cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Oral Antiplatelet Therapy After Acute Coronary Syndrome: A Review.

Importance Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States with an annual incidence of approximately 1 million. Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT), consisting of aspirin and a P2Y12 inhibitor (clopidogrel, ticagrelor, or prasugrel) reduces cardiovascular event rates after ACS. Observations In 2016, the updated guidelines from the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) recommended aspirin plus a P2Y12 inhibitor for at least 12 months for patients with ACS. Since these recommendations were published, new randomized clinical trials have studied different regimens and durations of antiplatelet therapy. Recommendations vary according to the risk of bleeding. If bleeding risk is low, prolonged DAPT may be considered, although the optimal duration of prolonged DAPT beyond 1 year is not well established. If bleeding risk is high, shorter duration (ie, 3-6 months) of DAPT may be reasonable. A high risk of bleeding traditionally is defined as a 1-year risk of serious bleeding (either fatal or associated with a ≥3-g/dL drop in hemoglobin) of at least 4% or a risk of an intracranial hemorrhage of at least 1%. Patients at higher risk are 65 years old or older; have low body weight (BMI Conclusions and Relevance Dual antiplatelet therapy reduces rates of cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Specific combinations and duration of dual antiplatelet therapy should be based on patient characteristics—risk of bleeding myocardial ischemia.
Public support for government use of network surveillance: An empirical assessment of public understanding of ethics in science administration.

This article relies upon the recreancy theorem to empirically assess the extent to which people’s desires for technology efficacy, personal security, and social justice affect their trust in and su...
Trends of Foodborne Diseases in Mississippi: Association with Racial and Economic Disparities.

Background: Foodborne diseases are a major source of concern in USA. These diseases are a burden on public health and significantly contribute to the cost of health care. There is an urgent need to understand the contributing factors for such outbreaks, especially in Mississippi (MS), an agricultural state with low socioeconomic status. Methods: Secondary data for the current study were obtained from the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) Epidemiology department for the study period 2010–2018. Data were for individuals with reported foodborne diseases cases. The data were analyzed to determine the pathogens’ trend over time, the highest contributing pathogens to foodborne diseases, the significant geographical variation, and any significant differences in rates based on demographic variables. Results: Salmonella was the highest contributing pathogen to foodborne disease in MS. The study showed a seasonal variation in the trends of pathogens and a geographical variation, and no racial differences in the incidents of the foodborne diseases was observed. Conclusions: Incidence rates of foodborne illness remain high in the state of Mississippi. A better understanding of high levels of foodborne infections caused by Salmonella, Shigella, and Campylobacter resulting from cultural food handling practices or socioeconomic factors will allow to provide guidelines and food safety preventive measures.
Moving Forward with Individuals

As with any client, the issues that may be a focus of counseling or intervention with an African American nonheterosexual client necessarily depend on how the client defines the presenting issue. Is the client experiencing conflict with respect to his or her sexual orientation or gender identity? Is he or she struggling to deal with felt rejection from family, friends, or members of his or her faith community? Is the client torn between what he or she has been taught by religion and religious figures is appropriate sexual behavior and his or her own sexual desires and behavior? Many times, individuals experiencing these conflicts have been told and may have even come to believe as a result that any sexual orientation or behavior other than that between a male and a female is abnormal, deviant, and/or sinful.
Release of Information to the Lay Press

A recurrent problem is the release of information about pediatric research by investigators to the lay press prior to, or without, any dissemination of adequate information in the professional literature. The pediatrician, all too frequently, must provide guidance and advice to parents who have read articles or stories in newspapers or magazines, without being able to speak from his own reading or from information derived by personal contact or attendance at meetings and postgraduate courses. The recent proliferation of free throwaway periodicals has compounded the problem.
Spatial reuse and collision avoidance in ad hoc networks with directional antennas

The quest for efficient medium access control (MAC) protocols for multi-hop ad hoc networks has aroused great interest in using directional antennas. Some MAC protocols using directional antennas have been proposed in the past; they trade off spatial reuse and collision avoidance via a combination of omnidirectional and directional transmission modes. It is argued that the benefit of spatial reuse achieved by a MAC protocol that uses a directional mode in all transmissions can outweigh the benefit of a conservative collision avoidance MAC protocol that sends some omni-directional control packets to silence potential interfering nodes. We present detailed simulation experiments of the popular IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol and its variants that make use of a directional transmission mode in sufficiently random networks. It is concluded that, in contention-based MAC protocols for multi-hop networks infested with hidden terminals, the aggressive channel access scheme featured by all-directional transmissions indeed outperforms other conservative schemes in terms of enhanced throughput and reduced delay.
Effects of background illumination on the horizontal cell responses in the tiger salamander retina.

Synaptic transmission between photoreceptors and horizontal cells (HCs) was studied in the flat-mounted isolated retinas of the tiger salamander. Background illumination expedited the rise time of the HC light response, and the HC response rise time (HCRRT) reached steady state about 2 sec after the onset of the background illumination. The change in HCRRT is probably responsible for the background-induced enhancement of the HC responses to short light stimuli. The amplitude of the HC responses to 100 msec light steps in the presence of background illumination was 2–5 times larger than that measured under dark-adapted conditions. Background illumination exerted little effect on the response rise time in cones and bipolar cells, and thus it caused no significant response enhancement in those cells. The background-induced change in HCRRT correlated closely with the rod voltage but not with the HC voltage. These results suggest that the background-induced change in HCRRT is probably mediated by postsynaptic events in HCs because no significant time course change is observed in photoreceptors and bipolar cells (which share the same synapses with the HCs). A suppressive rod action on the cone inputs in HCs may be responsible for modulating the HCRRT. By shortening the HCRRT, background illumination regulates the frequency response of the photoreceptor-HC synapse and alters the capacity of spatial resolution of retinal bipolar cells.
'Some Rights Reserved': Finding the Space between All Rights Reserved and the Public Domain

This paper examines the use of copyright formalities – procedural requirements for securing and maintaining copyright protection – as a way to clarify rights over copyrighted material and bring copyright law closer to popular expectations about the proper scope of copyright protection. Our current formality-free system impedes the creative process by raising and creating costs of using works that would not enjoy copyright protection under a “conditional” copyright system. The result is higher licensing and transaction costs and the overprotection of works at the expense of the public domain. Coupling a “some rights reserved” registration system with a licensing-type menu will provide authors with sufficient incentive to produce new works without burdening speech or inhibiting the creation of new works.
Construction of graphene-based enzyme system for rapid photo-assisted proteolysis

Rapid and efficient protein digestion by sequence-specific proteases is a prerequisite and critical step in proteomics. A novel photo-assisted nanoreactor was designed and constructed for rapid protein digestion. Porous graphene-silica composite material was prepared, and trypsin molecules were further immobilized in the nanopores to construct the functional nanoreactor for protein digestion. By taking advantage of the unique response of graphene to the near infrared light, this nanoreactor can realized rapid protein digestion under near infrared laser radiation, which is much faster than the widely applied overnight in-solution digestion using free trypsin molecules. It's expected that this work would contribute to the rapid and high throughput protein digestion in proteomics.
Past and Future: The Temporal Dimension in the Law of Property

All human interactions, and hence all legal rules, have a temporal dimension. Offer precedes acceptance; cause precedes effect; parents are born before their children. I t is unremarkable for the entitlements of today to depend upon the events of yesterday. It would be inconceivable for them to depend upon the events of tomorrow. Time marches on, and in one direction, forward. When Kant said that time and space are fundamental categories for organizing all human experience, he spoke as much about the law as he did about physics, biology o r history. This paper deals with time in two separate senses. In one sense, it is about how the categorical nature of time, as a necessary element of human experience and comprehension, shapes substantive and procedural legal rules. In a second sense, however, the larger part of this essay focuses on the contingent nature of time, that is, about the length of interval between cause and effect, between antecedent and consequence. These questions of degree raise issues where empirical guesses must f i l l in the gaps left by general theory. The passage of time between the operative facts on which liability rests and the onset o r resolution of a lawsuit may be long or short; yet large bodies of law turn on the length of that interval, not simply on its direction. Time may cure some ills, but it exacerbates others. The legal treatment of temporal issues cuts across the traditional substantive categories of the law: property, contracts, torts and restitution. It also cuts across procedure and evidence. The purpose of this paper is to explore the legal response to the temporal dimension in the law of property. The central theme of the paper is simple. The major cost associated with the passage of t i m e 5 uncert$nty. For risk averse individuals, that
The Mental Health Needs of Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities Placed in Special Education Programs in Urban Schools

We describe the psychosocial characteristics of youth with an average age of 11.8 years served in special education due to emotional disturbances in urban communities (N = 158). Data were also collected describing service utilization, academic functioning, and family characteristics. Ten schools in three mid-size urban cities participated. Results from the administration of standardized assessments revealed that the majority of students scored in the clinical range on the parent version of the Child Behavior Checklist and the Columbia Impairment Scale, indicating significant levels of emotional and behavioral impairment. Further, behavior problems began at an early age with 80% of the youth using outpatient services beginning at the average age of 7.5 years and 29% of the youth using inpatient services beginning at an average age of 8.4 years of age. Most of the youths' school careers (67%) have been in a special education setting. The most common services currently being supplied by school personnel was individual counseling and this was provided for 63% of the students while child-serving agency personnel were providing individual counseling for 17% of the youth. Implications for the development of multi-agency collaborative services are presented.
Trends in American Agriculture: Their Implications for Biological Warfare against Crop and Animal Resources

Current trends in American agriculture have changed the vulnerability to use of biological weapons against plant and animal resources. The major effect has been a requirement to look again at the model of the U.S. BW program of widespread dissemination of agent and look to attack models requiring much lower levels of resources. The U.S. biological warfare program models must take the effects of these major trends into account when considering the possible widespread dissemination of a biological agent. The models must also acknowledge the lowered levels or resources required to make such attacks given the modern trends in American agriculture.
Both leukotoxin and poly-N-acetylglucosamine surface polysaccharide protect Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans cells from macrophage killing.

Abstract Two virulence factors produced by the periodontopathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans are leukotoxin, a secreted lipoprotein that kills human polymorphonuclear leukocytes and macrophages, and poly-N-acetylglucosamine (PGA), a surface polysaccharide that mediates intercellular adhesion, biofilm formation and detergent resistance. In this study we examined the roles of leukotoxin and PGA in protecting A. actinomycetemcomitans cells from killing by the human macrophage cell line THP-1. Monolayers of THP-1 cells were infected with single-cell suspensions of a wild-type A. actinomycetemcomitans strain, or of isogenic leukotoxin or PGA mutant strains. After 48 h, viable bacteria were enumerated by dilution plating, macrophage morphology was evaluated microscopically, and macrophage viability was measured by a Trypan blue dye exclusion assay. The number of A. actinomycetemcomitans CFUs increased approximately twofold in wells infected with the wild-type strain, but decreased by approximately 70–90% in wells infected with the leukotoxin and PGA mutant strains. Infection with the wild-type or leukotoxin mutant strain caused a significant decrease in THP-1 cell viability, whereas infection with the PGA mutant strain did not result in any detectable changes in THP-1 viability. Pre-treatment of wild-type A. actinomycetemcomitans cells with the PGA-hydrolyzing enzyme dispersin B rendered them sensitive to killing by THP-1 cells. We concluded that both leukotoxin and PGA are necessary for evasion of macrophage killing by A. actinomycetemcomitans.
SLOWING DOWN OF A FAST TEST PARTICLE IN A PLASMA.

The elastic scattering of fast charged particles in a background plasma is considered. Investigation is limited to scattering by Maxwellian particles whose most probable speed is much less than the velocity of the fast test particle. A shielded-potential elastic-scattering cross section is used to formulate the scattering kernel. By taking the moments of the kernel, it is possible to obtain expressions for the rate of energy transfer, the slowing-down time, the rate of the mean-square energy transfer, and the dispersion of the initial energy distribution of the fast particles released to the background.
High-Resolution Spatio-Spectral Characterization of Noncollinear Optical Parametric Amplifiers

A MHz-repetition-rate noncollinear optical parametric amplifier is characterized using spatially resolved spectral interferometry. High-resolution images of the frequency-dependent amplitude and phase reveal high-order spatio-spectral coupling, corresponding to spatiotemporal Strehl values as large as 0.86.
Tissue limited mosaicism in a patient with tetrasomy 9p

Cytogenetic analysis of an abnormal newborn girl showed an extra chromosome with the characteristics of an isodicentric 9p chromosome [idic (9)(pter----q12----pter)] in 98% of peripheral lymphocyte metaphases examined. This cytogenetic interpretation was substantiated by quantitative measurement of erythrocyte galactose-1-P-uridyltransferase (GALT) activity, which is consistent with the expression of 4 normal GALT genes. Cytogenetic results from skin fibroblasts showed mosaicism with only 11% of the metaphases having the extra chromosome. Selective genetic pressure based on a functional disadvantage of tetrasomy 9p in the skin is proposed. The in vivo establishment of cytogenetically normal cells in various tissues may be necessary for in utero survival of tetrasomy 9p infants.
Radiographic findings in children with psychosocial dwarfism

The diagnosis of psychosocial dwarfism is established through history, the determination of delay in growth and skeletal maturation, the lack of evidence of organic disease and accelerated growth and psychomotor development in a nuturing environment. Radiographically temporary widening of the cranial sutures may be detected in a follow up examination or less often already at the time of initial examination. Determination of wide cranial sutures may be contributary in establishing the diagnosis of psychosocial dwarfism. In a patient with this syndrome and lack of neurological signs or symptoms widening of the cranial sutures is an expected finding and no further neuroradiologic studies are necessary.
An Observational and Theoretical Study of Atmospheric Flow Over a Heated Island: Part I1

Abstract In Part I of the two-part paper, we describe the results of a field program that was especially designed for testing the results of a theoretical model. The observations included measurements by an instrumented aircraft and a special surface network over an island with physical features that satisfy approximately the model assumptions. Panoramic cloud photographs and time-lapse movies of the clouds were also taken. The observations show that evaporational cooling of the environment has an important, influence on the behavior of perturbations induced by the heated island.
Regional glucose metabolic abnormalities are not the result of atrophy in Alzheimer's disease

Objective To determine whether the hypometabolism observed in PET images of patients with Alzheimer9s disease (AD) is due entirely to brain atrophy. Background Reduced brain glucose metabolism in AD patients measured using PET has been reported by numerous authors. Actual glucose metabolic values in AD may be reduced artificially because of brain atrophy, which accentuates the partial volume effect (PVE) on data collected by PET. Methods Using segmented MR images, we corrected regional cerebral metabolic rates for glucose for PVEs to evaluate the effect of atrophy on uncorrected values for brain metabolism in AD patients and healthy control subjects. Results Global glucose metabolism was reduced significantly before and after correction in AD patients compared with controls. Before PVE correction, glucose metabolic values in patients were lower than in control subjects in the inferior parietal, frontal, and lateral temporal cortex; in the posterior cingulate; and in the precuneus. These reductions remained significantly lower after PVE correction, although in the posterior cingulate the difference in metabolism between AD patients and control subjects lessened. Regional glucose metabolism of these areas with PVE correction was lower in moderately-severely demented patients than in mildly demented patients. Conclusion Reduced glucose metabolism measured by PET in AD is not simply an artifact due to an increase in CSF space induced by atrophy, but reflects a true metabolic reduction per gram of tissue.
Inhibition of p53 Transcriptional Activity by the S100B Calcium-binding Protein *

The levels of S100 Ca(2+)-binding proteins correlate with the progression of certain tumors, but their role, if any, in carcinogenesis is still poorly understood. S100B protein associates with both the p53 oligomerization domain (residues 325-355) and the extreme C terminus of the tumor suppressor p53 (residues 367-392). Consequently, S100B inhibits p53 tetramer formation and p53 phosphorylation mediated by protein kinase C, on p53 C-terminal end. In this report, we show that the S100B protein decreases p53 DNA binding and transcriptional activity. The effect of S100B is reflected in vivo by a reduced accumulation of p53, p21, and MDM2 protein levels in co-transfection assays and in response to bleomycin. The S100B can still interact with p53 in the absence of p53 extreme C-terminal end and reduce the expression of p53 downstream effector genes. These data indicate that S100B does not require p53 extreme C-terminal end to inhibit p53 activity. Collectively, these findings imply that elevated levels of S100B in tumors such as astrocytomas and gliomas could inhibit p53 functions and contribute to cancer progression.
Evaluation and Management of Acutely Decompensated Chronic Heart Failure in the Emergency Department

A wide range of patients with symptomatic heart failure seek treatment in the emergency department. While there is no single approach to the diversity of patients with acutely decompensated heart failure, certain overarching principles apply. For patients with acute pulmonary edema or cardiogenic shock, the first priority must be rapid stabilization and treatment of reversible problems. For patients with less dramatic presentations, a more systematic search for precipitating factors may be required. Therapy, in general, is directed at reversing dyspnea and/or hypoxemia caused by pulmonary edema, improving systemic perfusion, and reducing myocardial oxygen demand. While morphine and diuretics still have their traditional roles, vasodilators and inotropic agents play an increasingly important part in the modern pharmacologic approach to decompensated heart failure in the emergency department. After evaluation and stabilization in the emergency department, most patients will require hospital admission, although a subset of low-risk patients may be appropriate for discharge to home following a period of observation. Strategies to optimize emergency department care are likely to have an impact upon patient outcomes and upon resource utilization.
Perfect colorings of isonemal fabrics using two colors

An isonemal fabric is a weaving in which the symmetry group is transitive on the strands. A perfect coloring with two colors is an assignment of the two colors to the strands so that each symmetry operation preserves or reverses the colors. If a transitive group of symmetries has that property we say the coloring is chromatic. We determine (in terms of ‘thin stripings and thick stripings’) the perfect and chromatic colorings for isonemal fabrics using two colors.
Perceptual learning: stimulus-specific learning from low-level visual plasticity?

Summary A new study has found that changes in visual cortical processing account for behavioral perceptual learning, supporting the idea that stimulus-specific learning can result from low-level visual plasticity.
Constraints on Teacher Change.

Duffy and Roehler examine teacher resistance to change by collecting self- report data on why a particular instruc tional innovation was not regularly implemented in classroorr's. Results in dicate that certain conditions constrain teacher thinking about innovations. These conditions are described. Hypo theses are presented regarding the ways these constraints modify teacher im plementation of instructional innova tions. Implications for teacher educators and researchers are suggested.
mGluRs modulate neuronal firing in the auditory midbrain

The mechanisms underlying sound-evoked suppression of neuronal firing in the auditory system are poorly understood. To explore these mechanisms in the inferior colliculus (IC), agonists and antagonists targeting different groups of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) were applied iontophoretically to IC neurons in awake mice. We found that a group I-specific mGluR agonist predominantly increased neuronal firing in 52% of neurons, whereas group I antagonist had the opposite effect in 51% of neurons. A group II specific agonist showed no effect on neuronal firing but an antagonist increased firing rate in 48% of neurons. Neither a group III-specific mGluR agonist nor an antagonist had an effect on neuronal firing in the IC. We also found that sound stimuli triggered suppression of spontaneous firing in 70% of IC neurons. This suppression was reversibly blocked by group I mGluR antagonists. There is a possible link between this suppression and two perceptual phenomena: forward masking and "residual inhibition," the brief reduction/elimination of tinnitus following an appropriate masking sound.
Theories and quantification of thymic selection.

The peripheral T cell repertoire is sculpted from prototypic T cells in the thymus bearing randomly generated T cell receptors (TCR) and by a series of developmental and selection steps that remove cells that are unresponsive or overly reactive to self-peptide–MHC complexes. The challenge of understanding how the kinetics of T cell development and the statistics of the selection processes combine to provide a diverse but self-tolerant T cell repertoire has invited quantitative modeling approaches, which are reviewed here.
Sensitivity analysis in distributed-parameter mechanical system optimization

A class of distributed-parameter optimal design problems is treated, in which the design variable appears as a coefficient in a partial differential operator. Formal sensitivity analysis techniques that are in common use in the engineering literature are studied and made technically precise. Operator theoretic techniques and Frechet differentiation theory are employed to develop a rigorous sensitivity analysis for static and vibrating elastic structures. Two examples involving fourth-order ordinary and partial differential operators, commonly encountered in treating beam and plate elements, are analyzed.
Application of the biogenetic law to behavioral ontogeny: a test using nest architecture in paper wasps

General principles derived from studies of morphological ontogeny are useful in ethology. Behavioral ontogeny may be interpreted from an holistic view in which a series of behaviors is treated as an ontogeny toward a larger, complex, behavioral product. If the component behaviors are defined broadly, many taxa may be compared to find general principles that are not evident when behaviors are dissected to their smallest recognizable units. Flow charts can illustrate such general ontogenetic sequences in a manner that shows what sorts of modifications have evolved from the general pattern. Certain changes may illustrate forms of ontogenetic evolution that are well known for morphological development, such as addition or embellishment of terminal ontogenetic steps, or compression of ontogeny by acceleration or deletion of early steps. The major modifications in nest construction behavior of 28 genera of paper wasps are presented to test the predictions of the biogenetic rule with respect to character polarity. Cladistic analyses of separate morphological and behavioral data sets show that polarity is accurately inferred with respect to the five major patterns of nest construction in paper wasps.
Increasing Proportion of Pertussis Cases Occurring in School-Age Children in Cincinnati, 1993-1998

Increasing Proportion of Pertussis Cases Occurring in School-Age Children in Cincinnati, 1993-1998
Application of the Dirac Vector Model to the d 4 Configuration

Formulae for the energies of multiplets belonging to ${d}^{4}$ are computed by the use of the vector model as developed by Van Vleck and Serber. Since insufficient data were available for ${d}^{4}$, the configuration $m{d}^{4}\mathrm{ns}$ was used to check the formulae against experiment. Even here the data are rather meager. In order to obtain out of the above configuration the proper energies of the multiplets arising from ${d}^{4}$ alone, it was necessary to subtract from it the exchange energy between the $s$ electron and the ${d}^{4}$ "core." The agreement with experiment is, at best, only fair, perhaps because of perturbations from neighboring levels.
Effects of alcohol use initiation patterns on high-risk behaviors among urban, low-income, young adolescents.

This study examined associations between patterns of alcohol use initiation and progression from age 12 to 14 years and recent cigarette and marijuana use, and violent and delinquent behavior at age 14. The study sample (n = 2,193) was predominantly African American or Hispanic (43% and 37%, respectively) and low-income (68% receiving free, or reduced price, lunch). They completed classroom-based surveys when in 6th–8th grades. Multilevel latent class analyses were used to identify the heterogeneous alcohol use trajectories. Linear and logistic mixed-effects regression was then used to examine the association between these patterns and high-risk behaviors in 8th grade. Five alcohol use trajectories were identified: (1) No Use (63.3%), (2) Onset of Consistently Infrequent Use at Age <12 (13.3%), (3) Onset of Monthly Use at Age 14 (9.9%), (4) Onset of Monthly Use at Age 13 to Heavy Use at Age 14 (6.6%), and (5) Onset of Consistently Heavy Use at Age 12 (6.9%). Relative to non-users, membership in any of the alcohol use trajectory classes was significantly associated with greater past month cigarette and marijuana use, as well as violent behaviors in 8th grade. Higher levels of delinquent behaviors were significantly associated with membership in all but one of the alcohol use trajectory classes relative to the “no use” class. Results suggest that any use of alcohol in early adolescence is associated with other high-risk behaviors and support the critical need for efforts to prevent early initiation and progression of alcohol use among youth as a key component to prevent future high-risk behaviors.
Challenges and potential solutions to innovative vaccine development for developing countries

Abstract Introduction. One of the barriers to meeting Millennium Development Goal Number 4 is access for large populations of developing countries to vaccines against their most serious and common diseases. Innovative vaccines have been more readily available at affordable prices once more producers enter the market, but this means that there will be a delay in access until these manufacturers can access the technology. Several solutions to enhance access have been proposed; none so far is optimal. Methods. The factors relating to competition in the market and an affordable price were examined. Historical price data to countries were reviewed. Various explanations for lack of competition were also analyzed, including unequal access to financing, lack of optimal research and development capacity, barriers to technology transfer, issues in accessibility to intellectual property. Results. Differences in vaccine scale up, know-how, GMP practices and regulatory oversight are decreasing between emerging suppliers and established multinationals. Developing country vaccine prices are at about the same levels for all manufacturers, but the level of vaccine development is lower for emerging suppliers who have few high priced markets to offset investments. There appear to be three major differences between multinational manufacturers and emerging suppliers: (1) limited access to research results that lead to new vaccine constructs; (2) barriers to vaccine technology development relating to blocking intellectual property; (3) inability to spread the investments that would be incurred in addressing issues (1) and (2) over a large enough financial base. In terms of pricing, experience with early adopting countries has shown that other factors may overcome the perceived pricing barrier: that is, willingness to pay appears not to correlate with country wealth. Conclusions. Based on these analyses it appears that the interventions of the international community might be better directed to achieve vaccine access.
HYPOGAMMAGLOBULINEMIA IN CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC GRAFT VERSUS HOST DISEASE (GVHD) AFTER BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION (BMT)

Four boys aged 5-16 years developed acute GVHD following allo-geneic BMT. All were treated with high-dose intravenous methyl-prednisolone; they then developed chronic GVHD and were given Prednisone 2 mg/kg/day. Three patients also received Azathioprine 2 mg/kg/day. After 2-3 months of therapy, immunoglobulin (Ig) levels had fallen dramatically (Table). The percentages of E and EAC resetting cells, surface Ig bearing cells and lymphocyte mitogen responses were normal. All 4 received replacement therapy with gammaglobulin or fresh frozen plasma. The index patient(#1) was discovered after having multiple pyogenic infections. Patient #4 died of pulmonary aspergillosis 19 months post-BMT. After Prednisone was discontinued in patients 1, 2, and 3, Ig levels promptly returned to normal (#1,#3) or increased (#2). Since replacement therapy was instituted, the surviving three have remained free of infection. Conclusion: Although chronic GVHD is often characterized by elevated Ig levels, reversible hypogammaglobu-linemia can occur during steroid therapy and may be related to increased susceptibility to pyogenic infection.
Civil service reform in Uganda: Lessons learned

This article presents the Civil Service Reform Programme (CSRP) in Uganda. It outlines the context in which the CSRP is being implemented and establishes the link between the CSRP and other reform programmes, particularly constitutional decentralization, liberalization/privatization and army demobilization. It also analyses the progress made so far, given certain obstacles, and attempts to assess and make some suggestions for the road ahead. The issues of civil service reform go beyond addressing the need for pay reform and improving organizational structure. While these are important pieces of the puzzle, they cannot stand alone. Issues of greater participation, transparency and accountability in decision making—all of which strangthen democratization—are also at stake. The aim of these reforms is to enable the state to function more rationally and effectively, as the duties it performs—as well as the country's needs—become more complex and varied. The overarching theme is to develop the state's own capacity in order to create sustainable reforms in the quest for long-term development. The close of the cold war has brought many changes. In recent years, for example, the international donor community has paid increasing attention to reform issues. It has called on recipient governments to participate in the design and implementation of these programmes. In recipient countries, the movement toward decentralization, privatization and commercialization of many government functions has increased the range of opportunities available to citizens. It has also brought demands for greater responsiveness on the part of the government and parastatal agencies. Moreover, in an era of dwindling aid budgets, donors are now seeking better value for their money, and they are less willing to excuse widespread graft and corruption on geopolitical grounds.
Geometric Modeling and Optimization of Multi-Material Compliant Mechanisms Using Multi-Layer Wide Curves

Multi-material compliant mechanisms enhance the performance of regular single-material compliant mechanisms by adding a new design option, material type variation. This paper introduces a geometric modeling method for multimaterial compliant mechanisms by using multi-layer wide curves. Based on the introduced modeling method, a geometric optimization approach for multi-material compliant mechanisms is proposed. A multi-layer wide curve is a curve with variable cross-sections and multiple materials. In this paper, every connection in the multi-material compliant mechanism is represented by a multi-layer wide curve and the whole mechanism is modeled as a set of connected multi-layer wide curves. The geometric modeling and optimization of a multi-material compliant mechanism are considered as the generation and optimal selection of the control parameters of the corresponding multi-layer wide curves. The deformation and performance of multi-material compliant mechanisms is evaluated by the isoparametric degenerate-continuum nonlinear finite element procedure. The problem-dependent objectives are optimized and the practical constraints are imposed during the optimization process. The effectiveness of the proposed geometric modeling and optimization procedures is verified by the demonstrated examples.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Salivary testosterone levels in males from the Ituri Forest of Zaïre

Morning and evening testosterone levels were measured in the saliva of Efe pygmies (N = 11) and Lese villagers (N = 18) living in the Ituri Forest of northeast Zaire and compared with levels in Boston controls (N = 10). With one exception, levels in the individual Zairois subjects fall within the normal ranges reported for Western clinical populations. Daily variation in the Zairois subjects (a.m./p.m. ratio = 1.32 for Efe, 1.22 for Lese) is also comparable to both the Boston controls (1.61) and values reported by other researchers for Western subjects. Average morning levels for the Zairois subjects (420 pmol/liter for Efe, 341 pmol/liter for Lese), however, fall significantly below the average for the Boston subjects (589 pmol/liter; Efe, P <0.05; Lese, P <0.01). A correlation between morning testosterone level and height is observed for the Lese sample (r=0.76, P <0.005). Similar correlations have not been reported for Western subjects. Possible roles of acute and chronic environmental conditions in generating these observations are noted. This study demonstrates the potential utility of salivary steroid assays for investigating questions related to male gonadal function under field conditions.
Formation and dynamics of partially wetting droplets in square microchannels

We experimentally study the production and evolution of partially wetting droplets as a function of the dynamic advancing contact angle and the viscosity of the external phase in microchannels. The natural spreading properties of immersed droplets are measured using high-speed goniometry and their forced spreading behaviors are probed in confined microgeometries. Low- and high-viscosity microfluidic segmented flows are generated by focusing water in a continuous phase of silicone oil using square microchannels. The shape and stability of the lubricating film between droplets and channel walls permit the classification of typical flow regimes, including wetting, thin film, thick film, and constant film thickness. Hysteretic partially wetting systems are shown to exhibit two modes of droplets formation, namely dripping and rivulet. Small-scale multiphase flows are investigated as a function of capillary number, droplet size, concentration, and velocity. We also discuss the occurrence of dynamic wetting transitions and stick-and-slip motion of microfluidic droplets. This study shows the possibility to control droplet dynamic wetting behavior with flow rates of injection in microfluidic platforms.
Neutron-produced, short-term radiotracers and activable, stable tracers in ecological studies

In three different experiments, Mn, Mo, and La were used in a dual tracer system called double activation analysis (DAA), where stable elements and neutron-induced radioisotopes of that same element are combined for tracer studies in a steam mesocosm. DAA in ecological studies is successful in overcoming problems associated with the need obtaining both immediate and long-term information in the same experiment. Analysis of the data suggests that roots growing in stream waters may serve as bioaccumulators of potentially polluting heavy metals.
The effects of training parameters on learning a probabilistic expert system for mammography

Abstract The effects of three training parameters were studied for accurate learning of a Bayesian network (BN) for breast cancer prediction based on synthetic mammography data. The findings can help radiologists to determine the optimal conditions for training such an expert system.
Semiparametric Bayes hierarchical models with mean and variance constraints

In parametric hierarchical models, it is standard practice to place mean and variance constraints on the latent variable distributions for the sake of identifiability and interpretability. Because incorporation of such constraints is challenging in semiparametric models that allow latent variable distributions to be unknown, previous methods either constrain the median or avoid constraints. In this article, we propose a centered stick-breaking process (CSBP), which induces mean and variance constraints on an unknown distribution in a hierarchical model. This is accomplished by viewing an unconstrained stick-breaking process as a parameter-expanded version of a CSBP. An efficient blocked Gibbs sampler is developed for approximate posterior computation. The methods are illustrated through a simulated example and an epidemiologic application.
Nicotine Attenuates Arachidonic Acid-Induced Apoptosis of Spinal Cord Neurons by Preventing Depletion of Neurotrophic Factors

Increased levels of free fatty acids and, in particular, arachidonic acid can lead to induction of apoptosis of spinal cord neurons. Because of the importance of neurotrophic factors in cell survival and death, mRNA and protein levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) were studied in cultured spinal cord neurons treated with arachidonic acid. In addition, the present study focused on the effects of nicotine and neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) on these processes. A 2-h exposure to arachidonic acid markedly diminished expression of BDNF and FGF-2. These effects were fully prevented by pretreatment with 10 microM nicotine. Mecamylamine (a non-specific antagonist of nAChRs) and alpha-bungarotoxin (a specific antagonist of the nAChRalpha7) completely inhibited nicotine-mediated protection against arachidonic acid-induced alterations of BDNF and FGF-2. In addition, nicotine, BDNF and FGF-2 fully protected against arachidonic acid-induced apoptosis of spinal cord neurons. BDNF and FGF-2 were effective in prevention of apoptotic cell death even when applied 2 h after the beginning of arachidonic acid treatment. These results suggest that arachidonic acid can induce apoptosis of spinal cord neurons by depletion of neurotrophic factors and that nicotine can protect against these effects through the nAChRalpha7-mediated pathway.
Perspective probe: many parts add up to a whole perspective

This case study describes a variation of cultural, technology, and other probes, called a "perspective probe." The perspective probe consisted of multiple activities that participants completed on their own and then discussed with the researcher. The participant's responses to the individual activities added up to their whole perspective. The probe's activities helped guide the conversation around a sensitive topic instead of asking directly about it. This paper illustrates how the perspective probe methodology was used to gather information for Google Finance. The focus is on the method rather than the particular findings from the study. The perspective probe methodology was useful in getting rich data from participants and building a holistic understanding of the participant's perspective on a difficult topic, in this case money and investing.
Effect of Familial Parkinson's Disease Point Mutations A30P and A53T on the Structural Properties, Aggregation, and Fibrillation of Human α-Synuclein†

Parkinson's disease involves the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, leading to movement disorders. The pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease is the presence of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, which are intracellular inclusions consisting primarily of α-synuclein. Although essentially all cases of sporadic and early-onset Parkinson's disease are of unknown etiology, two point mutations (A53T and A30P) in the α-synuclein gene have been identified in familial early-onset Parkinson's disease. Previous reports have shown that mutant α-synuclein may form fibrils more rapidly than wild-type protein. To determine the underlying molecular basis for the enhanced fibrillation of the mutants, the structural properties, responses to changes in the environment, and propensity to aggregate of wild-type, A30P, and A53T α-synucleins were systematically investigated. A variety of biophysical methods, including far-UV circular dichroism, FTIR, small-angle X-ray scattering, and light scattering, were...
Women's Health Research: Current State of the Art.

It is remarkable that only a few years ago, discussions about women's health research often had to be prefaced with the expanded vision of what that concept should actually be in totality as the traditional approach to the health of women had focused on the reproductive system or “bikini medicine,” as Dr Marianne Legato, an internationally recognized specialist in women's health, and others have characterized it. Today, there is an almost universal appreciation of the broader perception of women's health and that research on women includes not just clinical trials but also basic investigation from the molecular level of genes to the many aspects of behavioral and societal influences. This evolution over the past 25 years of what should and does constitute women's health research has been important in influencing the design of biomedical and behavioral research studies and in elucidating factors now implicit in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to both males and females.1 And examples of advances from ...
Formation of a metastable ferromagnetic tau phase during containerless melt processing in Mn-Al-C alloys

This paper reports the production of a metastable ferromagnetic tau phase directly from the melt in Mn(0.55)Al(0.433)C(0.017), using a containerless processing method involving levitation melting followed by quenching. Using the results from differential thermal analysis measurements and an analysis of the phase equilibria, it was found that the minimum amount of undercooling level required for ferromagnetic metastable tau phase formation in this alloy was Delta T = 87 K. The attainment of this undercooling may be facilitated by the application of containerless melt processing.