cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rank-ordering of risk preferences with conventional and discrete measures

Abstract When the functional form of utility is unknown, conventional measures of risk aversion are often approximated by applying a Taylor series expansion to expected utility. This is shown to produce counterintuitive rank-orderings of risk preferences for individuals who are willing to pay equal reservation prices in lotteries with different prizes. Moreover, individuals who are unwilling to participate in favorable lotteries may be incorrectly identified as having a finite aversion to risk. Correct orderings are obtained by applying a discrete measure of relative risk aversion. The contrast between the conventional and discrete measures is illustrated with data from three Dutch surveys.
Actin Dynamics at the Living Cell Submembrane Imaged by Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Photobleaching

Abstract Although reversible chemistry is crucial to dynamical processes in living cells, relatively little is known about relevant chemical kinetic rates in vivo. Total internal reflection/fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (TIR/FRAP), an established technique previously demonstrated to measure reversible biomolecular kinetic rates at surfaces in vitro, is extended here to measure reversible biomolecular kinetic rates of actin at the cytofacial (subplasma membrane) surface of living cells. For the first time, spatial imaging (with a charge-coupled device camera) is used in conjunction with TIR/FRAP. TIR/FRAP imaging produces both spatial maps of kinetic parameters (off-rates and mobile fractions) and estimates of kinetic correlation distances, cell-wide kinetic gradients, and dependences of kinetic parameters on initial fluorescence intensity. For microinjected rhodamine actin in living cultured smooth muscle (BC3H1) cells, the unbinding rate at or near the cytofacial surface of the plasma membrane (averaged over the entire cell) is measured at 0.032±0.007s −1 . The corresponding rate for actin marked by microinjected rhodamine phalloidin is very similar, 0.033±0.013s −1 , suggesting that TIR/FRAP is reporting the dynamics of entire filaments or protofilaments. For submembrane fluorescence-marked actin, the intensity, off-rate, and mobile fraction show a positive correlation over a characteristic distance of 1–3 μ m and a negative correlation over larger distances greater than ∼7–14 μ m. Furthermore, the kinetic parameters display a statistically significant cell-wide gradient, with the cell having a "fast" and "slow" end with respect to actin kinetics.
Leukemia inhibitory factor regulates trafficking of T-type Ca2+ channels

Neuropoietic cytokines such as ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) stimulate the functional expression of T-type Ca2+ channels in developing sensory neurons. How...
Hyperlipidemia medication management in patients admitted for a myocardial infarction

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to determine the percentage of patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction currently prescribed a statin, with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) 400 mg/dL were excluded. The residual risk population consisted of patients currently taking a statin with LDL <100 mg/dL and HDL <50/55 mg/dL. Patients were excluded from the residual risk population if they were on niacin, had an allergy to or previously failed niacin therapy, or expired within 72 hours. Results : A total of 553 patients experiencing an AMI had lipid panels available for evaluation. The mean LDL was 97.3 ± 36.0 mg/dL, mean HDL was 33.5 ± 11.1 mg/dL, and mean triglycerides were 133.1 ± 71.3 mg/dL. The majority of patients (n=521, 94.2%) had an HDL < 50 or 55 mg/dL respective of gender. Ninety-two (80.0%) residual risk patients had no change in their home lipid medications post AMI. Fifteen (13.0%) residual risk patients had their dose of statin medication increased. Seven (6.1%) residual risk patients were initiated on niacin. Conclusions : The study results confirm an existence of a residual risk population with nearly 25% of AMI patients meeting the criteria. The results also confirm a low incidence of medication intervention in the residual risk population post AMI (20.0%) regarding lipid therapy, including the initiation of niacin in only 6.1% of patients.
Outcomes for Spine Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy and an Analysis of Predictors of Local Recurrence

Purpose To investigate local control, survival outcomes, and predictors of local relapse for patients treated with spine stereotactic body radiation therapy. Methods and Materials We reviewed the records of 332 spinal metastases consecutively treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy between 2002 and 2012. The median follow-up for all living patients was 33 months (range, 0-111 months). Endpoints were overall survival and local control (LC); recurrences were classified as either in-field or marginal. Results The 1-year actuarial LC and overall survival rates were 88% and 64%, respectively. Patients with local relapses had poorer dosimetric coverage of the gross tumor volume (GTV) compared with patients without recurrence (minimum dose [Dmin] biologically equivalent dose [BED] 23.9 vs 35.1 Gy, P P =.001; D95 BED 47.2 vs 50.5 Gy, P =.004). Furthermore, patients with marginal recurrences had poorer prescription coverage of the GTV (86% vs 93%, P =.01) compared with those with in-field recurrences, potentially because of more upfront spinal canal disease (78% vs 24%, P =.001). Using a Cox regression univariate analysis, patients with a GTV BED Dmin ≥33.4 Gy (median dose) (equivalent to 14 Gy in 1 fraction) had a significantly higher 1-year LC rate (94% vs 80%, P =.001) compared with patients with a lower GTV BED Dmin; this factor was the only significant variable on multivariate Cox analysis associated with LC ( P =.001, hazard ratio 0.29, 95% confidence interval 0.14-0.60) and also was the only variable significant in a separate competing risk multivariate model ( P =.001, hazard ratio 0.30, 95% confidence interval 0.15-0.62). Conclusions Stereotactic body radiation therapy offers durable control for spinal metastases, but there is a subset of patients that recur locally. Patients with local relapse had significantly poorer tumor coverage, which was likely attributable to treatment planning directives that prioritized the spinal cord constraints over tumor coverage. When possible, we recommend maintaining a GTV Dmin above 14 Gy in 1 fraction and 21 Gy in 3 fractions.
Self-consistent ▽P and E × B drifts in a two-dimensional one-fluid edge plasma model

Abstract Self-consistent poloidal diamagnetic and E × B drifts (presently without non-ambipolar effects) have been included in a two-dimensional single-fluid tokamak edge plasma transport model. Drift flows are seen to dominate the poloidal flow near the seperatrix where large pressure and potential gradients exist. A poloidal current of 65 A/cm2 is estimated to arise from the diamagnetic drift that leads to a radial drift of approximately 10 m/s. The poloidal drifts add substantial mass and energy flow across the symmetry plane that makes the use of such boundary conditions questionable. It is recommended that the computational domain include both divertors when drifts are dominant.
Iron Toxicity: New Conditions Continue to Emerge

During the past half century, excessive/misplaced iron has been observed to be a risk factor for an increasing number and diversity of disease conditions. An extensive list of conditions and of the types of iron association were published in early 2008. Within the subsequent year, four additional disorders have been recognized to be enhanced by iron: aging muscle atrophy, viral replication, rosacea and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis. This paper adds new data and emphasis on these disorders as entities associated with increased iron load and toxicity.
Comparison Between Empirical Protein Force Fields for the Simulation of the Adsorption Behavior of Structured LK Peptides on Functionalized Surfaces

All-atom empirical molecular mechanics protein force fields, which have been developed to represent the energetics of peptide folding behavior in aqueous solution, have not been parameterized for protein interactions with solid material surfaces. As a result, their applicability for representing the adsorption behavior of proteins with functionalized material surfaces should not be assumed. To address this issue, we conducted replica-exchange molecular dynamics simulations of the adsorption behavior of structured peptides to functionalized surfaces using three protein force fields that are widely used for the simulation of peptide adsorption behavior: CHARMM22, AMBER94, and OPLS-AA. Simulation results for peptide structure both in solution and when adsorbed to the surfaces were compared to experimental results for similar peptide-surface systems to provide a means of evaluating and comparing the performance of these three force fields for this type of application. Substantial differences in both solution and adsorbed peptide conformations were found amongst these three force fields, with the CHARMM22 force field found to most closely match experimental results.
The Perceived Seriousness of Racial Harassment

Using data from a 1989 factorial survey of 194 white students at a small liberal arts college, this paper demonstrates that observers' perception of the seriousness of verbal racial harassment depends both on the harassing behavior itself and on the account offered by the harasser for the behavior. Apologies and some excuses reduce perceived seriousness, while justifications and other excuses increase it, though only apologies have statistically consistent effects. Unexpectedly, personal experience with racial harassment does not affect perceived seriousness, though gender does. A comparison of the influences on the perception of sexual harassment is provided.
Stokes–Einstein and desorption-mediated diffusion of protein molecules at the oil–water interface

We observe the diffusive trajectories of individual bovine serum albumin molecules at the oil–water interface over more than two orders of magnitude of oil viscosity. At low oil viscosities, the molecular mobility is dominated by the expected Stokes–Einstein mode of interfacial diffusion, where the effective diffusion coefficient is inversely proportional to both the protein hydrodynamic radius and the oil viscosity. However, for high viscosity oils, a different diffusive regime is observed, with anomalously large effective diffusion coefficients that are relatively insensitive to the oil viscosity and are similar to the measured diffusion coefficient of the same protein at a hydrophobic solid–liquid interface. We propose that in this regime of high oil viscosity, interfacial diffusion is dominated by desorption-mediated diffusion, which also dominates at many solid–liquid interfaces.
Agonists calcitonin, corticotropin-releasing hormone, and vasoactive intestinal peptide, but not prostaglandins or beta-adrenergic agonists, elevate cyclic adenosine monophosphate levels in oligodendroglial cells.

Although 3',5'-cyclic AMP (cAMP) is known to regulate oligodendrocyte development in vitro, little is known about the identity of agonists that induce cAMP synthesis in oligodendroglia. To identify such agonists, we used a novel immunohistochemical method of visualizing cAMP within single cells to screen compounds that are known to activate cAMP synthesis in other cellular systems. Calcitonin, corticotropin-releasing hormone, and vasoactive intestinal peptide elevated cAMP in oligodendroglial cells but not in other cell types present in the cultures (i.e., astrocytes and microglia). In contrast, prostaglandins and the beta-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol, which have previously been reported to induce modest increases in oligodendroglial cell cAMP from biochemical assay of cell homogenates, did not induce a detectable cAMP response in individually identified oligodendroglial cells but instead induced a robust cAMP response in nonoligodendroglial cells.
Parallel two level block ILU Preconditioning techniques for solving large sparse linear systems

We discuss issues related to domain decomposition and multilevel preconditioning techniques which are often employed for solving large sparse linear systems in parallel computations. We implement a parallel preconditioner for solving general sparse linear systems based on a two level block ILU factorization strategy. We give some new data structures and strategies to construct a local coefficient matrix and a local Schur complement matrix on each processor. The preconditioner constructed is fast and robust for solving certain large sparse matrices. Numerical experiments show that our domain based two level block ILU preconditioners are more robust and more efficient than some published ILU preconditioners based on Schur complement techniques for parallel sparse matrix solutions.
The experimental determination of the onset of electrical and thermal conductivity percolation thresholds in carbon nanotube-polymer composites

We show evidence of electrical and thermal conductivity percolation in polymer based carbon nanotube (CNT) composites, which follow power law variations with respect to the CNT concentrations in the matrix. The experimentally obtained percolation thresholds, i.e., ~ 0.074 vol % for single walled CNTs and ~ 2.0 vol % for multi-walled CNTs, were found to be aspect ratio dependent and in accordance with those determined theoretically from excluded volume percolation theory. A much greater enhancement, over 10 orders of magnitude, was obtained in the electrical conductivity at the percolation threshold, while a smaller increase of ~ 100 % was obtained in the thermal conductivity values. Such a difference is qualitatively explained on the basis of the respective conductivity contrast between the CNT filler and the polymer matrix.
A parental sex difference in child custody suits

Abstract Court records of child custody suits filed in the Lehigh County Courthouse (PA, USA) were examined for the years 1977 and 1978. Mothers were relatively more likely to sue for custody of young offspring, while fathers were relatively more likely to sue for older ones. These data are consistent with predictions from sociobiological theories of parental investment.
Primary Household Production of Food, Food Expenditures, and Reported Adequacy of Food

Relationships between primary household production of food and (1) household expenditures for food and (2) the respondent's assessment of the adequacy of the household's food were examined in a standard path analysis of data from the 1977–78 USDA Food Consumption Survey. Separate analyses were done for fe male-headed and couple-headed households. The most important predictors of primary household production of food in both groups were the urbanization of the location of residence, followed by home ownership. Household size adjusted for ages and composition was the most important predictor of food expenditures for both groups, followed by income. Primary household production of food was related to lower household food expenditures in the couple-headed households. Important predictors of the reported adequacy of the household's food for house holds headed by a female were the education and age of the household head, adjusted household size, and hours worked by the head. In households headed by a couple, reported adequacy was primarily a function of education of the head, adjusted household size, the number of hours worked by the household heads, home ownership, and total food expenditures.
Transurethral ultrasound of the prostrate for applications in prostrate brachytherapy: analysis of phantom and in-vivo data

3D Trans-Urethral Ultrasound (TUUS) imaging is a new imaging technique for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate disease. Our current research focuses on the potential of TUUS in therapy guidance during tansperineal interstitial permanent prostate brachytherapy (TIPPB). TUUS may complement of potentially replace x-ray fluoroscopy and TRUS in providing data for determining the prostate boundary and radiation source locations. Prostate boundary detection and source localization using TUUS were tested on an ultrasound- equivalent prostate phantom and ina patient during TIPPB. Data collection was conducted with a 10 French, 10 MHz ultrasound catheter controlled by an Acuson SequoiaTM workstation. 2D and 3D TUUS scans were acquired after radioactive seeds were placed in the phantom and in the patient. Data was reconstructed, processed, and analyzed using Analyze software. Segmentation of the prostate boundary was performed semi-automatically, and seed segmentation was performed manually. Image artifacts in TUUS data resulted in incorrect reconstruction of the seeds. Intelligent processing of the seed data improved reconstruction. Comparison to the CT data suggests that TUUS dat provides: 1) greater spatial resolution, 2) greater temporal resolution and 3) better contrast for soft tissue differentiation. The reconstructed source sizes and locations were measured and found accurate. Placement of the TUUS catheter into the urethra provides excellent 2D sections which can be used to acquire volumetric data for 3D analysis of the prostate and radioactive sources. Preliminary results suggest that TUUS will be useful for guidance of seed placement, post-implant seed localization, and intra-operative dosimetry.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
A human ADP/ATP translocase gene has seven pseudogenes and localizes to chromosome X.

There are at least three transcriptionally active human ADP/ATP translocase genes. We have isolated seven ADP/ATP translocase pseudogenes from recombinant human genomic libraries. Each pseudogene sequence had more than 85% identity with the sequence of the human ADP/ATP translocase cDNA derived from fibroblast mRNA, but each had mutations that precluded synthesis of a functional protein. Using an intro probe derived from a partial clone of the human fibroblast ADP/ATP translocase gene, we localized the gene to chromosome Xq13 → Xq25-26. The gene encoding the skeletal muscle translocase has previously been shown to be on chromosome 4. Therefore, the human ADP/ATP translocase genes are members of a multigene family that includes pseudogenes and has been dispersed to at least two chromosomes.
ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF SOYBEAN FLOUR AND DERIVATIVES–A REVIEW

Soybean flour and various derivatives, with different natural, interacting primary antioxidants and synergists can stabilize lipids in formulated foods. Soybean flour has been shown to be a basic source of such antioxidant compounds as isoflavone glycosides and their derivatives, phospholipids, tocopherols, amino acids and peptides. There may be some antioxidant impact from aromatic amines and sulfhydryl compounds. Successful efforts have been made to concentrate the antioxidant activity in soy flour by aqueous extraction and by extraction with various organic solvents. Residual antioxidant activity has been reported in food systems containing soy protein concentrates, isolates and textured vegetable protein. Soy protein hydrolyzates have antioxidant activity which is associated with free amino acids and lower molecular weight peptides.
Low-cost receivers for millimeter-wave imaging array applications

Integrated circuit receivers have been built and tested for applications at millimeterwave frequencies. The receivers utilize a coplanar waveguide-fed double folded-slot (DFS) antenna on a high-resistivity silicon substrate lens. The 22 GHz receiver couples the antenna to a 6- stage MESFET followed by a planar Schottky-diode detector. Measurements of the system performance show a video responsivity close to 1 GV/W and a radiometer sensitivity of 3.8 (mu) V/K. The active MIC receiver can be integrated monolithically and is readily scalable to W-band frequencies. The 94 GHz double folded-slot antenna exhibits excellent millimeterwave patterns, demonstrating the suitability of the DFS for use at W-band. The application areas for this type of receiver re in low-cost millimeterwave linear imaging arrays for remote sensing, automobile collision-avoidance and limited-visibility aircraft landing systems.
Isothermal folding of G-quadruplexes

Thermodynamic studies of G-quadruplex stability are an essential complement to structures obtained by NMR or X-ray crystallography. An understanding of the energetics of quadruplex folding provides a necessary foundation for the physical interpretation of quadruplex formation and reactivity. While thermal denaturation methods are most commonly used to evaluate quadruplex stability, it is also possible to study folding using isothermal titration methods. G-quadruplex folding is tightly coupled to specific cation binding. We describe here protocols for monitoring the cation-driven quadruplex folding transition using circular dichroism or absorbance, and for determination of the distribution of free and bound cation using a fluorescence indicator. Together these approaches provide insight into quadruplex folding at constant temperature, and characterize the linkage between cation binding and folding.
Superhot-x-ray and -electron transport in high-intensity CO 2 -laser – plasma interactions

A comprehensive investigation of the high-energy [(70--400)-keV] x-ray emission from ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$-laser-produced plasmas at intensities up to 3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{14}$ W/${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ has revealed the presence of a ``superhot'' component. The intensity of this component scales very strongly with incident laser intensity. It is expected that for intensities ?5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{15}$ W/${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ energy balance in ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$-laser-produced plasmas would be dominated by the energetic electrons responsible for this high-energy x-ray emission.
Distal Dendritic Inputs Control Neuronal Activity by Heterosynaptic Potentiation of Proximal Inputs

Synapses onto distal dendritic tufts are believed to function by modulating time-locked proximal inputs; however, the role of these synapses when proximal inputs are asynchronous or silent is unknown. Surprisingly, we found that activation of apical tuft synapses alone resulted in heterosynaptic potentiation of proximal synapses. In mouse adult hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons, we show that activation of distal inputs from the entorhinal cortex (EC) specifically strengthens proximal synapses projecting from CA3. This slow AMPA receptor-mediated potentiation is accompanied by increased synaptic GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors, which are normally restricted to juvenile animals. These two synaptic modifications interact to generate striking bidirectional metaplastic changes. Heterosynaptically potentiated synapses become resistant to subsequent long-term potentiation (LTP) as the two forms of AMPA receptor-mediated potentiation occlude. However, this is only true when the LTP induction protocol is relatively weak. When it is strong and repeated, the magnitude of LTP after heterosynaptic plasticity is greatly increased, specifically through the activation of GluN2B-containing NMDA receptors. Thus, CA1 neurons expressing heterosynaptic potentiation induced by external sensory input from the EC become more strongly driven by internally generated environmental representations from CA3. Furthermore, subsequent SC LTP in this ensemble is shifted to potentiate only strongly activated CA3 inputs, while endowing these synapses with enhanced potentiation. These results show that one set of inputs can exert long-lasting heterosynaptic control over another, allowing the coupling of two functionally and spatially distinct pathways, thereby greatly expanding the repertoire of cellular and network plasticity.
Sensitive assay for triazolam in plasma following low oral doses.

At low doses of triazolam currently recommended increased assay sensitivity is required for measurement of low plasma concentrations. A highly sensitive capillary gas chromatographic analytical method with a limit of detection of 0.02 ng/ml was developed and used to describe the pharmacokinetics of triazolam following the oral intake of 0.125, 0.250 and 0.375 mg. Six male subjects were studied with blood sampling at the following times: 0, 15, 30 and 45 min and 1, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 h. The mean pharmacokinetic parameters for the three doses, respectively, were as follows: half-life, 2.7 ± 0.4, 3.2 ± 0.5 and 3.2 ± 0.6 h; apparent oral clearance, 302.3 ± 59.0, 260.2 ± 67.9 and 328.6 ± 77.8 ml/min; apparent volume of distribution, 64.3 ± 9.6, 62.0 ± 12.6 and 73.3 ± 7.71; time to maximum concentration, 0.7 ± 0.2, 0.6 ± 0.1 and 0.8 ± 0.3 h; maximum concentration, 2.2 ± 0.3, 4.3 ± 0.6 and 5.0 ± 0.5 ng/ml; and the area under the concentration—time curve (AUC) up to 8 h, 6.8 ± 1.2, 16.8 ± 2.9 and 19.6 ± 3.5 ng/ml h; and AUC extrapolated to infinity, 8.5 ± 1.7, 21.4 ± 4.4 and 26.3 ± 7.2 ng/ml h. There were no significant differences in the half-life, clearance, volume of distribution and time to maximum concentration among the three doses. The AUC was significantly different on the three occasions and was linearly correlated with dose: r = 0.64 (p < 0.005).
Independent Mobility After Early Introduction of a Power Wheelchair in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Weakness resulting from spinal muscular atrophy causes severe limitations in functional mobility. The early introduction of power mobility has potential to enhance development and mitigate disability. These outcomes are achieved by simulating normal skill acquisition and by promoting motor learning, visuospatial system development, self-exploration, cognition, and social development. There are few reports on early power mobility in spinal muscular atrophy, and it is typically not prescribed until school age. The authors evaluated 6 children under age 2 years with neuromuscular disease (5 spinal muscular atrophy, 1 congenital muscular dystrophy) for power mobility. Parents recorded the practice hours necessary to achieve independence using the Power Mobility Skills Checklist. Four children achieved independence in all items on the checklist by 7.9 months (range: 73-458 days). Introduction of early power mobility is feasible in spinal muscular atrophy patients under age 2 years and should be introduced in late infancy when children typically acquire locomotor skills.
Comorbid Trajectories of Tobacco and Marijuana Use as Related to Psychological Outcomes

ABSTRACT Heterogeneous classes of comorbid trajectories of tobacco and marijuana use were examined in order to determine how they are related to subsequent antisocial behavior, poor self-control, and internalizing behavior. Data are from a 4-wave longitudinal study of African American (n = 243) and Puerto Rican (n = 232) adolescents and adults in the community. Logistic regression analyses were employed to measure the association between the comorbid trajectories of tobacco and marijuana use and the psychological difficulty variables. The authors found 6 joint trajectory groups. The authors compared the non-or-experimental tobacco/marijuana use group with the other user groups in each of the psychological difficulty domains. The infrequent tobacco/late-onset marijuana use and chronic tobacco/marijuana use groups differed most strongly from the non-or-experimental tobacco/marijuana use group across the antisocial behavior, poor self-control, and internalizing problems domains. The chronic tobacco/maturing ...
Using the relational turbulence model to understand negative emotion within courtship

We employ the relational turbulence model to deduce hypotheses about how intimacy, relational uncertainty, and interference and facilitation from partners predict people’s experience of negative emotion. We test our hypotheses using data from a self-report, cross-sectional study of 525 individuals involved in dating relationships. Results indicated that intimacy shared very small convex curvilinear associations with anger, sadness, fear, and jealousy (H1). Relational uncertainty and interference from partners were positively correlated with negative emotion (H2, H3), and facilitation from partners was negatively correlated with negative emotion (H4). Also as expected, relational uncertainty and interference from partners mediated the association between intimacy and negative emotion (H5). We interpret how our findings shed light on people’s experience of negative emotion within courtship.
Cutaneous Nerves at Risk during the Posterior Midline Approach to the Elbow

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cutaneous nerves at risk during the posterior midline approach to the elbow and proximal ulna. Ten fresh frozen cadaver upper extremities were used for this study. A posterior midline skin incision extending from 10 cm proximal to 15 cm distal to the olecranon tip was created. All superficial nerves were identified and preserved. Nerve diameters were measured, their distance from the olecranon tip assessed, and they were dissected proximally to confirm their nerve of origin. Point of nerve arborization to skin from the midline incision was quantified. An average of one confirmed nerve proximal and five distal to the olecranon tip were identified with an average diameter of 0.9 mm proximal and 1.3 mm distal to the olecranon. The largest nerves were typically located 2 cm proximal (range 7–46 mm) and 45 mm distal (range 9–135 mm) to the olecranon. The branches arborized into the skin an average of 5.2 mm lateral to the incision. All nerves joined the posterior medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve. The branches of the medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve are at risk with a straight posterior midline elbow incision, though the clinical significance of injury to these nerves at this location is unknown.
Nulling tomography with weak gravitational lensing

We explore several strategies of eliminating (or nulling) the small-scale information in weak lensing convergence power spectrum measurements in order to protect against undesirable effects, for example, the effects of baryonic cooling and pressure forces on the distribution of large-scale structures. We selectively throw out the small-scale information in the convergence power spectrum that is most sensitive to the unwanted bias, while trying to retain most of the sensitivity to cosmological parameters. The strategies are effective in the difficult but realistic situations when we are able to guess the form of the contaminating effect only approximately. However, we also find that the simplest scheme of simply not using information from the largest multipoles works about as well as the proposed techniques in most, although not all, realistic cases. We advocate further exploration of nulling techniques and believe that they will find important applications in the weak lensing data mining.
An evaluation of the use of eye gaze to measure preference of individuals with severe physical and developmental disabilities

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether duration of eye gaze could be used to identify reinforcing stimuli for four individuals with severe physical and developmental disabilities, as well as the effectiveness of the assessment using different numbers of stimuli (i.e. 6 vs 14).Methods: This study measured each student's preferences in a paired stimulus preference assessment using duration of eye gaze toward various stimuli. Following the preference assessment, a reinforcer assessment was conducted within a reversal design to determine the accuracy of the preference hierarchy.Results: Results indicated that duration of eye gaze toward a stimulus was successful in identifying preferred stimuli that functioned as reinforcers for all participants. Additionally, the shorter preference assessment produced measures of similar accuracy in considerably less time.Conclusion: Eye gaze can be used to identify reinforcing stimuli for individuals with severe physical and developmental disabilities.
Treatment of Renal Cell Carcinoma in Von Hippel-Lindau Disease: A Multicenter Study

AbstractA total of 65 patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease underwent surgery for renal cell carcinoma (54 bilaterally and 11 unilaterally) at 8 medical centers. Only 1 patient presented with metastatic disease. Radical nephrectomy and nephron sparing surgery were performed in 16 and 49 patients, respectively. Mean posttreatment followup was 68 months.The 5 and 10-year cancer-specific survival rates for all patients were 95 percent and 77 percent, respectively. The corresponding rates for patients treated with nephron sparing surgery were 100 percent and 81 percent, respectively. Of the latter patients 25 (51 percent) had postoperative local tumor recurrence but only 2 had concomitant metastatic disease. Survival free of local recurrence was 71 percent at 5 years but only 15 percent at 10 years. End stage renal failure occurred in 15 patients (23 percent): 6 underwent renal transplantation (5 are alive with satisfactory renal function and no evidence of malignancy) and 9 were treated with chronic dialys...
Regional comparison of the lumped constants of deoxyglucose and fluorodeoxyglucose.

We determined the regional relationships of the lumped constants for deoxyglucose (DG) and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). Awake male rates were given simultaneous intravenous injections of [14C]DG and [18F]FDG, and sacrificed after 45 min. The brains were removed and small pieces of cortical tissue were sampled by dissection. The remainder of the brains were frozen and sliced into 20-μm-thick sections that were placed on coverslips and dried on a hot plate. Two sets of brain autoradiograms were prepared from the brain sections, one representing predominantly [14C] and the other [18F]. The autoradiograms were digitized, and after correcting for cross-contamination, tracer-concentration images of the DG and FDG were generated. Based on relative tracer concentrations in the tissue samples, the lumped constant of FDG was found to be 1.25 times that of DG, or 0.6. Using this value, images of glucose metabolism for the DG and FDG were generated from the tracer concentration images and compared. No significant regional differences were found, indicating that the relationship between the lumped constant of DG and that of FDG was stable throughout the normal brain.
Food Transport and Bolus Formation during Complete Feeding Sequences on Foods of Different Initial Consistency

Food movements during complete feeding sequences on soft and hard foods (8 g of chicken spread, banana, and hard cookie) were investigated in 10 normal subjects; 6 of these subjects also ate 8 g peanuts. Foods were coated with barium sulfate. Lateral projection videofluorographic tapes were analyzed, and jaw and hyoid movements were established after digitization of records for 6 subjects. Sequences were divided into phases, each involving different food management behaviors. After ingestion, the bite was moved to the postcanines by a pull-back tongue movement (Stage I transport) and processed for different times depending on initial consistency. Stage II transport of chewed food through the fauces to the oropharyngeal surface of the tongue occurred intermittently during jaw motion cycles. This movement, squeeze-back, depended on tongue–palate contact. The bolus accumulated on the oropharyngeal surface of the tongue distal to the fauces, below the soft palate, but was cycled upward and forward on the tongue surface, returning through the fauces into the oral cavity. The accumulating bolus spread into the valleculae. The total oropharyngeal accumulation time differed with initial food consistency but could be as long as 8–10 sec for the hard foods. There was no predictable tongue–palate contact at any time in the sequence. A new model for bolus formation and deglutition is proposed.
The Influence of Context on the “Weapon Focus” Effect

Two experiments investigated context effects in “weapon focus.” In Experiment 1, undergraduates who watched a videotape depicting an armed man provided less accurate descriptions of him if the action occurred in a setting in which a gun is unexpected rather than commonly seen. Identification accuracy did not vary, and the degree of threat in the man's behavior had no effect. In Experiment 2, witnesses' descriptions were poorer if the target carried an object that was inconsistent with his occupation (as indicated by his clothing style) and better if the object and occupation were not inconsistent. The results of both experiments imply that weapon focus may occur because weapons are surprising and unexpected within many contexts in which they appear.
Search for Fractional Charges Produced in Heavy-Ion Collisions at 1.9 GeV/nucleon

An experiment was performed to capture fractionally charged particles produced in heavy-ion collisions and to concentrate them in samples suitable for analysis by various techniques. Two of the samples so produced have been searched, with use of an automated version of Millikan's oil drop apparatus. The beam was /sup 56/Fe at 1.9 GeV/nucleon, incident on a lead target. Less than one fractional charge per 1.0 x 10/sup 4/ Fe-Pb collisions was found to be produced, and, with further assumptions, less than one per 2.0 x 10/sup 6/ collisions.
Evaluation of three 5′ exonuclease–based real-time polymerase chain reaction assays for detection of pathogenic Leptospira species in canine urine:

Leptospirosis is caused by several pathogenic Leptospira species, and is an important infectious disease of dogs. Early detection of infection is crucial for an effective antibiotic treatment of the disease. Though different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays have been developed for detection of pathogenic Leptospira spp., thorough evaluation of the performance of these assays using dog urine samples has not been carried out. In the current study, the performance of 3 real-time PCR (qPCR) assays was assessed, 1 targeting the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene and the other 2 targeting the lipL32 gene, a gene for the LipL32 outer membrane protein. With DNA extracted from laboratory-cultured pathogenic Leptospira spp., all 3 qPCR assays showed 100% specificity and had identical lower limits of detection. Compared to a conventional, gel-based PCR assay, all 3 qPCR assays were 100-fold more sensitive. There was a 100% agreement in the results of the 3 assays when tested on urine samples collected aseptically f...
Convergence analysis of gradient descent stochastic algorithms

This paper proves convergence of a sample-path based stochastic gradient-descent algorithm for optimizing expected-value performance measures in discrete event systems. The algorithm uses increasing precision at successive iterations, and it moves against the direction of a generalized gradient of the computed sample performance function. Two convergence results are established: one, for the case where the expected-value function is continuously differentiable; and the other, when that function is nondifferentiable but the sample performance functions are convex. The proofs are based on a version of the uniform law of large numbers which is provable for many discrete event systems where infinitesimal perturbation analysis is known to be strongly consistent.
NICMOS flight FPA qualification program

A comprehensive program has been developed for the production of focal plane assemblies (FPA) for use on the University of Arizona Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) instrument which is to be installed in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This paper describes the current schedule, tests to be performed, test conditions and unique test facilities of the flight FPA qualification test program. This test series is intended to validate design, assembly, performance and reliability of flight qualified FPAs. Also described are the design features, performance characteristics and test results obtained with prototype FPAs used as engineering evaluation units prior to committing the flight qualification units to manufacture. The qualification tests will demonstrate performance margins over and above requirements under operating environmental conditions. Included in the qualification tests are electrical, mechanical and thermal tests. Random vibration tests and mechanical shock tests will be performed at 1.5 times the load level specified for acceptance requirements. The random vibration tests simulate launch conditions and will induce stresses to uncover any potential structural deficiencies that might exist. The mechanical shock tests will simulate potential impacts incurred as a result of handling or transport. The qualification test program is intended to maximize confidence in the quality and integrity of the flight FPAs.
Oncornavirus-like protein expression in human prostatic tissue.

A sensitive competition radioimmunoassay using 125I-labelled p 30 interspecies antigen, antiserum specific to the interspecies antigen of the feline leukaemia virus, and aqueous tissue extracts from prostate was used to examine benign hyperplastic prostates for the presence of protein components able to compete with the interspecies viral antigens. Six of 20 prostatic nodular hyperplastic tissues were competitive in radioimmunoassay with the 125I-labelled viral antigen for binding sites on the antiviral antibodies. These findings suggest the presence of oncornavirus-like proteins in prostatic nodular hyperplasia. No correlation could be made between the presence of competing protein and histological features of acute or chronic prostatitis and squamous metaplasia.
A High Performance Photo-Emitter Membrane Spatial Light Modulator

A potentially high-performance, optically-addressed, spatial light modulator, called the photo-emitter membrane light modulator (PEMLM) is being developed. The operational theory of the PEMLM is presented, accompanied by a discussion of its ultimate performance objectives and limitations. The PEMLM offers the potential for framing rates in excess of 1kHz, 50 1p/mm resolution, storage times of days, extreme sensitivities of less than 1 nJ/cm 2 , and an intrinsic ability to perform such image processing operations as thresholding and hardclippiny, contrast reversal and enhancement, image addition and subtraction, and optical binary logic. A developmental laboratory prototype has been constructed.
The structure of assignment, precedence, and resource constraints in the ILP approach to the scheduling problem

Presents a general treatment of the combinatorial approach to the scheduling problem, enhancing previous formulations in the literature. The focus of this paper is a formal analysis of the integer linear programming (ILP) approach, which we use to evaluate the structure of our formulation. Polyhedral theory and duality theory are used to demonstrate that efficient solutions of the scheduling problem can be expected from a carefully formulated integer linear program. Furthermore, we use the theory of valid inequalities to tighten the constraints and make the formulation more efficient. >
Exploiting the efficiency and fairness potential of AIMD-based congestion avoidance and control

Additive increase multiplicative decrease (AIMD) is the dominant algorithm for congestion avoidance and control in the Internet. The major goal of AIMD is to achieve fairness and efficiency in allocating resources. In the context of packet networks, AIMD attains its goal partially. We exploit here a property of AIMD-based data sources to share common knowledge, yet in a distributed manner; we use this as our departing point to achieve better efficiency and faster convergence to fairness.Our control model is based on the assumptions of the original AIMD algorithm; we show that both efficiency and fairness of AIMD can be improved. We call our approach AIMD with fast convergence (AIMD-FC). We present experimental results with TCP that match the expectations of our theoretical analysis.
Iron-Responsive Olfactory Uptake of Manganese Improves Motor Function Deficits Associated with Iron Deficiency

Iron-responsive manganese uptake is increased in iron-deficient rats, suggesting that toxicity related to manganese exposure could be modified by iron status. To explore possible interactions, the distribution of intranasally-instilled manganese in control and iron-deficient rat brain was characterized by quantitative image analysis using T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Manganese accumulation in the brain of iron-deficient rats was doubled after intranasal administration of MnCl2 for 1- or 3-week. Enhanced manganese level was observed in specific brain regions of iron-deficient rats, including the striatum, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Iron-deficient rats spent reduced time on a standard accelerating rotarod bar before falling and with lower peak speed compared to controls; unexpectedly, these measures of motor function significantly improved in iron-deficient rats intranasally-instilled with MnCl2. Although tissue dopamine concentrations were similar in the striatum, dopamine transporter (DAT) and dopamine receptor D1 (D1R) levels were reduced and dopamine receptor D2 (D2R) levels were increased in manganese-instilled rats, suggesting that manganese-induced changes in post-synaptic dopaminergic signaling contribute to the compensatory effect. Enhanced olfactory manganese uptake during iron deficiency appears to be a programmed “rescue response” with beneficial influence on motor impairment due to low iron status.
Spin?orbit splittings in Si/SiGe quantum wells: from ideal Si membranes to realistic heterostructures

We present a calculation of the wavevector-dependent subband level splitting from spin?orbit coupling in Si/SiGe quantum wells. We first use the effective-mass approach, where the splittings are parameterized by separating contributions from the Rashba and Dresselhaus terms. We then determine the inversion asymmetry parameters by fitting tight-binding numerical results obtained using the quantitative nanoelectronic modeling tool, NEMO-3D. We describe the relevant coefficients as a function of applied electric field and well width in our numerical simulations. Symmetry arguments can also predict the behavior, and an extensive analysis is also presented in this work. Using vast computational resources, we treat alloy disorder at the atomistic scale. We obtain first-time results for realistic Si/SiGe heterostructures. Our numerical data are in very good agreement with experimental results, both qualitatively and quantitatively. We conclude that effects of alloy disorder have a crucial influence on the spin?orbit parameters.