cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Young patients with chest pain: 1-year outcomes

Abstract Objective Prior studies found that young adult chest pain patients without known cardiac disease with either no cardiac risk factors or a normal electrocardiogram (ECG) are at low risk ( Methods We conducted a prospective cohort study in an urban university emergency department evaluating patients younger than 40 years who received an ECG for evaluation of potential ACS. Cocaine users, cancer patients, and patients with a history of myocardial infarction or revascularization were excluded. Structured data collection at presentation included demographics, chest pain description, history, laboratory results, and ECG data. Hospital course was followed. Follow-up was obtained by telephone, record review, and social security death index search. Our main outcome was 1-year adverse cardiovascular events (death; acute myocardial infarction [AMI]; or revascularization—percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI] or coronary artery bypass graft). Descriptive statistics and 95% confidence intervals were used. Results Of 3846 chest pain patients, 609 met criteria. Of those, 35.5% were admitted. Patients had a mean age of 34.8 years (SD, 3.8 years). They were most often female (57.6%) and black (69.5%). There were 7 patients (1.1%; 95% CI, 0.5%-2.4%) with adverse cardiovascular events over the year. Of the subset of 560 patients with a normal/nonspecific ECG, there were 2 deaths (0.4%), 3 AMI (0.5%), and 2 PCIs (0.4%) by 1 year for a composite adverse cardiovascular event rate of 6 (1.1%; 95% CI, 0.4%-2.3%). Of the subset of 269 patients with no cardiac risk factors and a normal/nonspecific ECG, there were no deaths, 1 AMI, and 1 PCI for a composite adverse cardiovascular event rate at 1 year of 0.3% (0.01%-2.1%). The addition of an initial cardiac marker to this group resulted in a cohort that was event-free at 1 year (95% CI, 0%-1.4%). Conclusions Patients younger than 40 years without a cardiac history who present to the ED with symptoms consistent with ACS but have either no risk factors or a normal or nonspecific ECG have a very low rate of adverse events during the subsequent year.
Structural, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies of specificity designed HIV-1 protease.

HIV-1 protease recognizes and cleaves more than 12 different substrates leading to viral maturation. While these substrates share no conserved motif, they are specifically selected for and cleaved by protease during viral life cycle. Drug resistant mutations evolve within the protease that compromise inhibitor binding but allow the continued recognition of all these substrates. While the substrate envelope defines a general shape for substrate recognition, successfully predicting the determinants of substrate binding specificity would provide additional insights into the mechanism of altered molecular recognition in resistant proteases. We designed a variant of HIV protease with altered specificity using positive computational design methods and validated the design using X-ray crystallography and enzyme biochemistry. The engineered variant, Pr3 (A28S/D30F/G48R), was designed to preferentially bind to one out of three of HIV protease's natural substrates; RT–RH over p2-NC and CA-p2. In kinetic assays, RT–RH binding specificity for Pr3 increased threefold compared to the wild-type (WT), which was further confirmed by isothermal titration calorimetry. Crystal structures of WT protease and the designed variant in complex with RT–RH, CA-p2, and p2-NC were determined. Structural analysis of the designed complexes revealed that one of the engineered substitutions (G48R) potentially stabilized heterogeneous flap conformations, thereby facilitating alternate modes of substrate binding. Our results demonstrate that while substrate specificity could be engineered in HIV protease, the structural pliability of protease restricted the propagation of interactions as predicted. These results offer new insights into the plasticity and structural determinants of substrate binding specificity of the HIV-1 protease.
Generalization of habituation to electrical stimulation of the forelimb in neonatal and preweanling rats

Three- and fifteen-day-old rat pups were tested for stimulus and response generalization to electrical stimulation of the forelimb using an habituation paradigm. Neither 3- nor 15-day-old pups showed generalization of habituation to stimulation applied to a contralateral site, and neither group discriminated between different frequencies of stimulation, although response levels in 15-day-old pups were directly proportional to the interstimulus interval. Finally, these experiments showed that electric shock elicits an entire spectrum of behaviors, all of which habituate in concert. These results suggest that the aimless, generalized response pattern characteristic of the neonatal rat results from an immature motor system rather than from a diffusely organized sensory system.
Paraneoplastic and Other Autoimmune Disorders of the Central Nervous System

As a result of the burgeoning growth of disease-specific neural autoantibody markers available for diagnostic patient evaluation, there has been increasing awareness of autoimmune central nervous system (CNS) disorders in hospital practice. Hospital-based neurologists have also taken great interest in these disorders since many occur in the setting of an occult systemic cancer which can be detected and treated at an early stage, and many affected patients are responsive to immunotherapy. Associated neurological disorders are typically subacute in onset, some are common or classic (eg, limbic encephalitis, cerebellar degeneration), but others have atypical or multifocal presentations. For patients with a suspected paraneoplastic disorder, many and costly oncological evaluations may be required for diagnosis. Comprehensive serological and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) evaluation for neural autoantibodies may permit a focused cancer evaluation (eg, antineuronal nuclear antibody type 1 [ANNA-1] is associated with small cell lung carcinoma), and in some circumstances may indicate the likelihood of a good response to therapy (eg, voltage-gated potassium channel complex antibody) or poor neurological prognosis (eg, purkinje cell cytoplasmic antibody type 1 [antiYo]). Positron-emission tomography–computed tomography (PET-CT) imaging of trunk may increase the diagnostic yield for certain cancers where other modalities have been negative. For some patients, rapid treatment with immunotherapy may facilitate marked improvement, or full recovery; multiple sequential trials of one or more of steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin or plasma exchange, or combination therapy are often required. For patients with N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antibody encephalitis, early treatment with immunosuppressants and weeks or months of supportive intensive care may additionally be required. One or more of clinical examination, electroencephalogram (including video telemetry), and imaging provide objective parameters to which posttreatment outcomes can be compared.
β2-Microglobulin Knockout Mice Are Highly Susceptible to Polyoma Virus Tumorigenesis

Abstract Polyoma virus is highly oncogenic when inoculated into immunocompromised adult mice and neonatal mice of specific inbred strains. Although T lymphocytes are known to be essential in controlling polyoma virus tumorigenesis, the importance of class I MHC-restricted CD8 + T cells in mediating tumor resistance remains unclear. Here, we investigated the tumorigenicity of polyoma virus in adult mice rendered CD8 + T cell-deficient by homozygous (−/−) disruption of the β 2 -microglobulin (β 2 m) or CD8α (CD8) genes. Nearly all (94%) of the virus-infected adult C57BL/6β 2 m −/− mice developed tumors, and 20% of the virus-inoculated adult C57BL/6CD8 −/− mice developed hindlimb paralysis, which is indicative of vertebral tumors. Only 2 of 20 virus-inoculated adult normal C57BL/6 mice developed tumors. Despite these different tumor susceptibilities, persistent viral DNA was detected in multiple organs of mice of all three strains. Multifocal lymphoplasmacytic interstitial infiltrates were present in the kidneys and lungs of virus-infected C57BL/6β 2 m −/− and in the lungs of virus-inoculated C57BL/6CD8 −/− mice. These infiltrates were composed primarily of B cells and colocalized with staining for the major viral capsid protein, VP1. No infiltrates or VP1 staining was detected in the kidneys of infected C57BL/6 mice. Using a highly sensitive RT-PCR bioluminescence immunoassay, we investigated and detected persistent polyoma T protein and VP1 messages in both C57BL/6β 2 m −/− and C57BL/6 mice. C57BL/6β 2 m −/− and C57BL/6 mice had equivalent serum virus-neutralizing antibody titers. These results provide in vivo evidence that class I MHC-restricted CD8 + T cells are involved in mediating protection against polyoma virus tumor development.
A Review of the Use and Potential of Focus Groups in Social Work Research

Over the last 15 years, social scientists increasingly have used focus groups as a method for collecting qualitative data. With focus groups, a moderator uses the group process with a small number of participants to stimulate discussion and obtain information on the beliefs, attitudes, or motivations of participants on a specific topic. Based upon a review of a sample of social work articles, researchers used focus groups to study a wide range of topics, with diverse and vulnerable populations, and in combination with other qualitative or quantitative methods. Although focus groups have limitations, they have the potential to be an important qualitative data collection method to capture information about the variety of issues and populations dealt with by the social work profession. In addition, social work researchers have the potential to further develop focus groups as a qualitative research method.
Structure and microhardness relationships in Ti, Zr and Hf-3Zr carbide deposits synthesized by activated reactive evaporation

The group IV carbides of Ti, Zr and Hf are technologically important substances because of their high hardness. Thick deposits (100 μm) of these carbides were produced at high deposition rates by the newly developed process of “activated reactive evaporation”. The deposition parameters (partial pressure of the reactant gas C2H2 and rate of deposition of the metal) affect the combined carbon-to-metal ratio (C/M) of the compound determined from the measured lattice parameters. The C/M value increases with increasing supply of the carbon-containing gas, or decreasing supply of metal vapor. It is found that the highest microhardness values of the deposits correspond to the highest C/M values, but no correlation could be established between microhardness and microstructure as determined by a Fourier analysis of the X-ray powder pattern peak profiles.
Health Monitoring of Prestressing Tendons in Posttensioned Concrete Bridges

Currently 90% of bridges built in California are posttensioned box girder. In such structures, the steel tendons are the main load-carrying components. The loss of prestress, as well as the presence of defects or tendon breakage, can be catastrophic for the entire structure. No well-established method monitors prestressing tendons that can provide simultaneous information related to the presence of defects and the level of prestress in a continuous, real-time manner. If such a monitoring system were available, considerable savings would be achieved in bridge maintenance because repairs would be implemented in a timely manner without traffic disruptions. This paper presents a health-monitoring system for prestressing tendons in posttensioned structures of interest to the California Department of Transportation. Such a system uses guided ultrasonic waves and embedded sensors to measure the level of applied prestress and to detect defects at early growth stages simultaneously and in real time. The results of...
Proteins with selected sequences fold into unique native conformation.

We design sequences of 80-monomer model protein which provide very low energy in the target (``native'') structure. Then the designed sequence is subjected to lattice Monte Carlo simulation of folding. In all runs model protein folded from random coil to the unique native conformation, effectively ``solving'' the multiple minima problem. These results suggest that thermodynamically oriented selection of sequences which makes the native conformation a pronounced deep minimum of energy solves the problem of kinetic accessibility of this conformation as well.
Double frequency modulation spectroscopy: high modulation frequency with low-bandwidth detectors.

In this paper, we describe experimental and theoretical investigations of two variations of frequency modulation (FM) spectroscopy that use two electrooptic modulators. In the first variation, both modulators are frequency modulators (FM–FM), and, in the second, one is a frequency modulator and one is an amplitude modulator (FM–AM). The essential advantage of FM–FM and FM–AM spectroscopy is that sensitive lowbandwidth detectors, such as photomultiplier tubes, can be used to detect signals generated by the absorption of sidebands displaced from the carrier by frequencies far above the detector cutoff frequency. These two variations are complementary in the sense that, in situations where optical power is at a premium, the FM–FM scheme is most appropriate, and in situations where modulator drive power is at a premium, the FM–AM scheme is most appropriate. Using either of these variations, we have detected the absorption of 700-MHz sidebands with photomultiplier tubes whose cutoff frequencies lie below 100 MHz.
Multi-objective design space exploration methodologies for platform based SOCs

This paper presents a new strategy for design space exploration (DSE) of system-on-chip (SOC) platforms. The solution adopted uses a multi-objective optimization technique based on the concept of Pareto-optimality. The approach is purely heuristic and is a variation of the "simulated annealing" algorithm. To illustrate and validate our methodology the algorithm was used to design a highly parameterized SOC architecture based on a MIPS processor. The performance metrics used to assess the quality of the numerous design alternatives explored are power consumption and execution time. The results obtained demonstrate the robustness of the proposed method both in terms of design time and accuracy.
Physiological changes during the adaptation of hybridoma cells to low serum and serum-free media.

Two murine hybridoma cell lines (167.4G5.3 and S3H5/γ2bA2) were adapted to grow in low-serum and serum-free media by a weaning procedure. The changes in cell growth, metabolic, and antibody production rates with adaptation were examined using biochemical and flow cytometric analyses. After adaptation to a particular serum level, the short-term serum response of the cells was experimentally determined. Specific growth rates, glucose and glutamine uptake and lactate and ammonia production rates, and specific antibody production rates were evaluated from the data. For both cell lines, an improvement in cell growth was observed after adaptation, and both higher growth rates and higher cell concentrations were obtained. The specific glucose and glutamine uptake rates and the lactate and ammonia production rates changed insignificantly with adaptation. Conversely, changes in the specific antibody production rate of the two cell lines differed. Cell line 167.4G5.3 showed a loss in antibody productivity at low serum levels, while the S3H5/γ2bA2 kept its original productivity in low-serum-containing media. The intracellular antibody content for S3H5/γ2bA2 cells remained unaltered by adaptation, but a low antibody containing cell population appeared in the 167.4G5.3 culture. The loss of specific antibody productivity in this cell line was due to the appearance of this population.
The use of α-2A adrenergic agonists for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Neuropsychiatric disorders involve dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a highly evolved brain region that mediates executive functioning. The dorsolateral PFC is specialized for regulating attention and behavior, while the ventromedial PFC is specialized for regulating emotion. These abilities arise from PFC pyramidal cell networks that excite each other to maintain goals and rules 'in mind'. Imaging studies have shown reduced PFC gray matter, weaker PFC connections and altered PFC function in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Thus, medications that strengthen PFC network connections may be particularly useful for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and related disorders. Recent data show that compounds such as guanfacine can enhance PFC function by stimulating postsynaptic α-2A receptors on the dendritic spines of PFC pyramidal cells where networks interconnect. Stimulation of these receptors inhibits cAMP signaling, thus closing potassium channels and strengthening physiological connections. These actions may benefit patients with weak PFC function.
Understanding Dual Distribution: The Case of Reps and House Accounts

Plural distribution systems are often found in industrial markets. Although transaction cost analysis has been successfully applied to understanding decisions about distribution systems, these plural forms have been virtually ignored in extant empirical work. Critics suggest that extant transaction cost models are inadequate to study these systems. We contend that transaction cost reasoning can be readily applied to understanding these systems, and undertake an analysis of a common plural form, namely, the simultaneous use of an independent rep system with a company-operated, "house account" system. Familiar transaction cost problems like lock-in (the safeguarding problem), and difficulties in evaluating an independent rep's performance (the behavioral uncertainty problem) are posited to lead firms to deploying house accounts to augment an independent rep system. Using data from a survey of independent agents, we provide preliminary evidence for these predictions. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory and practice. Coauthors are Mark Bergen, Jan B. Heide, and George John. Copyright 1995 by Oxford University Press.
⁵²Mn production for PET/MRI tracking of human stem cells expressing divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1).

There is a growing demand for long-term in vivo stem cell imaging for assessing cell therapy techniques and guiding therapeutic decisions. This work develops the production of 52Mn and establishes proof of concept for the use of divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1) as a positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reporter gene for stem cell tracking in the rat brain. 52Mn was produced via proton irradiation of a natural chromium target. In a comparison of two 52Mn separation methods, solvent-solvent extraction was preferred over ion exchange chromatography because of reduced chromium impurities and higher 52Mn recovery. In vitro uptake of Mn-based PET and MRI contrast agents (52Mn2+ and Mn2+, respectively) was enhanced in DMT1 over-expressing human neural progenitor cells (hNPC-DMT1) compared to wild-type control cells (hNPC-WT). After cell transplantation in the rat striatum, increased uptake of Mn-based contrast agents in grafted hNPC-DMT1 was detected in in vivo manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) and ex vivo PET and autoradiography. These initial studies indicate that this approach holds promise for dual-modality PET/MR tracking of transplanted stem cells in the central nervous system and prompt further investigation into the clinical applicability of this technique.
Side by Side, Worlds Apart: Desired Policy Change as a Function of Preferences AND Perceptions

The degree to which people desire policy change is a function of two factors: preferences for future policies and perceptions of current policies. Political scientists, pollsters, and pundits know a good deal about people’s policy preferences but surprisingly little about the distance of those preferences from policy perceptions. In this article, we assess the distance between policy perceptions and policy preferences to calculate the amount of policy change desired. The data come from an original survey tapping respondents’ preferred and perceived policies and from those few National Election Surveys where parallel items on policy preferences and perceptions were posed. By incorporating policy perceptions alongside of preferences, our findings provide a better indication of the gulf between the policy change desired by liberals and the policy change desired by conservatives. The findings help explain polarization in the United States where differences in policy preferences alone often do not indicate ext...
Analyzing the benefits of a separate processor to handle messages for fine-grain multithreading

This paper discusses the benefits of incorporating a separate processor into a processor node of Massively Parallel Architectures to handle messages and proposes hardware solutions to provide atomicity between the main processor and the processor dedicated to handle messages. The proposed design is aimed at improving the performance by relegating the responsibility of handling messages to a separate processor. The hardware modifications are kept to a minimum in order not to disturb the original functionality of a modern RISC processor.
Biomedical engineering continuing education: courses tailored for industry

At Marquette University we have begun offering continuing education courses tailored for individual industry participants. This program stems from the strong industrial partnerships that we have developed through our undergraduate and graduate co-op and internship programs. The continuing education format allows for more practicing engineers to participate, more faculty involvement with industry, and courses that are custom-designed to meet the needs of individual industries.
Effectiveness of 2 Methods of Promoting Physical Activity, Healthy Eating, and Emotional Well-Being With the Americans in Motion—Healthy Interventions Approach

PURPOSE An increasing number of Americans are putting their health at risk from being overweight. We undertook a study to compare patient-level outcomes of 2 methods of implementing the Americans In Motion—Healthy Interventions (AIM-HI) approach to promoting physical activity, healthy eating, and emotional well-being. METHODS We conducted a randomized trial in which 24 family medicine prac- tices were randomized to (1) an enhanced practice approach in which clinicians and office staff used AIM-HI tools to make personal changes and created a healthy environment, or (2) a traditional practice approach in which physicians and staff were trained and asked to use the tools with patients. Of the 610 patients enrolled, 331 were in healthy practices, and 279 were in traditional practices. At 0, 4, and 10 months we assessed blood pressure, body mass index, fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, nuclear magnetic resonance lipoprotein profiles, fitness, dietary intake, physical activity, and emotional well-being. Out - come data were analyzed using linear, mixed-effects multivariate models, adjust- ing for practices as a random effect. RESULTS Regardless of patient group, 16.2% of patients who completed a 10-month visit (n = 378 patients, 62% of enrollees) and 10% of all patients enrolled lost 5% or more of their body weight; 16.7% of patients who completed a 10-month visit (10.3% of all enrollees) had a 2-point or greater increase in their fitness level; and 29.2% of 10-month completers (18.0% of all enrollees) lost 5% or more of their body weight and/or increased their fitness level by 2 or more points. There were no significant differences in these outcomes between groups. CONCLUSIONS There was no difference between the 2 groups in the primary and most secondary outcomes. Both patient groups were able to show significant before-after improvements in selected patient-level outcomes.
Recruitment and Baseline Characteristics of Participants in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Trial

Abstract Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) was a randomized, multicenter feeding study designed to assess the effects of modifying dietary patterns on blood pressure. Among the most challenging aspects of conducting the DASH trial was the recruitment of participants at the 4 clinical centers. As part of the recruitment drive, 347,500 brochures were mailed, 250,500 coupons were distributed in coupon packs, 114 advertisements were published in newspapers or bulletins, 140 radio and 74 television advertisements were broadcast, and 68 screening events and presentations were conducted. These efforts yielded a total of 459 enrolled participants, ahead of schedule. The most common source of participants was mass mailing of individual brochures (n=194, 42.3%), followed by word-of-mouth (n=82, 17.8%), and then other types of mass mailing (n=44, 9.6%). Recruitment of minority participants followed a similar pattern. Among the 3,192 persons attending the first in-person screening visit, the major reason for nonenrollment was low blood pressure (56%) rather than a diet-related factor. The study population was demographically heterogeneous (49% women, 60% African American, 48% married, and 77% employed full-time). On average, the diet of participants before the DASH feeding study was more similar to the trial control diet than to the combination diet, which reduced blood pressure more effectively. In summary, recruitment of a heterogeneous study population that includes a substantial number of minority participants is a feasible undertaking. However, the effort is considerable and requires a major commitment of resources. J Am Diet Assoc. 1999;99(suppl):S69–S75 .
Biologically inspired energy: harnessing molecular functionality towards nanosystemic design.

Evaluation of: Ho D, Chu B, Lee H, Montemagno CD: Protein-driven energy transduction across polymeric biomembranes. Nanotechnology 15(8), 1084–1094 (2004) [1]. This manuscript highlights the intersection of two rapidly advancing fields: molecular nanotechnology and alternative energy development. The functionalization of biomimetic membranes with the energy-transducing proteins bacteriorhodopsin and cytochrome c oxidase to form biologically active thin films is described. Following the fabrication and characterization of protein-embedded Langmuir–Blodgett films, these materials have been demonstrated to exhibit enhanced mechanical robustness over conventional, lipid-based materials, indicating a potential applicability towards device construction. In addition, these thin films have demonstrated the ability to use green light to generate proton gradients as well as photoelectric currents across these membrane thin films, which indicate their utility in preserving protein activity. We present the results an...
Using Collapse Risk Assessments to Inform Seismic Safety Policy for Older Concrete Buildings

For many in the engineering community, nonductile concrete buildings are the next priority for seismic safety legislation in California. The history of such policies shows that implementation has b...
Tumor Angiogenesis Mediated by Myeloid Cells Is Negatively Regulated by CEACAM1

Bv8 (prokineticin 2) expressed by Gr1(+)CD11b(+) myeloid cells is critical for VEGF-independent tumor angiogenesis. Although granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been shown to be a key inducer of Bv8 expression, the basis for Bv8 production in driving tumor angiogenesis is undefined. Because the cell adhesion molecule CEACAM1, which is highly expressed on Gr1(+)CD11b(+) myeloid cells, is known to regulate G-CSF receptor (G-CSFR) signaling, we hypothesized that CEACAM1 would regulate Bv8 production in these cells. In support of this hypothesis, we found that Bv8 expression was elevated in Gr1(+)CD11b(+) cells from Ceacam1-deficient mice implanted with B16 melanoma, increasing the infiltration of Gr1(+)CD11b(+) myeloid cells in melanoma tumors and enhancing their growth and angiogenesis. Furthermore, treatment with anti-Gr1 or anti-Bv8 or anti-G-CSF monoclonal antibody reduced myeloid cell infiltration, tumor growth, and angiogenesis to levels observed in tumor-bearing wild-type (WT) mice. Reconstitution of CEACAM1-deficient mice with WT bone marrow cells restored tumor infiltration of Gr1(+)CD11b(+) cells along with tumor growth and angiogenesis to WT levels. Treatment of tumor-bearing WT mice with anti-CEACAM1 antibody limited tumor outgrowth and angiogenesis, albeit to a lesser extent. Tumor growth in Ceacam1-deficient mice was not affected significantly in Rag(-/-) background, indicating that CEACAM1 expression in T and B lymphocytes had a negligible role in this pathway. Together, our findings show that CEACAM1 negatively regulates Gr1(+)CD11b(+) myeloid cell-dependent tumor angiogenesis by inhibiting the G-CSF-Bv8 signaling pathway.
Ensembles of radial basis function networks for spectroscopic detection of cervical precancer

The mortality related to cervical cancer can be substantially reduced through early detection and treatment. However, current detection techniques, such as Pap smear and colposcopy, fail to achieve a concurrently high sensitivity and specificity. In vivo fluorescence spectroscopy is a technique which quickly, noninvasively and quantitatively probes the biochemical and morphological changes that occur in precancerous tissue. A multivariate statistical algorithm was used to extract clinically useful information from tissue spectra acquired from 361 cervical sites from 95 patients at 337-, 380-, and 460-nm excitation wavelengths. The multivariate statistical analysis was also employed to reduce the number of fluorescence excitation-emission wavelength pairs required to discriminate healthy tissue samples from precancerous tissue samples. The use of connectionist methods such as multilayered perceptrons, radial basis function (RBF) networks, and ensembles of such networks was investigated. RBF ensemble algorithms based on fluorescence spectra potentially provide automated and near real-time implementation of precancer detection in the hands of nonexperts. The results are more reliable, direct, and accurate than those achieved by either human experts or multivariate statistical algorithms.
Relationships Between Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) Cognitive Abilities and Math Achievement Within a Sample of College Students With Learning Disabilities

This study examined the relationship between cognitive abilities and math achievement within a sample of college students with learning disabilities (LD). The cognitive abilities were seven areas identified by Stratum II of the Cattell–Horn–Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities, in addition to the eighth area of Working Memory. Math performance was assessed via math calculation and math reasoning tasks. Instruments include the Woodcock–Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities and Tests of Achievement. Participants were 158 college students with a diagnosed LD in math. Multiple regression analyses found that Processing Speed and Working Memory were related to Math Calculation scores and that Comprehension-Knowledge, Fluid Reasoning, and Working Memory were related to Math Reasoning. Implications for the assessment of math LD in the college populations are discussed.
Risk Factors for Developing Gadolinium-Induced Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis

Objective:To identify medications and other potential risk factors, in addition to renal dysfunction, for developing gadolinium-induced nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF).Data Sources:Information was obtained from PubMed, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Iowa Drug Information Service, and Google Scholar, using the unlimited search terms nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, NSF, nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy, NFD, gadolinium, gadodiamide, gadoversetamide, gadopentetate, gadobenate, and gadoteridol. Information was also obtained from the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the manufacturers of the above-mentioned products. Data were collected during April and May 2007.Study Selection and Data Extraction:All identified articles and information were evaluated. Articles and other information that included data regarding concurrent medications, disease states, and other risk factors for developing gadolinium-induced NSF were included in this review, as were clinical practice guidelines.Data Synthesis:...
Distributed data management for large volume visualization

We propose a distributed data management scheme for large data visualization that emphasizes efficient data sharing and access. To minimize data access time and support users with a variety of local computing capabilities, we introduce an adaptive data selection method based on an "enhanced time-space partitioning" (ETSP) tree that assists with effective visibility culling, as well as multiresolution data selection. By traversing the tree, our data management algorithm can quickly identify the visible regions of data, and, for each region, adaptively choose the lowest resolution satisfying user-specified error tolerances. Only necessary data elements are accessed and sent to the visualization pipeline. To further address the issue of sharing large-scale data among geographically distributed collaborative teams, we have designed an infrastructure for integrating our data management technique with a distributed data storage system provided by logistical networking (LoN). Data sets at different resolutions are generated and uploaded to LoN for wide-area access. We describe a parallel volume rendering system that verifies the effectiveness of our data storage, selection and access scheme.
JavaGenes and Condor: cycle-scavenging genetic algorithms

A genetic algorithm code, JavaGenes, was written in Java and used to evolve pharmaceutical drug molecules and digital circuits. JavaGenes was run under the Condor cycle-scavenging batch system managing 100-170 desktop SGI workstations. Genetic algorithms mimic biological evolution by evolving solutions to problems using crossover and mutation. While most genetic algorithms evolve strings or trees, JavaGenes evolves graphs representing (currently) molecules and circuits. Java was chosen as the implementation language because the genetic algorithm requires random splitting and recombining of graphs, a complex data structure manipulation with ample opportunities for memory leaks, loose pointers, out-of-bound indices, and other hard to find bugs. Java garbage-collection memory management, lack of pointer arithmetic, and array-bounds index checking prevents these bugs from occurring, substantially reducing development time. While a run-time performance penalty must be paid, the only unacceptable performance we encountered was using standard Java serialization to checkpoint and restart the code. This was fixed by a two-day implementation of custom checkpointing. JavaGenes is minimally integrated with Condor; in other words, JavaGenes must do its own checkpointing and I/O redirection. A prototype Java-aware version of Condor was developed using standard Java serialization for checkpointing. For the prototype to be useful, standard Java serialization must be significantly optimized. JavaGenes is approximately 8700 lines of code and a few thousand JavaGenes jobs have been run. Most jobs ran for a few days. Results include proof that genetic algorithms can evolve directed and undirected graphs, development of a novel crossover operator for graphs, a paper in the journal Nanotechnology, and another paper in preparation.
Conservation of genes encoding components of a type IV pilus assembly/two-step protein export pathway in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Summary Three gonococcal genes have been identified which encode proteins with substantial similarities to known components of the type IV pilus biogenesis pathway in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Two of the genes were identified based on their hybridization with a DNA probe derived from the pilB gene of P. aeruginosa under conditions of reduced stringency. The product of the gonococcal pilF gene is most closely related to the pilus assembly protein PilB of P. aeruginosa while the product of the gonococcal pilT gene is most similar to the PilT protein of P. aeruginosa which is involved in pilus-associated twitching motility and colony morphology. The products of both of these genes display canonical nucleoside triphosphate binding sites and are predicted to be to cytoplasmically localized based on their overall hydrophilicity. The gonococcal pilD gene, identified by virtue of its linkage to the pilF gene, is homologous to a family of prepilin leader peptidase genes. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the gonococcal PilD protein functions to process gonococcal prepilin in a manner consistent with its being gonococcal prepilin peptidase. These results suggest that Neisseria gonorrhoeae is capable of expressing many of the essential elements of a highly conserved protein translocation system and that these gene products are probably involved in pilus biogenesis.
Primate Anti-predator Strategies, by S. Gursky and K. A. I. Nekaris

S. Gursky, K. A. I. Nekaris (eds.). 2007.Primate Antipredator Strategies., Springer, New York, XX pp. ISBN ISBN -10:0-387-34807-7, price (hardbound), $129. This book on antipredator defenses in primates is successful in 2 ways: making predation a central focus in primatology, and puncturing the idea that small primates rely solely on crypsis and nocturnality to escape predators. The book, therefore, is aimed at quite a specific audience—primatologists— and those principally working on lemurs, galagos, tarsiers, and pottos. Primate anti-predator strategies starts with 2 general chapters: 1 by Zuberbuhler and 1 by Hart. The former presents interesting material on referential alarm calling and then goes on to advance the idea that predation drives cognitive skills in primates. The latter compares biogeographic patterns of predation in Africa, Madagascar, Asia, and the Neotropics, and concludes that felids, raptors, and—in Madagascar—the fossa ( Cryptoprocta ferox ) are the principal predators of primates. This meta-analysis is the summary of a doctoral thesis, as far as I could tell, but a useful one nonetheless. Next is a 10-chapter section on antipredator strategies of nocturnal primates that constitutes the core of the book and could have been its title. First, Dollar and colleagues show, using detailed data from scats, that the fossa is not a lemur specialist as is sometimes assumed, but takes birds, rodents, and reptiles too. Next, Karpanty and Wright use direct observations to demonstrate that lemurs are …
Corrigendum to “Challenges of Establishing Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) in Rangeland Restoration: Effects of Herbicide, Mowing, Whole-Community Seeding, and Sagebrush Seed Sources” [Rangeland Ecology & Management 68 (2015) 432–435]

The authors regret that there was a mistake in the affiliation provided. The correct affiliation line should read “US Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Boise, ID 83706, USA”
Discretionary Justice: The Right to Petition and the Making of Federal Private Legislation

Over the course of the late eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, Congress received tens of thousands of petitions seeking payment of private claims against the government and its officers. In response, legislators enacted thousands of private laws for the benefit of individual citizens and corporations. In some congresses, private laws accounted for more than eighty percent of all laws enacted. My Article offers the first comprehensive analysis of this important, but largely forgotten, practice. Through this historical framework, the Article addresses a set of interrelated concerns familiar to all liberal governments: to what degree should statutory law permit the exercise of discretion and, to the extent that such discretion exists, to whom shall the authority for exercising it be entrusted? On the one hand, discretion is inimical to the rule of law because it threatens to subordinate the law’s commands to the venal whims of officeholders. On the other hand, discretion is an indispensable tool for rounding out the law’s hard edges to ensure just outcomes in individual cases. While this tension is familiar, the mechanism that early federal legislators adopted to deal with it is not. For much of our national history, federal private legislation — that is, congressional enactments for the benefit of private individuals — operated as the primary mechanism for dispensing discretionary justice. Our contemporary understanding of statutory lawmaking, by contrast, envisions a process fundamentally concerned with the promulgation of general rules reflecting public norms. As I aim to show here, this understanding does not capture some inherent aspect of legislation, but rather is the product of a historical process that began with a far different conception of the purpose of legislative bodies. Indeed, for much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, local and national legislatures devoted a significant amount (if not most) of their time to functions that appear to modern eyes as judicial in nature: granting pensions, resolving boundary disputes, and settling tort and contract claims against the government. This Article engages in a review of that process through a qualitative analysis of the many thousands of petitions submitted to Congress during its early history. The goal is to better understand the gradual evolution of our modern conception of legislation while also engaging with the process of private lawmaking on its own terms.
The Spatial Distribution of Oak Leafroller Egg Masses on Primary Host Trees

The distributions of oak leafroller ( Archips semiferanus ) egg masses, deposited in 1972 and 1973 by females in different population densities, were examined on red oak species in central Pennsylvania. As egg mass density increased, the percentage of egg masses on the boles of trees increased from 50–72. From 67–80% of the egg masses were found on limbs and bole sections in the middle half of host trees. On boles females discriminated in oviposition by laying more egg masses in the southern quadrant, and at middle heights rather than at either extreme. The aggregation of egg masses on boles varied with population density, and regression models provided expected distributions of numbers and densities of egg masses on boles as well as describing distributions on limbs and within crowns.
Predictability and Personalization in the Service Encounter

Service marketers are confronted with two conflicting goals when designing service delivery systems, efficiency and personalization. The relative importance of each factor is determined by the natu...
The treatment of dysmenorrhea with naproxen sodium: a report on two independent double-blind trials.

Abstract The efficacy of naproxen sodium (naproxen-Na) ∗ ∗Naproxen-sodium is the sodium salt of a-2-(6′-methoxy-2′ naphthyl)-propionic acid. in dysmenorrhea has been established in two independent double-blind (placebo-controlled) studies. An initial dose of 550 mg. of naproxen-Na was followed by 275 mg. every six hours for a maximum of five days. Twenty patients were included in Study I (10 treated with naproxen-Na) and 23 patients in Study II (12 treated with naproxen-Na). Each patient received the medication during four dysmenorrheic episodes. Thus, a total of 172 treatment courses could be evaluated. A variety of efficacy criteria were measured: frequency of pill intake, changes in pain intensity, the degree of relief achieved by the medication, and need for additional analgesics. In both studies naproxen-Na was demonstrated to be superior to the placebo treatment with high statistical significance in each of these parameters.
O15.2 Combined detection of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and trichomonas using the bd maxtm ct/gc/tv assay

Background Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoea (GC) are the two most common bacterial STIs. Screening for CT and/or GC, is recommended in many countries. The prevalence of Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) is also high and negative consequences of untreated infection may be serious. Inclusion of TV as part of a combination assay would facilitate screening of these STI. Here we evaluated the performance of the BD MAX CT/GC/TV assay compared to currently available assays for these STI. Methods Eight STD and Family Planning clinics enrolled participants for this study. Vaginal and endocervical swabs, and female and male urine specimens were obtained from 1854 women and 843 men. Female samples were used for evaluation of the BD MAX CT/GC/TV assays while male urine was used only for CT/GC evaluation. BD MAX CT/GC/TV results were compared to the Aptima Combo 2 ® CT/GC; BD ProbeTec TM CT/GC; BD Viper TM CT Q x /GC Q x ; TV microscopy and culture. Participants were classified as infected if at least one positive result from each of 2 comparator assays were obtained. Positive wet mount and/or culture results were used as evidence of TV infection for women only. Results Among women, 7.3%, 2.4% and 14.7% were infected with CT, GC and TV, respectively. Among men the rates were 22.0% and 14.6% for CT and GC. The BD MAX CT/GC/TV assay detected 92.2–99.2%, 94.9–95.1% and 92.9–96.1% of CT, GC and TV infections among women, depending on specimen type, and 96.6% and 99.1% among men. The specificity for all organisms and sample types was >98.5%. Discussion In this US multi-site study, the prevalence of TV infection was high, demonstrating the benefit of screening women for TV as well as GC and CT. The BD MAX CT/GC/TV assay performance allows combined testing for all 3 STI among women and CT/GC from male urine.­­ Financial disclosure This study was funded by BD Diagnostics.
Prolactinoma: A Massive Effect on Bone Mineral Density in a Young Patient.

This case highlights a prolactinoma in a young male, and its impact on bone health. Osteoporosis has been noted to be an issue in postmenopausal women with prolactinomas. This case shows a similar impact on bone health in a young male resulting in low bone mineral density for age based on -score. This case report highlights the possible mechanisms for the bone loss in the setting of prolactinoma and the need for assessing bone health in such patients. Furthermore it highlights the need for a thorough evaluation in such patients.
Stress corrosion cracking: Cases in refinery equipment

Publisher Summary Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is an insidious form of premature failure caused by a specific combination of factors. Some specific environment–metal combinations which present particular risks of SCC include chloride-austenitic stainless steels and ammonia-copper alloys. SCC is often a principal mode of failure of plant equipment, accounting for as much as 25% of failures in the oil industry. In some cases, plant personnel are unaware of the measures that must be implemented to minimize the risk of SCC in service. Caustic cracking of steels is one of the oldest known forms of SCC and incidents of caustic cracking of low alloy steels in nuclear, and fossil-fueled power plants from 1969 onwards focused interest on this form of SCC within the power industry. Within the process industries, caustic SCC has caused numerous failures in welded steel piping and pressure vessels exposed to caustic solutions at high temperatures. The NACE caustic soda service graph indicates a “safe” region where stress relief of carbon steels is not necessary below certain operating temperatures and caustic concentrations.