cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Selective Insulin Resistance and the Development of Cardiovascular Diseases in Diabetes: The 2015 Edwin Bierman Award Lecture

The Edwin Bierman Award Lecture is presented in honor of the memory of Edwin L. Bierman, MD, an exemplary scientist, mentor, and leader in the field of diabetes, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and atherosclerosis. The award and lecture recognizes a leading scientist in the field of macrovascular complications and contributing risk factors in diabetes. George L. King, MD, of the Section of Vascular Cell Biology and Complications, Dianne Nunnally Hoppes Laboratory for Diabetes Complications, Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, received the prestigious award at the American Diabetes Association's 75th Scientific Sessions, 5-9 June 2015, in Boston, MA. He presented the Edwin Bierman Award Lecture, "Selective Insulin Resistance and the Development of Cardiovascular Disease in Diabetes," on Sunday, 7 June 2015.This review is focused on the factors and potential mechanisms that are causing various cardiovascular pathologies. In diabetes, insulin's actions on the endothelium and other vascular cells have significant influence on systemic metabolisms and the development of cardiovascular pathologies. Our studies showed that insulin receptors on the endothelium are important for insulin transport across the endothelial barrier and mediate insulin's actions in muscle, heart, fat, and the brain. Insulin actions on the vascular cells are mediated by two pathways involving the actions of either IRS/PI3K/Akt or Grb/Shc/MAPK. Insulin's activation of IRS/PI3K/Akt results in mostly antiatherogenic actions, as this pathway induces activation of eNOS, the expressions of HO-1 and VEGF, and the reduction of VCAM-1. In contrast, insulin's activation of the Grb/Shc/MAPK pathway mediates the expressions of ET-1 and PAI-1 and migration and proliferation of contractile cells, which have proatherogenic actions. Elevated levels of glucose, free fatty acids, and inflammatory cytokines due to diabetes and insulin resistance selectively inhibit insulin's antiatherogenic actions via the IRS/PI3K/Akt pathway. This review provides evidence to support the importance of insulin actions in preventing cardiovascular pathology that can be selectively inhibited via the IRS/PI3K/Akt cascade in diabetes.
Magnetic resonance imaging of congenital midline nasal masses.

Congenital midline nasal masses are rare lesions with potential intracranial extensions. Thus, thoughtful preoperative evaluation Is essential in planning the appropriate surgical approach, to prev...
Retrocaval liver lifting maneuver and modifications of total hepatic vascular exclusion for liver tumor resection.

Retrocaval liver lifting maneuver and modifications of total hepatic vascular exclusion for liver tumor resection
Difference in parenting in two species of burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis and Nicrophorus vespilloides

Burying beetles (Nicrophorus) are model parents among insects, with all studied species known to regurgitate flesh from vertebrate carcasses to their offspring. However, most studies focus on a very few species, yet the interpretation of the function and importance of care is typically generalized to all burying beetles. Here we characterize subtle variation within and between individuals and sexes, and how this variation differs between two species of burying beetle. We find that Nicrophorus orbicollis exhibits low variance, with a normal distribution of parental care provided during peak care periods. In N. vespilloides, however, the distribution is more uniform as values of care are spread across the possible phenotypic spectrum. This suggests that there is stabilizing selection on care in N. orbicollis, but relaxed or disruptive selection in N. vespilloides. Although repeatability was similar between both species, transitions from other care behaviors into feeding were more common in N. orbicollis than N. vespilloides. Thus, while parenting is coarsely similar across the genus, variation in its expression should not be extrapolated to all Nicrophorus. We suggest that subtle variation both within and among species merits greater attention, and could inform us about the factors that lead to different distributions of care.
Dual defibrillation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A retrospective cohort analysis☆

Abstract Study objectives The goal of our study is to determine if prehospital dual defibrillation (DD) is associated with better neurologically intact survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Methods This study is a retrospective cohort analysis of prospectively collected Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement data from a large urban fire based EMS system out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) database between Jan 2013 and Dec 2015. Our inclusion criteria were administration of DD or at least four conventional 200J defibrillations for cases of recurrent and refractory ventricular fibrillation (VF). We excluded any case with incomplete data. The primary outcome for our study was neurologically intact survival (defined as Cerebral Performance Category 1 and 2). Results A total of 3470 cases of OHCA were treated during the time period of Jan 2013 to Dec 2015. There were 302 cases of recurrent and refractory VF identified. Twenty-three cases had incomplete data. Of the remaining 279 cases, 50 were treated with DD and 229 received standard single shock 200J defibrillations. There was no statistically significant difference in the primary outcome of neurologically intact survival between the DD group (6%) and the standard defibrillation group (11.4%) ( p =0.317) (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.15–1.72). Conclusion Our retrospective cohort analysis on the prehospital use of DD in OHCA found no association with neurologically intact survival. Case–control studies are needed to further evaluate the efficacy of DD in the prehospital setting.
Numerical Investigation of the “Poor Man’s Navier-Stokes Equations” with Darcy and Forchheimer Terms

In this paper, a discrete dynamical system (DDS) is derived from the generalized Navier–Stokes equations for incompressible flow in porous media via a Galerkin procedure. The main difference from the previously studied poor man’s Navier–Stokes equations is the addition of forcing terms accounting for linear and nonlinear drag forces of the medium — Darcy and Forchheimer terms. A detailed numerical investigation focusing on the bifurcation parameters due to these additional terms is provided in the form of regime maps, time series, power spectra, phase portraits and basins of attraction, which indicate system behaviors in agreement with expected physical fluid flow through porous media. As concluded from the previous studies, this DDS can be employed in subgrid-scale models of synthetic-velocity form for large-eddy simulation of turbulent flow through porous media.
Applications of Quantum Mechanics

Thus, the task is, not so much to see what no one has yet seen; but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everyone sees.
Deutsche Niederlassungen vor dem Befreiungskriege in Georgien und in Neu-England

Georgien, die sudlichst gelegene der amerikanischen Kolonien, wurde sofort nach Grundung der ersten Niederlassung in Savannah den Salzburgern zur neuen Heimat. Dies waren deutsche Protestanten1, die im Jahre 1731 durch einen Erlas des Erzbischofs Leopold, Grafen von Firmian, dessen fanatischer Eifer keine Nichtkatholiken in seinem Gebiet duldete, des Landes verwiesen waren. Uber 30 000 Protestanten musten das osterreichische Erzbistum Salzburg verlassen, fanden aber nach mancherlei Ungemach in protestantischen Landern freundliche Aufnahme, vor allem in Preusen, wo 17 000 von ihnen eine Heimat fanden.
Toshio Takamine’s Contact with Western Astrophysics

In the fall of 1920 two young scholars happened to meet in London and found they had many interests in common in laboratory spectroscopy and astrophysics. One was an Indian and the other Japanese, and their paths crossed as they visited American and European centers to acquire the tools and techniques of the new physics and to hone their skills. Their chance meeting bears witness to the growing excitement over how the new physics made spectroscopy a central ingredient not only in the exploration of the atom, but of the structure and compositions of the sun and stars.
Merging Civil and Common Law Traditions in the Patent Validity Challenge System: Japanese Experiences

This paper compares patent validity challenge systems in Japan and the United States. Japanese courts long followed German tradition of a bifurcation system where accused infringers could challenge the patent validity only through the invalidation proceeding at the Japan Patent Office. Japanese Patent Law was recently revised to adopt a double track system where accused infringers can challenge the validity both in court and at the Japan Patent Office for facilitating a simple and quick disposal of patent disputes. The new system resulted in unexpected problems because of possible conflicting decisions in patent validity from different authorities. In contrast, the United States has been immune to these problems although it has used a double track system since 1980. This paper examines aspects of U.S. double track system that prevent conflicting validity decisions from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and courts and proposes to adopt these aspects in Japanese double track system.
Diagnostic testing fails the test

Questions about the effects of patents and licensing are becoming critical in the United States, Europe and other developed countries as more genes are discovered and patented, and as genetic testing becomes an integral part of standard medical care. The award of patents for the diagnostic test for haemochromatosis, a progressive iron-overload disease, joins an ever-growing list of such tests that have been, or will very soon be, patented. We have found that US laboratories have refrained from offering clinical-testing services for haemochromatosis because of the patents. A lot of clinical study is needed to validate and extend the early discovery of a disease gene such as that for haemochromatosis, so our results give us reason to fear that limiting clinical testing will inhibit further discovery as well as the understanding that emerges naturally from broad medical adoption1. As highlighted by the looming patent battle over testing for a breast-cancer mutation between Myriad Genetics and the French Curie and Gustave Roussy institutes (see ref. 2), restrictive licensing and monopolization of clinical-testing services will not be limited to the United States for long. Indeed, four patents relating to haemochromatosis testing are pending in the European Patent Office, suggesting that the situation in the United States described here may soon spread to Europe.
Assessing Early Engineering Thinking and Design Competencies in the Classroom

Young children are capable of understanding ideas that educators had once thought to be too complex for these ages. Children start to engage in creative design and develop engineering thinking at early ages as they play, create, solve puzzles, and ask questions. Just as it is important to highlight these activities as early engineering practices, it is important to use assessment practices necessary to support further development of engineering thinking. In this chapter, we lay the foundation for assessment of young children’s engineering thinking through discussion of current research on early engineering thinking and effective approaches to assessment as we outline﻿ engineering design competencies for young learners. We also present the Mosaic framework, a model that guides assessment practices in engineering and provides practical strategies that are necessary to maintain complexity while teaching and assessing engineering design to young children. We urge the community toward a multi-faceted view of assessment that targets student learning evidence and growth supported by curriculum design, and teacher professional development, along with assessment tools and strategies.
Cytokines as Mediators of Lung Innate Immunity

The emergence of multi-drug resistant microbes in the immunocompromised host has made the treatment of bacterial, fungal, and mycobacterial infections of the lung increasingly difficult [1, 2, 3]. This rather ominous trend underscores the need to better understand the immune host response in order to develop immunotherapies directed at these responses. Effective host defense against common bacterial pathogens of the respiratory tract is primarily dependent upon the rapid clearance of the etiologic agent from the lung [4, 5]. Innate, or natural immunity, is the principal pathway for effective elimination of bacterial organisms that have reached the alveolus. The three principal phagocytic cells that constitute innateimmunity in the lung include resident alveolar macrophages, recruited neutrophils, and mononuclear phagocytes. In addition, these cells, as well as resident T cells (particularly γδ-T cells) and natural killer (NK) cells, participate in innate immune responses in the lung via the elaboration of important activating and/or chemotactic cytokines. In contrast to bacterial infection, host responses to intracellular bacteria, fungi, mycobacterium and viruses are more complex and require both the phagocytic system, as well as antibody-mediated and cell-mediated immunity [4, 5, 6, 7]. While neutrophils play a role in host defense against some of these pathogens, the recruitment and/or activation of macrophages and CD44+ T cells is essential for the effective clearance of many intracellular pathogens from the lung.
Reconsidering the Genetics of Phenylketonuria: Evidence from Molecular Genetics

Recent studies of the molecular genetics of phenylketonuria (PKU) have confirmed and complicated prior notions about the genetics of PKU. These studies have demonstrated that the PKU genotype is highly heterogeneous. Two mutations account for 60% of European “PKU” genes. These mutations are associated with relatively rare phenylalanine hydroxylase haplotypes, suggesting that the high incidence of PKU may reflect a “founder” effect or positive selection for these two mutant alleles.
Contingent Valuation of Forest Ecosystem Protection

In recent decades, concerns have arisen about the proper valuation of the world’s forests. While some of these concerns have to do with market distortions for timber products or inadequate data on non-timber forest products, an additional challenge is to uncover the economic worth of nonmarket services provided by forest ecosystems (Kramer et al. 1997). This has led to a growing number of publications addressing the valuation of forest ecosystem services, on topics such as carbon sequestration and endangered species habitat. In this chapter, we focus on the contingent valuation method (CVM) to assess the structure, health, and extent of forest ecosystems.1
Glaciaton of Southern Victoria Land

The late Cenozoic (Neogene) history of the Transantarctic Mountains included several episodes when the East Antarctic ice sheet overflowed the mountains. The resulting glaciations of the Transantarctic Mountains caused major topographic changes which became apparent after the ice sheet subsided for the last time. Therefore, the landscape of the present Transantarctic Mountains has evolved as a result of the climate changes during the Neogene which caused the advance(s) and subsequent retreat(s) of the East Antarctic ice sheet and set the stage for the most recent geomorphic and hydrologic evolution of the ice-free valleys of southern Victoria Land.
Using cosmogenic Lithium, Beryllium and Boron to determine the surface ages of icy objects in the outer solar system

Abstract Given current uncertainties in the cratering rates and geological histories of icy objects in the outer solar system, it is worth considering how the ages of icy surfaces could be constrained with measurements from future landed missions. A promising approach would be to determine cosmic-ray exposure ages of surface deposits by measuring the amounts of cosmogenic Lithium, Beryllium and Boron at various depths within a few meters of the surface. Preliminary calculations show that ice that has been exposed to cosmic radiation for one billion years should contain these cosmogenic nuclei at concentrations of a few parts per trillion, so any future experiment that might attempt to perform this sort of measurement will need to meet stringent sensitivity requirements.
Impact of High Volume Energy Drink Consumption on Electrocardiographic and Blood Pressure Parameters: A Randomized Trial

Background Energy drinks have been linked to an increase in emergency room visits and deaths. We aim to determine the impact of energy drinks on electrocardiographic and hemodynamic parameters in y...
Phenotypes of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: Where Rome, Lyon, and Montreal Meet

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is now one of the most common diagnoses made in a gastroenterology practice. From a conventional pathophysiological perspective, GERD is conceptualized as incompetence of the antireflux barrier at the esophagogastric junction; the more severe that incompetence, the worse the disease. However, it is increasingly clear that many presentations of GERD represent distinct phenotypes with unique predisposing cofactors and pathophysiology outside of this paradigm. Three major consensus initiatives have grappled with this dilemma (the Montreal Consensus, The Rome Foundation, and the Lyon Consensus), each from a different perspective. Montreal struggled to define the disease, Rome sought to characterize its functional attributes, while Lyon examined its physiological attributes. Here, we merge the 3 perspectives, developing the concept that what has come to be known as GERD is actually a family of syndromes with a complex matrix of contributing pathophysiology. A corollary to this is that the concept of one size fits all to therapeutics does not apply, and that although escalating treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) may be pertinent to healing esophagitis, its applicability beyond that is highly questionable. Similarly, failing to recognize the modulating effects of anxiety, hypervigilance, and visceral and central hypersensitivity on symptom severity has greatly oversimplified the problem. That oversimplification has led to excessive use of PPIs for everything captured under the GERD umbrella and shown a broad spectrum of syndromes less amenable to PPI therapy in any dose. It is with this in mind that we delineate this precision medicine concept of GERD.
Approximate residual balancing: debiased inference of average treatment effects in high dimensions

There are many settings where researchers are interested in estimating average treatment effects and are willing to rely on the unconfoundedness assumption, which requires that the treatment assignment be as good as random conditional on pretreatment variables. The unconfoundedness assumption is often more plausible if a large number of pretreatment variables are included in the analysis, but this can worsen the performance of standard approaches to treatment effect estimation. We develop a method for debiasing penalized regression adjustments to allow sparse regression methods like the lasso to be used for √n‐consistent inference of average treatment effects in high dimensional linear models. Given linearity, we do not need to assume that the treatment propensities are estimable, or that the average treatment effect is a sparse contrast of the outcome model parameters. Rather, in addition to standard assumptions used to make lasso regression on the outcome model consistent under 1‐norm error, we require only overlap, i.e. that the propensity score be uniformly bounded away from 0 and 1. Procedurally, our method combines balancing weights with a regularized regression adjustment.
The state of the science on trauma inquiry

Within the context of longitudinal medical care for adults, health care providers have a unique opportunity to inquire and respond to the traumatic life experiences affecting the health of their patients, as well as a responsibility to minimize retraumatizing these patients during medical encounters. While there is literature on screening women for intimate partner violence, and there is emerging data on pediatric screening for adverse life experiences, there is sparse literature on inquiry of broader trauma histories in adult medical settings. This lack of research on trauma inquiry results in an absence of guidelines for best practices, in turn making it challenging for policy makers, health care providers, and researchers to mitigate the adverse health outcomes caused by traumatic experiences and to provide equitable care to populations that experience a disproportionate burden of trauma. This state of the science summarizes current inquiry practices for patients who have experienced trauma, violence, and abuse. It places trauma inquiry within an anchoring framework of trauma-informed care principles, and emphasizes a focus on resilience. It then proposes best practices for trauma inquiry, which include tiered screening starting with broad trauma inquiry, proceeding to risk and safety assessment as indicated, and ending with connection to interventions.
Regional Development Poles and the Transformation of African Economies

This book argues that the development of capital goods manufacturing industries in four relatively large African economies will create regional development poles, from which industrialization will spread to the smaller African countries. In this book, Benaiah Yongo-Bure explains the need for capital goods industries in Africa and shows how manufacturing can transform economies. He outlines the roles of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Africa as potential regional development poles, showing how the existing economies, natural resources, and populations of these countries make them ideal candidates, while also considering possible challenges to industrialization. Finally, the author assesses what major infrastructural development is needed to link the countries and regions to increase the spread effects of economic growth. This book will be of interest to scholars and policy makers in economic development and regional development in Africa.
Differential Diagnoses Between Primary Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating Secondary to a Primary Gastrointestinal Disorder

Disordered eating behaviors can complicate the treatment of a gastrointestinal disorder but even more significant a primary eating disorder. Reaching an accurate diagnosis requires knowledge and recognition of both psychiatric and medical disorders. The female to male ratio for primary eating disorders is 10:1. The well-described mind-gut axis creates a dynamic relation between disordered eating and gastrointestinal symptoms in that each can exacerbate the other. Making a correct diagnosis requires a thorough patient assessment and an understanding of how psychiatric symptoms can interplay with somatic symptoms, especially gastrointestinal symptoms. This chapter will give an overview of how to correctly diagnose a primary eating disorder and the general treatment paradigm of such conditions.
“You Don’t See Them on the Streets of Your Town”: Challenges and Strategies for Serving Unstably Housed Veterans in Rural Areas

Research on policy and programmatic responses to homelessness has focused largely on urban areas, with comparatively little attention paid to the rural context. We conducted qualitative interviews ...
Sexual Differentiation of the Brain

Exposure to hormones during different periods of development can dramatically change both behavior and brain morphology. Studies in rodents have suggested that exposure to testosterone during a critical period near the time of birth can masculinize certain areas of the central nervous system (CNS) as well as behavior (most notably sexual behavior). Some areas of the CNS remain susceptible to the influence of hormones beyond this critical period, with morphological changes occurring in adolescence, adulthood, or both. The human CNS is also sexually differentiated, although the influence of hormone exposure on behavior is less well established than in nonhuman models.
How to Rename a Campus Building in Just A Quarter Century: Benjamin Morgan Palmer, Rhodes College, and Palmer Hall:

Benjamin Morgan Palmer (1818–1902) was one of the leading voices in the Southern Presbyterian Church between the 1850s and his death in 1902. Part of Palmer’s “principal legacy” was his career-long...
A Survey of Practices in the United States Regarding Hepatitis C Screening in Pregnant Women.

Abstract Purpose Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cases have increased in the past decade, with many cases in pregnant patients. However, recommendations for HCV screening during pregnancy vary by professional organization. Methods Prenatal care providers were surveyed via e-mail about factors affecting choice of HCV screening. Findings A total of 86 completed surveys were received. Providers using risk-based screening valued guidance from obstetrics and gynecology societies and risk for vertical transmission. Providers using universal screening valued availability of curative treatment in addition to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/infectious diseases societies and obstetrics and gynecology societies. Implications The results highlight the need for consensus guidelines on HCV screening as a part of prenatal care.
Overview of NASA's Next Generation Air Transportation System (Nextgen) Research

This slide presentation is an overview of the research for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Included is a review of the current air transportation system and the challenges of air transportation research. Also included is a review of the current research highlights and significant accomplishments.
Electrocardiographic Predictors Coronary Heart Disease Death

In many industrialized countries including the US cardiovascular disease (CVD) continues to be the leading cause of death. Women have been increasingly included in CVD intervention efforts but substantial gender differences still remain in CVD prevalence and mortality. Annual number of adults with diagnosed heart attack of fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) occurs 10 years later in women than in men. Differences in population demographics account for the fact that in terms of absolute numbers more women are living with and dying from CVD including stroke than men, and more women than men are discharged from hospitals with diagnosis heart failure and stroke. These facts emphasize the need for identification of improved ECG predictors for CVD death and HF.
Tarski's Problem and Pfaffian Functions

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses Tarski's problem and presents Pfaffian functions. Tarski's theorem establishes a link between the algebraic–analytic structure of the real field and its logical properties. The Renaissance gave the isomorphism between addition and multiplication: multiplying (positive) reals amounts to adding their logarithms. The (graph of) the exponential function is not semi-algebraic, so the system of semi-algebraic sets is missing a fundamental connection between its two generating operations. The remarkable finiteness properties of semi-algebraic sets are desirable. These finiteness phenomena are consequences of 0-minimality. Pfaffian functions are real analytic functions defined on certain cells called “Pfaffian cells”, and they satisfy differential equations of a certain form. The partial derivatives of a Pfaffian function on an open cell are Pfaffian, and the restriction of a Pfaffian function to a Pfaffian subcell of its domain is Pfaffian.
Managing Product Introductions and Transitions

As the rate of innovation increases, companies face expanding product lines, shorter product lifecycles, and more frequent product transitions, all of which can bring tremendous value but also pose enormous challenges. In this article, we provide a brief introduction to and survey of product introductions and transitions. We discuss supply and demand factors that must be considered for a successful product launch. Dynamics of a product launch depend primarily on how demand is generated. Of the various theories which explain demand generation, new product diffusion theory is among the most commonly used. Thus, we also provide a brief introduction to new product diffusion models. We conclude with potential research directions. Keywords: product introductions; product transitions; product rollover strategies; diffusion models; pricing; timing
Interpreting Probabilities: What's Interference Got to Do with It?

There are several different questions which must be addressed when investigating the meaning and origin of probabilities in a physical theory. Among these questions are: a. What are the probabilities probabilities for? b. How are the probabilities to be calculated? c. Where do the probabilities come into the account? d. How are experimental outcomes analyzed in terms of the events to which the probabilities are attributed? e. How are the probabilities to be understood?
Inactivation of Escherichia coli acetate kinase by N-ethylmaleimide protection by substrates and products

Abstract Acetate kinase (ATP:acetate phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.2.1) from Escherichia coli exhibited a time-dependent loss of activity when incubated with N- ethylmaleimide at micromolar concentrations. However, prolonged incubation did not eliminate all catalytic activity and generally about 15% of its initial activity remained. When incubated with 7.2 μM N- ethylmaleimide , acetate kinase was inactivated with a rate constant of 0.063 min −1 . Adenine nucleotides, ATP, ADP and AMP, protected the enzyme against such inactivation, but acetate up to 3.0 M and in the presence of 0.2 M MgCl 2 and acetyl phosphate at 24 mM did not interfere with the rate of inactivation. While both acetate and acetyl phosphate did not affected the protection rendered by AMP, the presence of acetly phosphate altered ADP protection. However, both substrates prevented ATP from protecting the enzyme. These data suggest that the binding sites for acetate and acetyl phosphate are different from that of the adenosine binding domain, but are in close vicinity to the phosphoryl binding regions of the nucleotides.
Efficient query processing for multi-dimensionally clustered tables in DB2

We have introduced a Multi-Dimensional Clustering (MDC) physical layout scheme in DB2 version 8.0 for relational tables. Multi-Dimensional Clustering is based on the definition of one or more orthogonal clustering attributes (or expressions) of a table. The table is organized physically by associating records with similar values for the dimension attributes in a cluster. Each clustering key is allocated one or more blocks of physical storage with the aim of storing the multiple records belonging to the cluster in almost contiguous fashion. Block oriented indexes are created to access these blocks. In this paper, we describe novel techniques for query processing operations that provide significant performance improvements for MDC tables. Current database systems employ a repertoire of access methods including table scans, index scans, index ANDing, and index ORing. We have extended these access methods for efficiently processing the block based MDC tables. One important concept at the core of processing MDC tables is the block oriented access technique. In addition, since MDC tables can include regular record oriented indexes, we employ novel techniques to combine block and record indexes. Block oriented processing is extended to nested loop joins and star joins as well. We show results from experiments using a star-schema database to validate our claims of performance with minimal overhead.
A Review of Organizational Strategies for Reducing Sexual Harassment: Insights from the U. S. Military

Sexual harassment is a form of sexual victimization with its roots in sexism. Despite efforts to reduce its prevalence, it continues to be one of the most common forms of workplace mistreatment. This article examined best practices in system-level interventions to reduce sexual harassment in the workplace and presents data from the U.S. Armed Forces to demonstrate the roles of organizational leadership, and sexual harassment policies and training, on reducing sexual harassment and improving outcomes when it does occur. We assert that a clear and consistent antiharassment message from organizational leaders is essential. This is communicated via a written, widely disseminated policy on sexual harassment; regular educational training for all members of the organization; formal and informal reporting, investigation, and remediation procedures. Finally, we suggest that organizations conduct regular self-assessments of sexual harassment and perceptions of the organizational climate as proactive efforts to effectively intervene and eliminate its occurrence.
AREP: Adaptive Resource Efficient Prefetching for Maximizing Multicore Performance

Modern processors widely use hardware prefetching to hide memory latency. While aggressive hardware prefetchers can improve performance significantly for some applications, they can limit the overall performance in highlyutilized multicore processors by saturating the offchip bandwidth and wasting last-level cache capacity. Co-executing applications can slowdown due to contention over these shared resources. This work introduces Adaptive Resource Efficient Prefetching (AREP) -- a runtime framework that dynamically combines software prefetching and hardware prefetching to maximize throughput in highly utilized multicore processors. AREP achieves better performance by prefetching data in a resource efficient way -- conserving offchip-bandwidth and last-level cache capacity with accurate prefetching and by applying cache-bypassing when possible. AREP dynamically explores a mix of hardware/software prefetching policies, then selects and applies the best performing policy. AREP is phase-aware and re-explores (at runtime) for the best prefetching policy at phase boundaries. A multitude of experiments with workload mixes and parallel applications on a modern high performance multicore show that AREP can increase throughput by up to 49% (8.1% on average). This is complemented by improved fairness, resulting in average quality of service above 94%.
Diffuse Alveolar Hemorrhage After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem-Cell Transplantation: Treatment With Recombinant Factor VIIa

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is a serious pulmonary complication that occurs in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). Current management strategies are limited to corticosteroids, platelet transfusions, and mechanical ventilator support to treat acute respiratory failure. Recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) is an approved agent for the treatment of bleeding in patients with hemophilia A or B and the presence of inhibitors. We report a case of DAH after allogeneic HSCT that failed standard therapy and was then successfully treated with rFVIIa.
Angry Thoughts and Response to Provocation: Validity of the Angry Cognitions Scale

Recently, Martin and Dahlen (J Ration Emot Cogn Behav Ther 25:155–173, 2007) developed the Angry Cognitions Scale (ACS), a theoretically derived instrument designed to measure the cognitive processes related to anger. This instrument has the potential to inform clinical and research perspectives of anger. Although preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the ACS was positive, further research is required regarding the ACS’s temporal stability and predictive validity. The current project sought to address this concern by assessing the six-week test–retest reliability of the ACS, exploring relationships between the ACS subscales and the experience and expression of anger, and assessing the ability of the ACS to predict cognitive and emotional responses to provocation. The ACS demonstrated adequate test–retest reliability and predicted hostile thoughts and state anger following provocation. Thus, results contribute to the literature on the ACS and support its use as a measure of cognitive processes associated with anger.
Study of Successive Experimental Lactations in Dairy Cows

Summary Regrowth of the mammary gland with daily injections of 200mg progesterone and 200μg estradiol benzoate for periods of 120 or 180 days followed by injections of 0.3mg of estradiol benzoate per 100lb body weight for 14 days to initiate lactation was attempted in 19 lactating cows. In no case did the milk yield following the second attempt approach the level of the first experimental lactation. The mean maximum average daily milk yield of the 19 cows following the second treatment was only 22.7% of that obtained after the first hormone treatment. The 14-day estrogen injection at the end of the 120- or 180-day estrogen-progesterone treatment stimulated a slight increase in milk yield in six of the 11 lactating cows ranging from 0.4 to 4.2lb per day, whereas six of the eight cows that were dry the last 30 to 60 days produced from 0.3 to 8.5lb per day, with a mean maximum daily milk yield of 3.2lb per day for the group. Daily injections of decreasing amounts of progesterone (150 to 50mg) and increasing estradiol benzoate (1 to 3mg) were administered to 11 dry and seven lactating cows for 63 days, which had failed to show increased production after the 120-day constant level P-EB treatment. Following the 14-day estrogen treatment to initiate milk secretion this group reached a mean maximum average daily milk yield of 17.8lb per day, which was 79.5% of the mean maximum daily production of these animals in the first experimental lactation. The 11 cows which were dry during treatment were stimulated to produce a maximum average of 16.3lb per day, ranging from 8.6 to 31.4lb following the hormone administration. The lactating animals reached a maximum daily milk yield of 20.3, which represented an average increase of 15.9lb, with a range of 0.0 to 29.4lb per day.
Fibroblast/fibrocyte: surface interaction dictates tissue reactions to micropillar implants.

Micropillar technology has shown great promise for medical implants or sensors in recent years. To study the influence of surface topography on cellular responses, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micro...
Characterization and mechanical properties of foamed poly(ɛ-caprolactone) and Mater-Bi blends using CO2 as blowing agent:

Biodegradable foams are a key area of growth for packaging applications. Starch-based materials have been a successful environmentally degradable polymer. However, making foams out of these materia...
Radiative equilibrium in a rectangular enclosure bounded by gray walls

Two-dimensional temperature and heat-flux distributions are calculated for an absorbing-emitting gray medium at radiative equilibrium in a rectangular enclosure. The bounding walls are gray and diffuse with arbitrary surface-temperature distributions, and heat generation may take place inside the medium. As a first approximation, the problem is solved for optically thick systems (differential approximation). These results are subsequently improved by the introduction of a number of geometrical parameters to yield good accuracy for all optical thicknesses. As examples, two cases are discussed in detail: (1) uniform heat generation in a black enclosure, and (2) an enclosure with one gray surface at constant temperature. Comparison with some numerical solutions generated by Hottel's /Hottel and Cohen (1958) and Einstein (1963)/ zonal method shows excellent agreement.
Atropine‐Induced Multilevel Block in Acute Inferior Myocardial Infarction A Possible Indication for Prophylactic Pacing

The degree of A-V block increased after intravenous administration of atropine in 10 nondigi-talized patients with acute inferior myocnrdial infarction who had narrow QRS complexes during periods of 1:1 A-V conduction. Short episodes of 3:1. 4:1 and 5:1 A-V block were seen to emerge: (a) in 6 patients, directly from Wenckebach periods; (b) in 3 patients, from alternating Wenckebach periods; and (c) in 1 patient, from a 3:2 Wenckebach period which led to a short-lived alternating Wenckebach period. Apparently, the predominance of the chronotropic effects on the sinus node over the dromotropic effects on the A-V node led to a tachycardia-dependent (more ischemic than vagail process, exposing or producing multi- (two, three or four) level block involving the A-V node (and perhaps the His bundle). Subsequently, therapeutic pacing was instituted in 9/10 patients because they developed spontaneous symptomatic advanced A-V block. Therefore, it is possible that the early effects of atropine identified a narrowly-defined subset of patients in whom prophylactic pacing may be indicated. However, more studies are necessary to corroborate these assumptions, (PACE, Vol. 4, September-October, 1981)
Networking reconfigurable smart sensors

In this paper, we present our system infrastructure design and a cost function based geographical self-routing algorithm for networking reconfigurable smart sensors. The algorithm allows for the sensors to automatically negotiate in a geographical radial topology relative to a central location, utilizing other sensors as routes or hops for forwarding information to this central location. A number of these sensors are deployed in the field and performance measurements for routing times are analyzed and presented.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Spectral morphology for feature extraction from multi- and hyper-spectral imagery

For accurate and robust analysis of remotely-sensed imagery it is necessary to combine the information from both spectral and spatial domains in a meaningful manner. The two domains are intimately linked: objects in a scene are defined in terms of both their composition and their spatial arrangement, and cannot accurately be described by information from either of these two domains on their own. To date there have been relatively few methods for combining spectral and spatial information concurrently. Most techniques involve separate processing for extracting spatial and spectral information. In this paper we will describe several extensions to traditional morphological operators that can treat spectral and spatial domains concurrently and can be used to extract relationships between these domains in a meaningful way. This includes the investgation and development of suitable vector-ordering metrics and machine-learning-based techniques for optimizing the various parameters of the morphological operators, such as morphological operator, structuring element and vector ordering metric. We demonstrate their application to a range of multi- and hyper-spectral image analysis problems.
The National Cancer Data Base Report on Patterns of Care for Adenocarcinoma of the Rectum, 1985-1995

BACKGROUND The Commission on Cancer data from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) examining current time trends (1985-1995) in stage of disease, treatment patterns, and survival relating to patients with rectal adenocarcinoma are described in this report. METHODS Seven calls for data to hospital cancer registries across the U. S. have yielded a total of 5,850,000 cancer cases for the years 1985-1995 and include 20,461 rectal and rectosigmoid junction adenocarcinoma cases in 1985-1986, 36,007 cases in 1989-1990, and 42,069 cases in 1994-1995. These data represent 24.4%, 44.5%, and 52.5%, respectively, of the estimated cases of rectal and rectosigmoid adenocarcinoma cases diagnosed in the U. S. in each of the 3 respective time periods. Analysis of the data is limited to cases with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Stage I-IV disease. RESULTS Four trends were observed. 1) Stage I disease was diagnosed with decreasing frequency, decreasing from 37.1% of cases with known AJCC stage of disease in 1985-1986 to 33.8% in 1994-1995. 2) There was an increase in the frequency with which local excision was utilized as all or part of the primary treatment for Stage I disease. 3) Stage for stage, there was an increase in the frequency with which anterior/posterior resections were utilized and a corresponding decline in the use of abdominoperineal resections. 4) Multimodal treatment regimens are being used with greater frequency, particularly in patients with Stage II and III disease. CONCLUSIONS The NCDB data have important implications for analyzing cancer treatment and outcome in the U. S. These data suggest that rectal adenocarcinoma is being diagnosed at a later stage, especially among the young and African Americans. The guidelines for colorectal carcinoma screening issued by the American Cancer Society and the American Gastroenterological Association should be promoted more vigorously to increase the proportion of patients presenting with early stage disease and improve overall survival. The increased use of multimodal therapy for the treatment of Stage II and III disease continues. Cancer 1998;83:2408-2418. © 1998 American Cancer Society.
Rail-end bolt hole fatigue crack in three dimensions

Abstract This work is concerned with subcritical crack growth in rail-end bolt hole caused by fatigue. Included in the analysis are the mechanical wheel loads and thermal fluctuations experienced by the rail. The interaction of cyclic loading with the rail geometry is considered to be essential. Finite element stress analysis is coupled with the strain energy density criterion for determining the subcritical crack growth steps. The crack can grow and follow any arbitrary surface in the three-dimensional space depending on the symmetry or antisymmetry conditions of the load and geometry. Results on crack shapes and growth rates compare favorably with those observed experimentally.
Changes in the spectral properties of a plasma membrane lipid analog during the first seconds of endocytosis in living cells.

N-[5-(5, 7-dimethyl Bodipy)-1-pentanoyl]-D-erythro-sphingosylphosphorylcholine (C5-DMB-SM), a fluorescent analog of sphingomyelin, has been used in a study of the formation of very early endosomes in human skin fibroblasts. This lipid exhibits a shift in its fluorescence emission maximum from green (approximately 515 nm) to red (approximately 620 nm) wavelengths with increasing concentrations in membranes. When cells were incubated with 5 microM C5-DMB-SM at 4 degrees C and washed, only plasma membrane fluorescence (yellow-green) was observed. When these cells were briefly (
Intense inflammatory reaction to heparin polymer coated intravascular Palmaz stents in porcine arteries compared to uncoated Palmaz stents.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of heparin-polymer-coated intravascular stents in the reduction of vessel stenosis. Three types of coatings for Palmaz stents were tested: 1) heparin covalently bound to a polyethylene oxide (Hp-PEO) tether; 2) heparin copolymerized with ethylene vinyl acetate (Hp-Elvax) and 3) Elvax alone. Polymer-coated stents and uncoated controls were deployed in the external iliac arteries following endothelial injury in 18 swine. The animals were maintained on an atherogenic diet and examined by angiography at 6 and 12 weeks. The stented segments were then harvested for histopathologic analysis. Both types of heparin-coated stents resulted in increased luminal narrowing as compared to the contralateral uncoated stents. At 6 weeks, average luminal stenosis was 48% for Hp-PEO stents vs 35% for uncoated stents (p < 0.05). At 12 weeks, average luminal stenosis was 36% for Hp-PEO stents vs 26% for uncoated stents (p = NS). For Hp-Elvax stents, the average stenosis was 58% vs 33% for uncoated controls (p < 0.05) at 6 weeks and 47% vs 19% for uncoated controls (p < 0.05) at 12 weeks. There was no significant difference between Hp-Elvax stents and Elvax stents (p = NS). Increased luminal narrowing in coated stents was primarily secondary to a marked inflammatory response. Heparin-polyethylene oxide and heparin-ethylene vinyl acetate-coated stents resulted in increased luminal narrowing as compared with uncoated stents, due to a marked inflammatory response.