cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transcriptional Regulation of a Gonococcal Gene Encoding a Virulence Factor (L-lactate Permease)

GdhR is a GntR-type regulator of Neisseria gonorrhoeae encoded by a gene (gdhR) belonging to the MtrR regulon, which comprises multiple genes required for antibiotic resistance such as the mtrCDE efflux pump genes. In previous work we showed that loss of gdhR results in enhanced gonococcal fitness in a female mouse model of lower genital tract infection. Here, we used RNA-Seq to perform a transcriptional profiling study to determine the GdhR regulon. GdhR was found to regulate the expression of 2.3% of all the genes in gonococcal strain FA19, of which 39 were activated and 11 were repressed. Within the GdhR regulon we found that lctP, which encodes a unique L-lactate transporter and has been associated with gonococcal pathogenesis, was the highest of GdhR-repressed genes. By using in vitro transcription and DNase I footpriting assays we mapped the lctP transcriptional start site (TSS) and determined that GdhR directly inhibits transcription by binding to an inverted repeat sequence located 9 bases downstream of the lctP TSS. Epistasis analysis revealed that, while loss of lctP increased susceptibility of gonococci to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) the loss of gdhR enhanced resistance; however, this GdhR-endowed property was reversed in a double gdhR lctP null mutant. We assessed the effect of different carbon sources on lctP expression and found that D-glucose, but not L-lactate or pyruvate, repressed lctP expression within a physiological concentration range but in a GdhR-independent manner. Moreover, we found that adding glucose to the medium enhanced susceptibility of gonococci to hydrogen peroxide. We propose a model for the role of lctP regulation via GdhR and glucose in the pathogenesis of N. gonorrhoeae.
Zonisamide as an Adjunctive Treatment to Cognitive Processing Therapy for Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Comorbid Alcohol Use Disorder: A Pilot Study.

Background and objectives There are high rates of comorbid alcohol use disorder (AUD) among those who have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ideally, treatment for comorbidity should address both disorders simultaneously. Zonisamide, an anticonvulsant, may be effective in decreasing alcohol use and may attenuate symptoms of PTSD. Treatment strategies can include medication in combination with a proven evidence-based psychotherapy designed to treat PTSD, such as cognitive processing therapy (CPT). Methods This 12-week pilot study was designed to test feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of zonisamide (400 mg) as an adjunct to CPT for veterans with PTSD and comorbid AUD. Veterans (n = 24) with PTSD and current alcohol dependence were randomized in a 3:1 ratio to receive zonisamide or placebo in a double-blind fashion. All subjects received CPT enhanced to include sessions addressing drinking behavior. Results Subjects overall reported a significant decrease in drinking outcomes, craving, and symptoms of PTSD. Zonisamide was well-tolerated and easily administered with CPT, which was also well-tolerated. Exploratory analysis of comparison of groups suggests there was no advantage of zonisamide vs placebo in drinking or PTSD outcomes. There was a numeric but nonsignificant higher rate of abstinence with zonisamide (50%) vs placebo (33%). Conclusion and scientific significance The interpretation of the results is limited by the pilot nature of this study. The combination of psychosocial treatment with medication management mimics real-world treatment. In order to isolate the individual contributions of medication vs psychotherapy a much larger study would need to be conducted. (Am J Addict 2020;29:515-524).
Management of septic arthritis of the pediatric hip

Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes and reoperation rate between open and arthroscopic treatment of a suspected isolated septic hip in the pediatric population. Methods Retrospective review was performed on two cohorts of pediatric patients who underwent surgical intervention for suspected isolated septic hip arthritis at a single institution. Patients were subdivided into two cohorts based on whether they underwent an open versus arthroscopic approach. Patients were excluded if they received an initial surgery from an outside institution, did not have an acute, active infection at presentation, defined as a hip aspiration leukocyte count <50,000 cells with <75% neutrophils, had extracaspular pathology or osteomyelitis, or had septic arthritis of a joint other than the hip. Results Fifty-six hips were included [Open group (n = 36); Arthroscopic group (n = 20)]. Six percent (2/36) of hips in the open group and 26% (5/19) of hips in the arthroscopy group had a positive tissue culture (p = 0.041). Eleven hips (31%) underwent postoperative immobilization in the open group compared to one hip (5%) in the arthroscopic group (p = 0.039). Conclusions In the setting of isolated arthritis, arthroscopy is a reasonable treatment modality with no observed additional risk compared to open arthrotomy. However, with concomitant osteomyelitis or soft tissue abscess, open arthrotomy should remain the mainstay approach to address all elements of the infection.Level of Evidence: Level III
Nonparametric inference of the distribution of fitness effects across functional categories in humans

Quantifying the proportion of polymorphic mutations that are deleterious or neutral is of fundamental importance to our understanding of evolution, disease genetics and the maintenance of variation genome-wide. Here, we develop an approximation to the distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of segregating single-nucleotide mutations in humans. Unlike previous methods, we do not assume that synonymous mutations are neutral, or rely on fitting the DFE of new nonsynonymous mutations to a particular parametric probability distribution, which is poorly motivated on a biological level. We rely on a previously developed method that utilizes a variety of published annotations (including conservation scores, protein deleteriousness estimates and regulatory data) to score all mutations in the human genome based on how likely they are to be affected by negative selection, controlling for mutation rate. We map this score to a scale of fitness coefficients via maximum likelihood using diffusion theory and a Poisson random field model. We then use our coefficient mapping to quantify the distribution of all scored single-nucleotide polymorphisms in Yoruba and Europeans. Our method serves to approximate the DFE of any type of segregating mutations, regardless of its genomic consequence, and so allows us to compare the proportion of mutations that are negatively selected or neutral across various genomic categories, including different types of regulatory sites. We observe that the distribution of intergenic polymorphisms is highly leptokurtic, with a strong peak at neutrality, while the distribution of nonsynonymous polymorphisms is bimodal, with a neutral peak and a second peak at s ≈ −10^(−4). Other types of polymorphisms have shapes that fall roughly in between these two.
Assessing Adherence to Audiologic Parameters of Care for Children With Cleft Palate: A Quality Improvement Initiative:

Objective:To evaluate and increase adherence to an evidence-based audiologic management protocol for children with cleft palate.Design:Prospective, multidisciplinary quality improvement initiative....
Role of non-coding RNAs in tumor progression and metastasis in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal types of cancer with an overall 5-year survival rate of less than 10%. The 1-year survival rate of patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease is abysmal. The aggressive nature of cancer cells, hypovascularization, extensive desmoplastic stroma, and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) endows PDAC tumors with multiple mechanisms of drug resistance. With no obvious genetic mutation(s) driving tumor progression or metastatic transition, the challenges for understanding the biological mechanism(s) of these processes are paramount. A better understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of these processes could lead to new diagnostic tools for patient management and new targets for therapeutic intervention. microRNAs (miRNAs) are an evolutionarily conserved gene class of short non-coding regulatory RNAs. miRNAs are an extensive regulatory layer that controls gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. This review focuses on preclinical models that functionally dissect miRNA activity in tumor progression or metastatic processes in PDAC. Collectively, these studies suggest an influence of miRNAs and RNA-RNA networks in the processes of epithelial to mesenchymal cell transition and cancer cell stemness. At a cell-type level, some miRNAs mainly influence cancer cell–intrinsic processes and pathways, whereas other miRNAs predominantly act in distinct cellular compartments of the TME to regulate fibroblast and immune cell functions and/or influence other cell types’ function via cell-to-cell communications by transfer of extracellular vesicles. At a molecular level, the influence of miRNA-mediated regulation often converges in core signaling pathways, including TGF-β, JAK/STAT, PI3K/AKT, and NF-κB.
Large-Scale Inference: Empirical Bayes and the James—Stein Estimator

Charles Stein shocked the statistical world in 1955 with his proof that maximum likelihood estimation methods for Gaussian models, in common use for more than a century, were inadmissible beyond simple one- or two-dimensional situations. These methods are still in use, for good reasons, but Stein-type estimators have pointed the way toward a radically different empirical Bayes approach to high-dimensional statistical inference. We will be using empirical Bayes ideas for estimation, testing, and prediction, beginning here with their path-breaking appearance in the James—Stein formulation. Although the connection was not immediately recognized, Stein's work was half of an energetic post-war empirical Bayes initiative. The other half, explicitly named “empirical Bayes” by its principal developer Herbert Robbins, was less shocking but more general in scope, aiming to show how frequentists could achieve full Bayesian efficiency in large-scale parallel studies. Large-scale parallel studies were rare in the 1950s, however, and Robbins' theory did not have the applied impact of Stein's shrinkage estimators, which are useful in much smaller data sets. All of this has changed in the 21st century. New scientific technologies, epitomized by the microarray, routinely produce studies of thousands of parallel cases — we will see several such studies in what follows — well-suited for the Robbins point of view. That view predominates in the succeeding chapters, though not explicitly invoking Robbins' methodology until the very last section of the book.
Resistance of Plate Shipbuilding Steels to Cavitation-Erosion and Fatigue Fracture

We recommend to use SSAB Domex steel microalloyed with boron and characterized by elevated resistances to corrosion-erosion fracture and low-cycle fatigue instead of the widespread 18Mn2 steel in the water transport and elements of hydroengineering structures subjected to the action of strong water flows including, in particular, the Kort nozzles, rudder drives, and parts of the river-ship hulls especially sensitive to erosion.
Young worker safety in construction: do family ties and workgroup size affect hazard exposures and safety practices?

Objective Little is known about how social aspects of the work environment influence exposures or safety practices affecting young construction workers. Our objective was to investigate whether working on a construction site with a small number of workers (≤10 vs. 11-50) or having a family-firm connection (working in a family-owned firm or one in which a family member also works) impacts hazard exposures and safety practices. Participants Participants included 187 North Carolina construction workers 14 to 17 years old who were surveyed about their jobs. Methods We conducted stratified analyses using cross-tabulations and chi-square statistics to measure associations between workgroup size (i.e., the total number of workers on a jobsite) and family-firm connections (yes/no) and hazard exposures (e.g., saws) and safety practices (e.g., supervision). Results Having a family-firm connection was associated with fewer hazard exposures and greater safety practices. Youth who worked on jobsites with a larger workgroup (11-50 workers) reported more hazards but also more safety practices. Conclusions Family-firm connections, in particular, may have a protective effect for youth in construction. Even though the statistical significance of our findings on workgroup size was limited in places, the pattern of differences found suggest that further research in this area is warranted.
Judicial Fact-Finding at Sentencing

This encyclopedia entry summarizes the pendulum-swings that led the Supreme Court in Apprendi v. New Jersey, Blakely v. Washington, and United States v. Booker to limit judges' ability to find facts at sentencing. Paradoxically, the much-criticized Federal Sentencing Guidelines have survived; a line of cases that began as an effort to restore juries' role has turned into a guarantor of judicial discretion; and the doctrine has quickly moved far from its Sixth Amendment roots to a policy balancing test.The Court could instead have pursued a different, more fruitful path. The Court did not have to force sentencing factors into the same constitutional boxes as elements of crimes, nor try to divine some nonexistent clear rule in the sparse text and history of the Sixth Amendment. Instead, the Court could have explicitly weighed the due process need for regulating the under-regulated sentencing phase. This approach would have led to more flexible, sensible weighing of the need for confrontation, cross-examination, rules of evidence, double jeopardy, and proof by a preponderance or clear and convincing evidence at sentencing.
Use of goats as biological agents for the renovation of pastures in the Appalachian region of the United States

Much of hill-land pasture in the Appalachian region of the United States is dominated by herbaceous weeds and brush. Low cost, low input and environmentally acceptable reclama- tion procedures are needed to maintain the productivity of these pastures. This experiment evaluated the effectiveness of using goats ( Capra hircus hircus) alone (30 mature, brush does/ha) or cattle (Bos taurus) with goats (17 mature, brush does/ha + two to three steers/ha - 225 kg average live weight) to reclaim a pasture from an abandoned, overgrown 5.9 ha orchard left untouched for 15 years. Over four grazing seasons, managed defoliation resulted in a substan- tial increase in herbaceous vegetative cover in plots grazed by goats alone (65 to 86%) and by goats with cattle (65 to 80%) while vegetative cover decreased from 70 to 22% in the control plot. Similarly, the cover by grass species increased in the grazed plots (goats: 16 to 63%; goats + cattle: 13 to 54%) while averaging 10% in the control plot. Multiflora rose ( Rosa multiflora Thumb.) bushes were practically eliminated after four grazing seasons as quantified by an average reduction in height from 2.1 m to 0.6 m, and by the number of dead canes (stems) in both the goat (100%) or goat + cattle (92%) treatments. Results indicated that the foraging habits of goats resulted in the elimination of multiflora rose bushes and in a significant increase in desirable forage species.
A Multiwavelength Study of the Young Star Clusters and Interstellar Medium in the Antennae Galaxies

We report on a multiwavelength study of the relationship between young star clusters in the Antennae galaxies (NGC 4038/9) and their interstellar environment, with the goal of understanding the formation and feedback effects of star clusters in merging galaxies. This is possible for the first time because various new observations (from X-rays to radio wavelengths) have become available in the past several years. Quantitative comparisons are made between the positions of the star clusters (broken into three age groups) and the properties of the interstellar medium by calculating the two-point correlation functions. We find that young star clusters are distributed in a clustered fashion, demonstrated by power-law angular autocorrelation functions with slopes in the range -0.8 to -1.0. The young embedded clusters (ages ~5 Myr) are found to be more associated with long-wavelength radiation (mid-infrared and longer), while clusters with ages ~10 Myr or older are more associated with short-wavelength radiation (e.g., far-UV and X-ray). The youngest star clusters are associated with molecular cloud complexes with characteristic radii of about 1 kpc. In addition, there is a weak tendency for them to be found in regions with higher H I velocity dispersions. There is some evidence that both cloud-cloud collisions and shocks from recent star formation can trigger star cluster formation, but no dominant triggering mechanism is identified for the majority of the clusters in the Antennae. Feedback from young bright cluster complexes reveals itself in the form of large Hα bubbles and Hα velocity gradients in shells around the complexes. We estimate the current star formation rate to be ≈20 M☉ yr-1 and the gas consumption timescale to be ~700 Myr. The latter is comparable to the merging timescale and indicates that star formation has been enhanced by the merger event. Finally, we find that the Schmidt law, with index N ≈ -1.4, is also a good description of the cluster formation triggered by merging in the Antennae. There is some evidence that feedback effects may modify the Schmidt law at scales below 1 kpc.
The structure of instructional knowledge: An operational model

This paper presents a two-fold operational partition of the structures involved in characterizing instructional knowledge. The first structure contains semantic information relating to the areas of information stored. This information is stored in a net together with certain minimal operators defined on the net. A metric is imposed on the relatedness or degree of associativeness of terms. The idea of relatedness is used to resolve ambiguity, direct proper retrieval of content, and permit cognitive updating. In combination with this net is a net of material, taking the form of modules of information. Structure modules store the pointers to other substructures or to content modules while content modules store “hard” information about the subgoal associated with the name of the content module, as well as link such material to possibly other structure modules. These structures taken together form the minimal basis for a rich enough description of knowledge so that the process of instruction can be usefully described. This description is sufficient basis for the generation of individualized study guides where all extraneous paths (found in a study guide for some class of student) are omitted. Thus the model provides a basis for computer constructed education (CCE).
The clinical significance of predictions based on screening second trimester mean arterial pressure: Adverse material and infant outcomes

The design of a trial of primary prevention of hypertension in pregnancy rests on both the ability to identify women who are at risk and the definition of a clinically important outcome. The risk of developing antepartum hypertension can now be assessed nonivasively by the midpoint of pregnancy. However, maternal hypertension is not always associated with a clinically important adverse outcome for either mother or infant. The purpose of this study was to prospectively assess whether increasing risk of antepartum hypertension is associated with increasing rates of clinically important maternal and/or infant morbidity. We assembled a prospective cohort of 720 women with singleton pregnancies. The proportion of pregnancies complicated by both antepartum hypertension and maternal and/or infant morbidity increased significantly between low, moderate, and high risk groups (0.2, 6 and 58.8%, respectively, p < 0.0001). We conclude that a trial of primary prevention of hypertension in pregnancy should include a measure of significant morbidity in mother and infant.
Additivity for some product channels

We show that the Holevo bound, the minimal entropy, and the maximal p-norm are additive (respectively multiplicative) for some product quantum channels. The implications for information capacity of quantum channels are discussed.
A spreadsheet-based cost model for sugarcane harvesting systems

A spreadsheet-based model has been developed to estimate equipment requirements and costs associated with the mechanical harvesting and hauling of sugarcane. This article describes the model structure, input data requirements, and summary reports generated by the model. The model is capable of estimating equipment requirements and costs for one-row and two-row wholestalk sugarcane harvesters as well as for combine, or billet, sugarcane harvesters. Costs of hauling harvested sugarcane to mills are estimated for both direct haul systems (tractor and wagons) and transfer haul systems (trucks and trailers). The cost model is written as a multipage spreadsheet model and is operated on a PC in a windows environment. A macro is included in the model which produces menus through which the user may enter information, view spreadsheet pages and print output tables.
Confluent monolayers of cultured human fetal retinal pigment epithelium exhibit morphology and physiology of native tissue

PURPOSE Provide a reproducible method for culturing confluent monolayers of hfRPE cells that exhibit morphology, physiology, polarity, and protein expression patterns similar to native tissue.
Cytogenetic and immuno-FISH analysis of the 4q subtelomeric region, which is associated with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by the shortening of a copy-number polymorphic array of 3.3 kb repeats (D4Z4) at one allelic 4q35.2 region. How this contraction of a subtelomeric tandem array causes FSHD is unknown but indirect evidence suggests that a short array has a cis effect on a distant gene or genes. It was hypothesized that the length of the D4Z4 array determines whether or not the array and a large proximal region are heterochromatic and thereby controls gene expression in cis. To test this, we used fluorescence in situ hybridization probes with FSHD and control myoblasts to characterize the distal portion of 4q35.2 with respect to the following: intense staining with the chromatin dye 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole; association with constitutively heterochromatic foci; extent of binding of heterochromatin protein 1α; histone H3 methylation at lysine 9 and lysine 4; histone H4 lysine 8 acetylation; and replication timing within S-phase. Our results indicate that 4q35.2 does not resemble constitutive heterochromatin in FSHD or control myoblasts. Furthermore, in these analyses, the allelic 4q35.2 regions of FSHD myoblasts did not behave differently than those of control myoblasts. Other models for how D4Z4 array contraction causes long-distance regulation of gene expression in cis need to be tested.
A high power current-voltage curve tracer employing a capacitive load

A portable photovoltaic voltage versus current curve tracer is discussed. The curve tracer employs a capacitive load to provide automatic sweeping of the array voltage. The unit is capable of measuring arrays of up to 10 kW in power but is smaller and lighter than a conventional 2.5 kW dissipative load.
Obliquely striated muscle. IV. Sarcoplasmic reticulum, contractile apparatus, and endomysium of the body muscle of a polychaete, Glycera, in relation to its speed.

Body muscle cells of the bloodworm Glycera, a polychaete annelid, were studied by electron microscopy and compared with muscle cells of the more slowly acting nematode Ascaris, which have been described previously. Both muscles are obliquely striated. The predominant type of bloodworm fiber is characterized by a prominent transversely oriented sarcoplasmic reticulum with numerous dyads at the surface of each cell. Thick myofilaments are ∼3 µ long and overlap along ∼60% of their length in extended fibers and ∼80% in shortened fibers. There is virtually no endomysium and very little intracellular skeleton, and the cells are attached by desmosomes to one another rather than to connective tissue. Dense bodies are absent from the fibers and in their place are Z lines, which are truly linear rather than planar. Scattered among the predominant fibers are others, less orderly in arrangement, in which the SR is much less prominent and in which the thick filaments are thicker and longer and overlap to an even smaller degree. It is suggested that physiological differences between bloodworm and Ascaris muscles derive from differences in the proportion of series to parallel linkages between the contractile elements, differences in the amount and disposition of the SR, and differences in the impedance to shear within the myofibrils.
The role of poverty status and obesity on school attendance in the United States.

Abstract Purpose Several studies have shown that obesity influences school performance. Little is known about the joint effect of poverty and obesity associated with school attendance. Methods Data are from the National Survey of Children's Health (N = 93,151), a nationally representative sample of U.S. youth aged 10–17 years. Our dependent variable was ≥11 days of school days missed per year. Body mass index was classified as normal, overweight, and obese using age- and sex-specific criteria. Federal poverty level (FPL) was classified as Results The odds of missing ≥11 days of school among overweight youth was 1.5 times that of normal-weight youth (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.22–1.85) and 1.7 (95% CI = 1.35–2.13) times among obese youth in fully adjusted models. In joint effects models, the probability of missing school was significantly greater for obese youth in both the Conclusions Obesity influences school absenteeism across all income categories. Nonetheless, there may be distinct reasons for missing school for lower and higher income youth, and the long-term consequences of school absences may also differ for these populations.
The UCR gamma ray telescope data acquisition system

A description is given of an electronics system based on the DEC Falcon SBC-11/23+, which has been designed and built to support a balloon-borne double Compton gamma-ray telescope. The system provides support for commands, data acquisition, data routing and compression, and photomultiplier tube gain control. The software consists of a number of interrupt-driven routines of differing priorities to handle each system task. This includes two circular buffers for onboard processing and bit encoding before transmission of the information to the ground computer. Acquisition of gamma-ray events at rates above the 200-Hz telemetry constraint is easily achieved. >
Two‐dimensional correlation Raman spectroscopy for characterizing protein structure and dynamics

Since the initial introduction of the basic concept almost twenty years ago, two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCoS) has become a popular analytical tool applicable to a broad range of science problems. Vibrational spectroscopy remains the major area of 2DCoS applications where infrared spectroscopy is the most popular technique followed by Raman and Near Infrared spectroscopies. An increasing number of publications over the past few years have established Raman 2DCoS as a powerful problem solving technique in protein studies. In this review we provide a critical survey of recent protein studies using the 2DCoS Raman approach. We also analyze common misconceptions and potential pitfalls in the interpretation of 2D correlation data. Over the past decade, there have been a number of publications pointing to artifacts associated with visualization and interpretation of 2D correlation maps. We demonstrate here how some of the ‘artifacts’ of the 2DCoS approach in - reality turn into the strength of the method. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Determining Redundancy Requirements for a Fault Tolerant Control System

The key element in all fault tolerant controls is redundancy [1], but it can be difficult to determine how much redundancy is necessary to achieve the desired level of control system availability. Through examples, this paper examines reliability effects of various elements used in real turbo control systems, including the input sensors, control channels and output stages. The paper then shows that with module reliability and repair rate information, we can determine the redundancy necessary to achieve the desired level of control system availability.Copyright © 1989 by ASME
Factors affecting attrition in a longitudinal study of patients with AIDS

Abstract Anecdotal data have suggested that retention of HIV-infected patients with immune recovery in longitudinal studies may be difficult as they resume normal activities. This study evaluated risk factors for attrition among patients with AIDS in a cohort study in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy. Patients with AIDS enrolled in the Longitudinal Study of Ocular Complications of AIDS were evaluated every three months with demographic, clinical and laboratory data collected. Lost to follow-up was defined as any patient who missed all study visits and could not be contacted for 12 consecutive months, who had not died and who did not re-enter the study at a later date. Of the 1,052 patients studied, 77 (7.3%) were lost to follow-up (rate = 0.03/person year). In the multivariate analysis, factors associated with attrition were CD4+ T-cell count category (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.03; 95%CI: 1.01, 4.24; P=0.05 for CD4+ count ≤ 50 cells/µL and HR = 1.96; 95%CI: 1.12, 3.40; P=0.02 for CD4+ count 51–...
Juvenile anadromous salmonid production in upper Columbia River side channels with different levels of hydrological connection

AbstractWe examined the contribution of three types of side channels based on their hydrologic connectivity (seasonally disconnected, partially connected, and connected) to production of juvenile anadromous salmonids. Juvenile steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss and Chinook Salmon O. tshawytscha were found in all three of these side channel types and in each year of the study. Upon connection with the main stem at high flows, the seasonally disconnected side channels experienced an emptying out of the previous year's fish while filling with young-of-year fish during the 2- to 4-month period of hydrologic connection. There were no differences between the densities of juvenile steelhead and Chinook Salmon and the rate of smolts produced among the three types of side channels. Recently reintroduced Coho Salmon O. kisutch had sporadic presence and abundance in partially and connected side channels, but the smolt production rate was over two times that of steelhead and Chinook Salmon in seasonally disconnected side ...
Fibrin glue-reinforced closure of postlaryngectomy pharyngocutaneous fistula.

Pharyngocutaneous fistulization is a dreaded and devastating complication of laryngectomy. Although the specific risk factors are controversial, a history of prior radiation therapy has generally been accepted to be a major risk factor for developing this complication. We present a case of a postlaryngectomy pharyngocutaneous fistula developing in a previously irradiated patient that was successfully managed by incorporating fibrin glue into the surgical closure. We also discuss the underlying theoretical basis for this approach by reviewing the relevant literature.
Pharmacologic Treatment of Hypertension in the Department of Veterans Affairs During 1995 and 1996

Abstract Patterns of antihypertensive drug use, the cost of this care and potential savings with changes of treatment patterns, were studied for all hypertensives treated at US Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities for fiscal years 1995 and 1996. Data was aggregated by individual medication as well as by antihypertensive drug class. Cost estimates were based on median cost and number of units for each dosage form of each medication dispensed at all facilities. Potential savings were estimated by substituting β-blockers or diuretics for calcium antagonists. In a subset of patients the prevalence of hypertension, and among hypertensives the prevalence of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and diabetes mellitus, was determined. For these patients, patterns of treatment by antihypertensive drug class was examined. For all VA facilities, of the 10 most frequently prescribed antihypertensives in 1995, four were calcium antagonists, two angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, two β-blockers, and two diuretics. In 1996, this was changed by the addition of an ACE inhibitor and the subtraction of a diuretic combination. Calcium antagonists accounted for 37% of treatment days in 1995 and 35% in 1996, ACE inhibitor use went from 34% to 36%, β-blockers from 17% to 18%, and diuretic use remained at 12%. In 1996, approximately 86.6 million dollars were spent on calcium antagonists, 51.8 million on ACE inhibitors, 7.9 million on β-blockers, and 3.6 million on diuretics. The estimated annual cost savings for each 1% conversion of calcium antagonists to β-blockers would be $713,000 and to diuretics $758,000. In a subset of 7526 hypertensive patients with known comorbid conditions, calcium antagonists and ACE inhibitors were also the most commonly used drug classes for all categories of patients, including those without coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and diabetes mellitus. Calcium antagonists and ACE inhibitors were the most commonly dispensed antihypertensives at VA facilities for both 1995 and 1996, with a small decrease in calcium antagonist use from 1995 to 1996. The cost implications of these practice patterns as compared with the primary use of diuretics and β-blockers are enormous.
Paratesticular metastasis from colorectal adenocarcinoma

Abstract Paratesticular tumors are rare, especially when they are metastatic. Most of them originate in the prostate, kidney, gastrointestinal tract, lung, and breast. The most common site of metastasis from the gastrointestinal tract is the colon. A 75-year-old male presented with a painless and tense right scrotal mass. He underwent a radical right orchiectomy, and the pathology revealed mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the paratesticular tissue. Computed tomography revealed focal wall thickening at the rectosigmoid junction and liver nodules. The colonoscopic biopsy of the mass showed adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemical staining of both sites confirmed the diagnosis of colorectal adenocarcinoma metastatic to the scrotum.
Search for Higgs bosons of minimal supersymmetry: Impact of supersymmetric decay modes

We investigate the prospects for the detectability of the Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric model (MSSM) at future colliders. First we delineate regions of MSSM parameter space where the various Higgs bosons may be observable at the CERN [ital e][sup +][ital e[minus]] collider LEP 200 or hadron supercolliders, assuming (as usual) that Higgs-boson decay modes to supersymmetric particles are not allowed. We find that, even with optimistic assumptions of detector capabilities, there exist regions of parameter space where none of the Higgs bosons are visible. Next, we show that there are substantial regions of parameter space where rates for Higgs-boson decays to supersymmetric particles are large, and even dominant. These decays reduce the rates for conventional Higgs-boson signatures, thus making conventional detection of Higgs bosons even more difficult. However, a number of new, promising modes for Higgs-boson detection have opened up. These include a gold-plated'' Higgs scalar or pseudoscalar decay to four leptons plus missing energy which may make possible a precise mass measurement of the lightest and second lightest neutralino. Furthermore, rare decays of the top quark into a [ital b] quark plus three leptons may be visible, and signal charged-Higgs-boson decays to a chargino plus neutralino.
Effect of renormalization on the large-order behavior of weak- and strong-coupling perturbation theory

We investigate the large-order behavior of weak- and strong-coupling perturbation series for a $g{\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ theory in zero space-time dimensions. Both the unrenormalized and renormalized weak-coupling expansions are divergent but Borel summable. The unrenormalized strong-coupling expansion is convergent, but its renormalized form is divergent and not even Borel summable.
The Effect of Irrelevant Information on the Stages of Processing

The Sternberg (1969) additive factor method was used to determine whether the stimulus encoding stage was affected by an irrelevant auditory stimulus presented during a visual choice reaction time task. Subjects responded to an X or an O by pressing a left-or right-hand key. Onset of this visual stimulus was accompanied by a tone to the left, right, or both ears. Reactions were slower when the locus of the tone did not correspond with the side of the response than when it did correspond. Manipulation of the quality of the visual stimulus, assumed to affect the stimulus encoding stage, did not alter the effect of the irrelevant auditory cue. In a parallel experiment, the same stimuli were used, but the responses employed were “neutral” with respect to the source of the tone. This alteration of response selection operations eliminated the effect of the auditory cue. Findings, then, suggested that irrelevant information did not affect the stimulus encoding stage but, instead, affected the response selection ...
Acid-base titrations of bovine serum albumin in a water-dioxane mixture

Abstract Potentiometric and spectrophotometric titrations were performed on bovine serum albumin in dioxane-water mixture (1:3, v/v) and in water alone at 25° and an ionic strength of 0.03. The titration data were analyzed with a well-known theoretical equation. The values of pK shifts due to the presence of dioxane are: 0.10 (1 α-carboxyl), 0.25 (99 β-γ-carboxyl), 0.40 (16 imidazole), −0.15 (1 α-amino), −0.59 (57 e-amino) and −0.15 (19 phenolic). Suggestions are made to interpret the experimental results in terms of the effect of electrostatic charge, the proton transfer and the effect of hydrogen bonding.
Preparative isoelectric focusing in agarose

Abstract The use of agarose gels as supporting media for flat-bed preparative isoelectric focusing was applied to the fractionation of serum proteins in the pH range 3.5–6, and red cell hemolysates in the pH range 3–8. The agarose gels are easy to prepare, give linear pH gradients, and do not appear to produce molecular sieving effects. Up to 1 g serum proteins can be loaded on the gels, with recoveries between 68 and 82%. Nucleoside phosphorylase from red cell lysates was recovered with 76% yield, indicating that no appreciable denaturation of this enzyme had occurred. Preparative isoelectric focusing in agarose gels provides a useful alternative to existing techniques of preparative isoelectric focusing in sucrose gradients or granulated gels.
Cost-utility analysis of screening and laser treatment of retinopathy of prematurity.

Purpose Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a major cause of lifelong blindness beginning in infancy. Utility analysis is used to describe the effect of illness and medical intervention on an individual's quality of life during the course of a lifetime. In this study, cost–utility analysis is used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of both screening and laser photoablation for ROP. Methods Data from 2 neonatal intensive care units were recorded for infants screened and treated for ROP between March 4, 2004, and January 5, 2006. The cost model was developed using procedures classified by Current Procedural Terminology and the costs paid for by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for 2006. Visual acuities were obtained from 10-year post-laser data and from the 10-year post-CRYO-ROP untreated cohort. Results During the study period, 515 infants received screening and treatment for ROP. They required a mean 3.4 exams per infant; 11.2% received laser photoablation. Mean visual acuities were 0.5 (Snellen 20/40) for laser-treated eyes and 0.20 (Snellen 20/100) for those who did not receive treatment. The cost-effectiveness of screening and laser photoablation of ROP in 2006 is $650/quality-adjusted life years. When discounted 3% per year for the time value of money, the cost is $1,565/ quality-adjusted life years. Conclusions The screening and laser photoablation of ROP continue to be extremely cost-effective medical interventions.
Comparison of High-Voltage 4H-SiC Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) and MOS-Gated Bipolar Transistor (MGT)

In this paper, the performance of high-voltage (10kV) 4H-SiC n- and p-channel IGBTs and n-channel MOS-Gated Bipolar Transistor (MGT) are investigated and compared using 2- dimensional numerical simulations. We have found that the MGT in SiC is not suitable for applications at high blocking voltages and the p-channel IGBT is a better choice because of a much higher conductivity modulation in the drift region.
BILATERAL LAPAROSCOPIC INGUINAL HERNIA REPAIR CAN COMPLICATE SUBSEQUENT RADICAL RETROPUBIC PROSTATECTOMY

We report a case in which pelvic lymphadenectomy and radical retropubic prostatectomy were aborted because the pelvic side walls and Retzius’ space were obliterated by polypropylene mesh that had been placed during bilateral laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair 3 years previously. To our knowledge our case represents the first report of this problem, and we believe that bilateral laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair makes subsequent radical retropubic prostatectomy more difficult, if not impossible.
Stream Mining Using Statistical Relational Learning

Stream mining has gained popularity in recent years due to the availability of numerous data streams from sources such as social media and sensor networks. Data mining on such continuous streams possess a variety of challenges including concept drift and unbounded stream length. Traditional data mining approaches to these problems have difficulty incorporating relational domain knowledge and feature relationships, which can be used to improve the accuracy of a classifier. In this work, we model large data streams using statistical relational learning techniques for classification, in particular, we use a Markov Logic Network to capture relational features in structured data and show that this approach performs better for supervised learning than current state-of-the-art approaches. Additionally, we evaluate our approach with semi-supervised learning scenarios, where class labels are only partially available during training.
Ecdysteroid regulation of the onset of cuticular melanization in allatectomized and Black mutant Manduca sexta larvae

Abstract The absence of juvenile hormone at the time of head cap slippage during the last-larval moult of the tabacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, causes deposition of premelanin granules into the outer regions of the newly forming endocuticle beginning 13 h later. These granules were found to contain an inactive phenoloxidase which becomes activated about 9 h later, 4 h before body melanization begins. The onset of melanization was not accelerated by melanization and reddish colouration hormone from Bombyx heads, extracts of pharate-adult corpora cardiaca or pharate-larval ventral nerve cords (sources of eclosion hormone), or extracts of pharate-larval suboesophageal ganglia or corpora cardiaca-corpora allata complexes. Instead the fall of the ecdysteroid titre to below 250 ng/ml 20-hydroxyecdysone equivalents appeared to be the cue that allowed melanization about 4.5 h later. Up to, but not after, this time both melanization and ecdysis could be delayed by exogenous 20-hydroxyecdysone in a dose-dependent fashion above 0.1 μg per larva. In vitro studies published elsewhere indicate that 20-hydroxyecdysone prevents the activation of the premelanin granules. Thus the granules can be deposited at the proper time in the newly forming endocuticle but their melanization is regulated by the declining ecdysteroid titre and it thus synchronized with other events occurring just before ecdysis.
Comparative evaluation of optimal energy efficiency designs for French and US office buildings

Abstract In both the US and French building sectors, significant efforts have been undertaken to reduce the environmental impacts of new constructions notably their fossil energy consumption and related carbon emissions. This paper summarizes the results of a comparative evaluation of optimal design specifications for office buildings for selected locations in both US and France using life cycle cost analysis approach. First, an overview of both the US and French approaches for developing building energy efficiency standards and design of high performance buildings is outlined. Then, a general approach for design optimization of energy efficient office buildings is presented. Finally, selected results of the optimal analysis are discussed. In particular, it is found that optimizing life cycle costs (LCC) resulted on average in 30% in primary energy savings for office buildings located in the US and 40% savings in France. However, it is found that LCC-based optimal building designs do not meet the French energy efficiency RT 2012 standard. When accounting for typical operating conditions, photovoltaic (PV) panels are needed in order to comply with the RT 2012 required thresholds for the total primary energy consumption of the office buildings located in the French cities considered in the analysis.
The efficacy of split-night sleep studies

Positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy is the most commonly used medical modality to reverse the apneas, hypopneas and inspiratory flow-limited breaths which result in the oxyhemoglobin desaturation, altered sleep architecture, and daytime sleepiness representing the cardinal features of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea (OSA/H). Identifying optimal strategies to develop the initial positive airway prescription is of paramount importance to clinicians who evaluate patients with suspected OSA/H. In addition, with the growing appreciation of the clinical and physiologic importance of sleep-disordered breathing, there have been increasing demands on clinical resources to diagnose and treat these patients. The time, hardware, and personnel-intensive nature of in-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) are significant in light of the traditional paradigm that utilizes a full night PSG for a diagnostic evaluation and when indicated, another full night for PAP titration. Efforts to identify time and resource-conserving alternatives to this paradigm have focused on in-laboratory split-night studies, in which the diagnosis of OSA/H can be made, and a positive pressure prescription defined during a single overnight PSG. Case-control studies indicate that, when certain guidelines are applied, split-night PSGs result in prescription efficacy and patient adherence, which are comparable to the traditional two-night strategy. However, prospective, randomized trials designed with adequate power are required to further define the impact of a split-night strategy on clinical outcome. As more information becomes available regarding the factors that determine long-term adherence to positive pressure therapy, the potential for efficient, expeditious treatment, and cost savings with split-night sleep studies will likely receive greater attention.