cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prevention of cisplatin nephrotoxicity by exogenous atrial natriuretic peptide

The ability of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) to prevent cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity was compared to the protective effect of 3% NaCl. ANP (1 μ/kg/min), 3% NaCl or peptide buffer vehicle (50 μl/min) were infused for 45 min to conscious unrestrained rats immediately after cisplatin administration (5 mg/kg i.V.). Measurements taken 72 h after drug treatment indicated that compared to animals receiving cisplatin only, ANP co-treated rats had lower posttreatment plasma creatinine concentrations (0.70 ± 0.07 vs 1.3 ± 0.17 mg/dl; P < 0.05), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentrations (44.2 ± 5.8 vs. 65.5 ± 2.1 mg/dl; P < 0.05) and higher post-treatment glomerular filtration rates (GFR) (0.71 ± 0.18 vs. 0.14 ± 0.03 ml/min; P < 0.05). ANP was as effective as 3% NaCl in preventing cisplatin nephrotoxicity in this model. The effect of ANP co-treatment on the anti-tumor activity of cisplatin was also examined using the Walker 256 carcinosarcoma model. ANP treatment did not result in any observable loss in anti-tumor activity. When ANP was administered 72 h after cisplatin treatment, improvement in GFR was observed for the duration of the infusion, confirming the beneficial effect of ANP on cisplatin-damaged kidneys. ANP may have a role in the treatment and prevention of cisplatin nephrotoxicity especially in clinical situations where treatment with a large fluid volume is contraindicated.
Most Stringent Bounds on Aggregated Probabilities of Partially Specified Dependent Probability Systems

Abstract Analysis of dependent probability systems of a moderate to large finite number (m) of events must often be based solely on the partial system information given by S 1, the sum of the probabilities of occurrence of the m individuaf events; and S 2, the sum of the probabilities of occurrence of each of the ( m 2) pairs of events. This information is used to develop the most stringent upper and lower bounds on the aggregated probabilities P [n], the probability of occurrence of exactly n events (n = 0, 1, …, m); and on P 1, the probability of occurrence of one or more of the m events. The most stringent bounds on P [m] and P 1 are more stringent than corresponding bounds presented in the literature, for most systems.
Synthesis of novel water-soluble sulfonated cellulose

Water-soluble sulfonated cellulose (SC) samples were synthesized by oxidizing hardwood kraft pulp with sodium periodate followed by the sulfonation reaction with sodium bisulfite. Six levels of oxidation/sulfonation were obtained by using different mmols (0.93-4.67) of periodate per gram of pulp. The aldehyde and sulfonic acid contents, surface morphology, and water solubility property of these treated fibers were characterized. It was found that carbonyl group content increased with the periodate charge and so did the sulfonic acid content in subsequent sulfonation step. Scanning electron microscopy images showed a significant change in surface morphology of the sulfonated samples. Solubility of sulfonated cellulose in water was determined from (1)H NMR spectra and a solubility of 28.57 g/L was found when cellulose was oxidized with 4.67 mmol periodate per gram cellulose followed by the sulfonation reaction.
Cortical Regions Associated with Perceiving, Naming, and Knowing about Colors

Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to investigate whether retrieving information about a specific object attribute requires reactivation of brain areas that mediate perception of that attribute. During separate PET scans, subjects passively viewed colored and equiluminant gray-scale Mondrians, named colored and achromatic objects, named the color of colored objects, and generated color names associated with achromatic objects. Color perception was associated with activations in the lingual and fusiform gyri of the occipital lobes, consistent with previous neuroimaging and human lesion studies.Retrieving information about object color (generating color names for achromatic objects relative to naming achromatic objects) activated the left inferior temporal,left frontal,and left posterior parietal cortices, replicating previous findings from this laboratory. When subjects generated color names for ach romatic objects relative to the low-level baseline of viewing gray-scale Mondrians, additional activations in the left fusiform/lateral occipital region were detected. However, these activations were lateral to the occipital regions associated with color perception and identical to occipital regions activated when subjects simply named achromatic objects relative to the same low-level baseline. This suggests that the occipital activations associated with retrieving color information were due to the perception of object form rather than to the top-down influence of brain areas that mediate color perception. Taken together, these results indicate that retrieving previously acquired information about an object's typical color does not require reactivation of brain regions that subserve color perception.
Tax Reform and Land-Using Sectors in the U.S. Economy: A General Equilibrium Analysis

A computable general equilibrium model of the U.S. economy is used to assess the effects of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 on land-using sectors (forestry and three classes of agriculture). The model's components include twelve production sectors, six consumer groups, a balanced-budget government sector, and a zero surplus foreign sector. In relative terms, Tax Reform reduces total value added output in land-using sectors to a greater extent than other sectors in the economy. Experiments are also performed comparing partial and general equilibrium specifications of the economy and the impact of choice of input substitution elasticities.
Gradients in Water Potential and Turgor Pressure along the Translocation Pathway during Grain Filling in Normally Watered and Water-Stressed Wheat Plants

The water relations parameters involved in assimilate flow into developing wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grains were measured at several points from the flag leaf to the endosperm cavity in normally watered (Ψ ≈ −0.3 MPa) and water-stressed plants (Ψ ≈ −2 MPa). These included direct measurement of sieve tube turgor and several independent approaches to the measurement or calculation of water potentials in the peduncle, grain pericarp, and endosperm cavity. Sieve tube turgor measurements, osmotic concentrations, and Ψ measurements using dextran microdrops showed good internal consistency (i.e. Ψ = Ψs + Ψp) from 0 to −4 MPa. In normally watered plants, crease pericarp Ψ and sieve tube turgor were almost 1 MPa lower than in the peduncle. This suggests a high hydraulic resistance in the sieve tubes connecting the two. However, observations concerning exudation rates indicated a low resistance. In water-stressed plants, peduncle Ψ and crease pericarp Ψ were similar. In both treatments, there was a variable, approximately 1-MPa drop in turgor pressure between the grain sieve tubes and vascular parenchyma cells. There was little between-treatment difference in endosperm cavity sucrose or osmotic concentrations or in the crease pericarp sucrose pool size. Our results re-emphasize the importance of the sieve tube unloading step in the control of assimilate import.
Simulation and Phantom Studies of Contrast-Enhanced Dual Energy Mammography (CEDEM)

Contrast-enhanced dual energy mammography (CEDEM) has been shown effective in enhancing the visibility of breast cancer in diagnostic mammographic images. The simulation and phantom studies of CEDEM were implemented to enhance acquisition techniques of a dedicated cone-beam breast CT scanner fabricated in our laboratory. CEDEM images were computer-simulated numerically, and the results were compared and validated with physical experiments using a custom-made breast-equivalent phantom with pseudo anatomical structures. The technique factors to be optimized included low- and high-energy x-ray spectra (kVp), spectra filters and mAs (x-ray tube current × scan time in second). Signal-difference-to-noise ratio (SDNR) of the log-weighted subtracted image was computed to optimize subtraction parameters using several combinations of breast compositions and thicknesses. Both simulation and phantom studies suggest that 40 kVp (filtered with 1.5 mm Al) and 50 kVp (filtered with 1.5 mm Al and 0.3 mm Cu) were the optimal spectra with the highest SDNR on the dual energy subtracted image of a 6-cm, 50% glandular breast. Breast composition and thickness were found to have little influence on the optimized technique factors. We conclude that the simulation and phantom studies demonstrated the effectiveness of CEDEM using the prototype breast CT scanner in producing high-quality, lesion-enhanced images.
Mining evidences for named entity disambiguation

Named entity disambiguation is the task of disambiguating named entity mentions in natural language text and link them to their corresponding entries in a knowledge base such as Wikipedia. Such disambiguation can help enhance readability and add semantics to plain text. It is also a central step in constructing high-quality information network or knowledge graph from unstructured text. Previous research has tackled this problem by making use of various textual and structural features from a knowledge base. Most of the proposed algorithms assume that a knowledge base can provide enough explicit and useful information to help disambiguate a mention to the right entity. However, the existing knowledge bases are rarely complete (likely will never be), thus leading to poor performance on short queries with not well-known contexts. In such cases, we need to collect additional evidences scattered in internal and external corpus to augment the knowledge bases and enhance their disambiguation power. In this work, we propose a generative model and an incremental algorithm to automatically mine useful evidences across documents. With a specific modeling of "background topic" and "unknown entities", our model is able to harvest useful evidences out of noisy information. Experimental results show that our proposed method outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches significantly: boosting the disambiguation accuracy from 43% (baseline) to 86% on short queries derived from tweets.
The insulin-like growth factor-1 elevates urokinase-type plasminogen activator-1 in human breast cancer cells: a new avenue for breast cancer therapy.

Tumor recurrence is a common problem in the treatment of breast cancer. In breast cancer, the expression of high protein levels of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator-1 (uPA) is strongly associated with breast cancer recurrence and decreased survival. The expression of uPA by tumors is thought to not only stimulate tumor invasion but also facilitate angiogenesis. In this study, our goal was to address whether IGF-1R could influence the expression of the extracell ular matrix proteases, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP), or uPA thus allowing a selective advantage for tumor invasion and concomitant neovascularization. Initially, we determined whether or not insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 regulated the production MMP or uPA in the human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. There was no increase in MMP activity when the cells were treated with IGF-1 (10 ng/mL) for 24 h. In contrast, uPA mRNA and protein were induced in a time-dependent manner. Furthermore, clones expressi ng a dominant negative inhibitor of IGF-1R termed 486stop had less uPA mRNA, and the clones were less invasive through Matrigel. Taken together, these data illustrate that IGF-1R stimulates uPA production. Hence, these two prognostic indicators may be interrelated, suggesting they may function in a synergistic manner to facilitate local tumor invasion as well as angiogenesis. Our data suggest that disruption of IGF-1 signaling in breast cancer may lead to breast cancer prevention and intervention by decreasing uPA expression.
The β-Adrenergic Receptor Is a Substrate for the Insulin Receptor Tyrosine Kinase

G-protein-linked receptors and intrinsic tyrosine-kinase growth receptors represent two prominent modalities in cell signaling. Cross-regulation among members of both receptor superfamilies has been reported, including the counter-regulatory effects of insulin on β-adrenergic catecholamine action. Cells stimulated by insulin show loss of function and increased phosphotyrosine content of β2-adrenergic receptors. Phosphorylation of tyrosyl residues 350/354 of β2-adrenergic receptors is obligatory for counter-regulation by insulin (Karoor, V., Baltensperger, K., Paul, H., Czech, M., and Malbon, C. C.(1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 25305-25308), suggesting the hypothesis that G-protein-linked receptors themselves may act as substrates for the insulin receptor and other growth factor receptors. This hypothesis was evaluated directly using recombinant human insulin receptor, hamster β2-adrenergic receptor, and an in vitro reconstitution and phosphorylation assay. Insulin is shown to stimulate insulin receptor-catalyzed phosphorylation of the β2-adrenergic receptor. Phosphoamino acid analysis establishes that insulin receptor-catalyzed phosphorylation of the β2-adrenergic receptor in vitro is confined to phosphotyrosine. High pressure liquid chromatography and two-dimensional mapping reveal insulin receptor-catalyzed phosphorylation of the β2-adrenergic receptor at residues Tyr132/Tyr141, Tyr350/Tyr354, and Tyr364, known sites of phosphorylation in response to insulin in vivo. Insulin-like growth factor-I receptor as well as the insulin receptor displays the capacity to phosphorylate the β2-adrenergic receptor in vitro, establishing a new paradigm, i.e. G-protein-linked receptors acting as substrates for intrinsic tyrosine kinase growth factor receptors.
The influence of attenuation and scatter compensation on the apparent distribution of Tc-99m sestamibi in cardiac slices.

Background Our objective was to study the differences in relative count distributions in the left ventricular walls with attenuation compensation (AC) versus AC and triple—energy-window scatter compensation (SC), compared with standard filtered backprojection (FBP).
Envelope-based Planning in Relational MDPs

A mobile robot acting in the world is faced with a large amount of sensory data and uncertainty in its action outcomes. Indeed, almost all interesting sequential decision-making domains involve large state spaces and large, stochastic action sets. We investigate a way to act intelligently as quickly as possible in domains where finding a complete policy would take a hopelessly long time. This approach, Relational Envelope-based Planning (REBP) tackles large, noisy problems along two axes. First, describing a domain as a relational MDP (instead of as an atomic or propositionally-factored MDP) allows problem structure and dynamics to be captured compactly with a small set of probabilistic, relational rules. Second, an envelope-based approach to planning lets an agent begin acting quickly within a restricted part of the full state space and to judiciously expand its envelope as resources permit.
Regularization effect of weight initialization in back propagation networks

Complexity control of a learning method is critical for obtaining good generalization with finite training data. We discuss complexity control in multilayer perceptron (MLP) networks trained via backpropagation. For such networks, the number of hidden units and/or network weights is usually used as a complexity parameter. However, application of backpropagation training introduces additional mechanisms for complexity control. These mechanisms are implicit in the implementation of an optimization procedure, and they cannot be easily quantified (in contrast to the number of weights or the number of hidden units). We suggest using the framework of statistical learning theory to explain the effect of weight initialization. Using this framework, we demonstrate the effect of weight initialization on complexity control in MLP networks.
Strong magnetic exchange coupling in the cyano-bridged coordination clusters [(PY5Me2)4V4M(CN)6]5+ (M = Cr, Mo)

Reaction of [(PY5Me2)V(MeCN)]2+ with [M(CN)6]3− (M = Cr, Mo) affords the star-like clusters [(PY5Me2)4V4M(CN)6]5+, exhibiting S = 9/2 ground states that are exceptionally well-isolated in energy.
Association of manganese superoxide dismutase expression with progression of carcinogenesis in barrett esophagus

Hypothesis The down-regulation of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) expression plays a role in the progression of Barrett esophagus (BE). Design An evaluation of 92 esophageal samples, including 17 patients with normal esophagus, 22 with intestinal metaplasia, 22 with indefinite/low-grade dysplasia, 16 with high-grade dysplasia (HGD), and 15 with esophageal adenocarcinoma were evaluated for MnSOD expression. We evaluated MnSOD expression using immunohistochemistry and graded it separately on a 2-category ordinal scale in relation to the mucosa and submucosa that ranged from 0 (no staining) to 3 (strong staining). The total grading score of MnSOD immunoreactivity was the addition of mucosa and submucosa intensity, from 0 (no immunoreactivity in any of the anatomic sites) to a maximum score of 6 (strong staining reaction in both of the histoanatomic sites). Setting Study subjects were recruited from the Barrett’s Esophageal Registry at the University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky. Main Outcome Measure Manganese superoxide dismutase expression in established groups of progressive BE. Results Ninety-two samples were evaluated for MnSOD expression. The expression of MnSOD was found to be significantly reduced in samples with specialized intestinal metaplasia (mean score, 1.8), low-grade dysplasia (mean, 2.2), high-grade dysplasia (mean, 2.4), and esophageal adenocarcinoma (mean, 2.4) when compared with normal esophagus (mean, 3.9; P = .002). Manganese superoxide dismutase expression was similar for esophageal adenocarcinoma and high-grade dysplasia. Conclusions Manganese superoxide dismutase expression is significantly reduced in patients with BE with high-grade dysplasia and esophageal adenocarcinoma. Manganese superoxide dismutase is related to the progression of BE and may represent one of the primary factors in oxidative stress protection. Further evaluation within genotypic expression and the role of antioxidants is needed in the effective screening and treatment of BE.
Early Introduction of IR to Premedical and Medical Students: Initiatives at a Single U.S. Institution

Editor: In 2012, the American Board of Medical Specialties approved the American Board of Radiology’s application for a dual primary certificate in interventional radiology (IR) and diagnostic radiology (DR) (1). This approval not only designated IR as the 37th primary certificate in the United States, but it also marked a milestone in recognizing that IR is a unique area of medicine that requires a distinct skill set for future trainees. The new primary certificate will result in many vascular and IR (VIR) fellowship positions being converted to integrated IR/DR residency positions. To facilitate recruitment into IR, it would be desirable if medical students could become familiar with IR earlier in their careers. Most U.S. medical school curricula provide minimal exposure to IR; only one third of medical schools offer a radiology clerkship, and most of these are offered as electives (2). Over the past several years, there has been great effort on the part of national societies and individual medical schools to promote medical student IR education. The Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) has a dedicated medical student weekend, and several institutions have initiated local/regional IR symposiums, providing an introductory overview of the field and various interventions (3). At our institution’s medical school, similar endeavors have been undertaken; we have a well-established interest group, an elective in VIR offered during the clinical years, and a longitudinal clerkship (an outpatient office experience in which students participate in patient consultation, diagnosis, treatment planning, and longitudinal follow-up), and have recently completed the third iteration of a regional IR symposium. Here we discuss a single institution’s
Ambulatory Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients With Heart Failure Do Not Specifically Predict an Increased Risk of Sudden Death

Background—Ventricular arrhythmias are a frequent finding in congestive heart failure (CHF) patients and a cause of concern for physicians caring for them. Previous studies have reached conflicting conclusions regarding the importance of ventricular arrhythmias as predictors of sudden death in patients with CHF. This study examined the independent predictive value of ventricular arrhythmias for sudden death and all-cause mortality in PROMISE (Prospective Randomized Milrinone Survival Evaluation). Methods and Results—Ventricular arrhythmias were analyzed and quantified by use of prespecified criteria on baseline ambulatory ECGs from 1080 patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III/IV symptoms and a left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35% enrolled in PROMISE. The relationship of ventricular arrhythmias and other clinical parameters to overall mortality and sudden death classified by an independent, blinded mortality committee was determined. There were 290 deaths, of which 139 were classified ...
Vitamin K Studies I. Effect of the Vitamin K Content of the Hen’s Ration on the Clotting Ability of Chick Blood

Abstract IN THE fall of 1938 two groups of pullets were placed on special rations in order to have a uniform source of chicks for encephalomalacia studies. One group of pullets was fed a practical ration of grain and mash except that no alfalfa leaf meal was included in the mash. The other group received a ration composed largely of yellow corn and dried skimmilk. After the hens had been on the rations for about five months the chicks hatched showed extensive hemorrhages at wing banding, some even bleeding to death. The disorder was demonstrated to be vitamin K deficiency by a determination of the blood clotting time of a number of the chicks. A survey of the literature revealed little information concerning the vitamin K requirements of breeding hens. Almquist and Stokstad (1936) reported that the vitamin K reserves of day-old chicks, as measured by survival time on a vitamin . . .
Racial/ethnic disparities in HIV diagnoses among persons aged 50 years and older in 37 US States, 2005-2008

Objectives. We examined racial/ethnic disparities in HIV diagnosis rates for persons aged 50 years and older.Methods. We analyzed surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding HIV diagnoses during 2005 through 2008 in 37 states. Average annual rates of diagnoses were calculated for persons aged 50 years and older and compared with rates for persons aged 13 to 49 years.Results. The average annual rate of diagnosis (per 100 000 persons) for older persons was 9.8. Rates among older Blacks (49.2) and Hispanics/Latinos (19.5) were 12.6 and 5.0 times, respectively, the rate among older Whites (3.9); rates among younger Blacks (102.5) and Hispanics/Latinos (39.0) were 7.7 and 2.9 times, respectively, the rate among younger Whites (13.3). Older persons were more likely than younger persons to receive a late HIV diagnosis (prevalence ratio = 1.5, P < .001).Conclusions. Racial/ethnic disparities in HIV diagnosis rates are greater among persons aged 50 years and older than among you...
The Hispanic Diaspora and the Public Schools: Educating Hispanics

Reflecting the geographic concentration of the Hispanic population in the Southwest, as recently as 1990 the bulk of Hispanic children were educated in public schools in 48 metropolitan areas. Schools in the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas alone educated more than one quarter of Hispanic students in the early 1990s. The Hispanic diaspora, however, has resulted in very large Hispanic public school enrollment growth in 30 “new settlement” metropolitan areas (such as Atlanta and Charlotte). The percentage of the nation’s Latino public school students that are educated in the schools of the new settlement areas has nearly doubled since 1993. The quality of public schools varies across states and metropolitan areas. On average, the public schools educating Hispanics in the 30 new settlement areas have different characteristics than the schools in the 48 traditional Hispanic metro areas. Examination of the rudimentary characteristics of the public schools educating Latinos in the new settlement areas suggests that the diaspora has not necessarily diminished the educational context of Hispanic youth. The new settlement public schools are more suburban. They tend to be smaller, are less likely to be high poverty schools (as measured by Title I status), and have smaller pupil-to-teacher ratios. At the school level, Hispanic students in the new settlement schools have more exposure to white students than their peers educated in schools in the traditional Hispanic metros. The impact of the Hispanic enrollment boom in the 30 new settlement metros was concentrated in about one-out-of-eight public schools. Compared to other public schools in the new settlement metros, the high Hispanic growth schools experienced abrupt changes since 1993. The highly impacted schools went from being majority white schools to majority minority schools by 2004. Unlike other schools, they grew substantially in size in spite of white student enrollment declines. These changes are noteworthy because although only about one-in-eight schools was affected, these schools educate 40% of Latinos in the new settlement areas.
Educarviatecnologia: Um Portal Educacional (AVLA) de Ensino- Aprendizagem

Pensando em proporcionar uma ferramenta que oferecesse um respaldo eficiente e eficaz ao docente e, elementos motivadores ao discente em seu processo de aprendizagem, foi elaborado o prototipo do portal educacional Educarviatecnologia, um Ambiente Virtual Ludico de Aprendizagem (AVLA), como forma de auxiliar o docente em suas dificuldades e problemas do dia a dia, e em fornecer subsidios necessarios no bom exercicio de suas atividades enquanto profissional no laboratorio de informatica. Possibilitando ademais, a sua adequacao dentro de diversas linhas pedagogicas, com conteudos adaptados aos respectivos ano e faixa etaria de cada aluno e, principalmente, podendo estar inseridos na grade curricular vigente.
Abstract 10: Bundled Post-Conditioning Therapy Improves Hemodynamics and Post-Resuscitation Cardiac Function When Administered During the Metabolic Phase of Cardiac Arrest

Introduction: Effective therapies for the metabolic phase of cardiac arrest do not exist currently. We hypothesized that aggressively treating reperfusion injury using bundled therapy (BND) with ischemic post-conditioning (IPC) and sevoflurane plus Poloxamer 188 (P188) would improve resuscitation hemodynamics and reduce post-resuscitation LV dysfunction in a highly lethal model of prolonged cardiac arrest. Methods: Following 15 min of VF, standard ACLS resuscitation was performed in control animals (N=8) and compared to animals that underwent 17 minutes of untreated VF followed by CPR augmented with BND (N=14), which consisted of (1) IPC: 20 seconds of chest compressions followed by a 20 second pause, repeated for a total for 3 cycles with (2) interval delivery of 2% sevoflurane breaths for 3 min, followed by (3) P188 (250 mg/kg) bolus administered IV with the same dose infused again over 4 hrs post ROSC. Both groups received 0.5 mg epinephrine prior to defibrillation. Systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP) and right atrial pressure (RAP) were measured continuously and coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) calculated. In animals achieving ROSC, echocardiography was performed at 1 and 4 hrs to assess ejection fraction (EF). Unpaired t-tests were used for comparisons. Results: SBP, DBP, and CPP were all significantly higher during BND resuscitation (Figure). EF following ROSC was higher in BND animals (63+13 at 1 hr, 61+8 at 4 hrs) vs controls (38+12 at 1 hr, 36+18 at 4 hrs) (p<0.001 for comparisons). Conclusion: A strategy of bundled post-ischemic conditioning therapies improves hemodynamics during CPR and eliminates post-resuscitation LV dysfunction in this model. ![Graphic][1] [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif
The Effects of Bacterial Surface Adsorption and Exudates on HgO Precipitation

abstractThe effects of nonmetabolic bacterial cell wall adsorption and the presence of bacterial exudates on the precipitation of mineral phases from solution is not well constrained experimentally. In this study, we measured the extent of Hg(II) removal from solution, in the presence and absence of nonmetabolizing cells of Bacillus subtilis in both Cl-free and Cl-bearing systems with Hg concentrations ranging from undersaturation to supersaturation with respect to montroydite [HgO(s)]. Total Hg molalities ranged from 10−5.00 to 10−2.00 M at pH 4.50 and 7.00; the ionic strength of the experiments was kept constant using 0.01 M NaClO4, and the wet mass of bacteria was held constant at 5 g/L for each biotic experiment.The biotic systems exhibited enhanced Hg(II) removal from solution relative to the abiotic controls in undersaturated conditions. However, thermodynamic modeling of the experimental systems strongly suggests that all of this Hg removal can be ascribed to Hg adsorption onto cell envelope functi...
The aggregation of reverse micelles: a computer simulation

We have developed a computer simulation to model the formation of reverse micelles in two dimensions. Several of the qualitative results obtained from these calculations agree with experimental observations. Specifically, we have shown that the chain length has a large influence in determining the size and shape of the aggregate. We predict the existence of a critical tail length: Chains below this value will form an extended lamella-like structure, whereas chains longer than this value will form clusters that appear ellipsoid or circular in cross-section. Finally, we obtained a scaling law that relates the aggregation number (N) to the length of the tail (L):N∼L −1.14. A physical model to account for the observed exponent will be developed in a future paper.
Oligoclonal Bands of Immunoglobulins in Serum Leading to Diagnosis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 Infection.

Objectives: To present a unique case where detection of oligoclonal bands in serum led to the diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Methods: A 64-year-old man treated for hypertension for 11 years had laboratory tests ordered by his primary care physician, including serum protein electrophoresis (SPE) and serum immunofixation electrophoresis. Results: The total protein serum protein concentration was elevated at 9.6 g/dL. The SPE showed an oligoclonal pattern of multiple discrete bands in the γ region; the concentration of one band was approximately 1 g/dL and that of two bands was approximately 0.5 g/dL each, with multiple smaller overlapping bands at approximately 0.1 g/dL each. All fractions by SPE were within reference intervals except for the γ fraction, which was elevated at 3.4 g/dL. The IFE demonstrated that this oligoclonal pattern was a mixture of multiple bands of immunoglobulin G (IgG)–λ and IgG-κ. The patient’s HIV-1 antibody screen and HIV-1 Western blot were positive on three subsequent visits with strongly positive HIV-1 antibody index values of more than 50 (cutoff value of 1.0 for reactivity). Conclusions: The etiology of HIV-associated clonal immunoglobulin bands is hypothesized to result from chronic antigenic stimulation leading to B-cell hyperplasia. In this regard, hypergammaglobulinemia is a well-known consequence of HIV infection due to B-cell activation, associated with paraproteins, and can be seen at any stage of the disease.
Teaching Reference of Key Ponts and Suggestion of International Phonetic Alphabet in the Period Between Primary and Junior High School

It is very important for teachers to improve teaching effect to help come over the vocabulary diffculty of learning English by teaching them grasp the international phonetic alphabet,the right method to spell and remmenber words and establish correspondence of words'sound and form.And this paper also provides some teaching reference of teaching key ponts and suggestion of international phonetic alphabet in the period between primary and junior high school.
Results Of occupational health examination Of gold mine workers in Lingbao from 2011-2013

Objective Health status and dynamic development objective to understand and grasp the Lingbao gold company, is conducive to the early discovery of target disease prevention and health care, and put forward the corresponding treatment measures. Methods To collect health data during the three years of the gold workers on-the-job occupation Lingbao City in 2011-2013, to the examination results are collated, statistics and analysis.Results Among 4 480 gold mine operator check, find out all kinds of diseases and single index anomaly of 2 075 people, the detection rate was 46.32 %. The hypertension 788, check 17.59 %; abnormal pulmonary function of 94 people, the detection rate of 2.10 %; blood abnormalities of 89 people, the detection rate of 1.99 %; the abnormality of urine 242 people, found 5.40 %; abnormal ECG of 371 people, the detection rate of 8.28 %; 121 suspected pneumoconiosis, the detection rate was 2.70 %; occupational taboo 27(18 active pulmonary tuberculosis chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,9), the detection rate of 0.60 %; other diseases 343, the detection rate of 7.66 %.Conclusions The gold worker of health situation is grim in Lingbao City, should increase the health education and occupational health care, better worker health.
Sources of gram-negative infection after open-heart surgery.

An infection rate of 8.4 per cent was observed in 466 open-heart surgery patients. Since a majority of these infections were caused by gram-negative bacteria, a prospective study was undertaken in order to determine the sources and mechanisms of spread of the gram-negative organisms. Patients were colonized both by the spread of indigenous organisms to other anatomic sites and by acquisition of nosocomial strains. Most patients became colonized while in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU), and it appeared that heavily colonized and often infected patients who required extended stay in the SICU were the main reservoir for gram-negative nosocomial organisms. The hands of personnel were probably the main means of spread of these organisms. Improperly maintained inhalation therapy equipment was also found to be a significant source of gram-negative bacteria. A program involving improved maintenance of inhalation therapy equipment and strict hand antisepsis by personnel proved unsuccessful in reducing the rate of colonization.
Robust text classification in the presence of confounding bias

As text classifiers become increasingly used in real-time applications, it is critical to consider not only their accuracy but also their robustness to changes in the data distribution. In this paper, we consider the case where there is a confounding variable Z that influences both the text features X and the class variable Y . For example, a classifier trained to predict the health status of a user based on their online communications may be confounded by socioeconomic variables. When the influence of Z changes from training to testing data, we find that classifier accuracy can degrade rapidly. Our approach, based on Pearl's back-door adjustment, estimates the underlying effect of a text variable on the class variable while controlling for the confounding variable. Although our goal is prediction, not causal inference, we find that such adjustments are essential to building text classifiers that are robust to confounding variables. On three diverse text classifications tasks, we find that covariate adjustment results in higher accuracy than competing baselines over a range of confounding relationships (e.g., in one setting, accuracy improves from 60% to 81%).
The Production of Fine Surface Finishes while Maintaining Good Surface Integrity at High Production Rates by Grinding

The production of fine surfaces at low cost underlies our industrial economy and relates to the efficiency of manufacture of many products. In recent years the grinding process has been developed to the point where stock removal rates, surface fmish, surface integrity, and the correction of initial geometrical errors can be predicted and better controlled through the recognition of basic grinding parameters. These parameters relate the stock removal, wheel wear, surface finish and surface integrity to the grinding machine operating variables such as wheel speed, work speed, feed rate etc. Using these relationships the optimum grinding conditions can be found for producing workpieces at minimum cost while maintaining good surface finish and surface integrity.
Size distributions of living and fossil primate faunas

Size distributions, based on molar length, are presented for various groups of living and fossil primates. I examine (1) the extent to which particular taxonomic groups with distinctive morphological and behavioral attributes are characterized by distinctive size ranges or distributions and (2) the way in which size ranges and distributions are affected by the presence or absence of other primates within the same geographical area and time. Distinctive behavioral and ecological “adaptive zones” are characterized by distinctive size ranges and behavioral and morphological parallelism or convergence among living and fossil primate taxa usually results in similar size distributions.
Eisenstein Series First Part

In this chapter, we start systematically to investigate what happens when we take the trace over the discrete groups γ = GLn(Z), for various objects. In the first section, we describe a universal adjointness relation which has many applications. One of them will be to the Fourier expansion of the Eisenstein series.
Over-subscription planning with numeric goals

By relaxing the hard-goal constraints from classical planning and associating them with reward values, over-subscription planning allows users to concentrate on presenting what they want and leaves the task of deciding the best goals to achieve to the planner. In this paper, we extend the over-subscription planning problem and its limited goal specification to allow numeric goals with continuous utility values and goals with mixed hard and soft constraints. Together they considerably extend the modeling power of goal specification and allow the user to express goal constraints that were not possible before. To handle these new goal constraints, we extend the Sapaps planner's planning graph based techniques to help it choose the best beneficial subset of goals that can include both hard or soft logical and numeric goals. We also provide empirical results in several benchmark domains to demonstrate that our technique helps return quality plans.
Introgression of mtDNA in Urosaurus lizards: historical and ecological processes.

Introgression of mtDNA appears common in animals but the implications of acquiring a novel mitochondrial genome are not well known. This study investigates mito-genome introgression between the lizard species Urosaurus graciosus, a thermal specialist, and U. ornatus, a species that occupies a wider range of thermal environments. As ectotherms, their metabolic rate is strongly influenced by the thermal environment; with mitochondria being linked to metabolic rates, overall energy budgets could be impacted by introgression. I use mitochondrial gene trees, inferred from Bayesian analyses of Cyt-B and ND1 gene sequences, along with morphology and microsatellites from nineteen populations of these two species to address if the direction and location of mito-nuclear discordance match predictions of introgression resulting from past population expansions. MtDNA is expected to move from resident species into expanding or invading species. Second, does having a heterospecific form of mitochondria impact body size, a trait strongly associated with fitness? Multiple independent introgression events of historic origin were detected. All introgression was unidirectional with U. ornatus-type mtDNA found in U. graciosus parental type individuals. This result was consistent with population expansions detected in U. graciosus but not U. ornatus. Females with heterospecific mtDNA were significantly smaller than homospecific forms and heterospecific males had a different relationship of body mass to body length than those with homospecific mtDNA. These changes indicate a potential selective disadvantage for individuals with heterospecific mitochondria and are consistent with the theoretical expectation that deleterious alleles are more likely to persist in expanding populations. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
A new control strategy for a class of multiple-input DC-DC converters

This paper proposes a new control scheme for a class of multi-input dc-dc power converters. The new control method is based on coupling the signals from independent control loops of conventional controller for a multi-port converter. In this paper, the non-restricted double input buck converter is introduced. The properties of this converter and its steady-state equations along with its small-signal model are reviewed. Next, the conventional control method is reviewed and the new control method is introduced based on coupling the voltage and current loops from the conventional controller. Then, the small-signal model of the converter with the new control method is analyzed and the converter transfer functions are derived. Finally, the converter transfer functions are used to find the output impedance of the converter in order to compare the performance of the new controller with the conventional controllers. Simulation results are provided to verify the results predicted by the small signal analysis.
Radical Rhetoric: The Mainstream Print Media's Framing of Black Lives Matter

The terminology employed to describe Black Lives Matter — hereafter BLM — by its members and supporters alludes to a political radicalism. In other words, BLM sees itself as outside the conventional American political system. Within this paper I aimed to test this claim in the context of the mainstream media’s coverage of BLM. I examined the print media’s coverage of BLM from its very beginning, dating back to late 2014. In this project, I use “tone tallies,” a method used to measure tone and framing, to assess the framing of BLM in each article. Additionally, given the ambiguous nature of “Black Lives Matter” as relating to either a political slogan, a movement, or both, I coded each article in a similar fashion. As my research stands, BLM’s claim to be a radical, fringe organization is false. Media coverage by mainstream liberal-leaning papers — namely the New York Times and Washington Post — has been overwhelmingly positive in its tone and framing of BLM. Even during times of racial strife, when BLM was blamed as a cause by conservative outlets, the coverage in said papers remained positive. I find there to be potentially two important implications of the findings described within this paper: First, that partisan polarization leads to fringe groups, which would otherwise exist outside of conventional politics, being subsumed under partisan banners; second, Black Lives Matter is not as radical as its rhetoric leads on.
Solvent effects in acid-catalyzed dehydration of the Diels-Alder cycloadduct between 2,5-dimethylfuran and maleic anhydride

Abstract Dehydration of the cycloadduct produced from the Diels-Alder reaction between 2,5-dimethylfuran and maleic anhydride to 3,6-dimethylphthalic anhydride exemplifies an important step in producing platform chemicals from biomass. The mechanisms of dehydration and catalytic effects of Lewis and Bronsted acids are investigated with density functional theory. The uncatalyzed reaction has a very high activation barrier (68.7 kcal/mol) in the gas phase and it is not significantly affected by solvation. With a Lewis acid catalyst, modeled as an alkali ion, the activation barriers are reduced, but intermediates are also stabilized. The net effect in vacuum is that the energetic span, or apparent activation energy of the catalytic cycle, is 77.9 kcal/mol, even higher than the barrier in the uncatalyzed case. In solution, however, the energetic span is reduced by as much as 20 kcal/mol, due to differences in the solvation energy of the transition states and intermediates. In the case of a Bronsted acid catalyst, modeled as a proton, the gas phase transition state energies are reduced even more than in the Lewis acid case, and there is no strong stabilization of the intermediates. The energetic span in vacuum is only 13.8 kcal/mol and is reduced even further in solution. Bronsted acid catalysis appears to be the preferred mechanism for dehydration of this cycloadduct. Since the Diels-Alder reaction that produced the molecule has previously been shown to be catalyzed by Bronsted acids, this suggests that a single catalyst could be used to accelerate both steps.
The Law Presidents Make

The standard conception of executive branch legal review in the scholarship is a quasi-judicial Office of Legal Counsel (“OLC”) dispensing formal, written opinions binding on the executive branch. That structure of executive branch legalism did have a brief heyday. But it obscures core characteristics of contemporary practice. A different structure of executive branch legalism—informal, diffuse, and intermingled in its approach to lawyers, policymakers, and political leadership—has gained new prominence. This Article documents, analyzes, and assesses that transformation. Scholars have suggested that the failure of OLC to constrain presidential power in recent publicized episodes means that executive branch legalism should become more court-like. They have mourned what they perceive to be a disappearing external constraint on the presidency. Executive branch legalism has never been an exogenous or external check on presidential power, however. It is a tool of presidential administration itself. Exploring changes in the structure of executive branch legal review sheds light on the shifting needs of the presidency, the role of law and lawyers in its institutional web, and the institutional variants of presidential control.
The Marcosian Redemption: Mythmaking, the Afterlife, and Early Christian Religiosity

The Marcosian ‘redemption’ afterlife practice, described by Irenaeus (Haer. 1.21.5; see also, 1.13.6), exhibits striking similarities with the Bacchic Gold Tablets. This article exploits this largely neglected comparative opportunity to interrogate how the Marcosian redemption would have been recognisable to people in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, thus bypassing the common focus in our field on ‘origins’ or ‘influences’. The Christians who participated in the Marcosian redemption emerge as people engaged in a broader genre of Greco-Roman religiosity that is associated with independent experts who adapted known mythic resources and offered access to afterlife benefits. This article thus pursues a level of social analysis we often take for granted in Early Christian Studies by attending to the constituent practices of the Marcosian redemption as well as to the social conditions within which it could have been intelligible or compelling. It furthermore leverages this analysis to suggest the fruitfulness of similarly redescribing other, more familiar early Christian materials in terms of practices.
Knowledge of influenza vaccination recommendation and early vaccination uptake during the 2015–16 season among adults aged ≥18 years – United States

Background Since 2010, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has recommended that all persons aged ≥6 months receive annual influenza vaccination.