cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cholinergically mediated tachyarrhythmias induced by a single extrastimulus in the isolated canine right atrium.

Cholinergic agonists and vagal stimulation potentiate the inducibility of atrial fibrillation. To describe the activation patterns and determine the mechanisms that sustain cholinergic fibrillation, tachyarrhythmias were induced with a single extrastimulus in the isolated Krebs-Henseleit-perfused canine right atrium (n = 11) at increasing concentrations of acetylcholine (from 10(-7.5) to 10(-4.5) M). Bipolar electrograms were recorded from 250 epicardial sites simultaneously during control conditions and during extrastimulation (S1S1, 300 msec; S1S2, effective refractory period+5 msec) with and without acetylcholine. Activation sequence maps were constructed from each recording. Without acetylcholine, no tachyarrhythmias were induced. With increasing concentrations of acetylcholine, the refractory period decreased, and nonsustained ( 2-minute) fibrillation was induced. Activation sequence maps revealed that the rapid repetitive responses were characterized by multiple reentrant circuits. The number of circuits and wavelets increased in a dose-dependent fashion. However, unexpectedly, this trend did not continue when the tachyarrhythmia became sustained. Instead, the reentry tended to stabilize to a small, single, relatively stable reentrant circuit. In conclusion, the data suggest that, in this model, below a critical level of refractory period (< 95 msec) atrial reentrant circuits, unassociated with anatomic obstacles, can become stable and dominate activation.
Low Dose β-Carotene Supplementation of Ferrets Attenuates Smoke-Induced Lung Phosphorylation of JNK, p38 MAPK, and p53 Proteins

We demonstrated previously that smoke exposure and/or high-dose beta-carotene supplementation decreases levels of retinoic acid and retinoic acid receptor beta (RARbeta) protein, but increase levels of c-Jun and proliferating cellular nuclear antigen protein in the lungs of ferrets. In contrast, low-dose beta-carotene can prevent the decreased lung retinoic acid and the smoke-induced lung lesions. In the present study, we investigated whether smoke exposure and/or beta-carotene supplementation could affect Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and p53 in the lungs of ferrets. Ferrets were subjected to cigarette smoke exposure and either a high or low dose of beta-carotene (2 x 3 factorial design) for 6 mo. There were greater protein levels of phosphorylated JNK, p38, and c-Jun, but lower levels of MAPK phophatase-1 (MKP-1) in groups exposed to smoke and/or high dose beta-carotene. Both phosphorylated-p53 and total p53 were substantially increased in the lungs of these groups. In contrast, low-dose beta-carotene greatly attenuated the smoke-induced phosphorylation of JNK, p38, c-Jun, p53, and total p53, accompanied by upregulated MKP-1. Smoke exposure increased MAPK kinase-4 (MKK4) phosphorylation regardless of beta-carotene supplementation. These data indicate that restoration of retinoic acid and MKP-1 by low-dose beta-carotene in the lungs of ferrets may prevent the smoke-induced activation of the JNK-dependent signaling pathway, p38 MAPK, and the associated phosphorylation of p53, thereby lowering the risk of the smoke-related lung lesions. These data provide supportive evidence that the beneficial vs. detrimental effects of beta-carotene supplementation are related to the dosage of beta-carotene administered.
Mechanisms of salt-sensitive hypertension: role of renal medullary inducible nitric oxide synthase

The goal of this study was to determine the role of renal medullary inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in the arterial pressure, renal hemodynamic, and renal excretory changes that occur in Dah...
Efficient, high-quality image contour detection

Image contour detection is fundamental to many image analysis applications, including image segmentation, object recognition and classification. However, highly accurate image contour detection algorithms are also very computationally intensive, which limits their applicability, even for offline batch processing. In this work, we examine efficient parallel algorithms for performing image contour detection, with particular attention paid to local image analysis as well as the generalized eigensolver used in Normalized Cuts. Combining these algorithms into a contour detector, along with careful implementation on highly parallel, commodity processors from Nvidia, our contour detector provides uncompromised contour accuracy, with an F-metric of 0.70 on the Berkeley Segmentation Dataset. Runtime is reduced from 4 minutes to 1.8 seconds. The efficiency gains we realize enable high-quality image contour detection on much larger images than previously practical, and the algorithms we propose are applicable to several image segmentation approaches. Efficient, scalable, yet highly accurate image contour detection will facilitate increased performance in many computer vision applications.
REGIONAL CHANGE IN THE GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

ABSTRACT Geographic distributions of economic activity and regional patterns of socioeconomic well-being have changed within the German Democratic Republic during the postwar era, but the changes have not radically altered the regional economic structure of the nation and have not resulted in a substantial reduction of all regional inequalities. The historic concentration of industry in the South and regional inequalities, particularly in the availability of quality consumer goods and housing, persist in the G.D.R. despite the desire of the government to industrialize the North and promote regional equity. National planners have been faced with problems resulting from the conflict of regional planning goals with the goals of national economic planning. Spatially concentrated economic growth has been promoted in order to conserve scarce capital and to utilize domestic natural resources. Industrial location, labor force, and settlement policies have supported the achievement of national economic goals, ofte...
Mound Formation and Coarsening in Homoepitaxial Growth

The effects of instabilities which lead to mound formation and coarsening in homoepitaxial growth on metal (100) surfaces are discussed. These include an instability due to the Ehrlich-Schwoebel step barrier to interlayer diffusion as well as an instability due to step-adatom attraction at ascending steps. A unified picture of the effects of attractive and repulsive interactions at ascending and descending steps on surface morphology and island nucleation is presented. An analytic calculation of the selected mound angle and critical temperature for mound formation as a function of both the Ehrlich-Schwoebel step barrier and the barrier to diffusion towards an ascending step is also presented. Depending on the sign of the step barrier and the magnitude of the prefactor for diffusion over a step various scenarios are possible, including the existence of a critical temperature for mound formation above which (for a positive step barrier) or below which (for a negative step barrier) quasi-layer-by-layer growth will be observed. A theoretical analysis also leads to an accurate prediction of the observed mound angle for Fe/Fe(100) deposition at room temperature. The general dependence of the mound angle, surface skewness, and mound coarsening exponent on temperature, deposition rate, and strength of the step barrier is also studied via kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of bcc(100) growth and compared with recent experiments.
Post-Breeding Dispersal of Burrowing Owls in an Extensive California Grassland

Abstract Understanding patterns of dispersal is key to developing effective conservation plans, yet dispersal is poorly known for most species. We radio-tracked 15 adult burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia) from 13 nests within the Carrizo Plain National Monument in southern California. Our goal was to describe post-breeding movements in this extensive grassland system. Of nests that failed (n = 9 nests), 8 radio-tagged individuals from 7 nests dispersed, whereas none of the owls from successful nests (n = 4 nests) dispersed. Dispersal distances ranged from 0.2 km to 53 km (median = 3.1 km). The large dispersal distances we observed within the breeding season were greater than previously published estimates of between-year breeding dispersal based on mark-recapture methods and provide insight into the lack of genetic differentiation observed among burrowing owl populations.
PASSIVE TRANSGRESSION: REMARKABLE PRESERVATION AND SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF UPPERMOST DEVONIAN (FAMENNIAN) MARGINAL AND NEARSHORE MARINE FACIES AND FAUNA OF WESTERN LAURENTIA

Abstract The stratigraphic record of shallow-water shoreline paleoenvironments is characterized by significant facies heterogeneity and laterally discontinuous stratal geometries. In contrast, we investigate a uniquely extensive and microstratigraphically spatially uniform interval of upper Famennian (Upper Devonian) marginal marine strata in the Rocky Mountains. This transgressive deposit (< 5 m thick) rests on a depositional sequence boundary, and is composed of a thin, discontinuous basal transgressive sandstone bed, two thin fossiliferous shale beds, and several meters of oncolite-bearing carbonate wackestone. The lower shale is a consistently thin (~ 0.1 m) bed with a fossil fauna of spinicaudatans (clam shrimp or conchostracans), which are extant, bivalved, chitinous, benthic crustaceans that live in fresh to brackish water, in ephemeral ponds, estuaries, and other shoreline settings. Isotopic data for the oncolitic unit record deposition in an epicontinental seaway with restricted circulation and l...
The loss of sustained Ca2+ signaling underlies suppressed endothelial nitric oxide production in preeclamptic pregnancies: implications for new therapy

Approximately 8% of pregnancies are complicated by preeclampsia (PE), a hypertensive condition characterized by widespread endothelial dysfunction. Reduced nitric oxide (NO) output in PE subjects h...
Parasail: SIMD C library for global, semi-global, and local pairwise sequence alignments

Sequence alignment algorithms are a key component of many bioinformatics applications. Though various fast Smith-Waterman local sequence alignment implementations have been developed for x86 CPUs, most are embedded into larger database search tools. In addition, fast implementations of Needleman-Wunsch global sequence alignment and its semi-global variants are not as widespread. This article presents the first software library for local, global, and semi-global pairwise intra-sequence alignments and improves the performance of previous intra-sequence implementations. A faster intra-sequence local pairwise alignment implementation is described and benchmarked, including new global and semi-global variants. Using a 375 residue query sequence a speed of 136 billion cell updates per second (GCUPS) was achieved on a dual Intel Xeon E5-2670 24-core processor system, the highest reported for an implementation based on Farrar’s ‘striped’ approach. Rognes’s SWIPE optimal database search application is still generally the fastest available at 1.2 to at best 2.4 times faster than Parasail for sequences shorter than 500 amino acids. However, Parasail was faster for longer sequences. For global alignments, Parasail’s prefix scan implementation is generally the fastest, faster even than Farrar’s ‘striped’ approach, however the opal library is faster for single-threaded applications. The software library is designed for 64 bit Linux, OS X, or Windows on processors with SSE2, SSE41, or AVX2. Source code is available from https://github.com/jeffdaily/parasail under the Battelle BSD-style license. Applications that require optimal alignment scores could benefit from the improved performance. For the first time, SIMD global, semi-global, and local alignments are available in a stand-alone C library.
Enhanced Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 with Ternary Ni-Fe4S4 and Co-Fe4S4-Based Biomimetic Chalcogels

Enzymes that catalytically transform small molecules such as CO, formate, or protons are naturally composed of transition metal cluster units bound into a larger superstructure. Artificial biomimetic catalysts are often modeled after the active sites but are typically molecular in nature. We present here a series of fully integrated porous materials containing Fe(4)S(4) clusters, dubbed "biomimetic chalcogels". We examine the effect of third metal cations on the electrochemical and electrocatalytic properties of the chalcogels. We find that ternary biomimetic chalcogels containing Ni or Co show increased effectiveness in transformations of carbon dioxide and can be thought of as solid-state analogues of NiFe or NiFeS reaction centers in enzymes.
Christian Human Rights Thought: Can Marxism Contribute?

Marxist analyses can contribute to Christian human rights thought in four areas. First, Marx's anthropology emphasizes process and sociality over fixed or determining human qualities. The species-being concept counterbalances cynical forms of Christian “realism” and secular, genetic determinism. Second, Marx's analysis of rights under capitalism engenders the claim that human rights begin with the right to a non-exploitative social structure. The Marxist critique reinforces the biblical injunction against identification with an unjust status quo. Third, current Marxist analysis of the historical failure of socialism generates hope based on learning from the past. The analysis can help Christians to hope and work for earthly embodiment of human rights short of the Kingdom. Finally, Marxism and biblical thought converge in pointing to the oppressed as crucial for obtaining human rights. Christians and Marxists have common criteria for a human rights agenda.
Development of a Finite Element Lumbar Segment Model for Simulation of Coupled Loading Conditions Validated With In Vitro Experimental Studies

The traditional approach for evaluating the biomechanics of the spine, both experimentally and computationally, is through a series of planar loading scenarios that are reduced to sagittal (flexion/extension), frontal (lateral bending), and transverse (axial) planes of movement [1]. However, coupled movements occur through daily living activities that place further demands on a spinal device beyond simple planar movements. The objective of this study was to investigate the in vitro biomechanics of the L4-L5 lumbar motion segment unit (MSU) under the coupled loading conditions, and to use the experimental data to validate a high-fidelity non-parametric finite element (FE) model of the L4-L5 lumbar MSU.© 2011 ASME
Reviving Androgyny: A Modern Day Perspective on Flexibility of Gender Identity and Behavior

Bem’s conceptualization of psychological androgyny introduced a new way of thinking in which crossing gender boundaries was seen as an adaptive form of flexibility that promoted better psychological adjustment. However, the research linking androgyny and adjustment was mixed, and unfortunately, flexibility was not adequately measured and was seldom investigated. Because of the failure to assess flexibility, the underlying issue remains unresolved—is flexibility healthy or not? In the first section, we review Bem’s original idea of psychological androgyny and then describe how assessing capabilities and functional flexibility more closely match the original idea of flexibility than do earlier measures. The second section describes research from the United States that illustrates new ways to measure gender identity and explains how these studies might help resolve the link between identity and adjustment. Specifically, we discuss research on “identity androgyny” in which judgments of gender identity involve considering how the self relates to both genders. This dual-identity approach provides a nuanced view of the identity–adjustment link by suggesting that identifying with one’s own gender is important for mental health but identifying with the other gender provides additional social benefits and may relate to flexibility. Next, we describe research that used a dynamical system approach and methods to assess children’s behavioral flexibility and how it relates to adjustment. By carefully revisiting the issue of flexibility associated with androgyny, our intention is to provide a convincing case that the idea of androgyny has potential to motivate new research on gender development.
Ascending aortic wall shear stress and distensibility are different in patients with corrected atrioventricular septal defect compared to healthy controls: a comprehensive CMR and 4D flow MRI evaluation

Background In patients with an atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD), the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) and the ascending aorta (AAo) are located more anteriorly due to the position of the common AV valve. This may alter proximal aortic flow, and we hypothesize that this can result in impaired LV systolic function and AAo wall degeneration. We aimed to quantify differences in AAo wall shear stress (WSS), distensibility (Dist), aortic arch pulse wave velocity (PWV) and LV ejection fraction (EF) in these patients versus healthy controls using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) and four dimensional (4D) flow MRI.
The Causes of HIV-infected Maternal Maternity Unused Antivirals in A Region in Southwest China

Objective To discuss the influencing factors on the HIV-infected pregnant women in maternity unused antivirals,to provide evidence to improve the antiviral applications proportion and medication compliance of the HIV infection maternal.Method Colleced 《HIV-infected pregnant women / premarital women's basic registration card》and《HIV-infected pregnant women and infants born to registration card》of all HIV infections maternal in 2009 to the first half of 2012, verified whether they really Access to anti-viral treatment, we compared the differences on education level, marital status, provide intervention services for health care organizations and to confirm HIV infection time of applicated and not applied antiviral maternal. Results In this survey, The health care organizations who Provided intervention services, whether maternals are floating population and the time when confirm HIV infection may affect the medication in HIV-infected pregnant women, and maternal education level may confirm the impact of HIV infection(P0.05). Conclusion It is not optimistic using antiviral drugs of HIV infectied maternal, the HIV antibody test is not timely or not hospital delivery is the major risk factors for HIV- infected pregnant women to miss antiviral specification medication, it need to strengthen health education on the knowledge of the prevention of mother-to- child transmission of AIDS women of childbearing age.
Rapid Determination Of Sudan Dyes In Thick Chilli Sauce By High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Objective To develop a fast,efficient determining method of four kinds of Sudan Dyes in thick chilli sauce by High Performance Liquid Chromatography(HPLC).Methods Under the condition of 37 ℃ warm-water bath,2.5 grams of sample was extracted with acetonitrile for 30 minutes.After being filtered through filter,the extract was concentrated on a revolving evaporator,and was settled to the volume of 10 ml by acetonitrile,then was injected.Four kinds of Sudan Dyes were separated by HPLC.The chromatographic conditions were as follow: short colum(Zobax C18150×2.1mm 5μm),low flow(0.3ml/min),single mobile phase(acetonitrile) and single wavelength(506nm).Results Four kinds of Sudan Dyes were separated completely on the colum within 5 minutes.The minimum detection limit of four kinds was 5.4、6.3、3.9、4.2μg/kg respectively,and the liner range was 0.01～5mg/L,the correlation coefficients was over 0.999(r2 0.999).The recovery rates at low,middle and high concentration ranged from 98.4% to 101%.Conclusion This method has the advantages of easy,fast and sensitive,and is suitable for bateh testing the determination of large amount of chilli sauce samples.
Pharmacologic Therapies in Gastrointestinal Diseases

Several key areas in gastroenterology pharmacotherapy are rapidly evolving, including the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV), irritable bowel syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and peptic ulcer disease. HCV treatment has radically changed in the past 2 years and now most patients are treatment candidates and have a high likelihood of permanent cure. Pharmacotherapy is now first-line treatment for patients with moderate to severe symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are the mainstay of therapy in gastric and duodenal ulcers and GERD, although long-term use carries the risk of several side effects that should be considered.
Accuracy of angiography in the localization of pheochromocytoma.

AbstractAn analysis of 20 patients who underwent angiographic localization of pheochromocytoma is presented. The tumors were localized accurately by arteriography in all 20 patients, by excretory urography in 4 of 13 and by computerized body tomography in 3 of 5. Venous sampling and venography were invaluable aids in the localization of pheochromocytomas in patients with postoperatively elevated catecholamine levels, or in the evaluation of recurrence or metastases. The tumors were extra-adrenal in 7 patients, bilateral in 4 and malignant in 5. The majority of these tumors occurred in women.
From optics to upscaled thermal conductivity: Green River oil shale

Abstract A novel approach for high-resolution (∼1 cm) spatial mapping of thermal conductivity from optical photographs of oil shale is developed and applied to the Mahogany Zone of the Green River Formation. A theoretically consistent constitutive equation for conductivity, parallel/perpendicular to the geologic bedding, as a function of organic content and temperature is proposed for unretorted Green River oil shale and shown to be in agreement with all published experimental measurements to date. Conductivity maps of a core spanning the full thickness of the Mahogany Zone are numerically upscaled, for intervals 10–80 cm long, and analytical equations capable of approximating the upscaled values to within ±5% error are presented. These obviate computationally costly numerical upscaling in the future. Upper bounds for upscaled anisotropy ratios (=parallel/perpendicular conductivity) were found to lie within 1.5 (typical case) and 2 (extreme case); with highest anisotropies occurring in the least conductive regions. The results of this work should benefit numerical models of in-situ retorting of oil shale resources at the core and field scales.
On Multi-Cycle False Paths in Sequential Circuits

In this paper we analyze the problem of multi-cycle false paths in sequential circuits and their impact on circuit performance. We present a study on the identification and removal of multi-cycle false paths from sequential machines specified at the functional and behavioral levels and show that multi-cycle false paths are not a property of the gate-level implementation but a property of the behavior of the machine and its state encoding. Based on behavioral level analysis, we derive the necessary and sufficient condition for the encoding of an FSM to obtain a false path free implementation and present a systematic encoding methodology to obtain a sequential false-path-free circuit. The experimental results show significant clock cycle reduction in sequential circuits encoded with this method.
The end of the Ediacaran: Two new exceptionally preserved body fossil assemblages from Mount Dunfee, Nevada, USA

Evaluation of hypotheses that relate environmental to evolutionary change across the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition has been hampered by a dearth of sections that preserve both the last appearance of Ediacaran body fossils and the first appearance of Treptichnus pedum within carbonate-rich strata suitable for chemostratigraphic studies. Here, we report two new exceptionally preserved latest Ediacaran fossil assemblages from the Deep Spring Formation at Mount Dunfee, Nevada (USA). Further, we report these occurrences in a high-resolution carbon isotope chemostratigraphic framework, permitting correlation on a regional and global scale. The lower of the two horizons, at the base of the Deep Spring Formation, hosts a body fossil assemblage that includes Gaojiashania, other vermiform body fossils, and possible Wutubus annularis interbedded with Cloudina shell beds. The upper of the two fossil horizons, in the Esmeralda Member of the Deep Spring Formation, contains Conotubus and occurs within the basal Cambrian negative carbon isotope excursion, establishing it as the youngest Ediacaran fossil assemblage discovered to date. This is the first report of Gaojiashania , Conotubus, and Wutubus in Laurentia, extending the known stratigraphic ranges and biogeographic distributions of these taxa to a global scale. These data refine the relative ages of defining characteristics of the Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary and confirm that a large perturbation to the carbon cycle and surface ocean conditions coincided with the extinction of Ediacaran organisms.
Current challenges in drug discovery for tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious threat to human health globally. Although drugs are available, the lengthy and complex regimen required – upwards of 6 months with four drugs – makes it difficul...
Treatment planning for metals using an extended CT number scale

Metal implants which saturate the CT number scale may require dosimetrist and physicist involvement to manually contour and assign an appropriate value to the metal for accurate dose calculation. This study investigated dose calculation based directly on extended CT scale images for different metals and geometries. The aim was to evaluate extended CT accuracy as a suitable alternative to standard CT methods in the presence of high-Z materials and artifacts, despite the reduced HU resolution of extended CT. Gafchromic film measurements were made for comparison to calculated doses. The method of direct dose calculation on extended CT scale was compared to our institution's standard method of manually contouring and assigning metal values on saturated CT images for each of the metal samples. Clinical patient plans with metal implants were investigated and DVHs were compared between standard CT and extended CT dose calculations. Dose calculations showed agreement within 2% between the two methods of metal characterization and the film measurement in the case of the strongest metal attenuator, cobalt-chromium. In the clinical treatment plans, the greatest dose discrepancy between the two methods was 1.2%. This study suggests that direct dose calculation on an extended scale CT image in the presence of metal implants can produce accurate clinically viable treatment plans, thereby improving efficiency of clinical workflow and eliminating a potential source of human error by manual CT number assignment.
Housing Choices as School Choices: Subsidized Renters’ Agency in an Uncertain Policy Context

Previous scholarship on the federal Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program has found that HCV renters are less likely than other households living below the poverty line to live in neighborhoods with...
Medication-Induced Seizures and Status Epilepticus

Drug-induced seizures (DIS) were first described in the literature in the 1950s after the psychotropic drugs chlorpromazine and imipramine were observed to cause secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures [1]. In the mid-twentieth century, stimulants such as pentylenetetrazol and penicillin, which were described to have caused seizures in humans, were also used to create animal models for epilepsy research [2]. DIS are not considered to be epilepsy. The myriad of causes can be due to direct medication effect on brain receptors, withdrawal effects from antiepileptic medications and benzodiazepines, and medications causing electrolyte disturbances.
Phytoplankton Standing Crop and Primary Productivity in the Tropical Pacific

Phytoplankton standing crop and primary production were studied during the summer of 1975 and the winter of 1976, in the Deep Ocean Mining Environmental Study (DOMES) area between 5° – 20°N and 128° – 155°W. Chlorophyll a values (used as a measure of phytoplankton standing crop) averaged 0.063 mg/m3 in summer and 0.17 mg/m3 in winter. In the euphotic zone average values were 9.8 mg/m2 in the summer and 21 mg/m2 in the winter. The vertical distribution of chlorophyll a at the majority of the stations occupied was characterized by the presence of a subsurface chlorophyll maximum layer (CML). CML was found at a deeper depth (about 60 ± 24 m) in summer than in winter (about 54 ± 30 m). This layer occurred either at the middle or the bottom of the maximum density gradient (pycnocline) in summer whereas in winter it was found either at the top or the middle of the pycnocline. CML was also found to be closely associated with the distribution of the nutricline especially that of NO3-N.
Compassion in Kim Longinotto’s documentary practice

Kim Longinotto’s documentary work avoids many of the weaknesses often associated with crosscultural documentary, such as the tendency toward voyeurism, or exploitation of an exotic “Other.” While o...
Persuasive Charity Appeals for Less and More Controllable Health Causes: The Roles of Implicit Mindsets and Benefit Frames

This research investigates whether donors' beliefs in changeability influence the persuasiveness of charity ads for less and more controllable health conditions. Across three studies and using different health conditions, we show that fixed-mindset consumers' beliefs about immutability lead them to donate more to less (vs. more) controllable causes. The results show that this effect is driven by their tendency to blame people with more controllable health conditions. Conversely, controllability does not influence consumers with growth mindsets, who believe in the changeability of health conditions. Moreover, we examine benefit framing as a potential persuasive factor encouraging donations of consumers with growth mindsets. Specifically, we find that in less controllable cases, consumers with growth mindsets are more persuaded to donate by other-benefit appeals (focusing on how donating enhances others' lives and makes others feel better); in more controllable conditions, they are more persuaded by self-be...
Regulation of L-Threonine Dehydrase Via Ligand-Induced Oligomerization

The biodegradative L-threonine dehydrase of Escherichia coli is activated by AMP through structural changes which decrease the Km for L-threonine 23-fold without affecting Vmax. AMP also causes a drastic increase in sedimentation velocity under conditions of catalytic assays. These are equivalent to at least a monomerdimer conversion. Thus, the changes in both kinetic and sedimentation behavior are mutually relevant. Oligomers formed at high protein concentration in the absence of AMP do not show a decreased Km for threonine. In addition, the activation caused by AMP is second order in protein concentration. Therefore, oligomerization is not a sufficient condition but is necessary for activation of the dehydrase.
Characterization of Dielectric Films

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the characterization of dielectric films in metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) technology. The basic objective in characterization of dielectric materials is to isolate and define specific mechanisms that cause the characteristics of MOS devices to deviate from those predicted for an ideal device. The MOS capacitor offers an incredibly powerful test structure for dielectric materials and conducting-solid–dielectric-solid interfaces. It is suited to general characterization of dielectric films of appropriate and relatively uniform thickness, once gross current leakage and breakdown problems have been surmounted. The characteristics of interest, in a wide range of accumulation-mode and depletion-mode logic devices and charge-coupled device (CCD)-type structures, are the applied voltages required to place a device in one or the other of these limiting situations. For oxide-film thicknesses of the order of 1000 A or more, 5–20 V device voltages produce insulator fields of the order of 2 MV/cm or less at which dielectric breakdown is not a serious problem within the conventional technology.
Constrained minimum crest factor multisine signals for "Plant-Friendly" identification of highly interactive systems

Abstract Highly interactive systems are ill-conditioned and highly sensitive to model uncertainty, which imposes limitations to achievable closed-loop performance. In this paper, the goal is to develop an identification testing framework meaningful to highly interactive systems based on the application of constrained minimum crest factor multisine signals. "Plant-friendliness" in the design procedure is accomplished by imposing constraints on the overall span, move size, and variability of both input and output signals. A modified 'zippered" power spectral density is proposed which contains both correlated and uncorrected harmonics to simultaneously excite low- and high-gain directions in the data. This signal design procedure is applied to a simple 2-by-2 multivariate system that exhibits challenging interaction and gain directionality issues. Validation of these signals in a closed-loop setting is accomplished by evaluating the performance of decentralized PI with sleady-state decoupler controller designs based on models estimated from noisy open-loop experiments. The modified "zippered" spectrum signals present a clear advantage over standard zippered designs for short data sets under noisy conditions.
History, Status and Future of Pulse Oximetry

Within the past 4 years, pulse oximetry has become widely used in anesthesia and many associated critical care situations. At least 15 manufacturers are now marketing these instruments. They have had a major negative effect on the sales of transcutaneous oxygen electrodes. It is thus appropriate to discuss oximetry in this 3rd International Symposium on Transcutaneous Blood Gas Monitoring. Poul Astrup and I have recently published a book and papers on this history [1–2] and Petersen briefly reviewed pulse oximetry history [3].
Piloting Classroom Response Systems in Graduate Psychology Courses.

This study examined student experiences of using classroom response systems (CRS; i.e., clickers) in graduate-level psychology courses. A total of 98 students participated in a repeated measures de...
Estimation of the Relationship Between Satellite-Derived Vegetation Indices and Live Fuel Moisture Towards Wildfire Risk in Southern California

Southern California possesses a Mediterranean climate having semi-arid to arid characteristics and contains shrubland areas at high risk to wildfire. To assess wildfire danger, fire agencies have been monitoring the moisture of vegetation, called live fuel moisture (LFM), using field-based sampling. Unfortunately, spatial and temporal resolution of live fuel moisture data are significantly limited because sampling is labor intensive. Remote sensing satellite data has been used to monitor vegetation moisture content and health of shrublands. Therefore, a potential approach to overcome the limitations of manual measurements of live fuel moisture is to use vegetation indices (VIs) derived from satellite data. The objective of this study is to understand the link between vegetation indices derived from a Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard both Terra and Aqua satellites and in-situ live fuel moisture data. In this study, five vegetation indices were calculated using 6 bands of MODIS data within the visible and infrared spectrum collectively with the focus on the three best performing: enhanced vegetation index (EVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), and visible atmospherically resistant index (V ARI). Six sites with multi-year live fuel moisture data collection type were each represented with one pixel of MODIS data with a 500m by 500m spatial resolution covering the time period of February 2000 through December 2017 acquired aboard Terra and June 2002 through December 2017 acquired aboard Aqua. Simple linear regression was then applied to measure the coefficient of determination (R2) between the vegetation indices and live fuel moisture data. The results show a great variance of R2 between the sites as well as a variance of best performing VI. The two strongest coefficients of determination, R2=0.74 and R2=0.72, were calculated at one site for enhanced vegetation index vs. live fuel moisture over a 15-year time period of data collected on Aqua and a 17-year time period of data collected on Terra respectively. The relationship was also affected by annual climate conditions including precipitation. Our preliminary results indicate that the satellite data reasonably well-represents the live fuel moisture with higher temporal resolutions over a large area. Utilizing the remote sensing data in wildfire danger assessment will support fire agencies by saving resources for collecting ground data and providing better dataset in both time and space. This will also be beneficial for land management and planning, stakeholders and local governments.
Introduction: Why Do We Need Arrhythmia Induction?

One of the main challenges in evaluating a patient with palpitations is determining the type of arrhythmia that is responsible for the patient’s symptoms. Many of the available outpatient monitors have limitations in the number of channels they can record or the amount of data they can store for analysis. In many instances, the initiation and termination of the arrhythmia are not captured on these monitors, and essential information for a correct diagnosis is not available. Ideally, the arrhythmia should be recorded on a 12-lead electrocardiogram for a correct diagnosis, but most of the time, this is possible only when the arrhythmia is sustained long enough to be still present when the patient arrives at the hospital. In the best case scenario, the arrhythmia is recorded on a heart monitor or 12-lead ekg, and then a pre-ablation strategy can be developed. Depending on the protocol used to induce arrhythmia, the clinical arrhythmia might be inducible along with other arrhythmias which might not be clinical. Knowing the type of arrhythmia the patient has as outpatient helps guide the ablation of the inducible arrhythmia that has similar characteristics, rather than map and ablate all inducible arrhythmias in the EP lab.
Sprouting, plant growth, and tuber production as affected by chemical treatment of white potato seed pieces

Whole, dormant or sprouted seed potatoes were treated with various concentrations of gibberellic acid, cut, and planted at three locations. Emergence of plants from treated seed was more rapid than from untreated seed. However, vigorously sprouting seed is less affected by GA than dormant seed. Concentrations of GA as high as 5 ppm had no material effect upon total yield of tubers, but concentrations higher than 5 ppm caused marked reduction of yield and changes in tuber shape. A more uniform size of U.S. No. 1 tubers resulted in some instances with GA treatment; specific gravity was not affected by GA treatment. With the possible exception of its use in producing small potatoes for seed, GA is not recommended as a seed treatment for dormant or sprouting potatoes.
Native American Epistemology

The purpose of this chapter is to orient the reader toward the three components of Native American epistemology that play pivotal roles in my arguments: ethical harmony, relationality, and praxes/procedures/processes. Relatedly, my ultimate goal here is to synthesize the various accounts of Native epistemology to further flesh them out into one coherent, complete analytical frame. I then show that Native epistemology is a procedural analysis of knowledge. This understanding of knowledge as an ethical, active, and interactive means through which to discover the right path requires a shift in how we understand the conception of Truth in itself.
Incidence of febrile neutropenia and effectiveness of pegfilgrastim prophylaxis in patients with advanced-stage solid tumors receiving chemotherapy.

e20564 Background: Advanced disease stage has been identified as an independent risk factor for the development of febrile neutropenia (FN), which continues to be associated with substantial morbid...
The critical role of persistent sodium current in hippocampal gamma oscillations.

Abstract Gamma network oscillations in the brain are fast rhythmic network oscillations in the gamma frequency range (~30-100 Hz), playing key roles in the hippocampus for learning, memory, and spatial processing. There is evidence indicating that GABAergic interneurons, including parvalbumin-expressing basket cells (PVBCs), contribute to cortical gamma oscillations through synaptic interactions with excitatory cells. However, the molecular, cellular, and circuit underpinnings underlying generation and maintenance of cortical gamma oscillations are largely elusive. Recent studies demonstrated that intrinsic and synaptic properties of GABAergic interneurons and excitatory cells are regulated by a slowly inactivating or non-inactivating sodium current (i.e., persistent sodium current, INaP), suggesting that INaP is involved in gamma oscillations. Here, we tested whether INaP plays a role in hippocampal gamma oscillations using pharmacological, optogenetic, and electrophysiological approaches. We found that INaP blockers, phenytoin (40 μM and 100 μM) and riluzole (10 μM), reduced gamma oscillations induced by optogenetic stimulation of CaMKII-expressing cells in CA1 networks. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings further demonstrated that phenytoin (100 μM) reduced INaP and firing frequencies in both PVBCs and pyramidal cells without altering threshold and amplitude of action potentials, but increased rheobase in both cell types. These results suggest that INaP in pyramidal cells and PVBCs is required for hippocampal gamma oscillations, supporting a pyramidal-interneuron network gamma model. Phenytoin-mediated modulation of hippocampal gamma oscillations may be a mechanism underlying its anticonvulsant efficacy, as well as its contribution to cognitive impairments in epilepsy patients.
Comparison of expected and observed outcomes for septal myectomy in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

Background Septal myectomy remains the criterion standard for treatment of symptomatic, medically refractory hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). There is no specific surgical risk calculator for septal myectomy. Methods This study compares the outcomes of septal myectomy at a tertiary referral center with predicted outcomes of mitral valve (MV) repair and aortic valve replacement (AVR) using the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac Surgery Risk Calculator (STS Calculator). A total of 298 consecutive patients with HCM underwent isolated septal myectomy from 2011 to 2014. Observed outcomes of septal myectomy were compared with the STS Calculator predicted risk of isolated MV repair and AVR predicted within this population using 1-sample tests of proportions. Results Thirty-day mortality for myectomy in this cohort was zero. STS Calculator predicted risk of mortality for MV repair was 0.7% (P = .14) and for AVR = 1.1% (P = .06). Follow-up for vital status was 6.0 ± 0.7 years, at which 294 (98.7%) patients were alive. Hospital stay length was 4.9 ± 1.9 days. One (0.3%) patient experienced a postoperative deep sternal wound infection, and 1 (0.3%) patient experienced a prolonged ventilated state. Postoperative atrial fibrillation occurred in 64 (21.5%) patients. During 30 days of follow-up, no patients experienced stroke, renal failure, or needed dialysis. Conclusions Septal myectomy, performed in a tertiary referral center, had a 30-day mortality rate of 0% and low morbidity rate. There was no difference between observed myectomy mortality and STS Calculator predicted risk for AVR and MV repair. It is possible that a larger sample could reveal lower mortality than STS prediction.
Safety and feasibility of transradial infrainguinal peripheral arterial disease interventions.

Abstract Objective Transradial access (TRA) has traditionally been favored for coronary interventions. Tools with up to 200 cm length now allow operators to treat infrainguinal peripheral arterial disease (PAD) using TRA. This study aims to assess the safety and feasibility of TRA infrainguinal interventions. Methods Patients with infrainguinal PAD who underwent intervention via TRA from July 2013 through June 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Exclusion criteria included Barbeau D waveform, a radial artery diameter of greater than 2 mm, radial artery occlusion, Raynaud syndrome, or peripheral vasculitis. Procedural success (adequate inline flow to the foot), TRA alone failure (crossover or use of an additional access site), clinical success (defined as improvement in ankle brachial index, clinical symptoms, or wound healing) and adverse events were recorded from procedure notes and follow-up visits. Results Thirty-six procedures were attempted using TRA in 32 patients (mean age, 65.8 years; range, 29-86; 22 male, 14 female) with mean height of 65.8 inches (range, 59.0-72.0 inches) and a body mass index of 28.7 (range, 19.1-43.9). Preprocedure Rutherford classification (II/III/IV/V/VI) was 8/15/2/7/4, respectively. The left radial artery was used for 35 of 36 procedures (97.2%). Treated vessels included the common femoral (n = 4), superficial femoral (n = 25), deep femoral (n = 1), popliteal (n = 10), tibioperoneal trunk (n = 2), tibial (n = 4), and plantar (n = 1) arteries. Interventions included angioplasty (n = 32, 100%), atherectomy (n = 8, 25%), and stenting (n = 13, 41%). Procedural success was 100%, the TRA alone failure rate was 11.1%, and clinical success was 89.3%. The median follow-up was 286.5 days (range, 0-919 days). Adverse events included radial artery pseudoaneurysm (n = 1), access site hematoma/bleeding (n = 3), radial artery occlusion (n = 1), groin hematoma (n = 1), popliteal artery dissection treated with stenting (n = 2), and a small superficial femoral artery perforation (n = 1) treated with prolonged balloon tamponade. No patients experienced signs of cerebrovascular events or distal embolism. Conclusions TRA is a useful option for treating patients with PAD; however, several limitations still exist.
CHAPTER X – Spatial Purity

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses spatial purity and the calibration of the spatial response or the field of view of a sensor, which is considered to be a problem of spatial purity. The problems of spatial purity arise from instrument response that exhibits nonideal spatial responsivity and source spatial distribution that is nonuniform or unknown. All practical sensors exhibit some off-axis response, which is a very difficult aspect of sensor calibration. The off-axis response is a problem of optical baffling in an optical sensor design. The solar coronagraph is an example of an electro-optical sensor in which the radiation of the sun is effectively blocked so that the brighter parts of the corona can be measured at will, rather than waiting for a solar eclipse. The chapter also discusses the errors associated with the nonideal field of view. The errors can be classified under two types, namely, near field and far field. The near field is defined as the sensor response near the on-axis response, whose evaluation provides for a direct comparison with the ideal field of view by which it is characterized, while the far-field evaluation gives a measure of the ability of the system to block out off-axis sources. Near-field errors are a result of bright regions of the source coinciding with below-peak response regions of the field of view, while far-field errors result from having very intense off-axis sources that are capable of producing a significant contribution to the sensor output even though the sensor spatial response to that source may be many orders of magnitude below the on-axis response.