cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dredge and Fill: The Importance of Precise Definitions

The allure of gold has long caused misjudgments and madness, so perhaps it is no surprise that today’s regulation of mining activities is a bit peculiar as well. The land of the midnight sun is not the only place where strange things are done. Washington, D.C., is also a prime location for oddities, and the Clean Water Act is a leading example. The statute, which is the federal government’s strongest regulatory tool to protect wetlands, does not prohibit all activities that harm wetlands. It is not illegal under the Clean Water Act to remove wetland vegetation. It is not illegal under the Clean Water Act to excavate or dredge wetlands. It is even not illegal under the Clean Water Act to drain a wetland. Rather, what is prohibited is the “point source discharge‘ of “dredged or fill material.” Thus, it is of paramount importance how these terms are defined, and the definitions have an impact on development and mining operations from Appalachia to Alaska.
The Committee for the Publication of African Historical Sources

On December 7, 1983, a group convened at the Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association in Boston and constituted itself tentatively as the Committee for the Publication of African Historical Sources. The initial convocation had been made by Harold Marcus and David Robinson of Michigan State University with a view towards constituting a US Committee for the Fontes Historiae Africanae , which is part of the International Academic Union and has been working on the publication of African historical sources for over twenty years. John Hunwick of Northwestern University, Director of the Fontes , explained his work over the last decade in supporting the publication of edited texts, translations, and commentaries through Fontes . Most of the publications have been in the Arabica series. Fontes has not had a national committee in the United States and the group was prepared to take the lead in constituting such a committee.
PrimerMapper: high throughput primer design and graphical assembly for PCR and SNP detection.

Primer design represents a widely employed gambit in diverse molecular applications including PCR, sequencing and probe hybridization. Variations of PCR, including primer walking, allele-specific PCR and nested PCR provide specialized validation and detection protocols for molecular analyses that often require screening large numbers of DNA fragments. In these cases, automated sequence retrieval and processing become important features and furthermore, a graphic that provides the user with a visual guide to the distribution of designed primers across targets is most helpful in quickly ascertaining primer coverage. To this end, I describe here, PrimerMapper, which provides a comprehensive graphical user interface that designs robust primers from any number of inputted sequences while providing the user with both, graphical maps of primer distribution for each inputted sequence and also a global assembled map of all inputted sequences with designed primers. PrimerMapper also enables the visualization of graphical maps within a browser and allows the user to draw new primers directly onto the webpage. Other features of PrimerMapper include allele-specific design features for SNP genotyping, a remote BLAST window to NCBI databases and remote sequence retrieval from GenBank and dbSNP. PrimerMapper is hosted at GitHub and freely available without restriction.
Maternal hematologic status and outcome of pregnancy in blacks and whites

It seems very odd that the large studies by both Lieberman et al. and Kleinman and Kessel (Sept. 17 issue) should all but ignore the basic biologic influence of maternal nutrition on the course and outcome of pregnancy. Central to current obstetrical practice are the classical results of the Collaborative Perinatal Project of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke. This study based on 55908 pregnancies demonstrated that for both blacks and whites an increase in birthweight and a decrease in the incidence of low birthweight occurred as maternal height increased above 147.3 cm. Also for both races the mean birthweight increased and the proportion of infants with low birthweight decreased with increasing weight before pregnancy. When maternal height and prepregnancy weight were considered together the rate of low birthweight was reduced 5-fold among whites and 3-fold among blacks. Kleinman and Kessel neglect to include these variables in their analysis and Lieberman and her associates include them inaccurately through the ponderal index. This ratio which is traditionally used to quantify the proportionality of intrauterine growth in newborns identifies only extreme cases of low pregravid weight-for-height. For example a woman 152 cm tall would have to weigh less than 41.4 kg (20% underweight) to have a ponderal index of less than 18 the investigators identified risk level. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has identified low prepregnant and weight-for-height as 10% or less. Women with short stature moderate or massive obesity or low weight-for-height (less than 10% to less than 20%) are not detected by this index. In addition weight gain during pregnancy as a variable influencing birthweight and length of gestation is missing in both studies. All these variables have been shown to influence intrauterine growth dramatically. (full text)
P100 IHC Testing For Sebaceous Neoplasms: A Rapid Review Of Screening Accuracy And Application Of GRADE

Background Lynch syndrome is the most common form of inherited colorectal cancer (∼3% of cases). Among patients with colorectal cancer tumours, immunohistochemistry (IHC) for mismatch repair proteins has demonstrated validity and utility as a screening test for Lynch syndrome, although guidelines differ on whether screening should be limited to patients at increased risk. IHC can be performed on other Lynch-related tumours, including sebaceous neoplasms, although it is unclear if IHC should be part of routine pathologic evaluation for sebaceous neoplasms. Objectives To determine the clinical validity and utility of routine IHC testing of sebaceous neoplasms to inform development of guidance on screening for the Muir-Torre variant of Lynch syndrome. Methods An AHRQ-based analytic framework was created. We conducted comprehensive searches to identify clinical studies that evaluated IHC testing of sebaceous neoplasms as a method of screening for Muir-Torre syndrome. GRADE was used for critical appraisal. Results The body of evidence included 14 clinically heterogeneous studies representing approximately 300 patients. The weighted mean screen positive rate was 37%. Few studies reported measures of clinical validity, although half of the studies reported the prevalence of visceral malignancy and/or results of germline mutation testing, suggesting possible reporting bias. Discussion The overall body of evidence is of low quality and does not provide conclusive evidence for or against IHC testing for sebaceous neoplasms, either as a routine protocol or only among patients at high risk for Muir-Torre syndrome. Implications for Guideline Developers/Users Rapid evidence reviews are useful for informing guidance development on rare/genetic conditions.
CRT-2 The State Of The Excimer Laser For Coronary Intervention In The Drug-eluting Stent Era

This study aimed to determine how Excimer laser coronary atherectomy (ELCA) performs in the drug-eluting stent (DES) era. For more than 20 years, ELCA has been used for coronary intervention. With developments in the coronary intervention field, the role of ELCA is in question. The study includes
Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Activity on Analysts’ Behavior

We investigate whether or not a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities influence analysts’ behavior. CSR is concerned with the impact of corporations’ present actions on the ecosystems, societies, and environments of the future and includes both positive and negative attributes. Firms with a lower degree of social responsibility activities (e.g., more concerns than strengths) are characterized by less reputation, high risk, high information asymmetry and non-transparent disclosures. These are attributes analyst care about and may influence their behavior. We therefore expect and find that analyst following and consensus forecast accuracy increase and that dispersion among consensus analyst forecasts and revision volatility decrease as the degree of CSR activities increases. We further find that the influence is driven by the CSR strengths while being limited by CSR concerns. We show that CSR activities are relevant to an important user group and as a result, we inform regulators as they debate a CSR reporting framework and assurance standards.
Synthesis and characterization of polystyrene carbon nanotube nanocomposite for utilization in the displaced foam dispersion methodology

Abstract Incorporating nanostructured functional constituents within polymers has become extensive in processes and products for manufacturing composites. The conception of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and their heralded attributes that yield property enhancements to the carrier system is leading many industries and research endeavors. Reported Displaced Foam Dispersion (DFD) methodology is a novel and effective approach to facilitating the incorporation of CNTs within fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPC). The methodology consists of six separate solubility phases that lead to the manufacture of CNT-FRPCs. This study was primarily initiated to characterize the interaction parameters of nanomaterials (multiwalled carbon nanotubes), polymers (polystyrene), and solvents (dimethyl formamide (DMF) and acetone) in the current paradigm of the DFD materials manufacture. Secondly we sought to illustrate the theoretical potential for the methodology to be used in conjunction with other nanomaterial-polymer-solvent systems. Herein, the theory of Hansen's solubility parameters (HSP) is employed to explain the effectiveness of the DFD materials manufacture ratios and aid in the explanation of the experimental results. The results illustrate quantitative values for the relative energy differences between each polymer-solvent system. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to characterize the multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in each of the solubility stages and culminates with an indication of good dispersion. Additionally, the rate of acetone evaporation over 25 min is reported for the sorbed CNTaffy nanocomposites from 0 to approximately 60 wt percent loadings.
To explore the effect of exercise on the elders' physical and mental health from the exercise's intension

[Objective]to explore the effect of exercise on elders' physical and mental health.[Method]selecting 206 old college members and grouping them by intension of exercise,then to investigate basic conditions and SF- 36 scales,and to check some physical indexes.[Result]the centricity fatness and IgG- hightened and SF-36 score have statistic differences.[Conclusion] exercise can improve the elders' physical and mental health.
Acute- and chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia colony-forming units are highly sensitive to the growth inhibitory effects of c-myb antisense oligodeoxynucleotides

We have previously demonstrated that malignant hematopoietic colony-forming units (CFUs) may be purged from normal CFU by exposure to c-myb antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (oligomers). This novel strategy appeared particularly promising for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in blast crisis, since in some cases complete elimination of bcr-abl-expressing cells was accomplished. We have examined 11 additional patients, including seven in chronic phase, in order to extend these initial observations. We sought in particular to determine if elimination of bcr-abl-expressing clones was a usual event. Exposure of CML cells to c-myb antisense oligomers resulted in inhibition of CFU-granulocyte, macrophage (CFU-GM)-derived colony formation in eight of 11 (73%) cases evaluated. Inhibition was antisense sequence-specific, dose-dependent, ranged between 58% and 93%, and was statistically significant (P less than or equal to .03) in seven of the eight cases. In two cases, CFU-granulocyte, erythrocyte, monocyte, megakaryocyte (CFU-GEMM)-derived colony formation was also examined and found to be inhibited by the c-myb antisense oligomers in a sequence-specific manner. To determine whether CML CFU had been reduced or eliminated after exposure to the antisense oligomers, we examined cells in the residual colonies for bcr-abl mRNA expression using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction detection technique (RT-PCR). Eight cases were evaluated and in each case where antisense myb inhibited growth, bcr-abl expression as detected by RT-PCR was either greatly decreased or nondetectable. No residual leukemic CFU were demonstrable on replating of treated cells. These results suggest that c-myb antisense oligomers substantially inhibit the growth and survival of CML CFU in both chronic and blast phase of disease. They may therefore prove useful for both ex vivo and in vivo treatment of CML.
Organizational Identity and Innovation

Though much work has studied organizational identity and the management of innovation, very little work explores the connection between them. Yet we argue that these separate conversations yield implications for one another and offer a rich area for future research. By its nature, innovation is about novelty and change, while identity is rooted in stability and endurance. This contrast creates a fundamental tension, which we explore. We propose that innovative activities like technological change fall on a spectrum from identity-enhancing to identity-stretching to identity-challenging. Both identity-enhancing and identity-stretching innovations result in a mutually constitutive dynamic in which identity and innovation reinforce each other. Identity-challenging innovations, however, create organizational discord and dysfunctional dynamics unless realigned with identity. We discuss the implications of these varying states and call for future research that builds upon and extends our understanding of the relationship between identity and innovation across multiple levels of analysis.
Started from the Bottom Now We're Where? African‐American and Latino Niching in Gulf Coast Metros

Objectives Labor market concentration, or niching, is a process by which individuals are concentrated in particular sectors often by racial or ethnic group, gender, or economic standing. Niching limits economic upward mobility for certain groups, particularly African Americans and Latinos, and processes encouraging niching may change over time. Methods This study examines African-American and Latino occupational niching in New Orleans and Houston in 2000 and 2008–2012 using confidential microdata and in relation to both individual and neighborhood characteristics. Results Individual and local human capital levels are found to play important roles in niching likelihood, in addition to other individual characteristics, such as foreign-born status and neighborhood conditions, specifically local co-racial and co-ethnic population percentages. Conclusions Results overall highlight the importance of place- and group-specific approaches to both policy and research related to improving economic outcomes for racial and ethnic groups. These customized efforts are particularly important in metropolitan areas undergoing rapid economic, social, and demographic growth and restructuring such as New Orleans and Houston.
Anion Exchange Membranes: Enhancement by Addition of Unfunctionalized Triptycene Poly(Ether Sulfone)s.

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells are a clean and efficient promising future energy source. However, the development of stable high-performance membranes remains a major challenge. Herein we demonstrate that the addition of unfunctionalized triptycene poly(ether sulfones) into 1-methylimidazolium poly(ether sulfone) enhances membrane’s conductivity (up to 0.082 S/cm at 80 °C), minimizes dimensional changes over temperatures from 20 to 80 °C, and enhances stability with 30% of the initial conductivity maintained after 450 h. These enhancements appear to be the result of nanophase separation and internal free volume. Small angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy reveal that the internal domain size increases (up to 7.44 nm) with increasing triptycene fraction.
Dissolving Salts in Water: Students' Particulate Explanations of Temperature Changes.

This study investigates how students account for a macroscopic temperature change during the dissolution of ionic salts through particulate level explanations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with general chemistry, physical chemistry, and biophysical chemistry students. During the interviews, students conducted hands-on tasks that included the touching of beakers containing exothermic or endothermic dissolution processes. Data analysis resulted in categorizing students into groups based on their ideas about bond breaking, bond making, and energy changes. Students’ particulate understandings of the dissolving process did not appear to impact their explanations of the energy changes they observed. Only two students (one from general chemistry and one from biophysical chemistry) correctly described both the dissolving process and the macroscopic energy changes. No students invoked the concepts of potential energy, lattice energy, or enthalpy of hydration to explain their observations.
Municipal Credit Default Swaps: Implications for Issuers

Credit default swaps (CDS) are a widely-used risk management tool in ﬁnancial markets. One of their principal, if indirect, beneﬁts is that the market price of default protection is a real-time signal of issuer credit risk. Prior research on corporate CDS suggests that signal facilitates price discovery and in turn beneﬁts issuers and investors. At the moment it is unclear if they convey similar beneﬁts to the municipal bond market. I address this by examining the determinants of the price of municipal credit default protection, and whether that price affects borrowing costs on new bond issues. I ﬁnd that price conveys information about management policies and practices that is not typically reﬂected in credit ratings. I also ﬁnd that, contrary to expectations, an increase in the price of default protection decreases borrowing costs on new bond issues. I posit that ﬁnding follows from the more complete picture of idiosyncratic issuer credit risk that CDS provide.
NEURAL TISSUE CULTURE: A BIOCHEMICAL TOOL

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of neural tissue culture. The realization that neural tissue and cell culture provides the opportunity to explore neural function at its cellular, subcellular, and molecular levels has brought into literature a boom of several reviews describing the morphological, electrophysiological, and biochemical applications of neural tissue and cell culture. These systems represent varying degrees of organizational complexity, and each has inherent advantages and disadvantages that influence its application in neurochemical studies. Organ and organotypic cultures provide the closest models to the cytoarchitecture of the original central nervous system (CNS) tissue. These systems have been used most extensively in morphological and electrophysiological studies, primarily in relationship to CNS development. Recently, organotypic cultures of various CNS tissues have been used for biochemical investigations of brain maturation in vitro. These studies have contributed information relating to the maturation of several neural enzymes and neurotransmitter metabolism and have provided a model system to study intrinsic and extrinsic factors regulating neural growth and development. The basic advantage of culture systems in studying neural tissue growth and function lies in the potential to experimentally manipulate—and ultimately control—the humoral and cellular environments in which neural cells operate. Although culture systems simplify the complexity of the brain, they also eliminate the influences of brain area interactions that may ultimately modulate brain function. Therefore, caution should always be exercised in the interpretation of results from in vito systems and their extrapolation to brain function in vivo.
ARTHROPODS AND ECOMONES: BETTER FITNESS THROUGH ECOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY

ABSTRACT Ecomones are discussed as major factors in determining arthropod fitness. The subdivision of these compounds into only two major classes—pheromones and allomones—is presented as a requirement for avoiding further terminological chaos. The selective utilization of ecomones as cryptic “pheromones” and as offensive repellents is presented as examples of the diversity of novel functions which these compounds are known to possess. Sequestration of plant allomones is discussed both in terms of its adaptiveness and as the basis for the occurrence of idiosyncratic arthropod defensive secretions. The eclectic origins of these plant-derived defensive secretions are examined and their selective value vis-a-vis predators is analyzed. The significance of plant allomones inhibiting the enteric microorganisms of arthropods is discussed as a possible major factor in the evolution of host-plant specificity.
Clinical Behavioral Medicine and Its Cutting Edges

Profound changes have been occurring in health care, particularly in terms of the types of diseases presented to physicians today, and the recognition of the inadequacies of conventional medical treatments for these disorders. Acute infectious diseases, like pneumonia and tuberculosis, no longer kill or cripple citizens of the United States so frequently as they did in 1900. Instead, chronic stress-related multifactorial conditions, like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and auto accidents, are today’s major killers and cripplers. These diseases cannot be traced to a single pathogen, but behavioral and environmental factors can increase vulnerability to the disease (Califano, 1979). Eighty percent of the problems presented to physicians today are chronic diseases, such as colitis, arthritis, asthma, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. These are diseases of choice, not chance, because life-style and behavioral factors, such as diet, smoking, and exercise, are major risk factors for the prevention of these disorders. With the chronicity of disease, behavioral factors become even more crucial to prognosis and to effective therapy (compliance with medication, depression, etc.). In 1979 the Surgeon General’s Report attributed 50% of all deaths to unhealthy behaviors. The profile of illness today is marked by chronic-stress-related multifactorial diseases in which behavioral and psychological variables and issues of choice are crucial to prevention, therapy, and prognosis. It is worth noting that even for a new infectious disease, AIDS, behavior is a major risk factor and in fact a specific type of behavior, sexual behavior. (See Figure 5.)
A conceptual life cycle-based sustainability framework for assessing transportation vehicles

Life cycle assessment has been used extensively in the transportation sector to determine impacts of transportation infrastructure and other components; however, the majority of these studies focus on environmental life cycle impacts. This study presents applications of the life cycle assessment method in transportation and develops a sustainability framework that incorporates life cycle impacts for assessing urban transportation vehicles. The framework uses five sustainability dimensions, a set of 32 sustainability indicators, 14 midpoint impacts, seven endpoint impacts and three sustainability indices for the assessment of different technologies of urban transportation vehicles. The framework aims to enhance decision making by aggregating data, which are used to quantify multiple indicators, into a different form of indices representing environment, technology performance, energy, economy and user-based impacts.
Conscientious Objection: A Talmudic Paradigm Shift

Conscientious objection remains a very heated topic with strong opinions arguing for and against its utilization in contemporary health care. This paper summarizes and analyzes various arguments in the bioethical literature, favoring and opposing conscientious objection, as well as some of the proposed solutions and compromises. I then present a paradigm shifting compromise approach that arises out of very recent Jewish bioethical thought that refocuses the discussion and can minimize the frequency with which conscientious objection is required.
The association of neuropsychiatric symptoms with regional brain volumes from patients in a tertiary multi-disciplinary memory clinic.

Background: To examine the interaction between structural brain volume measures derived from a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and occurrence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in outpatient memory clinic patients. Methods:Clinical and neuroimaging data were collected from the medical records of outpatient memory clinic patients who were seen by neurologists, geriatric neuropsychiatrists, and geriatricians. MRI scan acquisition was carried out on a 3 T Siemens Verio scanner at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. Image analyses used an automated multi-label atlas fusion method with a geriatric atlas inventory to generate 193 anatomical regions from which volumes were measured. Regions of interest were generated a priori based on previous literature review of NPS in dementia. Regional volumes for agitation, apathy, and delusions were carried forward in a linear regression analysis. Results: Seventy-two patients had clinical and usable neuroimaging data that were analyzed and grouped by Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE). Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) agitation was inversely associated with rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) bilaterally and left subcallosal ACC volumes in the moderate severity group. Delusions were positively associated with left ACC volumes in both severe and mild groups but inversely associated with the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in the moderate subgroup. Conclusions: Agitation, apathy, and delusions are associated with volumes of a priori selected brain regions using clinical data and clinically acquired MRI scans. The ACC is an anatomic region common to these symptoms, particularly agitation and delusions, which closely mirror the findings of research-quality studies and suggest its importance as a behavioral hub.
Risk factors for hip dislocation in dyskinetic cerebral palsy

Purpose:To investigate the risk factors for hip displacement in patients with dyskinetic cerebral palsy (DCP).Methods:We evaluated 81 patients with DCP, 45 males and 36 females, aged 10–22 years, r...
Border Thinking: Latinx Youth Decolonizing Citizenship: by Andrea Dyrness and Enrique Sepúlveda III, 2020, University of Minnesota Press, 2020. 280 pp., $27.00 paper ISBN 9781-5179-0630-6

In Border Thinking, scholars Andrea Dyrness and Enrique Sepulveda III explore democratic citizenship formation within Latinx diaspora using critical ethnography and Participatory Action Research (P...
In search of Santa Claus: Samuelson, Stigler, and Coase theorem worlds

Paul Samuelson was fond of labeling mathematical models with extremely strong and empirically unrealistic assumptions, "Santa Claus" economics. But there was one economic result that, in Samuelson’s view, could not be captured even in a Santa Claus world: the Coase theorem, an object of his repeated derision. His friend George Stigler, though, had no such problems and, indeed, was perhaps the biggest cheerleader for the theorem. This paper examines their respective treatments of the Coase theorem in an effort to explain their contrasting positions. In doing so, it suggests that their views on appropriate degrees of abstraction--and perhaps the limits of their theoretical imaginations--were conditioned in part by the results to which that abstraction led.
Mutually annihilating matrices, and a Cohen--Lenstra series for the nodal singularity.

We give a generating function for the number of pairs of $n\times n$ matrices $(A, B)$ over a finite field that are mutually annihilating, namely, $AB=BA=0$. This generating function can be viewed as a singular analogue of a series considered by Cohen and Lenstra. We show that this generating function has a factorization that allows it to be meromorphically extended to the entire complex plane. We also use it to count pairs of mutually annihilating nilpotent matrices. This work is essentially a study of the motivic aspects about the variety of modules over $\mathbb C[u,v]/(uv)$ as well as the moduli stack of coherent sheaves over an algebraic curve with nodal singularities.
Clinical Considerations: Assessment and Treatment

The clinical assessment of attention depends on three primary sources of information: (1) direct behavioral observation and measurement; (2) psychometric tests designed to measure other cognitive functions (e.g., intellectual measures), which provide indirect information about attention, and (3) neurocognitive tests developed specifically to assess attention and its underlying component processes. As attention is a multifaceted process, the assessment of attention requires that the clinician obtains information about the characteristics of the patient’s performance under different conditions. Therefore, to adequately assess attention, it is usually necessary to use more than one test.
Rat liver pyruvate carboxylase. I. Preparation, properties, and cation specificity.

Abstract Pyruvate carboxylase purified to near homogeneity from rat liver mitochondria sedimented as a single peak in the ultracentrifuge, s020,w = 15 S, and migrated as a single band on sodium dodecyl sulfate, acrylamide gels. The protomer molecular weight was 1.3 x 105; this unit dissociated further to a mixture of three or four different polypeptide chains. The native enzyme contained both biotin and tightly bound manganese. In addition to substrates the reaction required the presence of acetyl-CoA, magnesium in excess of MgATP, and a monovalent cation (preferably K+, NH4+, or Rb+). A discussion of the mechanistic function of the cations is presented based on experiments in which the substrates were varied at fixed levels of the metal activators. Variation of acetyl-CoA resulted in sigmoid saturation curves that were marked functions of pH, temperature, and ionic strength. Other aspects of the reaction are discussed preparatory to a kinetic study of the over-all mechanism.
Social Comparison and Confidence: When Thinking You’re Better than Average Predicts Overconfidence

A common social comparison bias -the better-than-average-effect- is frequently described as psychologically equivalent to the individual judgment bias known as overconfidence. However, research has found hard-easy effects for each bias that yield a seemingly paradoxical reversal: Hard tasks tend to produce overconfidence but worse-than-average perceptions, whereas easy tasks tend to produce underconfidence and better-than-average effects. We argue that the two biases are in fact positively related because they share a common psychological basis in subjective feelings of competence, but that the hard-easy reversal is both empirically possible and logically necessary under specifiable conditions. Two studies are presented to support these arguments. We find little support for personality differences in these biases, and conclude that domain-specific feelings of competence account best for their relationship to each other.
Modified Radical Hysterectomy: Morbidity and Mortality

Among 375 patients who underwent a modified radical hysterectomy at the Mayo Clinic, the complication rate was 24%, and the operative mortality was 0.5%. When compared with radical hysterectomy, this procedure is associated with a lower overall incidence of complications, particularly those related to the urinary tract.
Caenorhabditis elegans Neural Development

The nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been well described in terms of cell lineage, neural anatomy and connectivity. Identifying mutations that disrupt these defining characteristics has led to a detailed understanding of the genetic and molecular mechanisms of neural development in C. elegans. Keywords: caenorhabditis elegans; nervous system; genetics; cell lineage; homeodomain; LIM-domain
Origin and diagenesis of cherts: An isotopic perspective

Cherts most commonly consist of microcrystalline quartz which has replaced precursor sedimentary materials. They occur in a variety of sedimentary associations of all ages and are thus attractive targets for isotopic studies. The origin of most chert types remains controversial, but isotopic investigations have allowed a greatly improved understanding of the timing and conditions under which silica diagenesis proceeds. Isotopic data on cherts also play a key role in the ongoing controversies regarding the isotopic history of ocean water and the climatic history of the earth.
Peptide Histidine Methionine

Peptide histidine methionine (PHM) is the human homologue of peptide histidine isoleucine …
Teaching Language in the Natural Environment: An Analysis of Spontaneity

A rationale for the importance of analyzing spontaneous language use by persons with severe disabilities is offered. Definition represents the first barrier. A continuum of cues that occasion language responses is recommended to resolve definitional ambiguities. The same continuum can be invoked for training purposes. Three recent studies representing state-of-the-art procedures for teaching spontaneous language use are reviewed. Finally, future directions for conceptualizing, analyzing, and teaching spontaneous language use are discussed.
κ-Opioid Receptor Activation Modulates Ca2+Currents and Secretion in Isolated Neuroendocrine Nerve Terminals

Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings were performed together with time-resolved measurements of membrane capacitance (Cm) in nerve terminals acutely dissociated from neurohypophysis of adult rats to investigate modulation of Ca2+ currents and secretion by activation of opioid receptors. Bath superfusion of the kappa-opioid agonists U69,593 (0.3-1 microM), dynorphin A (1 microM), or U50,488H (1-3 microM) reversibly suppressed the peak amplitude of Ca2+ currents 32. 7 +/- 2.7% (in 41 of 56 terminals), 37.4 +/- 5.3% (in 5 of 8 terminals), and 33.5 +/- 8.1% (in 5 of 10 terminals), respectively. In contrast, tests in 11 terminals revealed no effect of the mu-opioid agonist [D-Pen2,5]-enkephalin (1-3 microM; n = 7) or of the delta-agonist Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-N-Me-Phe-Gly-ol (1 microM; n = 4) on Ca2+ currents. Three components of high-threshold current were distinguished on the basis of their sensitivity to blockade by omega-conotoxin GVIA, nicardipine, and omega-conotoxin MVIIC: N-, L-, and P/Q-type current, respectively. Administration of U69,593 inhibited N-type current in these nerve terminals on average 32%, whereas L-type current was reduced 64%, and P/Q-type current was inhibited 28%. Monitoring of changes in Cm in response to brief depolarizing steps revealed that the kappa-opioid-induced reductions in N-, L-, or P/Q-type currents were accompanied by attenuations in two kinetically distinct components of Ca2+-dependent exocytotic release. These data provide strong evidence of a functional linkage between blockade of Ca2+ influx through voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels and inhibitory modulation of release by presynaptic opioid receptors in mammalian central nerve endings.
Is radical surgery necessary for early-stage ampullary tumors?

periampullary lesions. Pancreaticoduodenectomy was associated with a statistically significant increase in perioperative morbidity and mortality compared with ampullectomy. Preoperative biopsies identified only 76% of all patients with malignant lesions, and intraoperative frozen-section analysis had a sensitivity rate of 75%. The authors also analyzed recurrence and survival curves in patients with invasive periampullary cancers (n = 99). Two-year estimates of recurrence-free survival were 0% for the ampullectomy group (n = 8) and 48% for the pancreaticoduodenectomy group (n = 91). The 2-year diseasespecific survival was 58% in the ampullectomy group and 78% in the pancreaticoduodenectomy group. Most recurrences in the ampullectomy group were locoregional. Multivariate analysis of the pancreaticoduodenectomy group demonstrated vascular invasion and T stage to be associated with lymph node involvement. Patients with lymph node involvement had decreased recurrence-free and disease-specific survival. The obvious weakness of this study is the limited number of patients (n = 8) with cancer who underwent an ampullectomy as definitive treatment. In addition, the authors do not comment on the pathologic T staging of these patients; thus, drawing conclusions regarding the adequacy of ampullectomy for early-stage lesions is not possible. Despite this, the take-home messages are quite important: (1) preoperative and intraoperative biopsies can miss a significant number of patients with cancer, (2) locoregional failure is high in patients undergoing ampullectomy for cancer, (3) clinicopathologic variables are not accurate enough to predict the presence of nodal metastases, and (4) on the basis of the limited number of patients in this study, recurrence-free survival and
A broader definition of symmetry number and its application to a kinetic model describing polyarene growth

A 1:1 mole ratio mixture of solid naphthalene and anthracene has been fed into a laminar flow drop tube furnace and pyrolyzed for a residence time of approximately 2 s at five different temperatures in the range of 1200–1500 K. Experimentally observed concentrations of individual biarenes and of larger polyarene species (up to 700 amu) and their condensation products are compared against those predicted by a kinetic model. The model, consisting of 2146 reactions between 169 species representing more than 5 million compounds, is constructed using existing literature values for rate parameters for five key types of reactions (hydrogen balance, hydrogen abstraction, condensation, aryl/arene reactions, and radical/radical combinations). However, there are two important differences: (1) steric hindrance to free internal rotation of polyarene species is considered for the first time in a detailed kinetic model and (2) a new technique using lumped compounds to represent entire polyarene series has been developed that makes use of a more general definition of a symmetry number. This definition allows for more accurate accounting of multiple isomers' contributions to statistical factors in the preexponential kinetic parameters and for a more theoretically based alternative to current molecular weight growth schemes that does not rely on empirical lumping parameters. The model accurately predicts relative mass yields and temperature trends of the biarenes, higher molecular weight growth products (up to at least 700 amu), and condensation products within the temperature range of the study. High molecular weight growth is found to be very sensitive to the parameter of steric hindrance mentioned previously. A threefold increase in the contribution to heat of formation of hindrance to internal rotation in the polyarenes results in at least a tenfold decrease in molecular weight growth.
Selection of a Lectotype for Spongicoloides Profundus Hansen, 1908 (Decapoda, Stenopodidea) Taken During the Ingolf Expedition

Laughlin, R. A., P. J. Rodr?guez &J. A. Marval, in preparation. The zoeal stages of the coral crab, Carpilius corallinus (Herbst) (Crustacea, Decapoda, Xanthidae) reared in the laboratory. Crustaceana. Rathbun, M. J., 1930. The cancroid crabs of the families Euryalidae, Portunidae, Atele cyclidae, Cancridae and Xanthidae. Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., 152: 1-609. Savage, T., 1971. Mating of the stone crab, Menippe mercenaria (Say) (Decapoda, Brachyura). Crustaceana, 20(3): 315-317.
Intravenous leiomyomatosis is characterized by a der(14)t(12;14)(q15;q24).

Intravenous leiomyomatosis (IVL) is a rare smooth-muscle proliferation that is of special interest because of its quasi-malignant behavior. Our finding of a specific chromosomal aberration, a der(14)t(12;14)(q15;q24), in a second case of IVL suggests that it may be characteristic of IVL. We propose that IVL arises from a uterine leiomyoma with a t(12;14)(q15;q24). The presence of an extra copy of 12q15-qter and/or loss of 14q24-qter may be a critical genetic event(s) leading to intravascular intrusion and proliferation. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Characterization of post-hospital infections in adults requiring home parenteral nutrition

Objective: Limited data are available on the incidence and risk factors for infection in patients requiring home parenteral nutrition (HPN). Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in 101 consecutive adults (63 female, 38 male) discharged on HPN from the Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA. New bloodstream infections (BSIs) requiring rehospitalization and other infections were evaluated. Results: Most infections (75%) developed during the initial 6 mo after hospital discharge; rates of BSI were particularly high during the first 4 mo. Fifty-six patients (55.4%) developed 102 BSIs (11.5 BSIs/1000 catheter-days). Most BSIs were attributed to gram-positive organisms (46%), including coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus species, and others, followed by Candida species (20%) and gram-negative organisms (13%). Twenty-one percent of BSIs were polymicrobial. The BSI incidence rate ratio was significantly increased for patients with mean prehospital discharge blood glucose concentrations in the highest quartile versus the lowest quartile (incidence rate ratio 2.4, P ¼ 0.017). Patients with a peripherally inserted central catheter versus non-peripherally inserted central catheter central venous catheters had significantly higher rates of BSI (P ¼ 0.018). Thirty-nine patients (38.6%) developed 81 non-BSIs, including pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections. Postdischarge PN dextrose, lipid, and total calorie doses were unrelated to BSI but were variably related to the rate of non-BSIs. Conclusions: Adult patients on HPN exhibit a very high incidence of post-hospital infections. Higher mean blood glucose levels during predischarge hospitalization and the use of peripherally inserted central catheters at discharge are associated with an increased risk of BSI in the postdischarge home setting.
Temporal and Geographic Patterns of Isolates of Nonpolio Enterovirus in the United States, 1970–1983

Surveillance data on nonpolio enterovirus (NPEV) from the Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, Georgia) for the United States from 1970 to 1983 were analyzed for the temporal and geographic patterns of the most common types of NPEV isolated. The number of isolates varied from year to year, partly because of variation in the number of reporting laboratories and partly because of true variation in the rate of isolation. The most common types isolated also varied from year to year, yet the 15 most common types over the entire 14-year period accounted for 65%-89% of isolates for a given year. The 15 most common types of NPEV had two basic patterns of isolation, one in which a type had periodic epidemic years and the other in which it did not. In 11 of the 14 years there was one or more epidemic types, each accounting for greater than or equal to 20% of all isolates of NPEV that year. The six most common isolates in March, April, and May predicted an average of 59% of the total isolates detected in July-December of that year.
Comparison of Epoxidation and Baeyer−Villiger Reaction Pathways for Ti(IV)−H2O2 and Sn(IV)−H2O2

Density functional theory has been used to study model epoxidation and Baeyer−Villiger reaction mechanisms for Ti(IV)−H2O2 and Sn(IV)−H2O2 catalytic oxidation systems. The titanium and tin catalysts have been modeled with unconstrained single coordination sphere clusters using a B3LYP/ECP methodology. Activation of hydrogen peroxide via formation of a metal hydroperoxo intermediate proceeds with similar energetics over titanium and tin. The overall reaction kinetics for epoxidation of either ethylene or 2,3-dimethyl-1-butene are also similar for Ti(IV)−H2O2 and Sn(IV)−H2O2. The intrinsic reaction rate for Baeyer−Villiger oxidation of either acetone or 2-methyl-3-pentanone is approximately 5 orders of magnitude slower with Ti(IV)−H2O2 than with Sn(IV)−H2O2. The greater Lewis acidity of tin relative to titanium enhances adsorption of the ketone substrate on the metal active site and reduces the rate-determining activation barrier for Baeyer−Villiger rearrangement of the chelated Criegee intermediate. These ...
Characteristics of the fast transport system in mammalian nerve fibers.

The rate of the fast transport system in cat sensory nerve fibers shown by the distal displacement of a peak of isotopic activity in sciatic nerves after L7 ganglion injection with 3H-leucine, is 401 ± 35 mm/day. A similar rate of fast transport was also found for motor fibers in a smaller number of studies. An intra-axonic locus of the labelled material was determined by freeze-block experiments. Fast transport was differentiated from the slow mechanism of axoplasmic flow by injecting 3H-leucine into one L7 ganglion and 32P-orthophosphate into the opposite one of the same animals, the labelled components of the latter moving down the nerve at the much slower rate characteristic of slow axoplasmic transport. The mechanism underlying fast transport is locally present all along the nerve fibers; the soma is not responsible for propulsion. This was shown by “pulse” experiments where ligations were made just distal to the injected ganglion at times from 1–3 hrs afterwards and the same rate of outward movement of labelled materials was found in these fibers without somal continuity.
Effect of dopamine infusion (3-30 μg/kg/min) on hepatic hemodynamics

Abstract Background. While dopamine produces well-characterized dose-dependent effects on systemic hemodynamics, there is a paucity of information regarding its effects on hepatic hemodynamics. Infusion rates above 10 μg/kg/min are reported to produce significant vasoconstriction and impair organ perfusion. Therefore, donors are sometimes considered unsuitable when higher doses of dopamine are in use. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of increasing doses of dopamine on hepatic hemodynamics in a nonanesthetized swine model. Materials and methods. Sixteen pigs were instrumented with indwelling catheters in a peripheral artery, peripheral vein, portal vein, and hepatic vein and flow probes around the portal vein and hepatic artery. After recovery, the following variables were measured 10 ± 1 days postinstrumentation: hepatic arterial flow (HAF), portal venous flow (PVF), mean systemic arterial pressure (MAP), central venous pressure (CVP), portal venous pressure (PVP), hepatic venous pressure (HVP), heart rate (HR). Recordings were obtained at baseline and subsequently when dopamine was infused at rates of 3, 6, 12, 15, 21, and 30 μg/kg/min increasing at 1-h intervals. Results. HAF and PVF increased linearly over the entire infusion range, to 69 and 13% over baseline, respectively (P Conclusion. These data show that dopamine infused at dosages of 3–30 μg/kg/min augments HAF, PVF, and THBF and that this effect is linear. These results suggest high-dose dopamine infusion does not disqualify a potential donor liver for transplantation.