cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Seeing the forest through the seeds: Mechanisms of primate behavioral diversity from individuals to populations and beyond.

Understanding the evolution of primate behavioral diversity requires multilevel approaches that encompass individuals, populations, and the effects of individuals and populations on each other. At one level are analyses of individual behavior patterns under different ecological and demographic conditions. At another level are the effects of individual behavior on the demography and genetics of local populations, which in turn shape the behavior and biology of their individual members. Multilevel studies across populations and over time provide insights into the range of behavioral variation that particular species can express and are necessary for distinguishing the species‐specific behavior patterns on which evolutionary comparisons are based. These studies therefore provide the insights necessary to incorporate intraspecific variation into comparative models.
Pleural pericardial window for palliation of cardiac tamponade due to cancer.

Cardiac tamponade due to metastatic cancer may be successfully palliated by creation of a pleural pericardial window. Four patients with malignant cardiac tamponade underwent surgery at the University of Colorado in a 12-month period with no mortality. A normal cardiac and mediastinal silhouette was achieved in all 4 patients, 2 of whom had postoperative radiation therapy. A pleural pericardial window was established in 3 patients, resulting in prompt relief of tamponade. A fifth patient, who refused pleural pericardial window, is also reported. This patient died of pericardial tamponade in 10 days, in spite of repeated pericardiocenteses.
Biochemical and genetic analysis of pre-stalk specific acid phosphatase in Dictyostelium☆

The only known enzymatic marker of pre-stalk cells at the slug stage of development in Dictyostelium discoideum is an isozyme of acid phosphatase, AP2. There is another isozyme of acid phosphatase, AP1, which is present in vegetative cells and is not cell-type specific. We have purified these isozymes and find they differ in Km and thermostability. Both isozymes are affected by mutations in a single locus, acpA. Two mutations in the acpA locus abolished all activity of both AP1 and AP2 while a third mutation reduced the activity and altered the thermostability of both isozymes. It is likely that acpA is the structural gene responsible for both AP1 and AP2. The cell-type specificity of AP2 appears to result from differences in the modification of the acpA gene product between pre-spore and pre-stalk cells. The resulting difference in AP2 provides a useful marker for pre-stalk cells.
ALBEDOS OF ASTEROIDS IN COMET-LIKE ORBITS

We present the results of a mid-infrared survey of 26 asteroids in comet-like orbits, including six Damocloids and six near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). We define a ‘‘comet-like’’ orbit as one having a Tisserand invariant TJ under 3 (but only including objects that are NEAs or otherwise unusual). Visible-wavelength data were also obtained, so geometric albedos (in the Cousins R band) and effective radii are presented for 25 objects (plus one more with 3 � limits) as derived using the NEA Thermal Model. Nine of our objects were observed at two or more mid-infrared wavelengths, and in all cases the low-thermal inertia thermal model was found to be applicable, with various values of the beaming parameter. Our work more than quintuples the total number of observationally constrained albedos among TJ 3 NEAs. There are 10 NEAs among the 32 objects, and of those, 53% � 9% have comet-like albedos. With the current crop of NEAs, this implies that about 4% of all known NEAs are extinct comets. A comparison of the histogram of TJ < 3 asteroid albedos with that of active cometary nuclei shows that the former has a larger spread.
False-Positive Postmortem EMIT Drugs-of-Abuse Assay due to Lactate Dehydrogenase and Lactate in Urine

Three cases of multiple false-positive drug tests are described. Postmortem urine specimens were screened using the enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique. All patients had proteinuria and lactic aciduria. These false-positive reactions were due to the presence of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lactic acid, and protein. This finding was confirmed by creating a multiple false-positive sample with a solution of LDH and lactate in 5% bovine serum albumin at pH 6.
Extrapolation-Based Acceleration of Iterative Solvers: Application to Simulation of 3D Flows

We investigate the effectiveness of two extrapolation-based methods aiming to approximate the initial state required by an iterative solver in simulations of un- steady flow problems. The methods lead to about a ten-fold reduction in the iteration count while requiring only negligible computational overhead. They are particularly suitable for parallel computing since they are based almost exclusively on data stored locally on each processor. Performance has been evaluated in simulations of turbu- lent flow in a stenosed carotid artery and also in laminar flow in a very large domain containing the human intracranial arterial tree. AMS subject classifications: 52B10, 65D18, 68U05, 68U07
Glowing in the dark: time of day as a determinant of radiographic imaging in the evaluation of abdominal pain in children.

Abstract Background/Purpose Although ultrasound is often the preferred pediatric imaging study, many institutions lack ultrasound access at night; and computerized tomography (CT) becomes the only radiological method available for evaluation of appendicitis in children. The purpose of this study was to characterize patterns of daytime and nighttime use of ultrasound or CT for evaluation of pediatric appendicitis and to measure consequent differences in radiation exposure and cost. Methods A retrospective chart review of patients evaluated for appendicitis from October 2004 to October 2009 (N = 535) was performed to evaluate daytime and nighttime use of ultrasound and CT for pediatric patients. Results Average age was 10.2 years (range, 3-17 years). During the day, 6 times as many ultrasounds were performed as CTs (230 vs 35). At night, half as many ultrasounds were performed (50 vs 110). Average radiation dose per child during the day was significantly lower than at night (day, 0.52 mSv per patient; night, 2.75 mSv per patient). Average radiology costs were lower for daytime patients ($2491.06 day vs $4045.00 night; P Conclusions Dependence on CT at night results in higher average radiation exposure and cost. Twenty-four–hour ultrasound availability would decrease radiation exposure and cost of evaluation of children presenting with appendicitis.
Anorectal Crohn's disease.

or anorectal disease is a primary feature of Crohn’s disease, with a prevalence of 8% to go%, and typically is considered to afflict approximately one in three patients.36, 58, n, 78 It is seldom the only site of disease. The range of anorectal disease is great because of variability in the classification of perianal disease and in the caution exercised in the search for such lesions. Variation also occurs within subgroups of patients with Crohn’s disease. More than half of patients with colonic involvement will have anal complications, whereas in less than 20% of patients with small-bowel disease, anal symptoms are likely to develop.76 The prevalence of perianal disease also has been found to be greater in blacks than in CLINICAL PRESENTATION Most patients with Crohn’s disease present with abdominal pain, diarrhea, and weight loss, but 5% of patients with Crohn’s disease present with anal lesions only, and most will develop intestinal symptoms, sometimes many years later.67 The spectrum of anal complaints is
CatchUp!: capturing and replaying refactorings to support API evolution

Library developers who have to evolve a library to accommodate changing requirements often face a dilemma: Either they implement a clean, efficient solution but risk breaking client code, or they maintain compatibility with client code, but pay with increased design complexity and thus higher maintenance costs over time. We address this dilemma by presenting a lightweight approach for evolving application programming interfaces (APIs), which does not depend on version control or configuration management systems. Instead, we capture API refactoring actions as a developer evolves an API. Users of the API can then replay the refactorings to bring their client software components up to date. We present CatchUp!, an implementation of our approach that captures and replays refactoring actions within an integrated development environment semi-automatically. Our experiments suggest that our approach could be valuable in practice.
Persistent Diarrhea in Travelers

Most patients with traveler's diarrhea can be efficiently treated with available pharmacological agents. A more difficult problem is the persistent diarrhea (lasting > or = 14 days) that occurs in approximately 3% of travelers who have acute diarrhea. In the initial evaluation of these patients, ideally three stool samples should be obtained for examination for pathogens. If an agent is not identified or the patient has not responded to specific therapy, he or she may be empirically treated with an antimicrobial drug directed toward common bacterial enteropathogens, if such treatment has not already been administered. For those patients whose conditions do not respond, antiprotozoal therapy may be employed empirically. If diarrhea continues, then an endoscopic evaluation is indicated, and specific treatment can be given if an agent or condition is identified. A proportion of patients will continue to have diarrhea following empirical therapy and a gastroenterologic workup. These individuals are best given symptomatic treatment and reassured that the prognosis is good.
Scaling of Stark-shifted per-carrier nonlinearities in multiple-quantum-well device structures

We demonstrate simple rules for the scaling of per-carrier Stark-shifted nonlinearities with well number, electric field, amplitude and width of the excitonic transition by measuring the per carrier nonlinear response of a number of multiple-quantum-well structures as a function of temperature, bias and materials system. These measurements illustrate that the per-carrier nonlinearity can be improved by optimizing the in-well bias field and by increasing the number of wells per intrinsic region; however, they also demonstrate that when the measured per-carrier nonlinearities are corrected for material quality and temperature (i.e., excitonic amplitude and linewidth) that the per-carrier response does not depend appreciably on material system or on whether the fields are externally-applied, built-in, or intrinsic. >
The Feasibility of Pain Assessment in the Prehospital Setting

Objective. To determine the feasibility of prehospital pain measurement among patients 13 years of age or older using a verbal and numeric rating scale and to assess the severity of pain in a prehospital patient population. Methods. Retrospective cross-sectional study of emergency medical services (EMS) run sheets after the adoption of a universal prehospital pain assessment protocol. Data were abstracted from a sequential (1:4) sample of run sheets from the first three months after adoption of the protocol. Verbal rating scale (VRS) and numeric rating scale (NRS) pain assessment information was obtained, along with demographic, location, and call information. Run sheets without pain assessment underwent structured review and classification according to predefined protocol. Descriptive statistics and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results. A total of 1,227 run sheets were reviewed, 582 (47%) of patients were male, and 452 (36%) were 65 years of age or older. A total of 907 (75%) were nontrauma ...
Calculation of the vacancy migration energy in cubic crystals

Abstract Calculations of the vacancy migration energy have been performed for seven face-centered and six body-centered cubic metals. Atomic interactions within each crystal have been represented by a pairwise potential energy function based on the Morse function. The technique used in the calculations has involved a comparison of the energy of a vacancy having relaxed surroundings with the energy of a saddle point configuration. In the ease of the saddle point calculations, a simple kinetic criterion has been used to estimate the point at which atomic relaxation should be cut off. Where calculated values of the vacancy migration energy could be compared with experiment, all but two cases showed good agreement.
Quantifying the strength of land–atmosphere coupling in the 2004 North American monsoon

This study examines the land–atmosphere coupling strength during the 2004 North American monsoon (NAM) using the ΔΩ index from ensemble model simulations. The strength of coupling varies geographically over different monsoon phases. The coupling strength over the entire monsoon period is primarily attributed to the monsoon mature phase with strong signal of coupling in the eastern NAM region. A decomposition of the land–atmosphere coupling suggests that land segment contributes to the strong coupling during the monsoon onset, mature phase and the overall monsoon season, while the atmospheric segment dominates the strong coupling during the decay phase.
Network-based H ∞ control of systems with packet dropout and time-varying sampling period

This paper is concerned with the problem of Hinfin controller design for networked control systems (NCSs) with time delay, packet dropout and time-varying sampling period. The considered NCSs may receive more than one control input during a sampling period. A multi-objective optimization methodology in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) and the discrete Jensen inequality are adopted to deal with the problem of Hinfin controller design for NCSs with time- varying sampling period. The proposed Hinfin controller design is also applicable for NCSs with constant sampling period. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed Hinfin controller design.
Dynamic collaborative documentation at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Collider-Accelerator Department

Centralization of information pertaining to accelerators can benefit accelerator operation and development. Further, retention and the changeable nature of information present challenges to accelerator operation, particularly in instances of turnover. MediaWiki is free, server-based software licensed under the GNU general public license that uses PHP to render data stored in a MySQL database as interactive web documents, and is designed to produce a collaborative document known as a wiki. The MediaWiki engine was implemented at BNL, and this paper describes the first year of use by the operations, controls, and RF groups at the collider- accelerator department, including code modifications, common practices, and use as a training tool.
Molecular basis for defective secretion of the Z variant of human alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor: secretion of variants having altered potential for salt bridge formation between amino acids 290 and 342.

Abstract Human alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor (A1PI) deficiency, associated with the Z-variant A1PI (A1PI/Z) gene, results from defective secretion of the inhibitor from the liver. The A1PI/Z gene exhibits two point mutations which specify amino acid substitutions, Val-213 to Ala and Glu-342 to Lys. The functional importance of these substitutions in A1PI deficiency was investigated by studying the secretion of A1PI synthesized in COS cells transfected with A1PI genes altered by site-directed mutagenesis. This model system correctly duplicates the secretion defect seen in individuals homozygous for the A1PI/Z allele and shows that the substitution of Lys for Glu-342 alone causes defective secretion of A1PI. The substitution of Lys for Glu-342 eliminates the possibility for a salt bridge between residues 342 and 290, which may decrease the conformational stability of the molecule and thus account for the secretion defect. However, when we removed the potential to form a salt bridge from the wild-type inhibitor by changing Lys-290 to Glu (A1PI/SB-290Glu), secretion was not reduced to the 19% of normal level seen for A1PI/Z-342Lys; in fact, 75% of normal secretion was observed. When the potential for salt bridge formation was returned to A1PI/Z-342Lys by changing Lys-290 to Glu, only 46% of normal secretion was seen. These data indicate that the amino acid substitution at position 342, rather than the potential to form the 290-342 salt bridge, is the critical alteration leading to the defect in A1PI secretion.
Sex differences in the relation of HDL cholesterol to progression of carotid intima-media thickness: the Los Angeles Atherosclerosis Study.

Epidemiologic studies have revealed that the protective association of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) with CHD is stronger in older men and younger women. We aimed to investigate sex differences in the relation of HDL-C to progression of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) (an indicator of subclinical atherosclerosis) in middle age. IMT progression and serum HDL-C were determined for a cohort of 500 women and men aged 40–60 years over three examinations (1.5-year intervals). IMT at baseline was inversely associated with serum levels of HDL-C and the associations were comparable in women and men. However, in multivariate longitudinal growth models adjusting for potential confounders, IMT progression was inversely associated with serum levels of HDL-C in men, but directly associated in women (p = 0.0007 for interaction). Our results suggest that although HDL-C was protective against progression of carotid atherosclerosis in middle-aged men, anti-atherogenic effects of HDL may diminish in women around the age of menopause. © 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Microchemical Systems for Direct Fluorination of Aromatics

We describe a silicon-based microchemical system that enables efficient and safe direct fluorination of aromatic compounds, a process difficult to implement on a conventional macroscopic scale. The microreactor has been designed, fabricated, and tested for the fluorination of toluene at room temperature using excess elemental fluorine. The reactor, fabricated by using silicon processing microfabrication and metal deposition techniques, provides controlled gas-liquid contacting, selective fluorination, and easy replication. Toluene was chosen as model chemistry because past studies of the fluorination of this compound can serve as a benchmark. Here we provide additional insights into the conversion and product distribution as a function of operating conditions: toluene concentration, molar ratio of fluorine to toluene, and temperature. Conversions of toluene on the order of 60% resulted in selectivities of monofluorinated toluenes of up to 30%. The substitution pattern of the ortho, meta, and para isomers, as determined from GC, was 4:1:2.
Coherent mixing of mechanical excitations in nano-optomechanical structures

The combination of the large per-photon optical force and small motional mass achievable in nanocavity optomechanical systems results in strong dynamical back-action between mechanical motion and the cavity light field. In this Article, we study the optical control of mechanical motion within two different nanocavity structures, a zipper nanobeam photonic crystal cavity and a double-microdisk whispering-gallery resonator. The strong optical gradient force within these cavities is shown to introduce significant optical rigidity into the structure, with the dressed mechanical states renormalized into optically bright and optically dark modes of motion. With the addition of internal mechanical coupling between mechanical modes, a form of optically controlled mechanical transparency is demonstrated in analogy to electromagnetically induced transparency of three-level atomic media. Based upon these measurements, a proposal for coherently transferring radio-frequency/microwave signals between the optical field and a long-lived dark mechanical state is described.
Bis(2,2,2‐trichloroethyl) Phosphorochloridate

[17172-53-6] C4H4Cl7O3P (MW 379.22) InChI = 1S/C4H4Cl7O3P/c5-3(6,7)1-13-15(11,12)14-2-4(8,9)10/h1-2H2 InChIKey = ZHHCWQGVXYGWCW-UHFFFAOYSA-N (phosphorylating reagent) Physical Data: mp 45–47 °C. Form Supplied in: colorless solid. Handling, Storage, and Precautions: may decompose on exposure to air or water. Store in a dry, cool environment. Corrosive material and it should be handled in a well-ventilated fume hood.
Preoperative Predictors of Extended Hospital Length of Stay Following Total Knee Arthroplasty

The purpose of this study was to identify the preoperative predictors of hospital length of stay after primary total knee arthroplasty in a patient population reflecting current trends toward shorter hospitalization and using readily obtainable factors that do not require scoring systems. A single-center, multi-surgeon retrospective chart review of two hundred and sixty consecutive patients who underwent primary total knee arthroplasty was performed. The mean length of stay was 3.0 days. Among the different variables studied, increasing comorbidities, lack of adequate assistance at home, and bilateral surgery were the only multivariable significant predictors of longer length of stay. The study was adequately powered for statistical analyses and the concordance index of the multivariable logistic regression model was 0.815.
Massively parallel chemical potential calculation on graphics processing units

a b s t r a c t One- and two-stage free energy methods are common approaches for calculating the chemical potential from a molecular dynamics or Monte Carlo molecular simulation trajectory. Although these methods require significant amounts of CPU time spent on post-simulation analysis, this analysis step is wellsuited for parallel execution. In this work, we implement this analysis step on graphics processing units (GPUs), an architecture that is optimized for massively parallel computation. A key issue in porting these free energy methods to GPUs is the trade-off between software efficiency and sampling efficiency. In particular, fixed performance costs in the software favor a higher number of insertion moves per configuration. However, higher numbers of moves lead to lower sampling efficiency. We explore this issue in detail, and find that for a dense, strongly interacting system of small molecules like liquid water, the optimal number of insertions per configuration can be as high as 10 5 for a two-stage approach like Bennett’s method. We also find that our GPU implementation accelerates chemical potential calculations by as much as 60-fold when compared to an efficient, widely available CPU code running on a single CPU core.
Three-Dimensional Simulation of Thermal Processes

Three-dimensional simulation of thermal processes is performed using the Florida Object Oriented Process Simulator (FLOOPS). Algorithms for three-dimensional grid update, moving boundaries, and solution of equations are described. The major challenge in building a 3D simulator is addressing the grid requirements, and the approach used in FLOOPS will be described. As process simulators move to three-dimensions, new parts of the simulator become CPU limiting. Some of these problems will be discussed and addressed. Since this is an area of on-going work, our current research directions will also he discussed.
Peahens can differentiate between the antipredator calls of individual conspecifics

Animals of many different species discriminate among individuals based on acoustic properties of vocalizations. These vocalizations are produced in different contexts, including territorial defence and parent–offspring interactions. They are also produced in response to predators, but we know less about whether animals, especially birds, are able to discriminate among individuals based on antipredator calls. We therefore examined whether an avian species (peafowl, Pavo cristatus) is able to differentiate between the antipredator calls of different individuals. Using a habituation–discrimination playback paradigm, we habituated peahens to the antipredator calls of a given individual and then examined their responses to additional calls from that individual and to calls from a novel individual. We found that peahens responded more strongly to calls from the novel individual than from the original individual, demonstrating that they are able to differentiate between individuals based on the acoustic properties of antipredator calls. The ability to differentiate between individual callers may be useful to peahens in modifying their antipredator behaviour based on signaller reliability.
Cyanine Dye–Nucleic Acid Interactions

Cyanine dyes are widely used in biotechnology due to their ability to form fluorescent complexes with nucleic acids. This chapter describes how the structure of the dye determines the mode in which it binds to nucleic acids as well as the fluorescence properties of the resulting complexes. Related dyes, such as hemicyanines and styryl dyes, are briefly described as well. In addition, covalent conjugates of cyanines with nucleic acids or with nucleic acid-binding ligands allow fluorescent labeling and probing of DNA/RNA structure and function. Several examples of different types of conjugates and their applications are described.
Academic integrity violations: a national study of dental hygiene students.

The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of academic integrity violations reported by a national sample of dental hygiene students as compared to general undergraduate students. This study also examined the influence of student variables such as gender, age, and level of education, along with honor codes and other contextual factors, on academic integrity. A total of 2,050 surveys were mailed to a random selection of the schools with dental hygiene degree programs in each of the twelve American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA) districts. A total of 794 usable surveys were returned for an overall response rate of 39 percent. The respondents were predominantly twenty to twenty-nine years of age (85 percent), and 97.7 percent were female. The largest percentage of respondents (38.5 percent) had completed four or more years of undergraduate education at the time of the survey, with the majority of the coursework taken in a community college setting (39 percent). Approximately 53 percent were from associate programs and 47 percent from baccalaureate programs. Of those responding, 11.3 percent reported cheating during their dental hygiene program, and 30.2 percent were aware of someone cheating in their program. A comparison of academic violations for dental hygiene students to students in other undergraduate programs reveals that a smaller proportion of dental hygiene students report violations.
Adolescent Life Stress and the Cortisol Awakening Response: The Moderating Roles of Attachment and Sex.

This longitudinal study investigated how past versus current life stresses relate to adolescents' cortisol awakening response (CAR), an index of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activity. Ninety-nine adolescents reported previous year life stress at ages 12 and 18. At the second assessment, participants also provided self-reports of parent and peer attachment and 3 days of cortisol samples. Current stress was associated with heightened CAR for both males and females, whereas past stress was associated with attenuated CAR for males. Attachment to peers buffered the relationship between past stress and attenuated CAR for all adolescents; attachment to parents was a buffer for male adolescents only. Results demonstrate the protective roles of adolescent relationships and highlight sex differences in biopsychosocial development across adolescence.
Written Testimony of David K. Min Before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs, 'Housing Finance Reform: Developing a Smooth Plan for Transition'

This testimony analyzes the transition proposed by S. 1217, the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013, proposed by Sens. Corker (R-TN) and Warner (D-VA), and identifies six issues that need to be addressed for a successful transition: (1) the development of a common securitization platform and single security; (2) achieving liquidity for the new MBS contemplated by Corker-Warner; (3) responsibly reducing conforming loan limits; (4) ensuring the continued flow of mortgage finance for underserved market segments; (5) attracting sufficient and appropriately priced capital into the new system; and (6) maintaining sources of countercyclical liquidity. Such a transition would be the largest such undertaking in history, and one that, to the best of my knowledge, has no close precedents. Fannie and Freddie currently hold slightly more than $5 trillion in mortgage-related assets. Since the sudden and steep decline in private mortgage finance that occurred in 2008, the two enterprises have been responsible for more than 60% of the new mortgage originations, about $1.7 trillion each year, an amount equivalent to slightly more than 10% of our nation’s annual gross domestic product. The federal government has some experience in resolving failed institutions — recently, the government’s interactions with AIG and General Motors come to mind, and before that, we had the experience of the Resolution Trust Company in resolving hundreds of failed thrifts. But I can think of no instance in which we have tried to simultaneously resolve large failed institutions and transition their core economic functions into a newly created set of institutions, certainly not on the scale imagined by Corker-Warner. The guiding principle for legislators and regulators who are structuring our housing finance transition must first and foremost be, “Do no harm.” Avoiding the disruption of mortgage liquidity, either systemwide or in individual market segments, should be a paramount concern during this period. A failure to adhere to this principle would be catastrophic for the housing markets and the broader economy.I suggest a number of changes to Corker-Warner's transition plan: (1) delegate more responsibility to regulators and remove arbitrary timetables; (2) phase in the transition in parts (such as starting with the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage or high cost conforming loans), rather than all at once; (3) convert legacy securities into the new MBS created under Corker-Warner; (4) pre-approve these new MBS for use in the "To Be Announced Market" and as collateral for Fed lending, repo markets and derivatives transactions to increase liquidity; (5) give a running start to institutions focused on underserved markets (particularly affordable rental housing); and (6) prove expanded emergency powers to create sources of countercyclical liquidity.
The impact of tobacco smoking on perinatal outcome among patients with gestational diabetes.

To determine the effects of tobacco use on perinatal outcomes among patients with gestational diabetes (GDM). This was a retrospective cohort study of singleton pregnancies with GDM and live births from 2003 to 2006. The primary outcome, large for gestational age (LGA) infants, was compared between smoking and nonsmoking groups. Secondary outcomes included cesarean deliveries, shoulder dystocia, birth trauma, peripartum complications, macrosomia, 5-min Apgar score ⩽3, birth defects, and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions. χ2 and Student t-tests compared the two groups; a P-value <0.05 was statistically significant and odds ratios (OR) were reported with 95% confidence intervals (CI). A multivariate logistic regression analysis controlled for variables known to affect outcomes in GDM. We identified 915 patients with GDM, of which 130 (14.2%) smoked during pregnancy. Women who smoked during pregnancy were less likely to have LGA infants (22.4 vs 31.2%; OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.95). In a logistic regression analysis, the inverse relationship between smoking and LGA persisted (OR, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.97) after controlling for maternal age, multiparity, ethnicity, weight status before pregnancy, weight gain during pregnancy, and male gender. Preterm labor, preeclampsia, Cesareans, shoulder dystocia, and birth trauma were similar in both groups. PPROM was more likely to occur in nonsmokers (0 vs 4%, P=0.03), but postpartum hemorrhage was more common among smokers (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.02 to 5.31). Macrosomia, low 5-min Apgar score, birth defects, and NICU admissions were similar between the groups. Patients with GDM who smoke during pregnancy were 40% less likely to have LGA infants. However, smoking was not protective of other common morbidities associated with GDM.
4-Cyano-1-methyl-pyridinium perchlor-ate.

The title salt, C7H7N2+·ClO4−, crystallizes with alternating cations and anions in wavy sheets, which are formed by a number of C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, lying approximately parallel to (001).
H5N1 stems the alveolar tide: MSCs to the rescue!

Outbreaks of avian influenza have increased in recent years and represent a major public health hazard, with higher case fatality rates than seasonal flu. In avian flu, severe pulmonary edema is more commonly seen than in seasonal serotypes. Normally, coordinated cellular mechanisms including alveolar fluid clearance keep the lung’s airspaces dry. However, what causes pulmonary edema in avian flu is unknown. Searching for mechanism, Chan et al. measured fluid transport in cultured, influenza-infected primary human alveolar epithelial cells. In this culture system, cells grown in an upper chamber on a semipermeable membrane actively transport ions and water contained in culture medium into the lower chamber. Alveolar fluid clearance thus modeled can be quantified by measurement of the increase in concentration over 24 hours of FITC-dextran added to the upper chamber. Cells infected with the avian strains H5N1 and H7N9 had markedly decreased alveolar fluid clearance compared with the seasonal strain H1N1, and H5N1 infection also increased FITC-dextran in the lower chamber, suggesting disruption of cellular barrier function. Coculture with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) restored both alveolar fluid clearance and barrier function in alveolar epithelial cells infected with H5N1. Moreover, H5N1 infection decreased expression of ion channels that contribute to alveolar fluid clearance, including the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) and subunits of the Na+-K+ ATPase, and also increased expression of cytokines associated with barrier disruption; these effects of avian flu were reversed with MSC coculture. Exploring in vivo relevance, the authors administered intravenous MSCs to mice with H5N1 5 days after infection. Interestingly, aged (8 to 12 months) but not young (6 to 8 weeks) mice had increased survival and body weight after treatment with MSCs. Furthermore, in the aged group, lung edema and permeability were attenuated by MSC treatment, which markedly increased expression of CFTR in lung lysates. These findings introduce a new mechanism of pulmonary edema formation in avian flu. Given the mortality benefit in the murine model, these results also provide a rationale for further testing of MSCs in clinical studies. Future studies should probe the mechanism of interaction between age and the mortality benefit associated with MSCs in avian flu. M. C. W. Chan et al ., Human mesenchymal stromal cells reduce influenza A H5N1-associated acute lung injury in vitro and in vivo. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 113 , 3621–3626 (2016). [[Full Text]][1] [1]: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/13/3621.full?sid=c24dd116-c39e-4030-9d43-3f43299da838
IL-2 inhibits early increases in serum gamma interferon levels associated with graft-versus-host-disease

Abstract We have recently demonstrated that a short course of high-dose IL-2 administered to lethally irradiated mice leads to marked protection from early and late GVHD mortality, especially when T cell-depleted (TCD) host-type bone marrow cells (BMC) are also administered. IL-2 inhibits the GVHD-inducing activity of donor CD4+ cells without inhibiting their graft-vs.-leukemia effects. Since CD4+ T-lymphocytes produce a variety of cytokines, some of which have recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of GVHD, we have studied the possible effect of IL-2 administration on serum levels of various cytokines. Acute GVHD was induced in lethally irradiated B10 mice by bone marrow transplantation (BMT) with MHC-mismatched allogeneic (A/J) BMC and splenocytes. TCD B10 (host-type) BMC were coadministered to maximize the protective effect of IL-2. Serum cytokine levels were compared in recipients of these inocula with or without a protective course of IL-2 treatment. A marked increase in serum IFN-gamma levels was noted on days 3 through 5 post-BMT in GVHD mice compared with syngeneic BMT control recipients. This GVHD-induced rise in serum IFN-gamma was markedly inhibited in IL-2-protected mice. Murine IL-2 levels were only slightly increased in sera of GVHD mice, and were not influenced by treatment with human recombinant IL-2. Serum levels of the monokines TNF-alpha and IL-1 alpha showed variable early elevations in GVHD mice with or without IL-2 treatment, and were not different from levels observed in syngeneic controls. Serum levels of IFN-gamma, IL-1 alpha, and TNF-alpha all declined markedly by day 7 to 8 post-BMT, when GVHD mortality begins. Administration of neutralizing anti-IFN-gamma mAb did not attenuate and tended to accelerate GVHD mortality, and administration of exogenous IFN-gamma did not overcome the protective effect of IL-2 against GVHD. Together, our results indicate that GVHD is associated with high serum levels of several proinflammatory cytokines in the first week post-BMT, but that these levels decline by the time when GVHD mortality begins. IL-2 specifically inhibits the GVHD-associated production of IFN-gamma, but this inhibition in itself does not explain and may even mitigate the protective effect of IL-2 against early GVHD mortality. However, the demonstration that IL-2 markedly inhibits the production of a GVHD-associated cytokine raises the possibility that alterations in the production of as yet undefined cytokines may be responsible for IL-2-induced GVHD protection.
A Review of Mutagenicity,Carcinogenicity and Toxicokinetics of Hair Dyes

A large section of the oxidative hair dyes and a part of aniline derivatives and its oxidative products are mutagenicity. The carciongenicity studies in feed suggest that a part of aniline derivatives have induced bladder and liver carcinoma etc in rats and mice,but found no evidence of carcinogenicity in dermal carcinogenicity test. The result of epidemiological studies suggest that safety and carcinogenicity among oxidative hair dye users have no strong evidence so far,but occupational exposure might increased carcinoma frequency,which a summary estimate is median. The systemic percutaneous absorption rates of aniline derivatives were less than 1%,the absorption values 10mg for one time,more than 80% is excreted by man in the urine.
Supercritical Water Oxidation in Wastewater Treatment

Supercritical water oxidation(SCWO) process,which is extraordinary superiority in treating wastewater,is a new and advanced oxidation process with great application prospect.The characteristics of supercritical water and SCWO processing,the reaction mechanisms,the application of supercritical water oxidation on wastewater treatment as well as its problems and future development were introduced.
Development and Application of Environment Quality Actuality Evaluation System

Adopting layering and modular design,B/S mode working and applying Microsoft Visual Studio2003 as development tool,Windows Xp+SqlServer2000+IIS6+Framework2.0 as operational environment,using object-oriented programming language of Windows——C++ as programmable aids,SQL database and Asp.net etc key technology to self-develop environment quality actuality evaluation system.Then applying this system the atmosphere and surface water environment quality actuality of 2001~2005 in Daqing are evaluated.The results show that the environment quality actuality evaluation system is characteristic of friendly interface,convenient manipulation,better interactivity,good compatibility and the ability of long-distance data query.The evaluated rank of the atmosphere and surface water environment quality is exact,rational,external and according with practical situation.The system is a convenient tool for environment quality actuality evaluation and it takes on generalized value.
A Controller Parametrization and Pole-Placement Design for Simultaneous Stabilization

This paper investigates the use of stable inverses to obtain multi-model controllers for the simultaneous stabilisation of a class of plants. A parametrization in terms of a stable inverse and a stable null space is proposed for all simultaneously stabilising controllers. Then a strictly proper controller design method for a particular simultaneous pole-placement is devised and the controller for this pole-placement is shown to have a multi-model structure similar to observers. For a more general pole-placement problem, it is shown that the parametrisation can be used to reduce the order of the controller to be the same as a controller designed based on generalised observers.
Development of Algorithm–Program–Architecture–Data Flow

This chapter discusses the way the pattern-perception problem can be formulated for and conditioned to a converging cone- or pyramid-shaped network, as an example of the way one might design program and architecture together. It presents a dogma that states that as getting many processors to execute a single program efficiently is extremely difficult, one must ask the researcher/programmer to do as much of the work as possible, and to give the system as much help as possible. This means that the programmer should be fully aware of the network and the way it works, as well as the programming language and operating system, and the way programs are mapped into and executed by the network. The problems in developing parallel algorithms that map efficiently onto suitably structured networks are so severe that the programmer, who knows more about the problem and its structure than anybody else, should be drafted to help.
Holocene history of prairie in midwestern United States: Pollen versus plant macrofossils

The lack of abundant pollen of unequivocal prairie taxa may lead to difficulties in recognizing prairie from the fossil record. Ambrosia, Artemisia, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae, other Ast...
Behavior Analysis and Positive Human Values

In the reprint in this special issue of my 1974 paper, Are behavioral principles for revolutionaries?, I make the point that I remake in the article below: the definition of problem behavior and the contingencies affecting its change are affected by the extent to which the individuals whose behavior is being targeted participate in the definition. Contingencies designed to impact human behavior can have deleterious effects if the imposition of these contingencies is on those without power or choice. When those in power enlist the expertise of behaviorists to change the behavior of those without power, our science tells us that the results will not be what some may expect. I conclude with lessons from the misapplications of behavior analysis in stratified power systems that should affect our professional behavior to diminish the likelihood of additional misapplications of our science.
Weighted recalibration of the Rosetta pedotransfer model with improved estimates of hydraulic parameter distributions and summary statistics (Rosetta3)

Abstract Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) have been widely used to predict soil hydraulic parameters in favor of expensive laboratory or field measurements. Rosetta (Schaap et al., 2001, denoted as Rosetta1) is one of many PTFs and is based on artificial neural network (ANN) analysis coupled with the bootstrap re-sampling method which allows the estimation of van Genuchten water retention parameters (van Genuchten, 1980, abbreviated here as VG), saturated hydraulic conductivity ( K s ), and their uncertainties. In this study, we present an improved set of hierarchical pedotransfer functions (Rosetta3) that unify the water retention and K s submodels into one. Parameter uncertainty of the fit of the VG curve to the original retention data is used in the ANN calibration procedure to reduce bias of parameters predicted by the new PTF. One thousand bootstrap replicas were used to calibrate the new models compared to 60 or 100 in Rosetta1, thus allowing the uni-variate and bi-variate probability distributions of predicted parameters to be quantified in greater detail. We determined the optimal weights for VG parameters and K s , the optimal number of hidden nodes in ANN, and the number of bootstrap replicas required for statistically stable estimates. Results show that matric potential-dependent bias was reduced significantly while root mean square error ( RMSE ) for water content were reduced modestly; RMSE for K s was increased by 0.9% (H3 w ) to 3.3% (H5 w ) in the new models on log scale of K s compared with the Rosetta1 model. It was found that estimated distributions of parameters were mildly non-Gaussian and could instead be described rather well with heavy-tailed α-stable distributions. On the other hand, arithmetic means had only a small estimation bias for most textures when compared with the mean-like “shift” parameter of the α-stable distributions. Arithmetic means and (co-)variances are therefore still recommended as summary statistics of the estimated distributions. However, it may be necessary to parameterize the distributions in different ways if the new estimates are used in stochastic analyses of vadose zone flow and transport. Rosetta1 and Posetta3 were implemented in the python programming language, and the source code as well as additional documentation is available at: http://www.cals.arizona.edu/research/rosettav3.html .
Introduction to the Virtual Issue: Recent Advances in Discrete Choice Methods in Political Science

A “discrete choice” situation occurs when a political agent (i.e., voter, political leader, country) faces a choice or a series of choices from among a finite set of discrete options. These types of situations are frequently studied by political scientists, but it is only in the last decade that our understanding and use of discrete choice models has really started to evolve. While even into the mid-1990s it was not unusual to see linear regression applied to binary or ordinal dependent variables (e.g., Gerber 1996), now discrete choice models are part of the standard toolkit for applied researchers, and methodological training in the use of these models is required in many graduate programs. The leading edge of the field has also advanced rapidly. In the last decade political methodologists have moved beyond the “welcoming” of discrete choice methods from economics and other fields (Beck 2000) to the development of new discrete choice methods. In this virtual issue I have selected six articles from Political Analysis that I feel best exemplify this trend. These articles are: