cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Superoxide radical anion adduct of 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide. 5. Thermodynamics and kinetics of unimolecular decomposition.

The unimolecular decomposition of the superoxide radical anion adducts of 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO), 5-carbamoyl-5-methyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (AMPO), 5-ethoxycarbonyl-5-methyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (EMPO), and 5-diethoxyphosphoryl-5-methyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DEPMPO) were computationally investigated by using PCM/BHandLYP/6-311G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31G(d) and PCM/ROMP2/cc-PVDZ//B3LYP/6-31G(d) levels of theory. Results indicate that the O―O bond scission for nitrone―O 2 H to form the hydroxyl radical and the biradical is endoergic, and that the ring-opening step to form the nitrosoaldehyde is highly exoergic. The energy barriers for the O―O bond scission and ring-opening processes indicate that the former is the rate-limiting step of the reaction. The overall energetics for DMPO―O 2 H decomposition in the presence and absence of explicit water interactions was found to be the most preferred; however, no significant differences in the energetics of decomposition among the various isomers of AMPO―O 2 H, EMPO―O 2 H, and DEPMPO―O 2 H were observed.
Gamma-SLAM: Visual SLAM in unstructured environments using variance grid maps

This paper describes an online stereo visual simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithm developed for the Learning Applied to Ground Robotics (LAGR) program. The Gamma-SLAM algorithm uses a Rao–Blackwellized particle filter to obtain a joint posterior over poses and maps: the pose distribution is estimated using a particle filter, and each particle has its own map that is obtained through exact filtering conditioned on the particle's pose. Visual odometry is used to provide good proposal distributions for the particle filter, and maps are represented using a Cartesian grid. Unlike previous grid-based SLAM algorithms, however, the Gamma-SLAM map maintains a posterior distribution over the elevation variance in each cell. This variance grid map can capture rocks, vegetation, and other objects that are typically found in unstructured environments but are not well modeled by traditional occupancy or elevation grid maps. The algorithm runs in real time on conventional processors and has been evaluated for both qualitative and quantitative accuracy in three outdoor environments over trajectories totaling 1,600 m in length. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Metabolism of vinyl halides: in vitro studies on roles of potential activated metabolites.

Vinyl chloride (VC) has been shown to be toxic and carcinogenic in animals and humans (Maltoni and Lefemine, 1974). Vinyl bromide (VBr) also appears to be hepatotoxic and carcinogenic (Conolly et al., 1978). Barbin et al. (1975) indicated that both VC and VBr can be activated to reactive electrophiles by liver microsomal systems fortified with NADPH. A number of other studies strongly suggest that mixed-function oxidation of vinyl halides is responsible for the mutagenesis and irreversible binding of metabolites that is observed with these compounds (Bartsch and Montesano, 1975; Bolt et al., 1975; Hefner et al., 1975; Henschler and Bonse, 1977; Guengerich and Watanabe, 1979). A commonly suggested reactive metabolite is a 2-haloethylene oxide. However, such compounds rearrange to 2-haloacetaldehydes, which also react with potential nucleophilic targets. In the studies presented here, we examined the ability of highly purified enzymes to specifically destroy these postulated reactive intermediates insitu in microsomal incubation systems, utilizing irreversible binding of vinyl halide labels to protein and DNA as indices of activation.
Short-term intravenous milrinone for acute exacerbation of chronic heart failure: a randomized controlled trial.

Context Little randomized evidence is available to guide the in-hospital management of patients with an acute exacerbation of chronic heart failure. Although intravenous inotropic therapy usually produces beneficial hemodynamic effects and is labeled for use in the care of such patients, the effect of such therapy on intermediate-term clinical outcomes is uncertain. Objective To prospectively test whether a strategy that includes short-term use of milrinone in addition to standard therapy can improve clinical outcomes of patients hospitalized with an exacerbation of chronic heart failure. Design Prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted from July 1997 through November 1999. Setting Seventy-eight community and tertiary care hospitals in the United States. Participants A total of 951 patients admitted with an exacerbation of systolic heart failure not requiring intravenous inotropic support (mean age, 65 years; 92% with baseline New York Heart Association class III or IV; mean left ventricular ejection fraction, 23%). Intervention Patients were randomly assigned to receive a 48-hour infusion of either milrinone, 0.5 microg/kg per minute initially (n = 477), or saline placebo (n = 472). Main outcome measure Cumulative days of hospitalization for cardiovascular cause within 60 days following randomization. Results The median number of days hospitalized for cardiovascular causes within 60 days after randomization did not differ significantly between patients given milrinone (6 days) compared with placebo (7 days; P =.71). Sustained hypotension requiring intervention (10.7% vs 3.2%; P Conclusion These results do not support the routine use of intravenous milrinone as an adjunct to standard therapy in the treatment of patients hospitalized for an exacerbation of chronic heart failure.
3-Helix micelles stabilized by polymer springs.

Despite increasing demands to employ amphiphilic micelles as nanocarriers and nanoreactors, it remains a significant challenge to simultaneously reduce the particle size and enhance the particle stability. Complementary to covalent chemical bonding and attractive intermolecular interactions, entropic repulsion can be incorporated by rational design in the headgroup of an amphiphile to generate small micelles with enhanced stability. A new family of amphiphilic peptide–polymer conjugates is presented where the hydrophilic headgroup is composed of a 3-helix coiled coil with poly(ethylene glycol) attached to the exterior of the helix bundle. When micelles form, the PEG chains are confined in close proximity and are compressed to act as a spring to generate lateral pressure. The formation of 3-helix bundles determines the location and the directionalities of the force vector of each PEG elastic spring so as to slow down amphiphile desorption. Since each component of the amphiphile can be readily tailored, the...
Millisecond Time Resolved Photo‐CIDNP NMR Reveals a Non‐Native Folding Intermediate on the Ion‐Induced Refolding Pathway of Bovine α‐Lactalbumin

Aspects of the structure of the intermediate populated after 200 ms in the Ca2+ -induced refolding of α-lactalbumin have been derived by time-resolved photo-CIDNP NMR methods. Refolding at constant denaturant concentration was initiated by laser-induced ion release from photolabile chelators. The NMR data demonstrated that part of the polypeptide chain in the β-domain of α-lactalbumin samples adopt non-native conformations while a hydrophobic core of the α-domain is already formed.
Multinomial modeling and an evaluation of common data-mining algorithms for identifying signals of disproportionate reporting in pharmacovigilance databases

Motivation: A principal objective of pharmacovigilance is to detect adverse drug reactions that are unknown or novel in terms of their clinical severity or frequency. One method is through inspection of spontaneous reporting system databases, which consist of millions of reports of patients experiencing adverse effects while taking one or more drugs. For such large databases, there is an increasing need for quantitative and automated screening tools to assist drug safety professionals in identifying drug–event combinations (DECs) worthy of further investigation. Existing algorithms can effectively identify problematic DECs when the frequencies are high. However these algorithms perform differently for low-frequency DECs. Results: In this work, we provide a method based on the multinomial distribution that identifies signals of disproportionate reporting, especially for low-frequency combinations. In addition, we comprehensively compare the performance of commonly used algorithms with the new approach. Simulation results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method, and analysis of the Adverse Event Reporting System data shows that the proposed method can help detect interesting signals. Furthermore, we suggest that these methods be used to identify DECs that occur significantly less frequently than expected, thus identifying potential alternative indications for these drugs. We provide an empirical example that demonstrates the importance of exploring underexpected DECs. Availability: Code to implement the proposed method is available in R on request from the corresponding authors. Contact:kjell@arboranalytics.com or Mark.M.Gosink@Pfizer.com Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Efficient morphological shape representation with overlapping disk components

This paper proposes a new morphological shape representation algorithm, in which a two-dimensional (2-D) binary shape is represented as a union of certain disks contained in the given shape. The representative disks of different sizes may overlap. But excessive overlapping between them is avoided. The algorithm combines the advantages of the morphological skeleton transform (MST) and the morphological shape decomposition (MSD). The representative disks have simple and well-defined mathematical characterizations. The algorithm is simple and efficient to implement. The experimental results show that the number of representative disks used by our algorithm is significant lower than that used by the MSD. The overlapping level between the representative disks is much lower than that of the MST. A simple procedure can be used to combine the representative disks into more meaningful shape components. These shape components seem to correspond better to the natural shape parts than those generated by the MSD. It is also possible to build a good approximation for a given shape using only a small number of major components.
Role of Silver Doping in the Improvement of Electrical Properties of (Ba, Sr)TiO3 Thin Films

In this paper we report the fabrication and characterization of Ag/(Ba,Sr)TiO3 /LaNiO3/LaAlO3 capacitors. All the films, including the top (silver) and bottom (LaNiO3) electrodes, were deposited using a pulsed laser deposition technique. The electrical and dielectric properties of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 capacitors were found to improve significantly by means of silver doping. For example, the leakage current density of a Ag/Ag-doped-(Ba,Sr)TiO3 /LaNiO3/ capacitor was about an order of magnitude lower and dielectric constant was ∼40 % higher than that of a Ag/(Ba,Sr)TiO3 /LaNiO3/capacitor over a range of biases. The improvement in the electrical properties of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 films is believed to be caused by a double role of silver. The first one is associated with the reduced oxygen vacancies due to improved oxygenation of BST films in presence of silver and the second one is associated unpinning effect of domain walls again in presence of silver.
Components of a New Human Protein Kinase Signal Transduction Pathway

We have identified two components of a new protein kinase signaling cascade, MAPK/ERK kinase 5 (MEK5) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK5). The MEK5 cDNA was isolated by degenerate PCR and encodes a 444-amino acid protein, which has approximately 40% identity to known MEKs. ERK5 was identified by a specific interaction with the MEK5 mutants S311A/T315A and K195M in the yeast two-hybrid system. The proteins were found to interact in an in vitro binding assay as well. ERK5 did not interact with MEK1 or MEK2. ERK5 is predicted to contain 815 amino acids and is approximately twice the size of all known ERKs. The C terminus of ERK5 has sequences which suggest that it may be targeted to the cytoskeleton. Sequences located in the N terminus of MEK5 may be important in coupling GTPase signaling molecules to the MEK5 protein kinase cascade. Both MEK5 and ERK5 are expressed in many adult tissue and are abundant in heart and skeletal muscle. A recombinant GST-ERK5 kinase domain displays autophosphorylation on Ser/Thr and Tyr residues.
Meander-line polarizer for arbitrary rotation of linear polarization

A versatile meander-line polarizer is described and demonstrated for arbitrary rotation of linear polarization. This polarizer consists of eight-layer meander-line grids with rigid foam spacers between any two layers. It is shown that the field polarization rotation angle through this meander-line polarizer is twice the angle between the incident polarization and the polarizer grating lines. Hence, any polarization rotation can be accomplished by a simple mechanical rotation of this low-mass polarizer instead of rotating or modifying the much heavier antenna and its complex feed components. >
Accuracy of Point-of-Care Ultrasound for Diagnosis of Skull Fractures in Children

OBJECTIVE: To determine the test performance characteristics for point-of-care ultrasound performed by clinicians compared with computed tomography (CT) diagnosis of skull fractures. METHODS: We conducted a prospective study in a convenience sample of patients ≤21 years of age who presented to the emergency department with head injuries or suspected skull fractures that required CT scan evaluation. After a 1-hour, focused ultrasound training session, clinicians performed ultrasound examinations to evaluate patients for skull fractures. CT scan interpretations by attending radiologists were the reference standard for this study. Point-of-care ultrasound scans were reviewed by an experienced sonologist to evaluate interobserver agreement. RESULTS: Point-of-care ultrasound was performed by 17 clinicians in 69 subjects with suspected skull fractures. The patients’ mean age was 6.4 years (SD: 6.2 years), and 65% of patients were male. The prevalence of fracture was 12% ( n = 8). Point-of-care ultrasound for skull fracture had a sensitivity of 88% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 53%–98%), a specificity of 97% (95% CI: 89%–99%), a positive likelihood ratio of 27 (95% CI: 7–107), and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.13 (95% CI: 0.02–0.81). The only false-negative ultrasound scan was due to a skull fracture not directly under a scalp hematoma, but rather adjacent to it. The κ for interobserver agreement was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.67–1.0). CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians with focused ultrasound training were able to diagnose skull fractures in children with high specificity.
Sarcoidosis in Black Women in the United States: Data From the Black Women’s Health Study

Background Sarcoidosis is a systemic granulomatous disorder of unknown cause that occurs among men and women of all races. In the United States, black women are most frequently and most severely affected. There have been few epidemiologic studies of sarcoidosis focusing on black women. Methods In this article, we present data on incidence, prevalence, and clinical characteristics of sarcoidosis among participants in the Black Women's Health Study, a cohort study of 59,000 black women from across the United States. Data on incident disease and potential risk factors are obtained through biennial questionnaires. Follow-up has been > 80% through six completed cycles. Results There were 685 prevalent cases of sarcoidosis at baseline in 1995 and 435 incident cases reported during 611,585 person-years of follow-up through 2007, for an average annual incidence rate of 71/100,000 and a current prevalence of 2.0%. The sarcoid diagnosis was confirmed in 96% of self-reported cases for whom medical records or physician checklists were obtained. The most frequently affected site was the lung. Most patients also had extrapulmonary involvement, with the most common sites being lymph nodes, skin, and eyes. Prednisone had the highest prevalence of use, followed by inhaled corticosteroids. Conclusions This study confirms previous reports of high incidence and prevalence of sarcoidosis among black women, as well as the extent of extrapulmonary disease, frequent need for steroid therapy, and comorbid conditions in this population. The prospective identification of sarcoidosis cases from a defined population will enable a valid assessment of risk factors for incident disease as follow-up continues.
Coherent sonar measurements of water motion and turbulence in a tidal inlet

Vertical profiles of water motion and turbulence obtained using a 200 kHz coherent Doppler sonar installed in a tidal inlet between Biscayne Bay, Florida and the Atlantic Ocean are presented. The Doppler sonar operates at 200 kHz in a monostatic mode and is equipped with four separate sequentially switched beams. The frame supporting the transducers is installed at 1.5 meters above the bottom with the beams locking toward the bottom. All of the beams are tilted at 12 degrees from vertical in two orthogonal planes. The positioning and tilt of the downward looking transducers maximizes the overlap between the beams at the seafloor. Ancillary measurements of tide level, wave height wind velocity and air and sea temperature are also collected at the experiment site. The water velocity information is recorded at 64 range gates spaced by 3 centimeters. Several estimates of mean Doppler velocity, Doppler spectrum variance and mean backscattering signal intensity are calculated. Vertical profiles or the two orthogonal horizontal velocity components, vertical velocity, radial velocity variance and u'w' covariance are computed and displayed after processing the recorded data. The results of the independent observations at each range gate show highly reproducible tidal velocities with small random variability (standard deviation or a few cm/sec with 10 minute time average) and small scale velocity variance. The vertical profiles at the peak of the ebb and the flood regimes show a consistent decrease of mean velocity moving down from the water surface. Observations of backscattering signal intensity also indicate a strong correlation between "sonic turbidity" end the tide stage, i.e. the sonar targets are much more numerous in an ebb regime compared to a flood regime. The directly measured Reynolds stress at the bottom is larger than the stress derived from the mean velocity profile during accelerating flow and is smaller during decelerating flow.
An adaptive controller for infinite dimensional dynamical systems

An adaptive controller for a perturbed infinite dimensional plant is developed to force the state of the plant track the state of a reference model. The reference model is based on the nominal plant and has a physical similarity with the plant. Using a Lyapunov stability argument, which is based on the H/sup /spl infin//-Riccati equation of the nominal plant, an adaptive law is developed for the adjustment of the feedback gain. It is proved that the closed-loop system is stable with the tracking error remaining bounded, and converging to zero provided that the norm of the structured perturbation is less than a specified attenuation bound. Numerical simulation of a heat equation is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed adaptive scheme.
L’Inno Delfico, Antigone ed un breve revival dell’antica musica greca

In 1893-1894 there was a brief revival of ancient Greek music. Gabriel Faure composed an accompaniment for Henri Weil‘s and Theodore Reinach‘s transcription of the first Delphi hymn, and it was performed both in Greece and in Paris in the spring of 1894. During this same timeframe, Camille Saint-Saens composed the incidental music to Sophocles‘ Antigone , deriving inspiration from Gevaert‘s Histoire et theorie de la musique de l’antiquite , employing ancient Greek tetrachords, and adapting the musical fragment then thought to be Pindaric.
Friction-induced formation of nanocrystals on Si

Abstract This paper reports friction-induced formation of nanocrystals on single crystal substrate. Using a pin-on-disk tribometer, a low-melting temperature gallium was slid against single crystal silicon. High resolution TEM results showed that instead of wear, nanometer length scale silicon crystal was formed. The frictional work, eutectic potential, and strain energy density were estimated. There was sufficient frictional energy to melt gallium (Ga) and reach the Ga–Si eutectic temperature. Although it has been reported that friction stimulation induces phase transformation, this work demonstrated the formation of potentially useful nanocrystals, which arose from silicon substrate.
Fever and the Organum Vasculosum Laminae Terminalis: Another Look

Lesions were made to compare in guinea pigs the previously demonstrated antipyretic effectiveness of ablation of the anteroventral third ventricle (AV3V) brain region, which contains the organum vasculosum laminae terminalis (OVLT), with that of the rostroventral lamina terminalis. Small lesions discretely localized to this site were reported to enhance the febrile responses of rats and rabbits. We found that both types of lesions blocked LPS-induced fever so long as the OVLT was completely ablated. Fever was not increased by the more discrete lesions in these guinea pigs. The present findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the pyrogenic signal is transduced from blood to brain via the OVLT.
Reconfigurable interconnect for next generation systems

This paper describes our vision on the architectures required to build next generation systems. Next generation systems will not be PC centric anymore, but they will be built based on distributed, networked, power constraint embedded systems on a chip (SOC) or systems on a multi chip module (SOM). These architectures will consist of large set of heterogeneous building blocks, many of them reconfigurable at different levels of abstraction. The paper will describe new forms of reconfigurable interconnect and it will include a description of the critical position of reconfigurable interconnect in these architectures. The challenge is not to provide general reconfigurability but to tune it to optimize the energy efficiency.
The inflammatory milieu within the pancreatic cancer microenvironment correlates with clinicopathologic parameters, chemoresistance and survival.

The tumor microenvironment impacts pancreatic cancer (PC) development, progression and metastasis. How intratumoral inflammatory mediators modulate this biology remains poorly understood. We hypothesized that the inflammatory milieu within the PC microenvironment would correlate with clinicopathologic findings and survival. Pancreatic specimens from normal pancreas (n = 6), chronic pancreatitis (n = 9) and pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n = 36) were homogenized immediately upon resection. Homogenates were subjected to multiplex analysis of 41 inflammatory mediators. Twenty-three mediators were significantly elevated in adenocarcinoma specimens compared to nonmalignant controls. Increased intratumoral IL-8 concentrations associated with larger tumors (P = .045) and poor differentiation (P = .038); the administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy associated with reduced IL-8 concentrations (P = .003). Neoadjuvant therapy was also associated with elevated concentrations of Flt-3 L (P = .005). Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β (P = .017) and TNFα (P = .033) were associated with a poor histopathologic response to neoadjuvant therapy. Elevated concentrations of G-CSF (P = .016) and PDGF-AA (P = .012) correlated with reduced overall survival. Conversely, elevated concentrations of FGF-2 (P = .038), TNFα (P = .031) and MIP-1α (P = .036) were associated with prolonged survival. The pancreatic cancer microenvironment harbors a unique inflammatory milieu with potential diagnostic and prognostic value.
Fatigue of Fabricated Steel-Sheet Details-Phase II

Description des resultats experimentaux des essais de fatigue sur des toles d'acier. Analyse de ces resultats a partir de travaux anterieurs
FB+-tree for Big Data Management

Decades of research and experiences on managing large databases and current world's strong interests in massive data information conveyed many indexing methods to a new extent. From extensive experiments, FB+-tree has displayed its excellent potential for big data in-memory management. FB+-tree is an idea that builds fast indexing structure using multi-level key ranges, which is explained based on exploiting the B+-tree in this article. With FB+-tree, point searches and range searches are helped by early termination of searches for non-existent data. Range searches can be processed depth-first or breath-first. One group of multiple searches can be processed with one pass on the indexing structure to minimize total cost. Implementation options and strategies are explained to show the flexibility of this technology for easy adaption and high efficiency. FB+-tree can be tuned to speed up queries directed at popular ranges of index or index ranges of particular interest to the user. Extended experiments are presented particularly for testing its adaptability and performance for big data.
Effects of calcium soaps of fatty acids on postpartum reproductive function in beef cows.

Twelve multiparous Simmental cows (584 kg) were used to determine the influence of calcium soaps of fatty acids (CSFA) incorporated in a range supplement on postpartum reproductive characteristics. Cows were assigned randomly to receive a control [C; containing grain sorghum (GS) and soybean meal (SBM)] or CSFA-based (containing Megalac [a source of CSFA], GS, and SBM) supplement. Supplements plus prairie hay were individually fed. Diets were isonitrogenous and met the NEm requirement for heavy-milking beef cows in early lactation. Supplement feeding and daily blood collection began at parturition. Calves were removed permanently from cows at 25 +/- 2 d postpartum. Duration of first postpartum estrous cycles was determined by both visual observations and changes in concentrations of progesterone in serum. Concentrations of LH in serum (15-min intervals for 6 h) were determined 12 h before and 48 and 96 h after calf removal. Concentrations of progesterone and estradiol-17 beta in serum were determined daily. Cows receiving CSFA had higher (P = .06) mean concentrations of LH than those receiving C (1.47 vs 1.12 +/- .13 ng/ml). Concentrations of estradiol-17 beta were lower (P less than .02) and serum progesterone were higher (P less than .02) between d 6 and 8 of the induced cycle in CSFA-fed cows. Plasma cholesterol was greater (P less than .01) in cows fed CSFA although plasma triglyceride concentrations were similar between treatments.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Yankee Sperm Whalers in Brazilian Waters, and the Decline of the Portuguese Whale Fishery (1773-1801)

On April 28, 1774, the Boston News-Letter published at the bottom of its first page the following “extract” of a letter it had recently received from Fayal, the Azores: By a Vessel that arrived here last Month from Rio de Janeiro in the Brazils, we have accounts of a small Whaling Brig belonging to some Part of North-America, putting in there for Refreshments, but that Part of the crew were prevailed on either by fair or foul Means to enter on board a Portuguese Scow, to go on a Cruise of three Months a Whaling…. That the Brig still remained there in October last, with only the Captain and three People on board…. That the Portuguese provided themselves with Harpoons and other Necessaries, agreeable to the English Model, and were gone in Search of Spermaceti Whales, a Trade they have hitherto been entirely ignorant of, and are very desirous of acquiring some Knowledge in. All the oil they used to make in the Brazils was from the Bone Whales, and those they caught in such Abundance in open boats along the Shore that they migh[t] undersell any other Europeans if they were expert in their Business, but they never venture out of Sight of Shore.
Tolerance, Toleration, and the Liberal Tradition

The tendency to use tolerance and toleration as roughly interchangable terms has encouraged misunderstanding of the liberal legacy and impeded efforts to improve upon it. We can improve our understanding by defining "toleration" as a set of social or political practices and "tolerance" as a set of attitudes. This distinction reveals the possibility of four clusters of attitudes: tolerant toleration, exemplified by John Locke; intolerant antitoleration, exemplified by the first generation Massachusetts Puritans; tolerant antitoleration, exemplified by Thomas Hobbes; and intolerant toleration, exemplified by Roger Williams. An exploration of their views suggests two things for contemporary societies. First, universal tolerance is both impossible and unnecessary; location and neutralization of those strains of intolerance that threaten to deny citizenship rights to vulnerable groups is sufficient for maintaining social stability. Second, since universal agreement is unlikely, the political task of liberal so...
Trap-Corn to Control Corn Rootworms

A study was conducted in Nebraska during 1972 and 1973 to determine whether a small area of late-planted “trap-corn” would attract females of the western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera LeConte, and the northern corn rootworm, D. longicornis (Say), from a larger area of corn planted at the normal time (early-corn) and thus concentrate egg deposition and reduce the injury potential the following year to corn planted in the same field. Except for a 2.4-acre center strip, a 24.5-acre experimental field was planted to corn on May 22, 1972. On June 15, the center strip was planted to serve as “trap-corn.” On May 16, 1973, the entire field was planted to corn and ½ was strip-treated with a soil insecticide. In 1973, beetle populations, root ratings, lodging, and yields were determined for corn growing in the 1972 trap and early-corn areas. In the early-corn area, beetle populations were 21% lower, root ratings 47% higher, lodging 64% less, and corn yielded 26 bu/acre more than in the trap-corn area. These results suggest the injury potential in the early-corn area was reduced through the presence of trap-corn.
Seasonal occurrence of the northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris, on San Nicolas Island, California.

The population of northern elephant seals ( Mirounga angustirostris ) on San Nicolas Island, California, was censused at monthly intervals from August 1968 through August 1971. An incomplete set of data from 1964 is also presented. The population had three yearly peaks as follows: an immature animal peak in November; a breeding season population peak in February; and a molting animal peak in April. The terrestrial population reached its lowest point of the year in August. All three peaks increased in magnitude during the period of this study. Total number of animals in the breeding peaks for the three years were: 1969, 393; 1970, 467; 1971, 702. Numbers of pups born were 193, 210, and 344, respectively. Numbers of animals in the molting peaks were 719, 776, and 1050, respectively. Estimates of growth curves for the breeding and molting peak populations are presented. Prediction of the number of pups born during each of the 3 years of this study yielded values approximately one-half of the actual number of pups born. Low female mortality rates or immigration of pregnant females, or both, may have accounted for a major portion of the pups born on San Nicolas. Pup mortality on land was low and was between 3 and 4 per cent in 1970 and 1971. Little information is available on mortality rates in older animals.
Helicobacter pylori: Pathogenic enablers - toxic relationships in the stomach.

Chronic infection with Helicobacter pylori is the strongest known risk factor for the development of gastric cancer. Saju et al. shed new light on mechanisms by which Epstein–Barr virus, a viral initiator of gastric cancer, potentiates the oncogenic effects of Helicobacter pylori in the stomach.
Correction to “Some New Zealand Polyclads (Platyhelminthes, Polycladida)”

It has come to my attention that the name of the new polyclad genus, Aotearoa, described in Holleman (2007), is a homonym of Aotearoa Forster and Platnick (1984), a New Zealand spider genus.
Ab initio phonon dispersion in crystalline naphthalene using van der Waals density functionals

Acene molecular crystals are of current interest in organic optoelectronics, both as active materials and for exploring and understanding new phenomena. Phonon scattering can be an important facilitator and dissipation mechanism in charge separation and carrier transport processes. Here, we carry out density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the structure and the full phonon dispersion of crystalline naphthalene, a well-characterized acene crystal for which detailed neutron-diffraction measurements, as well as infrared and Raman spectroscopy, are available. We evaluate the performance, relative to experiments, of DFT within the local density approximation (LDA); the generalized gradient approximation of Perdew, Burke, and Ernzerhof (PBE); and a recent van der Waals--corrected nonlocal correlation (vdW-DF-cx) functional. We find that the vdW-DF-cx functional accurately predicts lattice parameters of naphthalene within 1%. Intermolecular and intramolecular phonon frequencies across the Brillouin zone are reproduced within 7.8% and 1%, respectively. As expected, LDA (PBE) underestimates (overestimates) the lattice parameters and overestimates (underestimates) phonon frequencies, demonstrating their shortcomings for predictive calculations of weakly bound materials. If the unit cell is fixed to the experimental lattice parameters, PBE is shown to lead to improved phonon frequencies. Our study provides a detailed understanding of the phonon spectrum of naphthalene, and highlights the importance of including van der Waals dispersion interactions in predictive calculations of lattice parameters and phonon frequencies of molecular crystals and related organic materials.
pH regulation in barnacle muscle fibers: dependence on extracellular sodium and bicarbonate

Intracellular pH (pHi) regulation was studied in barnacle muscle fibers with pH-sensitive microelectrodes. The cells were acid loaded, and the subsequent recovery of pHi was monitored. The rate of recovery was reduced by one-third when external Na+ ([Na+]o) was replaced by Li+, but recovery was completely abolished when Na+ was replaced by choline or N-methyl-D-glucamine. In other experiments, varying amounts of Na+ were replaced by choline, and the acid extrusion rate, derived from the recovery rate of pHi, was calculated at a single value of pHi, 6.80. The dependence of the acid extrusion rate on [Na+]o could be described by Michaelis-Menten kinetics; at pHo (extracellular) = 8.0 and [HCO3-]o (extracellular) = 10 mM, the apparent Km and Vmax were 59 mM and 1.3 mmol x l(-1) x min-1. When [HCO3-]o was reduced to 2.5 mM at the same pHo, Km did not change significantly, but Vmax was substantially reduced. On the other hand, when pHo was reduced to 7.4 at constant [HCO3-]o, Vmax changed only slightly, but Km increased substantially. In similar experiments, we examined the dependence of the acid extrusion rate on [HCO3-]o. At pHo = 8.0 and [Na+]o = 440 mM, the apparent Km and Vmax were 4.1 mM and 2.1 mmol x 1-1 x min-1. When pHo was reduced to 7.4, Vmax was not altered, but Km substantially increased. The kinetic data are discussed in terms of the role of pHo, [Na+]o, and [HCO3-]o in the pHi-regulating system.
Age at menarche and risk of developing migraine or non-migraine headaches by young adulthood: A prospective cohort study:

ImportanceMigraine is a highly prevalent and disabling primary headache disorder that is two to three times more prevalent in young women. Among females, there is a steep increase in incidence from puberty to young adulthood, but the mechanisms for the increase are unknown.ObjectiveTo determine if age of menarche is a risk factor for developing migraine headache vs. non-migraine headache by young adulthood.DesignA prospective cohort study, The Growing Up Today Study (GUTS), of adolescents who have been followed since 1996, when they were nine, to 14 years of age. Headache questions were included on the 2007 and 2010 surveys.SettingYouth from across the United States who are offspring of women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study II.Participants6112 female participants who had provided data on headache symptoms, age at menarche and family history of migraine and were followed through 2007 or 2010 were included in this analysis.Main outcomesMigraine or non-migraine headache.ResultsMany females had a hi...
Bayesian non-parametric modeling for integro-difference equations

Integro-difference equations (IDEs) provide a flexible framework for dynamic modeling of spatio-temporal data. The choice of kernel in an IDE model relates directly to the underlying physical process modeled, and it can affect model fit and predictive accuracy. We introduce Bayesian non-parametric methods to the IDE literature as a means to allow flexibility in modeling the kernel. We propose a mixture of normal distributions for the IDE kernel, built from a spatial Dirichlet process for the mixing distribution, which can model kernels with shapes that change with location. This allows the IDE model to capture non-stationarity with respect to location and to reflect a changing physical process across the domain. We address computational concerns for inference that leverage the use of Hermite polynomials as a basis for the representation of the process and the IDE kernel, and incorporate Hamiltonian Markov chain Monte Carlo steps in the posterior simulation method. An example with synthetic data demonstrates that the model can successfully capture location-dependent dynamics. Moreover, using a data set of ozone pressure, we show that the spatial Dirichlet process mixture model outperforms several alternative models for the IDE kernel, including the state of the art in the IDE literature, that is, a Gaussian kernel with location-dependent parameters.
PCARE epilogue: “the pistol of hope”; or, imprisoned workshop participants respond

ABSTRACTOur incarcerated students in the Democratic Communication Workshop at Colorado Correctional Center respond to the PCARE essay. Through these contributions regarding their lived experiences in prison, the men in our workshop pose questions for Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies scholars concerned with confronting the problem of the prison–industrial complex—among these the largely unexamined issues facing families of people who are incarcerated. Amidst the dehumanization of daily life in prison, in the face of a system that treats them as disposable, our students are generous with readers in sharing their reflections, struggles, and hopes.
Neuropsychological differences between men and women with Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACTBackground: It has been suggested that men and women with Alzheimer's disease (AD) at comparable levels of global cognitive impairment perform differently on neuropsychological measures. Such differences may have practical implications for designing cognitive interventions that address symptoms of dementia.Methods: We compared men (n = 86) and women (n = 96) with AD on tests of immediate and delayed prose memory, verbal fluency, semantic fluency, semantic memory, and confrontation naming. Mean years for age, education, and duration of illness were 70.81 (SD = 7.55), 13.37 (SD = 3.38), and 2.17 (SD = 1.72) for men and 73.11(SD = 8.53), 12.27 (SD = 2.86), and 2.42 (SD = 1.92) for women. The groups were comparable in global cognitive functioning as indicated by DRS total scores for men of 89.27 (SD = 29.80) and women of 90.86 (SD = 30.20).Results: Men earned significantly better scores in immediate prose memory, semantic verbal fluency, semantic memory, and response naming. Men and women performed si...
The Transmission of Family Food and Mealtime Practices From Adolescence to Adulthood: Longitudinal Findings From Project EAT-IV.

Abstract Objective To determine whether family food and mealtime practices experienced in adolescence are carried forward into parenthood. Design Baseline (Project Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults [EAT]-I) and 15-year follow-up (EAT-IV) survey data from a population-based cohort study (Project EAT). Participants Cohort members identified as parents at follow-up (n = 727). To gain additional data about the practices of both parents in the household, significant others completed surveys at EAT-IV (n = 380). Main Outcome Measure Frequency of family meals, healthfulness of foods at home, frequency of meals in front of the television, and expectations of being home for dinner. Analysis Linear regression models tested associations between parent food and mealtime practices reported at baseline and follow-up controlling for demographics. Results Healthy and unhealthy home food availability, expectations to be home for dinner, and eating in front of the television in adolescence predicted similar outcomes 15 years later among female parents (effect sizes range: β = .2–.3; P Conclusions and Implications It is important to invest in parenting interventions that target healthful family food and mealtime practices because of the potential long-term impact on their own children's parenting practices.
Crime during the business cycle: urban–rural differences

Despite the abundant literature on how crime evolves over the business cycle, no consensus has arisen whether crime increases or decreases during recessions. The literature provides both positive a...
Shared decision-making during surgical consultation for gallstones at a safety-net hospital

Abstract Background Understanding patient perspectives regarding shared decision-making is crucial to providing informed, patient-centered care. Little is known about perceptions of vulnerable patients regarding shared decision-making during surgical consultation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a validated tool reflects perceptions of shared decision-making accurately among patients seeking surgical consultation for gallstones at a safety-net hospital. Methods A mixed methods study was conducted in a sample of adult patients with gallstones evaluated at a safety-net surgery clinic between May to July 2016. Semi-structured interviews were conducted after their initial surgical consultation and analyzed for emerging themes. Patients were administered the Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire and Autonomy Preference Scale. Univariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with shared decision-making and to compare the results of the surveys to those of the interviews. Results The majority of patients (N = 30) were female (90%), Hispanic (80%), Spanish-speaking (70%), and middle-aged (45.7 ± 16 years). The proportion of patients who perceived shared decision-making was greater in the Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire versus the interviews (83% vs 27%, P Conclusion Available questionnaires may overestimate shared decision-making in vulnerable patients suggesting the need for alternative or modifications to existing methods. Furthermore, such metrics should be assessed for correlation with patient-reported outcomes, such as satisfaction with decisions and health status.
The antibody rHIgM22 facilitates hippocampal remyelination and ameliorates memory deficits in the cuprizone mouse model of demyelination.

Abstract Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, inflammatory demyelinating disease of the CNS. In addition to motor, sensory and visual deficits, MS is also characterized by hippocampal demyelination and memory impairment. We recently demonstrated that a recombinant human-derived monoclonal IgM antibody, which is designated rHIgM22 and currently in clinical development for people with MS, accelerates remyelination of the corpus callosum in the brains of cuprizone-treated mice. Here, we investigated the effects of rHIgM22 in the hippocampus and on hippocampal-dependent learning and memory in the same mouse model of cuprizone-induced demyelination and spontaneous remyelination. The degree of hippocampal myelination of cuprizone-fed mice treated with a single dose of rHIgM22 (10 mg/kg of body weight) was examined immediately after the end of the cuprizone diet as well as at different time points during the recovery period with regular food, and compared with that of cuprizone-fed animals treated with either vehicle or human IgM isotype control antibody. Mice fed only regular food were used as controls. Four or five mice per treatment group were examined for each time point. We demonstrate that treatment with rHIgM22 accelerated remyelination of the demyelinated hippocampus. Using two additional cohorts of mice and eight animals per treatment group for each cohort, we also demonstrate that the enhancing effects of rHIgM22 on hippocampal remyelination were accompanied by improved performance in the Morris water maze and amelioration of the memory deficits induced by cuprizone. These results further confirm the remyelination-promoting capabilities of rHIgM22 and support additional investigation of its therapeutic potential in MS.
Enhancing Localization Scalability and Accuracy via Opportunistic Sensing

Using a mobile phone for fine-grained indoor localization remains an open problem. Low-complexity approaches without infrastructure have not achieved accurate and reliable results due to various restrictions. Existing accurate solutions rely on dense anchor nodes for infrastructure and are therefore inconvenient and cumbersome. The problem of beacon signal blockage further reduces the effective coverage. In this paper, we investigate the problems associated with improving localization scalability and accuracy of a mobile phone via opportunistic anchor sensing, a new sensing paradigm which leverages opportunistically connected anchors. One key motivation is that the scalability of the infrastructure-based localization system can be improved by lifting the minimum requirement for anchor numbers or constellations in trilateration. At the same time, location accuracy under insufficient anchor coverage will be improved by exploring the opportunity of diverse data types rather than deploying more anchor nodes. To enable this highly scalable and accurate design, we leverage low-coupling hybrid ranging using our low-cost anchor nodes with centimeter-level relative distance estimation. Activity patterns extracted in users’ smartphones are utilized for displacement compensation and direction estimation. The system also scales to finer location resolution when anchor access is improved. We introduce robust delay-constraint semidefinite programming in location estimation to realize optimized system scalability and resolution flexibility. We conduct extensive experiments in various scenarios. Compared with existing approaches, opportunistic sensing could improve the location accuracy and scalability, as well as robustness, under various anchor accessibilities.
The Comparative Method in Studies of Reproductive Behavior

In “The Snark was a Boojum,” Frank Beach did a masterful job of providing a retrospective view of the utilization of the comparative method in psychology. Over the course of this century, psychologists had come to concentrate their efforts on a few species of mammals, especially albino rats. Beach uttered a plea for increased utilization of the comparative method in the study of an increased variety of behavioral patterns. Since publication of the “Snark” paper in 1950, albino rats have remained the animals of choice for the vast majority of experiments. However, the Comparative Psychologist has yet to suddenly and softly vanish away. Beach was correct in his perception of the advantages of the comparative method. It is indeed a method possessing enormous power in the approach to a broad range of behavioral questions. That the Comparative Psychologist is still on the scene as in part attributable to “The Snark was a Boojum,” a paper that has had a major influence on the decisions of a considerable number of behavioral scientists to pursue comparative study.