cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Association between vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration and mortality among patients with Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Importance Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) is a worldwide problem. It is unclear whether higher-vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) is associated with mortality. This potential association has direct consequences for patients and public health. Data Sources PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Evidence-based Medicine BMJ, and the American College of Physicians Journal Club were searched from inception through April 2014. Study Selection Studies reporting mortality and vancomycin MIC in patients with SAB were included. Data Extraction and Synthesis Two authors performed the literature search and the study selection separately. Random-effects modeling was used for all analyses. Main Outcomes and Measures All-cause mortality. Findings Among 38 included studies that involved 8291 episodes of SAB, overall mortality was 26.1%. The estimated mortality was 26.8% among SAB episodes (n = 2740) in patients with high-vancomycin MIC (≥1.5 mg/L) compared with 25.8% mortality among SAB episodes (n = 5551) in patients with low-vancomycin MIC ( P = .43). For the highest-quality studies, the estimated mortality was 26.2% among SAB episodes (n = 2318) in patients with high-vancomycin MIC compared with 27.8% mortality among SAB episodes (n = 4168) in patients with low-vancomycin MIC (RD, 0.9% [95% CI, −2.9% to 4.6%]; P = .65). In studies that included only methicillin-resistant S aureus infections (n = 7232), the mortality among SAB episodes (n = 2384) in patients with high-vancomycin MIC was 27.6% compared with mortality of 27.4% among SAB episodes (n = 4848) in patients with low-vancomycin MIC (adjusted RD, 1.6% [95% CI, −2.3% to 5.5%]; P = .41). No significant differences in risk of death were observed in subgroups with high-vancomycin MIC vs low-vancomycin MIC values across different study designs, microbiological susceptibility assays, MIC cutoffs, clinical outcomes, duration of bacteremia, previous vancomycin exposure, and treatment with vancomycin. Conclusions and Relevance In this meta-analysis of SAB episodes, there were no statistically significant differences in the risk of death when comparing patients with S aureus exhibiting high-vancomycin MIC (≥1.5 mg/L) to those with low-vancomycin MIC (
Multisociety task force recommendations of competencies in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

Rationale: Numerous accrediting organizations are calling for competency-based medical education that would help define specific specialties and serve as a foundation for ongoing assessment throughout a practitioner's career. Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine are two distinct subspecialties, yet many individual physicians have expertise in both because of overlapping content. Establishing specific competencies for these subspecialties identifies educational goals for trainees and guides practitioners through their lifelong learning.Objectives: To define specific competencies for graduates of fellowships in Pulmonary Medicine and Internal Medicine-based Critical Care.Methods: A Task Force composed of representatives from key stakeholder societies convened to identify and define specific competencies for both disciplines. Beginning with a detailed list of existing competencies from diverse sources, the Task Force categorized each item into one of six core competency headings. Each individual ite...
A Bayesian analysis of the multinomial probit model using marginal data augmentation

We introduce a set of new Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms for Bayesian analysis of the multinomial probit model. Our Bayesian representation of the model places a new, and possibly improper, prior distribution directlyon the identi0able parameters and thus is relativelyeasyto interpret and use. Our algorithms, which are based on the method of marginal data augmentation, involve onlydraws from standard distributions and dominate other available Bay esian methods in that theyare as quick to converge as the fastest methods but with a more attractive prior speci0cation. C-code along with an R interface for our algorithms is publiclyavailable. 1
Validation of the rheumatic disease comorbidity index.

Objective There is no consensus on which comorbidity index is optimal for rheumatic health outcomes research. We compared a new Rheumatic Disease Comorbidity Index (RDCI) with the Charlson-Deyo Index (CDI), Functional Comorbidity Index (FCI), Elixhauser Total Score (ETS), Elixhauser Point System (EPS), and a simple comorbidity count (COUNT) using a US cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Methods Using administrative diagnostic codes and patient self-reporting, we tested predictive values of the RDCI, CDI, FCI, ETS, EPS, and COUNT for 2 outcomes: all-cause mortality and physical functioning. Indices were compared using 3 models: bare (consisting of age, sex, and race), administrative (bare plus visit frequency, body mass index, and treatments), and clinic (administrative plus erythrocyte sedimentation rate, nodules, rheumatoid factor positivity, and patient activity scale). Results The ETS and RDCI best predicted death, with FCI performing the worst. The FCI best predicted function, with ETS and RDCI performing nearly as well. CDI predicted function poorly. The order of indices remained relatively unchanged in the different models, though the magnitude of improvement in Akaike's information criterion decreased in the administrative and clinic models. Conclusion The RDCI and ETS are excellent indices as a means of accounting for comorbid illness when the RA-related outcomes of death and physical functioning are studied using administrative data. The RDCI is a versatile index and appears to perform well with self-report data as well as administrative data. Further studies are warranted to compare these indices using other outcomes in diverse study populations.
Clinical predictors for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Although hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurs with increased frequency in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the exact frequency is relatively low. Optimal selection of PBC patients for HCC screening needs to be determined for effective screening. In this study, we aimed to explore clinical predictors of HCC in PBC patients. Methods: We performed a case-control study using 17 PBC patients with HCC identified from 1976 to 2002 at the Mayo Clinic. Control PBC patients who had no evidence of HCC were selected for each case by matching the first year of their visit to the Mayo Clinic. All medical information was collected within 2 years from when the cases were diagnosed with HCC. Logistic regression models were used for the analyses. Results: Age, sex, history of blood transfusion, current smoking, histologic stage at PBC diagnosis, any signs of portal hypertension, Mayo score, hemoglobin level, platelet count, aspartate aminotransferase level, and albumin level were associated with the presence of HCC ( P Conclusions: Older age, male sex, history of blood transfusion, and any signs of portal hypertension or cirrhosis indicate higher likelihood of HCC and should be considered for HCC screening. Further studies in larger patient cohorts are required to verify the diagnostic model.
Overview of viral gastroenteritis

Diarrheal illnesses in humans have been recognized since antiquity. Such illnesses continue to take a great toll of lives, with a disproportionately high mortality in infants and young children in developing countries. Bacteriologic and parasitologic advances made during the past century led to the discovery of the etiology of some of the diarrheal illnesses, but the etiology of the major portion remained unknown. It was assumed that viruses caused most of these illnesses because: (i) bacteria were recovered from only a small proportion of episodes, and (ii) bacteria-free filtrates were found to induce gastroenteritis in adult volunteer studies. However, an etiologic agent could not be recovered despite the “golden age” of virology in the 1950’s and 1960’s when tissue culture technology enabled the discovery of numerous cultivatable enteric viruses, none of which emerged as an important etiologic agent of gastroenteritis. The discoveries of the Norwalk virus in 1972, and of rotaviruses in 1973, both without the benefit of in vitro tissue culture systems, ushered in a new era in the study of the etiology of viral gastroenteritis. The Norwalk virus was found to be an important cause of non-bacterial epidemic gastroenteritis in adults and older children, and rotaviruses were shown to be the single most important etiologic agents of severe diarrheal illnesses of infants and young children in both developed and developing countries. With the major advances in the study of rotaviruses, there is a high degree of optimism that in the not-too-distant future, a rotavirus vaccine will be available. In addition, the recent molecular biologic advances in the study of the Norwalk and Norwalk-like viruses, now firmly established as caliviviruses, represent a major new horizon in the study of these viruses.
Achieving parallel communication in distributed systems

Two algorithms are used to achieve parallel communication in distributed systems. The graph coloring algorithm is used to resolve conflicts in the network and the coin-changing algorithm is used to reduce bus idling time. It is shown that by choosing a proper set of coin types (time frames), such as a geometric sequence, the greedy algorithm can always generate an optimal representation for a time requirement for a communication request. The performance evaluation shows that the decrease of network delay depends on the variance of the distribution of communication durations and the expected number of communication processes (ENP) that are being carried out at the same time interval. The higher the variance and the ENP, the greater the decrease of network delay achieved by applying the coin-changing algorithm in a dynamically partitionable bus network. >
Graphs, branchwidth, and tangles! Oh my!

Branch decomposition-based algorithms have been used in practical settings to solve some NP-hard problems like the travelling salesman problem lTSPr and general minor containment. The notions of branch decompositions and branchwidth were introduced by Robertson and Seymour to assist in proving the Graph Minors Theorem. Given a connected graph G and a branch decomposition of G of width k where k is at least 3, a practical branch decomposition-based algorithm to test whether a graph has branchwidth at most k - 1 is given. The algorithm either constructs a branch decomposition of G of width at most k - 1 or constructs a tangle basis of order k, which offers a lower bound on the branchwidth of G. The algorithm is utilized repeatedly in a practical setting to find an optimal branch decomposition of a connected graph, whose branchwidth is at least 2, given an input branch decomposition of the graph from a heuristic. This is the first algorithm for the optimal branch decomposition problem for general graphs that has been shown to be practical. Computational results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of finding optimal branch decompositions. A tangle basis is related to a tangle, a notion also introduced by Robertson and Seymour; however, a tangle basis is more constructive in nature. Furthermore, it is shown that a tangle basis of order k is coextensive to a tangle of order k. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 45l2r, 55–60 2005
Conformational energy calculations on Substance P

The conformational and spacial configurations of the biologically active undecapeptide, Substance P, were studied using conformational energy calculations. Low energy conformers of residues 1–5 and 6–11 were found by energy minimization and the two fragments were then combined to find low-energy structures for Substance P. Several configurational classes were found with different backbone conformations. A comparison of the final low-energy structures with data from biological tests on analogs of Substance P gives some insight into the conformation required for interaction at the biological receptor.
Murine GBP-5, a new member of the murine guanylate-binding protein family, is coordinately regulated with other GBPs in vivo and in vitro.

A new murine member of the interferon (IFN)-inducible guanylate-binding protein (GBP) family was cloned in a search for glucocorticoid-attenuated response genes induced in the lung during endotoxemia. The full-length MuGBP-5 cDNA encodes a 590 amino acid residue protein with GTP binding motifs identical to those in human GBP-1 (HuGBP-1) and a similar isoprenylation sequence at the C-terminus. An alternatively spliced form of MuGBP-5 that lacks the second GTP binding motif and differs at the C-terminus was also identified. The MuGBP-5 gene is located on chromosome 3, near MuGBP-3 and MuGBP-2, and has a genomic organization similar to other GBP genes. To facilitate the evaluation of GBP family message expression, we constructed RNase protection assay probes for MuGBP-1, MuGBP-2, MuGBP-3, MuGBP-4/Mag-2 (macrophage activation gene-2), and MuGBP-5 and validated their use in Swiss Webster, BALB/c, and C57BL/6 mice. In BALB/c mice, all five MuGBPs were induced in multiple organs during endotoxemia, and all had a...
Hemodynamic comparison of endocardial pacing of outflow and inflow tracts of the right ventricle

Abstract The hemodynamic effects of pacing the outflow tract of the right ventricle were compared to those of pacing the inflow tract of the right ventricle at identical rates over a wide range of rates in subjects with either normal or abnormal A-V conduction. The results demonstrate that the hemodynamic sequelae of pacing the outflow and inflow tracts of the right ventricle are essentially similar and do not differ statistically. This study offers additional evidence of the relatively unimportant role of ventricular asynchrony in the cardiac performance in man.
Optimal controller synthesis of variable-time impulsive problems using single network adaptive critics

This paper presents a systematic approach to solve for the optimal control of a variable-time impulsive system. First, optimality condition for a variable-time impulsive system is derived using the calculus of variations method. Next, a single network adaptive critic technique is proposed to numerically solve for the optimal control and the detailed algorithm is presented. Finally, two examples-one linear and one nonlinear-are solved applying the conditions derived and the algorithm proposed. Numerical results demonstrate the power of the neural network based adaptive critic method in solving this class of problems.
Reconfigurable transmissive/reflective metamaterial slab in the near IR

A near-IR reconfigurable transmissive/reflective metamaterial film has been presented. It consists of a doubly-periodic array of sub-wavelength resonators composed of a layer of an anisotropic LC sandwiched between two silver nanoplates. Full-wave analysis of the GA-optimized design predicted a transmittance difference of 98.6% by tuning the LC response at a wavelength of 1.1 mum.
Design technique for high power, high efficiency, broadband distributed amplifiers

It is shown that the power performance of distributed amplifiers can be greatly improved by designing the circuit so that the proper power match is presented to each device across the entire frequency range, even when the amplifier is designed for optimal small signal characteristics. This has been achieved by using a modified computer-aided design technique. The technique has been applied to an MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) distributed power amplifier design, with the result that improved efficiency (10-13%) and constant output power (>25 dBm) were achieved over the 6-18 GHz band, whereas conventionally designed circuits show 4-6-dB power degradation. >
GPU-based cone beam computed tomography

The use of cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) is growing in the clinical arena due to its ability to provide 3D information during interventions, its high diagnostic quality (sub-millimeter resolution), and its short scanning times (60s). In many situations, the short scanning time of CBCT is followed by a time-consuming 3D reconstruction. The standard reconstruction algorithm for CBCT data is the filtered backprojection, which for a volume of size 256^3 takes up to 25min on a standard system. Recent developments in the area of Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) make it possible to have access to high-performance computing solutions at a low cost, allowing their use in many scientific problems. We have implemented an algorithm for 3D reconstruction of CBCT data using the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) provided by NVIDIA (NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, California), which was executed on a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280. Our implementation results in improved reconstruction times from minutes, and perhaps hours, to a matter of seconds, while also giving the clinician the ability to view 3D volumetric data at higher resolutions. We evaluated our implementation on ten clinical data sets and one phantom data set to observe if differences occur between CPU and GPU-based reconstructions. By using our approach, the computation time for 256^3 is reduced from 25min on the CPU to 3.2s on the GPU. The GPU reconstruction time for 512^3 volumes is 8.5s.
Wirability of logic circuit packages in LSI and VLSI

The problems of designing and manufacturing systems made from integrated circuits have been changing rapidly as semiconductor technology has made greater circuit densities possible. Because of this rapid rate of change and the short time available for system design, it is essential to have reasonably accurate preliminary estimates of logic circuit counts, package sizes, and costs, as well as of design schedules. By preliminary, we mean prior to availability of circuit level system logic designs and/or prior to availability of partitioning, placement, and wiring aids to layout in a particular technology. The problem is complicated by the difference in difficulty between the predictability of wiring demand on packages with regular arrays of logic carriers and packages containing variably sized and shaped groups of logic circuits. Methods have been developed for preliminary estimation of wiring capacity in both these situations, and both methods and results will be discussed.
Dynamic Control of an M/M/1 Service System with Adjustable Arrival and Service Rates

We study a service facility in which the system manager dynamically controls the arrival and service rates to maximize the long-run average value generated. We initially consider a rate-setting problem where the service facility is modeled as an M/M/1 queue with adjustable arrival and service rates and solve this problem explicitly. Next, we use this solution to study a price-setting problem, where customers are utility maximizing and price- and delay-sensitive, and the system manager chooses state-dependent service rates and prices. We find that the optimal arrival rate is decreasing and the optimal service rate is increasing in the number of customers in the system; however, the optimal price need not be monotone. We also show that under the optimal policy, the service facility operates as one with a finite buffer. Finally, we study a numerical example to compare the social welfare achieved using a dynamic policy to that achieved using static policies and show the dynamic policy offers significant welfare gains.
Be Careful What You Ask for: The Repeal of the Boren Amendment and Continuing Federal Responsibility to Assure that State Medicaid Programs Pay for Cost Effective Quality Nursing Facility Care

In the early 1980s, largely at the urging of the states, Congress enacted the Boren Amendment to the Medicaid Act. The Boren Amendment provided standards governing the development and adequacy of Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes. Most importantly, from the states' point of view, the Boren Amendment transferred authority for validating the states' compliance with federal requirements from the federal government to the states. The states expected that they had acquired unfettered discretion to determine Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes. However, the courts ruled that the states' discretion was not unlimited and required states to have empirical evidence that Medicaid paid the cost of delivering care in compliance with quality standards. As a result, after intense lobbying, the states secured the Boren Amendment's repeal in 1977. Many proclaimed that repeal of the Boren Amendment precluded provider challenges to the adequacy of Medicaid payments. The Medicaid Act, however, continues to contain standards that non-institutional providers have used to challenge Medicaid rates for many years. Repeal of the Boren Amendment remands institutional providers to the payment standards and legal remedies utilized by non-institutional providers. According to the Act, State Medicaid Plans must assure payments consistent with efficiency, economy, quality of care and equality of access to health care. The history of the statute makes clear that the standards are judicially enforceable. Courts routinely enforce the provisions, requiring that the payment methodology be supported by a procedurally sound, principled analysis. The Department of Health and Human Services also has refused approval of State Plans when a state fails to demonstrate a nexus between Medicaid payments and the statutory factors. Thus, contrary to the hopes of the states, repeal of the Boren Amendment has not insulated state Medicaid payments from judicial review and, moreover, may once again subject the reimbursement provisions of State Medicaid Plans to federal administrative oversight.
Celling SHIM: compiling deterministic concurrency to a heterogeneous multicore

Parallel architectures are the way of the future, but are notoriously difficult to program. In addition to the low-level constructs they often present (e.g., locks, DMA, and non-sequential memory models), most parallel programming environments admit data races: the environment may make nondeterministic scheduling choices that can change the function of the program.We believe the solution is model-based design, where the programmer is presented with a constrained higher-level language that prevents certain unwanted behavior. In this paper, we describe a compiler for the SHIM scheduling-independent concurrent language that generates code for the Cell Broadband heterogeneous multicore processor. The complexity of the code our compiler generates relative to the source illustrates how difficult it is to manually write code for the Cell.We demonstrate the efficacy of our compiler on two examples. While the SHIM language is (by design) not ideal for every algorithm, it works well for certain applications and simplifies the parallel programming process, especially on the Cell architecture.
Field of Schemes: Health Insurance Fraud in the Small Business Sector

This article uses case studies to investigate the theft of employee health benefits, a crime most prevalent in the small firm segment of the health insurance market. We argue that this phenomenon reveals new, emerging economic contexts for white-collar crime that need to be conceptualized. Conventional theories of white-collar crime typically focus on corporate settings in well-institutionalized markets. However, the wave of health insurance fraud has emerged in the wake of corporate retrenchment and other market shifts. We use network theoriesto explain how white-collar criminals can position themselves as brokers and exploit a market segment unsettled by several developments: labor market changes that left many workers desperate to secure jobs with benefits; a retrenchment of large providers and other shifts in the health insurance market that made it more difficult for small firms to obtain employee coverage; and the passage of new laws on employee health plans beset with ambiguities and loopholes. We conclude that unscrupulous brokers construct schemes that take advantage of structural and institutional gaps in this market segment. Moreover, we propose that these white-collar criminals' social skills and networks aid them in constructing these deceptions.
Contraception and Adolescent Males: An Opportunity for Providers

Abstract Purpose To examine young men's awareness of emergency contraception (EC) and its association with their contraceptive decision-making contributions within a relationship. Methods A convenience sample of English-speaking male patients aged 13–24 years were surveyed regarding their childbearing intentions, contraceptive awareness (including EC), perceived contraceptive knowledge, and communication about birth control with providers and within a relationship. Results An ethnically diverse sample of adolescent males was recruited with a mean age of 18.9 years. Most had previously been sexually active (75%) and felt it was important to avoid pregnancy (84%) and 61% reported ever having spoken to a health care provider about birth control (other than condoms), but only 42% had heard of EC. Participants who had heard of EC were more likely to have spoken to a health care provider about contraception in the past (51.5% vs. 29.8%; p = .050), to feel they should participate in contraceptive decisions in a relationship (97.4% vs. 76.5%; p = .006), and to have discussed contraception with a partner (76.9% vs. 29.2%; p Conclusions Counseling young men about EC, as well as other methods of birth control, may empower them to become actively involved in contraceptive decisions within a relationship if they do not desire fatherhood.
Amputations in an Ischemic Limb

A 70 year old white male hospitalized for pneumonia is discovered to have a Stage IV heel ulcer on his left foot by the nursing staff. The patient describes no pain at the site of the ulcer, and has no previous history of sores on his lower extremities. He denies a history of diabetes, but states that he has been having progressive difficulty lately in walking distances due to cramps in his calves bilaterally. His past medical history is significant for hypertension and stable angina, for which he takes nitrates and a beta-blocker. His only previous surgery was a right inguinal herniorrhaphy 30 years ago. He admits to a 50 pack-year tobacco history, and still smokes.
Should the Rate Making Unit Be Fixed by Statute

IN THE early days of utility regulation the municipality was the area of operation of the average public service company. The typical plant was a locally owned and operated corporate entity seldom serving more than the one community. In consequence the municipality became first in fact the basic unit of rate regulation. Rates were fixed by contract and ordinance. The early statutes recognized this essentially local character of utility operations, and commonly authorized the municipalities to regulate rate and service matters within their borders. With the subsequent development of utility service came the statutes creating state regulatory commissions or authorizing the older warehouse and railroad commissions to deal with the utility enterprises. These statutes commonly provided for hearings upon complaint of a municipality or a specified number of residents. In addition many of these statutes prohibited utility companies from granting or maintaining undue preferences or advantages in rates in one locality to the prejudice of other localities. Schedule making retained its local significance, tariffs being commonly devised for application to particular towns and cities. Thus has rate making retained an essentially local characteristic.
MRI-aided PET imaging of pancreatic β-cell mass changes in mice

1583 Objectives Diabetes onset starts upon 10% of pancreatic β-cell mass (BCM) loss. However, current clinical diagnostic methods of diabetes can only reflect the disease status when half of BCM is lost. Therefore, an imaging technique that enables noninvasive assessment of the BCM change would be desirable. Given the sparse distribution and low abundance of BCM in pancreas, PET is advantageous in this regard due to its inherent high sensitivity. However, its spatial resolution impedes the quantitative imaging analysis of BCM. To tackle this challenge, a prototype mouse positioning device was designed to scan a mouse by both MRI and PET without dislocating the main body so that the superior soft tissue contrast and high spatial resolution of MRI can be used for quantitative PET imaging analysis. Methods Normal and Streptozotocin (STZ)-treated mice were used in this study. Prior to their PET scans, mice were placed on the positioning device and subjected to MR imaging using a Varian 7-T small animal MR system. Subsequently, animals were i.v. injected with a 68Ga-labeled bicyclic GLP-1 analog (EM2198) for following PET scan. A 30-60 min dynamic scan was performed on a Siemens Inveon PET/CT to evaluate the BCM change prior- and post-STZ-treatment. The quantitative imaging analysis was performed on fused MRI/PET images. Ex vivo PET/CT scans were conducted to verify the in vivo observations. Results Pancreas area can be outlined using PD-T1-mixed weighted MR imaging. With the high spatial resolution MR imaging as the source of ROI, the fused MRI/PET images showed the specific pancreas uptake difference in normal and diabetic mice measured by the pancreas-to-kidney uptake ratios of 1.032 and 0.239, respectively. The result was further confirmed by the ex vivo scans. Conclusions We have demonstrated a practical MRI-aided PET imaging method for mouse pancreas visualization and quantitative analysis of BCM changes. Research Support NIH (P01 DK058398), JDRF (37-2009-13), and Welch Foundation (AT-1595)
GARD: Generic access rights delegation framework for collaborative environment

Delegation of access rights is becoming a common requirement of cloud based organizations. In this regard, various delegation models have been proposed. These models are strongly coupled with their specific access control model (ACM). For instance, if organization has deployed Role based Access Control (RBAC) model then it must use Role Based Delegation Model (RBDM). Similarly, Attribute Based Access Control (ABAC) model requires Attribute Based Delegation (ABDM) and so on. However, when organizations need to work in a collaborative environment, their heterogeneous environment in the context of ACMs, makes the delegation process difficult to achieve. To solve this issue, we have proposed a Generic Access Rights Delegation (GARD) framework for collaborative environment. We have considered group-centric Secure Information Sharing (g-SIS) model to develop a collaborative environment. Our framework generates a delegation policy as per underlying ACM of participating organization, dynamically. GARD provides interoperability between different ACMs during generation of delegation policies.
Optimal Limit-versus-Market Order Slicing Under a VWAP Benchmark - Continuous Case

Algorithmic brokers benchmarked to TWAP or VWAP face a limit-order market-order tradeoff when slicing orders. Executing market orders keeps them on schedule but is costly. Executing limit orders saves spread but can lead to schedule slippage. We build on our results in the discrete shares case Li [2012] to present an optimal solution for execution in light of this tradeoff in the limit of continuous shares. As in the discrete case, the optimal solution is described in terms of a forward and backward boundary which define how many limit orders should be placed on the order book and when to execute market orders. Closed-form solutions for the boundaries are derived for the “stationary limit.” These boundaries can be computed numerically in the general case.
The Effect on Blood Sugar of Injections of Bacteria.

Intercurrent infection unfavorably influences the course of diabetes. Graham1 finds that infection may be instrumental in precipitating the diabetic into a state of coma. Graham1 and also Rabinowitch2 report that infection diminishes the potency of insulin. The dosage required to lower the blood sugar to a certain level is much greater in a diabetic in whom infection is present than in one without this complication. Clinical evidence is accumulating with reference to the fact that infection, focal or generalized, may be an etiological factor in diabetes mellitus. Rosenow has recently demonstrated a relation between focal infection and this disease.3Infection in the non-diabetic has been reported by several investigators to give rise to hyperglycemia.4 The invading organism is believed to lower the carbohydrate tolerance.5 Menten and Manning,6 and Jeckwer and Goodell7 have demonstrated hyperglycemia as a result of the injection of some types of bacteria. Thomas8 observed that guinea pigs in whose organs ba...
CORRELATIONAL SELECTION FOR COLOR PATTERN AND ANTIPREDATOR BEHAVIOR IN THE GARTER SNAKE THAMNOPHIS ORDINOIDES

Correlational selection favors combinations of traits and is a key element of many models of phenotypic and genetic evolution. Multiple regression techniques for measuring selection allow for the direct estimation of correlational selection gradients, yet few studies in natural populations have investigated this process. Color patterns and antipredator behaviors of snakes are thought to function interactively in predator escape and therefore may be subject to correlational selection. To investigate this hypothesis, I studied the survivorship of juvenile garter snakes, Thamnophis ordinoides, as a function of a suite of escape behaviors and color pattern. The only natural selection detected favored opposite combinations of stripedness of the color pattern and the tendency to perform during escape evasive behaviors called reversals. This selection presumably results from optical illusions created by moving patterns and their effects on visually foraging predators. Analysis of the bivariate selection surface shows that pure correlational selection can be thought of as a series of linear selection functions on one trait whose slopes depend on the value of the second trait. Alternatively, viewing the selection surface along its major axes reveals stabilizing and disruptive components of correlational selection. It is further shown that correlational selection alone can promote genetic variance and covariance within a generation. This phenomenon may be partially responsible for the extreme variation in color pattern and the genetic covariance between color pattern and behavior observed in natural populations of T. ordinoides.
MirrorFugue for the Composer, Performer and Improviser

This video illustrates the usage of an integrated workbench for learning and composing music on the piano. Built on a Yamaha Disklavier augmented with projection, the system suports music represented either as symbolic notation or as MirrorFugue, where virtual hands projected on the keyboard appear to physically plays the piano [1]. The story of two friends collaborating on the creation of an original composition depicts how the system may be used to record musical ideas on the fly, how to annotate scores with playing, and how these annotations may aid the learning of expressive nuance. Built on a semi-functioning prototype, this video explores how the symbolic and embodied understandings of music may complement each other in the learning and creative process.
Hamstring-tendon transplantation for the relief of quadriceps femoris paralysis in residual poliomyelitis; a follow-up study of 134 cases.

On the basis of a follow-up study of 134 hamstring transplantations, the following conclusions are given: 1. Hamstring substitution for residual quadriceps paralysis in poliomyelitis is a highly satisfactory operative procedure. 2. Simultaneous transplantation of the biceps femoris and semitendinosus to the patella is a much more satisfactory reconstructive procedure and produces far better results than transplantation of the biceps alone. 3. Certain principles governing selection of cases, operative technique, and postoperative care, as set forth in the original report of this series of cases, have been altered in accordance with the analysis of results.
Dynamics of Metabolism and Decision Making During Alcohol Consumption: Modeling and Analysis

Heavy alcohol consumption is considered an important public health issue in the United States as over 88 000 people die every year from alcohol-related causes. Research is being conducted to understand the etiology of alcohol consumption and to develop strategies to decrease high-risk consumption and its consequences, but there are still important gaps in determining the main factors that influence the consumption behaviors throughout the drinking event. There is a need for methodologies that allow us not only to identify such factors but also to have a comprehensive understanding of how they are connected and how they affect the dynamical evolution of a drinking event. In this paper, we use previous empirical findings from laboratory and field studies to build a mathematical model of the blood alcohol concentration dynamics in individuals that are in drinking events. We characterize these dynamics as the result of the interaction between a decision-making system and the metabolic process for alcohol. We provide a model of the metabolic process for arbitrary alcohol intake patterns and a characterization of the mechanisms that drive the decision-making process of a drinker during the drinking event. We use computational simulations and Lyapunov stability theory to analyze the effects of the parameters of the model on the blood alcohol concentration dynamics that are characterized. Also, we propose a methodology to inform the model using data collected in situ and to make estimations that provide additional information to the analysis. We show how this model allows us to analyze and predict previously observed behaviors, to design new approaches for the collection of data that improves the construction of the model, and help with the design of interventions.
Application of a transverse phase-space measurement technique for high-brightness, H/sup -/ beams to the GTA H beam

The Ground Test Accelerator (GTA) had the objective of producing a high-brightness, high-current H/sup -/ beam. The major components were a 35 keV injector, a Radio Frequency Quadrupole, an intertank matching section, and a drift tube linac, consisting of 10 modules. A technique for measuring the transverse phase-space of high-power density beams has been developed and tested. This diagnostic has been applied to the GTA H/sup -/ beam. Experimental results are compared to the slit and collector technique for transverse phase-space measurements and to simulations.
SRAM stability analysis for different cache configurations due to Bias Temperature Instability and Hot Carrier Injection

Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) and Hot Carrier Injections (HCI) are two of the main effects that increase a transistor's threshold voltage and further cause performance degradations. These two wearout mechanisms affect all transistors, but are especially acute in the SRAM cells of first-level (L1) caches, which are frequently accessed and are critical for microprocessor performance. This work studies the cache lifetimes due to the combined effect of BTI and HCI for different cache configurations, including variation in cache size, associativity, cache line size, and the replacement algorithm. The effect of process variations is also considered. We analyze the reliability (failure probability) and performance (hit rate) of the L1 cache within a LEON3 microprocessor, while the LEON3 is running a set of benchmarks, and we provide essential insights on performance-reliability tradeoffs for cache designers.
Interactions of Lactobacillus and Propionibacterium in Mixed Culture.

Four species of Lactobacillus ( L. acidophilus , L. casei , L. delbrueckii and L. bulgaricus ) were paired with four species of Propionibacterium ( P. pentosaceum , P. shermanii , P. acidipropionici and P. freudenreichii ) and were grown in pure and mixed culture to assess associative interactions. Experiments were performed using a defined synthetic medium with glucose as an energy source and casamino acids as a nitrogen source. A differential respirometer (32°C) and Warburg flasks were used; growth, carbon dioxide, and acid production were measured. Fifteen of the 16 paired cultures had less growth, acid, and carbon dioxide produced than pure culture controls. In some pairs, both cultures were inhibited by mixed cultivation while in others only the Propionibacterium was inhibited. In several mixtures, the Lactobacillus culture was apparently unaffected by mixed culturing. In P. shermanii and L. acidophilus mixed culture, a beneficial synergistic effect on growth, carbon dioxide, and volatile and nonvolatile acid production was observed. Little lactate accumulated in the mixed culture medium and was apparently used as an energy source and resulted in increased carbon dioxide and acid production by the P. shermanii .
Recording of Ionic Currents Under Physiological Conditions: Action Potential-Clamp and ‘Onion-Peeling’ Techniques

Upon stimulation, excitable cells generate a transient change in the membrane potential called Action Potential (AP). The AP is governed by numerous ionic currents that flow in or out of the cell membrane. The goal of cellular electrophysiology is to understand the role of individual ionic currents and the interplay between currents in determining the profile and time course of AP. A critically important question of the field is how the ionic currents behave individually and interact collectively during the AP cycle of an excitable cell? To answer this question we need to know the dynamic behavior of ionic currents during AP and how these currents work in concert to determine the cell’s membrane potential at every moment.
Medium-Term Outcomes After Implantation of Expanded Polytetrafluoroethylene Valved Conduit

Background Pulmonary valve replacement is becoming the most frequent congenital heart surgery performed on adolescents and young adults. Numerous surgical options are available, including autologous pericardium, mechanical valves, allografts, and bioprosthetic valves. Each option has limitations with durability and freedom from reintervention for stenosis or insufficiency, particularly in the pediatric population. The purpose of this study was to analyze our uniquely designed, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) valved conduit (VC) for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction. Methods Beginning in 2012, ePTFE VC were implanted in 26 patients with a median age of 9.8 years (range, 1.0 to 15.9). Bicuspid VC were used in the first 3 patients, and tricuspid VC were used in 23 patients. The ePTFE VC is fashioned from commercially available ePTFE tube graft (16 mm in 1 patient, 20 mm in 7 patients, 24 mm in 18 patients) and 0.1 mm thick ePTFE membrane for the leaflet material. Valve function was assessed by echocardiogram after the implantation. Results There were no postoperative hospital deaths. Mean follow-up was 2.6 years (range, 4 months to 4.7 years), and there have been no reoperations for the ePTFE VC. There was one reintervention for stenosis at the distal anastomosis. Pulmonary insufficiency was mild or less in 24 patients (92%). The average peak instantaneous pressure gradient between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery was 22.4 ± 15.1 mm Hg at latest follow-up. Conclusions Compared with historical data for other pulmonary valve replacement options, our ePTFE VC shows superior medium-term performance, with less reintervention or significant valve dysfunction.
Gene Therapy With Regulatory T Cells: A Beneficial Alliance.

Gene therapy aims to replace a defective or deficient protein at therapeutic or curative levels. Improved vector designs have enhanced safety, efficacy and delivery, with potential for lasting treatment. However, innate and adaptive immune responses to the viral vector and transgene product remain obstacles to the establishment of therapeutic efficacy. It is widely accepted that endogenous regulatory T cells (Tregs) are critical for tolerance induction to the transgene product and in some cases, the viral vector. There are two basic strategies to harness the suppressive ability of Tregs: in vivo induction of adaptive Tregs specific to the introduced gene product, or concurrent administration of autologous, ex vivo expanded Tregs. The latter may be polyclonal or engineered to direct specificity to the therapeutic antigen. Recent clinical trials have advanced adoptive immunotherapy with Tregs for the treatment of autoimmune disease and in patients receiving cell transplants. Here, we highlight the potential benefit of combining gene therapy with Treg adoptive transfer to achieve sustained transgene expression. Furthermore, techniques to engineer antigen specific Treg cell populations, either through reprograming conventional CD4+ T cells or transferring T cell receptors with known specificity into polyclonal Tregs, are promising in pre-clinical studies. Thus, based upon these observations and the successful use of chimeric [IgG-based] antigen receptors (CARs) in antigen-specific effector T cells, different types of CAR Tregs could be added to the repertoire of inhibitory modalities to suppress immune responses to therapeutic cargos of gene therapy vectors. The diverse approaches to harness the ability of Tregs to suppress unwanted immune responses to gene therapy and their perspectives are reviewed in this article.
Internet research : The role of the focus group

Abstract LIS researchers have used the face-to-face focus group interview for many years. Other researchers have recently embraced a new rendition of the focus group—the online focus group. This article examines face-to-face and online focus group modes through a review of actual research experiences using the two approaches. Relevant literature is considered. Comparisons are then drawn as to similarities and contrasts in methodology, group dynamics, and group communication. Within this context, possible applications of the online focus group approach for library and information science researchers and practitioners can be considered. Rapid development of technology coupled with the face-to-face and the online focus group approaches may allow the creation and implementation of the hybrid version, the virtual focus group.
Potassium conductances in cultured bovine and human retinal pigment epithelium.

Purpose. To identify K + conductances on the apical and basolateral membranes in cultured monolayers of fetal bovine and human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Methods. Bovine and human RPE cells were grown on a permeable substrate for an average of 4 and 25 months, respectively, mounted in a modified Ussing chamber that allowed rapid solution changes at both membranes, and perfused with modified Ringer's solutions. Conventional microelectrode recording techniques were used to record intracellularly from RPE cells. Results. Electrical parameters under control conditions for bovine (n=11) and human (n=7) cultures respectively, were: transepithelial potential, 0.6±0.2 and 3.2±0.5 mV; R t , 70±12and 227±30 ohm.cm 2 ; and V ap , -61±3 and -51±2 mV (mean±SEM). The relative K + +conductance (T K ) was estimated from responses to 10-fold increases in [K + ] o . For the apical and basal membranes, the values for T K were 0.65 and 0.37, respectively, in bovine and 0.33 and 0.45, respectively, in human RPE. Barium applied to either surface of the cultures produced membrane depolarizations and suppressed the responses significantly to K + . In bovine, a 10-fold decrease in basal [K + ] o hyperpolarized V ba by 2±1 mV; a similar decrease in apical [K + ] o hyperpolarized V ap by 14±1I mV. At both membranes, perfusion with Ba 2+ unmasked a significant membrane depolarization induced by lowering [K + ] o ; this phenomenon, observed previously at the apical membrane in fresh explant bovine, frog, and toad RPE, appears to be an unmasking of Na + /K + pump modulation by K + . Conclusions. These results indicate the presence of Ba 2+ sensitive K + conductances at the apical and basal membranes of confluent monolayers of cultured fetal human and bovine RPE and the presence of Na + /K + pump sites at both membranes of cultured bovine cells