels of 350 to 400 ng/ml and no evidence of a pituitary adenoma on computed axial tomographic scanning was recently studied. Detailed evaluation Included a 24-hour prolactin profile that revealed blunting of the nocturnal augmentation of prolactin release, low-dose dopamine infusion resulting in normal inhibition of prolactin secretion, and a thyrotropin-releasing hormone bolus that showed a blunted stimulation of prolactin release. Analysis of circulating prolactin by column chromatography of her serum revealed that greater than 85 percent of her circulating immunoreactive prolactin had a molecular weight greater than 100,000 daltons (macroprolactin). This contrasts with other hyperprolactinemic states in which 85 percent of the serum prolactin elutes in a 22,000-dalton peak. Hence, macroprolactinemia is apparently a nonprogressive condition and a novel cause of massive hyperprolactinemia.
Energetics of Copper Trafficking between the Atx1 Metallochaperone and the Intracellular Copper Transporter, Ccc2

The Atx1 metallochaperone protein is a cytoplasmic Cu(I) receptor that functions in intracellular copper trafficking pathways in plants, microbes, and humans. A key physiological partner of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Atx1 is Ccc2, a cation transporting P-type ATPase located in secretory vesicles. Here, we show that Atx1 donates its metal ion cargo to the first N-terminal Atx1-like domain of Ccc2 in a direct and reversible manner. The thermodynamic gradient for metal transfer is shallow (K exchange = 1.4 ± 0.2), establishing that vectorial delivery of copper by Atx1 is not based on a higher copper affinity of the target domain. Instead, Atx1 allows rapid metal transfer to its partner. This equilibrium is unaffected by a 50-fold excess of the Cu(I) competitor, glutathione, indicating that Atx1 also protects Cu(I) from nonspecific reactions. Mechanistically, we propose that a low activation barrier for transfer between partners results from complementary electrostatic forces that ultimately orient the metal-binding loops of Atx1 and Ccc2 for formation of copper-bridged intermediates. These thermodynamic and kinetic considerations suggest that copper trafficking proteins overcome the extraordinary copper chelation capacity of the eukaryotic cytoplasm by catalyzing the rate of copper transfer between physiological partners. In this sense, metallochaperones work like enzymes, carefully tailoring energetic barriers along specific reaction pathways but not others.
Uterine leiomyomas express a molecular pattern that lowers retinoic acid exposure.

Objective To analyze expression of the retinoic acid signaling pathway genes that are involved in retinol metabolism, transport, transcriptional activation, and transcriptional products in spontaneous human leiomyomas. Design Laboratory study of human leiomyoma and patient-matched myometrial tissue. Patient(s) Eight women undergoing hysterectomy for symptomatic leiomyomas. Intervention(s) Confirmation of an altered retinoic acid pathway analyzed by microarray, real time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, immunohistochemistry, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Main Outcome Measure(s) Gene and protein expression. Result(s) Regardless of patient demographics and leiomyoma location and size, we found decreased expression of the major genes involved in retinoic acid pathway including alcohol dehydrogenase-1 (−3.97- ± 0.03-fold), aldehyde dehydrogenase-1 (−3.1- ± 0.07-fold), cellular retinol binding protein-1 (−2.62- ± 0.04-fold), and cellular retinoic acid binding protein-1 (−2.42- ± 0.20-fold). Cytochrome P450 (CYP 26A1), which is responsible for retinoic acid metabolism, was highly up-regulated in leiomyomas (+5.4- ± 0.53-fold). Nuclear receptors demonstrated a complex pattern of under-expression (RARα, RARβ, RXRα, RXRγ) and over-expression (RARγ, RXRβ) at both the mRNA and protein level. Differences in protein amounts were confirmed by Western blot. Finally, a reduced amount of cellular ATRA and 9-cis retinoic acid was confirmed by HPLC in leiomyomas compared with myometrial tissues. Conclusion(s) Molecular alterations in the retinoic acid pathway of leiomyomata result in a decrease in retinoic acid exposure.
Relative merits of size, field, and current on ignited tokamak performance

A simple global analysis is developed to examine the relative merits of size (L = a or R0), field (B0), and current (I) on ignition regimes of tokamaks under various confinement scaling laws. Scali...
Neurotransmitter Precursor Amino Acids in the Treatment of Multi-Infarct Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease†

Ten patients with severe dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) or multi-infarct dementia (MID) or both, were treated with the precursor amino acids of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. The precursor amino acids (PAA) were given orally in a preparation that included tyrosine (4 gm daily) and 5-hydroxy-tryptophan (5-HTP) (800 mg daily), plus carbidopa (100 mg daily) as an aromatic amino-acid decarboxylase inhibitor. Diagnosis was established by an electroencephalogram, brain scan, computerized axial tomographic scan, and in one case by necropsy findings. Serial clinical evaluations and measurements of neuropsychologic function were performed. Levels of homovanillic acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindole-acetic acid (5-HIAA) were determined before and after administration of probenecid. Side effects of the PAA therapy were diarrhea, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting and agitation, all of which were controlled by reducing the dosage. One patient with MID and one with AD+MID showed clinical and psychologic improvement, but the others did not improve. Analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid for HVA and 5-HIAA before and after the probenecid test indicated some improvement in the metabolic turnover of these acid metabolites of serotonin and dopamine after administration of their precursor amino acids.
Wavelet analysis of pulse-amplitude-modulated chlorophyll fluorescence for differentiation of plant samples

Pulse-amplitude-modulated (PAM) chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) from photosystem II (PSII) of plants has been routinely measured for the analysis of photosynthesis and environmental changes. PAM ChlF from PSII is non-stationary and has time-varying frequency characteristics; however, existing analysis of PAM ChlF has been limited to selected characteristic values in the time domain. Wavelet transform is recognized as an efficient tool for analyzing non-stationary signals. In this research, an attempt was made to analyze PAM ChlF through wavelet transform. Features of PAM ChlF signals were computed from wavelet decomposition to classify two tree species and to detect chilling and detachment stresses. The wavelet-based features were compared with the commonly-used maximal PSII efficiency Fv/Fm. Both the wavelet-based features and Fv/Fm could effectively classify two tree species, but the former showed superiority than the latter in detecting the stresses. Wavelet transform revealed chilling stress earlier than Fv/Fm and detected detachment stress Fv/Fm failed to show. The results show that wavelet transform is a useful technique for analysis of PAM ChlF.
Ultrasonic Excitation Induced Wenzel to Cassie Transition

Wetting on textured solids has gained much attention in the past decade due to increasing interest in artificial superhydrophobic surfaces. (Bahadur & Garimella, 2007; Boreyko & Chen, 2009; Forsberg, Nikolajeff, & Karlsson, 2011; Heikenfeld & Dhindsa, 2008) On textured surfaces, the wetting liquid can be in either the Cassie–Baxter state, which the liquid does not fill the surface texture; or the Wenzel state, which the liquid completely wets the surface and fills the recesses. For a hydrophobic micro-scale rough surface, the Cassie state is usually a more favorable state since it requires less energy. However, due to contact angle hysteresis, the Wenzel state can also be meta-stable. By controlling the roughness of the texture and initial droplet position, both Cassie and Wenzel states can be stable simultaneously. (Koishi, Yasuoka, Fujikawa, Ebisuzaki, & Xiao, 2009) However, with the proper energy input, the droplets can be induced to transition between states. While multiple methods have been developed to switch from Cassie to Wenzel states (Bormashenko, Pogreb, Whyman, & Erlich, 2007; Krupenkin et al., 2007; Kumari & Garimella, 2011; Ran, Ding, Liu, Deng, & Hou, 2008), it is much more difficult to switch from the Wenzel state to the Cassie state. Wenzel-Cassie transitions have been achieved by changing the surface structure to destabilize the Wenzel state (Krupenkin et al., 2007)(Ran et al., 2008) or by changing the ambient fluid. (Dhindsa et al., 2006)Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Robustness of Salmonella loop-mediated isothermal amplification assays for food applications

Aims Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays have been developed recently for Salmonella detection. This study aimed at evaluating the robustness of two Salmonella LAMP assays in comparison with PCR and real-time quantitative PCR for food applications. Methods and Results Performance of the assays was examined under abusive preparation conditions, running temperatures and pH, and with the addition of various inhibitors and food rinses. LAMP achieved robust detection under abusive assay preparation conditions (holding at 22 and 37°C for up to 30 min) and running temperatures (57–68°C). With a hot-start DNA polymerase, PCR obtained comparable results under these temperature ranges. However, PCR performed markedly poorer under abusive pH. LAMP also showed greater tolerance to potential inhibitors than PCR. When food rinses including meat juice, chicken rinse, egg homogenate and produce homogenate were added at 20% of the reaction mix, PCR amplifications were completely inhibited, but LAMP reactions were not. Conclusions Our results demonstrated that LAMP is a robust alternative to PCR in Salmonella detection for food applications. Significance and Impact of the Study This study filled important knowledge gaps regarding the robustness of Salmonella LAMP assays. The findings will help bring Salmonella LAMP assays closer to wider applications in food testing.
Response of adaptive line enhancer to a sinusoid in lowpass noise

An adaptive filter configuration, known as the adaptive line enhancer (ALE), has previously been suggested by Widrow et al. for the detection of sinusoidal signals in wideband noise. Very few results are available in the literature on the analysis and performance of the ALE for the case of correlated noise. In the paper we analyse the ALE response to a sinusoid in 1-pole lowpass noise and show that there exists an optimum value of the decorrelation parameter. An attempt has been made to study the effect of the correlation of the lowpass noise on the coupling between the positive and negative frequency components of the sinusoid, and the response of the ALE to low- and high-frequency sinusoids. The ALE has been simulated using the recently derived lattice structure and the recursive least-squares lattice algorithms. The results agree closely with those of the theoretical predictions.
Assignment of ALDH3 to human chromosome 17p11.2 and ALDH5 to human chromosome 9p13

Aldehyde dehydrogenases are a group of enzymes responsible for catalyzing the conversion of numerous aldehydes to their corresponding acids. These enzymes play a major role in the detoxification of alcohol-derived acetaldehydes and in the metabolism of corticosteroids, biogenic amines, neurotransmitters, and lipid peroxidation. ALDH activities are found in most tissues, with the highest activity in the liver. Five human liver ALDH isozymes, ALDH1, 2, 3, 4, and {gamma}-butyrylaldehyde dehydrogenase ({gamma}-ABDH), have been purified and characterized, and one isozyme, ALDH5, has been identified by using a 29-nucleotide probe that is conserved in ALDH1 and ALDH2 for cDNA library screening. Several other isozymes from other tissues have also been reported. Genes for ALDH3 and ALDH5 have been previously localized to chromosomes 17 and 9, respectively. Here we report the regional assignment of these two loci. 17 refs., 1 fig.