cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regulation of guanine-nucleotide binding proteins in islet subcellular fractions by phospholipase-derived lipid mediators of insulin secretion.

In the accompanying article (Kowluru, A., Rabaglia, M.E., Mose, K.E. and Metz, S.A. (1994) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1222, 348-359) we identified three specific GTPase activities in islet subcellular fractions; most notably, two of these were enriched in the secretory granules. In the present study, we describe the regulation of GTPase activity in subcellular fractions of normal rat and human islets by insulinotropic lipids with a similar rank order as their insulin-releasing capacity. Arachidonic acid (AA), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC), or phosphatidic acid (PA) inhibited the GTPase activities significantly (by 60-80%) in islet homogenates; each also selectively inhibited certain GTPases in specific individual fractions. Less insulinotropic fatty acids, such as linoleic acid and oleic acid, inhibited GTPase to a lesser degree, whereas lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), phosphatidylcholine (PC) or palmitic acid, which do not acutely promote secretion, were ineffective. Similar inhibitory effects of these lipids were also demonstrable in fractions of human islets as well as those of transformed beta-cells (HIT cells). The effects of lipids were not attributable to their detergent properties (since several detergents failed to mimic lipid effects) or to inhibition of GTP binding (since they actually increased GTP gamma S binding modestly, and moreover, in reconstituted fractions, they potentiated GDP/GTP exchange activity up to 2-fold). These data indicate that the insulinotropic nature of the lipids might be due, in part, to their ability to maintain G-proteins in their GTP-bound (active) configuration by increasing GTP binding and decreasing its hydrolysis. These studies comprise the first evidence for the regulation by biologically active lipids of endocrine cell G-proteins at a locus distal to plasma membrane events (i.e., on endocrine secretory granules), and provide thereby a possible novel mechanism whereby the activation of islet endogenous phospholipases might culminate in insulin exocytosis.
Scale of Health: Indices of Safety and Efficacy in the Evolving Environment of Large Biological Datasets

The interdependent relationship between pharmacology and toxicology is fundamental to the concepts of efficacy and safety of both drugs and xenobiotics. The traditional concept of establishing efficacious and tolerated doses to define a ‘therapeutic window’ appears simplistic in the context of an exponentially increasing database on molecular mechanisms and cell biology that inform our understanding of homeostasis. Recent advances in nano medicine illustrate the convergence of efficacy and safety considerations that are central to establishing a clear pathway for regulatory review. The following overview considers biological responses to the administration of nanoparticles and the scale of balanced, within a range that might be considered ‘normal’, to unbalanced, abnormal responses associated with health and disease.
Synthesis and nitridation of nanocrystalline silicon produced via a tubular forced flow reactor

Abstract The design and operation of a novel, continuous reactor for scaling-up the production of nanocrystalline materials is outlined. The reactor operates using a replenishable thermal evaporation source in a forced gas flow. This alternative reactor design overcomes many of the production limitations of the batch reactor inert gas condensation process used widely in nanocrystalline synthesis. By achieving gas flow velocities of 12.5–40 m s−1, particle size is kept in the nanometer range by quickly removing the particles from the hot growth zone and minimizing their agglomeration during synthesis. The effects of processing parameters on Si particle size and morphology are presented. Nanocrystalline Si3N4 was produced by subsequent nitridation and heat treatment. Complete nitridation of the Si was achieved by 1050°C. Upon moderate heat treatment (1600°C for 3 h), the SiOx present in the material crystallized.
Photorefractive Effects In Semiconductors For Deep Level Spectroscopy

Photorefractive effects in semiconductorsfor deep level spectroscopyGeorge C. ValleyHughes Research Laboratories3011 Malibu Canyon RoadMalibu, CA 90265ABSTRACTThis talk discussed application of the electron /hole model of thephotorefractive effect to observations in GaAs:EL2, InP:Fe, and CdTe:Vthat were obtained with cw and picosecond lasers. In this model bothelectrons and holes are photoionized from a single defect level withtwo ionization states (e.g., EL20 and EL2 +) as discussed by Valley(1986) and Strohkendl et al.
Fatty acid metabolism: target for metabolic syndrome

Fatty acids are a major energy source and important constituents of membrane lipids, and they serve as cellular signaling molecules that play an important role in the etiology of the metabolic syndrome. Acetyl-CoA carboxylases 1 and 2 (ACC1 and ACC2) catalyze the synthesis of malonyl-CoA, the substrate for fatty acid synthesis and the regulator of fatty acid oxidation. They are highly regulated and play important roles in the energy metabolism of fatty acids in animals, including humans. They are presently considered as an attractive target to regulate the human diseases of obesity, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular complications. In this review we discuss the role of fatty acid metabolism and its key players, ACC1 and ACC2, in animal evolution and physiology, as related to health and disease.
Nuclear recoil energy scale in liquid xenon with application to the direct detection of dark matter

We show for the first time that the quenching of electronic excitation from nuclear recoils in liquid xenon is well-described by Lindhard theory, if the nuclear recoil energy is reconstructed using the combined (scintillation and ionization) energy scale proposed by Shutt et al.. We argue for the adoption of this perspective in favor of the existing preference for reconstructing nuclear recoil energy solely from primary scintillation. We show that signal partitioning into scintillation and ionization is well-described by the Thomas-Imel box model. We discuss the implications for liquid xenon detectors aimed at the direct detection of dark matter.
A Mosaic of Adaptation: The Archaeological Record for Mesoamerica’s Archaic Period

Mesoamerica’s Archaic period lasted for seven millennia beginning at the end of the Younger Dryas (~8000 cal. BC). The end of this period was uneven, with the earliest ceramic-using villagers documented at 1900 cal. BC, but not until the end of the second millennium BC in the Maya lowlands. Food production progressively increased in Mesoamerica between 8000 and 1000 cal. BC but did not significantly alter a mixed foraging–horticultural adaptation. During the third and fourth millennia BC, sedentism increased around permanent sources of water with dependable aquatic resources, such as the lakes in the Basin of Mexico and the estuaries of the Gulf coast and the Soconusco region on the Pacific coast. A mosaic of different adaptations was created, with more mobile peoples inhabiting the dry highland valleys of Mexico and Guatemala and much of the Maya lowlands. I argue that the ultimate cause of both the beginning and the end of the Archaic period was a return to wet, warm, and more stable environmental conditions after the Younger Dryas and the three-century-long 2200 cal. BC “event.” Ultimate climatic causes, however, provide only a limited understanding of the past, whereas proximate causes provide a more complete picture of where, when, and how food production, sedentism, and ceramic use developed. The archaeological record provides the complex and regionally varied evidence to reconstruct the proximate processes that saw Mesoamerican peoples transform from small groups of dispersed foragers to sedentary food producers who laid the foundation on which later Mesoamerican civilizations were built.
Newborn screening in the 1980s-the automation of follow-up

The Genetic Diseases Program of the Illinois Department of Public Health has completed the requirements for automation of its newborn screening follow-up services. The integration of two databases containing laboratory and follow-up elements allows the system to: (1) process online information about both normal and abnormal results on every baby screened in Illinois; (2) recall data previously entered and add follow-up criteria; (3) generate form letters; (4) track treatment and developmental progress of confirmed clients; (5) maintain permanent demographic registries; (6) transfer records to microfiche; and (7) generated reports for statistical analysis. Each of these capabilities is described, and it is demonstrated how automation has enhanced the follow-up component of newborn screening. >
Proactive process-level live migration and back migration in HPC environments

As the number of nodes in high-performance computing environments keeps increasing, faults are becoming common place. Reactive fault tolerance (FT) often does not scale due to massive I/O requirements and relies on manual job resubmission. This work complements reactive with proactive FT at the process level. Through health monitoring, a subset of node failures can be anticipated when one's health deteriorates. A novel process-level live migration mechanism supports continued execution of applications during much of process migration. This scheme is integrated into an MPI execution environment to transparently sustain health-inflicted node failures, which eradicates the need to restart and requeue MPI jobs. Experiments indicate that 1-6.5 s of prior warning are required to successfully trigger live process migration while similar operating system virtualization mechanisms require 13-24 s. This self-healing approach complements reactive FT by nearly cutting the number of checkpoints in half when 70% of the faults are handled proactively. The work also provides a novel back migration approach to eliminate load imbalance or bottlenecks caused by migrated tasks. Experiments indicate the larger the amount of outstanding execution, the higher the benefit due to back migration.
Sex differences in the association between testosterone and violent behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Research on the association between testosterone and violent behavior has provided conflicting findings. The majority of studies on the association between testosterone and antisocial-violent behaviors has used a clinical sample of severely violent individuals. These studies have mostly assessed males. OBJECTIVES: To study sex differences in the association between testosterone and violent behaviors in a community sample of young adults in the United States. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A longitudinal study of an inner city population on subjects aged from adolescence to adulthood was undertaken. Testosterone and violent behaviors were measured among 257 young adults with an average age of 22 years (range 21 to 23 years). We used regression analysis to test the association between testosterone and violent behaviors in male and female samples. RESULTS: There was a significant positive correlation between testosterone levels and violent behaviors among females, but not males. The association between testosterone levels and violent behaviors among females was significant, as it was above and beyond the effects of socio-economic status, age, education, and race. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide more information about the biological mechanisms for violent behaviors among young female adults. The study also helps us better understand sex differences in factors associated with violent behaviors in the community. Language: en
A Longitudinal Cluster-Randomized Controlled Study on the Accumulating Effects of Individualized Literacy Instruction on Students’ Reading From First Through Third Grade

Using a longitudinal cluster-randomized controlled design, we examined whether students' reading outcomes differed when they received 1, 2, or 3 years of individualized reading instruction from first through third grade, compared with a treated control group. More than 45% of students came from families living in poverty. Following students, we randomly assigned their teachers each year to deliver individualized reading instruction or a treated control condition intervention focused on mathematics. Students who received individualized reading instruction in all three grades showed the strongest reading skills by the end of third grade compared with those who received fewer years of such instruction. There was inconsistent evidence supporting a sustained first-grade treatment effect: Individualized instruction in first grade was necessary but not sufficient for stronger third-grade reading outcomes. These effects were achieved by regular classroom teachers who received professional development, which indicates that policies that support the use of evidence-based reading instruction and teacher training can yield increased student achievement.
A novel highly articulated robotic surgical system for epicardial ablation

We have developed a novel, highly articulated robotic surgical system to enable minimally invasive intrapericardial interventions through a subxiphoid approach and have performed preliminary tests of epicardial left atrial ablation in porcine (N = 3) and human cadaver (N = 2) preparations. In this study, the novel highly articulated robotic surgical system successfully provided safe epicardial ablations to the left atrium in porcine beating heart models via a subxiphoid approach. We have also performed complex guidance of the robot and subsequent ablation in a cadaveric preparation for successful pulmonary vein isolation.
Longitudinal trajectories of ethnic identity among urban Black and Latino adolescents.

The current study modeled developmental trajectories of ethnic identity exploration and affirmation and belonging from middle to late adolescence (ages 15–18) and examined how these trajectories varied according to ethnicity, gender, immigrant status, and perceived level of discrimination. The sample consisted of 135 urban low-income Black and Latino adolescents (42% male, 34% Black, 66% Latino). Consistent with developmental theory, individual growth modeling identified an average quadratic trajectory of ethnic identity exploration characterized by decelerating levels of exploration after 10th grade. However, ethnicity and perceived discrimination by peers moderated this pattern. No uniform growth pattern in affirmation was found and Black and Latino adolescents displayed equally high levels of affirmation over time.
Outer continental shelf oil and gas revenues: Coastal states should be entitled to a share

Abstract OCS oil and gas development has caused federal‐state conflicts. Coastal states have been deprived of offshore lands within their historic boundaries by erroneous judicial decisions. Coastal states have been required to bear the impacts and risks of OCS development without sharing in its benefits. The federal programs which have enabled coastal states to plan for and deal with the impacts of OCS development have been terminated or threatened by budgetary cutbacks. Coastal states have had to be concerned with the drainage of their oil and gas resources by federal lessees. Congress should enact a block grant program, similar to the Ocean and Coastal Resources Management and Development Block Grant Act of 1984, to provide OCS revenues to the coastal states. This program would help establish greater federal‐state cooperation concerning OCS oil and gas development.
Meeting report: Identifying practical applications of ontologies for biodiversity informatics

This report describes the outcomes of a recent workshop, building on a series of workshops from the last three years with the goal if integrating genomics and biodiversity research, with a more specific goal here to express terms in Darwin Core and Audubon Core, where class constructs have been historically underspecified, into a Biological Collections Ontology (BCO) framework. For the purposes of this workshop, the BCO provided the context for fully defining classes as well as object and data properties, including domain and range information, for both the Darwin Core and Audubon Core. In addition, the workshop participants reviewed technical specifications and approaches for annotating instance data with BCO terms. Finally, we laid out proposed activities for the next 3 to 18 months to continue this work.
Classifying Sentence-Based Summaries of Web Documents

Text classification categories Web documents in large collections into predefined classes based on their contents. Unfortunately, the classification process can be time-consuming and users are still required to spend considerable amount of time scanning through the classified Web documents to identify the ones that satisfy their information needs. In solving this problem, we first introduce CorSum, an extractive single-document summarization approach, which is simple and effective in performing the summarization task, since it only relies on word similarity to generate high-quality summaries. Hereafter, we train a Na¨ive Bayes classifier on CorSum-generated summaries and verify the classification accuracy using the summaries and the speed-up during the process. Experimental results on the DUC-2002 and 20 Newsgroups datasets show that CorSum outperforms other extractive summarization methods, and classification time is significantly reduced using CorSum-generated summaries with compatible accuracy. More importantly, browsing summaries, instead of entire documents, classified to topic-oriented categories facilitates the information searching process on the Web.
An evidence-based model for early-grade reading programmes

This article proposes a model for design of early-grade reading programmes that is based on research and the implementation of research findings. The model has three components: (1) schools should provide instruction in a language their students speak and understand; (2) teachers should employ instruction that is consistent with the current evidence-based theory of how children acquire and improve reading skills; and (3) students should spend sufficient time on task in direct instruction and reading practice to make meaningful progress. For each component, the article describes the ways in which reading programmes are trying to implement that concept and the evidence that supports those approaches. The article concludes with ways this programme model could inform policy and be improved by further research.
Model checking Java programs using structural heuristics

We describe work in troducing heuristic search into the Java PathFinder model checker, which targets Java bytecode. Rather than focusing on heuristics aimed at a particular kind of error (such as deadlocks) we describe heuristics based on a modification of traditional branch coverage metrics and other structure measures, such as thread inter-dependency. We present experimental results showing the utility of these heuristics, and argue for the usefulness of structural heuristics as a class.
An investigation of a compromised host on a honeynet being used to increase the security of a large enterprise network

The growth of network intrusions on large enterprise networks continues to increase, creating an epidemic of compromised hosts. The deployment of firewalls and intrusion detection systems has not slowed the growth of intrusions to an acceptable rate. Investigating the compromise of a production machine is both difficult and time-consuming due to the mixing of attack and production traffic, while similar investigations of compromised machines on honeynets are much less complex since there is no real production traffic. We discuss why these investigations are easier on a honeynet and how honeynets may be used to make investigations of compromised production machines faster and recovery easier. We include a description of an attack and the analysis that was conducted.
Optimal information propagation in sensor networks

This paper studies the effect of communication link weighting schemes and long-range connections in speeding convergence to consensus on the average of the inputs to agents in a sensor network. Linear programming and LMI solutions are provided for the problem of centralized optimization of communication weights considering the possibility of intermittent bounded communication delays. Heuristic weighting schemes that can be implemented in a distributed fashion are also studied. Consensus convergence time may also be reduced by introducing long-range interactions, creating a "small world" network
Newtonian Dynamics of Particles

Although in principle any problem involving classical mechanics of a particle can be expressed in terms of rectangular coordinates, for some problems other kinds of coordinate systems may result in simpler formulations. In this section we look at three other common coordinate systems that are quite useful, particularly for problems with axial or spherical symmetry. The discussion is confined to the kinematic equations for position, velocity, and acceleration.
A Critical Assessment of Proximal Macrotexturing on Cemented Femoral Components

We analyzed the cement-metal interface of 3 different types of femoral components that had proximal macrotexturing after in vitro insertion and after fatigue testing designed to produce debonding and micromotion. These components were compared with clinical retrieval specimens. The cement did not flow into the macrotexturing; rather, hollow, brittle volcanoes or calderas were formed. These fragile protrusions of cement become worn down or abraded by debonded components. This abrasion of cement may contribute to the early and aggressive osteolysis seen in some of these early failures with proximal macrotextured components. The formation of these volcanos and calderas can be aborted by placing bone-cement onto the macrotexturing before stem insertion. This simple technique allows the macrotexturing to be filled with cement.
Nonlinear Effect of Expansion of Laser Produced Plasmas

At light intensities exceeding I* = 1014W/cm2 (for ruby and neodymium glass lasers), nonlinear effects start to become efficient. One of these effects at plasma densities close to the cut-off-case is the creation of a force, directed towards lower plasma density which exceeds the thermokinetic forces. An elementary description of the force is given showing a drift of the oscillating electrons where only the nonlinear longitudinal oscillation has to be included. The general derivation of the force is given by the equation of motion of the Lorentz theory for nonrelativistic plasma with or without collisions at oblique incidence of the radiation and at total reflection. The transferred momentum can be expressed by a nonlinearly increased radiation pressure, and the resulting ion energy of translatory motion is equal to the increased oscillation energy of the electrons in the plasma. The evaluation of the threshold I* for the nonlinear effect is based on a nonlinear intensity dependence of the inverse bremstrahlung. A self-focusing mechanism in plasma has a threshold at laser powers of only 1 MW. It results in light filaments with electromagnetic energy densities exceeding the thermokinetic values (I> I*) which can explain measured filament diameters in gas breakdown and nonlinear effects in the usual cases of laser produced plasma. It cannot be excluded that the high energy, nonthermal ions at laser produced plasmas (Linlor effect) are due to the described nonlinear acceleration after self-focusing occurred.
Electrostatics of 3D carbon nanotube field-effect transistors

The electrostatics of a three-dimensional CNFET structure is studied. The paper is an extension to 3D structures, of previous work done for 2D structures. Previous work has shown that one-dimensional channels experience long range doping by the gate and contact electrodes and are very sensitive to the electrostatic environment. We examine how the three-dimensional environment affects the charge transfer from the metal contacts into a 30nm short intrinsic, semiconducting CNT, along the length of the tube under equilibrium conditions.
Implications of uncertainty on regional CO2 mitigation policies for the U.S. onroad sector based on a high-resolution emissions estimate

In this study we present onroad fossil fuel CO2 emissions estimated by the Vulcan Project, an effort quantifying fossil fuel CO2 emissions for the U.S. in high spatial and temporal resolution. This high-resolution data, aggregated at the state-level and classified in broad road and vehicle type categories, is compared to a commonly used national-average approach. We find that the use of national averages incurs state-level biases for road groupings that are almost twice as large as for vehicle groupings. The uncertainty for all groups exceeds the bias, and both quantities are positively correlated with total state emissions. States with the largest emissions totals are typically similar to one another in terms of emissions fraction distribution across road and vehicle groups, while smalleremitting states have a wider range of variation in all groups. Uncertainties in reduction estimates as large as 7 60% corresponding to 70.2 MtC are found for a national-average emissions mitigation strategy focused on a 10% emissions reduction from a single vehicle class, such as passenger gas vehicles or heavy diesel trucks. Recommendations are made for reducing CO 2 emissions uncertainty by addressing its main drivers: VMT and fuel efficiency uncertainty.
Toxicity of alkali-treated soyprotein in rats.

The feeding of Alpha Protein, an industrial soyprotein, resulted in cytomegalic alterations of renal tubular cells. The nephrotoxic factor was found to be heat stable and could not be extracted with polar or nonpolar solvents. The toxin was not indigenous to soybeans but resulted when soyprotein was modified by alkaline treatment. Toxicity of edible soyprotein was induced by alkali treatment with 0.1 N sodium hydroxide, and such treatment also induced the formation of an unusual amino acid. The unusual amino acid isolated from alkali-treated soyprotein was found to have Chromatographie properties similar to organically synthesized N'- ( DL-2-amino-2-carboxy- ethyl)-L-lysine, lysinoalanine. J. Nutr. 103: 569-574, 1973.
Economic Science Only — Or Political Economy?

Introduction, 1. — I. On specialization and general culture, 3. — II. On the strict sciences and the different but not inferior philosophical and ethical inquiries, 5. — III. Further, on emotions, knowledge, and value judgments; and the interdependence between reflective evaluative thinking and "objectivity" in the social sciences, 9. — IV. Finally, on the political philosophies and economic theories of historic schools of political economists; and the lessons to be learned, for the benefit of modern work, through critical historical study of their intellectual mistakes and achievements, 14.
Effect of Magnetic Fields on Silver Contacts to YBCO and YBCO:Ag Composite Superconductors

The effect of magnetic fields on the electrical properties of silver-HTSC contacts is investigated. The addition of Ag2O to YBCO greatly reduces the contact resistance as well as increases the critical current of the contact. The minimum recovery time for magnetically induced contact resistance is about six seconds. For magnetic field greater than 7 Gauss the contact resistance decays to a finite value greater than the value before the contact exposed to the magnetic field and stays there for a long time, as long as the sample is kept below the superconductivity critical temperature.
A Contingent Relationship Between Risk and Return: Toward A Behavioral Model of Decision Making

Different researchers have conceptualized the risk-return relationship as being positive, negative, or curvilinear. This paper proposes a framework where different theoretical approaches can be mapped onto a two-dimensional risk-return space in order to reconcile them. Rather than a single and fixed reference point, we propose that there are two additional reference points. Furthermore, we present a polynomial risk-return relationship that suggests a negative risk-return relationship below and above the failure and success reference points, and a positive relationship in between the two points. Practitioner as well as research implications are discussed.
Paradigm versus Syntagm

Fundamental twin concepts of European structural linguistics and of many semiotic theories, syntagmatic relations obtain among units in a string (e.g., word, phrase, sentence), while paradigmatic relations associate a unit to others that could replace it at a given point in the string. Jakobson's poetics compares the pair to metaphor and metonymy, and Barthes's semiology proposes wide applications to cultural practices: in fashion, the combination of pieces worn in an outfit constitutes a syntagm, while the substitutability of each piece, part, or feature defines the paradigmatic axis. Following glossematics, Greimasian semiotics defines the terms as conjunctive (both … and) vs. disjunctive (either … or) relations.
Embryology of Lucilia Sericata Meigen (Diptera: Calliphoridae) Part I. Cell Cleavage and Early Embryonic Development

Investigations in insect embryology can be traced back to the early 19th century which period included the works of Herold (1815) on Lepidoptera and Humel (1835) on the roach. In 1843 Kolliker published a comparative study of insect and vertebrate development. The first comprehensive work on dipterous embryology was that of Weismann (1863). Kowalewsky (1871) whose research dealt with worms and arthropods was the first investigator to study fixed and sectioned material. Graber's (1879, 1888, 1889, 1890) works on muscid development represent probably the most extensive treatise on dipterous embryology. Gambrell (1933) lists the Diptera whose development has been studied up to 1932. A complete list of references dealing with dipterous embryology is contained in Johannsen and Butt (1941). The embryology of several species of Lucilia has been investigated by Graber (1881, 1889), Escherich (1900, 1902) and Noack (1901) but apparently no study has been made on the development of Lucilia sericata Meigen.
Thermo-Optic Sensor Based on Resonance Waveguide Grating for Infrared/Thermal Imaging

The development of high resolution, low cost, infrared/thermal imaging systems is one of the critical challenges in infrared photonics. This paper highlights the design, simulation, fabrication, and characterization of a thermo-optic sensor based on a resonance waveguide grating structure. The sensor has been realized using polymer materials on a glass substrate. Detailed characterization of the thermal response of the structure has been performed and the experimental results show close correspondence with the simulations. The thermal response of the sensor was measured within the temperature range of 25 °C–45 °C and the measured sensitivity was found to be 0.268 nm/°C. The resonance of the structure undergoes a blue shift with respect to applied temperature. This observed displacement of the resonance is due to the thermo-optic properties of the sensor’s waveguide material. Based on 2-D structure, the sensor can be implemented as a thermal imaging sensor array. The simplicity of fabrication and high thermal sensitivity of the resonance structure enable low cost, infrared/thermal imaging applications.
Magnitude and Impact of Multimorbidity on Clinical Outcomes in Older Adults with Cardiovascular Disease: A Literature Review

The authors aim to synthesize the current literature on the magnitude and impact of multimorbidity on clinical outcomes in older adults with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Most studies reported a significant association between the number of morbidities and the risk of dying. Multimorbidity was assessed either by counting the number of conditions or by use of the Charlson or Elixhauser indices. There are limited data available on the magnitude and impact of multimorbidity on clinical outcomes in patients with CVD and essentially no data on universal health outcomes (eg, health-related quality of life, symptom burden, and function).
Improved measurement of tin and its compounds in the air of workplace

Objective:To improve the method for determination of tin and its compounds in the air of workplace.Methods: Sampled filter membrance was digested by microwave or wet process through HNO3-HCl(1+10),detected by HG-AFS.Results: In this condition,the calibration curve was linear within the range of 0 μg/L～100 μg/L.The correlation cofficient(γ) was bove 0.9991.The detection limit of tin was 0.4 μg/L.At three spiked levels,the average recoveries rate was 94%～102%,the relative standard deviation(RSD) was 1.2%～2.6%(n=8).The determination results of QC samples at the reference value of 207±15 μg and 408±20 μg were 199.8 μg and 397.6 μg respectively with the day to day precision of 3.9% and 3.4%(n=3).Conlusion: This method has simple operation,which is rapid,convenient,accurate,sensitive and suitable for determination of low concentration tin and its compounds in the air of workplace.
Walkability features for seniors in two livable communities: a case study

Worldwide the number of people over age of 60 years is rapidly increasing. Many communities are challenged to make their communities more walkable and age friendly. Addressing the trend, this study investigated two major metropolitan regions’ policies regarding livability and examined how two case study housing sites practiced walkability for seniors in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area in Minnesota, the United States, and the Vancouver Metropolitan Area in British Columbia, Canada. Analyses show that in the Canadian case, the policy was explicitly age-friendly requiring senior citizen’s involvement and proximity to places for seniors’ activities in planning activities and implementation. In contrast, the US case focused on transit-oriented development and did not specifically require age-friendly practices. Walkability of a specific multifamily housing site in each case was evaluated to identify the impacts of the livable communities legislation. Analyses of the site evaluations found substantial differe...
Using continuous quality improvement tools to improve pediatric immunization rates.

Article-at-a-Glance Background In August 1992 the medical director of the 19 Group Health medical clinics (now part of HealthPartners) in Minnesota chartered a continuous quality improvement (CQI) team to improve the pediatric (two-year-old) immunization rates. The team’s work The team created a process flow for the current immunization process, collected data on the process, determined the causes of late or missed immunizations, collected data on children not up-to-date with immunization, analyzed the data, acted on recommendations, and obtained buy-in. The chief reasons for the child's not being up-to-date on immunizations included missed opportunities (when the child is in the clinic receiving care, perhaps for an acute illness, and could have safely received the immunization but did not), no previous visits or chart, and parents instructed to have their child return at two years. Intervention Recommendations pertained to missed opportunities, record keeping, and enhanced patient and provider responsibility. For example, providers were given algorithms for catch-up of patients not on schedule or with incomplete immunizations. Another CQI team was launched to address and simplify the myriad locations in a medical record for recording information on immunizations. An automated vaccine administration record is now being piloted at two clinics. Results Immunizations have increased from a mean of 53.5% before the team started to meet to a mean of 86.5% for the most recent four quarters for which data are available. Conclusions A problem is best addressed by the very people who will have to bring about the necessary changes for the desired improvements.
The Family System as a Unit of Clinical Care: The Role of Genetic Systems

The family as a system has become the focus of studies of therapeutic intervention as well as etiology of major mental disorders. Two prominent features of family systems are the relatively stability of patterns of interaction among all its members and within its marital, parent–child and sibling subsystems and the apparent capacity of the family system to conserve early traumatic experience through repeating across decades patterns of early abusive relationships. Traditionally, these and other features of family systems were understood through invoking and exploring psychosocial mechanisms. However, genotypic differences among members of the same family as well as between members of different families play a roe in the stability of family relationships. Moreover, gene expression mechanisms and cellular alterations such as telomere length appear to supplement family processes in “conserving” the long-term effect of early abusive relationships. Indeed, genotypic differences, gene expression profiles and telomere biology expand the opportunities for study the family system by placing more effectively within a framework of developmental psychobiology, by linking these studies to animal models and to more precisely delineate the role of psychosocial mechanisms as explanations for important features of the family system.
SU-G-JeP2-06: Dosimetric and Workflow Evaluation of First Commercial Synthetic CT Software for Clinical Use in Pelvis

Purpose: evaluate a commercial synthetic CT (syn-CT) software for use in prostate radiotherapy Methods: Twenty prostate patients underwent CT and MR simulation scans in treatment position on a 3T Philips scanner. The MR protocol consisted of a T2w turbo spin-echo for soft tissue contrast, a 2D balanced-fast field echo (b-FFE) for fiducial identification, a dual-echo 3D FFE B0 map for distortion analysis and a 3D mDIXON FFE sequence to generate syn-CT. Two echoes are acquired during mDIXON scan, allowing water, fat, and in-phase images to be derived using the frequency shift of the fat and water protons. Tissues were classified as: air, adipose, water, trabecular/spongy bone and compact/cortical bone and assigned specific bulk HU values. Bone structures are segmented based on a pelvis bone atlas. Accuracy of syn-CT for patient treatment planning was analyzed by transferring the original plan and structures from the CT to syn-CT via rigid registration and recalculating dose. In addition, new IMRT plans were generated on the syn-CT using structures contoured on MR and transferred to the syn-CT. Accuracy of fiducial-based localization at the treatment machine performed using syn-CT or DRRs generated from syn-CT was assessed by comparing to orthogonal kV radiographs or CBCT. Results: Dosimetric comparison between CT and syn-CT was within 0.5% for all structures. The de-novo optimized plans generated on the syn-CT met our institutional clinical objectives for target and normal structures. Patient-induced susceptibility distortion based on B0 maps was within 1mm and 0.4 mm in the body and prostate. The rectal and bladder outlines on the syn-CT were deemed sufficient for assessing rectal and bladder filling on the CBCT at the time of treatment. CBCT localization showed a median error of < ±1 mm in LR, AP and SI direction. Conclusion: MRI derived syn-CT can be used clinically in MR-alone planning and treatment process for prostate. Drs. Deasy, Hunt and Tyagi have Master research agreement with Philips healthcare.
Introduction and Probability Review

A stochastic process (or random process) is a probabilistic experiment or model that evolves in time. That is, each sample point (i.e., possible outcome) of the experiment is a function of time called a sample function. The sample space is the set of possible sample functions, and the events are subsets of sample functions. Finally, there is a rule for determining the probabilities of the various events. As an example, we might be concerned with arrivals to some system. The arrivals might be incoming jobs for a computer system, arriving packets for a communication system, patients in a health care system, or orders for some merchandising warehouse.
Evaluating the Impacts of Food Systems

First paragraph: Bringing order and clarity to the analysis and evaluation of food systems is an elusive goal, especially when multiple agencies are involved in the design and implementation of policy. Many actors in the system are involved, from input suppliers to farmers, from companies in processing to wholesale and retail sales, and to those concerned with nutrition and health. The mix of public and private organizations further complicates communication, and universities are little help with their "silo" organizational structure into specialized departments. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System provides a comprehensive study of how we could assess our food system, plus some useful recommendations for improvement....
Hyperactivated mTOR and JAK2/STAT3 pathways: Crucial molecular drivers and potential therapeutic targets of inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).

60 Background: IBC is an aggressive form of breast cancer with poor prognosis. Combined multi-modality Rx results in a 5 year OS of 30-50%, underscoring the unmet need for targeted Rx. Our preclinical research in cell lines and xenografts identifies a role for activated PI3K/mTOR pathway in IBC. IBC cells express IL-6 and IL-8 and recruit tumor activated macrophages (TAMs) that further induce IL-6, IL-8 and activate the JAK2/STAT3 pathway. We investigated the independent and combined activity of these pathways in IBC tissues. Methods: Archived tissues of 42 IBC pts and 13 controls (nl breast) were analyzed using IHC and scored by 3 independent pathologists. Results defined as: 0, 1+ = neg; 2+ = pos for activated mTOR (P-S6) and 0 = neg; 1+, 2+ = pos for activated nuclear JAK2/STAT3 (P-JAK2; P-STAT3), cytokine (IL-6), macrophage (mO) infiltration (CD68) and TAM (CD163). Proportions of IBC cases with pos expression were compared with controls (Fishers exact tests). Clinical and survival data were obtained. ...
Taekwondo Participation as Serious Leisure for Life Satisfaction and Health

This study investigated how different levels of serious leisure qualities are associated with life satisfaction and perceived health. Cluster analysis was used to identify patterns of serious leisu...
Fabrication of Solid-State Gas Sensors by Drawing: An Undergraduate and High School Introduction to Functional Nanomaterials and Chemical Detection

Carbon nanomaterials have promising utility in chemical sensing including applications in preserving occupational safety, monitoring of environmental pollution, and human health. While recent advances in device fabrication and molecular design of functional materials have enabled rapid fabrication of chemical sensors from carbon nanomaterials, limited efforts have focused on translating these discoveries into undergraduate curriculum. This paper describes a safe and engaging laboratory exercise that introduces undergraduates and younger students to modern nanoscience while illustrating fundamental principles of general chemistry that include concepts of orbital hybridization, allotropes, and intermolecular interactions. Solid-state devices are prepared on shrinkable polymer film substrates equipped with hand-drawn graphite electrodes. Chemiresistive sensing materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphite powder, are compressed into pellets and drawn directly into this device architecture to produce functi...
Automatic Recognition of Activities of Daily Living Utilizing Insole-Based and Wrist-Worn Wearable Sensors

Automatic recognition of activities of daily living (ADL) is an important component in understanding of energy balance, quality of life, and other areas of health and well-being. In our previous work, we had proposed an insole-based activity monitor—SmartStep, designed to be socially acceptable and comfortable. The goals of the current study were: first, validation of SmartStep in recognition of a broad set of ADL; second, comparison of the SmartStep to a wrist sensor and testing these in combination; third, evaluation of SmartStep's accuracy in measuring wear noncompliance and a novel activity class (driving); fourth, performing the validation in free living against a well-studied criterion measure (ActivPAL, PAL Technologies); and fifth, quantitative evaluation of the perceived comfort of SmartStep. The activity classification models were developed from a laboratory study consisting of 13 different activities under controlled conditions. Leave-one-out cross validation showed 89% accuracy for the combined SmartStep and wrist sensor, 81% for the SmartStep alone, and 69% for the wrist sensor alone. When household activities were grouped together as one class, SmartStep performed equally well compared to the combination of SmartStep and wrist-worn sensor (90% versus 94%), whereas the accuracy of the wrist sensor increased marginally (73% from 69%). SmartStep achieved 92% accuracy in recognition of nonwear and 82% in recognition of driving. Participants then were studied for a day under free-living conditions. The overall agreement with ActivPAL was 82.5% (compared to 97% for the laboratory study). The SmartStep scored the best on the perceived comfort reported at the end of the study. These results suggest that insole-based activity sensors may present a compelling alternative or companion to commonly used wrist devices.
Challenges in the diagnosis of acute cyanide poisoning

Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to identify isolated acute cyanide poison cases and to identify reported signs, symptoms, and laboratory findings.Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Coch...
Application of flammability limit criteria on non-ASTM standard equipment

Accurate data of flammability limits for flammable gases and vapors are needed to prevent fires and explosions. The flammability limit, which is the maximum or minimum fuel concentration at which a gas mixture is flammable in a given atmosphere, has been studied for decades. However, due to differences in measurement conditions and equipment used, the flammability values exhibit significant variations, especially at elevated temperature and pressure. In this study, the flammability limits of methane–air were measured in a closed cylindrical vessel with upward flame propagation at a maximum initial temperature of 300 °C and a maximum initial pressure of 2 atm. The combustion behavior and flame propagation properties are compared using different flammability criteria. Test results have shown that 7% pressure criterion is a conservative standard that can be applied for nonstandard vessel flammability test. Also, experimentally measured values are compared with existing data in the literature to study the influence of temperature, pressure and apparatus. In consideration of safe usage and storage, for each flammable gas substance at elevated condition, experimentally determined values should be used rather than extrapolated ones using estimation correlations.
G-proteins and phospholipase activation in endothelial cells.

ATP stimulates arachidonic acid release and prostaglandin biosynthesis (most likely via phospholipase A2 (PLA2) activation) and phospholipase C (PLC) activation in cultured rabbit coronary microvessel endothelial cells. Pertussis toxin pretreatment inhibits ATP stimulated prostaglandin release, but not ATP stimulated phosphatidylinositol turnover. In contrast, activation of G-proteins with GTPτS or A1F4- stimulates both prostaglandin synthesis and PLC. These observations suggest that PLC activation by ATP involves a G-protein(s) that is not ADP-ribosylated by pertussis toxin and further, that ATP activation of prostaglandin biosynthesis appears to involve a different, pertussis toxin sensitive, G-protein.