cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mechanisms of biological recovery of rare-earth elements from industrial and electronic wastes: A review

Abstract Increasing application of rare earth elements (REE) in electronics, renewable energy, biomedical devices, and industrial products has increased their demand globally. Enhanced production of industrial and electronic wastes has led the researchers to focus on the REE recovery from these alternative economic sources. Recent developments in bioprocess technology have created suitable avenues of REE recovery from waste materials. This review focuses on secondary sources of REE including industrial wastes, mine wastes, and electronic wastes. Detailed mechanisms of REE biorecovery from waste mineral sources have been discussed elaborately. The influence of physico-chemical operational parameters on the efficiency of REE biorecovery from source materials has also been thoroughly elaborated. Analyses in terms of economic perspectives indicate that REE biorecovery from waste materials may be a cost-effective approach. This review directs future research towards the development of enhanced REE biorecovery from wastes on a large commercial scale.
Patient-Oncologist Communication Regarding Oral Chemotherapy During Routine Office Visits.

PURPOSE:Although studies in other clinical areas have shown that patient-clinician communication can positively influence adherence to medications, little is known about how oncologists address med...
PETRA: Drug Engineering via Rigidity Analysis

Rational drug design aims to develop pharmaceutical agents that impart maximal therapeutic benefits via their interaction with their intended biological targets. In the past several decades, advances in computational tools that inform wet-lab techniques have aided the development of a wide variety of new medicines with high efficacies. Nonetheless, drug development remains a time and cost intensive process. In this work, we have developed a computational pipeline for assessing how individual atoms contribute to a ligand’s effect on the structural stability of a biological target. Our approach takes as input a protein-ligand resolved PDB structure file and systematically generates all possible ligand variants. We assess how the atomic-level edits to the ligand alter the drug’s effect via a graph theoretic rigidity analysis approach. We demonstrate, via four case studies of common drugs, the utility of our pipeline and corroborate our analyses with known biophysical properties of the medicines, as reported in the literature.
The Transition From Medical Student to Resident: A Qualitative Study of New Residents' Perspectives.

Purpose To understand the learner's perspective on the transition from medical school to residency and to develop a conceptual model for how learners experience the transition from student to resident. Method This prospective qualitative study explored the experience of first-year residents using semistructured, one-on-one telephone interviews. Ten first-year residents who participated in the Transition to Residency elective as fourth-year students at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine in April 2018 participated from December 2018 to April 2019. Using a 3-phase coding process and grounded theory methodology, the authors identified categories, which they organized into broader themes across interview transcripts and used to develop a conceptual model. Results From the perspective of new residents, developing professional identity is the core construct of the transition experience. The residents focused on individual aspects of the experience-professional identity, self-awareness, professional growth, approach to learning, and personal balance-and external aspects-context of learning, professional relationships, and challenges in the context of their new role. Across these 8 categories, 5 broader themes emerged to describe an abrupt change in educational environment, an immersive experience of learning as a resident, ambivalence and tensions around the new role, navigation of professional relationships, and balance and integration of working in medicine with personal lives and goals. A conceptual model illustrates this phenomenon as a cell where professional identity and growth (the nucleus) is surrounded by interactions with patients and other members of the medical team (in the cytoplasm) that create a substrate for learning and development. Conclusions This study suggests that being immersed in the residency experience is how medical students transition to resident physicians. Educational interventions that allow learners to acclimate to the experience of being a doctor through gradual exposure to authentic interactions have the potential to bridge the abrupt transition.
COVID-19 and Financial Vulnerability: What Health Care Organizations and Society Owe Each Other.

We expand on the article Ethical Challenges Arising in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Overview from the Association of Bioethics Program Directors (ABPD) Task Force to consider what health care organiza...
An interview with Daniel W. Hicks, MD

Dr. Dan Hicks retired as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry from Medstar Georgetown University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry in 2016. He had previously taught medical students, residents, a...
Why the Shortened ADAPTS Scale Should Not Be Used for Sales Students: An Abstract

Student samples are uncommon in professional sales research, but are useful for studying sales education. Because adaptive selling is a core concept of personal selling, it may be useful to measure the adaptive selling behaviors of sales students. However, in order to measure adaptive selling behaviors as a single construct, items contain a high level of abstraction that may be difficult for students to fully comprehend. One of the most commonly used measures of adaptive selling behaviors is the shortened RMML ADAPTs scale. That scale contains the phrase “selling approach” in four of the five items. Sales students could interpret “sales approach” as referring to a variety of sales behaviors such as influencing tactics, service/product offerings, communication channels, verbal communications, and nonverbal communications. If students lack a stable understanding of the “sales approach,” it may be difficult for them to accurately respond to items containing that concept. Due to the complexity of such estimation, students may rely on their self-rated performance. Students are typically asked about their adaptive selling behaviors based on specific class activities, role-plays, and/or sales simulations. It is likely that students find it easier to rate their performance than their adaptive behaviors because performance often has objective outcomes such as class grade, instructor feedback, and/or activity success. Students may then base their ratings of adaptive behaviors on their perceived self-rated performance. Adaptive selling behaviors items are worded positively so that if the salespeople have high performance it is logical that they must be engaged in positive behaviors. Hence, previous performance is likely to influence response to adaptive selling scales.
Opioid Use Disorder Terminologies and the Role of Public Health in Addressing Stigma

Substance use disorder (SUD) stigma persists in society despite a movement toward people-first language in the mental health field. Stigma creates barriers to treatment and marginalizes already at-...
Recent advances in understanding and management of bronchopulmonary dysplasia

In the current era, the survival of extremely low-birth-weight infants has increased considerably because of new advances in technology; however, these infants often develop chronic dysfunction of the lung, which is called bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). BPD remains an important cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity despite newer and gentler modes of ventilation. BPD results from the exposure of immature lungs to various antenatal and postnatal factors that lead to an impairment in lung development and aberrant growth of lung parenchyma and vasculature. However, we still struggle with a uniform definition for BPD that can help predict various short- and long-term pulmonary outcomes. With new research, our understanding of the pathobiology of this disease has evolved, and many new mechanisms of lung injury and repair are now known. By utilizing the novel ‘omic’ approaches in BPD, we have now identified various factors in the disease process that may act as novel therapeutic targets in the future. New investigational agents being explored for the management and prevention of BPD include mesenchymal stem cell therapy and insulin-like growth factor 1. Despite this, many questions remain unanswered and require further research to improve the outcomes of premature infants with BPD.
Grain-scale study of the grain boundary effect on UO2 fuel oxidation and fission gas release under reactor conditions

Abstract In a nuclear reactor, when the fuel cladding fails, the water/steam (H2O) will enter the fuel rod and react with the fuel producing UO2+x and hydrogen (H2). This paper investigates the oxidation of Uranium Dioxide (UO2) and its effect on fuel behaviors under reactor conditions. A grain-scale reactive transport model is applied to simulate the chemical reactions between UO2 and H2O. Coupled thermal conduction, mass transfer and chemical reactions are considered in the model. The complex physicochemical processes are simulated on the microstructures derived from real images of UO2. The effect of grain boundary and grain size on the temperature drop across the fuel is first studied and the relationship between the grain boundary density and temperature drop is revealed. Simulations of oxidation are then conducted with different grain boundaries and sizes. The impact of oxidation on temperature drop and fuel effective thermal conductivity is investigated. Simulation results demonstrate that fuel oxidation results in higher temperature drops by lowering the effective fuel thermal conductivity. Studies on the effect of grain boundary diffusivity on oxidation are also carried out. Our results show that higher grain boundary diffusivity can lead to faster oxidation in fuel. Oxidation effect on the fission gas diffusion in the fuel is also studied. It is found that oxidation enhances the fission gas (Xenon) diffusion in the fuel. In a finer-grained fuel, the concentration of fission gas can increase up to 40% due to fuel oxidation. The results indicate that accounting for the effects of grain boundary density and diffusivity is imperative for accurately predicting fuel oxidation and fission gas release for nuclear fuel at microscale. The presented model provides a numerical tool to quantitatively analyze the effects of fuel microstructure on fuel behaviors under reactor conditions.
Security Vulnerabilities and Protection Algorithms for Backpressure-Based Traffic Signal Control at an Isolated Intersection

There is an increasing trend in the use of wireless communication along with new traffic signal control (TSC) algorithms to leverage and accommodate connected and autonomous vehicles. However, this development has increased the potential for cyber-attacks on TSC that can undermine the benefits of these new algorithms. An advanced persistent adversary can learn the behavior of TSC algorithms and launch attacks to preferentially get green time and/or to create traffic congestion in one intersection which can spread to the entire network. In this paper, we consider backpressure-based (BP-based) TSC algorithms and compare their performance under two misinformation attacks - 1) time spoofing attack in which vehicles alter their arrival times at the intersection and 2) ghost vehicle attack in which vehicles disconnect the wireless communication and thereby hide from the TSC. We show that these misinformation can influence the signal phases determined by BP-based TSC algorithms. We consider an adversary that determines a set of arriving vehicles to be attack vehicles from many candidate sets (attack strategies) in order to maximize the number of disrupted signal phases. We show that by formulating the problem as a 0/1 Knapsack problem, the adversary can explore the space of attack strategies and determine the optimal strategy that maximally compromises the performance in terms of average delay and fairness. We propose two protection algorithms, namely, auction-based (APA) and hybrid-based (HPA) algorithms and show that they are able to mitigate the impacts of the misinformation attacks.
The Impact of Co-Branded Credit Cards on Customer Loyalty

We study how adopting co-branded credit cards affects customers’ behavioral loyalty with the brand in the context of the airline industry. Specifically, we explore three dimensions of loyalty that may be affected: the amount of money spent on the airline, loyalty-points redemption, and customer attrition. Leveraging a comprehensive longitudinal dataset from a major North American airline firm, we carefully estimate treatment effects for co-branded credit card adopters by using a combination of propensity score matching and difference-in-differences methods to account for selection effects. Using pre-post data from adopters and our matched control group, we find card adoption increased the frequency of flying, amount spent, and miles earned and redeemed with the focal airline. Further, card adoption decreased customer attrition. We find the effects of the cards persist over time for business travelers, whereas they are short lived for leisure travelers.
Immigration Detention in the United States: Identifying Alternatives That Comply With Human Rights and Advance Public Health.

Under international law, the United States is obligated to uphold noncitizens’ fundamental rights, including their rights to health. However, current US immigration laws—and their enforcement—not o...
Simultaneously improving reaction coverage and computational cost in automated reaction prediction tasks

Automated reaction prediction has the potential to elucidate complex reaction networks for applications ranging from combustion to materials degradation, but computational cost and inconsistent reaction coverage are still obstacles to exploring deep reaction networks. Here we show that cost can be reduced and reaction coverage can be increased simultaneously by relatively straightforward modifications of the reaction enumeration, geometry initialization and transition state convergence algorithms that are common to many prediction methodologies. These components are implemented in the context of yet another reaction program (YARP), our reaction prediction package with which we report reaction discovery benchmarks for organic single-step reactions, thermal degradation of a γ-ketohydroperoxide, and competing ring-closures in a large organic molecule. Compared with recent benchmarks, YARP (re)discovers both established and unreported reaction pathways and products while simultaneously reducing the cost of reaction characterization by nearly 100-fold and increasing convergence of transition states. This combination of ultra-low cost and high reaction coverage creates opportunities to explore the reactivity of larger systems and more complex reaction networks for applications such as chemical degradation, where computational cost is a bottleneck. This work demonstrates that large gains still exist in accelerating and improving the coverage of reaction prediction algorithms. These advances create opportunities for computationally exploring deeper and broader reaction networks.
Distributed Secret Sharing over a Public Channel from Correlated Random Variables.

We consider a secret-sharing model where a dealer distributes the shares of a secret among a set of participants with the constraint that only predetermined subsets of participants must be able to reconstruct the secret by pooling their shares. Our study generalizes Shamir's secret-sharing model in three directions. First, we allow a joint design of the protocols for the creation of the shares and the distribution of the shares, instead of constraining the model to independent designs. Second, instead of assuming that the participants and the dealer have access to information-theoretically secure channels at no cost, we assume that they have access to a public channel and correlated randomness. Third, motivated by a wireless network setting where the correlated randomness is obtained from channel gain measurements, we explore a setting where the dealer is an entity made of multiple sub-dealers. Our main results are inner and outer regions for the achievable secret rates that the dealer and the participants can obtain in this model. To this end, we develop two new achievability techniques, a first one to successively handle reliability and security constraints in a distributed setting, and a second one to reduce a multi-dealer setting to multiple single-user dealer settings. Our results yield the capacity region for threshold access structures when the correlated randomness corresponds to pairwise secret keys shared between each sub-dealer and each participant, and the capacity for the all-or-nothing access structure in the presence of a single dealer and arbitrarily correlated randomness.
Abstractions and algorithms for control of extensible and heterogeneous virtualized network infrastructures

Virtualized network infrastructures are currently deployed in both research and commercial contexts. The complexity of the virtualization layer varies greatly in different deployments, ranging from cloud computing environments, to carrier Ethernet applications using stacked VLANs, to networking testbeds. In all of these cases, many users are sharing the resources of one provider and each user expects their resources to be isolated from all other users. There are many challenges associated with the control and management of these systems, including resource allocation and sharing, resource isolation, system security, and usability. Among the different types of virtualized infrastructures, network testbeds are of particular interest due to their widespread use in education and in the networking research community. Networking researchers rely extensively on testbeds when evaluating new protocols and ideas. Indeed, a substantial percentage of top research papers include results gathered from testbeds. Network emulation testbeds in particular are often used to conduct innovative research because they allow users to emulate diverse network topologies in a controlled environment. That is, researchers run experiments with a collection of resources that can be reconfigured to represent many different network scenarios. The user typically has control over most of the resources in their experiment which results in a high level of reproducibility. As such, these types of testbeds provide an excellent bridge between simulation and deployment of new ideas. Unfortunately, most testbeds suffer from a general lack of resource extensibility and diversity. This dissertation extends the current state of the art by designing a new, more general testbed infrastructure that expands and enhances the capabilities of modern testbeds. This includes pertinent abstractions, software design, and related algorithms. The design has also been prototyped in the form of the Open Network Laboratory network testbed, which has been successfully used in educational and research pursuits. While the focus is on network testbeds, the results of this research will also be applicable to the broader class of virtualized system infrastructures.
The Logic of the History of Ideas – Then and Now

Intellectual history is not just a sub‐field of history. Intellectual history is the basis of all the human sciences. Properly to understand social life just is to refer to the intentionality of th...
A Systematic Study of Genetic Algorithms with Genotype Editing

This paper continues our systematic study of an RNA- editing computational model of Genetic Algorithms (GA). This model is constructed based on several genetic editing characteristics that are gle- aned from the RNA editing system as observed in several organisms. We have expanded the traditional Genetic Algorithm with artificial editing mechanisms as proposed in (11) and (12). The incorporation of editing mechanisms, which stochastically alter the information encoded in the genotype, provides a means for artificial agents with genetic descriptions to gain greater phenotypic plasticity, which may be environmentally re- gulated. The systematic study of this artificial genotype editing model has shed some light into the evolutionary implications of RNA editing and how to select proper genotype editors to design more robust GAs. Our results also show promising applications to complex real-world pro- blems. We expect that the framework here developed will both facilitate determining the evolutionary role of RNA editing in biology, and advance the current state of research in Evolutionary Computation.
Abstract 247: Aldose reductase inhibition sensitizes colon cancer cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Sensitization of cancer cells to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), particularly TRAIL-resistant cancer cells, could improve the effectiveness of TRAIL as a potential chemotherapy drug. Therefore, development of safe novel pharmacological agents that could sensitize the tumor cells to TRAIL should be an effective strategy to kill the chemotherapy resistance cancer cells. We have recently shown that inhibition of polyol pathway enzyme, aldose reductase (AR) that mediates NF-kB-dependent expression of inflammatory markers, prevents human colon cancer cell growth and metastasis in culture as well in nude mouse models. We now have investigated the role of AR in sensitizing cancer cells to TRAIL and potentiating TRAIL-induced apoptosis of human colon cancer cells. Our results demonstrate that inhibition of AR potentiates TRAIL-induced apoptosis in colon cancer cells (HT-29, HCT-116) by upregulation of both death receptor (DR)-5 and DR4. Specific siRNAs -mediated knockdown of DR5 and DR4 significantly (>85%) reduced the sensitizing effect of AR inhibition by pharmacological agent, fidarestat, on TRAIL-induced apoptosis. AR inhibition also down-regulated TRAIL-induced cell survival proteins such as Bcl-xL, Bcl-2, survivin, XIAP, and cFLIP, and up-regulated the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins such as Bax. Further, AR inhibition also altered the mitochondrial membrane potential leading to cytochrome c release, caspases-3 activation and PARP cleavage. Furthermore, our results indicate that AR inhibition regulates AKT/PI3K-dependent activation of forkhead transcription factor FOXO3a. Knockdown of FOXO3a significantly (>80%) abolished AR inhibition-induced upregulation of DR5 and DR4 and apoptosis in colon cancer cells. Overall, our results show that AR inhibition potentiates TRAIL-induced apoptosis through down-regulation of cell survival proteins and upregulation of death receptors and thus AR inhibitors along with TRAIL could be effective therapy for the treatment of colon cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 247. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-247
Interaction of Rose Bengal with the dextransucrase from streptococcus sanguis

Abstract 1. 1. The dextransucrase from strain 804 of Streptococcus sanguis has been shown to be inhibited by certain xanthene dyes in both a light-dependent (irreversible) and light-independent (reversible) mechanism. 2. 2. The dye binding site overlaps both the sucrose and dextran binding sites. 3. 3. The pH-dependence of the photooxidation reaction indicates that histidine is not the target residue.
Sympathetic nervous system activity during sodium restriction in essential hypertension

Sympathetic nervous system activity was studied in 38 patients with essential hypertension during high- and low-sodium diets. Salt restriction was associated with a modest (6 mmHg) decline in mean arterial pressure, while the urinary excretion of catecholamines, metanephrines, and vanillylmandelic acid increased significantly. Plasma renin activity also increased, it is concluded that short-term low-sodium diet therapy for essential hypertension results in only small decrements in mean arterial pressure and may be limited in hypotensive effect by activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Support is offered for the rationale of sympatholytic drug therapy as an initial step in the management of hypertensive patients requiring arterial pressure reductions greater than those afforded by diet alone.
Human capital in personal consumption and labour force productivity: evidence from an OECD panel

The relationship of household stocks of information cumulated from personal consumption to a labour productivity index (LPI) is investigated. The regression model in an OECD panel controls for effects of domestic and foreign R&D, educational level and institutional factors on LPI. Human capital is proxied by mean years of education, and stocks of household information are constructed from deflated expenditure on a set of information goods in personal consumption. After unit root and cointegration testing, models were estimated with dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS). Results show that the stocks of information constructed from consumer expenditure flows are related to LPI after control variables are accounted for. Effects of LPI on the stock of information are also investigated. In these results, the stock of information had a larger effect on LPI than LPI had on the stock. Policy implications for productivity objectives that include differential tax rates on consumption of information and conventional...
FindCite: automatically finding prior art patents

In this paper, we introduce FindCite, an algorithm to automatically find prior art patents. The citation based parametric algorithm can be tuned for broadening or narrowing the search for finding prior art patents. This can also be used to automatically generate test collection for patent documents.
Lessons from Free Energy Simulations of δ-Opioid Receptor Homodimers Involving the Fourth Transmembrane Helix

Several G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), including opioid receptors δOR, μOR, and κOR, have been reported to form stable dimers or oligomers in lipid bilayers and cell membranes. This notion has been recently challenged by imaging data supporting a transient nature of GPCR association. Here we use umbrella sampling reconstructed free energies of δOR homodimers involving the fourth transmembrane helix to predict their association constant. The results of these simulations, combined with estimates of diffusion-limited association rates, suggest a short lifetime for δOR homodimers in the membrane, in agreement with recent trends.
On the stress-strain relations for all crystal systems

Abstract The stress-strain relations for elastic anisotropic material have not been very well established as compared to that for isotropic material in the classical theory of elasticity. For the cubic crystal Thomas [I] derived the connection between stress and strain relative to any rectangular coordinate system. In the present paper the general stress-strain relations are obtained for any crystal system in terms of the orientation vectors and the scalar moduli of the system. These relations are shown to contain as a special case those obtained by Thomas for the cubic crystal and those used by Synge[2] in his paper on materials with transverse symmetry. It is also shown that the general relations reduce to the relations obtained by Nigam (see the footnote on page 253) for the tetragonal crystal by inspection of the fourth order correlation tensors in the theory of turbulence. The specific stress-strain relations for other types of crystal systems are likewise obtained by suitable reduction of the general relations.
The Law of the Iterated Logarithm for a Triangular Array of Empirical Processes

We study the compact law of the iterated logarithm for a certain type of triangular arrays of empirical processes, appearing in statistics (M-estimators, regression, density estimation, etc). We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the law of the iterated logarithm of these processes of the type of conditions used in Ledoux and Talagrand (1991): convergence in probability, tail conditions and total boundedness of the parameter space with respect to certain pseudometric. As an application, we consider the law of the iterated logarithm for a class of density estimators. We obtain the order of the optimal window for the law of the iterated logarithm of density estimators. We also consider the compact law of the iterated logarithm for kernel density estimators when they have large deviations similar to those of a Poisson process.
Hydrocarbon contamination in sediments from urban stormwater runoff

Abstract This investigation showed that urban stormwater runoff provides a significant amount of petrogenic material to receiving waters and sediments. A characteristic hydrocarbon ‘fingerprint’ for sediments and particulate matter in the Hillsborough Reservoir, Hillsborough River and upper Hillsborough Bay was provided. Determination of source material for petroleum contamination in stormwater runoff and river sediment indicated that crankcase oil was a primary contributor to sediment hydrocarbon contamination. A comparison of sediment hydrocarbons with hydrocarbons from stormwater runoff showed that the most probable source of crankcase oil-like petrochemicals found in sediment was the stormwater runoff. A comparison of hydrocarbon composition in suspended particulate matter with that of accumulated bottom sediments in the reservoir, river and bay, during a non-storm period and rising tide showed no resuspension and upriver transport of petroleum contaminated bay sediment. No special influence of the bay upon the lower river was observed relative to hydrocarbon tracers, indicating that most contaminated sediment transport was downriver during storm events. Additional studies should be performed over various tidal cycles and storm events incorporating sediment cores, sediment grain size analysis and hydrocarbon characterization at more closely spaced stations near the river mouth to address adequately the question of specific hydrocarbon pollution sources, rate of petroleum influx and persistence of petrochemical contaminants in the sediment.
Characteristics of pilomatrixoma in children: a review of 137 patients.

Abstract Objective To describe our institutional experience with pilomatrixoma in the pediatric population, specifically examining its clinical presentation, associated conditions, surgical treatment and future implications. Methods This is a retrospective review of a single tertiary care center. Subjects included 137 patients with diagnosis of pilomatrixoma between the years of 2000 and 2013 up to the age of 19. Patient gender, age at excision, number of tumors, tumor size, tumor location, preoperative diagnosis, recurrence, patient race and zip code, along with associated medical conditions were assessed. Results There were a total of 174 tumors in 137 patients. The median age at excision was 7.1 years old, with the youngest patient at 6 months and the oldest at 19 years. Head and neck tumors predominated with 70% ( n = 122) of all pilomatrixomas, followed by the upper extremity with 22% (38). Other locations included the hair-bearing back, chest and lower extremities. A male to female ration of 1:1.2 was observed. Tumor diameter size ranged from 0.2 to 5.2 cm with an average diameter of 1.4 cm. There were no cases of recurrence. Associated diagnoses included Turner syndrome and Sticker syndrome. Conclusions Pilomatrixoma, previously thought to be a rare lesion, is one of the most common causes of superficial head and neck masses in children. This study demonstrates clinical presentations that should help guide differential diagnoses. We demonstrate associations that are consistent with the proposed pathophysiology of pilomatrixoma. Surgical excision is curative.
Effect of Auxin and Abscisic Acid on RNA and Protein Synthesis prior to the First Cell Division in Jerusalem Artichoke Tuber Tissue Cultured in vitro

Summary The present paper deals with the effects of auxin (NAA) and abscisic acid on the rates of RNA and protein synthesis at different times during the lag period prior to DNA synthesis in Jerusalem artichoke tuber explants. While an auxin is found to be essential for the induction of DNA synthesis, it is not required for the initiation of RNA or protein synthesis in this tissue. RNA synthesis, as studied by the incorporation of 3H-uridine into TCA insoluble material begins within 2 hrs of excision and incubation in the growth medium. In explants grown in hormonefree medium two peaks of RNA synthesis are seen. The presence of NAA (1 mg/1) causes slight inhibition of RNA synthesis during the first peak while the second peak is slightly delayed to coincide with the initiation of DNA synthesis in the cells. The presence of ABA in the medium further augments NAA effects. Protein synthesis, as studied by the incorporation of 3H-leucine into TCA insoluble material, starts at about 4-8 hrs of incubation. In the absence of hormones in the medium two peaks of increased rate of protein synthesis are observed. While the presence of NAA (1 mg/1) or NAA and ABA (1 and 2 mg/l, respectively) has no significant effect during the first peak of protein synthesis, the second peak is completely suppressed in their presence. Neither NAA nor ABA has any significant effect on the uptake of radioactive precursors (uridine or leucine) by the tissue. It is suggested that the auxin probably induces certain qualitative changes in the kinds of RNA and proteins being synthesized in response to wounding, without significantly altering the total rates of their synthesis during the early part of the lag period. Alternatively, it may alter the turnover rates of these macromolecules. Abscisic acid, on the other hand, does not cause any additional changes during this period over and above those of NAA. The presence of ABA does not seem to be crucial during this period. Its effect on the stimulation of auxin-induced cell division is largely confined to the time just before the onset of DNA replication.
CONDITIONED SELF-AVOIDING WALK (CSAW): STOCHASTIC APPROACH TO PROTEIN FOLDING

Conditioned self-avoiding walk (CSAW) is a model of protein folding that combines the features of self-avoiding walk (SAW) and the MonteCarlo method. It simulates the Brownian motion of a chain-molecule in the presence of interactions. The model is designed so that one can add desired features step by step. It can be used as guide to structure prediction, as well as theoretical laboratory.
Quality of shelf-stable low-acid vegetables processed using pressure–ohmic–thermal sterilization

Abstract Pressure ohmic thermal sterilization (POTS) involves ohmic heating of foods by applying an electric field under elevated pressure. Experiments were conducted using a custom made POTS apparatus using carrot as the model food. The samples were processed at a target temperature of 105 °C at 600 MPa and treated for 0, 1, 3, and 5 min by regulating the electric field (30 V/cm). POTS treated carrot sample quality attributes were compared against those processed using ohmic heating (0.12 MPa, 30 V/cm, 105 °C) and pressure-assisted thermal processing (PATP; 600 MPa, 0 V/cm, 105 °C). Within the experimental conditions of the study, the thermal come-up time of the POTS, Ohmic and PATP were 1.45 min, 3.58 min and 6.84 min respectively. PATP come-up time also included the pre-heating time (≈6 min). Results indicate the POTS samples had the least textural damage due to minimal thermal exposure. POTS samples had higher crunchiness index (CI) of 0.76 compared to PATP (CI = 0.57) and ohmic heated (CI = 0.62) carrots. All the technologies investigated had minimal impact on product color. This study demonstrates the potential to produce high quality shelf stable low-acid vegetable products using POTS.
Do you really want to maintain that a flat tire can upset your stomach? Using the findings of the psychophysiology of stress to bolster the argument that people are not directly disturbed by events

The purpose of this paper is to help clients and others more fully appreciate the complex chain of events intervening between an external happening and an emotional response to that happening. It deals first with the sensory processing of physical stimulation and then presents the current state of knowledge regarding stress psychophysiology. A decision by the cortex which defines something as dangerous or threatening activates two major stress reaction pathways, the endocrine system and the autonomic nervous system, with a large number of physical consequences such as: acceleration of heart rate, increased blood pressure, reduced effectiveness of the immunological system, slowing of gastro-intestinal processes, pupil dilation, bronchial dilation and inhibition of salivation. The complexity and variety of such consequences is illustrated with a series of flow-chart diagrams, and it is suggested that these can be an additional and persuasive argument for the RET position which follows the claim of Epictetus: “People are disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them.” Finally it is argued that while rapid emotional responses oftenseem to occur automatically it is because the intervening cortical processes are at times not verbalized. This is shown in the context of a diagrammatic outline of the Rational-Emotive Therapy process.
Josephson computer technology: an IBM research project

This special issue of the IBM Journal of Research and Development describes the status of IBM's research project on Josephson computer technology. This first paper traces the origins and history of Josephson technology as it led to the project and outlines the project's scope. The potential of the technology for ultrahigh-performance computer mainframes is discussed and the major technological characteristics of LSI Josephson devices are examined. The paper then provides an overview outline of the remaining papers presented in this issue.
CARCINOMA OF THE COLON AND ULCERATIVE COLITIS.

The records of 1258 patients with ulcerative colitis who were seen at the Cleveland Clinic in the years 1950 through 1963 were reviewed. Twenty-four cases of carcinoma of the colon were found, an approximate overall incidence of 1.9%. Of these 24 patients, 15 died of the carcinoma; 1 patient died of an unrelated condition, and 8 patients are living and well.
Environmental Justice in Hamburg, Germany

This environmental justice study investigates whether disempowered segments of the population in Hamburg, Germany, namely, foreigners and the poor, reside disproportionately in neighborhoods that contain, have higher concentrations of, and are in closer proximity to facilities releasing toxic chemicals into the environment. Methods include choropleth mapping; comparisons of means, correlation, and ordinary least squares (OLS); and spatial econometric regression. The results provide evidence that toxic release facilities are disproportionately located within, and closer to, neighborhoods with comparatively higher proportions of foreigners and the poor as compared to those with higher proportions of German citizens and the non-poor. We speculate that the causes of this pattern of environmental inequity are similar to the causes scholars have proposed for comparable patterns observed in many U.S. cities, where marginalized immigrant or minority groups subject to discrimination in housing and employment have ...
Effect of preoperative exercise on measures of functional status in men and women undergoing total hip and knee arthroplasty

Objective To evaluate the effect of a short preoperative exercise intervention on the functional status, pain, and muscle strength of patients before and after total joint arthroplasty. Methods A total of 108 men and women scheduled for total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) were randomized to a 6-week exercise or education (control) intervention immediately prior to surgery. We assessed outcomes through questionnaires and performance measures. Analyses examined differences between groups over the preoperative and immediate postoperative periods and at 8 and 26 weeks postsurgery. Results Among THA patients, the exercise intervention was associated with improvements in preoperative Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index function score (improvement of 2.2 in exercisers versus decline of 3.9 in controls; P = 0.02) and Short Form 36 physical function score (decline of 0.4 in exercisers versus decline of 14.3 in controls; P = 0.003). No significant differences were seen in TKA patients. Exercise participation increased muscle strength preoperatively (18% in THA patients and 20% in TKA patients), whereas the control patients had essentially no change in strength (P > 0.05 for exercise versus education in both THA and TKA groups). Exercise participation prior to total joint arthroplasty substantially reduced the risk of discharge to a rehabilitation facility in THA and TKA patients (adjusted odds ratio 0.27, 95% confidence interval 0.074–0.998). The intervention had no effects on outcomes 8 and 26 weeks postoperatively. Conclusion A 6-week presurgical exercise program can safely improve preoperative functional status and muscle strength levels in persons undergoing THA. Additionally, exercise participation prior to total joint arthroplasty dramatically reduces the odds of inpatient rehabilitation.
Low risk-factor profile and long-term cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mortality and life expectancy: findings for 5 large cohorts of young adult and middle-aged men and women.

ContextThree major coronary risk factors—serum cholesterol level, blood pressure, and smoking—increase incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and related end points. In previous investigations, risks for low-risk reference groups were estimated statistically because samples contained too few such people to measure risk.ObjectiveTo measure long-term mortality rates for individuals with favorable levels for all 3 major risk factors, compared with others.DesignTwo prospective studies, involving 5 cohorts based on age and sex, that enrolled persons with a range of risk factors. Low risk was defined as serum cholesterol level less than 5.17 mmol/L (<200 mg/dL), blood pressure less than or equal to120/80 mm Hg, and no current cigarette smoking. All persons with a history of diabetes, myocardial infarction (MI), or, in 3 of 5 cohorts, electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities, were excluded.Setting and ParticipantsIn 18 US cities, a total of 72,144 men aged 35 through 39 years and 270,671 men aged 40 through 57 years screened (1973-1975) for the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT); in Chicago, a total of 10,025 men aged 18 through 39 years, 7490 men aged 40 through 59 years, and 6229 women aged 40 through 59 years screened (1967-1973) for the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry (CHA) (N = 366,559).Main Outcome MeasuresCause-specific mortality during 16 (MRFIT) and 22 (CHA) years, relative risks (RRs) of death, and estimated greater life expectancy, comparing low-risk subcohorts vs others by age strata.ResultsLow-risk persons comprised only 4.8% to 9.9% of the cohorts. All 5 low-risk groups experienced significantly and markedly lower CHD and cardiovascular disease death rates than those who had elevated cholesterol level, or blood pressure, or smoked. For example, age-adjusted RRs of CHD mortality ranged from 0.08 for CHA men aged 18 to 39 years to 0.23 for CHA men aged 40 through 59 years. The age-adjusted relative risks (RRs) for all cardiovascular disease mortality ranged from 0.15 for MRFIT men aged 35 through 39 years to 0.28 for CHA men aged 40 through 59 years. The age-adjusted RR for all-cause mortality rate ranged from 0.42 for CHA men aged 40 through 59 years to 0.60 for CHA women aged 40 through 59 years. Estimated greater life expectancy for low-risk groups ranged from 5.8 years for CHA women aged 40 through 59 years to 9.5 years for CHA men aged 18 through 39 years.ConclusionsBased on these very large cohort studies, for individuals with favorable levels of cholesterol and blood pressure who do not smoke and do not have diabetes, MI, or ECG abnormalities, long-term mortality is much lower and longevity is much greater. A substantial increase in the proportion of the population at lifetime low risk could contribute decisively to ending the CHD epidemic.
Matrix completion from a few entries

Let M be an nα × n matrix of rank r ≪ n, and assume that a uniformly random subset E of its entries is observed. We describe an efficient algorithm that reconstructs M from |E| = O(r n) observed entries with relative root mean square error RMSE ≤ C(α) (nr/|E|)1/2. Further, if r = O(1) and M is sufficiently unstructured, then it can be reconstructed exactly from |E| = O(n log n) entries. This settles (in the case of bounded rank) a question left open by Candes and Recht and improves over the guarantees for their reconstruction algorithm. The complexity of our algorithm is O(|E|r log n), which opens the way to its use for massive data sets. In the process of proving these statements, we obtain a generalization of a celebrated result by Friedman-Kahn-Szemeredi and Feige-Ofek on the spectrum of sparse random matrices.
Chronic epilepsy with damage restricted to the hippocampus: possible mechanisms

Abstract We studied the time course and possible mechanisms of the development of chronic epilepsy following unilateral stimulation of the perforant path. After 24 h of perforant path stimulation by a modified Sloviter method, lesions were restricted to the hippocampus, except for 2 of 24 rats with minimal entorhinal neuronal injury in layer 3. Lesions were exclusively ipsilateral in the polymorph layer of the hilus and in Ca4CA3C, predominantly ipsilateral in CA3, in CA1 and in the granule cell layer. Feedforward and feedback inhibition were studied by paired pulse stimulation. In the week following inhibition, there was complete loss of GABAA-mediated, short interstimulus interval (ISI)-dependent inhibition and frequency-dependent inhibition, and also of GABAB-mediated long ISI-dependent inhibition. Yet no spontaneous seizures were observed at that time. In the next four weeks, we saw no evidence of increasing excitatory drive such as would be expected from recurrent mossy fiber sprouting. On the contrary, there was progressive return of inhibition. By four weeks post-lesion, the majority of animals had developed spontaneous recurrent seizures, and/or seizures on 2 Hz stimulation (never seen in controls), in spite of complete or near-complete recovery of short ISI-dependent, GABAA-mediated inhibition. A small but significant loss of frequency-dependent inhibition persisted, but individual animals with complete recovery of frequency-dependent inhibition showed spontaneous seizures, suggesting that loss of GABAA-mediated inhibition was not the direct cause of chronic epilepsy. GABAB-mediated, long ISI-dependent inhibition continued to show a significant loss. The ratio of the population spike amplitude at 250 μA to the maximal population spike amplitude, a measure of granule cell excitability, was unchanged immediately after stimulation, but increased in the next few weeks in a manner identical to that seen in kindling, suggesting the possibility that during the transient loss of inhibition, spontaneous kindling had occurred. Intracellular recordings from granule cells in hippocampal slices prepared from these animals showed a significant loss of GABAB-mediated slow inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs). These data show that the sequellae of unilateral status epilepticus with damage restricted to the hippocampus are sufficient to cause chronic recurrent seizures. There is a possibility that chronic epilepsy is not the direct result of the loss of inhibitory drive or of a sprouting-induced increase in excitatory drive, but represents plastic changes akin to spontaneous kindling, possibly facilitated by loss of GABAB-mediated inhibition.