cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Genetic variants in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor genes jointly contribute to kidney function in American Indians: the Strong Heart Family Study.

Background Cigarette smoking negatively affects kidney function. Genetic variants in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) genes have been associated with nicotine dependence, and are likely to influence renal function and related traits. Whereas each single variant may only exert a small effect, the joint contribution of multiple variants to the risk of disease could be substantial. Methods Using a gene-family approach, we investigated the joint association of 61 tagging SNPs in seven genes encoding the nAChRs with kidney function in 3620 American Indians participating in the Strong Heart Family Study, independent of known risk factors. Kidney function was evaluated by estimated glomerular filtration rate, urinary albumin/creatinine ratio, albuminuria and chronic kidney disease. The joint impact of smoking-related variants was assessed using the weighted truncated product method. Results Multiple SNPs showed marginal individual effect on renal function variability, and only a few survive multiple comparison correction. In contrast, a gene-family analysis considering the joint impact of all 61 SNPs reveals significant associations of the nAChR gene family with kidney function variables including estimated glomerular filtration rate, urinary albumin/creatinine ratio, and albuminuria (all Ps ≤ 0.0001) after adjusting for established risk factors including cigarette smoking. Conclusion Genetic variants in nAChR genes jointly contribute to renal function or kidney damage in American Indians. The effects of these genetic variants on kidney function or damage are independent of traditional risk factors including cigarette smoking per se.
The multiprofessional intake assessment of older psychiatric patients

Abstract Two psychiatrists, three psychologists and two social workers participated in a multiple-assessment panel which interviewed three older psychiatric patients with the aim of eliciting their presenting complaints. The panel participants were then asked to rank by means of Q-sort methods, a sample of representative complaint statements derived from the study of the case files of older psychiatric outpatients, in order of their applicability to the patient just observed. It was found that when the same units of description were used, raters with different professional background did not show any significant differences in their complaint assessment. In fact, there was marked agreement among panel members and the principal differences found were related to the distinct complaint patterns ascribed to different patients. A hypothesis-testing factor analysis was further used to examine the correlations among all ratings. Distinct factors with substantial loadings on every rater, emerged for each of the different patients. Highest agreement was shown when symptoms were clear-cut, but marked agreement prevailed even when symptomatic behavior was mixed and obscure. It was hypothesized that a distinct factor might be found also for each of the professional backgrounds represented in the panel with loadings on all ratings made by members of the respective professional groups. No such factors appeared for the psychiatrists or psychologists and only an equivocal factor emerged for the social workers. Use of an appropriate common data language leads to the recognition that description of the presenting complaints of psychiatric patients may constitute an area of overlapping skills among the three mental health professions. While further studies might identify other factors (e.g., degree of familiarity with the patient, knowledge of psychopathology, etc.) to be of importance, it seems clear from this study that clinic intake responsibilities might well be assigned without regard to the professional affiliation of the staff member involved. The present study further provided an example of a methodology which permits the test of a series of hypothesis about the utilization of professional skills with a minimal expenditure of professional time or interference in clinic routine. As such it provides a model for further studies of professional problems as well as illustrating the use of a technique which should prove a valuable tool for the description of psychiatric complaint behavior.
Glucose oxidase anode for biofuel cell based on direct electron transfer

Abstract This paper presents a new design concept of a glucose oxidase (GO x ) electrode as an anode for the biofuel cell based on direct electron transfer (DET) between the active site of an enzyme and the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT)-modified electrode surface. Toray ® carbon paper (TP) with a porous three-dimensional network (78% porosity) was used as a matrix for selectively growing multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The incorporation of MWCNTs into TP was provided by the chemical vapor deposition technique after an electrochemical transition of cobalt metal seeds. This approach has the ability to efficiently promote DET reactions. The morphologies and electrochemical characteristics of the GO x modified electrodes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and potentiometric methods. The combination of poly-cation polyethylenimine (PEI) with negatively charged glucose oxidase provides formation of ∼100 nm thick films on the TP/MWCNT surface. The tetrabutylammonium bromide salt-treated Nafion ® was used as GO x binder and proton-conducting medium. The TP/MWCNT/PEI/GO x /Nafion ® modified electrode operates at 25 °C in 0.02 M phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.9) containing 0.1 M KCl in the presence of 20 mM glucose. The open circuit potential of GO x anode was between −0.38 V and −0.4 V vs. Ag/AgCl, which is closer to the redox potential of the FAD/FADH 2 cofactor in the enzyme itself. The GO x electrode has a potential to work in vivo by using endogenous substances, such as glucose and oxygen. Such a glucose anode allows for the development of a new generation of miniaturized membrane-less biofuel cells.
Biliary and pancreatic stent cytology in the diagnosis of pancreatico-biliary malignancy

Introduction: Various endoscopic tissue sampling techniques are utilized in the diagnosis of pancreaticobiliary malignancy. A number of small series suggest cytological examination of cellular debris from biliary stents affords sensitivity comparable to brush cytology.
Melting behaviour of A- and B-type crystalline starch

The melting behaviour of highly crystalline spherulites, of a short chain amylose DP-15 corresponding to both the A and B polymorphs of starch has been studied as a function of water content. At water contents greater than 40% w/w A-type spherulites melt at temperatures approximately 20 degrees C higher than B spherulites, whilst both crystal forms melt at lower temperatures in the presence of increasing amounts of water. Using the Flory-Huggins relationship for polymer crystal melting in the presence of a diluent, it is possible to predict a value for the ideal melting temperature of the dry crystals of 530 K.
Analysis and Synthesis of Waveform Generators in the Phase Plane

A new class of waveform generators can be analyzed and synthesized using the phase plane. The technique is based upon generating closed paths in the phase plane such that the variable values as a function of time are the waveforms desired. Very accurate square, triangle, sawtooth, and pulse waveforms are generated using these concepts. Circuit implementations are proposed. Standard IC's containing four operational amplifiers allow inexpensive construction of these versatile oscillators, such that the component cost is competitive with common generators. Experimental results were very good.
DEPARTMENT CHAIRPERSONS' PERCEPTIONS OF THE ROLE IN THREE INSTITUTIONS

Results from a survey of 71 chairpersons at three midwestern universities are reported. Focus is on their perceptions of their roles, their performance and their selves and the factors influencing ...
Whisker growth — a new mechanism for helium blistering of surfaces in complex radiation environments☆

Implantation of helium concurrent with the generation of large numbers of displaced atoms in surface layers of materials exposed to /sup 252/Cf ..cap alpha..-particles and fission fragments produces a unique form of low temperature surface blistering. The purpose of this paper is to formulate a basis for the whisker-growth mechanism for helium blistering as an aid to the specification of conditions under which the mechanism might apply.
Teaching Planning to City Planning Students. An Argument for the Studio / Workshop Approach

The studio / workshop was largely aban doned as a pedagogical device in city planning curricula during the late 1960s It has now been reintroduced, somewhat tentatively, in number of places The fun...
Designing for Diffusion: How Can We Increase Uptake of Cancer Communication Innovations?

Objective The best innovations in cancer communication do not necessarily achieve uptake by researchers, public health and clinical practitioners, and policy makers. This paper describes design activities that can be applied and combined for the purpose of spreading effective cancer communication innovations.
Measurement of DNA concentration as a normalization strategy for metabolomic data from adherent cell lines

Metabolomics is a rapidly advancing field, and much of our understanding of the subject has come from research on cell lines. However, the results and interpretation of such studies depend on appropriate normalization of the data; ineffective or poorly chosen normalization methods can lead to frankly erroneous conclusions. That is a recurrent challenge because robust, reliable methods for normalization of data from cells have not been established. In this study, we have compared several methods for normalization of metabolomic data from cell extracts. Total protein concentration, cell count, and DNA concentration exhibited strong linear correlations with seeded cell number, but DNA concentration was found to be the most generally useful method for the following reasons: (1) DNA concentration showed the greatest consistency across a range of cell numbers; (2) DNA concentration was the closest to proportional with cell number; (3) DNA samples could be collected from the same dish as the metabolites; and (4)...
Development of advanced second-generation micromirror devices fabricated in a four-level planarized surface-micromachined polycrystalline silicon process

This paper describes the design and characterization of several types of micromirror devices to include process capabilities, device modeling, and test data resulting in deflection versus applied potential curves and surface contour measurements. These devices are the first to be fabricated in the state-of-the-art four-level planarized polysilicon process available at Sandia National Laboratories known as the Sandia Ultra-planar Multi-level MEMS Technology. This enabling process permits the development of micromirror devices with near-ideal characteristics which have previously been unrealizable in standard three-layer polysilicon processes. This paper describes such characteristics which have previously been unrealizable in standard three-layer polysilicon processes. This paper describes such characteristics as elevated address electrodes, various address wiring techniques, planarized mirror surfaces suing Chemical Mechanical Polishing, unique post-process metallization, and the best active surface area to date.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Micron-sized channel-dropping filters using silicon waveguide devices

High density integrated optics on the scale of VLSI is of interest as it allows complicated optical interconnect circuitry to be mass produced. In this paper we present micron-sized high Q resonant cavity structures based on silicon on insulator devices. These resonant cavities may be used in channel dropping filters and modulators. Because of their small size, they have high packing densities on the order of one million devices per square centimeter. This technology has the added advantage in that it can utilize the embedded VLSI electronics manufacturing capacity. In previous work, we studied silicon on oxide photonic band gap (PBG) devices and demonstrated devices with a 400 nm stop band and with a defect which had a Q of 265 centered at a wavelength of 1560 nm. In addition, we fabricated 3 to 5 micrometer radii micro-rings with Qs of approximately 250 and free spectral widths of over 20 nm. In this work, we report results on micro-racetracks, which are oval shaped resonators, with resonances that are approximately 16 nm apart and Qs of about 1000. These racetracks incorporate a vertical coupling technology in which the bus waveguides and the ring are on separate planes. This vertical coupling scheme allows for independent control of the Q of the ring via the distance between the ring and the bus. We demonstrate higher order multi-resonator filters with similar Q and free spectral range to the single resonator filters. The individual resonators in each filter have slightly different resonant frequencies from each other resulting in multi-peaked resonances and lower drop efficiencies. Finally, we show that it is possible to thermally tune the resonances by 1 nm leading to a 10:1 contrast ratio.
Automatic parsing of degenerate quadric-surface intersections

In general, two quadric surfaces intersect in a nonsingular quartic space curve. Under special circumstances, however, this intersection may “degenerate” into a quartic with a double point, or a composite of lines, conics, and twisted cubics whose degrees, counted over the complex projective domain, sum to four. Such degenerate forms are important since they occur with surprising frequency in practice and, unlike the generic case, they admit rational parameterizations. Invoking concepts from classical algebraic geometry, we formulate the condition for a degenerate intersection in terms of the vanishing of a polynomial expression in the quadric coefficients. When this is satisfied, we apply a multivariate polynomial factorization algorithm to the projecting cone of the intersection curve. Factors of this cone which correspond to intersection components “at infinity” may be removed a priori. A careful examination of the remaining cone factors then facilitates the identification and parameterization of the various real, affine intersection elements that may arise: isolated points, lines, conics, cubics, and singular quartics. The procedure is essentially automatic (avoiding the tedium of case-by-case analyses), encompasses the full range of quadric forms, and is amenable to implementation in exact (symbolic) arithmetic.
The Function and Organization of Lateral Prefrontal Cortex: A Test of Competing Hypotheses

The present experiment tested three hypotheses regarding the function and organization of lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). The first account (the information cascade hypothesis) suggests that the anterior-posterior organization of lateral PFC is based on the timing with which cue stimuli reduce uncertainty in the action selection process. The second account (the levels-of-abstraction hypothesis) suggests that the anterior-posterior organization of lateral PFC is based on the degree of abstraction of the task goals. The current study began by investigating these two hypotheses, and identified several areas of lateral PFC that were predicted to be active by both the information cascade and levels-of-abstraction accounts. However, the pattern of activation across experimental conditions was inconsistent with both theoretical accounts. Specifically, an anterior area of mid-dorsolateral PFC exhibited sensitivity to experimental conditions that, according to both accounts, should have selectively engaged only posterior areas of PFC. We therefore investigated a third possible account (the adaptive context maintenance hypothesis) that postulates that both posterior and anterior regions of PFC are reliably engaged in task conditions requiring active maintenance of contextual information, with the temporal dynamics of activity in these regions flexibly tracking the duration of maintenance demands. Activity patterns in lateral PFC were consistent with this third hypothesis: regions across lateral PFC exhibited transient activation when contextual information had to be updated and maintained in a trial-by-trial manner, but sustained activation when contextual information had to be maintained over a series of trials. These findings prompt a reconceptualization of current views regarding the anterior-posterior organization of lateral PFC, but do support other findings regarding the active maintenance role of lateral PFC in sequential working memory paradigms.
Selective changes in AMPA receptors in rabbit cerebellum following classical conditioning of the eyelid-nictitating membrane response

Abstract α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionic acid (AMPA) receptors are critically involved in several forms of synaptic plasticity proposed to be neural substrates for learning and memory, e.g., long-term potentiation and long-term depression (LTD). The present study was designed to determine changes in cerebellar AMPA receptors following classical conditioning of the eyeblink-nictitating membrane response (NMR) in the rabbit. Quantitative autoradiography was used to assess changes in ligand binding properties of cerebellar AMPA receptors following NMR conditioning elicited by pairing electrical stimulation of the pontine nuclei with an airpuff to the eye. [ 3 H ]AMPA and [ 3 H ]-6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dion (CNQX) binding were determined following preincubation of frozen–thawed brain tissue sections at 0 or 35°C. With 0°C preincubation, no significant differences in [ 3 H ]AMPA binding to cerebellar AMPA receptors were seen between any of the experimental groups tested. In contrast, preincubation at 35°C revealed significant decreases in [ 3 H ]AMPA binding to the trained side of the cerebellar cortex resulting from paired presentations of the conditioned and the unconditioned stimuli, while unpaired presentations of the stimuli resulted in no significant effect. With 35°C preincubation, there were no significant differences in [ 3 H ]CNQX binding between any of the experimental groups and no significant differences in [ 3 H ]AMPA binding in the untrained side of the cerebellum. These results indicate that NMR conditioning is associated with a selective modification of AMPA-receptor properties in brain structures involved in the storage of the associative memory. Furthermore, they support the hypothesis that cerebellar LTD, resulting from decreased synaptic efficacy at parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapses mediated by a change in AMPA-receptor properties, is a form of synaptic plasticity that supports this type of learning.
GMProf: A low-overhead, fine-grained profiling approach for GPU programs

Driven by the cost-effectiveness and the power-efficiency, GPUs are being increasingly used to accelerate computations in many domains. However, developing highly efficient GPU implementations requires a lot of expertise and effort. Thus, tool support for tuning GPU programs is urgently needed, and more specifically, low-overhead mechanisms for collecting fine-grained runtime information are critically required. Unfortunately, profiling tools and mechanisms available today either collect very coarse-grained information, or have prohibitive overheads. This paper presents a low-overhead and fine-grained profiling technique developed specifically for GPUs, which we refer to as GMProf. GMProf uses two ideas to help reduce the overheads of collecting fine-grained information. The first idea involves exploiting a number of GPU architectural features to collect reasonably accurate information very efficiently, and the second idea is to use simple static analysis methods to reduce the overhead of runtime profiling. The specific implementation of GMProf we report in this paper focuses on shared memory usage. Particularly, we help programmers understand (1) which locations in shared memory are infrequently accessed? and (2) which data elements in device memory are frequently accessed? We have evaluated GMProf using six popular GPU kernels with different characteristics. Our experimental results show that GMProf, with all optimizations, incurs a moderate overhead, e.g., 1.36 times on average for shared memory profiling. Furthermore, for three of the six evaluated kernels, GMProf verified that shared memory is effectively used, and for the remaining three kernels, it not only helped accurately identify the inefficient use of shared memory, but also helped tune the implementations. The resulting tuned implementations had a speedup of 15.18 times on average.
Tight Mucosal Compartmentation of the Murine Immune Response to Antigens of the Enteric Microbiota

Background & Aims: The normal host immune response to antigens of the enteric microbiota is poorly defined. In this study, we isolated recombinant microbial antigens from commensal bacteria and used them to probe the normal murine immune response. Methods: A plasmid DNA expression library was generated from cecal bacteria of C3H/HeJ mice and used to express 20 recombinant intestinal bacterial proteins (rIBs). Antibody responses in serum and secretions were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and CD4+ T-cell responses were measured by [3H]-thymidine incorporation. Two immunodominant commensal flagellins were also tested. Results: No baseline serum immunoglobulin (Ig)G antibody or splenic CD4+ T-cell systemic response to any rIB or to either flagellin was detected in normal C3H/HeJ mice. However, there were strong systemic responses to all 20 rIBs after parenteral immunization, which were equivalent to the responses to ovalbumin. Substantial levels of intestinal IgA were detected to half the rIBs and to both commensal flagellins. Mucosal immunization with flagellin plus ovalbumin stimulated an intestinal IgA but not a serum IgG response. Antigen-pulsed dendritic cells (DCs) stimulated production of specific IgA in the absence of T-cell help via costimulation by BAFF and/or APRIL, members of the TNF family. Conclusions: The host immune response to enteric bacteria is tightly compartmentalized to the mucosa in normal mice, with systemic B cells and CD4+ T cells remaining naive rather than tolerant. We postulate that mucosal DCs play a crucial role in this compartmentation.
Scheduling Cilk multithreaded parallel programs on processors of different speeds

We study the problem of executing parallel programs, in particular Cilk programs, on a collection of processors of different speeds. We consider a model in which each processor maintains an estimate of its own speed, where communication between processors has a cost, and where all scheduling must be online. This problem has been considered previously in the fields of asynchronous parallel computing and scheduling theory. Our model is a bridge between the assumptions in these fields. We provide a new more accurate analysis of of an old scheduling algorithm called the maximum utilization scheduler. Based on this analysis, we generalize this scheduling policy and define the high utilization scheduler. We next focus on the Cilck platform and introduce a new algorithm for scheduling Cilk multithreaded parallel programs on heterogeneous processors. This scheduler is inspired by the high utilization scheduler and is modified to fit in a Cilk context. A crucial aspect of our algorithm is that it keeps the original spirit of the Cilk scheduler. In fact, when our new algorithm runs on homogeneous processors, it exactly mimics the dynamics of the original Cilk scheduler.
Molecular Variables in the Self-Assembly of Supramolecular Nanostructures

Supramolecular structures have the potential to provide macromolecular behavior using relatively low molar mass building blocks. We present here data on the self-assembly of triblock rodcoil molecules which contain a rigid biphenyl ester segment covalently linked to structurally diverse oligomeric segments. These molecules form supramolecular aggregates with molar masses in the range 105−106 Da, and our experiments probe how supramolecular structure can be manipulated by varying the volume fraction of the coillike flexible segments with respect to that of rod segments. The oligostyrene−oligoisoprene diblock coils were synthesized via anionic polymerization and varied in average length from (6sty, 6iso) to (30sty, 30iso). Small-angle X-ray scattering scans revealed layer spacings corresponding to monolayers that increase in size as the coil's molar mass increases. We observed that an increase in coil volume fraction reduces the thermal stability of the supramolecular structure, but a corresponding increase...
Spatial Filtering In Photorefractive Materials

Spatial filtering and hologram formation using coherent and incoherent imaging techniques are investigated experimentally in photorefractive materials. Spatial filtering involves imaging appropriate filter designs into a BaTiO3 crystal in which a Fourier-transform hologram has already been written. White-light filter images erase selected frequency components of the hologram preventing them from appearing in the reconstruction. A similar imaging technique is also used to create holograms in photorefractive materials. Standard computer-generated holograms are imaged into the crystal, changing the index of refraction of the material by the photorefractive effect in proportion to the local intensity. The resulting index modulation pattern forms a phase hologram with the imaging and spatial frequency characteristics of the original computer-generated transmittance. Because the spatial filters and holograms used in these experiments may be electronically produced and incoherently displayed, these systems can be updated easily without the usual constraints of coherent spatial light modulators. Characteristics of these systems and their application to real-time computer display are reported.
The surface properties of apolipoproteins A-I and A-II at the lipid/water interface.

Abstract The monolayer system was employed to investigate the relative affinities of apolipoproteins A-I and A-II for the lipid/water interface. The adsorption of reductively 14 C-methylated apolipoproteins to phospholipid monolayers spread at the air/water interface was determined by monitoring the surface pressure of the mixed monolayer and the surface concentration of the apoprotein. ApoA-II has a higher affinity than apoA-I for lipid monolayers; for a given initial surface pressure, apoA-II adsorbs more than apoA-I to monolayers of egg phosphatidylcholine (PC), distearoyl-PC and human high-density lipoprotein (HDL 3 ) surface lipids. Comparison of the molecular packing of apolipoproteins A-I and A-II suggests that apoA-II adopts a more condensed conformation at the lipid/water interface compared to apoA-I. The ability of apoA-II to displace apoA-I from egg PC and HDL 3 surface lipid monolayers was studied by following the adsorption and desorption of the reductively 14 C-methylated apolipoproteins. At saturating subphase concentrations of the apoproteins (3·10 −5 g/100 ml), two molecules of apoA-II adsorbed for each molecule of apoA-I displaced. This displacement was accompanied by an increase in surface pressure. An identical stoichiometry for the displacement of apoA-I from HDL particles by apoA-II has been reported by others. At low subphase concentrations of apoproteins (5·10 −6 g/100 ml), the apoA-I/lipid monolayer was not fully compressed and could accomodate the adsorbing apoA-II molecules without displacement of apoA-I molecules. ApoA-I molecules were unable to displace apoA-II from the lipid/water interface. The average residue hydrophobicity of apoA-II is higher than that of apoA-I; this may contribute to the higher affinity of apoA-II for lipids compared to apoA-I. The probable helical regions in apolipoproteins A-I and A-II were located using a secondary structure prediction algorithm. The analysis suggests that the amphiphilic properties of the α-helical regions of apoA-I and apoA-II are probably not significantly different. Further understanding of the differences in surface activity of these apolipoproteins will require more knowledge of their secondary and tertiary structures.
Lutein is stable in strawberry yogurt and does not affect its characteristics

The impact of various levels of lutein on the physicochemical, microbiological, and sensory characteristics of yogurt over its shelf life was determined. Nonfat strawberry yogurts were prepared with 0, 0.5, 1.5, and 3.0 mg lutein per 170 g serving (20% overages were included to account for processing losses). The lutein was incorporated prior to homogenization of the yogurt mix. Stability of lutein, viscosity, pH, syneresis, standard plate counts, coliform counts, color (L*, a*, b*), and sensory evaluation (flavor, body and texture, and appearance and color) were measured at weeks 0, 1, 3, and 5 after product manufacture. The interaction effect between levels of lutein and storage time was significant for a* (redness-greenness) values. Lutein levels remained above target throughout the 5-wk storage study. Lutein did not affect viscosity, pH, syneresis, L* (lightness) and b* (yellowness-blueness) values, standard plate counts, coliform counts, flavor, body, texture, appearance, and color scores. These results suggested that lutein was suitable for inclusion in functional yogurts. The skin and eye health benefits provided by lutein can easily be incorporated into yogurt to complement inherent nutritional properties.
A comparison of estimators of the precision of two instruments

Three different estimators of the variance in errors of measurement, or the “imprecisions” of instruments, have been proposed (Hahn and Nelson, 1970; Maxwell, 1974; Hanumara: 1975) for the case where two measurements by one instrument and one measurement by a second instrument are available for each item. The estimators are compared by studying the probabilities of negative values, the biases, the variances, and the mean square errors. Based on these results, Hahn and Nelson's estimators for the variances in errors of measurement are recommended. Simultaneous confidence intervals of the imprecisions of instruments are also given.
Appearance based user-independent gaze estimation

An ideal gaze user interface should be able to accurately estimates the user's gaze direction in a non-intrusive setting. Most studies on gaze estimation focus on the accuracy of the estimation results, imposing important constraints on the user such as no head movement, intrusive head mount setting and repetitive calibration process. Due to these limitations, most graphic user interfaces (GUIs) are reluctant to include gaze as an input modality. We envision user-independent gaze detectors for user computer interaction that do not impose any constraints on the users. We believe the appearance of the eye pairs, which implicitly reveals head pose, provides conclusive information on the gaze direction. More importantly, the relative appearance changes in the eye pairs due to the different gaze direction should be consistent among different human subjects. We collected a multimodal corpus (MSP-GAZE) to study and evaluate user independent, appearance based gaze estimation approaches. This corpus considers important factors that affect the appearance based gaze estimation: the individual difference, the head movement, and the distance between the user and the interface's screen. Using this database, our initial study focused on the eye pair appearance eigenspace approach, where the projections into the eye appearance eigenspace basis are used to build regression models to estimate the gaze position. We compare the results between user dependent (training and testing on the same subject) and user independent (testing subject is not included in the training data) models. As expected, due to the individual differences between subjects, the performance decreases when the models are trained without data from the target user. The study aims to reduce the gap between user dependent and user independent conditions.
Improving prediction of prostate cancer recurrence using chemical imaging

Precise Outcome prediction is crucial to providing optimal cancer care across the spectrum of solid cancers. Clinically-useful tools to predict risk of adverse events (metastases, recurrence), however, remain deficient. Here, we report an approach to predict the risk of prostate cancer recurrence, at the time of initial diagnosis, using a combination of emerging chemical imaging, a diagnostic protocol that focuses simultaneously on the tumor and its microenvironment, and data analysis of frequent patterns in molecular expression. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic imaging was employed to record the structure and molecular content from tumors prostatectomy. We analyzed data from a patient cohort that is mid-grade dominant - which is the largest cohort of patients in the modern era and in whom prognostic methods are largely ineffective. Our approach outperforms the two widely used tools, Kattan nomogram and CAPRA-S score in a head-to-head comparison for predicting risk of recurrence. Importantly, the approach provides a histologic basis to the prediction that identifies chemical and morphologic features in the tumor microenvironment that is independent of conventional clinical information, opening the door to similar advances in other solid tumors.
Genomics and personalized medicine: CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 and smoking cessation treatment

Abstract Cigarette smoking is highly addictive, and modern genetic research has identified robust genetic influences on nicotine dependence. An important step in translating these genetic findings is to identify the genetic factors affecting smoking cessation in order to enhance current smoking cessation treatments. We review the significance of variants in the nicotinic receptor gene cluster ( CHRNA5–CHRNA3–CHRNB4 ) in the prediction of smoking quantity, smoking cessation, and response to cessation medication in multiple studies of smoking cessation. Three common haplotypes (low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk) in the CHRNA5–CHRNA3–CHRNB4 region are defined by rs16969968 and rs680244. The genetic variants in the CHRNA5–CHRNA3–CHRNB4 region that predict nicotine dependence also predicted a later age of smoking cessation in a community-based sample. In a smoking cessation trial, these variants predicted abstinence at the end of treatment in individuals receiving placebo medication, but not among individuals receiving active medication. Pharmacological treatments moderate the genetic risk in affecting cessation success. These pharmacogenetic interactions have been reproduced by a recent meta-analysis of smoking cessation trials. The number needed to treat was four for smokers with the high-risk haplotype, seven for smokers with the intermediate-risk haplotype, and > 1000 for smokers with the low-risk haplotype. The wide variation in number needed to treat between smokers with different haplotypes supports the notion that personalized smoking cessation intervention based upon genotype could meaningfully increase the efficiency of such treatment. In summary, variants in the CHRNA5–CHRNA3–CHRNB4 region identify individuals at increased risk of cessation failure, and this increased risk can be ameliorated by cessation pharmacotherapy.
The Balance of WNT and FGF Signaling Influences Mesenchymal Stem Cell Fate During Skeletal Development

Craniosynostosis, a developmental disorder resulting from premature closure of the gaps (sutures) between skull bones, can be caused by excessive intramembranous ossification, a type of bone formation that does not involve formation of a cartilage template (chondrogenesis). Here, we show that endochondral ossification, a type of bone formation that proceeds through a cartilage intermediate, caused by switching the fate of mesenchymal stem cells to chondrocytes, can also result in craniosynostosis. Simultaneous knockout of Axin2, a negative regulator of the WNT-beta-catenin pathway, and decreased activity of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor 1 (FGFR1) in mice induced ectopic chondrogenesis, leading to abnormal suture morphogenesis and fusion. Genetic analyses revealed that activation of beta-catenin cooperated with FGFR1 to alter the lineage commitment of mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into chondrocytes, from which cartilage is formed. We showed that the WNT-beta-catenin pathway directly controlled the stem cell population by regulating its renewal and proliferation, and indirectly modulated lineage specification by setting the balance of the FGF and bone morphogenetic protein pathways. This study identifies endochondral ossification as a mechanism of suture closure during development and implicates this process in craniosynostosis.
Shigella dysenteriae ShuS Promotes Utilization of Heme as an Iron Source and Protects against Heme Toxicity

Shigella dysenteriae serotype 1, a major cause of bacillary dysentery in humans, can use heme as a source of iron. Genes for the transport of heme into the bacterial cell have been identified, but little is known about proteins that control the fate of the heme molecule after it has entered the cell. The shuS gene is located within the heme transport locus, downstream of the heme receptor gene shuA. ShuS is a heme binding protein, but its role in heme utilization is poorly understood. In this work, we report the construction of a chromosomal shuS mutant. The shuS mutant was defective in utilizing heme as an iron source. At low heme concentrations, the shuS mutant grew slowly and its growth was stimulated by either increasing the heme concentration or by providing extra copies of the heme receptor shuA on a plasmid. At intermediate heme concentrations, the growth of the shuS mutant was moderately impaired, and at high heme concentrations, shuS was required for growth on heme. The shuS mutant did not show increased sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide, even at high heme concentrations. ShuS was also required for optimal utilization of heme under microaerobic and anaerobic conditions. These data are consistent with the model in which ShuS binds heme in a soluble, nontoxic form and potentially transfers the heme from the transport proteins in the membrane to either heme-containing or heme-degrading proteins. ShuS did not appear to store heme for future use.
Evaluation of a Time-Domain Adaptive Beamformer for Regional Phase Detection

Abstract We evaluate the output from the time-domain adaptive beamformer (ABF) developed by Shen (1979) coupled to both incoherent (short-term average/long-term average [STA/LTA]) and coherent F -statistic (FSTAT) detectors. Detection test results on regional phases are compared to the baseline conventional beamformer output coupled to both STA/LTA and FSTAT detectors. Examples and test results are presented that demonstrate reduced detection thresholds, improved clutter rejection, and lower false-alarm rates with a time-domain ABF coupled to either STA/LTA or FSTAT detectors with significant reductions in the false-alarm rate observed for the ABF coupled to the FSTAT detector.
Under-documentation of chronic kidney disease in the electronic health record in outpatients

Objective: To ascertain if outpatients with moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) had their condition documented in their notes in the electronic health record (EHR). Design: Outpatients with CKD were selected based on a reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate and their notes extracted from the Columbia University data warehouse. Two lexical-based classification tools (classifier and word-counter) were developed to identify documentation of CKD in electronic notes. Measurements: The tools categorized patients' individual notes on the basis of the presence of CKD-related terms. Patients were categorized as appropriately documented if their notes contained reference to CKD when CKD was present. Results: The sensitivities of the classifier and word-count methods were 95.4% and 99.8%, respectively. The specificity of both was 99.8%. Categorization of individual patients as appropriately documented was 96.9% accurate. Of 107 patients with manually verified moderate CKD, 32 (22%) lacked appropriate documentation. Patients whose CKD had not been appropriately documented were significantly less likely to be on renin-angiotensin system inhibitors or have urine protein quantified, and had the illness for half as long (15.1 vs 30.7 months; p<0.01) compared to patients with documentation. Conclusion: Our studies show that lexical-based classification tools can accurately ascertain if appropriate documentation of CKD is present in a EHR. Using this method, we demonstrated under-documentation of patients with moderate CKD. Under-documented patients were less likely to receive CKD guideline recommended care. A tool that prompts providers to document CKD might shorten the time to implementing guideline-based recommendations.
Exploiting time-varying relationships in statistical relational models

In a growing number of relational domains, the data record temporal sequences of interactions among entities. For example, in citation domains authors publish scientific papers together each year and in telephone fraud detection domains people make calls to each other each day. The temporal dynamics of these interactions contain information that can improve predictive models (e.g., people publishing together frequently are likely to be publishing on the same topic) but to date there has been little effort to incorporate timevarying dependencies into relational models. Past work in relational learning has focused primarily on static "snapshots" of relational data. In this paper, we present an initial approach to modeling dynamic relational data graphs in predictive models of attributes. More specifically, we use a two-step process that first summarizes the dynamic graph with a weighted static graph and then incorporates the link weights in a relational Bayes classifier. We evaluate our approach on the Cora dataset (where co-author and citation links vary over time) showing that our approach results in significant performance gains over a baseline snapshot approach that ignores the temporal component of the data.
Metabolic process during the repair of freeze-injury in Escherichia coli.

After Escherichia coli was injured by freezing, the repair process was studied during incubation of the cells for 2 hr at 25 C in 0.5% K2HPO4 at pH 7.0 in the presence of specific metabolic inhibitors. The repair in K2HPO4 was not affected by inhibitors of the synthesis of protein, nucleic acids, and mucopeptide. These inhibitors prevented growth of the repaired cells in a minimal broth at 35 C for 24 hr (except actinomycin D and hydroxyurea). Several uncouplers of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis reduced the repair process in K2HPO4, but only cyanide and azide prevented growth in minimal medium. Data indicated that the cells synthesized energy in the form of ATP and probably utilized it for the repair process. Addition of ATP also facilitated the repair of injury. The freeze-injured cells showed extreme susceptibility to surface-active agents and lysozyme. The repaired cells, like the uninjured cells, became relatively resistant to these compounds.
Alcohol cue reactivity task development

BACKGROUND: The physiological and cognitive reactions provoked by alcohol cues, as compared to non-alcohol cues, can predict future drinking. Alcohol cue reactivity tasks have been developed; however, most were created for use with alcohol use disordered individuals and utilize limited or only partially standardized stimuli. This project systematically created an alcohol cue reactivity task for studies with non-drinkers, using well-characterized stimuli. OBJECTIVES: We comprehensively standardized 60 alcohol and 60 non-alcohol beverage pictures using ratings from young non-drinkers (N=82) on affective and perceptual features. RESULTS: A statistical matching approach yielded 26 matched alcohol-non-alcohol picture pairs matched on valence, arousal, image complexity, brightness, and hue. The task was piloted and further refined to 22 picture pairs. An 8-minute, 32-second event-related task was created using a random stimulus function for optimized condition timing and systematic presentation of the images. CONCLUSIONS: The long-term objectives of this project are to utilize this task with non-drinking youth to investigate how reactivity to alcohol stimuli may predict alcohol use initiation and escalation, to help identify the role of exposure to alcohol stimuli on the subsequent development of alcohol-related problems. Language: en
Integration of semantic-based bipartite graph representation and mutual refinement strategy for biomedical literature clustering

We introduce a novel document clustering approach that overcomes those problems by combining a semantic-based bipartite graph representation and a mutual refinement strategy. The primary contributions of this paper are the following. First, we introduce a new representation of documents using a bipartite graph between documents and co-occurrence concepts in the documents. Second, we show how to enhance clustering quality by applying the mutual refinement strategy to the initial clustering results. Third, through the experiments on MEDLINE documents, we show that our integrated method significantly enhances cluster quality and clustering reliability compared to existing clustering methods. Our approach improves on the average 29.5 cluster quality and 26.3 clustering reliability, in terms of misclassification index, over Bisecting K-means with the best parameters.
Polyphonicity and the Law: A Bakhtinian Model of Constitutional Interpretation

Contained within Ronald Dworkin's enormously influential model of law as interpretation is a call for legal scholars to draw increasingly on resources in literary theory beyond the hermeneutics Dworkin owes a debt to. This paper attempts the preliminary articulation of a model of legal interpretation based in the work of Mikhail Bakhtin. Bakhtin's model of interpretation revolves centrally around his concept of polyphonicity (or multivoicedness), which holds that speakers always speak through more than one voice at a time. This concept of polyphonicity responds to Stanley Fish's criticisms of Dworkin's model by suggesting a way of avoiding both legal realism and strict constructionism in interpreting a legal history; both authors and interpreters are partially constrained by the plural voices of the text without the text wholly determining any one correct interpretation.
What is the best technique for repair of complete atrioventricular canal

Surgical management of pediatric patients with the diagnosis of complete atrioventricular canal (CAVC) is accomplished by using one of three procedures: (1) the classic single-patch, (2) two-patch, or (3) modified single-patch technique. Of these, the modified single-patch is currently the best technique available for repair of CAVC. The goal of this review is to describe our experience with the modified single-patch technique and explain how it evolved into our procedure of choice for repair of CAVC in our pediatric population. We analyzed specific outcomes (operative mortality, late mortality, mitral valve reoperation, and the incidence of heart block) from our center and those of other institutions that used the modified single-patch technique and compared these with the most current results of the classic single-patch and two-patch techniques reported from several other centers. Our analysis showed that while the occurrence of operative and late mortality was comparable in all three techniques, there was clearly a lower incidence of late reoperations for mitral valve insufficiency and a lower rate of heart block in patients who were repaired with the modified single-patch technique. For these reasons and because of its simplicity, we have adopted the modified single-patch technique as our procedure of choice for repair of complete atrioventricular canal in infants and children.