cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A meta-analysis and critical review of the effects of conventional neuroleptic treatment on cognition in schizophrenia: opening a closed book.

Abstract Background In recent years, numerous studies have examined whether new-generation antipsychotic agents impact cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia when compared with conventional antipsychotic treatment. The working assumption of such studies, supported by narrative reviews, is that the conventional antipsychotic medications have little or no effect on cognition. The studies concerning the effects of conventional neuroleptics on cognition, however, have never been analyzed quantitatively. In this meta-analysis, we revisit the question of whether typical agents might have enhancing effects on cognition. Methods The meta-analysis included studies that 1) compared the effects of typical neuroleptic agents with those of placebo or no medication on cognition; 2) examined adult patients identified as having schizophrenia; and 3) produced adequate data to estimate an effect size. Studies were identified by searches of computerized literature databases and by cross-referencing included studies. The effect size calculated was d , the difference between the means in cognitive measures of patients with schizophrenia taking and not taking conventional neuroleptic medication, divided by the pooled SD. Critically, when multiple measures were reported in a single article, effect sizes were combined so as to minimize the possibility that one study had undue weight simply because of the number of cognitive outcome variables that it contained. These results were corrected for bias due to sample size, with each of the effect sizes weighted by the reciprocal of its variance. The final sample after exclusion of outliers comprised 208 effect sizes from 34 studies. Results With a random-effects model, effect sizes from the primary studies were weighted according to sample size and averaged. The resulting mean effect size was .22 (95% confidence interval=.10, .34). The result is positive, in that the range did not include zero and was of low moderate size. No moderating effects of study design or patient qualities were found to be significant. With the same procedures, effect sizes for individual neurocognitive domains were computed. Effect sizes were generally in the .13–.29 range for the majority of cognitive functions, whereas motor function was impacted negatively (−.11). Unexpectedly, medication dose did not correlate with effect size. Conclusions Typical antipsychotic medication provides modest-to-moderate gains in multiple cognitive domains. Given unavoidable methodologic limitations of the primary studies, current findings suggest that the impact of conventional medication on cognitive function should be re-evaluated.
Nuclear properties of the low-lying states in $sup 99$Mo

Energy levels and spectroscopic factors for the low-lying levels in $^{99}\mathrm{Mo}$ are calculated within the framework of the quasiparticle-vibration coupling approach in the unified nuclear model. The calculated results are in very good agreement with the experimental data. Nuclear moments for the ground and first excited states are also predicted.
Synergistic ablation does not affect atrophy or altered myosin heavy chain expression in the non-weight bearing soleus muscle

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the soleus muscle undergoes atrophy and alterations in myosin heavy chain (MHC) composition during non-weight bearing in the absence of synergists. Thirty-two female rats were randomly assigned to four groups: control (C), synergistic ablation (ABL) of the gastrocnemius and plantaris muscles to overload the soleus muscle, hindlimb suspension (HLS), or a combination of synergistic ablation and hindlimb suspension (HLS-ABL). After 28 days of hindlimb suspension, soleus atrophy was more pronounced in HLS (58%) than in HLS-ABL (43%) rats. Compared to C rats, non-weight bearing decreased mixed and myofibrillar protein contents and Type I MHC 49%, 45%, and 7%, respectively, in HLS animals. In addition, de novo expression of fast Type IIx and Type IIb MHC (5% and 2%, respectively) was observed in HLS animals. Similarly, when compared to C rats, mixed and myofibrillar protein contents and Type I MHC decreased 43%, 46%, and 4%, respectively, in HLS-ABL animals. Also, de novo expression of Type IIx (4%) and IIb (1%) MHC was observed. Collectively, these data indicate that the loss of muscle protein and Type I MHC, and the de novo expression of Type IIx and Type IIb MHC in the rat soleus occur independently of the presence of synergists during non-weight bearing. Furthermore, these results confirm the contention that soleus mass and MHC expression are highly sensitive to alterations in mechanical load.
Properties Of Crystalline Materials For Optics

A tutorial review of refractive index, absorption, birefringence, the electro-optic effect and the photoelastic effect in crystalline materials is presented. Tensorial relationships are presented and related to the symmetry classes of crystals.© (1980) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
SU‐FF‐T‐442: Comparing Geant4 and MCNPX for Joint Research to Minimize Uncertainties in Proton Therapy

Purpose: To “cross validate” the Monte Carlo codes (MCNPX and GEANT4) used at two different institutions for dose calculation and basic research in proton therapy.Methods and Materials: Geant4 and MCNPX are being used at the MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital) and at the MDACC (MD Andersen cancer Center), respectively, as Monte Carlo systems to provide simulations for research and clinical purposes in proton therapy. A current collaboration between the two institutions concerning the minimization of uncertainties necessitates a synchronization of the systems in order to produce consistent results. Simple validation geometries, consisting of a square brass aperture, half beam blocks, comprising lung and bone material, and a water phantom were used for initial synchronization of dose deposition from monoenergetic proton sources. More complex phantoms and source models were employed to solidify confidence in the validation. Finally, a CT volume of a human head, irradiated with spread out Bragg peaks was used to verify the validity of both Monte Carlo systems. The results of the simulations, lateral and longitudinal dose profiles were compared using absolute differences, the distance to agreement as well as the gamma analysis method. Results: All profiles agreed within 2 mm in the high dose gradient regions of the Bragg peaks, while the gamma analysis for a 2% and 2mm criterion resulted in 97.5% of all points in lateral depth doses and 95% of all points in depth dose profiles passing the test. Conclusions: With the proper choice of physics parameters, the two Monte Carlo systems produce results that agree very well. The use of different Monte Carlo systems at different institutions is, therefore, no source of additional systematic uncertainties in the ongoing research of minimizing uncertainties associated with proton therapy.
Protection by ethanol against the toxic effects of monofluoroethanol and monochloroethanol

Ethanol protects rats and monkeys against fatal doses of monofluoroethanol and monochloroethanol. In rats treated with ethanol the LD50 for fluoroethanol was found to be more than 20 times that in unprotected animals, for chloroethanol it was about 4 times greater. In monkeys too, the lethal effects of these compounds are diminished by treatment with ethanol.
Spacetime dimension from a variational principle

We consider spacetime as having an a priori arbitrary, possibly fractional dimension p>0 and propose a new variational principle for actions defined on p-dimensional spaces. Demanding that the action be stationary with respect to variations in p leads to a constraint equation whose solution yields an explicit determination of the dimension at the classical level. We illustrate these concepts by analyzing a model which reduces to free scalar field theory when p is any positive integer
Epstein-Barr virus transformation: involvement of latent membrane protein 1-mediated activation of NF-κB

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) transforms resting primary human B lymphocytes into indefinitely proliferating lymphoblastoid cell lines in vitro and is associated with several human malignancies in vivo. Recombinant EBV genetic analyses combined with in vitro B lymphocyte transformation assays demonstrate that latent infection membrane protein 1 (LMP1) is essential for EBV-mediated lymphocyte transformation. LMP1 has no intrinsic enzymatic activity but instead aggregates cellular proteins of the tumor necrosis factor receptor signaling pathway to activate transcription factor NF-kappaB. Mutants rendering LMP1 defective in these protein interactions are impaired in their abilities to activate NF-kappaB in reporter gene assays. Concordantly, EBV recombinants with LMP1 mutations that are compromised for NF-kappaB activation are impaired for growth transformation. Thus, EBV-mediated growth transformation is genetically and biochemically linked to LMP1-mediated activation of NF-kappaB.
Calcified amorphous tumors (CATs) of the heart

Intracavitary cardiac masses include neoplastic and nonneoplastic masses, which may share overlapping clinical symptomatology, physical examination findings, and or imaging characteristics. Definitive diagnosis of a cardiac mass is usually made on surgical excision and histological examination. In this article, we focus on one of the rare nonneoplastic cardiac mass, namely, calcified amorphous tumors. We present a series of three patients, an 80-year-old female who presented to the hospital for evaluation of a near syncope event, a 69-year-old female who presented for evaluation of palpitations, and a 60-year-old female who presented for evaluation of shortness of breath, who were found to have calcified amorphous tumors. We have also provided a relevant review of the literature on this topic.
pH-Controlled Assemblies of Polymeric Amine-Stabilized Gold Nanoparticles

The pH-controlled assembly of gold nanoparticles within a polymer−gold nanoparticle (AuNP) composite material is described. Poly(allylamine) (PAAm) is used as a reducing and stabilizing agent to generate a stable water-soluble polymer−AuNPs composite. The optical properties and the morphology of the composite material are sensitive to the solution pH due to structural changes of the polymer. As a result, the nanoparticles undergo reversible assembly/dispersion processes controlled by the solution pH. The role of the PAAm in the formation of the assemblies is confirmed by infrared spectroscopy and place exchange reactions.
Government, media and decision making in blood transfusion

Ensuring continued financial and moral support of a transfusion system's operation is essential. Although the public remains concerned about problems that have been greatly reduced in magnitude, such as HIV and HCV, we will need to engage them in the problems we now wish to address that are less well-known to them. To do this, we will need to present the information in formats that they understand, framed in ways that are most likely to result in public support. While acknowledging the psychological factors that provoke dread and outrage in the media, presenting all that we know in an open manner and engaging the public through transparent decision making should provide us their support to tackle the problems that pose the greatest risk to their safety when transfused.
Capillary wave gas exchange in the presence of surfactants

The effect of surfactants on gas exchange across an air/water interface populated with capillary waves, is con- sidered. Experiments were conducted on capillary waves having a wavelength of 2.87 mm in the presence of oleyl alcohol and stearic acid, as well as on surfaces which were surfactant-free. The presence of these surfactants decreased the gas exchange rate by at most a factor of two when the energy delivered to the tank was held constant. Thus, even in the presence of surfactants, pure capillary waves still caused significant gas exchange, indicating that partially damped capillary waves may play an important role in air/sea gas exchange. When the gas exchange coefficient was plotted as a function of mean square slope, the presence of surfactants was found to negligibly affect the gas exchange rate, with the possible exception of the high wave slope regime for stearic acid. This result suggests that it is principally the kinematics of wave motion which accounts for the enhancement of transport due to the capillary waves investigated here. Moreover, these results agree with those obtained from polychromatic, wind-generated waves, suggesting that, for non-breaking waves, knowledge of the statistics of the wave field may be all that is required to parameterize the gas exchange coefficient.
Experimental evidence on players' models of other players

Abstract We pose a hierarchial model of strategic thinking and conduct an experiment to test this theory as well as other solution concepts for symmetric (3 × 3) games. A level-0 type plays unpredictably, a level-1 type acts as if everyone else were level-0 types, and a level-2 type acts as if all other players were level-0 and level-1 types. In a model with level-0,…, level-2, and Nash types, we estimated that an insignificant portion of the participants were level-0 types, 24% were level-1 types, 49% were level-2 types, and the remaining 27% were Nash types.
Time-temperature transformation behavior of Ti-24Al-11Nb

The time-temperature transformation behavior of a rapidly solidified (RS) Ti-24Al-11Nb alloy has been studied between 450 and 850 °C using X-ray diffraction, electron diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and microindentation methods. A revised isothermal transformation path from the initial B2 to the final α2 structure has been proposed: B2 (Pm3m) → B19 (Pmma) → O′ (Cmcm) → O′ (Cmcm) → α2 (P63/mmc). Age-hardening was found to accompany the B2 → O′ transitions. The hardness increased to a maximum value of about 5.4 GPa when the microstructure consisted of mostly O′ laths. Further aging resulted in a softening correlated with O′ coalescence and transformation to the α2 phase. The hardness decreased to a minimum value of about 2.6 GPa when the microstructure had evolved to an equiaxed α2 structure. The results reveal that the O′ → α2 reaction becomes extremely slow, i.e. the O′ phase is kinetically stabilized, at temperatures below about 500 °C.
Formation mechanism of Ohmic contacts on AlGaN∕GaN heterostructure: Electrical and microstructural characterizations

The electrical characteristics and interfacial reactions of Ti∕Al∕Mo∕Au metallization on AlGaN∕GaN heterostructures at various annealing temperatures ranging from 400to950°C have been investigated in an effort to elucidate the Ohmic contact formation mechanism. A transition from Schottky to Ohmic electrical behavior occurred at ∼500°C. This transition was engendered by the formation of a thin epitaxial TiN layer on the AlGaN. Binary and ternary intermetallic compound formations were observed to have formed as a result of intermixing and reactions among the metals. The Mo layer remained continuous until 700°C, where it disintegrated into particles embedded in the metallic matrix. An optimal contact performance was obtained for Ti∕Al∕Mo∕Au on AlGaN∕GaN at 850°C; this was correlated to TiN island formation along dislocations penetrating into the heterostructure beyond the plane of the two-dimensional electron gas. Overannealing degradation mechanism at 950°C is also explained based on structural characterization.
hns, rpoS and lrp mutations affect stationary-phase survival at high osmolarity

The survival of enteric bacteria during stationary phase requires the expressions of different genes than those required for growth during log phase. Genes coding for functions protecting cells from environmental stress are expressed during the onset of stationary phase. Many promoters of these genes require sigma s, the product of the rpoS gene, for transcription. During stationary phase, we found that strains lacking the neutral, histone-like, DNA-binding protein H-NS (hns- rpoS- double mutants) are more viable at high osmolarity at 37 degrees C than hns+ rpoS- cells. We did not observe differential viability at high osmolarity at 30 degrees C or at normal osmolarity at 37 degrees C. We showed that this effect is due to the absence of H-NS. The leucine-responsive regulatory protein acts without H-NS to protect a strain containing an rpoS mutation from death in stationary phase at high osmolarity. We present evidence that hns- rpoS double mutants can synthesize the log phase osmotic shock protective system.
Abstract IA01: Transcriptional and epigenetic control of oncogenes

The gene expression program of any particular cell largely defines its identity and its functions. I will describe new insights into the roles that transcription factors and chromatin regulators play in the control of gene expression programs during normal development and in cancer. These insights provide opportunities for the development of novel therapeutics for cancer and other diseases. Citation Format: Richard A. Young. Transcriptional and epigenetic control of oncogenes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Chromatin and Epigenetics in Cancer; Jun 19-22, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(13 Suppl):Abstract nr IA01.
A Simplified Turbulence Model for Describing Airflow in Ceiling Slot-ventilated Enclosures

A numerical model was developed to predict flow occurring with opposing plane-wall ceiling jets representative of slot-ventilated livestock facilities. This model, termed the BETA model, was evaluated by comparing predicted axial and animal occupied zone (AOZ) velocity distributions with a low Reynold’s Number turbulence model (LBLR) and a laminar model (LAM). In addition, the BETA model results were compared with experimental results from a laboratory-scale test chamber. For opposing plane-wall ceiling jets, the predominant gradient in turbulent viscosity was predicted to occur in the vertical direction. An effective viscosity was defined as a function of the inlet Reynold’s Number (ReH) and normalized vertical height from the floor. The effective viscosity was used to selectively augment the laminar viscosity in the Navier-Stoke’s equation. Predicted comparisons between BETA and the LBLR models showed negligible differences for ventilating conditions between ReH of 35,032 and 11,752. Comparison with experimentally measured axial velocity decay indicated that the BETA model reproduced ceiling jet development as well as the LBLR model.
Temporal profiling of methamphetamine-induced changes in gene expression in the mouse brain: evidence from cDNA array.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a neurodegenerative drug of abuse. Its toxicity is characterized by destruction of monoaminergic terminals and by apoptosis in cortical and striatal cell bodies. Multiple factors appear to control METH neurotoxicity, including free radicals and transcription factors. Here, using cDNA arrays, we show the temporal profile of gene expression patterns in the cortex of mice treated with this drug. We obtained two patterns of changes from 588 genes surveyed. First, an early pattern is characterized by upregulation of transcription factors, including members of the jun family. Second, a delayed pattern includes genes related to cell death and to DNA repair. A number of trophic factors were also activated at the later timepoint. These observations suggest that METH can activate a multigene machinery that participates in the production of its toxic effects. The resulting degenerative effects of the drug are thus the result of a balance between protoxic and antiapoptotic mechanisms triggered by its administration to these animals. These observations are of clinical relevance because of the recent identification of degenerative changes in the brains of METH abusers.
Diminished decarboxylation of L-DOPA in rat striatum after intrastriatal injections of kainic acid

Abstract Injection of kainic acid into rat striatum reduced striatal DOPA decarboxylase activity by 20% as compared with that in control unlesioned sides. After administration of L-DOPA, concentrations of dopamine (but not DOPA) were lower (by 33%) in lesioned than in control striata indicating decreased in vivo formation of dopamine from exogenous DOPA after kainate lesions. These findings suggest that in the rat, a significant part of striatal DOPA decarboxylase activity i·s localized in neurons originating within the striatum (interneurons and/or efferents) whose perikaria are selectively destroyed by kainic acid.
Typological variation in encoding the manner, path, and ground components of a metaphorical motion event

The paper compares two typologically distinct languages with regard to their lexicalization patterns in encoding metaphorical motion events: (1) verb-framed (V-language, represented by Turkish), in which the preferred pattern for framing motion events is the use of a path verb with an optional manner adjunct (e.g.,enter running), and (2) satellite-framed (S-language, represented by English), in which path is lexicalized in an element associated with the verb, leaving the verb free to encode manner (e.g.,run in). The paper focuses on typological differences in encoding the manner, path, and ground components of metaphorical motion events, using data from novels written originally in English or Turkish, and further extends the applicability of the typological dichotomy to the metaphorical uses of the lexicon.
Spin-flop transition in Gd5Ge4 observed by x-ray resonant magnetic scattering and first-principles calculations of magnetic anisotropy

X-ray resonant magnetic scattering was employed to study a fully reversible spin-flop transition in orthorhombic ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{5}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{4}$ and to elucidate details of the magnetic structure in the spin-flop phase. The orientation of the moments at the three Gd sites flop 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} from the $\mathbf{c}$ axis to the $\mathbf{a}$ axis when a magnetic field, ${H}_{\mathrm{sf}}=9\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{kOe}$, is applied along the $\mathbf{c}$ axis at $T=9\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$. The magnetic space group changes from $Pn{m}^{\ensuremath{'}}a$ to $P{n}^{\ensuremath{'}}{m}^{\ensuremath{'}}{a}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ for all three Gd sublattices. The magnetic anisotropy energy determined from experimental measurements is in good agreement with the calculations of the magnetic anisotropy based on the spin-orbit coupling of the conduction electrons and an estimation of the dipolar interactions anisotropy. No significant magnetostriction effects were observed at the spin-flop transition.
Unraveling theorists' evaluation reality

The volume editors provide a comparative analysis of the evaluation approaches employed by each of the theorists relative to a number of important evaluation issues.
Localization of Recurrent Thyroid Cancer Using Intraoperative Ultrasound-Guided Dye Injection

Small, nonpalpable lymph node recurrences are frequently identified in the follow-up of patients with thyroid cancer, and finding and removing these lesions in a reoperative field can be very challenging. The goal of this study was to evaluate the utility of preincision ultrasound-guided injection of blue dye into the abnormal lymph nodes to facilitate their safe and efficient removal. We performed a prospective study between January and June 2007 at a single academic institution. Ten patients with isolated, nonpalpable nodal recurrences of papillary thyroid cancer underwent an operation for a neck recurrence (8 central, 2 lateral). A preincision ultrasound was performed in the operating room to localize the lesions, and 0.1 ml of blue dye was injected under ultrasound guidance into each abnormal lymph node. We examined the feasibility of the injection procedure, the accuracy of identifying pathologic lymph nodes, and the complications of injection. The pathologic lymph nodes averaged 11 mm in size (range = 6–16 mm) and were detectable by ultrasound in all cases. Ultrasound-guided blue dye injection was successful in all cases. There were no complications related to dye injection. The blue node was easily identified and removed in all cases. The mean operative time was 80.4 min (range = 37–157 min). Blue dye injection was feasible and was very useful for the identification of lymph node recurrences, especially in the reoperative neck. There were no complications related to the injection in this series. Further study is needed to determine the widespread safety and efficacy of this technique.
Photoproduction of Positive Pions in Hydrogen-Magnetic Spectrometer Method

Positive pions produced in a cold, high-pressure hydrogen gas target by the 500-Mev bremsstrahlung of the CalTech synchrotron, have been analyzed by a large magnetic spectrometer. The photoproduction cross section has been measured as a function of photon energy at laboratory angles of 12.5\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, 30\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, 51\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, 73\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, 104\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, 140\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, and 180\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. The energy region covered depends somewhat on the angle, but is typically from 200 to 470 Mev. From these excitation curves the angular distribution of the photopions in the center of momentum system is obtained for various photon energies, and these angular distributions are analyzed in the form $A+Bcos\ensuremath{\theta}+C{cos}^{2}\ensuremath{\theta}$. The angular distribution has a backward maximum at low energies and a forward maximum at high energies, the coefficient $B$ changing sign at about 340 Mev. The total cross section shows a striking maximum near 290 Mev, of magnitude 205\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}30}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$, and falls off above the maximum faster than ${\ensuremath{\lambda}}^{2}$.
Synthesis of liver ferritin on free and membrane-bound polyribosomes of different sizes

Much evidence supports the thesis that secreted proteins are made on membrane-attached ribosomes, whereas proteins retained within cells are generally synthesized by ribosomes lying free in the cytoplasm [1 ]. Ferritin, a retained protein found in many tis- sues, consists of an outer shell of apoferritin subunits surrounding a core of iron salts. Studies in our labo- ratory [2] and by Redman [3] agree in showing pre- ferential synthesis of apoferritin by the free ribosomes of rat liver; after incubation with labeled amino acids, free ribosomes show many more nascent chains of apoferritin than total or membrane-attached ribosomes, whereas the reverse is true for albumin. Nevertheless, Redman observed that, a few minutes after intact rats were injected with [14C]leucine, only 75% of the radioactivity in the nascent apoferritin of the liver was recovered in the free ribosome population, the re- maining 25% being associated with membrane-bound ribosomes. Contamination with free ribosomes could account for about 10% of this. Puro and Richter [4] also used in vivo injection of labeled leucine and found that labelwas incorporated into nascent liver apofer- ritin about 20-30% as well by microsomal ribosomes as by free ribosomes. Contamination of their micro- some fraction with free ribosomes did not exceed 4--8%. While these studies indicate preferential syn- thesis of ferritin on free liver ribosomes, they leave doubts about these as the exclusive site of synthesis. The size of polysomes synthesizing a given protein depends on the number of amino acid residues for which the messenger codes. Although horse spleen apoferritin appears to have 24 identical subunits with a mol. wt. of 18 500, we [5] have recently observed by gel electrophoresis that rat liver ferritin contains two types of subunits with molecular weights of 18 500 and 12 000 respectively. We have therefore examined the free and membrane-bound ribosomes of rat liver for the presence of polysomes consistent with synthesis of these two subunits by reacting each population of ribosomes with ferritin antibody coupled to 125 I. On free polysomes, the antibody was bound by trimers and tetramers, consistent with a peptide, having a mol. wt. of 12 000, whereas the ferritin antibody attached to pentamers in the mem- brane-bound ribosome population, consistent with a product of 17 000 molecular weight. We conclude that free and membrane-bound ribosomes contribute different subunits to liver ferritin. 2. Materials and methods 125 Iodine (sodium salt, carrier free) was obtained from New England Nuclear. Lactoperoxidase was purchased from Calbiochem., and heparin from Nu- tritional Biochemicals. Other chemicals were reagent grade. Rabbit antiserum against horse spleen ferritin was generously supplied by Dr. Linder (M.I.T.). Most of the media were made up in TKM buffer (50 mM Tris-HC1, pH 7.8; 25 mM KC1; 5 mM MgCI2) contain- ing heparin to inhibit ribonuclease.
Plasma Concentrations of Testosterone and Dihydrotestosterone during Perinatal Development in Male and Female Ferrets

Concentrations of testosterone (T) and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) were measured in plasma collected from male and female ferrets at eight perinatal ages, spanning the period when behavioral sexual differentiation occurs in this species. Concentrations of T were significantly higher in males than in females 5 days before birth (day 5) and on postnatal days 10, 15, and 40. Plasma concentrations of DHT were equivalent in both sexes at all ages. In males, mean plasma T (2,278 pg/ml) and DHT (1,989 pg/ml) concentrations were highest on day 5, and declined significantly by postnatal day 5. In females, plasma concentrations of T (1,220 pg/ml) were highest on the day of birth, whereas concentrations of DHT (1,896 pg/ml) were highest on day 5; both declined significantly by postnatal day 5. The mean concentrations of T and DHT in sera from reproductively active adult male ferrets were 26,019 and 888 pg/ml, respectively, whereas sera from seasonally quiescent males contained 2,976 pg/ml T and 252 pg/ml DHT. The r...
An exponential function as a model for a conjugate gradient optimization method

Abstract An exponential function of the positive definite quadratic form is considered as a model for a conjugate gradient optimization method. An algorithm is derived and tried on several standard test functions.
Blending informal and formal helping networks in foster care

Abstract This paper describes the use of informal helping networks in foster care. “Specific” foster family placements drawn from the informal social networks of children needing placement are described and compared to “regular” foster care placements, homes unknown to children before placement. The benefits and problems of placing of children within their informal social networks are discussed. Specific homes were found to be similar to regular homes in most respects, but they were less “professionalized”. No support was found for the argument that specific home placements reduce quality of care. Conversely, the data suggested that specific homes may reduce the negative impact of out-of-home placement and contribute to permanency.
Linking optical and infrared observations with gravitational wave sources through transient variability

Optical and infrared observations have thus far detected more celestial cataclysms than have been seen in gravity waves (GW). This argues that we should search for gravity wave signatures that correspond to transient variables seen at optical wavelengths, at precisely known positions. There is an unknown time delay between the optical and gravitational transient, but knowing the source location precisely specifies the corresponding time delays across the gravitational antenna network as a function of the GW-to-optical arrival time difference. Optical searches should detect virtually all supernovae that are plausible gravitational radiation sources. The transient optical signature expected from merging compact objects is not as well understood, but there are good reasons to expect detectable transient optical/IR emission from most of these sources as well. The next generation of deep wide-field surveys (for example PanSTARRS and LSST) will be sensitive to subtle optical variability, but we need to fill the 'blind spots' that exist in the galactic plane, and for optically bright transient sources. In particular, a galactic plane variability survey at λ ∼ 2 μm seems worthwhile. Science would benefit from closer coordination between the various optical survey projects and the gravity wave community.
Longitudinal evaluation of a breast cancer training module. Preliminary results

Background. In 1993, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's Department of Clinical Cancer Prevention began a longitudinal evaluation of its efforts to improve early detection and prevention of breast cancer by training health care professionals in special assessment skills, including how to determine risk and how to teach patients to detect breast cancer early. Methods. Sixty-three nurses enrolled in the 1-week training module were studied in this descriptive analysis. Their evaluation incorporated not only pretests and post-tests of knowledge and clinical performance but also an employer survey, pretraining and posttraining patient logs, and an assessment of clinical skills in each participant's practice setting. Results. Students made statistically significant gains in measures of general knowledge, clinical knowledge and performance, and routine practice of risk assessment, risk counseling, and history taking and physical examination of old (i.e., familiar) patients. Furthermore, the number of patients screened, patients referred, and cancer diagnoses made increased significantly over time, not only between pretraining and posttraining at 6 and 12 months, but also between 6 and 12 months' posttraining. Conclusions. After learning and practicing new skills, participants successfully incorporated and maintained them and increased referrals and cancers detected, thereby improving the effectiveness of cancer screening.
Detecting Identity Spoofs in IEEE 802.11e Wireless Networks

Wireless networks are vulnerable to identity spoofing attacks, where an attacker can forge the MAC address of his wireless device to assume the identity of another victim device on the network. Identity spoofing allows an attacker to avail network services that are normally restricted to legitimate users. Prior techniques to detect such attacks rely on characteristics such as progressions of MAC sequence numbers. However, these techniques can wrongly classify benign flows as malicious with newer 802.11e wireless devices that allow multiple progressions of MAC sequence numbers from the same device. Several other techniques that rely on physical properties of transmitting devices are ineffective when the attacker and the victim are mobile. In this paper, we propose an architecture to robustly detect identity spoofing attacks under varying operating conditions. Our architecture employs a series of increasingly powerful detectors to identify or eliminate the possibility of an attack, culminating in a powerful, RSSI-based per-packet localizer that reliably detects identity spoofing attacks. We implemented this architecture and used it to detect a variety of identity spoofing attacks. Our experiments show that it can effectively detect identity spoofs with a low false positive rate of 0.5%.
Transvaginal evisceration progressing to peritonitis in the emergency department: a case report

Abdominal pain is a common complaint among emergency department patients, making it essential to identify those with life-threatening etiologies. We report on the rare finding of atraumatic transvaginal bowel evisceration in a patient presenting to the emergency department with the primary complaint of abdominal pain. A 63-year-old female presented ambulatory to the emergency department with abdominal pain and foreign body sensation in her vagina after coughing. Physical exam demonstrated evisceration of her small bowel through her vagina. During her clinical course, she rapidly deteriorated from appearing well without abdominal tenderness to hypotensive with frank peritonitis. This case demonstrates the need to perform a thorough physical exam on all patients with abdominal pain and details the management of vaginal evisceration. This case also highlights the difficulty of appropriate triage for patients with complaints not easily assessed in triage. In an era of emergency department crowding, emergency physicians should reevaluate nursing education on triaging abdominal pain to prevent delays in caring for well-appearing patients who have underlying life-threatening illnesses.
THE DESIRES OF OTHERS

An influential view, defended by Thomas Scanlon and others, holds that desires are almost never reasons. I seek to resist this view and show that someone who desires something does thereby have a reason to satisfy her desire. To show this, I argue, first, that the desires of some others are reasons for us and, second, that our own desires are no less reason-giving than those of others. In concluding, I emphasize that accepting my view does not commit one to a desire-based account of reasons. Desires can be simply one kind of reasons alongside many others.
Be careful where you float your quantifiers

The paper examines the issue of why floating quantifiers are disallowed in the object position of passive and ergative verbs under Sportiche's (1988) stranding analysis of quantifier float. It is shown that the issue is part of a broader descriptive generalization that quantifiers cannot float in τ-positions. The generalization is shown to follow from an interaction of independently motivated assumptions concerning the structure of floating quantifier constructions and the mechanism of adjunction. The analysis of quantifier float proposed in the paper is shown to have important consequences for a number of issues and phenomena, including clausal structure, PP structure, object shift, cliticization, V-movement, Case licensing, small clauses, scope reconstruction, pied-piping, and heavy NP shift. Regarding PP structure, the paper pursues the clause/PP parallelism hypothesis: It is shown that there is a clause/PP parallelism with respect to Case-licensing, V/P movement, cliticization, and object shift.
Exploiting mechanistic differences between drug classes to define functional drug interaction domains on topoisomerase II. Evidence that several diverse DNA cleavage-enhancing agents share a common site of action on the enzyme

To fully understand the mechanism of action of topoisomerase II-targeted agents, the effects of these drugs on the catalytic cycle of the enzyme must be well characterized. The present study utilized a nonturnover DNA catenation assay to determine the effects of several drugs (etoposide, genistein, CP-115,953, amsacrine, and novobiocin) on the DNA strand passage event mediated by topoisomerase II. With the exception of etoposide, all of the drugs inhibited the DNA strand passage step of the topoisomerase II catalytic cycle. A series of drug competition experiments that exploited this mechanistic difference was used to determine relationships between drug interaction domains on the enzyme. While the inclusion of etoposide in nonturnover DNA catenation assays reversed the inhibition of strand passage induced by genistein, CP-115,953, and amsacrine, it had no effect on the inhibition induced by novobiocin. These results strongly suggest that etoposide can displace other DNA cleavage-enhancing agents from the enzyme.DNA complex. Therefore, it is concluded that the interaction domain of etoposide overlaps those of several DNA cleavage-enhancing drugs but, consistent with previous observations (Robinson, M. J., Corbett, A. H., and Osheroff, N. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 3638-3643), is distinct from that of novobiocin.
Segmentation of multiple, partially occluded objects by grouping, merging, assigning part detection responses

We propose a method that detects and segments multiple, partially occluded objects in images. A part hierarchy is defined for the object class. Whole-object segmentor and part detectors are learned by boosting shape oriented local image features. During detection, the part detectors are applied to the input image. All the edge pixels in the image that positively contribute to part detection responses are extracted. A joint likelihood of multiple objects is defined based on the part detection responses and the object edges. Computing the joint likelihood includes an inter-object occlusion reasoning that is based on the object silhouettes extracted with the whole-object segmentor. By maximizing the joint likelihood, part detection responses are grouped, merged, and assigned to multiple object hypotheses. The proposed approach is applied to the pedestrian class, and evaluated on two public test sets. The experimental results show that our method outperforms the previous ones.
Lambert Absorption Coefficients of Water in the Infrared

By use of a wedge-shaped cell providing an absorbing layer tapering in thickness from less than one wavelength of visible light at one end to approximately 20 μm at the other end, we have measured the Lambert absorption coefficient for water in the spectral region between 4000 and 288 cm−1. After proper initial alignment of the cell windows had been established by the observation of interference fringes in the visible, we measured film thicknesses at various positions along the wedge by interferometric methods, employing convenient wavelengths in the infrared. We present the results of the study in graphical and tabular form.
Pharmacokinetics and safety of prochlorperazine in paediatric patients receiving cancer chemotherapy.

Nausea and vomiting are common clinical problems in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy. Metoclopramide is often used but frequently causes extrapyramidal reactions. As an alternative, prochlorperazine is prescribed but no data on its pharmacokinetics in paediatric patients are available to guide the choice of suitable dosages. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and safety of intravenous prochlorperazine in paediatric patients receiving cancer chemotherapy. Eleven patients (ages 1-9 years) who received high doses of cisplatin or cyclophosphamide were given three to four intermittent doses of 0.2 mg/kg prochlorperazine i.v. over a period of 6-9 h. Multiple blood samples were collected and prochlorperazine was quantified by a specific gas-liquid chromatographic method. The peak serum concentrations ranged from 402 to 5,608 ng/ml. The total clearance and elimination half-life ranged from 0.03 to 0.28 (mean: 0.12) litre/kg/h, and from 1.2 to 15.5 (mean: 5.6) h, respectively. No adverse effects were observed in our patients. Three patients had uncontrolled episodes of vomiting during prochlorperazine therapy. These data suggest: (i) that there was a substantial interpatient variability in prochlorperazine pharmacokinetics thus the dose requirement differed among patients; and (ii) that prochlorperazine appeared safe at the doses used but higher doses may be required to control nausea and vomiting in some paediatric patients receiving high-dose cisplatin or cyclophosphamide therapy.
Achievable error exponent of channel coding in random access communication

In [1], a new channel coding approach was proposed for random multiple access communication over the discrete-time memoryless channel. The coding approach allows users to choose their communication rates distributively without sharing the rate information with each other and the receiver. The receiver makes decoding and collision report decisions depending on whether reliable message recovery is possible. It was shown that, asymptotically as codeword length goes to infinity, the set of communication rates supporting reliable message recovery can be characterized by an achievable region which equals Shannon's information rate region without a convex hull operation. In this paper, we derive stronger versions of the coding theorems in [1] by characterizing how system error probability, defined as the maximum of decoding error probability and collision miss detection probability, approaches zero with respect to the codeword length.
Adaptation of place perception for stops: effects of spectral match between adaptor and test series.

Recent experiments have provided evidence for an auditory locus of selective adaptation effects. The present experiment further tests this theory. A [pa]-[ka] series was constructed. The burst frication from the [ka] syllable was added to the vowels [u] and [i]. Subjects identified these syllables as [tu] and [pi]. These three syllables contained physically identical bursts but were identified by subjects as stops with three different places of articulation. The [pa], [ka], [tu], and [pi] syllables were used as adaptors on the [pa]-[ka] test series. The [ka], [tu], and [pi] syllables, which contained identical bursts, produced similar boundary shifts. The spectrally different [pa], although sharing its initial phoneme with [pi], produced an opposite shift. These results support an auditory locus for adaptation with little or no phonetic or linguistic influence. In a pairedcomparison procedure, [pa], [ka], [pi], and [tu] were used as exemplars. Both the [pa] and [pi] syllables produced fewer [p] responses to an ambiguous test item, whereas [ka] had the opposite effect of producing more [p] responses. The phonetic quality of the exemplar appears to have been the primary determinant of its effects in the paired-comparison procedure. Together, these results support a two-stage model of speech perception, in which neither of these stages are vowel contingent.
Robust detection of random variables using sparse measurements

We look at the problem of estimating k discrete random variables from n noisy and sparse measurements where k = nR, with a ‘rate’ R. The model is motivated by problems studied in diverse areas including compressed sensing, group testing, multiple access channels and sensor networks. In particular, we study uncertainty and mismatch in the measurement functions and the noise model and quantify the effect of these faults on detection performance, in the large system limit as n → ∞, while R remains constant. We characterize the performance of mismatched and uncertain detectors, design and analyze robust detectors and present an illustrative example where the analysis presented can be used to guide the design of robust measurement ensembles.
An Iterative MapReduce Based Frequent Subgraph Mining Algorithm

Frequent subgraph mining (FSM) is an important task for exploratory data analysis on graph data. Over the years, many algorithms have been proposed to solve this task. These algorithms assume that the data structure of the mining task is small enough to fit in the main memory of a computer. However, as the real-world graph data grows, both in size and quantity, such an assumption does not hold any longer. To overcome this, some graph database-centric methods have been proposed in recent years for solving FSM; however, a distributed solution using MapReduce paradigm has not been explored extensively. Since MapReduce is becoming the de-facto paradigm for computation on massive data, an efficient FSM algorithm on this paradigm is of huge demand. In this work, we propose a frequent subgraph mining algorithm called FSM-H which uses an iterative MapReduce based framework. FSM-H is complete as it returns all the frequent subgraphs for a given user-defined support, and it is efficient as it applies all the optimizations that the latest FSM algorithms adopt. Our experiments with real life and large synthetic datasets validate the effectiveness of FSM-H for mining frequent subgraphs from large graph datasets. The source code of FSM-H is available from www.cs.iupui.edu/~alhasan/software/