cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thermoperiodic involvement in antifreeze protein production in the cold hardy beetle Dendroides canadensis: Implications for photoperiodic time measurement

This study considers a possible role for thermoperiods (i.e. the duration of thermophase (T) and cryophase (C) during a 24-h period) in the regulation of antifreeze protein production in Dendroides canadensis. Larvae were exposed to thermocycles consisting of long (16 h) and short (8 h) thermophases in the form TC, 25°17°C, while maintained in a background of either constant darkness, or constant light. Short-day thermoperiods stimulated, while long-day thermoperiods prevented, antifreeze protein production under both aperiodic lighting conditions. If the cryophase temperature was allowed to reach 13°C (TC, 25°17°C), significant differences (P < 0.001) between long and short-day thermoperiodic responses persisted in both constant light and constant darkness, while the overall levels of antifreeze protein production increased under constant light conditions independent of the thermoperiod. Studies incorporating conflicting photothermal regimes in the form short photoperiod with a long thermoperiod, and vice versa, triggered intermediate antifreeze protein activity. These results indicate that D. canadensis are capable of distinguishing long from short-day thermoperiods, over the cycling temperature from 25 to 13°C, and will initiate antifreeze protein production under the appropriate conditions. Furthermore, the expression of this thermoperiodic response under both constant darkness and constant light holds important implications for photoperiodic time measurement in this species by suggesting that the circadian clock involved with daylength measurement is of an internal coincidence type. The observed interaction of the light-cycle and thermocycle in the regulation of antifreeze protein production is discussed from the perspective of entrainment of the D. canadensis circadian system.
Males make poor meals: a comparison of nutrient extraction during sexual cannibalism and predation

Cannibalism is hypothesized to have evolved as a way to obtain a high-quality meal. We examined the extraction of lipid and protein by female wolf spiders, Hogna helluo, during sexual cannibalism of males and predation of crickets. Most food-limited females did not cannibalize males but immediately consumed a size-matched cricket. When consuming male H. helluo and crickets, female H. helluo only consumed 51% of the male body while they consumed 72% of the cricket body. While males had higher protein content in their bodies than crickets and other insects, female H. helluo ingested similar amounts of protein from male H. helluo and crickets. Female H. helluo extracted 47% of the protein present in male H. helluo and 67% of the protein present in crickets. Females were able to extract nearly all of the lipid present in male H. helluo and crickets. However, crickets and other insects had almost 4 times higher lipid content than male H. helluo. The ratio of lipid to protein consumed from crickets appeared more similar to the nutritional requirements of egg production than that of males. Taken together, female hesitancy to engage in cannibalism, low extraction of nutrients from males and a low ratio of lipid to protein in the food extracted from males suggest that males may be poor-quality prey items compared to common insects such as crickets.
Worsened outcome from middle cerebral artery occlusion in aged rats receiving 17β-estradiol

Although estrogens are neuroprotective in young adult animal models of stroke, clinical trials demonstrate that estrogens increase the incidence and severity of stroke in aged women. We have previously shown that experimental stroke pathophysiology differs between young adult and aged rats. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 17β-estradiol after middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion in young adult and aged female rats. Focal embolic stroke was performed by middle cerebral artery occlusion with fibrin clot followed by reperfusion with i.v. human recombinant tissue plasminogen activator. Histological and functional outcomes were measured at 24 h after middle cerebral artery occlusion with fibrin clot. Aged rats treated with 17β-estradiol had significantly increased infarct volumes compared with placebo-treated aged rats. Young adult rats treated with 17β-estradiol had significantly decreased infarct volumes and improved functional outcome compared with ovariectomized young adult rats. Our results suggest that 17β-estradiol may act in an age-dependent manner in the postischemic rat brain. In young adult rats, it is neuroprotective; chronic treatment with 17β-estradiol during aging leads to worsened ischemic brain injury in aged female rats.
International licensing of branded food products

This article presents an analysis of the strategic motivation for firms to license production and sale of their branded products overseas. First, the article documents the incidence of international brand-name licensing of food products, focussing on licenses from the US to foreign firms (outbound), production and marketing by US firms under license from overseas firms (inbound), and third-country licensing. Second, the economic incentives for a firm to offer outbound and/or accept inbound licensing are discussed, and third, the commercial considerations relevant to establishing terms of an international licensing agreement are examined. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The discriminative stimulus effects of N-methyl-D-aspartate glycine-site ligands in NMDA antagonist-trained rats.

Many N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists produce phencyclidine (PCP)-like side effects that limit their clinical utility. NMDA glycine-site antagonists may be less likely to produce these effects than other site-selective NMDA antagonists. The objective of the study is to compare the discriminative stimulus effects of novel NMDA glycine-site drugs to those of channel blocking and competitive NMDA antagonists. Drug discrimination studies were performed in separate groups of rats trained with saline vs. PCP (2 mg/kg i.p.) or the competitive antagonist NPC 17742 (4 mg/kg i.p.) using a standard two-lever operant conditioning procedure under an FR32. Neither the partial glycine-site agonists aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid methyl ester and (+)-HA-966 nor the antagonists L701,324; MDL 100,458; MDL 100,748; MDL 103,371; MDL 104,472; MDL 105,519; MRZ 2/571; MRZ 2/576; and ACEA 0762 produced >50% PCP-lever selection, though all were tested over a sufficient dose range to produce response rate decreasing effects. All of the antagonists, except MDL 100,458 and MDL 100,748, were also tested for NPC 17742-like effects, producing somewhat more variable results than in PCP-trained rats. ACEA-0762 produced full substitution for NPC 17742, whereas MDL 105,519 produced no substitution. The remaining compounds engendered between 20% and 80% drug-lever selection. These results provide evidence that NMDA glycine-site partial agonists and antagonists generally do not produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to those of representative NMDA channel blockers or competitive antagonists. This suggests that these NMDA glycine-site antagonists should be less likely to produce the undesirable behavioral side effects seen in clinical trials with many other NMDA antagonists.
Validity of Using Bem Sex-Role Inventory Norms on other Samples: Analysis of a Southern Sample:

Bern Sex-role Inventory norms are compared to norms based on samples taken at a southern university. The Southern sample used 374 female undergraduates and 217 male undergraduates in standardizing the long form and 266 female and 131 males on the short form of Bern's inventory. It was hypothesized that the local sample would have higher stereotyped scores than the Bern norms. Using weighted means and combining the sexes, both the feminine and masculine scores were significantly higher than the Stanford normative sample on both forms. Analyzing data for the sexes separately, both Southern women and men were significantly higher on femininity than the published norms on both forms, and both were significantly higher on masculinity on the short form, but only Southern men were significantly higher than Bern's norms for masculinity on the long form. Chi-squared tests on the effect of different median scores on sex-role group assignment indicated significant differences in group assignments for several compari...
A Christian Faith-Based Recovery Theory: Understanding God as Sponsor

This article reports the development of a substantive theory to explain an evangelical Christian-based process of recovery from addiction. Faith-based, 12-step, mutual aid programs can improve drug abstinence by offering: (a) an intervention option alone and/or in conjunction with secular programs and (b) an opportunity for religious involvement. Although literature on religion, spirituality, and addiction is voluminous, traditional 12-step programs fail to explain the mechanism that underpins the process of Christian-based recovery (CR). This pilot study used grounded theory to explore and describe the essence of recovery of 10 former crack cocaine-addicted persons voluntarily enrolled in a CR program. Data were collected from in-depth interviews during 4 months of 2008. Audiotapes were transcribed verbatim, and the constant comparative method was used to analyze data resulting in the basic social process theory, understanding God as sponsor. The theory was determined through writing theoretical memos that generated key elements that allow persons to recover: acknowledging God-centered crises, communicating with God, and planning for the future. Findings from this preliminary study identifies important factors that can help persons in recovery to sustain sobriety and program administrators to benefit from theory that guides the development of evidence-based addiction interventions.
A simulation of three-dimensional systolic flow dynamics in a spherical ventricle: Effects of abnormal wall motion

Alterations in left ventricle (LV) wall motion induced by ischemia will affect flow dynamics, and these altered flow fields can be used to evaluate LV pumping efficiency. LV chamber flow fields were obtained in this study by solving the discretized three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for viscous, incompressible unsteady flow by using the finite analytic method. Several cases of abnormal wall motion (AWM) were simulated by a manipulation of the boundary conditions to produce regions of hypokinesis, akinesis, and dyskinesis. These solutions were used to determine the central ejection region (CER), defined as the region of flow domain in which the obtained velocity field vectors are aligned ±3° from the LV long axis. A CER coefficient was computed from information on the location and orientation of the CER within the LV cavity. Contraction of the spherical ventricle produced a vector field that was symmetric with respect to the long axis. For the simulations of AWM, an asymmetrical flow pattern developed, became more pronounced with increasing severity of AWM, and resulted in a shorter CER that shifted toward the ischemic region. The CER coefficients decreased monotonically with increased severity in AWM from 0.948 in the normal case to a low of 0.164 for the most severe case of AWM. The CER coefficient quantitatively displayed the sensitivity of the flow patterns to even moderate degrees of hypokinesis. In addition, visualization of the three-dimensional flow field reinforced the necessity of three-dimensional simulations to capture aspects of the flow that existing methods of two-dimensional flow imaging that use ultrasound may miss.
Hydrothermal flux growth of hydroxyapatites by temperature oscillation

Single crystals of hydroxyapatite, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, have been grown by the hydrothermal method using Ca(OH)2 as flux and employing the oscillating temperature technique. Temperature and pressure were oscillated from 750 to 880°C and from 14500 to 17500 psi, respectively. Pure hydroxyapatite as well as CO2 saturated crystals containing 0.7% CO2 were grown. The Co3 groups replace PO4 in the structure. IR spectra, lattice parameters and chemical composition are discussed. The largest crystals obtained were 8 mm in length and 0.5 mm in diameter.
Application of the dynamic spatial ordered probit model: Patterns of land development change in Austin, Texas

Abstract The evolution of land development in urban area has been of great interest to policy-makers and planners. Due to the complexity of the land development process, no existing studies are considered sophisticated enough. This research uses the dynamic spatial ordered probit (DSOP) model to analyse Austin's land use intensity patterns over a 4-point panel. The observational units are 300 m × 300 m grid cells derived from satellite images. The sample contains 2,771 such grid cells, spread among 57 zip code regions. The marginal effects of control variables suggest that increases in travel times to central business district (CBD) substantially reduce land development intensity. More important, temporal and spatial autocorrelation effects are significantly positive, showing the superiority of the DSOP model. The derived parameters are used to predict future land development patterns, along with associated uncertainty in each grid cell's prediction. Resumen La evolucion del desarrollo del suelo en areas urbanas ha sido de gran interes para formuladores de politicas y urbanistas. Debido a la complejidad del proceso de desarrollo urbano, se considera que los estudios existentes no son lo suficientemente sofisticados. Este estudio utiliza el modelo probit ordenado espacial dinamico (DSOP, por sus siglas en ingles) para analizar los patrones de intensidad de uso del suelo sobre un panel de 4 puntos. Las unidades de estudio son celdas en una malla de 300m x 300 m a partir de imagenes de satelite. La muestra contiene 2,771 de estas celdas, distribuidas entre 57 regiones de codigos postales. Los efectos marginales de las variables de control sugieren que los incrementos en la duracion de los desplazamientos al distrito central de negocios (CBD, por sus siglas en ingles) reducen sustancialmente la intensidad del desarrollo urbano del suelo. Con mayor importancia, los efectos de autocorrelacion temporal y espacial son significativamente positivos, mostrando la superioridad del modelo DSOP. Los parametros derivados son utilizados para predecir patrones futuros de desarrollo urbano del suelo, junto con la incertidumbre asociada a la prediccion para cada celda de la malla.
Looking at Teacher Practices Through the Lens of Parenting Style

In this article, the author used a parenting style framework to explain mixed evidence about the influence of teacher practices on student outcomes. Participants included 3 fifth-grade math teachers and 45 of their students. The author assessed teacher practices, teaching style (i.e., demandingness and responsiveness), student engagement, self-efficacy, and standardized achievement test scores. The most academically and socially competent students were those who experienced an authoritative teaching style (i.e., consistent classroom management, support of student autonomy, and personal interest in students). The author found disengagement and limited ability beliefs in the authoritarian context (i.e., consistent classroom management but limited autonomy support and limited personal interest in students). She found smaller academic gains in the permissive context (i.e., inconsistent management, autonomy support, and interest in students).
Determination of the reduced matrix elements using accurate ab initio wavefunctions: Formalism and its application to the vibrational ground state (000) of H216O

Abstract The calculations of the reduced matrix elements for 441 rotational collisional transitions for rotational quantum numbers of the lower state up to J ″=20 in the vibrational ground state of H 2 16 O are presented using effective and ab initio wavefunctions. Effective wavefunctions are derived from a Watson A-reduced Hamiltonian with the effective parameters determined by Matsushima et al. [Matsushima et al., J Mol Struct 1995;352–353:371]. The ab initio wavefunctions used in this study are from the work of Partridge and Schwenke [Partridge, H, Schwenke, DW. J Chem Phys 1997;106:4618]. The comparison of the reduced matrix elements obtained by both methods is described. It is demonstrated that, even for the rotational band, the effective wavefunctions show problems for some states.
Determining the HIV Status of Patients of Three HIV-Positive Navy Dentists

The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection has caused the risk of HIV transmission in the health care setting to become a major public concern. Navy medical records were reviewed to investigate the HIV status of 2,887 patients treated by three HIV-positive dentists.
Natural-Convection Heat-Transfer from an Isothermal Vertical Surface to a Fluid-Saturated Thermally Stratified Porous-Medium

Presented here are the results of a numerical study of natural convection heat transfer in a stably stratified, fluid saturated low porosity medium, in which Darcy flow prevails. In this investigation, the boundary layer approximations are discarded and a wide range of ambient thermal stratification levels is considered. The results indicate that the ambient thermal stratification has a significant effect on the flow and temperature fields, and that this effect differs considerably at higher levels of stratification. The flow reversal and temperature defects are significantly smaller in the porous media than in a viscous fluid, due to the stabilization of the flow by the solid matrix. To generalize the result, the Nusselt number data are correlated with the thermal stratification parameter to yield a functional relationship.
A study of some photocrosslinkable resins using i.r. spectroscopy

Abstract The kinetics of photoinduced crosslinking of a number of polymers containing chalcone units have been studied. The concentration of the chalcone groups and the nature of the backbone were varied in a controlled manner. The rates of photocrosslinking cannot be analysed by the simple application of solution kinetics. Factors which affect the rate of cure (e.g. concentration of chalcone units, thickness of films and temperature) were examined and reasons are given for the failure of the simple kinetic model.
Pulmonary Zygomycosis: A Cause of Positive Lung Scan Diagnosed by Bronchoalveolar Lavage

The diagnosis of pulmonary zygomycosis usually depends on the detection of fungal hyphae in biopsied tissue specimens. We describe a patient with a high-probability lung scan and diffuse pulmonary infiltrates due to Zygomycetes diagnosed by the demonstration of nonseptate hyphae in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. (Chest 1989; 95:238-40)
Photoinduced dissociation of water and transport of hydrogen between silver clusters.

Theoretical electronic structure calculations are reported for the dissociation of water adsorbed on a 31-atom silver cluster, Ag31, and subsequent transfer of a H to a second Ag31 cluster leaving OH on the first cluster. Both ground and excited electronic state processes are considered for two choices of Ag cluster separation, 6.35 and 7.94 A, on the basis of preliminary calculations for a range of separation distances. The excited electronic state of interest is formed by photoemission of an electron from one Ag cluster and transient attachment of the photoemitted electron to the adsorbed water molecule. A very large energy barrier is found for the ground-state process (3.53 eV at a cluster separation of 6.35 A), while the barrier in the excited state is small (0.38 eV at a cluster separation of 6.35 A). In the excited state, partial occupancy of an OH antibonding orbital facilitates OH stretch and concomitant movement of the negatively charged OH toward the electron−hole in the metal cluster. The excit...
Social networks and help-seeking experiences of pregnant teens.

Objective To describe low‐income pregnant teens' perceptions of their social network characteristics and their prenatal help‐seeking experiences. Design Descriptive, cross sectional. Setting Prenatal clinic of an urban hospital (n = 29) and two other sites (n = 2). Participants Thirty‐one unmarried, low‐income, pregnant teenage girls. Main outcome measures Social network characteristics, including social support; relationships between social network characteristics and demographic variables; and help‐seeking characteristics. Results Length of pregnancy was negatively correlated with network size (‐.45, p=.011), emotional support (‐.40, p=.026), tangible support (‐.38, p=. 033), and prenatal support (‐.41, p=.022). Compared with older teens (18–19 years old), younger teens (16–17 years old) perceived their families, relatives, or both as providing a larger proportion of their total support (t(28) = 2.64, p=.014) and prenatal support (t(25.55) = 2.93, p=.007), and friends as providing a smaller proportion of their total support. Types of help most often needed were emotional and financial. The resource most used was the teen's mother, followed by the father of the unborn child. Barriers to help were most often the unavailability of someone on whom the teen relied and financial inadequacies. Conclusions The perception of less support as pregnancy progresses may indicate a gap between needs and resources. Differences in younger and older teens' support sources and the focus of help seeking on emotional and financial support have implications for nursing care.
Influence of age on prognosis of young patients with uveal melanoma: a matched retrospective cohort study.

Purpose.To determine the influence of patient age on life prognosis in patients with uveal melanoma.Design.Matched retrospective cohort study of 122 patients in each age category (young [≤20 years]...
Incentive mechanisms for cost revelation with intermodal competition

Abstract To set regulated utility prices that are sustainable against uneconomic bypass alternatives, regulators must estimate the costs of the alternative bypass technologies; this entails a series of theoretical and institutional problems that regulators cannot practically resolve. This paper now develops a simple incentive mechanism that effectively solves those problems associated with producing an optimal amount of bypass. In the suggested procedure, regulators use readily available accounting data to specify one two-part tariff that covers the utility's revenue requirements and is deemed fair by regulators and consumers; as long as it offers this fair tariff, the company may subsequently offer as many alternative tariffs as it sees fit, including some particularly aimed to deter bypass. This procedure gives a utility the correct incentive to determine its own and its rivals' cost structures; with accurate cost information, the utility will design a menu of tariffs that would eliminate uneconomic bypass and would be responsive to changing cost conditions in the emerging bypass markets.
Growth, scale, and power in Washington State

According to the power-elite hypothesis (Bodley 1999), growth in the scale of sociocultural systems is an elite-directed process that concentrates social power. This hypothesis is tested using a wide range of quantitative data covering all incorporated urban places in the state of Washington. The distribution of household income, property ownership, bank deposits, the form and location of business ownership, and the distribution of business revenues are all examined by scale of urban place. Throughout, it is shown that as urban scale increases economic power becomes more concentrated, and the number of poor households increases. The most equitable distribution of economic power is found in the smallest places that have grown the least.
Marx on the Dialectics of Elliptical Motion

Abstract It is a widespread view that Marx did not apply dialectics to nature, and that Engels’s writings on this subject are a distortion of his outlook. This paper examines Marx’s discussion of elliptical motion and some other physical phenomena, and shows that he did indeed find contradictions and oppositions in nature, and thus recognised a dialectics of nature. In addition to analysing relevant passages in Marx’s texts, his study of the physics and mathematics of elliptical motion is reviewed and compared with Hegel’s position. Marx’s conception of how dialectical contradictions are resolved is reviewed in order to interpret his claim that the contradiction in elliptical motion is ‘solved’ but not ‘overcome’ by that motion. Textual evidence is presented that Marx regarded ‘real contradictions’ as resolved only by ‘development’, a process in which the conflict between the opposing sides of the contradiction becomes more intense. The consequences of this interpretation for Marx’s analysis of elliptical motion are explored, and some alternative interpretations are discussed.
The effects of folic or folinic acid on the toxicity of pyrimethamine in dogs.

Abstract Pyrimethamine, in oral doses averaging 5–6.2 mg/kg/day for 10–21 days, produced a distinctive pattern of toxicity in healthy beagles. This toxicity resembled that produced by antifolate agents and was characterized by emesis, anorexia, diarrhea (occasionally bloody), and weakness followed by malaise, cachexia, and marked body weight loss. Leukopenia, reticulocytopenia, and intestinal degeneration and atrophy indicated that the target organs were the hematopoietic system and the digestive tract. Administration of folinic acid (0.3 mg/kg/day, im) but not folic acid (7.5 mg/kg/day, po) simultaneously with pyrimethamine protected beagles against the toxicity produced by pyrimethamine.
Optimal detection of a class of chaotic signals

Optimal estimation and detection algorithms for use with a potentially important class of discrete-time chaotic signals generated via tent maps are described. The authors develop and evaluate, in particular, maximum likelihood (ML) estimation algorithms for filtering, predicting, and smoothing these signals from noise-corrupted measurements, and they present highly efficient, recursive implementations for these nonlinear algorithms. They also develop ML detection algorithms for discriminating among classes of chaotic signals generated from tent maps, and the results are used to explore the viability of a simple paradigm for secure communication based on these chaotic signals. >
Towards a fiber-coupled picowatt cryogenic radiometer.

A picowatt cryogenic radiometer (PCR) has been fabricated at the microscale level for electrical substitution optical fiber power measurements. The absorber, electrical heater, and thermometer are all on a micromachined membrane less than 1 mm on a side. Initial measurements with input powers from 50 fW to 20 nW show a response inequivalence between electrical and optical power of 8%. A comparison of the response to electrical and optical input powers between 15 pW to 70 pW yields a repeatability better than ±0.3% (k=2). From our first optical tests, the system has a noise equivalent power of ≈5×10−15 W/Hz at 2 Hz, but simple changes to the measurement scheme should yield an NEP 2 orders of magnitude lower.
A Note on Testing Models of Spending in the American States: the Case of Public Expenditures for Corrections

N an article appearing in the pages of this journal, David Lowery, Thomas Konda and James Garand (1984) took an ambitious step forward in shedding some light on the complexities of spending in the American states. Using time series public expenditure data (194578) for each of the fifty states, they examined the absolute and relative statistical value of six, admittedly simplified, models of spending outcomes across four broadly defined policy areas. The models, derived from budgeting and policy research, assumed the collective application of one of six decision rules in each state to make annual spending decisions for these different functions. Based upon a goodness-of-fit test, the strongest support was discovered for perhaps the best known model: the autoregressive, where spending in a given year is a linear function of spending in the prior year. A finding not at all surprising to proponents of incrementalism but one likely to raise a curious eyebrow or two from those that have been more critical of the normative, conceptual and empirical foundations of budgetary incrementalism (e.g., Bailey and O'Connor 1975; Kemp 1982; LeLoup 1978). The purpose of this research note is to extend the work of Lowery and his colleagues by analyzing the performance of these models when applied to a much narrower area of state level spending: expenditures for corrections. Lowery, Konda, and Garand (LKG hereafter) observed (1984: 48) there is a dearth of current, quantitative research on state budgetary outcomes evaluating alternatively specified longitudinal models across the American states. Over the last decade studies
Search-coil head-thrust and caloric tests in Ménière's disease

Conclusions. Our findings suggest that canal function is substantially preserved in subjects with active vertigo attacks as a result of Meniere's disease (MD). In these subjects, the head-thrust te...
The accuracy of predicting cardiac arrest by emergency medical services dispatchers: the calling party effect.

Objectives: To analyze the accuracy of paramedic emergency medical services (EMS) dispatchers in predicting cardiac arrest and to assess the effect of the caller party on dispatcher accuracy in an advanced life support, public utility model EMS system, with greater than 90,000 calls and greater than 60,000 transports per year. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis from January 1, 2000, through June 30, 2000, of 911 calls with dispatcher-assigned presumptive patient condition (PPC) or field diagnosis of cardiac arrest. Sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of the PPC code for cardiac arrest by calling parties were calculated. Homogeneity of sensitivity and PPV of the PPC code for cardiac arrest by calling parties was studied with chi-square analysis. Relevant proportions, relative risk ratios, and associated 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated. Student’s t-test was used to compare quality assurance scores between calling parties. Results: There were 506 patients included in the study. Overall sensitivity for dispatcher-assigned PPC of cardiac arrest was 68.3% (95% CI ¼ 63.3% to 73.0%) with a PPV of 65.0% (95% CI ¼ 60.0% to 69.7%). There was a significant difference in the PPV for the EMS dispatcher diagnosis of cardiac arrest depending on the type of caller (x 2 ¼ 17.34, p \ 0.001). Conclusions: A higher level of medical training may improve dispatch accuracy for predicting cardiac arrest. The type of calling party influenced the PPV of dispatcher-assigned condition. Key words: emergency medical services (EMS); dispatch; cardiac arrest; prehospital; paramedic. ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2003; 10:955‐960.
Primary external urethral sphincter hyperkinesia in a boy

Abstract The case presented is an example of urethral obstruction secondary to increased resistance of the external sphincter in a neurologically normal young boy. Unilateral pudendal neurectomy markedly improved voiding pressure-flow patterns in this patient with severe bladder and upper urinary tract disease. The entity of primary external urethral sphincter hyperkinesia, including its cause, diagnosis, and treatment, is discussed.
The health care disadvantages of being obese.

People who are obese are disadvantaged socially—in public places, in employment, and in health care. Many obese people are afraid of approaching health professionals and attending health facilities. Problems of access and lack of suitable facilities for obese people area problem; however, the greatest impediment is the fear of encountering judgmental and discriminatory attitudes from health professionals about a patient’s obesity
Experimental and theoretical studies of PZT glide head vibration

This paper studies the natural frequencies of a PZT glide head through calibrated experiments and a finite element analysis (FEA). In the experimental studies, the PZT served as an actuator exciting the glide head from 100 kHz to 1.3 MHz, and a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) measured the displacement of the glide head at the inner or outer rail. The natural frequencies were measured through PZT impedance and frequency response functions of PZT to LDV. In FEA, the slider, PZT, and glue (epoxy) were meshed by brick elements. Natural frequencies predicted from FEA agree well with the experimental results with a 5% difference. Therefore, modeling of the epoxy layer is critical in predicting the natural frequencies of PZT glide heads.
Luteal phase deficiency in regularly menstruating women: prevalence and overlap in identification based on clinical and biochemical diagnostic criteria

Context: Although adequate luteal hormone production is essential for establishing pregnancy, luteal phase deficiency (LPD) is poorly characterized among eumenorrheic women. Objective: We assessed the prevalence and overlap of two established LPD diagnostic criteria: short luteal phase duration less than10 days (clinical LPD) and suboptimal luteal progesterone of 5 ng/mL or less (biochemical LPD) and their relationship with reproductive hormone concentrations. Design, Setting, and Participants: We conducted a prospective study in western New York (2005–2007) following 259 women, aged 18–44 years, for up to two menstrual cycles. Results: Among ovulatory cycles with recorded cycle lengths (n = 463), there were 41 cycles (8.9%) with clinical LPD, 39 cycles (8.4%) with biochemical LPD, and 20 cycles (4.3%) meeting both criteria. Recurrent clinical and biochemical LPD was observed in eight (3.4%) and five (2.1%) women, respectively. Clinical and biochemical LPD were each associated with lower follicular estrad...
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy presenting with dyspnea

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC), or “broken heart syndrome”, is an increasingly recognized condition that mimics acute myocardial infarction with morphologically characteristic left ventricular dysfunction in the absence of coronary artery disease. TC is seen almost exclusively in postmenopausal women following extreme emotional or physiologic stress. Although most patients present with chest pain, limited data suggest that African American patients with TC tend to present with atypical symptoms such as dyspnea or nausea. We present a 57 year-old African American female with TC who presented with severe dyspnea following the shooting death of her son. Added to existing data, our case alerts clinicians to consider Takotsubo syndrome in African American patients with atypical presentation. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2009;4:200-202. © 2009 Society of Hospital Medicine.
Kernicterus Associated with Perinatal Asphyxia and Drug Therapy

Experimental studies suggest that a variety of factors play a role in the pathogenesis of kemicterus—protein-binding, acidosis, anoxia, hypoglycemia, etc. Certain drugs probably play a role also. At present, none of these factors are clearly enough defined or capable of quan titation even to the limited degree that is ac knowledged for the bilirubin level. However, their expressions are definite enough at this time to be considered when reaching what is still fundamentally a clinical judgment as to therapy in patients with hyperbilirubinemia in whom exchange transfusion is not clearly indi cated by the level of bilirubin alone or in com bination with blood type, hemoglobin, reticulo cyte count and Coombs test.It seems clear that judgments about the safety of a drug for the fetus cannot be based entirely on experience with newborns or on experiments with newborn animals. The dan gers to a newborn infant which are inherent in a particular drug may be multiple and may not be fully known.
Confucian Love and Global Ethics: How the Cheng Brothers Would Help Respond to Christian Criticisms

There is an increasing awareness that we are living in a global village, which demands a global ethics. In this article, I shall explore what contributions Confucianism, particularly its conception of love, can make. It has often been claimed that Confucian love is love with distinction, as a natural feeling, and as merely human love and so it is inferior to the Christian love, which is universal, commanded, and based on divine love. Drawing on the resources of the Cheng brothers’ neo-Confucianism, I shall explore how Confucianism can make creative responses to such criticisms and thus make a unique Confucian contribution to the emerging global ethics.
Electric field exposure alters serum melatonin but not pineal melatonin synthesis in male rats

Sprague-Dawley male rats, maintained in a 14:10 h light:dark cycle were exposed for 30 days (starting at 56 days of age) to a 65 kV/m, 60 Hz electric field or to a sham field for 20 h/day beginning at dark onset. Pineal N-acetyltransferase (NAT), hydroxy-indole-o-methyl transferase (HIOMT), and melatonin as well as serum melatonin were assayed. Preliminary data on unexposed animals indicated that samples obtained 4 h into the dark period would reveal either a phase delay or depression in circadian melatonin synthesis and secretion. Exposure to electric fields for 30 days did not alter the expected nighttime increase in pineal NAT, HIOMT, or melatonin. Serum melatonin levels were also increased at night, but the electric field-exposed animals had lower levels than the sham-exposed animals. Concurrent exposure to red light and the electric field or exposure to the electric field at a different time of the day-night period did not reduce melatonin synthesis. These data do not support the hypothesis that chronic electric field exposure reduces pineal melatonin synthesis in young adult male rats. However, serum melatonin levels were reduced by electric field exposure, suggesting the possibility that degradation or tissue uptake of melatonin is stimulated by exposure to electric fields.
Effects of prematurity on the development of contrast sensitivity: Testing the visual experience hypothesis

In order to investigate the effects of visual experience on early visual development, the current study compared contrast sensitivity across infants born with different degrees of moderate-to-late prematurity. Here the logic is that at any given postterm age, the most premature infants will have the oldest postnatal age. Given that postnatal age is a proxy for visual experience, the visual experience hypothesis predicts that infants who are more premature, yet healthy, should have higher sensitivity. Luminance (light/dark) and chromatic (red/green) contrast sensitivities (CS) were measured in 236 healthy infants (born 10 to +2 weeks relative to due date) between 5 and 32 weeks postterm age from due date and 8–38 weeks postnatal from birth date. For chromatic CS, we found clear evidence that infants who were most premature within our sample had the highest sensitivity. Specifically, 4–10 additional weeks of visual experience, by virtue of being born early, enhanced chromatic CS. For luminance CS, similar but weaker results were seen. Here, only infants with an additional 6–10 weeks of visual experience, and only at later age points in development, showed enhanced sensitivity. However, CS in preterm infants was still below that of fullterm infants with equivalent postnatal age. In sum, these results suggest that chromatic CS is influenced more by prematurity (and possibly visual experience) than luminance CS, which has implications for differential development of parvocellular and magnocellular pathways. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Heteronuclear Local Field NMR Spectroscopy under Fast Magic-Angle Sample Spinning Conditions

Abstract The acquisition of bidimensional heteronuclear nuclear magnetic resonance local field spectra under moderately fast magic-angle spinning (MAS) conditions is discussed. It is shown both experimentally and with the aid of numerical simulations on multispin systems that when sufficiently fast MAS rates are employed, quantitative dipolar sideband patterns from directly bonded spin pairs can be acquired in the absence of 1 H– 1 H multiple-pulse homonuclear decoupling even for “real” organic solids. The MAS speeds involved are well within the range of commercially available systems (10–14 kHz) and provide sidebands with sufficient intensity to enable a reliable quantification of heteronuclear dipolar couplings from methine groups. Simulations and experiments show that useful information can be extracted in this manner even from more tightly coupled –CH 2 – moieties, although the agreement with the patterns simulated solely on the basis of heteronuclear interactions is not in this case as satisfactory as for methines. Preliminary applications of this simple approach to the analysis of molecular motions in solids are presented; characteristics and potential extensions of the method are also discussed.
Direct selection of cDNAs using genomic contigs.

In the Basic Protocol, uncloned cDNA or cDNA from a library with highly repetitive sequences suppressed are hybridized to biotinylated genomic DNAs. The selected sequences are amplified by PCR and rehybridized to create a secondary-selected enriched cDNA library. Biotinylation of cloned genomic DNA is presented in the first support protocol. Linker addition and suppression of repeats in uncloned DNA is presented in the second support protocol and insert amplification and suppression of repeats from libraries is detailed in the third support protocol.In the Basic Protocol, uncloned cDNA or cDNA from a library with highly repetitive sequences suppressed are hybridized to biot.
Temporal Moment Analysis for Volatile Organic Compounds in Dual-Porosity Porous Media: Loss Fractions and Effective Parameters

Using transform techniques, analytical expressions for potential losses by volatilization and degradation are developed for several organic compounds in dual porosity porous media. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to study the importance of different physical/chemical processes on volatilization, degradation, and leaching losses. To obtain estimates for overall solute behavior, expressions for effective Pclet numbers and degradation rates for organic contaminants are presented using method of moments. Results indicate that large fractions of many organic compounds are likely to volatilize into the atmosphere for sandy and clayey soils under typical flow conditions. It is found that nondimensional degradation influences both advective and dispersive effects. Thus, the Pclet number from effective-parameter equation tends to be enhanced when the nondimensional degradation is rather high. The simple expressions for moments and effective parameters can be used as screening tools to assess the behavior of volatile compounds in vadoze zone of soils.
Attenuation of vesicular stomatitis virus encephalitis through microRNA targeting.

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) has long been regarded as a promising recombinant vaccine platform and oncolytic agent but has not yet been tested in humans because it causes encephalomyelitis in rodents and primates. Recent studies have shown that specific tropisms of several viruses could be eliminated by engineering microRNA target sequences into their genomes, thereby inhibiting spread in tissues expressing cognate microRNAs. We therefore sought to determine whether microRNA targets could be engineered into VSV to ameliorate its neuropathogenicity. Using a panel of recombinant VSVs incorporating microRNA target sequences corresponding to neuron-specific or control microRNAs (in forward and reverse orientations), we tested viral replication kinetics in cell lines treated with microRNA mimics, neurotoxicity after direct intracerebral inoculation in mice, and antitumor efficacy. Compared to picornaviruses and adenoviruses, the engineered VSVs were relatively resistant to microRNA-mediated inhibition, but neurotoxicity could nevertheless be ameliorated significantly using this approach, without compromise to antitumor efficacy. Neurotoxicity was most profoundly reduced in a virus carrying four tandem copies of a neuronal mir125 target sequence inserted in the 3′-untranslated region of the viral polymerase (L) gene.
Convergence analyses of simulated evolution algorithms

In this paper, we show that simulated evolution (SE) can be modeled by an ergodic Markov chain. As such, the global convergence of the SE algorithm is established. Moreover, we propose to use the mean first visit time of an ergodic Markov chain to characterize the convergence time of the SE algorithm such that the fast convergence feature of SE can be assessed theoretically and experimentally. >
The DNA Damage Response Induces Autophagy via Mec1(ATR) and Tel1(ATM) to Regulate the Initiation of Anaphase

Eukaryotic cells respond to DNA damage by activating the DNA damage checkpoint, which serves to delay the onset of anaphase in order to allow enough time for the repair of DNA lesions. In eukaryote...
Wideband Linear-to-Circular Polarization Converters Based on Miniaturized-Element Frequency Selective Surfaces

We introduce a new technique for designing wideband polarization converters based on miniaturized-element frequency selective surfaces (MEFSSs). The proposed structure is a two-dimensionally anisotropic periodic structure composed of arrays of subwavelength capacitive patches and inductive wire grids separated by thin dielectric substrates. The structure is designed to behave differently for field components of the two orthogonal polarizations and transmits a circularly polarized wave once illuminated by a linearly polarized plane wave. Using equivalent circuit models for MEFSSs, a synthesis procedure is developed that can be used to design the polarization converter from its required bandwidth and center frequency of operation. Using this procedure, a prototype of the proposed polarization converter operating within the X-band is designed, fabricated, and experimentally characterized using a free-space measurement system. The measurement results confirm the theoretical predictions and the design procedure of the structure and demonstrate that the proposed MEFSS-based polarization converter operates in a wide field of view of $\pm45^{\circ}$ with a fractional bandwidth of 40%.
Anion exchange of the cationic layered material [Pb2F2]2+.

We demonstrate the complete exchange of the interlamellar anions of a 2-D cationic inorganic material. The α,ω-alkanedisulfonates were exchanged for α,ω-alkanedicarboxylates, leading to two new cationic materials with the same [Pb2F2]2+ layered architecture. Both were solved by single crystal X-ray diffraction and the transformation also followed by in situ optical microscopy and ex situ powder X-ray diffraction. This report represents a rare example of metal–organic framework displaying highly efficient and complete replacement of its anionic organic linker while retaining the original extended inorganic layer. It also opens up further possibilities for introducing other anions or abatement of problematic anions such as pharmaceuticals and their metabolites.
FPGA implementation of multiphase DPWM generator with phase shedding for DC-DC converters

The advantages of digital control in power electronics have led to an increasing use of digital pulse width modulators (DPWM). A major focus has been on optimising the DPWM signals and architecture for DC-DC converters to maximise power conversion efficiency and reduce the overall footprint. This paper presents and discusses a dual edge counter-comparator based multiphase DPWM generator with phase-shedding and current sharing functionalities. Phase shedding, or phase dropping, in multiphase power converter is a method that uses turning OFF some of the power converter phases/channels as the load current becomes smaller/lighter in order to improve the lighter load efficiencies. The presented architecture is validated through simulated and experimental test results based off a FPGA implementation of the DPWM generator.