cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Religious practices and changes in health-related quality of life after hospital discharge for an acute coronary syndrome.

Religious beliefs and practices influence coping mechanisms and quality of life in patients with various chronic illnesses. However, little is known about the influence of religious practices on changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among hospital survivors of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The present study examined the association between several items assessing religiosity and clinically meaningful changes in HRQOL between 1 and 6 months after hospital discharge for an ACS. We recruited patients hospitalized for an ACS at six medical centers in Central Massachusetts and Georgia (2011–2013). Participants reported making petition prayers for their health, awareness of intercessory prayers by others, and deriving strength/comfort from religion. Generic HRQOL was assessed with the SF-36®v2 physical and mental component summary scores. Disease-specific HRQOL was evaluated using the Seattle Angina Questionnaire Quality of Life subscale (SAQ-QOL). We separately examined the association between each measure of religiosity and the likelihood of experiencing clinically meaningful increase in disease-specific HRQOL (defined as increases by ≥10.0 points) and Generic HRQOL (defined as increases by ≥3.0 points) between 1- and 6-months post-hospital discharge. Participants (n = 1039) were, on average, 62 years old, 33% were women, and 86% were non-Hispanic White. Two-thirds reported praying for their health, 88% were aware of intercessions by others, and 85% derived strength/comfort from religion. Approximately 42, 40, and 26% of participants experienced clinically meaningful increases in their mental, physical, and disease-specific HRQOL respectively. After adjustment for sociodemographic, psychosocial, and clinical characteristics, petition (aOR:1.49; 95% CI: 1.09–2.04) and intercessory (aOR:1.72; 95% CI: 1.12–2.63) prayers for health were associated with clinically meaningful increases in disease-specific and physical HRQOL respectively. Most ACS survivors in a contemporary, multiracial cohort acknowledged praying for their health, were aware of intercessory prayers made for their health and derived strength and comfort from religion. Patients who prayed for their health and those aware of intercessions made for their health experienced improvement in their generic physical and disease-specific HRQOL over time. Healthcare providers should recognize that patients may use prayer as a coping strategy for improving their well-being and recovery after a life-threatening illness.
Test of an Anxiety Sensitivity Amelioration Program for at-risk youth (ASAP-Y).

Abstract Objective Adult research supports the efficacy of targeting the malleable risk factor of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in preventing anxiety and related psychopathology. However, very little work has evaluated the impact of AS reduction among youth, which is unfortunate given adolescence is a “core risk” period in terms of disorder onset. Method The primary project aim was to test the effects of an Anxiety Sensitivity Amelioration Program for Youth (ASAP-Y) among a sample of 88 youth aged 10–14 years with elevated AS. High AS youth and a parent were randomly assigned to either the ASAP-Y, which consisted of psychoeducation and experimenter-led and parent-led exposures, or a general health information control condition. Results Youth in the intervention condition sustained low AS levels across the intervention period, and although AS levels in both conditions decreased from baseline to the one-month assessment, this decrease was more pronounced at one-month for youth in the intervention condition. Further, significant indirect effects of condition on one-month anxiety and depression symptoms via reduced AS were detected. Homework compliance rates and self-report data support the acceptability of the ASAP-Y. Contrary to hypotheses, differences between conditions in emotional reactivity elicited using experimental psychopathology methods were not observed. Conclusions The current findings offer preliminary support for the ASAP-Y as an acceptable selective preventive intervention for at-risk youth, with specific anxiety- and depression-related effects through reduced AS.
Mitochondrial Function in Oxidative and Glycolytic Bovine Skeletal Muscle Postmortem

Meat quality is traditionally associated with anaerobic metabolism due to cessation of the oxygen supply post-mortem. However, mitochondrial (mt) function early postmortem may affect the development of meat quality characteristics, such as adenosine triphosphate levels and pH decline. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate mt function ex vivo during the first 24 h postmortem in muscles with differences in mt content. Samples from longissimus lumborum (LL) and diaphragm (Dia) were taken from steers (n = 6) at 1, 3, and 24 h postmortem and frozen to determine citrate synthase (CS) activity and mt protein expression (immunodetection) or were fresh-preserved for high-resolution respirometry. Integrative oxygen consumption rate (picomoles per second per milligram of tissue) was measured and normalized to CS activity as a proxy for mt content (intrinsic mt function, picomoles per second per unit CS). CS activity (P < 0.001) and mt protein expression (P < 0.001) were greater in Dia, which was reflected in mt respiration. Muscle type affected (P < 0.001) integrative leak respiration and was greater in mt from Dia; oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) was also greater in Dia and influenced by time postmortem (muscle × time: P = 0.01). Intrinsic leak and OXPHOS were affected by muscle and time (muscle × time: P = 0.05 and P = 0.01, respectively), with the most pronounced differences at 24 h postmortem. Stimulation of OXPHOS by cytochrome c as an indicator of outer mt membrane integrity was influenced by muscle and time postmortem (muscle × time: P = 0.03); it was greater in mt from LL. Despite intrinsic differences in respiratory function at 24 h, mt from both muscles were intact and coupled at 1 h postmortem. Reduced content and respiratory function in mt from LL are associated with early fragmentation, which could impact protease activation and subsequently meat quality.
Manic episode in patient with bipolar disorder and recent multiple sclerosis diagnosis: A case report.

Introduction/rationale Multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with a higher prevalence of mood and psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder (BD). While mania is most often associated with BD, MS can also induce manic symptoms. However, it is crucial to distinguish which condition is causing mania since medical management is different based on its etiology. Herein, we report a case of a manic episode in a middle-aged female with a prolonged history of BD who received a recent diagnosis of MS 1 year ago. Patient concerns A 56-year-old female presented with an episode of mania and psychosis while receiving a phenobarbital taper for chronic lorazepam use. She had a prolonged history of bipolar type 1 disorder and depression. She showed optic neuritis and was diagnosed with MS a year prior. Diagnoses The patient was diagnosed with BD-induced mania based on the absence of increased demyelination compared to previous MRI and lack of new focal or lateralizing neurologic findings of MS. Interventions Lithium was given for mood stabilization and decreased dosage of prior antidepressant medication. Risperidone was given for ongoing delusions. Outcomes After 8 days of hospitalization, patient's mania improved but demonstrated atypical features and ongoing delusions. She was discharged at her request to continue treatment in an outpatient setting. Conclusion/lesson In BD patients with an episode of mania, MS should be included in the differential, since both conditions can cause manic symptoms. The origin of mania should be delineated through a detailed neurological exam, neuroimaging, and thorough patient-family psychiatric history for appropriate clinical treatment.
Are Morphs a Valid Substitute for Real Multiracial Faces in Race Categorization Research

The rise of the multiracial population has been met with a growing body of research examining multiracial face perception. A common method for creating multiracial face stimuli in past research has been mathematically averaging two monoracial "parent" faces of different races to create computer-generated multiracial morphs, but conclusions from research using morphs will only be accurate to the extent that morphs yield perceptual decisions similar to those that would be made with real multiracial faces. The current studies compared race classifications of real and morphed multiracial face stimuli. We found that oval-masked morphed faces were classified as multiracial significantly more often than oval-masked real multiracial faces (Studies 1 and 2), but at comparable levels to unmasked real multiracial faces (Study 2). Study 3 examined factors that could explain differences in how morphs and real multiracial faces are categorized and pointed to the potential role that unusualness/distinctiveness might play.
Childhood hunger experiences and chronic health conditions later in life among Brazilian older adults

ABSTRACT Objectives. To assess the association between childhood hunger experiences and the prevalence of chronic diseases later in life. Methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted using baseline data from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), a nationally representative study of persons aged 50 years and older (n = 9 412). Univariate and bivariate analyses were used to describe the sample, and multivariate logistic regressions to examine the association between childhood hunger and hypertension, diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis. Adjusted odds ratios and predicted probabilities were calculated. Results. 24.7% of Brazilians aged 50 and over experienced hunger during childhood. This harmful exposure was significantly more common among non-white people, individuals with lower educational attainment, lower household income and heavy manual laborers. Regional variation was also observed, as the prevalence of individuals reporting childhood hunger was higher in the North and Northeast regions. The multivariate analysis revealed that older adults who reported having experienced hunger during childhood had 20% higher odds of developing diabetes in adulthood (aOR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.02 – 1.41) and 38% higher odds of developing osteoporosis (aOR = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.15 – 1.64) than adults who did not experience hunger during childhood, after controlling for covariates. Conclusions. The study showed an association between childhood hunger and two chronic diseases in later life: diabetes and osteoporosis. This work restates that investing in childhood conditions is a cost-effective way to have a healthy society and provides evidence on relationships that deserve further investigation to elucidate underlying mechanisms.
Baryon transport and the QCD critical point

Fireballs created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at different beam energies have been argued to follow different trajectories in the QCD phase diagram in which the QCD critical point serves as a landmark. Using a (1+1)-dimensional model setting with transverse homogeneity, we study the complexities introduced by the fact that the evolution history of each fireball cannot be characterized by a single trajectory but rather covers an entire swath of the phase diagram, with the finally emitted hadron spectra integrating over contributions from many different trajectories. Studying the phase diagram trajectories of fluid cells at different space-time rapidities, we explore how baryon diffusion shuffles them around, and how they are affected by critical dynamics near the QCD critical point. We find a striking insensitivity of baryon diffusion to critical effects. Its origins are analyzed and possible implications discussed.
Classification of Patients by Occlusal Condition

Objective: To propose a classification of patients by occlusal condition and its apparent validation . Material and Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was divided into two phases. In the first, a trained examiner divided the patients into four groups according to the proposed classification of this design: Type 1 patient – completely dentate individuals; Type 2 - partially edentulous individuals with occlusal stability; Type 3 - partially edentulous individuals with no occlusal stability; Type 4 – completely edentulous individuals. In this phase, 122 patients were analyzed with an instrument developed for this experiment. Results: All patients in the sample of this research were classified in some division of the proposed instrument. In the second phase, the apparent validation of the classification was conducted by three judges, who obtained an excellent agreement with the allocation of patients in one of the types according to the indication of the first examiner (Kappa = 85%) . Conclusion: It is evident that the classification presents reliability, ease of visualization, good conditions for interprofessional communication, and it can be used in dental clinical practice to assist in the study and integrated planning of clinical cases.
Performance of Asphalt Concrete Pavements

The performance of asphalt concrete, cement stabilized granular materials, and unstabilized aggregates are reviewed. Cracking of primary pavements was found to be a more important distress mechanism than rutting. Frost susceptible subbases and bases, low percentages of stabilizing agents and unstabilized base materials having poor gradations and low densities, or both, are important factors resulting in poor performance of pavements. The basic CBR design assumption requiring a minimum depth of material of only gradually increasing CBR value above the subgrade is shown not to be valid for high quality materials. Surface cracking can usually be controlled by attaining low air voids in the asphalt concrete through the use of higher asphalt contents, closer control during mixing and field compaction, and the use of lower viscosity asphalts. The required structural section should probably be selected using the lower measured subgrade strengths particularly for poor subgrade conditions.
Propagating Stress Waves During Epithelial Expansion

A continuum model of a monolayer of spreading cells demonstrates that feedback between strain and regulatory biochemistry gives rise to propagating stress waves in tissues.
NetState: a network version tracking system

Network administrators and security analysts often do not know what network services are being run in every corner of their networks. If they do have a vague grasp of the services running on their networks, they often do not know what specific versions of those services are running. Actively scanning for services and versions does not always yield complete results, and patch and service management, therefore, suffer. We present Net-State, a system for monitoring, storing, and reporting application and operating system version information for a network. NetState gives security and network administrators the ability to know what is running on their networks while allowing for user-managed machines and complex host configurations. Our architecture uses distributed modules to collect network information and a centralized server that stores and issues reports on that collected version information. We discuss some of the challenges to building and operating NetState as well as the legal issues surrounding the promiscuous capture of network data. We conclude that this tool can solve some key problems in network management and has a wide range of possibilities for future uses.
An Efficient Method for Creating Virtual Spaces for Virtual Reality

A virtual space (VS) is an indispensable component of a virtual environment (VE) in virtual reality (VR). Usually, it is created using general tools and skills that are independent of the users’ specific applications and intents. Creating a VS by surveying the real world with traditional measuring tools or creating virtual features with CAD software involves many steps and thus is time consuming and complicated. This renders the construction of VEs difficult, impairs their flexibility and hampers their widespread usage.In this paper, an efficient method for creating VSs with a handheld camera is introduced. In this approach, the camera is used as a measuring tool that scans the real scene and obtains the corresponding surface information. This information is then used to generate a virtual 3D model through a series of data processing procedures. Firstly, the camera’s pose is traced in order to locate the points of the scene’s surface, whereby these surface points form a point cloud. Then, this point cloud is meshed and the mesh elements are textured automatically one by one. Unfortunately, the virtual 3D model resulting from this procedure represents an impenetrable solid and thus collision detection would prevent the avatars from entering into this VS. Therefore, an approach for eliminating this restriction is proposed here. Finally, a game-based virtual laboratory (GBVL) for an undergraduate mechanical engineering class was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methodology. The model format used in Garry’s Mod (GMod) is also found in other VEs, and therefore the method proposed here can be straightforwardly generalized to other VE implementations.© 2014 ASME
Leveling the field: Addressing health disparities through diabetes disease management

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationships among patient characteristics, labor inputs, and improvement in glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) level in a successful primary care-based diabetes disease management program (DDMP). STUDY DESIGN: We performed subanalyses to examine the relationships among patient characteristics, labor inputs, and improvement in A1C level within a randomized controlled trial. Control patients received usual care, while intervention patients received usual care plus a comprehensive DDMP. METHODS: The primary outcome was improvement in A1C level over 12 months stratified by intervention status and patient characteristics. Process outcomes included the number of actions or contacts with patients, time spent with patients, and number of glucose medication titrations or additions. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-three of 217 enrolled patients (88.9%) had complete 12-month followup data. Patients in the intervention group had significantly greater improvement in A1C level than the control group (-2.1% vs -1.2%, P = .007). In multivariate analysis, no significant differences were observed in improvement in A1C level when stratified by age, race/ethnicity, income, or insurance status, and no interaction effect was observed between any covariate and intervention status. Among intervention patients, we observed similar labor inputs regardless of age, race/ethnicity, sex, education, or whether goal A1C level was achieved. CONCLUSIONS: Among intervention patients in a successful DDMP, improvement in A1C level was achieved regardless of age, race/ethnicity, sex, income, education, or insurance status. Labor inputs were similar regardless of age, race/ethnicity, sex, or education and may reflect the nondiscriminatory nature of providing algorithm-based disease management care.
Efficient synchronization under global EDF scheduling on multiprocessors

We consider coordinating accesses to shared data structures in multiprocessor real-time systems scheduled under preemptive global EDF. To our knowledge, prior work on global EDF has focused only on systems of independent tasks. We take an initial step here towards a generic resource-sharing framework by considering simple shared objects, such as queues, stacks, and linked lists. In many applications, the predominate use of synchronization constructs is for sharing such simple objects. We analyze two synchronization methods for such objects, one based on queue-based spin locks and a second based on lock-free algorithms.
Sun-downing and integration for the advancement of science and therapeutics: the National Institute on Substance Use Disorders (NISUD).

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the most prominent funding source for scientific research in the world. It is also a complex and diverse organization, having multiple institutes, centers and offices. NIH emphasizes the need for innovation and collaboration in research to discover critical knowledge, enhance health and prevent disease. Advancement in science requires not only sophisticated methods, but also logical organization. Here, an overview of ‘behavioral research’ (writ large) at NIH is presented, focusing upon the common trinity of ‘alcohol, tobacco/nicotine and other drugs’ and programmatic overlap across entities. Consideration is also given to the origins of institutes and their historical movement across organizational boundaries. Specific issues, concerns and advantages of integration of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse are addressed. It is concluded that advances in understanding, treating and preventing substance use disorders would best be served by (1) review and integration of all related research throughout NIH, (2) logical placement of leadership for this activity in a single institute, here entitled the National Institute on Substance Use Disorders, and (3) close collaboration of this institute with its complementary partner, the National Institute on Mental Health. Thus, NIH can establish an organizational structure and collaborations reflecting the realities of the scientific and disease/health domains. This would make a prominent statement to the world scientific and health communities regarding NIH recognition of the need for innovation (scientific and organizational) and focus upon these myriad interrelated and costly problems.
Selection for delayed maturity : Does it take 20 years to learn to hunt and gather?

Humans have a much longer juvenile period (weaning to first reproduction, 14 or more years) than their closest relatives (chimpanzees, 8 years). Three explanations are prominent in the literature. (a) Humans need the extra time to learn their complex subsistence techniques. (b) Among mammals, since length of the juvenile period bears a constant relationship to adult lifespan, the human juvenile period is just as expected. We therefore only need to explain the elongated adult lifespan, which can be explained by the opportunity for older individuals to increase their fitness by providing for grandchildren. (c) The recent model by Kaplan and colleagues suggests that longevity and investment in "embodied capital" will coevolve, and that the need to learn subsistence technology contributed to selection for our extended lifespan. We report experiments designed to test the first explanation: human subsistence technology takes many years to learn, and spending more time learning it gives reproductive benefits that outweight lost time. Taking away some of this time should lead to deficits in efficiency. We paid Hadza foragers to participate in tests of important subsistence skills. We compared efficiency of males and females at digging tubers. They differ greatly in time spent practicing digging but show no difference in efficiency. Children who lost "bush experience" by spending years in boarding school performed no worse at digging tubers or target archery than those who had spent their entire lives in the bush. Climbing baobab trees, an important and dangerous skill, showed no change with age among those who attempted it. We could show no effects of practice time. These findings do not support what we label "the practice theory," but we discuss ways in which the theory could be defended; for example, some as-yet-untested skill may be greatly impaired by loss of a few years of the juvenile period. Our data also show that it is not safe to assume that increases in skill with age are entirely due to learning or practice; they may instead be due to increases in size and strength.
Bromouridine triphosphate inhibits transcription termination and mRNA release by vaccinia virions.

Termination of transcription in vitro by purified vaccinia virus RNA polymerase occurs downstream of a cis-acting signal UUUUUNU in the nascent RNA strand and requires a trans-acting termination factor, VTF, that is associated with the viral mRNA capping enzyme. Factor-dependent termination can be inhibited specifically by incorporation of BrUMP (from BrUTP) into nascent RNA in place of UMP. The relevance of VTF action to early vaccinia mRNA biogenesis was demonstrated in the present study of the effects of BrUTP on mRNA synthesis and release by permeabilized vaccinia virions. BrUMP incorporation inhibited the release of newly made transcripts from the virus particle, resulting in the accumulation of transcripts within virus cores. This effect was observed also with IUMP, but not with BrCMP or IMP incorporation. Transcripts synthesized in the presence of BrUTP were heterogeneous in size and severalfold larger than transcripts made in the presence of UTP. The progressive increase in the size of the core-associated, BrUMP-containing transcripts indicated that they were still engaged by elongating RNA polymerase. These results are consistent with a predominant pathway of mRNA 3′-end formation by virions that involves VTF-dependent transcription termination. These data do not support an alternative model of 3′-end formation by endonucleolytic cleavage of larger RNA precursors.
Effects of Loading Rate and Normal Stress on Stress Drop and Stick-Slip Recurrence Interval

In this paper we report on investigations of frictional restrengthening during repetitive stick-slip on initially bare granite surfaces (nominal contact area 25 cm 2 ). The tests were conducted in a double-direct shear apparatus at room-temperature and humidity. Normal stress was held constant, and shear was induced by controlling the velocity of a loading piston. Samples exhibited quasi-periodic stick-slip instabilities. Appreciable yielding and precursory creep occur prior to failure. Stress drop amplitudes range from 0.1 to 3.1 MPa (or 4-49% of the failure strength). We study the effects of loading rate (0.5 to 300 μm/s) and normal load (5 and 10 MPa) on stress drop and stick-slip recurrence interval. At a given loading rate, there is a positive correlation between stress drop and recurrence interval, indicating healing rates of ∼4 MPa per decade increase in recurrence time. However, the combined data from all velocities show a lower rate, suggesting an apparent healing rate of ∼1 MPa per decade increase in recurrence time. We find a consistent scaling between different loading rates when stress drop is compared to inter-event loading displacement. The data for all velocities delineate a single trend and show larger stress drops for greater pre-failure loading displacement. Failure strength and post-slip stress levels converge with increasing velocity. Our data indicate that stress drop and post-seismic stress levels depend on loading rate and recurrence interval in a complex way.
High performance submicron SOI/CMOS with an elevated source/drain structure

To overcome the source/drain resistance problem associated with complete silicidation of thin SOI films, we used an elevated source/drain structure in which the channel region was thinned by local oxidation and wet etch while the source/drain region remained thick. This structure achieved source/drain resistances as small as 300 ohm-/spl mu/m for NMOS, which made possible high drive currents in deep submicron thin-film SOI/MOSFETs. >
Contour dynamics, waves, and solitons in the quantum Hall effect

We present a theoretical study of the excitations on the edge of a two-dimensional electron system in a perpendicular magnetic field in terms of a contour dynamics formalism. In particular, we focus on edge excitations in the quantum Hall effect. Beyond the usual linear approximation, a nonlinear analysis of the shape deformations of an incompressible droplet yields soliton solutions which correspond to shapes that propagate without distortion. A perturbative analysis is used and the results are compared to analogous systems, like vortex patches in ideal hydrodynamics. Under a local induction approximation, we find that the contour dynamics is described by a nonlinear partial differential equation for the curvature: the modified Korteweg‐de Vries equation. @S0163-1829~99!13339-3#
The Influence of Frailty on Outcomes in Cardiovascular Disease

Physicians practicing in the modern era are confronted with an ever aging and comorbid population. A working knowledge of the principles of frailty and its application to distinct medical conditions can help the clinician tailor recommendations to optimize both patient-centered goals and traditional outcomes. In this article, we will define frailty and synthesize the recent evidence on its role in affecting outcomes across the spectrum of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Frailty is defined as a state of susceptibility in which a person has decreased physical reserve that leads to a greater likelihood of an adverse outcome when a stressor is applied. The concept of frailty came to prominence after a seminal publication by Fried et al,. in which frailty was described as low overall physical activity level, unintentional weight loss, slow walking speed, fatigue, and loss of physical strength.1,2 Later works broadened this definition to include a variety of other factors, ie, comorbid medical conditions, loss of independence for activities of daily living, low albumin levels, and cognitive impairments.3,4 The pathophysiologic basis of frailty involves an interplay of aging-associated biologic changes and long-term “wear and tear” leading to subclinical organ dysfunction.5,6 The application of a stressor (in the form of an illness) makes “subclinical” disease become “clinical” and may result serious adverse outcomes (Figure).7 Figure Two of the pathways leading to frailty. The baseline biological changes associated with aging combined with subclinical disease from long-term “wear and tear” lead to the signs and symptoms of the frailty phenotype. (Adapted with permission ... The overall prevalence of frailty in adults age 65 years and older has been estimated at approximately 10%. However, in patients with significant CVD, the prevalence may be as high as 60%.8,9 In 2009, Afilalo et al10 conducted a systematic review evaluating the risk of concomitant frailty and CVD. The study pooled 54 250 elderly patients from 9 studies and demonstrated an increased risk of death in those with concomitant frailty and CVD with an adjusted odds ratio ranging from 1.6 to 4.0 across the evaluated studies. The frail phenotype is even more pervasive in valvular heart disease patients, particularly in calcific aortic stenosis (primarily seen in patients older than 70 years of age). In high risk transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) patients with calcific aortic stenosis, the prevalence of frailty was as high as 86%.11
Race and STEM Degree Attainment

This paper reviews the key literature on racial disparities in entry and persistence to attain a STEM bachelor's degree. Overall, the literature provides quite consistent evidence that Black and Hispanic students are well represented in college major choices in STEM, which testifies to the interest of racial minorities in STEM fields. However, they are left behind during college, and many are left without a STEM degree or any degree whatsoever. We emphasize that although racial minority students may seem to be left behind during college in STEM fields, the problem dates further back to pre-college. We need to examine college and pre-college studies in an integrative manner, in order to achieve full understanding and come up with the right solution to the problem of racial disparity in STEM attainment.
Euglena gracilis Chloroplast DNA Codes for Polyadenylated RNA

Polyadenylated RNA, isolated from total cellular RNA of photoautotrophically grown Euglena gracilis, comprised 2.1% of the total cellular RNA and contained 6.2% polyadenylic acid. Polyadenylated RNA, labeled in vitro with 125I, hybridized at saturating levels to an average 7.7% of the chloroplast DNA. In the presence of excess chloroplast rRNA, hybridization of polyadenylated RNA was reduced, but was still observed at a level corresponding to 2.8% of the chloroplast DNA. Polyadenylic acid was not detected in mRNA prepared from chloroplast polyribosomes, indicating a level of less than 0.1% polyadenylic acid in mature chloroplast mRNA. Of the total RNA isolated from cytoplasmic polyribosomes, 2.0% contained polyadenylic acid. This latter polyadenylated RNA did not hybridize to chloroplast DNA.
Neck Tumor Dissection Improved With 3-Dimensional Ultrasound Image Guidance: Technical Case Report

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE Three-dimensional ultrasound navigation has been performed to assist in resection of cranial and spinal tumors, but to the best of our knowledge, no one has described the use of real-time 3-dimensional ultrasound navigation in the resection of neck tumors beyond biopsy. CLINICAL PRESENTATION This case report describes the use of 3-dimensional ultrasonic navigation in assisting with resection of a large neck paraganglioma. The 3-dimensional ultrasonic navigation improved real-time visualization of the carotid arteries, the trachea, and other vital structures. CONCLUSION The use of 3-dimensional ultrasound navigation should be considered in aiding resection of large neck tumors because it can allow more efficient and safer tumor resection.
Waterjet injection of powdered activated carbon for sediment remediation

In situ contaminated sediment remediation through the addition of activated carbon has been proven to be an effective remediation technique. An amendment delivery system was developed to accurately place and inject a powdered activated carbon slurry. The system was set up to deliver a series of discrete injections over a rectangular grid with the objective to deliver 3% carbon (C) by dry weight to an inundated saturated sediment at a maximum sediment depth of 30 cm. In situ conditions have been researched and small bench-scale models have been developed to provide valuable data for future field-scale models. Experiments were performed using kaolinite as a surrogate sediment because the color contrast between the clay and the C permitted the delivered C concentration to be quantified using a spectroradiometer. The experiments showed that a set of operational parameters for the injection system could be identified that provided relatively complete mixing of the C and clay at the desired depths. The experiments were repeated using soil samples contaminated with polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polydimethylsiloxane coated solid-phase microextraction fiber analyses to quantify pore water concentrations. Several different combinations of pressure, injection duration, and nozzle diameter were evaluated during the initial phase of the characterization of powdered activated C penetration in the surrogate sediment. Iterative approach tactics were conducted that concluded specifically placed, short-duration injections were necessary to deliver meaningful amounts of C in the test sediment. Analysis of these injections found that an average amended C concentration of 14% was achieved up to 26.7 cm deep in the surrogate sediment by a 9.5-s injection, whereas a 7.5-s injection at the same depth yielded an average concentration of 9.3%. The reduction in pore water PAHs concentrations through C injection was achieved in excess of 90% at all sampled locations within the injected perimeter. Reduction in contaminant pore water concentrations within the soil/sediment appeared to be less dependent on the duration of the individual waterjet injections, and the effective depth of penetration appeared to be greater than that observed during the surrogate sediment experiments. The empirical nature of the waterjet work and the expected heterogeneity of contaminated soils/sediments suggest that it is appropriate to conduct site-specific bench-scale treatability testing prior to full-scale remediation using waterjet-delivered activated C.
Hyperfine coupling temperature dependence of Mn2+ in CaF2

Abstract The hyperfine coupling constant for Mn2+ located in cubic sites of CaF2 was measured over the temperature range 77 to 850°K by electron spin resonance techniques. The temperature dependence has been interpreted using the Simanek-Orbach theory of a phonon-induced hyperfine field.
Organizational and Employee Responses to Surviving the Downsizing

ABSTRACT This study investigated organizational and employee response to downsizing of companies. Overall, employees responded positively to downsizing. Specifically based on perceptions of human resource specialists, approximately three-fourths of employees worked competently, maintained productivity, were committed to the company, and viewed separation as fair. Almost two-thirds of employees were able to work as teams. In terms of organizational response to downsizing, we found that 60 percent of the companies provided the employees with information on the new direction of the company while a little more than half of the companies provided information and clear definitions of reporting relationships (54%), the current future note of the company (53%), and clear definitions of new responsibilities (51%). However, companies provided skill training in only a little more than a fourth (26%) of the companies while empowerment and decision making were provided in only 22% of cases. Less than a fifth of the co...
Perceptions of the Sales Job: How Students Compare with Industrial Salespeople:

Past research on student's attitudes toward personal selling have generally concluded that students have misconceptions about sales. An interesting issue, but one that has not yet been explored, is whether students' perceptions of selling are different from salespeople's perceptions. This paper reports the results of a study that examined the differences between salespeople's and students' perceptions of a sales job. In addition, several managerial implications for developing sales recruiting messages are discussed.
Sediment transport time measured with U-series isotopes: Results from ODP North Atlantic drift site 984

Abstract High precision uranium isotope measurements of marine clastic sediments are used to measure the transport and storage time of sediment from source to site of deposition. The approach is demonstrated on fine-grained, late Pleistocene deep-sea sediments from Ocean Drilling Program Site 984A on the Bjorn Drift in the North Atlantic. The sediments are siliciclastic with up to 30% carbonate, and dated by δ18O of benthic foraminifera. Nd and Sr isotopes indicate that provenance has oscillated between a proximal source during the last three interglacial periods – volcanic rocks from Iceland – and a distal continental source during glacial periods. An unexpected finding is that the 234U/238U ratios of the silicate portion of the sediment, isolated by leaching with hydrochloric acid, are significantly less than the secular equilibrium value and show large and systematic variations that are correlated with glacial cycles and sediment provenance. The 234U depletions are inferred to be due to α-recoil loss of 234Th, and are used to calculate “comminution ages” of the sediment — the time elapsed between the generation of the small (≤ 50 μm) sediment grains in the source areas by comminution of bedrock, and the time of deposition on the seafloor. Transport times, the difference between comminution ages and depositional ages, vary from less than 10 ky to about 300 to 400 ky for the Site 984A sediments. Long transport times may reflect prior storage in soils, on continental shelves, or elsewhere on the seafloor. Transport time may also be a measure of bottom current strength. During the most recent interglacial periods the detritus from distal continental sources is diluted with sediment from Iceland that is rapidly transported to the site of deposition. The comminution age approach could be used to date Quaternary non-marine sediments, soils, and atmospheric dust, and may be enhanced by concomitant measurement of 226Ra/230Th, 230Th/234U, and cosmogenic nuclides.
Non-binary protograph-based LDPC codes for short block-lengths

This paper presents two complementary constructions of finite-length non-binary protograph-based codes with the focus on the short block-length regime. The first class is based on the existing approaches of applying the copy-and-permute operations to the constituent protograph with unweighted edges, followed by assigning non-binary scales to the edges of the derived graph. The second class is novel and is based on the so-called graph cover of a non-binary protograph: the original protograph has fixed edge scalings and copy-and-permute operations are applied to the edge-weighted protograph. The second class is arguably more restrictive, but in turn it offers simpler design and implementation. We provide design and construction of these non-binary codes for short block-lengths. Performance, cycle distribution and the minimum distance of the binary image of selected codes over AWGN is provided for information block-lengths as low as 64 bits.
Rectifying the Inconsistent Administration Procedures of the Cognistat Constructional Ability Subtest

The Cognistat is one of the most widely used psychometric instruments to quickly assess higher cerebral functioning. However, when administered according to the manual, the constructional ability subtest yields results that are confounded by other cognitive processes, as well as blemished by intra-test inconsistencies. Such issues decrease the validity, and ultimately the utility, of this screening device. Suggestions for rectifying these shortcomings are presented.
A Trial of Antioxidants N-acetylcysteine and Procysteine in ARDS

Objective To determine the levels of glutathione and cysteine in patients with ARDS and examine the effect of treatment with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate (Procysteine; Clintec Technologies Inc; Chicago [OTZ]) on these levels and on common physiologic abnormalities, and organ dysfunction associated with ARDS. Design Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, prospective clinical trial. Setting ICUs in five clinical centers in the United States and Canada. Patients Patients meeting a predetermined definition of ARDS and requiring mechanical ventilation. Intervention Standard care for ARDS and IV infusion, every 8 h for 10 days, of one of the following: NAC (70 mg/kg, n=14), OTZ (63 mg/kg, n=17), or placebo (n= 15). Main results Roth antioxidants effectively repleted RBC glutathione gradually over the 10-day treatment period (47% and 49% increases from baseline values for NAC and OTZ, respectively). There was no difference in mortality among groups (placebo, 40%; NAC, 36%; OTZ, 35%). However, the number of days of acute lung injury was decreased and there was also a significant increase in cardiac index in both treatment groups (NAC/OTZ [+]14%; placebo [—]6%). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that repletion of glutathione may safely be accomplished with NAC or OTZ in patients with acute lung injury/ARDS. Such treatment may shorten the duration of acute lung injury, but larger studies are needed to confirm this.
Dissociation of arsenite-peptide complexes: triphasic nature, rate constants, half-lives, and biological importance.

We determined the number and the dissociation rate constants of different complexes formed from arsenite and two peptides containing either one (RVCAVGNDYASGYHYGV for peptide 20) or three cysteines (LECAWQGK CVEGTEHLYSMKCK for peptide 10) via radioactive 73As-labeled arsenite and vacuum filtration methodology. Nonlinear regression analysis of the dissociation of both arsenite-peptide complexes showed that triphasic fits gave excellent r2 values (0.9859 for peptide 20 and 0.9890 for peptide 10). The first phase of arsenite-peptide dissociation had the largest span (decrease in binding), and the rate was too fast to be measured using vacuum filtration methods. The dissociation rate constants of arsenite-peptide complexes for the second phase were 0.35 and 0.54 min−1 and for the third phase were 0.0071 and 0.0045 min−1 for peptides 20 and 10, respectively. For peptide 20, the three spans of triphasic decay were 85%, 9%, and 7% of the total binding of 16.1 nmolsol;mg protein. For peptide 10, which can bind in both an intermolecular and intramolecular manner, the three spans of triphasic decay were 59%, 16%, and 25% of the total binding of 43.7 nmolsol;mg protein. Binding of trivalent arsenicals to peptides and proteins can alter their structure and function and contribute to adverse health outcomes such as toxicity and carcinogenicity. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. * J Biochem Mol Toxicol 20:48–56, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jbt.20108
The chemistry, biology and design of photochemical CO releasing molecules and the efforts to detect CO for biological applications

Abstract Several beneficial biological effects of carbon monoxide (CO) have been identified. CO contributes to vascular tone, is anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic, and protects tissue against hypoxia. In response, a number of novel CO-releasing systems, mostly transition-metal carbonyl compounds, have been reported. Recent research in the area of photochemical CO-releasing molecules (PhotoCORMs) is reviewed. The photophysical and chemical properties of these PhotoCORMs are described, along with studies of biological activity in some cases. Spectral data and quantum yields, when available, are compared. In addition, various methods for the detection and quantification of CO are discussed.
Fiber-optic techniques for generating and detecting ultrasonic waves for quantitative NDE

Abstract This paper describes a method that uses pulsed laser light and coherent light interferometry in a fiber-optic-based system for non-contact generation and detection of ultrasound. Fiber-optic bundles are used to construct a rugged and versatile system to deliver geometrically conditioned, high-energy laser pulses capable of generating ultrasonic signals. In addition, an actively stabilized, multi-channel fiber-optic interferometric system for detecting these signals is described.
Pit formation during the morphological evolution of InGaAs/GaAs

The nucleation of pits is shown to be an additional mechanism by which films roughen to relieve strain. We discuss the morphological evolution of moderately strained InGaAs/GaAs (lattice mismatch f≈2%) as a function of growth conditions. We show that the surface progresses through several morphological regimes, including layer-by-layer growth, island nucleation followed by pit nucleation, and finally ripple formation. The morphological features can be greatly altered by changing the growth conditions. For example, the critical thickness for roughening can be significantly increased by increasing the arsenic overpressure. We suggest that pit nucleation is a kinetically driven process strongly dependent on the supersaturation of adatoms.
A relaxation approach to splitting in an automatic theorem prover

The splitting of a problem into subproblems often involves the same variable appearing in more than one of the subproblems. This makes these subproblems dependent upon one another since a solution to one may not qualify as a solution to another. A two stage method of splitting is described which first obtains solutions by relaxing the dependency requirement and then attempts to reconcile solutions to different subproblems. The method has been realized as part of an automatic theorem proper programmed in LISP which takes advantage of the procedural power that LISP provides. The program has had success with cryptarithmetic problems, problems from the blocks world, and has been used as a subroutine in a plane geometry theorem prover.