cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Arthroscopic management of protrusio acetabuli.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate 4 hips with symptomatic protrusio acetabuli treated arthroscopically for symptomatic pincer-type femoroacetabular impingement in 3 patients aged younger than 40 years. Methods Four hips in 3 patients, all active women, aged 26 to 37 years, with hip pain and radiographic evidence of protrusio acetabuli and a center-edge angle (CEA) of 50° or more, were studied and followed up for a minimum of 2.5 years. Each of these patients underwent arthroscopic anterior and lateral acetabuloplasty, partial labrectomy, synovectomy, and chondroplasty. Follow-up included evaluation with the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS), radiographs, and clinical history and examination. Results Patient 1 had bilateral hip surgeries. The right hip was followed up for 63 months, and the CEA improved from 67° to 60°, with an mHHS score improvement by 60.4 points. The CEA for the left hip improved from 63° to 53° at 61 months' follow-up, and the mHHS improved by 43.9 points. Both hips had a final mHHS of 100 points. Patient 3, followed up for 28 months, had a final mHHS of 100 points, 32 points better than preoperatively, whereas the CEA improved from 51° to 44°. Patient 3, a 26-year-old with preoperative radiographically apparent arthritis, had a final mHHS of 87 points, 35 points better than preoperatively, and the CEA improved from 50° to 42° at 32 months' follow-up. All 3 patients were happy with their outcomes. Conclusions In this small case series, arthroscopic acetabuloplasty showed reduced symptoms and improved function in 3 patients with protrusio aged younger than 40 years at a minimum of 2.5 years' follow-up. Level of Evidence Level IV, therapeutic case series.
Progress of the PV Technology Incubator project towards an enhanced U.S. manufacturing base

In this paper, we report on the major accomplishments of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Program (SETP) Photovoltaic (PV) Technology Incubator project. The Incubator project facilitates a company's transition from developing a solar cell or PV module prototype to pilot- and large-scale U.S. manufacturing. The project targets small businesses that have demonstrated proof-of-concept devices or processes in the laboratory. Their success supports U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu's SunShot Initiative, which seeks to achieve PV technologies that are cost-competitive without subsidies at large scale with fossil-based energy sources by the end of this decade. The Incubator Project has enhanced U.S. PV manufacturing capacity and created more than 1200 clean energy jobs, resulting in an increase in American economic competitiveness. The investment raised to date by these PV Incubator companies as a result of DOE's $ 59 million investment total nearly $ 1.3 billion.
Asymptotic Theory for Canonical Correlation Analysis

The asymptotic distribution of the sample canonical correlations and coefficients of the canonical variates is obtained when the nonzero population canonical correlations are distinct and sampling is from the normal distribution. The asymptotic distributions are also obtained for reduced rank regression when one set of variables is treated as independent (stochastic or nonstochastic) and the other set as dependent. Earlier work is corrected.
The many faces of hemifacial spasm: differential diagnosis of unilateral facial spasms.

Hemifacial spasm is defined as unilateral, involuntary, irregular clonic or tonic movement of muscles innervated by the seventh cranial nerve. Most frequently attributed to vascular loop compression at the root exit zone of the facial nerve, there are many other etiologies of unilateral facial movements that must be considered in the differential diagnosis of hemifacial spasm. The primary purpose of this review is to draw attention to the marked heterogeneity of unilateral facial spasms and to focus on clinical characteristics of mimickers of hemifacial spasm and on atypical presentations of nonvascular cases. In addition to a comprehensive review of the literature on hemifacial spasm, medical records and videos of consecutive patients referred to the Movement Disorders Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine for hemifacial spasm between 2000 and 2010 were reviewed, and videos of illustrative cases were edited. Among 215 patients referred for evaluation of hemifacial spasm, 133 (62%) were classified as primary or idiopathic hemifacial spasm (presumably caused by vascular compression of the ipsilateral facial nerve), and 4 (2%) had hereditary hemifacial spasm. Secondary causes were found in 40 patients (19%) and included Bell's palsy (n = 23, 11%), facial nerve injury (n = 13, 6%), demyelination (n = 2), and brain vascular insults (n = 2). There were an additional 38 patients (18%) with hemifacial spasm mimickers classified as psychogenic, tics, dystonia, myoclonus, and hemimasticatory spasm. We concluded that although most cases of hemifacial spasm are idiopathic and probably caused by vascular compression of the facial nerve, other etiologies should be considered in the differential diagnosis, particularly if there are atypical features. © 2011 Movement Disorder Society
Toxicity of saline and organic solvent extracts of sediments from Boston Harbor, Massachusetts and the Hudson River-Raritan Bay estuary, New York using the Microtox® bioassay

The toxic effects of organic and saline extracts of sediment samples collected from 16 sites in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts and from 17 sites in the Hudson River-Raritan Bay estuary, New York were tested with the Microtox® bioassay. This bioassay measures changes in light production by bioluminescent marine bacteria exposed to sediment extracts. Organic solvent extracts of all 33 sediments showed some degree of toxicity, with sediment samples from sites in the urban areas of the bays being significantly more toxic than those from less urbanized areas of the bays. Saline extracts, however, were less toxic, only seven of 33 saline extracts produced a significant response using the recommended method of data analyses. The proportional decrease in bacterial light production at the highest concentration of saline sediment extract in the reaction mixture compared to the bacterial light production in the controls (saline light change—SLC) appeared to be a better indicator of sediment toxicity than generating a saline EC50 (the amount of sediment required to reduce bioluminescence 50%) value; 16 of 33 saline extracts produced a significant response (⩾10% reduction in bioluminescence). Organic extracts of sediments previously extracted with saline were also always toxic in the Microtox® bioassay but were less toxic than sediments not previously extracted. Organic EC50 and SLC were inversely related to concentrations of sediment contaminants, principally low- and high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This relationship was strongest for the organic solvent extracts of sediments tested in the bioassay. Organic solvent extracts of sediments from Boston Harbor were also significantly more toxic in the Microtox® bioassay than those from the Hudson-Raritan estuary, even though sediment concentrations of PAHs, a measure of anthropogenic contamination, were similar. The cause for the differential toxicity is unknown at this time, but chemical contaminants other than chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHs) and PAHs may be contributing to the observed toxicity in the Microtox® bioassay using organic extracts of sediment. Testing sediment toxicity using organic extracts of sediment with the Microtox® bioassay provides better estimates of toxicity due to sediment contaminants than using saline extracts of sediments.
The Tzanck smear: can dermatologists accurately interpret it?

Background: The Tzanck preparation is a standard technique for the rapid diagnosis of herpes simplex and varicella-zoster virus infections. Objective: This study was designed to determine the ability of practicing dermatologists to interpret Tzanck preparations accurately. Methods: Dermatologists at different levels of training interpreted a series of Tzanck preparations under test conditions. Results: Second- and third-year residents had a pooled average for correct responses of 91 %; dermatologists in practice less than 10 years, 84%; dermatologists in practice more than 10 years, 67%. Conclusion: Dermatologists are able to use the Tzanck preparation effectively for diagnosing herpetic infections. Second- and third-year residents who are most likely to be diagnosing blistering eruptions in immunosuppressed or otherwise critically ill patients are especially accurate interpreters.
Tool feed influence on the machinability of CO(2) laser optics.

Influence of tool feed on reflectivity of diamond-machined surfaces was evaluated using materials (gold, silver, and copper) from which CO2 laser optics are primarily produced. Fifteen specimens were machined by holding all machining parameters constant, except tool feed. Tool feed was allowed to vary by controlled amounts from one evaluation zone (or part) to another. Past experience has verified that the quality of a diamond-machined surface is not a function of the cutting velocity; therefore, this experiment was conducted on the basis that a variation in cutting velocity was not an influencing factor on the diamond-turning process. Inspection results of the specimens indicated that tool feeds significantly higher than 5.1 μm/rev (200 μin./rev) produced detrimental effects on the machined surfaces. In some cases, at feeds as high as 13 μm/rev (500 μin./rev), visible scoring was evident. Those surfaces produced with tool feeds less than 5.1 μm/rev had little difference in reflectivity. Measurements indicated that their reflectivity existed in a range from 96.7% to 99.3% at 10.6 μm.
Peristaltic motion of a third-order fluid in a planar channel

In order to determine the characteristics of the peristaltic transport of shear thinning non-Newtonian materials, the motion of a third-order fluid in a planar channel having walls that are transversely displaced by an infinite, harmonic traveling wave of large wavelength and negligibly small Reynolds number was analyzed using a perturbation expansion in terms of a variant of the Deborah number. Within the range of validity of this analysis, we found the pumping rate of a shear-thinning fluid is less than that for a Newtonian fluid having a shear viscosity the same as the lower-limiting viscosity of the nonNewtonian material. Also, the space of variables for which trapping of a bolus of fluid occurs is reduced for the shear-thinning fluid investigated here.
Salty and sour taste characteristics and risk of alcoholism.

Background: This study examined gustatory measures (intensity and hedonic values of salt and citric acid solutions) that have been reported to differentiate nonalcoholics who are at risk of alcoholism by virtue of having an alcoholic father (PHP) from those with no such paternal history (PHN). The study tested the hypothesis that PHPs perceive salty and sour solutions to be more intense and less pleasurable than do PHNs. Methods: A total of 112 nonalcoholic subjects (44.7% male and 40.2% PHP) provided intensity and pleasantness ratings for a series of salty and sour solutions in varying concentrations. Results: PHP subjects rated salty solutions as more unpleasant than PHN subjects. PHP subjects also showed higher mean sour intensity ratings and less preference for sour solutions than PHN subjects. Conclusions: This study replicates and extends prior findings of salty and sour taste differences as a function of paternal history of alcoholism. Further research is needed to replicate these findings in other populations and to examine their implications for the transmission of alcoholism risk.
Two Interpretive Systems for Natural Language

It is proposed that humans have available to them two systems for interpreting natural language. One system is familiar from formal semantics. It is a type based system that pairs a syntactic form with its interpretation using grammatical rules of composition. This system delivers both plausible and implausible meanings. The other proposed system is one that uses the grammar together with knowledge of how the human production system works. It is token based and only delivers plausible meanings, including meanings based on a repaired input when the input might have been produced as a speech error.
Serotonin depletion in the adult rat causes loss of the dendritic marker MAP-2: A new animal model of schizophrenia?

Many trophic factors are now thought to also function in maintenance of the adult brain. We hypothesized that since serotonin plays a role in synaptogenesis, it may also function in maintenance of synapses in the adult. Adult rats were depleted of serotonin with the tryptophan hydroxylase inhibitor p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) for 10 days. Fourteen days after the final treatment, immunodensitometry showed a significant decrease in the synaptic marker, MAP-2. Our results are discussed in respect to the recent finding of decreased MAP-2 staining in postmortem schizophrenic brains.
Competing Frames for a Public Health Issue and Their Effects on Public Opinion

This study examines the effects of goal framing on opinion about a public health issue. A content analysis of newspaper coverage regarding a New York City trans fat ban identified four frames, each of which invoked a policy goal (promoting public health or protecting business). An experiment tested the effects of goal framing on support for banning trans fat, as well as the effects of competition between frames invoking the same goal and competition between frames invoking different goals. The findings suggest that goal framing can shape opinion about public health issues but that competitive framing can undermine these effects.
Wealth Estimates for the New England Colonies about 1770

The purpose of my studies is to estimate the total and per capita wealth of the thirteen colonies in the early 1770's and something of its composition and distribution. The estimates for New England presented here add another building block to the accumulating evidence that a rather high level of living was reached in the American colonies at the close of over 150 years of economic development. They also show that wealth was unequally distributed among the population in this transitionally commercial era, well before the onset of industrialism. They yield quantitative evidence as well on size of wealth in relation to such characteristics of wealth holders as their age and sex, occupations, urban or rural residence and testacy, that is whether or not they left a will at death.
GENERALIZED FINITE DIFFERENCE SOLUTION FOR HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER FROM A FINITE CYLINDER DURING QUENCH

A generalized nondimensional solution is presented that describes heat or mass transfer from a finite cylinder during quench. The solution is applicable to three important cases: Conduction with convection heat transfer at the surface during any single step hot or cold quench. Conduction with radiation heat transfer at the surface during a single step cold quench with negligible background radiation. Diffusion with surface desorption of a diatomic gas from a metal specimen during a single step quench in a high vacuum with negligible background pressure. Application of the generalized solution, which utilizes the numerical method of finite differences with forward stepping, is illustrated by determining a cylinder's transient temperature distribution and surface transfer rate (both instantaneous and cumulative) for an example L/D ratio of 2.0. Selected results are graphed and tabulated for the three cases. The results for the conduction/convection case are verified using the familiar analytical product sol...
Is antithrombin treatment of disseminated intravascular coagulation a quixotic goal

The development of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is associated with increased sepsis mortality. Antithrombin (AT) is one of several anticoagulants that have been studied in randomized trials of sepsis without benefit. In a recent study, Iba and colleagues reviewed data from patients who were treated for sepsis-related DIC with two lower doses of AT concentrate than studied in prior trials. Patients received 1,500 IU/day (n = 259) or 3,000 IU/day (n = 48) of AT for 3 days. All patients had baseline antithrombin activity <40% and there was no placebo group. The AT 3,000 group had higher 28-day survival as well as a higher rate of DIC resolution than the AT 1,500 group. Though intriguing, the study findings are limited by the non-randomized retrospective nature of the findings, which resulted in baseline differences in multiple confounders that affect mortality, as well as the lack of a placebo group to compare outcomes.
Data fusion for detecting sonar contacts from multiple sensors

The detection performance for fusing the output of multiple acoustic sensors is considered. Three fusion methods are analyzed and compared: fuse by summing-N-signals; the M-of-N processor, based on 0,1 decisions at each sensor; and threshold-and-sum N threshold signals. The last process uses two thresholds: T/sub 1/ which sets a lower limit on signal amplitudes for processing; and T/sub 2/, the detection threshold for the N summed signals which are greater than T/sub 1/. Eliminating low SNR data decreases data rates in the processor, and in practical situations, can improve the detection performance of a system when compared to the above processors. >
Idiopathic adulthood ductopenia: an update.

Idiopathic adulthood ductopenia (IAD), named only 10 years ago, is the latest entity to join the group of small-duct biliary diseases. On the basis of published data and my consultation practice, I am aware of 57 cases. Most commonly, IAD affects young or middle-aged adults (overall range of affected patients, 15 to 77 years) and occurs with a distinct male preponderance. The median age of male and female patients among 48 published and unpublished cases was 30 and 36 years, respectively (in 9 cases, the precise age had not been stated). The age range probably encompasses several etiologic groups with different age distributions. Biopsy specimens, by definition, show ductopenia and its complications but no other lesions. Laboratory studies reveal a cholestatic profile, but again, by definition, these cases show no changes that would be diagnostic or suggestive of another biliary disease. In approximately half the published cases in which the outcome was reported, the condition seemed to have a benign course; in contradistinction, the other cases of IAD were fatal or necessitated liver transplantation. Indirect evidence suggests that IAD is a syndrome with several causes, including (1) late-onset nonsyndromic paucity of intrahepatic bile ducts, (2) small-duct primary sclerosing cholangitis ("pericholangifis") without large duct involvement and without evidence of inflammatory bowel disease, (3) nonsuppurative viral cholangitis—for instance, in hepatitis C, and (4) autoimmune cholangitis or cholangitis in autoimmune hepatitis, in the absence of the typical autoantibodies (cryptogenic chronic hepatitis). For progressive cases of IAD, liver transplantation is necessary, whether or not a specific cause is suspected.
Introduction: Evaluation in Analytic Theory and Political Practice

The development of professional policy analysis was driven by a desire to apply "science" to policy decisions, but the vision of apolitical policy analysis is as unattainable today as it was at the inception of the field. While there is powerful evidence that schemes to "get around" politics are futile, they never seem to lose their popularity. The contemporary enthusiasm for health technology assessment and comparative-effectiveness research extends these efforts to find technical, bureaucratic fixes to the problem of health care costs. As the benefits and costs of health care continue to grow, so too will the search for analytic evidence and insights. It is important to recognize that the goal of these efforts should not be to eliminate but rather to enrich political deliberations that govern what societies pay for and get from their health care systems.
Improving anonymity using social links

Protecting user privacy in network communication is vital in todaypsilas open networking environment. Current anonymous routing protocols provide anonymity by forwarding traffic through a static path of randomly selected relay nodes. In practice, however, malicious relays can perform passive logging attacks to compromise the anonymity of a flow. This degradation is accelerated when nodes fail, forcing source node to reconstruct a path, and in doing so, leaking more information to passive loggers. This ldquopredecessor attackrdquo is highly effective and difficult to defend against on current systems. In this paper, we propose a highly effective approach to blocking predecessor attacks by leveraging trusted links from social networks. We first show how users can completely shield themselves from traditional logging attacks. We then propose a hybrid logging attack optimized for social networks, and perform detailed analysis to show that we can defend against it using optimized path selection techniques. Finally, we analyze detailed measurement traces from Facebook to show that our approach is indeed feasible given the user behavior in social networks today.
Participant identification in haptic systems using hidden Markov models

Biometric systems allow identification of individuals based on behavioral or physiological characteristics. In this paper, we explore biometric applications in access control of haptic systems. These systems produce information on human computer interaction behavior of a specific participant and could potentially be unique. This paper proposes a novel design based on hidden Markov models (HMM). Architecture is developed where each participant has an HMM model. Results are promising in that they show three out of four users identified correctly from their respective models based on the match score (MS) values.
Irinotecan and Platinums in the Treatment of Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and in the world. In the United States, lung cancer ranks first in cancer deaths for both men and women. The 5-year survival rate is only 15%, but this has improved considerably from the 5% rate in the early 1960s. For many years, the standard therapy for patients with advanced, stage IIIB and IV non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was best supportive care, which consisted of palliative radiotherapy, pain management, and other symptom management. The median survival for these patients was only 4 months, and more than 85% died in the first year after diagnosis. Cisplatin was the first drug that was shown to prolong the survival of patients with advanced lung cancer. Metaanalyses of randomized trials showed that cisplatin reduced the hazard rate of death by 26%, increased median survival from 4 to 6 months, and increased 1-year survival from 15% to 25%. Cisplatin-based therapy also relieved symptoms in the majority of patients and improved the quality of life as assessed by patients themselves. Still, further advances are desperately needed, as three fourths of the cisplatin-treated patients die within a year of diagnosis. Topoisomerase I inhibitors are a new class of chemotherapeutic agents introduced into lung cancer therapy during the 1990s. Irinotecan (CPT-11) was shown to be active in patients with both small-cell and non–small-cell lung cancers. The activity of irinotecan in advanced NSCLC made it logical to combine irinotecan with the two platinums, cisplatin and carboplatin. The combination of irinotecan with cisplatin produced response rates of about 40% in phase II trials conducted in previously untreated patients with advanced NSCLC. The median survival in these studies ranged from 6-8 months, and the 1-year survival rates ranged from 40%–60%. Because carboplatin is more convenient and better tolerated than cisplatin, a number of more recent phase II trials have evaluated the combination of irinotecan and carboplatin in patients with advanced NSCLC. These trials produced results similar to those achieved with irinotecan/cisplatin and with other two-drug combinations such as paclitaxel/carboplatin and gemcitabine/cisplatin. The excellent activity of the two-drug combination or irinotecan and a platinum led to trials of three-drug combinations, such as irinotecan/carboplatin/paclitaxel. Preliminary results from these studies showed excellent survival, although the toxicity required some dosage reductions. Randomized trials will be necessary to determine whether such three-drug combinations will be preferred over standard two-drug combinations.
Grammar, Writing, and Technology: A Sample Technology-supported Approach to Teaching Grammar and Improving Writing for ESL Learners

English language learners are frequently unable to benefit from the prevailing process-writing approaches due to a lack of grammar and vocabulary knowledge relevant to academic writing. This paper describes how the need for explicit grammar instruction as part of preparing students to write can be addressed by using a collection of learner texts and transforming that collection into an online grammar resource for intermediate nonnative speakers (NNS) of English. Drawing on research in grammar and writing, the use of learner texts, and online interactivity, we outline the development and the prototype of the Internet Writing Resource for the Innovative Teaching of English (iWRITE). We discuss how the judicious use of advanced technology (e.g., XML) facilitated the implementation of iWRITE, an example of one possible approach to embodying aspects of second language acquisition (SLA) theory while taking advantage of the Web's potential for interactivity.
Training Volunteers to Run Information Technologies: A Case Study of Effectiveness at Community Food Pantries

Nonprofits are incorporating information technologies (ITs) into direct client services. Organizations may hesitate, however, to assign volunteers to operate these systems, for a variety of reasons...
Performance of a transparent Flexible Shear Beam container for geotechnical centrifuge modeling of dynamic problems

Abstract A transparent Flexible Shear Beam (FSB) container was designed and constructed to simulate the dynamic response of a stratum of soil under horizontal, one-dimensional (1-D) earthquake shaking in a geotechnical centrifuge. A stack of four rectangular, acrylic frames separated by layers of flexible, high-strength rubber was used to form the transparent container. The fundamental natural frequency of the container was estimated to be similar to a layer of sand in its softened or liquefied state. The suitability of the container in simulating 1-D site response with minimal boundary effects was evaluated by monitoring the uniformity of the induced accelerations and settlements across the soil specimen. Further, the measured lateral displacements were compared with equivalent-linear site response analyses. The new FSB container was found to provide satisfactory boundary conditions for studying complex Soil–Structure-Interaction problems, while simultaneously enabling researchers to visualize deformations of the soil and buried structures during shaking.
No association between perfluoroalkyl chemicals and hypertension in children

Background Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease worldwide. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) are perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) used in the manufacture of common consumer products and detected in the blood of the majority of Americans. Emerging biological data suggest that PFC exposure may have a role in the development of hypertension. However, the association between PFCs and hypertension has not yet been explored in humans. Therefore, we examined this association in a representative sample of US children. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed on 1,655 children from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2000 and 2003-2008. The main outcome of interest was hypertension, defined as age, height, and sex specific systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure level at the 95th percentile. Results We found no association between serum levels of PFOA and PFOS and hypertension in either unadjusted or multivariable-adjusted analyses controlling for age, sex, race-ethnicity, body mass index, annual household income, moderate activity, total serum cholesterol, and serum cotinine. Compared with the lowest quartile, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of hypertension in the highest quartile of exposure was 0.69 (0.41-1.17) for PFOA and 0.77 (0.37-1.61) for PFOS (all P-trend values >0.30). Conclusion Our findings indicate that exposure to PFOA or PFOS is not significantly associated with hypertension in children at the lower PFC exposure levels typical of the general population.
A Weak Hamiltonian Finite Element Method for Optimal Guidance of an Advanced Launch Vehicle

A temporal finite element based on a mixed form of the Hamiltonian weak principle is presented for optimal control problems. The mixed form of this principle contains both states and costates as primary variables that are expanded in terms of nodal values and simple shape functions. Unlike other variational approaches to optimal control problems, however, time derivatives of the states and costates do not appear in the governing variational equation. Instead, the only quantities whose time derivatives appear therein are virtual states and virtual costates. Numerical results are presented herein for an elementary trajectory optimization problem which show very good agreement with the exact solution along with excellent computational efficiency and self-starting capability. The goal of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of this approach for real-time guidance applications. A simplified model for an advanced launch vehicle application is presented which is suitable for finite element solution. Numerical results for this model will be presented in a later paper.
The jump-risk premia implicit in options: evidence from an integrated time-series study $

This paper examines the joint time series of the S&P 500 index and near-the-money shortdated option prices with an arbitrage-free model, capturing both stochastic volatility and jumps. Jump-risk premia uncovered from the joint data respond quickly to market volatility, becoming more prominent during volatile markets. This form of jump-risk premia is important not only in reconciling the dynamics implied by the joint data, but also in explaining the volatility ‘‘smirks’’ of cross-sectional options data. r 2002 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. JEL classification: G12
Biomechanical effects of supraspinatus repair on the glenohumeral joint.

We repaired full-thickness rotator cuff tears in human cadaveric shoulder specimens. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a repaired supraspinatus will result in a change in joint forces, contact pressures and area, and position of the humerus relative to the glenoid compared with the pathologic and simulated complete-tear specimens. Force couples exist in the coronal plane between the deltoid and the inferior portion of the rotator cuff and in the transverse plane between the anterior cuff (subscapularis) and posterior cuff (infraspinatus and teres minor). This has served as a model for shoulder and rotator cuff research. Our model differs from previous studies in that the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi/teres major were included because they are important contributors to shoulder function. Muscle force simulation was performed through a clamp, cable, and pneumatic system for the tendons of the rotator cuff, pectoralis major, and teres major/latissimus dorsi. Each specimen was tested in its native state of a full-thickness supraspinatus tear in 10° and 60° of abduction with neutral humeral rotation. In each position there were 2 loading conditions: (1) all muscles loaded with 60 N and (2) deltoid loaded with 90 N and 60 N for all others (3:2 ratio between the deltoid and supraspinatus). Pathologic tear, repaired, and simulated complete-tear conditions were subjected to the same testing sequence. After repair, there was an increase in percent inferior force in the 10° abduction, 60-N loaded condition (P = .02). The increase in percent inferior force may represent greater concavity-compression and spacer effect, which are both important functions of the supraspinatus. Contact pressure decreased in both the pathologic and simulated complete-tear conditions at 10° abduction with 90-N deltoid loading (P = .01). A corresponding increase in area was observed at this position for the pathologic tear condition only (P = .01). This could represent greater concavity-compression, indicating that strengthening may provide a biomechanical benefit.
Natriuretic Peptide Testing in Heart Failure

Case presentation 1: A 78-year-old woman with a history of morbid obesity, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic kidney disease (serum creatinine 2.0 mg/dL) presented to the emergency department with worsening dyspnea. Her ECG shows no acute ischemic changes; her chest radiograph reveals chronic emphysematous changes with mild bilateral infiltrates. Her lung examination is notable for diffuse wheezing, and she has chronic lower extremity edema. Her amino-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide ( NT-proBNP) level is 5500 pg/mL (upper limit of normal is 75 years). Does this patient have acutely decompensated heart failure (ADHF)? Many patients presenting with acute dyspnea (including those with ADHF) have multiple coexisting medical disorders that may complicate their diagnosis and management. Diagnostic uncertainty in the setting of acute dyspnea is associated with longer hospital length of stay, more diffuse diagnostic and therapeutic efforts, increased healthcare costs, and higher likelihood for repeat heart failure (HF) hospitalization or death.1 The addition of testing for brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or NT-proBNP to standard clinical assessment has been shown to be valuable for an accurate and efficient diagnosis and prognostication of HF, and the use of BNP or NT-proBNP may be associated with improved clinical outcomes.2,–,4 Circulating levels of BNP/ NT-proBNP are normally very low in healthy individuals. In response to increased myocardial wall stress due to volume- or pressure-overload states (such as in HF), the BNP gene is activated in cardiomyocytes. This results in the production of an intracellular precursor propeptide (proBNP108); further processing of this propeptide results in release of the biologically inert amino-terminal fragment ( NT-proBNP) and the biologically active BNP (Figure 1). In addition, a significant portion of BNP or NT-proBNP detected by current assays includes uncleaved proBNP108, whereas BNP concentrations …
Transcriptional Pausing in the Bacillus subtilis pyr Operon In Vitro: a Role in Transcriptional Attenuation?

The genes encoding the enzymes of pyrimidine nucleotide biosynthesis (pyr genes) are regulated in Bacillus subtilis and many other bacterial species by transcriptional attenuation. When UMP or UTP is bound to the PyrR regulatory protein, it binds to pyr mRNA at specific sequences and secondary structures in the RNA. Binding to this site prevents formation of an antiterminator stem-loop in the RNA and permits formation of a downstream terminator, leading to reduced expression of the pyr genes lying downstream from the terminator. The functioning of several other transcriptional attenuation systems has been shown to involve transcriptional pausing; this observation stimulated us to use single-round transcription of pyr genes to test for formation of paused transcripts in vitro. Using templates with each of the three known B. subtilis pyr attenuation sites, we identified one major pause site in each in which the half-life of the paused transcript was increased four- to sixfold by NusA. In each case pausing at the NusA-stimulated site prevented formation of a complete antiterminator stem-loop, while it resulted in increased time for a PyrR binding loop to form and for PyrR to bind to this loop. Thus, the pausing detected in vitro is potentially capable of playing a role in establishing the correct timing for pyr attenuation in vivo. With two of three pyr templates the combination of NusA with PyrR markedly stimulated termination of transcription at the normal termination sites. This suggests that NusA, by stabilizing pausing, plays a role in termination of pyr transcription in vivo.
Manufacturing of laser diode modules: Integration and automation of laser diode-fiber alignment and RIN characterization

Laser diode-fiber alignment and relative intensity noise (RIN) characterization are two crucial steps to the manufacturing of fiber pigtailed laser diode modules. Integrating both steps into a single automatic process can increase yield, improve the throughput and reduce manufacturing cost. This work presents a novel scheme of the integrated laser-diode-to-fiber alignment and RIN testing automation for the manufacturing of Fabry-Perot (FP) laser diode module hosted in a low cost isolator-free coaxial-type package. It is demonstrated that the value of RIN is not only determined by the intrinsic spontaneous emission of the laser diode, but also strongly dependent on the fiber-laser alignment and pigtailing process. It is experimentally determined, for the first time, that regardless of the type of lensed fiber employed for fiber-laser coupling, and with or without the presence of angular misalignment, there is an optimal fiber-laser alignment location at which the RIN value reaches its minimum. Moreover, it is observed that both RIN minimization and laser power coupling maximization occur at the same fiber-laser alignment position.
An Ethics Whirlwind: A Perspective of the Digital Lifestyle of Digital Natives and Initial Thoughts on Ethics Education in Technology.

As digital natives continue rolling onto college campuses around the country, the questions surrounding digital ethics grow. Students do not know life without modern technology, computers, mobile devices, the Internet and their lifestyle has developed around this mass. Unlike their predecessors, they do not recognize a difference between the digital space and the real world. They are one-in-the-same. Yet, the connection between digital actions and real-life consequences is often unrecognized. This is mainly due to the fundamental lack of proper moral code education and application. This paper is a presentation of data collected on students’ digital behavior and initial thoughts on the issues surrounding digital ethics education.
Modulation of low density lipoprotein receptor activity by bile acids: differential effects of chenodeoxycholic and ursodeoxycholic acids in the hamster'

Hamsters were fed chenodeoxycholic acid (CDC), ursodeoxycholic acid, (UDC), or no bile acid. [14C]Sucrose-labeled hamster low density lipoprotein (LDL) and methylated human LDL were infused intravenously to study LDL receptor-dependent and LDL receptor-independent organ uptake, respectively, of LDL. Biliary CDC increased during both CDC and UDC treatment. The UDC enrichment of bile after UDC feeding was relatively small. Bile acid synthesis was suppressed after both bile acid treatments. Under the condition of an acute bile fistula, the hamster LDL uptake increased in the liver, heart, and adrenals in the CDC-treated animals. During an intact enterohepatic circulation, the hepatic uptake of hamster LDL, which accounted for a major portion of the total uptake, was increased after UDC treatment. The hamster LDL uptake in the colon, which represented only a small fraction of the total uptake, increased after CDC treatment. When hamster LDL was infused at increasing concentrations, its uptake was significantly higher in the UDC-treated than in the control and CDC-treated animals. The methylated human LDL uptake showed no significant changes in the different treatment groups under either experimental condition. The study shows significantly different effects of CDC and UDC on LDL receptor activity. Since these differences are expressed in spite of a similar suppression of bile acid synthesis, UDC may directly influence LDL receptor activity.
Role of IGFs in Growth Hormone Homeostasis

The classic postulate by Harris of neuroendocrine control of the anterior pituitary gland predicted that factors would be identified within the hypothalamus that were transported via capillaries of the hypophyseal-portal vessels to regulate pituitary hormone secretion. Two such factors have recently been identified that regulate growth hormone secretion — growth hormone releasing factor (GRF) (1) and the inhibitory peptide, somatostatin (SRIF) (2) (Fig 1). SRIF is widely synthesized and distributed through the hypothalamus and extra-hypothalamic brain (3). Somatostatinergic neurons that originate in perikarya in the periventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus have axons that project via the retrochiasmatic region to terminate in nerve endings in the external layer of the median eminence (4). Manipulation of growth hormone and steroid hormone homeostasis influence preprosomatostatin mRNA (5,6) and SRIF content (7) primarily in this pathway and lesions along the pathway deplete the median eminence of SRIF (8). It thus appears likely that this tract represents the hypophysiotropic somatostatinergic pathway.
The effect of particle size distribution on the design of urban stormwater control measures

An urban pollutant loading model was used to demonstrate how incorrect assumptions on the particle size distribution (PSD) in urban runoff can alter the design characteristics of stormwater control measures (SCMs) used to remove solids in stormwater. Field-measured PSD, although highly variable, is generally coarser than the widely-accepted PSD characterized by the Nationwide Urban Runoff Program (NURP). PSDs can be predicted based on environmental surrogate data. There were no appreciable differences in predicted PSD when grouped by season. Model simulations of a wet detention pond and catch basin showed a much smaller surface area is needed to achieve the same level of solids removal using the median value of field-measured PSD as compared to NURP PSD. Therefore, SCMs that used the NURP PSD in the design process could be unnecessarily oversized. The median of measured PSDs, although more site-specific than NURP PSDs, could still misrepresent the efficiency of an SCM because it may not adequately capture the variability of individual runoff events. Future pollutant loading models may account for this variability through regression with environmental surrogates, but until then, without proper site characterization, the adoption of a single PSD to represent all runoff conditions may result in SCMs that are under- or over-sized, rendering them ineffective or unnecessarily costly.
Robust Linear Depolarization Ratio Estimation for Dual-Polarization Weather Radar

Linear depolarization ratio (LDR) is often difficult to measure in low and moderate signal-to-noise ratio conditions because the cross-polar echo power is typically two to three orders of magnitude weaker than the copolar echo power. For radars operating at attenuating frequencies such as X-, Ku-, and Ka-bands, differential attenuation must be accounted for to accurately estimate the LDR. A method for robust estimation of the LDR is introduced and evaluated that addresses both of these issues. In practice, the “enhanced” LDR offers robust LDR estimation over current estimation methods. The enhanced LDR is insensitive to noise, radar calibration error, and path-integrated attenuation. The proposed estimator is experimentally validated using Ku-band observations from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration dual-frequency dual-polarization Doppler radar (D3R).
Spectroscopic analyses of Gram-negative bacterial iron transport reactions

G bacteria, including both commensal and pathogenic species, acquire iron with TonB-dependent uptake systems. Using fluorescence spectroscopic analyses of the Escherichia coli outer membrane (OM) protein FepA and its cell envelope partner TonB, it was described dynamic actions of both proteins during the uptake of ferric enterobactin (FeEnt). When FeEnt interacts with fluoresceinated FepA, the quenching of light emissions reflects its binding and transport process as a series of conformational motions in the receptor protein. This simple experimental system involves genetically engineering Cys sulfhydryls in any of 7 surface loops of FepA and fluorophore maleimides reacting with them. Spectroscopic or microscopic fluorescence intensity changes, ultimately mirrored cellular uptake that depleted FeEnt from solution. The TonB-ExbBD inner membrane complex transfers energy to OM iron transporters like FepA. (GFP)-TonB hybrid proteins were used to investigate its activity. Fluorescence microscopic characterization of the (GFP)-TonB hybrids revealed an unexpected, restricted localization of TonB in the central region of the cell envelope. Fluorescence polarization measurements demonstrated energy-dependent motion of TonB in living cells, which likely was rotation. The findings show that TonB undergoes energized motion in the bacterial cell envelope and that ExbBD couples this activity to the electrochemical gradient. The results portray TonB as an energized entity in a regular array underlying the OM bilayer, which promotes metal uptake through OM transporters by a rotational mechanism.
Transduodenal resection of a choledochocele (type III choledochal cyst) with sphincteroplasty: A case report

Choledochal cysts are rare congenital anomalies of the biliary tree which may progress to obstruction or malignancy. Of the five Todani variants, choledochocele, or type III choledochal cyst is the rarest. In this case report, we describe a previously healthy 10-year old female who presented with a choledochocele and was treated by near-total excision with transposition of the common channel, resulting in an extended sphincteroplasty.
Meal interference with antibiotics administered orally in hospitals

A study of 132 hospitals in New York City was conducted to determine: (1) The usual drug administration and meal serving time schedules used; (2) if oral antibiotics recommended to be given on an empty stomach are actually administered with or near meals; and (3) who is responsible for establishing drug administration time schedules. A structured-disguised questionnaire was used and administered via telephone. Results revealed a wide variation of drug administration time schedules and meal serving times. Meal interference with oral antibiotic absorption was defined as a meal that is served less than one hour before or two hours after an oral antibiotic is scheduled to be administered. The incidence of meal interference ranged from 35 percent to 64 percent. The pharmacy and therapeutics committee, more often than any other group or individual (19.2 percent), was responsible for establishing drug administration times. A formal dosage schedule for orally administered antibiotics is recommended as an effort to reduce the incidence of meal interference with antibiotic absorption. Such a schedule developed at one hospital is presented.