cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Compensatory effects following unilateral diaphragm paralysis.

Abstract Injury to nerves innervating respiratory muscles such as the diaphragm muscle results in significant respiratory compromise. Electromyography (EMG) and transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) measurements reflect diaphragm activation and force generation. Immediately after unilateral diaphragm denervation (DNV), ventilatory behaviors can be accomplished without impairment, but Pdi generated during higher force non-ventilatory behaviors is significantly decreased. We hypothesized that 1) the initial reduction in Pdi during higher force behaviors after DNV is ameliorated after 14 days, and 2) changes in Pdi over time after DNV are associated with concordant changes in contralateral diaphragm EMG activity and ventilatory parameters. In adult male rats, the reduced Pdi during occlusion (∼40% immediately after DNV) was ameliorated to ∼20% reduction after 14 days. Contralateral diaphragm EMG activity did not significantly change immediately or 14 days after DNV compared to the pre-injury baseline for any motor behavior. Taken together, these results suggest that over time after DNV compensatory changes in inspiratory related muscle activation may partially restore the ability to generate Pdi during higher force behaviors.
Effect of Radiology Study Flow on Report Turnaround Time.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to assess the importance of relative value unit (RVU) flow and other factors in report turnaround time (TAT) in emergency radiologic operations. MATERIALS A...
The Growth of Scientific Knowledge

This is a book about mapping scientific frontiers. We hear of a body of knowledge, research fronts, and scientific frontiers. Scientific frontiers are where one would expect to find not only the cutting-edge knowledge and technology of humans, but also unsolved mysteries, controversies, battles and debates, and revolutions. For example, a bimonthly newsletter Scientific Frontiers 1 digests scientific reports of scientific anomalies: observations and facts that do not quite fit into prevailing scientific theories. This is where the unknown manifests itself in all sorts of ways. The questions addressed in this book concern the dynamics of scientific frontiers and ways that may enable us to understand better the science in the making. In this book, we will take you through our quest to visualize the growth of scientific knowledge. This is not a technical tutorial; instead, the focus is on principles of visual thinking and the ways that may vividly reveal the dynamics of scientific frontiers.
What Drives Health Professionals to Tweet About #HPVvaccine? Identifying Strategies for Effective Communication

Introduction We conducted this study to quantify how health professionals use Twitter to communicate about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Methods We collected 193,379 tweets from August 2014 through July 2015 that contained key words related to HPV vaccine. We classified all tweets on the basis of user, audience, sentiment, content, and vaccine characteristic to examine 3 groups of tweets: 1) those sent by health professionals, 2) those intended for parents, and 3) those sent by health professionals and intended for parents. For each group, we identified the 7-day period in our sample with the most number of tweets (spikes) to report content. Results Of the 193,379 tweets, 20,451 tweets were from health professionals; 16,867 tweets were intended for parents; and 1,233 tweets overlapped both groups. The content of each spike varied per group. The largest spike in tweets from health professionals (n = 851) focused on communicating recently published scientific evidence. Most tweets were positive and were about resources and boys. The largest spike in tweets intended for parents (n = 1,043) centered on a national awareness day and were about resources, personal experiences, boys, and girls. The largest spike in tweets from health professionals to parents (n = 89) was in January and centered on an event hosted on Twitter that focused on cervical cancer awareness month. Conclusion Understanding drivers of tweet spikes may help shape future communication and outreach. As more parents use social media to obtain health information, health professionals and organizations can leverage awareness events and personalize messages to maximize potential reach and parent engagement.
Preference for Palliative Care in Cancer Patients: Are Men and Women Alike?

Abstract Context Men and those with low educational attainment are less likely to receive palliative care. Understanding these disparities is a high priority issue. Objectives In this study of advanced cancer patients, we hypothesized that men and those with lower levels of educational attainment would have less favorable attitudes toward palliative care. Methods We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data collected from 383 patients at study entry in the Values and Options in Cancer Care (VOICE) clinical trial. Patients were asked about their preferences for palliative care if their oncologist informed them that further treatment would not be helpful. Palliative care was defined as "comfort care" that focuses on "quality of life, but not a cure." Response options were definitely no, possibly no, unsure, possibly yes, and definitely yes. Those preferring palliative care (definitely or possibly yes) were compared to all others. Predictors were patient gender and education level. Covariates included age, race, disease aggressiveness, and financial strain. Results Women were more likely [odds ratio (95% CI)] than men to prefer palliative care [3.07 (1.80–5.23)]. The effect of education on preferences for palliative care was not statistically significant [0.85 (0.48–1.48)]. Conclusion Significant gender differences in patients' preferences for palliative care could partially account for gender disparities in end-of-life care. Interventions to promote palliative care among men could reduce these disparities.
Topology-agnostic average consensus in sensor networks with limited data rate

In this paper, the distributed average consensus problem in sensor networks with limited data rate communication is studied. Unlike standard average consensus, only quantized signals with finite support are adopted for the communications among agents. To tackle this problem, a novel distributed algorithm is proposed, where each agent iteratively updates a local estimate based on quantized signals received by its neighbors. The proposed algorithm differs from the existing schemes dealing with limited data rate in the following key features: 1) each agent is not required to have information on spectral properties of the graph associated with the communication topology; 2) the initial measurements are not required to be bounded within a known interval; and 3) exact consensus to the average can be achieved asymptotically for weight-balanced directed topology. Thus, it is more favorable for practical implementations, especially for large networks. The proposed algorithm is proved to achieve average consensus asymptotically, almost surely and in mean square sense. The analysis of convergence rate and generalizations to random weight-balanced directed topologies and time-varying quantization are also provided. Finally, numerical results validate our theoretical findings, and demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed algorithm compared to existing topology-agnostic consensus schemes with limited data rate.
Morphology and Systematics

Radiolaria are holoplanktonic protozoa widely distributed in the oceans, including arctic, subtropical, and tropical waters. They occur throughout the water column from the near surface to hundreds of meters depth. As with many planktonic organisms, their abundance in a geographical region is related to the quality of the water mass, including such variables as temperature, salinity, productivity, and available nutrients. They are largely nonmotile organisms, and their general morphology clearly reflects an adaptation for a floating existence. Various structures in the cytoplasm enhance buoyancy, including bubble-like alveoli in the peripheral rhizopodia of some species (e.g., Thalassicolla nucleata, Fig. 1-1A) and lipid globules localized in the dense central cytoplasm or dispersed within the surrounding complex cytoplasmic network. The skeleton, when present, is composed of amorphous silica, and is probably the most widely recognized morphological feature of the radiolaria (Figs. 1-1B-D and 1-2). It is also a major feature distinguishing the radiolaria from their close relatives, the Acantharia, possessing strontium sulfate skeletons (Fig. 1-3). Acantharian skeletons, moreover, are often much more massive with intersecting rods joined at the center of the skeletal array arranged as a set of Cartesian axes. Some Acantharia, however, possess very delicate spines and great care must be taken to distinguish them from the elaborate glassy skeletons of the radiolaria.
Sidney Riegelman — The Scientist

Every winter quarter, I participate, together with Jack Cooper and John Shell, in teaching a course at the University of California at San Francisco (USCF) entitled “Pharmaceutical Chemistry 208, Survey of Pharmaceutics.” At the beginning of the course, I usually give a history of the field. I particularly enjoy this because I have known all of the principals personally. I had always told the students what a unique opportunity they have since they can meet, listen to and consult with one of those principals, Professor Sidney Riegelman.
An influenza virus model for Trypanosoma cruzi infection: interactive roles for neuraminidase and lectin.

Trypanosoma cruzi has three distinct stages in its life cycle. The infective trypomastigote form is present in the feces of the insect vector (reduviid bug) and circulates in the blood stream of an infected host. This form can invade host cells (particularly of muscle origin) and intracellularly transforms into the multi-plying form or amastigote. Amastigotes transform into trypomastigotes which burst out of the host cells and circulate in the blood stream, where the insect vector may ingest the parasite as part of a blood meal. In the insect gut, trypo-mastigotes transform into epimastigotes and again back into trypomastigotes at the distal end of the insect gastrointestinal tract.
Analytical Studies of Dye-Coupling between Plant Cells

Cell-to-cell communication, defined as the regulated diffusion of ions, metabolites, and other informational molecules through the plasmodesmata, was first suggested by Tangl in 1879. The process allows for the distribution of metabolites throughout a plant and is required for the proper growth and development of plants. Renewed interest in this topic — 100 years after its proposal — has resulted in several reviews (Spanswick, 1975; Gunning and Robards, 1976; Gunning and Overall, 1983; Goodwin and Erwee, 1985). To understand this phenomenon our approach has been (1) to study the ultrastructure of plasmodesma; (2) to determine which plant cells are coupled by using dye passage studies; (3) to analyze the kinetics of cell-to-cell diffusion; (4) to examine the regulation of cell-to-cell communication; and (5) to observe changes in whole plant growth and development when cell-to-cell coupling has been altered. The tissue we use to study the kinetics and regulation of cell-to-cell transport is staminal hairs of Setcreasea purpurea, because such tissue provide a system in which symplastic cell to cell passage can be quantitatively measured. The tissue used to study growth and development is Onoclea sensibilis (fern) prothallia.
Common Characteristics of Airless Bodies

Abstract Substantial atmospheres are distinctive aspects of certain planetary bodies—they both cause and inhibit a wide range of features and phenomena. For example, a thick atmosphere will filter out impactors smaller than a certain size from ever reaching the surface, limiting the formation of impact craters. On the other hand, atmospheres can allow for the retention of liquid water, allowing fluvial features to form on a planetary surface. Looking at both what atmospheres allow and what they impede gives us insight into the class of rocky objects that do not possess one. We present here some of the major characteristics common to airless bodies, both in what they possess (including impact craters, regolith, and large temperature extremes) and what they lack (including fluvial and aeolian processes, and widespread, ongoing volcanic activity).
The Role of Technology in the Treatment of Depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric condition associated with significant public health and individual burden. Despite the existence of many evidence-based treatment options, between one third and a half of individuals with MDD do not seek treatment. Barriers to treatment include stigma, cost, low availability of trained clinicians (especially in rural areas), and long waitlists. Further, even when patients have access to in-person therapy, it can be difficult to apply concepts learned during treatment in the “real world” (i.e., outside of the therapist’s office). Technology has been used to address these barriers and has the potential to further increase access to effective treatments and improve their efficacy. This chapter reviews technologies that have been employed to facilitate the delivery of psychosocial treatments for MDD. We review the historical background, describe different applications of technology-facilitated interventions, and provide clinical recommendations.
Light ion isotope identification in space using a pixel detector based single layer telescope

It is demonstrated that modern pixel detectors can be utilized as single-layer particle telescopes, offering details of a particle's stopping power evolution surpassing those provided by multi-layer, non-pixelated instruments. For particles that stop in the detector, this advantage arises from repeatably sampling the Bragg curve: we always know which part of the Bragg peak was measured. We can then create a dE/dx1 vs dE/dx2 plot where the stopping power at the beginning and the end of the track is compared. We are able to identify and analyze several fine-grained features on such plots, including several related to particles that stop inside the detector, termed “stopping.” Using data from an instrument aboard the International Space Station, we show that different isotopes of stopping hydrogen can be identified as their stopping powers differ. Other features of the dE/dx1 vs dE/dx2 plot not resolvable in multi-layer particle telescopes are also exhibited, such as nuclear interactions that occur within the sensor active volume.It is demonstrated that modern pixel detectors can be utilized as single-layer particle telescopes, offering details of a particle's stopping power evolution surpassing those provided by multi-layer, non-pixelated instruments. For particles that stop in the detector, this advantage arises from repeatably sampling the Bragg curve: we always know which part of the Bragg peak was measured. We can then create a dE/dx1 vs dE/dx2 plot where the stopping power at the beginning and the end of the track is compared. We are able to identify and analyze several fine-grained features on such plots, including several related to particles that stop inside the detector, termed “stopping.” Using data from an instrument aboard the International Space Station, we show that different isotopes of stopping hydrogen can be identified as their stopping powers differ. Other features of the dE/dx1 vs dE/dx2 plot not resolvable in multi-layer particle telescopes are also exhibited, such as nuclear interactions that occur within th...
Outcomes After Hypofractionated Dose-Escalation using a Simultaneous Integrated Boost Technique for Treatment of Spine Metastases Not Amenable to Stereotactic Radiosurgery.

Abstract Purpose Spine stereotactic radiosurgery delivers an ablative dose of radiation therapy (RT) with high conformity relative to standard fractionated RT. This technique is suboptimal for extended targets (>3 vertebral levels) owing to treatment alignment concerns or for patients with marked epidural extension. In these patients, we hypothesized that use of hypofractionated intensity modulated RT/volumetric modulated arc therapy to dose escalate the gross tumor volume (GTV) to 40 Gy as a spinal simultaneous integrated boost (SSIB) would allow for durable local control and palliation. Methods and Materials We retrospectively analyzed 15 separate spinal sites (12 patients) that were treated with the SSIB technique between 2012 and 2016. The GTV and clinical target volume were prescribed at 40 Gy and 30 Gy, respectively, in 10 fractions. The spinal cord was allowed a maximum point dose of 34 Gy. The GTV was defined as gross tumor. The clinical target volume encompassed the GTV in addition to the involved vertebral bodies, at-risk paraspinal space, and spinal canal, followed by a planning target volume expansion of 3 to 5 mm. Results The median follow-up for patients in our cohort was 17 months. At 1 year, local control was 93%, and overall survival was 58%, with a median time to death after treatment of 7 months. No grade ≥2 neurologic toxicities were reported for any of the patients. Nine of 12 patients had pain at presentation, of which 7 patients (78%) reported improvement and/or complete resolution of their pain after treatment. Conclusions Our early experience using a dose of 40 Gy to the GTV delivered via an SSIB technique, in lieu of spine stereotactic radiation surgery but more aggressive than conventional palliative doses, provides durable local control and pain relief. This technique may allow for improved local control and palliation in patients with radioresistant disease compared with conventional 3-dimensional conformal fractionated RT.
Medicare Advantage And Commercial Prices For Mental Health Services

In 2014, insurers paid an average of 13–14 percent less for in-network mental health services in their commercial and Medicare Advantage plans than fee-for-service Medicare paid for identical servi...
Epidemiology of Prehospital and Hospital Traumatic Deaths from Life-Threatening Hemorrhage

The health burden of injury on our society is substantial, and injury remains the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 59% of deaths up to age 45. The majority of injury mortality occurs before hospital arrival, with 62% of civilian and 87% of military traumatic deaths reported to occur prehospital. The concept of analyzing mortality after injury along a chronologic access was introduced in Dr. Trunkey’s seminal work describing the trimodal distribution of trauma deaths in immediate, early, and late timeframes after injury. “Immediate” deaths after trauma occur within less than 1 hour and are best addressed through trauma system development that includes prevention and safety interventions. “Early” deaths are most commonly attributed to massive bleeding and severe central nervous system injuries; the interval between injury and bleeding control has been identified as the key factor in survival for this group of severely injured patients. Trauma system development and injury care has focused intensely on early resuscitation and control of bleeding, largely through increased emphasis on prehospital care and rapid transport to designated trauma centers. The “late” timeframe of death after injury corresponds to patients who die days or weeks after injury usually due to infection, multiple organ failure, or devastating brain injury. About one-fourth of trauma deaths may be potentially preventable. Interventions dedicated to advanced bleeding control and hemostatic resuscitation in the field early after injury in tactical and austere environments have the greatest potential to improve survival after injury.
Vision-Based Crack Detection using Transfer Learning in Metal Forming Processes

Crack detection is an important quality control task for metal working processes. In small and medium-size businesses quality inspection is often performed manually. This approach is time consuming and sensitive to errors. In this work an automated visual inspection system for defect detection is presented which classifies cracks in quality control images of a metal forming process taken under varying ambient conditions. The classification is based on transfer learning with AlexNet and GoogLeNet. Supervised learning based on a stochastic gradient descent (sgd) solver was used to train the convolutional neural network. Oversampling and data augmentation with rotated, scaled and shifted images were applied to overcome limitations of the available dataset like huge imbalances of training data sizes for different classes and to prevent overfitting, respectively. Different training parameters were compared and tested to obtain the best classification results for the specific task. GoogLeNet outperformed AlexNet and reached an accuracy of 0.998 and an F1-score of 0.836 for crack detection. Data pre-processing and labeling as well as tuning of the training parameters had a significant influence on classification accuracy and require human decision making.
A Case of Blunt Trauma-induced ST-elevation Myocardial Infarction Sustained During a Prison Brawl

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a serious and time-sensitive condition. MIs are typically seen in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and are caused by the rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque due to factors contributing to plaque instability. However, this case illustrates that plaque rupture can also be caused by blunt trauma to the chest. Considering MI as a possible result of chest trauma may decrease time from presentation to diagnosis and treatment and, therefore, improve outcomes in similar cases, particularly when patients presents unusually or with very few risk factors for MI.
Wistar rats and C57BL/6J mice differ in their motivation to seek social interaction versus food in the Social versus Food Preference Test

Here we characterized the Social versus Food Preference Test, a behavioral paradigm designed to investigate the competition between the choice to seek social interaction versus the choice to seek food. We assessed how this competition was modulated by internal cues (social isolation, food deprivation), external cues (time-of-testing, stimulus salience), sex (males, females), age (adolescents, adults), and rodent model (Wistar rats, C57BL/6J mice). We found that changes in stimulus preference in response to the internal and external cue manipulations were similar across cohorts. Specifically, social over food preference scores were reduced by food deprivation and social familiarly in Wistar rats and C57BL/6J mice of both sexes. Interestingly, the degree of food deprivation-induced changes in stimulus investigation patterns were greater in adolescents compared to adults in Wistar rats and C57BL/6J mice. Strikingly, baseline stimulus preference and investigation times varied greatly between rodent models: across manipulations, Wistar rats were generally more social-preferring and C57BL/6J mice were generally more food-preferring. Adolescent Wistar rats spent more time investigating the social and food stimuli than adult Wistar rats, while adolescent and adult C57BL/6J mice investigated the stimuli a similar amount. Neither social isolation nor time-of-testing altered behavior in the Social versus Food Preference Test. Together, our results indicate that the Social versus Food Preference Test is a flexible behavioral paradigm suitable for future interrogations of the peripheral and central systems that can coordinate the expression of stimulus preference related to multiple motivated behaviors. HIGHLIGHTSO_LIRats prefer social over food when sated, and this is attenuated by food deprivation. C_LIO_LIMice have no preference when sated, and prefer food over social when food-deprived. C_LIO_LIRats prefer a familiar social stimulus or a novel social stimulus over food. C_LIO_LIMice prefer food over a familiar social stimulus. C_LIO_LIAdolescent rats investigate social and food stimuli longer than adult rats. C_LI GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=82 SRC="FIGDIR/small/134437v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (13K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@f1cda6org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@f46143org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1d9d2dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@3a163d_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG
The Determinants of Conditional Skewness in REIT Returns

In this study, it is determined whether changes in a set of financial and macroeconomic state variables explain the variations in the conditional systematic, idiosyncratic, and total skewness of si...
Effect of surfactin on removal of semi-volatile organic compound: Emphasis on enhanced biofiltration performance.

Abstract The performance of a lab-scale biotrickling filter (BTF) inoculated with a mixed fungal consortium was investigated for the simultaneous abatement of 2-ethylhexanol; a hydrophobic semi-volatile organic compound (SVOC), and propylene glycol monomethyl ether (PGME). The BTF performance was investigated in the presence of lipopeptide-type biosurfactant, surfactin. The effect of surfactin on the removal efficiency and elimination capacity was examined at stretched inlet loading rates (LR): 1.04 to 15.7 and 3.2–48 g m−3 h−1 of PGME and 2-ethylhexanol, respectively. Seeding the BTF with 50 mg L−1 of surfactin maintained high and consistent removal efficiencies of PGME and 2-ethylhexanol up to LRs of 15.7 and 32 g m−3 h−1, with removal efficiencies of 98.5 and 99%, respectively. Once the LR of 2-ethylhexanol increased to 48 g m−3 h−1, a substrate inhibition was observed, accompanied by a sudden decrease in removal efficiency from 99.2 to 62.3%. At the same LR, the BTF performance was improved by reseeding 100 mg L−1 of surfactin, hence, reinstated the removal efficiency of 2-ethylhexanol to 92.7% and achieving a maximum elimination capacity of 44.5 g m−3 h−1. This enhanced SVOC uptake rate was further confirmed by a considerable increase in reaction rate constant from 0.005 to 0.017 s−1. A batch study was also conducted at the end of the experimental run to better understand the correlation between surfactin concentrations and the time-dependent partition coefficient of 2-ethylhexanol. Biofilm microbial community structure revealed relative abundancy of 72 and 28% of Trichoderma asperellum and Fusarium solani, respectively. The findings of this study show for the first time that the removal of a semi-VOC such as 2-ethylhexanol is feasible in the presence of surfactin and hence improving the bioavailability of hydrophobic semi-VOC.
Hierarchical Model: Constraints

This chapter brings our coverage of data models full circle, by exploring the *constraints* piece of the hierarchical data model. With the flexibility of hierarchical models comes the danger of modification and/or ambiguity in the structure of a tree containing data or about the valid values for nodes in the tree. Constraints formalize these notions so that structure and relationships of the tree and of the values entailed can be explicitly expressed and then, when data is exchanged between provider and client, that data can be validated for conformance with the constraints.
Promoting advance care planning in African American faith communities: literature review and assessment of church-based programs.

Advance care planning is under-used among Black Americans, often because of experiences of racism in the health care system, resulting in a lower quality of care at the end of life. African American faith communities are trusted institutions where such sensitive conversations may take place safely. Our search of the literature identified five articles describing faith-based advance care planning education initiatives for Black Americans that have been implemented in local communities. We conducted a content analysis to identify key themes related to the success of a program's implementation and sustainability. Our analysis showed that successful implementation of advance care planning programs in Black American congregations reflected themes of building capacity, using existing ministries, involving faith leadership, exhibiting cultural competency, preserving a spiritual/Biblical context, addressing health disparities, building trust, selectively using technology, and fostering sustainability. We then evaluated five sets of well-known advance care planning education program materials that are frequently used by pastors, family caregivers, nurse's aides, nurses, physicians, social workers, and chaplains from a variety of religious traditions. We suggest ways these materials may be tailored specifically for Black American faith communities, based on the key themes identified in the literature on local faith-based advance care planning initiatives for Black churches. Overall, the goal is to achieve better alignment of advance care planning education materials with the African American faith community and to increase implementation and success of advance care planning education initiatives for all groups.
Global Plastic Surgery: A Review of the Field and a Call for Virtual Training in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Lack of surgical access severely harms countless populations in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many types of surgery could be fulfilled by the plastic surgeon, as populations in the...
Posterosuperior and Anterosuperior Impingement in Overhead Athletes

Repetitive throwing places the shoulder in extreme positions and imparts tremendous stress on both the static and dynamic stabilizers of the shoulder. Over time, soft tissue and bone changes occur as a means of adapting to these high stresses. While these adaptations may initially be beneficial and improve performance, they may eventually lead to a broad spectrum of shoulder pathologies known as internal impingement, which is a major cause of shoulder pain in throwing athletes. Internal impingement may be subclassified into the more common posterosuperior impingement and the far less common anterosuperior impingement.
Zebrafish: An Important Tool for Liver Disease Research

As the incidence of hepatobiliary diseases increases, we must improve our understanding of the molecular, cellular, and physiological factors that contribute to the pathogenesis of liver disease. Animal models help us identify disease mechanisms that might be targeted therapeutically. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) have traditionally been used to study embryonic development but are also important to the study of liver disease. Zebrafish embryos develop rapidly; all of their digestive organs are mature in larvae by 5 days of age. At this stage, they can develop hepatobiliary diseases caused by developmental defects or toxin- or ethanol-induced injury and manifest premalignant changes within weeks. Zebrafish are similar to humans in hepatic cellular composition, function, signaling, and response to injury as well as the cellular processes that mediate liver diseases. Genes are highly conserved between humans and zebrafish, making them a useful system to study the basic mechanisms of liver disease. We can perform genetic screens to identify novel genes involved in specific disease processes and chemical screens to identify pathways and compounds that act on specific processes. We review how studies of zebrafish have advanced our understanding of inherited and acquired liver diseases as well as liver cancer and regeneration.
Histamine blockade reduces femoral blood flow with no apparent change in vascular permeability after muscle damaging exercise (LB523)

Blood flow to previously exercised muscle remains elevated for up to two hrs after exercise and is mediated by activation of histamine receptors. Activation of histamine receptors could lead to increased vascular permeability, an initial stage of inflammation, associated with muscle damage. Therefore, the purpose of this experiment was to determine if histamine receptors contribute to the increased permeability in a model of exercise-induced muscle damage. Muscle damage was induced in seven volunteers (2F, 5M) by 45-min of downhill running (-10% grade) at a heart rate of ~150 BPM. Volunteers were randomly assigned to histamine blockade (540 mg fexofenadine; an H1 blocker and 300 mg ranitidine; an H2 blocker) or control (no drug). Prior to and for 120 min following exercise, femoral blood flow was measured using Doppler ultrasound, while vascular permeability was measured as a change in thigh and calf circumference during four min of supravenous pressure occlusion. The rise in femoral blood flow after exer...
El Desarrollo de la Capacidad Autoreflexiva: Posibles Vínculos Entre el Clima Social de Aula y la Metacomprensión Lectora

La relacion entre el nivel de conocimiento metacomprensivo lector y el clima social del aula constituye el objeto de esta investigacion. Se aplicaron dos cuestionarios a un grupo de alumnos de octavo basico. Los resultados senalaron que estas dos variables no correlacionaban entre si. Un analisis mas cuidadoso por subdimensiones identifico correlaciones significativas entre algunas de ellas, lo que permitio realizar una reflexion sobre las relaciones que se pueden dar entre lo socioafectivo y lo individual metacognitivo. Se constato que las dimensiones de clima que relacionan con la metacomprension, aluden a dificultad y competitividad academica. Se concluye que lo emocional no es una variable que gravite en forma independiente en el ambiente de clase, sino que se encuentra contextualizada en este.
Lost in Translation: Importance of Effective Communication in Online Education

Approximately 3.9 million students enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2007. According to Allen and Seaman (2008), online education growth rates have continued to outpace total higher education growth rates and there are no signs of online growth slowing down. As higher education institutions offer increasing numbers of online and blended programs, it is important that administrators integrate communication theory and methods into training and professional development for online faculty. This paper will provide a comparative overview of communication research as it relates to online education. Moreover, this paper will provide recommendations for integrating effective online communication into programming and instruction to increase student connectivity, engagement, and retention. Faculty and student data/feedback collected from Drexel University’s online Master of Science in Higher Education Program will be shared to highlight the importance of effective communication in online education.
Some Compelling Broad-Gauged Research Agendas in Economics

Since the financial crisis, many political leaders (and indeed social scientists in universities) have called for putting economics in its place and redirecting support to other disciplines. The concerns are that economists are too axiomatic, too doctrinaire, and too unwilling to learn from other disciplines. But this is actually the time to increase support for broad-gauged economic research substantially in my view. And there are scholars and agendas that could benefit from and quickly deliver results from this support.
Decision making: effects of methylphenidate on temporal discounting in nonhuman primates

Decisions are often made based on which option will result in the largest reward. When given a choice between a smaller but immediate reward and a larger delayed reward, however, humans and animals often choose the smaller, an effect known as temporal discounting. Dopamine (DA) neurotransmission is central to reward processing and encodes delayed reward value. Impulsivity, the tendency to act without forethought, is associated with excessive discounting of rewards, which has been documented in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Both impulsivity and temporal discounting are linked to the dopaminergic system. Methylphenidate (MPH), which blocks the DA transporter and increases extracellular levels of DA in the basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex, is a primary treatment for ADHD and, at low doses, ameliorates impulsivity in both humans and animals. This study tested the hypothesis that low doses of MPH would decrease the discounting rate of rhesus monkeys performing an intertemporal choice task, suggesting a reduction in impulsivity. The results support this hypothesis and provide further evidence for the role of DA in temporal discounting and impulsive behavior.
Dust Control Products at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Texas: Environmental Safety and Performance

Controlling fugitive dust while protecting natural resources is a challenge faced by all managers of unpaved roads. Unfortunately, road managers choosing between dust control products often have little objective environmental information to aid their decisions. To address this information gap, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collaborated on a field test of three dust control products with the objectives of (a) evaluating product performance under real-world conditions, (b) verifying the environmental safety of products identified as practically nontoxic in laboratory tests, and (c) testing the feasibility of several environmental monitoring techniques for use in dust control tests. In cooperation with refuge staff and product vendors, three products (one magnesium chloride plus binder, one cellulose, and one synthetic fluid plus binder) were applied in July 2012 to replicated road sections at the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. These sections were monitored pe...
Hepatic fat during fasting and refeeding by MRI fat quantification.

Purpose To explore the sensitivity of high-field small animal magnetic resonance imaging to dynamic changes in fat content in the liver and to characterize the effect of prandial state on imaging studies of hepatic fat. Materials and Methods A total of three timepoints were acquired using asymmetric spin-echo acquisitions for 12 mice with 24-hour spacing. After the first scan, half of the cohort was placed on a water-only diet. The second half of the cohort continued to have access to their high-fat chow. The scans were repeated after 24 hours. All animals were then returned to the high-fat diet, and the scans were again repeated after 24 hours. Fat fraction maps were computed using previously described methods. Regions of interests were manually drawn in the livers and the patterns of the two groups over time were compared. Results Five out of six of the animals in the starved group showed an increase in hepatic fat fraction during the fasting period (average increase 0.54 ± 0.48), which decreased on refeeding. Analysis of variance indicated that the results significantly depended on both the group and the timepoint (P = 0.003). Conclusion Fat-water imaging methods are able to measure hepatic fat changes caused by short-term dietary perturbations. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2015;41:347–353.© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Superplasticity and superplastic forming of aluminum metal-matrix composites

Superplasticity hos been observed in many aluminum metal-matrix composites at extremely high strain rates (approximately 0.1–1 S−1). These materials generally exhibited a strain-rate sensitivity value of about 0.3 and a maximum elongation of about 300%. It is believed thot the presence ofa liquid phose, or in some cases a low-melting-point region, at the reinforcement/matrix interfaces is responsible for the phenomenon. This phenomenon is not observed in all reinforced composites, despite the fact thot they contain fine grain sizes. Thus, a fine matrix grain size is a necessary but insufficient condition for the high-strain-rate superplasticity.
Studies of californium(II) and (III) iodides

Abstract The compounds CfI2 and CfI3 have been prepared in microgram quantities using high-vacuum techniques. These compounds were characterized by both X-ray powder diffraction and optical spectroscopy. Californium diiodide is prepared by H2 reduction of CfI3 at elevated temperatures and exhibits two crystalline modifications: the CdCl2-type rhombohedral structure with a0 = 7.434 ± 0.011 A and α = 35.83 ± 0.07°, and the CdI2-type hexagonal structure with a0 = 4.557 ± 0.004 A and c0 = 6.992 ± 0.006 A. Optical spectra taken of the samples reveal absorption bands in the wavelength region 300–1100 nm consistent with the presence of Cf(II). Californium triiodide exhibits the rhombohedral BiI3-type structure with a0 = 8.205 ± 0.004 A and α = 55.08 ± 0.01°. This structure is stable up t0 700°C; linear coefficients of thermal expansion were obtained for the temperature range 20–700°C. Optical spectra taken of CfI3 showed absorption-peak positions consistent with those expected by extrapolation from known CfCl3 and CfBr3 peak positions.
EMERGENCE OF FLAT CELLS FROM GLIA IN STATIONARY CULTURES OF EMBRYONIC CHICK NEURAl. RETINA

When embryonic retina is dissociated into a single cell suspension and maintained in stationary culture, a population of flat cells is found on the culture dish. We have carried out a morphologic and immunologic study of the emergence of this population in vitro. Ten- and fourteen-day-old chick embryo retinas were dissociated with trypsin, seeded on glass cover slips for various times, and prepared for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and immunofluorescence (IF) for Vimentin, an intermediate filament protein. SEM indicates that the characteristic flat cell morphology is initiated in some cells in as little as 30 min after the start of the culture. Not all of the cells that attach flatten. As incubation proceeds, small clusters of cells that had formed in suspension attach to the substrate, and flat cells emerge from them. The flattened cells are positive for Vimentin by IF within 10 min of attachment. The percent of fluorescent cells found on the substrate is constant during the time in culture. This suggests that flat cells do not attach first, followed by neural cells, but that the neural cells and flat cells attach to the dish at the same rate. When aggregates that had formed in suspension attach to the substrate, they are anchored by flat cells that migrate out of the aggregate. Since Vimentin appears in the cultured cells within 10 min, it is unlikely that it has been newly synthesized. Thus, the same cells that contained Vimentin in the retina now express it as flat cells. this supports the hypothesis that flat cells derive from the same cells in the retina that give rise to Muller cells. We have also observed the emergence of a population of cells with short (0.5μm) microvilli that appear within 8 h of culture. They seem to be a distinct subpopulation of the cells on the upper portion of attached clusters.
MEASUREMENT AND MODELING OF SOIL CO2 FLUX IN A TEMPERATE GRASSLAND UNDER MOWED AND BURNED REGIMES

Soil-surface CO2 flux (R), which is a large component of the carbon (C) budgets in grasslands, usually is measured infrequently using static or dynamic chambers. Therefore, to quantify annual C budgets, estimates of RS are required during days when no direct measurements of RS are available. Other researchers have developed empirical models based on soil temperature, soil volumetric water content (0), and leaf area index (LAI) that have provided reasonable estimates of RS during the growing season in ungrazed tallgrass prairie. However, the effects of mowing and grazing, which are common in grass- lands, on predictions of RS from those models are uncertain. Predictions of RS during dormancy (postsenescence to spring fire) also are uncertain. Data from a year-long mowing study, which simulated grazing, were used to refit these models. Output from the models then was compared to independent data collected from nearby prairie sites. Results showed that LAI must be included to accurately estimate RS in mowed prairie ecosystems. When LAI was not included in the model, predicted daily RS following mowing was nearly four times greater than measured Rs, and cumulative, annual RS was overestimated by 95-102%. When LAI was included in the model, predictions of RS were comparable to measured RS in the mowing study. Annual estimates of cumulative RS ranged from 3.93 to 4.92 kg C02/ M2. When comparing the model with independent chamber data from nearby sites, cumu- lative RS during those studies was within ?9% of cumulative estimates calculated from measured Rs. The model overestimated daily RS during a dry period, suggesting a nonlinear response of RS to soil water content; soil water matric potential may be more appropriate than Ov for modeling Rs. Data suggest that Rs, in addition to being dependent on soil temperature and soil water content, is dependent on the photosynthetic capacity of the canopy and the subsequent translocation of C belowground.
Physical and behavioral health of adults with mental retardation across residential settings.

Objectives.This article presents survey data about the health and behavioral characteristics of a randomly selected sample of 629 adults with mental retardation (MR) living in Massachusetts in 2000...
Spectral and temperature correction of silicon photovoltaic solar radiation detectors

Abstract Silicon photovoltaic sensors are an inexpensive alternative to standard thermopile sensors for the measurement of solar radiation. However, their temperature and spectral response render them less accurate for global horizontal irradiance and unsuitable for direct beam and diffuse horizontal irradiance unless they can be reliably corrected. A correction procedure for the rotating shadowband radiometer, which measures all three components, based on a three-way parameterization of the solar position and sky conditions is proposed. After correction, root-mean-square errors for the global and diffuse horizontal irradiance and the direct normal irradiance are about 10, 12, and 13 W/m 2 in comparison with coincident, 5-minute thermopile measurements. While the numerical results are specific to the rotating shadowband instrument, the correction algorithm should apply universally.
Intra-urban spatial variability of PM2.5-bound carbonaceous components.

Abstract The Denver Aerosol Sources and Health (DASH) study was designed to evaluate associations between PM2.5 species and sources and adverse human health effects. The DASH study generated a five-year (2003–2007) time series of daily speciated PM2.5 concentration measurements from a single, special-purpose monitoring site in Denver, CO. To evaluate the ability of this site to adequately represent the short term temporal variability of PM2.5 concentrations in the five county Denver metropolitan area, a one year supplemental set of PM2.5 samples was collected every sixth day at the original DASH monitoring site and concurrently at three additional sites. Two of the four sites, including the original DASH site, were located in residential areas at least 1.9 km from interstate highways. The other two sites were located within 0.3 km of interstate highways. Concentrations of elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), and 58 organic molecular markers were measured at each site. To assess spatial variability, site pairs were compared using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and coefficient of divergence (COD), a statistic that provides information on the degree of uniformity between monitoring sites. Bi-weekly co-located samples collected from July 2004 to September 2005 were also analyzed and used to estimate the uncertainty associated with sampling and analytical measurement for each species. In general, the two near-highway sites exhibited higher concentrations of EC, OC, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and steranes than did the more residential sites. Lower spatial heterogeneity based on r and COD was inferred for all carbonaceous species after considering their divergence and lack of perfect correlations in co-located samples. Ratio–ratio plots combined with available gasoline- and diesel-powered motor vehicle emissions profiles for the region suggested a greater impact to high molecular weight (HMW) PAHs from diesel-powered vehicles at the near-highway sites and a more uniformly distributed impact to ambient hopanes from gasoline-powered motor vehicles at all four sites.