cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Donor Hepatectomy Surgery using Ketamine to Compliment Analgesia and Reduce Morbidity - a Retrospective Chart Review Investigation.

Objective Inferior and limited analgesic options/techniques during living donor hepatectomy surgery can result in pain and risks of morbidity, opioid-related adverse events (AEs), predisposition to the development of chronic pain and concerns of potential narcotic abuse. Traditional analgesia uses unimodal intravenous opioids that can cause significant side effects. Ketamine provides analgesia and may be opioid sparing, but use in living-donor hepatectomy has not been studied. Methods Following human investigation committee approval and informed written consent, 47 liver donor patients over a 5-year period scheduled for surgery were categorized into one of three groups: 24 patients received no ketamine (Group 1), 9 received only intraoperative ketamine (Group 2) and 14 patients received intraoperative plus postoperative ketamine (Group 3). Subjects had access to opioid patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). Chart reviews (including operating room and intensive care unit) were collected and analysed for morphine consumption, pain-intensity scores, opioid-sparing effects, AEs of analgesics and for evidence of ketamine side effects on donor hepatectomy patients. Results There were no differences in patient demographics. Living donor hepatectomy patients receiving intraoperative ketamine that was continued postoperatively consumed fewer morphine-equivalents and had lower median pain scores than subjects from the other two groups. Ileus occurred in those not receiving ketamine, pruritus was lowest in Group 3, and there was no evidence or reports of ketamine-associated AEs. Conclusion Perioperative ketamine for donor hepatectomy patients could safely provide improved analgesia and be opioid sparing when compared to PCA opioids alone, and there is no evidence of ketamine-related AEs at the dose and delivery methods described here during partial liver donation surgery.
Band Edge Positions and Their Impact on the Simulated Device Performance of ZnSnN2-Based Solar Cells

ZnSnN2 (ZTN) has been proposed as a new earth abundant absorber material for photovoltaic (PV) applications. While carrier concentration has been reduced to values suitable for device implementation, other properties such as ionization potential, electron affinity, and work function are not known. Here, we experimentally determine the value of ionization potential (5.6 eV), electron affinity (4.1 eV), and work function (4.4 eV) for ZTN thin film samples with Zn cation composition Zn/(Zn+Sn) = 0.56 and carrier concentration $n$ = 2 × 1019 cm−3 . Using both experimental and theoretical results, we build a model to simulate the device performance of a ZTN/Mg:CuCrO2 solar cell, showing a potential efficiency of 23% in the limit of no defects present. We also investigate the role of band tails and recombination centers on the cell performance. In particular, device simulations show that band tails are highly detrimental to the cell efficiency, and recombination centers are a major limitation if present in concentration comparable to the net carrier density. The effect of the position of the band edges of the p- type junction partner was assessed too. Through this study, we determine the major bottlenecks for the development of ZTN-based solar cell and identify avenues to mitigate them.
Who is willing to come back? College students' willingness to seek help after using campus mental health services

Objective: To examine characteristics of college students who have previously received mental health (MH) services on campus and are willing to seek help again in the future. Participants: Spring 2...
Diagnosis and Management of Children With Mycobacterium abscessus Infections in the Head and Neck

Purpose Controversy exists regarding the most appropriate treatment strategy for children with nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) cervical lymphadenitis. Mycobacterium abscessus (MAB) is an uncommon cause of NTM cervical lymphadenitis. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate diagnosis, management, and treatment outcomes in children with MAB-associated cervical lymphadenitis resulting from a pulpotomy. Materials and Methods This was a retrospective chart review of children with NTM lymphadenitis of the head and neck caused by MAB treated at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta hospitals (Atlanta, GA). The predictor variables were patient demographics, dental history, clinical presentation, imaging characteristics, laboratory findings, histopathologic examination, treatment, and complications. The outcome variable was disease resolution or persistence. Results Twenty-two patients (mean age, 6.5 yr) met the inclusion criteria. All patients had pulpotomy at 1 dental practice. The mean time from dental procedure to symptom onset was 43.1 days (range, 3 to 180 days). Children presented with cervical or submandibular swelling, facial swelling, gingival erythema, and skin erythema. Radiographic findings were submandibular or cervical lymphadenitis, maxillary or mandibular osteolysis, subcutaneous abscess, and pulmonary nodules. All children had confirmed or probable MAB infection diagnosed on the pathologic specimen. There were 2 distinct patient presentations that guided surgical management: isolated noninflammatory cervical lymphadenitis, which was partly or completely excised (n = 11), and adjacent extension or disseminated infection requiring subtotal lymph node excision, bone debridement, and postoperative antibiotics (n = 11). Most children required multiple surgical interventions to remove infected tissues. All achieved clinical resolution. Conclusion In this cohort, treatment of NTM lymphadenitis caused by MAB depended on extent of disease and virulence of bacteria. When complete surgical excision was possible, disease resolution was achieved. However, in cases with adjacent extension or dissemination infection, postoperative antibiotics were necessary.
Compactifications and BPS States

As remarkable as these dualities may appear, we can still question whether they are accidents of our low-energy expansions or represent something deeper about the theory. We must establish other consistency checks on these nonperturbative results. Perhaps the most persuasive evidence comes from something called “BPS saturated states,” which allow us to probe nonperturbative phenomena because of the nonrenormalization theorems. In this chapter, we will see show these BPS saturated states allow us to establish a web of dualities in dimensions down to D = 4.
Caribbean cruise tourism: globalization at sea.

Abstract Caribbean cruise tourism provides a particularly illuminating vantage point for understanding the processes of globalization in the world today. After documenting the rapid expansion of this business, the paper explores three central manifestations of globalization at work in the Caribbean cruise industry: the restructuring of the industry in the face of global competition, capital mobility, and labor migration; new patterns of global ethnic recruitment and stratification, including their incorporation into the product marketed to tourists; and deterritorialization, cultural theming, and simulation. The paper asserts that this “globalization at sea” illustrates the contradictions, ambiguities, and unchartered course of contemporary globalization processes.
Molecular Biology and Evolution of the Ntr System

R. capsulatus is a purple non-sulfur photosynthetic bacterium that fixes nitrogen microaerobically or anaerobically when levels of intracellular fixed nitrogen are limiting. Because the nitrogenase enzyme is inactivated by oxygen and the process of converting atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia is energy intensive, the synthesis of proteins required for nitrogen fixation is highly regulated by oxygen and fixed nitrogen. Approximately 36 genes encoding both structural and regulatory proteins have been identified as nitrogen fixation (nif) genes in R. capsulatusfor a review see [1]. Functions for some of the nifgenes have been demonstrated directly or inferred from sequence homology with genes from Klebsiella pneumoniae,a free-living bacterium whose nifgenes have been studied extensively [reviewed in 2,3]. A model for the R. capsulatus niftranscriptional circuit has been proposed [4,5] and R. capsulatus nifgene expression has recently been reviewed with respect to the K. pneumoniaemodel [6,7]. In R. capsulatusand K. pneumoniae,two levels of control exist: the first involves proteins that sense and relay the nitrogen status of the cell while the second level involves mechanisms of oxygen repression. Figure 1 shows a general overview of the R. capsulatusregulatory cascade that will be briefly discussed here.
Cigarette Smoking and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Adult Mortality in the United States

This study illuminates the association between cigarette smoking and adult mortality in the contemporary United States. Recent studies have estimated smoking-attributable mortality using indirect approaches or with sample data that are not nationally representative and that lack key confounders. We use the 1990–2011 National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality Files to estimate relative risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality for current and former smokers compared with never smokers. We examine causes of death established as attributable to smoking as well as additional causes that appear to be linked to smoking but have not yet been declared by the U.S. Surgeon General to be caused by smoking. Mortality risk is substantially elevated among smokers for established causes and moderately elevated for additional causes. We also decompose the mortality disadvantage among smokers by cause of death and estimate the number of smoking-attributable deaths for the U.S. adult population ages 35+, net of sociodemographic and behavioral confounders. The elevated risks translate to 481,887 excess deaths per year among current and former smokers compared with never smokers, 14 % to 15 % of which are due to the additional causes. The additional causes of death contribute to the health burden of smoking and should be considered in future studies of smoking-attributable mortality. This study demonstrates that smoking-attributable mortality must remain a top population health priority in the United States and makes several contributions to further underscore the human costs of this tragedy that has ravaged American society for more than a century.
Work-Life Balance in Higher Education for Women: Perspectives of Athletic Training Faculty

Context: Women are largely underrepresented in science fields in academe, and most often issues with motherhood and career-life balancing are identified as reasons. In athletic training, career-lif...
Posterior Vertebral Endplate Fractures: A Retrospective Study on a Rare Etiology of Back Pain in Youth and Young Adults

Abstract Background Posterior lumbar vertebral endplate fracture occurs with avulsion of the ring apophysis from the posterior vertebral body. Although this has been described in adolescents and young adults, proper diagnosis is often delayed or missed entirely. Surgery may be curative. Objective To determine the common clinical features and treatment outcomes in youth and young adults with posterior lumbar vertebral endplate fractures. Design Descriptive case series. Setting Academic medical institution. Patients Patients 10 to 25 years old from 2000 through 2012 with posterior vertebral endplate fracture diagnosis. Main Outcome Measurements Demographic characteristics, diagnostic studies, interventions, and change in symptoms postoperatively. Descriptive statistics were used. Results Sixteen patients had posterior vertebral endplate fractures (8 male patients; mean age, 15.2 years)—8.3% of 192 patients with inclusion age range undergoing spinal surgery for causes unrelated to trauma, scoliosis, or malignancy. The most common signs and symptoms were low back and radiating leg pain, positive straight leg raise, hamstring contracture, and abnormal gait. Cause was sports related for 12 patients (75%). Mean (range) time to diagnosis was 13.0 (3.0-63.0) months. Diagnosis was most commonly made with lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (n=6). Most fractures occurred at L5 (n=8, 50%) and L4 (n=5, 31.3%). Conservative measures were trialed before surgery. Nine patients had “complete relief” following surgery and 7 “improved.” Conclusions Posterior vertebral endplate fracture should be considered in differential diagnosis of a youth or young adult with back pain, radiating leg pain, and limited knee extension, regardless of symptom onset. We recommend consultation with an experienced physician whose practice specializes in spine medicine for patients in whom conservative management fails.
Pengaruh Kualitas Pelayanan terhadap Kepuasan Pelanggan (studi kasus : Klinik Palapa Dentis JAkarta Selatan)

Services is one of the business activities in which the services are basically all economic activity that results were not a product in a physical form or construction. In the era of globalization, the dynamics of the business world is getting harder and tighter included in the health care field. With the increasing quality of the service, the service functions in a dental clinic or the health sector needs to be improved in order to become more effective and efficient and give satisfaction to the patient and society. The more advanced the renewal in the field of technology, the field of health services has also increased, the field of modern infrastructure and facilities as well as being more accurate in the field of services. In connection with such matters, besides the quality of health services must be prioritized, service quality must also be considered again. Therefore, patients in need of quality health care services with satisfactory service. Palapa Dentists dental clinic (Klinik Dr. drgAnggraeni SP, KG) is one company that is engaged in services, especially health. Key words : Service Quality, Satisfaction
Parents' Use of Technologies for Health Management: A Health Literacy Perspective.

Abstract Objective Parent use of technology to manage child health issues has the potential to improve access and health outcomes. Few studies have examined how parent health literacy affects usage of Internet and cell phone technologies for health management. Methods Cross-sectional analysis of data collected as part of a randomized controlled experiment in 3 urban pediatric clinics. English- and Spanish-speaking parents (n = 858) of children ≤8 years answered questions regarding use of and preferences related to Internet and cell phone technologies. Parent health literacy was measured using the Newest Vital Sign. Results The majority of parents were high Internet (70.2%) and cell phone (85.1%) users (multiple times a day). A total of 75.1% had limited health literacy (32.1% low, 43.0% marginal). Parents with higher health literacy levels had greater Internet and cell phone use (adequate vs low: adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.7 [confidence interval, 1.2–2.5]) and were more likely to use them for health management (AOR, 1.5 [confidence interval, 1.2–1.8]); those with higher health literacy levels were more likely to use the Internet for provider communication (adequate vs marginal vs low: 25.0% vs 18.0% vs 12.0%, P = .001) and health-related cell phone apps (40.6% vs 29.7% vs 16.4%, P Conclusions Health literacy–associated disparities in parent use of Internet and cell phone technologies exist, but parents’ desire for use of these technologies for provider communication was overall high and did not differ by health literacy.
Analyzing IO Usage Patterns of User Jobs to Improve Overall HPC System Efficiency

This work looks at analyzing I/O traffic of users’ jobs on a HPC machine for a period of time. Monitoring tools are collecting the data in a continuous basis on the HPC system. We looked at aggregate I/O data usage patterns of users’ jobs on the system both on the parallel shared Lustre file system and the node-local SSDs. Data mining tools are then applied to analyze the I/O usage pattern data in an attempt to tie the data to particular codes that produced those I/O behaviors from users’ jobs.
Does open access make cents? Return on investment in the institutional repository

Access to information resources is a traditional library service. Public libraries were the first to provide unfettered access to print information resources to a general population. It is not a stretch to recognize those institutions as the earliest providers of open access (OA). Now the term open access is generally defined as the free and immediate online availability of research and scholarship, adapting to the widespread change in delivery format from print to digital. OA as a library service—most commonly in support of the scholarly communication process—has become a priority for most academic libraries. Academic libraries and librarians are increasingly engaged in both providing and promoting OA, primarily through institutional repository (IR) services with roles as creators, disseminators, publishers, and preservers of scholarly content.
AGGLUTININS OF FORMALINIZED ERYTHROCYTES: CHANGES IN ACTIVITY WITH DEVELOPMENT OF DICTYOSTELIUM DISCOIDEUM AND EMBRYONIC CHICK BRAIN

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the agglutinins of formalinized erythrocytes and changes in activity with the development of Dictyostelium discoideum and embryonic chick brain. In view of the usefulness of the agglutination reaction in identifying a developmentally regulated, carbohydrate-binding protein from slime mold, agglutination activity in extracts of embryonic chick brain of different ages was studied. It is found that when formalinized sheep red blood cells were treated with the extracts of embryonic chick brain, agglutination was observed. It is found that when formalinized chicken erythrocytes were used, agglutination occurred at a lower concentration of factor. It should be noted that agglutination of formalinized chicken cells by embryonic chick brain factor distinguishes it from the slime mold factor which does not agglutinate this cell type. Studies of the concentration of factor in brain at various times after onset of incubation indicated that the factor was highest early in the brain development and declined at later stages. Agglutination activity was not unique to the brain because extracts of heart from 11- or 14-day-old chick embryos had agglutination activity, although this was about one-eighth as potent per milligram as the factor from brain. Extracts of liver prepared from these same embryos had no agglutination activity.
Nonradiative-decay-rate dependence of the performance of Ho:Tm lasers

A set of models have been developed and experimentally corroborated to predict the amplifier performance of Ho:Tm lasers. This model was developed as a tool to facilitateimization of Ho:Tm laser amplifiers. Nonradiative decay rates are an essential part of the model, affecting performance of Ho:Tm lasers beneficially through the increase of the quantum efficiency or deleteriously through the upconversion process. Although upconversion has been suggested as the cause of the decrease in the apparent lifetime of the upper laser level, the effects on nonradiative decay on this process have not been fully explored. One possible explanation for this is the accuracy with which the nonradiative decay rates are known. Here a set of models are used to predict the gain of an amplifier as a function of both pump energy and time. By comparing the observed lifetime of the upper laser level with the model, the nonradiative decay rates can be determined. After the nonradiative decay rates have been fixed, the amplifier gain can be compared with experimental curves of gain versus pump energy for several different combinations of Ho and Tm concentrations.
Communication, Partnerships, and the Role of Social Science: Conservation Delivery in a Brave New World

The Saginaw Bay Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) in Michigan is an innovative conservation effort organized to address water quality impairments involving a unique collaboration bet...
Thoracic aortic remodeling with endografting after a decade of thoracic endovascular aortic repair experience

Abstract Objective Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) results have been studied in short-term time frames. This study aimed to evaluate midterm and long-term outcomes of TEVAR, emphasizing postoperative aortic remodeling and need for reintervention. Methods This is an institutional retrospective review of TEVAR for isolated descending thoracic aortic aneurysms. Data were collected from 2004 to 2018. Primary outcomes studied included aneurysm sac remodeling, freedom from reintervention, and all-cause mortality. Other outcomes studied include endoleak rates, neurologic complication rates, and any overall postoperative complication rates. Results During the study period, 219 patients underwent TEVAR for descending thoracic aortic aneurysms. The median effect of TEVAR on sac diameter was a 0.7-cm decrease in size (interquartile range, −1.4 to 0.0 cm). During the study period, 80% (n = 147) of patients experienced aneurysm sac regression or stability. Perioperative neurologic complications occurred in 16% (n = 34) of patients. Significant predictors of sac growth were endoleak (odds ratio [OR], 65; P 30% had an increased odds of mortality with HR >10 (P = .049). Other significant factors that increased the odds of mortality included endoleak (HR, 3.6; P = .033), diabetes (HR, 4.1; P = .048), age (every 1-year increase in age; HR, 1.2; P = .002), year of surgery (every year subsequent to 2004; HR, 1.3; P = .012), and peripheral artery disease (HR, 5.2; P = .041). Conclusions The majority of patients (80%) experience sac stability or regression after TEVAR, which offers a clear survival advantage. Endoleaks are predictive of sac growth, conferring increased mortality. Rigorous surveillance is necessary to prevent future aortic events through reintervention.
Resource Allocation for Contingency Planning: An Inexact Bundle Method for Stochastic Optimization

Resource contingency planning aims to mitigate the effects of unexpected disruptions in supply chains. While these failures occur infrequently, they often have disastrous consequences. This paper formulates the resource allocation problem in contingency planning as a two-stage stochastic optimization problem with a risk-averse recourse function. Furthermore, the paper proposes a novel computationally tractable solution approach. The proposed algorithm relies on an inexact bundle method with subgradient approximations through a scenario reduction mechanism. We prove that our scenario reduction and function approximations satisfy the requirements of the oracle in the inexact bundle method, ensuring convergence to an optimal solution. The practical performance of the developed inexact bundle method under risk aversion is investigated for our resource allocation problem. We create a library of test problems and obtain their optimal values by applying the exact bundle method. The computed solutions from the developed inexact bundle method are compared against these optimal values, under different risk measures. Our analysis indicates that our inexact bundle method significantly reduces the computational time of solving the resource allocation problem in comparison to the exact bundle method, and is capable of achieving a high percentage of optimality within a much shorter time.
A specter haunting the cinema

Academia loves anniversaries. As such, it comes as no surprise that 2018 would commemorate 1968, a year so enshrined in our collective consciousness that a vast literature across all disciplines in...
Core-scale modeling of surfactant-assisted spontaneous water imbibition in carbonates

Abstract This work numerically investigates surfactant effects on spontaneous water imbibition in oil-wet carbonates. An open boundary core-scale imbibition model with 9 × 9 × 10 gridblocks was used in UTCHEM to simulate carbonate core plug exposure to a vast water body. The simulation models were developed based on surfactant-assisted imbibition tests that were conducted in secondary and tertiary oil production modes using Amott cells at 75 °C. Capillary and gravity forces were captured by history matching the experiments. Through history matching, the inputs for surfactant adsorption and diffusion, capillary pressure and relative permeability were calibrated. In tertiary mode, the surfactants-assisted imbibition process presents the performance in mixed-wet state rather than oil-wet state, which is governed by wettability alteration. A simulation model for surfactant-assisted imbibition in secondary mode was used to investigate the effects of various factors including interfacial tension (IFT) reduction, wettability alteration, adsorption, volume of surrounding water, and capillary force. The simulation results suggest that surfactant-assisted water imbibition in secondary mode is gravity dominant, which is facilitated by both IFT reduction and wettability alteration caused by addition of proper surfactants. Different from water imbibition in water-wet core, it presents vertically dominant oil flow with a hemispherical oil-rich area and uneven remaining oil saturation. It is obvious that sufficient surfactant supply in vast water is required to make effective imbibition, in consideration of surfactant consumption and changes in concentration gradients. This core-scale modeling provides insights of surfactant-assisted imbibition in initially oil-wet carbonates and helps scale up the application in a cost-effective way.
A Timing Aware Connectivity Optimization Technique for Improving Energy Efficiency of High-Performance CPUs

The importance of energy efficiency in compute is growing with the exponential increase in the computing requirement. Improved performance at lower power is essential to reduce energy footprint, improve battery life, and push the performance of CPUs even higher through better thermal management. The reduction of dynamic power without any impact on the maximum frequency of operation processors will have a significant role in improving energy efficiency. This paper presents an efficient timing aware connectivity optimisation technique on stdcell, which helps in reducing the dynamic power of designs by optimally connecting the input signals to the standard cell input pins. An efficient algorithm is also proposed to make the right design choices during connectivity optimisation, based on timing and power. Experiments carried out on high-performance CPU core designs, at Intel's 14nm Finfet technology, show up to 2% reduction in dynamic power, without having any impact on total negative margin, worst negative margin, output slews, and cumulative margin histogram. The ease of implementation, minimal ECO effort and less than an hour run time makes this method an easy choice, even at the late stages of design closure.
The assembly, calibration, and predicted performance of the SISTINE-2 sounding rocket payload

The Suborbital Imaging Spectrograph for Transition-region Irradiance from Nearby Exoplanet host stars (SIS- TINE) sounding rocket payload is an f /30 imaging spectrograph designed to measure the far ultraviolet (1000 - 1275 and 1300 - 1565 A) output of exoplanet host stars. The instrument is composed of an f /14 Cassegrain telescope with a 500 mm diameter primary mirror feeding a 2.1x magnifying spectrograph. Light is dispersed by a blazed, holographically ruled grating, reflected off a powered fold mirror, and recorded on a large format microchannel plate (MCP) detector. The instrument incorporates enhanced LiF (eLiF) protected aluminum on the primary, secondary, and fold mirrors. The secondary mirror also has a protective AlF3 capping layer, applied using atomic layer deposition (ALD). The detector is composed of two windowless 113 x 42 mm segments with cross delay line anodes and CsI photocathodes. The detector utilizes ALD processed borosilicate plates, and additionally serves as a flight test for detectors on future astrophysics missions. The instrument reaches a peak effective area of 99.9 cm2 at 1145 A. The assembly of SISTINE-2 included the application of new photocathodes to the detector, showing improvements in quantum efficiency after laboratory tests. SISTINE-2 will observe the nearby F star Procyon in late 2021, making the first simultaneous observation from O VI through C IV and setting new empirical constraints on the radiation fields experienced by planets orbiting mid-F stars.
Deep Feature Fusion for Rumor Detection on Twitter

The increasing popularity of social media has made the creation and spread of rumors much easier. Widespread rumors on social media could cause devastating damages to society and individuals. Automatically detecting rumors in a timely manner is greatly needed but also very challenging technically. In this paper, we propose a new deep feature fusion method that employs the linguistic characteristics of the source tweet text and the underlying patterns of the propagation tree of the source tweet for Twitter rumor detection. Specifically, the pre-trained Transformer-based model is applied to extract context-sensitive linguistic features from the short source tweet text. A novel sequential encoding method is proposed to embed the propagation tree of a source tweet into the vector space. A convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture is then developed to extract temporal-structural features from the encoded propagation tree. The performance of the proposed deep feature fusion method is evaluated with two public Twitter rumor datasets. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves significantly better detection performance than other state-of-the-art baseline methods.
Gestión de televisión en espaol en los Estados Unidos durante los primeros 50 aos de la industria

Many people were stunned to learn the Spanish-language television network Univision was the highest rated in prime time among all U.S. networks in July 2013, a feat it repeated a year later. Steady growth of its demographic and advertising bases, combined with astute management, has brought success to this dynamic industry sector. However, the boom years were preceded by several decades of formidable challenges and lean periods. This article examines the principal technological, programming, financial and competitive obstacles network management faced from the 1970s to the 2000s, illustrating the variety of fronts on which ethnic-oriented media leaders maneuvered during a period of rapid population growth and industry transformation.
Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History

Hailed as "irrepressibly spirited and entertaining" (Pico Iyer, Time) and "a fascinating cultural survey" (Paul Devlin, Daily Beast), this provocative first biography of Charlie Chan presents American history in a way that it has never been told before. Yunte Huang ingeniously traces Charlie Chan from his real beginnings as a bullwhip-wielding detective in territorial Hawaii to his reinvention as a literary sleuth and Hollywood film icon. Huang finally resurrects the "honorable detective" from the graveyard of detested postmodern symbols and reclaims him as the embodiment of America's rich cultural diversity. The result is one of the most critically acclaimed books of the year and a "deeply personal ...voyage into racial stereotyping and the humanizing force of story telling" (Donna Seaman, Los Angeles Times).
Allergic transfusion reactions to platelets are associated more with recipient and donor factors than with product attributes.

BACKGROUND: Mechanisms of allergic transfusion reactions (ATRs) are not well understood. The aim of this study was to distinguish recipient-, donor-, and product-specific factors associated with ATRs. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of apheresis platelet (AP) products transfused from April 2000 through March 2010. The concordance rate of ATRs when split AP products were transfused to at least two individuals was compared to the overall ATR rate among all AP products. Per-person ATR rates also were compared to the overall ATR rate. RESULTS: We observed 1616 ATRs among 93,737 transfusions, for an overall incidence of 1.72% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.64%-1.81%). Of the 1616 ATRs, 630 occurred when split AP products were transfused to at least two recipients. Of these 630 AP products, ATRs were observed in at least two different recipients of the same AP collection only 6 of 630 times, for a concordant incidence of 0.95% (95% CI, 0.35%-2.06%), which is similar to the overall ATR rate (p = 0.17). On an individual level, 30.0% of recipients had ATR rates of more than 5%, and these 30.0% accounted for 62.1% of ATRs. Donors of AP products associated with concordant ATRs donated AP products that had an ATR rate of 5.8% (95% CI, 3.1%-9.7%), which is higher than the overall ATR rate (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: An observed ATR does not predict an ATR in a different recipient of a split AP product. A minority of platelet recipients accounts for the majority of ATRs. Some donors are strongly associated with ATRs. Consequently, recipient and donor factors are implicated in the mechanism of ATRs.
Ion composition irregularities and ionosphere-plasmasphere coupling - Observations of a high latitude ion trough

Abstract Atomic and molecular ion composition results from the polar orbiting OGO-4 and 6 satellites identify a high latitude trough (HLT) in the topside ionosphere (600–1000 km), as a repeatable signature, separate from the light ion trough (LIT) in H+ and He+, associated with the plasmapause. The HLT is often seen as a narrow (5°–10° latitude) depletion of a factor of 3 or more in the concentrations of the atomic ions H+, O+, N+ and He+, accompanied by similarly abrupt enhancements in the concentrations of the molecular ions NO+, N2+ and O2+. The coexistence of the HLT and the molecular ion peaks near 70° magnetic latitude suggests that the HLT may be associated with soft electron precipitation in the auroral zone/cusp region. This assumption is tentatively supported by the observation that low frequency hiss enhancements are observed simultaneously with the HLT. The presence of the HLT in addition to the LIT and its associated ‘plasmatail’ structure presents an added complication for identifying ionospheric signatures of ionosphere-plasmasphere coupling, illustrating the need for studies of energetic as well as plasma convection mechanisms involved in the coupling processes.
Insights into the Distinctly Different Sensitivities of α7 and α7β2 nAChRs to the Volatile Anesthetic Isoflurane

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) mediate the fast synaptic transmission in the central and peripheral nervous systems. They are also targets of general anesthetics. Among the nAChR subtypes, α7 and α4β2 nAChRs are the most abundant subtypes found in the brain. Despite their high sequence homology, the α4β2 nAChR is hypersensitive but the α7 nAChR is insensitive to volatile general anesthetics. The underlying cause for the functional discrepancy between these homologous receptors presents an intriguing enigma. In this study, we have found that the α7β2 nAChR is hypersensitive to the volatile anesthetic isoflurane and that the β2 subunit is primarily responsible for conferring anesthetic sensitivity. Using high-resolution NMR, we identified intrasubunit isoflurane binding sites at the extracellular and intracellular ends of the β2 and α7 transmembrane domains, respectively. Cavity analyses revealed that β2, but not α7, has a pocket large enough to accommodate isoflurane binding to the extracellular end of the transmembrane domain. Variations in pocket size result from subtle structural differences between β2 and α7, where the angle between the TM2 and TM4 helices differs by ∼7° between β2 and α7. While isoflurane binding perturbed dynamics for both β2 and α7, only the binding to the extracellular end of the β2 transmembrane domain produced significant dynamics changes for the pore-lining residues. The study suggests that a subtle structural difference could affect drug binding. Furthermore, only the drug binding that affects the dynamics of the channel gate is able to generate the functional effect. Supported by NIH (R01GM66358, R01GM56257, and R37GM049202).
Molecular cloning of the cDNA encoding human laminin A chain.

Abstract Laminin is a large basement membrane glycoprotein composed of three subunits designated the A, B1, and B2. We report here the isolation and nucleotide sequence of human laminin A chain cDNA. The nucleotide sequence spans 9505 bases and has an open reading frame encoding 3075-amino acids. The sequence covers a 77-nucleotide long 5' untranslated region and a 190nucleotide long 3' sequence in front of the poly (A)+ tail. In analogy with the mouse A chain sequence, the deduced human amino acid sequence contains eight-distinct domains of fourglobular regions, three-cysteine-rich domains and an a-helical region, which is thought to interact with the B chains of laminin. The deduced amino acid sequence is 14-amino acids shorter than the mouse A chain sequence. Seven of these amino acids are located in the putative signal sequence. The overall identity between the sequences from the two species is 78 %. The carboxylterminal globular (G) domain contains five homologous subdomains characterized by a conserved seven-amino acid repeat within each subdomain. Both human and mouse A chain are about 39% identical to the G domain of merosin, a recently discovered A chain homologue. Unlike the mouse A chain, the human A chain contains a potential cell binding sequence (RGD) in this domain. The RGD sequence that is thought to be a cryptic cell attachment site in the amino-terminal domain IIIb of mouse laminin is not conserved in the human sequence.
Multiple Pulse and Phase Code Modulation in the Loran-C System

Transmission of a group of closely spaced pulses increases the duty cycle and consequently the range of the Loran-C (formerly called Cytac) 100-kc pulsed hyperbolic radio navigation system while retaining the advantages of time sharing. Phase coding by carrier phase reversal, coupled with synchronous detection, facilitates automatic master and slave identification and search, and prevents multihop skywave interference. Instrumentation for simple and complex pulse patterns is considered. The phase codes used are characterized by lack of spurious responses associated with other bipolar codes.
Hemispheric quantitative EEG changes following emotional reactions in neurotic patients

Twenty-four right-handed patients undergoing primal therapy served as subjects in the study. They all showed symptoms of tension, anxiety, and/or depression. The patients’ right and left temporal EEGs were recorded immediately before and after a therapy session. Recordings were done while the patients were resting, and while they were performing a verbal and a visual task with their eyes closed. The EEG data were analyzed off-line with a computer, using quantitative amplitude analysis in the 1.5 to 30 Hz frequency band. A “high intensity” group (n= 13) having high ratings of emotional activity in their therapy session was compared with a “low intensity” group (n= 11) with low ratings. The results showed that only in the “high intensity” group was there a significant increase in mean amplitude and amplitude variance in the right hemisphere, measured across conditions. A between-group comparison revealed that the “high intensity” group showed a significantly larger increase in right hemisphere variance and in right over left variance ratio, relative to the “low intensity” group, in which these variables were almost unchanged. These results indicate a greater involvement of the right hemisphere in emotional activity. It is also suggested that the EEG changes found in the “high intensity” group, following a therapy session, reflect a general deactivation of the brain and a functional improvement of the right hemisphere.
SUGAR‐AMINO ACID INTERACTION IN THE DIFFUSATE OF WATER EXTRACT OF BEEF AND MODEL SYSTEMS

SUMMARY Diffusates of water extract of beef and model systems containing amino acids or sugars, or both, in approximately the same concentrations as in beef diffusate were heated at 125°C for up to 60 min. Quantitative analyses of amino acids and sugars were performed. A brothy odor developed on boiling the diffusate (30 min of heating), but there were minor changes in amino acid concentrations except for arginine. After pyrolysis (45 min of heating), roast aroma and brown color developed and there was 40-60% loss of most amino acids. Glucose and fructose concentrations were only slightly affected during boiling, but ribose decreased about 25%. On pyrolysis, sugars completely disappeared. Amino acids heated alone decreased in concentration about 25% and sugars heated alone decreased approximately 20 to 55% on pyrolysis. A sugaramino acid mixture simulating beef diffusate suffered greater losses in concentrations Of amino acids on pyrolysis than did the diffusate. No pattern of changes in amino acid or sugar Concentrations was detected to account for the aroma of roast meat on pyrolysis. In beef diffusate, sugars appear to be limiting and a portion of the amino acids remains after pyrolysis. When excess sugar is added, free amino acids disappear completely and the ratio of the amount of glucose disappearing to amino N disappearing levels off at about 4: 1.
WITHDRAWN: Ataxia, Ophthalmoplegia, and Impairment of Consciousness in a 19 Month-old American Boy

Abstract The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of an article that has already been published, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.spen.2014.04.015. The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn. The full Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal can be found at http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy.
High Temperature Electrochemical Synthesis of Tungsten Boride from Molten Salt

High temperature electrochemical synthesis of tungsten boride has been performed in KF-KCl melts with B2O3 and WO3 used as reactants at 1033K. The cathode product was investigated in the current density range 0.4A/cm2-0.6A/cm2 and characterized by means of XRD analyses and SEM. The results indicated that cathode product is mainly consist of W2B5 and WB4, the powders are fine (＜0.5um). Current density exert a great effect on the phase composition, particle size and morphology of the cathode product.
New approaches to growth failure in turner syndrome

Abstract Biosynthetic growth hormone (GH) has facilitated larger-scale research on the problem of short stature in Turner syndrome girls. Four study groups received the following: 1) no GH, 2) high-dose biosynthetic GH, 3) oxandrolone, 4) combination of biosynthetic GH and oxandrolone. All three treatment groups had a significant increase in growth rates when compared with the control group.
Designing Information Systems to Optimize the Accuracy-Timeliness Tradeoff

It is well known, of course, that the assessment of this month's economic activity will improve with the passage of time. The same situation exists for many of the inputs to managerial and strategic decision processes. Information regarding some situation or activity at a fixed point in time becomes better with the passage of time. However, as a consequence of the dynamic nature of many environments, the information also becomes less relevant over time. This balance between using current but inaccurate information or accurate but outdated information we call the accuracy-timeliness tradeoff. Through analysis of a generic family of environments, procedures are suggested for reducing the negative consequences of this tradeoff. In many of these situations, rather general knowledge concerning relative weights and shapes of functions is sufficient to determine optimizing strategies.
Decreased effect of immunosuppression on immunocompetence in African--Americans after kidney and liver transplantation.

Several studies indicate that the poorer outcomes for African--Americans after transplantation may be due to decreased effectiveness of immunosuppressive agents. Using an in vitro test of immunocompetence (IMC), we measured the effects of immunosuppression on African-American, compared with Caucasian, kidney or liver transplantation recipients. The IMC result was the highest of three mixed lymphocyte culture responses using validated stimulator cell pools. A total of 293 tests were done in Caucasians and 144 in African-Americans. Overall, the IMC for African- Americans was 38, compared with 19 for Caucasians (p < 0.01). This decreased effect of immunosuppression (higher IMC) was the same for liver as for kidney transplant recipients, occurred at the 2--3-yr interval, and was largely in patients of tacrolimus (FK506), with a strong but not significant trend in cyclosporine (CYA) recipients. The two groups were on the same nominal immunosuppression and FK506 and C'YA levels were not different. We conclude that African-Americans retain more immune responsiveness on equivalent dose immunosuppression, notable particularly in years 2-3 after transplantation when earlier graft loss occurs in this group.
Distinguishing Abiotic and Biotic Transformation of Tetrachloroethylene and Trichloroethylene by Stable Carbon Isotope Fractionation

Significant carbon isotope fractionation was observed during FeS-mediated reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE). Bulk enrichment factors (ebulk) for PCE were −30.2 ± 4.3 ‰ (pH 7), −29.54 ± 0.83 ‰ (pH 8), and −24.6 ± 1.1 ‰ (pH 9). For TCE, ebulk values were −33.4 ± 1.5 ‰ (pH 8) and −27.9 ± 1.3 ‰ (pH 9). A smaller magnitude of carbon isotope fractionation resulted from microbial reductive dechlorination by two isolated pure cultures (Desulfuromonas michiganensis strain BB1 (BB1) and Sulfurospirillum multivorans (Sm)) and a bacterial consortium (BioDechlor INOCULUM (BDI)). The ebulk values for biological PCE microbial dechlorination were −1.39 ± 0.21 ‰ (BB1), −1.33 ± 0.13 ‰ (Sm), and −7.12 ± 0.72 ‰ (BDI), while those for TCE were −4.07 ± 0.48 ‰ (BB1), −12.8 ± 1.6 ‰ (Sm), and −15.27 ± 0.79 ‰ (BDI). Reactions were investigated by calculation of the apparent kinetic isotope effect for carbon (AKIEC), and the results suggest that differences in isotope fractionation fo...
Experience with the Pierce-Donachy ventricular assist device in postcardiotomy patients with cardiogenic shock.

In order to assess the current status of ventricular assist device (VAD) support of patients with postcardiotomy ventricular failure, we evaluated the data from 17 patients treated over a 2-year period with a Pierce-Donachy paracorporeal pneumatic sac-type VAD using atrial cannulation and asynchronous pumping. All patients had severe ventricular failure refractory to intra-aortic balloon (IAB) and drug therapy. The effects of the VAD on left ventricular function were evaluated by nuclear ventriculography and hemodynamic measurements during brief pump on/pump off periods. Eight patients received only left VAD's, 5 received right VAD's and IAB, and 4 received 2 VAD's. All patients were weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass with VAD flows ranging from 1.55 to 2.78 L/min per m2.Eight patients died of bleeding, biventricular failure, or multiple organ failure without improvement in cardiac function. However, 9 patients (53%) had improved cardiac function, 8 were weaned from the VAD, and 7 (41%) were discharged. Five of the last 6 patients survived. Two patients with isolated left ventricular failure survived with left VAD alone. However, of 15 patients with biventricular failure, 5 of 9 receiving biventricular assistance were weaned, while only 1 of 6 receiving left VAD alone was weaned. Although activation of the left VAD decreased left ventricular ejection fraction, left atrial pressure, and left ventricular volume, it concomitantly increased left ventricular afterload. The Pierce-Donachy VAD provided salvage of patients with severe ventricular failure after cardiac operations. The majority of patients had biventricular failure, which was best treated with biventricular mechanical support. Although the VAD reduced left ventricular preload, ejection fraction decreased as afterload increased, suggesting that asynchronous left atrial pumping does not unload the left ventricle.