cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pheromones exchanged during mating: a mechanism for mate assessment in Drosophila

Abstract Many insect species are sexually dimorphic for volatile compounds associated with the cuticle. In these species, females may acquire volatile compounds from males through direct contact with males during mating. In some cases, these compounds function as antiaphrodisiacs, which inhibit subsequent male precopulatory behaviour. During mating, males may also acquire female compounds, which normally stimulate males to court. Contact during mating thus results in a mutual exchange of compounds usually found primarily, or exclusively, on one or the other sex. Drosophila melanogaster is a sexually dimorphic dipteran species in which predominant male and female cuticular hydrocarbons are mutually exchanged during mating. Using synthetic compounds, the effect of this exchange on the post-mating sexual attractiveness of both males and females was tested. The sex-predominant hydrocarbons acquired during mating decreased the attractiveness of both males and females to members of the other sex. Mated females are courted less actively than virgins, and are usually unwilling to re-mate. Similarly, recently mated males are less attractive to females than virgin males are, and may be less fertile. Thus, cuticular hydrocarbons acquired by the other sex during mating could allow both males and females to assess the immediate reproductive potential of prospective mates.
Analysis of three-dimensional ultrasound Doppler for the detection of prostate cancer.

Abstract Objectives. To investigate the relative effectiveness of Doppler ultrasound quantitative measures in discriminating prostate cancer from normal prostate tissue. The true locations of prostate cancer within these prostates were determined by histologic examination after radical prostatectomy. Methods. Three-dimensional Doppler ultrasound data were acquired from 39 men before radical prostatectomy. The removed prostates were sectioned and all cancerous regions in each prostate were identified on whole-mount hematoxylin-eosin-stained slides. The ultrasound and histologic data were then spatially registered. Biopsy results were simulated on a grid of potential sites within each prostate. Along each simulated biopsy site, the amount of cancer was computed from the hematoxylin-eosin-identified cancerous regions and the peak speed-weighted pixel density (SWD) was compared. Results: By selecting the biopsy sites with higher associated SWDs within each sextant, the probability of having at least one positive biopsy within a prostate increased from 75% if the SWD was ignored to 85% if only the top 15% of potential biopsy sites in each sextant were selected. This trend was seen within each sextant individually as well. Conclusions. Doppler ultrasound provides discriminatory information for prostate cancer using the SWD. Translating this into a practical strategy that might improve the yield of prostate biopsy remains under development. The results of our study indicate that biopsying regions of high Doppler color could potentially increase the cancer yield to a small degree and improve the accuracy of the biopsy results. These results also objectively verify previous visual studies suggesting a modest improvement with the use of color Doppler.
Wikipedia Usage Estimates Prevalence of Influenza-Like Illness in the United States in Near Real-Time

Circulating levels of both seasonal and pandemic influenza require constant surveillance to ensure the health and safety of the population. While up-to-date information is critical, traditional surveillance systems can have data availability lags of up to two weeks. We introduce a novel method of estimating, in near-real time, the level of influenza-like illness (ILI) in the United States (US) by monitoring the rate of particular Wikipedia article views on a daily basis. We calculated the number of times certain influenza- or health-related Wikipedia articles were accessed each day between December 2007 and August 2013 and compared these data to official ILI activity levels provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We developed a Poisson model that accurately estimates the level of ILI activity in the American population, up to two weeks ahead of the CDC, with an absolute average difference between the two estimates of just 0.27% over 294 weeks of data. Wikipedia-derived ILI models performed well through both abnormally high media coverage events (such as during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic) as well as unusually severe influenza seasons (such as the 2012–2013 influenza season). Wikipedia usage accurately estimated the week of peak ILI activity 17% more often than Google Flu Trends data and was often more accurate in its measure of ILI intensity. With further study, this method could potentially be implemented for continuous monitoring of ILI activity in the US and to provide support for traditional influenza surveillance tools.
Differential release and phagocytosis of tegument glycoconjugates in neurocysticercosis: implications for immune evasion strategies.

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is an infection of the central nervous system (CNS) by the metacestode of the helminth Taenia solium. The severity of the symptoms is associated with the intensity of the immune response. First, there is a long asymptomatic period where host immunity seems incapable of resolving the infection, followed by a chronic hypersensitivity reaction. Since little is known about the initial response to this infection, a murine model using the cestode Mesocestoides corti (syn. Mesocestoides vogae) was employed to analyze morphological changes in the parasite early in the infection. It was found that M. corti material is released from the tegument making close contact with the nervous tissue. These results were confirmed by infecting murine CNS with ex vivo–labeled parasites. Because more than 95% of NCC patients exhibit humoral responses against carbohydrate-based antigens, and the tegument is known to be rich in glycoconjugates (GCs), the expression of these types of molecules was analyzed in human, porcine, and murine NCC specimens. To determine the GCs present in the tegument, fluorochrome-labeled hydrazides as well as fluorochrome-labeled lectins with specificity to different carbohydrates were used. All the lectins utilized labeled the tegument. GCs bound by isolectinB4 were shed in the first days of infection and not resynthesized by the parasite, whereas GCs bound by wheat germ agglutinin and concavalinA were continuously released throughout the infectious process. GCs bound by these three lectins were taken up by host cells. Peanut lectin-binding GCs, in contrast, remained on the parasite and were not detected in host cells. The parasitic origin of the lectin-binding GCs found in host cells was confirmed using antibodies against T. solium and M. corti. We propose that both the rapid and persistent release of tegumental GCs plays a key role in the well-known immunomodulatory effects of helminths, including immune evasion and life-long inflammatory sequelae seen in many NCC patients.
Communication patterns among young Korean immigrants

Abstract The study examines diverse host and ethnic interpersonal and mass media communication patterns of 69 first-generation college Korean immigrants. A series of analyses of variance with length of stay in the United States and sex as prior independent variables was used for detecting diverse communication patterns. Differences in the host mass media use, except magazine, were not affected by length of star in the host society. In the use of ethnic newspaper, however, significant interaction effect was found. The main effects of sex and time in the United States and the interaction effects lacked significance in diverse interpersonal communication with Americans and Koreans. However, communication gaps between the adult immigrants and their children were significantly revealed over the years regardless of sex. English proficiency also eased the communication gaps between generations and general communication patterns. Related to relevant predictors, various differences in communication patterns are discussed.
A new fossil cebine from Hispaniola.

An incomplete mandibular fragment of a cebine monkey from an early Holocene Haitian cave deposit adds to the small but growing list of fossil Antillean primates. The jaw is of the correct size to belong to the same taxon as the partial maxilla of “Saimiri” bernensis from the Dominican Republic. Both finds probably represent a single species whose proximate ancestry lay closer to Cebus than to Saimiri, although more evidence will be required to substantiate this. No close relationship of the Hispaniolan fossils to the Jamaican platyrrhine Xenothrix is indicated. How monkeys managed to penetrate the West Indies is a biogeographical puzzle of the first order. Geographical vicariance events, island-hopping, and purposeful or inadvertent introduction by humans seem rather implausible devices. On the whole, long-distance, over-water rafting from the Americas remains the most likely mechanism for past land vertebrate immigration into the Caribbean.
Chairs and Their Faculty: Reducing "Top" Stress; Enhancing "Middle" Leadership

Thestatement “if youhaveseenonemedicalschool,you have seen one medical school,” applies to Departments of Pediatrics as well. They vary in myriad ways, including size, priorities, and resources. The principles of organizational psychology provide a frameworkfor understanding an organization in order to improve functioning. One framework that many in academic medicine have found helpful (eg, has been taught in the Executive Leadership for Academic Medicine program) is the systems work by Oshry et al. 1-5 This framework focuses on the predictable behaviors of individuals based on their position (top, middle, bottom) within the organization. Tops are those who have overall responsibility for shaping the system, bottoms are “doing the work” with little control over resources, and middles are caught in “the middle” between these groups. Typical behavior is for tops to “suck up” responsibility and feel burdened, for middles to become alienated and competitive, and for bottoms to blame others. Chairs are clearly “shapers,” and they also are middles caught between the dean (and hospital Chief Executive Officer) and their faculty, and sometimes feel it is challenging to negotiate for adequate resources. Within their leadership positions, faculty may feel like middles— feeling torn between groups. At other times, faculty may feel like bottoms, having little sense that they can control their work world. It does not have to be this way. As Oshry notes, tops can create responsibility in others and bottoms can take responsibility. Middles can integrate (ie, share information, solve common problems, and support one another) rather than remain alienated and torn between tops and bottoms. Within our faculty development program, we sought to support the Chair to create responsibility, encourage bottom responsibility, and foster middle integration by creating meetings with the Chair and the faculty development leader. We have conducted versions of these gatherings at two dramatically different institutions, University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and Columbia University. We have now held over 35 meetings of various groups across the two institutions. We have conducted evaluations of individual sessions and tracked outcomes. For purposes of this report, we will focus on lessons learned about program structure and examples of outcomes.
A Critique of Experimentalism

The concept of scientifically based research occupies a central place in the thinking of the newly formed Institute of Education Sciences and seems well on its way to becoming the dominant paradigm...
A Birthday Party for a Sacred Text: The Gita Jayanti and the Embodiment of God as the Book and the Book as God

For over a decade, various Hindu organizations in Singapore have joined to celebrate an extraordinary series of events, called the Gita Jayanti. The term jayanti literally means "victory" or "victorious" but more usually indicates celebration of the birthday of a holy figure or a deity. Put simply, this is a birthday celebration for the Gita, a compact text that increasingly functions in the Hindu diaspora much like the Bible—a portable compendium of teachings, a deeply poetic source of individual comfort, a text to be memorized, chanted, studied. I know of no other Hindu text with such a birthday, nor had any of the people whom I interviewed about it encountered this celebration outside of Singapore. As part of the celebrations, the Gita undergoes a ritual that parallels the consecration of a deity for use in a temple. In this case the Gita takes on the body of Krishna who is understood to have spoken these holy words many centuries ago. In this sense the Bhagavad Gita, here treated as the Holy Book of contemporary Hinduism, is an iconic body of Krishna just as the bronze murti is also an iconic body—the ultimate iconicity.
Violent Media Content and Aggressiveness in Adolescents A Downward Spiral Model

Theory and research on media violence provides evidence that aggressive youth seek out media violence and that media violence prospectively predicts aggression in youth. The authors argue that both relationships, when modeled over time, should be mutually reinforcing, in what they call a downward spiral model. This study uses multilevel modeling to examine individual growth curves in aggressiveness and violent media use. The measure of use of media violence included viewing action films, playing violent computer and video games, and visiting violence-oriented Internet sites by students from 20 middle schools in 10 different regions in the United States. The findings appear largely consistent with the proposed model. In particular, concurrent effects of aggressiveness on violent-media use and concurrent and lagged effects of violent media use on aggressiveness were found. The implications of this model for theorizing about media effects on youth, and for bridging active audience with media effects perspect...
A Robust Power Gating Structure and Power Mode Transition Strategy for MTCMOS Design

The large magnitude of supply/ground bounces, which arise from power mode transitions in power gating structures, may cause spurious transitions in a circuit. This can result in wrong values being latched in the circuit registers. We propose a design methodology for limiting the maximum value of the supply/ground currents to a user-specified threshold level while minimizing the wake up (sleep to active mode transition) time. In addition to controlling the sudden discharge of the accumulated charge in the intermediate nodes of the circuit through the sleep transistors during the wake up transition, we can eliminate short circuit current and spurious switching activity during this time. This is, in turn, achieved by reducing the amount of charge that must be removed from the intermediate nodes of the circuit and by turning on different parts of the circuit in a way that causes a uniform distribution of current over the wake up time. Simulation results show that, compared to existing wakeup scheduling methods, the proposed techniques result in a 1-2 orders of magnitude improvement in the product of the maximum ground current and the wake up time
A spectrophotometric method for monitoring tactic responses of bacteria under anaerobic conditions

Abstract A simple, inexpensive device called the chemotaxometer is described, which can be used inside an anaerobic chamber to assess tactic responses of bacteria to electron donors or acceptors. The method employs a fiberoptic colorimeter probe inserted into a specially constructed tube containing a bacterial culture at a concentration of approximately 5 × 108 cells per ml. The chemical to be tested diffuses from an agar plug placed a the top of the tube. Changes in optical density are monitored for 30–60 min and used to quantitate the chemotactic response. This method has proven especially useful for the study of tactic responses to various electron acceptors under anoxic conditions.
Site involvement as a predictor of airway intervention in angioedema.

Objectives/hypothesis To look for a relationship between which sites are involved in angioedema and the need for airway intervention (intubation, tracheotomy). Study design Retrospective chart review. Methods Charts of 140 patients who were admitted to two hospitals at an academic medical center between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2008 with the diagnosis of angioedema were reviewed. Charts were reviewed for pertinent data, including demographics, sites of involvement along the upper airway, medical therapy, and airway intervention. Subsites included lips, anterior tongue, floor of mouth, soft palate, base of tongue (BOT), and larynx. Results The BOT was involved in 19 patients and the larynx was involved in 29 patients. Airway intervention was required in 21 patients (16%). Patients with laryngeal and/or BOT involvement required intervention in 38% of cases (vs. 7% in patients without involvement). Patients with more than three sites involved had a 39% rate of intervention, compared with only 12% in patients with less than three sites involved. Among those patients with laryngeal/BOT involvement, 56% with more than three sites involved required intervention, as compared to 30% of patients with less than three sites involved. Conclusions Site of involvement was found to correlate with airway intervention. Involvement of anterior tongue, BOT, and larynx significantly increased the likelihood of intubation or tracheostomy, as did involvement of multiple sites. Thorough evaluation, including fiberoptic laryngoscopy, can aid in determining which patients require airway intervention.
A Rationale for Human Operator Pulsive Control Behavior

When performing tracking tasks which involve demanding controlled elements such as those with K/s-squared dynamics, the human operator often develops discrete or pulsive control outputs. A dual-loop model of the human operator is discussed, the dominant adaptive feature of which is the explicit appearance of an internal model of the manipulator-controlled element dynamics in an inner feedback loop. Using this model, a rationale for pulsive control behavior is offered which is based upon the assumption that the human attempts to reduce the computational burden associated with time integration of sensory inputs. It is shown that such time integration is a natural consequence of having an internal representation of the K/s-squared-controlled element dynamics in the dual-loop model. A digital simulation is discussed in which a modified form of the dual-loop model is shown to be capable of producing pulsive control behavior qualitively comparable to that obtained in experiment.
EFFECT OF DIETARY FAT LEVEL ON UV-B INDUCED SKIN TUMORS, AND ANTI-TUMOR ACTION OF β-CAROTENE

—Hairless mice (SKH-hr strain) maintained on diets containing either 4.5 or 14.1% fat were exposed to UV-B irradiation for a 16-week period and tumor incidence was evaluated. The animals on the low fat diet developed tumors significantly more slowly and in smaller numbers than those on the high fat diet. In addition, a group of animals on a high fat diet (11.1%) were supplemented with β-carotene in their food at a final level of 3%. At the end of the experiment there was no difference in the prevalence of tumors in the β-carotene group, although these animals developed significantly fewer tumors per mouse than the control animals receiving 14.1% fat. These results would indicate that the fat level of the diet can decrease or eliminate the ability of β-carotene to protect animals against UV-B induced skin tumors.
Week 3: Red, white, and somewhat blue at the Pathfinder site

ARES VALLIS, MARS—In keeping with the theme of its Fourth of July landing, Mars Pathfinder seems to have found itself in a red, white, and “blue” landscape. While Mars is known as the “Red Planet,” it is the white and somewhat-blue stuff that is grabbing the attention of the science team. At a press briefing on July 22, the team showed an enhanced color image of the region in front of the rock, Yogi. (A gray-scale version of this image is seen in Figure 1). The most exciting feature in the image is a white patch of subsurface material revealed by a deep scour in the soil that was caused by the rover wheels as it turned to examine Yogi. The white patch has a visible reflectance spectrum similar to the white, crusty material exposed by wind about 2.5 m away. Team member Mike Malin talked about these crusts during the first week of the mission. He interpreted them as evidence for the past presence of water that left behind dried mud and/or evaporite material. Also revealed by the new color perspective on the landing site: Yogi has a two-toned surface. About 1/3 of the rock as seen from the lander is blue-gray, the other 27/3 has a red, rust-colored surface. The red material on Yogi and everywhere else at the landing site contains oxidized iron. The blue-gray surface on this rock is thought to contain unoxidized iron.
Online interactions and social capital: distinguishing between new and existing ties

Some of the earliest and best-known theoretical work on the social implications of the Internet focus on interpersonal interactions with other users met online. However, in part because of the difficulty of measuring the level of interactions with others met online, generalizable empirical research on this topic remains limited. In this study, the authors develop a new approach to measuring the degree of online interactions with those not known offline. Next, they test the relationship between these online social interactions and social capital using a probability sample survey of U.S. residents. Contrary to previous empirical investigations, they find that the level of online interaction with people met on the Internet positively relates to common indicators of social capital, such as generalized trust. Finally, they discuss the implications of these results.
High Temperature Thermal Field-Flow Fractionation for the Characterization of Polyethylene

Abstract A thermal field-flow fractionation device has been constructed in which the cold wall can be held above 100°C. The apparatus is described. Preliminary results are given which illustrate the retention of polyethylene and polypropylene. Details are provided of preliminary experiments intended to determine the molecular weight averages and molecular weight distribution of a National Bureau of Standards polyethylene sample, SRM 1484. The lack of monodisperse, well-characterized calibration standards is considered a major problem. Nonetheless, good agreement is found with published values for number average and weight average molecular weight.
Diethyl cis-Δ4-Tetrahydrophthalate and Diethyl cis-Hexahydrophthalate

Diethyl cis-Δ4-tetrahydrophthalate and diethyl cis-hexahydrophthalate product: Two hundred and twenty-six grams (1 mole) of diethyl cis-Δ4-tetrahydrophthalate product: diethyl cis-hexahydrophthalate product: Dimethyl cis-Δ4-tetrahydrophthalate product: Dimethyl cis-hexahydrophthalate Keywords: esterification, of dicarboxylic acids; reduction, CC HCCH; catalysts, metal, palladium, on carbon; catalysts, metal, platinum oxide; catalysts, metal, platinum oxide; hydrogenation apparatus
Increased Sensitivity to Corticosterone as a Possible Factor in the Development of Adrenal Regeneration Hypertension

The suggestion that the pathogenesis of adrenal-regeneration hypertension might involve sensitization to the hypertensive properties of corticosterone by the period of cortical insufficiency which follows adrenal enucleation has been investigated. Nonhypertensive doses of corticosterone were given to uninephrectomized, salt-treated and adrenalectomized rats after periods of insufficiency of variable length and to similar rats bearing regenerating adrenals, beginning such treatment at intervals after enucleation. The following conclusions have been drawn from the data obtained: (1) Adrenal cortical insufficiency for as long as 2 weeks did not sensitize to the hypertension-inducing property of corticosterone; (2) Corticosterone administration to rats bearing regenerating adrenals, beginning treatment up to 3 weeks after operation, did not enhance the development of hypertension or increase the severity of vascular lesions.
Bifocal modeling: a study on the learning outcomes of comparing physical and computational models linked in real time

Computer modeling, and in particular agent-based modeling, has been successfully used in many scientific fields, transforming scientists' practice. Educational researchers have come to realize its potential for learning, and studies have suggested that students are able to understand concepts above their expected grade level after interacting with curricula that employ modeling and simulation. However, most simulations are 'on-screen', without connection to the physical world. Therefore, real-time model validation is challenging with extant modeling platforms. I have designed a technological and pedagogical framework to enable students to connect computer models and sensors in real time, as to validate, compare, and refine their models using real-world data. In this paper, I will focus on both technical and pedagogical aspects, describing pilot studies that suggest a real-to-virtual reciprocity which catalyzes further inquiry toward deeper understanding of scientific phenomena.
Creativity Over the Life Course—A Call for a Relational Perspective:

Research into creativity over the life course has a long history of concentrating on individual characteristics thought to be associated with shifting patterns. In large measure creativity has been explained as a consequence of intelligence, cognitive style, personality, imagery, and other endogenous factors. These human capital factors are not sufficient in themselves to explain differential creativity either by age or among diverse groups. In addition to individual-level considerations there is an array of societal and domain specific factors that must be taken into account. A number of these are discussed under the rubric of social capital. Finally a relational perspective is advocated as an interpretative framework and discussed in terms of dialectical life span approaches to the life course.
Sharing the Road [Microwave Surfing]

Storrs, where the main campus of the University of Connecticut is located, is a small rural community. Yet, as I walk to work from my home, I rarely see bicyclists on the road. I recall once asking a northern European graduate student why he did not ride his bike to work, and he told me that the bicyclists around here did not feel safe sharing the road with cars (except where there are physically separate bike lanes). Unlike Europe, drivers here often do not look out for or slow down for bicyclists. Now, at least, one car company with roots in northern Europe is doing something to address this problem [1].
Hierarchical active shape models, using the wavelet transform

Active shape models (ASMs) are often limited by the inability of relatively few eigenvectors to capture the full range of biological shape variability. This paper presents a method that overcomes this limitation, by using a hierarchical formulation of active shape models, using the wavelet transform. The statistical properties of the wavelet transform of a deformable contour are analyzed via principal component analysis, and used as priors in the contour's deformation. Some of these priors reflect relatively global shape characteristics of the object boundaries, whereas, some of them capture local and high-frequency shape characteristics and, thus, serve as local smoothness constraints. This formulation achieves two objectives. First, it is robust when only a limited number of training samples is available. Second, by using local statistics as smoothness constraints, it eliminates the need for adopting ad hoc physical models, such as elasticity or other smoothness models, which do not necessarily reflect true biological variability. Examples on magnetic resonance images of the corpus callosum and hand contours demonstrate that good and fully automated segmentations can be achieved, even with as few as five training samples.
W-band metamorphic HEMT with 267 mW output power

This paper reports the highest W-band power output of metamorphic HEMT (MHEMT) technology to date. 267 mW single stage performances at 90 GHz are achieved on a 0.15 micron GaAs-based production line with improved manufacturability over InP HEMT. The single stage circuits presented here are building blocks for future MHEMT power amplifier development.
Lack of Association of Guillain-Barré Syndrome with Vaccinations

Background. Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an acute polyradiculoneuropathy, thought to be an autoimmune process. Although cases of GBS have been reported following a wide range of vaccines, a clear association has only been established with the 1976 H1N1 inactivated influenza vaccine. Methods. We identified hospitalized GBS cases from Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC) from 1995 through 2006. The medical record of each suspected case was neurologist-reviewed according to the Brighton Collaboration GBS case definition; only confirmed cases were included in the analyses, and cases of Miller Fisher syndrome were excluded. Using a case-centered design, we compared the odds of vaccination in the 6 and 10 weeks prior to onset of GBS to the odds of vaccination during the same time intervals in all vaccinated individuals in the entire KPNC population. Results. We confirmed 415 incident cases of GBS (including Brighton levels 1, 2, and 3) during the study period (>30 million person-years). Incidence peaked during the winter months. The odds ratio of influenza vaccination within a 6-week interval prior to GBS, compared with the prior 9 months, was 1.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], .4–3.1). The risk in the 6-week interval compared to the prior 12 months for tetanus diphtheria combination, 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide, and for all vaccines combined was 1.4 (95% CI, .3–4.5), 0.7 (95% CI, .1– 2.9), and 1.3 (95% CI, .8–2.3), respectively. Conclusions. In this large retrospective study, we did not find evidence of an increased risk of GBS following vaccinations of any kind, including influenza vaccination.
Prospective Evaluation of Radionuclide Angiocardiography For the Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease

This investigation assesses prospectively the accuracy of rest and exercise radionuclide angiocardiography (RNA) in detecting coronary artery disease (CAD). By retrospective analysis of 496 patients, optimal RNA criteria were determined for the presence or absence of CAD. Multivariate analysis of patients with normal coronary arteries on catheterization provided a formula to predict normal exercise ejection fraction (EF) in a given patient. The presence of CAD was indicated by 1 or more of the following RNA measurements: (1) rest EF less than 0.50, (2) exercise EF at least 0.06 less than the predicted value, (3) exercise increase in end-systolic volume greater than 20 ml, (4) exercise-induced wall motion abnormality. The absence of CAD was indicated by the absence of all 4 criteria. After applying these criteria to 221 consecutive patients, the RNA determinations were compared with the catheterization, determinations. Significant CAD was present in 71% of the patients studied. The sensitivity of the test was 0.87 and the specificity 0.54. Thus, because of its high sensitivity, RNA is of value in screening patients under consideration for cardiac catheterization. No patient with significant left main coronary narrowing and only 4 of 65 patients with 3-vessel disease were misdiagnosed. The poor specificity of the test, however, limits its overall accuracy.
Current Status of Branched Stent-Graft Technology in Treatment of Thoracoabdominal Aneurysms

Endovascular aortic aneurysm repair has been established as an alternative to open surgical reconstruction in appropriately selected patients. Until recently, this approach has been limited to aneurysms not involving critical aortic branches due to the complex nature of designing devices that would preserve important end-organ flow. This article reviews the current status of endovascular approaches to aneurysms involving the thoracoabdominal aorta. The evolution of fenestrated devices and further developments, including reinforced fenestrated branched grafts and directional branches for more complex aneurysms are discussed.
Comparison of diachronic thinking and event ordering in 5- to 10-year-old children

Two main theoretical constructs seek to describe the elaborated sense of time that may be a uniquely human attribute: diachronic thinking (the ability to think about the past and use that information to predict future events) and event ordering (the ability to sequence events in temporal order). Researchers utilize various tasks to measure the emergence and refinement of diachronic thinking and event ordering in children and to document significant development in these skills during middle childhood. The current study investigated the relationship between performance on tasks of diachronic thinking and event ordering in 90 children (5;0–10;10) to determine whether these tasks tap overlapping cognitive processes. Specifically, we examined the extent to which the various measures were inter-correlated and related to measures of language and intelligence. A principal-components analysis yielded two factors. Factor 1 was positively associated with all measures, including age, language, and intelligence. Facto...
NONSMOOTH ANALYSIS, CONVEX ANALYSIS, AND THEIR APPLICATIONS TO MOTION PLANNING

Nonsmooth analysis of a broad class of functions taking the form F(x)=minifi(x), where each fi is a convex function. One element of this class of functions is the distance function, which measures the distance between a point and the nearest point on the nearest obstacle. Many motion planning algorithms are based on the distance function, and thus rigorous analysis of the distance function can provide a better understanding of how to implement traditional motion planning algorithms. Finally, this paper enumerates some useful results in convex analysis.
High-efficiency blue generation by frequency doubling of femtosecond pulses in a thick potassium niobate crystal

We discuss blue generation by frequency doubling of femtosecond pulses in a thick nonlinear crystal. We achieve high conversion efficiencies up to 75% using low laser powers in a simple apparatus and demonstrate a focusing dependence that deviates significantly from the traditional long-pulse result. We have also observed that the spectral width of the generated blue light can be tuned by more than a factor of five by varying the focusing conditions.
IgG4 levels and plasmablasts as a marker for IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD).

Stone and his coworkers present two elegant papers on IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD).1 In ‘The Diagnostic Utility of Serum IgG4 Concentrations in IgG4-Related Disease’, Carruthers et al 2 retrospectively analysed charts of 190 patients with elevation of IgG4. They also randomly selected 3360 charts with normal IgG4 levels and reviewed 190 cases for characteristics of IgG4-RD. They found: In a closely related study by the same group, Wallace et al describe the ‘Diagnostic Utility of Plasmablasts as a Biomarker for IgG4 Related Disease (IgG4 RD) Independent of Serum IgG4 Levels’. Since we see patients with possible IgG4-RD in a variety of organs (table 1) that are often not easy to biopsy, serum IgG4 levels have incorrectly become a ‘surrogate’ marker for IgG4-RD in clinical practice.3 ,4 These articles will make us take a hard look at our current diagnostic approach to IgG4-RD. View this table: Table 1 IgG4-Related Diseases (IgG4-RD) are a Family Immuno-proliferative Disorders View this table: Table 2 Diagnostic criteria for IgG4-Related Disease The spectrum of IgG4-RD is remarkably complex (table 1) and it would be nice to simply think of this complex multisystem pathology as a single pathogenetic disorder occurring in a variety of target organs. Unfortunately, it may not be that simple. In a critical evaluation of the evolving …
Z-Contrast STEM Imaging and Ab-Initio Calculations of Grain Boundaries in SrTiO

The understanding of electrical properties of grain boundaries in perovskites is essential for their application to capacitors, varistors and positive-temperature coefficient resistors. The origin of the electrical activity is generally attributed to the existence of charged defects in grain boundaries, usually assumed to be impurities, which set up a double Schottky barrier as they are screened by dopants in the adjacent bulk crystal. Microscopic understanding of the origin of the grain boundary charge, however, has not been achieved. It is not known yet if the charged grain boundary states are an intrinsic property of a stoichiometric grain boundary, arise from nonstoichiometry, or are caused by impurities. Here, the relation between atomic structure and electronic properties is studied by combining experiment with ab-initio calculations. The starting structures for theoretical calculations were obtained from Z-contrast images combined with electron energy loss spectroscopy to resolve the dislocation core structures comprising the boundary. Dislocation core reconstructions are typical of all grain boundaries so far observed in this material. They avoid like-ion repulsion, and provide alternative sites for cation occupation in the grain boundaries. Optimized atomic positions are found by total energy calculations. Calculated differences in vacancy formation energies between the grain boundaries and the bulk suggest that vacancy segregation can account for the postulated grain boundary charge.
Singlet-to-triplet interconversion using hyperfine as well as ferromagnetic fringe fields

Until recently the important role that spin-physics (‘spintronics’) plays in organic light-emitting devices and photovoltaic cells was not sufficiently recognized. This attitude has begun to change. We review our recent work that shows that spatially rapidly varying local magnetic fields that may be present in the organic layer dramatically affect electronic transport properties and electroluminescence efficiency. Competition between spin-dynamics due to these spatially varying fields and an applied, spatially homogeneous magnetic field leads to large magnetoresistance, even at room temperature where the thermodynamic influences of the resulting nuclear and electronic Zeeman splittings are negligible. Spatially rapidly varying local magnetic fields are naturally present in many organic materials in the form of nuclear hyperfine fields, but we will also review a second method of controlling the electrical conductivity/electroluminescence, using the spatially varying magnetic fringe fields of a magnetically unsaturated ferromagnet. Fringe-field magnetoresistance has a magnitude of several per cent and is hysteretic and anisotropic. This new method of control is sensitive to even remanent magnetic states, leading to different conductivity/electroluminescence values in the absence of an applied field. We briefly review a model based on fringe-field-induced polaron-pair spin-dynamics that successfully describes several key features of the experimental fringe-field magnetoresistance and magnetoelectroluminescence.
A quantitative analysis of PET in patients with diagnosed argyrophilic grain disease

2514 Objectives Argyrophilic Grain Disease (AGD) is a tauopathy that occurs at late age and predominates in the limbic structures of the brain. Currently there are no clinical signs or symptoms that are specific to AGD and definitive diagnosis is made only during neurological autopsy. AGD develops late in life and usually occurs alongside other neuro-degenerative processes such as Alzheimer’s disease. For this reason determining the clinical significance of AGD is challenging. The aim of this study was to quantitatively analyze the FDG and C11 PiB PET/CT scans of subjects with confirmed AGD to see if a pattern might exist which could support an AGD diagnosis. Methods A retrospective review was performed on 3,100 subjects to identify patients that had FDG PET + C11 PiB PET, had a brain autopsy performed, and had a diagnosis of AGD mentioned in the pathology report. Quantitative analysis of the PET/CT scans was performed and the results compared. Results Five subjects met our search criteria. Two subjects had other neurodegenerative diseases pathologically as well as AGD (PSP and CBD). FDG PET showed no consistent hypometabolic patterns correlating with AGD. Hypometabolism concordant with other disease (2 cases) was noted. No mesial temporal hypometabolism was seen. PiB positivity was seen in one subject with diffuse plaques (Braak 2). Conclusions In this small group, it does not appear that an FDG PET/CT brain scan is useful in identifying subjects with an AGD diagnosis. Larger numbers of subjects may produce new insights into diagnosing AGD.
Distribution and activation of intracellular Ca2+ stores in cultured olfactory bulb neurons.

Carlson, Greg C., Melissa L. Slawecki, Eric Lancaster, and Asaf Keller. Distribution and activation of intracellular Ca2+ stores in cultured olfactory bulb neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2176–2185, ...
NMR spectral studies—IV: Some 15NH coupling constants

Abstract PMR spectra of several 15N-labeled compounds have been studied and values of short and long range 15NH coupling constants have been tabulated. A similarity has been observed between the geminal HH couplings in and 15NH couplings in
Rapid Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition of Polycrystalline Silicon-Germanium Films on SiO2 and Their Properties.

In this work, polycrystalline SiGe has been viewed as an alternative gate material to polysilicon in single wafer processing for the deep submicrometer VLSI applications. We studied deposition of the silicon-germanium (SiGe) films with different germanium concentrations (up to 85%) on SiO2 in a rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition reactor using GeH4 and SiH4/H2 gas mixture with the temperature ranging from 550°C to 625°C. Since the SiGe RTCVD process is selective toward oxide and does not form nucleation sites on the oxide easily, an in-situ polysilicon flash technique is used to provide the necessary nucleation sites for the deposition of SiGe films with high germanium content. It was observed that with the in-situ polysilicon flash as a pre-nucleation seed, the SiGe deposited on SiO2 forms a continuous polycrystalline layer. Polycrystalline SiGe films of about 2000A in thickness have a columnar grain structure with a grain size of approximately 1000A. Compositional analyses from Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) and Rutherford backscattering (RBS) show that the high germanium incorporation in the SiGe films has a weak dependence on the deposition temperature. It is also noted that the germanium content across the film thickness is fairly constant which is a critical factor for the application of SiGe films as the gate material. Lastly, we found that the surface morphology of SiGe films become smoother at lower deposition temperature.
IGNITION AND DETONATION INITIATION OF MOVING HYDROGEN-AIR MIXTURES AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE

Experimental and computational studies of detonation initiation, using Deflagration-to-Detonation Tran sition (DDT) processes, were performed to investigate the effect of varying inlet parameters at elevated temp eratures and pressures on the run-up to detonation in hydrogen-air mixtures for a repeating detonation rig. It is found that the gasdynamic and chemical processes which effect the initial flame acceleration are the rate-li miting processes in determining the time scale of run-up t o detonation. A parametric study was performed in which the independent parameters of temperature, T (290 ‐ 615 K), pressure, P (1.0 ‐ 4.0 atm) and inlet fill velocity, Vb (10 ‐ 40 m/s) were systematically varied, and thei r effect on location, L DDT , and time of detonation, t DDT , initiation was quantified. A Pareto of effects in this parametric study shows variation in fill veloc ity and rig pressure have the largest effect on t DDT , while it shows variation in fill velocity and rig pressure followed by initial gas temperature have the largest effect on L DDT . Dimensionalized best-fit correlations were obtai ned from the test measurements for t DDT and L DDT as functions of P, T, and V. A nondimensional be st-fit correlations was obtained from the test measurements for t DDT as a function of key nondimensionalized independent variables, namely density expansion ratio α, a nondimensional length scale l/l F (where l is the integral length scale and l F is the laminar flame thickness) and a nondimensional velocity scale M (flow Mach number in the reactants) which govern the flow and chemical processes that occur during the DDT process.
DEBATING CONVERSION, SILENCING CASTE: THE LIMITED SCOPE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Critics argue that the politics of religious rights creates the problem of religious minorities instead of resolving it. The history of debate over conversion in India reveals that appeals to religious freedom can obscure and even suppress struggles against inequality and injustice.
ON EXPLORATION OF WOMEN'S OWN VALUE PROBLEMS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

This article begins with the aspects of the women's historical status and the stereotyped image that society gives people during its evolving process,and explores the social position of modern women and its reasons.Also,this paper puts forward some suggestions to encourage women to pay attention to their own value.Through studies on the current situations and history this article aims to lead the majority of women's to ponder their own value and finally encourages them to devote their efforts to self-transformation of the soul and the promotion of self-worth.
Effects of Self-control Exercise on Subjective Quality of Life in Long-term Cancer Survival

To investigate the effects of self-control exercise on subjective quality of life of cancer survivorsfrom the perspective of social psychology,in order to reveal the psychological mechanism of exercise intervention in cancer process. The results suggest that self-control exercise is conducive to improve life satisfaction,subjective well-being and subjective quality of life. The effect of self-control exercise on life satisfaction is regulated by the health status as the intermediary variables,namely the promotion ofexercise onphysical and psychosocial health then act on the individual cognition on quality of life,and thehigher level individual health consciousness is helpfulfor exerciserto feel more happiness which may be able to promote health and amelioratescancer processindirectly through the interaction between physical and mental.
Assessing the Structure of Isotropic and Anisotropic Turbulent Magnetic Fields

Turbulent magnetic fields permeate our universe, impacting a wide range of astronomical phenomena across all cosmic scales. A clear example is the magnetic field that threads the interstellar medium (ISM), which impacts the motion of cosmic rays through that medium. Understanding the structure of magnetic turbulence within the ISM and how it relates to the physical quantities that characterize it can thus inform our analysis of particle transport within these regions. Toward that end, we probe the structure of magentic turbulence through the use of Lyapunov exponents for a suite of isotropic and nonisotropic Alfvenic turbulence profiles. Our results provide a means of calculating a "turbulence lengthscale" that can then be connected to how cosmic rays propagate through magentically turbulent environments, and we perform such an analysis for molecular cloud environments.