cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Positive and negative verbal feedback for Intelligent Tutoring Systems

We built three different versions of an ITS on a letter pattern extrapolation task: in one version, students only receive color-coded feedback; in the second, they receive verbal feedback messages when they perform correct actions, and in the third, when they make a mistake. We found that time on task and number of errors are predictive of performance on the post-test rather than the type of feedback.
Building Emotionally Intelligent Schools: From Preschool to High School and Beyond

Despite best attempts, the idea of “leaving your emotions at the door” denies decades of research on the function of emotions. When schools embrace and support the emotions of their students and educators, they create a climate where people feel secure, appreciated, and inspired.
Non-suicidal self-injury among sexual minority youth: An etiological and treatment overview

Abstract Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among sexual minority youth (SMY) is a problem that is growing in attention yet is understudied and requires an informed response from therapists who engage in clinical work with youth. This paper proposes a unique model of treatment for working with SMY who engage in NSSI, accounting for proximal, distal, and systemic factors that influence the etiology of NSSI. This model is based on a review of two bodies of clinical literature: (a) treating adolescent NSSI and (b) working with SMY and their families. As an etiological theory of self-harm, Nock (2009) is applied to SMY, factoring in the unique stressors experienced by this group that affect intervention. Reviewed treatment approaches include Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents (DBT-A) and narrative family therapy. Treatment guidelines are conceptualized and outlined to aid therapists in providing affirmative and informed therapeutic services. While few, if any articles have studied treatment for SMY who engage in NSSI, this article contributes to the literature by proposing culturally competent interventions.
Clinical utility of virtual noncalcium dual-energy CT in imaging of the pelvis and hip

Dual-energy virtual noncalcium images are increasingly used to identify marrow edema which accompanies bony pelvic injuries and marrow pathology obscured by cancellous bone. We present a clinical perspective of our experience using virtual noncalcium images in the work up of pelvic osseous pathology.
Inpatient use of racemic epinephrine for children admitted with croup

Pediatric patients with croup are frequently admitted if they require two doses of racemic epinephrine (RE) in the emergency department (ED). We aimed to identify factors associated with the need for additional therapy (> 2 RE doses) among pediatric patients with croup. We performed a single-center retrospective study of consecutive patients admitted from the ED with a diagnosis of croup between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2015. Primary outcome was need for > 2 doses of RE. Secondary outcomes included time to third RE and 72-hour return visits. We performed logistic regression to identify factors associated with use of > 2 RE doses during hospitalization, and survival analysis to identify time to dosing of 3rd RE from 2nd RE. Of 353 included admissions [250 (70.8%) males, median age 1.48, interquartile range 0.97–2.51 years], 106/353 (30.0%) required > 2 RE. In univariate logistic regression, only recent use of steroids within 1 day prior to presentation (4.18, 1.48–11.83; P = 0.007) was associated with need for > 2 RE. Survival from third RE was 0.74 (95% CI 0.69–0.78), which was similar to the survival at 12 hours (0.70, 95% CI 0.65–0.75). Return visits occurred in 19 (5.4%) patients, of whom 12/19 (63.2%) were given RE. Patients hospitalized for croup with recent use of steroids prior to ED presentation have a greater need for > 2 RE during hospitalization. The majority who require inpatient RE will do so within 8–12 hours. These data provide information for risk stratification and duration of monitoring for patients hospitalized with croup.
Chronic Kidney Disease in Pregnancy

Irrespective of the etiology of underlying chronic kidney disease (CKD), there appears to be an association between maternal/fetal outcomes and the degree of underlying renal insufficiency. Maladaptation to pregnancy predisposes pregnant women with moderate to severe renal insufficiency to the risk of progressive decline in renal function that can be irreversible, a risk that is unique to this population. Fertility rates decline with severity of renal failure. Conception is relatively rare in women on dialysis. Fetal survival has improved by almost 25% per decade in pregnant dialysis patients, reaching over 85% in patients receiving nocturnal hemodialysis. Available evidence points to better outcomes with longer dialysis sessions.
Free-Flap Reconstruction for Diabetic Lower Extremity Limb Salvage

Abstract Background Microsurgical free tissue transfer is an important treatment option for nonhealing lower extremity diabetic wounds. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that affect flap survival and wound complications. Methods A retrospective review was conducted of 806 lower extremity free-flap reconstructions performed from 1979 to 2016. A total of 33 free flaps were used for coverage of nonhealing lower-extremity diabetic ulcers. Primary outcome measures were perioperative complications and long-term wound breakdown. Results The average age was 54 ± 12.3 y. 15.2% of patients were smokers, 12.1% had coronary artery disease and 12.1% had end-stage renal disease. Muscle flaps predominated (75.8%) compared to fasciocutaneous flaps (24.2%). There were 7 patients (21.2%) that underwent a revascularization procedure before (71.4%) or at the same time (28.6%) as the free flap. Immediate complications occurred in 7 flaps (21.2%) with 4 partial losses (12.1%) and 3 total flap failures (9.1%). Major wound complications occurred in 18.2% of patients. An end-to-side (E-S) anastomosis for the artery was used in 63.6% (n = 22) of flaps compared with an end-to-end (E-E) anastomosis. E-S anastomosis was associated with a significantly lower risk of wound complications compared with an arterial E-E anastomosis (0% versus 45.5%, P = 0.001). Conclusions The use of microvascular free flaps can be used successfully to cover lower-extremity diabetic wounds. E-E arterial anastomosis should be avoided if possible as it is associated with higher rates of wound breakdown, likely by impairing perfusion to a distal limb with an already compromised vasculature. Level of evidence Level III.
Dilution and propagation of provenance trends in sand and mud: Geochemistry and detrital zircon geochronology of modern sediment from central California (U.S.A.)

Integrated, multi-method provenance studies of siliciclastic sedimentary deposits are increasingly used to reconstruct the history of source-to-sink transport, paleogeography, and tectonics. Invariably, analysis of large-scale depositional systems must confront issues regarding how to best sample the system and adequately cope with the details of sediment mixing. Potential biases including variations in grain size, sediment flux, and mineral concentration may cause provenance tracking tools to misrepresent the contributions of source-areas that contribute to large drainage networks. We have acquired U-Pb detrital zircon data from modern sand and whole-rock geochemistry from mud sampled from the Sacramento-San Joaquin drainage of central California to elucidate conditions that can skew provenance trends along the course of a major river system. This drainage network is fed by headwaters that tap the Mesozoic pluton-dominated southern Sierra Nevada, the Paleozoic-Mesozoic wallrock and volcanic-dominated northern Sierra Nevada, the ultramafic-dominated eastern Klamath Mountains, and the intermediate to mafic Cascades volcanic arc. Analysis of the results indicates that detrital zircon provenance trends effectively record source variations for the southern, granite-dominated portion of the drainage network where contrasts in lithology and inferred zircon fertility are relatively minor. In these circumstances, mixture modeling of U-Pb detrital zircon data calibrated with a measure of zircon fertility approximates relative sediment flux contributed by individual drainages. Alternatively, in the northern parts of the system, source regions underlain by ultramafic and/or volcanic rocks are poorly represented, or entirely missing, in downstream detrital zircon records. In some cases, mud geochemistry data more faithfully represent sediment provenance trends. Sampling performed at the confluence of the Sacramento, American, Mokelumne, and San Joaquin Rivers within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region yields a detrital zircon age distribution that is indistinguishable from that of an independently established database of Sierra Nevada batholith crystallization ages. However, when the combined river flows along a recently established passage to the Pacific through the San Francisco Bay region, dredged sediment is found to be significantly contaminated by locally eroded material from the Franciscan Complex and other rocks that crop out within the Coast Ranges. Large variation of Zr concentrations measured throughout the Bay area document that significant hydrodynamic fractionation impacts sediment delivery through this segment of the system. The more Sierra Nevada-like detrital zircon age distribution yielded by a piston-core sample from the continental slope may be explained by either early-stage unroofing of the Coast Ranges or more efficient sand delivery from the delta to the Pacific by a free-flowing river driven by a low stand in sea level.
Glucose Uptake and Insulin Response in Tissue-engineered Human Skeletal Muscle

Tissue-engineered muscles (“myobundles”) offer a promising platform for developing a human in vitro model of healthy and diseased muscle for drug development and testing. Compared to traditional monolayer cultures, myobundles better model the three-dimensional structure of native skeletal muscle and are amenable to diverse functional measures to monitor the muscle health and drug response. Characterizing the metabolic function of human myobundles is of particular interest to enable their utilization in mechanistic studies of human metabolic diseases, identification of related drug targets, and systematic studies of drug safety and efficacy. To this end, we studied glucose uptake and insulin responsiveness in human tissue-engineered skeletal muscle myobundles in the basal state and in response to drug treatments. In the human skeletal muscle myobundle system, insulin stimulates a 50% increase in 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) uptake with a compiled EC50 of 0.27 ± 0.03 nM. Treatment of myobundles with 400 µM metformin increased basal 2-DG uptake 1.7-fold and caused a significant drop in twitch and tetanus contractile force along with decreased fatigue resistance. Treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA) increased the magnitude of insulin response from a 1.2-fold increase in glucose uptake in the untreated state to a 1.4-fold increase after 4-PBA treatment. 4-PBA treated myobundles also exhibited increased fatigue resistance and increased twitch half-relaxation time. Although tissue-engineered human myobundles exhibit a modest increase in glucose uptake in response to insulin, they recapitulate key features of in vivo insulin sensitivity and exhibit relevant drug-mediated perturbations in contractile function and glucose metabolism.
Factors related to parental therapeutic self-efficacy in a parent-mediated intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder: A mixed methods study.

Parental self-efficacy, parents’ beliefs in their ability to successfully parent their child, plays an important role in family outcomes when a child has autism spectrum disorder. It is important t...
Use of Ultrasound in the Planning of Spring-Assisted Cranioplasty for Correction of Scaphocephaly:

Craniosynostosis describes the congenital, premature fusion of 1 or more cranial sutures. Prior studies have confirmed the ability of spring-assisted cranioplasty to expand the cranial vault in pat...
Abstract A49: Induction of the lymphomagenic enzyme activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) upon in vitro exposure to phenylurea herbicides

Many studies have drawn associations between pesticide exposures and lymphomagenesis, both in occupational settings and in the general population. The specific compounds responsible for an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in pesticide-exposed individuals have not been entirely established. Furthermore, the biologic mechanisms by which pesticides act as lymphomagens are unknown. One mechanism of B-cell genomic instability that plays a role in lymphomas derived from germinal center (GC)-type B cells, including follicular lymphoma, diffuse large B cell lymphoma, and Burkitt lymphoma, is the off-target/aberrant activity of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). AID damages DNA through deamination of cytidine. This occurs on a physiologic basis within GC B cells and is responsible for both class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM). AID can also target nonimmunoglobulin loci, including several proto-oncogenes, resulting in both mutations (aberrant somatic hypermutation; aSHM) and chromosomal translocations. Overexpression of AID has previously been found to increase B-cell genomic instability. In this study, GC-type B cell lines (Ramos, Raji, and CL-01) were treated with pesticides, including herbicides and insecticides from various classes, to determine the effect on AID expression. Real-time RT-PCR was used to determine the degree of AID mRNA expression after chemical treatment. Two representative phenylurea herbicides, linuron and diuron, were found to induce AID expression, in a time- and dose-dependent manner, at concentrations ranging from 50-200 micromolar, with maximal induction of 2- to 6-fold depending on the compound and time point. Additional pesticides that were tested but not found to induce AID expression, at concentrations that were minimally toxic in vitro, included representative organochlorine, organophosphate, phenoxy, and phosphanoglycine pesticides. The findings raise the possibility of increased AID-mediated genomic instability in GC type B cells exposed to phenylurea herbicides. Future studies will investigate the possible link between the observed phenylurea herbicide-related induction of AID, B-cell genomic instability, and lymphomagenesis. Citation Format: Rebecca J. Leeman-Neill, Uttiya Basu. Induction of the lymphomagenic enzyme activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) upon in vitro exposure to phenylurea herbicides [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Environmental Carcinogenesis: Potential Pathway to Cancer Prevention; 2019 Jun 22-24; Charlotte, NC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2020;13(7 Suppl): Abstract nr A49.
Listening to John W. Davis

From the Library is a new section in The Journal that will reprint the best that has been written about appellate practice and the appellate process. The first piece features timeless advice about oral argument by John W. Davis. Davis was a country lawyer, law teacher, state legislator and congressman, Solicitor General of the United States, Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, Democratic candidate for President in 1924, and managing partner of a New York City law firm.
Parental incarceration, child adversity, and child health: A strategic comparison approach

Background: Research points to parental incarceration as an important social determinant of child health. Even so, studies examining the health impact of parental incarceration in the context of diverse childhood stressors and adversities are lacking. Methods: The present study uses a large, nationally representative sample to compare U.S. children who were exposed to parental incarceration to a strategic comparison group of U.S. children who were not exposed to parental incarceration, but were nonetheless exposed to alternative family stressors and adversities. Results: The initial findings generally reveal worse health among children exposed to parental incarceration compared to those who are not exposed. Even so, these differences were partially or completely attenuated when comparing the incarceration-exposed group to more comparable groups of children exposed to a varying degree of alternative stressors/adversities. Conclusions: Programmatic efforts targeting parental incarceration as a means of promoting child health may be enhanced by adequately addressing co-occurring family stressors and child adversities.
Intracranial neurenteric cyst with post-operative chemical meningitis and vagal nerve palsy.

Abstract Intracranial neurenteric cysts are rare congenital lesions that, though benign, are difficult to diagnose radiologically given their similar imaging appearance to other intracranial cystic lesions. We present a case of a 21-year-old female with a pathologically proven, symptomatic neurenteric cyst in the premedullary cistern. Superimposed on this uncommon diagnosis were also rare post-operative complications of chemical meningitis and vagal nerve injury. We review the current literature surrounding intracranial neurenteric cysts, their imaging characteristics, differential diagnosis, therapeutic options, and potential complications related to their resection.
Indian or south Indian? The casteist roots of northern hegemony

This paper argues that brahmanical conceptions of India centered on Aryavarta and structured by casteist logics undergirds the hegemony of north India by provincializing the south and its lowered-c...
IRRADIATION OF HS578T BREAST TUMOR CELLS INDUCES NON-CYTOPROTECTIVE AUTOPHAGY

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the US. The most frequently observed cancer type in women is breast cancer. A special type of breast cancer is triple negative (TNBC) cancer that is characterized by lacking three receptors: estrogen, progesterone and human epithelial growth factor (HER 2). The HS578t breast cell line is a model of TNBC that also has a mutation of the p53 protein.
CHANNEL EROSION IN SOUTHWESTERN LOUISIANA CANAL

Geomorphic process active in the man-made Southwestern Louisiana Canal are studied with the aid of color infrared and multiband imagery aerial photography and various field analysis techniques. The enlargement and shoaling of the canal is investigated to determine their causes, and to quantify the rates of erosion and deposition in a man-made structure of historicaly known dimensions in the bidirectional tidal flow regions of an estuarine environment. /ASCE/
Two Person Zero-Sum Sequential Stochastic Games with Imperfect and Incomplete Information—General Case

In this chapter we present a unified approach to two person zero sum games with incomplete and imperfect information wherein the game matrix may not always have a sadlle point in pure strategies. This is a natural extension of the problem of Chapter 5. Under the assumption that both players A and B use the LER−P learning algorithm with the same reward and penalty parameters but the penalty parameter being very small compared to the reward parameter, it is shown that the expected mixed strategy of either player can be made, asymptotically, as close to the optimal strategy dictated by the game theory as desired, irrespective of whether or not the game matrix has a saddle point in pure strategies.
The locational choice for free-trade zones: Rural versus urban options

Abstract Urban and rural areas are compared as appropriate locations for a free-trade zone within a developing country suffering from urban unemployment. If domestic capital is mobile between the two regions, then the rural area is shown to be preferable to the urban area, and sufficient conditions for this conclusion are presented. This conclusion may be reversed, however, if capital is sector-specific. The condition for this reversal is also discussed.
Emotion dysregulation and symptoms of anorexia nervosa: the unique roles of lack of emotional awareness and impulse control difficulties when upset.

Objective Extant research suggests that individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) have deficits in emotion regulation across a variety of domains. The current study investigated associations between specific difficulties with emotion regulation and the core symptoms of AN.
African Discourse in Islam, Oral Traditions, and Performance

Reviewed Medium: book Authors: Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah Year: 2010 Pages: 198 Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 978-0-415-80592-6 (hard cover). Prices: $95.00 USD(hard cover).
Competitive Dynamics in High-Technology Industries

Competition may be the most important determinant of firm performance. Keywords: the timing of competitive entry; incremental, breakthrough, and architectural innovation; standard-setting and dominant designs; concluding remarks
Mehmed II, Malatesta and Matteo De’ Pasti: a match of mutual benefit between the ‘Terrible Turk’ and a ‘Citizen of Hell’

In 1461 the notorious Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, sent his court artist Matteo De’ Pasti to portray the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. The artist never reached his destination, being arrested as a spy by Venetian authorities in Crete. Despite the mission's failure it has as much to contribute to our understanding of Italian–Ottoman relations as other fruitful visits. Malatesta had selected Valturio's military treatise De re militari along with maps of Italy as gifts for the sultan. The treatise has been dismissed by many as having no practical use. However, this is to overlook the fact that it explained developments in Italian military architecture that would have been beneficial to the Ottomans. Furthermore, it will be argued that De’ Pasti's services could have extended beyond the production of portrait medals by bringing to light his experience as an inspector of fortifications. The gifts that were sent and the knowledge possessed by the loaned artist highlight the diversity of attitudes to be found within the Italian city-states towards the ostensible enemy. In fact, the fractured political system of the Italian peninsula will be shown to have been fertile ground for the nurturing of this obliging friendship with the Ottomans.
Adaptive interference pre-suppression /spl Sigma//spl Delta/-beamforming for /spl Sigma//spl Delta/-STAP

For airborne radar, interference is sophisticated. The original /spl Sigma//spl Delta/-STAP assumes that there will be a separate pre-suppression for jammers. Previous pre-suppression approaches utilize sideband jammer-only data. If sideband data are not available, previous pre-suppression approaches can not be applied. Or if there exist mainlobe jammers, conventional /spl Sigma//spl Delta/-beamforming can not suppress such interference sufficiently low so that the original /spl Sigma//spl Delta/-STAP will suffer. In this paper, an adaptive /spl Sigma//spl Delta/-beamforming approach, i.e., adaptive interference pre-suppression /spl Sigma//spl Delta/-beamforming for /spl Sigma//spl Delta/-STAP, is proposed. This new method doesn't utilize sideband data. Via simulations it is shown that the new method can suppress either sidelobe interferes or mainlobe ones. Especially for mainlobe ones, the advantages of the new method are significant.
Three Double Degenerate Candidates

This poster reports the results of a search for variable radial velocities in 29 DA white Dwarfs The survey was sensitive to periods between 1h and 66d, although non-ideal sampling limited the longest practically detectable period to 2d. Three stars were discovered to have radial velocity shifts at above the 3a level. The discovery of these stars, along with that of Saffer, et al. (1988) can put only a lower limit on the space density of close binary white dwarfs, as this survey was less than 100% efficient in detecting radial velocity variations, and its efficiency depended strongly on period.
Sound Group China: Urban Waste Entrepreneurs (TN)

Private sector entrepreneur in China with advanced solid waste management capability competes with state owned enterprises and also government policies supporting a rival technology. Wen Yibo has used engineering expertise and political savvy to build a major privately held company providing the entire supply chain of water treatment, waste water, and integrated municipal solid waste capabilities. The company's services include engineering, manufacturing, consulting, "engineer, procure construct," "build operate transfer," and other forms of public-private partnership. The handling of municipal solid waste takes up to 50% of the annual budget of many urban areas in the developing world. The ability to use private sector funds and expertise could be critical to urban development. However, state owned enterprises can observe the success of private business and can enter and compete using their own skills, contacts, and inexpensive capital. The government may also be interested in subsidizing incineration over composting as a part of "waste to energy" strategy, even though this is less efficient than generating electricity from a coal or gas plant. The company has to decide whether to stick to its waste management roots or expand into an opportunistic incineration technology with minimal and nominal waste-to-energy benefits.Learning Objective: 1.) Awareness of Municipal solid waste problems. 2.) Engineering and financial analysis of solid waste management alternatives. 3.) Analysis of government incentives in incineration and composing 4.) Analysis of private sector provision of public services.
Dimension in Elementary Euclidean Geometry1

Publisher Summary The convention adopted in this chapter is that usual geometrical notions do not involve infinite sets or infinite sequences of points. In specific, a standard Euclidean space can be a vector space over the field of real numbers having any finite or infinite linear dimension. Geometrical properties of spaces are formulated in terms of geometrically meaningful notions. The elementary geometrical properties are identified with the properties of a space expressible in sentences of the first-order predicate logic in terms of the geometrical relations over the space. The chapter presents specific geometric results and a general theorem in the theory of models of the first-order logic. This general result is then applied to geometry and it is shown that there are no elementary geometrical properties distinguishing any two infinite dimensional Euclidean spaces.
Determination of Tristimulus Values

As explained in Chap. 1, the objective method of evaluating the appearance of a color consists of determining a stimulus that is equivalent under the viewing conditions. The stimulus ordinarily employed is an additive mixture of three basic or primary stimuli. In the calculation of the equivalent stimulus from spectrophotometric data, it is necessary to use the tristimulus values for the spectrum colors. Table 1.1 lists the values of x, ȳ, z that were adopted by the CIE in 1931. Those values indicate the amounts of each of the chosen primaries that are required by a normal observer to match the colors of equal amounts of power at the indicated wavelengths.
Plasma Selenium Concentrations Are Sufficient and Associated with Protease Inhibitor Use in Treated HIV-Infected Adults

Background: Selenium is an essential constituent of selenoproteins, which play a substantial role in antioxidant defense and inflammatory cascades. Selenium deficiency is associated with disease states characterized by inflammation, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although HIV infection has been associated with low selenium, the role of selenium status in HIV-related CVD is unclear. Objectives: We sought to assess associations between plasma selenium and markers of inflammation, immune activation, and subclinical vascular disease in HIV-infected adults on contemporary antiretroviral therapy (ART) and to determine if statin therapy modifies selenium status. Methods: In the Stopping Atherosclerosis and Treating Unhealthy bone with RosuvastatiN trial, HIV-infected adults on stable ART were randomly assigned 1:1 to rosuvastatin or placebo. Plasma selenium concentrations were determined at entry, week 24, and week 48. Spearman correlation and linear regression analyses were used to assess relations between baseline selenium, HIV-related factors and markers of inflammation, immune activation, and subclinical vascular disease. Changes in selenium over 24 and 48 wk were compared between groups. Results: One hundred forty-seven HIV-infected adults were included. All participants were on ART. Median current CD4+ count was 613, and 76% had HIV-1 RNA ≤48 copies/mL (range: <20–600). Median plasma selenium concentration was 122 μg/L (range: 62–200). At baseline, higher selenium was associated with protease inhibitor (PI) use, lower body mass index, and a higher proportion of activated CD8+ T cells (CD8+CD38+human leukocyte antigen-DR+), but not markers of inflammation or subclinical vascular disease. Over 48 wk, selenium concentrations increased in the statin group (P < 0.01 within group), but the change did not differ between groups (+13.1 vs. +5.3 μg/L; P = 0.14 between groups). Conclusions: Plasma selenium concentrations were within the normal range for the background population and were not associated with subclinical vascular disease in HIV-infected adults on contemporary ART. The association between current PI use and higher selenium may have implications for ART allocation, especially in resource-limited countries. Also, it appears that statin therapy may increase selenium concentrations; however, larger studies are necessary to confirm this finding. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT01218802","term_id":"NCT01218802"}}NCT01218802.
Fetal Therapy for Obstructive Uropathy: Specific Outcomes Diagnosis

AbstractPurpose: Attempts to evaluate prenatal vesico-amniotic shunt therapy have been hampered by inconsistencies in patient selection, treatment and termination criteria, and outcomes measurement. Outcomes have generally been measured against those of patients with postnatally detected posterior urethral valves. The purpose of this report was to evaluate the influence of the underlying diagnosis on the clinical outcomes of fetuses undergoing evaluation for prenatal intervention for suspected obstructive uropathy. Furthermore, specific outcomes diagnosis was compared to the published natural history of these disorders to begin to establish a basis for measuring the efficacy of prenatal intervention.Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the outcomes of 55 consecutive patients undergoing prenatal evaluation using structured outcome measures stratified by specific diagnoses to provide a comparison to the reported natural history for each underlying disorder.Results: All fetuses had early onset ...
Virtual sensors for transient diesel soot and NO x emissions: Neuro-fuzzy model tree with automatic relevance determination

The paper describes development of virtual sensors for transient diesel particulate and NO X emissions. The emission models developed in this paper belong to the family of hierarchical models, namely “neuro-fuzzy model tree”. The modeling techniques are motivated by the idea of divide and conquer the input-output space. The complex problem is divided into multiple simpler subproblems, which are then identified using simpler class of models. A specially designed multi-pseudo random perturbation signal and experimental tests are proposed to generate training data. The diesel engine is tested using integrated hardware and software tools for automated testing with high speed data recording. The engine out transient NO X and soot emission is recorded using fast emission analyzers. The data is then used to construct neuro-fuzzy model with Gaussian validity functions and local neural networks. An automatic relevance determination (ARD) derived from Baye's framework is derived and applied for choosing appropriate model inputs and reducing the model complexity. Finally, the model is validated with testing data recorded during Engine-in-the-Loop (EIL) testing of engine coupled to virtual hybrid powertrain. It is shown that the prediction accuracy of the proposed models, both qualitatively and quantitatively, are very good with low computational cost.
K4In2(PSe5)2(P2Se6) and Rb3Sn(PSe5)(P2Se6): One-Dimensional Compounds with Mixed Selenophosphate Anions

Abstract The reaction of In with a molten mixture of K 2 Se/P 2 Se 5 /Se yielded brick-red, needle-like crystals of K 4 In 2 (PSe 5 ) 2 (P 2 Se 6 ). The reaction of Sn with a molten mixture of Rb 2 Se/P 2 Se 5 /Se yielded black plate-like crystals of Rb 3 Sn(PSe 5 )(P 2 Se 6 ). Both compounds are stable in air and water. K 4 In 2 (PSe 5 ) 2 (P 2 Se 6 ) crystallizes in the monoclinic space group Cc (9) with a =11.1564(1) A, b =22.8771(1) A, c =12.6525(2) A, β =109.039(1)°, Z =4, and R / R w =4.1/4.4%. The one-dimensional structure features [In 2 (PSe 5 ) 2 (P 2 Se 6 )] 4 n − n chains that consist of In 2 (PSe 5 ) 2 dimers. These dimers are then bridged along the a -axis by tetradentate [P 2 Se 6 ] 4− units to form the chain. In 3+ is in an octahedral environment. Rb 3 Sn(PSe 5 )(P 2 Se 6 ) crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P 2 1 / a (14) with a =14.013(2) A, b =7.3436(8) A, c =21.983(4) A, β =106.61(1)°, Z =4, and R / R w = 3.5/4.4%. The one-dimensional structure features [Sn(PSe 5 )(P 2 Se 6 )] 3 n − n chains with octahedral Sn 4+ . The neighboring Sn atoms are connected via tetradentate [P 2 Se 6 ] 4− units to form the chain. The [PSe 5 ] 3− act as chelating side groups employing the diselenide “arm” and one of the monoselenide atoms to coordinate to Sn. The compounds were characterized with differential thermal analysis, far-IR, and solid-state UV/vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.
Effects of Dietary Chromium (III) Picolinate on Growth Performance, Respiratory Rate, Plasma Variables, and Carcass Traits of Pigs Fed High-Fat Diets

We investigated the effects of supplemental chromium (Cr) as Cr (III) picolinate on pigs fed high-fat diets (HFD) in a 56-day experiment. Thirty-two crossbred pigs (9.6 kg) were allotted to four treatments with four blocks and two pigs/pen. Treatments included: (1) low-fat diet (fat 30%) with no Cr, (3) HFD with 1,000 ppb Cr, and (4) HFD with 2,000 ppb Cr. Pigs fed HFD gained weight faster, consumed less, and had lower feed:gain (p < 0.05). Pigs fed HFD had higher respiration rates than pigs fed LFD on d 41 (p < 0.05). Plasma insulin on d 14 linearly decreased with Cr (p = 0.05). Plasma cholesterol concentrations were higher in the pigs fed HFD than those fed LFD, but were largely unaffected by supplemental Cr. Consumption of HFD resulted in greater carcass weight, perirenal fat, and backfat measures (p < 0.01) compared with the LFD group. Cr resulted in linear reductions of hot carcass weight (p = 0.08) and average backfat (p < 0.05). The effects of Cr on carcass fat measures were more pronounced in castrated males than in females. These results indicate that Cr attenuates some effects of a HFD, mainly body fat accretion of pigs, and especially in castrated pigs.
The significance of foot process effacement in immunoglobulin a nephropathy: clinicopathologic study of 161 cases with light, immunofluorescence and electron microscopic studies.

IGA nephropathy (IGAN) is the most common glomerular disease worldwide. Patients may present with hematuria and non-nephrotic (NNRP) or uncommonly nephrotic range proteinuria (NRP). To the authors' knowledge, correlation of podocyte foot process effacement (FPE) with subclasses of IGAN and proteinuria (PT) has not been studied. Retrospectively, 161 cases of IGAN with light, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopy (EM) were reviewed and classified according to Haas classification. EM was available in 110 out of 161 (67%) cases. FPE was evaluated as mild, 70% and was correlated with class and the level of PT. Out of 161 cases, 101 were males and 60 were females with M:F ratio of 1.71:1. In 72 cases, race was known as follows: white, 63 (88%); black, 6 (8%); Hispanic, 2 (3%); Asian, 1 (1%). Clinical history was available in 94 cases: PT 39 cases (42%), PT+hematuria 33 cases (35%), hematuria 15 cases (16%), and renal failure in 7 cases (7%). In 88 cases with FPE, PT was nephrotic in 21 and non-nephrotic in 29 cases. FPE is common in IGAN. No correlation between FPE and IGAN subclass (p=.42) or proteinuria group and IGAN subclass (p=.10) is present. Whether FPE is simply a reflection of other pathologic mechanisms and its significance in the pathophysiology of IGAN requires further investigation.
Detection of bovine immunodeficiency virus DNA in the blood and semen of experimentally infected bulls

Five 18- to 24-month-old bulls were inoculated with either a cell suspension containing bovine immunodeficiency virus (BIV-FL112; 3 bulls) or a BIV-free cell suspension (2 bulls). Blood and semen specimens were collected once a week for 14 weeks, and seroconversion was confirmed by indirect immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) testing. The presence of BIV in blood and semen was determined by virus isolation and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. Antibodies to BIV were detected in the 3 experimentally infected bulls as early as day post inoculation (DPI) 17, and levels peaked at DPI 37-58. BIV was isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (MNCs) of the infected bulls at DPI 9 (2 bulls) and DPI 23 (1 bull), and could be isolated from one animal up to DPI 65. PCR analysis of MNC DNA, using BIV pol gene primers, detected virus in all three of the experimentally infected bulls from DPI 9 until the termination of the experiment at DPI 98. Efforts to isolate a significant number of non-spermatozoal cells (NSC) by gradient separation from the semen of the experimentally infected bulls were unsuccessful. Two methods for the extraction of total NSC DNA from up to 2 ml of non-extended semen were employed; however, no BIV pol fragment was amplified from these DNA preparations. Additionally, 30 bulls from artificial insemination (AI) centers were evaluated for BIV infection by PCR. No amplification products were obtained from MNC DNA from the AI submissions using primer sets for both the BIV pol and env genes.
Abnormal Returns in Livestock Futures Prices Around USDA Inventory Report Releases

This study examines the responsiveness of futures market prices for live hogs, live cattle, and feeder cattle to economic information contained in the USDA livestock inventory reports. Event study methodology is employed to test for persistent biases in market price changes around inventory report release dates. Few significant abnormal returns are detected in livestock futures markets following the quarterly inventory report releases, suggesting that the reports do not exert a persistent downward or upward influence on futures prices. Increases in return variability around report releases suggest that the reports provide new information to the market. Sustained high variability in the live hog futures market relative to the cattle markets following report releases suggests that less information is available for the hog market.
Cultural Socialization Practices in Domestic and International Transracial Adoption

This study explored cultural socialization practices, their relationship to demographic-, child-, and adoption-related factors, and parents’ perceptions of closeness and satisfaction with adoption among international and domestic transracially adopted children. Data from the National Survey of Adoptive Parents indicated that parents rely on socialization practices that require little to no integration with people of the children's race/ethnicity. Participation in post-adoption support groups, education, and online resources were related to cultural socialization practices. Two of nine practices were related to international transracial adoptive parent's perceptions of closeness with their child and satisfaction with adoption. Implications for practice and research are discussed.
RAPL: memory power estimation and capping

The drive for higher performance and energy efficiency in data-centers has influenced trends toward increased power and cooling requirements in the facilities. Since enterprise servers rarely operate at their peak capacity, efficient power capping is deemed as a critical component of modern enterprise computing environments. In this paper we propose a new power measurement and power limiting architecture for main memory. Specifically, we describe a new approach for measuring memory power and demonstrate its applicability to a novel power limiting algorithm. We implement and evaluate our approach in the modern servers and show that we achieve up to 40% lower performance impact when compared to the state-of-art baseline across the power limiting range.
The Void Fraction in Subcooled Boiling—Prediction of the Initial Point of Net Vapor Generation

The satisfactory prediction of the vapor volume fraction in subcooled boiling depends in large part on the ability to predict the point where a significant amount of net vapor is first formed. A method for the prediction of this point is derived here and compared with experimental measurements at both low and high fluid velocities. The derived relationships for this point include the effect of fluid properties, geometry, and the liquid velocity. A comparison with the empirical formula of Bowring [2] for water is given.
Impairments in both p70 S6 kinase and extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathways contribute to the decline in proliferative capacity of aged hepatocytes.

Abstract Treatment of primary cultured hepatocytes from adult (6-month-old) rats with epidermal growth factor (EGF) results in a marked elevation in DNA synthesis, a response that is markedly attenuated in cells of aged (24-month-old) animals. Recently we demonstrated that this age-related attenuation is associated with reduced activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in response to EGF treatment. In order to gain further insight into the mechanisms responsible for the age-related decline in this proliferative response, we investigated the expression and/or activities of several other regulatory molecules important for G1 to S phase progression in EGF-stimulated young and aged hepatocytes. Induction of cyclin D1 and activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) by EGF were found to be diminished in the aged cells. In young cells, prior treatment with rapamycin inhibited the induction of DNA synthesis and activation of CDK2 to levels similar to those seen in aged cells without inhibiting ERK activity and cyclin D1 expression. This suggested that a distinct, ERK-independent, rapamycin-sensitive pathway might also contribute to the proliferative response in hepatocytes and be subject to age-related alterations. Further studies demonstrated that activation of p70 S6 kinase (p70S6k), a rapamycin-sensitive event, following EGF treatment was 40% lower in aged hepatocytes relative to young cells, although the kinetics of activation did not differ in the two age groups. Western blot analysis for p70S6kexpression revealed similar levels of proteins in young and aged cells. From these findings, we conclude that deficiencies in both the ERK and p70S6ksignaling pathways contribute to the age-related decline in the proliferative response of hepatocytes.
Audio Classification with Thermodynamic Criteria

Detecting sound events in audio recordings is a challenging problem. A detector must be trained for each sound to be classified. However, the recordings of the examples used to train the detector rarely match the conditions found in the test audio to be classified. If the event detection problem is posed as one of Bayes classification, the problem may be viewed as one of mismatch between the true distribution of the data and that represented by the classifier. The Bayes classification rule results in suboptimal performance under such mismatch, and a modified classification rule is required. Alternately stated, the classification rule must optimize a different objective criterion than the Bayes error rate computed from the training distributions. The use of entropy as an optimization criterion for various classification tasks has been well established in the literature. In this paper we show that free-energy, a thermodynamic concept directly related to entropy, can also be used as an objective criterion for classification in such scenarios. We demonstrate with examples on classification with HMMs that minimization of free-energy is an effective criterion for classification under conditions of mismatch.
Degrees of freedom of an electromagnetic wave

We present a rigorous formalism for evaluating the degrees of freedom (d.o.f.) in communication with electromagnetic waves. We show that, although in principle there is an infinity of d.o.f., the effective number is finite. This is in agreement with the restricted classical theories. We further show that the best transmitting functions are the solutions of a specific eigenvalue equation. The analysis is valid for electromagnetic waves under arbitrary boundary conditions communicating between domains in 3D space. The practical implications of this theory will be discussed.
Magical thinking about illness virulence: Conceptions of germs from "safe" versus "dangerous" others.

AIDS-related research has documented overreactions to casual contact and underreactions to sexual risk. This contradiction is explained by "magical contagion", a principle of thinking common in traditional societies, wherein contagion is considered socially discriminating, such that harmfulness depends on the nature of the relationship between source and recipient. In Study 1, 100 undergraduate participants drew germs described as their own, a stranger's, their lover's, or a disliked peer's. Lovers' germs were depicted as less threatening than disliked peers' germs. In Study 2, scenarios described contact with a flu-infected lover, stranger, or disliked peer. New undergraduate participants (N = 133) rated how likely they were to become ill and how severely. Although likelihood ratings did not differ, severity ratings followed a linear trend, effects of lover contact being least severe and contact with disliked peer most severe. Behavioral implications of the blurring of feelings about germ source with estimates of germ virulence are discussed.
Phase transformations induced by mechanical alloying in binary systems

Abstract Recent progress in the understanding of metastable and equilibrium phase formation induced by mechanical alloying (MA) of elemental powders is reviewed, with an emphasis on our recent results obtained using a combined experimental and modeling approach. Both the kinetic and thermodynamic aspects are examined. It is shown that alloy phase transformation can proceed under different constraints and via different mechanisms. In addition to the mechanism of a layer diffusion under metastable equilibrium, MA can be controlled by polymorphous constraints, or occur by self-sustained, exothermic reactions. It is demonstrated that, with properly determined thermodynamic functions of metastable phases, thermodynamics can be used to describe phase transformation by MA in limiting cases. The determination of thermodynamic functions of metastable phases is illustrated with several examples.
The influence of different acoustical stimuli on the threshold of the contralateral ear: a possible index of attenuation by the intratympanic reflex.

A previous attempt to assess the attenuation produced by the intratympanic muscle reflex involved determination of the increase in absolute threshold following contralateral pure tone stimulation. This estimate was considerably smaller than estimates of reflex attenuation obtained by other means. In the present study a 110-db SL sine wave, square wave, narrow band noise, or broad band noise was introduced in one ear and the resultant threshold shift in the contralateral ear was measured. The smallest changes were produced by the square wave and pure tone stimuli. Appreciably larger threshold increases were elicited by the broad band and narrow band noises, especially the latter. Possible explanations of the obtained differences are discussed.