cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using Public Cost Information During Low Back Pain Visits: A Qualitative Study.

Background Patients desire information about health care costs because they are increasingly responsible for these costs. Public Web sites that offer cost information could inform provider-patient discussions of costs at the point of care. Objective To evaluate tools to facilitate the use of publicly available cost information during clinical visits for low back pain (LBP). Design Qualitative study using individual and group interviews and surveys. Setting 6 rural primary care practices in 2 health systems in Maine. Participants Practice staff (n = 50) and adult patients with LBP (n = 72). Intervention Participating health systems and practices were offered financial incentives, a series of trainings, and technical assistance to pilot tools for discussing costs of LBP care using CompareMaine.org, Maine's cost and quality transparency Web site. Measurements Integration of tools into workflow, awareness and value to providers, and patient experience were identified through 11 group interviews with practice staff (n = 25) and health system leaders (n = 11), provider (n = 25), and patient (n = 47) surveys; patient interviews (n = 5); and administrative data. Results The intervention increased provider and consumer awareness of CompareMaine.org, but minimally changed use in clinical discussions as a result of fewer-than-expected patients with LBP, limited system support, workflow barriers, and providers' reluctance to adopt the tools because of perceptions of limited value for their patients. In contrast, patients valued cost conversations and found the tools useful, and over one half reported intending to use CompareMaine.org during future care decisions. Limitations Generalizability was limited by the small number of practices and participants. Lower-than-anticipated participation precluded examination of the effect of the tool on the frequency of cost-of-care conversations. Conclusion This multicomponent intervention to introduce publicly reported cost information into LBP clinical discussions had low provider uptake. Whereas cost conversations and CompareMaine.org were perceived as useful by participating patients with LBP, providers were uncomfortable discussing cost variation at the point of care. Successful use of public cost information during clinical visits will require normalizing use to a broader group of patients and greater provider outreach and health system engagement. Primary funding source Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Client Assessment by Novice and Expert Psychologists: A Comparison of Strategies

This study examined the amount and type of information expert and novice psychologists sought about a client to form their clinical impressions. Novices (N = 14) were graduate students in psychology who reported a mean of 1.8 years professional experience; experts (N = 14) were university counseling center psychologists with a mean of 13 years experience and who were peer-nominated as experts. All were presented with the same short description of a client and her presenting problem, then were to ask whatever questions they believed necessary to make an assessment and treatment plan. Experts and novices did not differ with respect to their confidence in their assessment. However, compared to novices, experts requested significantly more information (Ms of 23.1 vs. 14.9 questions) and focused less on crisis aspects of the client situation (56.5 vs. 64.4% of the questions).
Magnesite formation through temperature and pH cycling as a proxy for lagoon and playa paleoenvironments

Abstract Incorporating magnesium into the carbonate structure is difficult at low temperatures. However, Veitsch-type anhydrous magnesites (MgCO3) are found in evaporative environments without the typical hydrothermal conditions associated with magnesite formation. To address the disconnect, this study refined a temperature and pH cycling method to achieve up to 91 mol% MgCO3 of (Mg,Ca)CO3 carbonates without exceeding 40 °C. Individual parameters were tested to develop a novel simultaneous growth and replacement mechanism for magnesite formation. The experimental conditions ideal for magnesite growth match very well with an evaporative/lagoonal/playa geologic setting: small thermal mass for daily temperature swings, algal mass for pH control, and a solution highly concentrated in Mg2+ with high Mg:Ca ratios. Additionally, this study suggests the inclusion of dissolved silica in the system may play an important, but previously unacknowledged, catalytic role in the development of magnesium bearing carbonates. Finally, a high mol% MgCO3 carbonate precursor, such as the one produced in this study, is needed for the diagenetic alteration towards pure magnesite.
Rank One Orbit Closures in $$\varvec{\mathcal {H}}^{\varvec{\lowercase {hyp}}}(\varvec{\lowercase {g}}-1,\varvec{\lowercase {g}}-1)$$Hhyp(g-1,g-1)

All $$\mathrm {GL}(2, \mathbb {R})$$ orbits in hyperelliptic components of strata of abelian differentials in genus greater than two are closed, dense, or contained in a locus of branched covers.
34.4 A 4.5mm 3 Deep-Tissue Ultrasonic Implantable Luminescence Oxygen Sensor

Continuous monitoring of regional tissue oxygenation (RTO) can provide therapeutic guidance for critical care patients. Current technologies for RTO assessment require tethered, wired connections or batteries, creating problems related to implantation and chronic use due to their large volume. Recently, ultrasound (US) has been demonstrated as an efficient way to wirelessly power and communicate with implantable devices deep in tissue, enabling their miniaturization [1], [2]. Here, we present a fully implantable, wireless, battery-free, real-time sensor system for deep tissue oxygen (0 2 ) monitoring. The system combines a luminescence sensor with US technology, achieving competitive or better O 2 resolution, the lowest power consumption and the smallest volume (4.5mm3) of any system previously demonstrated [3]–[5].
Comparing Automatically Extracted Topics from Online Mental Health Disorder Forums

Mental health disorders may share similar symptoms which make differentiating between them for the purposes of diagnosis a difficult task. Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder have been shown to fall into this category. Based on the language used by Reddit.com users in forums dedicated to each of these disorders, as well as forums dedicated to the loved ones of individuals with these disorders, we identify differences that may increase accuracy of diagnosis. We use natural language processing techniques to automatically identify informal topics and patterns in the language extracted from these forums that can be analyzed in a comparative way. We find that there are significant differences in the language used in these different forums that could be applicable to diagnostic protocols.
Trimers Conjugated to Fibrin Hydrogels Promote Salivary Gland Function

New strategies for tissue engineering have great potential for restoring and revitalizing impaired tissues and organs, including the use of smart hydrogels that can be modified to enhance organization and functionality of the salivary glands. For instance, monomers of laminin-111 peptides chemically conjugated to fibrin hydrogel (L1pM-FH) promote cell cluster formation in vitro and salivary gland regeneration in vivo when compared with fibrin hydrogel (FH) alone; however, L1pM-FH produce only weak expression of acinar differentiation markers in vivo (e.g., aquaporin-5 and transmembrane protein 16). Since previous studies demonstrated that a greater impact can be achieved when trimeric forms were used as compared with monomeric or dimeric forms, we investigated the extent to which trimers of laminin-111 chemically conjugated to FH (L1pT-FH) can increase the expression of acinar differentiation markers and elevate saliva secretion. In vitro studies using Par-C10 acinar cells demonstrated that when compared with L1pM-FH, L1pT-FH induced similar levels of acinar-like cell clustering, polarization, lumen formation, and calcium signaling. To assess the performance of the trimeric complex in vivo, we compared the ability of L1pM-FH and L1pT-FH to increase acinar differentiation markers and restore saliva flow rate in a salivary gland wound model of C57BL/6 mice. Our results show that L1pT-FH applied to wounded mice significantly improved the expression of the acinar differentiation markers and saliva secretion when compared with the monomeric form. Together, these positive effects of L1pT-FH warrant its future testing in additional models of hyposalivation with the ultimate goal of applying this technology in humans.
Directional Delay Spread and Interference Quotient Analysis in sub-7GHz Wi-Fi bands

Delay dispersion is one of the key propagation channel characteristics that impact system design and performance. In particular, for OFDM-based systems such as Wi-Fi, it determines both the amount of available frequency diversity and the minimum required cyclic prefix, which in turn impacts the spectral efficiency. For this reason, delay spread and power delay profiles have been analyzed for a long time. However, recent upgrades in Wi-Fi, in particular the addition of a new frequency range (6-7.1 GHz), and the introduction of adaptive beamforming, require a re-assessment based on new measurements. This paper presents extensive measurement results of RMS delay spread and interference quotient that take these developments into account. Results were measured in the 2.4-2.5, 5-6, and 6-7 GHz bands. Furthermore, we compare the “omni-directional” delay spread and interference quotient (i.e., when measured with omni-antennas at transmitter and receiver), to those that occur when beamformed antennas are used. We found that for both outdoor and indoor environments, beamforming typically improves the interference quotient (for a given window size) by about 3-5 dB. The 2.4 and 5-7 GHz bands show a significant difference, while we could not observe statistically significant differences between the 5-6 and 6-7 GHz bands.
High-Resolution Comparative Genomics of Salmonella Kentucky Aids Source Tracing and Detection of ST198 and ST152 Lineage-Specific Mutations

Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) is a major cause of foodborne illness globally. Salmonella Kentucky is a polyphyletic NTS serovar comprised of two predominant sequence types (STs): ST152 and ST198. Epidemiological studies have revealed that ST152 is most prevalent in US poultry whereas ST198 is more prevalent internationally. Interestingly, ST152 is sporadically associated with human illness, whereas ST198 is more commonly associated with human disease. In this study, we compared the antimicrobial resistance phenotypes and genetic relationship using sub-genomic fingerprinting of 26 clinical strains of S. Kentucky isolated in Washington State between 2004 and 2014, and 140 poultry-associated strains of S. Kentucky mostly recovered from the northwestern US between 2004 and 2014. We sequenced whole genomes of 2 fluoroquinolone-susceptible (FluS) and 4 fluoroquinolone-resistant (FluR) ST198 human clinical isolates along with ST152 strains from humans (n=4) and poultry (n=4) from the northwestern US. Genome sequences of these isolates were compared with a global database of S. Kentucky genomes representing 400 ST198 and 50 ST152 strains. The results of the phenotypic, genotypic, and case report data on food consumption and travel show that human infections caused by FluR S. Kentucky ST198 in WA State originated from outside of North America. In contrast, FluS S. Kentucky ST198 and S. Kentucky ST152 infection have a likely domestic origin, with domestic cattle and poultry being the potential sources. We also identified a small number of lineage-specific non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that distinguish ST198 and ST152. These SNPs may provide good targets for further investigations on variation in virulence, metabolic adaptation to different environments, and potential for the development of intervention strategies to improve the safety of food.
Brokerage Relationships and Analyst Forecasts: Evidence from the Protocol for Broker Recruiting

In this study, we offer novel evidence on how the nature of brokerage-client relationships can influence the quality of equity research. We exploit a unique setting provided by the Protocol for Broker Recruiting to examine whether relaxed broker non-compete agreement (NCA) enforcement generates spillover effects on sell-side analysts. Entry into this agreement reassigns ownership of the client relationship from the brokerage house to individual brokers, potentially generating a greater standard of care. Using a generalized difference-in-difference research design, we provide evidence consistent with brokers reducing pressure on analysts to produce optimistic research following protocol entry. This effect is concentrated among less experienced and non-All Star analysts, who previously may have faced the greatest pressures to sacrifice objectivity. Additionally, we find that analysts issue more accurate forecasts and generate reports with heightened market reactions following protocol entry. Our collective evidence sheds new light on how the nature of brokerage relationships can influence analysts’ research production.
Alternating Current Conductor Losses

This chapter considers alternating current (AC) conductor losses and skin effect in the context of both strip conductors and then round conductors, and focuses on proximity effect. Skin effect is a phenomenon in which current density becomes concentrated at the outside of a conductor rather than being uniformly distributed. Skin effect is associated with AC currents and becomes increasingly pronounced as frequency increases. Proximity effect is a loss mechanism in which a time‐varying field from nearby conductors induces eddy currents in a given conductor. The chapter aims to demonstrate why the two loss mechanisms may be treated separately. It also considers the calculation of the proximity‐effect loss for an entire winding, and these losses for particular cases, including rotating machinery and a UI‐core inductor. The chapter concludes by considering the ac conductor losses in rotating electric machinery and in a UI‐core inductor.
Diagnosis of toxoplasma parasitemia in patients with AIDS by gene detection after amplification with polymerase chain reaction

We sought evidence of toxoplasma parasitemia among 37 people with active or dormant Toxoplasma gondii infection or no evidence of infection. DNA was extracted from erythrocyte-free portions of blood samples, and the T. gondii B1 gene was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction. Evidence of T. gondii parasitemia was found in six patients with severe immunosuppression from AIDS and clinical evidence suggestive of or compatible with toxoplasmosis. Results were negative for patients unlikely to have active toxoplasmosis. Gene detection after amplification with the polymerase chain reaction is a promising test for detection of parasitemia, and parasitemia should be tested for in patients with AIDS and unexplained fever or central nervous system abnormalities.
CHAPTER 36 – Central Nervous System Ischemia

Platelets contribute to the evolution of ischemic lesions in the central nervous system (CNS), and their normal function is required for protection from the hemorrhagic consequences of ischemic injury. A role for activated platelets in the development of focal ischemia was suspected by Denny- Brown, 1 Russell, 2 and Hollenhorst3 in the 1960s. Migrating refractile bodies observed in cerebral and retinal arteries in patients during and before focal cerebral ischemia,2,3 and platelet-containing thrombi seen in cerebral arteries during craniotomy, 4,5 supported the participation of platelets in ischemic events of the CNS. Occlusions of brain-supplying and cerebral arteries (whose composition may include platelets) have been visualized by angiography in patients with recent cerebral ischemia. 6-8 In support of those observations is evidence from short-term studies demonstrating prothrombin activation, plasminogen activation, and alteration of fibrinolysis during ischemic cerebrovascular events. Hence, considerable circumstantial evidence now links platelet-fibrin interactions with cerebral ischemic events. Recent interest in stroke risk reduction by statins highlights alterations (downregulation) in platelet activation.9 For example, platelet activation is decreased in atorvastatintreated wild-type mice, but not endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) knockout mice following middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCA:O).10 Several clinical trials have now demonstrated a significant reduction of CNS ischemic events (stroke) in patients receiving statins.11-15
Can B→ppπ(π) be misidentified b→c transitions?

Abstract Recently reported decays of the B→ppπ and ppππ have been interpreted as evidence for the b→u transition. It is shown that a certain class of b→c transitions could be misidentified and interpreted as B→ppπ(π).
Short-term variability assessment from abdominal electrocardiogram during the antepartum period

One hundred eighty-eight patients undergoing antepartum fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring with abdominal fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) technique were studied with respect to FHR variability derived from fetal R-R intervals. Statistically significant positive correlation existed between various measures of FHR variability and accelerations per minute (p less than 0.01). Insufficient numbers of positive contraction stress tests (CST) were available to establish a relationship with variability, although a trend existed between positive CST and low variability. Postdate pregnancies had significantly higher variability than nonpostdate pregnancies (p less than .05). This mathematical analysis establishes statistical significance between short-term variability and accelerations per minute and application of this technique for assessment of true variability in antepartum testing is possible.
Contextual Rewriting In Automated Reasoning

Contextual rewriting as a generalization of conditional rewriting has been found in different forms in the papers whose major subject is not contextual rewriting. Here, we put the scattered information together and give it a systematic study. Among various properties of contextual rewriting, we show that contextual rewriting is a powerful simplification rule for the first-order theorem proving with equality and preserves the refutational completeness of many reasoning systems. We compare definitions of contextual rewriting by Boyer-Moore, Remy, Zhang-Remy, Ganzinger, Zhang-Kapur, and Bouhoula-Rusinowitch in regard to its efficiency and power. We provide a detailed procedure for simplifying clauses using contextual rewriting and a solution on how to handle variables which appear only in the condition of a conditional rewrite rule.
IP connectivity and DAP

The information technology (IT) revolution, combined with people's need to access information quickly, has resulted in the explosive growth of the Internet in the past decade. Ubiquitous access to the Internet has become an essential component of a mobile workforce and multiple mechanisms are being devised to ensure seamless connectivity to corporate resources. The authors present a possible use of the available IP connectivity between the airplane and the ground stations for the download of voice/video/data traffic from an airplane onto the ground stations to ease the reliance on blackboxes in a post-incident scenario. A discussion of the simulation test-bed, the results obtained and the practical set of guidelines for their deployment in real-world situations is also included.
The pill hypertension and the toxemias of pregnancy.

Abstract Evidence is reviewed which suggests a causal relationship between the use of oral contraceptive medications and the development or augmentation of high blood pressure. Associated studies of these patients have demonstrated specific and striking effects of these female hormonal agents on the various components of the renin-angiotensin-addosterone system. The pressor effects of estrogen-progestogen compounds may, therefore, be mediated by derangements in the renin-angiotensin system and by associated induced changes in sodium and water balance.
ReCrash: Making Software Failures Reproducible by Preserving Object States

It is very hard to fix a software failure without being able to reproduce it. However, reproducing a failure is often difficult and time-consuming. This paper proposes a novel technique, ReCrash, that generates multiple unit tests that reproduce a given program failure. During every execution of the target program, ReCrash stores partial copies of method arguments in memory. If the program fails (e.g., crashes), ReCrash uses the saved information to create unit tests reproducing the failure. We present ReCrashJ, an implementation of ReCrash for Java. ReCrashJ reproduced real crashes from Javac, SVNKit, Eclipsec, and BST. ReCrashJ is efficient, incurring 13%---64% performance overhead. If this overhead is unacceptable, then ReCrashJ has another mode that has negligible overhead until a crash occurs and 0%---1.7% overhead until the crash occurs for a second time, at which point the test cases are generated.
A Homogeneous Langevin Equation Model, Part ii: Simulation of Dispersion in the Convective Boundary Layer

We present a Lagrangian stochastic model of vertical dispersion in the convective boundary layer (CBL). This model is based on a generalized Langevin equation that uses the simplifying assumption that the skewed vertical velocity probability distribution is spatially homogeneous. This approach has been shown to account for two key properties of CBL turbulence associated with large-scale coherent turbulent structures: skewed vertical velocity distributions and long velocity correlation time. A 'linear-skewed' form of the generalized Langevin equation is used, which has a linear (in velocity) deterministic acceleration and a skewed random acceleration. 'Reflection' boundary conditions for selecting a new velocity for a particle that encounters a boundary were investigated, including alternatives to the standard assumption that the magnitudes of the particle incident and reflected velocities are positively correlated. Model simulations were tested using cases for which exact, analytic statistical properties of particle velocity and position are known, i.e., well-mixed spatial and velocity distributions. Simulations of laboratory experiments of CBL dispersion show that (1) the homogeneous linear-skewed Langevin equation model (as well as an alternative 'nonlinear-Gaussian' Langevin equation model) can simulate the important aspects of dispersion in the CBL, and (2) a negatively-correlated-speed reflection boundary condition simulates the observed dispersion of material near the surface in the CBL significantly better than alternative reflection boundary conditions. The homogeneous linear-skewed Langevin equation model has the advantage that it is computationally more efficient than the homogeneous nonlinear-Gaussian Langevin equation model, and considerably more efficient than inhomogeneous Langevin equation models.
De novo development of dsa and autoantibodies to lung associated self-antigens is associated with upregulation of transcription factor Zbtb7a: Role in chronic rejection following human lung transplantation

Aim Administration of anti-MHC class I (H-2Kb) leads to induction of transcription factor Zinc finger and BTB domain containing 7A (Zbtb7a) leading to inflammatory cascade and chronic rejection in a murine obliterative airway disease model. Development of DSA and Abs to lung-associated self-antigens (K-alpla-1 Tubulin (K α 1T) and Collagen V (Col-V) are significant risk factors in development of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) following human lung transplantation (LTx). The current study focused on the role of Zbtb7a in development of BOS following human LTx. Methods We analyzed 25 LTx patients that developed BOS years after LTx as well as 10 stable LTx performed at Barnes-Jewish Washington University. Kinetics of Zbtb7a expression was studied in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells. Quantitative PCR analysis was performed to evaluate mRNA levels and data was compared with the DSA, autoantibody and immunosuppression. Results Increases in the Zbtb7a expression was observed in BAL cells collected at visits immediately prior to clinical BOS diagnosis compared with earlier visits. Zbtb7a expression was significantly (p 0.01) increased (150%) in pre-BOS BAL cells. On the contrary, stable patients did not demonstrate any change in Zbtb7a levels. All of the BOS+ patients had developed DSA and Abs to K α 1T and Col-V. Zbtb7a expression in 13 patients who received Ab directed therapy following DSA demonstrated significant reduction along with decrease in DSA and Abs to lung self-antigens. Therefore, Zbtb7a activation is an important inducer of the DSA and autoantibody. Conclusions Up regulation of Zbtb7a was positively associated with de novo DSA and Abs to lung-associated self-antigens. Ab directed therapy significantly reduced Zbtb7a expression. We propose that Zbtb7a may be used as a prognostic marker in evaluating Ab-induced inflammation in the lung as well as efficacy of Ab directed therapy following development of DSA.
Abstract 175: Genetic Ablation Of S-nitrosoglutathione Reductase In Mice Enhances Proliferative Expansion Of Adult Heart Progenitors And Myocytes Post Myocardial Infarction

Objectives: The molecular pathways underlying the proliferative activity of adult cardiac myocytes and stem/progenitors in response to heart damage remain elusive. Since perturbing nitroso-redox balance in mice by genetic deletion of GSNOR (GSNOR -/- ) confers resilience to experimental myocardial infarction (MI), we investigated whether GSNOR knockout influences the proliferative activity of the post-MI heart. Hypothesis: Knockout of GSNOR in mice enhances the proliferative expansion of CMs and cKit + cardiac stem cells (CSCs) in response to MI. Methods: Wild-type (WT) and GSNOR -/- mice (n=5/ group) underwent experimental MI. To assess proliferative activity, animals received intraperitoneal injections of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) at selected time-points during the first 2 weeks post-MI. Immunnohistochemical evaluation was performed 1 month post-MI. Results: Confocal immunofluorescence revealed that GSNOR -/- hearts exhibited higher rates of BrdU incorporation in CSCs after MI (10.9%±4.99% of WT CSCs compared to 15.9%±3% of GSNOR -/- CSCs, p =0.02). Similarly, there were ~3-fold more BrdU + /Tropomyosin + cardiomyocytes in the infarct zone of GSNOR -/- mice compared to WT ( p + cardiomyocytes co-expressing the mitotic marker ser-10 phosphorylated histone H3 (H3P) showed further that cardiomyocyte mitosis was 2.4-fold greater in GSNOR -/- compared to WT mice ( p -/- cardiomyocytes substantiated their competence for mitosis after MI. The rate of cardiomyocyte apoptosis after MI, was not different between GSNOR -/- and WT mice, as shown by activated cleaved caspase-3 immunofluorescence. Conclusions: Collectively, our findings suggest that protein S-nitrosothiol turnover by GSNOR regulates proliferation of cardiomyocytes and CSCs in the adult heart in response to damage. These findings have therapeutic implications for the treatment of heart disease since they reveal novel pathways by which nitroso-redox balance influences cardiac repair.
Social Democracy or Corporate Libertarianism? Conflicting Media Policy Narratives in the Wake of Market Failure

Assuming that crucial public services should not be left entirely to market-driven forces, American policymakers attempted to establish safeguards for news media. An examination of conflicting narratives within postwar policy debates suggests that the US evaded this path largely because of a concerted backlash—often in the form of red-baiting—encouraged by threatened newspaper and broadcast industries. Many lessons, parallels, and forgotten antecedents for current American media policy can be drawn from the postwar 1940s. Thus, it is instructive to explore how these earlier debates were framed, particularly in response to what might be referred to as "market failure." Given the worsening journalism crisis and other persistent media policy challenges, this analysis of market failure holds much contemporary relevance.
Effects of Cognitive Strategy Interventions and Cognitive Moderators on Word Problem Solving in Children at Risk for Problem Solving Difficulties.

This study investigated the role of strategy instruction and cognitive abilities on word problem solving accuracy in children with math difficulties (MD). Elementary school children (N = 120) with and without MD were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: general-heuristic (e.g., underline question sentence), visual-schematic presentation (diagrams), general-heuristic + visual-schematic, and an untreated control. When compared to the control condition that included children with MD, an advantage at posttest was found for children with MD for the visual-schematic-alone condition on measures of problem solving and calculation accuracy, whereas all strategy conditions facilitated posttest performance in correctly identifying problem solving components. The results also suggested that strategy conditions drew upon different cognitive resources. The General-heuristic condition drew primarily upon the executive component of working memory (WM), Visual-schematic condition drew upon the visual component of WM and the combined strategies condition drew upon number processing skills.
Binding of the arginine repressor of Escherichia coli K12 to its operator sites.

Abstract In the arginine regulon of Escherichia coli K12 each of the eight operator sites consists of two 18-base-pair-long palindromic sequences called ARG boxes. In the operator sites for the structural genes of the regulon the two ARG boxes are separated by three base-pairs, in the regulatory gene argR they are separated by two base-pairs. The hexameric arginine repressor, the product of argR , binds to the two ARG boxes in an operator in the presence of l -arginine. From the results of various kinds of in vitro footprinting experiments with the ARG boxes of argF and argR (DNase I protection, hydroxyl radical, ethylation and methylation interference, methylation protection) it can be concluded that: (1) the repressor binds simultaneously to two adjacent ARG boxes; (2) that it binds on one face of the double helix; and (3) that it forms contacts with the major and minor grooves of each ARG box, but not with the central three base-pairs. The repressor can bind also to a single ARG box, but its affinity is about 100-fold lower than for two ARG boxes. From gel retardation experiments with 3 H-labeled repressor and 32 P-labeled argF operator DNA, it is concluded that the retarded DNA-protein complex contains no more than one repressor molecule per operator site and that most likely one hexamer binds to two ARG boxes. The bound repressor was shown to induce bending of argF operator DNA. The bending angle calculated from the results of gel retardation experiments is about 70° and the bending center was located within the region encompassing the ARG boxes. The main features that distinguish the arginine repressor from other repressers studied in E. coli are its hexameric nature and the simultaneous binding of one hexameric molecule to two palindromic ARG boxes that are close to each other.
Crystallization behavior of Nd–Fe–B-based alloys

Abstract Minor alloying additions to Nd–Fe–B significantly alter the crystallization kinetics of the alloy. The crystallization behavior of stoichiometric Nd 2 Fe 14 B displayed conventional behavior, with an Avrami exponent, n , close to 3. TiC additions stabilized the glassy phase and contributed to a more uniform crystallized grain structure. The time to complete crystallization was extended, implying a change in crystallization kinetics. The kinetic behavior and microstructural evolution implied growth-controlled crystallization. However, substitution additions to form a nine-component alloy displayed anomalous crystallization behavior (large n ). EDS results, which showed partitioning of Ti and C, interfacial enrichment of the rare-earth elements, and interfacial depletion of Fe, suggested that diffusion processes may be important in this system, while microstructural development suggested that the transformation was dominated by a rapidly changing nucleation rate.
Prediction and minimization of vertical migration of DNAPLS using surfactant enhanced aquifer remediation at neutral buoyancy

Abstract Surfactant enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) had previously been thought to require a capillary barrier below the contaminated zone to prevent the vertical migration of a microemulsion containing solubilized DNAPL. This paper shows the vertical migration of the dense microemulsion is described and predicted by the value of three dimensionless scaling groups. Embedded within these scaling groups are four design parameters. The value of these parameters can be manipulated in order to reduce the amount of vertical migration anticipated for a given remediation design. Plots have been constructed that illustrate the relationship between vertical migration and the value of the scaling groups; such plots can be used to predict vertical migration and to determine appropriate screen intervals of extraction wells to ensure full capture of the contaminants. This predictive capability has been verified in laboratory experiments. Predicted migration of the microemulsion agreed within about 2% of that observed. Development of the scaling groups is presented, remediation design implications are discussed, and laboratory verification is shown. Additional discussion of the laboratory work is given in a companion paper [Kostarelos, K., Pope, G.A., Rouse, B.A., Shook, G.M., 1998. A new concept: the use of neutrally-buoyant microemulsions for DNAPL remediation, J. Contam. Hydro., this edition].
Aortic dimensions in tall men and women.

Abstract Subjects with the Marfan syndrome are at risk for sudden death from aortic regurgitation, dissection or rupture. The severity of aortic regurgitation correlates with the degree of aortic root dilation, not annular dilation.1,2 The risk of aortic dissection increases with aortic enlargement.1,2 Aortic dissection may occur with only moderate aortic root dilation.1 Because Marfan patients with nonenlarged aortic roots are thought to be at low risk for aortic dissection and rupture,1 it is critical to define an enlarged aortic root. Nomograms that have been published for normal aortic root dimensions have not included a sufficient number of healthy subjects whose height exceeds the 95th percentile,3–7 usually present in Marfan patients. Thus, we do not know the normal aortic root dimensions for subjects whose body size is equivalent to those with the Marfan syndrome. This study examines the acceptable upper limit of normal for the aortic root in healthy subjects taller than the 95th percentile. The data were sought for use in determining which Marfan patients have aortic roots of greater than normal size, thus warranting pharmacologic intervention and activity restriction.
Tool Heat Fluxes During Cutting of A360 Using Beck’s Method

The energy released during mechanical cutting is carried away by the metal chips and conduction into the tool. This report focuses on determination of the heat fluxes into the tool during cutting using Beck’s method. A small thermocouple is used to measure the temperature rise on the surface of a cutting tool during turning of aluminum A360 cylinders. A detailed model of the tool in FLUENT is used to compute the sensitivity coefficients for the temperature response at the sensor location due to a unit heat flux disturbance at the cutting zone. These sensitivity coefficients are used in Beck’s method along with the measured temperature history, to determine the heat flux history at the cutting zone.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Caring for the Suffering: Meeting the Ebola Crisis Responsibly

The current Ebola virus epidemic in Western Africa appears to be spiraling out of control. The worst-case projections suggested that the unchecked spread could result in almost 1.4 million cases by the end of January 2015 with a case fatality rate of at least 50%. The United States and European nations have begun to respond in earnest with promises of supplies, isolation beds, and trained health care personnel in an effort to contain the epidemic and care for the sick. However, there is neither a vaccine nor specific treatment for Ebola infection, and therapy is ideally centered on supportive care. I have previously argued that the provision of palliative care is obligatory during an overwhelming health catastrophe, notably pandemic influenza. Since affected Ebola patients have best outcomes with technologically advanced intensive care—resources in scarce supply in the area—I suggest that the only acceptable approach to large numbers of very sick, dying, and suffering Ebola patients who overwhelm the reso...
⁎3555 Dilation after fundoplication: timing, frequency, indication and success.

Background: Early dysphagia after fundoplication is frequent, but usually self-limiting. Persistent dysphagia occurs in a few patients. This may be related to underlying esophageal dysmotility, stricture, or the surgical procedure. Aim: To determine the incidence, timing, frequency, indication and success of dilation after fundoplication. Methods: 233 consecutive patients who underwent fundoplication at our institution were included in the study. Pre-operative motility findings, post-operative symptoms, endoscopic and radiographic data, timing and number of dilations and caliber of the dilator used were evaluated in patients who required dilation after surgery. Results: 29/233 (12.4%) patients underwent dilation after surgery. The mean time of dilation was 72 days post-op (range 3 to 330 days) and 6 patients were dilated within the first week. 10/29 (34.5%) required more than one dilation (mean=1.5, range 1 to 5). The mean diameter to which they were dilated was 18.6 mm (range 15-20 mm). There were no complications associated with these dilations. The indications for dilation were dysphagia in 21 patients and various causes in the other 8 (chest pain=3, epigastric pain=1, globus=1, gas bloat=1, belching=1, and vomiting=1). Three of the patients dilated for dysphagia were lost to follow-up. The dysphagia resolved with dilation in 12/18 (61%) patients. Six of these patients were shown to have a tight wrap by endoscopy or barium esophagogram. Out of the 6 patients who did not improve after dilation, 3 were found to have slipped wraps and underwent reoperation, which led to resolution of their symptoms. One patient had a long-standing preoperative stricture, which did not resolve. One patient had a tight wrap and still requires periodic dilation. The last patient had intermittent dysphagia, which was thought to be secondary to spasm. No patient who was dilated for a reason other than dysphagia improved. Preoperative esophageal motility results did not predict non-response to dilation. Conclusions: Dilation after fundoplication was required in 12.4% of patients, mainly for dysphagia. Early dilation even with large dilators was safe. Most patients required a single dilation. Tight fundoplication responded best to dilation whereas patients with a slipped fundoplication and those with symptoms other than dysphagia did not respond to dilation.
Mechanical behavior of aluminum-silicon nanocomposites : A molecular dynamics study

The mechanisms of deformation and failure in Al-Si nanocomposites, formed by adding Si particles to Al nanocrystalline materials, are investigated using molecular dynamics. The deformation and fracture mechanisms are found to be different in the Al-Si composites as compared to single-phase all-Al materials. The plastic deformation of all-Al polycrystals is associated with a mix of grain boundary deformation and dislocation activity while the deformation in the Al-Si nanocomposites is associated with predominantly grain boundary sliding/shearing at the Al/Si interfaces and little deformation elsewhere. The Al-Si nanocomposites also have a higher yield stress than the all-Al nanocrystals, consistent with recent experimental data. The failure of the Al polycrystals occurs by crack initiation at triple junctions and grain boundaries accompanied by localized shearing, leading to either trans- or intergranular cracks, while failure in the Al-Si nanocomposites occurs by void damage accumulation, culminating in crack formation, at an Al/Si interface. The tensile strength in the Al-Si nanocomposites correlates well with the fundamental Al/Si interface strength when the interface stress concentration caused by the modulus mismatch is considered. In spite of very different failure modes, the tensile strengths of the Al-Si and all-Al materials are similar. These results show that Al/Si interfaces control the mechanical behavior in the nanocomposites, reducing the role of bulk metal deformation modes, indicating that Al-Si nanocomposites can be engineered for enhanced hardness over all-Al nanocrystals of the same grain size. (c) 2006 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Angioedema: the role of ACE inhibitors and factors associated with poor clinical outcome.

Objective: We sought to study the prevalence of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, a cause of angioedema, and investigate any association between clinical findings at the time of presentation and clinical outcome. Design and setting: Retrospective review of the charts of all patients presenting with angioedema to the emergency department at our tertiary referral teaching hospital or clinics over a 4-year period. The charts were reviewed for documentation of chief complaint(s), physical findings, medical treatment, need for laryngoscopy and/or endotracheal intubation, triage, and probable etiology. Results: Of the 40 patients presenting with angioedema in this study, 15 cases were caused by ACE inhibitors. They were the most common cause of angioedema, accounting for 38 % of all cases. The incidence of ACE inhibitor-induced angioedema is estimated to be 0.14 %. More patients with angioedema secondary to ACE inhibitors had complaints of odynophagia (p < 0.02), whereas only patients with non-ACE inhibitor causes of angioedema presented with pruritus (p < 0.02). Furthermore, patients presenting with an acute reaction within 24 h of exposure to the causative agent were more likely to require inpatient monitoring (p < 0.05). Both odynophagia and edema of the tongue were significant predictors for undergoing laryngoscopy (p < 0.001 and p < 0.02, respectively) and admission to the hospital (p < 0.05). Conclusion: ACE inhibitors are the number one cause of acute angioedema in this tertiary referral teaching hospital. Odynophagia and tongue swelling at the time of presentation had significant implications for diagnostic intervention and admission to the hospital.
Do differences in attitudes explain differences in national climate change policies

Abstract In meeting the threat posed by climate change nations have responded quite differently. Using an extensive data set this study explores factors that affect individuals' attitudes towards climate change and how those attitudes ultimately affect national climate change policy. The results show that attitudes do indeed matter in implementing policy and that attitudes are shaped not only by how individuals react to the specific attributes of climate change, but also by information, by the openness of society and by attitudes toward the trustworthiness of government.
Use of the health belief model in determining frequency of breast self-examination.

The purpose of this research was to identify the relationships of attitudes about breast self-examination and breast cancer to the frequency of breast self-examination. The health belief model was used as a theoretical base. Likert scales were developed for the independent variables of susceptibility, seriousness, benefit, barriers, and health motivation; the dependent variable was frequency of breast self-examination. A convenience sample of 301 women was drawn from a large metropolitan city. Self-administered questionnaires contained the developed scales, a measure of frequency of breast self-examination, and demographic variables. Results supported the health belief model's prediction of frequency of breast self-examination (R = .51; p less than or equal to .01). In addition, the variables of seriousness, benefits, barriers, and health motivation discriminated groupings according to frequency of breast self-examination. Results support the relationship of the health belief model variable to the behavior of breast self-examination Nursing implications are discussed.
Inhibitory effects of naltrexone on the induction of parental behavior in juvenile rats

Juvenile rats are rapidly responsive to pups soon after weaning, displaying maternal-like behaviors such as licking, retrieving, grouping, and crouching over pups. As juveniles reach 30 days of age, they become less responsive to pups and show increased latencies to display the same parental behaviors. In light of previous data implicating opiates in the display of ongoing maternal behavior, we administered naltrexone, a long-acting opiate antagonist, beginning 5 and 9 days prior to and continuing throughout the period of behavioral testing, which started at 26 or 30 days of age. Male and female juveniles treated with 10 mg/kg of naltrexone SC for 9 days (days 21 to 29 of age) prior to and during behavioral testing (days 30 to 37) showed longer latencies to retrieve, group, and crouch over pups than did the vehicle-injected controls. These results suggest that opioids may have a stimulatory role in parental behavior during this prepubertal period.
Myo -inositol-2- t Incorporation by Germinating Pollen

POLLEN of pear (Pyrus communis) germinated in vitro in 10−3 M myo-inositol-2-t rapidly incorporates label into its 70 per cent ethanol-insoluble polysaccharides1. Analysis of pectinase hydrolysates recovered nearly all this label in D-galacturonic acid and L-arabinose residues. Other investigations2,3 have shown that this conversion is highly specific and that the original carbon sequence in inositol is conserved. Hexose constituents present in these 70 per cent ethanol-insoluble pollen residues, principally D-glucose and D-galactose, are essentially unlabelled.
Non-polar m-plane GaN on patterned Si(112) substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

The concept of non-polar (11bar00) m-plane GaN on Si substrates has been demonstrated by initiating growth on the vertical (1bar1bar1) sidewalls of patterned Si(112) substrates using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The Si(112) substrates were wet-etched to expose {111} planes using stripe-patterned SiN x masks oriented along the [1bar10] direction. Only the vertical Si (1bar1bar1) sidewalls were allowed to participate in GaN growth by masking other Si{111} planes using SiO2, which led to m-plane GaN films. Growth initiating on the Si (1bar1bar1) planes normal to the surface was allowed to advance laterally and also vertically towards full coalescence. The full width at half maximum values for the GaN mplane x-ray diffraction rocking curves were 9 and 27 arcmin when rocked toward the GaN a-axis (parallel to stripes) and the GaN c-axis (perpendicular to stripes), respectively. Room-temperature photoluminescence showed strong band-edge emission with an intensity comparable to that of laterally overgrown c-plane GaN. InGaN double heterostructure active layers grown on these m-GaN templates on Si exhibited two times higher internal quantum efficiencies as compared to their c-plane counterparts at comparable carrier densities. These results demonstrate a promising method to obtain highquality non-polar m-GaN films on large area, inexpensive Si substrates.
Rotational spin echoes and high resolution NMR in powders

Abstract When a powder having linewidth Δ arising from inhomogeneous second-rank tensor in interactions is rotated about the magic axis at ν rot