cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clinician judged hearing impairment and associations with neuropathologic burden

Objective To examine whether neuropathologic burden is associated with hearing impairment. Methods We studied 2,755 autopsied participants ≥55 years of age from the National Alzheimer9s Coordinating Center database. Participants had at least 1 clinical evaluation at US National Institute on Aging–funded Alzheimer9s Disease Center no more than 2 years before death. Patients were classified as hearing impaired by clinician report at baseline. Common dementia neuropathologies included Alzheimer disease pathologic change (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer9s Disease neuritic plaque density, neurofibrillary degeneration Braak stage), Lewy body disease, gross infarcts, and microinfarcts. Logistic regression models predicted impaired hearing with adjustment for age at death, sex, race, education, center, and follow-up time. Relative risks were calculated with the use of marginal standardization. Results Impaired hearing was common (32%). In participants who were cognitively normal at baseline (n = 580), impaired hearing was associated with higher Braak stage (relative risk [RR] 1.33 per 2-stage increase, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06–1.66) but not other pathologies. In participants with dementia (n = 2,175), impaired hearing was positively associated with microinfarcts (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.00–1.39) and inversely associated with neuritic plaque density (RR 0.91 per score increase, 95% CI 0.85–0.99). Development of impaired hearing in those with cognitive impairment was associated with neocortical Lewy bodies (1.26, 95% CI 1.02–1.55). Conclusions Impaired hearing, reported before the onset of cognitive impairment, was associated with increased neurofibrillary tangle burden. Impaired hearing in those with cognitive impairment was associated with microinfarcts and neocortical Lewy bodies but not typical Alzheimer disease pathologic change. Functional hearing problems may be a preclinical marker of neurofibrillary neurodegeneration, although replication is needed.
Evidence of coastal trapped wave scattering using high-frequencyradar data in the Mid-Atlantic Bight

Abstract. Coastal trapped waves (CTWs) become scattered when they encounter irregular coastlines and bathymetry during propagation. Analytical and modeling studies have provided some information about the different types of shelf geometries that can induce scattering, but much of the CTW scattering process generally remains a large knowledge gap. Furthermore, CTW scattering has never before been directly identified with observations. High-frequency radar surface velocity data covering the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) continental shelf provides unprecedented observations of CTWs within a region with a highly complex coastline and bathymetry. A combination of velocity vector maps from real vector empirical orthogonal function (R-EOF) analysis and phase maps from complex empirical orthogonal function (C-EOF) analysis allow the identification of CTW scattering by assuming each EOF mode corresponds to a CTW mode. Abrupt jumps in phase in association with magnitude amplification/reduction or directional rotation of velocity vectors are indications of scattering. Using these guidelines, Georges Bank, Hudson Shelf Valley, Delaware Bay mouth, Chesapeake Bay mouth, and the North Carolina shelf are identified as high scattering regions within the MAB. Furthermore, stratification is confirmed to increase scattering into progressively higher order modes through a cascading process by comparing winter and summer cases, which supports previous theoretical and numerical model predictions. The simple methodology used here can be applied to observations of CTWs on other coastlines around the world to identify additional scattering regions and help close the knowledge gap.
Similarity-based health risk prediction using Domain Fusion and electronic health records data.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) data represents a valuable resource for individualized prospective prediction of health conditions. Statistical methods have been developed to measure patient similarity using EHR data, mostly using clinical attributes. Only a handful of recent methods have combined clinical analytics with other forms of similarity analytics, and no unified framework exists yet to measure comprehensive patient similarity. Here, we developed a generic framework named Patient similarity based on Domain Fusion (PsDF). PsDF performs patient similarity assessment on each available domain data separately, and then integrate the affinity information over various domains into a comprehensive similarity metric. We used the integrated patient similarity to support outcome prediction by assigning a risk score to each patient. With extensive simulations, we demonstrated that PsDF outperformed existing risk prediction methods including a random forest classifier, a regression-based model, and a naive similarity method, especially when heterogeneous signals exist across different domains. Using PsDF and EHR data extracted from the data warehouse of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, we developed two different clinical prediction tools for two different clinical outcomes: incident cases of end stage kidney disease (ESKD) and severe aortic stenosis (AS) requiring valve replacement. We demonstrated that our new prediction method is scalable to large datasets, robust to random missingness, and generalizable to diverse clinical outcomes.
Pop-culture references in peer-reviewed scientific articles

With increasing multi-disciplinary collaborations and publications, there is a significant need to engage readers from different scientific fields. Pop-culture references in peer-reviewed articles can serve as an anchor upon which the audience can contextualize the work discussed in an article.
Outcomes of patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated with induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiation compared with those treated with concurrent chemoradiation.

BACKGROUND Induction chemotherapy (IC) has been associated with a decreased risk of distant metastasis in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. However, its role in the treatment of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is not well established. METHODS The outcomes of patients with OPSCC treated with IC followed by concurrent chemoradiation (CRT) were compared with the outcomes of those treated with CRT alone. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS), and the secondary end points were the times to locoregional and distant recurrence. RESULTS In an existing database, 585 patients met the inclusion criteria: 137 received IC plus CRT, and 448 received CRT. Most patients were positive for human papillomavirus (HPV; 90.9%). Patients receiving IC were more likely to present with a higher T stage, a higher N stage, and low neck disease. The 3-year OS rate was significantly lower in patients receiving IC (75.7%) versus CRT alone (92.9%). In a multicovariate analysis, receipt of IC (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 3.4; P < .001), HPV tumor status (aHR, 0.36; P = .002), and receipt of concurrent cetuximab (aHR, 2.7; P = .002) were independently associated with OS. The risk of distant metastasis was also significantly higher in IC patients (aHR, 2.8; P = .001), whereas an HPV-positive tumor status (aHR, 0.44; P = .032) and completion of therapy (aHR, 0.51; P = .034) were associated with a lower risk of distant metastasis. In HPV-positive patients, IC remained associated with distant metastatic progression (aHR, 2.6; P = .004) but not OS. CONCLUSIONS In contrast to prior studies, IC was independently associated with worse OS and a higher risk of distant metastasis in patients with OPSCC. Future studies are needed to validate these findings.
Quality as Virtue of Transformative Academic Professionalism

The most challenging task for academics, administrators, and assessors is the definition, identification, and quantification of quality higher education. It is the dream of all policy makers and stakeholders of higher education in India to build world-class educational institutions. Though stakeholders have not arrived at a consensus on what constitutes quality in higher education, all of them have begun to participate in the discourse on the quality assurance system of higher education at the institution level for defining, identifying, and quantifying what appears to be elusive. Of course, quality will continue to be invisible and therefore elusive until individual institutions evolve new policy strategies to ensure and improve the teaching and learning quality. This paper adopts the post-modernist and post- structuralist approach to argue that each individual institution should evolve its own quality assurance system without placing excessive stress on the external monitoring regulatory mechanisms and without internalizing the grand narratives about quality. It concludes with an assertion that institutional quality policy strategists need to think globally but act locally.
Antimuscarinic Cascade Across Individual Cholinesterase Inhibitors in Older Adults with Dementia

Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) have been associated with an increased risk of starting antimuscarinic treatment to treat overactive bladder (OAB)—an example of a prescribing cascade. Limited comparative data exist regarding the prescribing cascade of antimuscarinics across individual AChEIs in older adults with dementia. This study examined the association between individual AChEI use and antimuscarinic cascade in older adults with dementia. We conducted a new user retrospective cohort study from January 2005 to December 2018 using data from the TriNetX electronic medical record database, a federated electronic medical records network in the US. The cohort included patients 65 years or older with a diagnosis of dementia using AChEIs (donepezil, galantamine, or rivastigmine). Individual AChEIs were identified with index dates from 1 January 2006 to 31 June 2018, with a 1-year washout period. The study excluded patients with any antimuscarinic use and OAB diagnosis 1 year before the AChEI index date. The primary outcome of interest was the prescription of antimuscarinics within 6 months of the AChEI index date. A Cox proportional hazard model was used to assess the association between individual incident AChEI use and antimuscarinic prescribing cascade after controlling for several covariates. The study included 47,059 older adults with dementia who were incident users of AChEIs. Most of these patients were initiated with donepezil (83.1%), followed by rivastigmine (12.3%) and galantamine (4.6%). Overall, 8.16% of the study cohort had incident OAB diagnosis or antimuscarinic prescription. Antimuscarinics were initiated by 1725 (3.7%) older adults with dementia within 6 months of AChEI prescription, and cascade varied widely across individual agents—donepezil (3.9%), rivastigmine (2.6%), and galantamine (2.9%). Cox proportional hazard analyses revealed that donepezil users had an increased risk of receiving antimuscarinics (adjusted hazard ratio 1.55, 95% confidence interval 1.31–1.83) compared with rivastigmine. The findings were consistent in sensitivity analyses. This study found that donepezil use is more likely to lead to antimuscarinic cascade than rivastigmine. Future studies are needed to determine the potential consequences of this cascade in dementia.
Impact of a regional smoking cessation intervention for vascular surgery patients.

Abstract Objective Tobacco use is common among vascular surgery patients and negatively impacts outcomes and longevity. In the second quarter of 2018, a statewide vascular quality collaborative launched an initiative across its 35 participating hospitals to promote smoking cessation at the time of surgery. This intervention was based on the Vascular Physician Offer and Report (VAPOR) trial and consisted of 3 components: brief physician-delivered advice, referral to telephone-based counseling, and nicotine replacement therapy. The goal of this study is to evaluate the results of this intervention. Methods We performed a retrospective analysis of patients undergoing vascular surgery between 2018 and 2020. Procedures included open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, endovascular aneurysm repair, open vascular bypass, open thrombectomy, carotid endarterectomy, and carotid stenting. The primary explanatory variables were receipt of tobacco cessation interventions as documented in the medical record. The primary outcome was tobacco cessation, captured during 30-day and 1-year chart review and/or patient follow-up. A multivariable logistic regression model was calculated to estimate the association of covariates with smoking cessation while adjusting for patient and clinical characteristics. Results A total of 13,890 patients underwent surgery during the study period. The mean age was 69.4 ± 10 years; 4687 patients (34%) were female, and 5158 patients (37%) were current smokers. At least one smoking cessation component was delivered to 2245 patients (44% of smokers). The quit rate was 35% among 4671 patients with 30-day follow-up and 43% among 2936 patients with 1-year follow up. On multivariable regression, at 30 days, receiving two intervention components was associated with 1.29 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-1.55) higher odds of quitting. At both time points, smoking cessation was also associated with undergoing an emergent procedure (30-day odds ratio [OR], 1.52; 95% CI, 1.16-1.99; 1-year OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.01-1.97) and undergoing open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (30-day OR, 1.71; 95% CI, 1.20-2.43; 1-year OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.11-2.78). Conclusions In a cohort of vascular surgical patients where tobacco use was common, nearly one-half of patients quit smoking 1 year after surgery. Receiving two smoking cessation intervention components was associated with quitting at 30 days. Overall, these results demonstrate encouraging quit rates and identify an opportunity for longer-term intervention to maintain even greater 1-year tobacco cessation.
Combining Plasma Extracellular Vesicle Let-7b-5p, miR-184 and Circulating miR-22-3p Levels for NSCLC Diagnosis and Drug Resistance Prediction

Low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) Non-Small Cell Lung (NSCLC) screening is associated with high false-positive rates, leading to unnecessary expensive and invasive follow ups. There is a need for minimally invasive approaches to improve the accuracy of NSCLC diagnosis. In addition, NSCLC patients harboring sensitizing mutations in epidermal growth factor receptor EGFR (T790M, L578R) are treated with Osimertinib, a potent tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). However, nearly all patients develop TKI resistance. The underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Plasma extracellular vesicle (EV) and circulating microRNA (miRNA) have been proposed as biomarkers for cancer screening and to inform treatment decisions. However, the identification of highly sensitive and broadly predictive core miRNA signatures remains a challenge. Also, how these systemic and diverse miRNAs impact cancer drug response is not well understood. Using an integrative approach, we examined plasma EV and circulating miRNA isolated from NSCLC patients versus screening controls with a similar risk profile. We found that combining EV (Hsa-miR-184, Let-7b-5p) and circulating (Hsa-miR-22-3p) miRNAs abundance robustly discriminates between NSCLC patients and high-risk cancer-free controls. Further, we found that Hsa-miR-22-3p, Hsa-miR-184, and Let-7b-5p functionally converge on WNT/beta-catenin and mTOR/AKT signaling axes, known cancer therapy resistance signals. Targeting Hsa-miR-22-3p and Hsa-miR-184 desensitized EGFR-mutated (T790M, L578R) NSCLC cells to Osimertinib. These findings suggest that the expression levels of circulating hsa-miR-22-3p combined with EV hsa-miR-184 and Let-7b-5p levels potentially define a core biomarker signature for improving the accuracy of NSCLC diagnosis. Importantly, these biomarkers have the potential to enable prospective identification of patients who are at risk of responding poorly to Osimertinib alone but likely to benefit from Osimertinib/AKT blockade combination treatments.
Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization of Government Functions Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do about It

This book describes the largely overlooked process of using private government contractors to perform essential or inherent functions in the military and civilian sectors of government. It shows how such practices undermine the capacity effectiveness and morale of government officials and it establishes constitutional and statutory arguments against the practice. It recognizes and accepts the proper role for outsourcing or privatization while safeguarding against its improper use. The argument ultimately turns on the necessity for our democratic system to require the executive branch to perform crucial tasks in-house unless Congress has permitted delegations to private contractors.
Deep chlorophyll- a maxima (DCMs) in Antarctic waters

The US Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) program has, since 1990, conducted annual surveys from early January through mid-March in a large sampling grid around Elephant Island, Antarctica. Approximately 100 hydrographic stations were occupied twice during each field season, with physical, chemical, optical, and biological data acquired from the surface to 750 m depth or to within 10 m of the bottom at shallower stations. During these 14 years, most of the stations in pelagic waters to the northwest of Elephant Island had very low chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentrations (<0.2 mg m−3) in the upper mixed layer (UML) of ~45 m, but a deep chlorophyll-a maximum (DCM) existed between 50 and 100 m, with a peak at approximately 75 m. This was in contrast to adjacent stations which had higher Chl-a concentrations (approximately 1.0 mg m−3) in the UML and no DCM. We provide evidence that the higher Chl-a concentrations that occur at depths of 50–100 m result from increased photosynthetic activity and not from a passive sinking of cells from the UML or by the intrusion of Chl-a rich coastal waters. Data to support this conclusion include (1) elevated dissolved oxygen concentrations between 50 and 100 m, (2) evidence of active photosynthesis at the depth of the DCM as indicated by increased natural upwelling radiation at 683 nm, and (3) water samples obtained from the DCM at 75 m and incubated under simulated conditions of temperature and light had assimilation numbers of approximately 1.0–1.5 mg carbon fixed per milligram Chl-a per hour. DCMs occur in the same depth range as the temperature minimum layer (TML) (the winter remnant of Antarctic surface water, AASW), which is known to have elevated concentrations of inorganic nutrients essential for growth of phytoplankton. Our data indicate that a DCM develops as a result of (1) depletion of iron (Fe) in the UML with the onset of the summer season, and (2) growth of phytoplankton in the TML where both Fe concentrations and solar irradiance levels are high enough to permit an increase of phytoplankton biomass.
Vascular Endothelial Cell Growth Factor Promotes Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Mediators of Signal Transduction That Contain SH2 Domains ASSOCIATION WITH ENDOTHELIAL CELL PROLIFERATION

Vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF), an endothelial cell-specific mitogen that plays an important role in angiogenesis, promotes the tyrosine phosphorylation of at least 11 proteins in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC). Proteins immunoprecipitated from lysates of control- and VEGF-stimulated BAEC with antisera to phospholipase C- γ (PLC- γ) were fractionated by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and transferred to Immobilon-P. Evaluation of the Western blots with antisera to phosphotyrosine demonstrated that PLC- γ and two proteins (100 and 85 kDa) that associate with PLC- γ were phosphorylated in response to VEGF. By using antisera specific to other mediators of signal transduction that contain SH2 domains for immunoprecipitation, it was demonstrated that VEGF promotes phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, Ras GTPase activating protein (GAP), and the oncogenic adaptor protein NcK. Proteins of Mr consistent with the VEGF receptors Flt-1 and Flk-1/KDR were also tyrosine phosphorylated in stimulated cells. Tyrosine-phosphorylated Nck, PLC- γ, and two GAP-associated proteins, p190 and p62, were in GAP immunoprecipitates of VEGF-stimulated BAEC, and tyrosine-phosphorylated NcK was in phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase immunoprecipitates. These observations suggest that VEGF promotes formation of multimeric aggregates of VEGF receptors with proteins that contain SH2 domains and activate various signaling pathways. VEGF-promoted proliferation of endothelial cells and tyrosine phosphorylation of SH2 domain containing signaling molecules were inhibited by the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein.
Rheological properties of large arteries

Rheological properties of thoracic aorta in vitro have been studied by subjecting tissue samples to incremental loading and unloading using a specially developed biaxial loading apparatus. It was found that the rheological behaviour under loading is significantly different from that under unloading. Results indicate that below a threshold value of a nonlinear strain, the material does not display any time-dependent response. The observed behavior has been attributed to the microstructural makeup of the aortic wall. >
Degradation of αs1-CN f1-23 by aminopeptidase N and endopeptidases E, O, O2, and O3 of Lactobacillus helveticus WSU19 under cheese ripening conditions

Abstract This study determined specificities of aminopeptidase N (PepN), endopeptidase E (PepE), endopeptidase O (PepO), endopeptidase O2 (PepO2), and endopeptidase O3 (PepO3), from Lactobacillus helveticus WSU19 on the αs1-CN f1-23 peptide, formed by residual chymosin during cheese ripening. Cell-free extracts (CFEs) were prepared from Escherichia coli DH5α derivatives expressing peptidase genes of Lb. helveticus WSU19. The αs1-CN f1-23 peptide was digested by CFEs under cheese ripening conditions. Degradation pattern was analyzed qualitatively using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. PepN exhibited activity on αs1-CN f1-23 only in the presence of an endopeptidase, particularly PepO-like endopeptidases. PepO, PepO2, and PepO3 cleaved αs1-CN f1-23 predominantly at Glu14–Val15, forming the bitter peptide αs1-CN f1-14. PepE cleaved αs1-CN f1-23 primarily at Lys3–His4, suggesting a role for PepE in degrading bitter peptides from the N-terminus of αs1-CN f1-23. Combinations of PepE/PepO and PepE/PepO2 were determined to have the potential to decrease the accumulation of αs1-CN f1-14.
Oligocene development of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet recorded in eastern Ross Sea strata

Seismic-reflection data from the easternmost Ross Sea image buried scour-and-fill troughs and flat-topped ridges interpreted as having formed by glacial erosion and deposition during the Oligo-cene. The NNW-SSE orientation of the troughs and lack of similar Oligocene glacial features within the central Ross Sea suggests that the ice issued from the highlands of Marie Byrd Land located 100 km away and that portions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet formed earlier than previously accepted. Existing global climate models (GCMs) do not produce West Antarctic ice caps for the Oligocene, in part due to low elevations modeled for that time. Evidence for Oligocene ice beyond the paleocoast suggests a higher elevation for the early Cenozoic Marie Byrd Land and Ross Embayment than at present.
Third Nature: Making Space and Time in the Great Limpopo Conservation Area

In southern Africa's “Great Limpopo Transboundary Conservation Area,” potential nature, envisioned as ideal habitats for wildlife, may outweigh actual nature. I refer to this notion of conditional biodiversity as “third nature,” distinguishing it from the equally anthropogenic, but tangible, second nature (“nature” as including human habitation). Conservationists and investors are inventing nature on a new scale that crosses national boundaries in elaborate ventures to develop ecotourism in the Great Limpopo zone. They now imagine a continent-wide field for (white) tourists to be created by fencing out local populations of (black) peasants. Few observers appreciate the structural racism involved in the profound material consequences of these dreams of third nature.
X-ray photoelectron study of TiN/SiO2 and TiN/Si interfaces

The TiN/SiO2 interface has been studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The underlying layer of SiO2 was thermally grown on a Si substrate. A thin film of TiN was then deposited on a SiO2/Si substrate by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition using a mixture of TiCl4, NH3 and NH2 gases. In another type of sample, a reactive sputtering (physical vapor deposition (PVD)) technique was employed to deposit the TiN film on the SiO2/Si substrate. In this process a pure Ti target was sputtered in a N2 and Ar plasma in a d.c. magnetron system. The Ti 2p, N ls, O ls and Si 2p regions were investigated by XPS for chemical reactivity at the TiN/SiO2 interface. In both these samples a shoulder was observed on the high binding energy side of the main N l s peak at the beginning of the TiN/SiO2 interface. The intensity of this shoulder increases while that of the main N ls peak bonded to Ti decreases as a function of depth. No spectral changes were observed for films produced by PVD. The presence of this shoulder is attributed to the formation of silicon oxynitride at the interface. Pauling's electronegativity criterion supports this conclusion.
Cellular responses to external ATP which precede an increase in nucleotide permeability in transformed cells

Transformed mouse fibroblasts, such as 3T6, exhibit an increase in plasma membrane permeability to nucleotides and other normally impermeant molecules when incubated with external ATP in an alkaline medium low in divalent cations. Increased nucleotide permeability, induced by external ATP, occurs after a 3- to 5-min lag period. Prior to this event, there is a dramatic Na+ influx and K+ efflux, a significant reduction in the levels of intracellular ATP and organic phosphates, and a reduction in the plasma membrane potential. Accordingly, we postulate that these cellular responses to external ATP play a role in the efflux of nucleotides. Ouabain, a specific inhibitor of the plasma membrane (Na+, K+)-ATPase, acts together with low concentrations of external ATP to increase nucleotide permeability in 3T6 cells. This effect occurs at concentrations of ouabain and ATP which alone do not increase nucleotide permeability. In addition, ouabain and low concentrations of ATP alone have little effect on the level of intracellular ATP. This is in contrast to energy inhibitors and uncouplers which appear to enhance nuclectide permeability by lowering the intracellular ATP concentration. Ouabain alone causes a threefold increase in intracellular Na+ levels and a similar reduction in intracellular K+ levels under our experimental conditions, supporting the idea that ion fluxes are involved in the mechanism of permeabilization.
Conformation of the second disulfide loop in human transforming growth factor-alpha studied by two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy.

The determination of the conformation of a cyclic heptadecapeptide derived from the second loop of human transforming growth factor-α, [Ala21]-hTGF-α-(16–32), is described. Two-dimensional homonuclear Hartmann–Hahn and rotating-frame cross-relaxation spectroscopy in H2O were used to obtain the complete proton resonance assignments and the necessary distance constraints between nonbonded hydrogen atoms to derive a conformation without involving any energy minimization. The result is an ellipsoidal-shaped structure with a turn at Gly19 and a bend formed by residues 26–29, Gln-Glu-Asp-Lys. Comparison is made with the second loop of human epidermal growth factor and the results are discussed in terms of receptor binding and biological activity.
Efficacy of Chlorine on Multiple Species of Phytophthora in Recycled Nursery Irrigation Water.

ABSTRACT Recycled irrigation water is a primary source of inoculum for Phytophthora spp. and is capable of spreading propagules throughout nursery production. Chlorination commonly is used by the industry to disinfest recycled irrigation water; however, chlorine has not been fully researched as a disinfestant for this purpose. In this study, zoospores of seven species and eight isolates of Phytophthora were exposed for 2 min to free available chlorine at 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 mg/liter. Zoospores, mycelial fragments, and culture plugs of P. nicotianae also were exposed to chlorine concentrations ranging from 0.25 to 8.0 mg/liter for periods ranging from 15 s to 8 min. In addition, chlorinated water was assayed monthly in 2000 and 2001 at two commercial nurseries, and quarterly in the first year at four other nurseries in Virginia, for chlorine and survival of pythiaceous species using a selective medium. No zoospores of any species tested survived endpoint free chlorine at 2 mg/liter, while limited ...
The ULowell dataflow project

The ULowell Data Flow Project combines dataflow hardware, dataflow software, and a data flow development environment. The hardware component, a data flow coprocessor card, utilizes seven NEC 7281 Image Pipelined Processors. Each chip models a static dataflow computation and is programmable. The coprocessor was designed and implemented by ULowell personnel and uses an AMIGA 2000 as a host. The software component currently consists of a library of data flow image processing algorithms and an evolving software development environment. Currently the image processing library includes typical imaging operations such as: edge enhancement, filtering, histogramming, and affine transformation. The software development environment (SDE) is depicted in Figure 1. The SDE contains a Data Flow Graph Editor which programmers use to design their data flow code. The data flow algorithm can then be converted directly into NEC data flow assembly code which is then assembled using the ULowell Data Flow Assembler. The assembler differs from NEC's assembler in that it can produce relocatable code. The object code output of the assembler is given to the Data Flow Resource Manager. The resource manager monitors the available resources within the chips. Thus, if a single process does not totally utilize a chip's table space or memory, then a second process may be concurrently loaded onto the same chip. The ability to have multiple data flow processes coexisting within a single chip is unique to the ULowell environment. The data flow resource manager can download and monitor code to either the hardware or to a software simulator/debugger. The simulator/debugger can monitor and trace data flow tokens as they proceed through the chip. Output of the simulator/debugger can be fed back into the data flow graph editior to visually trace token flow through the original program design. The last component of our SDE is a High Level Language translator which can compile programs written in SISAL, a high level language for parallel computation, down to NEC 7281 assembly language. We have already implemented the relocatable assembler, and the data flow resource manager. Prototype versions of the high level translator, simulator/debugger and graph/editor are currently being implemented.
NCC-RANSAC: A fast plane extraction method for navigating a smart cane for the visually impaired

This paper presents a new RANSAC based method for extracting planes from 3D range data. The generic RANSAC Plane Extranction (PE) method may over-extract a plane. It may fail in the case of a multi-step scene where the RANSAC process results in multiple inlier patches that form a slant plane straddling the steps. The CC-RANSAC algorithm overcomes the latter limitation if the inlier patches are separate. However, it fails when the inlier patches are connected. A typical scenario is a stairway with a stairwall. In this case the RANSAC plane-fitting produces inlier patches (in the tread, riser and stairwall planes) that connect together to form a plane. The proposed method, called NCC-RANSAC, performs a normal-coherence check to all data points of the inlier patches and removes those points whose normal directions are contradictory to that of the fitted plane. This procedure results in a set of separate inlier patches, each of which is then extended into a plane in its entirety by a recursive plane clustering process. The RANSAC plane-fitting and recursive plane clustering processes are repeated until no more planes are found. A probabilistic model is introduced to predict the success probability of the NCC-RANSAC method and validated with the real data of a 3D camera-SwissRanger SR4000. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method extracts more accurate planes with less computational time than the existing RANSAC based methods. The proposed method is intended to be used by a robotic navigational device for the visually impaired for object detection/recognition in indoor environments.
Ego Identity Status and Reported Alcohol Consumption: A Study of First-Year College Students.

Four hundred and nineteen first-year college students completed questionnaires which assessed the frequency and volume of their alcohol consumption (Khavari Alcohol Test) and their ego identity status (EOM-EIS). There were reliable inverse linear relationships between identity status sophistication and scores on the KAT beer subscales. In terms of both the frequency and volume of beer consumption, the respondents with less sophisticated identity statuses reported higher levels of consumption. In addition, there was a reliable inverse linear relationship between identity status sophistication and the absolute annual level of alcohol intake. The implications of these findings are explored.
Interdomain contacts control folding of transcription factor RfaH

Escherichia coli RfaH activates gene expression by tethering the elongating RNA polymerase to the ribosome. This bridging action requires a complete refolding of the RfaH C-terminal domain (CTD) from an α-helical hairpin, which binds to the N-terminal domain (NTD) in the free protein, to a β-barrel, which interacts with the ribosomal protein S10 following RfaH recruitment to its target operons. The CTD forms a β-barrel when expressed alone or proteolytically separated from the NTD, indicating that the α-helical state is trapped by the NTD, perhaps co-translationally. Alternatively, the interdomain contacts may be sufficient to drive the formation of the α-helical form. Here, we use functional and NMR analyses to show that the denatured RfaH refolds into the native state and that RfaH in which the order of the domains is reversed is fully functional in vitro and in vivo. Our results indicate that all information necessary to determine its fold is encoded within RfaH itself, whereas accessory factors or sequential folding of NTD and CTD during translation are dispensable. These findings suggest that universally conserved RfaH homologs may change folds to accommodate diverse interaction partners and that context-dependent protein refolding may be widespread in nature.
Courtship song, male agonistic encounters, and female mate choice in the house cricket,Acheta domesticus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

Whether female crickets choose among males based on characteristics of the courtship song is uncertain, but in many species, males not producing courtship song do not mate. In the house cricket,Acheta domesticus, we examined whether a female chose or rejected a male based on his size, latency to chirp, latency to produce courtship song, or rate of the high-frequency pulse of courtship song (“court rate”). We confirmed that females mated only with males that produced courtship song, but we found no evidence that the other factors we measured affected a female’s decision to mate. In addition, we investigated whether the outcome of male agonistic encounters affected the subsequent production of courtship song. In one experiment, we observed courtship and mating behavior when a single female was placed with a pair of males following a 10-min interaction period between the two males. Winners of male agonistic encounters had higher mating success. However, winners and losers of agonistic encounters were not different in their likelihood or latency to produce courtship song or in the number of times they were disrupted by the other male in the pair. In a second experiment, we allowed two males to interact for a 10-min period, but following this interaction period, we placed a female with each male separately and observed courtship and mating behavior. The mating success of winners and losers was not different under these circumstances, and we found no differences between winners and losers in any subsequent courtship or mating behavior examined. We conclude that winning agonistic encounters influences a male’s mating success in ways other than his production of courtship song and this effect is lost when winning and losing males are separated and each is given an opportunity to mate.
Mental workload dynamics in adaptive interface design

In examining the role of time in mental workload, the authors present a different perspective from which to view the problem of assessment. Mental workload is plotted in three dimensions, whose axes represent effective time for action, perceived distance from desired goal state, level of effort required to achieve the time-constrained goal. This representation allows the generation of isodynamic workload contours that incorporate the factors of operator skill and equifinality of effort. An adaptive interface for dynamic task reallocation is described that uses this form of assessment to reconcile the joint aims of stable operator loading and acceptable primary task performance by the total system. >
Exstrophy of the bladder (Persistent cloaca) associated with intestinal fistulas

Summary 1. A case is reported of multiple congenital anomalies of the urinary and lower intestinal tract, resulting chiefly from a retention of the cloaca. 2. Reference is made to yon Geldern's exhaustive study of the etiology of exstropby of the bladder, and to his report of a similar case. 3. Thirty-six cases of congenital malformations of the anus and rectum, from the records of Charity Hospital in New Orleans, are analyzed from the standpoints of pathology and mortality. 4. The correction ol such malformations is considered, and the ethics of operation in the presence of extensive anomalies is discussed.
Update on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pneumocystis Pneumonia

Pneumocystis is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes an often-lethal pneumonia in immunocompromised hosts. Although the organism was discovered in the early 1900s, the first cases of Pneumocystis pneumonia in humans were initially recognized in Central Europe after the Second World War in premature and malnourished infants. This unusual lung infection was known as plasma cellular interstitial pneumonitis of the newborn, and was characterized by severe respiratory distress and cyanosis with little or no fever and no pathognomic physical signs. At that time, only anecdotal cases were reported in adults and usually these patients had a baseline malignancy that led to a malnourished state. In the 1960-1970s additional cases were described in adults and children with hematological malignancies, but Pneumocystis pneumonia was still considered a rare disease. However, in the 1980s, with the onset of the HIV epidemic, Pneumocystis prevalence increased dramatically and became widely recognized as an opportunistic infection that caused potentially life-treating pneumonia in patients with impaired immunity. During this time period, prophylaxis against this organism was more generally instituted in high-risk patients. In the 1990s, with widespread use of prophylaxis and the initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the treatment of HIV-infected patients, the number of cases in this specific population decreased. However, Pneumocystis pneumonia still remains an important cause of severe pneumonia in patients with HIV infection and is still considered a principal AIDS-defining illness. Despite the decreased number of cases among HIV-infected patients over the past decade, Pneumocystis pneumonia continues to be a serious problem in immunodeficient patients with other immunosuppressive conditions. This is mostly due to increased use of immunosuppressive medications to treat patients with autoimmune diseases, following bone marrow and solid organ transplantation, and in patients with hematological and solid malignancies. Patients with hematologic disorders and solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are currently the most vulnerable groups at risk for developing this infection. However, any patient with an impaired immunity, such as those receiving moderate doses of oral steroids for greater than 4 weeks or those receiving other immunosuppressive medications are at also at significant risk.
Attitudes and Psychological Impact of Genetic Testing, Genetic Counseling, and Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Among Women at Increased Risk

Purpose/objectives To review research related to the psychological functioning of women with family histories of breast cancer, the impact of genetic counseling on women at increased risk, and their participation in and description of breast cancer risk evaluation programs. Data sources Published articles and material from the World Wide Web. Data synthesis Findings from these sources suggest an underlying level of psychological distress in women with family histories of breast cancer. This may either increase or decrease their surveillance practices. With the onset of commercial genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, researchers have studied some of the initial psychosocial effects of genetic information on women at high risk. Conclusions Women with family histories of breast cancer have a very high interest in genetic testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. They have an underlying level of psychological distress that is not relieved by genetic counseling. They tend to state reasons for wanting and not wanting testing that are not polar opposites. Women who attend breast cancer risk assessment programs tend to be self-referred, Caucasian, well-educated, and of middle or upper income status. Large gaps exist in the research on women of color and those who are less educated and of lower socioeconomic status. Implications for nursing Nurses and other healthcare professionals should tailor care given to women at increased risk for hereditary breast cancer by using the current information related to their emotional and medical needs. Decisions regarding genetic testing, genetic counseling, and breast cancer risk assessment are highly individualized. Thus, healthcare professionals should be cautious regarding any generalizations about women at risk for breast cancer.
NOx sensitivity of In2O3 thin film layers with and without promoter layers at high temperatures

Abstract With tighter emission controls, there is a need to develop high temperature gas sensors able to operate at high temperatures (>500 °C) in diesel exhaust or coal based power plants. Indium oxide (In2O3) layers were found to be sensitive to NOx (5–50 ppm) when tested at operating temperatures of 500–650 °C enabling their use in high temperature applications. In2O3 thin films were RF sputter deposited on microhotplate structures with different thickness (40–300 nm) in pure Ar as well as Ar and O2 (10% and 25%) mixture. In2O3 films without promoter layers and with gold or TiOx promoter layers (∼3 nm) were investigated for NOx sensing. Some of the films (without promoters, Au and TiOx promoter films) were also annealed at 900 °C in ambient of either N2, O2, 2% H2 in Ar, or 50% O2 in N2 mixture to stabilize the gas sensing properties of the In2O3 films and understand the effect of anneal conditions on the gas sensor response. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), four point probe measurements and gas sensor characteristics were employed to study the surface morphology, microstructure, composition, electrical and gas sensing properties of thin film In2O3. Thin In2O3 films (∼40 nm) exhibit higher sensor response (S ∼ 14) to 5 ppm NOx compared to thicker films (S ∼ 1) at 500 °C. 150 nm thick In2O3 films deposited in Ar and O2 presented the highest response (S ∼ 50) to 25 ppm NOx at 500 °C when compared to films (S ∼ 5) deposited in Ar. Au and TiOx promoter layers increased the sensor response and generated faster time constants (τ1rise ∼ 10 s) when compared to sensors without promoter layers (τ1rise ∼ 60 s). Annealed films exhibited less sensor response to NOx (S ∼ 1) when compared to as-deposited films. Sensor response and response time constants are presented from both as-deposited and annealed films to investigate the influence of annealing.
Brueckner orbitals, Dyson orbitals, and correlation potentials

One-electron, correlation potentials are closely related to the concepts of Brueckner orbitals and Dyson orbitals. Brueckner orbitals arise from fulfillment of a maximum-overlap condition between a reference, Slater determinant and the many-electron wavefunction. This condition may be used to define an energy-independent, correlation potential for a given state. Dyson orbitals, in contrast, are associated with electron binding energies and are obtained from a pseudoeigenvalue problem with an energy-dependent, correlation potential. The Brueckner doubles (BD)-T1 approximation of the electron propagator employs an approximate Brueckner determinant in its reference state. Dyson orbitals generated with this approximation are expressed in the Brueckner orbital basis. An application of this approximation to the photoelectron spectrum of Al3O enables the assignment of peaks to distinct isomers. Dyson orbitals for the lowest electron detachment energies have high overlaps with occupied Brueckner orbitals that diagonalize the corresponding Fock operator. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004
Relativistic many-body calculations of transition rates from core-excited states in sodiumlike ions

Rates and line strengths are calculated for the ${2s}^{2}{2p}^{5}{3l3l}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{-}{2s}^{2}{2p}^{6}{3l}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ and ${2s2p}^{6}{3l3l}^{\ensuremath{'}}\ensuremath{-}{2s}^{2}{2p}^{6}{3l}^{\ensuremath{''}}$ electric-dipole $(E1)$ transitions in Na-like ions with nuclear charges ranging from $Z=14$ to 100. Relativistic many-body perturbation theory (RMBPT), including the Breit interaction, is used to evaluate retarded E1 matrix elements in length and velocity forms. The calculations start from a ${1s}^{2}{2s}^{2}{2p}^{6}$ Dirac-Fock potential. First-order RMBPT is used to obtain intermediate coupling coefficients and second-order RMBPT is used to calculate transition matrix elements. A detailed discussion of the various contributions to dipole matrix elements is given for sodiumlike copper $(Z=29).$ Transition energies used in the calculation of transition rates are from second-order RMBPT. Trends of transition rates as functions of Z are shown graphically for selected transitions.
High-performance orthogonal sensing system and data analysis algorithm for trace explosives detection

A hybrid sensor system is developed for trace explosives detection. The system incorporates orthogonal operational principles of its subcomponents: Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) provides high sensitivity as well as high selectivity, i.e., ultra-low detection limits simultaneously with very low false alarm rates while an ionization-based method, such as Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IMS), is used as a pre-filter to SERS, for this approach. This solution offers a significantly improved detection technology when both modes are evaluated concurrently, especially making a significant enhancement of the capability of SERS for open environment applications. This concept of operation provides a clean and controlled environment, and it enhances the operational reliability of SERS which forms the critical unit for this new detection system. The combined system outperforms the individual IMS or SERS components taken individually. This hybrid, orthogonal sensing method can be applied to other types of threat detection as well, namely, chemical and biological threats.