cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Correlates of Insulin Injection Omission

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to assess factors associated with patient frequency of intentionally skipping insulin injections. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Data were obtained through an Internet survey of 502 U.S. adults self-identified as taking insulin by injection to treat type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Multiple regression analysis assessed independent associations of various demographic, disease, and injection-specific factors with insulin omission. RESULTS Intentional insulin omission was reported by more than half of respondents; regular omission was reported by 20%. Significant independent risk factors for insulin omission were younger age, lower income and higher education, type 2 diabetes, not following a healthy diet, taking more daily injections, interference of injections with daily activities, and injection pain and embarrassment. Risk factors differed between type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients, with diet nonadherence more prominent in type 1 diabetes and age, education, income, pain, and embarrassment more prominent in type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS Whereas most patients did not report regular intentional omission of insulin injections, a substantial number did. Our findings suggest that it is important to identify patients who intentionally omit insulin and be aware of the potential risk factors identified here. For patients who report injection-related problems (interference with daily activities, injection pain, and embarrassment), providers should consider recommending strategies and tools for addressing these problems to increase adherence to prescribed insulin regimens. This could improve clinical outcomes.
Brain surface conformal parameterization with the slit mapping

Brain surface conformal mapping has been studied intensively. In this paper, we propose a method that computes a conformal mapping from a multiply connected mesh to the so-called slit domain, which consists of a canonical rectangle or disk in which 3D curved landmarks on the original surfaces are mapped to concentric or parallel lines in the slit domain. After cutting along some landmark curve features on surface models of the cerebral cortex, we obtain multiple connected domains. By computing exact harmonic one-forms, closed harmonic one-forms, and holomorphic one-forms, we are able to build a circular slit mapping that conformally maps the surface to an annulus with some concentric arcs and a rectangle with some slits. The whole algorithm is based on solving linear systems so it is very stable. In the slit domain parameterization results, the feature curves are either mapped to straight lines or a concentric arcs. This representation is convenient for anatomical visualization, and may assist statistical comparisons of anatomy, surface-based registration and signal processing. Preliminary experimental results parameterizing various brain anatomical surfaces are presented.
A phase 2 study of vorinostat in acute myeloid leukemia

Background This two-stage, multi-institutional, randomized phase 2 trial assessed the toxicity and response rate associated with two treatment schedules of the histone deacetylase inhibitor, vorinostat (suberoylanilide hydr oxamic acid; SAHA) in patients with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia and in selected untreated patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia. Design and Methods Patients with relapsed or untreated acute myeloid leukemia who were not candidates for chemotherapy entered one of the two treatment arms. In both arms a total dose of 8400 mg of vorinostat was deliver ed in each 21-day cycle of treatment: in arm A the dose regimen was 400 mg daily whereas in arm B the dose regimen was 200 mg three times daily for 14 days followed by 1 week rest. Results Data from all 37 patients were used for the analyses. In arm A (n=15), the confirmed complete remission rate was 0% (95% CI, 0% to 23%); this arm was closed at the planned interim analysis. In arm B (n=22), the confirmed complete remission rate was 4.5% (1 response; 95% CI, 0.4% to 24%), with a duration of response exceeding 398 days. The median time to treatment failure in arm A was 42 days (95% CI, 26 to 57); although a minimum of four cycles of treatment were planned, 11 patients (79%) r eceived no more than two cycles. The median time to treatment failure in arm B was 46 days (95% CI, 20 to 71); 13 patients (59%) received no more than two cycles of treatment. Conclusions
Brittle fracture and grain boundary chemistry of microalloyed NiAl

The room-temperature tensile properties, fracture mode, and grain boundary chemistry of undoped stoichiometric NiAl, as well as NiAl doped with boron, carbon, and beryllium, have been investigated, Pure, stoichiometric NiAl fractures with limited tensile ductility in a predominantly intergranular manner. Auger analyses revealed that the grain boundaries in NiAl are extremely clean and free of any segregated impurities, indicating that they are intrinsically brittle. Boron, when added to stoichiometric NiAl at a bulk level of 300 wt. ppm, segregates to the grain boundaries and suppresses intergranular fracture. However, there is no attendant improvement in tensile ductility because boron is an extremely potent solid solution strengthener in NiAl, more than doubling its yield strength. As a result, any potential benefit of improving grain boundary strength is more than offset by the increase in yield strength. Unlike boron, both carbon (300 ppm) and beryllium (500 ppm) are ineffective in suppressing intergranular fracture in NiAl, and Auger analyses of the C-doped alloy revealed that carbon did not affect the fracture mode because it did not segregate to the grain boundaries. Although neither beryllium nor carbon suppressed grain boundary fracture, their effects on the tensile ductility of NiAl were quite different: the ductility of the Be-doped alloy was higher than that of the B-doped alloy because beryllium, unlike boron, has a rather modest strengthening effect in NiAl, whereas the C-doped alloy was brittle like the B-doped alloy, because carbon is a potent solid solution strengthener, just like boron. These observations were rationalized by considering a hard-sphere model for interstitial and substitutional sites in NiAl. It was concluded that boron and carbon occupy interstitial sites, whereas beryllium dissolves substitutionally. In all the alloys that were investigated, the Ni and Al contents of the grain boundaries were not significantly different from the bulk levels, and no evidence was found for B–Ni cosegregation.
A rapid analytical method for hair analysis using ambient pressure ion mobility mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization (ESI-IMMS)

Analysis of hair is often applied to assess drug abuse history, exposure to environmental and industrial pollutants, heavy metals, gestational drug exposure and various other screening purposes. This manuscript reports the application of ambient pressure ion mobility spectrometry mass spectrometry (IMMS) with electrospray ionization (ESI) source as a rapid analytical tool for hair analysis. The study demonstrated that ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) as a pre-separation technique prior to analysis by mass spectrometry (MS) provides detection and determination of compounds of interest present in hair at nano-molar concentration level. After extraction of analytes from hair, the ESI-IMMS method of analysis does not require the derivatization or sample treatment that is often required for other separation methods such as gas chromatography. One advantage of IMS over chromatography separation is that resolving powers are similar to those in GC and much greater than those possible by liquid chromatography. In addition, separation speed is faster than both gas and liquid chromatographic methods. Four of the nine hair samples anonymously donated by customers at a local hair salon tested positive for caffeine and two of the four samples that tested positive for caffeine also tested positive for nicotine. A positive response based on mass analysis for methamphetamine was obtained for one of the hair samples. Further investigation using the mobility data demonstrated that the response was a false positive and that it may have occurred from the use of a hair gel. This article reports the potential of IMMS as an analytical technique for rapid and routine screening of hair samples, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals.
A Two Step Ranking Solution for Twitter User Engagement

In this paper, we describe our solution to the RecSys2014 challenge and results on the test set. We briefly describe some of the challenges, then describe the methodology which starts with feature extraction and construction using the provided tweet data, in combination with IMDB as an external source. Feature construction also involved computing similarity values in a latent factor space to deal with the sparsity and lack of semantics of text-based and other nominal features. We also describe our machine learning models which consist of several stages, including a classifier, followed by a Learning to Rank (LTR) model, with a repairing mechanism to further correct minority class (non-zero engagement) predictions that are close to the boundary. Finally, we draw conclusions in the form of lessons learned and future work toward improving our results.
A synopsis of the Neotropical genus Nephepeltia (Odonata: Libellulidae), including description of a new species, synonymies, and a key to males

Nephepeltia flavipennis (Holotype: Brazil, Rondonia, Governador Jorge Teixeira Municipality, Fazenda Rancho Grande, 10°31'48''S, 62°48'0''W, 165 m, J. Wiseman leg., in MNRJ) is described from the Amazon region of W Brazil, Ecuador, and N Peru. A lectotype is designated for N. aequisetis Calvert, 1909. Nephepeltia chalconota is considered to be a junior subjective synonym of N. flavifrons Karsch, 1889, and the subdivision of N. phryne into two subspecies is found to be unjustifiable. Diagnoses, illustrations, a key to males, and an updated map for all known members of the genus are provided.
A serological method for detection of Nosema ceranae

Aims: We developed a new method for detection of the intracellular parasite, Nosema ceranae, one of the most economically devastating pathogens of the honeybee. Methods and Results: The SWP-32 antibody was used for the development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We also compared the efficiency of this ELISA to microscopy and quantitative real-time (qRT) PCR, the methods currently in use. Conclusions: ELISA is comparable in sensitivity with the qRT-PCR, less expensive and faster. When this method is commercialized and made available to bee-keepers, it will allow them to make informed decisions for the application of in-hive chemicals. Hence, bee-keepers may be able to determine when treatments for control of N. ceranae are unnecessary and reduce the cost, time and possible side effects of these treatments. Significance and Impact of the Study: This assay provides the first serological method for detection of N. ceranae in bee colonies, which is as sensitive as DNA amplification. It can be easily adopted for both laboratory and field applications.
Predicting protein interactions via parsimonious network history inference

Motivation: Reconstruction of the network-level evolutionary history of protein–protein interactions provides a principled way to relate interactions in several present-day networks. Here, we present a general framework for inferring such histories and demonstrate how it can be used to determine what interactions existed in the ancestral networks, which present-day interactions we might expect to exist based on evolutionary evidence and what information extant networks contain about the order of ancestral protein duplications. Results: Our framework characterizes the space of likely parsimonious network histories. It results in a structure that can be used to find probabilities for a number of events associated with the histories. The framework is based on a directed hypergraph formulation of dynamic programming that we extend to enumerate many optimal and nearoptimal solutions. The algorithm is applied to reconstructing ancestral interactions among bZIP transcription factors, imputing missing present-day interactions among the bZIPs and among proteins from five herpes viruses, and determining relative protein duplication order in the bZIP family. Our approach more accurately reconstructs ancestral interactions than existing approaches. In cross-validation tests, we find that our approach ranks the majority of the left-out present-day interactions among the top 2 and 17% of possible edges for the bZIP and herpes networks, respectively, making it a competitive approach for edge imputation. It also estimates relative bZIP protein duplication orders, using only interaction data and phylogenetic tree topology, which are significantly correlated with sequence-based estimates. Availability: The algorithm is implemented in Cþþ, is open source and is available at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/ckingsf/software/parana2.
Design and Controlled Use of Water Heater Load Management

Wisconsin Electric has been operating its Power Line Carrier Load Ma, nagement System for the past three years on a daily basis. The experiences gained in the actual operating environment have greatly influenced the Load Management strategies for the present and future. The operator confidence gained during this period of time has permitted a more sophisticated use of the system.
Phase noise analysis in distributed coherent noise radar systems

Noise radars, providing near thumbtack auto ambiguity signals, allow for fine resolution of targets in range and Doppler measurements. Both correlation processing as well as spectral interferometry require coherence, so the transmitters and receivers must be driven by highly stable oscillators as phase noise introduced into the system degrades the Doppler resolvability of the radar. We offer a technique to estimate the phase noise process through naturally collected radar data and fit stochastic models to the noise process. Phase noise models can be used in parametric correction techniques, which can have drastically reduced computational complexity when compared with nonparametric versions.
Secondary Flow Development Downstream of a Blade Endwall Corner

The flow downstream of the corner formed by a blade and a flat plate was investigated experimentally. A single dominant horseshoe vortex was identified which persisted more than one chord length downstream of the blade trailing edge. A smaller and weaker corner vortex was also identified. It dissipated and ceased to exist by a downstream axial location of approximately 0.2C (C= chord length). There was no evidence of stress induced vortices in the region of this investigation. The secondary flow system redistributes the mean flow momentum and distorts total pressure profiles and contours. In planes parallel to the flat plate, total pressure values were found to be higher than the undisturbed two-dimensional boundary layer at that height. Surface static pressure was found to be at its maximum at the blade trailing edge location and it decreased in both the downstream and transverse directions. There was no significant static pressure variation in the spanwise direction. Downstream of the blade trailing edge, under the domain of the horseshoe vortex, local wall shear stress increased to values exceeding the values found in the undisturbed boundary layer at that axial location. However, a 20% reduction in the net wall skin-friction (wall shear stress integrated over the flat plate surface) was observed.Copyright © 1994 by ASME
Rapid parallel evolution of standing variation in a single, complex, genomic region is associated with life history in steelhead/rainbow trout

Rapid adaptation to novel environments may drive changes in genomic regions through natural selection. Such changes may be population-specific or, alternatively, may involve parallel evolution of the same genomic region in multiple populations, if that region contains genes or co-adapted gene complexes affecting the selected trait(s). Both quantitative and population genetic approaches have identified associations between specific genomic regions and the anadromous (steelhead) and resident (rainbow trout) life-history strategies of Oncorhynchus mykiss . Here, we use genotype data from 95 single nucleotide polymorphisms and show that the distribution of variation in a large region of one chromosome, Omy5, is strongly associated with life-history differentiation in multiple above-barrier populations of rainbow trout and their anadromous steelhead ancestors. The associated loci are in strong linkage disequilibrium, suggesting the presence of a chromosomal inversion or other rearrangement limiting recombination. These results provide the first evidence of a common genomic basis for life-history variation in O. mykiss in a geographically diverse set of populations and extend our knowledge of the heritable basis of rapid adaptation of complex traits in novel habitats.
Fundamentals of Multicriteria Optimization

In any decision or design process, one attempts to make the best decision within a specified set of possible ones. The notion of “best” is in the eye of the beholder.
Retinoid Reaction Products in Age Related Retinal Degeneration

Great strides are being made toward defining the gene defects in retinitis pigmen-tosa1–3, Best’s vitelliform dystrophy4, and animal models of retinal degeneration5–7. Yet, little progress has been made in identifying the biochemical bases of the leading cause of blindness in the elderly: age related macular degeneration (AMD)8. Truly age-related retinal pathologies may well be due to causes other than identifiable point mutations in well defined genes and/or gene products.
“Maybe I Made Up the Whole Thing”: Placebos and Patients’ Experiences in a Randomized Controlled Trial

Patients in the placebo arms of randomized controlled trials (RCT) often experience positive changes from baseline. While multiple theories concerning such “placebo effects” exist, peculiarly, none has been informed by actual interviews of patients undergoing placebo treatment. Here, we report on a qualitative study (n = 27) embedded within a RCT (n = 262) in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Besides identical placebo acupuncture treatment in the RCT, the qualitative study patients also received an additional set of interviews at the beginning, midpoint, and end of the trial. Interviews of the 12 qualitative subjects who underwent and completed placebo treatment were transcribed. We found that patients (1) were persistently concerned with whether they were receiving placebo or genuine treatment; (2) almost never endorsed “expectation” of improvement but spoke of “hope” instead and frequently reported despair; (3) almost all reported improvement ranging from dramatic psychosocial changes to unambiguous, progressive symptom improvement to tentative impressions of benefit; and (4) often worried whether their improvement was due to normal fluctuations or placebo effects. The placebo treatment was a problematic perturbation that provided an opportunity to reconstruct the experiences of the fluctuations of their illness and how it disrupted their everyday life. Immersion in this RCT was a co-mingling of enactment, embodiment and interpretation involving ritual performance and evocative symbols, shifts in bodily sensations, symptoms, mood, daily life behaviors, and social interactions, all accompanied by self-scrutiny and re-appraisal. The placebo effect involved a spectrum of factors and any single theory of placebo—e.g. expectancy, hope, conditioning, anxiety reduction, report bias, symbolic work, narrative and embodiment—provides an inadequate model to explain its salubrious benefits.
Factors affecting teachers' adoption of educational computer games: A case study

Even though computer games hold considerable potential for engaging and facilitating learning among today's children, the adoption of modern educational computer games is still meeting significant resistance in K-12 education. The purpose of this paper is to inform educators and instructional designers on factors affecting teachers' adoption of modern educational computer games. A case study was conducted to identify the factors affecting the adoption of Dimenxian, which was a new educational computer game designed to teach Algebra to middle school students. The diffusion of innovations theory was used as the conceptual framework of this study. The results indicated that compatibility, relative advantage, complexity and trialability played important roles in the game adoption. These findings were compared with the existing literature on (1) the adoption of educational software, and (2) the barriers in the use of educational computer games in K-12 settings to help guide future research and practice. The comparison showed that (1) adoption attributes for the games and other educational software had a similar pattern from high to low significance: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability; and (2) the game adoption factors were more inclusive than the barriers of using the computer games.
Attenuated sarcomere lengthening of the aged murine left ventricle observed using two-photon fluorescence microscopy.

Cardiomyocytes within aged mouse hearts exhibited impaired sarcomere lengthening during left ventricular filling, and cardiomyocytes isolated from aged hearts demonstrated increased stiffness as me...
Radioimmunoassay of relaxin.

Until recently rigorous studies concerning the physiology of relaxin biosynthesis and secretion were impeded by limitations associated with the available relaxin assays. Relaxin bioassays lack the sensitivity required for accurate measurements of the relaxin levels which exist in the peripheral blood of many species during pregnancy. Even with the pig, a species in which substantial quantities of relaxin are released by the ovaries during late pregnancy, determination of relaxin levels in ovarian venous blood by mouse interpubic ligament bioassay necessitates the concentration of relatively large volumes of plasma in order to attain the limits of assay sensitivity (Belt et al. 1971). The relative insensitivity of bioassays makes it impossible to use them for the measurement of relaxin levels in small samplings of blood taken at frequent intervals from animals. The opportunity to develop more sensitive and precise relaxin assays became available with the advent of the radioimmunoassay in the 1960’s.
Evil, Meaning and Meaning-Makers

AbstractIn her work Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God, Marilyn McCord Adams offers an account of the problem of evil that deals with the interaction between certain types of evil and the human capacity for meaning production. This paper attempts to consider certain implications of her presuppositions and, in so doing, to uncover several challenges to her broader project entailed by said implications. More specifically, this paper considers, within the context of Adams’ broader project, the status of perpetrators of horrendous evils with respect to their ability to conceive of said evils, evils that destroy meaning-making capacities in their victims and evils that twist and subvert the meaning-making processes of their victims or observers.
Ancient Paradigm Shifts and Athens' Bid for Power - Thucydides Reevaluated

In common interpretations of Thucydides, the Melian dialogue has had a central role. However, specifically in Realist International Relations theory, but also elsewhere, its interpretation has been detached from the other events in Thucydides' history. Only this way, it seems, the position that Athens is displaying an eternal-natural power principle can be maintained.In contrast, this paper will argue that it is precisely the power calculus that is established for the first time by Athens at Melos that leads to Athens' downfall. Yet, this power calculus is not without alternative, rather it is Athens that attempts to establish it as a new paradigm.In the long run, however, the results of this very power calculus prove disastrous for the Attican polis. Athens' move to establish a new paradigm in the end does not only lead to Athens' defeat but also to the breakdown of the very concepts of the polis and politics.This paper will present an interpretation that will thus question the narrower approach that claims that Athens follows the 'eternal' principle that might makes right. By doing this, the catastrophical consequences of Athenian hubris will become clear.
Adaptive Aeroelastic Wing Shape Optimization for High-Lift Configurations

A rapid conceptual 3D aerostructural tool was developed for multidisciplinary optimization of flexible wings in high-lift configurations, such as takeoff and landing. In order to allow fast optimization while still capturing nonlinear aerodynamic phenomena such as the maximum lift near the stall, a hybrid 2D/3D aerodynamic approach was used by combining 3D linear vortex lattice method with known 2D airfoil viscous data. A two-variable ”decambering” method was employed to match the sectional lift and pitching moment coefficients along the wing span with that of the corresponding 2D viscous data, in a multivariable Newton-Raphson iterative scheme. Validation was done against experimental data of a straight wing with known both 3D and 2D experimental data, demonstrating successful prediction of lift, stall progression along the wing span, and decrease in pitching moment due to stall. The aerodynamic tool was coupled with a structural finite element method code to compute static aeroelastic deflections of a given wing, and subsequently integrated with an optimization routine. The resulting aeroelastic optimization framework was then applied to a low-Reynolds simplified version of the Generic Transport Model with variable camber continuous trailing-edge flaps, in high-lift configuration, to predict the optimal flap schedule for maximum lift. Results showed that for a rigid wing, the optimal flap deflection corresponded to a lift distribution similar to the chord distribution, while a flexible wing was dependent on its torsional and bending stiffness. For the wing stiffness and dynamic pressure utilized, the optimal flap deflection schedule showed to be similar to the rigid wing results, differing slightly by having a less loaded wing tip region, to avoid the observed outboard nose-up torsion tendency that would prematurely stall the wingtip.
Laser Photochemical Vapor Deposition of Ge Films (300 ≤ T ≤ 873 K) from GeH4: Roles of Ge2H6 and Ge

The photochemical growth of polycrystalline and amorphous Ge films on SiO2, GaAs and NaCl by photodissociating GeH4 with excimer laser radiation in parallel geometry is reported. For substrate temperatures (TS) below the pyrolytic threshold for GeH4 (553 K), two distinct regions of film growth are observed. In the 425 < Tg < 553 K range, the ultraviolet (UV) laser “seeds” the reactor with Ge2H6 which readily pyrolyzes at the surface, forming several monolayers of Ge which subsequently catalyze the pyrolysis of GeH4. The activation energy (Ea) in this region is the same as that for the normal CVD growth of Ge from GeH4 (Ea ≃ 0.9 eV). If, however, the laser is pulsed throughout the film growth run, Ea falls by a factor of at least 2 and growth is observed for TS as low as 300 K. In this laser sustained region, film growth ceases in the absence of UV laser radiation. These results clearly demonstrate the ability of a UV laser to alter the reactor chemistry and dictate the species responsible for film growth.
Heterogeneous distribution of H2O in the Martian interior: Implications for the abundance of H2O in depleted and enriched mantle sources

We conducted a petrologic study of apatite within 12 Martian meteorites, including 11 shergottites and one basaltic regolith breccia. These data were combined with previously published data to gain a better understanding of the abundance and distribution of volatiles in the Martian interior. Apatites in individual Martian meteorites span a wide range of compositions, indicating they did not form by equilibrium crystallization. In fact, the intrasample variation in apatite is best described by either fractional crystallization or crustal contamination with a Cl-rich crustal component. We determined that most Martian meteorites investigated here have been affected by crustal contamination and hence cannot be used to estimate volatile abundances of the Martian mantle. Using the subset of samples that did not exhibit crustal contamination, we determined that the enriched shergottite source has 36–73 ppm H2O and the depleted source has 14–23 ppm H2O. This result is consistent with other observed geochemical differences between enriched and depleted shergottites and supports the idea that there are at least two geochemically distinct reservoirs in the Martian mantle. We also estimated the H2O, Cl, and F content of the Martian crust using known crust-mantle distributions for incompatible lithophile elements. We determined that the bulk Martian crust has ~1410 ppm H2O, 450 ppm Cl, and 106 ppm F, and Cl and H2O are preferentially distributed toward the Martian surface. The estimate of crustal H2O results in a global equivalent surface layer (GEL) of ~229 m, which can account for at least some of the surface features on Mars attributed to flowing water and may be sufficient to support the past presence of a shallow sea on Mars' surface.
Politics by Other Means: Historic Habeas and Modern Implications for the Suspension Clause

This Note evaluates the founding concept of habeas corpus in the constitutional scheme. It next demonstrates how a couple of isolated incidences arising out of the unique circumstances in which the nation found itself during the Civil War form the bedrock of the Court's contemporary view of habeas corpus and its suspension; but there is a massive weight of authority pointing another way.
Advantages and Application of Digital Substation Technology

The key technologies of digital substation are IEC61850 standard and the use of electronic transformer.Application of the two technologies will bring significant effects on traditional substation.In this paper,the advantages of technology of digital substation are introduced,based on the application experiences.The problems of current digital substation technologies are put forward,which need to be researched in the future.Some advances and perspectives for application of the technology are given in the end.
Analysis on Epidemic Situation of Notifiable Diseases in Zhanhe District of Pingdingshan City in 2007

[Objective]To understand the occurrence and changes of infectious disease,and provide scientific evidence for developing effective control measures.[Methods] Infectious disease data collected from disease surveillance and information report system in Zhanhe district of Pingdingshan city in 2007 were analyzed.[Results]No category A infectious disease was reported in 2007.1203 cases of 17 kinds of category B and C infectious disease were reported with the incidence of 476.56/100 000,18.55% in decline compared with the same period last year.999 cases of 17 kinds of category B infectious disease were reported with the decline of 1.96% compared with last year.204 cases of 4 kinds of category C were reported with the decline of 55.46%.The first 5 reported category B infectious diseases were:viral hepatitis,tuberculosis,dysentery,measles,and syphilis,occupied 79.14% of total reported cases.1death case(0.083%)was reported.Compared with last year,the incidences of brucellosis and rabies increased,that of influenza decreased.The most obvious increase in infectious diseases is measles.The incidence of male was 1.63 times that of female,the highest incidence appeared in young adults of 20 to 49-year-old,main professionals were peasants,workers,scattered children and students.[Conclusion] Viral hepatitis,tuberculosis,measles,syphilis and gastro-intestinal diseases are the major infectious diseases need to be well controlled.The new emerging diseases brucellosis and rabies are the major infectious diseases need more attention.Peasants,workers,scattered children,kindergarten children and students are the high-risk groups of infectious disease need well prevention.Comprehensive control measures should be taken to reduce the incidence and prevalence of infectious diseases.
Wear Test Demonstration of a Technique to Mitigate Keeper Erosion in a High-Current LaB 6 Hollow Cathode

The results of a wear test on a 100-A LaB6 hollow cathode are presented as verification of a technique to mitigate keeper erosion caused by sputtering from anomalously high-energy ions. The ions responsible for this erosion have been theorized to result from the onset ion acoustic turbulence in the plume of the cathode. The proposed technique to minimize the erosion relies on identifying operating conditions where the energy of the ion acoustic turbulence is low. 100 hour wear tests are conducted on a high-current hollow cathode with a molybdenum keeper at three operating conditions: two with low turbulence levels and one with high turbulence levels. It is demonstrated that the keeper exhibits low levels erosion (at a peak erosion rate of around 0.035 um/hour) that can be explained by classical mechanisms at the low turbulence states, and anomalously high sputtering (at a peak erosion rate of.07 um/hour) at the high erosion state.
Steeper Slope of Age-Related Changes in White Matter Microstructure and Processing Speed in Bipolar Disorder.

Objectives Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with compromised white matter (WM) integrity and deficits in processing speed (PS). Few studies, however, have investigated age relationships with WM structure and cognition to understand possible changes in brain health over the lifespan. This investigation explored whether BD and healthy counterpart (HC) participants exhibited differential age-related associations with WM and cognition, which may be suggestive of accelerated brain and cognitive aging. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting University of California San Diego and the Veterans Administration San Diego Healthcare System. Participants 33 euthymic BD and 38 HC participants. Measurements Diffusion tensor imaging was acquired as a measure of WM integrity, and tract-specific fractional anisotropy (FA) was extracted utilizing the Johns Hopkins University probability atlas. PS was assessed with the Number and Letter Sequencing conditions of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Trail Making Test. Results BD participants demonstrated slower PS compared with the HC group, but no group differences were found in FA across tracts. Multiple linear regressions revealed a significant group-by-age interaction for the right uncinate fasciculus, the left hippocampal portion of the cingulum, and for PS, such that older age was associated with lower FA values and slower PS in the BD group only. The relationship between age and PS did not significantly change after accounting for uncinate FA, suggesting that the observed age associations occur independently. Conclusions Results provide support for future study of the accelerated aging hypothesis by identifying markers of brain health that demonstrate a differential age association in BD.
Chronic health conditions as a risk factor for falls among the community-dwelling US older adults: a zero-inflated regression modeling approach

Falls are an important health concern among older adults due to age-related changes in the body. Having a medical history of chronic health condition may pose even higher risk of falling. Only few studies have assessed a number of chronic health conditions as risk factor for falls over a large nationally representative sample of US older adults. In this study, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2014 participants aged 65 years and older (n = 159,336) were evaluated. It was found that 29.7% (n = 44,550) of the sample experienced at least one fall and 16.3% (n = 20,444) experienced more than one fall in the past 12 months. According to the study findings, having a medical history of stroke, CKD, arthritis, depression, and diabetes independently predict the risk of first-time falling as well as the risk of recurrent falling in older adult population while controlling for other factors. On the other hand, having a medical history of the heart attack, angina, asthma, and COPD did not predict the risk of first-time falling, but did predict the risk of recurrent falling after experiencing the first fall in this population.
Flight phasemeter on the Laser Ranging Interferometer on the GRACE follow-on mission

As the first inter-spacecraft laser interferometer, the Laser Ranging Interferometer (LRI) on the GRACE Follow-On Mission will demonstrate interferometry technology relevant to the LISA mission. This paper focuses on the completed LRI Laser Ranging Processor (LRP), which includes heterodyne signal phase tracking at precision, differential wavefront sensing, offset frequency phase locking and Pound-Drever-Hall laser stabilization. The LRI design has characteristics that are similar to those for LISA: 1064 nm NPRO laser source, science bandwidth in the mHz range, MHz-range intermediate frequency and Doppler shift, detected optical power of tens of picoWatts. Laser frequency stabilization has been demonstrated at a level below , better than the LISA requirement of . The LRP has completed all performance testing and environmental qualification and has been delivered to the GRACE Follow-On spacecraft. The LRI is poised to test the LISA techniques of tone-assisted time delay interferometry and arm-locking. GRACE Follow-On launches in 2017.
Reversal of Long‐Term Trend in Baseline Ozone Concentrations at the North American West Coast

Changes in baseline (here understood as representative of continental to hemispheric scales) tropospheric ozone concentrations that have occurred over western North American and eastern North Pacific are analyzed based on data from three measurement records: (1) sites in the U.S. Pacific coast marine boundary layer, (2) an inland, higher altitude site at Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA, and (3) springtime airborne measurements in the free troposphere between 3 and 8 km altitude. Consistent with previously published results, we find increasing ozone prior to the year 2000, but that rate of increase has slowed and now reversed in these data sets in all seasons. The past ozone increase has been identified as a significant difficulty to overcome in achieving U.S. air quality goals; this difficulty has now eased. Global models only poorly reproduce the observed baseline ozone and trends; policy guidance from such models must be considered very cautiously.
The impact of earth resources exploration from space

In contrast to the use of satellites for weather forecasting and for intercontinental communications, which have been available for more than fifteen years, surveys of earth resources with satellites have begun only a few years ago. The impact of earth resources surveys from space on society is therefore still much more a matter of speculation than a matter of record. Nevertheless, during three years of successful operation of the LANDSAT system, we have gained enough experience to assess the potential impact of global surveys with satellites of crops, forests, grasslands and soils on agricultural predictions: of snow cover and watershed morphology on water resources management; of land use, water and air quality on environmental protection: and of land forms and tectonic structure on mineral exploitation.
Further characterization and proposed pathway of deferrioxamine B catabolism

Most siderophores are catabolism resistant because of their non-peptidic or cyclic peptide chemical structures. Siderophore degradation is thus a rare event, and one which has received little attention. Based on literature precedence and the generation of monohydroxamic acid(s) by cell-free extracts of a deferrioxamine B degrading bacterium, a catabolic scheme of the siderophore is proposed. Data are also presented concerning parameters such as the pH profile, inducible nature of the siderophore-degrading metabolism and the ability of the deferrioxamine B degrading bacterium to metabolize some of the hypothesized products of deferrioxamine B dissimilation.
Management of anaphylaxis and allergies in patients with long QT syndrome: A review of the current evidence.

Abstract Objective To develop a treatment algorithm for patients with long QT syndrome (LQTS) in case they need antiallergic medications for allergic reactions, including asthma and anaphylaxis. Data Sources A literature review was performed to assess safety and to develop antiallergic treatment strategies for patients with LQTS. Study Selections LQTS is a heterogeneous group of myocardial repolarization disorders characterized by prolongation of the QT interval that potentially results in life-threatening torsades de pointes tachycardia. Data on pharmacologic treatment in case of anaphylaxis in LQTS are sparse. For this narrative review, all currently available articles on the use of antiallergic drugs for allergic reactions, anaphylaxis, and asthma in patients with LQTS were used. Results Local allergic symptoms can be safely treated primarily with fexofenadine, levocetirizine, desloratadine, or cetirizine and, if needed, a short course of corticosteroids. In case of systemic symptoms, epinephrine should be administered. It may be less effective in patients with LQTS treated with β-blockers, necessitating the use of glucagon as add-on treatment. In case of lower airway obstruction, ipratropium bromide should be used, but if not effective, inhaled β2-adrenergic agents may be used. Continuous cardiac monitoring is indicated with the use of epinephrine and inhaled β2-adrenergic agents. The use of the latter also warrants intense monitoring of serum potassium levels. Clemastine and dimetindene should be avoided in patients with LQTS. Conclusion Patients with LQTS have a higher risk of life-threatening complications during the treatment of their allergic reactions because of the underlying disease and concomitant treatment with β-blockers. Treatment algorithms will certainly decrease these complications.
Machine learning methods for crop yield prediction and climate change impact assessment in agriculture

Crop yields are critically dependent on weather. A growing empirical literature models this relationship in order to project climate change impacts on the sector. We describe an approach to yield modeling that uses a semiparametric variant of a deep neural network, which can simultaneously account for complex nonlinear relationships in high-dimensional datasets, as well as known parametric structure and unobserved cross-sectional heterogeneity. Using data on corn yield from the US Midwest, we show that this approach outperforms both classical statistical methods and fully-nonparametric neural networks in predicting yields of years withheld during model training. Using scenarios from a suite of climate models, we show large negative impacts of climate change on corn yield, but less severe than impacts projected using classical statistical methods. In particular, our approach is less pessimistic in the warmest regions and the warmest scenarios.
Unleashing the Power of Hashtags in Tweet Analytics with Distributed Framework on Apache Storm

Twitter is a popular social network platform where users can interact and post texts of up to 280 characters called tweets. Hashtags, hyperlinked words in tweets, have increasingly become crucial for tweet retrieval and search. Using hashtags for tweet topic classification is a challenging problem because of context dependent among words, slangs, abbreviation and emoticons in a short tweet along with evolving use of hashtags. Since Twitter generates millions of tweets daily, tweet analytics is a fundamental problem of Big data stream that often requires a real-time Distributed processing. This paper proposes a distributed online approach to tweet topic classification with hashtags. Being implemented on Apache Storm, a distributed real time framework, our approach incrementally identifies and updates a set of strong predictors in the Naive Bayes model for classifying each incoming tweet instance. Preliminary experiments show promising results with up to 97% accuracy and 37% increase in throughput on eight processors.
Patient Safety: What Is Working and Why?

Our goal is to review a number of methodologies which have been used to improve safety in healthcare since the release of the Institute of Medicine report in 1998 which documented that error was a significant cause of mortality in the USA. Multifaceted approaches have each led to reduction in error. Methods for error reduction included in this review are “Just Culture,” increased transparency and accountability, error reporting and investigation, second-victim programs, training in quality and safety methods, standardization and bundles, electronic health records, computerized order entry, barcode scanning, clinical decision support, predictive analytics, and situational awareness. Newer fields with the potential to improve patient safety include human factors engineering, indication-based prescribing, and Safety II. While each intervention has led to incremental improvement, continued expansion of these programs is necessary to eliminate medical error.
Dysregulation of mechanosensory circuits coordinating the actions of antagonist motor pools following peripheral nerve injury and muscle reinnervation

Movement disorders observed following peripheral nerve injury and muscle reinnervation suggest discoordination in the activation of antagonist muscles. Although underlying mechanisms remain undecided, dysfunction in spinal reflex circuits is a reasonable candidate. Based on the well known role of reflex inhibition between agonist and antagonist muscles in normal animals, we hypothesized its reduction following muscle reinnervation, similar to that associated with other disorders exhibiting antagonist discoordination, e.g. spinal cord injury and dystonia. Experiments performed on acutely-decerebrated rats examined interactions of mechanosensory reflexes between ipsilateral muscles acting as mechanical antagonists at the ankle joint: ankle extensor, gastrocnemii (G) muscles (agonists) and ankle flexor, tibialis anterior (TA) muscle (antagonist). The force of agonist stretch reflex contraction was measured for its suppression or facilitation by concurrent conditioning stretch of the antagonist muscle. Data were compared between two groups of adult rats, an antagonist reinnervation group with TA muscle reinnervated and a control group with TA normally innervated. Results revealed a three-fold increase in reflex suppression in the antagonist reinnervation group, contrary to our predicted decrease. Reflex facilitation also increased, not only in strength, seven-fold, but also in its frequency of stochastic occurrence across stimulus trials. These observations suggest dysregulation in specific spinal reflex circuits as novel candidate origins of modified antagonist muscle coordination following peripheral nerve injury and muscle reinnervation.
Reprint: "The Challenge of the Mississippi Flood"

Massive flooding in the upper Mississippi and lower Missouri river basins last summer caused widespread human distress and provoked sober public questioning of the wisdom of the policies and progra...
Neuroimaging Practices in the Very Low Birth Weight Neonates: A Retrospective Study

Background: Cranial ultrasound (CUS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are used to detect brain injury in very low birth weight (VLBW) neonates. Despite various studies that have shown the added value of MRI over CUS for select infants, there is no consensus on the indications for or the overall value of MRI. Purpose: To report the characteristics associated with selective neonatal …