cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Switching Antipsychotic Therapies

BACKGROUND:Atypical antipsychotics are superior to conventional antipsychotics in improving positive and negative psychotic symptoms. Atypical antipsychotics do not exacerbate mood symptoms, and may improve mood symptoms and cognitive functioning; additionally, they have better adverse effect profiles than conventional antipsychotics.OBJECTIVE:To review the benefits of switching patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder from a conventional to an atypical antipsychotic, or from one atypical antipsychotic to another. In spite of the higher acquisition cost of atypical antipsychotics, overall treatment costs may decrease due to lower relapse and hospitalization rates.DATA SOURCES:A MEDLINE search (January 1977–January 1999) was conducted for articles written in English about efficacy, adverse effects, compliance, and pharmacoeconomics for atypical and conventional antipsychotics.STUDY SELECTION:Large, multicenter, double-blind, controlled studies were used for efficacy, safety, tolerability, an...
X-Ray Diffraction Analysis of Brain Lipid Membrane Structure in Alzheimer's Disease and β-Amyloid Peptide Interactionsa

Small angle x-ray diffraction analysis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) lipid membranes reconstituted from cortical gray matter showed significant, reproducible structure changes relative to age-matched control samples.1 Specifically, there was an average 4 A reduction in the lipid bilayer width and marked changes in membrane electron density profiles of AD cortical samples. There were no significant structure differences in the membrane bilayers isolated from an unaffected region (cerebellum) of the AD brain. Lipid and protein analysis of six AD and six age-matched controls showed that the phospholipid : protein mass ratio was unchanged, but that the unesterified chlolesterol : phospholipid (C : PL) mole ratio decreased by 30% in the AD temporal gyrus relative to age-matched controls. The C : PL mole ratio was not significantly different for samples prepared from cerebellum of AD versus control patients. X-ray diffraction analysis of a cholesterol-enriched AD sample demonstrated a virtual restoration of the normal membrane bilayer width and electron density profile, suggesting that the cholesterol deficit played a major role in the AD lipid membrane structure perturbation. Addition of β-amyloid peptide to bovine brain phospholipid membranes signficantly changed the electron density associated with the hydrocarbon core. Alterations in the composition and structure of the membrane bilayer may play an important role in the pathophysiology of AD by altering the activity and catabolism of membrane-bound proteins, including the β-amyloid precursor protein.
Emergent (mis)behavior vs. complex software systems

Complex systems often behave in unexpected ways that are not easily predictable from the behavior of their components; this is known as emergent behavior. As software systems grow in complexity, interconnectedness, and geographic distribution, we will increasingly face unwanted emergent behavior.Unpredictable software systems are hard to debug and hard to manage. We need better tools and methods for anticipating, detecting, diagnosing, and ameliorating emergent misbehavior. These tools and methods will require research into the causes and nature of emergent misbehavior in software systems.
Economic Transition, Male Competition, and Sex Differences in Mortality Rates

Sex differences in mortality rates stem from a complex set of genetic, physiological, psychological, and social causes whose interconnections are best understood in an integrative evolutionary framework. We predicted that the transition from centrally planned to market economies in Eastern Europe inflated the discrepancy between male and female mortality rates, because economic uncertainty and increasing variation and skew in social status and resources should increase risky male behavior and the impact of stress on physiological susceptibility to internal causes of death. We computed the ratio of the male mortality rate to the female mortality rate separately for 14 Eastern European countries and for the combined population of 12 Western European countries in the pre-transition (1985- 1989), transition (1990-1994), and post-transition (1995-1999) periods. We found that the Male to Female Mortality Ratio (M:F MR) for 14 Eastern European nations increased during the years of economic transition, most prominently during early adulthood. Larger sex differences in mortality rates occurred in both young adulthood, reflecting a shift towards riskier behavioral strategies, and middle adulthood, indicating greater physiological susceptibility to stress. For 12 of the 14 Eastern European nations, the increase was substantially larger than the slight increase in the overall Western European M:F MR. The impact of the transition on the magnitude of mortality discrepancy across countries varies considerably and likely reflects conditions particular to each country. These findings illustrate how traits shaped by natural selection interact with environmental conditions to influence male psychology and ultimately mortality patterns.
Improved string matching under noisy channel conditions

Many document-based applications, including popular Web browsers, email viewers, and word processors, have a 'Find on this Page' feature that allows a user to find every occurrence of a given string in the document. If the document text being searched is derived from a noisy process such as optical character recognition (OCR), the effectiveness of typical string matching can be greatly reduced. This paper describes an enhanced string-matching algorithm for degraded text that improves recall, while keeping precision at acceptable levels. The algorithm is more general than most approximate matching algorithms and allows string-to-string edits with arbitrary costs. We develop a method for evaluating our technique and use it to examine the relative effectiveness of each sub-component of the algorithm. Of the components we varied, we find that using confidence information from the recognition process lead to the largest improvements in matching accuracy.
Air Traffic Control Area Configuration Advisories from Near-Optimal Distinct Paths

Area of specialization supervisors dynamically configure available air traffic control resources so that air traffic can operate safely and efficiently. It is proposed to assist supervisors with this process by presenting them with a set of near-optimal and meaningfully different configuration advisories. To find such a set of advisories, a problem is defined that is equivalent to finding optimal and other near-optimal and distinct paths in a time-expanded graph. It is shown that this problem is nondeterministic polynomial-time hard, and then four algorithms are motivated and specified. One is a benchmark that solves the problem to optimality, one is a novel heuristic based on value iteration, and a third is a novel heuristic based on the A* algorithm. The fourth algorithm solves to optimality the lowest-cost paths problem relaxation of the problem. When used to solve realistic problem instances, the lowest-cost paths algorithm rarely returned feasible solutions and the optimal algorithm required excessiv...
Mesozoic Granitic Rocks in Northwestern Nevada: A Link between the Sierra Nevada and Idaho Batholiths

Extensive areas in northwestern Nevada are underlain by granodiorite and quartz monzonite plutons, as well as less common smaller bodies of quartz diorite. Twenty-six K/Ar age determinations on rocks from this suite range from about 175 to 85 m.y., but most of the plutons are between 105 and 85 m.y. old. This Late Cretaceous intrusive epoch extending from 105 to 85 m.y. ago is here named the Lovelock intrusive epoch. Twenty-three whole-rock chemical analyses show that the granitic rocks of northwestern Nevada form a homogeneous differentiation series with a narrow range in major element distribution. The granitic plutons of northwestern Nevada are chemically and petrographically indistinguishable from granitic intrusives of equivalent age in the Sierra Nevada and Idaho batholiths, and form a link between these two major batholiths.
On Rearrangeable and Non-Blocking Switching Networks

Abstract Switching networks of the type used in telephone exchanges are studied, with emphasis on a particular class of networks possessing great structural symmetry. This class contains rearrangeable networks carrying N calls with roughly 6N log 3 N contacts, and non-blocking networks with roughly 16 N (log 5 N)2 contacts; these results are the best obtainable by the methods used. We also show, by an impractical argument, that there are non-blocking networks with roughly 90N log 3 N contacts.
Long-term effects of defoliation on quaking aspen in relation to genotype and nutrient availability: plant growth, phytochemistry and insect performance

This research tested the long-term effects of defoliation on aspen chemistry and growth in relation to genotype and nutrient availability. We grew saplings of four aspen genotypes in a common garden under two conditions of nutrient availability, and subsequently subjected them to two levels of artificial defoliation. Artificial defoliation suppressed plant growth, and saplings of the four genotypes did not show evidence of genetic variation in tolerance to defoliation. Phenolic glycoside concentrations did not respond to defoliation, but were influenced by genotype and nutrient availability. Condensed tannins responded to defoliation and varied among genotypes. Although defoliation affected condensed tannins, plant quality was not altered in a manner important for gypsy moth performance. Regression analyses suggested that phenolic glycoside concentrations accounted for most of the variation in insect performance. The lack of a strong response important for herbivores was surprising given the severity of the defoliation treatment (nearly 100% of leaf area was removed). In this study, plant genotype was of primary importance, nutrient availability was of secondary importance and long-term induced responses were unimportant as determinants of insect performance.
Deletion of 11 amino acids in p90(rsk-mo-1) abolishes kinase activity.

p90rsk is a distal member of the MAP kinase signaling pathway that is directly phosphorylated and activated by MAP kinases in response to cellular stimulation by growth factors. p90rsk is a serine/threonine kinase that contains two putative catalytic domains (8). Studies indicate that both domains may be functional. The amino-terminal domain appears to be responsible for substrate phosphorylation, whereas the carboxyl-terminal domain may play some role in autophosphorylation (2, 6). The details of the mechanism by which the two catalytic domains of p90rsk are regulated are an ongoing area of research. A variety of in vitro and in vivo p90rsk substrates have been identified, including ribosomal protein S6, c-jun, c-fos, nur77, CREB, CREB-binding protein, serum response factor, SOS, and glycogen synthase kinase 3 (3–5, 10–13). The principal physiological substrate(s) of p90rsk, and hence its primary function in the cell, is not known. Three isoforms of p90rsk have been identified in vertebrates. The p90rsk-1 isoform has been cloned from a variety of species, including Xenopus laevis, mouse, chicken, rat, and human. These molecules show a high degree of homology; for example, X. laevis and human p90rsk-1 have 85% amino acid identity. The one striking difference among all the p90rsk-1 genes is a 33-nucleotide deletion found only in the mouse gene (p90rsk-mo-1). This deletion results in the loss of 11 amino acids just C terminal to the first catalytic domain of p90rsk. As part of a study investigating the substrate specificity of the two p90rsk catalytic domains, we observed that expressed p90rsk-mo-1 protein lacked measurable kinase activity. In the present study, we investigated this observation, and here we discuss the physiological relevance of the findings.
The effect of bromocriptine on gonadotropin and steroid secretion in polycystic ovarian disease.

Use of bromocriptine in some women with polycystic ovarian disease (PCO) has resulted in ovulation induction, although a mechanism has not been established. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of bromocriptine on gonadotropin and steroid secretion in this disorder. Two groups of seven patients were given bromocriptine at a dose of either 5 mg/day for 2 months or 10 mg/day for 1 month. Ten normal ovulatory women served as controls. In PCO patints, mean serum levels of LH, bioactive LH, androstenedione, testosterone, unbound testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S), and estrone were significantly greater (P < 0.05) than those of normal women, whereas FSH, PRL, dihydrotestosterone, 3α-androstanediol, and estradiol were not different. Assessment of gonadotropin secretion before and during treatment revealed that basal levels, episodic secretion, and responses to GnRH (25 μg, iv) were unaltered by either dose of bromocriptine. Of the remaining hormones, PRL and DHEA-S significant...
Autism: Electroencephalogram Abnormalities and Clinical Improvement With Valproic Acid

Autism is a severe disorder of social and communicative development. Although there are a number of biomedical causes of autistic symptoms, 1 a cause has not been identified for the majority of children with this condition. There is a much higher prevalence of epilepsy and electroencephalographic (EEG) abnormalities in autistic children as compared with controls. 2,3 However, it is not clear whether autistic children with epileptiform abnormalities on EEGs (spikes and/or sharp waves) who have never had seizures would benefit from anticonvulsants. In a comprehensive review of autism, Minshew et al 4 mentioned nonconvulsive seizures as a possible association with autism but recommended further testing and anticonvulsants only in those children with clinical indications of possible epileptic phenomena. More significantly, in a recent review of autism, Rapin 5 wrote: "There is little evidence to suggest that seizure-free children with rare spikes or other paroxysmal EEG discharges will benefit from anticonvulsants."
At the Intersection of Intimacy and Care: Redefining “Family” through the Lens of a Public Ethic of Care

The institution of the family has changed, but U.S. public institutions and policies generally have not kept pace. In response, a number of feminist theorists have argued that we should recognize and support more diverse family forms. They argue that equality, respect for personal autonomy, recognition of diversity, and facilitating relationships of care demand such a move. Building on their work, I explicitly situate the necessity of redefining “family” within a public ethic of care and offer a comprehensive working definition of family that focuses on recognizing relationships that combine intimacy and care. In so doing, I address how to handle biological ties without excluding or marginalizing other bases upon which people form families.The author would like to thank the following individuals for sharing their expertise and comments on earlier versions of this manuscript: Eileen Botting, Fred Dallmayr, Daniel Engster, Neve Gordon, Jyl Josephson, Michael Kirsch, Victor Levy, Hugh Wilson, Christina Wolbrecht, Catherine Zuckert, the editors of Politics & Gender, and the anonymous reviewers. An earlier draft of this piece was presented in Chicago at the 2002 National Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association.
Immunophenotypic differences between uveal and cutaneous melanomas.

Objective To determine the immunophenotypic differences between uveal and cutaneous melanomas, employing standard melanoma markers as well as p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) and microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF). Design Fifteen uveal melanomas (5 spindle, 5 epithelioid, and 5 mixed uveal subtypes) were immunolabeled with a panel of antibodies that included S100, tyrosinase, melan-A, HMB-45 and HMB-50 combination, MITF, and p75NTR. The results were tabulated on the basis of intensity and pervasiveness of the labeling and compared with a prior study on cutaneous spindle and epithelioid melanomas. Results In contrast to its strong labeling of cutaneous melanomas, S100 immunolabeling of uveal melanomas was weak and variable. p75NTR, known to differentiate spindle from epithelioid melanomas of the skin, did not immunolabel uveal melanomas. HMB-45, HMB-50, tyrosinase, melan-A, and MITF immunolabeled all uveal melanomas strongly, irrespective of the histologic subtype, but not cutaneous melanomas. Microphthalmia transcription factor was especially clear in its labeling of uveal melanomas. Conclusions Although cutaneous and uveal melanomas share many molecular markers in common, there are differences between the 2 types of melanoma. First, the level of expression of S100 differs between cutaneous and uveal melanomas. Second, while cutaneous melanomas can be further subdivided into spindle and epithelioid types based on their immunophenotype, the uveal melanomas cannot.
Work in progress - the synergistic integration of an entering students program with an engaging introductory course in programming

We report on the synergistic integration of a required entering students' program with an introductory course in programming. The course is evenly divided among Python-based algorithmic-centric media programming modules and content specified for ESP students at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). UTEP is an urban university serving a largely Hispanic student population principally drawn from the sister cities of El Paso, TX, USA, and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, MX. ESP course content includes modules such as reading, studying, and note-taking skills. The unifying theme and approach used for both the ESP and programming modules of the course is provided by the concept of Robert Sternberg's “Successful Intelligence,” an accessible refactoring of Bloom's Taxonomy into the general categories of analytical, creative, and practical thinking skills. The unifying theme and approach used for both the ESP and programming modules of the course is provided by the concept of Robert Sternberg's “Successful Intelligence,” an accessible refactoring of Bloom's Taxonomy into the general categories of analytical, creative, and practical thinking skills.
Sheet metal forming using polymer composite rapid prototype tooling

To meet the growing demand for rapid, low-cost die fabrication technology in the sheet metal forming industry, easy-to-machine, polyurethane-based, composite board stock is widely used as a rapid tooling material. However, the failure mechanisms of the rapid prototyped tools are not clearly understood, thus making the prediction of tool life difficult. As a fundamental step for effective tool life estimation, the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the polymer composite tooling material were characterized. A finite element model of 90° V-die bending process was developed, and the effects of process parameters on stress distribution in punch and die were investigated through simulation. The simulation results were verified through experiments using instrumented, laboratory-scale punch and die sets.
Classification of hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus-1 sequences with the branching index.

Classification of viral sequences should be fast, objective, accurate and reproducible. Most methods that classify sequences use either pair-wise distances or phylogenetic relations, but cannot discern when a sequence is unclassifiable. The branching index (BI) combines distance and phylogeny methods to compute a ratio that quantifies how closely a query sequence clusters with a subtype clade. In the hypothesis-testing framework of statistical inference, the BI is compared with a threshold to test whether sufficient evidence exists for the query sequence to be classified among known sequences. If above the threshold, the null hypothesis of no support for the subtype relation is rejected and the sequence is taken as belonging to the subtype clade with which it clusters on the tree. This study evaluates statistical properties of the BI for subtype classification in hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1). Pairs of BI values with known positive- and negative-test results were computed from 10 000 random fragments of reference alignments. Sampled fragments were of sufficient length to contain phylogenetic signals that grouped reference sequences together properly into subtype clades. For HCV, a threshold BI of 0.71 yields 95.1 % agreement with reference subtypes, with equal false-positive and false-negative rates. For HIV-1, a threshold of 0.66 yields 93.5 % agreement. Higher thresholds can be used where lower false-positive rates are required. In synthetic recombinants, regions without breakpoints are recognized accurately; regions with breakpoints do not represent any known subtype uniquely. Web-based services for viral subtype classification with the BI are available online.
Intermolecular Addition of Glycosyl Halides to Alkenes Mediated by Visible Light

Abstract : Catching Photons: Visible light, an amine reductant, and a Ru(bpy)32+ photocatalyst can be used to mediate the addition of glycosyl halides into alkenes to synthesize important C-glycosides. This method highlights the growing potential of photocatalysis to effectively drive useful and difficult chemical transformations.
Air leaks after surgical stapling in lung resection: a comparison between stapling alone and stapling with staple-line reinforcement materials in a canine model☆☆☆★★★♢

The resurgence of interest in lung-volume reduction surgery in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has been accompanied by a recognition of the importance of preventing postoperative air leaks. Various materials have been used to buttress the staple line in lung reduction surgery, including everted walls of bullae, fibrin glue, blood patches, and strips of bovine pericardium. We conducted an experimental study to assess the effectiveness in preventing air leaks of stapling alone as compared with stapling with one of three reinforcement materials: bovine pericardium,* expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) cardiovascular patch,† or a prototype ePTFE staple-line reinforcement material.‡ Freshly harvested pairs of normal lungs from 24 adult mongrel dogs (48 lungs) were used. The trachea was transected approximately 3 cm above the carina. A 7 mm endotracheal tube was inserted into the lung and secured with an umbilical tape. The endotracheal tube was then connected to a ventilator with a pressure gauge (Penlown, Ltd., Abingdon, United Kingdom). A surgical stapler (Ethicon GIA 55, Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, N.J.) was used to staple across the apex of each lung. In one lung of each pair (control), only staples were inserted. For the other lung in the pair, bovine pericardium, ePTFE cardiovascular patch material, or ePTFE prototype staple-line reinforcement material (eight lungs for each material) was attached to the stapler before firing and the staples were fired through the material, thereby creating a buttressed staple line that remained in the lung tissue. The stapler was removed and the entire lung preparation, including the junction of the endotracheal tube and trachea, was immersed in normal saline solution. Positive pressure was gradually increased until one or more bubbles were visible at the staple line. The pressure (centimeters of water) at which the first bubbles appeared was recorded. The results with respect to the pressure at which air leakage occurred in the control lungs as compared with the lungs in which the staple-line reinforcement materials were placed were statistically assessed with one-way analysis of variance and t tests. The pressure at which air bubbles were observed in the staple line varied considerably within the control group and each of the test groups. There were no significant differences among the three materials in the air-leakage pressure. However, for each of the three materials, the pressure at which leakage occurred was significantly higher (p 5 0.004) than that at which air From the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Miss.
Adjuvant radiation therapy for rectal carcinoma: Predictors of outcome

Abstract Purpose: To review predictors of outcome, including sequencing of modalities and pretreatment findings for adjuvantly treated rectal cancer. Methods and Materials: From 1975 through 1990, 307 patients with adenocarcinoma of the rectum underwent adjuvant radiation therapy. In 251 cases the radiation therapy was administered preoperatively, either 40–50 Gy (median dose 45 Gy) followed in 6–7 weeks by surgery (210 cases), or 20 Gy in five fractions immediately prior to surgery (41 cases). In 56 cases, patients were referred postoperatively for radiation (median dose 50 Gy). Adjuvant chemotherapy was never given concurrently with the preoperative radiation (RT), although 43 of the cases (including 14 of the preoperative RT cases) received postoperative chemotherapy. Results: Multivariate analysis (Cox model) indicated that significant predictors of better overall freedom from disease were preoperative rather than postoperative RT ( p p p = 0.007), low or moderate histologic grade ( p = 0.026), and proximal lesion ( p = 0.033). The significant predictors for better local control included use of preoperative RT ( p p = 0.001), and low surgical stage ( p = 0.015). The 5-year local control and freedom from disease for the preoperative RT patients were 90% ± 2% and 73% ± 3%, respectively. The selected cases that received the short course of 20 Gy preoperatively did well. Although 24 out of 41 patients proved to have Astler Coller B2 or C disease, local control at last follow-up was 39 out of 41 (95%). A second multivariate analysis of pretreatment factors was performed on the preoperative RT cases. The significant factors for both local control and overall freedom from disease were noncircumferential vs. circumferential tumor, proximal vs. distal lesion, and background of the surgeon. Additional negative factors on univariate analysis (although not achieving independent significance on multivariate analysis) included the finding of near-obstructing lesions and elevated carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Grade ≥3 sequelae occurred in 8% of cases (including 3% bowel obstruction). The only significant factor for complications was background of the surgeon (4% for colorectal specialists vs. 12% for nonspecialists, p = 0.015). Conclusions: Significant factors for better tumor control included preoperative as opposed to postoperative RT and the experience of the surgeon. In selected cases, excellent results can be obtained with a short course of preoperative radiation. Concurrent chemotherapy need not be given routinely with preoperative radiation. Subgroups of preoperative RT cases at risk for distant metastases (who might benefit from postoperative chemotherapy), and at high risk for local failure (for whom concurrent preoperative chemotherapy and radiation might be considered), are identified.
Calorimetrically Determined Dynamics of Complex Unfolding Transitions in Proteins

MULT IFREQUENCY CALOR IMETRY; THE FREQUENCY SPECTRUM OF ENTHALPY FLUCTUATIONS ...... ........ ..... 177 Ensemble Averages ...... . 177 Time Averages...... . . .... 179 Frequency-Dependent Heat Capacity...... . . .. . . . . ........ 179 The Experimental System.. .. .. . . . . . . . ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ......... . . . . . . .. . . . . ... 182 The Multifrequency Calorimeter 183 Data Analysis... . . . ......... . . . .. .... 184 Application to Protein Folding-Unfolding ... . ... . . . . . . . . .. . . ... 186
Phosphine and Methyl Bromide Permeation of Fabric and Multiwall Paper Bags

Woven polypropylene, burlap, and multiwall-laminate, insect-resistant treated (IRT) bags filled with flour were fumigated with phosphine and methyl bromide to determine the permeability of the bags to each fumigant. Results show that penetration of the IRT bags by both fumigants was significantly slower ( P < 0.05) than penetration of the woven polypropylene or burlap bags. Subsequently, both fumigants were held longer once they were inside the IRT bags; thus, more time may be required for dissipation of the fumigants from these bags after the treatment is terminated.
Cornea: Confocal microscopy

The confocal microscope opens a whole new window in early diagnosis of ocular conditions. Previously, details at the cellular level could only be viewed with conventional microscopes in a laboratory setting. By using confocal microscopy, results can now be obtained instantaneously in the living human eye. This non-invasive high magnification technique provides real-time images of cornea morphology.
Customer Profitability Analysis: A Perspective Based on the Customer Cost

Customer profitability analysis is an innovative method of management,which distinguishes customers? in terms of their different profitability.By means of a survey in China and a comparison with U.S.A,this paper shows that the customer profitability analysis is applied in decision-making by only a few enterprises in China.It is also found that the cost structure,customer strategy and other factors(not including the cost consumption of diversity) do not exert obvious influence on the allocation of customer cost in Chinas’ enterprises.
Roles of Rural Areas in Sustainable Food System Transformations

Rural areas and their people have not received appropriate appreciation for their necessary contributions to sustainable cities and achievement of the sustainable development goals. Food systems in rural and urban areas are undergoing major transformations, due to drivers that are not always affected by population density. The health and well-being of rural agroecosystems and communities are interlinked inextricably with the well-being, resilience and food security of cities. The goals of food sovereignty for autonomy, localized markets, political participation in decisions affecting producers and agroecological production will serve the right to food of both urban and rural people.
Chemokine gene expression in anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody glomerulonephritis

Chemokines may be important in the pathogenesis of glomerular leukocyte infiltration in antiglomerular basement membrane (GBM) antibody (Ab) glomerulonephritis (GN). We studied the expression of th...
Asynchronous Online Foreign Language Courses

In 1999, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (USG), in collaboration with a number of its member institutions, began developing a fully online set of courses that allows a student to complete a core curriculum that is transferable across the USG. The result of this effort is the USG’s eCore® Program, developed by the Advanced Learning Technologies (ALT) unit of the USG. The eCore® Courses were created using a collaborative course development process that engaged teams of USG faculty, technical support and an instructional designer from ALT. The collaborative course development process was utilized in order to take full advantage of the expertise of the team members and to incorporate multiple perspectives of the content into the courses. In addition, a set of guidelines for the development of eCore® courses was established to ensure the courses were of the highest quality possible. The eCore® course array was developed over a period of seven years. While many of the courses were well suited to the asynchronous online approach, there were content areas that were more controversial, such as physics, chemistry and foreign languages, due to the highly specific requirements in each of these disciplines. The last courses to be developed for the USG’s eCore® Program were two that comprised the Intermediate Spanish sequence. This course development process began with an intensive examination of the viability of an online language course by a team of content experts from a team of USG Foreign Language faculty. Foreign Language (FL) courses, by nature, must incorporate exposure to the target language and extensive practice communicating in that language. Technology is increasingly becoming an integral part of the FL classroom as students use computer-mediated communication (CMC) to practice the language with their peers, instructor, and native speakers of the language via chat rooms and message boards. The following discusses the development and implementation of the Intermediate Spanish levels I and II courses for the USG eCore® Program.
The Present and Future of Robotic Technology in Rehabilitation

Robotic technology designed to assist rehabilitation can potentially increase the efficiency of and accessibility to therapy by assisting therapists to provide consistent training for extended periods of time, and collecting data to assess progress. Automatization of therapy may enable many patients to be treated simultaneously and possibly even remotely, in the comfort of their own homes, through telerehabilitation. The data collected can be used to objectively assess performance and document compliance as well as progress. All of these characteristics can make therapists more efficient in treating larger numbers of patients. Most importantly for the patient, it can increase access to therapy which is often in high demand and rationed severely in today's fiscal climate. In recent years, many consumer grade low-cost and off-the-shelf devices have been adopted for use in therapy sessions and methods for increasing motivation and engagement have been integrated with them. This review paper outlines the effort devoted to the development and integration of robotic technology for rehabilitation.
Transcriptomic Modification in the Cerebral Cortex following Noninvasive Brain Stimulation: RNA-Sequencing Approach

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to modulate neuroplasticity. Beneficial effects are observed in patients with psychiatric disorders and enhancement of brain performance in healthy individuals has been observed following tDCS. However, few studies have attempted to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of tDCS in the brain. This study was conducted to assess the impact of tDCS on gene expression within the rat cerebral cortex. Anodal tDCS was applied at 3 different intensities followed by RNA-sequencing and analysis. In each current intensity, approximately 1,000 genes demonstrated statistically significant differences compared to the sham group. A variety of functional pathways, biological processes, and molecular categories were found to be modified by tDCS. The impact of tDCS on gene expression was dependent on current intensity. Results show that inflammatory pathways, antidepressant-related pathways (GTP signaling, calcium ion binding, and transmembrane/signal peptide pathways), and receptor signaling pathways (serotonergic, adrenergic, GABAergic, dopaminergic, and glutamate) were most affected. Of the gene expression profiles induced by tDCS, some changes were observed across multiple current intensities while other changes were unique to a single stimulation intensity. This study demonstrates that tDCS can modify the expression profile of various genes in the cerebral cortex and that these tDCS-induced alterations are dependent on the current intensity applied.
Dwight Eisenhower and American Foreign Policy During the 1960s: An American Lion in Winter. By Richard M.Filipink, Jr. New York: Lexington Books, 2014. 133 pp.

Dwight Eisenhower and American Foreign Policy During the 1960s: An American Lion in Winter. By Richard M. Filipink, Jr. New York: Lexington Books, 2014. 133 pp. Richard M. Filipink, Jr. pierces through the mythology that still surrounds Dwight D. Eisenhower and portrays him as an extremely conservative ideologue and a Machiavellian politician shaping American foreign policy in the 1960s. The author makes a persuasive case that Eisenhower used his immense personal popularity to influence the foreign policy of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Clearly, he consistently advocated a militaristic response to the many challenges these Democratic presidents faced in the Cold War. Unquestionably, Eisenhower was devious, intellectually disingenuous, and politically partisan. The author states, "Once he was no longer in office, Eisenhower was clearly much more willing to support the use of force to obtain foreign policy goals" (111). In fact, he was the same old Eisenhower. As president, he had, behind the scenes, habitually supported threatening or using force in Korea, Indochina, China, Iran, Guatemala, Lebanon, and Cuba. He carefully hid this militant belligerency from both the public and the press. President Eisenhower, a man of the "middle path" and a moderate Republican, is essentially mythological. Filipink shatters many of these falsehoods by showing him as extremely quarrelsome and taking contradictory stands on many issues before eventually taking a negotiated public position, while often holding the exact opposite point of view in private. Virtually all of the crises in foreign affairs that Kennedy and Johnson confronted have their origins in the Eisenhower administration. Eisenhower carefully maintained his reputation of being nonpartisan in foreign affairs, while, in reality, being highly partisan and extremely critical of the Democrats. Kennedy and Johnson reasonably feared the possibility that he would attack their foreign policy. Appeasing Eisenhower became an important theme for them. Kennedy, however, as Filipink properly points out, had a healthy disdain for Ike's foreign policy advice. Kennedy wisely rejected his counsel on sending U.S. troops to Laos. Eisenhower gave Kennedy a scathing critique of the Bay of Pigs, but then promised not to publicly embarrass or humiliate the new president. Kennedy then calmly took no military action with the construction of the Berlin Wall. All of these actions made him appear weak to Eisenhower. Yet, with his successful handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy adopted a very independent foreign policy. He negotiated a limited test ban treaty, which Eisenhower had opposed. …
Integration of Research, Teaching, and Practice in the Implementation of the Michigan State University Energy Transition Plan

In 2012 Michigan State University (MSU) created a plan (MSU Energy Transition Plan, 2012), which attempts to move the university toward 100 % renewable energy sources and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This plan has to overcome special challenges due to the fact that MSU’s 50,000 student campus self-generates almost 100 % of its electricity and building heat, and that approximately three quarters of its annual energy consumption need to flow into heating the buildings. This paper lays out the roadmap for the Energy Transition Plan and describes the first steps taken towards its goals with the implementation of aggressive energy conservation and recycling programs, changing the fuel source for the university’s power plant from coal to natural gas, the construction of a biogas-producing anaerobic digester for cafeteria waste and animal excrements, and the installation of a large (11 MW) solar array. Special attention is given to the integration of the research and teaching missions of the university with the day-to-day operation of the physical plant to ensure reliability of the power supply as well as optimization of the cost structure of the university’s energy portfolio.
Efficient Regular Expression Matching on Compressed Strings

Existing methods for regular expression matching on LZ78 compressed strings do not perform efficiently. Moreover, LZ78 compression has some shortcomings, such as high compression ratio and slower decompression speed than LZ77 (a variant of LZ78). In this paper, we study regular expression matching on LZ77 compressed strings. To address this problem, we propose an efficient algorithm, namely, RELZ, utilizing the positive factors, i.e., a prefix and a suffix, and negative factors (Negative factors are substrings that cannot appear in an answer.) of the regular expression to prune the candidates. For the sake of quickly locating these two kinds of factors on the compressed string without decompression, we design a variant suffix trie index, called SSLZ. In addition, we construct bitmaps for factors of regular expression to detect potential region and propose block filtering to reduce candidates. At last, we conduct a comprehensive performance evaluation using five real datasets to validate our ideas and the proposed algorithms. The experimental result shows that our RELZ algorithm outperforms the existing algorithms significantly.
Tamoxifen Goes Forward Alone

Tamoxifen (ICI 46,474), the trans isomer of a substituted triphenylethylene, was discovered in the fertility program at Imperial Chemical Industries, Pharmaceuticals Division, Cheshire, England. The plan was to use tamoxifen to regulate fertility, but this failed and interest refocused outside the company for applications to treat breast cancer. The initial application of the nonsteroidal antiestrogen was for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women and by the 1980s tamoxifen had replaced high-dose diethylstilbestrol therapy. Efficacy when compared with diethylstilbestrol was similar, but tamoxifen had fewer side effects. No other antiestrogens were developed by the pharmaceutical industry, as this was not considered a financially lucrative development strategy.
Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) Signal Intensity Can Identify Stroke Within 6 and 8 Hours.

Background Patients with wake-up or unknown time of onset stroke are usually excluded from recanalization. However, a few studies indicate that some magnetic resonance sequences can help predict time from symptom onset (SxO). Our goal was to assess the value of fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) signal intensity ratio (SIR) in identifying patients within 6 and 8 hours of stroke onset. Materials and Methods We studied consecutive acute stroke patients with known time of onset who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within 48 hours of SxO. SIR was calculated as the value of the FLAIR signal intensity of the identified area of infarction divided by the signal intensity in the homologous contralateral side of the brain. Results Out of 160 patients included in this study, 72 and 80 patients had MRI within 6 and 8 hours of SxO, respectively. We found a positive correlation between SIR and time from SxO (Pearson coefficient, .63). Receiver operating characteristic curves indicated that SIR ≤ 1.18 could accurately identify patients within 6 hours of SxO (86% sensitivity, 79% specificity) and a SIR ≤ 1.20 can be identified within 8 hours (89% sensitivity, 76% specificity). Among patients with no visible FLAIR hyperintensity, 83% (95% CI, 77%-89%) were within the 6-hour window. Conclusion Quantitative assessment of FLAIR sequence can be used to identify patients within 6 and 8 hours of stroke onset.
A robust state-transfer architecture for distributed and asynchronous optimization

This paper presents a distributed architecture for asynchronously implementing a class of nonlinear signal processing systems as web services, which in turn can be used to solve a broad class of optimization problems. As opposed to requiring specialized servers, the presented architecture requires only the use of commodity database backends as a central resource, as might typically be used to serve data for websites having large numbers of concurrent users. In this sense, the presented architecture leverages not only the scalability and robustness of various database systems in sharing variables asynchronously between workers but also critically it leverages the tools of signal processing in determining how the optimization algorithm might be organized and distributed among various heterogeneous workers. A publicly-accessible implementation is also presented, utilizing Firebase as a back-end server, and illustrates the use of the presented architecture in solving various optimization problems commonly arising in signal processing contexts.
Language and Ambivalence in Achebe’s Writing

Achebe, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and others have contributed compelling arguments to the debate over the appropriate language of African literature, but the present chapter, while mindful of these arguments, does not seek to adjudicate between them. Rather, it delineates how this debate was, in effect, conducted by Achebe himself in No Longer at Ease, which appeared in 1960, the year of Nigerian independence. One might fault the book’s irresolution on the language issue, but the novel offers an honest portrayal of those forces that shape an ambivalent linguistic sensibility. Instead of depicting or prescribing a linguistic situation that might be, Achebe vividly dramatizes the complexity of the one that existed at the time of the novel’s composition and that continues in many parts of Africa.
Can Neonatal Brain MRI be Performed during Active Cooling

Objective Due to logistical constraints, physicians traditionally delay diagnostic imaging for neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) until the neonate has completed all 72 hours of therapeutic hypothermia and rewarming. In some cases, neonates may require neuroimaging before 72 hours has passed. Study Design We present a case in which an MRI was acquired during active hypothermia. Results Upon return to the NICU, Baby X's temperature probe read 33.6 degrees, indicating that hypothermia was likely maintained at the target temperature. Conclusion Active hypothermia is possible during MRI.
Artifacts and Non-Local Effects in SPM Potential Measurements

In the last few years Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) has become one of the primary tools of science and technology. In addition to topographical imaging, surface potential, conductivity, optical, ferroelectric and magnetic properties that can be studied down to the nanometer level. However, quantitative and sometimes qualitative studies of fundamental physical phenomena in meso- and nanoscale systems are often hindered by SPM imaging artifacts. Here we briefly discuss the principles of operation and the major sources of artifacts in electrostatic measurements by SPM. One of the most well known techniques for local potential imaging is Scanning Surface Potential Microscopy (SSPM). SSPM is based on dual pass imaging. The grounded tip acquires surface topography during the first pass.
Glycogen Phosphorylase: A Novel Biomarker in Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiac Injury

Extracellular vesicles containing glycogen phosphorylase, brain/heart (PYGB) have been demonstrated as a sensitive biomarker for normal cardiac injuries for patients after chemotherapy. Oxidative stress was suggested to be the mechanism behind the chemotherapy-induced tissue damage and augmented with mitochondrial antioxidant could be an effective means of early intervention. Clin Cancer Res; 24(7); 1516-7. ©2018 AACRSee related article by Yarana et al., p. 1644.
Potassium Channels in the Circulation of Skeletal Muscle

Skeletal muscle represents 40% of body mass and contributes substantially in the regulation of blood pressure, whole body metabolism, and cardiovascular homeostasis (Rowell, 1986). The membrane potential (E m ) of vascular muscle cells in the walls of small arteries and arterioles that supply blood to skeletal muscles regulates the tone of these vessels. Thus, as in other tissues, K+ channels play a central role in the physiology and pathophysiology of the circulation in skeletal muscle. The focus of this chapter will be the function of ATP-sensitive (KATP), large-conductance, Ca2+ -activated (BKCa), voltage-gated (Kv), and inward rectifier (KIR) channels in the regulation of the arterial blood supply of skeletal muscle, with particular emphasis on the roles played by these channels in the microcirculation of this tissue. The reader is referred to other chapters in this volume for detailed information about the molecular biology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology of these channels as well as related topics.