cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Balanced orbital decompression for graves' ophthalmopathy

Objective/Hypothesis: Surgical management of Graves' ophthalmopathy is an alternative to medical therapy with corticosteroids or external beam radiotherapy. Orbital decompression has commonly been performed via a transantral approach to the medial orbital wall and floor. Although an endoscopic approach to these walls has been described, a balanced approach (incorporating a lateral decompression by an ophthalmology team) is desirable. Study Design: Retrospective review. Methods: Endoscopic medial decompression and extended lateral decompression were accomplished in 18 orbits (11 patients); inferior decompression was performed in 11 of these. Five additional procedures were performed. Results: Exophthalmos improved by a mean of 4.6 mm. All patients who underwent decompression for vision loss had improved vision after surgery. Exposure keratitis improved in six of six orbits. Two of five patients undergoing orbital decompression for vision loss developed postoperative diplopia, which was successfully treated with strabismus surgery or prism glasses. There were no other significant complications. Conclusions : The endoscopic approach to the medial orbital wall is an important component of balanced orbital decompression for patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy. Balancing the decompression and preserving the medial orbital strut between the ethmoid cavity and the orbital floor may minimize the risk of diplopia.
Precursors of adrenal epinephrine and norepinephrine in vivo.

Abstract Isotopically labelled phenylalanine, tyrosine, and dihydroxyphenyalanine, in the intact rat, serve as precursors of adrenal epinephrine and norepinephrine; tyramine and phenylethylamine do not. The turnover rates of adrenal epinephrine and norepinephrine are relatively low, both having half-lives of about one week.
Effects of Eye Dominance and Retinal Distance on Binocular Rivalry

6 right- and 6 left-eye dominant Ss were tested as to the effects of this dominance on the percent of time suppression of conflicting line stimuli in the two eyes occurred. The amount of suppressio...
Quantum Fluctuations and Eternal Inflation in the R 2 MODEL

We show that in the R2 inflationary model, as in the scalar field case, quantum fluctuations at early times can be sufficiently large that the universe evolves like a random walk. Within this picture we describe the resulting global structure of the universe: the so-called “eternal inflation” scenario. Such behavior can naturally fit into a picture of “quantum creation of the universe”. Inflating domains are present today and in fact are growing in number. Approximately every 10−31 s new hot radiation dominated domains are created which occupy a volume larger than all the previously existing Friedmann universes; during the first ~10−9 fraction of this period the power law expanding volume exceeds the inflating volume. Regularly, numerous domains occur where inflation proceeds purely classically and sufficiently to solve the problems of standard cosmology.
Psychological functioning of daughters of breast cancer patients. Part III: Experiences and perceptions of daughters related to mother's breast cancer

Sixty daughters whose mothers had breast cancer were cross-sectionally studied as to their retrospective perceptions of their mothers before and during their illnesses. The majority of daughters recalled viewing the surgery site (72.4%), most were told within one month of surgery (83.1%), most viewed site within one month (53.7%), and were as likely to be told by mother as by all other possible people combined (50% told by mother). On the variables of: General Quality of life; Social Relationships; Attractiveness; and Sexuality, daughters perceived mother's quality of life as significantly changed (lowered) pre/post surgery. The greatest perceived changes were in the areas of perception of mother's attractiveness and sexuality. On the variables of Ability to Care for Herself; Attention to Physical Appearance; Ability to Emotionally Support Family Members; Ability to Manage Household Tasks; and Ability to Work Outside the Home; daughters perceived mother's activities of daily living to be significantly reduced pre/post surgery. Although statistical changes were evident, overall, daughters recalled their mother's adaptation as quite good.
The effect of gravity on initial microbial adhesion

An in vitro study was made of the initial microbial localization and adhesion of cultures of Streptococcus mutans 6715, Escherichia coli KB(ATCC-25922), whole saliva, and feces. Glass coverslips and glass, plastic, and stainless steel cylinders served as substrates. The results demonstrate that gravitational localization of the microbia is of primary importance in the adhesion process that follows.
WIYN Open Cluster Study. XX. Photometric Monitoring of the Galactic Cluster NGC 6939

A photometric monitoring program in the field of the Galactic cluster NGC 6939 was conducted using the 0.91 m WIYN and the US Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station 1.3 m and 1 m telescopes, with the primary goal being to search for cataclysmic variables (CVs) in the cluster. Although no CVs were found during the 5 months of monitoring, a number of short-period variables were discovered in the field of the cluster. A large portion of them are of the W Ursae Majoris type, whereas WOCS V7 is an RR Lyrae star. Although the survey was somewhat compromised by the bright stars around the center of the cluster, it is intriguing that NGC 6939 appears to be deficient in faint variables.
A reexamination of Mexican smilax (Smilacaceae)

In 1936, Mr. E. P. Killip and I published "A Revision of the Mexican anld Central American Species of Smilax."I My study of material received since that time has resulted in a few changes and additions that are here proposed. The "sectional" names used below are not validly published in our earlier treatment, since they lack Latin diagnoses. They are probably not taxonomically significant either, since no special account was taken of the species of the genus as a whole; they were proposed merely as a usable grouping of the species being treated, to order them and simplify the key, but the characters used were probably mostly artificial. Since 1936, I have published one new species, S. chiriquensig,2 and an account of the Panamanian species.3 Standley described a plant of Panama as S. catocardia,4 which I consider a synonym of S. subpubescens A. DC. Otherwise, the only work on the genus in Mexico or Central America has been the description of two new species from Chiapas by C. L. Lundell; these are mentioned below. A new key to the Mexican species has been prepared.
Stability and Approximation for a Linear Viscoelastic Model

We consider an integro-differential equation which arises in linear viscoelasticity. By making use of an equivalent inner product, it is shown that the underlying contraction semigroup is exponentially stable. We also show that the finite dimensional semigroups arising from a known approximation scheme are uniformly exponentially stable.
The confined flow of polyethylene melts past a cylinder in a planar channel

Abstract This paper is concerned with the comparison of the results of numerical simulation of confined flow past a cylinder to birefringence data for two polymer melts. The Phan-Thien and Tanner (PTT) constitutive equation and the Rivlin-Sawyers (RS) constitutive equation with the Papanastasiou, Scriven, and Macosko (PSM) damping function were each fit to the shear viscosity and extensional viscosity data of both linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) melts to determine the values of the model parameters. Finite element calculations were carried out using the 4 × 4SUPG and 4 × 4SU methods for the PTT model and the method developed by Dupont, Marchal, and Crochet for the RS model. Isochromatic birefringence patterns calculated from the predicted stress field and the stress-optic law were compared to birefringence data. Good agreement was found between the birefringence data and the numerical predictions, except in the immediate vicinity of the cylinder surface. Large extensional stresses were observed and predicted along the centerline downstream of the cylinder for LDPE. This behavior was not observed or predicted for LLDPE. Stress fields obtained from birefringence measurements for LDPE flowing past three cylinders in a channel indicate an effect of deformation history on the flow behavior of LDPE. It is shown that the PTT model does not correctly predict the rheological behavior of LDPE as a function of shear history because the time scale of structural recovery is much longer than the relaxation time associated with viscoelasticity.
A re-entrant glass transition in colloidal disks with adsorbing polymer

A re-entrant colloidal glass transition has been observed in dispersions of a model disk shaped colloid, laponite®, with the addition of an adsorbing low molecular weight polymer, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO). In basic solutions laponite® forms a repulsive colloidal glass. With the addition of low molecular weight PEO, we observe a retardation in formation of the glass, and the system behaves as a viscous fluid. Upon aging, a glassy phase re-forms, with the time scale depending on the concentration of polymer. For samples with polymer concentration high enough to saturate the laponite® surface, we believe this arrested state to be an attractive glass where excess PEO chains in the suspension lead to a weak interparticle attraction. For the polymer molecular weight we considered, all the samples eventually age to form a disordered state. We combine our results with previous work on laponite®–PEO dispersions to propose qualitative state diagrams with attractive glass, repulsive glass, liquid and gel regimes as a function of polymer molecular weight, polymer concentration, and aging time. To our knowledge, the progression of repulsive glass–liquid–attractive glass states has not been previously observed in colloids with adsorbing polymers.
A Prospective, Randomized, Double-Blinded, Placebo-Controlled Study of Human Intravenous Immunoglobulin for the Acute Management of Presumptive Primary Immune-Mediated Thrombocytopenia in Dogs

Background Immune-mediated thrombocytopenia (IMT) is a common hematologic disorder in dogs. Human intravenous immunoglobulin (hIVIG) may have a beneficial effect in canine IMT. Hypothesis A single hIVIG infusion (0.5 g/kg) in dogs with presumed primary IMT (pIMT) is a safe adjunctive emergency treatment to accelerate platelet count recovery and shorten hospitalization time without increasing the cost of patient care. Animals Eighteen client-owned dogs with a presumptive diagnosis of pIMT. Methods Prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Results There were no identifiable immediate or delayed adverse reactions associated with hIVIG administration over a 6-month period. The median platelet count recovery time for the hIVIG group was 3.5 days (mean + or - SD: 3.7 + or - 1.3 days; range, 2-7 days) and 7.5 days (mean + or - SD: 7.8 + or - 3.9 days; range, 3-12 days) for the placebo group. The median duration of hospitalization for hIVIG group was 4 days (mean + or - SD: 4.2 + or - 0.4 days; range, 2-8 days) and 8 days (mean + or - SD: 8.3 + or - 0.6 days; range, 4-12 days) for the placebo group. There was no significant difference between groups with respect to expense of initial patient care, whereas significant reduction in platelet count recovery time (P= .018) and duration of hospitalization (P= .027) were detected in the hIVIG group. Conclusions and clinical importance Compared with corticosteroids alone, adjunctive emergency therapy of a single hIVIG infusion was safe and associated with a significant reduction in platelet count recovery time and duration of hospitalization without increasing the expense of medical care in a small group of dogs with presumed pIMT.
Monitoring Transient Errors in Sequential Circuits

Transient errors have become a major concern due to advances in technology scaling. Existing detection techniques for these errors, such as dual modular redundancy (DMR), have very high area overhead as they typically target all possible faults. In this paper, we analyze the effect of transient faults on sequential circuit behavior. We introduce the notion of transition errors (TEs) to capture the critical errors caused by both transient and permanent faults. We also present an error-monitoring scheme aimed specifically at TEs. Finally we describe experiments using the MCNC synthesis benchmark suite which show that, using the proposed monitoring scheme, all TEs can be detected with about 36% area overhead, which is significantly less than alternative approaches like DMR.
Improving the Efficacy of Security Screening Tasks: A Review of Visual Search Challenges and Ways to Mitigate Their Adverse Effects

Summary: Security checkpoints are used to keep potentially dangerous items and individuals out of secure areas. Although technological advances can enhance security efficacy through both accuracy and speed, ultimate success or failure is largely determined by human performance. As such, it is necessary to minimize any shortcomings that stem from the limits of human cognitive abilities. Cognitive performance can be influenced by numerous factors, including those imposed by the search task (e.g., the number of prohibited items) and the basic abilities of the searchers themselves (e.g., competency and experience). Here, we review and discuss four specific challenges of the task itself that can negatively affect the accuracy of a security screening: target visibility, an unknown target set, the possible presence of multiple targets, and low target prevalence. For each, we present the challenge faced and the potential significance of the challenge and then offer possible solutions on the basis of the existing literature. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Security checkpoints, such as those employed at airports, sporting events, schools, and other similar environments, are designed to maintain a secure environment by preventing the introduction of dangerous items and/or individuals. Each checkpoint provides a controlled location where permissible elements can pass through and prohibited elements can be kept out. Although security at each individual checkpoint might have unique components, visual search—looking at individuals and their belongings to identify potential threats —is a common denominator. Unfortunately, visual search is fraught with pitfalls that can lead to costly mistakes, and this poses an important threat to security performance
Optimizing the "one big switch" abstraction in software-defined networks

Software Defined Networks (SDNs) support diverse network policies by offering direct, network-wide control over how switches handle traffic. Unfortunately, many controller platforms force applications to grapple simultaneously with end-to-end connectivity constraints, routing policy, switch memory limits, and the hop-by-hop interactions between forwarding rules. We believe solutions to this complex problem should be factored in to three distinct parts: (1) high-level SDN applications should define their end-point connectivity policy on top of a "one big switch" abstraction; (2) a mid-level SDN infrastructure layer should decide on the hop-by-hop routing policy; and (3) a compiler should synthesize an effective set of forwarding rules that obey the user-defined policies and adhere to the resource constraints of the underlying hardware. In this paper, we define and implement our proposed architecture, present efficient rule-placement algorithms that distribute forwarding policies across general SDN networks while managing rule-space constraints, and show how to support dynamic, incremental update of policies. We evaluate the effectiveness of our algorithms analytically by providing complexity bounds on their running time and rule space, as well as empirically, using both synthetic benchmarks, and real-world firewall and routing policies.
Current practices in spatial analysis of cancer data: data characteristics and data sources for geographic studies of cancer

The use of spatially referenced data in cancer studies is gaining in prominence, fueled by the development and availability of spatial analytic tools and the broadening recognition of the linkages between geography and health. We provide an overview of some of the unique characteristics of spatial data, followed by an account of the major types and sources of data used in the spatial analysis of cancer, including data from cancer registries, population data, health surveys, environmental data, and remote sensing data. We cite numerous examples of recent studies that have used these data, with a focus on etiological research.
Pole determinations with complex-zero inputs

A method for the determination of the characteristic pole locations in simple systems and components is discussed. The techniques introduced are extended to include more complex systems. The method consists of applying a signal to the system from a "complex-zero-generator" and then observing the system output response on an oscillograph. The system pole locations are determined when the system output goes through a null, which occurs when the zeros generated by the "complex-zero-generator" cancel the system poles. Tests on experimental systems indicate that the pole locations can be determined accurately and rapidly for a wide variety of systems. For testing purposes, a "complex-zero-generator" was built using two square-wave generators with a timed delay between them. This generator gives a signal which can contain complex zeros anywhere in the s-plane. This signal is then applied to a number of systems containing several different relative pole orientations. The system outputs, as photographed on the oscillograph, are studied to develop rules and procedures to determine the pole locations. The rules are then applied to a number of "unknown" systems in order to determine their applicability and a study is made of the errors and limitations involved. The results indicate that the method described is readily applicable to many systems and that, in many instances, the pole locations are determined more accurately and more rapidly than can be done through the use of a steady-state frequency analysis.
Type 1 Fimbrial Adhesin FimH Elicits an Immune Response That Enhances Cell Adhesion of Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli causes about 90% of urinary tract infections (UTI), and more than 95% of all UTI-causing E. coli express type 1 fimbriae. The fimbrial tip-positioned adhesive protein FimH utilizes a shear force-enhanced, so-called catch-bond mechanism of interaction with its receptor, mannose, where the lectin domain of FimH shifts from a low- to a high-affinity conformation upon separation from the anchoring pilin domain. Here, we show that immunization with the lectin domain induces antibodies that exclusively or predominantly recognize only the high-affinity conformation. In the lectin domain, we identified four high-affinity-specific epitopes, all positioned away from the mannose-binding pocket, which are recognized by 20 separate clones of monoclonal antibody. None of the monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against the lectin domain inhibited the adhesive function. On the contrary, the antibodies enhanced FimH-mediated binding to mannosylated ligands and increased by severalfold bacterial adhesion to urothelial cells. Furthermore, by natural conversion from the high- to the low-affinity state, FimH adhesin was able to shed the antibodies bound to it. When whole fimbriae were used, the antifimbrial immune serum that contained a significant amount of antibodies against the lectin domain of FimH was also able to enhance FimH-mediated binding. Thus, bacterial adhesins (or other surface antigens) with the ability to switch between alternative conformations have the potential to induce a conformation-specific immune response that has a function-enhancing rather than -inhibiting impact on the protein. These observations have implications for the development of adhesin-specific vaccines and may serve as a paradigm for antibody-mediated enhancement of pathogen binding.
Accelerated Aging of Polyimide/Titanium Adhesive Bonds Using the Notched Coating Adhesion Test

The effect of elevated temperature aging on the interphase of a polyimide adhesive and a titanium substrate has been investigated. An interfacially debonding adhesive test was applied, and the adhesive/substrate interphase was characterized through an analysis of the failure surfaces. To facilitate the aging study, an “openfaced” adhesive geometry, the notched coating adhesion (NCA) test, was used. Use of this adhesive geometry allows an acceleration of diffusion-related aging phenomena by up to two orders of magnitude, as compared to a traditional “sandwiched” bond. The failure surfaces were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and optical microscopy. Bulk adhesive properties were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry and solvent uptake. Although there was evidence of polyimide degradation within the interphase, only minor changes in the bulk polyimide properties were detected. This indicates that the adhesive may be degrading preferentially in the interphase region.
Least Sum of Absolute Deviations Regression: Distance, Leverage, and Influence

Least sum of absolute deviations regression is considered as a robust alternative to least sum of squared deviations regression. A simple example of linear regression utilizing one predictor variable and a single extreme value illustrates the potential effects of distance, leverage, and influence on the two regression models.
A Sample‐Freezing Drive Shoe for a Wire Line Piston Core Sampler

Loss of fluids and samples during retrieval of cores of saturated, noncohesive sediments results in incorrect measures of fluid distributions and an inaccurate measure of the stratigraphic position of the sample. To reduce these errors, the authors developed a hollow drive shoe that freezes in place the lowest 3 inches (75 mm) of a 1.88-inch -diameter (48 mm), 5-foot-long (1.5 m) sediment sample taken using a commercial wire line piston core sampler. The end of the core is frozen by piping liquid carbon dioxide at ambient temperature through a steel tube from a bottle at the land surface to the drive shoe where it evaporates and expands, cooling the interior surface of the shoe to about {minus}109 F ({minus}78 C). Freezing a core end takes about 10 minutes. The device was used to collect samples for a study of oil-water-air distributions, and for studies of water chemistry and microbial activity in unconsolidated sediments at the site of an oil spill near Bemidji, Minnesota. Before freezing was employed, samples of sandy sediments from near the water table sometimes flowed out of the core barrel as the sampler was withdrawn. Freezing the bottom of the core allowed for the retention of allmore » material that entered the core barrel and lessened the redistribution of fluids within the core. The device is useful in the unsaturated and shallow saturated zones, but does not freeze cores well at depths greater than about 20 feet (6 m) below water, possibly because the feed tube plugs with dry ice with increased exhaust back-pressure, or because sediment enters the annulus between the core barrel and the core barrel liner and blocks the exhaust.« less
Determination of Monomeric and Polynuclear Aluminum(III) Species and Hydrolysis Constants

Abstract Aqueous reactions of aluminum(III) were investigated in acidic aluminum solutions at fixed ionic strength and below the pH of precipitation. Computer analysis of potentiometric data for three concentrations (0.1, 0.5, and 1 mM Al) indicated that the experimental results could be explained by assuming only two principal hydrolyzed species, AlOH2+ and Al8(OH)4+ 20. No other combination of aluminum complexes appeared to fit the data as did these species. The equilibrium constant for the monohydroxy ion was very close to values determined by other methods. The refined values of the formation constants for ∗pK 1 and pβ8,20 were 5.55 and 68.7, respectively, at an ionic strength of 0.15, and 5.11 and 64.1, respectively, at zero ionic strength.
Rural vs Urban Problem Drinker Clients

The rural (n = 636) and urban (n = 3,294) clients served by the outpatient alcoholism service centers of Iowa during 1973-1974 are compared. More similarities than differences are observed. The implications for intervention and rehabilitation strategies are discussed.
Visual physiology of the lateral geniculate nucleus in two species of new world monkey: Saimiri sciureus and Aotus trivirgatis.

1Visual responses were recorded from neurones in the magnocellular and parvocellular layers of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the thalamus in two species of New World monkeys – the diurnal squirrel monkey (Saimiri sciureus) and the nocturnal owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatis). Recording sites were reconstructed in postmortem tissue and comparisons were made between the response properties of magnocellular and parvocellular neurones. 2Receptive fields were characterized with both white noise and drifting gratings. We found that most of the differences between magnocellular and parvocellular neurones that have been described in the macaque monkey hold for the squirrel monkey and owl monkey. In squirrel monkey and owl monkey, receptive fields of magnocellular neurones were larger than those of parvocellular neurones at similar eccentricities. Although visual responses in the owl monkey were significantly slower than in the squirrel monkey, in both species magnocellular neurones differed from parvocellular neurones in that their responses (1) had higher contrast gains, (2) tended to peak at higher temporal frequencies (but with considerable overlap), (3) had shorter response latencies, and (4) were more transient. 3The strength of a neurone's receptive-field surround was assessed by comparing neuronal responses to gratings of optimal spatial frequency with responses to gratings of low spatial frequency. Using this approach, receptive-field surrounds were found to be equally strong on average for magnocellular and parvocellular neurones. 4Spatial summation, as measured by a null test, was linear for all magnocellular and parvocellular cells tested; that is, Y cells were not observed in either species. Finally, most magnocellular neurones showed a contrast gain control mechanism, although this was not seen for parvocellular neurones.
Notes: Conditions for the Applicability of the Regenerative Method

The regenerative method for estimating steady-state parameters is one of the basic methods in simulation output analysis. This method depends on central limit theorems for regenerative processes and weakly consistent estimates for the variance constants arising in the central limit theorems. A weak sufficient condition for both the central limit theorems and consistent estimates is given. Previous authors have implicitly made stronger moment assumptions which have led to strongly consistent variance estimates, more than is needed for the regenerative method to hold. The relationship between conditions for the validity of the regenerative method and those for the validity of standardized time series methods is also discussed.
Steady-State biodiesel blend estimation via a wideband oxygen sensor

A substantial opportunity exists to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions as well as dependence on foreign oil by developing strategies to cleanly and efficiently use biodiesel, a renewable, domestically available, alternative diesel fuel. However, biodiesel utilization presents several challenges, including decreased fuel energy density and increased emissions of smog-generating nitrogen oxides (NOx). These negative aspects can likely be mitigated via closed-loop combustion control provided the properties of the fuel blend can be estimated accurately, on-vehicle, in real-time. To this end, this paper presents a method to practically estimate the biodiesel content of fuel being used in a diesel engine during steady-state operation. The simple, generalizable, physically motivated estimation strategy presented utilizes information from a wideband oxygen sensor in the engine's exhaust stream, coupled with knowledge of the air-fuel ratio, to estimate the biodiesel content of the fuel. Experimental validation was performed on a 2007 Cummins 6.7 liter ISB series engine. Four fuel blends (0%, 20%, 50% and 100% biodiesel) were tested at a wide variety of torque-speed conditions. The estimation strategy correctly estimated the biodiesel content of the four fuel blends to within 4.2% of the true biodiesel content. Blends of 0%, 20%, 50% and 100% were estimated to be 2.5%, 17.1%, 54.2%, and 96.8% respectively. The results indicate that the estimation strategy presented is capable of accurately estimating the biodiesel content in a diesel engine during steady-state engine operation. This method offers a practical alternative to in-the-fuel type sensors, because wideband oxygen sensors are already in widespread production and are in place on some modern diesel vehicles today.
The Current Account in Developing Countries: A Perspective from the Consumption-Smoothing Approach

According to the consumption-smoothing view, a high degree of capital mobility implies that agents are able to fully smooth their consumption in the face of shocks. This article develops aframework to test whether, indeed, the current account in developing countries acts as a buffer to smooth consumption in the face of shocks to national cash flow, which is defined as output less investment less government expenditure. Using vector autoregression analysis, we estimate the optimal consumption-smoothing current account with data from a sample of forty-five developing countries. We find that for a majority of the countries, the hypothesis offull consumption smoothing cannot be rejected, suggesting that capital mobility may after all be quite high in this group of countries.
Transmembane Potential Properties of Atrial Cells at Different Sites of a Spiral Wave Reentry: Cellular Evidence for an Excitable but Nonexcited Core

Transmembrane action potentials (TAPs) were recorded during simultaneous mapping of a reentrant wavefront induced in canine isolated atria. The activation pattern was visualized dynamically using a high resolution electrode catheter mapping system. During functional reentry (spiral wave), cells in the core of the spiral wave remained quiescent near their resting membrane potential. Cells away from the core progressively gained TAP amplitude and duration, and at the periphery of the spiral wave the cells generated TAPs with full height and duration. During anatomical reentry, when the tip of the wavefront remained attached to the obstacle (a condition of high source-to-sink ratio), the TAP near the obstacle had normal amplitude and duration. However, when the tip of the wavefront detached from the obstacle (condition of lowered source-to-sink ratio) the TAP lost amplitude and duration. These results are consistent with the theory that the source-to-sink ratio determines the safety factor for wave propagation and wave block near the core. With decreasing source-to-sink ratio, TAP progressively decreases in amplitude and duration. In the center of the core, the cells, while excitable, remain quiescent near their resting potential. This decrease reflects a progressive decrease in the source-to-sink ratio. TAP vanishes in the core where cells remain quiescent near their resting potential. Functional and meandering reentrant wavefronts are compatible with the spiral mechanism of reentry where block at the rotating point is provided by the steep curvature of the wave tip.
Zonisamide in the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study.

Background. Painful diabetic neuropathy is a form of neuropathic pain frequently encountered as a complication of diabetes mellitus types I and II. Pharmacotherapy is one modality of treatment for this distressing and often disabling condition, but there is no medication available that consistently provides adequate pain relief with acceptable safety and tolerability. Tricyclic antidepressants, certain antiepileptic drugs, and opioids have been shown in randomized, controlled trials to be of benefit in painful diabetic neuropathy, although none has Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved labeling for this indication. Study Objective. To analyze the safety and efficacy of zonisamide in the treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy. This pilot study is the first randomized, controlled trial of zonisamide for the treatment of any neuropathic pain disorder. Study Design. Forty-two patients 18–80 years of age with type I or type II diabetes mellitus and at least a 3-month history of painful diabetic neuropathy were screened in the study, and 25 were randomized to zonisamide (N = 13) or placebo (N = 12). The study drug was titrated over a 6-week period and continued at a fixed dosage for a 6-week maintenance period. The mean dosage of zonisamide for the maintenance phase was 540 mg/day. Outcome Measures. Patients kept a daily log of their pain using both a 0–100 mm visual analog scale and a 0–10 Likert scale. Result. Pain scores on both the visual analog scale and the Likert scale decreased more for the zonisamide group compared with the placebo group, regardless of whether the comparison was made for the intent-to-treat population, the population that entered the maintenance phase, or the completer population, but these differences did not reach statistical significance. Tolerability of zonisamide was only fair in this study, which had a high number of dropouts from the zonisamide group. Conclusion. A larger randomized, controlled trial is needed to establish the efficacy and tolerability of zonisamide for painful diabetic neuropathy.
Systolic architecture for 2-D rank order filtering

The proposed systolic design for 2-D rank order filtering has a wide variety of applications in image processing. It derives its architecture mainly from a systolic design for 1-D rank order filtering proposed previously. The adopted systolic design, called the sample oriented rank order filter design, takes advantage of the evaluated rank values in the current window for the evaluation of the rank values in the next window without explicitly sorting the data in the window. This makes it possible to convert a 2-D windowed data sequence into a 1-D windowed data sequence with multiple data sample exchange at each window movement, and the 1-D systolic design is thus applicable. By cascading many such 1-D systolic arrays into a 2-D array, and supplied with simple parallel-in-serial-out (PISO) logic, this architecture can achieve the maximally available parallelism with nearly 100% efficiency if either the pipeline interleaving or processor sharing technique is used. The design does not require the preloading of the whole 2-D data array, and line scanned images can be processed with negligible time delay. >
Medical Utilization Among Wellness Consumers

This study investigates conventional medicine utilization by wellness-motivated, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) consumers. While CAM consumers are typically characterized as high health care utilizers, negative correlations have been found between CAM-based wellness programs and the consumption of conventional medical care. We use a nationally representative sample to analyze both illness- and wellness-motivated CAM users, with an interest in whether CAM therapies used for wellness replace conventional medicine, thus potentially offering cost offsets. Results indicate that motivation for CAM use is neither associated with a lower probability nor a lower rate of conventional medicine utilization. Increasingly, individuals, workplaces, and governments incorporate wellness programs involving CAM modalities into health care and policy; as the conventional and unconventional medical spheres begin to integrate and influence one another, understanding our pluralistic medical environment and its con...
Riparian and upland small mammals on the east slope of the Cascade Range, Washington

Differences in small mammal diversity and abundance between riparian and upland areas have not been consistently shown in the Pacific Northwest, and the issue is expected to be complex along the east slope of the Cascade Range with its complex bio geography and forest landscape structure. The information is important for evaluating buffer zone management and the potential impacts of fuel reduction projects. We quantified small mammal species’ abundances, diversity, and indicator species in riparian and upland forest along three third-order streams. Each location had a set of four 5 x 6 pitfall kill-trapping grids with 15 m spacing and the first grid row 5 m from the water. One site had an additional set of four grids. We trapped for two weeks during late June and early July during 1997 and 1998 for a total trap effort of 13,411 trap nights. We captured 1,104 individuals of 14 species. Insectivores were 69% and rodents 31% of the captures. Sorex trowbridgii was the most abundant species (54% of all captures). Peromyscus keeni and P. maniculatus combined dominated the rodent community with 43% of rodent captures. Species richness and individuals captured generally were highest within 20-35 m of the stream. Sorex palustris, P. keeni, Microtus longicaudus, S. vagrans, and Zapus princeps showed strong affinities to the immediate riparian zone ( <5 m from the stream). No species were indicators or most abundant in the upland forest away from the riparian areas. Refuge and corridor functions for small mammals in riparian areas would be maintained by current buffer-width standards of 60-100 m.
Charge Effects in Electromagnetic Stimulation of Biosynthesis

Exposure to low intensity non-ionizing radiation has been linked to a number of significant biological effects, both clinically beneficial (e.g., acceleration of bone fracture healing in cases of non-unions [1]) and potentially harmful (e.g., epidemiological studies showing an increased risk of childhood leukemia [2, 3]). Studies of the stimulation of biosynthesis in cells by electromagnetic fields have demonstrated the presence of signal-specific proteins [4], and have also shown that the intensity thresholds for affecting biosynthesis are different at different frequencies [5]. The effects of electromagnetic stimulation on biosynthesis provide detailed information that is important in unraveling the mechanism of action of electromagnetism on fundamental cellular processes. A description of the mechanism at this level could serve as a basis for understanding the more complex effects of electromagnetism in living systems and eventually defining the effects at different levels of electromagnetic exposure.
The Emergence of Coporate ABC Initiatives: Towards a Model of ABC Implementation

This chapter provides a narrative history of the emergence of ABC as a corporate initiative in the firms in our study. A major theme that runs through both accounts is the bureaucratic processes associated with bringing ABC to corporate consciousness and evaluating its potential as a corporate initiative. We use the term “bureaucratic” not in a pejorative sense, but to highlight a major difference between implementing ABC in a small versus a large firm. In a small firm a single ABC model can include all costs and the “pilot” study is the forerunner of the completed model. In a large firm hundreds of ABC models are needed to capture all of the business activities and costs of the firm, and any pilot study of necessity provides only a glimpse of the likely future challenges, costs and benefits of deploying ABC to the full organization. We use our observations at General Motors and Chrysler, as well as literature on the implementation of information technology and cost management change to develop a model of ABC implementation.
Integration of Auditory and Tactile Inputs in Musical Meter Perception

Musicians often say that they not only hear but also “feel” music. To explore the contribution of tactile information to “feeling” music, we investigated the degree that auditory and tactile inputs are integrated in humans performing a musical meter-recognition task. Subjects discriminated between two types of sequences, “duple” (march-like rhythms) and “triple” (waltz-like rhythms), presented in three conditions: (1) unimodal inputs (auditory or tactile alone); (2) various combinations of bimodal inputs, where sequences were distributed between the auditory and tactile channels such that a single channel did not produce coherent meter percepts; and (3) bimodal inputs where the two channels contained congruent or incongruent meter cues. We first show that meter is perceived similarly well (70–85 %) when tactile or auditory cues are presented alone. We next show in the bimodal experiments that auditory and tactile cues are integrated to produce coherent meter percepts. Performance is high (70–90 %) when all of the metrically important notes are assigned to one channel and is reduced to 60 % when half of these notes are assigned to one channel. When the important notes are presented simultaneously to both channels, congruent cues enhance meter recognition (90 %). Performance dropped dramatically when subjects were presented with incongruent auditory cues (10 %), as opposed to incongruent tactile cues (60 %), demonstrating that auditory input dominates meter perception. These observations support the notion that meter perception is a cross-modal percept with tactile inputs underlying the perception of “feeling” music.
Selection and the Origin of Cells

Cells are the smallest known pieces of biology that are capable of independent reproduction and are therefore the simplest units that can evolve by conventional natural selection. This is problematic because even the simplest self-replicating cell-like entities seem to be too complicated to arise without the guiding hand of selection. To solve this conundrum, I argue that selection began before there were bounded entities in the form of neighborhood selection, an analog of group selection without bounded groups. This, I suggest, acted on chemical consortia bound to mineral surfaces to enhance their autocatalytic abilities. Then, selection for an ability to colonize new mineral surfaces resulted in the origin of propagules, which later evolved into free-living protocells. This model implies that much of life’s complexity is the product of selection rather than of chance and that cells might arise predictably and rapidly in any environment with abundant free energy and appropriate chemical building blocks.
1614PPHARMACOGENETIC EVALUATION OF TARGETED DNA SEQUENCING IN CANCER PATIENTS

ABSTRACT Aim: Germline sequence variation and somatic alterations in genes associated with drug processing can determine therapeutic response in cancer patients, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) of these genes generates individualized pharmacogenetic data. Methods: Targeted Illumina NGS of over 200 genes (including known druggable targets, cancer pathogenesis and drug response genes) was performed for matched germline and tumor DNA from patients representing many common cancer types. Aligned sequence data was used for genotype variant calling in both germline and tumor DNA and for mutation and copy number identification within tumors. Genetic ancestry was determined from germline genotypes. Somatic alterations within genes relevant to the pharmacology of anticancer agents were examined in breast and colorectal cancers, two frequent types in the study. Results: The 208 patients sequenced were mainly Caucasian (78%) and African American (16%). The most common cancer types included gastrointestinal (19%), genitourinary (18%), and breast (13%). A total of 38 pharmacogenetic variants in 18 genes, including cytochrome P450 genes, were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in Caucasian and African American populations. Observed genotype concordance of these variants in matched germline and tumor DNA was greater than 95% at all surveyed loci across all cancer types and greater than 90% at all loci in breast and colorectal cancers. Analysis of 16 genes associated with anticancer agents in breast and colorectal cancers identified somatic mutations in almost 50% of patients with these cancers, including predicted amino acid changes in ABCB1, DPYD, and CYP2C8. Aberrant tumor DNA copy numbers were sporadically observed in most of these genes, although recurrent deletions of DPYD and SULT1A1 were present in both tumor types. Conclusions: NGS of pharmacogenes from an individual's non-malignant and tumor tissue provides a comprehensive catalog of germline variants and both known and novel somatic alterations. The integration of genetic data from germline and tumor may aid in elucidating the pharmacology underlying therapeutic effect. Ongoing analysis of the effect of these molecular alterations on drug response will be presented at the meeting. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
The Curious Problem of Short Against the Box

This paper examines the Clinton Administration proposal to treat a short against the box (and other similar transactions) as a realization event. The paper draws three conclusions. First, traditional analysis, for example that based on Haig-Simons notions of income or horizontal and vertical equity, cannot resolve whether the proposal would produce a net welfare gain. Second, the proposal might produce an efficiency gain, although substantial (and difficult) empirical work is needed to verify the claim. In particular, the proposal would increase realizations but also increase the cost of lock-in. The size of these changes must be determined and translating these changes into social welfare costs requires better models of stock trading than are currently available. Third, the administrative problems with the proposal (or any proposal of this sort) are substantial and raise questions about whether it should be adopted at all.
Tricholosporum and Notes on Omphaliaster and Clitocybe

New combinations are made in Tricholosporum and a key to the species is presented. Omphaliaster ianthinocystis is described including SEM illustrations of the basidiospores. The relationship of Omp...
The Public Acceptance of Socialist with Chinese Characteristics under the Instillation Theory

The socialist road with Chinese characteristics is the result of the Communist Party of China when uniting and leading the people of all nationalities in the country to construct it.The report of the Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC perfects its scientific connotation and stresses it.The report also emphasizes the road should be against not only "the old" but also "the astray" interference.All of these show that it is both a major theoretical and a practical issue.The Inculcation theory is an important part of Marxist theory,which has been proved by practice.Under the new situation,it should be correctly understood and used to improve the specialty,enhance the interaction with the infusion object,and fully play its role to raise the identity of people.
Does indomethacin affect the control of breathing in premature infants

The effect of indomethacin on the control of breathing was simultaneously evaluated in 10 premature infants who had significant patent ductus arteriosus and received indomethacin therapy. In an attempt to maintain high plasma level in these infants of advanced postnatal age (greater than or equal to 6 weeks), indomethacin was administered intravenously at a dosage of 0.3 mg/kg, at 8-hour intervals, for a total of three doses. Following indomethacin therapy, there was a significant increase in tidal volume, minute ventilation, tidal volume/inspiratory time and in airway pressure (P0.1, Pmax) generated during airway occlusion. Seven infants required lower ventilatory rates after study. In spite of desirable plasma indomethacin level, there was no significant improvement in echo left atrium/aortic root dimension ratio, cardiovascular dysfunction score and in blood pH, PO2 and PCO2. None of the infants showed clinical evidence of ductus closure. The results of the study suggested that indomethacin may stimulate respiration and that endogenous prostaglandin may play a role in the regulation of breathing.