cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Apgar score and neonatal blood pressure. A comparative study of obstetric methods in Sweden and in the United States.

Abstract Obstetric techniques as applied to uncomplicated deliveries in a Swedish and an American hospital are described. A comparison by Apgar score is made of 200 American and 100 Swedish babies. At one minute, babies born in Sweden scored significantly higher than those born in America, but at 5 minutes this difference was no longer striking. The differences in techniques, including anesthesia, analgesia, barbiturate sedation, and instrumentation, and their relationship to the Apgar score are discussed. Serial indirect blood pressure recordings in 14 newborn infants whose mothers received general anesthesia and sedation are compared to 40 babies whose mothers received minimal anesthesia and sedation.
Visual Diagnosis: 19-year-old Boy with Syncope and Bradycardia.

1. Christina A. Nelson, MD, MPH* 2. Mark A. Farina, PA-C† 3. Daniel Olson, MD‡ 4. Samuel R. Dominguez, MD, PhD‡ 5. Elizabeth J. McFarland, MD‡ 1. *Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO. 2. †Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Hospital Colorado, Aurora, CO. 3. ‡Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO. A 19-year-old adolescent with Asperger syndrome experiences a syncopal episode during which he falls and strikes his head while standing outdoors with friends. The episode occurs in June in Colorado, where the patient and his family live. Emergency medical personnel find the patient conscious but experiencing bradycardia upon their arrival. The patient does not remember the episode, does not report any presyncopal symptoms, and states that he had been feeling well earlier that day. He has no prior history of syncopal episodes or cardiac conditions. Two weeks earlier the patient was seen by his primary care physician for an annual physical examination and noted to have bradycardia, with a heart rate of approximately 40 beats per minute. He was otherwise well and reported no recent constitutional symptoms, respiratory illness, rash, or cardiac-related symptoms such as palpitations. Sinus bradycardia was confirmed by electrocardiography (ECG) with no other abnormalities, and the patient was referred for outpatient cardiology evaluation. A pre-visit 24-hour ambulatory ECG demonstrated predominantly sinus rhythm with second-degree (Wenckebach also known as Mobitz type 1 block.) atrioventricular (AV) block (Fig 1A) and periods of complete AV block (Fig 1B). However, this result and findings from the cardiology evaluation were pending at the time of the syncopal episode. Figure 1. Electrocardiogram tracing from 24-hour ambulatory monitoring 6 days before the patient’s hospital admission revealed: A) predominantly sinus rhythm with second-degree …
The Behavioral Context of Addiction

Psychic dependence is schedule-control of drug-taking behavior. The addict is compelled to take his drug because of the relation of the drug-taking to a schedule of reinforcement. The relation can be: 1. The drug itself functioning as a positive reinforcer. 2. Drug-taking being adjunctive behavior to other behavior maintained on a schedule of reinforcement. 3. The drug-taking acquiring positive reinforcing properties because it is appropriately scheduled. 4. Drug-taking postponing aversive withdrawal symptoms. Relations 1 and 4 are relatively familiar. Relations 2 and 3 are unfamiliar and so are discussed at some length.
Time Transcended: Eliot’s Four Quartets

‘Burnt Norton’ introduces Eliot’s main theme and states his basic problem. The theme is the essential temporality of human existence, and the problem ‘Can time be transcended?’ In several different ways Eliot calls attention to the concatenation of the three time-dimensions: past, present and future. Every passing moment contains in itself, or points to, its past and its future. There is even a hint of determinism in this view; what might have been belongs only to the world of speculation, says Eliot. Of course, that world too is a part of the real world, in the sense that our unfilfilled dreams are a part of what we are. Thus, glancing back to our past, we recall the poignancy of unfulfilled longing, which is just as much a part of ourselves as consummated satisfactions. Eilot sounds a theological note in saying that ‘If all time is eternally present / All time is unredeemable.’ That conclusion is logical enough. From the point of view of eternity the world must be seen as completed, and, if so, unchangeable. So, if the timeless substance of the world is essentially unsatisfactory, there is no way it could be made better or redeemed. Eliot’s stumbling, hesitant soul-searching in this poem reveals his profound misgivings about our ability to find the world satisfactory. But the poem also contains his confessional appraisal of situations in which the possibility of affirmation is fleetingly glimpsed.
The Effect of Control Device on Performance in a Robotic Arm Task

Task operators are using robotic arms more often and in more settings than ever before. However, little is known about what type of control device, zero- or first-order control, will result in the best performance in a teleoperation task. The goal of this research was to investigate the difference in task performance using two different control devices: a joystick controller and a gesture controller. In the experiment, thirty-four undergraduate participants manipulated switches and knobs on a task board with a robotic arm using Xbox and Leap controllers. Performance was reflected by time spent on each task and task completion rate. Data were analyzed using a 2 (control device) x 4 (actuator type) repeated measures ANOVA. The results indicate significant performance differences when manipulating two actuator types, vertical continuous and rotary. We concluded that performance with the Leap controller was superior for some tasks and performance with the Xbox controller was superior for others, particularly ...
Drug-Induced Thrombocytopenia

Drug-induced thrombocytopenia is a fairly common clinical problem, and numerous drugs have been implicated in the development of thrombocytopenia. The risk of thrombocytopenia for any drug is low, and fortunately only a small number of patients taking a suspected medication will develop the problem. However, many patients who develop drug-induced thrombocytopenia are taking multiple medications and are critically ill. Rapid recognition of thrombocytopenia in affected patients and identification and removal of the offending agent before clinically significant bleeding occurs is imperative. Unfortunately, there are no laboratory tests with sufficient specificity or sensitivity to be useful for making the diagnosis. Drug-induced thrombocytopenia is a clinical diagnosis that can be supported only by resolution of thrombocytopenia after cessation of the drug. Certain drugs have a well-documented association with thrombocytopenia, such as quinine, vancomycin, cimetidine, and valproic acid. Thrombocytopenia may be secondary to decreased platelet production or increased platelet destruction.
Zealous Abuse Deniers; Neglect, Siblings

A disruptive group of practitioners have been denying the occurrence of abuse in children, including in courts, despite the views of the majority of physicians and the evidence of mainstream research and practice. One ploy has been to claim, despite radiographic evidence to the contrary, that an infant has rickets. Another problem faced by children even in the absence of overt abuse is child neglect. Siblings of abused children should also be investigated for possible evidence of abuse.
Fiber development and matrix production in tissue-engineered menisci using bovine mesenchymal stem cells and fibrochondrocytes.

ABSTRACTMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been investigated with promising results for meniscus healing and tissue engineering. While MSCs are known to contribute to extracellular matrix (ECM) production, less is known about how MSCs produce and align large organized fibers for application to tissue engineering the meniscus. The goal of this study was to investigate the capability of MSCs to produce and organize ECM molecules compared to meniscal fibrochondrocytes (FCCs). Bovine FCCs and MSCs were encapsulated in an anatomically accurate collagen meniscus using monoculture and co-culture of each cell type. Each meniscus was mechanically anchored at the horns to mimic the physiological fixation by the meniscal entheses. Mechanical fixation generates a static mechanical boundary condition previously shown to induce formation of oriented fiber by FCCs. Samples were cultured for 4 weeks and then evaluated for biochemical composition and fiber development. MSCs increased the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and collag...
Anxious Depression and Neurocognition among Middle-Aged and Older Hispanic/Latino Adults: Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Results

Objective The purpose of this study is to examine the association between verbal learning, fluency, and processing speed with anxious depression symptomatology (ADS) among diverse Hispanics. We hypothesized an inverse association of anxious depression with neurocognition among Hispanics of different heritage. Design Data are from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. The sample included 9,311participants aged 45–74 years (mean: 56.5 years). A latent class analysis of items from the Center for Epidemiological Studies for Depression scale and the Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to derive an anxious depression construct. Neurocognitive measures included scores on the Brief Spanish English Verbal Learning Test (B-SEVLT, learning and recall trials), Word Fluency (WF), Digit Symbol Substitution (DSS) test, and a Global Cognitive Score (GCS). We fit survey linear regression models to test the associations between anxious depression symptomatology and cognitive function. We tested for effect modification by sex, Hispanic heritage, and age groups. Results Among men, 71.6% reported low, 23.3% moderate, and 5.1% high ADS. Among women, 55.1% reported low, 33.2% moderate, and 11.8% high ADS. After controlling for age, sex, sociodemographic characteristics, cardiovascular risk factors and disease, and antidepressant use, we found significant inverse associations between moderate and high anxious depression (ref:low) with B-SEVLT learning and recall, DSS and GCS. Moderate, but not high, anxious depression was inversely associated with WF. Associations were not modified by sex, Hispanic heritage, or age. Conclusions Increased anxious depression symptomatology is associated with decreased neurocognitive function among Hispanics. Longitudinal studies are needed to establish temporality and infer if negative emotional symptoms precede cognitive deficits.
Trajectory Tracking Control of Missiles Using Memory-based Approach

Abstract This work investigates a memory-based approach to autopilot design. The main idea behind the method is to build the control scheme upon certain memorized information such as current system response, previous system response and past control experience. Fundamentally, the desired steering signal in the scheme is generalized from observing and processing the most recent experience stored in a memory. System performance can be continuously improved during system operation. Another advantage of this approach is that the overall required memory space does not grow with time and is much smaller than most existing learning control methods. The effectiveness of proposed method is verified via simulation on the EMRAAT missile.
An overview on Cloud Security and Proposed Solutions

Cloud computing has revolutionized the world of computing in the last few years. The benefits such as reduced costs, rapid application deployment, and elastic resources, have made many organizations to utilize cloud resources or host much of their data in the cloud. Recent studies shown that more than 70 percent of the world’s businesses now operate some of their operations in the cloud. But the security of the data stored in cloud is the major concern. This paper gives a vogue idea about the cloud security threads and its proposed solutions.
A technology-fashion collaborative product: Its impact on consumer attitudes and purchase intention

AbstractThis study seeks to investigate consumers’ willingness to adopt a collaborative product by answering three research questions: (1) how do two types of innovativeness (i.e. technology innovativeness and fashion innovativeness) influence perceived product innovativeness, (2) how do the two types of consumer innovativeness affect utilitarian and hedonic attitudes toward a technology-fashion collaborative product, and (3) how do these effects cooperate to influence consumers to purchase the collaborative product? Data were collected from 339 respondents and structural equation modeling was employed to test the proposed model. Of most interest is that consumers’ utilitarian attitudes toward the product do not influence purchase intentions, whereas consumers’ hedonic attitudes lead to purchase intention of the technology-fashion collaborative product. This study’s findings provide the bases for making suggestions to marketers who are planning to work with another industry regarding whether and how they ...
Why conserving species in the wild still matters

Wildlife conservation efforts have traditionally prioritized protection of species in the wild over protection in zoos and other captive states. This emphasis mirrors a long-held and more general Western view of the wild and wilderness as antidote to the ills of civilization. However, recent philosophical treatments have posited that with the rise of human dominance in the world we have reached the end of nature as distinct from human culture, true wilderness no longer exists, and nature and wilderness are merely social constructs. With the putative disappearance of wild nature, its status as an organizing principle in conservation is called into question. While debate over the objective existence of wild nature continues, this commentary argues that regardless of one’s opinion on the philosophical issue, there are important practical reasons to continue to prioritize conservation of species in the wild. These are: the reality that this is the only practical hope for the vast majority of endangered species, the value of relatively wild habitats in accommodating species’ evolved requirements, the value to both ecosystems and humans of species remaining functional components of ecosystems, and the role of the wild in inspiring conservation action by humans. Ironically, as the world becomes ever less wild, conservation of species in the wild becomes more important.
The Physician’s Approach to Psoriasis and its Victims

Psoriasis is forever an ever more disease. As time goes by, progressively greater effort at treatment is required to keep the disease under control. Therapeutic optimism is sustained by judicious use of old and new treatments, and by sober expectations of drugs around the corner.
Occurrence and Fate of Fumonisins in Beef

For 30 days, two groups of three steers each were fed a diet of herd-mix and alfalfa hay (control) or the diet with part of the herd-mix replaced by corn grits contaminated with 400μg/g FB1 and 130 μg/g FB2. Premortem examination involved liver functionality tests; serum analyses for AST, GGT, LDH, cholesterol, and total bilirubin; urinalysis; and analyses of the blood, urine, and feces for the presence of fumonisins or their metabolites. Postmortem examination involved necropsy, histopathology, and analysis of tissue for fumonisins. Results of the liver functionality test indicated some hepatobiliary compromise in the test animals. Unmetabolized FB1 and FB2 were detected in the feces (≥80%), whereas trace amounts were detected in the urine. Postmortem analysis of the tissues showed 2070 ng/g FB1 in the liver (SD: 1870), 97.3 ng/g FB1 in the muscle (SD: 41), and 23.4 ng/g FB1 in the kidney (SD: 8.7).
The Discrete Wavelet Transform

The MRA structure allows for the convenient, fast, and exact calculation of the wavelet coefficients of an L 2 function by providing a recursion relation between the scaling coefficients at a given scale and the scaling and wavelet coefficients at the next coarser scale. In order to specify this relation, let {V j × be an MRA with scaling function φ(x).
The Oxygen Free Radical System and Myocardial Dysfunction

The pathways for the metabolism of molecular oxygen involve one electron-transfer reaction with the subsequent production of reduced-oxygen intermediates. These reduced-oxygen intermediates include the superoxide anion (·O 2 - ), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and the hydroxyl radical (·OH), which are highly reactive, short-lived species. Normally, intracellular enzyme systems that include superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase are responsible for “scavenging” these products of oxygen metabolism. However, in many pathological states such as inflammation, ischemia, and reperfusion, there is an increased production of these reduced-oxygen intermediates, which are capable of extensive tissue damage. It is the purpose of this symposium to examine, in depth, the role of oxygen free radical systems as mediators of myocardial dysfunction and expand our knowledge of myocardial ischemia, ischemia—reperfusion injury, and the inflammatory response of the myocardium.
Comparison of Sway Reduction Controllers for Construction Cranes

Cranes are commonly used to move heavy cargo from one place to another. Some of the more challenging and dangerous crane environments are construction sites. Transient and residual oscillations of suspended payloads cause safety risks, degrade payload positioning, and slow operations. To control flexible systems such as a crane and reduce oscillations, closed-loop and open-loop control methods can be used. This paper compares a recently proposed open-loop controller using a three-stage piecewise acceleration and deceleration profile to various input-shaping controllers. A fundamental comparison between an input shaper representation of the three-stage accelerator and ZV and ZVD shapers is conducted. Computer simulations are used to compare payload swing as a function of suspension length, as well as maximum acceleration.
Medicinal value of sunflower pollen against bee pathogens

Global declines in pollinators, including bees, can have major consequences for ecosystem services. Bees are dominant pollinators, making it imperative to mitigate declines. Pathogens are strongly implicated in the decline of native and honey bees. Diet affects bee immune responses, suggesting the potential for floral resources to provide natural resistance to pathogens. We discovered that sunflower (Helianthus annuus) pollen dramatically and consistently reduced a protozoan pathogen (Crithidia bombi) infection in bumble bees (Bombus impatiens) and also reduced a microsporidian pathogen (Nosema ceranae) of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera), indicating the potential for broad anti-parasitic effects. In a field survey, bumble bees from farms with more sunflower area had lower Crithidia infection rates. Given consistent effects of sunflower in reducing pathogens, planting sunflower in agroecosystems and native habitat may provide a simple solution to reduce disease and improve the health of economically and ecologically important pollinators.
Risk Estimates for Diabetes and Hypertension with Different Physical Activity Methods.

ABSTRACTPurposeTo estimate risks of incident Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and Stage 2 and greater hypertension associated with self-reported and accelerometer-determined moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) separately and adjusted for each other.MethodsThe sample included 2,291 black and white men an
Examination of dietary habits among the indigenous Kuna Indians of Panama

Evidence for dietary habits among the Kuna Indians of Panama outside of cacao consumption is limited. Global trends suggest an uptake in processed foods conferring risk for chronic disease. This paper aims to provide information on dietary habits and investigate sociodemographic correlates of diet for the indigenous population living off the coast of Panama. This sample included 211 Kuna Indians ages 18 years or older living within the island communities of Ustupu and Ogobsucum. Cross-sectional data was collected using a paper-based survey to assess dietary patterns. Categories of food included: fruits, vegetables, cacao, fish, sodas, fried, junk, and fast foods. Univariate analyses were used to describe demographic variables, followed by chi-squared tests to understand individual correlates of food types. About 85% reported eating fast food at least weekly, 47% reported eating fried food daily, and 11% reported eating junk food daily. Forty-three percent of the sample population reported eating fish daily. Those with poor incomes reported more fish consumption than any other income group (51%, p = 0.02). After adjusting for all covariates, those in higher income categories were less likely to eat fruits, cacao, and fish daily, but were also less likely to eat fast food weekly and junk food daily. Elderly populations (age 60–90 OR = 12.17, 95%CI 2.00, 73.84), women (OR = 3.43, 95%CI 1.23, 9.56), and those with primary education (OR = 4.83, 95%CI 1.01, 23.0) were also more likely to eat fast food weekly. This is the first dietary survey study of the Kuna that focuses on food groups outside of cacao. Results suggest the community could benefit from efforts to increase cultivation of fruits and vegetables and reduce the percentage of energy consumption contributed by fast food, fried food, and junk food. N/A
Drug-seeking: A literature review (and an exemplar of stigmatization in nursing)

Despite its lack of conceptual clarity and uniform definition, the term drug-seeking is used frequently by nurses from a variety of practice environments. The drugs patients are referred to as seeking are often pain medications. This is important because nursing has widely adopted a patient-centric definition of pain. Nursing also has a robust ethical code that places high value on human dignity and nurses' role in patient advocacy. A review of literature was conducted with the aims of describing whether/how the term drug-seeking has changed over time and to determine whether the use of the term in nursing literature is consistent with nursing values. Use of the term has shifted from objective counts of patient requests for medication to a confusing mixture of observable patient behavior and subjective interpretations of patient motivation. Its use is not consistent with nursing values. It is, in fact, a good illustration of stigmatization in nursing. Stigmatization is contrary to nursing values. Nurses in practice, research, education, authors, reviewers, and editors all have a role in ending this stigmatization.
Nonparametric Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines Models for Investigating Lane-Changing Gap Acceptance Behavior Utilizing Strategic Highway Research Program 2 Naturalistic Driving Data:

Gap acceptance is one of the crucial components of lane-changing analysis and an important parameter in microsimulation modeling. Drivers’ poor gap judgment, and failure to accept a necessary safet...
Preliminary investigation of interactive associations of sleep and pain with cognition in sedentary middle-aged and older adults.

Study Objectives:The objective of this study was to examine independent and interactive associations between self-reported sleep (sleep efficiency and total sleep time [TST]) and pain with cognitio...
Microwave Background Anisotropies Due to the Kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect of the Lyα Forest

The Lyα absorption systems observed in the spectra of QSOs are likely to possess bulk peculiar velocities. The free electrons in these systems scatter the microwave background and distort its spectrum through the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. I calculate the temperature fluctuations of the microwave sky due to variations in the number of Lyα systems along different lines of sight throughout the universe. The known population of absorbers out to z ≈ 5 introduces anisotropies on angular scales 1' with an rms amplitude of order ΔT/T ≈ 10-6(ΩLyα/0.05) v -->24001/2, where ΩLyα is the cosmological density parameter of ionized gas in Lyα absorption systems, and v -->24001/2 is the rms line-of-sight peculiar velocity of these systems at z ~ 3 in units of 400 km s-1. Detection of this signal will provide valuable information about the cosmic velocity field and the gas content of Lyα absorption systems at high redshifts.
Deadly Wells in Bangladesh

This case allows instructors to lay out the challenges of providing universal access to safe drinking water in some developing and emerging countries—one of the current UN development goals. The challenge across developing countries is to find long-lasting and sustainable solutions, and to realize that present answers to the challenge may be a far cry from these criteria. The discussion aims to address the complex and multifaceted nature of water supply in developing countries, and to emphasize that many of the assumptions made in advanced economies may not apply. The aim is to search for the best (long-lasting and sustainable) solutions, admitting there is no silver bullet, even though some alternatives are clearly better than others. Excerpt UVA-GEM-0158 Oct. 1, 2019 Deadly Wells in Bangladesh In the early 1980s, K.C. Saha from the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine in India successfully related skin lesions in the Indian state of West Bengal to arsenic in groundwater. In 1992, researchers under the direction of Dipankar Chakraborti from the School of Environmental Studies at Jadavpur University came across an unusual female patient while they were active in the arsenic-affected village of Gobindapur in West Bengal. She was the only one in her West Bengali family with lesions, but she had migrated from Bangladesh after her marriage. It turned out that many of her Bangladeshi relatives had similar lesions, and she had noticed lesions in residents of neighboring Bangladesh villages as well. Soon suspicions were confirmed of arsenic contamination in Bangladesh. In 1994, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) were notified but slow to take action, as were Bangladeshi institutions. Reportedly in 1993, Bangladesh's Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) had already confirmed arsenic contamination in tube wells, which were PVC pipes with a cast-iron hand pump on top. The country and the international health community awoke to the reality and magnitude of the challenge in 1998, when an international conference was convened in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. In 2000, the Bulletin of the World Health Organization described Bangladesh's predicament in the strongest possible terms, which would resonate for many years to come: Bangladesh is grappling with the largest mass poisoning of a population in history because groundwater used for drinking has been contaminated with naturally occurring inorganic arsenic. It is estimated that of the 125million inhabitants of Bangladesh, between 35million and 77million are at risk of drinking contaminated water. The scale of this environmental disaster is greater than any seen before; it is beyond the accidents at Bhopal, India, in 1984, and Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986. . . .
Aero-acoustics of Drag Generating Swirling Exhaust Flows

Aircraft on approach in high-drag and high-lift configuration create unsteady flow structures which inherently generate noise. For devices such as flaps, spoilers and the undercarriage there is a strong correlation between overall noise and drag such that, in the quest for quieter aircraft, one challenge is to generate drag at low noise levels. This paper presents a rigorous aero-acoustic assessment of a novel drag concept. The idea is that a swirling exhaust flow can yield a steady, and thus relatively quiet, streamwise vortex which is supported by a radial pressure gradient responsible for pressure drag. Flows with swirl are naturally limited by instabilities such as vortex breakdown. The paper presents a first aero-acoustic assessment of ram pressure driven swirling exhaust flows and their associated instabilities. The technical approach combines an in-depth aerodynamic analysis, plausibility arguments to qualitatively describe the nature of acoustic sources, and detailed, quantitative acoustic measurements using a medium aperture directional microphone array in combination with a previously established Deconvolution Approach for Mapping of Acoustic Sources (DAMAS). A model scale engine nacelle with stationary swirl vanes was designed and tested in the NASA Langley Quiet Flow Facility at a full-scale approach Mach number of 0.17. The analysis shows that the acoustic signature is comprised of quadrupole-type turbulent mixing noise of the swirling core flow and scattering noise from vane boundary layers and turbulent eddies of the burst vortex structure near sharp edges. The exposed edges are the nacelle and pylon trailing edge and the centerbody supporting the vanes. For the highest stable swirl angle setting a nacelle area based drag coefficient of 0.8 was achieved with a full-scale Overall Sound Pressure Level (OASPL) of about 40dBA at the ICAO approach certification point.
Retroperitoneal sarcomas

The approach to the management of retroperitoneal tumors begins with a complete history and physical examination. Imaging of the abdomen and pelvis by computed tomography (CT) provides both an imaging modality and a method by which to obtain tissue for diagnosis. Because a histologic diagnosis is essential in treatment planning, adequate tissue can usually be obtained by a CT-guided core biopsy. If the diagnosis is sarcoma, additional tests necessary for staging include plain chest radiography and evaluation of the liver by either CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The treatment options for primary retroperitoneal sarcomas include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, or a combination of these modalities; therefore, a multidisciplinary group best manages treatment planning. Primary radiation therapy for cure is seldom effective for retroperitoneal sarcomas but can provide palliation in select cases. Systemic chemotherapy for chemosensitive lesions, such as poorly differentiated liposarcoma, malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH), synovial cell sarcoma, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET), can be useful when used in a neoadjuvant manner. Consequently, surgical resection continues to be the mainstay of treatment for retroperitoneal sarcomas and requires en bloc resection of the primary tumor. Frequently this includes adjacent organs such as colon, small bowel, kidney, adrenal, and pancreas. Postoperative adjuvant therapy with chemotherapy or radiation has not been proven to be of any additional benefit. Overall treatment results are predominantly influenced by tumor stage, grade, size, and margins of surgical resection. Follow-up CT scans at 6-month intervals and surgical resection of recurrences can be valuable.
Approximate Trace Reconstruction: Algorithms

We introduce approximate trace reconstruction, a relaxed version of the trace reconstruction problem. Here, instead of learning a binary string perfectly from noisy samples, as in the original trace reconstruction problem, the goal is to output a string that is close in edit distance to the original string using few traces. We present several algorithms that can approximately reconstruct strings that belong to certain classes, where the estimate is within $n$ / polylog (n) edit distance and where we only use polylog (n) traces (or sometimes just a single trace). These classes contain strings that require a linear number of traces for exact reconstruction and that are quite different from a typical random string. From a technical point of view, our algorithms approximately reconstruct consecutive substrings of the unknown string by aligning dense regions of traces and using a run of a suitable length to approximate each region. A full version of this paper is accessible at: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.06713.pdf
Imaging Quality Assurance

Quality assurance (QA) aims to improve image quality through systematically recording data, conducting training, reviewing medical images, equipment inventory and maintenance, and more. Many of the QA practices began during the analog imaging era and have evolved and improved with digital imaging. Numerous measurable indicators and mechanisms are used to improve performance and image quality. The roles and responsibilities of medical imaging QA span across the imaging department including the radiology technologist, radiologists, medical physicists, administrators, and imaging informatics professionals (IIPs).
Corporate Political Activity and Asset Pricing

This study considers the implications of corporate political activity and political risk on asset pricing. Firms which operate an affiliated political action committee (PAC) outperform firms that do not. Among firms that operate a PAC we find that those that spend relatively less on politics outperform those that spend more and that political risk is successfully hedged by firms that are relatively more politically active than their peers. The difference in performance is largely (but not entirely) explained by exposure to systematic political risk, and there is a component to political risk that is orthogonal to commonly considered risk factors.
Directional mutational pressure affects the amino acid composition and hydrophobicity of proteins in bacteria

The relationship between change in genomic GC content and protein evolution in bacteria was studied by simple correlational analysis (at the genus level) and by Felsenstein's (1985) independent contrast test. We first used the dnaA gene in bacteria as an example to show (1) that the amino acid composition of a protein can be dramatically affected by mutational pressure (the genomic GC content), (2) that surprisingly, deleting relatively closely-related genera may increase rather than decrease the correlation between genomic GC content and amino acid composition, and (3) that most unexpectedly, as the genomic GC content increases, both strongly hydrophobic and strongly hydrophilic amino acids tend to change to ambivalent amino acids, suggesting that the majority of these amino acid substitutions are not caused by positive Darwinian selection. These patterns were then also shown to hold for the 14 other genes studied, indicating their generality for the evolution of bacterial proteins. As directional mutation pressure can affect the amino acid composition of proteins, it may mislead phylogenetic inference, even if protein instead of DNA sequences are used.
Counting Magnetic Bipoles on the Sun by Polarity Inversion

This paper presents a simple and efficient algorithm for deriving images of polarity inversion from NSO/Kitt Peak magnetograms without use of contouring routines and shows by example how these maps depend upon the spatial scale for filtering the raw data. Smaller filtering scales produce many localized closed contours in mixed polarity regions while supergranular and larger filtering scales produce more global patterns. The apparent continuity of an inversion line depends on how the spatial filtering is accomplished, but its shape depends only on scale. The total length of the magnetic polarity inversion contours varies as a power law of the filter scale with fractal dimension of order 1.9. The amplitude but not the exponent of this power-law relation varies with solar activity. The results are compared to similar analyses of areal distributions of bipolar magnetic regions.
Higher Education Costs and the Production of Extension

Do cost considerations justify the current structure of production of extension services in which one or more providers exists in virtually all of the contiguous U.S. states? Provision of extension services has sizable cost implications for the host institutions. Yet, to our knowledge, there has been virtually no analysis of the impact of extension on higher education costs. Using academic year 1995–1996 data, we estimate a multiproduct cost function for 1,445 public institutions of higher education in the United States, including 65 that provide extension services. We find evidence of significant economies of scale with respect to the provision of extension services but no evidence of significant economies of scope between the provision of extension and the production of research, undergraduate education, or graduate education.
Effect of Teichoic Acid on Resistance to the Membrane-lytic Agent of Streptococcus zymogenes

Davie, Joseph M. (Indiana University, Bloomington), and Thomas D. Brock. Effect of teichoic acid on resistance to the membrane-lytic agent of Streptococcus zymogenes. J. Bacteriol. 92:1623–1631. 1966.—The resistance of Streptococcus zymogenes to its own lytic agent has been shown to be due to the production of a specific, inhibitory teichoic acid. A survey of streptococcal strains showed that only strains resistant to the lytic agent produced the specific inhibitor. In addition, the inhibitor can be removed from spheroplasts of resistant strains, thereby making them sensitive to the lysin. Throughout the early part of the growth cycle, the inhibitor is associated with the cell and cannot be found in the medium. During late logarithmic phase, however, the inhibitor is released into the medium by the cells, and therefore is a contributing factor to the apparent lability of the lytic agent. The purified, inhibitory teichoic acid contains ribitol, phosphate, glucose, and d-alanine. The alkaline lability of the biological activity of the teichoic acid was correlated with the hydrolysis of the d-alanine. A streptococcal strain which is sensitive to the membrane-lytic agent produced an inactive ribitol teichoic acid which lacks the ester-linked d-alanine, whereas a lysin-resistant mutant of this strain produces a teichoic acid which contains d-alanine and which has inhibitory activity.
CnC-CUDA: declarative programming for GPUs

The computer industry is at a major inflection point in its hardware roadmap due to the end of a decades-long trend of exponentially increasing clock frequencies. Instead, future computer systems are expected to be built using homogeneous and heterogeneous many-core processors with 10's to 100's of cores per chip, and complex hardware designs to address the challenges of concurrency, energy efficiency and resiliency. Unlike previous generations of hardware evolution, this shift towards many-core computing will have a profound impact on software. These software challenges are further compounded by the need to enable parallelism in workloads and application domains that traditionally did not have to worry about multiprocessor parallelism in the past. A recent trend in mainstream desktop systems is the use of graphics processor units (GPUs) to obtain order-of-magnitude performance improvements relative to general-purpose CPUs. Unfortunately, hybrid programming models that support multithreaded execution on CPUs in parallel with CUDA execution on GPUs prove to be too complex for use by mainstream programmers and domain experts, especially when targeting platforms with multiple CPU cores and multiple GPU devices. In this paper, we extend past work on Intel's Concurrent Collections (CnC) programming model to address the hybrid programming challenge using a model called CnC-CUDA. CnC is a declarative and implicitly parallel coordination language that supports flexible combinations of task and data parallelism while retaining determinism. CnC computations are built using steps that are related by data and control dependence edges, which are represented by a CnC graph. The CnC-CUDA extensions in this paper include the definition of multithreaded steps for execution on GPUs, and automatic generation of data and control flow between CPU steps and GPU steps. Experimental results show that this approach can yield significant performance benefits with both GPU execution and hybrid CPU/GPU execution.
Relative Chlorine Resistance of Poliovirus I and Coliphages f2 and T2 in Water

Phage f2 is markedly more resistant to chlorine in water than either poliovirus or coliphage T2. Its potential use as an indicator of viral pollution is suggested.
Activation of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells in vitro by the biological response modifier arabinoxylan rice bran (MGN-3/Biobran).

Arabinoxylan rice bran (MGN-3/Biobran) is a potent biological response modifier (BRM) that activates natural killer (NK) cells, T cells and monocytes. Currently, little is known regarding the effects of MGN-3 on dendritic cells (DCs), the cell type that bridges innate and adaptive immunity. Therefore, we examined the stimulatory effects of MGN-3 on DCs. Human monocyte-derived DCs were treated with MGN-3 at different concentrations (5-20 microg/ml) for 24 hours in vitro. Activation of DCs was determined by assessing the expression of co-stimulatory and maturation markers (CD40, CD80, CD83, CD86 and HLA-DR) by flow cytometry, and production of cytokines by ELISA. DC function was determined by assessing their ability to activate naive T cells. Activation of T cells was assessed by measuring cell proliferation and cytokine production. MGN-3 treatment, in a dose-dependent manner, resulted in: 1) up-regulation of the surface expression of CD83 and CD86, on DCs; 2) an increase in the production of pro-inflammatory and immuno-regulatory cytokines (IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-alpha, IL-12p40 and low levels of IL-12p70 and IL-2) by DCs; and 3) MGN-3 stimulated DC induced CD4+T cell proliferation and their production of cytokines, IFN-gamma, IL-10, IL-17. Results suggest that MGN-3 functions as a natural adjuvant for DC activation and thus may be used in DC-based vaccine strategies against infections and cancer.
O‐(N‐Succinimidyl)‐1,1,3,3‐tetramethyluronium Tetrafluoroborate

[105832-38-0] C9H16BF4N3O3 (MW 301.051) InChI = 1S/C9H16N3O3.BF4/c1-10(2)9(11(3)4)15-12-7(13)5-6-8(12)14;2-1(3,4)5/h5-6H2,1-4H3;/q+1;-1 InChIKey = YEBLHMRPZHNTEK-UHFFFAOYSA-N (reagent for carboxamide formation from a carboxylic acid and a primary amine; peptide coupling reagent) Physical Data: mp 198–201 °C. Solubility: soluble in DMF, CH2Cl2, CHCl3, CH3CN (0.1 g mL−1), DMF/1,4-dioxane/water (2:2:1). Form Supplied in: colorless powder. Commercially available from Advanced ChemTech (Louisville, KY, USA), Aldrich (Milwaukee, WI, USA), and Fluka Chemical (Milwaukee, WI, USA). Handling, Storage, and Precautions: irritant (eye, skin, respiratory tract). Avoid breathing dust, vapor, moisture, or gas. Avoid contact with skin, eyes and clothing. Moisture-sensitive. For long-term storage, keep under nitrogen atmosphere and refrigerate.
Design, fabrication and modeling of microbeam structures for gas sensor applications in CMOS technology

In this paper we discuss the design, fabrication, and modeling of an electrostatically actuated transducer that is operated in a resonant mode. The transducer is designed for gas sensor applications. The microstructure with high-aspect ratio laminated beam or bridge suspensions, has been fabricated using a 0.6 /spl mu/m three metal, double poly CMOS process. The fabricated chip was post processed by a sequence of two maskless dry etching steps. A thin sorbent polymer layer is included in the design of the microbeam chemical sensor. The devices were designed to provide a relatively large surface area to coat with the sorbent polymer. Gas sorption in the polymer layer can be monitored as a function of the resonant frequency of the device. The device frequency is measured by piezoresistors mounted in a Wheatstone bridge configuration. The fabricated sensors are intended for use in monitoring hazardous gases and vapors. In order to optimize the device resonant frequencies, a variety of microbeam structures were designed with different dimensions. These structures were modeled with a finite element analysis program. A number of selected structures were fabricated in a single chip design.
Both chloroplastic and cytosolic fructose bisphosphatase isozymes are present in the pea leaf nucleus

Distinct fructose-1,6-bisphosphate phosphatases (EC 3.1.3.11) are found in the chloroplast and cytosol in higher plants. Immunocytolocalization experiments with isozyme-directed antibodies indicate that both isozymes occur, together, in the nucleolus and euchromatin in the pea (Pisum sativum L.) leaf nucleus.
In vivo CD8+ T Cell Dynamics in the Liver of Plasmodium yoelii Immunized and Infected Mice

Plasmodium falciparum malaria remains one of the most serious health problems globally and a protective malaria vaccine is desperately needed. Vaccination with attenuated parasites elicits multiple cellular effector mechanisms that lead to Plasmodium liver stage elimination. While granule-mediated cytotoxicity requires contact between CD8+ effector T cells and infected hepatocytes, cytokine secretion should allow parasite killing over longer distances. To better understand the mechanism of parasite elimination in vivo, we monitored the dynamics of CD8+ T cells in the livers of naive, immunized and sporozoite-infected mice by intravital microscopy. We found that immunization of BALB/c mice with attenuated P. yoelii 17XNL sporozoites significantly increases the velocity of CD8+ T cells patrolling the hepatic microvasculature from 2.69±0.34 μm/min in naive mice to 5.74±0.66 μm/min, 9.26±0.92 μm/min, and 7.11±0.73 μm/min in mice immunized with irradiated, early genetically attenuated (Pyuis4-deficient), and late genetically attenuated (Pyfabb/f-deficient) parasites, respectively. Sporozoite infection of immunized mice revealed a 97% and 63% reduction in liver stage density and volume, respectively, compared to naive controls. To examine cellular mechanisms of immunity in situ, naive mice were passively immunized with hepatic or splenic CD8+ T cells. Unexpectedly, adoptive transfer rendered the motile CD8+ T cells from immunized mice immotile in the liver of P. yoelii infected mice. Similarly, when mice were simultaneously inoculated with viable sporozoites and CD8+ T cells, velocities 18 h later were also significantly reduced to 0.68±0.10 μm/min, 1.53±0.22 μm/min, and 1.06±0.26 μm/min for CD8+ T cells from mice immunized with irradiated wild type sporozoites, Pyfabb/f-deficient parasites, and P. yoelii CS280–288 peptide, respectively. Because immobilized CD8+ T cells are unable to make contact with infected hepatocytes, soluble mediators could potentially play a key role in parasite elimination under these experimental conditions.
Longitudinal stress pulse propagation in nonuniform elastic and viscoelastic bars

Abstract Stress pulse propagation along homogeneous but nonuniform bars is investigated. The bars have two uniform end sections of different diameter joined by a finite transition region. When a pulse is incident on the transition it is distributed over an infinite network of paths leading to transmission and reflection. In the analysis the transition is approximated by a set of discrete steps in area. A finite set of paths which contribute significantly to the pulses of reflection and transmission are identified and included in the calculations for the two pulses. The basic analysis is suitable for elastic pulses of arbitrary shape and is reformulated in harmonic form for use in viscoelastic bars. Calculated and experimental results are found to be in good agreement.
Tap: An Interactive Test Analysis Program for Health Education:

Tap is a comprehensive, flexible computer system designed to score and to analyze objective educational tests. The goals of the designers were to construct a program which would be user-oriented, flexible, and clear in structure and in output. TAP includes a wide variety of features.