cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Computer-Generated Display for Three-Dimensional Static Perimetry: Correlation of Optic Disc Changes with Glaucomatous Defects

Contiguous area (3D) threshold static perimetry was used to examine limited areas of the visual fields of selected patients with known or suspected glaucoma. Patients with previously normal visual fields were selected on the basis of ophthalmoscopic evidence of optic disc pathology, or on the basis of transient or newly acquired visual field defects detected by kinetic perimetry. Shallow depressions in the Bjerrum region adjacent to the blind spot were demonstrable by this technique in patients whose visual fields were apparently normal by conventional techniques of perimetry. Defects that appeared transient by kinetic perimetry remained demonstrable by 3D threshold static perimetry. The findings support the concept of a critical phase in the evolution of glaucomatous visual field defects, and demonstrate the superiority of threshold static perimetry for detection of this phase.
The Neuropsychology of Corpus Callosotomy for Epilepsy

Corpus callosotomy as a palliative treatment for medically refractory epilepsy is an uncommon neurosurgical procedure. It is performed when no resectable seizure focus is identified and isolation of ictal seizure phenomena to one hemisphere would lead to a significant diminution of personal injury risk and/or an appreciable increase in adaptive function. Most patients tolerate the procedure well, but mild declines in isolated areas of function are common, and severe declines can sometimes occur (Campbell, Bogen, & Smith, 1981; Gur, Gur, Sussman, O’Connor, & Vey, 1984; Novelly & Lifrak, 1985; Rayport, Ferguson, & Corrie, 1984; Sass, Novelly, Spencer, & Spencer, 1987, 1990; Sass, Spencer, Novelly, & Spencer, 1988b; Sass, Spencer, Spencer, Novelly, Williamson, & Mattson, 1988a; Sass, Westerveld, Novelly, Spencer, & Spencer, 1989).
Sildenafil citrate: a 5-year update on the worldwide treatment of 20 million men with erectile dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a highly prevalent condition affecting as many as 50% of men 40 years of age or older. ED, defined as “the inability to obtain and maintain erections sufficiently to allow sexual intercourse”, has been widely studied for many decades. The first breakthrough in effective, minimally invasive, safe treatment was the establishment of the oral agent sildenafil citrate for the treatment of ED. ED can be caused by systemic diseases, especially those effecting the vascular system or nervous system and can be associated with primary or secondary psychologic complaints. The incidence and prevalence of ED increases with age, with the incidence doubling with each decade of life after the age of 50. As men age, conditions of aging appear and medications for treating these chronic conditions are used widely. Many of the medications used to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, renal disease, and depression will exacerbate ED. The most common culprits for medically-induced ED are antihypertensive drugs and antidepressants. Pelvic surgery and radiation therapy for conditions of aging such as prostate cancer and colon cancer may also produce ED. Life style conditions, such as cigarette smoking, obesity, sedentary life style, and the metabolic syndrome are also associated with ED.
Effect of plasma exchange on antifactor Xa activity of enoxaparin and serum levetiracetam levels

PURPOSE The effect of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) on antifactor Xa activity in a patient treated with enoxaparin and levetiracetam is reported. SUMMARY A 52-year-old woman was treated with levetiracetam and prophylactic enoxaparin while receiving TPE to manage respiratory failure due to anti-MDA5 antibody-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) with dermatomyositis. Due to a scant amount of evidence regarding the management of these medications in TPE, therapeutic monitoring principles were used to assess the effect TPE had on these medications. A pre-TPE antifactor Xa activity level and levetiracetam serum assay, a post-TPE antifactor Xa activity level and levetiracetam serum assay, levetiracetam serum assays at 1 and 6 hours after the patient received her next dose, and a levetiracetam assay of the waste plasma from the TPE were collected for therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacokinetic calculations. Utilizing standard population pharmacokinetic data, the expected antifactor Xa activity without TPE was 0.14 IU/mL. This concentration was significantly higher than the undetectable concentration (<0.1 IU/mL) that was drawn immediately after TPE, suggesting significant removal of antifactor Xa activity. The measured levetiracetam level did not significantly differ from the expected post-TPE levetiracetam level that was calculated using patient-specific pharmacokinetic data. CONCLUSION In a patient receiving TPE to manage anti-MDA5 antibody ILD associated with dermatomyositis and a prior seizure, TPE significantly altered enoxaparin antifactor Xa activity as evidenced by the undetectable antifactor Xa activity level drawn after TPE. Alternatively, TPE had a minimal effect on the clearance of levetiracetam as evidenced by the post-TPE level and fraction elimination of only 5% of total body stores.
Sensitivity of Simulated GMI Brightness Temperatures to Variations in Particle Size Distributions in a Severe Hailstorm

AbstractGlobal Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) brightness temperatures (BTs) were simulated over a case of severe convection in Texas using ground-based S-band radar and the ...
Series of semi-Markov processes to model infrastructure resilience under multihazards

Abstract Civil infrastructure systems are subjected to multiple hazards, including natural and anthropogenic, that disrupt their function or the level of service offered. Estimating the function recovery of these systems (or how soon normalcy of operations will be restored) when subjected to repeated hazard events by considering the inter-event dependencies is an important problem in multihazard infrastructure resilience. However, this problem has been less addressed in the field. This paper proposes a series of semi-Markov processes model to capture the inter-event dependencies in infrastructure recovery when subjected to successive hazard events. Recovery after each new hazard event is represented by a unique semi-Markov process that models the reduced recovery rates and the increased recovery times caused by the system’s incomplete recovery from the preceding event. Two novel formulations of the inter-event dependency modeling, namely Maximal Effects Dependency (considers the worst impact of two successive hazard events) and Cumulative Effects Dependency (considers the aggregated impacts of two successive hazard events), are proposed and discussed. The model is demonstrated by considering the following applications: Three-state system subjected to deterministic and random occurrences of identical hazard events; and Multihazard resilience of a building in Charleston, SC, considering earthquake and hurricane hazards. Results indicate that considering inter-event dependencies in recovery modeling can lead to lesser-predicted resilience, thereby affecting resilience-based decision-making.
1493 Preoperative Uterine Artery Embolization Prior to the Surgical Management of Fibroids: An Institutional Case Series

Study Objective Uterine artery embolization (UAE) can be used as a preoperative adjunct for the surgical management of fibroids. Few, small studies have reported that preoperative UAE may reduce blood loss or facilitate a laparoscopic approach for myomectomies. We assessed outcomes at our institution with preoperative UAE prior to surgical management of fibroids from 7/1/2013 through 8/1/2018. Design Case series Setting Academic medical center Patients or Participants Patients who underwent preoperative UAE prior to surgical management of fibroids Interventions Preoperative UAE followed by myomectomy/hysterectomy Measurements and Main Results Eight patients underwent planned UAE immediately prior to surgery: 2 myomectomies and 6 hysterectomies. One myomectomy was laparoscopic; 22 week size uterus, 3 fibroids removed (largest 11 cm), specimen weight 903g, estimated blood loss (EBL) 300cc with intraop vasopressin use. The other myomectomy was abdominal; 22 week size uterus, 23 fibroids removed (largest 11 cm), specimen weight 1723g, EBL 500cc, with intraoperative vasopressin and misoprostol used. Of the hysterectomy cases, 3 were abdominal and 3 were laparoscopic. A notable open case was a supracervical hysterectomy of a 32 week size uterus; EBL 200cc, specimen weight 5150g. Among the laparoscopic hysterectomy cases, the mean uterine size was 19 weeks (range 17-21 weeks; mean specimen weight 1328g), average EBL 350cc (range minimal-500cc). There were no complications from the UAE and no perioperative surgical complications (conversion to laparotomy, blood transfusions, fever/infection, bleeding, reoperations). All minimally invasive cases were discharged on postoperative day 0. Conclusion Preoperative UAE for surgical management of fibroids appears to be a safe adjunct to myomectomy or hysterectomy with respect to control of EBL, reduced need for transfusions, and maintaining a laparoscopic approach (when applicable). Future larger studies, likely with pooled data from multiple sites, are needed to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of preoperative UAE in this setting.
Sorting mtDNA Species-the Role of nDNA-mtDNA Co-evolution.

The segregation of heteroplasmic mtDNA species was thought to be mostly stochastic. However, recent findings, including a study by Latorre-Pellicer et al. (2019) published in this issue of Cell Metabolism, provide evidence that nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA interactions play an important role in the sorting process.
Finite element simulation of intimal thickening in 2D multi-layered arterial cross sections by morphoelasticity

Abstract Morphoelasticity is a framework commonly employed to describe tissue growth. Its central premise is the decomposition of the deformation gradient into the product of a growth tensor and an elastic tensor. In this paper we present a 2D finite element method to solve compressible morphoelasticity problems in arterial cross sections. The arterial wall is composed of three layers: the intima, media and adventitia. The intima is allowed to grow isotropically while the areas of the media and adventitia are approximately conserved. All three layers are modeled as Holzapfel–Gasser–Ogden type anisotropic hyperelastic materials with different mechanical parameters. This paper consists of three main contributions. First, a new energy functional that underpins the finite element method for morphoelasticity is presented. The bulk energy is associated with elastically deforming grown elements, rather than elements in the reference configuration which is the usual practice in classical hyperelasticity. A surface energy describes live pressure loading through a lumen blood pressure. We derive the equivalent weak form and show that stationary points correspond to the usual boundary value problem for mechanical equilibrium. Second, we present the details of a displacement-based morphoelastic finite element method. The primary variable for our method is the deformation, which we separate into two groups (horizontal and vertical deformations). We arrive at a system of nonlinear algebraic equations that are organized into self-contained blocks which can be assembled independently. We present a method to compute the Jacobian of this system which is fed into a Newton algorithm. The direction of collagen fibers in each layer is computed off-line by interpolating tangent vectors from nearby boundaries and a minimum norm solution for the grown and deformed artery is found by the QR factorization. This single-field approach produces reasonable numerical results, although the locking phenomenon is clearly present. For axisymmetric meshes, our position and stress fields are validated by the solution obtained from solving a system of ordinary differential equations. Finally, we use the code to simulate intimal thickening in pseudo-realistic arterial cross sections. We find that (i) Oscillations in the lumen-intima interface are unstable and amplify with growth (ii) Glagov remodeling occurs with lumen area initially increasing and then decreasing with growth and (iii) Maximum stresses migrate from the lumen-intima interface to the media-intima interface so that the media eventually bears the maximum stress.
Quantitative Cooperative Binding Model for Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Interacting with Nanomaterials

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) can display a broad spectrum of binding modes and highly variable binding affinities when interacting with both biological and nonbiological materials. A quantitative model of such behavior is important for the better understanding of the function of IDPs when encountering inorganic nanomaterials with the potential to control their behavior in vivo and in vitro. Depending on their amino acid composition and chain length, binding properties can vary strongly between different IDPs. Moreover, due to differences in the physical chemical properties of clusters of amino acid residues along the IDP primary sequence, individual residues can adopt a wide range of bound state populations. Quantitative experimental binding affinities with synthetic silica nanoparticles (SNPs) at residue-level resolution, which were obtained for a set of IDPs by solution NMR relaxation experiments, are explained here by a first-principle analytical statistical mechanical model termed SILC. SILC quantitatively predicts residue-specific binding affinities to nanoparticles and it expresses binding cooperativity as the cumulative result of pairwise residue effects. The model, which was parametrized for anionic SNPs and applied to experimental data of four IDP systems with distinctive binding behavior, successfully predicts differences in overall binding affinities, fine details of IDP-SNP affinity profiles, and site-directed mutagenesis effects with a spatial resolution at the individual residue level. The SILC model provides an analytical description of such types of fuzzy IDP-SNP complexes and may help advance understanding nanotoxicity and in vivo targeting of IDPs by specifically designed nanomaterials.
D-dimer can help differentiate suspected pulmonary embolism patients that require anti-coagulation.

Abstract Objectives Determine whether D-dimer concentration in the absence of imaging can differentiate patients that require anti-coagulation from patients who do not require anti-coagulation. Methods Data was obtained retrospectively from 366 hemodynamically stable adult ED patients with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE). Patients were categorized by largest occluded artery and aggregated into: ‘Require anti-coagulation’ (main, lobar, and segmental PE), ‘Does not require anti-coagulation’ (sub-segmental and No PE), ‘High risk of deterioration’ (main and lobar PE), and ‘Not high risk of deterioration’ (segmental, sub-segmental, and No PE) groups. Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used for 2 sample comparisons of median D-dimer concentrations. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was utilized to determine a D-dimer cut-off that could differentiate ‘Require anti-coagulation’ from ‘Does not require anti-coagulation’ and ‘High risk of deterioration’ from ‘Low risk of deterioration’ groups. Results The ‘Require anti-coagulation’ group had a maximum area under the curve (AUC) of 0.92 at an age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off of 1540 with a specificity of 86% (95% CI, 81–91%), and sensitivity of 84% (79–90%). The ‘High risk of deterioration’ group had a maximum AUC of 0.93 at an age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off of 2500 with a specificity of 90% (85–93%) and sensitivity of 83% (77–90%). Conclusions An age-adjusted D-dimer cut-off of 1540 ng/mL differentiates suspected PE patients requiring anti-coagulation from those not requiring anti-coagulation. A cut-off of 2500 differentiates those with high risk of clinical deterioration from those not at high risk of deterioration. When correlated with clinical outcomes, these cut-offs can provide an objective method for clinical decision making when imaging is unavailable.
The Coming Majority-Minority State?: Media Coverage of U.S. Census Projections, Demographic Threat, and the Construction of Racial Boundaries

This study analyzes media coverage of Census Bureau projections showing that the U.S. will become a majority-minority state by mid-century. I argue that the mismatch between the racial/ethnic categ...
Magnetic fluctuations in single-layer FeSe

The electronic structure of single-layer FeSe films on SrTiO3 presents a quandary: experimentally there is no long-range magnetic order, but the observed bands are reasonably well described by density functional calculations assuming the checkerboard antiferromagnetic (CB-AFM) ordering despite this configuration not being the calculated ground state. Here we investigate the paramagnetic nature of this system via first-principles spin-spiral calculations. Fits of the spin-spiral dispersion to spin models place this S = 1 spin system in a region of parameter space where CB-AFM quantum fluctuations lead to a magnetically disordered paramagnetic state. Modeling the paramagnetic state as an incoherent superposition of spin-spiral states arising from thermal and/or quantum fluctuations, the resulting electronic bands around the Fermi level are found to closely resemble those of the ordered CB-AFM configuration, thus providing a consistent explanation of the angle-resolved photoemission observations. These results suggest that CB-AFM fluctuations play a more important role than previously thought. The paper reports a theoretical investigation of the paramagnetic states of monolayer FeSe. The authors use first-principles spin-spiral calculations to show that spin fluctuations around the checkerboard states explain the paradox between angle-resolved photoemission experiments and density-functional theory.
When to Pull the Trigger

There are many occasions during critical care of a patient where intubation is necessary. Once you have decided that a patient will require intubation, the next question then becomes, “How much time do I have?” Do they need to be intubated immediately? Or “do I have a couple hours to observe and attempt other interventions?” We cannot always perfectly time our intubations but we can classify airways into categories of urgency: elective, urgent, emergent, or crash. Understanding the level or urgency allows for better planning leading you to airway success!
An Extension of the Tiebout Hypothesis of Voting with One's Feet: The Medicaid Magnet Hypothesis

This study empirically extends the Tiebout hypothesis of ‘voting with one’s feet’ in two ways. First, it provides updated estimates using net migration data for the period 2000-2008. Second, in addition to investigating variables reflecting public education outlays, property taxation and income taxation, it investigates whether migrants are attracted to states with higher Medicaid benefits per recipient. The latter hypothesis is referred to as the ‘Medicaid magnet hypothesis’. The analysis includes three economic variables, three quality of life variables and three Tiebout-type factors in addition to Medicaid benefits. Results indicate that consumer voters were attracted to states with higher per pupil public school spending, lower property and income tax rates, and that certain consumer-voters may be attracted to states that offer higher levels of Medicaid benefits.
Student-Designed Cross-Sectional Pandemic Knowledge Survey of 8th-12th Grade Students, Milwaukee, WI, April 2020

Background: The novel coronavirus and its effect on our society are unprecedented. Given the recent pandemic, numerous measures have been taken to protect our communities. We sought to understand our school community's knowledge and the measures that were taken by our school for our safety. Objective: Our objective was to describe the overall understanding and attitudes of 8-12th grade students from a single institution during the initial phase of the Wisconsin's Governor's stay-at-home order. Methods: A voluntary web-based survey was communicated to 8-12th grade students through their online school portal. Data were collected and analyzed using SurveyMonkey. Results: There was a 20.2% response rate. Answers regarding the coronavirus, spread, and response to the coronavirus pandemic showed a high level of understanding of the virus and the actions necessary to prevent its spread. Conclusion: Eight-twelfth grade students have a high level of understanding of the virus, its effects, and the safety measures implemented to protect society.
Parental Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior towards Basic Immunization

Immunization, which is usually done by giving vaccinations, is the process of forming immunity in individuals against infectious diseases. The target in the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Healht of the Republic of Indonesia in 2015-2019 aimed for 93 % of coverage. However, according to the report of the Indonesian Basic Health Survey (IBHR), there is actually a decrease in basic immunization coverage for the period of 2012–2015 when compared to the previous period. This study aimed to determine the correlation between parental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior towards complete course of basic immunization among parents of an elementary school in North Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018 and 2019. This was a cross-sectional analytical descriptive study involving 110 respondents. Data were obtained through a questionnaire that was distributed to parents that included questions on knowledge, attitude, and behavior towards complete basic immunization. Out of 110 respondents, 70% stated that their child received the full basic immunization course while the remaining 30% stated that their child only received some of the vaccines required in the basic immunization course. There was no correlation, based on the bivariate analytical test, between parental behavior (p = 0.868), parental attitude (p = 0.647), and full course of basic immunization. In contrast, parental knowledge influences whether the child will receive the full course of basic immunization or not (p=0.000).
The Ethical Exploitation of the Unrepresented Consumer

This Article examines civil actions brought by attorney-represented debt buyers against unrepresented consumers, to collect debts against which the statute of limitations has already run. If the consumer were represented, an affirmative defense would be a complete bar to collection of the debt if it were raised, and malpractice on the part of the debtor’s attorney if it were not. The consumer debtor is almost always unrepresented and unlikely to raise this defense. The judgment of the court on a time-barred account starts the clock running anew on the debt instrument, and in effect blesses the exploitation of the debtor.The Article examines the knowing exploitation of the unrepresented consumer by attorneys in the debt buying industry. It is not merely “ethically permissible” for an attorney to knowingly set this trap for the pro se defendant, doing so seems to be regarded positively, as an example of the duty of diligent or zealous representation. The adversarial process works because robust advocacy by the interests on opposing sides will illuminate for the neutral decision-maker the errors and excesses of each. The exploitation of the consumer debtor evidences one more practical setting in which core presumptions underlying this process fail – because one party is represented by counsel and the other is not.This Article proposes narrowly-tailored regulatory and legislative solutions to curtail abuse of unrepresented consumers within this industry. The final solution is potentially broader in scope and consequence. While this Article does not propose the wholesale deconstruction of the adversarial system, in this instance when a core presumption has failed, it becomes necessary to police ethical boundaries of attorney conduct more closely. A proposed ethical rule entitled “Duty of Fairness Toward an Unrepresented Party Opponent” serves that purpose.
Multimedia Science Projects: Seven Case Studies

AbstractThe research reported in this article began as a staff development project in which teachers of Grades 3–11 produced multimedia projects, conducted a similar project in their own classes, and showed their students’ projects at a conference. Researchers acted as participant observers, providing technical support as the students carried out their multimedia projects. Research questions focused on attitudes toward science and multimedia projects, gender differences in attitudes and expertise, and the process of students taking responsibility for their own learning. Data for this qualitative study represented 3 points of view: teachers, students, and research staff. Findings include the following: (a) Most students preferred this kind of project to a term paper, except in one school, where multimedia was “old hat”; (b) students and teachers reported that students had learned a number of skills besides science and computing, including dependability, organization, and interviewing; (c) both girls and bo...
A Large-Scale Digital Library System to Integrate Heterogeneous Data of Distributed Databases

The Web has become the primary means for information dissemination of all kinds; our interest is in dissemination of scientific information from on-line digital libraries. We have designed a Web application, called SearchPlus, based on a distributed, scalable, fault-tolerant, and secure architecture, to allow access to tens of millions of scientific bibliographic records and their citations, integrating information from multiple heterogeneous data sources, and making this information available for querying and analysis. A full-scale test-bed environment has been developed to assess hardware and software configuration and performance. This paper gives the motivations for building such a system, describes the architecture of our distributed database system, and highlights performance analyses and subsequent improvements.
The role of empowerment in crowdsourced customer service

For decades, researchers have seen employee empowerment as the means to achieving a more committed workforce that would deliver better outcomes. The prior conceptual and descriptive research focused on structural empowerment, or workplace mechanisms for generating empowerment, and psychological empowerment, the felt empowerment. Responding to calls for intervention studies, this research experimentally tests the effects of structural empowerment changes, through different degrees of decision-making authority and access to customer-relationship information, on psychological empowerment and subsequent work-related outcomes. Using a virtual contact center simulation, crowdsourced workers responded to customer requests. Greater decision authority and access to customer-relationship information resulted in higher levels of psychological empowerment which in turn resulted in task satisfaction and task attractiveness outcomes among the crowdsourced customer service workers.
Partial resolution of the enzymes catalyzing photophosphorylation. VII. The function of plastocyanin and its interaction with a specific antibody.

1. Exposure of chloroplasts to sonic oscillation in a medium of low osmolarity rapidly inactivated the Hill reaction, photophosphorylation, and photooxidation of ascorbate in the presence of dichlorophenyl-1, 1-dimethylurea. Concurrently with this inactivation plastocyanin was liberated from the chloroplasts. The addition of plastocyanin during sonic oscillation prevented net loss of plastocyanin from the chloroplasts and preserved the Hill reaction, cyclic and noncyclic photophosphorylation, and ascorbate photooxidation. These effects were not reversed by washing the particles. In contrast, the addition of plastocyanin to the assay mixtures after sonication did not enhance photophosphorylation even though it stimulated electron flow. This stimulation by external plastocyanin was abolished by washing. 2. A specific antibody against spinach plastocyanin had no effect on electron transport or photophosphorylation in chloroplasts and did not agglutinate chloroplasts. However, if chloroplasts were sonicated in the presence of the antibody, a more pronounced inhibition of the Hill reaction, of ascorbate photooxidation, and of photophosphorylation was observed than when sonic oscillation was performed in the presence of γ-globulins from nonimmunized rabbits. 3. From these findings we conclude that plastocyanin functions in noncyclic electron flow between the two photosystems as well as in cyclic photophosphorylation. In contrast to the chloroplast coupling factor (CF1) and ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase, plastocyanin in situ is not accessible to antibody added to the chloroplasts. Plastocyanin added to chloroplast particles can induce an artificial electron flow through Photosystem I. This process is not coupled to photophosphorylation but is sensitive to external antibody. The similarity between the function of plastocyanin in the inner chloroplast membrane and cytochrome c in the inner mitochondrial membrane is discussed.
Parallel computation of 3D wavelets

The Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is becoming a widely used tool in image processing and other data analysis areas. A non-conventional variation of a spatiotemporal 3D DWT has been developed in order to analyze motion in time-sequential imagery. The computational complexity of this algorithm is /spl Theta/(n/sup 3/), where n is the number of samples in each dimension of the input image sequence. Methods are needed to increase the speed of these computations for large data sets. Fortunately, wavelet decomposition is very amenable to parallelization. Coarse-grained parallel versions of this process have been designed and implemented on three different architectures: a distributed network represented by a distributed network of Sun SPARCstation 2 workstations: two Intel hypercubes (an iPSC/2 and an iPSC/860); and a Thinking Machines Corporation CM-5, a massively parallel SPMD. This non-conventional 3D wavelet decomposition is very suitable for coarse-grain implementation on parallel computers with proper load balancing. Close to linear speedup over serial implementations has been achieved using a distributed network. Near-linear speedup was obtained on the hypercubes and the CM-5 for a variety of image-processing applications. >
Comparison of techniques for ventriculoperitoneal shunting in 523 patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Object. It is common practice to use a new contralateral bur hole for ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) placement in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) patients with an existing ventriculostomy. At Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience, the authors have primarily used the ventriculostomy site for the VPS. The purpose of this study was to compare the safety of the 2 techniques in patients with SAH. Methods. The rates of VPS-related hemorrhage, infection, and proximal revision were compared between the 2 techniques in 523 patients undergoing VPS placement (same site in 464 and contralateral site in 59 patients). Results. The rate of new VPS-related hemorrhage was significantly higher in the contralateral-site group (1.7%) than in the same-site group (0%; p = 0.006). The rate of VPS infection did not differ between the 2 groups (6.4% for same site vs 5.1% for contralateral site; p = 0.7). In multivariate analysis, higher Hunt and Hess grades (p = 0.05) and open versus endovascular treatment (p = 0.04) predicted shunt infection, but the VPS technique was not a predictive factor (p = 0.9). The rate of proximal shunt revision was 6% in the same-site group versus 8.5% in the contralateralsite group (p = 0.4). In multivariate analysis, open surgery was the only factor predicting proximal VPS revision (p = 0.05). Conclusions. The results of this study suggest that the use of the ventriculostomy site for VPS placement may be feasible and safe and may not add morbidity (infection or need for revision) compared with the use of a fresh contralateral site. This rapid and simple technique also was associated with a lower risk of shunt-related hemorrhage. While both techniques appear to be feasible and safe, a definitive answer to the question of which technique is superior awaits a higher level of medical evidence.
A somatostatin analogue inhibits afferent pathways mediating perception of rectal distention.

Abstract Background: Octreotide, a somatostatin analogue, has antinociceptive activity in several models. We studied whether octreotide modifies perception of rectal distention in healthy volunteers and examined its mechanism of action. Methods: Octreotide (100 μg, subcutaneously) and placebo were injected in double-blind fashion. Rectal balloons measured volumes that evoked increasing levels of perception. Octreotide's effects on rectal sensation were compared with actions on rectal resistance, rectal motor activity, afferent and efferent anal activity, and somatic perception. Results: After octreotide administration, threshold perception, pressure, urgency, and maximal tolerated volume were reported at 62 ± 4, 185 ± 11, 269 ± 17, and 362 ± 25 ml, which were greater than after administration of placebo (25 ± 4, 95 ± 9, 153 ± 10, and 211 ± 13 mL, P P Conclusions: Octreotide reduces sensation of rectal distention via inhibition of visceral afferent pathways. In contrast, afferent pathways involved in local reflexes and cutaneous perception are not inhibited by octreotide.
Evolution of the opioid/ORL‐1 receptor gene family

In gnathostomes the kappa, mu, delta, ORL-1 receptor genes constitute the opioid/ORL-1 receptor gene family. These genes are most likely the result of two (2R) genome duplication events that occurred during the radiation of the chordates. In stilico analysis of the genome of the lamprey, Petromyzon marius, revealed the partial sequences of four genes that may be the result of a lineage specific genome duplication event in the lamprey lineage. The sequencing of cDNAs from the lamprey CNS supports the assumption that these putative lamprey opioid-like receptor genes are expressed by lamprey neurons. Analysis of gnathostome ORL-1 receptor sequences support the hypothesis that the ORL-1 gene has undergone a transition from an opioid receptor that could bind several types of opioid ligands to a receptor in mammals that can only be activated by the FGGF form of the orphanin ligand.
PPAR-agonists prevent experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

The development of clinical symptoms in multiple sclerosis and its animal model experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) involves T cell activation and migration into the central nervous system, production of glial-derived inflammatory molecules, and demyelination and axonal damage. Ligands of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) exert anti-inflammatory effects on glial cells, reduce proliferation and activation of T cells, and induce myelin gene expression. We demonstrate in two models of EAE that orally administered PPARg ligand pioglitazone reduced the incidence and severity of monophasic, chronic disease in C57BL/6 mice immunized with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide, and of relapsing disease in B10.Pl mice immunized with myelin basic protein. Pioglitazone also reduced clinical signs when provided after disease onset. Clinical symptoms were reduced by two other PPARg agonists suggesting a role for this receptor in protective effects. Suppression of clinical signs was paralleled by decreased lymphocyte infiltration, lessened demyelination, reduced chemokine and cytokine expression, and increased IkB expression in brain. Pioglitazone also reduced the antigen-dependent interferon-g production from EAE-derived T cells. These results suggest that orally administered PPARg agonists could provide therapeutic benefit in neurological diseases having an inflammatory component, including multiple sclerosis.
Bias-variance tradeoffs in program analysis

It is often the case that increasing the precision of a program analysis leads to worse results. It is our thesis that this phenomenon is the result of fundamental limits on the ability to use precise abstract domains as the basis for inferring strong invariants of programs. We show that bias-variance tradeoffs, an idea from learning theory, can be used to explain why more precise abstractions do not necessarily lead to better results and also provides practical techniques for coping with such limitations. Learning theory captures precision using a combinatorial quantity called the VC dimension. We compute the VC dimension for different abstractions and report on its usefulness as a precision metric for program analyses. We evaluate cross validation, a technique for addressing bias-variance tradeoffs, on an industrial strength program verification tool called YOGI. The tool produced using cross validation has significantly better running time, finds new defects, and has fewer time-outs than the current production version. Finally, we make some recommendations for tackling bias-variance tradeoffs in program analysis.
Water footprinting of electricity generated by combined cycle gas turbines using different cooling technologies: a practitioner's experience

Abstract Efforts undertaken for reducing environmental impacts of energy production have been primarily focused on carbon reduction while the fact that energy production also requires water has been largely overlooked. During the last decade, and despite the fact that global warming still remains today the focus of many environmental evaluations, water scarcity issues have increasingly received attention. Despite the fact that recently, an increasing demand for large industrial companies to calculate and report on their water footprint exists, water resources have only recently been addressed in life cycle assessment (LCA) and their assessment still lacks wide application. The paper presents a practitioner's experience with respect to the application of three recently developed water footprinting methodologies that are considered as current-state-of-the-art. The methods are applied with as objective the estimation of the water footprint of combined cycle gas turbines with different cooling technologies. The study reveals that absolute values of water footprints (L eq. kWh −1 ) are very different among methods and therefore results are not directly comparable in terms of their absolute results. In contrast, ranking among power plants agree for the different methods when large differences in water consumption/impact exist. However, the ranking may differ between different methods when differences are small. It therefore remains impossible to select one method as the preferred method to use. This study therefore serves as support to the recently emerging working groups (eg. WULCA) that aim at harmonizing the different existing methodologies.
Tolerance and cross-tolerance to theophylline-induced stimulation of locomotor activity in rats.

Rats treated chronically with caffeine become tolerant to caffeine-induced stimulation of locomotor activity and cross-tolerant to theophylline. This study was performed to determine if the cross-tolerance between these two methylxanthine drugs is symmetrical. Symmetrical cross-tolerance produced by two different drugs implies a common underlying mechanism of action. Separate groups of rats were given scheduled access to drinking bottles containing either drug-free tap water or 1.0 mg/ml theophylline solution. Daily theophylline intake averaged 59 mg/kg. Dose-effect curves were determined in both control and theophylline-treated groups for 5 drugs: the methylxanthines theophylline and caffeine, a nonxanthine psychomotor stimulant, d-amphetamine, and the adenosine analogs R(-)-N6-2-(phenylisopropyl)adenosine and 5'-(N-ethyl)carboxamidoadenosine. All drugs were injected i.p. and locomotor activity was measured for 30 min beginning 35 min later. Rats that were maintained chronically on theophylline were completely tolerant to the locomotor activity stimulant effects of acutely administered theophylline and cross-tolerant to caffeine-induced stimulation of locomotor activity. In contrast, both control and treated groups were fully responsive to the stimulant effects of d-amphetamine. Low doses of the adenosine analogs produced stimulation of locomotor activity in both groups of rats. Higher doses produced a dose-dependent depression of locomotor activity in control rats; curves for the theophylline-treated rats were shifted to the right of the control curves. Thus, adenosine antagonist activity of theophylline remained evident at a time of complete tolerance to the stimulant effect of the drug on locomotor activity.
UNSTEADY FLOWFIELD BEHIND A VORTEX GENERATOR RAPIDLY PITCHED TO ANGLE OF ATTACK

The unsteady flowfield resulting from sweeping a half-delta wing vortex generator partially embedded in a turbulent boundary layer from 0 to -18 deg angle of attack at a reduced frequency of 0.25 was probed with a crosswire anemometer. Contour plots of vorticity and mean velocity as well as scalar descriptors of the flow such as circulation, peak vorticity, and vortex core location were calculated as a function of time for the formation and relaxation of the vortex. Some features of the unsteady development are accounted for by considering the effective angle of attack of the moving vortex. generator and resulting motion of fluid shed by the leading edge
Characterisation and application of BPR-100 thick photoresist

BPR-100 thick photoresist was characterised by spin speed, exposure time, ultra-violet light (UV) absorption, development time and reactive ion etching (RIE) rates. This photoresist has been found to be highly stable in chemical baths and as a mask for RIE. The thickness of the resist varies with spin speed from 15 to 90 µm with a single spin. Optical and scanning electron microscopy images show vertical sidewalls and crack-free resist surfaces with a production-type reproducibility. An aspect ratio of 3:1 was achieved under optimum conditions.
Hedging-point production control with multiple failure modes

We consider the control of a production facility subject to multiple failure modes. Motivated by a work of Akella-Kumar (1986) and Bielecki-Kumar (1988) on single-failure-mode models, we study hedging-point policies, in which production is controlled to its maximum rate whenever inventory is below a critical level and set to zero whenever inventory is above that level. The maximum production rate varies with the state of the machine. Assuming that the machine state is governed by a semi-Markov process, we evaluate average and discounted inventory costs for any hedging point, thus providing a simple mechanism for identifying optimal hedging points. Our most explicit results require that intervals in which demand exceeds production are exponentially distributed. We drop the exponential assumption at the expense of obtaining asymptotics rather than exact results. >
The Arrayed Primer Extension Method for DNA Microchip Analysis. Molecular Computation of Satisfaction Problems

A high fidelity, surface-based method of nucleic acid analysis has been developed based on DNA polymerase extension of primer−template complexes on DNA microchips. The ability of the method to discriminate against mismatches and provide an almost “digital” signal recommended it for molecular computation. A DNA computer with the capability of solving nondeterministic polynomial time (NP)-complete problems (those whose time−complexity function rises exponentially with the problem size) in polynomial time using this Arrayed Primer EXtension (APEX) method was experimentally demonstrated. An algorithm involving extension of surface-bound primer−template complexes, representing solutions and clauses of a Boolean formula, is described for the solution of two-, three-, and four-variable satisfiability (SAT) problems, including a 3SAT, exploiting the theoretical concepts of Lipton. A discussion of the principles of nondeterministic computing with APEX is also provided.
Endogenous Amino Acid Loss and Its Significance in Infantile Diarrhea

Extract: Significant amino acid loss through the stool, analogous to impeded reabsorption of water, fat, and electrolytes, was suspected in infantile diarrhea. The stools of six patients, who had acute diarrhea and received no protein by mouth, were collected and analyzed for amino acids, nitrogen, and protein. Similar determinations were made on five normal controls. In addition, stool collections were made from one patient during a severe protracted diarrhea which necessitated parenteral alimentation, during a subsequent isolated acute episode of diarrhea, and after complete recovery. The results of the analyses showed that free amino acids in the stool are elevated up to 10-fold during diarrhea, as compared with periods of remission and with normal controls. Protein and total nitrogen excretion is also elevated in diarrhea, although to a lesser degree (4− and 2.5-fold, respectively). It is postulated that protracted diarrhea is associated with impaired reabsorption of endogenous nitrogen, which results in a vicious cycle of protein depletion that ultimately leads to an intractable stage. The validity of this assumption is confirmed by the success achieved by parenteral amino acid therapy for protracted diarrhea. Speculation: It is postulated that intestinal mucosa and digestive enzymes, because of their large volume and rapid turnover, are extremely vulnerable to early states of protein deficiency. It is suggested that continuous loss of nitrogenous substances of endogenous origin occurs in protracted diarrhea, resulting in impaired synthesis of intestinal mucosa and digestive enzymes. The ensuing vicious cycle may be responsible for precipitating protracted diarrhea, regardless of etiology, into an intractable stage
An interpretation of axis deviation and ventricular hypertrophy

Abstract 1.1. The physiologic principles by which unipolar leads can be interpreted are described. 2.2. The patterns of unipolar surface potentials over the body in the normal subject and in cases of right and left ventricular hypertrophy are illustrated. 3.3. A nonmathematical approach to the problem of axis deviation is presented. 4.4. The advantage of leads close to the heart over extremity leads in the diagnosis of ventricular hypertrophy is emphasized. 5.5. The use of the right upper abdominal unipolar lead (R.U.A. lead) as an index of right ventricular hypertrophy, and of the left upper scapular unipolar lead (L.U.Sc. lead) in the diagnosis of hypertrophy of the left ventricle is briefly described.
Amount and rates of CO2 storage in lung tissue.

Abstract The slope of the lung tissue CO 2 dissociation curve and the rate of storage of CO 2 in the lung tissue were studied at 22°C and at 37°C in 21 isolated, bloodless dog lungs, with a total of 465 separate observations. Results at the two temperatures were similar. The slope of the tissue dissociation curve of lung tissue at a P CO 2 , of 40 torr was approximately 0.3 ml CO 2 × 100 g wet tissue − × torr − . Normally, this storage was 90 % complete in about 5 seconds. After carbonic anhydrase inhibition by acetazolamide, the total storage capacity was unchanged, but the rate at which storage occurred decreased significantly, so that it took about 25 seconds for 90 % of the storage to be completed.