cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multimodal Ambulatory Sleep Detection Using LSTM Recurrent Neural Networks

Unobtrusive and accurate ambulatory methods are needed to monitor long-term sleep patterns for improving health. Previously developed ambulatory sleep detection methods rely either in whole or in part on self-reported diary data as ground truth, which is a problem, since people often do not fill them out accurately. This paper presents an algorithm that uses multimodal data from smartphones and wearable technologies to detect sleep/wake state and sleep onset/offset using a type of recurrent neural network with long-short-term memory (LSTM) cells for synthesizing temporal information. We collected 5580 days of multimodal data from 186 participants and compared the new method for sleep/wake classification and sleep onset/offset detection to, first, nontemporal machine learning methods and, second, a state-of-the-art actigraphy software. The new LSTM method achieved a sleep/wake classification accuracy of 96.5%, and sleep onset/offset detection $F_1$ scores of 0.86 and 0.84, respectively, with mean absolute errors of 5.0 and 5.5 min, res-pectively, when compared with sleep/wake state and sleep onset/offset assessed using actigraphy and sleep diaries. The LSTM results were statistically superior to those from nontemporal machine learning algorithms and the actigraphy software. We show good generalization of the new algorithm by comparing participant-dependent and participant-independent models, and we show how to make the model nearly realtime with slightly reduced performance.
Field Supervision Training for a Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Implementation Project

Although field education is considered the signature pedagogy in social work, few studies examine preparing field supervisors for clinical supervision. This study describes findings from a 3-year project during which field education supervisors were trained to supervise students’ use of screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) and motivational interviewing. The core components of the supervisory training model are described (i.e., didactic training, coaching, in-person visits), and self-reported field supervisor outcomes are examined using pre-training and post-training assessments. On our 30-day post training assessment, field supervisors (n = 79) reported increased personal use of motivational interviewing (86.5% vs. 73.9% at baseline) and SBIRT (43.2% vs.17.4% at baseline) in their own practice, as well as increased agency-level use of these models. Field supervisory trainings focused on implementing specific empirically-supported treatments to promote their dissemination in social work practice. The next generation of field supervisory training research should link supervisory trainings to both student performance and client-level outcomes.
Exploring Disparities in Influenza Immunization for Older Women.

OBJECTIVES While women obtain most recommended preventive health interventions more often than men, evidence is mixed regarding influenza vaccination for older adults. Therefore, we evaluated sex differences in influenza vaccination among older adults. DESIGN Nationally representative cross-sectional survey. SETTING United States. PARTICIPANTS A total of 1 252 705 adults, aged 65 years and older, responding to 2013 to 2017 Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys. MEASUREMENTS The dependent variable was Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set self-reported influenza immunization. The primary predictor was sex. Covariates included general health status, education, race/ethnicity, and Medicare Advantage (MA; managed care) vs Fee-for-Service (FFS) coverage. RESULTS After adjusting for health status and other sociodemographic factors, women's immunization was 2% lower than men's immunization in MA, with no significant overall sex difference in FFS. Women were immunized less often than men in 95% of MA health plans, with the largest gaps in low-immunizing plans. Further analyses revealed variation in sex differences by health status, education, and race/ethnicity in both MA and FFS. Notably in MA, women in poor health were immunized less often than men in similar health (-4%; P < .001). Black women were immunized much less often than black men in both MA and FFS (-5%; P < .001 for each). Hispanic women were immunized less often than Hispanic men in MA (-4%; P < .001) but not within FFS. CONCLUSION Women in MA experience small disparities overall in influenza immunization, with larger disparities for black and Hispanic women. Providers and MA plans should increase efforts to recommend and monitor immunization for older women, especially black and Hispanic women and those in poor health. Given the potential to reduce morbidity and mortality, equitable access to a critical preventive health service, such as influenza immunization, is crucial for all older adults.
Question framing and sensitivity to consequences in sacrificial moral dilemmas

In sacrificial dilemmas, participants judge the morality of killing one person to save several others. For five sacrificial dilemmas, participants rated on separate unidimensional scales how “moral...
Drilling operations for the South Pole Ice Core (SPICEcore) project

Over the course of the 2014/15 and 2015/16 austral summer seasons, the South Pole Ice Core project recovered a 1751 m deep ice core at the South Pole. This core provided a high-resolution record of paleoclimate conditions in East Antarctica during the Holocene and late Pleistocene. The drilling and core processing were completed using the new US Intermediate Depth Drill system, which was designed and built by the US Ice Drilling Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In this paper, we present and discuss the setup, operation, and performance of the drill system.
Engineered Living Materials: Taxonomies and Emerging Trends

At the intersection of synthetic biology and materials science, the field of engineered living materials (ELMs) has evolved into a new, standalone discipline. The fusion of bioengineering's design-build-test-learn approaches with classical materials science has yielded breakthrough innovations in the synthesis of complex, biologically active materials for functional applications in therapeutics, electronics, construction, and beyond. However, the transdisciplinary nature of the ELM field - and its rapid growth - has made holistic comprehension of achievements related to the tools, techniques, and applications of ELMs difficult across disciplines. To this end, this review proposes an emergent taxonomy of ELM research and uses the categorization to discuss current trends and state-of-the-art advancements, significant opportunities, and imminent challenges for scientists and engineers in the field.
Dual-DMD hyperspectral spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) using dispersed broadband illumination with a demonstration of blood stain spectral monitoring

Spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) is a widefield diffuse optical measurement technique capable of generating 2D maps of sub-surface absorption and scattering in biological tissue. We developed a new hyperspectral SFDI instrument capable of collecting images at wavelengths from the visible to the near infrared. The system utilizes a custom-built monochromator with a digital micromirror device (DMD) that can dynamically select illumination wavelength bands from a broadband quartz tungsten halogen lamp, and a second DMD to provide spatially modulated sample illumination. The system is capable of imaging 10 wavelength bands in approximately 25 seconds. The spectral resolution can be varied from 12 to 30 nm by tuning the input slit width and the output DMD column width. We compared the optical property extraction accuracy between the new device and a commercial SFDI system and found an average error of 23% in absorption and 6% in scattering. The system was highly stable, with less than 5% variation in absorption and less than 0.2% variation in scattering across all wavelengths over two hours. The system was used to monitor hyperspectral changes in the optical absorption and reduced scattering spectra of blood exposed to air over 24 hours. This served as a general demonstration of the utility of this system, and points to a potential application for blood stain age estimation. We noted significant changes in both absorption and reduced scattering spectra over multiple discrete stages of aging. To our knowledge, these are the first measurement of changes in scattering of blood stains. This hyperspectral SFDI system holds promise for a multitude of applications in quantitative tissue and diffuse sample imaging.
Prenatal androgen influences on the brain: A review, critique, and illustration of research on congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Sex hormones, especially androgens, contribute to sex and gender differences in the brain and behavior. Organizational effects are particularly important because they are thought to be permanent, reflecting hormone exposure during sensitive periods of development. In human beings, they are often studied with natural experiments in which sex hormones are dissociated from other biopsychosocial aspects of development, such as genes and experiences. Indeed, the greatest evidence for organizational effects on sex differences in human behavior comes from studies of females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), who have heightened prenatal androgen exposure, female-typical rearing, and masculinized toy play, activity and career interests, spatial skills, and some personal characteristics. Interestingly, however, neuroimaging studies of females with CAH have revealed few neural mechanisms underlying these hormone-behavior links, with the exception of emotion processing; studies have instead shown reduced gray matter volumes and reduced white matter integrity most consistent with other disease-related processes. The goals of this narrative review are to: (a) describe methods for studying prenatal androgen influences, while offering a brief overview of behavioral outcomes; (b) provide a critical methodological review of neuroimaging research on females with CAH; (c) present an illustrative analysis that overcomes methodological limitations of previous work, focusing on person-specific neural reward networks (and their associations with sensation seeking) in women with CAH and their unaffected sisters in order to inform future research questions and approaches that are most likely to reveal organizational hormone effects on brain structure and function.
Understanding Pediatric Surgery Cancellation: Geospatial Analysis

Background: Day-of-surgery cancellation (DoSC) represents a substantial wastage of hospital resources and can cause significant inconvenience to patients and families. Cancellation is reported to impact between 2% and 20% of the 50 million procedures performed annually in American hospitals. Up to 85% of cancellations may be amenable to the modification of patients’ and families’ behaviors. However, the factors underlying DoSC and the barriers experienced by families are not well understood. Objective: This study aims to conduct a geospatial analysis of patient-specific variables from electronic health records (EHRs) of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and of Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH), as well as linked socioeconomic factors measured at the census tract level, to understand potential underlying contributors to disparities in DoSC rates across neighborhoods. Methods: The study population included pediatric patients who underwent scheduled surgeries at CCHMC and TCH. A 5-year data set was extracted from the CCHMC EHR, and addresses were geocoded. An equivalent set of data >5.7 years was extracted from the TCH EHR. Case-based data related to patients’ health care use were aggregated at the census tract level. Community-level variables were extracted from the American Community Survey as surrogates for patients’ socioeconomic and minority status as well as markers of the surrounding context. Leveraging the selected variables, we built spatial models to understand the variation in DoSC rates across census tracts. The findings were compared to those of the nonspatial regression and deep learning models. Model performance was evaluated from the root mean squared error (RMSE) using nested 10-fold cross-validation. Feature importance was evaluated by computing the increment of the RMSE when a single variable was shuffled within the data set. Results: Data collection yielded sets of 463 census tracts at CCHMC (DoSC rates 1.2%-12.5%) and 1024 census tracts at TCH (DoSC rates 3%-12.2%). For CCHMC, an L2-normalized generalized linear regression model achieved the best performance in predicting all-cause DoSC rate (RMSE 1.299%, 95% CI 1.21%-1.387%); however, its improvement over others was marginal. For TCH, an L2-normalized generalized linear regression model also performed best (RMSE 1.305%, 95% CI 1.257%-1.352%). All-cause DoSC rate at CCHMC was predicted most strongly by previous no show. As for community-level data, the proportion of African American inhabitants per census tract was consistently an important predictor. In the Texas area, the proportion of overcrowded households was salient to DoSC rate. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that geospatial analysis offers potential for use in targeting interventions for census tracts at a higher risk of cancellation. Our study also demonstrates the importance of home location, socioeconomic disadvantage, and racial minority status on the DoSC of children’s surgery. The success of future efforts to reduce cancellation may benefit from taking social, economic, and cultural issues into account.
Fixed-Time System Identification Using Concurrent Learning

This article presents a fixed-time (FxT) system identifier for continuous-time nonlinear systems. A novel adaptive update law with discontinuous gradient flows of the identification errors is presented, which leverages concurrent learning (CL) to guarantee the learning of uncertain nonlinear dynamics in a fixed time, as opposed to asymptotic or exponential time. More specifically, the CL approach retrieves a batch of samples stored in a memory, and the update law simultaneously minimizes the identification error for the current stream of samples and past memory samples. Rigorous analyses are provided based on FxT Lyapunov stability to certify FxT convergence to the stable equilibria of the gradient descent flow of the system identification error under easy-to-verify rank conditions. The performance of the proposed method in comparison with the existing methods is illustrated in the simulation results.
The geometry of suicide law

Abstract Suicide is largely decriminalized in the contemporary world. But self-killers in the past were sometimes considered criminals and subject to posthumous trials, convictions, and penalties. In societies where suicide was defined as a crime by the state, some self-killers had their corpses defiled and mutilated and their assets confiscated. Others, though, received no state sanctions. In this paper, I apply Donald Black's theory of law and social control to explain variation in suicide law: When is suicide defined and treated as a crime? When is suicide law most severe? I focus on the three variable features of the social geometry of a suicide case -- the centralization of the state where the self-killing occurs, the self-killer's relationship to the state, and the self-killer's social status. My central findings are consistent with what Black's theory would predict. Suicide law is most likely and most severe when 1) a self-killing occurs in a highly centralized state, 2) a self-killer is directly subject to strong state authority, and 3) a self-killer has an inferior social status. To support my findings, I draw mostly from recent historical scholarship on suicide and its aftermath.
Abstract 1660: Retroviral replicating vector transduced alloresponsive T lymphocytes retain mobility and cytotoxic functionalities

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA The radial monolayer cell migration assay was originally developed to measure the infiltrative properties of adherent tumor cells on individual extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, or on ECM extracted from tumor cell monolayers. For this assay a single cell suspension of tumor cells is seeded using a cell sedimentation manifold (CSM), precisely into the center of Teflon-masked, ECM-coated slide wells. The adherent tumor cells establish a focal, circular monolayer from which horizontal motility can be microscopically-viewed and photographed over time. We adapted use of the CSM to evaluate the in vitro mobility of non-adherent effector T cells on confluent tumor cell monolayers or on ECM extracts from them. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) sensitized to the human leukocyte antigens (HLA) on 13-06-MG glioma cells or on brain-tropic breast MDA-MB-231 carcinoma cells were generated by one-way mixed lymphocyte tumor cell reactions. These alloresponsive CTL were then transduced with retroviral replicating vectors (RRV) coding for green fluorescent protein (GFP). Using the CSM, the RRV-GFP transduced CTL were seeded into the center of wells with a confluent monolayer of glioma cells that were partially HLA matched to 13-06-MG. By light and fluorescence microscopy, we visualized not only the a) mobility of individual GFP+ T cells, but b) the cytotoxicity engendered to the underlying adherent glioma cell monolayer by the overlaid nonadherent CTL, in addition to c) transfer of RRV from the CTL to tumor cells. The in vitro cytotoxic functionality of the RRV-transduced CTL was confirmed by real-time xCELLigence impedance cytotoxicity assays. In other experiments, the RRV-GFP transduced CTL were also stained with a vital fluorescent red dye, CMPTX, to distinguish transduced from nontransduced CTL. The CTL were placed into the center of wells coated with ECM harvested from MDA-MB-231BR cells and radial movement of the transduced and nontransduced CTL was also observed over 72 hr time. We conclude that effector T cells transduced with RRV maintain mobility and cytotoxic functionality, and further, are capable of transmitting RRV to tumor cells. Thus, transduced alloresponsive CTL can facilitate immunogene therapy by their capability of gene delivery to infiltrating tumor cells in the brain. Citation Format: Kate L. Erickson, Colin C. Malone, Michelle J. Hickey, Geoffrey C. Owens, Yuki Kato, Robert M. Prins, Noriyuki Kasahara, Carol A. Kruse. Retroviral replicating vector transduced alloresponsive T lymphocytes retain mobility and cytotoxic functionalities. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1660. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1660
Anomalous Stress Effects of Trench Isolation

This paper highlights some of the anomalous stress effects of trench isolation on bipolar transistor parameters and yield. The deep trench isolation module forms part of a 1?m BiCMOS process. By directly comparing side by side trenched and non-trenched bipolar transistors, the influence of the trench process on both current gain and parasitic capacitance is demonstrated. In addition, arrays of bipolars were used to determine the factors influencing the bipolar transistor defect density, their interactions and the process modifications required to maximize bipolar yield.
Subversion of interferon by dengue virus.

Dengue virus is sensed in mammalian cells by Toll-like receptors and DExD/H box RNA helicases, triggering a Type 1 interferon response. Interferon acts upon infected and noninfected cells by stimulating the JAK/STAT signaling pathway resulting in the activation of interferon stimulated genes that lead cells toward the establishment of an antiviral response. The recognition of the importance of this rapid protective response should come with the realization that dengue virus would circumvent the interferon response to propagate in the host. There is recent, mounting evidence for mechanisms encoded by the dengue virus that weaken interferon signaling. Nonstructural proteins expressed separately or in replicon vectors block phosphorylation and down-regulate expression of major components of the JAK/STAT pathway, causing reduced activation of gene expression in response to IFNα/β interferon. As our understanding of viral-host interaction increases, opportunities for improved biological models and therapeutics discovery arise.
Studies on the Catalytic Mechanism of Five DNA Glycosylases PROBING FOR ENZYME-DNA IMINO INTERMEDIATES

DNA glycosylases catalyze scission of the N-glycosylic bond linking a damaged base to the DNA sugar phosphate backbone. Some of these enzymes carry out a concomitant abasic (apyrimidinic/apurinic (AP)) lyase reaction at a rate approximately equal to that of the glycosylase step. As a generalization of the mechanism described for T4 endonuclease V, a repair glycosylase/AP lyase that is specific for ultraviolet light-induced cis-syn pyrimidine dimers, a hypothesis concerning the mechanism of these repair glycosylases has been proposed. This hypothesis describes the initial action of all DNA glycosylases as a nucleophilic attack at the sugar C-1′ of the damaged base nucleoside, resulting in scission of the N-glycosylic bond. It is proposed that the enzymes that are only glycosylases differ in the chemical nature of the attacking nucleophile from the glycosylase/AP lyases. Those DNA glycosylases, which carry out the AP lyase reaction at a rate approximately equal to the glycosylase step, are proposed to use an amino group as the nucleophile, resulting in an imino enzyme-DNA intermediate. The simple glycosylases, lacking the concomitant AP lyase activity, are proposed to use some nucleophile from the medium, e.g. an activated water molecule. This paper reports experimental tests of this hypothesis using five representative enzymes, and these data are consistent with this hypothesis.
A Highly Linear 1-GHz CMOS Downconversion Mixer

A highly linear, closed loop CMOS architecture is demonstrated for the mixing of RF waveforms to baseband as sampled-data signals. In converting a 915 MHz RF waveform to a 20 MHz spread spectrum baseband signal, the measured third-order intercept lies at +27 dBm of input power. As the 1-?m CMOS prototype dissipates only 12 mW from a 5V supply, and is capable of operation at 3V, it is expected to be of use in advanced handheld wireless receivers.
Validation of a 5-log10 reduction of Listeria monocytogenes following simulated commercial processing of Lebanon bologna in a model system.

Recently, numerous product recalls and one devastating outbreak that claimed 21 lives were attributed to Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat meat products. Consequently, the Food Safety and Inspection Service published a federal register notice requiring manufacturers of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products to reassess their hazard analysis and critical control point plans for these products as specified in 9 CFR 417.4(a). Lebanon bologna is a moist, fermented ready-to-eat sausage. Because of undesirable quality changes, Lebanon bologna is often not processed above 48.9°C (120°F). Therefore, the present research was conducted to validate the destruction of L. monocytogenes in Lebanon bologna batter in a model system. During production, fermentation of Lebanon bologna to pH 4.7 alone significantly reduced L. monocytogenes by 2.3 log10 CFU/g of the sausage mix (P < 0.01). Heating the fermented mix to 48.9°C in 10.5 h destroyed at least 7.0 log10 CFU of L. monocytogenes per g of sausage mix. A combinati...
Highlights from SOHO and Future Space Missions

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has provided an unparalleled breadth and depth of information about the Sun, from its interior, through the hot and dynamic atmosphere, out to the solar wind. Analysis of the helioseismology data from SOHO has shed new light on a number of structural and dynamic phenomena in the solar interior, such as the absence of differential rotation in the radiative zone, subsurface zonal and meridional flows, sub-convection-zone mixing, a possible circumpolar jet, and very slow polar rotation. Evidence for an upward transfer of magnetic energy from the Sun's surface toward the corona has been established. The ultraviolet instruments have revealed an extremely dynamic solar atmosphere where plasma flows play an important role. Electrons in coronal holes were found to be relatively “cool”, whereas heavy ions are extremely hot and have highly anisotropic velocity distributions. The source regions for the high speed solar wind has been identified and the acceleration profiles of both the slow and fast solar wind have been measured. This paper tries to summarize some of the most recent findings from the SOHO mission. Present plans for future solar space missions are also briefly discussed.
Electrostatic and electromagnetic surface wave theories compared

Summary form only given, as follows. The theory of resonance oscillations in a non-uniform thermal plasma and the electrostatic surface wave theory is extended. The new theory is fully electromagnetic. The theory is being used to investigate large area plasma sources and sheath phenomena. For a planar plasma loaded waveguide, the theory predicts two classes of waves. Modes with TE (transverse electric) like field components can be found by solving Maxwell's equations with a non-uniform dielectric given by the local cold plasma dielectric. These modes are unaffected by thermal effects in the limit of this theory. Modes with TM (transverse magnetic) like field components are more complicated-electron inertial and thermal effects allow new quasi-electrostatic (QES) modes to propagate below the peak electron plasma frequency similar to Tonk-Dattner resonances. The wave dispersion predicted by the electromagnetic theory differ from the electrostatic theories for long wavelength surface waves though. This discrepancy is explored. The results illuminate limitations of the electrostatic theories when used to predict phenomena in large area plasma sources.
Dietary Selenite and Azadeoxycytidine Treatments Affect Dimethylhydrazine-Induced Aberrant Crypt Formation in Rat Colon and DNA Methylation in HT-29 Cells

Several observations implicate a role for altered DNA methylation in cancer pathogenesis. The global level of DNA methylation is generally lower; however, DNA methyltransferase (Dnmt1) activity is usually higher in tumor cells than in normal cells. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the Dnmt1 inhibitor, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (aza-dC) would alter the effect of dietary selenium on the formation of aberrant crypts. Weanling rats (n = 60) were fed three concentrations of selenium (deficient, 0.1 and 2.0 mg/kg diet) in a Torula yeast-based diet. Half of the rats were injected weekly with aza-dC (1 mg/kg, subcutaneously) and half were injected with the vehicle control (PBS). After 3.5 wk of consuming the experimental diets, the rats were given two injections of dimethylhydrazine (DMH; 25 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). Rats fed the selenium-deficient diet and injected with PBS had significantly (P < 0.006) more aberrant crypts than rats fed 0.1 or 2.0 mg selenium/kg diet (244 +/- 21 vs. 165 +/- 9 and 132 +/- 14, respectively). In contrast, when rats were injected with aza-dC, there was a significant (P < 0.0001) reduction in aberrant crypt formation and dietary selenium had no effect (62 +/- 8 vs. 77 +/- 13 vs. 54 +/- 8, in rats fed 0, 0.1 and 2.0 mg selenium/kg diet, respectively). HT-29 cells cultured in the absence of selenium had significantly hypomethylated DNA but significantly more Dnmt1 protein expression than cells cultured in the presence of 1 or 2 micromol/L selenium. These results suggest that aza-dC treatment may protect selenium-deficient rats against carcinogen-induced aberrant crypt formation.
LACTATION BIOLOGY SYMPOSIUM: Lactocrine signaling and developmental programming,

Lactocrine signaling is defi ned as transmission of bioactive factors from mother to offspring as a consequence of nursing. Lactocrine transmission of signaling molecules may be an evolutionarily conserved process through which bioactive factors necessary for support of neonatal development are delivered postnatally. Dependence on maternal resources for development in eutherian mammals extends into neonatal life for at least that period of time when nutrition is obtained solely from fi rst milk (i.e., colostrum). Data for the pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) provide evidence of lactocrine mediated effects on development of the female reproductive tract and other somatic tissues. Porcine uterine gland development, an estrogen receptor-alpha (ESR1)- dependent process, begins within 2 d of birth [postnatal day (PND) 0]. A lactocrine-driven, ESR1-mediated process was proposed as a regulatory mechanism governing onset of uterine gland development and endometrial maturation in the neonatal pig. Gilts maintained in a lactocrine-null state for 2 d from birth by milk-replacer feeding displayed altered patterns of endometrial gene expression and retarded uterine gland development by PND 14. In lactocrine-null gilts, inhibition of endometrial and cervical ESR1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGFA) expression observed on PND 2 persisted to PND 14, even after gilts were returned to nursing on PND 2. Collectively, data support a role for lactocrine signaling in regulation of critical neonatal developmental events. Maternal lactocrine programming of postnatal development may help to insure healthy developmental outcomes. A systems biology approach will be required to define and understand mechanistic dynamics of lactocrine signaling events that may ultimately connect genotype to phenotype and establish the parameters of reproductive potential.
Probiotic Bacteria Reduce Salmonella Typhimurium Intestinal Colonization by Competing for Iron

Host inflammation alters the availability of nutrients such as iron to limit microbial growth. However, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium thrives in the inflamed gut by scavenging for iron with siderophores. By administering Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917, which assimilates iron by similar mechanisms, we show that this nonpathogenic bacterium can outcompete and reduce S. Typhimurium colonization in mouse models of acute colitis and chronic persistent infection. This probiotic activity depends on E. coli Nissle iron acquisition, given that mutants deficient in iron uptake colonize the intestine but do not reduce S. Typhimurium colonization. Additionally, the ability of E. coli Nissle to overcome iron restriction by the host protein lipocalin 2, which counteracts some siderophores, is essential, given that S. Typhimurium is unaffected by E. coli Nissle in lipocalin 2-deficient mice. Thus, iron availability impacts S. Typhimurium growth, and E. coli Nissle reduces S. Typhimurium intestinal colonization by competing for this limiting nutrient.
Forensic neuropsychology: a reply to the method skeptics.

Various critics or “method skeptics” have contended that clinical neuropsychology is not sufficiently developed as a science to be offered as evidence in legal or trial proceedings. The present article attempts to balance the extreme position of the method skeptics with an overview of legal and research data that support forensic applications of neuropsychology. It is suggested that clinical evidence can usefully inform legal decision making and that the modern trend has been for courts to be increasingly open to such expert testimony. The relevance of studies of clinical judgment, experience, and actuarial prediction is discussed, and neuropsychological assessment validity is specifically addressed. It is concluded that the arguments of the method skeptics should guide future research and caution forensic neuropsychologists, but that a retreat from the courtroom is unwarranted.
Robust hierarchical Bayes estimation of small area characteristics in the presence of covariates and outliers

Abstract A robust hierarchical Bayes method is developed to smooth small area means when a number of covariates are available. The method is particularly suited when one or more outliers are present in the data. It is well known that the regular Bayes estimators of small. area means, under normal prior distribution, perform poorly in presence of even one extreme observation. In this case the Bayes estimators collapse to the direct survey estimators. This paper introduces a general theory for robust hierarchical Bayes estimation procedure using a fairly rich class of scale mixtures of normal prior distributions. To retain maximum benefit from combining information from related sources, we suggest to use Cauchy prior distribution for the outlying areas and an appropriate scale mixture of normal prior whose tail is lighter than the Cauchy prior for the rest of the areas. It is shown that, unlike the hierarchical Bayes estimator under a normal prior, our estimator has more protection against outlying observations.
Structures of CO Diffusion Flames Near Extinction

Abstract Computational results are reported for structures of laminar counterflow diffusion flames between carbon monoxide and air, initially at room temperature and pressure from 1 to 100 atm, with total hydrogen-atom mole fractions in the system ranging from zero to about 0.02. All strain rates considered are within a factor of ten of the critical extinction strain rate. This critical strain rate is calculated as a function of pressure and of hydrogen content and is shown to lie below measured values under most conditions. For hydrogen-free flames, activation-energy asymptotics is employed and supports the computational results. It is reasoned that trace hydrogen amounts in air and preferential hydrogen diffusion through nonplanar diffusive-thermal instability contribute to enhanced flame robustness in the experiments, while increasing buoyant convective heat loss with increasing pressure promotes extinction at the higher pressures.
Chronic acetaminophen toxicity: a case report and review of the literature.

Acetaminophen is one of the most frequently used medications in the United States. While usual dosing of acetaminophen is considered harmless, both acute and chronic overdoses can be fatal. The majority of reported cases of chronic acetaminophen toxicity in adults occur in chronic alcohol abusers, patients taking P450-inducing medications, or following massive dosing. We describe a case of toxic hepatitis free of the aforementioned risk factors associated with chronic ingestion of moderately excessive doses of acetaminophen. Our patient ingested approximately 5.0 to 6.5 g of acetaminophen daily for 6 to 8 weeks via multiple medications. The inclusion of acetaminophen in numerous medications combined with the frequency of use of acetaminophen necessitates an increased concern for not only acute but also chronic acetaminophen toxicity.
DyC: an expressive annotation-directed dynamic compiler for C

Abstract We present the design of DyC, a dynamic-compilation system for C based on run-time specialization. Directed by a few declarative user annotations that specify the variables and code on which dynamic compilation should take place, a binding-time analysis computes the set of run-time constants at each program point in the annotated procedure's control-flow graph; the analysis supports program-point-specific polyvariant division and specialization. The results of the analysis guide the construction of a run-time specializer for each dynamically compiled region; the specializer supports various caching strategies for managing dynamically generated code and mixes of speculative and demand-driven specialization of dynamic branch successors. Most of the key cost/benefit trade-offs in the binding-time analysis and the run-time specializer are open to user control through declarative policy annotations. DyC has been implemented in the context of an optimizing compiler, and initial results have been promising. The speedups we have obtained are good, and the dynamic-compilation overhead is among the lowest of any dynamic-compilation system, typically 20–200 cycles per instruction generated on a Digital Alpha 21164. The majority of DyC's functionality has been used to dynamically compile an instruction-set simulator. Only three annotations were required, but a few other changes to the program had to be made due to DyC's lack of support for static global variables. This deficiency and DyC's rudimentary support for partially static data structures are the primary obstacles to making DyC easy to use.
Salmonid colonization of new streams in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

. Following the rapid recession of a neoglacial ice sheet within the last 250 years, colonization of recently deglaciated streams by salmonid fishes was investigated in Glacier Bay National Park, south-eastern Alaska. The primary factors governing the establishment, species diversity composition and abundance of salmonids in Glacier Bay streams were water temperature, sediment loading and stream discharge. No salmonids were found in the turbid meltwater streams emerging from retreating ice. Coho, Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum), and sockeye, Oncorhynchus nerka (Walbaum). salmon and Dolly Vardcn, Salvelinus malma (Walbaum), charr were the first salmonids to colonize the youngest clearwater stream. Juvenile Dolly Varden were more abundant than juvenile coho salmon in the most recently formed clearwater stream because of the characteristic absence of pool habital. Densities of juvenile coho salmon were six times greater in a stream with a series of lakes compared with a stream of similar age without lakes. Future advancement of salmonid stocks will probably depend upon the rate and extent of the development of riparian vegetation and inputs of large woody debris from the developing forest to provide further instream cover, habitat variation and channel stabilization.
Inhibition of feline leukemia virus subgroup A infection by coinoculation with subgroup B.

Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) subgroup B arises de novo through recombination between the env genes of exogenous FeLV subgroup A and endogenous FeLV-like sequences. FeLV-B, which by itself is poorly infectious, will increase to high titer in the presence of FeLV-A, and is associated with FeLV-related neoplastic disease. Although the participation of FeLV-B in disease progression has not been definitively proven, circumstantial evidence supports the hypothesis that the generation of FeLV-B is linked to disease progression. The present study was designed to evaluate whether increasing the levels of FeLV-B early in FeLV-A infection could result in reduction of the incubation period for development of neoplastic disease. For this study, an isolate of FeLV-B, designated FeLV-1B3, was biologically cloned, partially sequenced, and subgroup typed. In in vivo studies, none of the neonatal cats inoculated with FeLV-1B3 alone converted to viremia positive, and all remained healthy throughout the observation period. All of the kittens inoculated with FeLV-A alone became chronically viremic, and those held for long-term observation all developed either neoplastic disease or anemia. However, kittens inoculated with the combination of FeLV-1B3 and FeLV-A showed attenuated infections whereby the majority of cats failed to develop chronic viremia. The apparent interference of FeLV-A infection by FeLV-B was time and titer dependent. This unexpected result suggests that FeLV-B may act as an attenuated virus, causing inhibition of FeLV-A possibly through an immune-mediated mechanism. Partial support for this view was provided by postmortem examination of cats inoculated with FeLV-1B3 alone. Even though none of these cats became viremic, FeLV antigen was detected as focal infections in select tissues, especially salivary gland epithelium, where enough antigen may be expressed to provide an immunizing dose against gag and pol cross-reacting antigens. This work may also provide another approach to vaccine development based on endogenous retrovirus vector systems.
Analytical Solution for Spinning Thrusting Spacecraft with Transverse Ramp-Up Torques

During axial thrusting of a spin-stabilized spacecraft undergoing orbital injections or control maneuvers, misalignments and center of mass offset create undesired body-fixed torques. The effects of the body-fixed torques, which in turn cause velocity pointing errors, can be reduced by ramping up (and then ramping down) the thruster. Closed-form solutions for the angular velocity, Euler angles, inertial velocity, and inertial displacement solutions with nonzero initial conditions are given. Using the closed-form solutions, the effect of variations in the spin axis moment of inertia and spin rate on the spacecraft velocity pointing error are shown. The analytical solutions closely match numerical simulations.
Antigen recognition by γδ T cells

gammadelta T cells contribute to host immune competence uniquely. This is most likely because they have distinctive antigen-recognition properties. While the basic organization of gammadelta T-cell receptor (TCR) loci is similar to that of alphabeta TCR loci, there is a striking difference in how the diversity of gammadelta TCRs is generated. gammadelta and alphabeta T cells have different antigen-recognition requirements and almost certainly recognize a different set of antigens. While it is unclear what most gammadelta T cells recognize, the non-classical major histocompatibility complex class I molecules T10 and T22 were found to be the natural ligands for a sizable population (0.2-2%) of murine gammadelta T cells. The recognition of T10/T22 may be a way by which gammadelta T cells regulate cells of the immune system, and this system has been used to determine the antigen-recognition determinants of gammadelta T cells. T10/T22-specific gammadelta T cells have TCRs that are diverse in both V gene usage and CDR3 sequences. Their Vgamma usage reflects their tissue origin, and their antigen specificity is conferred by a motif in the TCR delta chain that is encoded by V and D segments and by P-nucleotide addition. Sequence variations around this motif modulate affinities between TCRs and T10/T22. That this CDR3 motif is important in antigen recognition is confirmed by the crystal structure of a gammadelta TCR bound to its ligand. The significance of these observations is discussed in the context of gammadelta T-cell biology.
Asymptotic solution of some singularly perturbed Fredholm integral equations

A formal approach is described for obtaining the asymptotic solution to a class of singularly perturbed Fredholm integral equations. The approach is illustrated through application to some example problems which arise in heat transfer, diffraction theory, crack mechanics, Markov processes and low order eigenvalue problems.
The Legacy of Methodological Dualism

Methodological dualism in linguistics occurs when its theories are subjected to standards that are inappropriate for them qua scientifi c theories. Despite much opposition, methodological dualism abounds in contemporary thinking. In this paper, I treat linguistics as a scientifi c activity and explore some instances of dualism. By extracting some ubiquitous aspects of scientifi c methodology from its typically quantitative expression, I show that two recent instances of methodologically dualistic critiques of linguistics are ill-founded. I then show that there are nonetheless some divergences between linguistic and other ordinary scientifi c methods, refl ecting yet a third instance of methodological dualism.
Equi-azimuth and equi-ellipticity contour charts for ellipsometry

Abstract When the polarization states of light are represented by complex numbers, the chart formed by the two orthogonal families of circles representing the equi-azimuth and equiellipticity (EA-EE) contours in the complex plane provides the medium for convenient graphical solutions of problems in ellipsometry. Thus, in conventional ellipsometry, the specimen ψ and Δ are found to be easily related to any set of nulling angles P, C and A via this chart. In generalized ellipsometry, the coefficients of the polarization transfer function of an optical system (or the reflection coefficients of an anomalous surface) are determined by the circle locus of the incident polarization states, χ , which are mapped into linear vibrations, ξ , at the output of the system. The EA-EE chart provides, again, a direct method to locate the points χ , determine the circle and hence the polarization transfer function.
Sclerostin is an Important Target for Stimulating Bone Formation, Restoring Bone Mass and Enhancing Fracture Healing

species, and improved metabolic stability. Long term (21 months) treatment of ovx’d rhesus monkeys with ODN resulted in full protection of bone mineral density (BMD) loss at the spine and the hip, and maintenance of bone quality. Interestingly, ODN increases periosteal bone formation rate in the proximal femoral shaft and at the femoral neck. In clinical trials, ODN at 50 mg/week taken orally for three years increased lumbar spine and hip BMD in postmenopausal women with low bone mass. These results suggest that inhibition of Cat K may offer a novel therapeutic approach for treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis.
Electrochemical Sample Matrix Elimination for Trace Level Potentiometric Detection with Polymeric Membrane Ion-Selective Electrodes

Potentiometric sensors are today sufficiently well understood and optimized to reach ultratrace level (subnanomolar) detection limits for numerous ions. In many cases of practical relevance, howeve...
Effects of equipotent ephedrine, metaraminol, mephentermine, and methoxamine on uterine blood flow in the pregnant ewe.

To evaluate the safety of prophylactic vasopressor administration prior to obstetric conduction anesthesia, equipotent doses of ephedrine, metaraminol, mephentermine, and methoxamine were administered to 16 nonanesthetized pregnant ewes near term. When the maternal blood pressure was increased by 50
A Framework for Analyzing Scientific Reasoning in Assessments

The Evidence-Based Reasoning Assessment System (EBRAS) brings together advances in modeling scientific reasoning and assessment design to guide the development of written assessment items that target, disentangle, and elicit evidence of the multiple proficiencies underlying scientific argumentation. In this study, the EBRAS was used to assess the conceptual sophistication, specificity, and validity of middle and high school students' reasoning on the topic of buoyancy. Results imply items designed using the EBRAS are more reliable in formative contexts and can better reveal misconceptions, rhetorical strategies, and specific logical errors than traditional items that focus on accuracy. The EBRAS is proposed as a more valid, reliable, and useful means for analyzing and assessing students' use of evidence in scientific reasoning.
Complications of cardiac catheterization of neonates, infants, and children. A three-year study.

In order to assess the influence of recent modifications in cardiac catheterization technique and patient management, a prospective study of all complications in a series of 1160 cardiac catheterizations of neonates, infants, and children was performed. Thirty-four major and 136 minor complications were recorded. Fatal complications were rare in all age groups (0.26%); however, postcatheterization deaths not attributable to the procedure were common in critically ill neonates with nonremediable lesions. Arrhythmias and arterial complications accounted for 78% of all complications. Although the incidence of arrhythmias was high (8.3% of all cases), particularly in infants, almost all responded to simple therapeutic measures. Five arrhythmias resulted in clinical deterioration and two contributed to death. The incidence of arterial complications varied considerably with the method of arterial entry. Percutaneous catheterization by the sheath method was associated with fewer complications than with the Seldi...