cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does a Sway-Based Mobile Application Predict Future Falls in People with Parkinson Disease?

Abstract Objective To determine whether Sway, a sway-based mobile application, predicts falls and to evaluate its discriminatory sensitivity and specificity relative to other clinical measures in identifying fallers in individuals with Parkinson disease (PD). Design Observational cross-sectional study. Setting Community. Participants A convenience sample of subjects with idiopathic PD in Hoehn and Yahr levels I-III (N=59). Interventions Participants completed a balance assessment using Sway, the Movement Disorders Systems-Unified PD Rating Scale motor examination, Mini-BESTest, Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) Scale, and reported 6-month fall history. Participants also reported falls for each of the following 6 months. Binomial logistic regression was used to identify significant predictors of future fall status. Cutoff scores, sensitivity, and specificity were based on receiver operating characteristic plots. Main Outcome Measures Sway score. Results The most predictive logistic regression model included fall history, ABC Scale, and Sway (P Conclusion Sway did not improve the accuracy of predicting future fallers beyond common clinical measures and fall history.
Case report: palmar herpetic whitlow and forearm lymphangitis in a 10-year-old female

Herpetic whitlow is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 or 2, and occurs in the pediatric population primarily on the fingers and toes due to autoinoculation from oral secretions. Because of this cited prevalence, other locations of herpetic whitlow may go unrecognized. We present an atypical presentation of palmar herpetic whitlow with delayed recognition and associated viral lymphangitis. The patient presented as a transfer from an outside hospital with a progressive, three-day history of a suspected left hand abscess preceded by left hand pain and itching. She was initially evaluated by Orthopedic Surgery, who described an erythematous, edematous, tender, left palmar abscess with associated erythematous streaking up her forearm. The lesion was surgically managed with an incision and drainage. Wound cultures were obtained during which “minimal drainage” was noted. After admission to the General Pediatrics Hospital service, the lesion was noted to appear vesicular and subsequently obtained PCR samples were positive for HSV type 1, confirming her diagnosis of herpetic whitlow. Although she remained afebrile with negative wound cultures throughout her hospitalization, a secondary bacterial infection could not be conclusively excluded due to the accompanying lymphangitis. Thus, she was discharged with oral antibiotics and anticipatory guidance of potential recurrence of palmar lesions. Herpetic whitlow should be included in the differential diagnosis of palmar lesions that appear vesicular or abscess-like to ensure appropriate treatment. Additionally, these palmar lesions may present with associated lymphangitis without evidence of bacterial infection.
Comparison of colon adenoma detection rates using cap-assisted and Endocuff-assisted colonoscopy: a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives and study aim Colonoscopy prevents colorectal cancer by removing adenomatous polyps, but missed adenomas lead to interval cancers. Different devices have been used to increase adenoma detection rates (ADR). Two such devices of interest are the transparent cap (Olympus) and Endocuff (ARC Medical). Our study aimed to compare differences in ADR between Endocuff-assisted colonoscopy (EAC), cap-assisted colonoscopy (CAC) and standard colonoscopy (SC). Patients and methods A sample size of 126 subjects was calculated to determine an effect size of 30 %. Patients undergoing screening or surveillance colonoscopy between March 2016 and January 2017 were randomized to SC, CAC or EAC groups. Three experienced endoscopists performed all colonoscopies. Patient demographics, procedure indication, Boston Bowel Prep Score (BBPS), withdrawal time, polyp size, location, histopathology, were analyzed. Results There was no difference in ADR (52 %, 40 % and 54 %) in the SC, CAC and EAC groups respectively (P = 0.4). Similar findings were also observed for proximal ADR (45 %, 35 %, and 50 %, P = 0.4) and SSA detection rate (16 %, 14 %, and 23 %, P = 0.5). EAC detected higher mean ADR per colonoscopy compared to CAC (1.70 vs 0.76, P = 0.01). However, there was no significant difference in mean ADR per positive colonoscopy (2.08, 1.63, and 2.59, P = 0.21). Conclusion In a randomized controlled trial comparing AC to CAC and SC, neither device conferred additional benefits in ADR among high detectors. When comparing each device, EAC may be better than CAC at detecting more total adenomas.
Bottom-Up and Top-Down Paradigms for Psychopathology: A Half-Century Odyssey

Bottom-up paradigms prioritize empirical data from which to derive conceptualizations of psychopathology. These paradigms use multivariate statistics to identify syndromes of problems that tend to co-occur plus higher-order groupings such as those designated as internalizing and externalizing. Bottom-up assessment instruments obtain self-ratings and collateral ratings of behavioral, emotional, social, and thought problems and strengths for ages 1½-90+. Ratings of population samples provide norms for syndrome and higher-order scales for each gender, at different ages, rated by different informants, in relation to multicultural norms. The normed assessment instruments operationalize the empirically derived syndromes and higher-order groupings for applications to clinical services, research, and training. Because cross-informant agreement is modest and no single informant provides comprehensive assessment data, software compares ratings by different informants. Top-down paradigms prioritize conceptual representations of the nature and structure of psychopathology, as exemplified by psychodynamic, DSM/ICD, and HiTOP paradigms. Although these paradigms originated with observations, they tend to prioritize conceptual representations over empirical data.
Complex Congenital Lesions

Advances in cardiac surgery which began in the 1940s have allowed for the long-term survival of patients with complex, cyanotic congenital heart disease. This chapter reviews three relatively common complex lesions: Tetralogy of Fallot, Transposition of the great arteries, and Single ventricle lesions. An overview of the diagnosis of these lesions is shown in Table 32.1, while an overview of complications and therapeutic options is shown in Table 32.2.
Aspirin and celecoxib may help to rectify a neurotransmission imbalance in bipolar disorder

Abstract Background Mood stabilizers with disparate chemical structures are approved for treating bipolar disorder, but their mechanisms of action are not agreed on. However, when administered to unanesthetized rats at clinically relevant doses, they modulate neurotransmission involving arachidonic acid and brain activity of COX-2, which oxidizes arachidonic acid within the arachidonic acid metabolic cascade. Hypothesis Inhibiting COX-2 directly might enhance mood stabilizer effects in bipolar disorder patients. Observations This paper reviews randomized controlled trials that showed that celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, or low-dose aspirin, which inhibits COX-1 and inhibits/acetylates COX-2, reduced bipolar symptoms in patients on mood stabilizers. More convincing are two population based pharmacoepidemiological studies that each demonstrated that chronic low dose aspirin reduced bipolar severity markers in patients on mood stabilizers. Conclusions This clinical evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that low-dose chronic aspirin and celecoxib, which can inhibit COX-2 and enter brain, can be repurposed in bipolar disorder to enhance mood stabilizer effects on arachidonic acid metabolism and neurotransmission.
Predictors of Locoregional Recurrence and Delineation of Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Fields for Patients With Upper Tract Urothelial Carcinoma Receiving Nephroureterectomy.

Abstract Purpose To identify factors predictive of locoregional recurrence (LRR) in upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) treated with nephroureterectomy and to propose adjuvant radiation therapy (ART) fields. Methods and Materials Clinical and pathologic variables for patients receiving nephroureterectomy for UTUC between 1995 and 2009 were analyzed for associations with outcomes. Sites of LRR from all patients with available imaging (39) were contoured on computed tomography image sets of patients with representative anatomy, and ART fields were proposed based on these distributions. Results A total of 279 patients with a median follow-up of 13.0 years were analyzed. The 5-year cumulative incidence of LRR was 16.7% (95% CI, 12.2-21). Pathologic risk factors (PRFs) associated with increased risk of LRR included tumor in both the renal pelvis and ureter, T stage ≥2, lymph node involvement, grade 3 histology, and positive surgical margins (P Conclusions In patients receiving nephroureterectomy for UTUC, LRR is significantly increased in patients with 2 or more PRFs. These data provide clinically valuable insight into the selection of candidates for ART and the design of ART fields.
A metric for evaluating biological information in gene sets and its application to identify co-expressed gene clusters in PBMC.

Recent technological advances have made the gathering of comprehensive gene expression datasets a commodity. This has shifted the limiting step of transcriptomic studies from the accumulation of data to their analyses and interpretation. The main problem in analyzing transcriptomics data is that the number of independent samples is typically much lower ( 14,000). To address this, it would be desirable to reduce the gathered data’s dimensionality without losing information. Clustering genes into discrete modules is one of the most commonly used tools to accomplish this task. While there are multiple clustering approaches, there is a lack of informative metrics available to evaluate the resultant clusters’ biological quality. Here we present a metric that incorporates known ground truth gene sets to quantify gene clusters’ biological quality derived from standard clustering techniques. The GECO (Ground truth Evaluation of Clustering Outcomes) metric demonstrates that quantitative and repeatable scoring of gene clusters is not only possible but computationally lightweight and robust. Unlike current methods, it allows direct comparison between gene clusters generated by different clustering techniques. It also reveals that current cluster analysis techniques often underestimate the number of clusters that should be formed from a dataset, which leads to fewer clusters of lower quality. As a test case, we applied GECO combined with k-means clustering to derive an optimal set of co-expressed gene modules derived from PBMC, which we show to be superior to previously generated modules generated on whole-blood. Overall, GECO provides a rational metric to test and compare different clustering approaches to analyze high-dimensional transcriptomic data.
Substituent Effects and the Energetics of Noncatalyzed Aryl Halide Aminations: A Theoretical Investigation.

We report the influence of substituents and physical conditions on activation energies for the noncatalyzed amination (C-N cross-coupling reactions) of aryl halides. We uncover a significant correlation between the barrier heights of the C-N bond formation and Hammett σ parameters-a formal measure of the electron-withdrawing or -donating ability of substituents on the aryl halides. Our results indicate that such correlations are useful predictive tools for the amination of aryl halides over a wide range of substituent types. From 54 cases studied (six substituents occupying specific positions relative to halogen atoms), the 2-COOHPhI + NH2n Pr amination reaction is predicted to possess the lowest noncatalyzed activation free energy (135.6 kJ mol-1) using the B3LYP method. The lower barriers for the 2-COOHPhX (for X = Cl, Br, and I) compounds are shown to originate from collusion between steric and electronic effects-specifically, the momentary formation of a hydrogen bond between an oxygen site on the ortho-COOH and the lone pair of the entering amine. Internal reaction coordinate (IRC) path calculations afforded us these and other key insights into the nature of the reactions. The control exerted by substituents on the arrangement of the transition state structure, as well as the sensitivity of the reaction barriers to temperature and solvent polarity, are discussed. These results offer new perspectives from which to assess the nature of the C-N bond formation and suggest new avenues for future exploration, especially in progress toward the metal-free amination of aryl compounds.
A President's Energy Policy: An Ethical Duty But a Popularity Disaster

This study finds that the opposite results were found in response to the announcement of a national energy policy. Instead of Presidential approval ratings going up in the subsequent year, they consistently fell during the following year, with one explicable exception. Instead, it was found that gas prices consistently increase after an energy policy is announced, which is probably the true factor explaining the drop in Presidential approval ratings. This is due to the finding that 52% of a president’s approval rating can be attributed to gas prices. Future national energy policies might consider taking actions that would have an immediate effect on dropping gas prices if they would like to have their energy policies seen favorably. Despite this predictive findings for Presidential approval ratings, the development of a National Energy Policy should be considered not only an ethical obligation but a legal one. A national energy policy has become increasingly critical to our national economy and our national security, a constitutional responsibility of the President.
Territorial States Buried Too Soon

because their theories were focused on states and their relations rather than empires and also were unable to comprehend the revival of old identities that began in Eastern Europe and fed back into the USSR itself. Power theorists have been equally at a loss to address the post-Cold War political disintegration occurring in much of the developing world from ethnic, religious, and class conflict. In sum, academics and practitioners are ill-prepared to make sense of events that do not fit statist theory-and few events that fill today's print media and television screens do! It is no exaggeration to suggest that ordinary citizens who follow the daily news may have a better picture of the way the world actually works than the vast majority of blinkered IR theorists" (pp. 1-2). Ferguson and Mansbach's response is to "rethink the tools of our trade" (p. 3) by setting forth a new and improved theory of politics in two initial chapters, totaling sixty-two pages. But the bulk of Polities (316 pages) is devoted to six case studies intended to illustrate how their theory fits the historic record, followed by a thirty-eight page conclusion applying the lessons of the past to the contemporary scene. The authors' ambitions are, in fact, faithful to the tradition of the field. International relations became an academic subject in the wake of World War I when many well-meaning persons were convinced that better-informed public opinion about foreign affairs was all that was needed to prevent renewal of fratricidal war. When the drift toward World War II made that hope untenable, some first-generation professors of international relations-Arnold J. Toynbee (1924-1939) and Quincy Wright (1942) in particular-did exactly what Ferguson and Mansbach do in this book: search the historic record for patterns of human behavior that might explain what was happening around them. After World War II a new generation of U.S. academics found little use for Toynbee's cycles of civilization or for Wright's
Gary Kenyon, Ernst Bohlmeijer, and William L. Randall (2011). Storying Later Life: Issues, Investigations, and Interventions in Narrative Gerontology.

To be a person is to have a story to tell. (Isak Dinesen, author of Out of Africa) The field of narrative gerontology examines the inner life of the aging person through the metaphor of the “life s...
Effect of Flocculation on Activated Sludge Settling Behavior

If close control and economical design of the activated sludge process are to be achieved, settling tank design practices must be based on a clear understanding of the mechanisms of sludge settling. The work reported herein was undertaken to evaluate the manner in which the degree of agglomeration of activated sludge solids influences setting characteristics.
Sudden oak death, a new forest disease in California

A forest disease caused by a newly described pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum, is presently affecting a number of woody plant species in central and northern coastal California and southern Oregon, U.S.A. Among the most severely affected tree species are coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia, and tanoak, Lithocarpus densiflorus. In March 2000, we established plots in Marin County, CA, to assess symptom progression and the association of other organisms with diseased trees. Symptomatic trees exhibit 'bleeding' of viscous sap from apparently intact bark, typically within approximately 2 m of the soil. At least three species of bark and ambrosia beetles colonize bleeding oaks. These beetles colonized every bleeding tree that died during the first year of the study (N = 23) while the foliage was still green. By March 2001, numbers of symptomatic and dead trees increased for both coast live oak and tanoak. Symptomatic coast live oaks totaled 26% in March 2000 and 27% in March 2001. During the same period, mortality increased from 6% to 10%. For tanoaks, 41% were symptomatic in 2000, rising to 49% in 2001. Mortality was 11% in 2000 and 13% in 2001. The values for coast live oak are broadly consistent with independently acquired infection and mortality estimates derived from an unbiased transect method.
RAOPS: resource allocation optimization program for safeguards

RAOPS (Resource Allocation Optimization Program for Safeguards) is extended to a multiobjective return function having the detection probability and expected detection time as criteria. The expected detection time is included as a constraint, based on the well-known Avenhaus model of the optimum number of inventory periods. Examples of computation are provided. >
Travel times, variational parameters, and Love numbers for Moon models

Abstract Travel time graphs are given for previously defined Moon models for phases P, pP, PP, sS, SS, L, and R for focal depths 5, 50, 100, 200, 400, 600, and 1000 km. The teleseismic travel times for most models are significantly different. Variational parameters are graphed and tabulated to allow inversion of surface wave phase velocities and free oscillation periods. Love numbers are computed for all models and found to be essentially invariant for reasonable solid models.
Gender differentials in undernutrition among Tanzanian adolescents: a rural-urban comparison (LB475)

Background: Urban population growth has outpaced expectations in developing countries, changing physical, social, and economic landscapes with implications on health across gender. Comparative stud...
Design and fabrication of JFET-controlled carbon nanotube field emitter arrays

In this paper, a novel structure design, JFET-controlled carbon nanotubes (CNTs), is proposed. CNTs may very well be the closest one that can come to having "ideal" field emitters. Further, they are stable at high temperatures, can have high electrical and thermal conductivity, and they exhibit ballistic electron transport. The built-in JFET was designed by a 2-D device simulator ATLAS. It is to control the stability of the emission current of the CNTs while it is operating in saturation region. The dose and ion energy of BF/sub 2/ in the ion implantation for p/sub +/ region were 5/spl times/10/sup 15/ /cm and 200 keV, respectively. The vertical diffusion as well as the lateral diffusion of the boron ions in the high temperature process steps was taken into consideration in the simulation. Si post structure was chosen since it improves control of CNT length and allows for thick gate insulators. Our simulation results predict that the breakdown voltage of Si JFETs increases with the height of the Si post. We observe from that when V/sub gs/ is more negative, the depletion region extends in the channel and less current is flowing from the drain to source. By controlling the electron source supply to the CNTs, we can prevent disruptively excessive emission current.
Two-pass image and volume rotation

We present a novel two-pass approach for both 2D image and 3D volume rotation. Each pass is a pseudo shear. However, it has a similar regularity as a pure shear in that a beam remains rigid while being sheared. Furthermore, the 3D pseudo shear guarantees that beams within one major axis slice remain in the same directional plane after the shearing. These properties make it feasible to implement the pseudo shears on a multi-pipelined hardware or a massively parallel machine. Compared with the existing decompositions, ours offer a minimum number of shears to realize an arbitrary 3D rotation. Our decomposition also preserves the image/volume quality by guaranteeing no minification for the first pass shear.
Some Theoretical Aspects of Economic Development

While the problem of economic development long has been a standard topic for economic historians, it has not been until recent years that most other modern economists have displayed a more dian casual interest in this subject. Two sets of factors have been particularly important in stimulating this new activity. The first, of course, concerns the ever-increasing efforts being made to accelerate economic development in the so-called â€œbackwardâ€ regions of the world. Since World War II a number of the countries in the economically backward list have received eitfier complete political independence or a much greater degree of freedom. And one of the major ways they are using this new freedom of action is to plan and undertake extensive governmental development projects. For rightly or wrongly most of these countries feel that their former rulers thwarted the type of economic development most beneficial to the native population, and they are almost fanatically anxious to remedy this condition.
Pathological Changes in Surgically Resected Angiographically Occult Vascular Malformations after Radiation

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to evaluate the pathological changes associated with radiation treatment (stereotactic radiosurgery or conventional irradiation) of angiographically occult vascular malformations (AOVMs). METHODS: Eleven patients underwent surgical resection of an AOVM in the mesial temporal lobe, brain stem, thalamus, or basal ganglia after previous radiation treatment. The indications for surgery were recurrent symptomatic bleeding from the lesion in 10 patients and recurrent intractable seizures in 1 patient. Radiation was used as the initial therapy because the risk of surgical resection was deemed too high. Three patients received conventional radiation therapy of 3000 to 5400 rads at an outside institution. One patient received radiosurgery with the gamma knife at another institution using a dose of 15 Gy to the margin. The remaining 7 patients received stereotactic radiosurgery with a helium-ion particle beam. The dose range was from 18 to 26 Gy equivalents. The interval from radiation to surgical resection ranged from 1 to 10 years, with a mean of 3.5 years. These lesions were compared with 10 nonirradiated cavernous malformations. RESULTS: One irradiated lesion was identified pathologically as a true arteriovenous malformation despite being angiographically occult. This lesion did not demonstrate significant changes in the vasculature but did have radiation necrosis of the surrounding brain 5 years after 25 Gy equivalents of helium-ion radiosurgery. Two other specimens were too small to identify the type of vascular malformation adequately. Of the remaining eight malformations identified as cavernous malformations, six showed a combination of marked fibrosis of the vascular channels, fibrinoid necrosis, and ferrugination. However, the fibrinoid necrosis was the only finding unique to the irradiated lesions compared with nonirradiated controls. All the irradiated lesions still had patent vascular channels; none were completely thrombosed. CONCLUSION: Radiosurgery or conventional radiation therapy did not cause histologic vascular obliteration in intracranial AOVMs evaluated 1 to 10 years (mean 3.5 yr) after radiation delivery. It should be recognized that these patients are irradiation failures who may not be representative of all irradiated patients. However, recurrent bleeding from AOVMs may relate to poor radiation response in some patients.
Execution of Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Approaches on Common Test Problems

A class of synthetic problems for testing multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) approaches is presented. These test problems are easy to reproduce because all functions are given as closed-form mathematical expressions. They are constructed in such a way that the optimal value of all variables and the objective is unity. The test problems involve three disciplines and allow the user to specify the number of design variables, state variables, coupling functions, design constraints, controlling design constraints, and the strength of coupling. Several MDO approaches were executed on two sample synthetic test problems. These approaches included single-level optimization approaches, collaborative optimization approaches, and concurrent subspace optimization approaches. Execution results are presented, and the robustness and efficiency of these approaches an evaluated for these sample problems.
Manuel Alvarado's Thought

This article tries to give readers a sense of Manuel Alvarado as a writer. Exercises in exegesis are frequently boring to undertake and excruciating to read. I’ve sought to avoid being boring—one of Manuel’s most loaded denunciatory terms…
CYCLIC PROPERTIES OF SUPERELASTIC SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY WIRES AND BARS

This study evaluates the properties of superelastic Ni.Ti shape memory alloys under cyclic loading to assess their potential for applications in seismic resistant design and retrofit. Shape memory alloy wire and bars are tested to evaluate the effect of bar size and loading history on the strength, equivalent damping, and recentering properties of the shape memory alloys in superelastic form. The bars are tested under both quasistatic and dynamic loading. The results show that nearly ideal superelastic properties can be obtained in both wire and bar form of the superelastic Ni.Ti shape memory alloys. However, the wire form of the shape memory alloys show higher strength and damping properties compared with the bars. The recentering capabilities (based on residual strains) are not affected by section size. Overall, the damping potential of shape memory alloys in superelastic form is low for both wire and bars, typically less than 7% equivalent viscous damping. Cyclical strains greater than 6% lead to degradation in the damping and recentering properties of the shape memory alloys. Strain rate effects are evaluated by subjecting the shape memory alloys to loading rates representative of typical seismic loading. The results show that increased loading rates lead to decreases in the equivalent damping, but have negligible effects on the recentering properties of the shape memory alloys.
Very Large Array Observations of H I in the Circumstellar Envelopes of Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars

We have used the Very Large Array to search for neutral atomic hydrogen (H I) in the circumstellar envelopes of five asymptotic giant branch stars. We have detected H I 21 cm emission coincident in both position and velocity with the S-type semiregular variable star RS Cnc. The emission comprises a compact, slightly elongated feature centered on the star with a mean diameter of ~82'' (1.5 × 1017 cm), plus an additional filament extending ~6' to the northwest. If this filament is associated with RS Cnc, it would imply that a portion of its mass loss is highly asymmetric. We estimate M ≈ 1.5 × 10-3 M⊙ and a mass-loss rate ≈ 1.7 × 10-7 M⊙ yr-1. Toward three other stars (IRC+10216, EP Aqr, R Cas) we have detected arcminute-scale H I emission features at velocities consistent with the circumstellar envelopes, but spatially offset from the stellar positions. Toward R Cas, the emission is weak but peaks at the stellar systemic velocity and overlaps with the location of its circumstellar dust shell and thus is probably related to the star. In the case of IRC+10216, we were unable to confirm the detection of H I in absorption against the cosmic background previously reported by Le Bertre & Gerard. However, we detect arcs of emission at projected distances of r ~ 14'-18' (~ 2 × 1018 cm) to the northwest of the star. The large separation of the emission from the star is plausible, given its advanced evolutionary status, although it is unclear if the asymmetric distribution and complex velocity structure are consistent with a circumstellar origin. For EP Aqr, the detected H I emission comprises multiple clumps redward of the systemic velocity, but we are unable to determine unambiguously whether the emission arises from the circumstellar envelope or from interstellar clouds along the line of sight. Regardless of the adopted distance for the H I clumps, their inferred H I masses are at least an order of magnitude smaller than their individual gravitational binding masses. We did not detect any H I emission from our fifth target, R Aqr (a symbiotic binary), but measured a 1.4 GHz continuum flux density of 18.8 ± 0.7 mJy. R Aqr is a previously known radio source, and the 1.4 GHz emission likely arises primarily from free-free emission from an ionized circumbinary envelope.
Coordinated Reinforcement Learning Agents in a Multi-agent Virtual Environment

This research presents a framework for coordinating multiple intelligent agents within a single virtual environment. Coordination is accomplished via a "next available agent" scheme while learning is achieved through the use of the Q-learning and Sarsa temporal difference reinforcement learning algorithms. To assess the effectiveness of each learning algorithm, experiments were conducted that measured an agent's ability to learn tasks in a static and dynamic environment while using both a fixed (FEP) and variable (VEP) ϵ-greedy probability rate. Results show that Sarsa, on average, outperformed Q-learning in almost all experiments. Overall, VEP resulted in higher percentages of successes and optimal successes than FEP, and showed convergence to the optimal policy when measuring the average number of time steps per episode.
Adenosine 2A receptors in acute kidney injury.

Adenosine, produced in response to IR, is generally considered as a protective signalling molecule and elicits its physiological responses through four distinct adenosine receptors. However, its short half-life, lack of specificity, and rapid metabolism limits the use of adenosine as a therapeutic agent. These adenosine receptors play various roles in regulating the activity of the aforementioned hematopoietic cells in elevated levels of adenosine such as during hypoxia. This review focuses on the importance of one receptor, the adenosine 2a subtype, in blocking inflammation associated with AKI.
Skill of the MJO and Northern Hemisphere Blocking in GEFS Medium-Range Reforecasts

AbstractForecast characteristics of Northern Hemisphere atmospheric blocking and the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) were diagnosed using an extensive time series (December–February 1985–2012) of daily medium-range ensemble reforecasts based on a version of the NCEP Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS).For blocking, (i) interannual variability of analyzed blocking frequency was quite large, (ii) the GEFS slightly underforecasted blocking frequency at longer leads in the Euro-Atlantic sector, (iii) predictive skill of actual blocking was substantially smaller than its perfect-model skill, (iv) block onset and cessation were forecast less well than overall blocking frequency, (v) there was substantial variability of blocking skill between half-decadal periods, and (vi) the reliability of probabilistic blocking forecasts degraded with increasing lead time.For the MJO, (i) forecasts of strong Indian Ocean MJOs propagated too slowly, especially the component associated with outgoing longwave radiation (OLR),...
Multiple-scattering theory of intensities in inelastic-electron-tunneling spectroscopy

A short-range multiple-scattering theory of the observed intensities in inelastic-electron-tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) is developed and compared with previous long-range theories. The scattering molecular potential is calculated using the $X\ensuremath{\alpha}$ approximation to the exchange-correlation potential and the Bardeen transfer-Hamiltonian approach is taken to calculate inelastic-tunneling cross sections. Predicted short-range cross sections are strongly energy dependent and could be quite large for tunneling electrons at a molecular bound-state energy. However, comparison of the predictions of the two theories for higher-harmonic amplitudes and opposite-bias-voltage asymmetries indicates that the long-range interactions dominate in IETS.
Bayesian non‐parametric analysis of multirater ordinal data, with application to prioritizing research goals for prevention of suicide

Summary Our application data are produced from a scalable, on-line expert elicitation process that incorporates hundreds of participating raters to score the importance of research goals for the prevention of suicide with the purpose of informing policy making. We develop a Bayesian formulation for analysis of ordinal multirater data motivated by our application. Our model employs a non-parametric mixture distribution over rater-indexed parameters for a latent continuous response under a Poisson–Dirichlet process mixing measure that allows inference about distinct rater behavioural and learning typologies from realized clusters.
Benign pneumatosis intestinalis in a pediatric patient with multiple risk factors including granulomatosis with polyangiitis: A case report and review of the literature

Abstract Objective To describe the first reported case of pneumatosis intestinalis (PI) in a pediatric patient with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) and multiple other risk factors and review the literature for PI in adult and pediatric rheumatologic conditions. Methods A PubMed search was completed using the search phrase “pneumatosis intestinalis.” Searches were limited to humans and the English language, and remaining articles involving patients with rheumatologic diagnoses were identified and included in our discussion. Results This is the first reported of case of PI in a patient with underlying GPA or antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitides. Out of 90 previously reported cases of PI in patients with rheumatologic conditions, 79 cases were in adults and 11 in children. There were 30 patients with systemic sclerosis, 18 with MCTD/overlap syndrome, 18 with dermatomyositis or polymyositis, 16 with SLE, and 8 with other diagnoses. Overall, 81% of the patients were on corticosteroids or other immunosuppressants prior to development of PI. The most common presenting symptom was abdominal pain, and 51% of patients had associated pneumoperitoneum. Conclusions PI can be associated with a broad spectrum of rheumatic diseases, including GPA, and should be included in the differential diagnosis of patients with rheumatologic conditions and nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms.
Amyloid-β precursor protein expression and modulation in human embryonic stem cells : A novel role for human chorionic gonadotropin

The amyloid-beta precursor protein (AbetaPP) is a ubiquitously expressed adhesion and neuritogenic protein whose processing has previously been shown to be regulated by reproductive hormones including the gonadotropin luteinizing hormone (LH) in human neuroblastoma cells. We report for the first time the expression of AbetaPP in human embryonic stem (hES) cells at the mRNA and protein levels. Using N- and C-terminal antibodies against AbetaPP, we detected both the mature and immature forms of AbetaPP as well as truncated variants ( approximately 53kDa, 47kDa, and 29kDa) by immunoblot analyses. Expression of AbetaPP is regulated by both the stemness of the cells and pregnancy-associated hormones. Addition of human chorionic gonadotropin, the fetal equivalent of LH that is dramatically elevated during pregnancy, markedly increased the expression of all AbetaPP forms. These results indicate a critical molecular signaling link between the hormonal environment of pregnancy and the expression of AbetaPP in hES cells that is suggestive of an important function for this protein during early human embryogenesis prior to the formation of neural precursor cells.
The resolution of multiple cyanocobalamin-binding components in serum

Abstract At least two major cyanocobalamin-binding sites can be demonstrated in human and animal serum by fractionation on CM-cellulose columns when cyanocobalamin is added in vitro. In normal human serum, Component A, representing 50% of the total binding capacity, is associated with serum albumin and does not bind to CM-cellulose at pH 6. Component B, also representing 50% of the total binding capacity is eluted from the column after the serum globulins at 0.3 M NaCl. Sera from cat, dog, rabbit, horse, cow, pig, sheep, rat, and guinea pig are also resolvable into two major components. The two components in different animal sera are similar but vary with respect to concentration and relative elution pattern. In some animal sera, a third minor cyanocobalamin binding complex (Complex C) is present which is eluted at salt concentrations lower than that necessary for elution of Component B. In chicken serum, Component B is entirely absent. Sera of dogs, rabbits and chickens given oral doses of high specific activity [57Co]cyanocobalamin, followed by fractionation on CM-cellulose columns, yield cyanocobalamin binding sites essentially similar to that found for cyanocobalamin added to serum in vitro.
Improved flow technique for measurement of hydrogen chemisorption on metal catalysts

Abstract A rapid, convenient, and fundamentally-sound flow adsorption technique for mesuring monolayer hydrogen uptakes of cobalt, iron, and nickel catalysts is described. It involves cooling the reduced catalyst in flowing hydrogen from the reduction temperature to about 190–200 K (dry ice-acetone temperature), desorbing in argon at about 200 K for about 15 min, and finally desorbing in argon while heating to the reduction temperature at about 10–25 K/min. Desorbed hydrogen is monitored by thermal conductivity. A simple flow apparatus equipped with manual control valves, a manual pressure regulator, and a thermal conductivity cell can be used to collect data. This method avoids some of the pitfalls of (i) earlier reported flow techniques in which removal of reversibly chemisorbed hydrogen occurs at 273 or 298 K and (ii) earlier reported static techniques involving long equilibration times during which hydrogen spillover onto the support causes erroneously high uptakes to be obtained. Metal crystallite diameters estimated from hydrogen uptakes obtained by this new flow procedure are in good-very good agreement with those estimated from X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy for cobalt, iron and nickel catalysts.
A rapid technique of preparing frozen sections of small brains

Abstract The preparation of cryostat sections of unfixed tissue for use in evaluating the extent of brain lesions is described. The method is applicable to mouse, rat, rabbit and other small brains.
Resonance-line transfer with partial redistribution. VII Angle-dependent redistribution

A method is presented for treating radiative transfer in resonance lines, allowing for the full angle and frequency dependence of redistribution in the scattering process, as seen in the laboratory frame. The case of an equivalent-two-level-atom source function is considered; the problem to be treated is then linear in the radiation field. We apply this method to the Ca II lines in the solar atmosphere, using a redistribution function which takes into account a mixture of coherence in the atom's frame, with Doppler redistribution in the laboratory frame (for atoms which have not suffered an elastic collision), and of complete redistribution in the laboratory frame (for atoms that are collisionally perturbed during the emission process). Both the angle-averaged approximation and the full angle-dependent solution were obtained, and were compared to assess, differentially, the effects of angular redistribution upon the computed line profile and its center-to-limb behavior. For the Ca II line in a homogeneous solar chromosphere the angle-dependent effects are found to be negligible, indicating that one may use angle-averaged redistribution functions when studying partial redistribution effects in line profiles.
Estimating workers’ marginal valuation of employer health benefits: Would insured workers prefer more health insurance or higher wages?

Abstract In recent years the cost of health insurance has been increasing much faster than wages. In the face of these rising costs, many employers will have to make difficult decisions about whether to cut back health benefits or to compensate workers with lower wages or lower wage growth. In this paper, we ask the question, “Which do workers value more—one additional dollar's worth of health benefits or one more dollar in their pockets? ” Using a new approach to obtaining estimates of insured workers’ marginal valuation of health benefits this paper estimates how much, on average, employees value the marginal dollar paid by employers for their workers’ health insurance. We find that insured workers value the marginal health premium dollar at significantly less than the marginal wage dollar. However, workers value insurance generosity very highly. The marginal dollar spent on health insurance that adds an additional dollar's worth of observable dimensions of plan generosity, such as lower deductibles or coverage of additional services, is valued at significantly more than one dollar.
Blunt tipped needle catheter for cannulation of the minor papilla.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is commonly employed and highly accurate in the diagnosis of pancreatic neoplasms, chronic pancreatitis, and other pancreatic disorders. Standard catheters permit cannulation of both the bile and pancreatic ducts via the major papilla in 80% (67 to 100%) of cases in experienced hands1-s and visualization of the pancreatic ductal system in approximately 88% (68 to 95%).6-9 Failure to visualize the pancreatic ductal system might be a result oftechnical difficulties which arise due to a prior sphincterotomy (surgical or endoscopic), duodenal diverticulum, severe ampullar" stenosis, obstructing neoplasm at the papilla or proximal pancreatic duct, or anatomical configuration of the pancreatic ductal orifice. In addition, in about 3 to 6% of cases, pancreas divisum is noted,1O-13 and only the small ventral pancreatic ductal system can be filled via the major papilla. A dorsal pancreatogram, which would be highly desirable, usually cannot be obtained. Cannulation of the minor papilla would obviously be of considerable benefit in these clinical situations. Unfortunately, some authors report a success rate of only 10 to 35% using standard catheters. lO, 11, 13 Dunham et al. 14 have reported a successful series of minor papilla cannulations, using a needle tip catheter or catheter with an hourglass shape in their series from Belgium. They reported success in 20 of 26 cases with pancreas divisum and in all of five cases with failure of pancreatography at the major papilla. We recently developed a blunt tipped needle catheter that allows easy cannulation of the minor papilla, giving a success rate of over 80%.
A review of research and theory on the relation between oral reading rate and reading comprehension.

We review the conceptual and empirical literature on the relation between oral reading rate and reading comprehension. Three lines of conceptual analysis converge on this relation: (a) application of basic behavior analytic principles suggests that fluent decoding should produce better reading comprehension through direct and indirect relations, (b) behavior analytic understanding of the importance of the rate of behavior as developed by Skinner, Lindsley and Haughton implies that higher reading rate contributes to improved comprehension, and (c) cognitive theory of automaticity explicitly states that high rate reading sets the stage for effective comprehension. A wealth of correlational evidence indicates that reading rate and reading comprehension covary. These results have been replicated across elementary grades and across a variety of measures of reading comprehension. However, experimental analyses have not convincingly demonstrated a functional relation between the two. Experimental work has yielded results that are mixed at best. Examination of experimental design issues shows that although this is not a simple relation to investigate, behavior analysts can make major contributions to understanding the possible functional relation between reading rate and reading comprehension.
GLOBE backscatter: climatologies and mission results

The Global Backscatter Experiment (GLOBE) goals require intensive study of the global climatology of atmospheric aerosol backscatter at IR wavelengths. Airborne and ground-based lidars have been developed to measure atmospheric backscatter profiles at CO2 laser wavelengths. Descriptions of the calibration techniques and selected measurement results are presented.
High-performance thin-layer chromatographic analysis of neutral lipids and phospholipids in the apple snail Pomacea bridgesii

Neutral lipids and phospholpids in the apple snail Pomacea bridgesii have been determined in the whole body, digestive gland-gonad complex (DGG), viscera, head-foot, shell, operculum, plasma, and hemocytes by high-performance thin-layer chromatography on silica gel plates. Plates were developed with petroleum ether-diethyl ether-glacial acetic acid, 80 + 20 + 1 ( v/v ), as mobile phase and sprayed with 5% phosphomolybdic acid to detect neutral lipids. Plates were developed with chloroform-methanol-water, 65 + 25 + 4 ( v/v ), and sprayed with 10% cupric sulfate to detect phospholipids. Triacylglycerols, free sterols, free fatty acids, steryl esters, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine were the major lipid fractions detected in the whole body, DGG, viscera, and head-foot. The major lipid fractions in the shell and operculum were free sterols and free fatty acids. The plasma and hemocytes contained free fatty acids as the major lipid fraction. The presence of these lipids suggests they are impo...
On the interplay between chemical reactions and phase transitions for molecules adsorbed on solid surfaces

Abstract We use Monte Carlo simulations to examine the manner in which reagent aggregation affects the reaction rate between molecules adsorbed on a solid surface. We discuss the temperature and concentration dependence of the rate of product formation.
Low-bit-rate segmentation-based image sequence coding

A new motion compensated predictive coding method for an image sequence at a low bit rate is presented. Motion compensation is based on the segmentation of the reconstructed image performed in both encoder and decoder. This will eliminate the need to transmit the region shape information. Also, motion vector prediction is implemented to reduce the overhead for motion information. Motion-compensated prediction errors are transformed using the discrete cosine transform, and the coefficients are quantized and entropy coded as recommended by CCITT. Computer simulation shows that the proposed coding algorithm significantly reduces the block distortion, as conventional block matching algorithms do at very low bit rates (e.g., 0.02 bit/pixel).