cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Vaginal vs. robotic hysterectomy for patients with endometrial cancer: A comparison of outcomes and cost of care

Abstract Objective To compare outcomes and cost for patients with endometrial cancer undergoing vaginal hysterectomy (VH) or robotic hysterectomy (RH), with or without lymphadenectomy (LND). Methods Patients undergoing planned VH (and laparoscopic LND) or RH (and robotic LND) between January 2007 and November 2012 were reviewed. Patients with stage IV disease, synchronous cancer, synchronous surgery, or treated with palliative intent were excluded. Patients were objectively triaged to LND per institutional protocol based on frozen section. Outcomes were compared between VH and RH groups matched 1:1 on propensity scores. Results VH was planned in 153 patients; 60 (39%) had concurrent LND while 93 (61%) were low risk and did not require LND. RH was planned in 398 patients; 225 (56%) required concurrent LND and 173 (44%) did not. Among 50 PS-matched pairs without LND, there was no significant difference in complications, length of stay, readmission, or progression free survival. However, median operative time was 1.3h longer and median 30-day cost $3150 higher for RH compared to VH (both p Among patients requiring LND, 42 PS-matched pairs were identified. Median operative time was not different when pelvic and para-aortic LND was performed, and 12min longer in the VH group for pelvic LND alone (p=0.03). Median 30-day cost was $921 higher for RH compared to VH when LND was required (p=0.08). Conclusion Utilization of vaginal hysterectomy for endometrial cancer results in similar surgical and oncologic outcomes and lower costs compared to RH and should be considered for appropriate patients with a low risk of requiring LND.
Decreasing the Use of Damage Control Laparotomy in Trauma: A Quality Improvement Project

Background Our institution has published damage control laparotomy (DCL) rates of 30% and documented the substantial morbidity associated with the open abdomen. The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to decrease the rate of DCL at a busy, Level I trauma center in the US. Study Design A prospective cohort of all emergent trauma laparotomies from November 2013 to October 2015 (QI group) was followed. The QI intervention was multifaceted and included audit and feedback for every DCL case. Morbidity and mortality of the QI patients were compared with those from a published control (control group: emergent laparotomy from January 2011 to October 2013). Results A significant decrease was observed immediately on beginning the QI project, from a 39% DCL rate in the control period to 23% in the QI group (p Conclusions A QI initiative rapidly changed the use of DCL and improved quality of care by decreasing resource use without an increase morbidity or mortality. This decrease was sustained during the QI period and further improved upon after its completion.
Intrarenal vascular effects of angiotensin I and angiotensin II.

The effects of angiotensin I (250 pmol) and angiotensin II (7.5 pmol) on total renal blood flow and its cortical distribution were examined in 25 dogs anesthetized with pentobarbital. These peptides were administered as bolus injections directly into the left renal artery. Right and left renal blood flows were measured with noncannulating electromagnetic flow probes. The distribution of renal cortical blood flow was measured with 15-micrometers radioactive microspheres. Because angiotensin I is converted to angiotensin II extrarenally as well as intrarenally, the distribution of renal blood flow in response to the bolus injection of angiotensin agonists was measured before these peptides could have recirculated through the kidney. This maneuver precluded the possibility that blood flow changes were due to the extrarenal formation of vasoactive metabolites of angiotensin I or angiotensin II. Control total renal blood flow averaged 3.0 +/- 0.1 ml.min-1.g kidney wt-1 and was decreased 25% by both angiotensin I and angiotensin II. Outer renal cortical flow (zone I) was 5.1 +/- 0.3 ml.min-1.g-1 and was decreased to 3.9 +/- 0.3 ml.min-1.g-1 by both angiotensin I and angiotensin II. On the average, angiotensin I decreased inner cortical renal blood flow from a control of 1.8 +/- 0.2 to 1.2 +/- 0.2 ml.min-1.g-1; angiotensin II decreased inner cortical renal blood flow from a control of 1.9 +/- 0.2 to 1.4 +/- 0.2 ml.min-1.g-1. Analysis on a per-experiment basis revealed that angiotensin I, compared with angiotensin II, produced a proportionally greater decrease in inner cortical renal blood flow relative to its effects on outer cortical blood flow.
Solute segregation at the Al/θ′-Al2Cu interface in Al-Cu alloys

Abstract A recent investigation has confirmed that solute atoms segregated to the interfaces between aluminum and θ′-Al2Cu can extend the stability of metastable θ′ to higher temperatures. Herein, we present an extensive first-principles database of the segregation energies of 34 elements to the Al/θ′ interface and identify key descriptors that can guide the design of higher temperature Al-Cu alloys. We find that the segregation energies are strongly correlated with the size and volume of solute atoms and their solubilities within θ′. We provide a physical/chemical basis to the experimentally observed elemental hierarchy in terms of the ability of individual elements to stabilize the Al/θ′ interface. Finally, we suggest a new microalloying strategy that offers opportunities to further increase the critical temperature limit of Al-Cu alloys.
Neuroblastoma: Biology and Therapy

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor of childhood, accounting for 15% of cancer-related deaths. These tumors have a predilection for young children; 60% of cases occur before age 2 years and 97% before age 10. Neuroblastomas derive from embryonic neural crest cells of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. The behavior of this malignancy is characterized by marked clinical heterogeneity, ranging from spontaneous maturation in some patients to inexorable rapid metastatic progression in others. This article will discuss some of the molecular and biological features of neuroblastoma that are associated with these differences in behavior, and how these features have been used to develop a risk-based approach to therapy.
Observations of Ash, Ice, and Lightning within Pyrocumulus Clouds Using Polarimetric NEXRAD Radars and the National Lightning Detection Network

AbstractA pyrocumulus is a convective cloud that can develop over a wildfire. Under certain conditions, pyrocumulus clouds become vertically developed enough to produce lightning. NEXRAD dual-polarization weather radar and upgraded National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) data were used to analyze 10 case studies of ash plumes and pyrocumulus clouds from 2013 that either did or did not produce detected lightning. Past research has shown that pyrocumulus cases are most likely to produce lightning when there is a decrease in differential reflectivity (toward 0 dB) and an increase in the correlation coefficient (to >0.8), as measured by polarimetric radar, due to the transition from pure smoke/ash to frozen hydrometeors. All pyrocumulus cases that produced lightning in this study displayed the polarimetric characteristics of rimed ice within their respective clouds. Time series analysis of radar-inferred ash and rimed ice volumes within ash plumes and pyrocumulus clouds showed that NLDN-detected lightning...
Improving psychotherapy effectiveness by addressing the problem of premature termination: Introduction to a special section

Premature termination appears to be a consistent problem in psychotherapy, showing up across client, treatment, and therapist types. As psychotherapy researchers and practitioners, it is important that we gain a better understanding of this negative psychotherapy event and identify methods for reducing its occurrence. This article introduces a special section on premature termination in psychotherapy. In addition to briefly introducing the articles contained in the special section, this article offers suggestions for future research on the topic of premature termination.
Changes in the organization and expression of cytoskeletal proteins during retinal degeneration induced by retinal detachment.

Purpose. The goal of this study was to determine the changes in the organization of the retinal cytoskeleton after experimental retinal detachment. Methods. Cat retinas were detached from the retinal pigment epithelium and then processed for Western blot analysis and fluorescence microscopy. Proteins examined included glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin, tubulin, and actin. Sections were viewed using a laser scanning confocal microscope. Results. GFAP and vimentin : At 1 day after detachment, there was an aggregation of intermediate filaments in the endfoot of Muller cells. At 3 days, intermediate filament containing Muller cell processes could be detected within the subretinal space, and, at 28 days, these processes formed large glial scars in the subretinal space. β-tubulin : At 3 days after detachment, an increase in immunolabeling could be detected within the Muller cell endfoot and in Muller cell processes within the subretinal space. Actin : At 3 days after detachment, rhodamine-phalloidin staining decreased in the inner segments, the photoreceptor synaptic terminals, and the outer limiting membrane. Conclusions. The decrease in labeling of the photoreceptor inner segment and synaptic terminal cytoskeleton may be a key indicator of early changes in photoreceptors after detachment. The increase in cytoskeletal proteins GFAP, vimentin, and tubulin within the retinal Muller cells after detachment may help to stabilize this cell type as it hypertrophies during glial scar formation. Inhibition of this response may aid in the treatment of diseases in which Muller cell hypertrophy plays a role.
How Trains Became People: Southern Pacific Railroad Co.’s Networked Rhetorical Culture and the Dawn of Corporate Personhood

This essay analyzes how a rhetorical culture emerged in which the Supreme Court of the United States assumed corporations were constitutional persons under the Fourteenth Amendment. Approaching rhetorical culture from a networked standpoint, I argue that corporate personhood emerged from Southern Pacific Railroad Co.’s networks and alliances with environmental preservationists, politicians, publics, lawyers, judges, and immigrants in the late 19th century. Contributing to literatures on rhetorical culture and agency, this study shows how Southern Pacific Railroad Co., through networks of influence and force, was a rhetorical subject that shaped a networked rhetorical culture that expanded the boundaries of the Fourteenth Amendment even though the Supreme Court of the United States had not worked out the philosophical underpinnings of corporate personhood. Corporate personhood remains theoretically restrained by legal discourses that reduce subjectivity to a singular, speaking, human subject.
Considering the effects of temperature × nutrient interactions on the thermal response curve of carrying capacity.

Climate warming will likely destabilize populations or drive consumers locally extinct. These predictions arise from consumer-resource models incorporating temperature-dependent parameters, and the accuracy of these predictions hinges on the validity of temperature scalings for each parameter. Among all parameters, carrying capacity (K) is the most ill-defined and the temperature scaling of this parameter has no empirically verified foundation. Most studies assume that K declines exponentially with warming, but others have assumed a positive or no relationship between K and temperature. Here, I developed a theoretical foundation for a temperature scaling of K based on physiological principles of temperature and nutrient limitation of phytoplankton growth. The trade-off between thermodynamics and nutrient uptake yields a unimodal thermal response curve for K, and this prediction is supported by empirical data on both phytoplankton and insects. Analyses of consumer-resource models demonstrate the primacy of K in determining predictions of coexistence and stability. Since K exerts a dominant influence on model predictions, ecologists should carefully consider the temperature scaling of K for the species and region in question to ensure accurate estimates of population stability and extinction risk.
Awakening the Topoi: Sources of Invention in the New Rhetoric's Argument Model

Although they display the virtue of elegance, models of argument—including the Toulmin model—are poor sources of invention. The New Rhetoric's account of argumentation sometimes resembles a model, ...
Fecundity of the blotched picarel, Spicara maena (Linnaeus, 1758) from Oran Bay (Western Mediterranean Sea)

The fecundity of the blotched picarel Spicara maena from the western Mediterranean (Oran Bay) was assessed by the volumetric method. Total length (TL) of studied females varied between 91 and 140 mm (mean ± SD: 111.9 ± 10.6 mm). Estimates of total potential annual fecundity varied from 16,750 to 28,125 oocytes per individual (mean ± SD: 21,404.7± 2,698.8). Relationships between total potential fecundity ( F ) and TL, total weight, gonad weight were established using the multiplicative regression model and a high significant correlation was found in all the cases.
Corrosion resistant coating based on thiol-ene polymeric system

Abstract This study presents a method of preparation of corrosion resistant thin organic coatings. This thin organic coating is designed to protect a stack of several thin inorganic (metallic and oxide) layers that have low infrared emissivity and are sputter deposited on top of a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. It is argued that, in contact with an acidic environment, the most sensitive material in this stack is indium tin oxide. The proposed protective organic coating consists of a crosslinkable thiol-ene network, a low surface energy fluorinated compound and a silane adhesion promoter cured under exposure to an ultra-violet light source. The results show that such the optimized organic precursor can lead to thin polymeric coating that can successfully protect the sensitive substrate yet does not have a detrimental interference with its low emissivity.
Corticostriatal Oscillations Predict High vs. Low Drinkers in a Rat Model of Limited Access Alcohol Consumption

Individuals differ in their vulnerability to develop alcohol dependence, which is determined by innate and environmental factors. The corticostriatal circuit is heavily involved in the development of alcohol dependence and may contain neural information regarding vulnerability to drink excessively. In the current experiment, we hypothesized that we could characterize high and low alcohol-drinking rats (HD and LD, respectively) based on corticostriatal oscillations, and that these subgroups would differentially respond to corticostriatal brain stimulation. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 13) were trained to drink 10% alcohol in a limited access paradigm. In separate sessions, local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from the nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Based on training alcohol consumption levels, we classified rats using a median split as HD or LD. Then, using machine-learning, we built predictive models to classify rats as HD or LD by corticostriatal LFPs and compared the model performance from real data to the performance of models built on data permutations. Additionally, we explored the impact of NAcSh or mPFC stimulation on alcohol consumption in HD vs. LD. Corticostriatal LFPs were able predict HD vs. LD group classification with greater accuracy than expected by chance (>80% accuracy). Moreover, NAcSh stimulation significantly reduced alcohol consumption in HD, but not LD (p0.05). These data collectively show that the corticostriatal circuit is differentially involved in regulating alcohol intake in HD vs. LD rats, and suggests that corticostriatal activity may have the potential to predict a vulnerability to develop alcohol dependence in a clinical population.
Sleep Dysfunction and Mood in Collegiate Soccer Athletes.

Background:Sleep and mood are critical factors that contribute to health and wellness and are of particular interest to collegiate athletes who are juggling high physical, academic, and social dema...
Abstract IA22: Systems approach to rational combination therapy

Tumors evolve under therapeutic pressure both through rapid epigenomic mechanisms primarily at the protein network level and long-term genomic evolution. The realization of the promise of personalized molecular medicine will require efficient development and implementation of effective combination therapies able to capitalize on or interdict tumor evolution under therapeutic pressure. While we are beginning to develop a series of biomarkers able to predict which patients will benefit from monotherapy, our ability to predict which combination therapies will be active in particular patients is in its infancy. Integration of spatially oriented DNA, RNA, and protein information content as they change under therapeutic pressure has the potential to help identify patients likely to respond to combination therapy. Therapy resistance can be pre-existing, adaptive, or acquired. Resistance can also occur through a heterogeneity of molecular changes within the tumor and metastases. Adaptive resistance, which is the consequence of activation of homeostatic loops and phylogenetically conserved stress responses, provides a potential therapeutic liability that can be leveraged for rational combinatorial therapy. Thus, a comprehensive analysis of patient tumors before, during, and after treatment should become the standard of practice to enable identification of mechanisms of resistance as well as to allow rapid evolution of patient therapy. Testing these precepts will require the development and implementation of novel biopsy-driven trial designs and CLIA-compliant analytics that can be deployed in real time to allow rapid evolution of therapeutic approaches. We have implemented a suite of biopsy-driven trials linked to deep molecular analysis with the goal of rapid identification of tumor evolution to enable change in therapy to counter tumor evolution as it arises. We have implemented a series of studies based on PARP inhibitors as a backbone with the goal of increasing the depth and duration of response while at the same time extending the population of patients who benefit beyond those with homologous recombination defects. Concurrently, we have a series of n-of-one studies with combinations of FDA-approved drugs. Early data suggest that these approaches have the potential to greatly improve patient outcomes. Citation Format: Gordon B. Mills. Systems approach to rational combination therapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Evolving Landscape of Cancer Modeling; 2020 Mar 2-5; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(11 Suppl):Abstract nr IA22.
Daisaku Ikeda’s Philosophy of Value Creating Global Citizenship Education and Africana Humanism: Africa as the Continent of the 21st Century

Daisaku Ikeda proclaimed that Africa would be the beacon of hope for the world in the twenty-first century. Contemporaneously, Kwame Nkrumah was excited about the potentially galvanizing role a united Africa might play on the world scene. Nkrumah envisioned the reawakening of an African personality, which would provide the foundational essence for the United States of Africa and accelerate African psychological, political, and economic decolonization. Nkrumah’s conceptualizations of unity mesh with Ikeda’s paradigms of global citizenship. This paper shows how Ikeda’s philosophy of value-creating education for global citizenship could amalgamate Africana educational models toward global citizenship as a unifying factor in Africa and the diaspora and as an instrument for making Africana Humanism the spirit of the 21st century.
Communication Chaos from Discrepancies in Personal Protective Equipment and Preoperative Guidelines.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To compare personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines, specifically respirator use, among international public health agencies, academic hospitals, and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery (OHNS) departments in the United States for the care of coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) patients. STUDY DESIGN Cross sectional survey. METHODS Review of publicly available public health and academic hospitals guidelines along with review of communication among otolaryngology departments. RESULTS Among 114 academic institutions affiliated with OHNS residencies, 20 (17.5%) institutions provided public access to some form of guidance on PPE and 73 (64%) provided information on screening or diagnostic testing. PPE guidelines were uniquely described based on several variables: location of care, COVID-19 status, involvement of aerosol generating or high-risk procedures, and physical distance from the patient. Six hospital guidelines were highlighted. Across these six institutions, there was agreement that N95 respirators were needed for high-risk patients undergoing high-risk procedures. Variations existed among institutions for scenarios with low-risk patients. Definitions of the low-risk patient and high-risk procedures were inconsistent among institutions. Three of the highlighted institutions had OHNS departments recommending higher level of airway protection than the institution. CONCLUSIONS OHNS departments typically had more stringent PPE guidance than their institution. Discrepancies in communicating PPE use were frequent and provide inconsistent information on how healthcare workers should protect themselves in the COVID-19 pandemic. Identification of these inconsistencies serves as an opportunity to standardize communication and develop evidence-based guidelines. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE V Laryngoscope, 131:E746-E754, 2021.
Modeling the effect of oxygen on the chemical stage of water radiolysis using GPU-based microscopic Monte Carlo simulations, with an application in FLASH radiotherapy

Oxygen plays a critical role in determining the initial DNA damages induced by ionizing radiation. It is important to mechanistically model the oxygen effect in the water radiolysis process. However, due to the computational costs, oxygen is often ignored or treated as a constant continuum radiolysis-scavenger background in the simulations using common microscopic Monte Carlo tools. In this work, we reported our recent progress on the modeling of the chemical stage of the water radiolysis with an explicit consideration of the oxygen effect, based upon our initial development of an open-source graphical processing unit (GPU)-based MC simulation tool, gMicroMC. The inclusion of oxygen mainly reduces the yields of eh and H. radicals, turning them into highly toxic O2.- and HO2. species. To demonstrate the practical value of gMicroMC in large scale simulation problems, we applied the oxygen-simulation-enabled gMicroMC to compute the radical yields under a high instantaneous dose rate R to study the oxygen depletion hypothesis in FLASH radiotherapy. A decreased oxygen consumption rate (OCR) was found associated with a reduced initial oxygen concentration level. As for dose rate, for the oxygen concentration of 21% and electron energy of 4.5 keV, OCR remained approximately constant (~0.22 μM/Gy) for R's of 106, 107 Gy/s and reduced to 0.19 μM/Gy at 108 Gy/s. We computed the time evolution of oxygen concentration under various FLASH irradiation setups. At the dose rate of 107 Gy/s and initial oxygen concentrations from 0.01%~21%, the oxygen is unlikely to be fully depleted with an accumulative dose of 30 Gy, a typical dose used in FLASH experiments. A speedup factor of 1228 was achieved for gMicroMC on a single GPU to simulate the chemical stage with an initial oxygen concentration of 3%, when comparing with Geant4-DNA on a single CPU with simulating an equivalent amount of radicals (~105).
MOVE STRUCTURES AND THEIR RHETORICAL VERBS OF RESEARCH ARTICLE ABSTRACTS ACROSS ENGLISHES

Genre-based studies on moves structure of research article (RA) abstracts have established variations across cultures. However, previous studies included at most two countries for comparisons of abstracts written by native against non-native speakers. With the advent of World Englishes, it is deemed more practical to examine abstracts across Englishes to determine the writing conventions of the L1, L2 and EFL speakers of English. Consequently, the present study is a structural move analysis of RA abstracts focusing on the macro-structural moves across the Englishes and the lexical verbs employed used in each move. It examined 36 RA abstracts from linguistics and language and education fields, consisting of 12 abstracts each from the Inner, Outer and Expanding Circles of English by Kachru (1992). Each abstract was segmented into moves using the Five-Move Model of Santos (1996), which includes moves: (1) Situating the Research (STR); (2) Presenting the Research (PTR); (3) Discussing the Methodology (DTM); (4) Summarizing the Findings, (STF), and (5) Discussing the Research (DTR). The study found that the Inner Circle of English has the structure: Abstract a (STR) + PTR + DTM + (STF) + (DTR). The Outer Circle has the structure: Abstract a (STR) + PTR + (DTM) + STF + DTR. The Expanding Circle has the structure: Abstract a (STR) + PTR + DTM + (STF) + (DTR). The formulaic structures of abstract moves revealed that the only common move across Englishes is PTR. Following the approach of Musa et al. (2015), the lexical verbs realizing the purpose of each of the rhetorical moves were listed in order to come up with lists of rhetorical verbs which can be used in structuring an RA abstract. The study concludes with implications for academic writing instruction that calls for future abstract analyses that are world Englishes-inspired.
Brazier, Mary A. B.

Mary A. B. Brazier was an authority on electroencephalography who after World War II pioneered the use of correlational techniques and high-speed computers to study brain activity and behavior. She also authored influential books and articles on the history of neurophysiology which stimulated historical interest in the brain and behavioral sciences. Keywords: cybernetics; information theory; computing; cross relations; neurophysiology
The pharmacogenetic control of antiplatelet response: candidate genes and CYP2C19.

Introduction: Aspirin, clopidogrel, prasugrel and ticagrelor are antiplatelet agents for the prevention of ischemic events in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and other indications. Variability in response is observed to different degrees with these agents, which can translate to increased risks for adverse cardiovascular events. As such, potential pharmacogenetic determinants of antiplatelet pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and clinical outcomes have been actively studied.Areas covered: This article provides an overview of the available antiplatelet pharmacogenetics literature. Evidence supporting the significance of candidate genes and their potential influence on antiplatelet response and clinical outcomes are summarized and evaluated. Additional focus is directed at CYP2C19 and clopidogrel response, including the availability of clinical testing and genotype-directed antiplatelet therapy.Expert opinion: The reported aspirin response candidate gen...
AUV-based characterization of EMF emissions from submerged power cables

AUV-based field measurement and characterization of the electromagnetic field in coastal waters associated with live submerged cables is described. The effort is in support of a program to characterize the EMF emissions associated with submerged power transmission cables from offshore energy harvesting devices to shore and identifying their environmental impact on marine animals. The electric field is measured using a custom 3-axes sensor mounted on a Bluefin 21 AUV and the magnetic field is measured using a Marine Magnetics SeaSPY magnetometer towed from the vehicle so that it is isolated from the AUV machinery. The AUV is equipped with onboard upward (600kHz) and downward (300kHz) looking ADCPs, and a CTD package which simultaneously provide the contextual in-situ oceanographic information, including temperature, salinity, and current velocity in the water column. The electric-field sensor development, its implementation on the AUV, and illustrative at-sea surveys, involving deployment of the EM sensors in shallow waters over a submerged cable with the power in the cable turned off/on, are described.
Evaluation of Intravenous Amrinone: The First of a New Class of Positive Inotropic Agents with Vasodilator Properties

Amrinone is the first noncatecholamine inotropic agent with substantial vasodilating properties to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Its use in acute congestive heart failure (CHF) is associated with significant increases in cardiac index, reductions in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure and systemic vascular resistance and little or no change in mean arterial pressure. Pharmacokinetic studies of amrinone report an elimination half-life of 2.6-8.3 hours, with slower elimination more likely in patients with compromised renal or hepatic function. Intravenous bolus doses of 0.75-3.5 mg/kg followed by infusions of 5-20 micrograms/kg/min produce hemodynamic improvements similar to those with dobutamine. Side effects with amrinone therapy are usually mild, but thrombocytopenia occurs in 2.4% of patients. Amrinone appears equally as efficacious as dobutamine in the management of acute CHF, but its role in therapy depends on efficacy and side effect data in greater numbers of patients.
Dissection of Key Events in Tubular Epithelial to Myofibroblast Transition and Its Implications in Renal Interstitial Fibrosis

Myofibroblast activation is a key event playing a critical role in the progression of chronic renal disease. Emerging evidence suggests that myofibroblasts can derive from tubular epithelial cells by an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT); however, the details regarding the conversion between these two cell types are poorly understood. Here we dissect the key events during the process of EMT induced by transforming growth factor-beta1. Incubation of human tubular epithelial cells with transforming growth factor-beta1 induced de novo expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin, loss of epithelial marker E-cadherin, transformation of myofibroblastic morphology, and production of interstitial matrix. Time-course studies revealed that loss of E-cadherin was an early event that preceded other alterations during EMT. The transformed cells secreted a large amount of matrix metalloproteinase-2 that specifically degraded tubular basement membrane. They also exhibited an enhanced motility and invasive capacity. These alterations in epithelial phenotypes in vitro were essentially recapitulated in a mouse model of renal fibrosis induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction. Hence, these results indicate that tubular epithelial to myofibroblast transition is an orchestrated, highly regulated process involving four key steps including: 1) loss of epithelial cell adhesion, 2) de novo alpha-smooth muscle actin expression and actin reorganization, 3) disruption of tubular basement membrane, and 4) enhanced cell migration and invasion.
Chromaticity-confusion contours in a complex viewing situation

This experiment measured confusion contours for 58 standard colors distributed throughout the CIE constant-luminance diagram. Matches were made to these standards from an assortment of 342 heterogeneous colors arranged in a display which presented 171 of them simultaneously. The viewing conditions approximate those found in certain complex display situations. Twenty subjects were used in the experiment. Each subject was required to indicate those colors on the display board which provided satisfactory matches for each of the standard colors. Contours on the CIE diagram are drawn to show the percentage of times various chromaticities were confused. From these contours we have selected colors which can be discriminated with high levels of accuracy and so are suitable for coding qualitative and quantitative information. In general, the contours follow trends suggested by extrapolation from precise threshold data.
Ruptured thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm treatment in the United States: 1988 to 1998.

Abstract Objective Thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) rupture usually results in death. The outcome remains poor for patients who reach the operating room. The objective of this investigation was to define contemporary surgical experience with ruptured TAAA in the United States. Patients and methods Clinical data derived from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample on patients who underwent repair of a ruptured TAAA from 1988 to 1998 were analyzed. Age, sex, race, nature of admission, comorbid conditions, and provider volume were abstracted from the database. In-hospital mortality, postoperative complications, and length of stay were the principal outcome measures. Results Three hundred twenty-one patients were identified for the study. Mean age was 71.5 years; men outnumbered women (63% vs 37%). Crude overall surgical mortality was 53.8% and did not improve over time. Operative mortality was most likely (51%) to occur within the first 24 hours postoperatively. Median length of stay for surviving patients was 16 days. Renal failure (28%) and cardiac complications (18%) were the most common complications. In a logistic regression model, age greater than 77 years was predictive of death (odds ratio [OR], 2.5; P = .005), and nonwhite race appeared protective (OR, 0.53; P = .013). Conclusions Mortality after surgical treatment of ruptured TAAA is high. Surviving patients experience many postoperative complications and have lengthy hospital stays. Given the lack of significant improvement in contemporary surgical practice, new techniques of repair deserve the attention of clinicians.
Mixture Fraction Statistics of Plane Self-Preserving Buoyant Turbulent Adiabatic Wall Plumes

Measurements of the mixture fraction properties of plane buoyant turbulent adiabatic wall plumes (adiabatic wall plumes) are described, emphasizing conditions far from the source where self-preserving behavior is approximated. The experiments involved helium/air mixtures rising along a smooth, plane and vertical wall. Mean and fluctuating mixture fractions were measured using laser-induced iodine fluorescence. Self-preserving behavior was observed 92-155 source widths above the source, yielding smaller normalized plume widths and near-wall mean mixture fractions than earlier measurements. Selfpreserving adiabatic wall plumes mix slower than comparable free line plumes (which have 58 percent larger normalized widths) because the wall prevents mixing on one side and inhibits large-scale turbulent motion. Measurements of probability density functions, temporal power spectra, and temporal integral scales of mixture fraction fluctuations are also reported
Prediction of solution structures of the Ca2+-bound gamma-carboxyglutamic acid domains of protein S and homolog growth arrest specific protein 6: use of the particle mesh Ewald method

The solution structures of the N-terminal domains of protein S, a plasma vitamin K-dependent glycoprotein, and its homolog growth arrest specific protein 6 (Gas6) were predicted by molecular dynamics computer simulations. The initial structures were based on the x-ray crystallographic structure of the corresponding region of bovine prothrombin fragment 1. The subsequent molecular dynamics trajectories were calculated using the second-generation AMBER force field. The long-range electrostatic forces were evaluated by the particle mesh Ewald method. The structures that stabilized over a 400-ps time interval were compared with the corresponding region of the simulated solution structure of bovine prothrombin fragment 1. Structural properties of the gamma-carboxyglutamic acid (Gla) domains obtained from simulations and calcium binding were found to be conserved for all three proteins. Analysis of the predicted solution structure of the Gla domain of Gas6 suggests that this domain should bind with negatively charged phospholipid surfaces analogous to bovine prothrombin fragment 1 and protein S.
Listening and Its Asymmetries

Recently, I was in a remarkable administrative setting. It was remarkable because two white people whose bosses expected them to show up for the sole purpose of voting against a diversity initiative instead wound up listening-they hadn't come just to say no. People who didn't have to listen, who could just have pretended to listen, and in whose interest it was not to listen, had listened.' In administrative settings, those in power, if they are polite (or perhaps simply strategic), often pretend to listen, allowing a decent interval before restating their case or their plan of action. If they don't want to listen, however, they don't have to. They have the prerogative of saying what should be listened to and when and how. They have the prerogative of not being persuaded. They have the prerogative of being offended. If the conversation gets too disruptive, too annoying, too agitating, or too frustrating, they can stop the conversation. Not only do those in power have the freedom to declare when enough listening has been done ("I don't think we're getting anywhere with this"; "We need to put this behind us and move on"), but their power usually ensures that certain things never get said in the first place. No one in administrative settings pretends that turf, power, and politicking do not matter. If all else fails, the person in the position of power is free to say, "Sorry, this is my decision to make, and this is the decision I am making." In intellectual settings, though, what is supposed to matter is not, at least in principle, turf or the protection of one's personal power or privilege, but the free and open exchange of ideas. Naturally, things are not always as tidy as that (it is because professors can battle so fiercely over ideas and words and turf that murder mysteries often are set in academia), but it is supposed to be that way. In an earlier essay on the question of feminists critiquing other feminists, Jane Roland Martin invokes this ideal in
Extended 4×4 grids

In this paper we show that there are exactly 6 extended 4 × 4 grids. The 4 locally 4 × 4 grid graphs, the 4-uniform E.G.Q. (3, 1), and the twisted half ( 8 4 ) Johnson geometry. We also give a geometric construction of the twisted half ( 8 4 ) Johnson geometry.
Structural features of the 5' region of the human erbB-2 gene

The human erbB-2 gene encodes a receptor protein tyrosine kinase which has strong growth-promoting properties. Overexpression of erbB-2 is directly associated with tumor cell growth in vivo and in vitro. To investigate structural features which may contribute to expression, we isolated and sequenced a 3.65-kb 5' promoter fragment of the human erbB-2 gene. This 5' fragment contains an exceptionally high density of four Alu sequences. Other structural features include an A + T-rich region that causes DNA bending, as measured by anomalously slow migration in polyacrylamide gels. These structural features of the 5' region of erbB-2 may contribute to expression of the gene in different growth states.
Efficient synthesis of chiral C2-symmetric diamines via allylboration of bis-N,N'-metallodiimines

Abstract An enantioselective synthesis of C2-symmetric bis-homoallylic aromatic and heteroaromatic diamines in 54–89% yields, in 73–94% de and ⩾98% ee has been achieved via the allylboration of the corresponding N,N′-bis(trimethylsilyl)dialdimines and N,N′-bis(diisobutylalumino)dialdimines with B-allyldiisopinocampheylborane in the presence of methanol, followed by alkaline hydrogen peroxide workup. One-pot synthesis of stable N,N′-bis(benzaldimine–triethylborane) complexes and subsequent allylboration to afford benzene diamines is also described.
Upper-Ocean Thermal Variations in the North Pacific during 1970-1991.

Abstract A newly available, extensive compilation of upper-ocean temperature profiles was used to study the vertical structure of thermal anomalies between the surface and 400-m depth in the North Pacific during 1970–1991. A prominent decade-long perturbation in climate occurred during this time period: surface waters cooled by ∼1°C in the central and western North Pacific and warmed by about the same amount along the west coast of North America from late 1976 to 1988. Comparison with data from COADS suggests that the relatively sparse sampling of the subsurface data is adequate for describing the climate anomaly. The vertical structure of seasonal thermal anomalies in the central North Pacific shows a series of cold pulses beginning in the fall of 1976 and continuing until late 1988 that appear to originate at the surface and descend with time into the main thermocline to at least 400-m depth. Individual cold events descend rapidly (∼100 m yr−1), superimposed upon a slower cooling (∼15 m yr−1). The inter...
Chelated Borates: Synthesis, Reactivity, and Cation Formation.

The ligands N-salicylidene-o-aminophenol (LH2), N-(5-chlorosalicylidene)-o-aminophenol (L(Cl)H2), and N-(5-bromosalicylidene)-o-aminophenol (L(Br)H2) were used to prepare a series of borates having the formulas LBOR (R = Me (1), Et (2), nPr (3), nBu (4)), L(Cl)BOR (R = Me (5), Et (6), nPr (7), nBu (8)), and L(Br)BOR (R = Me (9), Et (10), nPr (11), nBu (12)). Either 1−4 or 9−12 could be combined with HOSiPh3, to form unique compounds possessing a single B−O−Si linkage, LBOSiPh3 (13) and L(Br)BOSiPh3 (14), respectively. The charged species, [LB(thf)]+OTf- (15) forms when 1 is combined with HOTf. It can be used as a catalyst for the oligomerization of propylene oxide. By comparison, [nBu2B]+OTf- effects the oligomerization to the same extent as 15, but the neutral species, 1−4, 13, and 14 do not, even under forcing conditions. All of the compounds were characterized by melting point, 1H NMR, IR, elemental analyses, and, in the case of 13, by X-ray crystallography.
Serotonin content is elevated in the dopamine deficient striatum of the weaver mutant mouse

In the present study, we measured the striatal serotonin content of weaver and control mice at different ages. Overall, weaver mutant mice exhibited 50% more striatal serotonin than controls. Neither a rostrocaudal gradient nor an age effect was found for either genotype. An analysis of serotonin content across the dorsoventral extent of the striatum revealed that in the dorsal striatum of the weaver, serotonin content was increased 200%, and in the ventral striatum, the increase amounted to 50% relative to control mice. Serotonin immunocytochemistry also revealed an increase in the dorsal striata of weaver mice. The major increase in striatal serotonin content seen in the weaver striatum occurs in the same region that exhibits the severest dopamine depletion. This observation is consistent with the notion that the increase in serotonin levels may be secondary to the decrease in dopamine content and may play an adaptive or compensatory role.
Infeasibility Proof and Information State in Network Information Theory

In this paper, we revisit the structure of infeasibility results in network information theory, based on a notion of information state. We also discuss ideas for generalizing a known outer bound for lossless transmission of independent sources over a network to one of lossy transmission of dependent sources over the same network. To concretely demonstrate this, we apply our ideas and prove new results for lossy transmission of dependent sources by generalizing: 1) the cut-set bound; 2) the best known outer bound on the capacity region of a general broadcast channel; and 3) the outer bound part of the result of Maric, Yates, and Kramer on strong interference channels with a common message.
Asymmetric visual prism adaptation and intermanual transfer.

The authors hypothesized that failure of visual adaptation to transfer from an individual's exposed right hand to the unexposed left hand arises from hemispheric asymmetry in eye-hand coordination, such that the dominant eye-right-hand system is specialized for action in the right body space. Groups received combinations of exposed dominant or nondominant hands and right or left prismatic displacement. Following prism exposure (terminal feedback), the authors measured aftereffects for proprioceptive straight-ahead and straight-ahead target pointing for both hands. They measured visual straight-ahead aftereffects, starting from the left and right hemispaces. Results were consistent with the prediction: Visual adaptation transfer and additivity occurred when the nondominant left hand was exposed but not when the dominant right hand was exposed. Visual straight-ahead asymmetry appeared when the dominant right hand was exposed to leftward displacement. The authors discuss the implications for the general theo...
Missing gender in cases of infamous school violence: Investigating research and media explanations

The shootings at Columbine and Jonesboro, along with multiple shootings at five other schools, captured the nation's attention and received widespread media coverage. Utilizing a feminist perspective that addresses masculinity, we explore research and major newspaper coverage of infamous school violence to determine how extensively gender is considered as a contributing factor. Results indicate that data sources on violent deaths at school miss the gendered nature of the violence. Similarly, media coverage of the seven cases under study discount the role of masculinities, bullying, and male violence against girls and women, and few of the policy recommendations address these concerns. The relative absence of attention to the gendered nature of school violence encourages incomplete explanations and ineffective policies.
Third neighbor linear-combination-of-atomic-orbitals energy bands of zincblende

Abstract It is shown that inclusion of third nearest neighbor interactions and omission of the usual two center approximation in the simplified Slater-Koster LCAO method leads to an improved interpolation formula for the energy bands of wide bandgap partially ionic II–IV compounds such as zinc sulfide.
Terahertz Integrated Photonic Crystal Devices

In this paper, we present the first experimental results of a series of simple spectral filters based on guided resonance of the photonic crystals (PhCs). In addition, in order to realize the ultimate goal of integrating different devices into a circuit, we proposed a new approach that uses hybrid lattices and their associated properties to design devices. Furthermore, we demonstrated the use of a prism-coupling and a photonic crystal coupling lens to couple terahertz (THz) waves from free space and between different devices
Multiple colour photometry

Abstract Multiple colour photometry is discussed historically. Modern photometric systems are discussed and bibliographies are given. Demonstrations of some of the properties and uses of multiple colour photometry are given, with emphasis placed on the infrared spectral region. The determination of colour temperatures by means of multiple colour photometry is discussed.