cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
HDL-cholesterol and other plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations in middle aged male and female tennis players.

Fasting plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations were determined in 25 men and 25 women (mean ages 42 and 39 yr respectively) whose exclusive mode of regular exercise was tennis play. When compared to a sedentary group matched for age, sex, and education, the tennis players exhibited similar plasma total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations and significantly lower triglyceride and VLDL-cholesterol concentrations. Plasma HDL-cholesterol was significantly higher in the tennis players (57.8 +/- 13.9 versus 46.2 +/- 12.0 mg/100 ml in the men and 73.9 +/- 12.3 versus 61.7 +/- 13.3 mg/100 ml in the women). When we simultaneously controlled for age, relative weight, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, and oral contraceptive use (in females), the significance of the difference in plasma HDL-cholesterol as well as triglyceride and VLDL-cholesterol concentrations was unaffected in the males but substantially reduced in the females. It is concluded that frequent tennis playing is associated with increased plasma HDL-cholesterol concentrations and that this relationship is independent of other factors known to alter plasma HDL-cholesterol concentration.
Polarization Properties of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer

The polarization properties of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) were investigated with a multispectral imaging micropolarimeter. The RNFL exhibits birefringence, which may be due to form birefringence. The reflectance from the RNFL preserves polarization and exhibits weak diattenuation.
Performing work with asynchronous processors: message-delay-sensitive bounds

This paper considers the problem of performing tasks in asynchronous distributed settings. This problem, called Do-All, has been substantially studied in synchronous models, but there is a dearth of efficient algorithms for asynchronous message-passing processors. Do-All can be trivially solved without any communication by an algorithm where each processor performs all tasks. Assuming p processors and t tasks, this requires work Θ(p · t). Thus it is important to develop subquadratic solutions (when p and t are comparable) by trading computation for communication. Following the observation that it is not possible to obtain subquadratic work when the message delay d is substantial, e.g., d = Θ(t), this work pursues a message-delay-sensitive approach. Here the upper bounds on work and communication are given as functions of p, t, and d, the upper bound on message delays, however algorithms have no knowledge of d and they cannot rely on the existence of an upper bound on d. This paper presents two families of asynchronous algorithms achieving, for the first time, subquadratie work as long as d = o(t). The first family uses as its basis a shared-memory algorithm without having to emulate atomic registers assumed by that algorithm. The second family uses specific permutations of tasks, with certain combinatorial properties, to sequence the work of the processors. Another important contribution in this work is the first delay-sensitive lower bound for this problem that helps explain the behavior of our algorithms.
Research-Related Burnout among Faculty in Higher Education

We investigated the effects of intrinsic motivation to do research and perceived lack of rewards contingent on doing research on burnout or disenchantment from research. Findings, based on a survey of 328 faculty at a major university, indicate that these two variables account for 74% and 81% of the variance in scores on a scale relating to burnout among 260 tenured and 68 untenured professors, respectively. The effect of perceived lack of rewards contingent on doing research on burnout was moderated by the tenure status.
Increased periodic magnetic fields for travelling wave tubes

The power output of a traveling-wave tube depends strongly on the strength of the axial magnetic field that guides its electron beam. Such fields are usually less than 5.0 kOe. With conventional permanent-magnet stacks, such fields are attainable only with periodic structures with periods of the order of the working bore diameters. The axial fields resulting from such structures have root-mean-square fields of about 3.5 kOe. The authors describe two novel stacks employing magic spheres that offer root-mean-square fields that are from two to three times as great, and that afford order-of-magnitude power increases over those of the conventional structures. >
Structure of interfaces from uniformity of the chemical potential

It is shown that a generalized chemical potential suggested by the potential-distribution theory is uniform even in a nonuniform fluid. Leng, Rowlinson, and Thompson had already observed its uniformity through the liquid-vapor interface in the penetrable-sphere model, in mean-field approximation. Following those authors, we exploit the uniformity of that generalized chemical potential to obtain unified and transparent derivations of the results of Ono and Kondo and of van der Waals on the liquid-vapor interfaces in the lattice-gas model and in the model of attracting hard spheres, respectively, both in mean-field approximation.
The effect of small-signal AC voltages on C - V characterization and parameter extraction of SiO2 thin films

Abstract The effect of different small-signal ac voltage amplitudes on C–V curves characterized by thin SiO2 based p-type MOS capacitor with aluminum gate is reported. When the small-signal ac voltage is comparable to the gate bias, the thickness of SiO2 thin films extracted from the accumulation capacitance is found to be independent of small-signal ac voltage amplitudes, but the flat band voltage shift and interface state density associated with the variation of depletion layer capacitance are dependent on small-signal ac voltage amplitudes. They all increase with the small-signal ac voltage amplitudes. The experimental results reveal that the optimum small-signal ac voltage should be less than 100 mV. The mechanisms involving the depletion layer changes with small-signal ac voltages in SiO2 thin films are also discussed in this paper.
A Role for Baculovirus GP41 in Budded Virus Production

Insect cells infected withtsB1074, a temperature-sensitive mutant ofAutographa californicanuclear polyhedrosis virus, exhibit a “single-cell-infection” phenotype whereby the infection progresses through the very late phase culminating in occlusion body formation, but neighboring cells do not become infected. Marker rescue mapping and DNA sequencing correlated a single nucleotide substitution within the baculovirusgp41gene with the temperature-sensitive phenotype oftsB1074. The product of thegp41gene, GP41, is an O-glycosylated protein found in occluded but not budded virions [M. Whitford and P. Faulkner (1992)J. Virol.66, 3324–3329]. However, budded virus was not produced intsB1074-infected cells at the nonpermissive temperature of 33°, indicating an additional role for GP41 in budded virus formation. Electron microscopy revealed that nucleocapsids were produced but retained in the nucleus oftsB1074-infected cells at 33°. Thus, GP41 was required for the egress of nucleocapsids from the nucleus in the pathway of budded virus synthesis.
AN ANIMAL RIGHTS ATTITUDE SURVEY OF UNDERGRADUATE PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS

An animal rights attitude survey of 46 statements on various issues related to animal rights was given to 112 freshmen who were near the end of their first college course in introductory psychology and to 63 junior and senior psychology majors. A factor analysis yielded a multidimensional structure with attitudes toward animal research, nonresearch, environment, and evolution as factors. Beginning psychology students had a more negative attitude toward animal research than did psychology majors; however, psychology majors displayed a more positive attitude toward the environment and toward animal rights issues not involving animal research.
Ca2+-Dependent and Ca2+-independent mechanisms modulate whole-cell cationic currents in human neutrophils

We used whole-cell, voltage-clamp methodology to study the activation and inhibition of cationic currents in neutrophil. Cationic channels involved were impermeable to N-methyl-D-glucamine and to choline, but permeable to Na+, K+, Cs+, tris(hydroxymethyl)amino-ethane, and tetraethylammonium. N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine, the Ca2+-ionophore A23187, and phorbol myristate acetate activated the cationic current. Activated currents showed voltage dependence and outward rectification. The Ca2+-chelator 1,2 bis(o-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetate markedly inhibited A23187-induced currents, but only partially decreased phorbol ester- or chemoattractant-induced currents. Dibutyryl cAMP diminished only the chemoattractant-induced currents. The adenosine analogs 5′N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine and N6-cyclohexyladenosine blocked the currents induced by all agents. Thus, we conclude that activation and inhibition of cationic channels in human neutrophils involve both Ca2+-dependent and Ca2+-independent mechanisms.
Are There Racial Ethnic Differences in Indigent, Inner-City Clients With Dual-Diagnosis?

Objective: This is an exploratory, cross-sectional study that examined personal, clinical, and treatment characteristics among non-Hispanic Caucasian, non-Hispanic African American, and Hispanic indigent inner-city clients with co-occurring disorders. Methods: Men and women aged 20 to 50 years who met DSM-IV criteria for concurrent mood and substance use disorders were eligible. Inpatients, persons in detoxification programs, and incarcerated inmates were excluded. Assessments covered sociodemographic characteristics, clinical diagnoses, substance use, psychosocial variables, health care utilization and treatment history. Results: Two hundred volunteers were screened, and 145 were eligible to enroll. Racial/ethnic group differences in the distribution of mood and substance use disorders and medical diseases were evident. Receiving psychiatric treatment and psychiatric medications significantly differed among racial/ethnic groups, with Caucasians more likely to receive these services than African Americans...
Periodical reverse flow and boiling fluctuations in a microchannel evaporator of an air-conditioning system

This paper presents the phenomenon of periodic reverse flow and associated boiling fluctuation found in experiments with a parallel microchannel evaporator used in an R134a air conditioning system. A simultaneous flow visualizations and measurements confirmed the periodic flow reversal. It caused synchronized oscillations of the evaporator inlet pressure and the pressure drop. The magnitude and frequency of oscillations increased with heat flux. Three potential impacts of flow reversal on evaporator performance are identified: 1) moderate liquid maldistribution; 2) reduced heat transfer coefficient; 3) increased refrigerant side pressure drop. Finally, to mitigate impacts of periodic reverse flow, a solution is proposed: to vent and bypass backflow vapor accumulated in the inlet header.
Synthesis and stability of two indomethacin prodrugs.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to synthesize and study the in vitro enzymatic and non-enzymatic hydrolysis of indomethacin–TEG ester and amide prodrugs. It was found that the ester conjugate 10 was comparatively stable between pH 3 and 6 (half-life >90 h), with a half-life equal to 5.2 h in 80% buffered plasma. In contrast, the amide conjugate 12 appeared to be stable over the entire pH range studied with the only observed degradation being cleavage of the indolic N -4-chlorobenzoyl moiety.
Heat transfer analysis of a field-scale melting experiment

Abstract Heat transfer analysis was used to evaluate conceptual models of processes associated with In Situ Vitrification (ISV). ISV is a phase-change process used to melt contaminated soil sites into more stable configurations for environmental restoration. Using data from a field-scale ISV test we develop relations that allow us to estimate the temperature of the melt voltage and amperage measurements. The calculated temperatures are in excellent agreement with measured values. A global heat balance calculation is used to account for heats several processes that occur as soil is heated up and melted during ISV. This analysis yields an efficiency of 33% for the ISV process. Most of the heat is lost from the surface of the melt, and heat transfer concepts confirm that radiative heat transfer is the dominant process.
Simple 24-hour preservation of rabbit hearts with hexanol and pyruvate cardioplegia.

The effectiveness of a newly developed crystalloid cardioplegic solution containing 4 mM 1-hexanol and 10 mM pyruvate was compared with St Thomas' Hospital solution. After control perfusion with a Langendorff method, rabbit hearts (n = 7 for each group) were arrested and stored in these solutions (4°C) for 24 h and subsequently reperfused for 45 min. The hexanol solution preserved both left ventricular systolic and diastolic function significantly better than St Thomas' Hospital solution. Developed pressure was significantly higher after preservation with the hexanol solution than with the St Thomas' Hospital solution a left ventricular balloon volumes larger than the mid volume (P < 0.05). The maximum developed pressure after storage with the hexanol and St Thomas' Hospital solution were 77% and 42% of the maximum control values, respectively. Values for end-diastolic pressure at the maximum ventricular volume were 26.1 ± 9.8 and 66.7 ± 24.6 mmHg for the hexanol and St Thomas' Hospital solution, respectively (P < 0.05). Creatine kinase release during the first 15 min of reperfusion was significantly lower with the hexanol solution as compared to St Thomas's Hospital solution (28.3 ± 8.3 vs 92.9 ± 52.6 IU/g wet weight, P < 0.05). In conclusion, a hexanol cardioplegic solution may be suitable for long-term cardiac preservation. Further evaluation of the effectiveness and safety of this solution is warranted.
Triggered lightning strikes to aircraft and natural intracloud discharges

The physical model of Mazur (1989) for triggering lightning strikes by aircraft was used to interpret the initiation of intracloud flashes observed by the French UHF-VHF interferometric system. It is shown that both the intracloud discharges and airplane-triggered lightning strikes were initiated by simultaneous bidirectional development of the negative stepped leader and the positive leader-continous current process. However, the negative stepped leader phase in triggered flashes is of shorter duration (tens of milliseconds), than that in intracloud flashes (usually hundreds of milliseconds). This is considered to be due to the fact that, on the aircraft there is a single initiation process, versus the numerous initiation processes that occur inside the cloud.
Hybrid Aeroelastic Optimization and Antioptimization

A simple aeroelastic structure possessing uncertain elastic modulus, which is modeled as varying either in a convex hull of experimental data points or within an approximating ellipse of minimum area containing all of the data, is studied. A solution of an antioptimization problem, which is dee ned as the search for the worst critical velocity under uncertainty constraint is determined. At the second stage, the optimization problem is addressed as an evaluation of the design variables, such that the worst critical velocity is made to exceed a preselected velocity. It appears that, due to the unavoidable presence of uncertainties, realistic aeroelastic problems ought to be posed as a hybrid optimization and as antioptimization procedures. Several numerical results are elucidated to illustrate the ideas.
Diffuse large cell and undifferentiated lymphomas with promiment mediastinal involvement. A poor prognoctic subset of patients with non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma

This report describes 11 adults with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who presented with symptoms caused by large mediastinal masses. Patients with lymphoblastic lymphoma were excluded from this analysis. Most of the patients were young women with localized disease at presentation. Ten tumors were diffuse large cell ("histiocytic") lymphomas and one was a diffuse, undifferentiated lymphoma, non-Burkitt's type. According to the Lukes' and Collins' classification scheme, seven were large cleaved cell type, three were large noncleaved and one was small noncleaved cell type. Sclerosis was present in four cases. Despite aggressive therapy nine patients died within 26 months of diagnosis and only two remain disease-free. Median survival of these patients was 16 months. Patients with symptomatic mediastinal masses and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas composed predominantly of large cell appear to share certain clinico-pathologic features and to present a poor prognosis subset of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Hydroxide Ion Channel Controls Uncoupling and Thermogenesis of Brown Fat Mitochondria

Uncoupling proteins (UCP1- UCP5) are six-transmembrane-domain transport proteins of the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). They increase electrical conductance of the IMM, thus dissipating the electrochemical proton gradient across this membrane and uncoupling mitochondrial respiration and ATP synthesis. By controlling mitochondrial membrane potential, UCPs can affect many aspects of mitochondrial function and have been implicated in regulation of body's energy efficiency, reducing fat depositions, thermogenesis, diabetes, and protecting the cell against oxidative damage and ageing. The founding member of the family, UCP1, is specifically expressed in brown adipose tissue (BAT) and is responsible for adaptive thermogenesis mediated by this tissue. Due to its unusually high level of expression, upon activation UCP1 completely uncouples BAT mitochondria and converts the energy of the substrate oxidation into heat. Since UCP1 can dissipate large amounts of energy, it has attracted attention as a potential target to treat obesity. In spite of their physiological and therapeutic significance, the mechanism of operation of uncoupling proteins including their ionic selectivity has long remained unknown due to the lack of direct methods to study their activity in their native membrane environment. Here, by applying the patch-clamp technique to the whole inner membrane of BAT mitochondria and for the first time directly measuring transmembrane currents produced by UCP1, we show that UCP1 is a ligand-gated hydroxide (OH-) ion channel activated by fatty acids. UCP1 is the only hydroxide ion channel reported to date. Thus, BAT thermogenesis involves the outward transport of protons by the electron transport chain along with the outward transport of OH- by UCP1, thereby amounting to cycling of water across the IMM and not to futile cycling of protons as was largely considered before.
AN MCDM REFLECTION ON THE FIFA 2014 WORLD CUP

Another World Cup is over and with that another controversy about the rightful winner of the most prestigious tournament award: The Golden Ball... http://dx.doi.org/10.13033/ijahp.v6i1.241
Exploring the learning process

Teachers and students come to the classroom possessing distinct temperaments, personalities, talents, weaknesses, and preferred learning styles (Fairhurst & Fairhurst, 1995; Liesveld M Mollan-Masters, 1997). Despite the diversity among human beings and their preferences, human beings are learning machines. People do not have to be taught to learn although they can improve their learning strategies. Smilkstein (2003) clearly portrayed that concept with the title of her book,We're Born to Learn. The literature on mindsets (Dweck, 2006), motivation and rewards (Kohn, 1993), and memory and how the brain learns (Kandel, 2006; Medina, 2008; Restak, 2003, 2006; Sousa, 2006; Smilkstein, 2003) facilitates understanding the learning process. The specific questions to be explored in this article are the following: What are fixed and growth mindsets and how do they relate to learning? What is the impact of motivation and rewards on learning? How does the brain learn? What factors impact learning? What is the difference between how a novice solves a problem as compared with an expert?
Patient-centered outcomes following laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair.

Background Inguinal hernia repair is the most common surgery in the world. Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) outcomes are arguably the most important elements of successful repair. This study is aimed to describe short- and long-term quality of life outcomes in patients undergoing laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair.
Testing for Inherited Thrombophilias in Arterial Stroke: Can It Cause More Harm Than Good?

Background and Purpose—Despite a paucity of evidence supporting a true association of ischemic stroke and the inherited thrombophilias, it is common practice for many neurologists to order these tests as part of the work-up of ischemic stroke, especially in young patients. Treatment with oral anticoagulation is often used in patients with positive results for the inherited thrombophilias. Methods—We reviewed the literature focusing on case-control studies of the 5 most commonly inherited disorders of coagulation: protein C deficiency, protein S deficiency, antithrombin deficiency, and the factor V Leiden and prothrombin gene mutations in patients with stroke. We also analyzed the available data on stroke patients with inherited thrombophilia and patent foramen ovale. Results—Multiple case-control studies have not convincingly shown an association of the inherited thrombophilias with ischemic stroke, even in young patients and patients with patent foramen ovale. Conclusion—If there is an association betwee...
The Role of Calcium in the Stimulation of Aldosterone Production by Adrenocorticotropin, Angiotensin II, and Potassium in Isolated Glomerulosa Cells

Analysis of the role of calcium in the regulation of aldosterone production showed that the steroidogenic responses of isolated adrenal cells to ACTH, angiotensin II, and potassium were highly dependent on the extracellular calcium concentration. Physiological concentrations of calcium were required for maximal aldosterone responses to all three regulators, and steroidogenesis was progressively reduced by decreasing calcium concentrations. ACTH stimulated aldosterone and cAMP responses at all calcium concentrations tested, and the production of steroid was correlated with the increase in cAMP formation. Reduction of extracellular calcium concentration caused an increase in the ACTH concentration required for halfmaximal steroid and cAMP production and a decline in the maximal output of aldosterone. When zona glomerulosa cells were stimulated by exogenous cAMP, cholera toxin, or serotonin, decreased calcium concentration caused a decline in the amount of steroid produced but did not change the agonist conc...
Educational attitudes, school peer context, and the "immigrant paradox" in education.

Previous research has been unable to explain declines in educational outcomes across immigrant generations. This study uses data on Mexican and Asian-origin youth from Add Health to test educational attitudes and behaviors as mechanisms linking immigrant generation to four educational outcomes. First, it assesses whether generational changes in attitudes and behaviors correspond to generational differences in educational outcomes. Second, it tests whether generational changes in immigrant children’s attitudes depend on the school peer context in which they acculturate. Findings show that educational attitudes and behaviors do decline across immigrant generations, but that these changes in attitudes account for little of the generational variation in educational outcomes. The relationship between immigrant generation and attitudes is strongest in schools with more negative peer cultures.
Direct interaction between SNAP‐23 and L‐type Ca2+ channel

During secretion, membrane-bound secretory vesicles dock and fuse at the base of porosomes in the cell plasma membrane. Among other proteins, the porosome is composed of SNAREs and Ca2+-channels. Ca2+-channels and SNAREs have been implicated in cell secretion. Several immunoprecipitation and binding studies suggest the physical interaction of the t-SNARE proteins, Syntaxin-1 and SNAP-25 with various Ca2+-channels. In this study, using yeast two-hybrid and immunoanalysis, we demonstrate for the first time, direct interaction of SNAP-23 and a L-type Ca2+-channel at the plasma membrane in pancreas.
NIFD: Non-intrusive FPGA Debugger -- Debugging FPGA 'Threads' for Rapid HW/SW Systems Prototyping

Debugging hardware has always been difficult when compared to debugging software, in large part due to a lack of convenient visibility. This paper describes the open NIFD framework that provides software-like debugging facilities to both pure FPGA and hybrid FPGA/software platforms, allowing a designer to treat the hardware logic like a specialized remote software debug target. NIFD provides features such as single stepping, breakpoints, and examination of the full hardware state from a standard debug console such as GDB. The framework leverages built-in readback support to enable non-intrusive, transparent debugging with full observability and controllability. This technique is not only useful for debugging, but can also be used in production environments for infrequent events such as the slow sampling of counters.
The Social Psychology of the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election

The 2004 U.S. presidential election was determined not by simple demographics and the power of incumbency, hut hy emotions such as fear and shame, aspects of the self-concept such as moralism and religiosity, and other psychological phenomena ranging from the self-deception of voters to the linguistic styles of the candidates. In introducing the papers in this special issue of ASAP on the social psychology of the election, I examine the effect sizes for psychological constructs such as religiosity, moralism, and terror. I suggest that pride and shame are likely determinants of the widely reported exit poll discrepancies, and argue that out-group homogeneity was critical in determining the outcome of the election.
Modular bug detection with inertial refinement

Structural abstraction/refinement (SAR) [4] holds promise for scalable bug detection in software since the abstraction is inexpensive to compute and refinement employs pre-computed procedure summaries. The refinement step is key to the scalability of an SAR technique: efficient refinement should avoid exploring program regions irrelevant to the property being checked. However, the current refinement techniques, guided by the counterexamples obtained from constraint solvers, have little or no control over the program regions explored during refinement. This paper presents inertial refinement (IR), a new refinement strategy which overcomes this drawback, by resisting the exploration of new program regions during refinement: new program regions are incrementally analyzed only when no error witness is realizable in the current regions. The IR procedure is implemented as part of a generalized SAR method in the F-Soft verification framework for C programs. Experimental comparison with a previous state-of-the-art refinement method shows that IR explores fewer program regions to detect bugs, leading to faster bug-detection.
Childbirth Education and Childbirth Models: Parental Perspectives on Control, Anesthesia, and Technological Intervention in the Birth Process

Childbirth education classes represent a formal means of information transmission to prospective parents regarding the birth process. Assessment of the impact of medical messages communicated in two sets of childbirth classes suggests that the structure and orientation of the class affected the particular messages conveyed. Hospital-based classes familiarized prospective patients with hospital procedures, while private classes encouraged self-advocacy and parental participation. Yet childbirth classes were found to influence women's reactions to delivery less than preexisting beliefs, values, and expectations derived from people in their personal networks. Discussions regarding pain and anesthesia most clearly revealed kin and friends to be the main sources of influence on these matters. In contrast to feminist models of birth that advocate parental control of decision making and limited technological intervention, the overriding goal during delivery of the Dallas women we interviewed was to remain alert yet pain free.
Response to Transdermal Selegiline Smoking Cessation Therapy and Markers in the 15q24 Chromosomal Region.

INTRODUCTION Current treatments for smoking cessation have limited efficacy. A potential pharmaceutical treatment for smoking cessation is selegiline, a selective and irreversible monoamine oxidase B inhibitor. A few clinical trials have been carried out using selegiline but the results have been mixed. We sought to determine if genetic markers in cholinergic loci in the 15q24 chromosomal region predict response to smoking cessation therapy with selegiline. METHODS We performed an 8-week double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of the selegiline transdermal system in heavy smokers, with follow-up at weeks 25 and 52. Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 15q24 region, which contains the genes for the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits CHRNA5, CHRNA3, and CHRNB4, were investigated for association with treatment response. RESULTS The CHRNB4 promoter SNP rs3813567 was associated with both point prevalence abstinence and post-quit craving. Carriers of the minor C allele treated with selegiline showed lower rates of abstinence and higher levels of craving than selegiline-treated non-carriers, indicating that the rs3813567 C allele adversely affects abstinence in selegiline-treated smokers. This effect was not present among placebo-treated smokers. Selegiline-treated smokers with the CHRNA5 rs680244 GG genotype had lower post-quit craving, and unlike placebo-treated GG-carrying smokers, did not experience a post-quit increase in depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Variants in genes encoding cholinergic receptors affect abstinence, craving and mood in selegiline-treated smokers. Selegiline primarily affects dopamine levels in the brain, but cholinergic input affects nicotine-induced dopaminergic activity. These markers may have value in identifying those likely to respond to selegiline for smoking cessation.
TGF-β signaling in renal disease

ABSTRACT. Since discovery over a decade ago of a role for the cytokine TGF-s as key mediator of glomerular and tubulointerstitial pathobiology in chronic kidney diseases, studies of TGF-s signaling in the kidney have focused on the molecular biology of fibrogenesis. In recent years, glomerular and tubular epithelial cell apoptosis and cellular transdifferentiation have been proposed as putative primary pathomechanisms that may underlie progression of renal disease. This review describes evidence in support of nonlinear models and functional roles of TGF-s signaling in mediating apoptosis and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transdifferentiation (EMT) in chronic progressive renal disease. Emphasis is placed on cell context-dependent models of TGF-s signaling providing a conceptual framework to consolidate seemingly distinct pathomechanisms of progression of glomerular and tubulointerstitial disease.E-mail: bottinge@aecom.yu.edu
External‐Standard High‐Performance Liquid Chromatographic Method for Quantitative Determination of Furosemide in Plasma by Using Solid‐Phase Extraction and On‐Line Elution

Abstract A rapid and simple external‐standard high‐performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed for the determination of the concentration of furosemide in plasma. The analyte is extracted with a C‐2 ethyl sorbent. On‐line elution of the analyte into the HPLC system is accomplished with an advanced automated sample processor (Varian). Furosemide is quantified by fluorescence detection within a linear range of 25 to 1000 ng/mL (average correlation coefficient, 0.9998), with a limit of detection of 1.8 ng/mL. Both internal‐ and external‐standard procedures were evaluated, and the external‐standard procedure demonstrated superior characteristics. The external‐standard procedure was precise to within a relative standard deviation of 8% and accurate with 1000 plasma samples obtained from patients with either normal kidney function or renal failure who had received furosemide either orally or intravenously in an experimental setting.
Gender, health, and human rights in sites of political exclusion

In this paper, we investigate the intersections of gender, health and human rights in sites of political exclusion. We apply the political theory of Giorgio Agamben on 'states of exception', seeking to better understand how the recent 'war on terror', that seemingly knows no limits of time or space, is driving health outcomes in refugee and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. Reproductive health, militarization, and gender-based violence in camps are explored in depth. The evidence presented reveals a number of contradictions of refugee and IDP camps, further highlighting the need for a more rights based humanitarianism. We conclude that foregrounding states of exception, as a way of understanding current gender dynamics in the social determinants of health, is both epidemiologically necessary and conceptually useful. We find that, in these sites of exclusion, the indispensability of a human rights approach to gender and health equity issues is revealed most directly. Furthermore, we are able to make new connections between the 'crisis of humanitarianism', gender, and health. Language: en
Friction factors in the theory of bifurcating Poiseuille flow through annular ducts

The objective of this paper is to show how to formulate a bifurcation theory for pipe flows in terms of the friction factor. We compute the slope of the friction factor vs. Reynolds number curve and the frequency change for the time-periodic solution which bifurcates from Poiseuille flow through annular ducts.
Inflation Uncertainty and Strike Activity

In this paper, we hypothesize that the general level of uncertainty can influence the level of strike activity. We test this hypothesis by considering the impact of inflation uncertain & on strike activity. Two databases are used: a pooled time-series cross-section sample of individual negotiations over the period 1971–1980, and quarterly data on negotiations from 1954 to 1980. Results from both data sets support the proposition that inflation uncertainty influences strike activity.
CAN PERINEURAL INVASION ON PROSTATE NEEDLE BIOPSY PREDICT PROSTATE SPECIFIC ANTIGEN RECURRENCE AFTER RADICAL PROSTATECTOMY

AbstractPurpose: We evaluated the role of perineural invasion identified on prostate needle biopsy as a predictor of prostate specific antigen (PSA) recurrence after radical prostatectomy.Materials and Methods: Between 1993 and 1998 radical prostatectomy was performed in 319 consecutive patients. Prostate needle biopsies were reviewed in all cases. We compared perineural invasion with other preoperative parameters, including digital rectal examination, PSA and biopsy Gleason score, for the ability to predict PSA recurrence with recurrence defined as any serum PSA level greater than 0.2 ng./ml.Results: Perineural invasion was identified on 77 of 319 preoperative prostate biopsies (24%). There was PSA recurrence in 46 patients (14.4%) at a mean followup of 25.4 months (range 0.2 to 62.1). Perineural invasion statistically correlated with PSA recurrence. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed disease-free survival rates of 24 versus 64% when perineural invasion was and was not present in the prostate biopsy (p = 0.0...
Renal artery stenosis presenting as crescendo angina pectoris.

The coexistence of different clinical syndromes due to atherosclerosis in different organs is not rare and emphasizes the diffuse nature of this vascular process. Although renovascular disease may cause hypertension and/or renal insufficiency, it may also occur in the absence of the usual clinical markers that suggest renovascular hypertension. We report a patient with stable coronary anatomy who presented with crescendo angina pectoris. Diagnosis of renovascular hypertension was made by screening renal angiography at the time of the cardiac catheterization. Renal artery stenting resulted in stabilization of the coronary syndrome and obviated the need for further coronary intervention. To our knowledge, this is the first case of renovascular hypertension precipitating an unstable coronary syndrome in a patient with documented stable coronary anatomy. Review of the literature supports that patients undergoing cardiac catheterization are a high risk population for renovascular disease, particularly in the presence of other predictive factors such as documented coronary artery disease, older age, female gender, congestive heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, renal insufficiency, and smoking. Firm recommendations for routine screening renal angiography in patients undergoing peripheral or coronary angiography will need further studies. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Biodiversity and Productivity

Researchers predict that human activities—especially landscape modification and climate change—will have a considerable impact on the distribution and abundance of species at local, regional, and global scales in the 21st century ( 1 , 2 ). This is a concern for a number of reasons, including the potential loss of goods and services that biodiversity provides to people ( 3 , 4 ). Exactly how biodiversity relates to ecosystem function and productivity, however, has been a widely studied and highly controversial issue over the past few decades. Initially, for example, many researchers believed that the relationship between species richness and net primary productivity (often expressed as the number of grams of carbon produced within a square meter of an ecosystem over a year) could be visualized as a hump-shaped or modal curve ( 5 ), with richness first rising and then declining with increasing productivity. However, subsequent theoretical and empirical research, including meta-analyses, seriously diminished acceptance of the modal pattern as a canonical relationship ( 6 – 11 ). On page 1750 of this issue, Adler et al. ( 12 ) carry the critique a step further. In a multiscale assessment of 48 plant communities on five continents, they demonstrate that the modal productivity-diversity pattern is quite rare in nature, rather than the dominant relationship. Their findings suggest that ecological understanding may advance more rapidly if investigators focus on exploring a range of topics that are germane to the productivity-diversity relationship in a changing world, rather than continue the search for a dominant pattern.
Opportunistic spectrum scheduling for mobile cognitive radio networks in white space

Recent works have shown that the white-space spectrum opened to cognitive radio devices is far less than what the lobbyists claimed. With fast growing number of secondary users, carefully scheduling the spectrum allocation in cognitive radio networks operating on white space becomes vital. However, the frequent ON/OFF activity of primary users (PU) and the mobility of the cognitive users make the problem of spectrum scheduling extremely hard. By modeling the PUs activity in an opportunistic manner, this paper studies how to schedule the spectrum assignment for mobile cognitive radio devices. With the mobility information, we formally define the related problem as the Maximum Throughput Channel Scheduling problem (MTCS) which seeks a channel assignment schedule for each cognitive radio device such that the maximum expected throughput can be achieved. We present a general scheduling framework for solving the MTCS. Based on the proposed framework, we then present two polynomial time optimal algorithms to solve the MTCS in the homogeneous and the heterogeneous traffic load cases, respectively. Our algorithms are evaluated by simulations using the mobility trace obtained from a real world public transportation system. On average, the proposed algorithms outperform a greedy algorithm by 21.6%.
Structured streams: a new transport abstraction

Internet applications currently have a choice between stream and datagram transport abstractions. Datagrams efficiently support small transactions and streams are suited for long-running conversations, but neither abstraction adequately supports applications like HTTP that exhibit a mixture of transaction sizes, or applications like FTP and SIP that use multiple transport instances. Structured Stream Transport (SST) enhances the traditional stream abstraction with a hierarchical hereditary structure, allowing applications to create lightweight child streams from any existing stream. Unlike TCP streams, these lightweight streams incur neither 3-way handshaking delays on startup nor TIME-WAIT periods on close. Each stream offers independent data transfer and flow control, allowing different transactions to proceed in parallel without head-of-line blocking, but all streams share one congestion control context. SST supports both reliable and best-effort delivery in a way that semantically unifies datagrams with streams and solves the classic "large datagram" problem, where a datagram's loss probability increases exponentially with fragment count. Finally, an application can prioritize its streams relative to each other and adjust priorities dynamically through out-of-band signaling. A user-space prototype shows that SST is TCP-friendly to within 2%, and performs comparably to a user-space TCP and to within 10% of kernel TCP on a WiFi network.
A study of chip thermal crosstalk in plastic VLSI packages

Plastic VLSI packages are modeled as five-layer structure. Lateral boundaries are assumed to extend to infinity for a planar reference structure. With a small heat source on the silicon chip, calculation results show that the temperature profile on the chip decreases exponentially for distance greater than a specific value. An empirical temperature expression is thus established. The expression enables efficient calculation of temperatures at remote locations. These temperatures are important for large chip devices having large number of small heat sources.
The Lecture: An Update on Research.

This paper provides an update and follow-through of Verner and Dickinson's extensive review of literature on the lecture method of teaching published in Adult Education in 1967. In reviewing research on the lecture in the ensuing 14 years, one finds little effort directed to the effectiveness of the lecture in adult education, especially in non-classroom settings. The previous clear dichotomy between lecture and other methods no longer exists but has evolved into a consideration of collaborative learning approaches versus self-directed study. The limitations in the extant research highlight the need for renewed efforts to examine the appropriate use of the lecture in adult learning situations.
School Involvement in Pharmacotherapy for Behavior Disorders

Hyperactivity is one of the most common reasons for chronic drug therapy in exceptional children. Clinicians have long recognized that behavioral evaluations from the teacher are essential in diagnosing this disorder, titrating dosage, and monitoring and terminating treatment. In order to evaluate the adequacy of typical treatment practices, 2 state-wide studies of special education programs were conducted. Teachers completed questionnaires for 232 pupils in their current classroom who were receiving medication for a learning or behavior disorder, and the mothers of 100 of these children participated in a telephone interview. The findings from both studies were remarkably similar. Teachers were often not involved in referral, diagnosis, or the withdrawal of medication. The allegation that school personnel frequently pressure parents into medication for their child was unsupported. Although 60% of the teachers reported drug effects, standardized evaluation instruments were rarely used. Direct communication...
State-family Alliances and Children's Welfare: A Research Agenda

A popular topic of dialogue in many nations today concerns the proper balance between family and state in terms of their responsibility for the cultivation of potential in children. This article begins with a discussion of the American prototype of the family-state alliance vis-a-vis the child, contrasting the American model to alternative European models. This discussion leads the author to speculate about the consequences of various patterns of family-state collaboration on the well-being of children. The article concludes with an agenda of comparative research that explores the relationship between state and kinship systems and the direct or indirect impact on children.
Development and comparison of prognostic scoring systems for surgical closure of genitourinary fistula

Objective The purpose of this study was to test the diagnostic performance of 5 existing classification systems (developed by Lawson, Tafesse, Goh, Waaldijk, and the World Health Organization) and a prognostic scoring system that was derived empirically from our data to predict fistula closure 3 months after surgery. Study Design Women with genitourinary fistula (n = 1274) who received surgical repair services at 11 health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia were enrolled in a prospective cohort study. Using one-half of the sample, we created multivariate generalized estimating equation models to obtain weighted prognostic scores for components of each existing classification system and the empirically derived scoring system. With the second one-half, we developed receiver operating characteristic curves using the prognostic scores and calculated areas under the curves (AUCs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each system. Results Among existing systems, the scoring systems that represented the World Health Organization, Goh, and Tafesse classifications had the highest predictive accuracy: AUC, 0.63 (95% CI, 0.57–0.68); AUC, 0.62 (95% CI, 0.57–0.68), and AUC, 0.60 (95% CI, 0.55–0.65), respectively. The empirically derived prognostic score achieved similar predictive accuracy (AUC, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.56–0.67); it included significant predictors of closure that are found in the other classification systems, but contained fewer, nonoverlapping components. The differences in AUCs were not statistically significant. Conclusion The prognostic values of existing urinary fistula classification systems and the empirically derived score were poor to fair. Further evaluation of the validity and reliability of existing classification systems to predict fistula closure is warranted; consideration should be given to a prognostic score that is evidence-based, simple, and easy to use.
Where Schools Close in Chicago

It is often assumed that schools close, disproportionately, in disadvantaged parts of Chicago. The assumption, however, has yet to be substantiated by research. As a result, this article tests the assumption in order to explain where schools close in Chicago. It does so by introducing a new Chicago Public School (CPS) closings dataset. The dataset sheds some light on the phenomenon by identifying 130 schools that closed, twenty-seven ZIP codes that experienced CPS closings and three demographic characteristics of these ZIP codes. In the process, this dataset helps to explain how CPS closings relate to race, income and location.