cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Temporal and anatomic relationship between superficial and deep vein thromboses in hospitalized children

Abstract Background Recent publications have increasingly demonstrated a link between superficial-vein thrombosis (SVT) and deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) in the adult population and have led to changes in SVT treatment considerations. A similar relationship between SVT and DVT in pediatric populations, however, is not currently well established. Objectives We sought to evaluate the temporal and anatomic relationship between SVT and DVT among pediatric inpatients in order to determine to what degree SVT is associated with DVT. Methods We first retrospectively reviewed our institution's local prospective hospital-acquired VTE (HA-VTE) registry to identify all children (age 0–21 years, inclusive) admitted to Children's Hospital Colorado for more than 48 h between January 2012 and September 2017 who developed a DVT while hospitalized. We then reviewed each patient's electronic health record for evidence of SVT to identify SVT + DVT cases. Afterwards, we utilized a list of ICD codes to identify all patients during this time frame who developed an SVT and removed patients whom we previously identified as SVT + DVT cases to obtain the number of patients with isolated SVT. Results Of 59,910 patients admitted during the study period, 438 (0.7%) developed a thrombosis while hospitalized - 197 (0.3%) with isolated SVT, 161 (0.3%) with isolated DVT, and 80 (0.1%) with both SVT + DVT. These 80 SVT + DVT patients represent 33% of the 241 total DVT patients and 29% of the 277 total SVT patients. Of the 12 SVT + DVT patients in whom the SVT was diagnosed before the DVT, the subsequent DVT occurred within a mean of 6.4 (range 1–22) days and at the same anatomic site in 6 (50%). The age breakdown for this cohort was: 0 (0%) 0–1 months, 2 (17%) 1 month-2 years, 3 (25%) 2–12 years, 3 (25%) 12–16 years, and 4 (33%) 16–21 years. Conclusions Our results indicate a temporal and anatomic relationship between SVT and DVT in hospitalized children, particularly those with central venous catheters.
Evaluating Treatment Prioritization Rules via Rank-Weighted Average Treatment Effects

There are a number of available methods that can be used for choosing whom to prioritize treatment, including ones based on treatment effect estimation, risk scoring, and hand-crafted rules. We propose rank-weighted average treatment effect (RATE) metrics as a simple and general family of metrics for comparing treatment prioritization rules on a level playing field. RATEs are agnostic as to how the prioritization rules were derived, and only assesses them based on how well they succeed in identifying units that benefit the most from treatment. We define a family of RATE estimators and prove a central limit theorem that enables asymptotically exact inference in a wide variety of randomized and observational study settings. We provide justification for the use of bootstrapped confidence intervals and a framework for testing hypotheses about heterogeneity in treatment effectiveness correlated with the prioritization rule. Our definition of the RATE nests a number of existing metrics, including the Qini coefficient, and our analysis directly yields inference methods for these metrics. We demonstrate our approach in examples drawn from both personalized medicine and marketing. In the medical setting, using data from the SPRINT and ACCORD-BP randomized control trials, we find no significant evidence of heterogeneous treatment effects. On the other hand, in a large marketing trial, we find robust evidence of heterogeneity in the treatment effects of some digital advertising campaigns and demonstrate how RATEs can be used to compare targeting rules that prioritize estimated risk vs. those that prioritize estimated treatment benefit.
Soft Sensing Transformer: Hundreds of Sensors are Worth a Single Word.

With the rapid development of AI technology in recent years, there have been many studies with deep learning models in soft sensing area. However, the models have become more complex, yet, the data sets remain limited: researchers are fitting million-parameter models with hundreds of data samples, which is insufficient to exercise the effectiveness of their models and thus often fail to perform when implemented in industrial applications. To solve this long-lasting problem, we are providing large scale, high dimensional time series manufacturing sensor data from Seagate Technology to the public. We demonstrate the challenges and effectiveness of modeling industrial big data by a Soft Sensing Transformer model on these data sets. Transformer is used because, it has outperformed state-of-the-art techniques in Natural Language Processing, and since then has also performed well in the direct application to computer vision without introduction of image-specific inductive biases. We observe the similarity of a sentence structure to the sensor readings and process the multi-variable sensor readings in a time series in a similar manner of sentences in natural language. The high-dimensional time-series data is formatted into the same shape of embedded sentences and fed into the transformer model. The results show that transformer model outperforms the benchmark models in soft sensing field based on auto-encoder and long short-term memory (LSTM) models. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first team in academia or industry to benchmark the performance of original transformer model with large-scale numerical soft sensing data.
Environmental Management Through Legislative Measures in The United States

The writer traces the history of environmental laws and policy within the United States, and reviews major statutes dealing with air and water pollution, waste disposal, toxic substances, insecticides, fungicides and rodenticides, endangered species, and public lands. The paper concludes with a brief assessment of the effectiveness of some of these measures and suggestions for continued improvement. ABSTRAK Penulis menggariskan sejarah undang-undang dan polisi alam sekitar di Amerika Syarikat dan mengulas statut-statut penting berhubung dengan pencemaran udara dan air, buangan sisa, bahan beracun, racun serangga, racun Mat, racun makhluk perosak, spesis terancam dan tanah awam. Kertas ini diakhiri dengan suatu penilaian ringkas tentang keberkesanan setengah daripada langkah-langkah dan cadangan-cadangan yang dikemukakan untuk pembaikan seterusnya.
Methyl α-Hydroxyisobutyrate Dehydration over Zeolite Catalysts

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses different types of zeolites, including X and Y types, as well as mordenite and ZSM-5, as catalysts for MOB dehydration in batch, pulsed, or flow-type reaction modes. The zeolites that were studied in the study discussed in the chapter represent a wide range of acid/base properties and structural topologies. The results obtained show that high conversions can be achieved in the gas-phase reactions over most of the zeolites tested. However, high selectivity toward methyl methacrylate was only obtained over NaX and NaY zeolites. This study confirmed the commercial viability of weakly acidic zeolites as MOB dehydration catalysts. The flow system provided the most favorable conditions for MOB dehydration to MM, where the most effective catalysts were mildly basic. NaX and NaY are potentially effective catalysts under the conditions where the presence of water and Bronsted acidity are minimized. Stronger acid zeolites, such as HY, H-ZSM-5, H-mordenite, and Beta, generally result in poor selectivity. Bronsted acidity causes side reactions such as dealkylations and coking. These effects are partially diminished in the presence of rare earth ions, especially in the batch reactions.
Death by Crowd Control

Cells often die by way of a controlled suicide called apoptosis. The proteins most responsible for the deed are caspases, specific proteases that are carefully regulated in the cell so that they only become activated when absolutely necessary. In his Perspective, Hengartner discusss results reported by Yang et al. in the same issue on how some of the central caspases responsible for cell death, such as CED-3, are activated by oligomerization, a process that is regulated by the anti-death protein CED-9, a member of the large Bcl-2 family.
Energy dependence of the cross sections for the d + 10B → 3α and the p + 11B → 3α reactions

Abstract The excitation function for the 10 B(d, α) 8 Be g.s. reaction has been measured with both single counter and coincidence techniques in the bombarding energy range 2.5–4.5 MeV. The excitation function for the 11 B(p, α) 8 Be ∗ (2.9 MeV) reaction has been measured in the bombarding energy range 7.5–10.5 MeV. The observed structures in the excitation functions have been compared with the prediction of a simple theoretical model involving pole and triangle graphs.
Polyol pathway and diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Abstract This chapter critically examines the concept of the polyol pathway and how it relates to the pathogenesis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. The two enzymes of the polyol pathway, aldose reductase and sorbitol dehydrogenase, are reviewed. The structure, biochemistry, physiological role, tissue distribution, and localization in peripheral nerve of each enzyme are summarized, along with current information about the location and structure of their genes, their alleles, and the possible links of each enzymes and its alleles to diabetic neuropathy. Inhibitors of pathway enzymes and results obtained to date with pathway inhibitors in experimental models and human neuropathy trials are updated and discussed. Experimental and clinical data are analyzed in the context of a newly developed metabolic model of the in vivo relationship between nerve sorbitol concentration and metabolic flux through aldose reductase. Overall, the data will be interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that metabolic flux through the polyol pathway, rather than nerve concentration of sorbitol, is the predominant polyol pathway-linked pathogenic factor in diabetic peripheral nerve. Finally, key questions and future directions for basic and clinical research in this area are considered. It is concluded that robust inhibition of metabolic flux through the polyol pathway in peripheral nerve will likely result in substantial clinical benefit in treating and preventing the currently intractable condition of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. To accomplish this, it is imperative to develop and test a new generation of “super-potent” polyol pathway inhibitors.
The Numerical Simulation of Crack Growth in Weld-Incuced Residual Stress Fields

A marriage of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics techniques with thermoplastic finite element analyses is developed to examine crack growth in the presence of weld-induced residual stresses. A hypothetical crack growth relation based on the crack tip opening displacement is used. Three problem areas are studied: stress corrosion cracking in a girth-welded pipe, fatigue crack growth under cyclic loading in a butt-welded plate, and dynamic crack propagation under impact loading in a butt-welded plate. Comparisons with computations carried out under conventional linear elastic assumptions are made. It is found that, in all three cases, neglect of the plastic deformation caused by the welding process appears to be anti-conservative. It is concluded that more realistic computations for crack growth in and around welds than are commonly used may be needed for realistic structural integrity assessments.
LIPT: a lossless text transform to improve compression

We propose an approach to develop a dictionary based reversible lossless text transformation, called LIFT (length index preserving transform), which can be applied to a source text to improve the existing algorithm's ability to compress. In LIFT, the length of the input word and the offset of the words in the dictionary are denoted with alphabets. Our encoding scheme makes use of the recurrence of same length words in the English language to create context in the transformed text that the entropy coders can exploit. LIFT also achieves some compression at the preprocessing stage and retains enough context and redundancy for the compression algorithms to give better results. Bzip2 with LIFT gives 5.24% improvement in average BPC over Bzip2 without LIPT, and PPMD with LIPT gives 4.46% improvement in average BPC over PPMD without LIFT, for our test corpus.
Climatic trends in major U.S. urban areas, 1950–2009

[1] We evaluate changes in climatic indices for the 100 largest U.S. urban areas and paired surrounding non-urban areas. During the period 1950–2009, we find that there were statistically significant changes in as many as half of the urban areas in temperature-related indices, such as heating and cooling degree-days and number of warm and cool nights, almost all of which are reflective of a general warming. Similarly, statistically significant changes (mostly increases) in indices related to extreme precipitation, such as daily maximum intensities and number of days with heavy precipitation, were detected in as many of 30% of the urban areas. A paired analysis of urban and surrounding non-urban areas suggests that most temperature-related trends are attributable to regional climate change, rather than to local effects of urbanization, although the picture is more mixed for precipitation.
NMR-Based Biosensing with Optimized Delivery of Polarized 129Xe to Solutions

Laser-enhanced (LE) 129Xe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is an exceptional tool for sensing extremely small physical and chemical changes; however, the difficult mechanics of bringing polarized xenon and samples of interest together have limited applications, particularly to biological molecules. Here we present a method for accomplishing solution 129Xe biosensing based on flow (bubbling) of LE 129Xe gas through a solution in situ in the NMR probe, with pauses for data acquisition. This overcomes fundamental limitations of conventional solution-state LE 129Xe NMR, e.g., the difficulty in transferring hydrophobic xenon into aqueous environments, and the need to handle the sample to refresh LE 129Xe after an observation pulse depletes polarization. With this new method, we gained a factor of >100 in sensitivity due to improved xenon transfer to the solution and the ability to signal average by renewing the polarized xenon. Polarized xenon in biosensors was detected at very low concentrations, ≤250 nanomol...
Discordant expression of perforin and granzyme A in total and HIV-specific CD8 T lymphocytes of HIV infected children and adolescents.

Objective: Perforin and granzyme are cytotoxic effector molecules that are believed to play essential roles in cytotoxic T cell (CTL) activity. We tested the hypothesis that dysregulation of these effector molecules contributes to defects of CD8 antiviral immune responses in pediatric subjects in chronic stages of perinatal HIV infection. Design/Method: Studies of CD8 T cells were conducted in 33 treatment experienced HIV+ patients (median age, 10.6 years) and in 14 age-matched healthy controls. CD8 T cells specific for HIV Gag and Pol peptides were identified in HLA-A2+ patients by tetramer binding assays. HIV-specific and total CD8 T cells were examined for perforin, granzyme and expression of CD27, a marker that is lost in terminally differentiated cells. Results: Three populations of CD8 T cells were identified: granzyme+ perforin+; granzyme+ perforin- and cells negative for both perforin and granzyme. In HIV infected patients, granzyme+ cells were increased in total CD8 T cells (39% versus 13% in controls) and were highest in HIV Gag-specific CD8 cells (42%). Perforin+ CD8 T cells were approximately fivefold fewer than granzyme+ CD8 T cells and were enriched in CD27 negative cells. Most HIV-specific CD8 cells were CD27+. Granzyme expression in CD8 T cells correlated negatively with CD4 percentage and positively with virus load. Conclusion: A disproportionate and generalized increase in CD27+, granzyme+, CD8 T cells is a hallmark of established pediatric HIV infection. These findings support the concept of skewed maturation, with failure of CD8 T cells to mature into perforin-enriched, CD27-negative, effector cells.
Occipital encephalocele and MURCS association: case report and review of central nervous system anomalies in MURCS patients

The combination of MURCS association (Mullerian duct and renal agenesis, upper limb and rib anomalies) and occipital encephalocele occurred in a stillborn girl of 41 weeks gestation. The malformations are compatible with a defect in the organization of the paraxial mesoderm that gives rise to occipital, cervical, and thoracic somites and adjoining intermediate mesoderm. These structures contribute to the occipital bone, cervical spine, upper limbs, and urogenital system. Brain imaging may be useful in assessing MURCS patients, if cranial malformations prove to be clinically important in these individuals.
POROSITY: III. WATER AS AN ABSORPTION LIQUID

Classes of absorption method.—The ordinary immersion method has been shown by previous investigators to be unreliable. Simple immersion in low vacuo without boiling is also shown theoretically to be unreliable. An analysis of the results of previous investigators indicates the presence of unsuspected sources of error. Effect of adsorbed gases upon dry weights of test pieces.—Dry air is shown to be without appreciable influence. Depending upon the humidity of the atmosphere, adsorbed water vapor may cause errors up to 2 per cent in the porosity value. Perfectly dry fired clay will remove water from conc. H2SO4, and from fused CaCl2. Saturation by boiling at atmospheric pressure.—A one hour's (and in one instance a 5 hours') boiling failed to saturate completely. On continued boiling the saturated weight increases linearly with the time and this in spite of the fact that appreciable quantities of dissolved materials are removed from the test piece by the hot water. This result is shown to be due to a gradual and continuous rehydration of the clay by the hot water. The error from this factor may amount to as much as 3% and the error from dissolved materials to as much as 2%, during a 3 hours' boiling. The nature of the dissolved material was determined. Method of cooling the test piece.—It is recommended that the test piece be kept in a closed vessel over 95% sulphuric acid for several hours before its dry weight is taken. Saturation procedure.—A vacuum method is described in which water may be employed as the saturation liquid under conditions where the above sources of error are reduced to a minimum. The method is not however recommended as a primary standard. Necessity of a soaking period.—It is shown from theoretical considerations that a soaking period is necessary and methods are given for calculating and for measuring the minimum soaking period required for a given test piece and a given liquid of known penetrativity.
Structure-neurotoxicity trends of analogues of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+), the cytotoxic metabolite of the dopaminergic neurotoxin MPTP

Abstract The dopaminergic neurotoxicity of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) derives from its metabolism to 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium cation (MPP + ), which is then selectively accumulated in dopaminergic neurons. In an effort to assess the structural requirements governing MPP + cytotoxicity, we evaluated dopaminergic toxicity of MPP + analogues 3 weeks after their microinfusion into rat substantia nigra. We also evaluated the substrate suitability of MPP + analogues for high-affinity dopamine uptake in striatal synaptosomes by measuring their ability to induce specific dopamine release. The intranigral neurotoxicity of MPP + analogues in vivo correlates mainly with their in vitro inhibitory activity on mitochondrial respiration, consistent with a compromise in cellular energy production as the principal mechanism of MPTP-induced cell death. This study extends the structure-neurotoxicity data base beyond that obtainable using MPTP analogues, since many of these are not metabolized to pyridinium compounds. Such information is crucial to assess which possible endogenous or exogenous compounds may exert MPTP/MPP + -like toxicity.
Toward distributed intelligent: A case study of peer to peer communication in smart grid

Smart grid is an emerging cyber-physical system which aims at making power systems more intelligent and efficient. One of the major attributes of smart grid is integration of distributed renewable power resources into the traditional power grid. As a result, traditional centralized control is not always effective in smart grid, and distributed control is essential for flexible energy management. To facilitate distributed control, Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs), which are embedded computers equipped on power devices, are interconnected based on the peer-to-peer communication model. An open question is whether such a distributed control mechanism over peer to peer communication is delay-efficient to support time-critical smart grid applications. To answer this question, we establish a micro smart grid, called Green Hub, to measure the delay performance for both distributed and centralized control systems. Our results show that, for computationally intensive applications, the delay performance of the distributed system is worse than that of the centralized control system, mostly due to IEDs' limited capability. In addition, we find that in distributed control systems, the peer to peer communication may cause different behaviors of physical devices in power systems, and consequently deviates their decisions from optimal. Our experimental study reveals the distributed control system in smart grid does not necessarily performs better than the centralized control system for certain applications, and the peer to peer communication in the distributed control system may bring new concerns which did not exist in the centralized control system. A special attention need to be paid on the effectiveness and efficiency aspects when design algorithms/schemes for smart grid.
Henry Granjon Prize Competition 2006 Winner, Category D “Human related subjects” Method for Sampling and Characterizing Arc Welding Fume Particles

Arc welding fume may pose a serious risk to the health and safety of welders and operators in the welding industry. Many methods have been employed to collect and characterize welding fume in the past but previous studies have often not used a combination of techniques that give the full picture on the nature of welding fume. This study was employed to collect fume generated by a variety of arc welding processes, including shielded metal arc welding (SMAW: E6010, E7018, E308–16) and gas metal arc welding (GMAW: ER70S-6 with 100% CO2 and 75% Ar-25% CO2 shielding gases), and to characterize the fume by size distribution, chemical composition, structure, and morphology with state-of-the-art techniques. This requires the use of multiple imaging and analysis techniques since the size variation of welding fume particles is quite large. Collection of welding fume generated by a variety of common electrodes was performed with an electrical low-pressure cascade impactor (ELPI) to size particles by their aerodynamic diameters and develop particle size distributions. A fume collection hood was also used to collect bulk fume samples and measure fume generation rates. Fume particles on the impactor stages were imaged using high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), revealing the presence of three fume particle morphologies including spherical, agglomerated, and irregular. TEM revealed the presence of a core-shell particle structure. Chemical analysis and phase identification was also performed for individual particles and bulk stages with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-XEDS and TEM-XEDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Bulk fume and individual particles analyzed were largely metal-oxides with a Fe3O4-type crystal structure. Using these advanced characterization techniques in conjunction with one another provides an overall picture of fume that has been previously unattainable.
Biphasic blood oxygen dissociation curves in hemoglobin S hemoglobinopathies. Sickle cell heterozygotes

Abstract The oxygen binding curves of whole cells of heterozygous sickle cell hemoglobinopathies were measured. Under the conditions of measurement (T=25°, pH=6.4, pCO2=0) the curves are biphasic. Samples in which 2,3-diphosphoglycerate (2,3-DPG) is very low or absent are monophasic, suggesting that there is a differential binding of 2,3-DPG to S and non-S hemoglobin in cells of heterozygotes. The biphasic curve has been confirmed in a hemoglobin SC patient, under physiologic conditions (T=37°, pH=7.4, pCO2=44 mm).
Segmentation And Boundary Surface Formation For 3-D Digital Images

In visualizing objects in 3-D digital images based on shaded-surface displays, segmen-tation of the 3-D regions corresponding to the objects to be visualized is a basic processing operation. When object and non-object regions touch or overlap and have similar features, automatic segmentation methods fail. To overcome this problem, a method, based on creating an arbitrarily-shaped three-dimensional window that encloses only the object regions, is proposed in this paper. The window is created using the contours traced in a series of 'slices' comprising the 3-D image. The capability to create arbitrarily-shaped 3-D windows also permits 3-D visualization corresponding to arbitrary intersections of the object. Having identified the object regions in the 3-D image, the next important processing operation before the 3-D display of an object can be achieved is the formation of its boundary surfaces. A simple and fast algorithm to form boundary surfaces from a given set of contours is presented in this paper which makes use of the 'cuberille model' for the representation of discrete surfaces. The performance of the algorithms is illustrated using computerized tomography data.
Markets: The U.S. Lodging Industry

The U.S. lodging industry appears highly competitive. Ownership concentration appears to be low. Fixed costs are high relative to variable costs and unused rooms cannot be stored for future sale, so price-cutting should be attractive. However, this paper argues that, unexpectedly, oligopolistic market structures in many local lodging markets, combined with behavioral norms of cooperation, sustain profits in what might otherwise be an industry of cutthroat competition. I describe the patterns of competition and cooperation in the U.S. lodging industry, summarizing theoretical arguments, empirical research, descriptive statistics from industry and government sources, and anecdotal evidence from the trade press and from interviews conducted with managers of over 200 properties nationwide.
Multi-session complex averaging for high resolution high SNR 3T MR visualization of ex vivo hippocampus and insula

The hippocampus and the insula are responsible for episodic memory formation and retrieval. Hence, visualization of the cytoarchitecture of such structures is of primary importance to understand the underpinnings of conscious experience. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offers an opportunity to non-invasively image these crucial structures. However, current clinical MR imaging operates at the millimeter scale while these anatomical landmarks are organized into sub-millimeter structures. For instance, the hippocampus contains several layers, including the CA3-dentate network responsible for encoding events and experiences. To investigate whether memory loss is a result of injury or degradation of CA3/dentate, spatial resolution must exceed one hundred micron, isotropic, voxel size. Going from one millimeter voxels to one hundred micron voxels results in a 1000× signal loss, making the measured signal close to or even way below the precision of the receiving coils. Consequently, the signal magnitude that forms the structural images will be biased and noisy, which results in inaccurate contrast and less than optimal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, we propose a strategy to perform high spatial resolution MR imaging of the hippocampus and insula with 3T scanners that enables accurate contrast (no systematic bias) and arbitrarily high SNR. This requires the collection of additional repeated measurements of the same image and a proper averaging of the k-space data in the complex domain. This comes at the cost of additional scan time, but long single-session scan times are not practical for obvious reasons. Hence, we also develop an approach to combine k-space data from multiple sessions, which enables the total scan time to be split into arbitrarily short sessions, where the patient is allowed to move and rest in-between. For validation, we hereby illustrate our multi-session complex averaging strategy by providing high spatial resolution 3T MR visualization of the hippocampus and insula using an ex-vivo specimen, so that the number of sessions and the duration of each session are not limited by physiological motion or poor subject compliance.
Motion-compensated hand-held common-path Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography probe for image-guided intervention

A motion-compensated, hand-held, common-path, Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography imaging probe has been developed for image-guided intervention during microsurgery. A hand-held prototype instrument was achieved by integrating an imaging fiber probe inside a stainless steel needle and attached to the ceramic shaft of a piezoelectric motor housed in an aluminum handle. The fiber probe obtains A-scan images. The distance information was extracted from the A-scans to track the sample surface distance and a fixed distance was maintained by a feedback motor control which effectively compensated hand tremor and target movements in the axial direction. Real-time data acquisition, processing, motion compensation, and image visualization and saving were implemented on a custom CPU-GPU hybrid architecture. We performed 10× zero padding to the raw spectrum to obtain 0.16 µm position accuracy with a compensation rate of 460 Hz. The root-mean-square error of hand-held distance variation from target position was measured to be 2.93 µm. We used a cross-correlation maximization-based shift correction algorithm for topology correction. To validate the system, we performed free-hand OCT M-scan imaging using various samples.
Effect of dietary cadmium and ethylenediaminetetraacetate on dry matter digestibility and organ weights in zinc deficient and normal ruminants.

Abstract Studies were conducted with 35 animals to determine whether addition of 350ppm of cadmium (as CdCl 2 ) or of 300ppm of EDTA (as disodium EDTA) affected dry matter digestibility or relative organ weights (as a percentage of body weight) of zinc-deficient calves or goats. In contrast with previous work, zinc-deficient animals had small but significantly lower dry matter digestibilities. Neither EDTA nor cadmium had a consistent or material effect on digestibility of a purified diet. Testicles of zinc-deficient goats were reduced in size. In general, tibiae were somewhat larger in zinc-deficient animals. Livers were larger in deficient goats but not in deficient calves. In some instances, lungs of zinc-deficient animals fed cadmium were larger relative to body size than those in animals given other treatments. Neither EDTA, cadmium, nor the zinc deficiency materially and consistently affected size of kidney, heart, or spleen. The predominant influence of EDTA and cadmium on health, performance, and metabolism of young ruminants does not appear to be through an effect on dry matter digestibility and probably not by gross effects on sizes of the organs studied.
Ablation of persistent air leaks after thoracic procedures with fibrin sealant

Prolonged air leak after thoracic procedures was successfully treated in 11 of 12 patients under local anesthesia using video thoracoscopic instillation of fibrin sealant over the site of the leak. No related complications occurred. This method should be considered an effective option for the treatment of persistent pulmonary air leaks.
Exploring the Hydrolysis of Sucrose by Invertase Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: A Flexible Package of Kinetic Experiments

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is a viable alternative to current methods to introduce enzymatic reactions and monitor kinetics in the undergraduate curriculum. Using NMR to observe the invertase-catalyzed conversion of sucrose to fructose and glucose, one can gather information about the order of the reaction, as well as the maximum rate (vmax) and the Michaelis constant (KM). Kinetic parameters determined in this NMR study are comparable to the results obtained through polarimetry, the method often used to study this reaction at the undergraduate level. The breadth of information that NMR provides can give students a better understanding of the changes in reactant and product concentration over time, giving a visual connection to the rate law they derive.
Source apportionment of exposures to volatile organic compounds: II. Application of receptor models to TEAM study data

Abstract Four receptor-oriented source apportionment models were applied to personal exposure measurements for toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The measurements are from the total exposure assessment methodology studies conducted from 1980 to 1984 in New Jersey (NJ) and California (CA) and the 1987–1990 CA Indoor Exposure study. The receptor models applied are the Chemical Mass Balance model, Principal Component Analysis/Absolute Principal Component Scores, Positive Matrix Factorization, and Graphical Ratio Analysis for Composition Estimates/Source Apportionment by Factors with Explicit Restriction. Major sources of personal exposure to toxic VOCs appear to have been aromatic sources resembling automobile exhaust, gasoline vapor, or environmental tobacco smoke, and a 1,1,1-trichloroethane-dominated source that may be associated with solvent or pesticide use. Drycleaning chemicals, deodorizers or mothballs, and building materials or carpet emissions also appear to have been significant sources of exposure. Source apportionment results from the four models agreed reasonably well for the NJ data. The performance of the models was generally poorer for the CA data, and the corresponding source apportionment results were less consistent across the models.
Variations on the pursuit of beauty: Toward a corporal theory of the body

Departing from the tradition in physical-attractiveness research, this article proposes an a priori taxonomy of body types that distinguishes people according to how they experience their own corporality. Consumers are shown to differ in how their bodies constitute a sense of self and this conception in turn leads to characteristic modes of body deployment. Depending on how people regard their bodies, their pursuit of beauty varies considerably and these differences have a significant effect on consumers' reactions to attractiveness-based products and services. © John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Serial CS presentation and one-way avoidance conditioning: A noticeable lack of the delay in responding

An experiment was reported that compared seven different CS conditions on the acquisition and extinction of avoidance responses in a one-way situation. Three of the groups received nonserial CS manipulations comprising one, two, or three components; two received straight serial CS presentations (e.g., S1 followed by S2), comprising either two or three components; and two received serial compound CS conditions (e.g., SI1followed by S1S2) comprising either two or three components. The groups did not differ reliably on five different acquisition indices. The extinction data did produce reliable differences between combined serial and nonserial CS conditions with the serial CS conditions producing greater resistance to extinction. Reliable differences were not found between serial and serial compound conditions or between number of CS components. The tendency for the avoidance response to be delayed for the serial CS conditions which is characteristic of shuttlebox data was noticeably absent in the study. The majority of responses for both serial and nonserial CS conditions occurred close to the onset of the CS-US interval. A discussion illustrating the differences between one-way and shuttlebox avoidance situations was made.
Technique and role of ultrasound-guided aspiration of theca lutein cysts

Massive enlargement of the ovary secondary to theca lutein cysts can result in ovarian torsion, cyst rupture, or severe abdominal pain. We report a case of ultrasound-guided aspiration of theca lutein cysts resulting in symptomatic relief.
Exploiting weak interactions in DNA self-assembly

Many dynamic biomolecular complexes, such as actin filaments or microtubules, are formed through the assembly of numerous subunits that can disassemble again after a modest input of energy. To achieve structural integrity, the interfaces between domains must be relatively large. At the same time, the overall adhesion energy of each interface must be sufficiently low so that it can be readily broken on command. On page 1446 of this issue, Gerling et al. ( 1 ) report a framework that satisfies these conditions for the programmable dynamic assembly and disassembly of rigid three-dimensional (3D) structures built from DNA origami. Such devices could prove useful for applications such as sensors and therapeutic delivery vehicles.
Terms of endearment.

In the animal psychobiology literature, the terms congenital, predetermined, heritable, and chronotypy each have meanings that can help differentiate implicit, sometimes hidden, elements of the broad and onerous term, “innate.” Relevant phenomena in animals' nonverbal recognition and communication systems are discussed. Several ontogenetic analyses reveal that thermotactile stimulation and other forms of heat are potent determinants of learning and attachment in a variety of endothermic species. We describe preliminary data from language evolution and word usage that mirror physiological and affective aspects of thermal stimuli in development. Specifically, we examine the thermal and affective meaning of “warm” and “cool” in languages used in temperate and in tropical climates, as well as the histories of such words in languages that derived from remote linguistic origins, namely Indo-European and Proto-Uralic roots. In each of these languages, there have evolved conjoint thermal and affective meanings that suggest a reflection of fundamental homeothermic biology in the psychology of human language.
Defective Endothelially Mediated Pulmonary Vasodilation in Systemic Sclerosis

Study objectives Obliterative pulmonary vascular disease manifested clinically as pulmonary hypertension (PHT) may complicate systemic sclerosis (SSc). The aim of this study was to investigate possible endothelial dysfunction in patients with SSC complicated by PHT. Design Prospective, randomized trial. Setting Postgraduate teaching hospital. Patients Patients having SSc with PHT (SSc-PHT) and SSc without PHT (SSc), confirmed using Doppler echocardiography, and normal individuals (control subjects). Interventions IV infusion of the endothelially dependent vasodilator, substance P (maximum dose, 100 pmol/min), and the nonendothelially dependent vasodilator, adenosine (maximum dose, 0.05 mg/kg/min). Measurements and results Effective pulmonary capillary blood flow (cardiac output minus right-to-left shunt) was measured in inert gas rebreathing, and calculated stroke index (SI) was used to reflect changes in pulmonary vascular resistance. During adenosine infusion, patients with SSc-PHT (n=5; mean age, 53±18 years) displayed a 25±16% increase in SI (p Conclusions Substance P-mediated pulmonary vasodilation is absent in patients with systemic sclerosis, suggesting that endothelial dysfunction occurs early in the course of the illness, but some responsiveness to adenosine remains.
Novel composite microstructure and mechanical behavior of mollusk shell

Preliminary investigations of the microstructure/mechanical properties relationship in a mollusk shell—the large conch, Strombus gigas—are reported. Strombus gigas has the well-ordered “crossed lamellar” microstructure and, in four-point bending, is remarkably tough in certain orientations, permitting noncatastrophic (“graceful”) failure. Fractography indicates that several toughening mechanisms are acting in concert, including crack bridging, microcracking, fiber pullout, and microstructurally induced crack arrest branching. Microindentation studies show that this material is very resistant to cracking; the damage zones around the indents strongly reflect the lamellar character of the microstructure.
Federal and state management of inland wetlands: Are states ready to assume control?

As inland wetlands face increasing pressure for development, both the federal government and individual states have begun reevaluating their respective wetland regulatory schemes. This article focuses first on the effectiveness of the past, present, and proposed federal regulations, most notably the Section 404, Dredge and Fill Permit Program, in dealing with shrinking wetland resources. The article then addresses the status of state involvement in this largely federal area, as well as state preparedness to assume primacy should federal priorities change. Finally, the subject of comprehensive legislation for wetland protection is investigated, and the article concludes with some procedural suggestions for developing a model law.
Fast flow of the Lake Michigan Lobe: evidence from sediment-landform assemblages in southwestern Michigan, USA

Abstract The dynamics of the late Wisconsin Lake Michigan Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, as interpreted by sediment–landform assemblages along its southeastern margin, are consistent with fast flow driven by high subglacial pore pressures. A major advance of the Lake Michigan Lobe terminated at the Kalamazoo Moraine, where proglacial glaciotectonic activity, marginal stagnation, and release of subglacial meltwater marked the extent of the advance. A large portion of the Valparaiso “Moraine”, west of the Kalamazoo Moraine, is actually a drumlinized, till-capped upland plain rather than an ice–marginal landform assemblage. Lacustrine sediment, underlying the surficial diamicton in the Valparaiso upland, is glaciotectonically deformed to a depth of 10 m. The deformed interval consists of folded sandy and silty lacustrine sediment, which is in places sharply truncated by the overlying diamicton. Decoupling of the glacier from its bed is suggested by a discontinous thin bed of sand at the base of the diamicton, and by the sharp truncation of deformed lacustrine sediment. The association of drumlins, proglacial and subglacial deformation, marginal stagnation, and major ice-marginal outwash-fan deposition are indicative of fast flow, perhaps in a surge. These characteristics are consistent with a terrestrial ice-stream model for the Lake Michigan Lobe.
Charge and Spin Pairing Instabilities in Hubbard Nanoclusters

Electron coherent and incoherent pairings and other types of correlations are studied exactly for the ensemble of small clusters with different geometries under variation of interaction strength, electron doping and temperature. Charge and spin collective excitations yield intriguing insights into level crossing degeneracies, phase separation and condensation. Criteria for spin-charge separation and recombination driven by interaction strength and temperature are found. Phase diagrams resemble a number of inhomogeneous, nanoscale phases and pseudogap regions seen recently in high TC cuprates, manganites, multiferroics and CMR nanomaterials.
Modified temporal behavior in rats after large hippocampal lesions

Abstract Rats were trained to work for water under continuous reinforcement and then shifted to a 60-sec fixed-interval schedule. Combined anterior and posterior hippocampal lesions produced higher response rates than only anterior lesions. Animals with anterior lesions and controls were statistically indistinguishable. The stabilized higher fixed-interval rates resulted from a differential rate increase in anticipation of reinforcement. Average response rates were no greater for several seconds after reinforcement but increased differentially towards the end of the interval. This effect cannot be explained by a simple failure of response inhibition.
Optimization of frame structures with flexible joints

In the traditional approach to analysing and optimizing frame structures, joints are assumed to be rigid. Research has shown, however, that flexibility in the joints of a structure has a great effect on its behaviour. In this paper we present a formal method for optimizing frame structures to account for joint flexibilities and their design parameter sensitivities. We also present a simplified method that accounts for joint flexibility in the initial configuration, but neglects sensitivities to the design parameters. In a case study on an automotive sub-frame structure we compare optimization results using the traditional rigid joint model and the flexible joint methods proposed here. Results suggest that the simplified flexible joint method is more accurate than the traditional rigid joint model, and provides a more conservative design than the full flexible joint method while saving physical and computational effort.
EXPLORING RACE DIFFERENCES IN CORRELATES OF SENIORS' SATISFACTION WITH UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION

This study employed multiple linear regression and decision tree analysis to examine the correlates of overall satisfaction with undergraduate education for white, Asian American, Latino and African American seniors enrolled at 17 doctoral/research universities. Satisfaction with the overall quality of instruction and social involvement were the strongest predictors of overall satisfaction for all seniors. The predictive importance of other measures of the academic experience, social integration and performance varied both within and across race groups. Findings argue for adopting a variety of institutional strategies to address the needs of different segments of the undergraduate population.
Galanin as a modulator of anxiety and depression and a therapeutic target for affective disease

Galanin is a 29 amino-acid (30 in humans) neuropeptide with a close functional relationship with neurotransmitter systems implicated in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. In rodent models of depression-related behavior, treatment with galanin or compounds with agonist actions at galanin receptors has been shown to affect depression-related behaviors and the behavioral and neurochemical effects of antidepressants. Treatment with clinically efficacious antidepressants alters galanin and galanin receptor gene expression in rodents. Rodent anxiety-like behaviors appear to be modulated by galanin in a complex manner, with studies showing either increases, decreases and no effects of galanin treatments and galanin mutations on anxiety-like behavior in various tasks. One concept to emerge from this literature is that galanin recruitment during extreme behavioral and physiological provocations such as stress and opiate withdrawal may serve to attenuate negative emotional states caused by noradrenergic hyperactivation. The specific galanin receptor subtypes mediating the anxiety- and depression-related effects of galanin remains to be determined, with evidence supporting a possible contribution of GalR1, GalR2 and GalR3. While our understanding of the role of galanin as a modulator of emotion remains at an early stage, recent progress in this rapidly evolving field raise possibility of that galanin may represent a target for the development of novel antidepressant and anxiolytic drug treatments.