cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
KETONES INHIBIT MITOCHONDRIAL PRODUCTION OF REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES PRODUCTION FOLLOWING GLUTAMATE EXCITOTOXICITY BY INCREASING NADH OXIDATION

Dietary protocols that increase serum levels of ketones, such as calorie restriction and the ketogenic diet, offer robust protection against a multitude of acute and chronic neurological diseases. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain unclear. Previous studies have suggested that the ketogenic diet may reduce free radical levels in the brain. Thus, one possibility is that ketones may mediate neuroprotection through antioxidant activity. In the present study, we examined the effects of the ketones β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate on acutely dissociated rat neocortical neurons subjected to glutamate excitotoxicity using cellular electrophysiological and single-cell fluorescence imaging techniques. Further, we explored the effects of ketones on acutely isolated mitochondria exposed to high levels of calcium. A combination of β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate (1 mM each) decreased neuronal death and prevented changes in neuronal membrane properties induced by 10 μM glutamate. Ketones also significantly decreased mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species and the associated excitotoxic changes by increasing NADH oxidation in the mitochondrial respiratory chain, but did not affect levels of the endogenous antioxidant glutathione. In conclusion, we demonstrate that ketones reduce glutamate-induced free radical formation by increasing the NAD+/NADH ratio and enhancing mitochondrial respiration in neocortical neurons. This mechanism may, in part, contribute to the neuroprotective activity of ketones by restoring normal bioenergetic function in the face of oxidative stress.
The effect of blood phenylalanine concentration on Kuvan™ response in phenylketonuria

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is caused by mutations in the phenylalanine hydroxylase gene (PAH) with consequent elevation of blood phenylalanine (Phe), reduction in tyrosine (Tyr) and elevation of Phe/Tyr ratio (P/T). Although newborn screening for PKU with early dietary treatment improved severe, irreversible brain damage, older patients suffer reversible losses in executive function when Phe concentrations are elevated. The maintenance of strict nutritional control in older children and adults remains difficult. An adjunct to dietary therapy, oral tetrahydrobiopterin (BH(4)) has recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a stable, synthetic BH(4) called Kuvan™. Published studies of Kuvan response in PKU varies and involved primarily children. In this prospective study we evaluated dose-response, response frequency and factors predicting response in 21 patients with PKU (aged 8-30 years), who required life-long dietary treatment. Response to Kuvan was defined at 24h (acute) and over 4 weeks (chronic) as a ≥ 30% decline in the Phe or P/T ratio. A dose of 20mg/kg Kuvan was chosen with 29% responding in 24h and 33% of patients at 4 weeks. We then compared baseline Phe, Tyr, P/T, Phe intake, and frequency of "severe" versus "moderate" mutant PAH alleles among acute and chronic responders and non-responders to Kuvan. Predictors of response to Kuvan, both acute and chronic were baseline Phe and baseline P/T. Baseline Phe and P/T were higher among non-responders (P<0.05). By contrast baseline Tyr was similar (P=0.45). Phe intake tended to be higher (18 ± 20mg/kg/24h) among Kuvan responders than non-responders (15 ± 11 mg/kg/24h), P<0.07 NS. Similarly the frequency of "severe" mutant PAH alleles tended to be more frequent (67%) among non-responders than responders (40%) by Chi(2) test, P=0.08 NS. These results were reproducible in a "responder" to Kuvan. To assess directly the effect of elevated blood Phe, Phe was lowered in four, "non-responder" patients, but all failed to respond to Kuvan. We conclude that baseline blood Phe and P/T ratio can predict increased probability for response to Kuvan by patients with classic PKU, but the in vivo mechanisms of response to Kuvan remain enigmatic.
Hormone therapy and cognitive function

BACKGROUND Clinical trials yield discrepant information about the impact of hormone therapy on verbal memory and executive function. This issue is clinically relevant because declines in verbal memory are the earliest predictor of Alzheimer's disease and declines in executive function are central to some theories of normal, age-related changes in cognition. METHODS We conducted a systematic review of randomized clinical trials of hormone therapy (i.e. oral, transdermal, i.m.) and verbal memory, distinguishing studies in younger (i.e. 65 years; n = 7) women and studies involving estrogen alone versus estrogen plus progestogen. Out of 32 placebo-controlled trials, 17 were included (13 had no verbal memory measures and 2 involved cholinergic manipulations). We also provide a narrative review of 25 studies of executive function (two trials), since there are insufficient clinical trial data for systematic review. RESULTS There is some evidence for a beneficial effect of estrogen alone on verbal memory in younger naturally post-menopausal women and more consistent evidence from small-n studies of surgically post-menopausal women. There is stronger evidence of a detrimental effect of conjugated equine estrogen plus medroxyprogesterone acetate on verbal memory in younger and older post-menopausal women. Observational studies and pharmacological models of menopause provide initial evidence of improvements in executive function with hormone therapy. CONCLUSIONS Future studies should include measures of executive function and should address pressing clinical questions; including what formulation of combination hormone therapy is cognitively neutral/beneficial, yet effective in treating hot flashes in the early post-menopause.
Statistical inference from atmospheric time series: detecting trends and coherent structures

Abstract. Standard statistical methods involve strong assumptions that are rarely met in real data, whereas resampling methods permit obtaining valid inference without making questionable assumptions about the data generating mechanism. Among these methods, subsampling works under the weakest assumptions, which makes it particularly applicable for atmospheric and climate data analyses. In the paper, two problems are addressed using subsampling: (1) the construction of simultaneous confidence bands for the unknown trend in a time series that can be modeled as a sum of two components: deterministic (trend) and stochastic (stationary process, not necessarily an i.i.d. noise or a linear process), and (2) the construction of confidence intervals for the skewness of a nonlinear time series. Non-zero skewness is attributed to the occurrence of coherent structures in turbulent flows, whereas commonly employed linear time series models imply zero skewness.
Defining the Roles and Responsibilities of Medical, Surgical, and Nutrition Societies for Conducting Research and Providing Medical Education in Nutrition

Nutrition research and education are the domains of many societies with somewhat divergent but often largely overlapping interests. Given the lack of consensus regarding appropriate nutrition therapy and the cacophony of educational efforts, cooperative endeavors seem prudent. The development of research consortia, data registries, tissue repositories, and a statistical core are all potentially beneficial. Such resources would result in clinical trials and quality improvement initiatives. Coordinated professional and public education, matched policy initiatives, and a unified process for the development of clinical guidelines are also desirable. The creation of durable alliances between nutrition societies and clinical organizations will require considerable effort and innovation.
Savage Restraint: Israel, Palestine and the Dialectics of Legal Repression

In 1988, Israeli security forces engaged in a wide variety of repressive tactics aimed at putting down the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Rather than viewing these methods solely as products of instructions handed down from on high, this article regards Israeli tactics as emerging from processes of innovation and elaboration by military personnel. Rules stipulating the legal use of lethal force placed important limits on Israeli military behavior. Within those limits, however, soldiers were free to invent new methods of repression. The article draws on 50 open-ended interviews with Israeli military veterans.
Plasmonic nano-cavities with high Q-factors

We report plasmonic Fabry-Perot nano-cavities formed by high aspect ratio metal mirrors on a metal surface. Quality factors from 100–200 were obtained, limited by plasmonic losses and fin scattering at short and long wavelengths respectively.
Choosing the Number of Conditioning Events in Judgemental Forecasting

One method for judgemental forecasting involves the use of decomposition; i.e. estimating the conditional means of an unknown quantity of interest for a finite number of conditioning events, and weighting these estimated conditional means by the estimated marginal probabilities of the corresponding conditioning events. In this paper we investigate how the level of decomposition (i.e. the number of conditioning events) affects the precision of the resulting forecast. Previous analyses assume that key parameters (the informativeness of the decomposition, and the precision of estimation for the conditional means and the marginal probabilities) remain constant as the number of conditioning events increases. However, this assumption is unreasonable, and for some parameters mathematically impossible; the values of these parameters are likely to change significantly even for small numbers of conditioning events. Therefore, we introduce models for how these key parameters may depend on the level of decomposition. We then investigate the implications of these models for the precision of the resulting forecast. In particular, we identify cases in which decomposition is never desirable, always desirable, or desirable only near the optimal number of conditioning events. This second case was not observed previously. We focus throughout on the situation likely to be of greatest interest in practice; namely, the behaviour of decomposition for relatively small numbers of conditioning events.© 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cultivation of cereals by the first farmers was not more productive than foraging

Did foragers become farmers because cultivation of crops was simply a better way to make a living? If so, what is arguably the greatest ever revolution in human livelihoods is readily explained. To answer the question, I estimate the caloric returns per hour of labor devoted to foraging wild species and cultivating the cereals exploited by the first farmers, using data on foragers and land-abundant hand-tool farmers in the ethnographic and historical record, as well as archaeological evidence. A convincing answer must account not only for the work of foraging and cultivation but also for storage, processing, and other indirect labor, and for the costs associated with the delayed nature of agricultural production and the greater exposure to risk of those whose livelihoods depended on a few cultivars rather than a larger number of wild species. Notwithstanding the considerable uncertainty to which these estimates inevitably are subject, the evidence is inconsistent with the hypothesis that the productivity of the first farmers exceeded that of early Holocene foragers. Social and demographic aspects of farming, rather than its productivity, may have been essential to its emergence and spread. Prominent among these aspects may have been the contribution of farming to population growth and to military prowess, both promoting the spread of farming as a livelihood.
Domestic Politics and War Outside the Democratic Peace

Domestic Sources of Global Change by Zeev Maoz is an important book that takes the already vibrant research on domestic politics and international conflict in new and meaningful directions. Although Maoz has authored some of the major works on the democratic peace thesis (Maoz and Abdolali 1989; Maoz and Russett 1993), this volume is not about the rise of democracy and its international consequences. The first hint that such is the case is found in Maoz's opening statement that "the more things change, the more things remain the same" ("plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose"). Rather, in ways that expand greatly on his 1989 'Joining the Club of Nations" essay, Domestic Sources of Global Change focuses on the international ramifications of another equally important, although less studied, dynamic of domestic political systems: regime change. The book's contributions to the international relations literature are twofold. First, it offers a wide-ranging theoretical framework that suggests the reciprocal effects between transformations in the international system (global and regional) and those in domestic political systems. Second, it contains an impressive set of systematic, empirical analyses of key elements of the framework using now standard data on political regimes and on wars and militarized international disputes during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By linking these theoretical and empirical contributions, Maoz points convincingly to another connection between domestic politics and war that does not involve the democratic peace. This alternative is less at odds with realism yet broadens rather than sidetracks ongoing research by adhering to the conventional research design found in the democratic peace literature. Domestic Sources of Global Change is organized as follows. Its opening chapter addresses two theoretical questions that remain central throughout the book: (1) what constitutes significant global change, and (2) what are the sources of global change? Maoz's major theoretical innovation is a set of three models that are distinguished in terms of the source of global change: systemic, regional, and national. The next five chapters, which constitute the bulk of the book, develop specific aspects of these models and empirically test a rough sequence of them. Chapters 2 and 3 examine the linkages between state formation and international systems, showing that new states emerge in clusters (the 1990s are not unique) as a result of external and domestic pressures and that new states with "revolutionary" origins destabilize international politics either by initiating conflict or by attracting it. In chapters 4 and 5, Maoz shifts his focus to explain the conflict proneness of "old"
Electronic conferencing: Understanding computer-mediated systems

Electronic meeting or conferencing systems have many advantages over traditional company meetings. But how many CEOs, CFOs, and other top managers choose the right one for the company? The authors explain the features and workings of these systems, and give valuable tips on selecting one. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Securing Disk-Resident Data through Application Level Encryption

Confidentiality of disk-resident data is critical for end-to-end security of storage systems. While there are several widely used mechanisms for ensuring confidentiality of data in transit, techniques for providing confidentiality when data is stored in a disk subsystem are relatively new. As opposed to prior file system based approaches to this problem, this paper proposes an application-level solution, which allows encryption of select data blocks. We make three major contributions: 1) quantifying the tradeoffs between confidentiality and performance; 2) evaluating a reuse distance oriented approach for selective encryption of disk-resident data; and 3) proposing a profile-guided approach that approximates the behavior of the reuse distance oriented approach. The experiments with five applications that manipulate disk-resident data sets clearly show that our approach enables us to study the confidentiality/performance tradeoffs. Using our approach it is possible to reduce the performance degradation due to encryption/decryption overheads on an average by 46.5%, when DES is used as the encryption mechanism, and the same by 30.63%, when AES is used as the encryption mechanism.
Robust marking of photoreceptor cells and pinealocytes with several reporters under control of the Crx gene.

Crx is a member of the Otx family of homeobox genes with expression restricted to vertebrate retinal photoreceptor and bipolar cells as well as the pinealocytes of the pineal organ. To facilitate the visualization of Crx-expressing cells, we generated transgenic mice expressing several reporters under the control of the Crx regulatory sequences present within a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC). These mice expand the transgenic mouse collection, which uses photoreceptor regulatory elements for reporter gene expression by providing a broader repertoire of reporter genes. In addition, because Crx is expressed very soon after a cell fated to be a photoreceptor cell becomes postmitotic, they provide a means for early identification of immature photoreceptor cells. Developmental Dynamics 238:3218–3225, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A Systematic Review of Simulation Studies Investigating Emergency Department Overcrowding

The problem of emergency department ED overcrowding has reached crisis proportions in the last decade. In 2005, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine reported on the important role of simulation as a systems analysis tool that can have an impact on care processes at the care-team, organizational, and environmental levels. Simulation has been widely used to understand causes of ED overcrowding and to test interventions to alleviate its effects. In this paper, we present a systematic review of ED simulation literature from 1970 to 2006 from healthcare, systems engineering, operations research and computer science publication venues. The goals of this review are to highlight the contributions of these simulation studies to our understanding of ED overcrowding and to discuss how simulation can be better used as a tool to address this problem. We found that simulation studies provide important insights into ED overcrowding but they also had major limitations that must be addressed.
Throughput achievable with no relaying in a mobile interference network

We consider a network of n sender/receiver pairs placed randomly in a region of unit area. Network capacity or maximum throughput is defined as the highest rate that can be achieved by each sender/receiver pair over a long period of time. It is known that without using relays (i.e., via only direct communication), the maximum throughput is less than O(1), that is, strictly decays as n increases. The network capacity without relaying for static or mobile networks is not known. However, a known lower bound on this capacity if O[(log (n))/n]. Our goal is to find a higher achievable rate. We show, by demonstrating a simple coding and scheduling scheme that uses mobility, that O[(log (n))/(n/sup 1/-/spl beta/)] is achievable, where /spl beta/ > 0 is a constant that depends on the power attenuation factor in the wireless medium. For example, when power decays as d/sup -4/ with distance d, O[(log (n))/(n/sup .25/)] is achievable. We assume channels to be AWGN interference channels throughput this work.
Silver Decorated Carbon Nanospheres as Effective Visible Light Photocatalyst

Abstract The objective of this study was to assess usability of silver nanoparticles loaded on amorphous carbon (Ag-C) nanospheres for the removal of Methylene Blue (MB) molecules from aqueous solutions. Using microwave technique, silver nanoparticles of different weight ratio was impregnated onto the amorphous carbon template. The amorphous carbon nanospheres were derived from glucose using hydrothermal technique. XRD and TEM images confirmed silver crystallites of size ~16 nm. Using UV-vis spectroscopy, the kinetics of MB removal from the solution was assessed. The degradation of MB followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The obtained results showed that Ag-C particles are efficient MB degradation agent with the rate constant as high as 0.19 min -1 under visible light and 0.041 min -1 under UV light. Thus Ag-C particles are good alternative as low-cost scavenger of dye molecules in wastewater treatments. Introduction Large industrial wastes, mainly aqueous toxic dyes such as Azo dyes, from textile, paper, leather, food and cosmetic industries are routinely poured out in water as waste [1,2,3]. Due to high stability of organic dyes it is difficult to decompose the dye molecule which eventually causes serious environmental and health problems. Furthermore, sunlight penetration to the aquatic environment is hindered by dye molecules which significantly affect photosynthetic processes. Dyes are also known to reduce oxygen levels in water which lead to suffocation of aquatic flora and fauna [4,5].The widely used biological treatment of waste water is found ineffective in treating dye loaded water as these dyes are resistant to destruction to biological treatment using microbes. The advances in synthesis of nanoparticles opened up an alternative solution to waste water treatment. An advanced oxidation process using nanoparticles such as ZnO, TiO
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) cargo system: senior design capstone project

To respond to current and future consumer demands in air cargo delivery, an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) cargo system is proposed. It would provide a safe, automated air cargo system which could be operational and more cost effective than the existing system. The system could potentially operate twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and provide guaranteed one business day delivery service. For the UAV cargo system to be in full operation it is assumed that the operational ground infrastructure for airport-independent operations is in place, accurate, and reliable, and the data link communication between air traffic control (ATC) and the UAV are in place. The analysis approach consists of evaluating the operational cost of the system by performing a trade-off analysis to measure the feasibility of the UAV cargo system for a business case; simulating the landing and en-route portion of the alternative proposed in order to analyze the operational performance of the system and to provide the best solution to the problem; and analyzing the safety and reliability of the system by performing failure rate analysis of the redundancy systems
A 72 channel 125 MSPS analog-to-digital converter module for drift chamber readout for the GlueX detector

We have developed a very high channel density custom A/D converter module for the drift chamber readout requirements of the Glue-X detector at Jefferson Lab Hall-D. This 6U VME64× module has 72 channels, including a low noise differential line receiver, cable frequency response equalization, and signal shaping with a 5th order filter. The signals are digitized at 125 MSPS with an assembly option for either 12 or 14 bit resolution (GlueX will use 12 bit). The digitized data is written continuously to a circular buffer, with an independent read port and pipelined readout path able to extract potentially overlapping signal records at a 200 kHz trigger rate without deadtime. The extracted data is zero suppressed and may be further processed on-board to reduce the data volume, and is then assembled into event records and event block records. Up to 1 MB of output data is buffered on-board and available for readout via 2eSST at up to 320 MByte/s.
Efficient building method of multiple spanning tree for QoS and load balancing

Current traffic patterns are far removed from the traffic trends seen during the early days of Ethernet technology. Therefore, the current IEEE 802.1 standard and its extensions to the spanning tree protocol fall short of providing-satisfactory quality of service for traffic which has a significant amount of QoS-sensitive traffic. In addition, they do not provide a mechanism for stabilizing the traffic load among a whole bridged network where usually the root switch has to handle all the traffic from its child switches. In the current and near-future scenario of switching networks with significantly large layer-2 clusters and numerous VLANs, we show significant shortcomings of the basic spanning tree and the multiple spanning tree protocols with regard to QoS and load balancing. We propose to incorporate a bridge ID scheme of a regional root identifier which is used in multiple spanning tree instance (MSTI) to provide an efficient MSTI building method for QoS and load balancing. Through this scheme, the traffic source of a point-to-multipoint (P2MP) application can set itself as the root of MSTI satisfying the QoS constraint while roots of several regular MSTIs are built in a distributed way. We discuss the problem of building MSTI for P2MP applications and regular MSTIs and present in detail our proposed scheme. Our experiments for two cases show good improvement of QoS in terms of delay and load balancing of the whole bridge network.
Small Intestinal Absorptive Function in Regional Enteritis

Abstract Small bowel absorptive function was investigated in 65 patients with regional enteritis in an effort to relate this to extent of disease or resection. Twenty-six patients had no surgery, 7 had been operated upon without recurrence, 22 had significant recurrence after resection, and 10 were suffering from a markedly shortened bowel. There was a close correlation between length of resected or diseased ileum and vitamin B 12 and fat malabsorption. When the length of ileal dysfunction exceeded 90 cm, Schilling test was abnormal in 13 of 13 patients and steatorrhea became more marked. Patients with resection and postoperative recurrence had significantly lower fat and B 12 absorption than those with disease and no surgery, reflecting the greater length of ileal dysfunction in the surgically treated group. Jejunal function as measured by D-xylose absorption was preserved in most patients.
Electric Field Perturbations in Terrestrial Clouds and Solar Flare Events

Abstract Atmospheric electrical data taken on 3744 m high Niwot Ridge, Colorado, during 1966, 1967 and 1968 are reexamined for evidence of a solar-weather link between the earth’s electric field and solar flare events. The onset of the response of the electric field to solar flare events occurs rapidly but dies away slowly. The slow relaxation of the field, together with the necessity to use data taken during periods of good weather, suggest a combined influence of solar emissions and meteorological processes on the observations. Assuming that any meteorological influence is most likely due to the interaction of the solar emissions with tropospheric clouds, the possible effect of the observed increases in the electric field and conductivity of the free atmosphere on the electrical conditions in cloud is calculated for extensive cloud layers. It is found that the disturbed conditions outside the cloud are magnified inside and are large enough in precipitating clouds to initiate further charging by the pola...
Accelerating large-scale simulations of cortical neuronal network development

Cultured dissociated cortical cells grown into networks on multi-electrode arrays are used to investigate neuronal network development, activity, plasticity, response to stimuli, the effects of pharmacological agents, etc. We made a computational model of such a neuronal network and studied the interplay of individual neuron activity, cell culture development, and network behavior. For small networks (100 neurons in a 10×10 arrangement), we concluded that our simulations’ behaviors were dominated by their limited size. However, increasing network size required huge computational resources: for a singlethreaded simulator, a 100 × 100 neuron simulation would take at least 2,000 hours (83 days). To tackle this problem, we ported the network simulator to the GPU. A first, naive implementation performed about 2.4 times faster than the single thread simulator. By progressively modifying the simulator structure, we achieved about 23 times performance gain compared with the single threaded simulator, bringing large-scale simulations into the realm of feasibility. Through this experience, we identified factors that limit performance improvement for this type of application. keywords: computational neuroscience, neural development, parallel simulation, GPU algorithms ∗This work was partially supported by the NVIDIA Corporation. 1 Background How activities and connections of individual neurons contribute to the development and computation of cerebral cortex is one of the central questions in neuroscience. A powerful experimental approach for investigating these questions is growing networks of cultured dissociated cortical cells on multi-electrode arrays. Such preparations allow investigation of network development, activity, plasticity [5], responses to stimuli [4], the effects of pharmacological agents [3], etc. In such experiments, network behavior commonly converges to whole-culture pathological (in the sense that it does not occur in vivo) bursting that generally interferes with the experimental goals [8]. This bursting is interesting from both a theoretical point of view [9], as well as a clinical one. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie bursting could allow creation of more useful cell cultures and have medical applications [11]. The work described here is part of an ongoing computational study of the interplay of individual neuron activity, cell culture development, and network behavior. While theoretical studies have revealed that networks of randomly-connected model neurons can produce bursting behavior [9], we have investigated whether such behavior can occur in an initially unconnected network that develops connections according to a model of cell culture connectivity growth. This model includes descriptions of neuron, synapse (connection), and development (connection forma-
Technically Successful Geniculate Artery Embolization Does Not Equate Clinical Success for Treatment of Recurrent Knee Hemarthrosis after Knee Surgery.

Abstract Purpose To evaluate technical details, clinical outcomes, and complications in patients undergoing geniculate artery embolization for treatment of spontaneous hemarthrosis after knee surgery. Materials and Methods During 2009–2014, 10 consecutive patients (seven women; mean age, 57.4 y) underwent geniculate artery embolization at a single tertiary care center. All patients except one had hemarthrosis after total knee replacement (TKR). One patient presented with hemarthrosis after cartilage surgery. Two patients in the TKR group had a history of TKR revisions before the embolization. Embolization was performed with polyvinyl alcohol particles (range, 300–700 µm). In one patient requiring repeat embolization, N -butyl cyanoacrylate/ethiodized oil was used. The endpoint for embolization was stasis in the target artery and elimination of the hyperemic blush. Results In 10 patients, 14 embolizations were performed with 100% technical success. Hemarthrosis resolved in six patients. Four patients required repeat embolization for recurrent hemarthrosis, which subsequently resolved in two of four patients. Three of the four patients who required repeat embolization had serious comorbidities, either blood dyscrasias or therapeutic anticoagulation. There were two minor skin complications that resolved with conservative management. The average length of follow-up after embolization was 545 days (range, 50–1,655 d). One patient was lost to follow-up. Conclusions Geniculate artery embolization is a safe, minimally invasive treatment option for spontaneous and refractory knee hemarthrosis after knee surgery with 100% technical success. However, limited clinical success and higher repeat embolization rates were noted in patients with serious comorbidities.
Relaxation time mapping technique development improves disease detectability

Background Relaxation time mapping is increasingly important for myocardial tissue characterization and potentially offers a quantitative descriptor of occult or heterogeneous myocardial disease. Recent techniques that reduce motion sensitivity, image artifacts and correct for elevated heart rates (HR) have made substantial advances in map accuracy and precision, but it is unclear how these improvements quantitatively lead to better disease detection. We used T1rho maps from normal subjects to generate variance-matched Monte Carlo data and retrospectively analyzed the effect that incremental improvements in mapping technology have on disease detectability.
Persistence of antibodies to ECHO-16 viruses following Boston exanthem disease.

SummaryPersistence of complement fixing and neutralizing antibodies to ECHO 16-like viruses was studied in 15 patients convalescent from Boston Exanthem disease. CF titers fell moderately within 1 or 2 years after infection, but remained demonstrable for 3 to 6 years. Levels of neutralizing antibody persisted without significant decline for a similar period of time.
Cryogenic storage of tomato pollen: effect on fecundity

The influence of cryogenic pollen storage on fruit set and seed production in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) was investigated. Flowers pollinated with pollen samples stored for 5 weeks at -80C, with or without 20 h precooling at 4C, had similar fruit set and number of viable seed per fruit as those pollinated with fresh pollen. Pollen samples, which were repeatedly cooled (-80C) and warmed (to 22 to 24C) for up to six cycles, continuously maintained the same viability as the fresh pollen. When cryogenically stored pollen of L. esculentum 2-837, LA359, LA3198, and LA3199 were used to pollinate LA359, the number of viable seed formed per fruit differed significantly. Results of this study suggest that pollen cryopreservation can be used successfully for tomato breeding and germplasm storage.
Changes of Gastrointestinal Hormones in Children with Helicobacter Pylori Related Chronic Gastritis

Objective To explore the changes of gastrin(GAS),motilin(MTL) and somatostation(SS) excretion in children with helicobacter pylori(Hp) related chronic gastritis.Methods The levels of GAS,MTL and SS were measured by radioimmunoassay on 50 patients in study group and 30 children in control group.The biopsy of mucosa speciments of antrum of stomach and duodenal ampulla on patients were made by fibrogastrocopy and the speciments were stained by Giemsa for histopathologic examination.Results 1.The level of serum GAS on patients with Hp-positive and Hp-negastive were(173±36) ng/L and(110±20) ng/L,respectively,t=3.274(P0.01).2.The level of serum MTL on patients with Hp-positive and Hpnegastive were(187±53) ng/L and(212±69) ng/L,t=(2.494) P0.05.3.The level of serum SS on patients with Hp-positive and Hp-negastive were(144.5±11.0) ng/L and(187.4±26.0) ng/L,t=3.897 P0.01.Conclusions The patients with Hp related chronic gastritis have secretory abnormalities of GAS,MTL and SS.The onset of the chronic gastritis maybe related to the change of the excretion of gastrointestinal hormone in blood.
Support of motoric activity – The role of the nurse

Abstract The submitted study dealt with the influence of education in the area of motor activities (MA) on the modulation of health. The selected research method was an experiment which included a total of 54 purposely selected respondents from the age of 20–71 years. The experimental group was divided into an experimental group of 20 respondents and a control group of 34 respondents. Within 6 months of the research the respondents of the experimental group performed the predefined MA. All participants of the research survey underwent an analysis of human body constitution by means of bioelectric impedance, before and after the experiment. The assessed indices were the content of body fat, active body mass with water content and without water content, basal metabolism and water content. The results show a statistically significant increase of active body mass in the experimental group compared with the control group. Favourable results are also found in the area of basal metabolism, which increased after the targeted intervention in the experimental group. The values of BMI and the content of body fat decreased after six months as predicted. It can also be stated that a very general education of nurses in the area of MA has a significant and positive impact on the constitution of the human body.
The truth about teaching

In 1997 I left academic physics and became a science teacher, since when I have regularly asked myself why. To be honest, I cannot come up with a definitive answer. But having pondered the question at length, I hope that what I say may help readers who are considering a career in teaching. Rather than weighing up the pros and cons of a career in education, which would require a very long discussion indeed, I shall simply provide some personal reflections on what being a school teacher has meant for me. What I say may inspire you to head for the nearest classroom, or it may make you turn tail.
Regulated Shedding of sema4D from the Platelet Surface Produces a Bioactive Second Messenger in Thrombotic Disorders.

Abstract Proteins that are expressed on the platelet surface can participate in contact-dependent signaling events which modulate thrombus formation or, after being shed from the platelet surface, serve as bioactive messengers that affect the function of nearby cells. Here we show for the first time that platelets express the class IV semaphorin known as sema4D or CD100, and that platelet activation causes the regulated shedding of the sema4D extracellular domain in a biologically-active form. Sema4D is a glycosylated 150 kDa disulfide-linked homodimer that has previously been implicated in interactions between T-cells and B-cells. Platelet activation by collagen, thrombin or PMA causes a transient increase in sema4D surface expression peaking at 15 min, followed by a complete loss of expression over 30–60 minutes. These events are accompanied by the release of the sema4D exodomain as a 130 kDa fragment, leaving a 25–30 kDa transmembrane and cytoplasmic domain fragment that is retained by the platelets. The cleavage event required to produce these fragments is inhibited by metalloprotease inhibitors and abolished in platelets from chimeric mice lacking the metalloprotease known as ADAM17 or TACE (TNF alpha converting enzyme). Incubation of recombinant sema4D with ADAM17 identified a single cleavage site just outside the predicted transmembrane domain. Western blots show that human platelets express ADAM17 in both its immature (zymogen) and mature (active) forms, and indicate that at least some of the ADAM17 is located on the platelet surface. ADAM17-dependent cleavage of sema4D does not require platelet aggregation, but the rate is accelerated when aggregation is allowed to occur and slowed when aggregation is prevented. Under both sets of conditions, cleavage of sema4D occurs to a greater extent and more rapidly than the ADAM17-dependent cleavage of GP Ib alpha, suggesting that there is a hierarchy of proteolytic events when platelets are activated. In terms of biological impact, the shedding of sema4D following platelet activation raises the possibility that the soluble extracellular domain of sema4D serves as a bioactive messenger. Two receptors for sema4D have been identified previously: CD72, which is present on lymphocytes where it regulates the activity of the tyrosine phosphatase, SHP-1, and plexin-B1, which is expressed in endothelial cells. Western blots suggest that both of these receptors are expressed on human platelets and show that SHP-1 is associated with CD72 in resting, but not activated platelets. Taken together, these results demonstrate that sema4D undergoes regulated ADAM17-dependent shedding when platelets are activated, and suggest that this results in the production of a bioactive form of the molecule that can affect responses in nearby platelets, lymphocytes and endothelial cells at sites of thrombosis.
Probabilistic prediction of program performance

The time it will take to run a program on a large problem size is estimated by sampling several smaller instances of the problem. Confidence intervals for the prediction are included. A time budget for sampling is used, so the estimate can be made quickly (but less precisely) or more slowly with greater accuracy. How to pick the sample points optimally under some simple assumptions is derived and proven. Overall accuracy is comparable to simulation or instruction counting, with much faster results; however, the results only apply to the given machine, not other platforms.
Morphologic and Immunohistochemical Evaluation of Plasma Cell Neoplasms

Plasma cell myeloma (PCM) is a bone marrow-based neoplasm, the diagnosis of which is straightforward in most cases. The presence of marked cytologic pleomorphism and extramedullary involvement, for example, can make the diagnosis of myeloma a difficult one in some instances. This chapter will provide a comprehensive review of the morphologic features of PCM; however, our emphasis will be on those variant histologic, cytologic, and immunophenotypic features that provide important diagnostic clues or that have the potential for misinterpretation leading to possible misdiagnosis. Because it is predominantly a neoplasm of the bone marrow, our discussion will focus primarily on bone marrow findings in PCM.
Habitat suitability and the constraints of migration in New World warblers

Identifying the factors that influence geographic range limits can illustrate the various ecological, physiological, and evolutionary constraints imposed on a species. The range limits of migratory birds are particularly challenging to study as they occur in disjunct regions at different times of the year, which can impose different constraints. Travel between breeding and wintering regions poses a significant energetic and navigational challenge to birds, although it is not clear how these movements influence breeding dispersal and range expansion. Here I ask whether the possible costs of migration limit the breeding ranges of wood warblers, a group of birds with an extensive history of ecological and evolutionary studies. I used occurrence records for multiple wood warbler species, breeding primarily in the boreal forest of North America, to generate environmental niche models. I tested for over-prediction of habitat suitability into the western boreal forest, where most these species do not have occurrence records but where there is presumably suitable habitat. I found that some of these vagile taxa, primarily found east of the Rocky Mountains, also have predicted habitat suitability that extends into the north and west, where they have little to no occurrence records. I discuss several possible explanations for this discordance. In particular, the patterns are consistent with the costs of a long-distance migration limiting the benefits of range expansion, as migration may become too onerous as the distance between breeding and wintering areas increases. These results speak to the process of niche filling more generally and call attention to an under-appreciated explanation for why migratory species may not fully occupy their fundamental niche.
Depression in Parents of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Claims-Based Analysis.

Previous studies showing that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in children can have secondary effects on the child’s parents are limited by small sample sizes and parent self-report. We examined the odds of depression in parents of children with ASD compared to parents of children without ASD using a large national claims database. Mothers (OR 2.95, 95% CI 2.81–3.09) and fathers (OR 2.41, 95% CI 2.25–2.58) of children with ASD were more likely to have a diagnosis of depression than parents of children without ASD. Odds of depression also increased when there was more than one child with ASD in the family and with child age. Study results reinforce the benefits of support and education for parents of children with ASD.
The Aesthetic Challenge: Three-Dimensional Planning Concepts for the Anterior Maxillary Aesthetic Zone

Patients who are missing teeth in the anterior maxillary aesthetic zone present difficult challenges for both the surgical and restorative clinician due to the fact that every patient presents with a unique and individual anatomical condition. The diagnostic information necessary to properly plan a surgical and restorative treatment should include, but not limited to, (1) intraoral periapical radiographs, (2) maxillary and mandibular impressions, (3) bite relationship/occlusion, (4) lip position/lip support, (5) smile-line, (6) soft tissue volume and biotype, and (7) three-dimensional imaging modalities such as computed tomography (CT) and the rapidly evolving cone beam CT (CBCT). Three-dimensional imaging and interactive treatment planning software is proving to be the modality of choice providing an increased number of diagnostic tools which can dramatically improve the ability for clinicians to assess the issues that present with each patient, especially in the aesthetic zone of the maxillary arch. These new tools have helped to redefine the workflow required to assess and plan each case and have created new paradigms and treatment protocols that will continue to be refined as the technology evolves. The ability to combine digital optical and intraoral scanning technologies with 3-D imaging helps to refine the process and increase accuracy when surgical guides are indicated. As technology improves, so will the clinician’s ability to provide enhanced treatment for patients in need.
The Big Corporation

The first case study that I would like to share happened in my first year of working in my position at Burke Medical Research Institute.
Toward Standards in Undergraduate Cybersecurity Education in 2018

There’s no consensus on what constitutes a solid undergraduate cybersecurity education. With the upcoming release of CSEC2017 curricular guidelines from the Joint Task Force of the ACM, IEEE Computer Society, AIS, and IFIP, along with the proposed undergraduate cybersecurity accreditation criteria from ABET, now’s the perfect time to reexamine the future landscape in this space.
Prozessmanagement als Gestaltungshebel der digitalen Transformation

Bietet das Hype‐Thema «digitale Transformation» die Chance, Prozessmanagement in ein ganz neues Licht zu rucken? Ist Prozessmanagement vielleicht sogar eine wesentliche Voraussetzung, um den digitalen Wandel zielgenauer zu gestalten? Oder wird Prozessmanagement im Zeitalter der selbstorganisierenden Teams und Customer Journeys letztlich uberflussig? Nicht nur Branchen, sondern auch Managementdisziplinen sind herausgefordert, sich mit der Relevanz der digitalen Transformation zu beschaftigen, sich neu zu ordnen, sich besser zu verzahnen und sich letztlich zu wandeln. Ziel der Business‐Process‐Management‐Studie 2016, mit der das Institut fur Wirtschaftsinformatik der Zurcher Hochschule fur Angewandte Wissenschaften, School of Management and Law seit 2011 regelmassig Status quo und Best Practices im deutschsprachigen Raum erhebt, war es, die Rolle des Prozessmanagements als Gestaltungshebel der digitalen Transformation zu beleuchten.
Epistemology: V. Antinomy

The second division of Kant’s first Critique is entitled Transcendental Dialectic, and is relatively straightforward. The Analytic explained how knowledge (truth) was constituted, while the Dialectic explains how paralogisms arise and belongs to the second part of the Transcendental Logic. Kant claims that the fundamental mission of epistemology is to prevent knowledge from intruding into domains beyond its proper reach. It is also for this reason that his philosophy is called a critical philosophy.