cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Initial Medical Evaluation

Multidisciplinary evaluation of candidates for bariatric surgery is the current standard of care. Many patients with extreme obesity endure embarrassment because physicians’ offices are not equipped to carry out a complete examination. Bariatric treatment centers should secure the appropriate spaces and equipment to provide a supportive environment for surgical candidates. An individual who is familiar with management of extreme obesity and the diagnosis of all important comorbid conditions should conduct a complete medical history including a weight history and a physical exam. Close questioning based on awareness of all known surgical risk factors is an essential component. An assessment of functional status and capability for physical activity is emerging as an important component of the patient evaluation and selection process. A simple functional assessment with metrics should be part of the initial medical evaluation.
An innovative pedagogy for teaching and evaluating computer literacy

In Spring 1998, 353 students enrolled in a web-based, self-paced, competency-based introductory computer literacy course. This pedagogy radically differed from the traditional lock-step, “monkey-see, monkey-do” approach utilized by many colleges and universities. This paper reports on the outcomes of this innovative approach including student success rates, instructor differences, technical considerations, and student attitudes. With the exception of withdrawal rates, all indicators are positive regarding both student perceptions and student learning outcomes.
Isolation and characterization of protein kinases from Paramecium cilia.

Publisher Summary Several protein kinases from the cilia of Paramecium tetraurelia have been isolated. Protein phosphorylation is involved in the regulation of ciliary motility in Paramecium. Second-messenger-dependent kinases include two forms of the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKA), a cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinase (PKG), and two forms of a Ca2+-dependent protein kinase (CaPK). Biochemical evidence also suggests the presence of PKC in cilia. In addition, a family of casein kinases, not dependent on a second messenger for activation, has been isolated from cilia. The amount of each kinase obtained when purified from whole cells is much higher than from cilia, which contain only 2% of the total cell protein. Cilia are therefore an essential starting fraction for the isolation of certain kinases. This chapter describes the isolation and properties of several protein kinases from Paramecium cilia. In vitro phosphorylation of Paramecium proteins by Paramecium and bovine PKAs is distinctly different. Discussion includes the kinase assay buffers, chromatographic reagents, the assays, isolation of protein kinases from cilia—kinases A, G, soluble casein kinases, and axonemal casein kinase. Each ciliary kinase can be detected selectively in a fraction that contains several kinases by using unique conditions for optimal activation. Some fractionation may be required to detect individual kinases in crude cilia. Activation of histone-phosphorylating kinase activity in whole cilia by cAMP and 8-Br-cGMP is 2.7- and 1.6-fold, respectively, above background.
Are Life and Meaning Coextensive

The purpose of this paper is to lay out the structure of an argument about what our understanding of the proper relation between the categories of living and semiotic (semantic) systems is or should be. I will attempt to identify important conceptual distinctions which could be made, decision points in the argument, and what’s at stake at each step.
David Oliver: The crisis in care home supply

Care homes are a neglected area of public policy that we have to get right. Pressure on care home places is increasing, alongside huge recruitment and funding problems. Last year Oxford Brookes University’s Institute of Public Care (IPC) studied data from the Care Quality Commission and found that, from April 2012 to April 2017, the number of care homes in England fell by 8%, from 17 801 to 16 392.1 In the UK the term “care home” commonly refers both to residential care homes and nursing homes. While nursing homes employ registered nurses, care homes now increasingly care for older people with highly complex needs and significant physical dependence, …
Thrombocytopenia: Gestational, Idiopathic, and Preeclampsia

Approximately 7% of all parturients will present with a platelet count <150,000 mm−3, and 0.5–1% will present with a platelet count <100,000 mm−3. Most instances of thrombocytopenia are associated with gestational thrombocytopenia (GT), idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), and preeclampsia and/or the HELLP (hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelets) syndrome. Gestational thrombocytopenia most often presents as an asymptomatic decrease in platelets in the third trimester, while ITP often presents earlier in pregnancy and in between pregnancies and is associated with lower absolute platelet counts. The progression of the HELLP syndrome is unpredictable and therefore necessitates a greater level of vigilance. The challenge for the clinician is to determine if neuraxial anesthesia is safe when presented with a patient with thrombocytopenia.
A big data and cloud computing specification, standards and architecture: agricultural and food informatics

Big data has gone from emerging to a widely used technology in industrial, commercial, research, and database applications. It is used for processing and analysing massive sets of data to derive useful patterns, inferences, and relations. The real-time data storage and management architecture plays important role. This paper introduces big data, includes the background and definitions, characteristics, related technologies, and challenges associated with implementing big data-based application technologies. This paper also introduces cloud computing, a related yet independent emerging technology and includes the modern technologies and standards, definitions, service and deployment models, advantages and challenges, and development prospects. The paper considers computing specification, standardised procedure, and system architecture in regard to big data systems and cloud computing.
Determination of Endosulfans in Soil/Sediment Samples from Point Mugu, Oxnard, California Using Capillary Gas Chromatography/Mass Selective Detection (GC/MSD)

The extent of contamination by endosulfans in soil samples collected from the Point Mugu watershed near Oxnard, California was determined using capillary gas chromatography/mass selective detection (GC/MSD). The study was designed to detect three organochlorinated pesticides: endosulfan α, endosulfan β and endosulfan sulfate. Thirteen sets of two soil samples each were taken from various sites in the region. Our results show that the endosulfan levels in these soils range from trace amounts to nearly 30 ppm, with endosulfan α being the most abundant and endosulfan sulfate the least. Two sites of the study, Hueneme and Revolon and Farm and Revolon, showed high amounts of endosulfans α and β, with concentrations between 20 and 30 ppm. The majority of the other sites studied in this research produced concentrations of less than 10 ppm for each of the three endosulfans monitored. At five areas in particular, Pleasant Valley and Creek, Laguna and Creek, Etting and Creek, Road and Creek and Hueneme and Creek, less than 2 ppm or only trace amounts of endosulfans α, β and sulfate were detected.
Multi-Step Online Unsupervised Domain Adaptation

In this paper, we address the Online Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (OUDA) problem, where the target data are unlabelled and arriving sequentially. The traditional methods on the OUDA problem mainly focus on transforming each arriving target data to the source domain, and they do not sufficiently consider the temporal coherency and accumulative statistics among the arriving target data. We propose a multi-step framework for the OUDA problem, which institutes a novel method to compute the mean-target subspace inspired by the geometrical interpretation on the Euclidean space. This mean-target subspace contains accumulative temporal information among the arrived target data. Moreover, the transformation matrix computed from the mean-target subspace is applied to the next target data as a preprocessing step, aligning the target data closer to the source domain. Experiments on four datasets demonstrated the contribution of each step in our proposed multi-step OUDA framework and its performance over previous approaches.
Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned: A Mid-Career Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon's Journey to Sustain Energy and Avoid Burnout.

Introduction Twenty-three years into this journey as a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon, my path is littered with mistakes made. The collision of a "family-first" philosophy with the demands of my busy academic surgical practice-not pretty. As a canary in a toxic coal mine, I have failed to fix the mine, so I have focused on being the very strongest and resilient canary possible. Methods This is a retrospective study of mistakes made and lessons learned. The mistakes include submitting to the tyranny of perfectionism; failure to resist the tendency to measure ourselves against others; saying "yes" to every request; thinking my job is Monday to Friday, and career is nights/weekends; being given a big new job, but using same old time/energy management strategy; sloppy time management; failure to manage energy; considering sleep "a waste of time;" failure to manage attention; dragging the challenges from my day through the door each night; thinking that the skills that make me good at work are same that will make me good at home; aiming for work-life "balance;" and sometimes losing sight of our mission. Results It is too soon to tell whether the lessons I have learned from all my mistakes are essential to preventing burnout. Although I am certain my results to date are significant, I cannot prove statistically significance. I am working to develop Appropriate Use Criteria for time and energy, and Best Practice Guidelines for prioritizing where to focus attention in life. Discussion We need to manage our energy, time, and priorities with great care, and learn from the experts who are trying to teach corporate executives and professional athletes how to function in a high-pressure environment. Conclusions Pediatric orthopaedics is one of the most wonderful professional callings. We can and should be happy and resilient canaries. The owners of the coal mine should hear us singing sweet songs about the children we care for even as they make the air increasingly toxic.
Concordance of Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Behaviors in a Multiethnic US Nationwide Cohort of Married Couples and Domestic Partners.

Importance Married couples and domestic partners have been reported to share similar environmental exposures, adopt similar behavior patterns, and have similar transferable characteristics. However, the degree to which couples share similar levels of cardiovascular risk factors and behaviors is uncertain. Objective To assess within-couple concordance of the American Heart Association–defined Life’s Simple 7 (LS7). Design, Setting, and Participants Cross-sectional study with a longitudinal substudy of employees and spouses (or domestic partners) who participated in an employer-sponsored health assessment program throughout the United States between October 2014 and December 2018. Data were analyzed from November 1, 2019, to August 4, 2020. Exposures Having a spouse or domestic partner. Main Outcomes and Measures The LS7 risk factors and behaviors (smoking status, body mass index, exercise, diet, total cholesterol, blood pressure, and fasting glucose) were assessed by questionnaires, examinations, and laboratory tests. LS7 categories were scored as 2 for ideal, 1 for intermediate, or 0 for poor and summed to generate a CV health score. Results The study included 10 728 participants (5364 couples): 7% were African American, 11% Hispanic, 21% Asian, and 54% White (median [interquartile range] age, 50 [41-57] years for men and 47 [39-55] for women). For most couples, both members were in the ideal category or both were in a nonideal category. Concordance ranged from 53% (95% CI, 52%-54%) for cholesterol to 95% (95% CI, 94%-95%) for diet. For the CV health score, in 79% (95% CI, 78%-80%) of couples both members were in a nonideal category, which was associated mainly with unhealthy diet (94% [95% CI, 93%-94%] of couples) and inadequate exercise (53% [95% CI, 52%-55%] of couples). However, in most couples, both members were in the ideal category for smoking status (60% [95% CI, 59%-61%] of couples) and glucose (56% [95% CI, 55%-58%]). Except for total cholesterol, when 1 member of a couple was in the ideal category, the other member was likely also to be in the ideal category: the adjusted odds ratios for also being in the ideal category ranged from 1.3 (95% CI, 1.1-1.5;P ≤ .001) for blood pressure to 10.6 (95% CI, 7.4-15.3;P ≤ .001) for diet. Concordance differed by ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geographic location. A 5-year longitudinal analysis of 2186 couples found modest changes in concordance of blood pressure (from 55% [95% CI, 53%-57%] to 59% [95% CI, 57%-61%];P Conclusions and Relevance In this study, high concordance of nonideal behaviors was found within couples; behavioral modification programs may benefit both the targeted and the nontargeted member of a couple.
Elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms of AD brain-derived tau-containing extracellular vesicles: Highly transmissible and preferential propagation to GABAergic neurons

Abstract Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are highly transmissible and play critical roles in propagation of tau pathology although its mechanism remains elusive. Here, for the first time, we comprehensively characterized the pathogenic effect of human brain-derived EVs isolated from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), prodromal AD (pAD) and non-demented control (CTRL) cases. AD-EVs are significantly enriched in epitope-specific tau oligomers in comparison to pAD-EVs or CTRL-EVs as determined by dot-blot and atomic force microscopy. AD-EVs were more efficiently internalized by murine cortical neurons and transferred tau, and had higher aggregation potency than pAD-EVs and CTRL-EVs in vitro. Strikingly, the inoculation of AD-EVs or pAD-EVs containing 300 pg of tau into the outer molecular layer of the dentate gyrus (DG) in 18 months-old C57BL/6 mice induced tau propagation throughout the hippocampus in 4.5 months, whereas inoculation of the equal amount of tau from CTRL-EV or as the oligomer or fibril-enriched fraction from the same AD donor show little propagation as determined by the semiquantitative brain-wide immunohistochemistry using multiple anti-phosphor-tau (p-tau) antibodies. AD-EVs induced accumulation of tau in the hippocampal region as both oligomers and sarkosyl-insoluble forms. Unexpectedly, p-tau+ cells were mostly GAD67+ GABAergic neurons followed by GluR2/3+ excitatory mossy cells, indicating preferential EV-mediated tau propagation to GABAergic neurons. Whole cell patch clamp recording of Cornu Ammonis (CA1) pyramidal cells showed significant reduction in the amplitude of inhibitory post-synaptic current. This is accompanied by the reduction in GAD67+GABAergic neuronal puncta around CA1 pyramidal neurons and in c-fos+ GAD67+GABAergic neurons in the CA1 regions, reconfirming the reduced interneuronal projections to the CA1. Our study posits a novel mechanism of brain-derived EVs in spreading pathological tau in hippocampal neurons therefore leading to their dysfunction.
High-Gain and Low-Dark Current GaN p-i-n Ultraviolet Avalanche Photodiodes Grown by MOCVD Fabricated Using Ion-Implantation Isolation

Front-illuminated GaN-based p-i-n ultraviolet (UV) avalanche photodiodes (APDs) were grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on a free-standing GaN substrate. X-ray diffraction measurements confirm the high crystal quality of the grown structure. Atomic force microscopy measurements show well-developed atomic step-flow morphologies with sub-nanometer root-mean-square surface roughness for scan sizes of 1 × 1 $${\mu m}^{2}$$ and 5 × 5 $${\mu m}^{2}$$ . Mesa etching is one of the major challenges in the fabrication of these devices. Inductively coupled plasma mesa etching creates damage which leads to an increase of the dark current, premature device breakdown, and noise. Front-illuminated GaN-based UV APDs were fabricated using ion-implantation isolation to reduce the sidewall leakage current and improve reliability. The devices show a very low reverse-bias low leakage current density of below 10−10 A/cm2 up to − 35 V. A maximum multiplication gain of 1 × 106 under λ = 355 nm illumination was demonstrated (device limited to a current density of 10 A/cm2). The spectral responsivity of an 82-μm-diameter APD shows a peak responsivity of 1.05 A/W under UV illumination at λ = 375 nm at the avalanche-break-down voltage.
The effectiveness of PTSD treatment for adolescents in the juvenile justice system: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to systematically review existing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of trauma-specific treatment for justice-involved adolescents and evaluate the impact of the interventions on the reduction of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, co-occurring mental health symptoms, and juvenile justice-related outcomes. METHOD A systematic literature search was conducted using a four-step process. Studies were included if they used a manualized, trauma-specific treatment with at least one control or comparison group and a sample comprised exclusively of justice-involved adolescents. RESULTS In total, 1,699 unique records were identified, and 56 full-text articles were reviewed, of which 7 met the criteria for inclusion. Trauma-specific interventions led to a decrease in PTSD symptoms compared with a control group in four of seven studies, and two studies also demonstrated a reduction in trauma-related depressive symptoms. Finally, juvenile justice-related outcomes were measured in only four studies, with one study finding moderately reduced rates of delinquent behavior and recidivism following trauma-specific treatment. CONCLUSIONS The results from this systematic review suggest that trauma-specific treatment interventions have promising effects for justice-involved adolescents. However, the results reveal a dearth of quality intervention research for treating youths with histories of trauma in the justice system. Significant gaps in the literature are highlighted, and suggestions for future directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Better together: circulating tumor cell clustering in metastatic cancer

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are vital components of liquid biopsies for diagnosis of residual cancer, monitoring of therapy response, and prognosis of recurrence. Scientific dogma focuses on metastasis mediated by single CTCs, but advancement of CTC detection technologies has elucidated multicellular CTC clusters, which are associated with unfavorable clinical outcomes and a 20- to 100-fold greater metastatic potential than single CTCs. While the mechanistic understanding of CTC cluster formation is still in its infancy, multiple cell adhesion molecules and tight junction proteins have been identified that underlie the outperforming attributes of homotypic and heterotypic CTC clusters, such as cell survival, cancer stemness, and immune evasion. Future directions include high-resolution characterization of CTCs at multiomic levels for diagnostic/prognostic evaluations and targeted therapies.
Dopamine D1-like receptors in prelimbic, but not infralimbic, medial prefrontal cortex contribute to chronic stress-induced increases in cue-induced relapse to palatable food seeking during forced abstinence

Abstract Chronic stress exposure causes increased vulnerability to future relapse-like behavior in male, but not female, rats with a history of palatable food self-administration. These effects are mediated by dopamine D1 -like receptors, but the anatomical location of chronic stress’ dopaminergic mechanism is not known. Thus, male rats were trained to respond for palatable food pellets in daily sessions. During subsequent forced abstinence from food self-administration, stress was manipulated (0 or 3 h restraint/day for 7 days). Rats also received bilateral microinjections of the D 1 -like receptor antagonist SCH-23390 (0.25 μg/0.5 μl/side) or vehicle (0.5 μl/side) delivered to either prelimbic or infralimbic medial prefrontal cortex prior to daily treatments. Relapse tests in the presence of food-associated cues were conducted 7 days after the last treatment. Stress caused an increase and a decrease in responding during relapse tests in rats that received prelimbic vehicle and SCH-23390 infusions, respectively, relative to unstressed rats. In rats receiving IL infusions, however, stress caused an increase in responding regardless of whether the infusion was vehicle or SCH-23390. These results establish a specific role for prelimbic D 1-like receptors in chronic stress-potentiated relapse.
Compiling a Functional Logic Language: The Fair Scheme

We present a compilation scheme for a functional logic programming language. The input program to our compiler is a constructor-based graph rewriting system in a non-confluent, but well-behaved class. This input is an intermediate representation of a functional logic program in a language such as Curry or \(\mathcal{TOY}\). The output program from our compiler consists of three procedures that make recursive calls and execute both rewrite and pull-tab steps. This output is an intermediate representation that is easy to encode in any number of programming languages. We formally and tersely define the compilation scheme from input to output programs. This compilation scheme is the only one to date that implements a deterministic strategy for non-deterministic computations with a proof of optimality and correctness.
Desquamative gingivitis. Summaru of the literature and report of a case.

Abstract 1. 1. Desquamative gingivitis is more prevalent than suspected. 2. 2. Treatment is often delayed because of obscurity of diagnosis and symptoms. 3. 3. Desquamative gingivitis is a better descriptive name than gingivosis. 4. 4. It is feasible to assume that it is a disease entity which affects primarily women. 5. 5. Treatment with hormones must be well supervised and prolonged. 6. 6. The use of topical steroids has been proved an efficient and effective method of treatment.
Pull vs push: a quantitative comparison for data broadcast

Advances in wireless technology have resulted in an emerging broadcast-capable infrastructure. A major debate for such infrastructures is whether we should use push or pull to support large client populations. To date, push was suggested to provide a scalability that is not possible with pull. In this paper we conclude otherwise, based on simulation and experimental prototype results. A major contribution of this paper is to show that pull-based algorithms outperform push-based ones. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this is true even for environments where request processing and scheduling overheads are a significant factor.
CD40/CD40 ligand interactions are critical for elicitation of autoimmune-mediated fibrosis in the lung.

Pulmonary interstitial fibrosis (PIF), associated with persistent inflammation and increased collagen deposition in the interstitium, is often considered an autoimmune disease. Hapten immune PIF (HIPIF), a model for PIF, is elicited in the lung by a single intratracheal (i.t.) challenge in mice sensitized with hapten (2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid, TNBS). In this study, we characterized the role of CD40/CD40 ligand (CD40L) interactions in the elicitation of secondary cell-mediated immune responses that lead to development of fibrosis in the lung using an adoptive transfer model of HIPIF. The expression of CD40 was detected on bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells 1-3 days after i.t. challenge with hapten in the HIPIF lung, but not lungs from the control mice. The CD40(bright) BAL cells morphologically resembled infiltrating monocytes. Furthermore, blocking CD40/CD40L interactions with blocking Ab decreased BAL production of Th1-mediators (IL-12 and TNF-alpha). Moreover, either blocking CD40/CD40L interactions with the Ab or using IL-12 knockout recipient mice prevented the increased collagen deposition (accumulation of hydroxyproline) in the lungs during HIPIF induction. We conclude that second signals (CD40/CD40L interactions) are required for elicitation of secondary immune responses that lead to PIF in vivo. The results support the notion that CD40/CD40L interactions are involved in the pathogenesis of an ongoing autoimmune disease.
Effect of fast acting subcutaneous insulin on FDG PET scans

2714 Objectives While FDG PET imaging is a useful diagnostic tool for staging cancer, in diabetic patients with blood glucose levels greater than 200 mg/dl, FDG remains within the blood competing for uptake into cancerous tissue. To drive excess glucose out of the blood and into the muscle and fat cells, patients can be given fast acting insulin prior to FDG administration. This study assesses if fast acting insulin causes an abnormal change in uptake of FDG within normal tissues. Methods A retrospective review of patients receiving a FDG PET scan from 2010 to 2011 was conducted. Diabetic patients with a blood glucose above 200 mg/dl that were given fast acting insulin two hours prior to FDG injection and non-diabetic control patients with a normal blood glucose (less than 200 mg/dl) were compared. Standard uptake values (SUV) of the cerebellum, blood, liver, and muscle were measured. Results The SUVs of 20 women and 30 men (age: mean 61 yr.; range 21-90) were analyzed. The mean glucose levels of diabetic patients after receiving insulin was 155 +/- 32.3 (n=25), and non-diabetic controls was 92 +/- 5.3 mg/dl (n=25). The following SUVs were calculated; thigh muscle (1.0 +/- 0.29 with insulin; 0.8 +/- 0.11 without insulin), cerebellum (6.5 +/- 1.5 with insulin; 8.0 +/- 1.4 without insulin), aortic blood pool (2.3 +/- 0.49 with insulin; 2.3 +/- 0.31 without insulin) and liver (2.9 +/- 0.70 with insulin; 2.9 +/- 0.45 without insulin). Conclusions Diabetic patients receiving fast acting insulin had mild increased uptake of FDG in the thigh musculature (20.0% +/- 0.45%), decreased uptake in the cerebellum (18.75% +/- 1.2%), and no significant difference in uptake in the aortic blood or liver compared to non-diabetic control patients. The ratio of cerebellar activity to liver or blood activity mimics malignant tumor activity to background activity, therefore, the use of fast acting insulin should allow for an adequate FDG PET scan in diabetic patients with elevated blood glucose levels
Same-day cancellation of cardiac surgery: a retrospective review at a large academic tertiary referral center.

Background Same-day cancellations of cardiac surgery are unfortunate and costly occurrences that potentially place patients at risk of adverse events. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all same-day cancellations of cardiac operations requiring cardiopulmonary bypass from 2010 to 2012 at a large academic tertiary referral center. Results Of 7081 cardiac operations, 134 patients experienced 142 same-day cancellations of cardiac surgery. The foreseeable cancellation causes comprised 17% of cancellations, nonforeseeable 59%, and indeterminate 24%. The reasons for cancellation were medical (51%), administrative or scheduling (17%), unknown (12%), procedure no longer required (11%), patient cancellation (6%), and preincisional complication (3%). The mean interval from the patient seeing a nonsurgeon provider to cancellation was 8.6 ± 16.2 days. No statistically significant differences existed between the foreseeable and nonforeseeable cancellations and the timing of the visit to a nonsurgeon provider (15, 30, 45, and 60 days) before cancellation. Seven patients (5%) had died within 30 days of cancellation. Of those subsequently operated on, the mean interval from cancellation to performance of the operation was 12.2 ± 22.7 days. Of the 142 cancelled surgical procedures, 28 (20%) were never subsequently performed. Conclusions Same-day cancellation of cardiac surgery occurred infrequently (2% of cardiac operations performed) at our institution. The cancellations were for foreseeable causes in a few cases. Seeing a nonsurgeon provider more recently before cancellation was not significantly associated with nonforeseeable versus foreseeable cancellations. Although uncommon at our institution, same-day cancellations should be viewed as an opportunity for practice improvement, given the foreseeable nature of some cancelations, associated 30-day mortality, and portion of patients not subsequently undergoing cardiac surgery.
Structure of urocanic acid photodimers.

— U.V. irradiation of trans-urocanic acid frozen in an ice matrix results in trans, trans, trans-2,4-di-imidazolyl-1,3-cyclobutanedicarboxylic acid from pH 8.0 solutions; or cis, trans, cis-3, 4-di-imidazolyl-1, 2-cyclobutanedicarboxylic acid from pH 5.9 solutions.
Chua's circuit 10 years later

More than 200 papers, two special issues (Journal of Circuits, Systems, and Computers, Vol.3, Nos. 1 and 2, 1993; IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, Vol. 40 No 10, 1993), an international workshop on ‘Chua's Circuit: Chaotic Phenomena and Applications’ at NOLTA ‘93, and a book (R. N. Madan (ed.), Chua's Circuit: A Paradigm for Chaos, World Scientific, Singapore, 1993) on Chua's circuit have been published since its inception a decade ago. This review paper attempts to present an overview of these timely publications, almost all within the last six months, and to identify four milestones of this very active research area. An important milestone is the recent fabrication of a monolithic Chua circuit. the robustness of this IC chip demonstrates that an array of Chua circuits can also be fabricated into a monolithic chip, thereby opening the floodgate to many unconventional applications in information technology, synergetics and even music. The second milestone is the recent global unfolding of Chua's circuit obtained by adding a linear resistor in series with the inductor to obtain a canonical Chua circuit—now generally referred to as Chua's oscillator. This circuit is most significant because it is structurally the simplest (it contains only six circuit elements) but dynamically the most complex among all non-linear circuits and systems described by a 21-parameter family of continuous odd-symmetric piecewise-linear vector fields. The third milestone is the recent discovery of several important new phenomena in Chua's circuits, e.g. stochastic resonance, chaos-chaos-type intermittency, 1/f noise spectrum, etc. These new phenomena could have far-reaching theoretical and practical significance. The fourth milestone is the theoretical and experimental demonstration that Chua's circuit can be easily controlled from a chaotic regime to a prescribed periodic or constant orbit, or it can be synchronized with two or more identical Chua circuits operating in an oscillatory or chaotic regime. These recent breakthroughs have ushered in a new era where chaos is deliberately created and exploited for unconventional applications e.g. secure communication.
How Strong Should Our Party Be? Party Member Preferences Over Party Cohesion

In this article, we seek to explain when and why political parties pressure their members to vote with the party. We model party cohesion as an endogenous choice of preference alignment by party members. Couched in Krehbiel's (1996, 1998) pivotal politics model, the formal theory advanced here shows party cohesion to be related to the initial preference alignment of party members, the divergence in preferences between parties, the cohesion of the opposing party, the party's size, and the party's majority or minority status. We solved the model analytically for generalized-partial equilibrium results and further analyzed it through computer simulations. We tested the model's predictions in the U.S. Senate using Rice party cohesion scores from the 46th through 104th Congresses. The data analyses show strong support for this theory of endogenous choice of party pressure.
VARIATION IN ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE SIGNALS OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC SYSTEMS WTTH THE REDOX LEVEL OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT

— The redox dependence of the light-induced electron paramagnetic resonance signal at g=2 in R. rubrum, R. spheroides and Chromatium chromatophore particles and quantasonie particles from spinach chloroplasts has been determined qualitatively over the range —0.3 to +0.6 V and quantatively over the range +0.3 to ±0.6 V. A light-induced EPR signal has been titrated and demonstrated to have a midpoint potential of +0.44 v at pH 7 and 20°C. Concentration, ionic strength and pH dependence for this transition in R. rubrum chromatophores is reported. In addition to the dark signal which replaces the light signal, in chromatophore material another dark signal, occurring in the seine location as the light signal, has been demonstrated to occur at high potential. Selective chemical oxidation with K2lrCl6 of chromatophore particles from the three bacteria resulted in the removal of some 95 per cent of the absorbance in the near infrared and left the photoactive pigments. Two light-induced EPR signals were found in quantasome particles by their dependence upon the redox level. Of particular interest is a signal observed at quite high potential (e.g. + 0.60 V). It was demonstrated that oxygen evolution by these quantasonie particles in the presence of K3Fe(cN)0 occurred at the same rate at +0.55 V as at +0.40 V.
Measurement of total factor productivity of Spanish agriculture: 1962–89

Abstract The agricultural sector in Spain has undergone rapid transformation since the 1960s. Rapid increases in capital and chemical input use was accompanied by rapid decreases in labour use. This study reports the first calculations for total factor productivity (TFP) growth for Spanish agriculture. During the period 1962–70, TFP growth was 1.84% per year. From 1970 to 1980 TFP grew at 3.44%, one of the highest rates for the agricultural sector achieved in the world during this period. TFP growth slowed in the 1980s. This appears to coincide with Spain's entry into the European Common Market in the 1980s.
Context‐Sensitive Instructional Design Models: A Response to Design Research, Studies, and Criticism

Instructional design, as it is traditionally conceptualized, is being challenged on several fronts, through surveys of design practice, cross-disciplinary studies of design practice, and practical criticism focusing on issues of design models' flexibility and efficiency. Collectively these challenges raise questions about the viability of the instructional design enterprise. This paper reviews these challenges and attempts to respond by offering alternative approaches to instructional design.
Phase II trial of tamoxifen, etoposide, mitoxantrone, and cisplatin in patients with metastatic breast carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Based on previous data demonstrating a potentially synergistic interaction between tamoxifen and cisplatin in metastatic melanoma therapy, a Phase II study was performed to assess the activity of tamoxifen, etoposide, mitoxantrone, and cisplatin (TEMP) in patients with metastatic breast carcinoma. METHODS Forty-six patients with metastatic breast carcinoma were treated with tamoxifen, 10 mg orally, twice a day for 28 days; etoposide, 100 mg/m2, on Days 1–3; mitoxantrone, 10 mg/m2, on Day 1; and cisplatin, 30 mg/m2, on Days 1 and 2. Forty-four patients (7 with bone-only disease) were evaluable for response and toxicity after at least 1 cycle of therapy. All patients had previously received doxorubicin-containing regimens in either the adjuvant or metastatic setting. RESULTS The overall objective response rate for the 37 patients with visceral and/or soft tissue disease was 41% (95% confidence interval, 25–58%). The objective response rate among women previously treated with doxorubicin in the adjuvant setting was 58% (14 of 24). Only 1 of 13 patients with metastatic carcinoma who had failed doxorubicin responded. Five of seven patients with bone-only disease had subjective improvement of bone pain without worsening of bone scans. Approximately 59% of patients had Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia at some time in their therapy and 1 patient died of neutropenic sepsis. Logistic regression analysis (n = 37) revealed that response was not related to estrogen receptor (ER) status or to the presence of visceral metastases. CONCLUSIONS TEMP appears to be an active regimen for patients with either ER positive (tamoxifen-resistant) or ER negative metastatic breast carcinoma that progresses after adjuvant doxorubicin therapy. Moreover, among patients who developed metastatic disease either during or <12 months after adjuvant doxorubicin therapy, TEMP had a higher response rate than would have been predicted from previous studies. Although the mechanism remains to be elucidated, these results suggest a potentially synergistic role for tamoxifen in etoposide/cisplatin-based chemotherapy of breast carcinoma. Cancer 1996;78:1906-11.
Painful legs and moving toes syndrome responsive to pregabalin

Report three cases of painful legs and moving toes (PLMT) syndrome responsive to pregabalin along with a review of its literature. Three patients with PLMT syndrome improved with pregabalin. The first and third patient reported improvement in pain scores, quality of life, and quality of sleep sustained over time. The second and third patient had near complete remission of toe movements, but pregabalin was discontinued in the second patient due to aggravation of leg edema. PLMT is a rare and debilitating disorder characterized by lower limb pain and involuntary toes or feet movements. Its pathophysiology remains unknown and its therapy refractory to most drugs, except for pregabalin, as shown in this case series. PLMT is a rare and incapacitating syndrome due to the lack of an effective pain therapy. We report three patients with PLMT who favorable responded to pregabalin. We propose pregabalin be considered in the management of PLMT.
Soybean Response to Foliar Applied Methanol in Humid and Semiarid Environments

Recent research from a desert environment in Arizona suggested that foliar application of dilute solutions of methanol substantially increased yield, quality, and water-use efficiency of several C 3 plant species. However, soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], which is one of the major agronomic C 3 crops of the USA, was not included. Therefore, this research was initiated to compare effects of methanol solution concentrations applied to soybean at different reproductive growth stages under field conditions in humid and semiarid environments. The experiment was conducted in 1994 and 1995 at two irrigated (limited and full) locations in semiarid, northwestern Kansas and at one dryland location in humid, southeastern Kansas. Soil moisture was determined for these growing seasons. Each of two methanol concentrations (20 and 40%, v/v) was applied either in a single application at growth stages R1, R3, and R5 or in multiple applications involving all combinations of these three for a total of seven treatments involving stage of growth. One untreated control plot was maintained in each replication. Neither methanol concentration nor time of application affected grain yield, yield components, or seed quality or soil-plant water relations. In addition, no difference was detected between the average responses to methanol application and the untreated control. Thus, we conclude that soybean responses to foliar applications of methanol are not effective under either humid or semiarid conditions typical of those found in Kansas and much of the Great Plains.
Nonmesonic Decay of Helium Hyperfragments

Approximately 35 000 ${K}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ capture stars in an emulsion stack were examined for hyperfragments. A sample of ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$-esonic and nonmesonic He hyperfragments was selected for the purpose of estimating the nonmesonic-to-${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$-mesonic decay ratios for $_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}$ and for $_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}^{5}$. The following values were obtained: $Q(_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He})=1.02\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.15$, $Q(_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}^{5})=1.21\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.19$, for the nonmesonic-to-${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ mesonic decay ratios of $_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}$ and $_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}^{5}$, respectively. Also, an attempt was made to estimate the ratio of proton stimulation to neutron stimulation for the nonmesonic decays of $_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}$ and $_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}^{5}$, for various cutoff energies of the observed "fast protons." Furthermore, by combining our data with previous results, we obtained estimates of the nonmesonic and the total decay rates of $_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}^{4}$ and $_{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{He}^{5}$.
Microarray analysis of embryonic beak mRNA from Darwin's finches.

Cold Spring Harb Protoc; Arhat Abzhanov Microarray Analysis of Embryonic Beak mRNA from Darwin's Finches Service Email Alerting click here. Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article Categories Subject Cold Spring Harbor Protocols. Browse articles on similar topics from (185 articles) RNA (104 articles) mRNA (31 articles) Microarrays, general (24 articles) Microarrays (876 articles) Laboratory Organisms, general (319 articles) Genetics, general (8 articles) Expression Analysis of RNA (284 articles) Emerging Model Organisms (577 articles) Developmental Biology (131 articles) Bioinformatics/Genomics, general (11 articles) Analysis of Microarrays
Resection of Locally Recurrent Colorectal Cancer in the Presence of Distant Metastases: Can It Be Justified?

Background: We aimed to determine the outcome of resections for local recurrence of colorectal carcinoma in the presence of distant (M1) disease. Methods: Patients who underwent resection of local recurrence in the presence of potentially resectable M1 disease were identified from the colorectal database. Outcome was determined by chart review. Results: Forty-two patients (23 men) of mean age 60 years (range, 34–88 years) underwent complete gross resection of their local recurrence in the presence of M1 disease. Thirteen of the 42 underwent synchronous M1 resections to render them free of gross disease (R0). Nine of the 29 patients who left with residual disease (R1) subsequently underwent staged M1 resection, so that 22 of 42 were rendered R0 by surgery. The median survival of all patients was 14.5 months (interquartile range, 6–30 months), and that of patients rendered R0 was 23 months (interquartile range, 10–37 months), in comparison with 7 months (interquartile range, 3–25 months) for those of R1 status (P = .006; log-rank method). Ability to achieve R0 status by synchronous or staged resection was the only factor predictive of survival. Conclusions: The presence of M1 disease per se should not preclude resection of local recurrence, although case selection is problematic.
A miscible nylon blend with poly(2-vinyl pyridine)

Polymer blends of an amorphous polyamide with poly(2vinyl pyridine) (P2VP) are presented. Differential scanning calorimetry results suggest that the system exists as a single phase material as evidenced by a single glass transition temperature. However, as illustrated by light scattering studies, this miscible binary mixture possesses a relatively low, lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic investigations indicate that the interactions occur in the blend between the NH group of the polyamide and the N: atom of P2VP and that the strength of the Interactions between the components is nearly identical to that occurring in the self-association of the pure amorphous polyamide. Additionally, by monitoring the concentration of “free” carbonyl groups, a quantitative measure of the number of interactions occurring in the blend is obtained.
Agree to disagree? Discordance in agency responses regarding campus safety

Within the tragedy of the Virginia Tech shooting was praise for the campus and community police departments based on their prior coordination and collaboration. After-action reports frequently credited the actions of the agencies with preventing an even greater loss of life thereby focusing attention on the presumed importance of close inter-agency relationships. This paper examines the level of agreement between officials representing campus public safety agencies and their neighboring local law enforcement departments on a range of issues related to campus critical incident preparedness. Data were collected from a national sample of both campus safety departments and a matched sample of adjacent law enforcement organizations. Results are based on agreement analysis of responses from 116 agency pairs. Overall findings suggest only modest agreement, at best, on issues related to campus safety including history of critical incidents, perceived risk of future incidents, mutual assistance, and preparedness a...
Confident identification of 3-nitrotyrosine modifications in mass spectral data across multiple mass spectrometry platforms

3-nitrotyrosine (3NT) is an oxidative posttranslational modification associated with many diseases. Determining the specific sites of this modification remains a challenge due to the low stoichiometry of 3NT modifications in biological samples. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics is a powerful tool for identifying 3NT modifications, however several reports identifying 3NT sites were later demonstrated to be incorrect, highlighting that both the accuracy and efficiency of these workflows need improvement. To advance our understanding of the chromatographic and spectral properties of 3NT-containing peptides we have adapted a straightforward, reproducible procedure to generate a large set of 3NT peptides by chemical nitration of a defined, commercially available 48 protein mixture. Using two complementary LC-MS/MS platforms, a QTOF (QSTAR Elite) and dual pressure ion trap mass spectrometer (LTQ Velos), we detected over 200 validated 3NT-containing peptides with significant overlap in the peptides detected by both systems. We investigated the LC-MS/MS properties for each peptide manually using defined criteria and then assessed their utility to confirm that the peptide was 3NT modified. This broad set of validated 3NT-containing peptides can be utilized to optimize mass spectrometric instrumentation and data mining strategies or further develop 3NT peptide enrichment strategies for this biologically important, oxidative posttranslational modification.