cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
TRI-ARC FURNACE FOR CZOCHRALSKI GROWTH WITH A COLD CRUCIBLE.

Abstract A crystal puller using the arc-melting technique has been developed for the Czochralski growth of single crystals. The circumference of the melt is heated by three arcs, and the crystal is pulled from the center of the melt with a water-cooled seed rod. The charge is contained in a hollow water-cooled copper hearth fitted with a piston so that the melt can be continuously fed. Use of this apparatus eliminates the difficulty of finding crucible materials suitable for high-temperature growth, since the melt is contained by a solid shell of the same substance in contact with the hearth. The furnace is economical, convenient to use, and requires a relatively small mass of material. Boules of Sn, Ge, Si, Cu2O, V, VO, Ti2O3, Ni, Nb, NbO, and TiC, with melting points between 232 and 3150°C, have been grown. A number of good quality crystals of NbO with various stoichiometries were grown for measurement of the electrical properties. Mass spectrographic analysis of grown crystals usually shows no copper or tungsten above 10 ppm, the limit of detection. Silicon crystals grown on a graphite hearth have a resistivity of about 10 ohm-cm. This suggests that the concentration of electrically active impurities introduced from the arc or hearth does not exceed 0.1 ppm. The tri-arc modification also has advantages for other uses such as ordinary arc melting, freeze purification, arc casting, “splat cooling”, arc-Verneuil crystal growth and zone refining.
Inflation, Agriculture, and the Food Economy: Discussion

The topic for this session is so broad and the economic shocks of the past decade have been so numerous it is not surprising that the preceding papers have ranged over a wide territory. The participants have presented a number of intriguing hypotheses and some very interesting facts. I will present a brief overview of inflation taken from the three papers and from my own assessment. Then I will discuss specific issues from each of the papers and raise some questions about inflation not covered here or in the agricultural economics literature.
On the accuracy of a numerical method for linear interfacial motion

We present a new method to compute two-dimensional linear interfacial motion, which is governed by the unsteady Stokes equations together with linearized interfacial conditions. The method achieves second-order accuracy for both the velocity and pressure, in both fluids. The order of accuracy is analytically verified by performing a normal mode analysis, and numerically confirmed through a computational experiment.
The presentation of drugs in the news media: The news sources involved in the construction of social problems

We use content and ethnographic methods to analyze news media coverage of crime, drug offenses, and celebrated cases. We document the sources cited in crime stories to determine which officials are used to define what is important about crime as it is presented to the public. This analysis demonstrates that the organizational constraints of news production determine the presentation of the great majority of crime stories. The media rely on criminal justice sources to increase efficiency of news production. The involvement of sources in the standard production of news, however, gives them an opportunity to take advantage of important social problems and celebrated cases. We examine the sources cited in crime stories, drug stories, and celebrated cases to document how the news process evolves according to the importance of the story. Implications for understanding crime and the role of the media as an institution of social control are discussed.
BitTorious: global controlled genomics data publication, research and archiving via BitTorrent extensions

Background Centralized silos of genomic data are architecturally easier to initially design, develop and deploy than distributed models. However, as interoperability pains in EHR/EMR, HIE and other collaboration-centric life sciences domains have taught us, the core challenge of networking genomics systems is not in the construction of individual silos, but the interoperability of those deployments in a manner embracing the heterogeneous needs, terms and infrastructure of collaborating parties. This article demonstrates the adaptation of BitTorrent to private collaboration networks in an authenticated, authorized and encrypted manner while retaining the same characteristics of standard BitTorrent.
Analysis of joule heating in electrophoretic processes

Abstract Joule heating appears to be the most limiting factor in the scale-up of many electrophoretic processes. The heat equation is solved for the case of Counteracting Chromatographic Electrophoresis (cylindrical gel) and the importance of autothermal heating effect is emphasized.
Nanopores and nucleic acids: prospects for ultrarapid sequencing

DNA and RNA molecules can be detected as they are driven through a nanopore by an applied electric field at rates ranging from several hundred microseconds to a few milliseconds per molecule. The nanopore can rapidly discriminate between pyrimidine and purine segments along a single-stranded nucleic acid molecule. Nanopore detection and characterization of single molecules represents a new method for directly reading information encoded in linear polymers. If single-nucleotide resolution can be achieved, it is possible that nucleic acid sequences can be determined at rates exceeding a thousand bases per second.
Femoral head reduction osteoplasty for fracture dislocation: A surgical technique

Abstract Background Femoral head fractures with subchondral impaction and cartilage loss are difficult to treat successfully. Although multiple surgical management options have been described, no one technique has proven superior, particularly in the young high-demand population. Technique A femoral head reduction osteoplasty was performed following a surgical dislocation of the hip. A peripherally based wedge of bone was resected off the damaged central third of the head followed by reduction and fixation of the remaining fragments. This technique resulted in a smaller yet congruent femoral head. Methods A healthy 40-year old labourer sustained a traumatic crush injury while at work, resulting in a left femoral head fracture dislocation with an associated posterior wall acetabular fracture. Significant femoral head impaction and cartilage loss limited the treatment options. Results Intraoperative reduction and postoperative imaging demonstrated near anatomic reconstruction of femoral head with a congruent hip joint. Superiorly at the level of resection, the medial–lateral diameter was reduced by 5–6 mm (approximately 12–15% the diameter of the original head) by the osteoplasty. At five years, Harris Hip Score was 86, Oxford Hip Score 36, and UCLA score 89. Hip abductor strength was full, range of motion near normal, and the patient ambulated without antalgia. Radiographs demonstrate a congruent joint and patchy avascular necrosis without collapse. The patient maintained full employment as a labourer. Conclusions Femoral head reduction osteoplasty is a viable option that may produce durable intermediate-term results for complex femoral head fracture with superior impaction and chondral damage. Level of Evidence: Level V.
Special set-up and treatment techniques for the radiotherapy of pediatric malignancies

The prevention of serious and long term complications of treatment have become as important a consideration in the therapy of children with malignant disease as the goal of tumor control. This balance requires meticulous treatment planning and attention to the treatment preparation and immobilization techniques when radiotherapy is administered to children. Accurate localization of tumor volume and daily reproducibility is essential for delivering precise irradiation. Four special set-up and treatment techniques which have a specific usefulness in radiotherapy for pediatric malignancies are defined and illustrated with the aid of clinical cases. They include the three point set-up, the split beam technique, the isocentric technique, and the strinking field technique.
Reply to “Valuing Knowledge: a Reply to the Epistemological Perspective on the Value of Gain-of-Function Experiments”

We thank Dr. Evans for his letter (1). In reading his letter, it was difficult for us to sort out exactly what his criticism is of our editorial. However, we were able to discern three critical themes: (i) that we are guilty of “double counting” in the sense of counting both the benefits to human health from the knowledge gained via gain-of-function experiments on pathogens with pandemic potential (GOF/PPP experiments) and the value of the knowledge itself that is instrumental to the achievement of those benefits, (ii) that we did not propose standards for comparing epistemic value with other values, and (iii) that the absence of a measure for epistemic value that can be used to weigh other values means that the epistemic value should not be a major consideration. We will consider …
Factors influencing outcome in stab wounds of the heart

Background The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with unfavorable out-come following stab wounds to the heart in order to improve selection of patients who may benefit from aggressive resuscitative efforts. Methods Preoperative and operative variables were reviewed for all patients treated for cardiac stab wounds at a level I trauma center from 1987 to 1993 in an attempt to identify factors influencing survival. Results Twenty-nine (53%) of the 55 patients who were resuscitated following stab wounds to the heart during the study period survived. Although profound hypotension (systolic blood pressure Conclusions We recommend that all patients suspected of having cardiac stab wounds be fully resuscitated and undergo thoracotomy, as significant survival can be achieved and death is not always the outcome.
Late Blight of Potato and Tomato in the Genomics Era

Tremendous progress in the availability of genomic data has been made in the past decade. With the advent of high throughput and affordable DNA sequencing, the entire hereditary blueprint of an organism can be determined. A widespread transition into research enabled by the tools and resources of genomics is consequently occurring, and it has already affected countless disciplines within the biological sciences, including plant pathology. This new era of research allows a comprehensive study of gene structure and function and has already delivered tremendous insights into the basic biology of living organisms. Genomics offers new opportunities for applied biological sciences and is poised to impact plant health and plant disease management. More than 150 years have elapsed since Phytophthora infestans caused the Irish potato famine, but strategies for managing potato and tomato late blight often remain unsustainable and costly. In effect, P. infestans continues to cost billions of dollars annually through losses in potato and tomato production and increased fungicide costs (15,45,47,48). In the United States and other developed countries, chronic use of chemicals to manage late blight reduces the profit margins of farmers and is not always successful. Most populations of the pathogen are resistant to metalaxyl (and the active enantiomer mefenoxam), which had previously been very successful for controlling P. infestans (19,47). In developing countries, late blight also affects subsistence potato production. Recent epidemics in the 1990s, notably in eastern Europe, have caused significant losses in yield (20,46). In 2003, potato production was nearly eliminated in Papua New Guinea, one of the few countries in the world that was previously free of the disease (4). Remarkably, the disease spread through the entire country within 2 months of first incidence. Disturbing reports predict that potato late blight will continue to cause food shortages and hunger in several parts of the world (20,46).
A mathematical model of friendship choice distribution

A mathematical model of friendship choice distribution is proposed. The model differs from other models in that it takes into account certain structural factors in sociometric relations. Two theoretical distributions are derived from a set of assumptions as two approximations to satisfy those assumptions. One distribution is a well‐known negative binomial distribution, but its derivation is new. The other distribution has an unfamiliar mathematical structure but it shares certain features with the negative binomial distribution. The two parameters of these distributions are regarded as measures of the degree of expansive‐ness and the degree of local cohesiveness of friendship ties. The model is tested with several sets of empirical data and shows usefulness as a descriptive tool.
Report of a Study on the Toxicity of Several Food Preserving Agents

Summary A study was made of the amount of gain produced in growing white rats which were fed diets containing chemical agents used in food products or as a sterilizing agent. The amount of gain produced was used as an indication of the toxicity of these chemical agents. It is recognized that the method of measuring toxicity by the amount of gain produced has a limited application. Neither calcium propionate nor sodium propionate, when fed in quantities up to 3.0 percent of the diet, decreased the amount of gain. Zephiran, a disinfectant made up of high molecular alkyldimethylbenzyl-ammonium chlorides, when included in the diet at the rate of 3.0 per cent, did not cause any ill effect. In fact, the zephiran group made slightly greater gain than the control group; and out of seven pairs of rats finishing the trial, five of the rats receiving zephiran made greater gains than their paired members in the control group. The results of this study indicated that zephiran is not toxic, and since it is a germicide there is a possibility that it could be employed to help control the bacterial flora of the alimentary canal in experiments where that feature is desired. Sodium benzoate fed at the rate of 1.0 percent in the diet did not affect the amount of gain. When the rate was increased to 3.0 per cent, definite toxic effects were observed. Numerous investigations have indicated that benzoic acid in the animal organism is detoxified by combining with glycine to form hippuric acid. It has been suggested that the animal organism has a readily available supply of glycine which can be used for the detoxication of benzoic acid. This study indicates that the animal organism has only a limited capacity for detoxifying benzoic acid in the body. The fact that addition of glycine to the sodium benzoate diet increased the amount of gain indicates a decrease in toxicity. The small difference between the gains produced in this group and the control group is considered significant, however, because individual comparisons showed that the control animals made greater gains than the experimental animals in every case. The animal organism may develop a tolerance for sodium benzoate. Three groups of rats, which had received, respectively, no sodium benzoate, 1.0 per cent sodium benzoate, and 3.0 per cent sodium benzoate plus glycine, were all placed on a diet containing 3.0 per cent sodium benzoate. The group which had not previously received any sodium benzoate made the smallest gain and required the most food per gram of gain. The development of a tolerance for sodium benzoate was indicated by this fact and by the evidence obtained in series II that the toxic effects are expressed during the first 20 days of feeding. The paired-feeding method of controlling food intake is believed essential to a study of this nature. If the food intakes of the control and experimental animals had not been equal, observed differences in amount of gain could have resulted from the difference in amount of food consumed.
Nutrition and Somatomedin. V, Action and Measurement of Somatomedin Inhibitor(s) in Serum from Diabetic Rats*

Serum from normal rats stimulates growth cartilage in vitro; this stimulation is attributed to somatomedin activity. In contrast, serum from diabetic rats may produce doseresponse lines with negative slopes and, in combination studies, suppress the stimulatory activity of serum from normal rats; this is attributed to somatomedin inhibitory factor(s). Somatomedin inhibitory activity in serum from diabetic rats cannot be attributed to recognized catabolic factors, such as glucocorticoids or free fatty acids. The inhibitory activity is resistant to 100 C heat at neutral pH but is partially removed by 100 C heat at pH 5.5. Somatomedin inhibitory activity can be estimated as the ability to decrease the stimulation of rat cartilage incubated for 2 days with serum from normal rats. With this method, serum from diabetic rats provides linear inhibition of both sulfate and thymidine uptake. This procedure is simple, reproducible, and allows detection of inhibitory activity in as little as 5 μ l whole serum. It allo...
Pegloticase and the patient with treatment-failure gout

Gout is an inflammatory arthritis characterized by sudden, painful inflammation. Gout can affect any joint in an asymmetric distribution. Gouty attacks may be isolated or can be followed by years of recurrent flares. Over time, elevated serum urate levels and tophaceous deposits can lead to deformity and disability from underlying bony erosion. The concept of 'treatment-failure gout' describes a unique population that has been either unable to tolerate allopurinol or who have not experienced normalization of serum urate levels on allopurinol. It is estimated that approximately 1-1.5% of the estimated 3-8 million people with gout in the USA have treatment-failure gout. Pegloticase is an US FDA-approved intravenous medication that is a mammalian recombinant uricase conjugated to monomethoxy polyethylene glycol. Two recent Phase III trials have found pegloticase to be effective in the management of treatment-failure gout. These studies also highlight safety concerns regarding the drug's immunogenicity.
Novel Controlled-Velocity Wind Turbine Testing Apparatus to Simulate Turbulent, Non-Return Flow

This paper presents the work done by the authors to analyze the method of performance characterization of a 100W scale vertical axis wind turbines using a controlled-velocity test apparatus. The design of the power transfer system containing a gearbox and generator requires test data to determine the peak and operating range of wind speed, corresponding to RPM and torque. Multiple methods of turbine testing were considered, including in situ, wind tunnel, and control-velocity. Controlled-velocity, a method where the turbine is moved through a fluid, was selected based on lack of test location wind speeds or access to a wind tunnel of sufficient size. The test apparatus is designed to be effective for VAWT turbines of a diameter range from 1.45 to 4.2 meters in a wind velocity range of 1 to 17 m/s. This covers a Reynolds number range between (2.5 × 10^5 < Re < 4.2 × 10^6). A change from previous control-velocity test apparatus is the use of a separate truck and trailer compared to a flatbed truck, which allows greater distance between the truck cab and the turbine, to decrease any flow interference of the cab. This previous work and testing has shown to be a valid test method in that the turbine is in similar turbulent conditions as near the ground and buildings which the turbine is designed for. The main advantage of this test apparatus is the ability to test turbines in a region with low average wind speeds and minimum infrastructure.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Children’s public health insurance and scholastic success

There are currently two public health insurance options available to United States children, Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The programmes are similar in that they both target improvements in children’s health through increased access to medical care. A well-developed body of literature has examined the effect these programmes have on a child’s health and to a large extent has found that the programmes perform as desired. This article uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort to determine whether access to public health insurance translates to an improvement in a child’s academic performance.
Ventilatory drive during exercise in congestive heart failure

Background: Continuous increases in the ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide (the ratio of minute ventilation to carbon dioxide production, an index of ventilatory drive) during exercise in patients with congestive heart failure would suggest that factors other than carbon dioxide excessively stimulate ventilation during exercise, and may be an important factor in exercise-related dyspnea and fatigue in these patients. Methods and Results: Eighty-five patients with congestive heart failure and 17 normal control subjects underwent symptom-limited exercise testing with gas-exchange analysis. Patients were divided into four functional classes (A–D, Weber's classification) based on peak exercise oxygen consumption. In all heart failure patient groups and in control subjects the ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide decreased (P < .005, class D; P < .0001, all other groups) from rest to anaerobic threshold. Three isolated patients showed a continuous increase in ventilatory drive during exercise (mean peak oxygen consumption 13.7 mL/kg/ min). In the lowest functional class (D) the ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide was greater than in all other groups at rest, at anaerobic threshold, and at peak exercise (P < .01). Conclusions: In all heart failure groups and in normal control subjects ventilatory drive, as determined by the ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide, decreases during exercise. Continuous increases in ventilatory drive during exercise are infrequently seen, suggesting that factors other than carbon dioxide production do not excessively stimulate ventilation in heart failure patients during exercise.
Reoxidation of Biogenic Reduced Uranium: A Challenge Toward Bioremediation

Uraninite (UO2) is the most desirable end product of in situ bioreduction because of its low solubility under reducing conditions. For effective long-term immobilization of uranium (U), there should be no biotic or abiotic reoxidation of the insoluble biogenic U(IV). It is therefore critical to understand the long-term stability of U(IV) under oxic- and nutrient-limited conditions at U-contaminated subsurface sites. It has now been established that following in situ bioremediation of U(VI) via nutrient addition in the subsurface, a range of physical, chemical, and biological factors control the rate and extent of long-term stability of U(IV). Some of these factors are tied to site specific conditions including existence of oxidants such as Fe(III)(hydr)oxides, Mn(IV) oxides, oxygen, and nitrate; the presence of organic carbon and the reduced forms of U (e.g., mononuclear U(IV) or nanometer-sized uraninite particles); and the carbonate concentration and pH of groundwater. This review analyzes the contribut...
The Revival of Antiquity: A Fan's Notes on Recent Work

THE RENAISSANCE IS BACK-IF IT EVER WENT AWAY. Kenneth Gouwens and Paula Findlen give powerful evidence, in their lucid and lively essays, that the intellectual history of Renaissance Europe continues to attract powerful scholarly minds and to stimulate major projects in historical research. From the study of classical texts to the holding of classicizing picnics, both writers show, historians are applying new methods, excavating new sources, and using both to create new pictures of Renaissance society-pictures as varied, colorful, and full of life as the term "Renaissance" would lead one to expect. Not all the pigments and methods these scholars have applied are as new as the uses to which they have put them, and that is all to the good. In the hisstory of the Renaissance as elsewhere, Findlen and Gouwens agree, scholarly traditions now of considerable age, as well as the revisionist intellectual histories written in the 1980s and after, continue to offer vital information and stimulus. The classic studies of Paul Oskar Kristeller, the greatest of all students of the field, still provide the most powerful general definition we have of Renaissance humanism. Gouwens's effort to supply a new one begins from a spirited tussle with Kristeller, me, and others who have gone before-and draws on, as well as challenges, the older work. Findlen, similarly, deploys materials from a rich tradition of scholarship on collections and antiquarianism, one that long antedates the rise of her own approach to cultural history. In their willingness to treat earlier scholarship as a living tradition, as in their novel ideas, Gouwens and Findlen make clear why revisionism in the Renaissance-unlike some other fields-does not simply rise up into the air and dissipate. These revisionists are good philologists. Archive rats as dedicated to the pleasure of the hunt for documents as to the devising of new theses, they are also discriminating and well-informed readers of the older secondary literature. It is a pleasure to engage in discussion with them. For all the differences between them, moreover, Gouwens and Findlen converge in a fascinating and attractive way. For both seek, above all, to move from the study of texts and terms to that of individuals living in three-dimensional, human contexts. Gouwens insists, with absolute justice, that Renaissance intellectuals did not only meet the classical world when having their noses ground into the Catilinarians at school. Humanists in High Renaissance Rome, he points out, pursued jobs and love affairs amid classical ruins, which they explored as eagerly as the bodies of their lovers. They posted poems in classical meters on the speaking
A New Proof of Moser’s Parabolic Harnack Inequality Using the old Ideas of Nash

In 1958 Nash published his fundamental work on the local Holder continuity of solutions of second-order parabolic equations with coefficients which need not be smooth ([8]). The primary purpose of that work was to study the properties of the fundamental solution corresponding to the parabolic operator and from these properties to derive regularity for a general solution. Though the work is often cited in the literature about weak solutions of elliptic and parabolic equations, one feels that Nash’S ideas were never fully understood (and maybe still are not) and that because of this the more understandable and seemingly more fruitful ideas of De Giorgi ([4]) and Moser ([6], [7]) were subsequently adopted.
Perinatal problems (excluding neonatal withdrawal) associated with maternal drug addiction: a review of 830 cases

This study shows that besides neonatal withdrawal, there are other important complications during pregnancy and postnatal period that we should be aware of when dealing with the pregnant drug addict. This study is based on a review or 830 cases covering the period from 1972-76. Among the maternal problems, a high incidence of the following conditions were noted: maternal age <20 yrs (17%), meconium stained amniotic fluid (13%), anemia (13%), PROM (12%) and infection (10%). As for infection, venereal disease (57%) urinary tract infection (15%) and hepatitis (6%) were the most common. There was a uniform 3-5% incidence of abruptio placenta, hypertension and toxemia. The Apgar score was <6 at 1 minute in 20% of the infants. Birth weight <2.5 kg occurred in 31%. Of the total infants 19% were premature and 16% were SGA. The postnatal problems that occurred (excluding withdrawal) were: jaundice (14%), infection (11%), aspiration (including meconium) pneumonia (9%), transient tachypnea (7%) and HMD (5%). Congenital malformations were noted in 4% of the infants with the major anomalies involving principally the genitourinary system. A total of 22 (2.6%) infants died. Thirteen (13) were premature with severe HMD and 9 were fullterm (5 with meconium aspiration and 4 with major congenital anomalies). SUMMARY: (1) The lifestyle of the pregnant addict predisposes her and her infant to a nigh incidence of infection, particularly venereal disease, (2) the high incidence of meconium stained fluid and low Apgar score in the infant indicate that fetal withdrawal leading to asphyxia is a serious and not an uncommon complication during the prenatal period, (3) postnatally, despite the high incidence of low birth weight and prematurity, the aspiration syndromes, particularly meconium aspiration, constitute the major pulmonary problem and a leading cause of death in the infant.
The value of focused assessment with sonography in trauma examination for the need for operative intervention in blunt torso trauma: a rebuttal to “emergency ultrasound-based algorithms for diagnosing blunt abdominal trauma (review)”, from the Cochrane Collaboration

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews published a manuscript critical of the use of the FAST examination. The reference is Stengel D. Bauwens K. Sehouli J. Rademacher G. Mutze S. Ekkernkamp A. Porzsolt F. Emergency ultrasound-based algorithms for diagnosing blunt abdominal trauma. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. (2):CD004446, 2005. UI: 15846717. The stated objective was the assessment of the “efficiency and effectiveness” of ultrasound-inclusive evaluative algorithms in patients with suspected blunt abdominal trauma (BAT). The primary outcome measures explored were Mortality, CT and DPL use, and laparotomy rates. Little or no benefit was seen and the conclusion was that “there is insufficient evidence from randomized controlled trials to justify promotion” of FAST in patients with BAT. While the review used the same rigorous methods employed in all Cochrane Reviews, it appears that several serious flaws plagued the manuscript. The finest methodological rigor cannot yield usable results, if it is not applied to a clinically relevant question. In a world of increasingly conservative management of BAT, do we need FAST, a rapid, repeatable screening modality at the point-of-care to visualize any amount of free fluid or any degree of organ injury? The obvious answer is no. However, quantifying the value of FAST to predict the need for immediate operative intervention (OR) is essential. To rebut this recurrent review, a systematic literature review was conducted using verbatim methodologies as described in the Cochrane Review with the exception of telephone contacts. Data were tabulated and presented descriptively. Out of 487 citations, 163 articles were fully screened, 11 contained prospectively derived data with FAST results, patient disposition and final diagnoses, and a description of cases considered false negatives or false positives. Of the 2,755 patients, 448 (16%) went to the OR. There were a total of 5 patients with legitimately false-negative diagnoses made based on the FAST: 3 involving inadequate scans and 2 of blunt trauma-induced small bowel perforations without hemoperitoneum. The FAST examination, adequately completed, is a nearly perfect test for predicting a “Need for OR” in patients with blunt torso trauma.
Understanding the context of perceived health ratings: The case of spousal bereavement in later life

Abstract Using a sample of 339 older adults at 2 to 3 months of bereavement the following research questions are addressed: What objective physical and psycho-emotional factors influence the perceived health ratings of older adults following the death of their spouses and how much of the variance in their ratings can be explained by the specific set of characteristics? This investigation helps to identify the major factors that older adults take into account in rating their perceived health. Perceived health status was most strongly related to the number of symptoms reported. The objective physical health indicators as well as grief and depression were significantly correlated with perceived health ratings. Nearly 41% of the variance in perceived health was explained by six factors of which 25.9% was due to the number of reported symptoms. Depression and medical conditions made a moderate contribution while the role of unresolved grief was minimal. Physician visits and days sick also made minor contributions. The general conclusion is that the bereavement context influences the factors that older adults take into account in their perceived health ratings and that it is important to recognize that perceived health ratings occur within and are influenced by personal and situational factors of the context.
Change in Mononuclear Leukocyte Responsiveness in Midpregnancy and Subsequent Preterm Birth

Objective To estimate the associations of change in immune response with preterm delivery, omega-3 supplementation, and fish diet.
High-avidity antitumor T-cell generation by toll receptor 8-primed, myeloid- derived dendritic cells is mediated by IL-12 production

Background High-level production of heterodimeric p70 interleukin (IL)-12 by myeloid-derived dendritic cells (DCs) requires 2 signals: interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and a maturation signal provided by CD40 ligation (CD40L) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods In the current study we demonstrate that signaling through toll-like receptor (TLR) 8, but not TLR3, TLR2, or TLR4, provides a priming signal to myeloid-derived DC for high IL-12 p70 heterodimer production. Results All the TLR agonists induced maturation of DC as evidenced by increased expression of CD83, CD80, and CD86. Both IFN-γ and TLR7/8 agonist R848 increased expression of TLR8 in immature monocyte-derived DCs. The combination of TLR7/8 agonist R848 and maturation signals LPS or CD40L induced high-level expression of IL-12p35 and p40 similar to that induced by IFN-γ plus LPS. In contrast, receptor agonists specific for TLR7 did not prime for IL-12 production. The p70 IL-12 produced by the TLR8-primed DC polarized CD4+ T for Th1 cytokine production and induced CD8+ T cells, displaying high functional avidity with enhanced tumor cell recognition. Conclusions The data suggest that toll 8 receptor agonists are useful for inducing type-1 polarized DCs for vaccine design in treating cancer and infectious disease.
Knee cartilage topography, thickness, and contact areas from MRI: in-vitro calibration and in-vivo measurements.

Abstract Objective: This study assessed the three-dimensional accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for measuring articular surface topographies and cartilage thicknesses of human cadaveric knee joints, by comparison with the calibrated stereophotogrammetric (SPG) method. Methods: Six fresh frozen cadaveric knees and the knees of four volunteers were imaged with a three-dimensional spoiled gradient-recalled acquisition with fat suppression using a linear extremity coil in a 1.5T superconducting magnet. The imaging voxel size was 0.47×0.47×1.0mm. Both a manual and a semi-automated segmentation method were employed to extract topographic measurements from MRI. Following MRI, each of the six cadaveric knees was dissected and its articular surfaces quantified using stereophotogrammetry. The MRI surface measurements were compared numerically with the SPG measurements. Results: For six cadaveric knees, the average accuracies of cartilage and subchondral bone surface measurements were found to be 0.22mm and 0.14mm respectively and the thickness measurements demonstrated an average accuracy of 0.31mm. It was found that while most of the error may be attributed to random measurement error, the accuracy was somewhat affected by systematic errors. For each bone of the knee, accuracies were most favorable in the patella, followed by the femur and then the tibia. The more efficient semi-automated method provided equally good and sometimes better accuracies than manual segmentation. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that clinical MRI can provide accurate measurements of cartilage topography, thickness, contact areas and surface curvatures of the knee.
Fluorescence dynamics measurement of energy transfer in the bacterial luciferase and lumazine protein interaction

The enzyme bacterial luciferase is able to transform the chemical exergonicity from the oxidation of FMNH 2 and tetradecanal by oxygen, into electronic excitation of an associated fluorophore. The naturally occurring fluorophore in Photobacterium is 6,7-dimethyl-8-ribityllumazine bound to a protein that interacts in some way with the luciferase. Lumazine protein is not only raised to its excited state during the reaction but its presence alters the bioluminescence kinetics, possibly by catalyzing the decomposition of a "chemically- charged" intermediate on the luciferase. The emitter of bioluminescence in the reaction of luciferase is a highly fluorescent reaction intermediate called the "Fluorescent Transient". Energy transfer between luciferase fluorophores and lumazine protein has been studied using time correlated fluorescence and anisotropy decay techniques. Results of these and previous studies show that the energy transformation process in bacterial bioluminescence does not involve these proteins in a resonance energy transfer process.
The Other Mindful Practice: Centering Prayer & Psychotherapy

A review of the literature reveals that one particular form of mindful practice, mindfulness, has received the most research attention during the past decade. While all of this attention has been focused on mindfulness, the clinical usefulness of other mindful practices has been ignored. Built upon this background, the purpose of this article is to bring attention to an overlooked form of mindful practice that grows out of the Christian tradition: Centering Prayer. The article begins with a description of Centering Prayer, along with a comparison with mindfulness. The remainder of the article explores the clinical implications of Centering Prayer. First, ways in which Centering Prayer informs our understanding of the need for and the goals of counseling are suggested. Next, four therapeutic skills of Centering Prayer, along with three distinct ways for integrating Centering Prayer into psychotherapy are offered. Throughout the clinical section of the article, numerous practical ideas and strategies are developed. Finally, a case study is included to illustrate the potential benefits of including Centering Prayer in psychotherapy.
Prostate-Specific Antigen Response to Withdrawal of Megestrol Acetate in a Patient With Hormone-Refractory Prostate Cancer

Clinically significant responses after withdrawal of flutamide in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) are well documented. Failure to recognize this syndrome of response results in potential morbidity due to salvage therapy, confusion in interpretation of disease state, and introduction of a possible source of error in clinical trials. In this case report, we describe a patient with HRPC whose prostate-specific antigen levels decreased substantially in response to withdrawal of megestrol acetate. Such a response should be considered when megestrol acetate is used in the treatment of HRPC.
Measuring and Forecasting Emergency Department Crowding in Real Time

Study objective We quantified the potential for monitoring current and near-future emergency department (ED) crowding by using 4 measures: the Emergency Department Work Index (EDWIN), the National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale (NEDOCS), the Demand Value of the Real-time Emergency Analysis of Demand Indicators (READI), and the Work Score. Methods We calculated the 4 measures at 10-minute intervals during an 8-week study period (June 21, 2006, to August 16, 2006). Ambulance diversion status was the outcome variable for crowding, and occupancy level was the performance baseline measure. We evaluated discriminatory power for current crowding by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). To assess forecasting power, we applied activity monitoring operating characteristic curves, which measure the timeliness of early warnings at various false alarm rates. Results We recorded 7,948 observations during the study period. The ED was on ambulance diversion during 30% of the observations. The AUC was 0.81 for the EDWIN, 0.88 for the NEDOCS, 0.65 for the READI Demand Value, 0.90 for the Work Score, and 0.90 for occupancy level. In the activity monitoring operating characteristic analysis, only the occupancy level provided more than an hour of advance warning (median 1 hour 7 minutes) before crowding, with 1 false alarm per week. Conclusion The EDWIN, the NEDOCS, and the Work Score monitor current ED crowding with high discriminatory power, although none of them exceeded the performance of occupancy level across the range of operating points. None of the measures provided substantial advance warning before crowding at low rates of false alarms.
Melatonin Protects Human Cells from Clustered DNA Damages, Killing and Acquisition of Soft Agar Growth Induced by X-rays or 970 MeV/n Fe ions

Purpose: We tested the ability of melatonin (N-acetyl-5 methoxytryptamine), a highly effective radical scavenger and human hormone, to protect DNA in solution and in human cells against induction of complex DNA clusters and biological damage induced by low or high linear energy transfer radiation (100 kVp X-rays, 970 MeV/nucleon Fe ions).Materials and methods: Plasmid DNA in solution was treated with increasing concentrations of melatonin (0.0–3.5 mM) and were irradiated with X-rays. Human cells (28SC monocytes) were also irradiated with X-rays and Fe ions with and without 2 mM melatonin. Agarose plugs containing genomic DNA were subjected to Contour Clamped Homogeneous Electrophoretic Field (CHEF) followed by imaging and clustered DNA damages were measured by using Number Average length analysis. Transformation experiments on human primary fibroblast cells using soft agar colony assay were carried out which were irradiated with Fe ions with or without 2 mM melatonin.Results: In plasmid DNA in solution, m...
Point optimal tests of the null hypothesis of cointegration

This paper obtains an asymptotic Gaussian power envelope for tests of the null hypothesis of cointegration. In addition, the paper proposes a feasible point optimal cointegration test whose local asymptotic power function is found to be close to the asymptotic Gaussian power envelope.
YouChoose: A performance interface enabling convenient and efficient QoS support for consolidated storage systems

Currently the QoS requirements for disk-based storage systems are usually presented in the form of service-level agreement (SLA) to bound I/O measures such as latency and throughput of I/O requests. However, SLA is not an effective performance interface for users to specify their required I/O service quality for two major reasons. First, for users, it is difficult to determine appropriate latency and throughput bounds to ensure their application performance without resource over-provisioning. Second, for storage system administrators, it is a challenge to estimate a user's real resource demand because the specified SLA measures are not consistently correlated with the user's resource demand. This makes resource provisioning and scheduling less informative and could greatly reduce system efficiency. We propose the concept of reference storage system (RSS), which can be a storage system chosen by users and whose performance can be measured off-line and mimicked on-line, as a performance interface between applications and storage servers. By designating an RSS to represent I/O performance requirement, a user can expect the performance received from a shared storage server servicing his I/O workload is not worse than the performance received from the RSS servicing the same workload. The storage system is responsible for implementing the RSS interface. The key enabling techniques are a machine learning model that derives request-specific performance requirements and an RSS-centric scheduling that efficiently allocates resource among requests from different users. The proposed scheme, named as YouChoose, supports the user-chosen performance interface through efficiently implementing and migrating virtual storage devices in a host storage system. Our evaluation based on trace-driven simulations shows that YouChoose can precisely implement the RSS performance interface, achieve a strong performance assurance and isolation, and improve the efficiency of a consolidated storage system consisting of different types of storage devices.
A review of methods for detection of the psychrotrophic foodborne pathogens Listeria monocytogenes and Aeromonas hydrophila.

The detection of the psychrotrophic foodborne pathogens Listeria monocy-togenes and Aeromonas hydrophila in food depends on the use of various selective media designed specifically for their isolation. These selective media, which contain combinations of dyes, antibiotics, and other inhibitory substances, restrict the background microflora while permitting the desired organism (either L. monocytogenes or A. hydrophila) to form characteristic colonies. Since the selective media are not completely specific, confirmation tests specific to L. monocytogenes or A. hydrophila are used to verify the identity of the respective isolates. It has been observed that the inhibitory substances used will not permit injured (stressed) cells to form colonies and special techniques are needed to recover injured cells. The present techniques, while not ideal, do allow for a reasonably quantitative estimate of any L. monocytogenes or A. hydrophila present in a food.
The calcium-induced curvature reversal of rat sperm is potentiated by cAMP and inhibited by anti-calmodulin.

Rat sperm, demembranated with 0.1% Triton X-100, were used to explore the reversal in flagellar curvature induced by calcium ion. As reported earlier (Lindemann and Goltz, Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton, 10:420–431, 1988), the radius of curvature of the flagellar midpiece of rat sperm is controlled by the free Ca2+ concentration. A reversal of the direction of curvature (judged by the asymmetric sperm head) takes place at ≈ 2.5 + 10−6 M free Ca2+. In our current study, the time course of the curvature change, after elevating free Ca2+ to 3.5 ± 10−4 M, was utilized to assess the effects of the cAMP-kinase A pathway on the calcium response. In addition, calmodulin's involvement in this response was explored using anti-calmodulin and Cd2+. The activity state of the sperm models (which could be directly influenced through cAMP) was found to control the rate of curvature change in response to increased free Ca2+. In the most extreme case, fully quiescent sperm did not respond to Ca2+ at all, and cAMP-primed sperm models completed the response to Ca2+ in two minutes or less. Anti-calmodulin demonstrated strong inhibitory effects on the curvature reversal. Cadmium ion was also extremely potent at blocking the response to Ca2+, completely eliminating the curvature reversal at 2 × 10−10 M free Cd2+. Based on these findings, it appears that the Ca2+-activated curvature reversal of rat sperm is potentiated by cAMP-dependent kinase and may be mediated through calmodulin.