cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Biochemical and biomechanical characterisation of equine cervical facet joint cartilage

Author(s): O'Leary, SA; White, JL; Hu, JC; Athanasiou, KA | Abstract: BackgroundThe equine cervical facet joint is a site of significant pathology. Located bilaterally on the dorsal spine, these diarthrodial joints work in conjunction with the intervertebral disc to facilitate appropriate spinal motion. Despite the high prevalence of pathology in this joint, the facet joint is understudied and thus lacking in viable treatment options.ObjectiveThe goal of this study was to characterise equine facet joint cartilage and provide a comprehensive database describing the morphological, histological, biochemical and biomechanical properties of this tissue.Study designDescriptive cadaver studies.MethodsA total of 132 facet joint surfaces were harvested from the cervical spines of six skeletally mature horses (11 surfaces per animal) for compiling biomechanical and biochemical properties of hyaline cartilage of the equine cervical facet joints. Gross morphometric measurements and histological staining were performed on facet joint cartilage. Creep indentation and uniaxial strain-to-failure testing were used to determine the biomechanical compressive and tensile properties. Biochemical assays included quantification of total collagen, sulfated glycosaminoglycan and DNA content.ResultsThe facet joint surfaces were ovoid in shape with a flat articular surface. Histological analyses highlighted structures akin to articular cartilage of other synovial joints. In general, biomechanical and biochemical properties did not differ significantly between the inferior and superior joint surfaces as well as among spinal levels. Interestingly, compressive and tensile properties of cervical facet articular cartilage were lower than those of articular cartilage from other previously characterised equine joints. Removal of the superficial zone reduced the tissue's tensile strength, suggesting that this zone is important for the tensile integrity of the tissue.Main limitationsFacet surfaces were sampled at a single, central location and do not capture the potential topographic variation in cartilage properties.ConclusionsThis is the first study to report the properties of equine cervical facet joint cartilage and may serve as the foundation for the development of future tissue-engineered replacements as well as other treatment strategies.
Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Techniques in Neuropsychiatric Research.

Neuropsychiatric disorders are highly prevalent (e.g., affecting children 2-8 years old at a rate of 14%). Many of these disorders are highly heritable such as major depressive disorder and schizophrenia. Despite this, genome-wide association has failed to identify gene(s) significantly associated with diagnostic status suggesting a strong role for environmental factors and the epigenome. From a molecular standpoint, the study of DNA-protein interactions yields fruitful information regarding the regulation of cellular processes above the level of the nucleotide sequence. Understanding chromatin dynamics may continue to explain individual variation to environmental perturbation and subsequent behavioral response. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) techniques have allowed for probing of epigenetic effectors at specific regions of the genome. The following article reviews the current techniques and considerations when incorporation ChIP into neuropsychiatric models.
Assessing the Training Costs and Work of Diagnostic Radiology Residents Using Key Performance Indicators - An Observational Study.

Rationale and Objectives To quantify the costs and work of diagnostic radiology (DR) residents using the radiology key performance indicator turn-around time (TAT) as the outcome measure. Materials and Methods In an Institutional Review Board-approved study, the annual cost of a DR resident was determined using salary, benefits, and a cost allocation of faculty effort. The volume of cases reported in the 2015–16 academic year and median and interquartile range (IQR) TAT for a trainee preliminary (Complete to Prelim, C-P) or an attending final (Complete to Final, C-F) radiology report were measured and stratified by time of day and patient location. Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used (significance, p values Results The annual cost of a DR resident was $99,109, 34% greater than direct salary/benefits and 27% of the direct salary/benefits cost of an attending. The total per minute cost of rendering care was $4.36 with both trainee ($0.70/minute) and faculty ($3.66/minute). Residents participated in 139,084/235,417 (59%) imaging studies. The C-P TAT was 74 (IQR, 27–180) minutes compared to 51 (IQR, 18–129) minutes C-F TAT of faculty working alone and C-F TAT of 213 (IQR, 71–469) minutes with a resident (p Conclusion The cost of training DR residents exceeds the salary and benefits allocated to their training. Residents increase the absolute professional labor cost of caring for a patient. Overall TAT is slower with residents but the care delivered by residents after-hours is faster.
Changes in Working Memory Performance Over an Academic Semester in Student Pharmacists.

Objective. To preliminarily assess changes in Doctor of Pharmacy students’ working memory performance over the course of an academic semester and to determine whether any observed changes were associated with fluctuations in stress and fatigue. Methods. Twenty-three PharmD students were recruited for this pilot study. At baseline, data were collected on students’ personality, stress, fatigue, and working memory performance using two measures, the operation span and the symmetry span. Approximately every four weeks throughout the semester students’ fatigue and stress levels were reassessed and they completed the two measures of working memory. A repeated measures analysis of variance was used to assess trends over time, and correlation analysis was used to assess potential relationships between working memory and other variables. Results. The operation span, a measure of general working memory resources, showed a significant quadratic trend over time. Irrespective of time, some associations between working memory performance and fatigue were seen. Significant correlations between fatigue and the extraversion personality trait were identified. The symmetry span, a measure of visuospatial resources, did not show trends over time nor did it correlate with fatigue, stress, or personality factors. Conclusion. Pharmacy students’ working memory performance may fluctuate over the course of a semester, but more research is needed to identify factors that may influence this fluctuation.
Molecular heterogeneity in aqueous cosolvent systems.

Aqueous cosolvent systems (ACoSs) are mixtures of small polar molecules such as amides, alcohols, dimethyl sulfoxide, or ions in water. These liquids have been the focus of fundamental studies due to their complex intermolecular interactions as well as their broad applications in chemistry, medicine, and materials science. ACoSs are fully miscible at the macroscopic level but exhibit nanometer-scale spatial heterogeneity. ACoSs have recently received renewed attention within the chemical physics community as model systems to explore the relationship between intermolecular interactions and microscopic liquid–liquid phase separation. In this perspective, we provide an overview of ACoS spatial segregation, dynamic heterogeneity, and multiscale relaxation dynamics. We describe emerging approaches to characterize liquid microstructure, H-bond networks, and dynamics using modern experimental tools combined with molecular dynamics simulations and network-based analysis techniques.
What Is Race? Four Philosophical Views

Philosophy of race has experienced a vibrant period of development over the last three decades, and the fruits of this development, as well as its continuation, are fully on display in this book of...
Soil health management practices and crop productivity

Globally, food systems face multiple challenges, including minimizing environmental impacts, adapting to a changing climate, increasing yields, and maintaining and/or increasing crop nutritional quality. Management techniques that focus on soil health (SH) are promising solutions to mitigate some environmental impacts and may increase economic returns. However, claims that SH increases will concurrently increase crop quality and productivity merit careful examination. Factors beyond SH metrics determine crop nutritional quality. Yield outcomes of SH management are of significance, as there are concerns that yield increases are insufficient to meet future food demands. While SH frameworks are comparatively recent initiatives, there are thousands of published conservation agriculture studies that examine yield outcomes with cover crops, no‐till, and rotation. This literature indicates that SH practices can also have neutral or negative yield impacts—only in select systems have consistent yield increases been realized, highlighting the need for language clarification and improvements in mechanistic understanding of regional‐scale yield impacts.
Effects of sheared chromatin length on ChIP-seq quality and sensitivity

Abstract Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by massively parallel, high throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) is the method of choice for identifying, on a genome-wide scale, the segments of DNA bound by specific transcription factors (TFs) or in chromatin with particular histone modifications. However, the quality of ChIP-seq datasets vary over a wide range, with a substantial fraction being of intermediate to poor quality. Such experimental variability can lead to many false positives or false negatives, impairing the ability to interpret the data. Thus, it is important to discern and control the factors that contribute to variation in ChIP-seq. In this study, we focus on the sonication step to produce sheared chromatin, a variable controllable by the user and applicable to all ChIP-seq protocols. We systematically varied the amount of shearing of fixed chromatin from a mouse erythroid cell line, carefully measured the distribution of resultant fragment lengths using the Agilent Bioanalzyer 2100, and then immunoprecipitated these batches of chromatin using highly specific antibodies against either TAL1 or CTCF. We found that the level of sonication, which was affected by both the number of sonication cycles, as well as the starting cell number, had a pronounced impact on the quality of resulting ChIP-seq signals. Specifically, over-sonication led to degradation of quality (e.g. increased background and reduction in signal), while the impact of under-sonication of chromatin differed between the two transcription factors, leading to the loss of sites occupied by TAL1 but not those bound by CTCF. We leveraged these findings to produce a set of CTCF ChIP-seq datasets in primary hematopoietic progenitor cells, including several rare cell types. Together, these results suggest that the amount of sonication is a key variable in success of ChIP-seq experiments, and that carefully monitoring the level of chromatin sonication is one way to improve ChIP-seq quality and reproducibility, which in turn facilitates low input ChIP-seq in rare cell types.
Morality, Valuation and Coalitional Psychology.

We are all aware that many people can easily combine general moral understandings that make unprovoked violence inexcusable, with tolerance or even support for that same behavior when it is carried...
A comparison of two types of electrospun chitosan membranes and a collagen membrane in vivo

Abstract Background Electrospun chitosan membranes subjected to post-spinning processes using either triethylamine/tert-butyloxycarbonyl (TEA/tBOC) or butyryl-anhydride (BA) modifications to maintain nanofiber structure have exhibited potential for use in guided bone regeneration applications. The aim of this study was to evaluate ability of the modified membranes to support healing of bone-grafted defects as compared to a commercial collagen membrane. Method TEA/tBOC-treated and BA-treated chitosan membranes were characterized for fiber morphology by electron microscopy, residual trifluoroacetic acid by19F NMR and endotoxin level using an endotoxin quantitation kit (ThermoScientific, US). Chitosan membranes were cut into 12 mm diameter disks. An 8 mm calvarial defect was created in each of 48 male rats and then filled with Bio-Oss (Geistlich, US) bone graft. The grafted defects were covered with either (1) TEA/tBOC-treated chitosan membrane (2) BA-treated chitosan membrane or (3) the control BioMend Extend (Zimmer Biomet, US) collagen membrane. After 3 and 8 weeks, the rats were euthanized and calvaria was retrieved for microCT and histological analyses (n = 8/group/time points). Results Both TEA/tBOC-treated and BA-treated membranes were composed of nanofibers in the ∼231 to ∼284 nm range respectively, exhibited no TFA salt residue and low endotoxin levels (≤0.1 ± 0.01 EU/membrane). All membranes supported increased bone growth from 3 weeks to 8 weeks though there was no significant difference among the membrane types. However, TEA/tBOC treated and BA treated chitosan membranes both showed significantly greater bone density (∼6% greater at 3 weeks and ∼8% greater at 8 weeks) as compared to BioMend Extend collagen membrane at both time points (p = 0.0002). Conclusions Chitosan membranes supported better bone healing based on bone density than the collagen membrane.
Omega over alpha for reliability estimation of unidimensional communication measures

Cronbach’s alpha (coefficient α) is the conventional statistic communication scholars use to estimate the reliability of multi-item measurement instruments. For many, if not most communication meas...
MicroRNAs regulating TGFβ and BMP signaling in the osteoblast lineage

This review showcases miRNAs contributing to the regulation of bone forming osteoblasts through their effects on the TGFβ and BMP pathways, with a focus on ligands, receptors and SMAD-mediated signaling. The goal of this work is to provide a basis for broadly understanding the contribution of miRNAs to the modulation of TGFβ and BMP signaling in the osteoblast lineage, which may provide a rationale for potential therapeutic strategies. Therefore, the search strategy for this review was restricted to validated miRNA-target interactions within the canonical TGFβ and BMP signaling pathways; miRNA-target interactions based only bioinformatics are not presented. Specifically, this review discusses miRNAs targeting each of the TGFβ isoforms, as well as BMP2 and BMP7. Further, miRNAs targeting the signaling receptors TGFβR1 and TGFβR2, and those targeting the type 1 BMP receptors and BMPR2 are described. Lastly, miRNAs targeting the receptor SMADs, the common SMAD4 and the inhibitory SMAD7 are considered. Of these miRNAs, the miR-140 family plays a prominent role in inhibiting TGFβ signaling, targeting both ligand and receptor. Similarly, the miR-106 isoforms target both BMP2 and SMAD5 to inhibit osteoblastic differentiation. Many of the miRNAs targeting TGFβ and BMP signaling components are induced during fracture, mechanical unloading or estrogen deprivation. Localized delivery of miRNA-based therapeutics that modulate the BMP signaling pathway could promote bone formation.
Impact of Activity-Based Therapy on Respiratory Outcomes in a Medically Complex Child

Introduction Activity-based therapies (ABTs) focus on activating the neuromuscular system below the level of spinal cord injury (SCI) promoting neuromuscular capacity. Case description A 2 year 7 month old with history of prematurity at 29 weeks, neonatal epidural abscess, resultant cervical SCI, respiratory failure, and global developmental delays presented for enrollment in an outpatient activity-based therapy program. Upon presentation to this program, he required nighttime mechanical ventilation via tracheostomy and daytime suctioning. He could not perform any age-appropriate activities and was described by his mother as 'present', neither engaged nor attentive. During and after 7 months of participation in ABTs including locomotor training and neuromuscular electrical stimulation, the patient demonstrated unexpected changes in his respiratory status leading to ventilator weaning with concomitant improvements in head and trunk control, participation, development, and quality of life. Discussion ABT was not only safe for a medically complex child, but also this intervention had a remarkable effect on unresolved respiratory capacity and a more widespread impact on other functions as well as development. A child with a chronic, severe SCI demonstrated positive and impactful improvements in health, functional status, and quality of life during an episode of ABT.
LPS modifications and AvrA activity of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium are required to prevent Perforin-2 expression by infected fibroblasts and intestinal epithelial cells

Cellular Perforin-2 (MPEG1) is a pore-forming MACPF family protein that plays a critical role in the defense against bacterial pathogens. Macrophages, neutrophils, and several other cell types that are part of the front line of innate defenses constitutively express high levels of Perforin-2; whereas, most other cell types must be induced to express Perforin-2 by interferons (α, β and γ) and/or PAMPs such as LPS. In this study, we demonstrate that many bacterial pathogens can limit the expression of Perforin-2 in cells normally inducible for Perforin-2 expression, while ordinarily commensal or non-pathogenic bacteria triggered high levels of Perforin-2 expression in these same cell types. The mechanisms by which pathogens suppress Perforin-2 expression was explored further using Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and cultured MEFs as well as intestinal epithelial cell lines. These studies identified multiple factors required to minimize the expression of Perforin-2 in cell types inducible for Perforin-2 expression. These included the PmrAB and PhoPQ two-component systems, select LPS modification enzymes and the Type III secretion effector protein AvrA.
Iman Kristen di Tengah Tantangan Pluralisme Agama [Christian Faith Amidst the Challenge of Religious Pluralism]

This paper intends to study religious pluralism that is growing rapidly in this era, as a rejection to Christianity values which emphasizes Christ as the only truth. Religious pluralism that is understood as an acknowledgement of the existence of religious diversity, is shifting to the understanding that salvation must also be acknowledged in all religions and no religion can claim that they are normative or superior to other religions. The response of Christian faith in this challenging situation is by using a perspective from the doctrine of the Trinity that contains unity and plurality, that implicates Christians to always coexist in unity as fellow human beings created by God without compromising their beliefs. Christians must also do their calling by engaging in dialogue, doing apologetics, and sharing the gospel in a good and right way that is based on Christ’s love to other religious communities.
SU-E-T-26: A Dosimetric Comparison of Two Treatment Setups for Lung Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) Patients

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of treating lung SBRT patients with the ipsilateral arm adducted beside the body instead of elevated above the head. Methods: Patients receiving lung SBRT at our institution are typically treated with both arms raised above their head. However, several patients had difficulty maintaining their arms in an elevated position. In this study, lung SBRT patients who underwent PET-CT imaging with an adducted ipsilateral arm were selected to investigate the dosimetric effects of this treatment setup. PET-CT datasets were fused with treatment planning CT images to simulate the adducted arm position. One VMAT treatment plan was created per patient using the Pinnacle treatment planning system. Plans were optimized to achieve minimal dose to the ipsilateral arm while keeping the target coverage and critical structure doses within clinical limits. The target dose coverage, conformity index (CI) for the target, and DVHs of critical structures for the adducted arm plan were calculated. These parameters were compared with the clinical plan and reported along with the mean and maximum doses of the ipsilateral arm. Results: The target coverage, CI and DVHs for the adducted arm plans of two patients (one with peripheral lesion and one with central lesion) were comparable with the clinical plans. Dose constraints for the chest wall limited further reduction of ipsilateral arm doses for the peripheral lesion plan. The mean ipsilateral arm doses for the central and peripheral lesions were 0.33 Gy and 2.4 Gy, respectively. The maximum ipsilateral arm doses for the central and peripheral lesions were 1.0 Gy and 6.2 Gy, respectively. Conclusion: The results suggested patients with central lung SBRT tumors were more suitable for treatment with the adducted arm position. More patients with various lung tumor locations will be studied to find optimal tumor locations for treatment with this arm position.
Cellular transcriptome analysis using a kinetic PCR assay

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the use of Kinetic PCA assay for the analysis of cellular transcriptome. With the emergence of complete genome sequences, it is possible to analyze cellular transcriptomes. These transcriptomes determine the phenotype of a cell. Transcriptome analysis requires highthroughput methods capable of quantitating transcript levels over a wide intracellular abundance range. The transcript assay described in this chapter is kinetically monitored, reverse transcriptase initiated PCR (kRT-PCR). This assay is based on the principle that PCR reactions proceed as relatively simple base 2 exponentials. This means that the rate of double-stranded (ds) DNA product formation is quantitatively related to initial template concentration. The kRT-PCR assay is rapid and highly automated, and it utilizes unfractionated total cellular RNA as template. Most important, this assay is accurate for measuring transcript level differences in two or more physiological or genetic states within a factor of +20%. Kinetic RT-PCR assays are accurate for measuring transcript copy number per cell in a single state within a factor of two. Finally, the kRT-PCR assay is capable of quantitating cellular transcripts.
Hamiltonian structure of isospectral deformation equations. Elliptic curve case

We continue the investigation of semiclassical limits of factorized S-matrices and Hamiltonian structure they induce on two dimensional isospectral deformation equations. Before [7] we dealt with rational Riemann surfaces. Here we propose a new class of semiclassical factorized S-matrices associated with an arbitrary elliptic curve and torsion subgroup of it. New two-dimensional field theories associated with them generalize both sin-Gordon and Baxter's systems.
MOLECULAR BEAM EXPERIMENTS IN THE LUNAR ENVIRONMENT.

Abstract : The implications of an ultra-high vacuum with the equivalent of a large pumping capacity as provided by the lunar environment are examined with respect to several kinds of molecular beam experiments. The effects of background pressure or density on beam generation, interaction with various targets and detection are considered. Specific experiments discussed are those for measurements of (1) particle-field interactions, (2) molecule-surface interactions and (3) reactive and non-reactive molecular scattering. (Author)
On the fundamental limits of coded caching and exact-repair regenerating codes

The fundamental limits are investigated for (i) the problem of coded caching with N = 3 files and K = 3 users, and (ii) the problem of (5; 4; 4) exact-repair regenerating codes, i.e., there are n = 5 storage nodes where any k = 4 nodes can be used to recover the data, and any failed node can be repaired with d = 4 other nodes. A computational approach is adopted in this investigation which was developed by the author in an earlier work. For the first problem, an improved outer bound to the memory-delivery-rate tradeoff is obtained. For the second problem, a complete characterization of the storage-repair-bandwidth is provided. These results are part of the online collection of “Solutions of Computed Information Theoretic Limits (SCITL)”.
Keynote: Software Reliability In Theory And Practice

Quantitative measurement of software reliability remains an elusive goal. Simultaneously, there is an ever increasing critical dependency on software-based systems in the human infrastructure. There is a great deal of research in addition to well-intentioned methods and practices focused on improving the reliability of software-based systems. To date, most of which still only yields qualitative measurements except in very simple cases, e.g. a very few hundred lines of code. Probabilistic methods, such as reliability growth models, do offer a statistical inference for applications amenable to the methods. This talk will explore the meaning of software rcliahility in the context of safety, security, control, and quality attributes from an ultra-high assurance systems perspective, e.g. nuclear weapons. A systems level perspective will he taken related to the sources of defects (failure potential), including the “cross product” of software and hardware failure state spaces. The authors view of opportunities to improve the reliability of software-based will he presented.
Classification of periodic patterns using Hough transform

Texture is an important characteristic in an image, and it is used to identify objects or regions of interest within an image. The problem of texture classification has been widely studied and most of the proposed techniques fall into two categories: statistical or structural. In this paper, a structural approach based on the Hough method for line detection is proposed for the description of periodic textures that consist of mostly straight lines. The features used for the classification procedure are based on the relative orientations and separations of lines. With the proper normalizations, classification is independent of geometrical transformations such as rotation, translation and/or scaling. This approach provides more unique features compared to other approaches. Experimental results with test patterns are presented. >
International timber markets and tropical deforestation: the evidence from prices

Some scholars suggest that global timber markets, especially those involving high value species, are a leading cause of tropical deforestation. Despite limited empirical evidence, this hypothesis rests on the assumption that global timber markets respond to a common equilibrating mechanism that provides strong enough incentives for loggers in the tropical regions of the world. This article develops a simple model and taps into a unique data set on timber prices of hardwood and softwood in leading markets to test the global timber markets hypothesis. While we find evidence of a global equilibrating mechanism with potentially significant economic incentives to affect tropical deforestation, our results do not endorse the common conjecture in the literature that timber price shocks in developed countries lead to a homogeneous response in terms of deforestation everywhere in the tropical world. Instead, they invite further development of structural global timber market models to assess the linkages between ma...
Preventing risk for significant behavior problems through a cognitive-behavioral intervention: effects of the Tools for Getting Along curriculum at one-year follow-up

Efficient and effective social-emotional learning programs increase the likelihood of success in school for all students, and particularly for those who may develop emotional or behavior problems. In this study, we followed a sub-sample of students 1 year after their participation in a randomized controlled trial of the effects of the Tools for Getting Along (TFGA) curriculum. TFGA is a universally delivered, preventive cognitive-behavioral curricular intervention designed to improve upper elementary school students’ emotional and behavioral self-regulation. To determine effects at 1-year follow-up, we assessed 720 out of the 1,296 original students across TFGA and control conditions on measures of curricular knowledge, teacher-rated executive function and behavior, and student-reported anger and social problem solving. Findings indicated a continued positive effect on curricular knowledge for students taught TFGA relative to controls. We also found significant pretest by condition interaction effects on teacher reports of skills associated with executive function, including inhibitory control and shift (cognitive flexibility), and on teacher reported internalizing and externalizing behavior. Specifically, students with poorer scores on these measures at pretest benefited from TFGA at follow-up relative to comparable students in the control condition. Finally, we found marginally significant pretest by condition interaction effects on proactive aggression, outward expressions of anger, and the executive function related skills of initiating activities and using working memory. Counter to expectations, we found negative TFGA effects on student-reported trait anger and anger control.
Routinely sleeping away from home and the association with child asthma readmission.

The increased prevalence of transitions between households may have implications for child asthma morbidity. We, therefore, sought to enumerate the prevalence of regularly spending nights sleeping away from home among children admitted to the hospital for asthma and to examine the relationship of nights away to asthma-related readmission. This was a population-based, prospective cohort of 774 children, aged 1–16 years, who were admitted with asthma or bronchodilator-responsive wheezing and enrolled in the Greater Cincinnati Asthma Risks Study. The study took place at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, an urban, academic children’s hospital in the Midwest. The primary exposure was regularly spending nights away from home. Selected covariates included caregiver marital status, shift work, child’s race, income, psychological distress, and running out of/not having medications on hand. The primary outcome was asthma-related readmission within 12 months. A total of 19 % were readmitted within 12 months. The 33 % of children that spent ≥1 night away from home per week were significantly more likely to be readmitted than those who spent no nights away (25 % vs. 16 %, p = 0.002). Spending nights away from home [adjusted relative risk (aRR) 1.5, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.2–2.0] and lower income (aRR 2.6, 95 % CI 1.1–6.4) were the strongest independent predictors of readmission after adjusting for child age, gender, and race, and caregiver marital status, shift work, risk of psychological distress, and running out of meds. Increased awareness of the multiple settings in which children with asthma live may help shape more comprehensive approaches to asthma care.
Physical activity and abdominal obesity in youth

Childhood obesity continues to escalate despite considerable efforts to reverse the current trends. Childhood obesity is a leading public health concern because overweight–obese youth suffer from c...
Strategy profiles of indigenous MNEs from the NIEs: The case of South Korea and Taiwan

Despite the argument for stateless firms and global strategy, few deny the existing heterogeneities between nations. However, the linkages between national context, corporate strategy, and market performance have not been adequately studied. This study integrates the fragmented, discipline-based literature of international business, cross-cultural management, organization theory, and strategic management to construct a framework for strategic management of multinational enterprises (MNEs), and explores the linkages between national context, corporate strategy, and market performance among the leading computer MNEs from South Korea and Taiwan. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
On bridging the theory/practice gap

In a survey (Blonder et al., 1995), 27 researchers provided inputs concerning the state of research in systems and control and were asked to give their opinions on the major challenges facing the control community. Among the challenges identified was the need to bridge the gap between theory and practice. In this article the author speculates on some reasons for the existence of the gap and provides concrete suggestions for bridging it. Specifically he is interested in the following questions: 1. What is the evidence for the existence of the gap? 2. What is the extent of the gap? 3. What is the significance of the gap for systems and control research? 4. What factors have contributed to the gap? 5. What technical research problems are pertinent to bridging the gap? 6. Why is it important to bridge the gap?.
Snake Venom Immunology: Historical and Practical Considerations

AbstractMan has tried to immunize himself against snake venoms and other poisons since the beginnings of history. The scientific study of antivenins began with the work of Henry Sewall in 1887 and has progressed through the present century. Currently, a large number and diversity of monovalent and polyvalent antivenin preparations produced by well-defined protocols are commercially available around the world. These preparations owe much to the pioneering studies of many research workers, but most notably to the work of Sewall, Calmette, Fraser, Brazil, and Noguchi, and more recently to the studies of Boquet and Minton.
Exploration of the anti-depressant potential of lithium.

Clinical reports have suggested lithium as a potential antidepressant agent. We have evaluated its potential usefulness as an antidepressant agent in an animal test model. In this test a potential antidepressant agent should potentiate the behavioral and cardiovascular effects of yohimbine, a naturally occurring indole alkaloid, in conscious dogs. For comparison, imipramine, a standard antidepressant drug was used. Lithium administration whether acutely or chronically, at plasma concentrations of 1.29–1.54 mEq/l, failed to potentiate the behavioral and cardiovascular effects of yohimbine. Imipramine consistently potentiated the effects of yohimbine. Results presented here indicate that the lithium ion, in blood concentrations found therapeutic in the treatment of mania, may not possess antidepressant activity, based on this test system.
Waveshape effect on alloying and arc stability of A-C tungsten inert-arc welding

ALUMINUM-CLAD aluminum-silicon-alloy bonded nuclear fuel elements are fusion-welded over the exposed brazed joint to assure a watertight closure. As is common with some brazed joints, there are porosities and pipes in the braze which may provide a path for the cooling water to attack the uranium metal. Work with the fusion welds has disclosed that the braze metal was not alloying with the cladding into a homogeneous weld alloy. In many instances the braze metal was continuous from the parent braze metal to the surface of the weld. Within limits of normal welding speeds but a very small change in alloying occurred with changing welding speed. Current programming was desirable to improve weld quality. This controlled the weld width as the weld progressed and raised the temperature of the metal to be melted. The welding power supply in use had a manually operated mechanical current control which could not be readily converted to current programming.
Sorption of cadmium to bacterial extracellular polymeric sediment coatings under estuarine conditions

Microbial extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are ubiquitous features in aquatic environments. Produced by surface-adherent bacteria and microalgae. EPS are often present as coatings on surfaces of sediment particles and exhibit high affinities for divalent cationic metals. Thus, EPS sediment coatings may participate in the fate of potentially toxic metals. We coated particulate silica (8-10 μm) with EPS produced by NISCI, a bacterium isolated from estuarine sediments, in order to measure the metal binding characteristics of these coatings. We used the radioisotope 109 Cd to measure effects of salinity (salinity = 2.5, 7.5, and 25‰). Cd concentration ([Cd] = 0.038, 5, and 50 mg/L). and pH (pH = 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) on Cd sorption to EPS-coated (EPS-silica) silica and to noncoated silica (NC-silica). Also, Cd sorption by NISCI EPS coatings was compared to coatings of polymers formed by the bacterium Alteromonas atlantica and the alga Macrocystis porifera. Under all circumstances. EPS coatings increased the affinity of silica for Cd. Extracellular polymeric substance-particulate aggregates rapidly sorbed up to 90% of Cd from aqueous solution. Extracellular polymeric substance sediment coatings exhibited a maximum log distribution coefficient (K d ) of 6.5 at 2.5‰. Sorption of Cd to NC-silica was affected by salinity and metal concentration, whereas sorption of Cd to EPS-silica was only affected by salinity under high metal concentrations. Changes in pH had a dramatic effect on Cd sorption, with the proportion of free Cd to sorbed Cd changing from approximately 90% at pH 5 to 5% at pH 9. Desorption of Cd from EPS-silica was enhanced with increasing salinity. These experiments suggest that EPS coatings actively participate in binding dissolved overlying and pore-water metals in estuarine sediments.
Online oscillation monitoring of synchronous generators using Parallel-Prony analysis

This paper proposes an oscillation monitoring tool capable of detecting the emergence of small signal instability events in an online fashion. The tool uses synchronous generator data to extract the damping and frequencies of modes in an online parallel setting. The analysis uses Prony algorithm that is capable of fitting a given set of data into damped exponentials. The uniqueness is based on the execution of oscillation monitoring algorithm on a high performance computing framework enabling the online execution. The parallel implementation of Prony analysis enables the rate of the moving window to be higher than the sequential code.. The test system is simulated on Real Time Digital Simulator and the relevant signals of the synchronous generators are communicated to the computing platform for subsequent analysis.
Combination treatment with captopril and the thyroid hormone analogue 3,5-diiodothyropropionic acid. A new approach to improving left ventricular performance in heart failure.

BACKGROUND An agent that improves left ventricular (LV) performance by non-cAMP-mediated mechanisms would be valuable in the treatment of chronic heart failure. We have shown earlier that the thyroid hormone analogue 3,5-diiodothyropropionic acid (DITPA) binds to nuclear receptors, alters transcription of T3-responsive genes, and increases +dP/dtmax in hypothyroid rats with substantially less effect on heart rate and metabolism than thyroid hormone, which makes it a selective cardiotonic agent. METHODS AND RESULTS To determine whether DITPA might be useful in treating heart failure, we compared chronic treatment with normal saline, captopril (2 g/L), or the combination of DITPA (375 micrograms/100 g) and captopril (2 g/L) in Sprague-Dawley rats beginning 3 weeks after coronary artery ligation. Both DITPA/captopril and captopril treatment decreased LV end-diastolic pressure compared with controls (21 +/- 2 and 26 +/- 2 mm Hg, respectively, vs 34 +/- 3 mm Hg, P .05). CONCLUSIONS The combination of DITPA and captopril improved cardiac output, increased -dP/dtmax, and increased the rate of LV relaxation to a greater extent than captopril treatment in the rat postinfarction model of heart failure. Use of a cardiotonic analogue of thyroid hormone represents a new approach to improving LV performance and may be a useful adjunct to afterload reduction for the treatment of heart failure.
SU-GG-J-96: Fiducial Placement Guidelines for Thoracic Radiation Therapy Determined by 4DCT

Purpose: To determine the volume of lung where a fiducial would accurately represent lungtumor motion. Method and Materials: A 4DCT scan with spirometry was performed on 4 patients, and the results were evaluated by a deformable image registration and a lung motion model was applied to determine motion vectors for each point in the lung. The position vector of the lungtumor centroid at peak inhalation, peak exhalation, mid inhalation and mid exhalation of was compared to the position vector of points throughout the rest of lung to find the difference in relative positions. Results: Cubes were constructed containing a volume in which we could accurately predict the position of the tumor within 2mm, 3mm and 4mm. These cubes showed at least 95% of the contained points having motion differences below the selected thresholds. The average side length of the cube for patients with upper lobe tumors when the motion was followed within 2 mm was 2.5 cm. These side lengths increased to an average of 4.3 cm and 6.0 cm for thresholds of 3 mm and 4 mm respectively. For patients with lower lobe lungtumors, the average side lengths of the cubes were 1.0 cm, 1.8 cm, and 2.6 cm for thresholds of 2 mm, 3 mm, and 4 mm respectively. Conclusion: 4DCT scans as evaluated with a lung motion model show that points near lungtumors have similar trajectories as the lungtumor itself. It is also apparent that fiducials need to be placed closer to lower‐lobe tumors compared to upper lobe tumors. As expected, allowing for an increased difference between the motion of the tumor and other points in the lung yields a larger volume. Further work will focus on extending these results past average breathing cycles.
What's a City To Do? Explaining Differences in Local Economic Development Policies:

officials adopt virtually any tactic in order to keep up with the competition even though such policies have limited effect on business decisions (Grady 1987; Wolman 1988). Arms race imagery is reinforced by the advice given to policy-makers, which tends toward shopping lists of incentives, organizational plans, analytical techniques, and processes believed to promote development (see Farr 1984; Malizia 1985; Blakely 1989). There are two problems with this "intense preoccupation with economic development that has been marked by a level of consensus and expectation unusual in American politics" (Eisinger 1988: 3). First, those interested in the practice of economic development have placed such emphasis on being exhaustive in identifying options that they tend to ignore variation in the conditions under which communities are willing or able to adopt different policies. Second, scholars have examined such variation, but have been polarized around two competing explanations, one based on the broader economic and political systems (structure) and another that relies on the actions of local political and economic actors (agency). This note addresses these issues by analyzing variation in the economic development policies adopted by a large national sample of city governments.
Über Lignin und Lignifizierung.—Mitteilung

Die wichtigsten Bestandleile des Holzgewebes sind die Holocellulose, das Lignin und die Fremdstofle. Die chemische Zusammensetzung der Holzsubstanz wird im folgenden unter drei Gesichtspunkten behandelt: I. eine Analysedes Vorganges, durch dender Celluloseanteil des Holzes abgebaut und durch die Tatigkeit holzzerstorender Pilze wieder der Natur zugefuhrt wird; 2. eine chemische und physikalische Untersuchung des Lignins als eines der wichtigsten Holzbestandteile, und 3. die Biogenese des Lignins des Holzgewebes, die als Lignifizierung bezeichnel wird.
Histochemical variations of the lipids of the adrenals in guinea pigs with experimental asthma.

Abstract With the histochemical methods for the total lipids, cholesterol and its esters, the fatty acids and the plasmal reaction, and vitamin C, we have studied their variations of intensity in the adrenal glands of forty-six guinea pigs. In the adrenal glands of most of the control animals all these reactions were of great or medium intensity, but decreased considerably in intensity in the adrenals of nearly all the ten guinea pigs shocked with formol. In the glands of 50 per cent of the ten animals with experimental asthma the intensity of reaction for the total lipids was slightly decreased. The reactions for cholesterol and its esters also suffered a slight decrease of intensity in the adrenal glands of 30 per cent and 70 per cent of this group of asthmatic guinea pigs. The reaction for vitamin C did not show any variation.
Current use of artificial urinary sphincters in the United States

Purpose: Significant improvement and high patient satisfaction are seen after artificial urinary sphincter implantation for male stress urinary incontinence. However, only a small percent of men are treated with an artificial urinary sphincter nationally. We defined trends in current artificial urinary sphincter use in the United States, specifically focusing on regional differences in use. Current rates of radical prostatectomy and the regional distribution of urologists were analyzed as possible factors to explain these disparities.Materials and Methods: Data provided by American Medical Systems, Minnetonka, Minnesota on the number of artificial urinary sphincter units sold were analyzed by state, regional and city distribution. American Urological Association data on the number of urologists were used to estimate urologist use of artificial urinary sphincters. The number of radical prostatectomies reported by the American College of Surgeons National Cancer Database were used to estimate artificial uri...
A novel role of dendritic gap junction and mechanisms underlying its interaction with thalamocortical conductance in fast spiking inhibitory neurons

Little is known about the roles of dendritic gap junctions (GJs) of inhibitory interneurons in modulating temporal properties of sensory induced responses in sensory cortices. Electrophysiological dual patch-clamp recording and computational simulation methods were used in combination to examine a novel role of GJs in sensory mediated feed-forward inhibitory responses in barrel cortex layer IV and its underlying mechanisms. Under physiological conditions, excitatory post-junctional potentials (EPJPs) interact with thalamocortical (TC) inputs within an unprecedented few milliseconds (i.e. over 200 Hz) to enhance the firing probability and synchrony of coupled fast-spiking (FS) cells. Dendritic GJ coupling allows fourfold increase in synchrony and a significant enhancement in spike transmission efficacy in excitatory spiny stellate cells. The model revealed the following novel mechanisms: 1) rapid capacitive current (Icap) underlies the activation of voltage-gated sodium channels; 2) there was less than 2 milliseconds in which the Icap underlying TC input and EPJP was coupled effectively; 3) cells with dendritic GJs had larger input conductance and smaller membrane response to weaker inputs; 4) synchrony in inhibitory networks by GJ coupling leads to reduced sporadic lateral inhibition and increased TC transmission efficacy. Dendritic GJs of neocortical inhibitory networks can have very powerful effects in modulating the strength and the temporal properties of sensory induced feed-forward inhibitory and excitatory responses at a very high frequency band (>200 Hz). Rapid capacitive currents are identified as main mechanisms underlying interaction between two transient synaptic conductances.