cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Gingival Recession, Gingival Bleeding, and Dental Calculus in Adults 30 Years of Age and Older in the United States, 1988-1994

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and extent of gingival recession, gingival bleeding, and dental calculus in United States adults, using data collected in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Methods: The study group consisted of 9,689 persons 30 to 90 years of age obtained by a stratified, multi-stage probability sampling method in 1988 to 1994. The weighted sample is representative of U.S. adults 30 years or older and represents approximately 105.8 million civilian, non-institutionalized Americans. Gingival recession, gingival bleeding, and dental calculus were assessed at the mesio-buccal and mid-buccal surfaces in 2 randomly selected quadrants, one maxillary and one mandibular. Data analysis accounted for the complex sampling design used. Results: We estimate that 23.8 million persons have one or more tooth surfaces with ≥3 mm gingival recession; 53.2 million have gingival bleeding; 97.1 million have calculus; and 58.3 million have subg...
Poly(hydroxybutyrate-hydroxyvalerate) microspheres containing progesterone: preparation, morphology and release properties.

AbstractThe biodegradable polyesters, poly(hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly(hydroxybutyrate-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) were investigated for use as sustained delivery carriers of a model drug, progesterone. Spherical microspheres containing the drug were prepared by an emulsion solvent-evaporation method with gelatin as an emulsifier. Methylene chloride as the polymer solvent yielded smoother microspheres than chloroform. The surface texture was also dependent upon the temperature of the preparation and polymer used. Surface crystals were observed when the drug loading was increased beyond 5 per cent w/w. Thermograms of the microspheres did not show an endotherm corresponding to the melting of the drug because the drug dissolved in the melted polymer while heating. The amount of residual solvent in the microspheres (gas chromatographic assay) ranged from 3-4 to 58-4 ppm and was dependent on the processing temperature, concentration of the polymer in the solvent and the polymer composition. In vitro release of...
Evaluating Ontologies Based on the Naturalness of Their Preferred Terms

The art and science of building ontologies have been developed to the point where it is not sufficient anymore to design and implement a new ontology. Rather, one needs to follow the process of building an ontology by evaluating its quality in absolute numeric terms. If another ontology in the same domain exists, then the two ontologies should be compared in a quantitative manner to determine which one of them is better. Furthermore, the quality scoring mechanism should provide clues concerning the sections of the ontology (one or both) that need improvement. Ontologies are complex structures which exist in many different variations. Even after imposing a basic structural framework and choosing a domain, two ontologies may be evaluated with respect to a number of different features. In this paper we will concentrate on one single ontology feature and assume that all other features are fixed. We have developed a mechanism to measure the quality of this ontology feature, preferred term(s) based on the concept of naturalness, and show that it agrees very well with human judgments. Thus we provide an approach towards the principled selection of the preferred terms in an ontology.
Theoretical aspects of small-angle neutron scattering from multiphase polymers

A molecular theory for small-angle neutron scattering from polymer mixtures is reviewed and extended to consider multiphase polymer systems such as block copolymers and their blends with homopolymers. Methods are developed for the isolation of scattering functions for individual components in these blends. These methods rely on two contrast-matching techniques: the concept of “composition matching,” where a mixture of deuterium-labeled and protonated species is used to match the contrast of a third component; and the synthesis of “phase-matched” block copolymers, where the contrast of the block copolymer sequences are matched. Methods are discussed specifically for the isolation of single chain and single sequence scattering functions for diblock and triblock copolymers, their blends with homopolymers, and star copolymers.
Achievement of substantial cost reduction through joint purchasing by the radiology departments of a large vertically integrated health care system

Rationale and Objectives. The authors sought to lower costs by coordinating the purchase of equipment, supplies, and services in the radiology departments of a vertically integrated health system formed by the merger of two of the largest academic medical centers in New England. Methods. The radiology departments at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham & Women's Hospital formed a cost-reduction task force to explore opportunities to jointly decrease costs. Data from the operating budgets of both institutions were collected and analyzed to find specific items within the budgets that could yield substantial cost savings. Results. The project's first phase yielded over $810,000 in reduced costs from a system-wide annual budget of only $7 million for film and contrast material. Ongoing additional projects suggest that longer term contracts that contain steeper discounts with a decreased number of vendors will result in further decreases in the cost of materials and supplies. Conclusion. Coordination of purchasing by the radiology members of an integrated delivery system can yield substantial savings.
Histochemical observations on ovarian "pseudomucin".

Abstract 1. A case is presented in which it was necessary to classify bilateral cystic ovarian carcinomas as either primary pseudomucinous in type or secondary to a previously discovered mucin-producing adenocarcinoma of the stomach. 2. A study was made of normal mucus-producing tissues, pseudomucinous adenomas and carcinomas of the ovary, and of the tumors in the case under consideration, utilizing conventional histochemical stains as well as fluorescence techniques. It was not possible to distinguish ovarian pseudomucin from mucin produced by other tissues, including the stomach, by these methods. 3. Clotting upon acidification with acetic acid, the classic distinction between ovarian pseudomucin and mucus formed elsewhere in the body, depends upon physical and chemical factors not intrinsic to the tumor, and is of little value as an aid to diagnosis. Further chemical studies are required to determine the validity of a distinction between ovarian mucin and other mucins.
Analytical Methods of Evaluating Aerodynamic Forces of Aircraft Wings

ABSTRACT This paper presented methods to determine the aerodynamic forces that act on an aircraft wing during flight. These methods are initially proposed for a simplified two degree-of-freedoms airfoil model and then are extensively applied for a multi-degree-of-freedom airfoil system. Different airspeed conditions are considered in establishing such methods. The accuracy of the presented methods is verified by comparing the estimated aerodynamic forces with the actual values. A good agreement is achieved through the comparisons and it is verified that the present methods can be used to correctly identify the aerodynamic forces acting on the aircraft wing models. INTRODUCTION During flight, aircraft wings always subject to varying aerodynamic loadings and as a consequence, generate varying structural responses. The varying aerodynamic loadings and structural responses are coupled to create a complicated vibration effect known as structural coupling dynamics. This effect can significantly reduce the aircraft’s service life. Even worse, sometimes the sustained vibration at natural frequencies of airfoils may lead to catastrophic structural failure. Recently, a number of researchers have dedicated tremendous effort to developing and choosing light material for the aircraft in order to obtain effective loading capacity. However, as the aircraft speed continues to increase, its structural flexibility is becoming a dominant concern in aircraft design and causing serious flutter in the airfoil and other components. Considering a typical cross-sectional plane of an airfoil, the gravity center G is usually located at 42% ~ 45% of the chord line, and the elasticity center is located at 38% ~ 40% of the chord line (Fig. 1). The gravity center is not coincident with the elastic center, which results in another coupling effect between the translational and rotational degree-of-freedoms of the aircraft wing. This coupling effect and the aforementioned structural coupling dynamics make it too difficult to correctly determine the aerodynamic forces acting on the aircraft wings. The current methods of studying the dynamic response of the aircraft structure consider the structural model and the aerodynamic model separately and therefore fails to precisely simulate the two coupling effects. In this paper, new methods are presented to determine the aerodynamic forces acting on aircraft wings during flight, which considers the model’s structural elasticity and aerodynamics as a combined mathematical system. The methods are initiated based on a simplified two degree-of-freedoms airfoil system and then they will be applied for a finite element aircraft wing model, which is a multi-degree-of-freedom system. The accuracy of the present methods will be verified by comparing the estimated aerodynamic forces with the actual values.
Religion and Post-Conflict Statebuilding: Roman Catholic and Sunni Islamic Perspectives

It is not often that I encounter an author who uses the words “deliverables” and “teloi” in the same paragraph. Yet in reading Denis Dragovic's new book on Religion and Post-Conflict Statebuilding,...
Systems support for irregular parallel applications

Software developers for distributed memory multiprocessors often complain about the lack of libraries and tools for developing and performancing tuning their applications. While some tools exist for regular array-based computations, support for applications with pointerbased data structures, asynchronous communication patterns, or unpredictable computational costs is seriously lacking. The Multipol distributed data structure library addresses this need.
PPL: an abstract runtime system for hybrid parallel programming

Hardware trends indicate that supercomputers will see fast growing intra-node parallelism. Future programming models will need to carefully manage the interaction between inter- and intra-node parallelism to cope with this evolution. There exist many programming models which expose both levels of parallelism. However, they do not scale well as per-node thread counts rise and there is limited interoperability between threading and communication, leading to unnecessary software overheads and an increased amount of unnecessary communication. To address this, it is necessary to understand the limitations of current models and develop new approaches.We propose a new runtime system design, PPL, which abstracts important high-level concepts of a typical parallel system for distributed-memory machines. By modularizing these elements, layers can be tested to better understand the needs of future programming models. We present details of the design and development implementation of PPL in C++11 and evaluate the performance of several different module implementations through micro-benchmarks and three applications: Barnes-Hut, Monte Carlo particle tracking, and a sparse-triangular solver.
Some Experiences with the Group Interview

complishments of the nation, which are numerous and, in some areas, little short of remarkable. The burdens placed upon this young nation are heavy. Perhaps the "miracle" that brought it into existence will be repeated and a way out will be found. The question regarding its survival may be said to have been settled. It has the same chance of surviving that any other little nation has in this power-dominated world. What is highly problematical is whether the country will be able to maintain the high economic, social, and cultural standards which it has set for itself.
Aspects Favoring the Deployment of 3G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Technologies Over Mobile WiMAX

There has been much conversation over the past few years regarding the evolution of next-generation air interfaces supporting mobile broadband. One of the most talked about as far as promise is concerned is 802.16e, otherwise known as mobile WiMAX. In its advertised form, the standard can support data rates of tens of megabits per second while supporting many real-time user applications that cannot be supported by third-generation technologies. Although mobile WiMAX sounds promising as a next-generation technology, other factors do exist which will limit its overall success. Some of the factors that will be discussed in this paper will include the design challenges facing base-station architecture, competing third-generation long-term evolution (LTE) technologies, and costs to existing service providers to upgrade their networks. This paper is meant to demonstrate that from a service-provider's point-of-view, the upgrade path to mobile WiMAX may not be the correct solution.
Navigating the Turbulent Waters of School Reform Guided by Complexity Theory.

The goal of this research study has been to develop, implement, and evaluate a school reform design experiment at a continuation high school with low-income, low-performing underrepresented minority students. The complexity sciences served as a theoretical framework for this design experiment. Treating an innovative college preparatory program as a nested complex adaptive system within a larger complex adaptive system, the school, we used features of complex adaptive systems (equilibrium, emergence, self-organization, and feedback loops) as a framework to design a strategy for school reform. The goal was to create an environment for change by pulling the school far from equilibrium using a strategy we call “purposeful perturbations” to disrupt the stable state of the school in a purposeful way. Over the four years of the study, several tipping points were reached, and we developed agent-based simulation models that capture important dynamic properties of the reform at these points. The study draws upon complexity theory in multiple ways that have supported improved education for low-achieving students.
Off-Hugoniot characterization of alternative inertial confinement fusion ablator materials.

The ablation material used during the National Ignition Campaign, a glow- discharge polymer (GDP), does not couple as efficiently as simulations indicated to the multiple- shock inducing radiation drive environment created by laser power profile [1]. We investigate the performance of two other ablators, boron carbide (B4C) and high-density carbon (HDC) and compare with GDP under the same hohlraum conditions. Ablation performance is determined through measurement of the shock speed produced in planar samples of the ablator subjected to the identical multiple-shock inducing radiation drive environments that are similar to a generic three-shock ignition drive. Simulations are in better agreement with the off-Hugoniot performance of B4C than either HDC or GDP.
Stem cell transplantation for multiple myeloma.

BackgroundMultiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common hematologic malignancy, affecting approximately 14,000 new patients in the United State per year. The median overall survival is 5 years, a...
DD21: Denkstimmen für den Protest ohne Radikalismuszwang! (Juli 2006)

Denkstimmen! Das war wieder so eine Schnapsidee von mir. Bei IBM durfen wir namlich auch negative Stimmen abgeben. Da dachte ich – das konnte auch fur unsere Demokratie eine gute Idee sein, einmal friedlich solide zu protestieren, anstatt immer gleich radikal werden zu mussen.
Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Rheumatic Diseases in the Elderly

Neuropsychiatric (NP) syndromes in rheumatic disorders in the elderly represent a field of medicine situated at the crossroads of neurology, psychiatry, rheumatology, immunology, and geriatrics. NP symptoms highly prevalent in rheumatic conditions, are a major source of disability and diminished quality of life, and potentially represent the target of treatment interventions that stand to significantly decrease the suffering they generate. The NP manifestations in rheumatic diseases in the elderly may be focal or generalized or a secondary consequence of the primary disease. A focal cerebral event may result in (1) a stroke-like presentation with an acute neurologic deficit, (2) a headache due to hemorrhage (e.g., subarachnoid hemorrhage in vasculitis) or temporal arteritis, (3) focal seizures, (4) optic neuropathy or cranial neuropathies due to compression by granulomatous lesions. A generalized event may result in cognitive dysfunction, headaches, or seizures. The spinal cord may be involved with resulting paraparesis, bowel or bladder dysfunction, or sensory disturbances. A common peripheral nervous system involvement is peripheral neuropathy, with symptoms of numbness, sensory paresthesias, weakness, or gait imbalance; nevertheless neuropathy may be multifocal and asymmetric. The presence of comorbid conditions and treatment adverse events including infections associated with immunosuppressive treatment or biologic therapy may compound the sign and symptoms of the NP syndromes of the underlying disease.
Embryonic exposures to perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) disrupt pancreatic organogenesis in the zebrafish, Danio rerio.

Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, previously utilized as a non-stick application for consumer products and firefighting foam. It can cross the placenta, and has been repeatedly associated with increased risk for diabetes in epidemiological studies. Here, we sought to establish the hazard posed by embryonic PFOS exposures on the developing pancreas in a model vertebrate embryo, and develop criteria for an adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework to study the developmental origins of metabolic dysfunction. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos were exposed to 16, 32, or 64 μM PFOS beginning at the mid-blastula transition. We assessed embryo health, size, and islet morphology in Tg(insulin-GFP) embryos at 48, 96 and 168 hpf, and pancreas length in Tg(ptf1a-GFP) embryos at 96 and 168 hpf. QPCR was used to measure gene expression of endocrine and exocrine hormones, digestive peptides, and transcription factors to determine whether these could be used as a predictive measure in an AOP. Embryos exposed to PFOS showed anomalous islet morphology and decreased islet size and pancreas length in a U-shaped dose-response curve, which resemble congenital defects associated with increased risk for diabetes in humans. Expression of genes encoding islet hormones and exocrine digestive peptides followed a similar pattern, as did total larval growth. Our results demonstrate that embryonic PFOS exposures can disrupt pancreatic organogenesis in ways that mimic human congenital defects known to predispose individuals to diabetes; however, future study of the association between these defects and metabolic dysfunction are needed to establish an improved AOP framework.
Fusion and the Discovery of Isotopes

Heavy-ion fusion-evaporation has been the most productive method to form and identify new isotopes. Of the presently known over 3200 isotopes, almost 25% were discovered with heavy-ion induced reactions. Since the development of the first heavy-ion beam at Berkeley in 1950 most of the nuclides on the neutron-deficient side of the line of stability and all isotopes of the superheavy elements were discovered utilizing fusion reactions. In addition, some isotopes were first produced in heavy-ion transfer, charge-exchange, incomplete fusion or deep inelastic reactions. The discovery of isotopes relies on new advances in accelerator and detector technology. The continuous development of pioneering and innovative separation and detection techniques have pushed the limit towards ‒ and in many cases beyond ‒ the proton-dripline. A review of the discovery of neutron-deficient and super-heavy nuclides in heavy-ion induced reactions as well as an outlook for the discovery potential in the future is presented.
The ABCs of PTMs.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) are ubiquitous in all forms of life and often modulate critical protein functions. Recent chemical and biological advances have finally enabled scientists to precisely modify proteins at physiologically relevant positions, ushering in a new era of protein studies.
The Effect of Glatiramer Acetate on Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness in Patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: A Longitudinal Optical Coherence Tomography Study.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a technique that allows for the assessment of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) and total macular volume (TMV), which reflect neuroaxonal integrity within the retina. As such it has been used in multiple sclerosis (MS) to study neurodegeneration. Glatiramer acetate (GA) is a widely used treatment for MS, which is suggested to have a possible neuroprotective role. The aim of this study was to assess RFNLT and TMV changes in relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) patients who started treatment with GA and were followed for a 24-month period. A cohort of 60 RRMS patients and 40 healthy controls (HCs) were imaged with OCT at baseline and follow-up. All subjects also underwent clinical and neurological examination. Measurements were compared between the RRMS patients and HCs as well as between optic neuritis (ON)-affected and ON-unaffected eyes. At baseline, MS patients showed lower average RNFLT (p = 0.046) and TMV (p = 0.013) when compared with HCs. No significant differences in the evolution of OCT measures were detected over the follow-up between MS patients and HCs. MS patients with both affected and unaffected eyes showed significantly lower average RNFLT, temporal inferior RNFLT, and TMV at baseline, compared with HCs. No significant differences between ON-affected and ON-unaffected eyes in MS patients were detected over the follow-up, except for the nasal superior RNFLT (p = 0.019). This study suggests a beneficial role of GA on retinal axonal degeneration in MS, and further confirms the utility of OCT to monitor the neuroprotective effect of disease-modifying treatment.
Media And Mental Illness: The Effect Of Television On Attitudes About The Mentally Ill

Established research has demonstrated that high television consumption has a negative influence on attitudes about the mentally ill. Television is one of the largest mediums people obtain information about the world, including mental health. Based upon ideas from several theories the present study tested the correlational relationship between television viewing habits, self-esteem levels, and attitudes about the mentally ill. Surveys were passed out to Kent State University at Stark students to assess their self-esteem levels, their attitudes on the mentally ill, and their television viewing habits. The results showed that students watched an average of 9.89 hours of television per week with a range of 0-50 hours. The average score on the self-esteem measure was 30.7, with a range of scores from 14 to 40. Ultimately, the three hypotheses were not supported. Hypothesis 1 produced no significant correlations. Hypothesis 2 showed the opposite of the prediction, and produced numbers that suggest high self-esteem was a better indicator of negative attitudes. For Hypothesis 3, participants were split into groups based on their television watching habits and their scores on the self-esteem measure. Their means were compared using an independent samples t-test, but the t-test did not produce any significant correlations. However, a high percentage of participants had a family member, parent, sibling, or close friend with a diagnosable mental illness, which may have skewed the results. More research is needed to further test the relationship between television and mental illness to reduce stigma.
How Many Unicycles on a Wheel

We are in the world of graph theory here, not circus acts, and we have something interesting to enumerate; let’s have a look at what we’ll be counting. On the left of Figure 1 is the wheel graph W4...
Using Social Media to Engage Employees: Insights from Internal Communication Managers

The growth of social media in organizations is reshaping internal communication strategy. This article explores the value of internal social media with a focus on employee engagement, which is defi...
Taking Refuge in the Body to Know the Self Anew: Buddhism, Race, and Embodiment

This chapter explores the racialized trauma and white supremacy experienced by women of color in the academy and suggests that embodiment practices such as meditation and yoga can increase the capacity for resilience in the academy. The chapter links somatic awareness to Asian and Asian American discourses aimed at dismantling the simultaneity of the hyper visibility and hyper invisibility in the academy. The author notes her formation as a scholar/teacher/practitioner disrupting the construction of American Buddhism as a predominantly white meditation-centric tradition. The author also discusses the generative possibilities of mindfulness, neuroscience, and trauma-informed yoga for Asian and Asian American women and concludes with the expressed desire to engage in more co-creative collaborative efforts to engage in the practice of radical self-love and embodiment as a generative antidote to the traumatic effects of whiteness in the academy.
Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge, Networks, Practice, and Change in Instructional Visions:

An instructional vision is the discourse that teachers or others currently employ to characterize the kind of “ideal classroom practice” to which they aspire but have not yet necessarily mastered. ...
Multisensory Facilitation of Working Memory Training

Research suggests that memorization of multisensory stimuli benefits performance compared to memorization of unisensory stimuli; however, little is known about multisensory facilitation in the context of working memory (WM) training and transfer. To investigate this, 240 adults were randomly assigned to an N-back training task that consisted of visual-only stimuli, alternating visual and auditory blocks, or audio-visual (multisensory) stimuli, or to a passive control group. Participants in the active groups completed 13 sessions of N-back training (6.7 hours in total) and all groups completed a battery of WM tasks: untrained N-back tasks, Corsi Blocks, Sequencing, and Symmetry Span. The Multisensory group showed similar training N-level gain compared to the Visual Only group, and both of these groups outperformed the Alternating group on the training task. As expected, all three active groups significantly improved on untrained visual N-back tasks compared to the Control group. In contrast, the Multisensory group showed significantly greater gains on the Symmetry Span task and to a certain extent on the Sequencing task compared to other groups. These results tentatively suggest that incorporating multisensory objects in a WM training protocol can benefit performance on the training task and potentially facilitate transfer to complex WM span tasks.
Efficacy of ibuprofen in musculoskeletal post-traumatic pain in children: A systematic review

Musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries are one of the most frequent reason for pain-related evaluation in the emergency department (ED) in children. There is still no consensus as to what constitutes the best analgesic for MSK pain in children. However, ibuprofen is reported to be the most commonly prescribed analgesic and is considered the standard first-line treatment for MSK injury pain in children, even if it is argued that it provides inadequate relief for many patients. The purpose of this study was to review the most recent literature to assess the efficacy of ibuprofen for pain relief in MSK injuries in children evaluated in the ED. We performed a systematic review of randomized controlled trials on pharmacological interventions in children and adolescents under 19 years of age with MSK injuries according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. The primary outcome was the risk ratio for successful reduction in pain scores. Six studies met the inclusion criteria and provided data on 1028 children. A meta-analysis was not performed since studies were not comparable due to the different analgesic treatment used. No significant difference in term of main pain score reduction between all the analgesics used in the included studies was noted. Patients who received oral opioids had side effects more frequently when compared to children who received ibuprofen. The combination of effect on pain relief and tolerability would suggest ibuprofen as the initial drug of choice in providing relief from mild-to-moderate MSK pain in children in the ED. The results obtained in this review and current research suggest that there's no straightforward statistically significant evidence of the optimal analgesic agent to be used. However, ibuprofen may be preferable as the initial drug of choice in providing relief from MSK pain due to the favorable combination of effectiveness and safety profile. In fact, despite the non-significant pain reduction as compared to children who received opioids, there are less side effect associated to ibuprofen within studies. The wide range of primary outcomes measured in respect of pain scores and timing of recorded measures warrants a future standardization of study designs.
The price of female headship: Gender, inheritance, and wealth accumulation in the United States

Female-headed households in the United States suffer from lower levels of asset ownership than their male-headed counterparts. This gap remains after controlling for the lower incomes of female heads. What, then, produces the gender discrepancy in net worth? Using longitudinal, intergenerational data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we ask whether differential patterns of inheritance, savings rates or investment yield this female-male asset gap. Results demonstrate that differential savings rates between female- and male-headed households account for the gender gap in net worth. We speculate on the financial constraints within female-headed households that account for the savings rate differential.
How to Read James Fitzjames Stephen: Technocracy and Pluralism in a Misunderstood Victorian

This paper offers a new reading of the political thought of the mid-Victorian jurist and intellectual James Fitzjames Stephen. Contrary to impressions of Stephen as a conservative or religious authoritarian, this article recognizes the liberal character of Stephen’s thought, and it argues that investigating Stephen’s liberalism holds lessons for us today about the structure of liberal theory. Stephen, the paper demonstrates, articulated robustly both technocratic and pluralistic visions of politics. Perhaps more stridently than any Victorian, he put forward an argument for the necessity and legitimacy of expert rule against claims for popular government. Yet he also insisted on the plurality of perspectives on public affairs and on the ineluctable conflict between them. Because both of these facets existed in his work, he fit within the liberal ranks, but he did not show how the two dimensions fit together. The tension that we discover from reading Stephen is, the article concludes, not peculiar to him, but a permanent feature of liberal theories, which always include both technocratic and pluralistic elements.
A hypolipoprotein sepsis phenotype indicates reduced lipoprotein antioxidant capacity, increased endothelial dysfunction and organ failure, and worse clinical outcomes.

Approximately one-third of sepsis patients experience poor outcomes including chronic critical illness (CCI, intensive care unit (ICU) stay > 14 days) or early death (in-hospital death within 14 days). We sought to characterize lipoprotein predictive ability for poor outcomes and contribution to sepsis heterogeneity. Prospective cohort study with independent replication cohort. Emergency department and surgical ICU at two hospitals. Sepsis patients presenting within 24 h. Measures included cholesterol levels (total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], low density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C]), triglycerides, paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), and apolipoprotein A-I (Apo A-I) in the first 24 h. Inflammatory and endothelial markers, and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores were also measured. LASSO selection assessed predictive ability for outcomes. Unsupervised clustering was used to investigate the contribution of lipid variation to sepsis heterogeneity. 172 patients were enrolled. Most (~ 67%, 114/172) rapidly recovered, while ~ 23% (41/172) developed CCI, and ~ 10% (17/172) had early death. ApoA-I, LDL-C, mechanical ventilation, vasopressor use, and Charlson Comorbidity Score were significant predictors of CCI/early death in LASSO models. Unsupervised clustering yielded two discernible phenotypes. The Hypolipoprotein phenotype was characterized by lower lipoprotein levels, increased endothelial dysfunction (ICAM-1), higher SOFA scores, and worse clinical outcomes (45% rapid recovery, 40% CCI, 16% early death; 28-day mortality, 21%). The Normolipoprotein cluster patients had higher cholesterol levels, less endothelial dysfunction, lower SOFA scores and better outcomes (79% rapid recovery, 15% CCI, 6% early death; 28-day mortality, 15%). Phenotypes were validated in an independent replication cohort (N = 86) with greater sepsis severity, which similarly demonstrated lower HDL-C, ApoA-I, and higher ICAM-1 in the Hypolipoprotein cluster and worse outcomes (46% rapid recovery, 23% CCI, 31% early death; 28-day mortality, 42%). Normolipoprotein patients in the replication cohort had better outcomes (55% rapid recovery, 32% CCI, 13% early death; 28-day mortality, 28%) Top features for cluster discrimination were HDL-C, ApoA-I, total SOFA score, total cholesterol level, and ICAM-1. Lipoproteins predicted poor sepsis outcomes. A Hypolipoprotein sepsis phenotype was identified and characterized by lower lipoprotein levels, increased endothelial dysfunction (ICAM-1) and organ failure, and worse clinical outcomes.
Product Conditioning Applications

Experiments were conducted to determine the influence of radio-frequency (RF) dielectric heating and microwave heating on some quality attributes of a few agricultural products. RF treatment of alfalfa forage resulted in significantly improved retention of carotene. While not practical for field application, dielectric heating might be useful as a means for inactivating carotene-destroying enzymes in laboratory procedures or field testing. Dielectric heating treatments, at 42 and 2450 MHz, of intact soybeans containing only their innate moisture, inactivated the trypsin inhibitor of raw soybeans and improved their nutritional value. RF dielectric heating treatments of pecan nut kernels showed promise for maintaining the quality of pecans in storage, and the dielectric heating treatments offer the advantage of maintaining the desirable lighter color of the pecan kernels.
Examination of the communication practices and preferences between orthodontists and general dentists

EXAMINATION OF THE COMMUNICATION PRACTICES AND PREFERENCES BETWEEN ORTHODONTISTS AND GENERAL DENTISTS by Kevin R. Bibona, D.D.S. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Dentistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2014 Thesis Director: Bhavna Shroff, D.M.D., M.Dent.Sc. Program Director, Department of Orthodontics The purposes of this study were to evaluate if orthodontists’ and general dentists’ perceptions of how often, under what circumstances, and by which media orthodontists communicated with general dentists were similar, and to determine if orthodontists were meeting the communication needs of general dentists. Orthodontists (N=1,000) and general dentists (N=1,000) throughout the United States were randomly selected to participate in a web-based and mailed survey, respectively. The results indicated that the orthodontists communicated with general dentists using the type of media the general dentists preferred to use. As treatment complexity increased, orthodontists shifted from one-way forms of communication to two-way forms of communication (P < .05). Both orthodontists and general dentists reported that orthodontists’ communication regarding white spot lesions was inadequate. When treating patients with missing or malformed teeth, orthodontists reported they sought input from the general dentists at higher rate than the general dentists reported (P < .005).
PPAR-γ regulates osteoclastogenesis in mice

Osteoclasts are bone-resorbing cells derived from hematopoietic precursors of the monocyte-macrophage lineage. Regulation of osteoclast function is central to the understanding of bone diseases such as osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteopetrosis1. Although peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) has been shown to inhibit osteoblast differentiation2,3, its role, if any, in osteoclasts is unknown. This is a clinically crucial question because PPAR-γ agonists, “such as thiazolidinediones—” a class of insulin-sensitizing drugs, have been reported to cause a higher rate of fractures in human patients4,5. Here we have uncovered a pro-osteoclastogenic effect of PPAR-γ by using a Tie2Cre/flox mouse model in which PPAR-γ is deleted in osteoclasts but not in osteoblasts. These mice develop osteopetrosis characterized by increased bone mass, reduced medullary cavity space and extramedullary hematopoiesis in the spleen. These defects are the result of impaired osteoclast differentiation and compromised receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand signaling and can be rescued by bone marrow transplantation. Moreover, ligand activation of PPAR-γ by rosiglitazone exacerbates osteoclast differentiation in a receptor-dependent manner. Our examination of the underlying mechanisms suggested that PPAR-γ functions as a direct regulator of c-fos expression, an essential mediator of osteoclastogenesis6. Therefore, PPAR-γ and its ligands have a previously unrecognized role in promoting osteoclast differentiation and bone resorption.
Parameter Convergence Conditions Independent of Plant Order

A pseudogradient adaptive approach for slow adaptation is developed combining sensitivity results from the 1960's and recent developments in averaging and integral manifold methods. In this approach, the parametrization and number of parameters are not related to the plant order. Sufficient conditions for parameter convergence are developed using a-priori knowledge of a feedback system consisting of the plant and a nominal controller.
Visual Effects of Lesions of Cortical Area V2 in Macaques

Ibotenic acid lesions were placed in two monkeys in a portion of cortical area V2 that corresponds to a lower quadrant of the visual field extending approximately 3-7 degrees from the fovea. For purposes of comparison, another lesion was placed in area V1 in one animal. A wide range of visual capacities were then measured, using a discrimination between vertical and horizontal orientation, in and near the affected regions of the visual field. Visual acuity declined sharply as the test stimulus approached the visual field location corresponding to the V1 lesion, and no threshold could be measured at its center. In contrast, lesions of area V2 caused no measurable decrease in acuity, nor was there any substantial effect on several measures of contrast sensitivity. Subsequently, two types of more complex visual discriminations were measured (also using a vertical-horizontal discrimination), and these discriminations were severely disrupted by V2 lesions. The first discrimination was of the orientation of two parallel lines of five colinear dots each. We measured the number of background dots that would bring the discrimination to threshold, and this number of dots was greatly decreased by a V2 lesion. The second discrimination was of the orientation of a group of three distinctive texture elements embedded in a six by six element texture. This task could not be done in the visual field region affected by the V2 lesion when the distinctive elements differed in orientation from the others. Control experiments showed that the discrimination could be done when the three distinctive elements differed in size or color. These results suggest that cortical area V2 is not needed for some low-level discriminations, but may be essential for tasks involving complex spatial discriminations.
CITRIC ACID FERMENTATION OF SUGARS PURIFIED WITH CHELATING RESIN

Noguchi, Yuichi (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and Marvin J. Johnson. Citric acid fermentation of sugars purified with chelating resin. J. Bacteriol. 82:538–541. 1961.—A new, independently isolated strain of Aspergillus niger capable of giving high yields of citric acid in submerged culture was found to show the same behavior toward iron, zinc, and manganese as a previously studied strain. Citric acid accumulation did not occur in the presence of manganese. Best citric acid production was obtained in the presence of limited amounts of iron and zinc. Use of a chelating ion exchange resin was found to be an excellent method of removing polyvalent metals from sugars, either for analytical purposes or for fermentation. Commercial glucose, after resin treatment, gave citric acid yields of more than 80% when supplemented with iron and zinc. Unpurified glucose was converted to citric acid in good yields by mycelium grown on resin-treated glucose.
The Analysis of Plasma by Light Scattering

The unprecedented brightness of laser sources has made practical for the first time the use of Thomson scattering of light as a plasma diagnostic tool. In addition to the simple low-density process, where scattering intensities from the individual plasma electrons are summed, it has become possible to exploit the theory of plasma fluctuations in order to extend the analysis of scattering data to densities where collective effects predominate.
Use of artificial neural networks for engineering analysis of complex physical systems

Mathematical models of physical systems are used, among other purposes, to improve our understanding of the behavior of physical systems, predict physical system responses, and control the responses of systems. Phenomenological models are frequently used to simulate system behavior, but an alternative is available-the artificial neural network (ANN). We demonstrate that a particular ANN, the connectionist normalized linear spline (CNLS) network, can be used to simulate mechanical system behavior accurately and efficiently. The system simulations are performed in the non recurrent and recurrent frameworks. The paper provides brief discussions on the operation of ANNs in general and the CNLS net in particular, the operation of two different types of mechanical systems, and approaches to the solution of some special problems that occur in connection with ANN simulation of physical system response. Numerical examples are presented.
Prognostic value of the hyperdense middle cerebral artery sign and stroke scale score before ultraearly thrombolytic therapy.

PURPOSE To determine the relationship between the hyperdense middle cerebral artery sign (HMCAS) and neurologic deficit, as evidenced by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) stroke scale score, and to determine the relationship of the HMCAS and the NIH stroke scale score to arteriographic findings after thrombolytic therapy. METHODS Fifty-five patients with acute ischemic stroke were rated on the NIH stroke scale, were examined with CT, and were treated with intravenous alteplase within 90 minutes of symptom onset. Presence of the HMCAS was determined on the baseline CT scan by a neuroradiologist blinded to the patient9s neurologic deficit. Patients with the HMCAS were compared with those without HMCAS with regard to baseline NIH stroke scale score, 2-hour NIH stroke scale score, findings at posttreatment arteriography, 3-month residual neurologic deficit, and 3-month ischemia volumes as evidenced on CT scans. RESULTS Eighteen patients (33%) had the HMCAS. These patients had a median baseline NIH stroke scale score of 19.5 compared with a median score of 10 for the patients lacking the HMCAS sign. At 3 months, one (6%) of the HMCAS-positive patients was completely improved neurologically compared with 17 (47%) of the HMCAS-negative patients. Restricting analysis to those patients with a stroke scale score of 10 or greater (n = 37), 18 HMCAS-positive patients showed less early neurologic improvement, were less likely to be completely improved at 3 months, and had larger infarcts compared with the 19 HMCAS-negative patients. Compared with the HMCAS-positive and HMCAS-negative patients with a stroke scale score of 10 or greater, patients with a stroke scale score of less than 10 had fewer occlusive changes of the internal carotid and middle cerebral arteries on posttreatment arteriograms and had a better neurologic recovery at 3 months. CONCLUSION The presence of the HMCAS on CT scans obtained within 90 minutes of stroke onset is associated with a major neurologic deficit, and in this study it predicted a poor clinical and radiologic outcome after intravenous thrombolytic therapy. However, a major neurologic deficit, defined as a stroke scale score of 10 or more, was better than a positive HMCAS as a predictor of poor neurologic outcome after thrombolytic therapy. Patients with a low stroke scale score (
RECQ1 Possesses DNA Branch Migration Activity

RecQ helicases are essential for the maintenance of genome stability. Five members of the RecQ family have been found in humans, including RECQ1, RECQ5, BLM, WRN, and RECQ4; the last three are associated with human diseases. At this time, only BLM and WRN helicases have been extensively characterized, and the information on the other RecQ helicases has only started to emerge. Our current paper is focused on the biochemical properties of human RECQ1 helicase. Recent cellular studies have shown that RECQ1 may participate in DNA repair and homologous recombination, but the exact mechanisms of how RECQ1 performs its cellular functions remain largely unknown. Whereas RECQ1 possesses poor helicase activity, we found here that the enzyme efficiently promotes DNA branch migration. Further analysis revealed that RECQ1 catalyzes unidirectional three-stranded branch migration with a 3′ → 5′ polarity. We show that this RECQ1 activity is instrumental in specific disruption of joint molecules (D-loops) formed by a 5′ single-stranded DNA invading strand, which may represent dead end intermediates of homologous recombination in vivo. The newly found enzymatic properties of the RECQ1 helicase may have important implications for the function of RECQ1 in maintenance of genomic stability.
INSTRUMENTATION FOR MEASURING FUNCTIONAL RESIDUAL CAPACITY IN NEWBORN INFANTS AND SMALL ANIMALS

INSTRUMENTATION FOR MEASURING FUNCTIONAL RESIDUAL CAPACITY IN NEWBORN INFANTS AND SMALL ANIMALS