cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Strep and the city: Unexpected persistence of early-onset GBS sepsis despite increased intra-partum antibiotic prophylaxis in an urban university hospital

Abstract Strategies to reduce early-onset sepsis (EOS) with group B streptococcus (GBS) have relied on the administration of maternal intra-partum antibiotics (IPA) to mothers with identified risk factors. We studied the relationship between IPA, risk factors, and EOS for 14 years in our hospital, an inner-city, tertiary center serving primarily poor, high-risk, African-American mothers. Methods For each birth from 1989 to 2002, we identified presence or absence of maternal risk factors (prolonged rupture of membranes [PROM], chorioamnionitis, prematurity [ Results Data from ∼44,000 pregnancies were collected. The most common risk factor was prematurity (21% of deliveries). The percentage of mothers with any identified risk factor did not change significantly over the study period (∼33% of deliveries). From 1989 to 2002, IPA rose from 13% to 44% of all deliveries (p Conclusions 1) IPA tripled between 1989 and 2002. 2) Yet EOS was unaffected—both GBS and non-GBS EOS persisted at ∼2/1000 live births. 3) We suggest that vaccination will eventually be needed to reduce GBS EOS in our institution. We have no good idea how to reduce non-GBS EOS cases.
Building and sustaining community in asynchronous learning networks

Abstract This article applies the concept of classroom community to asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) by taking on the issue of how best to design and implement a course that fosters community among learners who are physically separated from each other. The following factors that can influence sense of community among distant learners are examined: student–instructor ratio, transactional distance, social presence and instructor immediacy, lurking, social equality, collaborative learning, group facilitation, and self-directed learning.
Anaerobic Bacteremia in a Neutropenic Patient with Oral Mucositis

An increasing number of anaerobic bloodstream infections in neutropenic cancer patients have been reported in the last decade. The type of anaerobes isolated from most of these patients suggests an oral source of infection. We describe a case of anaerobic bacteremia in a neutropenic patient with oral mucositis that highlights the importance of considering these organisms when selecting empiric prophylactic or therapeutic antimicrobial regimens, especially in the setting of periodontal disease or oral mucositis.
Annual Heat Flux Variations across the Tropic Circles

Abstract The global poleward heat transport by the oceans tends to have a maximum in the vicinity of the Tropic circles. We have investigated the contribution of the Ekman flux to the heat transport in the Pacific and the Atlantic. Two different datasets were used for the Pacific computations. The results suggest that Ekman flows contribute about half of the grow transport in the Atlantic. In the much wider Pacific, they are the dominant influence. The meridional migration of the trade wind belt and the simultaneous seasonal changes in the mixed layer temperature tend to cause the Ekman part of the heat flux to be larger in summer than in winter. Semiannual harmonics in the zonally integrated Ekman heat-transport component can be associated with longitudinal variations of the specific heat flux, due to seasonal position shifts of the atmospheric centers of action.
Effect of acitretin on wound healing in organ transplant recipients.

Background. Systemic retinoids possess significant benefits in cutaneous malignancy chemoprevention; however, retinoids have been associated with excessive granulation tissue and hypertrophic scarring. Objective. The objective of this study was to assess wound healing outcomes in organ transplant recipients, both with and without the concomitant use of systemic acitretin chemoprophylaxis. Methods. Twenty-nine immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients underwent treatment of basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma by Mohs or excisional surgery, with a total of 85 wounds. Wounds were evaluated postoperatively at early (average 12.9 days) and late (average 75.8 days) time points. Endpoints for all wounds included infection, hypertrophic granulation tissue, and hypertrophic scarring. Reconstructed wounds were also evaluated for dehiscence. Results. Eleven patients taking oral acitretin had 41 wounds, of which 33 were reconstructed and 8 healed by second intention. The 18 patients not taking acitretin (control group) had a total of 44 wounds, of which 33 were reconstructed and 11 healed by second intention. There were no statistically significant differences between the acitretin group and the control group in the incidences of infection, dehiscence, hypertrophic granulation tissue, or hypertrophic scarring at early or late evaluation points. Conclusions. Systemic acitretin chemoprophylaxis does not appear to increase the risk of wound healing complications in organ transplant recipients.
Cerebellar responsiveness to stimulation of the lingual spindle afferent fibers in the hypoglossal nerve of the rhesus monkey

Abstract Afferent fibers in the hypoglossal nerve of the rhesus monkey project to the contralateral sensorimotor cortex. The present experiments were designed to determine whether stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve evoked potentials in the cerebellum. In five animals, all under barbiturate anesthesia, hypoglossal nerve afferent volleys were ineffectual in eliciting responses from the ipsilateral cerebellar surface. Lingual nerve volleys, however, readily evoked responses from localized cerebellar loci, as did several other types of input.
NMR structure of the first extracellular domain of corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 (ECD1-CRF-R1) complexed with a high affinity agonist.

The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) peptide hormone family members coordinate endocrine, behavioral, autonomic, and metabolic responses to stress and play important roles within the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems, among others. The actions of the peptides are mediated by activation of two G-protein-coupled receptors of the B1 family, CRF receptors 1 and 2 (CRF-R1 and CRF-R2α,β). The recently reported three-dimensional structures of the first extracellular domain (ECD1) of both CRF-R1 and CRF-R2β (Pioszak, A. A., Parker, N. R., Suino-Powell, K., and Xu, H. E. (2008) J. Biol. Chem. 283, 32900–32912; Grace, C. R., Perrin, M. H., Gulyas, J., Digruccio, M. R., Cantle, J. P., Rivier, J. E., Vale, W. W., and Riek, R. (2007) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104, 4858–4863) complexed with peptide antagonists provided a starting point in understanding the binding between CRF ligands and receptors at a molecular level. We now report the three-dimensional NMR structure of the ECD1 of human CRF-R1 complexed with a high affinity agonist, α-helical cyclic CRF. In the structure of the complex, the C-terminal residues (23–41) of α-helical cyclic CRF bind to the ECD1 of CRF-R1 in a helical conformation mainly along the hydrophobic face of the peptide in a manner similar to that of the antagonists in their corresponding ECD1 complex structures. Unique to this study is the observation that complex formation between an agonist and the ECD1-CRF-R1 promotes the helical conformation of the N terminus of the former, important for receptor activation (Gulyas, J., Rivier, C., Perrin, M., Koerber, S. C., Sutton, S., Corrigan, A., Lahrichi, S. L., Craig, A. G., Vale, W., and Rivier, J. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 92, 10575–10579).
Drama and imagination: a cognitive theory of drama's effect on narrative comprehension and narrative production

This article proposes a cognitive theory of how drama affects two aspects of language development: narrative comprehension and narrative production. It is a theoretical model that explicitly posits the role of the imagination in drama's potential to enhance the development of both narrative comprehension and narrative production.
Cellular compartmentalization of phosphorylated eIF2α and neuronal NOS in human temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis

Hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is the most common neuropathologic finding in patients with medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The mechanisms resulting in neuronal injury and cell loss in HS are incompletely understood, but inhibition of protein synthesis may play a pivotal role in these processes. This study examined the relationships between two molecules known to be involved in reduced protein synthesis in animals subjected to traumatic brain injury. Translational initiation of protein synthesis is inhibited when 2alpha (eIF2alpha) is phosphorylated. Recently, nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to reduce protein synthesis by inducing phosphorylation of eIF2alpha. We performed immunocytochemistry for eIF2alpha(P) and histochemistry (NADPH-D reaction) for nitric oxide synthase (NOS) to determine the distribution of these molecules in hippocampi removed from patients undergoing anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) for medically intractable TLE due to HS. The greatest number of eIF2alpha(P) positive cells was in the CA1 sector of the hippocampus, followed by the hilus of the dentate gyrus. NADPH-D positive neurons were observed most often in the hilus. Labeling in both instances involved neuronal cell body cytoplasm and varicose processes. Combination of both staining procedures revealed close relationships between differentially labeled neurons within the hilus. The results suggest that NO participates in the phosphorylation of eIF2alpha since we demonstrated that nNOS processes are closely related to eIF2alpha(P) positive cells. This may occur through activation of kinases such as PERK, which was recently revealed. In human, TLE protein synthesis inhibition may occur at the translational level since the eIF2alpha (P) labeling is cytoplasmic. Protein synthesis inhibition may contribute to neuronal cell injury and death in HS.
The QSAR Paradigm in the Design of Less Toxic Molecules

(1984). The QSAR Paradigm in the Design of Less Toxic Molecules. Drug Metabolism Reviews: Vol. 15, No. 7, pp. 1279-1294.
Use of glaucoma drainage devices in the management of glaucoma associated with aniridia.

Abstract Purpose To describe intraocular pressure (IOP) and visual acuity outcomes after glaucoma drainage device placement in eyes with glaucoma associated with aniridia. Design Retrospective, noncomparative, consecutive, interventional case series. Methods The medical records of all patients who underwent glaucoma drainage device placement for the management of glaucoma associated with aniridia at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute between January 1, 1989, and December 31, 1999, were reviewed. Results The study included eight eyes of five patients with a median age at the time of glaucoma drainage device placement of 92 months (range, 10– 495 months) and a median follow-up of 19 months (range, 11– 33 months). Preoperatively, the mean IOP was 35 mm Hg using a mean of one antiglaucoma medication. Postoperatively, the mean IOP was reduced to 14.9 mm Hg and no patient was using antiglaucoma medication. Final visual acuity was improved compared with preoperatively in five of eight eyes (63%) and remained unchanged in two eyes (25%). Loss of light perception occurred in one eye owing to retinal detachment. Success rates using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis were 100% at 6 months and 88% at 1 year. Conclusions Glaucoma drainage device placement for glaucoma associated with aniridia achieves IOP control and vision preservation in most patients.
Model-based frequency response characterization of a digital-image analysis system for epifluorescence microscopy.

Consideration is given to a model-based method for estimating the spatial frequency response of a digital-imaging system (e.g., a CCD camera) that is modeled as a linear, shift-invariant image acquisition subsystem that is cascaded with a linear, shift-variant sampling subsystem. The method characterizes the 2D frequency response of the image acquisition subsystem to beyond the Nyquist frequency by accounting explicitly for insufficient sampling and the sample-scene phase. Results for simulated systems and a real CCD-based epifluorescence microscopy system are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the method.
One-pot green synthesis of propylene oxide using in situ generated hydrogen peroxide in carbon dioxide

In the one-pot green synthesis of propylene oxide using in situ generated hydrogen peroxide, a propylene oxide yield of 23% with 82% selectivity was achieved over a (0.2%Pd + 0.02%Pt)/TS-1 catalyst by using compressed (supercritical or liquid) carbon dioxide as the solvent and small amounts of water and methanol as co-solvents. The addition of an inhibitor effectively suppressed a number of common side-reactions, including the hydrogenation of propylene, the hydrolysis of propylene oxide and the reaction between propylene oxide and methanol. This suppression effect is due to the interaction between the inhibitor and TS-1 leading to the neutralization of its surface acidity.
Enantiomeric enrichment of α-amino acid derivatives: recrystallization of N-Fmoc α-amino acid tert-butyl esters

Abstract The optical purity of products derived from enantioselective reactions of the benzophenone imine of glycine tert-butyl esters can often be improved by conversion to the N-Fmoc α-amino acid tert-butyl esters followed by simple recrystallization.
Increases in transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 mRNA and protein in primary afferent neurons stimulated by protein kinase C and their possible role in neurogenic inflammation.

A recent study by our group demonstrates pharmacologically that the transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) is activated by intradermal injection of capsaicin to initiate neurogenic inflammation by the release of neuropeptides in the periphery. In this study, expression of TRPV1, phosphorylated protein kinase C (p-PKC) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons were visualized using immunofluorescence, real-time PCR and Western blots to examine whether increases in TRPV1 mRNA and protein levels evoked by capsaicin injection are subject to modulation by the activation of PKC and to analyze the role of this process in the pathogenesis of neurogenic inflammation. Capsaicin injection into the hindpaw skin of anesthetized rats evoked increases in the expression of TRPV1, CGRP and p-PKC in mRNA and/or protein levels and in the number of single labeled TRPV1, p-PKC and CGRP neurons in ipsilateral L4–5 DRGs. Co-expressions of TRPV1 with p-PKC and/or CGRP in DRG neurons were also significantly increased after CAP injection. These evoked expressions both at molecular and cellular levels were significantly inhibited after TRPV1 receptors were blocked by 5′-iodoresiniferatoxin (5 μg) or PKC was inhibited by chelerythrine chloride (5 μg). Taken together, these results provide evidence that up-regulation of TRPV1 mRNA and protein levels under inflammatory conditions evoked by capsaicin injection is subject to modulation by the PKC cascade in which increased CGRP level in DRG neurons may be related to the initiation of neurogenic inflammation. Thus, up-regulation of TRPV1 receptors in DRG neurons seems critical for initiating acute neurogenic inflammation.
SPECIALIZATION OF MESOPHYLL MORPHOLOGY IN RELATION TO C4 PHOTOSYNTHESIS IN THE POACEAE

Our current understanding of the photosynthetic process in species utilizing the C4 photosynthetic pathway suggests that photosynthetic efficiency should be enhanced by: 1) maximizing the conductance of the gas phase transport pathway from the leaf exterior to the mesophyll cell surfaces; 2) maximizing cytoplasmic connections and metabolite transport between bundle sheath and mesophyll parenchyma cells; and 3) minimizing the conductance of the gas phase transport pathway from the bundle sheath cells to the leaf exterior. In this study we have examined several species in the Poaceae with C4 photosynthesis to determine if there is any evidence for anatomical specialization which would lead to enhanced photosynthetic efficiency by these processes. Observations with light and scanning electron microscopes revealed specializations in mesophyll cell morphology and arrangement which include branched cells forming intercellular channels. These specializations are hypothesized to contribute to photosynthetic efficiency through its influence on the above transport processes.
News Icons and the Mainstreaming of Social Change

Two theoretical paradigms have traditionally guided understandings of the news. The liberal-pluralist paradigm posits the mass media as a vital conduit of accountability and bottom-up change, whereas the critical paradigm views the news as a crucial site and mechanism of ideological domination. This analysis furthers an evolving ecological approach, which bridges the two dominant paradigms, contending that the same market imperatives and journalistic routines which so often produce news that reinforces the status quo can at times produce news which challenges it. Analysis of news about the environment and waste recycling from 1980–1990 reveals a dramatic shift in coverage patterns following the ill-fated voyage of the Mobro, the garbage barge that sailed the high seas for three months in an unsuccessful search for a port that would accept its cargo. The barge became what we call a news icon: an image that lived on beyond its originating event by being introduced into a variety of subsequent news contexts. The icon provided an occasion for both journalists and their sources to refigure cultural scripts about garbage and recycling. In this process news routines and source communication strategies interacted to produce news as cultural forum, creating opportunities for cultural transformation.
STUDIES OF TIN ETHYL ETIOPURPURIN PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY OF THE CANINE PROSTATE

Purpose: Previous studies have demonstrated the technical feasibility of destroying prostate tissue using photodynamic therapy for benign and malignant disease. A series of canine studies was performed to evaluate the systemic uptake and distribution of the photosensitizer tin ethyl etiopurpurin (SnET2) in the prostate and surrounding tissues, and determine the optimal combination of drug dose, light dose and time interval between drug and light administration using transurethral and transperineal interstitial light delivery.Materials and Methods: Adult male mongrel source dogs received intravenous bolus injections of 0.5 or 1.0 mg./kg. SnET2 in 4 studies. In the first study the concentration of SnET2 in the prostate and surrounding tissue was measured at various time points after dosing. In the second study a tissue dose response relationship of SnET2-PDT was studied after transperineal interstitial light application. The third and fourth studies evaluated the tissue effects of combined transurethral and...
Racial/ethnic differences in patterns of sexual behavior and STI risk among sexually experienced adolescent girls.

Study Objective Racial/ethnic differences in prevalence and patterns of oral and anal sex were analyzed among girls participating in a microbicide acceptability study.
Localization of the normal allele of T24 human bladder carcinoma oncogene to chromosome 11

The development of DNA-mediated gene transfer techniques1,2 has made it possible to identify transforming genes present in certain human tumour cells. Such genes have been shown to induce morphological transformation when used to transfect suitable assay cells3–10. Recently a transforming gene has been isolated by molecular cloning techniques from the T24 (ref. 11) and EJ (ref. 12) human bladder carcinoma cell lines10,13,14. This bladder carcinoma oncogene has been shown to be of human origin, less than six kilobase pairs (kbp) in size, and closely related to the onc genes (v-bas and v-ras) of BALB and Harvey murine sarcoma viruses15–17. These transforming retroviruses arose in nature by transduction of cellular genes from mouse and rat cells, respectively18. To understand better the relationship of the T24 oncogene with other human cellular genes, we have determined the chromosomal location of its normal allele within the human genome. We show here that it is carried on chromosome 11 in normal cells.
Prostatic abscesses involving anaerobic bacteria.

Anaerobic bacteria have seldom been reported in prostatic abscesses. The present study concerns four cases in which the exudate was cultured with optimal microbiological techniques. Our results showed a complex aerobic-anaerobic flora in each instance, with a total of 21 isolates, including seven aerobes and 14 anaerobes. This experience has important implications concerning culture practices and empiric antimicrobial treatment for patients with prostatic abscess. ( Arch Intern Med 138:1369-1371, 1978)
Precision of Benchmark Dose Estimates for Continuous (Nonquantal) Measurements of Toxic Effects

Abstract The benchmark dose (BMD) corresponding to a low level of the risk of induced disease, e.g., 1 to 10%, has been proposed by various authors as a replacement for the no observed adverse effect level for noncancer endpoints in the regulation of the conditions of exposure to chemicals. This paper focuses on the variability of estimates of the BMD for nonquantal (continuous measurements) of biological endpoints such as are encountered for hematological data, clinical chemistry, and studies of neurotoxic effects. For biological endpoints that can be described by a normal distribution, estimates of the mean and standard deviation are required to calculate the BMD. Estimates of the standard deviation generally are quite variable, particularly for small sample sizes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the precision of the estimates of risk and of the BMD resulting from the inherent variability of the estimates of the standard deviations particularly for bioassays that employ a small number of animals. When the standard deviation is underestimated, the BMD and the regulatory “safe” dose are underestimated. Conversely, when the standard deviation is overestimated, the BMD and safe dose are overestimated. Overestimation of the BMD can be reduced or eliminated by using a lower confidence limit. The worst cases arise where only a few animals are used per dose and the dose response is supralinear (changes rapidly at low doses and levels off at higher doses). If the standard deviation is constant across doses (for lognormally distributed data if the coefficient of variation is constant), a pooled estimate across doses of the standard deviation can be used. In this case, for bioassays employing a total of 40 to 50 animals, the calculation of the BMD will generally be within a factor of 2 of the true value. When the standard deviation is not constant across dose groups, it is desirable to have more than 10 animals per dose group.
IR paradigms in computational advertising

The central problem in the emerging discipline of computational advertising is to find the "best match" between a given user in a given context and a suitable advertisement. The context could be a user entering a query in a search engine ("sponsored search"), a user reading a web page ("content match" and "display ads"), a user streaming a movie, and so on. In some situations, it is desirable to solve the "dual" optimization problem: rather then find the best ad given a user in a context, the goal is to identify the "best audience", i.e. the most receptive set of users and/or the most suitable contexts for a given advertising campaign. The information about the user can vary from scarily detailed to practically nil. The number of potential advertisements might be in the billions. Thus, depending on the definition of "best match" and "best audience" these problems lead to a variety of massive optimization problems, with complicated constraints, and challenging data representation and access issues.In general, the direct problem is solved in two stages: first a rough filtering is used to identify a relatively small set of ads to be considered as potential matches, followed by a more sophisticated secondary ranking where economics considerations take center stage. Historically, the filtering has been conceived as a database selection problem, and was done using simple Boolean formulae, for instance, in sponsored search the filter could be "all ads that provide a specific bid for the present query string or a subset of it". Similarly for the dual problem (audience definition) for, say, a sports car ad, the filter could be "all males in California, aged 40 or less".This "database approach" for the direct problem has been recently supplanted by an "IR approach" based on a similarity search between a carefully constructed query that captures the advertising opportunity and an annotated document corpus that represents the potential ads. Similarly, in the dual problem, the newer approach is to devise an efficient and effective representation of the users, then form a query that represents a prototypical ideal user, and finally find the users most similar to the prototype. The aim of this talk is to discuss the penetration of the IR paradigms in computational advertising and present some research challenges and opportunities in this area of enormous economic importance.
HIV infection: Fear of contagion, reality of risk

Purpose: The purpose of this presentation at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the Japan Academy of Nursing was to give an overview of the HIV pandemic from global, Asian, and Japanese perspectives and to address the issues related to potential occupational exposure to HIV infection. Selected topics in the areas of prevention, treatment, and care were also addressed. Discussion: The session challenged the audience to understand that, while there is a risk of acquiring HIV infection through occupational exposure, the reality is that health-care workers and others are much more likely to contract HIV through their own personal behaviour.
The static tachyon potential in the open bosonic string theory

Abstract In an effort to understand whether the open bosonic string theory has a stable vacuum, the four-point contribution to the static tachyon potential is computed. This off-shell calculation is carried out using covariant string field theory.
Neurostimulation for the Treatment of Intractable Facial Pain

Electrical stimulation of the central and peripheral nervous system, without question, has come to play a central role in the treatment of patients with chronic intractable pain conditions. Over the past 30 years, there have been significant advancements in techniques such as spinal cord stimulation. As experience has grown with electrical stimulation, so too have the clinical applications of these techniques. The evolution of procedures such as deep brain stimulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, and more recently motor cortex stimulation, has opened new avenues of treatment for conditions that have traditionally been refractory to nearly all forms of therapy. The following article presents a brief but contemporary review of the neurostimulation procedures that either have been or are currently utilized for the treatment of refractory facial pain conditions with emphasis on indications and outcomes of treatment.
Approximation of P-V characteristic curves for use in maximum power point tracking algorithms

A curve fitting method that approximates the P-V characteristic curve of a given solar array with a fourth order polynomial is presented. The coefficients of the approximated P-V characteristic curve are strongly dependent on cell temperature. The strong dependence of the P-V curve on cell temperature allows the P-V characteristic curve of a given system to be written as a function of both panel voltage and cell temperature. The curve fitting method presented can be used in an indirect maximum power point tracking algorithm for use with solar powered systems. Experimental results are presented to confirm the validity of the method.
Shallow Seismicity of the Anchorage, Alaska, Region (1964–1999)

We have relocated over 4200 shallow (≤40 km) earthquakes occurring in the Anchorage region for ∼35 years following the 1964 great ( M w 9.2) Alaska earthquake. The shallowest (<20 km) earthquakes delineate several faults within the crust, including one associated with mapped folds located north of Upper Cook Inlet. Inversion of first-motion data for the stress field orientation in Upper Cook Inlet indicates east–west oriented horizontal σ 1 and near-vertical σ 3, a condition favoring reverse faulting along north–south striking faults with trends similar to the orientation of mapped faults and fault cored anticlines within the inlet. σ 1 is rotated 60° to 90° counterclockwise from the direction of plate convergence, in agreement with Global Positioning System gps/geodesy studies that indicate the western portion of the Kenai Peninsula and Upper Cook Inlet do not appear to be moving in the direction of plate motion due to a change in coupling across the plate interface. The stress regime north of the Castle Mountain fault is conducive to strike-slip or normal faulting along faults striking east-northeast or north-northwest. Similar to previous studies we observed a persistent aseismic zone in the upper crust that appears to be located above and immediately downdip of the portion of the plate interface that slipped 20–25 m in the 1964 mainshock. Deeper (20–40 km) earthquakes indicate intense deformation and a rapidly changing stress field near the boundary between the Kenai and McKinley segments of the subducted slab. The 1943 M w 7.0 Susitna lowlands earthquake may have been associated with this region of complex deformation.
Pressure dependence of the superconducting transition temperature of the stage-2 potassium mercurographitide intercalation compound

Abstract Measurements of the pressure (P) dependence of the superconducting transition temperature T c of stage-two KHgC 8 are reported. T c is found to decrease with applied pressure from a room pressure value of 1.85K at a rate dT c / dP =-6.5 × 10 -5 K / bar , similar to typical superconducting elements such as Sn. No superconductivity was detected for stage-one KHgC 4 or K 0.5 Hg 0.5 amalgam to a limiting temperature T = 1.3 K and a limiting pressure P = 22 kbar. These results are discussed in reference to the possible occurence of structural and charge density wave transitions in these materials and recent theoretical models of superconducting graphire intercalation compounds.
Extreme mediation: observing mental and physical health in everyday life

The excessive use of smartphones resulting in extreme mediation has been identified to result in psychological problems including anxiety, depression, and an overall neural change that is impacting people of all ages on many levels. An exploratory study using Experience Sampling Method (ESM) concluded a significant increase in positive mood, conscious awareness of the surrounding environment, and an increased number of participants self-reporting physical activity lasting 15 minutes on days without smartphone use. Results suggest the need to avoid increased use of noninvasive technology such as smartphones resulting in deterioration of mental and physical health.
MAD phasing with krypton.

Experiments demonstrating the feasibility of Kr-edge MAD on frozen crystals as a routine method for structure determination are reported. Approximately 50% of protein crystals can be successfully derivatized by pressurization with the noble gases xenon or krypton. While Xe has produced many useful derivatives for MIR phasing over the last several years, the Xe edges (K edge = 34.6 keV, LI = 5.5 keV) are not easily accessible for MAD studies. As the Kr K edge (14.3 keV) is accessible on most MAD beamlines, Kr derivatization provides the additional opportunity to conduct a MAD experiment and obtain phases using only a single crystal. This paper describes the phasing of two proteins using Kr MAD: the 17 kDa Fe protein myoglobin (Mb) from sperm whale (Physeter catodon) and an 18 kDa protein (SP18) from green abalone (Haliotis fulgens). Three-wavelength data were collected at SSRL beamline 9-2 from crystals of Mb and SP18 incubated in 2.76 MPa of Kr gas for 2 min, depressurized and then flash-frozen in a stream of nitrogen gas at 100 K. MAD phases were calculated using the program SHARP and the resulting density improved with wARP. The final maps for both Mb and SP18 were of excellent quality.
Improving supervised learning for meeting summarization using sampling and regression

Meeting summarization provides a concise and informative summary for the lengthy meetings and is an effective tool for efficient information access. In this paper, we focus on extractive summarization, where salient sentences are selected from the meeting transcripts to form a summary. We adopt a supervised learning approach for this task and use a classifier to determine whether to select a sentence in the summary based on a rich set of features. We address two important problems associated with this supervised classification approach. First we propose different sampling methods to deal with the imbalanced data problem for this task where the summary sentences are the minority class. Second, in order to account for human disagreement for summary annotation, we reframe the extractive summarization task using a regression scheme instead of binary classification. We evaluate our approaches using the ICSI meeting corpus on both the human transcripts and speech recognition output, and show performance improvement using different sampling methods and regression model.
Measuring the Mass and Width of the Z{sup 0}: The Status of the Energy Spectrometers

The Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) 1 ocated at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) ll'd co I es electrons and positrons produced in the linear accelerator pulse by pulse. The object is to produce collisions energetic enough to produce the heavy intermediate vector boson, the 2 '. An essential component of the SLC physics program is the precise knowledge of the center-of-mass energy of each inter- action. We measure the energy of each collision by using two energy spectrometers. The spectrometers are located in extraction lines of each beam. We will measure the-energy of each beam to 20 MeV or 5 parts in 104. We report here on the status of the energy spectrometer system.
Understanding Interpretive Research Through the Lens of a Cultural Verfremdungseffekt

Background Cross-cultural studies contribute to engineering education as a globally interconnected field. The methodological challenges posed by research across cultural boundaries must be explored to ensure the quality of such studies. Purpose This article explores challenges and opportunities for insight by examining the effects of researchers' and respondents' cultural norms and values on interpretive research. Method During a prior study of engineering students' competence formation in the United States, Australia, and Thailand, reflections on the project's progression were collected in the primary researcher's log trail. This article analyzes these records through the lens of a Verfremdungseffekt, whereby assumptions underlying the methodology became apparent in its transfer to a different cultural setting. Results Research challenges related to characteristics of Thai culture revealed three methodological insights. The pronounced power-distance in Thai culture and its effects on the prior study's focus groups highlighted the non-dualistic nature of interpretive data gathering. The culture's collectivism necessitated significant changes to the data-gathering tools, thus illustrating the need for an emergent research design in interpretive inquiries. The high-context communication characteristic of Thai society presented challenges in eliciting and collaboratively analyzing student accounts, and exposed the processes of social construction that characterize both data gathering and interpretation. Conclusion These methodological insights illustrate the importance of an understanding of and engagement with the local context that span the entire research process from making to handling data.
Brain nitric oxide synthase activity in normal, hypertensive, and stroke-prone rats.

Nitric oxide-mediated cerebral vasodilation is altered in spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats. Stroke predisposition in this strain could be related to a genetic defect of brain nitric oxide synthase, the enzyme responsible for nitric oxide production. We tested the hypothesis that brain nitric oxide synthase activity is altered in spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats compared with spontaneously hypertensive or Wistar-Kyoto rats.A colony of spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats was bred, in which the rate of neurological events under salt load was assessed. In a separate cohort of animals brain nitric oxide synthase activity was measured in spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats (n = 6) and in spontaneously hypertensive (n = 6) and genetically related Wistar-Kyoto rats (n = 6). Calcium dependency of nitric oxide synthase was also assessed in cortical brain samples from the three rat strains to determine if altered calcium-dependent activation of nitric oxide synthase was pres...
SOUTHERN WOMEN LEGISLATORS AND PATRIARCHY IN THE SOUTH

Women remain poorly represented in Congress and state legislatures throughout the United States, but the under-representation of women in the states of the Old South remain significantly greater than in nonsouthern states. This article examines the question of southern women's under-representation in Congress and state legislatures. The literature on women's representation reviewed in this article indicates that the traditional political culture and the patriarchal social culture of the Old South have hampered and continue to restrict the election of women from the Old South at both the national and state levels. In addition to reviewing the literature on representation, this article provides recent statistics on the representation of women in legislatures in the United States.
Healthy Eating Index--2005 total and component scores for adults aged 20 and over: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2003-2004.

Objective—This report provides Healthy Eating Index–2005 (HEI–2005) scores for adults aged 20 and over, by sex, age groups, race and ethnicity, and level of education in the 2003–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2003–2004). Methods—The analytic sample consisted of 4,448 adults aged 20 and over from NHANES 2003–2004. The Day 1 dietary recall was used to estimate the HEI–2005 scores. Food and nutrient intakes were assessed on a density basis. The population’s mean usual HEI–2005 component and total scores were calculated using a population ratio method based on programs written by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. A two-tailed t-test was used to test significant differences between sexes, age and race, and ethnic groups and levels of education. Statistical hypotheses were tested at the p < 0.05 level of significance using a t statistic. The t-value at 0.975 with 15 degrees of freedom was 2.131. The Bonferroni method of adjustment was used to adjust the critical value for the family of pairwise comparisons for age, race and ethnicity, and education. Results—Adults were below the maximum standard for all the HEI–2005 component scores except for total grains and meat and beans. Females and the oldest age group were more successful in meeting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 recommendations for the fruit and vegetable components and discretionary calories, and had a slightly higher overall diet quality score than their counterparts. Adults with more than a high school education more closely complied with the recommendations for many of the components compared with those with less education. No one racial and ethnic group stood out as having the highest HEI–2005 scores across most of the components. Conclusions—These results demonstrate that adults continue to fall short in meeting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 recommendations, and that sociodemographic characteristics influence their food choices and overall diet quality.
Angiomatous meningiomas have a distinct genetic profile with multiple chromosomal polysomies including polysomy of chromosome 5.

// Malak S. Abedalthagafi 1 , Parker H. Merrill 1 , Wenya Linda Bi 2 , Robert T. Jones 1 , Marc L. Listewnik 3 , Shakti H. Ramkissoon 1 , Aaron R. Thorner 4,5 , Ian F. Dunn 2 , Rameen Beroukhim 4,6,9 , Brian M. Alexander 7 , Priscilla K. Brastianos 4,6,8 , Joshua M. Francis 4,6 , Rebecca D. Folkerth 1 , Keith L. Ligon 1,4 , Paul Van Hummelen 4,5 , Azra H. Ligon 3 and Sandro Santagata 1,9 1 Department of Pathology, Division of Neuropathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 2 Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 3 Clinical Cytogenetics Laboratory, Center for Advanced Molecular Diagnostics, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 4 Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA 5 Center for Cancer Genome Discovery, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA 6 Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA 7 Department of Radiation Oncology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 8 Department of Neuro-Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA 9 Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA Correspondence: Sandro Santagata, email: // Keywords : meningioma, angiomatous, polysomy, aCGH, molecular diagnostics, Next Generation Sequencing Received : September 14, 2014 Accepted : September 24, 2014 Published : September 25, 2014 Abstract Meningiomas are a diverse group of tumors with a broad spectrum of histologic features. There are over 12 variants of meningioma, whose genetic features are just beginning to be described. Angiomatous meningioma is a World Health Organization (WHO) meningioma variant with a predominance of blood vessels. They are uncommon and confirming the histopathologic classification can be challenging. Given a lack of biomarkers that define the angiomatous subtype and limited understanding of the genetic changes underlying its tumorigenesis, we compared the genomic characteristics of angiomatous meningioma to more common meningioma subtypes. While typical grade I meningiomas demonstrate monosomy of chromosome 22 or lack copy number aberrations, 13 of 14 cases of angiomatous meningioma demonstrated a distinct copy number profile – polysomies of at least one chromosome, but often of many, especially in chromosomes 5, 13, and 20. WHO grade II atypical meningiomas with angiomatous features have both polysomies and genetic aberrations characteristic of other atypical meningiomas. Sequencing of over 560 cancer-relevant genes in 16 cases of angiomatous meningioma showed that these tumors lack common mutations found in other variants of meningioma. Our study demonstrates that angiomatous meningiomas have distinct genomic features that may be clinically useful for their diagnosis.
Implementation of an Intelligent Reconfiguration Algorithm for an Electric Ship Power System

In all-electric navy ships, severe damages or faults may occur during battle conditions. This might even affect the generators and as a result, critical loads might suffer from power deficiency for a long time and ultimately lead to a complete system collapse. A fast reconfiguration of the power path is therefore necessary in order to serve the critical loads and to maintain a proper power balance in ship power system. This paper proposes a fast, intelligent reconfiguration algorithm, where Pareto optimal solutions are obtained by Small Population based Particle Swarm Optimization (SPPSO) from two conflicting objective functions. From the Pareto set, the final solution is chosen depending on users' preference. SPPSO is a variant of PSO which works with very few numbers of particles with a regeneration of new solutions within the search space after few iterations. This concept of regeneration in SPPSO make the algorithm really fast and enhances its capability to a large extent. The strength of the proposed reconfiguration strategy is tested in Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) environment.
Inpatients with bipolar disorder : Their quest to understand

1. The quest to understand how to live with the recurrent, major mental illness of bipolar disorder is a pursuit not to be undertaken lightly. 2. Studies related to informational search in any clinical population, medical or psychiatric, are scant. 3. Individual and group work with this population needs to include discussion of how to obtain self-management information when out of the hospital, potential barriers that may be encountered in the pursuit of such information, and adaptive and maladaptive responses to barriers.
The Role of Mass Spectrometry in Chromatin Biology

Copyright: © 2013 Tackett AJ. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Mass spectrometry has played a vital role in defining what we understand about mechanisms regulating chromatin structure and function. With the speed, sensitivity and resolution of new generation mass spectrometers, researchers are now well-positioned to not only analyze bulk chromatin features, but to also begin to explore lower abundance chromatin signatures that help define the detailed epigenetic landscape of a chromosome. The components of chromatin that have been the primary focus of analysis by mass spectrometry are proteins and protein posttranslational modifications (PTMs). Below I discuss each of these components and provide insight into how mass spectrometry is helping to reshape how we study epigenetic mechanisms.
Dynamically reconfigurable optical buffer with integrated, simultaneous wavelength conversion capability for multi-wavelength packets

For the first time, simultaneous wavelength conversion of multiple optical packets in an optical buffer is demonstrated. The maximum power penalty for the error-free conversion over a 20 nm range is 1.3 dB. (2 pages)
Can therapy of hepatitis C affect the development of hepatocellular carcinoma

Chronic inflammation induced by viral infections and their role in carcinogenesis is well recognized. Two hepatotropic viruses, hepatitis B and hepatitis C (HCV), have been linked worldwide to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although orthotopic liver transplant offers the best chance for cure and long-term survival, the demand for organs far outweighs the supply. The incidence of HCC in the United States has increased over the past 3 decades. HCV-induced cirrhosis is believed to play a significant role in the rising rate of HCC. Therefore, primary measures to prevent HCC in HCV-infected patients are urgently needed. Numerous studies of the HCV HCC patient have considered primary treatment with interferon-based therapy. However, secondary prevention currently seems to carry more promise. This article evaluates and assesses various treatments for primary and secondary chemoprevention in the setting of HCV.