cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Sleep Disturbances on Blood Pressure

This review summarizes recent literature addressing the association of short sleep duration, shift work, and obstructive sleep apnea with hypertension risk, blood pressure (BP) levels, and 24-hour ambulatory BP. Observational studies demonstrate that subjectively assessed short sleep increases hypertension risk, though conflicting results are observed in studies of objectively assessed short sleep. Intervention studies demonstrate that mild and severe sleep restriction are associated with higher BP. Rotating and night shift work are associated with hypertension as shift work may exacerbate the detrimental impact of short sleep on BP. Further, studies demonstrate that shift work may increase nighttime BP and reduce BP control in patients with hypertension. Finally, moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea is associated with hypertension, particularly resistant hypertension. Obstructive sleep apnea is also associated with abnormal 24-hour ambulatory BP profiles, including higher daytime and nighttime BP, nondipping BP, and a higher morning surge. Continuous positive airway pressure treatment may lower BP and improve BP dipping. In conclusion, efforts should be made to educate patients and health care providers about the importance of identifying and treating sleep disturbances for hypertension prevention and management. Empirically supported sleep health interventions represent a critical next step to advance this research area and establish causality.
Musculoskeletal Injuries and Their Association With Previous Concussion History: A Prospective Study of High School Volleyball and Soccer Players.

Background:Sports-related concussions may have a neurobiological recovery period that exceeds the period of clinical recovery, and one consequence of an extended neurobiological recovery may be the...
A Survey of Traveling Wave Protection Schemes in Electric Power Systems

As a result of the increase in penetration of inverter-based generation such as wind and solar, the dynamics of the grid are being modified. These modifications may threaten the stability of the power system since the dynamics of these devices are completely different from those of rotating generators. Protection schemes need to evolve with the changes in the grid to successfully deliver their objectives of maintaining safe and reliable grid operations. This paper explores the theory of traveling waves and how they can be used to enable fast protection mechanisms. It surveys a list of signal processing methods to extract information on power system signals following a disturbance. The paper also presents a literature review of traveling wave-based protection methods at the transmission and distribution levels of the grid and for AC and DC configurations. The paper then discusses simulations tools to help design and implement protection schemes. A discussion of the anticipated evolution of protection mechanisms with the challenges facing the grid is also presented.
Early Age of Alcohol Initiation and Its Association with Suicidal Behaviors.

The relationship between alcohol use and suicidal behaviors is well-accepted, but less is known about the contribution of its early initiation. This study was designed to test the association of ea...
WHEN RISING TIDES LIFT SOME BOATS MORE THAN OTHERS: GENDER-BASED DIFFERENCES IN THE EXTERNAL ENABLEMENT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

External enablers (EEs) are exogenous, macro-environmental forces that influence the rate, extent and substance of entrepreneurial activity. A steadily increasing body of empirical research has sou...
Endovascular Aortic Repair in Patients of Advanced Age.

Purpose:Treatment decisions for the elderly with abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are challenging. With advancing age, the risk of endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) increases while life expectan...
Chapter 11. Future Antithrombotic Therapy

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the recent advancement in the synthesis and characterization of select agents that hold the promise of being future antithrombotic therapeutics. Hemostasis is the natural physiological response of blood damage to the vasculature, ultimately leading to cessation of blood loss. Thrombosis that occurs in both arteries and veins is the virtual or total occlusion of a blood vessel by the elements of the hemostatic system. As the pathogenesis of arterial thrombosis clearly differs from that of venous thrombosis, the agents that inhibit platelet activity have the most benefit in the treatment of arterial thrombosis and, until recently, agents that inhibit the coagulation pathways have been used primarily for venous disease. From the widespread clinical study, aspirin has been generally accepted as a useful antithrombotic with a variety of arterial indications. Aspirin inhibits platelet aggregation by inhibiting generation of thromboxane A 2 (TXA 2 ) by activated platelets via acetylation of the enzyme cyclooxygenase. An alternative means of controlling TXA 2 -dependent aspects of platelet aggregation is by specific inhibition of thromboxane synthase. Ticlopidine is a thienopyridine derivative that has undergone extensive clinical testing and is a moderately active inhibitor of platelet aggregation. Factor Xa is an arginine directed endopeptidase responsible for the conversion of prothrombin to thrombin. Inhibition of this enzyme is a potential means to control aberrant coagulation and resulting thrombosis. The fibrinogen binding site on thrombin is also being explored as a potential site of action of therapeutic agents. Irreversible active-site inhibitors of thrombin, which target the serine in the catalytic site of thrombin, have also been developed. Based on the opportunities afforded by the advancement in molecular biology and by elucidation of the molecular basis of receptor/ligand and enzyme/substrate interactions, great strides have been made in the understanding of hemostasis and thrombosis.
Evaluation of Sparse LU Factorization and Triangular Solution on Multicore Platforms

The Chip Multiprocessor (CMP) will be the basic building block for computer systems ranging from laptops to supercomputers. New software developments at all levels are needed to fully utilize these systems. In this work, we evaluate performance of different high-performance sparse LU factorization and triangular solution algorithms on several representative multicore machines. We include both pthreads and MPI implementations in this study, and found that the pthreads implementation consistently delivers good performance and a left-looking algorithm is usually superior.
The influence of adsorption on the rates oi n degradation of arsenic species in sediments1

A model to describe the rates of microbially mediated transformations is presented along with a simple numerical method for kinetic computations in complex systems. The model is tested against the results of arsenic demethylation experiments assuming first-order kinetics and Langmuir adsorption. There is agreement between theory and experiment.
Systems Engineering in NASA’s R&TD Programs

Systems engineering is largely the analysis and planning that support the design, development, and operation of systems. The most common application of systems engineering is in guiding systems development projects that use a phased process of requirements, specifications, design, and development. This paper investigates how systems engineering techniques should be applied in research and technology development programs for advanced space systems. These programs should include anticipatory engineering of future space flight systems and a project portfolio selection process, as well as systems engineering for multiple development projects.
New Perspectives on Female Suffrage

By focusing on the history and historiography of Mexican women's acquisition of the right to vote between the 1920s and 1950s, this article uses Mexico as a case study to point to broader trends in scholarship on female suffrage. The author argues that the symbolic or representational value (the meaning) of women voting has carried more weight historically than how women actually voted (the act of female voting). Nonetheless, women's presumed effect on elections, through the act of voting, has shaped the rhetoric and history of female suffrage. By examining female suffrage through the lens of gender politics and gender history, one can see how and why often problematic, and even fallacious images, meanings, or symbols of women as inept political actors have been constructed.
Methods and Techniques of Complex Systems Science: An Overview

In this chapter, I review the main methods and techniques of complex systems science. As a first step, I distinguish among the broad patterns which recur across complex systems, the topics complex systems science commonly studies, the tools employed, and the foundational science of complex systems. The focus of this chapter is overwhelmingly on the third heading, that of tools. These in turn divide, roughly, into tools for analyzing data, tools for constructing and evaluating models, and tools for measuring complexity. I discuss the principles of statistical learning and model selection; time series analysis; cellular automata; agent-based models; the evaluation of complex-systems models; information theory; and ways of measuring complexity. Throughout, I give only rough outlines of techniques, so that readers, confronted with new problems, will have a sense of which ones might be suitable, and which ones definitely are not.
Should we stop using the P value in descriptive studies

Statistical tests of significance are often (and incorrectly) used in analyzing data from descriptive studies to determine what variables are associated with each other. The standard tests of significance are usually invalid for this purpose and their use leads to unimportant findings being reported and important findings being omitted. There is no substitute for the mind of the investigator considering each relationship to determine its importance; in this search, a statistical test of the strength of association will be more useful than a statistical test of significance. Such a change in approach to the analysis of descriptive data would result in greater clarity and reproducibility of studies. I don9t know what the "probability" of such a change occurring is, but I do believe such a change would be "important."
Experimental rejection of a nonadaptive explanation for increased cell size in Escherichia coli.

Populations of Escherichia coli that have been serially propagated for thousands of generations in glucose minimal medium show heritable increases in both cell size and growth rate. We sought to test the hypothesis that the increased cell size of the derived genotypes could be explained solely by their faster growth. The regression of cell size on growth rate differed significantly between populations having ancestral and derived genotypes, with the latter producing larger cells over almost the entire range of growth rates. Thus, the physiological coupling between cell size and growth rate has been evolutionarily altered. PopulationsofEscherichiacolihaveproventobeveryuseful in experimental studies of evolutionary adaptation. Lenski et al. (7) propagated 12 replicate lines ofE. colifrom a common ancestor for 2,000 generations (300 days) by daily serial transfer in glucose minimal medium. By the process of natural selection, the derived lines became genetically adapted to the experimental environment so that after 2,000 generations they had, on average, a 35% advantage in competition with their ancestor.Vasietal.(11)investigatedthegrowthcharacteristics of the lines having derived genotypes and found that increases in maximum growth rate contributed substantially to these fitnessgains.Inaddition,theyobservedthatall12derivedlines produced significantly larger cells than the ancestor. It is tempting to assume that the increase in cell size is somehow advantageous in the experimental environment and to speculate on its possible adaptive significance. In recent years, however, evolutionary theorists have emphasized the critical need for rigorous tests to distinguish between adaptive and nonadaptive explanations of evolutionary change in particular organismal traits (5). In one important class of nonadaptive explanation, a change in trait Y may be considered solely a correlated response to selection on trait X, thereby obviating the need to invoke any specific adaptive significance of the change in trait Y. In the case of cell size, bacterial physiologists have repeatedly demonstrated a positive correlationbetweengrowthrateandcellsizewhenbacteriaaregrown
A “Critical” Look At Student Self Evaluation

The critical incident technique has proven to be an effective tool both in encouraging student self evaluation of performance and planning strategies for continued professional development. The technique is now being used in all professional courses involving a practicum component in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant, Institution Management and Dietetics at Kansas State University.
“Quiero ir y no quiero ir” (I Want to Go and I Don't Want to Go): Nicaraguan Children's Ambivalent Experiences of Transnational Family Life

Resumen Este articulo explora las experiencias de los ninos nicaraguenses cuyas madres han migrado. Utilizo la idea del “imaginario del migrante” (Jackson 2010) como marco teorico para capturar la manera en que las experiencias subjetivas que los ninos tienen de la migracion, son estructuradas por procesos sociales, culturales, politicos y economicos. Demuestro que los ninos son actores centrales en procesos mundiales de migracion (Coe et al. 2011). Conscientes de los factores (principalmente economicos) que empujan a sus madres a emigrar, los ninos participan del proceso como receptores de las remesas en niveles materiales y afectivos, forman vinculos relacionales con sus abuelas y otras cuidadoras ante la ausencia de sus madres, y responden con incertidumbre a la posibilidad de reunificacion con sus madres migrantes en paises de destino. El deseo ambivalente de los ninos de estar tanto “aqui” como “alla” (Hondagneu-Sotelo y Avila 1997) -tanto en Nicaragua con sus familias extendidas como con sus madres viviendo afuera – es central en el imaginario que los ninos tienen de la migracion y en su experiencia real de formar parte de una familia transnacional.
Alcohol selectivity in a synthetic thermophilic n-butanol pathway is driven by biocatalytic and thermostability characteristics of constituent enzymes

n-Butanol is generated as a natural product of metabolism by several microorganisms, but almost all grow at mesophilic temperatures. A synthetic pathway for n-butanol production from acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) that functioned at 70°C was assembled in vitro from enzymes recruited from thermophilic bacteria to inform efforts for engineering butanol production into thermophilic hosts. Recombinant versions of eight thermophilic enzymes (β-ketothiolase [Thl], 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase [Hbd], and 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydratase [Crt] from Caldanaerobacter subterraneus subsp. tengcongensis; trans-2-enoyl-CoA reductase [Ter] from Spirochaeta thermophila; bifunctional acetaldehyde dehydrogenase/alcohol dehydrogenase [AdhE] from Clostridium thermocellum; and AdhE, aldehyde dehydrogenase [Bad], and butanol dehydrogenase [Bdh] from Thermoanaerobacter sp. strain X514) were utilized to examine three possible pathways for n-butanol. These pathways differed in the two steps required to convert butyryl-CoA to n-butanol: Thl-Hbd-Crt-Ter-AdhE (C. thermocellum), Thl-Hbd-Crt-Ter-AdhE (Thermoanaerobacter X514), and Thl-Hbd-Crt-Ter-Bad-Bdh. n-Butanol was produced at 70°C, but with different amounts of ethanol as a coproduct, because of the broad substrate specificities of AdhE, Bad, and Bdh. A reaction kinetics model, validated via comparison to in vitro experiments, was used to determine relative enzyme ratios needed to maximize n-butanol production. By using large relative amounts of Thl and Hbd and small amounts of Bad and Bdh, >70% conversion to n-butanol was observed in vitro, but with a 60% decrease in the predicted pathway flux. With more-selective hypothetical versions of Bad and Bdh, >70% conversion to n-butanol is predicted, with a 19% increase in pathway flux. Thus, more-selective thermophilic versions of Bad, Bdh, and AdhE are needed to fully exploit biocatalytic n-butanol production at elevated temperatures.
Estimating the variance of the sample median

The small-sample bias and root mean squared error of several distribution-free estimators of the variance of the sample median are examined. A new estimator is proposed that is easy to compute and tends to have the smallest bias and root mean squared error.
Covariant Derivatives in Broken Nonlinear Chiral Symmetry

If the symmetry breaking in nonlinear Lagrangian theories depends on derivatives of boson fields, then the covariant derivatives ${D}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}{\ensuremath{\phi}}_{a}$ lose their nice transformation properties.
Decorrelation Property of Discrete Wavelet Transform Under Fixed-Domain Asymptotics

Theoretical aspects of the decorrelation property of the discrete wavelet transform when applied to stochastic processes have been studied exclusively from the increasing-domain perspective, in which the distance between neighboring observations stays roughly constant as the number of observations increases. To understand the underlying data-generating process and to obtain good interpolations, fixed-domain asymptotics, in which the number of observations increases in a fixed region, is often more appropriate than increasing-domain asymptotics. In the fixed-domain setting, we prove that, for a general class of inhomogeneous covariance functions, with suitable choice of wavelet filters, the wavelet transform of a nonstationary process has mostly asymptotically uncorrelated components.
China's re‐emergence and the future of the Asia‐Pacific

(1997). China's re‐emergence and the future of the Asia‐Pacific. Survival: Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 65-79.
Biliary atresia: perspective on transplantation

In North America, long-term, jaundice-free survival following Kasai's operation for biliary atresia is 25%–35%; thus, the majority of patients require liver transplantation for salvage. The timing of organ replacement is crucial. Patients without bile drainage because of either surgical election or operative failure should be referred immediately. Patients with ongoing but inadequate biliary drainage should be referred at a time that coincides with a plateau of the growth curve or if cholangitis is recalcitrant. Portal hypertension itself is not an indication for transplantation irrespective of its manifestations. Ascites, however, when primarily due to hypoalbuminemia, is a solid indication for transplantation. Other tests of liver function are generally unreliable. Factors found to be unimportant or of questionable adverse impact on transplant outcome include previous operation, coexisting infection limited to the liver, nonpatent portal vein, and/or abnormal liver function tests. The only factor that was found to significantly influence outcome was patient size and age. Thus, bile drainage after Kasai portoenterostomy, by permitting growth, improves the chances for a favorable outcome. Transplant 1-year survival is from 60% to 88%. Liver replacement is not without complications, namely technical errors, infection, and rejection. Nonetheless, in a majority of cases hepatic transplantation provides the only opportunity for high-quality long-term survival.
Thrombolytic treatment with streptokinase for late intraatrial thrombosis after modified Fontan procedure.

Abstract Although the role of the Fontantype operation in providing high grade palliation for patients with tricuspid atresia and ventriculoarterial concordance has been clearly established, complications have been reported.1–3 In this report, we describe a patient who developed late intracardiac thrombosis occluding the anastomosis between the right atrium and pulmonary artery who was successfully treated with intravenous streptokinase.
Effect of vacuum mixer brand on tensile properties of acrylic bone cement

The effect of vacuum mixer brand is studied on six commercial bone cements, three with prophylactic doses of antibiotics and three without. The modulus of elasticity, ultimate tensile strength, maximum strain, and 0.2% yield strength was analysed. Bone cement specimens were manufactured and tested in accordance with ASTM D638 specifications using three different types of vacuum mixers in an operating room. The specimens were tested in a universal testing machine. Statistical analysis revealed that a proprietary mixer did not generally outperform the other two mixers for its own cement. It was found that the mixer had a significant effect on the results and that the Stryker/Simplex mixer generally outperformed Biomet and Zimmer. However, for the Simplex bone cement, the mixer type did not have a significant effect for most of the data analysed. The overall conclusion is that the proprietary mixer does not perform the best with its own cement.
Relationship between medical students' participation in a behavioral science discussion group and performance on a cognitive task.

The authors investigated the association between first-year medical students’ verbal participation in a behavioral science discussion group, course satisfaction, and performance on a cognitive task (a written essay). Results showed that students who were sociometrically selected as having enhanced the group discussion performed better on the course essay and evaluated the course more favorably than their reticent counterparts. Some shortcomings of this exploratory research are discussed, as are future research recommendations.
Silicon-based Integrated Optics: Waveguide Technology to Microphotonics

Using a waveguide spectrometer chip as an example, we describe how high index contrast waveguides systems such as silicon-on-insulator can be combined with microphotonic design rules to extend the performance of waveguide devices. The challenges arising in the implementation of silicon microphotonic technology are discussed, and recent work addressing the issues of waveguide coupling, polarization sensitivity, waveguide loss and massively parallel data acquisition is reviewed.
Wireless health monitoring helmet for football players to diagnose concussion and track fatigue

Football players are regularly exposed to violent impacts. Concussions are mild traumatic brain injuries that are one of the most common injuries experienced by football players. These concussions are often overlooked by football players themselves and the clinical criteria used to diagnose them. The cumulative effect of these mild traumatic brain injuries can cause long-term residual brain dysfunctions. In addition, an athlete’s fatigue level should be monitored to prevent any secondary injuries due to over exertion. Nitric Oxide acts as a metabolic adjustment factor that controls the flow of oxygen in blood and the contraction/relaxation of muscles. Fatigue can be evaluated by measuring the concentration change of nitric oxide in blood. However, measuring the concentration of nitric oxide in blood is not feasible during exercise. Nevertheless, the degree of fatigue can be measured with SpO2 during exercise because the change of nitric oxide also influences the SpO2. In this paper, we propose a wireless health monitoring helmet to diagnose concussions and evaluate fatigue in real time and on the field. The helmet is equipped with sensors and a transmitter module. As sensors, textile based electrodes are used to sense EEG and oximeter sensors are used to derive SpO2. The sensed physiological signals are amplified and processed in the transmitter module. The processed signals are transmitted to a server using Zigbee wireless communication. The EEG signals are classified to diagnose concussion or any abnormality of brain function. In conclusion, the system can monitor and diagnose concussions and evaluate fatigue in football players in real time by measuring their EEGs and SpO2.
The 1984 Vice-Presidential Debate: A Case Study of Female and Male Framing in Political Campaigns.

This essay analyzes the performances of Geraldine Ferraro and George Bush in the nationally televised vice‐presidential debate in 1984. An exploration of these performances serves as a case study of differences in female and male patterns of communication in political campaigns. Ferraro and Bush revealed fundamental differences in their approaches to issues and decision‐making. The findings in this case study suggest that rhetorical critics should examine their assumptions concerning political discourse, and ask whether a masculine ethic has framed their analyses.
GPS systems to be demonstrated

Most of us think of the settings of scientific meetings in terms of darkened rooms with slide projectors, or arrays of bulletin boards and video screens with poster papers. One of the most visible sessions at the 1986 AGU Fall Meeting/ASLO Winter Meeting, however, will be a demonstration of the Global Positioning System (GPS) on the lawn and sidewalk area just across from the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Calif. Although the demonstration will begin in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday, December 9 (rain date: Wednesday, December 10), the instruments—at least three different pairs of GPS instruments from different manufacturers—will remain set up for examination during the morning sessions that day. The observations will be reduced with microcomputer software packages in an informal session on Wednesday afternoon, and the results of the measurements and reductions will be presented as part of a poster session on the morning of Thursday, December 11.
An age dependent, absorbing semi-Markov model of work histories of the disabled

Abstract An age dependent semi-Markov model is developed to describe the postentitlement work patterns of social security disability beneficiaries until retirement, recovery, or death. This is an initial attempt to test the usefulness of this class of models to answer some important questions about the disability program. For example, what is the average length of a work episode? How long does it take before a beneficiary makes a work attempt? What is the probability that a work episode will lead to recovery? This model may also be useful in the more general area of rehabilitation medicine. The model structure is discussed and then fitted to data from the Social Security Administration 1-Percent Continuous Work History Sample. The results are then presented and compared with the actual data. The paper concludes with suggestions for improvements and the impact of this study on future work.
Reproduction of the estuarine mysid Taphromysis bowmani (Crustacea: Malacostraca) in fresh water

Taphromysis bowmani, previously considered to be an estuarine species, is shown to reproduce and complete its life cycle in fresh water. Both sexes and all life history stages were collected from March to June 1975, in the Wakulla River, Florida (USA), where chlorinity, alkalinity and total hardness were relatively high. Development was synchronous within a brood but not between broods. Brood size was positively correlated with female size, and ripe ovaries of brooding females suggest that at least 2 broods per female are possible. Breeding appears to occur throughout the year. The relatively high ion content, especially chloride, in the Wakulla River may account for the presence of T. bowmani. Other estuarine mysids reported from fresh water are noted.
Weight and counting efficiency optimization in a moderated neutron detection system

Abstract This paper describes a technique in which a polyethylene moderated neutron detector was designed in order to have the optimum combination of maximum counting efficiency and minimum weight. Such a detector would be of use in arms control, counter proliferation or treaty verification applications, in which measurement time and system portability are important considerations. In such applications, the neutron source may be a spontaneous fissioning isotope such as Pu 240 . After consideration of many different neutron detection schemes, the paper concludes that the best detection scheme for this problem would be a system which utilizes He 3 gas filled detectors surrounded by a moderator material. The “moderator weight efficiency” concept was developed as the basis for comparisons of different moderators and geometries. The MCNP neutron transport code was then used to evaluate moderator efficiencies for these different systems. The moderators considered by the paper included light water, heavy water, graphite, and polyethylene. The moderator geometries considered were a variety of shapes between (and including) planar and cylindrical. The paper describes an optimized system, which was found to have a combination of maximum performance and minimum moderator and system weight. The optimized detector was then fabricated and experimentally tested against another system, one which is currently employed in the INF treaty between Russia and the United States. Results are presented which show that the “optimized” system has higher counts per unit moderator (and system) weight than the INF comparison system.
Metabolism of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate in squid photoreceptors.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP3) is rapidly formed in squid photoreceptors in response to light, where it is converted sequenctially into inositol bisphosphate (InsP2) and inositol monophosphate (InsP1). All of the InsP3 appears to be degraded to inositol 1,4-bisphosphate via an InsP3-phosphatase, which is characterized in this study. The enzyme is water-soluble and present in the light-transducing distal segments of squid photoreceptors. It has a Km of 50 μM for InsP3, requires Mg++ for its activity, is maximally active at neutral pH, specifically hydrolyses the 5-phosphate and is inhibited by 2,3-diphosphoglycerate. In these respects, InsP3-phosphatase of squid is very similar to the enzymes of other cells. Since no InsP4 or more highly phosphorylated inositols are found in squid photoreceptors, the InsP3-phosphatase may be important in the regulation of InsP3 concentration within these cells.
Proton-tetraneutron elastic scattering

We analyze the elastic scattering of protons on a $^{4}n$ system. This was used as part of the detection technique of a recent experiment [F. M. Marqu\'es et al. Phys. Rev. C 65, 044006 (2002)] to search for the $^{4}n$ (tetraneutron) as a bound particle. We show that it is unlikely that this process alone could yield the events reported in F. M. Marqu\'es et al., [Phys. Rev. C 65, 044006 (2002)], unless the $^{4}n$ has an anomalously large backward elastic scattering amplitude.
Neutrino mass matrix.

It is assumed that the Dirac mass matrix for the neutrinos (..nu../sub e/,..nu../sub ..mu../,..nu../sub tau/) is similar in form to those for the quarks and charged leptons, and that the smallness of the observed ..nu.. masses results from the Gell-Mann--Ramond--Slansky mechanism. It is shown that if certain tentative experimental results concerning the ..nu.. masses and mixing angles are confirmed, significant limitations may be placed on the Majorana mass matrix. The most satisfactory simple assumption concerning the Majorana mass matrix is that it is approximately proportional to the Dirac mass matrix. Some general properties of the Dirac matrices are discussed.
Series expansion of the MIMO spatial covariance

This paper uses an integral expression for the full spatial correlation matrix of a MIMO system to construct series expansions of the correlation matrix when the power angular spectrum can be modeled using clusters that satisfy uniform, truncated Gaussian, or truncated Laplacian distributions. Numerical studies demonstrate the accuracy of the formulation under different scenarios.
Clinical Practice and Knowledge in Caring: Breastfeeding Ties and the Impact on the Health of Latin-American Minor Migrants

In the context of the project "Clinical and social evaluation of medical practices in the treatment of infectious diseases in pediatrics for children of vulnerable population" carried out in 2013 by a multidisciplinary team at the National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (NIHMP) in Rome, a study in medical anthropology on the incorporation of illnesses that mothers feel they transmit to their children through breastfeeding was conducted. The results of the anthropological study, that targeted 34 children and adolescents from the age of 3 to the age of 17, all immigrants from Latin America residing in Italy, show that some forms of suffering in minors are described by women as being connected to factors such as susto ("fright"), coraje, muina, enojo ("anger") and mal de ojo ("evil eye"), and are in relation to a specific cultural frame. It is clear that barriers that prevent the access to the healthcare system must be removed, barriers that are accentuated by linguistic and cultural incomprehension, through adequate multidisciplinary healthcare settings such as the one we are presenting, composed of a medical doctor, an anthropologist and a cultural mediator.
Perceived parental approval of drinking and its impact on problem drinking behaviors among first-year college students

There is a paucity of research investigating the impact that parents may have on college drinking. In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between students' perceptions of parent approval of drinking and problem drinking occurrence. They conducted a Web-based survey of 265 first-year students living on campus during their second semester. The authors used logistic regression to examine the relationship between students' perceptions of their mothers' and fathers' attitudes toward their drinking, their mothers' and fathers' drinking habits, and problem drinking since they had begun college. Sixty-nine percent of respondents reported experiencing at least 1 drinking problem. Over one third of students perceived that their parents would approve of them drinking occasionally. Students perceiving more parental approval for their drinking were more likely to report at least 1 drinking problem. Student perceptions of parental approval of drinking warrant further investigation as a potentially mutable correlate of problem drinking.
Content-based retrieval of distorted 3D images with a hybrid evolutionary algorithm

Content-based image retrieval in many cases involves performing a direct mapping operation between a query image and images stored in a database. Preliminary results are discussed on using image mapping through unsupervised learning, in the form of a Hybrid evolutionary algorithm (HEA), in a search for 3-dimensional objects that can be present in the database images. Content-based retrieval problem is formulated as the optimization problem of finding the proper mapping between the stored and the query images. The paper proposes an extension of the HEA-based method of the 2-dimensional image mapping to the 3-dimensional case. A set of image transformations is sought such that each transformation is applied to a different section of the image subject to mapping. The sought image transformation becomes a piece-wise approximation of the actual 3-D transformation of the object. The 2-D optimization problem of finding a parameter vector minimizing the difference between the images turns into a multi-objective optimization problem of finding a set of feasible parameter vectors that minimize the differences between the sections of the compared images. The search for a proper set of image transformations is conducted in a feature space formed by image local response, as opposed to a pixel-wise comparison of the actual images in the 2-D case. Using image response allows to reduce the computational cost of the search by applying thresholding techniques and a piece-wise approximation of the response matrix. The difference between the images is evaluated in the response space by minimizing the distance between the two-dimensional central moments of the image responses.
Management of the relapsed/refractory myeloma patient: strategies incorporating lenalidomide.

The immunomodulatory drug (IMiD) lenalidomide is a more potent immunomodulator than thalidomide with respect to its effects on cytokine modulation and increased T-cell proliferation. Of all the IMiDs, clinical trial data are most mature for lenalidomide. In phase I studies, dose-limiting toxicities of lenalidomide were limited to myelosuppression and a response rate of 72% was seen in relapsed/refractory patients. Three phase II studies subsequently evaluated the efficacy of single-agent lenalidomide or lenalidomide in combination with dexamethasone. As a single agent for post-transplant salvage therapy, lenalidomide 25 mg every 3 weeks has shown response rates as high as 44%. For patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, the MM-007 study has shown that lenalidomide alone or in combination with dexamethasone provides response rates between 37% and 41%. In MM-007, median progression-free survival was 5.5 months at early analysis and the median overall survival has yet to be reached. Preliminary data for the single-arm, multicenter, open-label MM-014 study showed that median time to progression was 5.6 months. Response rates indicate that 70% of patients had stable disease or better as the best response to treatment. Two randomized, phase III trials (MM-009 and MM-010) evaluated lenalidomide with high-dose dexamethasone versus high-dose dexamethasone alone for the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Both MM-009 and MM-010 provided remarkably similar response rates for patients receiving lenalidomide and dexamethasone. In both trials response rates with the combination were greater than twice the response rates seen with high-dose dexamethasone alone. Indeed, an independent Data Monitoring Committee determined that both trials exceeded the prespecified efficacy value of P
Concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and simultaneous modulated accelerated radiation therapy for locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue base.

Background. Randomized data support use of chemotherapy concurrently with radiation in treatment of advanced squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oropharynx. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is increasingly being used to deliver such radiotherapy; no published reports specifically describe results of chemotherapy with IMRT for SCC of the base of tongue (BOT). We present outcomes data using simultaneous modulated accelerated radiation therapy (SMART) combined with platinum-based chemotherapy in treatment of locally advanced SCC of the BOT. Methods. The records of the Otolaryngology/Head and
Principal components analysis: extension to scaling for application to images acquired at various ranges

This paper builds on the method of Principal Components Analysis and its use for obtaining from a set of training image vectors a basis in which the members are rank ordered in terms of importance. The particular focus of this research is situations where the training vectors arise from images acquired at one range, call it the base range, and the image under question has been acquired at a different range. A natural question is whether one must train for all possible ranges. It is shown that, under certain assumptions, the eigenvectors for the data corresponding to ranges other than the base range may be approximated by performing a simple transformation on the eigenvectors derived from the training set at the base range. This is an important result, tending to obviate the need for acquisition of additional training patterns or for additional complex computations. It is also shown that under these assumptions the eigenvalues remain approximately constant over the different ranges even though pixel size is changed. Bounds for the errors of approximation introduced by the method are derived.
On the determination of interaction energy functions II. Crystalline formic acid

Abstract A procedure for deriving molecular interaction energy functions from known equilibrium properties of crystals is described. Formic acid is successfully used as a model test system. The known equilibrium properties of formic acid which were employed are: the average molar internal energy, the minimum nature of the internal energy, and the lack of rotatory motion of each of the molecules in the crystal. The molecular interaction energy functions are represented as pairwise sums of atom-atom terms, which in turn are expressed as 1-4-6-12 inverse power expansions of atom-atom distances.
β-Carotene transport in human lipoproteins. Comparisons with a-tocopherol

The purpose of this study was to investigate the temporal relationships of the transport of β-carotene in human lipoproteins. We administered 60 mg β-carotene with breakfast to nine fasting subjects, then blood samples were collected at intervals of up to 75 h, lipoproteins were isolated, and β-carotene was quantitated. β-Carotene concentrations in chylomicrons and very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) peaked at 6 and 9 h, respectively. Nonetheless, at all time points the majority of plasma β-carotene was contained in low density lipoproteins (LDL), while high density lipoproteins (HDL) carried a smaller portion (at 24 h, 73±8% in LDL as compared with 23±5% in HDL). In three subjects, transport of β-carotene was compred with the results of earlier studies on the transport of stereoisomers of α-tocopherol. Unlike plasmaRRR-α-tocopherol concentrations, which are maintained by the preferential incorporation ofRRR-α-tocopherol into VLDL by the liver, β-carotene increased and decreased in VLDL similarly toSRR-α-tocopherol, a stereoisomer whose concentrations are not maintained in plasma. In conclusion, β-carotene is primarily transported in the plasma in LDL, but its incorporation by the liver into lipoproteins does not appear to be enhanced.
In situ study of film stresses in metal silicides using absorption‐edge‐contour mapping

The stresses present in palladium‐ and nickel‐silicide thin films during deposition and subsequent annealing processes have been monitored using the absorption‐edge–contour mapping technique employing synchrotron radiation. A miniature fabrication chamber has been constructed for this purpose. The magnitude and the sense of the film stresses vary with the deposition condition and the annealing process. Film relaxation occurs during annealing so that a state of no stress can be reached at annealing temperature. The origins of fllm stresses as well as the changes of stress magnitudes are discussed.
Gender‐specific nonrandom association between the α1‐antichymotrypsin and apolipoprotein E polymorphisms in the general population and its implication for the risk of Alzheimer's disease

A common polymorphism in the α1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) gene has been found to modify the APOE*4-associated risk of Alzheimer's disease due to an apparent interaction between the two loci. This study was undertaken to determine the gender- and age-related distributions of these two polymorphisms in two large population-based samples of Caucasians (n = 803) and Nigerian Blacks (n = 730). Significantly higher frequencies of the ACT*A (78.6% vs. 48.4%; P < 0.001) and APOE*4 (25.6% vs. 15.6%; P < 0.001) alleles were observed in Nigerian Blacks than in Caucasians. In Caucasian women but not in men, the frequency of the APOE*4 allele was significantly lower in the ACT/AA genotype as compared to the ACT/AT and ACT/TT genotypes, while a reverse trend was seen for the APOE*3 allele frequency among the ACT genotypes. The distribution of the ACT*A allele between the APOE*4 carriers and non-APOE*4 carriers was also different in Caucasian women but not in men. A similar gender-specific nonrandom association between the two polymorphisms was observed in Black women but this was not as strong as observed in Caucasian women. When the two samples were stratified by age group, an association or trend of association was observed in all age groups in women only. These data indicate the existence of a nonrandom association between the APOE and ACT loci in women which may have an important implication for the higher prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in women. Genet. Epidemiol. 14:169–180,1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss. Inc.
What should patients be told about obesity-related risks?

Currently, in the United States, 50% of women in the reproductive age are overweight or obese, similar to the broader population. Obesity is associated with adverse birth outcomes compared with births among non-obese women.1 These outcomes include gestational and pre-gestational diabetes, hypertensive disorders, prolonged/abnormal labor and cesarean birth, macrosomia, and wound complications. Compounding these risks, approximately 63% of overweight and 46% of obese women gain more than the recommended amount of weight during pregnancy.2 As prenatal care providers, we have a unique opportunity to educate and counsel our patients about weight-related risks, but the optimal way to do this remains unclear.
The role of the large subunit in redox regulation of the rice endosperm ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase

The starch regulatory enzyme ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase is activated by 3-phosphoglyceric acid (3-PGA) and inhibited by inorganic phosphate (Pi ). The activity of the plastid-localized enzyme is also subject to fine regulation by redox control in response to changing light and sugar levels. The less active oxidized form of the enzyme contains an inter-subunit disulfide bond formed between the pair of small subunit's Cys12 residues of the heterotetrameric enzyme. Although this cysteine residue is not conserved in the small subunits of cereal endosperm cytosolic AGPases, biochemical studies of the major rice endosperm enzyme indicate that the cytosolic isoform, like the plastidial enzymes, is subject to redox control. Kinetic analysis revealed that the reduced forms of the partially purified native and purified recombinant AGPases have 6- and 3.4-fold, respectively, more affinity to 3-PGA, rendering the enzymes more active at lower 3-PGA concentration than the non-reduced enzyme. Truncation of the large subunit by removal of N-terminal peptide resulted in a decrease in 3-PGA affinity and loss of redox response of the enzyme. Site-directed mutagenesis of the conserved cysteine residues at the N-terminal of the large subunit showed that C47 and C58, but not C12, are essential for proper redox response of the enzyme. Overall, our results show that the major rice endosperm AGPase activity is controlled by a combination of allosteric regulation and redox control, the latter through modification of the large subunit instead of the small subunit as evident in the plastid-localized enzyme.
Iowa Place Names of Foreign Origin

Author's summary.— Some foreign place names in Iowa, classified by language, together with the history of the origin of some of them. Phonetic transcriptions are according to usage in Kenyon, J. S. and Knott, T. A. A pronouncing dictionary of American English, Merriam, 1944
13C NMR spectra and Cu(II) formation constants for humic acids from fluvial, estuarine and marine sediments

Abstract Humic acids extracted from fluvial, estuarine and marine sediments from the eastern coast of Florida were studied by CP/MAS 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance. The freshwater humic acid contained a large percentage of lignin-derived aromatic carbon whereas the offshore marine samples contained large amounts of aliphatic carbon. The aliphatic carbon of the marine humic acids was more highly branched than that found for freshwater and estuarine sediments. Despite significant differences in the relative amounts and types of carbon present, conditional formation constants for Cu(II)-humic acid were very similar.