cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Corrosion electrochemistry of magnesium (Mg) and its alloys

Abstract: Magnesium (Mg) alloys are light, structural and functional engineering materials with a high strength to weight ratio which are increasingly being used in the automotive, aerospace, and electronic and energy industries. However, magnesium is chemically active with an electrochemistry differing from most conventional engineering metals. This chapter presents electrochemical reactions and corrosion processes of Mg and its alloys. First, an analysis of the thermodynamics of magnesium and possible electrochemical reactions associated with Mg are presented. After that an illustration of the nature of surface films formed on Mg and its alloys follows. To comprehensively understand the corrosion of Mg and its alloys, the anodic and cathodic processes are analyzed separately. Having understood the electrochemistry of Mg and its alloys, the corrosion characteristics and behavior of Mg and its alloys are discussed, including: self-corrosion reaction, hydrogen evolution, the alkalization effect, corrosion potential, macro-galvanic corrosion, the micro-galvanic effect, impurity tolerance, influence of the chemical composition of the matrix phase, role of the secondary and other phases, localized corrosion and overall corrosivity of alloys.
The State of Autopsy Practice

Many articles, workshop proceedings, editorials, and letters have been published that bemoan the continued decline of autopsy rates. A detailed review of these issues is beyond the scope of this book. However, a condensed annotated bibliography, presented in the next paragraphs, should provide readers with easy access to important publications revolving around the past and future roles of autopsies.
The Unstable Patient with Obscure Gastrointestinal Bleeding: Surgical and Non-surgical Management

Obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) is defined as intermittent or persistent loss of blood that occurs or reoccurs after evaluation by upper gastrointestinal and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy [Zuckerman et al. Gastroenterology 118:201–221, 2000]. The clinical presentation can vary dramatically, from occult blood loss that is only detectible by hemoccult testing, manifesting as iron deficiency to overt clinical manifestations of hematemesis, melena, or hematochezia requiring transfusion and hospitalization.
Pharmacokinetic interpretation of erythromycin and tylosin activity in serum after intravenous administration of a single dose to cows.

The distribution and elimination kinetics of erythromycin and tylosin, which are macrolide antibiotics, were studied in healthy cows. A single dose (12.5 mg/kg) of drug was administered as an intravenous bolus, and blood samples were collected at precisely timed intervals. The standard cylinder plate bioassay method using Sarcina lutea as test organism was employed to determine antibiotic activity in the serum. The results suggested that these drugs are distributed in at least two kinetically distinct body compartments. By use of established mathematical techniques, values were assigned to the individual rate constants controlling distribution between the central and peripheral compartments and to the rate constant controlling overall elimination (β) of each drug from the body. The calculated overall tissue to serum drug level ratios (k12/k21) after apparent distribution equilibrium was attained were 2.28 and 2.05 for erythromycin and tylosin, respectively. The half-life (mean ± SD) of erythromycin was 3.16 h ± 0.44, while (hat of tylosin. was 1.62 h ± 0.17. The total body clearance (ml/kg/min) values were 2.88 ± 0.47 for erythromycin and 7.8 ± 2.95 for tylosin. Analogue computer simulated curves of the antibiotic levels in the central and tissue compartments as well as an elimination curve were generated. The tissue level of erythromycin reached a peak of 43 per cent of the dose at 67 min. At 6 h, the percentages of the dose of erythromycin in the central and (issue compartments and eliminated were 6,19 and 75, respectively. The peak level of tylosin in the tissue compartment (26.5 per cent of the dose) was present at 30 min. At 4 h, 1 and 5 per cent of the dose were contained in the central and peripheral compartments, respectively, while 94 per cent had been eliminated. This single dose study provides information which is essential for the design of a satisfactory dosage regimen.
Adaptive Management in Social Ecological Systems: Taming the Wicked?

In many publications, Bryan Norton has proposed hierarchical systems theory to understand and manage complex environmental conservation and sustainability problems. In doing so, Norton drew from the decision science and planning theory literature to frame persistent environmental problems, ranging from Herbert Simon’s un-programmed decisions to Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber’s wicked problems. Norton pioneered the development of an adaptive management framework to guide a community and valued-based pragmatic and discursive approach for continually solving and re-solving the wicked environmental management problems. In this chapter, I highlight important ingredients of Norton’s adaptive management framework and synthesize some of the key findings that resulted from applying some of the key elements of Norton’s adaptive management framework in the field setting of addressing the “wicked” problem of tropical deforestation in Tanzania, Vietnam and Peru through a MacArthur Foundation funded project (2006–2011). The following specific problem formulation and valuation issues are explored in this chapter: space-time boundaries; identification of stakeholder values; weights on stakeholder values; and decision rule choice. We discovered that many wicked problems surrounding environmental management persist in the field settings due to the stakeholder power asymmetries, conflicting values, politics of scale across different space time horizons and institutional inertia. I propose that institutional designs and governance processes operating at different levels of the space-time hierarchy—ranging from a person’s ambit to their community, city, state, country and planetary scales—must also be examined and addressed for adaptive management in social ecological systems.
Clinicopathologic and genetic spectrum of infantile B-lymphoblastic leukemia: a multi-institutional study

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in infants <1-year-old is biologically different from ALL in older children. Although KMT2A rearrangement is the predominant genetic signature in infantile B-ALL, disease course is heterogenous, behaving more aggressively in younger infants. We investigated clinicopathological differences throughout the first year to understand the transition to pediatric B-ALL. In a multi-institutional review involving four medical institutions, 54 cases of infantile B-ALL were identified. Patients were divided into congenital and non-congenital groups with multiple age subgroups. Male predominance was seen in congenital cases compared to female in non-congenital cases. There were decreasing trends of hyperleukocytosis, central nervous system involvement, KMT2A rearrangements, lineage switch, and mortality, versus increasing trends of CD10 expression and non-KMT2A abnormalities. Statistically significant differences emerged at 3 and 9 months, the latter was not previously described. Poor-prognostic risk factors decreased with age, the last trimester of infantile B-ALL essentially merging with pediatric B-ALL.
Project ECHO: Ensuring that best practice cancer care and precision medicine reach the last mile.

e18685Background: Tremendous disparities in cancer care access, quality and outcomes exist, particularly among minority populations, the poor and vulnerable and in low to middle income countries. O...
Risk-Neutral Densities: A Review

Trading in options with a wide range of exercise prices and a single maturity allows a researcher to extract the market's risk-neutral density (RND) over the underlying price at expiration. The RND...
Examining Elementary Education Teachers and Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Related to Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK)

Self-efficacy is the belief people have about their capabilities to produce effective results related to the events and challenges that affect their lives (Bandura, Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman, 1997). Self-efficacy represents a powerful influence on the behaviors of teachers due to its impact on instructional choice, effort, and persistence. Purposeful technology integration in teaching is an example of how choice, effort, and persistence converge as teachers make decisions about the types of tools they use to support their teaching. Such technology integration brings together technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and content knowledge—known as the TPACK framework. Few studies have been conducted examining preservice and in-service teachers’ self-efficacy for TPACK. This study uses a survey design to examine preservice and in-service teachers’ (n = 89) self-efficacy to integrate educational technology in their teaching practice. The study also describes and reports on ways that teacher educators support self-efficacy development of preservice and in-service teachers.
Extracting Interactions between Flying Bat Pairs Using Model-Free Methods

Social animals exhibit collective behavior whereby they negotiate to reach an agreement, such as the coordination of group motion. Bats are unique among most social animals, since they use active sensory echolocation by emitting ultrasonic waves and sensing echoes to navigate. Bats’ use of active sensing may result in acoustic interference from peers, driving different behavior when they fly together rather than alone. The present study explores quantitative methods that can be used to understand whether bats flying in pairs move independently of each other or interact. The study used field data from bats in flight and is based on the assumption that interactions between two bats are evidenced in their flight patterns. To quantify pairwise interaction, we defined the strength of coupling using model-free methods from dynamical systems and information theory. We used a control condition to eliminate similarities in flight path due to environmental geometry. Our research question is whether these data-driven methods identify directed coupling between bats from their flight paths and, if so, whether the results are consistent between methods. Results demonstrate evidence of information exchange between flying bat pairs, and, in particular, we find significant evidence of rear-to-front coupling in bats’ turning behavior when they fly in the absence of obstacles.
Effect of Progressively Changing Practice Schedules on the Learning of a Motor Skill

Abstract Fifty-three college students practiced the skill of mirror tracing on three different schedules. For one group the length of each succeeding practice period increased. Another group practiced on a schedule in which each succeeding practice period became shorter. A third group used constant units of practice throughout the learning period. During the experimental period all groups completed the same amount of practice. At the end of the learning period, the group using constant units of practice performed best, followed in order by the increasing-practice group and by the decreasing-practice group.
A CASE OF ASCENDING AORTIC INTRAMURAL HEMATOMA: A PENDING CATASTROPHE

Aortic intramural hematoma (IMH) is one of acute aortic syndromes (AAS) that is life-threatening. It has a high-risk of progression to aortic dissection and needs immediate diagnosis. A 63-year-old male with history of hypertension, pericardial effusion, and aortic regurgitation, presented 3 days
Effects of Pidotimod on Recurrent Respiratory Infections in Children With Down Syndrome: A Retrospective Italian Study

Children with Down syndrome (DS) show a high susceptibility to recurrent infections (RI), caused by immune defects and abnormalities of the airways. Our goal was to investigate the effects of Pidotimod on RI prevention in children with DS, comparing immune and clinical parameters before (T0) and after (T1) the treatment with Pidotimod. The study was conducted at the Down syndrome outpatient Center of Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital, in Rome. We reviewed the medical records of all children with a positive history for RI and who received oral prophylaxis of Pidotimod from September 2016 to February 2017. Thirty-three children met the inclusion criteria (males: 51.5%; average age: 6 years ±SD: 3). We found a significant decrease in the number of children with upper respiratory infections (82% at T0 vs 24% at T1; p = 0,0001) and with lower respiratory infections (36% at T0 vs 9% at T1; p = 0.003) after treatment with Pidotimod. We also demonstrated a significant decrease in the number of children hospitalized for respiratory infections (18% at T0 vs 3% at T1; p = 0.03). We measured T and B cells in the peripheral blood and B cell function in vitro at T0 and T1. We found that the response to CpG improved at T1. A significant increase of B cell frequency (p = 0.0009), B cell proliferation (p = 0.0278) and IgM secretion (p = 0.0478) were observed in children with DS after treatment. Our results provided evidence that Pidotimod may be able to prevent RI in children with Down syndrome.
Mixed-methods evaluation of family medicine research training and peer mentorship in Lesotho

Background: Strengthening primary care research capacity is a priority globally. Family medicine training programmes in sub-Saharan Africa represent an important opportunity to build primary care research; however, they are often limited by insufficient research training and mentorship. Peers can be used to extend research mentorship capacity, but have not been evaluated in this context. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate one family medicine training programme’s research capacity building efforts through a blended research curriculum and peer mentorship. Setting: Lesotho is a landlocked country within South Africa of approximately two million people. The Family Medicine Specialty Training Programme (FMSTP) is the only accredited postgraduate medical education programme in Lesotho. Methods: This two-year mixed-methods evaluation used: (1) Likert-scale surveys measuring trainee research confidence, (2) written evaluations by trainees, peers, programme faculty and administrators and (3) in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Survey data were analysed using Friedman and sign tests. Interview and written data were analysed thematically via a mixed inductive-deductive approach using Cooke’s framework. Results: Family Medicine Specialty Training Programme trainees ( n = 8) experienced moderate increases in research confidence that were statistically significant. Skill-building occurred primarily via experiential learning. Research was grounded in trainees’ clinical practice and locally relevant. A positive research culture was created, promising for sustainability. We identified infrastructure gaps, including funding and protected time. Peer research mentorship supported trainees’ motivation and provided a safe space for questions. Conclusion: The FMSTP research curriculum and peer mentorship programme were successful in positively impacting a number of Cooke’s research capacity domains. This evaluation identified improvements that are now being implemented.
Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of memory NK cell responses.

Natural killer (NK) cells are cytotoxic innate lymphocytes with key roles in host protection against viruses and malignancy. Notwithstanding their historical classification as innate immune cells, NK cells are now understood to have some capacity to mount memory or memory-like immune responses in which effector cells undergo antigen-driven expansion and give rise to long-lived memory cells with enhanced functionality. Understanding how antigen-specific effector and memory NK responses are regulated is an important and active area of research in the field. Here, we discuss key transcription factors and epigenetic processes involved in antigen-specific effector and memory NK cell differentiation.
Injury Patterns in Collegiate Club Quidditch

The purpose of this study is to assess injury patterns in collegiate club quidditch athletes at a single university over three seasons. Injury data were gathered from athletic trainers that provided sideline medical coverage during competitions, the on-site athletic training center where athletes had daily access for evaluation and treatment for acute and chronic injuries, and a sports medicine physician at the on-campus student health center. Athlete exposures were estimated using available previous rosters, practice, and game schedules for the 2014–2017 quidditch seasons. Injuries were evaluated regarding the sex of the athlete, mechanism, body part injuries, and injury type. This is a retrospective descriptive epidemiology study. The overall injury incidence rate (IR) for collegiate club quidditch injuries was 4.55 per 1000 athlete exposures (AEs). Male athletes had an IR = 5.22 (95% CI 3.77, 7.23). Females had an IR = 3.77 (95% CI 2.49, 5.72). The most common mechanism of injury in males was collision with another athlete (36%; IR = 1.88; 95% CI 1.09, 3.24). The most common injuries were lower extremity injuries (foot, ankle, lower leg, knee, thigh, hip/groin) at 57%. The most common injury type in males was sprains at 39% (IR = 2.03; 95% CI 1.20, 3.42). The overall incidence rate for all quidditch athletes for concussions was 1.18 per 1000 AEs. Quidditch is an increasingly popular mixed-gender collegiate club sport. This study helps identify areas for improvement in education, injury prevention, and care of athletes at the local and national levels. Concussion rates in quidditch are comparable to other contact sports and should encourage discussion to make rule changes to improve the safety of the sport.
Gun Dealer Density and its Effect on Homicide

We explore the relationship between gun prevalence, homicides, and other crimes in the United States from 2003–2019. Unlike previous research, which typically uses an indirect, state-level measure of gun prevalence, we use a direct measure of guns in a narrow geographic area: gun dealers. We find an increase in gun dealer density is significantly and positively associated with increased homicides in subsequent years. We compare estimates from our preferred measure, the number of dealers per 100 square miles in a local area, to estimates found using other gun prevalence measure and find our preferred measure to be more consistent in magnitude and statistically significance across three different estimation methods. We go on to show that gun dealer density is not significantly correlated with non-gun homicides. We also find that increases in gun density is associated with a reduction in some types of non-violent property crime. However, because of data limitations, these results should be taken with healthy skepticism.
Current Use and Limitations of Cultured High-Grade Meningioma Cells in Neuro-Oncological Research - In Response to: "Caution Using Meningioma Cell Lines as Tumor Models".

We appreciate the opportunity to respond to the letter published by Batchu S., regarding our work titled “In Vitro Effect of Dovitinib (TKI258), a Multi-target Angiokinase Inhibitor on Aggressive M...
Evidence Map and Systematic Review of Disinfection Efficacy on Environmental Surfaces in Healthcare Facilities

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) contribute to patient morbidity and mortality with an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths costing USD $28–34 billion annually in the United States alone. There is little understanding as to if current environmental surface disinfection practices reduce pathogen load, and subsequently HAIs, in critical care settings. This evidence map includes a systematic review on the efficacy of disinfecting environmental surfaces in healthcare facilities. We screened 17,064 abstracts, 635 full texts, and included 181 articles for data extraction and study quality assessment. We reviewed ten disinfectant types and compared disinfectants with respect to study design, outcome organism, and fourteen indictors of study quality. We found important areas for improvement and gaps in the research related to study design, implementation, and analysis. Implementation of disinfection, a determinant of disinfection outcomes, was not measured in most studies and few studies assessed fungi or viruses. Assessing and comparing disinfection efficacy was impeded by study heterogeneity; however, we catalogued the outcomes and results for each disinfection type. We concluded that guidelines for disinfectant use are primarily based on laboratory data rather than a systematic review of in situ disinfection efficacy. It is critically important for practitioners and researchers to consider system-level efficacy and not just the efficacy of the disinfectant.
Providing a Foundation for Analysis of Volatile Data Stores

Current threats against typical computer systems demonstrate a need for forensic analysis of memory-resident data in addition to the conventional static analysis common today.Â Certain attacks and types of malware exist solely in memory and leave little or no evidentiary information on nonvolatile stores such as a hard disk drive.Â The desire to preserve system state at the time of response may even warrant memory acquisition independent of perceived threats and the ability to analyze the acquired duplicate.Â Tools capable of duplicating various types of volatile data stores are becoming widely available.Â Once the data store has been duplicated, current forensic procedures have no method for extrapolating further useful information from the duplicate.Â This paper is focused on providing the groundwork for performing forensic investigations on the data that is typically stored in a volatile data store, such as system RAM. It is intended that, when combined with good acquisition techniques, it will be shown that it is possible to obtain more post incident response information along with less impact to potential evidence when compared to typical incident response procedures.Â
A Membership Protocol Based on Partial Order

Membership information is used to provide a consistent, system-wide view of which processes are currently functioning or failed in a distributed computation. This paper describes a membership protocol that is used to maintain this information. Our protocol is novel because it is based on a multicast facility that preserves only the partial order of messages exchanged among the communicating processes. Because it depends only on a partial ordering of messages rather than a total ordering, our protocol requires less synchronization overhead. The advantages of our approach are especially pronounced if multiple failures occur concurrently.
Sex differences in multisensory speech processing in both typically developing children and those on the autism spectrum

Background: Previous work has revealed sizeable deficits in the abilities of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to integrate auditory and visual speech signals, with clear implications for social communication in this population. There is a strong male preponderance in ASD, with approximately four affected males for every female. The presence of sex differences in ASD symptoms suggests a sexual dimorphism in the ASD phenotype, and raises the question of whether this dimorphism extends to ASD traits in the neurotypical population. Here, we investigated possible sexual dimorphism in multisensory speech integration in both ASD and neurotypical individuals. Methods: We assessed whether males and females differed in their ability to benefit from visual speech when target words were presented under varying levels of signal-to-noise, in samples of neurotypical children and adults, and in children diagnosed with an ASD. Results: In typically developing (TD) children and children with ASD, females (n= 47 and n=15 respectively) were significantly superior in their ability to recognize words under audiovisual listening conditions compared to males (n= 55 and n=58 respectively). This sex difference was absent in our sample of neurotypical adults (n= 28 females; n= 28 males). Conclusions: We propose that the development of audiovisual integration is delayed in male relative to female children, a delay that is also observed in ASD. In neurotypicals, these sex differences disappear in early adulthood when females approach their performance maximum and males “catch up”. Our findings underline the importance of considering sex differences in the search for autism endophenotypes and strongly encourage increased efforts to study the underrepresented population of females within ASD.
More than Artistry: The Integral Aspect of Autobiography

Autobiography has generally been recognized for its literary and artistic aspects, and as a result has been largely overlooked as an instructional method in adult and continuing education. This paper argues for a wider use of autobiography in adult and continuing education programs, proposing that autobiography actually encompasses not only the artistic and literary aspects of life writing, but also the theoretical and philosophical. Based on the autobiographical writings of adult learners collected over a decade of teaching, the author suggests that in the course of bringing these dimensions of their lives together, these writers further not only their understanding of themselves and their world, but also their commitment to educational practice, action, and change.
Investment Based Valuation and Managerial Expectations

A generalized version of the standard neoclassical investment model can explain the relatively high equity prices in the late 1990s and early 2000s in the US corporate nonfinancial and NASDAQ sectors along with the relatively low prices before and after this period. Stock returns predicted by the model are as volatile as the observed stock returns in both sectors. Three key model assumptions are multiple capital goods, investment-specific technological change and non-quadratic adjustment costs. During the “bubble” period, investment in equipment is relatively high — consistent with high expected cash flows and high prices. Investment rates subsequently fall — consistent with lower expected cash flows and lower prices. On average, managers’ forecasts are correct. Levels and changes in managerial expectations are correlated with proxies for investor sentiment. Increases in the growth rate of equipment investment coincide with decreases in measured productivity growth. This is consistent with the unobserved diversion of labor from producing output towards accumulating human capital or other intangible assets.
Real Time Path Integrals with Quasi-Adiabatic Propagators: Quantum Dynamics of a System Coupled to a Harmonic Bath

The model of a “system” coupled to a harmonic “bath” is useful in many areas of chemistry and physics. Even though modeling the environment as a collection of harmonic oscillators involves in many cases a strong (and sometimes hard to justify) assumption, the model has been found to offer a surprisingly successful — and perhaps the only possible — theoretical description of many complex phenomena. Despite its simplicity, the system-bath model can adequately describe phenomena such as friction and incoherent relaxation encountered in the condensed phase. The idea of expressing a complex problem in terms of a system coupled to a bath has also found considerable utility in the area of gas-phase dynamics, where it leads to reaction path descriptions of reactive processes.
A New Rabbit Model of Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common cause of disability in childhood, resulting in numerous physical, behavioral, and cognitive sequelae, which can influence development through the lifespan. The mechanisms by which TBI influences normal development and maturation remain largely unknown. Pediatric rodent models of TBI often do not demonstrate the spectrum of motor and cognitive deficits seen in patients. To address this problem, we developed a New Zealand white rabbit model of pediatric TBI that better mimics the neurological injury seen after TBI in children. On postnatal Day 5-7 (P5-7), rabbits were injured by a controlled cortical impact (6-mm impactor tip; 5.5 m/sec, 2-mm depth, 50-msec duration). Rabbits from the same litter served as naive (no injury) and sham (craniotomy alone) controls. Functional abilities and activity levels were measured 1 and 5 d after injury. Maturation level was monitored daily. We performed cognitive tests during P14-24 and sacrificed the animals at 1, 3, 7, a...
A Framing Analysis of Media Coverage of the Rodney King Incident and Ferguson, Missouri, Conflicts

This study explored how news organizations presented the Ferguson, Missouri, story in comparison with a similar Rodney King incident that happened two decades ago. The purpose of this study was to analyze if and how the mainstream news media have progressed in covering racially sensitive news stories. Background research on the concept of media frames enabled the author to conduct a comparative analysis on eight newspaper articles, two broadcast segments, and two magazine covers. Overarching frames focused on the conflict between the public and authorities, black hardship, and black male youth hardship. These frames influence public reaction to stories such as the tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri.
High conductivity materials systems for advanced hybrids

Two materials systems developed to meet the circuit density, cost, and reliability requirements of the future are discussed. High conductivity, high-resolution copper and silver-bearing conductors, dielectrics meeting more stringent reliability requirements, and resistors demonstrating excellent post trim stability are elements of these systems. The technology used in these systems is considered, with particular emphasis on new conductor and dielectric materials. Reliability data showing twenty-year operating life predictions are presented. Materials technology and its relationship to the reliability of hybrids are discussed. >
Detecting Trichodesmium blooms in SeaWiFS imagery

A multispectral classification scheme was developed to detect the cyanobacteria Trichodesmium spp. in satellite data of the sea-viewing wide field-of-view sensor (SeaWiFS). The criteria for this scheme were established from spectral characteristics derived from (1) SeaWiFS imagery of a Trichodesmium bloom located in the South Atlantic Bight and (2) modeled remote sensing reflectances of Trichodesmium and other phytoplankton. The classification scheme, which is valid for moderate chlorophyll concentrations of Trichodesmium in coastal waters, is based on the magnitude of the 490-channel reflectance and the spectral shape of remote sensing reflectance at 443, 490 and 555 nm. Analysis suggests that the spatial structure of Trichodesmium populations at sub-pixel scales must be considered when employing spectral characteristics to detect their presence in satellite imagery. This study demonstrates the potential of mapping Trichodesmium from space using spectral observations, even in waters as optically complex as the South Atlantic Bight. Future efforts, which will incorporate ancillary data such as wind speeds and water temperature, will improve the likelihood of correct identification.
Perioperative Management of Patients Undergoing Transmyocardial Laser Revascularization

Advanced revascularization strategies continue to uncover a growing number of patients with symptomatic diffuse coronary artery disease. Transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR) provides significant benefit in terms of improved quality of life and more complete revascularization for these difficult to treat patients when TMR is used as sole therapy or in combination with coronary artery bypass grafting. The safe clinical application of this important procedure relies on diligent perioperative management with appropriate patient selection, intraoperative care that avoids myocardial ischemia, and postoperative pain control along with expeditious reinstitution of antianginal medications. The treatment paradigms learned with the safe application of TMR should prove useful as new therapies to extend our revascularization options are developed.
Neuropeptides — new vistas on synaptic transmission

Abstract Advances in cell and molecular biology reviewed here indicate that our understanding of information flow through neural circuits will evolve rapidly in the years to come. This is particularly clear in circuits with peptidergic neurons, where the effectiveness of synaptic transmission may vary significantly over time when synaptic or endocrine inputs are related to circadian rhythms or behavioral state.
On the Nature of the Oxidative Heterocoupling of Lithium Enolates

The coupling of enolates through single-electron oxidation is one of the most direct routes for generating 1,4-dicarbonyls. Recent work on the intermolecular heterocoupling of equimolar amounts of two different enolates through single-electron oxidation has shown that synthetically useful yields beyond those predicted by statistics can be obtained. To determine the underlying basis for the selective formation of heterocoupled products, kinetic, 7Li NMR, and synthetic studies were performed. The collection of data obtained from these experiments shows that the selective formation of heterocoupled products is a consequence of heteroaggregation of lithium enolates.
Case report 799

In summary, extraskeletal chondrosarcoma is a rare soft tissue tumor. There may or may not be calcification, and in uncalcified tumors the diagnosis may not even be considered by the radiologist. The body of information as to clinical outcome is limited. Both of the patients whose tumors have been illustrated here are alive 2 years following surgery.
Efficient method of genotyping ob/ob mice using high resolution melting analysis.

Objective Direct health care costs of obesity continue to grow throughout the world and research on obesity disease models are on the rise. The ob/ob mouse is a well-characterized model of obesity and associated risk factors. Successful breeding and backcrossing onto different backgrounds are essential to create knockout models. Ob/ob mice are sterile and heterozygotes must be identified by genotyping to maintain breeding colonies. Several methods are employed to detect the ob mutant allele, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Gel based methods are time consuming and inconsistent, and non-gel based assays rely upon expensive and complex reagents or instruments. A fast, high-throughput, cost effective, and consistent method to identify Lepob mutation is much needed. Design and Methods Primers to produce an amplicon for High Resolution Melting Analysis (HRM) of the Lepob SNP were designed and validated. Results Fluorescence normalized high resolution melting curve plots delineated ob/+, ob/ob, and WT genotypes. Genotypes were also confirmed phenotypically. Conclusions HRM of the Lepob SNP allows closed-tube identification of the Lepob mutation using a real-time PCR machine now common to most labs/departments. Advantages of this method include assay sensitivity/accuracy, low cost dyes, less optimization, and cost effectiveness as compared to other genotyping techniques.
A method for the production and quantitative assay of human lymphokine preparations

Abstract A procedure for the preparation and assay of a human lymphokine supernatant is described. Tonsillar lymphocytes at a concentration of 2 × 107/ml in a serum-free medium are incubated for 2 h with PHA-P, washed free of unbound mitogen and incubated for a further 17 h. The supernatant is harvested and concentrated, and the active protein fraction is adsorbed to and eluted from a column of hydroxylapatite. The eluate is desalted and sterile filtered. The preparations contain active material released from 108 cells in 1 ml and do not contain residual PHA-P. The most active preparations are obtained using PHA-P as the mitogen and at concentrations of 25–50 μg/ml during the 2 h pulsing period. Activity is assessed by a quantitative assay based on the maintenance of mitogen activated blast cells in culture for 2 days.
Sponsorship: perspectives on its strategic role

Advertising and sponsorship are both key areas of concern to management scholars. In the dynamic and sophisticated market world in which integrated marketing communication strategies play roles of increasing importance, this paper reflects on the extent to whcih sponsorship has moved away from being a philanthropic approach to communication and has taken a key role as a strategic approach to marketing (and thus corporate) strategies. The article note the problem prestented by the lack of a clear theoretical definition, considers the strategic objectives that result in sponsorship programmes, reflects on the difficulties (or downright lack) of measuring the success of sponsorship programmes (noting that organizations will judge success in different ways), reflects on the controversial aspects of some sponsorship programmes and examines groups at which sponsorship might be targeted. It concludes that sponsorship has a significant (some would say major) role to play in increasing sales, enhancing corporate image and leveraging employee morale. It concludes by suggesting significant areas that merit further research in this greatly neglected academic area.
Non-organic failure to thrive: implications of placement through analysis of videotaped interactions.

Abstract This paper presents 6-month follow-up on a group of 16 infants hospitalized during the first months of life for non-organic failure to thrive (N-O FTT) and their mothers. Eight of these infants were placed in foster care and eight were returned home with their parents following hospitalization. The effects of placement on infant outcomes were examined through comparison of developmental scores and weight percentile changes, and the implications of foster care placements for mother-infant interactions were examined through analysis of patterns of interaction in videotaped sessions of feeding and play six months after hospital discharge. This analysis snowed that (1) mothers in both groups failed to make significant progress in resolving their own emotional or psychological conficts through treatment available; (2) weight and developmental status of the infants did not improve as expected in either group, and finally that (3) the patterns of interaction between mother and infant showed little change over time, and, regardless of placement at home or in foster care, remained concerning.
Differential deuterium isotope shifts and one-bond 1H-13C scalar couplings in the conformational analysis of protein glycine residues.

The one-bond deuterium isotope shift effect for glycine C alpha resonances exhibits a conformational dependence comparable to that of the corresponding 1JHC scalar coupling in both magnitude (approximately 11 Hz at 14.1 T) and dihedral angle dependence. The similarity in the conformational dependence of the 1JHC and deuterium isotope shift values suggests a common physical basis. Given the known distribution of (phi, psi) main-chain dihedral angles for glycine residues, the deuterium isotope shifts and the 1JHC scalar couplings can determine conformations in the left- and right-handed helical-to-bridge regions of the (phi, psi) plane to an accuracy of approximately 13 degrees. In the absence of stereochemical assignments, the differential deuterium isotope shifts and the 1JHC scalar couplings can be combined with limited independent structural information (e.g., the sign of phi) to determine the chirality of the deuterium substitution.
Constitutive endocytosis and recycling of the neuronal glutamate transporter, excitatory amino acid carrier 1

The neuronal glutamate transporter, excitatory amino acid carrier 1 (EAAC1), has a diverse array of physiologic and metabolic functions. There is evidence that there is a relatively large intracellular pool of EAAC1 both in vivo and in vitro, that EAAC1 cycles on and off the plasma membrane, and that EAAC1 cell surface expression can be rapidly regulated by intracellular signals. Despite the possible relevance of EAAC1 trafficking to both physiologic and pathologic processes, the cellular machinery involved has not been defined. In the present study, we found that agents that disrupt clathrin-dependent endocytosis or plasma membrane cholesterol increased steady-state levels of biotinylated EAAC1 in C6 glioma cells and primary neuronal cultures. Acute depletion of cholesterol increased the V(max) for EAAC1-mediated activity and had no effect on Na(+)-dependent glycine transport in the same system. These agents also impaired endocytosis as measured using a reversible biotinylating reagent. Co-expression with dominant-negative variants of dynamin or the clathrin adaptor, epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate clone 15, increased the steady-state levels of biotinylated myc-EAAC1. EAAC1 immunoreactivity was found in a subcellular fraction enriched in early endosome antigen 1 (EEA1) isolated by differential centrifugation and partially co-localized with EEA1. Co-expression of a dominant-negative variant of Rab11 (Rab11 S25N) reduced steady-state levels of biotinylated myc-EAAC1 and slowed constitutive delivery of myc-EAAC1 to the plasma membrane. Together, these observations suggest that EAAC1 is constitutively internalized via a clathrin- and dynamin-dependent pathway into early endosomes and that EAAC1 is trafficked back to the cell surface via the endocytic recycling compartment in a Rab11-dependent mechanism. As one defines the machinery required for constitutive trafficking of EAAC1, it may be possible to determine how intracellular signals regulate EAAC1 cell surface expression.
A one million bit bubble memory solution

Intel Magnetics is offering for sale a one million bit magnetic bubble memory package plus the LSI support circuits to build a complete memory subsystem compatible with the standard Intel microcomputer bus structures [1]. A manufacturable 2 cm2. one megabit chip was realized with an 11.2 × 11.2 square micrometer storage cell and with block replicate and swap gates for control functions. A binary organization was chosen so that useable data storage is organized as 2048 bit blocks of 512 bits each. A minimum system of 128k Bytes can be contained in 14 square inches of board space and requires only +12 volt and +5 voH power supplies and maximum power of 5 watts. The system is easily expandable to 1 M Byte. Product features offered include error correction on each 256 bit block segment and a leadless bubble memory package with a matching socket. The LSI support devices include a Current Pulse Generator, a Coil Driver, A Coil Predriver, a Formatter/Sense Amplifier and a Bubble Memory Controller.
Reaction of redox proteins at a 4,4′-bipyridyl-modified carbon paste electrode

Abstract An oil carbon paste 4,4′-bipyridyl chemically modified electrode has been observed to enhance the electrochemical response in cyclic voltammetry of Pseudomonas azurin, Pseudomonas cytochrome cd1, horse heart cytochrome c, and ferricyanide. Both azurin and ferricyanide adsorb on the surface of the modified electrode. A qualitative model of this electrode is discussed that assumes the existence of a 4,4′-bipyridyl-oil layer on the carbon surface into which substances may diffuse from the solution.
Phonon-pumped terahertz gain in n-type GaAs/AlGaAs superlattices

Local population inversion and far-IR gain are proposed and theoretically analyzed for an unbiased n-doped GaAs/Al0.15Ga0.85As superlattice pumped solely by phonons. The lasing transition occurs at the Brillouin zone boundary of the superlattice wave vector kz between the two conduction minibands CB1 and CB2 of the opposite curvature in kz space. The proposed waveguided structure is contacted above and below by heat sinks at 300 K and 77 K, respectively. Atop the superlattice, a heat buffer layer confines longitudinal optical phonons for enhanced optical-phonon pumping of CB1 electrons. A gain of 345 cm−1 at 4.5 THz is predicted for a doping density of 2.8×1016 cm−3.
Perceptual Characteristics of Computerized Program Visualizations can Differentially Affect Detection and Localization Performance

Program visualizations (PVs) are sometimes less effective in teaching computer algorithms than desired. One reason may be that PV designers have largely ignored the users' perceptual capabilities. We examined perceptual characteristics of bar displays, similar to those used in teaching sorting algorithms. Within each experimental condition we varied the number of bars displayed, number of flashing cues, number of bars changing height, and whether bars were labeled. Across experimental conditions we examined placement of bars within the visual field and whether bar profiles were fixed or varied from trial to trial. Thirty-six university students participated. Bars placed in peripheral locations can harm performance because of human retinal eccentricity effects. Moreover, many perceptual characteristics that help localization of critical changes (e.g., labels and cues) do not help detection, whereas some that help detection (e.g., 2 simultaneous changes) hurt localization. Our results suggest that considera...
Understanding state variations in SAT scores

Abstract We incorporate the test-takers' sociodemographic characteristics as well as state participation rates into an educational production function using the 1991 state-level scholastic aptitude test (SAT) data. We find that race, sex, income and parents' education of the test-takers are important determinants of student performance, in addition to the state participation rate. Reranking the states, based on the residuals from the educational production functions, establishes the influence of the sociodemographic characteristics of the state's test-takers in addition to the state participation rate on the average state SAT scores.
On the contact region of a diffusion-limited evaporating drop: A local analysis

Author(s): Morris, SJS | Abstract: Motivated by experiments showing that a sessile drop of volatile perfectly wetting liquid initially advances over the substrate, but then reverses, we formulate the problem describing the contact region at reversal. Assuming a separation of scales, so that the radial extent of this region is small compared with the instantaneous radius a of the apparent contact line, we show that the time scale characterizing the contact region is small compared with that on which the bulk drop is evolving. As a result, the contact region is governed by a boundary-value problem, rather than an initial-value problem: the contact region has no memory, and all its properties are determined by conditions at the instant of reversal. We conclude that the apparent contact angle θ is a function of the instantaneous drop radius a, as found in the experiments. We then non-dimensionalize the boundary-value problem, and find that its solution depends on one parameter 葦, a dimensionless surface tension. According to this formulation, the apparent contact angle is well-defined: at the outer edge of the contact region, the film slope approaches a limit that is independent of the curvature of bulk drop. In this, it differs from the dynamic contact angle observed during spreading of non-volatile drops. Next, we analyse the boundary-value problem assuming 葦 to be small. Though, for arbitrary 葦, determining θ requires solving the steady diffusion equation for the vapour, there is, for small 葦, a further separation of scales within the contact region. As a result, θ is now determined by solving an ordinary differential equation. We predict that θ varies as a-1/6, as found experimentally for small drops (a l 1 mm). For these drops, predicted and measured angles agree to within 10-30 %. Because the discrepancy increases with a, but 葦 is a decreasing function of a, we infer that some process occurring outside the contact region is required to explain the observed behaviour of larger drops having a g 1 mm.