cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Three's a crowd? The Nader vote in the 2000 presidential, election in U.S. metropolitan areas

Abstract The 2000 U.S. presidential election resulted in one of the closest and most controversial outcomes in U.S. history. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader had little chance of winning, but nevertheless impacted the race in several close states and arguably swung the race from Al Gore to George W. Bush. This research examines Ralph Nader's “urban strategy” to win 5% of the vote for president and the bases of his electoral support. This study uses the METRO_2000 data set which contains a variety of publicly available variables for 276 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the year 2000. The analysis uses OLS regression to examine the determinants of the percentage of the vote for Nader in each MSA. The results indicate that the Nader vote was positively influenced by key electoral variables such as the level of electoral participation, whether Nader was on the ballot or could be written in, and the closeness of the race in state polls leading up to the election. The Nader vote was also higher in MSAs with high percentages of voters who supported Nader programs including environmentalists, those favoring universal health care and gay rights, union members, and MSAs that were college towns or with high percentages of college-educated voters. Ralph Nader's urban strategy effectively mobilized enough of his electoral base to impact the 2000 election, but electoral constraints and the closeness of the race prevented him from achieving his goal of attaining 5% of the vote. This case holds lessons about the limits and possibilities of third party campaigns in U.S. presidential elections.
Definitive therapy for variceal bleeding: A personal view

Definitive therapy for variceal hemorrhage has evolved during the past half century. Only completely decompressing shunts (nonselective shunts) were available before 1967. Additional options now include selective shunts, devascularization procedures, endoscopic sclerotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and hepatic transplantation. Although drug treatment is experimental at the present time, the remaining therapeutic options are applicable to various subgroups of patients and in certain clinical settings. At the University of Nebraska, patients with variceal bleeding are first grouped based on their candidacy for transplantation. Transplantation candidates with advanced (Child's class C) or symptomatic liver disease undergo transplantation as soon as possible. Future transplantation candidates with stable, asymptomatic liver disease undergo either long-term sclerotherapy or a distal splenorenal shunt if sclerotherapy fails or if they have poor access to tertiary medical care. These patients are carefully monitored so that they can undergo transplantation before they become high-operative risks. Patients who are not candidates for transplantation receive chronic variceal sclerotherapy as initial therapy so long as shunt surgery is readily available if sclerotherapy fails. When surgery is indicated, the distal splenorenal shunt is preferred to nonselective shunts because several controlled and uncontrolled series have demonstrated a lower frequency of encephalopathy after selective variceal decompression.
Neutrophil elastase increases MUC4 expression in normal human bronchial epithelial cells

In chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, the airway epithelium is chronically exposed to neutrophil elastase, an inflammatory protease. The cellular response to neutrophil elastase dictates the balance between epithelial injury and repair. Key regulators of epithelial migration and proliferation are the ErbB receptor tyrosine kinases, including the epidermal growth factor receptor. In this context, we investigated whether neutrophil elastase may regulate expression of MUC4, a membrane-tethered mucin that has recently been identified as a ligand for ErbB2, the major heterodimerization partner of the epidermal growth factor receptor. In normal human bronchial epithelial cells, neutrophil elastase increased MUC4 mRNA levels in both a concentration- and time-dependent manner. RNA stability assays revealed that neutrophil elastase increased MUC4 mRNA levels by prolonging the mRNA half-life from 5 to 21 h. Neutrophil elastase also increased MUC4 glycoprotein levels as determined by Western analysis, using a monoclonal antibody specific for a nontandem repeat MUC4 sequence. Therefore, airway epithelial cells respond to neutrophil elastase exposure by increasing expression of MUC4, a potential activator of epithelial repair mechanisms.
ON THE EXISTENCE OF STATIONARY THRESHOLD AUTOREGRESSIVE MOVING‐AVERAGE PROCESSES

Abstract. Conditions for the existence of causal and strictly stationary solutions of the equations defining a self-exciting threshold autoregressive moving-average (SETARMA) model are derived. For threshold autoregressive models we allow the autoregressive coefficients to be random and derive sufficient conditions for geometric ergodicity and the existence of strictly and weakly stationary solutions of the defining equations.
Energy budget above a high-elevation subalpine forest in complex topography

Components of the energy budget were measured above a subalpine coniferous forest over two complete annual cycles. Sensible and latent heat fluxes were measured by eddy covariance. Bowen ratios ranged from 0.7 to 2.5 in the summer (June–September) depending upon the availability of soil water, but were considerably higher (∼3–6) during winter (December–March). Energy budget closure averaged better than 84% on a half-hourly basis in both seasons with slightly greater closure during the winter months. The energy budget showed a dependence on friction velocity (u ∗ ), approaching complete closure at u ∗ values greater than 1 m s −1 . The dependence of budget closure on u ∗ explained why energy balance was slightly better in the winter as opposed to summer, since numerous periods of high turbulence occur in winter. It also explained the lower degree of energy closure (∼10% less) during easterly upslope flow since these periods were characterized by low wind speeds ( U< 4ms −1 ) and friction velocities (u ∗ < 0. 5ms −1 ). Co-spectral analysis suggests a shift of flux density towards higher frequencies under conditions where closure was obtained. It is suggested that low frequency contributions to the flux and advection were responsible for the lack of day-time energy budget closure. These effects were reduced at high friction velocities observed at our site. Our ability to close the energy budget at night was also highly dependent on friction velocity, approaching near closure (∼90%) at u ∗ values between 0.7 and 1.1 m s −1 . Below this range, the airflow within the canopy becomes decoupled with the flow above. Above this range, insufficient temperature resolution of the sonic anemometer obscured the small temperature fluctuations, rendering measurements intractable. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Binary Time-Series Query Framework for Efficient Quantitative Trait Association Study

Quantitative trait association study examines the association between quantitative traits and genetic variants. As a promising tool, it has been widely applied to dissect the genetic basis of complex diseases. However, such study usually involves testing trillions of variant-trait pairs and demands intensive computational resources. Recently, several algorithms have been developed to improve its efficiency. In this paper, we propose a framework, Fabrique, which models quantitative trait association study as querying binary time-series and bridges the two seemly different problems. Specifically, in the proposed framework, genetic variants are treated as a database consisting of binary time-series. Finding trait-associated variants is equivalent to finding the nearest neighbors of the trait. For efficient query process, Fabrique partitions and normalizes the binary time-series, and estimates a tight upper bound for each group of time-series to prune the search space. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that Fabrique only needs to search a very small portion of the database to locate the target variants and significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art method. We also show that Fabrique can be applied to other binary time-series query problem in addition to the genetic association study.
Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism as a novel therapy for triple-negative breast cancer.

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 10-20% of newly diagnosed invasive breast cancer. Finding effective targets for chemotherapy-resistant TNBC has proven difficult in part because of TNBC9s molecular heterogeneity. We have previously reported that, likely because of GR9s anti-apoptotic activity in ER-negative breast epithelial and cancer cells, high glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression/activity in early-stage TNBC significantly correlates with chemotherapy-resistance and increased recurrence. We hypothesized that pre-treatment with mifepristone, a (GR)-antagonist, would potentiate the efficacy of chemotherapy in GR+ TNBC by inhibiting GR9s anti-apoptotic signaling pathways and increasing the cytotoxic efficiency of chemotherapy. Experimental Design: TNBC cell apoptosis was examined in the context of physiological glucocorticoid concentrations, chemotherapy, and/or pharmacologic concentrations of mifepristone. We used high-throughput live microscopy with continuous recording to measure apoptotic cells stained with a fluorescent dye, and Western analysis to detect caspase-3 and PARP cleavage. The effect of mifepristone on GR-mediated gene expression was also measured. TNBC xenograft studies were performed in female severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice and tumors were measured following treatment with vehicle, paclitaxel or mifepristone/paclitaxel. Results: We found that although mifepristone treatment alone had no significant effect on TNBC cell viability or clonogenicity in the absence of chemotherapy, the addition of mifepristone to dexamethasone/paclitaxel treatment significantly increased cytotoxicity and caspase-3/PARP cleavage. Mifepristone also antagonized GR-induced SGK1 and MKP1/DUSP1 gene expression, while significantly augmenting paclitaxel-induced GR+ MDA-MB-231 xenograft tumor shrinkage in vivo. Conclusions: These results suggest that mifepristone pre-treatment could be a useful strategy for increasing tumor cell apoptosis in chemotherapy-resistant GR+ TNBC.
Expressions of men who batter: Implications for nursing

Abstract Violence against women will not stop until greater prevention and treatment opportunities are provided the perpetrators of violence. The nursing literature about working with men who batter is nearly nonexistent, and yet nurses in community and psychiatric settings are frequently confronted with family violence and therefore are in opportune positions to intervene in a manner that is sensitive to both the perpetrator and the partner. Because nurses work in a variety of settings including schools and industry, they also can promote awareness of the potential for domestic violence. This clinical article presents an account of a group treatment program for court-referred men who batter. The program consisted of 12, 2-hour weekly sessions, with new members beginning every 6 weeks. There were two group facilitators, a woman (registered nurse) and a man. Furthermore this article discusses what the men in this program said about their “violent” experiences and what the nurse inferred as themes and identified as the men's needs and strategies for change throughout phases of the group process.
Co-Training for Domain Adaptation

Domain adaptation algorithms seek to generalize a model trained in a source domain to a new target domain. In many practical cases, the source and target distributions can differ substantially, and in some cases crucial target features may not have support in the source domain. In this paper we introduce an algorithm that bridges the gap between source and target domains by slowly adding to the training set both the target features and instances in which the current algorithm is the most confident. Our algorithm is a variant of co-training [7], and we name it CODA (Co-training for domain adaptation). Unlike the original co-training work, we do not assume a particular feature split. Instead, for each iteration of co-training, we formulate a single optimization problem which simultaneously learns a target predictor, a split of the feature space into views, and a subset of source and target features to include in the predictor. CODA significantly out-performs the state-of-the-art on the 12-domain benchmark data set of Blitzer et al. [4]. Indeed, over a wide range (65 of 84 comparisons) of target supervision CODA achieves the best performance.
Soft Drinks Consumption is Associated with Behavior Problems in 5-Year-Olds

Objective To examine soda consumption and aggressive behaviors, attention problems, and withdrawal behavior among 5-year-old children. Study design The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study is a prospective birth cohort study that follows a sample of mother-child pairs from 20 large US cities. Mothers reported children's behaviors using the Child Behavior Checklist at age 5 years and were asked to report how many servings of soda the child drinks on a typical day. Results In the sample of 2929 children, 52% were boys, 51% were African-American, 43% consumed at least one serving of soda per day, and 4% consumed 4 or more servings per day. In analyses adjusted for sociodemographic factors, consuming one (beta, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.1-1.4), 2 (beta, 1.8; 95% CI, 0.8-2.7), 3 (beta, 2.0; 95% CI, 0.6-3.4), or 4 or more (beta, 4.7; 95% CI, 3.2-6.2) servings was associated with a higher aggressive behavior score compared with consuming no soda. Furthermore, those who consumed 4 or more (beta, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.4) soda servings had higher scores on the attention problems subscale. Higher withdrawn behavior scores were noted among those consuming 2 (beta, 1.0; 95% CI, 0.3-1.8) or 4 or more (beta, 2.0; 95% CI, 0.8-3.1) soda servings compared with those who consumed no soda. Conclusion We note an association between soda consumption and negative behavior among very young children; future studies should explore potential mechanisms that could explain this association.
Fungal infections in pediatric lung transplant recipients: colonization and invasive disease.

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology and investigate the impact of colonization and pulmonary fungal infections (PFIs). Methods In this investigation we performed a retrospective analysis of 55 pediatric lung transplant recipients from 2002 to 2007 at a single institution. Associations between risk factors and time to post-transplant colonization, PFI, and other outcomes were assessed using Cox proportional hazard models. Results Although 29 patients had positive pre-transplant colonization, 33 (60%) were colonized post-transplant and 20% (11 subjects) developed proven or probable PFI. In a multivariate model, post-transplant fungal colonization was associated with older age (hazard ratio [HR] 2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1 to 7.6), cytomegalovirus (CMV) prophylaxis (HR 5.6, 95% CI 1.3 to 24.6) and respiratory viral infection prior to fungal colonization (HR 2.9, 95% CI 1.0 to 8.3). Conclusion Neither fungal colonization nor PFI was associated with the development of chronic allograft rejection or death.
Structure and function of the adrenergic receptor family.

The interaction of hormones and drugs with their respective targets has been widely studied with the hope that a better understanding of the molecular basis of their actions would provide insights not only into the nature of their specific mechanisms but those involved in certain pathophysiologic states. Receptors represent the central locus of interaction between ligands/drugs and cells. Adrenergic receptors because of their ubiquitous and well defined effector mechanisms have been excellent models for the study of these processes. Catecholamines and various synthetic analogs bind to adrenergic receptors that are integral membrane proteins and lead to the generation of intracellular second messengers culminating in a physiologic response. As with many other types of receptors this cascade of events is mediated by specific effector molecules which are coupled to adrenergic receptors in the plasma membrane. These intermediary signal transducing proteins are called guanine nucleotide regulatory proteins or G-proteins because they bind and hydrolyze guanine nucleotide triphosphate (1).
Sensation seeking and the use and selection of media materials.

175 individuals recruited from urban universities (n = 82) and the surrounding community (120 women, 55 men; 82 18- to 25-yr.-olds, 26 26- to 34-yr.-olds, 44 35- to 50-yr.-olds, 23 50 yr. old or over) completed a sensation seeking scale and measures of the frequency with which they used specific media and selected specific television programming, film, and music genres. Regression analyses showed Sensation Seeking to be associated positively with Movie Theatre Attendance and with the Selection of Urban Music Genres. Sensation Seeking was also associated negatively with Selection of Light Film Genres.
A Mechanism for Dependence of Refresh Time on Data Pattern in DRAM

We measured the refresh time (tREF) according to data patterns for several dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips. The measured tREF depends on the cell data pattern; moreover, these have their own dependences, which differ for several DRAM chips. We analyzed these phenomena in terms of both refresh and offset measurements, and our novel result was that tREF dependence on data patterns is determined by both a cell leakage mechanism and an offset by sensing noise.
Accelerated metabolic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in older women with a history of gestational diabetes

The purpose of this study is to compare central obesity, insulin sensitivity, and cardiovascular disease risk factors between premenopausal and postmenopausal women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), controls, and women with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Subjects were 73 overweight/obese and sedentary women who had a history of GDM (nZ31) and were either premenopausal (nZ11, 44G1 years, XGS.E.M.), postmenopausal (nZ20, 58G1 years), or without a history of GDM as healthy postmenopausal controls (nZ27, 57G1 years) or postmenopausal with T2DM (nZ16, 59G1 years). The premenopausal GDM women had higher maximal oxygen uptake and lower visceral fat than the other three groups (P!0.05). BMI, %body fat, subcutaneous abdominal fat, and intramuscular fat did not differ significantly among the four groups. Glucose utilization (M, 3 h 40 mU/m 2 per min hyperinsulinemic‐euglycemic clamps) was 27% higher (PZ0.05) in pre- than postmenopausal GDM and was not different between premenopausal GDM and postmenopausal controls. M was 28% lower (PZ0.06) in postmenopausal GDM than controls and was not significantly different between postmenopausal GDM and T2DM groups. Thus, despite being younger and more physically fit, premenopausal women with prior GDM display similar central obesity, glucose, and metabolic profiles as postmenopausal controls. Postmenopausal women with prior GDM are more insulin resistant than controls of similar age, adiposity, and fitness levels and display comparable glucose utilization rates as similar as women with T2DM suggesting that a prior history of GDM may be an early manifestation of increased risk of later T2DM.
Evaluation of distributed recovery in large-scale storage systems

Storage clusters consisting of thousands of disk drives are now being used both for their large capacity and high throughput. However, their reliability is far worse than that of smaller storage systems due to the increased number of storage nodes. RAID technology is no longer sufficient to guarantee the necessary high data reliability for such systems, because disk rebuild time lengthens as disk capacity grows. We present fast recovery mechanism (FARM), a distributed recovery approach that exploits excess disk capacity and reduces data recovery time. FARM works in concert with replication and erasure-coding redundancy schemes to dramatically lower the probability of data loss in large-scale storage systems. We have examined essential factors that influence system reliability, performance, and costs, such as failure detections, disk bandwidth usage for recovery, disk space utilization, disk drive replacement, and system scales, by simulating system behavior under disk failures. Our results show the reliability improvement from FARM and demonstrate the impacts of various factors on system reliability. Using our techniques, system designers will be better able to build multipetabyte storage systems with much higher reliability at lower cost than previously possible.
Finding Cognate Groups Using Phylogenies

A central problem in historical linguistics is the identification of historically related cognate words. We present a generative phylogenetic model for automatically inducing cognate group structure from unaligned word lists. Our model represents the process of transformation and transmission from ancestor word to daughter word, as well as the alignment between the words lists of the observed languages. We also present a novel method for simplifying complex weighted automata created during inference to counteract the otherwise exponential growth of message sizes. On the task of identifying cognates in a dataset of Romance words, our model significantly outperforms a baseline approach, increasing accuracy by as much as 80%. Finally, we demonstrate that our automatically induced groups can be used to successfully reconstruct ancestral words.
Low-noise extended L-band phosphorus co-doped silicate EDFA consisting of novel two-stage gain-flattened gain blocks

A novel low-noise extended L-band silicate erbium-doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) is proposed, consisting of two novel gain-flattened gain blocks for wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) signals from 1562.2 to 1619.6 nm. Each gain block consists of three isolated phosphorus/alumina co-doped silicate EDFs, an intermediate embedded gain flattening filter (GFF), a short wavelength pump laser diode, and a pump bypass and/or a recycle path. The proposed EDFA, which uses only three pump laser diodes, has achieved noise figures as much as 6.1 dB lower than those realised by an earlier EDFA, when its intermediate optical attenuator has large signal losses and the input signal power is low.
Women in the Academy: The Impact of Culture, Climate and Policies on Female Classified Staff

The purpose of this study was to obtain an understanding of the impact of gendered organizations on female classified staff and their perception of climate and culture on advancement opportunities. The findings shed light on critical factors affecting the work experiences of female classified staff. The findings also offer a variety of ways colleges and universities can improve the overall climate for female classified staff. This qualitative study was based on confidential interviews with 16 female classified staff members who were selected based on campus leadership experience. All interviews were transcribed verbatim, analyzed and compared for pertinent themes. Three major themes emerged: culture and climate, institutional policies and procedures, and internal/external barriers to advancement. The findings revealed that women in classified support staff roles believe they have both gender and classification working against them when seeking to advance professionally.
High density packaging in 2010 and beyond

As microsystems continue to move towards higher speed and microminiaturization, the demands for interconnection density both on the IC and the package increases tremendously. With the shift towards nano ICs by 2003 with 100 nm features, pitch of area array I/Os of the nano ICs will move towards 20-100 micron. Increasing system functionality and system-on-a-chip will place demands on the package to support extremely high digital clock speeds beyond 5 GHz, RF signals to 40 GHz, and optical data rates beyond 100 Gbps all on a single, highly integrated package or board. A completely new paradigm shift in high density packaging is required to meet these complex requirements. Current trends both in IC and systems packaging including SIP, wafer level packaging are steps in the right direction, but represent partial system solutions. The Packaging Research Center at Georgia Tech has been developing system-on-a-package (SOP) technology to integrate digital, RF, and optical, all on a multi-function, microminiaturized board. This paper reviews systems, IC, and high density packaging trends and summarizes the latest PRC developments in high density SOP packaging technology.
Habituation and rebound to thalamic deep brain stimulation in long-term management of tremor associated with demyelinating neuropathy

Some patients may experience tolerance to chronic ventral intermediate (ViM) thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS), which may include habituation (loss of sustained tremor control over weeks to days after an adjustment) and rebound (a temporary increase in tremor intensity after stopping DBS). We observed an association between these efficacy limiting phenomena with co-morbid demyelinating sensorimotor peripheral neuropathy (MRT-PN). The clinical and treatment characteristics of neuropathy and tremor pre- and post-DBS are described through retrospective chart review of five patients with MRT-PN. Programming strategies (number of programming visits/implant years and number of major parameter changes/electrode) were compared in MRT-PN patients to a group of seven ET patients without neuropathy, who had > 4 years continuous follow-up. The presence of habituation and rebound were recorded. All MRT-PN patients had initial good response to DBS followed by habituation and/or rebound of tremor control, some asymmetrically. Compared to ET without neuropathy (mean follow-up 5.83 ± 0.78 years), MRT-PN patients (mean follow-up 4.90 ± 3.73 years) required more programming visits/year (p = 0.12) and major parameter changes/electrode/implant year (p = 0.03). The presence of neuropathy may alter tremor characteristics and result in temporary re-setting of thalamic oscillatory drive after DBS in MRT-PN patients. Clinicians should be aware of the risk for tolerance to DBS in MRT-PN and patients should be counseled about possible suboptimal sustained tremor control.
Design of cascaded MIMU/GPS fusion navigation algorithm for unmanned helicopter

Autonomous unmanned helicopter requires avionics system to maintain stable attitude and to follow desired flight path. A cascaded fusion algorithm is designed in this paper to provide full flight information for small size of helicopter. It consists of two kalman filters to process MIMU, GPS and other sensors data in real time based on the characteristic of onboard sensors. The first filter estimates velocity and attitude via MIMU data, GPS velocity and earth magnetic field strength. The second kalman filter provides position through GPS position, barometer information and the first filter's calibrated velocity. Simulation shows that the proposed algorithm can estate the flight information with high accuracy and bandwidth. A navigation avionics system is implemented based on the proposed algorithm, and real flight test demonstrates that the algorithm can work well with real sensor data on helicopter.
Circular polarization measurements of gamma rays following the beta decay of 124Sb and 134Cs

Circular polarization measurements of gamma rays following allowed beta transitions in 134Cs and 124Sb were made using forward Compton scattering of the protons from partially polarized electrons available in magnetized iron. Stable fast-slow coincidence circuitry and an accurately timed 32 sec polarization analyser magnet switching cycle were used. From the observed coincidence counting rates for opposite orientations of the magnet, the value obtained for the 134Cs circular polarization asymmetry parameter was A = −0.077<+mn;0.013. Measurements were performed relative to 60Co for which the theoretical value A = −12 was assumed. From the theoretical relation (computed assuming the (V-A) beta interaction) between A and the Fermi-to-Gamow-Teller matrix element ratio Y = CVMF/CAMGT, the corresponding matrix element ratio for the 134Cs beta transition was determined to be Y = 0.220<+mn;0.019. The asymmetry parameter measured for the allowed 0.621 MeV beta transition of 124Sb was A = <+;0.035<+mn;0.030 with the corresponding ratio Y = -0.173<+mn;0.031. The value obtained for the 124Sb asymmetry parameter agrees in sign with that of the only known measurement previously reported but is greater in magnitude.
Automated extraction and classification of thunderstorm and non-thunderstorm wind data for extreme-value analysis

Design wind loads are partly based on extreme value analyses of historical wind data, and limitations on the quantity and spatial resolution of wind data pose a significant challenge in such analyses. A promising source of recent wind speed and direction data is the automated surface observing system (ASOS), a network of about 1000 standardized US weather stations. To facilitate the use of ASOS data for structural engineering purposes, procedures and software are presented for (a) extraction of peak gust wind data and thunderstorm observations from archived ASOS reports, (b) classification of wind data as thunderstorm or non-thunderstorm to enable separate analyses, and (c) construction of data sets separated by specified minimum time intervals to ensure statistical independence. The procedures are illustrated using approximately 20-year datasets from three ASOS stations near New York City. It is shown that for these stations thunderstorm wind speeds dominate the extreme wind climate at long return periods. Also presented are estimates based on commingled data sets (i.e., sets containing, indiscriminately, both non-thunderstorm and thunderstorm wind speeds), which until now have been used almost exclusively for extreme wind speed estimates in the US. Analyses at additional stations will be needed to check whether these results are typical for locations with both thunderstorm and non-thunderstorm winds.
Group Therapy, Spiritual Issues, and Vietnam Veterans

This article describes a form of therapy that focuses on the spiritual dimension of the experience of American military veterans. Since definitions of spirituality abound, it is important that therapists be able to work with multiple understandings of spirituality simultaneously. Such veterans often resist facing, much less integrating, the spiritual dimension of their experience in therapy. A process is described that uses a VA Chaplain as a co-therapist on a monthly basis in an ongoing group. Telling Biblical stories and parables, in the context of therapy, is reported as a valuable means to enable clients to deal with their spiritual issues.
The mechanism of thrombin-induced platelet factor 4 secretion

We have measured thrombin-induced secretion of platelet factor 4 antigen (PF4) and simultaneously followed its intracellular translocation by immunofluorescence. In permeable resting platelets, speckled intracellular immunofluorescent staining for PF4 was observed. Addition of thrombin to washed platelets at 22 degrees C resulted in secretion of PF4 and formation of large (approximately 0.5 micrometer) immunofluorescent masses. These masses moved to the cell periphery during secretion and were virtually absent at the conclusion of secretion. Ultrastructural examination of thrombin-treated platelets revealed vacuoles corresponding in size, shape, and time of occurrence to the large immunofluorescent masses of PF4. These vacuoles contained PF4 by immunoferritin staining of frozen thin sections; they therefore appear to represent the ultrastructural counterpart of the large PF4 masses. When intact cells were stained for PF4 after thrombin addition, only 5.6% of the large masses stained. Thus, during secretion, PF4 antigen is consolidated into large closed pools that appear as vacuoles in the electron microscope.
Public Provision of Private Liquidity: Evidence from the Millennium Date Change

The Millennium Date Change (often referred to as Y2K) was anticipated to be a major liquidity event by many financial and corporate institutions as well as the central banks around the world. The timing of the event was foreseeable and thus satisfies the assumptions in the economic theory on public provision of private liquidity. We apply the theory to understand the liquidity premium in financial markets and the actions of the U.S. central bank in the period surrounding Y2K. We demonstrate that in the presence of this potential aggregate liquidity shock, (1) the cost of private loans and insurance increased significantly, (2) government securities commanded a liquidity premium, and most importantly, (3) the Fed successfully provided liquidity insurance and reduced liquidity premium prior to Y2K by taking various actions and especially by issuing Y2K options. These results are consistent with the predictions of the economic theory. Our analysis links the behavior of on/off-the-run spread to the public provision of private liquidity.
Tubercle Bacilli in the Heart Clots in Acute Miliary Tuberculosis Complicating Chronic Lymphatic-Myelogenous Leukemia

It has been shown by Wilson1 that tubercle bacilli can be demonstrated in stained sections of blood and clots obtained at autopsy from the heart and great vessels of a case of acute miliary tuberculosis, but that, as already borne out by the clinical attempts to demonstrate tubercle bacilli in the blood by means of stained smears, culture, and animal inoculation, the number of bacilli in the circulating blood at any given moment is too small to be of any practical diagnostic value. The wide-spread dissemination of the lesions in the case studied, occurring as they did even in the bone marrow, and the very early stage (thromboses and focal necroses) of many of the lesions would seem to make it a case in which the maximal number of bacilli might be found in the blood stream. That so few (4 bacilli in one-tenth of the heart clots) were found in the heart blood at any given moment cannot be taken as an absolute index of the number of tubercle bacilli entering the blood stream from a primary focus. Rather may it show, what we already know experimentally, that tubercle bacilli entering the blood stream quickly disappear from the circulating blood. The clots and blood in the great veins and right heart should contain few bacilli, as they have dropped out of the blood during its arterial and capillary circulation. It is possible that in an ordinary case all the tubercle bacilli entering the pulmonary veins from a primary bronchial-gland focus, and passing into the arterial blood, might disappear from the venous blood by the time it reached the right heart. That this did not take place in the case described is demonstrated by the presence of bacilli in the right auricular clot, and the numerous tuberculous thrombi and hematogenous tubercles in the pulmonary vessels. Her estimate of the number of bacilli contained in the circulating blood is based solely on the number left in the venous blood after its return to the
CSPD: An Unwanted Change in Solutions and a New Cleaning Process Emerged

CSPD: An Unwanted Change in Solutions and a New Cleaning Process Emerged ME Venker, RN, BSN MP Matt, RN, BSN M Fields, RN, BSN KM McMullen, MPH DK Warren, MD, MPH Infection Prevention and Control, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Saint Louis, MO, USA Infection Prevention and Control, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Saint Louis, MO, USA Surgical Services, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Saint Louis, MO, USA Infection Prevention and Control, Barnes-Jewish, Saint Louis, MO, USA Division of Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA
The Patient-Centered Medical Home and Community Pharmacists' Perceptions:

Background:As new models of health care delivery are being discussed, it is important to determine the pharmacist's role within each care model to assist in the provision of clinical services. Recent literature suggests that pharmacists are integral members of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) and should be included as members of the health care team. As the most accessible health care professionals, community pharmacists are uniquely positioned to play a prominent role within the PCMH, as enhanced access is one of the joint principles of the PCMH care model. To date, no studies have described the barriers to community pharmacists' participation in the PCMH model or their acceptance as members of the PCMH team.Objective:To evaluate community pharmacists' perceptions of barriers to participation and acceptance within the PCMH in a community pharmacy chain.Methods:Online surveys were made available to 244 community pharmacists working for a supermarket pharmacy chain in Ohio. Pharmacists completed th...
HUG: multi-resource fairness for correlated and elastic demands

In this paper, we study how to optimally provide isolation guarantees in multi-resource environments, such as public clouds, where a tenant's demands on different resources (links) are correlated. Unlike prior work such as Dominant Resource Fairness (DRF) that assumes static and fixed demands, we consider elastic demands. Our approach generalizes canonical max-min fairness to the multi-resource setting with correlated demands, and extends DRF to elastic demands. We consider two natural optimization objectives: isolation guarantee from a tenant's viewpoint and system utilization (work conservation) from an operator's perspective. We prove that in non-cooperative environments like public cloud networks, there is a strong tradeoff between optimal isolation guarantee and work conservation when demands are elastic. Even worse, work conservation can even decrease network utilization instead of improving it when demands are inelastic. We identify the root cause behind the tradeoff and present a provably optimal allocation algorithm, High Utilization with Guarantees (HUG), to achieve maximum attainable network utilization without sacrificing the optimal isolation guarantee, strategy-proofness, and other useful properties of DRF. In cooperative environments like private datacenter networks, HUG achieves both the optimal isolation guarantee and work conservation. Analyses, simulations, and experiments show that HUG provides better isolation guarantees, higher system utilization, and better tenant-level performance than its counterparts.
A Ladder-type Method Based Genetic Algorithm for Product Shape Design

Based on the parameterized coding of product shape,the method that lets customers participate the process is used to evaluate parameters’ weights.According to the order of the parameters’ weights,the shape coding of product design is sorted.The data is processed by the ways that degrade the ladders,and the seeking optimal is searched through interactive genetic algorithm.Then the product shape detail is determined gradually.The solving process is thoroughly based on decoded product shapes,which provides designers the visualized interface.
Amantadine in Absence Epilepsy

Refractory absence epilepsy in 4 children was treated with amantadine as an add-on drug at the Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine, Israel.
Phosphorus loading and ecological impacts from agricultural tile drains in a west Michigan watershed

Abstract Phosphorus (P) loading from nonpoint sources is often implicated as a contributing factor to the proliferation of algal blooms in freshwater ecosystems. However, the influence of subsurface tile drains as a source of P, especially in agricultural areas, has received limited attention. We examined the importance of tile drain effluent in the Macatawa Watershed; this watershed is dominated by row crop agriculture and drains into hypereutrophic Lake Macatawa, which connects to Lake Michigan. Our objectives were twofold: 1) assess the importance of tile drain effluent as a source of P in the Macatawa Watershed by measuring tile drain P concentrations spatially and temporally over a one-year period; and 2) assess the ability of tile drain effluent to stimulate algal blooms using bioassays with natural phytoplankton communities. During March 2015–February 2016, P concentrations varied significantly among sample sites (SRP:
Risk Profiles for Barrett's Esophagus Differ between New and Prevalent, and Long- and Short-Segment Cases.

Background Previous studies on Barrett’s esophagus (BE) risk factors have had differing case definitions and control groups. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in risk factors between newly diagnosed vs. prevalent BE, long- vs. short-segment BE, and endoscopy-only BE without specialized intestinal metaplasia (SIM). Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study among eligible patients scheduled for elective esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and patients eligible for screening colonoscopy, recruited from primary care clinics at a Veterans Affairs center. All participants completed a survey on demographics, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms and medication use prior to undergoing study EGD. We compared BE cases separately to two control groups: 503 primary care controls and 1353 endoscopy controls. Associations between risk factors and differing BE case definitions were evaluated with multivariate logistic regression models. Results For comparisons with primary care controls, early onset frequent GERD symptoms were more strongly associated with risk of long-segment BE (OR 19.9; 95% CI 7.96–49.7) than short-segment BE (OR 8.54; 95% CI 3.85–18.9). Likewise, the inverse association with H. pylori infection was stronger for long-segment BE (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.26–0.79) than short-segment BE (OR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.48–1.05). GERD symptoms and H. pylori infection was also more strongly associated with prevalent BE than newly diagnosed BE. Few differences were observed between BE cases and endoscopy controls. Endoscopy-only BE was associated with GERD symptoms (OR 2.25, 95% CI 1.32–3.85) and PPI/H2RA use (OR 4.44; 95% CI 2.61–7.54) but to a smaller degree than BE with SIM. Conclusion We found differences in the strength and profiles of risk factors for BE. The findings support that epidemiological studies of BE should make a distinction between long and short, new and prevalent, endoscopy-only and BE with SIM as well as type of controls.
Inhibition of respiration in rabbit proximal tubules by bromophenols and 2-bromohydroquinone.

The kidney cortex is a highly aerobic and metabolically active tissue rich in mitochondria and Na-and K-dependent adenosine triphosphatase (Na,K-ATPase) activity. The basal respiration rate of a suspension of rabbit proximal tubules utilizes 50-60 percent of the mitochondrial respiratory capacity (Harris et al., 1981). Since Na,K-ATPase-mediated ion transport consumes more metabolic energy than any other single enzymatic process within the mammalian organism, it is not surprising that rabbit proximal tubules utilize half of their basal respiration for this process (Cohen and Kamm, 1976; Harris et al., 1981). The remaining half of their basal respiration is divided between ATP generation for other processes and nonphosphorylating respiration. Using isolated mitochondria, nonphosphorylating respiration has been shown to be 5–8 percent of the basal respiration (Davis et al., 1974).
Antibodies to Cardiolipin and other Phospholipids

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the various techniques used in the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). Patients affected with APS are subject to episodes of thrombosis in arteries and/or veins, pregnancy loss (probably secondary to thrombosis of vessels in the placenta), and thrombocytopenia, associated with antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies. Diagnosis of APS is based on finding a “moderate to high” positive anticardiolipin (aCL) test and/or a lupus anticoagulants (LA) test. The anticardiolipin test was first established in 1983, using cardiolipin as an antigen, a mixture of gelatin/PBS to dilute patients' serum samples and radio-labelled anti-human IgG or IgM to detect bound anticardiolipin antibodies. IgA aCL antibodies appear to be similar to IgG aCL in terms of thrombogenicity and cofactor-requirement. Controversies reported regarding their prevalence and clinical associations still exists, which are perhaps due to the use of nonstandardized assays, and from differences in the design of the studies. Early in the development of aCL immunoassays, it was observed that most APS-associated anticardiolipin antibodies appeared to be broadly cross-reactive with other anionic phospholipids, such as phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidic acid, and phosphatidylglycerol. The use of these phospholipid antigens to coat the ELISA plates has been reported for the detection of aPL antibodies, and a number of laboratories include these tests in their test panel assays.
Fracture analysis of multi-osteon cortical bone using XFEM

Fracture analysis of a cortical bone sample from a tibia of a 70 years-old human male donor is conducted computationally using an extended finite element method. The cortical bone microstructure is represented by several osteons arranged based on bone microscopy image. The accuracy of results is examined by comparing a linear elastic fracture mechanics approach with a cohesive segment approach and varying the finite element model mesh density, element type, damage evolution, and boundary conditions. Microstructural features of cortical bone are assumed to be linear elastic and isotropic. We find that the accuracy of results is influenced by the finite element model mesh density, simulation increment size, element type, and the fracture approach type. Using a relatively fine mesh or small simulation increment size gives inaccurate results compared to using an optimized mesh density and simulation increment size. Also, mechanical properties of cortical bone phases influence the crack propagation path and speed.
Propulsion trade studies for spacecraft swarm mission design

Spacecraft swarms constitute a challenge from an orbital mechanics standpoint. Traditional mission design involves the application of methodical processes where predefined maneuvers for an individual spacecraft are planned in advance. This approach does not scale to spacecraft swarms consisting of many satellites orbiting in close proximity; non-deterministic maneuvers cannot be preplanned due to the large number of units and the uncertainties associated with their differential deployment and orbital motion. For autonomous small sat swarms in LEO, we investigate two approaches for controlling the relative motion of a swarm. The first method involves modified miniature phasing maneuvers, where maneuvers are prescribed that cancel the differential ΔV of each CubeSat's deployment vector. The second method relies on artificial potential functions (APFs) to contain the spacecraft within a volumetric boundary and avoid collisions. Performance results and required ΔV budgets are summarized, indicating that each method has advantages and drawbacks for particular applications. The mini phasing maneuvers are more predictable and sustainable. The APF approach provides a more responsive and distributed performance, but at considerable propellant cost. After considering current state of the art CubeSat propulsion systems, we conclude that the first approach is feasible, but the modified APF method of requires too much control authority to be enabled by current propulsion systems.
Should micturating cystourethrogram be routinely performed for paediatric pyeloplasty patients

Objective:Micturating cystourethrogram (MCUG) has traditionally been recommended as part of the preoperative evaluation of all cases of hydronephrosis. Several studies have shown that the majority ...