cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Insuring Breast Reconstruction

Women who are faced with a devastating diagnosis of breast cancer face a grueling treatment regimen, typically involving some combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Many of these women desire reconstruction and have a right to insurance coverage for it under the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act (WHCRA). However, because of an unduly narrow interpretation of the Act, such women are often presented with a false dichotomy between a full mastectomy with reconstruction and a partial mastectomy or lumpectomy without. This article uses legislative history, plain meaning, and state case law on similar issues to show that the WHCRA is properly interpreted as providing a right to insurance coverage for reconstruction after partial, as well as full, mastectomies. The author’s experiences with breast cancer treatment are used to illustrate the problem. Additionally, the article argues that the question of whether the WHCRA contains a private right of action separate from ERISA should be revisited.
Reflectivity of solid and hollow microsphere composites and the effects of uniform and varying diameters

While solid and hollow microsphere composites have received significant attention as solar reflectors or selective emitters, the driving mechanisms for their optical properties remain relatively unclear. Here, we study the solar reflectivity in the 0.4–2.4 μm wavelength range of solid and hollow microspheres with the diameter varying from 0.125 μm to 8 μm. SiO2 and TiO2 are considered as low- and high-refractive-index microsphere materials, respectively, and polydimethylsiloxane is considered as a polymer matrix. Based on the Mie theory and finite-difference time-domain simulations, our analysis shows that hollow microspheres with a thinner shell are more effective in scattering the light, compared to solid microspheres, and lead to a higher solar reflectivity. The high scattering efficiency, owing to the refractive-index contrast and large interface density, in hollow microspheres allows low-refractive-index materials to have a high solar reflectivity. When the diameter is uniform, 0.75 μm SiO2 hollow microspheres provide the largest solar reflectivity of 0.81. When the diameter is varying, the randomly distributed 0.5–1 μm SiO2 hollow microspheres provide the largest solar reflectivity of 0.84. The effect of varying diameter is characterized by strong backscattering in the electric field. These findings will guide optimal designs of microsphere composites and hierarchical materials for optical and thermal management systems.
Abstract 3000: Evaluating the efficacy of a novel class of covalent microtubule stabilizers in taxane resistant ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer has few targeted therapies and high rates of metastasis. Taxane microtubule stabilizers, including paclitaxel, are a mainstay in the treatment of adult solid tumors as single agents and in combination with other cytotoxic chemotherapies, targeted therapies, and immunotherapies. The standard of care for ovarian cancer patients comprises of combination chemotherapy consisting of a taxane with a platinum agent administered intravenously or intraperitoneally. Although this approach is highly effective initially, up to 70% of ovarian cancer patients will acquire taxane resistance. Therefore, it is essential to identify drugs that retain efficacy in clinically relevant models of taxane resistance, including those with elevated P-glycoprotein (Pgp) expression. The development of a microtubule stabilizer that retains efficacy in taxane resistant ovarian cancer would be optimal since microtubule disruption is proven to be an effective target in this disease. The taccalonolides are a novel class of covalent and irreversible microtubule stabilizers that circumvent clinically relevant forms of taxane resistance in vitro and in vivo breast cancer models. However, the taccalonolides have a narrow therapeutic window and short serum half-life that would benefit from a more targeted delivery. We hypothesized that localized intraperitoneal delivery of the taccalonolides in ovarian cancer models may be an optimal strategy for the treatment of intraperitoneally disseminated disease. We have found that the taccalonolides are less susceptible than paclitaxel to Pgp-mediated drug resistance in a human ovarian cancer cell line model. Additional experiments have demonstrated that the taccalonolides retain long-term antiproliferative and cytotoxic efficacy following acute treatment of human and murine ovarian cancer cells, demonstrating superior cellular persistence as compared to other classes of microtubule stabilizing drugs. We are currently evaluating the efficacy of the taccalonolides in ovarian cancer models using localized, intraperitoneal administration in a syngeneic and orthotopic murine model, which may be optimal for delivery of this irreversible microtubule stabilizer. Citation Format: Samantha S.M. Yee, Lin Du, April L. Risinger. Evaluating the efficacy of a novel class of covalent microtubule stabilizers in taxane resistant ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 3000.
Prosthetic temporomandibular joint reconstruction in a cohort of adolescent females with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) arthritis and involvement is commonly seen in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). Therapy includes conservative measures, but also includes intraarticular corticosteroid injections (IASI) and systemic immunosuppressive therapy. Despite aggressive medical therapy, some patients develop arthritic changes and frank TMJ ankylosis that can result in persistent pain and limitation in range of motion (ROM). A surgical option is prosthetic TMJ replacement with concurrent correction of dentofacial deformities, which can be performed simultaneously. The objective of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of prosthetic TMJ replacement in a cohort of adolescent females with JIA and severe TMJ involvement. This is a retrospective case series that took place at one tertiary care center. Patients with a diagnosis of JIA who also underwent alloplastic TMJ replacement were identified through electronic medical record system (EMR) and reviewed. Chart review included analysis of all documents in the EMR, including demographic data, JIA history, surgical complications, ROM of TMJ measured by maximal incisal opening in millimeters (mm) and TMJ pain scores (4-point Likert scale: none, mild, moderate, severe) obtained pre- and postoperatively. Five female patients, ages 15–17 year when TMJ replacement was performed, had nine total joints replaced with a post-operative follow-up period of 12–30 months. All patients had polyarticular, seronegative JIA and were treated with IASI and multiple immunosuppressive therapies without resolution of TMJ symptoms. One patient had bilateral TMJ ankylosis. Three of the five patients demonstrated significant dentofacial deformities, and all underwent simultaneous or staged orthognathic surgery. All patients had improvement in TMJ pain with most (80%) reporting no pain, and all had similar or improved ROM of their TMJ postoperatively. There was one delayed postoperative infection with Cutibacterium Acnes that presented 15 months after surgery and required removal and reimplantation of prosthesis. The sequelae of TMJ arthritis and involvement from JIA in the adolescent population can be difficult to treat. Current medical therapy can be successful, however, in select cases that develop chronic changes in the TMJ despite extensive medical therapy, early results show that prosthetic joint replacement maybe a reasonable surgical option. With prosthetic joint replacement pain levels were reduced and range of motion was maintained or improved for all patients.
June Medical Services v. Russo — A Threat to Physicians’ Standing to Challenge Abortion Regulations

June Medical Services v. Russo In June Medical Services v. Russo, the Supreme Court rejected Louisiana’s request to revisit long-established precedent and deny the legal entitlement of physicians t...
Best Practices for Building and Supporting Effective ACGME-Mandated Program Evaluation Committees.

Introduction The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandates that residency training programs form program evaluation committees (PECs) to monitor program delivery and out...
Detection of cerebral reorganization associated with degenerative cervical myelopathy using diffusion spectral imaging (DSI).

Abstract Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM) is a spinal cord disorder that causes significant physical disabilities in older patients. While most DCM research focuses on the spinal cord, widespread reorganization of the brain may occur to compensate for functional impairment. This observational study used diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) to examine reorganization of cerebral white matter associated with neurological impairment as measured by the modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA), and severity of neck disability as measured by the Neck Disability Index (NDI) score. A total of 47 patients were included in the cervical spondylosis (CS) cohort: 38 patients with DCM (mean mJOA = 14.6, and mean NDI = 12.0), and 9 neurologically asymptomatic patients with spinal cord compression (mJOA = 18, and mean NDI = 7.0). 28 healthy volunteers (HCs) served as the control group. Lower generalized fractional anisotropy (GFA) was observed throughout much of the brain in patients compared to HCs (p
Judged Beauty of Fractal Symmetries

Fractals are patterns that show self-similarity at different levels of scale. Typically they appear in nature and this degree of similarity is approximate or statistical. However, artificial or exa...
Regulator Continuity and Decision-Making Quality: Evidence from SEC Comment Letters

High quality financial information depends on the effectiveness of regulators charged with ensuring compliance with financial reporting regulation. We use the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing review process as a setting to test whether individual regulators’ prior involvement (i.e., review team continuity) is associated with the quality of their decision-making. Although continuity may allow regulators to develop valuable knowledge to improve their decision-making, our results are more consistent with continuity leading to lower-quality reviews. Specifically, we find that review team continuity is associated with shorter reviews that ask fewer questions related to authoritative guidance or materially deficient areas, are more similar to the prior review, and are less likely to elicit an acknowledgement that the firm will change their filings. Our inferences are robust to using SEC staff turnover as an instrument for continuity. Overall, our results suggest new team members may provide a fresh perspective.
The Ethnic Identity Scale: Affirmation, really?

OBJECTIVE The Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS) was developed to distinguish between process and content components of ethnic-racial identity (ERI). However, the affirmation subscale is composed entirely of negatively worded items, measuring negative feelings about one's ethnic-racial group, rather than positive feelings as widely conceptualized. Addressing this gap, the present study examined the psychometric validity of a revised EIS with positively and negatively worded items to determine whether affirmation is best represented as a unidimensional construct, a bidimensional construct, or a combination of the two. METHOD The sample consisted of 280 college students (75.5% female; Mage = 20.95 years; SD = 1.98 years). The largest ethnic-racial group consisted of Black or African Americans (68.2%), followed by Asian/Asian Americans (12.1%), Hispanic/Latinos (9.6%), and other ethnic-racial groups (10%). RESULTS Confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for both unidimensionality and multidimensionality. Indeed, although positively worded and negatively worded items of "affirmation" loaded onto a general factor representing affirmation, there was still a significant amount of variance captured by the negative ERI affect specific factor, indicating the presence of multidimensionality. In addition, results indicated that negative ERI affect, over and above the general ERI affirmation factor, predicted psychosocial functioning. CONCLUSIONS The present study expands our understanding of the multidimensionality of ERI, highlighting the need for examination of how we measure ERI affect at the very least, and possibly how we conceptualize it within the broader ERI literature. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Reflections on 2020

In his 1953 novel of ideas, The Outsider, Richard Wright ominously predicted that industrial capitalist society would inexorably result in “the total and absolute in modern life.” Wright did not mean that Soviet communism would prevail, capturing the hearts and minds of Americans. His point was that the West's capitalist democracy was just as capable of slouching toward a dystopian, totalitarian future as the Soviet Union. How might Wright’s prescient thoughts on the death of liberal democracy inform our attempts to save ourselves from the “totalitarian danger” looming in the United States? As multiracial American democracy, voting rights, and the rule of law are under assault from the U.S. far right, it is abundantly clear that anti‐Black racism animates the enemies of democracy and those who would establish and support autocratic rule. These reflections seek to historicize the assault on democracy in the US and the epochal events of 2020, including: the global protests following the murder of George Floyd by police;the death of hundreds of thousands in the US during the global Coronavirus pandemic;and concerted efforts by Trump and the far‐right to destroy multiracial democracy before and after the 2020 election, culminating in the violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Peace & Change is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Using the Science Writing Heuristic to Improve Critical Thinking Skills for Fifth Grade Black Girls

Critical thinking skills are invaluable for the process of asking reasonable questions and making rational decisions. Science classrooms are an excellent place to develop critical thinking skills for all students. Unfortunately, Black girls are often left out from opportunities to be in good science classrooms and/or exposed to effective science instruction. This marginalization diminishes their access to critical thinking skill development. Because Black girls, for a variety of reasons are not participating in science education they are missing the opportunity to develop, exercise and enhance their critical thinking skills. One approach that has shown promising effectiveness in developing critical thinking skills is the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH). The SWH approach helps students develop skills in the process of asking questions, making claims, and providing evidence through argument-based inquiry. The current study examines the impact of the SWH on critical thinking skills growth of 5th grade Black girls in a midwestern state. Results suggest practical implications for using the SWH to develop critical thinking skills for Black girls over the course of a school year. Statistical significance was found within the treatment group in two to subtest of the critical thinking measure when comparing pre- and post-test results. Practical analysis via effect size statistics is also discussed.
The Institute of International Education (IIE)

﻿This chapter describes the nature of the IIE as a post-war institution in the United States. The IIE was primarily founded with the goal of attracting promising central European scientists to American universities in order to raise the relatively low academic profile of these institutions. Many German and Austrian scientists followed this call in the difficult post-war years, and many of these were former students of Haas’, while he himself was considered a bit too old to be employable. Haas did not share this opinion.
The Bacterial Oxidation of Vitamin B6 VII. PURIFICATION, PROPERTIES, AND MECHANISM OF ACTION OF AN OXYGENASE WHICH CLEAVES THE 3-HYDROXYPYRIDINE RING

Abstract Purification of an inducible oxygenase that opens the pyridine ring during the metabolic degradation of Vitamin B6 by a soil bacterium is described. The enzyme is shown to catalyze Reaction 1, and is readily assayed by following the decrease in absorbance at 340 mµ resulting from utilization of DPNH and disappearance of the hydroxypyridine. The [see PDF for equation] crystalline oxygenase is homogeneous by disc gel electrophoresis and ultracentrifugation, has a sedimentation coefficient (s020, w) of 7.3 S and a molecular weight (by sedimentation equilibrium) of 166,000, and contains 2 moles of FAD per mole. Activity is lost on resolution with acidic ammonium sulfate and can be completely restored with FAD; FMN is inactive. Crystalline preparations of constant FAD content vary in activity from 90 to 300 arbitrary units per mg for reasons still unknown. The oxygenase is highly sensitive to oxidation and to sulfhydryl reagents, but not to chelating agents, and is stabilized by high concentrations of mercaptoethanol (0.1%) and glycerol (50%). Under anaerobic conditions, the FAD-enzyme is reduced to FADH2-enzyme by DPNH, NaBH4, or Na2S2O4; admission of oxygen reoxidizes the enzyme slowly, whereas on addition of oxygen and Compound I rapid reoxidation of the enzyme occurs and the open chain product appears. No spectrophotometrically detectable intermediate is observed either anaerobically or aerobically, and the available evidence indicates that the reaction proceeds in a concerted fashion via a ternary complex of oxygenase, DPNH, and Compound I. When Reaction 1 is conducted in the presence of 18O2, the isotope is incorporated predominantly into the acetyl group, but also into the newly formed carboxyl group of the product. Thus, the enzyme is best classified as a dioxygenase, although some 18O from H218O also is incorporated into the product. A reaction mechanism consistent with these results is presented which also accounts for the deviation of this labeling pattern from that observed with dioxygenases which cleave aromatic rings without concomitant reduction. TPNH is almost as effective as DPNH in Reaction 1. Of several pyridine analogues tested, only 5-pyridoxic acid replaces Compound I as a substrate; it is very much less active in this capacity. An apparently similar oxygenase from another pseudomonad cleaves 5-pyridoxic acid in preference to Compound I, and is specific for TPNH as the second substrate.
Religion and the Status of Women

This paper explores practices designed to humiliate, denigrate, and subjugate female members in religious extremist paradigms; we focus on Islamic extremism and ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Initially, we highlight religious-based practices including honor killings, female genital mutilation, extreme modesty regulations, disparity in education, and strict segregation that place women in direct harm — some resulting in death. People of extreme faith justify harmful practices through a narrow and absolute interpretation of scripture that leaves little room for critical reflection or evolving modern views. When state agents fail to proactively prevent, much less punish religious extremist actors who deliberately harm women — in the name of faith — the state’s tacit support emboldens extremists. While we examine recent court cases where nation states grapple with the tension created by women’s inferior status in religion we note the paucity of consistent efforts to protect women in the face of religious extremism. We argue that under no circumstances does religion justify harming women; therefore nation states must proactively limit religious extremists who incite harm directed at women, and punish those responsible for mutilating, injuring, and humiliating women.
Banded chromosomes and the zebrafish karyotype.

Publisher Summary This chapter illustrates the zebrafish karyotype as defined by R banding and provides a detailed protocol for preparing such chromosomes. Zebrafish chromosomes are prepared either from embryo or adult tissues in vivo or from cells growing in tissue culture. Both long-term stable lines and primary cultures can provide good preparations. Embryos have the advantage that they are easy to obtain and examine, but they have relatively few mitoses. Long-term cultured lines, such as ZF4, although quite convenient, tend to be aneuploid and may have suffered rearrangements. Primary cultures, either from adult fins or from embryos, are more time consuming to set up but display many mitoses, and probably reflect the in vivo situation better than long-term cultures. They appear to be the preparation of choice. This chapter describes the zebrafish karyotype produced with replication banding from cultures of adult fin cells and shows the karyogram derived from the examination of five such karyotypes. Although members of a homologous pair of chromosomes usually show the same pattern, occasionally they vary in length and in the location of bands. This can be explained by technical factors or because of the condensation delay of Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) substituted DNA.
The physiology of hypertension in eclampsia

Abstract Changes in cardiac output, blood volume, blood viscosity or widespread organic arterial changes do not account for the hypertension observed in the eclamptogenic toxemias. From a physiologic standpoint, the immediate cause of this hypertension is a functional and diffuse arteriolar constriction. An increased activity of the vasomotor centers by direct or reflex stimulation cannot be eliminated as a cause of this increased peripheral resistance, but in eclampsia these centers are not abnormally sensitive to psychic or thermal stimuli. The vascular pathology of eclampsia requires the postulate of a circulating factor which behaves as a vascular toxin. Chorionic tissue is probably responsible for this factor, and the stimulus for its production may be an inadequacy of maternal blood supply to the placenta. This vascular toxin might produce hypertension in one of several ways: It may act directly as a pressor agent or accentuate the action of other known pressor agents. It is known to produce glomerular damage in the eclamptogenic toxemias. This renal damage may influence the vasomotor centers reflexly, or the resulting reduction of blood supply to the kidney may give rise to hypertension through the mechanism of renal ischemia. The available experimental evidence bearing on such hypotheses is discussed.
Soybean Weed Management Studies

Materials and Methods The studies were established using a randomized complete block design with three or four replications. Herbicide evaluation plot size was 10 ft by 25 ft. For studies that included yield evaluation the plot size was 15 ft by 25 ft. Herbicides were applied in 20 gallons of water per acre. Visual estimates of percentage weed control and crop injury data were made throughout June and July. Weed control observations are compared with an untreated control and made on a zero to 100 rating scale with zero percent equaling no weed control. Crop injury ratings are on a 0 to 100 rating scale, with 0 representing no crop injury. Weed species and populations evaluated included 50 foxtail and three to ten waterhemp, Pennsylvania smartweed, and velvetleaf/ft.
Pharmaceuticals, Health Commodification, and Social Relations: Ramifications for Primary Health Care

In this chapter, I will discuss the growing trend toward the commodification of health through pharmaceuticals in India today. Considered is the manner in which pharmaceutical policy, production and marketing; polypharmacy prescription patterns and self help practices; cultural values and collective anxieties affect consumer demand for particular medicine products. A point emphasized is that what is being sold to the Indian public today is the notion that health in the short term can be derived through the consumption of medicines. At a time of increasing environmental deterioration (deforestation, erosion, pollution); rapid unplanned urbanization and industrialization; and related public health problems (Malhotra 1985), an emerging capitalist ideology is subtly reproduced in popular health culture. Underlying this ideology is the premise that one can buy back health and well being with a rising wage for labor. In other words, health has increasingly taken on an “exchange value”. The working class tacitly accepts capitalist ideology through their efforts of private appropriation of commodified health. This ideology is being swallowed along with the pills that embody it. Health practices involving medicine taking and giving constitute an agency of socialization where relations of power, dominance, and dependency take concrete form.
Preventing Child Abuse Through Education Should be Utah’s Priority

In the words of Elizabeth Smart, who advocated for child abuse prevention education before the Utah Legislature this year: “Children are taught to look both ways before crossing the road. They are taught to stop, drop and roll in a fire. They should be given the knowledge to be able to say no, this is wrong, or I am uncomfortable.”
Mechanisms concerned with appetite.

THE TITLE given to this paper is a bit inappropriate for a discussion in physiology, since the word "appetite" has a psychologic rather than physiologic meaning. Both hunger and appetite, as well as satiety, refer to sensations or affective states, and none of the three words has an accurate or precise definition. In the following discussion they are used only for convenience, and with only their common English meanings. They cannot be studied directly in human infants nor in laboratory animals, but only indirectly by simple observation as to whether food is or is not accepted, or by noting the amount of food eaten or the rate of eating. Perhaps a better title is "Mechanisms that regulate intake of food," using the word, "regulate," as it is used in the case of respiration. For example ventilation of the lungs is said to be regulated through the interaction of respiratory centers, reflexes, stretch receptors and chemoceptors. Analogous mechanisms doubtless serve to regulate feeding. Like the regulation of respiration, the control of intake of food is one of the important functions of the central nervous system. The digestive apparatus is concerned only in a limited way and that as a system regulated, rather than as the regulator. Sherrington noted as early as 1900 that feeding persists after operations upon the stomach, including nearly complete removal of the organ. If such an operation leaves the tract adequate for digestion, it does not lead to any primary, quantitative disturbance of feeding behavior. Similar conclusions may be drawn from observations upon patients who have undergone the several types of operation upon nerves supplying the stomach and intestine, including patients subjected to vagotomy.
Diverticulitis of the cecum and ascending colon

Twelve cases of acute solitary diverticulitis of the cecum or ascending colon are reviewed. This is frequently indistinguishable from acute appendicitis preoperatively and is often mistaken for carcinoma at laparotomy. There are subtle clinical features that may help to suggest the diagnosis both before and during surgery. If diagnosed preoperatively, it can be treated effectively with broad spectrum antibiotics without surgical intervention. When diagnosed intraoperatively, hemicolectomy can often be avoided. Appendectomy should be done if resection is not performed.
Site-directed mutagenesis of a nucleotide-binding domain in HSV-1 thymidine kinase: effects on catalytic activity.

Abstract The thymidine kinase encoded by herpes simplex virus type 1 contains an amino acid sequence homologous to a consensus sequence related to the ATP-binding site in many proteins. We have used site-directed mutagenesis to investigate the importance of the five highly conserved amino acids within this segment. When any one of the three glycines was changed to valine the corresponding mutant enzyme was inactive. The mutation of lysine 63 to isoleucine destroyed the enzymatic activity. When threonine 64 was changed to alanine the mutant enzyme lost its activity. However, when this threonine was changed to serine the enzyme was still active but with different apparent Michaelis constants (Km) for thymidine and ATP. The wild-type thymidine kinase has apparent Km′s of 0.5 and 20 μM for thymidine and ATP, respectively, while the mutant enzyme displayed Km′s of 2.3 and 60 μM for thymidine and ATP. These results indicate that this homologous segment is essential for the function of the thymidine kinase and is involved in the substrate binding domain of the enzyme.
The effect of the 3′ → 5′ exonuclease of T7 DNA polymerase on frameshifts and deletions

Both spontaneous frameshift mutation and deletion mutation were measured in a T7 phage deficient in the 3'-->5' exonuclease of T7 DNA polymerase. It was found that the absence of this exonuclease caused a marked increase in the reversion of both plus one and minus one mutations. The exonuclease deficiency caused essentially no effect on the frequency of deletion between 10-bp direct repeats even when the segment between the direct repeats contained a 25-bp palindrome.
Separation of Specific from Nonspecific Anti-FSH Antibody by Affinity Chromatography on Sepharose-HCG

To enhance the specificity of a pool of anti-FSH sera with respect to HCG and LH crossreactivity, affinity chromatography was performed on a Sepharose-HCG column. In serial studies anti-FSH pool #9 was added to the column and eluted first with buffer and then with guanidine HC1. In each study a protein peak (I) was evident in the first fraction collected after application of the serum to the column and this antibody was capable of binding FSH-131I tracer but not LH-131I in the double antibody radioimmunoassay. Following application of guanidine HC1, a second protein peak was eluted: this antibody was capable of binding both FSH-131I and LH-131I. Dose response curves of IRP #2 HMG and HCG obtained with FSH-131I tracer and unprocessed pool #9 antibody showed high potency and sensitivity to FSH but marked nonspecificity when tested with HCG. In contrast, peak (I) antibody under comparable conditions proved to be low in potency and relatively insensitive to FSH but highly specific. These results were similar ...
Self-control: Refinement of a construct

Previous efforts, on a theoretical/model building level, refined the construct “self-control” into four quadrants: (1) positive assertive (active control), (2) positive yielding (letting-go control), (3) negative assertive (over-control), and (4) negative yielding (too little control). To test the discreteness of the four quadrants, 706 individuals, the majority in health and healing professions, from nine cities across the United States, responded to prompt words designed to assess each quadrant. A factor analysis provided partial concurrent validation, and the results revealed information about the semantic structure of self-control, as well as personal characteristics associated with self-control. Further, mean tabulations showed not only cultural bias (i.e., high self-control was associated almost exclusively with Quadrant 1, but also sex role bias (i.e., low self-control for a man was most often associated with Quadrant 3, negative assertiveness, and for a woman was most often associated with Quadrant 4 negative yielding). Clinical implications of these findings in terms of developing a self-control assessment inventory for matching self-control strategy to an individual with a particular clinical problem are discussed, and guidelines and suggestions for further research are offered.
Global bioethics and communitarianism

This paper explores the role of ‘community’ in the context of global bioethics. With the present globalization of bioethics, new and interesting references are made to this concept. Some are familiar, for example, community consent. This article argues that the principle of informed consent is too individual-oriented and that in other cultures, consent can be community-based. Other references to ‘community’ are related to the novel principle of benefit sharing in the context of bioprospecting. The application of this principle necessarily requires the identification and construction of communities. On the global level there are also new uses of the concept of community as ‘global community.’ Three uses are distinguished: (1) a diachronic use, including past, present, and future generations, (2) a synchronic ecological use, including nonhuman species, and (3) a synchronic planetary use, including all human beings worldwide. Although there is a tension between the communitarian perspective and the idea of global community, this article argues that the third use can broaden communitarianism. The current development towards cosmopolitanism is creating a new global community that represents humanity as a whole, enabling identification of world citizens and evoking a sense of global solidarity and responsibility. The emergence of global bioethics today demonstrates this development.
Nanocrystal formation in thermally oxidized and annealed a-Si:H films and SiOxNy films (x=0.17; y=0.07)

Silicon nanocrystals have been prepared in thermally oxidized hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and annealed silicon-rich oxynitride (SRON) films with [O/Si]=0.17 [N/Si]=0.07, in the temperature range 400-800°C and 850-1150°C respectively. Glancing Angle X-ray Diffraction (GAXRD) measurements show the presence of silicon nanocrystals embedded in silicon oxide films. Warren-Averbach Analysis of GAXRD data indicates the presence of ~9 nm silicon crystallites in a-Si:H films oxidized at 800°C. Room temperature photo-luminescence (PL) was observed from silicon nanocrystals embedded in oxidized a-Si:H films. Modeling the PL data indicates the presence of 6 nm silicon nanocrystals. This discrepancy is attributed to the columnar growth of silicon nanocrystals in thermally oxidized a-Si:H films. Silicon nanocrystals were not formed by thermal oxidation of SRON films under similar reaction conditions. However, silicon nanocrystals could be fabricated by annealing SRON films for 4 h in vacuum over the temperature range 850-1150°C. Silicon crystallite sizes remained constant (~4 nm) for films annealed below 1050°C and increased to 9 nm for films annealed at 1150°C. The presence of nitrogen played an important role in the silicon nanocrystal precipitation in SRON films. While the nanocrystal formation in a-Si:H films was due to oxidation and crystallization progressing simultaneously in the films, nanocrystal formation in SRON films appears to be due to the high temperature precipitation of excess silicon in the film.
Role of prolactin and the gonads in seasonal physiological changes in the collared lemming (Dicrostonyx groenlandicus).

On a seasonal basis, collared lemmings undergo a number of physiological and morphological changes. Short photoperiod exposure results in a molt to a white pelage, an increase in body weight, a reduction in relative body fat content, an increase in relative water content, and the development of a bifid claw. Treatment with the dopamine agonist, CB-154, resulted in a reduction in serum prolactin and the development of the white pelage in lemmings housed under 16L:8D, while treatment with the dopamine antagonist, sulpiride, prevented the winter molt in animals transferred to 8L:16D. Castration under 16L:8D resulted in an increase in body weight and an enlargement of the bifid claw. Castrated animals also molted more readily when treated with CB-154 and developed a relatively greater carcass water content. Treatment with CB-154 increased relative carcass fat content. These findings suggest that, in the collared lemming, seasonal changes in pelage parameters are regulated by prolactin, with gonadal hormones playing a modulating role. Body weight, water content, and bifid claw size appear to be influenced by gonadal hormones. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Ensuring Patient Safety: A Summary of the 2008 Intersociety Conference

The Intersociety Conference was established in 1979 to promote collegiality, encourage communication among the national radiology societies, and make recommendations on areas of concern identified by the 53 member societies invited to participate in the Summer Conference. The 2008 meeting was held July 18 to 20 at the Resort at Squaw Creek in Olympic Valley, California. As in prior years, the conference consisted of a series of plenary talks and breakout sessions during which each of 3 groups deliberated on specific aspects of the radiology report and reported to the conference on Saturday morning.
Motivational bases in mixed-motive interactions: The effects of comparison levels ☆

Abstract The relationship between reward level and the basic motives which underlie strategic choices (competitive and noncompetitive) in a mixed-motive game was examined from two theoretical perspectives. The “regret” interpretation proposed by McClintock and McNeel was compared to an approach based upon Thibout and Kelley's concept of comparison level (CL). Two independent variables, CL and Reward, were manipulated by varying the payoff rates in two playing series of the MDG. Initially, 50 iterations were played for high (4¢ per point) or low ( 1 5¢ per point) incentive to provide subjects with outcomes upon which to base their CL's. The Reward manipulation was introduced in 150 subsequent trials of the game with subjects playing for 8¢ or 1¢ per point. The results show that the absolute magnitude of reward did not influence the extent of cooperative or competitive behavior. On the other hand, the magnitude of reward relative to CL was significantly associated with the degree of cooperative behavior—supra-CL outcomes yielding a higher frequency of cooperative behavior than infra-CL outcomes.
Mitral valve prolapse in craniofacial skeletal deformities

Mitral valve prolapse is a manifestation of a diffuse connective tissue disorder resulting from mesenchymal dysplasia, and it may have an increased association with orthognathic craniofacial deformities. Since craniofacial deformities also result from mesenchymal dysplasias, there may be a causal relationship between them and mitral valve prolapse. Mitral valve prolapse is reviewed briefly in relation to the embryologic development of the facial skeleton. A slightly increased incidence of mitral valve prolapse has been noted but not statistically studied by the authors in their orthognathic patient population. It is hypothesized that patients with mitral valve prolapse have a typical facies that can be cephalometrically measured and identified.
Development of risk matrices for evaluating climatic change responses of forested habitats

We present an approach to assess and compare risk from climate change among multiple species through a risk matrix, in which managers can quickly prioritize for species that need to have strategies developed, evaluated further, or watched. We base the matrix upon earlier work towards the National Climate Assessment for potential damage to infrastructures from climate change. Risk is defined here as the product of the likelihood of an event occurring and the consequences or impact of that event. In the context of species habitats, the likelihood component is related to the potential changes in suitable habitat modeled at various times during this century. Consequences are related to the adaptability of the species to cope with the changes, especially the increasing intensity and/or frequency of disturbance events that are projected. We derived consequence scores from nine biological and 12 disturbance characteristics that were pulled from literature for each species. All data were generated from an atlas of climate change for 134 trees of the eastern United States ( www.nrs.fs.fed.us/atlas ). We show examples which depict a wide range of risk for tree species of northern Wisconsin, including species that may gain substantial habitat as well as lose substantial habitat, both of which will require the development of strategies to help the ecosystems adapt to such changes.
PLC Coexistence and Compatibility

This paper outlines the interests of the electrical distribution utilities and their perspectives on Broadband over Power Lines (BPL), also known as Power Line Communications (PLC), technology in general and the need for standards, both technical and regulatory, to enable successful deployment of this technology.
Beyond the Feminist Critique: Developing Feminist Tools for Intervention

As journal editors of Affilia, we often find ourselves in the position of asking the question, ‘‘is this feminist?’’ Of course, this question has various iterations and includes, ‘‘is this feminist enough?’’ ‘‘that can’t be feminist?’’ ‘‘are we behaving like feminists?’’ We also know ourselves, particularly in a moment of intense heated dialog, to comment to each other, ‘‘you don’t sound very feminist.’’ Are there such definitions? Feminist enough, more feminist, less feminist, or more properly feminist, among feminists? Asking these questions of ourselves and during our editorial board processes has become part of the way we design our work, and more importantly an attempt to fully live our lives. Critical feminism orients us toward a set of values like a compass fueled by love and oriented to true north. It compels us to listen, to understand, aim for growth, think of possibilities, and directs us toward a conviction to truth telling even in the most uncomfortable situations. It has become so much of a part of our operating values that it becomes assumed into our work, like a statement of the obvious. This integration is a process, one that we did not fully anticipate or plan for, it has taken time and commitment, and while we are not doing it perfectly, we are wholly grateful for the opportunities that it brings us. Critical feminist analysis has also created for us intellectual alliances, while other frameworks push up against our feminist edges. Anti-oppression and critical race theories (to name two) have emerged as important frameworks that address issues of structural inequity and social responsibility. With these two theories, we feminists seem comfortable using them as critiquing tools because of their congruency with our principles and values, even though they did not grow directly from feminism. One of the greatest challenges for critical feminist is to think about how we move feminism forward as fundamental to social work intervention. This seems especially true when the target of the intervention is not the individual or family. It leaves us wondering if the application of feminist theory and practice in an evidence-based environment either stumps or trumps interventions that are nonmicro focused. Can we produce critical feminist interventions in an evidence-based environment when those interventions are designed to challenge the dominant economic and political ‘‘truth’’ that challenges the sociopolitical structure?
Effects of sodium salicylate on epithelial cells of the rectal mucosa of the rat: A light and electron microscopic study☆

Abstract Using a ligation method, rat rectal epithelium was exposed to 2% sodium salicylate, and light and electron microscopic methods were used to assay for: 1) permeability of the epithelium to a marker dye, trypan blue, and 2) damage expressed in terms of disruption of the epithelial surface. Rectal mucosa was exposed to salicylate at pH 4.8, 7.0, and 9.0, and the effects of pretreatment with phlorizin were also studied. Results indicated that 2% sodium salicylate does very little damage to rectal epithelial cells at pH 7.0 while enhancing their permiability to trypan blue, an effect that is reversed upon washing out the sodium salicylate. The major cellular change induced by salicylate was a reduction in the length or distribution of glycocalyx filaments on microvilli of epithelial cells. It was also noted that pretreatment with phlorizin counteracted some of the effects of salicylate treatment.
Vertebrate cyclodiene insecticide resistance: role of gamma-aminobutyric acid and diazepam binding sites.

Certain populations of the mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) are highly resistant to cyclodiene and cyclodiene-type insecticides that competitively interact with the picrotoxinin binding site of the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor-ionophore complex in the central nervous system. Resistance involves a reduction in affinity of the picrotoxinin binding site. The present study reports that GABA receptor binding is increased in resistant brain membranes compared to membranes from susceptible fish at concentrations of free radioligand above 0.2 μM. The increase appears to be due to a greater number of binding sites (Bmax) in the resistant population. Diazepam binding affinity (Kd) and Bmax were not different in membranes from resistant fish compared to those from susceptible fish. Up-regulation of GABA binding sites in the resistant fish population may compensate for a possible reduction of GABAergic transmission caused by chronic environmental exposure to cyclodiene insecticides. However, a lack of cross-resistance to bicuculline (a competitive GABA antagonist) indicates that an increase in GABA sites is not a mechanism of cyclodiene resistance.
Method of entropy generation minimization, or modeling and optimization based on combined heat transfer and thermodynamics

Resume Methode de minimisation de la production entropique ou modelisation et optimisation basees sur la combinaison du transfert thermique et de la thermodynamique. La minimisation de la production d'entropie (EGM, optimisation thermodynamique, ou thermodynamique en temps fini) est une methode de modelisation de procedes reels (irreversibles) et d'equipements. Les modeles integrent des principes de base en thermodynamique et en transfert thermique et l'optimisation est assujettie a des contraintes liees a des dimensions finies et des temps finis. L'etonnant essor de l'EGM est illustre par des exemples extraits d'installations cryogeniques, de transfert thermique, de stockage, de conversion d'energie solaire, de centrales de production electrique et d'installations frigorifiques. Une attention particuliere est portee sur la valeur de l'ingenierie dans les modeles EGM, la contribution de tete menee par Chambadal et Novikov en 1957, et les nouvelles directions comme l'EGM des procedes dependent du temps.
The analogue of Weyl's conformal curvature tensor in a Michal functional geometry

The purpose of this note is to obtain a set of functionals conformally invariant in a Michal functional geometry.
Systemic Insecticides and Plant Age Affect Beet Curly Top Virus Transmission to Selected Host Plants.

ABSTRACT Greenhouse and field studies were conducted to assess the effects of systemic insecticides and plant age on beet curly top virus (BCTV) transmission to sugar beet, tomato, pepper, melon, and cowpea. Sugar beets were the most susceptible to BCTV infection. For all BCTV-susceptible plants tested, younger plants showed greater susceptibility to infection than did older plants, even when inoculations were delayed by only 1 week. Systemic insecticides applied to test plants resulted in increased beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus) mortality and decreased the percent BCTV transmission. Soil treatment with imidacloprid (250 g a.i./ha) gave significantly better reductions in BCTV transmission than did dimethoate foliar sprays (280 g a.i./ha). These data suggest that the use of specific systemic insecticides only when crop plants are most susceptible to BCTV infection could be an effective alternative component of the curly top disease control program.