cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Horseshoe Kidney is Associated With an Increased Relative Risk of Primary Renal Carcinoid Tumor

AbstractPurpose: Carcinoid tumor is a rare neoplasm of the kidney with an unknown histogenesis. Of only 31 cases previously reported in the literature 4 arose within horseshoe kidneys. We report a case of primary carcinoid tumor arising within a horseshoe kidney and discuss the unique insight it provided into the pathogenesis of this tumor.Materials and Methods: We reviewed in detail all 31 reported cases of renal carcinoid tumor and, using reported incidence rates of horseshoe kidney, we calculated the relative risk of renal carcinoid tumor arising within a horseshoe kidney. Immunohistochemical staining for neuroendocrine related markers was performed on tissue sections from the present carcinoid tumor, the adjacent kidney and 5 control samples of normal renal parenchyma.Results: Of the reported tumors 15.6% occurred in horseshoe kidneys, yielding a calculated relative risk of 62. The present tumor was multifocal, arising from the wall of a cystic lesion and possibly representing a dilated calix within t...
Pervaporation of trace chlorinated organics from water through irradiated polyethylene membrane

Abstract In an effort to improve the quality of pervaporation membranes for the separation of chlorinated organics from water the effect of γ-irradiation on the performance of crystalline olefin membranes was studied with respect to both permeability and separation factor. Pervaporation experiments were carried out with rather dilute aqueous solutions of chlorinated organics. Hydrophobic polyethylene membranes were subjected to γ-ray irradiation in the range of 10 to 100 megaroentgen. The permeability of chlorobenzene was found to improve at moderate irradiation doses (between 10 and 100 megaroentgen), with little change in the separation factor. However, these two parameters decreased markly as the total dose was increased. The results can be explained on the basis of reduction in crystallinity and induction of cross-linking upon irradiation.
Dynamic EXAFS probing of laser-driven shock waves and crystal-phase transformations

EXAFS measurements of vanadium shocked to ~0.4 Mbar yield the compression and temperature in good agreement with hydrodynamic simulations and shock-speed measurements. In laser-shocked titanium at the same pressure, the EXAFS spectrum indicates the ?-Ti to ?-Ti crystal-phase transformation, known to occur below ~0.1 Mbar for slower shock waves.
Simulation of Compressible Micro-Scale Jet Impingement Heat Transfer

A computational study is presented of the heat transfer performance of a micro-scale, axisymmetric, confined jet impinging on a flat surface with an embedded uniform heat flux disk. The jet flow occurs at large, subsonic Mach numbers (0.2 to 0.8) and low Reynolds numbers (419 to 1782) at two impingement distances. The flow is characterized by a Knudsen number of 0.01, based on the viscous boundary layer thickness, which is large enough to warrant consideration of slip-flow boundary conditions along the impingement surface. The effects of Mach number, compressibility, and slip-flow on heat transfer are presented. The local Nusselt number distributions are shown along with the velocity, pressure, density and temperature fields near the impingement surface
Feature correspondence and semi-automatic ground truthing for airborne data collection

A significant amount of airborne data has been collected in the past and more is expected to be collected in the future to support airborne landmine detection research and evaluation under various programs. In order to evaluate mine and minefield detection performance for sensor and detection algorithms, it is essential to generate reliable and accurate ground truth for the location of the mine targets and fiducials present in raw imagery. The current ground truthing operation is primarily manual, which makes the ground truthing a time consuming and expensive exercise in the overall data collection effort. In this paper, a semi-automatic ground-truthing technique is presented which reduces the role of the operator to a few high-level input and validation actions. A correspondence is established between the high-contrast targets in the airborne imagery called the image features, and the known GPS locations of the targets on the ground called the map features by imposing various position and geometric constraints. These image and map features may include individual fiducial targets, rows of fiducial targets and triplets of non-collinear fiducials. The targets in the imagery are established using the RX anomaly detector. An affine or linear conformal transformation from map features to image features is calculated based on feature correspondence. This map-to-image transformation is used to generate ground-truth for mine targets. Since accurate and reliable flight-log data is currently not available, one-time specification of a few parameters like flight speed, flight direction, camera resolution and specification of the location of the initial frame on the map is required from the operator. These parameters are updated and corrected for subsequent frames based on the processing of previous frames. Image registration is used to ground-truth images which do not have enough high-contrast fiducials for reliable correspondence. A GUI called SemiAutoGT developed in MATLAB for the ground truthing process is briefly discussed. Results are presented for ground-truthing of the data collected under the Lightweight Airborne Multispectral Minefield Detection (LAMD) program.
Oil Spill Cleanup

ABSTRACT Several classroom activities using a model of a seashore and an oil spill demonstrate the basic properties of oil spills in oceans. Students brainstorm about how to best clean up the mess....
What women’s soccer fans want: a Twitter study

In 1999, women’s soccer proved that it can attract an audience in the USA. It was not able to take advantage of the momentum created by the World Cup, though, and was quickly forgotten. But times have changed: since then, the development of the Internet has given new hopes for women’s athletics to break through in the sports industry. The goal of this study is to determine some characteristics of the women’s soccer Twitter audience. Characteristics was divided in four concepts: motivation, involvement, Twitter usage and demographics. Findings reveal that most people follow women’s soccer for hedonic motives. Social motives were not as significant as hedonics or the sense of self-identification when it comes to deciding whether to follow women’s soccer or the United States Women’s National Team, but they seemed to influence involvement in the sport, or at least US Soccer merchandise ownership, much more than any other factors.
Ontogeny of salinity tolerance and evidence for seawater-entry preparation in juvenile green sturgeon, Acipenser medirostris

We measured the ontogeny of salinity tolerance and the preparatory hypo-osmoregulatory physiological changes for seawater entry in green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris), an anadromous species occurring along the Pacific Coast of North America. Salinity tolerance was measured every 2 weeks starting in 40-day post-hatch (dph) juveniles and was repeated until 100% survival at 34‰ was achieved. Fish were subjected to step increases in salinity (5‰ 12 h−1) that culminated in a 72-h exposure to a target salinity, and treatment groups (0, 15, 20, 25, 30, 34‰; and abrupt exposure to 34‰) were adjusted as fish developed. After 100% survival was achieved (134 dph), a second experiment tested two sizes of fish for 28-day seawater (33‰) tolerance, and gill and gastrointestinal tract tissues were sampled. Their salinity tolerance increased and plasma osmolality decreased with increasing size and age, and electron microscopy revealed three types of mitochondria-rich cells: one in fresh water and two in seawater. In addition, fish held on a natural photoperiod in fresh water at 19°C showed peaks in cortisol, thyroid hormones and gill and pyloric ceca Na+, K+-ATPase activities at body sizes associated with seawater tolerance. Therefore, salinity tolerance in green sturgeon increases during ontogeny (e.g., as these juveniles may move down estuaries to the ocean) with increases in body size. Also, physiological and morphological changes associated with seawater readiness increased in freshwater-reared juveniles and peaked at their seawater-tolerant ages and body sizes. Their seawater-ready body size also matched that described for swimming performance decreases, presumably associated with downstream movements. Therefore, juvenile green sturgeon develop structures and physiological changes appropriate for seawater entry while growing in fresh water, indicating that hypo-osmoregulatory changes may proceed by multiple routes in sturgeons.
Research in computational electromagnetics at the University of Michigan

The history of the Radiation Laboratory at the University of Michigan is briefly recounted, and its present composition of staff, faculty, and graduate students is described. Research in electromagnetic scattering at the laboratory is reviewed, covering high-frequency scattering and two- and three-dimensional numerical simulation. Work on passive monolithic circuits and antennas, including numerical modeling of planar discontinuities and antennas, planar discontinuities and transitions, and antenna feeding networks, is discussed. >
A recursive technique for 3-D histogram enhancement of color images

Histogram modification is often used for contrast enhancement of color images, usually by separately modifying the color components in some appropriately chosen color space. Despite its computational efficiency, independent component processing is seldom able to exploit the full RGB gamut. While joint processing of color components can generally utilize the full display gamut, such approaches generally produce greater computational complexity and execution times. The authors introduced the "histogram decimation" algorithm for enhancement by joint processing of the color components. The algorithm recursively partitions the 3-D histogram of an image and independently processes the subdivided volumes of color space to modify their color distributions. Histogram decimation achieves the gamut usage of other joint processing techniques and provides much greater computational efficiency. The algorithm and its characteristics are presented, followed by the results of processing several images and measuring the uniformity of their histograms using a novel technique.
Scheduling setup changes at bottleneck workstations in semiconductor manufacturing

This paper presents a scheduling heuristic to aid the operators in semiconductor fabrication facilities (commonly referred to as fabs) in choosing what type of lots to process next and whether to change machine setup in order to reduce cycle time. Specifically, this study focused on developing a scheduling heuristic for ion implanters at Cirent Semiconductor (currently Agere Systems) in Orlando, Florida, where implanters are considered to be a bottleneck workstation. The re-entrant flow of production passes several times through the implanters at different stages of the wafer production, requiring changes to the current settings of the workstations and thus incurring a significant setup time. The scheduling heuristic aims at balancing workload levels for implanters processing jobs at different stages of the wafer production lifecycle. This is accomplished by first processing those jobs that contribute most to the increase in inventory levels at the bottleneck workstation. The measures used to evaluate the...
Variability of the impact of adverse events on physicians’ decision making

Physicians frequently differ in their treatment recommendations. However, few studies have examined the reasons underlying these differences. The objective of this study was to examine whether physicians vary in the importance they attach to specific adverse events for two treatment options found in recent randomized controlled trials to have equivalent efficacy and overall toxicity. A Max-Diff survey was administered to physicians attending a national scientific conference to quantify the influence of 23 specific adverse events on decision making related to two treatment options for vasculitis. This approach was chosen because it results in greater item discrimination compared to rating scales. We used Hierarchical Bayes modeling to generate the relative importance score for each adverse event and examined the association between physicians’ characteristics and the five most influential factors. 118 physicians completed the survey. The mean age (SD) was 48 years (10); 68% were male and 81% reported spending the majority of time in clinical practice. There was significant variability in the ratings of the relative importance of all adverse events, except those that were mild and easily reversible. We found a positive correlation between increasing physician age with ratings of sepsis (r = 0.29, p = 0.002) and opportunistic infection (r = 0.23, p = 0.016), and an inverse association between age with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (r = - 0.28, p = 0.003). Physician sex, work setting, location, and number of patients with vasculitis seen per year were not associated with the influence of specific adverse events on decision making. Our findings demonstrate that physicians differ substantially in how they perceive the importance of specific adverse events which may help explain observed unwarranted variability in physicians’ recommendations in clinical practice. Further efforts are needed to ensure that the reasons underlying variability in physicians’ recommendations are transparent.
Informational Value of Museum Web Sites

What information are virtual visitors looking for on museum Web sites? This paper is a first step in a larger investigation into the informational value of museum Web sites. Scholars, teachers, students, museums staff, and museum visitors are the main categories of visitors examined in this study. Questions were asked of these museum audiences about their use of museum Web sites, museum databases, and other aspects of virtual visits.
Interactive Tremor Monitoring

The purpose of this article is to explore new Web-based resources for disseminating data in an interactive and intuitive way that is accessible and engaging to the public without sacrificing scientific utility. This article highlights these new opportunities and describes their synthesis with recently developed automated tremor monitoring methodologies. The resulting product is a website that the reader may find useful to explore in tandem with this article, http://www.pnsn.org/tremor. In this article, the data dissemination example is specifically applied to Cascadia tremor, but the utilization of freely accessible Web applications to provide an interactive Web experience for the public and scientific community alike could easily be applied to many different aspects of seismology. Since their discovery nearly a decade ago, advances in both instrumentation and methodology in subduction zones around the world have brought the causal connection between seismically observed tectonic tremor (Obara 2002) and geodetically observed slow slip (Dragert et al. 2001) into sharper focus. In addition to the strong spatio-temporal correlation between the separately observed phenomena (Wech et al. 2009), mounting evidence indicates that deep, non-volcanic tremor represents slow shear (Ide et al. 2007; Wech and Creager 2007) occurring at the interface (Shelly et al. 2006, 2007) between the subducting oceanic and overriding continental plates, suggesting the two phenomena are different manifestations of the same process. Of course, there is still ongoing debate over the depth and mechanism of tectonic tremor (Kao et al. 2005; McCausland et al. 2005), but what is clear is that tremor serves as a proxy for slow slip. Considering geodesy's lower limits in spatial resolution and slow slip detection together with the abundance of low-level, ageodetic tremor, this connection makes tremor a key component for monitoring when, where, and how much slip is occurring. Because slow slip transfers stress …
Better exploration of region-level value locality with integrated computation reuse and value prediction

Computation-reuse and value-prediction are two recent techniques for improving microprocessor performance by exploiting value localities. They both aim at breaking the data dependence limit in traditional processors. In this paper, we propose a speculative multithreading scheme in which the same hardware can be efficiently used for both computation reuse and value prediction. For the SpecInt95 benchmarks, our experiment shows that the integrated approach significantly out-performs either computation reuse or value prediction alone. For example, the integrated approach improves over computation reuse from a speedup of 1.25 to 1.40, and improves over value prediction from 1.28 to 1.40. In particular, the integrated approach out-performs a computation reuse configuration that has twice as much reuse buffer entries (from a speedup 1.33 to 1.40). Furthermore, unlike the computation reuse approach, the performance of the integrated approach does not rely on value profile during region formation and thus our approach is more suitable for production systems.
Angiographic and Embryologic Considerations in Five Cases of Middle Cerebral Artery Fenestration

Five cases of unilateral middle cerebral artery fenestration were observed during the prospective evaluation of 1466 consecutive cerebral angiograms (0.43% of 1170 patients) between January 1999 and July 2001. In each case, an early branching temporopolar artery was seen to arise from the inferior limb of the fenestrated segment. This finding suggests that early branching temporopolar arteries may participate in the formation of middle cerebral artery fenestration by interfering with the normal fetal development of the middle cerebral artery.
A Graphical Analysis of the Influence of Red Cell Transit Time, Carrier-Free Layer Thickness, and Intracellular PO2 on Blood-Tissue O2 Transport

This paper relates spectroscopic determinations of myoglobin (Mb) saturation and PO2 in individual myocytes (Gayeski and Honig, 1986) to a mathematical model of O2 transport (Federspiel, 1983). A graphical analysis of model results is used to illustrate interactions among the main determinants of O2 transport between hemoglobin (Hb) and cytochrome. The results of the analysis are summarized in a plot called the O2 release curve. The results are qualitatively applicable to normal and pathophysiology, and to Mb-free tissues.
The diversity of LTR retrotransposons

Eukaryotic genomes are full of long terminal repeat (LTR) retrotransposons. Although most LTR retrotransposons have common structural features and encode similar genes, there is nonetheless considerable diversity in their genomic organization, reflecting the different strategies they use to proliferate within the genomes of their hosts.
Use of a Seminar as an Aid in Helping Interns Care for Dying Children and Their Families

An annual seminar held by the University of Colorado, Department of Pediatrics, is designed to assist interns to cope more effectively with the emotional strains of caring for dying patients and their families. In the seminar, interns are randomly divided into four small groups con sisting of six interns, a chief resident, two pediatric faculty members, and a nurse or social worker from an intensive care unit. This paper reviews the resident evaluations of the seminar, as well as the results of a questionnaire which explored attitude formation toward death. Interns felt that the opportunity to discuss death and dying early in their training program helped them gain an understanding of their own feelings about death, which enabled them to cope better with the stress involved in caring for dying children. Additional benefits from the seminar included more effective interpersonal communication, the establishment of deeper and more meaningful friendships, and a stronger esprit de corps.
A psychometric evaluation and validation of the Preferences Scale.

The Preferences Scale (PS) is a new measure of morningness and therefore requires intensive investigation to establish its measurement properties and validity. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of Smith and colleagues (2002) posited model structure was not optimal in both a student (n=731) and working sample (n=218). However, significant differences (p<0.01) were found for times to sleep and wake between morning and evening types. Principal components and reliability analyses were used to develop a 6‐item model comprising 2 factors using a student sample (n=368). Cronbach's α for the PS was 0.73 and the factors explained 61% of the variance. The revised model was replicated via CFA in a separate student sample (n=363). A subsequent CFA confirmed the model structure in the working sample. Cronbach's α was 0.74 and the factors explained 64% of the variance. Significant differences (p<0.01) in self‐reported alertness ratings between morning and evening types were obtained by time‐of‐day. These results pro...
Leptin in hepatic fibrosis: Evidence for increased collagen production in stellate cells and lean littermates of ob/ob mice☆

Leptin is a 16-kd hormone that mediates a range of metabolic effects by using a transduction pathway from the long form of the leptin receptor, OB-RL, through Janus kinase–signal transducer and activator of transcription (Jak-Stat) signaling components. Leptin is produced by hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) but only following their “activation.” Because activation of stellate cells is a central event in the fibrotic response to liver injury, we hypothesized that leptin may directly stimulate fibrogenesis in activated stellate cells via OB-RL. We analyzed leptin receptors and their signaling partners in a stellate cell line (HSC-T6) as well as in primary stellate cell isolates. We also examined the effect of leptin on stellate cell expression of α2(I) collagen messenger RNA (mRNA) levels by ribonuclease protection analysis (RPA). Finally, we examined the role of leptin in in vivo fibrogenesis by inducing a wounding response in ob/ob mice, which lack functional leptin. HSC-T6 and culture-activated stellate cells expressed OB-RL. Scatchard analysis verified specific binding of leptin to HSCs, with an association constant (Kd) equal to 660 ± 5.8 pmol/L. Exposure of HSCs to leptin resulted in significant increases in α2(I) collagen mRNA expression. Transient transfection with a promoter reporter construct showed a 3-fold increase in α2(I) collagen transgene activity. Leptin stimulated activation of Stat3 in activated HSCs. Finally, lean animals, but not ob/ob littermates, had significant fibrosis as assessed by picrosirius red staining and abundant α–smooth muscle actin staining. In conclusion, these results indicate that leptin is profibrogenic in activated HSCs and can signal via the Jak-Stat pathway. Up-regulation of leptin signaling in liver injury could contribute to enhanced fibrogenesis, particularly in states in which leptin levels are high.
Horner's syndrome and trigeminal nerve palsy after lumbar epidural analgesia for labor and delivery.

Abstract This report highlights transient Horner's syndrome and trigeminal nerve palsy following labor epidural analgesia. A 29-year-old primigravida had a lumbar epidural catheter placed for analgesia in labor. The analgesia was maintained by infusion of a dilute local anesthetic/opioid mixture and turned off after achieving complete cervical dilation. Approximately 1 hour after delivery she complained of heaviness in her left eyelid, and was noted to have left-sided ptosis and paresthesia within the distribution of the ophthalmic and maxillary divisions of the trigeminal nerve, which resolved over the next 2 hours. There were no other neurologic changes. Horner's syndrome and cranial nerve palsies can occur as a consequence of epidural analgesia for labor.
Sidewall clean effect upon titanium salicide filaments

The susceptibility of a self-aligned titanium silicide (salicide) process to the occurrence of conductive sidewall filaments is shown to depend upon the type of wafer cleans that are used prior to the titanium deposition. Aggressive cleans that are predominantly used for resist stripping were implemented immediately following the blanket plasma etch processes that define the sidewall nitride spacers on polysilicon gates. These cleans were effective in reducing the incidence of unwanted filaments between the polysilicon gates and the source/drain regions, as evidenced electrically using parametric test structures and physically via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization. Two mechanisms to explain the efficacy of the cleans are hypothesized and discussed.
The Heat Shock Response: Systems Biology of Proteotoxic Stress in Aging and Disease

All organisms sense and respond to environmental and physiological stress by inducing cell stress responses that protect core biosynthetic processes such as DNA repair, protein folding, and clearance of damaged proteins. Of these, the heat shock response (HSR) protects the proteome against acute exposure to elevated temperatures, oxidants, and heavy metals, for example, and to the chronic expression of metastable, aggregation-prone proteins associated with aging and diseases of protein conformation. Induction of the HSR leads to the rapid and robust expression of molecular chaperones and other cell-protective pathwaysto protect nascent chain synthesis andfolding, to prevent misfolding andaggregation, and to promote recovery from stress-induced damage. This review examines the properties of the stress-responsive transcription factor, HSF1, in the regulation of the HSR, our current understanding of the stress-sensing mechanisms that recognize and distinguish between acute stress such as heat shock and chronic proteostasis imbalance as occurs in neurodegenerative diseases, and the cell nonautonomous control of the HSR by neuronal signaling in metazoans. This complex, systems-wide interdependence ensures cellular health span and organismal life span.
The halloporid trepostome bryozoans from the Ordovician Simpson Group of Oklahoma

The Bromide Formation of the Middle Ordovician Simpson Group of Oklahoma contains one of the oldest diverse bryozoan faunas in North America. The early divergence of many trepostome clades is revealed in these rocks. Three trepostome bryozoan species belonging to family Halloporidae are described from this fauna. Discriminant analysis is used to define the following halloporid species: Diplotrypa schindeli n. sp., Tarphophragma karklinsi n. sp., and Tarphophragma macrostoma (Loeblich). Preliminary cladistic analysis indicates that the family Halloporidae was already a distinct lineage by the Middle Ordovician. This suggests that by this time, many of the major trepostome clades were already established.
3D thinking for mini-AVR.

Minimally invasive approaches to aortic valve replacement have been in use now for over 15 years. The most popular have been the partial upper sternotomy ([1,2][1]) and the right second interspace anterior thoracotomy ([3,4][2]). A vertical right parasternal approach that was used early on has been
Theory of Filler Reënforcement. II

Abstract Modulus-type properties of loaded rubber depend mainly on the shape and the concentration of the filler particles and are almost independent of the size and the surface characteristics of the filler. The author's theory of these properties is patterned after the theory of viscosity of suspensions, and implies nonspecific wetting between rubber and filler particles, making possible considerable mobility of the filler particles in the rubber. Such mobility is in agreement with studies of the electrical conductivity of carbon black loaded stocks and of the adsorption of gases by carbon blacks. Fillers with spherical particle shape like calcium carbonate and P-33 (which do not form chainlike structures) obey the theoretical equations for spherical particles. Fillers like high modulus and channel carbon blacks whose primary spherical particles agglomerate into chainlike secondary particles obey theoretical equations for the secondary particles characterized by a shape factor. The assumed chain formati...
Trajectory Transcriptions for Potential Autonomy Features in UAV Maneuvers

If a mission operation in a battlefield environment is complex, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned combat air vehicles (UCAVs) are expected to assist human pilots and ground personnel so that the threats to life are mitigated. Although these vehicles are controlled remotely by humans through ground commands or through another vehicle, possibilities to engage the onboard computer commands to respond to an environment and control the vehicle are not ruled out. Such systems are referred as autonomous UAVs and UCAVs. Following the traditional control technique adopted in aircraft motion technology, this paper assumes that autonomy and decision based controls for unmanned aircraft maneuvers are the features associated with the trajectory transcription techniques when the linear controllers at the inner loop are reconfigured. Hence in this paper, a tutorial on the switched linear controllers resulting from a non-zero equilibrium state from where an unmanned aircraft maneuver is required are presented. These evolving maneuvers instantaneously demanded in pitch plane are formulated using linear functional controllers of a micro air vehicle model. Linear functional controllers are the multiple input state feedback controllers which retain desired closed loop eigenvalues at fixed locations but the infinite eigenvector options that these controllers offer are transcripted for various ascent and descent angles of unmanned aircraft maneuvers.
Epidemiology and Prevention of Bacterial Infections in Patients with Hematologic Malignancies

Bacterial infections are a serious complication of hematologic malignancies and the therapies used to treat them. Neutropenia can result from the malignancy itself or develop as a complication of chemotherapy and remains a major risk factor for the development of infections in these patients. In addition, the mechanical and chemotherapeutic interventions applied to patients with hematologic malignancies impose additional challenges to host defenses against bacterial invasion. The bacteria responsible for most infections in this patient population have continued to evolve as different therapeutic, preventive, and preemptive strategies are introduced into the armamentarium for leukemias, lymphomas, and myelomas. Both Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens have become increasingly resistant to available antimicrobial agents, in part due to the increasing use of agents, especially the fluoroquinolones, to prevent bacterial infections. This review addresses recent clinical developments in the epidemiology and prevention of bacterial infections in these unique populations of patients.
Locomotor activating effects of cocaine and scopolamine combinations in rats: isobolographic analysis

Muscarinic cholinergic receptors are receiving renewed interest as viable targets for treating various psychiatric disorders. Dopaminergic and muscarinic systems interact in complex ways. The goal of this study was to quantify the interaction of a systemically administered psychomotor stimulant and muscarinic antagonist at the behavioral level. Using isobolographic analysis of locomotor activity data, we assessed the effects of three cocaine/scopolamine mixtures in terms of deviation from simple dose addition (additivity), at four effect levels. All three mixtures produced some more-than-additive (synergistic) effects, as lower doses were needed to produce given effects relative to the calculated effect of additive doses. A mixture with comparable contributions from cocaine and scopolamine produced significantly more-than-additive effects at all but the lowest effect level examined. A mostly-cocaine mixture was more-than-additive at low effect levels only, while a mostly-scopolamine mixture produced effects more consistent with additivity, with only the highest effect level barely reaching significant synergism. Our study confirms and quantifies previous findings that suggested synergistic effects of stimulants and muscarinic antagonists. The synergism implies that cocaine and scopolamine stimulate locomotor activity through non-identical pathways, and was most pronounced for a mixture containing cocaine and scopolamine in comparable proportions.
Response of a brachytherapy model using 125I in a murine tumor system.

The effects of low-dose-rate irradiation (brachytherapy) were investigated in vivo using a murine mammary adenocarcinoma (MTG-B) growing in the flank of C3H mice. For local tumor irradiations, a noninvasive cap was devised to cover the tumor and house three 125I seeds (average apparent activity 5.2 mCi each) located at 120 degree intervals around the circumference of the hemispherical cap (13 mm i.d.). Mice were secured during treatment in a tube allowing limited mobility while restricting access to the seeds. Tumors were exposed to a series of dose rates ranging from 14-40 cGy/h, and the total dose over the treatment interval (48 or 72 h) ranged from 830 to 2378 cGy. A total of nine experiments were conducted using the caps over a 10-week interval. In each experiment three groups (irradiated tumors, sham controls, and untreated controls) were analyzed, each containing 8-15 mice (N = 34, untreated control; N = 46, sham control; N = 91, brachytherapy irradiation). The brachytherapy results are compared to the effects of external beam irradiation in the same tumor system. A linear relationship was observed between the total radiation dose and doubling volume growth delay (GDDV) or treatment volume growth delay (GDTV) for the brachytherapy and external beam irradiation. The slopes of the dose-response curves are steeper for the acute dose (517 cGy/min) external beam irradiation (0.0072 day/cGy, GDDV; 0.00695 day/cGy, GDTV) than for the brachytherapy (0.0050 day/cGy, GDDV; 0.0057 day/cGy, GDTV) using both GDTV and GDDV end points. Comparison of the tumor volume regrowth slopes indicates that the tumor bed effect is larger for external beam irradiation than for brachytherapy, suggesting that the tumor bed effect may be dose-rate dependent.
Perspectives of the impacts of livestock production on climate change

Life cycle assessment for livestock: a complex issue Discussions about global climate change have spurred evaluations of livestock agriculture’s contribution; however, the complexity and variation in livestock production systems makes the quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions difficult. Several recent publications have used Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) that employ ‘cradle-to-the-grave’ accounting of GHGs from inputs and outputs over the entire livestock production chain. An LCA for dairy and beef production can include the GHGs produced from the production of forages and grains (emissions from the soil, fertilizer and burning fossil fuels), from the cattle directly (emissions from manure and feed fermentation in the rumen) and from processing and transporting the beef or dairy products to the consumer (emissions from burning fossil fuels and refrigeration). The sum of the GHGs from all of these sources would be considered the total ‘life cycle’ emissions or carbon footprint for livestock production. The application and comparisons between these existing LCAs can be limited because of differences in their scope and scale. Reporting GHG missions per unit of production (e.g. per kg of beef, or liter of milk) can clarify some of the discrepancies and allow for comparisons across current production systems or comparisons of current v. historical livestock production.
Spin Seebeck effect through antiferromagnetic NiO

We report temperature-dependent spin Seebeck measurements on Pt/YIG bilayers and Pt/NiO/YIG trilayers, where YIG (yttrium iron garnet, ${\mathrm{Y}}_{3}\mathrm{F}{\mathrm{e}}_{5}{\mathrm{O}}_{12}$) is an insulating ferrimagnet and NiO is an antiferromagnet at low temperatures. The thickness of the NiO layer is varied from 0 to 10 nm. In the Pt/YIG bilayers, the temperature gradient applied to the YIG stimulates dynamic spin injection into the Pt, which generates an inverse spin Hall voltage in the Pt. The presence of a NiO layer dampens the spin injection exponentially with a decay length of 2 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.6 nm at 180 K. The decay length increases with temperature and shows a maximum of 5.5 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.8 nm at 360 K. The temperature dependence of the amplitude of the spin Seebeck signal without NiO shows a broad maximum of 6.5 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.5 \ensuremath{\mu}V/K at 20 K. In the presence of NiO, the maximum shifts sharply to higher temperatures, likely correlated to the increase in decay length. This implies that NiO is most transparent to magnon propagation near the paramagnet-antiferromagnet transition. We do not see the enhancement in spin current driven into Pt reported in other papers when 1--2 nm NiO layers are sandwiched between Pt and YIG.
Analysis on Serum IgM Antibody Detection Among 219 Cases of Suspected Measles

Objective To accurately identify the rash of measles and other diseases,and timely grasp the situa- tion of measles epidemic.Methods 219 cases of suspected measles undergoing IgM antibody detection were statistically analyzed in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in 2005-2007,by the use of the"China immu- nization programs monitoring management information systems"and Microsoft Excel software.Results Among serum of the 219 suspected cases of measles,175 were detected as measles IgM antibody positive,and the positive rate was 80.00 %.Among the 44 serum with measles IgM antibody-negative,IgM antibodies were detected for rubella.20 positive cases were found,and the positive rate was 45.45%;there was no statistical significance in positive rate of measles IgM antibody among all age groups;the rate of measles vaccination a- mong patients with rash was only 9.59%;and there were also 66.67% of them unknown the vaccination rate. Conclusion Some cases of rubella were identified in cases of suspected measles.Analysis on serum IgM anti- bodies in cases of suspected measles can help to scientifically differentiate rubella and measles,and provide evidence for timely measles control.
The potential effects of radiographic criteria to exclude aortography in patients with blunt chest trauma: Results of a study of 32 patients with proved aortic or brachiocephalic arterial injury

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness, in patients with known aortic or brachiocephalic arterial injury, of five previously published radiographic criteria for excluding aortography in patients with blunt chest trauma. These criteria were (1) normal findings on erect chest radiograph; (2) normal aortic arch and left subclavian artery; (3) normal aortic arch, descending aorta, aortopulmonary window, tracheal position, and left paraspinal interface; (4) normal right paratracheal stripe and nasogastric tube position, and (5) normal aortic arch and tracheal and nasogastric tube position. One or more of these criteria were met in 6% to 25% of patient with major thoracic arterial injury, depending on the criteria used. Interestingly, two (6%) patients had radiographs that showed no specific signs of mediastinal hemorrhage, which indicates that the chest radiograph is limited in its sensitivity to detect major thoracic arterial injury. Because of these results, we do not believe that attempts to limit aortography in patients with supine film evidence of mediastinal abnormality, based on the absence of certain signs of mediastinal hemorrhage, are warranted. Furthermore, an abnormal radiograph cannot be relied on as the sole criterion for aortography if the goal of care is to detect as close to 100% of vascular injuries as possible.
Quality of life and symptoms in long-term survivors of colorectal cancer: results from NSABP protocol LTS-01.

Purpose Little is known about health-related quality of life (HRQL) in long-term survivors (LTS) of colorectal cancer (CRC).
Strain Library Imaging Protocol for high-throughput, automated single-cell microscopy of large bacterial collections arrayed on multiwell plates

SLIP is a high-throughput, automated microscopy workflow for large strain collections. Bacterial cultures are transferred to large agar pads using replicator pins, and thousands of images are automatically acquired for single-cell quantification. Single-cell microscopy is a powerful tool for studying gene functions using strain libraries, but it suffers from throughput limitations. Here we describe the Strain Library Imaging Protocol (SLIP), which is a high-throughput, automated microscopy workflow for large strain collections that requires minimal user involvement. SLIP involves transferring arrayed bacterial cultures from multiwell plates onto large agar pads using inexpensive replicator pins and automatically imaging the resulting single cells. The acquired images are subsequently reviewed and analyzed by custom MATLAB scripts that segment single-cell contours and extract quantitative metrics. SLIP yields rich data sets on cell morphology and gene expression that illustrate the function of certain genes and the connections among strains in a library. For a library arrayed on 96-well plates, image acquisition can be completed within 4 min per plate.
User authentication using wrist mounted inertial sensors: poster abstract

Smart wrist devices available today like smart watches and fitness trackers are usually enriched with inertial sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes that can be used to capture wrist motions. This opens an opportunity to use these devices for user authentication, exploiting an important biometric trait of a user: the wrist gestures during performing a signature in the air. In contrast to traditional authentication methods, the gestures can be captured while signing in the air freely with no need for any input media like keypads and signature capture devices. This paper presents result from a preliminary study that shows the potential of the proposed approach to be used for robust user authentication.
A S/C-band high Q resonator architecture for direct print additive manufacturing

In this paper, the first high-Q capacitively-loaded cavity resonator that is compatible with direct print additive manufacturing (the combination of fused deposition modeling and micro-dispensing) is presented. The resonator operates from 2.3–7 GHz by changing the thickness of a capacitive gap in the center of the cavity. The measured Q-factor over the same frequency range is between 107 and 140. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) is deposited using fused deposition modeling to form the resonator structure (relative permittivity of 2.7 and loss tangent of 0.008) and Dupont CB028 silver paste is used to form the conductive regions.
An audience research study to disseminate evidence about comprehensive state mental health parity legislation to US State policymakers: protocol.

A large proportion of the US population has limited access to mental health treatments because insurance providers limit the utilization of mental health services in ways that are more restrictive than for physical health services. Comprehensive state mental health parity legislation (C-SMHPL) is an evidence-based policy intervention that enhances mental health insurance coverage and improves access to care. Implementation of C-SMHPL, however, is limited. State policymakers have the exclusive authority to implement C-SMHPL, but sparse guidance exists to inform the design of strategies to disseminate evidence about C-SMHPL, and more broadly, evidence-based treatments and mental illness, to this audience. The aims of this exploratory audience research study are to (1) characterize US State policymakers’ knowledge and attitudes about C-SMHPL and identify individual- and state-level attributes associated with support for C-SMHPL; and (2) integrate quantitative and qualitative data to develop a conceptual framework to disseminate evidence about C-SMHPL, evidence-based treatments, and mental illness to US State policymakers. The study uses a multi-level (policymaker, state), mixed method (QUAN→qual) approach and is guided by Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework, adapted to incorporate constructs from Aarons’ Model of Evidence-Based Implementation in Public Sectors. A multi-modal survey (telephone, post-mail, e-mail) of 600 US State policymakers (500 legislative, 100 administrative) will be conducted and responses will be linked to state-level variables. The survey will span domains such as support for C-SMHPL, knowledge and attitudes about C-SMHPL and evidence-based treatments, mental illness stigma, and research dissemination preferences. State-level variables will measure factors associated with C-SMHPL implementation, such as economic climate and political environment. Multi-level regression will determine the relative strength of individual- and state-level variables on policymaker support for C-SMHPL. Informed by survey results, semi-structured interviews will be conducted with approximately 50 US State policymakers to elaborate upon quantitative findings. Then, using a systematic process, quantitative and qualitative data will be integrated and a US State policymaker-focused C-SMHPL dissemination framework will be developed. Study results will provide the foundation for hypothesis-driven, experimental studies testing the effects of different dissemination strategies on state policymakers’ support for, and implementation of, evidence-based mental health policy interventions.
Notes on Display Behavior, Breeding, and Fledgling Care of the Wedge-billed Woodcreeper (Glyphorynchus spirurus) in Eastern Ecuador

ABSTRACT The Wedge-billed Woodcreeper (Glyphorynchus spirurus) is a common suboscine passerine of lowland forests of the Neotropics. While nest sites and incubation behavior for the species have been described, information about courtship and fledgling care are absent. As part of a separate study on the movement patterns of Wedge-billed Woodcreepers in eastern Ecuador, we observed a previously undescribed display behavior and collected data on fledgling feeding rates. We observed a neck-extension behavior performed synchronously by two interacting individuals that appears to play a role in courtship, but is also performed in aggressive contexts. Given that only 5 of 23 tracked adults were known to be breeding during the study period (Jan–Apr 2012), it is likely that the breeding season in this area extends well before and after this time period. Molt and breeding activities coincided for two individuals. Fledgling feeding rates ranged from 0.47–2.0 feeds/hr for adults from three nests; observation of only...