cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fosphenytoin pre-medication for pediatric extra-operative electrical stimulation brain mapping.

Abstract Purpose We studied the effect of fosphenytoin (FOS) pre-medication on the incidence and thresholds of after-discharges (ADs), seizures, and functional responses during electrical stimulation mapping (ESM). Methods As individualized by the attending epileptologist, FOS was given intravenously at 2 mg-phenytoin-equivalents (PE)/kg/min or 150 mg-PE/min (whichever slower). Patients who received and did not receive FOS were compared for the incidence and thresholds of ADs, seizures, and functional responses. Results Before ESM, 40 and 82 patients respectively were pre-medicated/not pre-medicated with FOS. The incidence of ESM-induced seizures was significantly lower in FOS pre-medicated patients (22.5% vs. 42.7%, p = 0.044), whereas temporal language threshold was higher (9.2 vs. 6.5 mA, p = 0.032). FOS was more efficacious in preventing ESM-induced seizures in patients with symptomatogenic zone ipsilateral to the side of ESM. Although FOS dose had no significant effect on minimum language, minimum motor, or AD thresholds; seizure and temporal language thresholds showed trends approaching significance, intersecting at 12.2 mg-PE/kg. The incidence of ESM-induced seizures was significantly lower in those who received FOS at a dose of ≤12 mg/kg (9.1%) compared to those who did not receive any FOS (42.7%, p = 0.046), while the temporal language thresholds were not significantly different (6.3 vs. 6.5 mA, p = 0.897). Conclusions This study provides class III evidence that FOS pre-medication before ESM decreases the incidence of ESM-induced seizures, but increases temporal language threshold. FOS pre-medication may thus be considered before ESM. Future studies should prospectively verify these observations and characterize dose-response relationships.
Semantic Location in Email Query Suggestion

Mobile devices are pervasive, which means that users have access to web content and their personal documents at all locations, not just their home or office. Existing work has studied how locations can influence information needs, focusing on web queries. We explore whether or not location information can be helpful to users who are searching their own personal documents. We wish to study whether a users' location can predict their queries over their own personal data, so we focus on the task of query suggestion. While we find that using location directly can be helpful, it does not generalize well to novel locations. To improve this situation, we explore using semantic location: that is, rather than memorizing location-query associations, we generalize our location information to names of the closest point of interest. By using short, semantic descriptions of locations, we find that we can more robustly improve query completion and observe that users are already using locations to extend their own queries in this domain. We present a simple but effective model that can use location to predict queries for a user even before they type anything into a search box, and which learns effectively even when not all queries have location information.
Influence of Strike Water Alkalinity and Hardness on Mash pH

Measurement of the pH of small-scale barley mashes prepared with ale, Munich, and pilsner malt mashed with artificially alkalized and calcium-hardened water revealed that the classic Kolbach residu...
The Rights of Palestinian Refugees and Territorial Solutions in Historic Palestine

The chapter addresses the territorial implications of the rights of Palestinian refugees in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as measured under international law. The chapter focuses on the central issues, addressing the questions: how do rights of return, property restitution and compensation affect the claims to state territory? Concerning self-determination in the territory of former Palestine, which people are entitled to self-determination -- Palestinians, the Jewish people, Israeli Jews, or Israelis? And over which territory are the 'people' entitled to exercise their self-determination. The main legal principles and sources that provide the framework to address these questions are set out and examined.
Intraspecific Variability of Zooplankton Feeding in the Hermatypic Coral Montastrea Cavernosa

Zooplankton feeding is a readily observed characteristic of many species of corals, but the importance of this mode of feeding has yet to be determined. The present study reports on the effects of intraspecific variability on zooplankton feeding in the reef coral Montastrea cavernosa and discusses the influence of this variability on the ecologic significance of planktivory.
Assessing patient comfort with flat-top radiation oncology palette vs. standard PET/CT table in PET/CT

2032 Objectives Patient comfort is known to impact patient motion and potentially image quality with modalities that require lengthy imaging times. PET/CT imaging routinely requires imaging times greater than 20 minutes. We assessed patient comfort comparing the standard bed with the flat-top radiation oncology palette (RT bed) in PET/CT. Routinely acquiring PET/CT images with the RT bed has the potential for avoiding repeat scanning for therapy planning. Our goal is to objectively evaluate differences in comfort level related to scanning on different beds. Methods 118 patients volunteered to participate in this evaluation over a one month period in an ongoing study. A patient satisfaction survey was developed using a modified Wong-Baker faces pain scale. Questions regarding the overall table comfort and select body areas of arms, legs, back, and head were interspersed among procedural questions. Patients were randomly scanned on either the conventional or RT bed. Patients completed the survey at the time of departure from the PET/CT facility. Results Matched assessments are included in this study, 59 with each bed. The pain scale was reviewed for overall table comfort as well as for the specific body area comfort. The RT table was determined to be more uncomfortable than the conventional bed in all areas surveyed. The most uncomfortable body area surveyed with the largest comfort difference between the beds was the arms. Conclusions The flat-top radiation oncology palette is less comfortable during PET/CT scanning than the conventional PET/CT table. Further studies should help identify the causes of discomfort and potentially lead to comfort improvements.
Predictive Model for Medical and Surgical Readmissions Following Elective Lumbar Spine Surgery: A National Study of 33,674 Patients.

Study design This study retrospectively analyzes prospectively collected data. Objective Here we aim to develop predictive models for 3-month medical and surgical readmission after elective lumbar surgery, based on a multi-institutional, national spine registry. Summary of background data Unplanned readmissions place considerable stress on payers, hospitals, and patients. Medicare data reveals a 30-day readmission rate of 7.8% for lumbar-decompressions and 13.0% for lumbar-fusions, and hospitals are now being penalized for excessive 30-day readmission rates by virtue of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Methods The Quality and Outcomes Database (QOD) was queried for patients undergoing elective lumbar surgery for degenerative diseases. The QOD prospectively captures 3-month readmissions through electronic medical record (EMR) review and self-reported outcome questionnaires. Distinct multivariable logistic regression models were fitted for surgery-related and medical readmissions adjusting for patient and surgery-specific variables. Results Of the total 33,674 patients included in this study 2079 (6.15%) reported at least one readmission during the 90-day postoperative period. The odds of medical readmission were significantly higher for older patients, males versus females, African Americans versus Caucasion, those with higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade, diabetes, coronary artery disease, higher numbers of involved levels, anterior only or anterior-posterior versus posterior approach; also, for patients who were unemployed compared with employed patients and those with high baseline Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). The odds of surgery-related readmission were significantly greater for patients with a higher body mass index (BMI), a higher ASA grade, female versus male, and African Americans versus Caucasians; also, for patients with severe depression, more involved spinal levels, anterior-only surgical approaches and higher baseline ODI scores. Conclusion In this study we present internally validated predictive models for medical and surgical readmission after elective lumbar spine surgery. These findings set the stage for targeted interventions with a potential to reduce unnecessary readmissions, and also suggest that medical and surgical readmissions be treated as distinct clinical events. Level of evidence 3.
Migrating from Fixed Grid to Flexible Grid Optical Networks

The Internet backbone infrastructure has to regularly evolve to keep pace with the changing requirements of its users. Next-generation backbone networks will have to support reconfigurable optical channels working at multiple terabit per second to accommodate the growing number of users and their increasing bandwidth requests, as well as be able to adapt to support new and unanticipated services. For more than two decades, optical networks based on wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) have met the bandwidth needs of the Internet, by scaling up their bandwidth by two to three orders of magnitude.
INSTRUKSI PRESIDEN REPUBLIK INDONESIA NOMOR 8 TAHUN 2018 TENTANG PENUNDAAN DAN EVALUASI PERIZINAN PERKEBUNAN KELAPA SAWIT SERTA PENINGKATAN PERKEBUNAN KELAPA SAWIT (INPRES MORATORIUM SAWIT)

Pada tanggal 19 September 2018 lalu, Presiden menerbitkan Instruksi Presiden (Inpres) Nomor 8 Tahun 2018 tentang Penundaan dan Evaluasi Perizinan Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit serta Peningkatan Perkebunan Kelapa Sawit atau lazim disebut Inpres Moratorium Sawit. Keluarnya Inpres ini dilatarbelakangi oleh beberapa persoalan mendasar dalam perkebunan kelapa sawit, antara lain lemahnya tata kelola perkebunan kelapa sawit yang berkelanjutan, kepastian hukum, kelestarian lingkungan hidup termasuk penurunan emisi Gas Rumah Kaca, perlunya pembinaan petani kelapa sawit, dan peningkatan produktivitas kelapa sawit. Patut diakui bahwa sektor perkelapasawitan selama ini telah memberikan kontribusi bagi Indonesia. Namun di sisi lain, berbagai persoalan yang muncul mulai dari tingkat lokal, nasional hingga internasional tidak dapat pula diabaikan. Berbagai persoalan tersebut setidaknya telah menjadi isu penting yang semakin berkembang hingga menimbulkan reaksi internasional, khususnya rencana Uni Eropa untuk melarang impor minyak kelapa sawit dari Indonesia
Some Problems in the Case Grammar of Awutu

The framework of Case Grammar is used to analyze surface structure constructions of the type NP-nɛ-NP in Awutu, a Guang language from Southern Ghana. Agentive, objective, locative, and comitative cases are postulated. Surface structures are derived from deep structures containing two or more of the above cases. It is shown that the phrase NP-nɛ-NP has two different sources. It may be the realization of two different cases as well as the result of reduction of conjoined sentences.
The effects of early- or mid-gestation nutrient restriction on bovine fetal pancreatic development

Abstract Research on the effects of nutrient restriction in beef cows on fetal pancreatic development is limited. To address this, multiparous Angus-cross cows (n = 22) were fed either control (CON; to gain 1 kg/wk) or nutrient-restricted (NR; 0.55% NEm) diets based on NRC requirements. On d 30 of gestation, cows were blocked by body condition and randomly assigned to one of three nutritional regimes: CON fed from d 30 to 190 (n = 8), or NR/C (n = 7) or C/NR (n = 7) fed either the CON or NR diet from d 30 to 110 followed by CON or NR from d 110 to 190 of gestation. Cows were harvested on d 190 of gestation, and blood samples, fetal weights, and fetal tissue weights and samples were collected. Pancreas samples were embedded in paraffin and sectioned for standard immunohistochemistry procedures to quantify insulin-positive β cells and number of apoptotic β cells using TUNEL staining. Data were analyzed via ANOVA using the general linear model procedure of SAS. At harvest, empty carcass weights were decreased (P = 0.036) in fetuses of C/NR and NR/C fed dams compared to fetuses of CON fed dams. Pancreas weight was decreased (P = 0.028) in fetuses of C/NR fed dams compared to CON fetuses; however, fetuses of NR/C fed dams were not different (P > 0.05) from fetuses of CON fed dams. Maternal and fetal serum insulin concentrations were not different (P > 0.05) in NR/C fed compared to CON fed; however, concentrations of insulin were decreased (P = 0.036 and P = 0.40, respectively) in C/NR fed compared to CON fed. Beta cell number was decreased (P = 0.009) in fetuses of NR/C and C/NR fed dams compared to fetuses of CON fed dams. Percentage of apoptotic cells was increased (P
Impact of Common Food Labels on Consumer Liking in Vanilla Yogurt.

As competition on super market shelves is higher than ever, the importance of product concepts, communicated through labels, can dictate a product’s success or failure. However, it is possible for labels to affect a consumer’s experience, changing the overall response to the product. In this study, we tested samples of vanilla yogurt with one of four commonly used labeling concepts (high-protein, low-fat, made with stevia and all-natural) on sensory perception, consumer liking, expected consumption amount, and willingness to pay (WTP) in a consumer test (n = 108). Each participant evaluated five samples of the same vanilla yogurt identified with one of the labels, or an unlabeled control. Results showed panelists liked the samples labeled with low-fat and high-protein to the greatest degree, with all-natural scoring the lowest. Those more concerned with protein content found the samples less satiating, dependent on sex. Sweetness was also perceived more highly in younger panelists, with panelists WTP dependent on their liking of the labels. Results highlight the importance of labeling as an extrinsic cue affecting liking ratings, with potential ramification for ultimate product success. Understanding consumers’ response to labels, as well as their attitudes, has broad implications for food marketing, as well as public health and the study of eating habits.
Reduce, Reuse, Resilient? Life-Cycle Seismic and Environmental Performance of Buildings with Alternative Concretes

AbstractThis paper investigates the impacts of alternative structural concretes on the life-cycle sustainability and resilience of a reinforced concrete building in a high seismic region. To do so,...
Reviews of Science for Science Librarians: Vitamins and Trace Elements that May Be Preventive or Ameliorating in This Age of Contagion

Prompted by COVID-19, many laypersons now seek information on nutritional support to ward off or help shorten the effects of serious infectious diseases, and are attracted to practices and substanc...
Trust Me, I’m a Doctor: Explorer-Anthropologists, Medicine, and Colonialism in Argentina, 1863-1881

Against the backdrop of political and military efforts to resolve the cuestion de indios in Argentina in the second half of the nineteenth century, Argentine and foreign explorers journeyed through Patagonia and the Pampas, studying indigenous communities and publishing their observations in hybrid travelogue-ethnographies. In most of these texts, the explorer-anthropologists narrate moments in which they diagnose, treat, and occasionally cure indigenous bodies, despite having little to no medical training. In this article, I argue that men such as Lucio V. Mansilla, Francisco P. Moreno, Estanislao S. Zeballos, Guillermo Cox, and George Chaworth Musters performed “civilized” medical care as a practical entrance into the communities they wished to study. Indeed, medicine made early anthropology on Argentine soil possible. At the same time, these men also used the discourse of medicine in general to construct gendered and racialized hierarchies. They repeatedly depict non-indigenous medicine as feminized, irrational, and ineffective in contrast to the scientific, civilized, and powerful medicine they practice, even though cracks in their narratives reveal more similarities than differences. In this way, both the practice of medicine by anthropologists and their textual representations of it served to reinforce colonial projects that expanded white, masculine power at the expense of indigenous peoples and women.
Mycophenolate Mofetil Treatment of C3 Glomerulopathy.

C3 glomerulopathy is a relatively newly described and rare disease mediated by dysregulated activity of the alternative complement pathway. Although the light and electron microscopic findings may vary, the disease is defined by immunofluorescence microscopy with glomerular deposition of
Efficacy of Single-Dose Oxfendazole to Treat Oxyurid Nematodiasis in the Green Iguana (Iguana iguana)

Abstract Seventeen healthy sub-adult green iguanas (Iguana iguana) naturally infected with oxyurid nematodes were treated to assess the anthelmintic efficacy of a single 25 mg/kg oral dose of oxfen...
Practical approaches to sedation and analgesia in the newborn

The prevention, assessment, and treatment of neonatal pain and agitation continues to challenge clinicians and researchers. Substantial progress has been made in the past three decades, but numerous outstanding questions remain. In this setting, clinicians must establish safe and compassionate standardized practices that consider available efficacy data, long-term outcomes, and research gaps. Novel approaches with limited data must be carefully considered against historic standards of care with robust data suggesting limited benefit and clear adverse effects. This review summarizes available evidence while suggesting practical clinical approaches to pain assessment and avoidance, procedural analgesia, postoperative analgesia, sedation during mechanical ventilation and therapeutic hypothermia, and the issues of tolerance and withdrawal. Further research in all areas represents an urgent priority for optimal neonatal care. In the meantime, synthesis of available data offers clinicians challenging choices as they balance benefit and risk in vulnerable critically ill neonates.
Using marketing for good: An experiential project on cause-related marketing in a principles course

Cause-Related Marketing (CRM), defined as profit motivated giving, is an effective strategy that can be used to demonstrate to students the “good side” of marketing. This paper outlines an experien...
Using Visuals to Help Explain Tonicity to Introductory Biology Students

The inability of students to properly understand the principles underlying osmosis and tonicity leads to misconceptions that further impair their ability to apply these concepts to physiological situations. We describe a simple and inexpensive visual exercise using beads and water to mimic solutions. Using these model solutions, students will understand the concepts of tonicity and osmolarity. The hands-on exercise is supplemented with a worksheet that reinforces the concepts they learned in doing the activity. This exercise has broad application with respect to both the level of students targeted and the courses in which it can be utilized, and it is flexible enough to personalize for each situation.
Strategic Inattention, Inflation Dynamics, and the Non-Neutrality of Money

How does competition affect information acquisition of firms and thus the response of inflation and output to monetary policy shocks? This paper addresses these questions in a new dynamic general equilibrium model with both dynamic rational inattention and oligopolistic competition. In the model, rationally inattentive firms acquire information about the endogenous beliefs of their competitors. Moreover, firms with fewer competitors endogenously choose to acquire less information about aggregate shocks – a novel prediction of the model that is supported by empirical evidence from survey data. A quantitative exercise disciplined by firm-level survey data shows that firms' strategic inattention to aggregate shocks associated with oligopolistic competition increases monetary non-neutrality by up to 77% and amplifies the half-life of output response to monetary shocks by up to 30%. Furthermore, the model matches the relationship between the number of firms' competitors and their uncertainty about inflation as a non-targeted moment.
False Data Detection in Power System Under State Variables' Cyber Attacks Using Information Theory

State estimation (SE) plays a vital role in the reliable operation of modern power systems, gives situational awareness to the operators, and is employed in different functions of the Energy Management System (EMS), such as Optimal Power Flow (OPF), Contingency Analysis (CA), power market mechanism, etc. To increase SE's accuracy and protect it from compromised measurements, Bad Data Detection (BDD) algorithm is employed. However, the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into the modern power system makes it a complicated cyber-physical system (CPS). It gives this opportunity to an adversary to find some loopholes and flaws, penetrate to CPS layer, inject false data, bypass existing BDD schemes, and consequently, result in security and stability issues. This paper employs a semi-supervised learning method to find normal data patterns and address the False Data Injection Attack (FDIA) problem. Based on this idea, the Probability Distribution Functions (PDFs) of measurement variations are derived for training and test data sets. Two distinct indices, i.e., Absolute Distance (AD) and Relative Entropy (RE), a concept in Information Theory, are utilized to find the distance between these two PDFs. In case an intruder compromises data, the related PDF changes. However, we demonstrate that AD fails to detect these changes. On the contrary, the RE index changes significantly and can properly detect FDIA. This proposed method can be used in a real-time attack detection process where the larger RE index indicates the possibility of an attack on the real-time data. To investigate the proposed methodology's effectiveness, we utilize the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) data (Jan.-Dec. 2019) with a 5-minute resolution and map it to the IEEE 14-bus test system, and prepare an appropriate data set. After that, two different case studies (attacks on voltage magnitude ( $V_{m}$ ), and phase angle $(\theta))$ with different attack parameters (i.e., 0.90, 0.95, 0.98, 1.02, 1.05, and 1.10) are defined to assess the impact of an attack on the state variables at different buses. The results show that RE index is a robust and reliable index, appropriate for real-time applications, and can detect FDIA in most of the defined case studies.
Prison research: a bioethics or an ethics issue?

The hypothesis of reducing aggressiveness through transcranial direct current stimulation was recently tested on a cohort of inmates in Spain. The experiment, including 1.5 mA electric shocks, was an external research initiative that received the initial acquiescence of the carceral system. An alarm was raised at the time the research was published, encouraging the directorate of prisons to stop the ongoing replication of the experiment. Nevertheless, no (bio)ethics committee, in the universities or among bioethics experts, has questioned the research. In this think piece, we aim to again discuss some ethical approaches to these clinical interventions on crime. After its positivistic period, the field of criminology has been questioning the simple psychobiological approach to crime because of the reductionistic view of this phenomenon and its harmful consequences. Thus, we address academic experimentation under prison governance and the “re” roles of prisons. We argue that the minor disadvantages of such research, if performed with consent, could be positive if the research can minimize the harmfulness of prison itself; thus, penitentiary treatment and science should go together. Prison administrations, in addition to their duty to protect the individuals under their control from ethically biased research, must promote reintegration. We conclude that human rights are over criminal policy and science and that ethics are over narrower bioethics.
Overview of positron emission tomography in functional imaging of the lungs for diffuse lung diseases

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a quantitative molecular imaging modality increasingly used to study pulmonary disease processes and drug effects on those processes. The wide range of drugs and other entities that can be radiolabeled to study molecularly targeted processes is a major strength of PET, thus providing a noninvasive approach for obtaining molecular phenotyping information. The use of PET to monitor disease progression and treatment outcomes in DLD has been limited in clinical practice, with most of such applications occurring in the context of research investigations under clinical trials. Given the high costs and failure rates for lung drug development efforts, molecular imaging lung biomarkers are needed not only to aid these efforts but also to improve clinical characterization of these diseases beyond canonical anatomic classifications based on computed tomography. The purpose of this review article is to provide an overview of PET applications in characterizing lung disease, focusing on novel tracers that are in clinical development for DLD molecular phenotyping, and briefly address considerations for accurately quantifying lung PET signals.
Lessons from World Bank Research on Financial Crises

The benefits of financial development and globalization have come with continuing fragility in financial sectors. Periodic crises have had real but heterogeneous welfare impacts and not just for poor people; indeed, some of the conditions that foster deep and persistent poverty, such as lack of connectivity to markets, have provided a degree of protection for the poor. Past crises have also had longer-term impacts for some of those affected, most notably through the nutrition and schooling of children in poor families. As in other areas of policy, effective responses to a crisis require sound data and must take account of incentives and behavior. An important lesson from past experience is that the short-term responses to a crisis - macroeconomic stabilization, trade policies, financial sector policies and social protection - cannot ignore longer-term implications for both economic development and vulnerability to future crises.
Agent naming and coordination: actor based models and infrastructures

Flexible and efficient naming, migration and coordination schemes are critical components of concurrent and distributed systems. This chapter describes actor naming and coordination models and infrastructures, which enable the development of mobile agent systems. A travel agent example is used to motivate the requirements and proposed solutions for naming, migration and coordination.
Do Tax Increment Finance Districts Stimulate Growth in Real Estate Values

We use data on all Wisconsin municipalities during the period 1990–2003 to study the effect of tax increment finance (TIF) on economic development. We use appropriate statistical techniques to measure the impact of TIF and control variables on aggregate property values. We also examine the possibility communities that use TIF are self-selected. We find little evidence that TIF has led to significant increases in aggregate property values or that TIF increases the total value of residential and manufacturing property within a community. Surprisingly, we find positive impacts for commercial TIF districts.
Cryptdin gene expression in developing mouse small intestine

In rodents, the four intestinal epithelial cell lineages differentiate and become morphologically distinct during the first 2-3 postnatal wk. In studies reported here, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based assays detected Paneth cell defensin mRNAs in intestinal RNA from 1-day-old (P1) mice before crypt formation and maturation of the epithelium. Analysis of these defensin-coding RT-PCR products from P1 mice showed that 69% of clones sequenced coded for cryptdin-6, suggesting that it is the most abundant enteric defensin mRNA in the newborn. Paneth cell mRNAs, including cryptdins-4 and -5, lysozyme, matrilysin, and defensin-related sequences, also were detected in RNA from P1 mouse intestine. Unlike adult mice, where only Paneth cells are immunopositive for cryptdin, cryptdin-containing cells were distributed throughout the newborn intestinal epithelium and not in association with rudimentary crypts. Cryptdin immunoreactivity in the P1 mouse intestine was specific for intracellular granule contents, and immunofluorescent detection of cryptdins on mucosal surfaces suggested that the peptides are released into the intestinal lumen in P1 mice Defensin secretion may contribute to innate immunity of the neonatal intestine before the presence of distinguishable Paneth cells.
Micro-Auction-Based Traffic-Light Control: Responsive, Local Decision Making

Real-time, responsive optimization of traffic flow serves to address important practical problems: reducing drivers' wasted time and improving city-wide efficiency, as well as reducing gas emissions and improving air quality. Much of the current research in traffic-light optimization relies on extending the capabilities of basic traffic lights to either communicate with each other or communicate with vehicles. However, before such capabilities become ubiquitous, opportunities exist to improve traffic lights by being more responsive to current traffic situations within the existing, deployed, infrastructure. In this paper, we use micro-auctions as the organizing principle with which to incorporate local induction loop information, no other outside sources of information are assumed. At every time step in which a phase change is permitted, each light conducts a decentralized, weighted, micro-auction to determine which phase is instantiated next. We test the lights on real-world data collected over a period of several weeks around the Mountain View, California area. In our simulations, the auction mechanisms based only on local sensor data surpass longer-term planning approaches that rely on widely placed sensors and communications.
Hegemony in a mass‐mediated society: Concordance about reproductive technologies 1

This essay offers a critical method that applies the theory of hegemony to the contemporary context in the United States. It argues that most critics in communication studies who reference the theory of hegemony produce ideological critiques that operate out of the older assumptions of dominant ideology theory. It grounds a model of contemporary hegemony and illustrates a hegemonic methodology called “the critique of concord”; through an examination of the hegemonic worldview constructed to place new reproductive technologies such as IVF, surrogacy, donor gametes, hormone therapy, and so forth.
Structure and downstream evolution of the Agulhas Current system during a quasi-synoptic survey in February–March 2003

[1] The Agulhas Undercurrent Experiment took place in February–March 2003 off the east coast of South Africa and consisted of four sections of hydrographic and velocity data across the Agulhas Current between 30 and 36°S and connecting offshore sections that formed three closed boxes. An inverse model was applied to the quasi-synoptic data, and results show that the net mass transport at the historical 32°S section had a considerably higher transport of 100 ± 9 Sv than earlier estimates. This high transport falls within the peak-to-peak variability obtained previously from a current meter time series. Several mesoscale cyclonic eddies extending down to intermediate depths were sampled during the survey; in particular, a strong, locally formed shear edge eddy was found inshore of the Agulhas Current at 36°S. Offshore eddies were found to drive considerable onshore-offshore fluxes, resulting in highly variable Agulhas transports from one section to another. After attempting to account for and remove the influence of these eddies on the Agulhas transport, the downstream growth of the Agulhas Current is found to be consistent with the Sverdrup transport variation, within errors. To account for the total magnitude of the Agulhas transport, fluxes from both the Indonesian Throughflow and Indian Ocean overturning must also be taken into account. There is no clear evidence from this study for a significant contribution of inertial recirculation to the Agulhas within this latitude range.
Local topological modification of hexahedral meshes. Part I: A set of dual-based operations

For hexahedral meshes, it is difficult to make topological modifications which preserve conformal property and which are local to the modified elements. This is most easily understood in how changes affect the dual surfaces ("sheets") and lines ("chords"), which have non­local extent in hexahedral meshes. A set of three operations is proposed which represent distinct local changes to the hex mesh and its dual. These operations are shown to compose the larger set of "flipping" operations described by Bern et. al. The relation between these dual­based operations and the insertion of a Boy surface in the dual, described by Bern, is also discussed.
Development of the Capacity for Tactile Information Transfer between Hemispheres in Normal Children.

The hypothesis of less direct interaction between hemispheres in young children was supported by a behavioral test. Fabric samples were compared with either the same hand (same hemisphere) or with opposite hands (between hemispheres). Crossed errors were a significantly larger proportion of total errors in 3-year-olds than in 5-year-olds.
Phase Behavior of Oxygen-Containing Polymers in CO2

The cloud point curves of a series of oxygen-containing polymers in CO2 were measured to attempt to deduce the effect of oxygen functional groups within a polymer on the polymer/CO2 phase behavior. The addition of an ether oxygen to a hydrocarbon polymer, either in the backbone or the side chain, enhances “CO2-philicity” by providing sites for specific interactions with CO2 as well as by enhancing the entropy of mixing by creating more flexible chains with higher free volume. Ab initio calculations show that both ether and ester oxygens provide very attractive interaction sites for CO2 molecules. The binding energy for an isolated ether oxygen with CO2 is larger in magnitude than that for a carbonyl oxygen/CO2 complex. However, acetate functionalized polymers are more CO2-soluble than polymers with only ether functionalitiespossibly because acetate functional groups contain a total of three binding modes for CO2 interactions, compared with only one for the ether functional group. Experiments clearly indic...
Membrane Fusion: Role of SNAREs and Calcium

Life processes are governed at the chemical level, and therefore knowledge of how single molecules interact, provides a fundamental understanding of nature. The molecular mechanism of membrane fusion essential to vital cellular activities such as intracellular transport, hormone secretion, enzyme release, or neurotransmission, involve the assembly and disassembly of a specialized set of proteins present in opposing bilayers. Target membrane proteins at the cell plasma membrane SNAP-25 and syntaxin termed t-SNAREs, and secretory vesicle-associated protein VAMP or v-SNARE, are part of the conserved protein complex involved in fusion of opposing membranes. It has been demonstrated that in the presence of Ca2+, t-SNAREs and v-SNARE in opposing bilayers interact and self-assemble in a circular pattern, to form conducting channels. Such self-assembly of t-/v-SNAREs in a ring conformation occurs only when the respective SNAREs are in association with membrane. X-ray diffraction measurements further demonstrate that t-SNAREs in the target membrane and v-SNARE in the vesicle membrane overcome repulsive forces to bring opposing membranes close to within a distance of 2.8 A. Studies suggest that calcium bridging of the opposing bilayers, lead to release of water from hydrated Ca2+ ions as well as the loosely coordinated water at PO-lipid head groups, leading to membrane destabilization and fusion. The t-/v-SNARE is a tight complex, who's disassembly requires an ATPase called NSF, which functions as a right-handed molecular motor.
Cost-effectiveness of induced labor: by Kaimal et al

See related article, page 137 This month, Journal Club members discussed an excellent article on the role of elective induction at 41 weeks’ compared with expectant management of pregnant women. The authors of the article used a cost-effectiveness analysis to compare these 2 strategies. Discussants found the article to be well-executed and interesting. Given that we will likely see more such studies, it is important for readers to understand the methods behind this type of investigation.
Pulmonary artery stenosis.

Although the number of cases of stenosis of a branch or branches of the pulmonary artery reported in the literature is small, this congenital lesion is being recognized with increasing frequency. This report is a description of 2 cases seen within 1 year. Both cases were studied by means of cardiac catheterization and angiocardiography. In both there were complicating congenital heart lesions.
Interhemispheric Visual Masking

Backward masking functions were evaluated in a paradigm in which target and masking stimuli were presented to opposite cerebral hemispheres using separate peripheral pathways. Backward masking occurred dichoptically when the target and mask were projected to opposite hemispheres. These findings indicated that some effective masking mechanisms are mediated by interhemispheric interactions independent of retinal phenomena.
An undergraduate training program in community psychology

A program is described which leads to a Certificate in Community Psychology as a supplement to the BA in Psychology. Started in 1973 with the aid of a training grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at a black liberal arts college for men, it adds a 30-hour sequence of clinical skills training, field experience, and interdisciplinary courses to the 31 hours required for the BA. Training and field experience in drug abuse intervention are required for the NIDA stipendiaries. Courses in counseling and drug abuse are also open, with financial assistance to paraprofessionals in mental health or drug abuse. Resistance to the program on the basis of its potential expense and "vocational" orientation was overcome. Graduates have had increased employment and graduate and professional school opportunities as a result of their supplementary training compared with traditional BA students.
Carboplatin plus paclitaxel therapy after docetaxel in men with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer.

Abstract Objectives Docetaxel is considered first-line chemotherapy for patients with metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Carboplatin and paclitaxel have demonstrated activity in CRPC but published data are limited regarding use after docetaxel. Methods A retrospective, bi-institutional review was conducted of patients with advanced CRPC treated with carboplatin plus paclitaxel after docetaxel. Therapy was evaluated for tolerability, response, and survival. Endpoints used modified Prostate Cancer Working Group 2 criteria. Results Twenty-five patients were identified from February 2000 to March 2008. Median pretreatment PSA was 130.2 ng/ml [range 0.1–2100]. Sites of metastases included bone (88%), lymph nodes (52%), pelvis (32%), lung (28%), and liver (20%). A median 4.5 cycles of docetaxel [range 1–22] were given with a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 12 weeks [range 2–68]. Eighty-eight percent of patients (22/25) were docetaxel-refractory at the initiation of therapy with carboplatin (AUC 4–6) day 1 plus paclitaxel 60–80 mg/m 2 days 1, 8, and 21 recycled every 28 days. Patients received a median of 3.5 cycles [range 1–8] of carboplatin/paclitaxel with a median PFS of 12 weeks [range 2–35]. Sixty-four percent of patients (16/25) achieved ≥30% reduction in PSA with a median overall survival of 42 weeks [95% CI 30.6–53.5 weeks]. Grade 3 or 4 adverse hematologic events occurred in 11/25 (44%) patients, with no neutropenic fever or grade 3/4 non-hematologic toxicity. Conclusion Carboplatin/paclitaxel chemotherapy following docetaxel in metastatic CRPC is well tolerated with favorable PSA response rates and survival. This combination is a viable option after progression on docetaxel-based therapy.
Isolation and partial characterization of a second myotropic peptide from the hindgut of the cockroach, Leucophaea maderae.

Abstract 1. 1. Proctolin and a second myotropic peptide were extracted from the hindgut of the cockroach Leucophaea maderae with methanol-water-acetic acid (90:9:1). The two peptides were easily separated by HPLC on a μ-Bondapak-phenyl column. 2. 2. Like proctolin, the second peptide was heat stable and was inactivated by the exopeptidases aminopeptidase M and carboxypeptidase Y. 3. 3. The response of the isolated hindgut to the new peptide was distinguishable from the response to proctolin by the following features: (a) a longer interval following application (1–4 min) to reach a maximum contraction, and (b) a much larger amplitude for single phasic contractions. Like proctolin, the new peptide could cause a protracted stimulation of the hindgut for more than 2 hr.
A simple proof that finding a maximal independent set in a graph is in NC

An independent set in a graph G is a set I ⊆ V(G) such that the induced subgraph on I has no edges. A maximal independent set (MIS) is an independent set not properly contained in any other independent set. We present a simple proof that an algorithm of Luby [SIAM J. Comput. 15 (1986) 1036] is an RNC algorithm for finding an MIS in a graph. Our proof can be easily derandomized, giving a corresponding NC algorithm.
Uses of Perversity: Commentary on Saketopoulou’s “To Suffer Pleasure”

This commentary on Avgi Saketopoulou’s article develops her startling claim that sexual perversion may be psychically useful. It does so by elaborating the twin concepts of ebranlement (shattering) and enigmatic signifier that Saketopoulou derives from the metapsychology of Jean Laplanche in order to consider an analogy between the work of perversion and the work of psychoanalysis. If sadomasochism holds a psychically transformative potential comparable to that of clinical analysis, then on what grounds should one practice be prioritized over the other?
Immunological aspects of the binding of substrate analogues and polypeptide inhibitors to α-chymotrypsin

Abstract The effects of substate analogues and various polypeptide inhibitors on the immunological behavior of α-chymotrupsin have been observed by means of quantitative complement fixation. The interaction of α-chymotrypsin with substrate analogues produced a slight increase of the complement fixed over that fixed by α-chymotrypsin alone. The immunological effects of the interaction of α-chymotrypsin with polypeptide inhibitors were not uniform. Soybean and basic pancreatic inhibitors showed very little, in any, effect on complement fixation. An inhibitor isolated from the navy bean (phaseolus vulgaris) produced a shift of the complement fixation curve to the left with nearly double the maximum amount of complement fixed. Complement fixation by chymotrypsinogen with rabbit anti-α-chymotrypsin sera, was much greater than that produced by α-chymotrypsin itself. It is possible that some chymotrypsinogen was present in the α-chymotrypsin used for immunization. Both the substrate and the polypeptide inhibitors were per se without any effect either on the anti-α-chymotrypsin antibodies or on the lytic activity of the complement, or on the complement fixation produced by nonrelated immunological systems. A conformational change of the enzyme upon the interaction with substrate analogues and the navy bean inhibitor may explain this immunochemical behavior of α-chymotrypsin.
Relativistic calculations of 4 f excitation energies in the rare-earth metals: Further results

We report additional results of our relativistic calculations of $4f$ excitation energies in the rare-earth metals: (i) $4f$ binding energies computed for the atomic configurations used as inputs to our band calculations, as well as for the atomic ground states; (ii) band parameters and $4f$ level positions calculated via the renormalized-atom method, with emphasis on the unoccupied $4f$ levels; (iii) values for $U$, the Coulomb interaction energy between two $4f$ electrons at the same metallic site; and (iv) simple estimates of cohesive energies. Comparisons are made with experimental values. In particular, we find that our approach works well for estimating $U$ in metals and insulators. The Appendix contains a discussion of the connection between our calculated parameters and those of the Anderson model (as applied to fluctuating valence systems), including dynamic screening effects.
Human Oxysterol-Binding Protein. I. Identification and Characterization in Liver

The function of cellular oxysterol-binding proteins is not known. Because of the proposed receptor-like role of these proteins in regulating cholesterol synthesis and the importance of the liver in the cholesterol metabolism of the body, we have studied the oxysterol-binding sites found in specimens of human liver. A protein that binds with high affinity to certain oxygenated derivatives of cholesterol has been identified and characterized in several ways. When 25-hydroxy-[3H]cholesterol is used as ligafrd, specific binding components can be identified in cytosolic liver extracts fractionated on sucrose density gradients in the fractions sedimenting at 4S and 7S. Cholesterol and steroid hormones do not compete for these binding components, but several oxysterols do. In cytosolic extracts, all binding appears to be a single class kinetically, with an apparent Kd of 28 × 10−9 mol/L. We found the protein responsible to have a pI of about 4.8. Purification of the protein allowed preparation of an antiserum an...
Female odors lead to rapid activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in neurons of the vomeronasal system

Pheromonal mediation of reproductive function proceeds along a neuroanatomical pathway that connects the vomeronasal organ (VNO) at the periphery with downstream target-sites in the amygdala and hypothalamus. The MAPK pathway is a prominent cascade linking receptor activation to induction of effectors such as c-Fos. We addressed the question: Does a specific pheromone stimulus lead to activation (phosphorylation, P) of MAPK in the VN system of the male mouse? Phosphorylation of MAPK in the VN system was evaluated 15-30 min and 1.5-2 h after exposure to female odors, using immunocytochemical techniques. A rapid and transient cytoplasmic expression of PMAPK was noted in the VNO with a unique distribution of the expressing neurons in columns extending over the entire basal to apical axis. A rapid and sustained expression was noted in most amygdaloid and hypothalamic VN target-sites and also in a few amygdaloid and hypothalamic sites outside the traditional VN system. The extent of expression and the subcellular compartmentalization (nucleus, cytoplasm, processes) of PMAPK were region-dependent. Of the VN target-sites, the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) stood out in the lack of expression of PMAPK, in the high expression of the MAPK enzyme itself and in the massive of expression of c-Fos. This expression profile implicates another pathway(s) in mediating VNO signaling to the AOB. Our results are the first to demonstrate the use of PMAPK to trace functional pathways. Based on the wide cellular and intracellular expression of phosphorylated MAPK in the VN system, we propose that the MAPK pathway plays an important role in mediating female pheromone signaling in the male mouse.