cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Relationship of various infection control interventions to the prevalence of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa among U.S. hospitals

Background Health care–associated infections caused by antibiotic-resistant gram-negative bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa , are an emerging and increasingly important public health threat. However, there are very few studies that examine the relationships between antimicrobial resistance strategies and interventions and the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant and multidrug-resistant strains of Pseudomonas . Methods The membership of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology was invited to participate in a Web-based survey of U.S. acute care hospital infection preventionists. Results A final sample of 225 completed responses was analyzed using correlational techniques. Resistance to gentamicin ( r = 0.17, P = .01), imipenem ( r = 0.18, P = .02), ceftazidime ( r = 0.20, P = .03), and ciprofloxacin ( r = 0.15, P = .03) all showed significant direct associations with epidemiologic investigation using molecular testing. A significant inverse relationship was found between resistance to ceftazidime and effective efforts in the identification and isolation of infected patients ( r = −0.18, P = .02). Conclusions The finding of significant direct relationships between antimicrobial resistance and epidemiologic investigations using molecular testing suggests that the increased burden of resistance is associated with molecular testing rather than the intervention driving down rates. Effective identification and isolation of infected patients appeared to be associated with lower resistance rates. Further research is needed to uncover causal relationships.
Word-of-Mouth Processes in the Diffusion of a Major Technological Innovation:

This article presents a microanalytic study of the use of word-of-mouth among decision makers in competitive firms in the diffusion of a major technological innovation. Results indicate that an act...
Advances in Hereditary Colorectal and Pancreatic Cancers.

Abstract Purpose Innovations in genetic medicine have led to improvements in the early detection, prevention, and treatment of cancer for patients with inherited risks of gastrointestinal cancer, particularly hereditary colorectal cancer and hereditary pancreatic cancer. Methods This review provides an update on recent data and key advances that have improved the identification, understanding, and management of patients with hereditary colorectal cancer and hereditary pancreatic cancer. Findings This review details recent and emerging data that highlight the developing landscape of genetics in hereditary colorectal and pancreatic cancer risk. A summary is provided of the current state-of-the-art practices for identifying, evaluating, and managing patients with suspected hereditary colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer risk. The impact of next-generation sequencing technologies in the clinical diagnosis of hereditary gastrointestinal cancer and also in discovery efforts of new genes linked to familial cancer risk are discussed. Emerging targeted therapies that may play a particularly important role in the treatment of patients with hereditary forms of colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer are also reviewed. Current approaches for pancreatic cancer screening and the psychosocial impact of such procedures are also detailed. Implications Given the availability of new diagnostic, risk-reducing, and therapeutic strategies that exist for patients with hereditary risk of colorectal or pancreatic cancer, it is imperative that clinicians be vigilant about evaluating patients for hereditary cancer syndromes. Continuing to advance genetics research in hereditary gastrointestinal cancers will allow for more progress to be made in personalized medicine and prevention.
Canonical Cortical Circuit Model Explains Rivalry, Intermittent Rivalry, and Rivalry Memory

It has been shown that the same canonical cortical circuit model with mutual inhibition and a fatigue process can explain perceptual rivalry and other neurophysiological responses to a range of static stimuli. However, it has been proposed that this model cannot explain responses to dynamic inputs such as found in intermittent rivalry and rivalry memory, where maintenance of a percept when the stimulus is absent is required. This challenges the universality of the basic canonical cortical circuit. Here, we show that by including an overlooked realistic small nonspecific background neural activity, the same basic model can reproduce intermittent rivalry and rivalry memory without compromising static rivalry and other cortical phenomena. The background activity induces a mutual-inhibition mechanism for short-term memory, which is robust to noise and where fine-tuning of recurrent excitation or inclusion of sub-threshold currents or synaptic facilitation is unnecessary. We prove existence conditions for the mechanism and show that it can explain experimental results from the quartet apparent motion illusion, which is a prototypical intermittent rivalry stimulus.
Urinary incontinence after treatment for localized prostate cancer.

Abstract The incidence of incontinence after radical prostatectomy has ranged from 0 to 57% depending on the series and the type of incontinence considered. When total incontinence (not minimal stress incontinence) is reported, the average incidence is no more than 5%. This figure will increase with age, and in most series, approximately 10% of patients around the age of 70 will have total incontinence postoperatively. Preservation of continence after radical prostatectomy depends largely on the preservation of the distal urethral smooth-muscle sphincteric mechanism, which begins at the pelvic floor and ends at the prostatourethral junction. Newer techniques that attempt to increase postoperative continence include not cutting the puboprostatic ligaments and attempting to preserve as much striated muscle as possible along the length of the remaining urethra. Patients who are incontinent for 6 months after the surgery with no evidence of improvement will probably not become continent on their own. Therefore, some type of therapy should be considered. The options are periurethral injection of a bulking agent, implantation of an artificial sphincter, and, most recently, a bulbourethral sling procedure.
Session X: Regulatory Risk Assessment

The goal of the regulatory process in controlling genotoxic agents is to reduce human health hazards to “acceptable” or “safe” limits. The regulatory process is based on the premises that exposure to specific agents is a hazard to human health and that these agents can be identified, their genotoxic potency quantified, and their exposure levels controlled. Regulation is a complex process, only part of which depends on the available scientific data. Other deciding factors include societal judgments regarding the importance or desirability of the agent, the perception of risk, what constitutes acceptable risk, the feasibility of measuring and controlling the exposure conditions, and the economic impact of controls on industry and society.
Characterization of Antibacterial Activities of Eastern Subterranean Termite, Reticulitermes flavipes, against Human Pathogens.

The emergence and dissemination of multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens necessitate research to find new antimicrobials against these organisms. We investigated antimicrobial production by eastern subterranean termites, Reticulitermes flavipes, against a panel of bacteria including three multidrug resistant (MDR) and four non-MDR human pathogens. We determined that the crude extract of naive termites had a broad-spectrum activity against the non-MDR bacteria but it was ineffective against the three MDR pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Acinetobacter baumannii. Heat or trypsin treatment resulted in a complete loss of activity suggesting that antibacterial activity was proteinaceous in nature. The antimicrobial activity changed dramatically when the termites were fed with either heat-killed P. aeruginosa or MRSA. Heat-killed P. aeruginosa induced activity against P. aeruginosa and MRSA while maintaining or slightly increasing activity against non-MDR bacteria. Heat-killed MRSA induced activity specifically against MRSA, altered the activity against two other Gram-positive bacteria, and inhibited activity against three Gram-negative bacteria. Neither the naive termites nor the termites challenged with heat-killed pathogens produced antibacterial activity against A. baumannii. Further investigation demonstrated that hemolymph, not the hindgut, was the primary source of antibiotic activity. This suggests that the termite produces these antibacterial activities and not the hindgut microbiota. Two-dimensional gel electrophoretic analyses of 493 hemolymph protein spots indicated that a total of 38 and 65 proteins were differentially expressed at least 2.5-fold upon being fed with P. aeruginosa and MRSA, respectively. Our results provide the first evidence of constitutive and inducible activities produced by R. flavipes against human bacterial pathogens.
Validation and update of OMI Total Column Water Vapor product

Abstract. The collection 3 Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Total Column Water Vapor (TCWV) data generated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's (SAO) algorithm version 1.0 and archived at the Aura Validation Data Center (AVDC) are compared with NCAR's ground-based GPS data, AERONET's sun-photometer data, and Remote Sensing System's (RSS) SSMIS data. Results show that the OMI data track the seasonal and interannual variability of TCWV for a wide range of climate regimes. During the period from 2005 to 2009, the mean OMI−GPS over land is −0.3 mm and the mean OMI−AERONET over land is 0 mm. For July 2005, the mean OMI−SSMIS over the ocean is −4.3 mm. The better agreement over land than over the ocean is corroborated by the smaller fitting residuals over land and suggests that liquid water is a key factor for the fitting quality over the ocean in the version 1.0 retrieval algorithm. We find that the influence of liquid water is reduced using a shorter optimized retrieval window of 427.7–465 nm. As a result, the TCWV retrieved with the new algorithm increases significantly over the ocean and only slightly over land. We have also made several updates to the air mass factor (AMF) calculation. The updated version 2.1 retrieval algorithm improves the land/ocean consistency and the overall quality of the OMI TCWV data set. The version 2.1 OMI data largely eliminate the low bias of the version 1.0 OMI data over the ocean and are 1.5 mm higher than RSS's “clear” sky SSMIS data in July 2005. Over the ocean, the mean of version 2.1 OMI−GlobVapour is 1 mm for July 2005 and 0 mm for January 2005. Over land, the version 2.1 OMI data are about 1 mm higher than GlobVapour when TCWV 15 mm.
Thermally stimulated currents in ethylene-propylene rubber with fillers

EPR polymers with fillers are being used for the insulation of medium and high voltage power cables. Although a great deal of work has been done on the electrical properties of polymers and the intact cable, there seems not to be a systematic study of the electrical properties as a function of the inorganic structural characteristic of the filler. The trapping sites of carriers in the filled polymers has been thought " to be closely related to the boundary regions between polymer and filler. Recently, several studies have been carried out on the behavior of space charges in composite polymers [1–4]. However very little work has been done on whether fillers affect the electrical properties at other than the interfacial areas. We are, at this time, reporting preliminary data on the study of the electrical properties of fillers with different structures using the TSC technique to measure the space charge characteristic.
Trauma cognitions are related to symptoms up to 10 years after cognitive behavioral treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder.

Objectives This study examined (a) relationships between trauma-related cognitions and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms from pretreatment through a long-term period after cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for PTSD and (b) whether these relationships were impacted by treatment type. Method Participants were 171 women randomized into treatment for PTSD after rape. Measures of self-reported trauma-related cognitions and interviewer-assessed PTSD symptoms (i.e., Posttraumatic Maladaptive Beliefs Scale, Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory, and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale) were obtained at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 3-month, 9-month, and 5-10 year follow-ups. Multilevel regression analyses were used to examine relationships between trauma-related cognitions and PTSD symptoms throughout the study period and whether these relationships differed as a function of treatment type (i.e., Cognitive Processing Therapy or Prolonged Exposure). Results Initial multilevel regression analyses that examined mean within-participant associations suggested that beliefs regarding Reliability and Trustworthiness of Others, Self-Worth and Judgment, Threat of Harm, and Guilt were related to PTSD symptoms throughout follow-up. Growth curve modeling suggested that patterns of belief change throughout follow-up were similar to those previously observed in PTSD symptoms over the same time period. Finally, multilevel mediation analyses that incorporated time further suggested that change in beliefs was related to change in symptoms throughout follow-up. With 1 minor exception, relationships between beliefs and symptoms were not moderated by treatment type. Conclusions These data suggest that trauma-related cognitions are a potential mechanism for long-term maintenance of treatment gains after CBT for PTSD. Moreover, these cognitions may be a common, rather than specific, treatment maintenance mechanism. (PsycINFO Database Record
Early readmissions after transcatheter and surgical aortic valve replacement

Objectives We aimed to determine and compare the prevalence, and predictors of readmissions after the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Background There are limited data on the readmission rates after TAVR in comparison with SAVR. Methods We analyzed the data from 2013 National Readmission Database. Propensity-matched pairs were used to analyze differences in readmission rates between TAVR and SAVR for patients aged ≥65. Results A total of 24,020 (TAVR-transfemoral 3,469, TAVR-transapical 1,433, SAVR 19,118) patients were included. The readmission rates were not statistically different for all propensity-matched TAVR and SAVR patients (17.2% vs. 20.6%, P = 0.28). However, in subgroup analysis, transapical TAVR had the highest readmission rate (22.8% vs. 16.5% vs. 16.0%, P < 0.001, respectively) and readmission leading to death (7.1% vs. 5.3% vs. 3.9%, P = 0.022, respectively) when compared with transfemoral TAVR and SAVR. In all the groups, two-thirds of readmissions were due to noncardiac causes. Congestive heart failure (CHF) and arrhythmia were the most frequent cardiac etiologies. The independent predictors of readmission were female sex, CHF, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Patients who received care in teaching hospitals had lower probability of readmission. Conclusions One of six patients were readmitted within 30 days after the aortic valve replacement. On propensity score analysis, there were no significant differences between the early readmission rates between TAVR and SAVR groups. However, the patients undergoing transapical TAVR were at higher risk for readmission, and subsequent deaths when compared with transfemoral TAVR and SAVR. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
CALHM1-Mediated ATP Release and Ciliary Beat Frequency Modulation in Nasal Epithelial Cells

Mechanical stimulation of airway epithelial cells causes apical release of ATP, which increases ciliary beat frequency (CBF) and speeds up mucociliary clearance. The mechanisms responsible for this ATP release are poorly understood. CALHM1, a transmembrane protein with shared structural features to connexins and pannexins, has been implicated in ATP release from taste buds, but it has not been evaluated for a functional role in the airway. In the present study, Calhm1 knockout, Panx1 knockout, and wild-type mouse nasal septal epithelial cells were grown at an air-liquid interface (ALI) and subjected to light mechanical stimulation from an air puff. Apical ATP release was attenuated in Calhm1 knockout cultures following mechanical stimulation at a pressure of 55 mmHg for 50 milliseconds (p < 0.05). Addition of carbenoxolone, a PANX1 channel blocker, completely abolished ATP release in Calhm1 knockout cultures but not in wild type or Panx1 knockout cultures. An increase in CBF was observed in wild-type ALIs following mechanical stimulation, and this increase was significantly lower (p < 0.01) in Calhm1 knockout cultures. These results demonstrate that CALHM1 plays a newly defined role, complementary to PANX1, in ATP release and downstream CBF modulation following a mechanical stimulus in airway epithelial cells.
An Assessment of Primary Care and Pulmonary Provider Perspectives on Lung Cancer Screening

Rationale: Lung cancer screening has a mortality benefit to high-risk smokers, but implementation remains suboptimal. Providers represent the key entry point to screening, and an understanding of provider perspectives on lung cancer screening is necessary to improve referral and overall implementation.Objectives: The objective of this study was to understand knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, barriers, and facilitators to screening in a diverse group of referring pulmonologists and primary care providers.Methods: We conducted an electronic survey of primary care and pulmonary providers within a tertiary care medical center across different practice sites. The survey covered the following domains: 1) beliefs and assessment of evidence, 2) knowledge of lung cancer screening and guidelines, 3) current screening practices, 4) barriers and facilitators, and 5) demographic and practice characteristics.Results: The 196 participants included 80% primary care clinicians and 19% pulmonologists (1% others). Forty-one pe...
State Indoor Tanning Laws and Prevalence of Indoor Tanning Among US High School Students, 2009–2015

Objectives. To examine the association between state indoor tanning laws and indoor tanning behavior using nationally representative samples of US high school students younger than 18 years.Methods. We combined data from the 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015 national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (n = 41 313) to analyze the association between 2 types of state indoor tanning laws (age restriction and parental permission) and the prevalence of indoor tanning during the 12 months before the survey, adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, and survey year, and stratified by gender.Results. Age restriction laws were associated with a 47% (P < .001) lower indoor tanning prevalence among female high school students. Parental permission laws were not found to be associated with indoor tanning prevalence among either female or male high school students.Conclusions. Age restriction laws could contribute to less indoor tanning, particularly among female high school students. Such reductions may reduce the health and economic burd...
Association of Risk Perception and Information Provided on the Labels of Over-the-Counter Drugs: Role of Race, Education, Age and Income

Background : The use of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs has increased tremendously, however, information on risk perception regarding the use of OTC drugs and their potential toxicity is scarce. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of OTC drug safety and efficacy based on reading product packaging and the effect of race, education, age and income. Method s: We used the HINTS 2012 data set with total sample size of 2,554. Results: OTC drug users having some high school education had a lower chance of frequently reading information included in the product labeling with the OTC medication. OTC drug users less than 50 years of age were always likely to read drug information on the OTC drug labeling. Also, Non-Hispanic blacks were more likely to read OTC drug labeling than Non-Hispanic whites. OTC drug users less than 50 years of age consider OTC drugs safer than prescription drugs. Conversely, OTC drug users with a high school, some college or bachelor’s degree consider OTC drugs less safe than prescription drugs. Non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic whites, and subjects of lower income were less likely to consider OTC drugs safer than prescription drugs. OTC drug users with a high school education and some college perceive OTC drugs to be less effective than prescription drugs. Conclusion : To conclude, age, education, race, and income affect risk perception on OTC drugs. Consumer information programs need to be designed so that meaningful results can be incorporated into public policy. Providing information on the labeling of OTC drugs and likelihood of patients reading this information require further study.
Carbon Dioxide Insufflation of the Knee in the Treatment of Full-Thickness Chondral Defects With Micronized Human Articular Cartilage.

Abstract BioCartilage (BC) is dehydrated, minced human hyaline articular cartilage that was developed as an adjunct to microfracture surgery to help stimulate the bone marrow and stem cells to form hyaline-like tissue in full-thickness chondral defects. The minced pieces of BC require a dry environment for application and can easily be disrupted by residual moisture of saline solution in the surrounding tissues. We present a technique of carbon dioxide insufflation during knee arthroscopy as a means of maintaining a dry environment for preparation of the bony bed during BC augmentation of microfracture surgery. This technique is safe and provides more than adequate visualization, as well as a dry environment, to make the arthroscopic application of BC significantly more efficient.
Effect of Period Length on Forecasting Maintenance and Repair Costs for Heavy Equipment by the Period Cost Based Methodology

Substantial economic investments are made by companies in the construction and other processing industries to own and operate heavy equipment fleets. Average total cost minimization models are used...
Skeletal muscle secretion of IL-6 is muscle type specific: Ex vivo evidence.

Abstract Emerging evidence indicates that skeletal muscle possesses endocrine function to secret myokines. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a well-characterized myokine that is involved in regulation of metabolism and muscle function. Metabolism type and contractile dynamics vary in different muscle types. It is not clear, however, if IL-6 secretion differs in different muscle types. In this study, we first established an ex vivo approach to test the inducible muscle secretion. Freshly isolated muscles were incubated in Krebs solution at 37 °C with oxygen supply. Secreted IL-6 in the incubation media was measure using Western blot and ELISA assay. We first confirmed that the IL-6 release was inducible by treating the incubated muscle with a cytokine stimulant. We demonstrated that physiological temperature (37 °C) and O2 supply were essential for the induction of IL-6 release from the incubated muscle, suggesting it is a controlled secretion rather than a spontaneous leak. Using this approach, we found that IL-6 release was only inducible from soleus muscle but not EDL muscle. We further showed that IL-6 protein level was higher in slow oxidative muscle fibers. Moreover, we showed that EDL, although lacks of IL-6 release, surely has inducible secretory function that had different secretory pattern from soleus.
Charles Ives’s Decoration Day: A Conductor’s Guide:

Charles Ives’ Decoration Day, a dreamy haze of almost-forgotten memories and half-remembered tunes, depicts recollections American Civil War through the eyes of a Connecticut youth at the end of th...
The submesoscale, the finescale and their interaction at a mixed layer front

Abstract The spindown of a geostrophically balanced density front in an upper-ocean mixed layer is simulated with a large eddy simulation (LES) model that resolves O(1000) m down to O(1) m scale. Our goal is to examine the interaction between the submesoscale and the turbulent finescale, and another related goal is to use the turbulence-resolving simulation to better characterize vertical transport, frontogenesis and dissipative processes. The flow passes through symmetric and baroclinic instabilities, spawns vortex filaments of O (100) m thickness as well as larger eddies with cross-front velocity as large as the along-front velocity, and develops turbulence that is spatially localized and organized. A O(100) m physical-space filter is applied to the simulated flow so that the coherent submesoscale is separated from the finescale in a decomposition that preserves the spatial organization of the flow unlike the typical practice of a split into a frontal average and a fluctuation that obscures the coherent submesoscale. The energy spectrum exhibits a change of slope at O(100) m with an approximately −5/3 slope over a subrange of the finescale. Analysis of the submesoscale vertical velocity (as large as 5mm/s) in the upper layer of the front reveals that downwelling is limited to the thin vortex filaments and the junction of the submesoscale eddies with these filaments while upwelling occurs over spatially extensive regions in the eddies. Conditional averaging shows that heavier (lighter) fluid is preferentially downwelled (upwelled) by these coherent submesoscale structures leading to an overall buoyancy flux that is restratifying. The submesoscale is unbalanced with local Rossby number as large as 5. The kinetic energy (KE) transport equations are evaluated separately for the submesoscale and the finescale to understand energy pathways in this problem. The buoyancy flux (associated with coherent motions) transfers the potential energy of the front and acts as the primary source of submesoscale KE which is then transported across the front with a fraction transferred to the finescale. The transfer, limited to thin regions of O(100) m horizontal width, is accomplished by primarily horizontal strain in the upper 10 m and by vertical shear in the rest of the 50-m deep mixed layer. Frontogenetic mechanisms are diagnosed through analysis of the transport equation for squared buoyancy gradient. Horizontal strain is the primary frontogenetic term that is especially strong in the near-surface layer. The frontogenesis is counteracted primarily by horizontal diffusion in the top 10 m while, further below, the balance is with the horizontal gradient of vertical velocity.
Examining the Nature of Teacher Support during Different Iterations and Modalities of Lesson Study Implementation.

Lesson Study is a professional development program, which engages teachers in a collaborative and long-term lesson planning process aimed at improving a single or a group of lessons. In the process...
Protection of Healthcare Providers’ Rights of Conscience in American Law: Present, Past, and Future

This article reviews the past, present, and future state of healthcare providers’ right of conscience. It reviews the deeply embedded constitutional protections that recognize the right of conscience as a fundamental human right, and additionally, it shows that the constitutional doctrine of abortion privacy assumes and allows protection for the rights of conscience of healthcare providers. After reviewing the past, the present state of protection of right of conscience is set forth, including the Provider Conscience Rule adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2008. The future of the 2008 Provider Conscience Rule is considered, since there has been debate over rescinding it, and the article concludes that while it is possible to fully protect rights of conscience, full commitment is needed to honor this important, fundamental right.
The implementation of compressive sensing on an FPGA for chaotic radars

Most of the advances in current radar systems are aimed at improving their resolution. As a result, their operating frequency has been increased from 10GHz up to 94GHz, and new millimeter-wave (100-300GHz) radar systems are currently being studied. One of the major concerns with these frequencies is the associated large bandwidth requirement. Compressive Sensing (CS), also known as Compressive Sampling, has been proposed as a solution to overcome the aforementioned problems by exploiting the sparsity of the radar signal. Using the CS method, a sparse signal can be reconstructed even if it is sampled below the Nyquist rate. This method provides a completely new way to reconstruct the signal using optimization techniques and a minimum number of observations. The objective of this research project is to investigate and develop a Chaotic Radar Imaging system that leverages Compressive Sensing (CS) technology to improve the image resolution without increasing the amount of processed data. In addition to demonstrating the validity of the proposed approach through simulations, this project seeks to develop and implement hardware prototypes for the proposed imaging radar system. Simulated chaotic radar data was generated and loaded to the FPGA board to test the algorithms and their performance. The results from implementing the Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP), the Compressive Sensing Matching Pursuit (CSMP), and the Stagewise Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (StOMP) algorithms to a Xilinx ZedBoard will be presented.
Exploring the role of sex differences in the relationship between sex partner attitudes and current quit attempt among a sample of smokers

INTRODUCTION Limited research has explored sex differences in the relationship between partner support and smoking cessation among minority low-income population. Further, scarce attention has been given to the influence of partners who are not married. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between negative and positive social support provided by partners and smoking cessation among men and women smokers. METHODS Data were collected as part of the Tobacco Use in Drug Environment (TIDE) study, a cross-sectional study conducted in Baltimore, Maryland, from September 2013 to May 2015. Interviews were administered with current smokers. The sample size for the current analysis was 134 men and 86 women. RESULTS Approximately 33% of male participants (n=45) reported currently trying to quit smoking cigarettes and 29% of women were currently trying to quit. Having a sex partner who did not mind the participant's smoking was associated with decreased odds of trying to quit among men (AOR=0.35; 95% CI: 0.13-0.91, p=0.03). Having a sex partner who expressed concern about the participant's smoking (AOR=12.9; 95% CI: 3.49-47.0, p<0.01) and having a sex partner who encouraged the participant to quit smoking was significantly associated with current quit attempt among women. In supplementary analyses, we found that each type of partner support varied based on the type of partner - committed or casual. CONCLUSIONS Understanding sex-partner support regarding smoking and their relationship to smoking cessation activities may provide insights for future tailored cessation interventions.
Severities in persistent mild traumatic brain injury related headache is associated with changes in supraspinal pain modulatory functions

Emerging evidence suggests mild traumatic brain injury related headache (MTBI-HA) is a form of neuropathic pain state. Previous supraspinal mechanistic studies indicate patients with MTBI-HA demons...
The Changing Fortunes of Kiswahili in Tanzania

Kiswahili in Tanzania is in conflict with vernacular African languages as well as with English. Data presented in this paper shows that there is a gradual shift to Kiswahili even in domains that were served by indigenous vernaculars. Some aspects of contemporary political discourse and the debate concerning the medium of instruction seem to favor English. Using communication accommodation theory, it is argued that the changing fortunes of Kiswahili reflect how Tanzaniane perceive themselves at different historical points since the 1950s. The rapid ascendancy of Kiswahili occurred at the time of much nationalist sentiments, while the resurgence of English has come after the collapse of the socialist experiment.
Definitions and Properties of Functions

In this chapter, we discuss how to define simple functions in Mathematica. By simple, we mean simple in the form of their arguments. (Much more wide-ranging possibilities for defining functions will be presented in Chapter 5.) Definitions of recursive functions [43] and pure functions, along with attributes of functions, areimportant building blocks for the use of Mathematica to model arbitrary mathematical structures. Their applications range from simple to extremely complex.
The Placentation of Eulipotyphla—Reconstructing a Morphotype of the Mammalian Placenta

Placentation determines the developmental status of the neonate, which can be considered as the most vulnerable stage in the mammalian life cycle. In this respect, the different evolutionary and ecological adaptations of marsupial and placental mammals have most likely been associated with the different reproductive strategies of the two therian clades. The morphotypes of marsupial and placental neonates, as well as the placental stem species pattern of Marsupialia, have already been reconstructed. To contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of Placentalia, a histological and ultrastructural investigation of the placenta in three representatives of Eulipotyphla, that is, core insectivores, has been carried out in this study. We studied the Musk shrew (Suncus murinus), the four-toed hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris), and the Iberian mole (Talpa occidentalis). As a result, a eulipotyphlan placental morphotype consisting of a compact and invasive placenta was reconstructed. This supports the widely accepted hypothesis that the stem lineage of Placentalia is characterized by an invasive, either endothelio- or hemochorial placenta. Evolutionary transformations toward a diffuse, noninvasive placenta occurred in the stem lineages of lower primates and cetartiodactyles and were associated with prolonged gestation and the production of few and highly precocial neonates. Compared to the choriovitelline placenta of Marsupialia, the chorioallantoic placenta of Placentalia allows for a more intimate contact and is associated with more advanced neonates. J. Morphol. 275:1122–1144, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A glycoprotein set specifically associated with the surface and cytosol of human breast carcinoma cells.

A new glycoprotein set, specifically associated with human breast carcinoma cells, has been identified, purified to homogeneity, and characterized. This glycoprotein set was first identified in the perchloric acid-soluble glycoprotein fraction of human ductal carcinoma of the breast after removal of known glycoproteins by affinity chromatography. Prototype antiserum to this glycoprotein, after absorption with normal tissues, reacted by gel diffusion with a single constituent of breast tumors but not with other benign or malignant tissues. This antiserum was used to isolate two types of soluble mammary tumor-associated glycoprotein (MTGP). Both types of MTGP appeared to have m.w. of about 19,500 and possess common antigenic determinants. In addition, a firmly integrated insoluble form of MTGP was identified. The soluble types of MTGP differed one from the other in respect to: a) isoelectric point, b) sedimentation velocity, c) carbohydrate composition, and d) buoyant density in cesium chloride. MTGP was found in all six metastatic breast tumors and was independent from plasma and tissue glycoproteins. Antisera to purified MTGP of Types I and II both gave reactions of identity one with the other and with both types of aqueous soluble MTGP. Each antiserum reacted only with extracts of breast tumors and not with any other tissue or type of tumor. MTGP was localized by immunohistochemical methods to both the surface and the cytoplasm of breast ductal carcinoma cells but not normal ductal cells. Positive reactions were also observed in immunologic assays with some spontaneous murine mammary carcinomas but not with the mouse mammary tumor virus. MTGP appears to provide a discrete and characterized new marker for breast carcinoma cells and thus a candidate tumor-specific antigen.
An amplifiable DNA region from the Mycoplasma hyorhinis genome.

Abstract A novel amplifiable genomic region that displays variability in the number of tandem copies of a 1,368-bp DNA sequence (designated RS-2) was discovered among individual clonal derivatives within Mycoplasma hyorhinis broth-grown cell populations. Clonal isolates representing variant subpopulations from the original broth culture were of a single size variant, and although continued culture under a variety of growth conditions did not result in further amplification of RS-2, evidence for deletion events which reduced RS-2 copy number, presumably by homologous recombination, was obtained. RS-2 homologous sequences were identified in all M. hyorhinis strains tested, but only the tissue culture-derived strains GDL-1 and GDL-2 showed variability in genomic dosage. The RS-2 nucleotide sequence established that each tandem copy is flanked by direct repeats of a 20-bp sequence and suggested a possible mechanism for its original duplication as the initial phase of a genetic amplification process. The coding strand was defined by PCR amplification of a reverse transcriptase-generated cDNA, and its sequence revealed that RS-2 encodes a 456-residue internal, highly cysteine-rich domain of a larger M. hyorhinis protein whose coding sequence initiates and terminates in unique genomic sequences several hundred base pairs from RS-2 on either side of it. Changes in RS-2 copy number maintain the reading frame, and therefore the coding capacity, for this predicted size-variant protein.
The effects of GM-CSF and G-CSF in promoting growth of clonogenic cells in acute myeloblastic leukemia

A small subset of leukemic cells from most patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) have properties of stem cells and can be assayed by colony formation in agar or methylcellulose. Colony formation generally requires the addition of exogenous growth factors, but the exact factors required are incompletely defined. The AML colony-promoting activities of two recombinant human colony-stimulating factors (GM-CSF and G-CSF) were investigated by using blasts from 48 patients with AML. In nine cases, no colonies formed with either CSF. In seven cases colonies formed only in response to G-CSF and in 11 cases only in response to GM-CSF. In 21 cases colonies formed in response to either GM-CSF or G-CSF, and in 12 of these cases there was an additive effect between the two CSFs in determining maximum colony size. For cases responding to both GM- and G-CSF, the total number of colonies formed in response to the combination of both CSFs was almost always less than additive compared with the number of colonies formed in response to the individual CSFs. Further, the AML-CFU responding to either GM-CSF or G-CSF could not be distinguished by surface markers or by the cytochemical staining pattern of the colonies. These results suggest that there is considerable overlap between the GM-CSF- and G-CSF-responsive AML-CFU subpopulations in most cases. For five of seven cases, the combination of GM-CSF and G-CSF could replace a leukocyte feeder layer in providing maximum growth stimulation. These results indicate that GM-CSF and G-CSF are active growth factors for AML cells and are frequently additive in promoting maximum colony size.
Is micromechanics becoming a new subject for academic courses, or the design of a piezoelectric on silicon microrobot

A description is given of microrobotics design and research conducted with a group of students. A piezoelectric motor unit has been designed, which consists of a pair of silicon or polysilicon cantilever beams, on the top surfaces of which a piezoelectric film has been deposited, and the free tips of which are connected by a structure that allows this pair of beams to walk or, if the structure is restrained, to exert force. This force can be used to drive a circular gear or linear slider structure. This motor unit is expected to be able to provide an alternative to the electrostatic motor for the generation of motion in a micromechanical assembly. Detailed designs of micromotors and instruments are presented; details of microrobots which can make insectlike or caterpillarlike movements are shown; and a numerical analysis of their expected performance is given. Possible applications of micromotors are also discussed. >
Design of a ZVS PWM inverter for a brushless DC motor in an EMA application

Electromechanical actuators are being examined as a replacement for the hydraulic systems used in thrust vector control and propellant control valves on space vehicles. The flow of energy from the source to the load in these high power electromechanical systems is controlled via a three-phase inverter. This paper presents an investigation into and design of a zero-voltage switched three-phase inverter for utilization in an electromechanical actuator system. The operation of this inverter is described and design equations are developed. Experimental results from a 5 HP prototype are presented. >
An amplified endogenous retroviral sequence on the murine Y chromosome related to murine leukemia viruses and viruslike 30S sequences

Abstract A highly repeated sequence on the murine Y chromosome was cloned and characterized. The DNA sequence of the viral long terminal repeats (LTRs) showed that the 5' and 3' LTRs were approximately 90% homologous. The LTRs are generally unrelated to any previously reported viral LTR but are somewhat similar to the viruslike 30S sequences.
Discontinuities in the effective-mass equation

Abstract The validity of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle for the effective-mass equation is analytically verified for the first time. The procedure also provides an unambiguous demonstration of the need for a distributional derivative in the solution of the one-dimensional rectangular quantum-well problem for Hamiltonians with a piecewise-constant mass function .
Psychological stress and immunoprotection versus immunopathology in the skin

Stress is thought to suppress immune function and increase susceptibility to infections and cancer. Paradoxically, stress is also known to exacerbate autoimmune/proinflammatory disorders (eg, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis) that should be ameliorated by immunosuppression. Here we review studies showing that although chronic stress (lasting for weeks/months/years) can suppress/dysregulate immune function, acute stress (lasting for minutes to hours) can have immunoenhancing effects. Short-term stress experienced at the time of immune activation enhances dendritic cell, neutrophil, macrophage, and lymphocyte trafficking, maturation, and function, and has been shown to augment innate and adaptive immunity; therefore, depending on the conditions of immune activation, and the nature of the activating antigen, short-term stress can enhance the acquisition and expression of immunoprotection or immunopathology. In contrast, chronic stress suppresses or dysregulates innate and adaptive immune responses by altering the Type 1-Type 2 cytokine balance, inducing low-grade chronic increases in proinflammatory factors, and suppressing numbers, trafficking, and function of immunoprotective cells. Chronic stress also increases susceptibility to skin cancer by suppressing Type 1 cytokines and protective T cells while increasing regulatory/suppressor T cell number/function. It is important to recognize that the adaptive function of a physiological stress response is to promote survival. Stress-related neurotransmitters, hormones, and factors act as biological alarm signals that prepare the immune and other physiological systems for potential challenges (eg, wounding or infection) perceived by the brain (eg, detection of an attacker); however, this may exacerbate immunopathology (eg, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis) if the enhanced immune response is directed against innocuous or self-antigens, or if the system is chronically activated as seen during long-term stress. In view of the ubiquitous nature of stress and its significant effects on immunoprotection and immunopathology, it is important to further elucidate the mechanisms mediating both the salubrious and the harmful effects of stress, and to meaningfully translate findings from bench to bedside.
An Intramolecular G-Quadruplex Structure with Mixed Parallel/Antiparallel G-Strands Formed in the Human BCL-2 Promoter Region in Solution

We report the first G-quadruplex structure formed in the promoter region of the human bcl-2. Bcl-2 is a potent oncoprotein that functions as an inhibitor of cell apoptosis and has been found to be aberrantly overexpressed in a wide range of human tumors. A highly GC-rich region upstream of the P1 promoter plays an important role in the regulation of the transcriptional activity of the bcl-2 oncogene. The purine-rich strand of this region contains multiple runs of guanines and can form three distinct intramolecular G-quadruplexes in K+-containing solution. Of these, the G-quadruplex formed within the middle four consecutive guanine runs has been shown to be the most stable G-quadruplex structure, while it is also a mixture of loop isomers. The predominant G-quadruplex structure formed in this region was studied by NMR. Our results demonstrate a novel folding of a unique intramolecular G-quadruplex structure with mixed parallel/antiparallel G-strands. This G-quadruplex structure contains three G-tetrads con...
The chemical composition of the Earth's core: Possibility of sulphur in the core

Sulphur in earth core composition, considering volatile element abundances and iron melt in thermal models
Muscle glycogen: Comparison of iodine binding and enzyme digestion assays and application to meat samples.

A rapid assay for tissue glycogen is described. Bovine liver and muscle glycogen were solubilized with perchloric acid (7-10%) and incubated with an iodine (I(2)-KI) solution containing saturated CaCl(2). The optical density of the amber-brown color was determined at 460 nm. Color development was immediate, stable for up to 2 h, and was linear with respect to glycogen concentrations up to 600 μg glycogen/ml. The iodine assay was applied to fresh, frozen, and aged bovine muscle samples and was compared to enzymic (amyloglucosidase) digestion of glycogen followed by glucose determination. The correlation between the iodine and enzyme methods was linear over the range of 0-1400 g glycogen/g tissue (corr = 0·875; P < 0·01; n = 172). The iodine binding assay can be employed with confidence as an indicator of tissue [glycogen] and is faster and more reliable than the enzyme assay. Comparison of the iodine enzyme assays on aged meat samples revealed marked decreases in muscle glycogen during the first 48 h post slaughter. The decreases were identical whether determined by iodine binding or enzyme assay. Regardless of assay method, post-mortem concentrations of glycogen in bovine sternomandibularis muscle were more variable than in longissimus dorsi samples.