cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Barriers to End-of-life Discussions in the Primary Care Setting

Background: The Patient Self Determination Act was passed in 1991 and requires healthcare facilities to present patients with information regarding advanced directives. Since that time, there has been no improvement in the number of patients reported to have had such discussions. Numerous barriers to these discussions exist both on the patient and provider side. This study aims to identify barriers to end of life discussions among providers in the primary care setting. Methods: The study population included practicing primary care physicians in the OhioHealth system. They were administered an anonymous questionnaire addressing demographic information and questions specific to end of life discussions and what barriers exist. Results: A majority of primary care physicians reported engaging in end of life discussions with their patients. A majority of physicians cited lack of time as a barrier to having these discussions. There was a statistically significant age difference among primary care physicians who reported they have end of life discussions with their patients and among these physicians there was a statistically significant increase in their level of comfort having these discussions. Conclusion: Primary care physicians further into their career reported having end of life discussions more frequently and felt more comfortable doing so. Additionally, physicians cite lack of time as the most common barrier to holding end of life discussions.
The case of Kawasaki disease after rituximab infusion triggered by human anti-chimeric antibodies.

Rituximab (RTX) is an effective treatment for refractory nephrotic syndrome (NS), but may produce human anti-chimeric antibodies (HACA) which can cause severe infusion reaction or rituximab-induced serum sickness (RISS). RISS presents with a fever, rash, and arthralgia, which typically occurs 7–21 days after RTX infusion. On the other hand, Kawasaki disease (KD) also presents with fever and rash. There have been no reports of KD developed after RTX infusion. A 6-year-old girl with frequently relapsing NS was admitted to our hospital for fever and rash on day 7 after receiving RTX. Although it was suggestive of RISS at first, she also had conjunctival hyperemia, swelling, and erythema of the hands and feet, and a right coronary artery abnormality on echocardiography. Her symptoms met the diagnostic criteria of KD. We administered intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) (2 g/kg), and her symptoms resolved within a few days. The HACA titer determined using the serum collected at admission was very high. This is the first report of KD with a clinical course similar to RISS. It should be noted that a careful follow-up of coronary arteries should be performed in patients suspected of RISS.
The Nuclear Legacy Today of Fukushima

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) following the Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in March 2011 changed people's perceptions regarding nuclear...
Disordered eating among college students: The effects of parental attachment and the mediating role of emotion dysregulation.

The current study explored the relationship between parental attachment and disordered eating among college students. This study also explored the potential mediating role of factors associated wit...
Ultra-Early Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Prophylaxis in Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage (sICH).

Objective To determine if ultra-early ( Background Patients with ICH have a high risk of VTE. Pharmacological prophylaxis such as unfractionated heparin (UFH) have been demonstrated to reduce VTE. However, published datasets exclude patients with recent ICH out of concern for hematoma enlargement. American Heart/Stroke Association guidelines recommend UFH 1–4 days after hematoma stabilization while the European Stroke Organization has no recommendations on when to begin UFH. Our institutional practice is to obtain stability CT scans at 6 to 24 h and to begin UFH following documented clinical and radiologic stability. We examined the impact of this practice on hematoma expansion. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of consecutive ICH patients treated at a single tertiary academic referral center in the US. Demographic and clinical characteristics were abstracted. ICH volume was measured via 3D volumetrics for a CT head done on admission, follow-up stability, and prior to discharge. The primary outcome was analyzed as ≥3 mL hematoma enlargement. Secondary outcomes include hematoma expansion of ≥6mL and ≥ 33%, length of stay (LOS), discharge disposition and mortality. Results A total of 163 ICH patients were analyzed. There were 58 (35.6%) patients in the ultra-early UFH group and UFH was initiated on average at 13.8 h from initial scan. There were 105 (64.6%) patients in the standard group who initiated UFH at an average of 46.6 h. The primary outcome of hematoma enlargement ≥3 mL was observed in 2/58(3.4%) patients with ultra-early initiation of UFH and in 7/105(6.7%) in the standard group (p=0.49). Secondary outcomes were not significant including hematoma expansion in the ultra-early group ≥ 6 mL 3/58 (5.2%) and ≥33% 7/58 (12.1%) (p=0.91, 0.61, respectively) as well as mortality or LOS. Conclusion Venous thromboembolism prophylaxis started ultra-early (≤24 h) after ICH was not associated with hematoma expansion.
Measurements of undulator radiation power noise and comparison with ab initio calculations

A new way of measuring a vital property of electron beams helps prepare researchers for next-generation synchrotron light sources.
The Hypertension Related Gene G-Protein Coupled Receptor Kinase 4 Contributes to Breast Cancer Proliferation

Purpose:Clinical studies have shown that breast cancer risk is increased in hypertensive women. The underlying molecular mechanism remains undetermined. The current study tests our hypothesis that ...
Financial Feasibility and Emission Analysis of Entirely Renewable Sources Based Stand-alone Energy System

Remote regions where diesel-based electricity generation happens to be sole mean for power - is making severely negative impact through Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission as well as lack of financial feasibility of the system. Thus, this study presents a feasibility analysis from economic and environmental perspectives of entirely renewable energy (RE) sources based (solar and wind) standalone hybrid microgrid. Different combinations of RE sources examined for minimal GHG emission and financial viability under two circumstances - with and without considering a set of vital system constraints. Optimized participations of RE sources in hybrid microgrid architecture are found that resulted in maximum GHG emission reduction along with reducing reliance upon diesel generators at isolated chosen site. The study justifies solar and wind resources incorporating hybrid microgrid in terms of economic valuations towards financial feasibility of power system which stand firmly in favor of the solely renewable energy sources based microgrid's economic feasibility.
Managing Anemia across the Stages of Kidney Disease in Those Hyporesponsive to Erythropoiesis-Stimulating Agents.

Background Patients with CKD frequently have anemia that results from iron-restricted erythropoiesis and inflammation. Anemia of CKD is currently managed with iron supplements and erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) to promote erythropoiesis and with RBC transfusion in severe cases. Hyporesponse to ESAs, or the need for larger than usual doses to attain a given hemoglobin (Hb) level, is associated with increased morbidity and mortality and presents a pressing clinical challenge, particularly for patients on dialysis. This paper reviews ESA hyporesponse and potential new therapeutic options in the management of anemia of CKD. Summary The most common causes of ESA hyporesponse include iron deficiency and inflammation, and to a lesser degree, secondary hyperparathyroidism, inadequate dialysis, malnutrition, and concomitant medications. Management of ESA hyporesponse is multipronged and involves treating low level infections, ensuring adequate nutrition, and optimizing iron status and dialysis modality, although some patients can remain refractory. Inflammation directly increases production and secretion of hepcidin, contributes to an impaired response to hypoxia, and suppresses proliferation of erythroid progenitors. Coordination of renal and hepatic erythropoietin (EPO) production and iron metabolism is under the control of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF), which are in turn regulated by HIF-prolyl hydroxylases (HIF-PHs). HIF-PHs and hepcidin are therefore attractive potential drug targets particularly in patients with ESA hyporesponse. Several oral HIF-PH inhibitors have been evaluated in patients with anemia of CKD and have been shown to increase Hb and reduce hepcidin regardless of inflammation, iron status, or dialysis modality. These sustained effects are achieved through more modest increases in endogenous EPO compared with ESAs. Key Messages: Treatments that address ESA hyporesponse remain a significant unmet clinical need in patients with anemia of CKD. New therapies such as HIF-PH inhibitors have the potential to address fundamental aspects of ESA hyporesponse and provide a new therapeutic option in these patients.
Quick Reference Guides of Commonly Prescribed Drugs and Doses

This chapter is a quick reference guide to commonly prescribed medications in the treatment of acute migraine, migraine prevention, and chronic migraines. Medications are broken down by class. Medications are presented with commonly prescribed doses for the treatment of migraines with dosing adjustments for different disease states and pediatric dosing when applicable. Common adverse reactions and contraindications are also included. Acute management includes nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), triptans, antiemetics, antipsychotics, ergots, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) blockers, and others. Migraine prevention and chronic migraine management include beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin-receptor blockers (ACE/ARBs), selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), CGRP blockers. This chapter is not intended to be an exhaustive review of each medication and instead aims to serve as a guide that clinicians can reference quickly to discover what medications may benefit their patients. Clinicians are encouraged to do more research about the specifics of each medication and how it interacts with other medications the patient may be on as well as how their past medical history may influence the use of each medication.
ProtoCF: Prototypical Collaborative Filtering for Few-shot Recommendation

In recent times, deep learning methods have supplanted conventional collaborative filtering approaches as the backbone of modern recommender systems. However, their gains are skewed towards popular items with a drastic performance drop for the vast collection of long-tail items with sparse interactions. Moreover, we empirically show that prior neural recommenders lack the resolution power to accurately rank relevant items within the long-tail. In this paper, we formulate long-tail item recommendations as a few-shot learning problem of learning-to-recommend few-shot items with very few interactions. We propose a novel meta-learning framework ProtoCF that learns-to-compose robust prototype representations for few-shot items. ProtoCF utilizes episodic few-shot learning to extract meta-knowledge across a collection of diverse meta-training tasks designed to mimic item ranking within the tail. To further enhance discriminative power, we propose a novel architecture-agnostic technique based on knowledge distillation to extract, relate, and transfer knowledge from neural base recommenders. Our experimental results demonstrate that ProtoCF consistently outperforms state-of-art approaches on overall recommendation (by 5% Recall@50) while achieving significant gains (of 60-80% Recall@50) for tail items with less than 20 interactions.
Conformational Changes of RORγ During Response Element Recognition and Coregulator Engagement

Abstract The retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor γ (RORγ) is a ligand-dependent transcription factor of the nuclear receptor super family that underpins metabolic activity, immune function, and cancer progression. Despite being a valuable drug target in health and disease, our understanding of the ligand-dependent activities of RORγ is far from complete. Like most nuclear receptors, RORγ must recruit coregulatory protein to enact the RORγ target gene program. To date, a majority of structural studies have been focused exclusively on the RORγ ligand-binding domain and the ligand-dependent recruitment of small peptide segments of coregulators. Herein, we examine the ligand-dependent assembly of full length RORγ:coregulator complexes on cognate DNA response elements using structural proteomics and small angle x-ray scattering. The results from our studies suggest that RORγ becomes elongated upon DNA recognition, preventing long range interdomain crosstalk. We also determined that the DNA binding domain adopts a sequence-specific conformation, and that coregulatory protein may be able to ‘sense’ the ligand- and DNA-bound status of RORγ. We propose a model where ligand-dependent coregulator recruitment may be influenced by the sequence of the DNA to which RORγ is bound. Overall, the efforts described herein will illuminate important aspects of full length RORγ and monomeric orphan nuclear receptor target gene regulation through DNA-dependent conformational changes.
Not at the Behest of Nonlabor Groups: A Revised Prognosis for a Maturing Sports Industry

For most of its history, professional athletics was governed by the unilateral decisions of team owners acting in a league format. In the last twelve years, however, a variety of sporting groups, through access to the judicial system and a changed perception of the legal status of sports, have forced the owners to share the power and wealth derived from the games. Players, unions, agents and rival leagues all now participate, in some form, in the decisions which will shape the future of sports. In the course of this growth, the sports industry has matured into a national business possessed of all the power and problems which adhere to that status. Future legal disputes between the components of the industry should be governed by the same general principles of antitrust and labor law which regulate other profit oriented enterprises of similar magnitude. The unique nature of professional athletics, however, dictates that certain traditional concepts be specially adapted to particular sporting contexts.
Another Look at 'Coveting Thy Neighbor's Manufacturing'

Goolsbee and Maydew (2000) reported that lowering the weight on payroll in states’ corporate income tax apportionment formulae had the potential to raise manufacturing employment. Their analyses continue to be cited in academic articles and are still influential in the policy debate. I gather data and attempt to replicate their analyses and findings. I identify an apparent but inconsequential error in G&M’s sample and I replicate the most widely cited result in the original paper. Other results are substantively but not quantitatively replicated. I show that G&M’s results are sensitive to relatively arbitrary choices about the sample that is used. I argue that the most cited result in the paper does not come from the most preferred econometric specification and that when the most preferred econometric specification is used G&M’s original paper found no statistically significant evidence that lowering the apportionment weight on payroll raises employment. Similarly when I use this specification with data covering the period G&M studied (1978 to 1994) I find no statistically significant evidence for this hypothesis. When I extend the data set forward in time to 2010 and rerun the same specifications I find results similar to those found with the earlier data but I find increased statistical significance when standard errors are not clustered by state. When standard errors are clustered by state, as is now common econometric practice, none of the key estimated coefficients are statistically significant. I get very similar results whether I use manufacturing employment or manufacturing payroll as the dependent variable.In summary, econometric evidence to support the hypothesis that changes in the payroll weight affected the distribution of manufacturing employment among US states in the 1978 to 1994 period appears less strong than G&M asserted even when using G&M’s data and methods. However, more recent data lends some support to G&M’s conclusion but the econometric evidence is still weak by current standards.
Clostridium botulinum Type E in Fish from the Great Lakes

Bott, Thomas L. (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Janet S. Deffner, Elizabeth McCoy, and E. M. Foster. Clostridium botulinum type E in fish from the Great Lakes. J. Bacteriol. 91:919–924. 1966.—The intestinal contents of more than 3,000 fish from Lakes Erie, Superior, Huron, and Michigan were examined for Clostridium botulinum type E. Demonstration of the organism was accomplished by identifying its toxin in liquid cultures inoculated with material from the alimentary tract. Incidence figures, expressed as per cent of the fish tested, were: Lake Erie, 1%; Lake Superior, 1%; Lake Huron, 4%; the main body of Lake Michigan, 9%; and Green Bay (on Lake Michigan), 57%. Thus, C. botulinum type E appears to be widely but unevenly distributed in the Great Lakes, and fish from all areas are potential carriers of it.
A whole-mount immunocytochemical analysis of the expression of the intermediate filament protein vimentin in Xenopus

We have developed a whole-mount immunocytochemical method for Xenopus and used it to map the expression of the intermediate filament protein vimentin during early embryogenesis. We used two monoclonal antibodies, 14h7 and RV202. Both label vimentin filaments in Xenopus A6 cells, RV202 reacts specifically with vimentin (Mr, 55 × 10(3] on Western blots of A6 cells and embryos. 14h7 reacts with vimentin and a second, insoluble polypeptide of 57 × 10(3) Mr found in A6 cells. The 57 × 10(3) Mr polypeptide appears to be an intermediate filament protein immunochemically related to vimentin. In the whole-mount embryo, we first found vimentin at the time of neural tube closure (stage 19) in cells located at the lateral margins of the neural tube. By stage 26, these cells, which are presumably radial glia, are present along the entire length of the neural tube and in the tail bud. Cells in the optic vesicles express vimentin by stage 24. Vimentin-expressing mesenchymal cells appear on the surface of the somites at stage 22/23; these cells appear first on anterior somites and on progressively more posterior somites as development continues. Beginning at stage 24, vimentin appears in mesenchymal cells located ventral to the somites and associated with the pronephric ducts; these ventral cells first appear below the anterior somites and later appear below more posterior somites. The dorsal fin mesenchyme expresses vimentin at stage 26. In the head, both mesodermally-derived and neural-crest-derived mesenchymal tissues express vimentin by stage 26. These include the mesenchyme of the branchial arches, the mandibular arch, the corneal epithelium, the eye, the meninges and mesenchyme surrounding the otic vesicle. By stage 33, vimentin-expressing mesenchymal cells are present in the pericardial cavity and line the vitelline veins. Vimentin expression appears to be a marker for the differentiation of a subset of central nervous system cells and of head and body mesenchyme in the early Xenopus embryo.
Determining the skeletal description of sparse shapes

A variety of techniques in machine vision involve representation of objects by using their shape skeleton. In this paper we present a method to obtain the skeletal shape of binary images in the presence of both boundary noise and noise occurring inside object regions. We propose to obtain the skeletal shape of such images by a modified version of the Kohonen self-organizing map, implemented in a batch processing mode. The modifications allow the map to adapt to the input shape distribution. At each iteration, a competitive Hebbian rule is used to progressively compute the Delaunay triangulation of the shape. Information from the triangulation augments the map topology to yield the final skeletal shape. The batch mode implementation of the self-organizing process, allows our approach to compare very favourably, in terms of computational time, with the traditional flowthrough implementations. Encouraging experimental performance has been obtained on a variety of shapes under varying signal to noise ratios.
Restricted Theological Voluntarism

In addressing objections to the theological voluntarist program, the consensus response by defenders of theological voluntarism has been to affirm a restricted theological voluntarism on which some, but not all, important normative statuses are to be explained by immediate appeal to the divine will. The aim of this article is to assess the merits and demerits of this restricted view. While affirming the restricted view does free theological voluntarism from certain objections, it comes at the cost of committing the theological voluntarist to the view that no theses about the divine nature itself could alone be sufficient to motivate a theological voluntarist thesis about any normative status. And when we examine the case for a theological voluntarist account of any particular normative status – say, rightness, or obligatoriness – there are severe difficulties with that case as it stands. It is thus unclear whether the theological voluntarist program of providing good reasons to affirm a voluntarist explanation of non-trivially-theistic normative statuses has borne fruit.
Outcome in Patients With Myelodysplastic Syndrome After Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

PURPOSE: The absolute risk of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) after autologous bone marrow transplant (ABMT) for non–Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) exceeds 5% in several reported series. We report the outcome of a large cohort of patients who developed MDS after ABMT for NHL. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between December 1982 and December 1997, 552 patients underwent ABMT for NHL, with a uniform ablative regimen of cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation followed by reinfusion of obtained marrow purged with monoclonal antibodies. MDS was strictly defined, using the French-American-British classification system, as requiring bone marrow dysplasia in at least two cell lines, with associated unexplained persistent cytopenias. RESULTS: Forty-one patients developed MDS at a median of 47 months after ABMT. The incidence of MDS was 7.4%, and actuarial incidence at 10 years is 19.8%, without evidence of a plateau. Patients who developed MDS received significantly fewer numbers of cells reinfused per kilogram at ABMT (P = ....
Guaranteed on-demand discovery of node-disjoint paths in ad hoc networks

In recent years, the low cost and abundance of WLAN products has led to the deployment of self-configuring multihop ad hoc networks. Multipath routing has been increasingly studied to improve network reliability and throughput. However, no existing work guarantees discovery of node-disjoint paths when they exist, which limits their applicability in real networks. This paper presents a theoretical framework that establishes the equivalence between multipath discovery and flow network assignment. This equivalence is used to guarantee the on-demand discovery of an arbitrary number of node-disjoint paths between a pair of nodes as long as they exist. We also present an example protocol that integrates the theoretical framework with the Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) protocol to find two node-disjoint paths, which can be easily extended to finding k node-disjoint paths. Analysis of the example protocol demonstrates a good tradeoff between complexity and capability, particularly when compared with existing on-demand multipath routing protocols. Our simulation data shows the effectiveness of the discovered paths.
MO‐E‐213A‐02: Implementating In Vivo Perfusion Measurements Using DCE MRI

Although it may appear relatively straightforward to extract quantitative metrics from static or dynamic imaging data, a variety of details are critical to the establishment of a data acquisition,analysis, and interpretation methodology that can significantly influence the fidelity of a clinical or fundamental investigation of imaging as a biomarker. While typical users will find available commercial tools and apply them, understanding these fundamental steps will help both the local investigator as well as national efforts to standardize the methodologies and understand the limits of information that can usefully be extracted by a given technique. As an example, the use of MRI‐based Dynamic Contrast Enhanced (DCE‐MRI) imaging and analysis of perfusion‐related metrics is described. The optimization of an image acquisition protocol, which varies by the tissue being studied, is presented. The steps to process this temporal data are described, including image registration for analysis of intrahepatic perfusion. The variables typically associated with DCE analysis, including Ktrans , blood flow, blood volume, and mean transit time, are defined. The dependence of these variables on image quality and temporal sampling are briefly mentioned. The step‐by‐step analysis of the data to extract regional information is presented. An example paradigm relating the analyzed metrics to external variables (e.g. local radiation dose) is shown. Learning Objectives: 1. To understand practical issues to extract quantitative imaging metrics 2. To understand how to increase robustness and objectiveness in the analysis 3. To understand limitations of derived quantitative imaging metrics
Chronic Treatment with Mood Stabilizers Increases Membrane GRK3 in Rat Frontal Cortex

Background G-protein receptor kinases (GRKs) are a family of serine/threonine kinases involved in the homologous desensitization of agonist activated G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). G-protein coupled receptor supersensitivity, possibly as a result of decreased GRK, has been suggested in affective disorders. Methods We used immunobloting to determine if chronic, therapeutically relevant doses of lithium (Li + ), carbamazepine (CBZ), and valproate (VPA), would increase GRK2/3 protein levels in rat frontal cortex. Results Chronic Li + (24%) and CBZ (44%) significantly increased GRK3 in the membrane but not cytosol fractions. Chronic VPA had no effect on GRK3. G-protein receptor kinase 2 protein levels were unchanged by all treatments. The GRK3 membrane to cytosol ratio was increased significantly in Li + and CBZ treated rats. Conclusions These results show that chronically administered Li + and CBZ, but not VPA, increase the translocation of GRK3 from cytosol to membrane, possibly correcting supersensitivity of GPCRs in bipolar disorder.
CMDP based adaptive power management in server clusters

Abstract Many high-end computing systems use a large number of power-hungry commercial components to improve performance. Thus power reduction and energy conservation are important in these systems for the purpose of reducing operating costs. Two mechanisms are commonly applied to power reduction in these systems: Dynamic Voltage/Frequency Scaling (DV/FS) and server ON/OFF controlling: Vary-On Vary-Off (VOVF). Previous work addressed the power management issue as an optimization problem and utilized these two mechanisms either separately or together to reduce power consumption. In this paper, we construct a Constrained Markov Decision Process (CMDP) model and propose a CMDP based adaptive power management strategy in web server clusters. Our proposed strategy can greatly reduce the online computation time through an offline initialization process, the online adaptive server adjustment process will further improve system performance and deal with the dynamic changes of workload. It also combines merits from both DV/FS and VOVF mechanisms for better power reduction. The transition overhead caused by server allocation and frequency adjustment is taken into consideration in this work. The CMDP based adaptive power management strategy provides a controllable, predictable, and quantitative control over power consumption with theoretically guaranteed service performance. It is further evaluated via extensive simulations and justified by real workload trace data. The results illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed work.
Diagrammatic Representation in Geometry

In this paper I offer a theory about the nature of diagrammatic representation in geometry. On my view, diagrammatic representaiton differs from pictorial representation in that neither the resemblance between the diagram and its object nor the experience of such a resemblance plays an essential role. Instead, the diagrammatic representation is arises from the role the components of the diagram play in a diagramatic practice that allows us to draws inferences based on them about the ojbects they represent.
On-shell Counterterms and Nonlinear Invariances

For theories with nonlinear invariances it is not sufficient to restrict one's attention to on-shell invariants in order to discuss the infinities of the $S$ matrix. We give examples of models in which $S$-matrix divergences cannot be absorbed by invariant on-shell counterterms, and describe the general situation. We point out the possible relevance of the nonclosure of the algebra of symmetry transformations.
High resolution and high speed wavelength-parallel polarization sensor for dense WDM systems

We report on a wavelength-parallel polarization sensor with potential to perform /spl les/ 4 GHz-spaced sub-channel polarization measurement for multiple dense WDM channels in parallel, with measurement time of less than 5 ms.
Solving the equations of motion for mixed atomistic and coarse-grained systems

A mixed-resolution molecular dynamics technique is presented that permits simulation of large and complex systems that critically depend on a subtle interplay between energy and entropy and, therefore, require both an accurate energy evaluation and an extensive sampling of a large and complex phase space. The computational approach is based upon the idea that many complex systems can be spatially divided into a relatively small active zone (that requires an accurate energy evaluation but, due to its relatively small size, only a limited sampling of phase space) and a relatively large inactive zone (that requires a less accurate energy description but the sampling of a very large phase space). Mixed-resolution models that use an accurate atomistic model for the active zone and an efficient coarse-grained model (that lumps groups of atoms into pseudo-atoms) for the inactive zone are ideally suited for these systems. One challenge in mixed-resolution simulations is creating a seamless connection between low-...
Development and Implementation of a Two-Semester Introductory Organic-Bioorganic Chemistry Sequence: Conclusions from the First Six Years.

A two-semester second-year introductory organic chemistry sequence featuring one semester of accelerated organic chemistry followed by one semester of bioorganic chemistry is described. Assessment data collected over a six-year period reveal that such a course sequence can facilitate student mastery of fundamental organic chemistry in the first organic course, which is then reinforced during a second semester that is centered around the organic chemistry of biological molecules. Furthermore, student responses to the enhanced biological content of the bioorganic chemistry course have been almost universally positive, and selected data and student comments from course evaluations are presented. Finally, key sections of the revised Competency Areas on which the new Medical College Admissions Test will be based are analyzed, indicating that such a revised organic chemistry sequence will likely be particularly beneficial to students hoping to enter health-related fields.
Further Exploring the Strength of Prediction in the Factorization of Soft-Decision Reed–Solomon Decoding

Reed-Solomon (RS) codes are among the most widely utilized error-correcting codes in digital communication and storage systems. Among the decoding algorithms of RS codes, the recently developed Koetter-Vardy (KV) soft-decision decoding algorithm can achieve substantial coding gain, while has a polynomial complexity. One of the major steps of the KV algorithm is the factorization. Each iteration of the factorization mainly consists of root computations over finite fields and polynomial updating. To speed up the factorization step, a fast factorization architecture has been proposed to circumvent the exhaustive-search-based root computation from the second iteration level by using a root-order prediction scheme. Based on this scheme, a partial parallel factorization architecture was proposed to combine the polynomial updating in adjacent iteration levels. However, in both of these architectures, the root computation in the first iteration level is still carried out by exhaustive search, which accounts for a significant part of the overall factorization latency. In this paper, a novel iterative prediction scheme is proposed for the root computation in the first iteration level. The proposed scheme can substantially reduce the latency of the factorization, while only incurs negligible area overhead. Applying this scheme to a (255, 239) RS code, speedups of 36% and 46% can be achieved over the fast factorization and partial parallel factorization architectures, respectively.
Sodium Flurbiprofen for Surgically Induced Miosis and the Control of Inflammation

AbstractSodium flurbiprofen 0.3%, Ocufen (Allergan), is the first commercially available NSAID for topical ophthalmic use. At this time, its sole approved indication is for the prevention of miosis at the time of cataract surgery. This drug or similar agents may have clinical usefulness as adjuncts in controlling intraocular inflammation, but further studies demonstrating their long-term efficacy and toxicity are required.
Comparison of belief networks and rule-based expert systems for fault diagnosis of chemical processes

Abstract Chemical process diagnosis requires a framework to represent and process uncertain and probabilistic knowledge. This paper deals with the use of probability theory as a framework to represent the uncertain elements of the diagnosis problem, and the use of distributed network (parallel) computations to determine the most probable diagnostic hypotheses. Knowledge is represented by belief networks, graph encoding and quantifying causal relations and conditional independence among variables. This representation is contrasted with a rule-based expert system to show how the probabilistic approach can overcome several limitations of expert systems. While constructing a belief network, possible knowledge sources, and their use, validity and integration, are discussed.
Effects of Betel chewing on the central and autonomic nervous systems.

Betel chewing has been claimed to produce a sense of well-being, euphoria, heightened alertness, sweating, salivation, a hot sensation in the body and increased capacity to work. Betel chewing also leads to habituation, addiction and withdrawal. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain poorly understood. Arecoline, the major alkaloid of Areca nut, has been extensively studied, and several effects of betel chewing are thought to be related to the actions of this parasympathomimetic constituent. However, betel chewing may produce complex reactions and interactions. In the presence of lime, arecoline and guvacoline in Areca nut are hydrolyzed into arecaidine and guvacine, respectively, which are strong inhibitors of GABA uptake. Piper betle flower or leaf contains aromatic phenolic compounds which have been found to stimulate the release of catecholamines in vitro. Thus, betel chewing may affect parasympathetic, GABAnergic and sympathetic functions. Betel chewing produces an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, sweating and body temperature. In addition, EEG shows widespread cortical desynchronization indicating a state of arousal. In autonomic function tests, both the sympathetic skin response and RR interval variation are affected. Betel chewing also increases plasma concentrations of norepinephrine and epinephrine. These results suggest that betel chewing mainly affects the central and autonomic nervous systems. Future studies should investigate both the acute and chronic effects of betel chewing. Such studies may further elucidate the psychoactive mechanisms responsible for the undiminished popularity of betel chewing since antiquity.
Insulin-like growth factors cross the blood-brain barrier

Although evidence exists that insulin may cross the blood-brain barrier, little is known about the ability of insulin-like growth factors (IGF-I and -II) to cross this barrier. In the present studies, equimolar concentrations of equal specific activity 125I-labeled IGF-I, IGF-II, or insulin were infused into the carotid artery of anesthetized adult rats. The perfusions were carried out for 3 min in the presence or absence of excess unlabeled ligand or insulin, with three or more animals in each group. Immediately after the perfusion, brains were frozen and sectioned for autoradiography. All ligands were detected in choroid plexus, median eminence, and blood vessels, but [125I]IGF-I and -II were also prominently localized in brain parenchyma. Densitometric analysis of film autoradiographs (28-day exposure for all ligands) revealed that radiolabeled IGFs, especially IGF-I, were significantly more abundant throughout the forebrain than [125I]insulin, especially in the paraventricular nucleus, where [125I]IGF-I was 10-fold and [125I]IGF-II was 5-fold more abundant than [125I]insulin. The difference in [125I]IGF-I vs. [125I]insulin accumulation was confirmed by parallel measurements of radioactivity in anatomically matched brain sections using a gamma-spectrometer. The uptake of radiolabeled IGF-I, IGF-II, and insulin by brain parenchyma and vasculature was completely inhibited by excess (1,000-fold) unlabeled ligand; however, insulin (10,000-fold excess) did not completely abolish [125I]IGF-I and -II accumulation. Microscopic evaluation of nuclear emulsion-coated brain sections revealed that radioactivity associated with [125I]IGF-I and -II perfusions was selectively concentrated in capillaries and medium-sized parenchymal cells in the paraventricular nucleus and, to a lesser extent, the supraoptic nucleus and anterior nucleus of the thalamus, whereas in other brain regions the radioligands were mostly bound to capillaries. These results suggest that radiolabeled IGF-I and -II bind to brain capillaries and cross the blood-brain barrier into brain parenchyma more readily than radiolabeled insulin.
Evaluation of ultra-light-weight proppants for shale fracturing

Abstract The goal of the present work is to evaluate ultra-light-weight proppants for fracturing of shale gas reservoirs. Three proppants (ULW-1, ULW-2, and ULW-3) have been studied. Mechanical properties of proppant packs as well as single proppants have been measured. Conductivity of proppant packs has been determined as a function of proppant concentration and confining stress at 95 °C. ULW-1 and ULW-2 are deformable; ULW-3 is comparatively brittle. The proppant conductivity decreases as the confining stress increases; the conductivity ranges from 1 to 500 mD-ft at 6000 psi. For ULW-1 and ULW-2, the conductivity first decreases (from partial monolayer to monolayer) and then increases (from monolayer to multilayer) with an increase in proppant concentration. A partial monolayer (0.07 lbm/ft2) of ULW-2 provides almost as much conductivity as a thick proppant pack with a concentration of 0.7 lbm/ft2 at various stress levels. The conductivity of ULW-3 increases as the proppant concentration increases. A partial monolayer of ULW-3 is about 10 times as conductive as the partial monolayers of other two proppants, but at higher concentrations, ULW-3 is many hundred times more conductive than the other two proppants. The conductivities of ULW-1 and ULW-2 packs are too low, but that of ULW-3 at high concentrations appears to be high enough for stimulating 1 μD permeability shales.
Complete abolition of the reentrant supraventricular tachycardia zone using a new modality of cardiac pacing with simultaneous atrioventricular stimulation

Abstract In an attempt to prevent recurrent reentrant supraventricular tachycardia, an experimentally designed new pacemaker has been developed. The pacemaker, when connected to both atrial and ventricular electrodes, is capable of sensing either an atrial or ventricular signal and, in turn, triggers simultaneous atrioventricular (A-V) stimulation. Efficacy of this pacemaker was tested in four patients with recurrent paroxysmal A-V nodal reentrant tachycardia during electrpphysiologic studies. After connection of the electrodes to the new pacemaker, all atrial or ventricular premature stimuli elicited simultaneous A-V stimulation with resultant impulse collision in the A-V junction. Consequently, the reentrant tachycardia zone was completely abolished in all patients. This study has thus demonstrated the clinical feasibility of simultaneous A-V pacing to abolish the supraventricular tachycardia zone in man.
QRS wave detection.

A QRS complex detector based on optimum predetection with a matched filter is described. In order to improve the accuracy of the QRS complex recognition under conditions of Gaussian noise and variable QRS amplitude, the first derivative of the e.c.g. was used with zero threshold detection. In addition, two nonlinear circuits cut off low amplitude noise and all spikes which appear for a fixed time after QRS detection. Calculation of errors shows that differentiation reduces Gaussian error by √6 and errors caused by variable QRS amplitudes are close to zero. This detector is especially useful with biotelemetry systems since it reduces many interferences due to patient movement and communication channel distortion.
A Simple Method for Testing Homogeneity of Wood

SOME time ago1 we found that there seems to be a characteristic difference in the structure of the wood used for the building of string instruments: X-ray investigations have shown that the top always exhibits a very marked fibre structure, whereas the back in instruments of good tone quality is nearly homogeneous.
The study of the wear mechanism of titanium carbide coated carbide tools

Abstract Three titanium carbide coated carbide tools were tested under controlled cutting conditions. Tools 1 and 2 were coated bychemical vapor deposition (CVD), while tool 3 was coated by electrophoresis. An extensive metallurgical study was conducted on the brand new (as received) insert as well as on the worn tools after the cutting tests using the scanning electron microscope and the X-ray element analyzer. Under the cutting test conditions, the tool treated by electrophoresis exhibited inferior performance with excessive flank wear as compared to the other two tools. The microanalysis performed on the three tools revealed that (CVD) coated tools have a titanium carbide coating (about 5 μm in thickness) which is clearly distinguishable from the substrate, while the electrophoresis tool did not exhibit any strict visual distinction between the coating and the substrate. There were voids found between the coating and the substrate of tool 1 and these voids persisted after cutting. It was also observed that the high cutting temperature resulted in the diffusion of some iron into cobalt binder phase causing it to fuse and lose its continuity. Both transgranular fractures and intergranular fractures were observed on tool 3 after the cutting operations. Based on these findings, a model of the wear processes of titanium carbide coated tools is proposed in an effort to explain the effect of titanium coating on the cutting performance and wear process of cemented carbide tools.
CTLA4-Ig-based conditioning regimen to induce tolerance to cardiac allografts.

Background Transplant rejection and toxicity associated with chronic immunosuppressive therapy remain a major problem. Mixed hematopoietic chimerism has been shown to produce tolerance to solid organ transplants. However, currently available protocols to induce mixed hematopoietic chimerism invariably require toxic pre-conditioning. In this study, we investigated a non-toxic CTLA4-Ig-based protocol to induce donor-specific tolerance to cardiac allografts in rats. Methods Fully mismatched, 4 to 6 week old ACI (RT1.Aa) and Wistar Furth (RT1.Au) rats were used as cell/organ donors and recipients, respectively. Recipients were treated with CTLA4-Ig 2 mg/kg/day (on days 0, 2, 4, 6, 8), tacrolimus 1 mg/kg/day (daily, from days 0 to 9), and a single dose of anti-lymphocyte serum (10 mg) on day 10, soon after total body irradiation (300 cGy) and donor bone marrow (100 × 106 T-cell depleted cells) transplantation (BMT). Six weeks after BMT, chimeric animals received heterotopic heart transplants. Results Hematopoietic chimerism was 18.8 ± 10.6% at day 30, and was stable (24 ± 10%) at 1 year post-BMT; there was no graft versus host disease. Chimeric recipients (RT1.Au) permanently accepted (>360 days) donor-specific (RT1.Aa; n = 6) hearts, yet rapidly rejected ( 100 days) recipients accepted donor-specific secondary skin grafts (>200 days) while rejected the third-party skin grafts ( Conclusions The CTLA4-Ig based conditioning regimen with donor BMT produced mixed chimerism and induced donor- specific tolerance to cardiac allografts.
Analysis of a Slot Excited by a Semi-Infinite Microstrip Transmission Line

A slot fed by a semi-infinite microstrip line can be used as a radiating element or as a circuit element in filter design. This property is investigated using the method of moments in conjunction with the multiple reflection scheme. An open microstrip line section beyond the slot can be used as a tuning stub. To use the length of the stub as a parameter in the analysis, the problem is divided into two canonical parts: 1) an open-ended microstrip line and 2) a slot fed by an infinite microstrip line. Once the necessary reflection and transmission coefficients are calculated for these canonical problems, they can easily be combined, using a multiple reflection scheme, for any length of stub. Moreover, the reflection coefficient due to multiple slots fed in series by the same line can also be calculated, without additional computation effort, from the basic results of the canonical problems, provided that the field coupling between slots is small. This approach is useful in analyzing a slot array fed in seri...