cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Specific elimination of cytotoxic cells. II. Reduction of cytotoxic activity by adsorption on monolayers results from removal of cytotoxic cells and not from inhibition of their activity.

Abstract Cytotoxic lymphocytes produced by in vitro sensitization to H-2 alloantigens may be adsorbed efficiently and specifically on monolayers of spleen lymphocytes attached to poly- l -lysine-coated polystyrene. Greater than 16-fold median reduction in activity resulted from adsorption to the target-type monolayer while adsorption to the attacker-type monolayer resulted in a less than two-fold median reduction. Since this reduction could have resulted from competitive inhibition by detached monolayer cells rather than from sticking of the cytotoxic cells to the monolayer, experiments were performed to distinguish between these possibilities. The inhibitory properties of a nonadherent population were tested directly by addition to a different attacker-target combination in which its killing properties were irrelevant but in which the H-2 genotype of detached monolayer cells was appropriate to cause competitive inhibition. No significant inhibition was observed; and this indicated that reduction of activity in an adsorbed population results from removal of the cytotoxic cells and not from inhibition by detached monolayer cells competing with the labeled targets for attackers.
Poliomyelitis associated with type-2 poliovirus vaccine strain. Possible transmission from an immunised child to a non-immunised child.

Abstract An isolated case of paralytic poliomyelitis associated with "vaccine-like" type-2 poliovirus presented in a 16-month-old White male in Baltimore in July, 1965. This unusual case was probably caused by the type-2 vaccine strain which the boy contracted from a cousin who had been given oral type-2 vaccine, and with whom the patient played and slept. This seems to be the first documented case of this type.
Real-time feedback on nonverbal clinical communication. Theoretical framework and clinician acceptance of ambient visual design.

Introduction: This article is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on “Pervasive Intelligent Technologies for Health”. Background: Effective nonverbal communication between patients and clinicians fosters both the delivery of empathic patient-centered care and positive patient outcomes. Although nonverbal skill training is a recognized need, few efforts to enhance patient-clinician communication provide visual feedback on nonverbal aspects of the clinical encounter. Objectives: We describe a novel approach that uses social signal processing technology (SSP) to capture nonverbal cues in real time and to display ambient visual feedback on control and affili-ation – two primary, yet distinct dimensions of interpersonal nonverbal communication. To examine the design and clinician acceptance of ambient visual feedback on nonverbal communication, we 1) formulated a model of relational communication to ground SSP and 2) conducted a formative user study using mixed methods to explore the design of visual feedback. Methods: Based on a model of relational communication, we reviewed interpersonal communication research to map nonverbal cues to signals of affiliation and control evidenced in patient-clinician interaction. Corresponding with our formulation of this theoretical framework, we designed ambient real-time visualizations that reflect variations of affiliation and control. To explore clinicians’ acceptance of this visual feedback, we conducted a lab study using the Wizard-of-Oz technique to simulate system use with 16 healthcare professionals. We followed up with seven of those participants through interviews to iterate on the design with a revised visualization that addressed emergent design considerations. Results: Ambient visual feedback on non- verbal communication provides a theoretically grounded and acceptable way to provide clinicians with awareness of their nonverbal communication style. We provide implications for the design of such visual feedback that encourages empathic patient-centered communication and include considerations of metaphor, color, size, position, and timing of feedback. Conclusions: Ambient visual feedback from SSP holds promise as an acceptable means for facilitating empathic patient-centered nonverbal communication.
Congenital aortic atresia; report of the first case with left axis deviation of the electrocardiogram.

Abstract A case of congenital aortic atresia with hypoplasia of the left ventricle and huge enlargement of the right ventricle with left axis deviation of the electrocardiogram, is described.
Striking the Balance between Anti-Discrimination Laws and First Amendment Freedoms: An Alternative Proposal to Preserve Diversity

The purpose of this Note is to define the fine line a public university must ride in order to protect its students from discrimination and still provide for the expression and exchange of all ideas and beliefs amongst the diverse student body. This Note will also provide a practical statutory solution to help the university constitutionally balance these interests. In order to achieve this balance, the university need only provide a separate limited public forum, with minimal university involvement, for discriminating student groups to exercise their First Amendment rights. The legislators can easily model this forum after the Equal Access Act, which applies to secondary schools, and adapt it to fit a higher education context, or simply enact an amendment to the Act that incorporates the appropriate suggestions. Protecting individuals from discrimination and assuring that other's First Amendment rights are not infringed are two essential responsibilities of our government and far too often people incorrectly assume that one must take priority over the other. The United States Supreme Court cases surrounding these issues create perfect guidelines to adequately defend both sets of rights in the university setting. Three lines of Supreme Court cases bring us to the core premise that the university cannot condone or financially subsidize the discriminatory groups; however, it must allow the student group access to university facilities to express their opinions; and, as a private organization, do to the limited university involvement, the student group is still permitted to continue their discriminatory conduct. It is absolutely imperative that the public university strike a balance between these two interests. This balance encourages tolerance and acceptance from both sides, which creates the foundation for a diverse and enlightened community in higher education. This statutorily-required, additional limited public forum is necessary to protect the rights and responsibilities of all parties involved in these disputes.
Stressors, Primary and Secondary

Stressors – the problematic or troublesome events, experiences, or perceptions that cause us distress and threaten our well-being – can be teased out into primary and secondary variants. Primary stressors are the starting points for the stress process. As stress proliferates, secondary stressors may develop as a consequence of primary stressors. Keywords: medical sociology; sociology; sociology of mental health; stress
Circles of recovery : self-help organizations for addictions

Acknowledgements 1. Definitions, scope, and origin of the health-related self-help group movement 2. An international tour of addiction-related mutual help organizations 3. Does self-help group participation produce positive substance abuse, psychiatric, and medical outcomes? 4. A different perspective on change in self-help organizations: spirituality, identity, life stories, friendship networks, and politicization 5. Government, health care organization, and clinical interactions with self-help organizations Epilogue: summing up, moving forward References Index.
Endocrine control of gestational length: A time to be born

Abstract The implications of the comparative endocrinology of pregnancy in mammals with extended gestational periods, the natural and experimental effects of the fetal adrenal upon pregnancy length, and the binding of steroids to specific serum and tissue proteins have been reviewed. Two models for the control of the evolution of myometrial activity during pregnancy have been proposed as bases for an experimental approach to the problem of the endocrine regulation of gestational length.
Targeted ablation of diverse cell classes in the nervous system in vivo

The study of both the function and development of complex neural systems would be greatly facilitated by a means for systematically blocking intercell communication. One way of preventing cells from signaling each other is to remove them from the system by ablation. Here we present a general technique for visualizing and ablating selected cell classes in vivo. The cells of interest are genetically engineered so that they can be selectively labeled with a photoactivatable dye and visualized in living preparations; the dye-labeled cells can then be photoablated. This approach is applicable to a broad range of cell types, in organisms amenable to gene transfer, and permits ablations to be performed at different developmental stages or in the adult. We demonstrate the use of this technique on several cell types in the mouse retina and cerebral cortex, and in the zebrafish embryo.
Slow slip and tremor search at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii

[1] Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, has hosted a long series of slow slip events observed since the installation of the continuous GPS network in 1996. Kilauea's slow slip events are inferred to occur on the decollement fault at 8 km depth beneath its south flank, with a location updip of the epicenters of large, regular earthquakes. Fault slip typically lasts about two days, and the events have magnitudes equivalent to Mw 5.3–6.0. While slow slip events in subduction zones are commonly accompanied by tectonic tremor (also called nonvolcanic tremor), no tremor has yet been reported in association with Kilauea's slow slip events. Instead, there are swarms of small triggered earthquakes, which is a characteristic only seen at select subduction zones (e.g., Boso and Hikurangi). A temporary array of seismometers was installed at Kilauea in 2007 in anticipation of a slow slip event. Here we use several established methods to perform a systematic search for tectonic tremor during geodetically defined slow slip events, as well as searching for tremor triggered by teleseismic surface waves. We do not detect tectonic tremor using any of these methods, although we are able to detect episodes of previously identified deep offshore volcanic tremor at 15–20 km depth and volcanic tremor from Kilauea. Although Kilauea's seismic network may not be adequate to observe tectonic tremor because Hawaii is seismically noisy and its crust is highly attenuating, it is also possible that the specific fault conditions on Kilauea's decollement are not conducive to such tremor generation.
A genetic and structural analysis of the yeast Vps15 protein kinase: evidence for a direct role of Vps15p in vacuolar protein delivery

The yeast VPS15 gene encodes a novel protein kinase homolog that is required for the sorting of soluble hydrolases to the yeast vacuole. In this study, we extend our previous mutational analysis of the VPS15 gene and show that alterations of specific Gps15p residues, that are highly conserved among all protein kinase molecules, result in the biological inactivation of Vps15p. Furthermore, we demonstrate here that short C-terminal deletions of Vps15p result in a temperature-conditional defect in vacuolar protein sorting. Immediately following the temperature shift, soluble vacuolar hydrolases, such as carboxypeptidase Y and proteinase A, accumulate as Golgi-modified precursors within a saturable intracellular compartment distinct from the vacuole. This vacuolar protein sorting block is efficiently reversed when mutant cells are shifted back to the permissive temperature; the accumulated precursors are rapidly processed to their mature forms indicating that they have been delivered to the vacuole. This rapid and efficient reversal suggests that the accumulated vacuolar protein precursors were present within a normal transport intermediate in the vacuolar protein sorting pathway. In addition, this protein delivery block shows specificity for soluble vacuolar enzymes as the membrane protein, alkaline phosphatase, is efficiently delivered to the vacuole at the non-permissive temperature. Interestingly, the C-terminal Vps15p truncations are not phosphorylated in vivo suggesting that the phosphorylation of Vps15p may be critical for its biological activity at elevated temperatures. The rapid onset and high degree of specificity of the vacuolar protein delivery block in these mutants suggests that the primary role of Vps15p is to regulate the sorting of soluble hydrolases to the yeast vacuolar compartment.
Software for the Parallel Adaptive Solution of Conservation Laws by Discontinuous Galerkin Methods

The authors develop software tools for the solution of conservation laws using parallel adaptive discontinuous Galerkin methods. In particular, the Rensselaer Partition Model (RPM) provides parallel mesh structures within an adaptive framework to solve the Euler equations of compressible flow by a discontinuous Galerkin method (LOCO). Results are presented for a Rayleigh-Taylor flow instability for computations performed on 128 processors of an IBM SP computer. In addition to managing the distributed data and maintaining a load balance, RPM provides information about the parallel environment that can be used to tailor partitions to a specific computational environment.
Conflicting understandings of wilderness and subsistence in Alaskan national parks.

ABSTRACT The role of past and present subsistence cultures and activities in wilderness and other strictly protected areas has sparked contentious debate about meanings associated with wilderness. To inform this debate empirically, recreationists were interviewed at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR) in Alaska to determine how they cognitively structure potential conflicts between the park's management mandates to provide for wilderness recreational experiences and to allow for subsistence uses. Using structural developmental theory as a framework and by employing semistructured, in-depth interviews with hypothetical scenarios, it was found that a large majority of respondents maintained conflicting moral judgments when subsistence and wilderness values were juxtaposed. This suggests the existence of cognitive disequilibrium around these sets of values. Respondents coordinated their conflicting judgments in ways that can be described as overriding, contradictory, and contextual. No resp...
Differential ontogenic development of three receptors comprising the NMDA receptor/channel complex in the rat hippocampus.

The postnatal development of the three receptor binding sites that constitute the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor channel/complex was examined in six hippocampal regions of rats using quantitative receptor autoradiography. NMDA-sensitive [‘I-I]glutamate binding, strychnine-insensitive rSH]glycine binding, and [8H]N-(l-[2-thienyl]cyclohexyl)-3,4-piperidine ([‘HITCP) binding were measured to examine the ontogeny of NMDA recognition sites, glycine modulatory sites, and PCP receptors, respectively. NMDAsensitive [‘HIglutamate binding transiently exceeded adult levels by 50 to 120% in all regions examined, with peak densities generally occurring between postnatal days (PND) 10 and 28. Stratum radiatum CA, binding increased slowly from 49 to 61% of the adult value between PND 1 and 7, after which, binding rapidly rose to 151% of adult values at PND 14, remained elevated through PND 28, and then decreased to adult levels. The ontogenic profile of NMDA recognition site binding was similar in other hippocampal regions, although the initial age of maximal binding and the period of stabilization varied. The ontogenic profiles of glycine modulatory site binding and PCP receptor binding were very similar to each other. Development was delayed, however, with respect to NMDA recognition site binding. The rapid development of binding observed between PND 7 and 14 with NMDA receptors in stratum radiaturn CA, was contrasted by a much slower increase in glycine and PCP receptor binding. Furthermore, maximal glycine and PCP receptor binding
The Bryan Cervical Disc System

In May 2002, an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) was granted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical evaluation of the Bryan Cervical Disc System. The trial was designed to demonstrate equivalence with anterior discectomy and interbody fusion with plate fixation. Trial enrollment of over 500 patients was completed in 2004, and 2-year follow-up data are currently being collected and analyzed in preparation for submission to the FDA. This article describes the Bryan prosthesis, reviews several preclinical and clinical studies, and reports on the IDE study.
Child Care as a Human Right: A New Perspective on an Old Debate

SUMMARY A range of international human rights documents recognize the importance of child care for both parents and children, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. While domestic advocates within the United States have long argued for an expansion of government-supported child care, the significance of child care's status as an international human right has not been explored. In other nations, international law has played an important role in spurring governments to expand childcare services. Reframing the child care issue in the United States as a question of international human rights could be an effective way to enlist new allies, posit new paradigms, re-energize the child care debate and shift the domestic focus toward more progressive models.
A MODEL FOR DETERMINING COMPARABLE PROGRAM COSTS IN POSTSECONDARY OCCUPATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Determining and analyzing unit costs in higher education has been variously discussed for decades. This article presents the rationale and operational guidelines of a method for determining comparable costs in two‐year college occupational and technical programs that is reasonable to adapt and use by many colleges without developing a new financial data system. Forms and procedures are also included to encourage adoption
Comparative analysis of QTLs affecting plant height and flowering among closely-related diploid and polyploid genomes.

Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting plant height and flowering were studied in the two Saccharum spe- cies from which modern sugarcane cultivars are derived. Two segregating populations derived from interspecific crosses between Saccharum officinarum and Saccharum spontaneumwere genotyped with 735 DNA markers. Among the 65 significant associations found between these two traits and DNA markers, 35 of the loci were linked to sugarcane ge- netic maps and 30 were unlinked DNA markers. Twenty-one of the 35 mapped QTLs were clustered in eight genomic regions of six sugarcane homologous groups. Some of these could be divergent alleles at homologous loci, making the actual number of genes implicated in these traits much less than 35. Four QTL clusters controlling plant height in sug - arcane corresponded closely to four of the six plant-height QTLs previously mapped in sorghum. One QTL controlling flowering in sugarcane corresponded to one of three flowering QTLs mapped in sorghum. The correspondence in loca- tions of QTLs affecting plant height and flowering in sugarcane and sorghum reinforce the notion that the simple sor- ghum genome is a valuable "template" for molecular dissection of the much more complex sugarcane genome.
Cognitive vulnerability to depression in never depressed subjects

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether dysfunctional cognitions could be measured in never-depressed individuals after a sad mood prime, and if these dysfunctional cognitions would predict future depression. Subjects were first screened for current or past depression. Never-depressed subjects were randomly assigned to a prime or no-prime condition and completed the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale. After one month, subjects completed the Beck Depression Inventory. The mood induction was successful in producing a sad mood, but had no effect on accessibility of dysfunctional cognition. Dysfunctional cognitions did predict depressive symptoms one month later, for the women in the sample, but not the men. These results were actually stronger for the unprimed subjects. The results provide some support for the cognitive diathesis-stress model, and suggest that cognitive vulnerability to depression may exist prior to a clinically significant depressive episode. However, mood priming does not appear to...
SH-SAW sensor based microfluidic system for the detection of heavy metal compounds in liquid environments

Abstract In this work, a guided shear horizontal mode surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) sensor, fabricated by patterning gold (Au) interdigitated electrodes (IDE) on a 64° YX-LiNbO3 based piezoelectric substrate, was used for the detection of heavy metal compounds. A flow cell, with a reservoir volume of 3 μL, which employs inlet and outlet valves for the microfluidic chamber and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based microfluidic channels, was also designed and fabricated using an acrylic material. The frequency based response of the SAW sensor toward varying concentrations of heavy metal compounds such as lead nitrate (PbNO3) and cadmium nitrate (CdNO3) were investigated. As the surface acoustic wave propagates on the substrate, between input and output IDEs, a shift in the resonant frequency of the SAW device was observed due to the change in velocity of the wave caused by the varying concentrations of the test analytes. The results obtained demonstrated the capability of the system to detect picomolar level concentrations. The response of the SAW sensor is analyzed and presented in this paper.
Intra-Cavity Dispersion of Microresonators and its Engineering for Octave-Spanning Kerr Frequency Comb Generation

We present an analysis on intra-cavity dispersion of a micro-resonator. As an example, different dispersion sources of a silicon nitride microring resonator are identified and evaluated over a wide wavelength range. We also show the dispersion flattening technique based on a strip/slot hybrid waveguide structure can be used to tailor the intra-cavity dispersions. Octave-spanning Kerr frequency combs are numerically simulated using 2-D-FDTD. It is shown that 7.5-fs two-cycle cavity solitons can be generated, enabling ultrawide mode-locked Kerr combs, with improved comb spectral flatness.
Parents' perspectives of asthma crisis hospital management in infants and toddlers: an interpretive view through the lens of attachment theory.

Interpretive phenomenology and attachment theory were used to discover the underlying concerns of parents and children during children’s hospitalization for asthma. Home interviews were conducted with families of low income and with Latino and African-American infants and toddlers with severe persistent asthma. Narratives revealed that asthma crises were fearsome situations for parents and children. Hospital procedures escalated fear in children. Parents, agonized by their children’s suffering, were embarrassed by feelings of helplessness. Results imply that effective, efficient care depends on addressing parents’ fears, being aware of their sensitivity to the suffering of their children, and supporting their desire to alleviate it.
Determination of paleoheat-flux using multiple thermal indicator tomography

Multiple thermal indicator tomography is a non-linear inversion procedure which permits simultaneous determination of geological, chemical kinetic, and thermal parameters in the burial and thermal histories of sediments. The procedure is based on inverting measurements with depth in a well of multiple thermal indicators, each of which must have experienced the same thermal history. For two wells from diverse geological settings, tomography is used to assess the paleoheat-flux variations with time most consistent with all the thermal indicator data. Resolution and sensitivity of the results are also addressed. For the case history of well X in the North Sea, with both vitrinite reflectance and sterane isomer thermal indicators, a generally decreasing heat flux from past to present is obtained roughly halving every 50 Ma. The activation energy for the sterane isomer is also determined simultaneously to be 42±20 kJ/mole. For the second case history of the Irma Mclean well in the onshore Gulf of Mexico, data from four thermal indicators are available: vitrinite reflectance, sterane and hopane isomers, and sterane aromaticity. A general decrease in paleoheat-flux from amount 2.8 heat flux units (HFU) at 100 MaBP to 1.25 HFU at the present day is obtained, the activation energy for the sterane isomer is simultaneously determined to be around 50±20 kJ/mole, while the corresponding values are around 80±20 kJ/mole for the hopane isomer, and around 65±20 kJ/mole for sterane aromatization.
Environmental contamination in the oil fields of western Pennsylvania

The effects on freshwater wildlife of chronic exposure to oil field discharges are not well known. Collections of wastewater, aquatic invertebrates, fish, salamanders, and small mammals were made in several streams in the oil fields of western Pennsylvania during 1980-81. Estimates of the petroleum content of two wastewater discharges were high (21.9 and 8.4 ppm) and one was low (0.3 ppm). Water conductivity was inversely related to aquatic invertebrate biomass. Hydrocarbons, accumulated in significantly greater amounts in crayfish, fish, and small mammals from collection sites with oil extraction activity than from sites without oil extraction activity. Estimates of total petroleum in invertebrates, trout, and suckers averaged between 200 and 280 ppm for oil extraction sites and between 8 and 80 ppm for sites without oil extraction activity. Oil extraction activity did not affect metal accumulation by fish. Oil and wastewater discharges in oil fields disrupt community composition and can cause an overall reduction in stream productivity.
Subthreshold Leakage Due to 1/F Noise and Rts(Random Telegraph Signals)

An analysis of subthreshold leakage predicts a Gaussian or Normal distribution on large devices but a distorted distribution is possible on small devices. 1/f noise due to RTS signals on large well behaved devices will have a Gaussian distribution and cause a Gaussian current distribution under normal and subthreshold operating conditions. Localized channels or percolation channels can cause a distortion of this distribution and large subthreshold leakage current pulses which are most obvious in small devices.
Expression of master regulatory genes controlling skeletal development in benign cartilage and bone forming tumors.

Recent progress in skeletal molecular biology has led to the clarification of the transcriptional mechanisms of chondroblastic and osteoblastic lineage differentiation. Three master transcription factors—Sox9, Runx2, and Osterix—were shown to play an essential role in determining the skeletal progenitor cells' fate. The present study evaluates the expression of these factors in 4 types of benign bone tumors—chondromyxoid fibroma, chondroblastoma, osteoid osteoma, and osteoblastoma—using immunohistochemistry and tissue microarrays. Osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma showed strong nuclear expression of Osterix and Runx2. In contrast, only a few chondroblastomas showed positive nuclear expression of Osterix. Strong nuclear expression of Sox9 was detected in all chondroblastomas, whereas nearly half of the osteoblastomas showed focal weak cytoplasmic expression of Sox9.
The use of computational chemistry in the study of sex steroid biosynthesis

Many of the steroidogenic enzymes and cofactor proteins are bound to intracellular membranes, frustrating standard methods of structure determination. Structural models of steroidogenic P450 enzymes, however, may be predicted from the x-ray crystal structures of prokaryotic P450s. Using P450-BMP as primary structural template, models of hepatic and steroidogenic P450s have been generated using computational chemistry and graphics techniques. We have developed an analogous model of human P450c17 using an approach that relies heavily on energy minimization and molecular dynamics to yield the final structure. The final model predicts the known activities of the enzyme and explains why all reported mutations disrupt one or more activities. Although the term “computational chemistry” suggests that modeling is an operator-independent, fully automated process, modeling exercises are fraught with pitfalls, choices, and practical dilemmas which make each attempt a unique endeavor. This paper describes the procedur...
Morphology of developing cerebral cortical synaptosomal fractions isolated from eu- and hypothyroid rats

Abstract Synaptosomfal fractions isolated from the cerebrum of eu- and of hypothyroid rats during the neonatal period were analyzed by electron microscopy. This analysis revealed 3 main components: presynaptic endings, growth cones and unidentifiable structures that may be dendritic in origin. Since the size and the percentage of presynaptic endings were not altered by hypothyroidism but the size of the fraction in comparison to cerebrum weight was altered on postnatal day 14, it could be concluded that hypothyroidism results in a transient reduced synaptic density.
Transient therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome associated with monosomy 7 and 11q23 translocation.

Transient therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome associated with monosomy 7 and 11q23 translocation
Response of anaerobic carbon cycling to water table manipulation in an Alaskan rich fen

To test the effects of altered hydrology on organic soil decomposition, we investigated CO2 and CH4 production potential of rich-fen peat (mean surface pH = 6.3) collected from a field water table manipulation experiment including control, raised and lowered water table treatments. Mean anaerobic CO2 production potential at 10 cm depth (14.1 ± 0.9 µmol C g-1 d-1) was as high as aerobic CO2 production potential (10.6 ± 1.5 µmol C g-1 d-1), while CH4 production was low (mean of 7.8 ± 1.5 nmol C g-1 d-1). Denitrification enzyme activity indicated a very high denitrification potential (197 ± 23 µg N g-1 d-1), but net NO-3 reduction suggested this was a relatively minor pathway for anaerobic CO2 production. Abundances of denitrifier genes (nirK and nosZ) did not change across water table treatments. SO2 4- reduction also did not appear to be an important pathway for anaerobic CO2 production. The net accumulation of acetate and formate as decomposition end products in the raised water table treatment suggested that fermentation was a significant pathway for carbon mineralization, even in the presence of NO-3. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations were the strongest predictors of potential anaerobic and aerobic CO2 production. Across all water table treatments, the CO2:CH4 ratio increased with initial DOC leachate concentrations. While the field water table treatment did not have a significant effect on mean CO2 or CH4 production potential, the CO2:CH4 ratio was highest in shallow peat incubations from the drained treatment. These data suggest that with continued drying or with a more variable water table, anaerobic CO2 production may be favored over CH4 production in this rich fen. Future research examining the potential for dissolved organic substances to facilitate anaerobic respiration, or alternative redox processes that limit the effectiveness of organic acids as substrates in anaerobic metabolism, would help explain additional uncertainty concerning carbon mineralization in this system.
Challenging the Design Process: High Electrical Cabinet Cooling Requirements vs. Stringent Airborne Noise Requirements

An operationally critical, manned control station’s design was challenged to meet stringent airborne noise requirements. Through an innovative, interdisciplinary engineering approach, a solution was implemented, resulting in the first production unit meeting airborne noise requirements. The manned control station was initially designed with nine tubeaxial fans continuously operating at maximum rated speed to provide sufficient cooling to internal components at the station’s worst-case maximum ambient operating temperature of 122°F. Initial testing of a prototype unit showed airborne noise requirements were exceeded by as much as 22 dB (re 20 micro-Pascals). Fan speed reduction and installation of temporary internal acoustic absorption material were tested to measure effectiveness, but were not sufficient to meet airborne noise requirements. The normal operating condition of the control station was reviewed and detailed modeling and testing of the station’s actual cooling requirements under various operating scenarios was conducted. During this process, it was recognized that under normal operating conditions, the worst-case ambient operating temperatures were improbable and that a balancing of cooling requirements and acoustic requirements was possible. A new cost-effective method of fan control in conjuction with the installation of permanent internal absorption material and a redesign of ventilation ducting was implemented. In normal ambient temperature conditions, six of the nine internal fans operate at minimum rated speed. If ambient temperatures rise above normal (the control station’s airborne noise requirments only apply at normal “non-casualty” ambient temperatures), three additional exhaust fans automatically turn on at minimum rated speed to minimize additional airborne noise contributions. If ambient temperatures continue to rise, all nine fans are automatically switched on at maximum rated speed to protect the internal components of the operationally critical control station. Acoustic performance evaluations predicted these improvements would result in meeting the stringent airborne noise requirements. These predictions were validated during testing of the first production unit, which passed all airborne noise requirements.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Specific and sensitive determination of medroxyprogesterone acetate in human serum by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Abstract The mass fragmentographic determination of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) in serum, using as internal standard medroxyprogesterone propionate (MPP) synthesized from MPA, is described. After addition of MPP, the sera are extracted on Sep-Pak C18 cartridges and MPA and MPP are detected as their respective 3-enol,trifluoroacyl esters. Serum samples from 84 patients with breast cancer, daily receiving MPA orally, were determined showing a large variation in MPA concentrations (4-349 ng/ml). Our proposed gas chromatographic mass spectrometric (GC-MS) method, which can be considered as a reference, was compared with a radioimmunoassay (RIA) method showing a correlation coefficient of 0.73 (n = 69;p « 0.001). The assay was also used to determine sequential serum levels of patients receiving a single oral dose of MPA. With only minor adjustments, the GC MS method allows the determination of serum concentrations of related steroids such as megestrol acetate and cyproterone acetate.
When the librarian was the search engine: introduction to the special issue on new roles for health sciences librarians.

The librarian in today's medical and health fields lives in a fast-paced and ever-changing environment. Reaching this modern, technology-driven library was a long and difficult road that had many bumps and retreats. Hope was never the issue; keeping pace was the challenge. The purpose of this introduction to the Journal of the Medical Library Association special issue on “New Roles for Health Sciences Librarians” is to explore the work and responsibilities of the medical librarian as libraries moved from the manual to the digital environment over a period of seventy years (for a review of more recent developments, see Cooper and Crum in this issue). What the librarian of the 1940s and 1950s did and what the librarian needed to know was outlined by the profession's best practitioners of that time in the first Handbook of Medical Library Practice 1, developed by a committee of the Medical Library Association in 1943. The model of the library profession as described in this manual was the traditional one, a model that had been the same for many centuries. And it continued to follow that pattern for the next two decades. Janet Doe, the editor of the Handbook, outlined the goal of this seminal work as showing “those aspects of clientele, physical equipment, literature, methods and bibliographic tools in which the medical library differs from the general library” 2. Included were chapters on administration, book and journal selection, cataloging/classification, reference, and history of medicine. Much of what is described in 1943 is continued in health sciences libraries today. The major differences are the way that information and knowledge are created and delivered and the skills that practicing librarians need.
Hydrolysis of the Brain Dipeptide N‐Acetyl‐l‐Aspartyl‐l‐Glutamate: Subcellular and Regional Distribution, Ontogeny, and the Effect of Lesions on N‐Acetylated‐α‐Linked Acidic Dipeptidase Activity

: N-Acetylated-α-linked acidic dipeptidase (NAA-LADase) is a Cl− dependent, membrane bound, metallopeptidase that cleaves the endogenous neuropeptide N-acetyl-l-aspartyl-l-glutamate (NAAG) in vitro. To examine the pattern of NAALADase expression in the CNS, subcellular, regional, and developmental studies were conducted. Subcellular fractionation of lysed synaptosomal membranes revealed a substantial enrichment of the peptidase in synaptic plasma membranes as compared to mitochondrial or myelin subfractions. Regional studies reveal an apparent restriction of peptidase activity to kidney and brain. A threefold variation in specific activity was observed among brain regions, with highest specific activity in the cerebellum and lowest in telencephalic structures, a pattern that does not, in general, correlate with NAAG levels. Ontogenetic studies demonstrate a region-dependent, postnatal pattern of expression of NAALADase activity, with adult levels attained earliest in brainstem, as was previously reported for NAAG. Postnatal NAALADase expression would not appear to support a role for the peptidase in constitutive protein processing, but rather suggests that NAALADase may play a role in synaptic peptide degradation. Glutamate (Glu) excised from NAAG by NAALA Dase could be transported efficiently by uptake processes. Lesion studies, however, do not support a close structural association between NAALADase activity and the corticostriatal sodium-dependent, high-affinity, Glu uptake system. Similar to in vitro data documenting the route of NAAG degradation by NAALADase, after intrastriatal injection, NAAG was rapidly cleaved to two major products. N-acetyl-aspartate and Glu, with a t1/2 of approximately 10 min. Thus, the route of in vivo catabolism of NAAG parallels results from studies on NAALADase activity in vitro. These results are consistent with a role of NAALADase in the synaptic processing of NAAG. However, certain discrepancies in the regional and ontogenetic profiles of NAAG and NAALADase suggest that this relationship is not an exclusive one and may reflect a role for NAALADase on additional N-acetylated acidic peptides in vivo.
A review of simulation optimization techniques

We present a review of methods for optimizing stochastic systems using simulation. The focus is on gradient based techniques for optimization with respect to continuous decision parameters and on random search methods for optimization with respect to discrete decision parameters.
Is there sperm storage in the clam shrimp Eulimnadia texana

. Androdioecy is a rare form of mating system in which species comprise males and hermaphrodites. One recently described case of androdioecy is the freshwater crustacean Eulimnadia texana. A mathematical model of the mating system of this shrimp suggests that males and hermaphrodites should only coexist under limited circumstances. One possible factor not considered in this model would extend the conditions for coexistence: the possibility of sperm storage in the hermaphrodites. Here we use genetically marked matings between males and hermaphrodites to determine if hermaphrodites can store male sperms. Eggs were collected from hermaphrodites both in the presence of a male and after the male was removed. A total of 30 of these matings had successful hatches, but only 14 of these 30 could be used to test for sperm storage. In these 14 cases, an average of 35% of the eggs were outcrossed when males were present, but only 0.4% were outcrossed after males were removed. Thus, sperm storage by hermaphrodites was an insignificant factor in the production of offspring. These data suggest that sperm storage cannot help explain the coexistence of males and hermaphrodites in natural populations of this crustacean.
Generalized inverses of cone preserving maps

Abstract Let K 1 and K 2 be solid cones in R n and R m respectively, and let A be a linear operator such that AK 1 ⊆ K 2 . Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of various kinds of generalized inverses of A taking K 2 into K 1 are given. Projections which belong to π( K ), the set of all linear operators that preserve a are studied. In particular, it is proved that a projection P in π( K ) is a simplicial nonnegative linear combination of its rank-one operators iff Im P ∩ K is a simplical cone. An open question of Burns, Fiedler, and Haynsworth concerning minimal generating matrices of polyhedral cones is also extended and answered affirmatively.
Plumage brightness as an indicator of parental care in northern cardinals

Good parent and differential allocation models predict relationships between degree of sexual ornamentation and parental care, but relatively few studies have tested these models. The northern cardinal,Cardinalis cardinalis, is a sexually dichromatic species in which both sexes are ornamented. Males have red plumage, and females have tan plumage with limited areas of red feathering. Cardinals were used to address the two models and determine whether plumage brightness signals level of parental care by both sexes. Absolute effort in feeding nestlings by males was not correlated with male breast plumage colour, but effort by females was positively correlated with female underwing plumage colour. Absolute feeding effort by females was also inversely related to brightness of the mate's breast colour. As a consequence, the proportion of a pair's total feedings provided by the male was positively correlated with male breast colour. Proportion of total feedings provided by the female was positively correlated with female wing colour. Feeding efforts (both per nest and per nestling) were correlated between mates, but birds did not mate assortatively in relation to colour. These results support the good parent hypothesis, suggesting colour brightness is a signal of parental care. The results also indicate that ornamentation of both members of the pair may be important determinants of relative efforts in provisioning nestlings by parent birds.
Connected components of attractors and other stable sets

We study the action of a continuous mapf on a locally connected metric space, with an emphasis on the action induced byf on the space of connected components of an attractorA or a stable setY off. The main result for attractors is that, ifA is an attractor in the sense of C. Conley, thenf permutes the components ofA and that the permutation is cyclic if and only if the attractor is indecomposable. This is related to similar results obtained recently by Buescu and Stewart. In the case of an indecomposable stable invariant setY we show that either the action off on the components ofY is as described above for the action on the attractor, or elseY has infinitely many components, the action off on them is a generalized adding machine, so that there are no periodic points inY. Results along these lines are due to Buescu and Stewart and to Melbourne, Dellnitz and Golubitsky.
A randomized controlled clinical trial of bupropion SR and individual smoking cessation counseling

Efficacy of bupropion SR and individual counseling as smoking cessation treatments was assessed in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial among adult daily smokers. Bupropion SR treatment and counseling were fully crossed in this factorial design so that the efficacy of each treatment and the combination could be estimated, relative to a placebo medication and assessment control condition. Intent-to-treat analyses indicated that bupropion SR increased abstinence rates at the end of treatment, relative to the placebo medication conditions, for both biochemically confirmed 7-day point-prevalence abstinence (OR = 1.97, 95% CI 1.04-3.72) and self-reported prolonged abstinence (OR = 2.90, 95% CI 1.66-5.06). Bupropion SR treatment also improved latency to lapse and relapse and improved the latency between lapse and relapse in survival analyses. Medication effects were more modest for both 12-month point-prevalence abstinence (OR = 1.47, 95% CI 0.74-2.92) and prolonged abstinence (OR = 1.34, 95% CI 0.66-2.72). Counseling was not associated with increases in the likelihood of abstinence at any time point (odds ratios ranged from 0.80 to 1.16 across abstinence outcomes in the full intent-to-treat sample). Counseling and medication did not significantly interact at any time point, and adding counseling did not improve end-of-treatment point-prevalence abstinence (OR = 1.17, 95% CI 0.68-2.03) or prolonged abstinence (OR = 1.26, 95% CI 0.75-2.12) substantially when offered in conjunction with active medication.
Two-dimensional modeling of image random field using artificial neural networks

The authors address the problem of 2-D linear modeling of an image random field using a neural network approach. A new learning scheme is developed using the recursive least squares (RLS) method which can be used to extract the model coefficients. Both 2-D autoregressive (AR) with nonsymmetric half-plane (NSHP) and noncausal region of support, and general 2-D autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) models with NSHP region of support are considered. The proposed scheme is inherently fast and ideally suited for real-time implementations. It does not need any prior statistical knowledge of the image process. Numerical results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed scheme over the conventional parameter estimation methods. >
Role of laves intermetallics in nuclear waste disposal

Laves intermetallics (AB2 compounds) play an important role in the disposal of metallic waste resulting from the electrometallurgical treatment of spent nuclear fuel. These ZrFe2-type intermetallics incorporate and immobilize highly radioactive and long-lived constituents that are present in waste forms based on the stainless steel–zirconium (SS–Zr) alloys. This paper reviews the metallurgy of SS–Zr alloys with emphasis on Laves intermetallic behavior. Microscopy and diffraction studies have shown that all actinide elements and most fission product elements are present only in the ZrFe2-type intermetallics of a stainless steel–15 wt.% zirconium (SS–15Zr) waste form, whereas only molybdenum is incorporated in the ZrFe2-type intermetallics of a zirconium–8 wt.% stainless steel (Zr–8SS) alloy. Because of the importance of material durability to waste disposal, recent experiments have been aimed at determining the corrosion behavior of these intermetallics. Results from transmission electron microscopy of corrosion layers observed on the ZrFe2-type compounds are presented.