cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pain management in the elderly population: a review

The elderly population comprises the fastest growing segment of the world's population. As patients age, the incidence and prevalence of certain pain syndromes increase. Pain may be underreported as some elderly patients incorrectly believe that pain is a normal process of aging. A comprehensive pain assessment includes a thorough medical history and physical examination, review of systems and pertinent laboratory results, imaging studies, and diagnostic tests. Pain physicians should have a broad range of understanding of the pharmacologic and physiological changes that occur in the geriatric population. The present review on pain management in the elderly focuses on relevant information for the pain clinician. Included are appropriate pain assessment, physical examination, pathophysiologic changes in the elderly, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes, and present pain management modalities. Elderly patients present with increased fat mass, decreased muscle mass, and decreased body water, all of which have important ramifications on drug distribution. Hepatic phase I reactions involving oxidation, hydrolysis, and reduction appear to be more altered by age than phase II conjugation such as acetylation, glucuronidation, sulfation, and glycine conjugation. There is a predictable age-related decline in cytochrome P-450 function and, combined with the polypharmacy that much of the elderly population experiences, this may lead to a toxic reaction of medications. One of the newer opiates, oxymorphone, has recently been studied as it is metabolized in a non-cytochrome P-450 pathway and therefore bypasses many of the drug-drug interactions common to the elderly. A multidisciplinary approach is recommended to investigate all possible options for optimal management, including pharmacotherapy, interventional procedures, physical rehabilitation, and psychological support.
Stratigraphy and Sedimentary Environments of the Devonian Perry Formation, New Brunswick, Canada, and Maine, U.S.A.

The Late Devonian Perry Formation was deposited in the St. Andrews and Blacks Harbour Basins and consists of red and green conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, basalt, and minor amounts of limestone. The clastic sedimentary rocks are texturally and mineralogically immature and consist of subarkose, sub-litharenite, arkose, lithic arkose, and feldspathic litharenite. The Perry Formation of the St. Andrews Basin is subdivided into five members. The Perry Formation of the Blacks Harbour Basin consists of six members. Interbasin outcrops consist of discontinuous sedimentary units which cannot be correlated with either basin. Six sedimentary facies are interpreted as scree, alluvial fan, transitional lower fan, channel, overbank, and lacustrine environments. Facies analysis indicates lateral shift through these facies from alluvial fan to marginal lacustrine environments. Analysis of directional current structures indicates a southeastern paleocurrent flow in the St. Andrews Basin with sources located primarily to the northwest. In the Blacks Harbour Basin, a paleoflow to the northwest supplied sediment from sources primarily to the southeast. Local sources supplied sediment for the interbasin deposits.
Safety via state transition language plus invariants

Liveness and safety properties are discussed from the standpoints of their topological characterizations and their expressibility in a state transition language with added invariants. The strengths of the languages obtained by varying the exact definition of the interval of invariance are analyzed. With the help of the topological characterizations, it is shown that pure liveness cannot be used to prove safety. >
High incidence of germline BRCA mutation in patients with ER low-positive/PR low-positive/HER-2 neu negative tumors

BACKGROUND The 2015 National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend that genetic counseling and germline BRCA mutation testing be offered to women under age 60 with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). As a result of the 2010 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)/College of American Pathologists (CAP) guidelines for breast cancer, patients with breast cancers that are estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) low-positive (1%-9% on immunohistochemistry) are no longer strictly considered to have TNBC and may not be referred for genetic counseling. However, the incidence of BRCA mutation in patients with hormone receptor (HR) low-positive breast cancers remains unknown, and current ASCO/CAP guidelines may result in undertesting for BRCA mutations. METHODS A prospectively maintained research database of breast cancer patients evaluated at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center between 2004 and 2014 was reviewed; 314 patients were identified with HER2/neu–negative breast cancers expressing ER and PR <10% with known BRCA mutation status. RESULTS Three hundred fourteen patients had breast cancers expressing ER and PR <10%; 238 (75.8%) had HR-negative cancers (<1% ER and PR), and 76 (24.2%) had HR–low-positive cancers (1%-9% ER and/or PR). Among patients with HR-negative tumors, 86 of 238 (36.1%) had a BRCA1/2 mutation, whereas in the HR–low-positive group, 30 of 76 (39.5%) had a BRCA1/2 mutation. In multivariate analysis, HR status (<1% vs 1%-9%) was not significantly associated with BRCA1/2 mutations. CONCLUSIONS The incidence of BRCA1/2 mutations is similar in patients with HR–low-positive breast cancer and patients with HR-negative breast cancer. Genetic counseling and BRCA testing should be offered to patients under age 60 who have HR–low-positive breast cancers. Cancer 2015;121:3435–43. © 2015 American Cancer Society.
Genetic Interaction between a Chaperone of Small Nucleolar Ribonucleoprotein Particles and Cytosolic Serine Hydroxymethyltransferase

Srp40p is a nonessential yeast nucleolar protein proposed to function as a chaperone for over 100 small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein particles that are required for rRNA maturation. To verify and expand on its function, genetic screens were performed for the identification of genes that were lethal when mutated in a SRP40 null background (srp40Δ). Unexpectedly, mutation of both cytosolic serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHM2) and one-carbon tetrahydrofolate synthase (ADE3) was required to achieve synthetic lethality with srp40Δ. Shm2p and Ade3p are cytoplasmic enzymes producing 5,10-methylene tetrahydrofolate in convergent pathways as the primary source for cellular one-carbon groups. Nonetheless, point mutants of Shm2p that were catalytically inactive (i.e. failed to rescue the methionine auxotrophy of a shm2Δ ade3 strain) complemented the synthetic lethal phenotype, thus revealing a novel metabolism-independent function of Shm2p. The same Shm2p mutants exacerbated a giant cell phenotype observed in the shm2Δ ade3 strain suggesting a catalysis-independent role for Shm2p in cell size control, possibly through regulation of ribosome biogenesis via SRP40. Additionally, we show that the Sm-like protein Lsm5p, which as part of Lsm complexes participates in cytosolic and nuclear RNA processing and degradation pathways, is a multicopy suppressor of the synthetic lethality and of the specific depletion of box H/ACA small nucleolar RNAs from the srp40Δ shm2 ade3 strain. Finally, rat Nopp140 restored growth and stability of box H/ACA snoRNAs after genetic depletion of SRP40 in the synthetic lethal strain indicating that it is indeed the functional homolog of yeast Srp40p.
Optimal Calibration Accuracy for Gravitational Wave Detectors

Calibration errors in the response function of a gravitational-wave detector degrade its ability to detect and then to measure the properties of any detected signals. This paper derives the needed levels of calibration accuracy for each of these data-analysis tasks. The levels derived here are optimal in the sense that lower accuracy would result in missed detections and/or a loss of measurement precision, while higher accuracy would be made irrelevant by the intrinsic noise level of the detector. Calibration errors affect the data-analysis process in much the same way as errors in theoretical waveform templates. The optimal level of calibration accuracy is expressed therefore as a joint limit on modeling and calibration errors: increased accuracy in one reduces the accuracy requirement in the other.
Three Types of Memory in Emergency Medical Services Communication.

This article examines memory and distributed cognition involved in the writing practices of emergency medical services (EMS) professionals. Results from a 16-month study indicate that EMS professio...
Radiation-induced changes in the fracture extension resistance (R-curve) of structural steels

The effects of irradiation on the fracture extension resistance of low-and medium-strength steel plates were explored using R-curve assessment procedures newly developed at the Naval Research Laboratory. The study employed four thick plates of A212-B, A302-B, A533-B, and A543-1 steel. The plates were specifically selected to depict a broad range of pre-irradiation dynamic tear (DT) upper-shelf toughness. Irradiations were conducted at low temperatures, < 450 F (232 C), and at an elevated temperature, ∼550 F (288 C). A subsize R-specimen (0.4 in. thick), patterned after the 5/8-in. dynamic tear specimen, was employed for pre- and postirradiation R-curve determinations. R-curves were constructed by plotting specimen energy absorption per unit fracture surface area against relative crack extension distance. Radiation exposure was revealed to have a highly detrimental effect on R-curve performance. The effect was observed for all test plates regardless of their pre-irradiation shelf toughness level. The effect encompassed R-curve performance at temperatures corresponding to the dynamic tear upper shelf and at temperatures within the dynamic tear transition regime. The primary detrimental change for the upper-shelf condition was a reduction in R-curve level. A tendency for irradiation to reduce R-curve slope was also evident. The analysis suggests that, with sufficiently high fluence, neutron irradiation can cause a transition from rising R-curve to flat R-curve behavior at upper-shelf temperatures.
An evolutionary perspective on anti-tumor immunity

The challenges associated with demonstrating a durable response using molecular-targeted therapies in cancer has sparked a renewed interest in viewing cancer from an evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary processes have three common traits: heterogeneity, dynamics, and a selective fitness landscape. Mutagens randomly alter the genome of host cells creating a population of cells that contain different somatic mutations. This genomic rearrangement perturbs cellular homeostasis through changing how cells interact with their tissue microenvironment. To counterbalance the ability of mutated cells to outcompete for limited resources, control structures are encoded within the cell and within the organ system, such as innate and adaptive immunity, to restore cellular homeostasis. These control structures shape the selective fitness landscape and determine whether a cell that harbors particular somatic mutations is retained or eliminated from a cell population. While next-generation sequencing has revealed the complexity and heterogeneity of oncogenic transformation, understanding the dynamics of oncogenesis and how cancer cells alter the selective fitness landscape remain unclear. In this technology review, we will summarize how recent advances in technology have impacted our understanding of these three attributes of cancer as an evolutionary process. In particular, we will focus on how advances in genome sequencing have enabled quantifying cellular heterogeneity, advances in computational power have enabled explicit testing of postulated intra- and intercellular control structures against the available data using simulation, and advances in proteomics have enabled identifying novel mechanisms of cellular cross-talk that cancer cells use to alter the fitness landscape.
The Double-Bromodomain Proteins Bdf1 and Bdf2 Modulate Chromatin Structure to Regulate S-Phase Stress Response in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Bromodomain proteins bind acetylated histones to regulate transcription. Emerging evidence suggests that histone acetylation plays an important role in DNA replication and repair, although its precise mechanisms are not well understood. Here we report studies of two double bromodomain-containing proteins, Bdf1 and Bdf2, in fission yeast. Loss of Bdf1 or Bdf2 led to a reduction in the level of histone H4 acetylation. Both bdf1Δ and bdf2Δ cells showed sensitivity to DNA damaging agents, including camptothecin, that cause replication fork breakage. Consistently, Bdf1 and Bdf2 were important for recovery of broken replication forks and suppression of DNA damage. Surprisingly, deletion of bdf1 or bdf2 partially suppressed sensitivity of various checkpoint mutants including swi1Δ, mrc1Δ, cds1Δ, crb2Δ, chk1Δ, and rad3Δ, to hydroxyurea, a compound that stalls replication forks and activates the Cds1-dependent S-phase checkpoint. This suppression was not due to reactivation of Cds1. Instead, we found that bdf2 deletion alleviates DNA damage accumulation caused by defects in the DNA replication checkpoint. We also show that hydroxyurea sensitivity of mrc1Δ and swi1Δ was suppressed by mutations in histone H4 acetyltransferase subunits or histone H4. These results suggest that the double bromodomain-containing proteins modulate chromatin structure to coordinate DNA replication and S-phase stress response.
THE RELATION OF THE ADRENALS TO MUSCULAR ACTIVITY.

That the adrenals bear some direct relation to muscular activity has been known for many years. One of the earliest recognized symptoms of adrenal insufficiency was muscular asthenia. This is undoubtedly the most characteristic symptom. In Addison’s disease and in experimental insufficiency the loss of muscular power is very striking. Individuals previously quite strong become weak and easily fatigued. After the discovery of epinephrin it was shown that this substance could benefit fatigued muscle (1). This suggested the possible role of the adrenals in muscular exercise. No one so far as we know, however, has demonstrated that there is an increase in epinephrin output during exercise. Stewart and Rogoff (2), without attempting to show any difference in epinephrin output from exercise, did not observe any difference between the working power of normal cats and those with a large portion of the adrenal tissue removed and in some instances the remaining fragment denervated.
Detection of NPM/MLF1 fusion in t(3;5)-positive acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplasia

Balanced translocations are rare in myelodysplasia (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with multilineage dysplasia; however, the t(3;5)(q25;q35) and insertion variant occur in a subset of patients. To evaluate the possible genes involved in this translocation, we studied 6 cases with a t(3;5) by fluorescence in situ hybridization with probes directed against the nucleophosmin (NPM), EVI1, and Ribophorin genes, as well as a newly developed myeloid leukemia factor 1 (MLF1) BAC clone. The histologic spectrum of the cases was variable, ranging from refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia to AML with multilineage dysplasia in the World Health Organization classification. An NPM/MLF1 fusion was identified in 5 of 6 cases, whereas the EVI1 and Ribophorin genes were not involved in any of the cases. The NPM/MLF1-positive cases were predominantly young adult males (median age, 33 years) who responded well to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. These findings suggest that an NPM/MLF1 fusion is the primary molecular abnormality in t(3;5) MDS and AML with multilineage dysplasia, and also that cases with NPM/MLF1 may be clinically distinct from other MDS-associated disease.
Temperature–Time Texture Transition of Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 Thin Films: I, Role of Pb-rich Intermediate Phases

Lead-rich intermediate phases, in particular Pt,,Pb and PbO, are found to form on Pt(ll1) atop Ti-buffered Si substrates prior to formation of Pb(Zr, -*TiX)O3 (PZT) thin films. Pt,_,Pb is a [ill] textured transient intermetallic phase that nucleates PZT[111] texture. PbO is a [OOl] textured layer compound that nucleates PZT[100] texture. The formation conditions and lattice matching of these intermediate phases have been examined. The presence of other possible intermediate phases, such as pyrochlore and Zr and Ti-rich phases, has also been investigated but found unrelated to the texture selection of perovskite PZT.
Comparison of TSI from SORCE TIM with SFO Ground-Based Photometry

Total solar irradiance (TSI) measurements have been available from the TIM instrument on the SORCE spacecraft since 2003. We compare TSI data, both 24-h and 6-h averages, with photometric indices from red and K-line images obtained on a daily basis at the San Fernando Observatory (SFO). For 1253 days of data from 2 March 2003 to 5 May 2010 we compare the data in linear multiple regression analyses. The best results come from using two photometric indices, the red and K-line photometric sums, and SORCE TSI 6-h averages interpolated to the SFO time of observation. For this case, we obtain a coefficient of multiple determination, R 2, of 0.9495 and a quiet-Sun irradiance S 0 = 1360.810 ± 0.004 W m−2. These results provide further support for the hypothesis that the quiet Sun is constant over time.
Progesterone Receptor A and B Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Levels in the Anterior Pituitary of Rats Are Regulated by Estrogen

In target tissues of most mammalian and avian species, progesterone receptors (PR) are expressed as structurally related, but functionally distinct, isoforms A and B, and they are regulated by estrogen (E) as well as by their cognate ligand, progesterone (P4). The objectives of the present work were to identify mRNA expression for the A and B isoforms of PR in the anterior pituitary of the rat, to examine its regulation by gonadal steroids, and to compare this regulation with that in the primary target organ, the uterus. Messenger RNAs for the PR isoforms, determined by two separate reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction protocols, one that detects PR A and PR B equally and the other specific for PR B, were identified in anterior pituitary of female and male rats. In anterior pituitary of cycling female rats, steady-state mRNA levels for both PR A1B and PR B were highest at 0900 h on proestrus, declined rapidly to nadir values at 0900 h on metestrus (PR A1B) or 0900 h on estrus (PR B), and remained below proestrous values through 2100 h on diestrus. Administration of E to intact proestrous female rats caused significant increases in mRNA for both PR A1B and PR B on estrus and metestrus. Blockade of P4 action by administration of the antiprogestins RU-486 and ZK-98299 on proestrus had no effect on PR mRNA levels on the morning of estrus. Ovariectomy two and ten days after surgery markedly reduced mRNA levels for both PR A1B and PR B. Whereas treatment of 10-day-ovariectomized rats with E led to marked induction of mRNA for PR A1B and PR B two days later, treatment with P4 one day after treatment had no effect on basal or E-stimulated PR mRNA. Regulation of PR mRNA expression in the pituitary differed from that in the uterus, in which P4 treatment of ovariectomized rats antagonized the E-induced rise in mRNA for PR B, and antiprogestins increased mRNA for both isoforms. In addition to induction of PR mRNA in the pituitary of female rats by E in vivo, we also demonstrated induction by E in primary culture of anterior pituitary cells in vitro. We conclude that in the anterior pituitary of female rats, both the A and B isoforms of PR are expressed and regulated by E.
FPGA implementation of neural network-based controllers for power electronics applications

This paper presents an innovative approach for the hardware implementation of neural networks (NN's) in power electronics applications. Effective NN-based applications in power electronics require hardware implementations that exploit the inherent parallelism of NNs. Nonetheless, most NN hardware implementations have been realized using digital signal processors (DSP) or computers that offer serial processing. Nowadays, parallel programmable logic devices, such as the field programmable gate array (FPGA) with embedded microprocessors, have become powerful hardware options, offering low cost, high execution speed, reconfigurability and parallelism. This work intends to exploit the current available resources in commercial FPGAs to implement NN-based controllers for power electronics applications. Simulation and experimental results included in this paper show the viability of exploiting the parallelism and modularity of a low cost FPGA to implement a NN-based controller for a buck converter.
A Nationwide Survey of Domestic Violence Shelters' Programming for Older Women

This article describes a nationwide survey of domestic violence shelters that examined special programming for older battered women. More than two fifths of the 428 respondents had sheltered at least one woman age 60 or older during the previous year, and 61 stated they offered special programming for older women. This programming most often was outreach or individual interventions. A majority of the respondents provided education about domestic violence to adult protective services staff and senior centers, but only 22% presented information to aging agency staff. Interactions between domestic violence and service providers for the aged are critical as they discover they have clients in common.
Creep Modeling for Composite Structures

Creep phenomenon of polymer composites, particularly of those recently used in civil engineering structures, is first explained. A brief survey on this topic is provided from both the phenomenological and mechanistic points of view. Possible models which are mathematically simple to track but able to provide essential characteristics of the creep phenomenon for unidirectional polymer composites are suggested. One of them has been applied successfully to simple unidirectional composite structure problems.
Genetic diversity in isolated patches of the tallgrass prairie forb, Lithospermum canescens (Boraginaceae)1

Abstract Genetic diversity is not well understood for many species inhabiting isolated, fragmented systems. We evaluated genetic diversity for the mixed mating, native prairie forb, Lithospermum canescens (Michx) Lehm. (hoary puccoon), at an isolated tallgrass prairie site in southern Minnesota. Leaf tissue was collected from nearly all individuals inhabiting three disjunct patches and AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) was performed on each individual. A high level of genetic diversity was maintained (Nei's Genetic Diversity, h = 0.31), and diversity was similar among the separate populations (HT = 0.31, HS = .30, GST = 0.03) based on 73 scoreable bands from five primer pairs. Lithospermum canescens has retained a considerable amount of diversity among the three patches despite existing in isolated patches; pollination by flying insects likely contributed to the genetic similarities among the patches. Our results suggest that seeds from any one patch could be used for restoration of ot...
Environmentalists Offer a Big Push for New Green Products: Evidence from Hybrid Vehicle Registrations

Corporations are constantly introducing new products for sale. Some new products, such as hybrid vehicles, are greener than incumbent products. Due to composition effects, certain environmental externalities could be mitigated if there were guinea pigs willing to commit to purchase new green products. In the presence of fixed costs of production, firms will be more likely to produce such products if they anticipate that there is demand. This paper examines the role of environmentalists as “guinea pigs” who purchase unproven new products that are likely to offer social environmental benefits. I focus on the diffusion of registered Hybrid vehicles across Los Angeles census tracts between 2001 and 2005.
Lights and shadows of vaccinations

As a doctor and as a pupil of Albert Sabin, a renowned virologist, my initial attitude towards the risks asso-ciated with vaccination was aligned with official Science — a price that was painful but still needs to be paid to advance medicine and human welfare.
Multiturn Injection

Several schemes are considered for transverse multiturn injection into storage rings. Careful attention is paid to geometry and timing of the emittance and acceptance ellipses, while the septum is taken as a line in phase space. The relative shape of input emittance to acceptance is varied, as well as the tune (integer + 1/n) to obtain, before space charge, zero particle loss and minimum dilution D = ?A/N?i, where N = number of injected turns, ?A is the machine acceptance, and ?i is the input emittance. Displacement of the IEO by a 4 kick bumper is idealized. The theoretical results for N up to 25 give per-plane dilutions between 1.3 and 2.0. A particle simulation of three schemes to see space charge distortion uses a fast Fourier transform with thin lenses for quadrupoles; wall image is not included. Particle loss on the septum and at the walls is noted and compared. For currents at the conventional space charge limit of the ring, the space charge is a key element in scheme selection.
Constitutions as Basic Structure

How a constitution works is determined as much – likely much more – by the bottom-up forces of the dynamics of participation than by the explicit top-down design contained on the pages of a constitution. The formal institutional design of the original US Constitution has changed over time largely in a more open and democratic direction. But changes in the dynamics of participation are even more profound and likely have a greater role in determining the real constitutional structure of the United States. The direction of these changes is not so clearly democratic. My main purpose is to establish an analytical framework to pinpoint the determinants of constitutional structure and understand the dynamics of that structure. Constitutions like all law and public policy are about substance, but, especially for constitutions, substance must manifest primarily in issues of structure. To show why, the first section explores the advantages and disadvantages of confederation and contrasts the protection of slavery with another example of constitutional substance, the Bill of Rights. The second section confronts the profound questions surrounding the interaction between institutional design and the bottom-up forces of political participation including an examination of the choices made by the Framers of the US Constitution and the evolution of the US constitutional structure over time. The last section examines the limited and diminishing role of the courts and constitutional judicial review in the US constitutional structure and in constitutional structures in general.
Increasing cGMP-dependent protein kinase activity attenuates unilateral ureteral obstruction-induced renal fibrosis

Our previous studies support the protective effect of cGMP and cGMP-dependent protein kinase I (PKG-I) pathway on the development of renal fibrosis. Therefore, in the present studies, we determined whether pharmacologically or genetically increased PKG activity attenuates renal fibrosis in a unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model and also examined the mechanisms involved. To increase PKG activity, we used the phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor sildenafil and PKG transgenic mice. UUO model was induced in wild-type or PKG-I transgenic mice by ligating the left lateral ureteral and the renal fibrosis was observed after 14 days of ligation. Sildenafil was administered into wild-type UUO mice for 14 days. In vitro, macrophage and proximal tubular cell function was also analyzed. We found that sildenafil treatment or PKG transgenic mice had significantly reduced UUO-induced renal fibrosis, which was associated with reduced TGF-β signaling and reduced macrophage infiltration into kidney interstitial. In vitro data further demonstrated that both macrophages and proximal tubular cells were important sources of UUO-induced renal TGF-β levels. The interaction between macrophages and tubular cells contributes to TGF-β-induced renal fibrosis. Taken together, these data suggest that increasing PKG activity ameliorates renal fibrosis in part through regulation of macrophage and tubular cell function, leading to reduced TGF-β-induced fibrosis.
Study of the optimal inventory control policies under seasonal demand

An optimal production-inventory policy is established in light of under assumption of seasonal demand and varying productivity. Properties of the policy included a production period partitioned into multistages in which time duration was different productivity could be less than the demand rate(maximum productivity is lower than the maximum demand rate), and the inventory became zero when each production phase was over. In the condition of disallowing to lack goods, research discovered, for satisfying the seasonal demand, that optimal profits could not be obtained it only storage was pursue in advance or numher of machines increased.Instead the optimal policy under the impact demand should be determined according to inventory cost, start cost and the period of production. Given the restricted productivity, it needs to search a production-inventory optimal policy, which offers the theoretic base for the decision-making of inventory management.
Energy dependence of sodium-calcium exchange in vascular smooth muscle cells.

Three different types of mitochondrial poisons (oligomycin, antimycin A, and dinitrophenol) strongly inhibited Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange in aortic myocytes. Exchange activity was assayed as 45Ca2+ uptake that depended on inverting the Na+ gradient and was inhibited by 25 microM dimethylbenzamil. Glucose markedly decreased the inhibition of exchange activity by these three poisons. Glucose also prevented rotenone from inhibiting exchange and depleting cellular ATP. In the absence of glucose, rotenone decreased ATP and exchange activity with half-times of 0.8 and 0.9 min, respectively. Almost eliminating cellular ATP with rotenone maximally inhibited exchange by 80%. Repletion of ATP with glucose substantially restored Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange activity. Ca2+ uptake by organelles, subsequent to entry via exchange for Na+, does not appear to contribute significantly to exchange activity as assayed in intact myocytes. The specific activity of Na(+)-Ca2+ exchange was approximately 30 nmol.min-1.mg protein-1. These findings suggest that ATP modulates exchange activity and that there are approximately 150,000 Na(+)-Ca2+ exchangers per cell, assuming that the turnover number is 1,000 s-1.
Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes in older adults and implications for palliative care

Background: As the population of older adults continues to increase, there will be an increase in the number of older patients requiring pain and symptom management in the setting of advanced, seri...
Reflections—Temperature Stress and the Direct Impact of Climate Change: A Review of an Emerging Literature

Abstract This article reviews the recent literature on the economics of exposure to temperature extremes. There is growing evidence from both micro and macro studies that in the short run, exposure...
Optimization of TCR and heat transport in group-IV multiple-quantum-well microbolometers

Group-IV semiconductors have the opportunity to have an equivalent or better temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) than other microbolometer thermistor materials. By using multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures, their TCR values can be optimized due to a confinement of carriers. Through two approaches – an activation energy approximation and a custom Monte Carlo transfer matrix method – we simulated this effect for a combination of Group-IV semiconductors and their alloys (e.g., SiGe and GeSn) to find the highest possible TCR, while keeping in mind the critical thicknesses of such layers in a MQW epitaxial stack. We calculated the TCR for a critical-thickness-limited Ge 0.8 Sn 0.2 /Ge MQW device to be about -1.9 %/K. Although this TCR is lower than similar SiGe/Si MQW thermistors, GeSn offers possible advantages in terms of fabricating suspended devices with its interesting etch-stop properties shown in previous literature. Furthermore, using finite element modeling of heat transport, we looked at another key bolometer parameter: the thermal time constant. The dimensions of a suspended Ge microbolometer’s supporting legs were fine-tuned for a target response time of 5 ms, incorporating estimations for the size effects of the nanowire-like legs on thermal conductivity.
Between Fact and Fiction: Can There be a Postcolonial Feminist Ethnography?

Abstract This study advocates for feminist qualitative methodologies that focus on stories when studying topics that impact women's well-being and the knowledge produced about them. In specific, population control and family planning mark a defining moment in global politics and international development as this issue has become a struggle about who has a right to live, indeed, a right to inherit the earth. In no other time period have we had to be as vigilant about legal and policy documents placing women's reproductive rights in jeopardy. Since the postcolonial period, female reproduction has been adjudicated by male administrators of Western Governments and Foundations promoting modern-western modernity and neoliberalism. Population policies have been part of national security policy (in the US since 1970s) and define North-South relations, just as other concerns such as immigration, refugees, food sustainability and war. The study aims at reinstating subaltern women's voices as central to international development and planning discourse by presenting ways that personal narrative can circumvent the demands of objectivity in functionalist research paradigms. By calling women's tales fictional, I give the interviewing women the status of storytellers; a position of power imparted to women traditionally. Stories of women's lives recorded in 1992–95 are literary and imaginative constructions and not false as such, serving to reposition women's role in international development. Their words give analysis, life, and historical authenticity to the transnational women's movement in reproductive health.
Science and the (Meta)physical Body: A Critique of Positivism in the Vasconcelian Utopia

Durante su vida, el escritor y filosofo mexicano Jose Vasconcelos postulo que el mestizaje era la mejor manera de redimir al pueblo mexicano y latinoamericano. Segun el, la fusion de sangres entre europeos, amerindios y negros engendraria en la region una humanidad esteticamente superior a la de sus progenitores raciales. Esta problematica asercion ha inspirado mucha critica academica tanto en Latinoamerica como en Norteamerica y Europa. Si un tema destaca en estos estudios, son las paradojas inherentes a su paradigma racial. El pensador articulaba su filosofia del mestizaje a veces en terminos cientificos - pues la reproduccion humana y la eugenesia no son mas que expresiones de la biologia - pero tambien imaginaba la hibridez racial como un avance cultural y social que trascendia simples cambios geneticos. A fin de cuentas, Vasconcelos subordinaba su pensamiento cientifico a la estetica, de modo que un cambio en el genoma nacional representaria un mejoramiento metafisico del pais. El presente estudio ofrece una lectura poshumana de su obra teatral Prometeo vencedor (1916?) y su ensayo La raza cosmica (1925) para demostrar que el avance genetico constituye progreso estetico en su pensamiento. Segun Vasconcelos, el papel de la ciencia es el de mejorar esteticamente el mundo.
Temporal Trends in and Factors Associated With Use of Single- Versus Dual-Coil Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Leads: Data From the NCDR ICD Registry

Abstract Objectives This analysis evaluated temporal trends and factors associated with the use of dual-coil implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) leads. Background Data suggest that dual-coil ICD leads are not associated with lower mortality and can be more difficult to extract than single-coil leads. Methods A total of 435,772 patients at 1,690 hospitals underwent ICD lead insertion in the National Cardiovascular Data Registry’s ICD Registry between April 2010 and December 2015. Hospitals were classified into 3 pre-specified groups (low, decreasing, or high use) based on the frequency of dual-coil lead use. Results Nationally, the use of dual-coil leads has decreased over time, from 87% of ICD leads in early 2010 to 55% at the end of 2015. Hospitals in the low-use (n = 292) or decreasing-use (n = 561) group had more ICDs inserted by electrophysiologists compared to the high-use (n = 837) group (90% or 80% vs 46%; p Conclusions Although the use of dual-coil ICD leads has decreased over time, it continues to represent the majority of insertions in the United States. Hospital-level factors, but not patient factors, were associated with use of dual-coil ICD leads. Whether decreasing dual-coil ICD lead use has improved patient outcomes remains unknown and should be examined in large, multicenter, contemporaneous patient groups.
Cooking Methods for Red Meats and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Prospective Study of U.S. Women

OBJECTIVE This study examined different cooking methods for red meats in relation to type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk among U.S. women who consumed red meats regularly (≥2 servings/week). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We monitored 59,033 women (1986–2012) aged 30–55 years and free of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer at baseline when information on frequency of different cooking methods for red meats, including broiling, barbequing, roasting, pan-frying, and stewing/boiling, was collected. RESULTS During 1.24 million person-years of follow-up, we documented 6,206 incident cases of T2D. After multivariate adjustment including red meat cooking methods, total red meat and processed red meat intake were both associated with a monotonically increased T2D risk (both P trend P trend P trend P trend = 0.14) for roasting. In contrast, the frequency of stewing/boiling red meats was not associated with T2D risk, and an inverse association was observed for pan-frying frequency and T2D risk. The results remained similar after cooking methods were further mutually adjusted. CONCLUSIONS Independent of total red meat consumption, high-temperature and/or open-flame cooking methods for red meats, especially broiling and barbequing, may further increase diabetes risk among regular meat eaters.
Modeling Photosensitized Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation in Laboratory and Ambient Aerosols

Photosensitized reactions involving imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde (IC) have been experimentally observed to contribute to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) growth. However, the extent of photosensitized reactions in ambient aerosols remains poorly understood and unaccounted for in atmospheric models. Here we use GAMMA 4.0, a photochemical box model that couples gas-phase and aqueous-phase aerosol chemistry, along with recent laboratory measurements of the kinetics of IC photochemistry, to analyze IC-photosensitized SOA formation in laboratory and ambient settings. Analysis of the laboratory results of Aregahegn et al. (2013) suggests that photosensitized production of SOA from limonene, isoprene, α-pinene, β-pinene, and toluene by 3IC* occurs at or near the surface of the aerosol particle. Reactive uptake coefficients were derived from the experimental data using GAMMA 4.0. Simulations of aqueous aerosol SOA formation at remote ambient conditions including IC photosensitizer chemistry indicate less than 0.3% c...
Time-to-Contact control for safety and reliability of self-driving cars

For safety and reliability of self-driving cars, their control system must use the relative velocity of vehicles. The relative velocity can be estimated by differentiating the measured distance between cars with respect to time. However, inevitable measurement noise in the distance measurements will be amplified by the derivative operation. In this paper, we provide, as an alternative, a time-to-contact based approach to estimating the relative velocity, which can also be fused with measurements from other sensors, if desired. The system is implemented on Android smart phones running in real-time.
The importance of historical land use in the maintenance of early successional habitat for a threatened rattlesnake

Abstract Understanding how historic habitat changes have impacted species and searching the past for clues to better understand the current plight of threatened species can help inform and improve future conservation efforts. We coupled species distribution modeling with historical imagery analysis to assess how changes in land use/land cover have influenced the distribution of eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus), a federally threatened species, and its habitat in northeastern Ohio over the past ∼75 years. We also examined land use/land cover changes throughout southern Michigan for a broader perspective on the influence of historical processes on contemporary habitat. There was a pronounced shift in northeastern Ohio land cover from 1938 to 2011 with forest cover becoming the predominant land cover type as agricultural fields were abandoned and succession occurred. Most known eastern massasauga locations in the area were at some point used for agriculture and higher habitat suitability values were associated with agricultural fields that were eventually abandoned. We observed more stable habitat conditions across southern Michigan populations indicating agricultural abandonment was not as necessary for habitat creation in this part of their range. We present a new approach for linking historical landscapes to present day habitat suitability models; permitting inferences on how prior land use/land cover states have influenced the current distribution of species and their habitats. We demonstrate how agricultural abandonment was an important source of early successional habitat for a species that requires an open canopy, a finding applicable to a broad array of species with similar habitat requirements.
A 14.5mm 2 8nW −59.7dBm-sensitivity ultrasonic wake-up receiver for power-, area-, and interference-constrained applications

The next generation of the Internet of Things is envisioned to include unobtrusive, distributed mm-sized nodes capable of sensing and communicating information about their surroundings. Wake-up receivers (WuRXs) — ultra-low-power receivers that monitor their environment for a wake-up signature — are an important part of this vision, as they can extend the lifetime of a wireless node by keeping it asleep until interrogated. The state of the art in WuRXs, measured in terms of sensitivity and power, has recently been advanced by streamlining the signal path to include fewer power-hungry gain stages and instead obtaining the gain at the chip-antenna interface [1,2]. This has led to excellent power-sensitivity performance, but the accompanying increase in size hampers the applicability of these techniques in size-conscious applications, such as surveillance, asset tracking, and ubiquitous sensing. Moreover, size-reduction methods based on RF antenna miniaturization are fundamentally limited by high antenna Qs at low size-to-wavelength ratios [3]; efficiently matching to these antennas requires, in turn, high-Q passives that are generally unavailable at mm-scale.
Factors Associated With Timely Blood Glucose Testing and Insulin Administration in Patients Receiving Mealtime Insulin Coverage in Medical Surgical Units.

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to identify the rate and factors associated with timely mealtime capillary blood glucose (CBG) testing and insulin coverage in hospitalized patients with diabete...
Adaptive filtering to predict lung tumor motion during free breathing

Breathing-induced tumor motion during radiation therapy can be compensated either by gating or correcting the pointing of the radiation beam, but these techniques involve time delays in the corrective response. We have analyzed the accuracy of adaptive filter algorithms in predicting tumor positions with sufficient lead time to compensate for these systematic delays. Tumor and chest motion during respiration has been recorded fluoroscopically for lung cancer patients, using gold fiducials implanted in the tumors to enhance visibility. The motions been analyzed for predictability up to 1.0 second in advance using tapped delay line, Kalman filter, and neural network filter algorithms. Breathing patterns are not stationary in time. Both internal tumor and external chest movement can show amplitude and period modulations during a 30 second interval. Tapped delay line and other stationary filters cannot compensate for the changes and consequently have poor predictability. The predictive accuracy of adaptive filters has little dependence on the type of algorithm, but depends mainly on the frequency of updating and deteriorates rapidly when predicting more than 0.2 seconds in advance of the breathing signal. Longer-period (e.g., 30 seconds) variability in breathing requires frequent adaptation of the filter parameters.
On Scheduling Exception Handlers in Dynamic, Embedded Real-Time Systems

We consider the problem of scheduling exception handlers in real-time systems that operate under run-time uncertainties including those on execution times, activity arrivals, and failure occurrences. The application/scheduling model includes activities and their exception handlers that are subject to time/utility function (TUF) time constraints and an utility accrual (UA) optimality criterion. A key underpinning of the TUF/UA scheduling paradigm is the notion of "best-effort" where high importance activities are always favored over low importance ones, irrespective of activity urgency. (This is in contrast to classical admission control models which favor feasible completion of admitted activities over admitting new ones, irrespective of activity importance.) We consider a transactional style activity execution paradigm, where handlers that are released when their activities fail (e.g., due to time constraint violations) abort the failed activities after performing recovery actions. We present a scheduling algorithm called Handler-assured Utility accrual Algorithm(or HUA) for scheduling activities and their handlers. We show that HUA's properties include bounded-time completion for handlers and bounded loss of the best-effort property. Our implementation on a Real-Time Java Virtual Machine demonstrates the algorithm's effectiveness.
L’Amour en guerre: Sur les traces d’une correspondance pendant la guerre d’Algérie

In this text, sociologists Fabien Deshayes and Axel Pohn-Weidinger examine the correspondence of a young couple, both schoolteachers, in the final years of the Algerian war. As Aimee Jean-Baptiste ...
Physiological response of ‘Fuji’ apples to irradiation and the effect on quality

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine the influence of irradiation-induced physiological responses on quality parameters in ‘Fuji’ apples. Apples were treated at 377 and 1148 Gy, stored for 7 days at 1 °C to mimic ground transportation to Mexico and another 7 days at ambient temperature to simulate retail and consumer storage conditions. Irradiation suppressed ethylene production, especially in the 1148 Gy treated apples, which was consistent with lower activities of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase (ACO). A dose-dependent increase in respiration rate corresponded with decreases in titratable acidity (TA) and organic acids. Higher electrolyte leakage in apples irradiated at the 1148 Gy dose was not related to Malondialdehyde (MDA) content, which was unaffected by irradiation. Irradiation lessened aroma volatile content at 1148 Gy but there was much lesser affect at the 377 Gy dose. Loss of firmness was the only major quality attribute impacted, but consumers could not tell the difference between control and apples treated at 377 Gy in terms of flavor and visual quality. Irradiation at doses 377 Gy or lower could be used as an alternative to conventional phytosanitary treatments for Fuji apples destined to Mexico.