cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
RETHINKING THE USE OF L1 IN L2 CLASSROOM

Using mother tongue (L1) in a foreign language (L2) classrooms is inevitable. Despite the debate over the adequacy of using L1 in the teaching of L2, this paper argues using L1 in the classroom does not hinder learning, and that L1 has a facilitating role to play in the classroom and can help L2 learning and acquisition. This paper shows that L1 is an inseparable part of language teaching, and it has several functions for both the students and teachers in English language learning and teaching. Therefore, those who believe L1 has a minimal role to play in the teaching of a foreign language are invited to think again of its role and contributions it makes to the fields of language learning and teaching.
Molecular responses to immune checkpoint blockade in glioblastoma.

Transcriptional signatures and immune cell infiltrates associated with immune activation distinguish patients with glioblastoma who initially respond to immune checkpoint blockade from those who do not.
Bring publics back into networked public relations research: A dual-projection approach for network ecology

Abstract This essay critiques the absence of publics in networked public relations research, and proposes the dual-projection approach as a solution to simplify and analyze the multi-mode public relations network ecology (Yang & Taylor, 2015). Compared to most previous studies that employ organization-centric networks where ties stand for hyperlinks, collaborations, or coalitions, the new approach projects organization-public relationships and public-public relationships onto interorganizational ties. By doing so, it (1) brings publics back into networked public relations research; (2) presents organizations and publics—the two most important subjects of public relations research—equally in the same network, (3) drives literature further away from a dyadic view of relationship management, and (4) constitutes one of the first techniques that can analyze direct and timely consequences of organziation-public relationships in the network ecology. To demonstrate the new approach, the network of publics overlap is introduced and applied to US-based LGBTQ advocacy groups. The essay also discusses the theoretical inquiries needed to further dual-projection networks, and invites scholars to create novel ways to incorporate publics into their network studies using dual projection.
Association Between Cardiovascular Risk and Perceived Fatigability in Mid-to-Late Life.

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and fatigue commonly co‐occur in older adults, yet the subjective nature of fatigue and its situational dependence leave the true magnitude of this associati...
Analgesia, Sedation, and Neuromuscular Blockade in PARDS

Sedation and analgesia are provided to most children with pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome in order to keep them comfortable, facilitate synchrony with the ventilator, and prevent dislodgement of life-sustaining instruments. This chapter reviews commonly used medications including opiates, benzodiazepines, and dexmedetomidine and discusses clinically relevant advantages and disadvantages. Neuromuscular-blocking agents are also commonly used in this patient population and have been shown to improve outcomes in adults with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Commonly used agents are reviewed. Adverse effects of all of these medication classes are also reviewed, including delirium, withdrawal, and long-term neurologic morbidity.
A Moderate-Fat Diet with One Avocado per Day Increases Plasma Antioxidants and Decreases the Oxidation of Small, Dense LDL in Adults with Overweight and Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND Avocados are a nutrient-dense source of MUFAs and are rich in antioxidants. Avocados have an additional LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering effect beyond that observed when their MUFAs are substituted for SFAs, especially on small, dense LDL (sdLDL) particles, which are susceptible to in vivo oxidation and associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). OBJECTIVES We investigated whether a healthy diet with 1 avocado daily decreased the following secondary outcomes: circulating oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and related oxidative stress markers. METHODS A randomized, crossover, controlled feeding trial was conducted with 45 men and women, aged 21-70 y, with overweight or obesity and elevated LDL-C (25th-90th percentile). Three cholesterol-lowering diets were provided (5 wk each) in random sequences: a lower-fat (LF) diet (24% calories from fat-7% SFAs, 11% MUFAs, 6% PUFAs) and 2 moderate-fat (MF) diets (34% calories from fat-6% SFAs, 17% MUFAs, 9% PUFAs): the avocado (AV) diet included 1 Hass avocado (∼136 g) per day, and the MF diet used high oleic acid oils to match the fatty acid profile of 1 avocado. A general linear mixed model was used to analyze the treatment effects. RESULTS Compared with baseline, the AV diet significantly decreased circulating oxLDL (-7.0 U/L, -8.8%, P = 0.0004) and increased plasma lutein concentration (19.6 nmol/L, 68.7%, P < 0.0001), and both changes differed significantly from that after the MF and LF diets (P ≤ 0.05). The change in oxLDL caused by the AV diet was significantly correlated with the changes in the number of sdLDL particles (r = 0.32, P = 0.0002) but not large, buoyant LDL particles. CONCLUSIONS One avocado a day in a heart-healthy diet decreased oxLDL in adults with overweight and obesity, and the effect was associated with the reduction in sdLDL. This trial was registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01235832.
Infected urachal cysts

Abstract Infected urachal cysts present with protean clinical manifestations. Diagnosis is frequentlydifficult in spite of the use of modern genitourinary radiologic imaging techniques. Patients with intra-abdominal or pelvic symptoms are frequently misdiagnosed. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice for infected urachal cysts.
A 13.56 MHz Multiport-Wireless-Coupled (MWC) Battery Balancer with High Frequency Online Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy

This paper presents a multi-MHz multiport-wireless-coupled (MWC) battery balancer with the capability of performing high frequency electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to monitor the battery state-of-charge (SOC) and state-of-health (SOH). The proposed MHz MWC architecture performs EIS measurement as well as battery balancing without using extra EIS perturbation circuitry. The battery balancer operates at 13.56 MHz and can perform precise EIS measurement up to 500 kHz. The high switching frequency also eliminates the magnetic core, allowing the utilization of flexible PCB air core magnetics to miniaturize the size of the battery balancer. A 13.56 MHz MWC battery balancer with a four-port air core flexible PCB transformer is built and tested with Lithium-ion, Lithium-polymer and AA-NIMH battery packs. The experimental results matched well with commercial EIS equipment and validated the effectiveness of the MWC battery balancer.
A Different Way to Mind the Gap: Mandated Versus Voluntary Collection of Measures.

Measurement-based care (MBC) has been called the bridge for the gap between outcomes achieved in randomized clinical trials and routine clinical care.1 Trials of MBC have improved outcomes, helped identify patients with residual symptoms, prompted clinicians to know when to intensify treatment, created more informed patients, and improved the patient-provider relationship.1 These previous studies were grant-funded projects, however, which were implemented on project deadlines with research staff committed to the success of the project. In a recent Letter to the Editor in the Journal, Liu et al.2 reported on their efforts to implement a digital measurement feedback system in a pediatric clinic. This Letter to the Editor, to my knowledge, was the first report about how a clinic implements MBC without grant funding on a project deadline, which is likely to be more generalizable to community practice. The purpose of this report is to add our clinic experience.
Adaptive Chebyshev Iteration Based on Modified Moments

The problem of solving a linear system of equations $$Ax = b\quad A \in {\mathbb{R}^{N \times N}},\quad x,b \in {\mathbb{R}^N}$$ (1) , with a large, sparse and nonsymmetric matrix A arises in many applications. A Chebyshev iterative method based on scaled Chebyshev polynomials p n for an interval in the complex plane can be used to solve (1) when the spectrum of A lies in the right half plane. Manteuffel [3] discusses such Chebyshev iterative schemes and shows that the iterations depend on two parameters only, the center d and the focal length c of an ellipse in the complex plane with foci at d±c. In these schemes, the p n are Chebyshev polynomials for the interval between the foci, and are scaled so that p n(0) = 1. Let x 0 denote a given initial approximate solution of (1). The three-term recurrence relation for the p n yields an inexpensive recurrence relation for computing a sequence of approximate solutions x 1, x 2, ... of (1). The iterates x n determined by the Chebyshev iterative method are such that the error vectors e n ≔A -1 b - x n satisfy e n = p n(A)e 0, n ≥ 0. Let λ(A) denote the spectrum of A. If the parameters d and c are chosen so that $$\mathop {\max }\limits_{x \in \lambda (A)} \left| {{p_n}(z)} \right|$$ decreases rapidly as n increases, then the Euclidean norm of e n decreases rapidly as n increases as well. Chebyshev iteration is an attractive solution method if parameters d and c exist, such that there is an ellipse with foci at d±c which contains λ(A) and is not very close to the origin. Assuming that such an ellipse exists, its center d and focal length c can be determined if λ(A) is explicitly known.
Obstetric-Gynecological Complications in Neuromuscular Disorders

Background and Objective: The data on the obstetric and gynecological complications in patients diagnosed with neuromuscular diseases is very limited and is primarily obtained from various case reports, series, and small studies. The objective of our study was to analyze the prevalence of these complications in a large cohort of patients with various neuromuscular diseases. Methods: This study is a retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed with various neuromuscular diseases at the University of Missouri, Columbia, from 2012 to 2017. We included patients who have at least one year follow up with us. We collected data on patient demographics, neuromuscular disease diagnosed, obstetric complications, and gynecologic complications. Data are reported as means ± SEM, and the results reported using prevalence rates. Results: Ninety-five female patients were identified. Among them, 97% were Caucasian, and 3% were African-American with a mean age of 47.96 years. Neuromuscular diseases identified among them are Myasthenia Gravis (44%), Muscular Dystrophy (23%), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-ALS (16%), Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease-CMT (10%), and Spinal Muscular atrophy- SMA (7%). The majority of the patients reviewed have had no obstetric complications- (89.40%). The most common obstetric complication recorded was C-section (8.40%). 41% of women did not have any gynecological complaints. Urine incontinence (24.20%) is the most common complication. Conclusion: C-sections and urinary incontinence are common obstetric and gynecological events seen in women with neuromuscular disease.
Cardiolipin, conformation, and respiratory complex-dependent oligomerization of the major mitochondrial ADP/ATP carrier in yeast

The phospholipid cardiolipin has pleiotropic structural and functional roles that are collectively essential for mitochondrial biology. Yet, the molecular details of how this lipid supports the structure and function of proteins and protein complexes are poorly understood. To address this property of cardiolipin, we use the mitochondrial adenosine 5'-diphosphate/adenosine 5'-triphosphate carrier (Aac) as a model. Here, we have determined that cardiolipin is critical for both the tertiary and quaternary assembly of the major yeast Aac isoform Aac2 as well as its conformation. Notably, these cardiolipin-provided structural roles are separable. In addition, we show that multiple copies of Aac2 engage in shared complexes that are largely dependent on the presence of assembled respiratory complexes III and IV or respiratory supercomplexes. Intriguingly, the assembly state of Aac2 is sensitive to its transport-related conformation. Together, these results expand our understanding of the numerous structural roles provided by cardiolipin for mitochondrial membrane proteins.
Guiding Strategies for the Future of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation: A Systematic Review of Organ Donation Campaigns.

Background Since the 1990s, the field of vascularized composite allotransplantation has gained momentum, offering unprecedented solutions for patients with defects not amenable to autologous reconstruction. As with solid organ donation, the vascularized composite allotransplant donor pool remains limited. This systematic review identifies past successes and failures in organ donation campaigns to guide future strategies for expanding vascularized composite allotransplant donation. Methods A systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Three databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase) were searched through July 31, 2019. The study compiled solid organ and vascularized composite allotransplant campaigns that aimed to increase donor registration. Articles depicting the current state of vascularized composite allotransplant donation were also assessed. Results Of an initial 3318 articles identified, 40 were included. Six articles described direct mail or print interventions, 10 depicted Web-based interventions, 13 dealt with interpersonal interventions, and seven used multimodal interventions. Four articles described the current state of vascularized composite allotransplant donation. A qualitative synthesis was conducted. The authors found that social media campaigns can have a robust but fleeting effect on registration trends and that interpersonal interventions are effective at increasing registration rates. In addition, the opportunity for participants to immediately register as organ donors, by means of either return mail, in-person, or online, is vital to campaign success. Conclusions Public organ donation campaigns have had success in increasing organ donor registration rates, particularly through the use of social media and interpersonal interventions that allow for immediate registration. Synthesizing this information, we propose a multimodal campaign to expand the vascularized composite allotransplant donor pool.
A pathogenic germline BRCA2 variant in a patient with hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Pathogenic germline BRCA2 variants may be associated with an increased risk of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma that is more responsive to chemoradiation and chemotherapeutics targeting defective double-strand DNA repair.
Stochastic Market Operation for Coordinated Transmission and Distribution Systems

This paper proposes a three-stage unit commitment model for the market operation of transmission and distribution coordination under the uncertainties of renewable generation and demand variations. The first stage is for the independent system operator (ISO) that determines the commitment decisions of the transmission-level generators and the distribution-level system reconfiguration; the second stage optimizes the transmission economic dispatch; then distribution system operators (DSOs) in the third stage perform their economic dispatch and exchange information with the ISO at the boundary nodes. Between the transmission and distribution networks, not only conventional thermal generators but renewables and variable demands are considered, which are tackled via a multi-stage stochastic programming approach. The model adopts a convexified AC branch flow formulation in the distribution system. We devise a generalized nested L-shaped algorithm to solve the proposed framework in an efficient manner. Numerical experiments on multi-scale test systems corroborate the efficacy of this strategy.
Flux-Linkage Based Fundamental and Harmonic Current Control of Saturated Salient AC Machines

Harmonic current injection is one of the common techniques used in interior mounted permanent magnet synchronous machines (IPMs) for applications like torque ripple minimization and self-commissioning. This requires high-performance current controllers to regulate the fundamental and harmonic current components. The performance of the current controllers is dependent on non-linear magnetic saturation effects, low sampling to fundamental ratios, and effects due to discretization and associated delays in the system. In this paper, a high-performance flux-linkage based discrete-time method to control the fundamental and harmonic current components is proposed. The proposed controller is accurate, capable of high bandwidth, robust against parameter mismatches, well suited for high magnetic saturation levels, simple to tune, and retains high performance for low sampling to fundamental ratios.
Chapter 9 Reoviridae

Publisher Summary The members of the virus family Reoviridae are non-lipid-containing spherical particles 70-80 nm in diameter, generally consisting of two concentric protein shells (capsids) containing typically 10 to 12 1-4 kb dsRNA molecules. Members of the Reoviridae have an unusually large host range, including vertebrates, insects and plants, and many cause significant agricultural losses. Rotaviruses infect the intestinal lining and cause diarrhea in many animal species. Rotavirus-associated diarrhea causes widespread mortality in developing countries. This chapter discusses the chemical, physical, and structural characteristics of orthoreovirus, which is a member of Reoviridae. The chapter also discusses other members such as, rotavirus, orbivirus, cypovirus, phytoreovirus, and fijivirus.
Molecular modeling of the intestinal bile acid carrier: a comparative molecular field analysis study.

A structure–binding activity relationship for the intestinal bile acidtransporter has been developed using data from a series of bile acid analogsin a comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA). The studied compoundsconsisted of a series of bile acid–peptide conjugates, withmodifications at the 24 position of the cholic acid sterol nucleus, andcompounds with slight modifications at the 3, 7, and 12 positions. For theCoMFA study, these compounds were divided into a training set and a test set,comprising 25 and 5 molecules, respectively. The best three-dimensionalquantitative structure–activity relationship model found rationalizesthe steric and electrostatic factors which modulate affinity to the bile acidcarrier with a cross-validated, conventional and predictive r2of 0.63, 0.96, and 0.69, respectively, indicating a good predictive model forcarrier affinity. Binding is facilitated by positioning an electronegativemoiety at the 24–27 position, and also by steric bulk at the end of theside chain. The model suggests substitutions at positions 3, 7, 12, and 24that could lead to new substrates with reasonable affinity for the carrier.
A reduced complexity model for probabilistic risk assessment of groundwater contamination

[1] We present a model of reduced complexity for assessing the risk of groundwater pollution from a point source. The progress of contamination is represented as a sequence of transitions among coarsely resolved states corresponding to simple statements like “a spill has occurred.” Transitions between states are modeled as a Markov jump process, and a general expression for the probability of aquifer contamination is obtained from two basic assumptions: that the sequence of transitions leading to contamination is Markovian and that the time when a given transition occurs is independent of its end state. Additionally, we derive an asymptotic value for the probability of contamination that is equivalent to the so-called rare event approximation. First we develop the model for sites in statistically homogeneous natural porous media, and then we extend it to highly heterogeneous media composed of multiple materials. Finally, we apply the model to a simple example to illustrate the method and its potential.
BARD: a visualization tool for biological sequence analysis

We present BARD (biological arc diagrams), a visualization tool for biological sequence analysis. The development of BARD began with the application of Wattenberg's arc diagrams (Wattenberg, 2002) to results from sequence analysis programs, such as BLAST (Atschul et al., 1990). In this paper, we extend the initial arc diagram concept in two ways: 1) by separating the visualization method from the underlying matching algorithm and 2) by expanding the types of matches to include inexact matches, complemented palindrome matches, and inter-sequence matches. BARD renders each type of match distinctly, resulting in a powerful tool to quickly understand sequence similarities and differences. We illustrate the power of BARD by applying the technique to a comparative sequence analysis of the human pathogenic fungi Cryptococcus neoformans.
Stochastic Differential Equations

We explore in this chapter questions of existence and uniqueness for solutions to stochastic differential equations and offer a study of their properties. This endeavor is really a study of diffusion processes. Loosely speaking, the term diffusion is attributed to a Markov process which has continuous sample paths and can be characterized in terms of its infinitesimal generator.
Models of dynamic relations among service activities, system state and service quality on computer and network systems

Service quality on computer and network systems has become increasingly important as many conventional service transactions are moved online. Service quality of computer and network services can be measured by the performance of the service process in throughput, delay, and so on. On a computer and network system, competing service requests of users and associated service activities change the state of limited system resources which in turn affects the achieved service quality. Modeling dynamic relations of service activities, system state and service quality is required to determine if users' service requests and requirements of service quality can be satisfied by the system with limited resources and how the system and service configuration can be adapted to meet service quality requirements. This paper presents our empirical study to establish activity-state-quality models for a voice communication service. We run experiments to collect system dynamics data under various service conditions and use statistical techniques to analyze experimental data and build activity-state-quality models. The results reveal four major types of dynamic relations among service activity parameters, system resource state, and the network throughput - a measure of achieved service quality for the voice communication service. Although delay-related measures are also important for voice data communication, they are not collected in this study. Five system state variables concerning the memory, CPU, process and IP resources are uncovered to be affected by service activity parameters significantly and be associated with the achieved service quality closely. We also obtain an insight about increasing the size of the buffer which holds voice data before transmission over the network to alleviate the workload on system resources and maintain the network throughout when the number of client requests and the client requirement in voice quality increase.
Putting Social Movements in their Place: From Copernicus to Ptolemy and (Hopefully) Back Again

From its modest beginnings during the 1970s and early 1980s, the study of social movements has developed into one of the largest subfields in American sociology. In recent years, scholars in a host of other disciplines or fields – including political science (Beissinger 2001; Bunce 1999; Dalton, Van Sickle, and Weldon 2009; della Porta 1995; Dosh 2009; Kitschelt 1995; Koopmans 1993; Kriesi et al. 1995; O’Brien and Li 2006; Tarrow 2005; Wood 2003; Yashar 2005), organizational studies (Davis and McAdam 2000; Davis et al. 2005; Ingram, Yue, and Rao 2010; Lounsbury 2005; Rao, Monin, and Durand 2003; Strang and Soule 1998; Vogus and Davis 2005), education (Binder 2002; Davies and Quirke 2005; Hallett 2010; Rojas 2006, 2007; Slaughter 1997; Stevens 2001), environmental studies (Aldrich 2008; Rootes 2003; Rucht 1999; Sherman 2011; Vasi 2011), and law and society (Edelman, Leachman, and McAdam 2010; Gustafsson and Vinthagen 2011; Kay 2005; McCann 1994; Pedriana 2006) – have turned increasingly to social movement theory in an effort to better understand the dynamics of conflict and change within their respective scholarly domains. But even as we acknowledge and celebrate the vibrancy of the field, we worry about what we see as its increasing narrowness. In his 2009 article in Annual Review of Sociology , Andrew Walder voices similar concerns, criticizing what he sees as the field’s preoccupation with the dynamics of “mobilization” and general disinterest in a host of broader topics, including the traditional focus among political sociologists on the macrolinks between social structure and various forms of political behavior. There are, however, two other sources of “narrowness” in the field that concern us even more than the one identified by Walder.
Establishing Arizona's statewide cardiac arrest reporting and educational network.

Background. Only a few large cities have published their out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival statistics using the Utstein style reporting method. To date, to the best of our knowledge there has been no published OHCA survival data for a state. Objective. To describe the process, benefits, andchallenges of establishing a statewide OHCA database andeducational network. Methods. Arizona's Bureau of Emergency Medical Services andTrauma System initiated a statewide, prospective, observational cohort review of all OHCA victims on whom resuscitation was attempted in the field. Emergency medical services (EMS) first care reports, voluntarily submitted by 35 departments in Arizona, were analyzed. We chronicled the development of our data-collection process along with how we obtained patient outcomes anddelivered feedback to field providers. Entry data included time intervals andnodal events conforming to the Utstein style template. Results. In data collected between January 1, 2005, andApril 1, 2006, th...
Use of brain electrical activity for the identification of hematomas in mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract This study investigates the potential clinical utility in the emergency department (ED) of an index of brain electrical activity to identify intracranial hematomas. The relationship between this index and depth, size, and type of hematoma was explored. Ten minutes of brain electrical activity was recorded from a limited montage in 38 adult patients with traumatic hematomas (CT scan positive) and 38 mild head injured controls (CT scan negative) in the ED. The volume of blood and distance from recording electrodes were measured by blinded independent experts. Brain electrical activity data were submitted to a classification algorithm independently developed traumatic brain injury (TBI) index to identify the probability of a CT+traumatic event. There was no significant relationship between the TBI-Index and type of hematoma, or distance of the bleed from recording sites. A significant correlation was found between TBI-Index and blood volume. The sensitivity to hematomas was 100%, positive predictive...
Effects of the Solute Model and Concentration on the Calculated Free Energy of Hydration in Explicit Solvent Solution

Effects of the atom model and the atomic charge parameters on the calculated free energy of hydration (FEH) have been studied for CH3OH, CH3NH2, CH3CN, and N(CH3)3 with the all-atom vs the united-atom model for the CH3 group. Monte Carlo simulations using the free energy perturbation method have been performed in a TIP4P water box at T = 298 and p = 1 atm. Different sets of charge parameters obtained by fits to the gas-phase and in-solution B3LYP/6-31G* molecular electrostatic potentials (ELPO) and to the in-solution B3LYP/6-311++G** ELPO have been applied. Calculations with OPLS and RESP charges have been also completed. FEH values were calculated by charge and volume annihilations and developments. Volume development has also been studied for aniline, using the all-atom approach with explicit C−H atoms. For considering the concentration effect on the calculated standard free energy in solution, the (CH3OH)2, (CH3NH2)2, and (CH3CN)2 dimers, and the (CH3NH2)9 ninemer have been studied in aqueous solution ...
Prone sleep position and the sudden infant death syndrome in King County, Washington: A case-control study*

Objective: To determine whether the prone sleep position was associated with an increased risk of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Study design: Population-based case-control study. Participants: Case subjects were infants who died of SIDS in King County, Washington. Control subjects were randomly selected infants born in King County. Up to four control subjects were matched on date of birth to each case subject. Methods: During the study period, November 1992 through October 1994, sleep-position data were collected on infants who died of SIDS by the King County Medical Examiner's Office during their investigation of the deaths. Parents of infants chosen as control subjects were contacted by telephone, and sleep position information was obtained. Infants who usually slept on their abdomen were classified as sleeping prone; those who usually slept on the side or back were categorized as sleeping nonprone. The adjusted odds ratio for prone sleep position as a risk factor for SIDS was calculated with conditional logistic regression after control for race, birth weight, maternal age, maternal marital status, household income, and maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy. Results: Sleep position data were collected on 47 infants with SIDS (77% of eligible infants) and 142 matched control subjects; 57.4% of infants who died of SIDS usually slept prone versus 24.6% of control subjects (p Conclusion: Prone sleep position was significantly associated with an increased risk of SIDS among a group of American infants.
The maintenance and identification of mouse cerebellar granule cells in monolayer culture

Summary Methods are described for maintaining postnatal mouse cerebellar cells in monolayer culture, and for identifying granule cells in such cultures. Cells from cerebella of 7-day-old mice are dissociated with trypsin and DNAse, then plated at 1–1.5 × 106 cells/35 mm dish in a high-potassium modifications of Hams F12 medium plus 10% fetal calf serum. Under these conditions, cells grow either singly or in small clumps, and develop complex meshes of single fibers and fiber bundles over a period of several days. Granule cells are identified by a combination of several criteria including their size, shape and relative proportion of the total cell population as determined by phase contrast and scanning electron microscopy; nuclear morphology, demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy, and failure to take up [3H]γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the presence of several other cells types which do, shown by autoradiography.
Assimilating New Technologies: The Role of Organizational Culture

A technology may have met all the necessary user requirements, had buy-in from senior management, and yet be a resounding failure because the crucial role of organizational culture was overlooked. Like most social issues, organizational culture is amorphous, difficult to measure and quantify. This article helps IS managers analyze their own organization's culture to discover the role it will play in adopting a new technology.
Synthesis of S-dialkylarsino-3-mercapto-1,2-propanediols and evaluation of their anticancer activity.

Abstract Some new S-dialkylarsenic compounds, S-dialkylarsino-3-mercapto-1,2-propanediol (3a–3d) and their derivatives (4a,4b), have been synthesized. They were screened at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for their anticancer activity against a panel of about 60 human tumor cell lines. Most of them display anticancer activity having GI50 and LC50 values at low concentrations and are sensitive to leukemia, renal cancer and prostate cancer cell lines and in which the compound 3c is the most active.
t-Plasminogen activator and von Willebrand factor in patients with unstable angina

We investigated whether the clinical evolution of symptoms in patients admitted with unstable angina is associated with changes in t-plasminogen activator antigen (t-PA) and von Willebrand (vW) factor levels. Concentrations of vW factor antigen and t-PA antigen were measured by an enzyme-linked immunoassay method in 10 patients who became clinically stable within 24 h of admission and remained so for 5 days. A significant rise in morning t-PA plasma level occurred 24 h after the admission (15.15 ± 2.1 ng/ml, P < 0.05), whereas the vW factor remained unchanged. No significant changes were found in the night concentration in t-PA and vW factor during the 5 day period. Thus t-PA level is significantly raised 24 h after admission in patients with unstable angina who stabilize in response to medical treatment.
An elementary probability approach to fluctuation theory

Abstract : Problems connected with the fluctuation of the sums of independent and identically distributed random variables are discussed. Basically these problems consist in finding the distribution of various functions which are definable in terms of the sums and which give a measure (in some sense) of the amount of oscillation which the sums undergo.
Staged pacing therapy for congenital complete heart block in premature infants

Abstract Although congenital complete heart block (CHB) is usually well tolerated by the developing fetus, it may occasionally result in hydrops fetalis1,2 with a significant risk of fetal or neonatal death.3 The treatment of the fetus with CHB and hydrops remains a difficult problem. Attempted pharmacologic therapies have included β-adrenergic agonists,3 corticosteroids,4 and intravenous immunoglobulins, 5 none of which have been widely effective. One report of transuterine transthoracic fetal ventricular pacing was not successful in bringing the fetus to term.6 Although animal studies of fetal permanent pacemaker systems implantation are under way,7 this approach has not been used in humans. Because currently available in utero therapy is unable to halt the progression of fetal hydrops, one must usually resort to early delivery and extrauterine pacing of a compromised (and often premature) neonate. On occasion, these infants are too small to accept immediate implantation of a permanent pacing system, and use of temporary transvenous pacing wires carries the risk of cardiac perforation and venous thrombosis in the very small child. This report describes an alternate pacing strategy in 2 premature infants with CHB, involving the use of temporary epicardial pacing wires to bridge the interval until the permanent pacemaker can be implanted.
Narrow-band imaging colonoscopy—a pilot feasibility study for the detection of polyps and correlation of surface patterns with polyp histologic diagnosis

Background Colonoscopy is the preferred screening method for colorectal cancer. However, it has a substantial miss rate for colon polyps, and several techniques have been attempted to improve this limitation. Narrow-band imaging (NBI) is a novel technology that enhances the visualization of surface mucosal and vascular patterns. Objective The aim of this study was to determine the detection rate of additional polyps by NBI after removal of polyps visualized by standard white light colonoscopy (WLC) and to correlate the surface mucosal and vascular patterns with polyp histologic diagnosis. Design This was a prospective pilot feasibility study. Setting Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Patients Subjects referred for screening colonoscopy were prospectively enrolled. Methods Subjects underwent colonoscopy after enrollment. After intubation of the cecum, colonic segments were sequentially examined, initially with WLC with removal of polyps followed by re-examination of the same segment with NBI. Additional polyps seen with NBI were photographed for their surface patterns and then removed. The total number of polyps visualized by WLC and NBI was calculated and the surface patterns were then correlated with polyp histologic features. Results Forty patients were enrolled in the study, all men, 32 white. The mean age was 62 years. A total of 72 polyps were detected by WLC (43 tubular adenoma, 28 hyperplastic polyps), whereas NBI detected an additional 51 polyps, of which 29 were tubular adenomas and 22 were hyperplastic. Five different surface/vascular patterns were observed: fine capillary network with absent mucosal pattern, circular pattern with dots, round/oval pattern, tubular pattern, and gyrus pattern. The sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of the first two patterns for hyperplastic polyps were 86%, 96%, and 92%, respectively, and of the latter three patterns for tubular adenomas were 96%, 86%, and 92%, respectively. Conclusions This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of polyp detection and histologic correlation with NBI. These findings need to be confirmed in future randomized controlled trials.
Tumors in nonhuman primates: observations during a six-year period in the Yerkes primate center colony.

Tumors were observed in nine of 1,066 nonhuman primates submitted for postmortem examination during a six-year period at the Yerkes Primate Center. Six of these animals had malignant tumors, and one animal had two primary malignancies. Nonhuman primates with tumors included rhesus, squirrel, and pigtail monkeys. Tumors observed included a sarcoma of the stomach, a sarcoma of the thigh, a malignant lymphoma, a glioblastoma of the cerebrum, two renal cell carcinomas, a carcinoma of the endometrium, and three uterine leiomyomas. Two monkeys in the colony presently have malignant tumors, one a testicular seminoma, and the other an abdominal adenocarcinoma, probably of ovarian origin. Electron microscopy revealed virus-like particles in specimens from the thigh sarcoma. The only tumors observed in any of the great ape species during this period have been two surgically removed benign tumors in chimpanzees, a subcutaneous lipoma and a hemangioma of the skin.
Electron energy-loss spectrum-imaging

Abstract Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) is a powerful method for analyzing elemental, chemical, dielectric, and other information. The technique can be extended to produce quantitative images useful for interpreting the spatial distribution of this information. This paper describes an implementation of a new method of quantitative mapping termed “spectrum-imaging”. The resultant “spectrum-images” consist of complete spectra stored at each pixel in a scanned image. This allows not only the data in each spectrum to be analyzed a posteriori using time-consuming methods, but also permits the spatial statistics of the collective spectra to be exploited. Spectrum-image processing is fundamentally different from previous quantitative image processing that has been performed “on-the-fly”. The methods used to acquire and process EELS spectrum-images are here described, along with a range of applications and examples of the technique.
Measurements of electron attachment lineshapes and cross sections at ultra-low electron energies for 2-C4F8, c-C5F8, c-C6F6 and C7F8

Electron attachment cross sections are reported in the electron energy range 0-150 meV, and at energy resolutions of 5-8 meV (FWHM), for the molecules 2-C4F8 (perfluoro-2-butene), c-C5F8 (perfluorocyclopentene), c-C6F6 (perfluorobenzene) and C7F8 (perfluorotoluene). Use is made of the Kr photoionisation technique, and measured attachment lineshapes are converted to cross sections by normalisation through absolute attachment rate constants. As in previous results on 2-C4F6, CFCl3, CCl4 and SF6, the present four molecules exhibit resolution-limited onsets at threshold consistent with the s-wave nature of the attachment, and a neutral-negative-ion curve crossing at zero energy.
Effectiveness of the user interface driven system design using UML

The majority of research regarding the effectiveness of object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD) is focused on a comparison of object-oriented to traditional approaches that highlights their relative strengths and weaknesses. There has been less focus on improving OOAD on its own. The standardization of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) creates an opportunity to focus on improving the methods of developing UML diagrams. Design quality can be a litmus test for overall system quality. Practice has shown that designing user interfaces before domain modeling can be used on a systematic basis to derive other UML diagrams for a large class of interactive information systems. This empirical study analyzed 43 OOAD projects to determine the effectiveness of the user interface driven system design (UIDD) by calculating defect densities for four UML diagrams. The study was performed on three levels: individual type of defect, type of diagram and entire project. Empirical results show that the UIDD consistently produced very low defect densities on all three levels for projects that varied widely with respect to application area, information system type, team experience and size.
A Cross-Industry Assessment of Personal Exposures to Methyl Methacrylate

This study investigated personal exposures to methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer during monomer production and use within the chemical manufacturing industry. The aim was to include multiple companies and sites to provide information regarding differences and similarities among exposure subgroups within the industry during the time period of 1998–2000. To this end, personal exposure data for MMA monomer from three chemical corporations was combined into a single data set. The data was stratified by sample type (full shift or short term), job classification (monomer production, monomer use, maintenance, distribution, and laboratory operations), company, and facility. Only classifications with three samples or more were included in the final data set, yielding 376 samples for analysis (334 full-shift and 42 short-term samples). Results compare well with previously published data on MMA monomer exposures. Although there was significant variability in several exposure subgroups (particularly among companies an...
Staying alive: The impact of media momentum on candidacy attrition in the 1980-2004 primaries

This study proposes a “media momentum model,” arguing that the amount of news coverage candidates receive might influence their candidacy potency and duration. The two mechanisms that drive this process are rational choice on the candidates' side and cue taking on the voters' side. Based on data from the primary elections in the past two decades, this study shows that media coverage frequency of presidential candidates during and before their “exhibition season” has significant impact on the length of time they stay in the race before withdrawing from the campaign. Given the notion that choice is at the core of democracy, continued scholarly attention should be paid to the unique explanatory power of media coverage in elections.
Images and distributions obtained from affine transformations.

We present a method to obtain the scaling properties for multifractal shapes and distributions obtained from affine transformations. Our analysis defines two scaling exponents F(\ensuremath{\beta}) and F\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}(\ensuremath{\beta}); the former relates to geometry, while the latter is associated with the distribution of gradients for networks in Laplacian fields. We determine the exact relation between F(\ensuremath{\beta}) and F\ifmmode \tilde{}\else \~{}\fi{}(\ensuremath{\beta}). We argue for electrical networks that more information on scaling behavior may be obtained by only taking into account the maximal current leaving a node. Our picture suggests a new route to characterize the scaling properties of electrical networks in general.
Oxygen saturation in free-diving whales: optical sensor development

Mass stranding of live whales has been explained by proposing many natural or human-related causes. Recent necropsy reports suggest a link between the mass stranding of beaked whales and the use of naval mid-frequency sonar. Surprisingly, whales have experienced symptoms similar to those caused by inert gas bubbles in human divers. Our goal is to develop a compact optical sensor to monitor the consumption of the oxygen stores in the muscle of freely diving whales. To this end we have proposed the use of a near-infrared phase-modulated frequency-domain spectrophotometer, in reflectance mode, to probe tissue oxygenation. Our probe consists of three main components: radiofrequency (RF) modulated light sources, a high-bandwidth avalanche photodiode with transimpedance amplifier, and a RF gain and phase detector. In this work, we concentrate on the design and performance of the light sensor, and its corresponding amplifier unit. We compare three state-of-the-art avalanche photodiodes: one through-hole device and two surface-mount detectors. We demonstrate that the gain due to the avalanche effect differs between sensors. The avalanche gain near maximum bias of the through-hole device exceeds by a factor of 2.5 and 8.3 that of the surface-mount detectors. We present the behavior of our assembled through-hole detector plus high-bandwidth transimpedance amplifier, and compare its performance to that of a commercially available module. The assembled unit enables variable gain, its phase noise is qualitatively lower, and the form factor is significantly smaller. Having a detecting unit that is compact, flexible, and functional is a milestone in the development of our tissue oxygenation tag.
Effects of orally administered retinol on natural killer cell activity in wild type BALB/c and congenitally athymic BALB/c mice

Retinoids have been shown to inhibit the growth and development of neoplastic cells in many systems. One mechanism of action may be through activation of the immune system, specifically natural killer (NK) cell activity. The effect of retinol on NK cell cytotoxicity was examined in three groups of mice: BALB/c (wild-type), BALB/c nu/nu (athymic), and BALB/c nu/nu previously injected with human tumor cells. In untreated mice, NK activity was highest in athymic mice without tumors and lowest in wild-type mice, although serum and liver retinol concentrations were identical in all three groups. In mice fed graded, nontoxic doses of retinol daily for 3 weeks, serum retinol levels in all three groups exhibited a sharp peak and decline following daily bolus retinol administration. Retinol stores in the livers showed a dose-dependent increase in all treated animals. However, NK cell activity, differed for each group. Athymic mice without tumors exhibited no change in NK activity as a result of retinol treatment. Athymic mice with tumors had NK levels that tended to increase with increasing retinol doses, but these changes were not statistically significant. Wild-type mice, on the other hand, demonstrated significantly higher NK levels after treatment with retinol doses of 300 and 600 μg/day. In subsequent time course experiments, there was a peak in NK activity 1 h following bolus retinol administration similar to the peak seen in serum retinol concentrations, suggesting either an acute activation or recruitment of cytotoxic cells. Retinol thus appears to increase NK activity in wild-type BALB/c mice, and this activity may be an important component of its antineoplastic activity.