cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Comparison of Global Longitudinal, Circumferential, and Radial Strain to Predict Outcomes After Cardiac Surgery.

Objective Myocardial strain measured by speckle-tracking echocardiography detects subtle regional and global left ventricular dysfunction. Myocardial strain is measured in the longitudinal, circumferential, and radial dimensions; however, it is unclear which dimension of strain is the best predictor of postoperative outcomes. Design A secondary analysis of prospectively collected data from a clinical trial (NCT01187329). Setting The cardiothoracic surgical operating rooms of an academic tertiary-care center. Participants Cardiothoracic surgery patients with aortic stenosis having aortic valve replacement (AVR) with or without coronary artery bypass grafting enrolled in a clinical trial. Interventions Myocardial deformation analysis from standardized investigative transesophageal echocardiographic examinations performed after induction of anesthesia. Measurements and Main Results The authors compared the ability of intraoperative global longitudinal strain (GLS), global circumferential strain (GCS), and global radial strain (GRS) strain to predict adverse postoperative outcomes, including prolonged hospitalization and the need for pharmacologic hemodynamic support after cardiac surgery. The association of GLS, GCS, and GRS with prolonged hospitalization (>7 days) and the need for pharmacologic hemodynamic support, with epinephrine or norepinephrine after cardiopulmonary bypass, were assessed using separate multivariable logistic regression models with adjustment for multiple comparisons. Of 100 patients, 86 had acceptable measurements for GLS analysis, 73 for GCS, and 72 for GRS. Worse GLS was associated with prolonged hospitalization [odds ratio [OR] (98.3% confidence interval [CI]) of 1.21 (1.01-1.46) per-unit worsening in strain (p = 0.01, significance criterion Conclusion GLS, but not GCS or GRS, predicts prolonged hospitalization and the requirement for inotropic support with epinephrine after AVR.
Clients’ TAT Interpersonal Decentering Predicts Psychotherapy Retention and Process

Abstract. This naturalistic pilot study examined interpersonal decentering, a form of social cognitive maturity and self–other mentalizing scored from the Thematic Apperception Test, as a client pe...
Efficacy of fungicides against powdery mildew on watermelon caused by Podosphaera xanthii

Abstract Powdery mildew caused by Podosphaera xanthii has affected watermelon in the southeastern United States since the late 1990's. Because this fungus has become resistant to fungicides in FRAC Groups 1 and 11, fungicides in FRAC Groups 3, 7, 9, 12, 13, and U6 were tested on seedless watermelon for their ability to reduce powdery mildew on foliage and prevent yield loss. Nine powdery mildew-specific fungicides were applied three times in alternation with chlorothalonil, which was applied three times in 2013 and four times in 2014. Control treatments included water and chlorothalonil applied every other week. In both years, four fungicide treatments, chlorothalonil alternated with triflumizole, fluopyram + tebuconazole, quinoxyfen, or both cyflufenamid and quinoxyfen reduced leaf area covered with powdery mildew compared to both control treatments. Chlorothalonil alternated with cyflufenamid and quinoxyfen was significantly more effective on lower leaf surfaces than all other treatments. Chlorothalonil alternated with tebuconazole did not differ from chlorothalonil applied every other week. All 10 fungicide treatments increased the number and weight of marketable-sized fruit in both years compared to the water control treatment. Fungicide active ingredients in FRAC Groups 3, 7, 13, and U6 consistently reduced the severity of powdery mildew on seedless watermelon.
Models of Binaural Processing Based on Neural Patterns in the Medial Superior Olive

As part of our effort to create models of binaural processing that incorporate both psychophysical and physiological aspects of hearing, we estimate the psychophysical performance that could be achieved using the neural counts from a population of hypothetical cells that are modeled after the principal cells of the MSO. The variance of the maximum likelihood estimate of interaural phase difference is estimated and used to predict performance in interaural time discrimination and binaural detection. Calculated optimum performance is compared to empirical performance and differences are discussed.
Suppressing Base Currents in Organic Permeable-Base Transistors by Anodization of the Base Electrode

Organic permeable base transistors (OPBTs) have long been investigated as an alternative to conventional OFETs. Their vertical architecture allows for simple low-resolution fabrication techniques, ...
Chapter 12 – Frame Relay

Publisher Summary The chapter examines various concepts related to frame relay from both conceptual and technical perspectives. Frame relay has emerged as a popular and robust standalone technology. It is a public, wide area networks (WAN) packet-switching protocol that provides LAN-to-LAN connectivity. It relays frames across a network between two sites. Frame relay is economical and efficient and provides a single point of network access for multiple LAN-to-LAN connections. This feature offers considerable savings on local loop charges. Frame relay also can be implemented using existing bridges or routers. Prior to frame relay's development, dedicated leased lines using point-to-point protocols or X.25 primarily interconnected local area networks (LANs). This design was acceptable if only one or two LANs required interconnectivity. However, as internetworking became more prevalent, multi-port routers were needed to provide multi-LAN connectivity, and additional dedicated leased lines had to be installed. LAN-to-LAN connectivity became a more expensive endeavor with the addition of each dedicated circuit. These costs were further escalated, and the network design became more complex, when a partially or fully meshed network design was needed. In addition, unlike traditional private leased line service, frame relay's circuit costs are not distance based and the circuits themselves do not necessarily have to be permanent. This led to frame relay being offered and further developed as a separate protocol.
Editing of Endogenous Genes in Cellular Immunotherapies.

T cell-based cellular and antibody immunotherapies have dramatically altered the landscape of cancer treatment over the past decade. Over the same time span, gene editing technologies have enabled unprecedented degrees of genetic control. Knock-outs of endogenous genes, especially based on electroporation of targetable nucleases such as CRISPR/Cas9, have rapidly proliferated. Simultaneous introduction of large DNA sequences can integrate new synthetic genetic instructions with specific endogenous loci to alter T cell function and specificity. Recently developed discovery technologies to perform genome-wide knock-out and large-scale knock-in screens in T cells can rapidly identify endogenous gene targets and therapeutic knock-in programs. Endogenous gene knock-outs and targeted knock-ins may offer the chance to expand beyond the current limitations of randomly integrating viral vector-based T cell therapies, and extend immunotherapies’ therapeutic advances to wider hematologic and solid tumor indications.
The Impact of Beta Blockers on Survival Outcomes in Patients With Non-small-cell Lung Cancer Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.

Abstract Background Beta blockers have been associated with anti-tumorigenic effects, potentially by reducing adrenergic-mediated stress responses. Preclinical studies have additionally shown that beta blockade may enhance the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. We investigated patients with lung cancer who concomitantly used beta blockers and immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), with the hypothesis that beta blockade would positively impact clinical outcomes. Patients and Methods We retrospectively reviewed the health records of 109 patients who were treated at Northwestern University from January 2014 through August 2018 with ICIs for non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Comparisons of overall survival and progression-free survival (PFS) were performed using Kaplan-Meier analysis with log-rank test, and a univariate regression analysis was performed with a Cox proportional hazards model. Results Among 109 patients treated with ICIs for NSCLC, 28 of them were concomitantly prescribed beta blockers. Use of beta blockers was associated with increased PFS, with a hazard ratio of 0.58 and 95% confidence interval of 0.36 to 0.93. There was not a significant increase in overall survival among patients who took beta blockers (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.38-1.17). In a regression model, beta blockers were identified as predictive of PFS, as were non-squamous histology, tumor programmed death-ligand 1 positivity, and lower line of treatment. Conclusions Our data suggests beta blocker use may be associated with improved PFS among patients treated with ICIs for NSCLC. This was a small study, and these findings should be further validated in prospective clinical studies.
Mapping structure-property relationships in 2D and 3D perovskites with ultrafast transient absorption and scanning electron correlation microscopy

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) correlated to transient absorption microscopy (TAM) is used to study heterogeneities in thin films of 3D perovskites. Statistical analysis of thousands of distinct spatial locations reveals the effects of grain boundaries and crystal size on carrier dynamics. Further, a new class of 2D perovskite materials is discovered by exploiting alloying of the organic cation. Spectroscopic and theoretical studies show that such structural deformation leads to a blue-shifted bandgap, sub-bandgap trap states with wider energetic distribution, and stronger photoluminescence quenching. These results and methods provide new insights for understanding the structure-property relationship in perovskite materials.
Living Within Our Limits: A Defense of the Fall

In this paper, we use the biology of pain and Augustinian insights into the relationship between physical and spiritual death to give a defense of the Fall. If we think of pain as, biologically, a limiting system but one that interacts with advanced rationality in such a way as to create a new experience of one’s biological limits, then one can use Augustine’s treatment of our experience of physical death as both a consequence and a symbolic check on our moral and spiritual condition to give an account of the Fall that is consistent with evolutionary theory.
Retrospective radiographic analysis of anterior lumbar fusion for high grade lumbar spondylolisthesis

Background High-grade spondylolisthesis (>50% slippage) is infrequently encountered in adults and frequently requires surgical treatment. The optimal surgical treatment is controversial with limited literature guidance as to optimal approach to treatment. An observational study to examine the technique and radiographic outcomes of adult patients treated with anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) and posterior percutaneous instrumentation for high-grade spondylolisthesis. Methods ALIF was performed in 5 consecutive patients (3/5 female, 2/5 male) aged 29-67 years old who presented with low back pain and L5 radiculopathy. All patients failed conservative treatment and were treated with L4-5 and L5-S1 ALIF followed by posterior percutaneous L4-S1 pedicle screw and rod fixation. Pre- and postoperative clinical data was collected including L5-S1 posterior disk height in millimeters, millimeters of spondylolisthesis at L5-S1, degrees of segmental lordosis (L4-S1), lumbar lordosis (L1-S1), and lumbar lordosis pelvic incidence (LL-PI) mismatch. Results Six weeks following surgery, no patient reported residual L5 radicular symptoms. At last follow up, patient satisfaction, according to Modified Macnab Criteria, was excellent in 4/5 patients and good in 1/5 patient. In the 4 patients with greater than 1 year radiographic follow up, fusion rate was 100% on computed tomography (CT). Mean increase in posterior disk height was 12.5 mm (range, 11.4-13.5 mm). Mean reduction in spondylolisthesis was 58.7% (range, 20.2-100%). Mean segmental (L4-S1) and overall (L1-S1) lumbar lordosis increased by 23.6% (range, 6.5-41.7%) and 16.6% (2.5-31.5%), respectively. Following surgery, LL-PI mismatch decreased from a mean of 16.4 to 10.2 degrees. Conclusions ALIF with posterior percutaneous instrumentation is a safe and effective treatment for high-grade lumbosacral spondylolisthesis in properly selected adults. This technique improves lumbar sagittal parameters and reduces spondylolisthesis. The indirect neural decompression from simultaneous disk height restoration and spondylolisthesis reduction may be associated with lower neurological injury rate compared to posterior-only. Future prospective study is needed to validate this hypothesis.
E-cigarette susceptibility among U.S. middle and high school students: National Youth Tobacco Survey Data Trend Analysis, 2014-2018.

Abstract Youth e-cigarette use has rapidly increased in the last few years. Susceptibility is a validated measure associated with future tobacco use. We examined trends in e-cigarette susceptibility across five years (2014–2018) of the National Youth Tobacco Survey among youth e-cigarette never users. We observed increases in overall e-cigarette susceptibility from 2014 to 2016 and decreases from 2016 to 2018. Generally, sociodemographic variables were not associated with trend effects; however, there was an interaction between linear trends with both race/ethnicity and other tobacco product (OTP) use. The percentage of youth who were susceptible to using e-cigarettes ranged from 32.9% in 2014 to 33.2% in 2018 with a high of 36.7% in 2016. We also examined the prevalence of e-cigarette susceptibility by race/ethnicity, sex, school level, OTP use, and e-cigarette harm perception. E-cigarette susceptibility was associated with race, school level, OTP ever use, and e-cigarette harm perceptions. Hispanic youth, those in high school, and OTP ever users were more likely to be susceptible to e-cigarette use compared to their counterparts across all years. E-cigarette susceptibility was most prevalent among those who perceived e-cigarettes to pose “no harm” in 2014 and “little harm” in 2018 when compared to other item response options in 2014 and 2018, respectively. This study is the first to document trends in e-cigarette susceptibility among youth. Understanding antecedents of e-cigarette use and identifying youth subgroups vulnerable to e-cigarette use is valuable to developing effective prevention efforts. Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Food and Drug Administration or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
RFLP mapping of QTLs conferring cold tolerance during seed germination in an interspecific cross of tomato.

Most cultivars of tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, are sensitive to low (chilling) temperatures (0–15 °C) during seed germination; however, genetic sources of cold (chilling) tolerance have been identified within the related wild species. The purpose of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that contribute to cold tolerance during germination in tomato using a backcross population of an interspecific cross between a cold-sensitive tomato line (NC84173, recurrent parent) and a L. pimpinellifolium accession (LA722) that germinates rapidly under low temperatures. A total of 119 BC1 individuals were genotyped for 151 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers and a genetic linkage map was constructed. The parental lines and 119 BC1S1 families (self-pollinated progeny of the BC1 individuals) were evaluated for germination at a low temperature (11±0.5 °C). Germination was scored visually as radicle protrusion at 8 h intervals for 28 consecutive days. Germination response was analyzed by the survival analysis and the times to 25, 50 and 75% germination were calculated. In addition, a germination index (GI) was calculated as the weighted mean of the time from imbibition to germination for each family/line. Two QTL mapping techniques, interval mapping (using MAPMAKER/QTL) and single-point analysis (using QGENE), were used to identify QTLs. The results of both methods were similar and two chromosomal locations (3–5 putative QTLs) with significant effects on low temperature germination were identified. The L. pimpinellifolium accession had favorable QTL alleles on chromosomes 1 and NC84173 had favorable QTL alleles on chromosome 4. The percentage of phenotypic variation explained (PVE) by individual QTLs ranged from 11.9% to 33.4%. Multilocus analysis indicated that the cumulative action of all significant QTLs accounted for 43.8% of the total phenotypic variance. Digenic epistatic interactions were evident between two of the QTL-linked markers and two unlinked markers. Transgressive phenotypes were observed in the direction of cold sensitivity. The results indicate that low temperature germination of tomato seed can be improved by marker-assisted selection.
Hardware Redaction via Designer-Directed Fine-Grained eFPGA Insertion

In recent years, IC reverse engineering and IC fabrication supply chain security have grown to become significant economic and security threats for designers, system integrators, and end customers. Many of the existing logic locking and obfuscation techniques have shown to be vulnerable to attack once the attacker has access to the design netlist either through reverse engineering or through an untrusted fabrication facility. We introduce soft embedded FPGA redaction, a hardware obfuscation approach that allows the designer substitute security-critical IP blocks within a design with a synthesizable eFPGA fabric. This method fully conceals the logic and the routing of the critical IP and is compatible with standard ASIC flows for easy integration and process portability. To demonstrate eFPGA redaction, we obfuscate a RISC-V control path and a GPS P-code generator. We also show that the modified netlists are resilient to SAT attacks with moderate VLSI overheads. The secure RISC-V design has 1.89x area and 2.36x delay overhead while the GPS design has 1.39x area and negligible delay overhead when implemented on an industrial 22nm FinFET CMOS process.
Medication overuse headache in patients with chronic migraine using cannabis: A case-referent study.

OBJECTIVE To examine whether cannabis use predicts medication overuse headache (MOH) in patients with chronic migraine (CM). METHODS Electronic chart review was conducted by combining the terms "CM," "medication overuse," "cannabis," "cannabidiol," and "tetrahydrocannabinol" for patients seen at our headache clinics from 2015 to 2019. Of 729 charts consecutively screened, 368 met our inclusion criteria, that is, adult patients with CM with ≥1-year CM duration. The following variables were extracted from the included patient charts: MOH diagnosis, age, sex, migraine frequency, current CM duration, current cannabis use duration, overused acute migraine medications, current MOH duration, and types of cannabis products used. Logistic regression was used to identify variables predicting MOH while controlling for remaining predictors. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering (AHC) was conducted to explore natural clusters using all predictor variables. RESULTS There were 212 patients with CM and MOH (cases; median age 43 years, interquartile range [IQR] 33-54; 177 [83%] females) and 156 patients with CM without MOH (referents; median age 40 years, IQR 31-49; 130 [83%] females). MOH was present in 81% (122/150) of current cannabis users compared with 41% (90/218) in those without cannabis use-adjusted odds ratio 6.3 (95% CI: 3.56 to 11.1, p < 0.0001). Current cannabis use was significantly associated with opioid use (Spearman's rho 0.26, p < 0.0001). Both current cannabis use (rho 0.40, p < 0.0001) and opioid use (rho 0.36, p < 0.0001) were significantly associated with MOH. Similarly, AHC revealed two major natural clusters. Cluster I patients featured 9.3 times higher current cannabis use, 9.2 times higher current opioid use, and 1.8 times higher MOH burden than those in Cluster II (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Cannabis use was significantly associated with increased prevalence of MOH in CM. Bidirectional cannabis-opioid association was observed-use of one was associated with use of the other. Advising patients with CM and MOH to reduce cannabis use may help treat MOH effectively.
Protein Synthesis and Memory Formation

A role for macromolecules in the storage of behavioral information has long been championed.(1–5) This postulated role remains at present highly inferential, even though many investigators have attempted to confirm or to disprove it. Experiments have thus far produced too few constraints for those who would theorize on the biological basis of learning and memory. While we are clearly at a very speculative stage, the ranks of experimenters are growing, and with them the firm hope that an assault on this least-known aspect of living systems is underway.
Role for α2-Adrenoceptors in Experimentally-Induced Drinking in Rats

The β-adrenergic agonist, isoproterenol, is well known to increase water intake within 1 hr of its administration to rats (1,2), One of the major contributory mechanisms to this drink is via isoproterenol-induced release of renin from the kidneys (3,4) and the subsequent elevation of circulating angiotensin II (AII) levels. (See also references 5–7 for other mechanisms). AII, administered either peripherally or into circumventricular brain regions such as subfornical organ or anteroventral third ventricle, is itself a potent dipsogen (8–11). However, the evidence that normal levels of AII in blood gain access to these regions of the brain is not compelling, and the inference that peripheral AII exerts its dipsogenic action by a direct effect on the brain is thus based on indirect evidence. For example, peripheral administration of the competitive AII inhibitor, saralasin (sar1, ala8-AII) inhibits the drinking response to centrally-administered AII (12), and lesions of the circumventricular organs inhibit the drink to peripherally-administered AII (11). Further, the brain has its own intrinsic renin-angiotensin system (13) including high affinity receptors for AII in the circumventricular organs (14), yet the ways, if any, in which the central and peripheral renin-angiotensin systems interact have not yet been elucidated.
Examining the Role of the Instructor in Problem-centered Instruction

In this paper, we examine the role of the instructor during student-centered approaches, specifically those that are problem-centered, to outline effective strategies that are valuable for facilitating discussions. After describing the role of the instructor in each phase of implementation, from planning to evaluation, we discuss specific strategies for facilitating effective discussions. Strategies identified as being successful in problem-centered discussions included meta- cognitive questioning, peer facilitation, and teacher training, to name a few.
Survey based needs assessment: a paradigm for planning the decentralization of continuing health professional education.

Abstract This paper describes the efforts of the SEARCH/AHEC Program of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center to base the conduct of administration of its most important program component largely on results of a comprehensive survey of potential recipients of its services. Three major evaluation problems were encountered. Two of these were primarily political in nature, the other was analytical. They involved the entire range of functions associated with the survey, from collection of the data, to its analysis, dissemination and use. Management of these problems required compromise. Useful product was attained through the application of somewhat unconventional techniques, and the success of this exercise bears witness to the wisdom of employing these measures. Future annual resurvey is expected to leave its mark on all aspects of management of the program and to underlie its planning to an even greater extent than that here described.
A Bacteriophage of Bacillus subtilis Which Forms Plaques Only at Temperatures Above 50 C III. Inhibition of TSP-1-Specific Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis at 37 C and 45 C

Abstract The effect of temperature on phage-specific deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis was studied in TSP-1-infected Bacillus subtilis. This was facilitated by selectively inhibiting host DNA synthesis with 6-(p-hydroxyphenylazo)-uracil. The results indicated that TSP-1 DNA synthesis did not continue at 37 C and was immediately shut down after transfer to this temperature. Incubation at 45 C greatly reduced TSP-1 DNA synthesis. Phage-specific DNA synthesis could resume at 53 C, however, when the infected culture was returned to 53 C after a 2-min incubation period at 37 C. The results suggest that the inhibition of phage DNA synthesis at 37 C is reversible. Since infected cultures returned to 53 C after 2 min at 37 C could not complete the replicative cycle, the irreversible inhibition of yet another intermediate step was suggested.
Knowledge Under Threat

Many contemporary epistemologists hold that a subject S’s true belief that p counts as knowledge only if S’s belief that p is also, in some important sense, safe. I describe accounts of this safety condition from John Hawthorne, Duncan Pritchard, and Ernest Sosa. There have been three counterexamples to safety proposed in the recent literature, from Comesana, Neta and Rohrbaugh, and Kelp. I explain why all three proposals fail: each moves fallaciously from the fact that S was at epistemic risk just before forming her belief to the conclusion that S’s belief was formed unsafely. In light of lessons from their failure, I provide a new and successful counterexample to the safety condition on knowledge. It follows, then, that knowledge need not be safe. Safety at a time depends counterfactually on what would likely happen at that time or soon after in a way that knowledge does not. I close by considering one objection concerning higher-order safety.
Fan edits and the legacy of "The Phantom Edit"

A fan edit can generally be defined as an alternative version of a film or television text created by a fan. It offers a different viewing experience, much as a song remix offers a different listening experience. The contemporary wave of fan edits has emerged during the remix zeitgeist of digital media and at a time when digital video editing technology has become more affordable and popular. The increasing number of alternative versions of films and the works of revisionist Hollywood filmmakers such as George Lucas have contributed to a greater public understanding of cinema as a fluid medium instead of one that exists in a fixed form. The Phantom Edit (2000), a seminal fan edit based on Lucas's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), inspired new ranks of fan editors. However, critics have misunderstood fan edits as merely the work of disgruntled fans. In order to provide a critical and historical basis for studies in fan editing as a creative practice, I examine previous interpretations of fan edits in the context of relevant contemporary works, and I use an annotated chronology of The Phantom Edit to trace its influence on subsequent fan editing communities and uncover their relationship with intellectual property disputes.
The Origin and Structure of Molecular Clouds

Although we have known about giant molecular clouds (GMCs) for nearly 25 years, their origin, evolution, and destruction is still poorly understood. Formation mechanisms can be grouped into two general categories; galactic scale processes including global gravitational instabilities of the galactic disk, Jeans-Parker type magnetically regulated instabilities, and spiral density waves, and local processes based on self-propagating star formation or supershell fragmentation (cf. Elmegreen 1994).
Premature Decline Limiting in X-Band YIG Filters

More than ten years have elapsed since the basic experiments on high power effects in ferrites were completed. During the interim period the electronically tunable YIG filter has-been developed and its performance characteristics refined for utilization in many diverse system and instrumentation applications. The data presented in this paper are believed to be the first reported measurements of the premature decline limiting characteristics of X-band YIG filters up to input power levels of 2 KW peak. The minimal spike and flat leakage transmission levels are shown to offer significant system receiver front end protection in a typical contemporary electromagnetic environment.
Observations on a magnesium-fluoride interrelationship in chicks

The addition of high levels of both magnesium and fluoride to either practical or semipurified diets complete in all known nutrients produced the following results in young chicks: (1) greater reduction in growth than with either magnesium or fluoride alone; (2) the development of a characteristic leg weakness; (3) decreased calcification of the bone. Increasing the calcium level in the diets from 1.0 to 1.5% reduced but did not prevent the magnesium-fluoride relationship. The growth reduction, leg weakness and reduced bone ash caused by high dietary magnesium and fluoride were obtained only when one-day-old chicks were fed the experimental diets; these results were not observed when chicks at two weeks of age were fed the same diets, nor could the interaction be shown in weanling rats. Plasma alkaline phosphatase activity in chicks was elevated about twofold by added fluoride regardless of the dietary magnesium or calcium levels. The level of alkaline phosphatase in the plasma decreased with age in all groups at approximately the same rate. Dietary magnesium or fluoride levels did not influence the conversion of 3-phosphoglycerate to phosphoenolpyruvate by muscle homogenates. 11 references, 4 tables.
VA Vascular Injury Study (VAVIS): VA-DoD extremity injury outcomes collaboration.

Limb injuries comprise 50-60% of U.S. Service member’s casualties of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Combat-related vascular injuries are present in 12% of this cohort, a rate 5 times higher than in prior wars. Improvements in medical and surgical trauma care, including initial in-theatre limb salvage approaches (IILS) have resulted in improved survival and fewer amputations, however, the long-term outcomes such as morbidity, functional decline, and risk for late amputation of salvaged limbs using current process of care have not been studied. The long-term care of these injured warfighters poses a significant challenge to the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA Vascular Injury Study (VAVIS): VA-DoD Extremity Injury Outcomes Collaborative, funded by the VA, Health Services Research and Development Service, is a longitudinal cohort study of Veterans with vascular extremity injuries. Enrollment will begin April, 2015 and continue for 3 years. Individuals with a validated extremity vascular injury in the Department of Defense Trauma Registry will be contacted and will complete a set of validated demographic, social, behavioral, and functional status measures during interview and online/ mailed survey. Primary outcome measures will: 1) Compare injury, demographic and geospatial characteristics of patients with IILS and identify late vascular surgery related limb complications and health care utilization in Veterans receiving VA vs. non-VA care, 2) Characterize the preventive services received by individuals with vascular repair and related outcomes, and 3) Describe patient-reported functional outcomes in Veterans with traumatic vascular limb injuries. This study will provide key information about the current process of care for Active Duty Service members and Veterans with polytrauma/vascular injuries at risk for persistent morbidity and late amputation. The results of this study will be the first step for clinicians in VA and military settings to generate evidence-based treatment and care approaches to these injuries. It will identify areas where rehabilitation medicine and vascular specialty care or telehealth options are needed to allow for better planning, resource utilization, and improved DoD-to-VA care transitions.
Transport and inhibitory activity of new folate analogues in HeLa cells.

Evidence supporting the existence of distinct transport systems for folate and methotrexate (MTX) in HeLa cells has been presented. Folate and MTX were observed not to compete with each other in competitive transport experiments in HeLa cells. The selective inhibition of folate and/or MTX transport by folate analogues further substantiated the existence of separate transport systems. 10-Oxaaminopterin inhibited the uptake of both MTX and folate, whereas 10-thioaminopterin selectively inhibited MTX uptake. The thio and oxa analogues of folic acid effectively inhibited folate transport and had a negligible effect on MTX transport. In comparison with the inhibitory activity of MTX, the oxa and thio analogues of aminopterin had a high level of antifolate activity as determined by inhibition of the incorporation of [2-14C]deoxyuridine into acid-precipitable DNA and cell growth. The potential use of 10-oxaaminopterin in the treatment of MTX-resistant forms of cancer is discussed in relation to its unique transport characteristics and its high antifolate activity.
Has Google Stock Price Been Manipulated

We present the evidence that the GOOGLE stock, one of the most important stocks in the 21st century, may have been illegally controlled by large Wall Street firms. We identify a group of smart traders, including financial firm proprietary traders and large traders who trade options with large orders. We find that they have advance information about the closing prices on post earning release and option expiration days. These smart traders sell options to the market which would become worthless after the key events, and their high success rate is difficult to be explained by normal trading behavior. Additional evidence from the tape, such as unusually high quoted depth and extremely low narrow quoted spreads during clustering option expiration days, provide direct proof that the GOOGLE stock price may have been manipulated to coordinate the institutional traders' option selling activities.
Stigmatization, Empathy, and the Ego Depletion Hypothesis

In their article on “Stigmatization of Patients with Chronic Pain: The Extinction of Empathy,” John Quintner and his colleagues discuss their concerns about physicians' empathic failures [1]. The authors note how unpleasant a physician's encounter can be with patients whose pain is not resolving or becoming manageable. The physician might feel blamable for the treatment failing, or might distrust the patient's complaints, or feel helpless, stupid, or angry. Not surprisingly, empathizing with the patient's experience—or imagining what it is like to walk in the patient's shoes, as a popular characterization of empathy goes—can easily be overridden by the physician's need to protect and preserve his or her professional self-esteem. Thus, and as Quintner et al. discuss, blaming or stigmatizing the patient as the real source of failure and disappointment becomes extremely tempting. The authors especially discuss how clinical language and treatment models that posit a mind–body dualism can relieve the physician's feelings of inadequacy when the patient's pain has no organic or demonstrable cause because, ex hypothesi, that pain resides in the recesses of the patient's mind to which medicine has very limited, if any, access. I want to pursue the idea, however, that the sheer “emotional work” connected with … Reprint requests to: John D. Banja, PhD, Center for Ethics, Emory University, 1531 Dickey Drive, Room 184, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. Tel: 404-712-4804; Fax: 404-727-7399; E-mail: jbanja{at}emory.edu.
Development of a Helium Transfer Coupling for a Superconducting Generator Rotor

The use of a rotating, superconducting field winding offers the potential for lighter and more efficient central power plant generators of large rating. These advantages are due to the high power density achievable with the high magnetic fields generated by superconducting windings [1]. The design of superconducting generators also includes some interesting design challenges. For reasons of reliability, the helium liquefier that supplies the coolant to the rotor winding should not be a rotating integral part of the rotor. The use of a stationary liquefier requires that a means be provided for the transfer of liquid helium from the stationary supply to the rotating field winding and for return of the gas from the rotor to a stationary reference frame. This is the function of the helium transfer coupling
Challenges in pediatric renal transplantation

Transplantation in children is the best option to treat renal failure. Over the last 25 years the improvements in therapy have dramatically reduced the risk of early acute rejection and graft loss, however the long term results in terms of graft survival and morbidity still require search for new immunosuppressive regimens. Tolerance of the graft and minimization of side effects are the challenges for improving the outcome of children with a grafted kidney. Notwithstanding the difficulties in settling in children large multicenter trials to derive statistically useful data, many important contributions in the last years brought important modifications in the immunosuppressive therapy, including minimization protocols of steroids and calcineurin inhibitors and new induction drugs. New methods for diagnosis of anti HLA antibodies and some new protocols to improve both chance and outcome of transplantation in immunized subjects represent area of ongoing research of extreme interest for children.
Byssinosis: thromboxane release from human platelets by cotton dust and bract extracts.

ABSTRACT Extracts of cotton dust and bract induced in vitro release of arachidonic acid metabolite thromboxane A2 (TxA2), a potent bronchoconstricting agent, from human platelets. TxA2 release, determined by radioimmunoassay of the stabile metabolite TxB2, was both time- and dose-dependent. Cotton green bract extract was significantly more potent in releasing TxA2 from human platelets than cotton dust extract or cotton brown bract (field-dried bract) extract, while brown bract extract was least active, which suggests that the etiological agent(s) is of plant origin and not microbial in nature. TxA2 release was shown to be enzyme-dependent by inhibition of the reaction by indomethacin (cydooxygenase inhibitor) and 7-(1-imidazolyl) heptanoic acid (thromboxane synthetase inhibitor). This study is the first to show in vitro platelet TxA2 release by cotton extracts and may provide an explanation for increased concentrations of TxB2, a metabolite of TxA2, in the bronchoalveolar spaces of rabbits exposed to aero...
Cognitive Social Approach to Dispositional Inferences: What if the Perceiver is a Cognitive Social Theorist?:

In most research on personality inferences, it is assumed that perceivers are guided implicitly by the intuitive, lay counterpart of a global trait theory of personality. This article explores, in contrast, the possibility that perceivers may also be guided by an intuitive version of the cognitive social conception of personality. In this view, personality dispositions are reconceptualized in terms of cognitive social person variables (such as the individuals' stable expectations, goals, and values) whose behavioral manifestation is in the patterns of situation-behavior relations. Inferences about person variables then require information about characteristic patterns of person-situation interactions. Such information is conveyed by the individual's stable pattern of behavior variations over situations (person does A when X but B when 19-data that typically are available to perceivers in everyday life but seldom in research on personality inferences. The authors examine when and how perceivers focus on th...
An analysis of structure: Biomass structure relationships for characteristic species of the western Kalahari, Botswana

Savannah ecosystems are important carbon stocks on the Earth, and their quantification is crucial for understanding the global impact of climate and land-use changes in savannahs. The estimation of aboveground/belowground plant biomass requires tested allometric relationships that can be used to determine total plant biomass as a function of easy-to-measure morphological indicators. Despite recent advances in savannah ecology, research on allometric relations in savannahs remains confined to a few site-specific studies where basal area is typically used as the main morphometric parameter with plant biomass. We investigate allometric relations at four sites along a 950-km transect in the Kalahari across mean rainfall gradient 170 mm yr-1-550 mm yr-1. Using data from 342 harvested trees/shrubs, we relate basal area, height and crown diameter to aboveground biomass. These relationships are strongest in trees and weakest in small shrubs. Strong allometric relationships are also determined for morphologically similar groups of woody vegetation. We show that crown diameter can be used as an alternative to basal area in allometric relationships with plant biomass. This finding may enhance the ability to determine aboveground biomass over large areas using high-resolution aerial or satellite imagery without requiring ground-based measurements of basal area. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
THE PURE GAUGE SECTOR OF COMPACTIFIED SUPERSTRINGS

Abstract We study the classical field equations of the pure gauge sector of superstrings compactified to four dimensions. Instantons no longer turn out to be solutions of the field equations. We also determine the dynamical behavior of the gauge coupling g in the background of a monopole field, with the result that g and the strong CP -violating angle θ tend to a constant far from the monopole. The energy of such a field configuration is finite.
Changes in central cholinergic neurons in the spontaneously hypertensive rat

Abstract The activity of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) was measured in discrete areas of the brain in 4-, 8- and 12-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SH rats) and age matched Wistar Kyoto (WKY rats) controls. The concentration of acetylcholine (ACh) was also measured in certain hindbrain nuclei of 12 week SH and WKY rats. An increase in the ChAT activity and ACh concentration in the locus coeruleus was detected in 12-week-old SH rats. Decreases in the ChAT activity were found in several hypothalamic nuclei of SH rats, specially in the paraventricular nucleus of 4-week-old rats, in the dorsomedial nucleus at 8 and 12 weeks and in the posterior hypothalamic nucleus at 12 weeks. Changes in ChAT activity were also detected in 4- and 8-week-old SH rats in the anterior ventral thalamus and in the nucleus giganto-cellularis. These results suggest that cholinergic nerve activity in certain rat brain areas, several of which play a role in cardiovascular control, is altered in spontaneously hypertensive rats.
A binuclear rhodium(I) complex with two tetraphosphine ligands at 100 K

Bis(μ-3,11-diethyl-6,8-di­phenyl-3,6,8,11-tetraphosphatri­dec­ane-κ4P3,P6:P8,P11)­dirhodium(I) bis­(tetra­fluoro­borate), [Rh2(C25H40P4)2](BF4)2, is a bimetallic complex containing two binucleating tetra-tertiary phosphine ligands. The distance between the metal centers is 5.4555 (11) A, with no metal–metal bond. The Rh—P bond distances range from 2.2483 (14) to 2.3295 (14) A. The geometry about the RhI atoms is tetrahedrally distorted square planar and the dihedral angle between the two coordination planes is 66.28 (5)°.
Doctoral Program Selection Using Pairwise Comparisons.

This article illustrates the application of a pairwise comparison methodology to the doctoral program selection process. The first section includes a brief discussion of the pairwise comparison methodology better known in the literature as Saaty's Analytic Hierarchy Process. In the next section, a hierarchy for structuring and facilitating the doctoral program selection decision is described. This section is followed by an illustration of the methodology using the hierarchy for which four MBA students contemplating a doctoral program provided pairwise comparisons. Next, the results obtained above are discussed, and followed by our summary and conclusions.
A minimum sensitivity approach to incentive design problems

In this paper we introduce the notion of "robust" incentive schemes in multi-agent decision problems with a hierarchical decision structure, and discuss derivation of such policies by minimizing, in addition to the usual (standard) Stackelberg performance indices, an appropriate sensitivity function. Such an approach has applications in decision problems wherein the leader does not know the exact values of some parameters characterizing the follower's cost functional, and seeks to robustify his optimum policy in the presence of deriations from the nominal values. An in-depth analysis of such incentive design problems is provided, and some concrete analytical results are obtained for general cost functionals with a convex structure. The results are then applied to an incentive design problem arising in economics, leading to some meaningful robust incentive policies.
SIMULTANEOUS TIME-OF-FLIGHT ADJUSTED (TOFA) NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING OF IMMATURE RABBIT HYPOXIC-ISCHEMIC ENCEPHALOPATHY(HIE). • 2264

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) yields insight into tissue metabolism, with improvement in quantitation possible when corrected by time-of-flight(TOFA) or frequency-domain spectroscopy. Previous studies have shown the utility of perfusion and diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) in demonstrating the early onset of neuronal injury in stroke and HIE in adult human and animal models. We utilized the model of carotid artery (CA) ligation and hypoxia to induce HIE in rabbits, while performing simultaneous TOFA NIRS and MRI. New Zealand white rabbits 4-14 days old were anesthetized before placement of NIR optodes, with subsequent continuous measurement of cerebral venous oxygenation(CVO). The left CA was ligated and animals were positioned in a normothermic MR probe. DWI and gadolinium-based contrast (Gd-DTPA) cerebral perfusion studies were performed with no differences between hemispheres seen by DWI or perfusion studies prior to hypoxia. Animals were then exposed to hypoxia(FiO2 = 10% by N2 dilution) for 2-3 hr. DWI studies were repeated every 10-30 min. TOFA NIR data suggested a very transient drop in CVO associated with, and on the side of, CA ligation. During hypoxia there was a marked, symmetric drop in CVO to 40-45%, despite notable asymmetry in DWI and Gd-DTPA perfusion studies after 1-2 hr of hypoxia. However, upon return to normoxia, there was lower CVO (30-40%) only on the side of ligation, with no asymmetry in relative perfusion. These are the first studies to demonstrate the potential of DWI and MR contrast perfusion studies to simultaneously cross-validate TOFA NIRS in an animal model. The unilateral decline in CVO during recovery from hypoxic-ischemic insult suggests there may be increased oxygen extraction on the side of injury or else an inability to re-establish effective oxygen delivery.