cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of Intensity and Energy of CW UV Light on the Growth of Gold Nanorods

Growth of gold nanorods (AuNRs) by photochemical reduction of HAuCl4 in a micelle solution of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB) is studied. The effects of 300 and 254 nm UV light sources and their photon flux on the anisotropic growth of gold nanoparticles are investigated by controlling duration of irradiation and the number of lamps within a photochemical reactor. The resulting AuNRs were characterized by absorption spectroscopy, FTIR, and TEM. Experimental results indicate that a higher density of longer colloidal AuNRs form by increasing the number of incident photons (lamps) at 300 nm while the 254 nm lights produce a lower yield of shorter AuNRs. The yield of AuNRs also depends on the duration of irradiation which was found to be 6.00 h for 300 nm and 5.00 h for 254 nm radiation. Acetone is found to play a major role in the synthesis of AuNRs. Two mechanisms are proposed for the synthesis of Au nanoparticles in the presence and absence of acetone. Irradi...
Evidence-based approach to challenging issues in the management of invasive aspergillosis

The management of invasive aspergillosis continues to pose challenging issues. The review herein focuses on our evolving knowledge base with regards to the evolution of disease upon initiation of antifungal therapy, approach to worsening disease despite seemingly adequate therapy, and therapeutic considerations in the prescription of antifungal agents for invasive aspergillosis in patients receiving iatrogenic immunosuppressants. Evidence-based studies are still needed to resolve critical issues pertaining to combination therapy.
Thermodynamic theory of epitaxial alloys: first-principles mixed-basis cluster expansion of (In, Ga)N alloy film.

Epitaxial growth of semiconductor alloys onto a fixed substrate has become the method of choice to make high quality crystals. In the coherent epitaxial growth, the lattice mismatch between the alloy film and the substrate induces a particular form of strain, adding a strain energy term into the free energy of the alloy system. Such epitaxial strain energy can alter the thermodynamics of the alloy, leading to a different phase diagram and different atomic microstructures. In this paper, we present a general-purpose mixed-basis cluster expansion method to describe the thermodynamics of an epitaxial alloy, where the formation energy of a structure is expressed in terms of pair and many-body interactions. With a finite number of first-principles calculation inputs, our method can predict the energies of various atomic structures with an accuracy comparable to that of first-principles calculations themselves. Epitaxial (In, Ga)N zinc-blende alloy grown on GaN(001) substrate is taken as an example to demonstrate the details of the method. Two (210) superlattice structures, (InN)2/(GaN)2 (at x = 0.50) and (InN)4/(GaN)1 (at x = 0.80), are identified as the ground state structures, in contrast to the phase-separation behavior of the bulk alloy.
The PSTD Method with the 4th-Order Time Integration for 3D TAT Reconstruction of a Breast Model

The thermoacoustic tomography (TAT) is a novel noninvasive and nonionizing medical imaging modality for breast cancer detection. In the TAT, a short pulse of microwave is irradiated to the breast tissue. The tissue absorbs the microwave energy and is heated up momentarily, thus it generates acoustic waves due to the thermoelastic expansion. If the pulse width of the microwave radiation is around one microsecond, the generated acoustic waves are ultrasonic and are in the MHz range. Wide-band ultrasonic transducers are employed to acquire the time-resolved ultrasound signals, which carry information about the microwave absorption properties (mainly related to conductivities) of different tissues. An image showing such properties can then be reconstructed from the time-resolved ultrasound signals. Most existing TAT reconstruction methods are based on the assumption that the tissue under study is acoustically homogeneous. In practice, however, most biological tissues are inhomogeneous. For example, the speed of sound has about 10% variation in breast tissue. The acoustic heterogeneity will cause phase distortion of the pressure field, which will in turn cause blurring in the reconstructed image, thus limiting the ability to resolve small objects. In this work, a 3D inhomogeneous reconstruction method based on pseudo-spectral time-domain (PSTD) is presented to overcome this problem. The method includes two steps. The first step is a homogeneous reconstruction process, from which an initial image is obtained. Since the inhomogeneity itself is usually an acoustic source, the shape and location of the inhomogeneity can be estimated. Then, the acoustic properties of the inhomogeneities (available from the literatures for known tissue types) are assigned to the classified regions, and the other reconstruction based on the updated acoustic property map is conducted. With this process, the phase distortion can be effectively corrected. So it can improve the ability to image small objects. A 3D breast phantom is used to study the proposed method. The breast phantom was generated based on the data set of the Visible Human Project. Regions of different tissue types have been classified and acoustic and electric properties are assigned to such regions. Small phantom tumors placed in the breast phantom have been reconstructed successfully with the inhomogeneous reconstruction method. Improved resolution has been achieved compared to that obtained by homogeneous method.
Computing the exponential of an intensity matrix

Abstract Melloy, B.J. and G.K. Bennett, Computing the exponential of an intensity matrix, Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 46 (1993) 405–413. A scaling and squaring procedure for computing the exponential of an intensity matrix is developed in this paper. Intensity matrices occur naturally in inventory, reliability and queueing systems. It will be seen that when these matrices are properly transformed, they are well-conditioned for the matrix exponential function, and particularly well-suited for the scaling and squaring approach. As a result, many of the reliability problems associated with the standard procedure have been circumvented.
Anomalous Self-Diffusion and Sticky Rouse Dynamics in Associative Protein Hydrogels

Natural and synthetic materials based on associating polymers possess diverse mechanical behavior, transport properties and responsiveness to external stimuli. Although much is known about their dynamics on the molecular and macroscopic level, knowledge of self-diffusive dynamics of the network-forming constituents remains limited. Using forced Rayleigh scattering, anomalous self-diffusion is observed in model associating protein hydrogels originating from the interconversion between species that diffuse in both the molecular and associated state. The diffusion can be quantitatively modeled using a two-state model for polymers in the gel, where diffusivity in the associated state is critical to the super diffusive behavior. The dissociation time from bulk rheology measurements was 2–3 orders of magnitude smaller than the one measured by diffusion, because the former characterizes submolecular dissociation dynamics, whereas the latter depicts single protein molecules completely disengaging from the network...
Implementation and utilization of genetic testing in personalized medicine

Clinical genetic testing began over 30 years ago with the availability of mutation detection for sickle cell disease diagnosis. Since then, the field has dramatically transformed to include gene sequencing, high-throughput targeted genotyping, prenatal mutation detection, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, population-based carrier screening, and now genome-wide analyses using microarrays and next-generation sequencing. Despite these significant advances in molecular technologies and testing capabilities, clinical genetics laboratories historically have been centered on mutation detection for Mendelian disorders. However, the ongoing identification of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence variants associated with common diseases prompted the availability of testing for personal disease risk estimation, and created commercial opportunities for direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies that assay these variants. This germline genetic risk, in conjunction with other clinical, family, and demographic variables, are the key components of the personalized medicine paradigm, which aims to apply personal genomic and other relevant data into a patient’s clinical assessment to more precisely guide medical management. However, genetic testing for disease risk estimation is an ongoing topic of debate, largely due to inconsistencies in the results, concerns over clinical validity and utility, and the variable mode of delivery when returning genetic results to patients in the absence of traditional counseling. A related class of genetic testing with analogous issues of clinical utility and acceptance is pharmacogenetic testing, which interrogates sequence variants implicated in interindividual drug response variability. Although clinical pharmacogenetic testing has not previously been widely adopted, advances in rapid turnaround time genetic testing technology and the recent implementation of preemptive genotyping programs at selected medical centers suggest that personalized medicine through pharmacogenetics is now a reality. This review aims to summarize the current state of implementing genetic testing for personalized medicine, with an emphasis on clinical pharmacogenetic testing.
Adeno-Associated Virus Vector-Mediated Expression and Constitutive Secretion of Galanin Suppresses Limbic Seizure Activity

Theoretically, gene therapy techniques offer an attractive alternative treatment option for intractable, focal epilepsies. Although logical gene therapy targets include excitatory and inhibitory receptors, variable viral vector tropism interjects an uncertainty as to the direction of change, seizure suppression, or seizure sensitization. To circumvent this therapeutic liability, adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have been constructed where the gene product is constitutively secreted from the transduced cell. Using AAV vectors, the fibronectin secretory signal sequence (FIB) was placed in front of the coding sequence for green fluorescent protein or the active portion of the neuroactive peptide galanin (GAL). Subsequent studies showed that these vectors supported expression and constitutive secretion of these gene products from transfected cells in vitro. More importantly, upon transduction in vivo, AAV-FIB-GAL vectors significantly attenuated focal seizure sensitivity, and this seizure attenuation could be controlled in vivo by using a tetracyclineregulated promoter. The expression and constitutive secretion of green fluorescent protein, or the expression of GAL alone, exerted no effect on focal seizure sensitivity. Moreover, unilateral infusion of the AAV-FIB-GAL vectors into the hippocampus prevented kainic acid-induced hilar cell death. With regard to limbic seizures, bilateral infusion of AAV-FIB-GAL vectors into the piriform cortex prevented both behavioral and localized electrographic seizure activity after the peripheral administration of kainic acid. Also, when rats were electrically kindled to class V seizure activity, subsequent infusion of AAV-FIB-GAL proved capable of significantly elevating the seizure initiation threshold. Thus, these studies clearly demonstrate the anti-seizure effectiveness of AAV vector-mediated expression and constitutive secretion of galanin.
Statistical fractal border features for MRI breast mass images

MRI has been proposed as an alternative method to mammography for detecting and staging breast cancer. Recent studies have shown that architectural features of breast masses may be useful in improving specificity. Since fractal dimension (fd) has been correlated with roughness, and border roughness is an indicator of malignancy, the fd of the mass border is a promising architectural feature for achieving improved specificity. Previous methods of estimating the fd of the mass border have been unreliable because of limited data or overlay restrictive assumptions of the fractal model. We present preliminary results of a statistical approach in which a sample space of fd estimates is generated from a family of self-affine fractal models. The fd of the mass border is then estimated from the statistics of the sample space.
Total number of resected lymph nodes predicts survival in esophageal cancer.

Objective: Several population-based studies have shown that the total number of surgically removed lymph nodes is independently associated with overall and disease-free survival in a variety of gastrointestinal cancers. In this retrospective study, the impact of total nodal count on overall survival in esophageal cancer was examined using a single institution surgical database. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 264 patients with esophageal cancer treated by esophagectomy without neoadjuvant therapy between January 1988 and December 2006. The association between overall survival (the primary endpoint) and the total number of dissected lymph nodes was evaluated using multivariable Cox regression models. Results: When the total number of resected nodes was examined as a categorical variable based on quartiles (category 1: ≤16, category 2: 17-25, category 3: 26-40, category 4: >40) there was a reduced hazard of death with increasing number of examined nodes. Compared with those in category 1, the death hazard was reduced by 34% (P = 0.08), 48% (P = 0.001), and 49% (P = 0.001), respectively, for patients in categories 2, 3, and 4. For node negative patients a significantly reduced hazard was present only when more than 40 nodes were resected (HR = 0.23, P = 0.01). For node positive patients the death hazard was significantly reduced for those in all higher categories compared with those in category 1 (HR = 0.53, 0.39, 0.49; P = 0.03, 0.001, 0.02, respectively). Conclusion: These data support the findings from population based studies in esophageal cancer and other gastrointestinal tumors, suggesting that a higher nodal count favorably influences survival.
Abnormal laterality and congenital cardiac anomalies. Relations of visceral and cardiac morphologies in the iv/iv mouse.

BACKGROUNDIn the management of hearts with deranged laterality, it is essential that the left and right atrial chambers are correctly identified. There are two major approaches, which are based on venous connections or on the morphology of the atrial appendages, and there is no consensus as to which is the most useful. We used the iv/iv mouse mutant, which is known to be pertinent to this problem, to evaluate the relations of cardiac defects with atrial, venous, and other visceral morphologies.METHODS AND RESULTSThe morphology of the heart and other organs was examined in 275 iv/iv mice using criteria based on abnormal laterality in humans. The arrangement of the atrial appendages was determined by morphological examination of the junction between the appendage and the venous component of the atrium. On this basis, 45.1% of cases were shown to have usual atrial arrangement, 50.2% had mirror imagery, 1.5% had right isomerism, and 3.3% had left isomerism. Every case of atrial isomerism had a cardiac lesion;...
TREATMENT OF DIABETIC NEUROPATHY WITH CLOFIBRATE

Since angiopathy is an important factor in the pathogenesis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, any drug which modifies lipid deposition in the peripheral vessels is of value in therapy. Therefore a double-blind study was made of the lipid-lowering agent, clofibrate (ethyl chlorophenoxyisobutyrate). Clofibrate (2 gm daily) was given to 9 patients with diabetie neuropathy, and a placebo to 6 such patients, during a 12-month period. The diagnosis of neuropathy was confirmed by electromyography. Seven of the 9 clofibrate patients improved clinically during the medication period, as judged by the disappearance of pain, paresthesia and numbness, by an increase in muscle strength, and by a return of deep tendon reflexes. Only 1 of the 6 placebo patients showed clinical improvement. Moreover, in 3 of the placebo group, peripheral vascular complications developed which resulted in gangrene and leg amputation. In none of the clofibrate patients did vascular complications develop during the same period. No untoward side effects were noted. The concentration of serum lipids (cholesterol, total lipids, phospholipids and triglycerides) did not change significantly in either group. Changes of conduction velocity in the motor and sensory nerves were not significant in the clofibrate group, whereas there was a tendency toward deterioration in the placebo group. The clinical improvement observed and the lack of major side effects with the dosage used warrant further study of clofibrate in the management of diabetic neuropathy.
Chimpanzee arrival pant-hoots: Do they signify food or status?

When adult male chimpanzees arrive at fruiting trees they commonly give long-distance pant-hoot vocalizations (arrival pant-hoots; APHs). Previous hypotheses suggested that APHs benefit listeners by informing them about large food patches and that they benefit callers by attracting allies or mates or both. We examined these ideas using data from 272 party arrivals at food sources over a 16-month period in the Kibale Forest, Uganda. To standardize for social context, we focused on arrivals at unoccupied trees. APHs at unoccupied trees were given only by parties containing at least one high-ranking adult male. In contrast to previous studies, the probability of calling was not correlated with the amount of ripe fruit in the tree, and APHs did not influence the probability of other parties arriving. Lower-ranking individuals that arrived at unoccupied trees without calling were not punished, i.e., they were not charged more often than expected. We suggest that, instead of providing information about the quality or quantity of food, APHs mark status.
SU‐E‐T‐390: Characterization of the PTW Synthetic Diamond Detector for Radiation Therapy Measurements

Purpose: To investigate the dosimetric properties of new commercially available synthetic single crystal diamond detector under irradiation with therapeutic photon beams from linear accelerators. Methods: A single crystal diamond detector was tested using 6MV photon beam. The detector performance was evaluated for reproducibility, linearity with dose, dose rate dependence, angular dependence, collection efficiency, and measurement of output factors. Lateral field profiles, and percentage depth dose profiles were measured and compared against commercially available detectors. Results: Reproducibility of the detector measurement has a standard deviation of 0.1%. A good linear behavior of the detector response as a function of the delivered dose is observed with deviations below ±0.03% in the dose range from 0.1 to 5Gy. In addition, the detector response is dose rate independent, with deviations below 0.1% in the investigated dose rate range from 1 to 10Gy per min. Charge collection efficiency deviations were within 0.07% from 1 to 10Gy. No angular dependence along the radial direction while up to 1.3% angular dependence was observed in the axial direction. Percentage depth dose curves obtained from the diamond detector are in good agreement with the ones from the reference dosimeters. Lateral beam profile measurements show an overall good agreement among detectors, taking into account their respective geometrical features. The spatial resolution of solid state detectors is confirmed to be better than that of ionization chambers, being the one from the diamond detector comparable to that of the silicon diode. Conclusions: The observed dosimetric properties indicate that the tested diamond detector is a suitable candidate for clinical photon beam dosimetry. The agreement with reference dosimeters show that the detector is suitable for measurements for large fields as well as small fields as the ones used for stereotactic radiotherapy.
Developmental effects in the processing of event frequency

Abstract Two experiments examined the hypothesized age-invariance (Hasher & Zacks. 1979, 1984) of automatic event frequency processing, both experiments incorporating a specific cover task condition aimed at prompting the incidental processing of frequency information. In Experiment I, a developmental difference in frequency test performance was found between second graders, on the one hand, and sixth graders and college students, on the other: this difference obtained despite methodological efforts and subjects' reports indicating the encoding of frequency information to be equally incidental across age. Experiment I also showed an intentional vs incidental frequency processing difference, but only for college students. In Experiment 2, with a different cover task designed to minimize cover task strategy differences across age, third graders and college students did not differ on frequency test performance, although this finding must be considered tentative due to apossible floor effect. Taken together, the results of both experiments suggest that the empirical finding of age differences in automatic frequency processing depends on the extent to which subjects can or do strategically process task materials in a differential fashion. This interpretation is compatible with a modified conception of automatic encoding, which differs from Hasher and Zacks' in viewing such encoding processes as nonoptimal.
Twentieth-century sea surface temperature trends

An analysis of historical sea surface temperatures provides evidence for global warming since 1900, in line with land-based analyses of global temperature trends, and also shows that over the same period, the eastern equatorial Pacific cooled and the zonal sea surface temperature gradient strengthened. Recent theoretical studies have predicted such a pattern as a response of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system to an exogenous heating of the tropical atmosphere. This pattern, however, is not reproduced by the complex ocean-atmosphere circulation models currently used to simulate the climatic response to increased greenhouse gases. Its presence is likely to lessen the mean 20th-century global temperature change in model simulations.
Studies With Purified Diets 2. Protein Requirements

ABSTRACT CHICKS fed a purified diet containing increasing percentages of isolated soybean protein (Drackett), in increments of five percent over a range of 15 to 35 percent, grow at a progressively improved rate up to the 30 percent level, Snyder (1955). Similar observations have been reported by Pappenhagen et al. (1953). In Snyder’s experiments, subjecting the protein to various purification treatments failed to modify the pattern of growth. Snyder noted that in the presence of adequate protein (30%) the response from a mixture of crude sources of unidentified factors (5% alfalfa meal + 5% defatted liver powder + 5% whey) was 12 percent while for diets containing 25, 20 and 15 percent protein, the mixture of crude materials resulted in responses of 15, 18 and 29 percent, respectively. Thus, diets containing less than 30 percent protein appear to have benefited from the protein contributed by the crude sources of unidentified factors.
Curriculum innovation: the key to recruiting the best and brightest.

In this era of change, cardiothoracic surgeons continue to express a high level of satisfaction with the intellectual challenges and rewards of their profession. The interest in pursuing a career in cardiothoracic surgery among American medical students and general surgery residents, however, is unquestionably in decline. Statistics from the Thoracic Surgery Match continue to be concerning. In appointment year 2000, there were 156 total applicants in the Thoracic Surgery Match. The most recent Match, in June 2010, had only 99 applicants, a decrease of 36%. Similarly, the number of matched US medical graduates dropped from 96 to 62 during the same period. A recent article in Thoracic Surgery News summarized the results of the June 2010 Match and concluded that these data are likely indicative of a declining pool of well-qualified applicants. In response, surgeons in the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Allegheny General Hospital have developed and initiated an inventive 7-year sequential curriculum that will allow residents to sit board examinations in both vascular and thoracic surgery. With new technologies evolving, such as the percutaneous aortic valve and less-invasive cardiac assist devices, the need for thoracic surgeons in major metropolitan centers will expand, particularly because the segment of the U.S. population most likely to require cardiovascular care continues to grow, heavily front loaded by the wave of baby boomers now entering the higher-risk age group. Conservative projections predict a deficit of thoracic surgeons reaching well over 30% in the next 20 years. In a recent editorial in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kim and colleagues stated that our specialty must be even more focused and committed to recruitment of the ‘‘best and brightest’’ to cardiothoracic surgery. To accomplish this goal, the Joint Council for Thoracic Surgical Education, headed by Edward Verrier, MD, has undertaken a multifaceted approach to improve cardiothoracic surgery education by developing innovative techniques (including simulation) and redesigning the standard resident training model. Doing this affirms the fact that curriculum
Temperature dependence of acetylcholine receptor channels activated by different agonists

The temperature dependence of agonist binding and channel gating were measured for wild-type adult neuromuscular acetylcholine receptors activated by acetylcholine, carbamylcholine, or choline. With acetylcholine, temperature changed the gating rate constants (Q(10) ≈ 3.2) but had almost no effect on the equilibrium constant. The enthalpy change associated with gating was agonist-dependent, but for all three ligands it was approximately equal to the corresponding free-energy change. The equilibrium dissociation constant of the resting conformation (K(d)), the slope of the rate-equilibrium free-energy relationship (Φ), and the acetylcholine association and dissociation rate constants were approximately temperature-independent. In the mutant αG153S, the choline association and dissociation rate constants were temperature-dependent (Q(10) ≈ 7.4) but K(d) was not. By combining two independent mutations, we were able to compensate for the catalytic effect of temperature on the decay time constant of a synaptic current. At mouse body temperature, the channel-opening and -closing rate constants are ∼400 and 16 ms(-1). We hypothesize that the agonist dependence of the gating enthalpy change is associated with differences in ligand binding, specifically to the open-channel conformation of the protein.
Motor-sensory and visual behavior after hemispherectomy in newborn and mature rats.

Abstract Immature mammals are widely believed to compensate functionally for nervous system alterations better than adults with comparable disorders. Embryos restitute huge losses, but plasticity, remodeling, or use of alternate mechanisms said to underly compensation in injured infants are not understood. Toward understanding these, the effects of ablating or altering parts of the nervous system in infant and mature rats are being studied. In these experiments one lateral half of the forebrain and diencephalon was largely removed at birth or maturity and the consequences to nervous system structure and motor-sensory and visual behavior were observed. Similarities between animals operated on as adults or infants were loss of tactile placing opposite the ablation, ability to discriminate visual patterns, and gauge variable jumping distances visually. Some subjects performed the visual tasks using the eye opposite the hemispherectomy alone, which was exclusively supplied with uncrossed retinogeniculate fibers. Differences were: loss of tactile placing after operation in infants was delayed until the seventeenth day; stride was impaired in animals operated on as adults but was spared in infant subjects; with appropriate ablations, Fink-Heimer-Nauta stains showed that after hemispherectomy, infants, but not adults, developed a small, uncrossed corticospinal tract. The stride component in locomotion seemed dependent on the corticospinal tract system, and was partially dissociated from the placing reaction essential for locomotion on rough terrain. The possibility was considered that the small remodeled corticospinal tract spared the stride component.
The Li2CrO4CaCrO4 binary phase diagram

Phase equilibria in the Li2CrO4CaCrO4 system were determined by differential thermal analysis and X-ray powder diffraction. The phase diagram is characterized by a eutectic reaction at 489°C and 5 mole% CaCrO4, and a monotectic reaction at 570°C and 80 mole% CaCrO4. The solubility of Li2CrO4 in CaCrO4 was ≈15 mole% at the eutectic temperature and declined to <5 mole% at the monotectic temperature. No double salt was formed between the end members. The immiscibility observed in the system is rationalized in terms of the cation coordination polyhedra. Thermal events indicative of a solid state phase change in Li2CrO4 as reported in some references are judged to be the result of a Li2CO3 impurity.
Cyclic operators, commutators, and absolutely continuous measures

Commutator equations are used to study the relationship between the tridiagonal matrix structure of an unbounded cyclic selfadjoint operator and its spectrum. Sufficient conditions are given for absolute continuity. Results are related to the study of systems of orthogonal polyomials for which the measure of orthogonality is supported on an unbounded subset of the real line.
From Poncelet's invariance principle to Active Disturbance Rejection

This is a brief survey of a little known field of disturbance estimation and subsequent cancellation, a field with a long history and is still rather disorganized. Researchers and results are scattered over almost two centuries, across East and West: from Jean-Victor Poncelet's Principle of Invariance in 1829, to Jingqing Han's conception of Active Disturbance Rejection in 1995 and beyond. But the field in recent years is maturing and coming into a focus with significant practical and theoretical implications abound. It provides a powerful alternative to the modern control paradigm in how real world control problems, of which disturbance rejection is a central theme, are viewed and solved. In this paper a reader will find a brief history of ideas, a new, unifying, problem formulation, and a summary of recent stability analysis results.
Effect of Maternal Cardiovascular Conditions and Risk Factors on Offspring Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) constitute a particular challenge during pregnancy because physiological changes and fetal demands create an additional burden and fetal safety concerns limit treatment options. Other articles of this series review the physiological changes during pregnancy, the management of cardiovascular conditions most likely to endanger maternal and fetal health, and their long-term consequences for the cardiovascular health of the mother. This article focuses on their consequences in offspring. Developmental programming resulting from in utero or early postnatal exposure to specific risk factors is increasingly recognized to determine CVD in later life. Clinically manifest cardiovascular conditions during pregnancy such as preeclampsia/eclampsia and gestational hypertension may not only affect maternal health and pregnancy outcome but also reduce fetal growth, which is associated with increased adult CVD. Furthermore, extensive evidence indicates that maternal cardiovascular risk factors (hypercholesterolemia, smoking, obesity, and diabetes mellitus) program endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance (IR), hypertension, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes mellitus in offspring. The mechanisms of developmental programming remain largely unknown, but specific factors affecting in utero programming have been identified and experimental models established in which causal relationships, mechanisms, and protective effects of maternal treatment can be explored. These findings suggest that interventions targeting in utero programming may reduce the susceptibility to CVD in offspring, a high priority given the increasing prevalence of obese and dysmetabolic mothers and the concomitant increase in lifestyle risk in children. However, neither the cardiovascular consequences of many maternal risk factors nor the efficacy of maternal prevention and treatment is sufficiently supported by prospective double-blind studies. The present review provides a critical evaluation of the associations between maternal cardiovascular conditions during pregnancy and offspring CVD, the role of low birth weight, and the evidence for developmental programming of CVD by other maternal cardiovascular risk factors. It then proposes an integrated view of …
Applying hypermedia and expert system technology to the neurological consultation

The ideal neurological consultation should be complete and legible. It should serve as a permanent and retrievable record. It should have a high clinical and educational value. The authors have built two prototypes of computer-based neurological consultation systems to meet these objectives. Both systems utilize methods of hypermedia and expert systems to enhance the quality of the computer-based neurological consultation. >
Simulated diagnostic cerebral angiography in neurosurgical training: a pilot program

Introduction Surgical simulation provides a zero-risk setting in which technical skills can be obtained through repetition. The feasibility and utility of simulated diagnostic cerebral angiography among neurosurgical residents and fellows was studied using an endovascular biplane angiography simulator. Methods Ten neurosurgical residents and four endovascular neurosurgery fellows were recruited into a standardized training protocol consisting of a didactic, demonstration and hands-on learning environment using the Simbionix simulator. Participants were instructed to catheterize the right internal carotid artery, left internal carotid artery and left vertebral artery. The task was repeated five times. Results All participants demonstrated improvement over the five trials. Residents performed actions that were perceived as potentially dangerous (n=8) while fellows performed the procedure with superior technique. Residents performed the task with an initial total procedure and fluoroscopy time of 6.6±4.3 min and 4.9±3.7 min, respectively, and improved on the fifth trial to 3.4±1.3 min (p=0.03) and 2.3±0.78 min (p=0.004), respectively. Residents approximated the efficiency of fellows for the third and fourth trial. Conclusions Incorporating an endovascular simulator is feasible for training purposes in a neurosurgical residency program. This study provides objective documentation of the facilitation of technical angiography skill acquisition by the use of simulation technology.
Prognostic Factors for Survival in Patients with Metastatic Renal Cancer Treated with Biological Response Modifiers

AbstractPurpose: Clinical characteristics prognostic of survival in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with biological response modifiers are poorly understood. Understanding these prognostic features may help with better stratification of patients in clinical trials and define further appropriate treatment for each prognostic subgroup.Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of 84 patients with recurrent or metastatic renal cancer was conducted to identify prognostic factors for survival in patients who received biological response modifiers (alpha-interferon, beta-interferon, gamma-interferon and interleukin-2).Results: Univariate analysis identified Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (1 versus 0, p less than 0.001), bone metastasis (p = 0.008), recent weight loss (greater than 10 percent of total body weight versus no loss, p = 0.028), history of nephrectomy (no versus yes, p = 0.025), recurrence at the renal bed (p = 0.043) and sarcomatoid histology (ye...
Interactions of the Invasive Pathogens Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, and Shigella flexneri with M Cells and Murine Peyer’s Patches

Invasive enteric bacteria must pass through the intestinal epithelium in order to establish infection. It is becoming clear that a common target for intestinal mucosa penetration is the specialized epithelial cell of Peyer's patches, the M cell. In order to gain a better understanding of how bacteria interact with M cells, we have compared the interactions of Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, and Shigella flexneri with M cells by using a murine ligated-loop model. Our results indicate that S. typhimurium possesses a highly efficient mechanism for M cell entry that targets and destroys these cells, while L. monocytogenes and S. flexneri appear to be internalized into M cells in a less disruptive fashion. Early uptake of Listeria or Shigella into M cells appeared to lead to the death of some cells, as evidenced by the appearance of holes in the intestinal epithelium. At later time points, the follicle-associated epithelium of animals infected with these bacteria displayed extensive destruction. These data indicate that enteric pathogens use different strategies to interact with M cells and initiate infection of a host.
Hedging effectiveness around USDA crop reports

It is well documented that “unanticipated” information contained in USDA crop reports induces large price reactions in corn and soybean markets. Thus, a natural question that arises from this literature is: To what extent are futures hedges able to remove or reduce increased price risk around report release dates? This paper addresses this question by simulating daily futures returns, daily cash returns and daily hedged returns around report release dates for two storable commodities (corn and soybeans) in two market settings (North Central Illinois and Memphis Tennessee). Various risk measures, including “Value at Risk,” are used to determine hedging effectiveness, and “Analysis of Variance” is used to uncover the underlying factors that contribute to hedging effectiveness.
Oral appliances in the management of temporomandibular disorders

Various types of oral appliances (OAs) have been used for over half a century to treat temporomandibular disorders (TMDs), but there has been considerable debate about how OAs should be designed, how they should be used, and what they actually do therapeutically. However, there is enough information in the scientific literature at this time to reach some evidence-based conclusions about these issues. The main focus of this review is on the materials and designs of various OAs in terms of their proposed mechanisms of action and their claimed clinical objectives. Based on current scientific evidence, an analysis is presented regarding the role that OAs can or cannot play in the management of TMDs. Finally, the concept that OAs may be an effective treatment modality for some TMDs owing to their potential for acting as an elaborate placebo rather than any specific therapeutic mechanism is considered.
Fluency in Future Focus Optimizing Outcome Elaboration Strategies for Effective Self-Control

The current research sheds new light on how individuals can best use the consideration of future outcomes as a self-control strategy to enhance their likelihood of goal attainment. Across three studies, the authors find that the effectiveness of positively versus negatively valenced outcome elaboration is dependent upon the construal level at which the potential outcomes are considered. This research demonstrates that positive outcome elaboration is more effective when it is abstract, whereas negative outcome elaboration is more effective when it is concrete. Moreover, the authors explore the process underlying these effects and demonstrate that the increased effectiveness of matching the outcomes’ valence and construal level is due to outcome elaboration fluency, as increased ease of generating outcomes that are positive and abstract or negative and concrete promotes more effective self-control.
Classification of abnormal cortisol patterns by features from Wigner spectra

A study on applying the discrete pseudo-Wigner distribution to classification of the plasma cortisol short-time series of two disease categories is presented. The autocomponent selection in the Wigner distribution has been studied in regard to feature selection for the pattern recognition. Three energy density features are selected along with the mean level of each time series. These features allow a simple linear classification of the available data. The results show a great potential for using Wigner spectra for feature extraction. >
Iron requirements and adverse outcomes.

Iron deficiency continues to be one of the most prevalent nutritional deficiency diseases in the world and has a particularly high prevalence in pregnancy. The incidence and severity are greater in developing countries but even in developed countries, the prevalence may reach 30–40% in the third trimester. The assessment of iron status in pregnancy can be challenging due to the rapid expansion of the maternal blood volume and then rapid fetal and placental growth. The recommendation for iron intervention is based on a multibiomarker approach that includes serum ferritin, soluble transferrin receptor, transferrin saturation, and hemoglobin. There are significant negative outcomes to iron deficiency in pregnancy; these include maternal and infant mortality in severe cases, but also shortened gestation, prematurity, and poorer infant development in less severe cases. A substantial scientific and medical literature shows a substantial adverse outcome to iron deficiency in the first trimester, with additive risk if the iron deficiency persists throughout pregnancy. Infants born to iron-deficient mothers are more likely to become iron deficient themselves in early postnatal life; this in turn, appears to be causally related to delayed neuron maturation. The reversibility of the cognitive and behavioral deficits that occur due to iron deficiency between 6–12 months of postnatal life is questionable and is the subject of several current research projects.
Delivery of human immunodeficiency virus vaccine vectors to the intestine induces enhanced mucosal cellular immunity.

Effective vaccines for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) will likely need to stimulate protective immunity in the intestinal mucosa, where HIV-1 infection causes severe CD4 + T-cell depletion. While replication-competent recombinant adenovirus (rAd) vectors can stimulate adenovirus-specific mucosal immunity after replication, oral delivery of replication-defective rAd vectors encoding specific immunogens has proven challenging. In this study, we have systematically identified barriers to effective gut delivery of rAd vectors and identified sites and strategies to induce potent cellular and humoral immunity. Vector-mediated gene transfer by rAd5 was susceptible to low-pH buffer, gastric and pancreatic proteases, and extracellular mucins. Using ex vivo organ explants, we found that transduction with rAd5 was highest in the ileum and colon among all intestinal segments. Transgene expression was 100-fold higher after direct surgical introduction into the ileum than after oral gavage, with rAd5 showing greater potency than the rAd35 or the rAd41 vector. A single immunization of rAd5 encoding HIV-1 gp140B to the ileum stimulated potent CD8 + T-cell responses in the intestinal and systemic compartments, and these responses were further enhanced by intramuscular rAd5 boosting. These studies suggest that induction of primary immune responses by rAd5 gut immunization and subsequent systemic boosting elicits potent antigen-specific gut mucosal responses.
Integral manifold as a tool for reduced-order modeling in nonlinear systems: A synchronous machine case study

Nonlinear systems in which invariant or, more generally, integral manifolds exist, appear in many important applications: networks with weakly coupled areas, electromechanical systems, electric machines, adaptive control, etc. In a class of such systems two-time scale properties assure the existence of "slow manifolds." When a "speed-ratio parameter" ? is zero, some states in these systems remain constant and form a "frozen" manifold M0. The slow manifold M? is an ?-perturbation of M0. Using a synchronous machine example, this paper presents the slow manifold as a tool for decomposition and reduced order modeling of nonlinear systems.
FIBERINGS OF ENVELOPING SPACES II

Abstract : The objective is the study of the terminal projection from the m-th enveloping space E sub m(X) into the m-th residual space R sub m(X). It turns out that it is a fibering without assuming the local conditions on X. (Author)
Relationship between Field Direction and Wave Propagation in Activated Combustion Synthesis

Using experimental and modeling studies, the effect of field direction on the field-activated combustion synthesis of SiC was investigated. Field application imposed in a direction perpendicular to wave propagation resulted in enhancement: the wave velocity increased linearly with an increase in field strength. For field application parallel to wave propagation, two cases were considered: confined and nonconfined areas of impacted energy from an ignition source. In the confined case both experimental (using laser ignition) and simulation studies were made. Both showed the establishment of a two-front combustion with waves moving to opposite sides in a direction perpendicular to the field. In the nonconfined case, initial waves propagated in a direction parallel to the field but were independent of field strength. The results are interpreted in terms of a model in which the current is confined to the combustion zone, adding another source of heat to the combustion process, at a rate of σE2 (J·cm-3·s-1).
Automatic identification of user interest for personalized search

One hundred users, one hundred needs. As more and more topics are being discussed on the web and our vocabulary remains relatively stable, it is increasingly difficult to let the search engine know what we want. Coping with ambiguous queries has long been an important part of the research on Information Retrieval, but still remains a challenging task. Personalized search has recently got significant attention in addressing this challenge in the web search community, based on the premise that a user's general preference may help the search engine disambiguate the true intention of a query. However, studies have shown that users are reluctant to provide any explicit input on their personal preference. In this paper, we study how a search engine can learn a user's preference automatically based on her past click history and how it can use the user preference to personalize search results. Our experiments show that users' preferences can be learned accurately even from little click-history data and personalized search based on user preference yields significant improvements over the best existing ranking mechanism in the literature.
Immunoglobulin gene expression only in the right cells at the right time.

Study of immunoglobulin gene transcriptional control has disclosed a complexity that rivals that of the antibody repertoire itself. Although some DNA sequences that regulate transcription of these ...