cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Value at Risk

This article is a self-contained introduction to the concept and methodology of value at risk (VAR), a recently developed tool for measuring an entity's exposure to market risk. We explain the concept of VAR and then describe in detail the three methods for computing it—historical simulation, the delta-normal method, and Monte Carlo simulation. We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the three methods for computing VAR. Finally, we briefly describe stress testing and two alternative measures of market risk.
Facilitative Social Change Leadership Theory: 10 Recommendations toward Effective Leadership

In the fast pace of the 21 st century there is a demand for effective leaders capable of handling the internal and external changes occurring in our organizations. This paper seeks to inform the reader because change is natural; it is constant; it is inevitable. But, what constitutes effective leadership is the question? The main purpose of this paper is to offer 10 recommendations toward effective leadership that are outcomes of an eclectic leadership approach – Facilitative Social Change Leadership Theory (FSCL). The FSCL approach is a melding of Social Change Theory, Social Change Leadership Theory, and Transformational Leadership Theory as well as the work of Tichy and DeVanna.
Maintaining good performance in disk arrays during failure via uniform parity group distribution

Disk arrays are increasingly being used in distributed computing systems, as the vehicle for providing reliable and high performance data storage. When a disk in a RAID-5 fails, data in that failed disk can still be made available through parity reconstruction by reading from the other disks. However, this poses an increased burden on the surviving disks, and if consideration is not given to this failure consequence, then the performance of the system may degrade to an unacceptable level. This paper describes techniques that will enable the disk array to maintain good performance in the event of a disk failure. After a failed disk has been repaired, its content must be reconstructed from all the associated parity groups. In RAID-5, this must be a single thread sequential process. With the techniques introduced in this paper, it is shown how this sequential process can now be broken down into multiple parallel processes distributed throughout the array, thus shortening the reconstruction time. While the techniques introduced in this paper are applied to disk arrays, they may potentially have general applications in other areas of distributed computing. >
Effects of multidisciplinary prenatal care and delivery mode on gastroschisis outcomes.

Abstract Background/Purpose This study examined the effects of multidisciplinary prenatal care and delivery mode on gastroschisis outcomes, with adjustment for key confounding variables. Methods This retrospective cohort study included all gastroschisis patients treated at a single tertiary children's hospital between 1999 and 2009. Prenatal care, delivery mode (vaginal vs cesarean section before labor vs after labor), patient characteristics, and clinical outcomes were determined by chart review. Time to discontinuation of parenteral nutrition (PN) was the primary outcome of interest. Effects of multidisciplinary prenatal care and delivery mode were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression models that included gestational age, birth weight, sex, concomitant intestinal complications, and year of admission. Results Of 167 patients included, 46% were delivered vaginally, 69% received multidisciplinary prenatal care, and median time to PN discontinuation was 38 days. On multivariable modeling, gestational age, uncomplicated gastroschisis, and year of admission were significant predictors of early PN independence. Delivery mode and prenatal care had no independent effect on outcomes, although patients receiving multidisciplinary prenatal care were more likely to be born at term (49% vs 27%, P = .01). Conclusions Gestational age and intestinal complications are the major determinants of outcome in gastroschisis. Multidisciplinary prenatal care may facilitate term delivery.
How is tobacco treatment provided during drug treatment

The purpose of this study was to obtain descriptions of tobacco treatment services across different substance abuse treatment settings. We conducted mixed-method assessments in eight facilities among eight directors, 25 staff, 29 clients, and 82 client charts. Measures included systems assessment, chart reviews, and semistructured interviews. Although many programs reported they offer key components of evidence-based treatment, few actually provided any treatment and none did so systematically. Many addressed tobacco as part of drug education or part of a health promotion session. Chart reviews suggested that provision of tobacco treatment is rare. By many reports, clients had to specifically request treatment and few staff reported encouraging unmotivated smokers to quit. Systems to facilitate consistent, evidence-based tobacco treatment and to implement quality improvement were nonexistent. The findings imply that drug treatment facilities may need to build capacity in several domains to deliver care that is consistent with national guidelines.
Digital image acquisition in in vivo confocal microscopy.

SUMMARY A flexible system for the real-time acquisition of in vivo images has been developed. Images are generated using a tandem scanning confocal microscope interfaced to a low-light-level camera. The video signal from the camera is digitized and stored using a Gould image processing system with a real-time digital disk (RTDD). The RTDD can store up to 3200 512 times 512 pixel images at video rates (30 images s−1). Images can be input directly from the camera during the study, or off-line from a Super VHS video recorder. Once a segment of experimental interest is digitized onto the RTDD, the user can interactively step through the images, average stable sequences, and identify candidates for further processing and analysis. Examples of how this system can be used to study the physiology of various organ systems in vivo are presented.
Nanoindentation on Contamination-Free gold Films Using the Atomic Force Microscope

Nanoindentation experiments on high quality Au films were performed in vacuum using an atomic force microscope. In these experiments, elastic behavior was observed until loading forces greater than ~ 20 nN were applied. For loads larger than this, systematic changes in the jump-to-contact, loading/unloading and lift-off regions of the data occur. These observations are consistent with a transition from elastic to inelastic behavior during indentation.
TreeLign: simultaneous stepwise alignment and phylogenetic positioning, with its application to automatic phylogenetic assignment of 16S rRNAs

Phylogenetic assignment of 16s rRNA has been frequently used for taxonomic classification. Recently, high-throughput sequencing, especially in the context of environmental or metagenomic sequencing projects, has made fast and accurate taxonomic classification an important goal. Existing classification methods are either fast, but too coarse-grained and inaccurate or fine-grained and accurate but too slow for use in practice. In this paper, we propose a new computational method, TreeLign, to rapidly and accurately conduct alignment and phylogenetic assignments for novel sequences, given a reference phylogenetic tree and an alignment. TreeLign first constructs profiles of every branch on the reference tree, then, for each query sequence, tries assigning it to every possible branch, and finally obtains a new tree and a new alignment which are jointly optimal in terms of Maximum Parsimony (MP). We tested the accuracy and robustness of TreeLign on both a large and a small 16S rRNA dataset extracted from the core set of GreenGenes. The results on the large dataset show that the assignments of TreeLign are in general consistent with the phylogenetic tree of the core set of GreenGenes. And, the results on the small dataset show that TreeLign achieves comparable accuracy compared with existing maximum likelihood based methods, but requires much less computational time.
Effect of Several Anticonvulsant Drugs and Procainamide against Ouabain-Induced Cardiac Arrhythmias in Rabbits

Sodium diphenylhydantoin, trimethadione, mephenytoin, ethotoin, methsuximide, and procainamide were compared for their ability to antagonize ouabain-induced cardiac arrhythmias in anesthetized rabbits. Diphenylhydantoin (40 mg./kg. i.v.) prevented the development of arrhythmia in four of six rabbits and significantly prolonged the onset of arrhythmia in the remaining two animals. Pretreatment with either procainamide (25 mg./kg. i.v.) or trimethadione (500 mg./kg. i.v.) significantly delayed arrhythmia onset but failed to block the appearance of ouabain-induced arrhythmias. Mephenytoin, ethotoin, and methsuximide did not exhibit antiarrhythmic activity at nontoxic doses in this test system.
Bioinspired Environmental Coordination in Spatial Computing Systems

Spatial computing systems are characterized by the extended physical environment in which they exist and function. Often this environment can be manipulated in various ways by the computing agents. We argue that it is important to consider the potential use of the environment for coordination and indirect communication in such systems. For inherently spatial problems, it can be more effective to store spatially relevant information in the environment rather than in the computing devices, as in the case of mobile agents or long-term physical structures. In scientific settings, considering the role of the environment can illuminate mechanisms or processes that might otherwise be overlooked; in engineering problems, it can provide simpler and more effective solutions than could be achieved by relying on the computing devices alone. We give as examples problems related to foraging, collective construction, simultaneous localization and mapping, object tracking, and behaviors of living tissues. We suggest in closing a classification scheme for capabilities of environmental elements, relevant to the design of physically embodied spatial computing systems.
X-Ray Crystallography: The Past and Present of the Phase Problem

The story of the progress thus far made on the phase problem of X-ray crystallography is briefly reviewed.
Performance implications of fence-based memory models

Most mainstream shared-memory parallel programming languages are converging to a memory model, or shared variable semantics, centered on providing sequential consistency for most data-race-free programs.OpenMP, along with a small number of other languages, defines its memory model in terms of implicit fence (e.g. OpenMP flush) operations that force memory accesses to become visible to other threads in order. Synchronization operations provided by the language implicitly include such fences. In the simplest cases this is equivalent to a promise of sequential consistency for data-race-free programs.However, real languages typically also provide atomic operations with weak memory ordering constraints, such as the OpenMP atomic directives. These break the above equivalence, making the fence-based model stronger in ways that are observable, but not generally useful. As a result, conventional lock implementations are often accidentally prohibited, adding significant overhead for uncontended locks.We show that this problem affects both OpenMP and, in a more subtle way, UPC. We have been working with the OpenMP ARB to resolve these issues in future versions of OpenMP.
High-Temperature Characterization and Comparison of 1.2 kV SiC Power Semiconductor Devices

Focused on high-temperature (200 °C) operation, this paper seeks to provide insight into state-of-the-art 1.2 kV Silicon Carbide (SiC) power semiconductor devices; namely the MOSFET, BJT, SJT, and normally-off JFET. This is accomplished by characterizing and comparing the latest generation of these wide bandgap devices from various manufacturers (Cree, GE, Rohm, Fairchild, GeneSiC, and SemiSouth). To carry out this study, the static and dynamic characterization of each device is performed under increasing temperatures (25–200 °C). Accordingly, this paper describes the experimental setup used and the different measurements conducted, which include: threshold voltage, current gain, specific on-resistance, and the turn-on and turn-off switching energies of the devices. The driving method used for each device is also detailed. Key trends and observations are reported in an unbiased manner throughout the paper and summarized in the conclusion.
NARRATIVES ON FOLK HEALING IN BATO, CAMARINES SUR

This study on indigenous healing practices because of the interesting fact that despite the presence of medical advancement, there are still people who have the tendency to consult first a folk healer before seeking the help of modern medical practitioners. And what makes it more interesting is that even professionals seek for the help of folk healers. We may have choices on whom to seek and where to go when we have physical ailments but in this age of modern technology, why such healing tradition continues to exist and co-exist with modern medicine remains a baffling question. But these questions were given answers through this research which aimed at probing into the narratives of the healers and their patients on the curative properties and healing remedies of an age-old tradition. Thus, this is a humble endeavor to sustain the perpetuation of Bicol culture and tradition focusing on the stories on folk healing traditions in order to record, preserve and understand the functions in the society of these indigenous age-old healing practices that are struggling to survive yet undeniably at the brink of extinction. The study focused on the collection, translation, and analysis of folk healing narratives in the selected barangays of Bato, Camarines Sur. The study would like to answer the following questions: (1) What types of indigenous healing practices are evident in the narratives? (2) What do these narratives relate in terms of: (a) Abstract/summary; (b) Orientation in terms of time, place, person, situation; (c) Complicating action; (d) Evaluation; (e) Resolution/Result. (3) What roles in the community do these folk healing narratives reveal? (4) What educational material could be produced to preserve and showcase these indigenous healing practices? With regard to the scope of the study, it focused on narratives on traditional healing in the barangays of Bato, Camarines Sur namely; Divina Pastora, Tres Reyes and Santa Cruz being the most densely populated barangays in the roadside of Bato, Camarines Sur. The study gave emphasis on the first-hand information based on the personal experiences of the key informants who will be composed of the healers and their patients. It delimited itself to the collection, translation, and analysis of the narratives on folk healing practices and not mainly on the rituals and processes involve in healing. Further, this study has the intention to benefit some sectors of the society such as the people of Bato; the Local Government Unit of Bato, Camarines Sur; Camarines Sur itself; students who are taking English, Literature and Social Sciences; medical practitioners, the folk healers themselves and future researchers who would like to undergo a study of the same kind and to the researcher himself.
Abstract 1893: Soy consumption and colorectal cancer risk in humans: a meta-analysis

The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between soy consumption and colorectal cancer risk in humans by conducting a meta-analysis of available epidemiologic studies. We systematically reviewed publications obtained through a Medline literature search and identified four cohort and seven case-control studies on soy and colorectal cancer risk that met the inclusion criteria. We extracted the risk estimate (hazard ratio, relative risk or odds ratio) of the highest and the lowest reported categories of intake from each study and conducted this analysis using a random-effects model. Our analysis did not find that soy consumption was associated with colorectal cancer risk (combined risk estimate: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.79, 1.03) nor the separate analyses on colon cancer (combined risk estimate: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.74, 1.06) and rectal cancer (combined risk estimate: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.67, 1.14). However, when separately analyzed on the basis of gender, we found soy was associated with an approximately 21% reduction in colorectal cancer risk in women (combined risk estimate: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.65, 0.97; P = 0.026), but not in men (combined risk estimate: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.90, 1.33). Thus, consumption of soy foods may be associated with a reduction in colorectal cancer risk in women, but not in men. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1893.
The Transition to Adulthood in Comparative Perspective: Professional Males in Germany and the United States at the Turn of the Century

"Youth," characterized as a period of extended formal education, career moratorium and thus protracted economic dependency on the family, emerged as a distinct phase of the life course for professional males in Western Europe and North America in the late nineteenth century.1 Prior to this time, observes Robert Wohl, this protracted period of dependency "was a luxury restricted to the aristocracy and those with land and incomes."2 For the vast majority of young in the nineteenth century the teenage years signaled the beginning ofa lifetime of labor. Whether as a servant, farm hand or apprentice entrance into the labor force marked the beginnings of an extended period of semi-dependency in which the individual often lived away from home and earned his own keep yet was not considered an adult until marriage.3 Work provided boys with all the training they would need in their future lives. Formal schooling was extremely rare, commonly restricted to rudimentary reading, writing and religious instruction offered during the lax periods in the yearly work cycle.4 But as industrialization took hold and government bureaucracies swelled the need for civil servants, the ranks of whitecollar employees and professionals of all sorts escalated dramatically. In turn these careers demanded more extensive formal education at both the secondary and university level. Schooling and career preparation became a full-time endeavor; work was delayed until the completion of this training. As the amount of time that one had to spend in school preparing for a profession rose, so did the age of entrance into the career. Marriage and the establishment ofa separate household, because they were contingent on financial independence, were delayed as well. Youth became a lengthy and rigidly segmented period of passage into a profes? sional vocation, While this protracted period of youth emerged as a distinct phase of the professional male life course in both Europe and North America in the later part of the nineteenth century, the experience of youth in different regions of the industrial world varied dramatically. To date these differences have not been fully explored. The essays in Tamara Hareven's Transitions: the Family and the Life Course in Historical Perspective explore a multitude of issues concerning the transition to adulthood and its timing in the late 19th century the impact of family economy, demography and societal and cultural norms but the focus is primarily on these processes in the United States. John Gillis' Youth and History offers a useful introduction to changing patterns of transition to adulthood in modern Europe but only generally notes the impact of school structures, govern? ment regulations and economic trends on their timing. Moreover while Gillis'
Life Histories and Growth of Lotic Chironomids (Diptera: Chironomidae)

Biweekly benthic samples were collected for 1 yr in a third-order midwestern U.S. stream to determine chironomid life histories and growth patterns for the 14 numerically dominant taxa. Benthic densities during the year ranged from 7,500/m2 in October to 90,000/m2 in May. Seasonally, densities were highest in spring (49,600/m2) and lowest in summer (15,100/m2). Most Orthocladiinae and Diamesinae had multivoltine life cycles, whereas all Chironominae had either univoltine or asynchronous patterns. Low summer water temperatures, due to groundwater input, may explain how cold-adapted Diamesinae could complete more than one generation per year. Larval growth patterns (mean individual biomass versus time) of all 25 cohorts could be classified into four types of growth curves. Overall, biomass accumulation of third and fourth instars accounted for 95–99% of the maximal larval biomass. Nine cohorts had maximal growth rates during spring and autumn, whereas six cohorts had maximal growth during winter. Despite low water temperatures, the increased availability of high-quality autochthonous food resources during winter and spring may account for high growth rates during these two seasons. Combining growth and development data for all cohorts revealed an annual pattern of continuous species replacements and sequential periods of maximal growth. The recognition of these patterns is valuable in understanding the temporal dynamics of this diverse assemblage of stream insects.
The development of plumbate ceramic ware in Southern Mesoanmerica

Archaeological, technological, and compositional research undertaken for more than half a century in Mesoamerica has shed considerable light on the development of a unique ceramic technology for the production of highly distinctive glazed ware. The remarkable technological and aesthetic achievements of the Plumbate potters may be best characterized as an adaptation of pyrotechnology to match available raw materials and markets.
Interaction of the Positive Allosteric Modulator LY2087101 with α4β2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor

LY2087101 ([2-[(4-Fluorophenyl)amino]-4-methyl-5-thiazolyl]-3-thienylmethanone) was identified as a positive allosteric modulator (PAM) of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) in a high-throughput screen at Eli Lilly and Company. LY2087101 potentiated α7 and α4β2 nAChRs but not α3β2 nAChR (Broad et al. 2008, J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 318: 1108). Mutational analyses and computer docking simulation with α7 nAChR predicted that PNU120596 and LY2087101 bind to a common site within the transmembrane domain (Young et al. 2008, PNAS 105:14686). In this study, we use mutational analyses and two-electrode voltage-clamp recording from Xenopus oocytes to begin pharmacological characterization of LY208101 interaction with α4β2 nAChR and to identify the molecular determinants of LY2087101 selectivity for α4β2 vs. α3β4 nAChRs. LY2078101 potentiated ACh-induced currents of low ACh sensitivity (α4)3(β2)2 nAChR and high ACh sensitivity (α4)2(β2)3 nAChR with similar potency. However, the maximum potentiation at 10 μM LY2087101 was higher in (α4)3(β2)2 than (α4)2(β2)3 nAChR. Mutational analyses of amino acids contributing to extracellular subunits interface (e.g. α4His114, α4Gln122, and α4Thr124, known selectivity determinants for the (α4)3(β2)2 nAChR selective PAM NS9283; Olsen et al 2013, JBC 288: 35977) had no effect on LY2087101 potentiation. Within the transmembrane domain, mutation at α4Ser285 but not α4Thr261 within the M1 helix significantly reduced LY2087101 potentiation of α4β2 nAChR α4Ser285 and α4Thr261 are equivalent to α7Ser222 and α7Ala225, respectively; two important positions for potentiation of α7 nAChR by LY2087101 and PNU120596. α4Thr261 projects to intra-subunit pocket within the α4 transmembrane helix bundle whereas α4Ser285 is exposed to intra-subunit pocket and inter-subunit space. Ongoing mutational analyses within the M1 transmembrane domain will define the contribution of intra-subunit vs. inter-subunit binding sites on LY2087101 potentiation of α4β2 nAChR.
Saliva: an emerging biofluid for early detection of diseases

The capability to assess physiological states, detect morbidity initiation and progression, and monitor post-treatment therapeutic outcomes through a noninvasive approach is one of the most desirable goals for healthcare research and delivery. Saliva, a multi-constituent oral fluid, has high potential for the surveillance of general health and disease. To reach the above goal through saliva-based diagnostics, two prerequisites must be fulfilled: (1) discovering biomarker(s) for different diseases among the complicated components of saliva, and (2) advancing sensitivity and specificity of biomarker(s) through persistent development of technologies. Under the support and research blueprint initiated by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), salivary diagnostics has not only steadily progressed with respect to accuracy and availability, but has also bridged up-to-date nanotechnology to expand the areas of application. With collective efforts over several years, saliva has been demonstrated to be a promising bodily fluid for early detection of diseases, and salivary diagnostics has exhibited tremendous potential in clinical applications. This review presents an overview of the value of saliva as a credible diagnostic tool, the discovery of salivary biomarkers, and the development of salivary diagnostics now and in the future.
Strategieën voor de diagnostiek van getraumatiseerde kinderen

Het TF-CBT-model heeft brede toepassingsmogelijkheden, dus het is belangrijk dat de behandelaar het kind en zijn of haar gezin beoordeelt op de aanwezigheid van een breed scala aan specifieke psychiatrische stoornissen die zich in de nasleep van een traumatische gebeurtenis kunnen manifesteren. Een zorgvuldige diagnostische beoordeling is ook essentieel om het behandelproces af te kunnen stemmen op de individuele behoeften van het kind en zijn of haar gezin. Een diagnose kan het best worden gesteld op basis van informatie van meerdere partijen die verschillende methodes gebruiken, zoals interviews, observaties en gestandaardiseerde zelfrapportages en rapportages door de ouders. Om een objectief en helder beeld van het functioneren van het kind te krijgen is het van cruciaal belang om afzonderlijk met het kind en zijn of haar ouders te spreken. Ook is het waardevol om een goed beeld te hebben van de coping- en aanpassingsmechanismen van de ouders en van hun vermogen om volledig aan het behandelproces deel te nemen. Een goed gedocumenteerde diagnose is tegenwoordig bovendien noodzakelijk om verantwoording af te leggen aan de financierende en de certificerende instanties; zij vragen om accurate diagnoses op basis van bestaande psychopathologie. Hier bespreken we nuttige strategieen om een inschatting te maken van de blootstelling aan trauma en traumagerelateerde symptomen bij kinderen en adolescenten.
The Estates of Languedoc in Eighteenth-Century France: Administrative Expansion and Feudal Revitalisation

During the eighteenth century the French monarchy annually convoked the members of the estates of Languedoc to Montpellier for a meeting of about 40 days to negotiate over taxation. The estates embodied the province’s privilege, recognised by each monarch upon assuming the throne, of only paying taxes to which it consented. The meetings provided an occasion for public ritual, spectacle and diversion, as local elites displayed minute differences of rank in ceremonial events. The king sent his military and administrative appointees, the governor and the intendant respectively, and two venal magistrates (treasurers of France), to present his demands. These officials were greeted by members of the estates and led to places of honour to address the session and make an appeal for the king. The leading members of the estates responded, and then all joined in a public mass in the cathedral and in a procession through the city. The members of the estates then met in ‘liberty’ behind closed doors, without the royal officials, to discuss the king’s demands.1
Sexual dimorphic function of IL-17 in salivary gland dysfunction of the C57BL/6.NOD- Aec1Aec2 model of Sjögren’s syndrome

Interleukin (IL)-17 is one of the critical inflammatory cytokines that plays a direct role in development of Sjogren's syndrome (SjS), a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by a progressive chronic attack against the exocrine glands. The expression levels of IL-17 are correlated with a number of essential clinical parameters such as focus score and disease duration in human patients. Significantly immunological differences of Th17 cells were detected at the onset of clinical disease in female SjS mice compared to males. To further define the role of IL-17 in SjS and elucidate its involvement in the sexual dimorphism, we examined the systemic effect of IL-17 by genetically ablating Il-17 in the C57BL/6.NOD-Aec1Aec2, spontaneous SjS murine model. The results indicate that IL-17 is a potent inflammatory molecule in the induction of chemoattractants, cytokines, and glandular apoptosis in males and females. Elimination of IL-17 reduced sialadenitis more drastically in females than males. IL-17 is highly involved in modulating Th2 cytokines and altering autoantibody profiles which has a greater impact on changing plasma cells and germinal center B cell populations in females than males. The result supports a much more important role for IL-17 and demonstrates the sexual dimorphic function of IL-17 in SjS.
Are quality improvements associated with the Get With the Guidelines-Coronary Artery Disease (GWTG-CAD) program sustained over time? A longitudinal comparison of GWTG-CAD hospitals versus non-GWTG-CAD hospitals.

Background Previous reports have demonstrated that participation in GWTG-CAD, a national quality initiative of the American Heart Association, is associated with improved guideline adherence for patients hospitalized with CAD. We sought to establish whether these benefits from participation in GWTG-CAD were sustained over time. Methods We used the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hospital Compare database to examine 6 performance measures and one composite score for 3 consecutive 12-month periods including aspirin and β-blocker on arrival/discharge, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACE-I) for left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD), and adult smoking cessation counseling. The differences in guideline adherence between the GWTG-CAD hospitals (n = 440, 439, 429) and non–GWTG-CAD hospitals (n = 2,438, 2,268, 2,140) were evaluated for each 12-month period. A multivariate mixed-effects model was used to estimate the independent effect of GWTG-CAD over time adjusting for hospital characteristics. Results Compared with non-GWTG hospitals, the GWTG-CAD hospitals demonstrated higher guideline adherence for 6 performance measures. The largest differences existed for (1) aspirin at arrival (2.3%, 2.1%, and 1.6% for each 12-month period, respectively), (2) aspirin at discharge (3.4%, 2.2%, and 2.3%), (3) β-blocker at arrival (3.4%, 2.9%, and 2.6%), and (4) β-blocker at discharge (2.8%, 1.8%, and 1.5%). In multivariate analysis, the GWTG-CAD hospitals were independently associated with better adherence for 4 of the 6 measures (the exceptions were ACE-I for LVSD and smoking cessation counseling). Superior performance was also found for the composite measures. Although there was some narrowing between groups, GWTG-CAD hospitals maintained superior guideline adherence than non–GWTG-CAD hospitals for the entire 3-year period (adjusted differences 1.8%, 1.6%, and 1.4%). Conclusions Hospitals participating in GWTG-CAD had modestly superior acute cardiac care and secondary prevention measures performance relative to non–GWTG-CAD. These benefits of GWTG-CAD participation were sustained over time and independent of hospital characteristics.
Resident Involvement in Microsurgery: An American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Analysis

Objective In the current healthcare climate, there is increased focus on medical errors, patient outcomes, and the influence of resident participation on these metrics. Other studies have examined the influence of resident involvement on surgical outcomes, but the arena of microsurgery, with added complexity and learning curve, has yet to be investigated. Design A retrospective analysis of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was performed to find patients undergoing procedures with free tissue transfer by screening for Current Procedural Terminology codes. Primary outcomes measured include flap failure, wound, infectious, and major and minor complications. Setting This study was conducted at the Methodist Hospital, an academic hospital located in Houston, Texas. Participants Patients in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database between the years 2005 and 2012 undergoing microsurgical procedures were included in this analysis. Results A total of 1466 patients met inclusion criteria. There was a statistically significant association of major complications with age, peripheral vascular disease, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification of 3 or greater, total operative time, and year of operation. Multivariate analysis on minor complications demonstrated significant association with ASA class of 3 or 4. Resident involvement was not a significant factor among any outcome measures including major complications, minor complications, flap failure, wound complications, infectious complications, bleeding requiring transfusion, and unexpected reoperation rates within 30 days. Conclusions This study provides further evidence in support of the claim that resident involvement in microsurgery is safe and effective, with similar rates of major complications, minor complications, flap failure, and unexpected reoperation. High ASA classification and history of peripheral vascular disease were strong predictors of major complications and should be optimized preoperatively before free tissue transfer. Later years were associated with decreased major complication rates, which may be reflective of enhanced supervision standards.
The reflective diary: an experiential tool for enhancing social work students’ research learning

AbstractThere has been substantial discussion internationally about the need for social work students to integrate research into practice. Little has been written, however, about teaching methods that address the cognitive and emotional challenges students experience in their efforts to develop research competencies. Many students believe that research does not apply to the ‘real’ world of practice and are anxious and fearful when they begin a research course. Using a retrospective review of students’ assignments, this article describes the use of reflective diaries in teaching MSW students from a university in the USA skills for practice-based social work research. Reflective diaries provide a safe forum for students to actively engage with the challenges they experience while taking a research course and take ownership of their learning needs. The diary entries provide instructors with windows into their students’ learning processes that enable them to create scaffolding opportunities that support stude...
Independents in Irish democracy

Schattschneider famously articulated that ‘Political parties created modern democracy and modern democracy is unthinkable save in terms of parties.’ Despite the challenges political parties face in...
Radiation-Induced Bone Toxicity

Normal bone is commonly irradiated during radiation therapy (RT). The true impact of focal radiation on bone tissue remains unclear. The goal of this paper is to present the current understanding of radiation effects on the bone as it pertains to clinically observed radiation side effects. An increased risk of local fracture has been associated with RT-induced bone loss in the pelvis, vertebrae, and ribs. This bone loss appears to occur early after and/or during treatment, which suggests that reactive remodeling of the bone via osteoclast activity is a primary contributor to bone loss and fractures. Several reports have quantified the structural and histological changes observed after bone irradiation. These include changes in bone density and cortical thickness, as well as alterations in both the number and activity of the cells responsible for bone turnover that arise from hematopoietic and mesenchymal lineages: namely, osteoclasts and osteoblasts. All of these changes likely play an important role in the increased risk of fracture reported with RT. However, more research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms of bone damage and its relationship to modifiable factors such as beam energy, dose, photon or charged particle radiation, linear energy transfer (LET), fractionation, and field size.
Chapter 22 – Role of Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay Technology in Evaluating Sperm DNA Damage Due to Environmental Influences

Abstract Many international toxicology and fertility studies confirm that the “Gold Standard” sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) is the most rapid, technician-friendly, and statistically robust test on 5000 sperm/semen samples to determine whether any suspected toxicant is causing sperm DNA damage. Even though the exact causes and origin of sperm DNA damage may be unknown, the established SCSA thresholds for in vivo, intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) success strongly support an increasingly routine use of the SCSA test in the toxicology/urology and infertility clinics. Numerous toxicology studies, mostly in animals, clearly show that the SCSA test is a very sensitive assay to detect damage to sperm DNA that impacts successful pregnancy. SCSA-derived 0%–20% DFI (% sperm in an ejaculate with sperm DNA fragmentation), with normal WHO semen parameters, is consistent with excellent odds for in vivo or IUI conception; decreasing odds occur between 20% and 30% DFI at which point in vivo and IUI have very poor odds and ICSI is recommended. At >40% DFI the odds are very low for pregnancy and higher for miscarriage.
Timber inventory of large acreages using stratified two-stage list sampling

We present two-stage list sampling estimators and methodology that are useful in a forest inventory context. The advantages of this sampling method are discussed and illustrated with an inventory of a 3,419-acre timber tract. In this example, two-stage list sampling resulted in strata level and tract level estimates that were very close to estimates from a more intensive cruise that used twice as much field sampling effort.
Rapid induction of expression by LPS is accompanied by favorable chromatin and rapid binding of c-Jun.

The response to infection is managed in mammals by a coordinated immune response. Innate responses are rapid and hard wired and have been demonstrated to be regulated at the level of chromatin accessibility. This study examined primary human monocyte responses to LPS as a model of innate responses to bacteria. We utilized inhibitors of chromatin modifying enzymes to understand the inter-relationships of the chromatin complexes regulating transcription. Multiplex digital gene detection was utilized to quantitate changes in mRNA levels for genes induced by LPS. In the first 30 min, genes that were highly induced by LPS as a group exhibited minimal effect of the chemical inhibitors of chromatin modifications. At 60 min, the more highly expressed genes were markedly more inhibitable. The effects of the inhibitors were almost entirely concordant in spite of different mechanisms of action. Two focus groups of genes with either high LPS inducibility at 30 min or high LPS inducibility at 60 min (but not at 30 min) were further examined by ChIP assay. NFκB p65 binding was increased at the promoters of 30- and 60-min highly inducible genes equivalently. Binding of c-Jun was increased after LPS in the 30-min inducible gene set but not the 60-min inducible gene set. H3K4me3 and H4ac were not detectably altered by LPS stimulation. Baseline H3K4me3 and H4ac were higher in the 30-min highly inducible gene set compared to the 60-min highly inducible gene set. NFκB and JNK inhibitors led to diminished H4ac after LPS. The effects of DRB and C646 were greater for LPS-induced IL6 transcription at 30 min and LPS-stimulated H4ac compared to TNF where transcription was largely unaffected by the inhibitors. In conclusion, genes with very rapidly induced expression after LPS exhibited more favorable chromatin characteristics at baseline and were less inhibitable than genes induced at the later time points.
Using frame semantics for classifying and summarizing application store reviews

Text mining techniques have been recently employed to classify and summarize user reviews on mobile application stores. However, due to the inherently diverse and unstructured nature of user-generated online textual data, text-based review mining techniques often produce excessively complicated models that are prone to overfitting. In this paper, we propose a novel approach, based on frame semantics, for app review mining. Semantic frames help to generalize from raw text (individual words) to more abstract scenarios (contexts). This lower-dimensional representation of text is expected to enhance the predictive capabilities of review mining techniques and reduce the chances of overfitting. Specifically, our analysis in this paper is two-fold. First, we investigate the performance of semantic frames in classifying informative user reviews into various categories of actionable software maintenance requests. Second, we propose and evaluate the performance of multiple summarization algorithms in generating concise and representative summaries of informative reviews. Three different datasets of app store reviews, sampled from a broad range of application domains, are used to conduct our experimental analysis. The results show that semantic frames can enable an efficient and accurate review classification process. However, in review summarization tasks, our results show that text-based summarization generates more comprehensive summaries than frame-based summarization. Finally, we introduces MARC 2.0, a review classification and summarization suite that implements the algorithms investigated in our analysis.
Timed motor test for wheelchair users: initial development and application in children with spinal cord injury.

AbstractObjective: The objective of this study was to describe the development and preliminary results of reliability testing of the timed motor test (TMT), a performance-based measure of functional status for children with a spinal cord injury (SCI) who use a manual wheelchair. This study will also provide pilot data using the TMT to examine the impact of thoracolumbosacral orthoses (TLSO) on function in children with a SCI.Study Design: Cross-sectional observational study.Methods/Participants: This study enrolled 11 subjects with SCI. The TMT consisted of donning a shirt, donning pants, even transfers, uneven transfers, and propelling a wheelchair 80 feet and up a ramp of 45 feet. Nine subjects completed the TMT with and without a TLSO, and 6 subjects ( 4 of whom also completed the TMT with and without a TLSO) completed the reliability testing.Results: Except for donning pants, the intertester and intratester reliability of the TMT was fair-to-good with intradass correlation coefficients (ICCs) of 0.60 ...
Dynamic Adaptive Neural Network Array

We present the design-scheme and physical implementation for a Dynamic Adaptive Neural Network Array (DANNA) based upon the work by Schuman and Birdwell [1,2] and using a programmable array of elements constructed with a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how a single programmable neuromorphic element can be designed to support the primary components of a dynamic and adaptive neural network, e.g. a neuron and a synapse, and be replicated across a FPGA to yield a reasonably large programmable DANNA of up to 10,000 neurons and synapses. We describe element programmability, how the dynamic components of a neuron and synapse are supported, and the structure used to support the monitoring and control interface. Finally, we present initial results from simulations of the hardware, the projected performance of the array elements and the physical implementation of a DANNA on a Xilinx FPGA.
What Should Patients Know about Antiphospholipid Antibodies and Antiphospholipid Syndrome

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a systemic autoimmune disorder in which the immune system makes antibodies (antiphospholipid antibodies or aPL) that increase the risk to form blood clots. The most commonly used tests to detect aPL are Lupus Anticoagulant test, Anticardiolipin Antibody Test, and Anti-Beta-2-gylycoprotein-I Test. Among the various manifestations of APS, the most common clinical problems are blood clots in the veins of the legs, strokes, and miscarriages. Antiphospholipid antibodies can occur in otherwise healthy individuals or in patients with other autoimmune disorders such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Having a positive aPL test does not mean the person has APS; 30–40% of SLE patients may have aPL, but only a small percentage develop APS. For all aPL-positive patients with or without SLE, whether or not they have had a blood clot in the past, the first essential step in the management is understanding the risk of thrombosis and eliminating reversible risk factors known to increase risk of clotting. Further management of aPL-positive patients depends on the individual patient, his or her aPL-related clinical manifestations, and additional medical conditions.
MICROPROCESSOR-BASED JITTER ANALYSIS IN SINGLE FIBER ELECTROMYOGRAPHY

In single fiber electromyographic recordings of action potentials from two muscle fibers belonging to the same motor unit, a variability in the interval between action potentials in successive discharges is observed. This is largely due to variations in transmission time from nerve to muscle. This variability, called “jitter,” is typically expressed as the mean consecutive difference (MCD). Increased jitter has been clinically used to diagnose the defect of neuromuscular transmission that characterizes myasthenia gravis. We have developed a microprocessor-based system that automatically measures the jitter in single fiber EMG. A pulse lasting for the duration of the interpotential interval (IPI) is generated using analog and digital hardware. A microprocessor system based on INTEL 8080 is employed to measure IPI in groups of 20 and up to 10 groups in a single run. Elementary statistical analysis is performed and the results are displayed on a CRT and a monitor scope. The hardware preprocessing of the signal makes it feasible to measure jitter with precision up to one microsecond. Complete control of data acquisition and processing is available through software commands.
Promoter-enhancer looping and shadow enhancers of the mouse αA-crystallin locus

ABSTRACT Gene regulation by enhancers is important for precise temporal and spatial gene expression. Enhancers can drive gene expression regardless of their location, orientation or distance from the promoter. Changes in chromatin conformation and chromatin looping occur to bring the promoter and enhancers into close proximity. αA-crystallin ranks among one of the most abundantly expressed genes and proteins in the mammalian lens. The αA-crystallin locus is characterized by a 16 kb chromatin domain marked by two distal enhancers, 5′ DCR1 and 3′ DCR3. Here we used chromatin conformation capture (3C) analysis and transgenic approaches to analyze temporal control of the mouse αA-crystallin gene. We find that DCR1 is necessary, but not sufficient alone to drive expression at E10.5 in the mouse lens pit. Chromatin looping revealed interaction between the promoter and the region 3′ to DCR1, identifying a novel enhancer region in the αA-crystallin locus. We determined that this novel enhancer region, DCR1S, recapitulates the temporal control by DCR1. Acting as shadow enhancers, DCR1 and DCR1S are able to control expression in the lens vesicle at E11.5. It remains to be elucidated however, which region of the αA-crystallin locus is responsible for expression in the lens pit at E10.5.