cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cellular destruction and protein breakdown induced by exposure to x-rays. I.

Abstract 1. 1. The data suggest that radiation causes an expansion in the “first glycine pool” as evidenced by the increased “corrected dilution coefficient” during the 6–24-hr. and 0–18-hr. collection periods. 2. 2. The level of hippuric acid excretion remains unchanged after exposure to ionizing radiation.
Indexing and Retrieval for the Web.

L'article explore les directions prises par la recherche ces cinq dernieres annees dans le domaine de l'indexation et du classement operes par les moteurs de recherche sur le Web. L'accent est mis sur les etudes qui tentent de caracteriser le Web en tant qu'environnement pour la recherche d'information et de determiner l'etendue de l'indexation realisee par les moteurs de recherche, ainsi que sur les etudes qui developpent et evaluent des techniques d'indexation et de recherche automatisees. D'autres questions liees a l'indexation et au classement sont mentionnees (indexation de citations, relevance feedback et elargissement de requete, recherche de pages liees, questions-reponses sur le Web), ainsi que la recherche concernant le comportement des utilisateurs.
Effects of egg order on organic and inorganic element concentrations and egg characteristics in tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor

The laying order of tree swallow eggs was identified from the Housatonic River, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, USA, and eggs were chemically analyzed individually to document possible effects of laying order on organic contaminant and inorganic element concentrations. Effects of laying order on other parameters such as egg weight, size, and lipid and moisture content also were assessed. Some effects of egg order on total polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were detected, but the effect was not uniform across individual females or between years. In 2004, clutches with higher total PCBs tended to have concentrations decline across egg order, whereas clutches with lower concentrations of PCBs tended to increase across egg order. In contrast, in 2005, there was a tendency for concentrations to increase across egg order. Polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations were highly variable within and among clutches in both years. The directionality of egg order associations (i.e., slopes) for trace elements was element dependent, was positive for Mn and Zn, was negative for B, and had no slope for Cr. Whole egg weight increased across egg order. Percentage lipid was variable within a clutch, with no pattern common across all females. Percentage lipid was also correlated with organic contaminant concentration. In highly contaminated environments, higher lipid content could have the unanticipated corollary of having higher concentrations of lipophilic contaminants such as PCBs. To reduce the effect of high variation within a clutch when assessing contamination exposure, it is recommended that two eggs per clutch be collected and pooled for chemical analysis. We further recommend that, as long as the two eggs are randomly collected, the additional effort needed to identify and collect specific eggs is not warranted. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2010;29:909–921. © 2009 SETAC
Soviet Society in the Era of Late Socialism, 1964–1985

Although scholars in the humanities and social sciences have long recognised the ‘stagnation’ paradigm's limitations, consensus on the need for a more nuanced set of concepts, analytical tools, and...
Service Utilization Patterns Among Adolescent Mothers Residing in Three-Generational Households

ABSTRACT This qualitative study used in-depth interviews to better understand the social service experiences and identified needs of 26 demographically diverse adolescent mothers and their mothers, who resided together in three-generational households. Most dyads accessed community services, particularly parenting and emotional supports, financial and material assistance, and medical care, and desired short-term assistance related to their circumstances and newly expanded families, rather than long-term support. The most commonly identified barrier to service utilization involved income eligibility guidelines. In light of welfare reform policies and the current economic climate, this research underscores the need for transitional supports for families, including assistance with basic needs. In terms of implications for social work practice and future research, adolescent mothers may need formal supports as they pursue independence after they leave their mothers’ care. Future research could further explore...
Social status alters defeat-induced neural activation in Syrian hamsters

Although exposure to social stress leads to increased depression-like and anxiety-like behavior, some individuals are more vulnerable than others to these stress-induced changes in behavior. Prior social experience is one factor that can modulate how individuals respond to stressful events. In this study, we investigated whether experience-dependent resistance to the behavioral consequences of social defeat was associated with a specific pattern of neural activation. We paired weight-matched male Syrian hamsters in daily aggressive encounters for 2 weeks, during which they formed a stable dominance relationship. We also included control animals that were exposed to an empty cage each day for 2 weeks. Twenty-four hours after the final pairing or empty cage exposure, half of the subjects were socially defeated in 3, 5-min encounters, whereas the others were not socially defeated. Twenty-four hours after social defeat, animals were tested for conditioned defeat in a 5-min social interaction test with a non-aggressive intruder. We collected brains after social defeat and processed the tissue for c-Fos immunoreactivity. We found that dominants were more likely than subordinates to counter-attack the resident aggressor during social defeat, and they showed less submissive and defensive behavior at conditioned defeat testing compared with subordinates. Also, social status was associated with distinct patterns of defeat-induced neural activation in select brain regions, including the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus, and lateral septum. Our results indicate that social status is an important form of prior experience that predicts both initial coping style and the degree of resistance to social defeat. Further, the differences in defeat-induced neural activation suggest possible brain regions that may control resistance to conditioned defeat in dominant individuals.
An experimental investigation into dynamic fracture: IV. On the interaction of stress waves with propagating cracks

This is the last in a series of four papers dealing with experimental observations of dynamic crack propagation in thin, large sheets of a Homalite 100 plastic material which allow simulation of crack growth in unbounded plates. In the first paper crack initiation resulting from stress wave loading was examined as well as crack arrest. It was found that for increasing rates of loading in the microsecond range the stress intensity factor required for initiation rises markedly. Crack arrest occurs abruptly without any deceleration phase at a stress intensity lower than that which causes initiation under quasi-static loading.
Using structured text for large-scale attribute extraction

We propose a weakly-supervised approach for extracting class attributes from structured text available within Web documents. The overall precision of the extracted attributes is around 30% higher than with previous methods operating on Web documents. In addition to attribute extraction, this approach also automatically identifies values for a subset of the extracted class attributes.
Effects of chronic exposure to coal‐derived oil on freshwater ecosystems: I. Microcosms

Sixteen 67-liter freshwater microcosms were treated for 8 weeks with an unrefined coal-oil in amounts ranging from 0.03 to 7 ml per week. Phenols make up 95% of the water-soluble compounds in this oil, and dissolved phenol concentrations averaged < 0.01 mg L/sup -1/ in the lowest dose and 10 mg L/sup -1/ in the highest. The microcosms were severely damaged at the highest treatment level; macrophytes, zooplankton and insects were eliminated, and the ecosystems became anaerobic. Microcosms did not recover to pretreatment conditions within 5 months. At lower dosages there were temporary effects on ecosystem metabolism, water chemistry and community structure. The most sensitive indices, community respiration, production/respiration ratio, pH and cladoceran zooplankton numbers, were affected at phenol concentrations below the lowest observable effect concentration of a chronic Daphnia magna bioassay.
Interactions of Pseudorabies virus with swine alveolar macrophages I: virus replication.

The replication of Pseudorabies virus (PRV) in cultured swine alveolar macrophages (AM) was studied using 6 different virus strains. AM were highly permissive to PRV infection, with progeny virus titres of 107 TCID50/ml from some strains. Virus progeny titres were higher in cultures infected with the field strains S-62 and 4892 than in cultures infected with the strains Bartha or PRV-C. Virus replication, viral DNA synthesis and the concomitant cell damage were dependent upon virus input m.o.i.s. and virus strain. Furthermore, cells from 7 day old pigs yielded higher virus progeny titres than cells of 6 week old pigs. The results from this study provide support to the premise that PRV infection may predispose anials to respiratory disease.
Experimental investigation of a passive stand-off layer damping treatment applied to an Euler-Bernoulli beam

Passive stand-off layer (PSOL) damping treatments are presently being implemented in many aerospace and defense designs. In a PSOL damping treatment, a stand-off or spacer layer is added to a conventional passive constrained layer (PCL) damping treatment. The addition of this stand-off layer increases the distance of the viscoelastic and constraining layers from the neutral axis of the vibrating structure. This is thought to enhance the damping by increasing the shear angle of the viscoelastic layer. In this experimental study, a PSOL damping treatment was applied to an Euler-Bernoulli beam. The frequency response of the treated PSOL beam was then compared with a conventionally treated PCL beam of similar dimensions and materials. Previous theoretical studies indicated that PSOL treatments provided greater damping than similarly sized conventional PCL treatments. This study verified experimentally that the beam treated with PSOL had greater damping of the first four modes than a similarly sized beam treated with PCL.
Quantitation of complement factor D in human serum by a solid-phase radioimmunoassay.

Abstract A sensitive solid-phase radioimmunoassay is described which quantitates human D to 1–2 ng/ml. The assay was used to measure the concentration of D in normal and acute-phase sera and sera from individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus. All 3 groups of sera had comparable levels of D with mean values of 1.8, 2.3 and 2.5 μg/ml, respectively. Also tested were sera decomplemented in vitro by activators of the classical and alternative pathways. The results indicated that D is not depleted by alternative or classical pathway activation. However, heat inactivation (56°C, 30 min) of serum resulted in almost complete loss of antigenic D.
Different religions, different emotions

Atran & Norenzayan (A&N) correctly claim that religion reduces emotions related to existential concerns. Our response adds to their argument by focusing on religious differences in the importance of emotion, and on other emotions that may be involved in religion. We believe that the important differences among religions make it difficult to have one theory to account for all religions.
Quantitative Doppler tissue imaging of the left ventricular myocardium: Validation in normal subjects

Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) is a new echocardiographic imaging technique from which quantitative data regarding myocardial velocity can be extracted. The purpose of this study was to compare endocardial velocities determined from DTI with those determined from M-mode echocardiography and to assess the range of myocardial velocities in normal subjects. Nineteen subjects were evaluated by M-mode echocardiography and quantitative DTI for maximal systolic velocities of the anteroseptal and inferoposterior walls. Mid-myocardial and epicardial velocities were also measured by DTI for each wall. Maximal systolic velocities of the anteroseptal and inferoposterior endocardium determined by DTI correlated significantly with those derived from M-mode echocardiography (r = 0.87). The velocity of the inferoposterior wall by DTI (27.3 ± 4.8 mm/sec) was greater than that of the anteroseptum (20.8 ± 4.1 mm/sec) by a mean difference of 7.0 ± 5.7 mm/sec (p < 0.001). A peak velocity gradient of 5.9 ± 3.5 mm/sec (p < 0.001) between the epicardium to endocardium was detected. These data confirm that (1) regional myocardial velocities may be quantified with DTI in human beings; (2) the high resolution of DTI allows velocities to be determined at different levels within the myocardium; and (3) heterogeneity of myocardial velocities may be demonstrated in normal subjects.
Complement inhibition by amidines and guanidines--in vivo and in vitro results.

Abstract Amidines and guanidines have been reported to be effective inhibitors in vitro of complement. This study reports the in vivo activity of four such compounds, 4-aminobenzamidine, 3,4-dimethoxybenzamidine, 4-methyl-2-guanidinoquinazoline and pentamidine, as reflected in their ability to inhibit the Forssman reaction, a model of complement-mediated tissue damage. Inhibitory concentrations of each compound were first determined using whole guinea pig serum. In contrast to two other, known complement inhibitors, cobra venom factor and fumaropimaric acid, these compounds failed to block the Forssman reaction after intravenous administration at greater than their computed inhibitory concentrations. In addition, the serum from amidine-dosed guinea pigs failed to show complement inhibition, indicating that inhibitory concentrations had not been achieved in vivo . Confirming this, 4-aminobenzamidine was shown to partition out of blood into an apparent volume of distribution of ca. 2.7 liters/kg less than 2 min after an intravenous dose. Other amidines and guanidines, including pentamidine, show a correspondingly large volume of distribution. We conclude that this class of inhibitors must undergo structural modifications designed to produce adequate and sustained plasma concentrations before in vivo anticomplementary activity can be expected.
Hypoxia Stimulates ecNOS mRNA Expression by Differentiated Human Trophoblasts

Cytotrophoblasts isolated from normal human placenta cultured under normoxic conditions (20% O2, pO2 = 130 mmHg) for 48-72 h differentiate to a form which expresses high levels of hCG and which morphologically resembles syncytiotrophoblast. We had previously shown that hypoxia (0-1% O2, pO2 = 12-14 mmHg) blocks this differentiation process, although trophoblasts exposed to hypoxia for up to 96 h were completely viable. In this article we showed that trophoblast responds to hypoxia by expressing the hypoxia-sensitive DNA binding protein HIF-1. We also showed that in trophoblast cultured under normoxic conditions, expression of endothelial cell nitric oxide synthase (ecNOS) mRNA increases with time, reaching a maximum in 48-72 h. However, in trophoblast maintained under hypoxic conditions for 48 h (after an initial 24 h in normoxia), expression of ecNOS mRNA is greatly reduced. These observations are consistent with the expression of ecNOS by syncytiotrophoblast but not by cytotrophoblast. In contrast, exposure of differentiated trophoblasts to hypoxia for 24 h (after 48-72 h in normoxia) significantly stimulates expression of ecNoS mRNA over that of cells maintained continuously in normoxia. These results suggest that in differentiated trophoblast hypoxia can stimulate ecNOS expression.
Androgen Receptor Mutations in Prostate Cancer

We analyzed the frequency and relevance of mutations in the coding region of the androgen receptor (AR) in genomic DNA extracted from 137 specimens of prostate cancer. The specimens were obtained from the primary tumors of patients affected by stage B disease [15 nonmicrodissected (group 1A) and 84 microdissected (group 1B)] and from the metastatic deposits of individuals with stage D1 disease [8 nonmicrodissected (group 2A) and 30 microdissected (group 2B)] who had not undergone androgen ablation therapy. The study was conducted by PCR-single strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP) analysis of exons 2-8 in the four groups and direct sequence analysis of exon 1 in group 1B. As positive and negative controls, we used genomic DNA extracted from genital skin fibroblasts of patients affected by various forms of androgen resistance with known mutations in the AR. To control for genetic instability, PCR-SSCP analysis of exon 2 of the human progesterone receptor was carried out on each specimen. The overall number of mutations detected was 11 (8%). No mutations were detected in any of the 99 patients with stage B disease. Eleven mutations were detected in exons 2-8 in 8 of the 38 patients with stage D1 disease (all in group 2B). Simultaneous analysis of exon 2 of the progesterone receptor was carried out, and no SSCP changes were identified. These data suggest that AR mutations are rare and presumably do not play a role in the initial phase of prostatic carcinogenesis. The presence of a significant number of AR mutations in metastatic disease indicates that mutations of this molecule may play a role in the most advanced phases of the natural history of this disease, either by facilitating growth or acquisition of the metastatic phenotype.
Non-ohmic I?V behaviour of random metal-insulator composites near their percolation threshold

A large increase in electrical conductivity has been observed when a direct current voltage is applied to random metal-insulator composites near their percolation threshold. This reversible non-ohmic I-V behaviour, which is similar to that observed in zinc oxide varistors, has been studied in three metal/insulator systems including silver particles in a matrix of potassium chloride, and two different systems of nickel particles in a matrix of polypropylene. These composites have all been prepared by mechanically mixing metal particles with an insulator host in predetermined volume fractions. A physical model with a semi-phenomenological equation has been proposed to describe this non-ohmic I–V behaviour. The non-ohmic effect is postulated to arise from a localized reversible dielectric breakdown between narrowly separated metal clusters in the metal/insulator composite.
Graph theory: interfacing audiences into the compositional process

Graph Theory links the creative music-making activities of web site visitors to the dynamic generation of an instrumental score for solo violin. Participants use a web-based interface to navigate among short, looping musical fragments to create their own unique path through the open-form composition. Before each concert performance, the violinist prints out a new copy of the score that orders the fragments based on the decisions made by web visitors.
Adult spinal V2a interneurons show increased excitability and serotonin-dependent bistability.

In mice, most studies of the organization of the spinal central pattern generator (CPG) for locomotion, and its component neuron classes, have been performed on neonatal [postnatal day (P)2-P4] ani...
Inhibition of nitric oxide synthase partially attenuates alterations in the blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier during experimental meningitis in the rat

The permeability of the blood-cerebrospinal fluid (blood-CSF) barrier is increased upon exposure to lipopolysaccharides during bacterial meningitis. Lipopolysaccharides induce nitric oxide (NO) synthase in a variety of cells. Increased meningeal NO production and blood-CSF barrier permeability were observed in a rat model of meningitis. Administration of aminoguanidine, an inhibitor of NO synthase, blocked meningeal NO production and significantly attenuated permeability changes in the blood-CSF barrier. It is hypothesized that pathological production of NO may contribute to the disruption of the blood-CSF barrier during meningitis.
ANTIGEN PRETREATMENT AND MECHANISMS OF THE RESULTING TEMPORARY TOLERANCE.

SummaryThree factors were studied in animals showing prolonged homograft survival as a result of donor antigen pretreatment. The possible contribution of a grafts-host reaction to prolonged homograft survival, wasting, or lymphoid depletion was eliminated by using irradiated donor blood for conditioning, and irradiated transplants, and finding no significant change in homograft survival or in degree of lymphoid depletion. Any role the thymus may play as a source of lymphoid repopulation when conditioned animals reject homografts was ruled out by finding no increase in homograft survival in animals conditioned and transplanted after thymectomy. The importance of primary vascular contact between conditioned recipient and transplant was shown by the absence of wasting and lymphoid depletion on conditioned animals which receive massive skin homografts, rather than kidney transplants.
The fitting, the deserving, and the beautiful

Punishment is punishment even if it is not (perceived by the punisher to be) deserved. But punishment which is not (perceived by the punisher to be) fitting is not punishment. This paper explores the differences between desert and fittingness, and argues that incorporating fittingness into thedefinition of punishment is not problematic, whereas incorporating desert in such definition is, in contrast, infamously problematic. The main difference between these two notions turns on the interesting differences between two types of normativity. Fittingness is exclusively concerned with aesthetic normativity, whereas desert is more directly concerned with moral normativity. When something is fitting, then it is, to an extent, intrinsically good, and, to an extent, it is also beautiful. The notion of fittingness has largely been ignored in discussions of punishment, yet it helps us better to understand the phenomenon of punishment, and in particular the thorny relationship between this phenomenon and desert.
Effects of repeated exposure to morphine in adolescent and adult male C57BL/6J mice: age-dependent differences in locomotor stimulation, sensitization, and body weight loss

Rationale Given evidence for age-related differences in the effects of drugs of abuse, surprisingly few preclinical studies have explored effects of opioids in adolescents (versus adults).
Coalitions and Family Problem Solving with Preadolescents in Referred, At-Risk, and Comparison Families†

This study tested the hypothesis that the mother-father coalition, parent-child coalitions, and parental warmth expressed toward the child are associated with family problem solving in families with a preadolescent child referred for treatment of behavior problems (n = 30), families with a child at-risk for conduct disorder (n = 68), and a sample of comparison families (n = 90). Referred and at-risk families displayed less effective problem solving. A regression analysis, which controlled for gender of the child, family structure, family income, marital satisfaction, and severity of child problems, showed that strong parental coalitions were linked to low levels of family problem solving in at-risk and referred families. Parent-child coalitions had little apparent impact while parental warmth was highly correlated with better family problem solving. The results may be interpreted as evidence for a tendency for parents in at-risk and referred families to "scapegoat" a preadolescent during family problem-solving sessions. This may undermine progress on family problem solutions and may complicate family-based prevention and treatment programs that use family problem-solving sessions.
Adding positive reinforcement in justice settings: acceptability and feasibility

Although contingency management (CM) approaches are among the most promising methods for initiating drug abstinence (S. T. Higgins, S. M. Alessi, & R. L. Dantona, 2002; S. T. Higgins, S. H. Heil, & J. P. Lussier, 2004), adoption and implementation of CM protocols into treatment programs are both challenging and infrequent. In criminal justice agencies, where roughly 70% of clients report substance abuse issues (F. S. Taxman, K. L. Cropsey, D. W. Young, & H. Wexler, 2007), CM interventions are virtually nonexistent. The Justice Steps (JSTEPS) study uses a longitudinal, mixed-method design to examine the implementation of a CM-based protocol in five justice settings. This article presents qualitative data collected during Phase 1 of the JSTEPS project regarding the acceptability and feasibility of CM in these justice settings. The study finds a level of acceptability (find CM tolerable) and feasibility (find CM suitable) within justice agencies, but with some challenges. These challenges are reflected in the following: (a) incorporating too many desired target behaviors into CM models; (b) facing intraorganizational challenges when designing CM systems; and (c) emphasizing sanctions over rewards despite the evidence-base for positive reinforcers. These findings have implications for advancing the dissemination, adoption, and implementation of evidence-based treatments (and CM in particular) in criminal justice settings.
Performance of multidetector CT in the evaluation of the endometrium: Measurement of endometrial thickness and detection of disease.

Aim To evaluate the performance of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in the measurement of endometrial thickness and assessment for endometrial disease. Materials and methods Seventy-nine MDCT examinations, including sagittal reformats from isotropic data, were retrospectively evaluated for the presence of endometrial abnormality, endometrial thickness, and recommendation for transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS) after CT. The endometrial thickness was measured on sagittal images using two different methods, between the inner-to-inner hypoattenuating stripe, and when visible, between the outer-to-outer hyperattenuating stripe. TVUS performed within 48 h of CT in premenopausal and 1 month in postmenopausal patients served as reference standard. Interobserver agreement for endometrial thickness and abnormalities was assessed using concordance correlation (CC) and kappa statistics. Results Interobserver agreement for endometrial thickness on sagittal CT images was excellent (CC 0.98), and highly accurate using the inner-to-inner measurement. For determination of abnormal thickening, the positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 67–100% and 99.5–100%. For detection of any endometrial abnormality, the positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 79–90% and 84–95%, respectively. False-negative missed abnormalities included small volume hydrometra, a polyp, and endometrial distortion by a fibroid. Conclusion At MDCT, sagittal reformatted images provide reliable endometrial measurement using the inner-to-inner hypoattenuating stripe and are accurately categorized as normal or abnormal thickness using the same numerical criteria as at sonography.
The Diagnosis of Hypercortisolism. Biochemical Criteria Differentiating Patients from Lean and Obese Normal Subjects and from Females on Oral Contraceptives

ABSTRACT Hypercortisolism may be difficult to diagnose because the clinical features are sometimes unimpressive, or because current laboratory determinations may furnish misleading results. Studies have been performed on 40 lean subjects, 28 obese subjects, 15 females on oral contraceptives, 23 patients with long-standing paraplegia, 17 patients with undoubted features of Cushing's syndrome and chemical evidence of hypercortisolism, and 28 individuals with questionable hypercortisolism. The overlap between obese normal subjects and patients with hypercortisolism in urinary 17-OHCS excretion and cortisol secretion rates has been eliminated by expressing these measurements per gram of excreted creatinine. Patients with hypercortisolism invariably excreted more than the normal amounts of 17-OHCS (2.0–6.5 mg/day/g creatinine) and secreted more than normal amounts of cortisol (4.4–19.0 mg/day/g creatinine). Plasma 17-OHCS in patients with hypercortisolism was sometimes normal between 8 and 9 am [normal =19.2 ±...
Proton radiographic detection of strokes.

SOME penetrating radiations other than X rays can be used for the visualization of bodily structures. We are investigating the clinical potential of protein radiography, by which it is possible to obtain radiographs of unusually high contrast1. Having visualized tumours within human specimens, including brain autopsy material2, and carcinomas within breast tissue (manuscript in preparation), we now report the visualization of cerebral vascular lesions in specimens fixed in formalin.
Concepts for constrained control allocation of mixed quadratic and linear effectors

Concepts for new constrained control allocation strategies are developed that deal with systems where moments are nonlinearly related to effector deflections such as those encountered in the case of yawing moment contributions from left-right effector pairs on aircraft.. These concepts are illustrated by considering single and multiple left-right pair effector mixing problems for moments that lie in the roll-yaw moment plane. Methods for generating the boundary of an attainable moment set for a class of multiple non-linear effectors and for clipping unattainable moment commands with axis prioritization are presented.
Use of a novel ultrafiltration device as a treatment strategy for diuretic resistant, refractory heart failure: initial clinical experience in a single center.

Abstract Background The System 100 UF device allows ultrafiltration (UF) via peripheral access and is approved for use in heart failure (HF), although clinical trials defining optimal target population and clinical utility are lacking. We report our initial experience with clinical use of this system in very advanced, diuretic resistant HF patients. Methods and Results Eleven HF patients (mean age 70 years) underwent 1 to 5 UF treatments each (total 32 UF). The goal was to remove 4 liters of fluid per 8-hour UF. Baseline creatinine averaged 2.2 mg/dL (range .9–3.2) while estimated glomerular filtration rates (GFRs) averaged 38 mL/min (range 20–87). Nine patients (82%) had moderate (GFR 30–59; n = 3) or severe (GFR 3500 mL, 11 (34%) removed 2500–3500 mL, and 8 (25%) removed .3 mg/dl. Five patients required dialysis for persistant diuretic resistant volume overload or uremic symptoms. Six-month mortality was 55%. Conclusions Peripheral UF safely but variably removed fluid. In this very high-risk, advanced HF population, 45% of patients developed worsening renal function during UF therapy. Controlled studies are needed to determine the impact of UF on renal function and outcomes in high-risk populations such as this.
Potentiodynamic Reactivation Method for Detecting Sensitization in AISI 304 and 304L Stainless Steels

Abstract Electrochemical methods have been proposed as a nondestructive, quantitative means for determining the degree of sensitization associated with the chromium-depleted zones surrounding preci...
New Spin Label Designed for Double Electron-Electron Resonance Distance Measurements in the Liquid Nitrogen Temperature Range

Double electron-electron resonance (DEER) measurements of interspin distances in biomolecules are restricted by the spin echo dephasing rates of the paramagnetic centers. Faster dephasing rates limit the longest distance that can be measured and the precision with which the distribution of distances can be measured. Because of the temperature dependence of dephasing rates for currently-used spin labels, the optimum temperature for DEER measurements is 50 to 60 K, which requires the use of liquid helium as the cryogen. A new spin label has been synthesized and characterized, with a structure that is analogous to the commonly-used synthetic peptide TOAC, except that the gem-dimethyl groups are replaced by spirocyclohexyl groups. Because of the absence of methyl groups, the spin echo dephasing rates for this new spin label in 1:1 water glycerol remains approximately independent of temperature up to about 130 K. The spin lattice relaxation rates for the new probe are sufficiently faster at 130 K to compensate for the changes in Boltzmann populations, so the signal-to-noise, longest distance that can be measured, and accuracy of determination of distance distributions in DEER experiments with this probe will be as favorable at 130 K as for currently-used probes at 50 to 60 K. These results indicate that it will be possible to perform DEER experiments with the substantially less expensive liquid nitrogen. Supported by NIH NIBIB EB002807(Denver), NSF CHE-0718117 (Nebraska), NSF/DOE under Grant No. CHE-0087817 and DOE under Contract No. W-31-109-Eng-38 (Indiana).
An evaluation of pyrolytic techniques with regard to the Apollo 11, 12 and 14 lunar samples analyses

Two different pyrolysis techniques have been used in the analysis of lunar fines. The first technique involved pyrolysis at 700°C under an inert atmosphere in a flowing He system at normal pressure. The products were collected at liquid N2 temperature and then allowed to pass instantaneously into a combined capillary gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The second technique consisted of a vacuum pyrolysis where the sample was first degassed at 150°C and then pyrolyzed at 500°C and 1000°C consecutively. The products were again collected at liquid N2 temperature and then they were directly introduced to the ion source of the mass spectrometer through a modified gas inlet system. An evaluation of the two techniques based on control experiments has shown that the probability of secondary reactions is greater in the inert atmosphere pyrolysis method. Pyrolysis of benzene in He under atmospheric pressure at 600°C showed the presence of small quantities of biphenyl and trace amounts of naphthalene. Biphenyl pyrolyzed under vacuum at 600, 700, 800 and 900°C by passing through a hot zone containing a quartz wool plug showed the presence of a wide range of synthesis and breakdown products as the temperature increased. These experiments have shown the importance of taking into account the factors that influence pyrolytic degradation and/or the synthesis of products. These can be diffusion effects, involving sample size, sample form, pyrolysis pressure conditions; temperature, catalytic effects from the pyrolysis vessel, contamination, perhaps other factors. Pyrolysis is an effective method of analysis if used under carefully controlled conditions. Pyrolysis of Apollo 14 lunar fines and scrapings from an astronaut's glove gave different products by mass spectrometry and showed different looking flaky materials upon scanning electron microscopy.
Type conversion of (Hg,Cd)Te induced by the redistribution of residual acceptor impurities

Bulk (Hg,Cd)Te grown by the quench‐anneal process has been found to contain residual acceptor impurities which are normally depleted from the n‐type surface by an internal gettering mechanism during low temperature postannealing in saturated Hg vapor. When the n‐type slices are postannealed for much longer periods, the Te saturated core is annihilated, and the gettered residual acceptor impurities can redistribute into the surface region. If upon homogenization the residual acceptor concentration exceeds the residual donor concentration, the material will convert to p type. A new method for applying neutron activation analysis (NAA) to (Hg,Cd)Te has been used to identify this acceptor impurity as Cu at levels below 1 ppm. An extension of the NAA technique has employed quartz encapsulated silicon samples to demonstrate Cu may come from either the quartz or annealing environment.
Photoreceptor outer segments: Accelerated membrane renewal in rods after exposure to light

The rate of rod outer segment renewal in Rana pipiens tadpoles under constant light and under diurnal conditions of 12 or 2 hours light per day is significantly increased compared to that in animals in darkness. Furthermore, during 24 hours in light after 6 days in darkness the rate of renewal is three to four times that in darkness. In Xenopus laevis tadpoles the rate of renewal is more than five times greater during the first 8 hours of a normal diurnal cycle than during the following 16 hours. These observations demonstrate that bursts of renewal activity occur as a response to light, and suggest that a normal pattern of light alternating with darness plays a fundamental role in the regulation of rod outer segment turnover.
Short communication: Progression of Johne's disease curtailed by a probiotic

The naturally occurring inflammatory bowel disease Johne's, caused by Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP), has many clinical manifestations in common with the human inflammatory bowel disease Crohn's disease. In addition, both lack preventive and curative therapies. Because a high percentage of Crohn's patients harbor MAP, it is not surprising that MAP is at the center of controversy as to its contribution. Special concern is being raised as to what role, if any, food animals play in transmission of MAP to humans. Because management practices, presently considered the best way to control the spread of MAP, have not and most likely will not eliminate MAP from food animals, other preventive or curative measures are needed. The results presented herein show that a unique bacterium, Dietzia ssp. C79793-74, used as a probiotic, was therapeutic for adult paratuberculosis animals, and resulted in a cure rate of 37.5%.
The Use of Osteochondral Allograft Transplantation for Primary Treatment of Cartilage Lesions in the Knee

Objective:To assess the outcome of osteochondral allograft (OCA) transplantation as the primary treatment for cartilage injury in patients with no previous surgical treatment.Study Design:Case series. Patients were identified in our outcomes database. Patients undergoing primary OCA transplantation with no prior surgical treatment and a minimum of 2 years follow-up were selected. Pain and function were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively. Patient satisfaction was assessed. Reoperations following OCA transplantation were captured. Failure was defined as revision OCA or conversion to arthroplasty.Results:Fifty-five patients (61 knees) were included in the analysis. The study consisted of 30 males and 25 females (mean age = 32.9 years; range = 15.7-67.8 years). The most common diagnoses for the OCA transplantation were osteochondritis dissecans (44.3%) and avascular necrosis (31.1%). Pain and function improved preoperatively to postoperatively on all outcome scales (P < 0.01). The majority of patien...
Language-adaptive persian speech recognition.

Development of robust spoken language technology ideally relies on the availability of large amounts of data preferably in the target domain and language. However, more often than not, speech developers need to cope with very little or no data, typically obtained from a different target domain. This paper focuses on developing techniques towards addressing this challenge. Specically we consider the case of developing a Persian language speech recognizer with sparse amounts of data. For language modeling, there are several potential sources of text data, e.g., available on the Internet, to help bootstrap initial models; however, acoustic data can be obtained only by tedious data collection efforts. The drawback of limited Persian acoustic data can be partially overcome by making use of acoustic data from languages that have vast resources such as English (and other languages, if available). The phoneme sets especially for diverse languages such as English and Persian differ considerably. However by incorporating knowledge-based as well as data-driven phoneme mappings, reliable Persian acoustic models can be trained using well-trained English models and small amounts of Persian re-training data. In our experiments Persian models re-trained from seed models created by data-driven phoneme mappings of English models resulted in a phoneme error rate of 19.80% as compared to a phoneme error rate of 20.35% when the Persian models were re-trained from seed models created by sparse Persian data.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)-specific cell-mediated immune responses in human peripheral blood (VIR2P.1025)

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of respiratory tract infections and hospitalization in infants, but no vaccine exists, primarily because the immune response is poorly understood and immune correlates of protection have not been adequately defined. Antiviral lymphocytes, along with secreted immunoglobulins (Ig) are likely the most important components of effective anti-RSV immunity RSV-specific assays to quantify the effective cell-mediated immune response to naturally-occurring RSV infections are imperative. We therefore quantified IFN-γ secreting human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with and without stimulation by whole RSV from different clades, and with highly purified RSV-peptide pools. PBMCs from donors demonstrated between-donor variable levels of immune response to the RSV peptide pools and the whole virus preparations. Robust IFN-γ T-cell responses were observed at 72 hours in all PBMCs, thus allowing a single time point assay evaluation. Higher responses were seen in the CD4+ population of PBMCs compared to the CD8+ population. Responses of CD8+ PBMCs to whole virus preparations and to mock infection control preparations were similar and responses to RSV peptide pools were not statistically significant from the negative peptide control. IFN-γ based ELISPOTS and FACS assays are promising tools to quantify RSV-specific T-cell-mediated immune responses in human blood.
A method for determining intracloud lightning and ionospheric heights from VLF/LF electric field records

[1] The Los Alamos Sferic Array (LASA) recorded VLF/LF electric-field-change signals from over ten million lightning discharges during the period from 1998 to 2001. Using the differential-times-of-arrival of lightning sferics recorded by three or more stations, the latitudes and longitudes of the source discharges were determined. Under conditions of favorable geometry and ionospheric propagation, sensors obtained ionospherically reflected skywave signals from the lightning discharges in addition to the standard groundwave sferics. In approximately 1% of all waveforms, automated processing identified two 1-hop skywave reflection paths with delays indicative of an intracloud (height greater than 5 km) lightning source origin. For these events it was possible to determine both the height of the source above ground and the virtual reflection height of the ionosphere. Ionosphere heights agreed well with published values of 60 to 95 km with an expected diurnal variation. Source height determinations for 100,000+ intracloud lightning events ranged from 7 to 20 km AGL with negative-polarity events occurring above ∼15 km and positive-polarity events occurring below ∼15 km. The negative-polarity events are at a suprisingly high altitude and may be associated with discharges between the upper charge layer of a storm and a screening layer of charge above the storm. Approximately 100 of the intracloud events with LASA height determinations were also recorded by VHF receivers on the FORTE satellite. Independent FORTE source height estimates based on delays between direct and ground-reflected radio emissions showed excellent correlation with the VLF/LF estimates, but with a +1 km bias for the VLF/LF height determinations.
Characterization of cytoplasmic lysozyme immunoreactivity as a histiocytic marker in normal canine tissues

The immunoreactive lysozyme distribution in normal canine tissues was determined to assess the value of lysozyme as a marker of histiocytic differentiation. Lysozyme was largely confined to monocytes, neutrophils, macrophages, serous cells in mucosal associated exocrine glands, and renal proximal tubular epithelium. Macrophages in the majority of tissues stained intensely for lysozyme, although in lymphoid tissues not all acid phosphatase and nonspecific esterase positive cells contained lysozyme. In particular, dendritic antigen presenting cells, including Langerhans cells, follicular dendritic cells, and interdigitating reticulum cells, lacked immunoreactive lysozyme; hence lysozyme appeared to represent a discriminatory marker with respect to these cells. Also, a small proportion of non-dendritic macrophages appeared to lack lysozyme. It was concluded that the demonstration of immunoreactive lysozyme was a useful adjunct to conventional morphological techniques for the identification of tissue macropha...
Analysis of on-line clinical laboratory manuals and practical recommendations.

Abstract Context.—On-line clinical laboratory manuals are a valuable resource for medical professionals. To our knowledge, no recommendations currently exist for their content or design. Objective.—To analyze publicly accessible on-line clinical laboratory manuals and to propose guidelines for their content. Design.—We conducted an Internet search for clinical laboratory manuals written in English with individual test listings. Four individual test listings in each manual were evaluated for 16 data elements, including sample requirements, test methodology, units of measure, reference range, and critical values. Web sites were also evaluated for supplementary information and search functions. Results.—We identified 48 on-line laboratory manuals, including 24 academic or community hospital laboratories and 24 commercial or reference laboratories. All manuals had search engines and/or test indices. No single manual contained all 16 data elements evaluated. An average of 8.9 (56%) elements were present (range...
Real time selective harmonic minimization for multilevel inverters using genetic algorithm and artificial neural network angle generation

The work developed here proposes a methodology for calculating switching angles for varying DC sources in a multilevel cascaded H-bridges converter. In this approach the required fundamental is achieved, the lower harmonics are minimized, and the system can be implemented in real time with low memory requirements. Genetic algorithm (GA) is the stochastic search method to find the solution for the set of equations where the input voltages are the known variables and the switching angles are the unknown variables. With the dataset generated by GA, an artificial neural network (ANN) is trained to store the solutions without excessive memory storage requirements. This trained ANN then senses the voltage of each cell and produces the switching angles in order to regulate the fundamental at 120 V and eliminate or minimize the low order harmonics while operating in real time.
Vascular damaging agents

To provide a comprehensive overview on vascular targeting agents and the application of radiobiological principles in pre-clinical and clinical studies, we completed a comprehensive review of published medical studies on vascular targeting agents using Pub Med. Vascular targeting agents are now divided into vascular disrupting agents (VDAs), which target the pre-existing tumour vasculature, and angiogenesis inhibitors (AIs), which prevent the formation of new blood vessels. Modest success has been seen when VDAs and AIs are used as single agents and therefore combination therapies that can work in a complimentary and synergistic manner, targeting both the tumour cells and endothelial cells, are needed. Radiobiological principles have been used to increase our understanding of these agents, and can explain the increased efficacy of combination treatments. In particular, the alteration of the tumour microenvironment by AIs and VDAs can lead to enhanced efficacy when combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, with phase II/III trials showing encouraging results. The optimal use and scheduling of AIs and VDAs remains to be determined. Further understanding of the mechanisms of action of these potentially very exciting anti-neoplastic agents is urgently required.