cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Function of the 'direct' and 'indirect' pathways of the basal ganglia motor loop : evidence from reciprocal aiming movements in Parkinson's disease

The purpose of this study was to test the validity of a neural-network model of the basal ganglia developed by Bischoff and colleagues (A. Bischoff, Modeling the basal ganglia in the control of arm movements (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern California, 1998). Dissertation Abstr. Int. 59-08B (1998) 3924, 0208; A. Bischoff, M.A. Arbib, Modeling the role of basal ganglia and supplementary motor areas in sequential arm movements, Abstr. Soc. Neurosci. 23 (1997) 466; A. Bischoff, M.A. Arbib, C.J. Winstein, Modeling the role of the basal ganglia in reciprocal aiming task, Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Joint Symposium on Neural Computation, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 7, 1997, pp. 20-27), and to examine the effects of levodopa on aiming movement performance. Findings confirm the model predictions for repetitive aiming movements. Individuals with late stage Parkinson's disease demonstrated longer movement times and longer pauses between aiming sequences compared to controls. Levodopa only slightly improved bradykinesia but not akinesia in these patients.
Inaction speaks louder than words: The problems of passivity

Much has been written about bystander apathy, which occurs when an outsider (i.e., the bystander) is hesitant to act during a situation that clearly calls for action. However, what about when the individual called to act is an insider? This article asserts that insiders (i.e., players, or organizational actors) exhibit similar passive behaviors but not because they are apathetic. Players who are internal to the organization and are often responsible for the outcome are expected to act. Rather, when confounded by ambiguous situations, obfuscated communications, time pressure, and confusion, players often stand by befuddled. This article surveys two such cases. First is the recent case of Joe Paterno, the famed and beloved Penn State football coach of 62 years whose otherwise remarkable career was tainted by his failure to adequately act following a child abuse allegation of a staff member. Second is the case of the Vancouver Olympic Committee and the death of a young athlete on their newly built luge run. Those responsible failed to act when the danger of the track's extreme speeds were well known. The article compares the two cases and concludes by proposing remedies to mitigate inaction.
Oral and pharyngeal cancer incidence rates in Northern Thailand (for most anatomic sites) have shown a decline from 1988-1999

Original Article Reichart PA, Dietrich T, Khongkhunthian P, Srisuwan S. Decline of oropharyngeal cancer in Chiangmai province, Thailand, between 1988 and 1999. Oral Oncol 2003 Sep;39(6):569-73. Purpose To analyze the incidence of oral and pharyngeal cancer in the province of Changmai, Northern Thailand. Source of Funding Information not available Type of Study/Design Retrospective review of cancer registry data
American Football Becomes the Dominant Intercollegiate National Pastime

American colleges in the nineteenth century rejected British cricket for baseball and British soccer and British rugby for American football. While Americans copied British culture in many ways, they were often not direct copies. The historical concept of American Exceptionalism has been questioned by historians, but if there ever was an American Exceptionalism, the cases for the American games of organised baseball and football surely can be made. The actions of several individuals and influence of a variety of forces insured the creation of and dominance of American football as the intercollegiate sport of choice by the turn of the nineteenth century. In American institutions of higher education ‘gridiron football', in the vernacular of that era, represented the nascent ‘national pastime' that triumphed on US campuses.
An Idaho Model of Frontier Settlement

The evolutionary model of westward expansion expounded by Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893 still has adherents among the archaeological community. Although this model may be relevant to an agricultural frontier, such as the Mississippi Valley, settlement of the Rocky Mountain West presents a radically different problem.Based on documentary evidence, a settlement model relevant to the spatially static mining frontier is postulated. Environment played an insignificant role as a determining factor in the society of the mining frontier. More important was the economic correlation to cultural complexity. The model proposed has been corroborated to date by excavation within the Idaho mining frontier.
When More Is Less: Integrating Qualitative Information and Boolean Statistics

Gordon and Smith (2004) do a great service by introducing innovative and creative quantitative methods that incorporate information from qualitative sources. It is nevertheless important to examine the conditions under which the proposed estimators will be useful in practice. These conditions prove to be surprisingly restrictive: with the possible exception of extremely low-information settings, virtually a// of the cases of discernible causation must be coded as such, those codings must contain virtually no errors, and the process by which qualitative researchers produce evaluations of discernibility must conform to the authors' model of the qualitative data-generating process (QDGP) if the procedures are to retain any comparative advantage.
Effects of Pressure Gradients on Turbulent Boundary Layer Wave Number Frequency Spectra

pp. 93‐113). The use of ± as an outer length scale is shown to produce distinct trends in the convection velocities. The autospectra for the respective cases are scaled on inner and outer variables, with outer variables collapsing the data over a narrow frequency range. The effects of spatial averaging due to the e nite transducer size are taken into account. Estimations of the wave number frequency spectra are obtained by spatially transforming the cross spectra, and taking into account the variation of convection velocity with spatial separation. A distinct trend in these spectra are displayed, with an asymmetric convective ridge that broadens as the pressure gradient changes from favorable to adverse. Uncertainties in the estimation of the spectra are discussed. The results are applicable to the e ow-induced radiated noise of undersea vehicles and the self-noise of sonar systems. Nomenclature d = wall-pressure sensor diameter d + = nondimensional sensor diameter = dus /m G(n , x o) = cross spectrum k = streamwise wave number Rh = Reynolds number based on momentum thickness= Uoh /m Uo = freestream velocity uc = convection velocity us = friction velocity = p (s w/q ) a = decay constant for the cross spectrum d = boundary-layer thickness d ¤ = boundary-layer displacement thickness h = boundary-layer momentum thickness j = nondimensional streamwise wave number = i kd
New tools for the evaluation of patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

Neurologists, psychiatrists, geriatricians and other clinicians evaluate patients with cognitive impairment or dementia routinely. The core of this evaluation depends on the skills of the clinician to obtain the history of symptoms and to examine the patient carefully in order to establish the clinical syndromic status of the patient (e.g., amnesic dementia, aphasic dementia, amnesic mild cognitive impairment, aphasia with limb apraxia, parkinsonism or depression). Once the syndrome has been determined, we need to generate hypotheses regarding the underlying disease process (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease [AD], frontotemporal lobar degeneration or Lewy body disease, among others). This process is imperative if the clinician aims to develop a comprehensive treatment plan, including pharmacologic treatment of cognitive, behavioral or motor symptoms, other therapeutic interventions (e.g., speech, occupational or physical therapy), programs and strategies to optimize functional independence, caregiver education and support and assistance with prognostication, planning and connection with specific resources in order to assist with these issues. Despite the fact that pharmacologic treatment options are still limited, there are a growing number of clinical trials in which patients may participate. Fortunately, the armamentarium of tools available to assist in assessing patients is growing rapidly. Since 2011, new diagnostic criteria have been published for AD [1,2], behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (FTD) [3] and primary progressive aphasia [4], and a new consensus statement was published on vascular cognitive impairment [5]. New diagnostic criteria for several other neurodegenerative diseases are also emerging. Most of these criteria emphasize the value of biomarkers, including structural, functional and molecular neuroimaging and genetic and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers. Although these criteria were developed primarily for researchers investigating these diseases, they also provide guidance for practicing clinicians. MRI is a fundamental part of diagnostic testing. In many patients with a presentation that is prototypical for a specific neurodegenerative disease, such as AD, a fairly
Non-solenoidal large scales in mean-incompressible turbulence

Abstract Certain models of turbulence decompose the velocity field into a resolved-scale field plus subgrid scales which are modeled as white noise. Within these models, we show how mean velocity may be non-solenoidal in a mean-incompressible flow with spatially-intermittent turbulent intensity, Arguments for a mean mass current due to inhomogeneous self-diffusion are suggested (with implications for entrainment.) Contributions of ▿ · u to pressure and (wavevector-dependent) temperature are calculated using kinetic and linear-response arguments (with implications for jet noise and energy spectra).
Response times from ensembles of accumulators

Decision-making is explained by psychologists through stochastic accumulator models and by neurophysiologists through the activity of neurons believed to instantiate these models. We investigated an overlooked scaling problem: How does a response time (RT) that can be explained by a single model accumulator arise from numerous, redundant accumulator neurons, each of which individually appears to explain the variability of RT? We explored this scaling problem by developing a unique ensemble model of RT, called e pluribus unum, which embodies the well-known dictum “out of many, one.” We used the e pluribus unum model to analyze the RTs produced by ensembles of redundant, idiosyncratic stochastic accumulators under various termination mechanisms and accumulation rate correlations in computer simulations of ensembles of varying size. We found that predicted RT distributions are largely invariant to ensemble size if the accumulators share at least modestly correlated accumulation rates and RT is not governed by the most extreme accumulators. Under these regimes the termination times of individual accumulators was predictive of ensemble RT. We also found that the threshold measured on individual accumulators, corresponding to the firing rate of neurons measured at RT, can be invariant with RT but is equivalent to the specified model threshold only when the rate correlation is very high.
Interstitial fluid pressure in breast cancer, benign breast conditions, and breast parenchyma.

Background: Interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) in rodent malignant tumors is reportedly much higher than in surrounding normal tissue. We hypothesized the same may be true in human invasive breast tumors. Methods: We measured IFP in the operating room in 25 patients undergoing excision breast biopsy under local anesthetic for diagnostic purposes. Results: In patients with invasive ductal carcinomas IFP was 29 ± 3 (SE) mm Hg, compared with −0.3 ± 0.1 mm Hg in those with normal breast parenchyma (p < 0.001), 3.6 ± 0.8 mm Hg in those with benign tumors (p < 0.003), −0.3 ± 0.2 mm Hg in those with noninvasive carcinomas (p = 0.034), and 0.4 ± 0.4 mm Hg in those with other benign breast conditions (p = 0.002). There was a direct correlation between IFP and tumor size (R2 = 0.3977; p = 0.021). No correlation was found between IFP and nuclear grade, angiolymphatic invasion, systemic blood pressure, metastasis to lymph nodes, or estrogen and progesterone receptors. Conclusions: IFP measurements may facilitate radiographic or ultrasound localization of small or nonpalpable malignant tumors in those patients undergoing needle aspiration cytology or stereotactic core needle biopsy.
Examining the latent structure of worry and generalized anxiety in a clinical sample

Abstract Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by “pathological” worry, suggesting that GAD worriers differ qualitatively from non-GAD worriers. However, results from taxometric studies of worry in undergraduate and community samples have been mixed and to date, no studies have utilized clinical samples. The current study examined the latent structure of worry and GAD symptoms in a diagnostically heterogeneous clinical sample. Indicators were selected from the Penn State Worry Questionnaire-Abbreviated ( n = 1175) and the GAD-7 ( n = 638) and submitted to three taxometric procedures: MAXCOV, MAMBAC, and L-Mode. Results from all three procedures suggested that both worry and generalized anxiety are best conceptualized as dimensional constructs. Findings also indicated that ongoing conceptualization, assessment, and treatment of worry and GAD may be hampered by the application of a categorical framework.
Development of phosphonium-based bicarbonate anion exchange polymer membranes

Abstract We report the preparation and characterization of phosphonium-based bicarbonate anion exchange random copolymers, poly(styrene-random-trimethylvinylbenzyl phosphonium bicarbonate) (poly(S- r -TMVBP-HCO 3 )). Compared to the chloride anion (Cl − ) exchange membranes, these HCO 3 − exchange membranes exhibit similar hydration levels and only slightly lower ionic conductivities at similar ionic compositions. Other experiments reveal that the HCO 3 − exchange membranes are thermally stable (up to 110 °C) and chemically stable under relatively low alkaline conditions. Additionally, a detailed chemical degradation mechanism for these membranes under strong alkaline conditions is presented.
The Two‐Headed Household: Gender and Rural Development in the Ecuadorian Andes

The Two-Headed Household: Gender and Rural Development in the Ecuadorian Andes. Sarah Hamilton. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1998. + 296 pp., tables, appendix, notes, bibliography, index.
The Effects of Intermittent Ischemic Arrest on the Perfusion of Myocardium Supplied by Collateral Coronary Arteries

Abstract Six weeks after placement of an ameroid constrictor on the circumflex coronary artery, blood flow in a collateral region was compared with flow in myocardium supplied by normal arteries during cardiopulmonary bypass (80 mm Hg). Myocardial blood flow was determined using radionuclide-labeled microspheres (8 to 10 μ) before 10 minutes of ischemic arrest and after 1, 5, and 10 minutes of reperfusion. The retrograde circumflex pressure was monitored continuously and served as an additional index of perfusion of the collateral region. During reperfusion, endocardial flow in the collateral region remained unchanged despite a threefold increase in a similar layer having normal arteries ( p p
Fracture of Dental Amalgam: Scanning Electron Microscope Study

Stereographic scanning electron micrographs of the fracture surfaces of amalgam beams that were broken by bending, and of the surfaces of polished and etched specimens of both fine cut and spherical particle alloys, did not reveal discrete grain boundary segregations. However, evidence of micro-plastic deformation and intragranular inhomogeneities was found.
Assessment of the Feasibility of Biodiesel Blends for Small Commercial Engines

Petroleum supply and environmental issues have increased interest in renewable low polluting alternative fuels. Published test results generally indicate decreased pollution with similar power output from internal combustion engines burning alternative fuels. More specifically, diesel engines burning biodiesel derived from plant oils and animal fats, not only reduce harmful exhaust emissions, but are renewable and environmentally friendly.A literature review found little previous research with biodiesel in small commercial diesel engines. This paper presents the research that was conducted to study the effect of biodiesel/diesel fuel blends on engine performance and emissions for a Yanmar L100 EE (7.1 kW) engine. This is a standard commercial grade diesel engine used for small equipment such as generators.Independent engine dynamometer and emissions testing were performed to validate the lower emission claims and assess the feasibility of alternative fuels. A testing apparatus capable of making relevant measurements was designed, built and used to perform this study.Fuel blends used included B2, B20, B40, B60, B80, and B100 where the biodiesel component of the blend was a commercial product. An analysis of the fuel showed large percentages of linoleic acid, palmitic acid and stearic acid which is typical for a blend of soybean oil and beef tallow.Test were performed at a constant torque (95 % of the continuously rated value) and variable engine speeds. Test results included calculated values of BMEP, BSFC, thermal efficiency, air mass flow rate, air fuel ratio, corrected NOx, energy lost to exhaust, and heat rejection, and measured values of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide.Results indicate an increase in thermal efficiency compared to standard diesel and significant reductions of unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide at all engine speeds. Brake specific fuel consumption increased with increasing percent biodiesel consistent with the decreased energy content of blended fuel. Significantly, there were small but consistent reductions in corrected NOx for all blends at all speeds. We posit possible explanations for these results, which are contrary to the published results for larger engines which show an increase in NOx for biodiesel blends.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Cost-Effectiveness of a Vaccine to Prevent Herpes Zoster and Postherpetic Neuralgia in Older Adults

Background A vaccine to prevent herpes zoster was recently approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. We sought to determine the cost-effectiveness of this vaccine for different age groups. Methods We constructed a cost-effectiveness model, based on the Shingles Prevention Study, to compare varicella zoster vaccination with usual care for healthy adults aged >60 years. Outcomes included cost in 2005 US dollars and quality-adjusted life expectancy. Costs and natural history data were drawn from the published literature; vaccine efficacy was assumed to persist for 10 years. Results For the base case analysis, compared with usual care, vaccination increased quality-adjusted life expectancy by 0.0007-0.0024 quality-adjusted life years per person, depending on age at vaccination and sex. These increases came almost exclusively as a result of prevention of acute pain associated with herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia. Vaccination also increased costs by $94-$135 per person, compared with no vaccination. The incremental cost-effectiveness ranged from $44,000 per quality-adjusted life year saved for a 70-year-old woman to $191,000 per quality-adjusted life year saved for an 80-year-old man. For the sensitivity analysis, the decision was most sensitive to vaccine cost. At a cost of $46 per dose, vaccination cost 60 years of age. Other variables related to the vaccine (duration, efficacy, and adverse effects), postherpetic neuralgia (incidence, duration, and utility), herpes zoster (incidence and severity), and the discount rate all affected the cost-effectiveness ratio by >20%. Conclusions The cost-effectiveness of the varicella zoster vaccine varies substantially with patient age and often exceeds $100,000 per quality-adjusted life year saved. Age should be considered in vaccine recommendations.
Precursor-dependent indirect pharmacodynamic response model for tolerance and rebound phenomena†

A precursor-dependent model of indirect pharmacody-namic response which can describe tolerance and rebound was characterized in terms of the effects of changes in the fundamental properties of the drug on its response profiles. The model extends previous models by considering inhibition or stimulation of production of the response variable dependent on the amount of precursor which may accumulate or deplete after administration of some drugs. Standardized pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters were used for generating dose, plasma concentration, and response–time profiles using computer simulations. The peak response (Rmax) and the time of its occurrence (TRmax) were dependent on the dose, degree of maximum inhibition (Imax) or stimulation (Smax), and drug concentrations causing 50% inhibition (IC50) or stimulation (SC50). The maximum rebound (RBmax) and the time of its occurrence (TRBmax) after a single bolus dose were also dependent on these factors, but were of lesser magnitude and showed relatively later occurrence. Interestingly, values of area between the baseline and effect curve (ABEC) and area between the baseline and rebound curve (ABRC) were equal for each set of conditions for each model, but the latter is reduced when there is a second pathway for loss of precursor. Tolerance occurs because of diverse mechanisms, and the response patterns demonstrated may be helpful in describing tolerance and rebound phenomena for drugs which affect precursor pools.
Electroplated metal microstructures embedded in fusion-bonded silicon: conductors and magnetic materials

Fabrication methods for integrating thick (tens or hundreds of micrometers) electroplated metallic microstructures inside fusion-bonded silicon wafers are proposed and validated. Cu and Ni/sub 80/Fe/sub 20/ (permalloy) test structures were embedded inside of cavities in silicon wafers, which were fusion-bonded at 500/spl deg/C for 4h with nearly 100% yield. Resistance tests validated the electrical integrity of the metals after annealing, and magnetic measurements indicated the Ni-Fe maintained its magnetic performance after annealing. Additional mechanical tests verified a strong, uniform bond, and that the presence of the metals does not degrade the bond strength. These results demonstrate the ability to integrate conductive and magnetic materials in wafer-bonded silicon, a method useful for a variety of multiwafer, MEMS devices.
Explaining Variation in Relations Among Intrinsic Religiosity, Political Conservatism, and Homonegativity as a Function of Authoritarianism’s Three Components: an Expansion on Recent Literature

Past research suggested that the strong relationship between having high levels of religiosity and/or political conservatism and harboring a high level of negativity toward homosexuals often is accounted for by the strength of individuals’ authoritarian views. In an effort to build upon this extant research, the goal of this study was to examine the way in which components of authoritarianism mediate the relationship between religiosity and political conservatism and homonegativity. To achieve this goal, a recently developed modality of path analysis that allows for the effect of one independent variable on another to be controlled was used. Because preliminary analyses indicated that attitudes toward same-sex marriage and homonegativity demonstrated multicollinearity, a composite measure was created. Results suggested that the overall strength of the relationship between religiosity and political conservatism with homonegativity remains statistically significant, even after accounting for three components of authoritarianism and the potential effect of social desirability. These authoritarianism components also had a significant indirect effect on the strength of the relationship between religiosity and homonegativity, with authoritarian submission and conventionalism fully mediating this relationship. Implications of these findings were discussed.
Recent Work on the Ethics of Self‐Defense

Over the past 20 years, there has been a huge amount of work on which things you can kill in self-defense and why. This paper surveys that work.
Bishop Colenso and his critics : The strange emergence of biblical criticism in Victorian Britain

In October 1862, John William Colenso, bishop of Natal, published a book entitled The Pentateuch and book of Joshua critically examined. Although this volume proved to be only the first of seven parts, and the bishop's life was eventful in other ways, the controversy surrounding this volume did more than any other single factor to determine Colenso's enduring reputation. To his critics, the publication of such a book was an outrageous and heretical act. When the book was discussed in the Lower House of Convocation, C. E. Kennaway was convinced that it should be labelled ‘Poison!’ and Archdeacon Denison declared that ‘No book can ever be brought under our consideration of a worse character than this’ and that ‘if a man asserts such things as are in this book — anathema esto — let him be put away’. In the end, both houses of Convocation resolved that ‘the main propositions’ of the book ‘involve errors of the gravest and most dangerous character’.
A bang-bang, disturbance rejection algorithm for double integrator systems

An existing sampled-data control algorithm for double integrator systems with pre-determined inter-sample behavior is generalized to incorporate disturbance rejection in addition to command tracking. The proposed control system comprises an inner velocity control loop and an outer position control loop. A discrete-time compensator is used to regulate velocity and reject step disturbance in acceleration due to forces or moments on the system. The outer loop produces a pre-determined, piecewise constant (bang-bang) signal proportional to the position tracking error that defines the desired inter-sample position and velocity behavior. Simulation results of the disturbance rejection performance are presented.
A Study of Police Vehicle Pursuit Policy Characteristics

Police vehicle pursuits are a discretionary activity involving substantial risks to police officers, bystanders, and communities, as well as legal liabilities for police agencies. Recent legal deci...
Climate Disruption and Biodiversity

‘Global warming' may be a familiar term, but it is seriously misleading. Human actions are causing a massive disruption to the planet's climate that is severe, rapid, very variable over space and time, and highly complex. The biosphere itself is complex and its responses to even simple changes are difficult to predict in detail. One can likely only be certain that many changes will be unexpected and some unfortunate. Even the simple, slow warming of the climate will produce complex consequences to species numbers and distributions because of how species depend on each other. An alternative approach to worrying about details is to concentrate on understanding the most significant ecological changes, ones that are irreversible — so-called ‘tipping points'. Once such a point has been passed, even if society managed to restore historical climatic conditions, it might not restore the historical ecological patterns. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the loss of species, for we cannot recreate them. Climate disruptions may cause the loss of a large fraction of the planet's biodiversity, even if the only mechanism were to be species ranges moving uphill as temperatures rise.
Evidence that the Transcription Elongation Function of Rpb9 Is Involved in Transcription-Coupled DNA Repair in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Rpb9, a small nonessential subunit of RNA polymerase II, has been shown to have multiple transcription-related functions in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These functions include promoting transcription elongation and mediating a subpathway of transcription-coupled repair (TCR) that is independent of Rad26, the homologue of human Cockayne syndrome complementation group B protein. Rpb9 is composed of three distinct domains: the N-terminal Zn1, the C-terminal Zn2, and the central linker. Here we show that the Zn1 and linker domains are essential, whereas the Zn2 domain is almost dispensable, for both transcription elongation and TCR functions. Impairment of transcription elongation, which does not dramatically compromise Rad26-mediated TCR, completely abolishes Rpb9-mediated TCR. Furthermore, Rpb9 appears to be dispensable for TCR if its transcription elongation function is compensated for by removing a transcription repression/elongation factor. Our data suggest that the transcription elongation function of Rpb9 is involved in TCR.
Ostracism and indirect reciprocity: The reproductive significance of humor

Humor is hypothesized to be a social activity that alters the status of the humorist positively and that of the object or victim negatively. Of the two traditionally distin- gushed classes of humor, "ostracizing" humor singles out a victim, with others present or absent either incidental affiliates of the humorist (and one another) or unaffected. "AltBiative" humor, on the other hand, is focused on creating or maintaining group cohesiveness, with the identity of the victim more or less incidental.
Formation of Educational Expectations of Lower Socioeconomic Status Children

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediation effects of children’s cognitive and noncognitive traits on the relationship between dropout mothers’ traits and their children’s education...
Kawasaki disease has so much to teach us

Kawasaki Disease (KD) is primarily a childhood vasculitis of mid-size muscular arteries, of which the coronary arteries (CA) are most clinically significant. Although timely treatment with pooled intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has significantly reduced CA pathology, as determined by ECHO cardiology, about 30% of children still develop potentially fatal aneurysms, thrombi, or stenosis. This paper describes several additional pathologies and phenomena of undetermined significance, e.g. myocarditis, endocarditis with fibroelastosis, adrenal medullary necrosis, arterial smooth muscle cell transition into proliferating myofibroblasts, pneumonia in patients dying from KD, and calcification of organizing thrombi.
Synthesis and Characterization of Gold Nanoparticles with Plasmon Absorbance Wavelength Tunable from Visible to Near Infrared Region

Gold nanorods with localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) can be chemically synthesized. We systematically investigated the effects of reaction parameters and centrifugation on the fine tuning of the rod dimension in scale-up production (80–100 mL). Nanorods of absorption bands from 600–1050 nm were fabricated with precise control of the aspect ratio (AR) from 1.5 to 8.9. Although all chemicals are important in directing the nanostructure, silver ion concentration and seed/Au3
THE CASE OF THE CRITICS WHO MISSED THE POINT: A REPLY TO WEBSTER ET AL.*

Webster et al.’s (2006) critique of my work with Daniel Kessler largely misses the point of the original article. In reading Webster et al., one is led to believe that our conclusions were based primarily, or even exclusively, on an analysis of the timing and magnitude of fluctuations in crimes covered by Proposition 8 in California before and after the law went into effect. This is simply not the case. We could not have been more explicit in our original article in emphasizing that inference based on that source of variation is likely to be highly misleading.1 The results we report in the original article are based on comparisons of eligible and noneligible crimes, and the differential patterns of these sets of crimes inside and outside of California. Webster et al. is an article that largely is devoted to criticizing us for a set of arguments we simply never made. Nothing in Webster et al. calls into question the analysis that we actually did carry out. When I replicate the original analysis, adding additional years of data or using monthly data rather than annual data, as Webster et al. suggest, the results remain completely consistent with the findings originally reported in Kessler and Levitt (1999).
Self-powered photon source

In this paper, we present preliminary results on photon generation using the kinetic energy of electrons emitted from radioactive /sup 63/Ni thin films, demonstrating a self-powered photon source. The aim of this study is to develop a new method to excite the rubidium lamp to meet the low power consumption requirement of the chip-scale atomic clock. Air, neon, and xenon gases are pumped into a macroscopic and micromachined cavities with integrated radioactive /sup 63/Ni thin film sources. Photon emission is measured both with and without magnetic fields to investigate magnetic confinement of the emitted electrons.
Wavelet transform-vector quantization compression of supercomputer ocean models

A new procedure for efficient compression of digital information for storage and transmission purposes involves a discrete wavelet transform subband decomposition of the data set, followed by vector quantization of the wavelet transform coefficients using application-specific vector quantizers. The vector quantizer design optimizes the assignment of both memory resources and vector dimensions to the transform subbands by minimizing an exponential rate-distortion functional subject to constraints on both overall bit-rate and encoder complexity. The method is applicable to the compression of other multidimensional data sets possessing some degree of smoothness. The authors discuss the use of this technique for compressing the output of supercomputer simulations of global climate models. The data presented here comes from Semtner-Chervin global ocean models run at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. >
How much of the increased incidence of heart failure in rheumatoid arthritis is attributable to traditional cardiovascular risk factors and ischemic heart disease

Objective To compare the proportion of the risk for the development of heart failure (HF) that is attributable to traditional cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, ischemic heart disease (IHD), and alcohol abuse between subjects with and subjects without rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods A population-based inception cohort of RA patients was assembled along with a similar cohort of subjects without RA. All individuals were followed up through their complete medical records, until HF incidence, death, migration, or January 1, 2001. The attributable risk of HF was estimated as the difference between the observed cumulative incidence of HF in each cohort (estimated from multivariable Cox models and adjusted for the competing risk of death) and the predicted cumulative incidence of HF in the absence of risk factors, with results expressed as a percentage of the observed cumulative incidence. Results A total of 575 RA subjects and 583 non-RA subjects (mean age 57 years, 73% women) without HF at incidence/index date had a mean followup of 15.1 and 17.0 years, respectively. During that period, 165 RA and 115 non-RA subjects had a first episode of HF, with a cumulative incidence of 36.3% and 20.4%, respectively, at age 80 years. Among non-RA subjects, 77% of the HF at age 80 years was attributable to CV risk factors, IHD, and alcohol abuse combined, whereas among RA subjects, only 54% of the HF at age 80 years was attributable to these factors (P < 0.01). Conclusion The excess risk of HF among RA patients is not explained by an increased frequency or effect of CV risk factors and IHD.
Opioid regulation of the mouse delta-opioid receptor expressed in human embryonic kidney 293 cells.

Opioid analgesics are used extensively in the management of pain. Although the clinically effective opioids bind with high affinity to the μ-opioid receptor, studies have suggested that the δ-opioid agonists might represent more ideal analgesic agents, with fewer side effects. A limitation to opiate effectiveness is the development of tolerance, an event that has been linked to opioid receptor desensitization. To gain a better understanding of δ-receptor agonist regulation, the cloned mouse δ receptor was stably expressed in human embryonic kidney 293 cells, and the functional effects of agonist pretreatment were examined. With a 3-hr pretreatment protocol, the δ-selective agonists [d-Pen2,d-Pen5]enkephalin, [d-Ala2,d-Leu5]enkephalin, and [d-Ser2,Leu5]enkephalin-Thr and the nonselective opioids levorphanol, etorphine, and ethylketocyclazocine were found to desensitize δ receptors. [dPen2,d-Pen5]enkephalin, [d-Ser2,Leu5]enkephalin-Thr, [d-Ala2,d-Leu5]enkephalin, and etorphine treatments also caused a pronounced internalization of the epitope-tagged δ receptor, suggesting that the desensitization and internalization may be related. In contrast, levorphanol pretreatment did not internalize the receptor but still resulted in a 400-fold reduction in potency, suggesting that prolonged treatment with levorphanol only uncoupled the δ receptor from adenylyl cyclase. In contrast to the desensitization induced by peptide-selective δ agonists, pretreatment with the δ-selective nonpeptide agonist 7-spiroindanyloxymorphone and morphine sensitized the opioid inhibition of forskolin-stimulated cAMP accumulation. This differential regulation of the δ receptor may be due to variations in the ability of agonists to bind to the receptor. This hypothesis was supported by the finding that a point mutation that converted Asp128 to Asn128 (D128N) diminished the ability of δ-selective agonists to inhibit cAMP accumulation while increasing the potency of morphine to reduce cAMP accumulation. In particular, a lack of desensitization of the δ receptor by morphine may contribute to our understanding of the molecular basis of development of morphine-induced tolerance and dependence.
The Structure of the Tessera; the Unit Structure of Murein Wall

To enclose the surface area of a bacterium, a very large number of the penta-muropeptides have to be covalently linked together. This fabric can either be considered to be a network or as a porous material containing a large number of pores. The smallest functional unit of surface around a pore, delimited by a ring of covalently linked atoms, is called a tessera. The covalent structure of the tessera has a rigid, strong structure resulting from its formation from ten disaccharide penta-muropeptides. There are two muropeptide pairs linked to each other to form two nona-muropeptides, two muropeptides point above the surface plane, two of them point below, and two point outward within the plane and are part of other tesserae.
On the second-order statistics of the weighted sample covariance matrix

The second-order statistics of the sample covariance are encountered in many covariance based processing algorithms. This paper derives closed-form expressions for the covariance of the weighted sample covariance matrix with an arbitrary weight for both a real system and complex system. Given a system model, the results explicitly rely on the second-order and fourth-order statistics of the channel noise and inputs. They are shown to coincide with the existing results when the channel inputs and noise are Gaussian distributed. Our results can be directly applied to analyze the statistical properties of subspace-based channel estimation methods for single-input multiple-output (SIMO) systems and code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems. Numerical examples are provided to further verify analyses.
Low-temperature magnetic properties of siderite and magnetite in marine sediments

Low temperature magnetic techniques provide useful tools to detect the presence of magnetite and pyrrhotite in sediments through identification of their low temperature transitions, to determine the amount of ultrafine-grained (superparamagnetic) material in sediments, and can potentially detect the presence of certain types of magnetotactic bacteria. Application of these types of experiments to nannofossil chalks from beneath the Barbados accretionary prism led to some unusual results, which are attributed to the presence of siderite. Thermal demagnetization of low-temperature remanence after cooling in zero field and in a 2.5 T field both displayed large remanence losses from 20 K to 40 K. Below 40 K, the magnetization of the chalks was much higher in the field-cooled experiments than in the zero-field-cooled experiments. Low temperature hysteresis experiments, made after cooling in a 2.5 T field, displayed offsets in magnetization parallel to the direction of the initial applied field, when measured below 40 K. The offset loops can be due to either an exchange anisotropy between siderite and magnetite phases in the sediments, a defect moment in the siderites, or a canted moment in the siderites. Apparent similarity between the low-temperature thermal demagnetization results from these siderite-bearing sediments, pure siderite, and pure rhodochrosite samples and the well-known 34 K transition in pyrrhotite should lead to caution in identification of pyrrhotite in marine sediments based on low-temperature remanence studies alone.
Measurement Acquiescence

Measuring software development productivity is difficult, but it's not impossible. It's prone to misuse and misinterpretation, and highly portable, precise measures are elusive. But we can still implement meaningful measures, provided we understand why we're doing it and provided we're aware of their limitations.
Sapacitabine in acute myelogenous leukemia

Introduction: The treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia remains challenging, especially in older adults or those unfit for intensive induction therapy or allogeneic stem cell transplant. Sapacitabine is a novel, rationally-designed, orally administered nucleoside analog that has shown promising activity in early clinical trials in acute myelogenous leukemia. Areas covered: This review covers the biochemical and pharmacologic properties of the drug with a focus on the clinical activity, safety and tolerability of sapacitabine in the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia. Expert opinion: Sapacitabine is a promising orally administered drug in the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia. While clinical data have failed to show significant benefit as a single agent, the drug has demonstrated clinical activity as monotherapy. Early clinical data has shown encouraging results in combinations with other agents.
The Atomistic and Quantum Mechanical Origins of Light-Induced Defects in a-Si

We present an atomistic and quantum mechanical model of light-induced defects (the Staebler-Wronski effect). The model is based in part on our observations of molecular dynamics simulations with an ab initio code and requires a change in the charge of a well localized state in the gap, such as a dangling bond, to nucleate the new defects. Besides the new defects, a substantial rearrangement of the supercell is observed.
A strategy for studying differential vulnerability to the psychological consequences of stress.

It is important to examine the possibility .that relationships between commonly studied status indicators and psychological distress indicators are due, in part or wholly, to differences in the impacts of comparable stressor events and situations on people in different status categories. This paper describes and illustrates a strategy for doing this and argues that the systematic existence of impact differentials helps explain the commonly observed relationships between certain social statuses and psychological distress.
Bold, Sedentary Fathead Minnows Have More Parasites.

Abstract Parasites that rely on trophic transmission can manipulate the behavior of an intermediate host to compromise the host's antipredator competence and increase the probability of reaching the next host. Selection for parasite manipulation is diminished when there is significant risk of host death to causes other than consumption by a suitable definitive host for the parasite. Consequently, behavioral manipulation by parasites can be expected to be subtle. Ornithodiplostomum ptychocheilus (Op) is a trematode parasite that has a bird–snail–fish host life cycle. Fathead minnows are a common intermediate host of Op, where metacercariae encyst in the minnow brain. In this study, we report a link between metacercarial intensity and behavior in fathead minnows. In the field, we found that roaming distance by free-living minnows over 24 h was negatively correlated with parasite intensity. In the laboratory, we found that boldness in an open field test was positively correlated with parasite intensity. Thes...
Application of Excel In Urine Fluorine Examination Result Computation

Objective Carries on the result computation to the examination data using the computer, convenient for the data preservation and the checkup, enhances the working efficiency.Methods Examination working curve was manufactured and regression equation was extracted with the graph guide of Excel;Correlation coefficient was obtained with CORREL;Computation to the examination result was carried on with POWER.Results Dispersion degree of each point on working curve was displayed directly.The complex result operation was simplified.The input errors were revised as necessary.The graph and formula were preserved.The computation to the examination data was carried on automatically for the next time.Conclusion It's convenient and intuitionistic to calculate the urine fluorine examination result with Excel, and it's fast and accurate to preserve data graph and formula.This method is practical, worth promoting and applicating.