cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Is the Factor Structure of the WISC-R Different for Anglo- and Mexican-American Children?:

A two-step procedure was employed to assess the dimensional structure of the WISC-R for samples of Anglo- and Mexican-American children. The first step involved the assessment of the goodness-of-fit of two- and three-common-factor models of the WISC-R, by using confirmatory factor-analytic procedures, for the Anglo sample. The three-common-factor solution provided the best fit for the Anglo sample data: Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, and Freedom from Distractability. Using the just-cited model, the second step employed a simultaneous multi-sample confirmatory factor analysis and evaluated the equality of factor solutions for the Anglo- and Mexican-American samples. The factor solutions, with very slight modifications, were found to be invariant across samples. Implications for the assessment of abilities that underlie the performance of Anglo- and Mexican-American children on the WISC-R were discussed.
Designing sensitive and specific spaced seeds for cross-species mRNA-to-genome alignment.

As the demand for accurately aligning gene sequences to the genome of a related species grows with the sequencing of new genomes, spaced seeds emerge as a promising vehicle for increasing alignment sensitivity. We extend the existing {0, 1} match-mismatch models for sensitivity evaluation to take into account the compositional structure of coding sequences and ultimately produce seeds better suited to this particular application. Designing seeds for alignment programs, however, needs to balance sensitivity and specificity.We assess the effects of seed variations on both sensitivity and specificity in an extended model that incorporates transitions and differentiates among the three codon positions, and show that spaced seeds with transitions offer a better sensitivity-specificity tradeoff. Furthermore, we propose a theoretical formulation for rigorously assessing seed specificity, starting from Bernoulli and Markov models of the mRNA and genomic sequences. Within this framework, we perform the first compr...
A compact micro-electrode assembly for recording from the freely-moving rat.

Abstract A compact micro-electrode assembly is described that is suitable for use in the freely-moving rat.
Modeling Catchment Evolution: From Decoding Geomorphic Processes Signatures toward Predicting Impacts of Climate Change

Numerical models of landscape evolution facilitate quantitative understanding of the causal linkages, interactions, and feedbacks between geomorphic processes and landscape morphology under climate and tectonic forcing. Numerical modeling progressively becomes a crucial component of Earth sciences for decoding the signature of the past history, and predicting the future of observed landforms. The past 15 to 20 years have seen major advances in landscape evolution model development and confirmation against observed topography. In this article, first leading geomorphic transport laws are reviewed and their imprint on landscape morphology are discussed using prime examples of numerical model predictions reported in the literature. The article continues with discussing the relevance of the existing geomorphic transport laws and landscape evolution models to address the current and historic climate change impacts on landforms. This article ends with the opinion that climate-driven variations in environmental variables affecting geomorphic processes will need to be represented in numerical models of landscape evolution for improved predictions of climate control on sediment yields, the natural environment, and landforms.
Characterization of interfacial phenomena occurring during exposure of a thin copper film to an aqueous suspension of an acidic polysaccharide

A Fourier transform infrared spectrometer equipped with a cylindrical internal reflection element was used to sample the solid—liquid interface of a metallic copper film submerged in an aqueous acidic polysaccharide solution. The presence of a polysaccharide absorption band at 1050 cm−1 in a water-subtracted spectrum supported previous spectroscopic data indicating polymer accumulation at the surface of the film. Firm binding of the polysaccharide to the surface after a 17-day exposure period was demonstrated by the retention of the 1050-cm−1 absorption band in spectra obtained after gentle rinsing of the film surface with polymer-free water. The sampling technique also provided evidence which suggests that acidic polysaccharides, including the firmly bound exopolymers produced by adherent cells of a freshwater sediment bacterium, promoted deterioration of the copper film. Internal reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy appeared to be a useful, nondestructive method to study the sorption of biomolecules to a solid metal surface submerged in an aqueous medium.
Donor-acceptor OXO bonds to N, P, As and Sb states of III V semiconductors

Abstract As a model for a proposed phosphine oxide-type initial state in the oxidation of III–V semiconductors, we have examined the structure and bonding of the phosphine oxide-type bond in Cl3Y = O where Y = N, P, As, ans Sb. We calculate an Y = O bond energy of 114 kcal for P = O, in reasonable agreement with experiment. 123 kcal/mol. The other calculated bond energies (kcal/mol) are 47 (N), 82 (As), and 63 (Sb). Based on these results, we conclude that such bonds should play an important role in phosphides and are likely to be important in arsenides but not in nitrides or antimonides.
A decision-table-used processor for checking completeness and consistency in rule-based expert systems

Abstract This paper addresses the issues of completeness and consistency in rule-based expert systems. The approach presented uses decision tables, which have a close relationship to rule-based knowledge bases. A decision-table-supported processor is described which checks knowledge bases for completeness and consistency using this approach. It creates a large decision table from the rules of the knowledge base, splits the decision table into subtables with similar logic, checks each subtable for completeness and consistency, and reports any missing rules. This method is faster than enumeration only methods of checking completeness, and provides implicit context determination of production rules.
Utility-based femtocell pilot management

Enterprise femtocell deployments present numerous design challenges for network operators due to their high density, poor radio environments, and mixture of public and private users. Among these challenges, femtocell pilot management is particularly important due to its potential impact on both femtocell and macrocell users. Femtocell pilots determine femtocell coverage, but must be designed with consideration for macrocell transmissions and users. We introduce a utility-based femtocell pilot management algorithm that sets femtocell pilots by finding the Nash equilibrium of an N-player strategic game, using a utility function derived from the femtocell coverage radius. Using simulations, we find that the game-theoretic interference management algorithm reduces outage probabilities relative to a naive interference management scheme by up to 43% in the open access femtocell case, and 17% in the closed access femtocell case. Our conclusion is that game theory can be applied to the distributed problem of femtocell pilot estimation, with good results.
Modelling VBR video over networks end-to-end using deterministic smoothing at the source†

Video traffic is expected to become increasingly important with the large scale deployment of broadband ISDN. In the literature, it is suggested that smoothing variable bit rate (VBR) video traffic1,2 before transmitting it onto the network would help reduce the probability of cell loss. In this paper we show why deterministic smoothing at the source approximates the minimum achievable loss over the network end-to-end of all possible smoothing schemes. Furthermore, we develop a powerful yet simple analytical technique that can efficiently calculate the loss probability at any point in a network carrying video traffic. We validate our analytical results using traces of actual video segments. The results can be used for admission control and traffic management. We find that in the case of highly correlated traffic such as motion JPEG video, the way to control loss is to ensure that the fraction of time the arrival process exceeds the service process is small. We also find that for such sources increasing the buffer size only marginally decreases the loss.
A Note from the "Books" Section Editor

The book review section first appeared in TDR as this journal was itself becoming something like a book series, or more precisely, a series of edited volumes on specific topics. It was the spring of 1972 (16:1 [T54]), the second year of Michael Kirby’s editorship at TDR. In accordance with his stated editorial policy of “documentation rather than opinion, analysis rather than criticism,” the book review section appeared without much fanfare as a couple of pages of short articles that offered little more than basic information about the books under review. There was no “TDR Comment” to announce the new section. Instead, the issue opened with Kirby’s seminal article: “On Acting and Not Acting.” It was texts such as this one that shaped the field of performance studies, which in turn transformed TDR. The emergence in the early ’90s of the “Books” section in its present form can be seen as one of the signs of that transformation.
Ethanol-maintained behavior in a foraging context: effects of search and procurement cost.

In a simulated foraging procedure, the effects of manipulating search and procurement costs of access to ethanol, food, and water on ethanol self-administration were determined in rats. Completion of a response ratio on one lever (search) resulted in the opportunity to complete a high- or low-cost response ratio on one of three other levers (procurement). Each procurement lever was exclusively associated with access to ethanol, food, or water, and the six procurement opportunities occurred in random order. Any procurement opportunity could be rejected, and a new search subsequently initiated. Percent acceptance of high-cost opportunities varied directly with increases in search cost and inversely with increases in high procurement cost. When search cost was increased, daily water and food consumption decreased, whereas daily ethanol consumption was unaffected. Regardless of these manipulations, rats consumed 1.0–2.0 g/kg ethanol daily. Ethanol consumption also was unaffected by increases in low or high food procurement cost values. These results indicate that ethanol self-administration can be analyzed within a foraging environment in which the animal initiates and determines the length and size of all drinking bouts and meals. Within this environment, patterns of ethanol self-administration were orderly and distinguishable from patterns of food- and water-maintained behavior.
CHESS 2009 Users' Meeting

To set the context for the annual CHESS Users Meeting, it is useful to recall the history of CHESS as a synchrotron radiation facility. It started operating 29 years ago as a parasitic source and one of the first hard X-ray sources. As of the past year, the high energy physics program of experimental data collection at CESR (the Cornell Electron-positron Storage Ring) is over. However, the ring still operates with two beams, electrons and positrons, serving both CHESS and RD (2) training of accelerator p...
Kinetics and thermodynamics of intercalation of bromine in graphite—II. Theory

Abstract A theory that describes the diffusion of an intercalate within graphite in a multiphase situation is presented. The theory was applied to the intercalation of bromine in graphite. Single-phase diffusion represents the intercalation of bromine in graphite as well as multiphase diffusion due to the dominance of the final stage.
Warming up to climate change: a participatory approach to engaging with agricultural stakeholders in the Southeast US

Within the context of a changing climate, scientists are called to engage directly with agricultural stakeholders for the coproduction of relevant information that will support decision making and adaptation. However, values, beliefs, identities, goals, and social networks shape perceptions and actions about climate change. Engagement processes that ignore the socio-cultural context within which stakeholders are embedded may fail to guide adaptive responses. To facilitate dialog around these issues, the Southeast Climate Consortium and the Florida Climate Institute formed a climate learning network consisting of row crop farmers, agricultural extension specialists, researchers, and climate scientists working in the Southeast US. Regional in scope, the learning network engages researchers and practitioners from Alabama, Georgia, and Florida as partners in adaptation science. This paper describes the ongoing interactions, dialog, and experiential learning among the network’s diverse participants. We illustrate how participatory tools have been used in a series of workshops to create interactive spaces for knowledge coproduction. For example, historical timelines, climate scenarios, and technology exchanges stimulated discussions about climate-related risk management. We present findings from the workshops related to participants’ perspectives on climate change and adaptation. Finally, we discuss lessons learned that may be applicable to other groups involved in climate education, communication, and stakeholder engagement. We suggest that the thoughtful design of stakeholder engagement processes can become a powerful social tool for improving decision support and strengthening adaptive capacity within rural communities.
Population Structure of Mountain Plover as Determined Using Nuclear Microsatellites

Abstract Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus) is a species of conservation concern that has experienced significant habitat loss and population decline. This, coupled with previous observations that the species exhibits strong fidelity to breeding grounds, suggests that breeding populations may be genetically differentiated and possibly suffer from reduced genetic variation associated with relatively small population sizes. A previous genetic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences of plovers in Montana and Colorado found high levels of genetic variability and very little genetic differentiation among breeding locales. Because mitochondrial DNA can track only female movements and is sampled from only one locus, we used 14 nuclear microsatellite loci to further examine population structure, thereby both documenting male movements and providing a more comprehensive view of genetic structure. We found no significant differences among breeding populations. The most likely number of unique genetic cluster...
General solutions of the jockeying problem

Abstract We consider a multi-server queue where units are allowed to jockey among queues. General solutions of the steady-state and transient-state jockeying systems are obtained. The effect of the queue parameters on the measures of the system's performance are presented. Solutions of the multi-server jockeying systems with state dependent arrival and service rates are also obtained. It is found that queueing systems where jockeying is allowed have superior measures of performance than those of M/M/ c or non-jockeying systems.
Rule-based methods for ECG quality control

It is possible, using a smart phone or similar device, to collect ECGs from patients in remote locations, storing the results to be analyzed later. In this situation, however, the person collecting the ECG may not have the time or the necessary training to evaluate the quality of the recording at the time it is collected. It is useful for the device itself to analyze the recorded signals and provide feedback to the user about their quality. This paper explores a number of heuristic rules that can be used to detect the most common problems in ECG recordings. These rules are designed to be simple enough that they can easily be tested in real time on a mobile phone. A combination of several of these rules is able to correctly detect a majority of poor-quality ECGs, as demonstrated using the PhysioNet/CinC 2011 Challenge database.
Simulations of the thermodynamic properties of a short polyalanine peptide using potentials of mean force

Abstract We report results of simulation studies of the equilibrium between helical and random coil states of dodeca-alanine by a method which systematically includes the effects of hydration. The statistical distribution of conformations at room temperature is determined and used to fit thermodynamic parameters for the helix to random coil equilibrium which may be directly compared with experimental data. The distribution of conformations is explored at atomic resolution by a constrained Langevin-dynamics simulated annealing technique which limits the effective number of degrees of freedom to two per residue. Water is included via a set of pair potentials of mean force. We show that the inclusion of hydration effects is essential for achieving a helical content comparable to that found experimentally. However, the cooperative nature of the helical state found in the simulations is low compared to the experimental value.
Six-month clinical and angiographic follow-up after direct angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction. Final results from the Primary Angioplasty Registry.

BACKGROUND After direct angioplasty in the setting of acute myocardial infarction, patients were followed clinically and angiographically for 6 months at six experienced centers to evaluate outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS Of 258 patients with 6-month follow-up after surviving initial hospitalization, 5 (2%) died, 8 (3%) had nonfatal infarctions, 56 (22%) had chest pain, of whom 25 (10%) required hospitalization, and 42 (16%) patients needed repeat angioplasty. Of 203 eligible patients, 154 (76%) had angiographic follow-up. The infarct-related artery remained patent (defined as TIMI 2 or 3 flow) in 87%, while 13% developed reocclusion (TIMI 0 or 1 flow) by 6 months after discharge. Patients with reocclusion were more likely to have adverse events, including 35% with clinically evident reinfarction and 59% requiring repeat angioplasty. The median ejection fraction improvement from acute to follow-up study was 6%, with no improvement in patients with a reoccluded infarct-related artery and an 8% improvement in patients with a patent infarct-related artery. CONCLUSIONS The positive clinical outcomes recorded immediately after direct angioplasty persisted through 6 months of follow-up. Although the incidence of clinical end points was equivalent to or lower than thrombolytic therapy trials, restenosis is a substantial problem. These findings provide evidence beyond the initial hospitalization that direct angioplasty is a reasonable choice for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction.
New techniques for the live update of gain tables in NGS and LGS WFS operation

The gain in Hartmann sensors varies if the shape of the guide star varies. For Natural Guide Star (NGS) operation, this can be an extended object which changes, e.g. a Comet. For a Sodium Laser Guide Star (LGS) system the spots change if the Sodium Layer changes or r0 changes. New techniques are presented for estimating and correcting gain tables in real time AO closed loop operation. One involves looking for reference in the null space (i.e. slope discrepancy space) of the reconstruction matrix, and the other involves a new WFS output, the cross difference. These techniques are applied to NGS and LGS operation.
Chromosomal aberrations in irradiated Down's syndrome fibroblasts☆

Abstract We have compared the frequencies of chromosomal aberrations in skin fibroblasts from persons with Down's syndrome (trisomy 21) with those from normal diploid controls exposed to 60 Co γ-radiation in vitro. No difference between the chromosomal radiosensitivities of the two groups was observed, nor did the two groups differ in the background frequency of spontaneous aberrations. These data support the hypothesis that the increased in vitro chromosomal radiosensitivity of lymphocytes reported to be associated with trisomy 21 is not typical of all tissues.
Evaluation of the toxicology, pharmacokinetics, and local tolerance of recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein in animals.

Abstract Introduction Recombinant factor IX Fc fusion protein (rFIXFc) is a recombinant coagulation factor composed of a single molecule of recombinant factor IX (rFIX) covalently fused to the Fc domain of human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) with no intervening sequence. An extensive nonclinical program was performed to support the clinical development of rFIXFc for treatment of people with hemophilia B. Materials and Methods Repeat-dose toxicology studies of rFIXFc were performed in 2 relevant species: Sprague Dawley rats (4-week study) and cynomolgus monkeys (5- and 27-week studies). Assessments included in-life observations, electrocardiograms (monkeys only), laboratory evaluations (including hematology and blood chemistry), postmortem analyses, local tolerance, and pharmacokinetics (PK). Allometric scaling was performed with PK data from multiple species, including humans. Local tolerance (single-dose study) and thrombogenic potential (Wessler stasis model) of rFIXFc were tested in New Zealand White rabbits. Results There were no significant local or systemic toxicity findings in the repeat-dose studies. Allometric scaling data suggested that animal rFIXFc PK results are predictive of human PK parameters. There were no findings from the local tolerance study in rabbits; thrombogenic activity was less than that elicited by rFIX and a prothrombin complex concentrate, and similar to vehicle control. Conclusions rFIXFc was well tolerated in toxicology studies and demonstrated a low thrombogenic potential. These results are consistent with phase 1/2a and phase 3 clinical studies of rFIXFc in people with hemophilia B.
Effect of the Presence of Iodide on the Electron Injection Dynamics of Dye-Sensitized TiO2-Based Solar Cells

The electron injection dynamics of dye-sensitized TiO_2-based solar cells have been investigated to determine the effects of replacing the I_3^−/I^− redox system by non-redox-active supporting electrolytes. TiO-2 films were sensitized with Ru(dcbpy)_2(NCS)_2, where dcbpy = 4,4′-dicarboxylic acid-2,2′-bipyridine (the “N3” dye), and placed in contact with either M(ClO_4) or M(I_3−/I−) solutions (M = Li^+ or (n-C_4H_9)_4N^+); cells that contained I_3−/I− were fully functional solar cells whose steady-state photocurrents were directly measured. In (n-C_4H_9)_4N^+-containing solutions, significant differences were observed between the measured kinetics when ClO_4^− was replaced by the redox-active I3^−/I^− system. In particular, a ps time scale loss of the metal-to-ligand charge-transfer excited-state of the N3 dye, associated with electron injection, that was observed in cells containing either LiClO_4 or [(n-C_4H_9)4N]ClO_4 was absent in fully functional solar cells that contained [(n-C_4H_9)_4N]I/I_2. These results underscore the importance of performing kinetics measurements on this class of solar cells under operational conditions if one is to obtain reliable correlations between the dynamics data and the steady-state performance metrics of the solar cell devices.
Hydrogen Peroxide-Mediated Interference Competition by Streptococcus pneumoniae Has No Significant Effect on Staphylococcus aureus Nasal Colonization of Neonatal Rats

It has been proposed that the relative scarcity of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae cocolonization in the nasopharynxes of humans can be attributed to hydrogen peroxide-mediated interference competition. Previously it has been shown in vitro that H(2)O(2) produced by S. pneumoniae is bactericidal to S. aureus. To ascertain whether H(2)O(2) has this inhibitory effect in the nasal passages of neonatal rats, colonization experiments were performed with S. aureus and S. pneumoniae. The results of these experiments with neonatal rats are inconsistent with the hypothesis that hydrogen peroxide-mediated killing of S. aureus by S. pneumoniae is responsible for the relative scarcity of cocolonization by these bacteria. In mixed-inoculum colonization experiments and experiments where S. aureus invaded the nasopharynxes of rats with established S. pneumoniae populations, the density of S. aureus did not differ whether the S. pneumoniae strain was H(2)O(2) secreting or non-H(2)O(2) secreting (SpxB). Moreover, the advantage of catalase production by S. aureus in competition with a non-catalase-producing strain (KatA) during nasal colonization was no greater in the presence of H(2)O(2)-producing S. pneumoniae than in the presence of non-H(2)O(2)-producing S. pneumoniae.
Tool to Evaluate Safety Effects of Changes in Freeway Traffic Flow

This research involves the development of a tool that can be used to assess the changes in traffic safety tendencies that result from changes in traffic flow. The tool uses data from single inductive loop detectors, converting 30-second observations of volume and occupancy for multiple freeway lanes into traffic flow regimes. Each regime has a specific pattern of crash types, which were determined through nonlinear multivariate analyses of over 1,000 crashes on freeways in Southern California. These analyses revealed ways in which differences in variances in speeds and volumes across lanes, as well as central tendencies of speeds and volumes, combine in complex ways to explain crash taxonomy. This research may provide the foundation to forecast the crash rates, in terms of vehicle miles of travel, for vehicles that are exposed to different traffic flow conditions.
A heart-shaped mass inside a heart: echocardiographic diagnosis, pathology, and surgical repair of a flail tricuspid valve caused by a large blood-filled cyst.

A 55-year-old white man with a history of a systolic murmur since childhood was found to have significant tricuspid regurgitation 15 years ago. Two years before presentation, an echocardiogram revealed an ill-defined, large cystic mass on his tricuspid valve, tricuspid valve prolapse, and severe tricuspid regurgitation with normal right-sided function. No treatment was recommended because of the asymptomatic status of the patient. The patient was referred to our institution with 3 weeks of exertional dyspnea, orthopnea, and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. An outside transthoracic echocardiogram showed severe tricuspid regurgitation, tricuspid valve prolapse, and a cystic mass associated with it. The right ventricular systolic pressure was normal. On physical examination, his vital signs were normal with the presence of jugular venous distention and prominent flutter waves in his internal jugular profile. His lungs were clear. He had a nondisplaced, nonsustained, apical impulse with normal S1 and S2 and no S3 or S4. There was a grade 3/6 holosystolic murmur at the left lower sternal border with a positive Carvallo’s sign. He had no lower extremity edema. An electrocardiogram showed atrial flutter with variable conduction. A transesophageal echocardiogram revealed normal left ventricular size and function with moderate right ventricular dilation and borderline decrease in right ventricular systolic function. There was a large, echolucent mass composed of several lobes on the atrial surface of the anterior tricuspid leaflet that measured 25 by 30 mm and prolapsed into the right atrium during systole and the right ventricle during diastole (Video 1 and Figure 1). The mass was cystic and the shape resemb heart when contrast (agitated saline) was administered (Video 2 and Figure 2). An eccentric posterior medi of severe tricuspid valve regurgitation (Video 3) was associated to the mass with severe prolapse and ruptured
MBSR vs aerobic exercise in social anxiety: fMRI of emotion regulation of negative self-beliefs

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is thought to reduce emotional reactivity and enhance emotion regulation in patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD). The goal of this study was to examine the neural correlates of deploying attention to regulate responses to negative self-beliefs using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants were 56 patients with generalized SAD in a randomized controlled trial who were assigned to MBSR or a comparison aerobic exercise (AE) stress reduction program. Compared to AE, MBSR yielded greater (i) reductions in negative emotion when implementing regulation and (ii) increases in attention-related parietal cortical regions. Meditation practice was associated with decreases in negative emotion and social anxiety symptom severity, and increases in attention-related parietal cortex neural responses when implementing attention regulation of negative self-beliefs. Changes in attention regulation during MBSR may be an important psychological factor that helps to explain how mindfulness meditation training benefits patients with anxiety disorders.
Future execution: A prefetching mechanism that uses multiple cores to speed up single threads

This paper describes future execution (FE), a simple hardware-only technique to accelerate individual program threads running on multicore microprocessors. Our approach uses available idle cores to prefetch important data for the threads executing on the active cores. FE is based on the observation that many cache misses are caused by loads that execute repeatedly and whose address-generating program slices do not change (much) between consecutive executions. To exploit this property, FE dynamically creates a prefetching thread for each active core by simply sending a copy of all committed, register-writing instructions to an otherwise idle core. The key innovation is that on the way to the second core, a value predictor replaces each predictable instruction in the prefetching thread with a load immediate instruction, where the immediate is the predicted result that the instruction is likely to produce during its nth next dynamic execution. Executing this modified instruction stream (i.e., the prefetching thread) on another core allows to compute the future results of the instructions that are not directly predictable, issue prefetches into the shared memory hierarchy, and thus reduce the primary threads' memory access time. We demonstrate the viability and effectiveness of future execution by performing cycle-accurate simulations of a two-way CMP running the single-threaded SPECcpu2000 benchmark suite. Our mechanism improves program performance by 12p, on average, over a baseline that already includes an optimized hardware stream prefetcher. We further show that FE is complementary to runahead execution and that the combination of these two techniques raises the average speedup to 20p above the performance of the baseline processor with the aggressive stream prefetcher.
Type I interferons produced by hematopoietic cells protect mice against lethal infection by mammalian reovirus

We defined the function of type I interferons (IFNs) in defense against reovirus strain type 1 Lang (T1L), which is a double-stranded RNA virus that infects Peyer's patches (PPs) after peroral inoculation of mice. T1L induced expression of mRNA for IFN-α, IFN-β, and Mx-1 in PPs and caused localized intestinal infection that was cleared in 10 d. In contrast, T1L produced fatal systemic infection in IFNαR1 knockout (KO) mice with extensive cell loss in lymphoid tissues and necrosis of the intestinal mucosa. Studies of bone-marrow chimeric mice indicated an essential role for hematopoietic cells in IFN-dependent viral clearance. Dendritic cells (DCs), including conventional DCs (cDCs), were the major source of type I IFNs in PPs of reovirus-infected mice, whereas all cell types expressed the antiviral protein Mx-1. Neither NK cells nor signaling via Toll-like receptor 3 or MyD88 were essential for viral clearance. These data demonstrate a requirement for type I IFNs in the control of an intestinal viral infection and indicate that cDCs are a significant source of type I IFN production in vivo. Therefore, innate immunity in PPs is an essential component of host defense that limits systemic spread of pathogens that infect the intestinal mucosa.
Adaptive memory: Is survival processing special?

Do the operating characteristics of memory continue to bear the imprints of ancestral selection pressures? Previous work in our laboratory has shown that human memory may be specially tuned to retain information processed in terms of its survival relevance. A few seconds of survival processing in an incidental learning context can produce recall levels greater than most, if not all, known encoding procedures. The current experiments further establish the power of survival processing by demonstrating survival processing advantages against an encoding procedure requiring a combination of individual-item and relational processing. Participants were asked to make either survival relevance decisions or pleasantness ratings about words in the same categorized list. Survival processing produced the best recall, despite the fact that pleasantness ratings of words in a categorized list has long been considered a ‘‘gold standard” for enhancing free recall. The results also help to rule out conventional interpretations of the survival advantage that appeal to enhanced relational or categorical processing.
Does Classroom Presenter Software Change Learning Outcomes

With support from Microsoft Research, we conducted a semester-long experiment to assess whether using Classroom Presenter software on Tablet PCs in our CS453 Electronic Commerce Technology course had any measurable effect on learning outcomes. This class of 52 students divided (by self-selection) into three groups: 19 students used Tablets; 20 used laptops; 13 had neither. We utilized Classroom Presenter 2, OneNote, and a private wireless network throughout the semester. We assessed student learning by way of a pretest/posttest plus midterm and final exams. We documented student opinions (anonymous written responses as well as open discussions) at midterm and again at the end of the course. The students' qualitative evaluations reported that they saw the potential of Tablets and Presenter, but they were critical of our infrastructure that repeatedly lost synchrony between the instructor's and students' computers. The quantitative data showed that the Tablet users performed slightly better than the laptop and traditional students with regard to final grades and their absolute performance on pre- and posttests.
Androgen receptor regulates CD168 expression and signaling in prostate cancer

Dysregulation of the androgen receptor (AR) and its signaling in the prostate often occurs during normal aging or after androgen ablation, consequently leading to the development of hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). Hyaluronan (HA) plays an important role in this transformation of androgen-independent cancer. Previous studies have shown that activation of the receptor for hyaluronan-mediated motility, CD168, was correlated with the Gleason's score, cancer stage, transformation and metastasis in >90% of HRPC patients. However, the relationship between loss of AR dependency and HA-mediated CD168 signaling remains unclear. We report here that AR regulates normal CD168 expression and its downstream signaling in androgen-dependent (AD) prostatic epithelial cell lines. Furthermore, we observed that the concurrent treatments of HA and dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a native androgen, significantly promoted the tumorigenicity of AD prostate cancer cell lines, which showed elevated rates of cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis to the human bone marrow endothelial cell layer. Inhibition of CD168 downstream Rho-activated protein kinases completely prevented this type of tumorigenicity. These findings suggest that the interaction of androgen and AR is essential for regulating HA-mediated cancer progression via the CD168/ROCK signal transduction pathway and also indicate that the loss of AR regulation not only causes CD168 overexpression but it also activates HA-mediated CD168 signaling in malignant cancer progression and metastasis of HRPC.
Unilateral visual loss in bright light. An unusual symptom of carotid artery occlusive disease.

• Five patients with carotid artery occlusive disease had unilateral visual loss in bright light. All five had reduced retinal artery pressure on the side of the visual loss, and arteriograms showed either an occlusion or a high-grade stenosis of the ipsilateral internal carotid artery. Unilateral visual loss in bright light may indicate ipsilateral carotid artery occlusive disease and may reflect the inability of borderline circulation to sustain the increased retinal metabolic activity associated with exposure to bright light.
Seasonal Weight Changes and Prepartum Weight:Height Ratio in Angus and Brahman Cows Grazing Common Bermudagrass or Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue

Abstract Cow weights, hip heights, and reproductive data on 82 Angus and 78 Brahman cows grazing common bermudagrass or endophyte-infected tall fescue forage systems were used to evaluate relationships of breed, forage system, and reproductive status to seasonal weight changes and prepartum body condition. Cow BW gains were computed for winter, spring, and summer for each of these seasons before the calving season the next year. Weight:height ratios (kg/cm) were computed from BW and hip height data taken in February of each year of the study to estimate body condition before calving and breeding. Thus, BW gain and condition data corresponded to seasons before the subsequent calf crop. Cows in each breed-forage system subclass were classified into four groups based on all possible combinations of previous and subsequent year calving data. Winter BW gain was not associated with pregnancy in the following breeding season (P>0.57). Spring BW gain in open heifers or cows did not affect subsequent pregnancy, but Angus cows that calved in consecutive spring seasons had greater spring BW changes compared with contemporaries that calved but did not rebreed (P 0.31) Increased summer ADG during the breeding season was a useful indicator of subsequent calving rates in primiparous heifers and in cows that had calved the previous spring (P 0.84). Consequently, these data indicate that a suitable predictor of subsequent reproduction in spring-calving cows is summer BW change.
Frostbite in an Adolescent Football Player: A Case Report

Objective: To present the case of vascular compromise of a finger from a confluent circumferential blister due to an inappropriately applied commercial cold pack in a high school athlete and to describe the mechanism of iatrogenic injury, acute surgical management, rehabilitation, and pathophysiology of frostbite and constriction injuries. Background: A 17-year-old male football player presented with a frostbite and constriction injury to the index finger secondary to prolonged use of a cooling pack after a mild traumatic injury to the digit. He developed a prolonged sensory deficit from thermal injury, as well as acute vascular compromise requiring urgent operative intervention. Differential Diagnosis: Frostbite and constriction injury to the index finger. Treatment: Emergency surgical decompression and occupational therapy. Uniqueness: Frostbite injuries can occur iatrogenically because of inappropriate use of cooling devices or gel packs. Fingers are commonly injured extremities that are particularly s...
The role of patient navigators in eliminating health disparities

Despite many important efforts to increase equity in the US health care system, not all Americans have equal access to health care—or similar health outcomes. With the goal of lowering costs and increasing accessibility to health care, the nation's new health care reform legislation includes certain provisions that expand health insurance coverage to uninsured and underinsured populations, promote medical homes, and support coordination of care. These provisions may help narrow existing health care disparities. Many of the most vulnerable patients, however, may continue to have difficulty accessing and navigating the complex US health care delivery system. This article explores the unique role that patient navigation can play in improving health outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities, as well as other underserved populations, in the context of a changing healthcare environment. Patient navigators can not only facilitate improved health care access and quality for underserved populations through advocacy and care coordination, but they can also address deep-rooted issues related to distrust in providers and the health system that often lead to avoidance of health problems and non-compliance with treatment recommendations. By addressing many of the disparities associated with language and cultural differences and barriers, patient navigators can foster trust and empowerment within the communities they serve. Specific patient navigator activities are discussed, and metrics to evaluate program efforts are presented. Cancer 2011;117(15 suppl):3541–50. © 2011 American Cancer Society.
Tools for studying drug transport and metabolism in the brain.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Development of xenobiotics that cross the blood-brain barrier in therapeutically-relevant quantities is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking. However, central nervous system diseases are an under-addressed cause of high mortality and morbidity, and drug development in this field is a worthwhile venture.Areas covered: We aim to familiarize the reader with available methodologies for studying drug transport into the brain. Current understanding of the blood-brain barrier structure has been well-described in other manuscripts, and first we briefly review the path that xenobiotics take through the brain – from bloodstream, to endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier, to interstitial space, to brain parenchymal cells, and then to an exit point from the central nervous system. The second half of the review discusses research tools available to determine if xenobiotics are making the journey through the brain successfully and offers commentary on the translational utility of each...
Chronic Illness and Generativity in Late Life: A Case Study

Purpose of the Study This article presents a narrative-based case study about chronic illness and genetic uncertainty and their relationship to generativity throughout the life course. Our focus is a woman who experienced vision loss early in life and interpreted its impact on her generativity through present-day biographical rescripting. Design and Methods The case we present was chosen from the study "Generativity and Lifestyles of Older Women," which explored life history, social relations, and forms of generativity in an ethnographic interview format with 200 older women. Results In constructing a present-day identity, the informant used shifting and conflicted self-constructions to produce a self-image as generative. Three critical themes emerged in understanding her life course: (a) retrospective interpretations of autonomy; (b) renegotiating control in the present, and (c) generativity across the life course. Implications This article contributes an understanding of childlessness as observed through the lenses of chronic illness, autonomy, and generativity. We conclude that a history of chronic illness, as it is co-occurring with internal debates about the meaning of key life events, may influence older adults' present-day identity. Implications for later life care needs are discussed.
Data Requirements in Agricultural Administration and Research

IT STRIKES me that this subject of data requirements in agricultural administration and research could be treated broadly or briefly. Of necessity, I must treat it briefly. Yet, I hasten to add that my treatment is not likely to do the subject justice, for much could be said and written to improve the understanding and appreciation of the ever-growing need of administrators, research workers, and others for more timely, more detailed, and more reliable facts and figures. During the past 18 years as an agricultural statistician and an extension specialist in agricultural economics, it has been my duty and privilege to try to satisfy numerous consumers of data with the products of the official state and federal statistical-gathering agencies. Important among these consumers of statistics have been administrators and research workers. Like most consumers, their appetities have grown, especially their appetites for variety and convenience. A check on the number and nature of requests serviced by our office during the past two years reveals that administrators have been most interested in two things: people and money. Numbers of people, their age, their location and other sundry characteristics vie for top place in administration interest. Administrators are repeatedly faced with the need for justifying projects and the associated expenditure of public money. How many people are affected? Who are they? Where are they? Who will benefit? Data are needed to answer these questions. These initial questions are hardly answered before the calls start coming for evidences of benefits and accomplishments. Has production increased? Have yields been boosted? What has happened to income? Have costs been cut? Is use increasing? Has our market area expanded? What have the responses been to this and that? The proof of success or failure, of accomplishment or lack of it, often hinges on what the figures show.
Reactivation of visual-evoked activity in human cortical networks

In the absence of sensory input, neuronal networks are far from being silent. Whether spontaneous changes in ongoing activity reflect previous sensory experience or stochastic fluctuations in brain activity is not well understood. Here we demonstrate reactivation of stimulus-evoked activity that is distributed across large areas in the human brain. We performed simultaneous electrocorticography recordings from occipital, parietal, temporal, and frontal areas in awake humans in the presence and absence of sensory stimulation. We found that, in the absence of visual input, repeated exposure to brief natural movies induces robust stimulus-specific reactivation at individual recording sites. The reactivation sites were characterized by greater global connectivity compared with those sites that did not exhibit reactivation. Our results indicate a surprising degree of short-term plasticity across multiple networks in the human brain as a result of repeated exposure to unattended information.
Activation of a Temporal, Spectral, and Spatially-Shaped Front End for the Mercury Laser

Hybrid fiber-based master-oscillator power amplifier system coupled with a Yb:SFAP power amplifier will produce 500mJ at 10Hz with 100:1 temporal contrast over 3-10ns and 300GHz spectrally shaped bandwidth allowing broadband amplification corrected for gain narrowing.