cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A new technique for positioning tangential fields

Abstract Purpose : A technique that eliminates the use of a mechanical “breast-bridge” for positioning tangential fields for treatment of the intact breast or chest wall has been developed. Methods and Materials : Treatment set-up parameters are determined using measuring capabilities (gantry angles and source-skin distances) available on a standard simulator unit. A programmable scientific calculator is used to determine field geometry from polar coordinates for various points on the patient's skin. The calculator program determines the field size, a depth and lateral shift from a skin reference point to the isocenter for the tangential fields, and the gantry angles. The program provides additional information which facilitates the simulation process: First, the coordinates of the isocenter for the tangential fields are expressed relative to couch coordinates for an initial arbitrary isocenter so that the “auto go to” capability available on some simulators can be used. Second, the coordinates of the medial and lateral entry points can be edited when the first set of tangents are not accepted. This part of the program allows quick and efficient adjustment of the fields to obtain adequate treatment volume coverage and a minimum of irradiated lung or heart. Results : Simulation of more than 300 patients has shown the technique to be a practical and efficient method for positioning tangential fields for breast or chest wall irradiation. Conclusion : The technique described here takes full advantage of the capabilities of the new generation of computer controlled simulators, and offers an alternative to previous methods employing a mechanical “breast-bridge.”
Bee Poisoning Versus Clover Aphid Control in Red Clover Grown for Seed

Twenty chemical treatments were tested for clover aphid ( Anuraphis bakeri (Cowen)) control in red clover raised for seed in eastern Washington. Considering aphid control, safety to pollinators, and safety to aphid predators and parasites, the best materials were Trithion® ( S-(p -chlorophenylthio) methyl O,O -diethyl phosphorodithioate), phosphamidon, phorate, and Methyl Trithion® ( S-(p -chlorophenylthio) methyl O,O -dimethyl phosphorodithioate) plus Trithion. Treatments must be applied about the fourth or fifth week after the hay cutting is taken to obtain maximum effectiveness. Aphid damage to seed production involves both reduction in weight of individual seeds and reduction in number of seeds produced.
Clifford valuedBMO in Bergman metric and Hankel operators

We study Clifford valuedBMO in Bergman metrics. We prove that aBMO function can be decomposed into a “bad” function that is bounded in terms of Carleson measure norm and a “good” function that is in the Sobolev type space. Applications to Hankel operators and bilinear forms are also included.
Variations in Marital Needs with Age, Sex, Marital Status, and Regional Location

(1955). Variations in Marital Needs with Age, Sex, Marital Status, and Regional Location. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 19-37.
Integration by Purkynĕ cells of mossy and climbing fiber inputs from cutaneous mechanoreceptors.

The preceding two papers gave accounts of mossy fiber (MF) or of climbing fiber (CF) inputs to Purkyně cells under conditions where the other input was depressed by the experimental procedure. By utilizing either chloralose anesthesia or decerebration with sparing of the pyramidal tracts it has been possible to study the convergence of MF and CF inputs onto single Purkyně cells. The stimulation of cutaneous mechanoreceptors, the recording procedures for unitary Purkyně cell discharges and the computer averaging techniques were as previously described.
Activation, dysfunction and retention of T cells in vaccine sites after injection of incomplete Freund’s adjuvant, with or without peptide

We conducted a randomized clinical trial in 45 patients with resected AJCC stage IIB-IV melanoma to characterize cellular and molecular events at sites of immunization with incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (IFA) alone, or a melanoma vaccine in IFA. At a primary vaccine site, all patients received a multi-peptide melanoma vaccine in IFA. At a replicate vaccine site, which was biopsied, group 1 received IFA only; group 2 received vaccine in IFA. Lymphocytes isolated from replicate vaccine site microenvironments (VSME) were compared to time-matched peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in ELISpot and flow cytometry assays. Compared to PBMC, the VSME had fewer naive and greater proportions of effector memory CD8+ T cells (TCD8). The vast majority of TCD8 within the VSME were activated (CD69+), with a concentration of antigen-specific (tetramerpos) cells in the VSME, particularly in vaccine sites with peptide (group 2). CXCR3+ lymphocytes were concentrated in the VSME of all patients, suggesting IFA-induced chemokine recruitment. TCD8 expression of retention integrins αEβ7 and α1β1 was elevated in VSME, with the highest levels observed in antigen-specific cells in VSME containing peptide (group 2). TCD8 retained in the VSME of both groups were strikingly dysfunctional, with minimal IFN-γ production in response to peptide stimulation and few tetramerpos cells producing IFN-γ. These data suggest that vaccine-induced selective retention and dysfunction of antigen-specific TCD8 within VSME may represent a significant mechanism underlying transient immune responses and low clinical response rates to peptide vaccines administered in IFA.
Glycated albumin activates NADPH oxidase in rat mesangial cells through up-regulation of p47phox

Glycated albumin, an early-glycation Amadori-modified protein, stimulates transforming growth factor- β (TGF-β) expression and increases the production of the extracellular matrix proteins in mesangial cells, contributing to the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. Glycated albumin has been shown to increase NADPH oxidase-dependent superoxide formation in mesangial cells. However, the mechanisms are not well understood. Therefore, in the present studies, we determined the mechanisms by which glycated albumin activates NADPH oxidase in primary rat mesangial cells and its contribution to glycated albumin-induced TGF-β expression and extracellular matrix protein production. Our data showed that glyated albumin treatment stimulated NADPH oxidase activity and increased the formation of superoxide formation in rat mesangial cells. Moreover, glycated albumin treatment stimulated the expression and phosphorylation of p47phox, one of the cytosolic regulatory subunits of the NADPH oxidase. However, the levels of other NADPH oxidase subunits including Nox1, Nox 2, Nox4, p22phox, and p67phox were not altered by glycated albumin. Moreover, siRNA-mediated knockdown of p47phox inhibited glycated albumin-induced NADPH oxidase activity and superoxide formation. Glycated albumin-induced TGF-β expression and extracellular matrix production (fibronectin) was also inhibited by p47phox knock down. Taken together, these data suggest that up-regulation of p47phox is involved in glycated albumin mediated activation of NADPH oxidase, leading to glycated albumin-induced expression of TGF-β and extracellular matrix proteins in mesangial cells and contributing to the development of diabetic nephropathy.
The action of thrombin on serum albumin

Abstract In 1951, Bailey et al published the first direct evidence that thrombin acts as a protease in the conversion of fibrinogen to fibrin. Bettleheim and Bailey (1952) showed subsequently that thrombin catalyzes the hydrolysis of two peptides from the fibrinogen molecule. In addition, thrombin has been reported to attack casein ( Schultz and Schwick, 1951 ) and probably gelatin ( Kay, 1951 ). Guest and Ware (1950) found that thrombin, at a concentration 10,000 times that needed for coagulation, would dissolve fibrin. The lysis of fibrin by thrombin has been confirmed by Seegers and coworkers (1958) who used thrombin with the highest activity yet obtained, 4100 units per mg. Bailey and Bettleheim (1955) reported no effect on rabbit myosin or ovalbumin. Sherry and Troll (1954) have shown that thrombin catalyzes the hydrolysis of tosylarginine methyl ester. It has also been reported to hydrolyze lysine ethyl ester slowly ( Ehrenpreis et al, 1957 ). It appears that thrombin has a limited proteolytic activity with substrate requirements similar to trypsin but more specific. The present report showing a limited digestion of albumin by thrombin is part of a study to determine the possible usefulness of thrombin in studies of protein structure.
Numerical modeling of NOx reduction using pyrolysis products from biomass-based materials

Abstract Pyrolysis products of biomass (bio-oils) have been shown to cause a reduction in NOx emissions when used as reburn fuel in combustion systems. When these bio-oils are processed with lime, calcium is ion-exchanged and the product is called BioLime™. BioLime™, when introduced into a combustion chamber, causes oils to pyrolyze and reduce NOx emissions through reburn mechanisms while simultaneously causing Ca to react with SO2. Thus NOx and SO2 emissions are reduced at the same time. The devolatilization rates of two biomass-based materials were studied using TGA and were related to the yield of pyrolysis gases and char during flash pyrolysis. Numerical simulations using CHEMKIN to model NO reduction through homogeneous gas phase reactions were reported. The numerical predictions were then compared to NOx emission levels from experiments in a down-fired combustor (DFC) to validate the model. A difference in NO reduction was observed by use of different bio-oils under similar operating conditions. This is believed to be due to the difference in yield of flash pyrolysis products of bio-oils. Also, different pyrolysis gases have different NOx reduction potentials. Knowledge of the relative contribution of pyrolysis gases in NO reduction will help choose a feedstock of biomass that will aid in increasing the yield of the desired species. A parametric analysis was done using the model to study the effect of varying concentrations of hydrocarbons, CO2, CO, and H2, and the results were then verified using a flow reactor. The analysis showed that hydrocarbons were mainly responsible for causing reduction in emissions of NO, whereas CO2, CO, and H2 have very little effect on NO reduction.
Influence of conspecific stress odors and shock controllability on conditioned defensive burying

In Experiment 1, rats received a session of 80 inescapable tail shocks or no shocks while restrained in a tube. During tests of conditioned defensive burying 24 h later, the bedding of the chamber contained odors from either stressed or nonstressed conspecific donor rats. Following a single prod shock, subjects that had had prior shocks or that were tested with the stress odors spent significantly less time burying the prod, made smaller piles of bedding, and displayed more freezing behavior. The combination of prior shock and stress odors during later testing enhanced these effects. In Experiment 2, a yoked group of rats that was given inescapable shocks, in contrast to a group that had wheel-turn escape training and one that was restrained but not shocked, later showed significantly less burying and more freezing when tested for defensive burying with stress odors present. In both experiments the duration of burying and the heights of piles were positively correlated, and both of these measures were negatively correlated with freezing. The demonstrated capacity of unconditioned stress odors to mediate different degrees of fear, depending upon the controllability of prior shock, is related to other studies of learned helplessness, and the predominance of freezing over burying is discussed in terms of various types of defensive strategies, stimulus-control processes, and the author’s stress-coping-fear-defense (SCFD) theory.
Effectiveness of a limited invasive scalp approach in the correction of sagittal craniosynostosis

Several surgical techniques have been proposed for the correction of sagittal craniosynostosis. Extensive procedures seem to ensure the most stable long-term results and are more indicated in the older age group. Mini-invasive approaches are particularly useful in the very young infant as they are associated with a minor surgical risk. Furthermore, they are weighted by a minor cosmetic impact related to a less extended surgical scar. Data of the last 94 consecutively operated on scaphocephalic patients have been reviewed to verify the effectiveness of a personal limited-invasive approach based on four to six short linear scalp incisions vs the traditional bicoronal skin flap. The patients have been divided in two groups: (1) the control group (2000–2002): 45 children, operated on by means of a traditional bicoronal skin incision, and (2) the study group (2002–2004): 49 children, treated through four to six linear scalp incisions. The patients’ variables were comparable. The results were evaluated in terms of duration of the surgical procedure, estimated blood loss (EBL), transfusion risk, postoperative complication rate, length of hospital stay, and postoperative cephalic index and cosmetic outcome as perceived by the patients’ families. No significant differences between the two groups were found about the early and the long-term surgical results; however, about one third of the subjects of the control group complained about the visibility of the surgical scar. In the study group, a significant reduction in the duration of the operation (p < 0.0001), postoperative hospital stay (p < 0.0001), EBL (p = 0.011), transfusion risk (p = 0.018), and complication rate (p = 0.016) was observed. The current trend in the management of scaphocephaly is to favor simplified surgical procedures to be performed in the younger ages prevalently. The technique here presented allows achieving a stable long-term cranial reshaping, even when performed in the very young patient. The technique can be utilized also in older subjects with results comparable to those of more extensive surgical procedures. This less invasive technique is weighted by minor complication rates and minor impact of the surgical scar.
Characterization of the Loss in Plasmonic Modes of Metal-Insulator-Metal Waveguides by a Prism-Coupling Approach

A prism-coupler-based method is presented for characterizing plasmonic modes in metal-insulator-metal waveguides from the reflected power in a transverse configuration. The loss is obtained without physically changing the waveguide length as in conventional methods.
Two-Medium Model for the Bond Line Thickness of Particle Filled Thermal Interface Materials

Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are widely used in electronics packaging. Increasing heat generation rates require lower values of the TIM thermal resistance, which depends on the material thermal conductivity and the TIM thickness, or the bond line thickness (BLT). The variation of the TIM thickness is not well understood. The major difficulty comes from the complexity of TIMs as condensed particle systems, especially when the TIM thickness is squeezed to several multiples of the filler particle diameter. This confined heterogeneous structure makes the behavior of TIMs different from that of homogeneous fluids. In this study, we propose a two-medium model for the BLT. The variation of BLT with attachment pressure is modeled using two parameters: the viscidity of the fluids and the interactions of particles. The predictions are compared with the measurements for TIMs made of aluminum oxide particles (sizes: 0.6–6 microns, volume fractions: 30%–50%) and silicon oil (kinematic viscosity: 100 cst and 1000 cst). Reasonable agreement is obtained for different applied pressures. Results indicate that the impact of the particle interactions is an important factor governing the variation of the TIM BLT, especially when the BLT is small.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Analysis of an adjoint problem approach to the identification of an unknown diffusion coefficient

An inverse problem for the identification of an unknown coefficient in a quasilinear parabolic partial differential equation is considered. We present an approach based on utilizing adjoint versions of the direct problem in order to derive equations explicitly relating changes in inputs (coefficients) to changes in outputs (measured data). Using these equations it is possible to show that the coefficient to data mappings are continuous, strictly monotone and injective. The equations are further exploited to construct an approximate solution to the inverse problem and to analyse the error in the approximation. Finally, the results of some numerical experiments are displayed.
The Impact of Puberty and Sexual Activity upon the Health and Education of Adolescent Girls and Boys.

(1987). The impact of puberty and sexual activity upon the health and education of adolescent girls and boys. Peabody Journal of Education: Vol. 64, Sex Equity and Sexuality in Education, pp. 88-112.
Estimating the potential of ocean wave power resources

The realistic assessment of an ocean wave energy resource that can be converted to an electrical power at various offshore sites depends upon many factors, and these include estimating the resource recognizing the random nature of the site-specific wave field, and optimizing the power conversion from particular wave energy conversion devices. In order to better account for the uncertainty in wave power resource estimates, conditional probability distribution functions of wave power in a given sea-state are derived. Theoretical expressions for the deep and shallow water limits are derived and the role of spectral width is studied. The theoretical model estimates were compared with the statistics obtained from the wave-by-wave analysis of JONSWAP based ocean wave time-series. It was shown that the narrow-band approximation is appropriate when the variability due to wave period is negligible. The application of the short-term models in evaluating the long-term wave power resource at a site was illustrated using wave data measured off the California coast. The final example illustrates the procedure for incorporating the local wave data and the sea-state model together with a wave energy device to obtain an estimate of the potential wave energy that could be converted into a usable energy resource.
Kinetic isotope effect analysis of the reaction catalyzed by Trypanosoma congolense trypanothione reductase.

African trypanosomes are devoid of glutathione reductase activity, and instead contain a unique flavoprotein variant, trypanothione reductase, which acts on a cyclic derivative of glutathione, trypanothione. The high degree of sequence similarity between trypanothione reductase and glutathione reductase, as well as the obvious similarity in the reactions catalyzed, led us to investigate the pH dependence of the kinetic parameters, and the isotopic behavior of trypanothione reductase. The pH dependence of the kinetic parameters V, V/K for NADH, and V/K for oxidized trypanothione has been determined for trypanothione reductase from Trypanosoma congolense. Both V/K for NADH and the maximum velocity decrease as single groups exhibiting pK values of 8.87 +/- 0.09 and 9.45 +/- 0.07, respectively, are deprotonated. V/K for oxidized trypanothione, T(S)2, decreases as two groups exhibiting experimentally indistinguishable pK values of 8.74 +/- 0.03 are deprotonated. Variable magnitudes of the primary deuterium kinetic isotope effects on pyridine nucleotide oxidation are observed on V and V/K when different pyridine nucleotide substrates are used, and the magnitude of DV and D(V/K) is independent of the oxidized trypanothione concentration at pH 7.25. Solvent kinetic isotope effects, obtained with 2',3'-cNADPH as the variable substrate, were observed on V only, and plots of V versus mole fraction of D2O (i.e., proton inventory) were linear, and yielded values of 1.3-1.6 for D2OV. Solvent kinetic isotope effects obtained with alternate pyridine nucleotides as substrates were also observed on V, and the magnitude of D2OV decreases for each pyridine nucleotide as its maximal velocity relative to that of NADPH oxidation decreases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A rapid, partial leach and organic separation for the sensitive determination of Ag, Bi, Cd, Cu, Mo, Pb, Sb, and Zn in surface geologic materials by flame atomic absorption

Abstract A solution of dilute hydrochloric acid, ascorbic acid, and potassium iodide has been found to dissolve weakly bound metals in soils, stream sediments, and oxidized rocks. Silver, Bi, Cd, Cu, Mo, Pb, Sb, and Zn are selectively extracted from this solution by a mixture of Aliquat 336 (tricaprylyl methyl ammonium chloride) and MIBK (methyl isobutyl ketone). Because potentially interfering major and minor elements do not extract, the organic separation allows interference-free determinations of Ag and Cd to the 0.05 ppm level, Mo, Cu, and Zn to 0.5 ppm, and Bi, Pb, and Sb to 1 ppm in the sample using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy. The analytical absorbance values of the organic solution used in the proposed method are generally enhanced more than threefold as compared to aqueous solutions, due to more efficient atomization and burning characteristics. The leaching and extraction procedures are extremely rapid; as many as 100 samples may be analyzed per day, yielding 800 determinations, and the technique is adaptable to field use. The proposed method was compared to total digestion methods for geochemical reference samples as well as soils and stream sediments from mineralized and unmineralized areas. The partial leach showed better anomaly contrasts than did total digestions. Because the proposed method is very rapid and is sensitive to pathfinder elements for several types of ore deposits, it should be useful for reconnaissance surveys for concealed deposits.
Impact on Psychologists of State Guidelines for Evaluating Underachievement

Despite continuing controversy about the validity of distinguishing between subgroups of low achievers, evaluating discrepancies between ability and achievement remains central to current practice in identifying students as learning disabled (LD) for special education services. State education department (SED) efforts to operationalize the discrepancy criterion and to specify “best practice” take on particular importance given the nature of practitioner difficulties reported in the literature and the need to increase the reliability of identification. Information from 290 nationally certified school psychologists (64.4% of the original random sample) was compared with data collected by Frankenberger and Fronzaglio (1991) on SED recommendations to evaluate how effectively recommendations were being communicated and followed. The trend toward more appropriate methods of quantifying a discrepancy noted in reviews of SED guidelines was reflected in the practices reported by those working in such states. Evide...
Choosing Success: A Paradigm for Empowering First-Generation College Students.

Louis V. Macias reminds us that educators’ attitudes toward first-generation students have a great impact on their eventual success … or failure. Are you serving the best interests of your students with an inspirational, success-oriented mind-set that considers all of their capabilities?
The dynamic speculation and performance prediction of parallel loops

General purpose computer systems have seen increased performance potential through the parallel processing capabilities of multicore processors. Yet this potential performance can only be attained through parallel applications, thus forcing software developers to rethink how everyday applications are designed. The most readily form of Thread Level Parallelism (TLP) within any program are from loops. Unfortunately, the majority of loops cannot be easily multithreaded due to inter-iteration dependencies, conditional statements, nested functions, and dynamic memory allocation. This dissertation seeks to understand the fundamental characteristics and relationships of loops in order to assist programmers and compilers in exploiting TLP. First, this dissertation explores a hardware solution that exploits (TLP) through Dynamic Speculative Multithreading (D-SpMT), which can extract multiple threads from a sequential program without compiler support or instruction set extensions. This dissertation presents Cascadia, a D-SpMT multicore architecture that provides multi-grain thread-level support. Cascadia applies a unique sustainable IPC (sIPC) metric on a comprehensive loop tree to select the best performing nested loop level to multithread. Results showed that Cascadia can extract large amounts of TLP, but ultimately, only yielded moderate performance gains. The lack of overall performance gains exhibited by Cascadia were due to the sequential nature of applications, rather than Cascadia's ability to perform D-SpMT. In order to fully exploit TLP through loops, some loop level analysis and transformation must first be performed. Therefore, second contribution of this dissertation is the development of several theoretical methodologies to aid programmers and auto-tuners in parallelizing loops. This work found that the inter-iteration dependencies have a two-fold effect on the loop's parallel performance. First, the performance is primarily affected by a single, dominant dependency, and it is the execution of the dominant dependency path that directly determines the parallel performance of the loop. Any additional dependencies cause a secondary effect that may increase the execution time due to relative dependency path differences. Furthermore, this study analyzes the effects of non-ideal conditions, such as a limited number of processors, multithreading overhead, and irregular loop structures.
Mannose-6-phosphate receptors and their role in protein sorting along the pathway to lysosomes

Mannose 6-phosphate receptors (MPRs) carry newly synthesized lysosomal enzymes from the trans Golgi network (TGN) to pre-lysosomes, and then return to the TGN to carry out another round of lysosomal enzyme delivery. While clathrin-coated vesicles mediate the export of MPRs from the TGN, nothing is known about the transport vesicles used to carry these receptors back to the TGN. Using two different in vitro assays, we have shown that an antibody that interferes with clathrin assembly blocks receptor-mediated endocytosis of transferrin, but has no effect on the recycling of the 300kD MPR from prelysosomes to the TGN. These results suggest that the transport of MPRs from pre-lysosomes to the TGN does not involve clathrin. In addition to cycling between the TGN and endosomes, MPRs can also undergo conventional receptor-mediated endocytosis. We constructed chimeric receptors to test whether the MPR cytoplasmic domain contained sufficient information to direct a cell surface receptor into both of these transport pathways. Our experiments demonstrate that the MPR cytoplasmic domain is not sufficient to alter the distribution of the EGF receptor, and demonstrate a role for extracellular and transmembrane domains in MPR routing.
Common mistakes in the clinical use of bone mineral density testing

Bone mineral density (BMD) testing is used to diagnose osteoporosis, assess fracture risk and monitor changes in BMD over time. A variety of devices and technologies are used to measure BMD or other surrogate markers of bone strength. Measurements obtained with these devices are often reported according to different proprietary standards, and the comparability of values obtained with different instruments is often poor. In addition, there is a high degree of variability in the skills of the technologists performing the tests and the clinicians interpreting the results. Heterogeneity in the guidelines for using BMD measurements together with poor-quality BMD testing and reporting can result in inappropriate clinical decisions, causing unnecessary worry and expense for the patient and possible harm due to unnecessary treatment or treatment being withheld. This Review describes and discusses the mistakes commonly made in BMD testing, and emphasizes the importance of maintaining high-quality standards in order to optimize patient management.
Some observations on the innervation patterns of different fiber types of chick muscle

Abstract Muscle fibers from the tonic anterior latissimus dorsi and the phasic sartorius and complexus muscles of chicks were examined for their terminal innervation patterns. Advantage was taken of a recently developed cytochemical technique which allows simultaneous visualization of muscle fiber types and their end plates. This technique increases the sensitivity of the acetycholinesterase assay. It was found that both fiber types in the anterior latissimus dorsi as well as the β fiber in the phasic muscles have similar patterns of innervation. All are multiply innervated with major end plates spaced at regular intervals. In addition, many minor end plates are randomly scattered along these fiber types. Despite similar innervation patterns, all three types of fibers exhibit different myofibrillar adenosine triphosphatase characteristics.
Prediction of Femoral Impact Forces in Falls on the Hip.

A major determinant of the risk of hip fracture in a fall from standing height is the force applied to the femur at impact. This force is determined by the impact velocity of the hip and the effective mass, stiffness, and damping of the body at the moment of contact. We have developed a simple experiment (the pelvis release experiment) to measure the effective stiffness and damping of the body when a step change in force is applied to the lateral aspect of the hip. Results from pelvis release experiments with 14 human subjects suggest that both increased soft tissue thickness over the hip and impacting the ground in a relaxed state can decrease the effective stiffness of the body, and subsequently reduce peak impact forces. Comparison between our fall impact force predictions and in-vitro measures of femoral fracture strength suggest that any fall from standing height producing direct, lateral impact on the greater trochanter can fracture the elderly hip.
Effect of a Simulated Cold-Front on Hatching Success of Yellow Perch Eggs

ABSTRACT Gradually warming water temperature during yellow perch (Perca flavescens) egg and larval stages has been associated with stronger year classes, whereas an abrupt drop in temperature associated with a cold-front during this period can result in weaker or missing year classes, presumably because of egg or larvae mortality. We subjected yellow perch eggs to sudden declines in temperature and then monitored hatching success of those eggs relative to eggs held at a constant temperature. An experiment in 2007 decreased water temperature by 6°C in 24 h; however, no significant difference in mean hatching success was observed between treatment (48%, SE=5.8) and control tanks (55%, SE=6.0). Another experiment in 2008 decreased water temperature by 8°C in 45 min. Again no significant difference in hatching success was observed between treatment (37%, SE=5.6) and control tanks (38%, SE=5.0). Abrupt temperature drops did not reduce hatching success of yellow perch in laboratory experiments and thus do not a...
Perioperative Use of Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy for Orthotopic Liver Transplantation

Abstract Purpose We present a retrospective study describing the perioperative use of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Materials and Methods We retrospectively reviewed the clinical course of patients who underwent OLT with the perioperative use of CRRT. The following variables were recorded: Gender, age, indication for transplantation, time when CRRT was initiated, postoperative need for CRRT, and the patient and organ (liver, kidneys) outcome up to 1 year after transplantation. Results Among 105 patients who underwent OLT from 2006 to 2010; we used CRRT in 12 cases (11.4%) perioperatively, including 9 (8.3%) patients intraoperatively. Perioperative CRRT was employed for volume, electrolyte, and/or pH management. All patients who underwent CRRT perioperatively were alive at 1 month, 10 (83.3%), at 3 and 6 months and 9 (75%) at 1 year after OLT. Only 1 surviving patient (8.3%) required renal replacement therapy at 1 month after surgery. Renal replacement therapy was not required in any surviving patient up to 12 months posttransplantation. Conclusion Perioperative and especially intraoperative use of CRRT therapy can potentially improve the outcomes of patients undergoing OLT.
Lessons for Last Comers from Vietnam's Transition

What lessons can last comers, like North Korea and Myanmar, and the aid community that stands ready to assist them, learn from the experience of Vietnam? What motivated Vietnam to abandon Soviet-style central planning for a market economy (albeit one with a socialist orientation)? Did foreign technical assistance play an important role in designing and assisting in the implementation of the reforms that have propelled growth in Vietnam? Does Vietnam’s experience support or contradict the increasingly fashionable view that institutional change is a prerequisite to successful economic reform? Can a country, such as North Korea, emulate the transition experience of Vietnam and expect similar success?
Alcohol and illicit drug dependence among parents: associations with offspring externalizing disorders.

BackgroundPrevious research indicates that alcohol and drug dependence constitute aspects of a general vulnerability to externalizing disorders that accounts for much of the parent-offspring resemblance for these and related disorders. This study examined how adolescent offspring risk for externalizing psychopathology varies with respect to parental alcoholism and illicit drug dependence.MethodData from the Minnesota Twin Family Study, a community-based investigation of adolescents (age 17 years, n=1252) and their parents, were used. Lifetime diagnoses of alcohol and drug dependence (among both parents and offspring) and offspring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, adult antisocial behavior, and nicotine dependence were assessed via structured interviews.ResultsParental alcohol dependence and parental drug dependence were similarly associated with increased risk for nearly all offspring disorders, with offspring of alcohol and drug-dependent parents having approximately 2–3 times the odds for developing a disorder by late adolescence compared to low-risk offspring. Compared to parental dependence on other illicit drugs, parental cannabis dependence was associated with weaker increased risk for offspring externalizing disorders.ConclusionsBoth parental alcohol and drug dependence are independently associated with an increased risk for a broad range of externalizing psychopathology among late-adolescent offspring.
Organ donation from burn-injured patients—a national perspective

Abstract Background There is a discrepancy between publically available data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database and perception of the incidence of mortally burn-injured patients serving as organ donors. In the last 5 y, a single burn center referred several patients who went on to successfully donate multiple organs. However, UNOS data indicate very few referrals of patients with burn injuries nationwide. This discrepancy in UNOS-reported occurrences versus institutional experience prompted this work. Methods UNOS data from 1988–2012 was examined for causes of death related to thermal injury, electrical injury, inhalation injury, or carbon monoxide poisoning. The National Burn Repository was examined for burn center death rates and patient characteristics of those with reported nonsurvivable burn injuries. Finally, a national survey queried the clinical experiences and educated opinions of burn center directors, transplant surgeons, and organ procurement organization (OPO) representatives regarding organ donation in the burn-injured population. Results Between 42% and 52% of those surveyed responded. Survey data indicate that at least 61 patients with burn-related injuries have served as organ donors in the past 5 y alone, versus 23 identified in 24 y of UNOS data. Survey data also indicate that inhalation injuries were the most common burn-related injuries seen before successful organ procurement. Kidneys were the most commonly donated organs, but all major organs and tissues were represented in the experiences of surgeon and organ procurement organization respondents. Up to 10% surgeon respondents believe that patients with burn injuries should not be referred for possible organ donation. Conclusions There are more organs donated by patients with mortal burn injuries than currently available UNOS data would suggest. Survey data suggest that these patients should be able to contribute successfully to the supply of organs needed by those on transplant waiting lists, but remain inconsistently recognized as such a resource. Knowledge about long-term organ and tissue viability from burn-injured patients is lacking, and should be the focus of future research.
Correspondence re: S. Shintani et al., Intragenic mutation analysis of the human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene in malignant human oral keratinocytes. Cancer Res., 59: 4142-4147, 1999.

In their report [(1)][1] , Shintani et al. describe two consistent alterations: ( a ) a tumor-specific Bsr I polymorphism; and ( b ) a novel truncated EGFR 1 mRNA. We propose alternative explanations for the data presented in this report. First, we have also detected the Bsr I polymorphism (A/T) at
The benefits of preparing children and parents for day surgery

Hospital admission for children inevitably provokes feelings of anxiety for both parent and child. The development of day surgery has in some respects eased many of these anxieties; however, without the support of both verbal and written information and the development of quality preparation from children's nurses anxiety will continue to exist. This article seeks to explore the benefits of preparing children and parents for day surgery using preadmission education, and suggests how improvements may be made to practice, education and research.
A gas scintillation proportional counter using a photomultiplier tube array

Abstract A gas scintillation proportional counter has been constructed which uses an array of photomultiplier tubes to obtain good energy resolution for an uncollimated X-ray source while providing positional information for background rejection.
What Happens When Corporal Punishment Is Legal

This article discusses abuses of the use of legalized corporal punishment in schools. The relationship between social factors and the prevalence of corporal punishment in schools was assessed. Newspaper articles dated from 1975 through 1992 and collated through Burelles's Clipping Service were analyzed. The six variables were (a) sex of the educator, (b) sex of the student, (c) age of the student, (d) reason for punishment, (e) severity of punishment, and (f) geographical location. The study found that males are more likely to be the recipients of severe corporal punishment and that the reporting of corporal punishment incidents was highest in the South Atlantic region of the United States.
Questions for online surveys

This chapter covers general guidelines for asking reliable and valid survey questions. Question types and formats also are discussed.
Angiotensin II-induced Akt activation is mediated by metabolites of arachidonic acid generated by CaMKII-stimulated Ca2(+)-dependent phospholipase A2.

Angiotensin II (ANG II) promotes vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) growth, stimulates Ca2+-calmodulin (CaM)-dependent kinase II (CaMKII), and activates cytosolic Ca2+-dependent phospholipase A2 (c...
Latent nucleophilic initiators for melt processing phenolic–epoxy matrix composites

Abstract Phenolic–epoxy matrix compositions have been investigated for preparing tough, flame retardant fiber reinforced composites. Melt composite fabrication with these materials requires latent initiators for the curing reaction due to the high viscosities of the matrix resins. The objective is to provide a means for ensuring stability (i.e. no reaction) of the phenolic–epoxy matrix resins at ∼140°C while the matrix is applied to the fiber preforms, then to effect rapid reaction at the cure temperature of ∼180–200°C. We have investigated the strategy of embedding the initiators for matrix cure within the fiber sizing to achieve this goal. The cure times can be significantly reduced since high initiator levels can be employed with this approach. Reaction kinetics were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry to predict composite cure times. Monomeric initiators such as tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)phosphine encapsulated in thermoplastic polyimide fiber sizings yielded promising results. Composite toughness and fatigue properties of these flame retardant composites are excellent.
The honey bee foraging behavior syndrome: quantifying the response threshold model of division of labor

This review focuses on how honey bee responsiveness to sucrose is related to a correlated suite of foraging traits, called the honey bee foraging behavior syndrome. Behavior syndromes are reminiscent of human personalities. In general, the honey bee foraging syndrome is characterized as bees with low sucrose response thresholds begin foraging at younger ages than bees with high sucrose response thresholds. Sucrose response threshold in young pre-foraging aged bees predicts forage choice 2 to 3 weeks later. The relationship is such that bees with low sucrose response thresholds forage for resources with no or low sugar rewards such as water and pollen. Bees with higher sucrose response thresholds forage for nectar and return with nectar containing sugar concentrations that are positively correlated with individual sucrose response threshold. The honey bee provides one of the best studied cases of a natural behavioral syndrome from genes to behavior, having great potential for understanding social evolution, and the organization of a complex system.
Penetrating trauma of the oropharynx in children

Penetrating trauma of the oropharynx is not an uncommon problem in the pediatric population. Innocuous injuries with minor soft-tissue trauma have been associated with severe neurologic sequelae. A review of 77 oral trauma cases that occurred from 1981 to 1990 at Boston Children's Hospital was undertaken to see if constant factors could be identified so that a treatment protocol might be outlined for these patients. Twenty-three (30%) patients sustained injury to the soft palate and peritonsillar area. Fifty percent of these cases required surgical debridement and repair. None of the 23 patients developed neurological sequelae. Physical examination may not correlate with the development of symptoms nor the mechanism of injury. Care should be taken during the examination to identify any neurological problems that may not relate to the degree of injury. Conservative management can be entertained if no abnormal neurologic findings are noted.
Formulation of the Simulation Model for Homosexual Men

Transmissions of HIV have occurred after exposure to people in the pre—antibody period (Peterman et al., 1985). The latent period (i.e., from infection to infectiousness) for HIV infection is short enough to be ignored in a model. The infectious period is unknown, but the virus seems to persist in the host indefinitely since it can be isolated from the blood for many years after the infection (Curran et al., 1988). No evidence to the contrary exists; therefore HIV infectivity is assumed to continue for life. Since individuals are either susceptible to HIV infection or infectious, HIV is an SI (susceptible-infected) disease (Hethcote, 1978, 1989c). In contrast, gonorrhea is an SIS disease since people can recover and return to the susceptible class.
Formation and growth of stacking fault tetrahedra in Ni via vacancy aggregation mechanism

Abstract Using molecular dynamics simulations, the formation and growth of stacking fault tetrahedra (SFT) are captured by vacancy cluster diffusion and aggregation mechanisms in Ni. The vacancy-tetrahedron acts as a nucleation point for SFT formation. Simulations show that perfect SFT can grow to the next size perfect SFT via a vacancy aggregation mechanism. The stopping and range of ions in matter (SRIM) calculations and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations reveal that SFT can form farther away from the initial cascade-event locations, indicating the operation of diffusion-based vacancy-aggregation mechanism.
Physico-Chemical Principles of Biomineralization

Fundamental physico-chemical knowledge of the mineral components in skeletal tissues has increased substantially during the 3 decades since the publication of Neuman and Neuman’s (1958) pioneering treatise on this subject. In particular, the dominant apatitic phase has become especially well characterized in terms of its chemical, structural, and morphological features. Substantial progress has also been made in our understanding of the dynamics of calcium phosphate precipitation in aqueous synthetic and in vitro systems. Less complete, however, is our knowledge of the actual deposition processes by which the bony extracellular matrix is invested with these mineral salts in vivo.
From Nipple Shadows to Bullet Holes

Experience is a Janus-faced character which can both affect insight and expertise and be molded by them. For many situations increasing familiarity breeds enhancing ability. Many of you are aware of Malcolm Gladwell’s notion that virtuosity in a particular occupation requires 10,000 h of labor to learn its techniques superbly and master its unique corpus of knowledge. True enough when a questioning spirit keeps the mind alert to rare events and their management and repetitive tasks become imprinted in muscle memory or thought processes.
Bayes-risk minimized intra/inter coding mode prediction for H.264

In this paper, a hierarchical prediction scheme for fast motion search is proposed in order to implement an effective encoder that pays a small amount of search cost to achieve the best match without little rate-distortion performance degradation. The proposed method has a hierarchical tree structure, where each node has two sub-tasks; namely, the reference frame selection and the spatial search region prediction. From now on, let’s call best motion vector by full search as true motion vector. Proposed fast motion search for multiple reference frames can be summarized as: Step1. Initial searching point in previous frame: In literature, majority of true motion vectors are distributed around the center of searching window in recent frames so we first search the previous frame. Diamond search fails to search the true motion when the initial point misleads search path to local minima. In order to solve this problem, initial points are searched based on multiresolution motion search. Step2. Perform diamond search for each initial points and compare the minimum distortion measure with stopping criterion which defines maximum searching points, minimum diamond size and threshold based on QP. If the stopping criterion is met, then motion search is finished with the motion vector having minimum distortion. Otherwise go to Step 3. Here, the diamond size depends on the motion activity between current frame (T) and previous frame (T-1). Step3. Find out search center in the frame indicated by motion trace (motion vector field obtained from previous encoding stage) for all best points in each diamonds in previous frame (T-1). Based on its motion activity, the diamond size is determined and checked the stopping criterion for all diamond in second previous frames. Iterate this step until the stopping condition is met.