cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abnormal LH pulsatility in women with hyperprolactinaemic amenorrhoea normalizes after bromocriptine treatment: deconvolution-based assessment.

OBJECTIVE The present study examines the LH secretory process in hyperprolactinaemic women before, during and after bromocriptine therapy, using restrictive clinical selection criteria as well as improved methodological tools. PATIENTS AND DESIGN Six women (aged 20–40 years) with microprolactinomas (mean ± SE prolactin, PRL: 2478 ± 427 mU/l, range: 1370–3800 mU/l) and four age- and sex-matched healthy controls were admitted to the study. After an overnight fast, all patients and controls had blood samples withdrawn at 10 minute intervals for 6 h (during saline infusion) from 0800 h to 1400 h to determine serum LH and PRL concentrations. After baseline evaluation, patients were treated with bromocriptine, which was started at a daily dose of 1.25 mg for 7 days; the dose was then increased to 2.5 mg daily for the next 7 days and subsequently to 2.5 mg twice daily. PRL levels were evaluated at weekly intervals after the beginning of bromocriptine therapy for the duration of the study. The 6 h pulsatility study was repeated on four patients during treatment at a time when PRL levels were decreased, although not normalized (PRL range: 450–1350 mU/l) and, on four patients, with the attainment of normal serum PRL levels (PRL < 450 mU/l) in the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (days 2–5). The LH instantaneous secretion rate was reconstructed by a nonparametric deconvolution method. In addition to pulse analysis made using the program DETECT, the evaluation of the secretion rate yielded the pulse frequency as well as the pulse amplitude distribution. RESULTS Each time series was submitted to deconvolution analysis using a nonparametric method in order to estimate the instantaneous secretion rate (ISR). Hyperprolactinaemic patients had very few high-amplitude LH pulses above 0.2 IU/(l minutes) before treatment (average frequency: 0.83 ± 0.40 pulses/6 h) and at the intermediate evaluation (0.25 ± 0.25 pulses/6 h). In both cases, the pulse frequency was significantly lower than in controls (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively). When PRL was normalized, the number of high-amplitude LH pulses (4.25 ± 1.03 pulses/6 h), became statistically different from the pulse number before (P < 0.01) and during (P < 0.01) therapy; in particular the pulse frequency after therapy rose to a level not statistically different from that in controls. CONCLUSION The present study shows the presence of reduced LH pulsatility in hyperprolactinaemic women that recovers completely to within the physiological distribution when PRL levels are normalized by bromocriptine therapy.
Improved Oxidation Resistance of Zirconium Diboride by Tungsten Carbide Additions

The effect of tungsten carbide (WC) additions on the oxidation resistance of zirconium diboride (ZrB2) was studied. Zirconium diboride ceramics, nominally pure and with the addition of 4 mol% WC, were densified by pressureless sintering. During densification, the WC that was added to the ceramic dissolved into the ZrB2 matrix, forming a solid solution. Oxidation behavior was evaluated using thermal gravimetric analysis up to 1500°C and isothermal furnace oxidation at 1500° and 1600°C. The WC additions reduced both the weight gain and the oxide scale thickness. After oxidation at 1600°C for 3 h, the mass gain decreased from 22 mg/cm2 for nominally pure ZrB2 to 8 mg/cm2 for the WC-containing ceramic. Analysis showed that the WC additions improved the oxidation resistance of ZrB2 by promoting densification of the zirconia scale formed during oxidation through liquid-phase sintering.
Urate/α-ketoglutarate exchange in avian basolateral membrane vesicles

Membrane transport pathways for transcellular secretion of urate across the proximal tubule were investigated in avian kidney. The presence of coupled urate/α-ketoglutarate exchange was investigate...
Cushing's reflex in a rare case of adult medulloblastoma.

Background Medulloblastoma is a primitive neuro-ectodermal tumor. It is common in childhood, but rarely seen at adult age, comprising only 1% of primary brain tumors. Methods We treated a 31-year-old man presented to the emergency department (ED) with a chief complaint of nausea and vomiting for one week duration. Immediate frozen section revealed a grade IV medulloblastoma. During the hospital course, the patient was given craniospinal irradiation with chemotherapy. Results The patient was eventually discharged from the hospital to an assisted living facility after an uneventful 15-day course with the aid of social work. Conclusions Despite intracranial tumors generally being slow growing masses, this patient demonstrates how quickly one can decompensate, and how important it is to recognize these clinical signs and symptoms of an intracranial lesion. Although these symptoms (i.e. Cushing response) are extremely rare, the ED physician should be aware and appreciate their clinical significance.
Non-linear dynamics of gravity wave driven flows in the solar radiative interior

We present results of nonlinear numerical simulations of gravity wave driven shear ow oscillations in the equatorial plane of the solar radiative interior. These results show that many of the assumptions of quasi-linear theory are not valid. When only two waves are forced (prograde and retrograde) oscillatory mean ow is maintained; but critical layers often form and are dynamically important. When a spectrum of waves is forced, the non-linear wave-wave interactions are dynamically important, often acting to decrease the maintenance of a mean ow. The (in)coherence of such wave-wave interactions must be taken into account when describing wave driven mean ows.
Distortion Analysis for Real-Time Data Gathering of Spatially-Temporally Correlated Fields in Sensor Networks

This paper presents a framework for analyzing spatio- temporal distortion associated with data gathering algorithms in sensor networks,. We assume that the underlying data field being sensed is spatially and -temporally correlated and the sink performs real-time reconstruction of the field. Unlike existing work, our analysis framework incorporates realistic network/routing parameters, such as congestion and limited transmission range. Our numerical simulations show that even for a simple collision-free transmission scheme and regular grid deployment, the distortion analyses yield starkly different results when network parameters are considered. The analytical method presented in this paper can be easily extended to consider multidimensional deployments, different transmission schemes, nodes distributions, and reconstruction methods.
Three-Dimensional Micro-Computed Tomographic Imaging of Alveolar Bone in Experimental Bone Loss or Repair

Background: Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) offers significant potential for identifying mineralized structures. However, three-dimensional (3-D) micro-CT of alveolar bone has not been adapted readily for quantification. Moreover, conventional methods are not highly sensitive for analyzing bone loss or bone gain following periodontal disease or reconstructive therapy. The objective of this investigation was to develop a micro-CT methodology for quantifying tooth-supporting alveolar bone in 3-D following experimental preclinical situations of periodontitis or reconstructive therapy.Methods: Experimental in vivo bone loss or regeneration situations were developed to validate the micro-CT imaging techniques. Twenty mature Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: bone loss (Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide-mediated bone resorption) and regenerative therapy. Micro-CT and software digitized specimens were reconstructed three-dimensionally for linear and volumetric parameter assessment o...
The effect of shock intensity upon responding under a multiple-avoidance schedule.

The effect of two shock intensities (1.00 and 2.00 mA) were studied in the acquisition, maintenance, and extinction of unsignalled avoidance by albino rats. Single and multiple avoidance schedules were employed, with shock intensity being the principal condition that differed between schedule components. The higher shock intensity was generally more effective in producing avoidance. Higher response rates and lower shock rates were observed under high-intensity shock when performance stabilized. When the multiple schedule was introduced, the six rats trained under a single shock intensity all showed poorer performance under the new shock intensity, whether it was higher or lower than the training intensity. Performance under the original shock intensity did not change substantially with the introduction of a different shock intensity in the other multiple schedule component. Performance under the new shock intensity showed gradual improvement with continued exposure to it. All of the rats showed persistent “warm-up”, receiving approximately 40% of the total session shocks in the first one-sixth of the session. The degree of warm-up was unrelated to avoidance shock intensity.
Competition between Sea Salt and Sulfate Particles as Cloud Condensation Nuclei

Abstract The influence of sea salt on the cloud droplet activation of sulfate particles is investigated using a size-resolving model of the aerosol activation process. The authors found that the total number concentration of activated cloud droplets increases with increasing sea salt concentration if the sulfate number concentrations are relatively low and updrafts are strong, but it decreases with higher sea salt if sulfate number concentrations are high and cloud updrafts are weak. The increase is due to the activation of accumulation mode sea salt particles, while the decrease is due to the reduction in maximum cloud supersaturation due to competition with coarse mode sea salt particles. These conclusions are insensitive to the sulfate size distribution and surface wind speed.
Design of distributed controllers realizable over arbitrary directed networks

We consider the problem of designing stabilizing distributed output-feedback controllers that achieve H 2 and H ∞ performance objectives for a group of sub-systems dynamically interconnected via an arbitrary directed communication network. For a particular class of discrete-time linear time-invariant interconnected systems that are characterized by a structural property of their state-space matrices, we design stabilizing distributed controllers which can use the available network along with the sub-systems of the interconnected system. This is achieved by means of a parameterization for the output-feedback linear controllers that linearizes the closed-loop H 2 and H ∞ norm conditions and provide equivalent linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Using these LMIs, we formulate the minimization of H 2 and H ∞ norms as semi-definite programs (SDPs) that can be efficiently solved using well-established techniques and tools. The solutions of these SDPs allow us to synthesize the corresponding controllers that are realizable over the given network. Even though we provide only sufficiency conditions for the design of stabilizing distributed controllers, simulations show that the synthesized controllers we obtain provide good performance in spite of being suboptimal compared to the centralized controller. In essence, we gain the advantage of designing realizable distributed controllers at the expense of slight performance degradation compared to the centralized solutions.
Pin-retained composite resin cores for posterior teeth

Abstract Two techniques for the fabrication of pin-retained composite resin cores for posterior teeth have been described. The advantage of using a composite resin in place of amalgam as a core material is that the restoration can be completed in a single appointment rather than the two appointments required when amalgam is used. A disadvantage of the use of the composite resins as core material is the difficulty in identifying the demarcation line between the resin and tooth structure. This lack of definition presents the possibility of placing the finish line of the final preparation on the resin rather than on sound tooth structure. Application of a Dycal demarcation bead or use of the ultraviolet light-activated resin offers a solution to this problem.
Eigenvalues for a Two-Lag Linear Delay Differential Equation∗

Abstract We consider two-lag linear delay differential equations and propose a series expansion to solve for the roots of the nonlinear characteristic equation.
Recent developments in the epidemiology of lung cancer

Lung cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer death in the United States and also the most common tumor worldwide. Changes in the distribution of histologic types over the past two decades in the United States, as well as high rates of lung cancer in certain subpopulations, require explanation. While cigarette smoking and specific occupational exposures are firmly established as important risk factors for lung cancer, recent work provides evidence that other factors may play a role either as independent risk factors or as modifiers of the effect of smoking. This paper reviews the epidemiology of lung cancer, with an emphasis on developments in the past decade.
Characteristics of subzero startup and water/ice formation on the catalyst layer in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Abstract This work experimentally explores the fundamental characteristics of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) during subzero startup, which encompasses gas purge, cool down, startup from a subfreezing temperature, and finally warm up. In addition to the temperature, high-frequency resistance (HFR) and voltage measurements, direct observations of water or ice formation on the catalyst layer (CL) surface have been carried out for the key steps of cold start using carbon paper punched with microholes and a transparent cell fixture. It is found that purge time significantly influences water content of the membrane after purge and subsequently cold-start performance. Gas purge for less than 30 s appears to be insufficient, and that between 90 and 120 s is most useful. After gas purge, however, the cell HFR relaxation occurs for longer than 30 min due to water redistribution in the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA). Cold-start performance following gas purge and cool down strongly depends on the purge time and startup temperature. The cumulative product water measuring the isothermal cold-start performance increases dramatically with the startup temperature. The state of water on the CL surface has been studied during startup from ambient temperatures ranging from −20 to −1 °C. It is found that the freezing-point depression of water in the cathode CL is 1.0 ± 0.5 °C and its effect on PEFC cold start under automotive conditions is negligible.
Integration Matters: Rethinking the Architecture of International Dispute Resolution

International law promotes global peace and security by providing mechanisms for the pacific settlement of international disputes. This Article examines these mechanisms and their place in the architecture of the international dispute resolution (“IDR”) system. The Article identifies three core deficiencies of the IDR system that limit its effectiveness and capacity. First, the international legal system has prioritized the development of adjudication over other forms of dispute resolution; the judicialization of international disputes and the proliferation of courts and tribunals evidence this However, adjudication is limited in its capacity to resolve disputes that involve non-state parties and extra-legal issues. This is concerning because empirical studies show that international conflict is increasingly intra-state, and involves non-state actors and extra-legal issues. Second, states prefer mediation to adjudication as a method for resolving disputes that occur in the context of inter-state conflict. Yet the role and value of mediation have been underappreciated, and it lacks institutional support under international law. Third, the current architecture of the IDR system promotes single method approaches, which can foster fragmented IDR approaches that separate legal issues from extra-legal ones, despite their interconnected nature. It also fails to structurally incorporate emerging, hybrid IDR approaches that enhance IDR capacity. In response to these limitations, this Article argues that there is a need to restructure the IDR system to create a framework for understanding how to systematically integrate IDR methods across forums. The Article concludes by considering several challenges that this approach presents to the state-centric foundations of the international legal system.
Hydrodynamics investigation of laboratory-scale Internal Gas-lift loop anaerobic digester using non-invasive CAPRT technique

Abstract Internal gas-lift loop reactor (IGLR) was used as an anaerobic digester and its hydrodynamics were studied using Computer Automated Radioactive Particle Tracking (CARPT) Technique. This paper deals with the experimental study on a laboratory-scale digester. An anaerobic digester is a three-phase system consisting of gas, liquid, and solids; however solid–liquid slurry was treated as a single phase due to smaller size and lower density of solids. The effect of various geometric and operating variables on the hydrodynamics was studied. The superficial gas velocity was maintained at very low values and IGLR was operated in bubbly flow regime, which is suitable for operation of anaerobic digesters. The flow pattern and liquid velocity profile was obtained and effect of gas superficial velocity, draft tube diameter, type of sparger on liquid velocity and dead volume was studied in detail. Mean circulation times were calculated and compared for different digester configurations. Results showed that the increasing gas velocity increases the liquid velocity, decreases circulation time but does not offer any significant advantages in reducing the dead volumes. The configuration with draft tube diameter to tank diameter ratio of 0.5 showed good liquid circulation throughout the digester volume and low mean circulation time implying better mixing.
The treatment of postpartum depression: Minimizing infant exposures

The first 3 postpartum months represent a high-risk period for psychiatric illnesses. This article reviews the prevalence and diagnostic criteria for postpartum illnesses, including the "maternal blues," postpartum depression, and postpartum psychosis. Pharmacologic treatment of these disorders is often complicated by a patient's desire to breast-feed, yet there are no controlled trials of antidepressant treatment during lactation. Infant exposure and limitations to monitoring infant sera are reviewed. Lastly, a model and guide for reducing fetal and infant exposures is presented.
Strategische Handelspolitik bei unvollkommenem Wettbewerb

In handelstheoretischen Arbeiten der 80er Jahre finden sich Bezeichnungen wie „new international economics“1 oder „new approach to international trade“2. Auch deutschsprachige Veroffentlichungen weisen auf „neuere Entwicklungen“3 und eine „neue Ausenhandelstheorie“4 hin. Neu ist das Bemuhen um eine explizite Berucksichtigung unvollkommenen Wettbewerbs in Ausenhandelsmodellen. Grundlegende Eigenschaften dieser aus einer Verbindung von Handelstheorie und Industrieokonomik hervorgegangenen Ansatze werden im folgenden vorgestellt, ehe sich die Aufmerksamkeit den daraus erwachsenden neuen theoretischen Aussagen zur Handelspolitik zuwendet.
The Patentability of Enantiomers: Implications for the Pharmaceutical Industry

Pharmaceutical sales constitute a $600-billion-per-year global industry. Less well-known is that more than half of the drugs listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia contain a class of compounds known as chiral molecules as the active pharmaceutical ingredient. Chiral molecules have special chemical and pharmacological properties that raise questions as to their patentability. When chiral molecules are synthesized in the laboratory, two distinct mirror-image molecules are formed called “enantiomers.” Although each enantiomer may have different levels of therapeutic activity and toxicity, technical challenges to separating the enantiomers caused most early chiral drugs to be sold as mixtures of the two molecules, or racemic mixtures. As patents on these racemic mixtures expire and separation techniques improve, drugs formerly sold as racemic mixtures are now being marketed as single-enantiomer versions. For example, Nexium® is the single-enantiomer version of Prilosec,® and Clarinex® is the single-enantiomer version of Claritin®. In fact, all five of the top-selling drugs in the world are single-enantiomer drugs, generating total revenues of $35 billion per year. Switching from a racemic mixture to an enantiomer – called a “racemic switch” in industry parlance – can potentially allow a company to extend product life by securing a patent for an additional twenty years of protection. Whether the disclosure of the racemate in the prior art renders obvious (and thus unpatentable) each individual enantiomer is therefore a timely and important question. This article provides an overview of chiral drugs in the pharmaceutical industry, reviews early case law on the patentability of enantiomers, and addresses the patentability of single-enantiomer drugs in the context of modern chemical obviousness jurisprudence.
Disruption of Adipose Rab10-Dependent Insulin Signaling Causes Hepatic Insulin Resistance

Insulin controls glucose uptake into adipose and muscle cells by regulating the amount of GLUT4 in the plasma membrane. The effect of insulin is to promote the translocation of intracellular GLUT4 to the plasma membrane. The small Rab GTPase, Rab10, is required for insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation in cultured 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Here we demonstrate that both insulin-stimulated glucose uptake and GLUT4 translocation to the plasma membrane are reduced by about half in adipocytes from adipose-specific Rab10 knockout (KO) mice. These data demonstrate that the full effect of insulin on adipose glucose uptake is the integrated effect of Rab10-dependent and Rab10-independent pathways, establishing a divergence in insulin signal transduction to the regulation of GLUT4 trafficking. In adipose-specific Rab10 KO female mice, the partial inhibition of stimulated glucose uptake in adipocytes induces insulin resistance independent of diet challenge. During euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp, there is no suppression of hepatic glucose production despite normal insulin suppression of plasma free fatty acids. The impact of incomplete disruption of stimulated adipocyte GLUT4 translocation on whole-body glucose homeostasis is driven by a near complete failure of insulin to suppress hepatic glucose production rather than a significant inhibition in muscle glucose uptake. These data underscore the physiological significance of the precise control of insulin-regulated trafficking in adipocytes.
Selection and Tenure of Bureau Chiefs in the National Administration of the United States II

The bureau chiefs are the key figures in national administration. The units that they direct are inclusive enough to lend themselves to the purposes of supervision and coordination and to bring their heads in touch with the machinery of budget-making and legislation, but sufficiently focused to preserve for them a saving contact with details and technique. The importance of their positions can hardly be exaggerated. Who are the present bureau chiefs? What has been their training? To what extent have they been recruited within the services they now direct, and to what extent from outside? What factors have influenced their selection? How long have they been in office? Judging by their experience as well as by the frequency with which their predecessors have been changed, how secure seems to be their tenure? These are the questions to which this paper is addressed. Its purpose is modest; it is not expected to uncover findings not already known, at least in general terms. A systematic canvass of the bare facts, however, will help to a more precise understanding of the actual situation and perhaps facilitate discussions of our working theory of the relation of politics to administration. The time is opportune for taking stock. Within the past fifteen years each of the great parties has swept into the seats of power after a period of deprivation. In determining the scope of this inquiry, the term bureau is used somewhat broadly, to denote any major subdivision of an executive department.
LRTDP versus UCT for online probabilistic planning

UCT, the premier method for solving games such as Go, is also becoming the dominant algorithm for probabilistic planning. Out of the five solvers at the International Probabilistic Planning Competition (IPPC) 2011, four were based on the UCT algorithm. However, while a UCT-based planner, PROST, won the contest, an LRTDP-based system, GLUTTON, came in a close second, outperforming other systems derived from UCT. These results raise a question: what are the strengths and weaknesses of LRTDP and UCT in practice? This paper starts answering this question by contrasting the two approaches in the context of finite-horizon MDPs. We demonstrate that in such scenarios, UCT's lack of a sound termination condition is a serious practical disadvantage. In order to handle an MDP with a large finite horizon under a time constraint, UCT forces an expert to guess a nonmyopic lookahead value for which it should be able to converge on the encountered states. Mistakes in setting this parameter can greatly hurt UCT's performance. In contrast, LRTDP's convergence criterion allows for an iterative deepening strategy. Using this strategy, LRTDP automatically finds the largest lookahead value feasible under the given time constraint. As a result, LRTDP has better performance and stronger theoretical properties. We present an online version of GLUTTON, named GOURMAND, that illustrates this analysis and outperforms PROST on the set of IPPC-2011 problems.
Deviance within a Disabled Community Peddling among the Deaf

There is little agreement about why behavior is considered deviant and/or illegal. This paper is a qualitative case study of deviance within a community of disabled people. Through in-depth intervi...
The Mane Course

The small but growing world of exotic meat allows adventurous appetites a taste of the wild. But as Reporter Ike Sriskandarajah found out, game meat is vastly unregulated and sometimes illegal. He follows the trail of lion meat sold at his corner grocer to a shady corner of the meat industry. Along the way he meets with store owners, online exotic meat retailers, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Few can say where the lions come from, but all signs point to a big cat-skinning operation in a Chicago suburb. The butcher associated with it has been in the game for years and was arrested for passing off meat from endangered tigers, leopards, and ligers as legal lion meat. Tests conducted by the FDA show that he is back to his old tricks, selling mislabeled game meat. This investigation shows that we can eat almost anything—but the story behind where our meat comes from can make it hard to swallow.
National library week activities for academic libraries

A partir d'une opportunite telle que «l'annee du lecteur», la bibliotheque universitaire du Western Kentucky a organise sa propre promotion sur le campus par une serie de manifestations
Motorola—C–5e Network Processor

The C-5e network processor (NP), is the second generation of Motorola's C-Port family of network processors. It is a highly integrated, flexible, and functionally rich processor for developing and deploying advanced services for next generation networks. With 5 Gbps of line bandwidth and more than 4500 MIPs of computing power, the C-5e architecture targets at the demanding communications requirements of next-generation network systems. The C-5e NP includes several on-chip subsystems namely programmable VLIW engines that can support a variety of layer-2 interfaces, a bank of RISC engines for services processing, a high performance classifier or table lookup engine, a traffic manager, a fabric interface, a host CPU manager, and a payload buffer manager. It is noted that the C-5e architecture flexibly supports external devices in order to provide extensions in processing and bandwidth as required. The C-5e NP can also be connected to PCI-enabled external host processors for running the control plane software.
Contrasting coordination behavior of Group 12 perchlorate salts with an acyclic N3O2 donor ligand by X-ray crystallography and 1H NMR

An unbranched N3O2 ligand 2,6-bis[((2-pyridinylmethyl)oxy)methyl]pyridine (L1) was used to prepare new mononuclear heteroleptic Group 12 perchlorate complexes characterized by IR, (1)H NMR and X-ray crystallography. Racemic complexes with pentadentate L1 and one to four oxygens from either water or perchlorate bound to a metal ion were structurally characterized. Octahedral [Zn(L1)(OH2)](ClO4)2 (1) and pentagonal bipyramidal [Cd(L1)(OH2)(OClO3)]ClO4 (2) structures were found with lighter congeners. The polymorphic forms of [Hg(L1)(ClO4)2] characterized (3 in P1[combining macron] and 4 in P21/c) had a mix of monodentate, anisobidentate and bidentate perchlorates, providing the first examples of a tricapped trigonal prismatic Hg(ii) coordination geometry, as well as additional examples of a rare square antiprismatic Hg(ii) coordination geometry. Solution state (1)H NMR characterization of the Group 12 complexes in CD3CN indicated intramolecular reorganization remained rapid under conditions where intermolecular M-L1 exchange was slow on the chemical shift time scale for Zn(ii) and on the J(M(1)H) time scale for Cd(ii) and Hg(ii). Solution studies with more than one equivalent of ligand also suggested that a complex with a 1 : 2 ratio of M : L1 contributed significantly to solution equilibria with Hg(ii) but not the other metal ions. The behavior of related linear pentadentate ligands with Group 12 perchlorate salts is discussed.
Racial Inequality in Education in Brazil: A Twins Fixed-Effects Approach

Racial disparities in education in Brazil (and elsewhere) are well documented. Because this research typically examines educational variation between individuals in different families, however, it cannot disentangle whether racial differences in education are due to racial discrimination or to structural differences in unobserved neighborhood and family characteristics. To address this common data limitation, we use an innovative within-family twin approach that takes advantage of the large sample of Brazilian adolescent twins classified as different races in the 1982 and 1987-2009 Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios. We first examine the contexts within which adolescent twins in the same family are labeled as different races to determine the characteristics of families crossing racial boundaries. Then, as a way to hold constant shared unobserved and observed neighborhood and family characteristics, we use twins fixed-effects models to assess whether racial disparities in education exist between twins and whether such disparities vary by gender. We find that even under this stringent test of racial inequality, the nonwhite educational disadvantage persists and is especially pronounced for nonwhite adolescent boys.
Toward an Understanding of a Global China: A Latin American Perspective

This chapter proposes an initial reading of the logic of China’s evolving narrative as a global power. The piece attempts to understand some of the fundamental elements that frame China’s attempts at justifying its strategy to extend its global reach. While recognizing the speculative nature of this exercise, we also acknowledge the demand to engage in a dialogue that goes beyond explanations centered on China’s thirst for natural resources, unbalanced trade patterns, and other familiar themes that, although important, are not sufficient to fully comprehend China’s ascension to global status. An additional aspect of this intellectual task is to examine China’s emerging narrative from a perspective other than that of the United States. The deepening of China’s relationship with Latin America offers an excellent opportunity to examine this theme from a new standpoint.
Common and uncommon medications utilized in nuclear medicine: Indications, adverse effects, drug interactions, and potential for error

1035 Learning Objectives We discuss the areas of concern for medication use in the nuclear medicine department. We discuss and identify the presence of adverse reactions and risk factors for medication administration. We correlate these findings with Joint Commission medication management standards and national patient safety goals. We discuss the importance of obtaining adequate patient history/records for health care and medications and show how they can potentially interact with medications administered in the nuclear medicine department. We discuss how contrast agents and radioactive nuclear materials are considered medications. We discuss administration, side effects, drug interactions and patient safety. We discuss the areas of concern for medication use in the nuclear medicine department. We discuss and identify the presence of adverse reactions and risk factors for medication administration in nuclear medicine imaging. We discuss the administration of various drugs in nuclear medicine which include: lasix, morphine, cholecystikinin, captopril, cimetidine, glucagon, phenobarbitol. We discuss why the clinical history and drugs patient may be taking can influence the decision to administer medications. We discuss the potential failure of communication by not securing adequate patient history and stress proper methods of patient identification with at least two patient identifiers. We will demonstrate several studies in nuclear medicine where medications are administered including: Hepatobiliary scans with morphine and cholecystikinin, Renal scan with lasix and captopril, cimetidine or glucagon for meckels9 diverticulum study, phenobarbitol for biliary atresia etc. We discuss the importance of obtaining adequate patient history/records for health care show how they can potentially interact with medications. We show a variety of actual imaging examinations requiring medications
A portrait of county sheriffs in the United States

A survey of county sheriffs in the United States was conducted in late Spring, 1983 (N=1526). The survey found county sheriffs to be basically a group of fairly professional law enforcement officials leavened by an influx of new amateurs. The sheriffs averaged over ten years experience in law enforcement along with an average of six years service as sheriff. Over half the sheriffs had prior service in the department they now head. In addition, they reported a wide variety of training experiences along with a number of assignments across the spectrum of law enforcement and corrections activities. Nearly twelve percent of the sheriffs report that they had relatives who had served as county sheriff before their tenure. These familial ties combined with the essentially local character of the office make county sheriffs a difficult institution to reform and individual sheriffs fairly independent of outsiders.
Study on surface quality and subsurface recrystallization of nickel-based single-crystal superalloy in micro-grinding

Nickel-based single-crystal superalloy is a typical kind of difficult-to-machine material, which has no grain boundary and has excellent high temperature mechanical properties, making it the best choice for the manufacturing of hot end components of aviation engine and gas turbine. Micro-grinding which uses tool with a diameter of less than 1 mm to remove material is the final procedure of machining micro-parts, and its machined surface quality directly affects the service life of workpiece. In this paper, micro-grinding experiments of nickel-based single-crystal superalloy with only one grain were carried out, which considered the influence of crystal anisotropy. Firstly, the reasons for the anisotropy of single-crystal material were analyzed theoretically. Secondly, the influence of different crystal planes and different crystal orientations in the same crystal plane on micro-grinding surface quality was analyzed. Then, the influence of micro-grinding parameters and micro-grinding tool-wear on micro-grinding surface quality was analyzed. Finally, a preliminary exploration and research on the generation and restraint process of the subsurface recrystallization of micro-grinding workpiece was conducted through simulating the high-temperature application environment of nickel-based single-crystal superalloy. The experimental results show that the grinding surface roughness along (100) crystal plane is higher than that along (110) crystal plane and (111) crystal plane, and the grinding surface roughness along (110) crystal plane is higher than that along (111) crystal plane. When grinding in the (001) crystal plane, the grinding surface roughness along [110], \( \left[\overline{1}10\right] \), \( \left[\overline{1}10\right] \), \( \left[1\overline{1}0\right] \) crystal orientations is the lowest, and that along [100], [010], \( \left[\overline{1}00\right] \), \( \left[0\overline{1}0\right] \) crystal orientations is the highest. The subsurface recrystallization layer thickness of the workpiece grinding along the [110], \( \left[\overline{1}10\right] \), \( \left[\overline{1}10\right] \), \( \left[1\overline{1}0\right] \) crystal orientations and under high temperature is larger, and that along the [100], [010], \( \left[\overline{1}00\right] \), \( \left[0\overline{1}0\right] \) crystal orientations is smaller. With the decreases of spindle speed (vs), and the increase of feed rate (vw), grinding depth (ap) and degree of grinding wheel wear, micro-grinding surface quality becomes worse gradually. It is appropriate when the extended length of micro-grinding tool is 18 mm. When the micro-grinding workpiece of nickel-based single-crystal superalloy was insulated at 760 °C for 4 h and the furnace cooling was used, the thickness of recrystallization layer is smaller, which is nearly 1.6 μm. The service life of single-crystal components can be improved. So this is a good guide and reference to the machining of nickel-based single-crystal superalloy micro components.
Cytological, molecular, and clinical features of noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features versus invasive forms of follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND The noninvasive follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) has an indolent clinical behavior in comparison with other PTCs, including the invasive follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (IFVPTC). Recently, the term noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP) was introduced to emphasize the low biological potential of these tumors. This study compares clinical, cytological, and molecular features of NIFTP and IFVPTC. METHODS The study consisted of 97 thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) cases with corresponding surgical pathology from the pathology archives of the Massachusetts General Hospital. The collected patient data included the following: age, sex, type of surgery, tumor size, and prior cytological diagnosis with The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology. A molecular analysis using anchored multiplex polymerase chain reaction was performed for all cases. Each case was reviewed and subclassified histologically as NIFTP or IFVPTC. Cytology slides were scored semiquantitatively for nuclear atypia. The statistical analysis was performed with the nonparametric Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS The 97-case cohort consisted of 50 NIFTP cases and 47 IFVPTC cases, including 18 encapsulated IFVPTC cases and 29 nonencapsulated IFVPTC cases. Differences in the type of surgery (P = .0399), molecular features (P = .0141), cytological classification (P = .0266), and nuclear scores (P = .0141) between NIFTP and IFVPTC were observed. There was overlap in the cytological classification of NIFTP and IFVPTC; however, NIFTP was more often classified as atypia of undetermined significance/follicular lesion of undetermined significance or follicular neoplasm/suspicious for follicular neoplasm in comparison with both subsets of IFVPTC. NIFTP was primarily associated with mutations in RAS, whereas an equal number of IFVPTC cases were associated with BRAFV600E or with RAS mutations. CONCLUSIONS Despite differences in the cytological classification and molecular profiles between NIFTP and IFVPTC, the degree of overlap makes it unlikely that most cases of NIFTP and IFVPTC can be accurately distinguished with FNAB. Cancer Cytopathol 2017;125:323–331. © 2017 American Cancer Society.
Tumor response dynamics of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer patients treated with PD-1 inhibitors: Imaging markers for treatment outcome

Purpose: We evaluated tumor burden dynamics in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with commercial PD-1 inhibitors to identify imaging markers associated with improved overall survival (OS).Experimental Design: The study included 160 patients with advanced NSCLC treated with commercial nivolumab or pembrolizumab monotherapy as a part of clinical care. Tumor burden dynamics were studied for the association with OS.Results: Tumor burden change at best overall response (BOR) ranged from -100% to +278% (median, +3.5%). Response rate (RR) was 18% (29/160). Current and former smokers had a higher RR than never smokers (P = 0.04). Durable disease control for at least 6 months was noted in 26 patients (16%), which included 10 patients with stable disease as BOR. Using a landmark analysis, patients with <20% tumor burden increase from baseline within 8 weeks of therapy had longer OS than patients with ≥20% increase (median OS, 12.4 vs. 4.6 months, P < 0.001). Patients with <20% tumor burden increase throughout therapy had significantly reduced hazards of death (HR, 0.24; Cox P < 0.0001) after adjusting for smoking (HR, 0.86; P = 0.61) and baseline tumor burden (HR, 1.55; P = 0.062), even though some patients met criteria for RECIST progression while on therapy. One patient (0.6%) had atypical response pattern consistent with pseudoprogression.Conclusions: Objective response or durable disease control was noted in 24% of patients with advanced NSCLC treated with commercial PD-1 inhibitors. A tumor burden increase of <20% from baseline during therapy was associated with longer OS, proposing a practical marker of treatment benefit. Pseudoprogression is rare in NSCLCs treated with PD-1 inhibitors. Clin Cancer Res; 23(19); 5737-44. ©2017 AACR.
Unique effects of socioeconomic and emotional parental challenges on children's executive functions

Abstract Socioeconomic disparities undermine the development of children's executive functions (EF), whereas links between parental emotional challenges and EFs have been understudied. In an ethnically-diverse sample of 102 kindergarteners ( M age = 5.61 years), linear and quadratic associations emerged between two types of parental challenges and direct assessments of children's EFs. Consistent with previous research, exposure to socioeconomic challenges was associated with lower levels of children's EFs. In contrast, the optimal levels of emotional challenge exposure differed depending on the affective nature of the EFs. Emotional challenges were linked to cool and assessor-rated EFs in a non-linear, inverted U-shaped fashion, whereas hot EFs linearly increased with exposure to emotional challenges. Corroborating the notion of a “steeling effect,” mild-to-moderate parental emotional challenges were related to better EFs in a community sample.
Inattentional Blindness While Driving

Mack and Rock’s research (1999), suggests that we perceive only those objects and events to which we directly attend. This means that the majority of unexpected visual information goes unnoticed, no matter how dramatic or important it may be. Not noticing unexpected objects in direct view because your attention is on other driving events is a potentially deadly but common phenomenon. Most drivers have experienced these brief moments of “functional blindness” and not perceived events or objects directly and obviously centered in their field of vision. This usually produces astonishment, alarm, and possible over-reaction when awareness returns. The driver may be telling the truth to the officer after the crash, “I did not see that stop sign!” Other experiments (Simons and Chabris, 1999) have shown that “InAttentional Blindness” is exhibited by a majority of viewers when an unexpected object and action take place clearly, slowly, and within inches of objects being attended to. Wickens, et al. (1998) examined how pilots in flight simulators perform using head-up displays. The research showed that when experimenters put something unexpected, but important, in pilots’ field of vision, such as an airplane on the runway, pilots often land right on top of them. This paper will describe what we believe to be the first experiment explicitly designed to test this phenomenon while driving in a simulator. Our study is unlike the normal driver distraction study in that we did not ask the driver to divert attention to an off-the-road secondary task, but to keep attention focused solely on the road and the objects on it. Subjects drove on a two-lane road in a city environment generated by a 4-channel Class II GlobalSim driving simulator. We manipulated drivers’ attention by asking them to count the number of a specific type of pedestrian randomly interspersed with other pedestrians strolling along the right side of the road. Meanwhile various expected and unexpected critical driving events—stop signs at intersections (in the line of pedestrians), random lead car braking, and barriers in the roadway—were presented. The reaction times, as sensed by brake pedal pressure, to the critical driving events were recorded and compared to a baseline condition where the drivers were asked to merely follow normal driving procedures. Compared to the baseline, the pedestrian-monitoring task increased reaction times to all types of critical driving events. Subjective observations of drivers and implications for road safety will be discussed.
Replicative stress and alterations in cell cycle checkpoint controls following acetaminophen hepatotoxicity restrict liver regeneration.

Objectives Acetaminophen hepatotoxicity is a leading cause of hepatic failure with impairments in liver regeneration producing significant mortality. Multiple intracellular events, including oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, inflammation, etc., signify acetaminophen toxicity, although how these may alter cell cycle controls has been unknown and was studied for its significance in liver regeneration. Materials and methods Assays were performed in HuH-7 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells, primary human hepatocytes and tissue samples from people with acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure. Cellular oxidative stress, DNA damage and cell proliferation events were investigated by mitochondrial membrane potential assays, flow cytometry, fluorescence staining, comet assays and spotted arrays for protein expression after acetaminophen exposures. Results In experimental groups with acetaminophen toxicity, impaired mitochondrial viability and substantial DNA damage were observed with rapid loss of cells in S and G2/M and cell cycle restrictions or even exit in the remainder. This resulted from altered expression of the DNA damage regulator, ATM and downstream transducers, which imposed G1/S checkpoint arrest, delayed entry into S and restricted G2 transit. Tissues from people with acute liver failure confirmed hepatic DNA damage and cell cycle-related lesions, including restrictions of hepatocytes in aneuploid states. Remarkably, treatment of cells with a cytoprotective cytokine reversed acetaminophen-induced restrictions to restore cycling. Conclusions Cell cycle lesions following mitochondrial and DNA damage led to failure of hepatic regeneration in acetaminophen toxicity but their reversibility offers molecular targets for treating acute liver failure.