cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Racial Disparities in Outcomes of Endovascular Procedures for Peripheral Arterial Disease: An Evaluation of California Hospitals, 2005–2009

Background Racial/ethnic disparities in treatment outcomes of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are well documented. Compared with non-Hispanic (NH) whites, blacks and Hispanics are more likely to undergo amputation and less likely to undergo bypass surgery for limb salvage. Endovascular procedures are being increasingly performed as first line of therapy for PAD. In this study, we examined the outcomes of endovascular PAD treatments based on race/ethnicity in a contemporary large population-based study. Methods We used Patient Discharge Data from California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to identify all patients over the age of 35 who underwent a lower extremity arterial intervention from 2005 to 2009. A look-back period of 5 years was used to exclude all patients with prior lower extremity arterial revascularization procedures or major amputation. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to compare amputation-free survival and time to death within 365 days. Logistic regression was used for comparison of 1-month myocardial infarction, 1-month major amputation, 1-month all-cause mortality, 12-month major amputation, 12-month reintervention, and 12-month all-cause mortality rates among NH white, black, and Hispanic patients. These analyses were adjusted for age, gender, insurance status, severity of PAD, comorbidities, history of coronary artery angioplasty or bypass surgery, or history of carotid endarterectomy. Results Between 2005 and 2009, a total of 41,507 individuals underwent PAD interventions, 25,635 (61.7%) of whom underwent endovascular procedures. There were 17,433 (68%) NH whites, 4,417 (17.2%) Hispanics, 1,979 (7.7%) blacks, 1,163 (4.5%) Asian/Native Hawaiians, and 643 (2.5%) others in this group. There was a statistically significant difference in the amputation-free survival within 365 days among the NH white, Hispanic, and black groups ( P P P P = 0.002). Odds ratio for reintervention was 1.17 in blacks (95% CI 1.06–1.30, P = 0.002) and 1.084 in Hispanics (95% CI 1.00–1.16, P = 0.04) compared with NH whites. Conclusions In this contemporary large population-based study, we demonstrated that even among matched cohorts Hispanics and blacks have worse amputation-free survival than NH whites following endovascular therapy. Our study also found that Hispanics and blacks are more likely to undergo lower extremity arterial reinterventions than NH whites. Further research is crucial in understanding if higher reintervention rates in Hispanics and blacks are because of more severe disease and/or poor access to proper follow-up care and optimal medical management.
Determinants of Length of Stay After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Background Rising healthcare costs have prompted limitations in the length of stay (LOS) for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). Because not all patients are candidates...
The impact of “community” on fisheries management in the US Northeast

Abstract The discourse of fisheries science and management displaces community and culture from the essential economic dynamic of fisheries. The goal of this dominant discourse is to enclose fisheries, to constitute them as within the singular and hegemonic economy of capitalism. Alternative economies, such as those based on the presence of community, are always seen as either existing before or beyond the dominant economic formation. The category of community is, nevertheless, being incorporated into contemporary fisheries science and management where it has the potential to disrupt the ontological foundations of the current management regime. To avoid disruption, community is situated such that it is the domain of anthropology while the essential economic dynamic of fisheries remains the purview of fisheries bioeconomics. Community can be identified, documented, and analyzed but always only as a site of economic impact and never as a constituent of the economic itself. Curiously, this disciplining of community has a literal geographic dimension: the discursive domain of bioeconomics corresponds to the spatial domain of fisheries resources themselves while that of fisheries social science/anthropology corresponds to the terrestrial locations where fishers reside. Fishing ports become the place of community while the actual common property resource remains the site where the essential economic dynamic reigns uncompromised.
Experimental results of transcritical CO2 heat pump for residential application

Abstract This paper describes experiments comparing a commercially available R410A heat pump and prototype R744 (carbon dioxide) system in heating mode. The R744 system utilizes aluminum microchannel heat exchangers and a prototype semi-hermetic compressor. System performance is compared for two configurations: first, when the R744 compressor speed is set to match the baseline system’s heating capacity at 8.2 °C outdoors and 21.1 °C indoors; and second, when the air conditioning capacity is matched at 35 °C outdoors and 26.5 °C indoors. The R744 system operates with a slightly lower heating COP, but its higher capacity at lower outdoor temperatures reduces the need for less efficient supplementary heating capacity.
The effects of changing water content, relaxation times, and tissue contrast on tissue segmentation and measures of cortical anatomy in MR images

Water content is the dominant chemical compound in the brain and it is the primary determinant of tissue contrast in magnetic resonance (MR) images. Water content varies greatly between individuals, and it changes dramatically over time from birth through senescence of the human life span. We hypothesize that the effects that individual- and age-related variations in water content have on contrast of the brain in MR images also have important, systematic effects on in vivo, MRI-based measures of regional brain volumes. We also hypothesize that changes in water content and tissue contrast across time may account for age-related changes in regional volumes, and that differences in water content or tissue contrast across differing neuropsychiatric diagnoses may account for differences in regional volumes across diagnostic groups. We demonstrate in several complementary ways that subtle variations in water content across age and tissue compartments alter tissue contrast, and that changing tissue contrast in turn alters measures of the thickness and volume of the cortical mantle: (1) We derive analytic relations describing how age-related changes in tissue relaxation times produce age-related changes in tissue gray-scale intensity values and tissue contrast; (2) We vary tissue contrast in computer-generated images to assess its effects on tissue segmentation and volumes of gray matter and white matter; and (3) We use real-world imaging data from adults with either Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder and age- and sex-matched healthy adults to assess the ways in which variations in tissue contrast across diagnoses affects group differences in tissue segmentation and associated volumes. We conclude that in vivo MRI-based morphological measures of the brain, including regional volumes and measures of cortical thickness, are a product of, or at least are confounded by, differences in tissue contrast across individuals, ages, and diagnostic groups, and that differences in tissue contrast in turn likely derive from corresponding differences in water content of the brain across individuals, ages, and diagnostic groups.
A spin-down clock for cool stars from observations of a 2.5-billion-year-old cluster

The ages of the most common stars--low-mass (cool) stars like the Sun, and smaller--are difficult to derive because traditional dating methods use stellar properties that either change little as the stars age or are hard to measure. The rotation rates of all cool stars decrease substantially with time as the stars steadily lose their angular momenta. If properly calibrated, rotation therefore can act as a reliable determinant of their ages based on the method of gyrochronology. To calibrate gyrochronology, the relationship between rotation period and age must be determined for cool stars of different masses, which is best accomplished with rotation period measurements for stars in clusters with well-known ages. Hitherto, such measurements have been possible only in clusters with ages of less than about one billion years, and gyrochronology ages for older stars have been inferred from model predictions. Here we report rotation period measurements for 30 cool stars in the 2.5-billion-year-old cluster NGC 6819. The periods reveal a well-defined relationship between rotation period and stellar mass at the cluster age, suggesting that ages with a precision of order 10 per cent can be derived for large numbers of cool Galactic field stars.
Recent results on B and D decays from CLEO

Abstract Recent CLEO results on rare B decays into two-body hadronic final states containing two pseudo-scalar mesons, or a pseudo-scalar and a vector meson are presented. Measurements of branching fractions include Br( B + → π + ϱ 0 ) = (1.5 ± 0.5 ± 0.4) × 10 −5 and Br( B 0 → π + ϱ − ) = (3.5 −1.0 +1.1 ± 0.5) × 10 −5 , where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic. These two modes are the first direct observation of b → u transitions. The results of a search for D 0 − D 0 mixing are also presented which gave 95% confidence limit (C.L.) for the allowed range of mixing amplitudes of |χ′| y ′
Effects of exercise on the biomechanical, biochemical and structural properties of tendons☆

Tendon has been shown to undergo remodeling in response to strength or endurance training, however, compared to muscle, studies of the effects of exercise on tendon are limited and the information is inconsistent. Exercise may influence the structure, chemical composition and/or mechanical properties of tendon. Studies that have examined mechanical changes of tendon in response to endurance training suggest that ultimate failure strength and stiffness increase with training. Available reports indicate that increases in tensile strength and stiffness are probably not associated with increases in collagen concentration or with tendon hypertrophy. The paucity of data renders it impossible to evaluate the response of other structural, chemical and mechanical parameters to training. Furthermore, few investigators have included discrete measures of structural, biomechanical and biochemical variables within a single study. The lack of integrative studies makes it difficult to definitively associate changes in the mechanical properties of tendon with chemical composition and structure.
Recognition of faces in the presence of two-dimensional sinusoidal masks

The spatial frequencies most relied upon by subjects in a recall task for face recognition were found to lie in the midfrequency range. A linear systems analysis model cannot account for these masking data in terms of retinocortical processing limitations alone. In order to account for the greater disruption of the face recognition task by masks in the range of 2.2 cycles/deg, the existence of unequal filtering of spatial frequency components must be recognized. This unequal filtering may occur either during memory deposition or retrieval of the input stimulus in the recall task or at any time in between.
The synthesis and structural and physical characterization of a new family of rare-earth metal chalcoantimonates(III): K2(RE)2-xSb4+xSb4Se12, RE= La, Ce, Pr and Gd.

Abstract A family of rare-earth metal selenoantimonates(III) has been prepared by the reaction of the elements in alkali metal polyselenide fluxes or by the metathesis of rare-earth chlorides and alkali metal chalcoantimonates(III). The products are black, fine needles of K2(RE)2−xSb4+[itxSe12 where RE=La, Ce, Pr, and Gd and x~0.33. The compounds were analyzed by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, and the praseodymium compound by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and magnetic susceptibility. The structure, optical spectrum, and susceptibility data of the praseodymium compound are reported.
Development of a submerged-liquid sporulation medium for the johnsongrass bioherbicide Gloeocercospora sorghi

Submerged culture experiments were conducted in three phases to determine the optimal medium for rapidly producing conidia of the fungal bioherbicide Gloeocercospora sorghi. In phase I, 18 crude carbon sources were evaluated to determine which would support sporulation. Under the conditions tested, butter bean and lima bean brines (1.5–4.6 mS/cm) provided best conidiation. In phase II, a fractional-factorial design was utilized to screen 76 different medium adjuncts in combination with butter bean brine for improved sporulation. d-Mannitol and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) were the only acceptable factors that resulted in a significant improvement. In phase III, a central composite design with response surface methodology was used to optimize concentrations of these critical factors. The model predicted optimal sporulation in a medium composed of 2.69 mS/cm butter bean brine +0.043 M d-mannitol +0.37% w/v CMC with an expected titer of 1.51×107 conidia/ml. Actual mean titer attained with the model-derived medium was 1.91×107 conidia/ml. Optimal sporulation occurred at 25.5°C in this medium and conidia remained viable up to 2.71 days when stored at 12°C. No significant difference was observed in virulence of conidia produced on agar vs washed conidia produced in the model-derived (liquid) medium.
Characterization of an essential disulfide bond associated with the active site of the renal brush-border membrane d-glucose transporter

Abstract In a previous report (J. Biol. Chem. 258 (1983) 3565–3570) we have demonstrated that the disulfide-reducing agent dithiothreitol has two effects on the sodium-dependent outer cortical brush border membrane d -glucose transporter; the first results in a reversible increase in the affinity of the transporter for the non-transported competitive inhibitor phlorizin, while the second results in a partially reversible loss of phlorizin binding and glucose-transport activity. Evidence was presented that both of these effects are the result of the reduction of disulfide bonds on the transport molecule. In the present paper we extend our observations on the inactivation of the transporter by dithiothreitol. We provide evidence here (i) that the inactivation of the transporter by dithiothreitol is independent of the effect of the reducing agent on the affinity of the transporter, (ii) that this inactivation process is first-order in dithiothreitol and thus presumably due to the reduction of a single disulfide bond essential to the functioning of the transporter. (iii) that it is the reduction of this disulfide bond and not some subsequent conformational or other change in the transporter which results in its inactivation, (iv) that phlorizin and substrates of the transporter provide protection against inactivation by dithiothreitol and that the degree of protection provided correlates well with the known specificity and phlorizin-binding properties of the transporter, and (iv) that the reactivity of the transporter with dithiothreitol is pH-dependent, decreasing with increasing pH over the pH range 6.5–8.5. We conclude that this site of action of dithiothreitol is a single essential disulfide bond intimately associated with the glucose-binding site on the transport molecule.
Comparison of Growth Factor and Platelet Concentration From Commercial Platelet-Rich Plasma Separation Systems

Background: Clinical studies claim that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) shortens recovery times because of its high concentration of growth factors that may enhance the tissue repair process. Most of these studies obtained PRP using different separation systems, and few analyzed the content of the PRP used as treatment.Purpose: This study characterized the composition of single-donor PRP produced by 3 commercially available PRP separation systems.Study Design: Controlled laboratory study.Methods: Five healthy humans donated 100 mL of blood, which was processed to produce PRP using 3 PRP concentration systems (MTF Cascade, Arteriocyte Magellan, Biomet GPS III). Platelet, white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell, and fibrinogen concentrations were analyzed by automated systems in a clinical laboratory, whereas ELISA determined the concentrations of platelet-derived growth factor αβ and ββ (PDGF-αβ, PDGF-ββ), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).Results: There was no...
Summation of Motor Unit Force in Passive and Active Muscle

Nonlinear summation of force has been observed between motor units. The complex structure of muscle suggests many reasons why this could happen. When large portions of the muscle are active, however, the nonlinearities are small, and generally explained by stretch of the common elasticity. This suggests that the type of nonlinearity observed between motor units may not be physiologically significant.
Investigation of Heat Transfer and Simulation of Metal Flow in Hot Upsetting

The author wishes to thank National Science Foundation for its grant to the Engineering Research Center for Net Shape Manufacturing at The Ohio State University and Drs. T. Altan and S. L. semiatin for their useful suggestions and encouragement during the course of this work. Also, he wishes to thank Mrs. Harriet W. Dana and Mr. G. Shen for typing the manuscript and Mr. W. Wu fot valuable discussion.
Representing workloads in GI/G/1 queues through the preemptive-resume LIFO queue discipline

We give in this paper a detailed sample-average analysis of GI/G/1 queues with the preemptive-resume LIFO (last-in-first-out) queue discipline: we study the long-run “state” behavior of the system by averaging over arrival epochs, departure epochs, as well as time, and obtain relations that express the resulting averages in terms of basic characteristics within busy cycles. These relations, together with the fact that the preemptive-resume LIFO queue discipline is work-conserving, imply new representations for both “actual” and “virtual” delays in standard GI/G/1 queues with the FIFO (first-in-first-out) queue discipline. The arguments by which our results are obtained unveil the underlying structural “explanations” for many classical and somewhat mysterious results relating to queue lengths and/or delays in standard GI/G/1 queues, including the well-known Benes's formula for the delay distribution in M/G/l. We also discuss how to extend our results to settings more general than GI/G/1.
NUCLEAR SPIN RELAXATION IN LIQUID HYDROGEN

Abstract The proton longitudinal relaxation time, T1, has been measured in dilute solutions of orthohydrogen in parahydrogen over a range of temperature and composition. Below 1.75% orthohydrogen the temperature dependence of T1 observed at higher concentration is reversed. This fact is interpreted in terms of an anisotropic intermolecular force which is of longer range for ortho-ortho than for ortho-para pairs, in keeping with previous interpretations of T1 in the gaseous state.
The cuticular proteins from free-living and parasitic stages of Haemonchus contortus--I. Isolation and partial characterization.

Abstract 1. 1. Cuticles were isolated from the adult males, adult females, the second molt (2M) sheath from the infective larvae (L3(2M)), and the parasitic third state (L3) of the sheep parasite Haemonchus contortus by a combination of mechanical disruption and detergent treatment. 2. 2. The 2ME soluble cuticular proteins from adult males contained 4 or 5 major protein bands with molecular weights ranging from 100 to 56 kD with the most prominent band at 56 kD. The cuticular proteins from adult females were similar to the male. 3. 3. Cuticular proteins from the larval stages, 2M cuticle, and L3 cuticle, differed from the adults and from each other. The most prominent protein bands were observed with molecular weights on 78 and 39 kD for the L3 cuticle and 100, 91 and 46 kD for the 2M cuticle. The 2ME soluble cuticular proteins from all developmental stages were at least partially digested by bacterial collagenase. 4. 4. The amino acid composition of cuticular proteins was similar for the L3 and 2M, but adults had lesser amounts of glycine and greater amounts of basic amino acids than the larval stages. The amount of the isolated cuticle solubilized by the 2ME treatment was greatest in adults (80%) compared to the L3 (64%) and the 2M (22%). 5. 5. These results support a hypothesis that there are quantitative and qualitative stage specific differences in the cuticular proteins of H. contortus .
In-situ I/O processing: a case for location flexibility

Increasingly severe I/O bottlenecks on High-End Computing machines are prompting scientists to process output data during simulation time, "in-situ", and before placing data on disks. This paper argues for flexibility in the implementation of such in-situ data analytics, using measurements and a performance model that demonstrate the potential advantages and limitations of performing analytics at different levels of the I/O hierarchy, including on a machine's compute nodes vs. on separate "staging" nodes dedicated to analysis tasks. Model and measurement results are guided by realistic large-scale applications running on leadership class machines, and I/O and analytics actions are described as computational dataflow graphs -- termed I/O graphs -- that combine data movement with 'in transit' operations on data as it is being moved across the I/O hierarchy. Results demonstrate the importance of flexibility in analytics placement and characterize the attributes of analytics operations that lead to different placement decisions.
Long‐term goals for governments

In the fall of 2001, the Foresight and Governance Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center began a process to develop long‐term (40‐50 year) goals for governments. This project, supported by NASA, involved both domestic and international surveys and a workshop held in May of 2002. The workshop produced ten high priority goals and examined these goals in terms of their importance, acceptability, and possibility as well as exploring key actors and barriers to implementation. Work is now underway to develop scenarios to reach each of these goals and expand the network of stakeholders involved in the project.
The Nauplius Larvae of Eurytemora Herdmani Thompson & Scott, 1897 (Copepoda, Calanoida) 1)

Naupliuslarven von Eurytemora herdmani werden beschrieben und abgebildet, und zwar an Hand von Material, welches in einem Brackwasser-See bei Point Barrow, Alaska, gesammelt worden war. Sechs gut definierte Stadien lassen sich unterscheiden. Sie ahneln in den meisten Charakteren den fruher bearbeiteten Eurytemora-Arten, unterscheiden sich aber von diesen in einigen Einzelheiten.
Effect of salinity and plant species on CO2 flux and leaching of dissolved organic carbon during decomposition of plant residue

Mitigation of increased concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere by plants may be more efficient in saline systems with soils lower in organic matter than in other freshwater systems. In saline systems, decomposition rates may be lower and potential soil carbon storage higher than in fresh water systems. The effects of salinity, plant species and time on CO2 surface flux and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leached during irrigation were determined in the laboratory in microcosms containing sand amended with residues of two halophytes, Atriplex nummularia and Salicornia bigelovii, and one glycophyte, Triticum aestivum. Surface flux of CO2 and DOC leached during decomposition were monitored for 133 days at 24 °C in microcosms containing different plant residue (5% w/w). Microcosms were irrigated every 14 days with distilled water or seawater adjusted to 10, 20, or 40 g L-1 salts. CO2 flux and DOC leached were significantly higher from microcosms amended with A. nummularia residue compared to S. bigelovii or T. aestivum at all salinities and decreased significantly over time for all plant species. Irrigating with water of high salinity, 40 g L-1, compared to distilled water resulted in a decrease in CO2 surface flux and DOC in leachate, but differences were not significant at all sampling dates. Results indicate that plant residue composition, as well as increased salinity, affect CO2 surface flux and DOC in leachate during plant residue decomposition and may be an important consideration for C storage in saline systems.
Roseobacticides: small molecule modulators of an algal-bacterial symbiosis.

Marine bacteria and microalgae engage in dynamic symbioses mediated by small molecules. A recent study of Phaeobacter gallaeciensis, a member of the large roseobacter clade of α-proteobacteria, and Emiliania huxleyi, a prominent member of the microphytoplankton found in large algal blooms, revealed that an algal senescence signal produced by E. huxleyi elicits the production of novel algaecides, the roseobacticides, from the bacterial symbiont. In this report, the generality of these findings are examined by expanding the number of potential elicitors. This expansion led to the identification of nine new members of the roseobacticide family, rare bacterial troponoids, which provide insights into both their biological roles and their biosynthesis. The qualitative and quantitative changes in the levels of roseobacticides induced by the additional elicitors and the elicitors’ varied efficiencies support the concept of host-targeted roseobacticide production. Structures of the new family members arise from variable substituents at the C3 and C7 positions of the roseobacticide core as the diversifying elements and suggest that the roseobacticides result from modifications and combinations of aromatic amino acids. Together these studies support a model in which algal senescence converts a mutualistic bacterial symbiont into an opportunistic parasite of its hosts.
Effects of cardiac medications on ventricular performance: Emphasis on evaluation with radionuclide angiography

With the advent of radionuclide angiography (RNA) and quantitative two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE), a great deal of interest has been generated in the noninvasive evaluation of the effects of an increasing number of active cardiac medications on ventricular performance. In this review, the effects of acute and chronic administration of vasodilators and antianginal, antihypertensive, inotropic, and antiarrhythmic agents on left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF), volume, and diastolic properties and, to a lesser extent, on right ventricular (RV) EF will be discussed. The effects of these pharmacologic agents on intracardiac pressures, systemic pressure, systemic and pulmonary artery resistance, and cardiac output have been extensively studied and will not be included in this review. Table I presents a summary of these studies. Several points should be emphasized; first, a statistically significant change in EF may not be clinically relevant, for example, a decrease in EF from 60 to 55 may be statistically significant but clinically irrelevant. Statistical analysis is used only to judge whether data from the study are consistent or inconsistent with a null hypothesis. Second, the change in EF is analyzed as the mean change before and after therapy. Such analysis does not reflect the reproducibility and variability in these measurements. In good laboratories, the interand intraindividual variability is less than 5 % , but each laboratory should establish its own reproducibility results. A more important point, however, is the reproducibility of results when measurements are separated by days or weeks. Sequential studies in normal
Properties of small‐scale Alfvén waves and accelerated electrons from FAST

[1] The FAST spacecraft observes Alfvenic fluctuations in field quantities throughout the auroral oval. In this report, we show preliminary results from a statistical study of Alfven waves with transverse scales comparable to the electron skin-depth observed over the frequency range from 0.2 to ∼20 Hz in the spacecraft frame. This study shows that these waves are most commonly found in the magnetospheric cusps and at the polar cap boundary of the auroral oval in the premidnight sector where the most intense events are observed. It is shown that the wave Poynting flux is well correlated with the energy flux of field-aligned upgoing and downgoing electrons. It is also shown that over the FAST altitude range (350–4175 km), the wave Poynting flux decreases with decreasing altitude, most likely due to losses through electron acceleration. It is demonstrated, however, through the use of simulations and observations that most of the electron acceleration occurs at altitudes above FAST between 1 and 2 Earth radii (RE), with the most energetic electrons arriving from an altitude of ∼2–3 RE for statistically determined density and composition profiles.
Increased anatomical detail by in vitro MR microscopy with a modified Golgi impregnation method.

Golgi impregnation is unique in its ability to display the dendritic trees and axons of large numbers of individual neurons by histology. Here we apply magnetic resonance microscopy to visualize the neuroanatomy of animal models by combining histologic fixation chemistry with paramagnetic contrast agents. Although there is some differential uptake of the standard small-molecular-weight contrast agents by different tissue types, detailed discrimination of tissue architecture in MR images does not approach that of standard histology. Our modified Golgi impregnation method significantly increases anatomic detail in magnetic resonance microscopy images. Fixed mouse brains were treated with a solution containing a paramagnetic contrast agent (gadoteridol) and potassium dichromate. Results demonstrate a specific contrast enhancement likely due to diamagnetic hexavalent chromium undergoing tissue specific reduction to paramagnetic trivalent chromium. This new method dramatically improves neuroanatomical contrast compared to conventional fixation, displaying detail approximating that of histologic specimens at low (4×) magnification.
Difficult choices we must make when studying complex patients.

he American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry has Tpublished (in this issue and recently) a collection of articles of possible interventions to improve the quality of life for patients with dementia and/or their caregivers. Although the focus of therapeutic research has rightfully shifted to early interventions to prevent a course of relentless neuronal destruction, there are now and unfortunately still will be for the foreseeable future millions of patients and their caretakers who every day struggle to maintain a quality of life. Thus, the need to develop interventions to help this group manage the vicissitudes of the illness is compelling. Research faces a number of obstacles, including the feasibility of recruiting patients, assessment of outcome variables, and potentially confounding variables such as medical comorbidities and concurrent medications. However, in the face of these obstacles, the desire to be helpful needs to be balanced by rigor in study design and moderation in the interpretation of results. A number of the articles in this issue illustrate this dialectic. The study by Maji c et al. compared the effect of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) plus treatment as usual (TAU) with TAU alone on the symptoms of agitation/aggression and depression in nursing home patients with dementia. In the TAU alone group the symptoms of agitation/aggression and depression significantly increased over the 10-week observation period, whereas in the TAU plus ATT group the symptom intensity and frequency was unchanged. In neither group was a symptom amelioration found. The authors concluded that ATT was a promising option for the treatment of agitation/aggression and depression in dementia. In this study, subjects were from eight different nursing homes, but the ATT
New Wenzhou: Migration, metropolitan spatial development and modernity in a third-tier Chinese model city

Abstract Migration has asserted great influence on cities' spatial structure. This article focuses on Wenzhou, a third-tier Chinese city that served as a national model for the re-introduction of small-scale private enterprise in the 1990s. We argue that Wenzhou's migrant communities, which are dominated by manufacturing workers, are spatially linked to patterns of industrial development. Thus the city's industrial development strategies have had a direct influence on the location, formation, and characteristics of migrant communities. This is a direct contrast to the spatial formation of migrant communities in Beijing and Guangzhou, where factors such as the location of village-held land and place-of-origin linked migrant communities have been more important. Results are based on spatial analysis with data drawn from 2000 and 2010 population census. This article makes use of the classic “concentric zone model” of urban spatial organization as a baseline for understanding the differing dynamics of migrant communities in contemporary Chinese cities.
Structural Style, Regional Distribution, and Seismic Implications of Midcontinent Fault-and-Fold Zones, United States

Paleozoic/Mesozoic strata of the United States continental interior contain arrays of steeply dipping faults and associated monoclinal forced folds. Though these Midcontinent fault-and-fold zones clearly were active in pulses during the Phanerozoic, we suggest that they initiated during episodes of Proterozoic extensional tectonism. Based on fault-trace orientation, we divide Midcontinent fault-and-fold zones into two sets—one trending N to NE and the other trending W to NW. These sets effectively break the upper crust into blocks that jostle with respect to each other in response to changes in stress state. Notably, many W- to NW-trending fault-and-fold zones link along strike to define semi-continuous NW-trending deformation corridors. One of these, the 200 km-wide Transamerican tectonic zone (TTZ), traces over 2,500 km from Idaho to South Carolina. Seismic events occur in association with fault-and-fold zones, presumably because the zones persist as crustal weaknesses and/or stress risers. Significantly, seismicity most frequently occurs where N- to NE-trending fault-and-fold zones cross the TTZ, suggesting that intracratonic strain in the United States currently concentrates at or near intersecting fault zones within this corridor.
Induced Expression of Murine γ2a by CD40 Ligation Independently of IFN-γ

IgG2a, with gamma2a H chains, is important for protection against viruses and other intracellular pathogens. Although a large portion of IgG2a expression is dependent upon IFN-gamma, some germline transcription and switch recombination to the murine gamma2a H chain gene expression are independent of IFN-gamma. We found that agonistic anti-CD40 Abs injected into IFN-gamma-deficient mice induce a > 200-fold increase in the amount of serum Ig2a, while other Ig isotypes are increased by 16-fold or less. In vitro, ligation of CD40 on B cells, without the addition of other B cell activators or cytokines, results in germline transcription and switch recombination that are largely restricted to the gamma2a gene. These results suggest that some immune responses to infectious agents can result in large amounts of IgG2a expression through ligation of CD40, without the expression of IFN-gamma by Th1 or other cells.
Reovirus Virion-Like Particles Obtained by Recoating Infectious Subvirion Particles with Baculovirus-Expressed ς3 Protein: an Approach for Analyzing ς3 Functions during Virus Entry

Structure-function studies with mammalian reoviruses have been limited by the lack of a reverse-genetic system for engineering mutations into the viral genome. To circumvent this limitation in a partial way for the major outer-capsid protein sigma3, we obtained in vitro assembly of large numbers of virion-like particles by binding baculovirus-expressed sigma3 protein to infectious subvirion particles (ISVPs) that lack sigma3. A level of sigma3 binding approaching 100% of that in native virions was routinely achieved. The sigma3 coat in these recoated ISVPs (rcISVPs) appeared very similar to that in virions by electron microscopy and three-dimensional image reconstruction. rcISVPs retained full infectivity in murine L cells, allowing their use to study sigma3 functions in virus entry. Upon infection, rcISVPs behaved identically to virions in showing an extended lag phase prior to exponential growth and in being inhibited from entering cells by either the weak base NH4Cl or the cysteine proteinase inhibitor E-64. rcISVPs also mimicked virions in being incapable of in vitro activation to mediate lysis of erythrocytes and transcription of the viral mRNAs. Last, rcISVPs behaved like virions in showing minor loss of infectivity at 52 degrees C. Since rcISVPs contain virion-like levels of sigma3 but contain outer-capsid protein mu1/mu1C mostly cleaved at the delta-phi junction as in ISVPs, the fact that rcISVPs behaved like virions (and not ISVPs) in all of the assays that we performed suggests that sigma3, and not the delta-phi cleavage of mu1/mu1C, determines the observed differences in behavior between virions and ISVPs. To demonstrate the applicability of rcISVPs for genetic studies of protein functions in reovirus entry (an approach that we call recoating genetics), we used chimeric sigma3 proteins to localize the primary determinants of a strain-dependent difference in sigma3 cleavage rate to a carboxy-terminal region of the ISVP-bound protein.
Unequal by design: high‐stakes testing and the standardization of inequality

by Wayne Au, Abingdon, Routledge, 2009, 189 pp., US$ 34.95 (paperback), ISBN 978‐0‐415‐99071‐4 Unequal by design: high‐stakes testing and the standardization of inequality is a forceful scholarly m...
Intergenerational Bonding in School: The Behavioral and Contextual Correlates of Student-Teacher Relationships.

To explore the significance of social integration in the educational system, this study examined whether student-teacher relationships predicted two important student behavioral outcomes (academic ...
Energy considerations in mechanical in-series cardiac assistance

Cardiac oxygen supply and consumption were used to evaluate the effectiveness of intraaortic balloon pumping. These variables were also used to compare the relative contributions of ventricular unloading and of coronary perfusion augmentation to the total energy balance of the heart. A detailed computer simulation of the cariovascular system and the assist device predicted that, in response to changes in balloon timing, increases in the potential oxygen availability is more significant than the reduction in oxygen consumption. End diastolic pressure, which is presently used as an index of unloading, was minimized by a deflation time which did not correspond to the time for minimal oxygen consumption. Data obtained from dog experiments indicated similar trends. Indirect, clinically available, hemodynamic variables related to oxygen consumption and supply are being used to formulate a performance index reflecting energy balance. >
Wnt-Induced Calcium Signaling Mediates Axon Growth and Guidance in the Developing Corpus Callosum

Wnt5a gradients guide callosal axons by repulsion through Ryk receptors in vivo. We recently found that Wnt5a repels cortical axons and promotes axon outgrowth through calcium signaling in vitro. Here, using cortical slices, we show that Wnt5a signals through Ryk to guide and promote outgrowth of callosal axons after they cross the midline. Calcium transient frequencies in callosal growth cones positively correlate with axon outgrowth rates in vitro. In cortical slices, calcium release through inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP 3 ) receptors and calcium entry through transientreceptor potential channels modulate axon growth and guidance. Knocking down Ryk inhibits calcium signaling in cortical axons, reduces rates of axon outgrowth subsequent to midline crossing, and causes axon guidance defects. Calcium- and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is required downstream of Wnt-induced calcium signaling for postcrossing callosal axon growth and guidance. Taken together, these results suggest that growth and guidance of postcrossing callosal axons by Wnt-Ryk-calcium signaling involves axon repulsion through CaMKII.
Empirical metabolite identification via GA feature selection and Bayes classification

Interpretation of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experimental results for metabolomics studies requires intensive signal processing and multivariate data analysis techniques. A critical process in the typical workflow is the identification of significant metabolites, typically compiled post hoc. Current techniques rely on manual tuning and are built on databases (DBs) of pure compound samples, where the experimental conditions are simulated in the laboratory. Herein, we develop a novel metabolite identification algorithm utilizing a Bayes classifier with genetic algorithm (GA) feature selection built upon empirical spectroscopic data. This captures the inherent variability in experimental data, while greatly reducing the need to build DBs of pure compounds. The ability to annotate spectra by learning patterns within empirical data allows the metabolomics community to utilize existing datasets to improve and extend our method. The feasibility and accuracy of our algorithm is shown by measuring the specificity (>0.75) and sensitivity (>0.65) on 1H urine derived spectroscopic data. A GA successfully removes more than 60% of the features without sacrificing accuracy, thus reducing redundant and removing irrelevant data in the empirical dataset. This increase in efficiency is critical to extending and improving community annotated identification DBs.
Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Changed Modern America – By Karenna Gore Schiff

The author of this book makes a significant contribution to the literature concerning gender and the complexity of the social‐change process. The author reviews the lives of nine lesser known women...
Optical coherence tomography: a review of clinical development from bench to bedside

Since its introduction, optical coherence tomography OCT technology has advanced from the laboratory bench to the clinic and back again. Arising from the fields of low coherence inter- ferometry and optical time- and frequency-domain reflectometry, OCT was initially demonstrated for retinal imaging and followed a unique path to commercialization for clinical use. Concurrently, sig- nificant technological advances were brought about from within the research community, including improved laser sources, beam delivery instruments, and detection schemes. While many of these technolo- gies improved retinal imaging, they also allowed for the application of OCT to many new clinical areas. As a result, OCT has been clinically demonstrated in a diverse set of medical and surgical specialties, in- cluding gastroenterology, dermatology, cardiology, and oncology, among others. The lessons learned in the clinic are currently spurring a new set of advances in the laboratory that will again expand the clinical use of OCT by adding molecular sensitivity, improving image quality, and increasing acquisition speeds. This continuous cycle of laboratory development and clinical application has allowed the OCT technology to grow at a rapid rate and represents a unique model for the translation of biomedical optics to the patient bedside. This work presents a brief history of OCT development, reviews current clinical applications, discusses some clinical translation challenges, and re- views laboratory developments poised for future clinical application.
EUS-guided fine needle aspiration of pancreatic cysts: A retrospective analysis of complications and their predictors

Background & aims: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS FNA) of pancreatic cysts is considered safe, however, data are conflicting regarding complication rates. The aim of this study was to determine the complication rate of EUS-guided pancreatic cyst aspiration and predictors of these complications. Methods: Results of pancreatic cyst EUS FNA at 2 academic institutions from March 1996 to October 2003 were reviewed. A total of 603 patients with 651 pancreatic cysts were evaluated. Complications were identified from clinic, emergency department, and discharge notes, and laboratory and radiologic data. Data collected were as follows: cyst size, location, septations, diagnosis, number of passes, needle size, status as inpatient or outpatient, performance of same-day endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and use of prophylactic antibiotics. Results: Complications were identified in 13 patients (2.2%, 13 of 603): 6 patients had pancreatitis, 4 patients had abdominal pain, 1 patient had a retroperitoneal bleed, 1 patient had an infection, and 1 patient had bradycardia. Twelve patients required hospitalization, with an average length of stay of 3.8 ± 1.1 days. Type of cyst, size, presence of septations or mass, and same-day ERCP were not predictors of complications. Conclusions: EUS-guided pancreatic cyst aspiration carries a low complication rate similar to that reported for solid pancreatic lesions. No patient or cyst characteristics appear to be predictive of adverse events.
Child-related cognitions and affective functioning of physically abusive and comparison parents

Abstract Objective: The goal of this research was to utilize the cognitive behavioral model of abusive parenting to select and examine risk factors to illuminate the unique and combined influences of social cognitive and affective variables in predicting abuse group membership. Methodology: Participants included physically abusive parents ( n =56) and a closely-matched group of comparison parents ( n =62). Social cognitive risk variables measured were (a) parent’s expectations for children’s abilities and maturity, (b) parental attributions of intentionality of child misbehavior, and (c) parents’ perceptions of their children’s adjustment. Affective risk variables included (a) psychopathology and (b) parenting stress. A series of logistic regression models were constructed to test the individual, combined, and interactive effects of risk variables on abuse group membership. Results: The full set of five risk variables was predictive of abuse status; however, not all variables were predictive when considered individually and interactions did not contribute significantly to prediction. A risk composite score computed for each parent based on the five risk variables significantly predicted abuse status. Wide individual differences in risk across the five variables were apparent within the sample of abusive parents. Conclusions: Findings were generally consistent with a cognitive behavioral model of abuse, with cognitive variables being more salient in predicting abuse status than affective factors. Results point to the importance of considering diversity in characteristics of abusive parents.
The role of school psychologists in the assessment, prevention, and intervention of cyberbullying

Many school-aged children have experienced the cruelty of bullying. The impact and effects of bullying have been described extensively in scholarly literature. Unfortunately, the impact of bullying has also made contemporary headlines with the recent rash of school shootings and other forms of school-based violence. The current body of students brings an additional threat to bullying. Due to their sophisticated use of technology, today's students are using contemporary delivery systems to taunt, tease, and threaten their classmates. Cyberbullying is the newest form of bullying, and it brings additional challenges for school personnel. Because of the unique aspects of cyberbullying, school psychologists need strategies to guide school communities faced with this threatening behavior. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.