cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cesium magnetometer surveys at a Pithouse Site near Silver City, New Mexico

Abstract The La Gila Encantada Site is located on an isolated ridge top north of Silver City, New Mexico in an area defined culturally as the Mimbres Mogollon region. The 180 m × 80 m (14400 m2) sized site was originally recorded as a dense scatter of ceramics, lithics, and ground stone along with a number of surface depressions that appear to represent pithouses. Cesium magnetometer surveys were conducted to identify hearths, pithouse boundaries, and activity areas outside of pithouses in support of archaeological investigations, and to test this instrument's ability to image these features. This paper presents a characterization of the magnetic signature of a pithouse as a magnetic high in the center caused by the central hearth, low magnetic variability along the floor of the house, and then increased magnetic variability at the pithouse boundary. This characterization was successfully confirmed for three pithouses using cesium magnetometery and archaeological excavation.
Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, and Cisplatin Combined in the Treatment of Advanced Sarcomas

Twenty-five patients with evaluable histologically confirmed inoperable metastatic sarcomas were treated once every four weeks with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and cisplatin in doses of 400, 40, and 60 mg/m2, respectively. Cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin were given by rapid intravenous injection followed immediately by cisplatin by slow intravenous infusion (2-6 hr) in 1 liter of 0.45% saline with mannitol added. Leukopenia, alopecia, and vomiting were common side effects and three patients refused further treatment because of vomiting following their initial courses. No drug-related deaths occurred and we removed no one from the study because of toxicity problems. Among the 9 patients who experienced objective tumor regression were 2 of 2 with hemangiosarcoma, 3 of 5 with malignant fibrous histiocytoma, 3 of 5 with osteosarcoma, and 1 of 1 with pleomorphic liposarcoma of bone. Although not therapeutically gratifying, these results appear to be better than any previously observed at our institution.
Efficient Parallel Computation of ILU(k) Preconditioners

cently been developed for computing approximate inverse preconditioners, but most results show them to be less effective, in terms of iterations required for convergence, than are serial preconditioners based on incomplete factorizations (ILU) of A .H owever, while ILU preconditioners are popular, effective, and robust, they are, according to the conventional wisdom, primarily serial in nature. We have developed and implemented course-grained algorithms that perform well for 2D and 3D problems. High performance is achieved through use of local and global orderings of partitioned matrices, coupled with the constraint that subdomain graphs, which capture communication patterns, be identical for A and the LU factors. Our algorithmic framework supports threshold-based (ILUT) and level based (ILU(k)) factorization methods, with optional partial pivoting (ILUTP, ILUP(K)). ILU preconditioning is based on the computation of triangular factors L and U , where LU ≈ A. Preconditioner application reduces to the solution of two triangular systems, Ly = b and Ux = y, during each iteration. The factors are commonly grouped together as F = L + U − I. Several algorithms for computing the triangular factors, L and U , are known and widely used in serial contexts. ILUT algorithms perform row-by-row, upward-looking factorizations, discarding elements that are smaller than a given value. Perhaps the most popular formulation is ILUT(τ, p) [14], which employs a dual-dropping strategy. The first parameter τ is the dropping threshold, while the second parameter, p, limits the amount of fill in any row of the matrix. If a row in the original matrix A has r nonzero entries, then a maximum of r + p entries are permitted in the corresponding row of F . The limit p is sometimes applied separately to upper and lower triangular portions of the row. As with other ILU algorithms, both symmetric and non-symmetric variants exist.
Cosmopolitanism: Concept and Measurement

The notion of cosmopolitan consumers is as old as commerce itself. It refers to a “world citizen”—a consumer whose orientation transcends any particular culture or setting (Cannon and Yaprak 2000). The concept is gaining significance due to increased levels of globalization, leading to cross border transactions. Alongside this increased evidence of a global marketplace we have witnessed an increased flow of ideas, media programs, materials, and education fueled by technological improvements in electronic transmission. All this has drawn the attention of individuals across the globe towards countries and cultures other than ones own, leading to new thoughts and thought processes
Mastocytoma and gastroduodenal ulceration. Gastric and duodenal ulcers in dogs with mastocytoma.

One of the most common cutaneous tumors of the dog is the mastocytoma'>, comprising up to 43% of tumors of the skin in certain brachycephalic breeds". Mast cell tumors vary in biologic activity from dog to dog, but all are progressive and should be considered poten­ tially malignant. They metastasize widely to regional lymph nodes, spleen, liver, and kidney. Approximately 30% will recur locally or in a disseminated form, even subsequent to wide surgical excision. In­ frequently this neoplasm may develop multicentrically in the skin or lymphoreticular systemv, In the more disseminated form of the disease, there are some close biochemical and histopathologic similarities to mastocytosis of man". Production of histamine by the mast cell was first hypothesized after observing a direct correlation between the concentration of his­ tamine and the numbers of mast cells in a tissue-s. It was later demons­ trated that the mast cell contains histidine decarboxylase and is capable of converting histidine to histaminetv. The histamine produced is stored in association with heparin in the metachromatic cytoplasmic granules which characterize this cell. The concentration of histamine in canine mast-cell tumors varies considerab ly, depending on their cellularity and the degree of anaplasia of the tumor cells. They have been found to contain up to 3000 fig of histamine base per gram of wet tissue-s. A rapid release of this potent vasoactive amine from the cytoplas­ mic granules of the neoplastic mast cells may result in a hypotensive shock-like syndrome. This has been observed following adrninistra
Automated two speaker separation system

An algorithm designed to improve results for separating two voices simultaneously recorded on a single channel is presented. A variable frame size orthogonal transform and a spectral matching technique are used. A multistep pitch detection scheme is proposed which includes a traditional autocorrelation function, a modified autocorrelation, the average magnitude difference function, and a look-forward and look-backward double checking scheme. The orthogonal transforms utilized include the fast Fourier transform and the fast triangular transform. For a variable frame size transform, a prime factor fast Fourier transform has been developed. The execution of the process is automated and implemented on the IBM-PC, VAX 8650, and HP 9000. Intelligibility tests using simple quantitative measures have been performed on the separated signals. An extension of the problem to the three-speaker case is reported. >
An Optimized Iterative (Turbo) Receiver for OFDM Systems with Type-I Hybrid ARQ: Clipping and CFO Cases

An optimized iterative (Turbo) receiver for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) transmission is proposed for improved performance when used with type-I hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) protocols. The proposed receiver is a Maximum Aposteriori Expectation-Maximization (MAP-EM) Turbo processor that exploits information from all available transmissions of a packet, including failed and new ones. Two distinct practical problems associated with OFDM are considered: (i) Clipping due to non-linearities in the transmit amplifier, and (ii) Carrier frequency offset (CFO). In the optimized scheme, failed transmissions are combined with the new ones to form an iterative receiver that jointly estimates the channel, compensates for the distortion (clipping, or CFO) and decodes the message. The modulation employed is M-ary Phase Shift Keying (MPSK). The system uses an embedded pilot structure for initial channel estimation of the channel, which is assumed doubly-selective. It is shown that gains on the order of 3 dB are achieved in the packet rejection probability with the proposed system. The performance of the optimized system is close to that of the ideal system, i.e. one that performs packet combining with perfect channel knowledge, no clipping, and no CFO.
Cation ordering in perovskites

Although both A- and B-site cations have the same simple cubic topology in the perovskite structure they typically adopt different patterns of chemical order. As a general rule B-site cations order more readily than A-site cations. When cation ordering does occur, rock salt ordering of B/B′ cations is favored in A2BB′X6 perovskites, whereas layered ordering of A/A′ cations is favored in AA′B2X6 and AA′BB′X6 perovskites. The unexpected tendency for A-site cations to order into layers stems from the bond strains that would result at the anion site if A and A′ cations of different size were to order with a rock salt arrangement. The bonding instabilities that are created by layered ordering are generally offset either by anion vacancies or second order Jahn–Teller distortions of a B-site cation. Novel types of A-site cation ordering can be stabilized by a+a+a+ or a+a+c− tilting of the octahedra.
SUPPRESSORS OF snf2 MUTATIONS RESTORE INVERTASE DEREPRESSION AND CAUSE TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE LETHALITY IN YEAST

Mutations in the SNF2 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae prevent derepression of the SUC2 (invertase) gene, and other glucose-repressible genes, in response to glucose deprivation. We have isolated 25 partial phenotypic revertants of a snf2 mutant that are able to derepress secreted invertase. These revertants all carried suppressor mutations at a single locus, designated SSN20 (suppressor of snf2). Alleles with dominant, partially dominant and recessive suppressor phenotypes were recovered, but all were only partial suppressors of snf2, reversing the defect in invertase synthesis but not other defects. All alleles also caused recessive, temperature-sensitive lethality and a recessive defect in galactose utilization, regardless of the SNF2 genotype. No significant effect on SUC2 expression was detected in a wild-type (SNF2) genetic background. The ssn20 mutations also suppressed the defects in invertase derepression caused by snf5 and snf6 mutations, and selection for invertase-producing revertants of snf5 mutants yielded only additional ssn20 alleles. These findings suggest that the roles of the SNF2, SNF5 and SNF6 genes in regulation of SUC2 are functionally related and that SSN20 plays a role in expression of a variety of yeast genes.
Periosteal PTHrP Regulates Cortical Bone Remodeling During Fracture Healing

Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) is widely expressed in the fibrous outer layer of the periosteum (PO), and the PTH/PTHrP type I receptor (PTHR1) is expressed in the inner PO cambial layer. The cambial layer gives rise to the PO osteoblasts (OBs) and osteoclasts (OCs) that model/remodel the cortical bone surface during development as well as during fracture healing. PTHrP has been implicated in the regulation of PO modeling during development, but nothing is known as regards a role of PTHrP in this location during fracture healing. We propose that PTHrP in the fibrous layer of the PO may be a key regulatory factor in remodeling bone formation during fracture repair. We first assessed whether PTHrP expression in the fibrous PO is associated with PO osteoblast induction in the subjacent cambial PO using a tibial fracture model in PTHrP-lacZ mice. Our results revealed that both PTHrP expression and osteoblast induction in PO were induced 3 days post-fracture. We then investigated a potential functional role of PO PTHrP during fracture repair by performing tibial fracture surgery in 10-week-old CD1 control and PTHrP conditional knockout (PTHrP cKO) mice that lack PO PTHrP. We found that callus size and formation as well as woven bone mineralization in PTHrP cKO mice were impaired compared to that in CD1 mice. Concordant with these findings, functional enzyme staining revealed impaired OB formation and OC activity in the cKO mice. We conclude that deleting PO PTHrP impairs cartilaginous callus formation, maturation and ossification as well as remodeling during fracture healing. These data are the initial genetic evidence suggesting that PO PTHrP may induce osteoblastic activity and regulate fracture healing on the cortical bone surface.
Degassing and microlite crystallization during pre-climactic events of the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, Philippines

Dacite tephras produced by the 1991 pre-climactic eruptive sequence at Mt. Pinatubo display extreme heterogeneity in vesicularity, ranging in clast density from 700 to 2580 kg m–3. Observations of the 13 surge-producing blasts that preceded the climactic plinian event include radar-defined estimates of column heights and seismically defined eruptive and intra-eruptive durations. A comparison of the characteristics of erupted material, including microlite textures, chemical compositions, and H2O contents, with eruptive parameters suggests that devolatilization-induced crystallization of the magma occurred to a varying extent prior to at least nine of the explosive events. Although volatile loss progressed to the same approximate level in all of the clasts analyzed (weight percent H2O=1.26-1.73), microlite crystallization was extremely variable (0–22%). We infer that syn-eruptive volatile exsolution from magma in the conduit and intra-eruptive separation of the gas phase was facilitated by the development of permeability within magma residing in the conduit. Correlation of maximum microlite crystallinity with repose interval duration (28–262 min) suggests that crystallization occurred primarily intra-eruptively, in response to the reduction in dissolved H2O content that occurred during the preceding event. Detailed textural characterization, including determination of three-dimensional shapes and crystal size distributions (CSD), was conducted on a subset of clasts in order to determine rates of crystal nucleation and growth using repose interval as the time available for crystallization. Shape and size analysis suggests that crystallization proceeded in response to lessening degrees of feldspar supersaturation as repose interval durations increased. We thus propose that during repose intervals, a plug of highly viscous magma formed due to the collapse of vesicular magma that had exsolved volatiles during the previous explosive event. If plug thickness grew proportionally to the square root of time, and if magma pressurization increased during the eruptive sequence, the frequency of eruptive pulses may have been modulated by degassing of magma within the conduit. Dense clasts in surge deposits probably represent plug material entrained by each subsequent explosive event.
Expression of mediators of purinergic signaling in human liver cell lines

Purinergic signaling regulates a diverse and biologically relevant group of processes in the liver. However, progress of research into functions regulated by purinergic signals in the liver has been hampered by the complexity of systems probed. Specifically, there are multiple liver cell subpopulations relevant to hepatic functions, and many of these have been effectively modeled in human cell lines. Furthermore, there are more than 20 genes relevant to purinergic signaling, each of which has distinct functions. Hence, we felt the need to categorize genes relevant to purinergic signaling in the best characterized human cell line models of liver cell subpopulations. Therefore, we investigated the expression of adenosine receptor, P2X receptor, P2Y receptor, and ecto-nucleotidase genes via RT-PCR in the following cell lines: LX-2, hTERT, FH11, HepG2, Huh7, H69, and MzChA-1. We believe that our findings will provide an excellent resource to investigators seeking to define functions of purinergic signals in liver physiology and liver disease pathogenesis.
Approximate Dynamic Programming for a Class of Long-Horizon Maritime Inventory Routing Problems

We study a deterministic maritime inventory routing problem with a long planning horizon. For instances with many ports and many vessels, mixed-integer linear programming MIP solvers often require hours to produce good solutions even when the planning horizon is 90 or 120 periods. Building on the recent successes of approximate dynamic programming ADP for road-based applications within the transportation community, we develop an ADP procedure to generate good solutions to these problems within minutes. Our algorithm operates by solving many small subproblems one for each time period and by collecting information about how to produce better solutions. Our main contribution to the ADP community is an algorithm that solves MIP subproblems and uses separable piecewise linear continuous, but not necessarily concave or convex, value function approximations and requires no off-line training. Our algorithm is one of the first of its kind for maritime transportation problems and represents a significant departure from the traditional methods used. In particular, whereas virtually all existing methods are “MIP-centric,” i.e., they rely heavily on a solver to tackle a nontrivial MIP to generate a good or improving solution in a couple of minutes, our framework puts the effort on finding suitable value function approximations and places much less responsibility on the solver. Computational results illustrate that with a relatively simple framework, our ADP approach is able to generate good solutions to instances with many ports and vessels much faster than a commercial solver emphasizing feasibility and a popular local search procedure.
Demography of Immigrant Youth: Past, Present, and Future

Summary Jeffrey Passel surveys demographic trends and projections in the U.S. youth population, with an emphasis on trends among immigrant youth. He traces shifts in the youth population over the past hundred years, examines population projections through 2050, and offers some observations about the likely impact of the immigrant youth population on American society. Passel provides data on the legal status of immigrant youth and their families and on their geographic distribution and concentration across the United States. He emphasizes two demographic shifts. First, immigrant youth—defined as those children under age eighteen who are either foreign-born or U.S.-born to immigrant parents—now account for one-fourth of the nation’s 75 million children. By 2050 they are projected to make up one-third of more than 100 million U.S. children. Second, the wave of immigration under way since the mid-1960s has made children the most racially and ethnically diverse age group in the United States. In 1960 Hispanic, Asian, and mixed-race youth made up about 6 percent of all U.S. children; today that share is almost 30 percent. During that same period the share of non-Hispanic white children steadily dropped from about 81 percent to 56 percent, while the share of black children climbed very slightly to 14 percent. By 2050 the share of non-Hispanic white children is projected to drop to 40 percent, while that of Hispanic children will increase to about one-third. This changing demographic structure in U.S. youth is likely to present policy makers with several challenges in coming decades, including higher rates of poverty among youth, particularly among foreign-born children and children of undocumented parents; high concentrations of immigrants in a handful of states; and a lack of political voice. A related challenge may be intergenerational competition between youth and the elderly for governmental support such as education funding, Social Security, and government health benefits. In conclusion, Passel notes that today’s immigrants and their children will shape many aspects of American society and will provide virtually all the growth in the U.S. labor force over the next forty years. Their integration into American society and their accumulation of human capital thus require continued attention from researchers and policy makers.
The knowledge-gradient stopping rule for ranking and selection

We consider the ranking and selection of normal means in a fully sequential Bayesian context. By considering the sampling and stopping problems jointly rather than separately, we derive a new composite stopping/sampling rule. The sampling component of the derived composite rule is the same as the previously introduced LL1 sampling rule, but the stopping rule is new. This new stopping rule significantly improves the performance of LL1 as compared to its performance under the best other generally known adaptive stopping rule, EOC Bonf, outperforming it in every case tested.
Optimization of linear arrays for broadband signals

The effect of broadband signals on the far-zone field of long arrays is investigated in terms of the energy radiation pattern. A generalized directive gain is introduced which depends on the signal spectrum. With maximum directivity as a criterion it is shown that the problem of optimizing a long isotropic array with respect to a given signal can be associated with a classical eigenvalue problem. The concept of array-bandwidth is introduced. Computed curves for directivity and directive gain are given in terms of this parameter and signal bandwidth. It is shown that while little improvement in directivity is achieved by optimizing the distribution coefficients of an array, a substantial reduction in sidelobe level is obtained when the signal bandwidth is comparable to the array bandwidth.
Global and National Macroeconometric Modelling ‐ by Anthony Garratt, Kevin Lee, M. Hashem Pesaran and Yongcheol Shin

The article reviews the book "Global and National Macroeconometric Modelling," by Anthony Garratt, Kevin Lee, M. Hashem Pesaran and Yongcheol Shin.
The General Factor of Personality: A Hierarchical Life History Model

Building on evolutionary models of personality proposed in the first edition of the Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, this chapter considers the evolutionary significance of a relatively new higher-order personality construct, the so-called general factor of personality (GFP). The history of the construct is reviewed, along with a large portion of the recent theoretical literature addressing the existence and nature of the GFP and the empirical literaturerelevant to that. Finally, a review and evaluation is conducted of various recent attempts to develop and test a hierarchical Keywords: general factor of personality; life history theory; strategic differention-integration effort; hierarchical latent structure; Brunswik symmetry
Effects of omega-3 fatty acids on arterial stiffness in patients with hypertension: a randomized pilot study

Omega–3 fatty acids prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in patients with myocardial infarction or heart failure. Benefits in patients without overt CVD have not been demonstrated, though most studies did not use treatment doses (3.36 g) of omega-3 fatty acids. Arterial stiffness measured by pulse wave velocity (PWV) predicts CVD events independent of standard risk factors. However, no therapy has been shown to reduce PWV in a blood pressure-independent manner. We assessed the effects of esterified omega–3 fatty acids on PWV and serum markers of inflammation among patients with hypertension. We performed a prospective, randomized; double-blinded pilot study of omega-3 fatty acids among 62 patients in an urban, safety net hospital. Patients received 3.36 g of omega–3 fatty acids vs. matched placebo daily for 3-months. The principal outcome measure was change in brachial-ankle PWV. Serum inflammatory markers associated with CVD risk were also assessed. The majority (71 %) were of Latino ethnicity. After 3-months, mean change in arterial PWV among omega-3 and placebo groups was −97 cm/s vs. −33 cm/s respectively (p = 0.36 for difference, after multivariate adjustment for baseline age, systolic blood pressure, and serum adiponectin). Non-significant reductions in lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (LpPLA2) mass and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) relative to placebo were also observed (p = 0.08, and 0.21, respectively). High-dose omega-3 fatty acids did not reduce arterial PWV or markers of inflammation among patients within a Latino-predominant population with hypertension. NCT00935766 , registered July 8 2009.
The interaction of noun incorporation and applicative formation in Ainu

Accounting for the morphosyntactic properties of Ainu (a nearly extinct language-isolate spoken on the northern-most islands of Japan) presents many challenges. Although its syntactic word-order is quite rigidly soy (Shibatani 1990: 17,22–24), the word-internal ordering of its polysynthetic verbal morphology allows different permutations. This is especially true in complex verb-forms involving both noun incorporation (NI) and applicative formation (AF). As the data presented in this paper will show, the interaction of these two processes yields not only the expected morphemic orderings, but also apparent MIRROR PRINCIPLE (Baker 1995) violations in which the attested morphemic orders do not match the “feeding” relationship of the rules that add those morphemes.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Graphite at High Temperatures

Graphite, a key structural and moderator material in the proposed Generation IV roadmap, is expected to experience irradiation at temperatures up to 1800 K. In this study, a molecular dynamics (MD) code is developed for the purpose of performing atomistic simulations of high-temperature graphite. The MD computations are benchmarked against thermal expansion and mean-squared displacement data, and modifications to the potential energy function are devised as needed to fit experimental measurements. Graphite-specific alterations include a plane-by-plane center-of-mass velocity correction, anisotropy in the potential energy cutoff function, and temperature-dependent parameterization of the interatomic potential. The refined MD model is then employed to investigate the threshold displacement energy at temperatures of 300 and 1800 K. It was found that the threshold displacement energy depends strongly on the knock-on direction, yet the angle-averaged threshold energy exhibits relatively little variation with temperature.
Alderflies, Fishflies and Dobsonflies (Insecta: Megaloptera) of the Interior Highlands, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT We report 15 species of Megaloptera from the Interior Highlands of Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma including 2 genera and 9 species of Sialidae and 4 genera and 6 species of Corydalidae. New state distributional records are reported for Protosialis americana (Rambur) from Illinois, Sialis joppa Ross and S. vagans Ross from Missouri, and Chauliodes pectinicornis (L.) and Nigronia serricornis (Say) from Oklahoma. Distributional and biological data are summarized for each species where available. An illustrated key to the species occurring in the Interior Highlands is included.
Discriminating a deep gallium antisite defect from shallow acceptors in GaAs using supercell calculations

For the purposes of making reliable first-principles predictions of defect energies in semiconductors, it is crucial to distinguish between effective-mass-like defects, which cannot be treated accurately with existing supercell methods, and deep defects, for which density functional theory calculations can yield reliable predictions of defect energy levels. The gallium antisite defect ${\mathrm{Ga}}_{As}$ is often associated with the 78/203 meV shallow double acceptor in Ga-rich gallium arsenide. Within a conceptual framework of level patterns, analyses of structure and spin stabilization can be used within a supercell approach to distinguish localized deep defect states from shallow acceptors such as ${\mathrm{B}}_{As}$. This systematic approach determines that the gallium antisite supercell results has signatures inconsistent with an effective mass state and cannot be the 78/203 shallow double acceptor. The properties of the Ga antisite in GaAs are described, total energy calculations that explicitly map onto asymptotic discrete localized bulk states predict that the Ga antisite is a deep double acceptor and has at least one deep donor state.
1987 H. P. Smith Award Lecture: Eyes for the Epidemiologist: The Pathologist’s Role in Shaping Our Understanding of the Asbestos-Associated Diseases

Asbestosis was first recognized as an entity at autopsy by a pathologist in 1900. Pathologists also discovered the unique relationship of mesothelioma and bronchogenic carcinoma with exposure to asbestos. The observations of preceding pathologists have provided insights that have served as the basis for epidemiologic studies associating asbestos with disease in humans.
Geographical Study on Rural Community

Two villages of Daianji and Tatsuichi, where the community of proteges of t telary deity and also that of irrigation pond remain, show distinct characters as rural community, notwithstanding their. situation in the suburbs of Nara City. As a result of the present study, we have found that preservation of such a rural community is surely due to the moats formed as a counterr measure against drought. It comes from the following facts; the community of proteges of tutelarly deity and that of irrigation pond almost completely overlap each other, and the intensity of union in the former is closely related with the frequency of droughts in the latter. Such communities as formed. from necessity of control on irrigation water, with a tutelary deity as their nucleus, are already known in other regions too. Thus, the community of irrigation pond plays a very important role in economic life in these two villages, while the community of proteges of tutelary deity, in the meaning of its existence, should be subordinate to the former. After all, preservation of the rural community has close relation to the geographical. environment of the Nara Basin.
Clinical Trials of the Column Disc Peritoneal Catheter (Lifecath Tm)

The column-disc catheter is a peritoneal access device which is affixed to the lower anterior abdominal wall. A large peripheral port allows inflow and outflow of peritoneal fluid with a fluid velo...
The control of tyrosine hydroxylase activity: enzyme activation versus feedback inhibition

Tyrosine hydroxylase (EC 1.14.16.2) catalyzes the first step in catecholamine biosynthesis, and plays an important role in the regulation of this biosynthetic pathway. Accordingly, there has been a great deal of interest in understanding the control of tyrosine hydroxylase activity. Two major hypotheses for the acute regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase activity have been proposed. Both of these hypotheses are based upon the properties of tyrosine hydroxylase in vitro. First, tyrosine hydroxylase is inhibited by catecholamines in vitro tro (Nagatsu et al., 1964). Tyrosine hydroxylase in intact tissues may normally be restrained by feedback inhibition, and changes in enzyme activity may be produced by changes in the degree of this inhibition (Weiner, 1970). Secondly, tyrosine hydroxylase is a substrate for both cAMP-dependent (Vulliet et al., 1980) and cAMP-independent (Raese et al., 1979) protein kinases in vitro; tyrosine hydroxylase activity is increased by phosphorylation. The activity of tyrosine hydroxylase in vivo may also be regulated by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation.
Acceptance and Use of Mobile Technology for Health Self-Monitoring in Lung Transplant Recipients during the First Year Post-Transplantation

Objectives: To describe lung transplant recipients (LTRs’) acceptance and use of mobile technology for health self-monitoring during the first year post-transplantation, and explore correlates of the use of technology in the 0 to 2, >2 to ≤6, >6 to ≤12, and 0 to 12 months. Methods: Secondary analysis of data from 96 LTR assigned to use Pocket PATH®, a smartphone application, for daily health self-monitoring in a randomized controlled trial. Use of Pocket PATH was categorized as low, moderate, and high use. Proportional odds models for ordinal logistic regression were employed to explore correlates of use of technology. Results: LTR reported high acceptance of Pocket PATH at baseline. However, acceptance was not associated with actual use over the 12 months (p=0.45~0.96). Actual use decreased across time intervals (p 2 to ≤6 months was associated with greater satisfaction with technology training (OR=3.37, p=0.01) and shorter length of hospital stay (OR=0.98, p=0.02). Higher use from >6 to ≤12 months was associated with older age (OR=1.05, p=0.02), lower psychological distress (OR=0.43, p=0.02), and better physical functioning (OR=1.09, p=0.01). Higher use over 12 months was also associated with older age (OR=1.05, p=0.007), better physical functioning (OR=1.13, p=0.001), and greater satisfaction with technology training (OR=3.05, p=0.02). Conclusions: Correlates were different for short- and long-term use of mobile technology for health self-monitoring in the first year post-transplantation. It is important to follow up with LTR with longer hospital stay, poor physical functioning, and psychological distress, providing ongoing education to improve their long-term use of technology for health self-monitoring.
On application of magnetic nanoclusters to improve the sensitivity of pulsed magnetomotive ultrasound imaging

Pulsed magneto-motive ultrasound (pMMUS) imaging of small superparamagnetic nanoparticles (NPs) has been introduced as a tool capable of imaging events at molecular and cellular levels in tissue. The sensitivity of pMMUS system depends on several parameters including size, geometry and magnetic properties of the NPs. Under the same magnetic field, larger magnetic nanostructures experience stronger magnetic force and thus produce larger pMMUS signal. Unfortunately, large magnetic iron-oxide NPs exhibit ferromagnetic properties such as spontaneous magnetization and coercivity and thus are difficult to stabilize against colloidal aggregation. In this study, we demonstrate enhanced pMMUS imaging by using large size clusters of superparamagnetic nanoparticles.
Locating Rogue Access Point Using Fine-Grained Channel Information

Rogue access point (AP) has emerged as an important security problem in WLANs. However, it is a challenge task to localize the rogue AP with both high accuracy and minimal infrastructure cost. Either expensive professional infrastructure (e.g., multiple wireless sniffers) or additional hardware (e.g., directional antenna) need to be pre-deployed for rogue AP localization with high cost. Moreover, existing methods using Received Signal Strength (RSS) result in a large error as RSS is suffered from the multipath and shadowing effects in complex wireless environment. In this work, we exploit the channel state information (CSI), which is readily available from commercial Wi-Fi devices, to locate the rogue AP with high accuracy. We use only a single off-the-shelf Wi-Fi device for rogue AP localization which involves minimal infrastructure requirement. Our proposed rogue AP localization framework consists of two components: direction determination and position estimation. The direction determination can be carried out by using the human blocking effect on the CSI amplitude or phase. The multiple antennas on the Wi-Fi devices can be further utilized to enhance the rogue AP direction estimation. Given the estimated direction, two schemes are proposed to pinpoint the position of the rogue AP: determining directions at multiple locations grounded on triangulation and walking towards the rogue AP with direction adjustment. Results from extensive experiments in both indoor and outdoor environments show that our framework can achieve more practical and accurate rogue AP localization when comparing with the existing RSS-based approach.
Causes and consequences of endoplasmic reticulum stress in rheumatic disease

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is vital for cellular function and differentiation in every organ system. In this Review, the authors discuss how cells respond to ER stress and outline the ways that this stress can contribute towards rheumatic diseases. Rheumatic diseases represent a heterogeneous group of inflammatory conditions, many of which involve chronic activation of both innate and adaptive immune responses by multiple genetic and environmental factors. These immune responses involve the secretion of excessive amounts of cytokines and other signalling mediators by activated immune cells. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the cellular organelle that directs the folding, processing and trafficking of membrane-bound and secreted proteins, including many key components of the immune response. Maintaining homeostasis in the ER is critical to cell function and survival. Consequently, elaborate mechanisms have evolved to sense and respond to ER stress through three main signalling pathways that together comprise the unfolded protein response (UPR). Activation of the UPR can rapidly resolve the accumulation of misfolded proteins, direct permanent changes in the size and function of cells during differentiation, and critically influence the immune response and inflammation. Recognition of the importance of ER stress and UPR signalling pathways in normal and dysregulated immune responses has greatly increased in the past few years. This Review discusses several settings in which ER stress contributes to the pathogenesis of rheumatic diseases and considers some of the therapeutic opportunities that these discoveries provide.
Efficient neural computation in the Laplace domain

Cognitive computation ought to be fast, efficient and flexible, reusing the same neural mechanisms to operate on many different forms of information. In order to develop neural models for cognitive computation we need to develop neurally-plausible implementations of fundamental operations. If the operations can be applied across sensory modalities, this requires a common form of neural coding. Weber-Fechner scaling is a general representational motif that is exploited by the brain not only in vision and audition, but also for efficient representations of time, space and numerosity. That is, for these variables, the brain appears to support functions f(x) by placing receptors at locations xi such that xi - xi-1 ∞ xi. The existence of a common form of neural representation suggests the possibility of a common form of cognitive computation across information domains. Efficient Weber-Fechner representations of time, space and number can be constructed using the Laplace transform, which can be inverted using a neurally-plausible matrix operation. Access to the Laplace domain allows for a range of efficient computations that can be performed on Weber-Fechner scaled representations. For instance, translation of a function f(x) by an amount δ to give f(x+δ) can be readily accomplished in the Laplace domain. We have worked out a neurally-plausible mapping hypothesis between translation and theta oscillations. Other operations, such as convolution and cross-correlation are extremely efficient in the Laplace domain, enabling the computation of addition and subtraction of neural representations. Implementation of neural circuits for these elemental computations would allow hybrid neural-symbolic architectures that exhibit properties such as compositionality and productivity.
Entrainment of Circadian Rhythms by Light

This article reviews the behavioral neurobiology underlying light entrainment of the vertebrate circadian pacemaker at multiple organizational levels, including behavioral, neural systems, cellular, and molecular–genetic analyses. The circadian pacemaker displays temporally gated sensitivity to light, as characterized by the photic phase–response curve. Light entrainment signals are processed by a specialized system of retinal neurons and transmitted via the retinohypothalamic tract to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) circadian pacemaker. The processing of these signals is also modulated by nonretinal projections to the SCN, and involves interactions among several neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems, activation of multiple cascading intracellular signaling pathways, and ultimately, altered expression of specific ‘clock genes’ that function as state variables of the circadian pacemaker.
Information recall in VR disability simulation

The purpose of this poster is to explain our study on the effect of the sense of presence on one aspect of learning, information recall, in an immersive (vs. non-immersive) virtual reality (VR) disability simulation (DS). We hypothesized that a higher level of immersion and involvement in a VR disability simulation that leads to a high sense of presence will help the user improve information recall. We conducted a between subjects experiment in which participants were presented information about multiple sclerosis (MS) in different immersive conditions and afterwards they attempted to recall the information. The results from our study suggest that participants who were in immersive conditions were able to recall the information more effectively than the participants who experienced a non-immersive condition.
Patients' perceptions of gastroenterologists' attire in the clinic and endoscopy suite.

Background Studying the role of gastroenterologists' attire can provide insight into patients' perceptions and help us optimize the physician-patient relationship. In this study we assessed patients' preference concerning gastroenterologists' attire, and its influence on patients' trust, empathy and perceptions of the quality of care in the clinic and endoscopic suite. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted from August 2016 to February 2017. A total of 240 consecutive patients who presented to the Gastroenterology Department at the University of Florida in Jacksonville both in the clinic and endoscopic suite were included in this study. The questionnaire applied included 8 questions concerning patients' preferences regarding gastroenterologists' attire and the impact the attire had on patients' trust, empathy and perceptions of quality of care. Results Overall, 85% of patients preferred scrubs to formal dress clothes. The preference for scrubs was higher in the endoscopic suites (89% and 93%) compared to the outpatient office (66%, P<0.01). In addition, 82% of patients said they felt more comfortable speaking with gastroenterology doctors wearing scrubs and 85% of patients felt more confident about the skills of those gastroenterologists. Conclusions Gastroenterologists' attire does influence patients' perception of the care they are receiving. There is an overall preference for the use of scrubs in the different settings of gastroenterology, both office and lab.
Entrapment as a mediator of suicide crises

Prior research has validated the construct of a suicide crisis syndrome (SCS), a specific psychological state that precedes and may precipitate suicidal behavior. The feeling of entrapment is a central concept of the SCS as well as of several other recent models of suicide. However, its exact relationship with suicidality is not fully understood. In efforts to clarify the exact role of entrapment in the suicidal process, we have examined if entrapment mediates the relationship of other components of the SCS, including ruminative flooding, panic-dissociation, fear of dying and emotional pain, with suicidal ideation (SI) in recently hospitalized psychiatric inpatients. The Suicide Crisis Inventory (SCI) and Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSS) were administered to 200 high-risk adult psychiatric inpatients hospitalized following SI or suicide attempt, assessing SCS and SI levels at admission, respectively. The possible mediation effects of entrapment on the relationship between the other components of the SCS and SI at admission were evaluated. Entrapment significantly and fully mediated the relationship of ruminative flooding, panic-dissociation, and fear of dying with SI, with no direct relationships between these variables and SI reaching statistical significance. Further, no reverse mediation relationships between these variables and SI were found, indicating that the mediation effects of entrapment were unidirectional. While entrapment did mediate the association between emotional pain and SI, the direct relationship between emotional pain and SI was also significant. Moreover, in reverse mediational analysis, emotional pain was a partial mediator of the relationship between entrapment and SI. Entrapment and emotional pain may have a more direct association with SI than the other components of the SCS, including ruminative flooding, panic-dissociation, and fear of dying, the effects of which are mediated by the former. This suggests entrapment and emotional pain may represent key symptomatic targets for intervention in acutely suicidal individuals. Further research is needed to determine the relationship of these constructs to suicidal behavior.
Açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) beverage consumption improves biomarkers for inflammation but not glucose- or lipid-metabolism in individuals with metabolic syndrome in a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Acai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) berries, characterized by high polyphenol concentrations (predominantly anthocyanins), have demonstrated anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic activities. The study objective was to determine the modulation of lipid and glucose-metabolism, as well as oxidative stress and inflammation, by an acai-beverage (containing 1139 mg L−1 gallic acid equivalents of total polyphenolics) in 37 individuals with metabolic syndrome (BMI 33.5 ± 6.7 kg m−2) who were randomized to consume 325 mL twice per d of a placebo control or acai-beverage for 12 weeks. Anthropometric measurements, dietary intake, and blood and urine samples were collected at baseline and after 12 weeks of consumption. Two functional biomarkers, plasma level of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and urinary level of 8-isoprostane, were significantly decreased after 12 weeks of acai consumption compared to the placebo control (p = 0.0141 and 0.0099, respectively). No significant modification of biomarkers for lipid- and glucose-metabolism was observed in this study. Findings from this small pilot study provide a weak indication that the selected dose of acai polyphenols may be beneficial in metabolic syndrome as only two biomarkers for inflammation and oxidative stress were improved over 12 weeks. Follow-up studies should be conducted with higher polyphenol-doses before drawing conclusions regarding the efficacy of acai polyphenols in metabolic syndrome.