cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Seasonal patterns of mesozooplankton abundance and biomass at Station ALOHA

Abstract The zooplankton community of the central North Pacific has been sampled at Stn. ALOHA since 1994 as part of routine data collections for the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) Program. Typically, three day and three night tows are collected in the upper 150 m on each cruise with a 1-m, 200-μm mesh net. Size-fractioned carbon and dry weight biomass have been determined for each sample, and one day and one night sample per cruise have been enumerated microscopically through 1996. The accumulated data show statistically significant seasonal signals, with peak biomass and abundance during the summer months for the total community and for smaller size fractions (0.2–0.5, 0.5–1, 1–2 mm). Interannual variability is seen as significantly higher nighttime biomass during summer 1996, which is also related to the enhancement of small size fractions. Comparisons of the present composition of the community to the results of classic studies at the CLIMAX site show remarkable similarities in the species sampled and their abundance ranges. Nonetheless, biomass estimates, corrected for relative capture efficiencies of the different net systems, suggest that there may have been an increase of about a factor of two in zooplankton standing stocks over the past two decades. This hypothesis raises issues about the comparability of the two sites, but the increase, if real, would be consistent with the observed decadal-scale increase in phytoplankton chlorophyll a . The small harpacticoid copepod, Macrosetella gracilis , demonstrates a strong summer maximum consistent with the increased abundance of nitrogen-fixing Trichodesmium spp. during mid-summer months, as described in recent studies at Stn. ALOHA. Accordingly, nitrogen fixation could provide the source of new nutrients to support higher productivity, larger phytoplankton, and enhanced zooplankton standing stocks in the summer, when the upper water column is most stratified and isolated from nutrient influxes from below.
Effect of postgraduate training on job and career satisfaction among health-system pharmacists

Purpose The effect of postgraduate training on job and career satisfaction among health-system pharmacists was evaluated. Methods A mail-based questionnaire was sent to a random sample of pharmacist members of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Previously validated questions for job and career satisfaction among pharmacists were utilized. The questionnaire was designed to obtain information regarding general employment, work environment, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, postgraduate training, and demographic characteristics. Pharmacists who had completed either a pharmacy residency or fellowship were classified as having postgraduate training. Questionnaires returned within two months of the original mailing date were included in the analysis. Responses from pharmacists who were retired, employed in a nonpharmacy career, or unemployed were excluded. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results Of the 2499 questionnaires mailed, 36 were undeliverable; 1058 were completed, yielding a response rate of 43%. Of these, 48 were excluded, resulting in 1010 questionnaires suitable for analysis. Approximately 37% of respondents indicated completion of postgraduate training. The most common practice setting was a community, not-for-profit hospital (40.9%). Overall, 90.7% of respondents indicated they were either satisfied or highly satisfied with their current employment. Approximately 45% of pharmacists with postgraduate training indicated they were highly satisfied with their employment, compared with 32.7% of pharmacists without postgraduate training ( p < 0.001). Conclusion Pharmacists who completed postgraduate training were more satisfied with their job than those who did not complete such training.
Operational Planning of Large-Scale Industrial Batch Plants under Demand Due Date and Amount Uncertainty. I. Robust Optimization Framework

The operational planning of a large-scale industrial batch plant typically occurs over a time horizon of several months with the goal of providing daily production targets and raw material requirements for the plant in question. Due to the length of the time horizon, demand uncertainty should be taken into account in order to ensure that the operational planning model provides reliable production targets and/or raw material requirements. A robust novel operational planning model has been developed in order to address the objective of providing a reliable daily production profile which is immune to various forms of demand uncertainty. The ability of the proposed planning model to address the aforementioned objectives of an operational planning model has been validated through an industrial case study of a large-scale, multiproduct, and multipurpose batch plant having the capability of producing hundreds of different products over a time horizon of three months.
Enhancing Accuracy Performance of Bluetooth Positioning

Huge popularity of mobile devices and Internet open new application field of wireless positioning and navigation systems, and this integration also brings new research issues. Currently the positioning and navigation systems are mostly based on satellite positioning systems, such as GPS. One serious drawback of these satellite based positioning and navigation systems is that they can only operate in outdoor environment. There are several approaches for wireless positioning, e.g. cell ID, DOA (directions of arrivals) or signal strength measurements, but these approaches can not meet requirements of wireless positioning, including latency, availability and accuracy. In this paper, we propose a new approach for Bluetooth positioning, which is based on the time offset acquisition of signals propagating over radio channel, and the forward-backward ranging. Through simulations and experiments, it shows that the new Bluetooth ranging approach could give high ranging accuracy with modest modifications of current Bluetooth technology.
Clinical and proteomic characterization of acute myeloid leukemia with mutated RAS.

BACKGROUND: Activating mutations in RAS are frequently present in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but their overall prognostic impact is not clear. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed to establish the clinical characteristics of patients with RAS-mutated (RASmut) AML, to analyze their outcome by therapy, and to describe the proteomic profile of RASmut compared with wild-type RAS (RASWT) AML. RESULTS: Of 609 patients with newly diagnosed AML, 11% had RASmut. Compared with RASWT, patients with RASmut AML were younger (median age, 54 years vs 63 years; P = .001), had a higher white blood cell count (16K mm−3 vs 4K mm−3 ; P < 0.001) and bone marrow blast percentage (56% vs 42%; P = .01) at diagnosis, and were less likely to have an antecedent hematologic disorder (36% vs 50%; P = .03). The inv(16) karyotype was overrepresented in patients with RASmut and the −5 and/or −7 karyotype was underrepresented. RAS mutations were found to have no prognostic impact on overall survival or disease-free survival overall or within cytogenetic subgroups. There was a suggestion that patients with RASmut benefited from cytarabine (AraC)-based therapy. Proteomic analysis revealed simultaneous upregulation of the RAS-Raf-MAP kinase and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathways in patients with RASmut. CONCLUSIONS: RAS mutations in AML may delineate a subset of patients who benefit from AraC-based therapy and who may be amenable to treatment with inhibitors of RAS and PI3K signaling pathways. Cancer 2012. © 2012 American Cancer Society.
COMPARATIVE TESTS OF EVOLUTIONARY TRADE-OFFS IN A PALINURID LOBSTER ACOUSTIC SYSTEM

Communication structures vary greatly in size and can be structurally and behaviorally integrated with other systems. In structurally integrated systems, dramatic changes in size may impose trade-offs with the size of neighboring structures. In spiny lobsters (Palinuridae), there is a fivefold difference in size of the antennular plate, on which sound producing apparatus is located, such that the antennular plate reaches 38% carapace length in some sound producers (Stridentes) compared to only 4% carapace length in non-sound producing spiny lobsters (Silentes). We examined whether this major variation in antennular plate size imposes trade-offs with the adjoining antennae, specifically in the context that the signal producing structures and antennae are both used in predator defense. We recorded and analyzed lobster sounds in order to test whether size increases in the acoustic morphology were correlated with production of particular signal features. Antennal and antennular plate structures were measured across the family, including both Stridentes and Silentes. Phylogenetic comparative methods were used to test for correlated evolutionary change among the structures and signal features. We analyzed the phylogenetic relationships of the Palinuridae based on morphological characters and ribosomal DNA evidence (16S, 18S and 28S nuclear and mitochondrial ribosomal RNA gene regions). We found that the number of sound pulses was positively correlated with length of the sound producing apparatus. Opposite to the predicted trade-offs, we found that the size of the antennular plate was positively correlated with size of the surrounding antennae within Stridentes. Nevertheless, when Stridentes were compared to Silentes, the latter had relatively larger antennae for a given antennular plate size than did the sound producing taxa. These results suggest that body size does not limit size increases in acoustic structures within Stridentes, however the presence and associated constructional costs of a sound producing apparatus may impose a trade-off when taxa with and without the apparatus are compared. Alternatively, since both systems are used in predator defense, this pattern may indicate greater selection for antennal force production in Silentes, which lack the additional acoustic mode of predator defense.
Differentiation of normal and ischemic right ventricular myocardium with quantitative twodimensional integrated backscatter imaging

We have previously shown that ultrasonic tissue characterization with two-dimensional (2D) guided M-Mode acquisition of integrated backscatter (IB) identifies ischemic and infarcted myocardium. However, there is no information regarding the applicability of IB in assessment of right ventricular (RV) myocardial acoustic properties. Thus, we performed IB imaging of the RV in a group of 45 consecutive patients and were successful in 16, all of whom had normal RV wall motion. This group was compared to 8 additional patients studied acutely with clinical criteria of RV infarction. Real-time IB from RV was obtained from parasternal long axis or subcostal views. Diastolic-to-systolic cyclic variation of IB in normals was 4.8 +/- 0.9 dB (+/- SD). No significant difference was observed between parasternal and subcostal views (5.2 +/- 0.8 and 4.5 +/- 0.9 dB). Mean value of delay (R wave to nadir of backscatter normalized to the electrocardiographic Q-T interval) was 0.85 +/- 0.07. Patients with RV infarction had significantly lower values averaging 3.2 +/- 0.8 dB (p less than 0.001 vs. normals); cyclic variation of IB was present in all despite severe hypokinesis in 4/8. Mean value of normalized delay was 0.80 +/- 0.04 and was not different from normals. Thus, tissue characterization provides quantitative information regarding RV myocardial structure and function. Preservation of IB cyclic variation in patients with RV infarction suggests residual RV myocardial viability.
Student Success in a University Introductory Networks and Telecommunications Course: Contributing Factors

Students at a large southeastern university typically find the introductory networking and telecommunications course difficult. This study examines the factors that contribute to the success of undergraduate technology support and training management students in this required course. College transcripts and academic student files provided the data, which were analyzed using multiple regression. In contrast to previous research, only performance in an introductory technology prerequisite course significantly predicted success. These findings have implications for faculty designing or organizing curricula who want to improve the success students in networking and telecommunications courses.
Reliability of self-reported willingness-to-pay and annual income in patients treated for toenail onychomycosis

Summary Background Willingness-to-pay (WTP) is a health economics measure that has recently been used for skin diseases to evaluate patients’ quality of life. However, the reliability of this measure has not been investigated in the dermatology literature and is essential in validating its use in health services research. Objectives This study evaluated the test-retest reliability of self-reported annual income and WTP, a health economics measure of disease impact, in patients with toenail onychomycosis. Methods Forty-six patients enrolled in a randomized clinical trial comparing two different dosing regimens of terbinafine completed a self-administered questionnaire at baseline and 1 month later. The questionnaire asked: (i) how much patients would be willing to pay for a theoretical treatment with a cure rate of 85% for their current onychomycosis (10 categories: $0–50, $51–100, to > $800); and (ii) annual income (10 categories: $0–10 000 to > $200 000). Results Forty-four patients reported WTP at both visits, and 55% reported the same WTP. The quadratic-weighted (Fleiss–Cohen) κ statistic indicated moderate agreement (κ = 0·50, 95% confidence interval, CI 0·24–0·75, P < 0·01) as did the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient (rs = 0·57, P < 0·01; median difference = 0, P = 0·50). Strong agreement was shown among the 42 patients who reported income at both visits; 71% reported the same annual income category (κ = 0·72, 95% CI 0·47–0·96, P < 0·01; rs = 0·68, P < 0·01; median difference = 0, P = 0·77). Age, disease severity and duration, previous therapy, self-reported annual income, and medication side-effects were not statistically associated with the reliability of WTP. Conclusions WTP and annual income demonstrated moderate and strong test-retest reliability, respectively. Self-reported WTP can serve as a reliable measure for future health economics research on onychomycosis.
RESPONDING TO FISCAL STRESS: A STATE-WIDE SURVEY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN LOUISIANA. A RESEARCH NOTE

The early 1980s represented an era where fiscal stress, cutback management and retrenchment strategies captured the attention of public administration scholars and practitioners. Yet, lessons learned from that era should not be forgotten. This research note, containing information from a 1990s survey of Louisiana local governments, supports the position that rural governments suffer hardest in bad economic times and that precautionary measures should thus be taken to lessen the budgetary shortfalls which often result in either the cutback or the tota lelimination of services.
A Density Matrix Treatment of Atomic Line Radiation

Since the early days of quantum mechanics, the theory of atomic line radiation has been of central interest in atomic physics. Percival and Seaton1 presented a general treatment of the subject that has been widely used by both experimentalists and theoreticians. They briefly review the “Oppenheimer-Penney (O.-P.) theory of polarization” and later criticize it for not satisfying the “principle of spectroscopic stability”. This principle requires, for example, that results obtained in a ∣J,M coupling scheme involving the total electronic angular momentum J and its component M j with regard to a specified quantization axis, must be identical to those obtained in an ∣L,M coupling scheme (where L and S are the orbital and spin angular momenta with components M L and M 5 in the limit of vanishing fine-struct ure splitting in the target states. A similar argument can be made for hyperfine-structure effects due to a non-vanishing nuclear spin of the target.
Evolution of the Cholecystokinin and Gastrin Peptides and Receptors1

The intestinal hormone, cholecystokinin (CCK), and the stomach hormone, gastrin, form a simple two member family of peptides with much to offer students of hormone and receptor evolution. They share a common carboxyl-terminal tetrapeptide sequence, which is the bioactive site of each peptide and is also antigenic, making heterologous biological and immunological assays feasible. Current evidence indicates that CCK evolved in chordate ancestors and that gastrin-like peptides that separately regulate stomach functions evolved from an ancestral CCK at the level of the divergence of tetrapods from fish. This tentative conclusion may require modification when the two separate CCK- and gastrin-like peptides recently identified in the dogfish shark are characterized further. The CCK-X receptor appears to be ancestral to the CCK-A and CCK-B receptors identified in amniotes. The evolution of gastrin and of CCK-A and -B receptors may have played roles in the evolution of the stomach and the evolution of endothermy in vertebrate phylogeny.
Decay of C10 excited states above the 2p+2α threshold and the contribution from "democratic" two-proton emission

The decay of $^{10}\mathrm{C}$ excited states to the $2p+2\ensuremath{\alpha}$ exit channel has been studied using an $E/A=10.7$ MeV $^{10}\mathrm{C}$ beam inelastically scattered from a $^{9}\mathrm{Be}$ target. Levels associated with two-proton decay to the ground state of $^{8}\mathrm{Be}$ have been observed. These include states at 5.18 and 6.54 MeV which decay by sequential two-proton emission through the long-lived ground state of $^{9}\mathrm{B}$. In addition, states at 5.3 and 6.57 MeV were found in which there is no long-lived intermediate state between the two proton emissions. For the 6.57 MeV state, the two protons are preferably emitted on the same side of the decaying $^{10}\mathrm{C}$ fragment.
Conditional transformation of a pancreatic beta-cell line derived from transgenic mice expressing a tetracycline-regulated oncogene.

Abstract Conditional oncogene expression in transgenic mice is of interest for studying the oncoprotein requirements during tumorigenesis and for deriving cell lines that can be induced to undergo growth arrest and enhance their differentiated functions. We utilized the bacterial tetracycline (Tet)-resistance operon regulatory system (tet) from Tn10 of Escherichia coli to control simian virus 40 (SV40) large tumor (T) antigen (TAg) gene expression and to generate conditionally transformed pancreatic beta cells in transgenic mice. A fusion protein containing the tet repressor (tetR) and the activating domain of the herpes simplex virus protein VP16, which converts the repressor into a transcription activator, was produced in beta cells of transgenic mice under control of the insulin promoter. In a separate lineage of transgenic mice, the TAg gene was introduced under control of a tandem array of tet operator sequences and a minimal promoter, which by itself is not sufficient for gene expression. Mice from the two lineages were then crossed to generate double-transgenic mice. Expression of the tetR fusion protein in beta cells activated TAg transcription, resulting in the development of beta-cell tumors. Tumors arising in the absence of Tet were cultured to derive a stable beta-cell line. Cell incubation in the presence of Tet led to inhibition of proliferation, as shown by decreased BrdUrd and [3H]thymidine incorporation. The Tet derivative anhydrotetracycline showed a 100-fold stronger inhibition compared with Tet. When administered in vivo, Tet efficiently inhibited beta-cell proliferation. These findings indicate that transformed beta cells selected for growth during a tumorigenesis process in vivo maintain a dependence on the continuous presence of the TAg oncoprotein for their proliferation. This system provides an approach for generation of beta-cell lines for cell therapy of diabetes as well as conditionally transformed cell lines from other cell types of interest.
Auditor Independence: A Nonparametric Test of Differences Across the Big‐5 Public Accounting Firms

This small sample study provides additional evidence on the unsettled question of auditor independence: Does the provision of non-audit services by an auditor compromise independence resulting in a poor quality audit? We also examine whether these findings vary across the “Big-5” public accounting firms. Most prior studies addressing this question, using parametric approaches and various measures of audit quality, have reported conflicting results. Contrary to these studies, we use a non-parametric approach and the probability of GAAP violation as a new measure of audit quality to address this question. Using data from a sample of Fortune 500 companies for the year 2000, we find that firms whose auditors provide substantial non-audit services tend to have a higher propensity to violate GAAP. At the firm-level analysis, we find that these results are more likely driven by few of the Big-5 public accounting firms. For the remaining firms, the association between non-audit services and quality of audit could not be established, primarily because of small sample size and lack of power in the test. Our main finding is consistent with other recent studies that provide evidence that the rendering of significant non-audit services by auditors creates conflict of interest resulting in poor quality audits. Furthermore, our result of differences in these levels of association among the Big-5 accounting firms represents a new finding, and suggests that there is a need for controlling them separately in research studies examining auditor independence.
Building embedded languages and expert system shells in Prolog

Building embedded languages in Prolog is considered, with special attention given to expert system shells. The paradigm of metaprogramming of which building embedded languages is an example, is discussed. Interpreters for embedded languages are reviewed with emphasis on metainterpreters. Two applications, explanation and uncertainty reasoning are presented, and the techniques that were used in their construction are discussed. >
Presence-based availability and P2P systems

The availability of a P2P service is a function of the individual peers' availabilities, and it is often desirable to estimate how available a particular P2P service will be given the availability of its peers. Prior work in this area has widely used the fraction of time the average peer is available as the basis for this estimate. It is shown that this approach has serious drawbacks. The authors developed a different measure, which is called presence-based availability, which takes into account the availability of the individual peers. Using traces of live P2P systems taken from the literature, the authors demonstrated that presence-based availability is a more reliable indicator of potential performance than prior methods. It is shown that this metrics successfully estimate the availability of a P2P file-sharing system. Then, using presence-based measures to make a better estimate of a parameter in a highly-available system, we achieve a 75% decrease in resource usage relative to an existing technique relying on traditional metrics.
Keynote Address: IBM Perspectives on the Electrical Design Automation Industry

This address will highlight the history of Design Automation at IBM as a developer/user and as a business; the unique marriage of internal software and commercial software within IBM; and the responsibilities of a hardware and software platform supplier to support the design automation task.
Speculation agents for dynamic multi-period continuous double auctions in B2B exchanges

Business to business (B2B) exchanges provide opportunities for companies to streamline their supply chains in dynamic business situations, but they also create new management challenges. Managers are faced with more frequent buying and selling decisions, more available information, and even new problems such as speculation. Due to these new challenges, trading support systems play an important role in helping companies to achieve maximum profits in B2B exchanges. In this paper, we focus on providing support for two core capabilities, bidding and speculating, in the context of B2B exchanges with continuous double auctions (CDA). Our work extends previous research on bidding agents to more dynamic and realistic B2B exchange situations where both demands and supplies change from period to period. Changes in demand and supply cause price fluctuations and motivate companies to speculate on inventory. The action of speculation is one fundamental aspect of exchanges in general, and is the main way in which B2B exchanges can hedge against costly shortages. We develop a multiagent system in which a speculation agent makes speculation decisions for a given buyer or seller and interacts with a set of bidding agents. The related algorithms are discussed in detail. We also propose a theoretical model for the economic equilibrium in this dynamic situation. Under various market conditions, the experiments show that our system significantly increases the overall profit of the entire market.
The Search for the Source of Epistemic Good

Knowledge has almost always been treated as good, better than mere true belief, but it is remarkably difficult to explain what it is about knowledge that makes it better. I call this "the value problem." I have previously argued that most forms of reliabilism cannot handle the value problem. In this article I argue that the value problem is more general than a problem for reliabilism, infecting a host of different theories, including some that are internalist. An additional problem is that not all instances of true belief seem to be good on balance, so even if a given instance of knowing p is better than merely truly believing p, not all instances of knowing will be good enough to explain why knowledge has received so much attention in the history of philosophy. The article aims to answer two questions: (1) What makes knowing p better than merely truly believing p? The answer involves an exploration of the connection between believing and the agency of the knower. Knowing is an act in which the knower gets credit for achieving truth. (2) What makes some instances of knowing good enough to make the investigation of knowledge worthy of so much attention? The answer involves the connection between the good of believing truths of certain kinds and a good life. In the best kinds of knowing, the knower not only gets credit for getting the truth but also gets credit for getting a desirable truth. The kind of value that makes knowledge a fitting object of extensive philosophical inquiry is not independent of moral value and the wider values of a good life.
Equidistribution of Translates of Curves on Homogeneous Spaces and Dirichlet's Approximation

Understanding the limiting distributions of translates of measures on submanifolds of homogeneous spaces of Lie groups lead to very interesting number theoretic and geometric applications. We explore this theme in various generalities, and in specific cases. Our main tools are Ratner’s theorems on unipotent flows, nondivergence theorems of Dani and Margulis, and dynamics of linear actions of semisimple groups.
Social and Emotional Loneliness: Gender Differences and Relationships with Self-Monitoring and Perceived Control:

Little research focuses on the distinction between emotional and social loneliness, particularly within the African American population. This article provides insight into these overlooked dimensions of loneliness. African American under-graduates (50 men, 50 women) from a large predominantly White, Midwestern university completed measures of social and emotional loneliness, the Revised Self-Monitoring Scale, an index of perceived control, and several sociometric questions. Regression analyses indicated social loneliness—a lack of companionship—was inversely related to “number of close friends” and Ability to Modify Self-Presentation. For men, emotional loneliness—lack of intimacy with friends—was inversely related to having a reciprocated best friend. For women, emotional loneliness was inversely related to perceived control. Sensitivity to the Expressive Behavior of Others was significantly and inversely correlated with emotional loneliness only when individuals had high scores on the perceived control ...
Predatory response of Xylocoris flavipes to bruchid pests of stored food legumes

Biological control may provide an affordable and sustainable option for reducing losses to pest Bruchidae in stored food legumes, a crucial source of human dietary protein. Previous investigations have focused primarily on the role of parasitism in bruchid biological control, while the potential of generalist predators has been comparatively unexplored. The true bug Xylocoris flavipes (Reuter) (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) exhibited a Type II functional response to the majority of cosmopolitan bruchid species evaluated when data were fit to Holling’s disc equation. A negative correlation was detected between mean pest species body weight and rate of predation. The rate of attack on adult prey was quite low but fairly consistent, with the larger-sized female predators generally more effective. The eggs and neonate larvae of Acanthoscelides obtectus Say (Coleoptera: Bruchidae) were the only accessible immature stages among all prey species examined; predation on A. obtectus eggs and larvae was higher than on any adult bruchids. Mean predator kill of A. obtectus immature stages was 40 first instars or 10 ‐20 eggs per 24-h interval. Further investigation of the biological control potential of X. flavipes against pest Bruchidae is merited due to the predator’s ability to kill adult stages of all prey species evaluated.
Lung scan and shunted childhood hydrocephalus.

SUMMARY Twenty-six lung scans, using 1131macroaggregates of human serum albumin, were performed on twenty hydrocephalics with ventriculo-atrial shunts. Perfusion defects characteristic of pulmonary emboli were present in three asymptomatic hydrocephalic children; one had microscopic emboli at autopsy. The initial shunt had been inserted at least 3 years prior to lung scanning in each of these patients. This suggests that hydrocephalics with ventriculo-atrial shunts may remain at risk for developing cardiopulmonary complications for many years. The lung scan is a safe and simple procedure which can help to diagnose thromboembolic complications in the shunted patient. RESUME Vingt six scintigraphies pulmonaires utilisant des macro-agregats d'albumine de serum humain marques a l'iode 131 ont ete“realisees chez 20 enfants hydrocephales porteurs d'un shunt atrio-ventriculaire. Des defauts de perfusion, des signes d'embolie pulmonaire ont ete rencontres dans trois cas d'hydrocephalie asymptomatique. L'un d'entre eux avait une embolie microscopique a l'autopsie. Le shunt initial avait ete realise au moins trois ans et demi avant la scintigraphic pulmonaire chez chacun des malades. Ceci suggere que le shunt ventriculo-atrial chez l'hydro-cephale peut entretenir des complications cardio-pulmonaires de nombreuses annes. La scintigraphic pulmonaire est un procede simple et sans danger qui peut aider au diagnostic de complication thrombo-embolique chez les sujets porteurs de shunts. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Bei 20 hydrocephalischen Kindern mit ventriculo-atrialen Shunts wurden 26 Lun-genszintigraphien mit J131Makroaggregaten von menschlichem Serumalbumin durchgefuhrt. Die fur Lungenembolien charakteristischen Perfusionsdefekte fanden sich bei drei asymptomatischen hydrocephalischen Kindern; eines hatte bei der Autopsie mikroskopische Embolien. Der erste Shunt war bei alien diesen Patienten mindestens 3 bis 1/2 Jahr vor der Lungenszintigraphie eingesetzt worden. Daraus geht hervor, das ein Hydrocephalus mit ventriculo-atrialem Shunt fiir viele Jahre das Risiko cardio-pulmonaler Komplikationen einschliest. Die Lungenszintigraphie ist eine sichere und einfache Methode, die bei der Diagnose thrombo-embolischer Komplikationen bei einem geshunteten Patienten helfen kann. RESUMEN ‘Scanning“pulmonar en ninos con hidrocefalia con volvula Se realizaron scannings pulmonares utilizando I131macroagregados de seroalbumina humana en 20 ninos con hidrocefal;a y derivacion ventriculo-atrial. Se observaron defectos de perfusion caracteristicos de embolias pulmonares en tres ninos con hidrocefalia sin otros sintomas, uno de los cuales presento una embolia micro-scopica en la autopsia. La derivacon inicial se habia insertado por lo menos tres anos y medio antes de realizarse el scanning pulmonar. Ello sugiere que los hidrocefalicos con derivaciones ventriculo-atrales sufren durante muchos anos el riesgo de complicaciones cardio-pulmonares. El scanning pulmonar es un metodo simple e inocuo que ayuda al diagnostico de las complicaciones trombo-embo1icas en este tipo de pacientes.
A Tele-ultrasound System for Real-time Medical Imaging in Resource-limited Settings

Ultrasound has great potential as an imaging technology in resource-limited environments. We present a novel tele-ultrasound approach designed to realize that potential by connecting a remote technician to a radiologist. Our preliminary system, based on open-source software and commercial off-the-shelf hardware, uses custom software and a satellite Internet connection to create this link. We also present the results of testing this system in both laboratory and real-world environments.
Three Levels of Lateral Inhibition: A Space–Time Study of the Retina of the Tiger Salamander

The space–time patterns of activity generated across arrays of retinal neurons can provide a sensitive measurement of the effects of neural interactions underlying retinal activity. We measured the excitatory and inhibitory components associated with these patterns at each cellular level in the retina and further dissected inhibitory components pharmacologically. Using perforated and loose patch recording, we measured the voltages, currents, or spiking at 91 lateral positions covering ∼2 mm in response to a flashed 300-μm-wide bar. First, we showed how the effect of well known lateral inhibition at the outer retina, mediated by horizontal cells, evolved in time to compress the spatial representation of the stimulus bar at ON and OFF bipolar cell bodies as well as horizontal cells. Second, we showed, for the first time, how GABAC receptor mediated amacrine cell feedback to bipolar terminals compresses the spatial representation of the stimulus bar at ON bipolar terminals over time. Third, we showed that a third spatiotemporal compression exists at the ganglion cell layer that is mediated by feedforward amacrine cells via GABAA receptors. These three inhibitory mechanisms, via three different receptor types, appear to compensate for the effects of lateral diffusion of activity attributable to dendritic spread and electrical coupling between retinal neurons. As a consequence, the width of the final representation at the ganglion cell level approximates the dimensions of the original stimulus bar.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Associated with the Use of Sandostatin® LAR® Depot in a Patient with Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor. An Association or a Coincidence? The First Case Report

Context Sandostatin ® LAR ® depot is a synthetic analogue of the naturally occurring hormone somatostatin and is indicated for certain patients with acromegaly and severe diarrhea and flushing episodes associated with metastatic carcinoid tumors and for the long-term treatment of the profuse watery diarrhea associated with VIP-secreting tumors in patients in whom initial treatment with immediate release Sandostatin ® injection has been shown to be effective and tolerated. The most common toxicities include biliary disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, injection-site pain, hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Rheumatoid arthritis or similar toxicities have not been associated with Sandostatin ® LAR ® depot. Case report We present a 53-year-old female with a history of neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas with metastasis to the liver, lung developed joint pains in the hands as well as feet accompanied with intermittent swelling in the morning and pain in the bilateral joints in the hands as well as feet following 45 th cycle of Sandostatin ® LAR ® depot at a dose of 30 mg. All the work-up including rheumatoid factor, anti nuclear antibody, cryoglobulins were within normal limits except her erythrocyte sedimentation rate was elevated. No radiological abnormalities were revealed. Her symptoms improved after we reduced the dose to 20 mg. Discussion Her Naranjo scale was 7, suggesting a probable relation. The patient had four signs and symptoms as required by the American College of Rheumatology for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. The association of the rheumatoid arthritis with Sandostatin ® LAR ® depot may be a rare complication but with the extended use beyond acromegaly and carcinoid to acute esophageal variceal bleeding, pancreatic pseudocysts, gastrointestinal, and pancreatic external fistulae, short bowel syndrome, a dumping syndrome and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-related refractory hypersecretory diarrhea, physicians should be made aware of this probable toxicity. Further research is warranted to understand this association. Image: NY-Presbyterian Hosp from water jeh (by Jim Henderson). Wikimedia Commons .
Reply by Author to D. J. Zigrang

Actually, when considering many launchings, Eq. (2) reduces to npwp/(l — p), and, if small values of p are the situation, then a further approximation leads to the expression n pwp, which is identical to Eq. (1). The fundamental difference between Eqs. (1) and (2) is most simply explained by the fact that Eq. (1) does not consider the losses of the replaced pay loads and, therefore, will always be less in value than Eq. (2) by approximately the factor (1 — p). References 1 Zigrang, D. J., "Comment on cost minimization of a space system by multiple launchings," J. Spacecraft Rockets 1,447 (1964). 2 Alien, R. W., "Cost minimization of a space system by multiple launchings," J. Spacecraft Rockets 1, 112-113 (1964).
Dietary regulation of the hepatic system n glutamine transporter in tumor-bearing rats.

Background Hepatocytes possess a novel, plasma-membrane, sodium ion (Na + )-independent, glutamine transporter (system n), which functions to transport glutamine out of the cell into the blood. In the tumor-bearing rat, the activity of system n increases but its regulation is unknown. We hypothesized that the increase in system n that occurs in rats with cancer was related to a fall in the circulating glutamine concentration. Methods Ten male rats underwent flank implantation with a cube of methylcholanthrene-induced fibrosarcoma cells and 10 rats underwent a sham operation. After 9 days of standard diet, all rats were randomized to receive either a glutamine-enriched oral diet or an isonitrogenous diet without supplemental ghitamine, for 1 week. Tumors and livers were harvested 16 days postimplantation. Arterial blood samples were obtained from all animals. Hepatic plasma membrane vesicles were prepared and the carriermediated, Na+-independent transport of glutamine was assayed. Results When compared to nontumor-bearing animals, tumor-bearing rats that were fed a control diet exhibited hypoglutaminemia and a 2.3-fold increase in the activity of system n. Glutamine dietary supplementation produced blood glutamine levels that were similar in both tumor-bearing and nontumor-bearing rats, apparently abrogating the increase in system n activity that was observed in tumor-bearing rats that were not fed supplemental glutamine. Tumor-bearing animals receiving supplemental glutamine had a decreased number of system n carriers (V max ) in the hepatic plasma membrane compared to that of tumor-bearing animals receiving a control diet; this apparently abrogated the glutamine efflux rate. Glutamine feeding did not alter system n activity in nontumor-bearing controls. Conclusions In the tumor-bearing animal model, system n is modulated by the circulating glutamine concentration. This is the first study that demonstrates the ability of specialized nutrition to “downregulate” transport activity in vivo. Provision of glutamine-enriched diets to the host with cancer may maintain hepatic glutamine levels and prevent host glutamine depletion.
Anxiety disorders in older adults: a comprehensive review†

This review aims to address issues unique to older adults with anxiety disorders in order to inform potential changes in the DSM-V. Prevalence and symptom expression of anxiety disorders in late life, as well as risk factors, comorbidity, cognitive decline, age of onset, and treatment efficacy for older adults are reviewed. Overall, the current literature suggests: (a) anxiety disorders are common among older age individuals, but less common than in younger adults; (b) overlap exists between anxiety symptoms of younger and older adults, although there are some differences as well as limitations to the assessment of symptoms among older adults; (c) anxiety disorders are highly comorbid with depression in older adults; (d) anxiety disorders are highly comorbid with a number of medical illnesses; (e) associations between cognitive decline and anxiety have been observed; (f) late age of onset is infrequent; and (g) both pharmacotherapy and CBT have demonstrated efficacy for older adults with anxiety. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for the DSM-Vare provided, including extending the text section on age-specific features of anxiety disorders in late life and providing information about the complexities of diagnosing anxiety disorders in older adults. Depression and Anxiety 27:190–211, 2010. r 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Online planning for optimal protector strategies in resource conservation games

Protecting our environment and natural resources is a major global challenge. "Protectors" (law enforcement agencies) try to protect these natural resources, while "extractors" (criminals) seek to exploit them. In many domains, such as illegal fishing, the extractors know more about the distribution and richness of the resources than the protectors, making it extremely difficult for the protectors to optimally allocate their assets for patrol and interdiction. Fortunately, extractors carry out frequent illegal extractions, so protectors can learn about the richness of resources by observing the extractor's behavior. This paper presents an approach for allocating protector assets based on learning from extractors. We make the following four specific contributions: (i) we model resource conservation as a repeated game; (ii) we transform this repeated game into a POMDP by adopting a fixed model for the adversary's behavior, which cannot be solved by the latest general POMDP solvers due to its exponential state space; (iii) in response, we propose GMOP, a dedicated algorithm that combines Gibbs sampling with Monte Carlo tree search for online planning in this POMDP; (iv) for a specific class of our game, we can speed up the GMOP algorithm without sacrificing solution quality, as well as provide a heuristic that trades off solution quality for lower computational cost.
Assembling cell context-specific gene sets: a case in cardiomyopathy.

Summary An increasing amount of evidence suggests that canonical pathways and standard molecular signature databases are incomplete and inadequate to model the complex behavior of cell physiology and pathology. Yet, many Gene Set Analysis (GSA) studies still rely on these databases to identify disease biomarkers and molecular mechanisms within a specific cell context. While tremendous effort has been invested in developing GSA tools, there is limited number of studies focusing on de novo assembly of contextspecific gene sets as opposed to simply applying GSA using the standard gene set database. In this paper, we propose a pipeline to derive the entire collection of Cell context-Specific Gene Sets (CSGS) from a molecular interaction network, based on the hypothesis that molecular events linked to a specific phenotypic response should cluster within a subnet of interacting genes. Gene sets are assigned using both physical properties of the network and functional annotations of the neighboring nodes. The identified gene sets could provide a precise starting point such that the downstream GSA will cover all functional pathways in this particular cell context and, at the same time, avoid the noise and excessive multiple-hypothesis testing due to inclusion of irrelevant gene sets from the standard database. We applied the pipeline in the context of cardiomyopathy and demonstrated its superiority over MSigDB gene set collection in terms of: (i) reproducibility and robustness in GSA, (ii) effectiveness in uncovering molecular mechanisms associated with cardiomyopathy, and (iii) the performance in distinguishing diseased vs. normal states.
THE VOW AS VISUAL FEAST. HONORING ST. JOSEPH IN SICILIAN AMERICAN HOMES // ZAOBLJUBA KOT VIZUALNI PRAZNIK. ČAŠČENJE SV. JOŽEFA V DOMOVIH AMERIŠKIH SICILIJANCEV

This article discusses the home altars built by Sicilian American women to honor St. Joseph in the seaport community of Gloucester in the state of Massachusetts. Of particular importance when considering the communicative and creative esthetics of this belief and practice is the rich way this votive tradition expresses and exemplifies nine fundamental characteristics of vernacular Catholicism. Prispevek obravnava domace oltarje, ki jih ameriske Sicilijanke v pristaniski skupnosti v Gloucesterju (Massachusetts) postavljajo v cast sv. Jožefu. Ob obravnavi komunikacijske in ustvarjalne estetike verovanja in prakse je posebnega pomena bogatost votivne tradicije, ki izraža in ponazarja devet temeljnih znacilnosti vernakularnega katolistva.
Antibodies reactive with human immunodeficiency virus gag-coded antigens (gag reactive only) are a major cause of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay reactivity in a blood donor population.

Normal blood donors were examined for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-reactive antibodies with both virus- and Escherichia coli-expressed env- and gag-coded antigens. The frequency of samples from normal (low-risk) donors that were repeatedly reactive with an HIV enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay blood screening test (Du Pont Co.) was 0.6%. Two classes of HIV serological reactivity were identified: a minor env-reactive class (0.03 to 0.06% of donors) and the predominant env-nonreactive gag-reactive class (gag reactive only [GRO]) (0.4 to 0.5% of donors). Assignment of env reactivity was made by a synthetic (recombinant) env enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and virus immunoblot. Most GRO sera reacted with p15/p17 bands on HIV immunoblot. Antibody specificity in GRO sera was confirmed by competition-binding studies with viral gag and E. coli-expressed p55gag. This study provides independent verification that gag-specific antibodies are present in many env-nonreactive sera. More serological and virological studies of individuals with this antibody pattern should be pursued to determine the origin of these gag-reactive antibodies. Images