cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Role of Marketing Public Relations in Cognitive Decision-Making Process through the Enhancement of Brand Awareness (A Case of Chevrolet Spin, Product of General Motors Indonesia)

Advertising and other kinds of promotional strategies are no longer able to stand individually. There is one important essence:‘Trust’. Marketing Public Relations (MPR) is believed to be the strong key of credibility and capable of becoming the main driver for promotional strategies and advertising. This paper strongly emphasizes the power of marketing public relations which not merely aims awareness as its goal, but using awareness to penetrate into the consumer decision-making process. Chevrolet Spin is a new high-involvement product, manufactured by Indonesian for Indonesian. It has been a legendary product which brought PT General Motors (GM) Indonesia into the list of Top 10 car makers in Indonesia. Regardless the ‘new’ status, consumers were brave enough to choose Chevrolet Spin as their vehicle. This qualitative research was done through analysis of news and online journals and interviews with consumers. The conclusion shows that marketing public relations certainly has a strong role in consumer decision-making process, but still need to be complemented with other strategies, using elements in the Integrated Marketing Communication mix.
Laboratory Evaluation of a Multi-Array Sensor for Detection of Underdeposit Corrosion and/or Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion

Real-time coupled multielectrode array sensors (MAS) and other monitoring tools were used to evaluate the corrosion of carbon steel and stainless steel in a laboratory based recirculating flow loop simulating an industrial cooling water system. The design and implementation of the monitoring system and results are discussed in this paper. Characterization of the degree and depth of attack from the MAS probe showed good correlation with characterization of underdeposit attack on corrosion coupons that were exposed simultaneously with the MAS probe. In addition, sensor response was altered in the presence of microorganisms suggesting the possible influence of biofilm and/or microbial products on corrosion rates and sensor signals.
Conducting Case Study Research

1. Suzanne Campbell, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM[⇑][1] 1. Seward County Community College/Area Technical School, Liberal, KS 1. Address for Correspondence: Suzanne Campbell, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM, STEM Project Director, Medical Laboratory Technician Program Coordinator, Seward County Community College/Area Technical School, Liberal, KS 67901, 620-417-1403, suzanne.campbell{at}sccc.edu 1. Describe when the case study approach is the most appropriate qualitative research method. 2. Outline the components of a case study research method. 3. Discuss data coding and analysis and how categories and themes are developed. 4. Identify considerations for reporting the findings of case study research. INTRODUCTION As medical laboratory professionals, we compare patient results to reference ranges and determine the clinical significance of the findings. Those numbers indicate whether a patient is healthy or will be diagnosed with a disease process. Even after the diagnosis, the numbers still have meaning as they reflect the outcome of the treatment. The result of the analytical process provides the healthcare team vital information regarding diagnosis and treatment. Because of the nature of our profession, quantitative research may be more readily accepted. We incorporate the results of quantitative research when we consider the likelihood of developing the disease, treatment success/failure rate, and prognosis. However, do we ever consider “how” the patient reacts to the diagnosis or “why” some patients have a better prognosis than others?1 A quantitative research method would not provide the data needed to respond to those questions. Therefore, we should consider conducting a qualitative research method. As previously identified, there are five approaches to qualitative research methods: narrative inquiry, phenomenological, grounded theory, ethnographic and case study research.2 It is vital that the researcher consider the research questions and research design so the appropriate qualitative research method is selected. Qualitative research methods are used in psychology, sociology, philosophy, political science, medicine, social science, anthropology, government, business and education.1,3,4,5 Let us explore in more detail the case study research method. Case study research is an “…intensive study of a single case where the purpose of that study is… to shed light on a larger class of cases.”4 Being… 1. Describe when the case study approach is the most appropriate qualitative research method. 2. Outline the components of a case study research method. 3. Discuss data coding and analysis and how categories and themes are developed. 4. Identify considerations for reporting the findings of case study research. [1]: #corresp-1
Research Ethics: When Innovation Is Clearly Research

With recent major advancements in scientific discovery and clinical research, the technical capabilities of the physician have vastly grown. However, in this predominant culture to advance knowledge and with this increase in technical possibility, the line between patient care and pure research becomes less clear. A fundamental and easily applicable set of ethical principles should therefore be utilized by physicians whenever they are faced with the question of whether an act is truly in their patient’s best interest. Years ago, Emanuel et al. laid out a framework of seven principles to use when evaluating whether clinical research is ethical. These include (1) social or scientific value, (2) scientific validity, (3) fair subject selection, (4) favorable risk-benefit ratio, (5) independent review, (6) informed consent, and (7) respect for potential and enrolled subjects. In this chapter, we aim to apply these principles to a neurosurgical problem that has recently gained widespread media attention. Recently, head transplant has gained attention as neurosurgeons have proposed performing this procedure on a human in the near future. By critically evaluating this proposed procedure via each of the seven aforementioned principles, we conclude that it does not meet the ethical requirements to be performed on a human. While the surgery has the potential to provide new information and guide future treatments, it fails to respect the patient as a person and does not offer a favorable risk-benefit ratio. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the physician, and neurosurgeon in this case, to understand the limits of research and to appreciate when the research is truly experimental and not yet ready to be performed on a patient. Ultimately, physicians must remember, first and foremost, to do no harm.
The evolution of feeding strategies in phocid seals (Pinnipedia, Phocidae)

Adaptations for feeding underwater were crucial to the success of pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses) in their transition from terrestrial to aquatic habitats. Extant phocids (true seals) us...
Shaping Preservice Teachers' Understandings of STEM: A Collaborative Math and Science Methods Approach.

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education has become an international focus of science education curricular reforms. However, few K–12 teachers have the background to authenticall...
Exploring gender as a potential source of bias in adult judgments of children with specific language impairment and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Abstract The purpose of this follow-up study to Ludlow (2013) was to examine potential sources of variability within attributional ratings adults (age range: 21–73) assigned to child speakers affected by either Specific Language Impairment (SLI) or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Factors considered were rater’s gender [Rater Male (RM) or Rater Female (RF)], the reported gender of the speakers [Speaker Male (SM) or Speaker Female (SF)], and the type of neurodevelopmental disorder involved (SLI or ADHD). Eighty participants (40 male and 40 female) rated brief, transcribed, narratives previously produced in Ludlow (2013) by boys affected by either SLI, ADHD, or who had typical neurodevelopment (TN). Narratives were presented to raters as having been generated by either a boy or a girl. After reading each narrative, participants provided ratings in response to 15 questions about the narrative, the child speaker’s attributes, and family background. Analyses revealed a significant main effect for speaker group, such that raters assigned more pejorative attributes to children with a disorder (ADHD = SLI
Combining Immune Checkpoint and VEGFR Inhibition in Favorable Risk and Elderly Patients With Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Abstract Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors are the most commonly used medications in metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). Recently, large clinical trials have shown favorable outcomes in patients treated with combined immune checkpoint plus VEGFR inhibition compared with VEGFR inhibition alone. However, the benefit among favorable risk (based on International Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma Database Consortium score) and elderly (age > 65 years) patients was not clear, leading to a discrepancy between United States Food and Drug Administration and European Association of Urology recommendations. Materials and Methods We searched available literature for phase III randomized clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of combining immunotherapy plus VEGF/VEGFR inhibitors versus standard of care in patients with previously untreated mRCC. Combinations that were included in United States Food and Drug Administration recommendations or European Association of Urology guidelines were used for analysis. We performed a meta-analysis with a random effects model to evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapy-VEGFR inhibitor combinations compared with sunitinib in favorable risk and elderly patients. Results Our analysis demonstrated that progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly prolonged with combination therapy compared with sunitinib in patients with age > 65 years (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.84; P = .001). The PFS in favorable risk disease was improved with combination therapy compared with sunitinib, but the difference was not statistically significant (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% confidence interval, 0.46-1.01; P = .055). Conclusion Our meta-analysis strengthens the trend of beneficial effect in prolonging PFS in both subgroups compared with each trial alone, indicating that favorable risk and elderly patients with mRCC likely benefit from combining programmed cell death 1 or programmed cell death-ligand 1 and VEGFR inhibition.
Development and evaluation of a new algorithm for detecting 30 m land surface phenology from VIIRS and HLS time series

Abstract Land surface phenology (LSP) provides critical information for investigating vegetation growth and development, studying ecosystem biodiversity, modeling terrestrial carbon and surface energy budgets, detecting land cover and land use change, and monitoring climate change. Although operational 500 m LSP products have been produced from coarse resolution data observed from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), an LSP product is also needed at the Landsat scale (30 m) to enhance the environmental monitoring and modeling. However, temporal frequency of 30 m satellite data is always inadequate for reliable LSP detection, despite enrichment by the operational harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) product. In this study, we propose a new algorithm of LSP detection for the generation of a 30 m LSP product using routinely produced HLS and VIIRS surface reflectance products. Specifically, the new algorithm compares a HLS EVI2 (two-band enhanced vegetation index) time series at a given 30 m pixel with the set of 500 m VIIRS EVI2 time series neighboring the HLS pixel and selects the most similar temporal shape of VIIRS time series even though the amplitude and/or phase between HLS and VIIRS EVI2 time series may be mismatched. The shape of the selected VIIRS EVI2 time series is then used to match to the given HLS EVI2 time series to generate a synthetic HLS-VIIRS time series. The HLS-VIIRS time series is subsequently processed using the hybrid piecewise logistic model to detect the phenological transition dates and to quantify the confidence of LSP detection. This new algorithm is evaluated by implementing 30 m LSP detection in eight HLS tiles in the northeastern (forests), central (croplands), and western (shrublands) United States. Evaluation finds that the new-algorithm-detected greenup onset (1) agrees well with the standard VIIRS LSP product without bias, (2) closely correlates to PhenoCam observations with a slope close to one, and (3) compares well with both PhenoCam and field species-specific observations with a mean absolute difference of 8 days and a difference less than 10 days in more than 70% of the validation samples. This implementation suggests that the new algorithm could be implemented for regional and global LSP product generation at a 30 m resolution.
24.1 A 24-to-30GHz Watt-Level Broadband Linear Doherty Power Amplifier with Multi-Primary Distributed-Active-Transformer Power-Combining Supporting 5G NR FR2 64-QAM with >19dBm Average P out and >19% Average PAE

The continuous worldwide demand for multi-Gb/s data-rate has driven the rapid development and standardization of 5G New Radio (NR) specifications in the mmwave bands [1]–[3]. As a result, there is a surge of interest in high-performance yet compact mm-wave 5G front-end chipsets to enable large-aperture phased arrays. In User Equipment (UE) devices, the limited form factor restricts the number of antenna array elements, e.g., 2×2, which dramatically increases the output power $(\mathrm{P}_{\mathrm{out}})$ requirement per element [1], [4]. For base stations, although some applications require only moderate element $\mathrm{P}_{\mathrm{out}}$ and high antenna gain, high $\mathrm{P}_{\mathrm{out}}$ capabilities allow array-divisions/sub-arrays for concurrent multi-stream mmwave links.
Local public goods and the crowding-out hypothesis: Evidence from Civic crowdfunding

We study civic crowdfunding campaigns, which leverage online platforms to raise funds for local public goods. We investigate ``crowding-out'' along two dimensions. We test whether an individual's contributions to a campaign are diminished by (1) the availability of another charitable cause and (2) contributions from other donors. We find strong robust evidence of a negative relationship between donating to a specific campaign and donating to the civic crowdfunding platform. Crowding out across charitable causes is most prevalent among donors who live far away from the crowdfunding campaign's location and among donors living in low-income neighborhoods. We find limited and inconclusive evidence of crowding-out across donors. The findings represent an initial empirical exploration of crowding out in civic crowdfunding.
Rats remember: Lack of drug-induced post-retrieval amnesia for auditory fear memories

Abstract When retrieved under specific circumstances, consolidated fear memories are thought to return to a labile state, thereby opening a window for modification (e.g., attenuation) of the memory. Several interventions during a critical time frame after this destabilization seem to be able to alter the retrieved memory, for example through pharmacological interference with the restabilization process, either by direct protein synthesis inhibition or indirectly, using drugs that can be safely administered in patients (e.g., propranolol). In a series of well-powered auditory fear conditioning experiments (four with propranolol, 10 mg/kg, two with rapamycin, 20-40 mg/kg, one with anisomycin, 150 mg/kg and cycloheximide, 1.5 mg/kg), we found no evidence for reduced cued fear memory expression during a drug-free test in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats that had previously received a systemic drug injection upon retrieval of the tone fear memory. All experiments used standard fear conditioning and reactivation procedures with freezing as the behavioral read-out (conceptual or exact replications of published reports) and common pharmacological agents. Additional tests confirmed that the applied drug doses and administration routes were effective in inducing their conventional effects on expression of fear (propranolol, acutely), body weight (rapamycin, anisomycin, cycloheximide) and consolidation of extinction memories (cycloheximide). Thus, in contrast with most published studies, we did not find evidence for drug-induced post-retrieval amnesia, underlining that this effect, as well as its clinical applicability, may be considerably more constrained and less readily reproduced than what the current literature would suggest. Highlights We aimed to replicate post-retrieval amnesia for auditory fear memories in rats We performed a series of well-powered pharmacological interference experiments Propranolol, rapamycin, anisomycin or cycloheximide was injected upon retrieval Bayesian stats found substantial evidence for the absence of post-retrieval amnesia The effect is less reproducible and generalizable than what the literature suggests
Antibody-induced glomerulonephritis pathology is amplified by RTEC-intrinsic IL-17 signaling and restrained by the endoribonuclease Regnase-1

Antibody-mediated glomerulonephritis (AGN) is a clinical manifestation of many autoimmune kidney diseases for which few effective treatments exist. Chronic inflammatory circuits in renal glomerular and tubular cells lead to tissue damage in AGN. These cells are targeted by the cytokine IL-17, which has recently been shown to be a central driver of the pathogenesis of AGN. However, surprisingly little is known about the regulation of pathogenic IL-17 signaling in the kidney. Here, using a well characterized mouse model of AGN, we show that IL-17 signaling in renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) is necessary and sufficient for AGN development. We also show that Regnase-1, an RNA binding protein with endoribonuclease activity, is a negative regulator of IL-17 signaling in RTECs. Accordingly, mice with a selective Regnase-1 deficiency in RTECs exhibited exacerbated kidney dysfunction in AGN. Mechanistically, Regnase-1 inhibits IL-17-driven expression of the transcription factor I{kappa}B{xi} and consequently its downstream gene targets including Il6 and Lcn2. Moreover, deletion of Regnase-1 in human RTECs reduced inflammatory gene expression in an I{kappa}B{xi}-dependent manner. Overall, these data identify an IL-17-driven inflammatory circuit in RTECs during AGN that is constrained by Regnase-1.
Are Tax Effects Important in the Long-Run Fisher Relationship? Evidence from the Municipal Bond Market

Are nominal bonds appropriately discounted for taxes? Empirical estimnates of the response of nominal interest rates to changes in inflation, the Fisher effect, have failed to produce a definitive answer. Four reasons have been put forward as possible explanations: (i) Tobin effects, (ii) fiscal illusion, (iii) peso problems, and (iv) different estimators. Utilizing data on taxable and tax-exempt bond interest rates and several different estimators, we find that the Fisher effect estimates are always larger for the taxable bond relative to the tax-exempt bond, suggesting that fiscal illusion and different estimators cannot account for the previous results. How ECONOMIC AGENTS RESPOND to the tax burdens of assets with different tax treatment is an important issue at both the level of the individual (micro) and the aggregate economy (macro). One clear source of evidence would appear to be the market for high quality debt. Trading in both taxable and tax-exempt debt occurs on a daily basis. The response of the rates of return on taxable and tax-exempt debt to changes in (expected) inflation are described by the Fisher relationship. The Fisher relationship is one of the oldest equilibrium relationships in financial economics. Fisher's original proposition was that if the real rate of interest is relatively constant over time, a fully perceived change in the purchasing power of money, as proxied by the inverse of the rate of inflation, would be accompanied by a proportional increase in the nominal interest rate. Darby (1975) points out that when nominal interest income is taxed, as are interest payments on U.S. Treasury bills, the Fisher relationship implies a response from nominal interest rates that is greater than the change in (expected) inflation in order to maintain the constant ex ante real interest rate. Summers (1983) suggests that given average marginal tax rates in the United States the appropriate value of the Fisher effect is 1.3 to 1.5. For tax-exempt bonds the original Fisher specification should be a good approximation implying a Fisher effect close to unity. In a seminal paper, Fama (1975) presents evidence to support the hypothesis that changes in nominal
Improving Delayed Antibiotic Prescribing for Acute Otitis Media.

OBJECTIVES: Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most-common indication for antibiotics in children. Delayed antibiotic prescribing for AOM can significantly reduce unnecessary antibiotic use and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for select children. We sought to improve delayed prescribing for AOM across 8 outpatient pediatric practices in Colorado. METHODS: Through a collaborative initiative with American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we implemented an economical 6-month antimicrobial stewardship intervention that included education, audit and feedback, online resources, and content expertise. Practices used The Model for Improvement and plan-do-study-act cycles to improve delayed antibiotic prescribing. Generalized estimating equations were used to generate relative risk ratios (RRRs) for outcomes at the intervention end and 3- and 6-months postintervention. Practice surveys were evaluated. RESULTS: In total, 69 clinicians at 8 practice sites implemented 27 plan-do-study-act cycles. Practices varied by size (range: 6–37 providers), payer type, and geographic setting. The rate of delayed antibiotic prescribing increased from 2% at baseline to 21% at intervention end (RRR: 8.96; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.68–17.17). Five practices submitted postintervention data. The rate of delayed prescribing at 3 months and 6 months postintervention remained significantly higher than baseline (3 months postintervention, RRR: 8.46; 95% CI: 4.18–17.11; 6 months postintervention, RRR: 6.69; 95% CI: 3.53–12.65) and did not differ from intervention end (3 months postintervention, RRR: 1.12; 95% CI: 0.62–2.05; 6-months postintervention, RRR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.53–1.49). CONCLUSIONS: Baseline rate of delayed prescribing was low. A low-cost intervention resulted in a significant and sustained increase in delayed antibiotic prescribing across a diversity of settings.
Sizing, Fractionation and Mixing of Biological Objects Via Microfabricated Devices

One aspect of micro and nanofabrication that has not been exploited a great deal has been the ability to make structures to probe and separate complex mixtures using designed environments. We will give three brief examples of such second-generation uses of microfabrication, as opposed to simply shrinking the size of the vessels or tubes used in macroscopic lab environments. The three examples chosen are blood cell fractionation and cell sorting, asymmetric brownian motion fractionation and ultra-high speed fluid mixing.
George Wald Memorial Talk

George Wald was born in 1906 in New York City to immigrant parents. An early and voracious reader, he soon developed a wide range of interests and entered New York University as a pre-law student, the first in his family to attend college. Shortly shifting to pre-medicine, he graduated college in biology. For graduate work, he joined the laboratory of Selig Hecht, a pioneer in vision research, at Columbia University. In 1932, four months before Hitler came to power, George went to Berlin to do postdoctoral work in the laboratory of Otto Warburg and there found vitamin A in the retina. This launched his life-long explorations of the molecular basis of vision for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967. During the 1960s, George became increasingly involved in anti-war and anti-nuclear activities, writing and travelling widely, including multiple trips to commemorations of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki sponsored by Japanese colleagues. He considered these activities part of being a biologist, someone concerned with life. In his final years, he turned to questions about consciousness, writing and speaking about 'Life and Mind in the Universe'.
A randomized solver for linear systems with exponential convergence

The Kaczmarz method for solving linear systems of equations Ax=b is an iterative algorithm that has found many applications ranging from computer tomography to digital signal processing. Despite the popularity of this method, useful theoretical estimates for its rate of convergence are still scarce. We introduce a randomized version of the Kaczmarz method for overdetermined linear systems and we prove that it converges with expected exponential rate. Furthermore, this is the first solver whose rate does not depend on the number of equations in the system. The solver does not even need to know the whole system, but only its small random part. It thus outperforms all previously known methods on extremely overdetermined systems. Even for moderately overdetermined systems, numerical simulations reveal that our algorithm can converge faster than the celebrated conjugate gradient algorithm.
RED-VBR: A New Approach to Support Delay-Sensitive VBR Video in Packet-Switched Networks

Previous approaches to supporting video on packet-switched networks include deterministic service, statistical service, predicted service, and feedback-based schemes. These schemes represent different tradeoffs in quality of service (QOS), achievable network utilization, and method of dealing with overload. In this paper, we propose a new service called REnegotiated Deterministic Variable Bit Rate Service (RED-VBR) that attempts to strike an efficient balance with the above tradeoffs. The approach is based on deterministic guarantees with client controlled renegotiation of QOS parameters and graceful adaptation during overload periods. We evaluate the scheme using two traces of MPEG-compressed video and show that, even with simple renegotiation polices and relatively low renegotiation frequencies, high network utilization in the range of 50% to 80% can be achieved. For traffic that is bursty over long intervals, this represents a 100% to 150% improvement in network utilization compared to deterministic service. Compared to statistical and predicted service, our approach allows more graceful and client-controlled QOS degradation during overload period.
Hypoxic preconditioning protects cultured neurons against hypoxic stress via TNF-α and ceramide

Brief “preconditioning” ischemia induces ischemic tolerance (IT) and protects the animal brain from subsequent otherwise lethal ischemia. Identification of the signaling steps most proximal to the ...
"What About People Our Age?" Applying Qualitative and Quantitative Methods to Uncover How Political Ads Alienate College Students

This study uses a sequential transformative mixed methods research design to explain how political advertising fails to engage college students. Qualitative focus groups examined how college students interpret the value of political advertising to them, and a quantitative manifest content analysis concerning ad framing of more than 100 ads from the 2004 presidential race revealed why focus group participants felt so alienated by political advertising. By not selecting issues and people to which youth can relate, political advertising is framed to decrease the salience of young voters, thereby promoting an interpretation among college students that the messages within candidate ads are not relevant to them. Suggestions are made for building more engaging ads. The utility of this research design is also discussed in terms of its benefits for data analysis and validity.
Effects of nicotine and cotinine on porcine arterial endothelial cell function

Background. There has been a significant amount of research on the effects of nicotine on vascular biology; however, little is known about the effects of cotinine, the metabolic product of nicotine. This study used a novel vascular perfusion system to study the effects of nicotine and cotinine on the vascular endothelial cell function. Methods. Porcine common carotid arteries were cultured in a novel vascular perfusion system with nicotine or cotinine or as controls. After 24 h, vessels were precontracted with norepinephrine and subsequently relaxed with acetylcholine. Vessel diameters were recorded and analyzed. After culture, samples were taken for en face, immunohistochemistry, and RT-PCR for eNOS. Porcine coronary arteries were incubated as controls or with nicotine or cotinine and tested on a myograph system to measure contraction and relaxation. Results. Porcine carotid arteries treated with nicotine and cotinine showed a 27.2% and a 41.2% reduction in endothelial-dependent relaxation, respectively, as compared to control vessels (P < 0.05). Rings of coronary arteries treated with nicotine relaxed similarly to control rings while cotinine-treated rings failed to relax to endothelial-dependent stimulation. RT-PCR for eNOS mRNA showed a 23.2 and a 24.1% reduction in eNOS expression for nicotine- and cotinine-treated vessels, respectively (P < 0.01). Additionally, immunohistochemical staining for eNOS showed less dense staining on nicotine- and cotinine-treated vessels as compared to controls. En face preparations showed normal endothelial cell morphology in all groups, but cell density decreased slightly in vessels treated with nicotine and cotinine. Conclusion. These results indicate that cotinine may have even more effect on the impairment of endothelial-dependent vasorelaxation than nicotine for the regulation of vessel tone in porcine carotid and coronary arteries.
The Cost of Not Breastfeeding: A Commentary

Breastfeeding, a valuable natural resource, promotes health, helps prevent infant and childhood disease, and saves health care costs. Additional annual national health care costs, incurred for treatment of four medical conditions in infant who were not breastfed were estimated. Infant diarrhea in nonbreastfed infants costs $291.3 million; respiratory syncytial virus, $225 million; insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, from $9.6 to $124.8 million; and otitis media, $660 million. Thus, these four medical diagnoses alone create just over $1 billion of extra health care costs each year. Breastfeeding may also enhance intellectual development of children according to at least one medical research study. The potential societal benefits of more intelligent children is incalculable even though it cannot be directly measured in terms of dollars. Finally, it was calculated that an additional $2,665,715 in federal funds is needed yearly in order for WIC to provide infant formula to nonbreastfeeding mothers. For the average family, the cost of purchasing formula is twice the cost of supplemental food for the breastfeeding mother. Breastfeeding education and support should be an integral part of health care, especially under managed care which rewards the prevention of health problems and reduced use of health services.
Melanomas in Xiphophorus variatus (Pisces, Poeciliidae) in the absence of hybridization

Nachweis von genetisch bedingten Melanomen bei Wildfangen der reinen Art des ZahnkarpfenXiphophorus variatus, wobei es sich eindeutig nicht um einen Artbastard handelt.
A comparison of tooth wear and breakage in Rancho La Brea sabertooth cats and dire wolves across time

The carnivores preserved in the late Pleistocene Rancho La Brea tar seep deposits display a remarkably high incidence of teeth broken in life as compared with modern species. In a previous study ex...
Information systems and development in the third world

Abstract The shift in global economy toward the development of services, including information systems, offers challenges to Third World nations from five directions: microelectronics technology, a multiplicity of development theories or policies, the power of multinational corporations, international information agencies, and variables of national political economy. In the face of these challenges, developing nations start from a position of weakness, based on low levels of capital formation and rapid population growth. The resulting problems include low levels of investment in information infrastructures, lack of public interest in modern information facilities, and dependence on the multinationals. Responses are varied, however, as seen in the South Asian nations of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. The general direction of solutions in the late 1980s is away from large-scale, centralized intervention and toward more decentralized national and regional projects.
Adrenocorticotropic hormone immunoreactivity in the hippocampal formation of temporal lobe epilepsy patients.

Summary: Purpose: We wished to identify immunocytochemically the distribution of proopiomelanocortin-related peptides in the hippocampal formation of patients with epilepsy. Methods: Surgical hippocampal specimens from temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients and autopsy control tissue were examined immunocytochemically for ACTH, α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) and α-endorphin. Results: There was a dense distribution of ACTH-immunoreactive neurons in the hippocampal formation of patients with mesial TLE syndrome (MTLE). These hippocampal specimens showed significant cell loss. ACTH-positive neurons were most prominent in the subiculum, with scattered ACTH-immunoreactive neuronal elements distributed in the cornu ammonis fields and hilus. Light ACTH immunoreactivity was detected in the tumor-related epileptic hippocampal specimens, which showed minimal cell loss. Although autopsy control tissue from the hypothalamus showed intense ACTH staining patterns in cells and fibers, there was little or no ACTH immunoreactivity in the autopsy hippocampal tissue. The expression of ACTH immunoreactive elements was correlated with patterns of cell loss. No α-MSH- or β-endorphin-immunoreactive neurons were detected in any of the hippocampal specimens. Conclusions: ACTH has anticonvulsant properties, and its novel expression in the glutamatergic subicular neurons, which provide the main outflow of the hippocampal formation, may represent an attempt by the damaged hippocampal circuit to restore the balance of excitatory/inhibitory neurotransmission in TLE.
Impact of lithography variability on analog circuit behavior

In this work we present the impact of the variations in lithography on the performance of analog circuits. Matching pairs of devices are critical in the design of many analog circuit blocks. Simple circuits, such as current mirrors and differential pairs, depend on the matching between transistors to provide accurate bias currents and symmetrical ac gains with minimal offsets. Complex analog systems, such as analog-to-digital converters and phase-locked loops, depend on the matching between different active and passive devices, such as transistors and resistors. Variations in lithography encountered during fabrication of analog circuits can lead to matching errors and hence performance and yield losses for the device. The impact of some lithographical errors, such as focus and dose errors, mask errors, and lens aberrations, on some of the key analog building blocks, namely a single transistor, a current mirror and a differential pair is presented. The errors of such cases are also explored for the ring oscillator, demonstrating the extent of performance variation on complex analog circuits.
Arctic Tropospheric Winds Derived from TOVS Satellite Retrievals

Abstract Accurate three-dimensional wind fields are essential for diagnosing a variety of important climate processes in the Arctic, such as the advection and deposition of heat and moisture, changes in circulation features, and transport of trace constituents. In light of recent studies revealing significant biases in upper-level winds over the Arctic Ocean from reanalyses, new daily wind fields are generated from 22.5 yr of satellite-retrieved thermal-wind profiles, corrected with a recently developed mass-conservation scheme. Compared to wind measurements from rawinsondes during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) experiment, biases in satellite-retrieved winds are near zero in the meridional direction, versus biases of over 50% for reanalyses. Errors in the zonal component are smaller than those observed in reanalysis winds in the upper troposphere, while in the lower troposphere the effects of Greenland introduce uncertainty in the mass-conservation calculation. Further reduction in error m...
Radiographic lung disease and response of persistent pulmonary hypertension to mean airway pressure and alkalosis.

Summary. Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is associated with multiple cardiopulmonary diseases. Therapy often includes hyperventilationialkalosis despite little evidence as to its efficacy in diverse conditions. To determine (1) if part of the improvement of arterial oxygen tension (Pa, ) attributed to alkalosis is actually related to increased mean airway pressure (Paw) and (2) if thspresence of radiographic pulmonary disease predicts the response to alkalosis or mean airway pressure, we reviewed records of 19 newborns with well-documented PPHN. Arterial blood gases and corresponding ventilator settings were recorded during the first day of life. To adjust for lower F,, , corrected P (cP ) was calculated when the F < 1 .O, such that cPaO2 = calculated artiO.8). Regression equations were obtained and mean slopes of these were compared for Paw vs. cPao2, and pH vs. cP,, by one group t-tests (with assumed population slope of zero). There was no correlation betwsen Paw and cP,, (mean slope ? SD = -8.4 ? 30.8, P = 0.25), but there was a moderate correlation between pd and cP,, (mean slope = 333.1 ? 480.5, P = 0.007). Patients were then classified by chest radiographs 5s having severe or minimalino lung disease. Relationships of Paw and pH to cP,, were then re-examined. No correlation was present between Paw and cP,, in 11 patients with PPHN and severe radiographic disease (mean slope = -7.4 L 26.97 P = 0.38) or in eight patients with PPHN and minimalino lung disease (mean slope = -9.8 2 37.5, P = 0.48). There was no correlation between pH and CP in patients with severe radiographic lung disease and PPHN (mean slope = 92.1 t 399.5, P 7 0.46), but patients with PPHN and minimalho lung disease showed a strong correlation (mean slope = 664.5 ? 385.8, P = 0.002). We conclude that Paw (S18 cm H,O) with conventional mechanical ventilation has no apparent effect on oxygenation in patients with PPHN regardless of lung disease; however, severe radiographic lung disease may be a predominant variable predicting a poor response to alkalosis. We speculate that different diseases cause pulmonary
The Nitroprusside Reaction as a Test for Reduced Glutathione

THIS test was first introduced by Morner1. He added sodium nitroprusside and then alkali to cystein and obtained a deep purple red. This changed into a reddish brown and finally disappeared. Cystin gave no reaction. Morner used a solution of pure cystein, and whether or not he heated his solution prior to the test he did not state. Heating in this case would not affect the results materially. In 1921 Hopkins2 very casually suggested heating tissue in weak acetic acid in order to intensify the reaction before applying the test. This unchallenged suggestion has led other workers to heat tissues with acetic acid prior to the application of the test, thus obtaining wholly meaningless results (see, for example, Fink3, Camp4 and Coldwater5). In 1923 Harris6 showed that native proteins which are non-reactive to nitroprusside become reactive when warmed with acid or base. For example, fresh ovalbumin is placed in three test-tubes and to tube A nothing is added; to tube B acetic acid is added; and to tube C acetic acid is added, and this tube is heated. All tubes are rendered alkaline with ammonium sulphate. The nitroprusside test is then negative in tubes A and B and positive only in the tube that was heated. Heat denatures proteins and liberates free —SH radicals if the protein contains such in combined form.
Theoretical and Spectroscopic Investigations of the Bonding and Reactivity of (RO)3M≡N Molecules, where M = Cr, Mo, and W

The electronic structures of the molecules (tBuO)3M≡N (M = Cr, Mo, W) have been investigated with gas phase photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional calculations. It is found that the alkoxide orbitals mix strongly with the M≡N triple bond orbitals and contribute substantially to the valence electronic structure. The first ionization of (tBuO)3Cr≡N is from an orbital of a2(C3v) symmetry that is oxygen based and contains no metal or nitrogen character by symmetry. In contrast, the first ionizations of the molybdenum and tungsten analogues are from orbitals of a1 and e symmetry that derive from the highest occupied M≡N σ and π orbitals mixed with the appropriate symmetry combinations of the oxygen p orbitals. In this a1 orbital, the oxygen p orbitals mix with the highest occupied M≡N orbital of σ symmetry. This mixing reduces the metal character, consequently reducing the metal−nitrogen overlap interaction in this orbital. From computational modeling, the polarity of the M≡N bond increases down the...
Increased readthrough transcription across the simian virus 5 M-F gene junction leads to growth defects and a global inhibition of viral mRNA synthesis.

Recombinant simian virus 5 (rSV5) mutants containing substitutions in the M-F intergenic region were generated to determine the effect of increased readthrough transcription on the paramyxovirus growth cycle. We have previously shown, using an SV5 dicistronic minigenome, that replacement of the 22-base M-F intergenic region with a foreign sequence results in a template (Rep22) that directs very high levels of M-F readthrough transcription. An rSV5 containing the Rep22 substitution grew slower and to final titers that were 50- to 80-fold lower than those of wild-type (WT) rSV5. Cells infected with the Rep22 virus produced very low levels of monocistronic M and F mRNA, consistent with the M-F readthrough phenotype. Surprisingly, Rep22 virus-infected cells also displayed a global decrease in the accumulation of viral mRNA from genes located upstream and downstream of the M-F junction, and overall viral protein synthesis was reduced. Second-site revertants of the Rep22 virus that had regained WT transcription and growth properties contained a single base substitution that increased the M gene end U tract from four to eight residues, suggesting that the growth defects originated from higher-than-normal M-F readthrough transcription. Thus, the primary growth defect for the Rep22 virus appears to be in viral RNA synthesis and not in morphogenesis. A second rSV5 virus (G14), which contained a different foreign M-F intergenic sequence, grew to similar or slightly higher titers than WT rSV5 in some cell types and produced ∼1.5- to 2-fold more mRNA and viral protein. The data support the hypothesis that inhibition of Rep22 virus growth is due to increased access by the polymerase to the 5′ end of the genome and to the resulting overexpression of L protein. We propose that the elevated naturally occurring M-F readthrough which is characteristic of many paramyxoviruses serves as a mechanism to fine-tune the level of polymerase that is optimal for virus growth.
Robotic Technology and Stroke Rehabilitation: Translating Research into Practice

Research on the effectiveness of robotic therapy for the paretic upper limb after stroke has shown statistically significant reductions in motor impairment during both acute and chronic phases of recovery. Despite growing empirical support for this technology and a stronger focus on optimizing rehabilitation outcomes and productivity, there continues to be a disconnect between research and clinical practice. We review studies on the use of robot-aided neurorehabilitation for the paretic arm after stroke and discuss ways in which this technology may provide opportunities for intensive training that complement more conventional therapy methods.
Building a parallel file system simulator

Parallel file systems are gaining in popularity in high-end computing centers as well as commercial data centers. High-end computing systems are expected to scale exponentially and to pose new challenges to their storage scalability in terms of cost and power. To address these challenges scientists and file system designers will need a thorough understanding of the design space of parallel file systems. Yet there exist few systematic studies of parallel file system behavior at petabyte- and exabyte scale. An important reason is the significant cost of getting access to large-scale hardware to test parallel file systems. To contribute to this understanding we are building a parallel file system simulator that can simulate parallel file systems at very large scale. Our goal is to simulate petabyte-scale parallel file systems on a small cluster or even a single machine in reasonable time and fidelity. With this simulator, file system experts will be able to tune existing file systems for specific workloads, scientists and file system deployment engineers will be able to better communicate workload requirements, file system designers and researchers will be able to try out design alternatives and innovations at scale, and instructors will be able to study very large-scale parallel file system behavior in the class room. In this paper we describe our approach and provide preliminary results that are encouraging both in terms of fidelity and simulation scalability.
Do smoking, obesity, and stress cause psoriasis?

In this issue, Naldi et al (2005) report results from a case– control study conducted at 21 Italian dermatology centers from 1988 to 1997, comparing 560 patients with a new first diagnosis of psoriasis and 690 patients with a new first diagnosis of another dermatological illness. Their study identifies three modifiable risk factors associated with psoriasis: smoking, increased body mass, and stressful life events. Patients with psoriasis reported these risk factors almost twice as often as patients with other skin diseases. Here, we comment on (1) the study’s methodology and (2) whether smoking, increased body mass index (BMI), and stress are causal risk factors for triggering or aggravating psoriasis.
Characterization of Synthetic Organic Superconductors By Use of Vibrational Spectroscopy

The use of vibrational spectroscopy in characterizing synthetic organic superconductors is reviewed. The electron-donor molecules tetramethyltetraselena-fulvalene (TMTSF) and bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathia-fulvalene (BEDT-TTF or ET), which provide superconducting salts when combined with anions, are highlighted. Special emphasis is given to the microreflectance technique and its usefulness in the study of these materials.