cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
IBD: Who Can Go Home? Who Should Be Admitted?

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease are susceptible to numerous disease entities which may bring them into the acute care setting. Both disease flares and potential surgical complications of IBD may occur and dictate the patient’s disposition. Patients with signs of severe disease flare, systemic inflammation, and/or potential surgical abdomen require admission and appropriate consultation. Those who are well appearing, have a benign physical exam, and are tolerating oral intake are generally safe for discharge with specialist follow-up.
Fibrin sealant and parotidectomy wound complications in 100 patients.

To determine whether the use of fibrin sealant impacted the rate of postoperative wound complications following parotidectomy. We retrospectively reviewed 100 consecutive parotidectomies with and without fibrin sealant. Primary outcomes were development of seroma, sialocele, abscess, or hematoma within the first 30 days as well as length of hospital stay for drain output if one was placed. Secondary outcomes analyzed wound complications based on several patient and surgical factors. In our cohort, there were 82 superficial parotidectomies (82%), and the most common pathology was pleomorphic adenoma (39%) followed by Warthin’s tumor (27%). Fibrin sealant was used in 46 patients (46%). Postoperative wound complications occurred in 20 patients, and were not statistically different with or without fibrin sealant placement (23.9% vs. 16.7%, p = 0.454). Fibrin sealant did not significantly reduce wound complications regardless of tissue volume removed, use of acellular dermis, history of smoking, diagnosis of diabetes, or active anticoagulant/antiplatelet use. Only four patients without fibrin sealant (7.4%) required hospitalization beyond 24 h for high drain output. In our retrospective cohort, the development of postoperative wound complications following parotidectomy did not appear to be significantly impacted by the use of a fibrin sealant.
Efficient repetitive alteration of the mouse Huntington's disease gene by management of background in the tag and exchange gene targeting strategy.

The introduction of subtle mutations to predetermined locations in the mouse genome has aided in the assessment of gene function and the precise modeling of inherited disorders. Subtle mutations can be engineered into the mouse genome by the tag and exchange gene targeting strategy (Askew et al., 1993; Stacey et al., 1994; Wu et al., 1994). This two-step method involves both a positive and a negative selection. The negative selection step typically generates a large amount of undesired background that may prevent the practical recovery of gene targeted clones (Vazquez et al., 1998). In this work we describe a strategy to effectively manage this background by calculation of a tolerable level of background for a specific targeting event, pre-screening for clones with low background, subcloning and growth of cell lines under selection. This strategy was used to repeatedly and efficiently alter the mouse Huntington's disease homologue (Hdh) resulting in an average of 15 percent of the clones having the desired modification. Analysis of the remaining background clones showed they arose de novo by a mechanism that involved physical loss of the marker rather than mutation or inactivation. We calculated the rate of loss of this marker as 8.3 × 10−6 events/cell/generation. We further show that the exchanged clones retained the capacity to contribute to the mouse germline demonstrating the utility of this strategy in the production of mouse lines with Hdh variants.
Unusually Devastating Tornadoes in the United States: 1995–2016

Previous research has identified a number of physical, socioeconomic, and demographic factors related to tornado casualty rates. There remain gaps in our understanding of community-level vulnerabil...
The potential of drug repurposing combined with reperfusion therapy in cerebral ischemic stroke: A supplementary strategy to endovascular thrombectomy

Stroke is the major cause of adult disability and the second or third leading cause of death in developed countries. The treatment options for stroke (thrombolysis or thrombectomy) are restricted to a small subset of patients with acute ischemic stroke because of the limited time for an efficacious response and the strict criteria applied to minimize the risk of cerebral hemorrhage. Attempts to develop new treatments, such as neuroprotectants, for acute ischemic stroke have been costly and time-consuming and to date have yielded disappointing results. The repurposing approved drugs known to be relatively safe, such as statins and minocycline, may provide a less costly and more rapid alternative to new drug discovery in this clinical condition. Because adequate perfusion is thought to be vital for a neuroprotectant to be effective, endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) with advanced imaging modalities offers the possibility of documenting reperfusion in occluded large cerebral vessels. An examination of established medications that possess neuroprotective characters using in a large-vessel occlusive disorder with EVT may speed the identification of new and more broadly efficacious medications for the treatment of ischemic stroke. These approaches are highlighted in this review along with a critical assessment of drug repurposing combined with reperfusion therapy as a supplementary means for halting or mitigating stroke-induced brain damage.
Chapter 10 – Preconscious Awareness

Sensory input induces gamma band activity in the reticular activating system that participates in preconscious awareness, the process necessary to support a state capable of reliably assessing the world around us on a continuous basis. This process is manifested rapidly upon waking, following increased blood flow in the thalamus and brain stem that occurs ahead of increases in cortical blood flow. This mechanism is also involved in the preconscious activity necessary for the preparation for voluntary movements. This occurs in advance of the subjective sensation of will or intention to move, that is, preconsciously.
5.09 – Pulmonary Immunology*

As a primary barrier to the environment, the respiratory tract continuously encounters antigens. The extensive surface of the lung is protected from inhaled antigens and contaminants by the persistent surveillance of circulating resident immune cells present in the vascular and interstitial regions of the tissues. Large-diameter materials are removed in the nasal region by filtration and impaction, thus preventing them from entering the deeper regions of the respiratory tract. Further protection is provided by nonspecific factors, including mucus, cilia, phagocytic cells, and the secretion of antimicrobial molecules. Cell-mediated and humoral immune responses are also prominent in upper airway defenses. Resident immune cells in the lungs include abundant populations of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T lymphocytes; B lymphocytes, monocytes, and macrophages are distributed more sparsely throughout the mucosa. In the bronchoalveolar space, there is a preponderance of macrophages, with about 10% of these cells being T lymphocytes. Continuous circulation of lymphocytes throughout the body increases the likelihood that specific immunocompetent cells will encounter antigen. If pulmonary immune responses to antigens go unchecked (or become amplified), adverse outcomes including hypersensitivity or autoimmune reactions can occur. Asthma, a classic Type I hypersensitivity response in which the airways become reversibly inflamed and the bronchi narrowed, affects about 300 million people worldwide. The lung is also a particularly relevant site for autoimmunity as it represents a large vascular bed exposed to all types of antigens and pathogens. Autoimmune diseases arise when the body generates an immune response to a self-constituent that progresses to a point of pathology. The regulatory pathways involved in specific immune responses in the lungs can be profoundly affected by toxicant exposures in the environment. More studies that integrate animal and human studies should help identify those particular immunotoxic agents that could be associated with the increased incidence and/or severity of allergic lung disease, asthma, and autoimmune disorders.
Concomitant Radiation Recall Dermatitis and Organizing Pneumonia following Breast Radiotherapy: A Case Report.

Purpose Radiation recall dermatitis (RRD) is a rare complication that occurs after completion of radiation therapy (RT) and initiation of a precipitating agent, most commonly chemotherapeutic medications. Various theories attempt to explain the mechanism, including activation of the body's inflammatory pathways through nonimmune activation. Likewise, radiation-induced organizing pneumonia (RIOP) is an infrequent but potentially life-threatening complication of RT that, while not fully understood, is suspected to be partly an autoimmune reaction. Patient We present the case of a 71-year-old female with a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, interstitial cystitis, and osteoarthritis who presented with clinical stage T1N0M0 ER+/PR-/HER2- invasive ductal carcinoma of the lower outer quadrant of the left breast, for which she underwent left segmental mastectomy and sentinel lymph node biopsy followed by completion axillary lymph node dissection. Her final pathologic stage was T1N1M0. Result The patient developed RRD and later RIOP following receipt of radiation and chemotherapy, which resolved with steroid administration. Conclusions The rarity of both RRD and RIOP occurring in a patient, as in our case, suggests a shared pathophysiology behind these two complications. As both reactions involve some degree of inflammation and respond to corticosteroids, it seems likely that the etiologies of RRD and RIOP lie within the inflammatory pathway. However, further investigation should evaluate the frequency, duration, and triggering of concomitant RRD and RIOP.
Can modern multi-objective evolutionary algorithms discover high-dimensional financial risk portfolio tradeoffs for snow-dominated water-energy systems?

Abstract Hydropower generation in the Hetch Hetchy Power System is strongly tied to snowmelt dynamics in the central Sierra Nevada and consequently is particularly financially vulnerable to changes in snowpack availability and timing. This study explores the Hetchy Hetchy Power System as a representative example from the broader class of financial risk management problems that hold promise in helping utilities such as SFPUC to understand the tradeoffs across portfolios of risk mitigation instruments given uncertainties in snowmelt dynamics. An evolutionary multi-objective direct policy search (EMODPS) framework is implemented to identify time adaptive stochastic rules that map utility state information and exogenous inputs to optimal annual financial decisions. The resulting financial risk mitigation portfolio planning problem is mathematically difficult due to its high dimensionality and mixture of nonlinear, nonconvex, and discrete objectives. These features add to the difficulty of the problem by yielding a Pareto front of solutions that has a highly disjoint and complex geometry. In this study, we contribute a diagnostic assessment of state-of-the-art multi-objective evolutionary algorithms’ (MOEAs') abilities to support a DPS framework for managing financial risk. We perform comprehensive diagnostics on five algorithms: the Borg multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II), Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm III (NSGA-III), Reference Vector Guided Evolutionary Algorithm (RVEA), and the Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithm Based on Decomposition (MOEA/D). The MOEAs are evaluated to characterize their controllability (ease-of-use), reliability (probability of success), efficiency (minimizing model evaluations), and effectiveness (high quality tradeoff representations). Our results show that newer decomposition, reference point, and reference vector algorithms are highly sensitive to their parameterizations (difficult to use), suffer from search deterioration (losing solutions), and have a strong likelihood of misrepresenting key tradeoffs. The results emphasize the importance of using MOEAs with archiving and adaptive search capabilities in order to solve complex financial risk portfolio problems in snow-dependent water-energy systems.
Texture Analysis as a Radiomic Marker for Differentiating Benign From Malignant Adrenal Tumors.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of texture analysis for differentiation between benign from malignant adrenal lesions on contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography (CT). METHODS After institutional review board approval, a retrospective analysis was performed, including an electronic search of pathology records for all biopsied adrenal lesions. Patients were included if they also had a contrast-enhanced abdominal CT in the portal venous phase. Computed tomographic images were manually segmented, and texture analysis of the segmented tumors was performed. Texture analysis results of benign and malignant tumors were compared, and areas under the curve (AUCs) were calculated. RESULTS One hundred twenty-five patients were included in the analysis. Excellent discriminators of benign from malignant lesions were identified, including entropy and standard deviation. These texture features demonstrated lower values for benign lesions compared with malignant lesions. Entropy values of benign lesions averaged 3.95 using a spatial scaling factor of 4 compared with an average of 5.08 for malignant lesions (P < .0001). Standard deviation values of benign lesions averaged 19.94 on the unfiltered image compared with an average of 34.32 for malignant lesions (P < .0001). Entropy demonstrated AUCs ranging from 0.95 to 0.97 for discriminating tumors, with sensitivities and specificities ranging from 81% to 95% and 88% to 100%, respectively. Standard deviation demonstrated AUCs ranging from 0.91 to 0.94 for discriminating tumors, with sensitivities and specificities ranging from 73% to 93% and 86% to 95%, respectively. CONCLUSION Texture analysis offers a noninvasive tool for differentiating benign from malignant adrenal tumors on contrast-enhanced CT images. These results support the further development of texture analysis as a quantitative biomarker for characterizing adrenal tumors.
Fitting Structural Equations Models with Interactive and Dynamic Tools in JMP® Pro

We offer a tutorial for using a new, interactive, and dynamic Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) platform in JMP Pro v16.0 to fit three commonly used models: (1) Confirmatory Factor Analysis, (2) P...
Self-Stabilizing Synchronization of Arbitrary Digraphs in Presence of Faults

a bounded skew among independent local time clocks. A distributed system is said to be self-stabilizing if, from an arbitrary state, it is guaranteed to reach a legitimate state in a finite amount of time and remain in a legitimate state. For clock synchronization, a legitimate state is a state where all parts in the system are in synchrony. The self-stabilizing distributed-system clock synchronization problem is, therefore, to develop an algorithm (i.e., a protocol) to
Functional Symptoms in Pediatric Dermatology: The Canary in the Coal Mine

The skin is a window into the state of health revealing genetic predispositions, hormonal balance, nutritional status, and internal wellness. It exposes stress burden, emotional well-being, and psychological health. In this way the skin can operate as the metaphorical canary in the coal mine announcing the body’s hidden alarm signals. Psychocutaneous disorders draw attention to the intimate connections between the mind and the skin. During development, the brain and skin are born from the same embryonic tissue and throughout life they continue to be connected through elegant interactions involving neuropeptides, hormones, and inflammatory mediators, the so-called molecules of emotion. Disfiguring skin disease such as vitiligo, acne vulgaris, and ichthyosis have large emotional and psychological interactions. Perhaps surprisingly, the extent of the psychological fallout that results from these conditions is not necessarily related to the objective nature of the disease. Instead it is highly correlated with its subjective severity, which is dependent on self-perception and is highly personal. Recurrent skin disease often results in anxiety, depression, social isolation, body dysmorphic disorder, and dramatic reductions in quality of life rivaling those associated with debilitating systemic illnesses. Crosstalk between the mind and skin also exists wherein physical or psychological stressors can both initiate and worsen skin disease that has clear organic underpinnings such as acne vulgaris, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, alopecia areata, and cutaneous warts. Primary psychiatric disorders may result in skin and hair conditions such as trichotillomania, psychogenic excoriation, dermatitis artefacta, and delusions of parasitosis. Although mind–skin interactions can cause obstinate symptoms and skin disease, these same connections can also be harnessed for therapeutic benefit.
DYNAMISM OF POSTSYNAPTIC PROTEINS AS THE MECHANISM OF SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY

At excitatory synapses of the vertebrate central nervous system, the neuronal information is transmitted via glutamate which is released from presynaptic terminals and opens postsynaptic cation channels integrated in glutamate receptor proteins. This transmission is not static, but rather is dynamically regulated in both a positive and negative manner by its own activity level as well as by interactions with other synaptic inputs. Such regulation is collectively called synaptic plasticity. After the discovery of synaptic plasticity, intensive work over the past three decades has shown that excitatory synapses in the central nervous system exhibit a remarkable degree of plasticity. Most importantly, growing evidence suggests that synaptic plasticity is the molecular/cellular basis of learning and memory.
Theory of the Surface Contribution to the Low Temperature Specific Heat of a Semi-Infinite Solid

We present a theory of the surface contribution to the low temperature specific heat of a semi-infinite solid bounded by a stress-free surface. The surface is assumed to be defined by the equation x3=ζ(x1,x2), with the solid occupying the region x3gt; ζ (x1,x2). The theory presented is therefore capable of describing the effects of surface roughness on the surface contribution to the low temperature specific heat of a semi-infinite solid. The starting point of our theory is an expression for the specific heat in the form of the Fourier transform of a function which is shown to be related to the trace of the dynamical Green’s function for the semi-infinite solid evaluated for imaginary frequencies. In the low temperature limit only the behavior of the latter function as the imaginary frequency tends to zero is relevant, and a prescription for obtaining this behavior directly is presented in the case that the stress-free bounding surface is planar.
DURATION OF DRUG-INDUCED DYSKINESIAS: A PHARMACOLOGIC DISTINCTION

The induction of stereotyped behaviors in animals has been used to serve as models for neuropsychiatric disease states. We present evidence that the pharmacology of these stereotypies induced by either d-amphetamine (d-AMPH) or 2-phenylethylamine (PEA) is a function of the chronicity of the model, thus suggesting the evolution of tolerance or sensitization to the actions of certain monoamines involved in this behavior, and providing insight into the refractoriness to treatment of certain chronic neuropsychiatric diseases. Moreover, the fact that acutely and chronically induced stereotyped behaviors differ in their pharmacology suggests that caution be exercised in extrapolating acute and chronic animal models to chronic progressive neurological disease.
Evolutionary Medicine, Immunity, and Infectious Disease

The purpose of this chapter is to provide readers with introductions to several topics central to a modern understanding of human evolutionary biology. Infectious pathogens have placed critical selective constraints on the evolution of our hominin ancestors, and our own species continues to coevolve with infectious organisms today. Our understanding of the processes that shaped this evolutionary struggle have changed, and now an adaptationist perspective offered by the discipline of evolutionary medicine helps to shed light on our vulnerabilities to infectious diseases and noninfectious degenerative diseases. It also aids in our understanding of the purpose and outcomes of our coevolutionary conflicts with the microscopic predators that parasitize us. So as to compete in these interactions, we have developed a marvelously complex immune system capable of dynamic, varied responses. Insight into these mechanisms provides fascinating examples of real-time Darwinian processes of survival and fitness maximization in the face of invading competitors within the human host. Interestingly the ontogeny and deployment of these responses are dependent on several factors, including genetic and ecological constraints. The discussion offered below provides an introduction to evolutionary medicine with the specific purpose of better understanding human–pathogen coevolution and the development of human immune responses. A current, detailed description of human immunity is included, but this discussion is far from complete. Comparative aspects of evolutionary immunology are emphasized, as are the genetic and ecological sources of variation in these responses.
Circular Dichroism Studies of the Perturbations of Cytochrome c by Alcohols

Abstract The circular dichroic (CD) behavior of ferri- and ferrocytochrome c in the presence of methanol, ethanol, and 1-propanol was investigated in an attempt to elucidate some structure-function relationships of the protein. The circular dichroic spectrum of ferricytochrome c in the Soret region exhibited extrema at 417 and 402 nm, which were susceptible to the presence of alcohols in solution. In concentrations of 1-propanol exceeding 6 mole % the protein became modified to a form that showed a positive CD band at 406 nm with a large increase in ellipticity and the disappearance of the 417-nm trough. Similar changes were also observed in solvents containing greater than 13 mole % of ethanol and greater than 21 mole % of methanol. These changes in the Soret region occurred at the same alcohol concentration as those in the aromatic region, thus possibly implicating the aromatic residues in heme crevice conformation changes. Changes in the intrinsic region of ferricytochrome c indicated the enhancement of α helix content at elevated alcohol concentrations. In contrast, ferrocytochrome c under anaerobic conditions showed no changes in either absorption or CD spectra even in 50 volume per cent of 1-propanol. These spectra were, however, converted immediately by higher alcohol concentrations to that resembling the modified ferricytochrome c. The heme of this apparently "autoxidized" cytochrome c was reactive to carbon monoxide and thus the iron was still in the reduced state. These results indicate that alcohols perturb effectively the interactions between the heme and the protein moiety forming the heme crevice. At increasing alcohol concentrations, ferrocytochrome c which is less susceptible to modification than ferricytochrome c is gradually deformed. Consequently, the heme becomes exposed and reactive toward CO. The similarity in the CD spectra of ferro- and ferricytochrome c under these conditions is a reflection of interactions between the distorted heme coordination sphere and the altered heme environment.
Differential expression of hyperpolarization-activated currents reveals distinct classes of visual cortical projection neurons

Combining in vivo retrograde labeling and in vitro electrophysiological recording techniques, we examined the distributions, densities, and biophysical properties of hyperpolarization-activated inward currents in two types of isolated, identified visual cortical projection neurons, superior colliculus-projecting (SCP) and callosal-projecting (CP) cells. In SCP cells, two kinetically distinct time-dependent hyperpolarization-activated inward current components are present. We have termed these Ih,f and Ih,s to denote the fast and slow components, respectively, of Ih activation. In CP cells, in contrast, Ih,f and Ih,s are differentially expressed. In 59% of the CP cells examined, for example, both Ih,f and Ih,s were present. The properties of the currents are indistinguishable from those recorded from SCP cells, although both Ih,f and Ih,s are expressed at significantly lower densities in this subset of CP cells (as compared to the current densities in SCP cells). Of the remaining 41% of the CP cells studied, 26% were found to express only Ih,s, and 12% of the cells expressed neither Ih,f nor Ih,s. Taken together, these results reveal that the electrical properties of CP visual cortical neurons are considerably more heterogeneous than those of SCP cells. The differential expression of Ih,f and Ih,s is expected to influence the integrated responses of different types of cortical projection neurons to excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs.
The industrial structure of the California Assembly: Committee assignments, economic interests, and campaign contributions

This paper examines the provision of campaign contributions made by economic interests to incumbents seeking reelection in the 1984, 1986, and 1988 California Assembly elections. The study tests whether the distribution of campaign contributions by specific industrial sectors corresponds to legislator possession of the policy property rights associated with membership on relevant Assembly standing committees. A non-parametric statistical model compares the distribution of campaign contributions from groups within a given industrial sector to members of relevant policy committees with the distribution of contributions from all other contributor classes. The empirical analysis confirms that committee assignments significantly affect the allocation of special interest resources in Assembly elections, substantiating the importance of institutional considerations in influencing special interest activity.
Editorial: Isolation: A Diary of Subtle Discrimination

Although I am a self-described white lady of excellent education and moderate means, I follow with interest developments in ethnic studies, women’s studies and social justice because they so often resonate with my experiences as a person with a disability and a professional in the area of disability studies. A recent article in the New York Times, “Students See Many Slights as Micro-Aggressions” (March 21, 2014) caught my eye because in discussing how seemingly innocent comments can convey subtle forms of discrimination, the author lead with:
Engineered Cystine-Knot Peptides that Bind αvβ3 Integrin with Antibody-Like Affinities

Abstract The α v β 3 integrin receptor is an important cancer target due to its overexpression on many solid tumors and the tumor neovasculature and its role in metastasis and angiogenesis. We used a truncated form of the Agouti-related protein (AgRP), a 4-kDa cystine-knot peptide with four disulfide bonds and four solvent-exposed loops, as a scaffold for engineering peptides that bound to α v β 3 integrins with high affinity and specificity. A yeast-displayed cystine-knot peptide library was generated by substituting a six amino acid loop of AgRP with a nine amino acid loop containing the Arg-Gly-Asp integrin recognition motif and randomized flanking residues. Mutant cystine-knot peptides were screened in a high-throughput manner by fluorescence-activated cell sorting to identify clones with high affinity to detergent-solubilized α v β 3 integrin receptor. Select integrin-binding peptides were expressed recombinantly in Pichia pastoris and were tested for their ability to bind to human cancer cells expressing various integrin receptors. These studies showed that the engineered AgRP peptides bound to cells expressing α v β 3 integrins with affinities ranging from 15 nM to 780 pM. Furthermore, the engineered peptides were shown to bind specifically to α v β 3 integrins and had only minimal or no binding to α v β 5 , α 5 β 1 , and α iib β 3 integrins. The engineered AgRP peptides were also shown to inhibit cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix protein vitronectin, which is a naturally occurring ligand for α v β 3 and other integrins. Next, to evaluate whether the other three loops of AgRP could modulate integrin specificity, we made second-generation libraries by individually randomizing these loops in one of the high-affinity integrin-binding variants. Screening of these loop-randomized libraries against α v β 3 integrins resulted in peptides that retained high affinities for α v β 3 and had increased specificities for α v β 3 over α iib β 3 integrins. Collectively, these data validate AgRP as a scaffold for protein engineering and demonstrate that modification of a single loop can lead to AgRP-based peptides with antibody-like affinities for their target.
Polynomial approximation of harmonic mappings

This study is concerned with univalent harmonic mappings on the unit disc of the complex plane. We examine a family of harmonic polynomials that have some interesting geometric properties, e.g. the boundary curve is concave except for cusps, that is dense in the family of harmonic mappings.
Using Effective E-Commerce Strategies to Improve Organizational Performance

This paper assesses why it’s important for businesses to make the commitment to engage in an effective e-commerce strategy. In a tough economy like the one we are currently experiencing, engaging in the pursuit of internet sales is a legitimate way for businesses to grow their market share. In the same vain as depicted in the movie Field of Dreams, “if you build it they will come.” An online presence in these difficult times will improve a firm’s competitive posture, reduce advertising costs, evolve it from a local entity to a global supplier, and protect it against major paradigm shifts. Unlike traditional forms of customer communications, online purchasers have control of the information they want to review. The links these purchasers select give an indication concerning their preferences as they navigate through the website, or the areas where they have difficulty completing a transaction due to a problem. Tracking these preferences and problem areas in information systems is one way to predict issues that consumers in a certain profile group may have. Once the preferences of online customers have been assessed and identified, they have to be incorporated into website design solutions. When implementing their online capabilities, companies must commit to taking an online leadership position, keeping a quality focus on products and the services that deliver them, and tailoring online systems to support collective learning organizations. Implementing high quality websites that support efficient online business transactions requires investment in servers and supporting information technology systems to collect, process, store, and distribute the required supporting customer and transaction data. By committing to invest in IT systems designed to support business strategies targeting leadership positions in key business areas, companies can experience growth even in poor economic conditions. Otherwise, the business will take up the stature of a “follower” and slowly lose ground and market share to competitors.
Low Cycle Fatigue of A356-T6 Cast Aluminum Alloy

Smooth specimen low cycle fatigue behavior of A356-T6 cast aluminum alloy with secondary dendritic arm spacing (DAS) of 36 and 58 ..mu..m was obtained under room temperature test conditions. Under strain-controlled axial fatigue conditions, cyclic strain hardening occurred for both DAS values. Hysteresis loops were skewed from 1 to 13% toward the compression side. At higher strain amplitudes the smaller DAS had slightly better fatigue resistance while at the lower strain amplitudes the fatigue resistance was essentially the same for both DAS values. Many test specimens failed outside the test gage length and were thus considered invalid tests. This large number of invalid tests was attributed to surface and near surface discontinuities.
Towards eliminating random I/O in hash joins

The widening performance gap between CPUs and disks is significant for hash join performance. Most current hash join methods try to reduce the volume of data transferred between memory and disk. In this paper, we try to reduce hash-join times by reducing random I/O. We study how current algorithms incur random I/O, and propose a new hash join method, Seq/sup +/, that converts much of the random I/O to sequential I/O. Seq/sup +/ uses a new organization for hash buckets on a disk, and larger input and output buffer sizes. We introduce the technique of batch writes to reduce the bucket-write cost, and the concepts of write- and read-groups of hash buckets to reduce the bucket-read cost. We derive a cost model for our method and present formulas for choosing various algorithm parameters, including input and output buffer sizes. Our performance study shows that the new hash join method performs many times better than current algorithms under various environments. Since our cost functions underestimate the cost of current algorithms and overestimate the cost of Seq/sup +/, the actual performance gain of Seq/sup +/ is likely to be even greater.
A Review of :“Brain-Building Nutrition: How Dietary Fats and Oils Affect Mental, Physical, and Emotional Intelligence. Michael A. Schmidt, PhD.”

The human brain is nearly 60 percent fat. The fats and oils we put in our mouths shape the brain's fatty architecture from childhood to old age. This is, arguably, one of the most fascinating and p...
SHEET PILE DESIGN WITH VARIABLE SOIL PARAMETERS

A computer program was developed to assist design engineers in their calculations for a sheet pile section under given soil conditions and a given factor of safety in which the Free Earth Support Method is used. The purpose of this study was to investigate those parameters which have a significant effect on design and to determine their relative importance. Three representative soil profiles have been studied that cover many of the conditions encountered in practice, including all granular material behind and below the sheet pile, a multilayered cohesive deposit, and a granular backfill over a cohesive layer. Study results are presented and recommendations are made for further research efforts.
The exact distribution of the continuity of care measure NOP

The number of different providers (NOP) visited by one individual during a follow-up period can serve as a measure of concentration, and has formed the basis for a number of indices of continuity of care in the health care sector. In this article, the exact distribution of NOP, under the assumption of i.i.d. as well as under Markov dependence, is derived using the finite Markov chain imbedding technique. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the main results.
Compensating for nonstationary blurring by further blurring and deconvolution

In many imaging systems, the point spread function (PSF) is nonstationary. Usually, a computation-intensive iterative algorithm is used to deblur the nonstationary PSF. This article presents a new idea of using a noniterative method to compensate for the spatially variant PSF. This method first further blurs the image with a nonstationary kernel so that the resultant image has a stationary PSF, then deblurs the resultant image using an efficient decovolution technique. The proposed method is illustrated and implemented by single photon emission computed tomography applications. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 19, 221–226, 2009
Fix-Neyman model of illness-death processes

Abstract Statistical analysis of follow-up data is usually confined to survival and death of each member of a study population; health conditions of survivors and causes of death are not considered. However, when a study is designed to investigate a particular disease [or a group of diseases, such as coronary heart diseases (CHD)], either as a cause of death or for its incidence and prevalence, distinction should be made between survivors who are afflicted with the disease and those who are not, and between deaths from CHD and deaths from other causes. Statistical methods have been developed for dealing with such problems for large samples when the information is in the form of frequency distributions. The theory of competing risks, for example, is used for the analysis of mortality data by causes of death. Illness-death processes have been developed to determine transition probabilities from one health state to another and other statistical quantities relevant to the study of illness and health. In order to introduce basic concepts of the illness-death process, this paper discusses a simple model with two health states and a finite number of death states. The main points to be covered include transition probabilities; expected durations of stay, multiple renewal and multiple passage probabilities; alternating renewal time and passage times; and their relationships. Applications of these models will also be discussed.
Contracted gallbladder: a cause of false-positive hepatobiliary scan in patients with cystic fibrosis

Gallbladder nonvisualization on hepatobiliary scintigraphy in cystic fibrosis is generally secondary to cystic duct obstruction from inspissated bile, mucus, or gallstones. We report gallbladder nonvisualization on hepatobiliary imaging in two patients with cystic fibrosis who had contracted gallbladders on ultrasonography. Repeat ultrasonography at 6 months revealed persistent gallbladder contraction. A contracted gallbladder therefore is a potential cause of a false-positive hepatobiliary scan which can be treated with conservative management.
Susceptibility contrast imaging of cerebral blood volume: human experience

Magnetic resonance (MR) can offer a unique window on the structure/function relationships in the brain, by utilizing the established link between tissue function, metabolism, and hemodynamics. This report focuses on recent applications of MR-based cerebral blood volume (CBV) imaging in humans. Our methodology uses high-speed "single-shot" or echo planar imaging techniques, which provide the necessary temporal resolution for mapping the rapid cerebral transit of contrast agents. These MR CBV mapping techniques have been used to study normal human brain task activation and in the clinical study of patients with brain tumors. In the latter, positron emission tomography imaging was used for functional metabolic and CBV correlation. Susceptibility contrast CBV imaging should allow us to improve our understanding of the relationship between the detailed physiology and morphology of the microvascular bed and functional attributes of the brain. These techniques can be applied to understanding fundamental questions of cognitive neuroscience and can aid in improving diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in various neuropathologies.
JCV agnoprotein-induced reduction in CXCL5/LIX secretion by oligodendrocytes is associated with activation of apoptotic signaling in neurons

An indispensable role for oligodendrocytes in the protection of axon function and promotion of neuronal survival is strongly supported by the finding of progressive neuron/axon degeneration in human neurological diseases that affect oligodendrocytes. Imaging and pathological studies of the CNS have shown the presence of neuroaxonal injury in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a demyelinating disease of the CNS, resulting from destruction of oligodendrocytes upon productive replication of the pathogenic neurotropic polyomavirus JC. Here, we examined the extracellular factors involved in communication between oligodendrocytes and neurons. Culturing cortical neurons with conditioned medium (CM) from rat CG4 oligodendrocytic cells that express the JCV agnoprotein showed that CXCL5/LIX, which is a chemokine closely related to the human CXCL5/ENA78 and CXCL6/GCP-2 chemokines, is essential for neuronal cell survival. We found that in CM from agnoprotein-producing CG-4 cells level of CXC5/LIX is decreased compared to control cells. We also demonstrated that a reduced expression of CXCL5/LIX by CG4 GFP-Agno cells triggered a cascade of signaling events in cortical neurons. Analysis of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and glycogen synthase kinase (GSK3) pathways showed that they are involved in mechanisms of neuronal apoptosis in response to the depletion of CXCL5/LIX signaling. These data suggest that agnoprotein-induced dysregulation of chemokine production by oligodendrocytes may contribute to neuronal/axonal injury in the pathogenesis of PML lesions.
Chronic hepatitis C infection in patients with end stage renal disease: characterization of liver histology and viral load in patients awaiting renal transplantation

Chronic hepatitis C infection in patients with end stage renal disease: characterization of liver histology and viral load in patients awaiting renal transplantation
Formalising Storytelling in Organisations: A Key Agenda for the Design of Training

Storytelling, which is widely recognised as having a powerful influence upon learning in organisations, should be formalised to promote a more systematic, predictable individual learning and change process. The training function represents a natural arena where formalisation can take place. Four ways are described in which storytelling as part of formal training can contribute to more effective individual learning in organisations, which in turn may contribute to successful organisational change and performance.
Changes in Mindfulness Following a Mindfulness Telehealth Intervention

The goal of this pilot study was to examine changes in self-reported levels of mindfulness in the context of an 8-week mindfulness telehealth intervention for military veterans with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants were 24 male veterans with PTSD aged 23 to 66 (M = 55.2). Participants were randomized to either a mindfulness telehealth intervention or a PTSD psychoeducation telehealth condition. Both interventions consisted of two in-person sessions and six telephone sessions. Measures were collected pre- and posttreatment and at 6-week follow-up and included the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI), and the Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Conditions by time interaction effects were found in the expected direction for the MAAS, WBSI, FFMQ Observing, and FFMQ Describing facets, indicating gains in skills for the mindfulness group over the course of the study. Results also suggest that a brief telehealth intervention introducing mindfulness skills may be effective in increasing levels of mindfulness as measured by these instruments. Limitations include a small sample size and lack of intent-to-treat analyses. The present study represents one of the few published studies to use multiple measures of mindfulness to examine changes in mindfulness skills and the first known published study to examine changes in mindfulness following a brief telehealth intervention.
The effect of PGF-2 alpha on reproductive performance of naturally bred dairy cows with or without pyometra

Abstract Five hundred thirty-four naturally bred Holstein dairy cows from two Colorado dairies were examined per rectum between 21 and 36 days after calving. Alternate cows in each herd received either 25 mg PGF-2 alpha or no treatment at the time of initial examination. No differences were found in days open or pregnancy rates between groups (P>0.25). Days open in 23 cows with pyometra were 98.7 ± 9.4, and 77.0 ± 2.2 in 493 herdmates without pyometra. The large inequalities in numbers precluded valid statistical comparisons between these groups. No overall difference (P>0.25) in reproductive performance was found in cows with pyometra treated at the initial examination compared to those not treated until two to four weeks after the initial examination. Contributing to the lack of significance were a number of cows with pyometra that had spontaneous cures before treatment was considered. Untreated cows that recovered spontaneously had better (P
Properties of Egg White Foam Drainage

This study was designed to provide a better understanding of egg white foams and the proteins involved by characterizing the drainage from foam. Samples of liquid egg white were whipped at high speed to a medium peak. After the foam had drained for an hour, drainages were collected and whipped again. That procedure was repeated until a 5th drainage had been collected. Portions of liquid drained from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th. and 5th whip sere saved and later were analyzed. The foam became less stable with each successive whip. Drainage pH increased from. 9.0 to 9.3. Both angel cake volume and texture decreased with each drainage. Cakes prepared from the 4th or 5th drainage had very poor volumes and texture. Viscosity of each drip was lower than that of the previous sample. Lysozyme activity decreased linearly, indicating that approximately the same amount of lysozyme remained in each foam. The data showed that most major protein components in egg white are altered by repeated whipping. The ovalbumins were not greatly changed. but portions of ovomucin, conalbumin, lysozyme and globulins A1, and A2. were retained in the foam of beaten egg white.
Induction of partial limb regeneration in Rana pipiens by galvanic stimulation

Forelimbs of small adult frogs (Rana pipiens) were amputated and the stumps implanted with silver-platinum bimetallic rods insulated except at the tips. The silver end was at the wound surface in some cases. In others, the platinum end was distally placed. Other animals received separate implants of short pieces of bare silver and platinum wire, with the silver piece placed near the wound surface. Controls consisted of animals with either no implant or implants of partially insulated silver or platinum wire. Only one of the control animals (one with a silver implant) initiated regeneration. Regeneration was minimal with the separate implants (25%), more frequent with the platinum end of a bimetallic couple at the wound surface (70%), and most frequent (83.4%) with the silver end of a bimetallic couple at the wound surface. In three cases in the last named series, lobulated cartilages reminiscent of wrist and hand elements differentiated. The results are ascribed to direct stimulation of the cells, electrophoretic transfer of information-bearing molecules, or stimulation of nerves.
Some concepts of positive dependence for bivariate interchangeable distributions

In this work we consider some familiar and some new concepts of positive dependence for interchangeable bivariate distributions. By characterizing distributions which are positively dependent according to some of these concepts, we indicate real situations in which these concepts arise naturally. For the various families of positively dependent distributions we prove some closure properties and demonstrate all the possible logical relations. Some inequalities are shown and applied to determine whether under- (or over-) estimates, of various probabilistic quantities, occur when a positively dependent distribution is assumed (falsely) to be the product of its marginals (that is, when two positively dependent random variables are assumed, falsely, to be independent). Specific applications in reliability theory, statistical mechanics and reversible Markov processes are discussed.