cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chronic Subdural Hematoma Secondary to Traumatic Subdural Hygroma: Consequence or Coexistence?

We experienced 13 patients with chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) occurring consequently to traumatic subdural hygroma (SDHy) over a 6-year period The patients ranged in ages from 20 to 80 years (mean 52.1 years). Twelve of them were male. All patients underwent CT scan within 10 days after head trauma, and presented small to moderate amount of subdural effusion (<20 of Hounsfield units in density) in uni- or bi-lateral frontal areas without surrounding contrast enhancement While managed conservatively, follow-up CT scan was performed in 9 patients and demonstrated an increase in the amount of subdural effusion, but no evidence of increase in density. CSDHs were diagnosed in the same areas as SDHy without any history of further head trauma, eight unilaterally and five bilaterally, at mean interval of 53.4 days. During the interval, new symptoms had developed insidiously following a period of stabilization of the initial symptoms manifested by SDHy in most of the patients, but 4 of the 13 patients (30%) had not had any new symptom. Ten patients underwent surgical drainage of the hematoma and the membrane formation was confirmed, while the other three patients were managed conservatively followed by complete resolution of the hematoma. Our experience indicates that SDHy can be a prodromal disease of CSDH in certain situations, although the pathogenesis of each deasese has been considered to be totally different Patients with SDHy, even small in amount, should be followed up for at least 3 months. Particularly, a patient with the SDHy getting larger in follow-up CT scans, should be carefully monitored, although their symptoms and signs are stabilized.
CRT-800.29 Impact of Atrial Fibrillation and Flutter on Clinical Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Balloon Aortic Valvuloplasty

Cardiovascular risk in patients with advanced aortic stenosis (AS) remains substantial following treatment with balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV). While concomitant atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF/AFL) is frequent among patients with AS, the impact of AF/AFL on outcomes following BAV remains
Measuring lower bounds of the financial abuse to online advertisers

Online advertising is a complex ecosystem that enables one of the most profitable businesses, which has become the target of abuse for botnets. For example, recent charges filed from the United States Department of Justice against the operators of the DNSChanger botnet stated that the botnet stole at least $14 million (Antonakakis et al., 2012; LawFuel Editors, 2014) from online advertisers during its lifetime just short of two years. In this paper we present a system, A2S, to analyze one of the most complex, sophisticated, and long-lived botnets: TDSS/TDL4. Using passive datasets from a large Internet Service Provider in the United States, we estimated conservative lower bounds of advertisers' loss caused by the botnet. Over its entire life span, less than 15% of TDSS/TDL4 population caused at least $346 million in damages to advertisers, primarily due to impression fraud. This translates to an average of $340 thousand daily loss to advertisers, which is three times the last reported estimate from the analysis of ZeroAccess botnet (Pearce et al., 2014) and more than ten times of the daily impact the DNSChanger botnet (Meng et al., 2013) had to the ad ecosystem. Our study is the first to reveal the extent of the abuse that botnets bring to the ad ecosystem from the outside: the edge of the Internet.
Situation Awareness Offshore: Relevant Influencing Factors and Risks:

Offshore operations are an inherently hazardous activities that can result in catastrophic outcomes. The amalgamation of different hazards, constraints, and demands on offshore platforms can presen...
Teaching Inclusive Thinking to Undergraduate Students in Computing Programs

An increasing importance of accessibility awareness and knowledge emanates from a moral imperative and as an employment differentiator. It is important that educational programs have a demonstrated ability to teach these skills. In this paper, we focus on the role that educational courses can play in increasing accessibility awareness for undergraduate students. We review literature indicating that a number of accessibility teaching interventions have been reported; yet the evaluation of their effectiveness has not been conducted in a consistent manner. We report on our 3-semester evaluation of undergraduate students' accessibility awareness and knowledge following a week of accessibility lectures as part of courses on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), where a subset of students also interact with stakeholders with disabilities during the conduct of the course projects. Gains in awareness and knowledge occur when accessibility lectures were part of the course. These gains are compared across the teams who interacted with a person with a disability and teams with no such interaction. In addition, we provide the test battery developed to measure these skills, to enable other researchers to conduct evaluations of the effectiveness of interventions for teaching inclusive thinking in undergraduate computing at their own institutions.
Modeling analysis of the effect of laser transverse speed on grain morphology during directed energy deposition process

Directed energy deposition (DED) is an advanced additive manufacturing process which can deposit or fabricate a part with complex and nontraditional geometries in many kinds of engineering structural materials, high-temperature materials, and anti-corrosion materials. The fed metallic powder is melted by a laser beam with highly concentrated energy on the substrate surface. In this manufacturing process, different laser transverse speeds can significantly affect the microstructural morphology of the deposited layer. Some microstructural morphologies observed in DED may appear in classic solidification processes. However, the effect of mobile heat sources which vary with time and location can result in significant microstructural heterogeneity. In order to investigate the laser transverse speeds’ effects on the microstructural morphology in DED processes, a Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) Potts model was utilized to exactly predict the grain evolvement under different laser transverse speeds in this study. Three increasing transverse speeds, 450 mm/min, 600 mm/min, and 1000 mm/min, were chosen and then investigated. The predicted microstructural morphology in depositions with these three different laser transverse speeds was quantified and analyzed. The processing parameters in the KMC Potts model were cited from a previous reference and have been validated with experimental EBSD microstructural images.
Association of Medicaid expansion with health insurance coverage by marital status and sex.

Objective To determine the association of Medicaid expansion with health insurance coverage by marital status and sex. Methods A population-based, quasi-experimental policy analysis was undertaken of the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion provision on or after January 1, 2014. The 2010–16 American Community Survey provided data on 3,874,432 Medicaid-eligible adults aged 19–64 with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level. The outcome measures were no health insurance coverage and Medicaid coverage. The predictor variables were marital status and sex, with controls for family size, poverty status, race/ethnicity, education, employment status, immigration status, and metropolitan residence. Results In 2016, the uninsured rate for married men and women in a Medicaid expansion state was 21.2% and 17.1%, respectively, compared to 37.4% for married men and 35.8% for married women in a non-expansion state. The Medicaid coverage rate grew between 14.8% to 19.3% in Medicaid expansion states, which contrasts with less than a 5% growth in non-expansion states. Triple differences analysis suggests that, for women of all age groups, Medicaid expansion resulted in a 1.6 percentage point lower uninsured rate for married women compared to unmarried women. For men, there was not a statistically significant difference in the uninsured rate for married compared to unmarried men. For women of all age groups, there was a 2.6 percentage point higher Medicaid coverage rate for married compared to unmarried women. For men, there was a 1.8 percentage point higher Medicaid coverage rate for married compared to unmarried men. Conclusion Medicaid expansion under the ACA differentially lowered uninsurance and improved Medicaid coverage for married persons, especially married women, more than unmarried persons.
Feel free to fail once in a while: We all do! That's how we learn from life's lessons

Along the way I have learned a lesson or two. Some were the result of reaching too far and efforts that resulted in failure. Learning from failure is frequently not so pleasant, although you doubly fail if you do not learn from those failures. Yet other lessons resulted from wonderful collisions of opportunity and the presence of colleagues who, working in collaboration, would enable my contributions to make a difference. Download the PDF to read more...
GridPeaks: Employing Distributed Energy Storage for Grid Peak Reduction

Since peak demand dictates the costs and carbon emissions in electricity generation, electric utilities are transitioning to renewable energy to cut peaks and curtail carbon footprint. Although clean and sustainable energy source, intermittent nature of most renewables (e.g., solar, wind) makes it challenging to integrate them with the traditional electric grid. Energy storage could facilitate the integration. Grid-scale energy storage projects have been coming up across the world, but require huge upfront capital costs, and significant time and efforts. An economic and scalable alternative to expensive centralized energy storage is to leverage distributed energy storage across several homes in the grid. Prior research has proposed employing home energy storage for cutting peak demands and electricity bills for customers. However, homes working individually cannot shave aggregate peaks efficaciously since not all home peaks are aligned with the aggregate peaks and homes don’t have the aggregate consumption knowledge. To address these limitations, we present GridPeaks, a distributed energy storage system that centrally controls the batteries of the participating homes from a master node deployed at the grid. The master makes battery charging-discharging decisions based on aggregate grid demand. We evaluate GridPeaks on real power consumption data. Our results show that GridPeaks can cut grid-wide peaks by 23% and reduce the generation costs by up to 14%.
When Do Auditors' Professional Values Constrain the Biasing Effects of Self Interest? An Experimental Investigation

The purpose of this study is to identify situations in which auditors' professional values are most likely to constrain the biasing effects of self-interest. Specifically, I examine whether auditor...
Overall Survival After Treatment of Localized Prostate Cancer With Proton Beam Therapy, External-Beam Photon Therapy, or Brachytherapy

Abstract Background There are few comparative outcomes data regarding the therapeutic delivery of proton beam therapy (PBT) versus the more widely used photon-based external-beam radiation (EBRT) and brachytherapy (BT). We evaluated the impact of PBT on overall survival (OS) compared to EBRT or BT on patients with localized prostate cancer. Patients and Methods The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) was queried for 2004-2015. Men with clinical stage T1-3, N0, M0 prostate cancer treated with radiation, without surgery or chemotherapy, were included. OS, the primary clinical outcome, was fit by Cox proportional hazard model. Propensity score matching was implemented for covariate balance. Results There were 276,880 eligible patients with a median follow-up of 80.9 months. A total of 4900 (1.8%) received PBT, while 158,111 (57.1%) received EBRT and 113,869 (41.1%) BT. Compared to EBRT and BT, PBT patients were younger and were less likely to be in the high-risk group. On multivariable analysis, compared to PBT, men had worse OS after EBRT (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.51-1.96) or BT (adjusted HR = 1.38; 95% CI, 1.21-1.58). After propensity score matching, the OS benefit of PBT remained significant compared to EBRT (HR = 1.64; 95% CI, 1.32-2.04) but not BT (adjusted HR = 1.18; 95% CI, 0.93-1.48). The improvement in OS with PBT was most prominent in men ≤ 65 years old with low-risk disease compared to other subgroups (interaction P Conclusion In this national data set, PBT was associated with a significant OS benefit compared to EBRT, and with outcomes similar to BT. These results remain to be validated by ongoing prospective trials.
“More Than a Trip”: Memory, Mobility, and Space in Un Franco, 14 Pesetas (2004)

In Un Franco, 14 Pesetas (2004), Carlos Iglesias tells the story of Spanish migration to Central Europe during the 1960s through a fictional remembering of his family’s years as immigrants to Uzwil, in the Swiss eastern province of Toggenburg. His memories of the Swiss landscape, luminous, green, and open contrast with a grim, grey and enclosed Madrid, both origin and end of the six-year journey. This essay explores the interrelation between memory, space, and human mobility in Un Franco, 14 Pesetas. Through a journey of migration to Switzerland, Iglesias tells a story of return to Madrid, and unveils the contradictions of Spain’s so-called ‘economic miracle’ of the 1960s. Merging experiences of arrival and departure, presents and pasts, Iglesias’s film shows how immigration is rooted in space, and inseparable from economic, political and social processes that are historically specific.
Non-Pad-Based in Situ in-Operando CDM ESD Protection Using Internally Distributed Network

Charged device model (CDM) electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection is an emerging design challenge to ICs at advanced technology nodes. It was recently reported that the traditional pad-based CDM ESD protection methods are fundamentally faulty, which causes uncertainties in CDM ESD protection designs, testing and failure analysis. Re-thinking of onchip CDM ESD protection becomes imperative for complex ICs implemented in advanced technologies. This paper reports a disruptive CDM ESD protection method utilizing non-pad-based internally-distributed ESD protection network as a robust in situ in-operando CDM ESD protection solution. The proposed internal-distributed CDM ESD protection mesh network can be realized using interposer or through-silicon-via (TSV) ESD protection structures to achieve local 3D CDM ESD protection via heterogeneous integration. The new concept was validated using an internal-CDM-protected oscillator IC implemented in a foundry 45nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.
Aeration, Mixing and Hydrodynamics in Bioreactors

Over the last 20 years, there has been a signiﬁcant increase in the number of largescale animal cell culture processes for commercial, therapeutic products. A number of these processes are conducted in bioreactors on the order of 10,000L; yet, no single universal methodology on how to design, operate , and scale-up bioreactors exists. Conceptually, the optimal scale-up (or scale-down) methodology would provide an optimum, constant ‘‘microenvironment’’ surrounding each cell that is scale independent. This constant ‘‘microenvironment’’ would not only include the concentration of all nutrients and byproducts, but also all hydrodynamic forces acting on the cells. This lack of methodology is the result of the complexity of introducing=removing gas-phase nutrients=byproducts into=from the culture and the turbulent nature of the hydrodynamics. The gas-phase challenges are exacerbated by the low solubility of oxygen in the liquid phase, which requires an active oxygen introduction system (either gas sparging or the use of membranes) in culture sizes typically greater than 100L. Equally challenging is the perceived, and in some cases actual, sensitivity of the cells to hydrodynamic forces generated in bioreactors to facilitate the mixing of nutrients and the suspension of the cells.
The hemodynamic pathophysiology of impotence following blunt trauma to the erect penis.

AbstractA total of 19 patients provided a history of impotence following blunt trauma to the erect penis during intercourse or masturbation, or after accidents. Corporeal veno-occlusive dysfunction was the most common hemodynamic abnormality (16 of 19 patients, or 84%). A site-specific leak, which consisted of abrupt filling of the dorsal vein and/or corpus spongiosum from a focal site on the penile shaft, was demonstrated in 15 patients (79%). Cavernous artery insufficiency was found less often (7 of 19 patients, or 37%). A focal mid shaft cavernous artery occlusion was demonstrated in 5 patients (28%).It is hypothesized that the aforementioned hemodynamic abnormalities are caused by tunica and intracavernous vasculature injuries induced by the marked short-term pressure increases, which approach or exceed the tunica tensile strength during acute abrupt loading of the erect penis. This hypothesis is supported by direct recording of intracavernous pressures that exceeded 450mm. Hg in response to angulatio...
The Role of IS-Flexibility for the Management of an E-Procurement System: A Case Study

A number of benefits of e-procurement systems have been identified by researchers and by practitioners. However, the selection of an appropriate solution from a large number of available solutions is still considered difficult in practice. Traditional cost-benefit and business strategy approaches fall short to provide guidelines regarding an appropriate, let alone optimal level of information system (IS) flexibility to support procurement processes, yet there is empirical evidence that insufficient as well as overly extensive IS flexibility can lead to sub-optimal results. In this paper, we present a case study of an e-procurement system at a Fortune 100 firm that confirms the importance of actively managing IS flexibility. We identify the expected time-frame of an e-procurement system as an important variable for the selection and the management of IS flexibility, in addition to business process characteristics that have been identified earlier as having an impact on flexibility requirements.
Modulation of HLA-DR in dry eye patients following 30 days of treatment with a lubricant eyedrop solution

PURPOSE To determine the changes in dry eye disease (DED) severity and the percentage of cells expressing HLA-DR on the ocular surface following treatment with lubricant eyedrops containing polyethylene glycol and propylene glycol (PEG/PG) and the gelling agent hydroxypropyl guar (HP-Guar). PATIENTS AND METHODS Nineteen patients with DED used PEG/PG + HP-Guar eyedrops four times per day for 30 days. Assessments included DED severity (Ocular Surface Disease Index [OSDI], corneal staining, conjunctival staining, tear film break-up time [TFBUT], and Schirmer testing) and impression cytology of the conjunctiva with masked flow cytometry at baseline and at 30 days. RESULTS There was a significant decrease in corneal staining (P<0.01), OSDI (P=0.02), and TFBUT (P<0.01) following treatment with PEG/PG + HP-Guar. Results from flow cytometry revealed a significant decrease in cells expressing HLA-DR (P=0.02). CONCLUSION Treatment with PEG/PG + HP-Guar eyedrops showed improvement in dry eye severity and reduction in surface inflammation as indicated by a reduction in HLA-DR expression.
A Web-Based Fractal Geometry Course for Non-Science Students

I have been teaching fractal geometry as an introduction to scientific thinking for non-science students since 1986. That year, before computer projection systems were common, I generated the necessary graphics and made transparencies. Since then, support material has developed to include live experiments and projection of increasingly complex graphics. These images are a central part of the course, and yet fractal geometry grows so rapidly that the need to incorporate new material defeats the usefulness of static media such as books. (Nevertheless, we still write books. Peak and Frame (1994) is an attempt at a text for this audience.) With class sizes of about 170, daily distribution of 10 or so pages of images to be projected in class is prohibitively expensive. The alternative appeared to be showing the images in class, and having the students try to take notes. This was far from ideal.
Aging Immunity and the Impact of Physical Exercise

Regular physical exercise is associated with increased longevity and a lower risk of developing several age-associated diseases. In addition, regular exercise has been purported as a simple lifestyle intervention to counteract the deleterious effects of age-associated changes in immunity known as immunosenescence. Etiology of immunosenescence is multifaceted and can impact on both arms of the immune system. Since 1990, several longitudinal ageing studies using aerobic- and/or resistance-based exercise provided growing information on the benefits of exercise in both innate immunity and adaptive immunity. Regular exercise can improve responses to vaccines, NK-cell function, neutrophil phagocytic activity, and T-cell proliferation. It also reduces circulatory inflammatory mediators and inflammatory response to bacterial challenge. These findings provide a strong indication that habitual exercise has immune regulatory properties and may help delay the onset of immunosenescence.
Advanced water vapor DIAL detection system

Summary form only given. Atmospheric water vapor profile measurements are very important for understanding the Earth radiation budget and the formation of hurricanes. NASA Langley Research Center has been developing a differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system for this purpose. The new system consists of three main circuits which include a silicon avalanche photodiode (APD) detector, with its built in current to voltage amplifier and thermoelectric cooler.
Universal constraints on the range of eigenmaps and spherical minimal immersions

The purpose of this paper is to give lower estimates on the range dimension of spherical minimal immersions in various settings. The estimates are obtained by showing that infinitesimal isometric deformations (with respect to a compact Lie group acting transitively on the domain) of spherical minimal immersions give rise to a contraction on the moduli space of the immersions and a suitable power of the contraction brings all boundary points into the interior of the moduli space. 1. PRELIMINARIES AND STATEMENT OF RESULTS An isometric immersion f: S' -* SV, m > 2, of the Euclidean mr-sphere Sk of constant curvature k into the unit sphere Sv of a Euclidean vector space V is said to be a spherical minimal immersion if f is minimal. By a result of Takahashi [11], f exists if k = m/Ap for some p > 1, where AP = p(p+m1) is the p-th eigenvalue of the spherical Laplacian As7m on Sm := S', and, in this case, each component O f q e V*, of f is a spherical harmonic of order p on Sm; an eigenfunction of Asm with eigenvalue AP. We scale the metric on the domain to curvature one and call f Sm S Sv a spherical minimal immersion of (algebraic) degree p. Because of the scaling, f is a homothetic (minimal) immersion with homothety Ap/m: (1) (f* (X) X f* (Y)) = Ap/m(XI Y), where X, Y are vector fields on Sm. Let HP denote the Euclidean vector space of spherical harmonics of order p on Sm endowed with the L2-scalar product (suitably scaled). The universal example of a spherical minimal immersion is the standard minimal immersion fm,p: Sm SHP whose components (relative to an orthonormal basis in HP ) are orthonormal. For p = 2, fm,2: Sm S-2 is the classical Veronese map. Unless relevant, we suppress m from the notation and write the standard minimal immersion as fp: Sm SEP. A fundamental problem raised by M.DoCarmo and N.Wallach [3] is to find lower bounds for the range dimension of spherical minimal immersions. The main result of this paper, Theorem 4, solves this problem by giving lower bounds in terms of the dimension of the domain, the degree, and differential geometric properties of the immersions such as symmetries and higher order isotropy. The only previously known general lower bound was given by J.D.Moore [10] who proved that, for a spherical minimal immersion f: Sm + Sv of degree > 2, we have dim V > 2m. DoCarmo and Wallach conjectured [3] that the lower bound Received by the editors April 20, 1997. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 53C42. ?)1999 American Mathematical Society
An Empirical Test of the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model and the Implied Variance: A Confidence Interval Approach

The empirical studies on the Black-Scholes (B-S) option pricing model have reported that the model tends to exhibit systematic biases with respect to the exercise price, time to expiration, and the...
Comparisons between 25 reversible and ambiguous figures on measures of latency, duration, and fluctuation

Data are presented for 16 reversible and 9 ambiguous figures on measures of latency and duration of the initial response and total number of fluctuations during a 30-sec interval by 42 Ss. Of particular interest are the magnitudes, correlations, and factor analysis of eight widely used figures (e.g., Necker cube). The methodological advantages, theoretical ambiguities, and further research possibilities of this information are discussed.
Activity preferences of persons with dementia.

Older adults prefer to engage in a variety of leisure and recreational activities. These activities vary in type depending on the older adult's level of physical and mental ability. There is little empirical evidence documenting the preferred activities of older adults with dementia. The present study examines the self-reported activity preferences of 216 persons with dementia and the relationship of these activities to demographic characteristics and well-being outcomes. Results demonstrate hypothesized demographic differences and reinforce the importance of engaging persons with dementia in activities that they find meaningful.
Effect sizes and p values: What should be reported and what should be replicated?

Despite publication of many well-argued critiques of null hypothesis testing (NHT), behavioral science researchers continue to rely heavily on this set of practices. Although we agree with most critics' catalogs of NHT's flaws, this article also takes the unusual stance of identifying virtues that may explain why NHT continues to be so extensively used. These virtues include providing results in the form of a dichotomous (yes/no) hypothesis evaluation and providing an index (p value) that has a justifiable mapping onto confidence in repeatability of a null hypothesis rejection. The most-criticized flaws of NHT can be avoided when the importance of a hypothesis, rather than the p value of its test, is used to determine that a finding is worthy of report, and when p approximately equal to .05 is treated as insufficient basis for confidence in the replicability of an isolated non-null finding. Together with many recent critics of NHT, we also urge reporting of important hypothesis tests in enough descriptive detail to permit secondary uses such as meta-analysis.
Mechanism of pulmonary injury after oxygen therapy.

Summary o 1.From the experimental studies it is concluded that pulmonary O 2 tolerance is increased by intermittent exposure. 2.High O 2 tensions promote atelectasis, but this can effectively be managed by regular and frequent hyperinflation. 3.The extent of chronic PT is closely correlated with the O 2 tension of the blood perfusing the lung when PO 2 of the inspired gas is kept constant. 4.The threshold and tolerance to O 2 therapy is reviewed and recommendations for therapy are made.
Late dysphagia after radiotherapy‐based treatment of head and neck cancer

BACKGROUND: Changing trends in head and neck cancer (HNC) merit an understanding of the late effects of therapy, but few studies examine dysphagia beyond 2 years of treatment. METHODS: A case series was examined to describe the pathophysiology and outcomes in dysphagic HNC survivors referred for modified barium swallow (MBS) studies ≥5 years after definitive radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy (January 2001 through May 2011). Functional measures included the penetration-aspiration scale (PAS), performance status scale–head and neck (PSS-HN), National Institutes of Health Swallowing Safety Scale (NIH-SSS), and MBS impairment profile (MBSImp). RESULTS: Twenty-nine patients previously treated with radiotherapy (38%) or chemoradiotherapy (62%) were included (median years posttreatment, 9; range, 5-19). The majority (86%) had oropharyngeal cancer; 52% were never-smokers. Seventy-five percent had T2 or T3 tumors; 52% were N+. The median age at diagnosis was 55 (range, 38-72). Abnormal late examination findings included: dysarthria/dysphonia (76%), cranial neuropathy (48%), trismus (38%), and radionecrosis (10%). MBS studies confirmed pharyngeal residue and aspiration in all dysphagic cases owing to physiologic impairment (median PAS, 8; median NIH-SSS, 10; median MBSImp, 18), whereas stricture was confirmed endoscopically in 7 (24%). Twenty-five (86%) developed pneumonia, half requiring hospitalization. Swallow postures/strategies helped 69% of cases, but no patient achieved durable improvement across functional measures at last follow-up. Ultimately, 19 (66%) were gastrostomy-dependent. CONCLUSIONS: Although functional organ preservation is commonly achieved, severe dysphagia represents a challenging late effect that may develop or progress years after radiation-based therapy for HNC. These data suggest that novel approaches are needed to minimize and better address this complication that is commonly refractory to many standard dysphagia therapies. Cancer 2012. © 2012 American Cancer Society.
Culture of rat mesenteric arteriolar smooth muscle cells: effects of platelet-derived growth factor, angiotensin, and nitric oxide on growth.

We cultured smooth muscle cells as explants from rat mesenteric arterioles (40–200μm in diameter) obtained by injecting a suspension of iron oxide intraarterially and magnetically separating the arterioles after collagenase digestion of adventitial tissue. In third-passaged cells we ascertained smooth muscle purity of >98% by characteristic morphology, contraction responses, and specific immunofluorescence staining. Treatment of growth-arrested (in 0.4% fetal calf serum) cells with platelet-derived growth factor (0.3–7.5 nM) or angiotensin II (0.001–1000 nM) induced 3H-thymidine incorporation and cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.01). S-nitroso-N acetylpencillamine (0.05–0.5 mM), a nitric oxide-generating compound, inhibited 10% fetal calf serum-induced 3H-thymidine incorporation (P<0.05) and cell proliferation (P<0.01). The antimitogenic effect of S-nitroso-N-acetylpencillamine was significantly reduced by hemoglobin and potentiated by superoxide dismutase (P<0.01). In addition to a new technique for culturing mesenteric arteriolar smooth muscle cells, these findings provide evidence that platelet-derived growth factor, angiotensin II, and nitric oxide may be involved in their growth control.
Recovery of nitrosamines from water

Abstract A method was devised for the recovery of dialkylnitrosamines in the parts/109 level. The procedure involved the addition of K2CO3 to water samples and concentration of the nitroso compounds on Amberlite XAD-2 resin. The recoveries of dimethyl- and diethylnitrosamines were greater than 90%
Periodic alternating nystagmus provoked by an attack of Ménière's disease

Periodic alternating nystagmus is a rare central nervous system disorder in which the eyes undergo a horizontal jerk nystagmus that periodically reverses direction. A patient with a hypoplastic cerebellum and enlarged cisterna magna exhibited transient periodic alternating nystagmus following an attack of Meniere's disease. We hypothesize that in susceptible individuals with cerebellar disturbances, periodic alternating nystagmus may be transiently induced by vestibular stimuli.
Scheduling for Periodic Concurrent Error Detection in Processor Arrays

Periodic application of time-redundant error checking to processor arrays provides a trade-off between error detection latency and performance degradation. The goal is to achieve high error coverage while satisfying performance requirements. In this paper, we derive the optimal scheduling of checking patterns for linear processor arrays in order to minimize the error detection latency and maximize the error coverage.
Cleavage and reduced CD36 ectodomain density on heart and spleen macrophages in the spontaneously hypertensive rat.

Metabolic disease is accompanied by a range of cellular defects (“comorbidities”) whose origin is uncertain. To investigate this pathophysiological phenomenon we used the Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat (SHR), which besides an elevated arterial blood pressure also has many other comorbidities, including a defective glucose and lipid metabolism. We have shown that this model of metabolic disease has elevated plasma matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity, which cleaves the extracellular domain of membrane receptors. We hypothesize here that the increased MMP activity also leads to abnormal cleavage of the scavenger receptor and fatty acid transporter CD36. To test this idea, chronic pharmaceutical MMP inhibition (CGS27023A) of the SHR and its normotensive control, the Wistar Kyoto Rat (WKY), was used to determine if inhibition of MMP activity serves to maintain CD36 receptor density and function. Surface density of CD36 on macrophages from the heart, spleen, and liver was determined in WKY, SHR, CGS-treated WKY (CGS WKY), and CGS-treated SHR (CGS SHR) by immunohistochemistry with an antibody against the CD36 ectodomain. The extracellular CD36 density was lower in SHR heart and spleen macrophages compared to that in the WKY. MMP inhibition by CGS served to restore the reduced CD36 density on SHR cardiac and splanchnic macrophages to levels of the WKY. To examine CD36 function, culture assays with murine macrophages (RAW 264.7) after incubation in fresh WKY or SHR plasma were used to test for adhesion of light-weight donor red blood cell (RBC) by CD36. This form of RBC adhesion to macrophages was reduced after incubation in SHR compared WKY plasma. Analysis of the supernatant macrophage media by Western blot shows a higher level of CD36 extracellular protein fragments following exposure to SHR plasma compared to WKY. MMP inhibition in the SHR plasma compared to untreated plasma, served to increase the RBC adhesion to macrophages and decrease the number of receptor fragments in the macrophage media. In conclusion, these studies bring to light that plasma in the SHR model of metabolic disease has an unchecked MMP degrading activity which causes cleavage of a variety of membrane receptors, including CD36, which attenuates several cellular functions typical for the metabolic disease, including RBC adhesion to the scavenger receptor CD36. In addition to other cell dysfunctions chronic MMP inhibition restores CD36 in the SHR.
Efficient Construction of Perpendicular Vectors without Branching

This paper presents a novel formula for computing an arbitrary vector perpendicular to a given 3D vector. The formula, as well as the provided C language implementation, are unusual in that they require no conditional branching. The formula involves little arithmetic and is amenable to hardware implementation.
Placental and fetal manifestations of cytomegalovirus infection.

Five cases of fetal cytomegalovirus infection are presented to illustrate the nature of the placental disease and the difference in fetal infectious sequelae. Widespread fetal infection occurred in very early dissemination of the virus with little inflammatory participation. In later stages both placental and fetal tissues sponsor an intense inflammatory infiltration with numerous plasma cells, and thrombotic phenomena are important sequelae. Viruria without recognizable disease was found in a newborn of a mother who suffered cervical virus infection in late pregnancy. It is emphasized that villous inflammatory lesions are characteristically associated with fetal CMV infection. Their identification can lead to early clarification of neonatal disease states.
The Inheritance of Resistance to Bacillary White Diarrhea

Abstract It is a generally accepted fact that bacillary white diarrhea is one of the most prevalent, and one of the most fatal, diseases of young chicks. In consequence, the attention of many investigators has been directed toward the development of methods for its eradication or control. One of the possible means of reducing losses from this disease is the establishment of immune or resistant stocks, for it is a matter of common observation that individuals vary greatly in their resistance to a given disease. The production of resistant stocks is possible only if resistance to disease is hereditary. So far as the authors are aware, it has not yet been demonstrated that resistance to a bacterial disease is hereditary, although Frateur (1924) has reported that resistance to infection by the bacillus of avian diphtheria is a simple Mendelian dominant. The term “resistance” is used here, rather than “immunity,” for the . . .
Atmospheric Lifetimes of HFC-143a and HFC-245fa: Flash Photolysis Resonance Fluorescence Measurements of the OH Reaction Rate Constants

Rate constants for the reactions of hydroxyl radicals with CH3CF3 (HFC-143a) and CHF2CH2CF3 (HFC-245fa) have been measured using the flash photolysis resonance fluorescence technique over the temperature range 273−370 K. A data analysis procedure is presented which should minimize rate constant errors introduced by the possible effects of radical diffusion. The following Arrhenius expressions have been derived for the reactions of OH with CH3CF3 and CHF2CH2CF3, respectively (in units of cm3 molecule-1 s-1): × 10-12 exp{−(1979 ± 65)/T} and × 10-12 exp{−(1331 ± 43)/T}. With these values, the atmospheric lifetimes for the two HFCs have been estimated to be 51 and 7.4 years, respectively. An error analysis is presented from which the rate constant uncertainty at any temperature can be calculated.
The effect of salt on renal damage in eNOS-deficient mice

African Americans have an increased incidence of end-stage renal disease and are characterized as having reduced bioavailability of nitric oxide and salt-sensitivity. We propose that endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) knockout mice (eNOS−/−) are a suitable model of hypertension-associated renal injury as seen in African Americans. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine whether older eNOS−/− mice have hypertension-associated renal injury and if dietary salt modulates this injury. Six-month-old eNOS−/− mice were placed on 0.12%, 0.45% or 8% NaCl diet for 8 weeks and blood pressure measured weekly; kidneys were collected for pathology evaluation and scoring at the end of the 8-week period. Mice deficient of eNOS were hypertensive at baseline compared with control mice in all three groups (128±3 vs. 112±3, P<0.05). Blood pressure was significantly elevated from baseline in eNOS−/− on 0.45 and 8% salt diets (P<0.02). The composite renal pathology scores for eNOS−/− mice were significantly greater than wild-type mice, indicating high salt intake exacerbates the injury (P<0.001 vs. normal salt diet). eNOS−/− mice may be used as a model of salt-induced and hypertension-associated renal injury as seen in African Americans.
Zoledronic acid: clinical utility and patient considerations in osteoporosis and low bone mass.

The availability of a once-a-year zoledronic acid infusion heralds a new era in the management of osteoporosis. It virtually eliminates the problem of poor compliance with orally administered bisphosphonates and, because it bypasses the gastrointestinal tract, it is not associated with gastrointestinal side effects. Zoledronic acid is effective for the treatment and prevention of postmenopausal osteoporosis, and for the treatment of osteoporosis in men, and glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. When administered within three months of a hip fracture, it reduces mortality and the risk of subsequent fractures. It is remarkably free of serious adverse effects. After administration of the intravenous infusion, about 18% of bisphosphonate-naive patients experience an acute-phase reaction, including low-grade temperature, aches, and pains. This is reduced to about 9% in those who have been treated with oral bisphosphonates, and is further reduced by the concomitant and subsequent administration of acetaminophen. The likelihood and magnitude of the acute-phase reaction is less after the second infusion. Other adverse effects are similar to those encountered with other bisphosphonates. Because it is mostly excreted by the kidneys, zoledronic acid should not be administered to patients with a creatinine clearance less than 35 mL/min. It should not be administered to patients with hypocalcemia.
Clopidogrel pretreatment in ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients transferred for percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background Pretreatment with clopidogrel reduces ischemic complications before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Limited data exist regarding the effect of pretreatment for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients undergoing primary PCI. Methods Prospective data were analyzed from a regional STEMI system using rapid transfer for primary PCI in 30 community hospitals. Zone 1 community hospitals are Results From April 2003 through December 2008, 2,014 consecutive STEMI patients were pretreated with clopidogrel before PCI, with a median (25th-75th percentile) duration from pretreatment to PCI of 75 (58-93) minutes. Patients with longer pretreatment duration had significantly reduced reinfarction/reischemia at 30 days (Zone 1: 0.85%, Zone 2: 0.9%) compared with nontransferred patients (3.2%, P = .001) as well as reduced stent thrombosis (Zone 1: 0.6%, Zone 2: 0.6% vs Abbott Northwestern: 2.0%; P = .04). Similarly, pretreatment duration of >60 minutes before PCI had reduced 30-day reinfarction/reischemia (1.0% vs 2.9%, P = .003). There were no significant differences in mortality or major bleeding. Conclusion ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients undergoing primary PCI in a regional STEMI network who received earlier pretreatment with a 600-mg loading dose of clopidogrel had less ischemic complications without increased bleeding or mortality.
Bulk and surface vibrational modes in NiAl

We have measured the phonon dispersion curves of bulk NiAl along the three major symmetry directions by neutron scattering, and fitted the results with force models extending to third- and fourth-nearest neighbors. Our electron-energy-loss experiments show that dipole-active vibrational modes occur in the gap between the bulk acoustical and optical modes for the (110) and (111) surfaces. We have done extensive slab calculations of the vibrational modes at the surface-Brillouin-zone center for these two faces and for NiAl(001). The calculations indicate that the atomic motion for the gap modes is correlated with the bulk properties. Adjustment of the interplanar force constants in directions intuitively consistent with experimental results for the surface relaxations can shift the calculated frequencies into agreement with experiment.
3D Volume Rotation Using Shear Transformations

We present a group of methods for decomposing an arbitrary 3D volume rotation into a sequence of simple shear (i.e., regular shift) operations. We explore different types of shear operations: 2Dbeam shear, a shear in one coordinate based on the other two coordinates; 2Dslice shear, a shear of a volume slice (in two coordinates) according to the third coordinate; and 2Dslice?beam shear, the combination of a beam shear and a slice shear. We show that an arbitrary 3D rotation can be decomposed into four 2D beam shears. We use this decomposition as a basis to obtain the sequence of 3D rotation decomposition into four 2D slice shears or three 2D slice?beam shears. Moreover, we observe that two consecutive slice shears can be achieved by shifting beams in 3D space, a transformation we call a 3D beam shear. Therefore, an arbitrary 3D rotation can be decomposed into only two 3D beam shears. Because of the regularity and simplicity of the shear operation, these decompositions are suitable for implementations on a multipipelined hardware or a massively parallel machine. In addition, we present a resampling scheme in which only a single-pass resampling is required for performing multiple-pass shears to achieve the 3D volume rotation.
A new nuclear polyhedrosis of the cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni

Abstract Studies of the larvae of Trichoplusia ni infected with different samples of nuclear-polyhedrosis virus obtained from several geographical areas indicated that these viral populations contained two morphologically distinct viruses which replicate in separate nuclei of susceptible tissues. Polyhedra, containing bundles of rods enclosed in double membranes, were found in nuclei of cells of the gut, fat body, hypodermis, and tracheal matrix. Smaller polyhedra, containing single rods enclosed in double membranes, were found in nuclei of cells of the fat body, hypodermis, tracheal matrix and, rarely, in the gut.
Enhanced Angiogenic Efficacy through Controlled and Sustained Delivery of FGF-2 and G-CSF from Fibrin Hydrogels Containing Ionic-Albumin Microspheres

Neo-vessel formation in ischemic tissues relies on numerous growth factors and cell fractions for the formation of mature, stable, functional vasculature. However, the efforts to regenerate tissues typically rely on the administration of a single growth factor or cells alone. Conversely, polymeric matrices have been investigated extensively to deliver multiple growth factors at pre-determined rates to form stable blood vessels in ischemic tissues. We report on a novel sequential delivery system of a fibrin hydrogel containing ionic-albumin microspheres that allows for the controlled release of two growth factors. The use of this system was investigated in the context of therapeutic angiogenesis. Material properties were determined based on degree of swelling measurements and degradation characteristics. Release kinetics of model angiogenic polypeptides FGF-2 and G-CSF were determined using ELISA and the bioactivity of released protein was evaluated in human endothelial cell cultures. The release of growth...
Steering control system for a mobile robot

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have many potential applications in manufacturing, medicine, space and defense. The purpose of this paper is to describe the design of a steering mechanism for an autonomous mobile robot. The steering mechanism replaces a manually turned rack and pinion arrangement with a crank mechanism driven by a linear actuator that in turn is powered by a brushless dc motor. The system was modeled, analyzed, and redesigned to meet the requirements. A 486 computer through a 3-axis motion controller supervises the steering control. The steering motor is a brushless dc motor powered by three phase signals. It is run in current loop mode. The steering control system is supervised by a personal computer through a multi-axis motion controller. Testing of these systems has been done in the lab as well as on an outside test track with positive results.
A low-pressure-high-temperature technique for the piston-cylinder

A method for conducting successful low pressure (0.3‐0.5 GPa) and high temperature (900‐1200 °C) experiments in the 19 mm piston-cylinder is presented. The technique is capable of running high fluid/melt experiments with minimum hydrogen loss, attaining precise, reproducible pressures (±10%), and has fast initial quench rates (>150 °C/s). These abilities are invaluable when conducting low pressure, fluid-saturated experiments such as phase equilibria, volatile solubility, and dynamic degassing experiments that are relevant to sub-volcanic magma chamber processes. A double capsule construction is also described that uses a solid oxygen buffer, and minimizes both contamination of the sample by carbon and the loss of iron in the melt to the capsule walls.