cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Bradykinin receptors of cerebral microvessels stimulate phosphoinositide turnover.

Summary: We examined by ligand binding methods whether bradykinin (BK) receptors exist in rat and pig cerebral microvessels, and in the cerebral cortex from which the microvessels were isolated. We found a high-affinity and saturable BK receptor site in both rat and pig cerebral microvessels, but not in their cerebral cortex. The maximal density of binding and the dissociation constant were 8.0 ± 4.1 and 6.8 ± 1.5 fmol/mg of protein and 47 ± 24 and 150 ± 8 pM (mean ± SD) in cerebral microvessels of the pig and rat, respectively. The high-affinity specific binding of BK was effectively displaced by des-Arg°[Hyp3-Thi5-8,D-Phe7]BK, a specific B2 receptor antagonist, but not by des-Arg9[Leu8]BK, a specific B! antagonist. We also demonstrated that BK increases phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis in cerebral microvessels of the rat and pig. This effect was also blocked by the B2, but not by the B1? antagonist. Increased phosphatidyl-inositol hydrolysis was manifested by a rapid transient increase in inositol trisphosphate and the later slow accumulation of inositol bisphosphate and inositol monophosphate. Preincubation of microvessels with phorbol ester, stable GTP analogs, pertussis toxin, or in Ca2 + -free buffer did not influence BK activation of phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis. These results demonstrate the existence of BK receptors of the B2 subtype in brain microvessels, which may play an important role in modulation of the brain microcirculation, probably via increased phosphoinositide turnover.
Ryanodine Receptor Pore Structure and Function

Ryanodine Receptors (RyRs) are ion channels that regulate muscle contraction by releasing calcium ions from intracellular stores into the cytoplasm. Mutations in skeletal muscle RyR (RyR1) give rise to congenital diseases such as the Central Core Disease. The absence of high-resolution structures of RyR1 has limited our understanding of channel function and disease mechanisms at the molecular level. Here, we report a structural model of the pore-forming region of RyR1 and electrophysiological studies on a Central Core Disease mutant RyR1-G4898R. Molecular dynamics simulations on the structural model show preferential localization of Ca2+ over K+ in the selectivity filter. We observe high ion binding to the residues D4899, E4900, D4938 and D4945 along the pore, which are experimentally known to be critical for channel function and selectivity. Furthermore, simulations on the mutant RyR1-D4899Q show a loss of preference to Ca2+ in the selectivity filter as seen experimentally. Electrophysiological experiments on RyR1-G4898R show constitutively open channels that conduct K+ but not Ca2+. Our simulations with G4898R likewise show a decrease in preference of Ca2+ over K+ in the selectivity filter. Together, the computational and experimental results shed light on the functioning of the RyR1 pore at an atomistic level.
Long-term assessment of settlement and growth of juvenile winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) in New Jersey estuaries

Abstract We examined patterns of metamorphosis, settlement, and growth for young-of-the-year winter flounder over a ten year period (1990–1999) in four estuaries spanning the coast of New Jersey, USA, with the objective to determine the spatial and temporal coherence in these processes. We hypothesised that these processes could be influenced by large-scale climatic factors such as temperature and small-scale, local factors such as predator and prey abundances and differences associated with the localised population structure of winter flounder. Newly settled juveniles were collected in late May/early June each year. Increment counts on sagittal otoliths were used to determine the date of metamorphosis, and increment widths were used to estimate growth rates at two times, just after settlement and just prior to capture. A high level of consistency in spatial patterns among four individual estuaries was evident, and was largely driven by the northernmost site, Sandy Hook, which had higher fish densities and later metamorphosis than the three other sites, and faster growth rates than the two mid-coast sites (Barnegat Bay and Great Bay). In contrast to spatial patterns, consistent temporal patterns were evident only in the timing of metamorphosis, which was delayed in colder years at all sites. Weekly plankton sampling over the same ten year period at one site (Great Bay) yielded winter flounder larvae during a relatively narrow period in spring, with a later peak of abundance in colder years, in agreement with back-calculated dates of metamorphosis for settled juveniles. These patterns suggest that the timing of settlement is driven by large-scale climatic factors that influence the timing of spawning and/or larval development. Interannual variability in densities and growth rates, however, appeared to be independent at each site, indicating control by local environmental factors or genetic differences among local populations. The spatial consistency of growth rates suggests that appropriate nursery areas can be readily identified for juvenile winter flounder. However, subsequent recruitment needs to be verified at the level of local populations to identify contributing source habitats.
Enhanced alcohol self-administration after intermittent versus continuous alcohol vapor exposure.

Background: Ethanol self-administering rats exhibit enhanced responding during withdrawal from continuous exposure to ethanol vapor. This study compared self-administration of ethanol during withdrawal from continuous versus intermittent ethanol vapor. Methods: Experiment 1 examined self-administration of ethanol in rats trained to self-administer ethanol after continuous, intermittent (14 hr on and 10 hr off), or no (i.e., controls) ethanol vapor exposure. Exposure time was equalized such that the intermittent group received 4 weeks of exposure and the continuous group received 2 weeks of exposure. Four self-administration tests were conducted 2 hr after removal from vapor, and each test was separated by 3 to 4 days of ethanol vapor. Experiment 2 examined self-administration of ethanol after 2 weeks of intermittent vapor either 2 or 8 hr after removal from vapor. Experiment 3 addressed the specificity of the increased responding for ethanol by examining saccharin self-administration after 2 weeks of intermittent vapor. Results:Four weeks of intermittent exposure produced an increase in ethanol self-administration during the first withdrawal relative to controls and relative to animals receiving 2 weeks of continuous exposure. The continuous group was indistinguishable from controls on the first test and gradually increased their responding across tests. Two weeks of intermittent exposure also increased ethanol self-administration, and there was no difference in this effect 2 or 8 hr after removal from vapor. There was no difference in saccharin self-administration in control rats and those given 2 weeks of intermittent exposure. Conclusions: The finding that intermittent exposure produces more rapid increases in selfadministration of ethanol relative to continuous exposure suggests that intermittent exposure may be associated with a more rapid escalation of the allostatic processes responsible for excessive ethanol selfadministration. The mechanisms that drive the increases in drinking during withdrawal are similar after 2 and 8 hr of withdrawal and seem to be specific to ethanol.
Preparation of Trifluoroacetates by the Reaction of Trifluoroacetic Anhydride with Certain Oxides or Oxosalts.

Abstract : A number of procedures have been used in the past to prepare trifluoroacetates of many different elements. The present paper reports synthesis of the new compounds NaBi(CF3COO)4, NaAsO(CF3COO)2, Bi(CF3COO)3, Na2Te(CF3COO)6, NH4VO(CF3COO)3, VO2(CF3COO) and IO2(CF3COO), by the reaction of trifluoroacetic anhydride with suitable oxides or oxosalts. (Author)
Thermo-mechanical analysis of thermoelectric modules

The present paper studies the thermo-mechanical performance of thermoelectric modules by utilizing the Finite Element Analysis FEA simulation software ANSYS. A typical type TEG device with 32 pairs of legs was constructed. Three different thickness for the pads with 100um, 500um, and 1000um were given for investigating the geometry effect. The thermo-electric results got well confirmed compared with analytical solution. The maximum Von Mises stress occurs on the contact surface between top pad and top substrate due to the large CTE mismatch between the copper pad and the A1N substrate, especially in the higher temperature case. This stress might lead to module failure and reduce the reliability.
Problematizations of women's underrepresentation: Comparing educator interviews with the literature

Various arguments for increasing diversity and the presence of underrepresented groups in engineering have been put forth. However, little attention has been paid to those arguments themselves or their implications. The goal of this paper is to call attention to the need for further reflection upon and analysis of how engineering educators understand and discuss underrepresentation and diversity. Specifically, it examines the motivations of a diverse group of engineering educators to undertake work on feminist engineering education initiatives. It builds on prior scholarship from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) of the ways in which underrepresentation has been framed as a problem. Participants' responses to the question of why underrepresentation is a problem are quoted at length and discussed. They are compared with prior findings from an analysis of the framings found in engineering education publications. Several differences between the publications and interview data are identified and the implications of these findings for engineering education, engineering education research, underrepresentation, and diversity more broadly, are then discussed.
Nonparametric identification of continuous linear systems with discrete measurements

Formulas for the pseudoinverse of a compact operator are applied to linear system identification and scattering function estimation from a finite set of noisy measurements. The result is a nonparametric estimator possessing several desirable features. The approach encompasses the Modified Discrete Fourier Transform and is applied herein to the important problem of closely spaced object resolsution in radar/optical signal processing.
An implementation of the ACM/SIGGRAPH proposed graphics standard in a multisystem environment

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) has implemented a graphics system designed to support one user interface for all graphics devices in all operating environments at LASL. The Common Graphics System (CGS) will support Level One of the graphics standard proposed by the ACM/SIGGRAPH Graphic Standards Planning Committee.CGS is available in six operating environments of two different word lengths and supports four types of graphics devices. It can generate a pseudodevice file that may be postprocessed and edited for a particular graphics device, or it can generate device-specific graphics output directly. Program overlaying and dynamic buffer sharing are also supported.CGS is structured to isolate operating system dependencies and graphics device dependencies. It is written in the RATFOR (RATional FORtran) language, which supports control flow statements and macro expansion. CGS is maintained as a single source program from which each version can be extracted automatically.
Exotic plants contribute positively to biodiversity functions but reduce native seed production and arthropod richness

Although exotic plants comprise a substantial portion of floristic biodiversity, their contributions to community and ecosystem processes are not well understood. We manipulated plant species richness in old-field communities to compare the impacts of native vs. exotic species on plant biomass, seed production, and arthropod community structure. Plants within diverse communities, regardless of whether they were native or exotic, had higher biomass and seed production than in monocultures and displayed positive complementarity. Increasing native or exotic plant richness also enhanced the richness of arthropods on plants, but exotics attracted fewer arthropod species for a given arthropod abundance than did natives. Additionally, when exotic and native plants grew together, exotics suppressed seed production of native species. Thus, exotic plants appear to contribute positively to some biodiversity functions, but may impact native communities over longer time frames by reducing native seed production and recruiting fewer arthropod species.
Race, Education, and Weight Change in a Biracial Sample of Women at Midlife

Methods: We examined the interactive effects of race and 3 levels of education (low [high school or less]; moderate [some college]; and high [college degree or more]) on body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) and changes in BMI over 4 years in 2019 middle-aged African American and white women from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Data were analyzed with mixed effects regression models. Results: At baseline, we observed a significant race education interaction (estimate, –3.7; 95% confidence interval, –5.3 to �2.1; P.001) on BMI. Compared with whites, African Americans had higher BMIs, but only at the moderate (means, 32.1 and 29.2) and highest (means, 31.5 and 27.8) level of education. At the lowest level of education, African American and white women were similar in BMI (means, 31.1 [African American] and 31.2 [white]). Body mass index increased significantly for all women over follow-up (estimate, 0.22; 95% confidence interval, 0.17 to 0.26;P.001), but increases did not differ by race, education, or race education. Results were unchanged after adjustment for potential confounding variables. Conclusions: For middle-aged women, racial disparities in BMI are largely patterned by education, with the greatest disparities observed at higher levels of education. The absence of significant longitudinal effects suggests that these race-education patterns are set in place and well established before midlife. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:545-551
Dilation of Malignant Strictures in Endoscopic Ultrasound Staging of Esophageal Cancer and Metastatic Spread of Disease

Background. Dilation of malignant strictures in endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) staging of esophageal cancer is safe, but no data exists regarding the subsequent development of metastases. Aim. Compare the rates of metastases in esophageal cancer patients undergoing EUS staging who require esophageal dilation in order to pass the echoendoscope versus those who do not. Methods. We reviewed consecutive patients referred for EUS staging of esophageal cancer. We evaluated whether dilation was necessary in order to pass the echoendoscope, and for the subsequent development of metastases after EUS at various time intervals. Results. Among all patients with similar stage (locally advanced disease, defined as T3, N0, M0 or T1-3, N1, M0), there was no difference between the dilated and nondilated groups in the rates of metastases at 3 months (14% versus 10%), 𝑃=1.0, 6 months (28% versus 20%), 𝑃=0.69, 12 months (43% versus 40%), 𝑃=1.0, or ever during a mean followup of 15 months (71% versus 55%), 𝑃=0.48. Conclusions. Dilation of malignant strictures for EUS staging of esophageal cancer does not appear to lead to higher rates of distant metastases.
Estimation of non-negative ODFs using the eigenvalue distribution of spherical functions

Current methods in high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) estimate the probability density function of water diffusion as a continuous-valued orientation distribution function (ODF) on the sphere. However, such methods could produce an ODF with negative values, because they enforce non-negativity only at finitely many directions. In this paper, we propose to enforce non-negativity on the continuous domain by enforcing the positive semi-definiteness of Toeplitz-like matrices constructed from the spherical harmonic representation of the ODF. We study the distribution of the eigenvalues of these matrices and use it to derive an iterative semi-definite program that enforces non-negativity on the continuous domain. We illustrate the performance of our method and compare it to the state-of-the-art with experiments on synthetic and real data.
A comparison of item and source forgetting

The purpose of the present research was to compare memory for an item with memory for the item’s source. Experiment 1 investigated discrimination between two external sources: each item in a list of words was spoken in either a male or a female voice. Subjects received a test of item recognition and a test of source monitoring at each of four delay intervals (immediate, 30 min, 48 h, 1 week). In contrast with previous research, no evidence of differential forgetting rates for item and source information was found. With delay intervals of 0 and 48 h, Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 while adding a reality monitoring condition that required discrimination between an internal (i.e., self-generated) and an external source. Subjects were better at making internal-external discriminations than at making external-external discriminations, but both types of source monitoring declined at the same rate as memory for the items themselves.
A novel signal detection algorithm for identifying hidden drug-drug interactions in adverse event reports.

Objective Adverse drug events (ADEs) are common and account for 770000 injuries and deaths each year and drug interactions account for as much as 30% of these ADEs. Spontaneous reporting systems routinely collect ADEs from patients on complex combinations of medications and provide an opportunity to discover unexpected drug interactions. Unfortunately, current algorithms for such “signal detection” are limited by underreporting of interactions that are not expected. We present a novel method to identify latent drug interaction signals in the case of underreporting. Materials and Methods We identified eight clinically significant adverse events. We used the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System to build profiles for these adverse events based on the side effects of drugs known to produce them. We then looked for pairs of drugs that match these single-drug profiles in order to predict potential interactions. We evaluated these interactions in two independent data sets and also through a retrospective analysis of the Stanford Hospital electronic medical records. Results We identified 171 novel drug interactions (for eight adverse event categories) that are significantly enriched for known drug interactions (p¼0.0009) and used the electronic medical record for independently testing drug interaction hypotheses using multivariate statistical models with covariates. Conclusion Our method provides an option for detecting hidden interactions in spontaneous reporting systems by using side effect profiles to infer the presence of unreported adverse events.
Crystal Structure and Properties of N6/AMCC Copolymer from Theory and Fiber XRD

The MSXX force field developed previously from ab initio quantum calculations for studies of nylon are used to study the crystal structure and properties of the copolymer of nylon 6 with AMCC (4-aminomethylcyclohexanecarboxylic acid). For the isolated chain conformation of the copolymer, we consider both axial and equatorial connections of the chain with the cyclohexane ring and find that the best is chair-ee-St, which has equatorial connections on both ends of chair cyclohexane. We consider 12 possible crystal structures for the copolymer (the best four conformations of the isolated chain with the three forms of packing these chains: α form, γ form, and δ form). With 12.5% of AMCC in the copolymer, we find that the γ form with the chair-ee-St chain structure is the most stable, even though the α form is most stable for nylon 6. The calculated X-ray diffraction patterns of the predicted crystal structure fit both equatorial and meridional scans of XRD very well. There are two reasons that make α form less stable for the copolymer. One is the bad contact between the axial hydrogen atoms of the cyclohexane ring and the CH2 hydrogens. The other is the difficulty of intramolecular H-bonds in the copolymer. The predicted chain-axis repeat distance of the copolymer (0 K) is 1.4 A smaller than for the α form of Nylon 6, in good agreement with the X-ray results, which indicates that it is 1.5 A smaller (at 300 K). Young's modulus in the chain direction is calculated to be 93 GPa for the copolymer (at 0 K), which compares to 135 and 295 GPa predicted for γ form and α form nylon 6, respectively. The introduced cyclohexane ring locates between the two amide pockets of the adjacent hydrogen bond sheets and has two major effects on the properties of the copolymer: (i) It causes twisted conformations, which decreases Young's modulus of the copolymer in chain direction. (ii) It makes the chain rigid, which likely is responsible for the decrease in sensitivity of the copolymer to moisture.
Neurognostics Question. Metamorphosis of a man: diagnosing Joseph Merrick. Proteus syndrome.

Although Joseph Carey Merrick (1862–1890) was born under normal circumstances in Leicester, England, on August 5, 1862, his disease began to manifest itself before his second birthday. A swollen li...
Home Environment Considerations for People with Alzheimer's Disease

The purpose of this pilot study was to develop a home assessment specifically designed for people with Dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT), and determine its effectiveness in designing appropriate environmental strategies. Since the home environment plays an integral role in monitoring ADL performance and behaviors of the AD population, an understanding of how environmental cues influence function and conduct is crucial when assessing and developing environmental intervention strategies. The new assessment, using a person-environment fit theoretical model, assisted the occupational therapist in evaluating the environment's legibility and stability to ensure a safe environment through specific physical, psychological, and social cues.
Gallbladder volume as a biomarker for the motilin effect in healthy volunteers and patients with functional dyspepsia

Decreases in gallbladder volume have been suggested as a biomarker for motilin activity in man. Yet, this could not be confirmed in 4 placebo-controlled cross-over studies with 10–12 subjects each. Therefore a meta-analysis was done on the data from these studies to investigate a motilin effect on gallbladder volume in healthy volunteers and patients with functional dyspepsia (FD). Forty-three healthy volunteers and 10 patients with FD received motilin (4 pmol/kg/min) or placebo in four separate double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, cross-over studies. Gallbladder volume was measured by ultrasonography. Analysis of variance of the combined data of these studies was performed to allow differentiation between patients and healthy volunteers. Baseline gallbladder volume was similar for placebo and motilin treatment, and between patients and healthy volunteers. Motilin significantly decreased gallbladder volume in healthy volunteers (p=0.003) and patients (p<0.0001) with the decrease being greater in patients (p=0.03). A linear concentration-response relationship was observed. The motilin effect was consistent across the 4 studies. Interdigestive gallbladder volume is a non-invasive endpoint for motilin activity, displaying a consistent response to motilin and a clear concentration-response relationship. However, it is less suitable as biomarker for future pharmacological studies on motilin agonist or antagonists as the effect is probably indirect and as a large study population is required. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2004) 75, P57–P57; doi: 10.1016/j.clpt.2003.11.218
Tackling the Transition: A Multi-Mode Combustion Model of SI and HCCI for Mode Transition Control

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) offers a promising way to improve efficiency and emissions. However, when HCCI is induced by reinducting exhaust gases, less power is produced. A possible solution is to couple HCCI with spark ignition (SI) operation at higher loads. This requires a way to smoothly switch between combustion modes. The authors present a multi-cycle, multi-mode combustion model to aid in understanding and controlling the mode transition. The model captures early ignition and low work after a switch from SI to HCCI. Furthermore, the model reveals a need to coordinate intake and exhaust valve timing to correct the HCCI phase and work. To demonstrate the model, the paper concludes with an example trajectory that maintains constant work and ignition phasing after a switch from SI to HCCI.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Genus-Specific Detection of Salmonellae using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

Oligonucleotide primers for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that enable genus-specific detection of members of the genus Salmonella were developed. The primers amplify a 496-bp genetic sequence of members of the genus Salmonella. Amplification of DNA extracted from all other genera of the family Enterobacteriaceae and various other gram-positive aerobic and anaerobic bacteria yielded negative results. Applications of the PCR using these genus-specific primers are discussed.
The MPEG-4 Structured Audio standard

The MPEG-4 standard defines numerous tools that represent the state-of-the-art in representation, transmission, and decoding of multimedia data. Among these is a new type of audio standard, termed "Structured Audio". The MPEG-4 standard for structured audio allows for the efficient, flexible description of synthetic music and sound effects, and the use of synthetic sound in synchronization with natural sound in interactive multimedia scenes. A discussion of the capabilities, technological underpinnings, and application of MPEG-4 Structured Audio is presented.
Conserved region I of human coactivator TAF4 binds to a short hydrophobic motif present in transcriptional regulators.

TBP-associated factor 4 (TAF4), an essential subunit of the TFIID complex acts as a coactivator for multiple transcriptional regulators, including Sp1 and CREB. However, little is known regarding the structural properties of the TAF4 subunit that lead to the coactivator function. Here, we report the crystal structure at 2.0-A resolution of the human TAF4-TAFH domain, a conserved domain among all metazoan TAF4, TAF4b, and ETO family members. The hTAF4-TAFH structure adopts a completely helical fold with a large hydrophobic groove that forms a binding surface for TAF4 interacting factors. Using peptide phage display, we have characterized the binding preference of the hTAF4-TAFH domain for a hydrophobic motif, DΨΨζζΨΦ, that is present in a number of nuclear factors, including several important transcriptional regulators with roles in activating, repressing, and modulating posttranslational modifications. A comparison of the hTAF4-TAFH structure with the homologous ETO-TAFH domain reveals several critical residues important for hTAF4-TAFH target specificity and suggests that TAF4 has evolved in response to the increased transcriptional complexity of metazoans.
Ventilator-associated infection

Purpose of reviewVentilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the most serious and controversial of the infections of the critically ill patient. The accuracy of standard methods of diagnosis remains under constant scrutiny, and at the same time there is increasing debate about whether it is a preventab
Mechanical Behavior of Indium Oxide Thin Films on Polymer Substrates

We report on the change in electrical resistance of tin doped indium oxide thin films on polymer substrates with increasing uniaxial strain. The resistance increases rapidly but continuously above a threshold strain. The threshold strain at which the resistance increases is correlated to the onset of cracking in the oxide film. The strain for cracking and increase in resistance depend upon film thickness. We have measured the distance between neighboring ITO cracks as a function of strain in situ using an optical microscope. At high uniaxial strains the ITO layer fails in the orthogonal direction due to lateral contraction of the polymer substrate. The gradual increase in resistance is modeled assuming there is a conducting layer at the polymer/ITO interface.
Acceptance or Acceptability

This chapter will argue that current consciousness-raising programs that promote an attitude of “acceptance” towards persons with disabilities as part of a more general valorization of diversity1 are insufficient for promoting the full inclusion of young persons with disabilities. These efforts address only part of the solution and must be expanded to consider the basic realities that govern much of social life.
Integration of Basic-Clinical Sciences, PBL, CBL, and IPE in U.S. Dental Schools’ Curricula and a Proposed Integrated Curriculum Model for the Future

The integration of basic and clinical sciences in dental curricula enhances the application of basic science principles to clinical decision making and improves students' critical thinking. The aim of this study was to define the characteristics of U.S. dental schools' curricula with regard to level of course integration and degree of incorporation of problem-based and case-based learning. A second aim was to propose a dental curriculum that supports effective integration of courses and addresses some of the concerns facing academic dentistry. A survey was sent to 58 academic deans in U.S. dental schools. The survey included questions about integrating courses in the schools' curricula and major changes in curricular structure or teaching pedagogy that respondents anticipated in the immediate future. A total of 31 schools responded to the survey, for a 53.4% response rate. The results showed that three-quarters of the responding schools still teach basic and clinical sciences separately, although 61.3% reported having an integrated curriculum. Among the responding schools, 16 had a PBL component integrated into their curricula (two had integrated PBL in all courses and 14 used a hybrid PBL approach). Two schools had CBL integrated in all courses, and ten had CBL integrated in >75% of courses. Only slightly more than half agreed that their curricula foster students' thinking "outside the box." Faculty shortages and lack of protected time and resources were the most frequent reasons given for a lack of integrated courses. The integrated model proposed in this article has the potential to provide a low stress environment for students and to address important issues like faculty shortages.
Comparison of Charged Particle Tracking Methods for Non-Uniform Magnetic Fields

Five particle tracking methods are compared for their ability to determine trajectory and conserve energy. The trajectory integrators include: the Boris particle tracking method (a widely used method for charged particles), the classical fourth order Runge-Kutta (a ubiquitous high order integrator), Stormer-Verlet as a partitioned Runge-Kutta (a second order symplectic integrator), fourth order Gauss Runge-Kutta (a fourth order symplectic integrator), and Wirz's modied Boris method (a new particle tracker constructed to handle large magnetic gradients). In general, it is the goal of this study to compare the symplectic integrators with the classical methods, as well as benchmark the Wirz's algorithm against these proven particle trackers. The symplectic integrators control their overall energy error, but at the cost of being implicit, where as the classical \Newtonian" methods are explicit but slowly accumulate errors in energy over time. Wirz's modied Boris is shown to strike the balance between the two classes with explicit implementation and conservation of total energy.
Q: When do Raynaud symptoms merit a workup for autoimmune rheumatic disease?

Clues to systemic disease include prolonged and painful attacks that can cause ulceration or gangrene. Other clues are older age at onset, male sex, and asymmetric involvement.
An efficient basket trial design

The landscape for early phase cancer clinical trials is changing dramatically because of the advent of targeted therapy. Increasingly, new drugs are designed to work against a target such as the presence of a specific tumor mutation. Because typically only a small proportion of cancer patients will possess the mutational target, but the mutation is present in many different cancers, a new class of basket trials is emerging, whereby the drug is tested simultaneously in different baskets, that is, subgroups of different tumor types. Investigators desire not only to test whether the drug works but also to determine which types of tumors are sensitive to the drug. A natural strategy is to conduct parallel trials, with the drug 's effectiveness being tested separately, using for example, the popular Simon two-stage design independently in each basket. The work presented is motivated by the premise that the efficiency of this strategy can be improved by assessing the homogeneity of the baskets ' response rates at an interim analysis and aggregating the baskets in the second stage if the results suggest the drug might be effective in all or most baskets. Via simulations, we assess the relative efficiencies of the two strategies. Because the operating characteristics depend on how many tumor types are sensitive to the drug, there is no uniformly efficient strategy. However, our investigation demonstrates that substantial efficiencies are possible if the drug works in most or all baskets, at the cost of modest losses of power if the drug works in only a single basket. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Acculturation, access to care and use preventive health services by Vietnamese women.

PURPOSE OF THE PAPER. The purposes of this study were to examine the relationships between acculturation and (1) access to health services and (2) use of preventive services among Vietnamese women in western Massachusetts. METHODS. The telephone survey method was conducted with 141 Vietnamese women ages 18 years or over. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. Of the acculturation variables, language acculturation was significantly related to having a routine place for health care and a regular provider. Women tended to have better access to health service with an increase in the length of residence in the US. Length of residence in the US was an independent predictor of prior use of Pap test and clinical breast examination. CONCLUSIONS. Utilization level of preventive health services among study group participants was low. The findings indicate that length of residence and increase in language capacity (more English usage) lead to more adequate access to health care. RELEVANCE TO ASIAN PACIFIC ISLANDER AMERICAN POPULATIONS. This study is particularly relevant to Vietnamese American women in the U.S. KEY WORDS. Vietnamese women; acculturation; preventive heaslth services; Massachusetts.
Antiphospholipid syndrome: an overview.

1. Angelica Black[⇑][1] 1. is Captain, USAF, BSC, Air Force Institute of Technology, Civilian Institution Programs 1. Address for correspondence: Angelica Black, 119 Linden Ridge Road, Laurel MD 20724. (301) 604-3949. angieandken{at}verizon.net This paper reviews antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), also known as Hughes syndrome, which is a potentially life-threatening autoimmune disorder where the body produces antibodies directed toward phospholipids and phospholipid-binding proteins. Diagnosis of this syndrome relies on both clinical and laboratory criteria. Laboratory testing used for diagnosing APS includes coagulation assays for the detection of lupus anticoagulant (LA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antiphospholipid antibody (APL) detection. APS, which was first described by Graham Hughes in 1983,1 is an auto-immune disorder that is characterized by the presence of APL, arterial and/or venous thrombosis, and repeated pregnancy loss. The syndrome is categorized as primary or secondary based on whether it occurs alone (primary APS) or in the presence of other diseases (secondary APS), primarily autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus.2 Patients with APS progress seldom to the catastrophic form of this disorder which is characterized by multiple organ infarcts transcending to multiple organ failure within days. The syndrome is more commonly noted in young to middle-aged adults and exhibits a female predominance.3 APL can occur in connective tissue disorders, infectious disease states such as syphilis and AIDS, and may be drug induced. They can also occur incidentally in healthy individuals and as a result, APL are considered clinically significant only when present in APS.4 Mechanisms of pathogenicity In APS, APL consist of LA, anticardiolipin antibodies, and anticardiolipin antibodies that recognize specific target molecules such as beta2-glycoprotein I (β2-GPI), prothrombin, protein C, protein S, and annexin V.5,6 The exact mechanism in which… ABBREVIATIONS: APL = antiphospholipid antibodies; APS = antiphospholipid syndrome; APTT = activated partial thromboplastin time; β2-GPI = beta2-glycoprotein I; dRVVT = dilute Russell's viper venom time; ELISA = enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Ig = immunoglobulin; KCT = kaolin clotting time; LA = lupus anticoagulant [1]: #corresp-1
Can science on transformation transform science? Lessons from co-design

Increasingly, ‘co-design’ is a key concept and approach in global change and sustainability research, in the scholarship on science–policy interactions, and an expressed expectation in research programs and initiatives. This paper situates co-design and then synthesizes insights from real-life experiences of co-developing research projects in this Special Issue. It highlights common co-design elements (parameters and considerations of co-design and purpose-driven engagement activities); discusses challenges experienced in co-design and then emphasizes a range of rarely articulated benefits of co-design for both researchers, societal partners and the work they aim to do together. The paper summarizes some of the knowledge gains on social transformation to sustainability from the co-design phase and concludes that co-design as a process is an agent of transformation itself.
Solubility of argon in laser additive manufactured α-titanium under hot isostatic pressing condition

Abstract The solubility of Ar in α-Ti under temperature and pressure conditions typical to hot isostatic pressing (HIP) of pore-laden laser additive manufactured parts is investigated. The equilibrium pressure and radius of an Ar-containing pore during HIP, as a function of initial pore radius, are evaluated from a thermodynamics perspective. It is found that a reduction in pore radius by one to two orders of magnitude, as well as extremely high pore pressures on the order of GPa, can result from HIP. Using density functional theory (DFT), the formation energies of Ar solutes in the pure Ti matrix are calculated. Several different types of solutes, including interstitial in single crystal and substitutional in both single crystal and ( 1 0 1 ¯ 1 ) and ( 1 0 1 ¯ 2 ) twin boundaries, are considered in the calculations. The solubility of Ar in Ti is then calculated based on the formation energies as a function of both temperature and pressure. Although the dissolution of Ar in Ti is highly endothermic, substitutional Ar atoms in Ti, especially in crystallographic defects like twin boundaries, have been found to possess significantly lower formation energies than interstitials. The corresponding solubility of Ar within the Ti matrix is found to be very low. However, it increases substantially under the elevated pressure and temperature conditions in the pores during HIP, which further facilitates the removal of Ar.
A helicase-independent activity of eIF4A in promoting mRNA recruitment to the human ribosome

In the scanning model of translation initiation, the decoding site and latch of the 40S subunit must open to allow the recruitment and migration of messenger RNA (mRNA); however, the precise molecular details for how initiation factors regulate mRNA accommodation into the decoding site have not yet been elucidated. Eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 3j is a subunit of eIF3 that binds to the mRNA entry channel and A-site of the 40S subunit. Previous studies have shown that a reduced affinity of eIF3j for the 43S preinitiation complex (PIC) occurs on eIF4F-dependent mRNA recruitment. Because eIF3j and mRNA bind anticooperatively to the 43S PIC, reduced eIF3j affinity likely reflects a state of full accommodation of mRNA into the decoding site. Here, we have used a fluorescence-based anisotropy assay to quantitatively determine how initiation components coordinate their activities to reduce the affinity of eIF3j during the recruitment of mRNA to the 43S PIC. Unexpectedly, we show that a full reduction in eIF3j affinity for the 43S PIC requires an ATP-dependent, but unwinding-independent, activity of eIF4A. This result suggests that in addition to its helicase activity, eIF4A uses the free energy of ATP binding and hydrolysis as a regulatory switch to control the conformation of the 43S PIC during mRNA recruitment. Therefore, our results define eIF4A as a universal initiation factor in cap-dependent translation initiation that functions beyond its role in RNA unwinding.
Purpose in Life and Hospitalization for Ambulatory Care-Sensitive Conditions in Old Age.

Objective To test the hypothesis that higher level of purpose in life is associated with lower subsequent odds of hospitalization. Design Longitudinal cohort study. Setting Participants' residences in the Chicago metropolitan area. Participants A total of 805 older persons who completed uniform annual clinical evaluations. Measurements Participants annually completed a standard self-report measure of purpose in life, a component of well-being. Hospitalization data were obtained from Part A Medicare claims records. Based on previous research, ICD-9 codes were used to identify ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (ACSCs) for which hospitalization is potentially preventable. The relation of purpose (baseline and follow-up) to hospitalization was assessed in proportional odds mixed models. Results During a mean of 4.5 years of observation, there was a total of 2,043 hospitalizations (442 with a primary ACSC diagnosis; 1,322 with a secondary ACSC diagnosis; 279 with no ACSCs). In initial analyses, higher purpose at baseline and follow-up were each associated with lower odds of more hospitalizations involving ACSCs but not hospitalizations for non-ACSCs. Results were comparable when those with low cognitive function at baseline were excluded. Adjustment for chronic medical conditions and socioeconomic status reduced but did not eliminate the association of purpose with hospitalizations involving ACSCs. Conclusions In old age, higher level of purpose in life is associated with lower odds of subsequent hospitalizations for ambulatory care–sensitive conditions.
Competitor Identification and High Speed Competitive Interactions

This paper explains how spatial distance and competitor similarity influence firm identification of relevant competitors in geographically differentiated markets. In contrast to prior studies that ...
Reliance on individuating information and stereotypes in implicit and explicit person perception

Abstract This research investigated whether stereotypes or individuating information take primacy in implicit and explicit person perception. Study 1 investigated whether variation in the diagnosticity of individuating information moderated stereotype bias in implicit and explicit person perception. Increases in diagnosticity produced a linear reduction in explicit and implicit stereotype bias; with more diagnostic individuating information, there was less bias. Studies 2 and 3 examined the effects on person perception of racial stereotypes and of diagnostic individuating information that varied in valence. Study 2 found no substantial implicit or explicit anti-Black stereotype bias in the presence of diagnostic individuating information and large individuating information effects on explicit person perception. Study 3 found no explicit anti-Black stereotype bias in the presence of diagnostic individuating information and that individuating information influenced both implicit and explicit person perception. Together, these studies showed that individuating information can reduce or eliminate stereotype bias in implicit and explicit person perception and that its effect depends on the diagnosticity of the information. In addition, patterns of reliance on stereotypes and individuating information in implicit and explicit person perception generally converged. Results are discussed in the context of current controversies about the processes underlying implicit and explicit social cognition.
Parsing Clinical Text: How Good are the state-of-the-art Deep Learning Based Parsers?

A dependency parser generates both a syntactic structure and a shallow semantic structure of a sentence. It is a fundamental component of natural language processing (NLP) based pipelines, which are critical to facilitate research using the Electronic Health Records (EHR). However, current works mainly apply parsers developed in the general English domain to clinical text. There are no formal evaluations and comparisons of deep learning based dependency parsers in the medical domain. No state-of-the-art dependency parsing performance has been established on clinical text, either. In this study, we investigated the performance of four state-ofthe-art deep learning based dependency parsers, Stanford parser, Bist-parser, dependency_tf parser and jPTDP parser, respectively. Experiments for evaluation are conducted on two datasets: (1) The MiPACQ Treebank and (2) A Treebank of progress notes. Our results showed that the original parsers achieved lower performance in clinical text compared to general English text. After retraining on the clinical Treebank, all parsers obtained better performance. Besides, using word embeddings from Gigaword and MIMICIII yielded comparable performance. Interestingly, the transition-based parsers demonstrated stronger generalizability on different treebanks than the graph-based parsers. Overall, Bist-parser achieved the best performance on MiPACQ (88.95% UAS, 92.69% LS, 86.10% LAS). Stanford parser achieved the best performance on progress notes (84.01% UAS, 89/97% LS, 80.72% LAS).
Hydrogen sulfide-mediated regulation of cell death signaling ameliorates adverse cardiac remodeling and diabetic cardiomyopathy.

The death of cardiomyocytes is a precursor for the cascade of hypertrophic and fibrotic remodeling that leads to cardiomyopathy. In diabetes mellitus (DM), the metabolic environment of hyperglycemi...