cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Polytetrafluoroethylene Is a Safe and Effective Interposition Conduit for Caval Reconstruction After Resection of Primary Leiomyosarcoma of the Inferior Vena Cava.

Background Primary leiomyosarcoma of the inferior vena cava (IVC) is a rare soft tissue sarcoma. Techniques for caval reconstruction after tumor resection vary widely. Our single-center experience serves as one of the largest reviews of caval reconstruction using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) interposition grafts published in the past 10 years. Methods We conducted a single-center retrospective review of all patients who had undergone surgical resection of IVC leiomyosarcomas since January 1, 2007. Information regarding the procedure and patient-specific data was obtained from the institution's electronic medical record. Results We identified 4 patients (3 women and 1 man) who had undergone surgical resection for IVC leiomyosarcoma with PTFE graft reconstruction. Adjunct procedures (i.e., arteriovenous fistulas) were not used to maintain graft patency. There was no perioperative mortality within our patient population. One patient returned within 30 days with an acute kidney injury associated with a partially occlusive thrombus in the proximal part of the PTFE conduit. Another patient was found to have infolding of the PTFE graft due to inappropriate graft oversizing at the time of the index operation. Two patients developed distant metastases within a year of surgery, despite having tumor-free margins at the time of the initial operation. All the PTFE interposition grafts remained patent throughout the follow-up without the need for an additional intervention. Conclusions PTFE interposition graft may be a safe and effective conduit for caval reconstruction after resection of a primary leiomyosarcoma of the IVC, but further research is necessary to establish appropriate management guidelines.
Age of 40 Years or Older Does Not Affect Meniscal Repair Failure Risk at 5 Years

Purpose To compare meniscal repair failure rates in patients aged 40 years or older versus patients younger than 40 years. Methods A total of 276 patients underwent meniscal repair surgery by a single sports medicine fellowship–trained surgeon between 2006 and 2012 and were eligible for study inclusion. Patients were followed up for meniscal repair failure, defined as meniscectomy, repeated meniscal repair, or total knee arthroplasty. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the risk of failure while controlling for potential confounding variables including body mass index, sex, anterior cruciate ligament status, time from injury to surgery, number of implants used, tear pattern, and chondral status at the time of the repair. Results Among the 276 eligible patients, 221 (80%) were successfully contacted for follow-up at an average of 5 years after surgery. Of these patients, 56 were aged 40 years or older (mean, 47.2 years; standard deviation [SD], 5.3 years) and 165 were younger than 40 years (mean, 24.7 years; SD, 6.7 years). The overall meniscal repair failure rate over a 5-year period was 20%. Among patients aged 40 years or older, the failure risk was 18% versus 21% in patients younger than 40 years. After adjustment for confounding variables, age of 40 years or older was not associated with increased failure risk (adjusted odds ratio, 0.83; 95% confidence interval, 0.36-1.81; P = .65). The mean time to failure tended to be shorter in older patients, at 16.9 months (SD, 10.2 months) versus 28.5 months in the group younger than 40 years (SD, 23.3 months) (P = .04). Conclusions Age of 40 years or older is not associated with an increased risk of meniscal repair failure at 5 years, although a shorter time to failure was noted in this age cohort. Level of Evidence Level III, retrospective comparative study.
The Sobered Sibyl: Gender, Apocalypse, and Hair in Dio Chrysostom’s Discourse 1 and the Shepherd of Hermas

Among Ann Matter’s many contributions to medieval studies are her investigations of women political prophets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These women had a long prehistory in women seers of antiquity, particularly Virgil’s Sibyl of Cumae, whose role in legitimating the Roman order carried her personae into the early Christian imagination and on into the medieval thought world. Two texts of the early second century CE appropriated and modified the paradigmatic features of the Sibyl to create women prophets whose appearance signaled an end to one world and the dawn of another. Dio Chrysostom’s Discourse 1 and the Shepherd of Hermas, like Aeneid 6, display features central to Jewish and Christian apocalypses. Each includes a woman mediator whose garb and hair are significant indices of her prophetic status. While Virgil’s Sibyl’s loosened hair and tossing head are proofs of the mania which was understood to validate prophecy, the women prophets of Dio and Hermas warrant both predictions and instruction in virtue by their controlled hair and decorous demeanor.
Culture Change in Skilled Nursing: An Exploratory Comparison of a Traditional Home to a New Model

AbstractThe culture change movement has pushed for reform for more than two decades to align policy, the long-term care industry, and resident preferences with regard to care. Evidence from researc...
Biophysical comparison of ATP-driven proton pumping mechanisms suggests a kinetic advantage for the rotary process depending on coupling ratio

ATP-driven proton pumps, which are critical to the operation of a cell, maintain cytosolic and organellar pH levels within a narrow functional range. These pumps employ two very different mechanisms: an elaborate rotary mechanism used by V-ATPase H+ pumps, and a simpler alternating access mechanism used by P-ATPase H+ pumps. Why are two different mechanisms used to perform the same function? Systematic analysis, without parameter fitting, of kinetic models of the rotary, alternating access and other possible mechanisms suggest that, when the ratio of protons transported per ATP hydrolyzed exceeds one, the one-at-a-time proton transport by the rotary mechanism is faster than other possible mechanisms across a wide range of driving conditions. When the ratio is one, there is no intrinsic difference in the free energy landscape between mechanisms, and therefore all mechanisms can exhibit the same kinetic performance. To our knowledge all known rotary pumps have an H+:ATP ratio greater than one, and all known alternating access ATP-driven proton pumps have a ratio of one. Our analysis suggests a possible explanation for this apparent relationship between coupling ratio and mechanism. When the conditions under which the pump must operate permit a coupling ratio greater than one, the rotary mechanism may have been selected for its kinetic advantage. On the other hand, when conditions require a coupling ratio of one or less, the alternating access mechanism may have been selected for other possible advantages resulting from its structural and functional simplicity.
Sea Level Rise and the Future of the Pacific Islands

Humans have successfully survived, subdued, conquered, and flourished for thousands of years without worrying much about the future. When once the world was vast and humans few, and when once nature was mighty and humans puny, there was not much need (much less possibility) to worry about the future. Whatever was to come had already happened—“As it was in the beginning is now and ever more shall be, world without change, ah me.”
An Approximate Communication Framework for Network-on-Chips

Current multi-/many-core systems spend large amounts of time and power transmitting data across on-chip interconnects. This problem is aggravated when data-intensive applications, such as machine learning and pattern recognition, are executed in these systems. Recent studies show that some data-intensive applications can tolerate modest errors, thus opening a new design dimension, namely, trading result quality for better system performance. In this article, we explore application error tolerance and propose an approximate communication framework to reduce the power consumption and latency of network-on-chips (NoCs). The proposed framework incorporates a quality control method and a data approximation mechanism to reduce the packet size to decrease network power consumption and latency. The quality control method automatically identifies the error-resilient variables that can be approximated during transmission and calculates their error thresholds based on the quality requirements of the application by analyzing the source code. The data approximation method includes a lightweight lossy compression scheme, which significantly reduces packet size when the error-resilient variables are transmitted. This framework results in fewer flits in each data packet and reduces traffic in NoCs while guaranteeing the quality requirements of applications. Our cycle-accurate simulation using the AxBench benchmark suite shows that the proposed approximate communication framework achieves 62 percent latency reduction and 43 percent dynamic power reduction compared to previous approximate communication techniques while ensuring 95 percent result quality.
An Innovative Approach to Increasing Vaccination Rates in a Primary Care Clinic

As a pediatric primary care clinic (PPCC) and level 3 patient centered medical home, our goal aligns with the mission of our hospital - to improve the health and well being of children by protecting them from vaccine preventable diseases. Although compliance with vaccinations is relatively easy to achieve for adolescents who come in for appointments, adolescents who do not come in for needed clinic services fall short. Innovative strategies were employed to mitigate barriers and …
Social Exchange and the Formation of Prison Visitation Communities

Family members and significant others of incarcerated individuals suffer when their loved ones are incarcerated. The loss of a parent, sibling, child, spouse, or partner to incarceration can be painful. If they wish to stay physically connected to an incarcerated individual, visitation is their only recourse. Visiting a prison can be costly in terms of the amount of time it takes to travel to the facility, the total expenses incurred during travel, and the socio-emotional effects of limited contact. On top of these costs, visitation can be an intricate process to navigate due to the multitude of facility rules and the difficulty of preparing for them. Overlooking even one rule can result in denial of entry, ending a visitation before it even starts. Inexperienced visitors are at a particular disadvantage because of their lack of familiarity with the formal and informal rules of a secure facility. The strictness of facility policies and staff charged with enforcing them places visitors with experience in a position to offer valued resources to new visitors. Resources can be socioemotional, informational, material, or economic benefits that help visitors navigate a successful visitation. This study uses interviews with relatives and significant others of currently or formerly incarcerated individuals to explore the social exchanges that occur between visitors to prisons.
Bitter Taste Receptors and Chronic Otitis Media

ObjectiveTo evaluate the presence of bitter taste receptors (T2Rs) in the middle ear and to examine their relationship with chronic ear infections.Study DesignCross-sectional study.SettingTertiary ...
Alimentos Ciencia e Ingeniería 11-1

El concepto de innovacion ha ido evolucionando a lo largo de los ultimos cincuenta anos hasta entenderse en la actualidad como un proceso social que involucra a multiples actores. La innovacion no solo depende del conocimiento cientifico o tecnologico, sino de la estructura productiva y de las condiciones del contexto economico, social y politico. La innovacion entendida como cambio en los bienes y servicios, en la organizacion y en las pautas y comportamientos sociales implica la elaboracion de estrategias, el diseno de instrumentos de fomento y la positiva percepcion de los agentes sociales y de los ciudadanos. La evolucion en la forma de entender la innovacion se ha acompanado de la progresiva concrecion del concepto de los sistemas nacionales de innovacion. Los sistemas nacionales o regionales de innovacion constituyen los espacios politicos, legales, financieros e idiosincraticos en los que se desenvuelven las interacciones entre universidades organizaciones, empresas y agentes sociales para propiciar la canalizacion de ofertas y demandas; asi como los procesos y flujos de produccion, difusion, transferencia e incorporacion de nuevos conocimientos cientificos y tecnologicos. Los sistemas de innovacion son las incubadoras en las que se facilitan los procesos de innovacion. La explicitacion de las innovaciones tiene siempre una dimension local en la medida en lo que lo “nuevo” es relativo y dependiente de las circunstancias dominantes en cada lugar. Sin embargo la rapida difusion de las innovaciones propiciada por la transnacionalizacion de la produccion, la apertura comercial y la mundializacion de la informacion y la comunicacion han concebido a numerosas innovaciones una dimension global.
How American Attitudes about Race, Ethnicity, and Gender affect the Health and Wellbeing of Black-African Refugee Men in the United States :

More than half of all refugees currently resettled in the United States are racial-ethnic-minority men. Yetrefugee health scholarship has not fully explored racial ethnic minority refugee men's encounters with resettlement environment norms about race, ethnicity and gender. This paper describes an intersectional-informed qualitative study of the daily stressors experienced by Black-African refugee men in the United States to explain how such experiences impact their health and wellbeing. These men’s life narratives illumi-nate how stigma and discrimination associated with race, ethnicity, gender affect their health and wellbeing during resettlement. These findings offer evidence that the realities of ethnic minority refugee men in the United States, while unique, can contribute to broader discourses about minority men’s health inequities.
Team Sport Participation Protects Against Burnout During Neurosurgery Training: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Objective Burnout is experienced by up to two thirds of neurosurgery residents. Team sport participation as an adolescent protects against adverse mental health outcomes in adulthood. The objective of this study was to determine whether high school or collegiate team sport participation is associated with improved psychological well-being during neurosurgery residency. Methods A cross-sectional survey study of U.S. neurosurgery residents was conducted between June 2020 and February 2021. Outcomes included self-ratings of sadness, anxiety, stress, burnout, optimism, and fulfillment, on 100-point scales, which were averaged into a “Burnout Composite Score” (BCS). Respondents were grouped and compared according to their prior self-reported participation in team sports (participants vs. nonparticipants). A 3-way analysis of variance tested the effects of resident level, exercise days, and team sport participation on BCS. Results Of 229 submitted responses, 228 (99.5%) provided complete data and 185 (81.1%) residents participated in team sports. Days/week of exercise was similar across groups (2.5 ± 1.8 vs. 2.1 ± 1.8, P = 0.20). The team sport group reported lower mean BCS (37.1 vs. 43.6 P = 0.030, Cohen d = 0.369). There was a significant interaction between prior team sport participation and exercise regimen on BCS (F [3, 211] = 3.39, P = 0.019, n2 = 0.046), such that more exercise days per week was associated with decreased BCS for prior team sport athletes (F [3, 211] = 11.10, P Conclusions Prior team sport participation was associated with lower BCS among neurosurgery residents, an effect more pronounced during senior residency. Lessons imparted during early team sport experience may have profound impacts on reducing burnout throughout a 7-year neurosurgery residency.
Effects of botulinum A toxin on detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia in spinal cord injury patients

AbstractWe evaluated the ability of low doses of botulinum A toxin, an inhibitor of acetylcholine release at the neuromuscular junction, to denervate and relax the spastic rhabdosphincter in 11 men with spinal cord injury and detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia. Toxin concentration, injection volume, percutaneous versus cystoscopic injection of the sphincter and number of injections were evaluated in 3 treatment protocols.All 10 patients evaluated by electromyography after injection showed signs of sphincter denervation. Bulbosphincteric reflexes in the 10 patients evaluated after injection were more difficult to obtain, and they showed a decreased amplitude and normal latency. The urethral pressure profile in the 7 patients in whom it was measured before and after treatment decreased an average of 27cm. water after toxin injections. Post-void residual urine volume decreased by an average of 146 cc after the toxin injections in 8 patients. In the 8 patients for whom it could be determined toxin effects lasted ...
Long‐Acting Local Anesthetic Agents and Additives: Snake Oil, Voodoo, or the Real Deal?

The onset, spread, density, and duration of a nerve block are functions of what local anesthetic drug is injected, where it is injected, and for how long the nerve is exposed to it. Over the past 27 or more years, as far back as 1988 [1], researchers and companies, initially with topical tetracaine [1], and later as injectable liposomal bupivacaine [2], have been searching for the “magic bullet” to be injected somewhere near a nerve, or infiltrated into tissue, that will eliminate a patient's acute or perioperative pain for as long as the pain lasts without unwanted side effects. The work of the Williams and colleagues, reported in this edition of Pain Medicine , is a further report on such efforts [3–5]. Although we have no or very little evidence of this, which points to a bigger problem eluded upon below, we instinctively know that most pain, especially surgical pain, outlasts our single-injection blocks, and we also know that we have to offer patients nerve blocks that last at least as long as the pain does without causing discomfort and unwanted side effects. Over the years, the challenge of developing a blocking drug that lasts long enough to outlast pain but that does not have similarly long-lasting unwanted side effects has been addressed by combining different drugs and developing new presentations of drugs. Few adjuvant agents, other than perhaps dexamethasone, have stood the test of time [6]. Another attempt was to add epinephrine to the existing arsenal of drugs [7] to cause vasoconstriction and decreased blood flow, thus slowing down the washout of the drugs and increasing the time that the nerve is exposed to the local anesthetic agent. We now know, that epinephrine does not increase the duration of action of bupivacaine or ropivacaine …
Trade Secrets - The New Risks to Trade Secrets Posed by Computerization

The increasing reliance on modern technology has resulted in intellectual property comprising a substantial portion of the business assets of modern commercial enterprises. As a result, enterprises are increasingly utilizing intellectual property laws to protect the value of their intellectual property. Correspondingly, the domain of intellectual property law has expanded to cover more types of intellectual assets. This protection increases the economic value of such assets. Nevertheless, the modern development of technology has adversely affected the value of some intellectual property. For example, the widespread availability of the Internet, coupled with its global reach, allows rapid and inexpensive dissemination of data. As a result, intellectual property that can be converted into digital data can be distributed almost immediately, via the Internet, to literally millions of individuals for negligible cost. This rapid dissemination reduces the ability to control access to intellectual property, which negatively affects its economic value. This article will specifically address the impact of modern technology on one type of intellectual property - trade secrets. Part I will provide an overview of United States trade secrets law; Part II will discuss specific threats to trade secrets posed by the ubiquitous use of computer technology in the modern commercial environment.
Dynamic, ad-hoc source routing with connection-aware link-state exchange and differentiation

We propose an enhancement to DSR, called DSR with Connection-Aware Link-state Exchange aNd DiffERentiation (DSR-CALENDER). Specifically, to effectively collect and disseminate neighbor link states to nodes which may potentially use them, we devise a neighbor link-state information exchange mechanism: once a connection has been established, the neighbor link-state information is exchanged among nodes along the route from the source to the destination. As the information of the neighbor lists is piggybacked in data packets, the nodes on the source route are able to learn the partial topology around the neighborhood of the connection. In this manner, DSR-CALENDER balances the gain obtained from additional neighbor link states and the overhead incurred to distribute them. In the case that link failure occurs, an alternate route can be more effectively located in the route cache of the source or the intermediate nodes, and the number of times the route discovery phase is invoked can be reduced. To improve the quality of route caches, we investigate all possible sources from which a node may learn of its link states, and associate each of the sources with a different level of fidelity. In the case that a new/alternate route has to be computed, the level of fidelity is figured into the link cost so as to locate a route that likely exists. The simulation results show that with limited overhead incurred in neighbor list dissemination, DSR-CALENDER outperforms DSR with either path or link caches in terms of packet delivery ratio and route discovery overhead.
A new testing tool for power electronic digital control

Digital control systems require sophisticated testing procedures before final implementation. Various procedures for rapid prototyping have been proposed. However, in many cases they focus on implementation into platforms that are different from the final target. In this paper, we focus on a testing procedure for micro-controller-based control where the real final target is adopted for software testing. The test is performed without real-time constraint so that it can be performed with conventional hardware available in any office desktop. At the same time, information about real-time execution is extracted, which is a significant advantage over simulation environments.
Mediation and mini‐trial of construction disputes

Addressed in the paper are specific attitudes and experiences of construction lawyers using mediation and mini‐trial techniques. The paper represents one of the first empirical investigations of non‐binding dispute resolution in the construction field.
Survival of Arthrobacter crystallopoietes During Prolonged Periods of Extreme Desiccation

Cells of Arthrobacter crystallopoietes mixed in sand and air-dried have survived for up to 6 months after an initial period in which approximately half the cells lost their viability. Comparative survival curves have been obtained from inoculated sands maintained under CaSO4 or P2O5. Selections for more desiccation-resistant progeny capable of surviving the initial period were unsuccessful. Both the coccoid and rod-shaped forms are equally resistant to several months of desiccation. Desiccated spherical cells converted 0.0005% of their cell carbon to carbon dioxide per hr, which corresponds to a half-life for self-consumption of approximately 12 years.
Near field radiation characteristics of implantable square spiral chip inductor antennas for bio-sensors

This work presents the experimental characterization of implantable square spiral chip inductor antennas (SSCIA) in free space. Results indicate that the measured near field relative signal strength of the SSCIA agrees with simulated results and confirm that in the near field region the radiation field is fairly uniform in all directions. The results show the applicability of SSCIA for the intended application.
Boojums in superfluid /sup 3/He-A and cholesteric liquid crystals

Because of the similarity of their order parameters, there are close analogies between defects of $^{3}\mathrm{He}$-$A$ and cholesteric liquid crystals. In particular, boojums, originally predicted for $^{3}\mathrm{He}$-$A$, should exist as well in cholesterics. Certain textures experimentally observed and reported in the literature are identified as boojums. A topological analysis is given, and the effects of boojums on dynamical properties of cholesterics are discussed.
Velocity distributions of intact high mass polypeptide molecule ions produced by matrix assisted laser desorption

Abstract The velocity distributions of polypeptide molecule ions (molecular mass 1000–15600 u) produced by matrix assisted ultraviolet laser desorption were measured using a modified time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The data demonstrate that polypeptide molecule ions produced by matrix assisted laser desorption at the ion production threshold irradiance have similar velocity distributions, with an average velocity of approximately 750 m/s. This result has important implications for the design of mass spectrometers that use the effect to generate polypeptide molecule ions and for the theoretical treatment of the laser desorption process. A jet expansion model for the desorption of high mass polymers is proposed to explain the results.
Effect of Reactive Graphitic Nanofibers (r-GNFs) on Tensile Behavior of UHMWPE Fiber/Nano-Epoxy Bundle Composites

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers have good mechanical and physical properties and effective radiation shielding functions, which are significant for aerospace structures. In our previous work, nano-epoxy matrices were developed based on addition of reactive graphitic nanofibers (r-GNFs) in a diluent to form a blend. It is found that improved wettability and enhanced adhesion of the matrices to UHMWPE fibers can be obtained. In this study, a series of nano-epoxy matrices with different concentrations of r-GNFs (up to 0.8 wt%) and different weight ratios of r-GNFs to a reactive diluent (1:4, 1:6, 1:7, and 1:9) were prepared. Composite bundle specimens of UHMWPE fiber/nano-epoxy were fabricated and their tensile behavior was investigated. All load-displacement curves of the UHMWPE/nano-matrix bundle composites under tensile loading showed three regions corresponding to the three deformation and failure stages of the materials: 1) elastic deformation stage, 2) plateau stage, and 3) UHM...
Complexity of the deep San Andreas Fault zone defined by cascading tremor

Seismic tremors can be used to distinguish plate boundaries. Analysis of tremors occurring deep beneath the San Andreas Fault may identify the boundary between the North American Plate and the preserved remnant of a subducted slab.
Sequence of steps in the pitting of aluminum by chloride ions

Corrosion pit initiation in chloride solutions is given by an electrode kinetic model which takes into account adsorption of chloride ions on the oxide surface, penetration of chloride ions through the oxide film, and localized dissolution of aluminum at the metal/oxide interface in consecutive one-electron transfer reactions. A previous model has been extended here to consider that penetration of chloride ions can occur by oxide film dissolution as well as by migration through oxygen vacancies. Pit initiation occurs by chloride-assisted localized dissolution at the oxide/metal interface. The electrode kinetic model leads to a mathematical expression which shows that the critical pitting potential is a linear function of the logarithm of the chloride concentration (at constant pH), in agreement with experiment. The model also predicts that the critical pitting potential is independent of pH (at constant chloride concentration), also in agreement with experiment. Corrosion pit propagation leads to formation of blisters beneath the oxide film due to localized reactions which produce an acidic localized environment. The blisters subsequently rupture due to the formation of hydrogen gas in the occluded corrosion cell. Calculation of the local pH within a blister from the calculated hydrogen pressure within the blister gives pH values in the range 0.85 to 2.3. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Mechanistic studies on DNA photolyase VIII: Studies on the fragmentation of the radical anion and cation of a uracil-alkene photoadduct

Abstract A uracil-alkene photoadduct was prepared and the possibility of alkene extrusion from the corresponding radical anion and cation was examined
Accelerating dissipative particle dynamics simulations on GPUs: Algorithms, numerics and applications

Abstract We present a scalable dissipative particle dynamics simulation code, fully implemented on the Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) using a hybrid CUDA/MPI programming model, which achieves 10–30 times speedup on a single GPU over 16 CPU cores and almost linear weak scaling across a thousand nodes. A unified framework is developed within which the efficient generation of the neighbor list and maintaining particle data locality are addressed. Our algorithm generates strictly ordered neighbor lists in parallel, while the construction is deterministic and makes no use of atomic operations or sorting. Such neighbor list leads to optimal data loading efficiency when combined with a two-level particle reordering scheme. A faster in situ generation scheme for Gaussian random numbers is proposed using precomputed binary signatures. We designed custom transcendental functions that are fast and accurate for evaluating the pairwise interaction. The correctness and accuracy of the code is verified through a set of test cases simulating Poiseuille flow and spontaneous vesicle formation. Computer benchmarks demonstrate the speedup of our implementation over the CPU implementation as well as strong and weak scalability. A large-scale simulation of spontaneous vesicle formation consisting of 128 million particles was conducted to further illustrate the practicality of our code in real-world applications. Program summary Program title: GPU-accelerated DPD Package for LAMMPS Catalogue identifier: AETN_v1_0 Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AETN_v1_0.html Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen’s University, Belfast, N. Ireland Licensing provisions: GNU General Public License, version 3 No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 1 602 716 No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 26 489 166 Distribution format: tar.gz Programming language: C/C++, CUDA C/C++, MPI. Computer: Any computers having nVidia GPGPUs with compute capability 3.0. Operating system: Linux. Has the code been vectorized or parallelized?: Yes. Number of processors used: 1024 16-core CPUs and 1024 GPUs RAM: 500 Mbytes host memory, 2 Gbytes device memory Supplementary material: The data for the examples discussed in the manuscript is available for download. Classification: 6.5, 12, 16.1, 16.11. Nature of problem: Particle-based simulation of mesoscale systems involving nano/micro-fluids, polymers and spontaneous self-assembly process. Solution method: The system is approximated by a number of coarse-grained particles interacting through pairwise potentials and bonded potentials. Classical mechanics is assumed following Newton’s laws. The evolution of the system is integrated using a time-stepping scheme such as Velocity-Verlet. Restrictions: The code runs only on CUDA GPGPUs with compute capability 3.0. Unusual features: Fully implemented on GPGPUs with significant speedup. Running time: 78 h using 1024 GPGPUs for simulating a 128-million-particle system for 18.4 million time steps.
Long‐term clinical outcome after implantation of medium Palmaz (biliary) stents in very large native coronary arteries

Intracoronary stenting has been shown to improve acute and long-term clinical results compared with coronary angioplasty. However, clinical outcome after medium Palmaz biliary (PB) stent implantation in very large native coronary arteries (> 4 mm in diameter) is unknown. This study evaluated restenosis and long-term clinical outcome after PB stenting in large native coronary arteries. Between June 1993 and December 1998, 55 patients with 56 lesions were treated with PB stents. Intracoronary stent deployment was successful in all 56 vessels attempted (100%). The mean stenosis was reduced from 65% ± 10% to 4% ± 14%. In 48 of the 56 vessels (86%), vessel size was greater than 4.0 mm in diameter and the mean reference vessel diameter was 4.73 ± 0.7 mm after stenting. Angiographic success was achieved in 100%. Five patients had postprocedural cardiac enzyme elevation. There was no periprocedural death, emergency coronary artery bypass surgery, repeat target lesion revascularization, or acute stent thrombosis. Long-term clinical follow-up at mean of 28 ± 15 months was obtained in 96% of the patients. Clinical restenosis rate occurred in 18% of ostial (6/34) and 0% of nonostial (0/22) lesions (P < 0.0001) with an overall clinical restenosis rate of 11%. Repeat angioplasty were performed in these six patients. There were three cardiac and three noncardiac deaths. The overall event-free survival at 1 and 3 years was 92% ± 4% and 80% ± 6%, respectively. PB stent implantation in very large native coronary arteries can be performed with a high degree of procedural success and low in-hospital complications. The long-term clinical outcome of patients undergoing PB stenting is associated with excellent event-free survival. However, stenting of ostial lesions remains as an important factor for restenosis even in very large coronary artery stenting.
Abused parents: A hidden family problem

Within the past two decades, professionals from all persuasions have focused attention on the extent and impact of violence within the family. Most of these efforts, however, have been directed to child and spouse abuse. Abuse of elderly parents by their adult children has only recently come to the attention of lay and professional communities. Consequently much less is known about these elderly victims and their circumstances. The purpose of this paper is to explore the following: characteristics of elderly victims and their perpetrators, frequency of the act, factors that may cause abuse, intervention strategies, and policy concern that impact on this life-threatening behavior. Suggestions for future work in this area are offered.
Permethylation Linkage Analysis Techniques for Residual Carbohydrates

Permethylation analysis is the classic approach to establishing the position of glycosidic linkages between sugar residues. Typically, the carbohydrate is derivatized to form acid-stable methyl ethers, hydrolyzed, peracetylated, and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The position of glycosidic linkages in the starting carbohydrate are apparent from the mass spectra as determined by the location of acetyl residues. The completeness of permethylation is dependent upon the choice of base catalyst and is readily confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry mass spectrometry. For the permethylation of β-cyclodextrin, Hakomori dimsyl base is shown to be superior to the NaOH-dimethyl sulfoxide system, and the use of the latter resulted in selective under-methylation of the 3-hydroxy groups. These techniques are highly applicable to residual carbohydrates from biofuel processes.
Mercury accumulation in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides Lacépède) within marsh ecosystems of the Florida Everglades, USA

This study evaluates factors, particularly water quality related, that may influence mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation in largemouth bass (LMB, Micropterus salmoides Lacepede) within the Everglades marshes of South Florida. The investigation is an empirical analysis of ambient data from both long-term fish monitoring and marsh water quality monitoring sites across the Everglades Protection Area. Previous Hg studies of Everglade's marsh biota have focused on the role that sulfate plays in Hg bioaccumulation. While sulfate can be important under some environmental conditions, this empirical analysis in Everglades marshes showed that sulfate has little association with Hg concentrations in LMB. It is suggested that other water quality variables including water pH, alkalinity and specific conductance may have as much or more influence in the accumulation of Hg in LMB. Furthermore, tissue Hg concentration normalized to body-weight and age-specific growth rates were significantly correlated with Water Conservation Area (WCA)-1, WCA-2 and Everglades National Park (ENP) but not WCA-3. However, body condition was correlated negatively with Hg concentration only within WCA-2, WCA-3 and ENP; the relationship was not significant within WCA-1. This disparity between Hg concentration and body condition could be attributed to ecological effects including water quality and quantity conditions within each compartment of the system that are significant driving forces for biota abundance, trophic structure and distribution within the Everglades ecosystem. While water quality and quantity are important, trophic position of LMB has the potential to influence Hg accumulation dynamics. In spite of documented biogeochemical linkages to Hg accumulation, this empirical analysis did not demonstrate enough quantitative interaction to be useful for Hg management in the Everglades ecosystem.
An odorant-suppressed Cl- conductance in lobster olfactory receptor cells.

Odorants evoke an outward current in cultured lobster olfactory receptor neurons voltage clamped at –60 mV. The reversal potential of the outward current is independent of the reversal potential of potassium, but shifts with imposed changes in the reversal potential of chloride. The slope of the current-voltage relationship is negative, suggesting that the current is mediated by the odorant suppressing a steady-state conductance. Anthracene-9-carboxylic acid, a specific chloride channel blocker, reversibly inhibits the steady-state conductance. Local application of odorants to the outer dendrites evokes a hyperpolarizing receptor potential in lobster olfactory receptor neurons current-clamped at –70 mV in situ. Consistent with the current characterized in the cultured cells, hyperpolarizing receptor potentials in some cells are voltage sensitive, blocked by anthracene-9-carboxylic acid and associated with a decrease in membrane conductance. These results support the hypothesis that odorants suppress a steady-state chloride conductance in lobster olfactory receptor neurons. Evidence that the chloride conductance can coexist with a 4-aminopyridine-blockable potassium conductance reported earlier in these cells suggests that two distinct mechanisms can mediate odorant-evoked inhibition in lobster olfactory receptor neurons.
Convection enhanced drug delivery of BDNF through a microcannula in a rodent model to strengthen connectivity of a peripheral motor nerve bridge model to bypass spinal cord injury

Models employing peripheral nerve to bypass spinal cord injury (SCI), although highly promising, may benefit from improved nerve regeneration and motor bridge connectivity. Recent studies have demonstrated that neuronal growth factor-induced enhancement of endogenous neurorestoration may improve neuronal connectivity after severe neurologic injury, particularly if delivered intraparenchymally with zero-order kinetics. We sought to investigate the effect of convection-enhanced delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neuronal growth factor, on the connectivity of a peripheral motor-nerve bridge in a rodent model using electrophysiology and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Spinal cords of 29 female rats were hemisected at the L1 level. Ipsilateral T13 peripheral nerves were dissected from their muscular targets distally, while maintaining their connections with the spinal cord, and inserted caudal to the injury site to establish the nerve bridge. A microcannula attached to a six-week mini-osmotic pump was used to deliver either BDNF (n=12), saline (n=14), or fluorescein dye (n=3) directly into the spinal cord parenchyma between the site of nerve insertion and hemisection to a depth of 2mm into the area of the lateral motor pool. After four weeks, gastrocnemius muscle activation was assessed electromyographically in five animals from each group. Spinal cords were harvested and analyzed with IHC for cannula-associated injury, and nerve regeneration. Strength of motor bridge connection was illustrated by electrophysiology data. Intraspinal BDNF levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. IHC revealed increased intraparenchymal BDNF concentration at the nerve bridge insertion site with evidence of minimal trauma from cannulation. BDNF infusion resulted in stronger connections between bridge nerves and spinal motor axons. Bridge nerve electrical stimulation in BDNF-treated rats evoked hind leg electromyogram responses of shorter latency and larger amplitudes than saline-infused controls. Thus, direct convection-assisted delivery provides reliable administration of potent growth factors directly into the spinal cord parenchyma. Delivery of BDNF at the peripheral nerve bridge site results in enhanced connectivity of the peripheral motor bridge in a rodent model of SCI.
New Directions for Vectorial Protein Folding

In vivo, protein folding typically proceeds vectorially, from one end of the polypeptide chain to the other. N- to C-terminal vectorial folding occurs during polypeptide chain synthesis by the ribosome, and transport of unfolded polypeptides through the Sec translocon. C- to N-terminal vectorial folding, while less common, occurs during the maturation of some classes of secreted proteins. For example, members of the autotransporter (AT) family of virulence proteins from Gram-negative bacteria are first secreted across the bacterial inner membrane from N- to C-terminus, and then across the outer membrane from C- to N-terminus. Here we demonstrate that these different folding vectors significantly alter the folding mechanism for pertactin, an archetypal AT protein. Moreover, it is now clear that pertactin and other AT proteins exploit these different folding mechanisms to increase secretion efficiency.
Gamma aminobutyric acid induced changes in the spontaneous firing rates of insect neurons.

γ-Aminobuttersaure (GABA) vermindert die Impulsfrequenz der spontan-aktiven Nervenzellen beim Insekt. Wirksame Konzentrationen betragen 0,1–25 · 10−4M. Ein unerwartetes Ergebnis war die Beobachtung, dass nach Applikation von GABA eine Erhohung der Impulsfrequenz vor der Verminderung stattfindet.
The ultrasound findings in an obstructed afferent loop.

The widest application of abdominal ultrasonography is the determination of location and character of abdominal masses. Retroperitoneal, pancreatic, aortic, hepatic and renal masses have been well described (1). We are reporting a case of an obstructed afferent loop visualized by ultrasound.
Neutrally Charged Gas/Liquid Interface by a Catanionic Langmuir Monolayer

Surface-sensitive synchrotron X-ray scattering and spectroscopic experiments were performed to explore the characteristics of Langmuir monolayers of oppositely charged mixed amphiphiles. A premixed (molar 1:1 stearic acid/stearylamine) solution was spread as a monolayer at the gas/liquid interface on pure water and on mono- and divalent salt solutions, revealing that the negatively charged carboxyl groups and positively charged amine groups are miscible into one another and tend to bond together to form a nearly neutral surface. Similar control experiments on pure stearic acid (SA) and stearylamine (ST) were also conducted for comparison. Due to the strong bonding, hexagonal structures in small domains with acyl-chains normal to the liquid surface are formed at zero surface pressures, that is, at molecular areas much larger than those of the densely packed acyl chains. In-plane X-ray diffraction indicates that the catanionic surface is highly ordered and modifies the structure of the water surface and thu...
Plasmacytoma spleen colonization: a sensitive, quantitative in vivo assay for idiotype-specific immune suppression of MOPC-315.

Abstract A spleen colony-forming assay for the measurement of idiotype-specific transplantation resistance to MOPC-315 is described. The assay is highly quantitative, sensitive, reproducible. less time consuming and distinctly superior to conventional in vivo assays which measure tumor incidence, tumor size, and/or host survival time after tumor challenge. The assay directly measures those clonogenic cells of the MOPC-315 myeloma which have a sufficient proliferative capacity to form macroscopic splenic foci within 14 days after intravenous challenge.
Deoxycoformycin antagonizes ischemia-induced neuronal degeneration.

Abstract Deoxycoformycin, a potent and specific adenosine deaminase antagonist, reduced ischemic hippocampal damage and the associated hypermotility in Mongolian gerbils. Cerebral ischemia was induced by a bilateral 5 min occlusion of the carotid arteries. Deoxycoformycin (500 μg/kg IP), administered 15 min prior to ischemia, prevented the increase in locomotor activity normally observed with this model and significantly reduced the ischemia-induced damage to CA1 hippocampal neurons. The results suggest that deoxycoformycin may be useful in the prevention of brain damage due to cerebral ischemia.
Ontogeny of Clara cell-specific protein and its mRNA: their association with neuroepithelial bodies in human fetal lung and in bronchopulmonary dysplasia.:

Clara cell-specific 10-KD protein (CCSP) is an abundant product of nonciliated bronchiolar epithelial (Clara) cells in the lung. We have determined the temporal-spatial distribution of CCSP and its mRNA in developing human lung and in neonatal lung disease, using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. CCSP immunoreactivity was found in nonciliated bronchiolar epithelial cells from 12 weeks of gestation onward. Tracheal and bronchial epithelia showed positive immunoreactivity at each gestational week after 15 weeks and 14 weeks, respectively. CCSP mRNA was seen in the bronchial and bronchiolar epithelia from 16 weeks onward and was detected in the trachea from 19 through 23 weeks of gestation. CCSP immunoreactivity and mRNA were present in nonciliated single cells of bronchial and bronchiolar epithelia in fetuses and in infants with and without lung disease. CCSP- and CCSP mRNA-containing epithelial cells also formed dusters around neuroepithelial bodies (NEBs), especially at airway branch points, suggesting that NEBs and Clara cells might interact during development and during pulmonary regeneration. Because of evidence of overlapping of some but not all cells expressing CCSP, SP-A, and pro-SP-B during lung development, a common cell lineage is proposed, with subsequent divergence of phenotypes.
An efficient & reconfigurable FPGA and ASIC implementation of a spectral Doppler ultrasound imaging system

Pulsed wave (PW) Doppler ultrasound is a common technique used for making non-invasive velocity measurements of blood flow in humans. Most current PW Doppler ultrasound designs rely on fixed signal processing hardware; greatly limiting their versatility. This paper presents a highly efficient and highly versatile FPGA-based PW spectral Doppler ultrasound system. The system is implemented on a Virtex-5 FPGA using Xilinx's ISE design suite. In order to measure the accuracy of the system, a similar design was implemented in MATLAB. Furthermore, the design was also implemented in 65 nm CMOS ASIC design for performance comparisons. The Virtex-5 design requires 1,159 of 17,280 slice resources and consumes 1.089 watts of power when running at its maximum clock speed of 333 megahertz. The ASIC design has an area of .573 mm2 and consumes 41 mW of power at a maximum clock speed of 1 GHz.