cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Community‐acquired pneumonia management and outcomes in the era of health information technology

Pneumonia continues to be a leading cause of hospitalization and mortality. Implementation of health information technology (HIT) can lead to cost savings and improved care. In this review, we examine the literature on the use of HIT in the management of community-acquired pneumonia. We also discuss barriers to adoption of technology in managing pneumonia, the reliability and quality of electronic health data in pneumonia research, how technology has assisted pneumonia diagnosis and outcomes research. The goal of using HIT is to develop and deploy generalizable, real-time, computerized clinical decision support integrated into usual pneumonia care. A friendly user interface that does not disrupt efficiency and demonstrates improved clinical outcomes should result in widespread adoption.
Sequential Super Learning

Suppose a doctor is interested in predicting the individual outcomes for a group of patients under two particular drug regimens at two time points in the future. She is therefore asking, what would happen to each of these patient’s future outcomes at these time points if I were to enforce drug regimen 1 or drug regimen 2? Which treatment will be better for the patients’ efficacy outcomes? Which treatment will be better for the patients’ safety outcomes? Prediction problems can be longitudinal in nature, generally, and we frequently wish to understand what the mean outcome of patients with certain characteristics would be months or years in the future. Often, this is under the setting where we would hypothetically assign a particular treatment “rule” to the patients.
The Endoplasmic Reticulum Pathway

Virtually all organisms adapt to stress in order to prolong their survival. At the subcellular level, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) responds to stress by inducing ER-specific signaling pathways to reestablish homeostasis between protein synthesis and processing, a mechanism called the unfolded protein response (UPR). However, when cells endure a persistent irreversible state of ER stress, they undergo apoptosis. Apoptosis initiated at the ER is distinct from mitochondrial or death receptor-mediated apoptosis but may involve or require cross-talk from intrinsic or extrinsic pathways. Two functions of the ER are to facilitate the maturation of newly synthesized proteins and to maintain stores of intracellular calcium. Therefore, apoptosis induced by ER stress is frequently characterized by perturbations in protein processing and transport and/or a loss of calcium homeostasis. Additionally, because the ER and mitochondria reside in close proximity to one another, pro- and antiapoptotic proteins, such as the Bcl-2 family members, localize to the ER to regulate apoptosis in response to stress. This chapter summarizes the key pathways associated with cell survival and apoptotic cell death in the context of ER stress and aberrant calcium signaling.
International standardization of measurement procedures

In order to obtain a good performance from prosthetic substitutes there is need for some preconditions in relation not so much to the single implants per se — that is, to the success of the surgical intervention — as to other, more general reasons which lie behind the choice of a specified prosthesis. The failure of an implant operation is the consequence of a variety of concomitant factors which in the majority of cases are difficult to distinguish from each other. Decisive factors in a failure may be: a serious pathological state of the body part to be submitted to surgery, the use of incorrect techniques of implantation, improper prosthesis sterilization, inadequate implant design, or the choice of an unsuitable material as prosthetic constituent.
Limits and reproducibility of resting-state functional MRI definition of DLPFC targets for neuromodulation.

Abstract Background Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation technique with therapeutic applications for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). The standard protocol uses high frequency stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) identified in a heuristic manner leading to moderate clinical efficacy. A proposed strategy to increase the anatomical precision in targeting, based on resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI), identifies the subregion within the DLPFC having the strongest anticorrelated functional connectivity with the subgenual cortex (SGC) for each individual subject. Objective In this work, we comprehensively test the reliability and reproducibility of this targeting method for different scan lengths on 100 subjects from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) where each subject had a four 15-min rsfMRI scan on 2 different days. Methods We quantified the inter-scan and inter-day distance between the rsfMRI-guided DLPFC targets for each subject controlling for a number of expected sources of noise using volumetric as well as surface analyses. Results Our results show that the average inter-day distance (with fMRI scans lasting 30 min on each day) is 25% less variable than the inter-scan distance, which uses 50% less data. Specifically, the inter-scan distance was more than 37 mm, while for the longer-scan, the inter-day distance had lower variability at 25 mm. Finally, we tested the same rsfMRI strategy using the nucleus accumbens (NAc) as a control region relevant to MDD but less susceptible to artifacts, using both volume and surface rsfMRI data. The results showed similar variability to the SGC-DLPFC functional connectivity. Moreover, our results suggest that a smoothing kernel with 12 mm full-width half maximum (FWHM) lead to more stable and reliable target estimates. Conclusion Our work provides a quantitative assessment of the topographic precision of this targeting method, describing an anatomical variability that may surpass the spatial resolution of some forms of focal TMS as it is commonly applied, and provides recommendations for improved accuracy.
Reduction and Cancellation Techniques for the Near Field Capacitive Coupling and Parasitic Capacitance of Inductors

In this paper, a near field capacitive coupling problem due to PCB layout is first identified. Methods to extract the capacitances in a multi-conductor system are introduced to help analyze the problem. A practical case of common mode choke design in ac/dc adapters is introduced and analyzed. Principles are given to avoid unnecessary coupling and reduce the parasitic coupling capacitance as much as possible in PCB layout design. A technique is proposed to fully cancel the parasitic coupling capacitance as well as equivalent parallel capacitance of the common mode choke. Simulation and experiment results verified the technique.
Incidence and severity of postoperative complications following oral, periodontal, and implant surgeries: A retrospective study.

Background Incidence and severity of postoperative complications are key elements in determining the risk-benefit relationship of any surgical procedure. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess and categorize the postoperative complications that occur following, and are associated with, oral, periodontal, and implant surgeries. Methods A total of 3,900 patients who underwent surgical procedures including, but not limited to, sinus floor elevation, guided tissue regeneration, crown lengthening, implant placement, soft tissue graft, open flap debridement or surgical removal of impacted teeth were included. Postoperative complications were recorded and graded based on impedance to routine daily activity and favorable surgical outcomes. Regression models were generated to evaluate correlations between complication types, as well as between patient/surgical characteristics and the incidence of complications. Results Surgical removal of impacted teeth and lateral sinus floor elevation had the highest incidence and severity of complications. Postoperative dentinal hypersensitivity (5.7%) was the most frequent complication, followed by excessive pain (4.1%), and moderate postoperative bleeding (3.5%). Based on the devised grading system described in this paper, the complications were 11.1% of Grade I, 3.3% of Grade II, 8.3% of Grade III, 0.1% of Grade IV, and no complications recorded under Grades V or VI. Conclusions Surgical removal of impacted teeth and lateral sinus floor elevation are more prone to more severe complications compared with other procedures. Additionally, complications that do not impede favorable surgical outcomes and/or routine daily activity are the most likely to occur. Smoking and diabetes are generally associated with postoperative complications.
The Effect of Musical Training and Working Memory in Adverse Listening Situations.

Objectives Speech-in-noise (SIN) perception is essential for everyday communication. In most communication situations, the listener requires the ability to process simultaneous complex auditory signals to understand the target speech or target sound. As the listening situation becomes more difficult, the ability to distinguish between speech and noise becomes dependent on recruiting additional cognitive resources, such as working memory (WM). Previous studies have explored correlations between WM and SIN perception in musicians and nonmusicians, with mixed findings. However, no study to date has examined the speech perception abilities of musicians and nonmusicians with similar WM capacity. The objectives of this study were to investigate (1) whether musical experience results in improved listening in adverse listening situations, and (2) whether the benefit of musical experience can be separated from the effect of greater WM capacity. Design Forty-nine young musicians and nonmusicians were assigned to subgroups of high versus low WM, based on the performance on the backward digit span test. To investigate the effects of music training and WM on SIN perception, performance was assessed on clinical tests of speech perception in background noise. Listening effort (LE) was assessed in a dual-task paradigm and via self-report. We hypothesized that musicians would have an advantage when listening to SIN, at least in terms of reduced LE. Results There was no statistically significant difference between musicians and nonmusicians, and no significant interaction between music training and WM on any of the outcome measures used in this study. However, a significant effect of WM on SIN ability was found on both the Quick Speech-In-Noise test (QuickSIN) and the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT) tests. Conclusion The results of this experiment suggest that music training does not provide an advantage in adverse listening situations either in terms of improved speech understanding or reduced LE. While musicians have been shown to have heightened basic auditory abilities, the effect on SIN performance may be more subtle. Our results also show that regardless of prior music training, listeners with high WM capacity are able to perform significantly better on speech-in-noise tasks.
Analytic Approach for Robot Control Using Natural Language in Dynamic Environment

Existing approaches of robot control by natural language assume a static environment which is not likely to happen when robots and human partners coexisting in a shared common area. Human behaviors may affect the robot execution and cause failure of current task plans. To improve adaptivity of natural language controlled systems to dynamic environments such that they can implement the assigned task under disturbances, we propose an analytic approach to model environment dynamics into high-level robot behavior model. The unforeseen events due to human activities can cause abrupt jump on task progress. The presented approach can regenerate an action sequence w.r.t. input natural language instructions and temporal task execution status. In addition, three properties: controllability, nonblockingness, and stability are used to evaluate and refine the behaviors of the robot controller. This guarantees the accessibility of the goal states corresponding to successfully accomplished task and the convergence to the goal states under dynamic environment. Experiments have been conducted to illustrate the proposed approach.
Robust Pixel-Level Crack Detection Using Deep Fully Convolutional Neural Networks

AbstractThis paper introduces the idea of using deep fully convolutional neural networks for pixel-level defect detection in concrete infrastructure systems. Although coarse patch-level deep learni...
True Superficial Temporal Artery Aneurysm Presenting as a Delayed Traumatic Pseudoaneurysm: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Abstract A rare case of a true temporal artery aneurysm is presented with review of the literature.
The NAIP/NLRC4 inflammasome in infection and pathology

In this review we give an overview of the NAIP/NLRC4 activation mechanism as well as the described roles of this inflammasome, with a focus on in vivo infection and pathology. After ligand recognition by NAIP sensor proteins the NAIP/NLRC4 inflammasome forms through oligomerization with the NLRC4 adaptor to activate Caspase-1. The activating ligands are intracellular bacterial flagellin or type-3 secretion system components, delivered by pathogens. In vivo experiments indicate a role in macrophages during lung, spleen and liver infection and systemic sepsis like conditions, as well as in intestinal epithelial cells. Upon NAIP/NLRC4 activation in the intestine, epithelial cell extrusion is triggered in addition to the canonical inflammasome outcomes of cytokine cleavage and pyroptosis. Human patients with auto-activating mutations in NLRC4 present with an autoinflammatory syndrome including enterocolitis. Although one of the better understood inflammasomes in terms of mechanism, tissue specific functions of NAIP/NLRC4 are only beginning to be understood.
Cerebral and Renal Oxygenation in Infants Undergoing Laparoscopic Gastrostomy Tube Placement.

Abstract: Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum on cerebral and renal oxygenation and oxygen extraction, in a cohort of infants from the neonatal intensive care unit, undergoing laparoscopic gastrostomy. Methods After institutional review board approval, between February 2018 and June 2019, infants 0-3 mo corrected age, undergoing laparoscopic gastrostomy tube placement, were included. Strict exclusion criteria created a homogeneous cohort. Cerebral and renal tissue oxygen saturation (rSO2) by near-infrared spectroscopy, skin surface oxygen saturation (SpO2), by pulse oximetry, and amplitude-integrated electroencephalography were measured. Monitoring was divided into preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative time periods. Cerebral and renal fractional tissue oxygen extraction was calculated using arterial (SpO2) and tissue oxygen saturation (rSO2): ( S p O 2 − r S O 2 S p O 2 ) X 100 . Data were averaged into one-minute epochs and significant changes from baseline during the intraoperative and postoperative periods were detected using one-way analysis of variance with repeated measures. Results This pilot study examined sixteen infants, born at a median gestational age of 34.2 wk (range: 23.0-40.6) with a median corrected age of 42.9 wk (range: 40.0-46.3) at operation. None had seizure activity or altered sleep-wake cycles. No statistically significant variations in cerebral and renal tissue oxygenation and extraction were observed. Pulse oximetry did demonstrate significant variation from baseline on analysis of variance, but post hoc analysis did not identify any one specific time point at which this difference was significant. Conclusions During a short infant laparoscopic procedure, no significant alteration in cerebral or renal oxygenation or oxygen extraction was observed. No seizure activity or changes in infant sleep-wake cycles occurred.
Structural Insights into How Protein Environments Tune the Spectroscopic Properties of a Noncanonical Amino Acid Fluorophore.

Genetically encoded fluorescent noncanonical amino acids (fNCAAs) could be used to develop novel fluorescent sensors of protein function. Previous efforts toward this goal have been limited by the ...
Two-orbital degeneracy lifted local precursor to a metal-insulator transition in MgTi 2 O 4

The ${\mathrm{MgTi}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ spinel exhibits a metal-insulator transition on cooling below ${T}_{s}\ensuremath{\approx}250$ K, accompanied by Ti ${t}_{2g}^{1}$ orbital ordering and spin-singlet dimerization with associated average symmetry reduction to tetragonal. By combining x-ray and neutron pair distribution function analyses to track the evolution of the local atomic structure across the transition we find that local tetragonality already exists in the metallic globally cubic phase at high temperature. Local distortions are observed up to at least 500 K, the highest temperature assessed in this study. Significantly, the high-temperature local state is not continuously connected to the orbitally ordered band insulator ground state and so the transition cannot be characterized as a trivial order-disorder type. The shortest Ti-Ti spin-singlet dimer bond lengths expand abruptly on warming across the transition, but remain shorter than those seen in the cubic average structure. These seemingly contradictory observations can be understood within the model of a local fluctuating two-orbital ${t}_{2g}$ orbital degeneracy lifted (ODL) precursor state derived from electron filling, Ti substructure topology, and point symmetry considerations. The ODL state in ${\mathrm{MgTi}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ has a correlation length of about 1 nm at high temperature. We discuss that this extended character of the local distortions is consistent with the two-orbital nature of this state imposed by the charge filling and the bond charge repulsion. The ${\mathrm{MgTi}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$ spinel exemplifies multiorbital ODL state and presents the possibility of a widespread presence of such precursor states in scarcely studied high-temperature regimes of transition-metal-based quantum materials.
Issues of Mental of Mental Health and Student Safety

This chapter draws from data on different kinds of mass shootings that indicate that a major distinguishing feature of school shootings is that in 49% of the cases the assailant is mentally ill. Over time, a copious amount of evidence that has accrued indicating a relationship between mental illness in the assailant and school shootings is too patent to ignore as merely coincidence. However, in the last quarter century or so addressing the issue of mental illness has often been considered politically incorrect. After all, the argument goes, values are supposedly all relative and one might say the shooters, rather than being viewed as aggressors can also be viewed as victims. Given that mental illness is a major factor at work in the shooter’s lives also means that there are often a lot of early warnings that a mass school attack is going to take place. For example, Matti Junani Saari, a Finish attacker warned that he “wanted to kill as many people as possible.” Nikolas Cruz, the Parkland Florida attacker, threatened the lives of many, and introduced himself as the next school shooter. Yet no real preventative action was taken. The author also examines the relationship between drug use and mental illness.
Compared to commercially insured patients, Medicare advantage patients adopt newer diabetes drugs more slowly and adhere to them less.

Aims To compare rates of use and adherence for newer versus older second-line diabetes drug classes in commercially insured, Medicare Advantage and dual-eligible (covered by both Medicare and Medicaid) patients. Materials and Methods Longitudinal cohort study using insurance claims data from 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2016 to identify patients with a first prescription, after metformin, of a second-line diabetes drug (eg sulphonylurea, DPP-4 inhibitor, thiazolidinedione, SGLT-2 inhibitor or GLP-1 receptor agonist) and to estimate their adherence to that drug class. Univariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression were used to examine the association between insurance type and use of each drug class, and between insurance type and adherence to each drug class. Results The study population included 96,663 patients. Trends in drug use differed by insurance type. For example, sulphonylurea use declined among the commercially insured (from 46% to 39%, p < .001) but not among Medicare Advantage or dual-eligible patients. Patterns of adherence also differed between insurance groups. For example, compared to commercial insurance, Medicare Advantage was associated with higher adherence to sulphonylurea (odds ratio [OR] 1.32, 95% CI 1.21-1.43)) but lower adherence to SGLT-2 inhibitors (OR 0.43 (95% CI 0.33-0.56)). Conclusions This study finds differences in utilization and adherence for diabetes drugs across insurance types. Older medications such as sulphonylureas appear to be more used and better adhered to among Medicare Advantage recipients, while the opposite is true for newer medication classes. These findings suggest a need to personalize selection of diabetes drugs according to insurance status, particularly when adherence needs optimization.
Nonfamily employees’ perceptions of treatment in family businesses: Implications for organizational attraction, job pursuit intentions, work attitudes, and turnover intentions

Abstract This paper draws from organizational justice theory to consider the mechanisms through which nonfamily members’ perceptions of treatment (i.e., interpersonal treatment equivalent to that received by family-member employees, preferential treatment in favor of family-member employees) may shape their behavioral intentions within family businesses. Results from Study 1 (N = 173) demonstrated that organizational attractiveness mediates the relationship between perceptions of interpersonally equal treatment and job pursuit intentions. Additionally, results from Study 2 (N = 222) indicated that affective commitment may help explain the effects of both perceptions of interpersonally equal and preferential family-member treatment on turnover intentions. Job satisfaction was also found to mediate the influence of perceptions of interpersonally equal treatment on turnover intentions. Taken together, results from these studies may help to expand our understanding of outcomes associated with perceptions of interpersonally equal and preferential family-member treatment in family-business contexts.
Association of adverse prenatal exposure burden with child psychopathology in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study.

Objective Numerous adverse prenatal exposures have been individually associated with risk for psychiatric illness in the offspring. However, such exposures frequently co-occur, raising questions about their cumulative impact. We evaluated effects of cumulative adverse prenatal exposure burden on psychopathology risk in school-aged children. Methods Using baseline surveys from the U.S.-based Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (7,898 non-adopted, unrelated children from 21 sites, age 9-10, and their primary caregivers), we examined 8 retrospectively-reported adverse prenatal exposures in relation to caregiver-reported total and subscale Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores. We also assessed cumulative effects of these factors on CBCL total as a continuous measure, as well as on odds of clinically significant psychopathology (CBCL total ≥60), in both the initial set and a separate ABCD sample comprising an additional 696 sibling pairs. Analyses were conducted before and after adjustment for 14 demographic and environmental covariates. Results In minimally and fully adjusted models, 6 exposures (unplanned pregnancy; maternal alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco use early in pregnancy; pregnancy complications; and birth complications) independently associated with significant but small increases in CBCL total score. Among these 6, none increased the odds of crossing the threshold for clinically significant symptoms by itself. However, odds of exceeding this threshold became significant with 2 exposures (OR = 1.86, 95% CI 1.47-2.36), and increased linearly with each level of exposure (OR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.31-1.47), up to 3.53-fold for ≥4 exposures versus none. Similar effects were observed in confirmatory analysis among siblings. Within sibling pairs, greater discordance for exposure load associated with greater CBCL total differences, suggesting that results were not confounded by unmeasured family-level effects. Conclusion Children exposed to multiple common, adverse prenatal events showed dose-dependent increases in broad, clinically significant psychopathology at age 9-10. Fully prospective studies are needed to confirm and elaborate upon this pattern.
Labour market returns to health capital during childhood: Evidence from Medicaid introduction

Health capital development during childhood can affect later-life outcomes. This paper examines the long-term effects of the introduction of Medicaid during the 1960s as one of the earliest attempts in US history to provide publicly financed health insurance for the poor. Using a large panel dataset and a difference-in-differences- in-differences identification strategy, I show that exposure to Medicaid during ages 0-5 has sizable and significant effects on economic and non-economic outcomes throughout ages 25-55, including income, employment, education, disability, and wealth. Exposure to Medicaid among fully eligible cohorts is associated with roughly 0.4 percentage higher wage income, equivalent to an increase of $145 above the mean of annual wages. It also implies a minimum of 7.8% externality of the programme in labour market wages.
Automatic tracking of healthy joint kinematics from stereo-radiography sequences

Abstract Kinematic tracking of healthy joints in radiography sequences is frequently performed by maximizing similarities between computed perspective projections of 3D computer models and corresponding objects’ appearances in radiographic images. Significant human effort associated with manual tracking presents a major bottleneck in biomechanics research methods and limits the scale of target applications. The current work introduces a method for fully-automatic tracking of tibiofemoral and patellofemoral kinematics in stereo-radiography sequences for subjects performing dynamic activities. The proposed method involves the application of convolutional neural networks for annotating radiographs and a multi-stage optimization pipeline for estimating bone pose based on information provided by neural net predictions. Predicted kinematics are evaluated by comparing against manually-tracked trends across 20 distinct trials. Median absolute differences below 1.5 millimeters or degrees for 6 tibiofemoral and 3 patellofemoral degrees of freedom demonstrate the utility of our approach, which improves upon previous semi-automatic methods by enabling end-to-end automation. Implementation of a fully-automatic pipeline for kinematic tracking will benefit evaluation of human movement by enabling large-scale studies of healthy knee kinematics.
Fracture analysis of cellular materials: A strain gradient model

A generalized continuum model is developed for cellular materials based on the equivalence of strain energy at the macro- and microscale. It is rather similar to the strain gradient theory, but has a well-defined characteristic length, namely, the cell size. The continuum model enables one to use powerful analytical methods to investigate fracture of cellular materials. The near-tip asymptotic fields and full-field solutions are obtained for cellular materials with hexagonal, triangular, or square lattice. Using the same strain-energy equivalence at the macro- and microscale, displacements and rotation of discrete cell walls are estimated from the continuum near-tip asymptotic fields. By postulating a maximum-tensile-stress failure criterion of cell walls, the fracture toughness of cellular materials is estimated to be proportional to the thickness h of cell walls and inversely proportional to √L, where L is the cell size. Moreover, the mixed-mode fracture toughness can be simply obtained from the fracture toughness in pure mode 1 and mode II, once the mode mixity is known. It is established that, with the same mass density, the hexagonal or triangular lattice in a cellular material can provide much higher fracture toughness than the square lattice.
Logic Design Validation via Simulation and Automatic Test Pattern Generation

We investigate an automated design validation scheme for gate-level combinational and sequential circuits that borrows methods from simulation and test generation for physical faults, and verifies a circuit with respect to a modeled set of design errors. The error models used in prior research are examined and reduced to five types: gate substitution errors (GSEs), gate count errors (GCEs), input count errors (ICEs), wrong input errors (WIEs), and latch count errors (LCEs). Conditions are derived for a gate to be testable for GSEs, which lead to small, complete test sets for GSEss near-minimal test sets are also derived for GCEs. We analyze undetectability in design errors and relate it to single stuck-line (SSL) redundancy. We show how to map all the foregoing error types into SSL faults, and describe an extensive set of experiments to evaluate the proposed method. These experiments demonstrate that high coverage of the modeled errors can be achieved with small test sets obtained with standard test generation and simulation tools for physical faults.
Hypomagnesemia: an evidence-based approach to clinical cases

Hypomagnesemia is defined as a serum magnesium level less than 1.8 mg/dL (< 0.74 mmol/L). Hypomagnesemia may result from inadequate magnesium intake, increased gastrointestinal or renal losses, or redistribution from extracellular to intracellular space. Increased renal magnesium loss can result from genetic or acquired renal disorders. Most patients with hypomagnesemia are asymptomatic and symptoms usually do not arise until the serum magnesium concentration falls below 1.2 mg/dL. One of the most life-threatening effects of hypomagnesemia is ventricular arrhythmia. The first step to determine the likely cause of the hypomagnesemia is to measure fractional excretion of magnesium and urinary calcium-creatinine ratio. The renal response to magnesium deficiency due to increased gastrointestinal loss is to lower fractional excretion of magnesium to less than 2%. A fractional excretion above 2% in a subject with normal kidney function indicates renal magnesium wasting. Barter syndrome and loop diuretics which inhibit sodium chloride transport in the ascending loop of Henle are associated with hypokalemia, metabolic alkalosis, renal magnesium wasting, hypomagnesemia, and hypercalciuria. Gitelman syndrome and thiazide diuretics which inhibit sodium chloride cotransporter in the distal convoluted tubule are associated with hypokalemia, metabolic alkalosis, renal magnesium wasting, hypomagnesemia, and hypocalciuria. Familial renal magnesium wasting is associated with hypercalciuria, nephrocalcinosis, and nephrolithiasis. Asymptomatic patients should be treated with oral magnesium supplements. Parenteral magnesium should be reserved for symptomatic patients with severe magnesium deficiency (< 1.2 mg/dL). Establishment of adequate renal function is required before administering any magnesium supplementation.
Effect of postmortem storage on the Z-line region of titin in bovine muscle

Myofibrils were prepared from bovine muscles (cutaneous trunci, rectus abdominis, psoas major, and masseter) and compared between different aging periods at 4 degrees C (0, 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 d). Myofibrils were stained with an antibody directed against a 56-kDa fragment (FE-RE) of titin located in the Z-line region. Unaged myofibrils from all four muscles showed a single stained band at the Z-line with similar intensities. Postmortem time did not significantly affect the total amount of fluorescence in the sarcomere, suggesting the titin FE-RE epitope was not degraded nor were titin fragments containing this epitope released during storage. However, the fluorescence patterns were altered. The relative fluorescence intensity at the Z-line decreased but that in the I-band increased gradually, showing the translocation of some titin FE-RE epitopes during the aging period. This suggested that a cleavage occurred in a region of titin very close to the Z-line during postmortem storage. Usually the position of maximum fluorescence remained at the Z-line, although about 1/3 of the myofibrils from rectus abdominis showed a two-band pattern around the Z-line after 16 d of aging. The titin changes observed may be related to the increased fragility of the myofibril and the improvement of meat tenderness during postmortem storage.
The Intermediate-Degree f-Mode Multiplets of the Sun

Data from 1979 solar differential radius observations (Bos 1982) has been analyzed for evidence of intermediate-degree f-modes. A set of 18 intermediate-degree f-mode multiplets has been identified and classified based on more than 300 classified modes of oscillation. The degree of the multiplets ranged from 19 to 36. The detection and classification of these modes have been confirmed by testing the horizontal spatial properties of the eigenfunctions. The m = 0 eigenfrequency spectrum was found to be on the average - 10 μHz greater than that predicted by the standard solar model of Saio (1982). Rotational splitting effects up to fifth order in m were obtained.
Abstract 13291: Left Ventricular Assist Device Support is Associated with Sustained Cardiac CamKII Activation and Increased MEF2

Background: Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK)II has been implicated in impaired myocardial Ca2+ signaling and may play an important role in the development of heart failure (HF). The objective of this study was to characterize CAMKII signaling in patients with HF before and after prolonged left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support. Methods: LV apex tissue pairs were collected in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (n=10) at LVAD implantation and explantation. Normal cardiac tissue was used as control (n=4). Total protein, as well as cytoplasmic and nuclear fractions, were analyzed by Western Blot analysis. Results: The duration of LVAD support ranged from 48 to 595 days (mean = 271±54) with no patient exhibiting myocardial recovery. Total CamKIIδ levels in failing hearts were significantly higher than normal hearts and increased after LVAD, mainly due to an increase in cytoplasmic CaMKIIδC, which regulates Ca2+ handling (Table 1). Nuclear CaMKIIδB, which regulates Ca2+ gene transcription, did not change. Calmodulin remained increased in the nuclear and cytoplasmic fractions after LVAD. CaMKII autonomous, non-CaM-dependent activity, reflected by phosphorylation in Thr207, was increased pre- and post LVAD in cytoplasmic CaMKIIδC. The CaMKII-dependent myocyte enhancer factor 2 (MEF2) was increased pre- and significantly further post LVAD in the nucleus while decreased in the cytoplasm, suggesting translocation into the nucleus after LVAD support. Class IIa HDACs 4 and 5 interact with MEF2, resulting in repression of MEF2-dependent genes. Phosphorylated levels of HDAC4 and HDAC5 were increased pre- and post LVAD, which would result in activated MEF2. Conclusions: This study shows for the first time an increase of the hypertrophic factor MEF2 associated with persistent activation of CamKIIδC after prolonged LVAD support, which may have implications for cardiac remodeling during mechanical support. ![][1] [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif
Back to the Future: Rediscovering Equitable Discretion in Trademark Cases

Courts in recent years have increasingly made blunt use of their equitable powers in trademark cases. Rather than limiting the scope of injunctive relief so as to protect the interests of a mark owner while respecting the legitimate interests of third parties and of consumers, courts in most cases have viewed injunctive relief in binary terms. This is unfortunate, because greater willingness to tailor injunctive relief could go a long way to mitigating some of the most pernicious effects of trademark law’s modern expansion. This Essay urges courts to reverse this trend towards crude injunctive relief, and to re-embrace their equitable discretion as a means of achieving greater balance in the trademark system.
Discrete variable representation for singular Hamiltonians.

We discuss the application of the discrete variable representation (DVR) to Schr\"odinger problems which involve singular Hamiltonians. Unlike recent authors who invoke transformations to rid the eigenvalue equation of singularities at the cost of added complexity, we show that an approach based solely on an orthogonal polynomial basis is adequate, provided the Gauss-Lobatto or Gauss-Radau quadrature rule is used. This ensures that the mesh contains the singular points and by simply discarding the DVR functions corresponding to those points, all matrix elements become well behaved, the boundary conditions are satisfied, and the calculation is rapidly convergent. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated by applying it to the hydrogen atom. We emphasize that the method is equally capable of describing bound states and continuum solutions.
Dunite channels as viable pathways for mare basalt transport in the deep lunar mantle

[1] Lunar picritic glasses are multisaturated with olivine and orthopyroxene at pressures up to 2.45 GPa. This corresponds to a depth of approximately 490 km in the lunar mantle and represents a minimum estimate of the depth of melt generation. Models that propose a mechanism to move these melts through the mantle and crust generally involve the creation of a network of fractures through which melt can rise very rapidly, minimizing its interaction with shallower mantle. We carried out an experimental study of harzburgite dissolution in a synthetic high Ti red glass. Our results show that during ascent of olivine saturated melts, dissolution of wallrock orthopyroxene and precipitation of olivine leads to the formation of high porosity, high permeability dunite channels that efficiently shield subsequent melts from reaction with the mantle. These dunite channels are similar to dunite dikes observed in ophiolite sequences which are believed to be channels for mid-ocean ridge basalts. Models for lunar melt migration that require brittle fracturing extending to the depths of multisaturation need not be invoked.
Diagnostic Performance of 3D Standing CT Imaging For Detection of Knee Osteoarthritis Features

AbstractObjective. To determine the diagnostic performance of standing computerized tomography (SCT) of the knee for osteophytes and subchondral cysts compared with fixed-flexion radiography, using MRI as the reference standard. Methods. Twenty participants were recruited from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study. Participants’ knees were imaged with SCT while standing in a knee-positioning frame, and with postero-anterior fixed-flexion radiography and 1T MRI. Medial and lateral marginal osteophytes and subchondral cysts were scored on bilateral radiographs and coronal SCT images using the OARSI grading system and on coronal MRI using Whole Organ MRI Scoring. Imaging modalities were read separately with images in random order. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for the detection of lesions were calculated and differences between modalities were tested using McNemar’s test. Results.Participants’ mean age was 66.8 years, body mass index was 29.6 kg/m2 and 50% were women. Of the 160 surfaces (medial and l...
Competition Between NGO Projects: Evidence from Kiva

This paper investigates the effect of competition between NGO projects on their ability to raise funds, using the case of Kiva, an online peer-to-peer (P2P) microlending website. Although NGO behavior in competitive environments is often subject to controversy, there is little formal empirical evidence to illustrate theoretical findings and inform policy. We find that competition has a sizable negative impact on projects' funding speed and that the effect is stronger between close substitutes. These results illustrate several key findings in the theoretical literature and suggest that regulating the entry of projects on charitable P2P platforms may sometimes improve welfare. Furthermore, we find that increases in the lender side of the market generated by media exposure improve funding speed and relax the impact of competition. Our findings shed light on the way media exposure affects NGOs' fundraising success.
PROGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT OF FEMALE FECUNDITY

A clomiphene citrate (CC) challenge test was used to prospectively assess future fertility potential in 51 women aged 35 or more with unexplained infertility. Baseline (day 2-3 of the menstrual cycle) and response levels (day 9-11) of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), and 17-beta oestradiol were measured before and after administration of 100 mg clomiphene on days 5-9 of the menstrual cycle. Although all the women had a normal baseline FSH, 18 had an exaggerated FSH response of 26 mIU/ml or more (over 2 standard deviations above control values); this was regarded as a diminished ovarian reserve (DOR). In the DOR group mean response FSH was 38.9 mIU/ml (SD 13.8) and in 33 women with adequate ovarian reserve (AOR) it was 11.5 (4.9) mIU/ml (p less than 0.0001). In the DOR group 1 of 18 patients and in the AOR group 14 of 33 (42%) conceived (p less than 0.05). It is suggested that despite apparently normal ovulatory cycles, the DOR group has a compromised follicular apparatus. Disparity between normal oestradiol secretory capacity of the granulosa and diminished capacity to secrete inhibin could explain the inappropriately high FSH levels in response to the CC challenge.
Abnormalities in platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine efflux in patients with infantile autism.

AMONG the heterogeneous group of children showing autistic symptoms, Kanner described a small sub-group with what he termed “infantile autism”1. Rimland2 suggested that the reticular formation, known to contain 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) (ref. 3), may be involved.
Comparison of pediatric cardiac surgical mortality rates from national administrative data to contemporary clinical standards.

Background Despite the superior coding and risk adjustment of clinical data, the ready availability, national scope, and perceived unbiased nature of administrative data make it the choice of governmental agencies and insurance companies for evaluating quality and outcomes. We calculated pediatric cardiac surgery mortality rates from administrative data and compared them with widely quoted standards from clinical databases. Methods Pediatric cardiac surgical operations were retrospectively identified by ICD-9-CM diagnosis and procedure codes from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) 1988–2005 and the Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) 2003. Cases were grouped into Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery, version 1 (RACHS-1) categories. In-hospital mortality rates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results A total of 55,164 operations from the NIS and 10,945 operations from the KID were placed into RACHS-1 categories. During the 18-year period, the overall NIS mortality rate for pediatric cardiac surgery decreased from 8.7% (95% confidence interval, 8.0% to 9.3%) to 4.6% (95% confidence interval, 4.3% to 5.0%). Mortality rates by RACHS-1 category decreased significantly as well. The KID and NIS mortality rates from comparable years were similar. Overall mortality rates derived from administrative data were higher than those from contemporary national clinical data, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database, or published data from pediatric cardiac specialty centers. Although category-specific mortality rates were higher in administrative data than in clinical data, a minority of the relationships reached statistical significance. Conclusions Despite substantial improvement, mortality rates from administrative data remain higher than those from clinical data. The discrepancy may be attributable to several factors: differences in database design and composition, differences in data collection and reporting structures, and variation in data quality.
The temperature dependence of proton relaxation times in triplet exciton ion radical salts

Abstract Proton spin lattice relaxation times have been measured for a variety of single crystal orientations of the (φ 3 AsCH 3 ) + (TCNQ) 2 − ion radical salt over the temperature range of approximately 90 to 370°K. It is shown that the relaxation rate is directly proportional to the triplet exciton density where the exciton production energy is significantly dependent on temperature. The data suggests that exciton—exciton exchange is an important aspect in the relaxation mechanism.
The Fourth Component of Complement in the Cerebrospinal Fluid in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Of 35 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) studied for up to 18 months, 6 had acute neurologic disease and 3 had acute psychiatric syndromes attributed to SLE during which the mean hemolytic titer of the fourth component of complement in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF C4) did not differ significantly from the mean of 50 titers in control SLE patients. However, in 4 patients serial determinations disclosed a depression of titer at the time of acute central nervous system involvement (P < 0.01). Hemolytic C4 was unstable in CSF stored at -45°C. Two decay patterns were noted in SLE patients; titers fell more rapidly in patients with more active lupus (P < 0.001). The findings support the postulate that immune injury underlies the neurologic manifestations of SLE.
DNA nucleosides and their radical anions: molecular structures and electron affinities.

The deoxyribonucleosides have been studied to determine the properties of combinations of 2-deoxyribose with each of the isolated DNA bases for both neutral and anionic species. We have used a carefully calibrated theoretical method [Chem. Rev. 2002, 102, 231], employing the B3LYP hybrid Hartree−Fock/DFT functional with the DZP++ basis set. Predictions are made of the geometric parameters, adiabatic electron affinities, charge distributions based on natural population analysis, and decomposition enthalpy for the neutral and anionic forms of the four 2‘-deoxyribonucleosides in DNA: 2‘-deoxyriboadenosine (dA), 2‘-deoxyribocytidine (dC), 2‘-deoxyriboguanosine (dG), and 2‘-deoxyribothymidine (dT). Geometric changes in the anions show that the glycosidic bond exhibits little change with excess charge for the guanosine but significant shortening for the adenosine and for the pyrimidines. The zero-point corrected adiabatic electron affinities in eV for each of the 2‘-deoxyribonucleosides are as follows: 0.06, ...
Estimating the richness of species with variable mobility

The vast majority of species are animals that, unlike most plants and fungi, are variably and often highly mobile. While species' mobility affects species' probabilities of being sampled, effects of movement on the estimation of species richness have yet to be systematically investigated. Information-rich abundance-based estimators may be able to address variably mobile species but the accuracy of these estimators has also yet to be investigated. Here, we address both issues by variably sampling simulated landscapes with up to 250 species and evaluating the performance of ten non-parametric estimators and one species accumulation curve. Our results show that some abundance-based estimators are as accurate as better known and tested incidence-based estimators. Increased movement heterogeneity between the species reduced estimator performance by reducing the sample coverage, which systematically determined which estimator was most accurate. Based on these findings, we present the first decision framework for choosing the most accurate of many available abundance-based species-richness estimators. These decisions, based on data coverage, can significantly improve investigators' ability to estimate faunal species richness.